Top Ten

[Warph]

Top Ten Stories on Politics & Policies for 2012

1. 2012 Presidential Election: Republicans are uniting to defeat President Obama, but they are dissatisfied with the field of 2012 candidates. Will Republicans unite around their nominee in November? Or, will third- party candidates and organizations, working at cross purposes with the Republican part, siphon off just enough of the anti-Obama vote to ensure Obama's re-election? And if Obama's poll numbers plummet, will he or others in the Democratic party play the race card to get minority voters to the polls?

2. ObamaCare Showdown in the Supreme Court: A showdown over the Constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, will occur in the Supreme Court. Various lower level courts throughout the country have made rulings both for and against ObamaCare, but its fate may rest on the nine judges that comprise the Supreme Court. Elena Kagan, an Obama appointee, may have to recuse herself because of  e-mails she wrote that celebrated passage of the law.

3. Control of the Senate in 2012: Republicans need to pick up only four seats to gain control of the Senate.  The odds are looking favorable, at least on paper. Democrats must defend 23 seats; Republicans only 10. Races in Virginia, Montana, and Missouri are worth watching.

4. Payroll Tax Cut Extension: Yes, it's back -- the temporary extension of a payroll tax cut passed by Congress just days ago will have to be decided upon again in early 2012. Questions over the stimulative effect and impact of the tax cut on revenue will be addressed. More money will have to be taken out of the general fund to pay for Social Security if revenues decrease significantly.

5. Can We Have National Constitutional Carry Reciprocity in 2012?  In 2012 the question is whether leading gun rights advocates, such as the National Rifle Association, will press for real gun freedoms, such as the renewed right in America to carry a firearm and travel with it across the country. We expect this debate to come to head in 2012.

6. The Volatile Situation In Iran: The world's premier sponsor of terrorism ended 2011 with naval exercises in the Straits of Hormuz, coupled with ominous saber-rattling about how easily they could shut down fully one-third of the world's seaborne oil transportation.  They've been deeply involved in Iraq all along, and are poised to fill the vacuum left by U.S. departure.  An unhappy combination of autocratic rule and internal power struggles makes them dangerously unpredictable. And, any actions taken by Iranian leaders in 2012 could have a "wild card effect" on candidates in U.S. elections.

7. The Arab Spring, One Year Later: The celebrated democracy uprisings of early 2011 have not been followed, unfortunately, by much democracy, or stability.  Egyptians get to enjoy violent repression from a military junta, until Islamic extremists take over.  The Taliban won't have to hide in the "safe" hills of Pakistan much longer.  Al-Qaeda is scouting franchise opportunities in Libya.  The civilized world made a "statement" against Qaddafi, but chews its lip while Bashar Assad​ guns down the protestors of Syria.

8. Eurozone Debt Crisis Continues: As worries continue to grow over the financing of European sovereign debt from countries such as Greece, Italy, Ireland, Spain and Portugal, investors will be wary over whether or not the Euro currency will survive into an another year as it celebrates its 10th anniversary at the beginning of 2012.  Developments in Europe — such as a recession — will also have reverberations across the global economy, affecting American markets in particular.

9. Volatile Politics in Russia:  Russia has been wracked by its largest protests since the collapse of the Soviet Union, as tension over the exchange of power has reached a tipping point. Vladimir Putin​'s party, the United Russia Party, has had difficulty maintaining power and just narrowly won a highly contested Parliamentary election on December 4. Putin is slated to run for President in what could be a highly contentious election on March 4, 2012.

10. China: Chipped, Cracked not Broken, Yet.  China is in economic trouble. With its manufacturing sector already reeling from the drop off in demand from the cash-poor United States and Europe, the central planners in the People's Republic must negotiate the burst of its real estate bubble. Like residential prices, commercial prices are crating throughout the world's second largest economy, forcing massive private, public projects to halt mid-beam. As the banker of last resort—given that America borrows from China, so we can lend to others—the world will have to contend with a severe constriction of funds on tap. Meanwhile, China, where migrant construction workers live in the building they are building, will have to contend with hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers occupying the exposed bones of its boom.


Bonus!  2012: Anniversaries to Contemplate, Celebrate:  In 2012, we will have cause to pause for significant anniversaries of 100 and 200 years ago, such as the April 10, 1912 sinking of RMS Titanic, the April 20, 1912 opening of Fenway Park, an event at the time competing in the newspapers with stories of hundreds bodies of Titanic victims washing up on the coast of Nova Scotia.

