I’m home sick today. Well, since I work at home, the first part of that is extraneous. But because I’m sipping broth soups and tea, I gave myself the day off, which means I get to hit the blogosphere. Lots out there:

• Hugh Hewitt sums up the changes in the landscape that led Pennsylvania voters to holler loud enough to overturn a whopping pay raise that state legislators had voted for themselves:
  

  The web-talk radio synergy has empowered citizen activists in ways never imagined, but primarily in the ability to locate and communicate with each other. Paybacks are now not only possible, they are relatively easy to organize. Cross a wire, and the voters will not only know about it, they will be reminded of the failure again and again, and mobilized in advance of a crucial election.

  I’m not saying the power of alternative media, talk radio and the blogosphere doesn’t get a little exaggerated sometimes, but I think he’s right in what he’s saying. In this age, information is power, and decentralizing the desemination of information has given extra leverage to many people that wouldn’t otherwise have had it.

• Michele Malkin has a take on the strategy behind all the Senate cries for withdrawal from Iraq:
  

  The more I think about it, the more I believe this is just a way to diminish any political goodwill that will accrue to the Bush administration when troops do begin leaving Iraq. I think the same can be said for the timetable Democrats wanted to impose in the Congress. With upcoming elections and the trial of Saddam, and more and more Iraqi troops and police being trained daily, it is likely, and I think the President has even stated, that the American military presence will start being scaled back within the next 6 - 12 months. When that happens, Democrats will try to claim it was the pressure they exerted that caused it. We all know that is what the President has said all along — that we will leave when the Iraqis no longer need us there. The public, however, has heard a constant drumbeat from Democrats and the media that there is no exit strategy.

• I can’t figure John McCain out. It seemed like he’d made up his mind to be the Republican that liberals can feel good about, and then he suddenly comes out strong against the Iraq pullout cries. Not only did he make this speech on Tuesday, but he had an editorial today in the New York Post:
  

  Morality, national security and the honor our fallen deserve all compel us to see our mission in Iraq through to victory.

  But the amendment suggests a different priority. It signals that withdrawal, not victory, is foremost in Congress’ mind, and suggests that we are more interested in exit than victory.

  A date is not an exit strategy.

• Speaking of help from strange quarters, anyone who didn’t see last night’s new episode of “South Park” missed a real slam at the “church” of Scientology, Tom Cruise, John Travolta et al. It was loaded up with enough specific information about the completely ridiculous origins and beliefs of that group that even the usually death-defying South Park duo were obviously scared of a lawsuit. I know people have a lot of reasons for not watching that show, and of course, I would never let a kid see it. But still, this episode, entitled “Trapped in the Closet” is too good to miss. If you happen to see it in re-runs, check it out.