Doonesbury ABORTION Cartoon Controversy Irks Politicians; Divides Media

Doonesbury ABORTION Cartoon Controversy. Since when is ABORTION a Joke? Pro-Choice Humor? I don't find it funny at all!


"Doonesbury" Abortion comic strips have newspapers, partisans divided


Conservatives are not laughing at “Doonesbury” comic strips this week.

The often-controversial strip by Garry Trudeau waded deep into the heart of the Texas abortion sonogram debate, with a week-long series focusing on a woman who enters a Texas abortion clinic and deals with a succession of bumbling pro-lifers. Some papers are not carrying this week’s strips.

The foil in Tuesday’s comic, for example, is a Texas legislator named Rep. Sid Patrick — an obvious reference to Texas Rep. Sid Miller and state Sen. Dan Patrick, the sponsors of the abortion sonogram bill.

In the strip, Patrick asks the woman if her “parents know she’s a slut” after she says she uses contraceptives.

"My skin is pretty thick, I'm disappointed at some of the papers for printing it inside the comic book pages," Miller told the News late Tuesday. "I don't see anything funny about it, the one yesterday or today, but I respect the right of Mr. Trudeau to give his opininon even if don't necessarily agree with it."

“Abortion remains a deeply contentious subject,” Trudeau told the AP. “Having said that, the goal is definitely not to antagonize editors and get booted from papers. It’s just an occupational risk.”

The comic strip’s distributer, Universal UClick Syndicate, offered its 1,400 newspaper subscribers the option of an alternate “Doonesbury” instead of the abortion-themed ones. "Doonesbury" apears in the print edition of The Daily News, but has never appeared on the web site because of rights issues.

“We have heard from 40 to 50 papers to ask for substitutes,” says Susan Rouch, the syndicate’s editor.

Other newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, decided to move the strip out of the comics pages and onto the Op-Ed pages.

"The kids reading 'Peanuts' or 'Nancy,' I don't think they're going to get much benefit out of read it," says Miller.

A number of newspapers, like the Oregonian, the Forth Worth Star Telegram and The Press of Atlantic City, decided to strip out the week’s “Doonesburys” entirely.

“In next week’s strip, ‘Doonesbury’ author Garry Trudeau, in our judgment, went over the line of good taste and humor in penning a series on abortion using graphic language and images inappropriate for a comics page,” the Oregonian editors wrote in a letter to readers.

Trudeau told Reuters that he was inspired by the “appalling” bills in Texas and Virginia that call for women to view an ultrasound of their unborn child before undergoing an abortion.

Not surprisingly, reaction to the “Doonesbury” story line pretty much fell along partisan lines. For instance, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow called newspapers that pulled the comics “cowardly.”

On the other side of the debate, “The decision to end a life isn’t funny,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s press secretary, Catherine Frazier, told the Dallas Morning News. “There is nothing comic about this tasteless interpretation of legislation we have passed in Texas to ensure that women have all the facts when making a life-ending decision.”


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Sources: Doonesbury, NY Daily News, Youtube, Google Maps

Glenn Beck Says "African-Amercians" Bogus Race

Glenn Beck: African-American "A Bogus, Made-up Term Not A Race"


Glenn Beck may have stepped in it again.

Sort of.

The radio host and Fox News Channel commentator has folks in a minor uproar for even questioning the term African-American on his syndicated radio show Thursday.

“African-American is a bogus, PC, made-up term,” Beck said, in a discussion about the new Census forms.

“That is not a race. Your ancestry is from Africa, and now you live in America. Okay, so you were brought over, either your family was brought over in the slave trade, or you were born here and your family immigrated here, or whatever. But that is not a race.”

Beck’s on-air guests agreed, noting the frequent misuse of African-American as a label, using, for instance, the term incorrectly applied to someone from Jamaica. Also, it’s not used to describe South African-born Charlize Theron, who is white and now a U.S. citizen.

The conversation stemmed from the new Census documents that give respondents three boxes from which to chose from: Black, African-American or Negro.

The watchdog group Media Matters picked up on the conversation and posted a clip on its Web site as has Thinkprogress.org.

“Negro used to be — is it still — not acceptable, is that still the clinical term, I don’t know,” Beck said. “It has negative connotations in this country. But what I’m asking is: what are the clinical categories?”

Not surprising, the clip, now circulating in the blogosphere, has generated a load of anti-Beck comments.

Last July, Beck created a real firestorm when when, during an appearance on the Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends,” he said President Obama’s initial reaction to the Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest situation in Cambridge, Mass., suggested a “deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.”

