'Clarion of Faith'

That's the description of Rick Santorum at the New York Times front-page today, "Rick Santorum's Journey From ‘Nominal Catholic’ to Clarion of Faith":

GREAT FALLS, Va. — Rick Santorum was, in his own words, a “nominal Catholic” when he met Karen Garver, a neonatal nurse and law student, in 1988. As they made plans to marry and he decided to enter politics, she sent him to her father for advice.

Dr. Kenneth L. Garver was a Pittsburgh pediatrician who specialized in medical genetics. The patriarch of a large Roman Catholic family, he had treated patients considering abortion but was strongly opposed to it.

“We sat across the table and the whole evening we talked about this issue,” Mr. Santorum told an anti-abortion group last October. He left, he said, convinced “that there was only one place to be, from the standpoint of science as well as from the standpoint of faith.”

For Mr. Santorum, a Republican candidate for president, that conversation was an early step on a path into a deeply conservative Catholic culture that has profoundly influenced his life as a husband, father and politician. Over the past two decades, he has undergone a religious transformation that is now spurring a national conversation about faith in the public sphere.

On the campaign trail, he has attacked President Obama for “phony theology,” warned of the “dangers of contraceptives” and rejected John F. Kennedy’s call for strict separation of church and state. His bold expressions of faith could affect his support in this week’s Super Tuesday nominating contests, possibly helping with conservative Christians, especially in the South, but scaring off voters uncomfortable mixing so much religion in politics.

Central to Mr. Santorum’s spiritual life is his wife, whom he calls “the rock which I stand upon.” Before marrying, the couple decided to recommit themselves to their Catholic faith — a turnabout for Karen Santorum, who had been romantically involved with a well-known abortion provider in Pittsburgh and had openly supported abortion rights, according to several people who knew her then.

The Santorums went on to have eight children, including a son who died two hours after birth in 1996 and a daughter, now 3, who has a life-threatening genetic disorder. Unlike Catholics who believe that church doctrine should adapt to changing times and needs, the Santorums believe in a highly traditional Catholicism that adheres fully to what scholars call “the teaching authority” of the pope and his bishops.

“He has a strong sense of that,” said George Weigel, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, where Mr. Santorum had a fellowship after losing his bid for re-election to the Senate in 2006. “He’s the first national figure of some significance who’s on that side of the Catholic conversation.”

Keep reading.

It's a bit condescending. Progressives think devout Catholics are freaks, and it comes across here. And the Times spends a whole section on Mrs. Santorum's relationship with Dr. Tom Allen, an abortionist who was three times older than she was. Rick Santorum repudiated attacks on his wife earlier in the campaign, and frankly I think Mrs. Santorum's previous relationship is irrelevant. When she first got together with Rick she had something of an epiphany of faith. They both immersed themselves in their Catholicism. That's an inspiring story. Focus on that. That said, there are some pretty inspirational passages at the piece, for example:

The loss of the Santorums’ son Gabriel, in 1996 — just as the senator was leading the fight in Congress to ban the procedure that opponents call partial-birth abortion — was devastating for the couple. Mrs. Santorum was nearly 20 weeks pregnant; doctors discovered a fetal anomaly. After a risky operation, she developed an infection and took antibiotics, which the couple knew would result in the birth of a baby who would not survive.

Critics likened it to an abortion, but in a 1997 interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mr. Santorum said that was not the case. Mr. Schoeneman, the couple’s friend, said the death convinced them that “God had a purpose in Gabriel’s life, and they were going to live out that purpose in their lives.” Both Santorums began speaking out more strongly against abortion; Mrs. Santorum became prominent in her own right after publishing a 1998 book, “Letters to Gabriel.”

In the Senate, Mr. Santorum started a prayer group and would go on to help convert a fellow senator, Sam Brownback, now the governor of Kansas, to Catholicism.

After Mr. Santorum’s re-election in 2000, the family traveled to Rome, where they had a private audience with Pope John Paul II.

“He said to the pope, ‘Father, you’re a great man,’ ” Mr. Schoeneman said, recounting the session as Mr. Santorum told it to him. “And the pope turned to him, because Rick at this point had all six children sitting there, and he said, ‘No, you’re a great man.’

“And it was like a message from God,” Mr. Schoeneman said, “that he was living his life in the right way, that his path was correct.”

Awesome.

Patricia Murphy on Super Tuesday

Maybe I'll post on David Frum later, with some additional commentary, but see Newsbusters for now, "'Conservative' CNN Analyst Frum Calls for Limbaugh to Send Fluke One of His Sex Tapes."

Meanwhile, I like Patricia Murphy and we do have Super Tuesday coming up so I'll have more on that later.

This Day in History: Abraham Lincoln Was Inaugurated as 16th President of the United States

Can you imagine, 151 years ago today, the nation's greatest president was sworn into office?

And you can read Lincoln's words, "First Inaugural Address, Monday, March 4, 1861":

One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive-slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, can not be perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other.

Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you can not fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I can not be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the National Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by others, not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution—which amendment, however, I have not seen—has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.

The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they have referred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the States. The people themselves can do this if also they choose, but the Executive as such has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present Government as it came to his hands and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor.

Read it all...

Sunday Cartoons

Still waiting for Flopping Aces' "Sunday Funnies," and will link when it's available.

Added: Here's they are: "Sunday Funnies."

Meanwhile, at Reaganite Resistance, "Reaganite's Sunday Funnies," and Theo Spark, "Cartoon Round Up..."

RELATED: At Kansas City Star, "Gas prices appear headed for record above $4, and The Hill, "Gas prices to cost Obama."

ADDED: From Jill Stanek, "Stanek Sunday funnies, 3-4-12."

'The Biggest Dirtbag On the Planet'

No it's not Obama, but you'll have to watch the clip for the answer, and see: "Video: My vote for the biggest dirtbag on the planet."

Sandra Fluke is Media's Martyr, Just as Andrew Breitbart Would Have Predicted

Breitbart would have loved the media's chutzpah on this.

I'm reposting this piece from WaPo as an almost unbelievable example of how this woman, Sandra Fluke, became a national heroine to the progressive-left. See: "Sandra Fluke says she expected criticism, not personal attacks, over contraception issue":

For decades, Georgetown University law students have led the push to have the student health-insurance plan cover contraception.

Sandra Fluke fit the profile of those who have gone before her: Law students are typically older than Georgetown’s undergraduates, less likely to be Catholic at the Catholic institution, and more likely to rely on school­-provided insurance.

But unlike those others who were part of a running campus controversy, Fluke became part of a heated and highly personal national debate when she agreed to testify before a congressional committee last month.

Fluke said she anticipated criticism but not personal attacks from prominent pundits including Rush Limbaugh, who repeatedly has called her a “slut,” and from hundreds of people who have typed even more offensive slurs on Twitter.

“I understood that I’m stepping into the public eye,” said Fluke, 30, a third-year student studying public interest law. “But this reaction is so out of the bounds of acceptable discourse . . . These types of words shouldn’t be applied to anyone.”

Limbaugh, a conservative radio talk show host, was criticized by prominent Democrats and Republicans. A handful of companies suspended their commercials on his show in protest and by Saturday, Limbaugh apologized in a statement on his Web site.

