This all began because Misty fessed up to having this cranked up in her Jeep.
Which put me in the mind of this cassette (a technology somewhere after wax cylinders and before 3D flatscreens) that I used to crank up in another vehicle at another time and place. (Don't blame me for the video; I'd never seen it until I found the music on YouTube.)
It was another time. Shut up.
Quote of the day: Credentials
Friday, July 30, 2010
Charles Pierce:If Newt Gingrich is a historian, then every chicken who plays tic-tac-toe is Boris Spassky.
More of this, please.
I simply Googled the phrase "angry weiner" a moment ago, and it was the number one hit. Not even any porn hits outranked it.
When I checked just now, it had over 28,000 views.
Watched it with a DL pal, and we agreed: It's exhilarating.
More of this, please.
When I checked just now, it had over 28,000 views.
Watched it with a DL pal, and we agreed: It's exhilarating.
More of this, please.
Oregon weather: My theory
Oregon weather is like being in a relationship.
Last spring, all the way up to the first week in July, was the Rough Patch. Rain. More rain. Anger. Recrimination. Slamming doors. Stony silences. Our friends from out of state felt really uncomfortable around us.
And you know what happens after that:
Great make-up weather.
Last spring, all the way up to the first week in July, was the Rough Patch. Rain. More rain. Anger. Recrimination. Slamming doors. Stony silences. Our friends from out of state felt really uncomfortable around us.
And you know what happens after that:
Great make-up weather.
Books-within-books report: The Man in the High Castle
Monday, July 26, 2010
A friend (I think it was longtime p3 correspondent James the Elder) sent me a collection of Philip K. Dick short stories several years ago, and although I found the early prose style a little tough going at times, I was soon hooked by his recurring premise -- although "obsession" might not be too strong a word: Dick's stories usually center on a single character who, for one ingenious reason or another, has sudden and urgent reason to worry that what they think is "reality" . . . isn't. ("Blade Runner," "Total Recall," "Paycheck," "Minority Report," "Screamers," and "A Scanner Darkly" are all films made from PKD stories, with wildly varying degrees of fidelity.) In that sense, Dick was a lot like Harlan Ellison, who also has one story he seems to write over and over until he gets it right: the man who must journey to the past, possibly never to return, as the only way to save his present.
I went on to read VALIS (intriguing, but finally just too damned strange for me) and A Scanner Darkly (which I enjoyed but wouldn't want to face again too soon).
Yesterday I finished one of PKD's early novels, The Man in the High Castle, said by many to be his best work. Its premise: Because the US was weakened by the Depression and hamstrung by isolationism (both following from the assassination of FDR in 1933), the Axis narrowly won World War II and now, in 1962 (the year of High Castle's publication), Japan and Germany have divided up the globe. The Eastern US is controlled by Germany through a puppet government, the West Coast by Japan in the same way. (About the fate of Africa we shall not speak here.) The two empires coexist uneasily, and plot against one another. The death of Reich Chancellor Martin Bormann, following the death from syphilis of Hitler, has triggered a power struggle with global implications. (The depiction of the Japanese conquerors is markedly less unsympathetic than that of the Germans.)
Woven through this piece of alternate-history fiction is another work of alternate-history fiction, a controversial novel called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy (the title is a biblical reference, although it suggests what might result if the works of Jacqueline Suzanne were written by and for insects). Grasshopper begins with the premise that the US had indeed been able to gain strength in the 1930s, helping the Allies emerge victorious, albeit into a world with greater and lesser differences from the 1960s we know. It's banned in German-controlled areas, but available to the elites in the Japanese-controlled areas. Several of the characters in Dick's story have read or begun to read Grasshopper, whose author is said to have retreated for his safety to a heavily-defended compound outside of Cheyenne -- he is "the man in the high castle" -- and remains, for most of Dick's story, an invisible figure.
I was hooked about five pages into High Castle, but it quickly occurred to me that this was the least Philip K. Dick story I've ever read by PKD. It has a couple of his lesser signature touches, most conspicuously the taking a wildly counterfactual premise and pushing it relentlessly through to its logical yet quotidian implications, down to its effect on how someone would hold their fork. There are also brief hints of another favorite PKD theme, the race to stop some evil from leaving the planet and heading for the stars (the Germans are leveraging their superiority in rocket technology to begin interplanetary travel), though again that's minor.
Then, literally on the next-to-last page, the big, classic PKD move abruptly happens. It's almost superfluous to issue a spoiler alert here, since anyone familiar with the PKD stories mentioned above will instantly realize that a PKD spoiler can only go one direction in the story I've described so far. The result is a reversal so big, and yet with so little time left to do anything with the interesting possibilities it raises perforce, that I found myself more than a little disappointed.
Still, the alternate world Dick created under our very noses was fascinating in its own right. One last hint about the reversal: Many of the American characters in the Japanese-controlled regions have come to rely on the I Ching as a guide to their understanding and action, and that book also looms large -- very large -- in the story.
(One difference between Dick and Ellison: Ellison's time-loop conceit is rarely the object of mystery or the surprise at the end; it's the premise. On the other hand, with Dick -- certainly in the case of High Castle -- sometimes the "big reveal" is that everything's been about "what is reality?" all along.)
Another pleasant oddity about High Castle: Dick's prose could sometimes be a tad windy and clunky, as if he too often reached for the thesaurus when he shouldn't have. And yet High Castle zips along pretty briskly. This is partly the product of a literary move that, in almost any other context, would be a howler: Much of the dialogue, and even the narration, falls into a slightly staccato pidgin-English. It's not a crude "keel Moose and Squirrel" burlesque of Japanese or German speakers of English (or vice-versa), but something else, somehow managing to suggest that these are people who are all being forced to think through their words and actions in a language (perhaps even a reality) not their own before committing to them.
