Spurned by Big Studios, 'October Baby' is Box Office Hit

Amazingly, at the front page of the New York Times, "Film Inspired by ‘Abortion Survivor’ Is Quiet Hit":

As mass entertainment goes, the abortion debate does not typically count as good Saturday-night date movie fare; the subject rarely makes it to the mainstream multiplex. But at a time when the issue is once again causing agitation in political circles, a small film, “October Baby,” about a woman who learns she is, as the movie puts it, a “survivor of a failed abortion,” is making a dent at theaters across the country.

The movie, the first feature by a pair of filmmaking brothers from Birmingham, Ala., opened the same weekend as the chart-topping “Hunger Games,” but with the backing of evangelical groups and churches, “October Baby” managed to open at No. 8 and, through Sunday, had made $2.8 million, more than three times its production budget. It is expected to move to more than 500 screens on April 13.

Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films and the Sony-owned Provident Films, which specializes in socially-conservative religious fare, it benefited from the kind of grass-roots religion-focused marketing (enlisting Bible and prayer groups and ministries) that has carried their other Christian-oriented movies, like “Fireproof” and “Courageous,” to box-office success.

But those films did not center on a lightning-rod topic like abortion. “October Baby” tells the story of Hannah, 19, a home-schooled Baptist who is told by a doctor that her ailments — asthma, seizures, moodiness — are the result of being born prematurely after an abortion attempt.

Hannah sets out to find her birth mother, a quest that ends in tears and, ultimately, a lesson in forgiveness delivered by a Catholic priest.

It was inspired by the story of Gianna Jessen, who says she was delivered alive at a California clinic after a late-term saline-injection abortion. As a paid speaker at anti-abortion events she tells of her struggles and medical conditions. (The film doesn’t get into the science, but a 1985 study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology examined  33,000 suction curettage abortions and found a failure rate of 2.3 per 1,000 at the 12-weeks or earlier.)

Though “October Baby” arrives at a moment when reproductive rights and women’s sexual health are again part of a robust national debate, its makers say they weren’t acting with a political agenda.

“I was just dumbfounded by a true story,” said Jon Erwin, 29, a co-writer and a producer of the movie, which he directed with his brother Andrew, 33. “I didn’t see it as a political issue.”

This is interesting.

More at the link.

Apparently, some of the big movies studios wanted nothing to do with the film, obviously since movies like this are a stake in the heart of the pro-choice abortion industry. The first paragraph of Jeannette Catsoulis' review at the New York Times reveals, really, all you need to know about the reaction on the left:

More slickly packaged than most faith-based fare, “October Baby” gussies up its anti-abortion message with gauzy cinematography and more emo music than an entire season of “Grey’s Anatomy.” But not even a dewy heroine and a youth-friendly vibe can disguise the essential ugliness at its core: like the bloodied placards brandished by demonstrators outside women’s health clinics, the film communicates in the language of guilt and fear.

All that for a movie about the real-life survivor of a botched abortion. That ought to tell you something.

Jill Stanek has more: "All about “October Baby”."

Obama Slams Romney 'Marvelous' Comments on Ryan Budget

At Bloomberg, "Obama Condemns Romney Support of ‘Radical’ Republican Budget."

And the obligatory New York Times editorial broadside, "Calling Radicalism by Its Name":

President Obama’s fruitless three-year search for compromise with the Republicans ended in a thunderclap of a speech on Tuesday, as he denounced the party and its presidential candidates for cruelty and extremism. He accused his opponents of imposing on the country a “radical vision” that “is antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity.”

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential front-runner, has embraced a House budget plan that is little more than “thinly veiled social Darwinism,” the president said, a “Trojan horse” disguised as deficit reduction that would hurt middle- and lower-income Americans.

“By gutting the very things we need to grow an economy that’s built to last — education and training, research and development, our infrastructure — it is a prescription for decline,” he said, speaking to a group of Associated Press editors and reporters in Washington.

Mr. Obama has, in recent months, urged Republicans to put aside their destructive agenda. But, in this speech, he finally conceded that the party has demonstrated no interest in the values of compromise and realism. Even Ronald Reagan, who raised taxes in multiple budget deals, “could not get through a Republican primary today,” Mr. Obama said. While Democrats have repeatedly shown a willingness to cut entitlements and have agreed to trillions in domestic spending cuts, he said, Republicans won’t agree to any tax increases and, in fact, want to shower the rich with even more tax cuts.

Well, November's coming early this year, you might say.

See also, "Exit Polls Hint at Leanings of November Voters."

Sarah Palin on 'Today' Show

At Washington Post, "What Sarah Palin’s “Today Show” appearance proves."

Shooting at Oikos University in Oakland: Suspect Was Looking for Administrator

At Telegraph UK, "Oakland shooting: gunman 'was seeking revenge for being expelled'":

A gunman who killed seven people in a massacre at a Christian college was upset after being teased by other students about his English skills, and was seeking vengeance against a school official who had expelled him.

When he could not find the female administrator he was looking for South Korean-born One Goh, 43, shot dead a secretary at the front desk and then entered a classroom where he lined students up against a board and executed them at point blank range.

Goh had been attending Oikos University in Oakland, California, as a nursing student before being asked to leave several months ago.

He had previously lived in Springfield, Virginia, less than 20 miles from Centreville, the home town of Seung-Hui Cho, the South Korean who killed 32 people in the Virginia Tech school massacre on April 16, 2007.

In March last year Goh attended a memorial service in Centreville for his brother, US Army Sergeant Su Wan Ko, 31, who died in a road accident. He also has a surviving brother in the town, which has a large Korean population. It was unclear whether Goh and Cho ever knew each other.

And see the San Francisco Chronicle, "Oikos shooting: Oakland's sorrow is ours."

Kathy Martin Started Late but She Is Catching Up

At New York Times, "After Late Start, Runner Is Speeding Through Records":

The crowd, small but noisy, fixed eyes on Kathy Martin, the woman in last place. Early on, she was fifth in a pack of 11 runners, calmly moving in heavy traffic. She ran not only efficiently but also beautifully, her classic strides in perfect rhythm, a fluid parting of the empty air, almost balletic.

But the race was 3,000 meters long, nearly two miles — 15 laps on the indoor oval — and the other women, most in their 20s and 30s, were atop much younger legs.

A third of the way in, Martin began to fade, and though she continued her even stride, she was trailing toward the end, 25 yards behind anyone else.

Still, the crowd urged her on, and as she leaned into the final turn, people shifted their heads as if watching tennis, first looking at Martin, then back at the clock near the finish. The bright digital seconds seemed to flicker at hyperspeed, but with a strong kick, Martin completed the race in 11 minutes 16.5 seconds, a time 13 seconds faster than any 60-year-old woman had run before.

“Another world record for Kathy Martin!” the announcer cried out.

Life can bestow unexpected gifts, and sometime in her late 40s, Martin, a real estate agent living on Long Island, a busy working mother who had never been in a track meet, discovered a glorious secret hidden away in her body. Not only was she a good runner, she was also an outstanding one. In fact, she was one of the most remarkable female distance runners in the world.

This discovery of greatness in her legs came too late for the kind of dreams a younger woman might have: intercollegiate championships, Olympic glory, being the absolute fastest of the fast. As decades pass, maximum heart rate slows, aerobic capacity wanes, muscle mass tends to dwindle.

But Martin has been redefining what is possible for an older body, setting a string of formidable national and world records.

That's a beautiful story.

