The International House of Bacon

* If you missed it, my account of last night’s Bob Barr campaign stop in Manchester.

* Don’t look now, but oil has dropped over $20 a barrel in 12 days.

* The surge really might become a bad issue for Obama if he keeps this up. When Katie Couric is turning the screws on you, there’s a problem. Also, when you can’t seem to follow the way things went, it doesn’t speak much to being ready.

* While the first few paragraphs are golden, the rest of the article isn’t that great, but speaking to some earlier comments, is Obama Constitutionally old enough to be President. Yeah, sure, he’s 46, but the Constitution was written in a much different time and didn’t account for longer life expectancies, etc. A fairly funny read.

* I remember the hoots and hollers when it was alleged that Bush was staging fake press conferences. Obama’s not even waiting until entering office to do it, allegedly. Change we can believe in, right?

* Finally, it’s official: Waldorf and Statler have found the internet.

* Want to know why I’m still technically undecided? This. I’m actually going to a Bob Barr campaign event tonight, and I’m hoping to ask him about the judiciary, as that’s really the only reason McCain’s still on my radar.

* I had to laugh seeing how two stories popped up around the same time: The Rasmussen poll showing that nearly half the nation believes the media is trying to help Obama win comes the same day as the New York Times turning down McCain’s Iraq op-ed after publishing Obama’s. Even if the NYT was 100% right in their denial of the op-ed, it’s simply too funny not to highlight the two in the same sentence. The NYT editor response is a fascinating read anyway, even if McCain’s alleged op-ed leaves me kind of cold. Still, way to go, media.

* If “tax progressivity” is your issue of choice, the Bush tax cuts did the trick.

* I’ve said elsewhere, if not here, that this election is likely to have 1976 ramifications. This is a pretty good article on that.

* Wardrobe malfunction fine tossed. Anything to kick the FCC in the mouth is a good thing in my mind. How’s that satellite merger coming again?

* I wouldn’t be the least bit shocked if most of my readership has a negative view on Grover Norquist, but he’s started the “Leave Us Alone” coalition, which really speaks to me on a level very few political organizations do. Here’s a really good interview with him through Reason.

* Excuse the Fox link, it was the easiest transcript I could find of Obama’s somewhat embarrassing foriegn policy interview.

* McCain’s latest ad. Not the strongest, but still an issue McCain is firmly correct on. I think the end line on these ads is better than anything else that he can offer, though.

* Also, this should make an Obama supporter wince.

* Finally, The 11 Best Star Wars Remakes.

Catching up…

* The big story from the weekend is the commentary from Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki about withdrawal plans, allegedly supporting Obama’s timetable. Not surprisingly, a ton of people dove on this, and, not surprisingly, the translation was probably more than a little off. Keeping in mind the discussions with Bush that al-Maliki had prior to this, I agree with a lot of the pundits on this issue in two places: one, the comment utimately supports McCain more than Obama in the grand scheme of things, since Obama was so far off on the surge, and two, that the first point won’t matter and this might end up hurting McCain on the one area he was, to this point, completely in command. Go figure.

* Obama has 300 foriegn policy advisers? No wonder his policies are so schizophrenic.

* Dick Heller, of Heller v. Washington, DC, can’t register his bottom-loading pistol due to some new idiotic regulation put in place in the wake of the gun ban being overturned. It’s as if DC wants to go to court again.

* From FactCheck: The Democrats aren’t 100% honest in talking about the oil leases. Shocking, really. The thing is, they know it, and we might see a drilling vote soon. I can’t wait to see Obama vote no on this one. Or yes. Either one is a problem for him.

* Some great news: The archaeological looting that apparently occurred following the 2003 invasion in Iraq? Didn’t happen.

* In the “Captain Obvious” department, Obama aides worry that Obama has created unrealistic hopes for his supporters. No, really?

* I try to avoid things like this on these, but I’m just curious - for those of who who highlighted the McCain “Czechoslovakia” commentary last week, will you be harping on Obama’s “eight to ten years” comment? Just wondering.

* I’ll take stupid government interference for $200, Alex. Oh, and what a nice Armani tie you’re wearing.

* Who’s the change candidate on education?

* Finally, if you’re mourning the loss of our semi-daily Dr. Horrible, I’ve started watching The Guild, starring Dr. Horrible’s Felicia Day. It might be a bit too nerdy for many of you, but I also know it may not be nerdy enough for others.

* So, the big news from yesterday is Obama’s fundraising numbers. Once again proving that you can’t trust Obama’s folks when they claim anything (they noted it was “a little slow” at a dual fundraiser a few weeks back), but the numbers put the combined totals only a couple million behind McCain. There’s some interesting spin with the numbers that I don’t necessarily like, and, in reality, it’s still kind of interesting that it wasn’t higher, but it appears the fundraising juggernaut rolls on. It kind of has to with the amount of money he’s burning through.

* Who does Obama turn to for advice on mortgage and housing policy matters? On an unofficial basis, Franklin Raines, formerly of Fannie Mae, who ended up leaving that post in an accounting scandal.

* Also, the best takedown I saw of Obama’s Iraq op ed this week came from The Washington Post.

* Radley Balko asks some questions of McCain. The worst part is that we’re never likely to even see this addressed by McCain, let alone answered.

* A Fact Check on Obama’s “fast track” for energy.

* Maryland cites low union membership as a plus for businesses to come there, gets some crap for it. Fun times.

* Oh, and by the way, Obama? If you don’t want your wife to be a campaign issue, don’t have her campaign.

* And a pile of fun links to start your weekend: Athens, GA: Inside/Out is a documentary on Athens bands from the 1980s, with scenes from R.E.M. and the B-52s as well as lesser known but still awesome bands like Pylon and others. Worth your time if you’re bored, streaming at Pitchfork. Also, signed first edition of The Republic available, insuring Batman, and a great article on how sports video games can’t get things right.

Fun All-Star game last night, eh? I went to bed after the 10th inning. Tonight, Ann & I hit the AA Eastern League All-Star Game, which is an exciting prospect all its own.

* Let the Obama shift On Iraq continue. I do find the “we’re just going to pretend this never happened” part somewhat amusing, but yeah.

* Thomas Sowell on Obama and the facts.

* Common wisdom suggests that defense spending is the biggest line item on the budget, and that the spending has exploded. Not true.

* Honestly, if Bush spoke like this regularly, he’d be much more popular. Where was this Bush the last 7 years?

* Speaking of Bush, an interesting thing appears to have happened Monday: Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore drilling, and crude futures dropped nearly $10. This is why drilling now is a good answer for prices now - the parts that are governed by speculators will decrease as the ability to get more oil increases.

* Rasmussen: Hillary Clinton still polls better against John McCain.

* Finally, for some fun you can either read the Onion’s AV Club list of The 20 most jarring “Darren Effect” recastings, or play Defender in the favicon.

Let’s see what we can plow through.

* 100 pubs in Ireland, 7% of their total, have closed shop since Ireland’s smoking ban went into effect. The prediction is that 100 more will close in the next year. Take from that what you will.

* Jacob Sullum wrote an excellent piece for Reason about the Texas FLDS raid. Since going to print, however, more information has surfaced, such as the fact that only two children were indeed underage parents per Texas law. Those two being the impetus for taking 468 children from the compound because of alleged danger. My goodness, did the authorities screw up this one.

* How will Obama’s 16 month withdrawal plan work (assuming that’s his plan)? Soldiers in Iraq suggest it won’t.

* So IndyMac collapsed, in part because of a run prompted by Chuck Schumer’s commentary (although it likely would have collapsed anyway), and Fannie and Freddie Mac are in a little trouble. Interestingly, the problem some are describing on the left is not enough regulation on the latter companies, even though the Democrats stood in the way of those regulations. Regardless, I do find the regulation calls to be empty, considering how heavily regulated these companies are and how they’re not-so-subtly urged to lend to otherwise unworthy candidates. Part of capitalism is failure - it’s time we understand that a bit.

* The Manchester Union-Leader is spot-on: “MAYBE THE quickest way to lower oil and gas prices would be this: Immediately enroll every Democratic member of Congress in an entry-level economics class.” I wonder if the drilling situation will hurt Democratic chances in the House and Senate at all in November.

* Why is Obama’s Iraq op-ed so ridiculous? He was so dead wrong about the surge, and yet he tries to claim he was right anyway. There are more problems with the op-ed than just that, but it’s really the most glaring part. Ridiculous.

* Oddly enough, New Hampshire had straight ticket voting. I didn’t know that. It’s gone now, though - that should make things more interesting.

* Christianity Today has an election blog now, which is a great read. Here’s a post about a Congressional candidate requiring his volunteers to do 10% of their volunteering as community service. The blog is filled with a lot of these notes you wouldn’t hear about otherwise, so it’s a good pickup for your daily reading.

* Finally, 20 abandoned cities. I found this fascinating. This kangaroo didn’t.

Oh, also? Joss Whedon’s web musical, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog, posted its first act today. It’s absolutely worth your time - among others, it stars Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion.

* I’m not crazy, for the record. I’ll keep saying this for a while.

