Why a Constitution?

◼ Liberals fear the Court may respect its limits. - Charles C. W. Cooke/National Review Online

...(S)ince last week’s oral arguments, the real speculation has been about how “conservative” Justice Roberts and “independent” Justice Kennedy will vote, while there has been no conjecture whatsoever about the likely opinions of the court’s four “liberals” — Kagan, Sotomayor, Breyer, and Ginsburg — all of whom are widely predicted to side with the administration. Clearly, if any group within the court deserves to be described as “doctrinaire,” it’s this quartet. No such depiction has come forth.

Indeed, for 70 years now, the Court has shown an untold deference to Congress, and, on economic matters at least, allowed progressives to realize almost every desire that they could get past the people. If the federal government has finally pushed it too far with Obamacare — which it may well have done — it will be the Court’s limiting federal power that will be anomalous; a rare check on the insatiable power of the state instead of business as usual. E. J. Dionne might well consider that, in response to this trend, conservatives have moved “further to the right” than ever, but that is a separate debate; for it is not the Republicans’ political platform, but the never-ending expansion of government, that has put the Department of Health and Human Services in court. And if judicial skepticism toward a federal government that can find no limiting principle to its power represents a “coup d’état,” then one has to ask what the Constitution is for....

All that’s unprecedented here is the spectacle of the president of the United States, while the judges are deliberating, idly swinging his tire iron and saying, “Nice little Supreme Court you got here. Shame if anything were to happen to it.”

◼ Our Contemptuous President - Mark Steyn/National Review

...Obama-sized government ends nowhere good, and in his Chicago-style contempt for checks and balances he’s telling us that, if you enjoyed the first term, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.

◼ Nobody Here But Us Morons - New York Post Editorial

Mystery solved. The other day, we speculated that President Obama’s astonishing broadside against the US Supreme Court meant one of three things: Either he’s ignorant, or he was trying to bully the justices deciding the fate of ObamaCare in his favor — or he thinks Americans are morons. Well, the answer is now clear: He thinks we’re all morons. “The president was not clearly understood by some people because he is a law professor [and] he spoke in shorthand,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday. Well, pardon us. But...

#tcot (Top Conservatives On Twitter)

◼ Worth following!

Santorum Cancels Monday Events

◼ A source close to the Rick Santorum campaign tells National Review Online that the senator has canceled his Monday schedule. - Robert Costa/National Review Online

Santorum and his wife, Karen, will be spending the day at the hospital with their daughter, Bella. He did not have public events planned, but all internal “campaign activities,” the source says, from phone calls to fundraising, will be put on hold. Bella was hospitalized on Friday.

Obama Wishes You a Very Religious Easter

◼ Of course, it takes only a low simmer of skepticism to come to the conclusion that all this has more to do with appealing to various blocs of voters than it does a sudden religious awakening on the part of the president, though I suppose anything’s possible. - Keith Koffler/White House Dossier

If you doubt this has anything to do with the campaign, note that last year, Obama didn’t even bother to devote an address to Easter. And in 2010, Obama offered “holiday greetings” as opposed to this year’s “Easter and Passover greetings,” and he barely got into any specifics about Christianity.

Debt Per American Under Obama's Budget Plan: $73k...

◼ The latest chart from the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee, showing that under President Obama's budget plan, debt would be $73,000 per American in 2022: - Weekly Standard

The difference between the Left and Right is that the Left grasps the fundamentally emotional nature of the national discussion. It is irrelevant, for example, that a rational view of the Trayvon Martin tragedy would encourage caution and a thorough investigation before reaching a conclusion. Shag that. There is tremendous power to be gained from playing the raaaaace card early. Fret not that those pesky facts and meddling bloggers will overturn the narrative; the emotional hit is the important part. Or so the Left thinks

◼ Contrary To The 2008 Campaign? I Think Not - Smitty at The Other McCain

◼ Morning Jay: A Sorry Spectacle

Many commentators have expressed outrage over the president criticizing Paul Ryan and demagoguing the Supreme Court. Personally, I can't muster outrage. I think it's just a sorry spectacle.

Somewhere along the line, Obama decided that his best path to reelection was through bare-knuckled partisan brawling. Undoubtedly, he flirted with the alternative of working with the opposition, for instance, by making William Daley chief of staff last year. But Daley is gone now, as is any pretense of collaboration.

...The country needs a bad guy to blame for its problems, so day in and day out Obama is providing them with a smorgasbord of villains from which to choose: Wall Street, Big Oil, the Tea Party, Paul Ryan, Rush Limbaugh, the Supreme Court, the Catholic Church, and so on. In fact, virtually everything that comes out of this president’s mouth is about redirecting blame onto some straw man.

...This is why Obama does not care if his attacks are unfair, untrue, unoriginal, unseemly, or whatever. He has only one goal: The state of the union stinks right now, and I must keep that stench off me.

So were you outraged by Obama’s smarmy remarks about the Supreme Court? Too bad, he does not care. He is not after your vote. He is after the vote of the fellow in the middle of the electorate, who may never have even heard of Marbury v. Madison, but certainly knows about $4 gas. If Obama can get that guy to direct his anger at somebody else for the next seven months, then he wins reelection. This week the fall guy was the Supreme Court. Next week it will be John Boehner or Big Oil or whomever. Really, it does not matter so long as it is not the president.

PRAVDA: Obama's legal humiliation

◼ Arizona sheriff finds Obama presidential qualifications forged - Dianna C. Cotter/Pravda

A singularly remarkable event has taken place in the United States of America. This event occurred in Arizona on March 1st and was an earth shattering revelation.

A long awaited press conference was given by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a five time elected Sheriff, which should have made national and international headlines. Arpaio's credentials include serving in the United States Army from 1950 to 1953, service as a federal narcotics agent serving in countries all over the world with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and served as the head of the Arizona DEA. Without doubt, this is a serious Law Enforcement Officer, not one to be taken in by tin-foil-hat wearing loons.

Yet, in the five days since his revelations there has been little in the way of serious reporting on the findings he presented in his presser. With 6 short videos, the Sheriff and his team presented a devastating case, one the tame US press is apparently unable to report.

◼ Barack Obama Foreign Student - American Media Threatened into Silence - Dianna C. Cotter/Pravda

The exposure of the "Journolist" email scandal in 2010 made this glaringly clear: Stories like Obama's ties to Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr. of the Trinity United Church, and more relevant, to Bill Ayers and his radical past in the Weather Underground Organization were to remain largely un-reported and uninvestigated. Any realistic investigation into Barack Obama's background was to be minimized, inquiries eventually mocked, and investigators labeled racists.

These tactics have isolated honest media who could and should have reported on these and other important stories yet have inexplicably remained silent. Now we know why.

◼ Obama's legal humiliation - Dianna C. Cotter/Pravda

oday there is no American news outlet factually covering the illegal actions of the sitting President of the United States in context. Nor is there one consistently exposing the laws his administration has flagrantly broken, though this corruption now demonstrably permeates every level of the federal system.

Attorneys General Tom Horne, Arizona; Pam Bondi, Florida; Sam Olens, Georgia; Bill Schuette, Michigan; Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma; Marty Jackley, South Dakota; Alan Wilson, South Carolina; Greg Abbott, Texas; and Ken Cuccinelli of Virginia produced a joint memo on March 5th, 2012 detailing 21 blatant violations of law committed by the Obama administration.