More at the link.

Romney Wins Primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland, D.C.

At New York Times, "Romney Adds 3 Victories and Clashes With Obama":

PEWAUKEE, Wis. — Mitt Romney tightened his grip on the Republican nomination on Tuesday with primary victories in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia, and, more significant, found himself in his first direct engagement with President Obama, an unmistakable signal that the general election would not wait on internal Republican politics.

Mr. Romney was declared victorious in Maryland almost as soon as voting ended there at 8 p.m., and was declared the winner in Wisconsin within an hour of the polls closing in that state, where his chief rival, Rick Santorum, once led in some voter opinion surveys.

But the day was in some respects the informal start of the general election, with Mr. Obama for the first time singling Mr. Romney out by name, during a major address dedicated to the budget authored by Mr. Romney’s marquee endorser here — Representative Paul D. Ryan — which the president called “social Darwinism.”

“He said that he’s ‘very supportive’ of this new budget,” Mr. Obama said of Mr. Romney while speaking to editors and reporters from The Associated Press. Using a mocking tone, and referring obliquely to perceptions of his potential opponent’s elite pedigree, he added, “And he even called it ‘marvelous,’ which is a word you don’t often hear when it comes to describing a budget; it’s a word you don’t hear generally.”

Mr. Romney readily engaged in the pre-fall fight, which also included the release of the first Obama campaign advertisement to directly attack Mr. Romney — running in six states and accusing him of standing with “Big Oil.”

A clearly upbeat Mr. Romney, accompanied by Mr. Ryan during a lunch stop at Cousins Subs in Waukesha, Wis., said that Mr. Obama “gets full credit or blame for what’s happened in this economy, and what’s happened to gasoline prices under his watch.”

“This president doesn’t want to take responsibility for his mistakes,” he added.

And see Los Angeles Times, "Three primary wins move Romney closer to presidential nomination," and Washington Post, "Mitt Romney wins Wisconsin, Maryland, D.C. primaries."

BONUS: At Astute Bloggers, "AN EXCERPT FROM ROMNEY'S VICTORY SPEECH IN WISCONSIN: THE ECONOMY IS A LIKE AN OMELET."

'Angie'

From yesterday afternoon's drive-time.

So beautiful. So sad.

One of my very favorite songs from the Rolling Stones:

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The set:

2:00 - I Still Haven't Found... by U2

2:05 - Babylon Sisters by Steely Dan

2:10 - Back In The Saddle by Aerosmith

2:15 - Fortunate Son by CCR

2:17 - Old Time Rock And Roll (live) by Bob Seger

2:28 - Angie by Rolling Stones

2:32 - Hard To Handle by Black Crowes

2:36 - Proud Mary by Ike And Tina Turner

2:40 - Live And Let Die by Paul Mccartney And Wings

2:44 - Every Breath You Take by Police

2:53 - Daniel by Elton John

2:57 - Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix

Obama Warns Against 'Judicial Activism'

At NYT, "President Confident Health Law Will Stand."

And at WSJ, "Obama vs. Marbury v. Madison," and "Assailing the Supreme Court."

Victor Davis Hanson: 'The New Anti-Semitism'

At the Hoover Institution's Defining Ideas journal: 

A new sort of fashionable and socially acceptable anti-Semitism looms large. For much of the past two millennia in the West, hatred of the Jews was a crude prejudice, rich with state-sanctioned religious, economic, and social biases. By the same token, dissidents, leftists, and anti-establishmentarians once took up the cause of decrying anti-Semitism, an Enlightenment theme until well after World War II.

No more—with the establishment of Israel, anti-Semitism metamorphosized in two unforeseen ways. First, it became a near obsession of the modern Left, which associated the creation of the Jewish state with a sort of Western hegemonic impulse. That Israel was democratic and protected human rights in a way unlike its autocratic neighbors mattered nothing. To the international Left, Israel was a religious, imperialistic, and surrogate West in the Middle East.

RTWT.

The Fight Against Radical Islam

An interview with Robert Spencer at Michael Coren's show (via Blazing Cat Fur):

Also, at Atlas Shrugs, "Craven Cowards at Kramer Levin Cave to Hamas-CAIR Cancels Robert Spencer Take Action!," and "Free Speech on Trial: Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer to Testify in First Amendment Suit Against New York's MTA."

12-Year-Old Tom Schaar Lands Skateboarding 1080º

Kids these days.

This kind of thing was light years away when I was skating back in the day.

More video at Los Angeles Times, "Tom Schaar lands skateboarding's first-ever 1080."

The Left Takes a Beating on Trayvon Martin Story

After weeks of rush-to-judgement coverage from the Democrat-Media-Complex, progressives are now expressing profound caution in reporting.

Tom Maguire has had the best coverage, for example, "As the Trayvon Martin Walkbacks Threaten to Become a Stampede" (via Memeorandum).

And see, "Flooding the Zone," and "The Self-Refuting Expert Witness the Orlando Sentinel is Touting."

Also, at Legal Insurrection, "Noted photo-analyst blogger now just seeing what he wants to see."

BONUS: At The Daily Caller, "Zimmerman family member calls NAACP ‘racists,’ says ‘there will be blood on your hands’ if George is hurt."

The Obscenity of George Galloway's By-Election Victory

From Melanie Phillips, "A dangerous enemy of democracy who's being encouraged cynically by the Left":

The general response to George Galloway’s sensational victory in the Bradford West by-election has missed the point by a mile.

Comment has concentrated on the undoubtedly stunning defeat for Labour, and has ascribed Galloway’s victory to widespread disaffection with mainstream political parties.

This is certainly part of the story — strikingly, a significant section of the Tory vote appears to have gone to Galloway — but it is not the key factor behind this torrid triumph of a  discredited demagogue.

For this rested principally on something that commentators are too blinkered or politically correct to mention.

Galloway won because young Bradford Muslims turned out for him in droves.

They did not vote for him because he was promising them better public services. They did not vote for him, indeed, on account of any British domestic issues. They did so because he tailored his message to appeal to their religious passions and prejudices about conflicts abroad.

Specifically, he campaigned against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and for the Palestinians, declaring that his victory would help satisfy voters’ ‘duty’ to care about such grievances.

Most commentators have dismissed this victory as a shocking one-off with no further significance than an upset by an entertaining maverick.

Not so. For with Galloway’s election, religious extremism has become for the first time a potential game-changer in British politics.

The point being so resolutely ignored is that Galloway ran on an Islamist religious ticket. It wasn’t simply that he was pandering to Islamist foreign policy obsessions. He made explicit references to Islam throughout his campaign.

‘All praise to Allah!’ he saluted his victory through a loud-hailer — having previously told a public meeting that if people didn’t vote for him, Allah would want to know why.

Indeed, declaring in one address that ‘God knows who is a Muslim’, he implied that he was even more of a true adherent of that faith than Labour’s Muslim candidate who, he suggested without a shred of evidence, drank alcohol whereas he himself had never touched the stuff.

Pinch yourself — a British politician using the inflammatory rhetoric and  professions of Islamic piety more commonly heard in Iran or Saudi Arabia.

Just as such religious hucksterism inflames millions of followers in the Islamic world, so certain unscrupulous British politicians have now realised they too can tap into the same well of irrational hatred to deliver them electoral victory.

And from Norman Tebbit, at Telegraph UK, "Why the major parties can't just blame George Galloway for their shocking performances in Bradford." And from Dan Hodges, "George Galloway has exposed the void at Labour's core and left it fighting for its life."

