The International House of Bacon

So much for me not being busy. Hopefully I can write a bunch of stuff over the weekend. I’m sure you’re all very, very excited.

* Michael Gerson was a former Bush 43 speechwriter, so that would probably dismiss 90% of what he has to say in most minds anyway, myself included. I was still compelled, however, by his point of view on the image of the United States overseas. Essentially, we’re well liked in Africa, well liked in Eastern Europe, well liked in Japan and India, and Europe’s unhappy more because of their increased pacifism than anything else, which is largely something that’s unavoidable for the “superpower” anyway. You might not agree with him, but it’s a very interesting position, regardless.

* David Brooks, the “conservative” (quotes intentional) columnist for the New York Times, points out that as Obama’s campaign slips into attack mode, one of the hallmarks of his campaign is eroded as a result. Not that I haven’t been noting that for weeks already or anything…

* If I felt that Ann & I could handle it, I’d push harder to consider homeschooling our own future kids. This chilling California Supreme Court ruling is one I desparately hope will be overturned. This worries me greatly, and I know about the slippery slope fallacy, but what’s next?

* As a postscript to the Michelle Obama stuff from yesterday, I found John Podhoretz’s commentary on it to be illuminating:

[F]or a 44 year-old woman to tell a black audience that things have “gotten worse during my lifetime” is astonishing. When Michelle Obama was born, racial intermarriage was against the law in at least two dozen states. Governors were standing in front of university and classroom doors, attempting to bar black children and teenagers from entering white-only institutions. The per capita income of African Americans has risen sixteen-fold over the past 40 years. Black homeownership has risen tenfold. The black poverty rate has declined from 75 percent to 25 percent.

The piece is relatively short, but really spot-on, IMO.

* Go figure - heavily Democratic-weighted polls show the Democratic candidate winning in November. Y’don’t say.

* This is embarrassing:

McCain’s likely to trounce the eventual Democratic candidate on security issues anyway - when one of your foriegn policy advisors decides to go on national television and concede it like this, well, that’s easy enough.

* I won’t lie - I worry about this quite a bit. Who would have thought a history book that has the KKK as a subject would cause this much trouble?

* From Willisms, a correllation between Iraq war deaths and Iraq war coverage. Some of this might be attributable to the campaign season, but the trendlines are still interesting.