Arkansas Blog

For the Demozette to run it, I'd say it's an oversight. God forbid that they be progressive......

Perhaps that old fart Greenberg can enlighten us with his Pulitzer-honeyed words as to why he and Hussman constitute moral arbiters of the comics. I am reminded of that "fair and balanced" argument some years back that set up the whole moronic Doonesbury/ Mallard Fillmore controversy, hiding them both in the classifieds to avoid controversy. That's what passes for editorial prowess at the Demozette.

More likely is that Griffen Smith (CSA) is out of town.

Speaking of gays/lesbians, its curious that the lesbian couple who sued for the right to marry in Massachussetts has already filed for divorce.

Drudge report recently had an article containing George Michael's views on gay marriage:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=397227&in_page_id=1773&in_a_source=

["The 43-year-old star was caught emerging from the bushes after a sexual encounter with pot-bellied jobless van driver Norman Kirtland ...
Even though George Michael is "due to enter a civil partnership with long-term lover Kenny Goss in the next few weeks, was caught in the illegal act in the early hours of Tuesday morning."... 'As far as he is concerned, that is what gay men do'
...
"As far as he is concerned, that is what gay men do and I don't think this is going to change his habits. "]
**********************************

These examples certainly don't help the argument for "gay marriage" or even civil unions.

As for the comic, it was rather stupid. Then again, Zits has never been an especially good product.

We need to have a thread about why MIKE MASTERSON is the worst newspaper columnist in the history of all media! This guy is a dufus.

"Speaking of gays/lesbians, its curious that the lesbian couple who sued for the right to marry in Massachussetts has already filed for divorce...These examples certainly don't help the argument for "gay marriage" or even civil unions. "

George, you are aware that today's marriages have a 40-50% failure rate, aren't you? I suppose it's only natural that you would require the gays to be much better at marriage than straight folks if they want to enjoy the ability to get married. That goes along with any bigotry. Your examples don't hurt the argument for gay civil unions, either. Most people can pick two examples that make marriage between a man and a woman look like an utter joke.

The only reason this might look bad is people hold the "inferiors" to a higher standard as a condition to joining their club.

My vote is for oversight. Someone's probably out of a job by now...

I believe I have stumbled across the reason that the DoG periodically cancels one of its comics, resulting in the inevitable flood of letters to the editor, both pro and con, for the decision: This is all a clever marketing tool.

Tinkering with the comics is designed to provoke exactly the response that it always does. This, in turn, allows the DoG and its advertising/marketing consultants to determine approximately what percentage of the paper's readers have no life beyond each morning's comics page, and, therefore, would be subject to certain types of advertising. This information is then shared with the DoG's major advertisers, who effectively utilize it to boost sales to this particular demographic group.

It's cheap and brutally effective; the primary traits that have marked the Hussman family's newspaper operations for two generations now.

Because George Michael, with his drug problems and various run-ins with the law, should be considered an arbiter of anything much less what "the gays" consider marriage should be.

I'm pretty sure my eyes just rolled back farther than they ever have before. And it hurts a bit...

If Frank Fellone missed this, his head is likely to roll -- we can only hope. . .

George 9:32 is an Idiot.

A washed up celebrity has an indecent meeting and we should continue to refuse gays their rights.

Should we shape all public policy by what one person says or does?

Elizabeth Taylor had EIGHT husbands. Should we ban women from marrying?

Joey Buttafucko had an affair with an underage bimbo that then shot his wife in the head. Should men with funny last names be banned from marrying?

Mary Lee Orsino tried to blowup her lover's wife but that failed so she hired a hit man to chase her through her house in Pleasant Valley and gun her down in her closet. Should we stop women with 3 names from getting married?

People that post as George make ignorant statements. Should we take away the freedom of speech from all other Georges?

The answer to all of my above questions is no.