BONUS: At Blazing Cat Fur, "Galloway and Livingstone: twins in so many ways."

Muslim Brotherhood to Seek the Presidency in Egypt

This just seemed impossible at the time, that the Muslim Brotherhood --- once banned by Mubarak --- would come to power after the toppling of the secular regime.

But here it comes, at New York Times, "Islamist Group Breaks Pledge to Stay Out of Race in Egypt":

CAIRO — The Muslim Brotherhood nominated its chief strategist and financier Khairat el-Shater on Saturday as its candidate to become Egypt’s first president since Hosni Mubarak, breaking a pledge not to seek the top office and a monopoly on power.

Mr. Shater, 62, a millionaire business tycoon, was a political prisoner until just a year ago. Because of the Brotherhood’s unrivaled grass-roots organization and popular appeal, he is now a presidential front-runner.

He is being nominated at a moment of escalating tension between the Brotherhood and Egypt’s military rulers. The Brotherhood, an Islamist group outlawed under Mr. Mubarak, already dominates the Parliament and the assembly writing a new Constitution. It is now demanding to replace the military-led cabinet and is tussling with the military council over questions like the degree of civilian oversight of the military under the new charter.

His candidacy is likely to unnerve the West and has already outraged Egyptian liberals, who wonder what other pledges of moderation the Brotherhood may abandon.

Via Atlas Shrugs, "SHOCKER: Muslim Brotherhood Breaks Pledge to Stay Out of Race in Egypt."

Chief of General Services Administration Resigns

This is the GSA, which is a federal government procurement and contracting agency. The agency also develops cost-management for the federal government, and job it's obviously under-performing.

At the New York Times, "Agency Administrator Fires Deputies, Then Resigns, Amid Spending Inquiry":

WASHINGTON — The administrator of the General Services Administration fired her two top deputies, then resigned Monday ahead of an investigation into a conference the agency held in Las Vegas that included commemorative coins, lavish meals, a mind reader and a $75,000 team-building exercise assembling bicycles.

The agency’s inspector general was set to release a yearlong investigation of the four-day conference, whose costs included more than $822,000 spent to fly 300 people to the M Resort Spa Casino outside Las Vegas and entertain them in style, when Martha Johnson, the administrator, abruptly resigned and announced the firings, citing “a significant misstep.” The report was posted on the inspector general’s Web site hours later.

The General Services Administration is an independent agency that supplies federal offices and manages buildings and office space. The event under investigation was the western regional conference of the Public Building Service, in October 2010.

White House officials described the conference as “a complete violation of administration rules,” and moved swiftly to prevent the episode from becoming a larger symbol of administration spending. Robert Peck, the Public Buildings Service chief, and Ms. Johnson’s top adviser, Stephen Leeds, were dismissed. Four General Services Administration employees who organized the conference were placed on administrative leave, according to a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss confidential personnel matters.

“On his first day in office, President Obama made clear that the people who serve in his administration are keepers of the public trust and that public service is a privilege,” said Jacob J. Lew, the White House chief of staff, in a statement. “When the White House was informed of the inspector general’s findings, we acted quickly to determine who was responsible for such a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars.”

Continue reading.

And at Twitchy, "Rep. Issa outraged over USGSA corruption."

Muslim Hate Groups on Campus

Via Blazing Cat Fur:

And see Mark Tapson, "Combating the Hate Groups on Campus."

Mitt Romney Shoots Down Question on Interracial Marriage

He doesn't appear all the "uncomfortable" at the clip (as some are saying), but see the report, at CNN, "Romney fields hostile question on Mormonism" (via Memeorandum).

More at The Other McCain, "Ron Paul Supporter Challenges Romney Over Mormon Doctrine in Wisconsin."

Would You Vote for This Man?

It's a tough ad, no doubt.

At The Other McCain, "Brutal: New Rick Santorum TV Ad Compares Mitt Romney to Barack Obama."

RELATED: At National Journal, "Romney Tells Wis. Crowd He Is the Likely GOP Nominee."

And from Mark Blumenthal, "Wisconsin, Maryland Polls Show Likely Mitt Romney Sweep."

BONUS: The Astute Bloggers are about to get some major vindication.

E.J. Dionne Pines for the Days of ... the Eisenhower Administration?

What's been interesting about the ObamaCare debate at the Supreme Court is just how out of touch progressives are with constitutional law. Just to ask whether ObamaCare is constitutional is to draw blank stares from Democrats, who ask incredulously, "Are you serious?" And E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post goes even further to argue that "tea party radicals" have effected a "stealth coup" on the GOP establishment. He writes:

Right before our eyes, American conservatism is becoming something very different from what it once was. Yet this transformation is happening by stealth because moderates are too afraid to acknowledge what all their senses tell them.

Last week’s Supreme Court oral arguments on health care were the most dramatic example of how radical tea partyism has displaced mainstream conservative thinking. It’s not just that the law’s individual mandate was, until very recently, a conservative idea. Even conservative legal analysts were insisting it was impossible to imagine the court declaring the health-care mandate unconstitutional, given its past decisions.

Continue reading for Dionne's examples. I had to laugh when he used President Eisenhower as an example of the good old days of the "moderate" Republican Party:

Today’s conservatives almost never invoke one of our most successful Republican presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who gave us, among other things, federally guaranteed student loans and championed the interstate highway system.

So that's it? To be truly conservative is to expand the size of government, just like Eisenhower.

Not exactly. Guaranteeing student loans is a far cry from attempting to create a market that can then be regulated (like the individual insurance mandate) and the creation of the interstate highway system is exactly the kind of federal regulation expected under the Constitution's enumerated powers.

So what Dionne's really doing is attempting to move the goalposts, to define conservatism as something that it's not.

In case you missed it, Glenn Reynolds had a piece yesterday that put federal and state powers in perspective, "Sunday Reflection: Don't blame Verrilli: Hard to defend the indefensible":

As James Madison wrote in the Federalist No. 45, "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State."

To underscore this arrangement, the Tenth Amendment provided that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

This division of powers was intended to protect freedom by limiting the scope of the powerful national government. It was also intended to reduce the extent of corruption in the federal government. The powers most likely to encourage corruption were left to the states.

This worked pretty well -- it wasn't until late in the 20th century that the federal government started to catch up with state governments in the corruption department. The subjects entrusted to the federal government by the Constitution -- those largely "external" powers -- simply don't lend themselves to corruption. On the other hand, when the government lays a heavy regulatory hand on almost every business and industry, the temptation for those regulated to buy off the regulators -- or to simply buy "protection" from them -- becomes much greater. That has increasingly been the pattern in recent decades, even as, not so coincidentally, the public's trust in the national government has steadily declined. As P.J. O'Rourke famously said, when buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold will be legislators.

There are always arguments about the precise scope of delegated powers, and such arguments have regularly come before the Supreme Court. But it is one thing to argue about the precise extent of limits to enumerated power, and it is another thing entirely to deny their existence.

The last time that happened in front of the Supreme Court was in the 1995 case of United States v. Lopez, where Bill Clinton's Solicitor General Drew S. Days III was caught short by questions from the bench in much the same fashion that Obama's Verrilli was caught last week. In Lopez, the government wanted to argue that possession of a firearm near a school could be regulated as interstate commerce, because guns in school might lead to violence, which would lead to worse education, which would lead to dumber graduates, which would lead to a less productive national economy, which would mean less interstate commerce.

