Now This Takes Balls (Well, Okay...Just One)

One of the prettiest things to grace the White House all year, the annual Christmas Tree, is up in the Blue Room as we speak.

Every year, an artist is chosen from every district of every state to decorate an ornament to be hung on the tree. Folks, there are some real beauties in the roster.

What's that...you say there's one missing?

Hmmm. Well, whaddayaknow. You're right.

Lessee here...Yep, it's the one from Seattle, WA.

Gee....I wonder why it didn't make the cut?

"Oh, dear," said Seattle-based artist Deborah Lawrence, who created the red and white ornament that salutes Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) and his support for a resolution to impeach the president. "This doesn't really surprise me. But it's disappointing that I won't get to see it on the tree."

Laura Bush asked all members of Congress to pick artists from their districts to decorate ornaments, presumably highlighting local landmarks and heroes. Lawrence, 55, used the opportunity to honor McDermott, a strong critic of Bush. The collage artist glued tiny text on the nine-inch ball thinking no one would actually read her embedded "subversive" message.

Okay, so she tried to be sneaky about it. Alright, I can see getting a private laugh out of slipping a curve ball past the ump.

And she might have gotten away with it, too. All she had to do was not go bragging about it...

Yeah, right. She's an artist AND a liberal. You do the math.

But Lawrence shared her secret protest with friends, and the news quickly spread. "An artist doesn't always get this kind of attention," she told us. "It took on a life of its own, obviously. In a way, I'm speechless."

Oh, if only.

Awright, enough about her.

Here's the official White House photo list of the ones that remembered what they were doing this for.

My personal favorite?

Why, the State ornament of West Virginia, of course. It's purty.

Points of Interest: Dec 2, 2008

Confederate Yankee shows us what happens when a chainsaw, a little ingenuity, and just enough beer meet each other in the middle.

Jammie Wearing Fool points out a handy little device that might have been useful in Long Island back on Black Friday.

Sister Toldjah kindly directs our attention to a friend of hers who has just opened up his own blog, who was once a civilian contractor in Iraq. Like most people who have gone over there in recent years, he did not come back the same as when he left, which led to the name of his new virtual home. Go find out why.

And finally,Iowahawk proves yet again why he is the REAL Lightworker. (Seriously, can this dude not go for more than a week without making the rest of us look like the subservient primates that we are?)

You have your orders. Stander out.