2am on Christmas Eve

December 25th, 2009

When all the republicans retreated home,
The Democrats stood in their chambers alone.
Against every odd and against every will,
Against all the chants begging they kill the bill,
They took their last stand, a Waterloo vote,
Committing more credit that we’ll have to float.

Tort wasn’t fixed, no it was protected,
Insurance can still ignore market incentive.
And while all the big corporations were maligned,
They weren’t the fat cats who got their pockets lined.

The fat Christmas pig stuffed with every request,
To feed all the knights at Obama’s round table,
May all of those windbags this Christmas find rest,
For it may be the last that anyone’s able.


You now see how I feel about the ridiculous 2am vote on healthcare.

What do you think about the unprecedented vote that occurred? Leave your own poem, or just leave a comment.

Rawrrrr… Tiger Woods is a Sex Cat

December 7th, 2009

I don’t enjoy seeing good men fall. It’s never fun. But I do have problems with the way in which we tend to regard our athletes, presidents, and celebrities in general as Herculean. They can do no wrong we think. And Tiger was no exception. His child-like face and baby-soft skin even fooled yours truly into thinking his facade reflected a very real tenderness. Alas, ’tis sad, but Tiger made his own bed.

While he’s known for bringing in small numbers on the golf course, you have to admit, that this father/husband has certainly not taken his golfing principles to heart when it comes to women. So far, no less than ten women are suspected of being among Tiger’s impressive score. And if you think about how many women this man-slut has been with in the US, and consider how often he travels abroad, you have to consider that this might only be the beginning of a massively disgusting (possibly STD ridden) super-sized, multinational scandal.

Why am I writing about it here? Well, I want to point out the obvious fact that we tend to regard those with a public persona as having nothing but a public persona. When, in fact, it is who we are in private that makes us good or evil.

Perhaps a rant as glib as mine has no place on this blog, but I think this is a Conservative principle in action. You can buy the fancy Hybrid car, you can tell other people to give money to the poor, you can fight for gay rights and spit on the faces of those who don’t, you can even pretend to be faithful to your wife. In the end, no matter how much exuberant you are about your own moral bonafides, it’s your disposition that matters most. Sure, Tiger was a role model. And sure, he’s awesome at Golf. And sure, the dude is as rich as God himself. But Lord Almighty, looking at the mess Tiger is in right now, I wouldn’t ever want to trade my life for his.

Rhode Island Finally Bans Prostitution

November 3rd, 2009

Governor Carcieri signed into law today a bill closing the RI loophole that allows Prostitution indoors. Read about it at WPRI.

Hand Sanatizer Might be Ineffective

October 28th, 2009

See the report on Hand Sanatizer

Hand Sanatizer is dangerous because if you drink it you might get poisoned and it’s flammable. So you might catch on fire.

Really?

The first point is obvious. Don’t drink hand sanitizer. The second thing, i didn’t know. It makes me think there might be an emerging market for hand sanitizer among Buddhist monks.

Barack Obama Wins the Nobel Prize: Where was the PowerPoint?

October 9th, 2009

In an embarrassing move by the Nobel Prize Committee, President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, adding to his already illustrious collection of undeserved bona fides. It’s obvious that the committee is awarding prizes to any prominent American who speaks up against (or ends the era of) George W. Bush’s peace through power imperialism. The committee said that the President was awarded the prize because they appreciated Obama’s vision and work for a world without nukes, and the fact that he had single handedly “created a new climate in international politics”. Apart from the fact that this is bull, it’s obvious that this award is nothing but a thank you for ending the Bush era.

A couple of years ago, however, Al Gore was given a Nobel Prize for making a powerpoint. But at least the guy had created some sort of deliverable. Obama’s done nothing but written some books, run for President, tried to enact sweeping change that would plummet our country into huge(r) amounts of deficit spending, and leave our troups confused and alone wondering why they are in Afghanistan. His policies have made the US and the world as a whole a far more dangerous (and vulnerable) place. His foreign policy has been, is and will continue to be disastrous. So forgive me if I don’t understand, but I really have only one question: How in the H$^# did he win this thing? He didn’t even make a Power Point.

Happy Constitution Day Everyone!

September 17th, 2009

Today is the day that the US Constitution Convention ratified the US Constitution in 1787. And if you didn’t know, it is a federal day of observance (kind of like a holiday without the day off). Just thought you should know.

