The weekly Oregon news limerick challenge

(Update: Answers are in the Comments.)

After more artistic suffering than it's fair to make you read about, I've finished this week's Oregon News Limericks. For security reasons, the answers have been duct-taped to the underside of the Burnside Bridge until 7:15 Monday morning, at which time they will be peeled loose and read by quizmaster TJ of Loaded Orygun, and answered by Carl, Christine, and Paul, on the KPOJ 620AM's Carl + Christine show.

Starting this week, TJ's Monday morning appearance begins a half-hour earlier, and to mark the occasion we're modifying the conditions of competition a little bit: All this week's limericks (not merely the leftovers, per tradition) are below. The answers will be posted in the comments section below after the show's over.

Remember: No rhyming off the person sitting next to you. Ready? Begin!

When Facebook picked Prineville, on whole,
No one guessed they might need crowd control.
Once the bestest of friends,
Now a backlash impends:
All that power is coming from _______ .


Was it dry weather caused its demise, or
Nearby wells? Something else? None's the wiser.
Though they called it "perpetual"
We're still willing to bet you will
Ask: "Hey! What's become of the ____________?"


Its distant Grant County location
Made it into a far-right temptation.
But we're pleased to relay
That the folks in John Day
Just said no to the _____________.

Bonus limerick: Both Lamar Alexander and Frank Gafney are the subjects of Mad Kane limericks this week--which is more than either one deserves.

(Cross-posted at Loaded Orygun.)

Sunday morning toons: Special "Snow" edition

On the east coast, the snow's falling on them. In Vancouver, they're falling on it. And a ball made out of the stuff never had a chance in this week's "bipartisan" summit on health care reform.

Let's start, as always, with Daryl Cagle's toon round-up this week.

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Jeff Parker, John Darkow, Eric Allie, Michael Ramirez, Steve Sack, Adam Zyglis, John Cole, Ed Stein, Rob Rogers, Jeff Darcy, Cal Grondahl, and Monte Wolverton,

p3 Best of Show: Dave Fitzsimmons.

p3 Award for Best Adaptation from Another Medium (tie): R. J. Matson and Joe Heller.

p3 World Toon Review: Cam Cardow (Canada), Stephane Peray (Thailand), LAZ, (Cuba), Victor Ndula (Kenya), Paresh Nath (India), and Pavel Constantin (Romania).


Ann Telnaes says it's time to party like it's 1478!


At this rate, it's probably cheaper to buy Blue Cross insurance: As p3's small cadre of ultraloyal fans--call them the "p3-baggers," if you like--may recall, it was almost a year ago that a copy of the first Superman comic (Action #1, August 1938) changed hands for a little over $300,000. I've always been a Superman fan, but what happened recently strikes me as further proof, if any were needed, that more money doesn't make you more smart: A different copy of the same Action #1 sold for a cool $1 million-- a record that lasted a whole three days, until someone paid $1,000,075 for a copy of Detective Comics #27 (May 1939), the first Batman comic. Buyers and sellers in both cases were anonymous, but it's hard not to conclude that the buyer of Detective Comics #27 saw a chance to gain immortality among the ranks of elite collectors by spending an extra $75 bucks.


Yeah, but did Batman ever sell out this big? I actually remember seeing this item: The frankly-named Studies in Crap blog reminds us of the time when Krypton's Last Son actually shilled for the Radio Shack TRS-80 desktop computer in 1980. It's as bad as you're probably already imagining.


Stop your gayness! That's the theme of the third issue of False Witness: The Michelle Bachman Story comic book, which is now on sale. TPM reviews it here.


Portland homeboy Jack Ohman looks at a surgical procedure that health care reform may not cover.


People are no darned good! Friday was the 102nd anniversary of the birth of legendary animator Tex Avery. To celebrate the event, students at his high school alma mater, North Dallas High, are competing to paint the best mural paying tribute to Avery's best-known characters (including Bugs Bunny). Here at p3 we'll pay tribute by presenting "The Cat Who Hated People," a 1948 short directed by Avery during his MGM days. It's all there: The narrator. The episodic structure driven by increasingly surreal sight-gags. Flying body parts. Gratuitous violence.

p3 Bonus Toon: From red-shirts to orange jumpsuits? Jesse Springer looks at the new talent for Oregon's defense.



Remember to bookmark:

Slate's political cartoon for the day.

And Time's cartoons of the week.

Saturday morning tunes: "She never was afraid"

Here's a song to mark two events: First, I watched a Hulu program today that was sponsored by WalMart ads telling viewers how much they valued community. Second, this weekend that the Senate Democrats rolled over while a single Republican Senator blocked an extension on unemployment and COBRA benefits for people who weren't as rich and connected as he.

(H/T to Roger Ebert, who has a couple more tunes for you to see, plus a story to tell, featuring the never-should-be-forgotten Weavers.)

