This week Verizon released the 2013 Data Breach Investigations Report, its sixth comprehensive annual report of the state of cybersecurity.  The DBIR adds important factual information to the increasingly public debate over the consumer privacy, national security and economic issues around cyber crime and how to prevent it. 

ObamaCare champions made many promises during debate about the law—such as that it wouldn’t add to the deficit and Americans who like their health insurance would get to keep it—which have since been broken. But there’s one promise the Administration can and should keep: the promise made to help people with pre-existing conditions.

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With Earth Day upon us, I would just like to note a few of the things we have learned in the past several years – the Earth is warming, sea ice is disappearing, the glaciers are receding, the oceans are acidifying, and sea levels are rising. We know all of this from climate science.  And all of this will impact every single person on this planet.

The work being done at NASA, NOAA and other agencies is providing the crucial data that our nation will need to move forward on this critical issue, yet some would have us stop climate science research across the federal government.

Our country has a proud tradition of conservation: reaching to the very highest office in the land. It is well-known that Teddy Roosevelt was an avid outdoorsman and conservationist; his efforts set the conservation bar for subsequent presidents, indelibly shaping the character and beauty of our nation for generations to come.

Roosevelt wasn’t the only president in the early part of the 20th century to emphasize the importance of conservation. Ohio native President Warren G. Harding and his friends, including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and naturalist John Burroughs,camped every summer for decades. Known as the Vagabonds, their adventures were publicized by news reporters (Harding’s entourage reportedly included 10 White House photographers) and promoted the great outdoors to a national audience.

Today, America is facing critical fiscal and economic issues – from sustained, widespread unemployment to nearly $17 trillion in debt. It is incumbent upon the nation’s elected leaders to get the policy right, to rebuild trust with the American people, and tackle these challenges head-on. That’s why it was particularly disappointing that when President Obama sent his budget to Congress – two months later than the legally mandated deadline – he got the policy horribly wrong. Read more...

Compromise and bipartisan are the two words being used to describe the Senate "Gang of Eight’s" immigration bill. No doubt, reaching agreement on the first real chance at overhauling our archaic immigration laws was no easy feat.

A rigorous path to earned citizenship for the 11 million living in the shadows? Check. Clearing decades-long family backlogs? Check.

The big wins are easy to spot, but the devil is in the details. And that is where ill-conceived compromises were made.

Once again health care was put on the chopping block to make the bill more palatable to conservative lawmakers. A major misstep.

In a recent Congress Blog in The Hill, George C. Landrith, the president of the Frontiers of Freedom Institute, describes catch shares in coastal fisheries as “an innovative, market-based approach” to fisheries management. As a full-time advocate for the recreational fishing community and lifelong coastal angler, I find it difficult to understand how a group which boasts a mission of promoting “limited government, free enterprise, free markets, and traditional American values” as Frontiers of Freedom claims could be so far off base with regard to facts.

An inter-industry battle has erupted in Washington, D.C. regarding national menu-labeling requirements. National restaurant chains are lobbying to expand the application of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed menu-labeling regulations to convenience and grocery stores. Looking at the convenience store industry as a whole shows exactly how overly-broad regulation can crush small business owners. America’s’ food sector is simply too diverse for a blanket rule to benefit businesses or consumers. It would be fundamentally wrong to compel thousands of enterprises with different business models and niches to abide by  a single “one-size fits all” rule.

Apple appears to be a company in crisis as the stock closed at $392.05 Thursday, down a whopping 44% from its lofty heights in late September 2012. The only people happy about this move are the short sellers who are having a field day. Many have forgotten how fickle consumers can be about technology and brand loyalty is incredibly difficult to sustain. Michael Dell can attest to that.

There have been ominous signs of trouble for some time now though. Leap Wireless and their Cricket brand made a huge gamble with their purchasing commitment for $900 million of iPhones but consumer demand has been soft for the iPhone 5 and the company is likely to lose millions. Consumers have simply decided that the differences between their iPhone 4S and a newer model are rather insignificant or that better deals are to be had with the popular Samsung Galaxy line, which reached a milestone of 100 million units sold by the end of last year.

So where did it all go wrong for a cash-rich company with so many Apple converts worldwide? A recent apology by Apple CEO, Tim Cook, to China, was indicative of Apple’s recent frustration with slowing sales and perhaps missed opportunities in the most rapidly expanding nation. Business penetration has been extremely lacking, which is quite surprising given the superiority of their server technologies. Moreover, in terms of security, the iPhone is arguable superior to just about any Android smartphone and the latest encryption technologies found on Macs can stand up to just about any computer.