Much That Is Hidden

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This past month's big event was Max's first haircut. Here he is looking pretty chill before the process. To show solidarity and demonstrate the no-big-dealness of it all, Daddy went under a No. 2 first. This brought his ears to their lowest point since grade school, and with that some bemusement from having worn a ponytail just a couple of months prior. As for the boy, with the removal of the sheepdog bangs and curly curls we bid adieu to baby and bonjour to toddler.



This video reveals his patience/fear going past the breaking point.
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It shouldn't come as a surprise to many Americans that, according to the Associated Press, Barack Obama has garnered more death threats than any previous president-elect. The article relates three minor situations, the most repugnant being the "The Osama Obama Shotgun Pool" put forth at a convenience store in Maine to guess the date on which he will first be attacked. "Let's hope we have a winner," was the charming sales pitch on the sign-up sheet. My personal favorite is the guy from Georgia (hohum) who wants to see Rev. Jeremiah Wright and all the "traitors" of Trinity United Church of Christ be deported. Aside from the obvious ridiculousness of the suggestion, I pondered about where U.S. citizens might get deported.

Sure, I worry a bit that some skinhead pukes will find a way to breach the rigorous security measures of the U.S. Secret Service and cause Obama and his family harm. But I follow BHO's lead, which as chief cool cucumber is a measured "not likely, let's go on about our business." The AP article prompted a response from the editors of the right-leaning Family Security Matters website. I tend to agree with their basic point:

...Signs of deranged reactions against politicians are part of the danger zone that we live with in this country. But the AP wants us to believe that a "new emerging threat" is on the rise. Their underlying message is that President-elect Obama is inspiring a political change which is nourishing counter-change violence. And here lies the danger in the AP story: it is predicting violence and pervasive race hatred which doesn't exist sociologically. In short, it is trying to create a new "menace."

They contend that the AP is "using extra energy to 'build' a case for a lethal threat against Obama, so that an imaginary enemy is created – other than the standard nut cases whom we have among us anyway."

So noted. But since they are a righty entity, I can't let this post, and their article, pass without doling out the GeeDub prize for ideological ironicness. Get a load of this (emphasis mine):

In the Third World and within populist ideologies, the manufacture of a mythical danger is a part of the consolidation of a regime. It creates sympathy for the sitting leader and grants him moral power to increase the security apparatus. While we don’t have evidence that the news agency is promoting such activity, we can clearly see a pattern, and perhaps even a strategy, in the way the report presented the threat... And such an imaginary enemy can be used politically for many purposes: national security rearrangements, foreign policy decisions, war on terror reshaping, and all other wilder fantasies.

You don't need 20/20 hindsight when the past you're looking at is close enough to express a zit on your ass, you betcha.
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Labels: journalism, politix, racism, vitriol

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I want to say "unreal" but unfortunately...



This may be news to some of these morons, but: IF/WHEN THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO COME TAKE YOUR GUNS, THEY HAVE LOTS OF SOLDIERS, TANKS AND OTHER COOL STUFF WITH WHICH TO DO SO. YOU DON'T HAVE A PRAYER, CHIEF ! ! !

Labels: guns, madness, President Obama, The FEAR

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It was only a couple of weeks ago that I decided to vote for Obama (as opposed to a third party), mostly for fear of a McCain presidency but also for a bit of wanting to lend a hand to history. I was greatly moved as I looked at some of the tear-streaked faces in Grant Park last night, especially the likes of folks who may have been spit on for enrolling at a previously all-white school or violently hosed down on a Birmingham street. The boos and jeers I heard from a motley group at McCain's concession speech (while the crowd in Chicago was quiet and respectful) confirmed that I had voted correctly.

President-elect Obama is right to tell us that we are only at the foot of the mountain. Nowhere do I see that more clearly (if through tear-edged eyes of my own) in the right's knee-jerk proclamations of "no mandate for Democrats," the approval of Proposition 8 in California and another initiative in Arkansas that bans gays from adopting children. So it was a bittersweet election night for us hopesters, but hey, every silver lining has a Touch of Gray.

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It turns out that cartoonist Berkeley Breathed's 1993 children's book Goodnight Opus foreshadowed the ultimate fate of his most beloved character that is an existentialist penguin.

Breathed told NPR's Melissa Block that upon ending the strip, "I'll be leaving Opus in a way that it should be very clear that this time there's no going back home."
he said he felt "unrealistically emotional" about drawing the final Opus strip and writing a final ending.

Understandably so, as Opus has weathered three Breathed strips since the early 1980s: Bloom County, Outland, and finally Opus.

The cartoonist ran a benefit contest for the Humane Society with clues in the last few strips as to where Opus ended up (his final place, he was advised by none other than Elvis, should not be on the toilet). He eschewed the chance to head to the enchanted tropical massage ranch of his dreams on Bora Bora, allowing his beleaguered pen mate at the Bloom County Animal Shelter to go in his stead. The final printed strip shows a puzzled Steve Dallas heading into the shelter to discover what's become of his buddy/foil.

So today Opus left the comic world forever, and in what may be a first in comic history, the last panel could only be viewed online at http://www.humanesociety.org/opus.

In part:

Labels: milestones