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Month: May 2009

Candorville’s Twitter posts for the week of 2009-05-31

Posted on May 31, 2009
  • Tom Ridge sez Obama being “political” by “looking backward” 2 justify current 4n policy. I thought that was called “learning from history.” #
  • Hiking. 60+ yo man struts by w/red bandana hangin from back left pocket. How’d gang member get 2 live so long? He must’ve been on desk duty. #
  • Heard CA banned a great threat to marriage. Panicked until I realized this wasn’t about banning booze, football, or Vegas. #
  • Watching black prop8 supporters on TV gleefully extoll “will of voter.” If it’d been left up2 voters we’d still have separ8 water fountains. #
  • There’s a reason the civil rights movement was fought in the courts: the scared masses will ALWAYS vote against people who aren’t like them. #
  • Picked up new client-stirs college memories. Driving from UCB thru redwoods, deer, drunken mud-covered naked people… Gotta luv Santa Cruz. #
  • White woman rolled eyes @Latina yardworker, saw Laura &me & rolled eyes again. How big a showoff RU if ur flexin ur EYE muscles 4 strangers? #
  • Every1 ignoring context of her speech. Judge Sotomayor sez life xperience would lead 2 wiser decisions in SEX AND RACE DISCRIMINATION CASES. #
  • Just smacked down forum-dweller bitching about #BSG at TrekBBS. Haven’t been in a nerd-fight in quite some time. Invigorating. I feel alive. #
  • Flashy graphic. Blitzer says WH wants both Palestinians & Israelis 2 follow existing plans. Only on cable is STATUS QUO “breaking news.” #
  • Heard Archie will propose 2 Veronica. If they stay true 2 the comix (he always ended up w/2 dates on same night), he’ll marry her AND Betty. #
  • Tom Tancredo (R) is right: La_Raza IS just like the KKK “except for the hoods and the nooses” (& the violence & the racial supremacy thing). #
  • Hiking. 6 taggers ruining hillside on my favr8 path. Opened mouth 2 drop some life-changing wisdom on ’em, all that came out was “not cool.” #

The Freeloader Myth

Posted on May 19, 2009

More BS from the credit card companies. From the NY Times:

Congress is moving to limit the penalties on riskier borrowers, who have become a prime source of billions of dollars in fee revenue for the industry. And to make up for lost income, the card companies are going after those people with sterling credit.

Banks are expected to look at reviving annual fees, curtailing cash-back and other rewards programs and charging interest immediately on a purchase instead of allowing a grace period of weeks, according to bank officials and trade groups.

“It will be a different business,” said Edward L. Yingling, the chief executive of the American Bankers Association, which has been lobbying Congress for more lenient legislation on behalf of the nation’s biggest banks. “Those that manage their credit well will in some degree subsidize those that have credit problems.”

Two things:
(a) I thought blackmail was illegal, and (b) those that manage their credit well will NOT be in any degree subsidizing those that have credit problems. The banks are trying to divide the middle class from the poor. Right now there’s a united front, a coalition of poor and middle class Americans who’re fed up with the credit card companies’ piracy. For the banks, it’s divide-and-conquer time or their ride on the gravy train is over. No, those that manage their credit well will not be subsidizing those who have credit problems. Those who have credit problems would ALSO be paying these new annual fees and the immediate interest, and they’d also lose their bonuses. What we would ALL be subsidizing are the banks’ profit margins.

In that article, they describe the responsible credit borrowers as “freeloaders” because they generate few fees while enjoying the benefits. But after years of sky-high interest rates giving the banks astronomical returns on the loans they make to the millions of Americans who can only afford to pay the minimum each month, I think most Americans know who the freeloaders are.

A Man of Many Cities

Posted on May 15, 2009
    An e-mail response I just sent to a reader (and to the papers to which he wrote):

Dear Mr. Guest,

Thank you for taking the time to write about “Candorville.” First of all, I’m impressed. You felt so passionate about this that you’ve written this same exact note to every newspaper you avidly read in each city in which you and your parents all happen to live. A sampling: Here’s what you wrote today…

“Dear Folks,

I am an avid reader of your newspaper, as are both of my parents. We find the topics in Candorville disgusting and inappropriate. They not only blatanlty partisan,
but the main reason we would like them removed is that the strip lacks any humor value whatsoever. I have read it every day and I dont even snicker, and I laugh at just about anything.
For instance, there was one strip whose subject was regarding torture. The punch line was “Well sir, you know the way to keep these crimes from being commited again is to not prosecute them and let them go”. Now what is funny about THAT? I really, truly hate to use this word, but it IS stupid!
I am of the opinion you should remove the strip until the writer can get a sense of what kind of humor will at the very leat make a person smile, or snicker, let alone get a big laugh. Thank you.

