Archive for the ‘Constitution Humor’ Category

First Pakistan And Then…

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

While Bush and Cheney are busily threatening World War 3 over of Iran’s potential future nuclear threat, their great nuke-possessing Pakistan pal President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has declared “emergency rule.”  Are you feeling safer yet?

A pair of haiku to commemorate the occasion.

Musharraf  declares
Martial law in Pakistan.
Bush lets freedom ring.

Emergency rule.
Constitution suspension.
Dick Cheney’s wet dream.

Update: Are Bush/Cheney speechwriters working for Musharraf?

Just after midnight, General Musharraf appeared on state-run television. In a 45-minute speech, he said he had declared the emergency to limit terrorist attacks and “preserve the democratic transition that I initiated eight years back.”

He accused the country’s Supreme Court of releasing 61 men who he said were under investigation for terrorist activities. “Judicial activism,” he said, had demoralized the security forces, hurt the fight against terrorism and slowed the spread of democracy. “Obstacles are being created in the way of democratic process,” he said, “I think for vested, personal interests, against the interest of the country.”

Update 2: For more satire on the same topic, visit Don Davis’s Musharraf Suspends Constitution: Bush Gets ‘Pervez Envy.’[tags]Pakistan, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Emergency Rule, Nukes, BlogFriday, Martial Law, Nuclear Threat[/tags]

Shorter Michael Mukasey

Monday, October 22nd, 2007

Here’s how I’d sum up Attorney General nominee Mike Mukasey’s Senate Judiciary Committee testimony about torture, waterboarding, and the U.S. Constitution:

Torture: Bad

Tortured Language: Good[tags]Michael Mukasey, Attorney General Nominee, Torture & Waterboarding Satire[/tags]

Democrats Make Elephants Of Themselves

Saturday, September 22nd, 2007

Avedon Carol is furious and so am I.  What are we mad about? Avedon’s must-read “Spitting Nails” sums it up much better than I could:

I gotta tell ya, I was pretty much speechless when I came home last night and discovered that 22 Democrats who didn’t have time to fight long and hard for our Constitutional rights, or to impose strong oversight and timelines on funding bills (or simply refuse to pass them), or even for our troops in the field to get reasonable breaks, were nevertheless willing to sign on to the GOP resolution to condemn MoveOn.org for telling the truth about David Petreaus. …

The New York Times isn’t impressed by the Dems either,
lambasting Democrats in this excellent editorial:

If you were one of the Americans waiting for Congress, under Democratic control, to show leadership on the war in Iraq, the message from the Senate is clear: “Nevermind.” The same goes for those waiting for lawmakers to fix the damage done to civil liberties by six years of President Bush and a rubber-stamp Republican Congress.

The Democrats don’t have, or can’t summon, the political strength to make sure Congress does what it is supposed to do: debate profound issues like these and take a stand. …

(Though something tells me the New York Times isn’t quite angry enough to print this ad.) 

And now it’s time for a limerick:

Democrats Make Elephants Of Themselves
By Madeleine Begun Kane

I keep waiting for Dems to unite
And fin’ly put up a good fight.
But they kowtow to Bush
And kiss GOP tush
Cuz, alas, they’re Republican-lite.

=========

Some links, for your reading and viewing pleasure:
* The Stranger’s angry too, and Digby explains why only Republicans are allowed to employ plays on words.
* Emmy Awards Show clips and quotables, courtesy of About.com’s Political Humor.
* The always funny Don Davis on Your Top Ten Headlines In Larry Craig’s Return To The Senate.
* My good pal skippy isn’t impressed with Bush’s “poetic metaphors.”
* Steve Bates, my favorite doggerelist, penned a thoughtful post about the much maligned MoveOn ad and free speech.
* Cartoonist Mr. Fish on John Kerry’s lame reaction to the tasering incident. (via OneGoodMove)
* Carnival Of Satire
* Blog Carnival of Observations On Life [tags]Democrats Symbol, Republicans Symbol, Elephant And Donkey, Dems Humor, Republican Lite[/tags]

Mustachioed Men — Downtrodden Minority Group? (Updated — Limerick Revised)

Saturday, September 1st, 2007

Is  the American Mustache Institute (AMI) for real? When I first read about it, I figured it must surely be fictitious.  Either that  … or John Bolton’s new employer. But the AMI, a sort of mustache anti-defamation league, apparently does exist, with this as its stated goal:

To battle negative stereotyping that has accompanied the mustache since those glory years of the 1970s – the peak of mustache acceptance – fighting to create a climate of acceptance, understanding, flavor saving, and upper lip warmth for all mustached Americans alike.

I think the American Mustache Institute deserves a limerick don’t you?

Ode to Mustached Men, The Forgotten Minority
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Ending prejudice—that’s the group’s aim.
“Don’t be bigots!” its members exclaim.
What’s the bias they face?
Not their age, faith or race—
Anti-mustache behavior’s to blame.

Yet Another Filibuster Song Parody (The Full-a-Bluster Song)

Tuesday, July 17th, 2007

Remember when the Republican majority flipped out at the mere whisper of the word filibuster? Remember when GOPers led by Bill Frist, Mitch McConnell, and Trent Lott threatened the “nuclear option” if Democrats had the audacity to filibuster any of George Bush’s extremist judicial nominees?

Those were heady days back then, when Republicans would scream “Up or down vote!” and decry Democrats as “obstructionists,” and the media would obediently parrot their condemnations. Oh yes … and the Democrats caved and failed to filibuster, giving us a whole slew of rightwingnut federal judges who will haunt us for many decades to come.

Well now that the Republicans are the minority party they just love the filibuster and have conveniently forgotten that they ever condemned it.

