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September 24, 2006
Flyboy (Plus Bonus Rant)
Blah. Stantis had a leftover idea about Winslow not being able to fly because he had to present photo ID and turn over his lip balm before take off. Remember when that was a big deal over a month ago? Maybe Stantis does more flying than you'd think a comic strip artist would do, because he sure has a problem with the airlines trying to keep us safe from another terrorist attack. I do think it's funny that Stantis can't reference taking off your shoes and your belt because Winslow wears neither.
But really today is just another half-assed effort. Yet again he falls back on toilet humor with a "cavity search." It's as if when I read Prickly City lately I can see that there's a germ of an idea, but Stantis doesn't even try to develop it. I mean we don't even see a checkpoint or some burly airport security guard frisking Winslow - wouldn't that be a funny image? Or heck, have Carmen pretend to be the screener. Winslow would rush up all excited wearing his wings, but nope - she's put up a checkpoint and won't let him pass until he makes it through her improvised x-ray machine, which is made from a cut out refrigerator box. Then just as he makes it through, she tells him he can't fly. He accuses her of profiling, and she says no - it's because everybody knows coyotes can't really fly.
Okay, maybe that's not great, but at least it would be something different than what we see every single day - Carmen and Winslow standing in the desert talking. I know he's only got so much room to work with, but if he didn't fill up half the screen with sky and rock he'd be able to actually draw something funny.
I'm not going to put on the Future Goggles today, because I'm actually worried about what's happening in this country and I doubt Stantis is going to touch any of the real stories that are effecting us right now. He's not going to talk about President Bush actually having SECRET PRISONS. Think about that. Bush also admitted that we have terror SUSPECTS - not convicted criminals, not even people who have been CHARGED with a crime - that we've been holding for YEARS. And now the "Renegade Republicans" have once again rubber-stamped what Bush wants - and this time it's nothing all that big, just TORTURE. I'm sorry for all the caps, but come on - does this really happen in America?
Think about it: if your neighbor has a problem with you, he can call the feds and say you're Al Qaeda. Let's say the guy you buy a newspaper from every morning is from Afghanistan, and he's on the terror watch list because he has a similar last name to a real terrorist. You get "detained" as a terror suspect because of your "connections to terror organizations." You're flown to Iraq, then taken over the border to Syria (you know, the latest member of the Axis of Evil that we want to invade) where you're tortured for days on end. Plunged into water until you think you're going to drown. Forced to stand naked on a concrete floor for hours, even days on end. Feeding tubes might be jammed down your nose (no, not a typo). And then the beatings resume. They don't hit you hard enough that you die, but odds are you end up needing medical treatment for your wounds. This happens EVERY DAY FOR MONTHS. MAYBE YEARS. The whole time you're never told what crime you're charged with, and you never see any evidence against you.
Then one day they open your cell door, shove you outside, and say, "You're free to go." Just like that, it's over. Years of your life gone. Your life ruined - your family didn't know where you were, you've lost your house because you obviously never paid your bills, you've lost your job, everything you've worked for is gone. All because someone thought a guy you talked to once had a name similar to that of a guy on a terror watch list.
Think something like that couldn't happen to you? Talk to Maher Ara - he'll tell you that it can. And the scenario I laid out is a composite of other inmate stories that I've read about - anyone and everyone is a suspect in this country, and apparently we're now guilty until proven innocent (but there's no point in trying to prove your innocence, because you'll never see the evidence against you).
There are 14,000 terror suspects we're holding now. We don't know how many have been charged with crimes. We don't know if they'll ever be charged, or if they'll ever be released. How many people have been tortured, have been killed, all because of 19 men with box cutters?
I know I'm being a buzz kill this morning, but is this the United States of America we know and love? Invading countries based on lies? Illegally spying on us? Calling anyone who disagrees with the President a terrorist?
I wish I could say that electing Democrats in a month and a half would be the answer. It's not. They just rubber stamped Bush's torture plans right along with the Republicans. None of them are standing up to Bush - they're all too busy figuring out ways to lose their elections. And even if they did win, the current Congress has done everything in its power to make Bush the most powerful President ever. If Bush wants to torture, he will. If he wants to spy on us, he will. If he wants to invade Iran, he will. And the Democrats, and the rest of us Americans, are powerless to stop him.
Is this how an average German citizen felt in the early 1930s?
And am I the only one that feels this way?
Comments
Actually, every single Democrat voted against the torture bill. That is not a rubber stamp.
Posted by: Lex at September 24, 2006 01:08 PM
Sorry, I should have been more clear - I was referring to the torture "compromise" that McCain, Warner, and Graham have arranged with President Bush this past Friday. It hasn't come for a vote yet, but Harry Reid praised the legislation - and since it gave Bush everything he wanted, to me it sounds like the Dems are going to give it the rubber stamp. Hopefully they'll filibuster, but with them being nearly silent on such an important issue I don't see it happening.
Posted by: The Furnace at September 24, 2006 01:18 PM