* Yesterday was “completely frustrated with McCain” day. First, excuse my TPM posting, but Josh Marshall is right about this one, but for the wrong reasons - Social Security is a disgrace, and McCain is wrong to waver from that statement. That McCain isn’t talking privatization, but add-ons, and Obama is keeping up the “Social Security is working” myth, is just as much of a disgrace. One thing, I can handle. But when Phil Gramm speaks the truth about the economy, and then gets thrown under the bus for it, that’s no good. He’s also right - the gap between economic perception and economic reality does exist, and there is a “whiner” segment who would rather complain about how crappy they think things are rather than be honest about it. Of course, the DNC pounces on some ridiculous meaning, Gramm’s forced to clarify, and McCain bails. What happened to the Straight Talk Express here? Either you’re interested in reality or you’re not, and McCain is in a good position to take ownership over reality in this election cycle, and punted twice on the issue. Absolutely disgusting.

* Why isn’t the media discussing Iraq progress?

* If there was any good news for McCain yesterday, it’s his fundraising totals: $22m in June, $26m+ cash on hand, nearly $100m when you factor RNC dough. Meanwhile, we’re told to expect Obama’s numbers to be lower, as fundraising has been “a little slow.

* Where does Obama stand on missile defense?

* The FDA now isn’t sure about the tomatoes and salmonella, and think it might be peppers now. Tomato growers are rightfully peeved.

* A few fun links to end the day. First, Rock Band 2 coming with a real electric drum set? More info here - if true, that would probably get me on board.

* Captain Rainbow? The hell? The Wii is weird.

* Finally, and these links are from Liz, Happy Hamilton-Burr Duel Day! It was 204 years ago that Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton got into the most famous duel in American History. While this might be one reason, leave it to Michael Cera and the guys at Drunk History to explain it better.

Have a happy weekend!

All my plans for the evenings this week are shot, as I have become hopeless addicted to Desktop Tower Defense. It’s a good thing I dropped $500 on an XBox 360 last year so I can play dumb flash games for hours on end.

Er, where was I?

* Bad Bush, bad! This is what we want: the Iraqis to be confident in taking over and rolling on their own. I hope to god this is just some posturing and some meetings will fix this.

* Political perspectives poll. Apparently, the “McCain is old” meme is sticking with a good deal of voters. But as we go lower down on both ends, it’s interesting - the “McBush/McSame” thing doesn’t seem to have much traction, and Obama’s #2 and #3 are both fairly negative.

* The negative side to Obama’s nomination plans at the 76k seat stadium - the networks might not bother covering as much of the convention because of the costs. Then again, the RNC royally screwed the pooch by having McCain’s speech the same night as the NFL kickoff. Ah well.

* Speaking of McCain, this ad is the first one that’s really caught my eye/ear. Compared to this RNC ad, I can’t say it’s especially good - it really isn’t, and could be cut by 30 seconds and be more powerful - but the last 20 seconds really seal the deal. I notice it during Red Sox games, so that must mean something’s going right, in any regard.

* Meanwhile, Obama can’t seem to get the ads quite right. He might have to stop talking about things of substance altogether. Again.

* Thomas Sowell on conservatives for Obama. If there’s any better political thinker alive and working today, I’d love to know.

* McCain’s also making a bold promise to balance the budget by 2013. I don’t see that happening, but it’s a good thought, and actually possible if he’s smart. Obama can’t offer that to you, folks.

* In case you weren’t aware, Pringles aren’t chips.

* Finally, I love being a Red Sox fan for moments like this.

Things I needed to do Monday night: many.

Things I did: none.

So excuse me if this is quick.

* For all the crap I give Barack Obama, this is a good thing. My main beef with the meme that McCain “flip flops” or whatever more than Obama is that, generally speaking, you know how McCain got from point a to point b in his thought process, while Obama seems to just be changing stuff around without ever mapping out his route. Even if you disagree with Obama’s position on FISA, at least on this issue, we know where he’s coming from. Guaranteed - if he did this more often, the inconsistency charges would ring very hollow.

* This doesn’t mean Obama’s completely off the hook today: Does this sound like the Barack Obama you fell in love with?

* DNC woes. Give the DNC credit, though - even if there’s some background stuff behind it, moving the nomination party to the nearby football stadium is great political theater.

* The other great news from Monday: Iraq appears ready to take the lead. Want to know what John McCain’s Iraq plans were leading up to? This was it. This is what we’ve been waiting for all this time. Let’s hope this can work out.

* Peak oil is a ways away.

* Sean Oxendine at The Next Right looks to history for the “fresh face” v. “established product” races and sees what comes up. I don’t necessarily agree with all of his conclusions, but it’s worth noting, regardless.

* This boggles my mind: If your child says “yuck” when eating foreign food, s/he might be showing racist behavior. And here I was, thinking I just didn’t like tomatoes - I guess I just hate Italians.

* An interesting piece on the onion futures market. Or, specifically, the lack thereof.

* Finally, some cool news if you hadn’t heard yet: An almost-original cut of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis was found. I’ve (shamefully) never seen the cut that’s been available for however long, but seeing as I have such an interest in films that appear to be lost and gone forever, this is a really great story to hear.

