Fields of Comedy Gold

Posted by JHW22

They say comedy is only good when it's true. That is why Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are considered to be, by many, a valid source of information. Not only are the hilarious, but they are honest. They present situations in the most basic, unshielded sense of reality they can manage. They make us laugh as they make us think.

Today, Stephen Colbert testified before Congress in regards to migrant field workers, after he volunteered for one day picking beans and corn. He was one of fewer than 20 Americans who signed up for the "Take Our Jobs" public awareness campaign to walk a mile in a migrant farmer's shoes.

His testimony was "in character" and as funny as his show during the opening statements and bits throughout the Q & A session but the moments that were most powerful were when Stephen Colbert, the person, made eloquent, sensible and humane statements about how we treat people doing the hardest work.

The complete hearing is over two hours and is valuable but if you only have time for recaps, The Raw Story has done a good job.

Editor's Note:

Thanks, Jennifer for posting this. I watched part of the hearings live and while most of the coverage was about Colbert's opening statement or the fauxrage about making the hearings a mockery (while the GOP invited Sesame Street's Elmo to testify a while back), very few, if anyone, actually commented on the substance of the hearings - not only about what Stephen Colbert said, but the other invited panelists as well.

And this, of course was my favorite moment, not because I am a religious person, but because of the hypocrisy of those who hide behind The Bible when it suits them:

Tancredo AGAINST Repealing 14th Amendment?!

Tom Tancredo is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma surrounded by a douchebag.

Via TPM:
It turns out that Tom Tancredo... actually opposes changing the Constitution in order to end birthright citizenship.

...Instead of changing the Constitution to put a stop to so-called "anchor babies," Tancredo says he would instigate a good old-fashioned court battle.

Reports CNN:

Tancredo also said he would force the issue "through the mechanism we use to fund education. We could say for instance that we are not going to provide support for people, the children of people who are here illegally."*

Snapping his fingers for emphasis, he explained, "That would immediately start a lawsuit just like that and hopefully it would get to the Supreme Court right away."

* That's the douchebag part.

President Obama's Immigration Reform Speech

Quote of the Day

Eugene Robinson: Isn't the whole premise of the Tea Party movement that overreaching government poses a grave threat to individual freedom? It seems to me that a law allowing individuals to be detained and interrogated on a whim -- and requiring legal residents to carry identification documents, as in a police state -- would send the Tea Partyers into apoplexy. Or is there some kind of exception if the people whose freedoms are being taken away happen to have brown skin and might speak Spanish?

Hey Arizona: How About Having An Illegal EMPLOYER Law?

More than half of the Arizona businesses that had their workforces audited by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents since last July have been found to have illegal workers on their payrolls.

If there were stiff penalties for hiring illegal workers, maybe we wouldn't be seeing unconstitutional laws signed by governors for political advantage. Theoretically, I could be on vacation in Arizona and be stopped and arrested by law enforcement officials because I'm not carrying my birth certificate. Show of hands: how many people carry their birth certificates with them?

Stop hiring them and they'll stop coming.

Aren't You Glad He's Not Our President?

Say whatever's convenient at the time.

Crooks and Liars: "...CNN noted on Friday, John McCain was for comprehensive immigration reform before he was against it before he was for it and, ultimately, against it again.

Hard-pressed on his right flank by J.D. Hayworth, John McCain on Monday broke his silence on the new law. He endorsed the measure as a "good tool" because, among other things, "drivers of cars with illegals in them that are intentionally causing accidents on the freeways."

For their part, Suzanne Malveaux and Dana Bash of CNN went to the videotape to show McCain's pathetic back-and-forth-and-back-and-forth on immigration."

MAVERICK!!!