Archive for the 'politics' Category

Celebration

Cidu Bill on Sep 3rd 2010

Tuesday, Hamas gunmen opened fire on and killed four Israeli civilians, including a pregnant woman, in the West Bank. Following the attack, more than three thousand Gazans held a celebration in the streets.

Three thousand Gazans celebrated the murder of four civilians.

Now, I understand there are two sides to almost every issue, and I even understand what leads people to commit acts of terrorism… but I’m sorry, these people aren’t human beings. Aside from the fact that feeling pride over the murder of four civilians is kind of pathetic, how twisted do you have to be to take to the streets and hold a mass celebration?

As of this morning, international outrage still seems to be on hold.

Filed in Bill Bickel, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, politics, terrorism | 31 responses so far

According to a new poll…

Cidu Bill on Aug 19th 2010

… 18% of the American public believe Obama’s a Muslim. If you think that’s bad, what until you hear the percentage who believe he’s black.

Filed in Barack Obama, Bill Bickel, politics, polls, religion | 105 responses so far

Little Mosque in the Big City

Cidu Bill on Aug 11th 2010

New Yorkers, opportunistic politicians, and the ignorant and intolerant are up in arms over plans to build a multi-story mosque just blocks from the site of the World Trade Center. Well, not a multi-story mosque exactly, more like a community center open to the public (sort of a YMMA), which includes a prayer room, but let’s not let facts get in the way of hysteria.

The two Egyptian men behind the plan say it’s meant as a statement against extremism, to bridge the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims. A Tea Party spokesman calls it a memorial to the 9/11 hijackers.

An upcoming ad campaign, to appear on New York City buses, will demand that the city prohibit the building from being constructed. The ads will show pictures of one of the planes hitting the World Trade Center.

A spokesperson for the group paying for the ads said that being allowed to run the ads is a victory for free speech and tolerance.

A victory for free speech and tolerance.

The sound you hear is George Orwell turning over in his grave.

As an American, this all disgusts me. And it’s stupid as well as wrong, because what we’re telling the Muslim world that we think of every Muslim as our enemy.

As a Jew, the fact that so many Jewish groups are joining the hysteria troubles me. And it’s stupid as well, because traditionally, when a government looks for excuses to single out and discriminate against a religious group, it tends to be the Jews. Letting hysteria decide where Muslims can’t build… is that a precedent we really want to support? Hatred of Muslims is just the flavor of the week: anti-Semitism endures.

Filed in Bill Bickel, Islam, Judaism, Muslims, New York City, discrimination, media, mosques, politics, religion | 83 responses so far

Not Much Fun For Either of Them, I’d Wager

Cidu Bill on Jun 29th 2010

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But what’s the political message here?

Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, New Yorker, comic strips, comics, humor, politics | 21 responses so far

Okay, let’s give credit where it’s due…

Cidu Bill on May 25th 2010

Ethically ambiguous journalist Joe McGinniss has rented the house next to Sarah Palin’s to help him write his unauthorized biography of the former VP-candidate former governor (see article). Assuming she thought of this herself, you have to give Palin points for posting a photo of the rented house online with the caption “Hi, Neighbor! May I Call You ‘Joe’?”

Filed in Bill Bickel, Jeffrey Macdonald, Joe McGinniss, Sarah Palin, politics | 18 responses so far

”Vote against Bradley Byrne because he believes in that thar e-vo-lution thing”

Cidu Bill on May 13th 2010

Molly sent me this evidence that ignorance is now a requirement for a politician:

Filed in Bill Bickel, YouTube, politics | 64 responses so far

Rahm, Spaceknight?

Cidu Bill on Apr 23rd 2010

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Okay, since when is Rahm Emanuel “massive”? And why would Obama want to send him into space?

Filed in Barack Obama, Bill Bickel, CIDU, Far Left Side, Mike Stanfill, Rahm Emanuel, comic strips, comics, humor, politics | 145 responses so far

They Were On a Break

Cidu Bill on Mar 24th 2010

I was reading today how the New York State Assembly and Senate are just now finishing up their respective 2010-11 state budgets and how the two versions still have to reconciled and voted on. If this isn’t done by April 1, the state essentially has no money and state workers and teachers among others likely won’t get paid. The deadline is unlikely to be met, though, since the legislators start their week-long Easter-Passover holiday this weekend.

Now, here’s a goofy thought, so crazy that nobody seems to be mentioning it. How about… they don’t get their week-long vacation? This seems rather obvious to me, so no doubt I’m missing something — but passing a budget is probably the most important aspect of their jobs. You don’t go home leaving it undone.

I’ll take this a step further, which I wrote about elsewhere last year when the Pennsylvania Legislature was weeks past deadline in getting its state’s budget passed: If a state budget is one week past deadline, the legislature should be dissolved. Automatically. New election scheduled for one week later. If the electorate wants their old guy to stay on, then fine — but he has to earn back the remainder of his term. He has to explain his role in schools and state offices and parks being closed, and state employees not being able to pay their rent.

