A Book Review: Warning This book cites facts and applies logic Earlier this week I attended a book signing by Al Franken promoting his latest, The Truth With Jokes. This man is a genius with a true heart."The fish are bigger and the fryer is deeper," declares the "anonymous" prelude to THE TRUTH WITH JOKES. Trends across Franken's earlier titles and his latest include: the use of humor (decreasing), citations of specific data (increasing), and gravity of the issues (increasing). Discrediting the Limbaughs and Coulters of the world is an adolescent, excellent adventure compared to the convincing case that our leaders disingenuously led us to war. Accordingly, the subject matter is too important to be served with similar lightness.

The case against Franken is his attempt to hide from responsibility for periodic outrageousness behind the mask of comedy where one should not be taken seriously. If Jesus(an earlier challenger of the status quo)could deliver The Sermon on the Mount through the use of parables, can we not grant the author (a mere mortal),the leeway to preach with humor and pith to increase the effectiveness of his message? 1-star reviews by those who could not have read Franken are another example of what he suggests is arguing a position through the aversion of information. Is this not the underlying strategy behind the political tactics of the Presidential election of 2004? Franken is an easy read, and an accomplished debater. His shared personal accounts of family epochs are sincere and moving. "Al Franken Talks about God" recalls the cavalcade of emotions surrounding his father's death. We hope that the audience is broader than the choir to whom he preaches including this reviewer, although clearly his positions are supported by recent current events including Katrina and The Fema Fiasco, Liberal victories on Election day 2005, and the Murtha affair.  ¶ 7:47 AM