xmas

Under my hard atheist exterior I'm an O'Reilly-level Christmas lover. Have a merry one. Here's the card I sent out this year.

hasn't used the google

The following letter to the editor in today's Oregonian irked me so much I had to submit a rebuttal.

Do whatever it takes to win

I am so angry I could spit. This idea that using waterboarding is torture and cannot be tolerated is insane. Tell that to the father of Nicholas Berg.

I know it's been a while and politics tends to really skew one's memory, but he was the young man whose head was sawn off on tape as the world watched in horror.

These wimped-out ideas are not only nuts but border on treason.

[it goes on in this manner for a bit more.]

BILL CASEY
Northeast Portland

In today's letter column, Bill Casey writes that, "This idea that using waterboarding is torture and cannot be tolerated is insane. Tell that to the father of Nicholas Berg" and that these ideas "border on treason." It's interesting because Michael Berg, the father of Nicholas, ran for congress in 2006 on the Green party ticket and took a strong anti-war, anti-bush stance. He doesn't like people using his dead son to make pro-war political points and he opposes torture and the occupation of Iraq. Should he be arrested for treason?

Matt Bors
SE Portland

war is boring

A new strip is up here.

Mini Spears

This headline is on the Huffington Post today.

I guess getting knocked up when you are 16 can now officially be considered a good career move. We'll see you after a few years of non-stop media coverage, Ms. Spears--when you become a divorced drug addict that gets ridiculed for gaining seven pounds. On the bright side, you may be able to pull your life back together before your 21st birthday.

For Torture Before She Was Against It

Nancy Pelosi and other democrats were briefed years ago on our illegal torture archipelago setup throughout the world. Not only did they stay mum about this program, but apparently didn't object or even ask any questions about it at the time. Apologists point to the post 9/11 climate of fear or the fact that the briefings were by the CIA and thus secretive. None of this makes any sense. Glenn Greenwald says it perfectly:

the whole point of their being briefed is that they are expected to engage in oversight, which means that they are supposed to do something when they learn that the President and the CIA are breaking the law.

Why would they even bother to go to the briefings if they tell themselves ahead of time: "even if intelligence officials confess to serial, deliberate lawbreaking and vow to continue breaking the law, there is absoultely nothing I can do about it, because I'm sworn to secrecy"? That's absurd. Their obligation to maintain the secrecy of classified information applies to proper and legal intelligence activities.

This is what we have for an opposition party. I'll ask yet again: what exactly could this administration do to warrant censure/impeachment/imprisonment/exile?

The Age of Reason

People believe the darndest things.

The Surge Is Working

In case you don't follow the war as closely as you should, the enemy is in retreat and the forces of freedom are winning. If we would have listened to the critics and cut funding and pulled out, our enemies would be gloating right now.

Yes indeed, Bill O'Reilly has declared victory in the War on Christmas.

Huckabee

It was fun watching Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee argue this week over who Jesus likes more. Everyone knows Jesus loves Alan Keyes the most.

Every journalist that does a write up on Huckabbe gushes about how likable, funny and affable he is before moving on to his completely insane beliefs about abolishing the IRS, how the earth is 6,000 years old, how AIDS might be spread through casual contact, jesus this and jesus that. Nice guy though.

pope prints

So a day after posting it, the pope comic is by far the most popular thing I've ever done.

If anyone in interested in a signed print of it, you can grab one here.

toothpicked

When I did my cartoon on cultural histories I thought I linked to the most ridiculous titles in my blog post, but it turns out I missed the motherload. ToothPick: Technology and Culture was released in October, written by Henry Petroski, the author of--and I kid you not-- The Pencil.

A magazine ad I saw last night alerted me to this book, declaring that this "useful and ubiquitous tool finally gets its due!" To give you a glimpse of how exciting this book is, Publisher's Weekly says, "Petroski occasionally offers a first-person perspective, describing the unpleasant feel of a bamboo pick or confessing that sometimes he'll resort to a mechanical pencil."

At the bottom of the ad it it has this:

Consider the Toothpick:

• Anthropologist have found evidence of groves on fossilized teeth of Neanderthals that resulted from rough-hewn toothpicks.
• In Spain, a young señorita used the instrument to protect her virtue from someone trying to steal a kiss.
  

The phrase "jumped the shark" refers to the moment a good trend or TV show goes bad--it started when Fonzie jumped a shark on Happy Days. But what about when they continue and there's just this moment where you realize not only how bad it is, but that the badness has reached such levels that it should be forcibly stopped--by law if necessary. I propose "toothpicked," as in "cultural histories have toothpicked--time stop making them and pulp the ones that exist."

World History

Joe Ratzinger, who calls himself "pope bendict XVI", recently issued an encyclical arguing against atheism and outright blaming it for most of history's atrocities. He should open a history book or perhaps look at the current pedophile infestation he has been covering up with massive payments to victims.

The usual tactic is to note that Joseph Stalin was an atheist and thus insinuate that atheism leads to mass killing because there is no morality to it. And there isn't. Atheism is not a moral philosophy nor a political movement--it's simply a lack of a belief in god(s). One can be a strict science based atheist or a new age quack, a libertarian or a socialist. I've never known anyone who's moral beliefs derived from atheism.

Ratzinger:

Since there is no God to create justice, it seems man himself is now called to establish justice. If in the face of this world's suffering, protest against God is understandable, the claim that humanity can and must do what no God actually does or is able to do is both presumptuous and intrinsically false. It is no accident that this idea has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice; rather, it is grounded in the intrinsic falsity of the claim.

Whether religious or not, most people would agree we need to improve life on earth. This includes establishing governments, creating laws, doing scientific research and creating art, among other things. Since god didn't deliver unto us the constitution, evolutionary biology, medicine, democracy, or equality under the law since the dawn time, we've had to create them ourselves. Ratzinger finds that "presumptuous." Most likely what he detests is that people have found routes to live fulfilling lives that don't include attending his church.

A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope. No one and nothing can answer for centuries of suffering. No one and nothing can guarantee that the cynicism of power—whatever beguiling ideological mask it adopts—will cease to dominate the world.

That's right. We can't guarantee it as centuries of atrocities have shown. We are on our own and it is up to us to make the world a better place. If we succeed, the power that will "cease to dominate the world" will be morally bankrupt frauds like Joe Ratzinger.

Quantum Leap of Logic

During the Democratic Debate on NPR Hillary Clinton tried to obscure her vote to declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. The vote was non-binding and served only to ratchet up the rhetoric against Iran and served no diplomatic purpose whatsoever. Clinton's vote was a clear move to position herself as tough on foreign policy for the general election.

Clinton defended her vote, saying it was non-binding and did not authorize Bush to take any action against Iran. "I think we do know that pressure on Iran does have an effect," Clinton said.

Sen. Joe Biden (DE) challenged the idea that the Senate vote influenced Iran's nuclear plans. "With all due respect to anybody who thinks that pressure brought this about, let's get this straight. In 2003, they stopped their program," Biden said.

Shirts

I neglected to mention it up to this point, but I do have some $5 shirts in the store that could be given as a cheap gift or stocking stuffer. I can get them to you in time for Christmas if you order this week.

Maybe They Can Mow Your Lawn

Mitt Romney has previously showed that he doesn't believe muslims have a role in American politics. It seems atheists may be even more worthless to him. On the heels of his big "religion speech" that included attacks on secularism, Mitt had this say, or rather, not to say:

A spokesman for the Mitt Romney campaign is thus far refusing to say whether Romney sees any positive role in America for atheists and other non-believers, after Election Central inquired about the topic yesterday

Nuke Em

If people like Bill Kristol, John Bolton and Sean Hannity had their way, we would have found out that Iran had no nuclear weapons earlier--after the post-invasion assessment of their nuclear facilities. It's not really surprising, but sometimes I'm just flabbergasted by them. They're spinning this to somehow show they've been right all along. Bush is still insisting that they cease uranium enrichment. Apparently, they can't even power so much as an xbox with nuclear energy.

This was defiantly an embarrassment for the administration and pro-war pundits. I imagined them going through all their columns early Monday to see how wrong they've been and just how much they could put a positive spin on it.

Also, CNN has postponed their documentary "We Were Warned--Iran Goes Nuclear."

Front Page Comics

the Des Moines Register printed this comic on the front page of their paper today, which is how many newspapers used to run editorial cartoons in the days of yore.

Update: looking into it, apparently they do this all the time at that paper.

Yoga!

Pat Robertson doesn't like Yoga. The Eastern influenced exercise is "really spooky." Well OK, Pat. At least yoga instructors don't call for the assassination of foreign leaders. There are spiritual/new age/hindu beliefs that go along with certain types of yoga but most Americans do it for the exercise. Why can't they simply be wrong instead of influenced by satan?

I never understood this about fundamentalists. I used to debate the the Jehovah's Witnesses who came to my door until they got bored (it took a while) and they once tried to convince me of how palm reading, channeling and astrology were satanic. I tried to explain how it's all nonsense and that those people are frauds, but they couldn't see it. They kept saying things like, "But how could they divine the future without demonic influence?"

Original Art for Charity

It occurred to me that perhaps I could use this season of giving to raise some money for charity by selling an original and do some good in a small way instead of merely commenting on issues with comics. If you are a fan, here's your excuse to splurge on some original art and feel good about it.

So I'm offering my last cartoon on homeless veterans for the usual price I would sell an original for: $150, but all of the money (including some more I'll add on) will be donated to the National Coalition for Homeless Vets which you can read about here. You pay me and I'll send you the original, a color print if you want it and a receipt for the donation.

My originals are inked and hand-lettered on an 8.5x11 piece of bristol board and is suitable for framing.

If you are interested, please e-mail me to set up payment: mattbors--[at]--mattbors-~dot~-[com]

...you filthy animal

The Pentagon was forcing injured vets to pay back part of their enlistment bonus when they couldn't complete their tours of duty due to having limbs blown off. At first I was going to have the Pentagon tracking down homeless vets who didn't have addresses, but they quickly said they would end the practice after the story broke.

It's a nice gesture; the money they lure economically insecure men and women into combat with can be kept after their bodies and minds are broken.

War Is Boring

The new War Is Bring strip is up here. As David prepares a trip to Somalia he checks to see if Ted Rall's down to tag along. Funny situation because I work for both of them (Ted being my Editor at United).

a wide stance on evidence

The Idaho Statesman has an article that has more allegations from gay men that Sen. Larry Craig had or solicited sex from them (via ThinkProgress). The thing that caught me was how it starts:

four gay men, willing to put their names in print and whose allegations can’t be disproved, have come forward since news of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s guilty plea. They say they had sex with Craig or that he made a sexual advance or that he paid them unusual attention.

No one really doubts that Larry Craig had gay sex. The toe tapping and his absurd denial was enough to push us over the reasonable doubt threshold. But what sort of responsible journalist would qualify claims because they "can’t be disproved"? Most claims can't be disproved. Usually when people claim something--that the Earth is 6,000 years old, that they are an alien, that someone solicited sex in a men's room--the burden of proof falls on them to actually prove it, not just make statements and challenge others to prove them wrong.