Posts Tagged ‘Stephen Colbert’

Sorry I haven’t posted in a bit. I had a busy weekend and am still basking in the glow of a Husker domination. There is definitely one important thing that happened last Thursday (while I was at a Titus Andronicus/Free Energy concert) that needs posting.

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert had been going back an forth since Glenn Beck’s rally about how they each were going to make a huge announcement. Last Thursday they finally made good on their boasts and each announced a rally to take place at the National Mall in D.C. on 10/30/10. Jon’s is to restore sanity to our country and Stephen’s (always the satirist) is to “keep the fear alive.”

Jon’s clip is amazing. I especially like the signs. “I disagree with you, but I’m pretty sure you’re not Hitler.” That’s a sentiment I wish I heard more of in American politics. “I’m not afraid of Muslims/ Tea Partiers/ Socialists/ Immigrants/ Gun Owners/ Gays, but I am scared of spiders.” That’s another little doozy.

“Take it down a notch for America.” How great is that?

Stephen’s character, of course, cannot abide by the return of reason to the process. (After all, reason is just one letter away from treason.) What will happen to the people employed in the panic-inducing market? What would there be for talking heads to do if they weren’t trying to convince you a community center is actually a terrorist training ground?

Hurry up an book your hotels, because if you don’t, your kids will be gay.

Enjoy restoring sanity.

Adam Feser

Kentucky candidate for the Senate Rand Paul has had some problems recently. First he was in trouble for stating that businesses should be able to discriminate based on race. Recently he has advocated an underground electronic fence on the border. He has pretty much ignored requests to define just what the electronic underground border fence will do or how it will function. Now there is some controversy over his occupation.

Rand Paul claims to be a Board-certified ophthalmologist. The idea of being certified by a Board is meant to provide comfort to patients because their physicians have proved to a group of their peers that they are qualified to practice. What’s strange about Paul’s claim is that he is not certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. He is, however certified by the National Board of Ophthalmology. If you’re wondering if the difference between the two, it is quite vast. The American Board of Ophthalmology, which has not certified him, is the actual board. The National Board of Ophthalmology, which has certified Paul, is created by Rand Paul. He is the president and director. I believe his wife and father-in-law hold other positions. The office is a PO Box. It is a shell so Rand can call himself “Board-certified.”

This is obviously intentionally misleading patients and the American public. I think it is especially troubling from the perspective of the patient. I hear Board-certified and I feel confident that I am going to get solid care. Misusing that phrase to mislead people seems like it should almost have legal ramifications. If I had been cared for by this guy under the assumption that he was ABO certified, I would be irate.

Perhaps I will declare myself a Board-certified ophthalmologist. Stephen Colbert did just that:

Enjoy the excuse for this one.

Adam Feser

I was recently called out for losing my mancrush on Jon Stewart. So not true. This video is a pretty solid takedown of the law. It also brings up an interesting question: What exactly do they mean by “suspicious activity” in this bill? Supporters of this bill, let me know what activity is suspicious.

Colbert even had another segment of The Word dealing with it.

Enjoy wondering what constitutes suspicious activity.

Adam Feser

It’s a shame that ACORN will forever be known as the group that advised the pimp and prostitute, because that didn’t actually happen. They lost millions in funding because some douche can edit a video. California’s attorney general conducted an investigation and found ACORN had committed no crimes. In fact, the conservative activist, James O’Keefe likely committed crimes. He exchanged the full tapes for assurance he wouldn’t be prosecuted (he has enough on his plate with his other crimes).

The tapes were severely edited to make it look like they were directly advising a supposed pimp and prostitute to break the law. The ACORN officials actually called the police in several instances. This didn’t stop people like Hannity from lauding O’Keefe as a messiah-like figure.

ACORN was not without its problems, but this shouldn’t have become the phenomenon it did.

Watch Maddow break down how dishonest the whole thing is:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here’s Colbert on the editing and pundits’ response:

Enjoy knowing that creatively breaking the law can make you famous and ruin a community organization.

