Links To End 2012

Twenty-Twelve was certainty an interesting year, especially if you understand "interesting" in the context of the old curse "May you live in interesting times."  We have seen the Supreme Court uphold "Obamacare" by calling its mandate a "tax", and strike down most of Arizona's SB 1070, while leaving intact its provision that allows state policemen to check the immigration status of people they legally stop.  We have seen a woman named Sandy demand that we subsidize her birth control and leftwingers accuse us of waging a "war on women" if we refuse, a hurricane named Sandy devastate the shores of New Jersey and New York City, and the mass murder of children by a mentally unstable gunman at an elementary school named Sandy Hook.   We have also seen two more end-of-the-world predictions, one based on a misunderstanding of the Mayan calendar, fail to take place.

Despite what appeared to be solid support for Republican nominee Mitt Romney, we re-elected President Obama, even though his economic and fiscal record is the worst of any president in my lifetime, and whose foreign policy record isn't all that great.  At least two promising GOP candidates for Senator derailed themselves by opening mouth and inserting foot.  The Democrats made modest gains in both houses of Congress, but for the most part, the next four years of federal governance appear to be "meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

In the world of sports, the New York Giants won the Super Bowl, and then failed to make the playoffs the next season, the third time in franchise history that they have done so.  Payton Manning (Denver QB) and Adrian Petersen (Minnesota TB) have had amazing comeback seasons.  Meanwhile in the NCAA, my Virginia Tech Hokies had their worst football season in 20 years, but still won their bowl game.  Penn State coach Joe Paterno was fired after his former assistant Jerry Sandusky was accused of child molestation.  Sandusky has since been convicted and Paterno has passed away.

As we reminisce about all of the above and more, and get ready for 2013, let's see what's going on to close out 2012.

From The Corner at National Review Online, there appears to be an agreement to avoid the upcoming "fiscal cliff".

On the other hand, the Daily Caller reports that the "fiscal cliff" negotiators haven't worked out the sequester, which remains "a point of contention".

According to Breitbart's Big Government, there's no deal yet, and negotiations will resume next year.

Redstate recommends that Republicans kill the deal, because there are no spending cuts.

From CNN Politics, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's blood clot, for which she has recently been hospitalized, is reported to be located between her brain and her skull.  (Full disclosure:  A member of my family had this type of injury about 8 years ago, which required removal of the overlying section of skull.)

From Fox News, Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) has asked the president to "rescind" an executive order that gives Congress and some other officials a pay increase.  (Is Senator Portman from Ohio or Oiho?)

Also from Fox News, the federal government is again running into the debt ceiling.

From Push Back Now, Senator and gun control advocate Diane Feinstein has had a concealed carry permit.

From the New York Post, a couple living in Greenwich Village have been busted for allegedly possessing weapons and bomb-making material.  One of them has been an Occupy Wall Street activist.

And from SFGate, a roundup of 2012 news for New England, featuring a bear that vacationed in Cape Cod.

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Bill Whittle Speaks About The 2012 Election

The Romney presidential candidacy has received its share of post-mortems, most of which I haven't had any desire to post here.  But I like this recent speech by Bill Whittle, found in the Green Room at Hot Air.  According to Whittle, it would be helpful if the Republicans believed their own story.

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Once Again, It's Obama

By now, everyone not living under a rock knows that President Barack Obama has been re-elected.  He did so by narrowly winning in "battleground" states such as Florida, Virginia and Ohio, and by holding on to the moderately "blue" states that some thought could have been flipped to his challenger Mitt Romney.  He won despite having one of the worst economic records that I can remember, and having the worst fiscal record of any president in our history.  He won in spite of the unpopularity of "Obamacare".  Presidents Carter and Bush the Elder, to my recollection, were arguably unseated for less.

Like the right in general, I'm quite disappointed.  For a while, it appeared that Romney had a good chance to defeat Obama.  I had heard about crowds at Romney's appearances that were much larger than those at Obama's, and that in early voting, the turnout in GOP-leaning counties exceeded that of Democrat-leaning ones, or at least was doing better than in 2008.  None of that, however, accurately foreshadowed the way in which the voting actually turned out.  When Pennsylvania and later Ohio were called for Obama, I realized that Romney's chances were starting to fade.


The reaction to Obama's re-election here on the right has ranged from "we'll get through this just like we've gotten through so much else" to "this country is doomed".  Scenarios within the latter category include the 22nd Amendment being repealed and Obama having more terms, and Obama not letting the 2016 election take place and then staying in office indefinitely, either way continuing his leftist agenda.  I don't think either of these is likely to happen.  For one thing, when Bush the Younger won re-election in 2004, some on the left thought that he would somehow stop the 2008 election and afterwards stay in office, which turned out to be a ridiculous fantasy.  On the other hand, getting through the next four years is not going to be easy.  What we've seen in Obama's first term, we will get more of in the second. A president arrogant enough to bypass Congress to institute a partial de facto amnesty for some illegal aliens and to enforce bureaucratically-created regulations on the coal industry, is probably not going to show any restraint or magnanimity after being re-elected.  Although Obama won about 51% of the popular vote, roughly the same as Bush in 2004, I don't expect anyone on the left to dig out their old "51% is not a mandate" bumper stickers in order to get him to use caution.