In the statement, he said “my choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir.”

Fluke appeared on the national television circuit on Friday explaining her position. Meanwhile, her cell phone buzzed with calls from friends, classmates and supporters, including President Obama.

Fluke (pronounced as if it rhymes with “look”) said she was not a stranger to criticism women can face advocating for causes related to their sexual health and relationships.

If you've seen clips of Fluke's testimony, the full video above is a riot just for Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi's triumphant introduction and the deeply concerned yet agreeable nods of the sitting Democrats on the committee. And after you watch some of that, see AoSHQ, "Jake Tapper Finally Gives Hero of the Left a Chance to Speak Without Being Questioned About Her Claims":

I've attempted to get Jake Tapper to answer the question "Did you ask her about the $9 per month pills at Target, 2.8 miles from Georgetown U's campus?"

As he has ignored every single question along these lines, I have to take the answer to be "No."

Well, there's your reproductive health crisis. These women must not be able to schlep the 2.8 miles over to Target!

PREVIOUSLY: "Rush Limbaugh Apologizes to Sandra Fluke."

ADDED: From William Jacobson, "“Why not give Andy a country worth dying for”."

What Republican War on Women?

This kind of stuff reminds me of when I first started blogging years ago. The left's polarizing extremes in argumentation make no sense. Okay, so Limbaugh called Fluke a slut. He was over the top, perhaps. But the fact remains that that Sandra Fluke's emergence is an attempt to shift the debate and change the story from the assault on religious liberty to an alleged war women. This is a fundamental axis of conflict in American politics, and obviously the Democrat-progressives would like to escalate this issue to distract from the Obama administrations debt bomb, failed stimulus, anemic job recovery, and its "war" on taxpayers.

Here's this from Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "Obama, Limbaugh and the Law Student":

Let’s specify that what Limbaugh said did nothing to advance the cause of civil debate on the issue. But those who decry the lack of civility in politics generally tend to limit their complaints to hyperbole uttered by people whose views they do not share. The same people who are voicing outrage at the hurt feelings of Ms. Fluke do not scruple at mocking or name calling when it comes to Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum or others whose beliefs on this or any other subject they believe to be antediluvian. The church and its adherents have been subjected to withering ridicule.

Moreover, though it has been lost amid the outcry against Limbaugh, he’s right to point out that, those who believe institutions ought to be compelled to fund free birth control are, in effect, demanding a subsidy for having sex. Of course, that is not the same thing as being a prostitute. Nor does it make anyone who wishes to take advantage of such a subsidy a “slut.” Such terms are abusive. But that is exactly why an entertainer like Limbaugh uses them much as Stewart and liberal comics employ similarly nasty terms to people they wish to deride. Need we really point out that comments made in the context of this sort of show is not the same thing as remarks recorded in the Congressional Record and should thus be judged by a slightly different standard?

Rush Limbaugh will survive this latest attempt to destroy him and may, in fact, benefit from being the subject of a White House barb. But conservatives and those who care about religious liberty should be dismayed by the way the left has been allowed to shield an ominous attempt to expand government power and subvert religious freedom behind a faux defense of women’s rights.

No one is trying to prevent Sandra Fluke or any other woman — or man — from doing whatever they want in the privacy of their own bedrooms. But what Fluke and President Obama are trying to do is to force religious institutions to pay for conduct their faith opposes. That, and not Rush Limbaugh’s scorn for Fluke’s birth control bill, remains the real issue at stake in this debate.

Word.

And don't forget, by the way, that the left's media industrial complex is pulling for the home team on this. See WaPo, for example, "Sandra Fluke says she expected criticism, not personal attacks, over contraception issue."

'The Scholar and the Rascal'

Ross Douthat comments on the deaths of James Q. Wilson and Andrew Breitbart, at the New York Times.

Both Wilson and Breitbart were native Californians, and true conservatives.

Mitt Romney Wins Washington State Presidential Caucuses

See Los Angeles Times, "Romney winner of Washington state's caucuses." And at New York Times, "Romney Takes Washington Ahead of a Big Election Day."

BONUS: Read this great batch of emails Glenn Reynolds received from caucus-goers in Washington: "Be Breitbart."

James Q. Wilson in His Own Words

At WSJ, "Excerpts from the late social scientist's op-eds in The Wall Street Journal."

And from the editors, "James Q. Wilson: An empiricist with a moral sense—and he could write too":

One of our editors once made the mistake of referring to James Q. Wilson as a sociologist, and he was quickly rebuked with a note that, no, the professor was a political scientist. Jim Wilson liked to get things right, which as far as we can remember he always was.

Wilson was indeed a political scientist, and in the old-fashioned sense: He only concluded what the evidence allowed, and he applied this method to politics, broadly defined as the choices we make about how we govern ourselves. Over his career, as the modern university grew more and more obscurantist and irrelevant, Wilson's scholarship—on everything from poverty to crime to bureaucracy to morals—moved public policy and changed America for the better. He died yesterday, at 80, from leukemia.

Wilson made his name in the last century, when he was a young professor at Harvard and people still believed that government could create something it would call "the Great Society." Wilson belonged to the cohort of thinkers including Edward Banfield, Irving Kristol and Pat Moynihan who were skeptical of such central planning and abstractions. The joke about the French philosopher—"We know it works in fact, but will it work in theory?"—is less funny when the supposed technocrats don't care if something works in fact, only in theory....

One reason Wilson's ideas were successful—welfare reform is among his other policy contributions—is that they were grounded in data, hard facts and the evidence of experience. But his empiricism was special because it always respected the complexity and contingency that prevails in the real world. Few phrases in the English language are responsible for as much bad thinking as "studies show" or "research suggests." If Wilson was guided by good evidence, not ideology, he also understood its limits.

Previously: "James Q. Wilson, 1931 – 2012."

Bonus: From Harvey Mansfield, at Weekly Standard, "Political Scientist, Par Excellence: James Q. Wilson, 1931-2012." And a fabulous roundup from Daniel Halper, "Remembering James Q. Wilson."

Rush Limbaugh Apologizes to Sandra Fluke

Well, the video features a Dana Bash interview with Sandra Fluke before Limbaugh issued his apology, but for Fluke it's more of the same dishonesty, victimology, and media exploitation that we've been seeing all along.

The Los Angeles Times reports, "Rush Limbaugh apologizes for 'slut' remarks aimed at Sandra Fluke":

In what was surely a rare move for the conservative radio host, Rush Limbaugh apologized Saturday to the Georgetown University law school student he called a "slut" and "prostitute" earlier in the week.

The apology, posted to his website, said he did not mean to make a "personal attack" against Sandra Fluke. The third-year law student had testified before Democrats in favor of President Obama's new rule requiring employers to offer health insurance plans that cover birth control.

"My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir," he wrote. "I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices."

More at that top link, but see Limbaugh's apology (via Memeorandum).

And as you can see at the video, the double-standards are exemplary. The Washington Post has more of those, "The GOP can no longer avoid its Rush Limbaugh problem" (at Memeorandum):

IN A DEMOCRACY, standards of civil discourse are as important as they are indefinable. Yet wherever one draws the line, Rush Limbaugh’s vile rants against Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke crossed it. Mr. Limbaugh is angry at President Obama’s efforts to require the provision of contraception under employer-paid health insurance and the White House’s attempts to make some political hay out of the policy. His way of showing this anger was to smear Ms. Fluke, who approached Congress to support the plan, as a “slut” seeking a government subsidy for her promiscuity.

