Here's a 33 question, multiple choice, civics test.

After you take it post your brag worthy score in comments. I'm a skeptic and felt this was a reasonable test. There was only one question that made me go, "huh".

Note that the average score was 49%. College Professors got 55%. Elected Officials displayed their quality with a 44%!

I'll put my score in comments so as not to scare you off before you take the test.

_{^{Also, I tweet at @ComradeArthur}}

Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:51 PM | Comments (575)
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Come on guys, will no one rid Obama of these meddlesome priests?

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which had led opposition to the regulation, issued a statement saying that they didn't believe their concerns were addressed by a new policy offered by President Barack Obama on Friday morning to allow religious employers who object to the use of birth control to turn over responsibility for covering it to insurance companies.

...

The bishops also said that the current structure of the proposal meant that if an employee and insurer agreed to add contraception coverage to a health plan, it would still be financed in the same way as the rest of the coverage offered by the employer.

"These changes require careful moral analysis, and moreover, appear subject to some measure of change. But we note at the outset that the lack of clear protection... is unacceptable and must be corrected," the statement said.

Posted by: DrewM at 09:54 AM | Comments (347)
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It's PPP and all but 15 points? Oy.

Riding a wave of momentum from his trio of victories on Tuesday Rick Santorum has opened up a wide lead in PPP's newest national poll. He's at 38% to 23% for Mitt Romney, 17% for Newt Gingrich, and 13% for Ron Paul.

Part of the reason for Santorum's surge is his own high level of popularity. 64% of voters see him favorably to only 22% with a negative one. But the other, and maybe more important, reason is that Republicans are significantly souring on both Romney and Gingrich. Romney's favorability is barely above water at 44/43, representing a 23 point net decline from our December national poll when he was +24 (55/31). Gingrich has fallen even further. A 44% plurality of GOP voters now hold a negative opinion of him to only 42% with a positive one. That's a 34 point drop from 2 months ago when he was at +32 (60/2 .

Santorum is now completely dominating with several key segments of the electorate, especially the most right leaning parts of the party. With those describing themselves as 'very conservative,' he's now winning a majority of voters at 53% to 20% for Gingrich and 15% for Romney. Santorum gets a majority with Tea Party voters as well at 51% to 24% for Gingrich and 12% for Romney. And with Evangelicals he falls just short of a majority with 45% to 21% for Gingrich and 18% for Romney.

It may not be as much of an outlier as it seems at first glance when you consider a Rasmussen poll released yesterday.

President Obama's lead over Mitt Romney in a potential head-to-head contest has swelled to 10 points, with the president capturing 50% support to Mr. Romney's 40%. Meanwhile, Rasmussen finds that Mr. Obama leads Mr. Santorum by just four points, 46% to 42%. Another recent Rasmussen poll, focused on the key battleground state of Ohio, finds a dead heat in a potential Obama-Santorum contest. But the president leads Mr. Romney by four points among Buckeye voters. The evidence from Rasmussen clearly suggests that, at least for the moment, Mr. Santorum is the most electable Republican.

It's pretty clear at this late date that Romney simply isn't sealing the deal. Normally at this point the Romney attack machine would get going and try to destroy Santorum but some conservatives reportedly urged Romney not to go down that road again for fear of alienating conservatives.

What a disaster this whole thing is.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:08 AM | Comments (673)
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Now it turns out that two of the "big fish" supposedly targeted in the bungled "Fast & Furious" ATF weapons export program were FBI informants. And their status as such made them essentially "unindictable" by the Federal Government. Well, what did you expect? Did you think that the Reichstag was going to torch itself?

In other news, yesterday President Obama caved in to pressure from an organization that wished to preserve their moral clarity on a particularly divisive issue that's been in all the papers lately. The Feds announced that the NAACP and other groups focused on the status of African-Americans will no longer be forced to reimburse their employees for yearly membership dues to their local Klan Klaverns (or whatever the hell those groups call themselves). ** The checks to the Klan will still be issued, but instead of coming directly from the NAACP office with "Klan Membership Dues" written in the lower left-hand corner, they will instead be hidden in payments to the NAACP's insurance company. So, you know: Out of Sight, Out of Mind and all that.

