Betsy Devine: Funny ha-ha and/or funny peculiar

In 1968–what innocent days–when people poked fun at themselves because it was fun–before “deniability” turned irony into a kind of armor–Leonard Nimoy took time off from Mr. Spock-ing to make a music video. If you haven’t seen “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins,” do your smile muscles a favor and look at this Quicktime version in a funny TV set. (If addiction sets in, you can download your very own .mov version.) Mmmm, Spock and Tolkien–could any baby-boomer ask for more?

---

Can politics still be fun? What politics? Nobody can criticize “the President” until our troops are out of danger! (Maybe in 2099?)

Nevertheless, Jon Stewart (Daily Show) found someone who would condemn the Iraq policies of President Bush–and that critical someone (the traitor!) was Texas Governor Bush in his 2000 presidential campaign. You can see a 12.4 M version of the hilarious “Candidate Bush vs. President Bush” foreign policy debate here. (Fortunately for the safety of our nation, Ashcroft has now removed candidate Bush to an undisclosed location, despite some treasonous whining by his lawyers.)

---

I identify with the peaceful hobbits in Nimoy’s song: “Now hobbits are peace-loving folks ya know, / They’re never in a hurry and they take things slow… ” I wouldn’t be thinking much about politics if it weren’t for seeing my lovely, peaceful, idealistic country the U.S. of A. turned into an ugly bully on the world stage–not to mention the number of my dear friends now out of work. That’s why I started fussing about who to vote for for President. I am proud to be supporting Howard Dean. Nuff said.

---

The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins

In the middle of the earth,
In the land of the Shire,
Lives a brave little Hobbit whom we all admire,
With his long wooden pipe,
And his fuzzy little toes,
He lives in a hobbit hole and everybody knows him,

Bilbo, (Bilbo),
Bilbo Baggins,
He’s only 3 feet tall,
Bilbo, (Bilbo),
Bilbo Baggins,
He’s the bravest little hobbit of them all,

Now hobbits are peace-loving folks ya know,
They’re never in a hurry and they take things slow,
They don’t like to travel away from home,
They just like to eat and be left alone,
But one day Bilbo was asked to go,
On a big adventure to the caves below,
To help some dwarves get back their gold,
That was stolen by a dragon in the days of old,

Bilbo, (Bilbo),
Bilbo Baggins,
He’s only 3 feet tall,
Bilbo, (Bilbo),
Bilbo Baggins,
He’s the bravest little hobbit of them all,

Well he fought with the goblins,
He battled a troll,
He riddled with Golum,
A magic ring he stole,
He was chased by wolves,
Lost in the forest,
Escaped in a barrel from the Elf King’s halls,

Bilbo, (Bilbo),
Bilbo Baggins,
He’s the bravest little hobbit of them all,

Now he’s back in his home in the land of the Shire,
That brave little hobbit whom we all admire,
Just a sitting on a treasure of silver and gold,
A-puffing on his pipe in his hobbit hole,

Bilbo, (Bilbo),
Bilbo Baggins,
He’s only 3 feet tall,
Bilbo, (Bilbo),
Bilbo Baggins,
He’s the bravest little hobbit of them all.