7 Burung Surga Terindah di indonesia

7 Burung Surga Terindah

1. LESSER BIRD OF PARADISE (PARADISAEA MINOR)

The Lesser bird of paradise dikenal dengan nama Cendrawasih kuning kecil. Burung ini berukuran sedang dengan panjang sekitar 32 cm, berwarna merah-coklat dengan mahkota kuning dan punggung atas kuning kecoklatan.

Burung jantan memiliki tenggorokan berwarna zamrud-hijau tua, sepasang ekor panjang dan dihiasi dengan bulu hiasan sayap yang berwarna kuning di daerah pangkal berwarna putih di daerah luarnya.  Burung betina berukuran lebih kecil dari burung jantan, memiliki kepala berwarna coklat tua, dada berwarna putih dan tanpa dihiasi bulu-bulu hiasan. Daerah penyabaranya meliputi seluruh hutan bagian utara Papua Nugini, dan pulau-pulau di dekat Misool dan Yapen.  

2. RAGGIANA BIRD OF PARADISE (PARADISAEA RAGGIANA)

The Raggiana bird of paradise dikenal juga dengan nama Count Raggi’s bird of paradise. Burung ini juga yang paling dikenal sebagai burung Cendrawasih. Habitat burung ini terdistribusi secara luas di Pulau Irian selatan dan timur laut.

Memiliki panjang 34 cm panjang, berwarna merah-coklat keabu-abuan, iris kuning dan kaki berwarna cokelat keabu-abuan. Burung jantan memiliki mahkota kuning, tenggorokan zamrud-hijau tua dan kerah kuning di antara tenggorokan.
Warna bulu sayap bervariasi dari merah ke jingga tergantung subspesies. Burung betina berukuran lebih kecil dari burung jantan, dengan muka berwarna coklat dan tidak punya bulu-bulu hiasan. 

3. ASTRAPIA RIBBON-TAILED (ASTRAPIA MAYERI)

Ini adalah salah satu burung cendrawasih yang paling spektakuler. Namanya Astrapia Ribbon-tailed dan memiliki bulu ekor terpanjang dalam kaitannya dengan ukuran tubuh, panjangnya mencapai lebih dari tiga kali panjang tubuhnya.

Panjang burung dewasa mencapai 32 cm dengan ekor burung jantan yang bisa mencapai 1 meter. Burung jantan memiliki warna hitam dan hijau zaitun sedangkan burung betina berwana coklat. Burung jantan memilki ekor panjang berbentuk pita berwarna putih. Daerah penyebarannya ada di bagian tengah Pulau Irian. 

4. BLUE BIRD OF PARADISE (PARADISAEA RUDOLPHI)

Namanya mengingatkan nama salah satu angkutan Taksi di Indonesia. Burung ini berukuran sekitar 30 cm, berwarna hitam, iris warna coklat gelap, kaki abu-abu. Burung jantan dihiasi dengan bulu sayap dengan dominasi warna ungu biru . Sehingga disebut juga dengan Cendrawasih Biru. Blue Bird of Paradise adalah burung endemik Papua Nugini. Daerah penyebarannya meliputi pegunungan tenggara Papua Nugini.

5. RIFLEBIRD PARADISE (PTILORIS PARADISEUS)

Kalau anda pernah melihat film Planet Earth, maka anda akan melihat burung ini. Burung ini memiliki panjang sekitar 30 cm dengan burung jantan berwarna hitam dengan warna-warni mahkota biru kehijauan, kaki hitam, iris coklat gelap dan mulut kuning. Burung betina jenis ini berwarna coklat zaitun.

Merupakan endemik di Australia timur, Riflebird juga tersebar di hutan hujan di New South Wales dan pusat Queensland. Burung jantan dapat mengembangkan sayapnya dan memamerkannya seraya bergerak ke kanan dan ke kiri di hadapan burung betina untuk memikat mereka. 

6. RED BIRD OF PARADISE (PARADISAEA RUBRA)

Kita menamakannya Cendrawasih Merah, panjang sekitar 33cm berwarna kuning dan coklat, serta berparuh kuning. Burung jantan dewasa bisa mencapai 72cm termasuk bulu-bulu hiasannya yang berwarna merah darah dengan ujung berwarna putih pada bagian sisi perutnya.

