Coburn: GOP’s 2014 Candidates Must Come from ‘Real World’

Breitbart News recently sat down with Oklahoma Senator Dr. Tom Coburn to get his thoughts on the fiscal cliff and what Republicans can do to win the 2014 midterm elections.

On November 15 Dr. Coburn gave a speech at the American Spectator’s Annual Dinner, addressing these issues. He called the current situation in America a “Valley Forge” moment for conservatives and suggested the GOP concentrate on a few points: truth, oversight, action, and accountability.

Dr. Coburn is famous for keeping an eye on wasteful spending by the government, but the majority of his colleagues ignore his reports. If the government took into consideration his reports and managed the waste instead of making excuses, the current financial mess would not be so difficult to overcome.

“Oversight isn’t very popular in Washington because politicians on both sides prefer to create new programs instead of looking at whether the programs we’ve already created are working,” said Dr. Coburn. “But I believe, oversight resonates with families because that’s how they live their lives every day. In the real world, people look at their budgets and make choices. In Washington, we make excuses, and defer choices to future generations.”

“The task before us is simple,” he explained. “Telling the truth, conducting oversight, taking action and holding politicians accountable will lead us out of our Valley Forge and on to victory.”

Read more from this story HERE.

The Royal Presidency: Obama Lives Better Than Kings

From the New York Daily News: “Snooki Gives Kate Middleton Advice on Being a New Parent.”

Great! Maybe Kate could return the favor and give Snooki and her fellow Americans some advice. About fiscal prudence, for example. Say what you like about a high-living, big-spending, bloated, decadent, parasitical, wastrel monarchy, but, compared to the citizen-executive of a republic of limited government, it’s a bargain. So, while the lovely Duchess of Cambridge nurses her baby bump, the equally radiant president of the United States nurses his ever more swollen debt belly. He and his family are about to jet off on their Christmas vacation to watch America slide off the fiscal cliff from the luxury beach resort of Kailua. The cost to taxpayers of flying one man, his wife, two daughters, and a dog to Hawaii is estimated at $3,639,622. For purposes of comparison, the total bill for flying the entire royal family (Queen, princes, dukes, the works) around the world for a year is £4.7 million — or about enough for two Obama vacations.

According to the USAF, in 2010 Air Force One cost American taxpayers $181,757 per flight hour. According to the Royal Canadian Air Force, in 2011 the CC-150 Polaris military transport that flew William and Kate from Vancouver to Los Angeles cost Her Majesty’s Canadian subjects $15,505 per hour — or about 8/100ths of the cost.

Unlike a republic, monarchy in a democratic age means you can’t go around queening it. That RCAF boneshaker has a shower the size of a phone booth, yet the Duchess of Cambridge looked almost as glamorous as Snooki when she emerged onto the steps at LAX. That’s probably because Canada’s 437 Squadron decided to splash out on new bedding for the royal tour. Amanda Heron was dispatched to the local mall in Trenton, Ontario, and returned with a pale blue and white comforter and matching pillows. Is there no end to the grotesque indulgence of these over-pampered royal deadbeats? “I found a beautiful set,” said Master-Corporal Heron. “It was such a great price I bought one for myself.”

Nevertheless, Canadian journalists and politicians bitched and whined about the cost of this disgusting jet-set lifestyle nonstop throughout the tour. At the conclusion of their official visit to California, Their Royal Highnesses flew on to Heathrow with their vast entourage of, er, seven people — and the ingrate whining Canadians passed the baton to their fellow ingrate whiners across the Atlantic. As the Daily Mail in London reported, “High Fliers: Prince William and his wife Kate spend an incredible £52,000 on the one-way flight from LA to London for themselves and their seven-strong entourage.” Incredible! For £52,000, you couldn’t take the president from Washington to a state visit to an ice-cream parlor in a Maryland suburb. Obama flew Air Force One from Washington to Williamsburg, Va., requiring a wide-bodied transatlantic jet that holds 500 people to ferry him a distance of a little over 100 miles. And, unlike their British and Canadian counterparts, the American media are entirely at ease with it.

Read more from this article HERE.

Secret Service Under Investigation Over loss of Sensitive Files On Metro

The Secret Service is the target of an investigation into an “immense breach” involving the loss of two backup computer tapes left on a Washington, D.C., Metro train that contained sensitive personal information about all agency employees, contacts and overseas informants, according to multiple law enforcement and congressional sources.

