THE PLANK OCTOBER 30, 2009
-
Read Later
READ LATERAvailable only to subscribers. SUBSCRIBE TODAY
-
Listen
ARTICLE AUDIO
- Font Size
Someone, somewhere, has surely commented that you can tell a lot about a person from what he or she happens to find funny. For this reason, I have always thought that the roars of approval which greeted P.J. O'Rourke's jokes about homeless people said it all about the 80s. But now let's turn to O'Rourke's heir, Jonah Goldberg, who managed to write a book that is (unintentionally!) funnier than any of O'Rourke's efforts.
Anyway, the story that caught Goldberg's eye today comes from the Illinois Times:
As many as 20,370 low-income households in Sangamon County could qualify for a free cell phone and 60 minutes of free monthly talk-time, according to a spokesperson with TracFone Wireless, Inc., a national prepaid cell phone provider. Jose Fuentes, TracFone’s director of government relations, announced earlier this month that the company would add Illinois to the list of 17 states that offer SafeLink Wireless — a new extension of Lifeline, a government program that has provided affordable landline telephone service to low-income families for 25 years.
Several nonprofit organizations in Springfield benefit from free cell phone programs, including Sojourn Shelter and Services, an agency that serves victims of domestic violence.Sojourn collects donated cell phones and provides them to clients in its 911 emergency cell phone program.
Goldberg, in a post entitled, "Holy Handouts Batman!", adds, "Someone somewhere is losing hope! Quick to the Obamaphone! I had no idea." He then posts a reader email which asks (more in sorrow than in anger, of course!), "Where does it end?"
What next, in other words? School lunch programs? Emergency room care? Oh well, at least Goldberg has kept his sense of humor.
11 comments
I didn't know this, but apparently you can drive on the interstate even if you're poor and have an old car -- they don't check you at the entrance ramp! Can you believe it?
- ironyroad
October 30, 2009 at 5:38pm
Nothing of course is more unintentionally funnier than the Bible. But conservative commentary does give it a run for the money for sometimes. And, in the end, it's always about the money, isn't it? Still, Goldberg has a long way to go to catch up with Fox News and talk radio. Or, on some days, Keith Olbermann. Humor is a tricky thing. You know, like the Obama administration. Or Joe Lieberman. Or The Spine. gw
- iambiguous
October 30, 2009 at 6:13pm
The difference between smartphones and those little round jobs you get with a pay-as-you-go plan is that the former are better for playing bridge with post-docs burning through their NOAA grant in a far-off yurt whereas the latter in addition to eliminating the oft-times awkward paper trail make better butt plugs when you've picked up one of girls "visiting" from Vancouver or Reno outside her hotel along the Tenderloin/Nob Hill DMZ for a quick car date atop the parking structure outside the Trader Joe's South of Market. Much more efficient to set it to vibrate before the date starts; trust me. So when your boss wonders where the hell you went and keeps calling, your rent-a-gal's all "Oh yeah! Call me next time I'm in town, big boy!" I mention this in answer to Goldberg's reader's query ("Where does it end?"): where the sun don't shine, pal.
- williamyard
October 30, 2009 at 7:07pm
Its such a good omen that we have a Mr Yard entry.
- WandreyCer
October 30, 2009 at 7:27pm
wow, Jonah has really gone downhill. A company, with their own funds, is providing a much needed charity, something that doesn't cost any of the Conservative aholes a single penny and still they get upset by it, much better to give that money as bonuses to top executives.
- blackton
October 30, 2009 at 7:31pm
Wandrey: "Its such a good omen that we have a Mr Yard entry." Thanks, Wandrey. (To you, too, blackie, from another thread.) I indeed have come around again, like Comet Hale-Bopp dropping by to pick up another crop of Heaven's Gate members.
- williamyard
October 30, 2009 at 8:04pm
Is there any reason for George to comment on this issue? NONE and it shows. The guy is insane and addicted to TNR. I wish the editors would kick George off the boards here, or else install an ignore button. George is an embarrassment to TNR wensite.
- jacksondyer
October 30, 2009 at 8:40pm
Yard! Good to see you again. Goldberg is an idiot and just when I think he can't get any more lame, he does.
- JEFF FREY
October 31, 2009 at 2:02am
Jackson, you do not need an "ignore button." As has been explained to you, when you see "iambiguous" you can simply choose not to read the comment. As to kicking someone off the boards, TNR appears to have no policy in that regard. But if it did, it would surely be to screen not commentary that some regard as stupid, irrelevant or bigoted, but commentary that involves obsessive, personal attacks by one commenter upon another.
- dhurtado
October 31, 2009 at 10:43am
Wandrey, did you get my reply to your email earlier this week? If not check your spam mailbox or junk filter. Cheers. :) /Tom
- Tgossard
October 31, 2009 at 6:10pm
Hey Bill! Welcome back. Does this mean that tep will be coming back too?
- MrCookie1
October 31, 2009 at 11:54pm