Bulu muka berwarna hijau zamrud gelap dan diekornya terdapat dua buah tali yang panjang berbentuk pilin ganda berwarna hitam. Burung betina berukuran lebih kecil dari burung jantan, dengan muka berwarna coklat tua dan tidak punya bulu-bulu hiasan.
Merupakan endemik dari Indonesia, Cendrawasih Merah hanya ditemukan di hutan dataran rendah pada pulau Waigeo dan Batanta di kabupaten Raja Ampat, provinsi Irian Jaya Barat. 

7. LAWES’S PAROTIA (PAROTIA LAWESII)

Parotia lawesii berukuran sedang sampai dengan 27 cm). Daerah penyebarannya meliputi hutan pegunungan di tenggara dan timur Papua Nugini.

Burung jantan memiliki warna hitam dengan kening putih, warnawarni tengkuk biru ungu dan emas bulu dada hijau. Dihiasi dengan tiga kawat hias kepala dari belakang setiap mata dan memanjang mengapit bulu yang berwarna hitam. Burung betina berwarna coklat dengan kepala burung gelap, iris kuning dan gelap.

7 Binatang Marsupilia Asli Indonesia

7 Binatang Marsupilia Asli Indonesia

1. Kuskus Beruang / Kuse (Ailurops Ursinus)

Kuskus Beruang atau Kuse (Ailurops ursinus) adalah salah satu dari dua jenis kuskus endemik di Sulawesi. Panjang badan dan kepala kuse adalah 56 cm, panjang ekornya 54 cm dan beratnya dapat mencapai 8 kg. Kuse memiliki ekor yang prehensil, yaitu ekor yang dapat memegang dan biasa digunakan untuk membantu berpegangan pada waktu memanjat pohon yang tinggi.


2. Kuskus Berbintik-Bintik (Spilocuscus Maculatus)

Hewan kuskus berbintik-bintik, atau Spilocuscus maculatus, lazim terdapat di daerah dataran rendah Papua. Warna bulu kulitnya bervariasi dari putih bersih hingga coklat muda. Daging kuskus dihargai tinggi oleh penduduk Kamoro sedangkan kulitnya dipakai mereka sebagai hiasan kepala khusus oleh pemimpin-pemimpin penting. Hewan kuskus dapat dijinakkan bila dipelihara dan dibesarkan di desa.


3. Thylogale Brunii (Dusky Pademelon)

Merupakan jenis kangguru terkecil yang ada di dunia. Beratnya antara 3-6 kilogram, tetapi ada juga yang 10 kilogram. Panjang tubuhnya sekitar 90 sentimeter dengan lebar sekitar 50 sentimeter. Satwa langka yang dilindungi ini adalah hewan endemik Papua, dan hanya terdapat di Papua di kawasan dataran rendah di hutan-hutan di wilayah Selatan Papua, dan Papua Niugini. Di Indonesia Thylogale brunii terdapat antara lain di Taman Nasional Wasur (Kabupaten Merauke) dan Taman Nasional Gunung Lorentz (Mimika). Thylogale stigmata (red-legged pademelon) Merupakan jenis yang hidup di daerah pantai selatan Papua. Thylogale stigmata mempunyai warna kulit tubuh lebih cerah yaitu kuning kecokelatan.


4. Thylogale Brownii (Brown's Pademelon)

Selain di Papua, binatang ini juga terdapat di Papua New Guinea. Memiliki ekor tebal dan pendek, berbulu lebat. Bagian atas coklat abu-abu dan warna kemerahan di bagian perutnya. Cincin di sekitar mata dan area di belakang telinga kemerahan. Panjang dari kepala hingga badan 550-630 mm, panjang ekor 320-415 mm dan berat 9 kg untuk pejantan dan 5,8 kg untuk betinanya.


5. Kanguru Pohon Mantel Emas (Dendrolagus Pulcherrimus)


Merupakan sejenis kanguru pohon yang hanya ditemukan di hutan pegunungan pulau Irian. Spesies ini memiliki rambut-rambut halus pendek berwarna coklat muda. Leher, pipi dan kakinya berwarna kekuningan. Sisi bawah perut berwarna lebih pucat dengan dua garis keemasan dipunggungnya. Ekor panjang dan tidak prehensil dengan lingkaran-lingkaran terang. Kanguru-pohon Mantel-emas merupakan salah satu jenis kanguru-pohon yang paling terancam kepunahan diantara semua kanguru pohon. Spesies ini telah punah di sebagian besar daerah habitat aslinya.


