News Nuggets 890

DAYLEE PICTURE: Puffins on the Machias Island in Maine.  From National Geographic.

Strauss-Kahn Arrested by French Police Investigating Alleged Prostitution Ring from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Former IMF chief held for questioning over allegations he helped procure prostitutes for orgies in France and the US."
Ok -- where now is Bernard Henri Levy, world-class DSK apologist and American-justice bashing big mouth!?  It seems that, at least in the hotel maid case, the NYPD had a better sense of who they were hauling off a plane at JFK than a large percentage of the French punditry.  How do you say, "Book'em, Dano" in French?!  The Wall Street Journal has more on the story HERE.

More Than Half Of Older High School Dropouts Not Employed Today from the Huffington Post
"More than half of the high school dropouts in America above age 25 are currently out of work, according to The Wall Street Journal. Americans who didn't finish high school seem to be bearing the brunt of the country's unemployment crisis..."

Democrats Say Virginia Ultrasound Measure ‘Akin To Rape’ from Talking Points Memo
"Virginia legislators are considering two bills that would create harsh restrictions on abortions. One of the measures, Democrats say, is “akin to rape.” But there are signs that some Republicans may be having second thoughts."

Do The Birth Control Lawsuits Have Legal Standing? Hardly from Talking Points Memo
"...barring a departure from precedent, the lawsuits aren’t set to go very far. “I don’t think they have much of a case under current precedent,” said Jessica Arons of the Center For American Progress. ... Adam Winkler, a constitutional law professor at UCLA, was more blunt. “This lawsuit is inspired by politics and nothing more,” he told TPM. “Even under the previously announced rule there was little chance of success.”"

Brokering a GOP Disaster (Jonathan Bernstein) from Salon
"Republicans hoping for a deadlocked convention overlook the perils to the party."

Two Charts That Should Make Romney Gulp from Talking Points Memo
"It’s no secret that, as far as frontrunners go, Mitt Romney’s never exactly set the grassroots on fire. But his latest fundraising numbers drive home just how weak his small donor appeal is compared to his rivals — and especially President Obama."

January fundraising: Winners and Losers (Aaron Blake) from the Washington Post
"Obama’s campaign had $76 million cash on hand at the end of the month; the four GOP candidates had less than $13 million combined. Even better for Obama is the fact that Romney’s opponents closed the fundraising gap significantly, which will reduce Romney’s spending advantage going forward (see below for more on this)."

The GOP's Looming Election Disaster Is Just Like 1964 (Geoffrey Kabaservice) from the New Republic
"A specter is haunting the Republican establishment—the specter of Barry Goldwater. With recent polling data suggesting that Rick Santorum has surged ahead of Mitt Romney among Republican voters nationwide, the people whose livelihoods depend on Republican electoral victories are terrified by the growing possibility of a massive wipeout in November, much like the one that Republicans experienced in 1964, when Goldwater was their nominee."
"Massive wipeout."  I like the sound of that.  A very interesting column.

Mitt Romney's Burn Rate a Boon for Barack Obama from Politico
"Mitt Romney is burning through cash more than twice as fast as he’s raising it, new reports filed Monday show — a clear sign that a protracted GOP primary fight could leave the front-runner limping into a general election fight with President Barack Obama."
Daily Kos has some in-depth analysis of Romney's numbers HERE.

Rick Santorum Cries Nazi (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"Rick Santorum sees Nazis everywhere: in the Middle East, in doctor’s offices and medical labs, in the Democratic Party, and now in the White House. The Republican presidential candidate told a group of supporters Sunday night that this year’s election was like the time between 1940 and 1941 when Americans didn’t act against Adolf Hitler because they thought he was “a nice guy” and not “near as bad as what we think.”"

Thanks, Rick Santorum! No, Really (Joan Walsh) from Salon
"Your backward views are alerting American voters about GOP extremism on issues of health and privacy."

Rick Santorum Defends Satan Comments from Politico
"“You know … I’m a person of faith. I believe in good and evil. I think if somehow or another because you’re a person of faith you believe in good and evil is a disqualifier for president, we’re going to have a very small pool of candidates who can run for president,” Santorum said. Santorum said questioning whether he believed Satan was attacking America was “not relevant.”"
Not much of a defense.

Rick Santorum Questioned Obama's Faith In 2008, Said There's No Such Thing As A Liberal Christian from the Huffington Post
"When asked if he believed Obama is a "sincere liberal Christian," the former Pennsylvania senator said he didn't believe that sort of ideology exists, and that Obama's church, United Church of Christ in Chicago, had "abandoned Christendom" and used a non-literal interpretation of the Bible."

