Quote: 

"Credit expansion can bring about a temporary boom. But such a fictitious prosperity must end in a general depression of trade, a slump." 

Supreme Court delivers a knockout punch to the White House 

Wednesday the United States Supreme Court delivered a knockout blow to the White House in the cause of religious liberty.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for a unanimous court swatted away the government's claim that the Lutheran Church did not have the right to fire a "minister of religion" who, after six years of Lutheran religious training had been commissioned as a minister, upon election by her congregation.

The fired minister - who also taught secular subjects - claimed discrimination in employment. The Obama administration, always looking for opportunities to undermine the bedrock of First Amendment religious liberty, eagerly agreed.

If you see a story that you believe would be useful and important to our readers, simply respond to this email with a link and a brief description of why it is important.  (Even if it may be obvious)

PENNSYLVANIA GOP SENATORIAL DEBATE

THURSDAY JANUARY 19, 2012

THE MOOSE LODGE

127 EAST STATE STREET

DOYLESTOWN, PA 18901

MODERATOR: DAVID PATTI, PRESIDENT AND CEO PENNSYLVANIA BUSINESS COUNCIL

PARTICIPANTS:

TOM SMITH

SAM ROHRER

ROBERT MANSFIELD

STEVEN WELCH

LAUREEN CUMMINGS

MARC SCARINGI

DAVID CHRISTIAN

TIM BURNS

Today, our college graduates face the highest unemployment rates in history.

American 15-year-olds rank 35th out of 57 industrialized countries in math and literacy.

Americans shouldn't rank 35th in anything!

Join Americans for Prosperity Foundation, Dick Morris and other special speakers Saturday, January 28 for a free town hall to "Restore American Exceptionalism" at 2:00 p.m. at the The Hershey Lodge (325 University Drive) in Hershey. Reserve your free tickets here (http://schoolchoicehershey.eventbrite.com/)!

Let's work together to support the future workforce of America.

Don't miss the chance to ask Dick Morris and our other speakers your questions, Saturday, January 28.

GENERAL ADMISSION IS FREE -- BUT you must reserve your free tickets here (http://schoolchoicehershey.eventbrite.com/)!

Restoring American Exceptionalism is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. It's an American issue -- our future depends on it! I hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Stefano

Pennsylvania State Director

Americans for Prosperity Foundation

www.putkidsfirst.org (http://www.putkidsfirst.org/)        

Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) is a nationwide organization of citizen-leaders committed to advancing every individual's right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFPF believes reducing the size and intrusiveness of government is the best way to promote individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFPF educates and engages citizens to support restraining state and federal government growth and returning government to its constitutional limits. AFPF is more than 1.8 million activists strong, with activists in all 50 states. AFPF has 34 state chapters and affiliates. More than 90,000 Americans in all 50 states have made a financial contribution to AFP or AFP Foundation.

For more information, visit http://www.americansforprosperityfoundation.com 

1) Letter to the Central MontCo PTPP: To those that came to, or stepped up to help at, or donated to defray costs for the David Codrea Presents Fast & Furious event on Saturday, thank you. You really can't imagine how reassured I felt when entertaining / having dinner with David and his wife, I simply trusted our team to set up the venue well. I was proud to see our involved members, and folks from other groups, and vigilant citizens, flowing into the room to become more informed by David's account when they could have stayed home for a football game or another debate. I am grateful for the kind monetary support from so many people; because of this, we will most likely break even for the event costs. We targeted our advertising to the "average person", be they attentive independent or apathetic drone - not many of them came but at least I trust you all fortified your knowledge. For a word with no aggressive denotations, "complacency" of the public is nonetheless a mighty foe. We coordinators are proud of you and are humbled by you and consider ourselves fortunate to work with you. David's compliments about the group were glowing, and even the security guard approached me afterwards and said "I've been to a lot of events, but these people were the politest and most respectful group I've ever seen". I thanked him and said I'll see him at the next tea party meeting.

We'll let you know when gunforhireradio.com posts the podcast of the event on their site, if you missed it.
We also suggest that for any firearm needs (sales, training, advice), please patronize Kevin Fialkowski's Red Eye Defensive Solutions
Of course, please stay informed with the TRUTH by visiting David Codrea's Examiner.com site, his Guns Magazine site, and his journalist partner Mike Vanderboegh's site

2) Meeting: This Thursday Jan 12 is our regular monthly meeting at the Rock Cafe/Church (857 Main Street Harleysville) from 7-9pm. Our speaker, Phil Duffy, will tell us about the events that led to this whole economic collapse, and if time permits we will go interactive and ask you to help us with 2012 election ideas.

3) Charity event: This Saturday Jan 14 is our first charity event as a group, where we will help out at the Habitat ReStore thrift store, 533 Foundry Road, West Norriton, PA 19403.
Do we just preach charity over socialism, or do we practice it? We meet in Hennings at 7:50 and leave at 8am to get there at 8:30 until about 2pm. Volunteers must be at least 14 years old. You can use the ride board on our forum (available from our website) to say if you have seats available or need a ride. If you need to leave early, I'm sure someone else will too, and it can be arranged.

Please join our forum to speak your piece in real time, available from our website.

See you Thursday,
-Jim, Pam and Tim  

On Sat, Jan 7, 2012 at 3:34 PM, WILLIAM SPICHER <billsells4u@msn.com> wrote:

Patriots,

 
Things are really  starting to heat up in this campaign to get Sam to the US Senate. We are now looking for volunteers to help us in Chester County, particularly in the northern and northeastern areas of the county. We need people to help get petitions signed, hand out literature in the neighborhoods, work the polls on election day, hold home meetings when Sam is in the area, and who knows what else will come up. Could you please send this out to your group to see if anyone would like to help. They can contact me directly either by email or by phone. Thanks for your help. Looking forward to seeing you at the victory party.

DEAR PATRIOTS,

THERE WILL BE NO JANUARY Valley Forge Patriots Tea Party MEETING !!!

The 2012 election is one of the most important in the history of the USA. Two contests which are very important are the Presidential race and the election of a Senator from PA. In order to allow our membership to learn more about those competing to replace Senator Bob Casey.

The Valley Forge Patriots are hosting a

US Senate Candidate Forum on Feb.3^rd 2012

The participants will be Sam Rohrer, Marc Scaringi, Tom Smith and Steve Welch

The forum will be held at the Franklin Commons on 400 Franklin Ave.in Phoenixville from 6:00PM to 8:00 PM. There is plenty of free parking. Food (pizza, chili, etc) and soft drinks will be available. Food service will start at 5:30PM. Attendance is free (donations welcome).

