The eye of a parrotfish near Hawaii, as captured by Swiss underwater snapper Franco Banfi, who has photographed many of the creatures who populate the waters of the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea | Franco Banfi/Rex Features

Just a stunning photograph…

***********************

Sunderland, England: Waves pound the sea wall near Seaham lighthouse | Owen Humphreys/PA

Maybe Florida itself implodes…?  More?  Again?  This feels like a DVD with an alternative ending included:  See what happens when the R playlist fails to gel with the public.  Or, not gel predictably…

*****************

NOW there is a report surfacing, I think from the blonde the captain was seen with, he ordered dinner after the crash.

It boggles the mind.

and, why wait?

***************

A monkey on a young boy’s shoulder during an eviction from Uruguay Square in Asuncion, Paraguay. A large group of the Ava Guarani ethnic group have been occupying the square for the past seven months, demanding the right to land | Jorge Saenz/AP

The Best Photos Of Dogs You’ll Ever See - Carli Davidson – Carli Davidson’s Facebook page

*****

I peek out a window sometimes and contemplate the world… and I think I probably get a look on my face like the dog above. I have a soft spot for this one too, I only figured the face out by finding the nose.

What is next. No matter who goes in in 2012, it’s going to b a free for all out of DC. Engines firing, guns ablaze, bombs at the ready. A slasher war movie.  No medics.

The USA!!! USA!!! is a battlespace too. And all of us are potential enemy combatants.

A vast spectacle of competition ripping ever-faster toward a foregone conclusion, a breadbowl circus lathered in Applebees Smokey Barbeque Honey Bacon Strudel Pepper Spice Chipotle Doritos Rub by Bobby Flay

That’s IOZ, on the elections bomb blast bombast.

**************

BTW, in case you are in need of a laugh (and who would turn one down these days?) this morning on the NBC debate David Gregory asked Santorum why, if we live with a nuclear NKorea, a nuclear Pakistan and so on, why can we not live with a nuclear Iran.

His answer – and remember this is Santorum, loonatick xtian:

 Iran is a THEOCRACY and believes in an afterlife better than life on earth.

Rapture anyone?

Sitra, Bahrain: An anti-regime protester gestures as he faces riot police during a protest | Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters

*****************************

Be interesting to watch and see, if 2012 isn’t just a year of the protest and protester, but a full frontal face-off.

Amazing Pictures From A Year In The Life Of Barack Obama – Here Obama Prays with the “Circle of Protection Campaign” a group of religious leaders dedicated to preserving government protections for the poor. | Image: White House

********

Oh please. A group of multicolored, self-serving, constantly poor-washing trough feeders. If they care at all for the poor it is to rake off what benefits poor people can manage to accrue. And privatise as much as possible.  Ensure what used to be benefits assigned to individuals or families, instead, come directly to them.

Hosanna

Cons, would be a shorter description.

And Romney is no peach. I forget where now, but I read somewhere reliable he called the Elders of Zion (the Utah branch) to get permission to add to his big hulking failing health mess of a bill a tiny 50.00 payment toward abortion for the poorest in MA..

So, we get moaning and groaning and Jesus invoking proselytisers from the incumbant OR we get a hot phone on constant re-dial to the Mormon hierarchy before the other one does ANYTHING.

AND Wall Street with a hot poker up both of their rumps.  (Not that they mind!)

I think with either administration, the official WH “cheap gift” to no-account visitors one step up from a tour group should be red white and blue lube rather than specially boxed M & Ms.

*****

The little creature looks fresh and new (and we are told, rare), doesn’t s/he? I am not so sure about 2012.

*******************

Check out the fish crafted from rhinestones and gems in the Aquarium window. A Christmas window from Barney’s NYC | Meredith Galante/Business Insider

Fish?  well, kind of a fish with some centipedal action and big, lobster-like claws at the front…

***********