Well, here we are.  The last day of 2011.  What were the top stories of this year?

At least for me, they all seem to blur together in what, at times, seemed to be a psychedelic cross between the movies “The Manchurian Candidate” and the Monkees’ “Head”.

Courtesy of usnews.com, here are the top stories, in no particular order, along with a little analysis from yours truly.

1.  Shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

On January 8, Arizona Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was meeting with constituents when she and 18 others were shot at a shopping center near Tucson. Six people were killed, including a federal judge, though Giffords, who was shot point blank in the head, survived. The shooter, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, was declared incompetent to stand trial and has not revealed why he tried to kill Giffords.

A horrible tragedy, which somehow the Liberals and their minions, the Main Stream Media, wound up blaming Sarah Palin for.  I’m still trying to figure that one out.

2.  Arab Spring

The protests that began in Tunisia and spread throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa eventually become known as the Arab Spring. Fueled by unemployed young citizens and frustration with longtime leaders and corrupt police, the protests have prompted the overthrow of three leaders, in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, and the emergence of democratic elections. Other leaders have vowed to step down from power when their current terms end.

Have you noticed that the Main Stream Media cannot bring themselves to report the role that the Muslim Brotherhood has played behind the scenes, basically supplying the matches for the bonfire?

3.  Killing of Osama bin Laden

The mastermind of the 9/11 attacks that killed about 3,000 Americans as well as other terrorist attacks was shot and killed by Navy SEALs on May 2. The event was considered a crucial blow to the Islamist militant group al Qaeda and one long sought after by American military since September 11. After the covert mission at a compound in Pakistan, bin Laden’s remains were disposed of at sea.

The Commander-in-Chief, Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), came off of the golf course just in time to pull his swivel chair up to the monitors to watch our Best and Brightest dispatch this monster to the fiery pit.

4.  Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

After years of lobbying by liberal and gay rights groups and more recently the likes of pop star Lady Gaga, Congress passed a repeal of the 1993 “don’t ask, don’t tell” law that barred gays from openly serving in the military. The law was signed by President Obama despite protests from some military leaders, notably from the Marines, who claimed the change in policy would interrupt service and potential weaken the military.

A Liberal Administration performing a Social Experiment on the finest fighting force in the world.  Why?  To try to further a political goal.

5.  Occupy Wall Street

Protesting income inequality and corporate dominance, activists decided to camp out near New York’s Wall Street. The movement spread throughout the United States and even spilled into other countries. Protesters have spent time railing against the wealthiest 1 percent and coined the slogan “We are the 99 percent.”

…While being financed by the likes of George Soros (one of the richest men in the world) and South American Communists.  And, who could forget that noble feat of defecating on the car of one of New York’s Finest.

6.  GOP presidential race

From Donald Trump to Herman Cain, the Republican race to pick a presidential nominee has been a roller-coaster ride. Businessman Trump flirted with the idea of jumping into the GOP field, but has decided instead to wait and see who the nominee is, floating the idea that he may run as an independent.

That’s good, because he’s not a Republican.  Come to think of it, neither is Huntsman.

7.  Greece debt crisis

A variety of economic factors and political decisions left Greece teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and caused a panic in the euro zone, culminating in a series of monetary bailouts. But the Greek crisis, which may end up being repeated in Italy and other European countries, has had an enormous impact on the European bloc and worldwide.

Everybody, the economic experts, that is, says that it’s headed our way.  I hope not, but, given the economic ineptness of our current administration, anything is possible.

8.  Debt ceiling fight

In a showdown set up by the midterm elections that saw Republicans take over the House of Representatives and provide a foil to President Obama, a Democrat, lawmakers wrangled several times over raising the federal debt ceiling. Though both sides recognized it needed to be done, Republicans sought to secure as many spending concessions from Democrats as possible to make good on campaign promises of getting the country’s fiscal house in order. But the stalemate and brinkmanship that highlighted how difficult compromise is to come by in Washington, D.C., led a bond rating agency to downgrade the country’s credit rating.

Of course, Obama’s horrible economic policy and lack of leadership in general, had nothing to do with this situation at all, did it?  Naw, not much.

9.  End of the Iraq War

As of mid-December, the final combat troops from the United States were removed from Iraq, marking the end of the war that began in 2003. The war began under President George W. Bush under the assumption that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and after the nation refused to fully cooperate with the international community regarding inspections. After the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime, no such weapons were found, though the leader was hunted down, tried, and later executed for crimes against humanity.

Of course, as I’ve previously reported, the very day that Obama was celebrating his accomplishment in bringing the troops home, Iraq was being bombed by Islamic Terrorists.  Can you say, “Premature Evacuation”?

By now, you’re saying, Hey!  That’s only 9 events.  Shouldn’t there be a tenth?

