For those wondering how former President Ben Ali found a place of refuge, this Youtube video might help…
Category Archives: Humor and Satire
Which Terry Jones is Banned in the UK?
Which of these is the real loonie?
So here is late breaking news from the BBC: Terry Jones is banned from entering the UK. As it happens, of course, there is more than one Terry Jones out there and it is obvious that one of them is a loonie worthy of Monty Python satire. So which one is it? The one on the left or the one on the right (so far right he is off the end of a flat earth)?
The BBC clears up the confusion:
Controversial US pastor Terry Jones has been barred from entering the UK for the public good, the Home Office says.
The pastor, who last year planned a Koran-burning protest in the US, had been invited to address right-wing group England Is Ours in Milton Keynes.
The Home Office said Mr Jones could not enter the UK as the government “opposes extremism in all its forms”.
Mr Jones told BBC Radio 5 live he would challenge the “unfair” decision and his visit could have been “beneficial”. Continue reading Which Terry Jones is Banned in the UK?
THE STORY OF PYRAMID THOTHMES
THE STORY OF PYRAMID THOTHMES
THOTHMES, who loved a pyramid,
And dreamed of wonders that it hid,
Took up again one afternoon,
His longest staff, his sandal shoon,
His evening meal, his pilgrim flask,
And set himself at length the task,
Scorning the smaller and the small,
To climb the highest one of all.
The sun was very hot indeed,
Yet Thothmes never slacked his
Until upon the topmost stone
He lightly sat him down alone
To make himself some pleasant cheer
And turned to take his flask of beer,
For he was weary and athirst. Continue reading THE STORY OF PYRAMID THOTHMES
Ada Jones sings “An Arab Love Song”
Long before Lady Gaga or even Ella Fitzgerald there was the belle of Edison Record vaudeville. This was the warbler Ada Jones, who often sang duets with the indefatigable Billy Murray. One of her early songs, from 1909, was entitled “An Arab Love Song.” You can hear it on an original Gramophone on Youtube. A better recording is available here.
THE STORY OF PRINCE AGIB
Illustration of Prince Agib by Harry G. Theaker from The Arabian Nights
THE STORY OF PRINCE AGIB
by W. S. Gilbert
STRIKE the concertina’s melancholy string!
Blow the spirit-stirring harp like any thing!
Let the piano’s martial blast
Rouse the Echoes of the Past,
For of Agib, Prince of Tartary, I sing!
Of Agib, who amid Tartaric scenes,
Wrote a lot of ballet-music in his teens
His gentle spirit rolls
In the melody of souls –
Which is pretty, but I don’t know what it means
Of Agib, who could readily, at sight,
Strum a march upon the loud Theodolite :
He would diligently play
On the Zoetrope all day,
And blow the gay Pantechnicon all night.
One winter -I am shaky in my dates-
Came two starving minstrels to his gates,
Oh, Allah be obeyed,
How infernally they played
I remember that they called themselves the” Oiiaits.” Continue reading THE STORY OF PRINCE AGIB
Bin Who? Bin Laden?
Two protracted wars drag on as the so-called “War on Terror” seems to be winding down in theory. In another year our hunt for the infamous Osama Bin Laden will be almost a decade old. The detour into Iraq, toppling a brutal dictator and ensuring a far more Iran-friendly government in Iraq, is reaching a deadened end, if you do not count the numerous advisors who will remain in and out of uniform. Then there is Afghanistan, which was the bane of the Brits in the 19th century, the Soviets in the 20th century and most probably the Americans and NATO in the 21st century. Billions of dollars and thousands of lives later the reason the United States originally got involved in the region, specifically to capture Bin Laden and bring him to justice, remains unfulfilled. Whether cooling his heels in a Pakistani border cave or a Swat safe house, the suspected mastermind of the 9/11 bombing is still out there somewhere.
Imagine if Bin Laden could be captured? Well, if you read German, you have a guide. While in Vienna earlier this fall I picked up a copy of Bin Laden Enthüllt, a comic book by Mohamed Sifaoui and Philippe Vercovici (Frankfurt: Eichborn, 2009). Continue reading Bin Who? Bin Laden?
On Gadflies and Burlesque Phonies
Some say a picture is worth a thousand words. Surely the above photograph above of two aging heads of state on opposite sides of the Mediterranean is worth a thousand or even more or less. If you did not know the headline, what do you think these two men would be talking about? If you guessed immigration, you would be almost right. If you guessed romance and cross-cultural marriages, you would be exactly right, if The Guardian is to be believed. The Libyan government is using the services of an Italian match-making site called hostessweb to bring Italian women to Libya. The site is even available in 53 different languages, including Arabic, Swahili and Persian. All you need is an Internet connection and a credit card and some mutual language besides the universal code of love.
It seems that both Colonel Gaddafi and Silvio Berlusconi are friends. One might speculate on what they have in common. Being unpopular perhaps for their dictatorial ways? A soft spot for the gentler gender? Or maybe just a penchant to do favors for nephews. It seems that Colonel Gaddafi is worried about his nephew’s matrimonial future. As The Guardian reports: Continue reading On Gadflies and Burlesque Phonies
Sanity through Inanity
Yes, sanity through inanity, and certainly not with a talking (but brainless) head like Hannity. Yesterday comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert brought a few hours of utter sanity almost to the steps of Congress in their Rally to Restore Sanity. Fear and hate, the fuel of electoral robo-calling, were ridiculed. If, as Glenn Beck not long before sermonized, people in America have turned their back on God, perhaps they should back off a bit and act more like the Jesus of the beatitudes than Joshua at the battle of Jericho. All it takes to get back on track is for everyone to tone down the rhetoric and hear the laughter. For one sunny afternoon in our nation’s capital God finally had a reason to laugh, given the mess we humans have been making of things and each other. At least this time the stage featured two jesters who know they are jesters rather than Fox News’ gift to incivility. No one was compared to a Nazi, nor a Communist. As Stewart noted in an eloquent speech at the end of the show:
“This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or to look down our noses at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and we have nothing to fear.”
It was, contrary to those steeped in Tea Party rhetoric, a clarion call for the values that have become antithetical to our political system: being calm, civil and accepting of differences. Stewart has not only read Rousseau’s “social contract,” but reminds us through humor of the central importance of tolerance for democracy to work. If the world was watching yesterday, they finally had something to smile about: I do not only mean the jokes but an American proud of his country for the right reasons.
One of the right reasons is the beauty of a Jewish comedian defending the right of Muslims to be American too. Continue reading Sanity through Inanity