Like other “shock jocks,” Mr. Limbaugh has committed verbal excesses in the past. But in its wanton vulgarity and cruelty, this episode stands out. Mr. Limbaugh’s audience, and those in politics who seek his favor as a means of reaching that audience, need to take special note.

Civility. Right.

I don't recall if WaPo's editors wrote a similar editorial when Ed Schultz smeared Laura Ingraham as a "slut."   Either way, Ingraham says she's still waiting for the White House to call.

And let's not even get started on Keith Olbermann.

This is a reminder of how important it is to continue the work of Andrew Breitbart.

Added: From Dan Riehl, at Big Hollywood, "Shorter ‘Washington Post’: Bill ‘C*nt’ Maher’s Million Okay For Obama, GOP Must Abandon Limbaugh."

Remembering Andrew Breitbart

Recall that the first time I met Andrew was at the Orange County Tax Day Tea Party in 2009.

Breitbart is shown with his father-in-law Orson Bean. I posted the photo to his Facebook page and he remembered it later when I spoke to him at CPAC in 2011.

And below is the picture from the last time I saw Andrew, when he spoke in Newport Beach just days after Anthony Weiner announced his resignation and Breitbart stole the show at the pre-announcement press conference. Left Coast Rebel was there as well, and boy was he excited to meet Andrew. Thinking about it now, I'm so glad that we went. He was irreplaceable and the memories cherished.

I have lots more Breitbart blogging at the search link. I don't have too much more to say at this point. I do think it's interesting the Breitbart rose to his greatest fame in tandem with the rise of the tea party. He mentioned the Orange County tea party as a formative experience in his book, Righteous Indignation. And  as I became a tea party activist at the same time, Breitbart was indeed instrumental to my own political development over these last few years. What people have said so many times is that Andrew fought fearlessly against progressives and especially the progressive-left media complex. And the left loathed him for it. Progressives clearly wanted him dead because he was beating them and he was a showing a whole generation of young activists how it's done. He spoke for us. He articulate the rage against the politically correct and radically corrupt leftist institutional machine. And it often meant even more because Breitbart could do what many simply could not do because of how we're situated in our work and family lives. William Jacobson spoke eloquently about that, about the "restraints" that have prevented him from being more outspoken in his blogging and activism. I face those same restraints and I've paid substantial personal costs in pushing past the barriers on occasion. Breitbart was an entrepreneur and his own boss. He could fight the fight without facing those restraints, and he thus had the kind of intangible resources that are and will be vital to defeating the left in the years ahead.

There will be much more commentary and reflection on Breitbart going forward. New videos are scheduled for release next week, in fact, of Barack Obama's radical college days. And then there will be movies and books and all kind of continuing activism among those from Breitbart's circle of allies. And of course the new class of conservative warriors will be carrying Breitbart's banner for generations to come. What a man and what a legacy.

Michael Walsh had an outstanding remembrance the other day, so I'll close with that. See, "Goodbye, Andrew: We have lost our bravest warrior, but we must continue his good fight":

In the war against the institutional Left, Andrew Breitbart was the Right’s Achilles; the bravest of all the warriors, now fallen on the plain. There was no combat in which he would not engage, no battle — however small — he would not join with glee, and no outcome acceptable except total victory. His unexpected death last night at the young age of 43 is not the end of his crusade, but its beginning.

No figure on our side was more despised in the whited sepulchers of the media/academic/political Left, and Breitbart wore their loathing as a daily badge of honor. His refusal to grant even a glimmer of moral absolution constantly enraged them, and his very existence was an affront to their carefully constructed — to use one of Andrew’s favorite words — “narrative” of moral superiority. Naturally, they are already dancing on his grave, with the manic joy of being suddenly and miraculously delivered from one of their most potent enemies.

Breitbart’s death is a tragedy, not only for those who delighted in following him into battle but for those who cheered him on as well. Andrew was larger than life, a charismatic natural leader, a big man in every way — physically, spiritually, and intellectually. He would meet a total stranger and immediately try to enlist him or her into his army, railing against the Left’s mendacity and misdeeds. He would practically pick you up by the lapels and shake you in order to make you understand the furious, urgent necessity of his fight.

Continue reading.

And also, at Michelle Malkin, for good measure, "DEVASTATING: Andrew Breitbart, R.I.P."

Romney, Santorum Look to Smooth Things Over Before Super Tuesday

At Los Angeles Times, "Romney, Santorum trying to recover from verbal gaffes":

In the last 10 days, voters learned that Mitt Romney's wife drives two Cadillacs, and that while Romney does not follow NASCAR that closely, he is "great friends" with some team owners.

They have learned that John F. Kennedy's landmark 1960 speech on the separation of church and state made Rick Santorum want to vomit, and that Santorum thinks President Obama is a "snob" for urging people to continue their education after high school.

For a lot of voters — and many critics — such remarks have reinforced stereotypes about the candidates: That Romney, a multimillionaire, is out of touch with average Americans, and Santorum, a staunch social conservative, is a throwback to the mores of an earlier time.

Now, as Super Tuesday's crucial contests loom next week, both candidates for the GOP presidential nomination have struggled to recover from those and other self-inflicted wounds.

Okay, sound's reasonable enough.

More at the link.

And also at The Other McCain, "HUGE: Gingrich Tennessee Co-Chair Resigns and Endorses Rick Santorum."

EXTRA: At YouGov, "Santorum Leads in Three of Five YouGov Super Tuesday Polls" (Oklahoma, Ohio, and Tennessee), via Memeorandum. And also from Mark Blumenthal, "Super Tuesday Polls: Rick Santorum's Margin Fades In Ohio, Mitt Romney Leads Nationwide."

'My Friend Andrew'

Bill Whittle, in his own inimitable way, gives an especially powerful eulogy for Andrew Breitbart. Turns out Breitbart did have a previous heart attack --- that's why the media reports were saying he was under treatment at UCLA Medical Center previously --- and Bill uses that and more to remind us to take care of ourselves. Especially important here is Bill's urging for us online warriors to put it away sometimes. Don't worry about politics 24/7. Don't worry about showing everybody your most recent blog post or video upload. Spend some time with friends and families and recharge for the many battles that lie ahead. That's an especially welcomed message for me, since I've of late been very busy with work and family and have felt out of it for lack of blogging. But I do remind myself that the time I spend offline is better spent when it's that old-fashioned "quality time" that folks used to implore us to spend.

And by the way, I know Bill Whittle too. He's one of the greats out there and make note to heed his appeals and keep up the fight. We're saving the country a little at a time.

Obama's Union-Made Auto Bailout

A bit late getting this one up, but it's never too late to spread this around.

Michelle Malkin's a national treasure.

See: "The Autoworkers Obama Left Behind."

The union discussion's at the second half of the clip, but it's all good. Michelle model's the necessary indignant outrage needed to fight the lies of the left.

Romney Touts Washington Connections

Another interesting report on Mitt's earlier big government ideology.

