Sunday morning toons: No statute of limitations

Hence the death last week of former Reagan press secretary James Brady, from injuries suffered 33 years ago when John Hinkley Jr. opened fire on President Reagan and his entourage, was ruled a homicide. Whether the US Attorney's office will charge the already-institutionalized Hinkley with the crime is anyone's guess.

Brady went on to become one of the nation's leading lobbyists for restrictions on availability of handguns and assault weapons. And good for him – don't get me wrong. He deserved that Presidential Medal of Freedom. But it just reminds me of something that's always stuck in my craw: Why does it seem that Republicans' opposition to regulation, and their conviction that government is the problem, only gets a reconsideration – and then, in the narrowest sense possible – when disaster strikes them or their family directly? Gordon Smith, I'm looking at you.

Still, mustn't dwell too much on that (or on the 40th anniversary of Nixon's resignation); that would be, as President Obama says, looking backward, not forward. (See Ted Rall's piece, below.)

And come to that, I'm not sure I'm really in the mood this sunny afternoon to dwell on Russia, Ukraine, Ebola, the US southern border, or the Russian hackers who probably now know almost about me as Google and Facebook. Still, let's see what is going on out there today.

Today's toons were selected with careful consideration, once the late-breakfast dishes were cleared away, 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 cartoon goodness.

g

p3 Picks of the week: Mike Luckovich, Jeff Danziger, Walt Handlesman, Kevin Kallaugher, Tom Toles, Gary Varvel, Matt Davies, Signe Wilkinson, Jeff Stahler, Daryl Cagle, Pat Bagley, Joe Heller, John Cole, Matt Wuerker, and Monte Wolverton.

p3 Best of Show: Ted Rall.

p3 Legion of Merit: Adam Zyglis.

p3 Award for Best Adaptation from Another Medium (tie): Taylor Jones and John Darkow.

p3 World Toon Review: Patrick Chappatte (Switzerland) and Rachel Gold (Austria).

Ann Telnaes considers those two words that always seem to mean trouble.

Mark Fiore sent his Congress to camp, and all he got was this lousy t-shirt. Not even a braided lanyard.

Keith Knight has a mostly-harmless case of mistaken identity.

Tom the Dancing Bug has the next infomercial on your late-night cable schedule. (And a p3 Certificate of Harmonic Toon Convergence to TtDB and Brian McFadden.)

Red Meat's Ted Johnson has got it all taken care of.

The Comic Strip Curmudgeon looks over a Six Chicks gag panel without ever noticing its indebtedness to this classic Douglas Adams bit. (Note Peter Davison – aka the Fifth Doctor – showing his Hoffmanesque ability to disappear into his role as Dish of the Day.)

Comic Strip of the Day looks at comic strips after Lynn Johnston, plus Dick Tracy going to the 1940s and Mandrake the Magician going to war (since he was already in the 1940s anyway).

Weekly animation: And, inspired by Comic Strip of the Day's ruminations on Dick Tracy, here's "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery," directed in 1946 by Bob Clampett and (uncredited) Michael Sassanoff, from a story by Warren Foster, with musical direction by Carl Stalling. Stalling is on a roll in this one: he lifts from Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse," "The Arkansas Traveler," and Suppe's "Poet and Peasant Overture" even before Daffy has a chance to read his mail. Also uncredited, Portland's own Mel Blanc as Duck Twacy, Wolf Man, Rubber Head, Neon Noodle, 88 Keys – and the pig. You'll see.

Since the web content interface for Blogger (owned by Google) makes it difficult to embed videos from anyplace other than YouTube (by a remarkable coincidence, also owned by Google), please click here to watch "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery" at VideoMotion.

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 Began Cheating by Welcoming Back The Departed, Oregon Toon Block:

Ex-Oregonian Jack Ohman starts somewhere around the New York Minute, and works his way from there down to the infinetesimal.

Allegedly Ex-Oregonian Jen Sorensen asks: Do you know your First Amendment rights?

Matt Bors salutes a legacy of the post-9/11 panic. And this problem was already out of control eight years ago.

Jesse Springer looks at what you can get for $3.2 million – already on its way to a cable or dish channel near you!

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