Jeb Bush pens campaign-like economic manifesto

With a little more than two weeks to go before Republicans begin voting in presidential caucuses and primaries, the GOP faces the possibility of a muddled result in Iowa; a primary race that may take months of bitter campaigning to resolve; and a large number of Republican voters who remain unhappy with the current presidential field. Some of those voters are still hoping another candidate might enter the race.

That is why a new article from former Florida governor Jeb Bush is likely to attract attention from voters and political analysts alike. In the Wall Street Journal, Bush has written an article, “Capitalism and the Right to Rise,” that could be read as a simple statement of economic beliefs — or a campaign manifesto.

Bush begins the piece with a nice word for House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan. After that, the article is a standard Republican call for an end to excessive and intrusive government regulation. “We have to make it easier for people to do the things that allow them to rise,” Bush writes. “We have to let them compete. We need to let people fight for business. We need to let people take risks. We need to let people fail. We need to let people suffer the consequences of bad decisions. And we need to let people enjoy the fruits of good decisions, even good luck. That is what economic freedom looks like.”

Perhaps Bush just wanted to say something. Or perhaps he wanted to join the presidential conversation, either as an influential voice or a possible candidate. If his motivation is the latter, it would be a change from months — years — of denying that he would run for president in 2012. Both Bush and members of his family have said repeatedly that he will not run, that after spending his peak earning years as governor of Florida, he needed to make money for his family. Were he to decide to take run, Bush would have to reconcile his action with his many, many denials.

Of course, he wouldn’t have to persuade those Republicans who would still like to see another candidate enter the race. Polls have shown that a significant number of GOP voters, perhaps a third, are not satisfied with the current field. And some commentators, most notably Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, have suggested that the race might end up in a deadlocked convention, or with the entrance of a new candidate after early caucuses and primaries.

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 Read More at Washington Examiner By Byron York, Washington Examiner

Is it twenty minutes to midnight in America?

That our republic is sinking like the Titanic with only twenty minutes left until midnight is the stark theme of an astonishing new book by citizen historian Joseph J. Breitfeller. Drawing a trenchant comparison with the ineptitude of leadership that allowed the magnificent ship Titanic to sink after the bridge ignored five iceberg warnings; the author says America is fast heading to a similar fate.

The Four Horsemen of America’s Apocalypse are the four progressive Democrat Presidents, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and now the worst, Barack Hussein Obama says Breitfeller whose book belongs in the stocking of every American patriot and conservative this Christmas!

As the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic approaches on April 14, 2012, we need to give this book’s main premise careful consideration. Just as a flawed captain was unable to lead, even to directing deployment of life boats dropped into the icy Atlantic only 1/2 full, our current captain is destroying America’s life boats of Constitutional Governance, States Rights, and Smaller Federalism, thereby pulling us into the vortex of a sinking republic.

The author has created a remarkable analogy of the Titanic’s tragedy with what Progressives have done with their sea of liberal policies and governance. Only an 85% cut in the federal government (pg. 301) will bring us out of our sinking economy says Breitfeller who proposes cutting to the core Pentagon excesses such as the ski center in the Bavarian Alps and its over 200 golf courses, to closing the Departments of Education, Interior, Housing and Urban Development, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the NEA and NEH and the Farm Credit Administration. “Closed, Delegation withdrawn,” should be the fate of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Breitfeller proscribes!

A real step forward merits the closing of the Federal Reserve Banking System which is a big part of our problem because of its lack of audits, lack of transparency and its connection to the executive branch and financial markets.

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 Read More at Coach Is Right By Suzanne Eovaldi, Coach Is Right

House cybersecurity bill would establish federal overseer

Members of the House Homeland Security Committee introduced a cybersecurity bill on Thursday that would establish a quasi-governmental entity to oversee information-sharing with the private sector.

Like the other cybersecurity bills offered by the House GOP, the Promoting and Enhancing Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Effectiveness (PrECISE Act) encourages private firms to share information on cyber threats but stops short of mandating new security standards for sectors deemed critical to national security.