At ABC News, "EXCLUSIVE: In ’02 Romney Touted D.C. Connections, Federal Funds":

And more Romney big government at Buzz Feed, "Mitt Romney's Advice For ObamaCare: Look At RomneyCare" (via Memeorandum).

'Man Against The Mob'

Via Dana Loesch (retweeting Larry O'Connor):

James Q. Wilson, 1931 – 2012

He was one of the great old-school political scientists.

The Los Angeles Times has an obituary, "James Q. Wilson dies at 80; pioneer in 'broken windows' approach to improve policing." Born in Denver and raised in Long Beach, Wilson spent 25 years at Harvard but moved in 1986 to UCLA's Anderson School of Business mostly to be back home on the West Coast. More on that from the Times:

In 1961, he joined the faculty at Harvard University, where his scholarship on policing drew the attention of President Johnson's administration. He was invited to join a presidential commission on crime, which sparked an inquiry that eventually became the focus of his professional work.

"The standard question was why did people commit crimes. I wanted to ask why people don't commit them," he told the New York Times in 1998.

Many of his books tackled thorny questions of crime and race, such as "Crime and Human Nature," co-written with Richard J. Herrnstein and published in 1988.

"Even to allude to the possibility that races may differ in the distribution of those constitutional factors that are associated with criminality will strike some people as factually, ethically or prudentially wrong," they wrote. "We disagree."

Wilson's views won favor among neoconservatives, not a popular faction at a liberal bastion like Harvard.

In 1986, after more than 25 years at Harvard, he moved to UCLA's Anderson School of Management, where, some colleagues suggested, the more conservative atmosphere was a welcome change.

But Wilson, referring to his early years in Southern California, said he just wanted to come home. He later taught at Pepperdine.

VIDEO: "Annual Lecture with 'Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy' James Q. Wilson at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California" (parts 2-4 at the link).

Kathy Shaidle Assesses the Legacy of Andrew Breitbart

It's an excellent interview all around, but Kathy makes some especially perceptive comments toward the end where she mentions that Breitbart was an entrepreneur who had set himself up so that he couldn't be fired. That's a crucial point. Because when you work for someone else your right to free speech in inherently restricted by the potential impact (or fallout) of such speech on the employing institution. William Jacobson alluded to this the other day when he mentioned the "restraints" that hindered so many of us conservatives from fully speaking out and challenging the left's fascism.

In any case, more on that later.

The video c/o Blazing Cat Fur:

EXTRA: I'm linking to Protein Wisdom again for a reminder of how effective Breitbart really was --- and also as a reminder of what we're up against. Don't let Andrew's death have been in vain. Keep the flame burning and hoist the banner of liberty. That's the legacy. To keep up the fight.

Andrew Breitbart at O.C. Tax Day Tea Party, April 15, 2009

Breitbart often reminisced about attending his first tea party in Orange County.

My good friend Megan Barth was the event's main organizer. She can be seen in the blue shirt behind Andrew at the clip. Megan has also posted an essay to Facebook, "Andrew Breitbart — A Tribute":

Some of u are probably sitting in this internet/Facebook audience saying, Who in the "H" is Megan Barth, and how does she "know" Andrew Breitbart?

Well, I can't say that I do know Andrew. I have not been to his house; I have not broken bread with the man; I have had a cocktail with him....ok maybe two or three, but, true, I do not "know" him. But, I know him for one of my greatest memories that he selflessly gave to me. The first time I called him and asked him for a favor, he didn't hesitate to say yes.

In March of 2009, I asked him to speak at a Tea party Rally in Santa Ana on April 15, 2009. I had left him a message on his cell phone--the number which I had received from a mutual aquaintance. An hour later, I get a call back and he says, "Megan Barth? Andrew Breitbart. What is this tea party thing about and oh yeah, Count me in." And, two weeks later, he was speaking at his first tea party on a chilly and windy day, in front of a crowd of over 2000, at the "Circle of Flags." He brought with him his fiery friend, Gary Graham, and his father in law Orson Bean. They each spoke to the crowd with such conviction, fun, kindness and passion. It is a day that I will never forget.

After that day, I would run into him at various events and he would jokingly refer to me as "his first." I always made sure I shook his hand or gave him a big hug, not only because I so appreciated him for coming to speak on that day in April, 50 miles from Brentwood, but appreciating him and thanking him for being all that inspires me.

Andrew encapsulated/emulated everything that I found good and decent and honorable. His love of family and country, his tenacity, his strength, his humor, his fire that he so tirelessly gave--he didn't seem to want for anything else but for the truth, and, of course, to piss off liberals. The truth, you see, and honesty, isn't a commodity. You don't find it often and you don't find it easily. Andrew's fight in order to bring truth and light to the masses was like David fighting Goliath. Andrew had this slingshot and the MSM, the Giant, had the narrative. Yet, Andrew beat them with that slingshot, head on. He wasn't afraid. He stood his ground. He took the battle to them and outsmarted their best generals. He exposed their false narrative--which is the Giant's ironic weakness. Andrew showed all of us that the impossible can be the possible...particularly with the truth on your side. It ain't gonna come easy and it ain't gonna come cheap. Andrew, today, gave his life for it. His family, that stood behind him and with him, made it possible.

When I heard the news this morning, I started screaming, "Why Why Why God!! Why him? " Why take a man from his wife and four children? What did he do? He had so much more to do! Why now, God? Why?! "

And then, after talking to my 3 parents (yes, I have 3. 4 actually, but I talked to 3 of them), and scouring the blog roll and Twitter/Facebook feed, I was reminded that the only answer to these and many more questions, is the one that we all will eventually find, and with the truth and the spirit of Breitbart on our side, we will all come to know, "Why." The truth will be Andrew's legacy as it has been our, my, inspiration.

Andrew leaves behind a pair of shoes which cannot be filled. He was a one in a million, a happy warrior, a truth seeker, a torch bearer. There are millions of those who he has inspired that are ready and willing to carry that torch--and that is what must be and will be done. He wouldn't have it any other way. He designed the battle plan. He deserves no less.

In his own words from the upcoming "Hating Breitbart"

"WAR"

Rest in peace and thank you, my friend, for absolutely everything.

More updates throughout the weekend.

Andrew Breitbart – Warrior – Franklin Center Remembers

Via Nice Deb:

Dana Loesch Remembers Andrew Breitbart

Again, I'm just posting these as I view them. I know Dana and she's quite an inspiration in herself. And as she shares her memories we again hear adjectives like "fearlessness" and "truthfulness" that were the guiding principles of Breitbart's model of citizenship. I'll be continuing my coverage all weekend.

Via Big Journalism:

Loose Flukes

Well, actually, there's some disagreement over whether Sandra Fluke is indeed "loose," but she's certainly playing up her 15 minutes for all they're worth.

Michelle says no: "Sandra Fluke is not a “slut.” She’s a femme-agogue tool; DCCC, Emily’s list fund-raise off of Rush." But Dana Loesch says, hey, not so fast: "Republicans Fall For Manufactured Story"( via Memeorandum).

The truth is somewhere in between, but what's just too perfect is fluke's canonization by the progressive left media complex, personified with utmost perfection by MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, who must have mentioned a half-dozen times that President Obama personally called the Georgetown "co-ed" in a show of reproductive solidarity. If all of this sounds too good to be true, complete with Fluke's crocodile tears on national TV, that's because it is:

Did you watch?

