Awesome Politics

Setting political allegiances (or the lack thereof) aside, Senator Al Franken draws the US map from memory at the Minnesota State Fair; this should be required viewing for all politicians.

A thinly-veiled jab at Guantanamo, The Onion’s Minotaur Maze does such a good job parroting pundit arguments that it’s just like a real-life political talk shows: mostly bulls***.

The US government goes bankrupt in style by staging a fake coup, complete with the storming of Congress, blowing up the Treasury and renaming the country to the Empire of Octavia.

With a recession, 2012, and Jackie Chan fighting viruses, the end-time signs are all here; Slate’s Choose Your Own Apocalypse lets you choose 144 possible causes of America’s death.

Even a million bucks is beyond our comprehension, but WallStats and Mint.com try to put the trillion-dollar bailout in perspective above. The result: mind-numbing amounts of money.

Jess Bachman’s 2010 Death and Taxes poster is an exciting one for bean counters and watchdogs alike: a new administration equals plenty of shuffling for our precious tax dollars.

Auto-Tune the News is genius; the video above not only pans the media and pokes fun at politicians but does the seemingly impossible: it makes CSPAN exciting. Thanks, Jay!

The Onion’s latest political satire video doesn’t disappoint: Mexico Builds Border Wall To Keep Out US Assholes has us rethinking our next booze-swilling expedition to Cancun.

This roast of Obama by John Hodgman makes our geeky hearts to shed a tear–it calls POTUS 44 the first nerd president ever, with pithy references to Superman, Spock and Dune.

He’s Barack Obama isn’t as edgy as JibJab’s past work, but is well animated; it’s surprisingly palatable for both Republicans and Democrats–satire for the former, chest-thumping for the latter.

The MIT SENSEable City Lab’s Obama | One People is a project that visualizes cellphone call activity around Washington, D.C. and the world on Inauguration Day 2009.

It may be without words (spoken or written), but animator Mike Winklemann’s Subprime short film is a rather poignant statement on the excesses of the American housing market.

A Bejeweled-like game that lets you easily layoff folks and use bank bailouts, Layoff seems tasteless at first. However, each victim has a story, making it poignant social commentary.

Created in response to rising anti-immigrant sentiment in Australia, this Come In, There’s Heaps Of Room t-shirt flips the “F*** Off, We’re Full” bumper sticker on its racist head.

Whatever your politics, we like that Sundance winner Sleep Dealer takes risks with modern issues; it presents them in a dystopic thriller that mixes Blade Runner with A Brave New World.

With players like The Fed, Dow Jones and M. Lynch, it’s the little guy who loses in Wall Street Fighter; still, kudos to CB FRESH for their creative take on the worldwide financial fiasco.

If the economic downturn gives you a headache, you’re not alone; Jonathan Jarvis’s animated thesis project, Crisis of Credit, seeks to explain all the financial mumbo jumbo.

Adopted by the UN in 1948 and signed by 48 countries including the USA, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights gets a modern, yet poignant update in this video; thanks, Ash!

America is hurting in the goodwill department, so this Back With A Vengeance tee probably isn’t the right message to send; still, ain’t no one gonna mess with a robot Abe Lincoln.

Death and Taxes poster creator Jess Bachman is back, this time with 389 Year Ago; it’s a slick typographical homage to the Obama presidency and African American history.

Shot on Inauguration Day, this gigantic panorama shows thousands of people (including Obama); 220 photos are stitched together for the equivalent of a 1,474 megapixel picture.

Nothing says “Don’t eff with the USA” like a lightsaber-swinging, pistol-packing Obama action figure; he’s also got an array of hand gestures and ties when disguised as the President.

It’s a 4 meg download, but viewing yesterday’s Inauguration of President Obama through Microsoft’s Photosynth is worth the wait; it’s basically a 3D view of the ceremonies.