J.P. Hayes

I'm swearing off mulligans. Professional golfer J.P. Hayes teaches us all a lesson in integrity. I'd vote for him. Think he's a Republican?

*Thanks to my brother Dave. :)

Sound Investment

Order one now!

My favorite lines:

"...Commemorating the day the world changed forever."

"His confident smile and kind eyes are an inspiration to us all [give or take 48%]"

Obama Retains Defense Attorney

As White House Counsel. Greg Craig, advocate for such worthy causes as Clinton during the impeachment proceedings, John Hinckley Jr., and William Kennedy Smith has been selected as Obama's consigliere. Will the rights of the 9/11 victims will be valued nearly as much as the rights of the accused by this administration? That's what I thought.

L'Obama, ossia L'Avvento del Messia

As an opera lover [thanks to my Italian Mama], James Calvert's piece [scroll down a bit] had me in tears. Women will particularly enjoy the surprise ending. The only thing I take issue with is that Biden's first name should be Giuseppe--not Giovanni.

*Thanks for a wonderful piece of satire, James! :)

One Positive Result Of This Election

Camille Paglia establishes herself as the true and rightful doyenne of today's feminism. She possesses the wisdom to know that the feminist movement is not about the individual woman, but the Everywoman--a fact that seems to have escaped Gloria Steinem, Erica Jong, and other feminist leaders. Since the beginning of time, the 'fairer' sex has endured wars between working women and stay-at-home-moms, women focused mostly on their physical appearance and women who are not, pro-life women and pro-choice women, gregarious women and reserved women, married women and single women, moms and childless women, Republican women and Democratic women, nursing mothers and bottle-feeding mothers--basically, we are guilty of intragender hatred in the first degree.

In what can only be seen as an effort to further polarize our sex, we have narcissistic feminist celebrities who have turned feminism into their very own brand to fit what they, as individuals, want feminism to be. In doing so, they have subordinated the interests of the feminist movement to that of their own self-interests. Meanwhile, generations of self identified "feminists" baa in agreement and allow themselves to be herded into this mentality despite the fact that most of their chosen daily existences starkly contradict such branding.

So, thank you, Camille Paglia, for accepting and appreciating all of us just as we are.

Some Plague Reading

I am suffering from a barking case of the creeping crud. That means less posty-posty and more read-ie read-ie. Here are some interesting items worthy of a look-see.

- David Brooks c/o Stephen Hayes. I completely agree with Hayes' insight.

- P.J. O'Rourke's "We Blew It"

- Christopher Hitchens opening up the door to criticize Obama. I want it noted for the record that I told my friends when Hitchens endorsed Obama that it was only because Obama was proposing MORE war against Islamo-fascism. Don't act all surprised when Obama backs away from his campaign promises and Hitchens goes on the attack. Just sayin'.

The Second Greatest Generation

The Weekly Standard republished Dean Barnett's meaningful piece, "The 9/11 Generation" in celebration of Veterans' Day. I'm looking forward to this generation's future leaders.

Win A Date With Treacher! Socialists Need Not Apply.

Since Obama has won and the conservative blogosphere has decided to buck against the Leftosphere's example of the past eight years and actually keep it classy, I have been looking for a project. I propose a conservative version of The Bachelor for none other than our own dear Jim Treacher.

The poor guy has resorted to proposing to random women on his blog. Jim, as a concerned Republican, I feel you need an intervention, or some cheap meaningless nookie at the very least. Since I am married and cannot myself oblige, my first thought was to look to my friends. Unfortunately, the only adventurous Republican girlfriends I have are all married so I've decided to take it to the e-streets [maybe Springsteen invented the internets].

I know what you are saying to yourself right now, Treach. You are saying that this is merely a cheap gimmick to increase traffic to my blog. That's just a side benefit. It's really a win-win situation. You get tail, I get traffic. What do you say?

If you are an unmarried, "hot Republican babe" [I know, I know, hot Republican babe is a triple redundancy] who knows how to cook and is looking for a smart, funny, and reasonably humble man, please e-mail your proposal to iwantjimtreacher@gmail.com .

*And to sweeten to deal, the date is my treat.

You Don't Say...

Obama can't possibly pay for all his promises. Eureka! The funny part is that her support comes from none other than the self-proclaimed nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

*Journalists, this isn't rocket science. Just because a think tank calls themselves nonpartisan, does not mean that they are. I could walk around and call myself a Democrat all day long, I could even register Democrat, but it would not make me a Democrat. Follow the money, people. If liberal organizations are financing the operation, then it's not nonpartisan. It is a pet peeve of mine when you guys and gals use information from politically biased organizations to support your analysis of politically motivated proposals. All election long, we heard about the Tax Policy Center with respect to Obama's promises. Talk about a shill.

A Question of Decency

Patterico pontificates on Obama's decency.

Decency implies virtue. Can good intent [or the absence of bad intent] alone be a sufficient watermark for decency?

I, myself, have wrestled with the issues of Obama’s cynicism and opportunism versus decency and good intentions.

I have come to the conclusion that he is an empty suit–-a cynical opportunist. I do not think he wants to save or unite the country and our world. I think he wants to be President Obama, just like many other groomed politicians. Does this make him decent? Well it does not make him indecent. Does the absence of indecency make him per se decent? I am of the mind that this is not the case.