But this will be a moot point, because I can pretty much guarantee that no state budget will ever be late again.

Filed in Bill Bickel, New York, Pennsylvania, politics | 34 responses so far

Return of the Carly

Cidu Bill on Mar 15th 2010

I don’t care what anybody says: Carly Fiorina’s new attack ad


doesn’t even approach her first attack ad

Filed in Bill Bickel, Carly Fiorina, YouTube, demon sheep, politics | 23 responses so far

When Political Cartoons Get Snowed Under

Cidu Bill on Feb 10th 2010

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Okay, personally… I found this amusing until I saw the “debt” caption in the snow. and that was just too much going on at once. If they’d just shown Obama trying to dig his way out of the snow (debt) without the elephant and his comments, that would have made a valid and timely point — but as it stands, there are two different cartoons here, pushing against one another.
As always, your results may vary.

Filed in Bill Bickel, Joel Pett, global warming, humor, political cartoons, politics | 31 responses so far

Most Craptastic Political Commercial Ever

Cidu Bill on Feb 4th 2010


Seriously, if I lived in California, I’d be voting for Campbell rather than for any candidate who would approve this message.

Filed in Bill Bickel, California, Tom Campbell, YouTube, politics | 55 responses so far

Sexist or Not?

Cidu Bill on Nov 18th 2009

palin.jpgSarah Palin complained that this week’s Newsweek cover is sexist, and… well, I think I sort of agree, though we might be dealing with semantics here: Certainly Newsweek chose this particular photo with the inten of trivializing Palin (the photo is real, but was taken earlier this year as part of a spread for Runner’s World magazine). And they probably wouldn’t have used this sort of photo to trivialize a male politician (can you imagine a cover story about Obama’s domestic policy agenda being illustrated with this?

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So if using a “sexy” cover photo of a female politician is a context where you wouldn’t use one of a male politician is sexist, then I find myself in the odd position of siding with Palin.


Of course what I found most interesting about all this was Palin’s comment on the cover, ending with “If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin” — clear proof, I guess, that she writes her own material. I mean, I sort of maybe know what she’s kind of getting at here, but…

And actually what makes that quote more interesting is the fact that it was written (apparently) on the same day that she vigorously defended racial profiling on the Sean Hannity show.

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

Filed in Barack Obama, Bill Bickel, Fort Hood, Fox News, Newsweek, Runner's World, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, media, politics, polls, racial profiling | 43 responses so far

Campaigning Question

Cidu Bill on Nov 5th 2009

I’m wondering whether anybody knows… When the President travels to campaign for, say, a gubernatorial candidate, who pays for the Air Force 1 expenses, security for the President, police overtime onsite, etc?

And just for the record, I can’t speak for Virginia, but no matter what you might hear, the New Jersey election was not a referendum on either Obama or the Democratic Party: it was a referendum on Jon Corzine. When New Jerseyans went into the voting booth yesterday, Barack Obama was the last thing on our minds: We were too busy holding our noses as we decided whether the thought of reelecting Jon Corzine was distasteful for us to vote for Chris Christie.

Personally, I voted for Chris Daggett, since in this case voting for the third party candidate wasn’t taking a vote away from any decent candidate. He had me at “I’m not Corzine or Christie.”

As it happens, despite recent polls predicting up to 20% of the vote for Daggett, he ended up with about 5%. Which means, God help us, New Jerseyans got the governor we deserve.

Filed in Barack Obama, Bill Bickel, Chris Christie, Chris Daggett, Jon Corzine, New Jersey, politics | 20 responses so far

President Obama’s Address to Students

Cidu Bill on Sep 4th 2009

I got a message from my son’s high school this afternoon assuring me that he would not be forced to watch Obama’s speech next week, and that the school would provide an alternative educational program for all students whose parents opted them out of watching the speech. I understand this sort of thing is going on in schools all across the country.

Is there any explanation for this other than mass insanity? I could understand it if Obama were intending to ask children to tell their parents to support his health care reform, or suggest they go through their mothers’ pocketbooks and send him all those little pieces of green paper with presidents’ pictures on them… but apparently he’s only going to offer a pep talk about working hard in school.

Just the sort of underhanded thing you’d expect from a native-born Kenyan!

Does anybody sincerely think this is controversial? And if so, why not just follow with an opposing viewpoint such as a clip from Ferris Bueller?