Please RSVP to www.meetup.com/VFP-TeaParty09/ 

For more information www.vfpatriots.com/ 

Nullify Now! Philadelphia

THE INTERFAITH TASKFORCE FOR AMERICA AND ISRAEL (ITAI)

123 S. Broad Street, Suite 1832, Philadelphia, PA 19109

HOLD THE DATE

ITAI is pleased to invite you to attend our program titled "Christians in the Middle East: Endangered Species."

With Samir Asad (an Egyptian Coptic-Christian), Wafa Mikhail, and Joseph Puder, and Charles Kahn Jr.,

Our panel will discuss the current situation in Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and Gaza, and more...

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2012, 7:30PM

At

St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

1989 Rt. 70 East, Cherry Hill, NJ

Admission is free, tax-deductible contributions to ITAI are encouraged.

LISTEN LIVE TO REPATRIOT RADIO

"BETTER THAN EVER"

(all times are eastern)

Friday 10-11pm "Veterans' Weekly Forum" - Rich Davis and David Bellavia   

The Case Against Obamacare: Health Care Policy Series for the 112th Congress

For Tea Parties, this can be used as basic ammunition for letters to the editor, columns for your local news outlet, handouts at public events, emailing the pdf to our elected reps as well as to members, friends and neighbors.

This appears to be an excellent resource; let's make use of it.

Lou Flanagan

The General Wayne Tea Party

The first contests in the race for the Republican nomination are just around the corner. To better inform you, we looked beyond the rhetoric to the candidates' actual records on the issues important to families.

This voter guide outlines candidate stances on issues that are important to the family. We researched the candidates' statements and votes on the ten issues that best give voters an understanding on if the candidates match your values. Please use this resource as you think about who you would like to see be the nominee to challenge President Barack Obama.

Download the free guide and be sure to share this resource with your friends and family before the 2012 primary season begins next month.

A values voter is an informed voter.

Sincerely,

Tony Perkins
President

Voter ID in PA - Action Requested

                            

 
PA State Senator contact information below:
 
To look up your PA Senator on the PA Legislative website use the following link:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/senators_alpha.cfm    

1.  Obtain the phone number from the legislative website and call their office.
2.  In addition many PA Senators are on Facebook. "Like" their Facebook page and then you can comment and ask them questions which they will respond to on Facebook.
3.  Look up their email address or ask for it when you call them.

 
APPROPRIATIONS Committee Members (with selected phone numbers)

New Hampshire Shows How Easy Vote Fraud Can Be.
Is South Carolina Next?

True the Vote strongly supports enacting voter ID laws in order to prevent vote fraud. If anyone ever questions the need for such measures, consider what just happened in New Hampshire. A new investigative video by Project Veritas has shown just how easy it is to cast an illegal ballot in The Granite State, a state that requires no identification to vote.

Project Veritas, headed by filmographer James O'Keefe, sent its cameras to several primary polling places in New Hampshire armed with a list of deceased voters and asked primary poll workers for ballots using the names and addresses of those names on that list. Much to their surprise they were never once required to present an ID to prove who they were, nor were they even asked if they were, indeed, the person they claimed to be.

In fact, the poll workers weren't worried at all if these videographers were who they said they were. When the Project Veritas team members asked if they needed to present ID to prove who they were, the poll workers told them it wasn't necessary, that they could just go ahead and vote using the false names.

"While our investigators cast no votes and returned the ballots," the PV team members report, "there was nothing stopping our team, or anyone else, from illegally influencing the outcome of a presidential primary."

Elsewhere, in South Carolina, the Department of Motor Vehicles is reporting that it has proof that dead voters in that state are somehow still voting. The DMV reported that at least 900 deceased voters had voted in recent elections.

State officials vowed to investigate, but if South Carolinians can't trust the veracity of past election results how can they be sure of a true result in the upcoming primary?

These shocking examples in NH and SC are precisely why True The Vote is training and supporting citizens to get involved in their election processes. All it takes is a small, organized force -- especially in those local elections that often see low voter turn out -- and an election can be illicitly rigged toward a particular result by people misrepresenting who they are at the polls.

Make no mistake -- if citizens don't demand that the integrity of our elections be upheld, we will continue to have episodes like what we just saw in New Hampshire. It's got to stop. Get involved. True the Vote.

Dead People Receive Ballots in NH Primary

If our elections are not truly fair, we are not truly free.
  Get involved.
  Help True the Vote.

 

Huckabee to hold second GOP forum this Saturday from South Carolina 

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 06:54 AM PST

Given the success of the first Huckabee Presidential Forum back on December 3rd, it seems we'll be treated to a second installment running up to the South Carolina primary. Note that this event will be taped during the day on Saturday and aired later Saturday evening on the Huckabee program on Fox News. There will be . . . → Read More: Huckabee to hold second GOP forum this Saturday from South Carolina

RedState Morning Briefing

For January 13, 2012

1. Our Task Moving Forward: Focus On Congress

Irrespective of the outcome of the presidential primaries, it is highly unlikely that we will nominate a reliable and consistent conservative. Unfortunately, with the exceptions of Coolidge, Goldwater, and Reagan, we never do. Not on a presidential level. This year we might nominate someone who is not a conservative at all. Perforce, our most important task going forward (aside for defeating Obama) is to win majorities in both houses of Congress.

2. The Great Bloomberg Booze Backlash of 2012

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg probably needed a stiff drink last night, after an article ran at the New York Post earlier in the day reporting that the mayor was planning to curtail alcohol sales in the Big Apple. The city health department's Partnership for a Healthier New York City was considering initiatives to slash the number of businesses that were licensed to sell liquor.

3. The New York Times Ponders: "Are We Biased Enough?"

The lefties on Twitter are very upset with their favorite paper, The New York Times. They've even started a hashtag (#NewNYTSlogans) attacking them for the apparent lack of dedication to truth that the paper has exhibited of late in its pages.

Heritage Hotsheet

Experts on the Day's Hottest News

Items for January 13, 2012

Economic freedom declines in U.S.   

Scripps Howard News Service

Justice Department backs Obama recess appointments   

Reuters

Bloomberg Vows Tougher Steps to help Troubled Schools   

The New York Times

Iran to host UN nuclear inspectors amid tensions over Strait of Hormuz threat   

Fox News

AP source: Obama to seek fast-track power to merge agencies; first up would be commerce   

The Washington Post

Latest Heritage Research:

NEWS RELEASES
Sub-Saharan Africa Most Improved Region in Index of Economic Freedom

NEWS RELEASES
Sovereign Debt Crisis Threatens Europe's Economic Freedom

NEWS RELEASES
Regs, Spending Sink U.S. to 10th Place on Index of Economic Freedom

NEWS RELEASES
Economic Freedom, Not Government Spending, Provides Path to Prosperity, 18th Index of Economic Freedom Shows

NEWS RELEASES
Hong Kong Remains World Leader in Economic Freedom, 2012 Index Shows

 Tell them the Bono joke.

Bono is at a U2 concert and asks the crowd for some quiet. Slowly, to rapt silence from the audience, he begins clapping his hands and says into the microphone: "Every time I clap my hands a child in Africa dies." A voice from near the front of the audience pipes up: "Well, stop clapping then."  

Three Fundamental Mistakes in Dealing with Islam
Jan 12, 2012 11:47 am

Germany Attempts to Silence Criticism of Islam
Jan 12, 2012 10:34 am

Virginia 2012 General Assembly Second Amendment Legislation
Jan 12, 2012 10:22 am

The Hack on Stratfor
Jan 12, 2012 09:59 am

Propaganda, Terror, and Mass Communication Part 3
Jan 12, 2012 08:15 am

Bailing out the European Union
Jan 12, 2012 01:41 am

Gold Volatility Breeds Equity Opportunities: Mike Niehuser
Jan 12, 2012 01:12 am

Rep. Black Introduces Resolution Disapproving of Obama's Recent Presidential Appointments
Jan 12, 2012 12:02 am

Terror in Tampa
Jan 11, 2012 01:11 pm

Emerging Totalitarianism
Jan 11, 2012 12:49 pm

Three Fundamental Mistakes in Dealing with Islam

We made three fundamental mistakes in our dealings with Islam. First, we assumed that the only politically acceptable answer was also the right answer. This is the most common mistake that politicians make.

 

Second, we established a construct of a moderate and extreme Islam that reflected how we saw it from the outside. This construct had no theological relationship to any actual belief or movement within Islam. Had we made the division into modern and fundamentalist, we would at least have been using words that meant something. Instead we used moderate and extreme in a military sense to mean hostile and friendly or neutral. But as a Vietnam era president and military command should have known, in a guerrilla war not everyone who isn't shooting at you is friendly or even neutral.

Our construct was black and white with few shades of gray. But the Muslim world is all shades of gray. The absolute choice we wanted them to make, "you're either with us or with the terrorists", was foreign to their culture and their way of life. Multiple layers of contradictory relationships and alliances are the norm in the region. You expect to betray and be betrayed, much as you expect to cheat and be cheated while bartering for a carpet at the souk. In a region where coalitions of Fascists, Communists and Islamists are doable, contradictions don't exist, all alliances are expedient and built on an expected betrayal. The rise of Islam itself was built on broken peace treaties. So it is no wonder then that in response to Bush's call, they chose both us and the terrorists. Appeasing America and the Islamists at the same time was their version of the politically safe middle ground, the path of least resistance and the only acceptable option.

And the more we prattled about the peacefulness of Islam, the more we looked like we could be easily appeased with a few gestures. And so it was the Islamists who were more threatening, who got the benefit of of their appeasement. We had asked Muslim countries for an alliance with no mixed allegiances, in a region where only kin could ask or count on such an arrangement. And we are not their kin, neither by blood and certainly not by religion. While we insisted that all people were the same, this was a statement of our belief, not theirs. And they did not believe that we believed it either.
 

Read more: 

  VIDEOS * TODAY'S HOT PICKS

1. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals AFFIRMS Order BLOCKING Sharia Law Ban (CAIR: "... a reminder that these anti-Sharia laws are unconstitutional and that if politicians use fear-mongering ... the courts won't allow it to last for long")
2. VIDEO: FOX's Jesse Watters Interviews People on the Street About Politics
3. VIDEO: Gitmo Protesters: Administration has 'betrayed our trust'
4. VIDEO: Dog Involved in Deadly Accident Swims Half-Mile to Stranger  5. The Fed Agency that Paid Out the Most in Stimulus Funds Is...  6. VIDEO: Expert: Window to Stop Iran Nuke Program...is Closing
7. AUDIO: Dennis Miller Humbles CNN Host Over 'Evil' Breitbart Remark
8. Bankrupt Solyndra Seeking to Pay Bonuses  9. NEW James O'Keefe VIDEO: Election Workers Giving out Ballots in the Names of Dead Voters 

Root Causes of Anti-U.S. Islamic Terrorism

Yoram Ettinger

To Die For

Tom McLaughlin 

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State to Meet Brotherhood Leaders

The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report 

DREAM Act to Be Resurrected in Tennessee

Immigration News Update 

CAIR's Manipulation Tactics in Tampa

Steve Emerson 

O Canada Our Only Hope

James Delingpole 

Adopting Pro-Sharia Textbooks

When states should step in. 

Alyssa A. Lappen 

Today's Hot Topics

We choose, you peruse.

  The recent brouhaha over Lowe's pulling its advertising on the TV show "All-American Muslim" is just the latest example of how radical Islam threatens, undermines and eventually destroys freedom.

In this case, the threat was to the freedom a company has to make business decisions about when and where it will advertise.

Here are just four recent examples of how radical Islam attacks freedom.

Of course, we could give you pages and pages of examples, but the pattern should be clear. Wherever radical Islam goes, the death of freedom follows.

 Read more: 

Stateless Again: Palestinian-Origin Jordanians Deprived of their Nationality

Report's Introduction: (published 2 years ago.) 
More than half of the 6.3 million population of Jordan is of Palestinian origin-that is, from areas west of the River Jordan, including the West Bank, today's Israel, and Gaza. With the exception of persons from Gaza, the vast majority of those persons of Palestinian origin have Jordanian citizenship. However, since 1988, and especially over the past few years, the Jordanian government has been arbitrarily and without notice withdrawing Jordanian nationality from its citizens of Palestinian origin, making them stateless. For many of them this means they are again stateless Palestinians as they were before 1950.

Some Jordanian officials have said they are doing so in order to forestall supposed Israeli designs to colonize the West Bank, by maintaining the birthright of Palestinians to live in the West Bank. Yet the real reason may be Jordan's desire to be able...

