April 9th, 1865: General Lee surrenders to General Grant at Appomattox Court House, and although fighting and skirmishes were to continue in the west, the Civil War–or as my southern readers would prefer, the war between the states, or better yet, the war of northern aggression–was all but over.
But the story of Appomattox began on July 3th of 1863 with the conclusion of the battle of Gettysburg–a bloody three day battle that most historians believe was the turning point in the war. While many credit Gettysburg as the beginning of the end of the confederacy, President Lincoln was distraught when newly appointed General Meade failed to pursue General Lee and let him escape. President Lincoln felt that Meade had the chance to crush the rebellion and end the war but he failed to do so and his delay likely prolonged the war another two years.
Because of Meade’s inaction following Gettysburg, President Lincoln once again believed that the Union generals simply were not up to the task so he looked towards a general in the west who seemed to be the aggressive warrior that he had been looking for for several years. The Army of the Potomac had seen several generals who simply did not seem to have the wherewithal to stand up to General Lee–from McClellan to Meade–who seemed all too willing to try to out maneuver General Lee rather than deliver a knock out blow to him on the field.
And they were not without good reason to fear General Lee–he had never lost a battle until Gettysburg and he constantly out foxed the Union generals despite the north having the advantage of industry and numerical superiority. In my opinion General Lee is still one of the finest generals in history and he was thought of so fondly that at the outbreak of hostilities President Lincoln offered him overall command of the whole northern army. In an age when people still thought of their state as their true country, General Lee turned down the position in order to defend what he thought of as his country–Virginia.
Enter General Grant to the story; while General Meade was still the commanding general of the Army of the Potomac President Lincoln named General Grant as the General in Chief. While he and Meade worked together on the battlefield it was now General Grant who had the final say on all matters militarily.
I believe that while Gettysburg may have been the turning point of the war, it wasn’t until the battle of the Wilderness with General Grant in charge that the war effort really began to turn in the favor of the north. In the aftermath of a battle that was considered a draw the union soldiers were prepared to head north again as they always had after a battle, but were stunned to find out that General Grant was preparing to move south on General Lee and attack him wherever he was encountered. A large cheer went through the army when they realized they were going to remain on the offensive.
What set General Grant apart from the previous generals in the Army of the Potomac was the fact that the body counts simply didn’t seem to matter to him. He felt he had the numbers and could afford to lose many men because General Lee could not afford to lose men. General Lee attempted to use what he saw as General Grant’s aggression against him–feeling as if the northern people would become appalled at the rising death toll and would turn against President Lincoln and the war in general. All he had to do was hold on long enough and he felt the south would be able to sue for peace, and it almost worked.
General Grant and General Sheridan chased General Lee all they way back to the capital of Virginia–Richmond–where, much to his chagrin, he was forced into a siege of Richmond rather than an all out attack on the city. With his supply lines cut off General Lee held off as long as he could but after many months General Grant was able to break through the fortifications, but General Lee and his army managed to escape.
General Grant pursued General Lee until he was finally able to trap him in Appomattox Court House. General Lee’s troops did not want the general to surrender–preferring to disband and fight a guerilla war for as long as it took, but General Lee knew that the fight was over and that the time for reconciliation was at hand. He refused to fight any longer because it would be detrimental to the rebuilding process which he now knew must take place.
The darkest days in American history ended on this day in 1865 and after four long years of war reconciliation began.
It would seem to me that when a nation goes to war (for when a country is engaged in a civil war and you take sides and inject yourself in that war by providing air cover for one side of the conflict, you are at war regardless of what you want to call it) there are a few things that must be known beforehand.
One thing that you might want to know beforehand is; who are the people that you are actually supporting? With his United Nations urged rush toward war with Libya, Barack Obama failed to do the proper homework on this issue as we are now seeing reports that al Qaeda and Hezbollah are at least a portion of those whom we are supporting in the Libyan war.
As bad as this news is, it isn’t the only blunder Barack Obama made on his way to involving America in her third war. Another thing that you might want to know before you rush to war would be this; what does the enemy look like and what does your ally look like? What does your enemy have in regards to weapons and artillery and what does your ally have as well? This is basic but critical none the less because you need to be able to identify friend or foe in the heat of battle.
Democrats+government shutdown=a new era of civility?
We all remember the aftermath of the Arizona shooting, don’t we? The president, an Arizona sheriff, and the Democrats in general tried to blame the vitriolic, half-filled rhetoric coming from the right as the reason for the shooting. All those mentioned above urged the Tea Party and the Republicans to enter a new era of civility because, after all, the rhetoric coming from the right can entice an unstable person to commit violence because that person would not be able to comprehend the difference between figurative speech and literal speech. The left tried to blame the words and pictures of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and the Tea Party for the actions of a deranged madman.