Filed in Barack Obama, Bill Bickel, Ferris Bueller, education, media, politics | 92 responses so far

LOL-December 8

Cidu Bill on Dec 8th 2008

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Shortly before this LOL entry went online, both Grant Yochim and Nicole suggested this one for the Arlo Page)

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Continue Reading »

Filed in Argyle Sweater, Arlo Page, Bill Bickel, Christmas, Flying McCoys, Francesco Marciuliano, Garfield, George W. Bush, Jim Davis, John Deering, Lio, Luann, Mark Tatulli, Medium Large, Modern World, Rubik's Cube, Santa Claus, Sarah Palin, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Scott Hilburn, Sex in the City, Star Trek, Strange Brew, Tom Tomorrow, Zach Weiner, aliens, bras, comic strips, comics, comics that made us laugh out loud, elves, golf, humor, lol, politics, xkcd | 22 responses so far

Headline: ”Bush Apologizes For Economic Woes”

Cidu Bill on Dec 2nd 2008

Well, no…

“I’m sorry it’s happening, of course. Obviously I don’t like the idea of people losing jobs, or being worried about their 401(k)s. On the other hand, the American people got to know that we will safeguard the system. I mean, we’re in. And if we need to be in more, we will.” -George W. Bush, December 1, 2008

I find it interesting how often newspapers and other media are nearly unanimous in telling us in large print that this public figure or another is apologizing for such or such (and I’m not even talking about the insipid, meaningless “I take full responsibility for” comments), when in fact they’ve done no such thing.

  • Related: Mike Nifong Doesn’t Apologize

Filed in Bill Bickel, George W. Bush, Mike Nifong, economy, media, politics | 20 responses so far

Mishegoss

Cidu Bill on Nov 20th 2008

According to Newsweek magazine, one of Hillary Clinton’s staffers told one of the magazine’s reporters during the primaries that everybody after a certain point everybody was “fed up with the Bill Clinton mishegoss.”

This word has always been a part of my personal vocabulary, but does the quote make any sense to most of Newsweek’s audience? I’ve noticed that New York City-based magazines and (to an even larger extent) Hollywood screenwriters seem convinced that the entire country is familair with Yiddish (which I suppose, if these magazines and screenwriters keep using it, might eventually be the case).

Filed in Bill Bickel, Bill Clinton, Newsweek, Yiddish, media, politics | 28 responses so far

Obamaland

Cidu Bill on Nov 16th 2008

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Without the Obamaland sign, it makes sense to me. With it, on the other hand…

Filed in Barack Obama, Bill Bickel, George W. Bush, comics, humor, political cartoons, politics | 24 responses so far

Nightmare After Election Day

Cidu Bill on Nov 14th 2008

Nicole: I don’t usually send in political cartoons for the synchronicity award, but…

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Filed in Bill Bickel, Sarah Palin, comics, humor, political cartoons, politics, synchronicity | 20 responses so far

D.C. Implosion

Cidu Bill on Nov 7th 2008

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Okay, unless Arlo just kicked in his tv screen, I’m afraid I’m stumped.

Filed in Arlo and Janis, Bill Bickel, CIDU, Election Day, Jimmy Johnson, comic strips, comics, humor, politics | 22 responses so far

Racist Comic of the Week

Cidu Bill on Nov 4th 2008

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You don’t think so? Then try rewriting it with the colors reversed and see how it looks.

The reality is, the majority of white voters — or close to it, anyway — will probably be voting for Obama today; and according to the most recent polls, upwards of 95% of black voters will be voting for… Obama.

So with all due respect, Mr. Billingsley… Okay, actually I’ve been sitting here for ten minutes trying to complete this sentence. I can’t. This comic is just ugly and I’m sure Senator Obama would feel the same way.

Filed in Barack Obama, Curtis, Ray Billingsley, comic strips, comics, humor, politics, racism | 50 responses so far

According to the latest ABC News poll…

Cidu Bill on Nov 3rd 2008

“among whites who call race an important factor, Obama does less well.”

People actually get paid for coming up with this sort of information.

Filed in Barack Obama, Bill Bickel, politics, polls | 29 responses so far

Election Fraud Laws I Don’t Understand

Cidu Bill on Oct 29th 2008

And moments after I put that article online, I saw this:

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Filed in Bill Bickel, Crimeweek, Wizard of Id, crime, politics | Comments Off

William Henry Harrison

Cidu Bill on Oct 24th 2008

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A reference to the fact that Harrison died a month and a half into his first term? Other than that (and even if that is it), I’m stumped.

Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, Clear Blue Water, Karen Montague-Reyes, Sarah Palin, comic strips, comics, humor, politics | 18 responses so far

Sunday Morning Bagels

Cidu Bill on Sep 21st 2008

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Is the joke here that McCain wanted Joseph Lieberman as his running mate but got Sarah Palin by mistake?  Far Left Side happens to be a very liberal (well, “Far Left Side,” duh) and a rabidly anti-McCain strip, but that still doesn’t explain this comic.

Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, Far Left Side, John McCain, Joseph Lieberman, comic strips, comics, humor, politics | 13 responses so far