Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Weird Politics

You all know this election year may snap my already thinly stretched sanity. Sometimes it's good to find weirdness outside the '08 US Presidential Campaign.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's cabinet will soon lose one of its more colorful members who was notorious for sleeping in parliament, shouting at legislators, picking his nose in public and shoving a journalist.

Tu Cheng-sheng, education minister since 2004, will step down next month along with current President Chen Shui-bian.

"According to Eastern tradition and Taiwan culture, you could say that these actions were hard to accept," said Liu Chin-hsu, secretary-general of the National Teachers' Association.

(Is there a tradition or culture somewhere out there where this is easy to accept....The Jerry Springer Show excepted.)



TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters)
- Senate lawmakers in Florida have voted to ban the fake bull testicles that dangle from the trailer hitches of many trucks and cars throughout the state. Republican Sen. Cary Baker, a gun shop owner from Eustis, Florida, called the adornments offensive and proposed the ban. Motorists would be fined $60 for displaying the novelty items, which are known by brand names like "Truck Nutz" and resemble the south end of a bull moving north.

(May I just say if you need to dangle a pair of these things off the hitch of a truck that's probably big enough to run over the average sedan you have some serious insecurities in life. I do have warped enough sense of humor to think it would be pretty funny to see a set applied to some old Yugo.)

The Florida Senate voted last week to add the measure to a broader transportation bill, but it is not included in the House version. In a spirited debate laced with double entendre, Senate lawmakers questioned whether the state should curtail freedom of expression in vehicle accessories.
(Aren't you Floridians glad to know your legislators are spending time on such an important issue? Let's see if they can also tack on some measures addressing the naked girls on mudflaps and the Calvin cartoons where he is peeing on various things. I want parental ratings on vehicle adornments! Bumper stickers! Fuzzy dice! Regulate it all! And magnetic ribbons for various causes..let's tax them each and generate revenue! Come on Florida, you've got work to do!)

Critics of the ban included the Senate Rules Chairman, Sen. Jim King, a Jacksonville Republican whose truck sported a pair until his wife protested.
(Anyone else wonder if she's walking around with his real set too?)


SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian political leader broke down at a news conference Tuesday as he admitted that he had sniffed the chair of a female colleague, local media reported.

The confession came from the leader of the conservative Liberal Party in Western Australia, Troy Buswell, who has previously owned up to snapping the bra strap of an opposition party staffer.

The incident took place in front of other staff and was done to get a laugh, she told the West Australian newspaper Tuesday after Buswell had refused to confirm the initial reports.

Buswell has previously admitted to snapping the bra of a staffer for the Labor Party, which governs the state, and has been accused by a retiring lawmaker of making sexist remarks to her.

The deputy leader of the state Liberal Party stood by Buswell, describing him as a "rough diamond with a robust sense of humour".

(I take comfort knowing the US has not cornered the market on political leaders who make disturbing gaffes when attempting humor with the opposite sex [Dubya meets the Queen, Dubya goes to Germany]. At least the Aussies haven't put this guy in charge of the whole country though. Good on ya, mates!)

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Haha! He'll be known as the "old dirty chair sniffer" for the rest of his days.

KFarmer said...

Oh jeez-Louise, lol! I can't but can and do believe it... :)

Anonymous said...

How about Wrestlemania??? That certainly is right up there with Jerry Springer...

Isn't that seat sniffer running for the senate in NY? Is they bought into Hillary this guy will be a shoe in..

Suldog said...

Politics is always a funny subject, until you realize that these jerks have their fingers on various buttons that can annihilate us.

Phain said...

you would be amazed (or rather "dazed") at the commotion the ban on truck nuts has been down here. literally - they've spent days hashing it out on the local news talk radio. i really appreciate it when my state's politicians are spending critical, valuable, tax payers time focusing on such important issues like this. *eye roll* slow day up at the capitol i suppose..

G-Man said...

Chair sniffing is considered weird?

Yikes!!

I've been doing it for years...Theres nothing like the aroma of naugahide, cooter-trickle, and a slight hint of ass-matter to get the old juices flowing!!!

I'll have to be more careful in the future, I don't want folks to think I'm weird...G
xox

Commander Zaius said...

It might take me a while to find it but one state senator here in South Carolina one time fairly recently wanted to ban the sale and ownership of electric vibrators. It gos without saying the dude had some serious issues.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh... the circus wackimus in politics is international, isn't it? Whew!

airplanejayne said...

chair sniffers....

and ya'll think I'M weird 'cause I don't like my food touching!?!?!?

James Goodman said...

Dubya goes to Germany

Sounds like a really bad (albeit, hilarous, I'm sure) gay porno flick... :D

Breazy said...

Look at what these people in high places are doing and concentrating on. No wonder the world is going to hell in a hand basket!

As far as the truck nutz go, there are trucks up here that have them as well and my only problem with them is that I don't want my kids looking at them however, I hope that our Senate lawmakers find more important issues to deal with than a pair of rubber nutz.

Have a good day!

Anonymous said...

I've seen the Truck Nutz!!! They are quite a sight... Pulling up to a stoplight behind a lifted truck (no I wasn't in Clovis) and seeing lime green balls at eye level...

Not something I particularly want to see after a long day at the office... LOL...

furiousBall said...

truck nuts are such a statement... of how low they scored on their SAT

Kat said...

Thank goodness you warned me about the Truck Nutz law. I'll have to take mine off next time I go to Florida. Whew! That would have been embarrassing.

Unknown said...

So weird...I have decided that the main problem with HC is that she live just above Louisana for too long. That state has the worst politicians ever, evenn worse than the ones we have in Texas and that is saying a lot. At least they don't export them to other states. I really tried to keep W down here. I have been surprised that no one commented that he had promised to fulfill his term as gov. here when he ran for pres. the first time. We all new it was a lie.

Fred said...

Nice to know the lawmakers in Tallahassee are so busy with important items, especially since my school district is losing $35 million in funding next year.

Geez.

~Tim said...

So that's what the Florida legislators are doing instead of fixing the education budget....

John-Michael said...

NUTZ!! to the lot of them!

(Buncha mental micro-organisms ... Oh Sorry! You still there?)

The Zombieslayer said...

The Calvin stickers actually should be banned. They're a copyright violation and the reason why Bill Watterson all of a sudden quit. He got tired of chasing after people using his images and not getting paid for them.

I agree with Watterson. It would be the same thing if someone stole someone's copyrighted poem and used it as their own, or someone's artwork, music, etc. It's a copyright violation, and Watterson deserves to get paid for his work.

As for truck nutz, they're just dumb. I don't see why people care, but they are dumb and make the driver look dumb.

The Zombieslayer said...

An Australian political leader broke down at a news conference Tuesday as he admitted that he had sniffed the chair of a female colleague, local media reported.

Maybe he's part dog. Dogs do that, but they're not very gender specific. They sniff everyone's butts (and sometimes chairs).