Overspent and Overextended | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

Overspent and Overextended | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "he Obama administration's original non-war defense budget was $534 billion. The latter is an increase of $20 billion, or 4 percent (2 percent after inflation). Yet conservatives attacked Obama for 'cutting' military outlays. Robert Kagan of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace charged that the administration was signaling that 'the American retreat has begun.'

It is a curious form of 'retreat.' The U.S. is ramping up the war in Afghanistan. American troops continue to occupy Iraq. The U.S. remains the principal member of every major Cold War alliance: NATO, U.S.-Japan, and U.S.-Korea. America is allied with every major industrialized power outside of China and Russia. U.S. troops are stationed at hundreds of installations in scores of nations around the globe. The American secretary of state continues to circle the globe instructing other nations how to order their economies, reform their political systems, and behave in international relations."

"Military outlays should be tied to threats, not economic growth."

"American foreign policy should reflect international realities and change over time. Both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were aggressive, hegemonic powers. Both were capable of threatening the survival of other nations. Both had allies around the world.

Today the U.S. faces no significant military threats — a circumstance Americans should celebrate, not regret. As Colin Powell famously declared in 1991 when chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 'I'm running out of demons. I'm running out of enemies. I'm down to Castro and Kim Il Sung.'"

"America possesses the most sophisticated nuclear arsenal and most powerful conventional force. Washington's ability to intervene is unparalleled: the U.S. possesses 11 carrier groups. Russia has one. India has one. There are no others.

Other nations, most notably China, are stirring. But it will take years for them to match, let alone overtake, the U.S. Even subtracting the costs of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars leaves American military outlays around five times those of China, 10 times those of Russia, and 20 times those of India."

"Terrorism remains a pressing security threat. However, terrorist attacks, such as 9/11, though horrid, do not pose an existential danger. Al-Qaeda is no replacement for Nazism and Communism, nuclear-topped ICBMs, and armored divisions. Nor is traditional military force the best way to combat terrorism. International cooperation, improved intelligence, judicious use of Special Forces abroad, and smarter use of police forces at home will work far better in far more cases."

"The second issue is whether more money on the military would better prevent terrorism. It wouldn't."

"Cutting commitments is an imperative for anyone committed to limited government. War is the ultimate big government program"

"When the Constitution authorizes the federal government to 'provide for the common defense,' it means America's defense, not that of well-heeled allies and failed Third World states."

Trouble in Paradise: Akaka Bill's Passage Would Threaten Many Hawaiian Institutions | Ilya Shapiro | Cato Institute: Commentary

Trouble in Paradise: Akaka Bill's Passage Would Threaten Many Hawaiian Institutions | Ilya Shapiro | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Hawaii's congressional delegation, meanwhile, continues to insist that there is enormous public support for the bill — even while refusing to survey this support or allow a referendum. And for good reason: a recent Zogby poll shows that 60% of those who have an opinion on the Akaka Bill oppose it and 76% oppose paying the higher taxes that would be necessary to pay for a separate Hawaiian nation-tribe."

The Moral and Constitutional Case for a Right to Gay Marriage | Robert A. Levy | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Moral and Constitutional Case for a Right to Gay Marriage | Robert A. Levy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "For most of Western history, marriage was a matter of private contract between the betrothed parties and perhaps their families. Following that tradition, marriage today should be a private arrangement, requiring minimal or no state intervention. Some religious or secular institutions would recognize gay marriages; others would not; still others would call them domestic partnerships or assign another label. Join whichever group you wish. The rights and responsibilities of partners would be governed by personally tailored contracts — consensual bargains like those that control most other interactions in a free society."

"Nor is a ban on gay marriage a close fit for attaining the goals cited by proponents of such bans. If the goal, for example, is to strengthen the institution of marriage, a more effective step might be to bar no-fault divorce and premarital cohabitation."

Protecting marriage is best done on at the personal, community, etc levels -- not at the federal government level. Would there be less marriage problems if the federal government wasn't involved? The federal government first protected marriage against divorce but then opened the gates wide.

The Healing Power of Innovation | Glen Whitman and Raymond Raad | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Healing Power of Innovation | Glen Whitman and Raymond Raad | Cato Institute: Commentary: "we compare the U.S. to other nations by their contributions to basic medical sciences, diagnostics, therapeutics, and business models. With the exception of business model innovation (which appears sluggish across nations), the U.S. has contributed more in these areas than any other country--and sometimes more than all other countries combined."

