Free Republic

The American phoenix is slowly rising again. Within five years or so, the US will be well on its way to self-sufficiency in fuel and energy. Manufacturing will have closed the labour gap with China in a clutch of key industries. The current account might even be in surplus.

Herman Cain lacks the gooey extra cheese which is the hallmark of the professional politician. His 999 plan would remove the social engineering and lobbyist feeding trough features of our currently insane income tax scheme. Time will tell if there's still hope for a "Citizen Statesman" to lead in America. Maybe he's just what the founders ordered.

"I'm very confident that after all the distractions that the media will try to create, or however they get created, people care about having a job, having the dignity of a job, getting this country back working," the Republican presidential candidate said on Friday during an interview Downtown with the Tribune-Review. Perry said he's accustomed to running campaigns from behind. His record of leadership and job creation while leading Texas since 2000 appeals to voters, he said. In late 2009, polls showed U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison with a double-digit lead over Perry in the gubernatorial primary race. He decisively...

Rick Perry Unveils Energy Plan to Get Government Out of the Way and Get America Working Again Bryan Preston October 14, 2011 The Texas governor is out of the gate with the first part of his economic plan, concerning energy: Though our president has labeled Americans as soft, I believe our people have toughed it out the best they can. But they are looking for leadership and optimism, which are all too rare in Washington today.What I am proposing today is the first part of an economic growth package that will rebuild the engine of American prosperity.The plan I present...

GOP White House hopeful Rick Perry said Tuesday evening that removing restrictions on U.S. energy production will be a central pillar of the economic plan he intends to unveil in coming days. “Clearly opening up a lot of the areas of our domestic energy . . . that is a the real key. You have got an administration that by and large has either by intimidation or over-regulation put our energy industry and the rest of the economy in jeopardy,” Perry, the Texas governor, said early in Tuesday’s debate in New Hampshire. “Clearly, we are going to be focused on...

Herman Cain woke up Tuesday to another day of soaring polling numbers, showing him moving into second place behind Mitt Romney and pushing Rick Perry out of the spotlight. The day ended with the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO under attack from his rivals, both on stage and in a series of post-debate press releases meant to tear him down. But from his new center-stage spot next to Mitt Romney, Cain calmly weathered every jab from them, the moderators and even the Democrats, walking out from the Dartmouth auditorium having done little to hurt his standing.

Take it for what you will...posted on Mark's page just now: BREAKING: GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN TELLS MARK LEVIN SHE IS NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2012.

Over the past three years, we have seen a dramatic rebound in America’s oil and natural gas production after a hiatus of almost 40 years. This has occurred despite falling output in Alaska, the moratorium on deep-water drilling imposed in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil-rig blowout last year, and extremely low prices for natural gas. New technologies for extracting oil and gas from deep under the ocean floor as well as shale formations have been largely responsible for the country’s fossil fuel renaissance. All this is good news for America’s consumers. Though gasoline and diesel prices have...

Rep. Waters urges Obama to drop nice-guy act and fight Republicans, Tea Party By Mike Lillis - 09/22/11 02:46 PM ET It’s time for President Obama to quit watching sports and drinking beer with his political opponents in the hope it will lead to a bipartisan agreement, Rep. Maxine Waters said Thursday. The outspoken California Democrat needs to fight harder against the GOP and Tea Party and for Democratic policy priorities, outspoken Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said Thursday. “He's been very nice about it,” Waters said of Obama’s budget negotiations with Republicans. “He's been on the other side of the...

Rep. Jeff Landry knew not to yell at President Barack Obama during his jobs address Thursday night to Congress. That move made Rep. Joe Wilson famous a couple of years ago, and not necessarily for the better. Instead, Republican leaders urged their members to show up, keep an open mind and be polite — voters were anxious and Congress' bickering had angered large majorities of them. So Landry, R-La., instead printed out a small white sign to raise when Obama mentioned how, exactly, he planned to put more Americans to work. "Drilling(equals)jobs," it read in big black letters. Seated two...

So, I inadvertently crashed an O4P event last night. Long story short, I wanted to see Undefeated, and I wound up with a little more than I bargained for. I thought I'd share some insights, while the scene is still fresh in my head. The local theater was hosting a private screening of the Undefeated, followed by a Q&A session with the director, Stephen Bannon. Mr. Bannon, was apparently pulled away at the last minute 'For a project that I think you'll all like', we were told, at which point none other than Andrew Brietbart was called to substitute in....

