Month: March 2012

Rubio would be a mistake:

[L]arge majorities of Hispanic voters in Southwestern swing states prefer Democratic policy priorities, and this is one reason why they tend to vote overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates at the federal level. In 2008, 69% of Latinos in New Mexico voted for Obama, as did 61% of Latinos in Colorado. There’s no real reason to expect that having Rubio as a running mate is going to close that gap significantly. Making Rubio the VP nominee would be another blunder of promoting an unqualified rising politician too quickly for his own good in the name of generating enthusiasm for the presidential ticket.

But Florida? Or is that out of contention already?

The earliest since 1896, in fact:

The vernal equinox — the first day of spring — [arrived today at] (March 20) at 05:14 Universal Time, or 1:14 a.m. EDT. Even more intriguing is that for those in the Mountain and Pacific Time zones, the equinox [actually arrived last night] (March 19).

The cherry blossoms have also come early to DC:

[Jason Samenow's] analysis of temperatures and blooms dates reveals Washington’s average March temperature has warmed 2.3 degrees in the last 90 years and that the cherry blossom peak bloom date has shifted a little more than 5 days earlier (based on simple linear regression).

(Photo by Ned Martel)

Probably not:

Las Vegas hasn’t posted odds on whether the Supreme Court will reject health care reform. But the American Bar Association has done the next best thing. As part of a special publication devoted to the case, the ABA surveyed a group of veteran observers and asked them to predict the outcome. The results? Eighty-five percent predicted that the court will uphold the law.

An earlier look at the upcoming case here.

Romney does his best Slim Shady:

The campaign is already being ratcheted up. The Israeli ambassador, Michael Oren, does the usual job of situating Peter in the discourse rather than addressing his actual arguments:

Peter Beinart's call places him well beyond the Israeli mainstream, the moderate left, and the vast majority of Israelis who care about peace. The call for boycotting all products made by Israeli communities outside of Jerusalem and beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines is supported only by a marginal and highly radical fringe.

But continuing them remains the mainstream. And all blame lies with the Palestinians, as if they haven't changed on the West Bank these past few years one iota.

Libertyville, Illinois, 11.58 am

The new iPad is not compatible with concrete.

"Churchgoing Catholics do feel strong about the pro-life issues. They also feel strong about the economic issues. And from what we’ve seen in the last three months, they feel very strong about religious freedom. Could those churchgoing, committed Catholics be enough of a swing vote in important states where there is a heavy Catholic population to throw the election one way or the other? They could be, yeah," – Cardinal Dolan, all but endorsing the GOP in the current campaign. He goes even further here.

Cardinal George is even more enraged:

This year [for Lent], the Catholic Church in the United States is being told she must "give up" her health care institutions, her universities and many of her social service organizations.

This is such an insane spin it's worth unpacking. What Cardinal George is saying is that the Catholic church would rather withdraw entirely from its commitment to the poor because its female employees would have access to contraception, paid for by insurance companies, not the church, in their health insurance. They've done this before, ending their outreach to the homeless in DC because one of their employees, in a lay context, might actually be in a legal marriage with a same-sex spouse.

Here's a question: why are the Catholic hierarchs not as adamant about divorced or re-married people who are employed in their affiliated institutions?

Propaganda isn't going to create itself:

An unvarnished glimpse of the evil regime here.

No worse than the ones that serve its competitors:

[M]any of Apple’s major competitors use precisely the same suppliers. Foxconn supplies Samsung, Hewlett-Packard and Dell, as well as Apple. Most of the recent attention on unethical practices in the Chinese electronics industry has focused on Apple, rather than its competitors. But Apple may be the main target largely because, given its size and high profit margins, it’s perceived to be in the best position to improve labour standards, not because it’s own standards are the worst. 

Matt Steinglass reframes the debate:

I don't know what other people are mentally accusing Apple of, but in my book, the relevant question in this whole drama has always been very simple: is Apple adequately ensuring that its Supplier Code of Conduct is being enforced, and is that code of conduct itself adequate? The question is not whether it is sinful to buy an iPhone. The question is not whether Apple is a force for good or evil in the world. The question is not whether trade with China is good or bad. The question is not whether iPhones should be manufactured in America. The question is simply whether Apple is, knowingly or through negligence, allowing widespread violations of its Supplier Code of Conduct, and hence allowing misery to enter the world that has no reason to be here.