The United Kingdom refused to delay its practice of kidnapping, then forcing American sailors into Royal Navy service, led to our June 18, 1812 declaration of war. The trials of the War of 1812​ rent the young Union. New England states refused to send troops and British troops captured Washington, where they put the torch to the Capitol and the Executive Mansion.

On the political side, the presidential election of 1912 offers a lesson. T. Woodrow Wilson​ won the White House with 6.2 million votes; compared 4.1 million for Theodore Roosevelt​ and William H. Taft's 3.5 million. Taft was Roosevelt's chosen successor in 1908, but TR started to get that old feeling again. Wilson became the first Democratic president since Buchanan's election in 1856 — if you don't count S. Grover Cleveland​'s two terms and the election stolen from Samuel J. Tilden in 1876. Still, if Taft and TR had worked it out, the only Wilsons we would have to learn about in school would be in the Beach Boys​ or sewing baseball gloves.

[Warph]

Billionaire financier George Soros​ voted "the single most destructive leftist demagogue in the country." 
Here are the Top 10 Reasons George Soros Is Dangerous:

1.  Gives billions to left-wing causes:  Soros started the Open Society Institute in 1993 as a way to spread his wealth to progressive causes.  Using Open Society as a conduit, Soros has given more than $7 billion to a who's who of left-wing groups.  This partial list of recipients of Soros' money says it all: ACORN, Apollo Alliance, National Council of La Raza, Tides Foundation, Huffington Post​, Southern Poverty Law Center, Soujourners, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood, and the National Organization for Women.

2.  Influence on U.S. elections:  Soros once said that removing President George W. Bush from office in 2004 was the "central focus of my life."  He put his money where his mouth is, giving $23.58 million to various 527 groups dedicated to defeating Bush.  His early financial support helped jump-start Barack Obama's political career.  Soros hosted a 2004 fund-raiser for Obama when he was running for the Illinois Senate and gave the maximum-allowed contribution within hours of Obama's announcement that he was running for President.

3.  Wants to curtail American sovereignty:  Soros would like nothing better than for America to become subservient to international bodies.  He wants more power for groups such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, even while saying the U.S. role in the IMF should be "downsized."  In 1998, he wrote:  "Insofar as there are collective interests that transcend state boundaries, the sovereignty of states must be subordinated to international law and international institutions."

4.  Media Matters:  Soros is a financial backer of Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog group that hyperventilates over any conservative view that makes it into the mainstream media.  Now its founder, David Brock, has openly declared war on Fox News​, telling Politico that the group was mounting "guerrilla warfare and sabotage" against the cable news channel, and would try to disrupt the commercial interests of owner Rupert Murdoch​—an odd mission for a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt educational foundation that is barred from participating in partisan political activity.

5.  MoveOn.org:  Soros has been a major funder of MoveOn.org, a progressive advocacy group and political action committee that raises millions for liberal candidates.  This is the group that had on its website an ad comparing President George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler and ran the infamous "General Betray Us" ad in the New York Times, disparaging the integrity of Gen. David Petraeus.

6.  Center for American Progress:  Headed by John Podesta, White House chief of staff under President Clinton​, the Center for American Progress has been instrumental in providing progressive talking points and policy positions for the Obama administration.  There has also been a revolving door between the White House and the Soros-funded think tank, with Obama staffing his administration with many CAP officials.

7.  Environmental extremism:  Former Obama green jobs czar Van Jones​ and his leftist environmental ideas have been funded by Soros' money at these groups: the Ella Baker Center, Green For All, the Center for American Progress, and the Apollo Alliance, which was instrumental in getting $110 billion in green initiatives included in Obama's stimulus package.  Soros also funds the Climate Policy Initiative to address global warming and gave Friends of the Earth money to "integrate a climate equity perspective in the presidential transition."

8.  America Coming Together:  Soros gave nearly $20 million to this 527 group with the express purpose of defeating President Bush. A massive get-out-the-vote effort, ACT's door-to-door canvassing teams included numerous felons, its voter registration drives were riddled with fraud, and it handed out incendiary fliers and made misleading taped phone calls to voters.  ACT was fined $775,000 by the Federal Election Commission for violations of various federal campaign finance laws.

9.  Currency manipulation:  A large part of Soros' multibillion-dollar fortune has come from manipulating currencies.  During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad accused him of bringing down the nation's currency through his trading activities, and in Thailand he was called an "economic war criminal."  Known as "The Man who Broke the Bank of England," Soros initiated a British financial crisis by dumping 10 billion sterling, forcing the devaluation of the currency and gaining a billion-dollar profit.