A great, relaxing weekend. Finally.

* So, the fun political news was the most expected unexpected shift in the Obama campaign yet, as Obama is now quibbling over his Iraq withdrawal plan. What his plan was (and still is on his website as I write this) involved “immediately” withdrawing troops from Iraq over the course of 16 months. This plan was re-specified at the ABC News/USA Today debate, described by Charlie Gibson as a “rock-hard pledge.” Now, today - well, he’ll be meeting with some commanders and the policy might change. Now, a lot of people have been trying to say there is no difference, but the difference is clear. McCain isn’t helping matters in this case, but, using Josh Marshall as an example, neither are the Obama apologists: Obama’s position on rapid withdrawal has been clear to this point, and he’s slowly abandoning it, more than likely because the situation on the ground there is simply too good to hold the ridiculous position he held. Even now, in his “clarity” statement, he’s trying to stop the bleeding by somewhat re-affriming his old, ridiculous position. Given the not-so-tiny pile of switches (some more important than others, some of which are completely unimportant), what can we expect next? Does he even have a real plan for Iraq? Is he going to stick with a pre-surge plan when the post-surge Iraq landscape looks so positive? When even the New York Times editorial page is getting fed up, doesn’t that say something?

* Gotta love arresting someone for a DUI when they didn’t drink.

* Gas prices in context. May explain why driving habits aren’t being affected quite as much as many may expect.

* On one hand, it’s nice to see someone debunking the whole “Obama’s birth certificate was a forgery” thing. I think there are segments on the right on the web who are too emboldened by the National Guard Memos bullseye that they fail to see things clearly anymore. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reading the theories from time to time. Either way, not complaining that I can safely ignore the birth certificate story.

* Here’s a shocker: wind power not all its cracked up to be.

* I found this sadly amusing out of Texas: Fireworks are illegal in Houston, but legal in bordering counties. People build stands outside the border to sell fireworks. How does Houston respond? By quietly annexing the roads the stands are on, allowing people to buy the fireworks legally, and then fining them when they turn on those roads. Such slimy crap.

* A follow-up from last week: Justice Kennedy: The Worst Justice. Lowry makes a good point here.

* I fear for my kids, and hope they don’t worry like this.

* Finally, some fun: Either Historical events as they may be depicted by 5 year olds using MS Paint, or the beginning of “Pork Week” at Salon.com. I have to say this much - bacon is trendy now, but I registered this domain sometime in 2002 because a friend didn’t want bacon on her cheese fries. I consider myself a bacon trendsetter, let the record show.

Race free edition!

* No, really - some meta-blogging here - if you’re going to comment, please be aware that there are people who may not think like you do, and as much as we might not want to mince words, sometimes we have to to get a point across, and that means going by the basic expected norms. This goes for everyone, even though yesterday was a tipping point of sorts - I don’t want to or plan to monitor everyone or set hard and fast ground rules, just remember that we’re all human beings here is all. We have great conversations with these posts, I’d like to not see this turn into a morass.

* Now, onto real issues: Obama wants to expand Bush’s faith-based initiatives. A more detailed explanation from the campaign can be read in PDF form here, and some statements from the man himself here. It’s okay that I find this whole thing completely laughable at this stage, right? Yet again, Obama, who was being praised again for this speech for its secularistic tendencies, decides to run from wherever he stood before to…what, exactly? I don’t even know who this is supposed to grab in this case, given his other positions. But this is still incredibly funny to me. I’m officially wondering where the line is for many of his supporters.

* More good news from Iraq: not only are we seeing great achievements in the benchmarks, but the Sunni boycott may be coming to an end. I still think Iraq is way overblown as an issue this election - the progress we’ve been seeing as of late almost definitely means that we’ll be seeing gradual withdrawals as we continue on anyway, and neither Obama or McCain are truly foolish enough to mess with that. Right?

* Surprise surprise - Justice Kennedy’s assertion about capital punishment for child rape? Not entirely true. I feel like this is what happens when you decide to create a “consensus” out of thin air.

* Yesterday marked 35 years of an all-volunteer military. Something to cheer about.

* The Heritage Foundation blog offers some comparisons with Obama’s tax plan and how it has affected others with similar situations.

* Oh, wait, something changed again - Obama apparently supports gay marriage now. Remember, he used to be against gay marriage. EDIT: I may have dove at this too early - this isn’t a de facto support for gay marriage, but it’s still an interesting move on his end.

* Obama in 2005: “We will NOT support the removal of [North Korea] from the State Department list of State Sponsors of Terrorism until such time, among other reasons, as a full accounting is provided to the Kim family regarding the fate of Reverend Kim Dong-Shik following his abduction into North Korea five years ago.” Obama in 2008: Apparently, as long as they meet disarmament conditions. I’m sure the Kim family is pleased.