If that argument were accepted, the justices asked, what possible limit could there be to federal power under the Commerce Clause? Days couldn't come up with one, and the government lost the case. It was not acceptable, the majority opinion said, to "pile inference upon inference" in order to extend federal power so far beyond its intended limits. "To do so would require us to conclude that the Constitution's enumeration of powers does not presuppose something not enumerated, and that there never will be a distinction between what is truly national and what is truly local. This we are unwilling to do."

But Days' argument was straightforward compared with the government's argument in the Obamacare case, where the government's willingness to go so far has placed the court in an uncomfortable position: Since Roosevelt's court-packing scheme of 1937 and the "switch in time that saved nine," the court has been willing to let Congress do almost anything it wants under the commerce power. But to uphold the Obamacare statute, the court would have to remove the word "almost." The trouble is, since we know that Congress isn't supposed to have unlimited powers under the Constitution, any argument that would, if accepted, grant Congress unlimited powers must therefore be wrong.

Will the court be willing to remove the "almost" and let Congress do anything it wants under the commerce power? I don't know, but if it doesn't go along with Obamacare, don't blame Donald Verrilli. Instead, blame -- or, rather, credit -- the Constitution.

Progressives don't like the U.S. Constitution because as a legal document there's little in it that justifies the enormous scope of government demanded by radical left-wing ideology. And when conservatives make better arguments on the proper reach of congressional policy-making, progressives start throwing up their hands with cries of coup d'état. But it's not hard to see the real coup has been the encroaching socialization of the economy throughout the 20th century. Now called out on the obscene progressive power grab, leftists recoil in fits of apoplexy.

BONUS: Progressive Barbara O'Brien is another example of teh stupid: "The Right-Wing Coup Continues."

California Seeks to Be #1 in Income Tax Rates

At IBD, "Will New California Income Tax Hike Drive Rich Away?":

California's Gov. Jerry Brown has just signed on to a labor-backed ballot initiative to raise tax income tax rates to as high as 13.3%, and so far the voters seem to approve. A new Los Angeles Times poll puts public support for the plan at 64%. If the measure wins in November, California will hold the prize for the highest income tax rates in the nation.

That is, if some other state doesn't jump past it before then.

In recent years, the country has seen something of a tax-the-rich derby among states enacting so-called "millionaires' taxes" on top earners. Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Maryland all raised rates on high earners during in the 2000s. California's rates were high already.

In some cases the taxes were temporary, in others, not. And you didn't always have to be earning a million dollars to feel the bite. As of January 2012, according to data from the Tax Foundation, Hawaii was the top taxer with a rate of 11% on incomes over $200,000 (for single filers). California was close behind with 10.3% on incomes over $1 million. New Jersey has let a 10.75% tax lapse, but its top rate was still a relatively high 8.97%. Oregon's temporary 11% tax was history, but the top rate was still 9.9%. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo resisted pressure to keep a top rate of 8.97% in effect, but the state ended up with a tax only slightly lower — 8.82% — on incomes over $1 million.

If Brown's initiative succeeds in California, taxes will rise to 12.3% for single filers at $500,000 and for joint filers at $680,000. Another 1% — a tax approved voters in 2004 for mental health programs — kicks in at $1 million. The total top rate of 13.3% would put California ahead of New York City, where state and city income taxes top out at just below 12.5%. California also would raise already-high sales tax rates.

What would happen then? In the short term, the state would get some new revenue. In the longer term, the impact gets murkier because a new question arises: What will this tax do to the state's economy?

More at the link.

BONUS: From John Hawins, at Hot Air, "Good news! California’s choo-choo to nowhere will only waste 68 billion instead of 98 billion."

Trayvon Martin Case Polarizes the Nation

At the New York Times, "In the Eye of a Firestorm."

And at Tampa Bay Times, "Trayvon Martin case fuels intense political debate on left and right":

From suspect to victim to cultural symbol, Trayvon Martin has metamorphosed into a political point of departure over race.

When President Barack Obama spoke about how his son could have looked like the 17-year-old, his white Republican rivals quickly accused him of being racially divisive.

When Gov. Rick Scott established a task force to investigate the "stand your ground" gun law connected to Martin's shooting, a state Democratic leader rebuked him for wanting to wait until the case is adjudicated.

Liberal and left-leaning media have taken up Martin's case, with calls to arrest his shooter, George Zimmerman. Conservative and right-leaning media have called for a get-the-facts first approach, while some have published images of Martin portraying him as a thug.

Groups from the NAACP to the National Council of La Raza, to white and black supremacist groups, have entered — or been drawn into — the political fray as well.

"It's campaign time, and unfortunately, it has come to that. But that's what we get these days, unfortunately," said Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, the only elected black Republican in Florida's Capitol.

Carroll, who's chairing Gov. Scott's task force on stand your ground, said the group needs to take its time and not interfere with the investigation. She also wants to avoid partisan and racial politics.

But Carroll noted that race infuses the case and our justice system, especially with the high-incarceration rates of African-Americans. But she still wanted to focus on whether the state's stand your ground law, authorizing the use of deadly force, needs to be tweaked. The National Rifle Association is sure to fight that, while gun-control advocates are trying to get the law stripped from the books.

Continue reading.

Plus, from Rex Murphy, at National Post, "The tale of Trayvon Martin is a tragedy turned into a race parable."

BONUS: at the Pew Center for Excellence in Journalism, "How Blogs, Twitter and Mainstream Media Have Handled the Trayvon Martin Case."

'The Hunger Games'

I saw this movie with my 10-year-old boy this afternoon. My wife saw it with our 16-year-old boy last night. After watching I felt like Ridley Scott could have really done something with it (he made "Black Hawk Down" and "Gladiator"), but it's a PG-13 film, so that's a wish too far. I think the impact for me is the odd feeling I got that this could be the United States down the road. I kept thinking to myself, "Freedom ain't free," like a bumper sticker flashing before my eyes. The Roman architecture and the computer-generated Nazi-style graphics by the game-programmers in The Capitol got me thinking about George Orwell. I imagine Glenn Beck might have some interesting comments about this, but I haven't been watching his show since he left Fox News. Either way, it's thought provoking in a way that's very close to home with the Obama-depression lingering, although no doubt the filmmakers were hoping for the next blockbuster teen franchise.

Ed Morrissey has a review at Hot Air, "Film review: The Hunger Games." And from Manohla Dargis, at the New York Times, "Tested by a Picturesque Dystopia."

Is There a Bullying Epidemic in the U.S.?

Asks Nick Gillespie, at the Wall Street Journal, "Stop Panicking About Bullies" (via Hit & Run):

I have no interest in defending the bullies who dominate sandboxes, extort lunch money and use Twitter to taunt their classmates. But there is no growing crisis. Childhood and adolescence in America have never been less brutal. Even as the country's overprotective parents whip themselves up into a moral panic about kid-on-kid cruelty, the numbers don't point to any explosion of abuse. As for the rising wave of laws and regulations designed to combat meanness among students, they are likely to lump together minor slights with major offenses. The antibullying movement is already conflating serious cases of gay-bashing and vicious harassment with things like…a kid named Cheese having a tough time in grade school.

Read it all at the link.

Turns out Gillespie was himself a geek in grade school, and so, I suppose, were most of us.

Glenn Reynolds Interviews Robert Zubrin

Glenn has two posts: "INSTAVISION: I talk with Robert Zubrin about his new book..." and "NOW ON YOUTUBE: My InstaVision interview with Bob Zubrin..."

