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On today's "Coffee and Markets" podcast historian David Pietrusza discusses the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo with host Brad Jackson.

... Waterloo lit the slow fuse of the horrifying force of German hypernationalism, the defeat of which required the sacrifice of the British Empire 130 years later. Although at the time the battle seemed merely like the last of a series of traditional dynastic and territorial struggles, in fact Waterloo ushered in the modern world. And as Winston Churchill predicted at the end of the 19th century: "The wars of peoples will be more terrible than the wars of kings."

With the 200th anniversary of the famous Battle of Waterloo just two months away a survey in Britain has revealed that most ofthe public know little about it and some even think it's just an Abba song, while many thought the French actually won. A survey of Britons published in the build-up to the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo found three-quarters knew little or nothing about it -- while many thought France won. The poll of 2,070 people for the National Army Museum found 73 percent either knew nothing or next to nothing about the battle, one of...

This is kinda interesting, seeing the English repel repeated assaults,  then the Prussians came-in from the east and hit the French flank: 'Every puppy has his day, everybody has to pay...' (click pic to play Stonewall Jackson) BritishBattles.com   Reddit   YouTube

The current troubles of the Obama presidency can be read back into its beginnings. Rule by personal charisma has met its proper fate. The spell has been broken, and the magician stands exposed. We need no pollsters to tell us of the loss of faith in Mr. Obama's policies—and, more significantly, in the man himself. If Barack Obama seems like a man alone, with nervous Democrats up for re-election next year running for cover, and away from him, this was the world he made. No advisers of stature can question his policies; the price of access in the Obama court...

An upstate hair care products company whose returned and obsolete products were deposited in a private landfill that it never owned is potentially liable for a portion of the clean-up costs under an "arranger liability" theory, a Western District judge has held. In a lengthy application of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2009 holding in Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway v. United States, 556 U.S. 599, Chief Judge William Skretny said that even though Zotos International did not dump hazardous materials on a site in Seneca County, it effectively "arranged" for the disposal and, under Burlington Northern, may be liable...

Tt is often regarded as the British Army’s greatest military victory. Led into battle by the Duke of Wellington, UK troops routed Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, a triumph ushering in almost a century of peace and stability in Europe. But the Government is refusing to mark the battle’s 200th anniversary in 2015 amid suspicions it does not want to offend France. SNIP Brussels is spending at least £20million on commemorative events, including restoring the battlefield. SNIP James Morrow, secretary of Waterloo 200, ...said he was ‘disappointed’. SNIP ‘The Belgian government has spent millions on events to commemorate the...

WATERLOO, Ontario, March 15, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The University of Waterloo has rebuked the group of pro-abortion protesters who shouted down a talk by a Canadian MP on Wednesday. Pro-life MP Stephen Woodworth got through one-third of his talk at the Waterloo Students for Life event before the protesters occupied his podium. Even though the space was booked properly, campus security refused to intervene on the grounds that the protesters had an equal right to free speech, say the organizers. But in a statement to LifeSiteNews.com on Thursday night, the university rebuked the protest as an effort to silence Woodworth....

EVANSDALE, Iowa --- Authorities today said hunters found two bodies in a wooded area. While they did not say they were the missing girls from Evansdale, law officers said it was not the end they had hoped. Capt. Rick Abben said the two bodies were found in an undisclosed wooded area about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday. The bodies have been taken to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy and to get a positive identification. Elizabeth Collins, now 9, of Evansdale, and Lyric Cook-Morrissey, now 11, of Waterloo, who are cousins, have been missing from Evansdale since July 13 --...

WATERLOO, NY--the Waterloo Police Department reports the warrant arrest of Christopher G. Ludwig, 17 of 79 Stark Street Waterloo, NY for Harassment in the second degree and for a violation of the Village of Waterloo Municipal Code. The arrest is a result of a complaint where it is alleged that Ludwig did throw a snow ball, striking another person which did cause pain and redness to the victim’s leg. Ludwig was arraigned in the Waterloo Village Court and released on his own recognizance to reappear on a later date.

