Quick Takes, January 20, 2011

ITEM: Why can’t Democrats actually behave as though they are attending a memorial service while attending a memorial service? Is it in their DNA to turn solemn occasions for reflection and prayer into crass political pep rallies? To paraphrase Mr. Obama: “At some point, I think you’ve worshiped Barack Obama enough.” See the indispensable Michelle Malkin’s live blogging here.

ITEM: Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo) has come up with a brilliant scheme that will unite the nation behind President Obama’s recent call for civility: Republicans and Democrats will engage in--GASP--mixed seating at the State of The Union Address! I can see it now: Instead of one side of the chamber leaping to its feet, screaming incoherently, drooling, and beating their hands together until they peel the skin from their palms when Mr. Obama says “and,” every other person in the entire chamber will do it. Hope. Change. Progress. Civility.

ITEM: This might be the best argument for the death penalty I’ve ever heard: The Tucson killer, who would want his name to be prominently mentioned here, according to Fox News, apparently photographed himself in the near-nude with the handgun he used to kill six people. If you have the stomach for the whole story, red g-string and all, go here.

ITEM: Ann Althouse wasn’t the only person to notice it. At the Tucson memorial service, Mr. Obama’s hair was quite gray. At the time, it caused me a moment’s pause--between the 50+ incidents of pep rally hooting and clapping--to reflect on how the demands of the job affect each president. But only a few days later Mr. Obama’s hair has transmogrified to a youthful black with not a hint of gray! The honorable Ms. Althouse suggests that the grey affectation was done to signify age, wisdom and gravitas, while the newest version of the presidential ‘do signifies youthful energy for the limitless progressive transformations lying ahead. Perhaps. But imagine the lamestream media outcry, the many psychologist/experts commenting ad nauseum if George W. Bush’s locks suddenly changed from gray to black overnight. Double standard? Hypocrisy? Nah.

UPDATE: A thought just occurred to me: Did the dye job go from black to gray for the memorial service, or from grey to black thereafter? Which would be more revealing of a lack of character?

ITEM: Bob wrote about Rep. Steve Cohen's (D-Tenn.) comparison of Republicans with the worst crimes of Nazism. Praise be, on Wednesday the good Representative clarified his Tuesday remarks that directly compared Republicans to the Nazis and invoked the Holocaust. “I don’t think I was comparing the Republicans to Goebbels. I was saying that lies are lies and Goebbels was the great perpetrator of lies and that’s a danger, and if you look at Goebbels you can see the lie that he told about Jews which he constantly did, became considered fact in Germany that the Jews were evil, and people got involved and didn’t stand up.”… “I think civility is not lying, and if you can’t come up and say that somebody is lying when they’re lying, then the lie becomes the truth. That’s not uncivil to say somebody lied.” Well, thanks for clearing that up Rep. Cohen. This is undoubtably the new Democrat civility we've been so anxiously awaiting. Hope. Change. Derangement. Blood Libel.

ITEM: Noted Constitutional scholar Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) announced Wednesday that ObamaCare not only has “created jobs” and will create jobs, but repealing it will kill Americans. She also announced that repealing ObamaCare was a violation of the 5th and 14th Amendments. Uh, what?! But wait; there’s more! In an interview with Fox’s Neal Cavuto, she repeated the refrain, but with a bit of multi-media assistance: An aide holding a poster of an elderly person receiving medical care behind her as a backdrop. That’s right; the Dems are now carrying portable ObamaCare backdrops for interviews. What’s next? Wheeling gurneys with desperately ill patients everywhere with them so that they can be prodded to gasp or weakly lift a finger in support of ObamaCare?

ITEM: Noted historian and Constitutional Scholar Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) also chimed in on Wednesday with the observation that people should be required to purchase insurance because the preamble of the Constitution guarantees the “pursuit of happiness,” and the 14th Amendment guarantees “equal protection under the law.” Lewis also noted that health care is not a privilege but a right. OK, let’s put aside that the “pursuit of happiness” appears in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, and that the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment has never remotely been construed to mean what Lewis is suggesting, and the fact that there is no such thing as a “right” to health care. Other than that he has a point, or something...

ITEM: By a vote of 245-189, the House of Representatives voted to repeal ObamaCare on Wednesday, January 19. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has already sworn that the measure will never receive a vote in the Senate and many Democrats are calling the House vote a political stunt while simultaneously spouting cooked-book propaganda asserting that ObamaCare will actually lower the deficit. So let’s see if I understand this principle: If I’ve maxed out five credit cards, have four or five consumer loans including my mortgage, and make only enough to make the minimum payments on my debts, the path to fiscal solvency requires me to obtain and max out five or six new credit cards, obtain as many additional consumer loans as possible, and immediately seek a much lower paying job. Got it.

ITEM: Who said Barack Obama’s foreign policy hasn’t accomplished anything but debasing America? At a state dinner for Chinese Premier Hu--affairs that are usually reserved only for our close allies--President Obama had stunning news: “under a new agreement, our National Zoo will continue to dazzle children and visitors with the beloved giant pandas.” That’s right; we get pandas for five more years. The tens of thousands of Chinese political prisoners in gulags, and the scientists behind China’s massive military buildup could not be reached for comment.

ITEM: And the feel good--or feel something--story for this edition of Quick Takes comes, via Fox News, from the Land Down Under--Australia--where a 19 year old man and woman were inspired to float down the flood-swollen Yarra river, buoyed in body--and possibly spirit--only by two inflatable sex dolls. Unfortunately, the young woman lost her airy partner on a rough patch and was forced to cling to floating debris until she and her male partner--who did not lose his inflation aid-- until they were rescued. The police, dealing with serious flooding, were somewhat less than amused, announcing that inflatable sex toys are “not recognized flotation devices.” Senior Constable Wayne Wilson retained a sufficiently dry wit to note that “The fate of the inflatable dolls is unknown.” Insert your own pun here.

See you next time!