(Hat tip to the Fathomless Zen Tyrant, who first recommended High Castle to me.)
I went on to read VALIS (intriguing, but finally just too damned strange for me) and A Scanner Darkly (which I enjoyed but wouldn't want to face again too soon).
Yesterday I finished one of PKD's early novels, The Man in the High Castle, said by many to be his best work. Its premise: Because the US was weakened by the Depression and hamstrung by isolationism (both following from the assassination of FDR in 1933), the Axis narrowly won World War II and now, in 1962 (the year of High Castle's publication), Japan and Germany have divided up the globe. The Eastern US is controlled by Germany through a puppet government, the West Coast by Japan in the same way. (About the fate of Africa we shall not speak here.) The two empires coexist uneasily, and plot against one another. The death of Reich Chancellor Martin Bormann, following the death from syphilis of Hitler, has triggered a power struggle with global implications. (The depiction of the Japanese conquerors is markedly less unsympathetic than that of the Germans.)
Woven through this piece of alternate-history fiction is another work of alternate-history fiction, a controversial novel called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy (the title is a biblical reference, although it suggests what might result if the works of Jacqueline Suzanne were written by and for insects). Grasshopper begins with the premise that the US had indeed been able to gain strength in the 1930s, helping the Allies emerge victorious, albeit into a world with greater and lesser differences from the 1960s we know. It's banned in German-controlled areas, but available to the elites in the Japanese-controlled areas. Several of the characters in Dick's story have read or begun to read Grasshopper, whose author is said to have retreated for his safety to a heavily-defended compound outside of Cheyenne -- he is "the man in the high castle" -- and remains, for most of Dick's story, an invisible figure.
I was hooked about five pages into High Castle, but it quickly occurred to me that this was the least Philip K. Dick story I've ever read by PKD. It has a couple of his lesser signature touches, most conspicuously the taking a wildly counterfactual premise and pushing it relentlessly through to its logical yet quotidian implications, down to its effect on how someone would hold their fork. There are also brief hints of another favorite PKD theme, the race to stop some evil from leaving the planet and heading for the stars (the Germans are leveraging their superiority in rocket technology to begin interplanetary travel), though again that's minor.
Then, literally on the next-to-last page, the big, classic PKD move abruptly happens. It's almost superfluous to issue a spoiler alert here, since anyone familiar with the PKD stories mentioned above will instantly realize that a PKD spoiler can only go one direction in the story I've described so far. The result is a reversal so big, and yet with so little time left to do anything with the interesting possibilities it raises perforce, that I found myself more than a little disappointed.
Still, the alternate world Dick created under our very noses was fascinating in its own right. One last hint about the reversal: Many of the American characters in the Japanese-controlled regions have come to rely on the I Ching as a guide to their understanding and action, and that book also looms large -- very large -- in the story.
(One difference between Dick and Ellison: Ellison's time-loop conceit is rarely the object of mystery or the surprise at the end; it's the premise. On the other hand, with Dick -- certainly in the case of High Castle -- sometimes the "big reveal" is that everything's been about "what is reality?" all along.)
Another pleasant oddity about High Castle: Dick's prose could sometimes be a tad windy and clunky, as if he too often reached for the thesaurus when he shouldn't have. And yet High Castle zips along pretty briskly. This is partly the product of a literary move that, in almost any other context, would be a howler: Much of the dialogue, and even the narration, falls into a slightly staccato pidgin-English. It's not a crude "keel Moose and Squirrel" burlesque of Japanese or German speakers of English (or vice-versa), but something else, somehow managing to suggest that these are people who are all being forced to think through their words and actions in a language (perhaps even a reality) not their own before committing to them.
(Hat tip to the Fathomless Zen Tyrant, who first recommended High Castle to me.)
Spirit: Giving up the ghost?
Here's the latest update at the website for Spirit (aka MER-A, or Mars Exploration Rover-A), one of two exploration vehicles poking around on Mars (along with its companion vehicle Opportunity, MER-B) since January 2004. If you work through the dry mission language, it's somewhat ominous:
SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Remains Silent at Troy - sols 2321-2329, July 14-22, 2010:
Spirit remains silent at her location called "Troy" on the west side of Home Plate. No communication has been received from the rover since Sol 2210 (March 22, 2010).
It is likely that Spirit has experienced a low-power fault and has turned off all sub-systems, including communication and gone into a deep sleep. While sleeping, the rover will use the available solar array energy to recharge her batteries. When the batteries recover to a sufficient state of charge, Spirit will wake-up and begin to communicate.
There is the additional risk that the rover may trip a mission clock fault. If that happens, the rover would remain asleep until the batteries have recharged sufficiently, and there is enough sunlight on the solar arrays to wake the rover. With the southern winter solstice back on May 13, 2010, solar energy levels and temperatures are expected to be improving.
Mixed feelings here: Spirit was designed to complete its mission in three months. By means of its rechargeable solar batteries, and with careful shepherding from the mission team who are in constant touch with it, Spirit is now in the sixth year of that three-month mission. It usually powers down to a sleep mode during the Martian winter, but it looks like there's some chance that this time it may not wake up.
(Hat-tip to Doctor Beyond.)
Sunday morning toons: Geek power!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sometime this yesterday afternoon my Twitter feed hit a tipping point, as Comic Con tweets began to overtake Netroots Nation tweets. That's got to mean something.
