Sunday, October 19, 2014

Sunday morning toons: Americans are the worst risk assessors in the world

One-millionth of one percent of the population of the US (that's 0.000001%, or 3 people out of 300,000,000) have contracted ebola. It doesn't mean we're not sympathetic if we ask: Do we need to go through the list of things that are killing off more of us, faster, in plain sight, that we're paying almost no attention to?

When will Senator John McCain go on the Sunday talk shows and call for a Diabetes Czar?

When will Senator Lindsey Graham declare heart disease an existential threat to this great nation?

When will Senator Ted Cruz threaten to shut down the government if the federal budget doesn't cover flu shots for everyone of age?

When will Fox News excoriate President Obama for not doing enough to bring down the number of handgun deaths in America?

Oh, and to change subjects and recycle an old joke – almost as if it were discovered after thirty years in a bunker in the desert – of course we knew about the chemical weapons cached in area now controlled by ISIS. We kept the receipts.

Today's toons were selected by hiding in the closet and shouting, "I don't care – just pick something!" from the week's offerings at McClatchy DC, Cartoon Movement, Go Comics, Politico's Cartoon Gallery, Daryl Cagle's Political Cartoons, About.com, The Nib, and other fine sources of toony goodness.


p3 Best of Show: Steve Benson.

p3 Legion of Merit: Stuart Carlson.

p3 Award of Demerit for Mainstreaming the Dinesh D'Souza Idiocy: Michael Ramirez.

p3 Medal for Making the Fundamentals of Economics Sound Like a Cole Porter Song: Joe Heller.

p3 World Toon Review: Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), Brandan Reynolds (South Africa), Doaa Eladl (Egypt), and Paresh Nath (India).


Ann Telnaes continues this week's theme: Poor risk assessment.


Mark Fiore brings to mind an interesting parallel: The off-track and largely dishonest panic over the infinitesimal occurance of voter fraud in the US, versus the off-track and largely dishonest panic over the infinitesimal appearance of ebola in the US.


Taiwan's Next Media Animation blah


Tom Tomorrow presents the ultimate metaphysical dilemma: What happens when an immovable contrarian force is met by an irresistible contrarian object?


Keith Knight reflects upon the odd reactions to low expectations.


Tom the Dancing Bug nicely captures the problem of intent – if that is in fact what he meant to do. Hm.


Red Meat's Bug-eyed Earl has . . . oh, this is too creepy for a coy summary here. Just go see.


The Comic Strip Curmudgeon mourns the days before ambient, targetless rage.


Comic Strip of the Day mourns the days when evil was at least honest about its evilness. Reminds me of this line: "I kinda have to tip my hat to any entity that can bring so much integrity to evil." Or this line, which I haven't been able to document, so I'll have to do my best from memory: "Oh yeah, all the generals are corrupt down here. At least this one doesn't make any bones about it."


Cat Nap Pluto was directed in 1948 by Charles Nichols from a story by Eric Gurney, with uncredited voice work by Oregon's own Pinto Colvig (as Pluto, although p3 regulars may remember he also voiced Goofy, and Bluto for Fleischer Studios, plus the cat in Tex Avery's one-of-a-kind "King-Size Canary" in 1947 for MGM) and Clarence Nash (as Figaro the cat, who was doing side work after his 1940 role in Disney's "Pinocchio.")




The Big, And Getting Bigger Since We Threw Out The Rulebook andWelcomed Back The Departed, Oregon Toon Block:

Ex-Oregonian Jack Ohman wakes up in a new country.

Theoretically Ex-Oregonian Jen Sorensen (who was recently photographed sitting in Charles Schultz's work chair) looks at the America of the Future.

Matt Bors shows how good news is born.

Jesse Springer wonders who's got Governor Kitzhaber's back.



Test your toon captioning skillz at The New Yorker's weekly caption-the-cartoon contest. (Rules here.) And you can browse The New Yorker's cartoon gallery here.




No comments: