Here's the billboard The Daily Show has up to greet Republicans when they arrive at the convention: "Welcome, Rich White Oligarchs!"

Pretty cute.

Oh man!

Am I ever happy that Jon Stewart is back on the air, it has been an incredibly different world following the news the past couple months without Stewart doing The Daily Show, please understand how big of a fan of Jon Stewart I am, I was one of the few who actually went out and bought a Indecision 2004 DVD. I sincerely hope my American friends to the south can solve this labour dispute "A Daily Show" is nice but world still awaits the return of "The Daily Show." I doubt an election year without The Daily Show writers would be fair. Without further ado here is a snip of the satirical election news American has been missing out on the last two months, breath it in.

It's interesting to note that a very important election process has begun and American is without it's cultural icons, or they have been successfully replaced already. Thankfully many of the most important shows are creeping back onto the air, even as the strike continues, this includes our favourite, the the Daily Show.

January 3rd - CTV reports.

Letterman was able to return to air with his regular writing staff after his production company, Worldwide Pants, reached an agreement last Friday with the Writers Guild of America.

Letterman was also able to welcome guest Robin Williams, who is a member of the Screen Actors Guild -- Hollywood's major actors' union. SAG has said its membership is permitted to appear on the Letterman show as well as Craig Ferguson's "Late Late Show'', which is also owned by Worldwide Pants.

Letterman's Top 10 list was a list of the writers' strike demands. It included such items as "Complimentary tote bag with next insulting contract offer" and "Hazard pay for breaking up fights on `The View.'"...read on....

Support these writers.

David Letterman's Top Ten List was read by the writers who are on strike, including the writers of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report.

Mind my rant here, but with all the wars and madness in the world right now what is driving me the most insane today is the recent changes to the Comedy Central website.

Last month I was in online video heaven after The Daily Show put their entire archive online; what a magical concept. I could go back and re-watch history from my favourite news satirist. This archive was a great tool for delivering better blog posts for you. For example, when the topic of money being spent on the war came up recently, and it reminded me of an older TDS clip where Stewart mocked the amount of money that was being spent. The clip was quite significant as it reminded us of the small price tag that was promised before the war started. So, to anybody who bothered to read my blog post about the money being spent on war, the reader was rewarded with an archived Daily Show clip related to the topic.

I watch Jon Stewart every day and when I read the news I often am reminded of a classic TDS clip, like the example above shows, adding historical clips can help complete a blog post and gives the reader a little bit more back story on current events.

Well, you may have heard that many countries are starting to close their broadband borders. Countries like Iran, Burma and China naturally censor the outside world from many of their websites, but now Viacom has decided to import the same mentality to America. For the past couple of weeks Viacom and Comedy Central have begun blocking International users from viewing their websites. First it was comedycentral.com, then it was indecision2008.com, and now thedailyshow.com. Each one has been blocked for me and anybody else who does not live in the USA. Viacom blocked internet users from uploading their clips to websites like myspace.com and youtube.com and now they are blocking internet users from even watching the clips on their own website. What ever happened to the spirit of the internet? Sharing!

Does Viacom not want international internet users hearing the voice of Jon Stewart? Well an Aussie friend of mine and the founder of Videosift.com has written an open letter to Viacom in regards to the current block on the comedy central website, please read it and please digg it.

I say we Canucks have to respond, let's block the famous "Vancouver Otters holding hands" clip. Nah, we won't do that, we're too nice.

Sometimes my favourite TDS clips are those that mock the way the news is presented. Stewart presents a few "showdown Iraq" news intros from earlier in the decade, then puts them up against a mock "showdown Finland" graphic just to show that you can introduce terror to any country.

The point, I think, is when they show the "showdown Iran" graphic as evidence that the media is up to their old tricks again.

...Literally, "in" the news.
Meet Kate Brooks: she appears to be a news reporter for ABC, CBS and FOX, but she's actually an actor working for Siemens, General Motors and many other corporations. You see, Kate works for a company called MediaLink that creates newscasts for corporations to send to local news stations and be aired as real news. Maybe you guys can help me understand how they get away with that?

