Happy Valley News Hour

“A silvery tribute to all who were lost on that tragic day…”

(Props: The Hater)

Now this:

The latest contribution to good government from Vice President Dick Cheney: preventing the implementation of rules to protect the endangered right whale.

Whales? Really? The guy’s got it in for whales?

This comes from a letter House sleuth Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent to the White House today, requesting that the administration quit delaying the rules, which would restrict the speed of ships near American ports. Faster moving ships hit the whales, causing injury or death, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say.

But not so, says Cheney’s office and other White House officials, who have delayed approving the NOAA’s submitted rules.

If you wrote a villain this cartoonish into a summer popcorn flick, you’d be laughed out of the multiplex. As one of the commenters at the TPM story noted, perhaps Cheney is just hedging his bets in case whale oil makes a comeback.

How is the humble humorist supposed to satirize this administration when they keep doing things like this:

Vice President Dick Cheney went fishing in the waters between Oman and Iran on Wednesday, borrowing the Sultan of Oman’s 60-foot royal yacht for the mission.

That’s right. Cheney spent the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war fishing.

Off the the coast of Iran.

On a 60 foot royal yacht, the Kingfish 1, that he borrowed from his close personal friend, Sultan Qaboo bin Said of Oman.

And, of course, we also have this adorable performance.  High-larious!

Granted, deriving bemusement from Star Wars fans pushes one perilously close to shooting-fish-in-a-barrel territory, comedy-wise, but the Kamper could not resist submitting this video for the latest installment of Beyond Satire. It’s from those mad wags at Boing Boing. Does the Kamper need to be the one to point out that if light sabers actually functioned in real life as they do in the movies very few of the people in this film would still have limbs?

I can’t embed the video, but you can find it here. Go take a look.

PS: It’s all well and good to make merry jest at the expense of Star Wars geeks, but don’t you dare start in on Lord of the Rings or its noble and dignified fans. Some things are sacred.

Today’s entry in the Beyond Satire category comes to us courtesy of those hardscrabble, working class guys and gals at Vassar.

PS: Tuition at Vassar = $46,140 per year. (Hey, that includes room and board!)