Top 10 Lists

[docbyers]

Top 10 Greatest Quips from Ronald Reagan

10. "Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
—Remarks at a business conference, Los Angeles, March 2, 1977

9. "You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans."
—The Observer, March 29, 1981

8. "Thomas Jefferson once said, "We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying."
—Circa 1988

7. "I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting."
—Said often during his presidency, 1981-1989

6. "How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin."
—Remarks in Arlington, Virginia, September 25, 1987

5. "The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
—Remarks to the White House Conference on Small Business, August 15, 1986

4. "I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself."
—Said often during his presidency, 1981-1989

3. "All great change in America begins at the dinner table."
—Farewell Address to the Nation, The White House, January 11, 1989

2. "I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born."
—The New York Times, September 22, 1980

1. "There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit."
— First Inaugural Address, January 21, 1981

[docbyers]

Ten American Biographies Everyone Should Read

HUMAN EVENTS asked a panel of 21 distinguished scholars to help us develop a list of Ten American Biographies Everyone Should Read.

We asked them first to nominate biographies or autobiographies of anyone who had been a native-born or naturalized American citizen since 1776. Then they listed their top ten choices from the entire roster of nominated titles. A book received 10 points for each No. 1 vote it received, 9 points for each No. 2 vote, and so on. The title with the highest aggregate score was rated the No. 1 American biography everyone should read.

We hope you will enjoy reviewing our list, and perhaps reading or rereading some of the recommended titles.

1. Henry Adams
Title: The Education of Henry Adams
Author: Henry Adams
Score: 64
Date published: 1918

Summary: Adams conceived this book, primarily an intellectual autobiography though written in the third person, as a sequel to his Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres: A Study of Thirteenth-Century Unity. He says in Chapter XXIX of Education that he wanted to study himself, a man of the confused 20th Century, in relation to the fixed point of the 13th Century, when men were most consistently dedicated to a comprehensive, unitary view of the universe. A descendant of John Adams and John Quincy Adams, he examined the assumptions and goals of modern education, which for him included attending Harvard College. He was not particularly impressed. "The chief wonder of education is that it does not ruin everybody concerned in it, teachers and taught," he wrote. Adams traveled extensively, was a Harvard professor of medieval history, a political journalist in Washington, D.C., and the author of a major history of the Jefferson and Madison administrations. Education is widely considered one of the greatest American works of literature with its stunning use of the English language.

2. Alexander Hamilton
Title: Alexander Hamilton: A Biography
Author: Forrest McDonald
Score: 63
Date published: 1982

Summary: A conservative professor emeritus of history at the University of Alabama, McDonald brings a sympathetic perspective to understanding Hamilton, perhaps the most important Founding Father in terms of his intellectual influence on federal government policies during his lifetime. David Herbert Donald wrote in the New York Times Book Review, "What Mr. McDonald's book does, with exceptional skill and learning, is to reexamine Hamilton's policies as secretary of the Treasury. To this task the author brings a masterful knowledge of the politics of the period." McDonald's book triggered a wave of renewed respect for Hamilton among American conservative intellectuals—including those who admire Hamilton's non-ideological approach to government, his advocacy of limited-government federalism as a model philosophy superior to Thomas Jefferson's radical egalitarianism, and his influence on George Washington, with whom he worked closely during both the Revolution and the first presidency. As the author of many of the Federalist Papers, Hamilton played a key role in America's adoption of the U.S. Constitution, without which the new nation may never have been created.

3. Whittaker Chambers
Title: Witness
Author: Whittaker Chambers
Score: 57
Date published: 1952

Summary: Witness is the most important Cold War book. In it, Chambers details his own career as a Soviet spy, and his involvement in bringing fellow spy Alger Hiss to justice. Chambers repented of his Communism and later became a Christian and patriotic American. A former editor at Time, Chambers portrayed the Cold War as a moral struggle between two irreconcilable world views: an atheistic view, in which man made up his own rules; and a religious view, in which God set rules that man was bound to obey. This construction had great influence on Ronald Reagan, who cited Chambers at length in his famous Evil Empire speech. Chambers also pointed out that Western liberals have basically the same amoral worldview as the Communists. "In 1937, I began, like Lazarus, the impossible return," wrote Chambers. "I began to break away from communism and to climb from deep within its underground, where for six years I had been buried, back into the world of free men."

