Bors Blog

Chuck E. Cheese’s

Most administration officials retire into cushy lobbying jobs for missile makers or a spot on the board of Conglomo Corp. General Tommy Franks has joined the Board of Directors for Chuck E. Cheese’s. I’m not sure if that’s moving up or down in the world. Richard Frank, CEC CEO:

“General Franks’ experience of managing operations and developing strategy will be invaluable to our board and company…General Franks’ international background and relationships will complement our efforts to grow our business and increase shareholder value.”

Running the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq are certainly interesting bullet points to have on one’s resume, though I do wonder how they translate to running a pizza joint where some unfortunate shlup sweats it out in a rat costume for $7 an hour. I guess they figure if he survived Iraq he can handle their hellish franchise. Let’s hope thousands of children don’t die this time.

Civil Discourse

cross-posted at ACLU blog

My latest Civil Discourse comic tackles the government’s “Terrorist Watch List” which has almost million names. Who’s on it? Toddlers, dead people, congressmen, and Iraq War vets. You know, the people most likely to harm America. See the ACLU’s watch list counter for more info.

Common names like “Robert Johnson” are listed without specific details. So far, 12 Robert Johnsons report being interrogated at airports. In an attempt to find the elusive John William Anderson they detained a six year old. Sometimes you really can be too careful.

The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens changed his name to Yusuf Islam. That’s too Islam-y for the government so he’s on the list as well. (He should change it to an unpronounceable symbol, like Prince did, just to mess with them). Were he to be allowed on a flight, the coach section could spontaneously break out into a rendition of “Peace Train.” The airline industry is suffering enough. We don’t need anyone reminding them of trains at this point–especially peaceful ones.

In Case You Were Worried

During an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Barack Obama reassured America, “I have worn flag pins in the past. I will wear flag pins in the future.”

A Lost Opportunity

I understand the political realities of impeachment and whatnot. It’s zilch.

Still.

I keep coming back to a question I’ve asked myself numerous times over the last few years: What–if anything–would George Bush have to do to warrant impeachment? And when future presidents look back on the resistance he faced, what will they try get away with?

Wednesday: Chuck E. Cheese!

BioFuel

I imagine this will be us–overpopulated with no food and turning our dead into biofuels to keep the cars going.

Mail Bag

David writes:

Your cartoon appearing in this week’s Village Voice states that “North Korea executed nine people today for not wearing their Kim Il Sung lapel pins.”

Aside from the issue of this cartoon not being particularly clever or humorous (flag pin genital piercings? please…), you might like to know that the name of the current dictator of North Korea is Kim Jong Il. Kim Il Sung died 14 years ago, so it wouldn’t make much sense that people in North Korea would be punished for not wearing a lapel pin depicting a long-dead dictator, would it?

A 10-second Google search might have saved you some embarrassment.

David could use a 10-second Google search himself. You know, to save him some embarrassment. The New York Times reports:

In February, the New York Philharmonic performed in North Korea, a country where no official of any stature is seen without a lapel pin bearing the image of Great Leader Eternal President Kim Il-sung, long dead though he is.
(…)

In North Korea, the Eternal President pin is a symptom of a national cult of personality, just as Mao pins once were in China; hammer and sickle pins were sported by many officials in the old Soviet Union, where an ideology became a political monoculture.

David absolutely got me on the claim that nine people were executed for it “today.” Nine people were not executed on the 23rd of April. I totally just made that number up! When I do further reporting on international flag pin issues in my comic, I’ll be sure to double check my sources.

Event Reminder!

Friday, April 25th 2008 7:30 PM @ Powells on Burnside

Jen Sorensen and I will present a live slide show and reading of our comics and Jen will be signing copies of her new collection of cartoons, “SlowPoke: One Nation, Oh My God.”

We’ll be doing some live drawing as well, showing folks how we cartoonize McCain’s numerous cheeks and Obama’s massive smile.

Maybe I’ll even draw a cat’s asshole for you.

Cat Butt

Check out my drawing of a cat’s anus for the local paper, Willamette Week. I can’t stand cats, but was more than happy to render the puckered pink poop hole for them since it was about Portland’s serious cat problem. My neighborhood has about a 1:1 cat to human ratio. So they asked local politicians how they feel about spaying and neutering.

Spaying and neutering is good first step. But what about the street cats already here? I fully back some sort of eradication program.

US Senate candidate David Lorea says: Cats have a right to live and reproduce. They do have a right to have fun. I dont agree to neuter any living thing, you know?

No, I don’t know. I hope a feral cat poops on your mother, David.

Obama on Vaccines

from Matt Yglesias:

we’ve now got Barack Obama jumping on the McCain autism ignorance bandwagon: “We’ve seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it’s connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it.”

Perhaps if the candidates had as many Science and Health advisers as they do military and foreign policy analysts, they’d know something about what the science actually says. (Jenny McCarthy would not be a good adviser). Talking with the few people I know who have had/are having kids kids recently, most are afraid of vaccines. Of course, I do live in Portland.

Flag Lapel Pin News

Wearing lapel pins is also a big issue in North Korea.

Friday: Soylent Green’s other use

News of the Day

I love that Al Qaeda released a video insisting that they were responsible for the 9/11 attacks to combat the conspiracy theory that Israel was responsible. It’s basically what happens in this Onion News clip. Must be frustrating for them.

And the New York Times did a profile on CNN’s John King and his jumbotron election screen that he’s been wielding lately because, well, the people demand to know about him and his excessively large TV. They could have just run this cartoon by August Pollak instead.

Targeted Torture Ads

The ACLU blog notes that the CIA is placing recruitment ads on the New York Times website pages with stories about Gitmo–even on a story about the upcoming Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. Nothing like a stoner flick that makes fun of racial profiling to inspire our next generation of CIA black site operators!