While we're mulling that one over, let's get this week's review started with Daryl Cagle's toon round-up for the week.
p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Daryl Cagle, R. J. Matson, Nate Beeler, David Fitzsimmons, Jerry Holbert, Steve Sack, Joe Heller, Bill Day, and Monte Wolverton.
p3 Best of Show: Jimmy Margulies.
p3 Certificate of Harmonic Toon Convergence: John Darkow, Mark Lester, and Pat Bagley.
p3 World Toon Review: Stephane Peray (Thailand),Ingrid Rice (Canada), Pavel Constantin (Romania), Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), and Manny Francisco (Philippines).
I'm on record as loving Ann Telnaes' visual take on Cheney, but do I miss it enough to want this? Nah. (And what the hell -- let's have a Sherrod Pile-on Two-fer!)
Mark Fiore may have finally gotten iTunes to distribute the app for his animations, but he's clearly not yet ready to make nice with Steve Jobs.
RIP John Callahan.
This Modern World says: Old is the new Young!
The K Chronicles pays tribute to a lost Cleveland icon. (No, not that one; this one.)
Doonesbury's professional nanny puts his thing down. (This is twice in one week I've been reminded of the same classic Soupy Sales story.)
The Comics Curmudgeon laments the failed search for a plutocrat's love. There -- that should get some out-links.
Here's Barry Blitt's illustration for this week's Frank Rich NYTimes column on . . . well, you can guess.
Geek Power, Part 1: Marvel Comics' Stan "The Man" Lee sits down for an interview with Comic Riffs at the Comic Con in San Diego.
Geek Power, Part 2: Via Batocchio comes this report on Fred Phelps and the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church unwisely deciding to demonstrate at Comic-Con. Quote of the day:
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman looks at the local unemployment line.
The first collaboration of Chuck Jones and Dr. Seuss wasn't "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." It was two decades earlier, in several films from the series of WWII army training/indoctrination films starring the hapless Private Snafu. Topics ranged from malaria to accidentally leaking classified information (the subject of "Spies"). In addition to Jones' animation and the rhymes by Seuss (Theodor Geisel), regular readers may also recognize Mel Blanc's voice, and Carl Stalling's music (including the "Anxiety Montage" and the five-note "whah, whah-whah wah wah" trumpet line that always crops up in Warner Bros. cartoons when someone makes a horse's ass out of himself).
No p3 Bonus Toon this week, but you can always browse Jesse Springer's archives.
Remember to bookmark the daily political toon features at Slate's Slate, Time, and About.com.
Test your toon-captioning chops at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)
While we're mulling that one over, let's get this week's review started with Daryl Cagle's toon round-up for the week.
p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Daryl Cagle, R. J. Matson, Nate Beeler, David Fitzsimmons, Jerry Holbert, Steve Sack, Joe Heller, Bill Day, and Monte Wolverton.
p3 Best of Show: Jimmy Margulies.
p3 Certificate of Harmonic Toon Convergence: John Darkow, Mark Lester, and Pat Bagley.
p3 World Toon Review: Stephane Peray (Thailand),Ingrid Rice (Canada), Pavel Constantin (Romania), Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), and Manny Francisco (Philippines).
I'm on record as loving Ann Telnaes' visual take on Cheney, but do I miss it enough to want this? Nah. (And what the hell -- let's have a Sherrod Pile-on Two-fer!)
Mark Fiore may have finally gotten iTunes to distribute the app for his animations, but he's clearly not yet ready to make nice with Steve Jobs.
RIP John Callahan.
This Modern World says: Old is the new Young!
The K Chronicles pays tribute to a lost Cleveland icon. (No, not that one; this one.)
Doonesbury's professional nanny puts his thing down. (This is twice in one week I've been reminded of the same classic Soupy Sales story.)
The Comics Curmudgeon laments the failed search for a plutocrat's love. There -- that should get some out-links.
Here's Barry Blitt's illustration for this week's Frank Rich NYTimes column on . . . well, you can guess.
Geek Power, Part 1: Marvel Comics' Stan "The Man" Lee sits down for an interview with Comic Riffs at the Comic Con in San Diego.
Geek Power, Part 2: Via Batocchio comes this report on Fred Phelps and the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church unwisely deciding to demonstrate at Comic-Con. Quote of the day:
The Phelps crowd might think they have God on their side, but do they really want to get into a stamina war with folks who can wait hours in line for a sneak peek at The Green Hornet or an autograph from Stan Lee or Ray Bradbury?
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman looks at the local unemployment line.
The first collaboration of Chuck Jones and Dr. Seuss wasn't "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." It was two decades earlier, in several films from the series of WWII army training/indoctrination films starring the hapless Private Snafu. Topics ranged from malaria to accidentally leaking classified information (the subject of "Spies"). In addition to Jones' animation and the rhymes by Seuss (Theodor Geisel), regular readers may also recognize Mel Blanc's voice, and Carl Stalling's music (including the "Anxiety Montage" and the five-note "whah, whah-whah wah wah" trumpet line that always crops up in Warner Bros. cartoons when someone makes a horse's ass out of himself).
No p3 Bonus Toon this week, but you can always browse Jesse Springer's archives.
Remember to bookmark the daily political toon features at Slate's Slate, Time, and About.com.
Test your toon-captioning chops at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)
Saturday afternoon tunes: "Somewhere, our union's growing"
Saturday, July 24, 2010
This year's push to legalize (and tax) the sale of marijuana in Oregon fizzled pretty quickly, but the initiative to create California-style marijuana dispensaries just squeaked onto the Oregon ballot for November.
California, always a jump ahead, has seen the first unionizing the growers of medical marijuana, perhaps the first time that a union (United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 5, in Oakland) has organized workers who help manufacture a product that remains, for now at least, illegal under federal law.