4. George Washington
Title: The Life of George Washington
Author: John Marshall
Score: 49
Date published: 1804-7

Summary: Soon after his death in 1799, George Washington was honored with a biography written by John Marshall, chief justice of the United States. Albert Beveridge, the biographer of Marshall, called The Life of George Washington "to this day the fullest and most trustworthy treatment of that period from the conservative point of view." Marshall later produced a shortened, one-volume version of his work that is currently in print, thanks to the Liberty Fund. Marshall's original biography, written at the request of Washington's nephew, Bushrod Washington, ran to five volumes. This substantial work helped preserve and disseminate the memory of the Father of His Country, and the later abridgment was often used in schools, influencing 19th Century schoolboys' and college students' views of their nation and its most prominent Founder. Marshall's full-length work is so detailed that the early history of Virginia, before Washington's time, takes up most of the first volume.

5. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas
Title: Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Author: Harry Jaffa
Score: 41
Date published: 1959

Summary: Forty-four years after its publication, Jaffa's book remains the definitive text on the clash of political philosophies in the debates between Illinois Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858. Jaffa begins by carefully examining Douglas's position that slavery must be allowed to either spread or be contained by "popular sovereignty" in new states added to the Union. He then compares this to Lincoln's arguments and the principles that marked his re-entry into politics in 1854 and his subsequent career. Jaffa provides a new perspective on Lincoln's embrace of the natural rights cited in the Declaration of Independence, arguing that far from being destructive of the Founders' ideal of limited and decentralized government, Lincoln's understanding of "natural rights" is in fact its salvation. "Lincoln thought that slavery was wrong, and that it was condemned by the principle of human equality," Jaffa wrote in an essay published this February by the Claremont Institute, where he serves as a distinguished fellow. "He did not think that a vote of the people could make it right."

6. Russell Kirk
Title: The Sword of Imagination: Memoirs of a Half-Century of Literary Conflict
Author: Russell Kirk
Score: 39
Date published: 1995

Summary: Kirk, perhaps the most important traditional conservative thinker of the 20th Century, wrote this autobiography that includes his observations on prominent Americans he knew and worked with throughout his career. Written in the third person and published shortly after his death, The Sword of Imagination gets its title from Kirk's realization of the centrality of imagination in driving people's lives. "With recognition of one's soul, identity is established," he wrote. "This insight gave the boy whatever strength he was to possess in later years. He knew who he was, with his failings and powers." Kirk lived in Mecosta, Mich., but wrote for National Review for a quarter-century and had a syndicated newspaper column in which he supported Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon. He wrote that he wanted to "defend the Permanent Things," which he saw decaying all around him. The author also of The Conservative Mind, which is deemed by many to be the founding intellectual document of the modern conservative movement, Kirk helped set deep roots for the movement by pointing to its intellectual antecedents in the writings of Edmund Burke and John Adams.

7. Ulysses S. Grant
Title: Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant
Author: Ulysses S. Grant
Score: 37
Date published: 1885-86

Summary: Samuel Clemens, who wrote under the pseudonym Mark Twain, published the autobiography of the general who led the Union Army to victory in the Civil War and later became a two-term Republican President of the United States. Grant started the book in 1884, when he was suffering from throat cancer, and finished it in July 1885, just before he died from the disease. "The war has made us a nation of great power and intelligence," wrote Grant. "We have but little to do to preserve peace, happiness and prosperity at home, and the respect of other nations. Our experience ought to teach us the necessity of the first; our power secures the latter." Grant also predicted "a new era, when there is to be great harmony between the Federal and Confederate."

His book narrates his extensive war experiences, beginning with the battle of Palo Alto in the Mexican War and ending with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.

8. Robert E. Lee
Title: R.E. Lee
Author: Douglas Southall Freeman
Score: 31
Date published: 1934

Summary: Freeman's four-volume biography of one of the greatest military geniuses of modern history, Robert E. Lee, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1935. It took Freeman 19 years to write the book, in which he vividly shows the reader the Virginian's nobility, which was recognized by contemporaries on both sides during the Civil War. Lee opposed secession, but nonetheless felt compelled to side with his native state and lead the primary army of the Confederacy for most of the war. He achieved great victories in the face of overwhelming odds, only to lose in the end. Yet defeat did not break him. He went on to become president of what is now Washington & Lee University, where he is buried beneath the chapel. Lee was the son of Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, a celebrated cavalry officer in George Washington's army and later politician, and Ann Hill Carter of Virginia's aristocratic Carter clan. His father went broke, however, so Robert lived on modest means before marrying Mary Custis, great-granddaughter of Martha Washington. He then took up residence at Mary's family estate, Arlington House, which was confiscated by the Union during the war and turned into Arlington Cemetery. Always the perfect gentleman, Lee never lost his temper and inspired love in his subordinates. Along with George Washington, Lee stands as a model American gentleman.

