Brazil to Congressional Clown: Prove You Can Read and Write

"The Sao Paulo Electoral Court held a closed-door exam for the clown turned congressman-elect on Thursday to determine if he meets a constitutional mandate that federal lawmakers be literate."

Congressman-elect Francisco Silva aka Grumpy the Clown thought he had the last laugh in October's elections, in which turnout was high for an up-ballot vote on the successor to popular outgoing President Lula da Silva. Grumpy received 1.3 million votes, "nearly twice as many as the next-highest-vote-getter" in the election.

Unfortunately for Fancisco, his jealous fellow legislators have raised the specter of literacy, questioning why the handwriting on his electoral application is dissimilar to the handwriting on a document that explicitly declares that he can read and write, a Constitutional requirement (10 percent of Brazilians are illiterate, according to the article).

Jacob Nelson