I wrestle with this [here and here]. I want to be generous, but I think his level and brand of cynicism and opportunism negates decency. So, to me, he treads somewhere in virtue’s limbo. What level of respect does that rate?

When There's Nothing You Can Do, The Only Thing Left Is To Laugh

I wish this were a joke. But sadly, it's not. I'm sorry, there is no excuse for this. This is just over the top hokey. I was hoping that after this election the words "hope", "change", and even "maverick" would be temporarily suspended from the American English vernacular as if there were some tacit moratorium on their usage. More than anything, that would have had a better effect on bringing conservatives back in. But no. No, the Democrats say. We are going to give you all a big old symbolic middle finger, pour salt in your wounds by shoving our brand of change down your throats, and further alienate you. Then, we will try and make you all look like a bunch of jerks--the way we acted when you "stole" the 2000 and 2004 elections from us--for not wanting to come and be a supportive part of our welfare state that we parade as domestic paternalism.

When I was fifteen and a freshman in high school, one of my best friends Suzanne, her older sister Katie, and I took my parents' 1977 ugly brown Chevy van out for a joyride while my family were at a lacrosse game [Katie had just gotten her learner's permit and they convinced me it would be fine]. We drove all over town and had a blast. We figured we had plenty of time. We were wrong. As we turned onto my street to go home, we saw BOTH of our families and a bunch of the neighbors all standing in my front yard like some modern Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover.

Suzanne [the "perfect" one of the three of us] started screaming to Katie, "Drive! Just Drive!" like making some last minute get-away would have been better for us. Katie pushed the accelerator. I yelled, "No, Stop!" Katie slammed on the brakes. "GO!" Accelerator. "Stop!" Brakes. I have often imagined what we looked like jerking down old St. Ives Dr. Finally, my dad ran up to the van at a stopping point and Katie put on the brake. The three of us got out of the car. I could see how mad everyone was, especially Suzanne and Katie's mom [who probably still loathes my existence to this day, lol]. Nobody said a word. I knew I was dead meat. [Although my little brother did not look angry, he looked, well... proud.]

Then it happened. I started uncontrollably laughing. I could not stop. I have no idea why. There was nothing I could do, I was in trouble deep. So I just started laughing hysterically.

I kind of feel like that right now. At the very least, with this administration, I'm willing to bet I have plenty to laugh at for the next four years.

Sometimes I Hate It When I'm Right

This is one of those times. Remember when I mocked Russia's endorsement of Obama? Yeah, I wasn't kidding. It sounds like they really want to "work" with him. I'm sure Poland thanks us! Anne Applebaum, are you still as pleased with your endorsement now?

*I had truly hoped that my first post-election post would have been a light satire, but I am troubled by this. If Obama goes with the military & foreign policy 'instincts' he's displayed in the past, Americans will owe a profuse apology to our allies in Poland, Georgia, and the Ukraine. I'm actually frightened for our friends.

Election Eve Post

I haven't been posting as much this past week because of my involvement in the GOTV effort. This has been an interesting election to say the least. I've made lots of friends, strengthened friendships [on both sides of the aisle], and, sadly, lost people I considered my friends this election. Such is the way in a pluralistic society for any individual with an opinion [i.e., all individuals]. Our democratic process is one that, hopefully, forces us all to think critically about and re-evaluate our own individual political philosophy and core values. Most of us believe in the same ends, but we disagree on the means to get there. That is okay. People smarter than ourselves have wrestled with these issues since the beginning of time and are split as to what works and what does not. The greatest aspect of our nation is that our freedom to engage in the discourse of these ideas is protected by our government and not censored. Ave America!

Succubus Sally Quinn Is Projecting Again

O wretched wretched hate filled woman! Does anyone see a discrepancy between her treatment of the candidates? Anyone? Irresponsible journalism at its worst.

Sally, if we are prosecuting by association, let's review Obama's associations and endorsors, shall we?

- Rev. Jeremiah "God Damn America" Wright
- Unabashed Anti-Semite Rashid Khalidi
- "I don't know the guy, I just live in his neighborhood" Louis Farrakhan
- Anti-Zionist, Anti-everything except violent overthrow of the government, Intolerance personified Bill Ayers
- Pro-Manson Bernadine Dohrn
- Peace, Love, Happiness, and Freedom of Religious Expression proponents, Al Qaeda

These aren't exactly bastions of tolerance, Ms. Quinn, AND Obama knows three of these people intimately.

Sally Quinn attacks McCain for religious intolerance based solely on tenuous associations and the fact that he hasn't fetishized the cheesey "We Are The World" "I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke" mentality like the Obama campaign. He hasn't because it is merely a diversion--a cover for the REAL and PRESSING issues facing this nation. It is a cover for Obama's inconsistent political stances. Instead, they preach Hope & Change and "tolerance" for anyone but the "selfish". Obama's campaign and their minions have called McCain a racist, questioned his military service, attacked his family [including supportive ex-wife], and now they are STOOPING to calling him a religious bigot. Disgusting. You are a disgusting lemming, Sally Quinn and you shouldn't even be allowed to write in your own diary let alone a national daily.

Funnier Than My Two Year Old Mauling The Elmo Kid Last Night

Iowahawk never disappoints. In. Tears.