The International House of Bacon

Round one. More today/tomorrow as time permits.

* First, some old stuff: GDP for 1Q 2008 was revised upward, further staving off recession fears.

* One of the more damning pieces on Obama I’ve seen recently comes from CNSNewswire. Obama’s been consistently inconsistent as of late, but you’d think he’d make the easy things happen - like, for instance, providing equal pay amongst his own Senate staff when he’s touting “equal pay” on the campaign trail. Why, then, are the women on his staff paid noticeably less than their male equivalents? If “equal pay” is so important, why can’t he so easily walk the walk here? This doesn’t appear to be some bizarre Senate regulation - women on McCain’s staff actually make more than the men - so I’m not sure what the issue is unless, well, it’s proof positive that discrimination isn’t the default reason for income disparity.

* Where’d Obama’s state senate records go?

* Mississippi wants to make it illegal to serve the obese.

* The Mehdi Army led by Moqtada Al-Sadr? Essentially dissolved into an insurgent group, perhaps worse. Obviously, this is further indication of the need for a rapid withdrawal from the disaster therein.

* RedState provides a clearinghouse for Obama’s consistent position on gun rights.

* Kyle Smith on the gap between people’s personal fiscal perception and their perception of the rest of the country. It’s quite the disparity.

* QandO offers Obama observations. Among them is a discussion of Obama’s line in The Audacity of Hope, where he declares himself to be “a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.” Charles Kesler, a professor and editor of the Claremont Review of Books, notes that “Democrats in general, I would submit, confuse change with improvement. They fail to weigh the costs and benefits of change, to consider its unintended consequences, or to worry about what we need to conserve and how we might go about doing this faithfully.”

* Obama finally condemns the folks behind the “General Betrayus” nonsense. Still waiting for him to condemn Murtha…

* Not shockingly, Wesley Clark strayed off script and Obama had to step out and say “oh, no, he’s not speaking for me.” The funny thing is what Clark was saying not too long ago, when it wasn’t a Republican with the war record. This sort of tit-for-tat is kind of silly, but shame on Clark for being so blatantly partisan about the whole thing.

* Joe Ponanski on Baseball Hall of Fame voting. Interesting read if you’re into that stuff.

* Fun with the American Family Association. When your autofilter consistently changes “gay” to “homosexual,” unintended hilarity ensues in Olympics coverage of sprinter Travis Gay.

* Finally, a fond goodbye to Coney Island’s masturbating walrus. If that’s not your style, enjoy the greatest Rickroll ever.