Sunday morning toons: Transitions

Iraq: Formerly the hated target of the NeoCons, now reluctant collaborator in cleaning up the mess the NeoCons left behind in Iraq.

Redskins: Formerly the controversial and increasingly unpopular trademarked name associated with DC's NFL franchise, now the controversial and increasingly unpopular untrademarked name associated with DC's NFL franchise and its political martyr multizillionaire owner. (Thought for the day: When Elliot Ness finally nailed Al Capone on income tax evasion instead of corruption, bootlegging, bribery, and murder, did the conservatives of the day describe that as "government over-reach?"

Dick Cheney: Formerly cheerleader for the failed Iraq war, now unindicted war criminal hiding in plain sight on television and the Wall Street Journal – still cheerleading for the failed Iraq war.

Children's Crusade: Formerly a thirteenth century low point in the attempt by European Christians to expel Muslims from the Holy Lands, now the twenty-first century low point in America's ongoing failure to agree on immigration policy reform.

And apparently there's some sort of professional sporting event going on somewhere in South America.

Today's toons were selected by a panel of self-deluding NeoCons who've never once been right about political cartooning, from 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, Jeff Stahler, Signe Wilkinson, Jeff Danziger, Drew Sheneman, John Darkow, Joe Heller, Brian McFadden, Matt Wuerker, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best of Show: Matt Davies.

p3 Legion of Merit: Tim Eagan.

p3 Award for Best Adaptation from Another Medium (tie): Steve Benson and Mike Luckovich.

p3 Meteorology Merit Badge: Robert Ariail.

p3 Certificate for Harmonic Toon Convergence: Jimmy Margulies and Bob Englehart.

p3 World Toon Review: Brian Gable (Canada), Tom Scott (New Zealand), Sergei Tunin (Russia), Kevin Kallaugher (England), Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland), Martin Sutovec (Slovenia), Ingrid Rice (Canada), and Tom Janssen (Netherlands).

Ann Telnaes presents Dick Cheney, Man of Many Hats.

Mark Fiore says, It's a good time to be in Iraq.

Taiwan's Next Media Animation traces the history of a DC institution currently under fire.

Cartoonist Ted Rall is seriously wondering if the government is gaslighting him.

Rest in Peace: famed New Yorker cartoonist Charles Barsotti died this week at age 80. The magazine featured several of Barsotti's best-liked pieces at their site.

Remember that time that the United Nations condemned Superman? (And it had nothing to do with "Man of Steel." Although it probably should have.)

Tom Tomorrow raises an interesting question from the the intersection of politics and theoretical physics: What happens if the Repubican Party and the physical universe ever come in contact?

Keith Knight examines the economic consequences of world-level sporting events.

Tom the Dancing Bug goes all what-iffy? on us. (Not quite as memorable as this, perhaps, but check out Comic Strip of the Day, below.)

Red Meat's Papa Moai explains to Billy: there's more than one way to prepare a delicious pâté on a water cracker.

The Comic Strip Curmudgeon: Inventor of the term "nephewism."

Comic Strip of the Day has an interesting meditation on why Tom the Dancing Bug's piece this week (see above) is more than just a riff on an old Woody Allen gag; he titles it The Information Highway of Broken Dreams.

My, I'll bet you monsters lead IN-teresting lives! We featured "Hair-Raising Hare" here last fall, but it's getting a re-showing today because the photo at right – makeup artist Ben Nye working on David Hedison for "The Fly" in 1958 – turned up in my FB newsfeed this week via Dangerous Minds.(Click to enlarge. But you knew that.) It drew my memory irresistibly to the scene with Bugs and Gossamer (he's the monster) that starts at about the 4:40 mark. Plus, our original post needs a couple of corrections: "Sweet Dreams, Sweetheart" was sung by Joan Leslie, not Kitty Carlisle, and the film was "Hollywood Canteen," (also by WB), not "Stage Door Canteen." No idea how that got past me.

One other change: The changes to Blogger's default coding makes it much harder to embed videos that aren't on YouTube (conveniently also owned by Google), so you'll have to watch it here.

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 Bent the Rules and Welcomed Back The Departed, Oregon Toon Block:

Ex-Oregonian Jack Ohman says it all comes down to the meaning of "rarely."

Ex-Oregonian (Maybe, Possibly, Perhaps) Jen Sorensen shows that posh London neighborhoods may have a lot to teach us.

Matt Bors confuses the number of US troops being sent to guard the Xanadu-like US Embassy with the somewhat larger number who are being sent as <airquotes>advisors</airquotes>, but otherwise nicely captures the life-cycle of foreign military involvement.

Jesse Springer notes that, following the recent shooting incident in a Troutdale school (in which the 15-year-old shooter used "an AR-15 type of rifle, owned by his family, that he obtained after removing it from its secured storage place"), Oregon lawmaker Ginny Burdick received copious abuse – including a death threat – for proposing a law that would hold gun-owning adults responsible for crimes committed by a minor with their weapon(s).

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