10.  Delusions:  Soros has repeatedly said that he sees himself as a messianic figure.  Who but a megalomaniac would make these comments?  "I admit that I have always harbored an exaggerated view of my self-importance—to put it bluntly, I fancied myself as some kind of god" or "I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise I might end up in the loony bin."  If only the loony bin were an option.  As it is, one of the wealthiest men in the world is using his billions to impose a radical agenda on America.

[Warph]

 

                                                 


Eric Holder​ should have never been confirmed as attorney general and that his priorities are dangerous. 

Here are the Top 10 Reasons Eric Holder Should Not Be Attorney General:

1.  Wants special rights for Muslims:  Holder's Justice Department filed suit against the Berkeley School District in Illinois for denying a request for a 19-day leave of absence in the middle of the semester by a Muslim computer lab teacher who wanted to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.  The Justice Department wants a federal court to grant Safoorah Khan back pay with interest, reinstatement, and award damages "to fully compensate her for pain and suffering" caused by the resignation because the school district forced her "to choose between her job and her faith."

2.  Hostile to Second Amendment:  Holder has always been hostile to the Second Amendment, calling for the reinstatement of a ban on assault weapons and joining an amicus brief in D.C. v. Heller urging the Supreme Court to uphold the ban on handguns in Washington, D.C.  The National Rifle Association (NRA) said if Heller was upheld, the individual right to keep and bear arms "will not only be infringed, but effectively abolished."

3.  Weak on terror:  From his ill-advised attempt to hold September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's trial in Manhattan to his desire to close the facility at Guantanamo Bay housing some of America's worst enemies, Holder doesn't have a clue that jihadist terrorists want to destroy this country.  At a congressional hearing, he even declined to state that there are radical elements within Islam which contribute to terrorist activity around the world.

4.  Arizona immigration suit:  Holder's Justice Department filed suit last summer against Arizona's tough new immigration law, SB 1070, despite the fact that a huge majority of the state's residents favor the measure.  Holder expressed concerns that the law might lead to racial profiling but admitted in testimony during a House Judiciary Committee hearing that he had not read the law.

5.  Refusal to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act:  Even though the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is the law of the land, the Holder Justice Department is refusing to enforce its provisions.  The federal law, which defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman, passed with overwhelming majorities in Congress, was signed by President Clinton​, and is similar to referendum or constitutional amendments passed in 28 states.

6.  Opposition to the death penalty:  During his 2008 confirmation hearing, Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee that "I am not a proponent of the death penalty, but I will enforce the law as this Congress gives it to us."  Yet on April 5, Federal Judge Nicholas Gagufis ordered prosecutors to obtain a letter from Holder confirming he would seek the death penalty for a cop killer whose fatal sentence was overturned on a technicality.  The Brooklyn judge said he needed the letter "in view of the fact that the attorney general failed to exhaust all appeals and abandoned the appeal of the case."

7.  Voter intimidation case dropped:  The best example of Holder's double standard on racial issues is the Justice Department's handling of the New Black Panthers Party voter intimidation case, where two members of the group stood outside a Philadelphia polling area in paramilitary uniforms, shouting racial insults at whites.  When asked why Justice dropped the case, Holder told a congressional panel, "When you compare what people endured in the South in the '60s to try to get the right to vote for African-Americans, to compare what people subjected to that with what happened in Philadelphia ... I think does a great disservice to people who put their lives on the line for my people."

8.  Civil rights division disarray:  Justice Department official J. Christian Adams, who resigned in protest last year, told Congress that the civil rights division is unwilling to prosecute minorities for civil rights violations (see No. 7).   Adams also testified that although the division hired dozens of new attorneys, the number of cases has declined, and many of its employees spend their time "playing computer Solitaire, watching videos, and venting at the lack of activity."

9.  Clemency for terrorists, pardon for fugitive:  When Holder served as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, he backed the President's pardoning of fugitive financier Marc Rich​, a major Democratic campaign donor.  He also advised that Clinton offer clemency to 16 members of the Boricua Popular Army, a Puerto Rican terror group, despite opposition from the FBI, the federal prosecutor, and victims of their violence.

10.  "Nation of cowards":  During a February 2009 Black History Month speech, Holder called America a "nation of cowards" on race issues.  As conservative commentator Michelle Malkin said at the time:  "Holder doesn't want an honest dialogue about race.  In the Age of Obama, 'talking enough with each other about race' means the rest of us shutting up while being subjected to lectures about our insensitivity."