At Least Brown’s Number 1 at Something

August 27th, 2009

I guess my title’s a bit misleading as Brown has received the distinction of being both the college with the happiest student population for 2010 (inching out Clemson), and now, according to GQ magazine, we are also the #1 douchiest college in America.

Call me old fashioned, but I don’t get how we won this award. Frankly, if GQ thinks that the hipster garbage that goes to Brown University is douchier than the popped collars at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, the word douchie must means something different than I thought it did. But being as how we’ve been on a steady decline in the US News rankings, I suppose we brunonians take whatever positive news we can get.

TAKE DAT PRINCETON!

A few things, including some prayer

August 24th, 2009

As Mr Unseth noted in his previous post, The Brown Spectator didn’t publish as many issues as was hoped in the previous year.  Four was the eventual tally, with Josh leading the effort to get the final issue out for Commencement.  This year, however, is already shaping up to be different.  So stay tuned and don’t think that the rightists have been put out to pasture.

BrownIvy, as well, will become a much more active institution.  Conservatives frequently receive the label of being Luddites of any given variety, and in a very real sense many true conservatives possess a disposition to trust past experiences over theoretical ideologies.  There are certain self-identifying conservatives who think cheap gas, unfettered trade in every single situation, and a militant foreign policy of expansion, are the true marks of the right; but for most of us who prefer the classical to the modern, culture and social harmony in fact matter.  Typically, that culture which especially matters to us is historical Christendom and the liberalism of Western civilisation as handed down over the centuries.

Yet ingeniously built into the conservative ethos is an ability to adapt, to reform, and to incorporate innovation.  Hence, even the most traditional of conservatives adore a free market which can release man’s potential in astonishingly delightful ways.  It is the contention of this conservative that the online web journal may be one such innovation that, if approached with the right attitude and moral outlook, can do a tremendous amount of good for a people and nation gravely malnourished in culture.

To that end, I’d like to use this venue to make a proposal to anyone in the Brown community — particularly the conservative Protestants — concerning the ultimate source of all culture; I mean religion.  For the past two years, I’ve been a reasonably frequent parishioner at S. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on George St (sstephens.org), right across from the Ratty and Wriston Quadrangle. Baptised and confirmed a Presbyterian (PCUSA), it was a little strange at first to attend this very High Anglo-Catholic church, but I quickly learnt to love its atmosphere of reverence and humility before God.  What I once condemned as rank Romanism, I now understand as simply respect for historical Christendom.  If ever I am arrogant, it is usually the case that my defiant Presbyterian upbringing is shining through.  We Presbyterians have always had issues with authority, no doubt reinforced by the doctrine of predestination and divine election.

Soon enough, I shall probably become an Anglican, but I am very much still in the discerning phase.  To that end, and to the end of taking an affirmative step to maintain Anglo-Protestant culture, I am making a firm commitment this year to attend the Solemn High Mass on every Sunday (10am) that I am at Brown.  I sincerely do hope that others will join me, if for no other reason than to keep me honest or to chastise my actions when they stray from the behaviours expected of a Christian man.  (Perhaps to share fellowship, too?)

Further, I am making a firm commitment to attend the Low Mass every day at 5.30pm (again, when I am at Brown).  The goal in doing so is to re-institute, in my own life at least, the chapel requirements of a more mannered age.  (It may surprise most Brown undergraduates of 2009, but even 50 years ago chapel attendance was required to obtain the A.B.)  Won’t you please accompany me?

Times have changed, as the weak and petulant trope goes.  But the Permanent Things, defended so skilfully in the 20th century by the likes of T.S. Eliot and Russell Kirk, never truly leave.  And it is our bounden duty, as heirs to the great Western tradition, not to neglect or diminish them.  The Old Order need not die if we be determined.

Ideally, we shall eat dinner and then imbibe a pint or two after the daily chapel, before heading off to our dormitories or the libraries.  Those Anglo-Saxons always did a few things correctly.

Project commences September 9th.

sbq

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Spectator

May 7th, 2009

So the Spectator hasn’t been very reliable this year. They only got 4 issues out this last year. So, we’ve published the last one as an online exclusive. If you want to see it go to the website. The lead article is by your’s truly. It’s an expose on sleeping Brown police officers. It was supposed to come out back in February, so it’s really late. But regardless, I think it’s really important that Brown students know that this has been going on for a long time.

Who is Alex Yuly?

March 4th, 2009

alex-yuly

Really? These aren’t even creative.