Portland downtown Drinking Liberally tonight: 7pm at Lucky Lab NW

Join The Finest Minds of Our Generation^TM tonight at the Lucky Lab Brew Hall, 19th and NW Quimby, in Portland, at 7pm.

Not on the DL/PDX mailing list? Go here.

Interested in starting a DL chapter in your neighborhood (there are over 300 chapters nationwide)? Go here.

And if you appreciate Living Liberally promoting progressive action through social interaction--including keeping the whole Drinking Liberally network up and running--consider sending them a little love via Tipping Liberally.

So wherever you are, join the Drinking Liberally gang for drinks and political conversation.

And remember: DL encourages everyone to drink, and vote, responsibly.

(Cross-posted at Loaded Orygun.)

The Krugman Blues

Talk about the ideal meeting of the artist and the material. There wasn't a chance in hell I could wait until Saturday for this:

Hat-tip to Susan H.

The LO/KPOJ "Lost Limerick Challenge"

For security's sake, this week's Loaded Orygun/KPOJ Oregon news limericks--written by me--were taped to the bottom of Hannah Teter 's snowboard until 7.30am this morning, at which time they were unearthed and read by quizmaster TJ of Loaded Orygun, and answered by Carl, Christine, and Paul, on the KPOJ 620AM's Carl + Christine show. They're now posted at LO.

(Well, strictly speaking, it was only Carl and Paul this morning, for reasons explained in Limerick #1.)

Meanwhile, here's a lagniappe for regular p3 readers: Not one but two lost limericks this week. Fill in the blank with the word or phrase from this week's Oregon news:

Drop your cigarette--put down that bourbon!
Here's statistics you might find disturbin':
The numbers bear witmess--
as to wellness and fitness,
Our healthiest counties are ___________ .


Archaeologists aren't often brusque--
But they labored from dawn until dusk.
At a Grand Ronde farmstead
Alert Wilma and Fred--
They've discovered ________________ .

(The answers can be found in the Comments below, or in this week's Spanning the State at Loaded Orygun.)

Bonus limerick: Mad Kane's anguished cry: "Enough with the Voltaire!"

Sunday morning toons: Special "Up, down, forward, back" edition

High points this week: The Olympics move forward, the Tea Party gets down, health insurer rates go up, Tiger Woods wishes he could take it all back. This and more on the p3 Sunday toon review.

Let's start of with Daryl Cagle's toon round-up for the week:

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Mike Lester, Nate Beeler, Pat Bagley, Bob Englehart, Jeff Parker, John Trever, David Fitzsimmons, Steve Sack, Henry Payne, Joe Heller, Brian Fairrington, Rob Roberts, Bob Gorrell, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best in Show: Ron Matson.

p3 Wingnut Iron Cross Medal: Bill Day.

p3 Wingnut Iron Double-Cross Medal: John Darkow.

p3 World Toon Review: Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), Stephane Peray (Thailand), Pavel Constantin, (Romania), Christo Komarnitzki (Bulgaria), and Paresh Nath (India).


Ann Telnaes figures that, if you freely admit to committing war crimes. you can't really have a healthy relationship with the whole idea of justice.


Mark Fiore says, tune in live to the Bipartisan Brawl-a-thon!


Portland homeboy Jack Ohman wonders about the value of instant numbers.


Get a couple of songboids today! In the two decades following WWII, Paul Terry animated Heckle and Jeckle, and (the original, pre-Bakshi) Mighty Mouse, and even Tom Terrific, whom "Captain Kangaroo" loyalists of a certain age will remember. Here's Heckle and Jeckle from 1948:

p3 Bonus Toon: What's the point of a victory, Jesse Springer asks, if you're not going to use it to leverage yourself to your next victory?




Remember to bookmark:

Slate's political cartoon for the day.

And Time's cartoons of the week.

Saturday afternoon tunes: "The smile's returning to their faces"

Whatever you're doing this afternoon, you really need to be doing it outside. Sun, sun, sun--here we come.

If Scott Roeder didn't exist, would it be necessary for Bart Stupak to invent him?

Steven at No More Mister Nice Blog makes a good point:

I look at the recent history of the anti-abortion movement, and it seems to me that having a good-zealot/bad-zealot strategy has been highly effective. Oh, sure, abortion is still legal and the White House and Congress are run by the (nominally) pro-choice party. But abortion rights are in a slow but inexorable retreat. What's more, the actions of of the "bad zealots" -- shooting abortion providers and whatnot -- are now treated by conventional-wisdom purveyors as stuff done by the marginal bad people, who are not to be confused with the fine, virtuous, respectable anti-choice folks in the C.W. purveyors' Rolodexes. How does that work out for the movement? Well, the shooting of George Tiller didn't exactly slow down Bart Stupak, did it?

Fox and the GOP are hard at work nurturing what they hope we'll come to see as the mainstream of the tea party movement -- just a bunch of nice patriots who simply want Republicans to act more like true conservatives. To someone who takes a close look, it might not be easy to tell where the "good zealots" and and the gun-toting, conspiracy-mongering "bad zealots" begin -- but the hope is that casual observers (and the mainstream media) will accept the argument that any ugliness arising from the movement is from the discredited, unrepresentative fringe-dwellers.

It's always useful for a movement to have more extreme elements to whom the moderates can point and say, "Deal with us or you'll have to deal with them."

But it says something about the state of the "center" in American politics today that it takes someone who actually shoots people in order to make an anti-choice figure like Stupak look moderate.

Elite journalism

I approximately recall a scene from "The Big Chill" in which a friend suggests to Michael, a writer for People magazine who finds himself somewhat at loose ends, that he could return to work on his novel.

Aah, that was a piece of crap, shrugs Michael; I'm starting a new novel.

What's it about? asks the friend.

This weekend, says Michael.

What was the other novel about?

Last weekend.


For some reason, that scene came to mind as I read this:

Dana Milbank recently wrote how a Fox News star has really “captured the moment," before posing the question: “Is Glenn Beck America?”

Milbank, who only had about 750 words to tackle that question in his Washington Post column, is now writing a book on the conservative radio and television host: "Tears of a Clown." And he’s already started researching.

“I’ve signed up for the elite membership on GlennBeck.com,” Milbank told POLITICO.

No such thing as too much Nighy

The LO/KPOJ "Lost Limerick Challenge"

For security's sake, this week's Loaded Orygun/KPOJ Oregon news limericks--composed by me--were written on the palm of Sarah Palin's left hand until 7.30am this morning, at which time they were copied down and read by quizmaster TJ of Loaded Orygun, to be answered by Carl, Christine, and Paul, on the KPOJ 620AM's Carl + Christine show. They're now posted at LO.

Analysis of the Oregon gubernatorial race (call it the free verse part of the program) ate into limerick time this morning. So once again, p3 readers get a little something extra: Fill in the blank with the word or phrase from this week's Oregon news (and give yourself bonus points for identifying the ironic connection between the two items):

Though the habitat's friends raised alarm
They've been left little choice but disarm.
Didn't take much accountin'
To decide that Steens Mountain
Will be home to a brand-new ___________.


This is stewardship at its hard core-est
And it's Oregon at its Al Gore-est.
It will help Klamath County
to preserve nature's bounty--
It's a plan for our newest ___________ .

(The answer can be found in the Comments below, or in this week's Spanning the State at Loaded Orygun.)

Bonus limerick: Mad Kane shares what is arguably a somewhat-jaded limerick on the subject of St. Valentine's Day.

The unforgiving minute

Tolstoy was right: Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way:

Joe the Plumber (aka Samuel J.Wurzelbacher) headlined state Representative Sam Rohrer’s Mobilize for Liberty event in Harrisburg today [...]

Wurzelbacher touched on several different points during his speech, and many of them were surprising. He said he doesn’t support Sarah Palin anymore. Why? Because she’s backing John McCain’s re-election effort. “John McCain is no public servant,” he told the room, calling the 2008 Republican nominee a career politician.

I pointed out he’d just be plain old Sam Wurzelbacher of Ohio — Joe the Plumber wouldn’t exist – without McCain. His response was blunt. “I don’t owe him s—. He really screwed my life up, is how I look at it.”

Minute's up.

Sunday morning toons: Special "Brooklyn accent" edition

This week we celebrate the idea that there's a match out there for everyone, no matter how improbable. We'll begin with Obama inviting the congressional Republicans to meet with him to discuss the jobs bill and see where it leads us.

Other highlights from this week: Palin's memory aids, East Coast weather, NASA's non-lunar future, and DADT's uncertain future. Let's start off as usual, with Daryl Cagle's toon round-up for the week.

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Nate Beeler, Pat Bagley, R. J. Matson, John Darkow, David Fitzsimmons, Jimmy Margulies, Steve Sack, Adam Zyglis, Larry Wright, and Monte Wolverton,

p3 Certificate of International Harmonic Toon Convergence (Part 1): Joe Heller (US) and Martin Sutovek (Slovakia).

p3 Certificate of International Harmonic Toon Convergence (Part 2): Dave Granlund (US) and Olle Johansson (Sweden).

p3 World Toon Review: Cam Cardow (Canada), Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), Pavel Constantin (Romania) and Sergei Tunin (Russia).


Ann Telnaes brings the news: It's snowing on the Capitol.


Mark Fiore says Valentine's Day is trickier than you thought. Dogboy and Mr. Dan explain.


Yipes! Can it be--can the Tea Bag Party outfight even Captain America?


On the one hand: Here's Barry Blitt's illustration to accompany today's Frank Rich column in the NYTimes.


Record snow may have hit DC, but Portland homeboy Jack Ohman is a little surprised anyone noticed.


"I knew I shoulda made that left toin in Albukoykee!" "Herr Meets Hare," this Fritz Freleng toon from 1945, was the first time Bugs Bunny ever spoke that now-classic bit of Brooklynese. "Herr," in which Bugs gives German Chancellor Hermann Goering da woiks, was one of the last of the wartime Warner Bros. cartoons. Fans of Chuck Jones' wonderful "What's Opera, Doc?" from 1957 will recognize where Jones got some of his ideas. According to Wikipedia, AOLTime Warner and Turner Broadcasting have kept this one mostly out of circulation for years because it dealt humorously with Nazis, something one would have thought was the point of a wartime Bugs Bunny short. (Which also doesn't explain "Hogan's Heroes" in eternal cable syndication.)

p3 Bonus Toon: As long as we're woiking on our Brooklyn accents this morning, let's include Jesse Springer, who wishes the Legislature had da noive.





Remember to bookmark:

Slate's political cartoon for the day.

And Time's cartoons of the week.

"To save time, just press 'Popcorn.'" (You'll see.)

While hunting for something else on Hulu, I noticed a clip of a recent SNL skit it built around a TV game show called "What Is Burn Notice?"

I find Kristen Wiig to be weirdly attractive, even when consigned to bit parts like this. Plus there's a kind of goofy affability about the host's performance that had me laughing. And I have to give them credit for sticking to their premise for almost 4 1/2 minutes.

The problem is that, having watched this clip a couple of times, I'm still not sure what their premise is.

Is it that they don't get why "Burn Notice" has a loyal following? Is it that cable TV is such a Super Bowl of obscurity that you can be the eighth-highest show on cable and still no one knows who the hell you are? (And that the blurb-o-matic TV critics at middle-market papers can be counted on to say something blandly encouraging about almost anything?) Or is it that they think "Burn Notice" really is a pretty good show, and they're amazed that no one seems to know about it?

Your guess is as good as mine.

But when I saw the thumbnail for that clip, titled "Burn Notice Game Show," I was certain what it had to be. It's true, I was wrong, but I was certainly wrong. That's important. Let me explain:

Anyone who's made it even halfway through one episode of "Burn Notice" knows the show element that most begs for parody: The voice-overs by the main character (Michael Westen, a blacklisted CIA agent stuck in Miami, doing soldier-of-fortune and help-the-underdog work until he can figure out who sold him out) explaining the everyday business of espionage. He does it with the bored-but-patient tone you'd expect if he'd been sentenced to 100 hours of community service teaching covert-ops techniques at the local Learning Annex. In fact, part of the fun is that his low-key pedantic delivery is so completely out of sync with the step-by-step mayhem he's explaining.

For example:

(For some reason, Hulu occasionally resets the start/stop times of clips. Just in case, that clip goes from the 13:50 mark to the 15:00 mark.)

Like it or loathe it, that shtick is as much a part of the show's DNA as palm trees, sun glasses, and thong bikinis. If you want to lampoon "Burn Notice," that's where you start. And you'll need the sing-song tone. (See? It's contagious.) In fact, the show's already ahead of the curve--it's been poking fun at itself for this gimmick almost since the beginning:

(Like "Ask a Spy," those baffling promotional spots signaling the show's return from hiatus, such as the one that SNL found so . . . baffling, were also the show taking a knowing poke at its own well-established style.)

A friend who's caught the "Burn Notice" bug reports that, just to irritate his family, he sometimes speaks only in Westen-ese:

If you want to get rid of a lot of snow, you're going to need a heat source. A water softener can be made to work for this.

So what I was expecting from that SNL clip was a "Jeopardy!"-style quiz show--except that it's not in the form of a question that the contestants are required to phrase their answers. To wit:

Host: All right, contestants: Question number one: I have $1400 in traffic tickets, and my car was just impounded. What do I do?

Contestant #1: Uhm . . . pay the tickets? [Penalty buzzer sounds.]

Host: No, sorry. That answer is incorrect. Contestants?

Contestant #2: Sneak into the impound lot and use a spare key to start the car and drive it out? [Penalty buzzer sounds.]

Host: Oh, I'm sorry, but remember, contestants--the answer must be in the form of a Michael Westen voice-over.

Contestant #3: Retrieving a car from an impound lot is a matter of remembering that these guys aren't paid much money. They're expecting things like guard dogs and razor wire to do their work for them. That's your advantage. You'll need two lengths of PVC pipe and some low-fat mayo or salad dressing. Using a heavy blanket to cover the razor wire, scale the fence at the farthest point from the office, and . . . [Chimes ring, audience applauds]

Host: Yes! Congratulations Contestant Number Three! Now let's move over to the isolation booth for the lightning round!

