And This Blog Loves The Daily Show

And Now For Some Editorial Cartoons. . .

There have easily been 100 first-rate editorial cartoons over the past three weeks - and these two are the picks for this morning's post (note: Mr. Blogmeister, ever the history geek, is fascinated by brutally satiric political comics, going back to the days of Thomas Nast).



Although satire and social commentary has become something of an endangered species in recent years, this blog keeps an eye on The Daily Show and especially The Colbert Report, the current equivalents of That Was The Week That Was.





And, yes, realizing that editorial cartoons chase away all five readers of this blog, the Blogmeister notes that the delirious yet steadfast focus on the odd corners of 20th century pop culture will absolutely and most assuredly return - and stay there - starting with the next post.

Psychotronic Paul's Joke Of The Day

The Vice Squad caught Supreme Court Justices Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, Roberts and Alito in a group of luxury hotel suites (customarily used by the RNC leadership), along with eight prominent and hard partyin' Washington lobbyists, various Senators and Representatives of both political parties, two dozen high-priced call girls and call boys, plus unidentified charter members of Skull And Bones, The Bohemian Club, The Bilderbergers, Mark Sanford, John Edwards and a bearded, unrecognizable Tiger Woods. The arresting officer's first question: which of you are the prostitutes?

Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts

The city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti has suffered devastating damage from yesterday's earthquake. Here are the websites of charitable organizations taking donations to relief efforts:

• American Red Cross
• American Jewish World Service
• AmeriCares
• Beyond Borders
• CARE
• Childcare Worldwide
• Direct Relief International
• Fonkoze USA
• Haitian Health Foundation
• Hope for Haiti
• International Medical Corps
• International Relief Teams
• Medical Teams International
• Meds and Food for Kids
• Mercy Corps
• Operation USA
• Partners in Health
• Samaritan's Purse
• UNICEF
• World Vision

Have a roof over your head, food on the table and enough money left over to not worry where the next meal is coming from? Then give whatever you can.

In The Rear View Mirror by Paul F. Etcheverry

With apologies, I leave the playgrounds of music and movies. I'll return to the sandbox - like the great Brian Wilson in 1966 - pronto.

Eulogies for Senator Edward Kennedy continue to pour in and literally thousands are paying their respects at the Kennedy Library as I write this. Not only is there the sense, with the recent deaths of the Senator from Massachusetts and his sister, formidable activist Eunice Kennedy Shriver, of the end of an era in our shared history. There's a gnawing feeling that a certain style and approach in American politics, one in which you can battle opposing forces toe-to-toe without demonizing and dehumanizing them, is vanishing.

Senator Kennedy and Rep. Jack Kemp, both recently passed, as well as 2009 Medal Of Honor recipients (Kemp posthumously) this year, represented the two opposite sides of this coin. Both were lightning rods who followed their own paths, assertively partisan yet capable of listening to and at times even finding common ground with political foes. They found the most unlikely collaborators in public service and ruffled feathers in both parties along the way.

The concept that legislators can disagree vehemently on how to solve the problems of the day while working together on policy initatives, not only maintaining a civil relationship but actually (shudder) becoming friends - something Ted Kennedy was particularly and singularly adept at - is rapidly becoming a quaint anachronism.

Much to our country's detriment, the status quo now, not just in campaigning, but in governing (as well as in the often brain-dead national discourse), is to not just destroy your opponent but leave scorched earth and a pile of smoking ashes behind.

And we wonder why social and political problems get worse and nothing gets done.

Facebook Has Been Hacked Yet Again

I had an absolutely head-scratchingly bizarre experience on Facebook this morning.

While writing an e-mail message about arcane historical minutiae regarding the 1921 Roscoe Arbuckle scandal, of interest to perhaps two dozen film geeks worldwide, I kid you not, the words "Death To America" showed up on my screen. I did a Jimmie Finlayson-style "double take", said WTF and totally dismissed it as the product of my ever-overactive imagination. Then, a couple of minutes later, there those words were again, clearly, not too big, but in bold type. WTF?

This is too weird even for me.

And it happened as the news of the day was. . . shameless election fraud by Iran's hard-line powers that be (by any definition, a regime that has demonstrated repeatedly that they don't give a rat's ass about the wishes of their own people), led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, A.K.A. "The Godfather". With the understanding that Khamenei is the big cheese there - somewhat analagous to Al Davis' Supreme Leader relationship to the Oakland Raiders - and calls the shots, gees, Louise, could you be just a tad more clever about stealing an election than that?

Us pampered and apathethic Americans can only have admiration for the Iranian people, no doubt appalled by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's gross mismanagement of the country's economy (not to mention his general ineptitiude and penchant for embarrassing his nation in public), who have the guts to stand up against the repression of the ruling right-wing cabal.

It is no accident that outside observers are not allowed to even view Iran's election process. Hmmmm - do you think we need a more unsubtle reminder that the necessity to accurately monitor presidential elections in other parts of the world, including right here in the U.S.A, persists?

That tangent aside, Facebook has been hacked, continues to be hacked and will be hacked again. It would certainly be interesting to learn the source of this hack. I'm guessing a young hacker with no girlfriend/boyfriend and lots of time to burn.

And perhaps this also means no more "Welsh Rarebit" for me anytime soon as well. To illustrate:





Maybe I have indeed lost me bloomin' mind (after decades of threatening to do so) and it's time for a lengthy stretch of, in the immortal words of Elmer Fudd, "west and wewaxation at wast."