* As gas prices rise, remember that Obama called for a global ban on fissile materials. You know, the stuff that makes nuclear power. The stuff that’s probably keeping demand for oil and coal-based energy at bay in many western nations. The stuff that could act as a clean, workable alternative for the United States very soon. Worth remembering.

* Obama’s also taking credit for welfare reform, even though he was against Clinton’s reform, against his state’s reform, and consistently dodged the question up to this point. Anyone want to tell me what positions Obama has that he won’t shift on?

* Protectionism sucks. You listening out there?

* Finally, a fun 1940 election ad.

Be good, folks!

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.

Meant to write a ton last night. Whoops.

* Comparing Argentina to Obama. Change we can believe in?

* RedState on Obama’s new political director, Patrick Gaspard. To say he’s a tad problematic would be an understatement.

* The reality of the inactive oil leases some Democrats in Congress are harping about. Stuff like this ultimately makes me wonder what color the sky is for some of our Congresspeople, because this is absolutely ridiculous.

* Good luck to Forvik, the small island off the coast of Ireland that declared independence this week.

* More on the Iraq journalism drain. You’ll note that violence doesn’t factor into a reason why news organizations are leaving, and the New York Times fails to note the smaller embedding expenses.

* From the Friendly Atheist, the religious landscape survey. Tons of interesting stuff here.

* A fairly surprising poll from California: a majority of Californians support expanded drilling off the coast.

* An interesting observation from Ann Althouse on Scalia and Thomas’s positions on the rights of the accused in the context of the recently-decided Indiana v. Edwards.

* Finally, from Oddee, the twelve funniest wedding announcements.

That’s all.

Still recovering from a whirlwind weekend.

* RIP George Carlin. I’m of an age where Carlin only exists in Kevin Smith movies and funny book titles, missing out on all the fun from the 1970s. Still, this one hurts a bit. Definitely lost a great.

* George Will had a pretty decent article on crime this weekend, arguing in part about how the rising incarceration rate isn’t telling the whole story. There’s a few realities here Barack Obama should take notice on.

* Also, our image in Asia: not too shabby. While some of the results may need some more investigation, it still further calls into question the idea that the last few years have wrecked our overseas relationships. It seems to be one of those truisms that doesn’t hold up to closer scrutiny.

* Some catch-up from Friday: Obama not taking public financing for the general contest. My question is this - why did he have to lie about it? We all know that Obama’s essentially printing money at this point, so why does he have to lie about where the Republican funding is coming from? What benefit does this provide, especially when he’s going back on his original promise of taking the funding. I’m no fan of public financing of elections, but this is just an utterly fascinating turnaround.

* The other big news between posts was the FISA deal, which pushes the FISA “update” through while allowing for immunity for participating telecommunication companies if the federal government provides a certain type of evidence. This is being touted as a “compromise,” although it reads more like the Democrats knowing that they can’t win on this issue and trying to save face. I’m not against immunity - this whole issue was a giant bowl of idiocy on all sides - but there’s no reason to expand FISA at this point.

* Power Line dissects Obama’s statements about his comparisons between terrorists on trial, Nuremburg, and the reality of the 1993 bombings. I’m starting to wonder who Obama’s history adviser is.

* Did you know that Barack Obama outraised John McCain in May? Seems like a given, right? Barack Obama only beat him by $200k. It’s unlikely, but it’ll be interesting if that holds up.

* Oh, that whole thing about Obama and NAFTA, how things got “overheated?” His campaign still thinks that Obama’s committed to renegotiation/withdrawal. Anyone want to take bets on the campaign position this week?

* QandO asks “Where’s the outrage” in response to health care providers denying care to those who won’t benefit long term from it. Specifically, why it’s outrageous when a private company does it, but ignored when it’s the government.

* Speaking of international distaste with American foriegn policy, Europe is concerned about Obama’s Iran policy, which they fear would undercut the progress they feel they’ve been making. Change we can believe in, right?

* A great interview with Amity Shlaes with notes about the Presidential candidates. Her book, The Forgotten Man, is one of the better recent books about the Great Depression’s true economic impact, and when she says that Obama appears “unaware of the economic consequences of government expansion that happens under the New Deal name,” it’s worth listening to. The book is worth your time, too.

* This all brings us to a pretty interesting editorial from Michael Barone, about Obama’s refusal to allow the facts to dictate his policy slate. Considering that was/is a chief criticism of the Bush administration over the years…

* The Enumerated Powers Act is such a common sense law, it’s a shocker it’s not always in play, and it’s not the least bit surprising that it won’t get off the ground.

* Finally, baseball fun: What happens when a switch pitcher needs to pitch to a switch hitter? A great minor league baseball clip.

End of the week for me.

