We started coloring the comic pages of "Consequences" about a third of the way into the story. Our intention is to eventually color the first third as well.

This leads to interesting trouble when it comes to printing. I've printed some really sharp paperbacks with nice b&w interiors for the past 4 books, but what do I do now?

I can print them in b&w, essentially making people pay for something they think is less worthwhile than the online color pages.

I can put thousands of dollars into a color print run, and hope desperately to make some of the money back.

I can hope a publisher wanders by someday and offers me some manageable deal.

I can go through the POD printers, and hope people don't mind waiting months for something to be printed up and sent to them.

I can find a cheap foreign printer that will hopefully not screw up the order because they know they have my money and there isn't a lot I can do to them.

*sigh* I hate the business end of this stuff.

So, the media seems to be harping occasionally on Barack Obama's difficulty in attracting the over 40 white male with a high school education or less - also known as "the blue collar workers", though manufacturing jobs aren't as plentiful these days and that term means less and less every day.

The reason the media thinks that Barack Obama has this problem is because these over 40 white males with a high school education or less view Obama as an "elitist." This is apparently not a problem for the old white guy, John McCain - who has 9 homes and is married to a woman worth an estimated $110 million. This isn't a problem for the getting old white woman, Hillary Clinton, who has spent the past several decades in the Governor's mansion, then the White House, and then her fairly sizable New York Estate.

Well, I can certainly see where the media would get their impression that Obama is the one that's out of touch. I mean, he has almost a third of the wealth of Clinton, who has nearly half the wealth of McCain.

Yeah, let's face it, when the media says "elitist", they aren't talking money or being out of touch with the common people. They are, sadly, talking about how intelligent someone sounds. Since Obama has a habit of making very intelligent speeches, he must be - horror of horrors - smarter than a blue collar worker. Wouldn't want that in a president, would we?

Unless ... could the media not be getting something?

Hmmm...let's see that demographic again...

White. Well, many of us are. That certainly doesn't mean anything.

Over 40. Now, that doesn't mean much. I mean, older people sometimes have some very old fashioned ideas about people. But I know as life presents more and more experiences and as people mix with different cultures and lifestyles that they become more open to different ideas.

High school education or less. Uh, well, certainly some of these folks still got to ... uh ...

Yeah, you couldn't get a better definition of the demographic that often becomes an entrenched racist.  The low paid worker that lives in fear that someone they believe should be lower on the social ladder than them is going to sweep in and take their job and destroy their life. Add to that a lack of education that would show them who they should be getting mad at when they lose their job, and you have the perfect racist.

Sure, not all of these guys are racists. But a lot of them are. More of them are, I would say, than any other demographic. Add "rural" to the description and the statistic liklihood that they're racists goes up.

The simple fact is that age and education levels are very likely indications of racism. The younger you are, or the more educated you are, the less likely you are to be racist.

...but, of course, then you'll be an elitist.

Yesterday, my wife and I went to the BAMBOOZLE MUSIC FESTIVAL. I like the open air concerts, and the variety it offers. We went to see Anti-Flag, Bouncing Souls and Street dogs - but it was, as always, THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES that blew me away.

Back (possibly only temporarily) from a very long hiatus, the Bosstones delivered a great performance and energized the crowd.

If you aren't a fan of the Bosstones, I don't hate you. I don't understand you, or the thing you laughably call your opinion, but I don't hate you.

Much.

Do you want to see why the United States media drives me crazy? Watch this video:

BUSH SINGS 

That is our President singing a parody song, where he enthusiastically "joked about Dick Cheney's penchant for secrecy, former FEMA director Michael Brown's incompetence and "some oil rich Saudi." (RAW STORY) ... he also makes fun of his Supreme Court Nominee choice of Harriet Miers and that after his administration is over Karl Rove won't have to worry about prosecutors.

All of these are examples of what has gone wrong with this presidency, and he's thinking it's funny. And so are the members of the audience.

Where is the press on this? These are the same people who laughed during a Bush press dinner when Bush mimed looking for Weapons of Mass Destruction AFTER our soldiers started being killed.

When the press prides itself on "access" to our politicians instead of actually persuing the facts, what hope do we as a nation have?

Shooting War

by Anthony Lappe (Author), Dan Goldman (Illustrator)

This was a very interesting mixed-media graphic novel. It is based in the future, where corporate consumerism has almost completely merged with the news media.

