And Now ... Politics!

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Not American, but I don't get the "civil disobedience" part. Don't liberals support that?

 

[-|-]

You forgot blind Thatcher-hate based on nothing.

You mean aside from that part where she destroyed an entire industry, leaving crippled and dying towns strewn across the north?

So what if they lost their jobs and livelihoods and where they live was turned into a pit of unemployed despair. That's no reason to take it out on the person that caused it. Still, haters gonna hate I suppose. Bloody northern haters, giving thatcher a bad name.

 

[nexus]

Oh look, partisan politics! How exciting.

Nothing says "critical thinker" more than a "he said, she said" outlook on politics.

I don't really get it.

Then again, that kinda sums up my whole understanding of American politics.

If it makes you feel any better, it also sums up about 80% of all Americans' understanding of American politics as well.

Summary of American politics this election year:

Democrat: "He said this!"

Republican: "He said that!"

Onlooker: "Um, guys, what about the war... and stuff.. ?"

Republican/Democrat: "War, what war? Didn't you hear what he just said?"

 

[Therumancer]

Not American, but I don't get the "civil disobedience" part. Don't liberals support that?

Not really, one of the big criticisms of Liberals is that they tend to be socialist facists even if they are in denial about it. The basic attitude being "free speech means the right to freely speak what we agree with". Basically it's okay to say rally for a minority cause or whatever, but god forbid you do it about something they disagree with then it falls under one of their labels like "hate speech" or something similar which they argue shouldn't be protected. The left wing has taken great strides to try and prevent opposition from using the same basic tactics and techniques it did during it's major rise decades ago.

You might not agree with it, but that's doubtlessly why it's mentioned here (and it recurs in political commentary). The left wing ironically having become one of the biggest threats to free speech and expression in an absolute sense. One big issue that this gets tied to (with admittedly mixed accuracy) is the limits on freedom of speech in school. A lot of the anti-violence, anti-national, stuff in school comes from the left wing, needless to say it isn't the right wing which is generally pro-gun that continues to cause the freak outs about kids so much as having a picture of a gun... or at a recent low, an attempt to force a deaf child to change his name because the sign language symbol for his name looked too much like a gun. Not to mention other issues like people being suspended or expelled for wearing or displaying the American flag during Mexican holidays (Cinco Del Mayo).

I'm not going to get into a political flamewar here, and maybe our resident team of cartoonits will say they meant something else, but this is usually where comments like this come from.

I've posted stuff about the flag before, but for those who might have missed the issue about the deaf kid:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/school-asks-deaf-preschooler-change-sign-language-name-191629255.html


So yeah, I think the anti-gun nuts who are contributing so heavily to post-columbine school policy have been going even further over the deep end, with this one hitting a new low. The reason why this comes down to requiring special deaf-advocacy (as opposed to common sense and general opposition... which would have stopped it before this point) is simply because it's becoming harder and harder to oppose crap like this in a civil sense. Your reaction in say rallying against a church or whatever, is going to be totally differant from doing it against say the anti-gun / anti-violence lobbies today.

I could say more, but this isn't really the right time.

 

[carpathic]

Man, that reporter in the comic was well endowed...quite a large set of headlights. I guess I am trying to say, she had large breasts.

Indeed.

That is about the elvel I am at right now.

 

[TWEWER]

I'm American and pay attention to politics and this comic still doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Not American, but I don't get the "civil disobedience" part. Don't liberals support that?

Not really, one of the big criticisms of Liberals is that they tend to be socialist facists even if they are in denial about it. The basic attitude being "free speech means the right to freely speak what we agree with". Basically it's okay to say rally for a minority cause or whatever, but god forbid you do it about something they disagree with then it falls under one of their labels like "hate speech" or something similar which they argue shouldn't be protected. The left wing has taken great strides to try and prevent opposition from using the same basic tactics and techniques it did during it's major rise decades ago.

You might not agree with it, but that's doubtlessly why it's mentioned here (and it recurs in political commentary). The left wing ironically having become one of the biggest threats to free speech and expression in an absolute sense. One big issue that this gets tied to (with admittedly mixed accuracy) is the limits on freedom of speech in school. A lot of the anti-violence, anti-national, stuff in school comes from the left wing, needless to say it isn't the right wing which is generally pro-gun that continues to cause the freak outs about kids so much as having a picture of a gun... or at a recent low, an attempt to force a deaf child to change his name because the sign language symbol for his name looked too much like a gun. Not to mention other issues like people being suspended or expelled for wearing or displaying the American flag during Mexican holidays (Cinco Del Mayo).

I'm not going to get into a political flamewar here, and maybe our resident team of cartoonits will say they meant something else, but this is usually where comments like this come from.

