Krenkel Kinema, GasCan Online,
Main Dane and Fallon Falls on the Blade

Emmerich channels Krenkel: 10,000 BC is OK by me!

Snuck out for two hours Sunday night to catch Roland Emmerich's prehistoric opus 10,000 BC, and I had a fine time with it. Emmerich excels at shallow but picturesque fantasy and science-fantasy; I went with no expectations (as I try to experience all media), and was delighted to find myself steeped in a panoramic Roy G. Krenkel epic.

Roy Krenkel, dreaming in paint...

I knew Roy only slightly and occasionally, but I loved the man and his work. I recall fondly sitting next to him at Creation Cons in my Kubert School years and buying up a batch of his exquisite tracing-paper/vellum pencil miniature sketches at the three conventions I sat next to him at. Roy loved ancient worlds, primal and civilized, and 10,000 BC is nothing short of a Krenkel time machine at almost every level.


From the wintery tribal tableaus to the 'head of the snake' realm of pyramids, from the saber-toothed familiar of the hero to the flightless carnivorous birds (the film's single most galvanizing action sequence) to the mighty mammoths that figure prominently in the film's first and final act, the film offers a procession of Krenkelesque setpieces, strung together by an odyssey equally evocative of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Turok Son of Stone and Apocalypto. Some might dismiss this as merely derivative of those wellsprings, but I had more fun than mere derivation would have provided.


I've always enjoyed Emmerich's films, since seeing Joey (1985) in its New World Pictures US incarnation Making Contact back in 1986 or so. Yes, even Godzilla (1998). This one is closest in tone and tenor to Stargate (1994) in my estimation, and almost as much fun. Given the context (and content) of his latest, it's necessary to note that Emmerich will never, ever be as feral or potent a filmmaker as Cornel Wilde (The Naked Prey, No Blade of Grass, Beach Red, etc.) or Mel Gibson (The Passion, Apocalypto), but he's certainly in the ranks of Don Chaffey, whose One Million Years B.C. (1967) is still the best of the genre, the Dr. Zhivago of primordial romances.

10,000 B.C. isn't as primal in intent as La Guerre du Feu/Quest for Fire (1981), tackling a far more expansive tapestry of tribal and completely imaginary cultures than Jean-Jacques Annaud's antediluvian saga (or that film's 1911 source novel by J.-H. Rosny, one of the grandfathers of this whole genre). Like all its kin (save arguably Carol and David Hughes's marvelous Missing Link, 1988), 10,000 BC is anthropologically absurd, but I didn't -- and don't -- care. In gender terms, it's the usual patriarchal hash: the two female leads are ciphers, an elder mystique and virginal bride-to-be, and the few opportunities Emmerich had to be inventive with either role remain soundly squandered. It's another boy's adventure pic, and on that level it's a gem. Emmerich plopped me into a vivid, picturesque adventure for about two hours.

I thought, and think, of Roy Krenkel, the grand old man of everything 10,000 BC revels in, and I smile.

Pizza Wizard fans unite!

Center for Cartoon Studies pioneer class alumni Sam Gaskin has kicked off his new blog, sure to be worthwhile keeping tabs on,

and reports there that Pizza Wizard #2 is nearing completion. I'm psyched and overjoyed. If you need a refresher,

this will plug you into some of Sam's headspace and comics creations.

James Kochalka has just written up Sam's Pizza Wizard for Technikart.com as a comic which "deserved wider recognition," which I'd wholeheartedly agree with. James writes, "Pizza Wizard is very much an avant garde work, without being at all stuffy or pretentious. Actually, it's entertaining and hilarious.... More than anything Pizza Wizard a vehicle for Gaskin to use as he playfully tears apart many conventions of comics... messing around with the formal elements that make up comics, stretching his wings and having fun." James adds, "a new start up publisher named Secret Acres is supposed to be releasing a book collection of his work sometime soon, under the title Fatal Faux-Pas." Now, that's news to me!

Secret Acres is already peddling some of Sam's wares, including Pizza Wizard #1 (get yours now!); I'll post news once Fatal Faux-Pas is a reality.

(BTW, here's the French website James's writeup will appear on soon -- it's not up yet, though!)

Man, I miss Sam and his work.

Here at CCS, senior Dane Martin is Sam's heir apparent (as opposed to hair, a parent) and Dane's blog is packed with Dane's one-of-a-kind art and observations. Enjoy.

Until I get my next dose of Sam, Dane's work takes me to other places I've never been, and I love it.

Fatal Faux-Pas Redux

Top U.S. military commander for the Middle East Admiral William J. Fallon resigned today "amid speculation about a rift over U.S. policy in Iran..."; Bush/Cheney toadie Defense Secretary Robert Gates accepted the resignation (it was "the right thing to do").

There goes the last reasonable man, I fear. Now, remember, President Bush refused former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's resignation at least twice; awwww, damn it. Fallon has been described as the "lone man" opposed to President Bush's Iran policies and desire to take military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.

This isn't good news, folks.

The Brown Brown Grass of Home

We're arriving at the five year anniversary of the launching of the Iraq War,

and President Bush is already celebrating.

He's even singing.

I kid you not.

"As I step down from the plane
and there to meet me
is my mama and my papa,
down the lane I look
and here comes Barney,
heart of gold
and breath like honey;
Yes, you're gonna miss me,
the way you used to quiz me,
It's good to touch
the brown brown grass of home."