That lady's a pro, and I mean at milking the sympathy for women's reproductive health, not at, well, you know what I'm saying. More at Los Angeles Times, "Sandra Fluke: Obama 'was so kind'."

And see Doug Ross, who's not falling for the act: "Got Slut? The Left Launches a Coordinated Attack Against Rush Limbaugh."

Andrew Breitbart: Los Angeles Times Obituary

I know folks will forgive me for the late news. As I mentioned, I was unable to blog yesterday, so I'll be catching up on the commentaries and videos on Andrew Breitbart.

Here's Robin Abcarian and Scott Gold at the Los Angeles Times: "Andrew Breitbart dies at 43; conservative Internet entrepreneur who took on the left."

And ICYMI, the moving segment with Jonah Goldberg on Fox News yesterday:

Plus, some good stuff at Blazing Cat Fur.

Progressives Rejoice at Death of Andrew Breitbart

Tuesdays and Thursdays are day-long slogs for me on campus. They're not big blogging days either, and I was busy at home Thursday evening, so I was unable to post on Andrew Breitbart. I got to my office yesterday morning at 7:00am. I logged onto my computer and loaded American Power into the browser as I do every day. As I scrolled down the blog to check my scheduled overnight posts, I noticed the headline at the Memeorandum widget far down the page: "In Memoriam: Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)." I thought that was a mistake. How could this be? Was he killed? Murdered by a leftist attacker? Or he was depressed about something and had taken his own life? What? And then I read the brief obituary at Big Journalism, which indicated he'd died of natural causes.

I gave examinations yesterday so I was able to continue reading. I was in a funk. I knew Andrew Breitbart. While we weren't friends, I'd spoken with him on numerous occasions and I'd blogged at least a half dozen major events where Breitbart was a speaker or major participant. I was starting to feel devastated. I kept reading around the 'sphere. I visited Robert Stacy McCain's, where, in a relatively brief post, he said that "our own sense of loss of our friend and ally — a powerful and innovative force [in] conservative New Media — is inconsequential compared to the fathomless pain experienced by Andrew’s wife and four children, who should be in our prayers." And I thought, yes, that's right. Breitbart was just 43 years-old. I still couldn't believe it. And then checking Memeorandum further, I clicked on some progressive blogs. I admit being surprised by some respectable commentary, for example, by Melissa McEwan at Shakesville, who wrote, "I am not glad he's dead. I would have preferred instead that he'd lived long enough to change his mind." But that's probably the nicest thing progressives wrote about him all day. In fact, Scott Lemieux posted a two-sentence entry at Lawyers, Guns and Money, claiming he was "sad" that the reports of Breitbart's death were "accurate." And right on cue, Carl Salonen was striking up the band, boasting about how the "world is a happier place this morning."

Well, Salonen needs no introduction. And his disgusting comments are 100 percent the real deal. Indeed, I read the entire LGM comment thread and it only gets worse. Progressives wanted Breitbart dead. They got their wish.

And that was pretty much how it went. See Charlie Spiering at the Washington Examiner, "Liberals celebrate death of Andrew Breitbart."

Also, Glenn Reynolds was updating on Breitbart throughout the day, and he included this:

And reader Jonathan Rubinstein writes: “The outpouring of ghoulish and sophmoric hatred at the death of Andrew Breitbart is a warning to us all that the remaking of America is not a conversation over coffee in the late afternoon. The real struggles that are ahead have hardly begun. Politics is ruthless and the failed political class will not go quietly. The disgusting comments are not a tribute to the decline not of civility — there has never been much in America — but the complete disintegration of self-respect. We will engage, we will remake America, we will miss Breitbart but there will be many more joining the struggle.”

I'll be writing a memorial later. It was a sad day. I am praying for Breitbart's family.

EXTRA: Again, more later, but it's worth adding some responses to the despicable loser David Frum. See AoSHQ, "That About Wraps It Up For David Frum," and Yid With Lid, "David Frum is a Low-Life Scumbag."

ADDED: From Zilla of the Resistance, "A Great American Hero Has Died."

MORE: From Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom: "As the “educated” crew at LGM are so interested in what I have to say."

Natalie Goleniowski, 5-Year-Old with Down's Syndrome, Becomes Child Model in Britain

This is such a beautiful story --- it makes me so happy and warm.

Natalia goes by the name "Natty," and she had heart problems when she was born. Her parents didn't know if she'd live. Natty had heart surgery when she was 2. See London's Daily Mail, "'It's wonderful that others see what we see in her': Parents share joy as five-year-old girl with Down's Syndrome becomes child model."

In other news, scholarly "experts" at Oxford University are out with a new research paper arguing that newborn babies are "morally irrelevant" and killing them after birth would be no different than aborting a fetus in the womb. Really. See Telegraph UK, "Killing babies no different from abortion, experts say."

I'm not at a loss for words. I just think the enormity of the inherent evil here speaks for itself. So I'll let others comment on this one and I'll save my outrage for another day. The beauty of people like Natty shines one million times brighter than those oh-so enlightened "experts" and their impossibly depraved "scientific" findings.

See The Western Experience, "Hedonism and Decadence: New Virtues of Western Civilization."

And an excellent discussion from Jonah Goldberg, "The Pro-Life, Pro-Infanticide Consensus."

Plus, more at Grim's Hall and Power Line (via Memeorandum).

BONUS: From Steven Ertelt at Life News, "Ethicists in Australia Call for “After-Birth Abortions”."

Deadly Tornadoes Strike the Midwest

The main story's at the Wall Street Journal, "Pre-Dawn Tornado Cuts a Deadly Swath Through Downtown Harrisburg, Ill."

But see also the Chicago Tribune, "Deadly tornado: 'Like a bomb went off'."

Plus, at CNN, "Massive storm system claims at least 12."

Sports Illustrated: 'Not the UCLA Way'

I saw this interesting headline at the Los Angeles Times yesterday afternoon: "UCLA: Gene Block, Dan Guerrero respond to Sports Illustrated story."

Guerrero and Block are UCLA's Athletic Director and Chancellor, so no doubt something was going down. So, I checked Sports Illustrated, and here's the story: "Partying, Players Disrespecting Program Led to Problems at UCLA."

Read it all at the link.

Shell Sues a Dozen Environment Groups Over Arctic Drilling

Now that's what I'm talking about!

At Los Angeles Times, "Arctic Ocean drilling: Shell launches preemptive legal strike":

Reporting from Seattle—

Royal Dutch Shell launched an extraordinary preemptive legal strike Wednesday against opponents of offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean, filing suit against more than a dozen environmental organizations likely to challenge its plan for drilling exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea this summer.

In a petition for declaratory relief filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, the oil giant seeks to have the court rule that the U.S. government complied with federal law when it approved Shell’s oil spill response plan for upcoming exploratory well-drilling in the Arctic.

The move is a clear attempt to beat environmental organizations to court and avert potentially costly delays for a project on which Shell has already spent $4 billion without drilling a single well.

The oil company launched a separate petition against Greenpeace, whose activists last week boarded the drilling rig now moored in New Zealand and scheduled to begin drilling in the Arctic in July. Six activists, including television actress Lucy Lawless, climbed the rig before being arrested.