9. Frederick Douglass
Title: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
Author: Frederick Douglass
Score: 30
Date published: 1845

Summary: Frederick Douglass was born a slave on the Eastern Shore of Maryland about 1817 or 1818, but while working in the shipyards of Baltimore, escaped North in 1838. In the early 1840s, he traveled across the free states speaking out against slavery, giving firsthand accounts of the brutality he had had seen inflicted on slaves by their masters. In 1845, he published his Narratives, and fled to England, where he continued his lecturing. British advocates bought his freedom the following year, and he returned to America to become a leader in the abolitionist cause—even allowing John Brown to stay in his home. In the Narratives, Douglass's description of slavery includes an examination of how slave masters systematically destroyed the family: "My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant—before I knew her as my mother," he wrote. "It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age. . . . For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child's affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child. This is the inevitable result."

10. Abraham Lincoln
Title: A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War
Author: Harry V. Jaffa
Score: 30
Date published: 2000

Summary: In the long-awaited sequel to his Crisis of the House Divided (1959), Harry Jaffa begins with a thoughtful and thorough examination of the philosophical significance of Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address. Specifically, he examines Lincoln's return to the Declaration of Independence for the basis of the nation's founding: the concept of the natural, inalienable rights of man, and the equality of man as created by God.

Jaffa, considered by many to be the pre-eminent living scholar of Lincoln's political thought, reverentially embraces his ideal as the true logic of American history in its natural progression. He contrasts this sharply with what he sees as the errors of the Southern secessionists and others with whom Lincoln clashed, including Chief Justice Roger Taney (author of the Dredd Scott decision), Stephen Douglas (Lincoln's famous Senate opponent), and especially John C. Calhoun.

[docbyers]

Top 10 Unhinged Celebrities

Ranked by Michelle Malkin, author of Unhinged, published by Regnery -- a Human Events sister company.

#1: Cameron Diaz
The actress broke down on national TV and implied that the re-election of President Bush would lead to the legalization of rape.

#2: Michael Moore
This liberal windbag reportedly couldn't get out of bed for three days after the 2004 election.

#3: Sean Penn
He's the actor who claimed that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, shock jock Howard Stern and the U.S. government are greater threats to the American people than Osama bin Laden.

#4: Julia Stiles
The actress told radical leftists she was "afraid that Bill O'Reilly would come with a shotgun at my front door and shoot me for being unpatriotic."

#5: Janeane Garofalo
Air America's talk-radio host called the Patriot Act "a conspiracy of the 43rd Reich."

#6: Chrissie Hynde
She told her concertgoers that Americans "deserve to get bombed" and "I hope the Muslims win." Ironically, the theme song for Rush Limbaugh's show, "My City Was Gone," was written by Hynde.

#7: Tim Robbins
The verbose actor warned journalists ominously that "Every day, the airwaves are filled with warnings, veiled and unveiled threats, spewed invective and hatred directed at any voice of dissent."

#8: Martin Sheen
The star of "The West Wing" marched through Los Angeles with duct tape over his mouth with the word "peace" written on it.

#9: Vincent D'Onofrio
The crazed Marine in Full Metal Jacket was hospitalized immediately after the election, suffering from "Bush flu" (doctors found nothing wrong with him).

#10: Cher
She claimed that if Bush were re-elected, the government would round up and quarantine homosexual men.

[docbyers]

Top 10 U.S. Senate Races of 2006

10. Rhode Island

Lincoln Chafee, easily one of the most liberal Republicans in the Senate, faces a determined primary challenge from Cranston Mayor Steven Laffey, who is more conservative. The Democratic nominee is likely to be former State Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse.

9. Michigan

Arch-liberal Debbie Stabenow was the closest winner among new Democratic senators elected in 2000. At a time when Michigan GOPers are on a political roll under State Chairman Saul Anuzis, she will face a strong challenge from either of the potential Republican candidates—Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard or former Detroit City Councilman Keith Butler, an articulate black conservative.

8. Tennessee

With Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist retiring, Democrats are going all out for Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., their 1996 national convention keynoter and one of the most high-profile black Democratic office-holders. The GOP primary to succeed Frist features three strong contenders: former Rep. Van Hilleary; former Rep. and Clinton impeachment manager Ed Bryant; and former State Party Chairman Bob Coker, who has vast personal resources to spend on his campaign.

