Mazurland Blog

To Fight Or Not To Fight

Barack "Hussy" Obama has made his pick for SCOTUS in the form of (let's be honest here) racially and sexually convenient Sonia Sotomayor (that's SOE-duh-My-ur).  Of course Obama will appoint a liberal activist to the court; that's what this whole election was all about, as I've said at great and repeated length.  But now the debate rages over whether or not (or how strongly) conservatives and Republicans (oh, that they were one in the same!) should oppose said nomination.  The major "sticking point" here is supposedly that, if Republicans strongly  fight against the nomination, they will be labeled as anti-Hispanic, and lose that ever-expanding portion of the vote in the upcoming and future election cycles, so it would (again, as the argument goes) be in their best interest to just lay down and let it happen. 

Are Republicans stupid?  (A rhetorical question, I think, given recent history)  Do we really think that the Democrats will give us credit for even the tiniest shred of "good will" that we exhibit by giving their preferred candidate a pass?  That would be the height of "burn me twice" stupidity and naivete, and  yet it seems to be the course toward which the Republicans in Congress are currently headed!  It's too late for a unified "we support your affirmative action decision" facade; enough notable conservative pundits have already mouthed off about their disdain for his choice.  Let's face it; all it would take is a single prominent conservative name saying anything even remotely negative about her in any context for the Democrats to smear all conservatives with the broad brush of racism politics.  So we (conservatives) will be labeled as racists when it comes time for the next election cycle (aren't we always?), particularly with the "hispanic vote", so, really, we don't have anything to lose!  It's time for some scorched-earth politics.

On the other hand, if she's as lackluster as even some of the people on her own side of the aisle have mumbled, maybe letting them have their Harriet Miers is a good thing.  And no, I don't buy the "secretly pro-Life" thing for even a heartbeat.  It's much easier to believe that the White House has let some convenient rumors fly through their ever-willing PR arm known as "MSM" than it is to believe that the man who thinks partial-birth abortion is okay by him would let someone in who wasn't lock-step behind him on one of the most pressing social issues of the day.  On the other hand, I will pray to God that He makes it true.  That sort of thing doesn't seem to be happenening much these days, though.

The Rarest of Posts...

...wherein I defend President Obama.  So those with too much time on their hands are probably well aware of "Dijongate", wherein Obama and Joey Biden, grade 4, made a completely spontaneous and unplanned or  unscripted in any way trip, trust us, honest,  to get a "Hell Burger" at a local burger joint.  The usual, "hey, our president is a regular schmoe like the rest of us" PR stunt.  Bush did it too, although his came across as much more genuine, frankly (particularly with the stories of him basically heckling the reporters begrudgingly covering the events).  Anywho, as the guy in the link above points out, golly, it was convenient that MSNBC just happened to be there with cameras rolling before POTUS and his talking mule arrived.  The big deal of the whole shebang seems to be that, horror of horrors, Obama ordered his burger with Dijon mustard (or maybe the big deal was that MSNBC conveniently and conspicuously edited out that little tidbit of minutiae; it's hard to follow all the outrage these days). 

Glenn Reynolds is, of course, on the story, with the defense of "Personally, I’m quite fond of Grey Poupon — but then, I’m a pointy-headed law professor who went to Yale, so what do I know?".  But what about me, a Bible-thumping redneck fundie born and raised in the backwoods of podunk Arkansas?  Let me just come out of the condiment closet and say it as directly as I know how:  I love Dijon mustard.  On any sandwich where regular mustard might be served.  Especially on burgers!  A  burger simply isn't a burger without Dijon mustard!  And yes, I swear by Grey Poupon!  I actually prefer their "country style" over the original, since I like my mustard to have a little texture to it (best mustard ever:  Inglehoffer Stone Ground Mustard, which I sheepishly admit to having eaten by itself when there was only a little left in the bottle).  The stuff just tastes good.  If our president wants some Dijon mustard on his burger, then by all that is good and holy, he should have some damn Dijon mustard on his damn burger.  Yellow mustard can suck it -- that day-glo dreck is good only for plain, ordinary hot-dogs and not much else (ok, corn dogs too).  Mr. President, about this one thing and one thing only, I'm behind you (for the record, you're still a jackass who will lead this country to ruination on everything else). 

