More on Cheney...

Check out Charlie Savage on the strangle-hold exerted by the office of the Vice President over new pieces of legislation through the use of "signing statements," a clearly unconstitutional practice cultivated by Cheney C-o-S David Addington (who, if you couldn't tell, was the green snake, with Scooter Libby as the blue snake); Murray Waas, who reports that Bush directed Cheney to publicly reveal portions of the highly-classified NIE in an effort to smear Joe Wilson (no doubt at Cheney's behest -- Bush probably can't spell "highly-classified"); David Remnick on the Agnew-esque tactics used by Cheney with regards to confronting unfavorable media reports; Ken Herman on Cheney reviving his "last throes" theory; and Dan Froomkin and Robert Parry on "The One Percent Doctrine," Ron Suskind's report on a bizarre Cheney foreign-policy "standard of action that would frame events and responses from the Administration for years to come."

See also the Frontline report on "The Dark Side"” (archived on the NPR site), which investigates the internal dynamics of the Bush administration during the run-up to war in Iraq, and documents the sweeping influence wielded by Cheney over foreign policy decisions.

7/10/06 Cartoon

"Wild Planet: The Cheney-Snake"...

ATTITUDE 3!!

If you haven't purchased your copy of Attitude 3 yet, what're you waitin' for, yo? Buy it now at Amazon, or your local Barnes & Noble.

Though I don't have an entry up in my store, I do have a few copies here... if you want a signed one from me, with a personalized message and a sketch of your favorite (or least-favorite -- my default is Bush!) character from a Fighting Words cartoon, shoot me an email at nomind@fightingwordscomics.com.

Personally, at first glance I was a little resistant to the more "minimalist" or outwardly repetitive works like Michael Zole's Death to the Extremist, Chris Dlugosz's Pixel, Robert Balder's Partially Clips, and Ryan North's Daily Dinosaur Comics (even though some of them probably have a much wider readership than I do!). But after spending some time reading them, I think they offer some of the most enjoyable and innovative dialogue in comics today. Definitely better than the crap you'll see in your typical daily newspaper.

I guess I of all people should know better than to be so visually superficial...


BTW: I'm aware that there's something weird going on with the archive... a second window is popping up when you click on an archived 'toon. I've dispatched a team of experts from my IT department to work on the problem (...meaning my webmaster is looking into it)...

More on Thomas...

An amusing little slip-up by the esteemed Justice Thomas, from his dissent in the recent Hamdan case (via Crooks & Liars and Cursor):

Ironically, Justice Thomas refers to Justice Stevens’ “unfamiliarity with the realities of warfare”; but Stevens served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1945, during World War II. Thomas’s official bio, by contrast, contains no experience of military service.

Oops.

Spinzone Comics

Today is the "opening day" for Spinzone Comics, a collective of political and socially-minded webcomics. Included are Fighting Words, Mr. Bors' Idiot Box (at right), Brad Hawkins' Monkey Law, Jonathan Fischer's Death of the Party, Eddie Caplan's Line Item Vito, and J.E. Mills' Cosmic Awareness. Check it out!

More on Racism, GOP...

Check out Earl Ofari Hutchinson on the Republican leadership's shameless indulging of white Southern racism; Hazel Trice Edney on the rehashing of 40-year-old arguments regarding the Voting Rights Act; Samantha Levine in the Houston Chronicle, who quotes Rep. John Carter (R-TX) as saying, "I don't think we have racial bias in Texas anymore" (.... uh huh...); Margaret Kimberly on civil liberties "advancements" in South Dakota and Georgia; and Edward Lazarus and Charles Lane on a couple of cases that will allow the retrogressive Roberts Court to re-examine Brown next year.

See also an utterly disturbing report from New Orleans by Bill Quigley, who, besides giving a laundry list of seemingly insurmountable problems faced by the city, also notes that "not a single dollar of federal housing repair or home reconstruction money has made it to New Orleans yet." I am compelled to point again to an earlier post by Juan Cole, who predicted that most of the promised money would never arrive because rebuilding New Orleans is not politically advantageous for Republicans. As pessimistic as I am, when I read this I laughed it off. The fact that it seems to be coming true is, quite simply, obscene.

7/3/06 Cartoon

"GOP Filmstrips: Laws We Don't Need Anymore!"...

Tryin' something a little different with this one...

Bill Moyers...

...has a new series of programs on PBS, entitled "Faith & Reason," which appears to be an in-depth study on the intertwining of politics and religion in American society.

Should be terrific... check your local listings.

SCOTUS

Many happenings in the legal world these days...

Speculation is running rampant that the Court's ruling today on Gitmo war crimes tribunals may also undermine the administration on torture and wire tapping. Meanwhile, less positive developments have come about with regards to DeLay's Texas redistricting and the Voting Rights Act.

Which is interesting and everything, but dammitall if these late-breaking developments don't totally screw up my cartoon ideas for the week.


(Actually, I'm not sure if they did yet, we'll have to see...)

Thanks a Pantload, Chet...

Molly Ivins on George W. Bush, Environmentalist...

More on Religious Nationalism, Fundamentalism...