Adam Feser

Some, at best, mentally unstable people have claimed the census is an evil plot to either intern people or take your gun away or something equally as abhorrent. Here is a brief sample with two of the least sane people out there discussing the horrors of the census:

Here is a video of Colbert covering the census hysteria then actually filling it out:

And here is the interesting part. Let’s say the hysterical leaders get their way and a bunch of conservatives don’t fill out the form. Let’s be honest, a good number of them have seemed more than willing to buy crazy conspiracy theories since Obama was elected, so this is possible.) If they don’t fill it out in large numbers, it is possible that those areas will lose out on representation in Congress. Bachmann’s district, for instance, could cease to exist if enough people listened to what she originally said. Karl Rove is no fool, and this could be the main reason he is trying to convince people to fill out the census.

If the census was truly sinister they wouldn’t want conservatives filling it out and they wouldn’t enlist the help of Karl Rove.

Enjoy Chuck

There has been some talk that the elections in Iraq mean victory at last for George W. Bush.

Even if the elections went off without a hitch and the democracy was perfect, you could still debate whether or not seven years of war under carried out for none of the reasons advertised constitutes a victory. You could also wonder if hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, millions displaced, the introduction of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and the loads of destruction mean it went well. But there may be more negatives coming from the election, including lower turnout, delayed results, and violence.

Colbert on flaws in the election, both with numbers of candidates and election law:

Stewart on election-day violence:

The assassination of “a few” candidates? Can you imagine? And how would we react to bombings at polling locations?

Despite 38 deaths, the Iraqi people still turned out at 62%, which is higher than our 2008 election turnout and will be much higher than our midterm turnout.

I’m still not sure if there is a point I’m driving at other than we can’t call this a glowing success and forget about it. I don’t like the idea of us saying we were right all along when they’ve suffered as much as they have. Elections do not equal democracy, and we must be wary of putting it so simply.

Enjoy the search for a new Twins closer (can Neshek return to greatness?).

Adam Feser

Dick Cheney recently said Obama is dithering on Afghanistan. Conservative columnist George Will came back with a zinger (video at about 11:00) saying maybe we should have dithered before we went into Iraq. Commenting on this situation Will said, “We have much more to fear in this town from hasty than from slow government action.”

If that wasn’t enough, Will also claimed that we are in the process of legalizing marijuana. He doesn’t come out and support it, but he does say it would be the first thing to do to fight Mexican drug cartels. He also had quite a bit of knowledge about marijuana today.

In addition to this, Will has started wearing a long tie. Here is what Colbert thought of it.

At this rate, it won’t be long until he joins our side. (Just kidding.)

Enjoy the show.

Adam Feser

A recent installation of The Word on The Colbert Report brought to my attention the flaws in a bill posing as much needed regulation for payday lending. The loans are borrowed against the borrower’s next paycheck and are supposed to help with emergencies for those that don’t qualify for bank loans. The problem is that payday loans can have interest rates as high as 800%. They often put the borrower who needed help in a cycle of long-term debt. Of the 19 million Americans who have taken out these loans, about 12 million are in a repeat cycle, taking out additional loans to pay off the old ones.

The payday industry opposes the bill, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. Colbert points out a possible reason Gutierrez, who once opposed the entire practice of payday loans, introduced such a weak bill. Turns out a payday lending group, QC Holdings, is his biggest contributor and another, Online Lenders Alliance, is a large contributor. Boom, roasted! Another reason for his change is that the industry increased their lobbying efforts.

The video and the articles I have read cannot seem to find agreement on what exactly the bill does. This much is clear: Out of all numbers I have seen, the lowest annual rate on the loans will be at least 391%. It is also full of loopholes that would lead to no change.

The Senate does have its own plans for dealing with the problem. A bill sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) would cap the annual interest rate at 36%. This could kill the industry, though for some reason, Gutierrez thinks that is impossible. Or maybe he just hopes it is.

Enjoy baseball’s inevitable return to normalcy, when Royal’s fans hopes die, Chris Duncan for MVP signs can be burned, and the Red Sox take over the East.

Adam Feser

In case anyone missed this, Stephen Colbert absolutely skewered Glenn Beck on The Colbert Report. I don’t even want to ruin anything he said or did in this clip, just watch it. It is one of the best things I have ever seen.

Boom, roasted!

Enjoy this video a couple times.

Adam Feser

I figured I should post this one as well.

Enjoy a cherry-flavored beverage.

Adam Feser