The International House of Bacon

* John Adams: Ann & I have been plowing through these, and now it’s a hurry-up-and-wait for the final one, but this is really quite the achievement. I’d say Paul Giametti is the best part, except that Laura Linney is possibly better, and I’m not even sure either of them are quite as good as the guy playing Jefferson. Plus, they’re not holding back on presenting Adams as the flawed individual that he was (or how somewhat over-pure Jefferson tried to be, or how much of a dick Hamilton was, for that matter), which isn’t always easy to do on something that’s obviously a labor of love for all involved. A great achievement, in my mind - when this comes out on DVD in a few months, everyone should make it a point to block out 7 or 8 hours and watch this thing.

* Battlestar Galactica: So say we all. It’s been long enough without Battlestar, and the first two episodes haven’t disappointed me at all. The intensity has definitely been kicked up a notch, and even with the overall inevitabilities of how the show will likely end, the how is paramount in unexpected ways. God, I love this show.

* It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: I’ve been looking to watch this show for a while, and we finally set the DVR to tape these when they played. What a completely screwed up show, lacking any clear redeeming value yet still hysterical in so many ways. My current favorite is “Charlie Gets Cancer,” but they’ve all been great so far.

* Scrubs: Oh dear god they’re forcing the JD/Eliott thing again dear god make it stop.

McCain drives me up a wall. It’s official.

I want to like the guy. I desperately want to like him, I want to support his candidacy, I want to be able to ignore the whole Campaign Finance Reform Act and the Gang of 14 and just dive right in. And when he presents this, I want to stand up and cheer from the rooftops:

* A one-year freeze on the amount of money Congress allocates to discretionary programs.. Imagine if we got that any of the last 8 years. Or during either of the tax cuts.

* An alternative tax system that would consist of just two tax rates and a larger standard deduction than under the current code.. Yes, yes, YES. Further simplification helps everyone - the 2001 cuts did a great job of this, and if you don’t like it, you can stick to the old one!

* A suspension of the federal gas tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. I’m in favor of scrapping the poor-crunching gas tax altogether, but bully for him for saying what needs to be said on the matter.

* A corporate tax cut. Also not quite far enough, but considering the alternative, again, we need this.

I mean, his plan is far from perfect - any bailout on mortgages is a bad idea - but it’s amazingly, incredibly good for someone who a) admitted to needing to learn about the economy, and b) brought on people who have apparently taught him very well.

But then we get stuff like this:

KUDLOW: Let me begin, in your speech today, and also in recent speeches, you’re really blasting corporate greed and reckless corporate conduct. It sounds a little bit like the business attacks by Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. Can you tell us, what do you mean by these criticisms? What are you driving at?

Sen. McCAIN: I’m driving at the people who get compensation which is not approved of by the stockholders, even a nonbinding fashion. I’m talking about people like Mr. Cayne, who the day–right around the time the government took over Bear Stearns–or bailed out, excuse me, bail–Bear Stearns–who went to the market and got $11 a share rather than $10 a share. I’m talking about people that when their corporation has losses, that they are rewarded with exorbitantly high pay packages. And it gives Wall Street a bad name, Larry. And that’s–and that’s pure and simple. I do not believe in government intervention, I do not believe in government control, I do not believe that. But I do believe we should take steps to increase transparency and also
shareholder input into the compensation of CEOs. After all, that’s who the CEOs work for. And I also think CEOs and chairmen should have–be different people.

…

KUDLOW: When you are criticizing these corporations, I mean, there’s 140 million Americans work for corporations, in rough numbers. Companies are the ones who create jobs in America, they’re the ones who really generate the family incomes, and of course companies need capital investment. Do you ever worry that you’re sending a very tough anti-business message to the firms, to the work force and to investors?

Sen. McCAIN: Larry, in all due respect, don’t you think that when corporate executives take exorbitant pay packages that are not justified by the–by the performance of the corporations that they have stewardship of and millions of–and 250,000 Americans in the last short period of time have lost their jobs, that that gives corporate America a bad name and then increases the
influence of those who are basically anti-business? Don’t you think that is also one of the–one of the spillovers here?

It goes on a bit, and kudos to Kudlow for holding McCain’s feet to the fire a little bit, but this sort of ignorant economic populism is dangerous. It’s inconsistent, it’s ill-thought out, and it’s yet another thing that gives me great, great pause when it comes to this man. I know I’m unlikely to find a candidate to fit my ideological mold perfectly, but I also don’t think that you have to pander to economic idiocy to get votes in this case. It doesn’t benefit his candidacy in any specific way against Obama, which leads me to believe that he actually buys into it, and that’s troublesome.

So I dunno. Consider me more conflicted today than I was on Monday. I don’t know, folks - help!

Two days worth in one bite-sized package!

* My favorite piece from the debate the other night? Obama conceding that the capital gains cut had a positive effect on revenues, but thinks the rate should rise anyway. How completely, utterly foolish. He’s your candidate, folks. I’m sure the promise to halve poverty in ten years will work out great when revenues start stalling. My second favorite part? Obama throwing Tom Coburn under the bus - one guy is a distinguished senator, the other blew things up in terroristic acts. Great comparison, that’ll go a long way toward unity, throwing out those “same old Washington politics.”

* The Supreme Court made a ruling yesterday about whether lethal injection was cruel and unusual, and 7 justices agreed it wasn’t. What was cruel, not at all unusual, and quite lovely to see, was Scalia eviscerating Stevens in his concurrance. Patterico highlighted one part, but the whole thing was a fun read, as was Thomas’s opinion.

* Who didn’t see this coming?

* When I talk about the alienation Obama has called, I’m not talking about dyed-in-the-wool liberals, but rather people like this guy, who sounds somewhat conservative, consistently votes Democrat, and is unlikely to shift to Obama if he’s the nominee when someone like McCain is the opponent. It’s why polls like this are telling - McCain is a better choice for some voters than the alternative Democratic candidate, regardless of how closely they may match policy-wise. When Obama has his spiritual mentors spewing hateful invective and views religion as a coping mechanism rather than a value, it’s going to turn off people who you might otherwise snag. Period. While Jonah Goldberg is an instant turnoff to a lot of you, he properly encapsulates the situation here. If you don’t get why the comment is a problem, read that.

* Jim McGovern (D-MA): Ethanol bill was probably a mistake.

* It’s not the United States media saying it: Iraqis feel safer once Iraqi troops flooded Basra. Kind of sounds different than the spin we heard from before?

* Obama also plans to further waste everyone’s time before his butt warms the chair in the Oval Office.

* Why should I trust law enforcement again?

Expect more later.

Things piling up, so I’ll try and plow through them over the course of the next few days. I have 5 unfinished drafts in WordPress right now. Argh.

The original “Charlie the Unicorn” was an old favorite flash video of mine, and I learned today (thanks Jason) that the sequel came out recently. Still funny as hell. I AM THE BANANA KING.

At some point yesterday morning, for no apparent reason, Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” got stuck in my head. Not being able to shake it, I went to YouTube to hear it once and possibly excise it from my head, and tripped up on this gem. I had seen the mime routine before, but never with Natalie Imbruglia singing along with it live. Pretty fun.