WATERLOO, Iowa — Rick Perry came to Michele Bachmann’s hometown Sunday evening and schooled the newly minted Iowa front-runner in her native state’s demanding retail political culture. The day after Perry announced his candidacy and Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll, the two candidates spoke to the Black Hawk County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner, the sort of endless regional event that is a staple of the long Iowa campaign. Both candidates offered conservative standards, promising to slash government spending and ease regulations to jump-start the private sector economy. Perry promised to use his presidential veto pen “until all ink...

WATERLOO, Iowa --- Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be making his first appearance in the Cedar Valley Sunday at the Black Hawk County Republicans' Lincoln Day dinner. Both Mac McDonald, the county GOP chairman, and Mark Miner, a Perry spokesman, confirmed his appearance today. This will also Perry's first visit after the Iowa Straw Poll in Ames on Saturday. Perry has not officially announced his intentions to run, but he's widely rumored to be considering a bid. Perry will be speaking at a fundraiser in South Carolina, the first Southern primary, according to the Associated Press. Black Hawk County officials...

Rep. Michele Bachmann, stressing her Iowa roots and appealing directly to Tea Party voters, came out swinging Monday as she formally launched her campaign for president. Buoyed by a strong showing in several recent polls, the Minnesota congresswoman cast her campaign as the voice for "constitutional conservatives" looking for a government that lives within its means while giving the private sector the room to grow. She launched a broadside against President Obama for racking up too much debt while stimulating too little job growth and vowed to make him a "one-term president." "We cannot afford four more years of Barack...

Third Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Jonesboro, Illinois September 15, 1858 MR. DOUGLAS' SPEECH. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I appear before you today in pursuance of a previous notice, and have made arrangements with Mr. Lincoln to divide time, and discuss with him the leading political topics that now agitate the country. Prior to 1854 this country was divided into two great political parties known as Whig and Democratic. These parties differed from each other on certain questions which were then deemed to be important to the best interests of the Republic. Whig and Democrats differed about a bank, the...

Gannett Rag - Link Only http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/05/26/bachmann-to-announce-in-waterloo-next-month/

U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley is calling on Iowa lawmakers and Gov. Terry Branstad to fund the state’s share of the cost of developing a high-speed rail connection between Iowa City through the Quad Cities to Chicago. Iowa and Illinois have secured $230 million in federal funding for an Amtrak route between Chicago and Iowa City. The project now depends on Branstad and the Legislature fulfilling Iowa’s $20 million commitment to the project, according to Braley, whose district includes the Quad Cities. He has written to Branstad as well as House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal,...

DeMint: If vote to raise debt ceiling is GOP's Waterloo, 'let it be'By Jordan Fabian - 04/14/11 10:03 AM ET A top conservative senator on Thursday indicated he is willing to go to extreme lengths to prevent a vote on raising the debt ceiling, even if it hurts the Republican Party politically. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said on the conservative Laura Ingraham Show he is considering filibustering an upcoming vote to raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit if it doesn't contain other fiscal reforms. Asked if that would serve as the GOP's "Waterloo" in the 2012 elections, the senator...

Some liberal, E.D. Kain, over at Forbes has posed the question of whether the public union fight in Wisconsin will be the GOP Waterloo. And not just Wisconsin, but also Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, Florida, and the rest of the over-reaching state Republicans. Governors like Scott Walker, Rick Scott, and Jan Brewer are riding on the coattails of the Tea Party, but they've become blind to the dangers of their radical policies.More here First of all, there isn't a Waterloo without a Napoleon to lead us there. I know there are a lot of mental midgets on the left, but...

The president’s approval rating now stands at 42 percent – an all time low in CNN polling and 8 points lower than where Obama was only three weeks ago. Moreover, 56 percent of all Americans think the president has fallen short of their expectations… In even worse news for congressional Democrats, likely voters say they are considerably more likely to vote for a candidate the president opposes than one he supports. On the other hand, 50 percent of voters said they would be more likely to vote for a Tea Party-backed candidate while a third of Americans said Tea Party...

It is, perhaps, fitting that it was on this day, June 18 in 1815, that Napoleon met his Waterloo. For, 195 year later, to the day, it seems that Barack Hussein Obama (Milhous to those who know him), is meeting his own Waterloo, this time in the actual water of the Gulf of Mexico. The metaphor is so neat, it's almost trite, but I submit it anyway. It's also fitting that Napoleon lost the battle largely because he had to wait for the field to dry, it was too muddy to advance on...Obama's Real Waterloo