I don't believe - yet - that our country, its economy and its freedoms will be inevitably doomed by the time 2016 rolls around.  But on the other hand, if there is indeed a point of no return somewhere ahead of us, the second Obama term may get us there more quickly.

For more reading:
APA Guy at Redstate gives us his take on what we're in for.
Conservative T & T at T & T News N' Music reacts to the election.

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It's Almost Time

Tomorrow, tens of millions of Americans will go to the polls to decide whether to give Barack Obama a second term as President, or to turn the job over to Willard Mitt Romney, formerly the governor of Massachusetts, but also known for his work at Bain Capital and with the 2002 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee.  If Obama wins and then serves out his full second term, it will be the second time in our history that there have been three consecutive 8-year presidencies.  The first time this occurred was in the early 1800's with Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe.  If Romney wins, he will become the first challenger to unseat an incumbent president since Bill Clinton defeated George H. W. Bush in 1992, and the first Republican to do so since Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter in 1980.  It seems that Romney is doing well in the polls, but the only poll that counts is the one we have tomorrow.

Strictly speaking, we don't really choose the president.  In each state, we choose a set of Electors that will be sent to the Electoral College, where they will elect the president.  Each state gets a number of Electors equal to its total representation in Congress.  The smallest (by population) states have three, equal to its two Senators plus its single Representative in the House.  Due to a Constitutional Amendment, the District of Columbia is given the number of Electors it would have, if it were a state.  With two notable exceptions, a state's set of Electors is determined by the total popular vote in the state, with the winner taking all.  Maine and Nebraska each determine two Electors, corresponding to their Senators, according to the statewide popular vote, with their other Electors determined by the popular vote within each Congressional District.  I have even heard some prognosticators say that Obama will carry Maine, but one of its Districts and thus one Elector could go for Romney.

There are several states that could go either way, but Maryland is a virtually certain Obama carry.  Although we did elect a Republican governor (Bob Ehrlich) a few years back, the state is overall very "blue".  My presidential vote will presumably be overruled by my state's pro-Obama voters.  Even so, there are still many "down-ticket" races and referendum questions that deserve my attention, such as in-state tuition for illegal aliens (known under the politically correct euphemism "undocumented immigrants"), granting civil marriage licenses for gay couples, and an expansion of legalized gambling.  I thus have ample reason to get my big feet down to the polling place.  Like the right in general, I will be pulling for Romney to unseat Obama, even though my own vote may have little consequence.  But whether you're in a narrowly contested "swing" state, or one that is solidly in one camp or the other, voting is still one of the most important things a citizen of this republic is allowed to do.  So whether or not you agree with my choices, if you're eligible, get out there and cast your vote.  After all, in some parts of the world, voting as we know it doesn't exist.

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Romney Picks Ryan

At 9:00 a.m. EDT this morning in Norfolk, Virginia, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced 7-term congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wis) as his choice for his party's vice presidential nominee.

Read more at USA Today, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune and ABC News.

Before Romney's announcement, US News gave 10 reasons why Romney should pick Ryan and on the other hand, said why Ryan would be a risky running mate.

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Links To End The Month

Here are some things going on as July 2012 comes to a close:

From the Los Angeles Times, a body believed to be of a missing FBI agent has been found in Burbank.

From Newsmax, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's Chik-fil-A support page on Facebook has been visited over 20 million times.

The Weekly Standard points out that what Mitt Romney said about culture impacting economic conditions during his recent visit to Jerusalem wasn't all that different from some things President Obama said during his 2009 speech in Cairo.

From LifeSiteNews, business has boomed for a bakery in Colorado, after it refused to provide a wedding cake for a gay couple.

From the Washington Times, the House Judiciary Committee reports on crimes committed by illegal aliens that the Obama administration won't deport.  (H/T Big Government)

From the Foundry, Republicans in the Senate say no votes on judges until after the election.

From Gateway Pundit, former Olympic organizer Mitt Romney gets the endorsement of former Olympic athletes including Christi Yamaguchi, and also from Lech Wałęsa.

From Smart Girl Politics, thanks to NY mayor Bloomberg, Obama's fictional Julia will learn to breastfeed.

From the Associated Press, the Syrian city of Aleppo has been under siege.

From the Wall Street Journal, a deal has been reached that will allow a female Saudi Arabian to compete in judo while wearing her head scarf.

Speaking of the Olympics, if the United States can't get all of the medals for the hammer throw, here's someone I'd like to see get one.  He used to compete for my alma mater, but now competes for one of my ancestral countries.

From Fox News, a Congressional report blames five ATF agents for "Fast and Furious".

From Yahoo News, Iraq will get some help from Great Britain in destroying the remains of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons.  You know, the stuff that Saddam didn't really have, but Dubya lied by saying he did.  (Admission by W's former leftwing critics that they were wrong in 4...3...2...oh wait, Hell will freeze over first.)