And the book is here: Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism.

The Media and Black Homicide Victims

From Heather Mac Donald, at National Review:

We know the names of virtually every unarmed black civilian shot by the New York Police Department in recent years — Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond, Sean Bell — as well we should. To the extent that botched police tactics or training contributed to these tragic killings, the incidents are rightly publicized so that they can be prevented from reoccurring. Here’s the difference between these killings — they are a tiny handful — and the routine black-on-black killings that occur by the dozen every day across the country. The officers who mistakenly shot their victims thinking they were facing a deadly threat set out that morning to protect people, often in minority neighborhoods, not to injure anyone. A significant number of black-on-black shootings, however, like many shootings among all races, are done in cold blood.

Here’s another difference between police killings of blacks, white-on-black killings, and black-on-black killings: Sheer numbers. There were nine civilian victims of police gunfire last year in New York City; there were several hundred black homicide victims in the city, almost all shot by other blacks or Hispanics, none of them given substantial press coverage. Nationwide, in 2005, there were 2,646 black victims of other blacks, compared to 349 black victims of whites or Hispanics. The relative rates of interracial killings are wildly skewed towards black on white killings: There were two and a half times as many white and Hispanic victims of civilian black killers in 2009 as there were black victims of civilian white and Hispanic killers, even though the black population is one-sixth that of whites and Hispanics combined. Yet to read columnists such as the Times’s Charles Blow or to listen to the professional racial extortionists, it is the police and whites who are the biggest threat to blacks, not other blacks.

A further prudential reason why the routine black gangbanger victim gets so little coverage: He is not particularly appealing. Though he had the misfortune of being the victim that day, he could just as easily have been the perpetrator the next day. That is true of many white-on-white homicides as well.

What Exactly is a Fair Share?

Via Theo Spark:

The Doobie Brothers - 'Long Train Running'

So I'm reading Small Dead Animals and Kate mentions that The Doobie Brothers broke up exactly 30 years ago today. The band has an amazing history. Tom Johnston was a leading member of the band during the early years, and he wrote some of the band's most heavily rocking hits. More later...

Super Sexy Kelly Brook Weekend Rule 5

Well, enough of the left's "Anger Games" for a bit.

Here's some Kelly Brook:

And more recently at London's Daily Mail, "Don't know where to look! Kelly Brook goes for maximum exposure in see-through top and hot pink trousers," and "Bootylicious Brook! Kelly heads to her local park for a workout in some very tight leggings that show off her shapely derriere."

Plus, here's a shout out to Proof Positive: "Happy Fourth Blogiversary!"

Proof credits The Other McCain for boosting some of that blog traffic.

Either way, keep the Rule 5 ladies flowing.

Progressive Mobs Rally for Trayvon

Mob justice.

At Twitchy, "Many Rallies Taking Place Honoring Trayvon."

And at Orlando Sentinel, "Al Sharpton: Civil disobedience will escalate if Zimmerman remains free." (Via Memeorandum.) Also, "Trayvon Martin march draws thousands to Sanford" (at Memeorandum).

Plus, at Los Angeles Times, "Trayvon Martin marchers: 'We want an arrest. Shot in the chest'."

Image Credit: iOWNTHEWORLD.

Hate-Spewing Language of the Left

At the video, Sean Hannity interviews Michelle Malkin on the left's response to Dick Cheney's heart transplant.

And see John Hawkins, at Right Wing News, "The Left’s War On Women: A Day In The Life Of Michelle Malkin On Twitter (Explicit Language)."

How California's Colleges Indoctrinate Students

From Peter Berkowitz, at Wall Street Journal (via Google):

The politicization of higher education by activist professors and compliant university administrators deprives students of the opportunity to acquire knowledge and refine their minds. It also erodes the nation's civic cohesion and its ability to preserve the institutions that undergird democracy in America.

So argues "A Crisis of Competence: The Corrupting Effect of Political Activism in the University of California," a new report by the California Association of Scholars, a division of the National Association of Scholars (NAS). The report is addressed to the Regents of the University of California, which has ultimate responsibility for governing the UC system, but the pathologies it diagnoses prevail throughout the country.

The analysis begins from a nonpolitical fact: Numerous studies of both the UC system and of higher education nationwide demonstrate that students who graduate from college are increasingly ignorant of history and literature. They are unfamiliar with the principles of American constitutional government. And they are bereft of the skills necessary to comprehend serious books and effectively marshal evidence and argument in written work.

This decline in the quality of education coincides with a profound transformation of the college curriculum. None of the nine general campuses in the UC system requires students to study the history and institutions of the United States. None requires students to study Western civilization, and on seven of the nine UC campuses, including Berkeley, a survey course in Western civilization is not even offered. In several English departments one can graduate without taking a course in Shakespeare. In many political science departments majors need not take a course in American politics.

Moreover, the evidence suggests that the hollowing of the curriculum stems from too many professors' preference for promoting a partisan political agenda.

National studies by Stanley Rothman in 1999, and by Neil Gross and Solon Simmons in 2007, have shown that universities' leftward tilt has become severe. And a 2005 study by Daniel Klein and Andrew Western in Academic Questions (a NAS publication) shows this is certainly true in California. For example, Democrats outnumbered Republicans four to one on University of California, Berkeley, professional school faculties; in the social sciences the ratio was approximately 21 to one.

The same 2005 study revealed that the Berkeley sociology department faculty was home to 17 Democrats and no Republicans. The political science department included 28 Democrats and two Republicans. The English department had 29 Democrats and one Republican; and the history department had 31 Democrats and one Republican.

While political affiliation alone need not carry classroom implications, the overwhelmingly left-leaning faculty openly declare the inculcation of progressive political ideas their pedagogical priority. As "A Crisis of Competence" notes, "a recent study by UCLA's prestigious Higher Education Research Institute found that more faculty now believe that they should teach their students to be agents of social change than believe that it is important to teach them the classics of Western civilization."

Mind-boggling, really.

PREVIOUSLY: "California State Colleges and Universities May Screen for Sexual Orientation in Admissions Applications."

Oh My! Piers Morgan Stands Up to MSNBC's Racial Bombthrower Touré

I have some newfound respect for Piers Morgan. The background's at Mediaite, "Update: Piers Morgan Books MSNBC’s Touré In Real Time To Settle Twitter Feud," and "Piers Morgan And Touré Finish Their Twitter Feud On CNN’s Air."

This is ugly, and I'm not talkin' about Morgan:

And at Big Journalism, "Piers Morgan Gets Caught In Toure's Racial Crosshairs":

Poor Piers Morgan. One of his producers must have convinced him that liberal, race-baiter Toure' from rival network MSNBC would be a compelling guest to speak on the Trayvon Martin story.  Toure', after all, is feted and lionized by the intellectual left as an important and vibrant voice bringing a fresh and important new perspective to matters of race in America.

Instead, what Morgan got for extending a gracious invitation to an employee of his network's chief competitor was a petulant and churlish attack from an over-matched and hysterically intellectual lightweight...

It was classic Toure'.  The moment his position was challenged by Mr. Morgan he immediately castigated his inquisitor for the accident of his birthplace.  You see, Morgan was not born in America, so he not only can't understand race issues in America, he is, according to Toure' unqualified to adequately report on the Trayvon Martin case.  It must have been tough for Toure' to make the pivot from race to nation of origin as a means to answer a challenge from his intellectual superior.  The MSNBC analyst's standard mode of operation is to merely blame a person's skin color for the way they think about any given subject.  But in this case, Morgan's original sin is even more insidious than his race; it's the origin of his passport.

