Bobby Jindal makes things happen

Remember Bobby Jindal? He's the senator from Louisiana who gave the Republican response to Obama's first national address. In it, he made fun of the Democrats' decision to spend money on "something called volcano monitoring" (oooh....yet another science is spooky attempt by the men on the right...). Jindal thought the democrats should be more worried about "eruptions in spending" than eruptions of the volcanic kind.
Well, well, Jindal... Looks like you spoke too soon. It appears that there is a volcano in Alaska that's been blowing ash for a few days now, and it could probably use some monitoring...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090323-mount-redoubt-alaska-volcano.html

The volcano is called Mount Redoubt... I feel like there is a good pun to be had with all of this.

is this satire?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVKlFT58Zwc&feature=related
(sorry the video app isn't working, i'll have it uploaded on here asap... even though i'm sure most of you have seen it by now!)

First of all, I think we all know that what's said at 2am on Fox's Red Eye show doesn't really matter-- even though esteemed past panelists on the show include Joe Francis, the founder of Girls Gone Wild-- but nonetheless, the outcry over this little piece is crazy and I believe it deserves a post.

Were these guys just being funny? Let's think about it. They claim their show is satire. Merriam-Webster's defines satire as "trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly"
Does making fun of Lieutenant General Andrew Leslie's last name ("an unusual name for a man") count as "trenchant wit"? And how about the awkward comments about Mexico and the word 'siesta'? Kind of uncomfortable, but funny... I don't know.
Now, I definitely believe that maybe we should all should lighten up a little bit-- take some comfort in the fact that the jokes on this show were pretty tired (making fun of mounties, really?). But let's ask ourselves why this made us so angry--- is it because making fun of the military during wartime should be off limits? Or does it have more to do with the pent up frustration with the US over the war in Afghanistan? Maybe these jocks at Fox news are just easy targets for our growing rage at our place in a war we no longer desire to be a part of... Or maybe we're upset because they call us out on our dependence on the US (something we like to fiercely deny, even though it's kind of true).
These guys might be the definition of "douchebag" but at least they've given us something to talk about.

Side note, you know what IS funny-- the Globe and Mail ran a little bio of the show's host, Greg Gutfeld, today and they listed his past jobs (Editor at Maxim, Stuff --how typical, right) while noting that he was basically fired from all of them. Zing.

Someone should get Gary Goodyear's grade 11 science teacher on the phone

Federal minister of state for Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear is kind of a sly bugger. First, he refuses to answer whether or not he believes in evolution (too personal/irrelevant a question for the minister of Science and Technology). Then, given a chance to explain himself, he bumbles his way through admitting that, of course, he believes in evolution (can't you feel the wrath of God upon him?) but he follows this up with some weird explanation suggesting evolution has to do with high heels, chiropractors and the intensity of the sun. Now, I'm not really a 'science man' but I'm pretty sure his comments are a little kooky--and the barrage of experts jumping up to correct his statements tend to agree. Maybe he was trying (and failing) to make a joke--or maybe he truly believes what he said. But I think he's trying to pull a fast one on us. It seems that this Goodyear fellow might have been giving God the ol' wink and nudge: "Hey buddy," nods Gary, "I know I'm going on record telling these people I believe in evolution, but I don't mean it like they think I do...so I can still come in, right?"

read more about this story here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090319.wcoevolve20/BNStory/specialComment/home