This cartoon o’ mine from a few weeks ago has made its way to former White House economic adviser Greg Mankiw’s blog.
Also, reader K. Kim in Seoul has translated the cartoon into Korean:
Cool, huh?
There is a new In Contempt strip, featuring my summary of the sad history of the so-called "public option."
And there is a new page of Wanderlost. Now that I have studio space and a daily schedule, I am getting shit done. So Wanderlost is back to a weekly update schedule which will continue into the new year.
This will have an effect on In Contempt, however. I don’t think that will go back to twice a week. As much as the daily political grind fills me with rage and despair and all that negative energy that somehow translates into creativity, once a week is about as much of that kind of inspiration as I can handle these days.
| Originally published at mooreroom. |
The scariest zombie movie I’ve ever seen:
Ted, didn’t you advocate mandatory tests for voters, to make sure they’re informed about current affairs? Or at least semi-conscious? I’m right there with you after watching this.
The scariest zombie movie I’ve ever seen:
If you are reading this then I haven’t found an internet connection on my annual Thanksgiving retreat to the Oregon coast. More likely, I’m enjoying these few days off so thoroughly I haven’t bothered to look for one. See my latest cartoon over at comics.com and have a great holiday.
Some leading Democrats have been proposing that the Afghanistan war, like Health Care, should be deficit-neutral.
The tax applies to all Americans earning $30,000 or more (although there are exemptions for “anyone who has served in Iraq or Afghanistan since the 2001 terrorist attacks as well as families who have lost an immediate relative in the fighting”). It’s called the “share the sacrifice act.”
I’m basically in favor of this. There’s a weird double-standard in politics in which Republican priorities — war, tax cuts, Bush’s prescription drug subsidy, and so on — are never paid for (in eight years, I don’t think a single major Bush policy was ever paid for), while Democratic priorities are expected to be deficit neutral.
Will Republicans and blue dogs — the so-called “Deficit Hawks,” nearly all of whom have voted again and again to increase the deficit to pay for wars and tax cuts — support this measure? Or if they’re not willing to pay for the war, will they call for complete US withdrawal as soon as possible? I suspect the answers will be “no” and “no,” alas.
Of the many genuinely brainless and irresponsible things Republicans and blue dogs believe, the childish belief that we can endlessly cut taxes while increasing our spending may be the most harmful. (Well, that and their belief that it’s okay to do nothing to address climate change).
I’ve started posting over on Ted Rall’s blog (rall.com). A couple of people there, in response to my repost of “Capitalists Can Never Stop Killing the Planet,” have asked what I think we should do. I get asked that sometimes, so here are some ideas right off the top of my head:
1) As individuals, figure out how to use our talents, positions and resources in the most effective ways possible to expose the system’s oppressive nature, and physically undermine its ability to function. Strengthen, encourage and support those who want to defend the planet; ridicule, discredit and weaken those who want to destroy it.
2) Form affinity groups and connections with trusted friends to do the above more effectively and on a larger scale.
3) Network with allies and other groups, unite with them as broadly as possible, and find ways of stirring up large-scale disruptions and social disorder to weaken governments’ (plural) ability to rule.
4) Debate and discuss on all levels of society (small to large scale), to develop the principles, theory and strategy we need to form a cohesive movement to defeat those in power, dismantle this system and re-organize human activity to be socially just and sustainable.
How’s that for a start? The hard part isn’t to figure out what to do. The question is, are we willing to do the necessary work?
Lots of people are calling on Obama to start a new jobs program, but it’s supposedly politically impossible. I say try it, and make the Republicans and conservative Democrats actually filibuster — so their future election opponents can use the video footage in campaign commercials. “Here’s Senator Shmuck arguing against job creation.” It would be beautiful.
As you may have heard, Goldman Sachs is going to thank American taxpayers for the bailout by awarding $23 billion in employee bonuses. By my calculations, those bonuses could create 766,667 $30,000-a-year jobs. Hmm…
Fatiferists unite! (“Fatiferous” — it’s a real word, look it up!) See today’s Minimum Security: http://ping.fm/M2lng
