Category: Politics, Religion & Money

Peanuts and nut cases

The 1975-to-1976 volume of “The Complete Peanuts” has a thoughtful and sincere appreciation of Charles M. Schulz, in a foreword by cartoon comedy bad boy Robert Smigel. His “TV Funhouse” series began on “The Dana Carvey Show”, before moving to “Saturday Night Live”. Smigel’s outrageous parody of 70’s Saturday morning cartoons, “The Ambiguously Gay Duo”, features the voices of Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell, and Colbert also did some of the writing. This is the first episode, “It Takes Two To Tango”, from September 28, 1996. Watching this makes me wish Colbert would bring back Tek Jansen. Note: this is a PG-13 cartoon! It starts after a brief comic bit by Carell about a dedicated athlete.

The Colbert-Trudeau Report

Garry Trudeau was on the The Colbert Report Monday night, talking about the 40th anniversary of Doonesbury. Which makes me remember the 40th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, when I was in my first year of employment at the same place I am now, still working for the same people.

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Garry Trudeau
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

Trudeau says he hasn’t recycled any strips, and I guess that’s correct, but he has repeated many strips, of course. For most of the strip’s run the finished art has been rendered by Don Carlton.

http://www.thebesttimes.org/people/cover_stories/1210_don_carlton.shtml

Airport security?

Here in Boston there is a story in the news that’s as bizarre as it is tragic. The mutilated body of a young man was found on a dead-end street in a relatively upscale neighborhood of a town bordering the city.

With a rough section of Boston being less than ten miles away, and the victim being black, combined with the recent spate of gang-related homicides, law enforcement started pursuing a murder case. But the victim turned out to be a high school student from North Carolina, with no known connection to Boston, let alone the street where his body was found. Why would a gang dump a body there? And why was the body so badly mangled, with parts of it found elsewhere? In a classic bit of Sherlock Holmes deduction, with the theory being made to fit the facts, the most logical explanation is that the boy had fallen from an airplane.

If the body had been found on a roof, or in a tree, there would be no doubt of what happened. I’m surprised that the theory is still being called an “unlikely and remote possibility,” because it’s the only thing that makes sense. Further, if correct, it’s timely proof that the new body scans and pat-downs at airports are a joke that erode our right to privacy, without providing any real security.

If a sixteen-year-old kid can get into the wheel well of a large aircraft, apparently unnoticed, a terrorist could do the same. The stowaway didn’t survive the flight, but survival isn’t part of a suicide bomber’s plan.

A tale of two CNN Alerts

This CNN Alert came in today…

— Nancy Pelosi elected House minority leader by Democrats in a 150 to 43 vote.

… followed only a minute later by this one.

— Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, was unanimously selected as the Republican House leader for the incoming Congress.

I’m a Democrat, and I’m not a big fan of Nancy Pelosi, but if I were a member of the House I’d vote for her. Can’t Democrats ever be unanimous? Say what you will about the GOP, they know how to get their constituents to toe the party line.