Browncoats?

Thursday's Boston Globe included a story by someone named "Beth Teitell" which seeks to answer the question, "We all know about Scott Brown's truck, but what's the story behind that coat?" Maybe Boston Globe reporters don't have access to Google. Perhaps they're so well educated that they spend their time reading scandalous poems by Ovid, rather than slumming with the great unwashed middle class. She wonders:

Scott Brown’s pickup truck got almost as much attention as the Senate candidate, but somehow his equally ubiquitous, equally everyman barn jacket cruised below the pundits’ radar.

And yet, there it was, starring in his now-famous truck ad. There it was again, waving to motorists. And voting in the election.

But what do we know about that brown jacket, really?

Is it possible -- just barely possible -- that our elite arbiters of politics and culture know nothing about Browncoats?

Hitler Reacts Badly to the New iPad . . . .

Outside My Window

It's Caturday!

We're Not Really a Law Blog, but . . . . . .

More at The Smoking Gun.

Breaking News

Kansas jury rules that abortion after 278th trimester is murder.

We agree.

Introduction to Constitutional Law

PROTECTED SPEECH:

NOT PROTECTED SPEECH?:

"Tim Tebow's Ad Has Left Tangled in Their Knickers" -

The theme in this year's Super Bowl ads was going to be people in their underwear.

Three companies were touting their Super ads to USA Today, talking about how showing people wearing only their skivvies in inappropriate settings is the next big thing.

Renee White Fraser, an "advertising psychologist," extolled the move as a "provocative -- but safe -- way to get viewer attention."

"People love to imagine other people in their underwear," Fraser told the paper.

She must not have taken a bus lately. It's ugly out there, lady.

Fraser is actually the chief executive officer of an L.A. advertising agency who has a degree in consumer psychology. But I suppose part of her job is therapeutic -- she helps clients rationalize the abuse of good taste in the name of profits.

While the gross-out ads from Dockers, Bud Light and CareerBuilder.com will break some meaningless boundaries by bringing "Old School"-style humor ("We're streaking!") to Family Hour television, the real Super Bowl controversy is over the ad starring former University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.

Focus on the Family, the Colorado-based Christian group led by James Dobson, is paying big bucks -- perhaps $3.2 million -- for a 30-second spot featuring Heisman Trophy winner Tebow and his mother, Pam.

In 1987, pregnant Pam Tebow and her husband, Bob, were in the Philippines as missionaries when she contracted dysentery. Doctors believed that the disease would result in the death of her baby and that a fruitless childbirth might kill her too.

But mother and son survived. After years of home schooling, Tim Tebow went on to become 240 pounds of All-Southeastern Conference, football-slinging whoopass with Bible verses written on his cheeks.

The point of the ad isn't to pass a bill or defeat a candidate who believes women have a right to elective abortions, but to encourage women to "choose life" when faced with desperate options.

News of the ad had a predictably Pavlovian effect on the Left. Since the spot combines many of the elements that the "educated class" most detests about America -- frank expressions of Christianity, pro-life advocacy, home-schoolers, football hero worship and the South -- they were incensed that cash-strapped CBS would take Focus on the Family's money.

Jehmu Greene, head of the Women's Media Center, is leading a drive to punish CBS for airing the ad, which she claims is "sexist."

I don't know exactly what the controversy is. In the first ad above, Paris Hilton is simply celebrating her independent womanhood. In Tebow's ad, it will be suggested that one might choose not to kill your child. The first is obviously a good thing, the second a bad thing. Everybody knows that killing babies is a good thing. Sheesh. Some people just never seem to get the memo.

Did the Chicken Jump the Turnstile?

Have we mentioned recently that we love the Internet? And camera phones? And really cheap memory cards?

So it's Wednesday evening in the Big Apple, and you get on the Uptown No. 6 train at the 33rd Street Station.

HERE's the cameraman's blog.

Procreation?

There's an app for that.

Sometimes, You CAN Tell a Book by it's Cover

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI

(Episcopal) Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori

One Bright Shining Moment

Justice Alito mouths "not true" in response to Mr. Obama. He was probably thinking "Good luck, kid."

Some Things Are Always Funny

Always funny: any story that includes the words "pants," "lizards" and "airport."
Thus: "Man Caught at Airport With 44 Lizards in Pants"

Please Tell Hendrik Herzberg . . . .

. . . . that someone's filing New Yorker copy in his name, but written about an alternate universe.

We Have a Quiz!

Officials of the Menifee Union School District (south of Riverside in SoCal) have banned a book from its elementary schools because it includes a reference to oral sex.

Before going to the article, try to guess the title.

Hey, wait . . . .

"The world's first film shot entirely by chimpanzees is to be broadcast by the BBC as part of a natural history documentary."

Hasn't that already been done?

