Reagan Shooter Hinckley Hearings to Seek Release

Del Quentin Wilber, a Washington Post reporter and the author of the critically acclaimed New York Times best-seller Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan, is available to discuss presidential assailant John W. Hinckley's efforts to gain more freedom from his psychiatric hospital. Hinckley shot and seriously wounded President Reagan on March 30, 1981. He has been held at St. Elizabeth's Hospital since being found not guilty by reason of insanity during his trial in 1982.

In a series of hearings starting Wednesday and expected to last through Dec. 9, Hinckley's lawyers and his doctors are expected to urge a federal judge to give the presidential assailant more liberty. They would like Hinckley to be allowed to visit his mother's home in Williamsburg, Va., for lengthy unsupervised trips, some lasting up to 24 days. His doctors at St. Elizabeth's Hospital would also like the authority to allow Hinckley to live in Williamsburg - without seeking approval from a federal judge. Over the years, that judge has granted Hinckley more freedom, allowing him to spend more time at the home of his parents in Virginia and even obtain a driver's license.

Federal prosecutors are seeking to block such moves, saying Hinckley remains a danger. "Hinckley is a man capable of great violence," prosecutors wrote in court papers, adding that the assailant "still is not sufficiently well to alleviate the concern that this violence may be repeated."

Hinckley, 56, nearly killed President Reagan in a shooting that wounded three other men, including White House Press Secretary James Brady, outside the Washington Hilton hotel on March 30, 1981. He said he wanted to kill Reagan to impress the movie actress Jodie Foster, then an 18-year-old freshman at Yale University.

Wilber, the Washington Post's federal courts reporter, will be covering the hearings for the newspaper and its Web site. He wrote extensively about the assassination attempt and Hinckley in his book, Rawhide Down, and has given scores of radio and television interviews that describe the drama of March 30, 1981, and how close Reagan actually came to dying that day.

The New York Times' critic Janet Maslin last week called Rawhide Down one of her top ten books of 2011. Other critics have called the book "gripping," "riveting," "a thriller," and "harrowing story."

Wilber's most recent Washington Post blog entry about Hinckley can be found here.

"Indoctrination" by Kyle Olson

New Book Exposes How Activist Public School Teachers

Force-Feed Left-Wing Political Propaganda to Students

 "For defenders of freedom, Kyle Olson's book is a vital necessity to read and absorb. It sets a challenge before us all: To change public education so that it is truly American in its values." --Best-selling Author and Fox News analyst Dick Morris

Throughout many of the nation's public schools, left-wing teachers are misusing their classrooms and their influence to train students how to think and behave like progressive political activists. That's the premise of a new book entitled, Indoctrination: How 'Useful Idiots' Are Using Our Schools to Subvert American Exceptionalism by Kyle Olson, who exposes how leftist teachers misuse precious class time to sell students on their political agenda: union organizing, radical environmentalism, pledging allegiance to the Earth, creating "global citizens" and spreading 1960s-style cultural Marxism to new generations.

Olson wrote Indoctrination after discovering a series of widely used lesson plans written by and for activist teachers. In the book, he examines 35 of these lesson plans, and explains how each is used to train students in the ways of left-wing progressivism - beginning as early as preschool. "As the father of a kindergartener, this became very personal for me," says Olson. "I am very concerned about what he will be learning."

Indoctrination tells the story of: 

• A preschool teacher who tells her students about the recent union protests in Madison, Wisconsin, and uses the words strike, collective bargaining and negotiate as part of a vocabulary lesson.
• The Maryland Board of Education that requires every graduate to "make decisions" demonstrating they are "environmentally literate."
• The thousands of schools that show students "The Story of Stuff" - a video created by a Green Peace activist that urges the end of America's "current" economic model, while making the case for socialism.
• Lesson plans published by the United Nations that teach students to find "the means for constructing a more sensible and just world community," as well as introducing "the law of the sea" concept - whereby the U.N. regulates the oceans and national sovereignty goes out the window.
• Social justice activists who use math lessons to push propaganda about war spending, incarceration rates and AIDS spending. 

