Sunday morning toons: Playing catch-up

I had made a semi-serious resolution to hit the ground running on p3 posting in 2015, but when Spawn of Otis, the router, went more or less belly-up last week, I ended up just hitting the ground. So we begin again.

What's happened in the last couple of weeks?

John Boehner has decided that insulting the White House doesn't stop at the shore line.

Congressional Republicans got upset that Obama suckered them into setting up a possibly ad-libbed punchline during the SOTU.

And the Republicans, under that name or not, fielded about a half-dozen responses to the SOTU.

Republicans made their annual discovery that Martin Luther King would have agreed with them today about nearly everything if only he hadn't been assassinated for championing civil rights and opposing the Viet Nam war way back when. (And, once again, why did we create a memorial to the man that shows him encased in carbonite?)

Jeb and Mitt are eyeing the same seat at the table. And a professional grifter, failed cable host, failed governor, and failed VP candidate says, sure – she's willing to consider running for president in 2016.

Which might be a good thing, since the GOP is otherwise doing its level best to drive women away in 2015 four-door leather-upholstered Droves.

The Academy Awards reached back to the good old days when Hattie McDaniel had walk back to her seat at the Negros-only table after she accepted her award. But on the upside, Larry Wilmore's show premiered last week.

Louisiana governor Bobby "Bobby" Jindal saw no point in apologizing for or retracting his idiotic claim that Birmingham, England, is a Muslim no-go zone. Even though it's, you know, not. Jindal's defense was that it would be really bad if it were, so we should all hide under our beds just to be on the safe side.

And remember when rats had to take the rap for the the spread of the plague? Well, now Mickey Mouse is a disease vector thanks to anti-vaxxer idiots.

Oh yeah. And footballs. Something about footballs. Speaking of which, any artist who drew some connection between the Patriots' underinflated footballs and anything to do with Obama – who, I remind you, this blog is not a huge fan of – probably got passed over this week. For the definitive, albeit non-illustrated treatment of that theme, see Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog.

Also, see Comic Strip of the Day for his explication of the distinction that ruled out a lot of SOTU toons today – especially from Obama-dislikers – from the get-go. Eric Allie makes the point, too.

Today's toons were selected from among the week's offerings at McClatchy DC, Cartoon Movement, Go Comics, Politico's Cartoon Gallery, Daryl Cagle's Political Cartoons, About.com, and other fine sources of toony goodness.

p3 Picks of the week: Mike Luckovich, John Deering, Jeff Danziger, Tim Eagan, Rob Rogers, Drew Sheneman, Signe Wilkinson, Matt Wuerker, Lalo Alcaraz, Nick Anderson, Chris Britt, Pat Bagley, Rob Tornoe, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best of Show: Chan Lowe.

p3 Legion of Merit: Jack Ohman.

p3 "Done Before and Probably Would Have Gotten Part of a p3 Certificate of Harmonic Toon Convergence Last Week, But We Always Like His Drafting" Award: Pat Oliphant.

p3 World Toon Review: Ingrid Rice (Canada), Miguel Villalba Sanchez (Spain), and Joen Yunus (Indonesia).

Ann Telnaes uses the week to ask: Is this really where you the government to . . . uhm . . . intrude?

Mark Fiore looks askance at the sort of thing he knows he should encourage out of cartoonists' self-interest.

Tom Tomorrow gets what may be the synoptic last word around here on the Charlie Hebdo murders.

Keith Knight explains why there's no hyphen in "post racial."

Tom the Dancing Bug saves it until the final panel.

Red Meat's Ted Johnson teaches us all a lesson about self-reliance around the house. Yeesh.

The Comic Strip Curmudgeon looks at his favorite gag: hate!

Comic Strip of the Day apparently had the same moment of awareness about the possibilities of life, somewhere in the late 1950s, that I did.

And that's how the game is played! We always stand by Roger Rabbit's verdict: Goofy was a GEE-nius! On the cusp of the Patriots scandal last week and the Super Bowl next week, p3 proudly presents "How to Play Football," directed by Jack Kinney and animated by Art Babbit (both uncredited), in 1944. Goofy is voiced by Oregon's own Pinto Colvig (and the narrator is probably John McLeish -- both also uncredited).

The p3 Sunday Comics Read-Along: Pearls Before Swine, Doonesbury, Rhymes with Orange, Zits, Adam @ Home, Mutts, Over the Hedge, Get Fuzzy, Prince Valiant, Blondie, Bizarro, Mother Goose & Grimm, Rose is Rose, Luann, Hagar the Horrible, Pickles, Rubes, Grand Avenue, Freshly Squeezed, The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee, and Jumble.

The Big, And Getting Bigger Since We Welcomed Back The Departed, Oregon Toon Block:

Ex-Oregonian Jack Ohman looks at the road ahead.

Very Likely Ex-Oregonian Jen Sorensen looks at what happens to people who hold complex opinions.

Matt Bors looks at the thing you get instead of seventy-two virgins.

Jesse Springer looks at the good news and bad news for Oregon workers.

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