6. Dendrolagus Goodfellowi

Disebut Kanguru Pohon Goodfellow atau kanguru pohon hias atau Goodfellow’s Tree-kangaroo. Merupakan jenis kanguru pohon yang paling sering ditemui. Penampilan Kanguru-pohon Hias serupa dengan Kanguru pohon Mantel emas. Perbedaannya adalah Kanguru pohon Mantel emas memiliki warna muka lebih terang atau merah-muda, pundak keemasan, telinga putih dan berukuran lebih kecil dari Kanguru-pohon Hias. Beberapa ahli menempatkan Kanguru-pohon Mantel-emas sebagai subspesies dari Kanguru-pohon Hias. Kulit tubuhnya berwarna cokelat sawo matang dan banyak terdapat di hutan hujan di pulau Papua.


7. Dendrolagus Mbaiso

Disebut sebagai Kanguru Pohon Mbaiso atau Dingiso. Kanguru ini ditemukan di hutan montane yang tinggi dan subalpine semak belukar di Puncak Sudirman. Kanguru pohon ini mempunyai bulu hitam dengan kombinasi putih di bagian dadanya.

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Komodo Island

Between Sumbawa and Flores, isolated by magnificent waves and strong currents, Komodo and Rinca Island is home to the dragons.

The largest carnivorous lizards in the world live here. The island is home to thousands of Komodo dragons. Known as ora, they grow to 3m in length, 100kg or more in weight, and feed on deer and goat.

From the port of Labuan Bajo in Flores, it takes about 2 hours to get to the national park. Activities include Dragon spotting, hiking, and snorkeling around the island.

Rangers are knowledgeable and you will easily find the dragons sun-bathing. Ask the rangers to take you to the nest.

Personally Rinca Island is a better alternative. . It has as many dragons as Komodo Island, but is nearer to Labuan Bajo.

Underwater beauty abounds, the reefs are international class. Tours start at the bustling little town of Labuan Bajo.

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Jon Favreau

There's one mad, wicked scene in this seriously underspiced Old West barbecue when UFOs swoop out of the sky using wires to lasso cowboys off their horses and suck them into their vessels for God knows what. That we never see the guts of the what is part of the frustration that nags at the wussified PG-13 Cowboys & Aliens. It looks slick, pricey and starry – Indiana Jones teams up with James Bond for a gunfight with space demons. But even Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig can't save a movie that's all concept, no content.

Director Jon Favreau, tasked with corralling dozens of producers and screenwriters, takes the no-risk tack of skimming the surface. My appetite was whetted when gunslinger Jake Lonergan (Craig) wakes up in the desert beaten bloody with no memory of who he is. On his wrist is a newfangled bracelet that Q might have cooked up for 007. It's an alien-zapper, which Jake will figure out later. First, he needs to kill a few varmints, hit the town of Absolution and tangle with Woodrow Dolarhyde (Ford), a cattle baron with an unhinged son (Paul Dano). Ford looks fired up for villainy. Craig is ready to take him on. And Olivia Wilde gives an air of mystery to a woman who is more than the whore she's taken for.

And then what? The aliens come, kidnapping much of the colorful supporting cast, including Keith Carradine as the sheriff. I especially missed Dano, who shows a mesmerizing mean streak. As for the monsters, except for the creepy deformed little hands that emerge from their chests, they're not really scary.

Worse, the character buildup in the early scenes goes for nothing. Craig moons over his dead wife. Ford turns mushy, delivering lessons on manhood to the sheriff's cute grandson (Noah Ringer). Ah, jeez.

The gifted cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Black Swan) lights Ford and Craig like Western giants against the rugged landscape. It's a setup for an epic showdown. What we get instead is drained of daring, much the way Favreau reduced Iron Man to formula inthe sappy sequel. The mash-up of cowboys and aliens doesn't do either camp any favors. How are we supposed to work up a rooting interest when both sides are shooting blanks?

Submit a Question for Justin Bieber

Chris McKay/WireImage

Here’s your chance to be almost famous:Rolling Stone is talking to Justin Bieber on video this week – and he wants to answeryour questions. Submit your questions for Justin by 10 a.m. ET tomorrow, January 27th, and we’ll pick the best for him to answer. So be creative – try to think of questions Justin hasn’t answered a million times before.

