Good knight

You can add jousting to the list of things that politicians shouldn’t do.

Granted, it’s a long list, but there’s always room for one more.

This point was proved recent by the mayor of Barre, Vermont, who “agreed in fun to a jousting match with padded sticks and helmets.”

Despite those OSHA-style precautions, he still ended up in an emergency room with some broken ribs.

Worse yet, the near-impaling was done by another local pol, the chairman of the town’s selectboard.

Personally, I think the heyday of jousting was the Middle Ages. Since then the sport has basically gone downhill.

I say let’s completely retire it, along with bear-baiting and pouring burning oil down on troops trying to scale castle walls.

OK, that last one is more of a military maneuver than a sport, but it’s still very Middle Ages. (Or so I've heard.)

The point is that if you want to stick it to a politician, vote ’im out of office. It’s permanent, and there’s no emergency room involved.