[Warph]

                                           

Liberalism must be a disease that affects the brain.  How else to explain the actions and crazy statements coming from these leading left-wingers, the Top 10 Looniest Liberals?!?:

1.  Barack Obama:  The President is turning left to placate his liberal base with his latest push to soak the "rich" by sharply raising taxes.  A rational thinker would have taken heed the results from the 2010 mid-term election, when the American people resoundingly voted against big government and progressive politics.

2.  Nancy Pelosi:  She left a legacy of debt and out-of-control spending during her four years as House speaker.  The arrogance of the Left has rarely been more transparent than when Pelosi uttered these infamous words about the pending ObamaCare legislation:  "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy."

3.  Michael Moore:  This director has made millions pushing his faux documentaries as serious political films, so his class warfare tactics are patently absurd.  Now he is predicting class violence, recently saying, "The smart rich know they can only build the gate so high.  And sooner or later history proves that people, when they've had enough, aren't going to take it anymore.  And much better to deal with it nonviolently now, through the political system, than what could possibly happen in the future, which nobody wants to see."

4.  Maxine Waters:  The loud-mouth congresswoman from South Central Los Angeles says the most uncivil things while taking liberalism to an extreme.  Like her comments that the "Tea Partiers can go straight to hell" or that Dick Cheney "is not only a liar, he is a thief."  She called the Rodney King​ riots a "rebellion," and told oil company executives, "This liberal will be about socializing."

5.  Al Gore:  The former vice president's global warming alarmism is taking hits as his dire predictions of climate chaos are being debunked (polar bears aren't dying off and killer hurricanes aren't on the rise).  After constructing vast business operations meant to cash in on carbon-emissions trading and green-job ventures, Gore needs to keep the hype on overdrive and is increasing his attacks on the opposition, likening them to racists.

6.  Paul Krugman:  Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman keeps pushing Keynesian solutions in his New York Times columns, saying that all would be rosy if only the nation racked up trillions more in debt.  No thank you, Mr. Krugman.  Just paying the interest on the current projected debt will be a burden to future generations.

7.  Harry Reid:  The Senate majority leader rails against Tea Party Republicans from the Senate floor and wanted to build a high-speed train from Las Vegas to Disneyland.  But a more extreme example of his unabashed liberalism was Reid's impassioned defense of a federally funded cowboy poetry festival in his home state of Nevada at a time when the nation's debt was skyrocketing.

8.  Sean Penn:  The Hollywood actor thinks he is a player on the world stage, going to Iraq as an antiwar activist and cozying up to Venezuelan thug Hugo Chavez​.  The sad fact is that he will likely never duplicate in real life the depth that he showed in the role of surfer-stoner Jeff Spicoli in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

9.  Keith Olbermann​:  Exiled from MSNBC after his political contributions to Democrats surfaced, Keith Olbermann now toils for Al Gore's Current TV, where even fewer people see him.  The insufferable liberal can now interview other liberal idiots in obscurity, surfacing only when his guests say something incredibly stupid.

10.  George Soros:  The Hungarian financier funds nearly every liberal cause from ACORN to Planned Parenthood, and gave Barack Obama's political career a jump-start.  Soros once gave an apt description of his own delusional character that could also be applied to liberalism in general:  "I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise I might end up in the loony bin."

[Warph]

2012 can't be much worse than 2011..... or can it?  Let us look into the crystal ball and see what will happen in the New Year. Here are the Top 10 Predictions for 2012:


1. GOP wins presidency: Despite all the bickering between the Republican presidential candidates, one will emerge to beat President Obama, who will be sunk by the bad economy, high unemployment, out-of-control deficits, and Obamacare. His performance in office has been so terrible that Obama would lose even if his opposition was Ru Paul.

2. GOP wins back Senate: Republicans win back the Senate with room to spare, gaining a 54-46 majority by taking back Democratic seats in Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Virginia. Alas, Scott Brown loses in Massachusetts as the Bay State reverts to its liberal ways by electing Elizabeth Warren.

3. Obamacare overturned: The Supreme Court will overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) on a 5-4 vote, declaring the individual mandate unconstitutional. The four votes to uphold the healthcare law came from the two Clinton (Breyer and Ginsburg) and two Obama (Sotomayor and Kagan) appointees. Don't forget to thank former President George W. Bush for appointing John Roberts​ and Samuel Alito​ to the high court.

