Poetry Sunday

As I enter the long, cold days of winter and exit the euphoria of the Thanksgiving holiday, this classic poem by the author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit speaks to me more clearly every day ...

I Sit Beside the Fire and Think

by J.R.R. Tolkien

I sit beside the fire and think

Of all that I have seen

Of meadow flowers and butterflies

In summers that have been

Of yellow leaves and gossamer

In autumns that there were

With morning mist and silver sun

And wind upon my hair

I sit beside the fire and think

Of how the world will be

When winter comes without a spring

That I shall ever see

For still there are so many things

That I have never seen

In every wood in every spring

There is a different green

I sit beside the fire and think 

Of people long ago

And people that will see a world

That I shall never know

But all the while I sit and think

Of times there were before

I listen for returning feet 

And voices at the door

Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. And of your life, which is the only one you get. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

As we discussed this past week, we have much to be thankful for. But then, of course, it doesn't take long for things to get back to normal ...

The Supreme Court, in a brief and unsigned decision, has allowed the IRS to turn over Der Furor's long-sought tax records to the House Ways and Means Committee; the latest mass murders by gunfire in the US took place at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, where five people were murdered and 17 injured, and at a Walmart store in Chesapeake, Virginia, where 6 people were murdered; one person was murdered and 14 injured in two bomb attacks on bus stops in Jerusalem; in an amazing upset, Saudi Arabia beat heavily-favored Argentina 2-1 at the World Cup soccer tournament in Qatar; and in Nebraska, the start of deer hunting season was observed when three hunters were shot and injured by members of their own hunting parties in separate incidents.

Yes, I know Thanksgiving was last Thursday, but I thought these cartoons were too good to stick away for a year ...

Inappropriate footwear for the season ...  

Everybody has a dream ...

Globalization isn't always all it's cracked up to be ...

Menu arranging gets harder every year ...

It's worth a try, isn't it? ...

This explains some things ...

That makes things easier, doesn't it? ...

Just checking in ...

Family's family, right? ...

It would make things a lot easier for the surgeon, wouldn't it? ...

And that's it for this week's post-Thanksgiving edition of Cartoon Saturday ... I hope you enjoyed it, and are surviving the Black Friday weekend sales mobs.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow, when we meet up with J.R.R. Tolkien for Poetry Sunday.

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

How was your Thanksgiving? Good, I hope. Why not come out of your turkey-induced food coma long enough to enjoy this week's collection of great moments? ...

Well, it is abuse of a sort ...

You can carve them using a bladeless knife without a handle ...

Yes, but it could be embarrassing if you do it at a yard sale ...

Um ... I think I'll wait until the next course, thank you ...

I wonder if this also applies on World Naked Gardening Day ...

Especially if you've been using your hands to handle the family jewels ...

For the discerning conspiracy theorist who wants to update from the ordinary tinfoil hat ...

GOP math ...

Yes, I think that would have been a suspicious pointer ...

Well, that doesn't strike me as being particularly newsworthy, but what do I know? ...

And that's it for the last collection of editorial and signage gems for the month of November - I hope you enjoyed it.

Have a good day, and come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday ... more thoughts then. 

Bilbo

Thanksgiving, 2022

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been writing this blog since 2006, and some of you - masochists that you are - have been reading it for almost all of that time. You've learned many things about me over the years, one of which is that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. In a crazy world in which we too often focus on fear and negativity* and the material things in life, it's good to have a day on which to sit back and reflect on the things for which we can be truly thankful.

We’re living in a scary time in which it’s easy to be distracted from things for which we can be thankful, because there is so much going on that is awful, and so many people who keep relentlessly reminding us of it. For me, this year the awful things included:

A political party that continues relentlessly to weaponize fear and hatred, which accepts - and, indeed, praises and amplifies - the most coarse, violent, and angry discourse, and which works tirelessly to undermine a political system it cannot win in a fair contest of ideas and policies;

The continuing horror of realizing that many Americans continue to accept frequent mass murder - even of little children - as an acceptable price to pay for the unrestricted "right to keep and bear arms;" 

A deadly pandemic that lingers on, largely because ignorant fools conflate the responsibility for public health with unacceptable limits on their “freedom;”

A badly flawed legal system in which the degree of available justice is directly related to one’s skin color, political connections, and ability to pay astronomical legal fees far in excess of what ordinary people can afford; and,

A changing climate that is denied by those unwilling to see the obvious truth around them.