Of course, the real story might be that MSNBC shamelessly went to bat for the president by "covering up" his request for Dijon mustard.  But we can't let that distract us from the narrative that the Obamessiah who will usher in a utopian paradise is also just a regular guy like you and me! 

Slim Majorities at CNN

So the path for sodomites to bugger each other within the confines of (un)holy matrimony proceeds apace, as Maine becomes the fifth state to legalize gay marriage.  At least, for a rare change, it was a legislative act rather than judicial fiat, but nonetheless, I am continually saddened by our unceasing slouch toward Gomorrah, as Judge Bork was wont to say.  Anywho, the article I've linked has a howler that only CNN (or MSNBC, or the NYTimes, or the LATimes, or the Boston Globe, or...) could pull off with a straight face:

A slim majority of Americans are against legal recognition for same-sex marriage, CNN polling found last month.  Fifty-four percent of adults questioned in an April 23-26 nationwide CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll said that marriages between gay or lesbian couples should not be recognized as valid, while 44 percent said they should be considered legal.

Emphasis mine.  A "slim majority", you say?  If a ten point gap is a "slim majority", just what the hell does that say about Barack Hussein Obama's presidency?  A razor-thin hairs-breadth victory?  Certainly not a popular mandate, right?  Where were all the stories about the slim majority of people who felt that a president's skin-color was vastly more important than talent, wisdom, experience, and issues? 

But there's no liberal media bias, nosirree!  F***ing MSM.

Back In Action!

As has been reported here and elsewhere, I have been mostly AWOL over the past four months.  This has largely been due to three factors:  the birth of my son, me teaching a class supplemental to my regular job, and as Hank puts it, being a trout-waxing slack-ass.  Well, no more!  Today, I taught my last session of class for the semester, eliminating that as a responsibility and time-consumer.  My son has actually been sleeping through the night for about 2 months now, which is an incredible blessing from the Lord, and does not consume my time entirely.  Finally, I am going to attempt to overcome both my slack-assery AND my trout-waxitude, which admittedly is only an excuse and not an actual factor. 

I've also decided that I want to take this blog into a different direction.  In the wake of news that our esteemed (and recently Spectered) friends on Congress are expanding the scope of so-called "hate crime" legislation, I am going to endeavor to do everything I can to get this blog labeled as a "hate site", by implementing a new feature:  Things I Hate.  And by "things", I mean people.  Think of it as sort of the reverse of Stuff White People Like.  And if we do get brought before the Feds for our Thought Crimes, I'm takin' you all down with me!

p.s., Hah!  ONE post for April, Hank!  Take that!

Happy Easter!

Be Joyful! He is risen!

Heh™

From a recent XKCD comic strip. Marty, at least, will laugh. The rest of you? Maybe. I sure did. I'm really just posting this to appease the goons that Hank sent after me, who are currently holding a cricket bat to the back of my head to make me post. A cricket bat, Hank? Really? Outsourcing your goons now? Buy American goons, I say!

Don't know if it shows up here, but the author of that web comic always includes "flavor text" in the mouse-over message, and this one said "Correlation doesn't imply causation, but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing 'look over there'." Heh.

Not a Pole, But a Scoop!

As the only person not of Polish extraction 'round these parts, I take great and ironic joy (I'm sure the Germans have a great word for that emotion!) in being the one to point out that today is Pulaski Day -- in honor of the great Polish hero of the American Revolution, Casimir Pulaski.  As it happens, I was born in Pulaski County, Arkansas (Pulaski County being the county in which the state capitol of Little Rock is located), and spent 17.5 of my first 18 years of life living there.  What's interesting about that is that the word "Pulaski" had become one of those words completely integrated into my subconscious as a name of place, and the educators of my youth being quite slackish, I never learned the history by which the county received its name -- except a really impressive statue of General Pulaski located in one of the official buildings of the state (pictured, left, although it must have been moved since I saw it, since I distinctly remember seeing it indoors) that, at the time, I thought was some kind of pirate.  It wasn't until many years later that I even learned of the namesake of my home county.  Anywho, there you have it -- Happy Pulaski Day, everybody!  (HT:  another non-Pole by the name of Jonah Goldberg)

Why So Low?