Justin's first movie, Never Say Never – which chronicles his unlikely rise from child-prodigy drummer to YouTube sensation to teen superstar – hits theaters February 11th. He's also making a guest appearance on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition this Sunday, filming a Super Bowl ad with Ozzy Osbourne and for all we know, planning a run for the presidency.

Post your question for Justin in the comments below.

Bruno Mars Strikes Plea Deal in Drug Case

Seven-time Grammy nominee Bruno Mars, 25, struck a plea deal with the Clark County District 

Bruno Mars appears at the Clark County Regional Justice Center to waive his preliminary hearing on felony drug possession charges February 4, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ethan Miller/Getty

Attorney in court Friday,TMZ reports.

PHOTOS: Stars at court

He pled guilty to possession of a controlled substance -- stemming from his September arrest in Las Vegas  -- but the charge will be wiped from his record if he stays out of trouble for 12 months.

PHOTOS: Check out Bruno's mugshot

Mars, who will also have to complete 200 hours of community service, was busted at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino September 19 with 2.6 grams of a substance believed to be cocaine.

He is due back in court February 14.

Bruno Mars to Plead Guilty to Drug Charges

David J Hogan/Getty

The seven-time Grammy nominee Bruno Mars will plead guilty to felony cocaine possession in order to avoid jail time, according to E! News.

PHOTOS: Stars at court

In September, Mars was busted at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas on suspicion of narcotics possession. The "Grenade" singer, born Peter Hernandez, had 2.6 grams of a substance believed to be cocaine.

PHOTOS: Check out Bruno's mugshot

Next up for Mars is a court appearance on February 4 when he'll enter his guilty plea. He'll be fined $2,000, sentenced to a year of informal probation, 200 hours of community service and drug counseling. After completing the terms, the first-time offender's record will be wiped clean.

Justin Timberlake

It took Justin Timberlake less than a decade to transform from a curly-haired New Mickey Mouse Club member to a teen-pop sensation to a debonair, highly respected R&B star. The metamorphosis should have been no surprise. Time and again, Timberlake has proven not only his remarkable skills as a singer, dancer, and songwriter, but his intelligence and sense of humor—all factors that have led to consistent success, commercially and critically.It took Justin Timberlake less than a decade to transform from a curly-haired New Mickey Mouse Club member to a teen-pop sensation to a debonair, highly respected R&B star. The metamorphosis should have been no surprise. Time and again, Timberlake has proven not only his remarkable skills as a singer, dancer, and songwriter, but his intelligence and sense of humor—all factors that have led to consistent success, commercially and critically.

Timberlake grew up near Memphis and his first attempt at a music career was singing country songs on Star Search. While he didn't win on the show, the exposure landed him on the Disney Channel's New Mickey Mouse Club, where he appeared alongside a who's who on teen-pop talent-in-waiting: future girlfriend Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and future 'NSync bandmate JC Chasez.

When the show ended in 1994, boy-band promoter Lou Pearlman recruited Timberlake and Chasez, along with Joey Fatone, Lance Bass, and Chris Kirkpatrick for 'NSync. The band of five well-coifed boys-becoming-men released its self-titled debut in 1998, debuting at Number 82 on the charts but becoming a steady chart fixture—ultimately peaking at Number Two—buoyed by a stream of hits designed to make pre-teen girls swoon, including "Tearing At My Heart" (Number 59), "I Want You Back" (Number 13), and "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You" (Number Eight).

The boys lived together at a house in Colorado, constantly rehearsing new music and the syncopated dance routines that would become their signature. They returned in 2000 with the monumentally successful No Strings Attached. Launched with upbeat single "Bye Bye Bye," which debuted in the Top-Five, No Strings debuted at Number One, selling a record 2.4 million copies in its first week of release. It has since sold more than 11 million in the U.S., making it the eighth best-selling album of all time and the top seller of the 2000s. No Strings' "It's Gonna Be Me" was the band's first Number One single, while "This I Promise You" landed in the Top Five.

Group members, particularly Timberlake, took a much bigger interest in creating the music for the band's third and final album, Celebrity, which came out in June, 2001, giving a more mature, less manufactured quality. It sold 1.9 million its first week, second only to No Strings Attached, and spawned the singles "Pop" (Number 19), "Gone" (Number 11), and "Girlfriend" (Number Five).