For my tenth event, I’m selecting the reality of day-to-day life for the average American.

Per gallup.com:

8.5 % of Americans are unemployed, 18.2% are underemployed.

11% of Americans think that economic conditions are good.

48% of Americans think that conditions are poor.

Economic confidence of Americans is at -34%.

32% of Americans think that economic conditions are getting better.

62% of Americans believe things are getting worse.

During his historic 1980 presidential campaign against Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan asked the question, “Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?”

With this administration, one could ask the question, “Are you better off now, on the 31st of December, than you were on the 1st of January?” and expect a negative response.

Hopefully, 2012 will turn out to be a much better year on our pocketbooks…including a November Bonus.

Happy New Year!

Is it just me, or isn’t the Federal Government of the United States, and those who administer its responsibilities, actually supposed to reinforce our laws?

Evidently, the Obama Administration feels like squatters’ rights trump illegality:

As states across the nation ramp up their efforts to catch illegal immigrants, the Obama administration on Thursday launched a new free hotline for people busted on violations to get help.

The hotline, run by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, is available 24/7 for detained individuals to phone if they think they “may be U.S. citizens or victims of a crime.”

The hotline will have translation services available in several different languages. ICE personnel will gather the caller’s information and send it to a field office for immediate action, according to the press release.

The purpose of the hotline and other measures, including a new detainer form, are “to ensure that individuals being held by state or local law enforcement on immigration detainers are properly notified about their potential removal from the country and are made aware of their rights.”

The new practices are “part of a broader effort to improve our immigration enforcement process and prioritize resources to focus on threats to public safety, repeat immigration law violators, recent border entrants and immigration fugitives while continuing to strengthen oversight of the nation’s immigration detention system and facilitate legal immigration,” ICE wrote in its press release.

ICE is an arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

In my post,  For Mr. Krentz, first published in March of 2010, I related the following news report:

Police say Robert Krentz, whose family has been ranching in southern Arizona since 1907, was gunned down early Saturday morning, March 27th, 2010, by an illegal immigrant while out on his ATV tending to fences and water lines on the family’s 34,000-acre cattle ranch.

Reached by phone early Tuesday at his family’s ranch, Andy Krentz, Krentz’s oldest son, said his father was a churchgoing man who routinely went out of his way to help those in need.

“My father was a very good family man,” Krentz told FoxNews.com. “He supported his kids, supported his family. He went out of his way to help anybody we could without regarding to who they were.  It didn’t matter who they were.”

Sue Krentz, Krentz’s wife, said she was “pretty overwhelmed” by her husband’s death, which coincided with her parents’ deteriorating health.

“This is icing on the cake,” Krentz said.

Yes, it was.  The public outcry was deafening.

Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law Friday, April 23rd, 2010, a bill supporters said would take handcuffs off police in dealing with illegal immigration in Arizona, the nation’s busiest gateway for human and drug smuggling from Mexico.With hundreds of protesters outside the state Capitol shouting that the bill would lead to civil rights abuses, Brewer said critics were “overreacting” and that she wouldn’t tolerate racial profiling.

“We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act,” Brewer said after signing the law. “But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation.”

In response, I wrote at the time:

Thank you, Gov. Brewer.  I wish it had been earlier.  A  good man lost his life due to government neglience and political correctness.  So, what did the President of the United States say about this horrible situtation?  Did he comfort Mr. Krentz’s family?  Did he congratulate Arizona for cracking down on Illegal Immigration?  Are you kidding me?

“Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others,” Obama said at a Rose Garden naturalization ceremony for 24 members of the U.S. military. “That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona.”

The actions by the Arizona legislature threaten “to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans,” Obama said. It also may hamper trust between residents and law enforcement authorities, he said.

He said he has instructed U.S. authorities to monitor the state’s actions and to “examine the civil rights and other implications” of the legislation.

“Surely we can all agree that when 11 million people in our country are living here illegally, outside the system, that’s unacceptable,” Obama said. “The American people demand and deserve a solution.”

Obama lauded the work of Senators Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, to come up with a framework for legislation that can win bipartisan support.

Graham has said he’ll introduce legislation only after it’s finished and at least one other Republican signs on. He said this week that any effort to move immigration this year will fail badly because both parties need to “lay the groundwork” politically with tough border-control approaches first.

I must confess…I had an out-of-body experience that morning and launched the following mini-rant:

Yes, sir.   Americans can always count on Scooter  to do the right thing, can’t we?  I mean, to do the right thing for his Far Left Base and Democratic Political Hack Cronies.  As he is proving time and time again, Obama does not care what the majority of Americans think and want.  He is going to do exactly what his handlers and the Far Left Moonbat Base want him to do, basically telling average Americans where to go and the temperature when we get there.