Matthew Guest
Seattle, Wa./Washington, D.C. ”

…and here’s what you wrote yesterday:

“I am an avid reader of your newspaper, as are both of my parents. We find the topics in Candorville disgusting and inappropriate. It’s not only blatanlty partisan,
but it lacks any humor. I have read it every day for a week now and I dont even snicker, and I laugh at at all the other comic strips. I would ask the powers that be to read a few and ask yourself if you think it is humorous.
For instance, there was one strip whose subject was regarding torture. Not only is the subject of torture not funny, but the punch line was “Well sir, you know the way to prevent crime is to not prosecute them and let them go”. Now if I wrote to you and said “The best way to keep a roof from leaking is to not fix the hole where the rain come in”, would you laugh? Unless you were on something, then I doubt it.
I am of the opinion you should remove the strip until the writer can get a sense of what kind of humor will at the very least make a person smile. Thank you.

M. Guest
Marin County, Ca.”

Mr. Guest, funny is in the eye of the beholder. What you find painfully unfunny makes others double over in laughter, and you can be sure there are plenty of people who despise whatever comics you happen to enjoy. “Appropriate” is also in the eye of the beholder. My grandfather believes “Matlock” is vulgar and strange, but my niece believes “Married With Children” is old-fashioned and tame. All of this is why the newspapers in every city in which you and your parents reside each carry many different comics — they all have diverse readerships with divergent interests and tastes. You’re free to read what you like and skip what you don’t like.

As for the “torture” comic strip you referenced, no, of course torture is not funny. Neither is breast cancer, war, death, or any of the other serious topics that have always been explored on the comics page ever since the dawn of comics. Comics like Candorville are modern-day court jesters, cutting through the niceties and evasions that otherwise hinder honest discussion of sensitive issues. And this particular issue has been tip-toed around for far too long. It’s time to speak in stark, unequivocal terms about an issue that, if left unchecked, can subvert everything this country stands for. If you don’t want to notice the discussion, you can always skip it and read Family Circle or Beetle Bailey.

Candorville’s subject matter is by no means new to the comics page. Before Candorville there were The Boondocks, Bloom County and Doonesbury. Before them was Pogo. Before that, Little Orphan Annie. All the way back to the very first comic strip, “The Yellow Kid,” the comics page has been a mix of light-hearted family humor, gags, and heavy politics & social commentary. Aside from the diverse readership I’ve already mentioned, one reason for that is that the comics page is supposed to be a gateway drug for the rest of the paper. Smart editors and publishers came up with that idea over 100 years ago, and smart editors and publishers continue to use the comics page for that today. The young and the apolitical can read Garfield, Peanuts and Dilbert, but some of them will eventually venture into the political/social satire comics. Many of them will want to know what the comic is talking about, and those people will start reading the front section to figure it out.

In any case, I do believe I may have found the problem with that particular “torture” strip you referenced. What you’re describing as the “punch-line” wasn’t a punch-line at all. As the editors you’re writing to at all those papers could tell you, it was what in cartooning parlance is called “the setup.” I’m a traditionalist in that I tend to put the punch-lines at the END of the comics, not the middle. If you keep reading ’til the end instead of stopping in the third panel, you might find it to be at least a little wiser, if not funnier.

Thanks again for taking the time to write. And to write, and to write…

Best regards,
Darrin Bell
Cartoonist, “Candorville”

Comparing Our Torture to Japan’s Torture?

Posted on May 6, 2009

This week, Candorville looks at torture, at a president who’d rather ignore it, and wonders what would’ve happened if that president had been at the helm the last time the whole world was focused on the issue of torture. It’s a sensitive issue, and as with all sensitive issues, it’s open to misinterpretation. For the benefit of those who wrongly think the point of this week’s series is that we’re just as bad as Japan, here’s an e-mail I received yesterday. Read it, then read my response which is included below it.