But some people may remember The American Dope Grower's Union (not affiliated with the UFCW), which got its start not in California, but rather "live from New York:"
(From April, 1977. In addition to the regular cast of "Not Ready for Prime-Time Players," half the writers from that season were drafted to sing in the chorus.)
California, always a jump ahead, has seen the first unionizing the growers of medical marijuana, perhaps the first time that a union (United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 5, in Oakland) has organized workers who help manufacture a product that remains, for now at least, illegal under federal law.
But some people may remember The American Dope Grower's Union (not affiliated with the UFCW), which got its start not in California, but rather "live from New York:"
(From April, 1977. In addition to the regular cast of "Not Ready for Prime-Time Players," half the writers from that season were drafted to sing in the chorus.)
Judging a man by his enemies
Friday, July 23, 2010
Journalist Daniel Schorr died today at age 93.
Among the list of those who wouldn't be saddened much by the news: The FBI (who never found out Schorr's source for a leaked House intelligence committee report on CIA misdeeds); CBS (who dumped him rather than support him over the leaked report); and the ghosts of Sen. Barry Goldwater (who wanted him fired from CNN) and President Richard Nixon (who put Schorr on his "enemies list," a point of pride Schorr took with him to his grave).
Among the list of those who wouldn't be saddened much by the news: The FBI (who never found out Schorr's source for a leaked House intelligence committee report on CIA misdeeds); CBS (who dumped him rather than support him over the leaked report); and the ghosts of Sen. Barry Goldwater (who wanted him fired from CNN) and President Richard Nixon (who put Schorr on his "enemies list," a point of pride Schorr took with him to his grave).
"The surface appears to be . . . uh . . . "
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
It's strange now to remember that, forty-some years ago today, our top scientists still weren't 100% sure that the surface of the moon was solid -- that if, let's say, a fellow in a space suit were to step out onto it, he wouldn't sink like he'd stepped into quicksand. Or soft cheese.
Quote of the day: Honors and awards and esteem
(Link fixed.) Vanity Fair's James Wolcott on the passion of the O'Reilly:
It is a persistent burr under Bill's Hopalong Cassidy saddle that he's never received the honors and awards and esteem accorded a Bill Moyers or the late Walter Cronkite or even a Dan Rather, and you know what, Bill? You never will, because you're annoying, you're a grandstanding belligerent, and nobody likes you.
It all becomes pretty simple when you put it that way, doesn't it?
("Hopalong Cassidy saddle." Heh.)
Sunday morning toons: Now playing at the p3 Cineplex!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Theater 1: "Sorry, Wrong Number," starring the iPhone 4.
Theater 2: "The Spy Who Loved Me," starring deep-cover Russian agents "Richard and Cynthia Murphy."
Theater 3: "The Dead Zone," staring the Gulf of Mexico.
Theater 4: "The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams," starring Sarah Palin.
Theater 5: "The Madness of King George," starring George Steinbrenner.
And at Theaters 6-12: "What Women Want," starring Mel Gibson.
Call for show times.
But first, as always, newsreels, coming attractions, and selected shorts, beginning with Daryl Cagle's toon round-up for this week.
p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Pat Bagley, R. J. Matson, Mike Keefe, Jef Parker,John Darkow, Jimmy Margulies, Steve Sack, John Cole, Jeff Stahler, Steve Breen, and Monte Wolverton.
p3 Best in Show: Jerry Holbert.
p3 Legion of Honor: Adam Zyglis.
p3 Award for Best Adaptation From Anotehr Medium (tie): Taylor Jones and Cam Cardow.
p3 World Toon Review: Stephane Peray (Thailand), and Ingrid Rice (Canada).
Some see the glass as half-empty. But, as Ann Telnaes notes, some see it as half-white.
Anderson Cooper in a tuna submarine? Have to give us humans credit, says Mark Fiore: If nothing else, we like it when our environmental disasters have good visuals.
Vintage comic book cover of the week: (I didn't know this was going to be a regular feature; maybe it won't be, but here it is today just the same.) As nearly as I can figure out, this wonderfully garish Dick Tracy comic book cover would have hit the stands sometime in 1952. (Note Roger Ebert's comment below the image.)
Here's this week's Barry Blitt illustration to accompany Frank Rich's Sunday NYTimes column about the passion of Mel Gibson.
This Modern World, using actual quotes (unfortunately), looks at our odds for success in Afghanistan.
Reuben Bollings has the key: it's all about being on the winning team.
The K Chronicles features a special military edition of "Life's Little Victories. Yes!
Horror in a single-panel cartoon: We've puzzled before over the question: What would it take to make "The Family Circus" interesting? Here's another possibility: What if it's really based on a threat to humankind's continued existence by non-human forces and their human followers? Never looked at it that way before, did you? (Hat-tip to Rhyzome. Also, does anyone know the original source of these images? They seem to have appeared on the web circa 2005 and have been recirculated ever since, but the original site is no longer there.)
I knew this would be trouble the day he stopped running for the streetcar and started running for the carpool: Dagwood in the digital age? The Comics Curmudgeon sees an old, old, story.
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman looks at the house that ruthless built (his line, not mine; good one, though).
Clever "cheese" joke sneaked past the censors mid-way: "A Tale of Two Mice," directed by Michael Tashlin in 1945, cashed in on the popularity of Abbot and Costello with the second of two parodies of the comedy team (the first, "A Tale of Two Kitties" in 1942, portrayed them as cats, going up against Tweety). Voices by story artist Tedd Pierce (Abbot) and Warner Brothers immortal Mel Blanc (Costello).
p3 Bonus Toon: As I've said before, I nurture the hope that commentary about GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley will eventually rise above (so to speak) an endless parade of "tall" jokes, but Jesse Springer suggests why Oregon voters may never get anything more to work with:
Note: Facebook users can click this link to join the group Ask Chris Dudley to debate John Kitzhaber!.
