Any chance for peace in Israel?
November 30, 2007 | By Nathaniel Ward
Featured video
Heritage expert Jack Spencer outlines realistic energy solutions for America. |
||
Meeting in Annapolis this week, Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged to reach an enduring peace accord by the end of next year.
But there’s reason to be skeptical that such an agreement will come to pass. “The continuing threat posed by Hamas, backed by Iran and Syria,” writes Heritage Middle East expert James Phillips, “makes a sustainable peace agreement unattainable for the foreseeable future.”
Take our poll: Is the latest Middle East peace initiative likely to work?
Instead of advancing “overly ambitious efforts to quickly resolve” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Phillips proposes that the Bush administration instead seek “realistic step-by-step negotiations.”
» Did the conference move in the right direction? Maybe not, though there is a bright side.
Henry Hyde, R.I.P.
The Heritage Foundation mourns the passing of Henry Hyde, a visionary and passionate conservative leader whose 32 years of service in the U.S. House will be remembered for generations. He was 83.
Rep. Hyde spoke several times at The Heritage Foundation. In 2002, for example, he spoke about America’s relationship with East Asia, and in 2005 he returned to the subject to discuss China’s growing influence.
Watch Steve Forbes in Chicago December 6
Join the Chicago Committee for Heritage on Thursday, December 6 for the Annual Chicago Business Luncheon, featuring Heritage Foundation Trustee Steve Forbes, who will speak about advancing the conservative agenda.
Watch the event live on MyHeritage.org on December 6 at 1:40 p.m. Eastern.
Or RSVP online today to attend in person: MyHeritage.org/Registration
Will the FCC grant itself new powers?
The Federal Communications Commission recently considered using an obscure provision in the Communications Act to grant itself authority to regulate cable television. Under the existing scheme, only broadcast television has come under the agency’s purview.
While the move was ultimately called off, Heritage’s James Gattuso writes with regulation analyst Adam Thierer, it was just the latest in a series of attempts to increase the regulatory burden on telecom.
The FCC has pushed a “regulatory pile-up” not just on cable but on wireless and even traditional broadcasters, they explain. The FCC chairman, for example, has “suggest[ed] that the FCC should police the airwaves (and potentially cable and satellite TV as well) for fatty food advertising and ‘excessively violent’ shows.” Not only that, but the agency spends more than ever—their budget authority is “a whopping 205 percent” higher than what it was 15 years ago.
How Congress can fight gang crime
Heritage legal expert Brian Walsh testified last month before Congress about the need to promote federalism and implement effective gang-control policies.
“The federal government has an important role to play in combating gang-related crime,” Walsh told members of the House Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee. “But that role is limited by the Constitution and should be further confined to developing and funding programs that (1) carry out traditional federal functions, (2) are carefully crafted and evaluated to ensure they achieve their stated goals, and (3) include sufficient oversight and auditing to minimize waste and abuse.”
In other news
- E-85, the ethanol-based fuel, is less cost-effective than diesel or regular gasoline, according to a new study. Despite massive government subsidies to ethanol, diesel outperforms the bio-fuel in both performance and fuel economy.
- There is new evidence that politics, not medical necessity, drives government health-care spending: “Medicare spends billions of dollars each year on products and services that are available at far lower prices from retail pharmacies and online stores, according to an analysis of federal data by The New York Times.” The Times also reports that special interest groups have often intervened with lawmakers to protect this waste of taxpayer dollars. Those who look to government to reduce the costs of health care would do well to look elsewhere.
- John Howard, Australia’s conservative prime minister and a strong American ally, lost last weekend’s elections and has resigned as his party’s leader.
- The federal government no longer mandates that drug companies offer deeply-discounted contraceptive pills to college health centers. The left, of course, is scrambling to ensure the “entitlement” to cheap birth control is upheld. “For [students] this is like a choice,” said one activist, between “groceries or birth control.” What happened to our culture that young people put birth control and food on the same level?
- “U.S. lifestyle won’t have to change in CO2 cut: report,” claims a Reuters headline. But that’s not entirely accurate: according to the report, current consumer behavior can be maintained alongside a carbon emissions reduction only with massive new investment in “green” technology and tremendous increases in energy costs. How this would fail to affect the “U.S. lifestyle” is unclear.
Coming up at Heritage
To attend these or any other Heritage Foundation events, RSVP at Heritage’s events website. Or you can watch these events live online at Heritage.org. All times are Eastern.
- On Monday, Dec. 3 at 11:00 a.m., Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez will speak about America’s relationship with Colombia.
- On Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 11:00 a.m., Professor William Campbell delivers the first in the Portrait of Liberty Lecture Series about Alfred the Great and his impact on Western civilization.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Colin Gowan contributed to this report.