Oil companies in Alaska are paying more money in taxes than ever before. The state's oil and gas tax revenues for its just-ended fiscal 2007 topped $10 billion. That's twice as much as fiscal 2006 and four times more than 2004. Some supporters of Barack Obama see that money coming in and say that John McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, must have done what Sen. Obama wants to do -- sock those companies with a big fat windfall profit tax. This is a deeply misleading reading of her 2007 tax reform....continued HERE.

I’ve been approached several times today by doubters who advance arguments as to why Sarah Palin cannot win the nomination, or if she secures it, why she can’t defeat Barack Obama. All of the theories I’ve had pitched in my direction today share a couple common faults, and it’s important to point them out here. The most common reason I’ve heard today is the belief that the Media will destroy her. That’s silly. Is there a single Republican, never mind conservative, who the media will not seek to destroy to defend their darling, Barack Obama? Anybody who watched the media...

(CNN)-Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took to her Facebook page Monday to warn Americans about President Barack Obama’s plan to improve the nation’s economy. “Be wary of the efforts President Obama makes to ‘fix’ the debt problem,” she said. “The more he tries to ‘fix’ things, the worse they get.” A “surprised” Palin sounded off on reaction to the nation’s credit rating downgrade and chided “so-called smart people” who doubted her forecast of economic repercussions. “I’m surprised that so many people seem surprised by S&P’s decision,” Palin wrote. “Weren’t people paying attention over the last year or so when we...

This is actually the second Hot Air straw poll this month. The first one showed virtually the same results as this one, Sarah Palin crushing all comers, but the increasingly anti-conservative, anti-Palin website chose to spin some of her best results ever, as somehow a bad thing, and I was laughing so hard I simply couldn’t type a response to Patrick Ishmael’s drivel, and didn’t publish the results. Here’s a link to that survey, you compare it with the latest, and find that Sarah’s support is once again stronger than ever. And, once again, Ishmael looked for an angle, so...

Sarah Palin has stolen my patriotic heart because we both share a love for country and down-home American values and I am pleased to write this tribute to the next and first female American president. Palin was thrust onto the world's stage as America's foremost political newcomer in 2008 and I was drawn to her by simply listening to the truth her words conveyed. She spoke of reducing the size of government, her pride in her country and of fidelity to America's continued fight for freedom and liberty. Now, more than two years later, Palin continues the fight by speaking...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- Two unexpected gushers in northeastern Pennsylvania are helping to illustrate the enormous potential of the Marcellus Shale natural gas field. Each of the Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. wells in Susquehanna County is capable of producing 30 million cubic feet per day -- believed to be a record for the Marcellus and enough gas to supply nearly 1,000 homes for a year. The landowners attached to the wells, who leased the well access, numbering fewer than 25, are splitting hundreds of thousands of dollars in monthly royalties. "There was definitely excitement among the team that planned...

Within minutes of the Obama administration's surprise announcement it would release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, House Speaker John Boehner's office took a shot at the White House's energy policy. "WH plan to release oil from SPR is clear acknowledgment more supply needed, yet it continues to block more American energy production," Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith tweeted Thursday morning. House Republicans have passed several bills already this year that would encourage new offshore oil drilling, including one Wednesday to limit the amount of time the EPA can spend reviewing drilling permits. Some questioned whether the...

She was hands-on and averse to partisan politics. She championed openness in government and had normal relations with the media. She was a little starstruck by her interactions with national politicians but unafraid to do battle with the chief executives of the world’s largest oil companies The emails from her governorship, released Friday, brought back the memory of a long-lost Palin: the popular, charismatic, competent woman of the people. Far from being a knee-jerk partisan, she praises then-Sen. Barack Obama for his energy ideas — “pretty cool,” even though he is the “wrong candidate.” She derides the Republican establishment just...

Sen. Mark Begich is turning a deaf ear to Sarah Palin's demand that he make drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a condition for his vote to approve raising the nation's debt ceiling. "She's not really on my radar screen to take advice from," the Alaska Democrat told reporters Tuesday. "Let me put it this way. It's always interesting to read what she has to say," Begich said. But, he added, "Someone who quit Alaska is not someone I look for to get Alaska policy decisions on." In discussing the debt ceiling vote on "Fox News Sunday," Palin said:...