The ongoing probe is one of 13 new investigations involving the Secret Service launched by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS-OIG) in recent months. The new investigations stem from information received during the course of DHS-OIG’s ongoing ‘Culture of Secret Service’ probe, requested by the Senate Homeland Committee in the wake of the Cartagena, Colombia prostitution scandal in April. While these new investigations are ongoing, the Culture of the Secret Service report is expected to be released sometime in the spring.

The Secret Service acknowledged the incident surrounding the lost tapes, but downplayed the security risk.

Sources said the tapes were lost on the Red Line of the Metro in 2008 by a young, low-level associate of a private contracting company that had been hired to transport them from Secret Service’s Investigative Resources Management division at the agency’s headquarters in the Penn Quarter section of Washington, D.C., to a secure vault in Olney, Md., where government agencies store contingency plans, documents and other backup material. The employee had volunteered to deliver the tapes because he lived near the location of the vault, but got off at the Glenmont, Md., Metro stop without the tapes, according to sources.

Sources said the “personally identifiable information” — or “PII,” in government-speak — on the tapes includes combinations of the following: Social Security Numbers; home addresses; information about family members; phone numbers; dates of birth; medical information; bank account numbers; employment information; driver’s license numbers; passport numbers; and any biometric information on file with the Secret Service.

Read more from this story HERE.

Russia Arms Syria With Powerful Ballistic Missiles

Hours after NATO agreed on Tuesday to send Patriot missiles to Turkey because of the crisis in Syria, Russia delivered its first shipment of Iskander missiles to Syria.

The superior Iskander can travel at hypersonic speed of over 1.3 miles per second (Mach 6-7) and has a range of over 280 miles with pinpoint accuracy of destroying targets with its 1,500-pound warhead, a nightmare for any missile defense system.

According to Mashregh, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard media outlet, Russia had warned Turkey not to escalate the situation, but with Turkey’s request for Patriot missiles, it delivered its first shipment of Iskanders to Syria.

Reporting today, Mashregh said the handover occurred when Russian naval logistic vessels docked at Tartus in Syria.

The Iskandar is a surface-to-surface missile that no missile defense system can trace or destroy, Mashregh said. Russia had earlier threatened that should America put its missile defense system in Poland, it would retaliate by placing its Iskander missiles at Kaliningrad, its Baltic Sea port.

Read more from this story HERE.

Deposed GOP Lawmaker Suggests He Could Vote Against Boehner As Speaker (+video)

photo credit: gage skidmore

Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) suggested Friday he might not support Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) for Speaker.

“Well, right now I’m not very happy with the Speaker so let’s see what happens over the next several weeks, let’s put it that way,” Amash said.

Amash is one of four House Republicans removed from their plum committee posts this week by Boehner.

The move has triggered opposition from outside conservative groups, some of whom have launched efforts to replace Boehner as Speaker. Within the GOP conference, the response has been more muted.

In an interview with CNN, Amash refused to say whether he would support Boehner for another term as Speaker.

Read more from this story HERE.

Meet Republican-Independent-Democrat Charlie Crist: 2010 NRSC Pick for US Senate Switches Parties … Again

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.— Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who was elected the state’s chief executive as a Republican and then ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as an independent, announced on Twitter on Friday night that he’s switching to the Democratic Party.

The announcement fanned speculation that Crist would seek to regain his old job from Republican Gov. Rick Scott in 2014.

Crist sent out a tweet that said, “Proud and honored to join the Democratic Party in the home of President (at)Barack Obama!”

The tweet included a photo of a smiling Crist and his wife Carole as he held up a Florida voter registration application. The Tampa Bay Times reports that Crist signed the papers changing his affiliation from independent to Democrat at a Christmas reception at the White House. President Barack Obama greeted the news with a fist bump.

“I’ve had friends for years tell me, ‘You know Charlie, you’re a Democrat and you don’t know it,’” Crist told the newspaper Friday night.

Read more from this story HERE.

“Kill Those F***ing Yankees” Rapper to Perform For Obama’s Christmas Bash; WhiteHouse.gov Scrubs Petition to Rescind Invite

In yet another apparent White House misstep, a popular but virulently anti-American South Korean rapper is slated to perform for Obama’s “Christmas in Washington” special on December 21.

