POLITICS IS ONLY SURVIVED BY THE HUMOR IT OFFERS

Comedy and satire has become so great a part of politics, that Republican representative,   Rep.John Fleming  wrote on Facebook that Planned Parenthood was engaging in “abortion by the wholesale.” He was unaware of the publication of The Onion as a satirical news outlet. He read an article titled, “Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex.” not knowing it wasn't real.

MSNBC plays more Bill Maher, Jon Stewart,Stephen Colbert. Saturday Night Live, and some of the late night comedians than I usually get to see on a regular basis.  This Week with George Stephanopoulos usually has a bit of  the Sunday Funnies taken from the same sources.

Recently, About.com listed the top 10 political comedians in their view.  If you haven't seen them, you should look for them now.  There has to be something to laugh about in this election!.  Click here for the article.

There are many places for daily humor.  Two favorites are: The Onion

Another, written by Andy Borowitz can be subscribed to for free and offers many good belly laughs to kick in your endorphins as long as you bring you sense of humor to the Internet.

POLITICAL NEWS QUOTES

Romney: "I served in the government but I didn't inhale."

Steve, on Countdown:  "The Republicans continue to play checkers while Obama plays chess."

Santorum:  "Women shouldn't be in combat because of their emotions."

Romney:  "I was a severe conservative."  to which came a reply: "Hey, that's what the Republicans say about us, not what we say about ourselves."

Comment heard on Glenn Beck's birthday:  'We thank you for your laughs and your tears and the laughs at your tears.'

Bill Maher:  "We have a new front runner for the Republican Presidential campaign.  I feel like I say that every week."

Bill Maher again:  "Catholics hate to vote for something they don't like and don't believe in...
the vagina."

Santorum:  "Contraceptives don't belong in our lives.  Sex should only be in marriage."
Should someone let Rick and his wife know that married people use contraceptives as well?  Not all married people can afford an extra allotment of kids and would like to do a lot for the few than insufficient for the many.

Mo Rocca:  "5% of men are now wearing 'mangagement' rings to let everyone know they are off the marriage market.."    Bill Maher's observation:  "They are marked.  A dog has 'p*ssed on them."

WHO IS REALLY TAKING THE COUNTRY?

The Teapartiers mantra is 'Take back our country'.  Just who has taken over our democratic country has been a question that is not unsolved, just not declared openly.  A recent article by Nathan Diebenow announces that Progressives are ready to 'uncloak' the secret financers behind the Tea party. "The Sunday, Jan. 30 event thrown by Common Cause, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization, aims to educate attendees in California to the Koch brothers who will be strategizing nearby with their mega-wealthy allies to win the 2012 elections."

The Tea Party is financed far beyond the many small contributions most of the Teapartiers themselves can give.  If has long been rumored that the multi-billionaire Koch  brothers are the 'angels' behind it all. Now, assuming that might be true, the next question must be, "Why?"  What is in it for them?  Certainly they need no more money, though money is clearly power.  Thus, is it power they are after?  If so what is the power they desire?  The Tea Party wants to 'take back the government'.  I was always taught that plotting to overthrow the government is an act of treason.  Are the Koch brothers, then, treason perpetrators?


Also from the article:  "Comedian Bill Maher on Friday lashed out at the followers of the Tea party movement whose activities are funded by Koch's Americans for Prosperity group.
"The Founding Fathers were everything you despise. They studied science, read Plato, hung out in Paris, and thought the Bible was mostly bullshit," he said.

'Who' is never enough.  We need also to understand the 'why'. It is the only way to protect ourselves. Had we appreciated that bin Laden was not only interested in violence and killing but, rather, to economically disable our country, we might not be in the economic mess we are in today.

THE CAVALRY TO THE RESCUE

The government's rescue plans to buy shares, up to 270 billion dollars, in American banks. There is a 5% guarantee to taxpayers that interest will be earned on the loans. The government guarantees to pay, fully, to those who received loans but default on them (like the reasons for the home mortgage foreclosures. While this seems frightening, if loans are made wisely, we have to assume that some will default for reasons beyond their control.

It goes back to 'Give me a fish, I will eat for a day; teach me to fish and I will eat everyday.' Many people have advocated that the money should go directly to taxpayers to save their homes. That qualifies for the 'give me a fish'. It is what welfare used to be....feed them every day and assume they will never have to do anything but live on the dole and be trapped at their poverty level. Over 50 years ago, black mothers (as well as a few impoverished white mothers who were referred to as white trash) in Chicago, were forced to tell their teen-age daughters to get pregnant so that welfare would give them housing of their own and care for the child. No more was expected of them. Their housing and living expenses came from the tax that those of us who were working mothers, among all the taxpayers, and not even able to have the childcare we paid be tax deductible. I remember being told by a total stranger one day, "You are a mother. How dare you work?" My reply was, "Would you like to support me on welfare?"....not that I would ever have chosen that as an alternative as long as I could support my own family as well as take care of my children with hired help!

We have made some social advances. There are those who would like us to go back to values and beliefs that preceded those advances. I beg people to move beyond that mentality and allow
people to make their own choices about their bodies, have health care when needed (at least as good as that the Legislators have voted for themselves), and educate our children so that we will not sink into the class system of the 1800s of England.

I agree with Bill Maher; I don't want to be governed by people who believe in talking snakes. Religion is definitely not the Cavalry which will rescue us.

OTHERS ON PALIN

It amuses me to see how many of my friends still have to read their daily newspapers over coffee. I don't mean to sound condescending, it is not a criticism of my friends but of newspapers. It pleases me to find new sources for more interesting perspective. YouTube has filled that gap quite nicely. Here are a few. Bill Maher, who has always thought outside the box though he can at times be so narcissistic and even cruel, is still challenging to watch.

Has anyone other than I noticed the similarity of face between McCain and Charlie Chaplin without makeup in his later years?

Both have the ability to make up illusions that touch people. Both are funny when acting. Both are old in these pictures.
Both had and spent lots of money.





Jack Cafferty tells us, on CNN, how he really feels about Palin.

Well, tomorrow we will see what happens when Palin must show the public in the lower 48 states, as well as the rest of the world just how ready-or-not she is should she become President if she is elected Vice president and the necessity arises! May we live to survive yet another election (necessary with Karl Rove at the evil helm now), to mention only one of the 'bad guys'.