The Commentariat -- February 7, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is an attempt to make sense of David Brooks' column today. The NYTX frontpage is here. You can contribute to NYTX here. ...

... Dean Baker: "Bill Keller does not understand free speech, copyright and the Constitution.... It is perverse response to the development of technology to grant the government ever greater powers of repression in order to ensure that an archaic social institution can still be used to generate profits for a small group of powerful corporations and individuals."

CW: This is to follow up on something Carlyle said in the Comments section a few days ago. He asserted, I would have guessed correctly, that before Roe v. Wade, the doctors of middle-class & wealthy women routinely performed abortions who requested them. (My recollection was that abortions were referred to as "D&C"s, -- dilation and curettage -- a "cover" for their true purpose. Quite a few of my mother's friends had D&Cs for "medical" reasons.) Now Andrew Rosenthal of the New York Times provides some figures to back up Carlyle's assertion:

If the right-wing manages to outlaw abortion, the abortion rate will not go down. It was about the same before the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, which recognized a woman’s right to privacy, as it was in 2008.  (Approximations of illegal abortions in the 1960s range from 200,000 to 1.2 million a year, and the total population was under 200 million until the end of that decade. If the truth lies closer to the larger number, the rate was actually higher than post-Roe.) But abortions will become more dangerous. According to some estimates, fifty percent of the maternal deaths in the first half of the 20^th century were due to illegal abortions. Was that a culture of life?

David Fallis, et al., of the Washington Post: "Thirty-three members of Congress have directed more than $300 million in earmarks and other spending provisions to dozens of public projects that are next to or within about two miles of the lawmakers’ own property, according to a Washington Post investigation.... Congress’s interpretation of what constitutes a conflict is narrowly construed: If lawmakers or their immediate families are not the sole beneficiaries, there is considered to be no conflict." The details of the Post investigation are here. There are related stories here.

A painless way to learn about the European fiscal crisis. Thanks to Dave S.:

Certain products are gone forever. Fancy derivatives are mostly gone. Prop trading is gone. There’s less leverage everywhere. Mortgages are back to old-fashioned conservative mortgages — which is a good thing. -- Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase ...

... "The Masters of the Universe Are Masters No Longer." Gabriel Sherman of New York Magazine: Dodd-Frank's "major provisions — forcing banks to reduce leverage, imposing a ban on proprietary trading, making derivatives markets more transparent, and ending abusive debit-card practices — have taken a pickax to the Wall Street business model even though the act won’t be completely in effect till the ­Volcker Rule kicks in this July (other aspects of the bill took force in December; capital requirements and many other elements of the bill will be phased in gradually between now and 2016)."

Right Wing World

Know Your Dumb Congressmen. This Week's Winner: John Fleming of Louisiana's 4th District. Mackenzie Weinger of Politico: "In a Facebook status on Friday, Fleming alerted his followers to The Onion’s May 18, 2011 article, 'Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex' and wrote 'More on Planned Parenthood, abortion by the wholesale.' Fleming’s spokesman Doug Sachtleben confirmed to Politico the post has since been removed from the congressman’s Facebook page and said the office had no further comment."

I was, frankly, offended by it.  I'm a huge fan of Clint Eastwood, I thought it was an extremely well-done ad, but it is a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics, and the president of the United States and his political minions are, in essence, using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising. -- Karl Rove ...

... Here's Rove whining on Fox "News":

... Charles Blow: "Rove didn’t mention that it was [George W.] Bush who first agreed to save Chrysler.... Chrysler nearly collapsed in late 2008 under private equity ownership. Bush agreed to a $4 billion bailout of the company." Chrysler got its first $4 billion in bailout cash while Bush was still in office. CW: Huh. Who'da thunk Dubya practiced "Chicago-style politics"? Gosh, not a Floridian such as I who watched the Bushes Jeb & George muscle the Florida vote-count shutdown. ...