7. Florida

Conservative Rep. Katherine Harris, who as secretary of state in 2000 certified Florida's electoral votes for George W. Bush and thus helped make him President, is the certain GOP challenger to moderate Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. National Republicans fear Harris will stir up Democratic anger around the country, but she enjoys heroine status among her state's grassroots GOP activists.

6. Arizona

Two-term GOP Sen. Jon Kyl faces a well-funded challenge from multi-millionaire developer and State Democratic Chairman Jim Pedersen, who is credited with rebuilding the state party with his personal wealth.

5. Missouri

Freshman Republican Sen. Jim Talent, a strong conservative, narrowly won an '02 special election over the widow of the late Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan. Polls show Talent in a neck-and-neck battle this year against liberal Democrat Claire McCaskill, the former state auditor who lost the governorship in a squeaker in '04.

4. Montana

Republican Sen. Conrad Burns, who survived a close call in 2000, has given back more than $150,000 in donations generated by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Latest polls show an increasingly close race against the Democratic candidate, State Auditor John Morrison.

3. Minnesota

The seat Sen. Mark Dayton (D.) is relinquishing is perhaps the GOP's best chance of a net gain in the Senate anywhere. In a state gradually turning "red," conservative Rep. Mark Kennedy has wrapped up the GOP nomination, while four lesser-known Democrats are vying for their party's nod to succeed Dayton.

2. Maryland

Rep. Ben Cardin and former NAACP head Kweisi Mfume are waging a fierce battle for the Democratic nomination to succeed retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D.). Their infighting could help Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele become the second black GOP senator in the nation since Reconstruction. A Rasmussen poll shows pro-lifer Steele slightly leading both Cardin and Mfume.

1. Pennsylvania

Easily the showcase race for conservatives throughout the nation. Two-term Sen. Rick Santorum (R.), outspoken on abortion and conservative on most issues, faces Democrat Bob Casey, Jr., former state auditor and son of a popular former governor. Casey's name and own pro-life stance have put him ahead of Santorum in most polls, but the senator has bounced back and won before.

[Thraxas]

From Merriam-Webster Online (www.m-w.com/info/favorite.htm):

Top Ten Favorite Words (Not in the Dictionary)

1. ginormous (adj): bigger than gigantic and bigger than enormous

2. confuzzled (adj): confused and puzzled at the same time

3. woot (interj): an exclamation of joy or excitement

4. chillax (v): chill out/relax, hang out with friends

5. cognitive displaysia (n): the feeling you have before you even leave the house that you are going to forget something and not remember it until you're on the highway

6. gription (n): the purchase gained by friction: "My car needs new tires because the old ones have lost their gription."

7. phonecrastinate (v): to put off answering the phone until caller ID displays the incoming name and number

8. slickery (adj): having a surface that is wet and icy

9. snirt (n): snow that is dirty, often seen by the side of roads and parking lots that have been plowed

10. lingweenie (n): a person incapable of producing neologisms

[Freezer]

Great Truths About Life That Little Children Have Learned

* No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.

* When your Mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair.

* If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.

* Never ask your 3-year-old brother to hold a tomato.

* You can't trust dogs to watch your food.

* Reading what people write on desks can teach you a lot.

* Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.

* Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic tac.

* Never hold a dustbuster and a cat at the same time.

* School lunches stick to the wall.

* You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.

* Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts. No matter how cute the underwear is.


OK, so there were more than 10...sue me

[Thraxas]

Popular baby names in 2004 according to the Social Security Administration

Top 10 Names for 2004

Rank     Male name     Female name

1             Jacob                  Emily
2             Michael               Emma
3             Joshua               Madison
4             Matthew             Olivia
5             Ethan                  Hannah
6             Andrew               Abigail
7             Daniel                 Isabella
8             William                Ashley
9             Joseph               Samantha
10          Christopher        Elizabeth

[docbyers]

Top 10 Members of Congress Fighting for Lower Taxes
Ranked by editors of HUMAN EVENTS.

10. Rep. John Linder (R.-Ga.)
Member of the House Ways and Means Committee. Lead sponsor of the "Fair Tax," which would abolish the income tax, eliminate the IRS and create a consumption tax.

9. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R.-Tex.)
Emerging as the young conservative voice of fiscal conservatism. Serves as fiscal point man for the Republican Study Committee.

8. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R.-Colo.)
A true across-the-board conservative. Has one of the very best and most consistent voting records on tax issues in Congress.

7. Rep. Mike Pence (R.-Ind.)
Chairman of the Republican Study Committee. Has kept tax-cutting agenda in the forefront for House conservatives. Calls himself an "unregenerate supply-sider."