Kudos to those of you who responded to George's red herring. Anectdotal evidence does not go very far, though it is good red meat for the grinder. It is those stories that can enflame the base or the extreme of whatever position you are addressing. For example:

1) Gays Bad because George Michael did this and that and shows why we should bever have gay marriage.

2) Corporations Bad because Enron collapsed from fraudulent accounting that wiped out the retirement savings of a generation showing why we should crack down on the big bad corps.

"Then again, Zits has never been an especially good product.'

Hush yore mouth, doofus. Zits is my favorite cartoon. The creator certainly has or has had teenagers around the house.

Themis,

So are you arguing that news such as the articles I noted help in the argument for either "gay marriage" or civil unions? I would argue that they will influence public opinion.

************************
Cato,

I'm glad to hear that someone enjoys Zits.
**************************************
Well the wedding is off. George Michael and his primary gay lover have abandoned the idea of "gay marriage", given that George has no intention of committing.

[George's 'wedding is off'
By This is London
25 July 2006

"George Michael and his American lover Kenny Goss have called off their gay 'wedding' after the pop star was discovered having an illicit encounter with a stranger in a London park."]

Now we know where the George comes from!!!!

I can take or leave zits, but Overboard was just about as lame as you can get. My 7 year old could craft a better punch line on his worst day. And Mallard Fillmore...he doesn't even use punch lines, or humor at all for that matter. What a gig, just draw a duck with a speech bubble screaming "Liberals are Bad!" and you got it, just head for the copier.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

"Easy is an adjective used to describe a woman who has the sexual morals of a man."
Nancy Linn-Desmond

"More likely is that Griffen Smith (CSA) is out of town."

Griffin "Orval Faubus was Fabulous!!" Smith is the arbiter of some of the most bizarre policies in place at the Dem-Gaz, from downplaying executions to censoring info about seat belt use in wreck stories to overplayed section front coverage of the commemoration of a Confederate spy's hanging to forcing reporters to put quotations around the word marriage during the 2004 debate over banning non-heterosexual unions.

The bizarre, "Decency Police" litmus test for canning assorted comic strips reaches snow-capped peaks of hypocrisy, given the Dem-Gaz's publication of the entire Starr Report back in 1998. The Dem-Gaz's decision to publish every word of Kenneth Starr's pornographic ramblings on interaction of body parts should prompt hysterical peals of laughter whenever the Dem Gaz claims to be a "family newspaper." So much for "protecting the children"; humiliating Bill Clinton always came first.

Of course, all this nonsense about comic strips getting canned obscures Smith's biggest journalistic sin: forcing reporters to write that Orval Faubus' motivation during the Central High Crisis was to "preserve peace and good order." Every other publication in the known universe recognizes that Faubus' motivation was to block integration to ingratiate himself with segregationists and outflank Justice Jim Johnson.

Smith seems to fancy himself a history buff, but he got his degree from Bizarro World University. Smith's twisted version of the Central High crisis is like the Washington Post letting Richard Nixon's rationale dominate a retrospective on Watergate. As in "President Nixon ordered the cover up of the Watergate break in believing that 'when the president does something it is not illegal.' "

The 50th anniversary of the Central High crisis next year will provide another opportunity for Smith to continually perpetrate this historical fraud on Arkansans who are too young to know what really happened--or too ignorant to know the difference. Hopefully the Arkansas Times and all of the other news media without an Orval Faubus fetish will continue to endeavor to tell the truth about what happened in 1957.

I heard that Mike Beebe returned the Arkansas Democrat Gazette after he promised he would take a years subscription because of this cartoon.

Zithead, he "promised he would take a years subscription because of this cartoon"? You've just negated your own stupid opinion because you never learned syntax. Too bad you slept through school.

Yikes! I've been called out by the grammer police! Ha! YOu're pretty funny. Get over yourself.

Zits is definitely a strip for parents of teenagers, not for teenagers.

For shear humor, I'd recommend the delightful Pooch Cafe www.gocomics.com/poochcafe