... Somewhat weirdly, this major New York Times story, headlined "Republicans See Politics in Chrysler Super Bowl Ad," by Jeremy Peters & Jim Rutenberg (it's a two-pager online) does not mention that Dubya initiated the Chrysler bailout. ...

... Meanwhile, out in Las Vegas, the Detroit Free Press reports that "Former President George W. Bush, who extended bridge loans to the auto  industry as one of his administration's last acts, told auto dealers Monday he would do it all again."

... Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A Chrysler ad aired during the Super Bowl Sunday night has inspired ire among some Republicans and admiration among some Democrats — with both sides seeing a political message that boosts President Obama." (See the ad in yesterday's Commentariat.) CW: You made my day, Turdblossom. ...

... Oops! The NFL took the ad down. They've put it back up. Update: an NFL spokesman said the NFL never asked Google/YouTube to take the ad down, and asked them up put it back up. It's up:

... Guess what, Karl Rove. Clint Eastwood didn't just star in the Chrysler ad. He wrote it. This New York magazine post, in which Claude Brodesser-Akner reports on his interview of Eastwood's long-time agent/manager Leonard Hirshan, is pretty interesting. ...

I am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK. I am not supporting any politician at this time.... If Obama or any other politician wants to run with the spirit of that ad, go for it. -- Clint Eastwood

... Digby. "There was a time when this message would be uncontroversial --- just straight up All American patriotic commercialism. Now the wingnuts say it's commie propaganda for the Kenyan usurper." ...

... Laura Clawson of Daily Kos: "... Rove is still twisting himself in knots to be sure he doesn't blame its content on Chrysler.... And Clint Eastwood? He's what passes for a Hollywood Republican, so he's blameless. Instead, Chrysler's advertising ... is somehow a result of the president's 'Chicago-style politics.' ... It's not clear whether Rove is implying that Obama saved Chrysler in 2009 in order to get a 2012 Super Bowl ad that some would interpret as positive about him, or that Obama actually called up Chrysler and demanded the ad, but whatever. We knew Republicans were rooting against the economy improving. But claiming that any implication that Obama's policies have improved the economy is all a nefarious political plot on his part takes the desperation a little far." ...

... David Firestone of the New York Times: "Detroit’s resurgence [is] what’s what’s really offensive to Mr. Rove and other Republicans.... These [successes] are inconvenient facts for both Mr. Rove and for Mitt Romney, who is on the record as opposing the automaker bailouts. The outcry being raised against the commercial is not really from people who are offended, but from those who are embarrassed."

Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Mitt Romney returned to the campaign trail [in Colorado] Monday and trained his focus on President Obama, but his top aides and key surrogates fought to beat back a possible surge by Rick Santorum on the eve of Republican presidential contests in a trio of states. Romney’s aides and a top surrogate, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, unloaded on Santorum over his support of taxpayer-funded earmarks during his years in Washington, calling him a 'champion of earmarks.' The Romney team lobbed similar broadsides against Newt Gingrich ahead of last month’s Florida primary, but have let up somewhat as the former House speaker’s campaign has struggled." ...

... Alex Altman of Time: "While polling in each state has been light, a series of Public Policy Polling surveys found Santorum with a slight edge over Romney in Minnesota, 29% to 27%, and in second place in Colorado, where he trails Romney, 40% to 26%. A week-old survey also placed him atop Missouri's bragging-rights derby." ...

... Romney Must Be a Tad Worried. Alexander Burns of Politico: "In a memo released to the press, Romney political director Rich Beeson makes the case that the path forward in the 2012 primaries points clearly toward a Romney victory, and preemptively spins tonight's Missouri-Minnesota-Colorado contests as a political sideshow.

