Mistletoe

Brilliant Mr. Bennett!! It depicts the situation perfectly.

Excellent cartoon. Frustrating website. What is going on with the TFP's WWW box? Did the tubes get crossed or does someone need to turn a crank or something?

Call Al Gore, he'll know what to do.

The web site has been cranky for me for a week!!

Pretty decent toon Clay,better than average!

A large portion of folks haven't heard of the cliff and many more don't understand it's implications. Only if we go over the cliff in January will the reality set in after their first paychecks. Maybe then the majority will start demanding their representatives quit playing politics and start working toward a reasonable fiscal policy for the entire country.

Great cartoon, Clay Bennett. . . And when you reflect on what the Republican Party has become in the bigger picture, I think the mistletoe imagery is a nice touch:

“Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemi-parasitic plants in several families . . . These plants grow attached to and penetrating within the branches of a tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they absorb nutrients from the host plant. . . The name was originally applied to Viscum album (European Mistletoe, Santalaceae) . . . Viscum album is a poisonous plant that causes acute gastrointestinal problems . . . both European Mistletoe and the North American species, Phoradendron serotinum, are commercially harvested for Christmas decorations.” [Wikipedia]

Gunman kills three people near Hollidaysburg

Another one of those pesky shootings at a church, where presumably, discussion of religion is most welcome, and where God failed to protect those inside the church...again.

I suppose that conservative (aka the newest charter member of the WBA) will retort that the victims must have all been horrible sinners, and thus deserved to die, and that the shooter was just carrying out God's will.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/blair-county-gunman-kills-three-people-667321/

Alprova?

Did you just HAVE to start punchin Cons buttons so early in the morning??

A round of applause Clay. Today's is a classic. It will soon be all over the web.

Did you just HAVE to start punchin Cons buttons so early in the morning??

Con has a 1 track mind-his current target is MTJohn over "killing" in the bible.

Now that you mentioned it, a refresher:

MTJohn, Now, the easy way to prove "thou shalt not kill" means murder, without being "fluent in the language which Moses spoke" as you put it.

You see MTJohn, "thou shalt not kill" was one of the 10 Commandments given by God. Those commandments pertain to individuals. Individuals are not allowed to kill another person outside of the law. This would be UNLAWFUL.

That is why "thou shalt not kill" means murder!!! Pay attention to the context MTJohn, the context. MURDER MTJohn. Murder, the UNLAWFUL killing of another person.

So simple MTJohn, so simple.

Take some time and ponder that.

I rest my case.

Hmmm. . . Another good observation today over at the Reality Base site:

“In the classic British version of Charades, the goal is to act out a concept rather than a phrase or sentence.”

“Watching the House Republicans makes fumble and bumble around the fiscal cliff makes me think that they’re playing British charades, and the word is “decompensation.”

http://www.samefacts.com/2012/12/watching-conservatives/charades-on-capitol-hill/

Hats off to Clay! Brilliant!

I do wonder if Boehner will ever realize he is Speaker of the entire House of Representatives and not merely some majority leader. His first duty is to the nation - not to the extremist wing of the GOP.

It really isn't a cliff, take the plunge, it will only hurt for a little while then we will be back to those wonderful Clinton years if we reduce spending to those levels as well.

EaTn said... A large portion of folks haven't heard of the cliff and many more don't understand it's implications.

I think you are right, few are aware. The implications are not as severe as the politicians play it up to be to get their way. If we want all the things we demand should we not be willing to pay for them? How long can we keep borrowing more and more money?

Time to get a true Red Stater as Speaker Of The House. I vote for TN Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn. She is a true conservative, Right To Lifer and a Gun Packing fine looking woman. As for the Yankee from Ohio, go join a union..........

The bottom line IS the repubs want spending cuts (ONLY) and the dems want tax hikes! (ONLY!)

If we go off the so called cliff THEN the Dems are in the drivers seat!Then what ever happens they WILL own it!

Bible, religion, who believes what, is getting tedious.

Boehners plan D commin up!!!PUNT!