4. Russia crackdown: Vladimir Putin​ cracks down on Russian protesters, using the military in action reminiscent of Tiananmen Square. The action only inspires unrest throughout the nation and Chechen rebels resume their conflict with a spate of violent activity.

5. Greece defaults: Greece defaults on its financial obligations, sending the Euro into a tailspin. By year's end the entire European Union teeters on collapse as Italy and Spain's balance sheets worsen. The turmoil helps keep U.S. Treasury bills near record lows as investors seek a safe-haven from uncertainty.

6. Arizona immigration law upheld: The Supreme Court unanimously upholds SB 1070, the strict Arizona immigration law. With the constitutionality of the matter finally settled, numerous other states rush to enact similar laws with the resulting political furor aiding Republicans on Election Day.

7. Syria regime change: The second year of the Arab Spring brings regime change to as President Bashar al-Assad flees to neighboring Iran. Unfortunately, anti-Western Islamists seize control of the nation as well as taking over new governments in Egypt and Libya.

8. Inflation kicks in: The Federal Reserve's qualitative easing and the nation's massive budget deficits kick inflation up a notch. Watch for the inflation rate to hit 5% with a rise in prices at the grocery store higher than the official Consumer Price Index.

9. Occupy goes away: 2012 will see the Occupy Wall Street movement fizzle out as winter weather and cities enforcing local ordinances drive the motley crew back to their parents' basement. Good riddance to that group of misfits, ruffians and professional activists.

10. Temperatures stay flat: Global warming continues its hiatus as world temperatures remain flat. Still, Al Gore​ and Hollywood movie stars push their alarmism while UN officials and climatologists gather at a plush conference in an exotic locale to discuss how to handle the fallout from Climategate 2.

[Warph]

                                               


Barack Obama is increasingly becoming the nation's scolder-in-chief—lashing out at friends and foes alike—and placing blame for things gone wrong on everybody but himself and his policies. 

Here are the Top 10 Obama Scolds:

1.  America going soft:  President Obama placed the blame for the nation's woes squarely on the American people when he said this last month:  "This is a great, great country that had gotten a little soft, and we didn't have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades."  With an election year looming, was insulting the voters a major mishap?

2.  Take slippers off:  The President even scolded his most loyal supporters, telling a gathering of the Congressional Black Caucus, "I expect all of you to march with me and press on.  Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes.  Shake it off.  Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying."  That was too much even for Rep. Maxine Waters (D.-Calif.), of South Central Los Angeles, who said Obama "just got a little bit off the teleprompter."

3.  Bitter clingers:  Obama's most famous put-down of his fellow Americans came during the 2008 presidential election, when he said at a San Francisco fund-raiser:  "It's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

4.  Eat your peas:  During the summer's debt-ceiling debate, Obama sternly reproached congressional Republicans while rejecting a short-term increase in the borrowing limit.  At a press conference, the President lectured:  "That is not an acceptable approach.  So we might as well do it now.  Pull off the Band-Aid.  Eat our peas."

5.  Do-nothing Congress:  Obama is taking the Truman route, blaming a "do-nothing" Congress for holding up his jobs bill.  In doing so, the President seems to have forgotten that the Senate is still run by Democrats, some of whom aren't enamored of Stimulus II.  Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid is said to be none too pleased with the President's strategy and, according to The Hill, their relationship is "terse."

6.  Cairo apology:  Soon after taking office, Obama felt it necessary to undertake an overseas "apology tour," painting America's past actions in a bad light.  In Cairo, he criticized Bush's war on terror, while continuing most of his anti-terror policies.  Sept. 11, 2001, he said, "was an enormous trauma to our country.  The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable, but in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our ideals."  What does the antiwar crowd think about drones killing U.S. citizens?

7.  Pay a little more:  The community organizer-in-chief loves the class-warfare game, and never did he play it more audaciously than during the debt-ceiling debate.  Mocking tax breaks for "millionaires and billionaires, oil companies and corporate jet owners," the President lectured:  "If you are a wealthy CEO or hedge fund manager in America right now, your taxes are lower than they have ever been.  ... You can still ride on your corporate jet.  You're just going to have to pay a little more."

8.  Republicans small:  Obama scolded the entire Republican presidential field, charging them with being silent when a gay soldier was booed during a debate, never mind it was clear the boos were aimed at a specific policy.  "We don't believe in the kind of smallness that says it's okay for a stage full of political leaders—one of whom could end up being the President of the United States—being silent when an American soldier is booed," he told a Human Rights Campaign dinner crowd, where his gay and lesbian supporters cheered robustly.

