Condi Rice I'm Coming For Your Job - Part Two

One of the primary goals of my time in Lund is to gain some understanding and meet some people from the middle east. I, like almost everyone in the west, have limited perspective on the true identity of these people and know very little about their cultures outside of the negatives that our governments propaganda machine portrays. Their countries are rich in concentrated wealth, their people span a very wide economic moat of haves and have nots, and they occupy a geo-political region of the globe that is absolutely paramount to the rest of the worlds production. What better way to start bridging this divide than to invite Farhad (Iranian) and Jim? (Turkish) over to my apartment for an archived episode of John Stewart's Daily Show.

Now, as a side note, I absolutely love John Stewart. I think he's one of the sharpest minds on television (not to mention that you can watch all of his shows in their entirety on the web which is a huge benefit for someone who lives without a tele).

John has taken a week or so off from his show, so we were forced to watch an older episode. I pulled up the August 6th 2008 episode that featured Sen. Chuck Shumer as the guest. The episode starts off with a back and forth on Obama's and McCain's energy plans, tire pressure gauges, McCain at Sturgis motorcycle rally. Classic Stewart!! The boys seemed to be liking it. As the show progressed the usual topics of war, oil dependancy, foreign policy f-ups by the state department, etc...they were all covered in classic Daily Show fashion. Then, enter Sen. Schumer. The lads really liked this part of the program as they didn't understand why a politician would subject one self to such abuse. I explained the concept of 'softening' a politician and making them appear more humaized. Ah, the beauty of being able to pause the video at any time and explain any questions that come up. Love that internet! The show, as always, ends with a moment of zen. This episodes' ends with McCain standing on a stage at Sturgis fumbling over words about gas prices. He babbles in a circle for a few seconds and then finally spits out what he was aiming at from the begining. This series was met with belly roll laughter from the boys. Jim said, "he sounds about as good as Bush." Farhad replied, "No one's that bad".