Though Obama released Bush Era torture memos ten days ago, they’re still all anyone in the news media (both real and fake) has been able to talk about since. I can’t really say why. Perhaps they take a very long time to read? Perhaps people are comforted by finding something even more depressing than the economy? Whatever the reason, torture was the name of the game at Comedy Central, a high order, considering that even I have issues joking about torture. That’s right. I’ll make off-color jokes about 9/11 but torture? Torture is a challenge.
And that’s why I leave such things to the professionals.
Jon probably produced the best round-up of this issue on Thursday. Remember, America, things are only problems when you know about it. And by “know about it” I mean “had definitive proof”, because every major news source reporting it just wasn’t good enough. Now, America is angry. And when America gets angry, that’s when Stephen comes in.
And it wasn’t just the press that was angry. Former Vice President Dick Cheney and Karl Rove also got angry. Such anger caused one of my favorite correspondents, John Oliver, to travel to and report from Bizzaro Washington, where their calls for transparency make perfect sense.
But it wasn’t all torture and bad times. Plenty of other things happened this week for Jon and Stephen to make fun of. It was, for instance, Earth Day on Wednesday. Stephen had a few words for The Price Is Right, which went green in honor of the occasion.
In between telling of Sheppard Smith and The Price is Right, Stephen also managed to release and preview his fantastic new album, Blown Away By the USA. You can take a listen for yourselves:
Meanwhile, The Daily Show looked towards the future in their new segment, “Sh#t That’s Never Gonna Happen”. This week, new resolutions by the UN and a global currency, as well as Unicorn porn.
Speaking of Sh#t That’s Never Gonna Happen, in Tip of the Hat/Wag of the Finger, Stephen takes on two highly inevitable topics — Texas seceding from the union and the Obamas spraying pesticides on their new White House garden.
And finally, normally I don’t think interviews are the best part of either Jon or Stephen’s shows. In fact, unless they’re interviewing Paul Rudd, they’re usually the worst parts. But guys, I have to admit that I’ve gotten a new boyfriend since Monday, and his name is Reza Aslan.
Look at those brains! That hip, down-to-earth political reasoning! That thick, curly hair! Those dimples you could drown in! Dear Reza, if you would, please consider switching from statuesque, intimidatingly Amazonian beauties like Angelina Jolie to short, nerdy Jewish girls with red hair and hipster glasses. We’re a specialized bunch, but a little birdy told me we make excellent girlfriends.
Photo Credit: Comedy Central
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Clacked by Julia Hass
on Apr 26, 2009 @ 15:50 EST5EDT
Your not understanding of why we are still talking about the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA torturing people is part of the reason we need to continue to talk about it.
*POST AUTHOR*
No, what I don’t understand is why this is news. I’ve read the torture memos and they tell us very little that we haven’t known since 2005 from eyewitness accounts. In fact, we’ve known that the US does torture since even earlier than that, thanks to Abu Ghraib. As early as 2001 we knew that the FBI was open to using harsher methods in interrogations. The release of these torture memos only gives us grounds to open investigations which, in my mind, we had grounds to open before.