The worldwide phenomena Psy, whose “Gangman Style” YouTube video has generated almost one billion views – possibly the most popular YouTube video of all time – sung these lyrics at a concert in 2004:

Kill those f***ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives
Kill those f***ing Yankees who ordered them to torture
Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers
Kill them all slowly and painfully

A couple of years before singing these outrageous lyrics, Psy (whose real name is Park Jae-sang), destroyed a model of a US Bradley Fighting Vehicle on stage during a performance. This was purportedly in reaction to the deaths of two teenagers who were accidentally struck by an American armored vehicle while maneuvering in South Korea.

Of course eight years ago, Psy was virtually unknown internationally. Even since his “Gangman Style” video exploded across the globe a few months ago, there was little media focus on his virulent anti-American past. That is, until the media became aware that he was slated to perform for Obama’s Christmas in Washington event later this month.

Given his international stardom and growing wealth from his increasingly American following, Psy went into damage control yesterday, issuing a belated apology through MTV.

The White House seems to be following suit, going as far as to remove the White House.gov petition that called on Obama to disinvite Psy. That petition (“Rescind Invite of Gangnam Style Rapper Psy to Perform for Pres. Obama Christmas Party Over Troop Killing Song”), was taken off the White House site earlier today with no explanation other than it was “removed from the site under our Moderation Policy because it is in violation of our Terms of Participation”:

Although Obama has debased the Office of the Presidency at least as much as the philanderer and perjurer-in-chief Bill Clinton, he has a historic opportunity, almost two weeks before his Christmas in Washington special, to demonstrate his loyalty to the American combat soldier and patriotism by boycotting the event.

But I’m not holding my breath over this one. If Obama’s and his generals‘ willingness to sacrifice US soldiers’ lives over political correctness is any guide, you can pretty much guarantee the President won’t skip a beat over a Christmas performance of a rapper who wants to “Kill those f***ing Yankees.”

Boehner Orchestrating the GOP’s Demise

photo credit: donkeyhotey

It’s a contest of wills and guess who is winning? President Obama, of course. And that’s because the president is up against the GOP’s equivalent of Churchill’s “Boneless Wonder,” Speaker John Boehner. Matched against the president, Boehner is making Ned Beatty’s hapless character from the classic movie Deliverance look downright gritty.

Boehner the Boneless Wonder’s beta dog routine is doing much to deep-six the Party of Lincoln. Hyperbole? Don’t grumpy grassroots conservatives grouse incessantly that establishment Republicans are screwing the — well, putting it more politely, screwing it up and that the Grand Old Party will go the way of the pterodactyl?

For the insulated tin-eared prowlers of the halls of Congress (Boehner being chief), hear this: The times, they have a-changed — radically so. The context is dramatically different today than America before the Hugo Chavez-in-chief wanna-be in the White House, the august and empurpled Barack Hussein Obama, took the nation’s reins (“On Dancer, on Comet, on Boehner!)

As of this writing, there’s been no stout opposition — no bold proclamation of principles, no declaration of a fight for limited government and liberty — from the speaker in the teeth of the president’s insistence to tax the lights out of “rich” Americans (and, shhh!, every other working American, too, eventually). Boehner and his lackey GOP colleagues remind the history-minded of the French in the face of the Nazi blitzkrieg: throw up those white flags before the speaker’s perfect hair is mussed.

As Dana Milbank opines in The Washington Post: “One of Boehner’s lieutenants, Pete Roskam of Illinois, stepped to the microphones, essentially pleading for the president to show mercy. ‘President Obama has an unbelievable opportunity to be a transformational president — that is, to bring the country together,’ he said. ‘Or he can devolve into zero-sum-game politics, where he wins and other people lose.'”

Read more from this article HERE.

Efforts to Appoint “Watergate Committee” for Benghazi Gaining Steam in House

As hearings on the Benghazi murders continue on Capitol Hill, House Republicans are hopeful they have the support to establish a select committee–the kind used to probe the Watergate and Iran Contra scandals–to get to the bottom of what happened.

Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) fought late last month to set up a special select committee in the Senate. But efforts to create the committee fizzled as Senate colleagues, including Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell (Nev.), called the effort unnecessary and duplicative of ongoing efforts.

But Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said the effort he’s leading in the House has legs, with 14 co-sponsors on a just-introduced resolution and new research from the Heritage Foundation that backs up calls for a select committee on Benghazi.

“This isn’t going to be an attempt,” Wolf said. “We’re really working to do this.”

A new Heritage web posting published on Wednesday argues that precedent supports the creation of such a committee, noting that Watergate and the Iran-Contra affair, while massive political scandals, were bloodless while Benghazi was not. The committees were also employed to elicit information following the 1941 Pearl Harbor attacks and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Read more from this story HERE.