The International House of Bacon

I meant to do some writing last night. But Grand Theft Auto IV took over my brain for a couple hours, so I get to rush this today. Whee.

* The best story of the day is the Texas court ruling which states that the government was wrong to remove the FLDS children from the Yearning for Zion compound. I’ve linked the Volokh post on it because it’s really the best overview out there (and at least 3 people linked me to various articles yesterday, so thanks), but the gist is that the religious beliefs alone are not evidence enough of a threat, and that there simply isn’t enough evidence to hold them for other perceived threats based on the evidence available. Like I said before - still more than a little uncomfortable with the goings-on there, but this is ultimately a good step in favor of religious freedom and a major slap in the face to government authorities.

* “We really in this last election, when I say we…the Democrats, I think pushed it as far as we can to the end of the fleet, didn’t say it, but we implied it. That if we won the Congressional elections, we could stop the war. Now anybody was a good student of Government would know that wasn’t true. But you know, the temptation to want to win back the Congress, we sort of stretched the facts…and people ate it up.” On one hand, we have a Democrat admitting that the Democrats stretched the truth about their war plans. On the other, we have Democrats who claim, with no supporting evidence, that the Bush administration stretched the truth about their war plans. Which one is going to get more play in the next 6 months?

* Barack Obama, the ball is now in your court.

* “I don’t think Obama really understands economics.” - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn saying what the rest of us who are paying attention already know.

* There are pros and cons to this bill, but the fact remains that neither side should be playing around with benefits for our troops, period. That there’s any significant debate on this is shameful on both sides.

* The stupid, stupid farm bill. And more.

* Something I learned yesterday: we have an import tariff on coat hangers. Aplia Econ blog maps out exactly why it’s stupid.

* Obama, JFK, and talks “without precondition”: What Obama should learn from history. One point they miss is where the US stood strategically following the Cuban Missile Crisis. While common wisdom tells us we had such wonderfully firm leadership, the fact remains that we ended up in a worse strategic defensive spot after the Crisis than we were before the missiles were being set up - once it was over, the Soviet Union had no new missile areas, and we lost some in Turkey. And that’s a victory?

* There’s been a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth about the whole “Barack Obama’s 75k rally was that high only due to the free Decemberists show” thing the last few days (here’s a good link dump), especially since it’s come out that there are more than a few music/Obama rallies that have been held in recent months. First, let’s get some things straight - the Decemberists, while a great band, aren’t pulling 75k people on their own. I highly doubt they could - they got under 20k for the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and I think that’s their biggest show so far (and a few readers here can correct me, being much bigger Decemberists fans than I am). The fact remains that a) Portland is heavily liberal, and b) The Decemberists draw an indie rock crowd that’s overwhelmingly liberal. Even if the band drew an extra 30k to an Obama rally, the crowd would more than likely be extremely sympathetic to the Obama campaign already, and 45-55k is still an astounding number, even with Portland being pretty well known for its attendance at these sorts of rallies. The simple fact remains that the music world is overwhelmingly liberal - there are few artists (country excepted) that consider themselves conservative, and probably more than a few who do and won’t say anything about it. There may very well be a sour grapes argument to be made by the righties who are most upset about this, as it’s unlikely McCain (or any other conservative right now) could draw this kind of crowd with or without musical help that isn’t twangy. Yes, the media should be mentioning if Obama’s rallying with Stevie Wonder, but let’s not pretend it makes a difference.

* Finally, if you need a timesuck today, check out GraphJam. Conversely, if you’re in St. Paul, Minnesota, you may want to go to the Saints game for Larry Craig Bobblefoot Night.