The unforgiving minute: Meta edition

My old DL bud Lisa called this one exactly right -- I want a melting desk clock:

Minute's up.

Oregon Banned Book Week continues: Now playing at the p3 Banned and Challenged Book Cineplex

If banned books are so bad, why do they make such cool movies?

To Kill a Mockingbird - Offenses committed by the book: Uses words “damn” and “whore lady” (nothing to do with depictions of race relations in the South).

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Fahrenheit 451 - -Offenses committed by the book: Contains the words “God damn,” includes the Bible as one of the books burned (nothing to do with the theme of questioning authority).

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- Offences committed by the book: vulgar language, sexual explicitness, violence (nothing to do with treatment of mental patients or native Americans).

The Color Purple - Offences committed by the book: violence, sexual content (nothing at all to do with portrayal of racism).

Acknowledgement to the works of: Harper Lee, Ray Bradbury, Ken Kesey, Alice Walker, Gregory Peck, Alice Ghostly, William Windom, Robert Duvall, Paul Fix, Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, Cyril Cusack, Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Danny DeVito, Scatman Crothers, Christopher Lloyd, Vince Schiavelli, Will Sampson, Brad Dourif, Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, Rae Dawn Chong, Laurence Fishburne, Robert Mulligan, Francoise Truffaut, Milos Foreman, and Steven Spielberg.

Oregon Banned Book Week continues: The Batocchio round-up

It's Thursday of Banned Book Week in Oregon, the annual event organized by the Oregon ACLU and the Oregon Library Association.

Yesterday's post mused about the impulse to ban a Shel Silverstein book of children's poetry based in part on one particular poem that's about as subversive toward the existing social order as Eddie Haskel.

And it's really children's literature – or, often more accurately, children's access to literature – that's at stake in most efforts to ban books. That's the central theme of Batoccio's review of the year in banned books at The Vagabond Scholar.

If you imagine that freedom to read is someone else's problem, this is your must-read for the day.

Batoccio looks, in particular, at two books that had a rough time of it getting into the classroom last year: Aldous Huxley's “Brave New World” (a perennial target of the ban-the-book crowd) and Sherman Alexie's “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” (a newcomer to the ire of book-banners). About the latter author:

This may come as a shock to some people, but many teenagers are not the most, um, diligent students. This doesn't mean they're necessarily bad kids, but they've got a great deal going on. Many are battling a cocktail of hormones (and sometimes medications, prescribed or otherwise), they're testing boundaries, they're trying out identities and what it means to be a young adult, and they're usually more intrigued or tormented over their social lives or lack thereof than anything going on in class. In their eyes at least, their lives can be dramatic and chaotic. Many are capable of depth and insight that would shock a number of adults, and they can connect powerfully, deeply and personally with certain works of art. They can make the classroom a lively, wonderful and impressive place. However, it can be a battle to get them to that state, to win and keep their attention.

Winning that attention sometimes requires an "by any means necessary" approach. The trick is often to meet students where they are – then take them someplace else. For instance, show a cool film clip for an opening activity, have students discuss its dynamics and theme, and then discuss how it connects to last night's Shakespeare reading, which suddenly doesn't feel quite so foreign. Many older teenagers try to adopt an air of studied disaffection and worldly cynicism, and in some areas, the teen culture dictates that school or even learning itself just ain't cool. However, it is possible to get teenagers to show passion and enjoy themselves in the classroom. Provocative material helps (age-appropriate, of course). I had a colleague who routinely used "A Modest Proposal" in classes, and would occasionally get students who were appalled because they took it seriously. The piece always lead to lively discussions. Introductory material the students connect with also helps, and anything perceived to be somewhat risqué or forbidden (such as a banned or challenged book) can seem adult and enticing. Now, obviously, educators have to pick age-appropriate material, but teachers have always discussed such matters. In any case, when it comes to teenagers, teachers may fare better selling a classic through its scandalous rep than its position in the canon. (Hey, if it gets them to actually read the book and remember some of it later, it's energy well spent.)

In my case, I taught one Alexie story to 12th graders. It was the start of the year, and the other section teacher and I wanted to grab the students' attention, so we picked three well-written, diverse and somewhat provocative short stories. The kids wound up having a very strong (positive) reaction to the Alexie piece, "Jesus Christ's Half-Brother Is Alive and Well on the Spokane Indian Reservation." (It's still my personal favorite from the book.)