Reaping Free Market Fun

The 'free market' deregulation of anything in the US that anyone can possibly gouge money out of that's not nailed down has arrived at some variation on the following email arriving in many email 'in' boxes:
________

From: "service@irs.gov" Add Mobile Alert
Subject: Fiscal Activity - Tax Return
Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2008 17:16:27 -0600
Internal Revenue Service
United States Department of the Treasury

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have
determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $129.72.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 2-6 days in order to
process it.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

To access your tax refund, please click here


Best Regards,
Tax Refund Deparment
Internal Revenue Service
© Copyright 2008, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.
_______________

That's cut and past verbatim from my own email this AM, spelling errors intact.

Now, we just this morning -- 23 minutes ago -- finished our taxes. We're delivering it to our accountant tomorrow. But even if we had filed, we wouldn't be falling for this phishing expedition from some scumbag motherfucker parasitic suckass out there.

What I'm equally disgusted by, though, is the insidious intrusion of such scams sans any effective response. Shouldn't the IRS be on this lamprey's ass like ugly on an ape? Shouldn't there be a widely-publicized attack on this scam, with at least the option PayPal provides me for reporting immediately such a fraudulent attempt to dilly with us via falsely representing some shady entity as the IRS?

It's just another permutation of the 'free market' tolerance for such scams, from legal loan-sharking (credit card applications to youths) and fleecing (reverse mortgage scams, which is ravaging our elderly population) to pharmaceutical commercials (the new snake oil salesmen) and unregulated predatory bank and credit card interest and penalty fees.

The brown, brown grass of home...

Some Bones to Pick...

Horny in Paris! Photo: Associated Press/AFP/Miguel Medina

As if it weren't a joyous enough occasion to celebrate this weekend's opening of the 21st Century's first primordial magnum opus 10,000 BC on movie screens across America on lo, this, the very week of my birthday, I must also note the news in

in Paris, where the skeleton of the 65-million-year-old Triceratops horridus is now on the auction block, the first such specimen in 11 years (remember the T. rex Sue?).

So, if anyone's looking for the appropriate gift for me, look no further. It would like mighty fine in my back yard.

Birthday girl, fellow Pisces, cartoonist extraordinaire and Center for Cartoon Studies anchor and faculty member Robyn Chapman has launched a new blog, beginning humbly here (click on this link). Check it out, stay tuned and enjoy!

And speaking of CCSers, birthdays aside just for the moment,

check out CCS pioneer class alumni Alexis Frederick-Frost's latest, now previewed on the First Second Books site.

But the best birthday gift of all will have to wait until next year, when the Bush Presidency is history. Still, mighty damage must yet be done, and rest assured he's doing it. President Bush's final year in office continues to be characterized by his ongoing attempts (and those of the hardcore Republican supporters remaining) to wriggle out of legal consequences for Bush and Cheney's extraordinary redefinitions of Presidential power, a topic being carefully kept off the table by the Presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle.

In terms of the ongoing maneuvers to let the phone companies off the hook for selling us all down the river post 9/11,

Stephen Colbert's 'AT&Treason' sums it up nicely.

Further tortured interpretations of US and international law also plague the shameless Presidential justifications for ignoring all standing 20th Century laws of fair treatment of prisoners and 'detainees,'

likewise in the name of national security.

Come what may on those fronts, the Bush legacy will be devastating and long-lasting, a staining beyond

the economic crater that will left behind when Bush continues to refuse to acknowledge the consequences of his disastrous Presidency: the 2007-8 Recession and likely Depression to follow.

We're already reaping the benefits of rampant deregulation and 'free market' forces the GOP has touted since octogenarian Reagan was in office, so what the hell? To quote Bush (in another context, even more foolhardily there), 'Bring it on!'

So what if your home is now worth squat, while property taxes skyrocket to staunch the regional devastation due to Bush domestic policies and tax cuts and the terminal erosion of all previous social support services and networks?

With almost 100,000 jobs cut since December 31 (and note that "450,000 people left the labor force" in the same period), gas costing three times what it cost at the pump when Bush took office, billions squandered every month on ongoing unprovoked pre-emptive war, the national deficit and debt racking up far beyond any historic record previously set, and the gap between the rich and the poor greater than its been since the Robber Barons era of a century ago, Bush is spreading the love and the wealth from sea to shining sea.

So, okay, I'll likely not even end up with this. But I can dream, can't I? Can't I?.

Yippee-ki-yi-ay, motherfuckers!

So, really, if just one of you could see your way clear to buying me that Triceratops skeleton, I reckon Marge and I just might make it through the coming Depression. Then I could really embrace extinction -- or at least climb onto those glorious skeletal shoulders and wave my hat and cry out, "Yippee-ki-yi-ay!" while my mental faculties completely disintegrate.

Barring that, I reckon I'll have to make due this year with a token gift from my old home town -- a symbolic gift, really. I'm absolutely delighted to note that Marge's and my old home town, Marlboro VT, joined neighboring Brattleboro VT this past Tuesday on Town Meeting Day

passing an article calling for the indictment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for their horrendous abuses of power.

Now, I know it'll never happen -- I mean, after all, Bush hasn't even visited Vermont once his entire Presidency.
But that would be one hell of a birthday gift.

And on that happy note of no doubt vain but voiced rebellion, I bid you all adieu for the day.

Ah, Our Envoy of Peace in Africa...

It's so good to wake up on a Sunday morning and know that our President is spreading the good word in Africa --

-- touting the pending renewal of his global AIDS program, while preserving the requirement that steers money into abstinence efforts.

In a country where it's believed in some quarters that sex with a virgin will cure AIDS, that's a great plan, Prez.

It'll be nice when we have a President who believes in science again.

Have a sunny Sunday.