Read the whole entry »

Jordan Allows Hamas to Take Up Residence on Its Soil

By Karl Vick, GLOBAL SPIN  

Exiled Palestinian Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal addresses a meeting with some 40 Palestinian prisoners who were freed by Israel but are to be deported overseas, in Cairo on October 18, 2011.

In what sure looks like further evidence of diminishing American influence in the Middle East, the country that summarily ejected Hamas a dozen years ago is opening its doors to senior leaders of the group Washington and Israel regard first and foremost as a terrorist organization.

Jordan kicked out Hamas way back in 1999 under pressure from the United States. The Palestinian organization had been anchored in Amman, but was forced to move its headquarters to Syria, where it officially remains. Life in Damascus has gotten mighty uncomfortable over the last year, however. Though the Islamic Resistance Movement has tried mightily to stay entirely out of the conflict between the Syrian government that is its host and the Syrian people that government has been shooting...

Read the whole entry »

Bethlehem to Host Church Conference Which Demonizes Israel

Theologians who are breathing new life into a kind of demonology which criminalizes all Israelis will meet in Bethlehem in March.

By Giulio Meotti, INN 

Next March, the Bible College in Bethlehem will host dozens of US theologians, activists and ministries for the "Christ at the Checkpoint 2012 Conference".

It is to be a major religious and political event meant to demonize Israel and to support the Palestinian Intifada against the "ethnocentric" Jewish State.

The impressive range of Christian theologians and pastors from many churches located in the United States make the gravity of the upcoming conference clear.

Samuel Rodriguez, President of the US National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, is a speaker.

Also attending are popular US preacher and "spiritual adviser" to Bill Clinton, Tony Campolo, and President of the World Evangelical Alliance and Asia Evangelical Alliance, Sang-Bok David Kim.

Two of the conference organisers, Stephen Sizer and Sami Awad,...

Read the whole entry »

Gerstenfeld: "No Apologies to the Jews"

By Jerry Gordon, Iconoclast 

Last Thursday we posted on the morally correct stand of the Hon. Geert Wilders , leader of the Freedom Party (PVV) in the Hague Parliament. Wilders had issued a statement demanding that the present Dutch government of PM Rutte issue a long overdue apology to Dutch Jewish survivors and the families of victims for official "passivity" in the face of the murder of more than 100,000 Jewish Citizens by occupying Nazis during the Holocaust. The raising of this issue by Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party (PVV) was prompted by a book, Judging the Netherlands by Manfred Gerstenfeld of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, who was a hidden child during the Shoah in Holland.

Yesterday, it was Gerstenfeld's turn to take Dutch leadership to task in an opinion column published by Ynet.com, "No Apologies to the Jews". In it he notes that a recent poll taken in Holland reveal that the issue of an apology garnered less than 27% approval. A sad commentary, but...

Read the whole entry »

Enough with the gestures

By Ted Belman

It seems the talks in Jordan are to continue past the present Quartet deadline of Jan 26. Obama wants the talks to continue for most of 2012 so that his opponents can claim he scuttled the talks.

Abbas allowed to meetings to take place even though his preconditions were not accepted. And the pressure is on Bibi to provide gestures.

According to Haaretz they include freeing Palestinian prisoners, expanding the Palestinian Authority's control in additional West Bank territories, and other similar measures.

Bibi also wants Abbas to refrain from pursuing statehood at the United Nations.

The majority of the comments at Haaretz, are fed up with gestures and talks.

Jews and Hindus: Building A Passage to India

Prof. Phyllis Chesler, INN 

On January 8, 2012, I delivered a rather passionate speech in Pune, India via skype. I was invited to do so by "Youth 4 Panun Kashmir." The organizers were especially interested in my drawing parallels between Israel and India, Jews and Hindus both of whom have, historically, been genocidally exterminated and driven out of their holy places.

I was approached to speak partly because I have written about Islamic terrorism in India before and partly because I recently took up the case of Dr. Subramanian Swamy, an Indian political leader and economist, who was wrongfully dismissed by Harvard after twenty years for daring to take a "controversial" stand against Islamic terrorism in India.

Here is part of what I said. I think it will be of interest to the readers of Israel National News and perhaps to Israeli diplomats who are in touch with their counterparts in India, because Dr. Swamy was the highest ranking Indian leader to first visit Israel in...

Read the whole entry »

Egyptian Soccer Fans Calling For the Genocide of Jews

Laura: We are always being told by liberals the fiction that "extremists" represent a tiny fringe minority of the muslim population while the vast majority are "peaceful" and "moderate". In reality, genocidal Jew-hatred is mainstream in islam. So obsessed are the Arab-muslims with the Jews that this Jew-hatred is even expressed during a soccer game. It is unthinkable for example that football fans in America would go to a game and carry signs and shout for the genocide of any group of people. But this is normative behavior in the islamic world. Liberals give us this childish blather about how there is good and bad in everyone and we can't judge an entire people. They refuse to accept that hatred such as this is inherent to their culture. Egypt, like the rest of the islamic world, is another failed state, which despite its far larger population and land mass, cannot compete with Israel economically. So let the Egyptians wallow in their hatred...

Read the whole entry »

"Pants on Fire": After PolitiFact's Brutal Verdict, RJC Urges DNC to Stop Lying about GOP Candidates and Israel  

Washington, D.C. (January 12, 2011) -- Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matthew Brooks responded to the finding by the Pulitzer prize-winning 'fact-check' site PolitiFact that claims made in Democratic National Committee (DNC) advertisements attacking Republican presidential hopefuls on Israel rely on "ridiculous distortion" and add up to "pants on fire" lies:

"PolitiFact's assessment confirms that the President's defenders are desperate to distract from his record on issues of concern to Jewish Americans and millions of other voters who are very concerned about the security of our ally Israel.  Barack Obama promised to stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel and broker peace in the region and he failed to deliver on those promises.  After trying and failing to silence those of us who are determined to hold him accountable, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has hypocritically resorted to the tactics she has claimed to deplore - lying about political opponents and using Israel as an issue to score partisan points.

"Now that PolitiFact has strongly rebuked the DNC for lying about Republicans, we call on them to immediately end this dishonest campaign to mislead American Jews."