The book drew the concerned attention of one parent (part of the problem, Batoccio diplomatically says, was that the book “doesn't explicitly say that drugs are bad.”). Unlike a lot of stories that begin like this, things actually turned out pretty well in this incident.

But that feels like the exception to the rule. (Don't miss the reason that Alexie's book was pulled from the classroom in one Oregon school!)

Still, it's hard to argue with Batocchio's bottom line:

Ultimately, good teaching and parenting has to involve preparing teenagers to deal with the world rather than denying to them that it exists. Reading a good book is a joy that should not be denied anybody, and reading some works, particularly in the case of students tackling difficult or complex ones, can be a much richer, more meaningful experience in a good classroom. (Interested parents can even sit in.)

Remember to stop by your local public library and pick up a bright yellow “I read banned books” button.

Oregon Banned Book Week continues: “How Not to Dry the Dishes”

(Update: Forgot the damned button again. Still working off a new netbook that hasn't got all the shortcuts wired in like the other machine. Hoping that the "red button" line below makes sense now.)

It's Wednesday of OBBW, brought to you by those fine people at Oregon ACLU and the Oregon Library Association.

Stop by your local public library and pick up an “I read banned books” button. Last year, they distributed buttons to 279 libraries and 10 bookstores in 32 Oregon counties. (Their buttons are bright, festive yellow, rather than red.)

Today's feature is The Whoop, reciting “How Not to Have to Dry the Dishes,” from Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic, his 1981 collection of poems for children.

If you're reading this in FB Notes, you'll need to click View Original Post to see the video.

Yes, indeed. This book has been challenged and censored for a generation across America, on the grounds that it “encourages messiness and disobedience.” Seriously. How little faith do you have to have in your own children, and the upbringing you've given them, to think that this short poem is going to turn them into little anarchists? What must these parents think of harm lurking between the covers of "The Cat in the Hat?"

(Background story: When I was a kid my mom was concerned that I read “Tales of the Bizarro World,” a late-Silver Age recurring feature in Superman comics. These imperfect duplicates of Superman used bad grammar and did things backwards, and – what parents have worried about since the glaciers receded – she was afraid that I would begin entering rooms backwards and announcing “Goodbye!” to everyone. Yes, it really was that stupid. Her concern persisted for some time, until my dentist mentioned to her that I knew x-rays couldn't penetrate lead. After that, she mellowed; after all, if it impressed my dentist . . . See, when it comes to reading material you don't like, you have to take the good with the bad.)

Remember: If you're reading a banned book, or feel like reading a banned book, or just don't want to be told that you can't read a banned book, thank a librarian. Quietly.

Banned Book Week in Oregon begins

(Greetings to C&L visitors, and thanks to Batocchio for the link!)

Every year at this time, the Oregon ACLU, with the Oregon Library Association, celebrate banned books. And what better way to kick things off than with this tribute to possibly the last American heroes:

I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength, their powerful political connections or great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and destroyed records rather than have to reveal to the thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House, the Supreme Court, the Senate, the House of Representatives, or the media. The America I loved still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.

Kurt Vonnegut

A Man Without a Country

And here's a cool thing: Oregon.gov -- that's right, the government's own web page -- has an Intellectual Freedom Clearinghouse featuring advice on what to do if a library patron challenges a book. One more reason I'm so fond of my adopted home state.

Update: Almost forgot the button!

Quote of the day: So what's the deal with hippos?

Charles Pierce (newly installed as Esquire.com's number-one political blogger), on the current governor of Texas and former darling of the GOP presidential selection process:

On his best day, watching Perry try to think on his feet is rather like watching a hippo try to ice-skate.

Note: If that line sounds vaguely familiar, it might be because of this gem, from about 16 months ago:

Watching [Ron Paul] try to outmaneuver Rachel Maddow the other night was like watching a hippo try to outrun the rain.

(Hippos. They're basically just a funny animal.)

Hard to believe I'm a reader this loyal and Pierce still won't friend me back on Facebook.

