Saturday, September 6, 2008

Serving Fitness

Today's cartoon is brought to you by Neckbolts To Go. "Lose your head if it isn't attached? We can fix that!"

This idea came from the fact that if elected (or "placed" into office) John McCain would be the oldest man ever to be inaugurated. His official bio lists him as having been born in 1936, and knowing how those things usually fudge the truth a bit, it means he was likely born closer to 1836. But even if it is accurate, he would be 72 when he took office.

Do you know anyone in their seventies? Do they work 12-hours-a-day at the hardest job in the world and bear more responsibility for more lives than any other person on the planet? Or do they take naps in front of the TV and forget to switch off their turn signal? Assuming they are still allowed to drive, of course.

I don't mean to insult the elderly, my parents are that age and they are terrific folks, very smart, totally lucid. But they know their limits. Neither of them is any more ready, willing, or able to be the leader of the free world than they are to kick a luchador in the pecans and live to tell about it. They're both voting for Obama.

Which means if the GOP manages somehow to sneak McCain into office, or if our nation's median I.Q. has not been raised above 50 in the past 8 years and we elect him, the chances he will not survive his entire first term are not slim. Which means the mayor of a small town in the middle of nowhere, governor of a few busloads of people (Alaska's entire population is about half of the number of people Wal-Mart employs), with no interest or experience in foreign policy or security issues, or much understanding of international economics, will inherit the presidency.

Wow.

A guy emailed me yesterday and said this, "And for the record: Sarah Palin is AWESOME! I am a hunter and love the fact that she sued the federal government for their outrageous listing of the polar bear."

Of course he is "outraged." Because his morbid amusement is more important than the balance of nature and the survival of the planet.
Of course she is "awesome." Because the dangers of her inheriting the most important job in the world without any sign of her ability to handle it competently are not nearly as important as the fact that she supports his hobby.

Wow. Are we sure that everyone should be allowed to vote?

24 comments:

isee3dtoo said...

Why do all your cartoon end up being political in the blog?

Too bad Clinton didn't talk about his sexual addiction and his compulsive lying. Too bad Bush didn't talk about his mental defects and the string that was coming out his back connected to the RNC.

All I can say about this election, is thank God (or whatever you thank) no more Clinton or Bush in the White House or V.P. House.

Tracy H. said...

Anyone could have seen that Bush was a freaking idiot. And yet he has served eight long years. If you want to see lying, check out what the AP found while fact-checking Palin's speech:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_fact_check

I like that Dan's cartoons are political and give people something to think about. I especially like his commentary, which I find refreshing. Especially after debating with a woman yesterday who said that Palin's hunting was ok because not everyone lives near a grocery store.

Demeter said...

We should only allow smart, well-informed people who have a conscious to vote, no matter what his or her age is.

(Yes, I'm doing everything possible to try to be able to vote.)

Penny Mitchell said...

isee3dtoo, politics are at the forefront of the minds of thinking people, because it IS that big of a deal. If we allow this election to be stolen as the last two presidental elections were, this Republic is toast. Period. This country and the way of life to which we're all so very accustomed will end.

But then again, Cindy McCain said we don't need to worry, because after all, Alaska is right next to Russia.

WHEW. I feel better now.

isee3dtoo said...

luna, the problem with your litmus-test is who makes the tests or defines 'well-informed people who have a conscious(sic)'. Some people will say hunters don't have a conscience because they kill helpless animals and others will say abortion-advocates don't.

In the above post, and in a prior blog Dan, there is a link to a yahoo website on fact checking Palin's speech. Is yahoo the source of the well-informed or is Fox news? I read the article and thought it was interesting, I would like to see a fact check done on all the speeches done at both the Republican and Democratic conventions.

I am proud of the fact when I went to vote in the last few presidential elections I didn't vote for Bush, Gore, Kerry, Clinton, Dole, etc. I haven't been able to bring myself to push down on the lever for one of these idiots. As a Republican (by birth) I was hoping two years ago that Obama would throw his hat in the ring because I understand him and I think the Repub's are going to get their arse kicked, they need it. However, you have to admit both sides are full of idiots. Maybe when the last baby boomer dies the world will be happier.

isee3dtoo said...

Penny, yes thinking people....

...as a say in my classes as a University Professor (throw a jab in there)... someone (not necessarily you) is smoking something...