(Hey, SNL--you're welcome. )

If you want to parody something, the easiest way is to exaggerate one of its most obvious characteristics, while still keeping it recognizable. In television, that often means placing it in some setting where it doesn't belong: Sharks delivering candygrams to apartment buildings. Interplanetary invaders living undercover as a suburban family. A gentle children's show host in a dangerous tenement apartment. Opera singers delivering the news. Or you can make one of your target's most familiar gimmicks the object of a game show. . . .

And so on.

Saturday tunes: "Un-photographable"

Rickie's magnificent (but porn-star moustachioed Mikey's pretty cool too--I'd take his job in a minute).

I won't say for certain that Conrad Lorenz, who wrote the lyrics for "My Funny Valentine," was as self-loathing as these lyrics suggest when they're taken literally, but he was certainly self-destructive; only one small indicator was his death from liver failure at 48. All of which makes this song poignant, but also a lot darker than it's sometimes sold.

Still, the guy could set a rhyme.

(Hat tip to Cooreman.)

Not much I can add

to TBogg's comments on this man's death, except that my own college education would have been the poorer without him.

p3 morning reading: Four possibly-unrelated items

One:

Ana Marie Cox, most recently at the now-shuttered Air America, has been named GQ's Washington Correspondent.

"The monthly magazine is one of the few things I haven’t tried yet," said Cox, who was founding editor at Wonkette, Washnigton editor of Time.com, and a braodcaster at Air America until a few weeks ago.

Two:

Meet the latest Abraham Lincoln biographer: Bill O'Reilly.

The Fox News host and best-selling author is working on "Killing Lincoln," a history book that will take readers "into Ford's Theater and into the mind of Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and on the manhunt to find and bring to justice the killer of one our greatest presidents," according to a statement issued Thursday by Henry Holt and Company.

"Killing Lincoln" is scheduled to come out in the fall of 2011 and will be co-written by Martin Dugard [ . . . ]

Three:

Reality show star Kim Kardashian is producing a half-hour documentary about celebrity PR, titled, 'The Spindustry.'

The show will follow Miami-based firm Command PR as it prepares for the launch of a "luxury lollipop." Command PR is run by Jonathan Cheban and Simon Huck, who don't rep Kardashian, although the three are close friends.

Four:

Sumner Redstone is optimistic about Viacom despite his fortune dwindling to a mere $2 billion last year. The entertainment conglomerate’s quarterly revenues are falling faster than anyone anticipated, but cost cuts and strength in DVD and Blu-ray releases helped push profits up well ahead of expectations.

This is going to make the Spring Faculty/Student mixer a little awkward

Looks like the Dean of the Washington Press Corps has developed a little May-December crush on the coach of the women's basketball team.

Broder was clearly worth every penny of his buy-out a couple of years ago.

Vancouver, St. Helens, Corvallis, Portland Metro-West, and Portland DL chapters meet this week

Here are the regular schedules for the DL chapters in the area. (Click on their link to join their email list. To find the DL chapter near you--there are over 300 hundred of them--go here.)

First, congratulations to DL Portland Metro-West (aka Beaverton/Washington County): This week they're celebrating their one-year birthday as a chapter! Details below.

Portland Metro-West: Next meeting: Wednesday, February 10th.
Meetings: Second Wednesday of every month, 7:00pm at Ringo's, 12300 SW Broadway St, (just east of Hall Blvd).

Second, my most abject apologies to the Vancouver WA chapter for once a-frickin'-gain failing to get this posted until after they had their first meeting of the month, last night:

Vancouver: Next meeting: Tuesday, February 23rd.
Meetings: Second and fourth Tuesdays, 7pm, at the Back Alley Bar and Grill, 6503 E. Mill Plain Blvd. (West of Andresen, in a strip mall 1/2 block west of Safeway on the south side of Mill Plain. It's deep in the lot.)

Now, for the rest of the area's fine chapters this month:

St. Helens Next meeting: Wednesday, February 10th.
Meetings: Second Wednesday of each month, 6:30 pm.

Corvallis: Next meeting: Wednesday, February 10th.
Meetings: Second Wednesday of each Month, 5pm - 7pm at Squirrels, 100 SW 2nd St.

Portland: Next meeting: Thursday, February 11th.
Meetings: Second and fourth Thursdays of the month, at the Lucky Lab Brew Hall at 19th and NW Quimby, Thursday at 7pm.

Salem: Next meeting: Thursday, February 18th.
Meetings: Third Thursday of each month, 7:00 pm, at Browns Towne Lounge, 189 Liberty St NE # 112 (Old Sportstop next to Read Opera House)

And if you appreciate Living Liberally promoting progressive action through social interaction--including keeping the whole Drinking Liberally network up and running--consider sending them a little love via Tipping Liberally. Or check with your chapter host about making a Holiday Fund Drive donation or pledge.