The unforgiving minute: An exchange of messages on belonging

Jim Messina, Campaign Manager, Obama for America, to me:

From: Jim Messina, BarackObama.com
Date: Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 1:53 PM
Subject: 579 people in Beaverton, OR
To: Bill Nothstine

Bill --

Here's something you don't have in common with 579 other supporters of this movement who tell us they live in Beaverton, OR.

That many of your neighbors have decided to own a piece of this campaign by making a donation of whatever they could afford. For some, that meant just $5. For others, it meant $100 or more. But each had their own personal reason for giving.

Our records show that you aren't one of the 579 people where you're from who have stepped up for 2012. Now's your chance to change that.

Me to Jim Messina:

Jim--

Thanks for your invitation. Unfortunately, there's something I already do have in common with a much larger local group: the 1954 people in Beaverton who are unemployed.

And as long as I'm a member of that group, I'm afraid I'm not going to be a member of yours.

Thanks anyway.

Minute's up.

Sunday morning toons: A farewell to class warfare

No one in this world, as H. L. Mencken famously said, has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. And nowhere is that truth more evident today than in the existence, to say nothing of the persistence, of the "class warfare" meme. But if any single act ever stood a chance of killing that idiotic shorthand sophistry dead, this is it:

(If you're reading this in FB Notes, you'll need to click View Original Post to see the video.)

That bit by Democratic Senate candidate for Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren is so good I'm including it here even though it isn't animated. (It's good to be the King.)

Class warfare's also the theme of a lot of today's selections, every single one of which has been hand-picked from the week's political cartoon pages at Slate, Time, Mario Piperni, About.com, and Daryl Cagle:

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Stuart Carlson, Matt Davies, Dan Wasserman, Ed Hall, Tony Auth, Chan Lowe, Clay Bennett, David Fitzsimmons, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best of Show: Mike Thompson.

p3 Legion of Merit: Pat Oliphant. 

p3 World Toon Review: Cam Cardow (Canada), Tayo Fatunia (West Africa), Jeremy Nell (South Africa), and Christo Komarnitski (Bulgaria).


Ann Telnaes presents a quick demonstration of the concept of privatization.


Mark Fiore gets points for milking two of the most annoying and overused political suffixes into one bit of heavy sarcasm: SolyndraGatePocalypse!


Taiwan's Next Media Animation notes that the GOP presidential debates are teaching viewers as much about the GOP base as about the GOP candidates.


Now you'll know why you either hated or loved the old X-Men uniforms: Here's a great infographic about how the color palatte comic books use for their images affects your experience of the stories and characters.


Somewhere, in a file folder in a carton in a closet, I have an article from 1983 or 1984 tracking how the people at the top of the Forbes 500 for the previous year made their money. In those go-go Reaganomics days, 499 of the people on the list got their money either by inheritance (in the parlance of the Tea Party, then, by untaxed death), or by manipulating paper in some way. There was exactly one person on the list who actually made his fortune by creating a product and bringing it to market in the true Galtian fashion: He was the inventor of the Fox radar detector, a device specifically designed, sold, purchased, and used to circumvent federal law. Here's Jeff Stahler on the logic behind that.


Tom Tomorrow brings us another episode of Tea Party Nihilists, in which the cliffhanger isn't at the end -- it's the whole story!


Keith Knight has Georgia on his mind.


At Tom the Dancing Bug, Charley the Australopithicene learns to upgrade his skills for today's marketplace.


Comic Riffs marks the passing of Tom Wilson, Sr., creator of "Ziggy." There's undoubtedly a cruel joke there, waiting to be cashed in, but I'm not gonna.


At Red Meat, Bug-eyed Earl has a plan.


Portland homeboy Jack Ohman looks at the Obama of the future. (It helps if you use a spooky voice and put a flashlight under your chin when you read that.)


He jumped around like a toad-y frog! “14 Carrot Rabbit,” written by Warren Foster and directed by Fritz Freleng in 1951, features Yosemite Sam during his brief Garth Brooksian phase as “Chillicoot Sam” (“the roughest, toughest, rootin'-est, tootin'-est claim-jumper that ever jumped a claim!”). According to Wikipedia, when ABC ran this toon, they cut out the part where Sam shoots Bugs but left in the part where Sam shoots at the prospector; when CBS ran it, they left in the part where he shoots Bugs but cut the part where he shoots at the prospector. Censorship is a tricky business. At p3 we give you the full, uncut work. (I couldn't find information about the song Bugs is singing when he meets Sam, and which turns up later as incidental music: “All I can see are rainbows in the sky.” Anyone?)  

