DESIGN: WE GO TO THE MOON! The Art of Robert McCall. A depressing look at a less-enlightened-era long ago, before NASA came to its senses, and realized that diversity, third world outreach and smashing the dominate male archetype were far more important goals than simply landing men — men who weren’t even sensitive, enlightened Alan Alda-types — on the moon.

BARRY GOLDWATER VINDICATED: At the Daily Caller, Steve Hayward of Power Line writes:

The view that Republicans are an out-of-the-mainstream party would make sense if we still lived in the world of 1950 described in the classic Samuel Lubell book The Future of American Politics, which offered the analogy of the “sun party” (Democrats) and the “moon party” (Republicans), that is, a majority party that held the initiative because it could win durable electoral majorities, and requiring the minority “moon party,” if it is to survive, to accommodate the sun party. A correlate of the Lubell hypothesis, though, is that the parties would switch places over long epicycles — a process known in political science literature as “realignment,” such as we saw with the coming of the New Deal in 1932.

Democrats assume that their New Deal realignment was eternal, and have never gotten over the fact that their status as the “sun party” ended sometime around the arrival of Ronald Reagan. At best for Democrats, the closely contested elections and large swings of the last three House elections suggest that today we have two moon parties vying to become the sun party (my pal Ornstein might say “two full moon parties” — hah, hah, we get it). But with a stack of surveys showing that conservatives and conservative opinion outnumbering liberals and liberal opinion by a margin of about two to one, you can’t make the argument that Republicans are extremists without confronting its implication that the real problem is the American people, who, after all, voted for the GOP House majority, and have installed the highest number of Republicans in state legislatures around the nation in 75 years. Who among the critics will step up and say openly that the American people are the extremists? Any takers?

Actually, there were plenty in the late summer and fall of 2010, climaxing in a hilarious compendium of quotes titled “Paradise Lost — America was great, once (in November 2008),” by the Weekly Standard’s Jonathan Last, who juxtaposed Obama’s biggest boosters in the MSM praising the country in November of 2008, and bitterly condemning the same Americans in 2010 for the Tea Party and the return of the GOP majority in one house of Congress that year. Another round of condemnation has started already this year; if such oikophobia builds to a similar or even larger crescendo by this coming fall, we’ll have a pretty good pulse on where the two candidates, and the majorities in both houses of Congress stand in the weeks before November arrives.

UPDATE: Related thoughts on oikophobia from John Hinderaker of Power Line.

OBAMA, GM VOLT TEAM UP TO TELL YOU WHAT THEY THINK OF YOUR OPINION:

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Bill Gates is eager to get his company’s representatives in on the action as well:

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AT AMAZON, Digital Deals.

Plus, today only, West Side Story: 50th Anniversary Edition Box Set for $25.00.

GAY MARRIAGE AS A DISTRACTION: Roger L. Simon writes, “Unlike Barack Obama, I have been an unwavering public supporter of gay marriage since first writing on the subject on my blog almost ten years ago. I remain so today. It is a clear human rights issue to me:”

But there’s one more thing, as Steve Jobs would say, that just might console our gay friends and their allies and help them keep their eyes on the economic ball this election. At least it should: Gay marriage is already virtually a fait accompli.

Those of us who live in urban America see it all around us — tons of gay couples, sometimes in large communities, living together, working, having kids (adopted or in vitro or sometimes from broken heterosexual marriages), and doing almost everything straight couples do. And nobody seems to care. Almost nobody, anyway.

Yes, there are still some legalities that need to be adjusted, but that will come, especially since the polls show the younger generation overwhelmingly in favor of same-sex marriage. It is only we geezers who object. (Okay, I don’t.) And, as we know, the minorities. As of now, same-sex marriage is a white man’s game (Obama excepted, of course).

Nevertheless, whatever your opinion of gay marriage, I am writing this article to urge you not to engage. The issue is a sideshow intended to distract. If our country goes the way of Greece – and writing this from the City of Los Angeles, it’s not so hard to imagine – you can forget any issue, whatever your favorite one is.  You won’t be living in America anymore.