But the left just doesn’t seem to be able to live up to the standards that they ask the right to live up to and this budget debate and looming government shutdown provide us with the latest example of liberal hypocrisy.
With the budget debate dragging on the left has resorted precisely to the type of attacks that they accuse the right of committing. Louise Slaughter stated that the new Republicans were sent to Washington “to kill women:” Read more…
The House passes a bill which would fund the military through the end of the year; Barack Obama calls it a distraction
When the Congress approved the last stop gap two week budget extension I declared that it was time for the Congress to get down to business and pass a budget for the rest of the fiscal year. I voiced my displeasure at the Republicans for what I feel is their unwillingness to tackle the budget issue for fear there would be political consequences. I also wrote that this should be the last continuing resolution and that Republicans should be prepared to pass a budget with extensive spending cuts or be prepared to shut the government down.
As the deadline fast approaches the Congress seems to be at an impasse and in the midst of these negotiations the House Republicans managed to pass a “Plan B” budget in the event that the Congress cannot agree on a long term deal before the deadline.
This new continuing resolution would include an additional $12 billion in cuts and would also fund the military for the remainder of the fiscal year. Harry Reid has called the bill a “non-starter” and the White House has stated that Barack Obama will veto the bill because he sees it as a “distraction.”
Donald Trump is gaining steam in New Hampshire
As we head into the 2012 election cycle New Hampshire once again looks to be a hotbed of activity as we start the countdown to the first in the nation primary. Although no Republicans have officially announced they would be running for president we are beginning to see the first polls take place up here.
Two recent polls–the WSJ/NBC poll and the PPP poll–have been released and there are some interesting results. The two top vote getters are–in order–Mitt Romney and Donald Trump. According to the WSJ/NBC poll Romney leads Trump and Huckabee 21-17, while the PPP poll has Romney ahead of Trump 27-21 with Huckabee and Gingrich at 12%.
Another interesting tidbit is what happens to Mitt Romney’s lead when Donald Trump is not included in the poll. His lead jumps to 20% in the WSJ/NBC poll over his closest rival, Newt Gingrich. And his lead is more than double in the PPP poll over the closest contender, Mike Huckabee. With the exception of Mitt Romney and Donald Trump these two polls are conflicting on who the other serious contenders may be at this point.
So what does this tell me at this early point in the game? We had better get a real candidate in this race and soon because while the likely Republican candidates are dithering Barack Obama has begun his re-election campaign with the goal of raising $1 billion. (And this after he publicly rebuked the Supreme Court in his State of the Union address for their Citzens United ruling because it would allow big money to flow into the campaigns.)
If Mitt Romney and Donald Trump are the best the Republicans have to offer we will be watching Barack Obama being sworn in for a second term.
Correction: The WSJ/NBC poll is a national poll, not a New Hampshire poll. Somehow I misread the article. It would appear that the WSJ/NBC poll and the New Hampshire poll mirror each other closely in regards to Romney and Trump but the other candidates vary nationally when compared to the New Hampshire results. My sincere apology for the mistake.
While Americans are struggling, gas prices are rising, and the Congress is arguing over the 2011 budget, Barack Obama somehow found the time to leave Washington to attend a campaign fundraiser. During his speech before this event Barack Obama castigated the Congress, telling them it was time for them to start acting like adults:
At a time when you are struggling to pay your bills and meet your responsibilities, the least we can do to meet our responsibilities is produce a budget. That is not too much to ask for. That is what the American people expect of us, that’s what they deserve. You want everybody to act like adults, quit playing games and realize it is not my way or the highway
He went on to say that “you can’t always get your way.” And called for the Congress to compromise. Interesting, indeed. Earlier Barack Obama stated that the defunding of Planned Parenthood and the removal of the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gasses were non-negotiable. Apparently Barack Obama feels as if yes, the Democrats can get their way on these issues so when Barack Obama says that it is time to act like adults and when Barack Obama states that “you can’t always get your way” it seems evident to me that he is addressing the Republicans more so than he is addressing the Democrats.
One of the issues that many Republicans ran on during the 2010 election cycle was their support of repealing or defunding Obamacare but so far they have not been willing to do either. The House did manage to pass a measure to repeal Obamacare but it was not much more than a publicity stunt as the measure stood no chance of passage in the Senate. But has that changed? Are Republicans finally getting serious about repealing and/or defunding Obamacare?