In this case, by pushing for Grahamnesty, err, amnesty, err, immigration reform, he is trying to insure a Socialist Democratic Ruling Class (Politboro) by installing a brand new voting base.  And John McCain’s pet, Lindsey “Metrosexual” Graham, useful idiot that he is, is obliging Scooter.

Has anyone heard one mention of the loss of Mr. Krentz’s life by the President?  I haven’t.  Like everything else he does, Scooter is attempting to use this situation for personal and political gain.  By legalizing these trespassers, he, along with his minions, are trying to get re-elected.  In their minds, the loss of a good man’s life is not as important as their political ambitions.

And that is why they must fail.

And now, almost two years later, this same Administration still seems to be worried more about the “rights” of those who are here illegally, than about the American citizens whom they are sworn to protect.

Mr. Robert Krentz remains unavailable for comment.

The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom.

– President Ronald Wilson Reagan

Yesterday, Republican Candidate for that party’s nomination, Willard Mitt Romney, changed President Reagan’s definition to meet his own personal ideology:

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the insurance mandate included in the Massachusetts healthcare law he signed is fundamentally a conservative principle.

Speaking Wednesday on “Fox and Friends,” Romney defended the Bay State’s healthcare law, which includes a version of the individual mandate, as inline with the Republican world view. The individual mandate was the centerpiece and most controversial aspect of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act, which has widely been blasted by Republicans as governmental overreach.

“I’m happy to stand by the things that I believe. I’m not going to change my positions by virtue of being in a presidential campaign,” Romney said. “What we did was right for the people of Massachusetts, the plan is still favored there by 3 to 1 and it is fundamentally a conservative principle to insist that people take personal responsibility as opposed to turning to government for giving out free care.”

Besides being a stupid statement, it’s also a scary one, because this flip-floppin’ “Legacy” is making a move in Iowa:

Even as he tried to keep talk about his prospects in check Tuesday, a slew of public and private polling and anecdotal evidence on the ground suggests that Romney is within striking distance of a first-place finish in Iowa — especially as Ron Paul’s momentum spurt appears to have run into the reality of front-runners’ scrutiny.

Romney’s team is moving to make the most of it. The candidate launched a bus tour Tuesday and suggested on a conference call with Iowans this week that he’ll be in the state for New Year’s Eve. After a solid ad buy in Iowa for a month totaling more than $1.1 million, Romney’s camp has upped its spending in the Quad Cities market, sources familiar with the purchase told POLITICO. His team has dropped a collection of mail pieces, both positive about Romney and negative about the perceived closest alternative — Newt Gingrich.

In another clear sign he’s playing to win, he has quietly moved a handful of staffers from his headquarters in Boston and in other states earlier this month to give his skeleton Iowa staff a needed boost. And he’s cycling in a platoon of high-profile surrogates to rally around him in the state at stump stops and on talk radio, including Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. John Thune, Rep. Aaron Schock and former Sens. Norm Coleman and Jim Talent.

Among Romney’s Iowa backers, there was a marked rise in confidence Tuesday.

“I think we’re going to do better than most people expect us to do,” said state Rep. Renee Schulte, a top Cedar Rapids Romney supporter.

Schulte hesitated about predicting an outright win because of the many variables — Paul’s turnout, Rick Santorum’s potential, the weather — still hanging over the race. But she noted the difference between this year and the 2008 caucuses.

“The only way we were going to lose was if the right coalesced, and that’s exactly what happened [with Mike Huckabee],” said Schulte. “But this time Bachmann, Santorum and Perry are still out campaigning aggressively, so if [conservatives] go three ways, we’re going to do better.”

Speaking on background, another Romney loyalist with close ties to the candidate dispensed with the expectation-setting.

“That is becoming more likely,” said the loyalist when asked if Romney could win the caucuses outright. “We’ve been lucky and good. The campaign plan was always to adjust activity based on what we were seeing on ground but keep expectations down. But between the positive news for us of late and negatives for our rivals, we’re finishing in a good place.”

Per cnn.com:

Twenty-five percent of people questioned say if the caucuses were held today, they’d most likely back Mitt Romney, with 22% saying they’d support Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. Romney’s three point margin is within the poll’s sampling error.

Ann Coulter, Conservative pundit, said in her column published yesterday, that:

Running against an incumbent president in a make-or-break election, Republicans need a candidate with a track record of winning elections with voters similar to the entire American electorate.

And, after that statement, she went on to again endorse Romney.

For someone who is one of the sharpest Conservative minds in the country,  Ann couldn’t be more wrong if she tried.

1.  Romney is the favorite of both the GOP Beltway Elite and the Democratic Party Power Brokers.

2.  Romney will be lucky to carry the Northeast, much less the rest of the country.  Right now, he’s only polling 25% approval within the Republican Party!