Remember to bookmark the daily political toon features at Slate's Slate, Time, and About.com.
Test your toon-captioning chops at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)
Saturday morning tune: "It makes no difference anyway"
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The set-up: Ben Nelson, who's trying his level best to take Joe Lieberman's place as the most despicable member of the Senate Democratic Caucus, has announced that, although he doesn't know what's in the forthcoming climate bill (and no one does!), he'll filibuster it.
When Groucho does it, it's satire. When Nelson does it, on a subject like this, it's beneath contempt.
("Whatever It Is, I'm Against It" was written by the classic songwriting team of Kalmar and Ruby for the 1932 Marx Brothers film "Horsefeathers.")
When Groucho does it, it's satire. When Nelson does it, on a subject like this, it's beneath contempt.
("Whatever It Is, I'm Against It" was written by the classic songwriting team of Kalmar and Ruby for the 1932 Marx Brothers film "Horsefeathers.")
Quote of the day: Legacies
Friday, July 16, 2010
Here's Digby on the dubious pursuit of a political legacy: Everything the administration did signaled they believed they were forced to intervene by political rather than economic necessity. Their eyes were on an "Obama Goes to China" legacy on so-called entitlement reform
Special meta-QOTD: Same Digby article, different quote selected at LGM.
Quote of the day: Democratizing media
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Here's Bob Somerby explaining why, although the guardians of (elite) public discourse 50 years ago would never have told their audiences that we can miraculously raise revenue by cutting taxes, this silly trope is repeated tirelessly today:At some point in the past several decades, we began to "democratize" media. Idiots got to join the club.
And there you have it.
Bastille Day: A (low-angle) look back
From the p3 Wayback Machine, here's the inspiring story of my contribution to French revolutionary history.
Sunday morning toons: Everybody likes Ike!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
I'm going out for breakfast after posting this. If anyone wants to know where, there'll be a 1-hour special on ESPN where I'll announce my choice.
Meanwhile, let's kick things off with Daryl Cagle's toon round-up for this week.
p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich,Bruce Plante, R. J. Matson, John Darkow, Adam Zyglis, and Monte Wolverton.
p3 Order of Highest Valor: Steve Breen.
p3 Best of Show: Mike Keefe.
p3 Legion of Merit: Steve Sack.
p3 Yellow Card: Jeff Stahler.
p3 World Toon Review: Ingrid Rice (Canada), Tjeerd Royaards (Netherlands), Stephane Peray (Thailand), Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), and Cameron Cardow (Canada).
Ann Telnaes notes another lesson learned at the Pentagon.
Mark Fiore looks at the up-side for Jobless Jack -- it's there, but you have to wait for it.
Pelicans! Comical, yes, but Tom Tomorrow reminds us they're more dangerous than you think!
More lessons learned: This one, from The K Chronicles, is dedicated to my new-parent friends, and they know who they are (although the odds are overwhelming they don't have time or energy to be reading this).
Who's to blame? Seriously? You're asking? Barry Deutsch reassures you: it's exactly who you figured it was. I mean, who else could it be?
Comic Riffs interviews Garry Trudeau about his commitment to realistic coverage of the military, and the five-letter word that can get you pulled from Newsday.
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman asks: Will this be the final stamp?.
It's Ike-A-Riffic! At Drinking Liberally last week we were talking about Ike. Partly it was because I surrendered to Nick my "I Like Ike" button from 1952; it's a clean, elegant design, smaller than a dime, and -- talk about a sign of the times! -- it was printed at a union shop. (Nick totally deserved it; several weeks ago he sent away for a vintage [not repro] Nixon Now bumper sticker from the 1972 campaign.) The button, in turn, got some of us talking about Misty's "guess who" quiz at Shakesville. Take the quiz and you'll see: It was a different time -- arguably a different universe, certainly a different Republican Party. To commemorate the discussion as well as the passing of the button/torch, here's one of the first TV ads for a national political campaign (1952), with music by Irving Berlin and animation by the Disney studio.
This is also noteworthy as the first, and probably last, recorded instance of Dwight Eisenhower being described as "hep." Like I said: arguably a different universe, certainly a different Republican Party.
Bonus animation: A lecture on "the crises of capitalism" by British professor of anthropology David Harvey comes to life courtesy of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Society (RSA). Let's see Glenn Beck do this with a dry-mark board!
p3 Bonus Toon: Jesse Springer notes the courage of a lame duck. (Click to enlarge.)
Remember to bookmark the daily political toon features at Slate's Slate, Time, and About.com.
Test your toon-captioning talents at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)
Meanwhile, let's kick things off with Daryl Cagle's toon round-up for this week.
p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich,Bruce Plante, R. J. Matson, John Darkow, Adam Zyglis, and Monte Wolverton.
p3 Order of Highest Valor: Steve Breen.
p3 Best of Show: Mike Keefe.
p3 Legion of Merit: Steve Sack.
p3 Yellow Card: Jeff Stahler.
p3 World Toon Review: Ingrid Rice (Canada), Tjeerd Royaards (Netherlands), Stephane Peray (Thailand), Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), and Cameron Cardow (Canada).
Ann Telnaes notes another lesson learned at the Pentagon.
Mark Fiore looks at the up-side for Jobless Jack -- it's there, but you have to wait for it.