A hearing was underway Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Anchorage on the company’s request for a temporary restraining order prohibiting Greenpeace from engaging in “illegal and dangerous actions” tied to the upcoming offshore drilling program.

“This is a very unique legal approach. I’m not sure anything like this has ever been done before,” Shell spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh told the Los Angeles Times.

RTWT.

Gay Archie Comic Books

Look, I don't really care that much about this. Hopefully the market will signal to Archie Comics that queer is not normal and that after a while, everyday families just get tired of the politically correct bullshit. Mostly, though I reject the radical left's attempts to slur opponents of this ploy to normalize homo-marriage as "homophobes." They're not. They just don't think this queer is the new normal stuff is all that peachy-keen all-American. It's not.

So, if you go over to comment, just tell the freaks at "The New Civil Rights Movement" that they aren't civil and gay marriage isn't a civil right. See: "One Million Moms Attacks Toys R Us: Remove Gay Archie Comic Books" (via Memeorandum).

"I was 15 when 'The Monkees' began on TV, and Davy was absolutely perfect..."

That's an Althouse-style headline drawn from Althouse's post on The Monkees' Davy Jones, who died yesterday of a heart attack at the age of 66.

See: "Goodbye to Davy Jones."

And more at Zilla of the Resistance, "Rest In Peace, Davy Jones."

BONUS: London's Daily Mail has a report, "Monkees singer Davy Jones dead at 66 after suffering massive heart attack in his sleep."

Rick Santorum Ties Mitt Romney in Michigan Delegate Count: Focus Shifts to Ohio as Key Battleground for Super Tuesday

Rick Santorum's been getting ripped off in the momentum department throughout this year's campaign. The former Pennsylvania Senator actually won the Iowa caucuses. But as ABC News reported when the official winner was announced, "that’s like calling back a winning touchdown two weeks later." Right. And so now here's the news that Santorum in fact tied Mitt Romney in the Michigan delegate count, but it doesn't matter much in terms of mainstream media perceptions. CNN has the report, "Romney, Santorum tie for Michigan delegates." And also at Catholic Bandita, "Santorum Campaign: Michigan Result a ‘Disaster’ For Mitt Romney":

The Santorum campaign stressed that the media should not be reporting in any way that Michigan was a win for Romney considering that the Romney campaign has continually stressed that they are only concerned with delegates and the delegate count here is a tie in Romney’s home state. Also, the Romney campaign outspent Rick Santorum anywhere from 2-1 to 4-1 according to various estimates and so this can only be considered a “disaster” for Mitt Romney or, at best, a tie.

We'll see if the point gains traction throughout the week.

Meanwhile, check New York Times, "Ohio Offers Chance for a Santorum Rebound."

And National Journal, "Can Santorum Broaden His Base?" (That point is addressed at the interview above, in which Martha McCallum asks Santorum about his comments on women from his speech last night.)

Mitt Romney Looks Ahead to General Election

It's an avalanche of political news this morning, but the Romney team has tuned out the white noise to focus on the White House.

Huffington Post reports, "Mitt Romney Ad Raises Cash Off Obama's 'Kill Romney' Strategy."

There's still Super Tuesday, of course, what I've been calling Romney's last hurdle. If he gets over that without too much damage he'll pick up a big boost in political perceptions. But the going doesn't look easy. As noted last night, Gingrich and Santorum have advantages in their home and backyard states (Georgia and Ohio) and losses for Romney in those bellwethers will deny him additional momentum for the weeks after that. This is apparently what the RNC wanted --- a prolonged primary process --- but it increasingly looks like a really bad idea. See Charles Krauthammer on that at RCP video, "Krauthammer: Long Primary Process Has 'Diminished' GOP Brand."

And no doubt the Democrats are banking on that. See National Journal, "Michigan and Arizona: Bruising GOP Primaries Brighten Obama’s Prospects."

I'll have more later...

Sandra Fluke, Reproductive Rights Activist, Congressional Testimony on Contraceptives: Sex-Crazed Co-Eds Just Gotta Have It!

Well, you really do have to listen to the video. This Sandra Fluke lady is no fluke!

From Craig Bannister at CNS News, "Sex-Crazed Co-Eds Going Broke Buying Birth Control, Student Tells Pelosi Hearing Touting Freebie Mandate."

And from Tina Korbe, at Hot Air, "Georgetown co-ed: Please pay for us to have sex … We’re going broke buying birth control."

25 Suspected Anonymous Hackers Arrested in International Raids

At Los Angeles Times, "25 suspected Anonymous hackers arrested in international sweep."

Well, let's hope they keep up the good work, since Anonymous just declared war on the U.S.:

Ohio School Shooting Suspect Confesses

At New York Times, "Ohio Shooting Suspect Confesses, Prosecutor Says":

CHARDON, Ohio — The fatal shooting rampage in a high school in this quiet suburb of Cleveland remained a puzzle on Tuesday, with prosecutors saying that a student had confessed to the killings and had told them that he did not know his victims and chose them at random.

Prosecutors said the student, T. J. Lane, 17, admitted taking a .22-caliber Ruger semiautomatic pistol to Chardon High School on Monday and firing 10 rounds at four students at a cafeteria table. He has not been formally charged, but prosecutors said it was likely that he would be tried in an adult court.

Three of the victims — Russell King Jr., Demetrius Hewlin and Daniel Parmertor — have died. Two others were wounded. One has been released from the hospital.

“This is not about bullying, this is not about drugs,” said David P. Joyce, the Geauga County prosecutor. “This was an effect of one lone gunman. He chose his victims at random.”

Mr. Lane appeared in court for the first time on Tuesday, wincing as the prosecutors read the accusations against him. Dressed in a crisp khaki-colored shirt and dark low-slung pants with a thick belt, he sat in a wooden chair with his back straight, speaking in barely audible tones to the judge, Timothy J. Grendell, in Geauga County Juvenile Court. His face crumpled briefly into tears as he was led away, and he appeared to whisper the words “I am so sorry” to two aunts and his grandfather, Jack Nolan, who is also his legal guardian.

The police have until Thursday to charge Mr. Lane.

More at that top link.

Mitt Romney Wins Michigan and Arizona Primaries

Mitt recaptures the momentum.

At Washington Post, "Mitt Romney wins Arizona, Michigan primaries."

Mitt Romney won both of Tuesday’s Republican presidential primaries, routing Rick Santorum in Arizona and narrowly securing Michigan, his birth state.

The victories will provide an important boost for Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who has sought to cast himself as the GOP’s inevitable nominee. He has now won primary contests in six states: New Hampshire, Florida, Nevada, Maine, Michigan and Arizona.

“We didn’t win by a lot, but we won by enough. And that’s all that counts,” Romney told supporters in the Detroit suburb of Novi on Tuesday night.

He said nothing about Santorum in his speech, instead criticizing President Obama at length and trying to boil down a complicated economic message.

“I’m going to deliver on more jobs, less debt, smaller government,” Romney said. Later, he returned to another three-point message about government: “I’ll make it simpler, smaller and smarter.”

More at that top link.

And at Los Angeles Times, "Romney takes Arizona and Michigan primaries: Wins ease concerns over protracted battle for nomination."