*  In the "Truth-O-Meter" item "Do Romney, Perry, Gingrich want to zero out aid to Israel?" posted yesterday at PolitiFact (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2012/jan/11/do-romney-perry-gingrich-want-zero-out-aid-israel/ ), Louis Jacobson assigned the "Pants on Fire" rating to the DNC's claim that Republican presidential candidates "Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich all say they would cut foreign aid to Israel - and every other country - to zero." 

*  According to PolitiFact, the Pants on Fire label is used in the most extreme instances of dishonesty - when a statement "is not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim." 

*  See also, "Dems target GOP candidates on foreign aid," The Hill, 11/14/11
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/193433-dems-target-gop-candidates-on-foreign-aid 

Area Woman Aids Attacked Ugandan Minister 

An evangelical pastor from Uganda who recently began preaching support for Israel is being treated in an Israeli hospital after he was attacked with acid in the capital of the central African nation. A Main Line woman helped the pastor get to Israel and receive the care he needed.

Pastor Umar Mulinde, 38, arrived in Israel on Jan. 5 for emergency medical treatment at Tel Aviv's Sheba Medical Center following the attack that severely burned his face and torso and damaged his right eye. He is expected to remain in the hospital for at least a month.

The attackers shouted "Allah Akbar" (God is great) after pouring acid on Mulinde on Dec. 24 in Kampala. Mulinde converted to Christianity from Islam and is known for proselytizing.

After determining that he needed more advanced treatment for his injuries than the hospital in Kampala could provide, Mulinde contacted Andrea Gottlieb of Merion Station for financial and logistical help.

"I had that moment of 'Oh my gosh, what do I do?' " said Gottlieb, who was vacationing with family when she received an email from Mulinde, whom she'd been corresponding with for more than a year in her role as executive director of JerusalemOnlineU.com.

After a series of emails, she was able to get a promise from Sheba hospital to treat him for free and received help from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office to sort out Mulinde's visa issues.

Mulinde had learned about Israel through JerusalemOnlineU.com, an Internet portal for Jewish distance learning. He then taught courses at his Gospel Life Church International and to neighboring ministers, organized a 5,000-person teach-in about Israel at a local stadium and led a mission to the Jewish state. He's also spent time with Uganda's tiny Jewish community.

"Because of my background and my faith, I hated anything to do with Israel. I hated the Jews," he said in a clip on YouTube.com. After converting to Christianity and taking the online course, he said, he "began to love Israel."

Congress and the President Need a Sockdolager from Voters!

Jan 12, 2012 05:13 am | Coach Collins

By Helen Sabin, staff writer

 In the late 1700's, three term Congressman, Davy Crockett, riding the county to gather votes for his next term in Congress, received a "sockdolager" (a knockdown blow) from farmer, Horatio Bunch about Crockett's vote to provide "$20,000 of charity" to an Admiral's wife. 

 Bunch stated,    

 "Where do you find in the Constitution any authority to give away the public money in charity?  ...The Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is.  You will very easily perceive what a wide      door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and          for robbing the people on the other."

 [i]Here are just a few of the thousands of ways that the President with a complicit congress robbed the American taxpayer: ... Continue Reading:Congress and the President Need a Sockdolager from Voters!

comments | read more

American Minute January 11

Jan 11, 2012 05:13 pm | Coach Collins

By Bill Federer, staff writer

Grandson of Princeton president Jonathan Edwards, he could read at age 4 and entered Yale at 13. He was a chaplain in the Continental Army until his father died, when, as the eldest of 13, he worked the family farm to pay off debts. He was in Massachusetts' first State Legislature. This was Timothy Dwight, who became Yale's president in 1795. In 22 years he created departments of chemistry, geology, law, medicine, and founded Andover Theological Seminary. He pioneered women's education, and was critical of slavery and encroachment on Indian lands. Originally a Puritan college, Yale students became enticed by France's deistic "cult of reason," which birthed the bloody French Revolution. Dwight answered their questions on faith and by his death, JANUARY 11, 1817, Yale had grown from 110 to 313 students, a third professing Christians and 30 entering ministry. Timothy Dwight wrote in 1798: "Religion and liberty are the meat and drink ... Continue Reading:American Minute January 11

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Even the Washington Times sees Obama as no threat to the liberty of Americans

Jan 11, 2012 01:13 pm | Coach Collins

by Doug Book,  staff writer

From its inception, the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act has been a thoroughly mistrusted piece of legislation as a key provision permits the President to place in military custody indefinitely, with neither charge nor trial, any individual defined as a terrorist or threat to the United States according to provisions of the Authorization for Use of Military Force resolution adopted just after the 9/11 attacks. (1)

When Barack Obama signed the Act into law on New Year's Eve, he made certain to add a lengthy signing statement.  Designed to reassure those Americans who doubt this president's word, honor and intentions as it concerns their rights and liberty, Obama wrote:

"...I decided to sign this bill not only because of the critically important services it provides for our forces and their families and the national security programs it authorizes, but also because the Congress revised provisions that otherwise would have jeopardized the ... Continue Reading:Even the Washington Times sees Obama as no threat to the liberty of Americans

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 Dennis Prager: Ron Paul Is A Sickening Liar And Radical Lefty 

See video: 

Is Big Sis Reading Your FaceBook Page?

Jan 12, 2012 06:59 am

The Obama administration's Department of Homeland Security is monitoring numerous media outlets - and new guidelines open the possibility that the DHS will spy on private citizens' FaceBook, Twitter, or MySpace pages and retain personal information in its database for up to five years. The "Social Networking/Media Capability" program is conducted by the DHS's National [...]

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Video: South Carolina Seeks Voter Fraud Probe, Holder Says No

Jan 12, 2012 06:50 am

Watch the Video and Comment: Video: South Carolina Seeks Voter Fraud Probe, Holder Says No


 

Video: Michelle Obama, I am NOT an Angry Black Woman, Dammit!

Jan 12, 2012 06:14 am

In so many ways, the first lady could learn from the Iron Lady. Margaret Thatcher famously said, "Power is like being a lady...If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." Her ladylike advice is lost on Michelle Obama, who cannot understand why the American people seem to think she is angry. On CBS' [...]

Read More and Comment: Video: Michelle Obama, I am NOT an Angry Black Woman, Dammit!


 

FBI and SPLC Had an Informant in Oklahoma City Bombing Case

Jan 12, 2012 06:12 am

In a January 5, 1996, teletype to select FBI field offices, FBI Director Louis Freeh revealed that the Southern Poverty Law Center, the radical left-wing group run by civil rights lawyer Morris Dees, had an informant living in Elohim City, a white supremacist compound whose inhabitants have been closely linked to the Oklahoma City bombing. [...]