3.  Romney is as faithful to Conservatism as Bill Clinton is faithful to Hillary.

Ann, you need to get out of the Beltway every now and then, ma’am.

C’mon down to Mississippi, Mizz Coulter.  We’ll have a Barbeque pulled pork sammich, and discuss Conservatism.  You’ll find that the Heartland’s definition is just like President Reagan’s and NOTHING like Mitt Romney’s.

Republican Candidate for that party’s Presidential Nomination, Newt Gingrich, was interviewed by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer yesterday afternoon. During the interview, he was not shy about letting his feelings be known about fellow candidate, the cranky old isolationist nutjob himself, Dr. Ron Paul:

I think Barack Obama is very destructive to the future of the United States. I think Ron Paul’s views are totally outside the mainstream of virtually every decent American.

When asked if he could vote for Paul, the former Speaker of the House said “No.” And if it came down to Paul vs. Obama?

You’d have a very tough choice at that point.

As people get to know more about Ron Paul, who disowns 10 years of his own newsletter, says he didn’t really realize what was in it, had no idea what he was making money off of, had no idea that it was racist, anti-Semitic, called for the destruction of Israel, talked about a race war – all of this is a sudden shock to Ron Paul? There will come a morning people won’t take him as serious person.

Dr. Paul’s campaign manager Jesse Benton issued a statement in replay, stating:

If Dr. Paul will have to soldier on without Newt’s vote, then so be it.

Benton went on to call called Gingrich “a divisive, big-government liberal who is unelectable” and his attack on Paul a “childish outburst.”

While Gingrich declared twice during the interview that Paul won’t get the GOP nomination,  Benton shot back with the rhetorical equivalent of “neither will you.”

Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, Former Massachusetts Governor and, also a Republican Candidate for the Presidential Nomination, Mitt “The Legacy” Romney fired a cannon shot over Gingrich’s bow:

Appearing in Portsmouth, Romney noted a statement that Gingrich’s campaign director compared the former House speaker’s recent inability to qualify for the Virginia ballot as a setback comparable to Pearl Harbor from which the campaign would recover.

“I think he compared that to Pearl Harbor? I think it’s more like Lucille Ball at the chocolate factory”, Romney said in reference to the famous I Love Lucy skit in which the comedienne was overwhelmed by a rapid assembly line of candies. “You’ve got to get it organized.”

In another appearance in Londonderry, Romney also took a subtle swipe at Gingrich for a 2008 speech in which he praised Romney’s health care plan and the individual health insurance mandate at its heart. “I’m familiar with the fact that he supported individual mandates in the past and was supportive generally of the plan in Massachusetts, and he’s changed his view in the election year,” Romney said.

Concerning Dr. Paul, it seemed like “Mittens” was trying to sound conciliatory:

I haven’t seen the Ron Paul newsletters. From what I understand, he repudiated them and, from what I understand, that was the right course for him to take.

It also sounded like Romney was beginning to an attempt to “reach across the aisle”, ala John McCain:

I think there are Republicans and Democrats who will sit down, work together, and say we are going to put America on a sound financial footing…. I can tell you, I’m not going to spend my time bashing Democrats and attacking them day in and day out, because that makes it impossible to sit down and work together.

Gingrich, during the interview with Wolf Blitzer, said about Romney that

He’s buying millions of dollars in attack ads … paid for by his millionaire friends.  Now, I’d like to have him have the courage to be on the same stage and defend his ads and explain his record of raising taxes … and, frankly, explain why he wasn’t a job-creating governor.

Reagan Conservatives are watching this, shaking our heads, as two Moderates and a certifiable nutjob battle it out to be the Presidential Candidate for the Republican Party, muttering to ourselves:

How in the name of Ronald Wilson Reagan did we get here?  And why is it so cotton-pickin’ difficult for the Republican Party to nominate an actual Conservative?

The problem, as I see it, is the fact that the Grand Old Elite of the Grand Old Party, who never liked President Reagan in the first place, are determined to put a Moderate ( i.e., Romney) in the Oval Office, in order to keep their Grand Old history of “reaching across the aisle” and their Grand Old “status quo” in place.

The fact that only 25% of Republicans can even stand the flip-floppin’ snob is of little consequence to these power brokers, living out their lives, isolated from us common folk, in the Beltway.

The reason that Americans out in the Heartland have tended to gravitate toward Newt Gingrich may be explained by the process of elimination.

While Newt has a lot of baggage, he does have the most Administrative Experience of the three, he is very good at speaking off the cuff and would destroy Obama in a debate, is the most entertaining of the three, and the least objectionable to the average American Conservative, struggling to survive in the Heartland.

Lord, I hope those myopic idiots up in the Beltway don’t blow this election.

On November 19, 2001, The Transportation Security Administration was created as a part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act.  Originally a part of the Department of Transportation, it was moved over to the Department of Homeland Security on March 25, 2003.

