satire

I’ve been thinking a lot about the evolution of Christmas, and I’ve been thinking that there is a lot about the current practice that we can admire.

Peace and good will, of course, and cookies and candy canes, and happy kids – and this is also the time we think the most about those less fortunate, as do Jews and Muslims, who also have holiday celebrations this time of the year that include a component of charity.

But if there is anything that I could change about the modern practice of Christmas, it would be the installation of Santa Claus as an icon of consumer spending, more or less to the exclusion of everything else.

As an intellectual exercise, I started thinking about what a different Santa might be like; today’s story lays out who a few candidates might be for “Santa 2.0” and why.

So go grab a cookie, and, perhaps, a refreshing beverage…and let’s have some post-Christmas fun.

I have spent a number of years complaining about the interactions between Democrats and Republicans, but after the recent events involving the Keystone XL and civil liberties cave-ins, I’ve decided it’s time to stop complaining and embrace the madness.

But I also feel like there’s an ugly edge to all this…that hasn’t really been fully exploited.

I mean, Republicans have tried to force through a lot of disgusting ideas this Congress as they’ve held various bills hostage, but it seems like, if they really tried, they could do so much more.

But I’m not here to complain, I’m here to help; that’s why today we’ll be trotting out a few ideas of our own that Republicans can attach to bills throughout 2012, with the assistance of certain errant Democrats.

It’ll be fun, it’ll be festive, but most of all…it’ll be an exercise in Civic Responsibility, and in these difficult times, that’s something we could sorely use.

I got a weird little story about my friend Blitz Krieger to bring to you today.

He’s had a crazy car problem, he has, and over the past few months he thought he had found a solution – in fact, he thought he had found the solution of his dreams – but in the end, he’s discovered that the things you dream about often don’t go according to plan.

The way it’s worked out for him so far, it’s been a lot of anticipation followed by a sudden wave of frustration, but I feel like he’s a lot better off having his particular problem with his car…because if he’d had cancer instead, he’d surely be dead by now.

Bob Orr withdraws offer to establish a Pope Foundation center at the NCCU School of Law in the wake of concerns over Art Pope's radical agenda. Here's the N&O version of the story.

Indy Week has a slightly different take, in which a Republican student at NCCU Law misses the point entirely.

"What bothers me is the message the firestorm has created, that if you're tied to a Republican, don’t come to Central," Doucette said. "But that's not what we're about."

Art Pope isn't "a Republican," Mr. Doucette. He is a one-man army engaged in class warfare. He is supporting legislative assaults on the very Constitution his Center proposed to study. His friends in the General Assembly are dismantling public education through draconian budget cuts. His scorched-earth approach to political reform will set North Carolina back for generations.

This is political satire. The person talking in this video is not really Thom Tillis. To my knowledge.

Thom Tillis appointed Stephen "The Skimmer" LaRoque to co-chair the House Rules Committee, a perfect fit if you're looking for someone who has mastered the art of bending rules for personal gain. But now all hell is breaking loose. The Skimmer is on the hot seat for a host of potential IRS violations.

Will Tillis allow LaRoque to continue in his leadership role, or will he dump The Skimmer in accordance with the oh-so-ethical standards of today's Republican majority?

I'm betting he keeps LaRoque around. For all his extreme sportiness, Tillis doesn't have the nerve to fire Stephen LaRoque or call for an investigation. With legal battles brewing on abortion rights and redistricting, Tillis needs all the sh(t screens he can find. That's one role Steven LaRoque is eminently qualified for.

Previously.

On speaking to power, or, when sanity's gone, there's always satire

So everybody’s hearing the news, right? There is a tentative debt ceiling deal, and this Administration and Congressional Democrats seem to have won everything they wanted: Republicans get to have multiple “we don’t approve” votes before 2012 on raising the debt ceiling, there won’t be any new revenue, there’s going to be another “hostage-taking” event around Christmastime, for many Democrats the issue of the Ryan Budget and the dismantling of Medicare is likely off the table for the 2012 electoral cycle, and the Administration seems to have figured out a way to not involve itself in shaping the way that entitlement reform will work out.

All in all, it’s some pretty slick negotiating, and I’m sure this Administration and Democratic Congressional leaders must be very proud. Even on bad days, however, you gotta have some fun, and that’s why I’m encouraging everyone to take a minute today to say #thanksalot.

(FNS - Washington, New Germany, April 17, 1947) America’s new Führer, Adolf Hitler, announced today that his official War History would in fact acknowledge that one of the biggest contributing factors to the defeat of the Allies was the insistence of the former United States of America on sticking to its Balanced Budget Amendment, which left them unable to fund the wartime conversion of the US economy for the benefit of the Alliance.

“All those ideas Mr. Roosevelt spoke of”, said Hitler, “Lend-Lease, modular shipbuilding, War Bonds, secret weapons…in the end, all of them were just words, since the Americans’ Congress was never willing to allow the country to fully fund its war effort.”