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.

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"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.

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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.

Last month, I found something by the original lineup of Yes.  Here's another one from Jon Anderson (lead vocals), Peter Banks (guitars, vocals), Tony Kaye (keyboards), Chris Squire (bass, vocals) and Bill Bruford (drums, percussion), called Looking Around.

One of the first new wave songs to become a hit is Pop Muzik by M.  The group was really a studio project by singer Robin Scott, who appears as a DJ in the video.  Two models lip-sinc the backing vocals, but they were really recorded by Brigit Novik, who intermittently appears dressed in blue and wearing headphones.

In 1972, the Hollies released the album Romany, which featured Swedish vocalist Mikael Rickfors, who replaced Allan Clark, who had left to go solo.  The other band members were guitarists Tony Hicks and Terry Sylvester, bassist Bernie Calvert and drummer Bobby Elliot.  Magic Woman Touch did not break the Top 40, but still got some airplay.  This video shows the band in the studio.

Speaking of Swedish vocalists, none have ever been as successful as Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus (also on guitar) and Benny Andersson (also on keyboards), collectively known as ABBA.  I remember hearing that they became the biggest corporation in Sweden, surpassing the auto maker Volvo.  While most of their songs featured lead vocals by either of the two women, Björn takes the lead on Does Your Mother Know.  Please pardon the dorky dancing, but that's the 70's for you.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

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