Cartoonists With Attitude

From David Sirota:

At a recent hearing, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., called the language “TARP on steroids,” noting the provisions would deliberately let the executive branch enact even bigger, more unregulated bailouts than ever — and by unilateral fiat.

Whereas the original TARP included some oversight language and power to limit Wall Street bonuses, TARP on steroids includes no specific oversight or executive pay constraints. Whereas TARP permitted the government to underwrite both small and large banks, TARP on steroids allows taxpayer cash to go only to the behemoths (which, not coincidentally, tend to make the biggest campaign contributions). And whereas TARP limited the Treasury secretary’s check-writing authority to two years and $700 billion, TARP on steroids would let him spend as much as he wants for as long as he wants.

Back during the Reagan era, we referred to such things as a “reverse Robin Hood,” as social spending and industry regulation was hacked and slashed to funnel cash to defense contractors, friendly Cold War dictators, and giant tax cuts for the wealthy. Glad to see those Big Gubmint Socialists have rectified all that.

For more on Rep. Sherman’s objections to Rep. Barney Frank’s “Too Big to Fail” Bill, his statement is here.

What is more likely: an angry Latino shot at Lou Dobbs’ house, or a careless hunter missed his target?

Bill Ross, a longtime neighbor of Mr. Dobbss, said gunshots were common in the area.

Every day almost, it seems like somebody is target-practicing, he said. To hear a gunshot, I dont think anything of it.

Several neighbors said Mr. Dobbs does not allow hunters on his property. Regardless, everyone around here likes him, said Rocky Russo, who was dressed in camouflage gear and bowhunting for white-tailed deer near Mr. Dobbss property on Friday. The gunshot, he said, might have been some idiot taking a shot at a squirrel in a tree. Who knows?

Even Dobbs’ neighbors think he’s a little hot-headed. As the New Jersey state police investigate, Dobbs is milking this incident for all its worth. Would you expect anything different?

Bring on the Fark snark: “One more job that could have been done by a red-blooded American. This is a disgrace.” Hee.

How to lose all respect for America’s Most Wanted in a single blog post.

Matt Davis at The Portland Mercury was sent the weirdest health care cartoons, ever.

14% of Americans think Fox News is “mostly liberal.”

My mom was almost on America’s Most Wanted.

A couple months ago my mom’s friend’s neighbor was shot while he was standing in his driveway. He caught a stray bullet from a gunfight between drug dealers. The bullet passed through my mom’s friends fence to hit and kill him.

3 guys in a car made their getaway. Two were caught but the third is still on the loose. Much to the chagrin of the neighborhood, America’s Most Wanted is filming the re-enactment.

To protest, the neighbors are playing their stereos loudly. They worry that having their houses shown on America’s Most Wanted will bring down their value. They already have a problem with people thinking it’s a bad area.

My mom went down to check out the filming. She was going to be an extra in the background but they asked her to get out of the way. They only wanted black people.

Comic Strip Mashups officially makes my day. That is all.

I interviewed my colleague Tom Tomorrow for Campus Progress. Did you know I discovered “This Modern World” while working as a college student vacuuming dust bunnies off of unused library books? Or that Tom T. makes seven cups of coffee a day? These exciting scoops and more over at Campus Progress!

I held out on doing a cartoon that depicted Harry Reid as the abused spouse of Joe Lieberman, because, to be honest, the analogy was extreme even for my tastes. But I’m really unsure as to what other type of rationale top-tier Democrats can make for someone who clearly wants nothing more than to have his name in the papers by flaunting how he’ll cheerfully stab Democrats in the back and then wait for other Democrats to issue press statements an hour later confirming that they’ll do nothing about it. I could wallpaper my apartment with the number of statements Chris Dodd has sent out saying that Lieberman really, truly does love him.

Having dealt with this in real life, I know the feeling when you have a friend suffering a relationship like this where you cross the threshold of simply hating the abuser to feeling frustrated, and in some horrific, selfish case, fed up with the abused for refusing to do anything about it, even asking anyone for help. You still want to offer your support, but at the same time you can’t just sit there anymore and watch them pretend there’s nothing wrong and this is going to get better. It’s an awful feeling, knowing that you just aren’t strong enough to handle it anymore. It’s one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had in my own life.

I’m honestly at that point where I can’t even be furious with Lieberman. We all know what he’s doing because he’s flaunting it, and we’re the friend watching it happen. Anyone with any sense of logic understands that if he’s running for re-election in 2012, he’s doing it as a Republican because there’s no way he’ll get the Democratic nomination, and he doesn’t want to have to deal with a second challenger by being an independent. He’s jumping ship. And the Democrats are going to let him do it while he’s the chair of a Democrat-controlled Senate committee. And I’ve reached the point as an observer in this relationship where I just can’t watch it anymore. There is no bright light at the end of the tunnel; there is not going to be some awesome spectacle of public humiliation or consequence for Lieberman that popular progressive blogs fantasize about. That’s not how these stories ever end. They end badly.

click for comic

Consider this the companion piece to this cartoon. In another three years, when these two quagmires are still dragging on, I might do another comic where they team up in a drug-fueled raunchy comedy, kind of like Harold and Kumar.

A couple helicopter crashes and Michael Hoh resigning have improved things a bit this week, but Afghanistan has never gotten much attention. We can blame the media for some of it, but let’s not pretend that Americans have a deep thirst for knowledge that’s being stifled by the likes of Fox News. We’s a bunch of morons! The fate of Balloon Boy captivated the nation, but when it comes to foreign children getting blown up by Predator drones, we couldn’t give two shits.

I’m not excusing myself either. I love being a big ol’ ignorant goofball making fart jokes. I sleep better that way. If you want far more regular coverage of this mess, colleagues like Ted Rall, Kevin Moore, and Matt Bors are a better bet. (Sorry I didn’t link to anyone else, but my fart jokes don’t write themselves!)

And yeah, I created a Twitter account for Afghanistan War. I doubt it’ll get as much attention from me as the Tweeting Toaster.

Next Week: Internet Knockoffs