The setting: a few years from now, President McCain is fighting several wars on many fronts, terrorist activities have started to occur on U.S. soil. A blogger who was in the right place at the right time is given press credentials and pushed as the 'new hot thing' in delivering the news. He gets assigned to report on the war in Iraq, which is one of the older, less interesting wars the United States is involved in.

What happens from that point is a purely satirical look at the difference between flash and substance, between what is and what is wanted, and how media + war may create a whole new way of fighting.

Though the writer is familiar with very fringe news reporting, I don't think it's fair to paint this book as either liberal or anti-war. The war seems to be the backdrop, and the old labels of liberal and conservative seem to have less and less meaning.

Anyway, I found it a very compelling read. Both wickedly funny, stunningly dramatic and very insightful.

(*The link to the book above will take you to the Amazon ordering page. If you order it through here, I get a small amount of credit that might let me buy more books some day. You can probably order this book through your local comic book (highly recommended) store or at any book store. I am only linking to books and things that I personally like.)

So, the popular wisdom among the Republican pundits - the loud mouth, right wing blowhards like Limbaugh, Coulter, etc. - is that McCain is bad for the Republican party. This in spite of the fact that McCain is obviously going to be the Republican nominee in November.

Now, assuming this isn't a fake-out (it could be), one has to wonder why they have such a problem with McCain. After all, he is pro-war and pro-corporate. Hell, he was one of the Keating 5 for goodness sakes.

Listening to the rhetoric, it seems like what the pundits really don't like about McCain is that instead of refusing to budge an inch to his peers in the Senate, he worked with the Democrats on many occasions. Oh yeah, and he thinks torture is wrong.

This should really serve as a warning to the rampant partisanship of the Republicans. Since the Democrats regained the Senate 2 years ago, Republican Senators have filibustered dozens of bills. Some of these bills were filibustered based on ideology, but often they were filibustered to prevent the Senate from making any progress. Of course, only a year before, the Republicans threatened the Democrats from filibustering by saying they'd be willing to change the Senate rules if they even tried it. (this was the so-called (by Trent Lott) "nuclear option.")  

The Democrats haven't threatened that (mostly because of all the moderate Democrats that wouldn't go for it, I think).

McCain was part of the "Gang of 8" that refused to go along with a nuclear option against the filibustering of certain bills. That prevented the Republicans from making the Democratic minority completely powerless, and caused the Republicans to actually try to give in on their demands a bit. McCain does have a track record of that.

Which leads me to believe that the right wing pundits truly believe that government should only do EXACTLY what they want it to do and that no other opinions should be offered and no concessions need ever be made. This is, of course, impossible. The senate has 100 members, all of whom have slightly different constituencies. How could they possibly all want exactly the same things?

Don't get me wrong, I truly believe that a vote for McCain is a vote to continue this imperial takeover of the Middle East which will ultimately make us unsafer domestically and probably bankrupt to boot...not to mention the tragic loss of life invovled.

The problem is partisanship, of course. When you treat government's business as a game, you end up with a system where the winner takes all and the loser loses everything. If you vote for tax cuts here, you're only going to have to borrow that money somewhere else. We have had a president for the past 15 years who was elected with half or less than half of the population of this country. When GWB took over, he ignored the half that didn't vote for him, and the Republican Congress fell in step behind him. There was not a single important action taken by them that wasn't according to strict neoconservative guidelines. At least, not until the Democrats regained congress and now nothing is happening because of the constant deadlocks and filibusters.

I am a very, very strident progressive. Not a liberal, as I believe liberalism has many of the same flaws as conservatism. But I'm not an idiot. Not every American thinks as I do. I understand that every piece of legislation that passes isn't going to be something I like. In fact, there are concessions on everything that I personally am against. But a bit of progress is in order, I think.

Take the retarded "stimulus" package. If the theory for making it is to be believed, putting money in the hands of consumers will cause this money to be spent quickly and boost the economy. For the sake of this argument, I'm putting aside the obvious thing that would actually boost the economy - job creation (imagine a huge budgeting in job creation to shore up our failing infrastructure).

For six years, the Bush administration and Congress have passed tax laws to help businesses pay less taxes. The ultimate result was - what? We didn't get any significant boosts to our economy from it, and there's a decent chunk of evidence that the constant borrowing of more money (to make up for this loss in tax revenue) has caused our dollar to sink, our jobs growth to stagnate and a recession to begin.

