THIS MODERN WORLD

Not much to add to that at the moment. But the Pima County Sheriff is right — we need to take a deep breath and scale down the vitriol because words can have consequences. And by “we” I mean the jackasses who indulge in eliminationist rhetoric for fun and profit. Whether the shooter was directly influenced by the rightwing crap — like the guy the CHP stopped on his way to massacre people at the Tides Foundation because of what he “learned” listening to Glenn Beck — or if he’s just a crazy person who soaked it all in … it really has to stop.

One of the dead was a nine year old girl. I really can’t get past that.

Links later, or Use The Google, but the Sheriff’s press conference was an extraordinary, maybe historic, moment … and Olbermann’s special comment tonight sums it all up about as well as you can.

White House caves on end of life planning. This is utterly infuriating.

So is this Obama’s first pre-emptive concession of the new year and new Congress, or did one sneak by already that I missed?

An innocent fable of a wealthy man.

… to the readers who were inspired by the post below to send a donation. I’m not sure if it’s a sustainable model in the long term, but maybe direct reader support is what will ultimately keep the genre formerly known as newspaper cartooning afloat.

… adding two thoughts:

(1) papers that can’t afford cartoons are probably not a “sustainable model in the long term” themselves. Syndicated cartoons are pretty darned cheap!

(2) The catchphrase you hear a lot is that cartoonists need to “reinvent themselves” — which always makes me think of the bit from Spinal Tap:

Nigel Tufnel: Well, I suppose I could, uh, work in a shop of some kind, or… or do, uh, freelance, uh, selling of some sort of, uh, product. You know…
Marty DiBergi: A salesman?
Nigel Tufnel: A salesman, like maybe in a, uh, haberdasher, or maybe like a, uh, um… a chapeau shop or something. You know, like, “Would you… what size do you wear, sir?” And then you answer me.
Marty DiBergi: Uh… seven and a quarter.
Nigel Tufnel: “I think we have that.” See, something like that I could do.

Oh, also: Happy New Year! The future’s uncertain, but never boring.

The Cleveland Scene has just informed me that they’re dropping TMW effective January 1. Cleveland-area residents only who would like to send them feedback on this decision can contact the editor by email at eburnett@clevescene.com, or by snailmail at:

Erich Burnett
Editor, Cleveland Scene
1468 W. 9th Street #805
Cleveland, OH 44113

Be polite! I’m told the strip is a victim of budgetary cutbacks (as tends to happen these days) — the point here is to convince them that it’s worth the modest amount of money that it costs. (If you don’t read the paper, please don’t pester them — the feedback they get should be genuine.)