Reality Check

A friend of mine complained this week, "I don't like to read your blog. I mean, it's all monster this and comics that. Aren't you engaged with reality?" Spoken like a true Myrant non-reader. Vet Myrant readers know it just ain't so; to the annoyance of some, I regularly mix my response to hard news with the ephemeral with life. I think I do an okay job of mixing pop culture and personal musings with an ear to the rail for what's happening in the big bad beautiful world. So, anyhoot, for her sake, I offer the following on this fluffy Friday, free of any monster this or comics that.

Keep the Blind Blind, Keep the Deaf Deaf:
Bush is Shutting Down EconomicIndicators.gov

The public face the US government is putting on the current economic devastation is, as expected, pretty facile and flaccid.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress yesterday that "the central bank will act as needed to help the struggling U.S. economy, but it has to be mindful that growth should pick up later in the year," according to the report. Bernanke himself said the Fed "will be carefully evaluating incoming information bearing on the economic outlook and will act in a timely manner as needed to support growth and to provide adequate insurance against downside risks."

That's what Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee, while what's going down under the public radar is another matter --

-- you see, the Bush Administration has announced that as of March 1st it is shutting down EconomicIndicators.gov -- winner of a Forbes “Best of the Web” awards for compiling data across government agencies and making it publicly accessible -- due to "budgetary constraints."

Check out the comments on that link, particularly 'dawurz''s ongoing list of information suppression at the behest of the Bush Administration, and special thanks to Rob Walton (Ragmop) for bringing this alarming news to our attention.

In a related economic barometer -- since insurance is draining American household income on a monthly basis, increasing exponentially while offering less and less coverage for more and more money (one of my amigos just got his family's new health insurance bill -- it's up 26% in one fell swoop, for diminished coverage), the same story year after year -- we find the increasingly suspect insurance industry under fire.

The insurance industry is now facing increasing fraud accusations and investigations; how long can this untenable situation continue to deteriorate? Check out the 'related stories' links, too, for a sobering chronology.

Hanging It Up

In the meantime, meanwhile, the standoff continues between the White House and the House of Representatives concerning extending the bill which allows our Fearful Leaders to spy on foreign phone calls and e-mails that pass through the United States. "The White House reluctantly agreed to a 15-day extension but refuses to approve any more, and has appealed to House leaders to simply approve the version approved by the Senate, which includes the legal immunity for telecom companies the president wants."

That odious immunity provision protects the lackey phone companies that helped the government in its warrantless wiretapping program conducted outside the authority of the FISA court -- retroactive immunity that the House intentionally left out, bless 'em.

Kudos to the House; the Senate rolled over like a puppy on that one, damn their collective eyes. In short, the President continues to ignore and break the laws of the land whenever it suits him and/or his policies, then go back and retroactively clean up afterwards.

The Teflon Pres wants his teflon shield retroactive (like his annual budgets that never, ever include the cost of the fucking wars we're/he's waging). Notice to the House (since the Senate remains in his pocket): "Enough is enough -- it's his final year in office, quit giving in to the Teflon Pres!"

Another 'Fuck You' to Our Troops

We can't blame this one on the Bush Administration -- note that "a bill signed by President Bush last month strengthens protections for service members and their families," but still, the reality is serving our country is destroying the family life of those who serve, and of their loved ones.

This heartbreak news item surfaced on Valentine's Day on what our volunteer army is dealing with: loss of child custody because they serve our country.

Again, the volunteer military system is in serious trouble, the erosion on all fronts taken a terrible toll on those who serve -- and the principle of an all-volunteer military.

Paying the Fed Piper

I've chosen not to blog about this up to now, even though it's very local news -- and has been since we moved to Windsor VT at the very end of December of 2006.

Ed and Elaine Brown of Plainfield, NH -- literally just across the Connecticut River from my own home -- have paid the price for their stand against the IRS, and now their property is going up for sale.

These initial auctions are sad affairs, currying the Browns's personal belongings after the very public, months-long standoff with Federal Marshalls they sustained throughout 2007. It all ended this past fall with the quiet arrest of the Browns, who are both sentenced to and serving prison time for 5 years. They still owe the federal government 2.2 million dollars: blood from stones.

How close to home was this story? As I read the news about the auctions, I recalled the Friday afternoon this past fall when our cats Tuco and Lizzie were zipping around the house, upset by a series of window-shaking explosions. It turned out we were hearing the detonation of explosives secreted around the Brown house during the standoff; the authorities were clearing the grounds. The very air shook for miles around...

Editorial aside: How do I personally feel about all this? One of my best friends in the '80s (who passed away in the mid-'90s) once took a principled anti-war stand with this wife against the IRS and government by refusing to pay taxes. He and his wife fought it until they were about to lose their home; it of course took years for them to recover, though they did, and they kept their home. He told me about that ordeal twice, once at great length, and I've never forgotten his account. Principled stands against the IRS are losing propositions, every time. The IRS has the legal clout and Federal muscle to crush any form of individual tax resistance, period. When I lived in the Wilmington/Marlboro VT area, I followed the sad tale of a couple in nearby Colrain, MA who lost their home in the '90s over similar issues (refusing to fund the Gulf War via taxes); in both cases cited in this paragraph, the stand was against war funding via taxes, a principled stand I can relate to more than the Browns and their stand: the principle of income taxes not being legal.