 (Note to Facebook friends: If you're reading this in FB Notes, you'll need to click View Original Post, below, to see the video.)


p3 Bonus Toon: Jesse Springer is still waiting for the trickle to trickle down, or the job creators to create jobs, or, you know, something.

Test your toon-captioning chops at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)

Saturday afternoon tunes: I will feel a glow just thinking of you

Tony Bennett, senior partner in the syndicate that owns the Great American Songbook, got in hot water recently for committing a gaffe -- i.e., for getting caught saying something that's true: US foreign policy was a factor that helped bring about the 9/11 attacks.

It's a measure of how completely broken our public discourse is that anyone would even need to say something so obviously, innocuously, even tritely true , let alone have to apologize for it later. (And -- apologize to Howard Stern? Please. Stern's a First Amendment hero precisely because his shtick is so puerile.) Do Americans think bin Laden and al Qaeda attacked us because they liked our foreign policy and wanted to make sure we did more of the same? Idiotic.

To hell with the thin-skinned "they always blame America first" faux-patriotic whiners. Here's Tony singing a Jerome Kern/Dorothy Fields classic that Fred Astaire originally sang to Ginger Rogers in 1936:

If you're reading this in FB Notes, you'll need to click View Original Post to see the video.

And you thought Lawn Jarts were dangerous

File this under "Childhood: Way Too Much Fun to Be Wasted on Children."

When "Dr. No" kicked off the spy craze in the early 1960s, leading toy company Mattel pivoted effortlessly from wild-west toys (guns and rifles with "Shootin' Shells" and "Greenie Stickem Caps") to spy gear under the "Zero-M" logo.

Best of all -- meaning most ridiculously dangerous and inviting of hair-raising abuse -- was the bazooka-like Sonic Blaster, which shot a column of compressed air at whatever you pointed it at. It also produced a 157-decibel blast-sound. As the ad shows, it came with little knock-down cardboard targets, but kids knew better:  First thing every kid -- every kid -- did as soon as it was out of the box was pump that bad boy up, press the muzzle against the ear of the kid standing next to them (ideally, a younger sibling), and blast away. The resulting eardrum damage was often permanent.

Next thing you knew, screaming children, bleeding ears, upset parents, Consumer Reports, product liability, BFD, yadda, yadda, yadda, Nader, Nader, Nader, blah, blah, blah, the toy was banned, shelves were empty.

And conservatives today complain about "Sixties-era permissiveness." As if.

This ad features a very young (but still grim) Kurt Russell. The voice-over work is by William Conrad, who also played Matt Dillon on radio's "Gunsmoke" and was the breathlessly hyper narrator for Rocky & Bullwinkle adventures.

The unforgiving minute: Fool them once, shame on her . . .

Fool them dozens and dozens of times, shame on them.

SarahPAC: With time running out before Palin’s decision, send money

Alaska Republican Sarah Palin is “on the verge of making her decision of whether or not to run for office” – and her backers should write a check right away, a letter from her political action committee says.

The Sept. 20 letter from SarahPAC treasurer Tim Crawford says: “It’s one of the most difficult and important decisions of her life. And I want her to know that she has our support.”

Minute's up.

Sunday morning toons: This week in health facts

Item: Michelle Bachmann provides stunning evidence linking HPV vaccine and mental retardation -- although not in the people given the vaccine.

Item: Pat Robertson announces that Alzheimer's is no longer a sickness -- at least as far as the phrase "in sickness and in health" is concerned.

Item: Congressional Republicans' gratitude to 9/11 first responders extends all the way up to -- but not including -- actually helping provide coverage for medical problems incurred that day.

