Pie Graph Hilarity
The Daily Show Headlines last night were the funniest I've seen in a while. You can watch the 5 1/2 minute segment here. There are jabs at Nashville for being one of the 5 locations in the US where ex-Iraqis can vote in the upcoming election, and at the President for calling rather than attending the anti-abortion rally that happened right outside the White House (though this joke is blunted a bit by reading the CNN caption explaining that Bush is calling from Camp David, so not as if he just refused to step right outside his home).

But the funniest is Rob Corrdry's segment on the confusing Iraqi election, in which most all candidates and political parties have tried to keep the fact of their running a secret, an interesting campaign strategy designed to keep them from getting killed or their families kidnapped. Against a backdrop of a pie graph of hundreds of differently colored little slivers, representing recent Iraq polls, Corrdry explains (my rough transcription):

Voters are getting ready to choose from 8,000 candidates representing roughly 270 political parties. And according to the latest polls, things are really heating up. As you can see, the Iraqi Unity Party seems to be sitting strong with 0.8%. But, Jon, anything can happen in a week. I thought this was interesting: The Islamic Islamic Party is now giving ground to the Unbelievably Islamic Party, though of course both are still beating Sharpton by a comfortable margin.

Watch it if you can. That pie graph is still making me laugh.

And another thing I've been meaning to look in to. Why are ex-Iraqis allowed to vote anyway?