During the Obama Administration, the TSA has become infamous for intrusive pat-downs and revealing x-rays in airports across the nation.

Guess what?

According to latimes.com:

The Transportation Security Administration isn’t just in airports anymore. TSA teams are increasingly conducting searches and screenings at train stations, subways, ferry terminals and other mass transit locations around the country.

“We are not the Airport Security Administration,” said Ray Dineen, the air marshal in charge of the TSA office in Charlotte. “We take that transportation part seriously.”

The TSA’s 25 “viper” teams — for Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response — have run more than 9,300 unannounced checkpoints and other search operations in the last year. Department of Homeland Security officials have asked Congress for funding to add 12 more teams next year.

According to budget documents, the department spent $110 million in fiscal 2011 for “surface transportation security,” including the TSA’s viper program, and is asking for an additional $24 million next year. That compares with more than $5 billion for aviation security.

TSA officials say they have no proof that the roving viper teams have foiled any terrorist plots or thwarted any major threat to public safety. But they argue that the random nature of the searches and the presence of armed officers serve as a deterrent and bolster public confidence.

“We have to keep them [terrorists] on edge,” said Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington. “We’re not going to have a permanent presence everywhere.”

U.S. officials note that digital files recovered from Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan after he was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in May included evidence that the Al Qaeda leader had considered an attack on U.S. railways in February 2010. Over the last decade, deadly bombings have hit subways or trains in Moscow; Mumbai, India; Madrid; and London.

This expansion, under “Big Sis” Janet Napolitano, comes of the heels of the latest allegations against the TSA:

Two more elderly women with medical conditions have come forward claiming they were strip-searched by Transportation Security Administration [TSA] agents at JFK Airport on Nov. 29, bringing to three the number of senior passengers who allege they were forced to remove their clothes at the New York airport last Tuesday.

Ruth Sherman, 88, told ABC News she was about to board a 3:30 p.m. Jet Blue flight to Florida after visiting her family for Thanksgiving when two female TSA officers ordered her into a private room. The great-grandmother of seven has worn a colostomy bag since undergoing cancer surgery two years ago. She claims the agents noticed the bulge from the bag and that prompted the additional screening.

According to Sherman, the TSA agents told her to enter the screening room and demanded to know what the bulge was. Sherman said she was embarrassed and annoyed that even after she explained what it was they asked her to drop her jogging pants and show them.

“They were just two ordinary people, not medical technicians, not doctors, not nurses, what do they know about this?,” said Sherman. “It was very degrading.”

Sherman said she travels frequently to New York and San Francisco to visit family and had never before been forced to remove her clothing. She said she’s made an appointment with her cancer surgeon in order to receive a traveling note that would exempt her from any further searches.

Linda Kallish, a 66-year-old diabetic, claims she too was strip-searched at JFK on Nov. 29. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Kallish, who was bound for Ft. Lauderdale via Jet Blue on a 1 p.m. flight, had a glucose monitor that checks her blood sugar every five minutes strapped to one leg and an insulin pump strapped to the other. A female TSA officer allegedly asked her into a private room after setting off the metal detector. Kallish says she was ordered to remove her pants in order to demonstrate both devices.

The women’s claims come just days after Lenore Zimmerman alleged she was strip searched while trying to catch the 1 p.m. Jet Blue flight to Ft. Lauderdale.

Zimmerman said security whisked her away without explanation after she asked to forgo the full-body scan, fearing it might interfere with the heart defibrillator she was wearing. She told ABC News that she was asked to pull down her slacks and underwear with no explanation or apology. She missed her 1 p.m. flight to Ft. Lauderdale.

TSA did not immediately respond to ABC News requests for comments about the incidents. A TSA blog said that “TSA does not include strip searches in its protocols,” and also said that Zimmerman was not strip searched. The TSA declined to answer a question from the Orlando Sentinel about whether there were instances when passengers were required to remove clothing.

Hey, nothing to worry about, according to the TSA’s website:

We are your neighbors, friends and relatives. We are 50,000 security officers, inspectors, directors, air marshals and managers who protect the nation’s transportation systems so you and your family can travel safely. We look for bombs at checkpoints in airports, we inspect rail cars, we patrol subways with our law enforcement partners, and we work to make all modes of transportation safe.

Uh huh.  Well, as far as I know, none of my neighbors ever strip-searched Grandma.

On December 14th, 2011, Obama, speaking to America’s Best and Brightest at Fort Bragg, celebrated the pulling out of American Troops from the country of Iraq:

“As the commander in chief and with respect to a grateful nation, I’m finally proud to express these words: welcome home,” Obama told 100s of soldiers collected in the military base at Fort Bragg in New York.

