Many of you know that I am a fan of The Daly Show with Jon Stewart.

I have enjoyed watching Jon as a comedian on the Comedy Networkl for years but lately I have developed an even greater respect for him as an extremely intelligent and decent human being.

Last night his guest was Cliff May, the President of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and the subject was torture. Cliff opened the discussion by saying “how are you going to make this funny?” which sparked off a spirited debate that had to be edited for time. The full interview is available on Jon’s website www.thedailyshow.com

Cliff was defending the use of torture for some high level Al Qaeda operatives. He said “it is very carefully done with a doctor present to stop it so it cannot kill them or go over the line”.

A very adamant Jon said that any torture of any kind for any reason is not only un-American it is against the law and against the rules of the Geneva Convention. He went on to say we are no better than the terrorists if we torture prisoners and, therefore, there is no justification (more…)

Every night at 10:00 pm (or until April 5 9:00 pm) my husband and I go to bed with Jon Stewart and then Stephen Colbert. We thoroughly enjoy their humorous take on current events and it was, in fact, from Jon Stewart’s lips that we first learned that Barack Obama had been elected President. That evening of November 4th, 2008, Jon and Stephen had come together to do an election special.

Jon Stewart has had his own show, The Daily Show, on the Comedy Network for approx. 10 years. He also is the author of American (The Book) A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction with a Forward by Thomas Jefferson. I think in this title one begins to understand the gifts of Jon Stewart.

In recent days the media has in part manufactured a feud between Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer of CNBC’s Mad Money who used to be a hedge fund manager. (more…)