So wherever you are, join the Drinking Liberally gang for drinks and political conversation.

And remember: DL encourages everyone to drink, and vote, responsibly.

(Cross-posted at Loaded Orygun.)

News from Oregon travels slowly back across the Rockies

Sometimes I think you could rob Congressional Democrats by telegraph:

House Democrats say leadership has their work cut out in convincing the public to support a tax increase on those making more than $250,000.

Centrists and liberal Democrats told The Hill they support allowing President Bush’s tax cuts on those making more than $250,000 to expire, but said leaders must win public support by portraying the tax increase as reducing the nation’s record budget deficit.

Oh, for the love of . . . Hey, Democrats, if you don't think you're up to the job, why not ask these guys for some advice?

"Tonight’s victory is one for all Oregonians—especially students and middle class families,” said Otto Schell, of the Oregon PTA. "Strong schools and preserving public services are critical to our children’s future and key to our economic recovery. Today, Oregon voters have laid the foundation for a strong future."

Measures 66 and 67 raise the corporate minimum tax from $10 to $150 for the first time since 1931 and raise the tax rate on household income above $250,000. Prior to the passage of this measure, more than two-thirds of corporations doing business in Oregon paid just the $10 a year corporate minimum income tax. The vote marks the first time Oregon voters have approved a statewide tax measure since 1931.

Passage of Measures 66 and 67 protects critical funding for schools, health care, and public safety.

Measure 66 (the personal income tax hike on income over $250, 000) passed by 54.3% to 45.7%. You don't have to perpetuate the phony "deficit crisis" narrative to allow Bush's unfunded tax cuts to phase out.

Seriously. This is all a lot harder if you don't try.

The LO/KPOJ "Lost Limerick Challenge"

For security's sake, this week's Loaded Orygun/KPOJ Oregon news limericks--written by me--were buried in an empty buffalo wings box in the end zone at Lucas Oil Stadium until 7.30am this morning, at which time they were unearthed and read by quizmaster TJ of Loaded Orygun, and answered by Carl, Christine, and Paul, on the KPOJ 620AM's Carl + Christine show. They're now posted at LO.

I had a good time yesterday evening imagining the fun Carl, et al., could have with this limerick, but time ran out on them this morning. So once again, p3 readers get a little something extra: Fill in the blank with the word or phrase from this week's Oregon news:

With a 4 and 1 record, he ain't
Just an ape with the usual complaints
But the Oregon Zoo
Says he's now 4 and 2--
If he'd only predicted ___________ !

(The answer can be found in the Comments below, or in this week's Spanning the State at Loaded Orygun.)

Bonus limerick: Mad Kane presents a limerick on the incident that nearly edged out the Super Bowl as the main topic of discussion this weekend.

Talking to the hand

I think the whole Palin-writing-on-her-palm business isn't worth anyone's bother. People do that all the time. I've done it sometimes. I call it my "palm organizer." I like to think that joke never grows old, though it probably does.

If you're on the left and you want to be appalled by Palin's performance at the Tea Party Convention and subsequent Q & A, there's ample reason, but there's not much need for Palmgate (may I be the first?) to be part of it. Why focus on notes on her palm as an indicator of the shallowness of her ideas, or her general unfitness for office, when you've got over 45 minutes of her speech right there? Why get worked up over something that might arguably symbolize the problem, when you've got the actual problem right before your eyes?

And frankly, after watching one of her poorer performances at the podium last night--rushed punchlines, flubbed lines, strange pauses--if inking some notes in her hand would have improved her game, I'd have been happy to loan her my favorite Sharpie. I taught public speaking for more years than I care to remember, let alone admit, and as far as mnemonic aids go, it's whatever gets you through the night. And different people have different tricks. Letterman uses blue 4" x 6" cards just to get through the Top 10 list every night, and I don't remember the last time anyone called him out for that on my Twitter home page.

Some have guessed that her crib notes were proof that her Q&A questions were known to her in advance. Let's suppose it's true, that she wasn't just looking for her political lifeline. The words written on her hand were:

Energy
Tax
Lift American Spirits

As the title for the next blockbuster inspirational memoir, there could be something there.

But it's hard to imagine she'd need a crib sheet for those, no matter what you think of her. I'd guess that by now she sees them whenever she closes her eyes, burned into her retinas like flashbulbs. But if she does need them written there--perhaps the way a professor of mine used to print the mini-prayer "JMJ" at the top of his spelling homework as a lad back in Catholic school--so what?

Focus, people: You've got her totally-mistaken ideas about the federal deficit. You've got her out-loud musing attacking Iran. You've got the evidence she's part of an effort by the GOP to co-opt the Tea Party movement rather than let it run off-leash. And those things are all right there for the viewing; no need to scour YouTube freeze-frames.