Articles for this week: Robert Jensen on the "four fundamentalisms" that threaten our society, specifically religious, national, economic, and technological fundamentalism; Stephanie Simon on programs for the breeding of evangelical lobbyists, which unfortunately makes no mention of the First Amendment or Establishment Clause; Andrew O'Hehir in a review of a biography of William Jennings Bryan by Michael Kazin; and an article that I may have linked to before but am still enjoying, Michelle Goldberg on the Christian nationalist movement in America.

Also, the little piece on prayer as "self-pity" came from a book of meditations by Jiddu Krishnamurti. I generally try to avoid intertwining my personal reading with the cartoon stuff like that, but this was a little nugget that I felt like sharing...

6/26/06 Cartoon

"FBN: Fundamentalist Broadcasting Network"...

The Roberts Court

Building on the previous 5-4 decision here, the new ultra-conservative Roberts Court seems to be hitting its stride. Last week, the Court handed down a decision which bars judges from suppressing evidence collected in violation of the "knock and announce" rule, effectively eliminating the rule by removing the main incentive to comply with it, and hinting at the willingness of the Court to fulfill a long-standing yearning of ultra-conservatives to eliminate the Exclusionary Rule altogether. Evidence of this can be found in Scalia's majority opinion, as he dismisses the basic necessity of an Exclusionary Rule (the purpose of which is to deter unlawful behavior by police) by claiming that the exclusion of evidence has little or no deterrent effect.

The Court's decision here should confirm a commonly-held suspicion: that Scalia's supposed "textualism" is clearly malleable depending on whatever conservative itch he is trying to scratch. His holdings, in my experience of reading them, also have a tendency to contain rather shallow reasoning, as shown by his suggestion that this holding is justified based on a shaky presumption of an "increasing professionalism of police forces" around the country.

Silly Peaceniks...

Once again, Media Matters is all over it...

The utter glee with which Dana Bash automatically declares that it is political suicide to call for a plan to eventually end this war (a position supported by a majority of the American people) is absolutely sickening.

More on Congress, Democrats...

Check out an op-ed in Salon.com by Russ Feingold on the Democrats' propensity for caving on civil liberties; Glenn Greenwald on the Dems' pitiful resistance to Michael Hayden, who should have been seen as "the most inflammatory nominee possible" for CIA director; Doug Ireland on the Dems' tendency to capitulate to the religious right on issues like gay marriage; Kathy Kiely on the Dems' faux "Contract With America"; John Byrne on the Dems' squishiness with regards to opposing an attack on Iran (which quotes one Democratic strategist as saying, "The strategy is simple: Give the Republicans enough rope and they'll hang themselves"); and Jonathan Weisman on the preposterous nonbinding resolution on the Iraq War approved by the House late last week (with 42 Democrats voting "Yea").

See also a couple of excellent stories: Eli Sanders in the Stranger on the "kneecapping" of one of the few principled Democrats in Congress, Seattle's Jim McDermott, by the new House Majority Leader John Boehner; and an article that has been sitting on my "Read" pile for about a year, Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi on the House Rules Committee, as a microcosm of the "house of horrors" that is the United States Congress.

6/19/06 Cartoon

"CB-Span"...

See more Congress Babies here!

H. Res. 861

42 Democratic congressmen today made it absolutely clear to their constituents that they have no respect for reason or rationality, as they voted "Yea" on the Republicans' nonbinding resolution in recognition of BULLSHIT.

Those of us who value reason and rationality need to repay the favor in November. That means YOU, parts of Tacoma and Olympia, when you consider whether to re-elect Adam Smith. And YOU Bellingham and Everett, when you consider whether Rick Larsen deserves a job. Even if we're not going to vote for their Republican challengers, perhaps we can shoot them an email saying we'll just leave that box blank to thank them for their votes today...


Or, to take a more positive step, we can donate to Darcy Burner in the race for the Eighth District (Eastside, Bellevue). She is challenging Republican Dave Reichert, who got a fundraising visit from his buddy President Peabrain today. Note that Maria Cantwell's challenger, Mike McGavick, chose to attend his son's high school graduation, rather than being seen with the President of the United States five months before he tries to be elected to the Senate.

That Darn Liberal Media, #843

Every now and then, something strikes me as so freakin' annoying that I am compelled to dash off a letter to the editor:

Rhetorically equating the so-called "wit" of Ann Coulter to the wit of George Carlin is like equating the musical talents of Paris Hilton and Jimi Hendrix.

More on the troops, Haditha...

Some excellent articles on the Haditha massacre: Robert Parry on Bush's own little My Lai incident; Dahr Jamail, who says there have been many such episodes during the course of this war; and Tony Swindell on a soldier's "Apocalypse Now moment":

Out of grief and rage, with the stench of his buddy's shredded flesh in his nostrils, the soldier stops asking questions and then begins making up his own rules with a rifle. He has touched the heart of darkness and there's no going back ever. Embracing the whore called war destroys morality, and doing all this in a dishonorable cause compounds the damage.

See also an outstanding article by Andrew J. Bacevich on "The Normalization of War," and the obsession our society has with militarization, global power projection, and war as a "spectator sport." This war fetish is encouraged as much by the pro-war rhetoric used by Democrats as it is by the Republicans' warmongering.

Lastly, a couple articles on the high percentages of undetected brain injuries among Iraq war vets here and here.

6/12/06 Cartoon

"Billy, the Boy Who Knew Too Much #2"... previous episode here.