Charles Pierce of Esquire has a lovely way of addressing the embattled enemy in President Obama's War on Religion (See Douthat, Ross; Gingrich, Newt; etc.): "... please stop going on my television set and telling me what 'the Catholic position' is on the fact that the president has told various Catholic institutions — and told them quite gently, too — that, yes, if they want all those nice juicy tax advantages, they must abide by the federal law and, in their capacities as employers, make contraceptives available to their employees under the new Affordable Care Act. There is no 'Catholic position' on this issue. There are the opinions of the clerical bureaucrats, accessories after the fact, and the members of the Clan of The Red Beanie, and then there is the opinion of the overwhelming majority of Catholic laypeople, who stopped listening to anything the Vatican said on the matter of birth control back in 1965."

AND Dave Weigel: "This can be filed under Things Everyone Knew Donald Trump Would Say.

Appearing on Fox News Monday, 'The Donald' said his endorsement helped Romney win by nearly 30 points.

'There was a lot riding on that particular race in Nevada and it was interesting, because the numbers were much, much greater than you thought,' Trump told Fox News. 'And a lot of people are giving me credit for that. And I will accept that credit.'

News Ledes

The New York Times is liveblogging the results of the three GOP presidential contests today, none of which will produce any delegates. Updated results are on the same page. ...

     ... At 9:45 pm ET, NBC News projected Rick Santorum as the winner of the nonbinding primary in Missouri. No link. ...

     ... At 10:20 pm ET, NBC News projected Santorum has won the Minnesota caucuses. No link.

     ... At 1:05 am ET Wednesday, NBC News declared Santorum the winner of the Colorado caucuses. No link.

Washington Post: "A top official of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation who was involved in the controversy over the group’s funding of Planned Parenthood resigned Tuesday. Karen Handel, vice president for public policy, acknowledged that she had supported Komen’s decision to pull funding for Planned Parenthood in a resignation letter obtained by The Atlanta Journal Constitution." Here's the letter.

New York Times: "Two American brothers of a Mexican casino magnate who fled drug and fraud charges in the United States and has been seeking a pardon enabling him to return have emerged as major fund-raisers and donors for President Obama’s re-election campaign. The casino owner, Juan Jose Rojas Cardona ... jumped bail in Iowa in 1994 and disappeared, and has since been linked to violence and corruption in Mexico.... When The New York Times asked the Obama campaign early Monday about the Cardonas, officials said they were unaware of the brother in Mexico. Later in the day, the campaign said it was refunding the money raised by the family, which totaled more than $200,000."

New York Times: President Obama is signaling to wealthy Democratic donors that he wants them to start contributing to an outside group supporting his re-election, reversing a long-held position as he confronts a deep financial disadvantage on a vital front in the campaign."Washington Post story here.

Los Angeles Times: "A federal appeals court is expected to decide [today] whether California's ban on same-sex marriage violates the federal Constitution, a ruling that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court next year." San Francisco Chronicle story here. ...

     L.A. Times Update: "A federal appeals court Tuesday struck down California's ban on same-sex marriage, clearing the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on gay marriage as early as next year. The 2-1 decision by a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that limited marriage to one man and one woman, violated the U.S. Constitution. The architects of Prop. 8 have vowed to appeal. The ruling was narrow and likely to be limited to California." You can read the decision here. The New York Times story, which is more expansive, is here.

New York Times: "One of the largest companies that provided home foreclosure services to lenders across the nation, DocX, has been indicted on forgery charges by a Missouri grand jury — one of the few criminal actions to follow reports of widespread improprieties against homeowners."

New York Times: "Thousands of Syrians lined the streets of Damascus, waving Russian flags to welcome top Russian officials arriving on Tuesday for talks with President Bashar al-Assad on Syria’s deepening, 11-month-old crisis.... Russia said it had sent its foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, and Mikhail Fradkov, the head of Moscow’s foreign intelligence service, to Syria with a proposal that could end the crisis." Washington Post story here.

New York Times: "Greek workers walked off the job on Tuesday to protest a new barrage of austerity measures being demanded by the country’s foreign creditors in exchange for a second bailout of $170 billion without which Greece faces a potentially catastrophic default within weeks."

