Pat Caddell: Republican ‘Consultant-Lobbyist-Establishment’ Complex Responsible For Romney Defeat

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Speaking at The David Horowitz Freedom Center’s “Restoration Weekend” in Florida on November 16, Pat Caddell indicted what he called the Republican “consultant-lobbyist-establishment” complex for losing a presidential campaign in 2012 President Barack Obama had no business winning.

“No presidential campaign should be run by consultants,” Caddell said. “They should be run by people who are committed to the candidate and not into making big money.”

Caddell, the former Jimmy Carter adviser who consulted on the “Hope and the Change” movie that profiled disaffected Obama 2008 voters who were not going to vote for him in 2012, warned Republicans that the consultant-lobbyist-establishment complex may threaten to take the party into oblivion if not marginalized.

The Romney campaign, Caddell said, was driven be establishment consultants and was a failure of mechanics and message.

“But most of all, it was a failure of imagination,” Caddell said. ““It was the single worst campaign in modern history of a challenger who had a chance to win … and that’s the truth and nothing can take away from that.”

Read more from this story HERE.

China Lands J-15 Jet on Liaoning Aircraft Carrier

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China has successfully landed a jet fighter on its new aircraft carrier for the first time, officials say.

A Chinese-made J-15 fighter landed on the 300m (990ft) former Soviet carrier during recent exercises, China’s defence ministry said on Sunday.

The Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, entered into service in September.

China says the vessel has had extensive sea trials and will increase its capacity to defend state interests.

Analysts say the aircraft carrier will allow Beijing to help project its military might in territorial disputes.

Read more from this story HERE.

Republican Kelsey Grammer Blames Politics for His Show’s Cancellation

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He has made no secret of his political leanings and Kelsey Grammer believes that his support for the Republican party may have led to the failure of his latest television series.

The Starz television network announced on Tuesday that it would not give the Frasier star another term as mayor of Chicago and was canceling the drama Boss after two seasons. The show, which premiered to critical acclaim last year, stars Grammer as tyrannical Chicago mayor Tom Kane.

Earlier this year, the 57-year-old complained to Jay Leno on the Tonight Show that his Republican party leanings were the reason the show was not nominated for an Emmy. ‘Now explain something to me, you get a Golden Globe for ‘Boss,’ but you don’t even get an Emmy nomination, Leno asked. ‘Yeah, its hard to figure,’ Grammer said. ‘It may have to do with several things, honestly, but I think it’s possible, I mean, I am a, I’m a declared out of the closet Republican in Hollywood.’

‘Do I believe it’s possible that some young person, young voting actor, or even older voting member for the Emmys, would sit there and go, ‘Yeah, that’s a great performance, but oooooh, I just hate everything he stands for?’ Grammer asked, before answering sarcastically: ‘I don’t believe that’s possible.’

The Frasier star is a member of the Republican Party and has expressed an interest in politics saying he may someday run for United States Congress. An active campaigner for the GOP, Grammer was a guest at President George W. Bush’s first inauguration, campaigned for John McCain in the 2008 general election and endorsed Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination for President in 2012.

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Video: Teacher Writes, ‘You can’t be a Democrat and go to Heaven’; Parents Furious

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A Kentucky high school teacher was reprimanded by her district this week for writing a politically charged statement on the class whiteboard. South Laurel County High School teacher Kendra Baker wrote, ‘You can’t be a democrat and go to heaven’ during a classroom discussion about politics after the elections.

The comment was reportedly made by a student, but Baker apparently agreed with it enough to put it on the board for everyone to see. One student in attendance took a picture of it and gave it to the Board of Education as well as the Sentinel-Echo.

After some investigation, the Board determined Baker had violated district policy No. 8.1353 which states that teachers must create an atmosphere in the classroom that’s conducive to learning, mutual respect, and trust. The code also specifies that teachers are responsible for developing positive self-concepts and self-confidence so that students respect the worth and dignity of others.

The school reprimanded Baker by requiring she apologize to her students. Unfortunately, the incident resulted in one student leaving the school. Lexington’s NBC TV affiliate reported Monday that Chelsea Gilbert was ridiculed when she tried to stick up for others in her class.

Her mother told Lex 18, “You don’t send them to school to have someone else’s opinion shoved down their throat and demand they agree with it. It’s appalling. It’s wrong.” Gilbert will now be home-schooled as a result. Read more from this story HERE.

Horowitz: Democrats Groom the Mentally Disabled to Vote

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photo credit: gage skidmore

. . . I was not prepared for a conversation I had at Thanksgiving dinner with my brother-in-law, Henry, who has lived most of his life in a home for the mentally disabled and although now in his 40s, has the intelligence level of a 6-year-old.

“Obama saved me,” he said to me out of the blue.

“What do you mean?”

“I voted for him for president and now he’s saving me.”

I was taken aback by these words, since Henry had no idea who Obama was, or what a president might be, and would be unable to fill out a registration form let alone get to the polling place by himself.

So I asked him how he knew that and how he had registered and cast his vote. In halting, impeded speech he told me that the people who take care of him at the home filled out “the papers” to register him to vote, told him how Obama cared for him, even taught him the Obama chants, and then took him to the polling place to vote. They did the same for all of the mentally disabled patients in their care, approximately 60 in all.

