51 Percent of Americans Support Targeted Strikes Against Iran, Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich "neck and neck" in Alabama and Mississippi, U.K. Student To be Extradited to U.S. For Linking to Pirated Content: P.M. Links

• A New York Times/CBS poll says 51 percent of Americans favor a targeted strike against Iran "to prevent nuclear weapons" — and when you put it that way, gosh…

• There are way too many headlines about Santorum, Romney, and Gingrich's close "three-way" race in Alabama and Mississipi, thankfully this one went with "neck-in-neck."
• Mexican cartel leader "El Chapo" Guzman keeps evading capture. 
• "Well that would preclude, of course, Rick Santorum. Because, I mean, look at his record." Mitt Romney is thinking about someone more conservative than Rick for VP.
• In disturbing tech news, a U.K. student who linked to to pirated streaming videos is going to be extradited to the U.S.
• Did you know that things in American politics were totally awesome before Sarah Palin? 

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...and just who could argue with that?

49 percent of poll respondents? And Iran?

[Lucy Steigerwald]

Wording adjusted in order to (hopefully) enhance sarcasm.

[Xenocles]

I accuse you of anti-majoritarian and anti-democratic thought crimes.

[Fist of Etiquette]

And now you've made me look the fool!

[Episiarch]

I don't think you can pin that on Lucy, dude.

[Xenocles]

Lucy just gave you an audience.

[Auric Demonocles]

1984 was a warning, not a manual!

[Janet Napolitano]

Now they tell me!

[Pro Libertate]

If by targeted they mean send Chiun and Remo in stealthily, maybe.

[Cthorm]

The poll is obviously retarded. Consider this a cap on support. "Targeted strikes" is about as idiotic a concept as you can get when you're referring to a nation state with a level of technology exceeding 1870 USA. A "Targeted Strike" would inevitable mean a ground war, or alternatively a prolonged bombing campaign and trade embargo. No matter how you slice it, forceful intervention will cause FAR more deaths than just sitting back, even if the Iranians were working on a god damn Hydrogen bomb and not a Little Boy equivalent (even that is questionable).

[Cytotoxic]

Given so few deaths from America's ground war initial invasion in Iraq, that is questionable, Er rather wrong.

[Alan]

I read the headline as: "51 Percent of Americans Support Targeted Strikes Against Iran, Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich" - and my first thought was, "I agree, except about Iran."

[Fist of Etiquette]

Romney, Gingrich and Santorum Battle in South: Candidates run neck-and-neck in polling in Alabama, Mississippi

Someone is doubling up on necks there.

[Xenocles]

It's neck-in-neck now, to save space.

[omnibot]

Newt has 5 necks of his own.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

One for each chin.

[Ska]

Sandi would delight in shitting down each of his throats.

[Sandi]

Think again.

[Loki]

Was Newt actually the star of Hollywood Scat Amateurs 7?

[Ska]

I figure him more for an EP.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"I'm saying I'm a conservative, I give him credit for being a conservative, but not a fiscal conservative. His record does not suggest he's got the fiscal conservative chops that I have."

Shouldn't the presumptive nominee be in general election mode right now? I'm surprised Romney is lowering himself to speak the names of the other GOP comers.

[shrike]

"Cheesey grits" will win Alabammy for Romney. It was all he needed for the rubes to convince them of his GOP cred.

[Nope]

eom

[John Thacker]

It's actually a fairly clever line for Romney. I see it, together with Gingrich's line about how maybe the American people are tired of occupation, of at least trying to seem acceptable to libertarians.

Meanwhile Santorum has explicitly made statements about how he wants to decrease the power of libertarians in the GOP, and then wonders why Ron Paul seems to hate him.

[omnibot]

These celestial marriages never last!

[Cy Toliver]

Those heathens shouldn't be marryin' to begin with.

[sticks]

51 Percent of Americans Support Targeted Strikes Against Iran, Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich

I wish that were true.

[Juice]

Ha ha. I read it that way too.

[Episiarch]

Thanks for a thoroughly depressing set of PM links, Lucy. Maybe in return we can get you a box of rocks or possibly a date with Jimbo. Just kidding about the last bit; Jimbo isn't allowed to be alone with anything female or younger than 25 unless he's just freshly had his chemical castration injection.

[Gojira]

Jokes on you, asshole. I switched the vial with common saline solution and they still haven't caught on.

[omnibot]

Scoreless, Down 1-0 on aggregate in the 2nd half, Milan sub out Forlan.

[omnibot]

Meanwhile, Mario Gomez has 4 goals.

[Apatheist ?_??]

SOB I'm recording those to watch later. Was hoping to avoid spoilers.

[omnibot]

sorry that's a performance tough to keep quiet

[End Child Unemployment]

Would H&R folks or other Paul fans consider a vote for Romneybot if his programming selected Ron or Rand as VP? I honestly cannot say for myself.