A Great Op-Ed Piece

"Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long." President-elect Barack Obama

Still way too damn lazy to blog, I'm compelled to link to a superb post-election article by Bob Ray Sanders in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It is a reminder of what the election of Senator Barack Obama to be the 44th President of the United States means, especially to those old enough to remember or directly experienced the American version of apartheid. Let's never forget those brave individuals who sacrificed their lives, yes, in recent memory, during our lifetimes, for the cause of civil rights.

Today's Elections

"It is not the failure or success of any candidate or party that most matters but the exercise of voting rights, and, through them, our self-government. If either team prevails despite the disenfranchisement of some Americans, that victory will mean all that much less; and if your favorite wins, and then the U.S. doesn't do anything to fix its voting system (and otherwise restore this faltering democracy), that victory of his won't matter much at all, since We the People will have lost control for good."

New York University professor Mark Crispin Miller, author of Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008.

The "Top Ten" Worst Political Campaign Ads

Today, I'm emphatically way too damn lazy to write a blog, so here's an excellent article by Melinda Henneberger listing the 10 Worst Political Ads (or, at least, they are the worst, most appalling ads I know of) from Slate.com. Think the 2008 presidential race holds the patent on big-ass whoppers and even sleazier baldfaced lies? Think again.

To refresh our Short Attention Span Theatre challenged memories, here's one of the disgusting hit ads, pathetic loser #5, this one from the 2004 presidential slamfest. I would call it a "greatest shit" - but it's not that good.

Brother, Can You Spare A Couple Of Billion?

Jim Terr's spoof of "Brother Can You Spare A Dime?" is especially timely these days.



Will the new dance hit be "party like it's 1929?"

This Week's Scandal Du Jour

Since it isn't possible to attract high ratings or readership with hard-hitting investigative stories about serious issues, right now all the media's talkin' about Senator Larry Craig. While dealing with my "fat pains" at the gym, I noticed one of the monitors was tuned to CNN (couldn't hear it, luckily) and that Senator Craig's attempt at lavatory romance (gees, whatever happened to buying dinner, a "tickler" bouquet and a movie first) was the only topic of discussion - in an era distinguished by political skullduggery, rampant corruption and astonishing ineptitude - the entire time I was there.

Senator Craig, shut up and pay the 5000 bucks. And call George Michael - he's lonely.

Indecision 2006

While The Daily Show has already - with the animated "Midterm Elections" sketch - a wonderfully sick spoof of "America Rock" - created the last word on today's elections, I am still compelled to spout off.

I have made three conclusions after the pre-election frenzy, not only from the past few weeks but over the past decade.

• Political ads must be abolished, now. All the manipulative and falsehood-filled TV and radio ads need to go the way of the old Marlboro cigarette commercials. . . which at least offered the saving grace of Joan Collins doing phallic maneuvers with a filter king. Along with certain cable news networks and ranting political talk show hosts, sleazy and boneheaded hit ads have made the political process a joke.
• It costs so much f#%*&^n' $$$$$$$$$ to run for office, the two parties are totally compromised from the git-go. This must change.
• Need proof that nobody in either party has the guts to make the kind of drastic lobbying and campaign reform that is needed to restore a democracy in real trouble? The GOP, predictably, ran from the Jack Abramoff/K-Street scandal like scared rabbits while the Demos' wussy non-response spoke volumes.

After today's pointless diatribe, I promise to get back to writing about the stuff I love, movies, music, animation and comedy. . . although I am very happy that Rick Santorum lost in Pennsylvania. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Dirty Politics, Part 2

Here, Pastor Ted Haggard squares off with Richard Dawkins on the topic of evolution. Yes, the discussion gets a tad heated.

There is something downright heartwarming about seeing such an unabashed gay basher - and active participant in our post-2000 national nightmare - as Pastor Ted get his, ahem, (pardon the play on words) comeuppance.

I recently said that events have put satirists out of business, but Trey Stone and Matt Parker of South Park gleefully continue the art, thankfully leaving no point of view unscathed or unoffended. Although the show recently tackled the topic of teaching evolution in public schools (while directing the searing light of satire on fundamentalists and atheists alike) in a hilarious episode, here's hoping a new episode satirizing the now defrocked Pastor Ted and his rabidly partisan ilk will be out by the end of the week. . . It probably will be.

Dirty Politics

Well, I was originally planned to write a piece about the ever world-weary country and western icon Merle Haggard - you know, the guy whose tune that begins with "I'm 21 in prison serving life without parole" is certainly one of his more upbeat numbers. . . but have, alas, find myself diverted by the day's news, in this case just another of many events that have essentially put even the brightest of satirists out of business.

This week's "scandal du jour" involves one Ted Haggard, founder of the 14,000-member New Life Church, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and hardcore "righty" - and allegations of a three-year gay relationship by a male prostitute (no, not "Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute"). The allegations could be totally false and the story may be nothing, just more utterly meaningless grist for the hungry media mill. However, even a hint that one of the national leaders in a certain noxious blend of fundamentalist religion and viciously partisan politics in this compromised democracy is even mentioned in conjunction with call boys and recreational drugs creates. . . well, I apologize, but a certain glee. Not to mention such really-not-nice thoughts as "couldn't happen to a nicer guy."

This latest story, on the heels of the Mark "boy do I love instant messaging" Foley scandal, does not quite satisfy me, however: I so wanted to see this happen to none other than "teflon spin doctor" Karl Rove, exposed in full George Michael fashion, preferably with video to back it up.