The Commentariat -- February 6, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer critiques Thomas Edsall's New York Times column on deficit politics. Edsall may be an excellent journalist, but he's no economist. The NYTX front page is here. You can contribute here. ...

... BTW, today's Commentariat is open for comments. If you're not reading the comments, you're really missing something. I may be a bit biased, but I think Reality Chex contributors often make important points more cogently than the "experts" do. Yesterday was no exception.

Digby: "Barack Obama is the most conservative Democratic president of the modern era. And George W. Bush was the most conservative Republican." CW: See also Paul Krugman on this:

Paul Krugman: "... here’s what needs to be said about the latest [employment] numbers: yes, we’re doing a bit better, but no, things are not O.K. — not remotely O.K. This is still a terrible economy, and policy makers should be doing much more than they are to make it better." ...

... It's Paul Krugman Day: "... the left and right aren’t symmetric. People of all persuasions lie; but the right has a whole institutional structure of lying that has no counterpart on the left."

"Romney Takes Nevada, Obama Takes the Lead." Michael Falcone & Amy Walter of ABC News: "This was supposed to be Mitt Romney's week. Back-to-back wins in Florida and Nevada have helped to cement him as the all-but-certain Republican nominee. Instead, the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll points to President Obama as the biggest winner of the GOP primary contest. President Obama has snuck ahead of Romney among registered voters, 51 percent to 45 percent. What's more, 50 percent of voters in the new poll approve of Obama's job performance and the same percentage say he deserves re-election. Here's a related ABC News story, with video." ...

Obama Super PAC? Republican Clinton Eastwood cuts an ad for President Obama's re-election. No, wait, it's a Chrysler ad that ran during the Super Bowl half-time. Update: Chrysler took the ad down, but here's another YouTube version, which may or may not remain available:

** Elections Have Consequences. Mark Sherman of the AP on the importance of this year's presidential election in determining the future of American jurisprudence. "Despite his slow start in nominating judges and Republican delays in Senate confirmations, Obama has still managed to alter the balance of power on four of the nation's 13 circuit courts of appeals. Given a second term, Obama could have the chance to install Democratic majorities on several others."

President Obama on Iran's nuclear program, Israel, and other stuff:

... Ethan Bronner of the New York Times: "Israel believes that its threats to attack Iran have been the catalyst that has pushed much of the world to agree to harsh sanctions on Iran’s energy and banking sectors.... But Israel’s top leaders also worry that the sanctions are too late and that, in the end, a military assault is the only way to accomplish their goal — stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. So the talk in this crisis is not made instead of action, but in addition to it — and perhaps as a prelude to it." ...

... Michael Ono of ABC News: "As United States and Israel grow increasingly concerned over Iran's nuclear program [Mike Rogers {R-Michigan}] the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is cautioning that a pre-emptive strike by Israel could spell trouble for America.... This statement comes days after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta expressed concern that Israel would bomb Iran in an unattributed comment run in a column in the Washington Post." ...

... Activist-author Tom Hayden (D-Calif.) on how Romney, Gingrich or Santorum could push President Obama toward war with Iran during this election cycle.

Rick Hertzberg advocates for more debates. As the man most responsible for arranging the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates, Newton Minow, has written, “The debates are the only time during presidential campaigns when the major candidates appear together side by side under conditions that they do not control.”

Right Wing World

Anjeanette Damon of the Las Vegas Sun: "A painstakingly slow hand count of Clark County’s [Nevada] presidential caucus vote delayed final results by more than a day, prompting accusations of fraud and conspiracy from supporters of Rep. Ron Paul, doubts from national Republicans about Nevada’s ability to run a caucus and derision from national political observers, who called for Nevada’s status as an early caucus state to be summarily yanked. While no evidence of fraud was uncovered, the prolonged count capped a caucus marked by disorganization, bickering and bumbling at nearly every turn."

