Wednesday Comic

Actually, it's from Sunday, but if you missed Doonesbury in your morning paper that day... it was a classic. Garry Trudeau offers a little back-story on why Bush, a classmate of Trudeau's at Yale, might think torture is such a good idea. Trudeau explains to Editor & Publisher that he drew his first editorial cartoon for the Yale Daily News when the incident in question occurred, and that the Bush comment in panel seven was a direct quote.

See, this is why you never piss off a cartoonist. We never forget.

Where's Scotty?

Everybody's all bent out of shape because Scott McClellan hasn't appeared before the press corps in, like, 19 days. Think Progress quotes PR Week:

A White House correspondent, who asked not to be identified, predicts McClellan, who replaced Ari Fleischer as press secretary in summer 2003, will soon be leaving his post. "I’m expecting very big changes," the correspondent says.

Relax. It's probably all just a routine retrofitting/system upgrade. I'm sure the IT guys are all over it...


UPDATE: See, he's back now. Running like a top.

November 28, 2005 Cartoon

"Stuff I'd Rather Do Than Watch That Movie" is now showing on your screen at the Newest 'Toon page. You can check out the previous episodes here and here. My only regret is that I have not yet had a chance to do one on a Paul Walker movie... that guy is one bad actor. He makes Keanu Reeves look like a Rhodes Scholar.

Back to important stuff...

...that said...

As you start your Christmas shopping, don't forget the folks in New Orleans. My suggestions for your donations: Habitat for Humanity, WWOZ, and Humane Society of Louisiana

Taking a short "blog break" 'til Monday the 28th... happy holiday!

Black is the new black...

Cafe Press now has black T-Shirts, which I have included among the products for my current designs: the Bush n' God 'toon, the Fox News "Remove Your Brain" 'toon, the Bush AWOL 'toon, and the banner design (which actually looks pretty cool in black).

Someday soon, I'll come up with some new designs and put those up. Send me an email (nomind@fightingwordscomics.com) if you have any suggestions for images from my cartoons or products you'd like to see.

Monday Comix

Matt Bors becomes a victim of the Bush Propaganda Machine...

Keith Knight has another episode of "Life's Little Victories" (I can identify with #78)...

Ann Telnaes has President Doofus eating "Chinese Trip Leftovers"...

Breaking News

The Onion (via Bartcop) reports that a Bush voter actually sat down and had a beer with the President. It did not go well:

"We were sitting there watching the game, and some cheerleaders were up there waving their pompoms," Reinard said. "Then George mentioned that he used to be a cheerleader at Yale. I didn't know what to say to that one, so I just drank the rest of my beer real fast."

Big Oil and Pharmaceuticals

Perhaps I was wrong this week... the problem isn't getting these corporations to do something "nice" for the rest of us, it's having politicians who won't constantly look for ways to make it easier for them to actively screw us. Observe:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- People injured by a vaccine against bird flu or anthrax would have to prove willful misconduct to bring a claim for damages against drug manufacturers or distributors, according to legislation being drafted behind the scenes by Republicans.

and:

A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.

One of my "study guides" for this week's 'toon was The Corporation, which talks about the effect of "externalities"... the rule of business which directs a corporation to maximize profits by making others pay for its negative impact. Go rent it.

Wednesday Comic

Yet another good one from Luckovich...

Religion, Buddhism

In the news this weekend (via Cursor): the Dalai Lama addressed a group of scientists in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, and declared that "science and Buddhism share a quest of open investigation into the nature of reality, and science can be a pathway to discovering well-being and happiness."

While I don't consider myself a member of any one religious group, I have found that some of the ideas in Buddhism (and really Eastern philosophy in general) lend clarity and perspective to questions of reality that, in our society, become impossibly bogged down with fanatical Christian dogma. These days, the "fair and balanced" mainstream media is so absolutely terrified of condemning this movement of fanatics as a bad thing, that we the viewing public are endlessly subjected to their exclusionary rantings. For some reason, as Americans, it is automatically presumed that we will afford credibility to fire-breathing maniacs simply because they claim to speak in the name of Christianity.