For his part, Morgan did a fine job maintaining a cool demeanor as Toure' condescendingly patronized him on his own show.  He rightly challenged Toure' for making sick jokes about the tragic killing on his Twitter feed and then questioned his journalistic integrity for irresponsibly proclaiming Zimmerman guilty of murder while questioning Morgan's ability to properly report the story.

Toure's response?  You're British, you don't get it.

It's yet another embarrassment for NBC News as they seem to surround themselves with race-baiting demagogues who demonize anyone who dares to not fully accept their myopic racial world view.

Also at Twitchy, "Touré targets Big Skittle."

Neighbors Say George Zimmerman Not Racist

This was a front-page report at Thursday's Los Angeles Times, "In Trayvon Martin case, a complex portrait of shooter emerges."

This is a surprisingly sympathetic report. Perhaps the Times is making amends for the generalized rush to judgement across the MSM.

And see The Daily Caller, "Police surveillance video of Zimmerman may show head injury," and "Second Trayvon Martin Twitter feed identified."

Plus, at Protein Wisdom, "Does Police Video Contradict Zimmerman’s Lawyer?"

Meanwhile, at Los Angeles Times, "Spike Lee pays up for wrong-address tweet in Trayvon Martin case."

California State Colleges and Universities May Screen for Sexual Orientation in Admissions Applications

Tina Korbe beat me to this story, "California state colleges consider asking students about sexual orientation on application forms."

Korbe's commenting on this morning's front-page Los Angeles Times article, "California state colleges weigh asking students about sexual orientation." But she's missing something especially key at the report: LGBT screening will embed another layer of political correctness on campus and put pressure on instructors to satisfy the grievances of the various student constituencies. Years ago, at UCSB, a student in my Black Politics course told me that I wasn't teaching the class the right way. He said I wasn't supposed to focus on all these statistics and historical details, etc. I was supposed to teach the class from the approved perspective, to conform with the activist agenda. I was frankly shocked that a student had that much confidence to try to set the instructor straight. It was clear that I was supposed to teach in solidarity with the brothers and sisters. I was supposed to focus on the oppressed. It was a nightmare. (During that same class, I caught some black students cheating on the final exam and it turned into a disaster when the students' parents got involved. As a doctoral candidate, I had no choice but to pass the students. It didn't matter what happened. I heard talk of a lawsuit so no matter what happened during the final there would be no consequences for the students. The department chair had upbraided me earlier in the semester after minority students complained that I was grading too hard. By the time I dealt with the cheating thing I just wanted to get away from this upside down world where rules and standards didn't matter all all, at the University of California.) I'm reminded of this after reading this quote at the Times' report:

UC Berkeley student Andrew Albright, who is gay and a student government activist, said some gay and lesbian students might be initially nervous about how their responses would be used.

But he said most would participate if the potential benefits, such as increased services, are made clear and if UC keeps its promises that an individual's information will be confidential and only used in aggregates.

"I think in general it's a good thing," said Albright, a third-year political science and sociology major. Beyond counseling services, professors might alter approaches to various lectures if they know a sizable percentage of the class is gay or lesbian, he said.

If folks remember the Stalinist reaction to the passage of Proposition 8 in 2008, just imagine if screening for sexual identity at colleges and universities works to create yet another politically correct group of people who will be free from the normal standards and rules of behavior. The activists are running the campuses. I can imagine how horrified some families are at the prospects of sending their kids to public universities. Things are out of control. You will be told what is acceptable to teach. It's happening already. Students are challenging professors' grading policies by filing civil rights complaints, and college administrators are jumping as fast as they can to avoid alienating key constituencies. I'm dealing with these things first hand. It seems unreal, but if you're on the inside you see how the bureaucracy functions as a system to itself. It's scary.

In any case, Fox News had a report a couple of weeks ago, and quotes Ward Connerly on sexual orientation screening:

“It’s a very bad idea," Ward Connerly, president of the American Civil Rights Institute and former regent board member for the University of California system told FoxNews.com "I think that it will lead to another protected class”....

Connerly said schools should accept or reject students based solely on merit, and stop the practice of measuring the makeup of incoming classes by race, gender or sexual orientation.

“I don’t think a university should be asking about a student’s sexuality, race, or gender," said Connerly, who brought attention to the university system's race-based system of preferences within its admissions policies. "This is a step in the wrong direction.”

I'll have more on this later...

UPDATE: Linked at Instapundit. Thanks!

Glenn adds at trippy video, "Transfer to Sector 8!" Check it out.

MORE: From Astute Bloggers, "TWISTED LEFTISTS IN CALIFORNIA WANT TO MAKE EVERYONE'S SEXUAL PREFERENCES PUBLIC."

The Never-Ending Phenomenon of Black Racial Victimology

I'm actually kind of surprised to see this post from Jamelle Bouie at American Prospect, "Willful Ignorance."

Bouie doesn't link to the YouGov item, which is here: "Americans Say Blacks Should Help Themselves, Not Depend On Government." But here's how Bouie frames it (via Memeorandum):

An unnervingly large percentage of white America believes that blacks just need to "work harder" to succeed...

In case you don’t know, it’s straightforward. After the Civil War, when African Americans were freed after more than two hundred years of bondage and chattel slavery, whites in the South—with, eventually, the complicitcy of whites nationwide—engaged in a brutal campaign of violence and economic deprivation against the descendants of said slaves, the result of which was to keep most blacks in a state of near-peonage, where their opportunities for social and economic advancement were extremely limited.

Not to discount the prejudice faced by many immigrant groups, but I’m reasonably sure that this wasn’t the case for anyone other than African Americans. Which, I should add, is the reason why we have affirmative action and other such programs—the effects of this state-sanctioned mistreatment were so strong and so pervasive, that they continue to have an enduring effect on the lives and livelihoods of black Americans (in the aggregate).

But, it seems, most white Americans don’t know that. Indeed, if this YouGov poll is any indication, a fair number of white Americans simply believe that black people are lazy...

Bouie's elaborating the "accumulated disadvantages" thesis that's been the basis for the left's affirmative action advocacy for generations. But with a black president in the White House and a robust black middle class, it's increasingly hard to argue that the legacies of slavery and segregation are keeping blacks chained to poverty and economic deprivation. What's too bad about Bouie, however, is that he misrepresents the YouGov data. The report does not show that white Americans are ignorant of the history of slavery. Although it does say that whites think not enough blacks are willing to work hard. And it's not like there's a lack of evidence on that. See: "Alexandra Pelosi's Latest Video Slams 'Welfare Queens' and 'Obama Bucks'." Frankly, America's historic notions of individual initiative and self sufficiency radically violate the left's endless cries of racial victimology. And progressives like Bouie also completely (and conveniently) ignore the impact of the civil rights movement and decades of social welfare policies designed to reduce racial inequality in this country. Progressives are not only dishonest, but they're hateful and vindictive. This kind of raging racial deprivation is what's beneath this national "conversation" on race we're having in the wake of the Trayvon Martin killing. And it's the left that's pushing the country to the verge of racial civil war.

That's what explains the "regression" on racial progress in this country. And that's what's really depressing.

