Cartoon Saturday

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims that although the CIA briefed her on its "enhanced interrogation techniques," she didn't know they actually used any of them; a wildfire in California has burned 8,600 acres of land and damaged or destroyed at least 80 homes; a natural gas leak at a local Maryland shopping center resulted in a huge explosion that - miraculously - didn't kill anyone; the government of Pakistan is waging a full-scale war against the Taliban in the once-beautiful Swat valley; and in Venezuela, revered statesman Hugo Chavez has reacted to mounting debt and declining oil revenues by seizing the assets of foreign and domestic oil contractors doing business there.

Sit back, relax, and let Cartoon Saturday make it all better.

We lead off this week with two cartoons about blogging ...

and,
The second one reminds me of the time when a much younger Bilbo entered the "Tarzan Calling Contest" sponsored by a local Pittsburgh TV station's Saturday morning kid show "Safari" and its host, "Bwana Don" Riggs. I didn't win, but I did a pretty respectable Tarzan yell that my parents got a bit tired of my practicing around the house.

Two weeks ago, Cartoon Saturday featured some green technology for helping aircraft avoid deadly bird strikes. Here's another possibility ...

Postage rates are going up on Monday here in the U.S. - a first-class domestic letter will cost $0.44 per ounce, up two cents from the current rate, while international air mail rates go up to $0.98 per ounce. On the brighter side (and no doubt better for her), it's still cheaper to mail a letter to Amanda than to fly to Palembang for a visit ...

And finally, we have two great cartoons about - of all things - snails ...

and,
It looks as if we may have a break today, however brief, from the torrential rain we've been having here in Northern Virginia. This is good, as my front yard has grown up to the second-floor windows and the house will soon disappear if I don't put on my pith helmet and get out there with a machete, a weed-whacker, and a lot of elbow grease.

Who knows? - I may even find Amelia Earhart or Jimmy Hoffa.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo