DOAKS

Good Sunday. I just spent the past several hours in retail mode. Aquisitioning. FYI, spellcheck will protest the use of the word aquisitioning. It’s her prerogative.

From my vantage point, the retail sector appears to be safe. Judging by how long it took us to find a parking spot, the economy seems to be doing pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Which brings me to the topic of this post. Holiday shopping. Sales. And VanityKippah. Whereas the elections are imminent and whereas I still have a slew of remnant political Yarmulkes and whereas I do not wish to be dispensing McCippahs as wedding gifts for the duration of my life, I discounted the Obamicas & the McCippahs.

The site-wide sale could have also been called “Oh Shi*! I better sells these Kippahs ASAP“.

Drawing inspiration from Walmart, which is selling Christmas toys for $10, the Kippahs are also on sale for ten dollars.

In conclusion, I will conclude with one of the things I am wishing for this Chanukkah season. My very own Pipe Man-orah. Check out the pic below. Need I say anymore?

P.S. You can also stock up on hanukkah gift baskets.

Yesterday, like every day in my life save for the Sabbath, I spent too much time on the web. During which I discovered an article from the Rocky Mountain News. The article was about an inter-faith service for Democrats that occurred in August.

Accompanying the article is a photo of a Rabbi sporting an Obamica!

In this episode of guess the Rabbi, if you guessed Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb of the OU, you might be correct! Rabbi Weinreb attended the DNC in Denver and gave an address.

Not sure if this the same Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb of the OU. Unless he got hair transplants since this photo!

The JTA stands for the “Jewish Telegraphic Agency“.

MLB stands for “Major League Baseball”.

FYI, which of course stands for “For your information”, the JTA has a solid blog on the elections. From a Jewish perspective. After all, the “J” in JTA doesn’t stand for Jalapeno…Here’s the link.

Today, my friend Joel, made me aware of something neat. The JTA has an article titled “Fearing political backlash and IRS, nonprofits work to appear neutral“. The article is slightly longer than the title. Kidding. It’s much longer!

The article was written by Eric Fingerhut. I hate judgmental people. And particularly those who speculate about the significance of a name. My guess is that Eric enjoys finger foods and that his favorite Jewish Holiday is Sukkot. And that during Sukkot, Fingerhut will indulge in finger foods in the Sukkah hut.

This year, there’s been a lot of talk of religion of politics. Especially with organizations like Rabbis For Obama.

Anyways, coolest thing ever. Along with the column, there’s a photo of a guy wearing a McCippah and an Obamica! The consummate bipartisan Jew!

In the past, I’ve posted pics of people wearing the Kippahs. Some photos of celebs. Photos of friends. By far, I just saw the best photo yet of an Obamica in action (on a head :))

For a good chuckle, be sure to read about the Yarmulke Social Experiment.

Yesterday, I did about 100 crunches in the gym. A very proud moment.

In another proud moment, here’s a flattering news mention. The article in the Forward is not about my site. Or the Kippahs. The column is a review of a film titled My Mexican Shivah. More reviews for the movie here.

The opening paragraph of the article:

Religion and national culture can make for strange bedfellows. And as evidenced by the availability of items like the political-themed yarmulkes the McCippah and the Obamica, American Jews have come a long way in blending the two. Mexican Jews, on the other hand, are still working on their balancing act.

OMG. Loves it. LOL. The best thing about this is that it’s not about the site. It’s on a different topic entirely. Just manages to get in there somehow.

Even more flattering is the context. My very goal of the site was to fuse two of my (many) passions: religion and natural culture. The site launched less than two months ago. And is now being cited as evidence that culture and religion can coexist!

From all the press coverage, this one is my favorite.

Here’s the movie trailer for My Mexican Shivah:

Just got back from playing tennis. With another Shmuly. Real guy. I wasn’t playing with myself. No pun intended. Ever since the other Shmuly got an iphone, his tennis game has improved tremendously. He also whipped me in Poker last night. The power of the iphone.

Here are some pics of FOS with their Obama and McCain Kippahs.
(fos = friends of shmuly)

A few moths ago, Barack Obama was in Florida. During his visit, Obama visited a synagogue to court the Jewish vote. And maybe even to catch a Minyan for Mincha.

