Per usual, it seems, we've got our paw on the pulse of the zeitgeist: John Avlon declared in The Daily Beast today that comedians have officially taken over our politics. (Avlon's examples are about what you'd expect: Stephen Colbert testifying before Congress, in character; Jon Stewart's upcoming "Rally to Restore Sanity" on the national mall; Bill Maher's merciless trial-by-video-clip of Delaware senate candidate Christine O'Donnell, who appears to be just as nutty as advertised.) According to Avlon, comedians are driving the political debate this year and doing a better job than either journalists or politicians of doing the one thing that matters most in public life: telling the truth. That's right, people: It takes a joke to tickle a village into facing the facts, sordid or painful as they may be, and you have to admit the facts are pretty sordid and painful these days. That's why we're here. And we think it's why a lot of you are here. Here. Ya know? (H/T to a QTU classicist for calling our attention to Avlon's piece.)
Anyway, it's in that spirit of comic public service that I sent my typist back to the University of Illinois agricultural extension's website dedicated to promoting resources related to the production and management of livestock manure. (We stumbled upon this vital repository of scatological information by way of University Diaries. Lord knows how she got there, but we are glad she did.) We decided to pilfer the image that runs across the top of the website, which, as we noted the other day, is on a rich, poo-brown background. We have a hunch it might come in handy around here, as a way to call your attention to stories on, oh, golly, I don't know, this, that, or the other thing. What do you think?
We think it's a nice succinct visual representation of our determination to call 'em as we see 'em. And a cute evocation of my typist's Midwestern girlhood, despite the fact that she spent way more time at the mall than she did on the farm, I assure you. Be sure to let us know when you come across stories that you think deserve this label, and we'll slap it up here quicker than you can say, "Does Obama think we don't know he could overturn Don't Ask, Don't Tell with the stroke of a pen?"
Happy Saturday, my little pooh bears. In keeping with today's gastrointestinal emphasis, we'll play you off with a bouncy bathroom ditty from Sarah Silverman. Enjoy, darlings, and whatever you do, don't step in it! Peace out.
| The Sarah Silverman Program | ||||
| Poop Song | ||||
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Poop makes life worth living.
ReplyDeleteAnd not pooping makes it unlivable. Moose learned this, sadly, when her father died of colon cancer.
ReplyDeleteYikes. There's a Saturday night buzz killer for ya. Sorry, CPP.
Article in Post today about our human biome: our guts and their ecology that begins as we are birthed and over the course of our lives, with intermittent antibios having effects that, repeated, can alter that ecology permanently. And what does it all mean? It means that examining poop not only can be life-saving (colon cancer for one reason) but also that examining poop can teach us secrets of life! The dogs always knew that and tried to show us how.... Roxie -- we honor your poop investigations and the joy of smells....
ReplyDeleteThe absolutely riveting WaPo (or should that be WaPoo?) article to which Katie refers is here. You absolutely must go read it. We were going to do a followup post on it, but my typist is a little worried about us becoming, um, a poop blog.
ReplyDeleteMoose has long maintained that antibiotics are destroying the human race. This article proves it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanure
ReplyDeleteAs a UofI alum, I'm relieved they're sticking to animal poo.