“It is a historic moment for the country and our military,” stated Obama, who recognized the sacrifices from the military since March 2003 when he started the invasion of Iraq brought through the U . s . States.

“The final American troops will move south and mix the border of Iraq using their heads held high,” stated the leader, dressed whatsoever occasions by his wife, Michelle. “Probably the most remarkable sections within the good reputation for the U.S. military will finish. The way forward for Iraq is going to be at the disposal of its people,” Obama stated towards the military as well as their families.

The most recent U.S. contingent will return from Iraq on December 31. The U.S. military spent the final several weeks closing bases and moving control towards the Iraqis. Obama purchased the finish of procedures in Iraq in mid-2010.

After a preliminary withdrawal of troops, continued to be in the united states some 50,000 troops towards the mission of coaching the Iraqi military and monitor the safety from the bases. Progressively, the dpi continues to be withdrawn in the country and also the last number of soldiers the mission came to the conclusion when the last day of the season.

Throughout his speech, Obama was interrupted by applause and cheers several occasions through the soldiers collected at Fort Bragg, a military base that experienced 202 casualties throughout the war. Obama assured the U.S. military that they’ll respond with “100s of 1000′s of jobs for individuals who offered within the Military.”

Obama known in the speech towards the lengthy and winding route to war, considering that most of the soldiers who visited Iraq were very youthful. “You, the generation of September 11, have gained a location ever,Inch stated the leader, and stated that because of the job from the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, “[Osama] bin Laden won’t walk around the face of the world “and Al-Qaeda is greatly destabilized.

Even as Obama was making with the pomp and circumstance, Islamic Terrorists were raining on Scooter’s parade, according to csmonitor.com:

Output at Iraq’s Rumaila oilfield has been halved from about 1.4 million barrels per day after a bombing hit southern pipelines, but crude exports were normal, Iraqi officials said on Wednesday.

Iraq is looking to its vast oil resources for future stability as it emerges from years of war. But renewed attacks on its oil infrastructure are a challenge to Iraqi security forces as U.S. troops withdraw by December 31.

Salah Mohammad, general manager of the Rumaila Operating Organization, told Reuters production from Rumaila oilfield was cut by around 700,000 bpd since Tuesday due to the bombing on the pipelines network.

Total production from Rumaila was at around 1.4 million before the bombing, he said.

“We halted production in Rumaila South because of the explosion. It has been halted until now since yesterday,” he said. “The pipeline network was a main one.”

Rumaila, the workhorse of Iraq’s oil industry, has estimated reserves of around 17 billion barrels and produces the bulk of Iraq’s total output of 2.95 million bpd now.

The field is being developed by British oil major BP and Chinese partner CNPC.

Three bombs hit an oil pipeline network that transports crude from southern Iraqi oilfields to storage tanks around the oil hub of Basra, causing a fire that raged all night.

Iraqi officials said the blaze had been put out on Wednesday morning, but an oil police source later said strong winds had reignited the fire.

The Iraqis issued an arrest warrant for their chief suspect:

Iraqi Vice President Tariq al- Hashimi denied charges of terrorism and said he is ready to testify in his defense after the country’s top court issued an arrest warrant and barred him from travel.

“I have been rewarded for my eight years of work with what you heard,” al-Hashimi said today in a televised news conference in Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, referring to the arrest warrant. He questioned the motivation and timing of the accusations, which come as U.S. troops leave Iraq, and said he wants to be tried in Erbil.

Al-Hashimi left Baghdad for Erbil after security forces searched his home and office late yesterday in the capital’s so- called Green Zone and arrested some staff members, according to a person close to the vice president who asked not to be identified because he isn’t authorized to speak to the press.

The arrest warrant marks an escalation of tensions between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite Muslim-led allies and Sunni Muslim politicians, such as al-Hashimi, who have been at odds for more than a year over the formation of a unity government. The leader of Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, has called for urgent talks to avoid the collapse of the political process.

“The situation is getting more complicated,” Barzani said in a statement late yesterday. “I call upon all powers to reconcile and to be tolerant and review their adamant stances.”

So, has the Obama Administration pulled out prematurely, leaving a country on the verge of being seized by Islamic Radicals?  Opinions vary:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 24% of Likely U.S. Voters think the situation in Iraq will get better in the next six months. Thirty-eight percent (38%) feel the situation there will get worse in that time, while 26% say it will stay about the same. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows that 61% believe the Iraqi people are better off today compared to when Hussein was in power.

Better off?  Yes.  

Are we leaving behind a stable country?  It sure doesn’t seem so.

Yesterday, the G.O.P. Elite showed the country what they’re made of,  spines of jello, once again, by caving in and agreeing to the Democrats’ two month extension of the Payroll Tax Cuts, as opposed to holding out for a one-year extension.

