I'm in the process of moving, so posting will be continue to be light for the next few days.

I was flipping through an old notebook of mine, and came across a silly doodle of a woman with a few too many silicon implants, which made me think of the current spate of ridiculous makeover TV shows, which led to this cartoon. I refrained from using the overly-siliconed woman in the strip itself, as she was a bit more grotesque than amusing.

In an interesting article in today's Washington Post about gas prices affecting ordinary Americans, Shawn Poquette, a 20 year-old father of two, discusses his support for Bush:

One of the traits he admires in Bush, he says, is that Bush seems a self-made man, independent rather than reliant, and that's how Poquette sees himself, too: someone who wants nothing to do with public assistance of any sort, even though his family's income, while above poverty level by several thousand dollars, is the income of the working poor.

Bush, the very paragon of privilege, is seen as a self-made man. Such is the level of cognizance of many Americans who will be choosing the world's most powerful human being come November.

What this reminds me of is myself, at age ten, when I went to a Reagan rally in Millersville, Pennsylvania during the 1984 race (my father was given tickets when a lost campaign staffer stopped to ask him for directions). I knew little about politics then, but I did know that Reagan seemed like a kindly, benevolent grandfather, and for that reason I liked him. I remember passing protesting Mondale supporters on my way to the rally. "How could they support that boring fuddy-duddy?" I wondered.

Once inside Pucillo Gymnasium, which was decked out with a giant banner reading "Pennsylvania Dutch Country is Dutch Reagan Country!", I got caught up in the euphoria of the cheering crowd. I confess, with some slight embarrassment, that I was one of those people chanting "Four more years!" Please bear in mind that I was in the fifth grade.

By 1988, I had blossomed into a thinking person with Democratic leanings, but my experience as a clueless ten year-old Reaganite allows me to understand the emotion-driven fervor of many Bush supporters.

In case you haven't seen it, this site is good for a laugh. Contains quite the library of photos of people flipping off Hummers.

There's a fair number of these beasts here in Charlottesville. I've got my digital camera ready.

I know I've been harping on this for a while, but I just couldn't resist.

Melanin-gate

Apparently union leaders are pushing for Kerry to pick Dick Gephardt as his running mate. While he may be pro-labor, the fact remains that Gephardt is a sad, lifeless blob of tapioca pudding who would doom Kerry utterly.

Since presidential races in the TV age are (unfortunately) driven largely by personality and emotion, Kerry needs to pick an inspiring, charismatic running mate to compensate for his own reserved demeanor. Choosing a guy with the verve of a dried potato isn't going to cut it.

Oh, and there's speculation about that Vilsack guy from Iowa as well. Come on! The dude has "sack" in his name! What are these people thinking!?

So the pinhead spin on the torture and killing of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib goes something like "no one apologized to us for 9-11" and "the torture is nothing compared to acts like the beheading of Nick Berg" or worse, "the beheading justifies the torture."

Well. Let us explore how grotesquely simple-minded this "logic" is. Basically, it assumes that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are synonomous with Iraqi civilians; that all the peoples of Central Asia and the Middle East are one monolithic Evil Brown Person. If one of these "people" commits an act of terrorism, the rest are guilty by association. This is the same stupid stereotyping that Islamic radicals engage in when talking about the West. And it is incredibly dangerous.

I shouldn't have to point out that the prisoners in Abu Ghraib aren't the same individuals who murdered Nick Berg -- the Red Cross reported that 70-90% of them were innocent of anything -- but so many Americans seem incapable of even this slight level of complexity of thought.

See War on Stupidity cartoon from 2001.

Due to travel-induced weariness, this week's cartoon is a Classic (though still relevant) Slowpoke. We will return to our regularly-scheduled broadcast of incisive topical wit next week.

As referenced in the cartoon, I continue to be outraged every time I'm enjoying the scenery while flying, and a flight attendent snippily insists I shut my window for the benefit of those watching "Three Men and a Little Lady."

The Video Patrol

Those of us who opposed the Iraq war from the beginning were concerned that it would only breed more terrorists, and now it seems we've entered whole new dimensions of provocation. The torture at Abu Ghraib has played into Al Qaeda's marketing strategy just beautifully. As if the real photos aren't bad enough, some Arab newspapers are now printing fakes taken from pornographic websites alongside the real ones.

I feel so much safer now.

They were actually thinking about putting "Spider Man 2" logos on the bases and pitcher's mound of Major League Baseball games (the idea has since been dropped due to public outcry).

Baseball intended to place the webbed Spider-Man logo on the bases, home plate, the pitcher's mound and the on-deck circle in exchange for a reported $3.6 million.

This would make a great gag in a cartoon about crass commercialism... if it weren't true.

Considering how obsessed our media is with trivial verbal gaffes (see Howard Dean; see also this cartoon), I'm mystified as to why it hasn't picked up on Bush's not-so-trivial statement that people whose skin color is "not the same as ours... a different color than white" can self-govern (details two posts below). C'mon, the man just said Americans' skin is white! Shouldn't this be cycled over and over again, ad nauseum, on the cable news networks? Shouldn't the pundits be wrangling endlessly over what the hell he meant? Oh, that's right. I'm forgetting about the double-standard. It's not a gaffe unless a leftie says it! Semantic battles over "ribbons" vs. "medals" are so much more newsworthy.

My cartoonist friend Stephen Notley, who draws "Bob the Angry Flower," has posted some more photos from the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art event in New York last Thursday. There's one of me in there holding a beer bottle (mmm... Hoegaarden).

From the Post:

President Bush said yesterday that people who have skin that is "a different color than white" are capable of self-government.

Bush made the comment during a Rose Garden news conference, while discussing his goal of more freedom in the Middle East.

"There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern," Bush said.

"I reject that. I reject that strongly. I believe that people who practice the Muslim faith can self-govern. I believe that people whose skins aren't necessarily -- are a different color than white can self-govern."

You know, because Americans' skin color is white.

It's like a reformed Klan member trying to sound sensitive.

Pretty self-explanatory. It was cool meeting others in New York this past weekend who had been at the march in DC.

Seen at the March

Well, that was fun. Got to see a bunch of my cartoonist pals at the MoCCA event, which drew a sizable crowd. August Pollak has a few pictures here, though alas, none of yours truly. But I was there, honest!

I also managed to spend all day Saturday at the WFMU record fair, which miraculously coincided with my trip. Made some major used CD and record scores, like Gary Numan's 1978 "Tubeway Army" reissue on Dojo. Fantastic!