CATCHING UP

Stuff I ran across last week and didn't get to:

* A Christian Science Monitor op-ed by Gary Bauer entitled "Do Americans Love Pets Too Much?" The religious-right honcho seems to think the answer is yes, and he blames it on the fact that we don't realize that people have souls, dammit, and dogs don't! (Via Right Wing Watch.)

* James Pinkerton's Newsday op-ed "A Look Back at the GOP 2008 Victory." Pinkerton's fantasy: that Bush actually starts trying to extricate the U.S. from Iraq (ha!) -- and Harry Reid keeps fighting him, convinced it's not enough, puppet of moonbat bloggers that he is! No, really -- that's what Pinkerton thinks will happen. And then the Republicans in Congress all turn into Tom Tancredo on immigration -- and this makes them wildly popular! And then Democrats endorse gay marriage and out-and-out repeal of the Patriot Act! Yeah, right. Please, James, don't pass me what you're smoking.

* This amazing picture of the possible next First Lady of the United States (and, yeah, this one, too).