Cartoon Saturday Returns!

And away we go ...

At least four people are dead in the Washington DC area - this time from widespread flooding rather than gun violence; as the 10^th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks approaches, Washington and New York are on alert for possible new attacks; President Obama's $447 billion jobs proposal has, as expected, been widely panned by Congressional Republicans, despite including numerous measures which have been previously endorsed by ... Congressional Republicans; tensions are high between Egypt and Israel after demonstrators attacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo; and GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry demonstrated his command of economics, history, and criminal law by declaring during last week's GOP debate that Social Security - which has protected generations of older Americans from a life of poverty - is a "monstrous lie" and a "ponzi scheme."

When all else fails, you can always fall back on Cartoon Saturday to help preserve what's left of your sanity.

With all the rain and flood damage we've had here in the local area over the past week (on top of the earthquake and hurricane Irene), the insurance companies have been busier than usual coming up with creative ways to minimize their exposure ...

We had a wonderful vacation in Germany, but it's always good to get back home again to The Old Dominion ...

One of the in-flight movies offered on our flight home last Wednesday was Water for Elephants, based on the wonderful novel of the same name by Sara Gruen. The movie was better than I expected (being used to disappointment at film adaptations of books I enjoy), and it led me to this cartoon from the depths of my collection ...

If you like the Taliban and life in garden spots like Saudi Arabia and Iran, you'll love the old-time religion espoused by some of the more conservative Republicans who would like to be your president. I'll make light of it while it's still allowed ...

... and,

You may recall that, immediately after the terror attacks on September 11th, 2001, members of Congress of both parties stood together on the steps of the Capitol to sing "God Bless America." That was, of course, the last time our 535 elected ass clowns agreed on anything. Perhaps it's time for a different approach to encouraging bipartisan cooperation ...

Some readers have criticized me for being overly critical of the Republican Party, even though the Republicans have worked even harder than the Democrats to earn my undying disgust. In response, I say once again that I despise the Republicans because - as a fundamentally conservative fellow myself - I believe I should be able to expect better from them. I don't know what new job creation measures they have that they think are better than those proposed by the president, but they do have some interesting fiscal ideas to help the struggling middle class ...

The current economic crisis has other practical effects on Real People, too ... such as in how long to keep certain records for tax purposes ...

Sometimes, it's all how you look at it ...

And finally, we just have to have one utterly silly cartoon per Cartoon Saturday, don't we? ...

It looks as if (knock on wood) the rain has stopped here in Virginia, at least temporarily, so maybe I can get outside today and clean up some of the mess in the yard and in what's left of my garden. Other than that, no plans other than to try to get over the lingering jet lag and enjoy my last two days of time off before heading back to work on Monday.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo