Holy Hullabaloos, The Blog

Our Family's Catch Phrase: "Daddy Doesn't Know"

Here's something you might not know about me and my family.  We have a catch phrase.  The catch phrase is "Daddy Doesn't Know," and I say it whenever my son or wife asks me a question that I don't know the answer to.  This happens quite often, as I don't know very many things.  It's a little more than just words though; it's kind of hard to describe, so if you'd like to see how it goes, check out this little video we made.  Enjoy.

Sotomayor? More Like Sotomay...boorrrrring

So, for those of you who get all your information about the world from Holy Hullabaloos: The Blog, here's some breaking news--President Obama has named Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be his nominee to replace the retiring Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court.   Well, that's nice, I guess.  There are certainly some pluses here.  She's an accomplished judge who will probably sail through the confirmation process.  She's moderately liberal, much in the mold of Justices Breyer and Ginsburg.  And she brings welcome diversity to the bench, both as a woman (it's truly incredible that more than 2/3 of the bench will still be male; hopefully the next 2 or 3 picks will also be women) and as the first Hispanic ever to be nominated to the Court (it's maybe worth noting however that, religiously, she adds to the Court's surprising lack of diversity, as she will be the 6th Catholic Justice if confirmed).  It is true that some people who are familiar with the second circuit say that she is mean to lawyers and generally not a very nice person, which if true (and I have absolutely no personal knowledge about this) is unfortunate, because I think we have enough qualified jurists that we don't need to reward mean people by giving them such a plum job, but apart from this little thing, I guess it's a fine pick.

Still, though, for those of us who are very liberal and also kind of like to watch a fun Washington spectacle once and a while and who are getting incredibly bored with how every member of the Supreme Court apparently has to come from the Court of Appeals, this choice is incredibly boring.  Sotomayor?  More like Sotomaysnore!  I mean, with his high approval ratings and most likely 60 democrats in the Senate, wouldn't this have been a great time for the President to name someone exciting to the Court?  Someone maybe who hasn't been an appellate judge, like a trial judge or a governor or Larry Bird or something?  Or someone who is a real lefty McLeftster who could kick some Scalia ass from time to time, like Pam Karlan or, better yet, me.  I mean, what's the chance that Sotomayor is going to do that incredibly irritating thing where you say exactly what the other person says right after they say it, like I would have done every time Scalia opened his mouth?  Probably little to none, I'd guess.  Finally, at least Obama could have made the summer a little more fun by nominating someone incredibly controversial, so we'd have the prospect of some Senate Judiciary Committee battles and coke-can talk and yelling and maybe burping to look forward to when we weren't being reminded of how down the toilet the economy is going and what have you.  Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!!!!!!

Audio Excerpts From HH Now Online

Over at the Holy Hullabaloos website (you know there's a Holy Hullabaloos website, right?) I've posted two audio excerpts from the book, one from the part where I get lost in the U.S. Capitol building and one where I try to meditate with some Buddhists in Cleveland at a temple next to a Suds-n'-Dogs.  Both are pretty short, about 3-5 minutes or so.  Enjoy!

Culture Shocks Interview Now Online

The interview I did Monday with Barry Lynn on his radio show "Culture Shocks" is now online.  So if you want to hear me go, "uhhh, duhh, mmmm, errrr, uhhh," like a million times, you can go here.

Deleted Passage: My High School Latin Teacher

It's been a while since I've posted any deleted material from Holy Hullabaloos, so I thought it was about high time I did so.  In the chapter about the Amish, I discuss my conversation with the last Amish man remaining in the town of New Glarus, Wisconsin, where the famous Wisconsin v. Yoder case came from.  This guy claims to be Amish, but he does stuff that most Amish wouldn't, like use a cell phone, ride a motorcycle, and smoke cigarettes.  In an early draft of the book, after I mention that I procured this guy's cell phone number, I wrote the following paragraph, later deleted by my wise editors:

Back when I was in high school, I had a sweet little Latin teacher named Brother Comer, who, bless his heart, would always pause after we got to the word "vagina," meaning a sheath or scabbard, to give us a few seconds to get our adolescent giggling out of the way.  Even though the word is pronounced with a "w" and a hard "g" sound and therefore sounds nothing like the English word that refers to the tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, Brother Comer knew that as fifteen year old boys filled with surging testosterone, we needed a little time to get ourselves together after seeing that word in print.  Following Brother Comer's lead, I would now like to give you, the reader, a little time to giggle about the fact that the last Amish man in New Glarsu has a motorcycle and cell phone.  Giggle away, fair readers! 

[insert jangly country music here] 

Okay, are you done?  So the guy has a motorcycle and a cell phone, who the fuck cares?  What are you, the Amish police?

BONUS DELETED FOOTNOTE: After the word "marsupials" in the original draft, I included the following footnote: "I don't really know anything about vaginas.  I got all this stuff from Wikipedia."

Amazon's "Tag Suggestions"

I was curious what happens when you tell Amazon that you want to write a review, so I clicked on the relevant link on my book's Amazon page, and it took me to a screen where I could enter a review (no, I didn't actually enter a review of my own book).  Under this, though, it asked if I wanted to "tag" the book.  I don't know what that means, but I was a little taken aback by the following "tag suggestions" offered by the nice folks at the Amazon corporation (reported here verbatim):

crappy, humorous, foreign relations, murder, suspense, educational, jay wexler, sex, oh john ringo no

What to make of this, I have no idea?  Do you?

On the Radio Today with Barry Lynn

Good morning.  How are you today?  Anyhow, if you're interested, I'm the guest today on the radio show "Culture Shocks" with Barry Lynn, who in addition to being a radio host and big time liberal public figure and author and pretty funny guy, is also the Executive Director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.  I believe the show runs at 4 p.m. for about 40 minutes.  I think it will also be available to listen to online.  To check out the station near you where this program can be found, go here. 

When is the Movie Better than the Book?

It's a question I'm posing over at PrawfsBlawg, raised by reading Cameron Crowe's 1981 book, Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

"More Enjoyable Than Reading a Wikipedia Entry"

Over at the FriendlyAtheist website, Hemant Mehta has posted an email interview that we did about Holy Hullabaloos.  I'm not sure he really liked the book, though.  He does say it's "very interesting" and that he "learned a lot," but as one of the commenters points out, I don't think calling it "more enjoyable than reading a wikipedia entry" about the church-state cases I discuss is particularly high praise.  Or, who knows, maybe in this day and age it is?  In any event, if you want to buy a book that is more enjoyable than reading a wikipedia entry, you can order Holy Hullabaloos right now from Amazon, where it is currently ranked as the #24,787 most popular book in the whole entire universe!

Holy Hullabaloos Now Available Online

I'm delighted to report that amazon and barnes and noble are both reporting that you can buy Holy Hullabaloos from them now.  Isn't that nice?  YES IT IS NICE.  So, if you're in the market for a belated mother's day present or an early father's day present, or want some particularly expensive toilet paper, well--you're in luck.  Order today!