America at Risk: Military Went to War in Iraq With Unarmored SUVs

Rebuilding Iraq during the raging insurgency was no easy task. It required ingenuity, courage and innovative ways to get the job done—sometimes with equipment that offered little protection from the car bombs and rocket attacks launched by America’s enemies. For veterans of the Iraq war like Col. Kerry Kachejian, it was a life-changing experience to work on the unprecedented reconstruction project. As an Army Reserve engineer, Kachejian was tasked with restoring some of the most basic services for the Iraqi people as well as building schools, hospitals and police stations. … More

President Obama Accuses Bill Clinton of ‘Thinly Veiled Social Darwinism’

By Daniel J. Mitchell

Actually, Bill Clinton must be something even worse than a social Darwinist. That’s because the title of this post is wrong. Obama said that Paul Ryan’s plan (which allows spending to grow by an average of 3.1 percent per year over the next decade) is a form of “social Darwinism.” But the proposal from the [...]

President Obama Accuses Bill Clinton of ‘Thinly Veiled Social Darwinism’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

Chart of the Week: Obama’s Abuse of FEMA Declarations

President Obama has used his executive power in many ways to expand the role of government. But there’s one area that stands out: Obama’s frequent and repeated use of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to issue emergency and disaster declarations. Heritage’s Matt Mayer reports that Obama “eviscerated the record books by issuing 243 declarations in 2011,” continuing an alarming pattern that begin under President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush. Mayer says FEMA has become a “political pork-barrel spending agency.” The trend is illustrated in this week’s chart, which … More

Chart of the Week: U.S. Presidents Ranked by Budget Deficits

Over the past 50 years, 10 U.S. presidents have made annual budget requests to Congress, projecting deficits both big and small. But no other president compares to Barack Obama when it comes to the size and scale of the current budget deficit facing the United States. The country is facing an 8.3 percent estimated average national deficit of a two-term Obama administration — the biggest of the past 50 years. By comparison, the current estimate for Obama is nearly double the percentage under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush — and … More