I've seen a fair number of commenters on conservative political blogs who are angry at Romney's loss, complaining that he was a RINO (Republican In Name Ony), and arguing that someone more conservative could have rallied the Republicans and beaten Obama.

Balderdash. If the Democratic advertising machine could sucessfully paint the conciliatory and generous Romney as a warmongering Ebenezer Scrooge, they certainly could have painted anyone more conservative even worse.

There is some concern that the US is headed for a "fiscal cliff" with a combination of a tax increases and spending cuts coming in January, and more "simulus" in the form of government spending to go with it. A certain number of commentators denying that it is a problem, and others actually saying "bring it on". I've thought that this is comparable to having  firemen standing by a blaze yelling "Let it Burn!" instead of trying to put out the fire.  The nation is going to find out that a) there is no Magic Money Machine to fund all the promises the government has made, b) that there is a limit to how much taxation the citizens and economy will bear without protest with, not just a recession, but a full scale depression developing, and  c)  if the government tries to make money out of thin air, we will all find out  just how little money backed by thin air is worth. Everything I see indicates that hard times are coming down. Very hard times.

A quick look at last week's news shows considerable attention given to Israel and its military action in Gaza. If Hamas has insisted on making war on a better armed, better financed, and more disciplined neighbor by raining rockets on its population,  I'm neither shocked nor appalled that Israel has decided to make war back.