* Same old Washington politics as usual:

In an interview with Fortune to be featured in the magazine’s upcoming issue, the presumptive Democratic nominee backed off his harshest attacks on the free trade agreement and indicated he didn’t want to unilaterally reopen negotiations on NAFTA.

“Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified,” he conceded, after I reminded him that he had called NAFTA “devastating” and “a big mistake,” despite nonpartisan studies concluding that the trade zone has had a mild, positive effect on the U.S. economy.

Does that mean his rhetoric was overheated and amplified? “Politicians are always guilty of that, and I don’t exempt myself,” he answered.

So let’s count the problems here:

a) Apparently, everything he said about NAFTA was, at worst, a lie and at best, “overheated and amplified.”
b) This “different politician” who’s not interested in the “same Washington politics” did the same pandering handwave to grab voters in the primary.
c) Getting votes is more important than trade diplomacy.

The last one is especially egregious, given the continued unsupported allegation that Bush has wrecked our diplomatic relationships. At what point can/should foriegn nations trust a President Obama on this issue? At what point should the voting public on any issue at this point, given that such a tenuous issue appears to have just been a stage play?

I’m sure this will get waved off as “just part of a campaign” or whatever. Unfortunately, even if you can wave it off internally, Obama has set a standard for himself. A standard he has failed to meet time and time again, and this is just the latest example.

* More change we can believe in: Obama apparently had a phone conversation with Iraq’s foriegn minister. Obama seemed pleased, pushing his troop withdrawal plan and saying no issues were raised in Iraqi quarters about it. Too bad Iraqi Foriegn Minister Hoshyar Zebari disagrees. According to the Washington Post Zebrari “told Mr. Obama that ‘Iraq is not an island.’ In other words, an American withdrawal that destabilized the country would also roil the region around it and embolden U.S. adversaries such as al-Qaeda and Iran. ‘We have a deadly enemy,’ Mr. Zebari said. ‘When he sees that you commit yourself to a certain timetable, he will use this to increase pressure and attacks, to make it look as though he is forcing you out. We have many actors who would love to take advantage of that opportunity.’”

Zebari is not against a gradual withdrawal - a policy currently in place by the current President, tenuously supported by the generals on the ground (who Obama claims he’d listen to), and likely to continue if McCain is elected. Which makes more sense, truly?

* Now, for actual change: McCain’s energy policy is calling for an end to the ban on offshore drilling, 45 new nuclear power plants, and more clean coal technology, among others. What makes this good? These are real changes from the current priorities, these are proven energy sources, and it’s a good, if imperfect, combination of working for the near future while sustainably preparing for the long term. Compare this with Obama’s push toward the “green” fad, with nameless “green energy sectors” and a significant amount of money being poured into unproven and often detrimental technologies. Even better, Obama is floatinf $150b toward those technologies, minimum - McCain’s plan does not need to spend much, if any, extra taxpayer money to get rolling. Go figure.

* On a sad energy note, apparently, the Bakken formation is a bit of a myth in terms of how much it holds. It still holds a very substantial amount of oil, which is somewhat being retrieved, but not as much as has been rumored.

* Meanwhile, while we discuss issues of energy and war, the House felt the need to ban interstate transport of monkeys. Thanks, guys. It’s not like our taxes are slated to go up in a couple years or anything.

* Oh, I shouldn’t say that’s the only stupid thing to occur yesterday: Maurice Hinkley, Massachusetts Democrat in the House, thinks the oil refineries should be nationalized. I’m not really interested in Hugo Chavez, buddy.

* Patrick Ruffini writes about the effect of the internet on the campaign for The Next Right. A pretty interesting writeup about the approaches of both campaigns.

* William Perry is part of Barack Obama’s National Security Group. This was his position on dealing with North Korea in 2006. Again, if Obama actually listened to the advisers he brought on, he might actually be a worthwhile candidate.

* What Obama’s tax policies mean for revenues. This doesn’t talk about the spending outlays, and kind of puts the lie to Obama’s desires to curb deficits.

* Conspiracy of the day: Obama’s positions on Iraq and his relationship with Tony rezko. Presented more out of amusement than importance.

* Finally, Cheetos porn. Not specifically unsafe for work, but unsafe enough given that it’s a man in his underwear simulating sexual acts with a giant Cheeto.

Congrats to the Celtics - I’ve not watched the NBA in any significant way since Reggie Lewis died, but if every NBA game was as fun and fast-paced as last night’s rout was, I’d watch more often. Absolutely dominating performance, quite fun.