9.  Tea Party darkness:  Obama fuels the left-wing smear campaign against the Tea Party movement when he makes statements like these, in an interview with Rolling Stone:  "There are probably some aspects of the Tea Party that are a little darker, that have to do with anti-immigrant sentiment or are troubled by what I represent as the President."

10.  Attack watch:  Now Obama wants to turn his supporters into an army of scolds, with his campaign asking them to snitch to the Attack Watch website whenever they hear a smear against the President.  Luckily, the mocking of the site has gone viral, as submissions such as, "There's a new Twitter account making President Obama look like a creepy, authoritarian nut-job," becoming the norm.

[Warph]

As we honor those who fought and died for our country, let's remember some of the key moments in U.S. military history.... battles awash in patriots' blood to secure liberty and freedom for America.                                          
                             

 
                              Here, among many deserving, are the Top 10 U.S. Military Actions:


1. D-Day invasion: The turning point of World War II​ was this massive amphibious invasion on June 6, 1944, of German-occupied Normandy. Over 160,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches at Utah, Omaha and other points along a 50-mile stretch of coastline, resulting in some 10,000 Allied casualties. The assault secured a beachhead on the continent and, with Russia pushing from the East, Hitler's forces began to be squeezed on two fronts. Within a year, the Fuhrer made his final descent into a Berlin bunker.

2. Battle of Gettysburg: Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's attempt to bring the Civil War to the North was halted on the fields of Gettysburg, Pa., in July 1863. After the third day of battle, when 12,500 Confederate infantry troops were repulsed during Pickett's Charge, the casualties on both sides totaled some 50,000. Lee would continue his fight for another two years until the surrender at Appomattox, but, after Gettysburg, he fought mostly on the run.

3. Battle of Trenton: Gen. George Washington​ led his band of 2,400 ragtag Continental Army troops across the icy Delaware River on Christmas night 1776 and routed mercenary German Hessians encamped at Trenton, N.J. The victory gave a morale boost to the colonies after a string of British advances and brought innew recruits for Washington's army, buying much-needed time for the Patriot forces.

4. Battle of Inchon: After invading the South in June 1950, North Korean Peoples' Army forces had seized the capital of Seoul and steadily pushed the opposition nearly off the peninsula before Gen. Douglas MacArthur​'s dramatic sea-invasion at Inchon in September. The lengthy amphibious maneuvering through rough waters allowed a surprise attack on a little-guarded area. The operation involved some 75,000 troops who went on to recapture Seoul two weeks later and was the key to keeping the South from a Communist takeover.

5. Meuse-Argonne offensive: The "Great War​" had been waged in Europe for nearly three years before President Wilson​ sent millions of U.S. troops to the continent. The war was a stalemate until the Allies decided to breach the Central Powers' Hindenburg Line. The United States teamed with French forces to win at Meuse-Argonne as part of the Allies' Hundred Day Offensive, which broke the back of the German forces. The victory came at a high price: The U.S. suffered over 300,000 casualties in World War I and the Treaty of Versailles​, setting conditions for Germany's surrender, laid a path to World War II.

6: Operation Desert Storm: After a month of aerial high-tech bombing of Iraqi military targets in response to Saddam Hussein​'s invasion of Kuwait, the ground-war began Feb. 23, 1991. In a classic military flanking maneuver, U.S. forces surprised Saddam' s vaunted Republican Guards by crossing into the undefended desert before turning East and dislodging the enemy, turning a fleeing convoy of Iraqi forces into the "Highway of Death." After 100 hours of the ground assault, President George H.W. Bush​ declared the liberation of Kuwait but, in many eyes, unfortunately ended the conflict with coalition forces 150 miles from Baghdad.

7. Battle of San Juan Hill: The decisive battle of the Spanish-American War​ saw the Rough Riders, commanded by Theodore Roosevelt​, charge up Cuba's San Juan Hill to secure a key ridge on the island. Americans suffered high casualties in the bloody battle, but the U.S. victory in 1898 effectively ended the Spanish Empire, allowed the independence of Cuba and ceded control of Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the United States.