Hello Mr. Bell,

I am an occasional reader of your strip, Candorville. I felt it was necessary for me to voice my opinions about your cartoon published in the Washington Post on May 5th, 2009.

Sir, I happen to agree with your apparent sentiment that waterboarding is a cruel and unnecessary measure in interrogation of terror suspects. I believe that there is no place for inhumane or uncivilized tactics in this or any government or military service. However, I took offense to the way you expressed your beliefs on the matter in your cartoon.

I want to make abundantly clear that comparing the war crimes of the Japanese Empire to the modern practice of waterboarding is foolish and highly insensitive to those who were prisoners of the Japanese in the far east. Just because our veterans of the second world war are dying at an accelerating pace and disappearing does not give you the right to revision history and diminish what allied and civilian prisoners suffered through. Comparing having water dripped over your face to the horrific inhumane brutality that allied POWs experienced is a minor injustice. Waterboarding is not nearly as violent and horrible as being forced to watch your officers executed by beheading, being forced to consume your own excrement, being beaten constantly, often times to death. Not to mention the fact that the Japanese even crudely crucified some prisoners who vocally shared their Christian or Jewish beliefs. The Japanese forced millions of southeast Asian peoples into slave labor in order to build railroads to carry their oppression into India. roughly 11 million southeast Asians and a much smaller number of allied POWs died at the hands of the Japanese as they built these railroads.

There are many other atrocities committed by the Japanese Empire, but you probably get my point.

While I agree with your sentiment, your delivery was downright inappropriate. My Grandfather served during World War II in the pacific theater. I’m sure that if he were alive today, he would share my sentiments.

You do not need to do so, but I look forward to your response.

(P.S. I do enjoy your strip Sir!)

Very Respectfully,

[Name withheld by Candorville.com]
Cadet, Virginia Military Institute class of 2012
Naval Midshipman

And, my response:

Dear Mr. [Name withheld by Candorville.com],

Thanks for taking the time to write, and for occasionally reading Candorville. I’m glad you’ve given me the opportunity to clear up a few things. I’ll try to answer you point by point to make sure I don’t miss anything.

“Sir, I happen to agree with your apparent sentiment that waterboarding is a cruel and unnecessary measure in interrogation of terror suspects. I believe that there is no place for inhumane or uncivilized tactics in this or any government or military service. However, I took offense to the way you expressed your beliefs on the matter in your cartoon.

I want to make abundantly clear that comparing the war crimes of the Japanese Empire to the modern practice of waterboarding is foolish and highly insensitive to those who were prisoners of the Japanese in the far east.”

You’re reading too much into it. The cartoon is not comparing the act of waterboarding to the whole host of Japanese war crimes, it’s comparing it to Japanese waterboarding, and it does so for a reason. As I said on the Candorville website today: Waterboarding was one of the atrocities for which we prosecuted the Japanese after WW2. It’s a fact that we and the rest of the “civilized” world considered waterboarding to be torture. We considered it to be inhumane and sadistic. We did not attempt to dismiss it as “having water dripped over your face.” We considered it so far beyond the realm of acceptable wartime behavior that it deserved to be listed among all the other acts of barbarism the Japanese committed. It was wedged right in there, along with systematic rape, beheadings, and the other sadistic acts you mentioned. Of course, that was when it was done to OUR people. When it’s our people doing it, that’s when we start to rationalize it by saying it’s not as bad as the worst offenses other people commit.

Our government adopted one of the criminal tactics of the Imperial Japanese. THAT, not the person who points that out, is what’s insensitive to those who were prisoners of the Japanese in the far east.

“Just because our veterans of the second world war are dying at an accelerating pace and disappearing does not give you the right to revision history and diminish what allied and civilian prisoners suffered through.”

At the risk of repeating myself, pointing out that Japanese waterboarding was considered a war crime on par with all their others doesn’t diminish anyone’s suffering. Adopting any of the Imperial Japanese’ inhumane tactics (and accepting the Bush administration’s characterization of it as a relatively minor infraction) — that’s what diminishes what Allied prisoners suffered through. Portraying it as something that’s so relatively “minor” that it doesn’t even warrant use as an analogy, that’s what rewrites history.

