Al Franken...the second funniest guy from Minnesota
So my faithful leftist friends, and those righties who happily tolerate my anti-American, pinko, gay-loving, whale saving, tree hugging crap, I bring you good tidings. Amidst the reams of conservative rhetoric being spewed forth on the American book-buying public by the likes of uber-personalities Hannity, Savage and Limbaugh comes a great read by one of the few liberal superstars....Saturday Night Live's own Al Franken.
The Truth...with Jokes is the follow-up to his well-received and best selling Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them. I received Al's latest work as a Christmas present from the lovely Brook, who knows the way to a liberal's heart is through Amnesty International, I mean his brain.
I have to say, as much as I enjoyed Lies, The Truth is even better. While our favorite Harvard fellow and his team of fact checkers still delight in pointing out the gross hypocrisy of the w., Rummy, Uncle Dick, Wolfowitz (no nickname for this bastard) and Condi, Al also takes time to dissect timely stories both known (Terry Schiavo) and largely unknown (working conditions on the island of Saipan, a U.S. territory whose business interests have been in bed with Tom DeLay for years).
While Lies, generally speaking, was full of bile, Al takes the time with this work to fully flesh out issues of the day....and then point out how this administration doesn't really give two shites about us normal, everyday type Americans.
The book starts with Al's reflections on the fateful election of 2004 and explores how w.'s three pillars of Fear, Smears and Queers helped deliver the presidency. He scoffs at the idea of a Presidential mandate with 51 % of the popular vote.
Al also explores w.'s plans to privatize Social Security in order to "save" it. Along the way pointing out the numbers being used to "prove" Social Security's coming insolvency to be based on a life-expectancy of 150 with retirement age remaining at 67. That's an 83-year retirement for the non-math majors and, paraphrasing Al's words, we ain't getting there without stem-cell research.
Time and again Al is able to point out w.'s growing disconnect with regular folk as a by-product of his being beholden to corporate interest. The usual suspects are named, including Halliburton of course. Al also takes time to lob a few shots at the truly awful lobbyist Jack Abramoff, currently under federal indictment.
Ann Coulter, a few snide comments aside, is generally left alone in this work, but Al does point out the kid-gloves treatment Uncle Dick and Rummy received from the generally respected Tim Russert when it came to unfolding events in Iraq.
Iraq is one of the key issues of the book, naturally. Al points out the current administration's pre-occupation with the Iraqi invasion, even in the days following 9/11, as well as the administration's complete mis-handling of funds, Iraqi citizens, enemy soldiers, American soldiers, honesty with the media and pretty much every other aspect of Iraq in which our president, whether we voted for him or not, has let us down.
Unlike his last book, Al doesn't use his and our time to just complain either. While his ideas aren't by any means new or ground-breaking (elimination of the $90,000 cap on income taxes as well as the $5 million estate tax cap) he does show us the capacity for being a man of constructive ideas. That will bode well should he follow through on his plans to run for the Senate in the state of Minnesota in 2008.
So...I liked this book. Al has worked as a professional writer for years, so the writing is tight and flows very well. His army of fact-checkers leaves one with confidence the information being delivered is reliable. And face it...Al is a funny guy. He claims to only make two real jokes, and one bonus joke, in the book, but that in itself is a joke. There are few pages not containing at least one laugh. And they're not all mean-spirited laughs either...you hearing this Savage?
So treat yourself and pick-up The Truth...with Jokes the next time you pass your neighborhood bookstore. You never know...you might be reading a future senatorial platform.
The Truth...with Jokes is the follow-up to his well-received and best selling Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them. I received Al's latest work as a Christmas present from the lovely Brook, who knows the way to a liberal's heart is through Amnesty International, I mean his brain.
I have to say, as much as I enjoyed Lies, The Truth is even better. While our favorite Harvard fellow and his team of fact checkers still delight in pointing out the gross hypocrisy of the w., Rummy, Uncle Dick, Wolfowitz (no nickname for this bastard) and Condi, Al also takes time to dissect timely stories both known (Terry Schiavo) and largely unknown (working conditions on the island of Saipan, a U.S. territory whose business interests have been in bed with Tom DeLay for years).
While Lies, generally speaking, was full of bile, Al takes the time with this work to fully flesh out issues of the day....and then point out how this administration doesn't really give two shites about us normal, everyday type Americans.
The book starts with Al's reflections on the fateful election of 2004 and explores how w.'s three pillars of Fear, Smears and Queers helped deliver the presidency. He scoffs at the idea of a Presidential mandate with 51 % of the popular vote.
Al also explores w.'s plans to privatize Social Security in order to "save" it. Along the way pointing out the numbers being used to "prove" Social Security's coming insolvency to be based on a life-expectancy of 150 with retirement age remaining at 67. That's an 83-year retirement for the non-math majors and, paraphrasing Al's words, we ain't getting there without stem-cell research.
Time and again Al is able to point out w.'s growing disconnect with regular folk as a by-product of his being beholden to corporate interest. The usual suspects are named, including Halliburton of course. Al also takes time to lob a few shots at the truly awful lobbyist Jack Abramoff, currently under federal indictment.
Ann Coulter, a few snide comments aside, is generally left alone in this work, but Al does point out the kid-gloves treatment Uncle Dick and Rummy received from the generally respected Tim Russert when it came to unfolding events in Iraq.
Iraq is one of the key issues of the book, naturally. Al points out the current administration's pre-occupation with the Iraqi invasion, even in the days following 9/11, as well as the administration's complete mis-handling of funds, Iraqi citizens, enemy soldiers, American soldiers, honesty with the media and pretty much every other aspect of Iraq in which our president, whether we voted for him or not, has let us down.
Unlike his last book, Al doesn't use his and our time to just complain either. While his ideas aren't by any means new or ground-breaking (elimination of the $90,000 cap on income taxes as well as the $5 million estate tax cap) he does show us the capacity for being a man of constructive ideas. That will bode well should he follow through on his plans to run for the Senate in the state of Minnesota in 2008.
So...I liked this book. Al has worked as a professional writer for years, so the writing is tight and flows very well. His army of fact-checkers leaves one with confidence the information being delivered is reliable. And face it...Al is a funny guy. He claims to only make two real jokes, and one bonus joke, in the book, but that in itself is a joke. There are few pages not containing at least one laugh. And they're not all mean-spirited laughs either...you hearing this Savage?
So treat yourself and pick-up The Truth...with Jokes the next time you pass your neighborhood bookstore. You never know...you might be reading a future senatorial platform.
posted by The Crazy Leftist at 5:42 AM
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Editor's Note: Your constant, caring blogger is from Minnesota. The title of this post may, in fact, be some sort of sly self-glorification. I'll let each and every one of you, his faithful readers, know more as soon as I know more.
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