Two reports today indicate that the Republicans are finally making their move on Obamacare. Earlier today the Congress passed a bill which would repeal two aspects of Obamacare and the bill will be headed to Barack Obama for his signature or veto. Included in this bill is the repeal of a paperwork requirement which would mandate small businesses to file 1099 tax forms for every person under their employment who makes at least $600. This measure was considered to unfairly burden small businesses and its repeal had always had bipartisan support.
In one final admission that President Bush was right all along the Obama regime officially announced that the mastermind of the September 11th attacks–Khalid Sheikh Mohammad–will be tried in a military tribunal held at GITMO. (Is GITMO still open? I thought it was supposed to be closed by now.)
The Obama regime still will not admit that trying Mohammad in a civilian court in New York was a bad idea, instead trying to place the blame on the Congress for another Obama broken campaign promise. Barack Obama is still trying to deflect the blame for his ill thought out position, but today the Obama regime finally made the right call.
I happen to agree with this position, but Barack Obama ran on the premise that GITMO was a recruiting tool for al Qaeda and promised to close the detention center within one year of his inauguration. He also claimed that if we were to provide Mohammad with constitutional protections and were to give him a civilian trial it would show the world that we were a morally just nation who holds itself to a higher standard than do those that would attack us.
The Republicans have recently come under fire by conservative voters–myself included–for what is perceived as their mishandling of the current budget negotiations after having failed to live up to their proposal to cut $100 billion in spending from the current budget, but are the Republicans finally beginning to get serious about this issue?
While the current budget negotiations are underway Paul Ryan is working on a budget for the next fiscal year which he is set to unveil on Tuesday. This budget would include a cut in federal spending of $4 trillion over the next decade. The details are still not available, but here is what we know so far:
A “premium support system” for Medicare. In the future, older people would choose plans in the marketplace and the government would subsidize those plans. Ryan said that would differ from the voucher system he has proposed in the past. Those 55 and older would remain under the present Medicare system. Ryan acknowledged that the “premium support system” would shift more costs to Medicare recipients, especially what he called “wealthy seniors.” He did not define at what level someone would be considered wealthy.
-Block grants to states for Medicaid, the health program for the poor. Ryan disputed reports that the plan would seek savings of $1 trillion over 10 years from Medicaid, but would say only that the details would be in the plan.”Medicare and Medicaid spending will go up every single year under our budget. They don’t just go up as much as they’re going right now,” he said. Ryan said governors have told members of Congress they want “the freedom to customize our Medicaid programs. … We want to get governors freedom to do that.”
-A statutory cap on actual discretionary spending as a percentage of the economy. While Ryan did not specify the amount during the interview, he said it would be at a lower level than proposed by Obama and would return the government to its “historic size.”
-Pro-growth tax changes, including lower tax rates and broadening the tax base. Ryan said overhauling taxes would boost the economy. The plan will not propose tax increases.
Basically this plan would return federal spending to 2008 levels. Here is what Paul Ryan had to say about his plan:
We’re not going to go down the path of raising taxes on people and raising taxes on the economy. We want to go after the source of the problem, and that is spending
I am glad to see that Paul Ryan recognizes that the federal government does not have a revenue problem, but rather a spending problem, and I hope that there are enough members in the Congress who are finally going to be willing to reign in the out of control spending.
However, in my opinion the spending levels in 2008 were also too high, so to return to those levels over the course of ten years is equal to a good start. But it will be just that–a beginning. Until we know more about this proposal it is hard to determine whether or not this is a legitimate proposal or just pandering, but maybe–just maybe–this is a signal to us that the Republicans are about to get serious about this issue.
The Obama Doctrine: Is Ivory Coast next?
The headline on Drudge earlier today read “Is Ivory Coast next” and I have to think that is a great question. With the recent news that 1,000 massacred bodies were found in Ivory Coast this weekend Hillary Clinton declared the “U.S. is deeply concerned” about the situation over there. The current leader of Ivory Coast lost his re-election bid and refuses to step down to let the winner of that election to take his rightful seat. Hillary Clinton has called on Gbagbo to step down immediately and stop attacking civilians.
Does this sound a little bit familiar? At one point the Obama regime ordered Ghadaffi to step down and stop attacking his own people. The Obama regime’s official stance on Libya became muddled over the period of time leading up to the Libyan war with some members calling for Ghadaffi’s resignation while others stating that regime change was not the goal of our attack on Libya.
Eventually Barack Obama addressed the nation and (sort of) clarified our goal and reason for invading Libya. While nobody still understands the true goal of the mission and while nobody still knows who we are supporting or if the ultimate goal is regime change, one aspect of his speech provided us with what I think we can call the Obama Doctrine.
Here is the Obama Doctrine: Read more…
America's Watchtower 