Portrait of the Artist as a Sad Dog
Archive for April, 2009
I Ain’t Nothin’ But A Hound Dog
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009Those Memos Again
Saturday, April 25th, 2009
“Dirty Laundry” by special guest artist Colleen Nelson.
A lot has happened since we first started bloviating about this. Depending on your view of Obama, he either a) Tried to sanitize the situation by releasing the memos but promising not to prosecute CIA agents who tortured “in good faith” (!!!) or b) knew that once the memos were out, the shit would hit the fan wthout it looking like he threw it. Regardless of his intentions, the shit has hit the fan, and a good thing, too. We are, finally, a nation where this kind of shit will not stay swept under the rug and good for us!
I’d like to put in my 2 cents here: The anti-investigation crowd is framing this as “looking forward” vs. “retribution”. This is pure spin. If you like it, you call it “justice” or “accountability”. If you don’t like it, you call it “retribution.” The point is not retribution — as emotionally satisfying as that might be. The point is deterrence. And deterrence is “looking forward”. It’s looking forward to 2017 or 2035 when some yet-unkown President is once again tempted to grab un-Constitutional powers. I want him (or her) and his henchmen (or women) to stop and think. I want them all to think, “Wait a minute. We could go to jail for this.” That, my friends, is looking forward.
Me and Chavez
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Hugo Chavez gave Obama a copy of Eduardo Galeano’s “Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of Pillage of a Continent”. It immediately shot up to number 2 on Amazon.
Curious as to how often the U.S. invades (oops, I mean “intervenes”) in Latin America? History of U.S. Interventions in Latin America lists over 50. That’s once every two or three years. This list is not complete. Maybe we were fighting Communism? Nah! As you can see at another List of U.S. Interventions in Latin America, we’ve been doing it since before Communism was invented.
Here is a poem of Galeano’s that I love. (Apologies for any mistakes in the Spanish.)
Cultura del Miedo
Si haces el amor, tendras SIDA
Si fumas, tendras cancer
Si comes tendras colesterol
Si bebes, tendras accidentes
Si respiras, tendras contaminacion
Si caminas, tendras violencia
Si lees, tendras confusion
Si piensas, tendras anustia
Si sientes, tendras lcura
Si hablas, perderas el empleo
Culture of Fear
If you make love, you’ll get AIDS
If you smoke, you’ll get cancer
If you eat, you’ll get colesterol
If you drink, you’ll get into accidents
If you walk, you’ll get mugged
If you read, you’ll get confused
If you think, you’ll get depressed
If you feel, you’ll go crazy
If you talk, you’ll lose your job
History Lesson
Monday, April 20th, 2009
American Presidents
Obama’s School For Spies
Friday, April 17th, 2009
Let me spell it out: Torture is illegal. It is forbidden by the Geneva Conventions. According to the Constitution, treaties are, along with the Constitution, “the supreme law of the land.” Waterboarding is torture. This is not speculation, it is settled law. Authorizing or comitting torture is a war crime. Not a misdemeanor, some minor peccadilloe. A war crime. We hang people for war crimes. In spite of their claim that they were only following orders.
So we have a crime, we know who the criminals are and, no doubt, they will be arrested, tried, convicted and punished any day now, right?
Well, no. With the administration’s statement that these people will not be prosecuted, it is now the official policy of the United States that there are two kinds of administrations: torture administrations and non-torture administrations. All you have to do is get elected, and you get to decide which kind we have.
“Who is John Galt?”
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
The Cartoonist’s Heritage
Monday, April 13th, 2009Remember the Middle Ages? The banquet in the cold, smokey hall, the long rough table, the boar roasting on spits in the huge fireplace at the end of the hall. The serving wenches with the platters of greasy meat. Here’s your ettiquette tip: There won’t be any napkins! If you ever find yourself back in that hall, show some manners! Greasy meat, greasy hands — don’t wipe your hands on your beard. It’s a sure sign of a couthless hick from the sticks. If you want to show ‘em you know how to do, that you’re a fellow with suave uptown castle manners, wipe them on the dogs.
But the feast — why are having feast? The king has proclaimed a feast in honor of, guess who? Why, the king of course.
The bard will declaim in honor of the king. For hours on end. Look out. If you sneeze during this speech, your head could fall off. In that whole hall, there was one person who could call the king a fat little twerp. Only the fool could tell the truth.
And who is he now? He’s the comedian. He’s the cartoonist. Want to know what’s really going on? Don’t look at the front page. Go straight to the cartoon.
Welcome, Pilgrim.
Sunday, April 12th, 2009
Greetings, pilgrim, and welcome to my Blog of Toons, a home for toons. My toons, my friends’ toons, toons I love and perhaps even toons I hate. Toons can go anywhere. You want quantum mechanics? daily life? coming of age? political fury? cute little furry animals pursuing their sexual delight? history? civilization? Toons can do it all. Toons reach deep into our psyches and our culture. You’ve heard of John Q. Public? A toon. Maybe you’ve heard of an infamous stain on American history, McCarthyism? The term was coined in a cartoon by the great Herbert Block. “We have met the enemy and he is us.” A toon again, by the great Walt Kelly. Maybe your district was gerrymandered? The word itself comes from a cartoon. Or consider, for example, Paul Revere, he of the famous midnight ride. One if by land, two if by sea. “The British are coming! The British are coming!” If you know a little more about him, you know he was a silversmith. But did you know he was also a political cartoonist? And speaking of political cartoonists, did you know that Dr. Seuss was a political cartoonist?
We will meet some of this rogues’ gallery, for rogues we are. We are cartoonists!
And so, I open this blog with my homage to Second Fig by Edna St Vincent Millay.