After a 2002 tour, the group went on hiatus reunited to perform only once, at the 2003 Grammys for a tribute to the Bee Gees. In his autobiography Out of Sync, Lance Bass criticizes the band's label, Jive, for pushing Timberlake to the forefront of the group and only using songs built around him, and blames the strategy for breaking up the band and leading Timberlake to pursue a solo career.

Timberlake's solo debut, Justified, with much of the production by the Neptune and Timbaland, assumed a decidedly more grown-up, R&B posture. He premiered his first single, the Neptunes-produced "Like I Love You" at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. The song reached Number 11, while the album debuted at Number Two, selling 439,000 in its first week. On the strength of follow-up singles "Cry Me a River" (assumed to be about his break-up with Britney Spears, Number Three) and "Rock Your Body" (Number Five) and with positive, often surprised reviews from critics who didn't expect much from the 'NSync star, went on to sell over three million copies.

At the 2004 Superbowl, Timberlake notoriously ripped off part of Janet Jackson's leather costume in a choreographed stunt that revealed part of Jackson's breast. Amid the uproar that ensued, Timberlake apologized and referred to the incident as a "wardrobe malfunction," a phrase that has since become part of pop culture nomenclature. The incident carried over into the Grammy's later that month, when Timberlake read a scripted apology while accepting the first of two trophies: one for Best Pop Vocal Album for Justified, and one for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Cry Me a River."

After pausing to launch an acting career with parts in Alpha Dog and Black Snake Moan, Timberlake released a second solo album in September, 2006: FutureSex/LoveSounds. Produced by Timbaland, Danja, will.i.am, Rick Rubin, and Timberlake himself, the album has a sleek, futuristic-dance-club vibe. It debuted at Number One, selling 684,000 copies and breaking the record for most digital albums sold in a week. The album launched with a trio of Number One singles, which seemed to solidify Timberlake's standing as pop's premier sex symbol: "SexyBack," "My Love," featuring T.I., and "What Goes Around… Comes Around."

During promotions for FutureSex/LoveSounds, Timberlake began to show a comical, self-effacing public persona, most notably in his "Dick in a Box" sketch with Andy Samburg forSaturday Night Live. A follow-up sketch with Samburg in 2009, "Motherlover," along with other appearances on SNL, reinforced the image of a confident, funny performer—miles removed from his days in The New Mickey Mouse Club.

Justin Bieber Tackled in Manhattan

Justin Bieber greets fans in New York City

Marcel Thomas/FilmMagic

An unidentified man leaped over a barrier and knocked Justin Bieber to the ground outside the Macy's in Manhattan's Herald Square earlier this afternoon. According to TMZ, the man was a member of the singer's security team in plainclothes who jumped into action when the crowd outside the department store became unruly.

The teen idol, who was at the store promoting his new fragrance, was not injured, though witnesses say he appeared to be very "shaken up." Shortly after the incident, Bieber attended a meet-and-greet with fans inside the department store.

This isn't the first time Bieber has been attacked at a public event. Back in May, the singer was egged by audience members at a concert in Sydney, Australia.

Unsurprisingly, the singer's intense fanbase have been expressing their concern and anger about the apparent attack on Twitter. Some fans, who have I.D.'d the jumper as "Tom Peterson," have been especially bloodthirsty. "Tom Petterson better be arrest, not for JUST for attacking Justin, but for suicide, cause i think he knew that 1 belieber would KILL him!," says @gomez_fan_1. Another fan with the handle @LegitBieberLove said "Tom Petterson, I'm about to fucking kill you. Punching a 17 year old kid in the face? Get a life motherfucker."

Debt Ceiling Deal: The Democrats Take a Dive

Commentators everywhere are killing the president for his seemingly astonishing level of ball-less-ness.

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

So the debt deal has finally been reached. As expected, the agreement arrives in a form that right-thinking people everywhere can feel terrible about with great confidence.

The general consensus is that for the second time in three years, a gang of financial terrorists has successfully extorted the congress and the White House, threatening to blow up the planet if they didn't get what they wanted.

Back in 2008, the congress and George Bush rewarded Hank Paulson and Wall Street for pulling the Cleavon-Little-"the-next-man-makes-a-move-the-n---er-gets-it" routine by tossing trillions of bailout dollars at the same people who had wrecked the economy.