Look, like most of you, I had a social security number before I was conscious of it. I've been working since I was six or seven years old. I've been complying with IRS tax law since I was a working pre-teen. I've seen to it my own children had social security numbers and learned to file their taxes, and did so to their adult years. I've 'bought into' the system, if you will, but then again, I reckon I benefit daily from the roads I drive and the plows that clear the snow and every single community, state and Federal program that does service day-to-day life. It makes sense to me; I'm in, to the grave. Though I wish the taxes funding government policies and programs I loathe -- the wars, for instance -- were balanced by greater funding of the social safety nets and the arts the GOP so loathe, so be it. The pendulum will eventually swing the other way. The fictionalized version of the Reagan Presidency (among the worst of our lifetimes, bottomed out only by George W, however much the Republican base loves to lionize and rhapsodize otherwise) can only last so long, and I do believe President Bush and his cronies have done in the cycle of Republican rule for a time. In any case, I file, I pay, annually; I'm a good citizen. I don't want to lose our home, I don't care to go to jail over that.

Tuco and Lizzie have forgotten that fall Friday afternoon, but I haven't. The echoing 'booms,' the earth shaking, the shivering window panes -- the Feds prevail, as they do every time. But it was after all the Browns who set those explosive devices they detonated that afternoon. It's odd, driving through the quiet Plainfield NH township, which is one of my favorite local drives; sad to think it all went down hereabouts, know a year-long standoff happened just off Route 12A, a route Marge and I drive at least once or twice a week. Though it's indeed sad to think of the Browns losing everything and being in jail, they're still alive. The long-threatened violent showdown never came to pass. The patience and restraint of the local authorities proved wise, and the Feds followed suit. A blessing, that.

Drawing the Line: Cartoonists, Terrorists & Torture R Us

Well, now it's official: we not only do torture, President Bush insists upon his imperial right to torture --

-- while, of course, maintaining with his usual smug steadfastness that we don't torture. "The United States needs the ability to interrogate effectively, within the law, captured Al-Qaeda terrorists." Riiiiiiight.

Hitting close to home -- I am, after all, a cartoonist, too -- note that this week's big news included Tuesday's report how Danish authorities arrested three people suspected of plotting a cartoonist's assassination; the scheme was directed at 73-year-old Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist whose 2005 depiction of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban enraged Muslims two years ago and sparked international riots and controversy.

I read all the international news stories very, very closely, and it appears the Danes didn't utilize torture to foil this plot. Apparently, effective police action saved the day -- not torture, not military intervention, not waging war. Which brings me to

Mark Martin posting a link to the news item on his always-splendid blog, Jabberous, on February 12, saying, "This sort of thing is why I am so perplexed by Naomi Wolf, and so many of my fellow cartoonists and creatives."

But, what are you saying, Mark? I mean, exactly? You perplex me.

Intelligent Design Advocates Need Not Read Further

To the eternal question about "Which came first? The bat flying or the bat radar?," the fossil record has yielded an answer at last.

I, for one, will sleep easier tonight.

Tomorrow, dreams. The hell with reality --

Have a Freaky Friday, Flight Fans...

The First Monster Magazine?
Plus: Cloverfield Podcast with Yours Truly, Pentagon Blues

Is this the first monster zine? Forrest J. Ackerman has long said so, and I've yet to find anything to pre-date it as a solo-genre zine. A gem!

Hooooooooooooooooooowwwlll!

Thanks to the marvelous online dealer Patrick Giraud (of Versailles, France, at ebay as 'Pgmovies'), I at last have acquired for my collection the long-cited 'first monster magazine' of all time, the French filmzine Cinema 57, and a real beauty it is, too. I'll write about it in some depth in March, but wanted to acknowledge Patrick's service -- great communication, fast ship, and as pleasant an ebay and online dealer experience as I've ever enjoyed! -- now rather than later.

Patrick has also given me access, initially through his always fascinating auction items, to a little gold mine of European treasures; I'm a very happy customer! Over the past two months, I've secured an eye-popping Druillet Quest for Fire movie poster and a clutch of delightful European movie photo-fumettis I'll be writing up in March (with page samples!).

Incredible as it may seem, Patrick now has another copy of Cinema 57 up for auction on eBay, and here's the link -- if you're at all interested, now's the time to jump on this rarity.

Patrick also has these goodies up for auction just now,

or visit his eBay store anytime to see what he's offering.

Recommended, and good luck!

___________________

Dave Kraus and I had a long chat about Cloverfield last weekend, a film I wrote about briefly here and will write about more as time permits. I've caught Cloverfield twice on the big screen, and loved it both times; it's the monster movie of the year thus far, though of course we're only just into February, so you could say I'm hedging my bet. Nevertheless, Dave caught me when the first viewing was fresh and my desire to talk about it high, so his podcast conversation with yours truly may be of interest to those of you with a similar bent.

Check out Episode 20 and (later this weekend) 21 of Nine-Panel Nerds -- the first installment offers a panel discussion, the second episode (21) some one-on-one discussion, including my input. Enjoy!

____________________

On top of the Pentagon malfeasances I discussed yesterday, there's plenty to keep an eye on, even given the ongoing shroud of secrecy President Bush, Vice President Cheney and the current Pentagon staff have obsessively nurtured and maintained since 2001 -- as obsessively as they've labored to stripmine our privacy as citizens in the selfsame name of 'national security.'

No surprise, then, that that very secrecy continues to erode the Pentagon's ability to prosecute "detainees" as the perverse miscarriages of justice continue unabated with precious little to show (save persecution) for the President's Kafkaesque sense of 'justice.'

The secrecy shrouding government files on terror suspects continues to stymie the Pentagon's effort to hold trials at Guantanamo Bay, with defense attorneys continuing to accuse the government of withholding potential evidence, making any notion of fair trial (even under military tribunal standards) impossible.

Meanwhile, the erosion of our military might under the watch of this bunch of bozos -- how did even a sliver-thin 'majority' of Americans fall for the line of shit the Republicans put out that they're the party of national security? They've done more to threaten our national security then Osama bin Laden has! -- continues to manifest.