March 6th is Super Tuesday, and so tonight's wins for Romney were crucial in helping the erstwhile frontrunner restore some of his previous glory. That said, even with some renewed momentum Romney's got some big challenges: Newt Gingrich is leading by double digits in Georgia and Rick Santorum leads in Ohio and Tennessee. I'll have more on this later. Meanwhile, check Christian Science Monitor, "Mitt Romney: Will Michigan, Arizona wins restore aura of inevitability?"

Santorum Up in First Raw Votes Out of Michigan — UPDATED!!

From CNN's Situation Room: "1% of #Michigan votes are in. Santorum 41%, Romney 37% Paul 12% Gingrich 7%. Still very early."

UPDATE: CNN and the other networks called Arizona for Mitt Romney at 6:00pm PST. And right now it looks like Romney's pulling out a lead in Michigan. With 23 percent of precincts reporting, Romney leads Santorum 41 to 38 percent --- and that's an 8,000 vote margin. So, we'll see how it goes ...

6:25pm PST: Professor Larry Sabato tweets: "My best MI contacts tell me they believe Romney will win by a few points in the end."

6:48pm PST: With 50 percent reporting, CNN has Romney up 41 to 38 percent over Santorum, and Romney's up 21,000 votes. Some analysts are already calling a Romney win in Michigan.

7:08pm PST: Here's the headline at LAT, "Romney takes Ariz. primary, Mich. race still tight."

7:19pm PST: CNN just called Michigan for Romney.

7:22pm PST: Here's National Journal, "Romney Wins Michigan in Home-State Cliffhanger."

'Storm the Embassy'

Until later, enjoy some Stray Cats:

Fifty man taken captive in a hostile foreign land
Scorchin' sun beaming down onto miles and miles of sand
A mideast country being ruled
By a man who thinks it's fun
To hold our people in return
For a sjah that's on the run

I think it's funny
Freedom takes money

It's a heartache and it's hard luck
Well that's tough shit
Man it's no fun
Storm the Iranian embassy
Before they start shootin' down you and me

Scourge of suits in control
Of the diplomatic mess
While the nations of the world
Look on and they care less
The Soviet Union won't agree
To an economic plan
And then they laugh and march their troops into Afghanistan

Orders from Moscow
Invade Teheran now

It's a heartache and it's hard luck
Well that's tough shit
Man it's no fun
Storm the Iranian embassy
Before they start shootin' at you and me

A nation worries and reads the papers
Hoping that no-one has died
Hearin' rumours that the hostages
Will soon be tried as spies
Demonstrations on the street
Saying that the end is near
The man from New York Times on vacation
Wants to know what happened here

Agressive acts now
We want the best now
Fifty moms crying
Is my son dying ?

It's a heartache and it's hard luck
Well that's tough shit
Man it's no fun
Storm the Iranian embassy
Before they start shootin' at you and me...

RELATED: From Max Boot, at Commentary, "Paying the Price in Egypt and Iran."


INSPIRATION: Linkmaster Smith.

How to Define Rick Santorum?

From Kim Strassel, at WSJ, "The Race to Define Rick Santorum":

Troy, Mich.

The Michigan primary, and possibly the Republican presidential nomination, may come down to this one question: Who is Rick Santorum?

Is he, as the former Pennsylvania senator avers, a consistent "full-spectrum" conservative, a pioneer on tough policy, and the only candidate who can provide a clear contrast with Barack Obama? Or is he, as his opponent Mitt Romney argues, little more than a Bush-era big-spender, a political insider?

Michiganders will make that choice Tuesday, as an estimated 1.7 million voters go to the polls. Mr. Romney may be Michigan's native son, but the state has become Mr. Santorum's to lose. His early-February victories in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri vaulted him to the top of national polls and to a double-digit lead by mid-February in the Great Lake State. Yet Mr. Santorum has been steadily losing ground and enters in a dead heat...

Continue reading.

Strassel makes the point that Romney wins by tearing down his opponents with Blitzkrieg negative advertising, a point William Jacobson has made over and over again.

Meanwhile, Nate Silver has this, "Michigan Forecast Update: Romney's Lead Looks More Tenuous" (via Memeorandum).

Pamela Geller on Pennsylvania Zombie Mohammad

Via Atlas Shrugs, "VIDEO: Pamela Geller on SUN TV with Ezra Levant on Sharia Justice in Pennslyvania."

'The Con Artist'

We can't afford a sequel, via Nice Deb.

Japan Barely Avoided Nuclear Worst-Case Scenario During Fukushima Disaster

A fascinating report, at New York Times, "Japan Considered Tokyo Evacuation During the Nuclear Crisis":

TOKYO — In the darkest moments of last year’s nuclear accident, Japanese leaders did not know the actual extent of damage at the plant and secretly considered the possibility of evacuating Tokyo, even as they tried to play down the risks in public, an independent investigation into the accident disclosed on Monday.

The investigation by the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation, a new private policy organization, offers one of the most vivid accounts yet of how Japan teetered on the edge of an even larger nuclear crisis than the one that engulfed the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. A team of 30 university professors, lawyers and journalists spent more than six months on the inquiry into Japan’s response to the triple meltdown at the plant, which followed a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that shut down the plant’s cooling systems.

The team interviewed more than 300 people, including top nuclear regulators and government officials, as well as the prime minister during the crisis, Naoto Kan. They were granted extraordinary access, in part because of a strong public demand for greater accountability and because the organization’s founder, Yoichi Funabashi, a former editor in chief of the daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun, is one of Japan’s most respected public intellectuals.

An advance copy of the report describes how Japan’s response was hindered at times by a debilitating breakdown in trust between the major actors: Mr. Kan; the Tokyo headquarters of the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power, known as Tepco; and the manager at the stricken plant. The conflicts produced confused flows of sometimes contradictory information in the early days of the crisis, the report said.

It describes frantic phone calls by the manager, Masao Yoshida, to top officials in the Kan government arguing that he could get the plant under control if he could keep his staff in place, while at the same time ignoring orders from Tepco’s headquarters not to use sea water to cool the overheating reactors. By contrast, Mr. Funabashi said in an interview, Tepco’s president, Masataka Shimizu, was making competing calls to the prime minister’s office saying that the company should evacuate all of its staff, a step that could have been catastrophic.

The 400-page report, due to be released later this week, also describes a darkening mood at the prime minister’s residence as a series of hydrogen explosions rocked the plant on March 14 and 15. It says Mr. Kan and other officials began discussing a worst-case outcome if workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant were evacuated. This would have allowed the plant to spiral out of control, releasing even larger amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere that would in turn force the evacuation of other nearby nuclear plants, causing further meltdowns.

More at that top link.

Smokin' Angelina Jolie on the Red Carpet at Oscars

Well, when Angelina was announcing the awards for best screenplay and so forth I told my wife she looked fabulous. Man, that's some style.

And Telegraph UK has some video from the red carpet:

And check the slideshow, "Oscars 2012: Red carpet fashion best dressed."

BONUS: At London's Daily Mail, "And the award for best breakout star goes to... Angie's right leg: Miss Jolie's lithe limb attracts attention, mocking and 15,000 Twitter followers."