And finally, in one more from Yahoo News, a couple in New York state will remarry after 48 years of divorce.

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Does Obamacare Really Equal Romneycare?

No it doesn't, according to Mona Charen, writing in National Review.  According to Charen, there are quite a few important differences between the two, which Romney's campaign should start pointing out.

The Massachusetts law contained an individual mandate (which states, unlike the federal government, are allowed to impose). But it did not consist of 2,700 pages of new regulations; 159 new boards and commissions; more than $500 billion in new taxes (and counting); the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a rationing board whose decisions are unreviewable by the courts and practically untouchable by Congress itself; restrictions on religious liberty; Medicare cuts; affirmative-action mandates for medical and dental schools; huge new authority over one-seventh of the U.S. economy for the secretary of health and human services, and open-ended regulations of the way doctors and others perform their jobs.

The way in which Romneycare was brought about (and modified under Romney's successor Deval Patrick) also needs to be told.  To further quote Charen:

Romney agreed to the mandate believing that Massachusetts citizens would get the opportunity to purchase inexpensive, catastrophic plans. But the legislature, together with Romney’s successor as governor, Deval Patrick, changed the law to require insurers to offer three tiers of coverage — all of them far beyond catastrophic care. Perhaps Romney ought to have foreseen what future legislatures and governors would do — but that’s a far cry from the accusation that Romneycare was indistinguishable from Obamacare.

and

The bill that passed the legislature contained a number of features Romney couldn’t countenance. He opposed the mandate, preferring to permit individuals to post a $10,000 bond in lieu of insurance. The legislature overrode him. He vetoed the employer mandate, coverage for illegal aliens, the creation of a new bureaucracy to be called the Public Health Council, a provision limiting improvements to Medicaid, and another provision expanding Medicaid coverage to include dental care. His vetoes were overridden.

See that?  Romney didn't even want a mandate.  He vetoed it (and some other provisions), but his veto was overridden.  Read the entire article.

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Monday Links

Now that I've got electricity again, it's time to report on what's going on out there.

From Fox News, the Romney campaign accuses Obama of "vicious lies" about Bain Capital.

From the Telegraph, a Danish study claims that women are more likely to commit suicide if they own a cat.

From Political Pistachio, the Air Force Patched has been changed to remove the word "God".

From FrontPageMag, a Christian who was stoned (and I don't mean on what Obama used to call "choom", or in the Bob Dylan sense) speaks about his experience.

From CNS News, Steve King (the congressman, not the horror writer) says that Obama is governing like a king. (Was the pun intended, congressman King?)

From ABC News, islamists in Mali continue vandalizing graves and mausoleums in Timbuktu.

From CNN, Enrique Peña Nieto has been projected as the winner of Mexico's presidential elections.  He is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which at one time ruled Mexico for 70 consecutive years.

From SFGate, will there be a live-action Zombie zone in Detroit?

From CBS Local in Denver, some evacuees from the Waldo Canyon fire have returned to their homes, only to find them vandalized or burglarized.

Pro-life group Personhood USA reports about violence against their leaders from pro-abortion thugs.

From the Foundry (part of the Heritage Network), the broken promises of Obamacare.  Whether or not you agree with the SCOTUS decision calling the Obamacare mandate a "tax", there sure are a lot of real taxes built into the law.

From Canada Free Press, Obama has a Consitutional crisis.

Finally, from the Washington Examiner, we've got a stink bug crisis.

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A Few Links

Back during my time at AndRightlySo, I would rather frequently make links posts, adopting the practice from the blog's other authors.  Instead a specific topic, we would direct the reader to a variety of things in the news, or maybe to other blogs offering their commentary on recent events.  To continue that tradition here at Bigfoot's Place, it's time for me to run around the Internet, and see what's out there.

From the Daily Mail, a seventy-year old British fighter plane from World War II has been found preserved in the Sahara Desert.  (H/T Apache Clips)

From Reuters, the Chinese government says that firms operating in China must hire more Chinese citizens.

From CNS News, President Obama has formed an interagency natural gas council, to be run by La Raza veteran Cecilia Munoz.

From Concervative Blogs Central, Mitt Romney opposes gay marriage, but favors allowing gay couples to adopt chidren.

From Boot Berryism, Republicans in Arkansas are preparing a welcome reception for George Bush.  This George Bush, however, is not a former president.

From the USA Today, it's Great Britain's newest weatherman, Prince Charles.

From Yahoo News, a family is pulled off a Jet Blue flight because one of them was thought to be on a "no fly" list - an 18-month-old girl.

From PJ Media, welcome to the New Reset Order.

From the Washington Free Beacon, a $100,000 Fisker Karma electric car bursts into flames.  (H/T Director Blue)

From Fox News, a Minnesota couple reported forced their daughter to shave her head and wear diapers, because of bad grades.

And to finish off, from the Roanoke Times, anyone hanging around my alma mater tomorrow had better be on their best behavior, or they just might meet some Secret Service agents, who are there to accompany the commencement speaker.

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