“Waterboarding is not nearly as violent and horrible as being forced to watch your officers executed by beheading, being forced to consume your own excrement, being beaten constantly, often times to death. Not to mention the fact that the Japanese even crudely crucified some prisoners who vocally shared their Christian or Jewish beliefs. The Japanese forced millions of southeast Asian peoples into slave labor in order to build railroads to carry their oppression into India. roughly 11 million southeast Asians and a much smaller number of allied POWs died at the hands of the Japanese as they built these railroads.

There are many other atrocities committed by the Japanese Empire, but you probably get my point.”

I do, and I hope you’ll realize that in making your point, you’re also making my point for me. We adopted a criminal tactic from people like that. People who also found it perfectly acceptable to behead officers, force prisoners to eat excrement, beat them to death, crucify them, march them til they died, enslave them, etc. THESE are the people we took our lead from. And that is so disgraceful, so important, that we haveto acknowledge it. America has been hiding from this conversation for years. It’s time to stop pussyfooting around it and speak in stark, unequivocal terms.

“While I agree with your sentiment, your delivery was downright inappropriate. My Grandfather served during World War II in the pacific theater. I’m sure that if he were alive today, he would share my sentiments.”

Inappropriate is in the eye of the beholder. Candorville states what I consider to be harsh truths. It is undeniably true that we adopted a torture measure that we had previously condemned when it was committed against our own people. That is a fact. Us doing that was inappropriate. My pointing it out is not. My Grandfather also served during World War II in the Pacific theater (nearly died at Guadal Canal). I’ve been lucky in that he is still alive today. I’m at his house as I type this, making sure he understands the instructions for his new pills before I head home. I showed him your e-mail, and he wants me to tell you that while he appreciates your sentiments, he most definitely does not share them.

If I haven’t changed your mind about the wisdom of my commentary, I hope I’ve clarified my point and that you at least understand where I’m coming from a little better. I have nothing but respect for the veterans of World War 2, and it’s turned my stomach to see our country dishonor them by engaging in the same tactic as the people my grandfather fought against so long ago.

“(P.S. I do enjoy your strip Sir!)
Very Respectfully,
[Name witheld by Candorville.com]
Cadet, Virginia Military Institute class of 2012
Naval Midshipman”

Thanks! And thanks again for taking the time to write.

Respectfully,
Darrin Bell
https://www.candorville.com

New Commenting System – what do you think?

Posted on May 4, 2009

I’m trying out a new commenting system. You may see a “login to post” button, but you DO NOT have to log in or register in order to post. Logging in just gives you more options: the option to respond directly to other comments, the option to be notified by e-mail when someone replies to your comment, the option to subscribe to an RSS feed for comments, the option to automaticallycopy your comments to your own Twitter stream, for instance (and if you’re one of the 98% of people who doesn’t know what that means, don’t worry about it), among other things.

Let me know whether you like it, and remember, even if you see a “login to post” button, feel free to ignore it if you don’t care about the extras.

Checking in on the state of the Republican Party

Posted on May 3, 2009

I subscribe to about a dozen left-wing RSS feeds, but I also subscribe to at least as many right wing newsletters. I want to know what everyone’s saying. And every week, I browse the right wing newsletters to get a snapshot of their state of mind. Or at least, a snapshot of the tactics someone’s trying to use to manipulate them. I want to see if the Republican chatter has turned away from nonsense and begun talking about issues that average Americans care about. I want to see whether they’ve come up with some way to appeal to voters who grew disgusted with Rove’s petty and destructive divide and conquer politics. I want to see if they’ve noticed the demographic shift in America and realized racist code-speak and xenophobia are bad long term strategies in a nation where whites will be a minority in just a few decades. I fired up my Mailplane app this morning and clicked on one of the right wing “Human Events” e-mails at random because I wanted to see if they’ve woken up.

“Dear Friend of the Constitution,

The biggest political cover up in American history
is taking place right before our eyes.

Worse than Watergate, Whitewatergate, or any of the other cover ups of previous administrations, is the question of whether Barack Hussein Obama is eligible to serve as President of the United States of America… OR, is he a FRAUD, a USURPER, a man with no legal authority to sit in the position that he now claims to hold?

Barack Obama could simply put the issue to rest right now by releasing his ACTUAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE! But he WON’T! Instead, he has had teams of attorneys all over the country, fighting “tooth and nail” to thwart the efforts of the United States Justice Foundation (USJF), and our allies in a number of states to compel him to produce an ACTUAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE and to prove that he is Constitutionally eligible to be President of the United States!”

…Guess not.

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