Recently in Humor Category

Last night the Middlewife and I went to see An American Carol. We did so in response to a suggestion from Brian Noggle via Instapundit that doing so might help "refocus Hollywood money men on making films that people want to see that portray Christianity favorably or lampoon the taboo subjects of Liberalism"

I'm writing now because a Palin-size effort appears underway by mainstream media movie critics to say this movie is not worth seeing. In my opinion, those critics are wrong.

Yes, it's a sophomoric effort, with limitations in the skills of the actors, but it's also a hilarious sendup of important topics most movies lack the courage to touch with a ten foot pole. According to the first review I'd read (from the Boston Herald, which I thought used to be a somewhat conservative paper, but you'd never know it from the review) the movie is "mirthless." We, on the other hand, were laughing right from the first scene, and through most of the others all the way to the end.

An American Carol earns its PG-13 rating with profanity and sexual references, and the humor is often Three Stooges-crude, but it was such a joy to see someone finally making fun of things that need to be made fun of, by that rarity - someone with the courage to do so.

One of my favorite Economic rules is that "you get more of what you pay for" (probably from P.J. O'Rourke, but I can't find the reference), so if you'd like to see more movies that are not just anti-all-things-American propaganda, reward yourself by seeing this one. Even if it's your side being made fun of on some issue, seeing the humor in it will do you good.

Our South Barrington campus pastor made this Biblical note of today's NFL playoff game between the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints: "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." Psalm 116:15 (NIV).

It was a funny example of isogesis (reading scripture in light of what you want it to say), and in that sense prophetic - the Bears won: 39 to 14, and are headed for the Super Bowl, for the first time since our senior pastor was chaplain for the Bears back in the '80s. There was also lots of sympathy for the Saints, given the troubles of their city in the past two years, just getting here was a big deal for them.

Author Steven Den Beste just posted this memorable comment on the Miserable Donuts blog:
"A 'racist' is anyone who is winning an argument with a lefty."

Den Beste also commented:
"A 'sexist' is anyone who is winning an argument with a woman."

My somewhat more liberal than me brother once sent me a quote of "Things you have to believe to be a Republican today." A typical one of 20 entries was:
Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist,
but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

I replied as follows, illustrating my middle of the road political views:

I was sent one very similar in tone attacking Democrats. It didn't seem fair either, but see for yourself. I've now posted both offerings, here and here.

Here's one I _do_ consider fair:
"A Republican is a Democrat who's been mugged.
A Democrat is a Republican who's been arrested."

Later note: David Souter, one of the most liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices was mugged 5/1/04. I wonder if that will affect any of his future votes?

Here's another:
"Democrats want the Government out of your bedroom but in your wallet.
Republicans want the Government out of your wallet but in your bedroom.
Libertarians want the Government out of both."

Update #1:
Since, I've thought of one more, from a Mallard Fillmore comic once published by jewishworldreview:
"You should probably vote Democratic if:
You think trees have feelings, and unborn babies don't."

Update #2:
The Chicago Sun Times recently contained a quote with which I agree completely: "I'd rather spend my weekends exterminating rats in the tunnels below Penn Station than read a book by either Bill O'Reilly or Michael Moore." -- Daniel Okrent, outlining his political affiliation in his inaugural column Dec. 7 as the new ombudsman for the New York Times.

Update #3:
In a letter to World Net Daily, Frank Brady writes as follows: Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson, a loyal Republican, used to say: "We have two political parties in this country, the Stupid Party and the Evil Party. I belong to the Stupid Party."

Update #4:
The Ann Coulter Talking Action Figure disagrees. One of its quotes from Ann is:
"Swing voters are more appropriately known as the 'idiot voters' because they have no set of philosophical principles. By the age of fourteen, you're either a Conservative or a Liberal if you have an IQ above a toaster."

Update #5:
�If you�re under 20 and you�re already a Republican,
you have no heart.
But if you�re over 30 and you�re still a Democrat,
you have no brain.�
�
�Maybe they should change their mascots
to the Tin Man and Scarecrow�
James Halpern, in The Truth Machine

Update6: Thanks to linkspam, comments on this blog have been disabled. You can, however, still email me at manin_themiddle at yahoo dot com. Note: again, due to the spammers, I've spelled out "at" for "@" and "dot" for "." in the Email address, and be sure to leave out all spaces, as those aren't allowed in Email addresses.

Update7: "What do you call people who vote for Bush but shop at Whole Foods? Crunchy cons. ... Yet crunchy cons stand apart from both the Republican 'Party of Greed' and the Democratic 'Party of Lust'". Hmm. the quote is from the lead Amazon review of Crunchy Cons, and begs the question "If you were forming a national potitical party, which of the seven deadly sins (sloth, pride, wrath, lust, gluttony, envy or greed) would yours favor?", although a better question might be "How could a national political party keep itself relatively free of all seven?"
.
Update8: Chris Matthews reports (PDF file) "There's the Mommy Party and the Daddy Party. The Daddy Party is good for guns and foreign policy and tough on crime. They're the ones who lock the doors at night. Bush is a classic Daddy Party guy. The Democrats believe in Social Security, health, education--all the things that nurture a country into becoming a great country--the mommy party. As James Carville says, sometimes you need your mommy, and sometimes you need your daddy."

Peter Signorelli comments "It is when these two opposing forces are in balance that there is harmony in the family. When one party overpowers the other, there is discord and ultimately failure. (Wanniski has written that in the extremes, the "daddy state" becomes Hitler-like, fascistic while the "mommy state" becomes Maoist, communist.) In not seeing these distinctions, Brooks bristles that Colin Powell in his address to the GOP convention sounded similar to Mario Cuomo in a Democratic Party convention speech, in which Cuomo said America should be a family. While coming from different directions, though, both hit upon the central truth of our two-party system, that it works best when the forces are in bipartisan balance and complementary. The concept was best summarized by Ronald Reagan in his 1980 acceptance speech at the Republican national convention in Detroit, when he said we had to get America moving again, but would not leave anyone behind. It is no coincidence that Wanniski wrote that line and that it is now being used by both Democrats and Republicans as they attempt to find balance in the national political family."