5/1/06 Cartoon

"Aristotle's Arguments With Conservatives, #4"... see the previous episodes here, here, and here.

United 93

One thing that I haven't seen explained to my satisfaction is exactly why it is that this movie is too soon. It has very little to do with people being too squeamish or averse to "harsh reality." It is because these events are still being used as a political prop to help justify the greatest abuse of power (or series of abuses) that this country has ever witnessed.

It could be a completely faithful re-telling of events and a masterful piece of filmmaking, but as long as the Bush administration continues their pattern of callously using these events as advertisements to sell whatever tyrannical policy they have in store for us next, this movie is too soon.

THE NEW T-SHIRTS ARE HERE!!THE NEW T-SHIRTS ARE HERE!!

These sold pretty well at the show I did recently...



I'm using CafePress again for the shirts being sold online, since they print-on-demand and handle all the money, and since they offer so many other styles from the tees I had made locally.

Seriously folks... the T-Shirts and other merchandise (including signed copies of Attitude 3, which will be up in the Store in the next few months) are a pretty vital source of revenue for me. I don't have a "donation button" up on the site, so if you enjoy Fighting Words and want to show your support, the best way is to purchase an shirt... with the added benefit of getting a kick-ass article of clothing for your dollars!

Sorry... I hate "pledge drives" as much as the next guy. But I understand now why they become necessary...



UPDATE: Just for fun, I added a bunch of other products, like coffee mugs, tote bags, and mouse pads...

UPDATE #2: Playin' with the blog template colors a little as I learn more about HTML...

UPDATE #3: Yeah, the title of this post is a reference to "The Jerk"...

4/24/06 Cartoon

"Crusty McCrotchety: the Cantankerous Curmudgeon"...

Read constitutional scholars' letter to Congress on "Why the NSA Surveillance Program is Unlawful," and check out an article on the retired generals' criticisms of Rumsfeld.

T-Shirt Post, #1

The new T-Shirts will be up on the site very soon...

In the meantime, folks in the Seattle area need to swing by an utterly awesome store in Wallingford called "Not a Number," on 45th about a block east of Wallingford Center (1905 N. 45th; open Mon - Thu 11:00am to 7:00pm, Fri & Sat 11:00am to 8:00pm, Sun 11:30am to 6:00pm). You may have heard them advertised on AM1090, the local Air America station... they sell all kinds of cool knick-knacks, toys, and progressive political stuff (get your George W. Bush punching bags here!). They also have the newest line of Fighting Words T-Shirts, a selection of Fighting Words prints, AND they carry Eat the State!, a progressive paper that regularly runs Fighting Words.

Plus, if you're still in the neighborhood later in the evening, you can duck into Goldie's down the street, where you just might find me playing pool and drinking Jack Daniels...

...and another character takes shape

Media Matters has the jump on the Fox News hairdo who is reportedly the lead candidate to take Scott-Bot's job. Among his transgressions: he claims that evolutionary theory is "not verifiable or testable," and he was a big supporter of the so-called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."

This guy is dead meat when he gets in front of Helen Thomas (if he doesn't wuss out and revoke her credentials first)...

Tribute to Scott-Bot

So long, squishy...






Apparently, that model finally became too outdated for the administration's propaganda dissemination needs...

Pulitzers

Two extremely well-deserved recipients: Mike Luckovich and The New Orleans Times-Picayune.

4/17/06 Cartoon

"Li'l Bushies Two: Cowboys N' Persians!"... see the previous episode here.

Check out Seymore Hersh's now-famous article on U.S. plans to strike Iran, and two editorials on the same subject by Matthew Rothschild in the Progressive.

We Need an Anthem...

Also via Cursor, Neil Young has apparently recorded a track titled "Impeach the President," which includes a 100-voice choir and features "a rap with Bush’s voice set to the choir chanting 'flip/flop' and the like."

I've always liked Neil Young, but I'm not sure his style is what we really need right now in terms of protest music, and this particular track sounds a little silly.