Pelicans! Comical, yes, but Tom Tomorrow reminds us they're more dangerous than you think!
More lessons learned: This one, from The K Chronicles, is dedicated to my new-parent friends, and they know who they are (although the odds are overwhelming they don't have time or energy to be reading this).
Who's to blame? Seriously? You're asking? Barry Deutsch reassures you: it's exactly who you figured it was. I mean, who else could it be?
Comic Riffs interviews Garry Trudeau about his commitment to realistic coverage of the military, and the five-letter word that can get you pulled from Newsday.
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman asks: Will this be the final stamp?.
It's Ike-A-Riffic! At Drinking Liberally last week we were talking about Ike. Partly it was because I surrendered to Nick my "I Like Ike" button from 1952; it's a clean, elegant design, smaller than a dime, and -- talk about a sign of the times! -- it was printed at a union shop. (Nick totally deserved it; several weeks ago he sent away for a vintage [not repro] Nixon Now bumper sticker from the 1972 campaign.) The button, in turn, got some of us talking about Misty's "guess who" quiz at Shakesville. Take the quiz and you'll see: It was a different time -- arguably a different universe, certainly a different Republican Party. To commemorate the discussion as well as the passing of the button/torch, here's one of the first TV ads for a national political campaign (1952), with music by Irving Berlin and animation by the Disney studio.
This is also noteworthy as the first, and probably last, recorded instance of Dwight Eisenhower being described as "hep." Like I said: arguably a different universe, certainly a different Republican Party.
Bonus animation: A lecture on "the crises of capitalism" by British professor of anthropology David Harvey comes to life courtesy of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Society (RSA). Let's see Glenn Beck do this with a dry-mark board!
p3 Bonus Toon: Jesse Springer notes the courage of a lame duck. (Click to enlarge.)
Remember to bookmark the daily political toon features at Slate's Slate, Time, and About.com.
Test your toon-captioning talents at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)
"The irrevocability of time lost! The forfeiture of innocence through experience!"
Today is the birthday of Marcel Proust, author of the not-for-the-idly-curious À la recherche du temps perdu. The seven-part masterwork (the title was originally translated as Remembrance of Things Past and later more literally as In Search of Lost Time) occasioned one of the most monumentally magnificent editorial rejection letters in the history of Western publishing:
It also inspired this:
My dear fellow, I may be dead from the neck up, but rack my brains as I may I can't see why a chap should need thirty pages to describe how he turns over in bed before going to sleep.
It also inspired this:
Saturday morning tunes, and the livin' is easy
Why would a stretch of 90-degree weather make me think of Janis Joplin?
Why indeed. Pardon me while I go turn the garden hose on myself.
Why indeed. Pardon me while I go turn the garden hose on myself.
Why it's not your fault that you're not impressed by the "Mama Grizzlies" ad
Friday, July 9, 2010
Let's talk for a moment about that feeling of disconnect between you and the mainstream news media that you sometimes experience.
You know the feeling I mean: You watch something that has the media agog. Simply agog. It could be the real-life struggles of the latest "American Idol" finalists. It could be Lady Gaga. It could be LeBron James.
Or it could be a new political ad featuring Sarah Palin proudly proclaiming the newest fictive "It" demo in American politics: "mama grizzlies."
And you find yourself wondering, Wait. Why am I supposed to care about this, again?
You're raised on the media. You're hip. You're worldly. You're fashionably jaded without being unpleasant to talk to at dinner parties. You know all about the up-front, a percentage of the gate, and having legs in the secondary markets. And yet, sometimes when you watch pointless stuff like this seeming to catch fire in a heartbeat, you feel that tiny little soul-check: Is it somehow my fault that everyone seems to think this matters . . . except me?
At No More Mister Nice Blog, Steve's on it. Long story short: Probably not your fault.
Principle #1: The media people assume that you're naturally interested in whatever they're interested in.
Principle #2: The media people aren't really interested in whatever you're actually interested in; they're just interested in whatever they're interested in.
And there you have it: This explains not only why the "mama grizzlies" ad by Palin's PAC -- an ad which doesn't seem to be about much other than itself -- appears to be of interest to everyone, but also that vague fluorescent-light-background-hum of guilt you experience when you realize that it isn't really of interest to you at all, and that it doesn't really even seem to make much sense.
You know the feeling I mean: You watch something that has the media agog. Simply agog. It could be the real-life struggles of the latest "American Idol" finalists. It could be Lady Gaga. It could be LeBron James.
Or it could be a new political ad featuring Sarah Palin proudly proclaiming the newest fictive "It" demo in American politics: "mama grizzlies."
And you find yourself wondering, Wait. Why am I supposed to care about this, again?
You're raised on the media. You're hip. You're worldly. You're fashionably jaded without being unpleasant to talk to at dinner parties. You know all about the up-front, a percentage of the gate, and having legs in the secondary markets. And yet, sometimes when you watch pointless stuff like this seeming to catch fire in a heartbeat, you feel that tiny little soul-check: Is it somehow my fault that everyone seems to think this matters . . . except me?
At No More Mister Nice Blog, Steve's on it. Long story short: Probably not your fault.
Principle #1: The media people assume that you're naturally interested in whatever they're interested in.
The important thing is that the mainstream media thinks the ad has broad-based appeal. This means that the ad has broad-based appeal to the mainstream media itself. The MSM always projects its beliefs outward onto the rest of us -- when MSM folks like something, they tell us we like it. They think they're reporting our favorable reaction, when in fact they're reporting their own.
Principle #2: The media people aren't really interested in whatever you're actually interested in; they're just interested in whatever they're interested in.
