SlowpokeBlog

As a cartoonist, when you hear there are plans to build a $500 million presidential library for George W. -- the most expensive presidential library in history -- well, it's a subject that's hard to pass up. For more background on the library, I highly recommend Bill Berkowitz's essay, "Dubya's Half-Billion Tower of Babel." Apparently the Bushies want the library to house a new neocon think tank called the (gag!) Institute for Democracy. A perfect Orwellian end to an Orwellian administration. Apparently purging blacks from voter rolls, fighting a vote recount in the closest presidential election in history, making up slanderous tales about your Vietnam veteran opponent, and operating in unprecedented secrecy -- not to mention ignoring the will of the voters and advisers about Iraq -- all makes for good democracy. Here, here.

Interestingly, SMU's School of Theology wrote a letter to the Board of Trustees deprecating the proposed Bush library. It begins: "We count ourselves among those who would regret to see SMU enshrine attitudes and actions widely deemed as ethically egregious..." That's the SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, BABY! Obviously a hotbed of disgruntled Chomskyites. (The department's full name is the Perkins School of Theology, a coincidence I appreciate. Read the Berkowitz article for their full statement. It's great.)

My apologies for the slightly-inscrutable print in this cartoon. When I'm drawing a one-panel strip like this, I routinely underestimate how much room I'll need, which means I wind up drawing the cartoon far too large and shrinking everything down in Photoshop so it will fit. I will try to exercise better forethought in the future.