6. Sen. John Sununu (R.-N.H.)
A consistent proponent of tax cuts and opponent of spending increases. Ran for office on the issue of Social Security reform and championed legislation for reform through personal retirement accounts.

5. Rep. John Shadegg (R.-Ariz.)
Consistently fights for all tax cuts and resists spending increases. Helped promote conservative messages on taxes and spending during run for majority leader.

4. Sen. Jon Kyl (R.-Ariz.)
Member of the Finance Committee where he regularly champions tax cuts. Sponsor of bills to make the Bush income, dividend and capital gains tax cuts permanent and to abolish the death tax.

3. Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.)
Sponsor of a bill to require the Congressional Budget Office to use dynamic scoring for proposed tax cuts and co-sponsor with Rep. Ron Paul of a constitutional amendment to repeal the 16th Amendment. Consistent proponent of tax cuts and opponent of spending increases.

2. Sen. Jim DeMint (R.-S.C.)
Sponsor of legislation (the 8.5% Tax Reform Plan) to abolish the income tax and replace it with a national sales tax and business tax.

1. Rep. Ron Paul (R.-Tex.)
Co-sponsor with Rep. Jeff Flake of a constitutional amendment to repeal the 16th Amendment and end income, gift and estate taxes. Regularly pushes for tax cuts. Sponsor of bills to allow tax credits for private school tuition, to permit tax deduction of college tuition and to stop all taxation of Social Security benefits. Opposes all unconstitutional spending programs.

[Thraxas]

From www.brainofbrian.com

Top 10 Things to do at the Mall

    10. At the bottom of an escalator, scream "MY SHOELACES! AAAGH!"

    9. At the stylist, ask to have the hair on your back permed.

    8. Ask a saleswoman whether a particular shade of panties matches the color of your beard.

    7. Sneak up on saleswomen at the perfume counter and spray them with your own bottle of Eau de Swanke.

    6. Collect stacks of paint brochures and hand them out as religious tracts.

    5. At the pet store, ask if they have bulk discounts on gerbils, and whether there's much meat on them.

    4. Hand a stack of pants back to the changing room attendant and scornfully announce that none of them are "leak proof".

    3. Ask appliance personnel if they have any TVs that play only in Spanish.

    2. Try pants on backwards at the Gap. Ask the salesperson if they make your butt look big.

    1. Show people your driver's license and demand to know "whether they've seen this man."

[Thraxas]

Also from www.brainofbrian.com

    Top 10 Ways to Freak-Out Your Co-Workers

    10. Bring some dry ice & make it look like your computer is smoking.

    9. Come to the lab wearing several layers of socks. Remove shoes and place them of top of the monitor. Remove socks layer by layer and drape them around the monitor. Exclaim sudden haiku about the aesthetic beauty of cotton on plastic.

    8. Take the keyboard and sit under the computer. Type up your paper like this. Then go to the lab supervisor and complain about the bad working conditions.

    7. Bring in a bunch of magnets and have fun.

    6. Point at the screen. Chant in a made-up language while making elaborate hand gestures for a minute or two. Press return or the mouse, then leap back and yell "COVEEEEERRRRRR!" peek up from under the table, walk back to the computer and say. "Oh, good. It worked this time," and calmly start to type again.

    5. Keep looking at invisible bugs and trying to swat them.

    4. Sneak up behind some engrossed in their work screaming, "DISK FIGHT!!!" and bop them on the head with a disk.

    3. Type frantically, often stopping to look at the person next to you evilly.

    2. Get a pair of 3-d glasses. Wobble around while walking and keep yelling, "Whoa, that looked so real!"

    1. Laugh uncontrollably for about 3 minutes & then suddenly stop and look suspiciously at everyone who looks at you.

[docbyers]

The 10 Most Harmful Government Programs
Posted Apr 10, 2006

1. Social Security

Started when:1935

By whom: President Franklin Roosevelt and a Democratic Congress.

Why: To replace the family with the federal government as the principal means of providing financially for seniors who lack the savings to sustain themselves.

