Fresh from his overwhelming re-election victory, Gov. Bobby Jindal has unveiled an audacious education reform agenda that built around an expanded school voucher program, new charter schools, a rigorous teacher evaluation system and a revamped tenure system. With the Louisiana state legislature set to go back into session this coming March, the governor is expected to win broad support for many of the proposed changes.
If so, the voucher program, which is now limited to New Orleans, would go statewide. Low-income families with a child enrolled in a school that has received a C rating or lower could use public dollars to cover the cost of private school tuition.
Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN), now serving in his seventh year as the state’s CEO, has clearly left his mark on Indiana. This year, with Republicans in control of the state legislature, he’s continued to reform government, enacting landmark education reforms.
Daniels shared stories of his policy accomplishments in a wide-ranging speech last week at Heritage. He’s the author of a new book, “Keeping the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans.”
Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades. He was a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Among scholars, he is best known for his theoretical and empirical research, especially consumption analysis, monetary history and theory, and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy. He was an economic adviser to U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Over time, many governments practiced his restatement of a political philosophy that extolled the virtues of a free market economic system with little intervention by government. As a leader of the Chicago school of economics, based at the University of Chicago, he had great influence in determining the research agenda of the entire profession. Milton Friedman’s works, which include many monographs, books, scholarly articles, papers, magazine columns, television programs, videos, and lectures, cover a broad range of topics of microeconomics, macroeconomics, economic history, and public policy issues. The Economist described him as “the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th century?possibly of all of it.”
Read the rest.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney still leads the race for the Republican nomination — but just barely, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday.
Romney’s support among GOP primary voters has dropped 6 percentage points in recent weeks, from 23 percent in early June to 17 percent in the new poll, which asked about announced and potential candidates.
Close behind Romney is undeclared candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry at 14 percent. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann comes in at 10 percent — up from 4 percent in early June.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Texas Rep. Ron Paul all receive 9 percent. Giuliani and Palin have not declared their candidacy.
Businessman Herman Cain comes in at 5 percent. All others receive less than 5 percent.
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Fox News Poll 2012 GOP Presidential Nominee Preference Among Republican Primary Voters Romney 17% Paul 9% Perry 14% Cain 5% Bachmann 10% Gingrich 4% Giuliani 9% Pawlenty 2% Palin 9% Santorum 2% July 17-19, 2011 GOP Primary Voters ± 5.5% |
Fox News Poll 2012 GOP Presidential Nominee Preference Among Republican Primary Voters Now Early June Romney 17% 23% Perry 14% N/A Bachmann 10% 4% Giuliani 9% 13% Palin 9% 12% July 17-19, 2011 GOP Primary Voters ± 5.5% |
Primary voters were also asked about their second choice candidate. If Giuliani doesn’t run, his backers mainly would go to Romney and the shape of the race would look about the same. If Perry decides against running, his supporters for the most part would split between Bachmann and Romney. And Palin backers go many different directions, though mainly split between Romney, Paul and Perry.
Herman Cain announces his run for Republican candidate for president at a rally Saturday, May 21, 2011 in Atlanta. (AP)
Tea Party favorite Herman Cain announced his long-shot presidential candidacy to a raucous crowd in Atlanta Saturday, yelling, “I’m running for president of the United States and I’m not running for second.”
At a rally attended by thousands, the businessman, author and talk radio show host showed he knows how to wow a conservative gathering. The crowd chanted, “Herman, Herman, Herman,” as Cain unleashed the same soaring rhetoric and relentless attacks on President Obama that has created buzz in recent weeks.
“Let me tell you some of the reasons why I’m running for president of the United States.We have become a nation of crises,” he said, citing morals, the economy, entitlement spending, immigration and foreign affairs as among the crises facing the nation.
“And we’ve got a deficiency of leadership crisis in the White House,” he said to roaring cheers.
Now the 65-year-old Republican will see if he can use that grass-roots enthusiasm to turn a long-shot presidential campaign into a credible bid.
Cain has been introducing himself to voters during months of traveling around the country.
Cain supports a strong national defense, opposes abortion, backs replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax and favors a return to the gold standard.
April 15 will be Feet to the Fire Day at the AZ Capitol
April 15, 2009–View from the Senate Roof The Arizona chapter of Americans for Prosperity, along with allied Tea Party groups and policy organizations, is hosting a giant Feet to the Fire Tea Party from 6:00 to 9:00 pm on the evening of April 15, 2011. The event will take place on the House and Senate lawns at the Arizona Capitol, and will feature a meet-and-greet with elected officials on the lawns, beginning at 4:00 pm.
On Tax Day in 2009, we brought a crowd of over 7,000 people to the Arizona Capitol. Our goal was to let fed-up Tea Partiers know that the Arizona Legislature actually does have a core of solid fiscal conservatives. Thanks in large part to local Tea Party groups around the state, the Legislature now has even more conservatives. But we cannot simply trust them to do the right thing. On Tax Day in 2011, we must hold their Feet to the Fire. Printable flyer in PDF: http://static.taxcutsforall.com//files/feetflyer7april2011.pdf
Tentative FTF Program:
March 12: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is interviewed at his office in Washington.
House Republicans adamant that the government keep its hands off the Internet passed a bill Friday to repeal federal rules barring Internet service providers from blocking or interfering with traffic on their networks.
Republicans, in voting to repeal rules on “network neutrality” set down by the Federal Communications Commission, said the FCC lacked the authority to promulgate the rules. They disputed the need to intervene in an already open Internet and warned that the rules would stifle investment in broadband systems.
“The FCC power grab would allow it to regulate any interstate communication service on barely more than a whim and without any additional input from Congress,” said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., sponsor of the legislation. The Internet, he added, “is open and innovative thanks to the government’s hands-off approach.”
