Paul Ryan: The Right Man for the Right Time-Page 2

He confirmed that if elected, the GOP ticket has a goal to “generate 12 million new jobs over the next four years,” and “keep federal spending at 20 percent of GDP, or less.”

On foreign policy, Ryan stated that “a Romney-Ryan administration will speak with confidence and clarity. Wherever men and women rise up for their own freedom, they will know that the American president is on their side.”

In a rousing, crowd pleasing close, Ryan gave the following assurance: “We will not duck the tough issues, we will lead. We will not spend four years blaming others, we will take responsibility. We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles.

The work ahead will be hard. These times demand the best of us – all of us, but we can do this. Together, we can do this. We can get this country working again. We can get this economy growing again. We can make the safety net safe again. We can do this. Whatever your political party, let’s come together for the sake of our country. Join Mitt Romney and me. Let’s give this effort everything we have. Let’s see this through all the way. Let’s get this done.”

Ryan’s speech was vintage Paul Ryan, calm, fact filled, plain spoken and direct.

Congressman Paul Ryan, the Republican nominee for Vice President offers proof that his generation is ready to be handed the torch of leadership.

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Michael Fell is a former MCA recording artist from the seminal punk rock era who toured America from coast to coast. Today, he’s a leading voice in the L.A. Tea Party movement, active since the February 2009 inception. Mr. Fell currently chairs the Westwood Tea Party, is a founding member of the L.A. Metro Tea Party Coalition, serves as the Vice Chairman of the Westside Republicans Club in L.A. CA, and is an elected Republican delegate to the L.A. 47th AD Central Committee. He’s been Campaign Manager for a primary winning Congressional candidate, as well as Santa Monica and L.A. City Council candidates. Mr. Fell is a contributing writer for https://conservativedailynews.com/, https://rightwingnews.com/, https://www.hollywoodrepublican.net/, https://beforeitsnews.com, https://www.redcounty.com/, https://www.uspatriotpac.com and, https://westsiderepublicans.com/. His opinions on today’s news events and political climate can be found on his blog: https://mjfellright.wordpress.com/

Seeds of Dissent & Discord: A Response to Keyes

Photo credit: WEBN-TV

Alan Keyes’ August 25th article entitled “Is Romney to Lead Conservatives to Self-Extinction?” is poorly timed, ill-advised, and definitely not what America needs at this time.

As far as I can remember, I have voted in every election since 1968. I have never had the opportunity to vote for a perfect candidate. Nor have I ever seen or heard of a perfect candidate. (Perfectionists who demand the perfect candidate are, as far as I can tell, about 2000 years too late.) Candidates do not run for Sainthood, they run for public office – human public office. We do not get to vote for perfection, we only get to vote for the least number of warts. And if we are smart, once we have made our selection, we get behind that person 100%; that is, if we expect our candidate to have any hope of winning.

That’s why I was shocked by Mr. Keyes’ article. If it had been written months ago when there were still several Republican candidates in the race, it would have been helpful and appropriate. But publishing it now only serves to divide and disorient both the conservative base and many independents, potentially causing many to stay away from the polls on election day.

Is this Mr. Keyes’ intent? Probably not, but intentions count for little, including the intent given by those who choose to pass along this article because it represents a minority, but significant view among conservatives. So what? Those who do hold that view are, again, those “perfectionists” who are never and will never be satisfied by any candidate; the ones who always see the glass half empty; the naysayers whose talent is always to find even the smallest point with which they cannot agree. Their condition is regrettable, but they are better left alone, not handed articles like this that only serves to provide more fodder for their doubts.

Conservatives have enough enemies. There are literally thousands of liberal columnists, bloggers, pundits and so-called “neutral” media personnel who stand against us. They will do a fine job of flogging and flaying our flesh. They don’t need our help. But I’m sure they smirk behind their hands every time they see one of us sowing seeds of dissent and discord in our own ranks.

So Romney isn’t perfect. What else is new? Electing him will not solve all our problems or end our national crisis. Agreed. But if we let Obama have four more years, where will we be then? Will not our present crisis, bad as it may be, seem four years from now like the good old days?

We had better get behind Romney now and support him 100%. If we don’t . . .

Huckabee is right to condemn GOP for leaving wounded on battlefield

As a former Navy enlisted man, West Point graduate, and former Army officer, I appreciate what Governor Mike Huckabee wrote to his supporters this past week. Military men never leave their wounded on the battlefield. And that is what has happened with the embattled Congressman Todd Akin, running for a Senate seat against Democrat Claire McCaskill in Missouri.

The Republican establishment joined the Democrat Party and the media in relentless attacks over Congressman Akin’s misstatement about abortion and rape during the past few days.