What impresses them about the ["mama grizzlies"] ad by has nothing to do with policy positions or whether Palin would actually be competent as president of the United States. What they're impressed by is her perceived mastery of messaging. They care about media products, and she created a slick one. That means it barely matters whether she's extreme or ill-informed or petulant and childish. She gives good visuals, so she is now a Serious Person.
And there you have it: This explains not only why the "mama grizzlies" ad by Palin's PAC -- an ad which doesn't seem to be about much other than itself -- appears to be of interest to everyone, but also that vague fluorescent-light-background-hum of guilt you experience when you realize that it isn't really of interest to you at all, and that it doesn't really even seem to make much sense.
Quote of the day: "They cannot help themselves"
Eric Alterman, in his current Nation article on "why a progressive presidency is impossible, for now," includes this more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger observation: Obama faces the conundrum of a system that, as currently constructed, gives the minority party no strategic stake in sensible governance. The two parties are demonstrably different in this respect. Democrats, even in the minority, participate in solutions designed to improve governance. They cannot help themselves.
You can decide for yourself whether you think the rest of Alterman's long essay is useful; I'll simply point out that I'm featuring it as a QOTD and not as a recommendation for the Readings list.
The unforgiving minute: Special "Twilight: Eclipse" edition
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Christian Coalition knows something about horror, founded as it was in horror of anyone having fun anywhere, and it may be forced to make a tough call:
Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition of America, which called for a ban on the Potter series, says she's considering a similar campaign against Twilight because even though it's pro-abstinence, it's also pro-vampires.
The CCA might as well be worrying that, even though a movie is "pro-Easter bunny," it's also "pro-Tooth Fairy."
Just to clarify:
According to the Christian Coalition, the practice of vampirism in American high schools is a pernicious left-wing fantasy.
According to a ten-year study, the practice of abstinence in American high schools is a pernicious right-wing fantasy.
Minute's up.
(And yes, of course: The name-dropping in the title was intended to move units. If it works for Burger King, why not for p3?)
The Funny Beatle (aka the Sad Beatle) turns 70: 'Cause I can play the part so well
Happy birthday to Richard Starkey.
Reminder: Today is not just about great deals on bedroom furnishings
Sunday, July 4, 2010
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the
thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Sunday morning toons: Keel Moose and Squirrel!
Happy 234th, America! You don't look a day over 225. I mean that. How do you do it?
Quite a week: America got to see how far we have, or haven't, traveled since the passage of the Civil Rights Act 46 years ago. The Supreme Court discovered the "original intent" of the Second Amendment is "Hey, everybody, you're on your own!" America ordered up a double-dip recession, with sprinkles. After 11 weeks, you'd think things at the BP disaster in the Gulf couldn't get any worse, but they did.
And laughable femme fatale/nogoodnik cold war spies are back.
Let's start off with Daryl Cagle's toon round-up for the week.
p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Pat Bagley, Bob Englehart, John Darkow, Steve Sack, Joe Heller, Jeff Stahler, Steve Breen, Bill Day, Ed Stein, Mike Keefe, Mark Streeter, and Monte Wolverton.
Independence Day: The Day the Cartoonist Fight Back! Nate Beeler, Mike Keefe, Larry Wright, Brian Fairrington, Marshall Ramsey, and Clay Jones.
p3 Best of Show: Jeff Parker.
p3 Bonus Round Award: Jimmy Margulies.
p3 "Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor" Award: Jeff Darcy.
p3 World Toon Review: Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), Stephane Peray (Thailand), Cam Cardow (Canada), and Ingrid Rice (Canada).
Ann Telnaes considers how far we've come in just eight short years.
Mark Fiore says the best fears are the oldest ones, regardless of what's happening right now.
The ultimate Popeye buzz-kill Fourth-of-July cartoon: Suzanne at FDL has it -- and if you've ever wondered why there used to be four nephews but later there were only two, now you'll know.
"Too much Heinlein" -- heh. How can one be a libertarian? Let us count the ways. (H/t to Batocchio. Also, it doesn't involve toons, but Somerby wrestles with the definition of "libertarian" this week.)
Is 70 too old to look like a dancer from the chorus line at USO After Dark? Wonder Woman gets a new look and a new back-story. (But if you want to find out more, for god's sake don't Google the phrase "wonder woman makeover." Just . . . don't. Trust me. Don't.)
Why a woodchuck? Whatever. Tom Tomorrow gives progressives a dose of reality. Giant rodent-style.
Here's the K Chronicle's handy guide to watching the World Cup.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the seafood restaurant: Zonker Harris faces the awful possibility of career success at his newest job.
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman compares exit strategies.
Here's Barry Blitt's illustration for this week's Frank Rich NYTimes column on another 4th of July weekend, 46 years ago.
From the days when you found enemy spies by hopping on the back of getaway cars, not searching Facebook: There's Clark Kent, this Federal agent, and Nazi saboteurs, and a shoot-out on the way to the airport, and . . . Well, you'll see. From 1942, by long-time Fleischer Studios/Famous Studios director Seymour Kneitel, here's "Secret Agent."
p3 Bonus Toon: Is there an up-side to continuing to slash Oregon schools' budgets? Jesse Springer says maybe: After all, what you don't know can't hurt you, right? (Click to enlarge.)
Remember to bookmark the daily political toon features at Slate's Slate, Time, and About.com.
And test your toon-captioning chops at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)
Quite a week: America got to see how far we have, or haven't, traveled since the passage of the Civil Rights Act 46 years ago. The Supreme Court discovered the "original intent" of the Second Amendment is "Hey, everybody, you're on your own!" America ordered up a double-dip recession, with sprinkles. After 11 weeks, you'd think things at the BP disaster in the Gulf couldn't get any worse, but they did.
