Sunday Funnies & Arts

As always, click to enlarge. For more Doonesbury, Ben Sargent, Pat Oliphant, Mother Goose and Grimm, Tony Auth, Tom the Dancing Bug, Tom Toles, and Zippy, go here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here...

JUST A SONG: Los Lobos' "Will the Wolf Survive"--

A wonderfully conceived allegory, "Will The Wolf Survive" tells the story of a working man envisaged as an endangered species beset by social forces ("Hunters hard on his trail") beyond his control. Considering that the song was written 25 years ago, its bridge is remarkably prescient in its depiction of the shrinking middle class...

When I was a small boy growing up in New Hampshire, the Boston Red Sox radio broadcast team of Curt Gowdy and Ned Martin were my constant companions. The Sox radio sponsor in those days was a Massachusetts beer called Narragansett (after the Bay). I can still hear Curt and Ned extolling the virtues of this "Bay brew" and closing their promos with a hearty "Hi, neighbor -- Have a 'Gansett!" Today, the beer is long gone, but the legacy remains. Here's photo from the Boston Craft Brew Fest (thanks, Bill!):

An Oregonian recalls his working class roots...

Cliff's Crib turns the spotlight on black fathers...

Hell0, cowgirl in the sand...

Dust-to-Digital: Take Me to the Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography...

Premium T. finds a skull in an unusual place (scroll down)...

Congratulations, Reilly!...

The older I got, the smarter my father became. Here's a Father's Day thought from Mark Twain (thanks, Clever Pup!):

When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years...

A Father's Day Message from Lakewood, OH...

Sailing on Lake Ponchartrain...

New Orleans drummer Stanton Moore of Galactic anchors the CD by Tom Morello's new project, the Street Sweeper Social Club...

Sunday Gospel Time: Mahalia Jackson and Nat King Cole "Steal Away":

Sunday Funnies & Arts (A Day Late)

As always, click to enlarge. For more Tom the Dancing Bug, Ben Sargeant, Funky Winkerbean, Calvin and Hobbes, Mother Goose and Grimm, Tony Auth, Tom Toles, and Zippy, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here...

The Naked Ride Home:

Though lawful, the bicyclists were offensive to some observers. Out for a stroll on Frenchmen Street, Jason Price, 40, grew enraged as the riders passed him.

"All I saw was a bunch of indecent people and perverts," he said.

In New Orleans?...

Yesterday, Wolf Blitzer had this edifying exchange with Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH):

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had a serious health problem when I was unemployed in France. I was able to choose all of my doctors, all of my treatments and my health care was covered at nearly 100 percent. If this had happened to me in the United States, I would have had to declare bankruptcy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, Senator. What do you say to Sally?

GREGG: Well, first off, I have no interest in turning the United States into France. We're not going to Europeanize this country, even though I regret to say that the policies that this government right now appear to be moving us down that road, toward the nationalization of an awful lot of stuff.

I believe that we produce the best health care system -- delivery system in the world. We're on the cutting edge of technologies, we're on the cutting edge of procedures. And the reason we're able to do that is because we have a private health care system in this country.

Now, set aside for a second that Judd Gregg, scion of a wealthy mill-owning family, son of a former governor of New Hampshire, and educated at Phillips Exeter, Columbia, and Boston University, has never had to sweat out health care access in his life. When he claims that the United States has the best health care system in the world, he's patently wrong. By the most basic of measures -- life expectancy -- our health care system ranks 45th in the world, behind every country in the European Union. (France, for the record, is eighth.) On the other hand, no one denies that the United States spends more on health care than any other country. By any definition, the bang for the buck here is terrible -- a scandal, really...

After hearing Gregg denigrate France, my father and I began listing the things about France that we would like to see in this country:

• French food
• French wine
• cheese
• mass transit
• art
• cinema
• health care
• Paris
• Provence

Oh, and the language: You have to admit that French is a great language. Anyway, it turned into a real What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us moment...

Welcome to Acadiana...

Frank Gehry in Newport Hills...

Philly in the Phifties...

Projections recalls growing up in Southern California in the 1940s...

We're Always At Your Service (thanks to Jacqueline T. Lynch at Another Old Movie Blog):

Sunday Funnies & Arts

“The love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly Father.” -Samuel Taylor Coleridge

As always, click to enlarge. Click on the links for more Doonesbury, Ben Sargent, Mother Goose & Grimm, Tony Auth, Tom Tomorrow, Tom Toles, and Zippy...

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here: Premium T. has been collecting flu puns. Citizen K. has aided and abetted. Whether you cringe or join in the fun, don't say you weren't warned...

She also took these amazing photos of her late neighbors' empty home. Empty, that is, in the corporeal sense, but still full in spirit...

Just A Song: The Rolling Stones' "Salt Of The Earth"...

In honor of all secret mothers...

Happy Mother's Day in Lakewood, OH...

61 Comet in 09...

Cherry blossoms in Rhode Island...

What I Learned In New Orleans...

The ironic First Lines above are from The Great Gatsby. They seem innocuous enough except that Fitzgerald never wrote anything innocuous in his life. As the novel brilliantly unfolds, it becomes clear that the people "without the advantages" are the Buchanans who gained the world and lost their souls, and even Gatsby, whose wealth couldn't buy him love or acceptance from an elite who didn't deserve him anyway...

Sunday Gospel Time: Vern "The Voice" Gosdin sings "Love Rolled The Stone Away":

Sunday Funnies & Arts

As always, click to enlarge. For more Mike Keefe, Tom Tomorrow, Tom Toles, Pat Oliphant, Doonesbury. Ben Sargent, Mother Goose & Grimm, and Tony Auth, go here, here, here, here, here, here, and here...

Just A Song: Austin singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves "Drinkin' Days" are over, but he's still trouble bound...

Sean, what are you waiting for? This is your chance to support the troops and show that water boarding isn't torture. Don't let us down. Sign the petition demanding that Sean Hannity put his money where his mouth is here...

Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney says that art helps people through troubled economic times...

Apothecary D'Orleans...

Ever wonder what would happen if a bull got loose in your neighborhood grocery store? The people of Ballinrobe, County Mayo now know....

Brothels, Depravity, and Abandoned Women: Illegal Sex in Antebellum New Orleans...

Sunday Gospel Time: Leonard Cohen sings "Hallelujah" last June before an appreciative Dublin audience: