Rick Perry's Announcement Speech
— Ace

The line was sweatier than Cool Hand Luke, about 250 people waiting for 45 minutes (or more).

Pictures coming (I'm right in front of the podium). Live blogging:

Talks about his upbringing in Paint Creek, and the values he learned -- "hard work and thrift."

"Socialist systems" try to order people in society -- but Americans do not "like to be told their place."

"That's why we reject this president's unbridled fixation" on taking money from citizens, punishing success, increasing dependency on government.

"one in six work-eligible americans cannot find a job, that is not a recovery, that is an economic disaster"

"This president and his big-spending policies have prolonged our national misery, not alleviated it."

"How can the wealthiest nation in history fail so miserably to pay its bills? Well Mr. President you cannot win the future by selling it to foreign creditors."

"This is only the latest downgrade... for three years he has been downgrading employment, downgrading our financial situation, downgrading our confidence, and downgrading our hopes for a better future."

"This president wishes to dictate the borders of our friend, Israel, while being an abject failure in defending the border of the united states."

"It's time to get America workin' again." Minor quote, but I suspect this is to be a theme of his campaign. Best way to do this is to "give a pinkslip to the current occupant of the White House."

Talks about making tough decisions in cutting spending to balance Texas' budget -- "It can, and it must, be done in Washington DC."

Several principles for how to do this: "One, you don't spend all the money!"
Also tort reform, regulation reform.

notes he just got "loser pays" tort reform.

"I know America is not broken, Washington DC is broken!" Another campaign theme. Mentions "generational theft." Will not accept "the path that America is on." "A renewed nation needs a new president."

"It is time to get America working again, and that is why.... I declare to you today as a candidate for presdident of the uS"

We cannot except the exchange of "less freedom for more government."

"The people are not subject to the government, the government is subject to us."

Talks about what is needed to "get American workin' again."

"I will work every day to make sure that Washington DC is as inconsequential to your lives as possible."

Just said goodbye and posed briefly with his family, which is pretty cute.

Overall impressions: 1, he's a good speech giver.

2, a point I didn't touch on because I was trying to get quotes, he condemned Obama for being too cowardly to suggest any entitlement reforms. He did not specify his own.

3, I think he might be softening his Texas accent, aware of the comparisons to Bush. While he clearly had a Texas accent, 1, he didn't sound much like Bush, and 2, it sounded subtle.

I heard that he was a good speaker, could charge the room, channel emotion, speak clearly in appealing themes. This is the first time I've actually seen in him action. Early reports were accurate; he's very good on the stump.

Posted by: Ace at 09:18 AM | Comments (538)
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Ronald Regan, Redux?
— DrewM

Rick Perry makes it official....www.rickperry.org

Jim Pethokoukis has excerpts from his upcoming announcement speech at Red State. A taste.

"I will work every day to make Washington, D.C. as inconsequential in your lives as I can."

A lot of people will try to make Perry out to be George W. Bush but W. would have never said that. In fact, Bush said quite the opposite ("When someone is hurting, government has got to move.").

Below the fold, Rick Perry, "Why I'm Running" more...

Posted by: DrewM at 08:40 AM | Comments (211)
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Jimmy Carter, Redux
— Monty

Instapundit has a recurring theme that a return to the Jimmy Carter era might be a best-case scenario at this point. Ronald Browenstein makes the same point at The National Journal.

President Obama’s approval ratings are now frequently running at 45 percent or lower—not enough to win a second term. Two recent national polls placed the approval rating for Congress near its all-time low. Consumer confidence measures are scraping lows comparable to 1992 and 1980, years that produced electoral earthquakes (and independent presidential challengers).

“I think this is way beyond those years in the level of building frustration, problems facing the country, and anger with both political parties and the political system,” says Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, who advised Bill Clinton during his 1992 victory. “This kind of building frustration and volatility has got to burst out in some way.”

President Obama is not solely to blame for our current troubles, any more than Jimmy Carter was responsible for those in the 1970's. But President Obama, like Carter before him, completely lacks the skills and self-awareness to lead the country out of the doldrums. A President (among his many other duties) is supposed to act as the rudder for the ship of state -- and our country is adrift right now because no one is steering it. President Obama is again like Carter in the strange mix of activist passion combined with political passivity he exhibits. ("Leading from behind", many pundits call it.)

It would be premature to write off a second term for Obama, though. The voting population is far more polarized and partisan now than it was in the 1970's, and our fiscal problems far worse and more intractable. Democrats are being pushed against a wall, and like any cornered beast, they may decide to fight to the bitter end rather than surrender.

UPDATE: Reuters piles on.

Posted by: Monty at 06:54 AM | Comments (202)
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More "Rick Perry, Unhinged!"
— Dave in Texas

He wants to cut your babies in half with a cutlass. Not an Oldsmobile cutlass. A freaking cutlass!

Look, it pains me, as a Texas Longhorn fan, to go into this crap. I've been pickin on Aggies for the better part of 30 years.

But for the greater good.. Rick Perry is a graduate of Texas A&M University. He was a member of the Corps of Cadets. He was a yell leader, their version of a manly cheerleading guy (bear with me Aggies, correct on the finer points later, and shut up already I got it).

Texas A&M produced thousands of officers, and even more enlisted service men and women. It was and is a military prep college. They have a few traditions, like all military prep colleges, including a photo with a uniform they earned, a sabre and some shiny boots. They shined em themselves, they know how.

These are good things. It's a fine tradition. In WWI, an entire senior class of A&M seniors withdrew from school to fight for our country.

Hell, I work with a ton of Aggies who served, and they're all pretty decent men and women who can take a joke even.

So please forgive me, if this pic, of a young man who graduated from A&M, received a commission and served in the United States Air Force, piloted C-130s, well golly he actually posed with his college Reserve Officer Training Corps regalia, and by the way served the nation honorably in our armed forces.

There's no baby corpse under that sabre. (see what I did there, corpse? hahahaha I kill myself).

Lighten up Francis. It's not the big deal your mainstream media mommy wants to make of it.

via Melissa Clouthier

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 03:50 AM | Comments (359)
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Overnight Thread- Cram & Puke Edition [CDR M]
— Open Blogger

Well Moron Nation, I'm still at work but damn, when ONT duty calls, I'm there. So I'll have to live vicariously through y'all gettin' all drunk and topless and perhaps pantsless. So get your swerve on and it's time for the ONT. If the ONT sucks, you can blame NMCI (Navy Marine Corps Internet).

Deadlier US Munitions
Oh yeah. Sounds great until we cut the budget some more. U.S. Military Munitions To Become Even Deadlier.

A groundbreaking material is slated to replace steel in warhead casings. It will allow U.S. munitions to detonate with more force than ever before, while significantly increasing the chances of eliminating enemy targets.

By combining multiple metals with standard manufacturing methods, High-Density Reactive Material (HDRM) has the potential to seriously bolster the explosive capabilities of most munitions with virtually no sacrifice in strength or design.

In contrast to current munitions, the innovative materials system integrates the casing with approved warhead explosives for additional deadliness. The unique design for fragmenting warheads also enables the release of chemical energy after impact, which increases the chances of the bad guys dying.

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:32 PM | Comments (616)
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How will "petroshekels" change the world? [stuiec]
— Open Blogger

The standing joke among Jews is, "If we're the Chosen People, why didn't God promise us some land with OIL under it?" As it turns out, He did.

Recent discoveries -- over the past several years -- put the amount of natural gas reserves in Israeli territorial waters at as much as 26 trillion cubic feet. That's roughly triple what Israel will consume over the next 20 years, meaning much of it can be exported. But compared to Egypt's 77 tcf of gas reserves, Israel's natural gas discoveries are not quite Earth-shaking.

Currently, Israel imports coal for domestic electricity, supplemented since 2004 by natural gas from the offshore Mari-B field twenty-five miles from the southern port of Ashdod. More gas comes from Egypt, arriving near Ashdod via an undersea pipeline. Indeed, despite the excitement over the Leviathan field, Israel signed a new twenty-year gas purchase agreement with Egypt earlier in December to supply several industrial entities, including the Dead Sea Works and the Haifa refinery.

If the riches of the Leviathan field are confirmed, production could begin by 2016. In that scenario, Israel could eventually become a net energy exporter despite still needing to import oil to refine into gasoline and other products. Apart from notional energy independence, using natural gas from its own fields would save Israel $4 billion in imports annually while boosting gross national product. Plentiful indigenous hydrocarbon supplies could also prompt the development of new industries. For the time being, though, Israel must resolve a variety of problems before it can begin reaping the full benefits of the new discovery.

However, Israel sits atop another energy resource: oil shale. Up until the end of 2010, it was believed that Israel had about 4 billion barrels of oil in extractable oil shale. Given that the Saudis produce just under 10 million bbl/day, those 4 billion bbl are equivalent to about 400 days of Saudi Arabia's production.

But new discoveries of oil shale in Israel and new techniques of extraction put the latest estimates of available oil from Israeli shale at 250 billion bbl - just shy of Saudi Arabia's proven reserves of 260 billion bbl.

What is less well-known, but even more dramatic, is the work being done on this countryÂ’s oil shale. The British-based World Energy Council reported in November 2010 that Israel had oil shale from which it is possible to extract the equivalent of 4 billion barrels of oil. Yet these numbers are currently undergoing a major revision internationally.

A new assessment was released late last year by Dr. Yuval Bartov, chief geologist for Israel Energy Initiatives, at the yearly symposium of the prestigious Colorado School of Mines. He presented data that our oil shale reserves are actually the equivalent of 250 billion barrels (that compares with 260 billion barrels in the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia).

Independent oil industry analysts have been carefully looking at the shale, and have not refuted these findings. As a consequence of these new estimates, we may emerge as the third largest deposit of oil shale, after the US and China.

Moreover, Israel is developing extraction techniques that take the oil out of the shale while the shale remains underground, at per-barrel costs of $20 or less.

What would it mean to the world if Israel were able to produce oil at rates similar to Saudi Arabia?

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 03:54 PM | Comments (145)
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Blogging After America Day One
Prologue - The Stupidity of Broke [ArthurK]
— Open Blogger

Welcome to the first installment of Blogging After America. Each day I'll (ArthurK aka Comrade Arthur ) will read a chapter, summarize Steyn and share my observations with you. I'm not commenting on everything - just things here and there that catch my eye. Share your despair in the comments.

Other cobloggers might pop in with their opinions.

"Musings" are my analysis, not Steyns.

Why not pick up a copy and follow along?

---------

After America is Mark Steyn's more-or-less sequel to America Alone. The situation in American has gotten worse much faster than expected in 2006. That's what After America looks at.

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 01:06 PM | Comments (225)
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Sarah Palin: Hey Iowa! Remember Me? Of Course You Do.
— DrewM

After a month or so of relative radio silence and Sarah Palin is back in the spotlight with a visit to the Iowa state fair.

"I think there is plenty of time to jump in the race," she said. "Watching the whole process over the last year certainly shows me that, yes, there is plenty of room for more people."

She said that "practically speaking" September would probably be a deadline for her decision. "I don't want to be perceived as stringing people along," she said.

Palin spoke to the press for about an hour and manged to work in a bit of a shot at Rick Perry.

Palin dings Perry: "I'm glad he's entering the race, even though he said he wouldn't"

Apparently Perry said he wouldn't run for President during his last run for Governor. I remember people saying that Perry would meet Palin's test of a true conservative candidate and that his running would keep her out. She might wind up endorsing him but it doesn't sound like a slam-dunk by any stretch.

I really hope Palin makes up her mind sooner rather than later about getting in the race, especially if she's going to kibitz and comment on candidates from the sidelines. There's no denying Palin's appeal and her ability to generate attention and coverage. At some point, the candidates that are actually running need to be the center of attention. If this is part of her campaign, it's absolutely fair. If it's an attempt to build a brand, not so much.

Time will tell.

Oh and you know who a Palin candidacy would benefit? That's right, Mitt Romney. He'd love to sit back and watch Perry and Palin slug it out for awhile.

Added: Some think I put a negative gloss on Palin's comments about Perry. Well, the folks at Conservatives for Palin seem to think it was a hit and are pretty excited about it.

Posted by: DrewM at 11:43 AM | Comments (532)
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11th Circuit Court Of Appeals Rules ObmaCare Individual Mandate Unconstitutional
— DrewM

Boom!

"...we conclude that the individual mandate contained in the Act exceeds CongressÂ’s enumerated commerce power."

Gabe says this is the multi-state lawsuit.

Apparently they didn't overturn the whole law but without the mandate, the whole scheme collapses. Of course, it's going to the Supreme Court but it's good to be going with at least one win.

More:

The case stems from a challenge by 26 U.S. states which had argued the individual mandate, set to go into effect in 2014, was unconstitutional because Congress could not force Americans to buy health insurance or face the prospect of a penalty.

"This economic mandate represents a wholly novel and potentially unbounded assertion of congressional authority: the ability to compel Americans to purchase an expensive health insurance product they have elected not to buy, and to make them re-purchase that insurance product every month for their entire lives," a divided three-judge panel said.

2 of the 3 judges in the case were appointed by Democrats so that talking point bites the dust.

The 6th Circuit has rulled in favor of the law and the 4th still has a case outstanding. Off to SCOTUS we go!

Posted by: DrewM at 09:31 AM | Comments (487)
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Rick Perry: I'm Here To Chew Bubblegum And Kick Ass And I'm All Out Of Bubblegum
— DrewM

Hey kids! Who's up for a first principles election? Cause if we run Rick Perry against Barack Obama, that's what we're going to get.

Normally, the RINO in me would shy away from this because a lot of what he says is going to scare the hell out of people and make it easier for the Democrats to demonize the GOP (which they'd do anyway).

BUT-If we're ever going to run a plain speaking, all-in conservative (though Perry has his deviations), this is the year. No red state is in danger of flipping and there are plenty of blue states that are lost to Obama, so if not now, when?

A taste of a very long interview.

In Fed Up!, you criticize the progressive era and the changes it produced: the 16th and 17th Amendments, Social Security, Medicare, and so on. I understand being against these things in principle—of longing for a world in which they never existed. But now that they’re part of the fabric of our society, do you think we should actually do away with them?

I think every program needs to stand the sunshine of righteous scrutiny. Whether it’s Social Security, whether it’s Medicaid, whether it’s Medicare. You’ve got $115 trillion worth of unfunded liability in those three. They’re bankrupt. They’re a Ponzi scheme. I challenge anybody to stand up and defend the Social Security program that we have today—and particularly defend it to a 27-year-old young man who’s just gotten married and is trying to get his life headed in the right direction economically. I happen to think that the Progressive movement was the beginning of the deterioration of our Constitution from the standpoint of it being abused and misused to do things that Congress wanted to do, and/or the Supreme Court wanted to implement. The New Deal was the launching pad for the Washington largesse as we know it today. And I think we should have a legitimate, honest, national discussion about Washington’s continuing to spend money we don’t have on programs that we don’t need.

...

What about Medicare? ThatÂ’s an even bigger contributor to these debt problems.

HereÂ’s the problem, in the 25 years that IÂ’ve worked in Texas state government both as a legislator, an appropriator, then as lieutenant governor and the governor of Texas: Washington attaches strings to all these programs. They take away the incentive for innovation because they say here is a portion of your money back and here are the only ways that you can spend it. That on its face is bad public policy. And again, I think itÂ’s an abuse of our Constitution. ThereÂ’s no place in the Constitution that says Washington, D.C. is supposed to be mandated health-care coverage, for example. That gets to the very core of the book. If America really wants to be strong again, we need to get back to the principles this country was based upon. The Constitution as it was written, and the 10th Amendment that clearly says the states are where these decisions should be made. Moving back in that direction will create substantially more competition. States should be laboratories of innovation. I promise you, I know you did a profile on Bobby Jindal, who I happen to think is one of the brightest governors in our country. Bobby knows health care very well. If he were given the freedom from the federal government to come up with his own innovative ways working with his legislature to deliver his own health-care innovations to his citizens, I guarantee he could do it more efficiently and more effectively than one-size-fits-all coming out of Washington, D.C.

But again, Medicare. ItÂ’s been in place for more than four decades now. What do you suggest we do to set it on a more fiscally sustainable path going forward?

I think we need to have a national discussion and not be afraid to talk about it. That is my goal. I didnÂ’t write the book and say anywhere in it, I got all the solutions. What I did say is, We have to be courageous as a country and stand up and admit that we have a Social Security program that is bankrupt, that is a Ponzi scheme, that Medicare and Medicaid collective had $106 trillion worth of liability that is unfunded, and that we need to deal with it and quit passing it on to the next Congress and the next generation.

And here's something conservatives may not like so much.

But just to be clear: if border security is accomplished, you can envision some sort of path to citizenship for people who are here illegally.

Sure.

Posted by: DrewM at 09:03 AM | Comments (262)
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