Colbert's Republican Humor; and 5 Unfunnies

Tues. May 1, 2012:


"The Colbert Report" & Guns & N.R.A.
http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/mon-april-30-2012-diane-keaton


THEN,

                                       

1.  Inspiring obituary:  George Vujnovich, 96; Led 1944 Rescue of 500 Airmen Behind German Lines
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/nyregion/george-vujnovich-96-led-rescue-of-airmen-in-world-war-ii.html?_r=1

2.  Republican state legislatures have quietly undermined new voters' right to vote in 30 states since the last presidential election.  For example, in Florida:  "a new requirement that voter registration signatures be handed in to state officials within 48 hours after they are collected."  In Ohio:  "new laws that discourage precinct workers from telling voters where to go if they show up at the wrong precinct."
Republicans clearly don't want new voters to vote -- they are trying to roll back the historic trend of democratizing our republic ever since ratifying our 1787 Constitution.
Watch Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus [who famously likened women to caterpillars] twist this stealthy Republican state-by-state practice -- into the Democrats' fault:
"for anyone to politicize the issue reeks of desperation and represents the worst in modern politics."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/nyregion/george-vujnovich-96-led-rescue-of-airmen-in-world-war-ii.html?_r=1

3.  NYT profile of Paul Ryan, 42, Republican from Wisconsin, chair of House Budget Committee [& author of the notorious Ryan budget that would slash federal aid to the needy but cut taxes for the wealthy].  Includes grudging admiration from a Democratic colleague from Wisconsin:  "I'm stunned by how oblivious he is to the pain his policies would cause people . . . What amazes me is that someone that nice personally has such a cold, almost academic view of what the impact of his policies would be on people."

4.  The "Romney touch" again, this time to a college audience last week:  First he denounces President Obama's "divisiveness," and then he tells the kids:  "Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents [emphasis mine], start a business."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/us/politics/paul-ryans-kinetic-rise-in-gop.html?pagewanted=all

5.  Bill Keller's new profile of North Korea -- "miserable, totalitarian, nuclear and erratic.  It is the hermit kingdom, the dark side of the moon."  But "the really scary thing about North Korea," says Keller, is "The Day After" its collapse.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/opinion/keller-the-day-after.html