The War on Wisconsin

From Michelle:

Now is the time for all good tea partiers to come to the aid of Wisconsin. Fiscally conservative leaders in the Badger State are under coordinated siege from Big Labor, the White House, the liberal media and the judiciary. The yearlong campaign of union thuggery, family harassment and intimidation of Republican donors and businesses is about to escalate even further. This is the price the Right pays for doing the right thing.

The most visible target is Gov. Scott Walker, who faces recall on June 5 over his tough package of state budget and public employee union reforms. Three state GOP legislators — Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Sen. Van Wanggaard and Sen. Terry Moulton — also face recall. A fourth target, staunch union reformer and Second Amendment advocate Sen. Pam Galloway, announced she was stepping down last week — leaving the legislature deadlocked and Democratic strategists salivating.

Walker and the GOP majority ended the union compulsory dues racket, allowed workers to choose whether to join a union, curtailed costly bargaining rights and enacted pension and health contribution requirements to bring the government in line with private-sector practices. The Walker reform law helped prevent massive layoffs in public education by saving tens of millions of dollars in bloated benefits bills. Ending the state union monopoly on teachers’ health insurance plans allowed dozens of school districts to switch their coverage to more competitive bidders.

The free-market MacIver Institute reports that at least 25 school districts did so, saving the districts more than $200 per student. Hundreds of millions more in savings are in the works as school districts and local governments turn deficits to surpluses. And Walker’s actions have nearly wiped out the nearly $3.6 billion deficit he inherited from his free-spending predecessors.

New poll data released on Tuesday show two potential Democratic rivals neck and neck with Walker. Wisconsin politicos tell me his national name recognition has bolstered public awareness and fundraising efforts. He’s currently sitting on a $5 million war chest. Walker supporters believe the Big Labor-fueled fight will be dirty, but with vigilant backing, he’ll survive.

The outlook for the unhinged Left’s secondary targets, however, is not so bright. Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, a tea party candidate who is not part of the GOP establishment, is being treated as collateral damage by the party. Outside of Wisconsin, most conservative activists are not even aware that she may be booted from office for simply doing her job. Kleefisch told me that on a recent fundraising swing in D.C., national GOP leaders were shocked to learn of her plight.

Continue reading.

And at Breitbart, "WI Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch Faces Nasty, Sexist Smears Amidst Recall."

ADDED: At CNN:

Voters in the state remain divided over the impending recall election, according to a new poll. The NBC/Marist survey released Friday showed Wisconsin voters were divided over the upcoming election. Forty-six percent of Badger State voters said they will support Walker in the race, while 48% said they will vote for the eventual Democratic candidate.

Walker's approval and disapproval figures were equal at 48%, while a majority of likely Republican voters said they are following the recall election more closely than the GOP primary race, 51% to 37%.

Via Hot Air and Memeorandum.

George Zimmerman's Brother Speaks Out on Trayvon Martin Shooting

This YouTube video is edited.

Be sure to check Althouse, "'You return force with force when somebody assaults you. George was out of breath, he was barely conscious'."

Also at CNN, "Brother: Medical records will prove George Zimmerman's story" (via Memeorandum)

'Operation Hot Mic'

You gotta love it, via HyScience:

And the whiny Rachel Maddow attack-dog Steve Benen is not pleased: "Conservatives still hot over hot-mic story."

Suck it up, big boy.

Controversial ObamaCare Mandate Won't Solve Problems Administration Claims It Will Fix

At IBD, "ObamaCare Mandate Won't Solve Uninsured, Health Costs":

The Obama administration told the Supreme Court this week that the Affordable Care Act's mandate that everyone buy insurance is vital to providing universal coverage and lower insurance costs. But ObamaCare won't solve either problem, as government reports show.

Despite the mandate, there will still be 27 million uninsured a decade from now, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The promised uninsured rate — 10% in 2022 — isn't much better than in 1980, when it was 12%, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

The law also tries to cut the uninsured population by making it illegal for insurers to deny coverage because of preexisting conditions, called "guaranteed issue.

But fewer than 4% cited poor health as a reason for not getting coverage, according to the CBO. Meanwhile, 71% cited the high cost of premiums.

To the extent that poor health puts insurance premiums out of reach, ObamaCare's "community rating" reform could help, since it bars insurance companies from basing premiums on health status. Nevertheless, it will still leave millions without coverage.

Premiums Won't Come Down

The administration also told the Court that the individual mandate will cut insurance costs by eliminating cost-shifting — where uninsured force others to pay for their care. But it appears that, even if the law does reduce cost shifting, the mandate will not result in lower premiums.

A number of reports suggest that, at best, the Affordable Care Act will keep premiums the same, while others say it could actually push them higher than they would otherwise be.

A recent CBO report, for example, says that premiums over the next 10 years will rise at a faster rate than they have for the past five...

At the video, "When Asked Where the Constitution Authorizes Congress to Order Americans To Buy Health Insurance, Pelosi Says: 'Are You Serious?'" (via Legal Insurrection).

Trademarking Trayvon

Look, if they're trademarking their son's name, it's clear they fully expect to profit off the extreme sensationalism of Treyvon's death. And the media rounds to Washington D.C.? What's up with that? A publicity tour ahead of the formal investigation? That's unseemly, to say the least.

I'm surprised CNN even headlined their video "Trademarking Trayvon Martin." There's no pride in that.

And check The Seattle Times‎, "Trayvon Martin's parents say they don't believe police report."

Surprise, surprise!

Florida AG Pam Bondi Discusses Supreme Court ObamaCare Arguments on Fox & Friends

I love her accent!

RELATED: At Washington Free Beacon, "WHITE HOUSE TRIES TO REBRAND MANDATE: EARNEST CALLS GOVERNMENT MANDATE 'PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY CLAUSE'."

MORE: From Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "With ObamaCare in Danger, Liberals Decide the Court’s Power Should Be Limited."

Pope Benedict XVI Calls for Freedom in Cuba

At New York Times, "Pope Calls for ‘Authentic Freedom’ in Cuba":

HAVANA — In the heart of Revolution Square in Cuba, with towering images of guerrilla heroes staring back at him, Pope Benedict XVI called Wednesday for “authentic freedom” in one of the world’s most authoritarian states.

But reflecting an effort to stay in the good graces of his hosts and usher in even more religious freedom on the island, he also denounced the American economic embargo that Cuba has long blamed for most of its troubles.

And so Benedict, a critic of Marxism in general and totalitarian regimes in particular, walked the tightrope that spans the old and new Cuba, with a visit that lasted just over 48 hours and that harked back to the first papal trip here by his predecessor 14 years ago.

In his speeches and before boarding his plane for Rome, the pope pushed for more liberties, sometimes obliquely, while presenting the Roman Catholic Church as being in solidarity with the Cuban people. At the same time, he sought to assure his hosts that he was not explicitly taking sides in one of the most politically complex countries he has visited in his seven years as pope.

“The truth is a desire of the human person, the search for which always supposes the exercise of authentic freedom,” Benedict said in his homily at an outdoor Mass here, eliciting smiles from some in the crowd. “Many, however, prefer shortcuts, trying to avoid this task.”

He warned of “those who wrongly interpret this search for truth, leading them to irrationality and fanaticism. They close themselves up in ‘their truth’ and try to impose it on others.”

Later, Benedict met privately with Fidel Castro for what the Vatican called an “animated dialogue” in which they exchanged jokes about old age — Mr. Castro is 85, and the pope will turn 85 next month — and Mr. Castro asked for books and an explanation of what a pope does.

Afterward, Benedict reiterated the church’s longstanding opposition to the five-decade economic embargo, a rebuke the Cuban government had been waiting for.