Indoctrination not only exposes what is being taught, but who is writing and promoting this agenda. This book makes the case that student achievement is abysmal in many of the nation's public schools, and time should not be wasted on politics. In some school districts, students are literally graduating without the ability to read - but they leave school knowing all about the evils of free enterprise and U.S. corporations. The book also provides a series of action steps and ideas that parents, taxpayers and elected officials can use to stem this growing problem in our schools. Watch the trailer...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kyle Olson founded the Education Action Group, a Michigan-based non-profit organization that is dedicated to addressing the problems in our public education system. Kyle is a regular contributor to BigGovernment.com, TownHall.com and a frequent guest on talk radio, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, Fox Business Network, and NPR. His and EAG's work has also been cited by the Drudge Report, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.  Watch Kyle on Fox & Friends.

RealClearPolitics eBook

The latest must-read inside analysis

on the 2012 presidential campaign

The RealClearPolitics

POLITICAL DOWNLOAD

ELECTION 2012

The Battle Begins

By Tom Bevan & Carl M. Cannon

RealClearPolitics is a leading Web site for political news and commentary, and one that routinely breaks news inside the Beltway and about presidential campaigns. In the first of a three-eBook series, ELECTION 2012: The Battle Begins, written by Tom Bevan and Carl M. Cannon, provides an in-depth look at the inner workings of the White House reelection team and many of the major GOP candidates running for president. In addition, this groundbreaking e-original provides fascinating insights from some of the key GOP figures who flirted with a presidential run and why they ultimately declined.

ELECTION 2012: The Battle Begins gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the early stages of the 2012 race, providing in-depth reporting, analysis, and the latest coverage of the campaigns of President Obama and the GOP candidates.

Newsmaking items in this eBook include:

·        Rick Perry - new details are revealed from key figures associated with his well-funded campaign about his plan to duke it out until the end a la Obama vs. Clinton; his enmity with the Bush camp; his staff shake-ups.

·        Mitt Romney - following his 2008 defeat, we go inside his first strategy meeting on the 2012 presidential run, and we get a deeper look at the elusive philosophical question: why he is running for president.

·        Herman Cain - a larger picture of his campaign's inept response to the sexual harassment allegations.

·        Newt Gingrich - new details emerge about Callista Gingrich's domineering influence on the campaign, including her spat with campaign staff over the couple's Mediterranean cruise in June and her husband's Tiffany account.

·        Michele Bachmann - in the chapter titled "Minnesota Waterloo," the congresswoman is described as a "mega-narcissist" by one of her former aides; new details are revealed about the tension that led to the mass exodus of her campaign team led by Ed Rollins.

·        The GOP figures who didn't run and why - new details about Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, and Mitch Daniels, and ultimately why they decided not to run in 2012, what went into their decision-making, and which former president suggested Daniels should run.

·        Jon Huntsman - new stories that confirm the campaign's dysfunction (or, as one former senior staff member called it, "McCain 2.0").

·        The implosion of Tim Pawlenty - authors reveal how he was a nonstarter on the fundraising circuit and discuss his inability to confront Romney and Bachmann in the debates.

·        President Obama - the latest plans by the president's reelection team.

This gripping e-original also contains a fascinating chapter on the formation of the Tea Party and how much of a force it will be in next year's presidential election.

Taking the Theodore White treatment into the twenty-first century, ELECTION 2012: The Battle Begins provides a fascinating glimpse into the men and women running for president in 2012 and the machinations propelling their journey.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Tom Bevan is the co-founder and executive editor of RealClearPolitics. Under Bevan's editorial leadership, RealClearPolitics has grown into one of the most widely read political Web sites, with an average of 5 million readers every month.

Carl M. Cannon is the Washington editor for RealClearPolitics. Cannon has covered every presidential campaign and convention since1984 and has interviewed every U.S. president since Gerald Ford. He covered the White House for fifteen years, during both the Clinton and Bush administrations, winning the two most prestigious journalism awards for presidential coverage.

French Presidential Candidate Marine Le Pen to Make Official U.S. Tour Nov 2-5

Member of European Union Parliament and French Presidential Candidate Marine Le Pen will be making an official visit to the United States in order to find a common path to global financial stability and social progress.  During this visit, Marine Le Pen will outline her economic and political vision for France.  Her bold plan for the country includes a balanced budget amendment, resisting central bank pressure to devalue currency, and a restructuring or total elimination of the euro system, which puts countries like France in direct harm through the financial irresponsibility of other E.U. nations such as Greece.