No word from the administration on whether or not this exemption will be extended to keep Jewish organizations from having to provide Stormfront memberships to their employees and Native American Tribal Councils from being required to give naming rights to their administration buildings to Budweiser and Jack Daniels.

** (And before anyone asks, yeah.....I might have mangled current events a little bit due to neglect of details. That shouldn't be a problem - just replace "NAACP" and "Klan Membership Dues" with "Catholic Organizations" and "Abortion & Contraceptive Services" and my point should be 100% on topic. Just because I'm a Protestant doesn't mean that I think the Catholic Church is alone in this battle. The only reason they are in a position where many of my fellow Protestants are pointing out that they put themselves in this box with their prior cheerleading for Obamacare is because they are a "top-down" organization. Given the chance, Protestant leaders would betray their supposed principles for a suck at the government tit just as easily.....Hell, now that I think about it, they'd probably be easier. Protestant & Evangelical organizations all have employees that will be covered by this proposed mandate, but the Catholic Church is the one in the spotlight because they've got more infrastructure in the public eye. ALL religious organizations are led by fallible people, and the rationalization for compromising one or more principles for "the greater good" is as old as mankind.)

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 03:21 AM | Comments (107)
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Ah. The Future Of Work For High School Grads. Not too rosy a picture AND it assumes full employment by 2020. Not if Teh Won wins re-election. But I digress.

According to the BLS, there will be 20.4 million more jobs in 2020 than there were in 2010. About 12.8 million of those jobs will require a high school degree or less. Many of those will be clustered in services. The country will need more healthcare aides to look after a rapidly aging population. There will be more work in food preparation, retail, and office administration.
In the coming years, the government expects that 63% of all new jobs will require a high school degree or less. That's the good news. The bad news: the pay.

Posted by: CDR M at 05:35 PM | Comments (810)
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From The Guardian, Saudi Arabia used Interpol for to arrest a journalist in Malaysia who insulted Muhammed on Twitter.

Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia used the organisation's red notice system to get a journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

Police in Kuala Lumpur said Hamza Kashgari, 23, was detained at the airport "following a request made to us by Interpol" the international police cooperation agency, on behalf of the Saudi authorities.

Kashgari, a newspaper columnist, fled Saudi Arabia after posting a tweet on the prophet's birthday that sparked more than 30,000 responses and several death threats. The posting, which was later deleted, read: "I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you Â… I will not pray for you."

More than 13,000 people joined a Facebook page titled "The Saudi People Demand the Execution of Hamza Kashgari".

Clerics in Saudi Arabia called for him to be charged with apostasy, a religious offence punishable by death. Reports suggest that the Malaysian authorities intend to return him to his native country.

Obviously, Interpol shouldn't be arresting journalists for speech. Via @JonahNRO and Andrew McCarthy.

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Posted by: rdbrewer at 02:09 PM | Comments (294)
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Yes, you saw it, the four hour working day is here.

I really suck. I know.

Posted by: Ace at 01:01 PM | Comments (228)
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Funny video, too.

Posted by: Ace at 12:44 PM | Comments (88)
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That headline has now been changed to

Obama revamps contraceptive policy

Correction: No, it hasn't. Slublog tells me the headline above is the headline on the main page -- the headline below heads the actual article, on its own page. So on MSNBC's entry page, they're telling everyone that King Obama has fixed everything.

The story still claims he's compromised, which he has not.

There is no quote from a critic in the story, pointing out how absurd this is.

President Barack Obama announced Friday that the administration will not require religious-affiliated institutions to cover birth control for their employees.

Capping weeks of growing controversy, Obama said he was backing off a newly announced requirement for religious employers to provide free birth control coverage even if it runs counter totheir religious beliefs.

Instead, workers at such institutions will be able to get free birth control coverage directly from health insurance companies.

"Free" in what sense? Is it really free? Does it cost the insurer something? If it costs something (and it does), from what account does MSNBC imagine those costs will be paid?

The Pile of Free Money Just Sitting Around Looking For Some Use account?

"Under the rule, women will still have access to free preventive care that includes contraceptive services no matter where they work. That core principle remains," he said from the White House briefing room.

"Religious liberty will be protected and a law that requires free preventative care will not discriminate against women," Obama added.

Thanks to @slublog.

Rush rants about losing our liberty inch by inch, but I think that metaphor is wrong. This is a full foot, maybe a foot and a half.

He's taken one unconstitutional, tyrannical mandate and, to deflect criticism, simply asserted a new unconstitutional tyrannical mandate to cover the first.

Nevergiveup asked about possible legal action. I do not remember this area of the law (or any of them, really).

I do think there is a potential first amendment challenge here (free expression of religion).

Past cases have involved stuff like Indian shamans seeking first amendment protection for the use of illicit hallucinogenics (peyote) in ceremonies, similar claims about the use of marijuana in Rasta-type cults, and claims that practitioners of Santaria are exempt from animal-cruelty laws and thus can slaughter chickens and stuff in rituals.

In all of those cases, the first amendment challenge was rejected, on the idea that the government interest in these laws was high, and the laws were generally applicable, and thus a religious exemption should not be carved out to excuse people from general compliance with necessary and proper laws.

On the other hand, the courts have recognized a conscience objector status in war.

This case would be an easier call in one sense-- there is no very strong interest in the government mandating this (indeed, it seems like it has no true authority to do so in the first place).

But in the various Strange Cults cases, those involved religious organizations themselves, not people engaged in ordinary business affairs claiming a religious exemption. So that would be a harder call -- the courts would have to create a much bigger exemption, similar to the conscience objector status to war (which the courts found doesn't even need to be premised on a religiously-based objection, but a general moral aversion).

Is Anthony Kennedy a Catholic? The Internet thinks so but I don't know. If he is Catholic at all, he doesn't seem to much influenced by his Catholicism in his rulings.

Recent Ministerial Exemption Case: Commenters, such as Greg Q here, tell me a recent case played in this ballpark:

The Supreme Court recently decided that the "ministerial exception" to employment discrimination laws applied to basically anyone the religious organization said was a minister. No direct application to this case, but evidence that 5 Supremes do believe the 1st Amendment matters.

Interesting. But that involves direct interference in a religious organization. The exemption sought here would involve people not acting as part of a church contending their right to free expression of religion exempts them from following a law that offends their beliefs.

In that way, this would be tougher sledding, a bigger and broader exemption. And the courts don't like big, expansive rulings (unless they tend in the liberal direction, in which case they often are willing to roll the dice, as Barney Frank would say).

Lawsuit Filed: I'm sure there will be more complainants.

Posted by: Ace at 11:27 AM | Comments (294)
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From Forbes, lots of talk on Twitter about Kim John-un being dead:

In the past two hours, Twitter has exploded with unsubstantiated rumors that the new North Korean dictator died in Beijing today and that a coup is underway in North Korea. All rumor of course, and one that appears to have been started on ChinaÂ’s twitter-like platform Weibo. As the story goes, a couple assassins barged into KimÂ’s room in Beijing and shot him, before being shot and killed themselves by bodyguards.

We didn't even get to know how creepy he would be.

Recall that Kim Jong-un's uncle and aunt, Jang Song Thaek and Kim Kyong Hui, were to be playing key roles in his government. And that Kim Jong-un had siblings. In fact, one of them said last month that he was doomed:

The eldest son of North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il has predicted the regime would soon fail, with or without reforms, according to a new book that the author says is based on emails and interviews with Kim Jong-nam.

The book says that Kim Jong-nam - who has never met the new leader, his half-brother Kim Jong-un - described the dynastic succession as "a joke to the outside world", and said even his father had originally opposed the hereditary transfer of power.

"The Kim Jong-un regime will not last long," Kim Jong-nam is said to have written, forecasting a power struggle. "Without reforms, North Korea will collapse, and when such changes take place, the regime will collapse."

I hope they have those nukes locked down.

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Posted by: rdbrewer at 10:50 AM | Comments (176)
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