The chosen synagogue was Bnai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, a conservative outfit. FYI, Jewish conservative. Nothing to do with the conservative political party. If anything, the opposite would be true. If anything.

Anyways, Rabbi Pinny was in attendance and was photographed by a Getty shutterbug.

Unfortunately, the event occurred about 3 months BVK (before VanityKippah.com). Otherwise, I’d have made sure that Rabbi Pinny would be wearing an Obamica!

The Kippah in Seattle is in a rarity competition with the sunshine. That’s how seldom I see a Kippah. Not that I am complaining. Giggles.

I am not sure what has lower odds of existing in Seattle, a Kippah sighting OR a pro-Bush bumper sticker. It’s a toss-up.

This following story will further prove this point.

The local Jewish paper is the JTNews. On Friday of last week, I did a Google Blog search for the word “kippah“. I come across a blog post written by Joel Magalnick, editor of the JTNews. So I begin reading: I was driving near University Village yesterday and waiting at a stoplight next to a couple guys in an Acura, both wearing kippot. The driver’s kippah was white leather with an Obama logo on it….

My initial reaction was one of joy. Sweet! Someone was wearing an Obamica, no doubt purchased from my site. Then a new sensation overcame me. One of those “I’m such an idiot” sensations. Because I drive an Acura and was driving in the University Village with a friend, while wearing the Obamica on my head!

So, it is small Kippah world in Seattle. Indeed. Here’s video proof that I drive an Acura.

Here’s the other irony, other than the irony of the Jewish editor spotting me wearing an Obamica; Joel writes the following: You’re wearing kippot because you’re Orthodox, but by publicly and openly expressing your support for a Democratic candidate, you’re blowing away that (recent) stereotype that the Orthodox are all conservative and wouldn’t touch a liberal in the Oval Office, particularly with all the ridiculous rhetoric surrounding Obama and his religious/Israel beliefs.

Cough. Cough.

First off, I do not yet know who I am voting for. As previously stated, I alternate between the McCippah and Obamica.

Second, I am Orthodox. And I have openly expressed my disgust about the falsities being circulated about Obama. In fact, Daily Kos even linked to a post of mine last week.

Three, Joel, while attempting to write about the “blowing away of a stereotype” (that Orthodox Jews are all conservatives), managed to reinforce another stereotype: namely, that all Jewish Editors are blatantly liberal. Hehe.

On Friday, the American Thinker published an article titled “Another Worrisome Sign for Obama“. The point of the article was based on the Kippah Polls, where the McCippah has taken a significant lead over the Obama Kippah.

Today, I present another statistic in terms of Jewish voters.

On Facebook, there are many types of Obama/McCain pages. Among them are the “Jews for Obama” and the “Jews for McCain” groups.

To date, the Jews for Obama group has 3179 members. The Jews for McCain group has a paltry 785 participants. That’s 80% to 20% lead for the Jews for Obama group.

Like much of the online campaigning, the Obama camps seems much more adept and proactive. Notice how the Jews for Obama group was organized by someone working for the Obama campaign, while the McCain group was created by a McCain supporter not working for the campaign.

Also, it should be mentioned that there are two groups called “Jews Against Obama“, with 1002 and 267 members (dis)respectively. Even assuming there was no overlap between the “Jews Against Obama” groups AND the “Jews for McCain” group, that would still put McCain Jews on Facebook at just 28%.

Besides, what is point of going negative and having “against” groups? People need to stay positive. It’s all about positive energy!

The results for the Kippah Polls are in. I worked them myself on a spread sheet. McCippah has increased the lead to 58%. The Obamica is at 42%.

Why has the McCain Kippah taken a substantial lead? A few possible reasons:

1. An article on the Jewish Week site informed the Jewish world about McCain winning in the Kippah Wars. And people have a natural tendency to root for a “winner”. Then again, others, myself included, enjoy cheering for the underdog.

2. I strongly believe that the political pendulum swung in favor of McCain during the past week. The Georgia/Russia thing is a foreign policy issue, a strong advantage for McCain as it has nothing to do with Iraq and more to do with experience. It also helps that Obama has been on vacation all week, while McCain is writing “We Are All Georgians” op-eds for the Journal.

3. The John Edwards scandal is taking its toll on the polls.