As Governor Huckabee wrote, Congressman Akin has apologized for his inappropriate remarks and he has resoundingly rejected what he said. He is guilty only of wanting to see every living being protected. However, many of the establishment in the Republican Party, who do not agree with his pro-life views, joined the Democrat firing squad against the congressman.

Democrats never form circular firing squads when one of their own, such as Bill Clinton, make mistakes. The Republican establishment, on the other hand, gladly form such firing squads against their own elected officials when they are frightened. This needs to stop. Indeed, an apology is owed by many of them to this distinguished Member of Congress, Todd Akin.

[To see the email which former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee wrote to his supporters on August 23, 2012, click HERE.]

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Jim Backlin, is a former Reagan administration official and congressional chief of staff after a career in business. A West Point graduate and Vietnam veteran, Jim is chief lobbyist for the Christian Coalition of America.

Democrats control Alaska’s Senate even though the GOP has the majority

A majority coalition known as the “Alaska Senate Bipartisan Working Group,” is the controlling power in the state senate. The group consists of ten Democrats and six Republican members. So, although the Alaska Senate is under the leadership of Republicans, the Democratic controlled caucus effectively rules the roost and decides what bills are allowed to come up for committee hearings and before the floor for a vote.

Democrats Hollis French — Senate Judiciary Chair — and Johnny Ellis — Chair of the Senate Rules Committee — are prominent members of this controversial alliance. They’ve stopped tax relief for oil companies wanting to develop oil resources, thereby grinding to a halt resource development and economic growth through jobs that would have been created as well low cost energy for Alaskans.

Another consequence of this band of liberal Democrats and the Republicans who have thrown their hat in with them, is that they have vociferously stifled and blocked virtually all pro-life legislation. Two examples, the Partial Birth Abortion Ban (HB301) and Parental Consent Bill (HB364), were passed in the House but blocked from even getting a hearing by French.

The Democrat coalition comes into sharp focus when looking into the Senate Seat D race, encompassing District 7 & 8 of the Valley. Mike Dunleavy has pledged to not join the current “bi-partisan” Senate majority that is controlled by liberal Democrats. His opponent, incumbent Linda Menard, is a member of this liberal coalition that has turned our State Senate into a “graveyard” for almost all conservative legislation.

Mike has been endorsed by Alaska Right to Life PAC and Alaska Family Action Inc., Conservative Patriots Group and Alaska Outdoor Council.

Mike Dunleavy has a strong family background, extensive business and educational experience in our state and the Valley. Mike’s work history includes serving as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent; running the Mat-Su correspondence program; managing the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project; heading up the University of Alaska’s K-12 outreach program; and currently working as the President of the Mat-Su School Board.

Mike Dunleavy has earned respect and strong support because he has proven on a consistent basis that he not only “talks the talk” about conservative values and principle, but he “walks the walk.” Electing Dunleavy may very likely restore control of our state’s Senate to conservative hands.

Alaskan Navy Seal who wrote book on bin Laden killing identified, faces likely probe

On Wednesday this week, Reuters reported that a Navy Seal had written a book about the mission that killed Osama bin Laden. The book, entitled “No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden,” was written by a former Seal Team Six member under the pseudonym of “Mark Owen” along with co-author Kevin Maurer. The publisher states that it will be released on 9/11.

According to Reuters:

The U.S. government was surprised by the news that a Navy SEAL who participated in the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan has written a book about the operation in which the al Qaeda leader was killed, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. . . It was not vetted by government agencies to ensure that no secrets were revealed.

The agencies not consulted included the Pentagon and the CIA. The publisher, Dutton of the U.S. Penguin Group, responded:

The book was vetted by a former special operations attorney. He vetted it for tactical, technical, and procedural information as well as information that could be considered classified by compilation and found it to be without risk to national security.

After a bit of sleuthing, Fox News discovered that the author was part of the elite team that killed three Somalian pirates who had taken control of an American vessel in the Indian Ocean in 2009, and that

“Mark Owen,” the pseudonym under which the book was written, is actually 35 year-old Matt Bissonnette of Wrangell, Alaska. Bissonnette held the rank of chief in the elite Navy SEAL Team 6 prior to retiring. He was one of the first men in the room where bin Laden died, witnessing the occurrence first-hand.

Some have called Fox’s decision to publicize Bissonnette’s name and location “astonishing” as it most certainly puts the former Navy Seal at risk of reprisal by Islamic fanatics.  Fox disagreed, noting that anyone who publishes such a book loses any reasonable expectation of privacy.  The network also contended that Bissonnette’s goal is to publicly confront Obama for “taking credit” for the raid, since he had cited the need to “set the record straight.”

It now appears that Obama may be attempting to preempt this confrontation. According to Reuters, Bissonnette is likely to face a Department of Defense probe over his failure to have the book “cleared” prior to publication:

Colonel Tim Nye, spokesman for the U.S. Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, which directs operations by Navy SEALs and other special operations forces, said on Thursday that SOCOM did not review the book before publication, nor had the SEALs.