What it does: The government imposes a 12.4% tax on the first $94,200 in income earned by every worker. Half of this tax, 6.2%, is paid by the employee and is shown on his paycheck as a deduction. The other 6.2% is paid by the employer and is not shown on a worker's paycheck. However, as conservative economists point out, it also effectively comes from the worker as it is part of the cost the employer incurs on his behalf. The program has socialized the retirement of Americans, making most seniors financially dependent on payments that the federal government may alter, decrease or even cancel. Democrats routinely and demagogically use this fact to their political advantage. Benefits for current retirees are paid by those still working. When the system was founded, there were 42 working taxpayers per beneficiary. Today, there are about three. In 25 years, there will be about two. President Bush made a valiant effort last year to begin reforming the system with a proposal that included allowing workers to create small personal retirement accounts with a minimal segment of their Social Security tax. Democrats uniformly opposed the idea.
Cost: Social Security collected $657.7 billion in taxes in 2004 and paid out $501.6 billion in benefits. Congress spent every penny of the $156.1-billion Social Security surplus on non-Social Security items. The Social Security Administration says the program faces $4 trillion in unfunded liabilities over the next 75 years.

Constitutional provision: No response from the Social Security Administration.

2. Medicare

Started when: 1965

By whom: President Lyndon B. Johnson and a Democratic Congress

Why: To provide federally funded health insurance to seniors.

What it does: The government imposes a 2.9% Medicare tax on all income earned by workers. Half is paid directly by the worker, the other half is paid by employers. In return, the government provides seniors with hospital insurance, or Medicare Part A, which pays for hospital and hospice care. Also, for a modest premium, seniors receive supplementary medical insurance, or Medicare Part B, which pays physicians' fees and outpatient care. Part D, President Bush's Medicare prescription drug plan, became effective this year (and last year was enrolled in the HUMAN EVENTS Government Program Hall of Shame). It covers much of the cost of drugs for seniors on Medicare. These programs have socialized health care for seniors, making them dependent on the government not only for their income, but also for their medical coverage. Medicare covered 41.7 million people in 2004.

Cost: In 1966, according to the Office of Management and Budget, Medicare cost $64 million.

Republicans predicted its costs would increase enormously. In 2007, it is estimated it will to cost $392 billion. By 2011, its projected cost is $494 billion. The Government Accountability Office estimates Medicare faces $28 trillion in unfunded liabilities over the next 75 years.

Constitutional provision: No response from Medicare.

3. Income Tax Withholding

Started when: 1935 and 1943

By whom: President Franklin Roosevelt and a Democratic Congress.

Why: Roosevelt and his Democrat Congress vastly expanded the number of Americans who owed income taxes when they imposed a "Victory Tax" of 5% on all incomes over $624 in 1942. Because they feared that low- and middle-income workers might not pay the new tax unless it was withheld from their wages, Congress enacted the Current Tax Payment Act in 1943. This program is linked to this year's No. 1 Most Harmful Program, Social Security, because the Social Security Act of 1935 paved the way for the withholding of income taxes by mandating the withholding of Social Security taxes.

What it does: Compels employers to withhold income and payroll taxes from workers' paychecks and pay the money directly to the federal government each quarter before tax returns are actually filed. It allows the government to extract far more revenue from workers than would be politically feasible if workers paid the tax directly. In a study for the Cato Institute, Charlotte Twight noted: "[W]ithholding is the paramount administrative mechanism enabling the federal government to collect, without significant protest, sufficient private resources to fund a vastly expanded welfare state."

Cost: According to the OMB, Americans will pay $1.76 trillion in individual income and payroll taxes in 2006.

Constitutional Provision: The 16thAmendment, which authorizes an income tax.

4. McCain-Feingold

Started when: 2002

By whom: President George W. Bush, even while doubting its constitutionality, signed a law sponsored by Senators John McCain (R.-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D.-Wis.) and Representatives Chris Shays (R.-Conn.) and Marty Meehan (D.-Mass.).

Why: Purportedly to "clean up" financing of federal election campaigns, following various investigations of the financing of the 1996 Clinton-Gore reelection campaign.

What it does: It prevents political parties from raising funds that are not allocated to specific candidates -- so-called "soft" money -- and bars citizens groups from using candidates' names or photographs in broadcast advertising for 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election. It violates the 1st Amendment by restricting political speech. It also protects incumbents from challengers and from issue-oriented groups that oppose the way they vote in Congress. Only candidates and news organizations, as opposed to regular citizens, are permitted to publicize a politician's voting record at election time.

Cost: Lost freedom.

Constitutional provision: The Supreme Court, although unable to explain convincingly why the law didn't violate the 1st Amendment, upheld the constitutionality of McCain-Feingold in the 2003 case of McConnell v. Federal Election Commission. When asked where the Constitution authorized the federal government to assume powers granted by McCain-Feingold, a spokesman for the FEC told HUMAN EVENTS: "Well Congress passed this in 2002 ... You would have to speak to a congressional lawyer for this, which I am not."

5 (Tie). Contraceptive Funding

Started when:1970

By whom: President Nixon signed the Title X law co-sponsored by then-Rep. George H.W. Bush (R.-Tex.) and passed by a Democratic Congress.

Why: To fund clinics to distribute and promote contraceptives and, as Planned Parenthood puts it, "reproductive health care services."

What it does: According to the Department of Health and Human Services, Title X now funds 4,600 "family planning" clinics nationwide. Planned Parenthood says these clinics are located in 73% of the nation's counties, and that they were visited by 4.7 million women in 2001, 33% of them going to federally funded clinics operated by Planned Parenthood itself. Thanks to the Supreme Court's 1977 decision in Carey v. Population Services International, these federally funded clinics can hand out contraceptives to children under 16. "As a result of this court decision," says Planned Parenthood, "clinics supported by Title X funds have traditionally served adolescents on a confidential basis." In other words, Title X as interpreted by the Supreme Court allows Planned Parenthood to use federal tax dollars to hand out contraceptives to children under 16 without informing their parents. The law says Title X funding cannot be used for abortions. But federal regulations allow Title X grant recipients and abortion providers to share the same office and staff. Planned Parenthood, a major recipient of Title X funding, is also a major abortion provider.

Cost: President Bush has requested $283 million for Title X in fiscal 2007. The Government Accountability Office reported to Rep. Chris Smith (R.-N.J.) that Planned Parenthood spent $162 million in federal funds on its domestic activities in fiscal year 2001.
Constitutional provision: No response from HHS.

5 (Tie). Farm Subsidies

Started when: 1929

By whom: A Republican Congress passed the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 and Republican President Herbert Hoover signed it.

Why: To prop up prices of agricultural products and subsidize farmers and agricultural businesses.

What it does: In the late 1920s, a Republican Congress twice passed a bill that would have authorized the government to buy up agricultural products to boost prices. President Coolidge twice vetoed it. In 1929, however, newly elected President Hoover signed a similar law. "After Hoover's election," wrote Randall G. Holcombe in a study for the Cato Institute, "the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 was passed, creating a Federal Farm Board with the power to buy and store 'any quantity' of agricultural commodities for the purpose of supporting prices." In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt, working with a Democratic Congress, pushed through the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which authorized the government to pay farmers not to grow crops or raise livestock. It put government in command of the agricultural industry. Or as Roosevelt explained it in a 1935 speech, it was "a plan for the adjustment of totals in our major crops, so that from year to year production and consumption would be kept in reasonable balance with each other." Ever since then, the government has been manipulating the farming business to control prices.

Cost: The Department of Agriculture is authorized to spend $96.2 billion in 2006.

Constitutional provision: "Article 1, Section 8, the Commerce Clause," said Wayne Baggett, a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture.

7. Medicaid

Started when:1965

By whom: President Johnson and a Democratic Congress.

Why: To pay the health-care expenses of poor people.

What it does: Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that pays for health care for poor people. The federal government mandates that states include certain categories of people in the program and provide certain services. The states are free to expand the categories of people and services subsidized. Forty-six million people are now on Medicaid. The massive number of Americans in the combined Medicare and Medicaid programs (over 92 million), plus the massive amount of tax dollars spent on these programs, means that a large segment of the U.S. health-care industry is already socialized. This gives the federal government tremendous leverage over health care, affecting the choices and freedom of Americans in and out of the programs.

Cost: In 1966, according the Office of Management and Budget, Medicaid cost $770 million. In 2007, it is projected to cost $199 billion. It is projected it will cost $264 billion in 2011.

Constitutional provision: When asked what language in the Constitution authorized Medicaid, a spokeswoman for the program said, "Title 19 of the Social Security Act."

8. Affirmative Action

Started when: 1965

By whom: President Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order 11246.

Why: To ensure that federal contractors and agency do not discriminate against minorities in hiring.

What it does: Requires federal contractors to take "affirmative action" to make sure that they are providing equal employment opportunities to people by as measured by "race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability and gender," which many critics say means meeting quotas. Requires federal contractors to demonstrate they are not discriminating by filing Compliance Reports. The order states: "Compliance Reports shall be filed within such times and shall contain such information as to the practices, policies, programs, and employment policies, programs, and employment statistics of the contractor and each subcontractor."

Cost: Keeps America from becoming a truly colorblind society. Forces federal contractors to consider the statistical composition of their workforce along ethnic lines. Cost $401 million to administer in 2005.