Back when filibusters were “bad,” I wrote a filibuster song parody to the French-Canadian children’s song Alouette.  Somehow it seems like a good time for a new set of lyrics to the same tune:

The Full-a-Bluster Song
By Madeleine Begun Kane

“Filibuster.
Ban the filibuster!”
Ancient bluster
from the GOP.

With a Dem majority
Republicans think differently:
“Great device!
Ain’t it nice.
Blocks Dem bills!
They’re all on ice.”

Oh…

Filibuster
Suddenly has luster.
Grand Old Party’s
Hack Hypocrisy. 

(You can find more of my political song parodies here.)[tags]Filibuster, GOP Hypocrisy, Trent Lott, Mitch McConnell, Bill Frist, Song Parody, Republicans, Iraq War, Nuclear Option, Up Or Down Vote, Obstructionism, Judicial Nominees[/tags]

Dick “Constitution Killer” Cheney Strikes Again

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

I wonder if President Bush was as surprised as the rest of us at learning that his VEEP isn’t part of the Executive Branch.  Yup, Bush’s Lord and Master Dick Cheney has declared his office to be exempt from all sorts of pesky legal Executive Branch requirements because — presto chango — it isn’t part of the Executive Branch.  Needless to say, Henry Waxman and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee aren’t pleased with Cheney’s out-of-the-box Constitution-plundering assertion.

Just one question: If VEEP Cheney isn’t part of the Executive Branch, does that mean he’s waived his right to claim Executive Privilege?  Just wondering.

(You can find more of my legal and lawyer humor and satire here.)

[tags]Dick Cheney, Vice President Richard Cheney, Executive Privilege, Executive Branch, Chairman Waxman, House Oversight And Government Reform Committee, Constitutional Crisis, George Bush, Satire[/tags]

Bush’s Language Police Foiled By Bush/Cheney Expletives

Thursday, June 7th, 2007

Remember the time Dick Cheney told to Senator Leahy what he could do to himself on the Senate floor? Remember the time George Bush was overheard wishing that someone could get the Hezbollah “to stop doing this [expletive deleted]?”  Well, a federal appeals panel remembers and cites these incidents as a basis for shutting down the F.C.C.’s anti-fleeting expletive crusade.

It’s deliciously ironic, don’t you think? And it’s haiku inspiring too:

Fleeting expletives
Uttered by Bush and Cheney
Stymie censorship. [tags]FCC, Bush expletive, Cheney expletive, FCC Censorship[/tags]

Dems Pull Bush’s Chain

Sunday, March 25th, 2007

Dems Pull Bush’s Chain
By Madeleine Begun Kane

The Congressional Dems reached a deal.
No, it isn’t ideal, yet I feel
It’s all right—a first step.
Stop this war? Dems said, “Yep!”
As for reining in Bush, they said, “Heel!”  [tags]Congress Humor, Iraq War, Spending Bill, House Bill, Rein In Bush, U.S. Troops Readiness, Veterans’ Health and Iraq Accountability Act, Strategic Redeployment, U.S. Troops[/tags]

Ode To Dennis “Muslim Menace” Prager

Tuesday, December 5th, 2006

Ode To Dennis “Muslim Menace” Prager
By Madeleine Begun Kane

I’m enraged at host Prager. Yes, Dennis.
To the truth he is rather a menace,
Cause he gave Muslims grief
When he lied about Keith,
By inventing a Biblical oath dis. [tags]Dennis Prager, Keith Ellison, Media Humor, Koran, Bible, Muslim Congressman[/tags]

Torture Bill Haiku

Friday, September 29th, 2006

The Constitution
Was cast aside by Congress.
Hideous corpus!

[tags]Constitutional Law, Habeas Corpus, Detainees, Terror Suspects, Torture, Interrogation Techniques[/tags]

Bush Clouds Issue With “Clarity”

Sunday, September 24th, 2006

Clarity in torture rules?
Bush must think we’re drooling fools.
What he really wants and needs
Are pardons for his lawless deeds.

(My political verse is collected here.)

[tags]Bush, Clarity, Humor, Geneva Conventions, Pardons, Poems, Poetry, Torture, Satire, White House [/tags]

Ode To Bush Loyalists

Sunday, September 24th, 2006

George Dub’s defenders shock me still,
Especially those up on the Hill.
Though Bush defies them every day,
Compliantly, they Bush obey.

You’d think those House and Senate guys
Would tire of George Bush’s lies.
But though he treats them with disdain,
On his parade, they just won’t rain.

(My political verse is collected here.)

[tags]Bush, Humor, Congress, GOP, Hill, House, Lies, Poems, Poetry, Republicans, Senate, White House[/tags]

Amazing Disgrace (Bush Song Parody)

Sunday, September 24th, 2006

Amazing Disgrace (To be sung to the tune of Amazing Grace)
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Our Bill of Rights, how sweet the sound.
It’s kept our people free.
Alas, we’re lost, cause Dub’s unbound.
He flouts it joyfully.

Our founders told us to beware
The blight of tyranny.
Bush-Cheney threaten rights held dear.
It’s time to dump some tea.

Exploiting danger, risks, and fear.
Exploiting Nine-One-One.
Bush brags we’re safe within his care.
I fear that evil’s won.

Unless we fight, we won’t be free.
We must our rights secure.
It’s time to oust the GOP,
And shove them out the door.
And shove them out the door.

© August 14, 2006 Madeleine Begun Kane. All Rights Reserved.

My song parodies are here, and my other (non-political) humor blog is here.

[tags]9/11, Humor, Bush, Constitution, Democracy, Election  GOP, Nine Eleven, Republicans, Song Parodies, War, Satire, White House[/tags]