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December 03, 2006
Stantis, It's Never a "Laughing with YOU" Moment
Looking closely at the fine print it seems as though Stantis himself drew today's strip. That explains why Carmen's head is drawn like a football, then like a basketball (with a softball for an eye), and finally like she's got one of Stantis's bizarre moons for a mouth as she writhes on the ground. Much like Pittsburgh fans' attitude towards Big Ben Roethlisberger, just bench the guy already and let him heal up for next year. We're almost in as much pain as he is looking at this trainwreck.
After bringing in backup last week to do the drawing for him (but unfortunately not the writing), we're left to wonder what Stantis will do this week. Another temp artist? Or does he just hand over the reins to a professional who's not dating his son?
The person who takes over has plenty to work with, but you wouldn't know that from reading Prickly City over the past few weeks. There's been a ton of political fodder to make fun of, but Stantis has instead preferred to make fun of Nancy Pelosi's appearance and then live out his fantasy of punching her repeatedly in her big head. Classy. So what if a newbie takes over until the end of the year? What could we expect from someone with the balls to tackle some real issues?
- Winslow and Carmen could stand around talking about Donald Rumsfeld resigning. You remember that guy, don't you? Stantis seems to have forgotten him. Maybe yesterday's story that Rummy hates America like the rest of the liberals and was talking about cutting and running will light a fire under Carmen. This could lead to talk about the new Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, who's one of Bush 1's cronies who has a nasty habit of covering things up to protect his bosses. Gee, why in the world would Bush 2 bring in a guy like that?
- Carmen might change her tune and act like the rest of the conservatives did the days after the election, which is, "Okay, we need to stop all of this bickering and WORK TOGETHER to make things better!" My favorite email of the year came from my friend Neo-con Mel, who followed the script to a "T" by saying now that the Democrats have won it's up to them to work with the Republicans and the President to fix things. Why do I get the feeling "working together" really means "please don't investigate us" and "please don't try and stop the President from doing everything he wants, because that makes him angry and we don't like Mr. Bush when he's angry. He might stomp his feet and yell like the spoiled fratboy brat he really is. And that makes us sad and worried and wet our beds because we're just here to make as much money for ourselves and our already-rich buddies. So just let things slide and you'll be rewarded by our lobbyist friends too, okay?" Or something like that. However this would mean Carmen would have to flip flop since last week she told Winslow that the Republicans are going to fight the Dems tooth and nail when they take over. Hmm, Carmen flip flop? Is that possible?
- Carmen and Winslow could discuss the war in Iraq - er, I'm sorry, the "war on desert hamsters." But that would mean the person who takes over for Stantis would have to explain that it's not really a war on hamsters - instead it's a civil war that would have happened anyway if Saddam's own people had ousted him. Ha ha ha - just the idea of Prickly City spending an entire week trying to explain what's happening in Iraq cracks me up. Nope - we'll get more jokes about Winslow self-tanning and Carmen making fun of Howard Dean's scream.
Until we know what's up with Prickly City next week I'm not sure what Stantis has up his sleeve (which will hopefully be in a sling so we don't have to deal with his "drawing"). If a liberal does take over the strip, he's going to have a heckuva time trying to figure out what to do. I'm guessing Winslow will revert to being a liberal (despite his helping vanquish the evil Nancy Pelosi) and Carmen will be a "traditional" Republican. The big question: under the guidance of a liberal, will Carmen finally be the butt of the jokes and be made to look the fool? Because let's face it - the Republicans have been doing a fantastic job of looking foolish lately, and it's about time someone with actual talent got a chance to use Prickly City to make us laugh at them.
Comments
You make many good points in your article. I would like to supplement them with some information:
I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
If you are interested in a view of the inside of the Pentagon procurement process from Vietnam to Iraq please check the posting at my blog entitled, “Odyssey of Armements”
http://www.rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com
We also run a satire sheet like yours out of the VA Home in Minneosta.
The Pentagon is a giant,incredibly complex establishment,budgeted in excess of $500B per year. The Rumsfelds, the Adminisitrations and the Congressmen come and go but the real machinery of policy and procurement keeps grinding away, presenting the politicos who arrive with detail and alternatives slanted to perpetuate itself.
How can any newcomer, be he a President, a Congressman or even the Sec. Def. to be - Mr. Gates- understand such complexity, particulary if heretofore he has not had the clearance to get the full details?
Answer- he can’t. Therefor he accepts the alternatives provided by the career establishment that never goes away and he hopes he makes the right choices. Or he is influenced by a lobbyist or two representing companies in his district or special interest groups.
From a practical standpoint, policy and war decisions are made far below the levels of the talking heads who take the heat or the credit for the results.
This situation is unfortunate but it is ablsolute fact. Take it from one who has been to war and worked in the establishment.
This giant policy making and war machine will eventually come apart and have to be put back together to operate smaller, leaner and on less fuel. But that won’t happen unitil it hits a brick wall at high speed.
We will then have to run a Volkswagon instead of a Caddy and get along somehow. We better start practicing now and get off our high horse. Our golden aura in the world is beginning to dull from arrogance.
Posted by: Ken Larson at December 3, 2006 07:42 PM
