About a year ago, I spoke at a conference in Europe that attracted a lot of very rich people from all over the continent, as well as a lot of people who manage money for high-net-worth individuals.

What made this conference remarkable was not the presentations, though they were generally quite interesting. The stunning part of the conference was learning – as part of casual conversation during breaks, meals, and other socializing time – how many rich people are planning for the eventual collapse of European society.

Not stagnation. Not gradual decline. Collapse.

As in riots, social disarray, plundering, and chaos. A non-trivial number of these people think the rioting in places such as Greece and England is just the tip of the iceberg, and they have plans – if bad things begin to happen – to escape to jurisdictions ranging from Australia to Costa Rica (several of them remarked that they no longer see the U.S. as a good long-run refuge).

This was rather sobering. I’ve never been an optimist about Europe’s future, as I explain here and here, but is the situation really this bad?

Follow Joe Miller at Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

 Read More at Forbes By Daniel J. Mitchell, Forbes

When the subject of impeachment comes up, the RINOs come out of the woodwork to wag their fingers and insist the action would be unwise, impractical, and irresponsible — for anyone, anywhere, for virtually any reason. Last week, when Congressman James Sensenbrenner raised the possibility of impeaching Attorney General Eric Holder, George W. Bush’s Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he would not even want Holder’s deputy, Lanny Breuer, to be forced to quit. Now, more Bush-43 RINOs have come out against threatening politicians with the ultimate penalty. In this case, they oppose a plan by a Republican presidential candidate to impeach unwieldy judges.

Newt Gingrich proposed impeaching judges who regularly violate their duty to enforce the Constitution of the United States in his 28-page paper entitled “Bringing the Courts Back Under the Constitution.” That paper forwards the radical notion that “Judges who issue unconstitutional decisions or who otherwise ignore the Constitution and the legitimate powers of the two other co-equal branches of the federal government can be subjected to impeachment.”

This left two Bush-43 attorneys general, Michael Mukasey and Alberto Gonzales, sputtering in disbelief. Fox News reports, in an exclusive, that were “not happy with the Gingrich call for the power to impeach judges or abolish judgeships following any ruling considered particularly outrageous.” Gonzales offered the strongest rebuke (on the record): “I would tread very, very carefully down the road with this notion that ‘okay, this judge has rendered a decision that we think is very unpopular and we’re not happy with it so we’re going to try to impeach this judge.’ I think that’s not healthy.”

Gonzales added, “I think we have a great government.”

The most potent reason pols leak “exclusive” stories to Fox News is an attempt to sway Republican voters on the eve of an important vote. Al Gore did it about George W. Bush’s drunk driving in 2000. Someone did it on the eve of tonight’s FNC debate. The story notes, almost in passing, “Mukasey has counseled Mitt Romney” — although he insists he would do the same for anyone else who wants his advice. (The last four words of that sentence could be turned into a pretty good question.)

Follow Joe Miller at Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Read More at Floyd Reports By Ben Johnson, The White House Watch

Fox News Correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports that only a handful of Iraqis were on hand Thursday as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and U.S. military leaders formally ended the Iraq war with a subdued ceremony in Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not attend the ceremony at which the flag of U.S. Forces-Iraq was officially retired.

“You will leave with great pride — lasting pride — secure in knowing that your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people to cast tyranny aside and to offer hope for prosperity and peace to this country’s future generations,” Panetta told U.S. troops. But even as a U.S. military band played a medley of patriotic American tunes, the ceremony — televised live in the 5 a.m. EST hour — seemed one-sided without Iraqi participation or even a thank-you.

Almost nine years of fighting in Iraq leaves 4,500 Americans dead and 32,000 wounded, according to the Associated Press tally. The cost to the U.S. — more than $800 billion. But it was worth it, Panetta says:
“We spilled a lot of blood there,” the defense secretary said earlier this week. “But all of that has not been in vain. It’s been to achieve a mission making that country sovereign and independent and able to govern and secure itself.”

The BBC reported that in the city of Falluja on Wednesday, Iraqis burned U.S. flags to celebrate the war’s end. Some Iraqis say the U.S. did not live up to its promise to leave behind a secure and stable Iraq.

U.S. officials were unable to reach an agreement with the Iraqis on immunity for U.S. troops that would have allowed a small training and counterterrorism force to remain in the country.

Follow Joe Miller at Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

 Read More at CNS News By Susan Jones, CNS News

First, there was [email protected]. Then the Obama campaign launched the the Attack Watch website. Now the Committee for the Perpetual Re-election of Barack H. Obama has a new trick to collect private information about Republicans and other Enemies of the State: getting your Democratic friends to rat you out under the guise of a “joke.” They are supposed to make a donation to Obama (who isn’t?), then send the campaign your e-mail address to tell you that you inspired the donation. The White House Dossier website explains:

The Obama presidential campaign is launching an effort to collect Republican email addresses by inviting its supporters to submit information about their Republican associates to the Obama 2012 website…

He then quotes the website’s pitch:

Who inspires you to give?

This holiday season, we’re giving you a chance to have a little fun at the expense of a Republican in your life by letting them know they inspired you to make a donation to the Obama campaign.

Simply enter their name and email address below. Then, we’ll send them a message letting them know they inspired you to donate.

Thank you for supporting this campaign, and happy holidays.

 Read More at Floyd Reports By Ben Johnson, Floyd Reports

Over the Past few days a few stories arriving on the internet have combined to give us a look at the “ghost of socialist America future.”

A Rasmussen poll told us that 26% of adults in this country believe the government, (read Obama Administration) should manage our economy. Surprisingly just 23% say government should stay away from our economy and let it run itself.

A story from Norway connects to this sad state of affairs. It tells of how the European Union which runs EVERYTHING in Europe not just the economy, with its centrally planned economy, has strangled the farming industry in Norway so thoroughly that the price of a simple pound of butter has soared to 350 euros or about $465.00! Of course the official explanation is “Don’t blame us there was too much rain this summer which cut the growth of cow feed and dairy farm production,” (Just as it would happen in a free market economy – I’m sure!)

People have started to smuggle butter in from Russia! Russia – is now a better place to farm than Europe?

The third peek at the future Obama is pulling us toward is one about the Navy. To perpetuate the lie that biofuel is a viable alternative to actual fuel, there has to be some sales of the stuff in large quantities. Suspiciously the good folks over at the Department of Agriculture just happened to have 450,000 gallons of biofuel they could sell to the Navy at a “nice” price. The price wasn’t “nice” for us the tax payers but hey “it’s not our money” as the civil service mantra goes. The biofuel was sold to the Navy by the Department of Agriculture for $16.00 a gallon!

 Read More at Coach Is Right By Kevin “Coach” Collins, Coach Is Right