Le Pen will be speaking at the National Press Club as part of their “Newsmaker” series of speakers that highlight political, social, and business leaders of high stature.  The press conference will start at 6pm in the Bloomberg Room on the 13th Floor of the National Press Club (529 14th St. NW, Washington D.C.)  All U.S. and international media are invited to attend.

In addition, Le Pen will stress the shared similarities of the problems that plague both the United States and France.  Just as border security has come to the forefront of U.S. politics, the issue is just as prevalent in France, which has become the domicile of many illegal immigrants from North Africa.  She will also discuss unemployment, labor, sensible financial regulations, and solutions for the common good.   

While in Washington D.C., she will visit the National Holocaust Museum to pay her respects to the over six million Jews who unnecessarily lost their lives at the hands of Nazi Germany.  Marine Le Pen stands with the nation of Israel and strongly repudiates Neo-Nazism, radical jihadists, and other efforts that deny Israel’s right to exist and thrive.

She will also take a tour of Capitol Hill meeting with congressional leaders, including Reps. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), to discuss Franco-American relations and economic policies.

Madame Le Pen will then head to New York for a diplomatic reception at the United Nations on November 3^rd where she will meet with dignitaries from various UN member nations.  Her U.S. tour will conclude with a stop in Palm Beach to meet with supporters and representatives of the Tea Party. 

About Marine Le Pen: Marine is a member of the European Union Parliament and is the chairwoman of the Front National Party of France (FN).  She is an attorney and the youngest daughter of French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, former president of the FN and its honorary chairman. After assuming control of the FN in 2010, Le Pen ushered in a new era for the FN making the party more mainstream appealing not only to the political right but to all French who feel reform is needed in Paris.  She has strongly repudiated Neo-Nazism and Radical Islam, and other extremist movements.  A believer in French sovereignty and exceptionalism, she has advocated for reforms to decrease French liability for the financial mismanagement of other nations and to protect its own borders.  Since declaring to run for President of France, she has seen a groundswell of grassroots support, which has catapulted her to the top tier of the race, including winning several major French polls against current President Nicholas Sarkozy.

Faith-Based Freedom 4/24 Rescuing Exploited Women From Sexual Slavery and Prostitution

When college freshman, Christine Pettit, traveled to Bangkok, Thailand and learned that the average age of entry into prostitution was thirteen and two are sold into slavery every minute of every day, she knew she had to do something. With the support of just a few college friends, she started Freedom 4/24, an organization that helps sexually exploited and enslaved women, including young girls, find freedom, hope and treatment. The organization's name comes from the price of this rescue: Only $24. That is the price of one evening with one of Thailand's 300,000 prostitutes. With a single $24 donation, a prostitute can be taken off the streets for the day and be offered a new life.

The women are offered help of all kinds in that day - physical, emotional and spiritual. That day is used to help them find opportunity, including education, employment, health care and most importantly, love and companionship. The program does not end that day. It only begins.

"It is my desire to see Freedom 4/24 become a movement that is embraced by our generation," said Mike Zeland, President of Freedom 4/24. "This is more than a cause. This is about life over death, freedom over oppression, hope over despair."

Freedom 4/24's latest program is, "Run For Their Lives." This fall, an estimated 4,000 people will lace up their running shoes to take part in 10-kilometer and 5-kilometer races around the country to raise money for the organization.

This summer's comedy blockbuster, "The Hangover 2," included scenes about the sexual exploitation of women in Thailand, notes Jason Campbell, Program Director of the Christian Action Network and supporter of Freedom 4/24. "'Hangover 2' grossed over $196 million. If every person who saw that movie and realized that the sexual exploitation is real, and donated the price of the ticket to Freedom 4/24, that would have taken all of Thailand's 300,000 prostitutes off the streets for a month."

Mike Zealand is the President of Freedom 4/24, an international non-profit organization providing relevant information, media and merchandise designed to raise awareness of the sexually exploited by providing a reliable income stream to Christ-Centered organizations who purpose to rescue enslaved women and children. Watch Mike on Fox News Channel.