According to cnbc.com:

The decision came after an intense day of maneuvering in which the Senate’s top Republican leader, Kentuckian Mitch McConnell, urged the House to accept the Senate’s short-term fix and negotiations later on a year-long extension. Obama, too, chided Republicans for blocking something all parties agreed upon.

Then a pair of GOP freshmen — the group most opposed to a short-term agreement — pivoted and urged a quick resolution before the tax cut expires Dec. 31. Absent a quick agreement, workers faced an increase of two percentage points in their Social Security taxes, or $1,000 a year for someone earning $50,000.

“I don’t think that my constituents should have a tax increase because of Washington’s dysfunction,” said freshman Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., a former reality show star.

“An `all or nothing’ attitude is not what my constituents need now,” Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., wrote in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner. “We are now in a position…that requires Republicans to not only demand a willingness to compromise, but to offer it as well.”

The rapid-fire developments underscored the political peril that House Republicans had courted after they rejected the two-month deal and insisted on dragging the Senate back into session to do it their way. The standoff rippled beyond Washington to Iowa, where Republican presidential candidates were making closing arguments less than two weeks before the caucuses that begin the nomination process.

Under the arrangement between Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the House would pass a new bill mirroring the Senate measure — with modest tweaks to address concerns of payroll processors — in exchange for a guarantee that Reid would immediately name Senate negotiators on the House’s separate, year-long measure.

Just hours earlier, Boehner had criticized the idea.

“A two-month extension only perpetuates the uncertainty that too many employers already have in dealing with the economy and what’s coming out of Washington,” Boehner told reporters.

After the political massacre known as the 2010 Midterm Elections,  John Boehner and the Republicans were as bold as Sir William Wallace, as played by Mel Gibson in Braveheart.

Boehner was preparing for his big speech in response to accepting the House Speaker’s Gavel from San Fran Nan Pelosi. Wltx.com was reporting on the exciting moment:

“This is the people’s House. This is their Congress. It’s about them, not us,” Boehner is to say. “What they want is a government that is honest, accountable and responsive to their needs — a government that respects individual liberty, honors our heritage, and bows before the public it serves.”

Boehner will acknowledge the challenges that lie ahead for the 112th Congress, which comes into power as the nation struggles with the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. “Our debt will soon eclipse the size of our entire economy,” he will say. “Hard work and tough decisions will be required. …No longer can we kick the can down the road. ”

In the speech excerpts, Boehner also touches on the politics and partisanship that has bitterly divided Congress in recent years, recognizing that “a great deal of scar tissue has been built up on both sides of the aisle.” He will urge lawmakers of both parties to “disagree without being disagreeable” and to keep their eyes on common goals.

“It is critical this institution operate in a manner that permits a free exchange of ideas, and resolves our honest differences through a fair debate and a fair vote,” Boehner will say. “We may have different — sometimes, very different — ideas for how to go about achieving the common good, but it is our shared goal. It is why we serve.”

Yeah, right, Mr. Speaker.  William Wallace, you ain’t.

How can I express myself about this unbelievable display of squishiness?

I composed a poem, with heartfelt apologies to Clement Clarke Moore:

‘Twas two days before the night before Christmas,

And all through the House,

The Republicans had shown us,

The courage of a mouse.

They agreed to two months,

Giving in to the Dems,

Why have  the majority?

If you surrender to whims?

Ol’ Mitch he did plead,

To Boehner the Brave,

“To preserve the status quo,

On this bill, we must cave.”

“We must not be seen,

As a stupid roadblock.

For squishiness’ sake,

This is hurting our stock!”

The announcement was made,

With faces sincere,

“A compromise must be made!

Now, let’s all have a beer!”

Throughout our land,

Conservatives sighed.

According to the Repub Elite,

The Tea Party just died.

Now, John!  Now, Mitch!

Now, Cantor and Lindsey!

Run, Jon!  Ron, Mitt!

Your competition is flimsy!

On to Iowa, New Hampshire,

primaries great and small,

Don’t fret the Conservatives,

You’ll beat them all.

While in the Heartland,

Upon hearing the news,

Americans could not believe,

They were ignoring their views.

“Back in November,

Just one year past,

We let our voice be heard,

But their memories did not last.

We have another chance,

This coming November,

To throw these bums out,

And make them remember.

So, in the months to come,

As we near that day,

Don’t forget their betrayal,

Let’s make the Elite pay.”

As you head to vote on November 6th, 2012, remember moments like this.

And vote accordingly.

I’ve had a feeling of rage building up inside of me the last several days, and I’ve been trying to put my finger on it.

Y’know, I think I have.

Before I attempt to explain it, here’s the latest from the Dr. Ron Paul Campaign:

Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s presidential campaign is out with a new ad today featuring former patients of Paul, who as an OB-GYN has delivered more than 4,000 babies.

