Politically speaking…

Time to post again! Well not really, already posted up just a moment ago on the wayfarer but I can’t leave this neglected now can I!

Today we have a bit of a political flavour to the proceedings folks, felt compelled to after all the big news and discussion recently. Its hard not to and this way its out of the way and if I never address it again I can do so with a clear conscience!

Before getting into it though, here is the latest on my comic shenanigans:

So come read the latest edition of the Weekly Wayfarer if you’d like, it’ll be fun I promise – to comics fans and newbies alike!

With that out of the way, on to bigger things! First off I wanted to share this article with you guys, I came across it by chance and found it piqued my interest and was definitely something different in the flood of rhetoric and anger and euphoria engulfing the world right now.

I was trying to do a little research on the writer of this piece to provide you with about him but realised I don’t want to fill this space up with more and more text if I don’t have to – and so a basic rundown:
The writer of this piece is a renowned journalist from Pakistan named Ayaz Amir who is “…considered to be liberal, arguing passionately the case for rule of law, democracy, and an end to failed military rule along with extremist versions of Islam.” A former captain in the Pakistan Army, he apparently resigned his commission and is today a regular contributor to The News International and also a newly elected Member of National Assembly in Pakistan’s Parliament. His interesting and varied background, intelligence, awareness and sensitivity on the state of things is very incisive and I enjoyed his article enough that I’ve been reading his work backward a little to see what his writing is like and so far no disappointments or reasons to think this was a one-off lucky piece!

Mother of all embarrassments

For a country with more than its share of misfortunes and sheer bad luck, we could have done without this warrior of the faith, Osama bin Laden, spreading his beneficence amongst us. He was a headache for us while he lived, but nothing short of a catastrophe in his death. For his killing, and the manner of it, have exposed Pakistan and its security establishment like nothing else.

To say that our security czars and assorted knights have been caught with their pants down would be the understatement of the century. This is the mother of all embarrassments, showing us either to be incompetent – it can’t get any worse than this, Osama living in a sprawling compound a short walk from that nursery school of the army, the Pakistan Military Academy and, if we are to believe this, our ever-vigilant eyes and ears knowing nothing about it – or, heaven forbid, complicit.

I would settle for incompetence anytime because the implications of complicity are too dreadful to contemplate.

(to read more of this article, click here)

In other things of interest, I wanted to share this video with everyone because I found it to be greatly amusing. Recently in the U.S of A there was a dinner held by the president called the White House Correspondents Dinner which is held for and by the journalists who (surprise!) cover the White House. Long story short – it happens annually at the same Hilton hotel and is attended by Presidents and vice-Presidents and celebrities and such, yada, yada, yada.
What I wanted to share with you however is only a part of the evening. It has also become tradition at this event to have a comedian/enne as part of the dinner who delivers a speech in a humorous vein in what is essentially a roast of various people in the media (mostly from those in the room) and of the President and other politicians.
This list of roasters has included the likes of Wanda Sykes, Stephen Colbert and Cedric the Entertainer, so you can safely assume that the jokes are not sweet and friendly and cutting people slack. Its a roast, good and proper! And THIS year it was the inimitable Seth Meyer who is the head writer currently of one of the funniest things in human history: Saturday Night Live. Below is the entire speech by Meyer and he is hilarious throughout – what is amazing though that I would advise is to watch it while keeping an eye on audience reactions, most especially the difference between the President and his biggest opponent (in the US) at this point in time, The Donald.

Personally I loved the way Obama took the humour for what it was and seemed to get a kick out of it, truly seemed to enjoy it even when jokes were at his expense – and the contrast in Trump’s case, well see for yourself…

And since this is not a cocktail this time, no lovely ladies – but I promise you this, next post there most assuredly will be at least one!

Cheers folks…