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

As always, click to enlarge. For more Doonesbury, Tom Toles, Ben Sargeant, and Zippy the Pinhead, go here, here, here, and here...

Happy Birthday, Editilla!...

Happy songs...

Last night, Premium T. and I celebrated Valentine's Day at Cafe Juanita, where we got married. Here's the menu:

First Course

Maine Lobster with Green Apple Sorbetto and Lobter Butter Powder

Chiavennasca '07 Pietro Nera, La Novella

Second Course

Raviolo of Dog Mountain* Duck Egg and Full Circle Farms Sunchokes with Smoked Sea Salt

Barbera d'Alba '07 Bricco del Tempo

Third Course

Filet of John Dory with Winter Citrus

Rosso di Montalcino '05 Agostina Pieri

Fourth Course**

Loin of Veal and Crisp Sweetbreads with Brussels Sprouts, Truffled Potato Crema, Porcini Sauce and Pickled Quince

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo '04 Masciarelli, Marina Cvetic

Dessert

Pralus Chocolate Souffle

Porto '01 Dow's LBV

* A local organic farm

** I substituted Wagyu steak

The heck with Abraham Lincoln -- what about Rutherford B. Hayes? Now there was a real president...

So a big Texan stops at a local restaurant following a day roaming around Mexico. While sipping tequila, he notices a sizzling, delicious-looking platter being served at the next table. Not only did it look good, the smell was wonderful. So he asks the waiter, "What is that you just served?"

"Ah senor," the waiter replies, "you have excellent taste! Those are called Cojones de Toro: bull testicles from the bull fight this morning. A delicacy!"

The Texan hears that and says, "By God, bring me an order."

"I am so sorry senor," the waiter apologizes. "There is only one serving per day because there is only one bull fight each morning. If you come early and place your order, we will be sure to save you this delicacy."

The next morning, the Texan returns and places his order. Sure enough, that evening he is served the one and only special delicacy of the day. After a few bites, inspecting his platter, he called to the waiter and said, "These are fantastico, but they are a hell of a lot smaller than the ones I saw you serve yesterday."

The waiter shrugged and replied, "Si, Senor. Sometimes the the bull wins."

Speaking in Tongues: Novelist Zadie Smith (White Teeth, On Beauty) explores the links between George Bernard Shaw, Cary Grant, John and William Shakespeare, Lord Halifax, herself, Frank O'Hara, and L'il Wayne to Barack Obama in this tour de force:

It's my audacious hope that a man born and raised between opposing dogmas, between cultures, between voices, could not help but be aware of the extreme contingency of culture. I further audaciously hope that such a man will not mistake the happy accident of his own cultural sensibilities for a set of natural laws, suitable for general application. I even hope that he will find himself in agreement with George Bernard Shaw when he declared, "Patriotism is, fundamentally, a conviction that a particular country is the best in the world because you were born in it." But that may be an audacious hope too far. We'll see if Obama's lifelong vocal flexibility will enable him to say proudly with one voice "I love my country" while saying with another voice "It is a country, like other countries." I hope so. He seems just the man to demonstrate that between those two voices there exists no contradiction and no equivocation but rather a proper and decent human harmony.

Citizen K. has begun following angels and people / life in New Orleans, a photographic witness of everyday happenings in the Crescent City...

Anthony Suau wins the World Press Photo of the Year Award for 2008...

Molly the Dog looks out at a dingy waiting room filled with discouraged people:

They look sad and tired. Most have been waiting there for hours. Some of them have appointments and some don't. For a few moments I think I'm working in a clinic in a third world country. Then I remember I'm looking at the poor in a major US city.

Sunday Gospel Hour: Aretha Franklin leads the Georgetown University choir in "Battle Hymn of the Republic":