Another member of the Coalition of the Willing has left Iraq; Iceland removed their One troop.

This story was a comedic inspiration for Jon Stewart and others.

I am always interested in the latest news about torture and the New York Times recently published an interesting column on the subject. Jon Stewart read it and offers this analysis:

Here is Bush's statement from Oct 5th.
Here is Blitzer interviewing Homeland Security adviser Fran Townsend.
Here is Press Secretary Dana Perino answering questions about Torture.
All slapped together into this nifty videoroll.

For another interesting video about torture, here is the Frontline Documentary The Torture Question:

CNN's Jack Cafferty has been out plugging his new book "It's getting ugly out there." Here is a segment from CNN that first aired last month titled "The Government's Top Ten Dubious Accomplishments."

Cafferty was also on TDS last night for those interested in hearing what he has to say, and if you still like his style, check out this small collection on Videosift.

Hilarious TDS correspondent Aasif Mandvi reports from the United Nations where Bush and Ahmadinejad both spoke. Below Mandvi explains the "diplomatic dance of the UN."

Rudy Giuliani has long been suspected of using & abusing the tragedy of 9/11, but this story takes the cake. At a Giuliani fund raising party, participants were urged to donate $9.11 (for Rudy.) It didn't sit well with the NYC Fire Department:

"It is nothing short of disrespectful to the legacy of the thousands of civilians and 343 brave firefighters who died at Ground Zero," said Harold Schaitberger, IAFF president.

Comically, nobody wants to admit who's idea it was.

A Giuliani campaign spokesman said the idea was selected without the campaign's knowledge. But the host of the party, Abraham Soefer, also said the theme was not his responsibility, and referred other questions to Mr Giuliani's campaign team, the Associated Press reports

Either way, it's nothing really new from the Giuliani campaign. I'd like to hear why people actually buy this guy? Is it really the 9/11 thing that makes him so special?

For your viewing pleasure, yesterday Stewart presented us with this fun segment about "Rudy's 9/11 tourette's."

When the Democrats took over Congress, Americans believed that the war may finally come to an end. After nine months not much has changed, except for the birth of the Reid/Pelosi inauguration night love child, as Stewart illustrates in the video below.

The Congress currently has an approval rating of 11%. Barely anybody is supporting them, and you just have to look at developments from this week to find out why.

1. Democrats attempted to pass a bill that would allow troops (who have now been fighting for over six years) equal time away from the battle. Although the majority of the senate approved the bill (56-44) it was blocked by Republicans. If it had passed, the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates would have asked the President to veto it.

2. Democrats have been trying to Restore Habeus Corpus, an ancient western law that allows those detained to defend themselves that was revoked in America in 2006. Were they able to restore it? Nope. Although the move to restore got the majority of votes, it was blocked by Republicans. If you look like a terrorist and smell like a terrorist, then you're probably a terrorist. No chance to argue.

3. Moveon.org published an advertisement in the New York Times that questioned David Petraeus, an American General whose information about the war contradicts many independent sources. The importance of condemning the advertisement was so important that it passed with no problem.

To each their own I guess, but it certainly looks bizarre on paper.

The video below is from the Daily Show where Jon touches on the weakness of the Democratic Congress. Oh, he also confirms that Nelson Mandela is, in fact, alive.

"It is the most unvarnished, natural, seemingly unaffected view of this President"
- Dead Certain on Amazon.com
- Excerpts on Slate.com

National Post Article - Sept 4th 2007

WASHINGTON • George W. Bush, the U.S. President, is prone to bouts of crying caused by the stress of his job and claims to have seen ghosts emerge from the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House, according to a new book on his presidency.

I gave you all the heads up last week that Rob Riggle would be in Iraq entertaining the troops. I wanted to post his coverage each day, but instead, I thought it would be classy to collect the clips and present them all at once. So, if you missed the show last week, enjoy the VideoRoll below. For more info about the USO, visit the website.

The recently announced US arms deals worth $63 Billion to Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt prompted the Daily Show to come up with this segment looking into the history of arms deals.

- More Daily Show clips on Newsbloggers