"It seems likely that American medical innovation is driven largely by something often regarded as a defect: the fact that we spend so much money."

"Other things equal, people and firms tend to invest more in medical innovation when they expect a higher return, when the returns last longer and when the returns arrive sooner."

FOXNews.com - Pelosi Pushes $300 Billion 'Fix' to Senate Health Care Bill

FOXNews.com - Pelosi Pushes $300 Billion 'Fix' to Senate Health Care Bill: "Senior Democratic aides told Fox News that Pelosi has offered up the new package of changes to Senate Democratic leaders, with the hope that they will be able to pass it using a controversial procedural maneuver known as 'reconciliation.' The maneuver would allow Democrats to pass the measure with just 51 votes, without having to first overcome the normal 60-vote threshold.

Some Democrats are keen on using that process, since the election last week of Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts broke the Democrats' 60-vote supermajority. However, some Democratic moderates -- notably Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh -- have balked at using the controversial tactic to ram through health care reform measures."

Reminds me of the "nuclear option" discussed with judge appointments a few years ago. It's a perfect chance to see who's positions are political based.

Why Populists Are Wrong About Impact of Free Trade | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary

Why Populists Are Wrong About Impact of Free Trade | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary: "During difficult economic times, import competition allows more American families to keep their heads above water by delivering lower prices on staples such as food, clothing and shoes. The prices we pay for goods exposed to global trade tend to rise more slowly than inflation or even fall. The imported fresh fruit and vegetables, T-shirts and discounted sneakers sold at big-box retailers are especially important in the budgets of poor and middle-class families.

Trade benefits producers by allowing Americans to sell our goods and services in growing markets abroad."

"For Americans worried about their jobs, it is a big lie that we have been surrendering middle-class manufacturing jobs for low-paying service jobs. In fact, since 1991, two-thirds of the net new jobs created in the U.S. economy have been in sectors such as health care, education and business and professional services where the average pay is higher than in manufacturing."

"the past three decades of expanding trade and globalization have witnessed dramatic global progress. Between 1981 and 2005, the share of the world's population living on the equivalent of $1.25 a day dropped by half, from 52 to 25 percent, according to the World Bank. During this same period, real gains have been made in life expectancy, infant survival, nutrition and literacy. The most dramatic gains against poverty have occurred in those countries, such as China and Chile, that have most aggressively opened themselves to the global economy.

As a global middle class has emerged, so too have more democratic forms of government. Trade has spread tools of communication and spurred the growth of civil society as an alternative to authoritarian government. As a result, the share of the world's population living in countries that respect civil liberties and the right to vote has climbed from 35 percent in 1973 to 46 percent today, according to Freedom House.

Fewer people are dying in wars today than in past decades, in large part because commerce has replaced military competition. Global commerce has allowed nations to gain access to resources through trade rather than conquest, while deeper economic integration has brought former enemies together and raised the cost of war."

Americans Reaping Benefits of U.S. Membership in WTO | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary

Americans Reaping Benefits of U.S. Membership in WTO | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary: "WTO membership encourages the United States to keep its own markets open, for the benefit of U.S. consumers and import-using industries. It also promotes trade liberalization abroad, which opens markets and keeps them open for U.S. exporters. WTO agreements put those commitments in writing so there is less temptation for governments to backslide and re-impose damaging trade barriers under short-term political pressure."

"since China joined the WTO in 2001, its average tariff imposed on goods of special export interest to the United States has dropped from 25 percent to 7 percent.

WTO agreements also restrict the ability of foreign governments to place quotas on imports, to impose domestic regulations that unfairly discriminately against U.S. products, and to subsidize domestic industries that compete against American firms."

"Appealing through the WTO has helped the U.S. government to remove barriers to the sale of U.S. semiconductors in China, beef and rice in Mexico, genetically modified crops in the European Union, apples in Japan, milk in Canada, 2,700 specific product categories in India (including high-technology products, petrochemicals, textiles, and agricultural products), and copyrighted sound recordings in Japan."

New Stem Cell Study 'Huge Leap Forward' in Regenerative Medicine - Incredible Health - FOXNews.com

New Stem Cell Study 'Huge Leap Forward' in Regenerative Medicine - Incredible Health - FOXNews.com: "Researchers have transformed ordinary mouse skin cells directly into neurons, bypassing the need for stem cells or even stemlike cells and greatly speeding up the field of regenerative medicine."

Once again, the advances aren't using babies (fetal stem cells).