Fresh Air Now Comes In A Can

Yes, you can now buy a can of fresh air.  However, there is a catch.  You have to travel a few thousand miles to get your hands on one.  Canned fresh air is available only in China, where it's being sold by entrepreneur Chen Guangbiao.  His product comes in several flavors, including Tibet, Taiwan and Yan'an, which was an early home of the Communist Party.  Each can costs 5 yuan, equivalent to about 80 American cents.

Read more at the Brisbane Times and Yahoo News.

Canned air from various parts of China could eventually lead to the art of pairing food with air, similar to how food is paired with wine.  For example, which regional type of air should be inhaled while eating Szeshuan beef, pork Chungking or Hunan chicken?

The Brisbane Times report includes this video:

Inauguration Performer Killed

Ten days ago, Chicago teenager Hadiya Pendleton was marching in the Inaugural parade as a majorette with her high school's band.  Earlier today, she was shot in the back and killed while in South Side Chicago park, thought to be gang turf.  Also shot was a teenage boy, who attends the same high school, King College Prep.  He was shot in the leg and is recovering.  The shooter has not been identified or apprehended.

Even with some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, Chicago suffered over 500 murders last years, and has already had over 40 occur this year, as reported by Gather.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times, WLS-TV, CBS News and the Chicago Tribune.

Senator Barney Frank? Nope!

With John Kerry leaving the Senate to become Secretary of State, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick has named William "Mo" Cowan as interim Senator, to temporarily replace Kerry until a special election is held.  Cowan has indicated that he has no plans to run in that or any other election.  He has previously served as Patrick's chief legal counsel and chief of staff.  Cowan becomes the first black Senator from Massachusetts since Republican Edward Brooke, who served from 1966 to 1978.

Massachusetts faced a similar situation after the death of longtime Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, whose seat was won by Republican Scott Brown, who later lost to Elizabeth Warren in 2012.  Brown has not said anything yet about running in the upcoming special election.

Governor Patrick's choice of William Cowan ends the speculation among some of us on the right that retired congressman Barney Frank would be Senator Kerry's replacement.  Instead, we're left to wonder if there's anyone in the Senate named "Curly" or "Larry" to go with "Mo".  Trouble is, the number of stooges on Capitol Hill is bound to be far greater than three.

(Other than Brown and Brooke, everyone named in this post is a Democrat.  We're talking about Massachusetts, after all.)

Read the story at the Boston Herald, Boston(dot)com, the New York Daily News and the Woburn Patch.  The BH link comes via Bluegrass Pundit.

Senator Kerry Confirmed As Secretary Of State

Senator John Kerry (D-MA) has been confirmed by his soon-to-be-former colleagues for the post of Secretary of State, where he will succeed another former Senator, Hillary Clinton (D-NY).  The vote was 94-3, with John Cornyn (R-TX), Ted Cruz (R-TX) and James Inhofe (R-OK) voting "no".  By assuming the leadership of the State Department, Kerry will end his long career in the Senate, which started on January 3, 1985.  During the two years prior to joining the Senate, he had served as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.  In 2004, he was the Democrat nominee for President, but lost to then-incumbent George W. Bush.  During that campaign, he faced stiff opposition from some of his fellow Swift Boat veterans.

John Kerry served in the Navy during the Viet Nam war, achieving the rank of Lieutenant and garnering several medals including three Purple Hearts, but after his discharge from active duty, joined the anti-war movement.  In 1971, he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he accused (or relayed accusations against) the American military of various atrocities, likening some of their alleged actions to those of Genghis Khan. Kerry is also said to have thrown away his medals, but they have nevertheless been seen in his Senate office.

Read the story at the Washington Examiner.

Women In Combat?

Now that Obama administration has decided to lift the ban on women in combat positions in the military, I've decided to set forth my thoughts on the matter.  Let me concede at the outset that I'm not a military veteran, so my own views are going to be formed from second-hand information.  With my poor eyesight, if I had gone into the military, I would have been disqualified from combat duty.  I thus cannot speak from experience, and could not have even acquired that particular type of experience.