Instapundit posts that Obama's numbers are slipping -- in the Nielsen category.  Apparently, Clinton's SOTU attracted 67 million viewers, Bush's, 66 million, and Barack Obama of the Hussein-Obamas -- a whopping 52 million. 

There are, I believe, a number of rational explanations (as opposed to "spin") for this.  Disaffection with the political process, concern over the economy causing people to want to avoid bad news, increasing polarization of our political landscape driving Republicans and conservatives away (this is my excuse -- Obama's voice makes me uncomfortable with its stilted, halting, and somewhat monotone nature), etc.  But Obama is supposed to be one of the most incredibly popular presidents in living memory -- so why aren't people tuning in for Hope and Change? 

My theory:  particularly given the last month or so, many, many people, deep down inside, instinctively know they've been swindled.  They really love the Hopey Changemas that Obama brought, and want to keep that feeling, and want to be inspired by the man.  But again, something inside them is very, very quietly telling them that maybe he's not "The One", maybe he won't make things all better, and maybe they picked the wrong horse.  And the only way to avoid confirming those suspicions?  By not watching him!  By avoiding all direct exposure to him!  That way, the man of their dreams and the man in the Oval Office can stay one in the same, and the cognitive dissonance that makes everyone fell all wonky on the inside will just... go away... 

It sort of reminds me of a Lifetime Channel movie.  You know, the one where the wife dotes over her husband, but the husband is a no-good philanderer who doesn't even really try to hide it.  So he keeps all his "mementos" of his various exploits in his closet, which the wife dutifully avoids entering or examining, because she knows that if she does, her worst suspicions will be confirmed, which she simply can't have.  So she goes about her day, willfully ignoring what's plainly in front of her face, so as to maintain the facade that her husband is still the man she married.  Democrats (and a few pathetic Republicans):  you are officially the victimized woman of a Lifetime movie!  Suckers!

Why I'm So Quiet

So I took it upon myself to teach a class at the university where I work this semester.  Being a research engineer at an on-campus laboratory, teaching is more-or-less a thankless task -- my overlords, of course, still expect no diminution of my research output, and generally no particular recompense is made for those who go over to an academic unit to teach.  That being the case, I "played the system" and arranged to be paid supplementally for my efforts.  The requirement of such an arrangement, of course, is that I do all the work for the course on my own time.  Since the course itself is approximately over my lunch break, I was able to finagle such consideration.  And this being a senior-level engineering course that I have never taught before, the work load is extraordinary.  Typically, I am up until midnight or 1:00 a.m. each night preparing lecture slides.  Thus, with all my free time taken up by the course, my blogging efforts are somewhat diminished.  The good news is that I have a whole host of observations that will make excellent future posts, particularly about the sad state of modern collegiate education (and the apparent precipitous decline it took even in the mere decade or so since I was in its thrall!), even in the hard sciences.  The bad news is that I won't get around to making those observations in this medium until after the class is over -- both due to time constraints and out of a sense of propriety -- I'd hate to make a potentially negative comment and have it read by a current student (not that they would have any reason to know about my link to this site, but you never know -- I always cyber-stalked my professors, after all!). 

So in the meantime, I leave you with one of my favorite new websites:  This Is Why You're Fat.

I Really Hate Iowahawk

I'm not the only one around here to link to the Premier Internet Satirist Iowahawk, from time to time.  Whether it's riffing off classic poetry or just ripping yarns off current events, he's always got something brilliant to say.  Take today, for example:  10 Things (Hollywood) Can Do To Save The Planet.  This stuff wakes me up even better than the large Sheetz Coffee I've been sucking down all morning.

And that's why I hate Iowahawk.  I'll admit, I fancy myself to be a clever, funny guy.  Maybe I'm not even a tenth as funny as my own estimation makes me out to be, but I try.  But then I read something Iowahawk wrote, and every. damn. time, I think to myself, "Damn, I wish I had written that.  Frickin' genius!".  And then I lament, for I know I will never be able to compare to His Greatness. 

I hate you, Iowahawk.  Don't stop on my account, though.