Some of the criticism in this ng of the 10/31 episode may be related to the fact that many users didn't get, or appreciate, the political humor. For those who didn't get it, I explain it below. (If this has already appeared in this ng, I apologize; I time-shifted this episode and just recently watched the tape.)
"JACK-BOOTED THUGS" --- Kramer's reference to Postal Service workers as "jack-booted thugs" is based on a controversy a year or two back related to the National Rifle Association. The NRA had a mass-mailing in which it referred to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms as "jack-booted thugs", apparently appealing to those who claim that the ATF's/FBI's performance at Waco and Ruby Ridge "proved" the Fascist nature of those agencies and the Government in general. The letter's allusion to Nazi-like behavior by the Government was so beyond the pale that some longtime, well-respected NRA members, including former President George Bush, resigned in protest, and the NRA came in for much criticism from all sides.
DUMMY WITH METAL PAIL ON ITS HEAD --- There's a group of foreign-born students who are protesting torture in their home country (Iran, as I recall). Their protest has appeared around town here in Manhattan (that's NYC, not Kansas) and in other cities. One of the torture techniques they are protesting consists of placing a metal pail over the victim's head and banging hard on it; the pail concentrates the noise, and it prevents any visible marks from the torture. The protesters set up displays of assorted photographs, but the piece de resistance is a human dummy, seated in a chair, with a pail over its head. At first glance, it looks surrealistic.
---Alvin H. Nichter