Category Archives: Humor

Joe Biden

…and his terrible truths:

It takes years of yoga to learn the posture necessary for speaking clearly with all your feet in your mouth. But for some the skill comes naturally, which brings us to Joe Biden. Those who saw Dick Cheney as an evil genius crouched silent in the shadows of the Oval Office like Nosferatu must enjoy Biden’s high profile: he’s out there daily with the sunny enthusiasm of Ronald McDonald opening another store. And, quite often, telling everyone to have a Whopper.

It’s by Lileks, so you know you want to click to read the rest.

Sotomayor Clarifies

In a guest editorial over at Burge’s place:

As a Justicia on the Tribunal Supremo I will be naturally vigilant for any colleague who strays from the law, and will not hesitate to clobber them with the rodillo of established legal precedence. Afterwards, when we have reached consensus, there will be hot makeup majority opinions.

This is exactly the kind of wise, precedent-faithful Latina legal approach that I believe will be welcome by others on the Supreme Court bench, all of whom bring their own unique genetic legal wisdom and instinctual empathy. Justices Roberts and Souter for example, with their aloof, sexless, constipated, emotionally-stunted WASPy intellects and natural affinity for preppy white collar criminals. Justice Stevens has this as well, along with a keen grasp for the legal issues facing Americans with senile dementia. As an Irishman, Justice Kennedy enjoys a natural “gift of the gab” and poetically tragic alcoholism. Like you, I imagine that Justice Breyer can be kind of pushy and whiny, but we should also remember that as a Jew he is probably very skilled at cases that involve complicated numbers and math. To the casual observer, it probably seems absurd to have greasy Italian “goodfellas” like Justices Alito and Scalia working inside the legal system, but if we give them a chance they may eventually break the code of Omerta and finally turn state’s evidence against their Cosa Nostra bosses. Yes, many have criticized Justice Thomas for being a self-hating “Oreo” and “Uncle Tom,” but I like to think that deep inside him still lurks the the DNA of an angry Cadillac-driving streetwise Superfly, ready to show “The Man” that his pimp hand is strong.

As he says, adding a little spice to the menudo of justice.

Virgin-Americans, United

The Democrats have really awakened a sleeping giant (so to speak) with the energy bill:

In order to secure the votes of wavering Democrats, House leaders Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman inserted several last minute amendments to the legislation, including provisions for national oxygen rationing, witch burnings, dousings, and phrenology research. But the one that has seemingly stoked a grassroots backlash is the controversial Sexually Inexperienced Citizen Environmental Volunteer Amendment. The wording of the amendment calls for all American virgins over the age of 21 to register with the Selective Sacrifice Board, for possible use as victims in nationally televised vivisections intended to “supplicate the Earth-Spirits.”

Reaction, in some quarters, was swift and harsh. Robert ‘Shadowfyre’ Jardocki of the Wizard and Warlocks Guild called it “an affront to all Virtual America, from Second Life to World of Warcraft,” and vowed his group would cast the “most powerful lobbying spell the country has ever seen.” Denise ‘Lady Gwynnethynn’ Kelly of the American Society of Renaissance Faire Royalty decried it as “a unconstitutional attack on our members and their ladies in-waiting.” The National Association of Space Fantasists made an impassioned “call to light sabers,” while the Brotherhood of Sports Bar Regulars vowed a “million replica jersey march” on Washington to stop its passage. Other groups uniting to oppose the bill include MENSA, the Society for the Identification of Motion Picture Continuity Problems, and the American Association of Anonymous Comment Thread Trolls.

“Congress and the Administration really stirred up a hornet’s nest of virgins with this bill,” said longtime Washington-watcher Michael Barone. “The response really caught them flat-footed. I don’t think they realized just how adept the virgin community is at computers, and how much time they have between ComiCons or SpaceCons or whatever-cons. Instead of calling into sports radio shows, now they’re calling the capitol switchboard.”

Who knows how many other easter eggs like this are in the bill? No one knows, because we’re not allowed to read it.

Back To The Stone Age

A thirteen-year-old boy goes retro:

My friends couldn’t imagine their parents using this monstrous box, but there was interest in what the thing was and how it worked.

In some classes in school they let me listen to music and one teacher recognised it and got nostalgic.

It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette.

Another notable feature that the iPod has and the Walkman doesn’t is “shuffle”, where the player selects random tracks to play. Its a function that, on the face of it, the Walkman lacks. But I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down “rewind” and releasing it randomly – effective, if a little laboured.

I told my dad about my clever idea. His words of warning brought home the difference between the portable music players of today, which don’t have moving parts, and the mechanical playback of old. In his words, “Walkmans eat tapes”. So my clumsy clicking could have ended up ruining my favourite tape, leaving me music-less for the rest of the day.

How did we survive?

A Victim Of Obama’s Heavy Hand

The widow of the assassinated fly is suing the president:

“Bob was a wonderful husband and provider,” said the widow, Mrs. Vivian Vvzzvzwwzzz, wiping tears from her compound eyes. “Even though he was always busy at the Rose Garden turd pile, he always flew home in time to tuck in our maggots.”

The 17-day old widow said the grieving process since the murder has taken its toll.

“Although it’s been nearly 48 hours, I still get an empty feeling in my thorax everytime I think about it,” she said. “I feel like I’ve aged an entire week. Mating season is over, and here I am, stuck trying to raise 532 larvae on my own.”

Let’s just hope that the president doesn’t try to intimidate any witnesses this time.

Fish. Barrel.

A blog about interns in DC:

(Talking about the recent pirate troubles off the coast of Africa)

Intern #1 So do these pirates look like pirates?

Intern #2: What do you mean?

Intern #1: Well, what do they look like?

Intern #2: They’re people with normal clothes . . .and guns.

Intern #1 So they’re not like real pirates?

Intern #2: ?

Intern #1: When I think of pirates I think of Pirates of Caribbean. Do they look like that?

Intern #2: Pirates back then dressed like that because that was the clothes of the day. Pirates today dress in today’s clothes.

Intern #1: Well they should at least still have eye patches.

And then there’s this:

Four interns sit down in my section and order four Bud Lights.

Me: I’m sorry, fellas, we don’t have Bud Light. We have PBR on draft, though.

Intern #1: (sighs) Fine, four of those.

Me: No problem. I just need to see your ID’s.

Intern #2: You don’t need to see our ID’s. We work for Congressman _______ from ________. (Flashes his red badge)

Me: Sorry, dude, but unless the Distinguished Gentleman from _______ is willing to use his oversight authority to make the $10,000 fine that we’d get slapped with for serving you without ID’s go away, and give me a paying job when I get fired anyway, I’m still going to have to see them.

Intern #1: Wow, “oversight authority.” That’s more knowledge than I’d expect from someone with your job.

Me: And that’s about as much ignorance as I’d expect from someone who agreed to lick envelopes for free.

Every customer within earshot starts laughing. The interns pitch a royal fit, call my manager over, and get kicked out anyway. The best part? Not only did I get a $20 bonus from my manager for doing my job right, all of my other customers tipped me at least double.

Thanks for buying me a the new iPhone, boys. Y’all come back anytime.

[Via Jonah]