Links, 2-13-12

Romney won the straw poll at the annual Conservative Political Action Committee meetings, edging out Rick Santorum 38-31% and looks to have won the Maine Caucuses, edging Ron Paul 39-36% (though Paul could still end up with more delegates).  Santorum is ahead in the latest national poll and second in two others, leading him to declare that "this is a two-person race right now".  Meanwhile, others are arguing that the Santorum surge may lead to a brokered convention.

The Obama administration announced a compromise on the contraception issue, which drew mixed reactions.  A group of Bishops were not happy, saying that the compromise raised "a grave moral concern," but other catholic groups supported the compromise.  And some secular commentators complained that religious groups are able to do whatever they please in the name of religion -- Nick Kristof cites a stat that 98% of Catholic women use a contraceptive at some point in their lives and concludes

In this case, we should make a good-faith effort to avoid offending Catholic bishops who passionately oppose birth control. I’m glad that Obama sought a compromise. But let’s remember that there are also other interests at stake. If we have to choose between bishops’ sensibilities and women’s health, our national priority must be the female half of our population.

Federal and state officials reached a deal on troubled mortgages with some large, national banks that would award $2,000 to people whose homes were improperly foreclosed upon and allow people currently underwater to refinance at lower rates and make some other mortgage modifications.

A woman in Arizona was declared ineligible to run for City Council after it was decided that her English wasn't good enough.

Teen pregnancies, births, and abortions have dropped by almost half since 1990

Here's the article we discussed in class on priming people to walk faster after a fake research study

Here's an entertaining, but illuminating, short video of Tucker Carlson (a conservative commentator) and Paul Begala (a liberal commentator) playing a word association game at CPAC.  Words mentioned by the moderator include unions, poor people, the IRS, and Kim Kardashian