Here and Now, Fri., Mar. 4.

  "Palin's popularity falling in Iowa, but maintains lead to become supreme commander of MILFistan." -Tucker Carlson, in a quickly erased tweet.

 
Steve Jobs unveiling the iPad 2. (Getty)

Steve Jobs in "reality-distortion field" with countless untruthful boasts in his iPad 2 launch. (Seth Weintraub, Fortune) Motorola's Xoom outclasses new iPad. (Preston Gralla, Computerworld)

Big Pharma justifies exorbitant prices on its costly research - $1 billion to develop a new drug. Except it's more like $55 million. (Timothy Noah, Slate)

 
Mickey Rooney testifying on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

Mickey Rooney's wrenching tale of eldercare abuse - a scary forboding for Baby Boomers. (Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon)

Former Bush admin. official warns Canada off U.S. over-incarceration policies. (Gloria Galloway, Globe and Mail) "The United States has five per cent of the world's population but 23 per cent of the world's recorded prisoners. The incarceration costs are staggering, [running from] $18,000 to $50,000 per prisoner per year, depending on the state and the level of security. And that cost is very challenging for many states." -Asa Hutchison, former Arkansas congresssman (R), testimony on Parliament Hill 

Americans don't want to get rid of unions. (Robert de Neufville, Big Think)

 
Mother and child in the Tuileries, Paris. (Getty)

France rolls out anti-veil policy. (Angelique Chrisafis, Guardian)

Pax Americana may be dead.(Fareed Zakaria, Time)

It only looks dead. It's resting. (David Von Drehle, Time)

"Religion? Reality has a grander magic of its own." Q&A with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. (Markus Becker and Frank Patalong, Der Spiegel)

 
Sons of Confederate Veterans re-enact Jefferson Davies' ascension to presidency of Confederacy. (AP)

150th anniversary of Civil War divides the South. (Claire Suddath, Time)

Why MBAs can't write. (Diana Middleton, WSJ)

McKinsey & Co.'s penchant for addled yet costly advice. (Barry Ritholtz, Big Picture)

Integrated industry: Magna plant fire in Michigan affects five automakers. (Alisa Priddle, Detroit News)

Frugality infects Hollywood, puling back on costly potential blockbusters. (Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing) 

Hillary Clinton says Al Jazeera's "real news" puts U.S. news media to shame. (HuffPost) (video)

Chris Matthews says Newt "looks like a car bomber" who "loves torturing," and abandon his WH ambitions because he can't hope to escape his randy past. (HuffPost) (video)

Study: Conservatives sexier than liberals. (Ian Sparks, Daily Mail)

Study: More than one-third of adult Americans don't sleep 7 hours. (Today)

Study: Virginity back in vogue among teens. (Dave McGinn, Globe and Mail) Must forward this to Huckabee, who says unwed pregnant Natalie Portman is a bad role model. (New York)

"My wife won't wear the sexy lingerie I bought her" is the (conservative) G&M's third-ranked most-read story. (Lynn Coady, Globe and Mail)