Tag: politics

caption contest, lawmakers playing Solitaire instead of working

It may be late this week, but our weekly caption contest is finally here.  The photo this time features elected officials / lawmakers / politicians in a meeting, but some are playing Solitaire on their laptops while someone else speaks.  This actually happened a while back in Connecticut and it was Democrats goofing off, but for the sake of the caption contest, they can be whoever you want.

FYI, the point of this is for you to write something funny to explain this picture.  Feel free to get your political rant on, whether about the near government shutdown over budget issues or the current issue of the day, but phrase your response in the form of humor.  That is, make it funny, whether using satire or irony or puns or whatever.

(To see our other caption contests, click on the “Say What?” category in the sidebar.)

caption contest, President Obama walking into a crowd

With President Barack Obama going on a 10-day trip to India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan, and with all the hoopla and controversy surrounding that, I figured it’s as good a time as ever to use this photo for a caption contest.   Here, Obama and his Secret Service personnel are walking into a large crowd.  Some guy in the crowd either wants to touch his face or slap him — not sure what that’s about or how that will end up.   So that’s one thing to discuss, but since a picture is worth a thousand words, there should be plenty to say.  And of course, you can always make up a story to go with it, whether based on current events or completely fictional.   So think of something funny to say about this picture and leave it in a comment for all to enjoy.

(click for a larger image)

(To see our other caption contests, click on the “Say What?” category in the sidebar.)

caption contest, Barack Obama looking under desk

I can’t let another week get started without a caption contest…   This week’s photo features President Barack Obama looking under his desk in the Oval Office while a lady looks on amusedly.  I don’t know if she is an admin or a temp or an assistant or friend or Congressperson — you get to decide who she is, if you wish to define her.  That’s how the whole caption contest works — it’s up to you to explain what is going on here.  So think of something funny — and it can be politically-based — but keep it clean.

(To see our other caption contests, click on the “Say What?” category in the sidebar.)

the EPA wants to tax dust

With this being a humor blog that specializes in randomness, you might not expect a story on regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  But we sometimes cover stupid news, partly because it can be random (in the creativity of the stupidity) and/or just funny.  This story isn’t laugh-out-loud (LOL) funny but stupid-funny (or stupid-stupid).

The EPA is considering a strict regulation with heavy fines on dust.  (Yeah, you read that right — dust, as in airborne dirt.)  According to this one website someone showed me, “Farmers could be fined for everyday activities like driving a tractor down a dirt road or tilling a field.”  Some areas have already suggested having “no till” days in response to this proposed standard.

Do I need to explain how stupid that is?  Apparently so…  To farm and raise crops, the ground must be tilled, and heavy machinery must be used to do all the planting, watering, and harvesting.  Dust is inevitable.  That’s just the practical aspect of it.   But we can get even more basic — humans are made of dirt.  It’s not like dirt is harmful to us.   You may not like getting dirty from dust, but it’s not as bad as living in a heavily-populated city full of pollution, breathing car exhaust fumes.  I’ve been in Los Angeles and New York City and Chicago, and the atmosphere in those places definitely isn’t as fresh and clean as Arkansas.  I’ve even lived on a farm.   Some dust in the air is not the problem!

Another problem with that is if there are “no till” days, then crops can ruin. When a crop is ready to be harvested, you have only a small window of time to get the best harvest, and farmers have a tough enough time making a profit as it is, without the EPA telling them they can’t drive their tractors on certain days.

One commenter on that website suggested that this move by the EPA could be to create more jobs for illegal immigrants.   If farmers can’t use their heavy machinery, they could use illegal aliens to do the manual labor.  Maybe that’s what that comment about retrofitting buses with diesel engines is about — to transport the millions of immigrants who will till the soil after tractors are made illegal.  That sounds like a conspiracy theory, but there are people scheming in politics…

I have to wonder if lawmakers don’t like farmers.   Not just because of that, but because of this other potential legislation — fining farmers for flatulence cows.   That sounds silly, but such a “cow tax” has been in consideration.  The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution.  The American Farm Bureau Federation claims the EPA is proposing a required annual fee of $175 per dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle, and $20 per hog.   If this happens, it will probably get applied to more animals we consume (like chickens), and meat will become an imported item from other countries.   I’d rather that not become the standard.

I realize the government is hurting for money, but couldn’t they do something reasonable (i.e., not stupid and harmful)?  They could try the strategy of responsible spending — I don’t think they’ve attempted that one in many years…