Happy Wednesday. It's another early day for me, but at least this time I brought news.

The EU Court of Human Blah Blah says that solitary confinement at U.S. supermax prisons does not violate prisoner human rights and so will allow the extradition of Al Qaeda hostage-taker Abu Hamza and four others to stand trial and receive possible sentences to federal pound-them-in-the-ass prisons.

The Weekly Standard has a good piece about how Senate majority leader McConnell steered the JOBS Act to get by reluctant Democrats.

Indonesia was just hit with a major earthquake, in the 8.6 range (USGS is still revising the official number). There has already been one 6.5 aftershock.

T-Paw has officially retired his campaign debt, with help from Rep. Bachmann and Gov. Romney. He also filed papers to officially disband his campaign.

There's going to be an overabundance of Santorum campaign post-mortems today. Let me summarize. Some folks will say it was the primary schedule that sunk him. Some will say it was the Establishment futzing with the rules (e.g. in Florida and Michigan). Some will say it was his social conservatism. All of these people are wrong, especially the last group.

Santorum started this race last year as a long-shot candidate who was widely perceived as not representing all that many Republicans. He ended the race as a long-shot candidate, still perceived as not representing all that many Republicans, but who indisputably attracted solid, respectable support from a core Republican constituency. That's not a shot at him. When a "sure thing" collapses (ahem Hillary), that's news. When a long-shot doesn't quite make it to the finish line, that's just the expected outcome.

It's not like Santorum lost to some upstart that had barely been in politics or anything else before (again, Hillary). Santorum lost to the presumptive nominee, the one everyone thought was going to win. It was, as is typical for Republicans, simply Romney's turn; he paid his dues in 2008 and, no surprise, here he is in 2012. The good news for Santorum is that next time, whether that's 2016 or 2020, he'll have a strong claim for it being his turn.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:26 AM | Comments (543)
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You Don't Need a Weatherman To Know Which Way the Wind is Blowing

But it sure helps if you have an animated map showing the prevailing wind direction and speed across the US as of 9pm EST tonight.

And it sure is windy in southern Nevada and Colorado - I wonder what that says about Utah?

(click on the image to see the moving version)

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:11 PM | Comments (682)
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Open news thread before the open fun thread.

Ben and I talked about social media destroying society and Ashley Judd and I think John Derbyshire at the end.

Justified Finale: Tonight at 10. My prediction is that Raylan kills a guy or two, assisted by Boyd.

Posted by: Ace at 05:39 PM | Comments (144)
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Remember that live chat Obama did?

Where a woman asked why Obama was issuing so many visas to foreign engineers, when her own husband couldn't land a job in the field?

And Obama said to forward the resume along, and he'd do what could?

That guy still doesn't have a job.

The “optics” of this story are absolutely horrible for the White House, but it was actually horrible from the moment it began. The idea that Americans should have to beg the royal court for indulgences – which the court then demonstrates it cannot provide! – is nauseating, and it’s not a new aspect of the Obama presidency. In the very first weeks of his Administration, he was at a town hall meeting in Florida when a homeless woman asked him for a house, and lo! A house was soon offered, after the President hugged her.

The President loves to govern by anecdote, peppering his speeches with references to all the letters of supplication he receives from the New Poor (formerly known as “the middle class”) All of these people’s lives will supposedly be shattered if the Obama agenda is opposed. The childish absurdity of basing the decisions of a titanic mega-government on a handful of personal appeals never occurs to him, or to the media, which congratulates him on his political skill in “personalizing” huge social “crises.” That’s how the last shreds of cold, hard reason are steamed out of our discussion of the most bankrupt government in history.

ItÂ’s Obamanomics in a nutshell: if youÂ’re lucky enough to find your way into his carefully controlled town hall meetings, or youÂ’ve got the right political connections, you can do okayÂ… until things get so bad that His Majesty can no longer wave his hand and cause bounty to be showered upon selected peasants.

John Podhoretz writes that March's poor hiring figures are a major problem for Obama.

The Narrative had been things were improving -- not quickly, but still. At least Obama could run on that -- "things are improving, albeit anemically."

What if they're not even doing that?

[Obama's] acknowledgment of the bad news was merely to say that, yes, “there will be ups and downs along the way.”

...

Aside from being flip, the president’s words were also incorrect as a matter of fact: If there is a real and undeniable economic recovery going on as we speak, there shouldn’t be “ups and downs.” A recovery is ups without downs.

During a recovery, growth is pretty much across the board...

They say the public makes its mind up about the economy 6-9 months before an election. We are closing in the last possible chance for Obama.

Romney Echoes Rush: A couple of days ago Rush Limbaugh said it wasn't the Republicans waging war on women -- it was Obama, with policies that have put women out of work.

Not sure if the RNC said it first. That was the subject of the "TRUE BUT FALSE" fact check cited earlier.

Well, Romney's saying it now.

“There’s been some talk about a war on women,” Romney said. “The real war on women has been waged by the Obama administration’s failure on the economy.”

...

“Do you know what percent of job losses in the Obama years have been casualties of women losing jobs as opposed to men?,” Romney said. “92.3 percent of the job losses during the Obama years have been women who lost those jobs. The real war on women has been the job losses as a result of the Obama economy.”

Posted by: Ace at 03:45 PM | Comments (219)
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You can't be serious.

And yet, you can be.

Of the 400 highest income Americans, one out of every three in this group of the most financially fortunate Americans paid less than 15 percent of their income in income taxes in 2008.

One in every three of the top 400 taxpayers.

Why doesn't he just come clean, like Nancy Pelosi did, and confess that his ultimate goal isn't to tax one third of the richest 0.001% (as that raises trivial amounts) but to end the Bush Tax Cuts for the middle class?

A top-of-the-line gold-plated government is going to cost a lot of money.

If Obama wants to elevate the tone, maybe he could begin with some honesty. And some math.

Posted by: Ace at 03:17 PM | Comments (97)
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Shockingly enough, it actually delivered a few laughs for once.

I didn't watch it on Saturday. I never even remember anymore. It's virtually unwatchable.

Which makes this news.

Two good bits, a fake commercial, and a Mitt Romney impression that cracks me up. more...

Posted by: Ace at 02:55 PM | Comments (93)
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A Marquette University poll.

Walker's approval is 50; Obama's is -- I can't believe this -- 48%. And he beats Romney 48-43.

What exactly does it take, morons?

But Walker edges the Democrats, although in one case it's razor think, 47-45, Walker just beating Tom Barrnet.

Meanwhile, Walker and Lt. Governor Kleefish actually are running on their records.
more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:36 PM | Comments (194)
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Here's the page. He does seem to punch out Al Gore (who is identified as Al Gore).

The funny thing about comic book people is that they are shameless hucksters and always have been, always shamelessly indulging in carnival barker stunts to sell mags.

Why is Spiderman dressed in weird armor? To sell books of course. "NEW LOOK SPIDERMAN!!"

Why does he punch out Al Gore? Slap it on the cover: "WHY IS SPIDERMAN PUNCHING OUT AL GORE??!"

Anyway, I'm trying to find out why Spiderman just punched out Al Gore, but I'm sure they'll do a take-back. You know, that Al Gore was Mind-Dominated by the Leader or this is an Al Gore Clone or an Al Gore Android (indistinguishable, naturally, from the real Al Gore).

There's no way they're actually taking some kind of position -- not to the conservative side, anyway.

Posted by: Ace at 12:54 PM | Comments (238)
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He said:

“You know, we’ve gotten kind of used to this sort of verbal tantrums from the president. To me it’s a little more petulance than presidential,” Ryan told NBC. “He’s trying to use this kind of rhetoric to distort away from his failed record.”

Hey, he can't help it if you're thinking about him as VP, right?

In related news, William Kristol's erection just hijacked a plane.

But most of the talk recently is about Rob Portman. Who, I have to admit, I don't know at all.

He served in Bush's cabinet, and as a Congressman and then Senator from swing-state Ohio.

And Romney apparently likes him.

Still, the rap on him is that he's not exciting or charismatic. Which Romney obviously needs, or at least strongly wants.

More: A Dozen Democrats Have Told Me They Support My Ryan/Wyden Compromise on Entitlements. More news from Paul Ryan, claiming bipartisan support, though now, with an election looming, it's kept secret from voters.

Which is, of course, the Democratic Way. Please deliver this information to Vladimir Putin.

“There are a number of Democrats but I don’t want to name their names, because I don’t want to get them in trouble,” he said. “I’ve had 12 come up to me and say, ‘I love what you’re doing with Ron [Wyden],’” he said. As for going public with their support, Ryan said the Democrats told him: “No way, I’ll get killed.”

“I’m not going to out Democrats who I believe are in office, who are favorably disposed to these ideas, for their own sake and for the sake fo getting this consensus realized,” Ryan said at the gathering hosted by Bloomberg View in Manhattan Tuesday morning…

“We hopefully will be in the position to realize this consensus, and include those Erskine Bowles, Ron Wyden, Alice Rivlin Democrats, and bring them into that coalition,” he said.

Posted by: Ace at 12:18 PM | Comments (246)
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I guess this is generally positive.

He started this campaign basically with his convictions and a shoestring. He got amazingly far, all things considered. He came within a few points of dealing Romney a grievous blow in Michigan and upending the race. But he never had the money and organization to compete with Romney–and those things matter. Despite his working-class pitch, he was never able to extend his reach enough beyond his evangelical base.

I always liked that blue-collar pitch, as I had liked it in Tim Pawlenty, too.

Santorum is a man of principle who lives his convictions and is never afraid to defend them. He believes deeply in the American idea. That he was able to do so well based almost entirely on off-the-cuff remarks throughout the campaign is a testament to his experience and his knowledge of the issues. He takes politics seriously. His argument that the breakdown in the family is undermining economic mobility and the America dream is important and too-often neglected. Finally, he had the grace to know when to bow out.

The breakdown of the family is also pretty damn important. My problem with highlighting that, though, is that it is a social problem, caused by tens of millions of decisions over the course of decades.

To me, a governmental response to such a large force -- a tidal wave of social dysfunction -- would require a government empowered beyond the point at which I'm comfortable.

But an important issue, yes.

Posted by: Ace at 12:09 PM | Comments (95)
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