Only thing missing from the cartoon is the Tea Partier wasn't holding a Bible and a Hustler magazine (for educational purposes only, of course).

Jesse,

I think you are wrong.

Sensible republicans and sensible democrats say we need both.

Right now, the hard line in the sand is on tax hikes.

Even when Obama has proposed greater deficit reduction than the republicans did in 2011, it was rejected by republicans because Obama called for tax hikes.

Moonpie,The dems throw out a red herring knowing the repubs ain't gonna go for it!As long as Obama sticks to a tax hike for the 2% it will not get off the ground and Obama knows it!

You're right in that it's gonna take both but it won't happin till after we go off the edge and then Obama can pretty much get any thing he wants!Prob.is then the monkey is on his back if and when every thing goes from bad to worse!

Have you heard anyone from any party talk about which deductions to eliminate? Have you heard either talk about limiting deductions to a dollar amount? That is getting too close to where they live to allow any serious action on deductions. The democrats want more to spend while the republicans pretend to reduce spending by slowing down the rate of increased spending. Either way and the debt owed by future generations is enormous.

I could also see this 'toon as - U.S. citizens with mistletoe over our heads and the politicians with mistletoe over their arses.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/21/u-s-house-approves-sweeping-633-billion-defense-spending-bill/

Seems to me it was never about cutting spending.

If we do absolutely nothing, there will be a substantial tax rise on the 2%. That train has already left the station.

The only real question left is how to prevent another self-inflicted recession.

After we go off the edge Obama can get the tax cuts reinstated for everyone making less than$250,000.00 a year!

Him being a Democrat do you think he will do this?? I have my doubts!

Another conservative viewpoint on dialogue

As evidenced in the House of Representatives this week, the American conservative movement is facing a terrible conflict of purpose. By viewing free thinking as the irreconcilable enemy of natural reason, by regarding dialogue as the unforgivable betrayal of core values and by labeling political opponents as conspirators and traitors, elements of the conservative base are driving the conservative agenda into a political wasteland.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/21/nra-wayne-lapierre-second-amendment-gun-rights

Who believes anyone in either party is concerned about anything other than who gets blamed? Obama and Reid appear to hope the rates all expire giving the government a revenue wind fall, they may be disappointed in the actual revenue realized. Both parties are more concerned about the mandatory spending reductions than the tax rates. Either party could propose extending the current rates for one year. The administration keeps saying the economy is on the mend and doing well, why not leave things as they are and see if that is accurate. The economy has always been and will be cyclical. In my opinion reasonable personal tax rates plus or minus a few percent doesn't have twit to do with how the economy performs. The cost of oil and energy is the 500 lb. gorilla whipping up on the middle and lower income crowd. Business rates and all the manipulation of taxes provided by congress is a different story.

I doubt it Jesse since that would require agreement again.

Wonder what happened to TOES666 (or whatever his number was)? He just seemed to disappear after the election. Hey, Maximus, when did you first start posting here?

The members of the Crazy Caucus (or who raised your taxes come January)

One thing Boehner's vote did (and, perhaps, was meant to do) is it made clear who the members of the Crazy Caucus actually are. Here is the short list:

Texas

Joe Barton, Louie Gohmert, Kenny Marchant, Ron Paul

Louisiana

John Fleming, Jeff Landry, Steve Scalise

South Carolina

Joe Wilson. Trey Gowdy, Mick Mulvaney

Arizona

David Schweikert - booted from Financial Services Committee, Trent Franks

Florida

Steve Southerland, Allen West

Georgia

Lynn Westmoreland, Paul Broun

Ohio

Jim Jordan, Jean Schmidt - LAME DUCK

Colorado

Doug Lamborn

Idaho

Raul Labrador

Illinois

Joe Walsh - LAME DUCK

Indiana

Marlin Stutzman

Kansas

Tim Huelskamp - booted from Budget Committee

Kentucky

Tomas Massie

Michigan

Justin Amash - booted from Budget Committee

North Carolina

Walter Jones - booted from Financial Services Committee

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/273817-whip-count-house-lawmakers-positions-on-gop-plan-b-fiscal-cliff-bill

http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/how-to-stop-the-slaughter-of-the-innocents/#KyUdY8haEPuuD6bM.99

One picture says it all. This is an Israeli First Grade Teacher with her charges...

The cite also lists many cases where U.S. armed citizens stopped mass murders cold.

But none of this will show up in our "Progressive" news media headlines; i.e., news media just like this one.

So take your gun-grabbing and shove it...unless you are Muslim, of course, in which case I guess you just foam at the mouth at Israel's temerity in opposing your will to kill.

Rolando,

How does that picture say it all? Should I post some pictures of bombings on the Gaza strip? Dead Palestinian children? Dead women?

You act like Israel is a safe place. It isn't.

Take your Conservative talking points and shove them up your Wing Nut ass. Why is it you Wing Nuts are so anti-Palestine? I'd love to know the reasoning behind that.

Easy123 wrote; "Why is it you Wing Nuts are so anti-Palestine? I'd love to know the reasoning behind that."

The Bible, religious orthodoxy of literal and inerrant fundamentalism, and lobbyists for the Israeli welfare-fund called 'foreign-aid', and the military-mercenaries-Black water-Halliburton factions. War pays off.

daytonsdarwin,

You're exactly right. I'd just like to see how the WingNuts rationalize it to themselves because I know they would never use any of the actual reasons you have presented.

I am considering supporting Native Americans in an effort to reclaim their land. Same basic premise as the Israel-Palestine conflict. I doubt that would go over as well with Conservatives for some reason?! LMFAO!

The statement that "Israel rarely sees mayhem" is just nonsense.

Most Israelis (male or female) also go through a couple of years of mandatory military service. Are we ready to draft everyone at age 18?

The picture (assuming it wasn't photoshopped) is more likely to be a member of the Israeli Civil Guard - some of whom serve as armed guides on tours.

Just because it is a woman doesn't mean it is a teacher.

Rolando, you have got to be some kind of very warped, twisted human being to look at a picture like that and see anything positive about it. If we get to the point of our teachers having to carry a weapon everywhere they go - especially a military style weapon like that - it will only mean that we have given up entirely on working at being a truly peaceful society and have relegated ourselves to living in a perpetual war zone. While you gun freaks no doubt would love to see everybody armed to the teeth everywhere we go, most sane and normal human beings want nothing to do with a return to our Wild West days. If that is your idea of utopia then why don't you gun lovers go ahead and secede and form your own nation of guns, Bibles, no taxes, and no government. Good effin' riddance.

Kissing up to Israel is not one sided.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/nation/article/john_kerry_strengthening_israels_security_and_bolstering_the_us_israel_spec

Rolando World:

http://legacy-cdn.smosh.com/smosh-pit/4/idiotgun-9.jpg

If i thought that if the principal at sandy hook would have prevented what went down there by being armed like that then get it on!

I don't know, but whatever it takes to prevent something like that is O.K. w/me,no matter what it is!

While we are working on being a "truly peaceful society" our kids are getting slaughtered !

jesse,

I agree with you that if we go over the cliff then it is closer to what Obama wanted than what the Republicans wanted. We get tax hikes and spending cuts.

The problem is, we get tax hikes for all people, which is not what Obama wants.

It will be interesting to see whose narrative wins at that point. Most people say the president wins.

But you raise a good point, even though the general public seems to think Republicans will be to blame if a deal does not get done.... if the economy gets worse, the President could get the blame.

I think this is a real possibility. And it's not an alien strategy to root for misery so you can lay the blame at another's feet.

I don't know why this thought just popped into my head as I typed this... but thinking of so many of conservatives who post here or who I know, I can't help but think how nice it would be if we had more reasonable people like Bob Corker in politics. I don't agree with him on everything, but he is a very rational and reasonable person. I am very proud to have him as our senator.

Jesse, I really don't know how to respond to such an imbecilic statement as that. You and Ted Nugent and Wayne LaPierre would make great buds.

rolando, I think I see your logic now! More weapons equals more safety! There aren't enough guns in the high crime areas. If we had rent-a-gun kiosks on street corners, we wouldn't need police!