This past week's classified Pentagon assessment concludes that "long battlefield tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with persistent terrorist activity and other threats, have prevented the U.S. military from improving its ability to respond to any new crisis."

Got that? The President's policies, and steadfast refusal to address reality, have placed us in danger while straining the military to a breakpoint -- this is gross, irresponsible mismanagement from their (and our) Commander in Chief.

It's Admiral Mike Mullen, current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who completed the new risk assessment, which will be delivered to Capitol Hill later this month; given the classified status of this new document, we may or may not know more once it is delivered.

"Because he has concluded the risk is significant, his report will include a letter from Defense Secretary Robert Gates outlining steps the Pentagon is taking to reduce it." Note, too, this isn't news: "The risk level was raised to significant last year by Mullen's predecessor, Marine Gen. Peter Pace;" when will Bush be held culpable for blatant dereliction of duty?

The Teflon President must spray himself daily with political Pam; he's the no-stick President.

Swampy Roughs, All-Time Lows and Honoring Our Vets:
More Bush Era Bushwhacking of Those Who Serve

The rough for Swamp Thing #42, art by Bissette (markers, pencil, pen and ink)

Cartoonist amigo Mark Masztal brought this to my attention this morning:

Here's the link to the eBay 'Buy It Now' sale; nothing in this for me, I provide this for anyone out there interested.

It's cool to see this old rough after over 20 years, and to see one that was approved by editor Karen Berger and that John Totleben and I got to execute as that month's cover.

The seller helpfully provides a complimentary cover shot of the published Swamp Thing #42, which gives you a clear snapshot of our process from rough to finish -- so I figured it was worth sharing both with you this morning. Enjoy!

I enjoyed doing the Swamp Thing covers, and stuck with it for a good stretch of Alan Moore and Rick Veitch's run on the title after John and I moved on. In fact, I would have stayed on the entire run, were it not for DC's refusal to either slightly increase the cover rate, or allow me to have a stab at doing just one painted cover. I stepped away only after it became clear I was never going to get a shot at doing a painted cover: the dollars-and-sense of it was, painted covers paid, for a single cover, what it took me almost a full year to earn cumulatively doing the standard pen, brush and ink covers, and it just didn't make sense that the fellow who agreed to continue doing covers, month after month, was being in effect penalized for doing so.

Just one painted cover -- a gesture, in effect -- would have sufficed to keep me aboard, but no, that wasn't to be; well, okay, then. So be it. That conversation and final summary judgment was delivered mid-way through my work on the cover for #63, after the roughs and pencils were completed, but before it was inked. "Fuck it, then," I decided, and Karen went to Bill Sienkiewicz for the final inks over my pencils -- and I was done, save for my part of the pencils for Alan's final issue #64, the scripting of #78 and Annual #4, and a little work on individual panels or pages when Rick asked me to pitch in during his run. Karen and I were still on good terms, personally; it was a business decision to leave the covers, that was all, and though it was momentarily inconvenient for Karen, the money issue was crystal clear, my reasons for leaving inarguably justified. No regrets. Thereafter, the covers were by Rick when pen, brush and ink, guest cover artists (including John) when painted.

Anyhoot, that's today's blast from the past, folks.

___________

Sorry I've been off the daily blog routine; the Neil Gaiman book is in its home week-and-a-half of work, and that and my teaching at the Center for Cartoon Studies have been all-consuming.

I wrapped up the final document of the complete Gaiman interview yesterday, incorporating all the followup email revisions, corrections and follow-up questions, and got it to my co-authors. I've got two more text pieces to revise, and a wee bit of work on two intro sections, then -- I'm done!

Then, I've got the massive Brat Pack piece to finish up for Rick Veitch, and that I'm eager to dive back into, along with the final polish of Blur volumes 2, 3 and 4, which I am very eager to get out ASAP.

By March 1st, I'll be back to blogging daily, or damn near daily, thereafter.

______

President George W. Bush and Congress have hit all-time lows in public polls, and it's no surprise.

The Republicans, of course, are trying to play this in their favor this election year, as if they weren't complicit in the current 'Do Nothing' Congressional term, having cynically manipulated and stymied any chance of the very slim Democratic majority to get anything done. Don't be fooled by the rhetoric: the Democrats control nothing. Bush has wielded that veto pen he never, ever used before the 2006 election, and has had to use that only when the Republicans in Congress have failed to neuter, derail or bury anything antithetical to the Bush doctrines.

Listening to the ongoing Republican dialogue in conjunction with the Presidential race has been fascinating: the meltdown is self-evident, with the current extreme right aghast reaction to Senator John McCain's front-runner status (a great relief that Mitt Romney is out of the picture, to my mind: that man is toxic) showing where the seams are bursting.

Bush has the unmitigated gall to address this meltdown, as if he weren't primarily responsible for its inevitable arrival.

"The stakes in November are high. This is an important election. Prosperity and peace are in the balance," Bush said yesterday to his usual cushy, question-nothing crowd (in this case, 'about 2,000 people attending the Conservative Political Action Conference').

Prosperity? Peace? Are you fucking joking? Are you fucking insane? Did the Conservative Political Action Conference audience actually applaud that nonsense? Are they deaf? Blind? Stupid?

Bush continued, "So with confidence in our vision and faith in our values, let us go forward, fight for victory and keep the White House in 2008."

Vision? Faith? Values? Victory? Give me a fucking break.

Bottom line: the right had their eight years of essentially unquestioned, unencumbered rule, and they and their bwah George W. Bush showed their true colors, and did so with pride. The aspects of the conservative agenda Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Gonzales, Rove and their respective cronies and successors (in the case of Rummy, Wolfy and Gonzo) manifested have abundantly proven how self-destructive and horrific that agenda truly is.