I find my affection for the Pauls weighed against my violent hate of Romney's signature on the MA permanent assault "weapons" ban. The only thing I hate more than the English is gun control.

[Pro Libertate]

I think I might, if for no other reason that a Paul might temper the statism of Romney a little. I figure he's going to be president, regardless.

[fried wylie]

I've seen nothing to convince me to change my vote from Kodos.

[Alack]

Kang 2012

[Loki]

Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.

[Xenocles]

I'd consider it and then not vote for Romney. But I'd consider it.

[Gray Ghost]

Why on Earth would Romney pick Paul as his V.P.? If he were picking veeps to shore up a deficient power bloc, wouldn't he be offering it to Santorum? Santorum's the one who's actually winning primaries, after all, not Paul.

This assumes that he's not going to offer it to Marco Rubio, or J.C. Watts, or some other minority in an attempt to pander.

I know. It sucks. But what can you do? (Other than vote for Johnson.)

[Pro Libertate]

I find the possibility unlikely as well.

[Xenocles]

There is a good reason to do something like that. The Paul bloc is the most likely to defect to a third party or stay home if their candidate doesn't get the nomination. A grand gesture could save many of those votes.

[End Child Unemployment]

Your suggestion is rational but not emotionally satisfying. If Santorum were picked as Romney's VP I think I would just have to go on an evangelical murdering rampage.

[Loki]

"I'm saying I'm a conservative, I give him credit for being a conservative, but not a fiscal conservative. His record does not suggest he's got the fiscal conservative chops that I have."

In addition to laughing at Romney claiming to have any kind of "fiscal conservative chops", I think this wuote may imply that he's looking for someone who's a strong fiscal conservative to be his VP, which would certainly describe either one of the Pauls. Whether he goes through with it or not is another question.

I couldn't really see Dick Comfarts accepting an offer of the VP slot. Or Nucular Titties for that matter. Neither one of their egos will allow them to be 2nd fiddle to the Romneybot.

[HeroicMulatto]

Why on Earth would Romney pick Paul as his V.P.?

The power of friendship?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Pretty cool. Looks like they had a blast!

[Robert]

Oh, that's how it's spelled. I kept hearing the name and spelled it in my head Mark O'Rubio.

[John Thacker]

Depends on whether he thinks that the Santorum voters or the Paul voters (socons vs. libertarians/fiscal cons) are more likely to abandon him in the general versus hold their nose and vote for him with the right soothing words.

Santorum's chance of being VP is actually predicated on his argument that he can bring blue-collar Reagan Democrats that otherwise would choose Obama over the stereotypical plutocrat Republican.

[fish]

I hate admitting this but I might have to drag my fat ass off the sofa to vote (Yes, I actually registered so I could sign the "Legalize It" in California petition...so I got that going for me....which is nice)!

He would be pretty tightly muzzled but maybe it would be a start!

[cynical]

Ron, probably not. I don't like Romney, but I don't personally dislike him enough to want him dead, and I don't see any other way for that to be worth sullying myself.

Rand, on the other hand, might be worth it -- if only to soften the blow of losing him in the Senate.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"In 1798, Rev. [Thomas] Malthus thought that too many babies would lead to starvation. In 2012, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius thinks that too many babies increase the cost of health care."

http://bit.ly/zrf7XE

[???]

Smart woman.

[Xenocles]

Once they figure out the state of SS/Medicare, they'll do a 180 and ban contraception outright.

[R C Dean]

What that halfwit Sebelius doesn't realize is that she needs those babies to grow up to be taxpayers to fund her cradle-to-grave welfare state.

[Loki]

There's a reason I haven't had kids and don't want to. Actually, there's that and the fact that I don't like children.

[kilroy]

I second this.

[fried wylie]

I can't even keep a fishtank (unless lots of algae counts) or houseplants other than cacti. Doesn't bode well for child rearing.

Hence my plan to hybridize children and cacti.

[fish]

Actually, there's that and the fact that I don't like children.

How are you preparing them?

[HeroicMulatto]

As for Ron Paul, he appears to be running for president of some theme park.

Dear Richard Cohen,

An insult doesn't work unless it makes some sort of linguistic sense. Just pasting words together randomly is only insulting to your readers' intelligence.

[Pip]

"is only insulting to your readers' intelligence."

They'll never notice.

[Alack]

insulting to your reader's intelligence.

FTFY

[HeroicMulatto]

Oh, snap!

[Richard Cohen Reeder]

DERP DUH DERP TA TEETILY DERPITY DERPTY DUMB!

[TrickyVic]

""Richard O'Dwyer to the US to face criminal copyright infringement charges for the "crime" of linking to streaming videos hosted elsewhere -- something that had already been found legal in the UK multiple times""

So how is a UK citizen, doing something in the UK, subject to US jurisdiction?