* Another good point of evidence as to why Obama’s brand of “change” doesn’t quite hold up to scrutiny: the big swarm of the day is the tail end of Washington DC’s “Opportunity Scholarship” program, which is essentially a voucher program allowing a $7500 credit to follow a student into a private school. Now, as a matter of policy, you might be against the concept from the beginning - that’s all well and good. The evidence suggests, however, that the vouchers are working. The costs are down, and achievements on both ends in the DC schools are up. Now, would this trend across the nation? That I don’t know, and I’d be inclined to say “no,” given that I don’t think one size fits all education policies work within the United States demographics. However, this is where Obama fails at his “change” mantra - here’s a change a number of people believe in, that the evidence appears to believe in, and could act as a solid attempt at a change where things like No Child Left Behind has failed. Obama also sends his kids to private schools - he obviously perceives a benefit for himself on the matter (although he should not be held to any more scrutiny based on his personal decisions on the matter, and he’s not using vouchers to send his kids there). So why is he against this change? This would seem like a simple way to walk the walk, and actually do some good to boot.

* Another Haditha Marine case thrown out. This now makes 7 of 8 either thrown out or acquitted. Still no word from John Murtha or from Barack Obama that I know of.

* This is what’s hanging up the XM/Sirius merger. I’m not against any merger in principle, but there are some much more important mergers that go through quicker than this relatively unimportant one. Sheesh.

* A supermajority support offshore drilling for oil. Again - stonewalling on this issue 10 years ago is a contributor to the situation today. Imagine if we actually had extra production coming in right now. McCain smartly supports it.

* Perdue pays $800k for discriminatory hiring practices. What were the practices? Discrimination against non-Hispanic hirings.

* Real-world application of Barack Obama’s tax plan.

* Finally, enjoy this idiotic MoveOn ad:

It makes two political points, neither of which make any logical sense: McCain isn’t pushing for 100 year war, and no one’s calling for anything resembling a situation where the kid being pimped out would be forced into service. Has MoveOn become this irrelevant, and are you folks who are against McCain proud of this? I sure hope not.

‘Tis all.

Falling behind, as usual, and it’s only going to get worse - I have Red Sox tickets tonight, R.E.M. tickets tomorrow, and we go to a graduation party on Saturday, so I’m looking at being largely out of contact. Such is life when a car goes out of commission.

* Want a great example of how the media coverage is likely to be in the general election: Here’s Newsweek’s take on the official campaign blogs. Obama’s is boring, McCain’s is enjoyable - this is bad news for McCain. Uh, wha?

* Some great words about actual change from The Wall Street Journal.

* Windfall profit taxes = less revenue and higher prices.

* Jim Webb is often named as a possible/probable Obama VP candidate. Do his views on the Confederacy make him a poor choice for Democrats? I wonder how a number of readers feel, given past discussions on the topic. More detail at RedState.

* Why do I get the feeling that Thomas Sowell is absolutely at his wit’s end in regards to Obama. I found this piece very angry and devastating all at once.

* Obama brings on pro-Wal-Mart activist Jason Furman onto the campaign. My question is when he plans on listening to these people.

* A poll from CBS shows McCain doing quite well with independents against Obama. To head off the charge I often get, it also shows Obama by 6 amongst registered voters, which could mean something.

* The Weekly Standard (sigh, I know) notes details about Obama’s campaign spending. Yeah, he has more money, but also runs a much larger staff and has been shown to burn through money very quickly. Also, interestingly, it appears McCain and the RNC combined outraised Obama and the DNC combined in April. I still believe money doesn’t make a significant difference in elections once you get to a certain point, a point both Obama and McCain passed ages ago. If you do care about money, though, this is worth noting.

* Cato@Liberty notes a number of economic whoppers Obama put out there during a recent speech. Where are his advisers on this?

* Also from Cato, an essay on the future of copyright. A pretty interesting piece regardless of your opinion.

* For the record, I failed this test.

* More on Obama and taxes. I honestly don’t get the appeal of an economic platform that failed 70 years ago.

* I’ve always salivated over the thought of Alex Kozinski getting on the Supreme Court. Sadly, having a stash of porn on your personal website isn’t the best road to DC. Questionably not work safe if you follow links.

* Finally, the 50 worst cinematic sex scenes. Obviously not safe for work, folks - today must be R-rated Thursday at the IHOB. For more G-rated fare, try this great campaign memorabilia.

Gotta be fast:

* Hamas might not like Obama anymore following his AIPAC speech (and then possibly shifted again). What’s stunning to me is Obama’s complete incoherence on Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East. At this stage of the game, I don’t think he has a clear policy to it - from having people like Samantha Power and Zbignew Brzezinski on his campaign staff to this most recent speech, I feel as if he’s taken every position possible on the area. Any explanation for this?

* The Washington, DC violence plan is to block off entire neighborhoods, do card checks, and send people away if they don’t have “legitimate business” in some areas. Say WHAT? Orin Kerr at Volokh discusses its legality.