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Impeachable Offense? Yale Law Prof Questions Legality of Obama's "Recess" Appointments

Jan 12, 2012 06:11 am

Even a Yale Law School professor is questioning President Barack Obama's claim of a legal justification for unilaterally installing Richard Cordray as head of the new finance-sector regulatory bureau. Obama's staff say the appointment was based on advice from White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, not from the Department of Justice. But this reliance on Obama's [...]

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Obama Plans to Slash Defense, Fight "Numerous" UN Wars at Once

Jan 12, 2012 06:11 am

Speaking at the Pentagon last week, Barack Obama, who never met a welfare program for American citizens or illegal aliens he did not wish to increase, unveiled a plan to cut the defense budget by roughly half-a-trillion dollars, allegedly for economic reasons. His plan would assure the United States would be incapable of fighting two-front [...]

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Obama's Primary Vote Down by 50 Percent

Jan 12, 2012 06:08 am

As Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton went into the Democratic National Convention in 2008 against Barack Hussein Obama, she had received a majority of the popular vote against Obama, 18,045,829 votes to 17,869,419. Still, Obama and his Chicago machine managers fairly easily wrestled away the nomination for president from her. Yet what is now more amazing, [...]

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Can We Beat Obama? Polls Say "Yes, We Can!"

Jan 12, 2012 06:07 am

Remember just two weeks ago, when the media and even many conservative pundits flatly proclaimed Obama's big victory in the payroll tax cut showdown had handed him a bigedge going into an election year? If you do, you are in the minority. The American people were not fooled. New Gallup survey numbers tell us a [...]

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Some Inconvenient Facts

Jan 12, 2012 06:02 am

Mr. President: Do you really think you are riding high with the rate of unemployment standing at a whopping 8.5 percent? 8.5 percent! Wow!! Perhaps we should take a real good look at the real numbers. The rate of unemployment was 7.8 percent when you took office, and look how much money you have spent [...]

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Bankrupt Solyndra Wants to Hand Out Bonuses

Jan 12, 2012 06:01 am

Thursday, January 12, 2012

To: Friends & Supporters

From: Gary L. Bauer


COUNTDOWN TO VICTORY: 299 DAYS TO THE 2012 ELECTIONS


The Voting Dead

Yesterday The Daily Caller broke the disturbing news that ballots were issued for dead people during Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. Undercover video captured poll workers issuing ballots for individuals who were recently deceased.

This "sting operation" was conducted by James O'Keefe, the same man who caught many ACORN workers on video violating tax laws and turning a blind eye to under-age prostitution. No laws were violated by O'Keefe, but his videos make it all too clear just how easy it is to commit voter fraud.

Undoubtedly, you may be wondering how this is possible. Well, New Hampshire, like many states, does not have a voter ID law. In fact, when one of O'Keefe's undercover voters offered to show an ID, the response he received was, "The state says we're not allowed to ask for identification."

You may recall that a few weeks ago I blasted the Obama Justice Department for waging a jihad against state voter ID laws. We have to produce an ID to buy alcohol and other products. We have to produce an ID to drive and to board an airplane. We have to produce an ID to cash checks.

Yet Democrats insist that it is an onerous burden to ask citizens to produce an ID when they cast their ballots. The American public overwhelmingly disagrees. A recent Rasmussen poll found that 70% of likely voters support voter ID laws, including 64% of independent voters and even 54% of Democrats.


Axelrod Defends Wright

I have been saying for months now that this election is going to be brutal. Obama can't run on "hope and change" again. It's going to be fear and smear in 2012. This week we got another indication of where the Obama campaign is headed.

In California this week, Obama's chief political strategist David Axelrod defended Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. According to the report, Axelrod dismissed the 2008 Wright controversy by saying it was nothing more than "ninety seconds of vitriol plucked from thirty years of sermons by some enterprising opposition researcher."

Really? Why then did Barack Obama feel it was necessary to throw Wright under the bus and repudiate his outrageous statements and blatant racism? David Axelrod is not a dumb man, so why on earth is he opening up this can of worms now?

I truly hope I am wrong, but I fear this is a signal by the Obama campaign to their media allies that they are prepared to make a candidate's faith an issue in this year's campaign. They know going down this road will invite questions about Wright. That is why Axelrod may have pre-emptively signaled it was really "much ado about nothing" and that the Obama campaign is prepared to refight that battle.

Why? Because no matter the faith of the GOP nominee, radical secularists will portray our candidate as an extremist, and left-wing activists are prepared to exploit religious bigotry in an attempt to get Obama reelected. In fact, the polling data already indicates that for all the hype about religious intolerance on the right, there is more bigotry on the left!


Ron Paul's Liberal Base

In yesterday's report I noted that, according to the exit polls, Ron Paul attracted a lot of support from self-identified liberals and independents who cast ballots in New Hampshire's GOP primary. But there's more.

The left-wing Nation reports that nearly 20% of voters who cast ballots in Tuesday's Democrat primary voted against Barack Obama. Many in fact went so far as to write in another candidate's name. So who came in second to Barack Obama in the New Hampshire Democrat primary? Ron Paul.

And why would so many Democrats write in Paul's name? Because he is to Obama's left on foreign policy and national defense. In fact, Paul is so extreme, he even opposed the SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden! For the record, only 5% of Americans agree with Ron Paul that it was wrong to take out bin Laden.


Supremes Stop Obama Power Grab

Many conservatives have been rightly concerned about Barack Obama's recent power grabs. I am pleased to report that one of them was just slapped down by the Supreme Court.

At issue was a discrimination lawsuit filed against a religiously affiliated school after it had dismissed one of its teachers. The Obama Administration intervened against the school and argued before the high court that long-recognized "ministerial exemptions" should no longer apply to religious institutions. This was an incredibly hostile and unprecedented opinion, not to mention a potentially unprecedented expansion of federal influence over religious institutions.

The New York Times described the case as likely the "most significant religious liberty decision in two decades." Bishop William E. Lori, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' ad hoc committee for religious liberty, praised the ruling, saying, "This decision makes resoundingly clear the historical and constitutional importance of keeping internal church affairs off limits to the government -- because whoever chooses the minister chooses the message."

In its opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court's majority flatly rejected the Obama Administration's argument, stating that it is "hard to square with the text of the First Amendment itself... We cannot accept the remarkable view that the Religion Clauses have nothing to say about a religious organization's freedom to select its own ministers."

