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Rick Santorum has 15-point lead in new PPP national poll

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Story in the UK Telegraph.

Excerpt:

There is a new national poll of Republican primary voters just out from Public Policy Polling which has some good news for Rick Santorum the ex-Pennsylvania senator who on Tuesday beat Mitt Romney in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado.

Based on fieldwork that took place on Thursday and Friday Santorum is on 38%; Romney 23%; Gingrich 17% and Ron Paul on 13%. This is a huge margin which has been helped by the positive media coverage that he received following his three victories on Tuesday.

In surveys ahead of the elections in those three states the pollster produced figures that suggested Santorum was going to have a good night but on nothing like the scale of what actually happened.

The candidate will be only too aware that the nature of this battle to be the party’s nominee has seen many contenders surge forward only to fall backwards quite soon afterwards. So far there have been eleven separate leaders in the polls most of whom either did not enter the race or have since pulled out.

For Santorum the political effect of this and other polling expected this weekend is that it reinforces his position as the candidate from the conservative wing of the party who is most able to take on the Mitt Romney machine.

This latest poll found that if Gingrich dropped out of the race then out 58% of his support would go to Santorum and 22% to Romney.

The immediate worry for the Santorum campaign is that they are likely to be on the end of a furious negative advertising campaign ahead of the Arizona and Michigan primaries at the end of the month. That is how the Romney team dealt with others who threatened their position and what is likely to happen now.

I just heard from my Dad that Rick and Newt are not campaigning in Maine. It is a very blue state, so Romney and Paul will do well there.

News

Earliest manuscript of the New Testament discovered?

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John Rylands manuscript fragment P52
John Rylands manuscript fragment P52

The P52 manuscript fragment from the gospel of John is considered to be the earliest New Testament manuscript fragment. It is dated around 125 A.D.. But historians have found a new fragment from Mark that may be much, much earlier.

Top New Testament scholar and evangelical Christian Daniel B. Wallace reports.

Excerpt:

On 1 February 2012, I debated Bart Ehrman at UNC Chapel Hill on whether we have the wording of the original New Testament today. This was our third such debate, and it was before a crowd of more than 1000 people. I mentioned that seven New Testament papyri had recently been discovered—six of them probably from the second century and one of them probably from the first. These fragments will be published in about a year.

These fragments now increase our holdings as follows: we have as many as eighteen New Testament manuscripts from the second century and one from the first. Altogether, more than 43% of all New Testament verses are found in these manuscripts. But the most interesting thing is the first-century fragment.

It was dated by one of the world’s leading paleographers. He said he was ‘certain’ that it was from the first century. If this is true, it would be the oldest fragment of the New Testament known to exist. Up until now, no one has discovered any first-century manuscripts of the New Testament. The oldest manuscript of the New Testament has been P52, a small fragment from John’s Gospel, dated to the first half of the second century. It was discovered in 1934.

Not only this, but the first-century fragment is from Mark’s Gospel. Before the discovery of this fragment, the oldest manuscript that had Mark in it was P45, from the early third century (c. AD 200–250). This new fragment would predate that by 100 to 150 years.

Evangelicals react to Wallace’s statement here.

Right now, I think it’s best to be skeptical. But I will be following the story closely.

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Caterpillar decides to not build its new manufacturing plant in Illinois

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Central United States
Central United States

From the Peoria Journal Star.

Excerpt:

Caterpillar Inc. will not be building its new North American plant anywhere in the state of Illinois, officials with the company told local leaders Tuesday, with part of the reason being continued concerns about the business climate in the state.

The company will instead focus on a location closer to its division headquarters in Cary, N.C., Peoria County officials were told in an email sent to them shortly after the close of business and later obtained by the Journal Star. The plant stood to bring with it from Japan roughly 1,000 jobs manufacturing track-type tractors and mini hydraulic excavators.

Peoria County had submitted a regional proposal for the facility at the end of last year, and the Galesburg area also had a proposal on the table for the manufacturer. Peoria’s proposal reportedly included economic incentives as well as a promise of a legislative effort to establish a tax increment financing district to benefit the company.

At its core, Caterpillar’s decision reflects some concerns its officials had previously expressed about the economic condition of the Land of Lincoln.

“Please understand that even if your community had the right logistics for this project, Caterpillar’s previously documented concerns about the business climate and overall fiscal health of the state of Illinois still would have made it unpractical for us to select your community for this project,” the letter reads in part. “Caterpillar intends to continue calling for long-term changes in Illinois and to offer help to the state as it works toward real and fundamental reforms that will position communities like yours to compete for future projects.”

And:

Still, the rejection didn’t come as much of a surprise to state Rep. David Leitch, R-Peoria.

“I think Caterpillar has been very frustrated by the state’s inability to improve the business climate,” he said. “I still think that workers’ comp is a very serious issue for Caterpillar and others. I think there’s great concern about the financial situation within the state itself. The precarious nature of the state’s finances and having the worst bond rating in the country and huge liabilities … have not been addressed.”

The decision to locate elsewhere — and the reasons for it — should serve as a wake-up call to the region and the state as a whole, Rand said.

“I think the lessons learned here shouldn’t read like recriminations but instead resonate like a call to action,” he said. “Perhaps someone in Springfield will take notice. It’s our job to make certain they do.

“You can’t move a mountain while wearing a pair of roller skates. The disadvantages Cat identifies in Illinois are all man-made. We have to make ourselves competitive. It won’t happen because of a wish.”

Illinois is one of the bluest states in the union – totally dominated by Democrats. It’s very important for working Americans to understand that a Democrat can stand up and complain about outsourcing and greed and corporations and income inequality until they are blue in the face. It doesn’t mean a thing. Democrats are for higher taxes and more regulations on businesses, and that’s what causes outsourcing. Democrats cause unemployment. It doesn’t matter what they say. What matters is how job creators respond to the incentives created by Democrat policies.