Nye said that because the book had not been subjected to appropriate pre-publication review, it could become a target of “potential investigation” by government authorities.

Unfortunately for Obama, “any such inquiry was unlikely to be launched until after the book’s publication, scheduled for the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States.”

 

Arrested Marine Vet: Patriot or Nutcase Revolutionary? See the Facebook posts here

On Thursday, Marine veteran Brandon Raub was apparently taken into custody by local law enforcement in conjunction with several federal agencies. Mr. Raub’s mother maintains that her son was arrested because of his “patriotic Facebook postings.”

As of the writing of this column, the agencies responsible for his arrest have still not publicized a charging document explaining why Mr. Raub was arrested. Consequently, much of what we know about this case is from a radio interview with Mr. Raub’s mother as well as an apparent video taken of the actual arrest itself.

So what exactly happened with Mr. Raub? Because the FBI and Secret Service were allegedly involved in his arrest, it’s my guess that the feds will allege that he (1) threatened the President and/or Vice-President, and/or (2) advocated the overthrow of the U.S. government.

The two federal laws at issue include 18 United States Code Section 871 and 18 United States Code Section 2385. The first, 18 USC 871, criminalizes “any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect.” So, in layman’s terms, if you threaten to hurt the President or his successor, you may get to spend some time in the federal pen.

The second, 18 USC 2385, makes a federal felon out of anyone who advocates the “propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government.” In other words, never threaten to overthrow the government through any violent act.  Using a ballot box revolution, however, is perfectly acceptable.

Did the Marine vet cross the line with respect to these laws? Let’s take a look at the only information currently available outside of his mother’s interview and video, Brandon Raub’s Facebook page.  Continue to Part II, Raub Facebook posts HERE.

Ballot Measure 2: ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’

 

Photo credit: bdearth

Alaskans will find a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ at the voting booth on August 28th. Ballot Measure 2, the ‘Alaska Coastal Zone Management Program’ (ACZMP) is bad for Alaska!

State versus Federal control is how Ballot Measure 2 is being marketed, but if Alaskans adopt this highly flawed and convoluted Coastal Management Program, who actually gains control?

Measure 2’s sponsor, deceptively named the ”Alaska Sea Party,” argues for state control but their ACZMP is simply an extension of Federal anti-development laws, so what difference would that make? Most conservatives would agree conceptually with state control, but serious problems are presented by this 700+ word initiative, the longest and most complex ever to go before the Alaskan voters.

The Juneau-based Alaska Sea Party’s initiative is advertised as an expanded version of the prior sunsetted Coastal Management Program but really bears little resemblance to it (more on this later). This new version accommodates special interests and adds additional layers of unnecessary bureaucracy to an already complex permitting process — more red tape to effectively delay or prevent permitting for many projects beneficial to Alaskans. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The initiative creates the ‘Alaska Coastal Policy Board,’ consisting of thirteen Governor-appointed members, nine nominated from coastal regions and 4 from state agencies. This may sound reasonable until you realize that veto-proof control would be in the hands of powerful unelected board members unaccountable to the voters. Furthermore, board members would not be required to have any technical or permitting knowledge; rather, they are simply “nominated” by region. ‘Representation’ on the Alaska Coastal Policy Board would result in only two board members voting for three quarters of our state’s population. Or put another way, an overwhelming majority of the board members voting would represent only one quarter of Alaska’s population.

This power shift is made crystal clear when you realize that Anchorage and the Mat-Su combined get one single vote. Nome and its neighboring villages also get one vote. Fairbanks and the Interior get zero votes. But this new board has broad new statewide powers to set statewide resource development policy, even though it would be controlled by a minority of the state’s population. Out-of-control big government and special interest politics is ripening on the vine in the form of Ballot Measure 2.

So what’s the history behind the initiative? In 1972, Congress attempted to address the challenge of continued growth in coastal zones by passing the Coastal Zone Management Act. The Act was administered by NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. In 1977, Congress approved Alaska’s first Coastal Zone Management Program. In 2003, the Murkowski Administration pushed through major reforms and added a sunset date to the program. This required the Legislature to either amend or re-authorize the (ACZMP). The program expired in 2011 after a failed compromise advanced by Democrats was rejected by Governor Parnell. Ballot Measure 2 is being pushed in the wake of Legislative inaction, and closely mirrors the legislation advanced by Democrats in June 2011.

The bottom line is that we can and must do better for our children’s future. A Coastal Management Program must be constructed fairly and clearly in order to truly benefit the people of Alaska. We must not paint ourselves into a corner by passing this initiative. Remember, initiatives such as Ballot Measure 2 are veto-proof for two years and are virtually impossible to amend. Measure 2 is bad law and must be rejected by voting No on 2, August 28th.