While Cubans should use God’s strength in “building a society of broad vision, renewed and reconciled,” the pope said, they should not be hampered by limitations on “basic freedoms” or “a lack of material resources, a situation which is worsened when restrictive economic measures, imposed from outside the country, unfairly burden its people.”

And at Telegraph UK, "Pope Benedict XVI in Cuba."

#NewSpikeLeeMovies

Yesterday saw a hilarious hashtag game break out on Twitter: "#NewSpikeLeeMovies."

And I found Em Dee Bee and was seriously cracking up reading her timeline.

Click that link and give her a follow!

'Kill Zimmerman'

The left's lynch-mob mentality is alive and well.

At Big Journalism, "Blame Palin? 'Kill Zimmerman' Twitter Account Launched."

As of 7:50pm PDT last night, the "Kill Zimmerman" account was live.

Up is Down: Republicans 'Politicizing' Treyvon Martin's Death?

This is frankly bizarre, given all that's been going down on this.

See Jeff Goldstein, "“Obama Campaign: Republicans ‘Politicizing’ Trayvon Martin’s Death”':

Yes. Republicans. It is they who are ‘politicizing’ Martin’s death — they who are organizing marches, they who are putting out bounties, they who are selling hoodies and t-shirts, they who have scheduled mock Congressional briefings, they who used the bully pulpit to call for a national soul-searching because we’re somehow collectively complicit in a young man being shot to death while beating a neighborhood watch captain in Florida. Republicans. It is they who have blamed violence on freedom fetishists, they who have sought to turn the case into a call for federal review of state gun laws, they who stood before the nation and noted that, had they a son, he would have looked like Trayvon, while failing to show any public concern over the death of Brian Terry. It is they who have taken a local case, turned it intentionally into a national story, stoked racial animus, and are trying to orchestrate a lynch mob from the halls of Congress – all while ignoring due process....

Up is down. Black is white. Malcolm is Martin.

Rachel Bloom: Inside the Mind of a 12-Year-Old Boy

Via Blazing Cat Fur:

Trayvon Protesters Ransack Walgreens Store in North Miami Beach

A report at CBS News Tampa Bay, "Trayvon Martin protest leads to ransacking Walgreens."

And YouTube video via Pundette, "Honoring Trayvon's memory":

In a touching tribute to the slain Florida teen, Miami high schoolers looted their local Walgreens, because nothing says "rest in peace" or "you will be missed" like a swiped bag of chips...

Progressives Exploit Trayvon Martin Tragedy

A great discussion.

What's interesting is that both the Wall Street Journal's Jason Riley and the New York Post's Robert George are black. And frankly, these two demonstrate the kind of journalistic objectivity and skepticism that used to be the standard of the American press.

PREVIOUSLY: "Racial-Relations Regression."

Race Hustling Progressives

The video's from PJTV.

And see Jonah Goldberg, at National Review, "Playing the Race Card Again: Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and all the usual suspects exploit the Trayvon Martin story."

‘White Hispanic.” That’s how the New York Times, Reuters, and other media outlets have opted to describe George Zimmerman, a man who would simply be Hispanic if he hadn’t shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The term, rarely if ever used before this tragedy, is necessary in telling the Martin story in a more comfortable way.

What’s the comfortable way? It’s the way the blame for Martin’s death belongs squarely at the feet of “the system.” And “the system” is a white thing, don’t you know?

For instance, in a remarkably uncritical interview with the Los Angeles Times, the Reverend Jesse Jackson explained that with the election of President Obama, “there was this feeling that we were kind of beyond racism.” He continued: “That’s not true. His victory has triggered tremendous backlash.” Indeed, “blacks are under attack.”

Jackson apparently includes in this racist Obama “backlash” record home foreclosures for African Americans and black unemployment. It would have been nice if the L.A. Times had asked Jackson to work a little harder to connect those dots.
Jackson also laments that “targeting, arresting, convicting blacks and ultimately killing us is big business” in America.

RTWT.

Rachel Maddow on Late Show with David Letterman

Well, I posted on Leon Wieseltier's ultimate smack down of Rachel Maddow earlier: "Leon Wieseltier Slams Rachel Maddow's New Book, Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power."

Her book is here.

And here's Maddow on Letterman's show a couple of nights ago. She really hates the military, literally everything about it:

Magic Johnson Group to Buy L.A. Dodgers for $2 Billion

The main story's at the Los Angeles Times, "Magic Johnson-led group is picked as Dodgers' next owner":

A group led by Lakers legend Magic Johnson emerged Tuesday night as the new owners of the Dodgers, ending months of uncertainty for the storied but troubled baseball franchise.

Johnson, who guided the Lakers to five NBA championships during the "Showtime" era of the 1980s, is a partner in the group along with longtime baseball executive Stan Kasten and movie executive Peter Guber. The controlling owner would be Mark Walter, chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, a Chicago-based financial services company.

Walter and McCourt met privately in New York on Tuesday, coming to an agreement only hours after Major League Baseball owners approved three final bidders.

The winning group paid $2 billion for the team -- a record for a sports franchise -- according to an announcement issued jointly with previous owner Frank McCourt.

"I am thrilled to be part of the historic Dodger franchise," Johnson said in the statement, adding the new owners "intend to build on the fantastic foundation laid by Frank McCourt as we drive the Dodgers back to the front page of the sports section."

And see: "L.A. celebrates Magic Johnson and new Dodgers owners." And more at the link.

Justices Question Extent of Federal Power

At WSJ, "Arguments Over Health-Care Law Veer Into a Challenge to Medicaid as Obama's Signature Measure Faces a Rough Ride":

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ended three momentous days of argument Wednesday over the constitutionality of the Obama administration's signature health-care law, with opponents pushing their rhetoric into fundamental questions about the limits of Washington's power.

Conservative justices suggested that if one part of the law is judged unconstitutional, the entire health overhaul with hundreds of provisions may have to fall with it. In the afternoon, the case took a twist that upended expectations, as the conservatives challenged the basis of the federal-state Medicaid program.

Together, the questions underscored the rough ride the administration suffered over the three days that left President Barack Obama's top domestic achievement in doubt. On Tuesday, justices challenged the law's centerpiece, the requirement that Americans carry health insurance or pay a penalty.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, the likely swing vote, sharply questioned both supporters and opponents, leaving his ultimate position in doubt.

In his final minutes before the court Wednesday, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli sought to seize the patriotic mantle from the law's challengers, who have portrayed their effort as a defense of fundamental American values.

Expanding health coverage through the private insurance market or Medicaid, as the Obama law envisions, will extend "the blessings of liberty" to individuals hobbled by disabilities or families decimated by illness, Mr. Verrilli said. "There will be millions of people with chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease" who won't have to worry about medicine, he said.

But as the marathon arguments—extended 30 minutes, at the order of Chief Justice John Roberts, to a total of 6½ hours—neared an end, it was Paul Clement, representing 26 Republican-led states opposed to the law, who had the last word.

"I certainly appreciate what the solicitor general says, that when you support a policy, you think that the policy spreads the blessings of liberty. But I would respectfully suggest that it's a very funny conception of liberty that forces somebody to purchase an insurance policy whether they want it or not," Mr. Clement said.

He added that the health law's expansion of Medicaid "is a direct threat to our federalism."

See also, the Los Angeles Times, "Justices poised to strike down entire healthcare law." (At Memeorandum.)

BONUS: Pundette has more.