That all sounds pretty bad, and it is, but on the whole, though, it’s actually been a pretty good year for ol’ Bilbo. Although there have been many negatives, I have to consider myself a lucky man for a lot of reasons:

Surviving the pandemic for another year;

The patient and long-suffering love of a beautiful and amazingly talented wife;

Three loving and successful children of whom I am justly and endlessly proud;

Six adorable, intelligent, talented, and loving grandchildren;

A large and loving extended family;

A comfortable retirement**;

A roof over my head***;

Good health†;

Good friends;

The good fortune to be able to live in the United States of America - a country which, for all its faults, gives me the opportunity to enjoy all of the above;

The ability to write what I wish in this space without worrying about government censorship††; and,

The ability to enjoy the good things of the world that would be denied by those whose harsh and intolerant worship of a jealous, angry, and politicized God ignores the beauty and possibilities of the present in favor of rigid belief in a single religion and an imagined paradise in an unknowable future.

I have many things to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day, and it's only proper that I should take a few minutes to acknowledge that I am, as ever, most richly blessed.

I wish all of you, Dear Readers, Friends, the very happiest, healthiest, and safest of holidays.

Have a good day. Give thanks for the good things you have and the bad things you don't. And stay out of the stores this weekend ... you'll thank me.

More thoughts tomorrow, when we offer the final collection of Great Moments in Editing and Signage for the month.

Bilbo

* Yes, GOP, I'm talking to you.

** So far, anyhow. If the GOP succeeds in wrecking Social Security, I'll be looking for a large cardboard box in a more affordable neighborhood.

*** As long as we keep up the payments.

† Unless the GOP succeeds in gutting Medicare, and continues its efforts to eliminate the ACA with no coherent idea of how to provide health care to tens of millions of Americans.

†† Yet. Given the GOP's attitude toward the First Amendment (as opposed to its undying love of the Second), I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Musical Sunday

We haven't heard from the Parody Project for a while, but this is a great song parody that's timely ... and, unfortunately, very sad.

Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

And you thought 2021 was crazy ...

Not satisfied with abasing the presidency and ruining America's standing in the world one time, Der Furor announced that he will run again for office in 2024; on Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of a special counsel to oversee criminal investigations involving Der Furor; two people were killed and a major international crisis barely averted when a Ukrainian air defense missile targeting a Russian cruise missile accidentally landed in Poland; in Moscow, Idaho, four college students were murdered in their off-campus apartment, and the killer is still at large; and in (where else?) Florida, a man was arrested and charged with Sexual Contact with an Animal after putting his genitals into the mouth of the dog he had just purchased ... the dog was taken away by Animal Control officers and the man told arresting officers he "immediately felt remorse."

The weather has turned cold as we move toward winter, providing an impetus to stay inside and enjoy reading. And so it is that this week, we celebrate books and reading ...

I wonder if this fellow is available to help me find an agent when I finish my own book ...

Bringing order to the chaos of one's library ...

You have to know where to look in the bookstore ...

I've looked into do-it-yourself publishing, but I'm not sure it's right for me ...

We have similar piles at our house ...

Now that's a sad bedtime story ...

Poor Mr Orwell had no idea ...

Yes, this is my collection, too ...

People choose their reading material for various reasons ...

Seasonally appropriate book signing ...

And that's it for today's collection of cartoons on the theme of books and reading. I hope you enjoyed it and are looking forward to reading through your accumulated library during the dark and cold months of winter ... I am.

Have a good day and be sure to come back tomorrow for Musical Sunday ... more thoughts then.

Bilbo

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for November, 2022

It's an ... interesting ... time in American political life, as voters have opted once again for divided government, but have rejected many of the worst extremists who were running for office (yes, Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano, I'm talking to you in particular). I'm not sure what the overall message is, other than that at least some thoughtful people are tuning out the worst of the worst, denying Republicans their cherished and expected "red wave" and opting for responsible, fact-based government that works for the people rather than for big business and the wealthy.

The last few months have produced a veritable landslide of blathering ass clowns in state and federal races that cost the nation an estimated $16.7 billion - $8.9 billion at the federal level, and $7.8 billion on state races. This is an absolutely disgraceful sum to spend on political blather when schools are underfunded, children go hungry, infrastructure is crumbling, and quality medical care is unaffordable.

But I digress.

Looking back at the run-up to the election, it's clear that a group award is once again called for, and so I have selected as

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for November, 2022

Dan Bongino, Dinesh D'Souza,

Tomi Lahren and Brigitte Gabriel

This group of four constitutes some of the loudest, yet most incoherent hyperconservative commentators on American airwaves and the Internet today. Each is ignorant and annoying in different ways.

For the last few months, Dan Bongino has posted a daily tweet which says simply, "Today is (date) and Joe Biden is the WORST president in US history." Well, that's his opinion and he's welcome to it, but it needs to be said that he supports a former president who was impeached twice, debased the presidency, upended the alliances that have kept the peace for decades, and ruined the image of the United States on the world stage. Despite Mr Bongino's (and other conservative commentators') assertions that Der Furor kept every promise he ever made, his legislative and leadership record is actually vanishingly thin, especially when compared to that of Mr Biden. Mr Bongino is, to put the most charitable spin on it, an uninformed fool.