And here's just how radical the Obama Administration's positions was: The Supreme Court rejected its position UNANIMOUSLY -- 9-to-0. Not one of the court's four left-wing justices, not even the two Obama appointed, sided with the administration. In fact, Justice Elena Kagan even wrote a concurring opinion with Justice Samuel Alito!
 

January 12, 2012


  EPA LEVIES FINES FOR A NON-EXISTENT FUEL
Imagine if you were an oil refiner and you were contacted by a powerful government agency. You were told that you'd be fined millions of dollars for not making a government mandated type of fuel. But you tell them that the fuel does not exist. What do you think the government's answer would be? Find out HERE.

  IS MICHELLE OBAMA JUST MISUNDERSTOOD?
A new book about the Obamas portrays Michelle Obama in a rather unflattering manner and has inspired the White House to do some "damage control." Yesterday, the First Lady stopped by the new CBS Early Show and talked with Gayle King. Mrs. Obama took on the alleged perception that she is "an angry black woman." Watch a clip from the interview HERE.

  'BRANGELINA' IN THE OVAL OFFICE   
Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were in Washington DC yesterday for a press tour. During some down time they popped by the White House to visit with the President. See the photos of Brad and Angie inside the Oval Office HERE.

  KARZAI CONDEMNS VIDEO THAT ALLEGEDLY SHOWS MARINES PEEING ON DEAD TALIBAN   
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is not happy about a graphic video that appears to show U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters. The Marines are also investigating the clip. The video does have graphic images, but you can watch it HERE.

NANCY GRACE shows guest the door 
Headline News' firebrand Nancy Grace was aghast when she heard a ridiculous statement made by one of her guests on last night's TV show. The passionate Ms. Grace interviewed a friend of admitted killer Joran Van Der Sloot and became outraged after the man seemed to say the young woman murdered by Van der Sloot provoked her killer. Watch what happens HERE.  

VIRAL VIDEO - 'GB' IN GBTV = GLENN'S BED   
If you are not a GBTV subscriber, this clip just might induce you to jump onto the website and sign up. Last night's opening monologue for the 5pm show was delivered by Glenn, from his bed. Content Warning - Glenn has chalkboards, Twinkies and George Soros with him HERE.

Alexander's Essay - January 12, 2012

The Best GOP Candidate

Profile of the Right Man for the Job

"[T]ake care that the laws be faithfully executed ... support the Constitution ... faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." --Article II Section 1, 3, the Constitution of the United States

The right man for the job?

This is no "typical" election year, a point lost for the most part by Republican presidential candidates and obscured by the national media. This just accounts for the fact that a substantial majority of conservatives voters (both Republicans and Independents) have yet to approve of anyone on the current slate, and consequently, tell pollsters they prefer "other."

What Beltway political advisers and pundits fail to grasp is that the 2012 federal elections will have enormous ramifications upon the future of our Republic and upon prospects for sustaining Liberty through our current national government structure. That structure, now severely destabilized, is a mere shadow of what the Founding Fathers envisioned and enshrined in our Constitution.

Treating this election cycle as anything less than the critical historical tipping point it is thereby dishonors the enormous sacrifice of blood and treasure that generations of American Patriots have sacrificed in support and defense of our Constitution.

Sadly, the Republican presidential contenders are still running plays out of an antiquated and self-destructive political attack playbook. They do so at great cost, both financially and to the ultimate objective of defeating Barack Hussein Obama.

The beneficiaries of this primary season's Republican rancor are, once again, the mainstream media, the plethora of pollsters and, of course, the Democrat Party. Meanwhile, Obama does not have a primary opponent (other than the economy), and thus is building an enormous political war chest for the upcoming general campaign.

While it will require many election cycles to undo the severe political injuries inflicted upon our Republic by generations of Leftists, the restorative process began in earnest with the 2010 midterm election of many "Tea Party" candidates -- those who rallied grassroots voters around restorative constitutional campaigns. We have a protracted and arduous fight to turn back the tides of Democratic Socialism -- and time is not on our side.

Though congressional elections are important, and conservatives are making significant headway in the Legislative Branch, it is election of the next Chief Executive that will most determine whether we restore Rule of Law, or our nation succumbs to the fatal cycle of democracy, further submitting to authoritarian government rule and plunging into the gaping abyss of socialism.

(Notably, the U.S. has dropped from 9th to 10th place in the just-released 2012 Index of Economic Freedom.)

Though The Patriot Post devotes substantial energy and resources to evaluate candidates, we do not endorse presidential candidates until the general election. However, given all we have learned about the current field of Republicans, there is one candidate we could endorse and fully support.

Unfortunately, that candidate exists only as a composite of the best attributes from each of the actual candidates.

This amalgamated profile is important because it encompasses the qualities that all Patriots seek in candidates for federal office. Thus, what follows is a collection of winning conservative attributes, which, in some measure each of the current GOP candidates possesses, with the exception of one.*

The best candidate for the job is devoted to Liberty as endowed by our Creator and enshrined in our Constitution. He is a man of strong faith, is devoted to his family and has served his nation in uniform with honor. He has a good record of executive leadership, both in the private sector and government. He is an effective advocate for free enterprise, limited government and tax reform. He is smart, articulate, charismatic, experienced and a great debater with a remarkable sense of history. He has an outstanding comprehension of complex domestic and foreign policy matters. He bases his positions on constructionist logic, not political expediency, and is bold in his vision for our nation. He is salt of the earth, not a silver spoon Ivy Leaguer. He has strong ties to the renaissance of American conservatism launched by Ronald Reagan.

What other attributes should the next president possess? Post Your Opinion

Of course, it would also be instructive to develop a composite based upon all the negative attributes of the contenders, but the GOP circular firing squad is already doing a fine job of promoting their liabilities.

As our ideal presidential candidate is not among the current lot, we must all vote for the primary candidate who most closely embodies him. I would encourage every Patriot to ignore the meaningless Iowa caucus and more so, the New Hampshire primary, as that former conservative stronghold is now little more than a political suburb of Boston. (Oh, but that we would have all primaries on a single day, rather than defaulting to the victors of minuscule Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, neither of which are substantially representative of grassroots conservatives across the nation. But a national primary day would put the choice in the hands of the people, rather than the GOP establishment and the 24-hour news cycle talkingheads.)