Read full story HERE.

One Third of Schools Receiving Stimulus-Funded ‘Student Improvement Grants’ Showed Declines

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(CNSNews.com) – Three years ago, Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced that the Obama administration would spend $3.5 billion — including $3 billion in stimulus funding — on Student Improvement Grants. The money, he said, would “support the transformational changes that are needed to turn around the nation’s lowest-achieving schools.”

Now, after the Obama administration spent up to $2 million per school at more than 1,300 of the nation’s lowest-performing schools, the data shows that one third of schools receiving SIG funding had declines in achievement — a “not surprising finding,” the Education Department said, “given the steep institutional challenges that these schools face.”

“There’s dramatic change happening in these schools, and in the long-term process of turning around the nation’s lowest-performing schools, one year of test scores only tells a small piece of the story,” Duncan said on in a Nov. 19 news release.

Read more from this story HERE.

UK Foster Couple Lose Children for Being Members of Conservative Party (+video)

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A UK couple had their three foster children taken away after social workers decided that the couple’s support for the supposedly “racist” policies of the UK Independence Party (Ukip) made them “unsuitable” caregivers, The Telegraph reports.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Ukip, it’s the conservative wing of British politics. If you want an understanding of the group’s principles, look no further than Nigel Farage, founding member and party leader:

“It is total and utter failure. This ship, the euro Titanic has now hit the iceberg and sadly there simply aren’t enough life boats,” said Farage, an infamously skeptical critic of the eurozone, to the European Parliament.

The Ukip advocates lower taxes, limited government, freer markets, and immigration reform. However, to certain social workers in the Labour-controlled Rotherham borough, supporting the above makes you an “unsuitable” foster parent.

The parents claim they were made to feel like criminals and that they had a “black mark” on them for supporting the conservative group. And now it has culminated in the loss of their foster children, one boy and two girls.

Read more from this story HERE.

Revealed: Administration Drew Up Top-Secret Rulebook for Drone Warfare to Hand Over to Romney in Case Obama Lost Election

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Although drone strikes may not have come up much during the presidential election campaign, the controversial tactic may one day be remembered as one of Barack Obama’s signature policies during his time in office.

But while it is now routine for the U.S. to use unmanned planes to assassinate suspected terrorists, there are still no official guidelines governing the use of the deadly weapons.

So before the election, administration officials spent weeks trying to hammer out a rulebook on drones which they could hand over to Mitt Romney in the event that he had defeated Obama, it has been revealed.

Those guidelines were so confidential, however, that they were not allowed to be sent by email, and had to be transported by hand to the officials working on them.

Most details of the drone programme are a closely guarded secret, and its existence have never been publicly confirmed by authorities.

But two officials from the Obama administration have briefed the New York Times on the steps that have been taken to draw up rules for the use of drones and ensure that their deployment is always legally justified.

Read more from this story HERE.

After Fiscal Cliff Comes Fiscal Avalanche, Rejection of U.S. Debt

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While Washington is preoccupied with the so-called fiscal cliff, little attention has been given to the fiscal avalanche that will occur if we continue down an unsustainable, long-term path, causing markets to turn sour on U.S. debt and leading to a spike in interest rates.

Such a eurolike crisis would make the fiscal cliff look like a dip in the road. Unlike driving off a cliff, which you can see coming and make last-minute adjustments to avert, we cannot predict with any reasonable certainty when the avalanche will break. If it does, there will be little anyone can do to prevent its devastating effects.

No one knows just how long the United States can continue to accrue massive debts before lenders lose confidence. Delaying significant fiscal restraint for yet another year will send the wrong signal to financial markets and may serve as a tipping point that could lead to disastrous consequences for our economy.

If U.S. creditors decide that our debt is no longer the safest form of investment available, demand for Treasurys will drop, interest rates will rise and the cost of servicing our debt will begin to explode. Paying interest on our national debt will quickly crowd out spending on almost all other federal priorities. At that point, any deficit reduction undertaken by Washington — including the sorts of spending cuts or tax increases being discussed today — will be too little, too late.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that under the most likely policy scenario, in 30 years, net interest payments on the debt could total $3.8 trillion in today’s dollars. That is more than total government spending for 2011.

Read more from this article HERE.

Kremlin Leveraging Energy Exports to Europe

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WASHINGTON – Russian agreement to a reduced natural gas price in a deal with Poland helps ensure Moscow’s near-monopoly over Europe’s natural gas supply and the enormous political leverage that the Kremlin can exert as a consequence, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Gazprom, which has a near-monopoly on oil production and a full monopoly on natural gas exports, is viewed by experts as an effective tool of the Kremlin to not only be a weapon for political leverage but actually to greatly influence events in Europe.

Moscow’s strategy has been to undertake long-term contracts with lower natural gas prices. This has been aimed at countries which the Russians regard as strategic, particularly Germany.

However, a reaction is setting in among these countries. They don’t like the control that it gives to Gazprom and have decided to take the Russian monopoly to court.

Read more from this story HERE.