Dinesh D'Souza is a prominent figure in far-right circles, famous in particular for his discredited book and movie "2000 Mules," a "documentary" which tried to show that widespread, coordinated voter fraud in the 2020 election resulted in the presidency being "stolen" from Der Furor. He is a near-constant presence on Twitter and on conservative news and opinion broadcasts, where he continues to sow doubt on the integrity of American elections and hawk a variety of conspiracy theories and denunciations of Democratic elected officials.

Tomi Lahren is a self-described "constitutional conservative," although her demonstrated understanding of what the Constitution actually says appears to be quite limited. She is a popular commentator on conservative networks Fox News and OANN, and a frequent presence on Twitter, where she routinely criticizes liberal or Democratic politicians, usually in dismissive and sometimes crude terms.

Brigitte Gabriel is the screen name of Lebanese-American conservative activist Hanan Qahwaji, a stidently anti-Islamic figure who strongly supports Der Furor and far-right causes. A typical tweet published on November 15th after Der Furor's announcement of his 2024 presidential campaign, reads "DRAIN THE SWAMP! ELECT [DER FUROR]!" Considering that Der Furor ran the presidency as a money-making operation, with his unprecedented ignorance, grift, and illegality not only in full view, but actually admitted, Ms Gabriel seems to have confused draining the swamp with making it ... well ... swampier.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the Left Cheek Ass Clown award for this month is presented jointly to four of the noisiest and least attention-worthy voices of the extreme right: Dan Bongino, Dinesh D'Souza, Tomi Lahren, and Brigitte Gabriel. Life is too short to waste your time listening to any of them ... you will get more useful information from listening to random drunks shouting on street corners. You've been warned.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow, when Cartoon Saturday returns ... see you then!

Bilbo

Poetry Sunday

When you get to a certain age it's common to look back and think about how your life that might have been different had events taken a different turn - not necessarily better or worse, just different ...

Half-Light

by Frank Bidart

When I tell you that all the years we were

undergraduates I was madly in love with you

you say you 

knew. I say I knew you 

knew. You say 

There was no place in nature we could meet.

Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend living the life nature has dealt you. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

The election is over ... you can exhale now, if slowly.

Predictions of a huge "red wave" that would sweep Republicans into full control of government at all levels proved to be false as the voting revealed an electorate unhappy with the Biden administration, but not convinced the GOP would do any better and turned off by the extremism of many Republican candidates; Russia appears to have evacuated its forces from the occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson; noisy conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay an additional $73 million in damages for his baseless claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was a hoax; a large piece of wreckage from the destroyed space shuttle Challenger was found in the Atlantic Ocean by historians looking for the wreckage of aircraft from World War II; and a police officer fired from the Vallejo, California, police department after two shooting incidents was hired as a police officer in the town of Broadmoor, a mere 40 miles away.

This week, as the dust from the $8 billion midterm election still petulantly refuses to settle, I dug deep into the collection for some cartoons inspired by electoral politics, election funding, and the coming of the GOP Congressional Revenge Tour ...

If you're part of the 1% and still have money left over after bankrolling the party of your choice, you won't want to give up whatever remains ...

Wouldn't it be nice if the Federal Election Commission* would recall all the tainted money that funded the election? ...

It's a tossup ...

Tee, hee, hee ... regulations ...

The actual election fraud lies in how the campaigns are financed, how Congressional districts are drawn, and how election law is enforced, rather than in actual malfeasance by the voters themselves ...

The current Supreme Court is the modern-day equivalent of the Old West "hanging jury" ...

We're certainly paying members of Congress more than most of them are worth ...

Remember the description of the federal budget as a "satan sandwich?" This is an old cartoon made new again ...

More truth here than you probably are willing to admit ...

I think this is the actual birth of the "religious" right ...

And that's it for today's collection of cartoons - I hope I've managed to lift your spirits after the last few weeks of electoral madness.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts coming tomorrow, when Poetry Sunday returns.

Bilbo

* If you actually visit the FEC website, try not to laugh hysterically at the top banner that says "Protecting the integrity of the campaign finance process."

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

Ah, yes ... it's another oddity Friday ...

I've never seen that game played in a bar ...

 

It's a good way to make some extra scratch ...

You'd think he'd choose a better bet ...

It seems like an odd thing for a church to sponsor, but we live in times when the precepts of Christianity seem to have been rethought ...

Yes, I suppose that would work ...

Does a large print audio book just play louder? ...

He probably didn't know that most hotel rooms now have small safes in each room ...

Seems like a pretty positive ID ...

This sounds like a personal ad from somewhere in Florida ...

Uh ... where is suite 242? ...

And there you go for today, November 11th. The oddities go on, as ever.

Have a good day, and don't make any stupid bets. And come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday. More thoughts then.

Bilbo