Tom Hanks is James Bond

I would so definitely see this...

If the Media were Liberal...

If the Media were truly Liberal, this (minus the sarcastic bookends) is the kind of thing we'd see during the day after Oprah, instead of after Midnight on a Saturday:

"Stephanie Miller Show" goes slumming with Candorville's Darrin Bell

For some unknown reason, Elayne Boosler, guest hosting the Stephanie Miller Show on Jones Radio Network (& aired on many Air America affiliates), decided to spend a few minutes interviewing yours truly this morning. I didn't post about this beforehand or tell friends or family because it would scare the hell out of me knowing that people were actually listening to me live. "They" say most Americans fear public speaking more than they fear death, and for a cartoonist who's used to spending his days alone, half-naked in a tiny studio with only his characters to keep him company, death would be #3. #2 would be having to wear pants.

Still, I sit for interviews whenever I'm asked because, hell, this is a dream come true for me -- creating cartoons that strangers (who don't owe me anything) spend a few precious, irretrievable seconds out of their days to read -- and when someone asks me to talk about that on the radio or TV or a panel discussion, it's a reminder that it's actually happening, that that little kid who "wasted time" drawing Optimus Prime and Snoopy in his textbooks actually became what he wanted to be.

Here's the interview. Behind this buffer of time, it isn't so scary. From today's Stephanie Miller Show:

Why Bush should be Impeached

I still have no idea why Barack Obama believes the current administration's violations of our Constitutional rights do not constitute "grave breaches." I'm sure his desire to not be impeached himself, should he win, has nothing to do with it. Watch this recent Bill Moyers special (in 5 parts) for a less self-interested assessment:

It's cool, but is it an editorial cartoon?

Editorial cartoonists are dropping like flies, in concert with the declining health of the newspaper industry. The Internet is the most likely culprit. As people increasingly turn to to their computers for news, some cartoonists, like Mark Fiore, are adapting as well -- becoming animators. This year's Pulitzer winning editorial cartoonist won partially for his body of animated work, and members of the AAEC are asking themselves: If it's animated, is it still an editorial cartoon?

Check out this animation by Nick Anderson of the Houston Chronicle. What do you think?

Michael Moore injures Wolf Blitzer in cage match

When Laura and I walked out of the Arclight in Hollywood after seeing Michael Moore's Sicko, I scanned the floor ahead for rusty nails, sharp-toothed dogs, falling satellites -- anything that might necessitate a trip to Kaiser. Laura would probably tell you I'm a bit of a hypochondriac. That couldn't be further from the truth. It seems to me hypochondriacs like going to the hospital, whereas I avoid the hospital like the plague since I'd surely catch something in the waiting room. It's not that I have some pathological aversion to germs, it's that like most self employed, non-unionized people, I have to fund my own health insurance and I can only afford basic coverage. That means I have high deductibles, high prescription fees and while I haven't checked, I'm fairly certain I have to pay for that paper gown that won't close in the back. That gown, by the way, is representative of my insurance: if I think my ass is covered, I'm wrong.

Anyway, over green salads at the Arclight's Charcoal Bar & Grill, Laura made me promise that if anything were to happen to her, my second call would be to 9-11 -- my first would be to Kaiser (the HMO Nixon fell in love with -- just go watch Sicko already), so we wouldn't end up like a woman in the film whose ambulance ride after a car wreck wasn't covered because she hadn't first called her insurance provider. While she lay unconscious in the street (or the mangled car, it wasn't clear which).

Imagine my relief when CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta dispelled all the horrible myths Michael Moore had subjected us to:



What relief! What glorious deliverance from fear and anxiety! Thank you, thank you thank you, CNN, for reminding me that while we don't live in the best of all possible health care systems, it couldn't get all that much better anyway. While I may despair at the high deductibles and live in fear that they'll count that skinned knee I had when I was four as a "pre-existing condition" should I ever need a knee replacement -- at least I don't have to live with the frustration that comes with knowing we could have a much better system than we have if we'd only cut out the profit motive. I love you, CNN.



D'OH!

...Oh, wait a sec, Moore can't prove any of this, can he? Of course he can't. Dr. Gupta, after all, is a journalist, and CNN is the most trusted name in news. I'll just go check Moore's website. No way he could have posted the so-called "evidence" he promised Wolf.

D'OH!