EXTRA: At WaPo, "Oscars red carpet Polyvore remix: Dressing down the best-dressed."

One Dead in Shooting at Chardon High School in Ohio

The New York Times is updating at The Lede blog, "Ohio High School Shooting Leaves 1 Student Dead and 4 Wounded."

And at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Chardon High School shooting: A guide to what happened and how word spread."

CHARDON, Ohio - The chilling actions of a teenager as he systematically shot Chardon High School students sitting at a cafeteria table were captured by surveillance video at Chardon High School, which also showed the chaos afterward.

According to a source who viewed the video, the student - identified by fellow students as T.J. Lane -- sat down by himself at a table in the cafeteria around 7:30 a.m. Within moments he reached into a pack or a bag. He pulled out a .22-caliber handgun.

Lane walked around his table and stood behind students identified by classmates as Russell King, Demetrius Hewlin and Nick Walczak, all juniors and friends. Russell and Nick were waiting there before catching a bus to Auburn Career Center.

Also, "1 student killed, several hurt in shooting at Chardon High School; suspect in custody."

UPDATE: At New York Daily News, the death toll is now at two, "Ohio high school shooting kills two students, suspect in custody."

And at Fox 8 Cleveland, "Teachers’ Heroic Actions During Chardon High Shooting," and "Community Deals with Chardon High School Shooting at Vigil."

GOP Class War Hits First Industrial-State Primary of 2012

At Los Angeles Times, "Santorum and Romney fight their own class war in Michigan":

Rick Santorum, flaunting the fieriest populism in years by a GOP presidential contender, is waging a determined challenge against Mitt Romney, heir to a storied Michigan political dynasty. Romney had once been expected to cruise to victory in the state his father governed and that he won four years ago.

But Santorum was aiming for an upset that, as he says, would shock the Republican world. In the first industrial-state primary of 2012, he has cast himself as a fighter for working men and women against the "elites in society who think that they can manage your life better than you can."

The biggest threat facing the country, the former senator from Pennsylvania says, is a big government in Washington that is bent on expanding its reach ever more deeply into the lives of ordinary Americans. And he links Romney to those forces and to the plutocrats of Wall Street, while drawing implicit contrasts between himself and one of the richest men ever to seek the presidency.

Romney defended his wealth — and by implication the wealthy — during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday."

"If people think that there is something wrong with being successful in America, then they better vote for the other guy," he said. "Because I've been extraordinarily successful and I want to use that success and that know-how to help the American people."

More at that top link.

And also at LAT, "Romney, Santorum locked in dead heat."

Santorum's up 37 to 35 in that poll cited at the article above.

We'll see how it goes. I'll be checking around for more news. But see CNN, "Santorum adviser on Michigan: 'We have already won'." (At Memeorandum.)

Denver Anarchists Throw Urine Bombs at Police

At FOX31 Denver, "Protestors throw urine bombs at Denver police" (via Memeorandum), and KMGH-TV Denver, "5 Arrested In Anti-Police Protest: Activists Accused Of Spray Painting Graffiti On Cars."

There's video at that first link. The report indicates that this wasn't an Occupy protest. The anarchists were protesting police brutality, and it's an annual event apparently.

Still, those urine bombs have Occupy written all over them.

Obamacare Hurts Obama in Battleground States

At USA Today, "Swing states poll: Health care law hurts Obama in 2012" (via Memeorandum):

WASHINGTON – The health care overhaul that President Obama intended to be the signature achievement of his first term instead has become a significant problem in his bid for a second one, uniting Republicans in opposition and eroding his standing among independents.

In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of the nation's dozen top battleground states, a clear majority of registered voters call the bill's passage "a bad thing" and support its repeal if a Republican wins the White House in November. Two years after he signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act— and as the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments about its constitutionality next month — the president has failed to convince most Americans that it was the right thing to do.

"Mandating that you have to buy the insurance rubs me the wrong way altogether," says Fred Harrison, 62, a horse trainer from York County, Pa., who was among those surveyed and supports repeal even though he likes some provisions of the law. "It should be my own choice."

"It seems like it forces you to take health care (coverage), and you don't really have a say in the matter," says Beth Leffew, 26, a college student from Cincinnati. She says the president "didn't really listen to people" when they objected to the proposed bill. "It seems like he just shoved it right through Congress."

Also at Lonely Con, "Obamacare Still Unpopular in Swing States," Doug Powers at Michelle's, "Health Care Law Hurting Obama in Swing States," and Pirate's Cove, "Obama’s Signature Legislation, Which He Won’t Talk About, Hurts Obama In Swing States."

More On the Academy Awards

At the New York Times, "Loud Oscar Roar for ‘The Artist’: 5 Wins," and the Washington Post, "Oscars 2012: The comprehensive Academy Awards recap."

Plus, at the Los Angeles Times, "'The Artist' wins three top Oscars, including best picture."

Meryl Streep Wins Best Actress Oscar for 'Iron Lady'

I suppose this is a good time to post Reason.tv's video on "Iron Lady." Meryl Streep took home the Oscar for best actress for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher.

And see Los Angeles Times, "Oscars 2012: Meryl Streep wins for lead actress."

Meryl Streep won the Oscar for lead actress Sunday at the 84th Academy Awards, for her role playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."

Though the film itself was greeted with mixed reviews, Streep's performance received universal acclaim. In the film, Streep portrays Thatcher throughout her life and career, beginning in her later years and looking back.

This was Streep's third Oscar for lead actress, but her first since "Sophie's Choice" in 1982. Additionally, it was her 17th overall nomination.

And lots more at Los Angeles Times.

George Friedman Resigns as CEO of Stratfor

This would normally be an inspirational level of personal responsibility, although in this case I think Friedman has a point. Stratfor got pwned.

At Instapundit, "AN EMAIL JUST RECEIVED..."

And check CNBC, "Wikileaks Stratfor Memo Reminiscent of a Spy Novel," and Daily Beast, "WikiLeaks to Publish Stratfor Emails."

Added: At Sacramento Bee, "Stratfor Statement on Wikileaks," and Wired, "Wikileaks Pairs with Anonymous to Publish Intelligence Firm’s Dirty Laundry."

'Saving Face' Wins Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject

Well, I hadn't heard of this one (and I'm moved by this), so I checked online for some information. There's a page at Wikipedia, and the Los Angeles Times reports, "Oscars 2012: 'Saving Face' wins for documentary short."

'Act of Valor' Dominates Box Office Weekend

Well, it's movie night, with the Academy Awards and all.

So, here's a movie-related post, via Los Angeles Times, "Box Office: Navy SEALs take out Perry, Aniston, Seyfried."

And from Ed Morrissey, "Film Review: Act of Valor."

Full Interview: Rick Santorum on 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos'

Well, here's your afternoon non-controversy. The progs are up in arms over Rick Santorum's comments on the separation of church and state. And you have to understand this: Progressive really are working for a complete separation of religion and public life. It's not just that folks of non-belief should be protected by constitutional doctrines against religious establishment, the left has gone on the warpath against people of faith, demonizing religion and hammering to destroy traditional values. That's what this is about.

At ABC News, "Rick Santorum: JFK’s 1960 Speech Made Me Want to Throw Up" (via Memeorandum):

There's lots of commentary at Memeorandum.