Talk to what she actually said. Not to the hand.

(Image via.)

Sunday morning toons: Special "Bad Metaphors Make Bad Economic Policy" edition

What kind of week has it been? Obama bearded the GOP lions in their den; Toyota gets some bad brakes; the military inched closer to ditching DADT, while the Maverick went the other direction; the Tea Partiers convened, and America waits to see the abortion issue finally adjudicated at the highest level.

Let's begin with this week's Daryl Cagle toon round-up.

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Bill Schorr, Larry Wright, Jeff Parker, John Trever, John Darkow, Jimmy Margulies, Jerry Holbert, Steve Sack, Adam Zyglis, Milt Priggee, John Cole, Steve Breen, Bill Day, and Monte Wolverton,

p3 MVP Award: Mike Keefe.

p3 Legion of Merit: Rob Roberts.

p3 Legion of Honor: Steve Benson.

A lot of cartoons out there this week were about how terrible it is to be running a deficit, and how the government must tighten its belt during a recession, because that's what families do. This is absolutely wrong, as metaphor and as economic policy. A huge chunk of our current deficit is the result of the Bush tax cuts, the Iraq War, the Afghanistan War, and the Medicare prescription bill, all of which were passed on the Bush watch and all of which were unfunded. Most of the rest of the deficit is the result of the recession and will recede once the recession does. Meanwhile, spending is the only way to get out of the recession.

That's just so you know it's not all beer and skittles around here at the p3 Sunday morning toons. It's beer and skittles and sound macroeconomic policy.

Still, it's been a rare topic since instituting the toon review that has so many cartoonists so wrong in so nearly the same way so suddenly. Rather than simply let some of my favorite toonists go dark this week, I'm going to herd the ones who are buying the GOP talking points about the deficit into one group and let them honk and blow their horns. Take it away, Daryl Cagle.
Pat Bagley. Michael Ramirez. and Jeff Stahler.

p3 World Toon Review: Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), Stephane Peray (Thailand), Cam Cardow, (Canada) and Alexander Zudin (Russia).


It's an Ann Telnaes two-fer this week: the one place where no one mentiones "belt-tightening", and Obama's inner Wile E. Coyote.


"Spending Cuts Ho!" Now we're talkin'! Mark Fiore, on the other hand, gets the deficit problem. (Alert for the irony-challenged; you may not understand why this is humorous.)


Snip! With the second appearance today of scissors being handed in from out of frame (go figure; it's unrelated to the first), NYTimes illustrator and p3 favorite Barry Blitt captures the fundamental wrong-headedness of DADT for Frank Rich's column this morning.


Poof! "Thank you, Howard Zinn," says the "K" Chronicles.


Here's a funny thing: If you're an actual flesh-and-blood person, 50 million of you can simply up and die every year and the government will dither. But if your personhood is nothing more than a legal fiction, well, that's a different story.


Portland homeboy Jack Ohman reduces "bipartisanship" to its ABCs.


"There'll be jobs for everyone, if we get out and vote!" "Hell-Bent for Election" (1944) has several asterisks by its name in the record book: It's a "two-reeler," when most theatrical animated shorts were one 7-minute reel each. It's directed by Chuck Jones (moonlighting from Warner Bros.) for UPA (best known today, if at all, for "Gerald McBoing-Boing" and the "Mister Magoo" series). And it contains song lyrics by E. Y. Harburg, who, five years earlier, wrote the book for "The Wizard of Oz." It was paid for by the United Auto Workers to help get out the vote for FDR in the 1944 election. Part I is is an allegory about FDR versus GOP nominee Thomas Dewey--filled with references to 1942-1944 politics that you may need Wikipedia to track, and unafraid to link political disagreements to treason in a couple of spots. Part II imagines the post-war world awaiting Americans if they "get out and vote" in 1944--and it's a laundry list of government-sponsored programs (many of which we now take for granted) that would make the Obama of Tea Partiers' most feverish dreams of socialism look like Scrooge McDuck.

Part I:

Part II:

p3 Bonus Toon: With the passage of Measures 66 and 67 in the rear-view mirror, Jesse Springer asks the next question:





Remember to bookmark:

Slate's political cartoon for the day.

And Time's cartoons of the week.

Saturday morning tunes: "I know beyond a doubt"

(In tribute to Thursday's "Build It" rally at Portland City Hall in support of the 2030 bike plan, I was going to use the original Devo "Whip It" video this morning, but I had forgotten just how creepy-weird it was. Not at all the thing for a Saturday morning when the sun's trying to come out. I'd also forgotten about the existence of Guess jeans. Maybe some other Saturday morning.)