And laughable femme fatale/nogoodnik cold war spies are back.
Let's start off with Daryl Cagle's toon round-up for the week.
p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Pat Bagley, Bob Englehart, John Darkow, Steve Sack, Joe Heller, Jeff Stahler, Steve Breen, Bill Day, Ed Stein, Mike Keefe, Mark Streeter, and Monte Wolverton.
Independence Day: The Day the Cartoonist Fight Back! Nate Beeler, Mike Keefe, Larry Wright, Brian Fairrington, Marshall Ramsey, and Clay Jones.
p3 Best of Show: Jeff Parker.
p3 Bonus Round Award: Jimmy Margulies.
p3 "Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor" Award: Jeff Darcy.
p3 World Toon Review: Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), Stephane Peray (Thailand), Cam Cardow (Canada), and Ingrid Rice (Canada).
Ann Telnaes considers how far we've come in just eight short years.
Mark Fiore says the best fears are the oldest ones, regardless of what's happening right now.
The ultimate Popeye buzz-kill Fourth-of-July cartoon: Suzanne at FDL has it -- and if you've ever wondered why there used to be four nephews but later there were only two, now you'll know.
"Too much Heinlein" -- heh. How can one be a libertarian? Let us count the ways. (H/t to Batocchio. Also, it doesn't involve toons, but Somerby wrestles with the definition of "libertarian" this week.)
Is 70 too old to look like a dancer from the chorus line at USO After Dark? Wonder Woman gets a new look and a new back-story. (But if you want to find out more, for god's sake don't Google the phrase "wonder woman makeover." Just . . . don't. Trust me. Don't.)
Why a woodchuck? Whatever. Tom Tomorrow gives progressives a dose of reality. Giant rodent-style.
Here's the K Chronicle's handy guide to watching the World Cup.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the seafood restaurant: Zonker Harris faces the awful possibility of career success at his newest job.
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman compares exit strategies.
Here's Barry Blitt's illustration for this week's Frank Rich NYTimes column on another 4th of July weekend, 46 years ago.
From the days when you found enemy spies by hopping on the back of getaway cars, not searching Facebook: There's Clark Kent, this Federal agent, and Nazi saboteurs, and a shoot-out on the way to the airport, and . . . Well, you'll see. From 1942, by long-time Fleischer Studios/Famous Studios director Seymour Kneitel, here's "Secret Agent."
p3 Bonus Toon: Is there an up-side to continuing to slash Oregon schools' budgets? Jesse Springer says maybe: After all, what you don't know can't hurt you, right? (Click to enlarge.)
Remember to bookmark the daily political toon features at Slate's Slate, Time, and About.com.
And test your toon-captioning chops at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)
Saturday morning tunes: Letting my freak flag fly
Saturday, July 3, 2010
It's been 20 years since the last time I let my freak flag fly. But then, it's been 40 years since CSNY released this on Déjà Vu, and the boys have still got it.
(Hat tip to Ryan, master librarian of the amazing jukebox at Ringo's, for suggesting this one.)
(Hat tip to Ryan, master librarian of the amazing jukebox at Ringo's, for suggesting this one.)
Quote of the day: Unleashing the genius of corporate America
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Regarding the consequences for the American election system of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, it turns out the genius of corporate America just needs the proper motivation:The billionaire corporation officers couldn't come up with serious reductions in automotive fuel consumption for 40 years. Corporate bigwigs have yet to figure out how to make banks profitable without creating periodic worldwide economic disasters, and have failed over almost 40 years to make any progress whatever in preventing and/or cleaning up major oil spills. People who pay themselves well upward of a million dollars a year say they simply can't find a way to seriously reduce their pollution of our environment.
But it took only about four months to design and set up an efficient system for taking over the American electoral system at all levels, from municipal to national.
Read the whole thing, but don't expect to feel very happy when you're finished.
Drinking Liberally meetings for July in Oregon and SW Washington
Here's the run-down for Drinking Liberally chapters in Oregon and SW Washington this month. (Click on the chapter's link to join their email list.)Corvallis: Next meeting: Thursday, July 1st. (That's tonight!)
Meetings: First Thursday of each Month, 5pm - 7pm at Squirrels, 100 SW 2nd St.
Vancouver: Next meeting: Tuesday, July 6th.
Meetings: Second and fourth Tuesdays, 7pm, at the Back Alley Bar and Grill, 6503 E. Mill Plain Blvd. (West of Andersen, in a strip mall 1/2 block west of Safeway on the south side of Mill Plain. It's deep in the lot.)
Portland Metro-West (aka: Portland Left Side): Next meeting: Wednesday, July 7th.
Meetings: Second Wednesday of every month, 7:00pm at Ringo's, 12300 SW Broadway St, (just east of Hall Blvd).
St. Helens Next meeting: Wednesday, July 7th.
Meetings: Second Wednesday of each month, 6:30 pm, at The Village Inn, 535 S. Columbia River Hwy (We have a room off the bar).
Portland: Next meeting: Thursday, July 8th.
Meetings: Second and fourth Thursdays of the month, at the Lucky Lab Brew Hall at 19th and NW Quimby, Thursday at 7pm.
Note: They may be switching to 6pm-9pm (from 7pm-10pm) to take advantage of the outdoor seating and the finally-arrived summer weather. Be sure to check the chapter email next week!
Salem: Next meeting: Thursday, July 15th.
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)
There are over 300 DL chapters around the country; to find the one near you -- or to start one in your neighborhood--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. Or check out becoming a regular pledge donor.
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.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