[Maxxx]

Is it time to admit that we've become worse than the old Soviet Union yet.

We used to laughand cry when they would imprison some budding entrepreneur for selling black market jeans.

But here our government wants to imprison a non citizen for linking to a web site (WTF???) which the kid probably didn't know was engaged in "illegal copyright infringement".

[Fist of Etiquette]

In January, a judge said that the UK could extradite student Richard O'Dwyer to the US to face criminal copyright infringement charges for the "crime" of linking to streaming videos hosted elsewhere -- something that had already been found legal in the UK multiple times.

But if the UK doesn't acquiesce, Hollywood might not have sufficient funds to give them Mr. Bean II.

[Pro Libertate]

We may also refuse to return Hugh Laurie.

[omnibot]

Can we kidnap Stephen Frye?

[fried wylie]

you could try...

[Jeffersonian]

Only if we can resurrect PG Wodehouse so he can write more Wooster and Jeeves episodes. Teevee at its finest.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Palin objects to this characterization ? as does McCain ? but the movie has been endorsed by too many of Palin's top campaign aides to put its veracity in doubt.

The same campaign aides who were made to look the hero in the movie?

[R C Dean]

Some people who were there say its accurate, and some people who were there say its not.

That somehow removes all doubt as to accuracy?

[Gojira]

For John's sake, I desperately hope it isn't accurate. Not knowing the difference between North & South Korea? That seems like a bit of a stretch.

[Mike M.]

Good grief, gas just went up another seven cents in my area today. $3.90 now the cheapest for 87.

[shrike]

God Damn! Another 40 cents we are right back to 2008 highs!

[Fluffy]

It depends on where you live, shrike.

In New England we're definitely at the previous high.

Gas never got to $4 here in 2008.

[Gray Ghost]

Feel like JEP's comment in the Morning Links is worth repeating. In relevant part:

The funny thing is the gas prices are actually pretty low. When compared to the price of gold, the cost of a barrel of oil is actually 0.75 less than the historical average.

Gas prices aren't rising so much because of "instability" in the Middle East, etc. It's just inflation finally taking it's toll after deficit spending, bailouts, loans to foreign countries, etc.

My addition to this is that these prices are without a full-scale war with Iran. Easy to imagine $175-200 a barrel oil if that were to happen too.

[shrike]

True. There are lots of moving parts besides location.

The crack spread for refineries, world demand, local production, blend/time of year, etc.

Drilling is 400% since 2009 here in the USA. Due to Obama? Of course not. But to hear the right-wing nonsense you would think Obama shut down all E&P.

[Xenocles]

Maryland's moving toward an additional 6% gas tax, which sounds like a good political move if you're into voter-assisted suicide.

[shrike]

How is O'Malley doing?

Seriously, I don't know. He seems to be popular.

I avoid state politics. Nathan Deal is my Gov and I don't know anything about him.

[Xenocles]

Yeah, that was a bit severe on my part. Marylanders are like Massachusetts folks; they'll just pull the D lever in most cases. It would practically take an equine DP for them to consider an alternative.

[James Ard]

I'm sure we can guess how an occasional commenter around here feels about O'Malley's performance.

[Juice]

Taxes are already high as fuck in Maryland (the richest state per capita) and I cannot for the life of me tell you where it all goes.

[fried wylie]

it's funny, as a kid like 15-18 years ago, I recalled PG county as having much potholier roads than MC county. Nowadays, I could swear the situation is completely reversed.

[John Thacker]

That's partly because over the last two years O'Malley has raided the Very Special Transportation Trust Fund to pay for our Public Servants' raises and benefits. Maryland's actually spending less on roads than it did before the stimulus-- yay for fungible money.

[Tulip]

$4.08 at the station closest to my house. $3.98 is the lowest I've seen since Saturday.

[romulus augustus]

I was listening to some snarky talk show host going on about how Palin couldn't find one of the Stans on a map.
I'd be willing to bet that Joe Biden, a Foreign Relations Committee bigshot, couldn't find two or three of the African hot-spot countries on a map.
I figure the president needs to have one thought in mind - "Is my action constitutional or not" - and let the aides worry about where something is on a map or the whole history of energy policy or whatever. Someone wonky enough to have memorized all the facts and both sides of all issues is never going to even sniff a presidential nomination.

[shrike]

You wingnuts project a lot. Bill Clinton was the King of Wonks for better or worse. Reagan was the "out of touch" president and Bush the Least was the Bubble President.

[John Thacker]

Reagan was the "out of touch" president

Err, people do get a bit crazy with the Clinton dislike, but how do you qualify this one? "Out of touch" doesn't win landslide re-elections.

[omnibot]

Bayern beast Basel 7-0! The same Basel that knocked ManUtd out of the CL.

[Mike M.]