“The risk of cyberattack by enemies of the United States is real, is ongoing and is growing,” said Chairman Pete King (R-N.Y.). “The PrECISE Act, in line with the framework set forth by the Speaker’s Cybersecurity Task Force led by Rep. [Mac] Thornberry [R-Texas], protects our critical infrastructure without a heavy-handed and burdensome regulatory approach that could cost American jobs.”
The bill would clearly delineate the cybersecurity functions of the Department of Homeland Security by requiring DHS to evaluate cybersecurity risks for critical infrastructure firms and determine the best way to mitigate them.

“Cybersecurity is truly a team sport, and this bill gives DHS needed authorities to play its part in the federal government’s cybersecurity mission and enables the private sector to play its part by giving them the information and access to technical support they need to protect critical infrastructure,” said House Cybersecurity subcomittee Chairman Dan Lungren (R-Calif.).

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 Read More at The Hill By Gautham Nagesh, The Hill

European Economic Crisis Highlights an Increasingly Important Reason to Oppose Gun Control

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?

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 Read More at Forbes By Daniel J. Mitchell, Forbes

The Ron Paul Newsletters

Yesterday, during a discussion on Ron Paul with Sean Hannity on the latter’s radio show, Hannity brought up with me the impossible-to-get around subject of the infamous Ron Paul Newsletters.

As Hannity quite correctly pointed out, with the other GOP candidates having received the political equivalent of an anal exam, somehow Ron Paul has escaped notice.

No more.

While I think the lack of attention has been due to the fact that many did not take him seriously, a justifiable complaint from his supporters, I have tried to do just that in this space. And in doing so launched a fusillade of angry response from Paul supporters that, peculiarly, never seems forthcoming when I criticize Gingrich/Romney/Perry/Huntsman etc etc.

But as we head into this last debate of the season, Hannity has raised an excellent point. The higher Ron Paul goes, as with his fellow candidates who have floated to the top previously, the scrutiny will intensify. And Ron Paul will have to seriously answer.

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 Read More at The American Spectator By Jeffrey Lord, American Spectator

More RINOs Against Impeachment…of Judges

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.)

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

Big Obama donor cashed in on ‘stimulus’. Energy company received hundreds of millions in taxpayer funds

The founder of an energy company that benefited from deals involving hundreds of millions in “stimulus” money made the maximum donation allowable to President Obama’s inauguration, WND has learned.

Peter L. Corsell, founder of GridPoint Inc., contributed $50,000 to the inauguration.

Corsell served as the Gridpoint’s chief executive officer from the company’s inception until transitioning to the position of non-executive chairman in October, 2010.

Yesterday, KleinOnline broke the story that an Obama adviser who played a key role in developing the energy provisions of the so-called stimulus bill serves on the boards of Gridpoint as well as several other companies that recently received government funds, including “stimulus” money.

TJ Glauthier served on Obama’s 2008 White House Transition Team. He is widely credited with helping to craft the energy provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the “stimulus.”

 Read More at Klein Online By Aaron Klein

Strains on Display: No Iraqi Leaders Attend U.S. End-of-War Ceremony in Baghdad

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.

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 Read More at CNS News By Susan Jones, CNS News

Romney Intensifies Criticism Of Gingrich

His attacks growing ever more personal, Mitt Romney on Wednesday questioned chief rival Newt Gingrich’s temperament, spending habits and allegiance to both the GOP and the middle class while hecklers confronted Gingrich in the lead-off caucus state.

During a series of interviews while fundraising in New York, Romney told one media outlet that “zany is not what we need in a president” and another that Gingrich had “an extraordinary lack of understanding of how the economy works.” To yet another, Romney mocked Gingrich’s past accounts at a tony jeweler, saying: “He’s a wealthy man – a very wealthy man. If you have a half-a-million-dollar purchase from Tiffany’s, you’re not a middle-class American.”

Romney’s campaign also rolled out an Internet video describing Gingrich as an unreliable conservative and using a clip of a climate change ad that the former House speaker filmed with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

Gingrich, in turn, sought to stay above the fray.

“They should run their campaign the way they want to and we’re going to run our campaign the way we want to,” Gingrich told reporters after an event at the University of Iowa.

 Read More at OfficialWire By Philip Eliot and Shannon McCaffrey, OfficialWire

Obama’s Creepy New Plot to Get Republican E-mail Addresses

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