8. Battle of Iwo Jima​: The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island of Iwo Jima were heavily fortified and with over 11 miles of underground tunnels. The American forces faced a formidable task when they attempted to take control of the strategic Pacific outpost in February 1945. For a month, the American forces, with cover from extensive naval and air support, bombarded the island, which would prove to be a very strategic outpost to launch attacks later in the War of the Pacific​. By March 11, the Japanese were trapped in an area around Kitano Point, the island's most northerly site. By March 16, the island was declared secure and all resistance had ceased by March 26. Of the more than 18,000 Japanese soldiers present at the beginning of the battle, only 216 remained as prisoners at the end. Iwo Jima was the only U.S. Marine battle in which the overall American casualties exceeded those of the Japanese.

9. Fall of Baghdad: While George W. Bush will forever be haunted by uttering the words "Mission Accomplished" while years of nation-building and terror fighting still were ahead in Iraq, the military action that toppled Saddam was a stunning display of shock and awe. The aerial blitz and invasion by 250,000 U.S. troops along with 50,000 coalition forces began on March 20, 2003. While they initially encountered fierce resistance, by April 9 the march to Baghdad was complete and Saddam Hussein's 24-year rule ended.

10. Osama bin Laden slain: The tracking and slaying of Osama bin Laden was the culmination of years of work by U.S. intelligence agencies and training of U.S.Special Forces. The daring helicopter raid and efficient 40-minute incursion into the Abbottabad compound by Navy SEAL Team Six not only rid the world of its most hideous person, but also provided a treasure trove of intel that will help make possible many future anti-terrorist actions.

[redcliffsw]

Reference to the above No. 2 Battle of Gettsyburg

It was General Robert E. Lee who was defending liberty and freedom.  The Republic was lost at Appomattox.

After the War For Southern Independence, it was both the north and the South which were "re-constructed" against
the founding fathers and the Constitution.

The Union was not preserved, it was changed.  Just look to your Republicans and their Obama with their admiration
of Lincoln and the War.  Is it tyranny what we desire instead of liberty?

[Warph]

There have been debt commissions and super committees trying to figure out how to make government leaner and more efficient.  Here are some good places to start:

The Top 10 Most Needed Government Reforms.

1.  Repeal ObamaCare:  Get rid of this monstrosity before it infects our entire health care system.  Costs keep rising and employers (those unlucky enough not to get waivers from the Obama administration) are starting to dump their workers' health plans.  By the time it is fully implemented in 2014, there will be far more patients and a decrease in the number of doctors.  Expect lengthy waits for reduced care.

2.  Simplify the tax code:  Whether a flat tax or a fair tax, anything that brings simplicity to the tax code will be an improvement over the current Byzantine system in which corporations hire armies of accountants to take advantage of loopholes drafted by high-priced lobbyists.  Tyranny begins when the average citizen can't fill out his own tax form.

3.  Enforce the border:    With an invasion of illegal immigrants taking up needed spaces in U.S. schools and hospitals, America needs to take control of its borders.  The cost of illegal immigration, from services provided to criminal behavior, are coming at a time when the country is in dire financial straits.  And millions of unemployed Americans shouldn't have to compete for jobs with those who have no right to be here.



4.  Entitlement reform:  If the major federal entitlement programs aren't reined in, it won't be long before they overwhelm the rest of the federal budget.  Raise the retirement age, slow down the Social Security cost-of-living increase or means-test benefits.  Just do something.  Waiting is no longer a viable option.

5.  Reduce regulations:  America is drowning in red tape, which is choking the entrepreneurial spirit of small businesses and hampering job creation.  The best way to get the economy moving again is to relieve the regulatory burden dumped on the private sector by overbearing federal bureaucrats.  Do we really need the Environmental Protection Agency​ to start regulating workplace dust?

6.  Energy production:  It is far past the time for the federal government to get out of the way and let America's vast energy resources be developed.  With large coastal oil reserves and shale oil potential in the heartland, it is a crime that America can be held hostage for its energy needs by Middle Eastern madmen.  Drill, baby, drill!

7.  Dump federal agencies:  From corporate welfare doled out by the Commerce Department to the Department of Education meddling in local affairs, the federal government has treaded in areas where it has no business being.  It is time to start cutting back entire agencies, beginning with the two listed above, along with the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy.

8.  Balance the budget:  State governments, corporations and the average household all need to balance their budgets, so why not the federal government?  Renew the push for a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget or at least start slashing the deficit by cutting spending in a meaningful way.

9.  Public-sector union reform:  Government is bloated at every level, and public-employee unions have made it worse with their high salaries, expensive health care plans and lucrative pensions.  Why should taxpayers continue to foot the bill for such extravagance?

