It's a brand new year. I will do everyone a favor and not do a recap of the year, since other writers have done it enough (and probably better). The past year was like most - a mix of good and bad, like a mellow rollercoaster. I am also not going to talk about resolutions. Instead, I'd rather look ahead at 2014.

So what lies ahead? Let me prognosticate.

A month or two of writing 2013 instead of 2014 on everything (riiip goes another check)...

Primaries and commercials and voting and "scandals", and - hopefully - a wave of voters letting the Republicans know that they are no longer desired...

The end of using Obamacare as bludgeon as millions of people find themselves covered, find they don't get dropped, find that the term "pre-existing condition" has become an anachronism...

The unemployment rate continuing to drop...

More states allowing gay marriage (either by legislation or the courts)...

Another battle with an 11th hour deal over the debt ceiling... with a 6 month deal and a repeat in September.

Continuing gridlock in Congress, with the Senate and House trading turns at Good Cop / Bad Cop...

The Supreme Court ruling (once again, either via direct ruling or refusing to hear an appeal) that the collection of electronic metadata is constitutional...

Bad winter storms, to which some idiot somewhere will proclaim "I just shoveled 3 feet of 'global warming' off of my driveway"...

And once again - at the end of the year, pundits grimly proclaiming how bad a year it was for President Obama.

Happy New Year everyone!