The 60-second Web video features Laura Mays and three other former patients of Paul’s medical practice in Brazoria County, Texas. They attest to Paul’s character as a doctor and as a politician.

“Some people need to have a good word said about them,” Mays says. “Ron is the sort of person that, his life is his good word.”

Kara Gore, another former patient, says Paul “not only protects unborn life, but he also walks through journeys with women.”

The ad is an attempt to highlight Paul’s opposition to abortion, a position that is often overshadowed by his libertarian-style views on monetary and foreign policy.

Paul spokesman Jesse Benton said in a statement that the ad “is a clear case of credible subject matter serving as its own convincing message.”

Nothing like a fresh coat of whitewash to repackage a worn-out, old structure.

According to Warner Todd Houston, in an article published by the Canadian Free Press,  even Sherwin Williams doesn’t have enough whitewash to cover Herr Docktor’s issues:

Last year Ron Paul said that the CIA perpetrated a coup over the United States. “There’s been a coup, have you heard? It’s the CIA coup. They’re in businesses, in drug businesses.” That fits in as just another part of the wacky world of Ron Paul that has spanned decades of denigrating blacks, assigning all sorts of crazy conspiracies to the US government, and above all hatred for Israel. It is a disgusting sin that this man is a political candidate for anything much less for the GOP nomination for President of the United States.

A lot of the credit for exposing the worst of Paul’s outrages belongs to James Kirchick who in 2008 wrote a short piece for The New Republic detailing what he found in an archive of Ron Paul’s racist newsletters.

Also back in 2008, then Fox News host John Gibson had a must hear interview with Kirchick asking why so many white supremacists and racists were in such slavish support of Ron Paul when he ran for president in 2008.

Aside from his racist newsletters, Kirchick notes that in 1994, Paul predicted a “holocaust” against South African whites and then advocated for a separate white state in South Africa. Kirchick also says Paul seemed to support the same thing in America.

This week Kirchick wrote a follow up piece on Paul’s 1970s era newsletters that is much more informative than his 2008 piece. In the piece published by The Weekly Standard Kirchick gives a lot more examples of the sort of racist nonsense these newsletters disgorged onto subscribers.

Paul defends himself against the contents of his newsletters by claiming that he never much bothered to read what was being published under his name by his various publishing firms and projects. He then claims not to have supported the racism and off the wall conspiracy theories contained in them.

Kirchick sums his latest piece up with this:

Paul’s more mainstream supporters have always explained away his popularity with 9/11 “Truthers” as an unfortunate consequence of his altruistic, if at times naive, libertarian ethos: The man just loves freedom so much that he’s loath to turn away backers who may think differently from him. To anyone who bothers to look into Ron Paul’s record, that claim is simply not credible.

…What it reveals to me is the utter shame that Ron Paul is thought to be a worthy candidate in any GOP primary for any position whatever. I tend to see that his fan base of racists, Jew haters, and conspiracy nuts don’t tend to vote for the most part and in talking to many of his ardent — and cultic — supporters over the last few years I see people that do not fit in at all with the rest of the GOP. In fact, in talking to his supporters I find few of them have any knowledge at all of politics outside of “Doctor Paul’s” take on it. They see the whole world through the Paul prism and aren’t well informed otherwise. I also feel that most of them will just fade away once Paul himself finally goes away in 2012 (Paul announced that he won’t run for reelection to his House seat, so unless he wins the White House his political career seems to be over).

To which Reagan Conservatives across the nation would say:  Hallelujah!

I guess my rage is two fold.

Part 1 concerns the following news from rasmussenreports.com:

The new Rasmussen Reports survey of Iowa caucus participants shows Romney on top with 25% of the vote followed by Paul at 20% and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 17%. Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, both at 10%, are the only other candidates in double-digits. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann earns six percent (6%), former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman four percent (4%), while one percent (1%) prefer some other candidate and eight percent (8%) are not sure.

20%?  Has somebody been injecting the  Iowa corn with tequila or have y’all been smoking the husks?

Do you folks in Iowa not recognize a cranky old isolationist nutjob when you see one?

The second part of my rage has to do with the infiltration of strident, tin foil hat-wearing, Mom’s basement-dwelling, Ron Paul followers into mainstream Conservative websites’ comment sections, where they immediately attempt to treat the site like the ballot box at CPAC, in an attempt to convey a false -bravado powered representation of their Paulian worship, antisemitism, name-calling, and foreign policy naivete as somehow representing the views of the majority of Americans.

Yes, you Paulbots have a right to your opinions, but not to point of accomplishing the written equivalency of stuffing the ballot box at CPAC.

While I believe that Ron Paul has about as much chance of becoming president as Lindsey Lohan does of sobering up,  if some of you are having second thoughts about Ron Paul, remember what President Ronald Wilson Reagan said:

We can not play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.