The core political philosophies that drove their actions (primary among those a war waged on two fronts, one completely unprovoked and unjustified, and a disastrous series of fiscal and deregulatory policies that has devalued the dollar and precipitated economic ruin for the US) and inactions (e.g., Katrina, 'homeland security,' etc.; in short, anything requiring a strong internal gov't support system for the country) are bankrupt, and any fool still believing there's a straw to cling to no doubt also believes we 'coulda won' in Vietnam, too.

They -- Bush, Cheney, and those who serve, support and act as apologists for 'em -- discredited themselves and their own. This past week, Ann Coulter's much-clipped quote against McCain and Fox News incorporating Karl Rove into their Super Tuesday news coverage is further proof of how shameless, complicit, and utterly oblivious the core conservative coalitions are to their own meltdown. The inability of conservatives to get behind any candidate in their own primaries, and then to turn like ants on the standing survivors (go ahead, badmouth McCain and Huckabee), without for a heartbeat acknowledging they had their boy in there, they bragged and brayed and boasted and ballyhooed his every move, and thus shot their wad.

America is reeling on every front -- the wars, the economy, health-non-care, politically, culturally, you name it -- paying the piper for the eight years they imposed their ideologies on us all and inflicted them upon the globe with unmitigated arrogance and swagger.

Nowhere are the utterly despicable core philosophies of this current Administration more self-evidently corrupt than in their ongoing ill treatment of our war vets, especially the fresh-from-the-field Iraq and Afghanistan Wars vets. This latest outrage is further evidence of corruption from the top, with those down the chain of command taking the bullets (literally, in the case of the vets themselves).

Take the time to check out the original January 29th story,

re-read today's followup, and tell me this is the Rashomon situation the Army rep is now claiming this to be. BULLSHIT.

If you can, download that 'VA Document' and tell me this isn't current U.S. Army policy, and what we're seeing now is Major Backpedal at work, though today his name may be Army Surgeon General Eric B. Schoomaker.

Typical of this Administration, too, we're seeing those who were inside speaking out: note, "former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, who co-chaired President Bush's commission on veterans' care, says the whole disability rating system is broken and needs to change."

I'll go one further: this VA document the followup on the January 29th story demonstrates this is willful, calculated breakage of the system.

Its policy: "FUCK THE VETS," it says, in bureaucrat-speak. It's the Commander in Chief, his cronies, his Pentagon once again from on high saying: "FUCK THESE VETS. FUCK THOSE WHO SERVE. Use 'em, discard 'em. They're of no further use to us. Fuck 'em."

They use them, abuse them, discard them, secret them away, hide them, bury them when they can -- in paperwork and military and government clusterfuck, when they can't get 'em under dirt. It's utterly consistent with how they've treated the dead (no photos! No images! No dead!), our own dead and those of the Iraqis and the Afghans; as I've said, it's also utterly consistent with how they've treated the "detainees."

It's further clear evidence of the most cynical policy imaginable, dishonorable and as corrupt as any such policy can be. "Don't help them fill out our convoluted paperwork. Don't help those we put into harm's way, who have returned the walking wounded, negotiate the paper minefields we've erected between them and the aid they so badly need. Fuck 'em."

This is how Bush and the Pentagon honors the troops.

Let me not mince words: I have nothing but contempt for the fuckers who (a) started these wars, (b) so cynically manipulated public perception of their reasons for going to war (every single one of which has been discredited), (c) so heartlessly launched wars with no end in sight with no strategy (Bush has demonstrated time and time again he doesn't even know what the English word 'strategy' means) for dealing with the aftermath of Rumsfeld's horribly misconceived "streamlining" of our military forces, (d) so cynically abuse our volunteer military, refusing to address the consequences of their lunatic leadership by just putting more burdens on those who do volunteer to serve, heartlessly extending tours of duty to break-the-body-and-spirit extremes, with no regard for the toll this takes on the troops, their families, our military and our country, and (e) then have the soulless capacity to refuse to bankroll the treatment of the new generation of war veterans they, themselves, have willingly spawned.

It's becoming increasingly evident that the latter is indeed a matter of policy: the 2006 and 2007 revelations of the poor conditions of many VA hospitals, the abysmal treatment (read: abuse) of vets suffering emotional and psychological consequences, and now the uncovering of documentation of U.S. Army policy to refuse aid to vets in properly filing disability claims -- what, pray tell, is the final straw?

How long will the rule of the military -- chain of command -- be ignored by the public? Orders are orders, rank and file rules; these are orders, policies, coming from the top. Period. Only ignorance of how the military functions obfuscates the reality. And -- no two ways about it -- it goes all the way to the top.

In the end, not one commanding officer was called on the carpet (e.g., found guilty) for the Abu Ghraib atrocities -- only the lowest-level grunts following orders were imprisoned.

In the end, not one upper echelon commander will fall for the ongoing revelations about how badly our vets are being served -- more 'honoring our troops' from the fuckers who brought us these pre-emptive wars and continue to daily place more of our best into harm's way.

In the end, Rumsfeld walked away still espousing his delusions and showing no shame for his contemptible actions and utter failure, and Bush will remain untouched by all this, actively passing the buck (but no bucks) to the next Commander in Chief, while working to lock his successor into treaty-formatted extensions of his present misbegotten policies.

In the end, those in power who have so ceaselessly demanded 'those responsible' for evils they perceive as evils be made to suffer and 'pay,' whatever the "collateral damage" to innocents, while dodging any and all culpability for their actions and inactions like the craven cowards they are.