So the President wants a stimulus package. The House makes one, the Senate makes one. Both extend unemployment a bit longer, help seniors and low income earners with fuel bills and help veterans who need it (putting money in the pockets of those who will spend it because they need to). Along with that is a cash payout to lower and middle class citizens and another modest business tax cut.

So what do the Republicans do? They complain about giving money to the unemployed and helping defray fuel costs to the poor. They scream that it's an entitlement program and demand it be taken out. The House complies, the Senate might not. Mind you, a lot of what the Republicans wanted in this stupid bill were there, but there were other things they didn't like, so they now threaten to filibuster it.

These are the tantrums of the Republican party today. Holding their breath until we do what they want, at the cost of our economy and the welfare of American citizens.

For all the horrible, horrible things you can say about John McCain, this isn't one of them. He actually seems to do work for the American people, and he seems to be all right with making deals with opposing viewpoints so long as he gets them to give in his way a bit as well. And apparently the Republicans in control today don't like that.

This should prove once and for all that Republicans are led by people who really don't believe in freedom or democracy.

I'm trying the Amazon Associates program, where orders generated through this website make me a small commission. I think it's a great idea for me to recommend stuff and maybe get me a few extra bucks for more books. Nothing I recommend here will be anything I don't own or haven't already read/used and enjoyed.

Therefore, Repent!

By Jim Munroe and Salgood Sam 

I just finished reading this book and it got my brain popping a bit. It's really a fun graphic novel - a fun book overall. It's basically about the days following the "Rapture" - you know, where all the true sinless Christians rise into heaven and everyone else is left behind to deal with the End Days.

Except, there's no guide book for the things that come after. People are doing things with magic and dogs are talking. Some folks are claiming they know what's going to happen, but no one knows for sure. When an army of angels touch down, all bets are off.

It seems very real-ish. That is, the reactions of normal people to abnormal events seems plausible. There's a confusion that everyone left behind goes through. An inward judgement of themselves that they didn't measure up and that whatever is about to happen isn't going to be good.

There are those who start thinking there'll be a second Rapture, and that if they clean up their act they'll qualify for it. There are others that know they'll never get there, and deal with it in their own ways. The magic and miracles and deformities grow odder and odder, and ultimately they have to face real decisions about whether life is worth fighting for or not. It is very well drawn, with a sketchy but realistic style that really helps feel the ambivalence prevalent in the story. The ending was a big surprise to me.

Well, everyone else in the blogosphere (that I read anyway) is predicting the results of the Super Fat Tuesday primaries.

(For those of you not in the know, a whole buttload of states are conducting their primaries for the Presidential election tomorrow. These results will possibly firm up which Republican and which Democrat will run for the Presidency. There are still quite a few states to go after that so it isn't definitely a done deal, but whomever can say they "won" will have a pretty good boost to possibly take the nominations.)

 So here are my predictions, and I'll base them on things most aren't...

 1. The voting in each state will proportionally represent an aggregate of the polls taken prior to two weeks ago. This is because even though there are "rising" and "declining" poll numbers all over the place, I don't think things are that drastic when faced with the actual voting. Also, many places have early voting, and what happened in the past few weeks didn't matter because the votes were already cast.

 2. Hillary Clinton will take all of the states with paperless ballot machines. See this video for why.

I'll wait.

It is my belief that the corporations want Hillary over every other candidate. This does not necessarily make her evil or bad as a candidate. But if the corporations are going to control it, that's how it'll work. What will "surprise" people is that the exit polls won't match the final results, though the final exit polls will (because there's an "adjustment" to exit polls after the conclusion of the elections that makes the exit poll resemble the final count. Go figure.)

3. Many more Democrats will vote than Republicans. This is a no-brainer because Dems are outnumbering Repubs by 2 to 1 in every primary so far.

4. Hillary Clinton has about a 70% of being the Dems nominee by tomorrow night. Barack Obama has about a 30% chance. This is a gut percentage based on the 3 things I've just listed.

5. I think McCain will probably be the Repub. nominee, which surprises the heck out of me. This time a few months ago I'd have thought he'd have been gone. Romney has an outside chance. I'd probably say 60% McCain, 40% Romney.

So those are my predictions. And you should judge them as you would any predictions from a cartoonist political outsider. I'm perfectly willing to be wrong. I'd personally like to see Obama win for the Dems and have the Republican party disappear in a puff of illogic.