Wednesday Morning Roundup


Don’t Underestimate Republicans in 2012
Ramesh Ponnuru
But the Republican field isn’t weak. The three people most likely to win the Republican nomination — Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman, according to Intrade.com — have all been governors. Two of them were governors of states that Obama carried in 2008. By contrast, the top three candidates for the Democratic nomination last time around (Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards) had a combined zero days of executive experience. This time, even some long-shot Republican candidates have stronger resumes than that: Libertarian gadfly Gary Johnson, for example, was a two-term governor of New Mexico.
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Poll: More Americans fear higher national debt than default
The Washington Post
…when pressed to name their biggest concern, nearly half of respondents say they are alarmed by the prospect that the debt could grow beyond its current limit of $14.3 trillion, according to a new Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll.
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Porkulus: Cash for Tax Cheats
Michelle Malkin at Townhall.com
At a congressional hearing on Tuesday, federal auditors reported on the latest porkulus spending gone wild. According to a new General Accounting Office audit conducted over the past year, nearly 4,000 stimulus recipients received $24 billion in Recovery Act funds — while owing more than $750 million in unpaid corporate, payroll and other taxes.
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The 20 Best- and Worst-Paid College Majors
Time
TIME took a look at the 10 highest- and the 10 lowest-earning majors.
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The Moon and Man at 50: Why JFK’s Space Exploration Speech Still Resonates
Space.com
Fifty years ago today (May 25), President John F. Kennedy presented NASA and the nation with a historic challenge: To put a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the 1960s.
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For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love
that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. (ESV)
~ Hebrews 6:10

Thirty-five years ago in a galaxy far, far away…

Do you remember where you were when you first saw Star Wars?

If you’re of my generation, you realize that the movie was revolutionary. It changed the way we go to the cinema. It began a whole new culture, a whole new cult following.

Star Wars introduced new terms and concepts into our culture. Droid, stormtrooper, jedi and even wookie became familiar words.

I saw Star Wars for the first time with a high school friend. We were both home from our freshman year at (different) college(s). Back on campus, I saw it again (and perhaps again) with my roommate. We even had an adventure of sorts as we got lost in town on the way to the theater.

We stood in line for hours to see “The Empire Strikes Back.” And “Luke I’m your father” generated almost as much buzz as “Who Shot J.R.?”

Fast forward to the age of VCRs and my family spent untold weeks making Friday nights pizza and movie night. Always the same pizza, and one of three possible Star Wars movies. Ten years later, the younger brother is likewise a fan, but he’s fonder of the latter three movies.

I on the other hand, felt slightly sacrilegious laughing at the Yoda vs. Saruman (Count Dooku) fight in Episode I. And I admit looking at my watch and being distressed that we were only 45 minutes into the film.

All of this began, on this day, 35 years ago…when Star Wars was released in the theaters.