"I agree with you that if we go over the cliff then it is closer to what Obama wanted than what the Republicans wanted. We get tax hikes and spending cuts." --Moonpie

not so sure The Pres. cares about middle class getting increased taxes

Moonpie, from what i've been reading if we go over the edge and the tax cuts expire then down the road a little bit Obama will move to reinstate the cuts for folks making less than $250,000.00 a year and "every body" will go for that!(including repubs)

Then they can get together on loopholes,exemptions and stuff like that!Sounds like a plan to me!

BTW: ROO, the first word in my post was "IF"! I don't have an answer and neither do you!Maybe their isn't one!

Well, the foaming mouths are out in force, attacking any system that works in favor of those that don't...along with personal attacks, of course...that's how Progressives work...always.

The police hesitate before going in to those areas anyway, dude.
You speak about illegal guns...the ones that will never be removed/confiscated/seized/whatever. I don't.

moonpie -- You presume The Obama cares about the middle and lower classes. He doesn't.

We are already in a perpetual war zone, roo. You just don't recognize the clues for what they are.

Armed people stop armed attacks...although any determined assassin [or group of them] willing to die will kill his target[s] regardless how well protected. Which doesn't mean we should try to stop them.

You would turn our free society into a closed one where everyone fears the government...another failed USSR.

"anti-Palestine"?? Why, you ask?. You wouldn't understand it if I tried; it is simply beyond your comprehension.

rolando said...

"anti-Palestine"?? Why, you ask?. You wouldn't understand it if I tried; it is simply beyond your comprehension."

Go ahead rolando, give it a shot. Let's hear your explanation. Or is support of Israel just a knee-jerk to whatever Israel wants, Israel gets?

Two words, Jesse - Fort Hood.

13 killed. 42 injured.

Cartoon looks kinda like a "Larry Craig Christmas."

You've lost me Mira!

Don't know what you are referring to!

Rolando,

"the foaming mouths are out in force"

Yes, you are.

"attacking any system that works in favor of those that don't"

Example?

"along with personal attacks"

Example?

"that's how Progressives work...always."

Fallacious

"You presume The Obama cares about the middle and lower classes. He doesn't."

You presume President Obama doesn't care about the middle and lower class. He does.

"Armed people stop armed attacks"

Sometimes.

"Which doesn't mean we should try to stop them."

So you wouldn't have tried to stop 9/11?

"You would turn our free society into a closed one where everyone fears the government"

Nope. That's just what you WingNuts portray it as. The United States will never be the USSR or North Korea or any other Communist country/dictatorship you can dream up. It's WingNut Propaganda and that's all it will ever be.

"anti-Palestine"?? Why, you ask?. You wouldn't understand it if I tried; it is simply beyond your comprehension.

What an enormous cop-out! Are you afraid or is your reason just that lacking? I'm with daytonsdarwin. Put up or shut up.

Ah the good ol' days when gay male prostitutes moonlighted as White House reporters and tech savvy Congress critters share their privates with the public.

The world just isn't as much fun as it used to be.

Sorry, Jesse - I probably should have quoted a bit. I was responding to your 1:38 post.

Here ya go Mira.Read the narrative of events and the fact that the only armed personell were two civilian police officers who both engaged him and one of whom brought him down! NO collateral damage AT ALL!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hoo...

Wonder how many he would have shot if not brought down?

You may remember this one, as well. The police fired 16 rounds. They hit 9 bystanders:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/24/justice/new-york-empire-state/index.html

This one is from yesterday morning. The police were shooting at pit bulls - and managed to hit a bystander.

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2012/12/21/willard-police-shoot-bystander-in-foot-while-firing-at-pit-bulls.html

Mira, i'm Not sayin this the ONLY answer ,just something to consider!Better than just standin around waitin for somebody to DO SOMETHIN!

There are always options that are worse than nothing.

The polls are in. Obama's approval rating is up to 58%. The country is blaming the Republicans for the breakdown in the fiscal cliff negotiations 2:1.