That said, there are certain roles that I can see women filling, such as piloting an airplane or helicopter, serving on a ship, or operating artillery.  Women have already served effectively in some of these roles.  The one thing that I would insist upon, is that in any role open to women, they should be under the same qualifying standards as men, and not subject to some quota system.  We are equal, but like it or not, equality does not mean we are interchangeable.  As anyone who lives in reality knows, men are generally stronger than women.  I realize that an M-16 can be a great equalizer, but combat involves more than pulling a trigger, as explained by Iraq veteran Ryan Smith in the Wall Street Journal.  One important point he brings up is this:

Yes, a woman is as capable as a man of pulling a trigger. But the goal of our nation's military is to fight and win wars.

In my opinion, this goal, the very purpose of the military, should be the overriding concern.  Equal opportunity and the avoidance of sex-based (and other types of) discrimination are fine for the civilian world, and can likewise be worthy aspirations in the military - up to a point.  Whatever is done to extend combat roles to women needs to be done with this goal in mind.  Does it help our armed forces fight wars and win them?

Sunday News And Links

Some items recently in the news:

From Reuters, President Obama says that football needs to become "less violent", invoking the "if I had a son" clause. (via Weasel Zippers)

From Fox News, lawsuits over the Obamacare birth control mandate appear headed to the Supreme Court.

Also from Fox News, Iran sentences Christian pastor Saeed Abedini to eight years in prison.

From the Brenner Brief, an explosion has reportedly occurred at the Fordo nuclear facility in Iran.

From the Weekly Standard, Obama violates his own "Stimulus" law.

From Breitbart Sports, two Egyptian soccer players were shot dead in a riot, which broke out in response to a judge's sentence in a trial of people accused of rioting over a soccer game.  (Perhaps it's this type of football that needs to be less violent, Mr. President.)  In a related story from Middle East Online, 22 people have died in these riots in Port Said.  Al Arabiya News reports 27 people dead.

Back to the American variety of football, and more violence, the New York Post tells the tale of Ray Lewis' homicide case.

From Yahoo News, Obama expresses his respect for the "tradition of hunting".  (via Gateway Pundit)

From the Independent, January 27th is Holocaust Memorial Day.  (via Infidel Blogger's Alliance)

From Newsbusters, a woman explains to Pierce Morgan why she needs an AR-15.

From Dawn, an intense battle rages in the Khyber region of Pakistan between a faction of the Pakistani Taliban and the "pro-government" group Ansar ul Islam.  (via Holger Awakens)

From National Review, the transcript of Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-Wis) speech at the NRI summit.

From the Daily Caller, about 2/3 of polled gun owners said that they would defy a law requiring them to give up their guns.

And to finish, something to eat for breakfast:  Crapola.

Court Rules Against Obama's "Recess" Appointments

Via Gateway Pundit:

A federal court has ruled that President Obama's appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, made last year, were illegal because the Senate was not actually in a recess.  The presidential power to make recess appointments does not cover "intra-session" appointments, made when the Congress takes a short break, but only appointments made after a session is adjourned permanently.

Read the story at the Washington Times.

Also, at the Right Scoop, Mark Levin discusses the court's ruling.

Presidential Insects

During 2004, President Bush was apparently attacked by a cicada.

But more recently, all President Obama got was a fly.

(Disclaimer:  I don't know where this photo came from or even if it's authentic.  It would be one thing to be a proverbial "fly on the wall" during an Obama cabinet meeting, but being a fly on the president's forehead would be something else indeed.)

UPDATE:  As it turns out, the picture is real, and appeared in Yahoo News.

Pro-Life Display Stolen, Trashed

From the New Guard via Pat Dollard:

At 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, the Young America's Foundation chapter at DePaul University set up a display of 500 flags (half blue, half pink) to remember the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.  Around 5:00 p.m., some YAF members went to remove the flags, to find out that they had already been removed and stuffed into trash cans.  Videotape evidence suggests that several "females" removed the flags at around 4:30.  Read more at the above links.

DePaul is a Catholic school.  It's pretty bad when even pro-life students at a Catholic university can't have their freedom of expression respected.

A Sad Anniversary, And Today's News

On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court released its ruling on Roe v. Wade, striking down abortion laws in all 50 states, greatly expanding the conditions under which an abortion may be obtained, and its ruling on Doe v. Bolton, which defined "health" as a factor those conditions.  Today marks the 40th anniversary of that decision.  Over the years, both Jane Roe (Norma McCorvey) and Mary Doe (Sandra Cano) have
come out against abortion.  Cano's story may be read here.