Where have you gone, Zach de la Rocha?

The Chronicles of Young Don Rumsfeld...

Via Cursor, Chris Floyd has posted a very interesting story about how Donald Rumsfeld got his start, and became a "made-man" within the military-industrial complex. In 1963, as a rookie Congressman from Illinois, young Donnie Rumsfeld spearheaded a Republican smear campaign against Kennedy's nominee for Secretary of the Navy, Paul Nitze. Ironically, Nitze and Rumsfeld were ideological kindred-spirits:

During two flashpoints that brought the world to the very brink of nuclear war -- in Berlin and Cuba -- Nitze had urged Kennedy to take military action, including nuclear first strikes if necessary. He derided the "morality questions" involved in taking the world to nuclear war, and accused Robert Kennedy (and indirectly the president) of "appeasement" for seeking peaceful solutions.

...

And here he came into the crosshairs of young Don Rumsfeld. Any confirmation hearing is a good opportunity for the political opposition to score points off the sitting administration, but what could a hard-right, rampant Cold Warrior like Rumsfeld find to say against one of the chief architects of America's bristling, ever-expanding nuclear arsenal and its policies of aggressive "rollback" that even then beginning to ensnare the United States in the bloody quagmire of Vietnam? Here was a man after Rumsfeld's own cold heart. But the budding Bushist knew just what to do in such a situation: you lie. You come up with the most ludicrous, unsupported, impossible lie that you can think of -- then you launch it in the most public way possible. Yes, it's the old "Big Lie" gambit, consciously perfected by Josef Goebbels in Nazi Germany and now the chief mode of political discourse used by the Bush Administration. And although George W. himself was just a prep school cheerleader at the time, Rumsfeld was already honing the skills he would need to serve the master to come.

Rumsfeld accused Nitze -- of all people -- of being a pinko wimp who supported nuclear disarmament in the face of the implacable Soviet foe.

The rest, as they say, is "history" (if only as it exists in the bizarro reality he has created in his mind)...

Ha Ha Ha Ha

Cheney threw out the first pitch at the Nationals game today, and was subjected to "thunderous" boos.

Of course, just now on the Situation Report, Wolf-boy felt obligated to point out that D.C. is a heavily Democratic district. The guy has an 18% approval rating; you could have him make an appearance anywhere in the country (except possibly Wyoming) and he'd probably get booed.

4/10/06 Cartoon

"Advancements in Psychopathology"...

More later...

More Mainstream Media Madness...

Check out Greg Mitchell berating the ineffectual editorial boards of the major newspapers on the third anniversary of the war, Helen Thomas' rebuke of the "Lap Dogs of the Press," and Robert Parry (who is quickly becoming my favorite columnist) on the extraordinary story that somehow does not lead the papers and evening news every day.

And, the ever-useful Media Matters has a list of the past indiscretions of the "journalist" who is apparently CBS News' choice for their new lead-anchor-slash-prom-queen. Edward R. Murrow would be proud, guys...

Compassionate Conservatism

What does it mean when a Bush apologist like Mary Landrieu is forced to take a hard line against the administration?

It means that perhaps Juan Cole was right when he predicted that most of the promised money would never arrive, because, unconscionable as it may seem, it is not politically advantageous for the Republican Party to rebuild a predominantly African-American city that previously had reliably voted Democrat.

4/3/06 Cartoon & Emerald City Comicon

"Pimps N' Ho's of the Mainstream Media 2"... see the previous episode here.

Big weekend of comics happenings. I had a chance to meet Messrs. Tomorrow and Knight at different events. At the show I sold a few prints, a few T-Shirts (which will be going up on the site soon), and a few advance orders of Attitude 3. All in all, I'd say the show was a good experience... I'm not completely convinced that these big "Comicons" are really my scene, but I had a good time meeting some fellow artists and, if nothing else, just people-watching.

(P.S.: I really appreciated all the folks who stopped by and bought something or just expressed their approval of my work!)