By now it is unsurprising the media has by and large ignored this announcement though AG Cuccinelli did appear in an extended segment with CSPAN (the relevant segment can be found here) on March 18th.

Fortunately, The Tea Party Tribune published the Attorney's General memo, "A Report on Obama Administration Violations of Law" in full the same day it was released. It is nothing short of a flashing legal headline story, yet cannot be found at the Washington Post or the New York Times.

John Stossel: Job Killers

◼ Since this current post-recession job recovery is the slowest in 80 years, you'd think that even know-it-all politicians would want to sweep away the labyrinth of government regulations that hinders job creation. - John Stossel/Townhall

I could give you endless examples of small businesses crushed by big government. Here are two:

Shelly Goodman paid millions to buy a 13,000-square-foot mansion on 10 acres in Arizona in order to create a wedding reception center and bed-and-breakfast. Local bureaucrats forced her to spend thousands of dollars on studies to show that her business would not create burdensome traffic or noise. She did. The studies said it wouldn't. Yet the big house sits empty because her local government refuses to let her operate a business, even on her own property.

In Virginia, Greg Garrett started farming oysters. His neighborhood is zoned for livestock. He could raise buffalo, but local bureaucrats decreed that he could not sell oysters. Why not? My staff talked to the zoning official, and we still have no clue. That's the case with a lot of American law. It's arbitrary power. Regulations are so numerous and complex that no one really understands them. This diminishes our ability to flourish.

Big government makes us all small.

Obama’s Gender Gap

◼ Today’s Jobs Report Clearly Shows That Obamanomics Is Leaving Women Behind - GOP.com

ANOTHER MONTH BRINGS ANOTHER DISAPPOINTING JOBS REPORT THAT ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH... WHITE HOUSE FORUMS WON’T DISTRACT FROM THE FACTS: WOMEN AREN’T FARING WELL IN THE OBAMA ECONOMY:

◼ Since Obama Took Office, The Unemployment Rate For Women Has Increased From 7.0 Percent To 8.1 Percent. - (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 4/6/12)

◼ Since The Stimulus Was Passed, The Unemployment Rate For Women Has Increased From 7.3 Percent To 8.1 Percent. - (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 4/6/12)

◼ Since Obama Took Office, The Number Of Female Employees Has Declined By 683,000 - (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 4/6/12)

◼ Since Obama Took Office, The Number Of Women Unemployed Has Increased From 5,005,000 To 5,863,000. - (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 4/6/12)

◼ In March, The Number Of Women Employed Fell By 82,000. - (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 4/6/12)

◼ The Female Labor Force Participation Rate Fell In March From 57.9 Percent To 57.7 Percent. - (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 4/6/12)

◼ The Number Of Women Not In The Labor Force In March Increased From 52.8 Million To 53.1 Million. - (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 4/6/12)

◼ “The Poverty Rate Among Women Rose To 14.5 Percent Last Year, Up From 13.9 Percent In 2009—The Highest Rate In 17 Years.” (Leslie Bennetts, “Women: The Invisible Poor,” - The Daily Beast, 9/14/11)

◼ The Extreme Poverty Rate – Income Below Half Of Federal Poverty Line – Is The Highest Ever Recorded Among Women. “The ‘extreme poverty rate’ among women was the highest ever recorded, climbing to 6.3 percent in 2010 from 5.9 percent in 2009. ‘Extreme poverty’ means that your income is below half of the federal poverty line—and by 2010, more than 7.5 million women had fallen into that dire category.” - (Leslie Bennetts, “Women: The Invisible Poor,” - The Daily Beast, 9/14/11)

◼ In 2010, 17 Million Women Lived In Poverty, Compared To 12.6 Million Men. “What all those statistics add up to is that more than 17 million women were living in poverty last year, compared with 12.6 million men. As usual, things were worse for older women; twice as many women over 65 were living in poverty, compared with men.” (Leslie Bennetts, “Women: The Invisible Poor,” - The Daily Beast, 9/14/11)

◼ The Poverty Rate Is 25.6 Percent For Black Women And 25 Percent For Hispanic Women. “And those numbers just represented the population-wide average. For Hispanic and black women, the poverty rate increased even faster and rose higher—to 25 percent for Hispanic women and to 25.6 percent for black women.” (Leslie Bennetts, “Women: The Invisible Poor,” - The Daily Beast, 9/14/11)

◼ More Than 40 Percent Of Single Mothers Live In Poverty. “As usual, single mothers are having the hardest time of all. More than 40 percent of women who head families are now living in poverty. With more than half of poor children living in female-headed families in 2010, the child poverty rate jumped to 22 percent.” (Leslie Bennetts, “Women: The Invisible Poor,” - The Daily Beast, 9/14/11)

The Failure Of Obamanomics Could “Put A Dent” In Female Support For Obama

◼ “Women Aren't Faring As Well As Other Groups In The Job Market's Recovery And That Could Put A Dent Into Their Support For President Obama.” (Vicki Needham, “Slower Job Growth For Women Voters Could Cost Obama In Election,” - The Hill’s “On The Money,” 3/25/12)

◼ Democrats’ Advantage Among Women Is Narrowing. “While Democrats have charged that the Republican position amounts to a ‘war on women,’ the poll indicates that they aren’t benefiting from it in respondents’ perceptions of the two parties. The survey also suggests that the advantage Democrats have historically enjoyed among women may have narrowed.” (Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “Republicans Losing On Birth Control As 77% In Poll Spurn Debate,” - Bloomberg, 3/14/12)

◼ This Is “Despite A Significant Outreach Effort To Female Voters.” “Despite a significant outreach effort to female voters and Democratic accusations of a GOP 'war on women,' a new Bloomberg poll shows Obama losing ground among women from his 2008 vote share.” (Byron Tau, “Poll: Obama Down Among Female Voters From 2008 Results,” - Politico’s “44,” 3/14/12)

◼ Only 37 Percent Of Married Woman Would Vote For Obama. “Now look at what married women say: 56 percent said they would vote for Romney, and only 37 percent for Obama, with virtually no change from January to February.” (Matt Negrin, “Put A Ring On It: Obama Wins Women, But Not The Married Kind,” - ABC News’ “OTUS,” 4/3/12)

◼ 49 Percent Of Women Would Support Obama In The Election, Down From 56 Percent In 2008. “Forty-nine percent of women say they would choose Obama over Romney, the front-runner in delegates in the Republican primary, compared with 45 percent who say they’d pick the former Massachusetts governor. In 2008, Obama won 56 percent of the women’s vote to 43 percent for the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, according to national exit polls.” (Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “Republicans Losing On Birth Control As 77% In Poll Spurn Debate,” - Bloomberg, 3/14/12)

More, here.

"Hi, this is Gov. Jerry Brown"

◼ Gov. Jerry Brown is turning to robotic telephone calls and mailers in his race to qualify a tax initiative for the November ballot. - Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert

Brown and his allies are now trying to collect more than 800,000 valid voter signatures required to qualify for the November ballot. Time is short, and the use of mail is an indication of how expensive paid signature gathering by clipboard has become for the initiative campaign - at a cost of perhaps $3 per signature on the street.

Who Speaks For You?

◼ Conservative women to White House: You don’t speak for us - Tina Korbe/HotAir

Smart Girl Politics co-founder Teri Christoph says it like this: “Women are tired of the political manipulation of this White House. We know when we are being pandered and played to, and we will no longer allow this discussion to focus on the concerns of a small segment of the women in this country. Women are far more concerned with the lack of action from this Administration and a do-nothing Congress when it comes to jobs, rising energy prices, and our national security.”

SGP yesterday released a video to tell the White House: You don’t speak for us. Refreshing to know I’m not the only one who feels that way. Who speaks for me? I do.

Healthy polar bear count confounds doomsayers

◼ Global Warming wipes out all polar bears except the increasing number of them - Jazz Shaw/HotAir
◼ The debate about climate change and its impact on polar bears has intensified with the release of a survey that shows the bear population in a key part of northern Canada is far larger than many scientists thought, and might be growing. - Paul Waldie/The Globe and Mail

(T)he left is missing the subtext of Romney’s speech, which reflects hard-headed realism

◼ Mitt Romney’s marvelous speech - Karl/HotAir
◼ Romney Tries to Turn the Tables on Obama - Alex Roarty/National Journal

Mitt Romney has decided the best defense is a good offense. Derided as a "flip-flopper" by President Obama? Throw the charge back in the president's face. Attacked for his plan to revamp Medicare? Fire back that Obama has already crippled the popular entitlement program.

That was the central theme of the all-but-inevitable Republican presidential nominee's speech Wednesday to the Newspaper Association of America: Try to take evident vulnerabilities of his own candidacy and turn them against the current White House occupant. As Romney pivots toward the general election - and after Tuesday's victories, this week seems to mark a line of demarcation between the primary and general elections - it hints at a major part of his strategy to unseat Obama.

Romney has been knocked repeatedly - by Republican and Democratic critics alike - for changing position on issues like abortion-rights and gay marriage. But during his speech, he listed a series of Obama's own flip-flops he deemed "election-year conversions." The list included corporate tax rates, regulation, and energy policy.

"Nancy Pelosi famous said that we would have to pass Obamacare to find out what was in it," Romney said. "President Obama has turned that advice into a campaign strategy: He wants us to re-elect him to find out what he will actually do.

"With all the challenges the nation faces, this is not the time for President Obama's hide-and-seek campaign," he added

◼ The White House Boys’ Club: President Obama Has a Woman Problem - Amy Sullivan/TIME, Sept. 2011
◼ OBAMA’S WAR ON WOMEN - Washington Free Beacon

It’s not about that. It’s about power. And freedom.

◼ It’s Not the Constitution, Stupid - Michael Ledeen/PJM

I don’t think that President Obama believes a word of his remarks about what the Supreme Court can or cannot do about any given piece of legislation. Attorney General Holder said as much today when he agreed that the Supremes are there specifically to protect against laws they consider unconstitutional. Holder’s not picking a fight with his boss.

It’s not about that. It’s about power. And freedom.

Power, because the president and his people think that, since they are smarter and better than the rest of us, anyone who tries to limit their power is bad, and has to be brought into line. Thus, the tough words of warning to any justice contemplating voting against Obamacare.

Freedom, because the accumulation of power in the hands of the executive branch comes at our expense, bit by bit and law by law, precisely as Alexis de Tocqueville feared....

GOOD FRIDAY

EXHAUSTED: Rick Takes 4-Day Break from Campaign...

◼ Rick Santorum huddles with conservative leaders, ponders future in race - Chris Cillizza, Dan Balz and Karen Tumulty/Washington Post

The conversation focused on the struggling candidacy of former House speaker Newt Gingrich and whether a final push could be made to unite conservatives and stop the likely nomination of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. The idea of Santorum leaving the race was not raised.
“It was a discussion of how to win, not a discussion of anything other than that,” said Gary Bauer, a prominent social conservative leader who was at the meeting.

Despite this optimism, there are signs that the wear and tear of the campaign trail and the daunting odds against his winning the nomination are weighing on Santorum.

“He is exhausted,” said one influential Republican who has talked to Santorum in recent days. “He is very, very worried about losing Pennsylvania. He is trying to find a way to throw a very long pass that could change the game.”

◼ Santorum's daughter, 'Bella,' hospitalized again 4/6 - CNN

Regarding the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the EPA

Although I realize that many of you may have heard about the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the EPA, I feel it is important that everyone know about this decision.

The case is Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Summary of case.
The EPA effectively seized control of the Sacketts’s property in northern Idaho and declared it to be a “wetlands.” The EPA and the Ninth Circuit stated that the Sacketts could not get direct court review of the EPA’s claim that their two-thirds of an acre parcel was “wetlands.” The EPA’s compliance order was detailed and intrusive and if not met the fines totaled up to $75,000 per day.

Pacific Legal Foundation took the case all the way to the Supreme Court where the Justices voted 9 to 0 in favor of the Sacketts. The decision makes it clear that EPA bureaucrats are answerable to the law and the courts just like the rest of the citizenry.

Justice Alito stated that “The position taken in this case by the Federal Government – a position that the Court now squarely rejects – would have put the property rights of ordinary Americans entirely at the mercy of Environmental Protection (EPA) employees.”

This is just one example of the intrusion of the government into our lives.

Freedom requires eternal vigilance.

Stay alert and be prepared to fight.

Thank you for all you do.

Edelweiss Geary
Legislative Issues Chair
California Federation of Republican Women – Northern Division
◼ www.cfrwnd.org

FORMER OBAMA STUDENT: OBAMA'S IGNORANCE OF CONSTITUTION EMBARRASSING

◼ Prof. Thom Lambert of the University of Missouri Law School has responded with alarm to President Barack Obama's attack on the Supreme Court and the power of judicial review by recalling his own days as Obama's student at the University of Chicago. - Breitbart's BIG Government

Lambert, who writes for the "Truth on the Market" blog, not only studied under Obama, but also clerked for the federal judge who issued an order yesterday demanding that the Department of Justice clarify whether the government believed courts had the power to overturn constitutional laws.

◼ My Professor, My Judge, and the Doctrine of Judicial Review - Thom Lambert/Truth On The Market

...President Obama taught “Con Law III” at Chicago. Judicial review, federalism, the separation of powers — the old “structural Constitution” stuff — is covered in “Con Law I” (or at least it was when I was a student). Con Law III covers the Fourteenth Amendment. (Oddly enough, Prof. Obama didn’t seem too concerned about “an unelected group of people” overturning a “duly constituted and passed law” when we were discussing all those famous Fourteenth Amendment cases – Roe v. Wade, Griswold v. Connecticut, Romer v. Evans, etc.) Of course, even a Con Law professor focusing on the Bill of Rights should know that the principle of judicial review has been alive and well since 1803, so I still feel like my educational credentials have been tarnished a bit by the President’s “unprecedented, extraordinary” remarks....

◼ Movement Liberals Cannot Credibly Demand Judicial Restraint - The Atlantic

◼ Stripping the political rhetoric out of Obama's preemptive attack on a Supreme Court that would strike down the ACA... - Althouse

◼ DOJ Letter Affirming Judicial Review - Wall St. Journal

BREAKING NEWS: The Justice Department is still of the opinion, after 200-plus years, that federal judges may strike down unconstitutional laws.

As promised, Attorney General Eric Holder today filed a 3-page, single-spaced letter with the Fifth Circuit outlining the department’s views on the concept of judicial review. Actually, the letter is two and a half pages, but let’s hope Judge Jerry Smith rounds up.

During arguments in a health-care case on Tuesday, Judge Smith demanded the Justice Department produce the letter, in light of President Barack Obama’s commenting that the Supreme Court would be taking an “unprecedented, extraordinary step” if it struck down the Affordable Care Act.

We’re taking Obama literally, and that historical perspective was not reflected in his original statement, which is what we're ruling on. He simply said the law passed with a strong majority and overturning it would be unprecedented. Wrong and wrong. We rate the statement False.

◼ Obama attaches stark terms to possible Supreme Court ruling on health care law - Politifact

◼ Why is Obama so rattled? Another speaking gaffe sets off a federal appeals court judge - Andrew Malcolm/IBD

Same Tired Rhetoric

Obama's budget speech yesterday recycled the exact same scare tactics he used last year. See the original RNC video showing Obama's State of the Union speeches side-by-side (over 1 million views!)

◼ BHO: Mr. Spontaneity - Elizabeth Scalia/The Anchoress

“Seems to me, [Obama is] having a hard time hiding his anger. And the angrier he gets, the more he struggles. Any creature trapped in a net knows that flailing about only further ensnares. No-Drama Obama needs to chill; if he can’t relax, he’s toast.”

He’s just reading. It’s just words. He’s not feeling any of it.

His comments about the Supreme Court, when combined with his astonishingly dishonest attack on the House GOP budget, portray a president who is living in a fantasy world — a place where facts and history are inverted, lies become truth, where everything is subordinated to ambition and you simply make things up as you go along.

◼ The Week Obama Jumped the Shark - Ed Driscoll/PJM

Undercover Voter ID Investigation: You Will Never Guess Which Liberal Groups Are Demanding ID

◼ What's wrong with showing identification when you vote? That's an egregious civil rights violation if you ask the Obama Administration and liberal groups like the Center for American Progress, and the Advancement Project.

So what happens if you show up at the front door of these groups without ID? Find out on this PJTV undercover investigation. VIDEO at the link...

United Mine Workers of America union boss: Coal industry could suffer same fate as bin Laden

◼ “This rule is an all-out, in my opinion, decision by the EPA that we’re never going to have another coal-fired facility in the United States that’s constructed,” (Cecil Roberts, president of the powerful union) said. - The Hill

Who Leaked Israeli Iran Plan?

◼ Some analysts say the White House leaked details of Israel’s alleged attack plan to discourage the Jewish state. Others call the idea ‘absurd.’ - Tabletmag.com

Is the United States leaking information in order to discourage an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities? That’s what some experts are saying in the wake of ◼ a controversial piece published last week in Foreign Policy magazine, which reported that Israel may be intending to use Azerbaijan as a base of operations in the event of an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities....

There are plenty of American experts who see it the same way. “The leak is entirely consistent with what we know about Obama’s view on the Iranian nuclear weapons program,” John Bolton, former ambassador the United Nations, told me in a phone interview. Bolton argues that the White House has purposefully stripped Israel of its tactical surprise. “First [Defense Secretary] Panetta gave a likely date for a prospective attack, April or May, and now unnamed sources leak a likely place where the attacks might be launched from.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition expressed its disapproval of the alleged White House leak. “It is clear from recent press reports that the Obama Administration has moved from quiet diplomacy to lightly veiled attacks in the media to prevent the Israelis from taking action against Iran’s growing nuclear capabilities,” said executive director Matt Brooks.

But the administration denies that it is leaking, and a senior administration official even said the White House would gladly prosecute the source of the leaks—if it knew who was doing it.

The last two days have revealed Mr. Obama at his least appealing—and least Presidential—first warning the Supreme Court not to dare overturn his health-care law, and now demonizing the motives of his political opposition. It is a long, long way from his "there's no red America, there's no blue America" stuff of 2004, much less the inspiration of 2008.

◼ Paul Ryan's Hunger Games

If there's a Laffer Curve for Presidential invective—some point at which dishonest political abuse yields diminishing returns—the White House political team must not think their boss has hit it. Even in this hyperpartisan age, President Obama's speech to the Associated Press yesterday was a parody of the form. This was a diatribe that managed to invoke "Social Darwinism" and "a Trojan Horse" in the same paragraph, amid the other high crimes that Mr. Obama says Paul Ryan wants to commit....

The list of untrue things that Mr. Obama wants Americans to believe is evidently so long that Mr. Obama associated himself with Republicans, albeit mostly dead Republicans like Lincoln and Eisenhower. For the first time we can recall, Mr. Obama even praised George W. Bush, of all people, because his predecessor created a new entitlement for prescription drugs. He also said Newt Gingrich showed how smart he was when he called Mr. Ryan's budget "radical" and "right-wing social engineering" last year.

All of this is a political fable carefully constructed to erase the record of the last three years and blame every current anxiety on a GOP House that has been in office for all of 14 months. The President claims to have "eliminated dozens of programs that weren't working," but the savings from these eliminations amount to less than 0.1% of the budget, or less than $100 million.

Meanwhile, the budget has grown by more than 20% since he has been President. After deficits of $1.412 trillion, $1.293 trillion, and $1.299 trillion over the last three years, and an estimated $1.326 trillion due for 2012, he still claims the deficits are all Mr. Bush's fault—except for the extra spending on Medicare, which he likes.

It is especially rich of Mr. Obama to accuse Republicans of breaking last summer's debt-limit deal—given that even the most sympathetic press accounts that are now emerging make it clear that the President blew up his "big deal" with John Boehner. The House Speaker was prepared to trade higher taxes for mostly notional changes to entitlements, but Mr. Obama thought he could roll him at the last minute for even greater tax increases.

Now he claims Mr. Ryan's reforms are "antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility." But it is more accurate to say that Mr. Obama is the one who is out of step with a bipartisan consensus that entitlement reform is essential to prevent a debt crisis.

White House in damage control over Obama Supreme Court remarks

◼ The White House was forced on the defensive on Wednesday as it sought to explain controversial remarks President Barack Obama made earlier in the week about the Supreme Court's review of his signature healthcare reform law. - Reuters

"What he did was make an unremarkable observation about 80 years of Supreme Court history," Carney told reporters during a White House briefing dominated by the topic....

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who backs Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination to confront Obama, told Fox News the president was "bullying the Supreme Court," and the White House was grilled on whether he had gone too far.

During robust questioning when Carney was told at one point that he had mischaracterized what the president had said, the press secretary was forced to repeatedly defend the remarks of his boss as an observation of fact.



◼ White House Press Secretary Jay Carney Caught Using Double Standard - Bluegrass Pundit
◼ WH admits: merely 'a majority' passed Obamacare - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner

Pressed about President Obama’s claim that “a strong majority” passed Obamacare, his spokesman retreated.

“A majority passed [the health care law], Ed,” said visibly-frustrated White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. Fox News’ Ed Henry was grilling Carney after the press secretary said “no,” the Ryan budget — which passed the House with nine more votes than Obamacare received — did not have “a strong majority” of support.
The Ryan budget passed this year by a 228-191 margin. Obamacare passed the House by a 219-212 margin.

Mark Levin: President has attacked the Supreme Court

Colleges skimp on science, spend big on diversity

◼ How many times have you heard Barack Obama talk about "investing" in education? Quite a few, if you've been listening to the president at all. - Michael Barone/Washington Examiner

...And what has the money been spent on? Some of it presumably goes to professors in the hard sciences and the great scholars who have made American universities the best in the world. Well and good.

But many university administrators have other priorities. The University of California system has been raising tuitions and cutting departments. But, reports John Leo in the invaluable Minding the Campus blog, its San Diego campus found the money to create a new post of "vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion...." Read the rest.

Obama Instructs Journalists On How To Report His Positions

◼ "This bears on your reporting," President Obama said to journalists. "I think that there is oftentimes the impulse to suggest that if the two parties are disagreeing then they're equally at fault and the truth lies somewhere in the middle. And an equivalence is presented which I think reinforces peoples' cynicism about Washington in general. This is not one of those situations where there's an equivalency." - Real Clear Politics

Romney Sweeps DC, Maryland, Wisconsin

◼ Mitt Romney won all three of Tuesday's Republican presidential primaries, putting more distance between himself and his closest contender, Rick Santorum, who indicated he plans to fight on to his home state of Pennsylvania and beyond. - CNN

Romney's wins in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia put him past the halfway mark to the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination and add to a wide delegate lead that he holds over the other major GOP presidential candidates, according to CNN estimates.

◼ Romney pads delegate lead with 3-contest sweep - AP

The former Massachusetts governor won at least 83 delegates in the three contests, with six delegates yet to be decided. Romney got all 37 delegates in Maryland and all 16 delegates in the District of Columbia. He won at least 30 delegates in Wisconsin.
Romney's chief rival, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, won at least six delegates in Wisconsin, with six left to be decided.

◼
Romney wins Maryland, District of Columbia, and Wisconsin - John Hayward at Human Events
◼ After losses, Santorum sets Penn as do-or-die - Byron York/Washington Examiner
◼ Romney sweeps Maryland, D.C., Wisconsin primaries - Susan Ferrechio/Washington Examiner

Obama Administration To Grant Illegal Aliens 'Unlawful Presence Waivers'

◼ In its quest to implement stealth amnesty, the Obama Administration is working behind the scenes to halt the deportation of certain illegal immigrants by granting them “unlawful presence waivers.” - Judicial Watch

This appears to be part of the Obama Administration’s bigger plan to blow off Congress by using its executive powers to grant illegal immigrants backdoor amnesty. The plan has been in the works for years and in 2010 Texas’s largest newspaper published an exposé about a then-secret DHS initiative that systematically cancelled pending deportations. The remarkable program stunned the legal profession and baffled immigration attorneys who said the government bounced their clients’ deportation even when expulsion was virtually guaranteed.

In late 2011 a mainstream newspaper obtained internal Homeland Security documents outlining “sweeping changes” in immigration enforcement that halt the deportation of illegal aliens with no criminal records. This also includes a nationwide “training program” to assure that enforcement agents and prosecuting attorneys don’t remove illegal immigrants who haven’t been convicted of crimes.

Analysis: Obama's Worst Speech Yet

◼ Today we witnessed something truly remarkable. Barack Obama managed to out-do himself by uncorking what very well may have been the most dishonest, demagogic, and bitterly partisan speech of his presidency. - Guy Benson/TownHall

I render that assessment as someone who has sat through and analyzed countless Obama lectures, some of which earned very high marks for deceit and ideological invective. Indeed, today's Occupy-inspired rant takes the cake. It was a depressing and enraging preview of the next seven months, over which this president will unleash a barrage of sophistic and pernicious arguments deliberately designed to sow discord and divide Americans. He will do so with no regard for the truth, history, or the Constitution he swore to uphold. I genuinely cannot see how anyone who considers him- or herself a "conservative" in any meaningful sense could watch this screed and not immediately redouble his resolve to help defeat the man who delivered it. Adequately addressing and debunking this speech is going to be a Herculean undertaking. Nearly every single paragraph is littered with distortions, scorched straw men, and flat untruths. But I'm going to take a stab at it. Today's MUST READ at the link

◼ Obama blasts GOP budget as ‘social Darwinism’ - Hayley Peterson/Washington Examiner

◼ White House insists attack on GOP budget wasn’t a campaign speech - The Hill

Unemployment: How the Lazy Are Hurting the Needy

◼ (T)here's growing anecdotal evidence that people who might be able to get jobs are choosing to live on the dole rather than work. - US News & World Report

...Business owners also say that some job applicants want to get paid under the table, so they can continue to collect jobless benefits. A recent story by CNN Money highlighted a manufacturing firm in Wisconsin that has started to lock out job applicants it suspects of showing up just so they can say they looked for work—a requirement for anybody receiving jobless benefits. Another business owner, in Illinois, said in the same story that her company needs to hire 45 to 50 new salespeople, but struggles with workers who quit after getting free training, or who try to get fired after a few months of work so they can re-qualify for unemployment insurance. The company has now hired a specialist to help weed out phonies and identify worthwhile applicants....

Primary night: Statistics and updates at the links

◼ Primary night: Romney takes D.C. and Maryland, leading in Wisconsin - Michelle Malkin
◼ WISCONSIN, MARYLAND REPUBLICAN PRIMARY RESULTS HQ - The Other McCain
◼ Open thread: Wisconsin, Maryland, D.C.; Update: Romney wins MD, DC - HotAir

According to the WSJ, Romney’s also beating Santorum 51/38 among voters who decided in just the last few days. A quote to ponder from a Wisconsin voter while we wait for more: “I very much hope that he gets the nomination and we get this thing settled soon. These guys are kind of tearing each other apart in the process. I think it’s a circular firing squad at this point.”

◼ Another Tuesday Primary Day - NoQuarter

I get that politics isn’t supposed to be fair, but it would be classier if Rick Santorum laid off on the highly-charged negative TV ads since it’s absolutely clear to everyone on the planet, except him and maybe his wife that he is not going to be the nominee and that he should help, rather than hurt, the very hard work that Mitt and Ann Romney have ahead of them as they face the monster Obama machine.

WH Press Sec Gets Upset Because He Can't Answer Q About Dems Not Passing Budget

On Special Report (Fox News): White House Press Secretary Jay Carney gets frustrated with Bret Baier over questions about the lack of a Democratic budget in the Senate

Today, during another of his regular press conference diatribes against everyone who stands in his way, the man who has circumvented Congress with dozens of czar appointments and scores of executive orders and administrative fiats, warned the court again — to show “deference” to Congress.

◼ Yesterday, as you all know, President Obama went after the “unelected” justices of the Supreme Court. So much for the constitutional law lecturer’s appreciation of the separation of powers. - Michelle Malkin

via charliespiering

◼ Obama’s unsettling attack on the Supreme Court - Ruth Marcus/Washington Post

There was something rather unsettling in President Obama’s preemptive strike on the Supreme Court at Monday’s news conference.... Obama’s assault on “an unelected group of people” stopped me cold. Because, as the former constitutional law professor certainly understands, it is the essence of our governmental system to vest in the court the ultimate power to decide the meaning of the constitution. Even if, as the president said, it means overturning “a duly constituted and passed law.”

◼ At least one lower court is already leading a legal backlash: - Jan Crawford/CBS

In the escalating battle between the administration and the judiciary, a federal appeals court apparently is calling the president’s bluff — ordering the Justice Department to answer by Thursday whether the Obama Administration believes that the courts have the right to strike down a federal law, according to a lawyer who was in the courtroom.

◼ Fifth Circuit calls out DOJ lawyer: Is your boss now claiming that courts don’t have the power to strike down laws? Update: A lawyer’s take - HotAir
◼ Did the Supreme Court’s initial ObamaCare vote leak to Obama? - HotAir
◼ Mark Levin goes through Obama’s statement today, segment by segment, and does the job the MSM won’t do in pointing out the lies and truths in Obama’s statement (Audio)

◼ Federal Appeals Court: Yo, Barry -- You Got 'Til Thursday to Explain Your Chavez-Like Speechifying - Doug Ross

A source inside the courtroom, speaking to Fox News afterward, described the questioning by Smith as pointed. Smith also made clear during that exchange that he was "referring to statements by the president in the past few days to the effect ... that it is somehow inappropriate for what he termed unelected judges to strike acts of Congress. ... That has troubled a number of people who have read it as somehow a challenge to the federal courts or to their authority," Smith said. "And that's not a small matter."

Smith ordered a response from the department within 48 hours. The related letter from the court, obtained by Fox News, instructed the Justice Department to provide an explanation of "no less than three pages, single spaced" by noon on Thursday.

◼ Barack Obama, Constitutional Buffoon - NoQuarter

Paul Ryan: “Like his reckless budgets, today’s speech by President Obama is as revealing as it is disappointing: While others lead by offering real solutions, he has chosen to distort the truth and divide Americans in order to distract from his failed record”

◼ “His empty promises are quickly becoming broken promises – and the American people will hold him accountable for this violation of their trust.” - Politico

House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan swung back at President Barack Obama Tuesday after the president ripped the House Republican budget as a “Trojan horse” and “thinly veiled social Darwinism.”
In a statement, Ryan – who’s become a top voice for the Republican Party on fiscal matters – accused Obama of putting forth a “failed agenda” that does nothing to ease the nation’s mounting $15 trillion debt.

“History will not be kind to a president who, when it came time to confront our generation’s defining challenge, chose to duck and run,” Ryan said. “The president refuses to take responsibility for the economy and refuses to offer a credible plan to address the most predictable economic crisis in our history.

Solyndra #2: Solar company bankrupt despite 'win-win' DOE loan

◼ Another solar energy company supported by President Obama's top administration officials declared bankruptcy today. - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner

Solar Trust for America received $2.1 billion in conditional loan guarantees from the Department of Energy -- "the largest amount ever offered to a solar project," according to Energy Secretary Steven Chu -- for a project near Blythe, Calif., but declared bankruptcy within a year. It is unclear how much of the guarantee, if any, was actually awarded....

Uwe Schmidt, chairman and CEO of the company, also argued that Solar Trust was good for the nation. He wrote last year that "the DOE loan guarantee is a 'win-win' for government and the companies involved and will not only advance the cause of energy independence but will create hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country."

The bankruptcy makes Schmidt's attempt to rebuke DOE critics in the wake of the Solyndra bankruptcy particuarly ironic.

"Despite the posturing and finger pointing, the American solar energy industry is alive and well," Schmidt wrote in an op-ed for the Huffington Post, before discussing his company's business plans. Referring to Solyndra, he lamented that "one company's bankruptcy has cast doubt on the credibility of a government program that is otherwise being administered with incredible efficiency."

The list of bankrupt solar companies has grown since Schmidt scolded Solyndra investigators. How many more might go bankrupt? Secretary Chu won't say.

Romney expected to romp in GOP primaries Tuesday

◼ Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is in position to win the Maryland, D.C. and Wisconsin primaries on Tuesday, a sweep that would help him capture the majority of the nearly 100 delegates up for grabs and move him beyond the halfway mark in his quest for the 1,144 delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination. - Susan Ferrechio/Washington Examiner

Romney's chief rival, Rick Santorum, skipped Maryland and the District to barnstorm Wisconsin over the past week. While state political experts expect Santorum to do well enough to pick up some of Wisconsin's 42 delegates, they say he's unlikely to win.

Romney is leading Santorum 43 percent to 36 percent in Wisconsin, the largest prize of the day, a Public Policy poll released Monday showed. The poll found the former Massachusetts governor ahead even among the Tea Party supporters whose backing has until now helped keep Santorum's conservative quest alive.

◼ Romney halfway to clinching GOP nomination - Stephen Ohlemacher//Washington Examiner

Newt aims for Gingrich flavor in Romney platform

◼ Gingrich says he will now focus his efforts on persuading GOP delegates to adopt a series of platform proposals that will hold Romney to conservative positions. - Byron York/Washington Examiner

Gingrich still has supporters who want him to go all the way. "Things can turn on a dime," says Karen Winterling, Gingrich's Maryland coordinator, who believes Romney might still blow himself up with a gaffe or major campaign mistake. "Something could happen and Newt could go right to the top."

"Look, I don't have the hubris to say, I came in third in collecting delegates, so I'm now going to dictate the platform," Gingrich says at lunch. "What I am going to say is that this represents my honest thoughts ... about what America needs."

"You may ultimately lose the battle of candidacy, but that doesn't mean you lose the battle of ideas."

Leftist War Chest on the Verge of Collapse?

◼ A serious internal schism has developed that threatens to destroy the Democracy Alliance, George Soros’s financial clearinghouse that funds groups and projects aimed at turning America into a European-style socialist state. - Front Page Magazine

The conflict within Soros’s group has created two factions.

On one side are Democracy Alliance members who believe in the original mission of the donors’ collaborative. Created after Democrats failed to reclaim power in the 2004 election, the group started out funding left-wing political infrastructure – think tanks, activist groups, leadership schools, and media outlets— to help the Left gain and keep power. The idea was to focus on long-term organizational issues as opposed to helping Democrats get elected every election cycle.

...On the other side of the divide are those Democracy Alliance members who want the group to more closely align itself with groups close to the Obama White House such as Media Matters for America and the Center for American Progress in order to help Democrats in the approaching election.

Right now this faction appears to have the upper hand. The Democracy Alliance has officially dumped several of the more ideologically oriented groups as recommended grantees. Among the dropped groups are Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), documentary filmmaker Brave New Foundation, and the Campaign for America’s Future which has repeatedly attacked Democrats for taking insufficiently left-wing stances.

Trust fund baby Rob McKay, the Taco Bell heir who chairs the Democracy Alliance’s board, is going all out to make sure President Obama wins a second term. McKay, who also sits on the board of the pro-Obama Priorities USA Action super PAC, helped organize a $35,800-a-plate fundraiser for Obama earlier this year....

The Democracy Alliance has also funded People for the American Way, EMILY’s List, ACORN, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Progressive States Network, Center for Community Change, Sierra Club, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund, and the Secretary of State Project which has helped elect left-wingers as chief electoral officials in at least nine states.
SEIU and the AFL-CIO are institutional members of the Democracy Alliance.

GOP, Romney to Raise Funds Jointly

◼ In a move that shows Republicans are coalescing around the party's front-runner, Mitt Romney plans to begin raising money jointly with the Republican National Committee this week as both the candidate and the GOP brace for an expensive general-election fight against President Barack Obama. - WSJ

LAUER TO PALIN: SHOULD ROMNEY CHOOSE RUNNING MATE WITH MORE EXPERIENCE THAN YOU HAD?

UPDATE: ◼ Palin beats Couric... - Politico via Drudge



◼ "Do you think, if Mitt Romney is the nominee, he should choose someone with more experience on the national battlefield than you had at the time?” - BreitbartTV

"Well, you know, I would put up my record as a CEO of a city, of a state, as an oil and gas regulator, up against any of the other potential GOP vice presidential nominees last go-around. So you know, I’m proud to stand on my record as a private sector and a public servant CEO. I would say it doesn’t matter if that person has national level experience or not, they’re going to get clobbered by the “lamestream” media who does not like conservative message. And it doesn’t matter if that person has been a known commodity to the mainstream, lamestream media or not, the GOP ticket, to tell you the truth Matt, doesn’t know what’s coming. They don’t know what’s going to hit them in terms of double standards applied to them and the positions that they hold and the records that they are running on, from personal family issues to anything else."

◼ Sarah Palin: Anyone but Obama in the White House = AP

Van Jones: Obama Wouldn't Lose Black Vote If He Came Out As Gay

◼ "President Obama is not going to lose the black vote no matter what he does," he added. - Real Clear Politics

“How do you fix breaking news?”

◼ First trailer for Aaron Sorkin's 'The Newsroom' -- VIDEO - InsideTV

Initial state attorney in Trayvon Martin case 'outraged by outright lies'

◼ State Attorney Norm Wolfinger released a statement on Monday saying he is "outraged by the outright lies" contained in a letter written by the attorney of Trayvon Martin's parents, who are seeking a federal review in the case. - clickorlando.com

The Untold Story Behind Palin Using Russia’s Proximity To Alaska As Foreign Policy Experience

Aerial view of the Diomede Islands; Big Diomede, Russia is on the left and Little Diomede, Alaska is on the right.

◼ It’s about time we put those things to rest. In this post we will address the Russia comment. - Sheya

First off, Palin never said she can see Russia from her house. Nope, she never did. It was Tina Fey in an SNL (Saturday Night Live) Skit, which in all fairness at the time was actually funny. It is only after people began to blur the lines between what Fey said and Palin actually said that things have gotten out of control.

However even those who know that Palin never said she can see Russia from her house are pushing the narrative that she used Alaska’s proximity to Russia as her foreign policy credentials. This too is false.

To get a better understanding of the source of this narrative we need to go back to the Governor’s first national televised interview with Charlie Gibson. The complete transcript of the relevant part (at the link)...

◼ FAIL: POLITICO MEDIA WRITERS ATTRIBUTE TINA FEY LINE TO SARAH PALIN - Joel B. Pollak/Breitbart's BIG Journalism

'Occupy' California Capitol rally cost state $166,000 in CHP overtime

◼ The California Highway Patrol shelled out an additional $166,000 in overtime costs to monitor last month's rally and "Occupy" demonstration at the state Capitol to protest cuts to higher education... - Sac Bee

CHP deployed an additional 288 sworn personnel to the Capitol for the demonstration, bringing the total number of officers on scene to 367, the department said in response to a Bee inquiry. That presence included roughly 100 officers outfitted in riot gear stationed outside the building as the mostly peaceful protest continued into the evening.

Thousands of students, teachers and activists descended on the Capitol for the March 5 day of action, which was organized by Student Senate for California Community Colleges, California State Student Association and the University of California Student Association. Speakers at the rally blasted budget cuts to higher education and called for more funding for the state's public colleges and universities.

THE VETTING - VALERIE JARRETT KEEPS OBAMA CLOSE TO RADICAL ROOTS

◼ Valerie Jarrett is not only one of President Barack Obama’s closest advisors; she also is one of the most radical, with close connections to the Chicago left that nurtured Obama in his early political career. - Joel B. Pollak

Jarrett attended the Supreme Court last week as it heard arguments on the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Her presence as the president’s “eyes and ears” was noted by Breitbart.com’s Ken Klukowski. Jarrett had also led the administration’s media charge in advance of the Supreme Court arguments, arguing that Obamacare is necessary because it protects women’s health in particular, shaping the case to fit Democrats' narrative of a Republican "war on women."

As more moderate, pragmatic voices have abandoned the White House to attend to the actual business of governing--Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel being only one of many defectors--Jarrett has remained and her influence has grown.

Jarrett endorses the idea that Obama is still a “community organizer” in the White House, and the administration’s Alinksyite tactics of race and class division bear her fingerprints as much as his own.

(T)his is how the left plays the Constitution game – they cite cases that have nothing to do with anything, and claim that they provide “precedent.” They don’t. The only people politicizing Obamacare are the liberal judges, who pretend that the Constitution allows the federal government to do anything and everything.

◼ BILL CLINTON FIBS ON OBAMACARE CONSTITUTIONALITY - Ben Shapiro/Breitbart's BIG Government

Former president Bill Clinton said today on MSNBC that Obamacare shouldn’t be struck down by the Supreme Court – he actually said it wasn’t unconstitutional in any “way, shape or form” -- and instead suggested that the only reason it would be struck down is pure politics.

The Rules of Outrage — Or Why the Trayvon Martin Tragedy Divides the Country

◼ From the Trayvon Martin Tragedy to a National Travesty - Victor Davis Hanson/PJM

◼ Double Standard: Black Men Named Trayvon Get Killed all the Time, But The Left Doesn't Care (Video) - ZoNation/PJM

Black men named Trayvon get killed all of the time in America, so why does the left fail to express consistent outrage? Is there something different about the slaying of Trayvon Martin's death, or is the real problem that the left tolerates extraordinary violence against black men in America?

Ann Romney is the Romney Democrats fear most

◼ Ann Romney’s unexpected rock star status has the political arena buzzing about how her husband’s campaign will leverage her popularity in an election in which Michelle Obama — one of the most admired first ladies in history — will have an outsized and substantive portfolio. - Politico

“She’s terribly important in that she is actually Mitt’s connection to the base,” said GOP strategist Alex Castellanos, who worked on Romney’s 2008 presidential effort. “His link to the base doesn’t come from ideology. It comes from family values channeled through Ann. She’s the authentic core of Romney’s conservative principles.”

Swing States Poll: A shift by women puts Obama in lead

◼ Obama leads Republican front-runner Mitt Romney 51%-42% among registered voters - USA Today

The biggest change came among women under 50. In mid-February, just under half of those voters supported Obama. Now more than six in 10 do while Romney's support among them has dropped by 14 points, to 30%. The president leads him 2-1 in this group....

While women typically are more likely to identify themselves as Democrats than men are, that difference widens to a chasm in the USA TODAY poll. By 41%-24%, women call themselves Democrats; men by 27%-25% say they're Republicans.

(Another) Top Obama campaign donor accused of fraud

◼ A major donor to President Barack Obama has been accused of defrauding a businessman and impersonating a bank official, creating new headaches for Obama's re-election campaign as it deals with the questionable history of another top supporter. - AP

The New York donor, Abake Assongba, and her husband contributed more than $50,000 to Obama's re-election effort this year, federal records show. But Assongba is also fending off a civil court case in Florida, where she's accused of thieving more than $650,000 to help build a multimillion-dollar home in the state — a charge her husband denies.

...Assongba has left a trail of debts, with a former landlord demanding in court more than $10,000 in back rent and damages for a previous apartment. She was also evicted in 2004 after owing $5,000 in rent, records show.

...Assongba has given more than $70,000 to Democratic candidates in recent years, an AP review of Federal Election Commission data shows. Her larger contributions include $35,000 to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee between Obama and the Democratic Party, and $15,000 to Democrats running for Congress. DeRosa also gave $15,000 to Obama's victory fund in April 2011, records show.

PALIN TO COURIC: 'GAME ON'

◼ Sarah Palin will be guest-hosting "Today" this Tuesday. - Alexander Marlow/Breitbart's BIG Journalism

Katie Couric will be filling in for Robin Roberts next week on ABC's "Good Morning America..."

NBC's decision to seat the former Alaska Governor-turned-multimedia star in their anchor chair should prove to be a fruitful one. Since coming onto the national scene in 2008, Palin has become one of the most charismatic figures in conservative America and will likely bring "Today" an entirely different demographic of viewers.

"I see this as a good opportunity to bring an independent, common-sense conservative perspective to NBC. We’re 'going rogue' and infiltrating some turf for a day,” Palin told Breitbart News.

◼ Matt Lauer To Palin: "Are You Reading Some Newspapers?" - REAL CLEAR POLITICS

Lauer: "What are you doing to prepare? Are you reading some newspapers?"

Palin: "Oh! Great. That's a fine 'how do you do?' That's a great start, here we go."

WISCONSIN TEACHERS' UNIONS TRAINED WELL-FUNDED ALINSKY GROUP

◼ Breitbart.com has learned that teachers in Wisconsin have been attending routine training workshops with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), a radical organization founded by Saul Alinsky in 1940. - Breitbart's BIG Government

In a video produced by the MacIver Institute, organizers are seen arriving at a March 17 training session with the Wisconsin Education Association Council, Wisconsin's state teachers union.

Teachers' unions led last year's protests in Wisconsin against collective bargaining reforms, and are now heavily involved in the effort to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker. In addition to Alinskyite groups, the recall effort has attracted the support of radicals such as unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.

In a little-known speech to Wisconsin teachers last September, Ayers spoke of the need for "a new kind of education for a new kind of citizens that can make a new kind of society”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor's Shocking Ignorance

◼ The liberal Supreme Court justices have demonstrated profound and shocking ignorance of the American health care system. - Jason Lee/American Thinker

Here's one of the most jarring examples:

"What percentage of the American people who took their son or daughter to an emergency room and that child was turned away because the parent didn't have insurance," asked Sotomayor, "... do you think there's a large percentage of the American population that would stand for the death of that child -- (who) had an allergic reaction and a simple shot would have saved the child?"
I have a precise answer for Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

The percentage of American people who took their son or daughter to an emergency room and were turned away because the parent didn't have insurance is exactly zero.

No person, whether American or not, is ever turned away from an emergency room for lack of health insurance. Ever.

This simply does not happen.... Read The Rest

VAN JONES: ‘OCCUPY…SAVED THE ENTIRE COUNTRY FROM DESTRUCTION’

Video streaming by Ustream

◼ Jones made the comments in Los Angeles ahead of his appearance at an “All in for the 99%” training event, saying Occupy “disrupted the narrative” as both parties “barreling toward more austerity.” - The Blaze

“[The] Occupy movement pretty much saved the entire country from destruction,” Jones said in an interview posted online. “Both political parties were barreling toward more austerity, more cutbacks, more pain for the people and more — basically both political parties had managed to converge on this idea of basically no rules for the rich, no rights for the poor, no middle class to speak of. That was basically the agenda, the question was just how much pain how fast.”

“Occupy Wall Street came on and completely disrupted the narrative,” he said. All the ‘austerity, austerity, cut, cut, cut’ stuff went away and suddenly even Republicans had to talk about income inequality and that whole theme. Occupy Wall Street really kind of, like, helped us to hit a reset in the country.”

...Jones said next week will kick off a massive training effort, in the style of the 1960s, to teach protesters nonviolent civil disobedience. In what’s being called “The 99% Spring,” Jones’ organization, Rebuild the American Dream, is partnering with the SEIU, MoveOn.org, the Domestic Workers Alliance and others to train 100,000 people across the country in direct action.

The presidency of Richard Nixon was destroyed, and that of Bill Clinton nearly ruined, by scandals that erupted over lies they told. But no president ever before has lied as frequently, as flagrantly or as foolishly as has Barack Obama.

◼ Energy: Obama's Favorite Topic of Deception - Jack Kelly/Real Clear Politics

The Keystone speech did not go over well. Referring to the president's support for only part of the XL pipeline, Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., said he was "highlighting a waffle," keeping the issue alive while pleasing no one. "I think it's the most idiotic political move I've ever seen."

...Mr. Obama lies most often about energy, but not only about energy.

Obamacare will cost taxpayers a lot more than he said it would. It raises, not lowers, health insurance premiums. You might not be able to keep your doctor or private health insurance plan. The individual mandate isn't a tax, Mr. Obama said. His lawyers told the Supreme Court that, in essence, it is.

The president was overheard Monday making a politically embarrassing request of Russia's president. In trying to explain it away, Mr. Obama claimed he'd been talking about nuclear weapons stockpiles when in fact he'd been talking about missile defense.

"The Taliban's momentum has been broken," the president said in the State of the Union address Jan. 24. The Taliban consider victory "inevitable" once coalition troops withdraw, according to interviews with Taliban prisoners cited in a NATO report.

Lobbyists "won't find a job in my White House," candidate Obama promised, then filled his administration with former lobbyists.

"My administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government," he said. No recent president has done more to hide things from press and public, say critics such as Katherine Meyer, a lawyer who's been filing freedom-of-information cases since 1978, according to a report in Politico.

When Mr. Obama departed from the truth in the past, journalists were reluctant to call him on it. Now, as he races about the country, trying, frantically, to fool the people one more time, the lies are coming faster than his friends in the news media can cover them up.

"Americans aren't stupid," Mr. Obama said. We'll find out Nov. 6.

Christopher Tin - Baba Yetu (Official Music Video)

"Baba Yetu", the hit theme to Civilization IV - composed by Christopher Tin and featured on the Grammy-winning album 'Calling All Dawns'. First video game piece to ever win a Grammy award, for "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)". Performed by the Grammy-winning Soweto Gospel Choir with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Translation: Our Father, Jesus who art in Heaven. Amen! Our Father, Jesus Hallowed be thy name. Give us this day our daily bread, Forgive us of our trespasses As we forgive others Who trespass against us Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one forever. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done On Earth as it is in Heaven. (Amen)(Swahili version of the Lords prayer)

Obamacare: The Reckoning

◼ The stakes could not be higher. - Charles Krauthammer/National Review

If Obamacare is upheld, it fundamentally changes the nature of the American social contract. It means the effective end of a government of enumerated powers — i.e., finite, delineated powers beyond which the government may not go, beyond which lies the free realm of the people and their voluntary institutions. The new post-Obamacare dispensation is a central government of unlimited power from which citizen and civil society struggle to carve out and maintain spheres of autonomy.

Figure becomes ground; ground becomes figure. The stakes could not be higher....

Rarely has one law so exemplified the worst of the Leviathan state — grotesque cost, questionable constitutionality, and arbitrary bureaucratic coerciveness. Little wonder the president barely mentioned it in his latest State of the Union address. He wants to be reelected. He’d rather talk about other things.

The notion that cutting taxes creates deficits – not his wildly out-of-control spending, the largest single spending spree in the history of mankind – is pure Obama, suggesting that all money and rights source back to the government, not the people.

◼ OBAMA: GOVERNMENT SPENDING 'MADE THIS COUNTRY GREAT' - Breitbart's Big Government

Last night, President Obama spoke at the Portland Museum of Art in Maine. There, he attacked his political opponents’ philosophy:

They've got one message and that is, we're going to make sure that we cut people's taxes even more – so that by every objective measure our deficit is worse and we will slash government investments that have made this country great, not because it's going to balance the budget, but because it's driven by our ideological vision about how government should be. That's their agenda, pure and simple.

Obviously the takeaway line here is that “government investments … have made this country great.” That is insipid. The American people and their hard work, perseverance, and creativity make this country great, not bureaucrats in Washington spending huge sums of money in order to generate mediocre results. In another speech on Friday, Obama suggested that Republicans suffered from “madness” for opposing him.