Irony Can Be So Ironic

Brothers, Sisters, and Transgendered Comedists Everywhere,

While the Christian Intelligent Design folks point to complexity in the natural world as proof of the existence of their frankly less than funny Diety (although I will certainly concede that "smote" is a funny verb -- in sound, if not in deed), for us it is inescapable irony that provides us with our evidence for the wonders of the Cosmic Comic. This weekend, therefore, we will look at some of the little ironies that seem to stretch credulity when seen as pure accidents:

The case of Larry Craig is a wealth of irony. On the most obvious level, you have the Senator from Idaho who was more than happy to pursue policies that stripped gays and lesbians of their human rights getting busted for soliciting an encounter with an undercover cop in a men's room. Ironic? Sure. He was forced into resignation, although David Vitters, the Senator from Louisiana who has confessed to having sex with prostitutes, one of which came forward and said he liked to wear diapers and be beaten during their encounters was happily forgiven by his Republican colleague. Odd and upsetting, if not ironic. But we will add one more twist to this story that we've seen nowhere reported. The Larry Craig story was broken on the birthday of Paul Reubens, better known outside of adult movie theaters as Pee-Wee Herman. Now there's irony.

From News of the Weird:

After a 25-year-old woman was accused of murdering her father and sister (and wounding her mother) in July in Sydney, Australia, authorities revealed that she had been diagnosed with a psychotic illness in 2006. However, she had been discouraged from seeking psychiatric treatment by her parents because they are Scientologists, who by doctrine reject psychiatry and psychotropic-drug treatment. [Agence France-Presse, 7-9-07]

In a recent speech, George W. Bush, trying to argue that maintaining the current rate of American and Iraqi casualties is the only rational policy, compares Iraq to Vietnam.

"Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left," Bush added. "Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps,' and 'killing fields.' "

Supplying the ironic punchline:

The New York Times also talked to [Robert] Dallek, who pointed out that the slaughters of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia “was a consequence of our having gone into Cambodia and destabilized that country.”

Oh, the levels of irony here.

So what have you found to be ironic lately?

Live, love, and laugh,

Irreverend Steve