“We are pleased to announce that my friend Governor Jeb Bush will be a featured speaker at CPAC 2013,” said ACU Chairman Al Cardenas. “We look forward to welcoming Governor Jeb Bush to the CPAC stage for the first time in March.”

Governor Jeb Bush was elected Florida’s 43rd Governor in 1998, and was re-elected in 2002. During his two terms, Governor Bush revolutionized the education system to achieve dramatic rising student achievement, provided substantial, broad based tax relief and economic incentives to strengthen and diversify Florida’s economy. He also initiated measures to strengthen families, help the state’s most vulnerable citizens, and protect Florida’s natural resources.

The 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference, to be held March 14-16, 2013, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, will provide three days of blockbuster speeches, policy discussions and networking opportunities – all celebrating the shared principles of smaller government, a strong national defense and traditional American values. The ACU has hosted CPAC in the Nation’s Capital since 1973, and it now stands as the largest annual gathering of conservatives in the country.

The CPAC 2013 schedule and list of confirmed speakers will be announced in the coming weeks. Previously announced confirmed featured speakers include: former U.S. Representative Artur Davis, former Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, U.S. Senator Mike Lee, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, former U.S. Representative Allen West and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

For additional information, visit the ACU website at conservative.org/cpac2013, on Facebook at facebook.com/CPACNews, or on Twitter at @cpacnews and #CPAC2013.

When a black person kills a black person, it’s commonplace and not news. Nothing to see here, please move along.

When a black person kills a white person, it’s just how things are today, not really worth reporting as a major story, just report it as another murder.

When the rare event of a white person (although in this case George is hispanic) affronting, injuring or killing a black person is discovered.. it makes national headlines, receives personal comment from the President of the United States, is used as a rallying cry for civil rights activists and anti-gun organizations and is a CALL TO ARMS for race-based militaristic activities by so-called leaders like Farrakhan.

The President reacted to Martin’s shooting in days. When a young caucasion  child was doused with fuel and lit on fire by black guys that were yelling, “you’re white! This is what you deserve!!”  .. no outcy. Media coverage was present, but minimal. The public outcry.. non-existent.  And:

• the President said ..     NOTHING until a month later and simply referred to it as a “local matter” (why isn’t Zimmerman’s issue “a local matter”?)
• Louis Farrakhan said .. NOTHING .. at all
• Jesse Jackson said … NOTHING .. at all
• There was no call to arms by Caucasian rights groups
• No bounty was put on the black teens’ heads

Jesse Jackson is calling for the repeal of Florida’s “stand your ground” law which allows people to use lethal force when acting in self-defense. Oddly enough, Florida’s Governor said that the “stand your ground” provision doesn’t even apply since Zimmerman initiated the contact so the anti-gun zealots are truly politicizing the event to progress their oppressive agenda – their stance has nothing to do with Trayvon other than trying to raise him up to martyr status for the progressive cause.

American Islamic leader Louis Farrakhan is encouraging vigilante justice against the man that shot Trayvon as he tweeted about the incident “Soon the law of retaliation may very well be applied.”

Spike Lee retweeted Mr. Zimmerman’s home address multiple times on twitter in a manner that would seemingly call his followers to do something with that address – something untoward.

The New Black Panthers have put a bounty on George Zimmerman’s head. Anyone that “captures” Zimmerman “dead or alive” will receive $10,000.00.

Remember when Obama arranged a beer summit after declaring police had acted stupidly? You know, when they challenged one of Obama’s Professor friends from entering his own home based on the fact that he was trying to open the door without a key. No shots were fired, no one was harmed, but we still had a several week National Conversaion on Race after the event. Where is our national conversation, hosted by the President, now?

Now that the President could take the lead to calm things down in rising tide of calls for race-based crimes by so-called civil rights leaders, he didn’t. President Obama instead decided to politicize and use it to push his own anti-gun, anti-American agenda. Instead of calling out Farrakhan, Jackson and the New Black Panthers and asking for calm while the investigation continues, Obama said that if he had a son, he might look very much like Trayvon.

We do not have all the facts and cannot discern what may have happened to cause death of  Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman may have been acting in a lawful manner to protect himself,  Zimmerman may have acted criminally and could face a long jail sentence or something in-between where both men acted irrationally and someone was going to get killed either way.

Eye witness reports are now attesting that the screams and pleas for help were from Zimmerman and that Martin had Zimmerman on his back on the ground. I wonder how much news there would have been if a hispanic man (George Zimmerman) had been beaten to death by a black teenager (Trayvon Martin)?

If Zimmerman had not been armed, this very likely would have put Martin in prison for the rest of his life, left Martin dead and been nothing more than a blurb on the 10 o’clock local news. No Farrakhan, no Jackson, no Obama – nothing to see here folks – please move along.

Bush said the country is at a cross roads where it must choose between rules passed in Washington, D.C. that ensure stagnant growth or the free market that, though unpredictable, will lead to an increase in growth. Bush’s article comes just days after New York Times columnist David Brooks suggested that Jeb Bush could launch an outside presidential campaign if Newt Gingrich fared well through the early primaries.

In the article, Bush said, “Congressman Paul Ryan recently coined a smart phrase to describe the core concept of economic freedom: ‘The right to rise.’” “We have to make it easier for people to do the things that allow them to rise. 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. Freedom to succeed as well as to fail, freedom to do something or nothing.”

“Have we lost faith in the free-market system of entrepreneurial capitalism? Are we no longer willing to place our trust in the creative chaos unleashed by millions of people pursuing their own best economic interests?”

“In short, we must choose between the straight line [growth] promised by the statists and the jagged line [growth of economic freedom. The straight line of gradual and controlled growth is what the statists promise but can never deliver. The jagged line offers no guarantees but has a powerful record of delivering the most prosperity and the most opportunity to the most people. We cannot possibly know in advance what freedom promises for 312 million individuals. But unless we are willing to explore the jagged line of freedom, we will be stuck with the straight line. And the straight line, it turns out, is a flat line."

Today at American Spectator, David Catron said, "Obama obviously can't run on his record, so his consiglieres will have to base his reelection campaign on a combination of demagoguery, personal vilification, and race-baiting. And it's difficult to imagine a group of candidates more vulnerable to this line of attack than the top contenders for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination." "...the GOP's only hope lies with some as yet undeclared candidate. And there are a few potential entrants who could theoretically enter the race this late and still have at least some hope of winning the nomination and beating Obama in the general election." "Its only members are Paul Ryan, Bobby Jindal, Marco Rubio, and Jeb Bush."   [emphasis mine]

And these rumors from New Hampshire. Ruth Graham tweeted “I live in NH & just got a robocall polling me about what I think about Romney vs. Gingrich vs. *Jeb Bush*.” And from Race42012 we get these rumors: Ken Merrifield, the mayor of Franklin [New Hampshire], noted on Facebook last night that he was “just phone-surveyed about Jeb Bush for President.” The caller mentioned “consistent conservative twice.” And: “Third person today tells me they got polled in New Hampshire and the list of candidates was Romney, Newt, and Jeb Bush.”

And this from CNN back in August, 2011. Jeb Bush, on Fox News, said, “I hope that the Republican candidates, when they are offering their solutions, it’s good to be critical of the president, I think the president means well, but his policies have failed. And to point that out, nothing wrong with that. That is politics. But just to stop there and say, ‘Well, I’m going to win because I am against what is going on’ is not enough.”

So, is the Jeb Bush article in the WSJ a trial balloon? Only time will tell. In the mean time we free market capitalists can only hope!

But that’s just my opinion.

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – Jeb Bush, the first Republican to be elected to consecutive terms as Governor of Florida, is the newest signatory of the Right On Crime statement of principles, which aligns the conservative agenda on criminal justice reform with long-standing conservative principles such as accountability, limited government, and fiscal responsibility.

“States across the country, including Florida, are proving that policies based on these sound conservative principles will reduce crime and its cost to taxpayers,” Gov. Bush said.  ”Many of the signatories of this statement of principles are respected leaders and friends, and I am pleased to add my support.”

“Jeb Bush’s track record as Governor of Florida was marked by consistent and visionary conservative leadership,” said ROC senior policy advisor Marc Levin.  ”Gov. Bush’s endorsement of these principles increases the credibility of the conservative criminal justice reform movement on a national level.  Gov. Bush’s support will also provide valuable momentum in Florida, which presents one of the best opportunities for implementing these reforms that better protect the public and reduce the costs of crime.”

The conservative statement of principles was unveiled last December by Right on Crime, an initiative spearheaded by the Texas Public Policy Foundation and based on measures implemented in Texas that have reduced crime by more than 9 percent while saving taxpayers more than $2 billion.

The campaign grounds itself in the basics of conservatism: personal responsibility, free enterprise, limited government, and family. Using a model that has been successful in Texas since 2005, Right on Crime promotes data-driven solutions that are proven to restore victims, decrease the number of repeat offenders, and save taxpayer dollars.

Ten states across the country have enacted reforms this year that are aligned with the Right On Crime statement of principles.  These reforms include:

• Juvenile justice overhauls in Florida and Texas;
• Closure of no-longer-needed prisons in Colorado and Texas;
• Evidence-based diversion programs that will offset the need for new prisons in Arkansas and Ohio; and
• Parole reforms in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina.

The conservative statement of principles and a current list of signatories are available online atwww.rightoncrime.com/statement-of-principles.