Cliff notes…

Is there a deal?   I’m with Quin Hillyer,  and much more oddly,  Chris  Cillizza at  the WaPo  — a bad deal just  isn’t worth it.   Our Preener in Chief,  as Yuval Levin so aptly titles Obama,  has already promised to blame Republicans for going over the cliff,  but he is going to blame them for whatever shortcomings he thinks the gullible press and public will buy,  so there’s scant downside to standing up for a principle or two.

The Left  is already having hysterics at the thought that anyone with income of a quarter million may escape higher  taxes,  but silently cheering the thought that the military,  having already been cut $500 billion,  will be cut even more severely.   Besides,  the draft of the new U.S.  Army manual  will pretty much render it useless as a fighting force in Muslim areas,  and kill its moral standards permanently.

Whatever the deal is,  it will be some version of kicking the can a short distance down the road.   Perhaps most of us will be reduced to the life of a  real Mrs. Bilbo  Baggins.   Oh, wait — local planning commissions would never allow such a thing,  would they?

Far, far away…

Andrew Malcolm introduces us to  another galaxy  which is very, very far away,  so our travels home won’t seem so onerous.   Doesn’t NASA give us the prettiest photographs?