From the April Fools’ Day edition of my LawLawLaw newsletter.
[Editor’s Note: This note is from the April Fools’ Day edition of my LawLawLaw newsletter. I’ve been doing April Fools’ Day jokes for a long time, and I reference many of my past parodies in this issue. Believe it or not, there are always those who think that some or all of this is real, even when I include a long disclaimer like this. Why do I do these parodies? Well, Thomas L. Bohan Winston Churchill reportedly said, “It doesn’t take all types, there just are all types.” I am the type who enjoys this sort of humor. I hope you’ll enjoy this too, and I hope that you’ll forward this on to others. So happy April Fools’ Day, and enjoy!]
In a rare show of bipartisan unity, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (R-SD) and Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (D-MS) filed joint legislation (bill 412002) to outlaw April Fools’ Day parodies.
Congress has been heavily criticized for not doing enough to prevent the recent bankruptcy of energy giant Enron, and political observers believe that Senate leaders have been looking for some quick wins to regain the confidence of the voting public. When asked if this legislation is a knee-jerk reaction to the Enron bankruptcy, a congressional aid associated with the legislation said, “Enron is bankrupt?”
In an oddly worded but neatly typed statement, the Senate leaders said, “In recent years, we’ve seen April Fools’ Day parody headlines such as 1999’s ‘Visa Purchases the Internet for $419.9 Billion’ (http://makeashorterlink.com/?W23B16C9), 2000’s ‘Bill Clinton To Launch E-Commerce Dot Com Site With Fall 2000 IPO’ (http://makeashorterlink.com/?I14B31C9), and 2001’s ‘George W. Bush to Change His Name to George WWW Bush’ (http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z65B21C9). Quite frankly, we’ve had enough of these pranks, and we’re sick of being the last to know.”