The problem is people don't remember and they live in the moment. Or they don't bother to investigate the facts for themselves and so they believe hearsay.

Take for example green energy. Should the USA be burning and drinking corn? Burning for energy and drinking for sweetener (and let's not forget feeding to cows so we can eat them too at a great waste of corn). Listen to politicians, bloggers, and so on and it is the next big thing out there. There was pork projects sponsored by both sides to put up corn to methanol plants. Farmers started planting more corn and soy beans (meaning less wheat), the Bush admin (yes Bush is an idiot for signing it) signed a law raising tariffs on importing Methanol from Brazil (they make it out of sugar, it is more environmentally friendly and cheaper) so the American farmer's starting planting more corn and soy for fuel. -- Results, more corn and soy going to Methanol, less wheat in production, due to low dollar value Europeans are buying up American wheat, worldwide crop failures occured, 99% or Australia rice is no longer in production, prices sky rocketing at markets, third world can not afford to buy food, .... Question whose fault is it?

Answer both sides, but mainly the greedy and the policies in place are not just from the past 8 years, they go back during Clinton as well.

I have my preference on President and I think the current one is a fool, but I thought the previous one was a lier, and the other's who lost recently (Gore, Kerry, Dole,) I thank God they didn't win.

Yes, think - read, research, put the pieces together but the other side has holes too.

isee3dtoo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eben said...

My dad is 71, turning 72 in November.

If he somehow became President...I would BEG him to resign! He's smart, he's sharp as a tack, and he's got a work ethic that would shame most Americans...but the job would kill him!

Isee3dtoo, I agree that perhaps neither Fox nor Yahoo is the best source for news as far as bias is concerned. This is why I use OnTheIssues.org and FactCheck.org. The latter analyses of both Palin's and Obama's speeches and the untruths contained therein.

doug nicodemus said...

wow i feel like i walked in on an embarressing conversatio...

palin is the female equivalent of Dan Quale and i prayed everyday that george bush stayed alive.

mccain will die in office and palin will be our first female president...let that sink in for a couple of seconds and then see how you vote..

a more intriguing idea is what happens if he dies BEFORE the election????....hmmmmm

great comic, but it lacked something so i give it HAHA 1/2 HA

Penny Mitchell said...

isee3dtoo, you sure are concerned about Clinton's sexual proclivity. Yes he was a "lier" but we had eight years of peace and prosperity during his two terms in office. I did not totally agree with all his policies, but any president that keeps us safe and gives us a robust economy (and a good name with the rest of the world) can do whatever the hell he/she wants in the privacy of his/her home, as far as I'm concerned.

Do you correct your students' papers for spelling and grammar? Just wondering.

;-)

isee3dtoo said...

Penny,

Online, I do misspell words and the grammar is off but this is a first draft. I almost always transpose now and know for some reason, doesn't mean I don't have a brain or think. Just means I turn in a third or fourth draft in the real world.

There is a time lag in government and we tend to forget that.

1. Carter - High unemployment, bad inflation, high interest rates --- Why? Simple, Nixon/Ford ended the Vietnam war and the war machine shut down. As a result they reduced government spending and factories closed. Carter got screwed by Nixon/Ford.

2. Reagan - Reagan sees reduced spending and so he cranks up the spending on military starts a new arms race. Result lower unemployment, cold war ends, but high budget deficients, very high. Economy starts to crash because after cold war end less government spending.

3. Bush I - Gulf War I temporary increases government spending and economy looks good, War ends too soon for Bush the first, which results in economy tanking, however, all markers says economy will fix itself.

4. Clinton - Since economy was still low "It's the Economy Stupid" Clinton gets elected. He really does nothing for the economy which is the correct thing to do. Dot-com and technology takes off resulting in stock-market over-valuation resulting in artificially low interest rates. Government sees the money and starts spending big time. Result - everyone happy. Dot-coms bomb hits (bound to happen) as a result high wages put in place during dot-com rise and vast government spending can not be sustained, economy is going down. Also due to free trade manufacturing and jobs going overseas, outsources was a Clinton era word. However people liked the cheap (low interest) money and the fact they can buy t-shirts and electronics cheaper.

