Taking Concrete Steps

I guess I'm a sucker for wordplay but the tag line for this cartoon was, sadly, only all too self-evident. Over the weekend we saw a DVD on the very same subject, and it may have inspired me a little, but I doubt it.

More likely I think I'm just not patient enough to tolerate these diplomatic gabfests where the world's "leaders" enjoy a few ostentatious days living large to address the world's most pressing issues. I'm pretty sure the idea of being in solidarity with those whom they serve never really enters their heads. And it's probably too much to expect that they achieve anything meaningful in the interest of those with the least voice, power, etc. I just wish they'd drop the pretense that they are actually concerned about poverty and get out of the way and let the more serious, competent folks do what's necessary.

Tuck and Get Rolled

Surprise, surprise. The latest employment figures show less private sector job creation, more public sector layoffs and less workers bothering to even bother...And with this being an election year I'm sure Obama and the Democrats will be even less willing to do anything to actually solve the problems confronting this country. Even this morning I heard on the radio another shameless example of Obamian spinelessness.

"Campaign operatives" scrambled after Joe Biden, who has taken on the mantle of the administration's only straight-shooter, had audacity (remember that word?) to say, "I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction -- beyond that."

Good grief. Obama feels compelled to back off of THAT?! Basic civil rights??? Beyond pathetic...

Workers of the world...ah, never mind. Go back to the breadline.

Let My People Go

OK - this is a shameless reprint, but it's oh so timely. This is another local, Baltimore issue, which has gotten some national press due to the Trayvon Martin case. There have been parallels drawn between the two cases, but I'd like to point out two that Dan Rodricks, whose columns I believe are regularly on point, failed to miss: racism and vigilantism. Here's the link to his op-ed today on the case:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-columnist-rodricks,0,7089843.columnist

In the Shomrim case, the two members of the "neighborhood patrol," who were both Jewish, told a African-American teenager that he "didn't belong (in the neighborhood." Last time I checked, unless the community is a gated one, anyone has the right to freedom of movement on public sidewalks and roads, anywhere anytime. How sick and racist was that? I'm surprised they didn't tell him, "Show me your papers..."

Second, as other columnists have pointed out both in this and the Trayvon Martin case, the two neighborhood patrolmen crossed the line to vigilantism when they got out of their car to confront the young man. All they had to do and should have done was call 911 to ask for police assistance, even if as it turned out the young man was simply walking to meet his mother at a nearby bus stop.

I'm just disturbed by the continued breakdown of bonds within and between communities. Everyone seems to be in a rush to be able to use and justify the use of violence. It's like people are actually spoiling for a fight. I think we need to get these would be vigilantes off the streets. THEY are the real hoodlums, and I hope that the young man whom they assaulted finds justice.

Doomsday Budget Bunker

I've decided to go local on this 'toon. Secret Service ho' benders and GSA toga parties don't hold a candle to this...Baltimore City School System's Chief Information Technology Officer taking scarce resources from a cash-strapped school system and using it for his own office makeover. Here's the link to the article from earlier this week in the Baltimore Sun:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-ci-north-avenue-renovations-20120426,0,4904915.story

If I were still cartooning for the Sun I would have submitted this cartoon, which about says it all: self-serving, total disregard for the welfare of the children this dude, Jerome Oberlton, is supposed to serve. I'm surprised he didn't build a mini-bar into his new suite. Nothing like a few dry martinis to get the wheels a turning.

Stand Your Ground

I've always wondered when and how (not if) people of color in the United States, especially African-Americans and Hispanics, might one day say, "You know what. We've had it. We tried to play by the 'rules," but those rules have never been fair. To hell with it and to hell with you." There have been a few recent examples of such uprisings, in Los Angeles after the Rodney King trial, but our militarized state has been as adept at "keeping the peace" at home as it has waging pointless, unjust wars abroad.

For me, the Trayvon Martin case has brought home this issue, underscoring that we remain a nation that maintains separate and unequal systems of justice, depending on the color of one's skin. It was gratifying to see the million hoodie march but there needs to be a real transformation in these unjust systems and structures. When are all people of all races, ethnicities and classes going to put down their hot pocket, turn off the iPad-streaming video and say "Enough!"

This horrible tragedy should give President Obama the Amityville Horror moment he needs to realize it's now long past time to "Get OUT!" of Afghanistan. The original mission of defeating Al Qaeda and chasing off the Taliban was achieved by the end of 2001. We haven't had mission creep, we've had "mission of the month." What the hell is this? Baskin Robins?

Why on earth are we still there? Doesn't Obama give a damn about the innocent Afghans he has killed with his policy? Does he lose any sleep at night after sending all of the American men and women to fight in Afghanistan for no real measurable gain in U.S. security or national interest? Maybe the real reason is that his fragile ego and nervousness over re-election lead him to want to show the world that he can man up with the hawks in both political parties.

Meanwhile Leon Panetta should be forced to apologize personally to each and everyone of the people harmed by this tragedy: to the Afghan families who lost their loved ones and continue to suffer from the trauma of this massacre as well as to all of the soldiers whose sacrifice he minimized by glibly uttering this trite cliche. What a putz. Shame on him.

What senseless, unjust loss of human lives.

Grumpy Old Rush

Some of you might think this 'toon to be a bit harsh, but Rush's brutish behavior and "foibles" are all there on public record: his periodic pill-poppin' binges to the Caribbean and anywhere else where he can take a vacation from stomping the moral high ground into a field of cow pies. His hypocrisy reveals just how deeply sick he really is, which is maybe why 15-20 million fellow hatred-junkies tune into his show daily.

There are programs for people like him, and I hope one day he chooses to sober up. But even once he finally puts that bottle down, he'll still have to face himself in the mirror and account for all of the hatred and mean-spiritedness he has spread in the world in his 20+ years of broadcasting.