[StBernard] MyHeritage.org: False Ads Continue

[Westley Annis]

November 3 | By Nathaniel Ward

Watch the video!
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=xWuPHRS0mc9797Hbc-7Hcw..> 
FEATURED VIDEO
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=wgUfzGRHyxvlopjzL3p9vg..> 
Heritage Trustee Steve Forbes explains solutions to the financial crisis at
an event sponsored by the Tucson Committee for Heritage. More videos
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=9AF0zQjRNZ4lPQc3_IzQ4g..> > 	

Ronald Reagan

What Would Reagan Do? 	

Here are the results from the latest What Would Reagan Do? Question of the
Week, including how respondents answered.

What did Reagan know is the mandate of all elected presidents?

0% - Increase government spending to solve problems

99% - Uphold the Constitution (correct answer)

1% - Set U.S. policy according to international consensus

"All who are elected to serve in our National Government have one
unmistakable and undeniable mandate: to preserve, protect, and defend the
Constitution. To this -- this foremost -- they must always be attentive. For
a President, it means protecting his office and its place in our
constitutional framework. In doing that, the President is accountable to the
people in the most direct way, accountable to history and to his own
conscience." - Reagan's Remarks and Q&A at the University of Virginia
(December 16, 1988)
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=ChDxdMHbXOENhdesP1M2Tw..> 

This week's question > 

<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=hY4tjqUp800WbR99E9ryEA..> 	

False ads continue


Senator Barack Obama's campaign continues to air
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=x9PQUiZY5yUZyr8Cc29WkQ..>  false and
inaccurate advertisements citing Heritage Foundation expert Rea Hederman.

Watch Heritage's video that sets the record straight:

  <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=ObrkuCQwdtVAvZT3CKpl3g..> 

As Hederman himself makes abundantly clear
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=zDQ7dH16L9ujvX5B9Ryr7g..>  on
National Review Online, he did not endorse the Obama tax plan as the ads
falsely suggest.

"I'm flattered that the Obama campaign thinks so highly of me that they
insist on giving me national exposure," he writes. "I just wish they had
called me first, to verify the information in the ad. I imagine they're
pretty embarrassed now that The Heritage Foundation's lawyer has notified
them that their advertisement is false."

"In fact," he continues, "the campaign must be feeling really sheepish about
their gaffe. They haven't worked up the nerve to apologize to me, or even
respond to our lawyer's letter. Perhaps they're still debating how to set
the record straight." 

In a video distributed widely online
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=aKn34CZ1TKLEPfoYT97TYA..> , Hederman
explains how the Obama campaign is misconstruing Hederman's words and the
positions of The Heritage Foundation.

Follow the latest at blog.heritage.org/obama
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=nXB8iNMrB26M3XPO1TLHxA..> .

-- David Talbot


Fighting misinformation


Since the campaign continues to run the false and misleading ads, Heritage's
lawyer has contacted television stations and networks
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=-KWvvMWATIEvvsI_vZnBcQ..>  to ask
them to discontinue showing the ads.

The letter to the stations and networks reads:

	Dear General Manager:

	We are informed that your station has been running advertisements
placed by Obama for President that contain false statement concerning my
client, The Heritage Foundation. The ads and the reason for their falsity
are described in my attached letter
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=NVbr9M7Lu2FOdVZYIqB0Uw..>  to the
Obama campaign. The campaign has apparently ignored my letter and continues
to run the false ad.

	As a responsible media outlet, we assume that you take seriously
your obligation to ensure that advertisements appearing on your station do
not mislead the public with false information. Accordingly, we respectfully
request that your station discontinue the publication of these ads.

	Further information about The Heritage Foundation's position on the
Obama and McCain tax plans can be obtained at heritage.org
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=Iaxf-VpOxYYubFHT6Ib7DA..> . After
reading them, we are sure you will agree that it is misleading in the
extreme for the Obama campaign to suggest that The Heritage Foundation
believes that Senator Obama's tax plan would be better for middle class
Americans than the plan proposed by Senator McCain.

	Very truly yours,
	Alan P. Dye

Talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham have picked up on the
story, as have dozens of blogs and news websites like ABC.

-- David Talbot


The facts on taxes


Given the liberal distortions about taxes, Heritage economist Bill Beach
sets the record straight
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=9bO-UBd0kgmyhJn0O9j7rA..> .