Right now, I'm reading Zen and the Art of Insight by Thomas Cleary:

For us in the West, who have been exposed to some of the worst religious persecutions in the history of the world, and even today hear of violence for and against all around the globe, it may be emotionally and intellectually difficult even to conceive of religion that is not based on dogma, belief, or worship. Yet that is precisely what we find within Buddhism, which aims for direct perception of truth and reality, not defense of doctrine or destruction of dissenters. (Introduction, IX)

Great book so far... recommended.

11/14/05 Cartoon

If you're interested, you can catch the previous episodes of "The Corporation Guys" here and here.

It occurs to me that I should probably get back to these recurring series' more often than once every 5 or 6 months. I was firing off a "Fuzzy Bunny" cartoon every couple of weeks there for a while, because I was trying to bring that story to some kind of completion to meet a deadline. So, maybe not THAT frequent, but I'm trying to get a regular rotation going...

Friday Comic

Mikhaela B. Reid's new one is a must-see: other problems Dick Cheney can fix with torture...

The Greatest of All Time

Was the Champ making a statement here?

Bush, who appeared almost playful, fastened the heavy medal around Muhammad Ali's neck and whispered something in the heavyweight champion's ear. Then, as if to say "bring it on," the president put up his dukes in a mock challenge. Ali, 63, who has Parkinson's disease and moves slowly, looked the president in the eye -- and, finger to head, did the "crazy" twirl for a couple of seconds.

The room of about 200, including Cabinet secretaries, tittered with laughter. Ali, who was then escorted back to his chair, made the twirl again while sitting down. And the president looked visibly taken aback, laughing nervously.

A spokesman for Ali quickly clarified that it was all a joke, but I'd like to think that it may have meant a little more coming from a man who once said this:

Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end.

My Lifelong Dream...

If I work hard, stay focused, and eat my vegetables, maybe someday I too can have an FBI file and appear on George W. Bush's Enemies List.

(via Cursor)

Monday Comix

Mike Luckovich is a Bad Man (in the Muhammad Ali sense of the term).

Steve Moore ("In the Bleachers"): not political, but I thought it was cute.

Boondocks

Don't forget: Aaron Magruder's Boondocks premiers on Adult Swim Sunday night at 11. Should be cool.

Finally... a little HONESTY

Michael Scanlon on his fellow conservatives:

Consider one memo highlighted in a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday that Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, sent the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana to describe his strategy for protecting the tribe's gambling business. In plain terms, Scanlon confessed the source code of recent Republican electoral victories: target religious conservatives, distract everyone else, and then railroad through complex initiatives.

"The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees," Scanlon wrote in the memo, which was read into the public record at a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. "Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them."

Did You Know...

In the wake of Katrina, Fat-Assed radio host Rush Limbaugh referred to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin as "Mayor Nagger." Listen and judge for yourself whether it was just a slip of the tongue. And then remember that this is a guy who, according to FAIR:

As a young broadcaster in the 1970s, Limbaugh once told a black caller: "Take that bone out of your nose and call me back." A decade ago, after becoming nationally syndicated, he mused on the air: "Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"

In 1992, on his now-defunct TV show, Limbaugh expressed his ire when Spike Lee urged that black schoolchildren get off from school to see his film Malcolm X: "Spike, if you're going to do that, let's complete the education experience. You should tell them that they should loot the theater, and then blow it up on their way out."

In a similar vein, here is Limbaugh's mocking take on the NAACP, a group with a ninety-year commitment to nonviolence: "The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."

When Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL) was in the U.S. Senate, the first black woman ever elected to that body, Limbaugh would play the "Movin' On Up" theme song from TV's "Jeffersons" when he mentioned her. Limbaugh sometimes still uses mock dialect -- substituting "ax" for "ask"-- when discussing black leaders.

As you may know, this vile piece of human filth has an audience of 15 million weekly listeners, and is heard by our soldiers abroad on taxpayer-funded American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS). Notice that Media Matters provides a link to his syndicate (of course, a subsidiary of Clear Channel), so you can contact them and tell them what you think of this sub-human savage.

Dems Find Cojones

The Democrats ate their Wheaties this morning:

Democrats said that report was a year overdue and vowed to close more sessions to pressure Republicans to produce it. "We're serving notice on them at this moment. Be prepared for this motion every day until you face the reality," said Senate Democratic Whip Richard Durbin of Illinois.

Republicans were outraged.

"The United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership," Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said. "Never have I been slapped in the face with such an affront to the leadership of this grand institution."

He's so mad he thinks he's gonna explode!