Now, Barack Obama has surrendered control of the budget to the Tea Party, whose operatives in congress used the same suicide-bomber tactic, threatening a catastrophic default unless the Democrats committed to a regime of steep spending cuts without any tax increases on the wealthy.

Commentators everywhere are killing the president for his seemingly astonishing level of ball-less-ness. Both the New York Times house editorial and the Nobel prizewinning liberal columnist Paul Krugman are insisting the president should have invoked extreme measures to counter the radicals on the other side, using emergency legal tactics to unilaterally raise the debt limit. Or, at least, he should have threatened to do this, according to Krugman:

And even now, the Obama administration could have resorted to legal maneuvering to sidestep the debt ceiling, using any of several options...

At the very least, Mr. Obama could have used the possibility of a legal end run to strengthen his bargaining position. Instead, however, he ruled all such options out from the beginning.

Is Krugman right? Probably. In a perfect world, where the president was what he is supposed to be, i.e. a representative of that majority of American voters who elected him, that is what a good president would probably have done. No matter what the situation was with the deficit, or what cuts were or were not justified, a real leader would have invoked such powers at the very least to set a precedent that the government is not to be held hostage by irresponsible lunatics bent on invoking a catastrophe for purely political reasons.

But that isn't what happened. What did happen? The popular take is that Obama is a weak leader of a weak party who was pushed around by canny right-wing extremists. Observers like pollster Sydney Greenberg portray Obama and the Democrats as a group of politically tone-deaf bureaucrats who fail because the public associates them with a corrupt government that benefits the rich and connected.

The Democrats, Greenberg argues, could change their situation by showing the public that they genuinely represent the interests of ordinary working people. In his piece, "Why Voters Tune Out Democrats," he offers a list of things Democrats could do to turn things around:

What should Democrats do?

The Democrats have to start detoxifying politics by proposing to severely limit or bar individual and corporate campaign contributions, which would mean a fight with the Supreme Court. They must make the case for public financing of campaigns and force the broadcast and cable networks to provide free time for candidate ads. And they must become the strongest advocates for transparency in campaign donations and in the lobbying of elected officials.

IF they want to win the trust of the public, Democrats should propose taxing lobbyist expenses and excessive chief executive bonuses and put a small fee on the sale of stocks, bonds and other financial instruments. By radically simplifying the tax code to allow only a few deductions, the Democrats would generate new revenue and remove the loopholes that allow special interests to win favorable treatment ...

I think everything Greenberg says is true -- except for the part about it being possible. His list of solutions would make sense as advice to a real political party.

But to a bunch of hired stooges put in office to lend an air of democratic legitimacy to what has essentially become a bureaucratic-oligarchic state, what good does such advice do? Would it have made sense to send the Supreme Soviet under Andropov or Brezhnyev a list of policy ideas for enhancing the civil liberties of Soviet citizens?

The Democrats aren't failing to stand up to Republicans and failing to enact sensible reforms that benefit the middle class because they genuinely believe there's political hay to be made moving to the right. They're doing it because they do not represent any actual voters. I know I've said this before, but they are not a progressive political party, not even secretly, deep inside. They just play one on television.

For evidence, all you have to do is look at this latest fiasco.

The Republicans in this debt debate fought like wolves or alley thugs, biting and scratching and using blades and rocks and shards of glass and every weapon they could reach.

The Democrats, despite sitting in the White House, the most awesome repository of political power on the planet, didn't fight at all. They made a show of a tussle for a good long time -- as fixed fights go, you don't see many that last into the 11th and 12th rounds, like this one did -- but at the final hour, they let out a whimper and took a dive.

We probably need to start wondering why this keeps happening. Also, this: if the Democrats suck so bad at political combat, then how come they continue to be rewarded with such massive quantities of campaign contributions? When the final tally comes in for the 2012 presidential race, who among us wouldn't bet that Barack Obama is going to beat his Republican opponent in the fundraising column very handily? At the very least, he won't be out-funded, I can almost guarantee that.

And what does that mean? Who spends hundreds of millions of dollars for what looks, on the outside, like rank incompetence?

It strains the imagination to think that the country's smartest businessmen keep paying top dollar for such lousy performance. Is it possible that by "surrendering" at the 11th hour and signing off on a deal that presages deep cuts in spending for the middle class, but avoids tax increases for the rich, Obama is doing exactly what was expected of him?