BabbleFest

From a NEWSMAX insider report: 

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has announced the formation of a new non-profit organization aimed at “discovering, rewarding and fostering excellence in education.”

The Tallahassee-based Foundation for Excellence in Education’s programs will include honoring top teachers and their classrooms with awards of at least $2,500. Selection will be based on how their students improve on standardized reading and math tests.

The group is backed by some of Florida’s largest companies, including Disney and Gulf Power, and is staffed by several of Bush’s closest political advisers, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

During his two terms as governor, Bush brought significant changes to Florida schools, using the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to measure student progress, grade schools, and award teacher bonuses.

“Reform is never finished and success is never final,” Bush said. “A perpetual cycle of reform will lead to sustained improvement for the long term.”

 Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has mended fences with the Jewish community and is now favored by American Jews ahead of her Democratic rivals.Clinton’s embrace of the wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1999 was featured on the cover of the New York Post and upset many pro-Israel supporters. But since taking office in the Senate, Clinton has taken a hawkish stance on Israeli security, helped win world recognition of the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, and arued against anti-Semitism in Palestinian textbooks.

In a survey late last year by the American Jewish Committee, 58 percent of Jews said they view Clinton favorably, compared to 38 percent for both Barack Obama and John Edwards.

Her strength among Jewish voters could be important in the Feb. 5 primaries in New York, New Jersey, and California.

Obama,  has been criticised for taking on Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, as his national security adviser. Brzezinski has clashed with pro-Israel groups since the 1970s. And Obama had to issue a statement strongly condemning the “anti-Semitic statements” made by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan after it was reported that Obama’s Chicago pastor had praised Farrakhan.

From a NEWSMAX insider report: 

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has done an about-face and expressed support for a proposition changing his state’s term-limits law.

The Feb. 5 ballot measure would allow many sitting lawmakers to run for re-election this year instead of being forced out of the legislature.

As a candidate in 2003, Schwarzenegger backed California’s term-limits law as protection against “special interests” getting too much power.  But in an essay published in the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, Schwarzenegger said the law “went too far.”

“Under the current system, our elected officials are not given the time they need to reach their full potential as public servants,” Schwarzenegger wrote.

“Imagine what would happen if we told a big-city police chief or a sheriff he could stay in the job just long enough to start mastering it and then had to move on.”

Proposition 93 would reduce the total number of years a legislator can serve from 14 to 12. But it also would permit lawmakers to serve all of their time in either the Assembly or the state Senate. The existing law limits them to six years in the lower house and eight in the upper house.

The existing law has created a “relentless campaign cycle,” Schwarzenegger wrote in explaining his change of position, saying the cycle makes lawmakers more dependent on lobbyists and campaign contributors.

Newspapers in Venezuela are reporting that Hugo Chavez and British-born supermodel Naomi Campbell began dating two months ago after Campbell interviewed Chavez in Caracas for the magazine GQ.

Chavez reportedly flirted with the 37-year-old model and invited her to “touch my muscles” during the interview.

Chavez is 53 and  has four children from two marriages. Campbell has never been married, but she has been arrested for physically and verbally abusing employees and associates. Last year she pleaded guilty to a charge of reckless assault against her maid and was sentenced to five days community service and ordered to attend an anger management course.