All other candidate attributes notwithstanding, we should, first and foremost, demand that every candidate, and president, affirm Rule of Law in compliance with their Sacred Oath to Support and Defend our Constitution.

In the words of Justice Joseph Story, "No man can well doubt the propriety of placing a president of the United States under the most solemn obligations to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. It is a suitable pledge of his fidelity and responsibility to his country; and creates upon his conscience a deep sense of duty, by an appeal, at once in the presence of God and man, to the most sacred and solemn sanctions, which can operate upon the human mind."

Our single focus must be to defeat Obama, and frankly, I would fully endorse a turnip in order to achieve that objective.

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Libertas aut Mortis!

Mark Alexander
Publisher, The Patriot Post

*Jon Huntsman's best attribute is that he is a superlative example of what not to support in a Republican candidate, as affirmed by his strong performance ahead of Gingrich, Santorum and Perry in the New Hampshire primary, where centrist Independents and Democrats outnumbered Republican voters.

Today's Headlines:  Thursday, January 12, 2012

No Endorsement From DeMint, But He Likes Much of What He's Hearing from Ron Paul

EPA Gives Activists a New Tool to Pressure Power Plants, Oil Refineries

Obama: EPA Regulations Create Jobs; 'EPA Touches on the Lives of Every Single American Every Single Day'

Ann Coulter says: "If you want the facts, you go to Media Research Center."  Please make a tax-deductible gift to MRC today!

Female Heads of State Discuss How 'Climate Change'--But Not Sex-Selective Abortions--Hurt Women

Obama Wants to Use Tax Code to Reward 'In-Sourcing' and Punish Outsourcing

Debt Ceiling Hike Could Come Any Day As U.S. Hits Limit

Obama, DNC Raise $68M in Final 3 Months of 2011

DHS IG: Most Immigration Officers Surveyed in 2011 Believe Obama Policy Favors 'Promoting Immigration' Over 'National Security'

Obama Holds Oval Office Meeting With Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie

NYC Pastors to Protest Mayor Over City Policy Kicking Churches Out of Schools

Fed Court Sides With Atheist; R.I. School Ordered to Remove Prayer Mural

Miss. Judge Blocks Release of 21 Convicts Pardoned by Outgoing Republican Governor

'Egregious Behavior': Videotape Shows U.S. Marines Urinating on Taliban Corpses

Keep Their Feet to the Fire
By Ben Shapiro
Assuming Mitt Romeny wins the nomination and somehow wins the White House, most conservatives will be ready to box him about the ears as soon as he steps out of line.

NEWSPAPER ROUNDUP:
 
Feds: 5% of patients account for half of health care spending
Dems plan to introduce legislation to repeal Arizona immigration law
Beverly Hills sets rules for tearing down or altering older structures
Bankrupt Solyndra seeking court permission to pay incentive bonuses
'If I Die' app posts your farewell to Facebook friends
Mexico drug war stats: As of Oct. 1, 12,903 people had been killed
N.J. activists press for bill eliminating lifetime alimony payments
'Gayest Cities in America' list causes a stir; Salt Lake City tops
Feud erupts over DNC chair's comment on Tea Party and Giffords shooting
Online movement presses for bald "cancer" Barbie doll
Tucson students confront loss of their Chicano studies class
Business groups, Republicans pressure president over Keystone XL
Man arrested after toddler found alone in Occupy D.C. tent
Casey Anthony believes her slain daughter was product of date rape

The Hundred Year GOP War 

Centennial of first conservative-moderate GOP presidential fight -- a final winner in 2012?

1912.
 
2012.
 
Once upon a time... a long, long, loooonnnnnnnnng time ago in a political galaxy far away... the fight between Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich began.
 
Specifically, it was 1912 -- a long 100 years ago -- when Republicans William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt launched the first intra-Republican Party war between conservatives and moderates. Or, as TR self-styled the latter, "progressives."
 
That first fight was a doozy. A battle royal pitting one-time best friends Taft and TR, sitting president and popular ex-president -- in a clamorous, knock-down, drag out fight. The fight ended a friendship, split the Republican Party, and, in the fall, with both men on the ballot -- Taft as the GOP nominee and TR as the candidate of the newly-created "Progressive Party" -- it ended with neither man winning, the country putting Democrat Woodrow Wilson into the White House.
 
The Taft-Roosevelt fight also launched what might now be officially called the Republican Party's "Hundred Year War."
 
With New Hampshire primary voters going to the polls today -- and the New Hampshire primary didn't come into being until 1916, four years after the Taft-TR battle -- it would be a mistake to look at today's battle between Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich in isolation.
 
What America is really seeing here is the latest and perhaps most telling battle yet in a 100-year GOP war over the direction of the party. A party that some New Hampshire Republicans like to insist was born in New Hampshire -- Exeter, specifically -- at the instigation of prominent local lawyer and Abraham Lincoln friend Amos Tuck. (Tuck's initial meeting never took off and the usual nod for the birthplace of the GOP goes to Ripon, Wisconsin.)
 
Along the way this century-long conservative versus GOP moderates/progressives squabble has produced some other notable knock-down-drag-outs, notably including:
 
1952 -- Taft versus Eisenhower
 1964 -- Goldwater versus Rockefeller
 1976 -- Reagan versus Ford
 1980 -- Reagan versus Bush
 
And yes, before and after those specific fights in this 100-year war there were other variations on the theme. The 1920s paired conservatives Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge after rejecting progressives General Leonard Wood (leading the TR progressives) and Frank Lowden, the progressive Governor of Illinois. Another GOP progressive, who lost that 1920 nomination, won the 1928 nomination and the election -- Herbert Hoover. The 1940s saw Ohio's conservative Senator Robert Taft battling -- and losing -- nominations to moderates Wendell Willkie and Thomas E. Dewey. Nineteen Sixty-eight had the new conservative Governor Reagan of California making a last minute go against moderates Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller. Conservative Jack Kemp took on Reagan's moderate Vice President George H.W. Bush in 1988. Pat Buchanan went after the incumbent President Bush in 1992, and entered the lists again in 1996 along with Steve Forbes and Pat Robertson, all losing to the moderate Bob Dole. The year 2000 produced a battle between two moderates -- with John McCain trying successfully to make himself the more left-leaning of the two -- and losing to Texas Governor George W. Bush. McCain carried the day in 2008 against fellow moderates Romney, Huckabee and Giuliani, conservative Fred Thompson, and libertarian Ron Paul.

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