In the end, any idiot who votes for a pro-war candidate, Republican or Democrat, in the coming 2008 election is complicit in these cynical, soulless policies and practices.

J'Accuse!

Old Man River, Sold Down Old Man River...

Within the same week of his loopy State of the Union speech (which finally I read online; how Bush can dare to say the word 'trust' any longer demonstrates either how oblivious he is, or stupid he thinks we all are), President Bush concedes our economy "is weakening and that we've got to do something about it,"

though he and the GOP refuse to deal with how their own policies (and many ongoing deregulation and 'corporate welfare' laws active since the Reagan years) have precipitated this plight.

Why should he give a fuck? One year left to go,

unprecedented Presidential signing statements

on over 1100 laws (expanding Presidential powers beyond any Constitutional parameters and encroaching on those of Congress, the courts, etc.), and a superficial proposed economic stimulus package dependent upon simply borrowing more money to swell the national deficit -- we have been collectively sold down so many rivers, it's impossible to begin to grasp the magnitude of how fucked we are.

Of course, the petro giants are soaring: Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company in history ($40.6 billion!) today, and set a new American record for the biggest quarterly profit (net income of $11.7 billion for the final quarter of 2007, beating its own previous record!)

(and second-largest petro firm Chevron reported record profits, too),

the very same week Halliburton posted quarterly net profits rising 5 percent, "helped by growth in its Eastern Hemisphere business and a lower tax rate."

Got that? A lower tax rate, while the US plunges further into massive debt waging war -- wars Halliburton also profits directly from. "The company said it had benefited from a lower tax rate as increased international profits allowed it to recognize additional foreign tax credits..." Suck it up, America.

Bully for them; for the rest of us, record national debt, record personal debts, record foreclosures and April 15th income tax deadlines mark the landscape created in large part by two decades of massive government deregulation of once-sane banking and credit practices and the Bush Administration's overhaul of personal bankruptcy laws in 2001-2002 to further favor predatory credit and banking institutions. It's hard to stomach a third year of record oil corporation profits as gas prices continue to hover between $3.00-$3.25 a gallon. The tanking economy is measurable by

American payrolls suffering their first major decline in five years.

Note among the references to current unemployment numbers still doesn't take into account those so long unemployed that they cease to register; hence, the uncounted unemployed -- an indeterminable portion of the population, until/unless new and reliable poverty statistics are compiled -- remain invisible.

Depression of another kind is hitting hard, too, as an inevitable consequence of President Bush's policies and actions. This week's staggering report concerning military suicides has made the news;

Military.com confirms the statistics, providing further links and context.

"The report also shows an increase in the number of attempted suicides and self-injuries - some 2,100 in 2007 compared to less than 1,500 the previous year and less than 500 in 2002. The total of 121 suicides last year, if all are confirmed, would be more than double the 52 reported in 2001, before the Sept. 11 attacks prompted the Bush administration to launch its counter-terror war."

It's worth noting earlier Military.com reporting: here's the December 2003 report --

-- at which point Military.com noted, "The Army is concerned about the deaths. Outside experts have said the rate is alarmingly high compared with the military's average suicide rates..." --

-- and in February 2004 this was where we stood.

By 2006, Military suicides were at a horrific high,

and now it's much, much worse.

Given the Pentagon's breaking of long-standing rules concerning reasonable tours of duty, the repeated extension of those deployment periods, and the obscene lack of support for the troops and returning veterans by the very President, Vice President, Pentagon and government that launched these pre-emptive wars, it's hardly surprising.

As I've said here repeatedly, the correlation between Bush, Cheney and the Pentagon's treatment of our troops and their treatment of detainees is obvious: interminable imprisonment based on a war that is, by definition, impossible to win (e.g., a "war" on a tactic, not a nation or geographically-definable 'enemy'). How much can the human spirit withstand?

How long can we inflict this upon our own troops, as well as the countries we have invaded and occupied?

And when will the inevitability of a military draft, in the face of how irrevocably Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al have manhandled, mismanaged and damaged our military, be the wake-up call to those still complacent about all this? I dread that day, but given the ongoing madness and Bush's determination to lodge America in Iraq and Afghanistan far beyond the end of his term -- and the Republican candidates (save Ron Paul) so arrogantly brandishing the war(s) as a given and necessary path for their hoped-for Presidencies -- it indeed seems inevitable.

(Note, too, the whispers are getting louder.)

As the saying goes, "...a nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves” (so said Edward R. Murrow).

But don't take my word for it;

William J. Lederer echoed Murrow in 1961,

and Judge Andrew P. Napolitano echoes Murrow today.

How baaaaaaaaahhhhd can it get?
I think we're going to find out this year.

Another Reason to Love Vermont

My home state Senator Bernie Sander's riposte to Bush's State of the Union speech is worth sharing:

The State of the Union Bush Forgot to Talk About

I listened intently to President Bush's State of the Union speech. Frankly, I had a hard time understanding what country he was talking about, what reality he was talking about. Certainly, if the "state of the union" refers to what is happening to the shrinking middle class of this country, and how we as a people are doing, the president had almost nothing to say that rang true. In fact, the speech just reminds us once again how far removed from the reality of ordinary life this president is, and how little he and his administration know about what is going on with the vast majority of Americans.

The president said that "in the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth." I wish that was true. Unfortunately, since President Bush has been in office it is important to understand that nearly five million Americans have slipped out of the middle class and into poverty. Amazingly, the poverty rate is higher today than it was during the last recession in 2001.Median household income for working-age Americans has declined by almost $2,500 and overall median household income has gone down by nearly $1,000. More than 8.6 million Americans have lost their health insurance. More than 3 million manufacturing jobs have been lost, including more than 10,000 in Vermont. The list of troubling economic statistics goes on.

Meanwhile, the wealthiest people in our society have not had it so good since the 1920s. Income inequality is on the rise. According to the latest figures from the IRS, the top 1 percent earned more income in 2005 than the bottom 50 percent, and the national share of income going to the wealthiest Americans is higher than at any time since 1929. Perhaps even more disturbing is the unequal distribution of wealth. According to Forbes magazine, the collective net worth of the wealthiest 400 Americans increased by $290 billion last year to $1.54 trillion. In addition, the top one percent now owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent.

What are the super-wealthy doing with their money? As Robert Frank of The Wall Street Journal has pointed out in his book Richistan, the super wealthy, those worth between $100 million to $1 billion, spent an average of $182,000 on wrist watches; $311,000 on automobiles; $397,000 on jewelry; and $169,000 on spa services last year alone. The middle class is shrinking, poverty is increasing, and the wealthiest Americans have not had it so good since the 1920s. That is the state of our economy.

In order to protect the interests of the sinking middle class the federal government needs a change in direction in almost every area of public policy. We must start by passing an economic stimulus package as soon as possible. A stimulus package that the House approved on Tuesday could and should be improved.

In my opinion, for an economic stimulus package to be most successful, we must do three things: 1) We must provide help to those most in need, particularly senior citizens on fixed incomes, low-income families with children and persons with disabilities. 2) We must strengthen the middle class. 3) We must put Americans back to work at good paying jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure: our roads, bridges, schools, homes, health centers, sewers, and other important needs.

If we pass an economic stimulus package that does not accomplish all three of these goals, we will have missed out on an important opportunity to strengthen our economy.

Here is what I believe we should do.

First, I would increase the economic stimulus package from $150 billion to $175 billion. We should reduce the business tax breaks on equipment purchases by 50 percent or roughly $25 billion. These tax breaks are referred to as bonus depreciation. It has been argued that businesses need these tax breaks to buy more equipment, but experts tell us that businesses will be buying this equipment regardless of whether these tax breaks are signed into law or not. According to Mark Zandi with Moody's, for every $1 the government provides for bonus depreciation, it would only add 27 cents to GDP. In other words, it would provide very little stimulus. If we did these two things: increase the overall economic stimulus package by $25 billion; and cut the bonus depreciation tax break by 50 percent, that would leave us with about $50 billion.

What could we do with this $50 billion? We could put Americans to work at decent paying jobs; we could help those most in need; and we could strengthen the middle class. Those are the three pillars I believe should be included in any economic stimulus package. Specifically, I believe we should provide $5 billion for an expansion of the Food Stamp program. The Congressional Budget Office and other experts have indicated that such an increase would be one of the most effective ways to stimulate the economy. For every $1.00 invested in the Food Stamp Program, we would add $1.73 to GDP. More importantly, these benefits would go to the Americans who have been hit the hardest in our economy.

We could provide $3.62 billion in home heating assistance for senior citizens on fixed incomes, low-income families with children and persons with disabilities through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The price of energy is skyrocketing. People in Vermont and all over this country are paying record prices to heat their homes this winter. In the richest country on the face of the earth, we must ensure that no-one goes cold this winter.

In addition, with unemployment rising and our infrastructure crumbling, we could address both of these concerns by providing $16 billion to repair our schools, bridges, roads, sewers, rails, ports and airports. We could also put people to work weatherizing nearly 100,000 homes; expand our health delivery system by increasing funding for Community Health Centers, and help veterans with disabilities retrofit their cars and refurbish their homes. States, localities, economists and other experts have identified thousands of projects throughout the country that could not only use this money, but spend it quickly. Last year, about 200,000 construction workers lost their jobs. We could and should put many of these Americans back to work through this economic stimulus package.

Let me give you two examples of investments we could be making that would have a tremendous economic impact on the lives of Americans. If we just provided $148 million for an expansion of Community Health Centers, that would be enough to create 227 new health centers throughout the country; provide health care services to an additional 1.4 million previously unserved Americans; lead to the creation of 15,000 new jobs, and provide a total economic benefit of $1.25 billion.For those that question the appropriateness of including an expansion of community health centers into an economic stimulus package, I would say to my colleagues that this is exactly what we did during the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan. It worked. If it worked in the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan, it will work today.

Another important investment that we should make is to provide at least $200 million for the Low-Income Weatherization Assistance Program. Not only could the program easily absorb this level of funding and create additional construction and retrofitting jobs, but it also would save millions of dollars for low-income people who are struggling with higher energy costs by weatherizing an additional 75,000 homes.

In 2001, I was an early backer of tax rebates. I support tax rebates for the middle class, for low-income families with children, and for persons with disabilities. I also believe that senior citizens who don't pay income taxes should be receiving this assistance as well through a bonus in their Social Security checks. But giving someone $300 or $600 or $1,200 alone will not fix the economic situations facing millions of Americans. Putting Americans to work at decent paying jobs and helping those most in need would do much more to strengthen the middle class and reduce the poverty rate than simply sending rebate checks and bonus depreciation tax breaks.

Let's pass an economic stimulus package quickly, but let's make sure we get it right. Let's help those most in need. Let's put Americans to work at good paying jobs.

He hasn't listened to anyone but his cronies for seven years; why should 2008 be in any way different? President Bush, of course, is doing quite the opposite of what Senator Sanders recommends.

And, on a far less consequently note, but of great potential consequence to online activity, I'd wager,

note that if this sale goes through, we'll be seeing some insidious internet mutations. I'll be changing my email address soon.

What, me worry?

Have a great weekend...