Okay, now it’s settled, right? I mean, it must be settled by now. Mitt Romney is going to be the nominee. Eat your peas, Republicans, and then fall in line, because Romney’s the guy. Right? Probably. Even at this point, after Romney trounced Newt Gingrich in the Florida primary and the Nevada caucuses, there are some fairly compelling reasons for Republicans to pause before bowing to the party establishment’s decision that Mitt must be It. Read full article > >

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The front-runner who leaves the GOP cold

Not too shabby: Journalism has reached the point at which we can report on the death of a major sports figure — and come within a half-day of getting it right. Joe Paterno died this morning at the age of 85. That’s not long after he gave a revealing interview to The Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins. And not long after the news broke on a child-molestation scandal that tarnished Paterno’s legacy in what turned out to be his dying days. Read full article > >

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Joe Paterno dies on Sunday, not Saturday

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — In a small, borrowed office a block from where he once led Iceland , Geir Haarde skips the small talk and gets right to the point. “This is not the kind of situation I want to be in,” says the 60-year-old former prime minister, dressed in a tidy gray suit and blue tie. “I am getting famous for all the wrong reasons.” Read full article > >

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Geir Haarde, Iceland’s ousted leader, awaits trial over role in financial crisis

The correspondent was blunt: “Why don’t you atheists just go out and kill yourselves right now?” True, most Christians phrase it rather more delicately, but atheists are regularly informed by a certain kind of believer that our lives can have no value if we do not believe in their God. What is the point, they ask, of being kind or loving, caring about suffering or doing anything at all, if one day we just die? Read full article > >

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Paula Kirby: ‘How do atheists find meaning in life?’

The scandal surrounding former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and all those who covered for him took me to the point of physical sickness this week. More than just a news story that sparked anger and tears, it brought me face to face with my past: I was sexually abused when I was 8. Read full article > >

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What Joe Paterno taught me: It’s time to stop keeping secrets

Gautier Capucon is flustered. An interviewer has just posed an inaudible question that embarrasses the world-class cellist. He laughs, revealing a broad, affable smile as he shakes his head, which in turn, ruffles thick clumps of his Gallic brown hair. It is 2004, and Capucon is 23 years old. At this point, he still has boundaries. Read full article > >

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Young classical musicians easy on the eyes and the ears

The blogosphere has already dissected the dissolution of the Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries marriage to the point of overkill. Fine. Past the point of overkill. But there’s still an intriguing issue nagging at those who have been following this developing and depressingly absurd divorce story. And that’s whether the marriage of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries was just a stunt in which both parties willingly participated in order to generate publicity, revenue and overall buzz for themselves. Read full article > >

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Kim Kardashian, Kris Humphries and the ‘reality’ in reality TV

We’ve all become acutely aware in recent years how easily a big bank can reach the point of collapse. But why does it happen?

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VIDEO: Why do banks go bust?

Four of the UK’s leading internet providers are to offer families the option to bar adult content at the point of purchase, the BBC learns.

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Families offered bar on web porn

If the late Supreme Court Justice Byron White were here to see the predatory greed and market panic in college football , he would bring down a gavel on someone’s head. Then he’d say, “I told you so.” White foresaw it all, the cannibalizing and the cowardly defections for TV cash, and the gummy toothlessness of the NCAA. He predicted it 27 years ago in a case called NCAA v. Oklahoma Board of Regents, which is compulsory reading for those who wonder how we got to this point . Read full article > >

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NCAA lost its teeth in court in 1984, and no one’s been in charge since

Too many atheists miss the point of religion, it’s about how we live and not what we believe, writes John Gray.

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Can religion tell us more than science?

I wouldn’t say you’re mean or vindictive, but your behavior does seem punitive. You expected things of your friends, and when you didn’t get them, it was off with the friendship. There is a happy, low-maintenance medium between “going above and beyond” and going silent to the point where you override your impulse to say hello: Catch up how you want, when you want. Think of it as ending the expectations vs. ending the friendships. When you enjoy friends’ company on whatever terms you feel like offering, you’re making peace with it all upfront. Read full article > >

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Making new friends, not always keeping the old

An eye-catching report just released in London calls for new strict limits on marketing to children, including limiting one marketing technique that’s exploding:selling products to kids through social networks. The recommendations are the result of a government-commissioned six-month investigation, known as The Bailey Review , into what the Brits have called the “commercialisation and sexualisation” of childhood. Change the s’s to z’s and we get the point. Children here, too, are being exposed to unhealthy images and manipulated by marketers at too young an age. Read full article > >

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Marketing to children on social networks, is it fair?

“We’re not accusing anybody at this point,” America’s top counterterrorism official said on Tuesday.

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The Caucus: U.S. to Investigate What Pakistan Knew About Bin Laden

“We’re not accusing anybody at this point,” America’s top counterterrorism official said on Tuesday.

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The Caucus: U.S. to Investigate What Pakistan Knew About Bin Laden