Today, some pro-lifers decided to remember the anniversary by placing 3,300 flowers on the steps of the Supreme Court building, to mark the 3300 abortions that occur daily in the U.S.  The two sides held dueling protests in front of the SCOTUS.  The Washington Examiner presents the results of Roe v. Wade in three grim charts.  The country's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, performed a record number of abortions and received a record amount of taxpayer-funded subsidies in 2011.

Some news items from today:

From Fox News, two suspects are hospitalized after a shooting at a community college in Houston.

Also from Fox News, despite President Morsi's rhetoric, America's gift of F-16's is on its way.

From Yahoo News, Israeli voters have re-elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

From the Canada Free Press, tens of millions of birds and bats are killed by wind turbines.

From Gateway Pundit, the First Lady's inaugural outfit cost over half the median U.S. yearly income.

From Reuters, pungent gas released in France has reached England.

Speaking of England, from the Daily Mail, Prince Harry says that no sensible woman would be his bride.

From SFGate, three thieves trying to rob a Chinese restaurant in Massachusetts are stopped, not by any gun-wielding worker, but by the cash register.

And from NBC News, a Utah woman gets a rude awakening as a huge boulder crashes into her bedroom.

Did He Or Didn't He?

Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi once worked as a consultant for NASA, or he didn't, depending on which interview you want to believe.  Could his involvement with NASA (if there ever was any) have contributed to the inspiration for new purpose of muslim outreach?  From MEMRI via Bare Naked Islam:

Whether the Egyptian TV commentator who pointed this out is still available for comment is unknown.

Stan Musial 1920-2013

For the second time today, a legendary baseball figure has gone to the great dugout in the sky.  Stan Musial, known as "Stan The Man", died this afternoon at age 92, from natural causes.  Musial spent his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals, playing outfield and first base.  In high school and in the minor leagues, he had also pitched.  After ending his playing career, Musial worked for the Cardinals as a vice president and then as their general manager.

The son of a Polish immigrant father and a Czech-descended mother, Stanisłaus Franciszek Musiał was born in Donora, Pennsylvania.  Upon enrolling in school, his named was changed to Stanley Frank Musial.  At Donora High School, one of his teammates was Buddy Griffey, whose son Ken Griffey and grandson Ken Griffey Jr. each had successful major league careers.  After spending a few year in the minor leagues, Musial joined the major league Cardinals in September 1941 and stayed with them until the end of the 1963 season, except for a stint in the U.S. Navy in 1945 and 1946.  During his career, Musial won seven National League batting titles and three NL MVP awards, and was chosen to appear in 24 All-Star games.  The Cardinals retired his number, 6.  He was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, and elected to the baseball Hall Of Fame in 1969, his first year on the ballot.  More recently, Musial was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  Go to Baseball Reference to see his career statistics.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times, CBS News, the Global Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Cardinals website.

Gun Appreciation Day

Today has been Gun Appreciation Day, on which gun rights supporters rallied in front of their state capitols.  The Blaze has a report with a bunch of pictures.  Other reports can be read at the Chicago Tribune, Fox News, CBS Pittsburgh and the Associated Press, the last one via Weasel Zippers.

Earl Weaver 1930-2013

Earl Weaver, who managed the Baltimore Orioles to four American League pennants in 17 seasons, and a victory in the World Series in 1970, passed away today while on an Orioles Fantasy cruise in the Caribbean Sea, after collapsing in his room at around 2:00 a.m.  He was 82 years old.

As a manager, Weaver compiled a career winning percentage of .583, one of the highest in major league history.  He was inducted into the baseball Hall Of Fame in 1996 by the Veterans Committee.  Unlike many of his managerial contemporaries, he had never played in the major leagues.  After managing in the Orioles' minor league system, including the Elmira (NY) Pioneers and Rochester (NY) Red Wings, Weaver became the major league team's first base coach at the start of the 1968 season.  He was promoted to manager in July of that year, holding the job through 1982.  After that season, the Orioles retired his number, 4.  He returned to manage them again in 1985 and 1986.  Ironically, the Orioles won the World Series in 1983 during his hiatus.

As a manager, Weaver extensively compiled and used statistics, such as head-to-head batting statistics of his own players against individual opposing pitchers.  He often platooned two players, one batting right-handed and the other batting left-handed, in one position.  Weaver's relations with American League umpires were a story unto itself.  He was ejected from at least 91 games, including twice before the game even started, and three times from both games of a double header.