Still though, as Gay Patriot quips, paraphrasing Sally Field, “It doesn’t matter what [Obama] does or hasn’t done; it does matter that he likes us.” And so does Barney Frank, perhaps eager to avoid the Kinsleyesque gaffe that Michelle Obama made in 2008, who says he feels “even better about my country” today.

MAN WHO ESCAPED SOVIET UNION SCHOOLS OCCUPIER ON HISTORY OF SOCIALISM: Video at the American Glob site, which notes, “The kids of the Occupy movement have a weirdly glamorous view of Socialism and Communism.”

So do some of the much older kids there, such as this fellow in particular, demonstrating his love of cosplay by wearing an East German uniform — apparently non-ironically — at an early OWS rally.

Incidentally, Aleister, the proprietor of the American Glob blog, is moving — considering hitting his tip jar if you can.

FEDERAL ‘STIMULUS’ SPENT $34.5 MILLION IN MICHIGAN FOR ONLY 183 TOTAL JOBS: “Astraeus Wind Energy Inc. of Eaton Rapids, got a $7 million grant and a loan of $1.54 million and has created 11 jobs. If no other workers are hired, those jobs were created at a cost of $776,364 each.”

#JULIA VERSUS THE VIRTUE OF SELFISHNESS: The Life of Dominique.

THE DNC QUIETLY BACKPEDALS ON CITIZENS UNITED OPPOSITION: At US News & World Report, Robert Schlesinger writes:

Democrats may not like Citizens United or “super PACs,” but they’re not nearly as vocal about it as they used to be. One little noticed piece of evidence that they’re soft pedaling the issue can be found (or not) on the Democratic National Committee’s website, which has quietly dropped the topics from its list of “Issues” it touts.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the tonal shift comes as Democrats are trying to kick their super PAC efforts into gear.

Meanwhile at the Washington Free Beacon, “Gay for Pay: Obama reversal on same sex marriage comes just days after donors threatened to withhold funds.”

(Though the Obama administration is, according to one report, none-too-thrilled with Joe Biden for his gaffe on Sunday, which limited Mr. Obama’s flexibility in terms of when he would transmit his announcement. Presumably yesterday worked in terms of breaking the cycle of bad news from Tuesday’s various drubbings in Wisconsin, North Carolina and West Virginia.)

HOW THE FELON WON: Charles Mahtesian of the Politico on Keith Judd’s “unexpectedly” strong showing on Tuesday:

Whatever other forces may be at work in the Appalachian opposition to Obama — the role of race has been debated since his 2008 run — it’s clear the administration’s energy policies played a big role in the president’s lackluster performance.

Locally, it’s referred to as “the war on coal.”

Looking at the map, Judd’s strongest support came from southern West Virginia’s coal country, close by the Kentucky border.

The five coal counties that voted against Obama Tuesday also voted for Hillary Clinton by landslide margins in the 2008 primary.

That cluster includes the place that might be described as the epicenter of the Obama resistance: Mingo County.

Known as “Bloody Mingo” for its storied history of labor unrest and bloodshed surrounding the coal mining industry – the acclaimed John Sayles movie “Matewan” was based on events there in 1920 – the county disliked Obama even before he was elected president.

Clinton defeated him in there 88 percent to 8 percent, one of Obama’s worst primary drubbings in the nation in 2008. This time around, Mingo delivered what is certainly the president’s worst county-level defeat in 2012 – the inmate defeated the incumbent 60 percent to 40 percent.

Huh — can’t imagine why:

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RICHARD COHEN YEARNS FOR OBAMA TO BE LIKE LBJ: Good luck with that — Lyndon Johnson had served almost a quarter of a century in the House and Senate before being tapped to be JFK’s veep, and yet Cohen and the rest of the Washington Post went all-in back in 2008 on a candidate who hadn’t yet completed his first term there, over a man who by that time, had served a comparable number of years as Johnson in DC.

Of course, it’s not too late for Cohen to call on Obama to live out one key moment in LBJ’s legacy.