* One of the Marines from the so-called Hathida Massacre in Iraq was acquitted on all charges yesterday. Of the eight marines originally put in the crosshairs for this, five of the cases were dropped and this one failed. There are two remaining, and the most serious one has been postponed indefinitely. Puts a bit of something against John Murtha’s allegation that the marines “killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” Interesting campaign note: Obama was questioned regarding Murtha’s statement back when he made it, and Obama’s response was that he “would never second guess John Murtha… I think he’s somebody who knows of which he speaks.” I wonder if he’ll be backtracking on that at all.

* The Next Right on demographic realities regarding Ohio for November.

* I don’t doubt that this has the best intentions for Alzheimer’s patients, but this still makes me very, very uncomfortable. I fully realize I’m way too close to this issue to even be remotely objective on it, though.

* Finally, a Facebook app to act as a clearinghouse for Wii friend codes. Yikes, did Nintendo screw the pooch on that one.

Now that I’m somewhat back in real-time:

* I’m sorry, but this speech is ridiculous, and I’m almost prone to beg for 4 more years of weird-cadence-no-emotion Bush “speeches” than this sort of nonsense. I can’t remember the last time a speech made me physically angry, simply in terms of the overwhelming platitudes and the outright lies he’s willing to peddle just to get people hopped up - and they drink it up. Yeah, here’s a reality check, folks: no matter what happens this November, the oceans are just as likely to rise or fall, people will still be able to get decent jobs, people will still have health care. If anything, Obama’s platform will do more to stand in the way of those things long term than McCain or anyone else. But don’t let the facts get in the way of a little hope. Redstate broke parts down fairly clearly for more.

* Sweden to parents: you cannot name your child Elvis. Uh, what?

* In what could be the best thing to happen to Presidential elections in decades, McCain has challenged Obama to a series of town hall-style debates. You’d think this would be a great move for Obama, having to match wits in front of an audience with a man who’s apparently “lost his bearings.” But no - Obama doesn’t want that, he’s more interested in a Lincoln-Douglas format, where the debaters generally do not address each other’s points, instead one speaks for a specified time, the second for a longer time, and the third plays catch-up at the end. Why, exactly, would Obama favor the latter except to allow him to rant on and on without being questioned?

* Also from Redstate, the Democrats on Obama. McCain would be VERY smart to exploit this.

* It’s from the National Taxpayers Union, so get your eyerolling out of the way first and then see their report on what the candidates will cost. They’re not kind to anyone, but if the debt is your issue…

* Between Jeb Bradley and now John Steven, this may be the first election in my lifetime I’ve felt I’ve had an embarrassment of riches in regard to my electoral choices.

* From Reason, an article on how we treated the dot com crash compared to the mortgage.

* Finally, the Liberty City Police are facing some strict scrutiny.

In the event that I don’t get to mess with this between now and Wednesday morning, keep in mind that much of this was written on Monday evening, and mostly concerns links from the weekend. We will continue with regular link posts tomorrow.

* So Obama is 99.99% the nominee, even though superdelegates can change and Clinton hasn’t dropped. The more things change…. I will say this much - Obama losing South Dakota should be considered a bigger deal than it will be. He was up quite a bit only a couple weeks ago - where’s his momentum?

* The Next Right posted a venn diagram of GOP archetypes. It’s a pretty decent breakdown - if I were Republican, I’d likely place myself in the overlap between neo-libertarian and paleo-libertarian.

* I love things like this: photos of some of Earth’s last remaining uncontacted tribes. I’m constantly amazed that stuff like this exists - to think that, even with all the exploring and advances we have in the world, there are people we’ve never met and cultures we may never know. If anyone knows any books on this sort of thing, I’d love to read one.

* McCain proposes Parliament-style question time for the Senate. I’d watch that - I used to always tune in when they played it on TV here, I wonder if they still do…

* Okay, now Obama is considering an Iraq trip. Someone please defend this. Someone please explain what Obama WON’T fold on. Someone still explain why he has any appeal to anyone beside the D next to his name.

* MADD is insane. To summarize, a cop goes into a classroom, says a classmate was killed by a drunk driver. They’re then brought into an assemly and told that, no, they weren’t really killed, but every 15 minutes someone is. I’m sorry, that’s sick. Why do people think this is okay?

* The Cato blog discusses global warming’s impact on mortality. Interesting stuff here, even if you’re not one to like Cato.

* More from The Next Right, this time on McCain’s strong grassroots presence. It’s amazing how many McCain memes are floating around that simply aren’t true.

* The Washington Post puts it out there: The surge worked, so will Obama be changing his tune? My answer is probably not - the only principles he appears to hold are wrong ones.

* $225k in earmarks to Rev. Phleger while Obama was in the Illinois legislature. Same old politics, etc.

* From RedState, McCain mulled a one-term pledge. I think this would have been a bad move overall, but I would be more likely to vote for him if he made it, I won’t lie.

* Finally, happy anniversary to the Berlin Wall and its wife. No, really.

‘Tis all!