"The Onion" can almost make me laugh until I cry

I want to make one last post about Wisconsin culture as I continue my slow tour of the American Midwest before moving to Prague.

As regular readers of the blog have already surmised, I love politics and all things political -- especially political humor. If the news gets too hard to take, leave it to our comedians to help us find the humor in our very human national predicaments. Paraphrasing American humorist Mark Twain, "Nothing can stand up to ridicule."

Every time I go to Wisconsin, I make a point of picking up The Onion, which facetiously calls itself “The Finest News Source Available.” It’s at least one of the funniest American fake news source available, along with John Stewart’s Daily Show, and Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect.

The Onion was founded in Madison, Wisconsin by a couple of college students and has free distribution throughout the city. It somehow must have a national presence though, because The Onion book products are sold nationwide and I’ve heard national pundits refer to the newspaper.

When The Onion misses on humor, it misses badly. Something that was meant to be funny turns out to be merely vulgar. But for the most part, this newspaper gives me the giggles.

Check out a sampling of the most emailed stories from this week that skewer American culture by clicking on this link. Some of this week's article titles:

"Wealthy teen nearly experiences consequences"

"Palin brushing up on foreign policy at Epcot"

"Bush goes Blonde for Remainder of Presidency"

"Report: 60 Million People You'd Never Talk To Voting for the Other Guy"

"John Kerry Actually Pretty Good at Windsurfing Now"