All that and more on this week's toon roundup, scientifically selected from the week's political cartoon pages at Slate, Time, Mario Piperni, About.com, and Daryl Cagle:

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Pat Bagley, Rob Rogers, Steve Breen, David Horsey, Clay Bennett, Nick Anderson, Glenn McCoy, Pat Oliphant, Drew Sheneman, Chan Lowe, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best of Show: Ben Sargent.

p3 Legion of Merit Award: Clay Bennett.

p3 Legion of Honor Award: Mike Thompson. .

p3 World Toon Review: Cam Cardow (Canada), Cristo Komarnitski (Bulgaria), Petar Pismestrovic (), and Pavel Constantin (Romania).


Ann Telnaes presents an unforgettable look at GOP bathroom reading.


Mark Fiore turns his page over to guest artists this week (for those who were getting tired of the usual "freedom hatin' cartoonist" fare).


Taiwan's Next Media Animation covers the story of the "rogue" UBS trader who lost $2 billion (of someone else's money).


Tom Tomorrow presents an emissary from another planet -- and Sparky has to hand him the bad news.


Keith Knight examines what "post-racial" really means. I do not thin' it means what you thin' it means.


Tom the Dancing Bug presents one of his most high-concept pieces ever: a strange world that is not quite the opposite of our own, but somewhat dissimilar in certain ways.


Comic Riffs has a great review -- with art -- from the Library of Congress exhibition celebrating comic art.


Red Meat's Ted Johnson is back, with an opportunity for some old-style family bonding.


The Comic Curmudgeon answers the question: Which is the worst comic strip out there when it comes to depicting responsible pet ownership?


This toon by Portland homeboy Jack Ohman reminds me of the classic line by Anatole France: "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich and the poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." (Would that make this an Ohman homage?)


Olive Oyl's role in the endless cycle of Popeye-on-Bluto violence: Victim or enabler? That's the subtext of "Pleased to Meet Cha!" the 1935 short directed by Dave Fleischer. The animation by Willard Bowsky and Harold Walker has some wonderful moments: Watch Bluto's close-ups, and the move to an overhead shot up to set up one bit at the 1:38 mark.

(Note to Facebook friends: If you're reading this in FB Notes, you'll need to click View Original Post, below, to see the video.)


p3 Bonus Toon: Jesse Springer writes:

I'd like to see our politicians sign a "No Child Goes Hungry" pledge.

News Item: According to a new report, Oregon's children experience the highest level of "food insecurity"-- hunger -- than any other state in the country.

Test your toon-captioning skills at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)

Quote of the day

From Joan McCarter:

The tea party mantra: Noun, verb, unconstitutional.

Saturday morning tunes: She and Bobby were steppin' out / She and Bobby didn't know I found out

I have a vivid memory from freshman year in college: Dancing to "Do You Know What I Mean" (the only breakout song Lee Michaels ever had) cranked up much too loud, with three friends in someone's dorm room.

If you're reading this in FB Notes, you'll need to click View Original Post to see the video. 

(The dancing itself was a sort of trundling pre-disco white-kid two-step, not unlike the awesome move that blanket-weilding Linus busts during "Linus and Lucy.")

Memorializing the song today also allows me at long last to correct a grammatical howler in the third verse. Subjective case, Lee, not objective.

Six years ago at p3

It was a matter of affirmation;

Somewhere along the line, jazz became the music I listened to when there was healing to be done.

Sunday morning toons: United we stood

Ten years ago today . . . well, everyone knows where they were. I know where I was, and it wasn't that interesting in itself, just for the news I got while I was there. And ten years later, where are we? Clay Jones, Marshall Ramsey, Mike Luckovich, Cam Cardow, Bill Day, Jimmy Margulies. Jeff Danziger, and Gary Varvel.

Molly Ivins of blessed memory rarely missed a chance to tell a story about Texas politics, the punchline of which is, "There are things that won't hurt you but will scare you so bad you'll hurt yourself." It took three commercial jets -- flying bombs, really -- to destroy the two World Trade Towers and take a big chunk out of the Pentagon, but no one flew a suicide jet into the Bill of Rights; to our everlasting disgrace, we killed the Fourth Amendment ourselves, with its quaint medieval notions of "innocent until proven guilty" and "due process." (They hate us for our freedom? Problem solved.) On the other hand, there is talk that we may once again be able to keep our shoes on at airport security, so I suppose that's something to be grateful for.

Meanwhile, Obama has pivoted to jobs and the Republican presidential candidates had a quilting bee of crazy. Life goes on in these United States.

