A photo compilation of some of the biggest news stories of 2012.

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Conservatives were delighted with Governor Mitt Romney’s declaration to presidential debate moderator Jim Lehrer on Wednesday night that “I’m sorry, Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. Actually, I like you too. But I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for us.”  Mr. Lehrer stepped down as anchor of the PBS Newshour on June 6, 2011.

Romney went on to tell Lehrer and Barack Obama  --  who increased the national debt by $5 trillion in under 4 years to an eye-popping $16 trillion  --   and the vast audience watching on television and listening on the radio/Internet that he will cut all kinds of things that are wasteful and which cannot be justified with loans from the Chinese.  After all, subsidies to Big Bird  --  part of the billions of dollars in handouts given to the Public Broadcasting System (PBS)/Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) over the past decades  --  are just the tip of the iceberg of government waste. 

The news that the government of Great Britain is mounting a full-scale assault on Christians is not really surprising.  The left-wing in England, like their counterparts on the European continent, have long discriminated against Christians, while at the same time, in myriad ways, protected those of Muslim faith.  For much of his 3 years in office, Barack Obama and his administration have been mirroring Europe’s blatant discrimination against Christians.

The latest example of the rabid discrimination by Prime Minister David Cameron’s government in Great Britain against Christians came from a news report from the United Kingdom’s national newspaper, “The Daily Mail”.  According to the newspaper, the UK’s Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone, a Liberal Democrat, has instructed government’s lawyers to stop Christian workers from wearing the cross.  The Cameron government will call on Europe’s “human rights” judges to dismiss the claims of Christian workers Nadia Eweida and Shirley Chaplin that they have a right to wear a cross to work as a symbol of their faith in Jesus Christ.

According to the latest presidential tracking numbers from the Rasmussen poll, only 26% of registered voters say that they "strongly approve" of Barack Obama's job performance, while 41% "strongly disapprove" - leaving him upside-down by 15 points among passionate voters.

The poll also finds that (currently), in a hypothetical general election matchup, Obama leads Mitt Romney 48% to 42%, and leads Rick Santorum 48% to 41%, (no numbers were available for Gingrich or Paul).

Meanwhile, Republicans lead Democrats on a "generic" congressional ballot by 4 points (43% to 39%).  (The generic ballot just asks people which party they plan to vote for in congressional races without mentioning specific candidate's names).

Some other interesting findings:

53% Favor Repeal of Health Care Law

"While Congress continues to battle over President Obama’s contraceptive mandate, most voters still favor repeal of the national health care law.

While all of the attention concerning the 2012 presidential race has been focused on the ongoing Republican primaries and caucuses, the most recent batch of state by state poll numbers from Gallup have received much less attention.  And they don't look good for President Obama.

When you take the current poll numbers regarding Obama's approval rating (e.g., where he has a "net positive" rating), and then assign that state's Electoral College votes on that basis, the result is a 323 to 215 vote blowout, with only 270 being necessary to secure the Presidency.

Of course it is VERY early to be making any predictions.  The election is still about eight months away, and that is several eternities in politics, (especially given how fast things have changed in this cycle).

But it is safe to assume that the Obama campaign would rather that the polling "shoe" be on the other foot at this point, as they are clearly starting out from a position of weakness.

In case you were wondering how Obama's latest mandate regarding insurance requirements for religious institutions is playing among a key constituency, wonder no longer:

Via Rasmussen:

Catholics strongly disapprove of the job President Obama is doing as the debate continues over his administration’s new policy forcing Catholic institutions to pay for contraception they morally oppose. While the president’s overall job approval ratings have improved over the past couple of months, they have remained steady among Catholics.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 59% of likely Catholic voters nationwide at least somewhat disapprove of the president’s job performance, while 40% at least somewhat approve. But the passion’s on the side of those who don’t like the job he’s doing: 44% Strongly Disapprove versus 19% who Strongly Approve.

Keep in mind that Catholics comprise about 27% of the electorate...and went for Obama by about 8 points in the '08 election...which makes them pretty key to his holding on to the White House this November. 

It certainly looks like the folks in the White House are beginning to put Obama's re-election machinery into high gear.  According to Politico, Obama's top hands are laying the groundwork for the 2012 campaign.

Of course, it's not unusual or even unexpected for a president to begin to make high profile preparations for a re-election campaign.  It would be more surprising if he didn't.  But what is surprising is how soon into his term that they've begun to make those moves.  Usually this sort of thing doesn't happen until after the mid-term elections are over.  But given how bad things look for Democrats lately, it doesn't look like they want to wait and take any chances.

And we're sure this story indicating that the younger demographic is beginning to slip away gives the president cause for concern.  Especially when you consider that the greatest percentage of support for Barack Obama in his 2008 election came from young adults:

A year after supporting Barack Obama for president by an overwhelming 2-to-1 ratio, young adults are cooling quickly toward his Democrats amid dissatisfaction over the lack of change in Washington and an escalating war in Afghanistan.

Dick Morris, the former senior advisor to Bill Clinton in his first term, has written a column entitled: "Hillary's Incredible Shrinking Cabinet Role." This raises the question of whether Hillary Clinton will resign after a couple years, or less, of extreme frustration after being shut-out during key foreign policy-making decisions by the Obama White House.

Here are just a few examples given by Dick Morris of Hillary Clinton's shrinking role as head of the Obama State Department: "Joe Biden has "moved vigorously to stake out foreign policy as his turf. His visit to Afghanistan, right before the inauguration, could not but send a signal to Hillary that he would conduct foreign policy in the new administration, leaving Hillary in the role of back-up.

"Richard Holbrooke, the former Balkan negotiator and U.N. ambassador, has been named special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He insisted on direct access to the president, a privilege he was denied during much of the Clinton years.

"Former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine), negotiator of the Irish Peace Accords, was appointed to be the administration's point man on Arab-Israeli negotiations.

"Samantha Power, Obama's former campaign aide, who once called Hillary a 'monster,' has been appointed to the National Security Council (NSC) as director of 'multicultural affairs.'