Read more at ESPN, the Baltimore Sun, the Sporting News, the New York Daily News and USA Today.

The Te'o Hoax, And Some Other Stories

Manti Te'o is a college football player who recently completed his senior season with Notre Dame, the team losing to Alabama in the BCS Championship Game.  During the 2012 season, he endured the deaths of his grandmother, Annette Santiago, and his girlfriend, Lennay Marie Kekua, within days of each other.  Earlier during 2012, Te'o had learned that Kekua was in a car accident, recovered from the resulting injuries, graduated from Stanford, and then was diagnosed with leukemia, from which she eventually died.  There was one problem with all of this.  Te'o and Kekua never met in person.  Their relationship was completely online.  All of these events, and Lennay Kekua's very existence, were a hoax.  The only remaining question is whether Te'o was purely the victim of this hoax, or was in on it.  Read more at Deadspin, CBS Sportsline, Newsfeed, Fox News and the Sporting News.

In other news:

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, an Illinois woman survived for two days after her car skidded into a ravine.

From the Sioux City Journal, a tribute to Sioux City native Pauline Friedman Phillips, known to the world as Dear Abby.  She recently passed away at the age of 94.

From Yahoo News, a Florida man was killed when he was run over by his dog.

From Israel National News, about 4,300 of Nazi-seized advertising posters will be auctioned off in New York.

From WGRZ, Border Patrol agents have arrested a man who entered the United States illegally, by paddling across the Niagara River into Fort Niagara State Park.  (Full disclosure:  I have visited Fort Niagara.  It's in the northwest corner of New York state, on the east bank of the Niagara River where it empties into Lake Ontario.  If the sky is fairly clear, you can see Toronto on the other side of the lake.)

From Breitbart's Big Journalism, the NRA, which has been vilified in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, has a better approval rating than the president.

And finally, to return to our first topic, it seems that Manti Te'o might have been living out a song that I remember from the 1970's.

Engage The Hyperdrive

Although according to the laws of physics, no object that has mass can travel faster than the speed of light, some physics Masters students at the University of Leicester in England have figured out what you would see  out the window of your spacecraft if it could travel faster than light.  But instead of stars looking like streaks of light, as seen in the Star Trek TV shows and Star Wars movies, you wouldn't see them at all.  Due to the Doppler effect, their light would be shifted into the X-ray range of frequencies.  On the other hand, the cosmic microwave background radiation would be shifted into the visible range.  So if we could ever construct a spaceship that could travel faster than light, we'd better include tinted windows and X-ray shielding.

Read more at Fox News.

Monday News And Notes

A few news items and a bit of humor:

From the Los Angeles Times, despite some new information on the death of Natalie Wood (1938-1981), the LA County Sheriff's Department says that the evidence is insufficient to show homicide.

From the Daily Mail, the story of a British woman who decided against aborting her severely disabled baby, who sadly lived just 9 hours after being born.  (via Life Site News)

From NBC News Vitals, research that marijuana use lowers IQ is challenged by a new study pointing to other factors.

From the Dallas Morning News, George P. Bush, who intends to run for Texas Land Commissioner, has raised $1.3 million for his campaign in the past two months.  He is the son of Jeb Bush, nephew of George W. Bush and grandson of George H.W. Bush.

From the Examiner, another relative of an American president is running for office.  The president's brother Malik Obama is running for governor in Saiya, Kenya.

From the Daily Caller, Representative Steve Stockman (R-Texas) says that he will go as far as filing articles of Impeachment to prevent President Obama from implementing gun control by executive order.  (What's this, a Republican with a spine?  What's going on here?)

From Creative Minority Report, three Massachusetts men were arrested after throwing punches and smashing furniture - at a baby shower.

From CBS New York, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-64th District) says that the state legislature will "ban assault weapons".

And from Jimmy Kimmel, Los Angeles overreacts to the recent cold snap.

MD Teacher's Union Wants "Fee" From Non-Members

The Maryland State Education Association wants school employees who are not members to pay a "fair share fee" equivalent to about 68% of the local union dues.  Under current Maryland law, union-negotiated contracts cover all teachers, member or not, and the union must represent non-union teachers in grievances.  Such fees are already required in nine counties and the city of Baltimore.

