And, in Today's Random Partisan Slam....

Clay Bennett, 7/15/11:

Haw! Haw! Get it! Bennet puts no credit in the Republicans' fiscal policies! It's a meta-cartoon!

Well, either that, or it's yet another "Boo! The other guys are evil and incompetent!" cartoon about nothing in particular.

Today's Epistomological Questions

R.J. Matson, 7/15/11:

Is that can actually falling off the vanishing point? And if, in the world of this cartoon, the vanishing point is a place objects can reach and plummet from, how can any of us be safe?

National Treasure -- or Treasury?

Rick McKee, 7/15/11:

Selling off our national monuments to balance the budget is exactly the kind of forward-thinking, free-market solutions that our Congressional leaders would embrace -- and, if there's a low-bid sweetheart deal for some major campaign contributors, all the better!

Normally, I wouldn't expect Obama -- that first guy is meant to be Obama, right? -- to along with that kind of plan, but he's moving closer to the Republican position every day, so another week or so should do it.

Is She Proud Mary?

Hap Pitkin, 7/14/11:

Yes, the Boulder Big Wheel Rally is a real thing.

And also a fine example of Two Things Make a Cartoon!

Lock Up Your Sisters! Congress Is In Town!

Paul Fell, 7/14/11:

So Congress is in cartoon "robber" shorthand, having stolen a big bag of...something from...somewhere.

But they'll pay! Because the Junkyard Dog of Fall Elections is going to get them!

Until someone remembers that all of Congress stands for election in even-numbered years.

And then we all just scratch our heads, and try to puzzle out what Fell could have possibly been thinking of.

Is This What They Call Truck Farming?

Ann Cleaves, 7/14/11:

California's 405 freeway will be under serious construction this weekend...in the vicinity of Los Angeles, rather than in any of the agricultural areas of that fine state.

So I know what this cartoon is referring to, but I'm vastly less clear on what it means.

Don't Forget to Charge the Baby!

Dick Locher, 7/13/11:

Either there just was a big tech merger involving, one one side, a company starting with the letter "M" and, on the other, a firm whose logo has a woman in a hospital bed...

...or Locher is in one of his "screw it, let's just draw stuff" moods again.

Dunning Letter

Bob Gorrell, 7/13/11:

Because there's no reason why forcing the government to stop paying its debts would, you know, actually affect the money the government pays out or anything, right?

TL; DR

John Auchter, 7/13/11:

"Minor city no-one else cares about."

See? Easy.

East, West, Each as Stupid as the Other

Pat Bagley, 7/13/11:

Ah, it's been a while since we had a good "Republicans are Bond villains" cartoon, hasn't it?

But why are we all pretending anyone really cares about the corporate jet loophole? (Is it just the official synecdoche term for this particular budget foofaraw?)

Going Over Like a....

Scott Stantis, 7/13/11:

So Elmer Fudd is flying a gigantic concrete balloon, upside down?

I suspect this is another in Stantis's odd little series expressing his disdain for Chicagoland's public art, as seen last month.

Does This Mean Angier is Da Nang?

V.C. Rogers, 7/13/11:

It's always a secret Communist plot when one thing looks like another thing! Sorta, kinda. If you squint. Really hard.

Is the Ponytail As Distracting To Everyone Else?

Kevin Siers, 7/11/11:

Obama murdered the economy with chloroform and duct tape! And he's going to get away with it, too!

(After that, he's probably coming to get your guns!)

Two Men in a Boat

Paul Fell, 7/12/11:

Now, now, let's not get all rude and personal here...and, besides, don't we all know that the intransigence in the House is all really Eric Cantor's fault?

Turn Your Head and Cough

Eric Semelroth, 7/12/11:

Shouldn't it be the elephant that's the patient, since he's the one having the reflex reaction?

And what's up with the donkey's sock, anyway -- is that somehow germane to the joke here?

Hoist By His Own Ringtone

Milt Priggee, 7/12/11:

It would be really rude to point out that the phones hacked were all mobiles, and thus cordless, wouldn't it?

So forget I mentioned it.

Shall Not Perish From My Plate

Chris Britt, 7/11/11:

This might not exactly be reason for rejoicing or anything, but I seem to recall that there are currently fifty states, so Illinois, at the 23rd fattest, is right in the middle of the pack.

But don't let that get in the way of a good Fat Abe joke or anything.

Ad Astra Per Hudson Bay

Randy Bish, 7/10/11:

Of course, one has to remember that there is no Northwest Passage -- it was something that a lot of people really, really wanted to find, since it would be very convenient and profitable for them, but, sadly, just wanting something doesn't make it happen.

The application of this analogy to manned spaceflight is left to the reader.

Sweet Georgia Brown!

Taylor Jones, 7/7/11
The US is handing over all responsibility for the entire rest of the world -- which, of course, it had up to now -- to China.

That is, unless the fact that Obama is dressed in a Harlem Globetrotters uniform means anything!

House! You Were Lucky to Live in a House!

August J. Pollak, 7/7/11:

It's true: pro-choicers are only in favor of abortion as long as they don't need the fetuses for other Modest Proposals.

I'm Emotionally Co-Dependent With New York

Ted Rall, 7/6/11:

Yay! Now gay men can have loveless marriages filled with bickering and emotional warfare, just like straights!

But "the Lockhorns" would never countenance divorce: that would let the other person free, and possibly allow for happiness!

Never Pass Up the Opportunity to Draw a Giant Firecracker

Rick McKee, 7/5/11:

Remember: there's one party in the debt ceiling negotiations that has been putting out new proposals regularly since February, and steadily moving farther and farther from its original position as the other side remains intransigent and unwilling to compromise.

And, if you listen to McKee, you'd think that was the congressional GOP.

Is the Woman's Shirt a Thatcher Reference?

Terry Wise, 7/5/11:

Right. Because Michael Ramirez is such a flaming liberal.

(And he's only the most recent and most obvious example.)

One might also note that plenty of women in politics get respect -- there are a couple of dozen currently serving as representatives, senators, or governors that only get picked on by their hometown papers as much as their male compatriots do -- but one suspects that Wise is thinking of a particular few women who don't get respect...and we each can have our opinions as to why that is.

ACME Catalog Special

Paul Fell, 7/4/11:

If those damned tree-huggers had just let us clear-cut a few thousand more acres, the economy would be chugging along and our biggest economic problems would be a slight altitude issue and a killer wedgie.

Is The Ice Cream Relevant?

Don Wright, 7/1/11:

You know, I'm not entirely sure, but I think Wright just might be making a crack here about Christie's size.

It's subtle, I know.

(And, more importantly, I can't quite decide if this is for or against Christie!)