OK The shooter gets in the school, kills the principal and starts killing children, gets up to 4 or 5 and an armed person engages him and kills him BUT hits 2 or 3 kids in the exchange!

Total body count 8! To me that's a hell of a lot better than a body count of 28!Sorry ,but that's just the way i see it!

What if the shooter killed the person that was armed? Then what is your imaginary body count at?

The same as it would be if he wasn't there +1, Total 29!

Hopefully, you see what I'm getting at.

Or, jesse, the armed person doesn't kill him and the body count goes up to 31. You can't assume the armed person is going to necessarily win the gun battle. All you can guarantee is that there'll be more bullets flying.

Hey, we should put professional stunt drivers on the highways to run drunks off the road! Just 1 every 5 miles to drive back and forth looking for DUI perps that they can crash into guard rails or abutments, thereby saving untold numbers of sober drivers! Sure, there'll be some collateral damage, but the math works!

Hopefully you see what I'M getting at!

There ARE NO perfect answers,perhaps no answers at all, but any thing that might reduce the number of dead should be at least be considered!

I don't own a gun and haven't in 35 years,if they ban guns and confiscate them all it has no effect on me atall,i don't have a dog in that hunt!

Or, jesse, we could install concussion devices in the walls of every school that explode on command with just the right amount of force to knock everybody in the building senseless! All the kids would be deaf thereafter, but they'd be alive and we could just change the name of the school.

"but any thing that might reduce the number of dead should be at least be considered!"

I agree but we should use logic and reason as well.

Or, or, decoy schools with terrible security, full of exploding robotic "students" that can sniff insanity and home in on a target in nothing flat and, like, blow it to kingdom come.

just being an idjit, jesse, it's out of my system now.

Listen, what's become of Jack_Dennis? I hate his guts, but I don't want anything to happen to him.

You guys are a coupla real thinkers!

Probably all most ready to start to sassin ya momma!

I have no idea,prob.out tryin to track you and easy down!HA HA

As long as we're playing at action movie hero:

How 'bout we install RFID and GPS trackers into every firearm. If one gets into 100 feet of a school a space laser targets it and melts it into slag. Fingers and hands are the lookout of the weapon holder.

Hopefully Jack is just out buying John Boehner a stiff drink - or traveling with the holiday.

Well Mira, lay your solution on us!

So far all you've done is run your mouth about anything anybody else suggests!

Give us the benefit of all your experience in this situation!

Shalom, Mira. Don't let'em get you down.

miraweb said...

"...RFID and GPS trackers..."

YES!! But I would like a simultaneous drone strike at a randomly chosen shareholder of the manufacturer.

jesse said..."OK The shooter gets in the school, kills the principal and starts killing children, gets up to 4 or 5 and an armed person engages him and kills him BUT hits 2 or 3 kids in the exchange! Total body count 8! To me that's a hell of a lot better than a body count of 28!Sorry ,but that's just the way i see it!"

WTF,,your real name isn't Donald Rumsfeld is it... Good grief!

Well DELBERT I figure 8 dead is better than 28 But that's just my opinion and i don't think anyone is gonna be comin around askin any of us how to deal w/this kinda stuff!

No worries, Rebus. Shalom!

It is a real challenge to not lose the real good of an open and civilized society in the face of mayhem.

We've been very troubled managing that balance in all the years since 9/11. The trick is not to do more harm to ourselves than those few idiots who aim to hurt others can do.

I think there has to be a multi-pronged approach. Schools are a very soft target. There is a lot of technology out there that could help on that front without being overly intrusive that many businesses use already.

We need fewer weapons accessible to our angry young men. We also need fewer angry young men.

Britain allows only shooters who keep their weapons locked up at a firing range all the time.

I could see that as an alternate solution for advanced weapons enthusiasts along with training certification and renewals. The general public should have no access to high-volume clips or ammo. None.

The NRA is a hazard to our children. It riles people up for political purposes and exists primarily to create more angry young men and women to be lucrative consumers of weapons. A lot of people would begin making our children safer if they tore up their NRA cards today.

We need to do much better at mental health care. Social supports - such as meals and housing - should be considered to be a type of medical care for the mentally ill. If someone can't pee on their own, we help. If they can't live indoors on their own - we need to help there.

We need more jobs for our angry young men. The fiscal cliff needs to be solved before the economy begins to unwind. Long-term unemployment benefits must not be dropped on Jan 1.

I think the rash of mass killings since 2007 may be equal parts the expiration of the assault weapons ban and a serious recession where many people lost hope for the future.

How's that?

From a technology point of view it would not be that hard to insert RFIDs into weapons that would trigger an automatic door lockdown. Hospitals now have fire doors that close when an alarm is triggered.

I like the idea of a space laser, though. :)

Pretty good,MUCH better in fact! It's gonna take all of that and we would still have random acts of madness!

Maybe in 50 years all that will have taken place but i doubt it!

Most of that could be done in 12 months or less. Local and state governments are capable of most of the logistics. It's just money and will.

Well I figure 0 dead is the best, since we're playing fantasy world.

I like that world, delmar.

dude_abides wrote: "Listen, what's become of Jack_Dennis? I hate his guts, but I don't want anything to happen to him."

Do you remember how he was whining about people changing their identities last week? Well guess what: He changed his identity.

If you peruse the posts over the past three days, it will not be very hard to figure out who he is posting as now.

The easiest way to get it out there quickly might be to insert RFIDs into ammo, first.

Actually, Australia did an incredible job of changing direction after its own Port Arthur massacre. In addition to an assault weapons ban they bought back 600,000 weapons.

It can be done.

http://www.em.gov.au/library/Onlineresources/Historicaldisasters/Pages/HistoricalDisastersPortArthurMassacre.aspx

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/17/everything-you-need-to-know-about-banning-assault-weapons-in-one-post/

Anybody ever wonder why all these mass murderers (with exception of Ft.Hood shooter) are WHITE boys?

miraweb wrote: "From a technology point of view it would not be that hard to insert RFIDs into weapons that would trigger an automatic door lockdown. Hospitals now have fire doors that close when an alarm is triggered."

The only potential problem I can think of with your proposal is that with present RFID technology, it probably wouldn't too difficult to disable or to remove the RFID chip.

I'm not sure there is a way to embed such a chip into a metal weapon, rendering removal of the chip impossible, and embedding it into the weapon itself during the manufacturing process would be impossible, as heat destroys an RFID chip.

I like the idea very much, and although I am no expert on RFID technology, perhaps it could be worked out.

But then...how many millions of weapons are out there currently that would be RFID free, and available for years to come, that could be bought by those with evil intent?

miraweb...I had a thought. What about something along the line of metal scanners, capable of scanning 100 yards around every inch of the outside grounds of a school, that would be activated after classes have started, that would detect weapons grade metal and that would lock down the school if detected?

I don't even know if such technology is even available, as I am a frequent visitor to the Hamilton County Courthouse and I am forever having to empty my pockets of everything and have to remove my belt and put it back on.

So I'm not sure that My idea is any better...

miraweb wrote: "The easiest way to get it out there quickly might be to insert RFIDs into ammo, first."

That might just work, IF an RFID will can be read through a shield of metal.

It might be difficult to insert an RFID that a really tech savvy shooter could not disable. It probably isn't that difficult to make one that the vast majority could not disable easily, though.

Especially if you have to do it for every bullet.

Maybe one of those smart MIT kids could figure out one that is impressed right into the outside of the casing.

Million dollar idea, right there.

I'm not sure it has to be one or the other. RFID, GPS, metal detectors, magnetic detectors - we have a lot of tools at hand - and a lot of companies that would like to have a piece of installing security technology in every school in America.

Maybe some of those defense savings from the sequester could be redirected.

I think this counts as defense.

Nice touch with the drones, dude.

Easy123 said...You're exactly right. I'd just like to see how the WingNuts rationalize it to themselves because I know they would never use any of the actual reasons you have presented.

They are impatient. They want armageddon and it can't come soon enough. They may just get their wish - and a big disappointment.