Jane Mayer of the New Yorker. Meet Larry McCarthy, creator of the Willie Horton ad against 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis, and Mitt Romney's top attack dog. You will not find McCarthy strapped to the roof of Romney's station wagon; he works out of Washington, D.C.

Deficit Spending, Newt Style. Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "Newt Gingrich’s campaign remains roughly $600,000 in debt, two months after it reported deep debts and a long list of creditors, newly released campaign spending records show." ...

At Least He's Consistent. Howard Gleckman in a Christian Science Monitor post from December 2011: "GOP Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is proposing a massive tax cut aimed at the highest earning American households. Gingrich’s plan would add about $1 trillion to the federal deficit in a single year. And while most of the nation’s lowest income families would get no benefit from these tax cuts, the top 0.1 percent (who make an average of more than $8 million) would get about a quarter of the windfall, according to new estimates by my colleagues at the Tax Policy Center." ...

... Oh. Wait. On his Website, Newt says he would "balance the budget by growing the economy, controlling spending, implementing money saving reforms, and replacing destructive policies and regulatory agencies with new approaches."

More on This: We are the only people on the earth that put our hand over our heart during the playing of the national anthem. It was FDR who asked us to do that, in honor of the blood that was being shed by our sons and daughters in far-off places. -- Mitt Romney>

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "This is a strange one.... Romney managed to get just about everything wrong in this story, in what appears to be a misguided attempt to both promote American exceptionalism and ding President Obama."

News Ledes

New York Times: "With a deadline looming on Monday for state officials to sign onto a landmark multibillion-dollar settlement to address foreclosure abuses, the Obama administration is close to winning support from [California,] a crucial state that would significantly expand the breadth of the deal.... Another important potential backer, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York, has also signaled that he sees progress on provisions that prevented him from supporting it in the past. The potential support from California and New York comes in exchange for tightening provisions of the settlement to preserve the right to investigate past misdeeds by banks, and stepping up oversight...." Washington Post story here.

New York Times: "The leaders of the rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas announced on Monday that they have broken a long political deadlock to form an interim unity government led, at least at first, by Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank. The announcement at a news conference in Doha, Qatar ... signaled a significant step toward reconciling the two movements as they prepare for elections...." Haaretz story here.

New York Times: "Syrian forces shelled the battered city of Homs for another day Monday, striking a makeshift clinic and killing at least 17 people in a mounting toll that has made the city the epicenter of the 11-month Syrian uprising, opposition groups said." Al Jazeera story here. ...

     ...  ** Washington Post Update: "The United States has closed its embassy in Damascus and pulled all diplomats and U.S. staff out of the country, the State Department said Monday. The decision comes two days after Russia and China vetoed a United Nations resolution condemning Syria’s violent repression of anti-government demonstrators, whose opposition to the government is threatening to become an all-out civil war."

AP: "Georgia's top court on Monday struck down a state law designed to discourage assisted suicides. The Georgia Supreme Court's unanimous ruling concludes the 1994 state law 'restricts speech in violation of the free speech clauses' of the U.S. and Georgia constitutions."

New York Times: "An appeals court ruled on Monday that Alberto Contador, a three-time winner of the Tour de France, used a performance-enhancing drug when he won the race in 2010, the latest black mark on a sport that has been tarnished by doping scandals over the past several years.... On Friday, federal investigators announced that they had ended a criminal investigation of Lance Armstrong, who won the Tour from 1999 to 2005. The United States Anti-Doping Agency, with the support of the World Anti-Doping Agency, is continuing a separate investigation of Armstrong under its rules."

AP: "The NFL and a major television network are apologizing for another Super Bowl halftime show...: an extended middle finger from British singer M.I.A. during Sunday night's performance of Madonna's new single, 'Give Me All Your Luvin.' ... She flipped the bird and appeared to sing, 'I don't give a (expletive)' at one point, though it was hard to hear her clearly." CW: shouldn't ever contract for a live performance include a penalty clause for the performer's purposefully offensive gestures and language?

ABC News: "President Barack Obama's grandmother, Sarah Obama, is home recovering from an accident that, judging by the condition of the vehicle, could have been much worse.... Police in the town of Kisumu, [Kenya] say the 87-year-old was traveling to her home Saturday night when the driver lost control, and the vehicle rolled into a ditch."

The Commentariat -- February 5, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer: "Ross Douthat, foe of women’s reproductive rights, uses his column today to complain about the 'frankly brutal coverage' in 'the media frenzy' surrounding the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision to renege on contracts to fund mammograms for poor women. 'You would think,' he writes, that 'all these millions of anti-abortion Americans simply do not exist…. On the abortion issue, the press’s prejudices are often absolute, its biases blatant and its blinders impenetrable.' Oddly enough, Douthat is angry about the lack of coverage of anti-choice Americans in a matter in which, according to the Komen Foundation, abortion rights played no part." The NYTX front page is here. You can donate here.

Prof. Larry Lessig in Salon: "What Obama must do if he is to make American democracy possible again is to speak boldly, not practically, about reform.... He needs to begin the process of persuading the nation that fundamental reform is necessary and possible.... He must stop, by his silence, defending the status quo.... Outside Washington, in the grassroots of American politics,  Democrats, independents and Republicans all support a radical change in how we fund campaigns.... There is overwhelming support for the idea of limiting the role of independent expenditures in political campaigns."

Mike Konczal in Salon: "Privatizing the government is one of the most active projects of the early 21st century.... The fraud and waste that often come with outsourcing these services has been well-documented.... Rather than solving problems with government, privatization often amplifies those issues to new extremes."

Prof. Christina Romer, in a New York Times opinion piece, explains why manufacturing should not be singled out as the only business sector to get special tax breaks and other government support. Other sectors could potentially produce better results for the economy.

Colbert v. the Court. Dahlia Lithwick in Slate: "... in the history of the Supreme Court, nothing has ever prepared the justices for the public opinion wrecking ball that is Stephen Colbert.... Colbert has spent the past few months making every part of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion in Citizen United look utterly ridiculous. And the court, which has no access to cameras (by its own choosing), no press arm, and no discernible comedic powers, has had to stand by and take it on the chin.... The institutional aloofness that allowed the Roberts court to pen such a politically naive decision is the same blind spot that precludes them from even understanding, much less responding to, the media criticism."

Katie Ryder of Salon speaks to writer Arthur Goldwag about right-wing haters & conspiracy theorists. They've always been around, but they're more visible now. An interesting read.

Emily Flitter of Reuters: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg keeps up his fight for gun control; he'll appear in a D.C. rollover ad during the Super Bowl with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino; Bloomberg paid for the ad.

AND cartoonist Brian McFadden has some tips on how to have a highbrow Super Bowl halftime. Personally, I'd turn down the sound on the teevee during Madonna's performance & ramp up something like the famous habanera L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" from Bizet's "Carmen" (Anna Caterina Antonacci performs it here):

Right Wing World

David Schwartz of the Las Vegas Sun: "Mitt Romney’s easy victory in Nevada’s Republican presidential caucuses might, in the long run, be less important than the fact that a surprising number of Republicans who could have participated Saturday chose to stay home. Republicans’ disappointing turnout foreshadows difficulty energizing GOP voters in Nevada, a key swing state in November’s general election."

** New York Times Editorial Board: "... the conservative legal battles of our modern times are being waged by the most powerful, often against the weak and oppressed. They began with a carefully planned and successful effort to reshape the courts to be sympathetic to conservative causes. They are largely aimed at narrowing rights, not expanding them — except where property and guns are concerned. And beginning with the Reagan administration, conservatives ... sought to remake law into a weapon of aggressive action.... The political influences on these major cases are important by themselves, but also as a reminder that the makeup of the court for the next generation, and thus the law’s direction, are likely to be determined by the 2012 election."