"John McCain's tax plan, which makes all of the tax reductions permanent
(among other things)," he argues, "produces more than twice as much economic
activity as Barack Obama's plan, which makes those tax reductions permanent
only for taxpayers with incomes below $250,000." 

Beach goes on to conclude that "the Obama tax increases hit capital costs
particularly hard, which reduces investment and creates significantly higher
borrowing costs for businesses at all levels. These effects combine with
declines in savings, consumption, and labor effort to produce significant
economic consequences outside of the targeted class of taxpayers. Thus,
families whose incomes exempt them from the higher Obama taxes still feel
the pinch of these taxes through a slower job market an increasingly
sluggish income."

-- David Talbot


Other Heritage work of note


*	After seven years of overseas combat deployment, America's military
is in a state of reduced readiness. Heritage's Mackenzie Eaglen explains
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=fmFiJ4WiT-pqkmtr4if1cg..>  that
"symptoms include delayed, shortened, or less diverse training;
cross-leveling of personnel and equipment from disparate units to plug
deploy-ing-unit shortfalls; less maintenance for worn-out weapons; and
shortened rest time at home before redeploying overseas." Congress must work
quickly to remedy this urgent problem, she argues.

*	"Redefining marriage to include same-sex unions poses significant
threats to the religious liberties
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=25bushsmolegoFxVIZCUtg..>  of people
who continue to believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a
woman," Heritage visiting fellow Thomas Messner writes in a new in-depth
analysis. "In states with same-sex marriage, individuals and institutions
that believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman can expect
to encounter an increasing number of challenges to their freedom to express
their beliefs and live by them inside and outside of their places of
worship. These challenges will come from the state itself, from increased
civil liability under nondiscrimination laws, and from private actors."

*	Congress is considering bailing out state governments who spend
lavishly at taxpayer expense. Writing in the New York Post, Heritage expert
Brian Riedl explains why this is a bad idea
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=UJDJm6hQSCqKcTxCEKZizQ..> . "The
biggest losers from a federal bailout are taxpayers who live in fiscally
responsible states," Riedl explains. "The right answer is for the states to
face the facts: Set priorities, make trade-offs and reduce unnecessary
spending."

*	In a brief analysis of the Founders' take on redistribution of
wealth <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=usgcuXLFt7omvypu6W8PCA..> ,
Heritage expert Matthew Spalding writes on Heritage's blog that a major
element of the pursuit happiness is keeping the rewards of our labor. "In
the long run," writes Spalding, the director of Heritage's Simon Center for
American Studies, "the Founders reasoned markets would do a better job at
spreading wealth" than the government.


In other news


*	While many governors want Congress to bail out their state budgets,
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford testified before a Congressional
committee <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=9hVCbTyqPU_ZoqoGPM0Gow..>
and specifically asked for no money. Instead, Governor Sanford asked the
Committee "to simply give the states more freedom," "more flexibility" and
"more in the way of control over the dollars we already have and less in the
way of costs. Give us more options, not more money with federal strings
attached."

*	The 100-year-old Christian Science Monitor will cease daily
publication
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=I3ipZRogd0mfdysAAtZChA..>  and
switch to a weekly print edition and an online edition starting next year.

*	Expected cuts to defense spending pushed through by a more liberal
Congress are forcing officials to determine what sorts of wars America will
face <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=8PPXRHdxvibMfH8n8JgDlA..>  and
thus what sorts of wars to prepare for. In the past, Pentagon officials had
sought to be able to meet any military challenge.

*	Gun sales are up, which the Washington Times says may be because
Americans are preparing for anticipated firearms regulations
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=1pMEvAfOCiTN7udbAkzHNg..> .

*	The AP reports on some good news from Iraq
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=RPCPHxY0hDUPiaqtF75pmQ..> : "U.S.
deaths in Iraq fell in October to their lowest monthly level of the war,
matching the record low of 13 fatalities suffered in July."

*	Crude oil prices fell 32 percent
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=_lANRFuUbKXXscTEIA6SmQ..>  in
October, a record monthly drop fueled by sagging demand. Demand is sure to
rise with economic recovery, though, which is why it remains imperative to
develop new sources for energy in this country.

*	The Navy conducted a test of its anti-missile systems over the
weekend <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=ySFAbP5A46FhrHMOTyAf8w..> .
It was the first test not run by the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency. One
of the two target missiles was destroyed.