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.

THE TEAPARTIERS

The Teapartiers are treating our democracy as though they were Puritans responding to King George III.  We have no clear mental health profile of the Puritans who came over on the Mayflower but I have difficulty believing they were as weird as our current crop of government protesters.  President Obama was on for the full half hour and the taped program was shortened a bit as it had run over the allotted time..

In fact, the situation is rather frightening.  We are dealing with people who believe they have to 'take back' the government, by force, if necessary.  I would hate to see a real revolution where there will be bloodshed but ti seems headed in that direction.  There is no question in my mind but that governmental agencies have been tracking the militias and their leaders.  The difficulty is that nothing can be done about them until they have committed some illegal act that is overt or has been witnessed by reliable observers.

As painful as it is to have to accept one's friends and relatives for their ridiculous views on politicians, it will be worse if we have to deal with them on opposite sides of a revolution.  We can only hope that it doesn't come to that.

Today Jon Stewart was honored as the most influential American male, though I have not been able to find the proper confirmation of it. Better still, today, was a special segment by Keith Olbermann during which he gave a pretty complete run-down on the insanity Teapartiers are perpetrating on the rest of us.  It was clear that the majority of those running for serious office are incompetent to fill the position as representatives of their constituency.  There should not be a voter who skips reading this if they hadn't heard it live when he gave it.

FOR OBJECTIVITY AND POLITICAL TRUTH...GO TO TV COMEDIANS

Jon Stewart and the Daily Show have long since entertained us but, more importantly they have informed by their exposing of hypocrisy and lies. Jon Stewart Calls Fox News Personalities 'Extremists' for Their Coverage of Obama's Cairo Speech Posted by Alex Leo, Huffington Post at 9:02 AM on June 5, 2009.
on Stewart committed a lengthy opening segment to President Obama's speech in the Middle East last night. He explored the expectations of our president at home and abroad, looked a the rhetoric he used both to further the tenuous relationship America has with even its closest allies in the region and the rhetoric he used to ensure that no one thought he was caving on protection for Israel, advancement for women and an end to terror.

Then he got to the funny part: Fox News' crazypants coverage of the same events. The conservative news network had talking heads and anchors alike on air saying Obama buys in to extremism, that he's disingenuous, that he threw the intel community under the bus. Stewart responded to them by saying, "What a torture it must be for such pretty people to see such ugly things."

ONE SIZE FITS ALL DOES NOT DEFINE PEOPLE

There are many things in life to distress me. Among the worst are the pessimists, the paranoid, the slippery-slopers, those who can only see black and white, blamers but not responsibility takers, and people who think if one apple is rotten, it follows that all apples are rotten. When the Legislators and Media hot shots keep talking about all the people at AIG caused the destruction of the behemoth company, so none of them should get a promised bonus (even those who had nothing to do with trading and for whom the bonus serves in lieu of adequate salary). It should then follow that all Representatives and Senators are immoral, crooks, liars, greedy self-serving unconscionable people and worse, because the House and Senate have at times had some of all the above.

Why then does the media stir the pot of mob rage and fail to try to find out that the one-size-fits-all judgment is inaccurate? Even those in Media whom I trust the most, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow have disappointed me because they have allowed themselves to be swept up by the angry, ill-informed mob. Should we then equate them, as Media people, and say they are ultra-conservatives like Fox News staff? Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are all entertainers who make comment on the news. Does anyone consider them all alike? I would hardly think an intelligent person could do this. Why then has the media been able to whip up a feeding frenzy that is endangering the careers, reputation, and safety of the many loyal employees within AIG, Bank of America, and some of the other places currently where guilty, as well as innocent, are being thrown under the bus?

The Media, as well as the Legislators have the power to search out the truth, analyze the total situation before presenting it to the people. Instead, they are revving up the populace for repeat acts like the massacre at Columbine, the Spanish Inquisition, or the French Revolution with its guillotines. The media ought to hire people who can work on curing the hopelessness that exists in so many who are eager to displace their anger onto innocents; too ready to believe if you work with bad executives you must also be evil. President Obama, in my opinion, did the right thing to go on the Tonight Show and reach 200,000 million people rather than the pitiful few he might reach being on the often-biased political shows, when they are attempting to be fair and balanced but end up giving credence to ridiculous, near-thought0-disordered zealots. The Chariot of Hope on which Obama rode into office is fast being eroded by the Media and others. People are too impatient. The time it will take to fix the mess we are in from the Bush Administration should be very clear to anyone whose eyes and mind are open.

Wikipedia: "Patience (pā-shəns) is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast."

What happened to the patience of the American people who were able to wait out the Cheney/Bush tenure to be able to vote for some people who might make a difference and begin to put into place a cure for our ailing country? Where are the voices of ideas and hope which are not to be found in Media circles?

CURRENT MEDIA'S LACK OF RELEVANCE

A problem with the current media today is that they are asking the wrong people the right questions. Rather than hunt down concrete facts and news, they are asking the untrained, lay people (such as most of the Congress, the man on the street, the hastily put together 'panels of experts'.) It is understandable that the habit may have started with the last, very secretive eight years of governmental functioning. With no accountability and the refusal of people in the Administration to come before the Legislature and reveal what it was they were doing and to what end, it would seem logical that the media went into 'punt' mode. Ignoring the Constitutional need for the three branches to work together, the media raised occasional weak alarms for the public about this. These alarms were quickly disqualified by other media megaliths. However, the Obama administration has transparency...shouldn't the media realize this and actually start doing their job instead of pretending they are Administrative advisers?

Katty Kay, English reporter and journalist brought up an interesting point on this week's Meet the Press. She pointed out that European countries are not as panicked to make stimulus packages because, even if people are out of work, they still have medical care and anticipate future survival better than Americans are able by current circumstances.

Among much of the useless information coming out of the media today, is amazingly how much waste of time there is by the apologists, especially the Republicans. Meet the Press had Congressman Kantor on, as he has been seen frequently on other 'shows' a well, full of promises about plans the Republicans are working on and will soon put work him to the front. Rather than the handsome face and articulate speech he puts forth, I would rather hear someone with substance. He whined about the difficulty it is to be the minority party (missing that the Democrats...party of ideas...have been in that position for the past, precious 12 years.)If the media would try to be less politically correct and more interested in actual useful information, it would stop pandering to partisanship as it is currently doing.

Stephanopoulos was first to catch onto the comedians like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and others, who zero in on issues far better than the 'supposed, straight' media. Perhaps that suggests a sense of humor is needed to see beyond the political pap being currently filling the radio waves and TV screens.

Lastly, the media thinks that a bonus is expendable but fails to realize that for many, it is the actual salary. For example, some employees of AIG have not been given a raise in salary for the length of employment even as long as 15 years. Instead, 90% of their salary is paid once a year in the form of a bonus. If that is taken away, they would have to leave the company. For employees who have been there for any significant length of time their expertise would be difficult to replace. It is now time for the average pub;ic to go back to trying to survive and let the govrtnmrny govern, while telling us how it is doing it. That is the transparency we have yearned for these past eight years.

WE TOO SOON FORGET OR MISS IT

Roaming through YouTube, I came across an interview that Crossfire did with Jon Stewart in 2004. Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson are the interviewers, Jon Stewart the interviewee. By his honesty and directness, Jon Stewart illustrated in only moments why the media is worthless today. It is shocking that a comedian shows himself the politically wiser and greater patriot while the interviewers stubbornly hear only their own voices without a perception of the reaction of their audience.. It is shocking that a comedian shows himself the wiser philosopher and patriot while the interviewers remain clueless and absurd. It is a must-view, even if you saw it and have forgotten it from 2004. He accused them of partisan hackeryand pleaded with them to stop hurting the country..

It took until January of 2005 for CNN to realize just what Jon Stewart had made apparent, that they had two ridiculous, self-serving people on view who were responsible for the speed with which viewers were jumping the CNN ship. MSNBC, who was then picking up more viewers made the mistake of hiring Tucker Carlson (whom they have also now kept more often on the bench, though he still creeps in on panels) and who finally proved himself as worthless to an audience interested in facts, not opinion. His show was canceled recently. Perhaps the powers looked at viewing numbers had noted that having Tucker Carlson on 2 hours of prime time was not productive. This viewer is trying to be patient and give David Gregory, his replacement a trial since I'm apprehensive he will also fall off his pedestal along with Matthews and Olbermann and Russert. I still have some hope for Dan Abrams.

MORE ON MEDIA SLANT

It is always interesting to see what other nations think of us. It is also interesting to hear what media think of itself. This BBC reporter was critical of the reporting before and after the primary and is clear that the media will do nothing to change. Honesty from a journalist; how novel; how sad! It means journalists-turned-entertainers will continue to be self-serving, struggle to beat others to views which they can only hope have some accuracy. They feel little shame that their often-untrue comments, believed by those who trust them, actually influence voters and the outcome of elections, which I have come to see as the 'Rush Limbaugh effect'.

I was thrilled that one reporter, a woman from New Hampshire had to tell Chris Matthews, first to listen as he continued to talk over everyone, then to make the distinction that Iowa (where votes are public) and New Hampshire (where they are secret) differ as New Hampshire people consider it insulting to be asked for whom they voted.

Last night, Jon Stewart, on the Daily show showed those few second clips of many of the pundits spouting their incorrect predictions. It was like time lapse photography leading to the same conclusion, in effect, a loop. They start out listening to themselves, then begin to believe it is truth. His guest for the evening was Zogby of the polls. As only Jon Stewart can do, he was able to get Zogby to admit how little real value polls have for learning in advance what electoral outcome will be. While Jon Stewart is an entertainer, not a journalist, he fulfills both roles better than any of the journalists who are trying to be entertainers.