Am I Supposed to be Saying "Bury the Hatchet" Here?

Paul Fell, 4/11/12:

Romney not only lies much more than most politicians do -- is that even possible? -- but he, personally, has killed the Truth Cat, thus dooming the world to nine lives of falsehood and mendacity.

By the way, shouldn't that bum have a label? Something like The Failed Media, or Downtrodden Americans, or Ink-Stained Technopeasants?

Whither the Sweater-vest?

Today's amazing bit of synchronicity comes from MStreeter:

and Tim Hartman:

As usual, if an idea is this obvious, you can assume that someone else is having it at the same time.

Tennessee: Where Lawmakers DEMAND That Teachers Lie To Their Students!

Chuck Asay, 4/11/12:

Those "purported weaknesses," of course, primarily consist of "My Bible says otherwise."

I wonder if Asay knows what "theory" really means, too.

It's Sad When Other People Want Things, Too

Milt Priggee, 4/11/12:

Everything was so much better when the rest of the world was poor and starving.

Also, it's our capitalism -- you other countries need to go back to subsistence agriculture, feudalism, or barter and give it back!

The Mysterious Illinois Winner?

Henry Payne, 4/10/12:

How out of touch is Payne? This is his cartoon posted on the 10th of April -- nearly two weeks after the end of the big lottery jackpot he's commenting on.

Flabby is bad enough; flabby and late is just unconscionable.

Terrorist Fist Jab!!!!!

Glenn McCoy, 4/10/12:

McCoy can prove he is not racist, because black people stick up for each other. Thus he is persecuted. Q.E.D.

I'd Like to Be Under the Sea

Lisa Benson, 4/10/12:

So Obamacare is going to "hatch" the IRS -- which, I suppose, means that it didn't already exist? -- along with a myriad other eggs, all of which I presume Benson means to be scary government programs, which we upstanding Randian sovereign citizens certainly do not need.

After all that, I hesitate to note that actual octopus eggs look nothing like Benson's picture.

You Don't See MICHELLE Frowning, Now Do You?

Daryl Cagle, 4/9/12:

Did it really take three-plus years for America's editorial cartoonists to get comfortable enough with our First Black President to whip out the first "big black dick" joke?

My, how time flies.

Defer to My Executive Power!

Jerry Holbert, 4/9/12:

Obama rides a flying donkey to battle the evil all-devouring maw of the Supreme Court -- yup, that he does.

And Holbert seems to be favoring the evil all-devouring maw.

I Spy With My CBS Eye

Robert Ariail, 4/9/12:

It's always a great day in editorial-cartoon-land when a famous person dies: you've got your choice of Single Tear or Saint Peter cartoons, and you can be even duller and more sentimental than usual.

For the Saint Peter cartoons, see David Fitzsimmons (4/9):

and John Darkow (4/9):

and Jimmy Margulies (4/9):

and Milt Priggee (4/9):

(A few others had Satan or a God-like figure trembling at Wallace's coming, which is still cliched and dull, but at least is better than these absolutely bog-standard entries.)

Is the Housing Market a RINO?

Dick Locher, 4/9/12:

Absolutely! Who hasn't visualized the housing market as a comatose rhino, held aloft on the sturdy backs of a bevy of doughty True Americans? And what else would you use to revive that rhino than defibrulation paddles marked "campaign"?

I don't know how Locher can so easily put into cartoon form the way we all feel!

Our Long National Nightmare

Ted Rall, 4/6/12:

America is less democratic than Myanmar/Burma, because the US has 171 detainees in one particular military prison and Myanmar allowed a few semi-democratic elections for a minority of seats in its parliament.

The fact that the US will have essentially its entire government up for election, in a closely contested race, later this year, and that Myanmar has already executed more than 171 people for political offenses don't matter, since anything other countries do that is even vaguely democratic is better than anything the US can do that isn't everything Rall wants.

Easter Is Very Taxing This Year

Deb Milbrath, 4/6/12:

Either the woman is lying, because Bob is a filthy heathen who refuses to meet Mr. Baldy McCrosserson there (or is absent for some other embarrassing or odd reason), or Bob is hard at work on his taxes somewhere else.

Both of those scenarios don't really explain why we get to see the empty tax-preparation chair and detritus, so I'll have to throw this one open to the peanut gallery.

Hey Peanut Gallery! What do you think is going on here?

Render Unto Caesar That Which Is Caesar's

Chuck Asay, 4/7/12:

Gosh, yes, I wonder what a man who told people to "go, sell what you own and give the money to the poor" and to scorn the trappings of the mortal world would say to the fabulously wealthy heads of a global organization larded with gold and baubles while poor people starve everywhere.

What would he say, I wonder? And how long would he say it before the conversation made its way to denying health-care coverage for the employees of that fabulously wealthy global organization?

Paging Justice Scalia to the "Defer to the Executive Power" Courtesy Phone

Steve Kelley, 4/6/12:

Y'know, I've got this niggling feeling -- in the back of my mind -- that there was some political party that used to scream all the time about "judicial activism," and how unelected judges were trying to make law, which was evil and wrong, and that judges should just defer to the power of the executive and the legislative power.

If only I could remember who that party was....