Those 6th Graders Are Tough

The President of the United States prepares to speak to some Sixth Graders in Falls Church, Virginia, last week.  Please, God!  Let it be photoshopped!  Sorry.

Never Ignore The Economist

"IN THE aftermath of the Senate election in Massachusetts, the focus of attention is inevitably on what it means for Barack Obama. The impact on the Democratic president of the loss of the late Ted Kennedy’s seat to the Republicans will, no doubt, be significant.  Yet the result could be remembered as a message more profound than the disparate mutterings of a grumpy electorate that has lost faith in its leader—as a growl of hostility to the rising power of the state."

"Stop! The size and power of the state is growing, and discontent is on the rise"

Chris Matthews Rips Alan Grayson (D, Fantasyland)

"You're pandering to the netroots!" Well, duh, Chris.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

January 24, 1949

John Belushi would be 61 today.

Are You an Idiot?

You're an idiot if you don't read "The Context Of Middle-Class Frustration."

FINALLY: Origin of the Public Option Explained!

A rare double Caturday post, courtesy of the Old Timer:

If Cats were Lobbyists
by britethorn

One of These Cats is Cheating

Corporations Have No Right to Free Speech

Unless they're the New York Times Company.

January 21, 1918

Major Richard D. Winters (U.S.A., Ret.), is 92 today.

Hitler Finds Out Scott Brown Won

Yes We Can

Senator Scott Brown (R - Mass)

Meanwhile, amidst plots and schemes to delay his swearing-in, or pass the health-care takeover without further reference to the Senate, Senator James Webb, showing that not all Democrats have drunk the Kool-Ade, announces: "I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated." It also seems unlikely that Joe Lieberman would vote for cloture before Brown is sworn in.

Perhaps this is the beginning of a "Brown Revolution." In which case I'll have to get my Browncoat out of storage.

Scott Brown for Senate

For just about a year now the Democrats have had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, an overwhelming majority in the House, and been led by the Left's dream-come-true President.

Today, the little people in Massachusetts -- where Republicans are about as scarce as self-employed Democrats -- will elect a Republican to the United States Senate.

When Parody Becomes Reality

Words fail me.

OBAMA GOES TO MASS!

What? Oh really? Sorry. Nevermind.

Desperation, Massachusetts Style

And the President isn't handling any of the landing lines.

People Need to Pull Their Pants Up

Continuing Education

These instructions can also be used for other holidays, birthdays, or when you want to just send a random gift to the Gentleman Farmer.

Must. Have. MetaMeta Shirt.

G&S Has ALWAYS Loved The Woz

Steve Wozniak's favorite gadget? The Google Phone.

No spitting. No smoking. No sex.

The Seattle Times reports that tourists are no longer welcome to northwest Washington.

The Right To Choose Evil

Today we get to pick sides.

We can go this way:

I have some concerns about the church's position respecting a woman's right to choose. I have some concerns about the church's position on gay rights. I am a practicing Catholic, although they're probably not too happy about that. But it is my faith. I feel what I was raised to believe is consistent with what I profess, and that is that we are all endowed with a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions. And that women should have that opportunity to exercise their free will.

Or we can go this way:

God gave human beings the capacity to choose between good and evil in order to give them the gift of freedom, even at the cost of many evil choices.

I pick Door Number Two. More HERE. [Link fixed]

From Matt Drudge

Is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid following in the surgical footsteps of the Speaker of the House, Joe Biden, and Cher?

How Can You Tell When the TSA is Lying?

Remember how we don't have to worry about privacy or embarrassment when subjected to those new full-body scanners?  You know the ones I'm talking about -- the scanners with a level of sensitivity graphically described by James Carville.  The ones that can't store images of your jewelry [ehem] or transmit those images to Janet Napolitano's home computer?  Yeah.  THOSE scanners.  OOPS.  Surprise!

Note to sons:  I've reburied the gold.  Call me.

Sneezing Panda

Much, much more from Cute Things Exploding.

Orthogonal?

From today's New York Times:

Supreme Court justices deal in words, and they are always on the lookout for new ones.

University of Michigan law professor Richard D. Friedman discovered that Monday when he answered a question from Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, but added that it was "entirely orthogonal" to the argument he was making in Briscoe v. Virginia.

Friedman attempted to move on, but Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. stopped him.

"I'm sorry," Roberts said. "Entirely what?"

"Orthogonal," Friedman repeated, and then defined the word: "Right angle. Unrelated. Irrelevant."

"Oh," Roberts replied.

Friedman again tried to continue, but he had caught the interest of Justice Antonin Scalia, who considers himself the court's wordsmith. Scalia recently criticized a lawyer for using "choate" to mean the opposite of "inchoate," a word that has created a debate in the dictionary world.

"What was that adjective?" Scalia asked Monday. "I liked that."

