Humor

As we've noted before, a number of individuals and organizations have proposed plans to end poverty, reduce poverty, or cut poverty in half. Here's one effort that's already showing some success. Happily, it is easily replicated. Take a look -- this is a new idea!

Click here: Cutting Poverty in Half

I never saw the Lord of the Rings movies or read the books, so I had to spend some serious time on Wikipedia just to understand Sen. Santorum's use of a Lord of the Rings analogy to describe why he supports the Iraq War. Not to disagree with Rachel, but I'd diagnose the Senator's condition as something short of insanity—and more as being stuck in a permanent state of adolescent nerdiness.

I worry a little bit that it might actually make him seem more endearing and goofy than he actually is—this is the guy after all who opposed child care funding on the grounds that "making people suffer a little bit is not necessarily the worst thing." Ask yourself, is that something Frodo would say?

FYI, Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is insane – and not just because he thinks that marriage promotion is the way to end poverty in the U.S.

It seems the stress of his tough reelection campaign has taken quite a toll on the good senator. Case in point: in a recent interview with the Bucks County Courier Times editorial board, Santorum – apparently in all seriousness – compares the War in Iraq to the J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

“As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else,” Santorum said, describing the tool the evil Lord Sauron used in search of the magical ring that would consolidate his power over Middle-earth.

“It's being drawn to Iraq and it's not being drawn to the U.S.,” Santorum continued. “You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don't want the Eye to come back here to the United States.”

In the interview, Santorum also talks about the Administration’s policy of negotiating with Iran, which he opposes. Santorum compares such negotiations to appeasement and argues, “You cannot negotiate something away from someone who has a messianic vision to a religious conviction…” Hmmm, sound like anyone else we know?

In response to an earlier blog entry about the deadline for posting comments on the Interim Temporary Assistance rules, Inclusionist.org received an e-mail from Dr. Exclusio Gragstadler, Director of the Exclusionist Institute for the Behavioral and Marital Health of Those Welfare People in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. Dr. Gragstadler, vociferously disagreed with the recommendation that HHS should promote marriage by promoting college. As he put it, "TANF is a welfare program for welfare people, and is not meant to be a college schlolarship program for college people." He also enclosed his own comments to HHS on the rules. We reprint them here not as an endorsement of their contents, but simply to provide a conservative perspective on Temporary Assistance. The comments are unedited by us, except for the inclusion of a few hyperlinks that we thought might aid our readers.

Dearest Fellow Doctor Horn:

I know that you, like our humble President, are merely a faithful servant faithfully serving the "will of the people." Knowing that you will faithfully consider and act on public comments on the Interim Rule, just as you faithfully did lo so many years ago when you requested comments that were faithfully reflected in the Administration's 2002 plan for TANF Reauthorization, I have been especially dedicated in my preparation of these comments. I assure you I have given them every bit of consideration they deserve.