Constitutional provision: A spokesperson for the Department of Labor office that overseas Executive Order 11246 said, "We don't have anyone who speaks for the Constitution."

9 (Tie). Earmarking

Started when: A 1999 report by the Heritage Foundation says that "Webster's Dictionary traces the American origins of the expression 'pork-barrel spending' back to around 1905 or 1910 and defines it as 'a government appropriation ... that provides funds for local improvements designed to ingratiate legislators with their constituents.'"

By whom: Unknown

Why: Members of Congress like to target federal tax dollars to specific projects and interest groups in their states and districts so they can take personal political credit for them.

What it does: An "earmark" is a specific line item inserted into the actual language of a federal spending bill -- or into the non-binding language of the House or Senate appropriations committee report on that bill -- that directs a federal agency to spend a specific number of dollars funding a specific project or program in a specific place. Earmarks increase the overall amount of federal spending and limit the discretion of state and local governments to direct funds to areas and projects the local governments deem appropriate.

Cost: Citizens Against Government Waste identified 9,963 pork barrel projects in the appropriations bills enacted for fiscal year 2006. These earmarks will cost taxpayers $29 billion. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan vetoed a transportation bill that included 152 earmarks, totaling $1.4 billion. Last year, President Bush signed a transportation bill that contained 6,371 earmarks, totaling $24 billion.

Constitutional provision: House Appropriations Committee Spokesman John Scofield pointed to Article 1, Section 7, of the Constitution, which authorizes Congress to pass all otherwise constitutional laws for the federal government.

9 (Tie). Davis-Bacon Act

Started when: 1931

By whom: President Hoover signed a bill sponsored by Rep. Robert Bacon (R.-N.Y.) and Sen. James J. Davis (R.-Pa.)

Why: According to a study by the Senate Republican Policy Committee, the law was designed to address what its big labor supporters described as the "growing menace" of black workers who were depressing the wages of employees working for government contractors. American Federation of Labor President William Green, who supported Davis-Bacon, testified in Congress: "Colored labor is being brought in to demoralize wages." And Rep. John Cochran (D.-Mo.) said: "I have received numerous complaints in recent months about Southern contractors employing low-paid colored mechanics, getting work and bringing in employers from the South."

What it does: Requires contractors on government jobs to pay workers no less than the "prevailing" local wage for the type of labor they perform. The Labor Department, in consultation with union officials and major contractors, determines the "prevailing" wage (which is usually the local union wage) for all types of labor in all regions of the country. This works to the disadvantage of non-union workers and small contractors who could otherwise out-compete larger competitors and unionized competitors.

Cost: The Senate Republican Policy Committee estimates that Davis-Bacon increases the cost of federal construction projects by as much as 38%.

Constitutional provision: No response from the Labor Department

[Phys_dim]

I take it you REALLY love the Federal Reserve....you know the Federal Reserve, run by Private banks...you know, the ones that charge interest to the government for our $$$$...interesting stuff there...no pun intended!  gotta love out brain children politicians for that one!

[docbyers]

I have to console myself with the fact that most of these programs were intiated by Democratic presidents and/or congress, and I didn't vote for any of those people.
My problem is that now my children and I get to inheret the fallout from the "brain trusts" that thought they were a good idea at the time.  Social Security, for example.  Let me take my own money and invest it in some good mutual funds that will take care of me when I retire.  Give me my 14% or whatever it is and see if I can turn it into some real estate holdings, rental properties, stocks, annuities, anything I wish.  If people had to rely on their own fiscal responsibility for retirement instead of the government, it might make them think twice about buying the big-screen TV when they don't have enough left over for the rent...
...and how did the federal government finance things BEFORE there was an income tax?  Now don't get me wrong- I don't mind paying my government to take care of things that I can't do on my own.  There aren't any Iraqi war planes flying over my house, so I don't mind giving some money to the feds to fund the Defense Department.  ...and I have good highways to drive on, with a nice fire department and police force to keep me safe, so I don't mind paying for that either.  My kids will go to a good public school; I don't mind paying tax dollars for that.  I don't like paying taxes for programs that fund a study to investigate the mating habits of the Arctic snow fox...  Freezer might get some benefit out of that, living in Minot, but I won't...

[Freezer]

No benefit here from Snow Fox mating habits, but plenty from farm subsidies, defense spending and, strangely, the Davis Bacon act.  Probably a pile from Social Security as well.

I'd like to take a moment to thank all of you for your tax dollars  .

[docbyers]

A lot of liberals I've met can't even spell 'entitlement,' but they sure know one when they see one...