5. Bush II -- Economy still tanking (manufacturing is leaving the US in mass, no jobs see above about free trade), Bush is saved by 9/11 and the war, the US start spending money on war machine again. And since people liked the money during Clinton administration, sub-prime home loans and other stupid banking practices raise the economy. However, housing market crashes and the war machine basically shuts down; we are not spending money in the US instead we are spending money on Haliburton (who is moving to the Middle-East so they can be tax free). This money does nothing for the economy. Same with economy stimulus package, we either paid off bills or bought something made in China.

--

So the good years during Clinton Admin was mainly from the dot-com boom and low interest rates but when the bomb hit every thing looked bad. President's inherit both the good and the bad from the previous President. Assuming Obama gets elected he inherits a mess.

Also I don't care about Clinton and his sex life, never have. I said he is a liar, I didn't mean about Monica which proves he lied. He is a liar, period. Bush on the other hand is a puppet, and someone else pulls the strings, I believe Bush believes what he says but someone else is putting the words in his ears.

L. Erskine said...

Factcheck.org

Obama
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_obama.html

Palin
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/gop_convention_spin_part_ii.html

My mother said that she's absolutely terrified at the idea of another old president. She said that living through Regan was bad enough.

Superhero Spouse said...

isee3dtoo, it never fails to astonish me when folks like you race to call Clinton a liar (or a lier if you prefer) in the same discussion where Bush and his fellow republicans are mentioned. It's like saying that Geico gecko is "a REALLY HUGE lizard" when we've just been talking about Godzilla.

I admit that it's been years and years since I marched about those hallowed halls, but MY university professors would have crucified me for such an inane and unsupported statement as "He is a liar, period." What next? He's a "stupid head because I say so"? Things must have changed quite a bit in academia since my day.

And "idiots"? Really? Gore is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Is he an idiot? Kerry (awards for debate and oration at Yale) and Clinton (Rhodes Scholar), too? I'm no fan of Dole, heaven knows, but I'm pretty sure he has an IQ in the triple digits.

"Thank God" Gore didn't win? Yeah, that would have been tragic. I wonder if the tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed in Bush's war would agree? I mean, if we could ask them, which we can't, on accounta them being dead and all.

Here's my unsupported (except by your own posts here) statement: You're nuts.

Mike Duffau said...

dont underestimate that old man
McCain he used to be a boxer. one a fighter always a fighter. if youre interested in reading about it. check it out:

http://boxing-ring.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-boxing-helped-shape-john-mccain.html

Penny Mitchell said...

superhero spouse, it's almost 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians, by most estimates. We have to estimate, because, as Tommy Franks said, "We don't do body counts."

Also, don't forget the 4,155 dead American service people and 917 dead contractors in Iraq alone, not counting Afghanistan. And the tens of thousands of injured and/or returning home with PTSD.

I bet they're thanking God Gore didn't win.

Eben said...

Actually, Penny, the estimated Iraqi civilian dead is neither "tens of thousands" nor "100,000", but closer to one MILLION.

Penny Mitchell said...

Hey eben, I was going by this, but yeah, the Lancet study is the one with the much higher figure. It's considered to be not as reliable, and I'm happy to err on the side of caution to keep the uber right from yammering idiotically. ;-) But I agree with you. I think the number is probably closer to a million, which I really can't get my brain around.

La Framéricaine said...

In the midst of this Reagan/McCain comparison, no one has even mentioned that Reagan had Alzheimer's disease while acting as the president. He didn't suddenly get it up on walking out the door to retirement. Jeez!

So, that means that you will have no idea about what's up with McCain until it's too late and Sarah is your president.

Gawd save us all...

Josh Duncan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jeff said...

"stolen"
how were they stolen?

Anonymous said...

I am through posting on this subject.

Peace out.

Penny Mitchell said...

YAY! I have my own troll! I rock.

Anonymous said...

isee3dtoo, you sure are concerned about Clinton's sexual proclivity. Yes he was a "lier" but we had eight years of peace and prosperity during his two terms in office. I did not totally agree with all his policies, but any president that keeps us safe and gives us a robust economy (and a good name with the rest of the world) can do whatever the hell he/she wants in the privacy of his/her home, as far as I'm concerned.

Do you correct your students' papers for spelling and grammar? Just wondering.

;-)

Anonymous said...

Who are you and why are you calling ME a troll?