BILL AYERS TO STUDENTS: JOIN ME AND HELP DRIVE NATO OUT OF CHICAGO ON MAY 20: “If I have this straight, Bill Ayers is facing off against Rahm Emanuel in Chicago, in an attempt to disrupt an elite meeting of the world’s premier military alliance led by Barack Obama. It’s like the liberal Legion of Doom in a Bizarro World episode. The only obvious thing to root for is that no one gets hurt, and fortunately any talk of ‘action’ from Bill Ayers doesn’t pose quite the same threat as it once did.”

NO MATTER WHAT…THEY’LL CALL THIS PODCAST RACIST: My interview with Harry Stein of City Journal, discussing his new book, No Matter What…They’ll Call This Book Racist: How our Fear of Talking Honestly About Race Hurts Us All, is now online at Ed Driscoll.com.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Seemingly everyone in Libya has guns. The place is awash not just with AK-47s and the like, but also rocket-propelled grenade launchers, anti-aircraft guns, and lord knows what else.

IRISH CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION SLATED TO BEGIN:  It’s a wide open convention, 100 delegates, with a one-year time deadline.  The Irish Times reports that the convention “will include consider an agenda that stretches from the prosaic to the controversial, including: review of the Dáil electoral system, reduction of the voting age, the presidency, same-sex marriage, participation of women in politics and public life and blasphemy.”

We are no longer governed.  We are ruled.  Yes, that IS about the size of it.

I first heard of Larry Correia when he  said something about “Vampires shouldn’t sparkle, unless they’re on fire.”  I immediately knew that we’d get along, and I was right.  About this Otherwhere Gazette interview of Larry, I have to say that while it’s not bad, he’s far more amusing in person and in his own writing.  If you don’t believe me, check out his blog.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “It is good to see that after intense political pressure that President Obama has finally come around to the Dick Cheney position on marriage equality.”

— GOProud’s Chris Barron; more at Reason.com.

SORE LUGAR.

I LINK, YOU DECIDE: World Affairs published two Iran-related pieces today. Elliot Abrams explains the grounds for an Israeli attack against Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities. Robert Wexler, meanwhile, argues that the Israelis should wait.

“VICTORIA BECKHAM WEARS A GREAT, REALLY FIRST CLASS [CUT] , and her friend Katie Holmes. They’re the two best cuts around now. There’s just too much long, hanging hair that hides the bone structure, and hides a beautiful neck and doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do.” Vidal Sassoon, seeing latter day reformulations of the truly genius cuts he did in the 1960s. What did he say to clients who hated that iconic five-point haircut of his?

“It’ll grow darling, come back as our guest.” Actually I [angered] my very best friend, Georgia Brown, who was a wonderful singer and actress, she originated the role of Nancy in Lionel Bart’s “Oliver.” I cut her hair for an opening night and she said, “You’ve ruined my career,” and left the salon screaming and crying. But I knew it looked good [laughs]. She called me back the following morning and said, “I’m sorry, Vidal, everybody loved it.”

Yes, everybody loved what was the most brilliant haircut idea… ever.

AT AMAZON, it’s the Car Electronics Outlet Sale.

BYOP (BRING YOUR OWN POT):  As in marijuana.  A restaurant in Asland, Oregon gets a business license to operate by foregoing pot on its own menu and instead opting to let patrons bring their own. According to the Seattle Times,

“[T]he chef will no longer add hashish-infused oil to the Mongolian barbecue. Instead, cardholders will add their own after going behind a curtain to a corner decorated with a wall hanging of reggae singer Bob Marley.The owners had thought that if they gave away the pot ingredient, the establishment would be legal under Oregon’s medical marijuana law, but they were thwarted by a city ordinance that denies business licenses to anyone violating federal law.”

Yeah mon.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Are Egypt and Israel gearing up for a fight?

“HE KNEW ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION, but a man could be a damn fool and be constitutional.” An Attorney General once said that to a Secretary of State, who was lecturing him about the President’s executive power. That Attorney General was Nicholas Katzenbach, who died yesterday, at the age of 90.