Good to know, I suppose

Here's the opening of a TNR thumbsucker from yesterday by Jonathan Cohn:

In the last week and a half, Obama has rediscovered his voice on health care--telling audiences he is determined to achieve comprehensive reform, not some piecemeal version, and that he is willing to fight for it. And, administration officials say, the sentiments are genuine.

I'm not sure what it is about that final sentence that depresses me more:

That administration officials felt the need to say it? Or that Cohn was able to repeat it without any apparent irony?

The unforgiving minute

America can sleep safer tonight, knowing that defenseless corporations have had their rights to free speech restored to them via the Citizens United ruling.

Why look--here comes some corporate free speech right now, in the Senate Anti-Trust subcommittee hearings on the Comcast merger with NBC-Universal:

You know what I'll bet Specter thinks is the most brilliant thing Comcast's executives have done? They've donated a whopping $108,580 to his 2010 re-election campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org. That only makes Comcast the second largest source of campaign cash for Specter, however. The biggest is the Philadelphia-based legal and lobbying powerhouse Blank Rome. You know who one of Blank Rome's lobbying clients is? Comcast Corp.

As the Roberts Court would say: Money talks.

Of course, this story would sting more if Specter had had any integrity to begin with.

Minute's up.

"It's a crazy feeling!"

With all due respect to "Layla" (7:10), "Hey Jude" (7:11), and "Ina-Gada-Da-Vida" (17:05) all of which were to come, the boy certainly managed to pack a lot in to a mere 1:48.

From 1958 (one of ten singles he released that year).

Decoding tweets: A brief introductory guide for my non-Twitter friends

Twitter allows you to keep tabs on the quotidian happenings and passing thoughts of not only your friends and colleagues, but also the far-removed rich and famous.

For example, this appeared about half an hour ago on my Twitter home page:

MarleeMatlin RT @Alyssa_Milano This day in history Feb. 2 1990 De Klerk dismantled apartheid in South Africa promised free Nelson Mandela >INSPIRATIONAL!

Let's unpack this. Follow along:

MarleeMatlin: The tweet (Twitter message) was sent by Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin, whom I am following on Twitter.

RT: The tweet is actually a retweet, or a re-sending of another tweet by someone else whom the sender is following. Re-tweeting will send the original tweet to everyone following the re-tweeter.

@Alyssa_Milano: Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award winner Alyssa Milano is the author of the original tweet. (Because I'm not following Milano, I never received the original tweet, only Matlin's retweet.)

>: Usually used as texting shorthand for "more than," "better than," etc. In this case, it's an idiosyncratic flag that Matlin often uses to mark the beginning of her own comment added to a retweet.

So, in regular talk:

Milano sent a text to her followers noting that today is the anniversary of the end of apartheid and the release of Mandela by de Klerk. Matlin, who is one of Milano's followers, re-sent Milano's message to all of her own followers, adding that she finds Milano's original tweet inspirational.

It's unclear whether either de Klerk or Mandela has a Twitter account at this time.

There are several lessons to be learned from this; here's one: There is no guarantee that following famous, attractive, and talented people on Twitter will itself be an exciting experience. Absolutely none at all.

It's like observing them through the wrong end of a telescope.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to Twitter to unfollow, with some regrets, a person currently on my following list. I think you can guess what that means.

The unforgiving minute

Consistent with my theory of why conservatives can't do satire well, Steve at No More Mister Nice Blog explains Howard Kurtz's failure to understand that Jon Stewart putting the needle to Obama doesn't mean Stewart and the entire left have given up on him.

Minute's up.

The LO/KPOJ "Lost Limerick Challenge"

Astute listeners may have noticed a pronounced lack of TJ on this morning's Carl + Christine show on AM620KPOJ. According to my briefing, this was because the Torrid One missed an early morning bus connection. Live by TriMet, die by Trimet.

And you probably thought they sent a limo for him, not to mention picking all the red M&M's out of the bowl in the green room.

Anyway, for whatever reason, KPOJ's loss is once again p3's gain. For the full effect, you may find it helpful to have a friend crouch behind the radio and read this morning's limericks aloud to you, then fill in the blank with the correct word or phrase from this week's Oregon news:

"CSI" would find no clues to trail.
As a "Prison Break" plot--Epic Fail!
Medford cops would agree
It's no challenge, you see,
Catching someone who __________.


With tuition hikes causing dismay,
And the high price of textbooks today,
It may comfort dorm residents
As they watch college presidents
Take a cut in their annual _________ .


With the Coast Guard's help, now Maude and Myrtle
Will be able to clear their last hurdle
First it's SeaWorld's devotion,
Then back to the ocean,
For these formerly stranded ___________.

(The answers can be found in the Comments below, or in this week's Spanning the State at Loaded Orygun.)

Bonus limerick: From Mad Kane: "Fighting Firewalls with Kindle Blogs."