Delegate Sheila Hixson (D-Montgomery Co.) has introduced a bill that would make the fee requirement the law throughout the state.  The law would not require anyone to join the union, and would not introduce any additional fee for those already paying one.  The money collected via the fee would not go into political activities.

Read more at the Washington Examiner.

Kelly Hildebrandts To Divorce Each Other

This is definitely one from the "You can't make this stuff up" department.  After contacting each other on Facebook, meeting in person and getting married, all during 2009, Mr. Kelly Hildebrandt of Lubbock, Texas and Ms. Kelly Hildebrandt of Coral Springs, Florida filed for divorce in 2012.  They made their home in Coconut Creek, Florida, but he has moved back to Lubbock, where he has his own business.  They have cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for divorcing.

Read the story at NBC News.

White House: Sorry, No Death Star

In response to the petition submitted last month which called for the federal government to build a Death Star, the White House has released a statement denying the request.  According to the Obama administration's science and space adviser Paul Shawcross, building a Death Star would cost about $850 quadrillion, "at a time that the White House is working to reduce the federal budget".  (They want to "reduce" the budget?  Please excuse me for second while I roll my eyes.)  He also indicated that the administration "does not support blowing up planets."

Read the story at SFGate and CBS News.

If our intentions do not include blowing up planets, what would we do with our own Death Star?  We could, perhaps, park it above a city known for being a sanctuary for illegal aliens.  You want aliens?  Here you go:

Gun Appreciation Day

In response to recent proposals for of gun-control legislation, and as Vice President Biden hinted, possible "executive orders" to enact gun-control, a coalition of firearms groups has announced the first national Gun Appreciation Day.  To take part, go to your local gun store, gun range or gun show on January 19th, with your flags, Constitution and pro-gun-rights sign, and take a picture.

Read more at Fox News and World Net Daily.

The Baseball Hall Of Fame Elects....Nobody

For the first time since 1996, the baseball Hall of Fame will not induct anyone from the ballots cast by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.  None of the eligible candidates appeared on 75% of the ballots, the minimum percentage required.  The closest was former Houston Astro Craig Biggio, named on 68.2%.  Barry Bonds, who has the career record for home runs, and Roger Clemens, who won a record 7 Cy Young Awards, didn't even get 40%.  If you ask me, if Bonds and others who got away with some steroid-enhanced performances ever get elected, their names and achievements should be permanently followed by asterisks.

Major league baseball personnel (players, managers, owners, umpires, etc.) become eligible for selection by the BBWAA five years after retirement, and remain eligible for 15 years.  Afterwards, they may be named by the Veteran's Committee, who are allowed to make a small number of selections each year.  This past December, they named umpire Hank O'Day, owner Jake Rupert, and player Deacon White, all of whom died during the 1930's.  Thus, the induction ceremony next July will include no honorees who are still alive.

Read more at the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Sporting News, and CBS Sportsline.

A Few Things Going On

Some recent developments in the news and in the blogosphere:

National Review claims out that if electoral votes were awarded by congressional district, Mitt Romney would have won.  The number of electoral votes each state gets is equal to their total representation in Congress.  For example, if a state has 8 Representatives in the House, it has 10 votes in the Electoral College, the other two corresponding to the two Senators.  In the system that NR contemplates, each district gets its own distinct vote, with the state retaining the two "senator" votes to be determined by the overall popular vote within the state.  Currently, Nebraska and Maine each assign their electors in this manner.

Life Site News takes us into a recently-closed abortion clinic in Michigan, and gives us "10 surprising quotes from abortionists".

From Breitbart's Big Government, Vice President Biden will be meeting with the NRA.

From Newsmax, Obamacare is helping to create a shortage of physicians.

From CNS News, a history of Senator and apparent Secretary of State-designate John Kerry's criticism of America's foreign policy.

From The Foundry, regulations from the Obama EPA continue to bring about coal power plant closings.

From CNN, Illinois lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow illegal aliens to receive "temporary" driver's licences.

Remember the rash of church-burnings during the 1990's, the churches mostly belonging to black congregations, and how then-President Clinton recalled how they reminded him of the burning of black churches during his childhood in Arkansas?  I wonder what he thinks of the burning of churches in Nigeria?  (from Truth Be Told)

From Yahoo News, several hundred people in Boulder, Colorado hold a vigil for the victim of a police shooting - an elk.

From ABC10 News, after a couple ties the knot thousands of feet in the air, their balloon comes crashing down.

