Cartoon Saturday

Just one full week into August and already I'm sick of it. This is not a good sign.

After more than a year, pieces of the Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared over the Pacific have begun to wash up on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean; in Bangladesh, another blogger - the fourth this year - has been savagely murdered by Muslim extremists for the "crime" of posting online comments critical of Islam; in Phoenix, Arizona, eleven bounty hunters from two bail bond recovery companies, acting on an unconfirmed tip, mistakenly raided the wrong house ... which belonged to the Phoenix Chief of Police*; three North Carolina men, irate over what they believed were preparations by the Army to stage a coup under cover of the Jade Helm exercise in Texas, were arrested by federal agents who seized huge quantities of weapons and explosives the men intended to use to ambush American soldiers; and in Nashville, police shot and killed a man who attacked moviegoers in a theater with a hatchet and pepper spray**.

This week, in "honor" of the embarrassing spectacle of the first GOP "debate," our theme is politics, politicians, and elections ...

Yes, it's already getting old, and the election is more than a year away ...

Dethany Dendrobia is one of my all-time favorite cartoon characters. She's also one of my Facebook friends, which just goes to show that not everyone grows out of imaginary friends ...

You didn't think there'd be free VIP parking for the likes of you, did you? ...

Too bad the nation ran out of that Spine Flu vaccine just when we could really use it ...

The next two cartoons give a look at how the "debates" really ought to be run ... first, Dagwood and Blondie's take ...

And then a look at how an on-the-spot fact checker might help things out ...

Well, putting an anonymous donor on the big bills may not be any more secure, but it would surely be appropriate ...

We all hate annoying campaign ads, but it seems that they work ...

It may not be too bad if it's just a few bones, rather than an entire skeleton in the closet ...

And finally, this is probably as good a place to find a viable candidate as any ...

I hope you all have a good day and a great weekend. It looks as if the weather here in NoVa will be pretty good, so maybe I can get some of that yard work done. Or not. Agnes bought a bag of nice limes and I have plenty of gin, so ...

See you back here tomorrow for Poetry Sunday.

More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* Oops.

** In a prepared statement, NRA spokesman Wayne LaPierre called for the open carry of hatchets, stressing that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a hatchet is a good guy with a hatchet."