So far, the Palin effect has been limited to the GOP. Surely, though, there lurks in the Democratic Party potential candidates who have seen Palin and taken note. Experience, knowledge, accomplishment ? these no longer may matter.

Hey Cohen, one of these types in your party already got elected three years ago, jackass.

[shrike]

Damn, the S&P 500 just hit 1400 - the biggest gain ever for any president (806 in Jan 2009).

I know, you 'morans' claim he is a Muslin Socialist!

[Mike M.]

Yes you pychotic dickhead, we now have the most wildly distorted and inflated markets in the history of this country because of the Federal Reserve printing and pumping trillions upon trillions of dollars into the system.

[shrike]

Right, its all phoney. There is no real money unless you dig it out of the ground.

Ron Paul is a relic. How is his Monetary Policy chair working out, by the way?

Has he exposed the corrupt Fed/Jekyll Island conspiracy yet?

Time is short!

[Bill]

I'm sure it will stay there. Stock markets never go up and down or have bubbles or respond transiently to Fed news that they will keep interest rates low to help an incumbent president.

[Rob]

I remember in 06 and 07 when the stock market hit record highs and Wall St. Was on a run. All of you Commies cried "but what about main street?".

[Fluffy]

In case you didn't RTFA on the British linker extradition case, under British law it's legal to maintain a site providing links to pirated material.

So they're extraditing one of their own citizens for undertaking an action that's legal under British law.

[Barack Obama]

Let me be clear.

Britain is our best ally.

[Barack Obama]

Britain is our best ally my bitch.

Corrected.

[Booooooooosh]

You're welcome.

[Nipplemancer]

That's what makes it all worse. I'm waiting for Seal Team 6 to drop in on the Pirate Bay offices and kidnap the Swedish pirates.

[Ice Nine]

There are way too many headlines about Santorum, Romney, and Gingrich's close "three-way" race in Alabama and Mississipi, thankfully this one went with "neck-in-neck."

Actually, it went with "neck-and-neck". But I think you both meant "neck 'n neck".

[PantsFan]

Sidney Crosby to return Thursday against Rangers
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=390206

[Nipplemancer]

My prediction is within 4 games he takes a nasty hit and fails to finish the season. He's Lindross broken.

[Ice Nine]

Mexican cartel leader "El Chapo" Guzman keeps evading capture.

Laugh while you can Pablo Boy.

[Jeffersonian]

Wasn't this guy in "Three Amigos?"

[Cy Nickelfuque]

51 percent of Americans favor a targeted strike against Iran

And the other 49 percent favor an untargeted strike.

[Juice]

Holy shit! The UK-US extradition thing is scary.

[John Oines]

I guess that means the 51% of those polled are war mongers who don't care about remaining within Constitutional bounds

[brec]

51 Percent of Americans Support Targeted Strikes Against Iran, Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich...

Omit Iran, and I'm with the 51%.

[jools]

Jarmin's the one!

[prolefeed]

"51 Percent of Americans Support Targeted Strikes Against Iran, Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich"

I was hopeful for a moment there, but then you continued the sentence. =P

[Lucy Steigerwald]

+1

[peachy]

Me, too - but then I was like "nah, Americans aren't that smart." And I was right...

[prolefeed]

"Well that would preclude, of course, Rick Santorum. Because, I mean, look at his record." Mitt Romney is thinking about someone more conservative than Rick for VP.

Until Romney flip-flops and picks Santorum as VP because it is politically expedient.

[don't believe the overlords]

American politics were totally awesome before Sarah Palin and they are totally awesome with Sarah Palin and they will be totally awesome after Sarah Palin - at least I hope they will be.

[@AgoristDon]

51 Percent of Americans Support Targeted Strikes Against Iran, Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich.

I disagree on Iran, but I'm all for the other three.

Or did the editor mean to put a ; in there somewhere?

[I agree with 75% of this]

51 Percent of Americans Support Targeted Strikes Against Iran, Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich

[alittlesense]

I just read Richard Cohen's Washington Post piece...how can he be that stupid and still get paid to write?

[Eduard van Haalen]

OK, I got one.

The Oregonian newspaper covers the death of its editor:

"Bob Caldwell, editor of The Oregonian's editorial pages, was in the Tigard apartment of a 23-year-old woman when he went into cardiac arrest Saturday afternoon.

"The woman called 9-1-1 at 4:43 p.m. to report that Caldwell, 63, was coughing and then unresponsive after a sex act....

"The woman told deputies she met Caldwell about a year ago at Portland Community College. Caldwell, she said, knew she didn't have much money, so he provided her cash for books and other things for school in exchange for sex acts at her apartment."

http://bit.ly/xbUWtc

Either these journalists pursue the truth without fear or fervor, or they're still pissed at not getting raises.

[isa Wyatt]

I really dont think this dude has a clue now does he.

http://www.World-Anon.tk