And last but not least, after being off the web for over a year, the blog And Rightly So, where yours truly used to contribute, has been restarted.  Raven has once again asked me to join the crew, so I'll be posting over there from time to time, in addition to what I post here.

"Utterly Astounded"

An anonymous author gives us his (or her) reaction to the 2012 presidential election, which pretty well sums up the mood of many of us on the right, myself included.  The results certainly didn't turn out as we expected.  From Radio Patriot via Political Pistachio, here's an except:

We were offered the clearest choice we’ve had since 1980, where we had malaise and a misery index on one hand and a shining city on a hill on the other. Back then, we chose the city on the hill. This time the choice was between a man who says 7.9% unemployment and $4.00 gas is the new normal and a guy whose entire career has been about fixing broken entities. 

We chose to stay broken. And Broke.

The entire piece can be found at either link above.  The 2012 results have reminded me of a metaphor a read before the election.  It surely seems that we have backed up the Titanic and rammed the iceberg a second time.

Music Break

For the first music break of 2013, let's start off with the Bob Seger song Hands In The Air, which I completely missed when it came out in 1995 as the last track on his It's A Mystery album.

15 Reasons To Hate Notre Dame Or Alabama

Outkick the Coverage has published their lists of 15 reasons to hate each of the two schools playing for the BCS football championship, or what is often called the MNC, which stands for "mythical national championship", since in Division I, Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A), the two teams which get to play for it are chosen by a complicated system of polls and computer ratings, and not by any playoff system or tournament.

An excerpt about Alabama:

You've got to start with the Bama Bangs haircut.
How can an entire state adopt the most feminine haircut in the country? Even more of an indictment, how can women sleep with these men? That's even more ridiculous.
Somehow Alabama is to blame for Justin Bieber.

And an excerpt about Notre Dame:

You are the most ridiculously overhyped team in all of sports.
At least teams like the Yankees, and the Celtics, and the Lakers actually win games. The last time you were ranked at the end of the season was 2006.
Since 1995, Notre Dame has won two bowl games.
That's the same number as Vanderbilt.

Click on the first link above and read the entire lists.  For even more fun, read the comments, too.

Baby Girl Literally Reaches Out

During the past few days, a picture showing a baby reaching out from her mother's womb and grabbing the finger of the doctor performing Caesarian section has gone viral on the Internet.  The baby girl, named Nevaeh ("heaven" spelled backwards), is now 11 weeks old.  She and her parents, Randy and Alicia Atkins, live in Glendale, Arizona.  Read the story and see the picture (along with a few more) at the Mail Online.

Notes On The Fiscal Cliff

The deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff", a.k.a. the end of the George W Bush tax rates, includes some tax increases.  Zerohedge puts them in perspective.

Gateway Pundit tells us what Michael Reagan says about the deal.

The Independent Journal Review reports that the deal makes $41 in tax increases for every $1 of spending cuts, a ratio far worse on deals agreed to by Presidents Reagan and George H W Bush.

But even so, according to Truth-Out, the liberal base thinks that President Obama gave away too much.

What good will the deal accomplish?  According to Frontpagemag, it will merely postpone the fiscal cliff until this coming March.

How long did the Senate take to consider the 154-page bill?  From CNS News, about 3 minutes.  Evelyn Wood would be proud.  It seems that the Nancy Pelosi tradition of passing the bill to find out what's in it has migrated from the House to the Senate.

From Townhall, Speaker Boehner likewise shoves the bill through the House.

Politico give us some of the discussion between John Boehner and Senator Harry Reid, and it ain't pretty.

What do I think will happen?  As in the Road Runner cartoons, we will go over the cliff just like Wile E. Coyote, perhaps not falling until we realize that there's nothing solid immediately under our feet.  After we hit the bottom, the resulting vibration will cause a large boulder, known as "Obamacare", to fall on top of us.

French Muslims Celebrate New Years Eve

They celebrated by burning almost 1200 cars, in various parts of the country.  Three policemen and four gendarmes were injured trying to respond to the mayhem, while 339 people were arrested.

Read more at Frontpagemag, Islam Versus Europe and Jihadwatch, et si vous lisez Français, lisez plus au Parisien et au Figaro.  The Frontpagemag link includes this French-language video:

Happy New Year 2013

May everyone who reads Bigfoot's Place have a happy, healthy and enjoyable year in 2013.