10.  Get government out of culture:  It may be small potatoes in light of the entire federal budget, but the money spent for National Public Radio​, the National Endowment for the Arts​, et al., is an affront to the Constitution.  Harry Reid's Cowboy Poetry Festival will no doubt be missed, but if it is that wonderful, let it find private-sector funding.

[Warph]

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HUMAN EVENTS is the news source President Reagan called his "favorite newspaper"
and we still hold high the Reaganesque principles of free enterprise, limited government
and, above all, a staunch, unwavering defense of American freedom.
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New York Times​ reporter Jodi Kantor​'s new book, The Obamas, is chock-full of revelations about the First Couple. To save you the time of reading (and the cost of buying) Kantor's account, we have compiled the Top 10 Obama Revelations that are contained in the book.

1. Alice in Wonderland Ball

The first Halloween celebration during the Obama Administration was a 2009 over-the-top costume ball with an Alice-in-Wonderland theme. Actor Johnny Depp came dressed as the Mad Hatter​ and Hollywood director Tim Burton​ decorated the White House "in his signature creepy-comic style," according to the book. "He had turned the room into the Mad Hatter's tea party, with a long table set with antique-looking linens, enormous stuffed animals in chairs, and tiered serving plates with treats like bone-shaped meringue cookies." Also present was the original Star Wars character Chewbacca and fruit punch served in blood vials.

2. Michelle Obama​'s Power

Michelle Obama was said to be the driving force behind a staff shakeup after Republican Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts, which cost Democrats their Senate supermajority. Kantor writes that Mrs. Obama​ was furious with both the President and his staff for not better anticipating Brown's stunning victory. The Kantor book portrays the First Lady as being an "unrecognized force" in pushing a political agenda and often pushed her husband to take stands on tough issues like immigration and healthcare.

3. Michelle vs. Rahm

The First Lady clashed with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel​, blaming him for the slow action in getting ObamaCare passed through Congress. "Michelle and Rahm Emanuel had almost no bond. Their relationship was distant and awkward from the beginning," Kantor wrote. Emanuel, who offered his resignation following the First Lady's criticism, also battled with senior aide Valerie Jarrett​, whom he viewed as a spy for the East Wing.

4. Gibbs vs. Jarrett and Michelle

The book describes a particularly heated exchange where press secretary Robert Gibbs​ hurled expletives at adviser Valerie Jarrett after she said the First Lady was unhappy with his response to an international flap. Gibbs response was to curse Michelle Obama as well and storm out of a staff meeting. Gibbs later told Kantor the incident was a misunderstanding and that Jarrett made up the complaint. He "stopped taking her seriously as an adviser to the President" as a result.

5. Alice in Wonderland Ball Cover-up

The White House was so concerned about how the Mad Hatter fete (see No. 1) would be viewed at a time of 10% unemployment that they kept word of the event under wraps. "White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans ... that the event was not discussed publicly and Burton's and Depp's contributions went unacknowledged," Kantor wrote. However, less frivolous White House Halloween festivities for Washington-area children were spoon-fed to the press.

6. Marital Quarrels

The Obama marriage had rough patches and the White House staff was often caught in the middle. "The advisors could feel hopelessly caught between husband and wife," the book said. "The Obama marriage was awkward for everyone: for the aides, for the President ... and for the First Lady."

7. Michelle's Clothes Fetish

Michelle Obama did not relish all the public demands associated with being the First Lady but a stylish wardrobe became her "compensatory pleasure" for putting up with the duties. "If I have to go, I'm getting a new dress out of it," Mrs. Obama told friends, according to the book. She also wanted to appear to be sophisticated in order to dispel negative stereotypes about blacks.

8. Michelle's Washington Hell

Michelle was reluctant to leave Chicago for life in the White House and wanted to stay in the Windy City for at least a few months until the Obama children finished the school year. A squabble between top staffers Robert Gibbs and Valerie Jarrett (see No. 4) stemmed from the White House response to press accounts of Michelle's saying that living in the White House was "hell."

9. Bowling Embarrassment

President Obama was so humiliated by the public ridicule after he scored 37 while bowling—much to the delight of late-night comedians—that he practiced at the White House bowling alley until he won a competition by rolling five consecutive strikes.

10. Barbershop Sanctity

After being contacted by a frantic aide while he was getting a haircut, President Obama gave the white staffer a lesson in black culture. "The relationship between a black man and his barber is sacred," Obama said. "For failing to understand this truth, your punishment is to watch the movie Barbershop. And for further punishment, you will then watch the sequel, Barbershop 2."