Sunday, April 8, 2012

Sunday morning toons: Good news and bad news on the Supreme Court beat

[Updated below.]

While we're waiting until June to find out if the pro-corporate, just-say-no-to-Obama wing of the Supreme Court is going to throw the Affordable Care Act overboard in the middle of a presidential campaign, we can take comfort that this week they guaranteed anyone with a burned-out brake light a chance for a free rectal exam.
Albert Florence was forced to undress and submit to strip searches following his arrest on a warrant for an unpaid fine, though the fine actually had been paid. Even if the warrant had been valid, failure to pay a fine is not a crime in New Jersey.

But [Supreme Court Justice and political weathervane Anthony] Kennedy focused on the fact that Florence was held with other inmates in the general population. In concurring opinions, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito said the decision left open the possibility of an exception to the rule and might not apply to someone held apart from other inmates.
Anyone who is shocked that the Supreme Court has just given the state the right to strip search you for anything down to jaywalking hasn't been paying attention for at least six years.

Today's toons were selected by a 5-4 vote from the week's pages at Slate, Time, About.com, and Daryl Cagle:

p3 Picks of the Week: Mike Luckovich, Pat Bagley, Tom Toles, Joel Pett, Steve Sack, Matt Weurker, Daryl Cagle, Rob Tornoe, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best of Show: Nick Anderson.

p3 Merit Badge for Granny Killing: Clay Bennett.

p3 Award for Best Adaptation from Another Medium: John Darkow.

p3 “Happy Families are All Alike” Award: Jeff Danziger.

p3 World Toon Review: Heng (Singapore), Cam Cardow (Canada), and Ingrid Rice (Canada),


Ann Telnaes considers the difference between long drives and short putts.


Mark Fiore presents a GOP fairy tale -- as if that's a separate category.


Taiwan's Next Media Animation examines the modern example of the American Dream: Winning the lottery and stiffing your friends who chipped in. Remember when the American Dream was building a better mousetrap and then reinvesting your earnings in your company and your community?


So much for all those comics stashed in all those cardboard cartons in all those closets for the last four generations: The digital world will forever change how comics are created, marketed, sold, and saved.


Tom Tomorrow provides a helpful health care reform glossary. It's all so much simpler now.


Keith Knight has gotten Kickstart funding for his graphic novel project I Was A Teenage Michael Jackson Impersonator! Yes!


Bonus Keef: The best thing about getting hitched.


Tom the Dancing Bug presents the latest edition of Super-Fun-Pak Comics. Hulk no longer smash so much.


Red Meat's Bug-Eyed Earl considers the value of hindsight. Of course, I might have done the same thing, and I like cats.


No Tribble at all! Pigs is Pigs is the 1954 Academy Award-nominated Disney Film directed by Jack Kinney, with voice work by Bill Thompson. It's based on a 1905 short story by Ellis Parker Butler. Wikipedia gives its history a little more pizzazz, partly through unprovable connections and partly through a bit of post hoc reasoning (hat-tip to Ryan):
The story is credited by Robert A. Heinlein as possibly the origin of the flat cats in his novel The Rolling Stones, since he may have read it or heard it as a child, but due to the intervening time he could not be sure. The concept obviously had some currency because it also shows up in the famous Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles".
At this distance, although “Pigs is Pigs” is a fun little piece, it's only connection to the famous “Tribbles” episode may be that in each case a Scotsman gets to deliver the punchline. Enjoy.

If your browser won't display the embedded version, click here.


The p3 Big Oregon Toon Block:

Jack Ohman presents the lament of the smooth operator.

Update: Jack Ohman's bold cartooning predictions (click to enlarge):



Not a moment too soon, Matt Bors presents a PSA for Zimmerman apologists.

Jesse Springer casts a doubtful eye on the Oregon schools' new Educational Achievement Compacts, supported by Governor Kitzhaber and zero extra funding:




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

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