Ian M. MacIsaac: Santorum KO’d in MichiZona, death knell sounds for Republicans' "anyone but Romney" fantasy

  Rick Santorum's primary bid to unseat Mitt Romney in Michigan, the state where he was born and raised, failed Tuesday night as Romney pulled out a 41-38% victory over the insurgent former senator.

  Romney's victory erases any realistic possibility of a Santorum presidential nomination, setting to rest three weeks of hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing over Santorum’s emerging status as a frontrunner and Romney’s accompanying slide into the political danger zone.

  Also voting on February 28 was Arizona, where a Romney win was never in question. The west has been traditionally strong for Romney given his Mormon roots, and Arizona gave the former Massachusetts governor a twenty-point victory over Santorum, 47-27%. Gingrich managed only 16%, but nonetheless made a better showing than he did in Michigan, where the former Speaker of the House managed to scrape together a mere 6.5% of the vote, behind even Ron Paul.

Mike Walker: Republican war against women – The Sleeping tiger is waking up!

  No one likes to talk about abortions. There is NO good side to come down on, no matter what your gender or your political affiliation may be. Abortion is always a time for sadness and a time for tears. It is a terrible decision to have to make and it rips women deeply through the heart and the soul to make such a decision.

  And so, we tend to avoid the subject in polite conversation unless we’re certain everyone in the group agrees with your point of view. Questions about abortion and the morality of abortion abound. “When does life begin?” “When does the soul enter the body?” “When is a fetus viable?” “How do you define viability?” “What about rape/incest?” “What about the health of the mother?” “What is the moral thing to do if a fetus is physically or mentally impaired?” “What if a pregnant woman is too immature or financially unable to raise a child?” LOTS of questions and NO clear definitive answers.

Tom Baxter: Alabama’s immigration disaster

  In June 2011 Alabama passed the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, H.B. 56. The law, which took effect in late September, lives up to its billing as the nation’s toughest immigration bill and goes well beyond the Arizona law (S.B. 1070) on which it was based.

  H.B. 56 requires schools to check and report the immigration status of their students and bars undocumented students from postsecondary education. It instructs police to demand proof of immigration status from anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally, even on a routine traffic stop or roadblock. It also invalidates any contract knowingly entered into with an illegal alien, including routine agreements such as a rent contract, and makes it a felony for an unauthorized immigrant to enter into a contract with a government entity. Finally, it goes beyond any previous legislation by effectively making it a crime to be undocumented in the state.

Charles C. Haynes: In New York City, does church-school separation go too far?

  Few church-state battles in American history have had as many byzantine twists and turns as Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York.

  For 17 long years, Bronx Household of Faith — a small evangelical church that meets in a New York City public school on Sundays — has fought to overturn New York City’s policy barring worship services in public schools. Throughout the legal battle, courts have allowed churches to continue meeting in schools.

  After a roller-coaster ride of wins and losses for both sides, the end appeared near last June after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the school district’s policy. According to the appeals court, New York City’s policy is constitutionally permissible – but not constitutionally required.

Steve Flowers: Inside The Statehouse: Lawmakers and taxpayer abuse

  Our legislative branch of government is the recipient of many slings and arrows. They, along with members of Congress, are generally at the bottom of public opinion polls. They are the object of ridicule and are generally castigated as crooks. It is a shame because most of these men and women are outstanding people who are striving to serve their state. Many are stellar business people and professionals who are giving their retirement years to public service. However, as soon as they put their names on the ballot and are elected they are then relegated to the term “politician,” which has a dubious perception.

Sam Fulwood III: What Linsanity reveals about our nation

  Linsanity has overtaken almost everyone I’ve spoken with during the past week.

  In the incredible case you’ve escaped it, Linsanity refers to the global obsession–or craze–with Jeremy Lin, the professional basketball player whose play for the erstwhile forlorn New York Knicks has set everyone atwitter with his out-of-nowhere story. He was the star of his state-champion high school team in Palo Alto, California, but wasn’t highly recruited to play college ball. Instead of accepting a walk-on role, he enrolled at Harvard, a school better known for brains than brawn. He excelled in the classroom and on the court, but after graduation was overlooked by NBA scouts.

Sheldon Richman: No one should be forced to act against his conscience

  A question arises from the recent controversy between President Obama and the Catholic Church that aches for an answer: If Catholic institutions have a right to abstain from paying for what morally offends them, why don’t the rest of us?

  The initial Obamacare rule held that all employers, in fulfilling their new legal requirement to provide health insurance to their employees, must include contraception (and other “preventive” health services) in the coverage at no cost. The Catholic Church teaches that contraception is sinful. The Department of Health and Human Services was willing to exempt churches but not church-operated institutions that pursue a broader mission than religious teaching, such as colleges, hospitals, and charities. This brought protests from Catholic officials, who claim that their religious freedom would be infringed upon by a mandate that they buy services that they teach are morally abhorrent.

Gene Policinski: Criminal libel: A bad idea in a free society

  Saying something untrue about a person may cost you later in court — but in about two dozen states it can land you in jail, too.

  Libel lawsuits today in the U.S. almost always involve a civil case brought by one person against another, seeking compensation for damages suffered for an alleged false claim or statement. Truth almost always provides legal protection to the speaker or writer, and without proof of malicious intent or reckless disregard for the truth, few claims prevail.

  But the continued existence in a number of states of “criminal libel” statutes raises the centuries-old specter of fines or even a prison term for writers or speakers found liable for damaging remarks.

Eric Alterman: Is America getting more conservative?

  Richard Florida, director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto and a senior editor at The Atlantic, wants to explain “Why America Keeps Getting More Conservative.” He notes, as does everyone who writes about the topic, that “Americans at this political moment are significantly more likely to identify as conservative than as liberal: conservatives outnumber liberals by nearly two to one. Forty percent identify as conservative, 36 percent as moderate, and 21 percent liberal.”

  That’s hardly news. What Florida thinks is worth paying attention to, however, is the map he draws of “The Conservative States of America,” which he uses to illustrate his point that America is becoming more conservative. He originally wrote about it in March 2011 and now updates his analysis with Gallup’s year-end data.

Gary Palmer: Reagan: America is too great for small dreams

  February 6th would have been Ronald Reagan’s 101st birthday. Considering the current condition of America and the world, I tried to imagine what he would say if he were still with us. Here are some of my thoughts.

  First of all, I believe Reagan would challenge us directly and not with the impersonal language of a national collective. Our problems are really ‘our problems’ and the only way we will solve them is when we engage as individuals.