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White House solution to the oil crisis


from 23/6

If you think this is only a joke, read the actual White House Fact Sheet.

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Taking the Bitter with the Whine

R.J. Matson
© R.J. Matson

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The Great Photoshop War of 2008

Ruben Bolling
© Ruben Bolling

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Appeasing Obama

Bush seems to be stealing Obama’s foreign policy strategy:
Tom Toles
© Tom Toles

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One last New Yorker cover take-off

Steve Benson
© Steve Benson

UPDATE: Well, I just had to add Vanity Fair’s take-off cover:
Vanity Fair

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Late Night Humor

“Today on television, President Bush assured Americans that he is taking steps to resolve the financial crisis. Well, that’s good enough for me. Come on, let’s go to the park.” -David Letterman

“President Bush lifted the presidential ban on offshore drilling that was imposed by his father, the first President Bush, 18 years ago. But hey, remember Bush’s dad also said invading Iraq would be a huge disaster, and cutting taxes would ruin the economy, so what the hell did he know?” -Jay Leno

“In a brand new interview, John McCain admits that his staff has to show him websites because he has trouble getting on the Internet by himself. That’s what he said. Yeah, yesterday McCain tried to surf the Internet for half an hour before his staff told him he was actually holding an Etch-A-Sketch.” -Conan O’Brien

“John McCain in the news for the second time. For the second time in two days, John McCain has referred to current events in Czechoslovakia, a country that officially ceased to exist in 1993. Yeah. Afterwards, McCain said, ‘You know, the same thing happened the last time I went to Mesopotamia.” -Conan O’Brien

“Barack Obama’s two daughters are very excited, because I guess Barack Obama promised the kids that after the election he’s going to get them a dog. That’s the thing, they’re all excited, he’s going to get them a dog after the election. And the good news — Jesse Jackson has offered to neuter it, so I think that’s terrific.” -Jay Leno

“Remember Jesse Jackson speaking, when he thought the microphone was off, said he’d like to cut Barack Obama’s testicles off. And in a rare example of bipartisan support, Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho offered to guard them for Obama. How about that?” -Jay Leno

“John McCain’s economic adviser, former Texas Senator Phil Gramm, was also coming under fire for calling America a ‘nation of whiners.’ That’s what he said, we are a nation of whiners. President Bush weighed on the issue today, again he doesn’t understand these things. Bush said today we are not whiners, the average American still prefers beer.” -Jay Leno

“You can read more about the Phil Gramm-influenced McCain plan to fix the economy in his new position paper ‘Walk It Off, America: My Ten-Point Plan For You Pussies to Learn To Suck it Up.’ Seriously! Phil Gramm’s comment is offensive in two ways. One, it’s insensitive, and two, how does an economic expert not understand, that most of our whining jobs have already gone to India.” -Jon Stewart

“Folks, Senator Barack Obama left his church in May, but questions still linger about his religion. According to a new Pew Research Poll, since March, the number of people who believe Obama is Muslim has increased by 2%, and strangely, the number who believe he’s Jewish has gone from none to 1%. Wow, you play Tevye in one Congressional production of ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ and you’re typecast for life” -Stephen Colbert

“In a speech yesterday, Barack Obama called for African-Americans to be better parents. Yeah. That’s what he said. Obama said not all black children can be raised by Angelina Jolie. You have to do your part. That’s what he said. That’s a quote.” -Conan O’Brien

“Tonight is a night of celebration. This great land we live in has reached an exciting milestone in the war on terror. The terror watch list is hitting the big 1-0-0-0-0-0, oh! You know that expression ‘kick ass and take names?’ It turns out this country is really good at one of those. We take a lot of names. It really is an incredible accomplishment.” -Jon Stewart

“Let’s try and put it in perspective if we can. A million people on the terrorist watch list. If you were to take all the people that our government suspects of terrorism and stack them, one on top of the other, that would be considered an acceptable method of interrogation, according to the Justice Department.” -Jon Stewart

“With a million names on the list, how do you find out if you are on the list? If you are a terrorist? If you are being watched? It’s very simple. Go online and Google the ‘terrorist screening database’ and scroll down to the end. By the time you get to the end, you’ll probably be on it.” -Jon Stewart

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McCain disagrees with his own campaign

On Thursday, McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker attacked Obama’s upcoming trip to the Middle East, saying “Let’s drop the pretense that this is a fact-finding trip and call it what it is: the first-of-its-kind campaign rally overseas”.

McCain disagreed, saying that he was personally “glad” that Obama was making a trip to Iraq and Afganistan, adding that he would have to “talk to” Hazelbaker about the remark.

Unfortunately, it proved difficult to claim that Hazelbaker’s comment didn’t represent the campaign, since they had already emailed out an official campaign message that included it. Not only that, but other campaign surrogates were taking her remark as a talking point:

  • North Carolina Senator Richard Burr told reporters “I think it’s safe to say that as this trip becomes reality, it’s also reality that it’s more about politics than it is about fact-finding or about exploring the relationships abroad for our country and others in the future.”
  • Congressman Eric Cantor declared “This is nothing but a political stunt.”

Speaking of surrogates, Bud Day — best known for his work with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth — on a conference call with reporters, defended the war in Iraq by saying that “The Muslims” are “going to kill us”.

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Yes We Can Cola

Jones Cola Company has a new way to buy an election. Well, at least their soft drinks.

They are selling four kinds of cola: for Obama, McCain, Clinton, and Paul, and encourage you to vote for your candidate by purchasing their drink (regardless of age or residency, they helpfully remind you). Unfortunately, their democracy isn’t cheap, at around $2.50 a bottle.

So far, Obama is leading by a 3-to-1 margin, and Paul has a slight lead over Clinton.

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The Republican version of HOPE

Tom Tomorrow
© Tom Tomorrow

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Banks in Crisis

Matt Davies

© Matt Davies

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The New Yorker – Satire-Free Edition

Jim Borgman
© Jim Borgman

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China outlaws fun in preparation for the Beijing Olympics

The Chinese are becoming security paranoid in advance of the start of the Beijing Olympics, which start in 8 short weeks.  Here are some of the things they have done:

  • Bars around the city are being prohibited from allowing dancing.
  • Bars are also being prohibited from serving black people or Mongolians, because of fear of drug dealing and prostitution. (I’m sure that will go over really well with many black athletes!)
  • Several bars, including one that catered to gays, have been shut down entirely. Also six bars and restaurants inside the Beijing Workers’ Stadium have been closed so the stadium can be used for Olympic soccer matches.
  • Discos, Karaoke bars, and other entertainment venues must install transparent partitions allowing a clear view into previously private rooms. In addition, staff must dress more modestly.
  • Entertainers who “threaten national unity”, “whip up ethnic hatred”, “violate religious policy or cultural norms”, or “advocate obscenity or feudalism and superstition” have been banned (that covers just about every entertainer I can think of other than perhaps Donny and Marie).
  • In addition, there are bizarre restrictions on couriers. There is a ban on transporting CD-ROMs, and mobile phones or GPS devices can be sent by courier only if their batteries are sent separately.
  • Liquids and powders cannot be mailed.
  • Hundreds of armed checkpoints have been set up on all roads leading into Beijing, and automobiles not registered in Beijing have been banned until after the Olympics, causing massive delays and traffic problems.

http://www.theage.com.au/world/fears-of-a-nofun-olympics-in-beijing-20080718-3hkb.html

UPDATE: WaPo is reporting that China is becoming a hostile place for foreigners.

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John McCain believes in the free market, and what’s more market than Government Giveaways?

Ruben Bolling
© Ruben Bolling

What I find especially interesting about McCain’s proposed car battery contest is that like other poorly-thought-out government incentives, it warps the market. McCain’s contest assumes that the solution is a chemical battery, and ignores equally valid solutions — for example, the hybrid car that is about to be built that uses compressed air tanks instead of a battery to store energy. Note that Obama is guilty of the same problem with ethanol subsidies. Government subsidies should reward goals (like reducing pollution or global warming) not specific (but transient) technologies. For years, the government has been subsidizing the oil companies, and see where that got us.

Like the “gas tax holiday” this is more of a political attention-getting stunt than a real solution.

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What the New Yorker Cover was really saying

Matt Davies
© Matt Davies

Just in case you don’t get this, it is a parody of a very famous New Yorker magazine cover from 1976.

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Bipartisan compromise

Matt Bors
© Matt Bors

Incidentally, Bors did a cartoon with the same theme as the New Yorker cover months ago, and some people think he did it clearer and funnier.

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