Worse Than Bush. Contributor P. D. Pepe made an important point in yesterday's Commentariat, which bears repeating: Romney's tax policy is worse than the Bush tax cuts. As Ezra Klein wrote a few days ago, "Romney's tax policy, described simply, is to extend the Bush tax cuts and, then on top of that, sharply cut taxes on corporations, the wealthy, and upper-middle class investors, while letting a set of tax breaks that help the poor expire. The result, according to the Tax Policy Center, would be a $69 tax cut for the average individual in the bottom 20 percent and a $164,000 tax cut for the average individual in the top one percent. And Romney would pay for this through unspecified cuts to domestic programs." That is, "he wants to lower the tax burden on people like himself, and pay for it by cutting programs for the poor and seniors.... His tax plan ... is the most moderate plan of any candidate in the GOP primary."

Local News

Indianapolis Star: "Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White (R) was convicted of six felonies early [Saturday] morning, and consequently lost his job.... A jury convicted White of three counts of voter fraud, two counts of perjury and one count of theft. He could face six months to three years in prison on each of the counts.... The charges stemmed from confusion over where White lived when he campaigned for secretary of state in late 2009 and 2010. White claimed that he lived at his ex-wife's home on the east side of Fishers. But the jury convicted him based on allegations that he actually lived in a townhouse on the opposite side of town.... The townhouse was outside his Fishers Town Council district." ...

... AP: White was the state's top elections official! Gov. Mitch "Daniels (R) quickly appointed White's chief deputy, Jerry Bonnet, as interim secretary of state." But state Democratic "Chairman Dan Parker said the party will seek to have its 2010 candidate, Vop Osili, who lost to White by about 300,000 votes, certified as secretary of state this week. A civil judge in Marion County ordered the state to declare Osili the winner in December, saying White wasn't an eligible candidate because he had lied about where he lived on a voter registration form."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Egyptian authorities have referred 19 Americans and two dozen others to criminal trials, justice ministry officials said Sunday, as part of a politically charged investigation into the foreign financing of nonprofit groups that has shaken the 30-year alliance between the United States and Egypt. The referral flies in the face of increasingly urgent warnings to Egypt’s military rulers from President Obama, cabinet officials and senior Congressional leaders that the investigation could jeopardize $1.55 billion in expected American aid this year, including $1.3 billion for the military.On Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she personally warned the Egyptian foreign minister, Mohammed Amr, during a security conference in Munich."

New York Times: "Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino executive keeping Newt Gingrich’s presidential hopes alive, has relayed assurances to Mitt Romney that he will provide even more generous support to his candidacy if he becomes the Republican nominee, several associates said in interviews here."

... Washington Post: "After a likely second-place finish in the Nevada caucuses Saturday, former House speaker Newt Gingrich sought to dispel the idea that he might drop out of the Republican presidential nomination any time soon, promising a hotel ballroom filled with reporters that he will fight on to the convention in the summer."

Reuters: "Western and Arab countries responded with outrage on Sunday after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up power. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said she was 'disgusted' by the vote, which came a day after activists say Syrian forces bombarded the city of Homs, killing more than people in the worst night of bloodshed of the 11-month uprising. 'Any further bloodshed that flows will be on their hands,' ambassador Susan Rice said...." ...

... Guardian: "US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has called for greater cooperation between the US and Europe to isolate tyrants such as Syrian president Bashar Assad and promote democracy in the Arab world."

... Al Jazeera: "Arab states will not stop their efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis even though their bid to secure UN backing was blocked by Russia and China, the Arab League's secretary-general has said."

Reuters: "Protesters demanding a swift presidential election and an early handover of power by the army hurled rocks at police guarding the Egyptian interior ministry on Sunday and were forced back with volleys of tear gas." Al Jazeera story here.