Feel Free to Cock an Eyebrow at That "Concealed"

Gustavo Rodriguez, 4/8/12:

Sure, this statistic -- and the whole idea of concealed carry laws, and their proper scope -- has nothing at all to do with the Trayvon Martin killing, but, hey! they're both in Florida, so I bet my editor will let this one through!

Or, more succinctly: Guns! Evil! We Hates It!

Poor, Downtrodden Corporations!

Ed Gamble, 4/6/12:

Yes, businesses have moved jobs overseas for the past two decades not because of lower labor costs, or to be closer to markets, or to exploit just-in-time efficiencies, but because they knew that the US would have the highest statutory [1] tax rates in the world eventually.


[1] though riddled with tax breaks and loopholes, but don't bug Gamble when he's on a roll!

The Obligatory "Everyone Who Disagrees With My Religion Will Be Tormented Eternally" Round-Up

Let's see who felt the urge to avoid actual work and instead signpost their mainstream, unsurprising religious views this weekend, shall we?

First up is Gary Varvel's 4/8/12 cartoon:

Which implicitly threatens the rest of the world with death. Classy!

And then there's Randy Bish's cartoon for the same day:

This one takes the same imagery, shows it twice for added boredom, and then throws in a pop-culture reference so stale that only an editorial cartoonist would attempt it!


Ed Gamble, also on 4/8/12:

He takes the bold step of simply stating his religious doctrine baldly, without any commentary and barely a stab at passable art. But Ed's a Christian in a majority-Christian society, so he gets to count the time he spent on this -- both minutes -- as work!

Tim Hartman's Easter Sunday cartoon

uses the same (tired, bland, sectarian) text and at least tries to re-link it to spring, rebirth, and (implicitly) all of those old spring festivals that the early Church stole from to begin with.

A day earlier -- note that, since it makes the whole point of the cartoon moot -- Joe Heller gave us this:

A poignant rewrite of the old Pennsylvania Dutch proverb "Kissing don't last; Cooking does;" Heller contrasts the candy his readers hadn't gotten yet when they saw this cartoon with the eternal damnation he knows is in store for them if they don't knuckle under to whichever particular denomination of American Christianity he's sure is the Only True Religion.

Rick McKee took his Friday cartoon (4/6)

to wish his co-religionists a happy holiday. He, too, got to count a greeting card as his work for the day. Nice work if you can get it.


Bill Day, even earlier than that (4/5) had this

horrifying vision of the Great Bird of the Galaxy hatching out of the shell of the earth. Either Day doesn't actually know how shells work, or he hopes that his little peace symbol will make everything OK. Either way, it's pretty creepy.

And, finally, Steve Breen actually understands the concept of an editorial cartoon, using the seasonal theme to actually make a comment on something else:

Everyone else, take a close look at this one -- we'll be checking to see if you learned it when Christmas rolls around.


(And, no, I didn't see a single Passover cartoon. Of course, only the hegemonic religion can be allowed this degree of flabbiness.)

Update:

Hey! Here's another actual editorial cartoon on an Easter theme, from Gary McCoy on 4/7:

It's paint-by-numbers and pretty dull, but it shines in this horrible company!

Update 2:
Glenn McCoy took the weekend off, but came back on Monday (4/9)

to point out that he, too, is a white Christian male (like Jesus!) and that he'd like the opportunity to avoid real work for another day.  

Dinsdale Piranha at the Bat

Eric Allie, 4/4/12:

"Nice little Supreme Court you've got here, Mister Kennedy. It'd be a real shame if anything got...broken."


Postscript: Astute readers might have noted that I am not so much sarcastically commenting on this cartoon as I am restating the premise in an equally allusive way. This is because I think this is a good cartoon -- sneaky, with a specific message that takes a second to sink in -- and I like to show those once in a while as well.

(I will note that my first reaction to it was "Who's the random white guy? Shouldn't that be Roberts?" But then I realized it was actually a good likeness of Kennedy, that most nondescript of Justices.)

There's a House Down in Washington, DC....

Bill Day, 4/5/12:

Republican legislators are nothing but two-bit whores.

And the Ryan budget has nothing to do with any long-standing fiscal principles, or any other explanations: nope, it's all just sex for money.

Now, This May Just Be a Crazy Idea, But....

Joe Heller, 4/5/12:

Americans are the biggest idiots in the world.

Alternatively, it's just this guy. And he doesn't realize that the way dollar stores keep prices low is by having smaller or otherwise lower-quality goods.

75% of Statistics Are Made Up, You Know

Steve Breen, 4/4/12:

Any two statistics can sound scary when you mush them together with a picture of dead bodies!

300 million Americans...and 12 billion bullets manufactured each year!

We're all going to be shot 40 times!!!!!!eleventy!!!

Remember, Asay's Old Enough to REMEMBER Hippies!

Chuck Asay, 4/4/12:

Say, wasn't the most recent major decision from the Supremes one driven by the conservative wing, essentially saying that governments can strip-search and toss in jail anyone they want?

Who, exactly, is the one seeing no limits on government power here?

Robbing Petro to Pay Paul

Lisa Benson, 4/4/12:

Taking away price supports and other government incentives for massive multinational petrochemical companies is totally unfair! Those companies deserve our tax money!

Ya Gotta Have Big Ears for This Job

Bob Gorrell, 4/3/12:

We did not invade Afghanistan until 2009, after Obama was President.

On the other hand, we have always been at war with Eastasia.