Free Republic

The Constitution Doesn't Mention Czars Unaccountable White House aides are a product of a broken cabinet-nomination process. This is not the form of government the Founders intended. By GEORGE P. SHULTZ A pattern of governance has emerged in Washington that departs substantially from that envisaged in our Constitution. Under our basic concept of governance: (1) a president and vice president are elected; and (2) the departments of government are staffed by constitutional officers including secretaries, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and others who are nominated by the president and confirmed for service by the consent of the Senate. They are publicly accountable...

Unaccountable White House aides are a product of a broken cabinet-nomination process. This is not the form of government the Founders intended.A pattern of governance has emerged in Washington that departs substantially from that envisaged in our Constitution. Under our basic concept of governance: (1) a president and vice president are elected; and (2) the departments of government are staffed by constitutional officers including secretaries, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and others who are nominated by the president and confirmed for service by the consent of the Senate. They are publicly accountable and may be called to testify under oath about their...

Bicycles instead of cars? Dense apartment clusters instead of single homes? Community rituals instead of churches? "Human rights" instead of religious freedom? The UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) which met June 3-14 [1996]in Istanbul, painted an alarming picture of the 21st century community. The American ways-free speech, individualism, travel, and Christianity-are out. A new set of economic, environmental, and social guidelines are in. Citizenship, democracy, and education have been redefined. Handpicked civil leaders will implement UN "laws", bypassing state and national representatives to work directly with the UN. And politically correct "tolerance"-meaning "the rejection of dogmatism and absolutism"...

Former US Secretary of State who served under Ronald Reagan joins list of senior security officials calling for Pollard's release. Former US secretary of state George Shultz has joined a long list of former senior American and Israeli security officials calling upon US President Barack Obama to release Jonathan Pollard. In a letter obtained by The Jerusalem Post Tuesday night, Shultz wrote that he was impressed that the people who are best informed about the classified material Pollard passed to Israel now favor his release. He cited former CIA director James Woolsey, former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Dennis...

Reagan-era Secretary of State George Shultz blasted President Obama Monday night for his scheduled July 2011 date to begin withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Mr. Shultz, 89, made the unusually blunt remarks at a packed dinner for the International Republican Institute - the GOP-aligned counterpart to the National Democratic Institute - where he was receiving the organization's 2010 Freedom Award. "You're out of your mind," he said at a question-and-answer forum, when asked his opinion of the president's drawdown date. "How can you say that 'if I haven't won by six or nine months from now, I'm leaving'?"

Former U.S. secretary of State George P. Shultz believes it's crucial to fight global warming to protect national security. Global warming is created by burning fossil fuel, he says, and payments for foreign oil sometimes wind up financing terrorism. And Shultz, who's also a former Treasury secretary, thinks the nation suffers an "economic vulnerability" because of its oil addiction. "While we have benefited from low-priced energy," he says, "we've also suffered from periodic spikes in the price of oil. Usually recessions go along with it." Moreover, continues the man who set up the Environmental Protection Agency four decades ago, "There's...

Dmitry Medvedev dining in San Francisco tonight Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is on a friendly visit to the Bay Area before flying across the country to meet with President Barack Obama, and he comes in peace. Which must be why he brought along the flagship of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet, the nuclear-capable missile cruiser Varyag. Makes total sense. Medvedev will be dining with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Secretary of State George Schultz Tuesday night. On Wednesday, he'll be visiting technology companies including Twitter, Apple, Google and Cisco Systems, in part to promote an "innovation center" modeled on Silicon...

SAN FRANCISCO -- When British Prime Minister Tony Blair attends a reception in his honor at George Shultz's San Francisco home tonight, it will be the only social event of his four-day visit to the Bay Area. From the time he arrived on his British Airways charter at 5:30 Friday evening until the reception with the former secretary of state, Mayor Gavin Newsom and business and community leaders, Blair has been holed up at the Fairmont Hotel, working on his speech to the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles on Tuesday and handling government affairs at long distance. "I know...

Former U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz called Russia “a gold mine” for investment. Schultz was speaking on Thursday, Feb. 17, to a Russian-U.S. symposium on technology, which was held at the Stanford University in Stanford, CA. If you are looking for a gold mine in the sphere of sciences and technologies, pay attention to Russia, the former U.S. official said, quoted by RIA Novosti. Schultz, who was an architect of the detente policy toward the Soviet Union under the Regan administration, gave high marks to the potential and the role of Russia on the global arena. At the...

In naming Condoleezza Rice as his pick for secretary of state, President Bush is sending his most loyal adviser to his most disloyal agency: The State Department. But no matter what changes she makes -- and many are needed -- the bureaucracy is entrenched almost to the point of being impenetrable, meaning real reform could well prove illusory. Miss Rice will soon take the reins of a massive 47,000-person operation that is literally sprawled out across the world. It is an insular institution that operates in a remarkably similar way from one administration to the next, typically viewing presidents, as...

August 4, 2004 OP-CHART A Record of Recovery By GEORGE P. SCHULTZ Over the course of last week, we heard a lot from the Democrats about their record of economic achievement. So let's take the advice of a Democrat of yesteryear, Al Smith, the former governor of New York. His trademark phrase was, "Let's look at the record." These charts show the rate of change in real gross domestic product and in employment from 1990 to last June. The shaded areas show recessions. The vertical lines show when President Bill Clinton took office and when he left. Because the economy...

August 4, 2004 OP-CHART A Record of Recovery By GEORGE P. SCHULTZ ver the course of last week, we heard a lot from the Democrats about their record of economic achievement. So let's take the advice of a Democrat of yesteryear, Al Smith, the former governor of New York. His trademark phrase was, "Let's look at the record." These charts show the rate of change in real gross domestic product and in employment from 1990 to last June. The shaded areas show recessions. The vertical lines show when President Bill Clinton took office and when he left. Because the economy...

OP-CHART Over the course of last week, we heard a lot from the Democrats about their record of economic achievement. So let's take the advice of a Democrat of yesteryear, Al Smith, the former governor of New York. His trademark phrase was, "Let's look at the record." These charts show the rate of change in real gross domestic product and in employment from 1990 to last June. The shaded areas show recessions. The vertical lines show when President Bill Clinton took office and when he left. Because the economy has momentum, it's useful to look carefully at the trends in...

Fox News: Arnold transition team to consist of David Dreier, George Shultz and Michael Carona