Difficult reading from bookish, a weblog by George Girton

Difficult reading . . . . . sep 18 2003 — bookish97.dat

Sometimes a book is difficult even when it's fun. Certainly this is true of Al Franken's (mostly) fun new expose, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A fair and balanced look at the Right."

The book wasn't difficult because the reading was particularly challenging; the pain came from sharing Al's difficult experiences. When you're a witness to the nation's political life, and you read accounts in the media of events that you have experienced, it's natural for a little schizophrenia to surface in the psyche of a normal person. This is something we all experienced back in the forgotten sixties. But what if you're a comedian? Maybe a touch of schizoidness is the only way to stay sane under the circumstances.

Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them [buy at amazon] , a satire by Al Franken, has been in the news because of a trademark lawsuit brought by Fox News's on behalf of their trademarked phrase 'fair and balanced.'

The book answers the question of why Fox's lawsuit wasn't for libel. Here's a hint: a standard defense against a libel: "the truth of the libel asserted."

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