"Orthogonal," Friedman said.

"Orthogonal," Roberts said.

"Orthogonal," Scalia said. "Ooh."

Friedman seemed to start to regret the whole thing, saying the use of the word was "a bit of professorship creeping in, I suppose," but Scalia was happy.

"I think we should use that in the opinion," he said.

"Or the dissent," added Roberts, who in this case was in rare disagreement with Scalia.

The Country's in the Very Best of Hands

There's dumb, there's dumber, and then there's Harry Reid.

There Were Giants in the Earth in Those Days

More HERE.

Islam: The Religion of Nutjobs (Word-Games Division)

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.

"Holy Mary, Mother of God . . . ." That's the best we can do in English, even if it sometimes requires a bit of explanation for our Protestant friends. No, not mother of God the Father, not mother of God the Holy Spirit, but most assuredly mother of God the Son, Jesus Christ. The original Greek, used by the Council of Ephesus (as well as by Athanasius, John Chrysostom, and Augustine) is Θεοτόκος or "Theotokos."

Our problem today is not translation of Theotokos to Mater Dei to Mother of God. The problem is translation into a language which has no indigenous word for God. Malay is such a language. It includes no word for the monotheistic notion of "One God."

Not to worry: Malay-speakers, first introduced to this concept by Muslim traders in the 12th Century, adopted the Arabic word: "Allah." As it happens, "Allah" predates Islam -- the father of Muhammad was named ‘Abdallāh, meaning servant or slave of Allah, that is, God.

Now, nine centuries later, Muslim Malaysians appear to be claiming that use of the world "Allah" by non-Muslims is offensive, or forbidden, or disrespectful, or something-or-other. "For non-Muslims to use this word is an unnecessary provocation," according to Faisal Aziz, president of the National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students. This in response to a decision by the Malaysian Supreme Court that it was permissible for the Roman Catholic Malay language newspaper to use the term "Allah" to refer to God.

There have been protests and cyber-attacks and whatnot but, most recently, the peaceful Islamists have turned to their argument of choice: violence. Five Christian churches in Malaysia have been torched.

Having a religion that permits you to do evil things in pursuit of perceived good things would be very convenient at times, don't you think?

Much more HERE.

Oh Those Clever, Practical (cheap) Dutch!

Elvis Would be 75 Today

What's Love Got to do With It?

United States v. Reeves (2nd Cir., 2010):

We easily conclude that people of common intelligence (or, for that matter, of high intelligence) would find it impossible to agree on the proper [definition of] a “significant romantic relationship.” What makes a relationship “romantic,” let alone “significant” in its romantic depth, can be the subject of endless debate that varies across generations, regions, and genders. For some, it would involve the exchange of gifts such as flowers or chocolates; for others, it would depend on acts of physical intimacy; and for still others, all of these elements could be present yet the relationship, without a promise of exclusivity, would not be “significant.” The history of romance is replete with precisely these blurred lines and misunderstandings.

My Mother Lied

She told me these things don't work.

But they do!

And The Napster wants you to have one.

Sure, We're Broke, But at Least We Stimulated the Economy

Stimulate this.

"How dumb do you have to be to believe our shit? I TOLD YOU those morons would buy anything!"

Time to Clean Your Guns

Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, expresses her surprise at the "determination" of the nutjobs who want you dead, and was shocked!  Shocked! at the never-before-seen tactic of a lone agent making an individual attack.  I'm NOT making this up:

In related news, the President has finally settled on his nominee to be Secretary of Your Mother's Health Care.

Welcome to My Life

Autism "Clusters" Explained

". . . children of parents who finished college were at least four times more likely to be diagnosed [with autism] than children of parents who didn't finish high school."

How's That Working Out?

Can Your Kid's Teacher Speak English?

What kind of question is THAT you racist bastard. Just kill me now.

Offensive and in Poor Taste

The artwork is pretty sketchy, although it does have a certain primitive strength, don't you think? But if you attend High School in Dearbornistan, The Man is offended.

On the other hand, if we could eliminate everything in Dearborn that's offensive or in poor taste . . . . . .

McRage

We have your basic road rage, 'roid rage (of which I do believe there are at least two varieties), PTA rage, and so on. And now we have "extra pickle" rage.

Welcome to My World

Reason #2,342,008 why Catholics are cooler...

. . . we have better women.

Possibly related.

I Feel so . . . used . . .

Earlier today someone hit G&S having used the term "Drunk Women" to search the "images" section of Google in German. Backtracking, we determined that we weren't even on the first page of his results, so he must have checked out quite a few images before arriving here.

It's Official! WaPo Reports Latin Mass is IN

In their annual end-of-the-year list of what's in and what's out, the Washington Post declares Latin Fusion OUT, and the Latin Mass IN.