she loves teaching

while i'm always eager to learn ...

(story and art by vanessa davis)

help us obi-wan, part deux

when we last looked on the GOP's slate for 2012, hope seemed all but completely lost. but what a difference a day makes!

... the man known as "joe the plumber" is back, and may run for congress. "i'm not ruling anything out," wurzelbacher told the ticket in an interview thursday. he added that he thought it was an "interesting idea" and that people have been asking him to run for office since he confronted obama four years ago. he's spent much of his time since then on the speaker's circuit, he said, encouraging others to run for office. "i like the idea of it — just regular americans running. if a regular guy runs, right away the media's going to attack him," wurzelbacher said. "what kind of education does he have? what does he know about this? my answer to that is, regular americans aren't experts, but dammit, look where the experts have gotten us. maybe we need some regular guys in there. that's what i've been doing the past two and a half years, just encouraging regular americans to run. tell the liberal media to go to hell and i don't care what you guys say about me, i'm going to try to fix this country." jon stainbrook, chairman of the lucas county republican party, told the blade he's hoping wurzelbacher jumps in. "he would make a fantastic candidate," stainbrook said.

marco rubio
paul ryan
tim pawlenty
chris christie
mitch daniels
donald trump
mike bloomberg
rudy giuliani
jeb bush
sarah palin
"joe the plumber" wurzelbacher

help us obi-wan

... and the search for the savior continues:

"i have no interest in serving as vice president for anyone who could possibly live all eight years of the presidency," rubio said, drawing laughter from crowded room. ... what happens in politics is the minute you start thinking there's something else out there for you, it starts affecting everything you do," he said. "all of a sudden, maybe you're afraid to take a position on a certain issue because it imperils your opportunity to do that something else. so the reality of it is, i'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee. but i look forward to working for whoever our nominee is."

marco rubio
paul ryan
tim pawlenty
chris christie
mitch daniels
donald trump
mike bloomberg
rudy giuliani
jeb bush
sarah palin

this is my hole

what if rod serling had produced manga?

(remember — the panels on each page read from right-to-left)

p10

p11

p12

p13

p14

p15

p16

p17

p18

p19

p20

p21

p22

p23

p24

p25

p26

p27

p28

p29

p30

p31

p32

(story and art by junji ito, 2002)

a michelle bachmann presidency

see also:

"a rick perry presidency"
"a herman cain presidency"
"a mitt romney presidency"
"a rick santorum presidency"
"a newt gingrich presidency"

a rick perry presidency

see also:

"a michelle bachmann presidency"
"a herman cain presidency"
"a mitt romney presidency"
"a rick santorum presidency"
"a newt gingrich presidency"

crazy but not insane

he's "slow", according to those who know him.

he's "hearing voices", according to his lawyers.

his crime is inarguably heinous, but does that mean levi aron's insane?

not according to the law.

in his own words:

aron says he brought [8-year-old leiby kletzky] into his house with the intentions of taking him back to his home the next day, but when he saw the missing [person] flyers he panicked.

"that is when approximately i went for a towel to smother him — in the side room. he fought back a little bit until eventually he stopped breathing. afterwards i panicked because i didn't know what to do with the body," aron said.

now if aron had said he killed leiby because either:

• "my toilet told me to ..."
• "i am abraham and was told not to spare issac ..."
• "i needed something to go with my fava beans ..."

... then he would have something on which to hang an insanity plea: a senseless motive.

but committing murder to evade getting caught for a crime is not senseless. the attempt to destroy evidence — nothing could be more pedestrian. it clearly demonstrates some understanding of right and wrong, a key benchmark when determining the appropriateness of an insanity defense.

at his arraignment psychiatrists determined that he is mentally competent to stand trial and that he understands the charges against him, but his defense team said it may still go with an insanity plea, reports cbs station wcbs.

the defense surely recognizes the weak tea they've been served. perhaps they think they can squeeze a plea of temporary insanity out of the word "panicked", but aron's panic led only to a horrible decision — not an insane one. so, unless they can get aron's confession tossed completely, aron's own words will convict him, easily.

a debt ceiling carol

now that all the shouting's over — for a few hours at least — i believe it's time in the program for our musical number ...