DOAKS

Just did a Google search for the term “Jews for Palin“. Yeah. I’m on Firefox. Bite me.

Anyways, see screen shot. Either Palin is really new. Or she is not getting the Jews excited. Maybe both. In contrast, if you do a search for “Jews for Biden“, you do not get a “did you mean…”

This reminds me of the French Military Victories stunt…

(Potentially sobering news for the Sarah Palin Lipstick Kippah)

It is getting interesting in the Jewish community. Here’s the: Rabbis for Obama site. Warning: lots of nudity on this site. Not. And here’s an announcement from “Jews for Palin“. Spoiler alert: the guy on the video is voting for McCain/Palin.

Big news for all visitors to Doaks. I am breaking out with pimples all over my face. Not sure why? Maybe it’s all those taco chips and salsa. Maybe it’s the launch of my latest Kippah. Whatever the case, it’s annoying as all hell.

So, the Sarah Palin Lipstick Kippah has arrived. Link. I struggled with the naming of this one.

The BarraKippah; that didn’t fly because it has the name “Barack”. You NEVER, EVER want to have a Kippah that sends mixed signals. That’s what caused the Bay of Pigs.

The Lipsticka: it didn’t roll off the tongue the way a Yarmulke name ought to.

The AlasKap: Don’t even go there. It was barely a fleeting thought.

I interrupt the turbulent flow of this post to inform you that I have successfully punctured a rogue zit on my right cheek. You see, the surge IS working!

Here’s a few pics of the Kippahs. Front and back. FYI, this Yarmulke in particular was not comfortable at first having its hind quarters photographed. However, after much coaxing and wheedling, I was able to persuade the Kippah to proudly display what its mother gave her!

Btw, here’s the final line of the product description: No earmarks were requested for the creation of this Yarmulke.

Good afternoon. Just got back from reading the Journal. Poolside. I hope you are sitting in an uncomfortable office cubicle.

The Wall Street Journal came out with their first magazine. I still haven’t read it. A bit too glossy for me. Too many photos. If I wanted to feel dumb, I could just buy US Weekly or simply look in the mirror.

Saturday’s Journal, in the Corrections & Amplifications Column (many liberals would opine that the entire paper fits into this category), there was the following mea culpa:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is 44 years old. An article on the governor in the Fall 2008 edition of WSJ. magazine that was included with some copies of the Sept. 6 Journal incorrectly said she is 45.

Yes. This is a minuscule error. FYI, my WSJ Magazine copy was among the “some” (botched) batch. However, remember, the elections will soon be upon us. And lots of attention has been directed at Palin’s youth. Therefore, mistaking Sarah Palin’s age is a matter of significance, albeit even just one year older!

A few weeks back, I blogged about a WSJ front page that juxtaposed a picture of Obama with the word “Muslim”. No doubt this was NOT intentional. Still, people need to be very sensitive. And pay attention to the nuances.

Here’s what I really don’t get; fine. The age was wrong. You made mention of it in your correction section. But why does the ONLINE version still say Palin is 45? This isn’t a print copy…which would make it too late to fix. For heavens sake, this is the web version.

To the folks at the Journal: details!

Just how popular is Sara Palin these days? Yesterday, overstock.com, OSTK, had the Palin book, Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down, in stock.

No more. Today, the book has SOLD OUT.

So, with no choice, I did the next best thing. I headed over to Amazon.com, AMZN, to buy the book. Guess what? The book is NOT in stock on Amazon.com either. However, I was able to pre-order it on Amazon. Cost is $8.77 AND I have Amazon Prime.

Currently on Amazon, Sarah, is #10 in book sales! Not bad for an known. Meanwhile, Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope is further down @ #29 on the best seller list. Talk about change of momentum.

A bit of irony; the book immediately preceding Palin’s bio is the Stephanie Meyer novel, book 2 of the Twighlight Saga. Book title? New Moon! New moon indeed for the Republican party.

Truth be told, had I not just watched the blooper reel of The Office, I would probably still be in a cagey mood. But no. I watched it. And laughed. All better now.

Last week, everyone was “hocking” me to create Sarah Palin Kippahs. FYI, “hocking” means “banging” in Yiddish, i.e. driving me nuts. Very similar to the term “hacking to death”. Depending on the who the “hocker” is, sometimes I’d prefer being hacked.

To further explain the Yiddish word “hock”; if Sarah Palin would call your cell fifty times in thirty-minutes, she’d be a “hocking” hockey mom. More on the significance of term “hocking” in a later post. Perhaps. Maybe. If you “hock” me…

Anyways, I created the first lady Kippah collection. A Cindy McCippah for Cindy McCain and a Michelle Obamica for Michelle Obama. Notice they cost LESS than the Obamica and McCippah. Why? Because women still make less than men. Excluding myself from men, since women, I hope are making more money at their jobs that I am generating with this shmateh venture. In solidarity to women, the female kippahs are priced lower.

On a side note, I also feel they will not sell as well. So I priced them lower.

What about a Sarah Palin Kippah? Well, it caught me off guard. I had already printed up 50,000 Joe Lieberman Yarmulkes. Damn you Republican party. Only kidding. Maybe I will make one for Sarah.

Good Friday. Despite my car having a run-in with a pole in my building parking lot, I am in good spirits. Without resorting to the consumption of spirits or wine.

This past week, after the Palin nomination, there’s been rumblings about Palin and the Jewish vote. I will address those in a different post. Anyways, I am starting to think that Sarah Palin has all the symptoms of being an Orthodox Jewess:

1- She has five kids already, And possibly more to come.

2- She has a pregnant teenage daughter

3- She enjoys moose hunting; a favorite pastime for Orthodox Jewish women

4- The name of her future son-in-law is Levi

5- She bears an uncanny resemblance to Yentel; taking on the establishment and being unafraid of the males in charge

6- The name of her youngest child is Trig; the second most popular male name for babies born in Hasidic communities; wedged between Mendy and Yolie.

7- The stylish pile-on hair style, seems like something straight from Yaffa Wigs

8- Palin gets French style pedicures. Need I say more?

9- She fired the chef in the governors mansion. No Orthodox Jewish woman wants another cook messing in her kitchen…

10- Her husband Tom is part of a Union. And union rhymes with Minyan.

P.S. Make sure to check out the Presidents in Kippahs Gallery.

OMG. Did you watch the speech last night? Just a few days ago, I blogged that the Republicans again lost the positive limelight. Last night, the tide shifted again. Big time.

Palin was incredible. Beautiful. Gracious. Connected with the crowd, including those watching on TV.

Even the international media is in love. Check out these quotes from the Sun:

Full of self-assurance and aggression, she popped Barack’s balloon big-time.

What will have scared the enemy camp most is the devastating series of prime-time punches she landed on the jutting Obama jaw.

And when McCain joined the Palin gang – babies and boyfriends and all – on stage after her speech there was a sense of cheeky fun absent from last week’s solemn Obama coronation.

As predicted, John McCain’s selection as Palin for VP is getting the main media stories. I have never seen Republicans so jazzed up.

Check out Google Trends for today:
#4 Sarah Palin Speech Video
#26 Sarah Palin T Shirts

Not sure what the Democrats have been thinking. The more criticism leveled at Palin, the more charged up the Republicans will get.

Here’s the Sarah Palin Speech Video:

P.S. Is that an Israeli flag pinned to her lapel???

You think the title of this post is complicated? Wait til you meet me in person….

The Palin and Obama drama reminds me of the latest browser wars. Here’s how: for the past few years, Firefox has been the darling of the browser world. Mozilla has about 20% of market share. Forget about the fact that IE has more than 70% of internet users. It’s more about the “who”. Firefox is often preferred by the tech savvy/the younger generation/the influencers. Microsoft is aware of this. And they’re not standing still…in a Microsoft sort of way. Which means, to the naked eye, they aren’t doing much.

Even to the fully-clothed eye, the question remains; can Microsoft ever be cool again.

Last week, out of nowhere, Internet Explorer was cool again. Version 8 of IE offered a neat feature, dubbed the porn mode. More here. Basically, a feature that allows you to customize the history of your browsing. Not only was this a good idea, it’s also sort of counter-Google, since Google wants to know everything about your web browsing habits. Especially after acquiring Double Click.

It was working. Microsoft was cool again. For a few days. I changed my Facebook status to “How Microsoft got its groove back”.

The honeymoon was short lived. Over the weekend, word “leaked” that Google was launching their own browser called Chrome. Google hopes to challenge IE and Microsoft. End of the IE 8 story. Everyone jumped on the Google browser. Google products get people excited. Microsoft products do not.

And this my friends reminded me of the Palin/Obama saga. Last week, the Obama team got a ton of press. The DNC wasn’t a failure of disunity, which means that it was a success for the Democrats. Then on Friday, team McCain announced that Sarah Palin would be VP. The media charged. McCain/Palin ruled the discussion for a few days.

That honeymoon was also cut short. News of Palin’s daughter has once again put a damper on the McCain PR party. And the Republicans are pining for the days when press was a scarcity.

P.S. For fun, I created a browser war website, IE versus Firefox. It needs updating ASAP!.

Just for fun. Regardless what you think about the Sarah Palin choice, it has gotten a lot of people talking. The Republicans I spoke with are jazzed.

Anyways, when you search on Google for something, Google will display “similar searches”. Obviously, Biden is a known brand while Palin is an unknown name. So, search volume for Palin will be much higher. The images below are more about the “similar searches”. Palin’s are particularly humorous.

Check out the difference between the “similar searches” for Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.

Notice how people are NOT searching for Joe Biden pictures. I wonder why that is….

Good weekend. This past Shabbos, I stayed by a friend in Mercer Island. Good fun. I did not wear my McCain or Obama Kippah to shul. It was my first time there was no reason for me to alienate anyone. Instead, I played it say and wore my Hot Kippah.

As you can imagine, the synagogue was abuzz with the Palin nomination. In a surprising turn of events, every Jew I met had an opinion about McCain’s VP selection. And, they were more than willing to share it with be. Big surprise. (Sarcasm level at full throttle.)

Here’s the biggest shocker of all; the Democrats told me that it was a stupid decision. And the Republicans opined that it was a brilliant move orchestrated my McCain. Crazy! Truth be told, during the Friday night dinner, a democrat who had a lot of wine to drink told me that after she watched Palin and McCain on stage, she started to worry for her party.

OK; bottom line, Is Sarah good for the Jews? Ira Norman, head of the National Jewish Democratic Council issued a statement saying that Palin was a bad choice. Matt Brooks, head of the Republican National Jewish Council issued a statement in support of the decision. Again, tremendous shock! You can read more here. And here.

Now, the fact is, had Lieberman been chosen as McCain’s VP, the Jewish community really would have been torn asunder on the matter. Especially since Lieberman was almost a Democratic VP. At least Sarah Palin isn’t Jewish. I can only imagine the debates that would have taken place amongst the Jews.

Rabbi Yossi Greenberg of Chabad in Alaska, yes, of course Chabad is in Alaska, had very nice things to say about Sarah Palin. “She’s established a great relationship with the Jewish community over recent years, and has attended several of our Jewish cultural gala events,” and that “We all feel that the Governor is a remarkable, energetic, and good person.”

Greenberg was unequivocal in stating that Chabad representatives do NOT endorse political candidates.

Sarah Palin with Rabbi Greenberg