Interesting.

From the Foundry, the judge has issued a five-page order signalling the likely disposition of one aspect of the suit:

There is a strong likelihood that the Court will find the residency requirement for petition circulators to be unconstitutional. The authorities make clear that circulating petitions for candidates is a form of protected speech, and that the Commonwealth has a heavy burden to justify the restriction on speech by showing not only that the limitation achieves a valid state interest but also that the limitation is no broader in scope than necessary to achieve that purpose. As in all strict scrutiny cases, the state has a difficult task to demonstrate the propriety of its limitation on protected speech. For this reason, the Court believes that the plaintiffs have a substantial likelihood of succeeding on the merits, at least on the issue of the validity of the residency requirement.

When seeking emergency relief -- relief before a full trial -- you have to make an initial showing that you're likely to prevail on the merits in a full trial. The judge (obviously) says he believes the plaintiffs will prevail.

Posted by: Ace at 12:48 PM | Comments (141)
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Outrage!

[N]ew documents have revealed JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings was once criticised by the Nobel prize jury for its poor prose and bad story-telling.

A Swedish newspaper reporter has combed documents, previously classified until now, to discover that in 1961, experts in charge of deciding who should win the prestigious literature prize were not impressed with Tolkien's Middle Earth trilogy.

The reporter discovered that jury member Anders Österling wrote that the novel 'has not in any way measured up to storytelling of the highest quality'.

No but seriously he's not a particularly good writer as a technical matter. But this does raise the question: Why is technical proficiency -- proficiency at the tropes and styles currently in favor in a particular decade -- elevated above almost every other consideration in writing?

Tolkein did develop a pretty plausible world. I remember first reading it: I thought I was going to hate it, that it was kid's stuff, with "elves" and "dwarves" and so on. Fairy-tale nonsense. What I wound up loving about it was that these elves and dwarves had armies and societies and histories. They weren't just sprites that showed up to make mischief, out of the ether, and then disappeared when their part of Plot Advancement was finished. He took old fairy-tale nonsense and made up a world in which it made a kind of sense.

I don't think Lord of the Rings is worthy of Nobel Prize, really, but this fixation on style (and the current style will not be the style a la mode in ten years) is bad for literature. Something Michael Chabon has complained about:

Michael Chabon's introduction, which he calls a rant, suggests that the modern short story is dominated by the "...contemporary quotidian, plotless, moment-of-truth revelatory story." In fact, there are few popular or commercial venues for short stories, and many publications that do use short stories, such as little magazines, tend toward these everyday plotless narratives Chabon describes.

Michael Chabon is, of course, the successful author of the novel Kavalier & Clay, which clearly reflects his interest in American popular culture and commercial story telling, as his protagonists are the creators of a popular comic book during the formative years of comic book publishing.

Chabon reminds us that there was once a healthy market for all sorts of short stories, both in popular and sometimes lurid pulp magazines, and the "slicks," magazines like Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and Liberty. The plots ranged through all sorts of subjects, such as horror, detective, fantasy & science fiction, adventure, war, historical and romance.

It is sort of a mystery how the short story became so marginalized. Everyone complains about the fast pace of modern life, and MTV-shortened attention spans. Surely in such a time there would be a place for short, focused story telling along side long, bloated novels, not to mention "trilogies" that in the end go on for 6 books?

By the way, I haven't read the book of short stories representing his attempt at push-back; I hear it's okay, but not great.

Posted by: Ace at 11:59 AM | Comments (394)
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Very interesting thoughts from Rush. He doesn't seem committed to any candidate, but is defending Romney some. And also knocking Romney.

Today apparently Rush has sharpened up attacks on Newt. Via Twitter, people say Rush said Newt is no longer running for president, but just running a vengeance campaign against Romney.

He then (audio clip) attacked Newt for using Obama's worldview to attack capitalism.

He says he's never heard Newt Gingrich speak this way "It sounds like left-wing social engineering."

He also launched into (transcript only) a very positive screed about Romney being the only candidate out there who's actually defending capitalism.

The point that Nordlinger is making here is that "over and over, Romney defends and explains capitalism." Now, Nordlinger, I'm gathering -- I don't know this, but I'm just assuming from the way he's written the piece here -- that he's for Romney. He says, "Over and over, Romney defends and explains capitalism. And heÂ’s supposed to be the RINO and squish in the race?" The one guy out there defending capitalism, the one guy out there trying to explain corporate profits to the Occupy crowd, he's the squish, he's the moderate, he's the guy that we have the problem with? "ThatÂ’s what I read in the conservative blogosphere, every day. What do you have to do to be a 'real conservative'? Speak bad English and belch?

"In the Saturday debate, Santorum knocked Romney for being just a 'manager,' just a 'CEO,' not fit to be president and commander-in-chief. This was odd for a couple of reasons: First, Romney did have a term as governor of Massachusetts (meaning he has executive political experience, unlike Santorum). And second: Since when do conservative Republicans denigrate private-sector experience?" And a lot of people are asking, "What is going on, why is Newt denigrating private sector experience?" And then saying what Romney does, put people out of work, is a takeover artist and he slashes jobs? That's what Obama's gonna say. Now, about that, we can sit here and wring our hands and lament that this is happening, "Oh, no!" but it is happening, so we have to deal with that, and so what it does is present Romney with an opportunity to defend himself. We'll see how he does. He's gonna have to. He's being assaulted. It's gonna be very eye opening for a lot of people.

I live in Realville. I'm telling you, what happens is what is. That's literal, that's real. It may be totally stupid, it may be totally unfair, it may be outrageous, it may be self-defeating for these Republicans to start ripping into big business or ripping into capitalism, but it's happening.

Y-Not also linked this bit of Rush -- from yesterday, I believe, making the point I've been trying to.

In 2008, Huckabee stayed in the race only to deny Romney the presidency. Huckabee had been mathematically eliminated; Romney had not. Romney was the only candidate capable of defeating McCain. And I supported Romney then, by the way, because I wanted to defeat McCain -- this constant crap about "you RINOs who forced McCain on us" notwithstanding. That was the socon populist Huckabee's call.

But the point is, history is repeating itself. Just as Huckabee had come to hate Romney, now Gingrich apparently does, and is going kamikazee on him, and blowing up capitalism and simply chalking that up to collateral damage.

Why? Well, as Rush explains, when you go scorched earth on your rivals, you can't be shocked when they go scorched earth on you.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:54 AM | Comments (261)
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Ugly.

Worth a watch. I'm not really happy to see Romney mugged, but then I wasn't happy when he mugged Perry, and I wasn't even happy when he mugged Gingrich.

The guy is carpet-bombing and napalming everyone he considers a threat. I just can't see the carpet-bombing in return as unprovoked.

A.B. Stoddard thinks these attacks on Romney will "move votes." I have to think that polling is telling Huntsman, Perry, and Gingrich something similar.

Also from that link: A Newt ad attacking Romney for raising fees, which he says are just another word for taxes.

I don't completely believe that. If you look down this list, there seem to be some things which government should charge people for. After all, it costs government money to provide stuff.

But in many cases, yeah, raising fees is just a way to raise taxes and then say "I didn't raise taxes."

There's no way you can raise $700 million in a state via "fees" and not have it be effectively a tax increase.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:48 AM | Comments (345)
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... and Ewok signal.

All the fun's apparently going to be of the late-evening variety as we watch the returns come in from New Hampshire.

[Update:] An important 2012 election poll has been added below the fold. more...

Posted by: andy at 08:35 AM | Comments (348)
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Employment trends since 1955. Our population keeps increasing, but the labor-force participation ratio is shrinking. In part this reflects the reality that more and more Boomers are leaving the workforce for retirement, and fewer workers are replacing them. But in part it also reflects the large and growing number of able-bodied people who simply stop looking for work for whatever reason. The BLS does not consider these people “unemployed” for statistical purposes, and yet they remain as a drag on the economy.

Public-sector pension debt is an animal that will eat everything if not constrained. The most senior members of the LOTB -- Illinois, California, New Jersey, New York -- will feel the pain soonest, but nearly all states face some tough choices in the years ahead.

His Majesty the King does enjoy his amusements...as long as the filthy peasants are kept well away.

Also, remember: His Majesty does not like to be questioned or held to account by the peasants. The penalties for lese majesté are severe.

Nevertheless, never let it be said that His Majesty does not love his people. There are signs that Obama may be pushing a $1 trillion re-finance plan for mortgage-holders who are underwater on their loans. Moral hazard? His Majesty disdains the term -- King Barack the Just shall determine what is best and right for his long-suffering people.
more...

Posted by: Monty at 04:43 AM | Comments (436)
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Alright, I'm a few weeks behind now---the last poll we did still had Cain on it---but I see no reason why only New Hampshirians (whatever) should be voting today.

Have at it:

If you didn't see it, click over to Andy's "Second Choice" poll from the weekend.

[Ordinary disclaimer noting that Paul is not on the list because the Ronulans spam polls and we don't want the StormFront people over here anyway.]

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:23 AM | Comments (251)
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Just one starter today:

Voting took place in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire at 12:00pm last night. Polls closed one minute later. There were nine votes--2 Romney, 2 Huntsman, 1 Gingrich, and 1 Paul. Obama got 3 votes.

In nearby Hart's Landing, which votes after Dixville Notch, but before the rest of New Hampshire, Romney got 5 votes, Paul 4, Huntsman 2, Gingrich 1, and Perry 1.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:50 AM | Comments (122)
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And for those who were wondering - here's the new 2012 schedule for the ONT:

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:50 PM | Comments (542)
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My heart says "Alabama". My head says "LSU". My liver says go easy on the Jack and my little toe says "please turn on the light this time".

Game on.

Tonight you get one of each.

...

Ok, yeah I'm going with my heart. Roll Tide.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:12 PM | Comments (487)
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