The Washington Times

"Both plans would worsen, not improve, the fiscal position of the nation," which is facing a gigantic long-term fiscal gap, said Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. "Both plans would dramatically enlarge the deficit..."  LINK

...Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, young Atlantic editors (Mr. Douthat made his bones as an intern at National Review), are concerned with shoring up that base and adding to it. The thesis is that members of "the working class," defined as "the non-college educated voters who make up roughly half the American electorate" and elected FDR, Nixon, Reagan and Bush have "transformed the Republican Party from the 'party of the country club' to the 'party of Sam's Club,'" as Minnesota… more

The American Academy of Diplomacy sent letters to the two presumptive presidential candidates last week, proposing several criteria for choosing non-career ambassadors, including foreign affairs experience, communication and persuasion skills, and leadership abilities...

..."It might be perfectly fine in today's climate, where you can raise more money over the Internet than ever before," to make a pledge such as the one the academy has called for, said Steven Hill, director of the Political Reform Program of the New America Foundation.

"With Barack Obama raising so much money… more

...Any Pakistani government must reckon with the fact that its countrymen prefer negotiation over military action against al Qaeda, the Taliban and other terrorist militants. In a recent study by Terror Free Tomorrow and the New America Foundation, more than half of Pakistanis said the United States was to blame for violence inside the country today, as compared to only 8 percent blaming al Qaeda. This is a perception gap of enormous proportions, and a similarly epic public-diplomacy failure... more

...In the current edition of the New Republic magazine, terrorism experts Paul Cruickshank and Peter Bergen, who has written a biography of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, document what they think is a pronounced shift by Muslims away from al Qaeda.

"Why have clerics and militants once considered allies by Al Qaeda's leaders turned against them?" the two writers ask.

"To a large extent, it is because Al Qaeda and its affiliates have increasingly adopted the doctrine of takfir, by which they claim the right to… more

Making Tax Day Less Painful (The Washington Times)

. . . Maya MacGuineas of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says that these $800 billion a year in "tax expenditures are really spending programs designed to look like tax cuts." . . . more

Congress is set to face one of its most important votes this year - whether to offset the costs of continuing to provide relief from the alternative minimum tax (AMT). The implications for the nation's fiscal and economic health are huge.

The cost of extending AMT relief for another year is $51 billion. While hardly small, that's modest compared to the costs of new tax and entitlement proposals that will likely emerge in the coming months and years (such as proposals… more

The influx of Mexicans into the United States will change how race is perceived in American society, says Gregory Rodriguez, [director of the California Fellows Program at the New America Foundation]. ...

Author of a new book, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America, Mr. Rodriguez said at a Washington press conference this week that Mexican-Americans have been "racially categorized" for centuries and that integration is a must for American society.

His… more

Recent Democratic debates on national security have focused on charges and countercharges over who is better prepared to be commander in chief. Not enough attention has been paid to whether any of the major Democratic candidates offers a vision of U.S. foreign policy substantially different from that set out by the Bush administration.

While Barack Obama has criticized Hillary Clinton for promoting a "Bush lite" foreign policy, his own advocacy of preventive strikes against al Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan is… more

The United States must face the fact that most of the world's energy resources are in the hands of powerful states such as Russia, Iran and Venezuela that are increasingly hostile to U.S. interests and consumers, analysts and senators said yesterday. Partly because of fumbled foreign relations by the United States, an "axis of oil" is developing outside of U.S. influence that encompasses Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, among other giant energy producers and consumers. To curtail… more