Today's selections have been lovingly hand-selected from the week's political cartoon pages at Slate, Time, Mario Piperni, About.com, and Daryl Cagle:

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Pat Bagley, Chan Lowe, Mike Smith, Steve Sack, Clay Bennett, Joe Heller, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best of Show: Nick Anderson.

p3 World Toon Review: Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), Manny Francisco (Philippines), Ingrid Rice (Canada), and Luo Jie (China).


Ann Telnaes considers our response to 9/11.


Mark Fiore calls for a return to America's originalist founding principles.


Taiwan's Next Media Animation presents a few things you should know about Rick Perry. Don't miss the cameos by a pole-dancing Abe Lincoln and a bemused looking God.


Lance Mannion presents his summation against the GOP's current star:

So let’s tally it up. Rick Perry doesn’t understand science. He doesn’t understand basic conservative economic principles. He doesn’t understand his own religion. And he doesn’t understand TV westerns or comic books.

Reminder for Portland's Mel Blanc fans: Tomorrow's your last chance to see the Mel Blanc exhibit.


Fifty years ago, or so, the phrase to know was I go Pogo, when cartoonist Walt Kelly ran the Okeefenokee Swamp's favorite marsupial for the Oval Office. This week, Jim Hightower has a new nominee from the ranks of classic animation.


Tom Tomorrow brings us another baffling adventure from the case files of Conservative Jones, Boy Detective. Oh, Moonbat -- how I envy you your blissful detachment from reality!


Keith Knight looks back to 9/11/2001 and thinks, What a difference a day makes!


Tom the Dancing Bug imagines what it would be like if American history were really a George Lucas movie. (Here was TtDB's first toon following the 9/11 attack.)


Comic Riffs' John Cavna compares two New Yorker covers: Septemer 24, 2001, and September 12, 2011.


At Red Meat, Ted Johnson works on community relations management.


The Comic Curmudgeon discusses the best installments of the comic strip "Momma" (adding: "and by 'best' I mean 'most horrifying and unsettling'). Not to be missed.


Portland homeboy Jack Ohman looks at the Republican Party and finds the postmodern prometheus. (I love Igor!)


Oh, hell -- why not! From "Anchors Aweigh," directed in 1945 by George Sidney, here are two of MGM's biggest stars: Gene Kelly and Jerry the Mouse. According to Wikipedia:

The movie is famous for a musical number where Gene Kelly dances seamlessly with the animated Jerry Mouse (voiced by Sara Berner). Tom Cat appears briefly as a butler in the sequence supervised by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The animation was entirely done by veterans Kenneth Muse, Ray Patterson and Irv Spence. Originally, the producers wanted to use Mickey Mouse for this segment. Some sources claim Walt Disney initially agreed to loan out Mickey, but Roy Disney rejected the deal. According to Bob Thomas's book on Roy Disney, the studio was in debt after World War II and they were focusing on trying to get their own films out on time. According to Roy, they had no business making cartoons for other people.

(Note to Facebook friends: If you're reading this in FB Notes, you'll need to click View Original Post, below, to see the video.)


p3 Bonus Toon: Jesse Springer doesn't like the math: 7000 Oregon public school teachers laid off in two years.

Test your toon-captioning chops at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)

Saturday morning tunes: It's hard to understand, but the touch of your hand can start me crying

Roy Orbison's 1962 classic (number 69 on the Rolling Stones list of 500 greatest songs) "Crying" is one of the few songs to make a second appearance on p3 Saturday morning tunes -- and in two languages.

It takes a hell of a range to pull this song off -- if two and a half octaves makes you step back, you shouldn't even try it. It's been covered by some really gifted singers, including Gene Pitney, Don McLean, k. d. lang, and of course Rebekah del Rio.

If you're reading this in FB Notes, you'll need to click View Original Post to see the video.

Quote of the day: Flaunt it!

From No More Mister Nice Blog:

I think Romney should flaunt his wealth. I think he should try to use it to take on Rick Perry -- Hey, if you're such a great American patriot, why aren't you as rich as I am? Wouldn't you be stinking rich if you were really a great American? Wouldn't you be stinking rich if you really knew how to create jobs?

