By Julie Pace Associated Press Saturday, December 31, 2011 HONOLULU (AP) — Leaving behind a year of bruising legislative battles, President Barack Obama enters his fourth year in office having calculated that he no longer needs Congress to promote his agenda and may even benefit in his re-election campaign if lawmakers take little action in [...]

‘One day it’s grassland, and the next day it’s black dirt,’ conservationist says By A. G. SULZBERGER updated 12/31/2011 5:50:00 AM ET 2011-12-31T10:50:00   WHITTEMORE, Iowa — A splash of green on a solid beige horizon, the golf course at the edge of this tiny town promised residents nine modest holes of refuge from corn country. [...]

By David Pietrusza Published December 30, 2011 FoxNews.com America no longer enjoys a peacetime economy. I speak not of Iraq or of Afghanistan. I speak of the class warfare economy officially imposed on the nation in Barack Obama’s Osawatomie speech. I say “officially” because this speech is merely a logically outgrowth of Obama’s long-held redistributionist [...]

By Rabbi Abraham Cooper Published December 30, 2011 FoxNews.com This year’s overlap of Christmas and Chanukah brought startlingly different, but ultimately connected, developments overseas. In Nigeria, word of five suicide bombs by an extremist Muslim sect murdering and maiming Christians at prayer, and wiping out whole families, cast a pall on many of the faithful. [...]

By Dan Gainor Published December 31, 2011 FoxNews.com The post-Christmas headline reads: “THE MOLOTOV PARTY,” and it’s not talking about a fiery New Year’s Eve bash. Naturally, it refers to the GOP and accompanies a photo of the top candidates, with every single letter of the headline capitalized for emphasis. Within a few hours, it [...]

By Phil Kerpen Published December 31, 2011 FoxNews.com While major media outlets from the major television networks to the Wall Street Journal viewed the showdown over the extension of the payroll tax holiday through a political lens in 2011 and judged House Speaker John Boehner the loser, the reality is that Boehner’s courageous stand – [...]

By the CNN Wire Staff updated 10:50 PM EST, Fri December 30, 2011 (CNN) — The United States and the United Arab Emirates have signed a deal for a missile-defense system in the Persian Gulf country, the Pentagon said Friday. The $3.48 billion agreement was signed December 25, according to press secretary George Little. It [...]

Dec 31, 2011 (CBS/AP) Updated 6:30 a.m. EST Saturday  LOS ANGELES — Police say several cars burned early Saturday in suspected arson fires in the North Hollywood area.  Officer Robert Collier says authorities are investigating if the fires affecting seven or eight cars are connected to nearly two dozen arson fires in Hollywood about 24 hours [...]

Dec 30, 2011 SIOUX CITY, IOWA: Ron Paul told Iowa voters on Friday that he would not launch a preemptive strike on Iran because “they don’t threaten our national security.” “If some other country thought they had to go to war with them, that is their business,” he said, adding there is no proof Iran [...]

Dec 31, 2011 By Dominic Sandbrook The dawn of a new year is usually a time of hope and ambition, of dreams for the future and thoughts of a better life. But it is a long time since many of us looked forward to the new year with such anxiety, even dread. Here in Britain, [...]