A welcome rejoinder to this comment comes from a long-silent source: 
Religion And Politics Don't Mix, Major Religious Groups Tell Presidential Candidates from the Huffington Post
"After Rick Santorum ignited controversy over the weekend by saying President Barack Obama has a "phony" and "different theology" that's not "based on the Bible," and amid ongoing discomfort among some politicians and religious figures over Mitt Romney's Mormon faith, a coalition of major religious organizations is calling on presidential candidates to keep religion out of politics."

Rick’s Religious Fanaticism (Maureen Dowd) from the New York Times 
"Longing for the Victorian age, Rick Santorum might lose the Victoria’s Secret vote."

It’s Not Conservative, It’s Reactionary (Jennifer Rubin) from the Washington Post
"Santorum on social issues is not a conservative but a reactionary, seeking to obliterate the national consensus on a range of issues beyond gay marriage and abortion. A reactionary is one who seeks to return to a previous state of affairs. It is not a conservative outlook, which in the Burkean sense looks to people as they are, prefers modest over the radical solutions and builds on the existing morals and habits of the society."
Um ... I hate to break it to you, Jennifer, but the ideological center of gravity for the GOP these days is REACTIONARY.  They are not conservative any more.  They look to the future with profound pessimism -- and what they offer America are cartoon versions of the past, usually something from the Eisenhower years but occasionally throwbacks from Teddy Roosevelt's time and even moldy oldies that are pre-Abraham Lincoln.  As a practical matter, Republicans disdain the "future" largely (I suspect) because they see so little of their world view surviving in it.  

A view that reflects a similar sentiment:
Where is the GOP's Positive Program? (David Frum) from the Daily Beast 
"Does the GOP have a message for 2012 besides anti-Obamaism? ...  A Republican program that emphasizes "repeal" and "undo" is not a positive program. It's not a future-oriented program either: it's a program to refight the battles of the past four years, hoping this time to win the fights that were lost last time."

In WI, March Release of Employment Situation Highly Anticipated, Consequences for Gov. Walker from the Appleton Post Crescent [of Wisconsin]
"The state Department of Workforce Development will release job numbers next month that could be the most anticipated statistics of Gov. Scott Walker's short tenure. If the January and February numbers show Wisconsin lost another 4,500 positions, the state will — on paper — have fewer jobs now than before Walker took office."

The Two Americas: A Review of Coming Apart by Charles Murray (Timothy Noah) from the New Republic
"We are, Murray posits, two nations: one a pampered and clueless but high-functioning meritocratic elite, and one a bruised and resentful and low-functioning working class. Murray can’t resist caricaturing the elite as largely a bunch of NPR-listening, New Yorker-reading, Galapagos-cruising liberal nitwits, but he concedes that most of the conservatives who inhabit America’s upper tier are similarly out of touch with proletarian culture."
I've been curious to see how the New Republic might review this controversial book.

OLD HOLLYWOOD NUGGET!!
The Artisits: Notes on the Lost Art of Silent Film Acting (David Denby) from the New Yorker
"From the beginning, the silent cinema was an art devoted to physical risk and to primitive passions, to rage, lust, ambition, and obsession (silence made emotions more extreme in many ways), and it produced obsession in its huge audience."

OBAMA SINGING NUGGET!!
Obama Sings 'Sweet Home Chicago' During Blues Concert At White House (VIDEO) from the Huffington Post
"The president just couldn't say no: Mick Jagger held out a mic almost by way of command, and soon Barack Obama was belting out the blues with the best of them."
WOW!!  Obama shows that he REALLY CAN sing!!  I'd listen to his album any day!

US-CANADA HISTORY NUGGET!!
The War of 1812: Stupid but Important (Diamond and Aronovitch) from the Globe and Mail [of Toronto]
"The War of 1812 saw the last foreign invasion on Canadian soil. Ironically, its commemoration has become a battleground in Canada. The arrival of the war’s bicentennial has ushered in a national debate on its significance in both Canada and the United States, the level of government support it deserves and, of course, that 200-year-old chestnut: Who, if anyone, won?"

US LABOR HISTORY NUGGET!!
The Great Worker Revolt of 1877 from Salon
"In the 1876 election deal, Thomas Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad, whose mediation plan delivered the disputed electoral votes to Hayes got a federal bailout of  the Texas and Pacific railroad in which he owned a large stake. While it is not clear if this deal led to the’ sending of federal troops to the strike-torn areas, the possibility of a quid pro quo arrangement is reasonable."