Top Conservative News Stories of 2010

As 2010 draws to a close, it's once again time to reflect on the major news stories of the year.  We do have a few days; if it changes, I'll have to take off one of these stories and replace it.  In some ways, it's hard to believe that the year is almost over; in other ways, the Winter Olympics that occurred in February seem like they were eons ago.

These are the top 10 news stories of 2010 from a conservative news perspective... I don't really care what happened to Lindsey Lohan this year, which star had a baby, and only place a passing interest in which actor died.  They are in no particular order.  You can agree or disagree; feel free to leave a comment if you believe something important was left off this list.

January 12th is a day that most Haitians will not forget, even though it has started to fade from the memories of many people elsewhere in the world.  That was the day that a 7.0 earthquake devastated the country.  The earthquake's epicenter was near the capital, Port-au-Prince, which made the problem worse.  About 230,000 people died, giving this earthquake the sixth highest death toll in recorded history.

People rushed to aid the country.  Celebrities recorded a second version of "We are the World", which aired during the Vancouver Olympics opening ceremonies, with proceeds going to help the earthquake victims.  Food, medicine, relief workers, and money poured in from all over the world.

As of September 2010, there were still over 1,000,000 homeless people in the country.  While many have forgotten about these people, the impact still remains.

On April 20th, an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico started a news story that would stay with us for months to come.  The resulting oil spill spewed oil into the Gulf for months; it wouldn't be completely sealed until September.  Many people lost their jobs, as fishermen could not fish in the contaminated waters, and oil platforms were shut down.

The US Congress became involved, and the CEO of BP was called to testify.  Although nature has started to heal the area already, the litigation and health effects of the oil spill will likely have a toll for years to come.

One of the major story makers of the year was Julian Assange and his web site, Wikileaks.  Wikileaks posted stolen classified documents from the United States government, as well as from other governments around the world.  His first document dump occurred in July, but a later document dump in October really seemed to stir the ire of the government.  Conveniently, the hoopla about Wikileaks occurred right before the FCC would have a meeting about Net Neutrality.

Another convenient fact is that Wikileaks is partially funded by George Soros' Open Society Institute (OSI), and Julian Assange's attorney is Mark Stevens, who also does some pro-bono work for OSI.  George Soros supports net neutrality.

While some declared that the Great Recession ended in 2010, the financial state of the world was still in quite a lot of hot water.  Greece's credit rating was downgraded, and they had to receive a bailout from other nations in the European Union.  Later on in the year, Ireland's financial troubles made headlines.  US unemployment continued to grow, and in some areas, unemployment was greater than 10%.

"Austerity measures" became a buzzword in some parts of the world, as governments were forced to cut spending to balance their budgets.  This was not greeted by the people with happiness, and protests occurred all over the world.

On August 28th, Glenn Beck hosted a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which he called the "Restoring Honor Rally".  People flew, drove, and took buses from all across the country (and even some parts of the world) to join Glenn Beck in an event that focused on God, country, and honor.  The event was aired on CSPAN as well as Facebook.  All the money raised went to the Wounded Warriors Foundation.

Copycat rallys from the left followed.  A "Restoring Sanity" rally occurred on Halloween weekend, and a "10-2-10" rally, hosted by left-wing organizations and unions, took place after Beck's event.  Many people attended those rallies also, although transportation was provided to some of the attendees to the 10-2-10 rally.

Although some may not think that this should have a place among the biggest stories of the year, I think that it does deserve a place.  The main reason is because it shows a dangerous trend that began to occur in 2010, and will probably continue on into 2011.

The British Royals, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, were driving in their bulletproof Rolls-Royce on December 9th.  The driver made a wrong turn into a crowd of protesters.  The protesters started to attack their car, even shattering the back window.  Protesters managed to poke a stick into the window at Camilla.

What I find most shocking is that the crowd started chanting "off with their heads!"  I wasn't around at the time, but I recall that that's what the French Protesters called for during the French Revolution.  We are indeed entering scary times.

This story broke in May, when it was discovered that an imam wanted to open a mosque near Ground Zero and open it on September 11th, 2011.  Many people thought that the timing, as well as the location, was insensitive.  Protests began as a result.

It was further found out that the imam of this mosque had ties to Moslem extremists.  It was named the "Cordoba House", after a mosque that was built over a Christian church in the Middle Ages when the Moslems took over the town.  The center has been renamed "Park 51" instead of the Cordoba House.

On May 31st, a flotilla of five ships tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The flotilla was supposedly carrying humanitarian supplies. Israel said that it could dock, but only into the port of Ashdod. When the ships didn't comply, Israeli soldiers boarded.

As they boarded, the Israeli soldiers were attacked, and the soldiers attacked back. Nine people were killed as a result. Seven Israeli soldiers were injured.

This raid stirred up international controversy. Some blamed the Israeli soldiers for the violence, others claimed that the flotilla members were terrorists. What it certainly was not, was a "peace" flotilla.  Although the ship did contain humanitarian supplies, many of the medicines were out of date and useless, and some of the other supplies were carelessly packed and were damaged.

On November 23, North Korea fired upon the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.  Four South Koreans were killed.  The South fired back and went to their equivalent of DEFCON 1.  Many believed that this was the most serious incident in the area since the Korean War.

This event happened shortly after a mysterious missile was seen launched off the coast of California on November 9th.  The US government initially did not know what it was, although experts said that it looked like a missile launch.  The Pentagon's official explanation was that it was an airplane taking off, but I'm not buying it.  Some believe it may have been China firing a missile.

The North Korean incident shows us that things are changing in the world.  North Korea is asserting more power at a time when the United States is at an economically vulnerable point.  China is not very happy with the debt that the US owes them, and shows more favor to nations like North Korea than the US would like.  More events like this could occur in 2011.

On November 2nd, the United States elections went overwhelmingly in favor of the Republicans.  Tea party candidates did well in this election, while incumbents received a beating.  The House of Representatives swung from a huge Democrat majority to a Republican majority; the Senate remained in Democratic hands, but they lost the huge majority that they did have.

The people were upset with the way that the government was running things, and they were ready for a change.  Although the victory went to the Republicans this time, many people were ready to vote out this batch of politicians during the next election cycle if they refuse to listen to the people.  The people had had enough of politicians going to Washington and not listening to them, voting through legislation that they opposed.