The show’s co-host, Brian Kilmeade then reminded Beck Obama had many whites in prominent positions.

“I’m not saying he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem,” Beck responded. “This guy is, I believe, a racist.”



Sources: Fox News, Glenn Beck Show, NY Daily News, Media Matters

Sen. Dodd Defended Daily Kos After Site Posted Offensive Political Picture

(Published July 30, 2007) Offensive Picture Posted on Daily Kos Creates Controversy


The Internet is buzzing about what is being billed as the final “death blow” to ultra left-wing blog Daily Kos.

This according to Bill O’Reilly who will run the story tonight on The O’Reilly Factor. O’Reilly has done a number of stories about the left wing blog which he has compared to a KKK website.

The Daily Kos is one of the most trafficked sites on the Internet and has received sporadic media attention over the years for its over the top personal attacks on the Bush Administration and Republicans in general.

Fueling the current controversy involving The Daily Kos is a picture that a user posted which was obviously edited to give the appearance of Senator Joe Lieberman preparing to perform oral sex on President Bush. In response, the Daily Kos removed the picture and says it can’t be held responsible for everything people post.

The Democrats running for President are set to speak at the yearly convention organized by the Daily Kos called YearlyKOS, which is a gathering of the most liberal organizations in America.


Sources: Daily Kos, Bill O'Reilly Show, Fox News, Washington Post, The Hot Joints, Huffington Post, Youtube, Google Maps

David Letterman's Top 10 Christmas Carols (Holiday Humor)

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Sources: CBS, David Letterman Show, World Wide Pants, Wikipedia, Youtube, Google Maps

"Congress Before Christmas", Sen. Kit Bond Blasts Dems

Sen. Bond Slams Dems in Christmas Poem

Here Senator Kit Bond (Rep.) sits down with his dog, Tiger, and Shana Marchio's (his Communications Director) dog, Pooley, and gives his rendition of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" originally penned by Clement Clarke Moore.

Sorry about the sound quality of this video.

I think its fuzzy due to the way it was uploaded on Youtube.

You can blame Bond's Communications Director or the equipment he used to record with.

That's the spirit Sen. Bond!

He turns a sour situation into lemonade with this prose.







Here's the full script I borrowed from TPM:



'Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the Hill Not a creature was stirring, not even a bill; The walls were all marked by junk not so jolly Dead measures Harry'd flung in his health care folly;

The members were nestled all snug in their steads,
While visions of home danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'travel clothes', and I with my bag,
Hoped Harry's bill had hit the final snag,

When out of CBO there arose such a clatter,
We knew the media would never ask what's the matter.
Away to the sink I flew like a flash,
Threw up in the basin o'er the loss of our cash.

The score from the deal from Harry's back-room
Showed a massive debt explosion coming too soon,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But the President and 8 Democrats trembling with fear!

Obama admonished them all filibusters to block
No matter if it meant we'd all soon be in hock
More rapid than eagles his minions they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and prepared to lay blame;

Now Schumer, now Sanders, now Durbin and Harkin
On Landrieu, on Nelson, on Bayh and Lincoln
To the well of the Senate, to the top of the wall
Vote away! Vote Away! Vote Away all!

As spending before the wild deficits fly
Roll over all obstacles, mount to the sky
So up to the house-top, the debt it flew
With a sleigh full of goodies, cap-and-trade too!

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roofs
The prancing and pawing of White House goofs.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney Pete Orszag came with a bound.

He was dressed all in promises, from his head to his foot,
Carrying ads from big Pharma's loot
A bundle of payoffs he had flung on his back,
He looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!
He and the White House got the goods from old Harry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
"Don't bother reading it; no need to go slow."

Ignore all those voters, it's ok if they seethe,
Suck it up and sell it, even if they are peeved.
These folks have had their financial confidence shaken;
It will be years 'til they know how badly they've been taken.

He was happy and cheerful, a right jolly old elf,
But I could not catch the holiday spirit myself;
How far away from common sense we've been led,
Our kids and our grandkids have their futures to dread;

He spoke not a word, but turned with a jerk,
Planning and plotting, to make the numbers work,
He distributed the benefits as far as can be;
And dreamed up new taxes, levies and fees.
With a flick of his wrist he waived off the Minority,
In a scary display of his unelected authority.
To all he warned, the voters at home be ignored,
They have figured out it's their ox t'will be gored.



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Sources: The Daily Beast, TPM, The Hill, Youtube, Google Maps