The International House of Bacon

* The big news of yesterday is the California Supreme Court affirming same-sex marriage. While I’m in favor of gay marriage (as well as plural and whatever other kinds of consenting marriages one can conjure up), and I say this without having read the entire piece nor having read any detailed analysis as of yet, I still wonder if the use of the Courts to force this through is ultimately dragging down the acceptance of this sort of thing or not. Even if the legal reasoning is sound, there’s a good sized subset that will never truly accept such a ruling and cry “judicial activism!” while causing an extreme pushback, which we’re likely to see in California if and when the Constitutional Amendment to ban the marriages lands on the ballot. Without even getting into the way it changes the electoral landscape (Obama’s only a +7 against McCain in the most recent SurveyUSA poll in California from a month ago), I’m just wondering if the Court challenges are ultimately the wrong tactic.

* A couple via Melvin today, the first about a 95 year old man who’s garbage wasn’t picked up for 2 weeks in England. Why? A ketchup bottle and coffee jar were placed in the incorrect bucket for recycling.

* Second, why does CNN assume a recession in its exit polling?

* ThinkProgress - not smarter than a fifth grader.

* Live by McCain, die by McCain. Another week over, another pretty interesting and positive speech by McCain that offsets previous speeches early in the week that seemed designed to tweak the right. If Obama wasn’t such a weak candidate, I’d be more concerned.

* Speaking of McCain, agree with him or not - this is some fairly solid thought behind foriegn policy and American intervention. It’s apparent he has thought these issues through, and should, if critics stay smart, put to rest any idea that McCain will continue the perception (and I use that word specifically) of Bush’s “cavalier” policy.

* A lot’s being said about Bush’s speech to the Knesset in Israel, and whether it was a shot at Obama (personal opinion? Most likely). The point that a lot of people seem to be missing is that, even beyond Obama’s ridiculous foriegn policy (a record he’s trying to run from), Obama is likely to have a serious Israel problem in the general election. That it hasn’t been highlighted by now is somewhat surprising to me, because there have been more than an isolated instance or so: there’s the “understanding” as to why Hamas would endorse him - and a rather tone deaf “understanding” at that, the belief by some that he may be hiding some thoughts on the Israel/Palestine situation (”I’m sorry I haven’t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race. I’m hoping when things calm down I can be more up front,” Obama’s advisor being in regular contact with Hamas, McPeak, Samantha Power - there’s a lot here. I’m not sure how much it will effect Obama long term, but I’m surprised we haven’t seen any significant discussion of it. Well, only somewhat surprised - that would come with the expectation that the media is doing its job.

* If you’re into this stuff, some crazy numbers about video game console sales during the month of April. Keep in mind - this includes Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii.

* Finally, a compilation of Manny Being Manny.