Kerfuffle

Iowa Nice versus Iowa Stubborn

All the more reason I want to move back to Des Moines to teach at Drake University...

 

By the way, the above video replaces the previous attitudinal video benchmark for the state:  Iowa Stubborn...

 

"Sometimes when God closes a door, He opens a window... And sometimes standing outside that window is a circus peanut wearing a badger."

With Herman Cain's exit from the campaign, Donald Trump takes his seat in the clown car. Comedians rejoice!

As hilarious is this is, is says a lot about how Republicans view the eloctorate and our country.  Pretty sad.

I love a good Bullwinkle reference

First we get moose and squirrel...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
From Russia With Gov
www.thedailyshow.com

I'm you, so vote for me! Vote for the Willful Ignorance platform!

Art imitates life.  Or is it the other way around.  These days, that's not all too clear.

 

Sure it's satire, but I'd bet SNL actually captures the attitude and ineptitude of BP, Transocean and Halliburton rather accurately

From the cold open...

Later, on Weekend Update, Seth Meyers referred to the executives from BP, Transocean and Halliburton who testified before Congress as Hear No Evil, See no Evil and Evil...

Yup. Today's Robber Barons.  They love taking your money, first at the pump... and then again when they want you to pay to clean up their mess and bail out all the people whose lives their carelessness has wrecked.

Still happy with rampant government deregulation?  You shouldn't be.

Sometimes, there's only one thing you can say to terrorist idiots. Jon Stewart explains...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
South Park Death Threats
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Deadly accurate observations of the situation, with jokes! Those Daily Show guys... damn, they're good.

The tradition of NO: Something elephants never forget

R.J. Matson is the editorial cartoonist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  See more of his work here.

Looking to go into TV news? Forget J-school; just follow Charlie Brooker's guide to the core elements of a field report

This video has been around for a while, but I still laugh at how dead-on it is.  TV news is a commodity these days; one network or local station looks like the next, and then the next after that.  Sure, FOX News drips of conservative memes, and everything is a crisis to CNN, it seems.  But, especially at the local level, TV news is as predictable as Wonder Bread.

Charlie Brooker, columnist for The Guardian and host of the BBC program Newswipe, shows just how formulaic TV News field reports have gotten...

Parody at its best. 

[Update:  For video at it's best, view Brooker's report here in High Definition.  I can't seem to get this thing to fit into Kerfuffle's low definition format.  Time for a Kerfuffacelift perhaps.]

Presidential satire from the masters of presidential satire...

From Funny or Die...

What is this, high school? Of Sarah Palin, Rahm Emanuel, satire, and f***ing retards

I've been schooled by some very well-meaning friends about my occasional use of the word "retarded."  I wrote a post defending the word, as if it is defensible.  I must agree that, to many, many people, it is insensitive at best and offensive and hateful at worst.  I get it.

America's air-headed conservative sweetheart, Sarah Palin, doesn't like the word and it's variations either.  Unless it is uttered by someone she is afraid to piss off, or she uses it herself.  She called for the firing of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel when he used it to refer to progressive Democrats.  But she sees it as satire when used by El Rushbo.

I thought if you went to several universities to cobble together a single broadcast journalism degree, you would understand what "satire" means.  I guess not.  But what can you expect from someone who has to scrawl and then actually use notes on her own hand.  Hilarious!  And it's not even satire!  But this from Stephen Colbert sure is... and it's really well-done satire...

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sarah Palin Uses a Hand-O-Prompter
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

Well played, Mr. Colbert.  I especially like the "hand-o-prompter" line.  So many on the right have parroted criticism on Barack Obama for using a TelePrompTer, forgetting that every president -- or corporate big shot -- uses them when they want to stay with a pre-written speech.  Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg address on the backs on envelopes, the TelePrompTer of his day, for chrissakes. Do people think politicians and other important speakers deliver major addresses extemporaneously?  I don't think our previous president could order at the Taco Bell drive-thru without notes.

But writing stuff on your hand?  WTF?  Of course, since she is prone to releasing "statements" on her Facebook page, I guess this shouldn't be too much of a surprise.  Yet, this is the person people still think should be our next president?  What... is Miley Cyrus not interested in running?  Are we all suddenly 14 years old again?

Which brings me to another piece of brilliant satire from last week's Saturday Night Live.  Andy Samberg nails the whole Rahm Emanuel thing...

Samberg seems to take a page from the Glenn Beck playbook for his satirical inspiration:  "I'm just saying what other people are thinking."  That's the great thing about satire; it allows a point to be made clear in a way that is both humorous and deadly accurate.  It's a rhetorical or literary device, though, and not an excuse for being an ass.  It's also not something you can claim retroactively after you say something incredibly hateful, offensive, or just plain ignorant.  Sorry Rush.  Sorry Glen.  It's only satire when you have that as an objective before the fact.

I gotta run. I have class and I need to write my discussion points on my arm.