Sunday morning toons: The weekend cultural stock forecast

From the p3 economics desk, here are our recommendations:

Buy:
* Rick Perry
* Think pieces on "Cheney's Vice Presidency: A Reappraisal"
* Cookout supplies

Sell:
* Hope for American jobs
* Hope for economic recovery
* Hurricane Irene coverage 

Today's selections were hand-picked and marinated overnight in a special beer-based recipe, then barbecued until brown (but not black and crispy) over a Weber grill, and served with lettuce, tomato, onion, relish, ketchup and mustard, with a side of potato salad, using only the very best from the week's political cartoon pages at Slate, Time, Mario Piperni, About.com, and Daryl Cagle:

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Jim Morin, Don Wright, Pat Bagley, Dana Summers, Eric Ramirez, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best of Show: Mike Luckovich.

p3 Legion of Extreme Merit Award: Rob Rogers.

p3 Certificate of Harmonic Toon Convergence (Part 1): Steve Sack and Joe Heller.

Certificate of Harmonic Toon Convergence (Part 2): Brian Fairrington and Jeff Stahler.

p3 Award for Best Adaptation from Another Medium: Daryl Cagle.

p3 World Toon Review: Peter Schrank (England), Cam Cardow (Canada), Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), Ingrid Rice (Canada), and Michael Kountouris (Greece).

Reminder: This weekend is about more than great deals on mattresses! Here's our p3 Labor Day Special, courtesy of Stuart Carlson, Ed Stein, Jeff Parker, Mike Keefe, Randy Bish, R.J. Matson, and Marshall Ramsey,


Ann Telnaes celebrates Labor Day weekend with the clash of the Dueling Day-Timers.


I have a sneaking suspicion that Mark Fiore has had to travel by air recently. The clues are subtle, but they're there.


The title says it all in this story from Taiwan's Next Media Animation: "Cuckold O'Reilly allegedly used police to harass rival." Now that's news you can use. (And am I the only one who thinks the news media need to start using "cuckold" more?)


Tom Tomorrow prepares -- then -- for the toon apocalypse now. Sort of.


The K Chronicles looks at the up side of being a Tea Partier.


Tom the Dancing Bug presents a literary analysis of corporate America.


Comic Riffs presents political toons from around the world in solidarity with Syrian political cartoonist and activist Ali Ferzat, who was beaten -- had his hand broken -- by state-sponsored thugs for daring to criticize the al-Assad regime.


At Red Meat, Milkman Dan teaches little Karen a lesson that even John Galt would be proud of.


Portland homeboy Jack Ohman says it's all in the fine print.


Ahh! Le petite femme skunque fatale! There really is only one Pepé le Pew story; they just re-titled it from time to time and changed the location (here, it's the French Foreign Legion -- Pepé has enlisted in order "to forget," naturally). But it's always the same: Skunk meets cat, skunk loses cat, skunk chases cat, skunk loses cat. Repeat for six minutes and fifty-six seconds. As long as Pepé lives, Maurice Chevalier will never die. From 1952 -- when stalking and sexual harassment in the military were still considered charming -- directed by Chuck Jones, here's "Little Beau Pepé." 

(Note to Facebook friends: If you're reading this in FB Notes, you'll need to click View Original Post, below, to see the video.)


p3 Bonus Toon: Jesse Springer offers a Labor Day salute to Oregon's workforce. 

Test your toon-captioning chops at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.)

Quote of the day: Results

From No More Mister Nice Blog, in six words:

Reagan policies, Reagan results. No surprise.

Saturday morning tunes: Saint Peter, don'tcha call me, 'cause I cain't go

The authorship of "Sixteen Tons" is subject to some dispute; but it was written in the 1930s or 1940s about life in the Appalachian coal mines of the 19th and early 20th century.

Among the many tools that mine owners had to keep miners under their thumbs (not counting local police, union-busting goons, and Pinkerton men -- see here), there was the company store. Workers were paid in vouchers, not dollars, redeemable only at the store owned by -- surprise! -- the mine owners themselves. Not only were the store prices usually inflated, but the scrip was useless anywhere else, which meant miners couldn't accumulate savings and move in search of better work.

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 Labor Day is brought to you by the people who brought you the forty-hour week, child labor laws, retirement funds, and medical insurance.