I've posted stuff about the flag before, but for those who might have missed the issue about the deaf kid:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/school-asks-deaf-preschooler-change-sign-language-name-191629255.html


So yeah, I think the anti-gun nuts who are contributing so heavily to post-columbine school policy have been going even further over the deep end, with this one hitting a new low. The reason why this comes down to requiring special deaf-advocacy (as opposed to common sense and general opposition... which would have stopped it before this point) is simply because it's becoming harder and harder to oppose crap like this in a civil sense. Your reaction in say rallying against a church or whatever, is going to be totally differant from doing it against say the anti-gun / anti-violence lobbies today.

I could say more, but this isn't really the right time.

Yeah, that's not really what is generally meant by civil disobedience. I think the term is used wrongly here, though really, you could use it for anything you wanted depending on your political disposition. I could not attend school if I thought it was unjust for me to do so, and when the government tried to make me I could label them 'against civil disobedience'.

If what you're saying is true, it would have been better to just have 'and free speech' in the speech bubble.

 

[Quazimofo]

Also, awesome comic, as a Canadian, American politics are like newspaper funnies, they're way more interesting and hilarious than anything else in the papers.

As an American, I can say the same damn thing. lol

ditto. its absolutely hilarious the things that these people say. i almost dont believe if some of these people actually believe what they say, or are just fucking with people.

 

[Basement Cat]

I don't really get it.

Then again, that kinda sums up my whole understanding of American politics.

If it makes you feel any better, it also sums up about 80% of all Americans' understanding of American politics as well.

Not American, but I don't get the "civil disobedience" part. Don't liberals support that?

First of all both the Democrat and the Republican are using the wrong name. They're picking up a headline story and applying their party's line for sound bites, ignoring the contents of the actual story and what's actually going on in general.

"Randy's tragic demise could have been avoided if the GOP hadn't voted against last year's bill that would have outlawed death-"

The GOP publicly declared upon Obama's becoming elected that they would never compromise with him and have routinely obstructed votes and done their level best to block every bill the Democrats put forward that doesn't absolutely demand bipartisian support. Part of the problem with the American economy's difficulties stem from Republicans being obliged to heel to their party's stance on this, resulting in many potential improvements being blocked to prevent the Democrats and Obama from getting good press, which is why the GOP obsessively focuses on 'moral' issues for distraction.

"And civil disobedience."

The Democrats, in pushing towards a "fair and just and equal Politically Correct nation" are primarily responsible for pushing laws restricting everything from gun ownership to objecting to religious hospital's rights to not provide birth control in the employee benefits even when providing birth control violates fundamental religious dogma. Over time this has resulted in some extreme guidelines which lead to ridiculous zero tolerance standards such as the 3 year old deaf kid being asked by his preschool to change his name because his sign language name looks like he's imitating a gun.

I THINK this refers to the Democrats objecting to the GOP's refusing to support a bill that would make sense to anyone except that the GOP refused because of an addition to the bill that represented another limitation to civil liberties added on by the extreme left Democrats.



"The liberals never cared about Mandy. This is all part of their eternal welfare agenda."

The Tea Party and other extreme right Republicans are convinced that Democrats are socialists at heart and that anything they do is a part of their socialist agenda. Sane Republicans--yes, there are plenty, they just don't have mouths the size of Texas that never shut up--are obligated to remain in public support of their Party so you rarely hear centrist common sense from them these days.

"Not only is the pursuit of immortality socialist, it's fundamentally un-American."

As I said--the socialist bit.

Also the Republican Party's traditional hold on "National Security and Military Power" as one of their party's central pillars has resulted in the Republicans getting into the habit of defining what was "American" and what wasn't far more often than the Democrats do.

"Thanks, man." "It's cool."

Under current American law, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling in 2010, there is no limit whatsoever to how much money corporations and individuals can pour into supporting a candidate's election so long as it isn't given to the candidate's team directly, but to Political Action Committees. This has resulted in the creation of Super PAC's which, between the Democrats and the Republicans, is what is responsible for this year's presidential election running up a projected 2.5 billion dollar final bill.

Because the Republicans are big on favoring the rich and deregulation of corporations they naturally are getting a LOT of backing from mega-millionaires and billionaires and big name companies. As such the GOP is surpassing the Democrats in fundraising--and likely remembering where their bread and butter comes from.

Hence Death's gratitude.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

"And civil disobedience."

The Democrats, in pushing towards a "fair and just and equal Politically Correct nation" are primarily responsible for pushing laws restricting everything from gun ownership to objecting to religious hospital's rights to not provide birth control in the employee benefits even when providing birth control violates fundamental religious dogma. Over time this has resulted in some extreme guidelines which lead to ridiculous zero tolerance standards such as the 3 year old deaf kid being asked by his preschool to change his name because his sign language name looks like he's imitating a gun.

I THINK this refers to the Democrats objecting to the GOP's refusing to support a bill that would make sense to anyone except that the GOP refused because of an addition to the bill that represented another limitation to civil liberties added on by the extreme left Democrats.

I could understand if the speech bubble referred to civil 'liberties'. But it doesn't, it refers to civil disobedience - why? I don't see what the kid with the sign language name has to do with anything. Do you know what civil disobedience is? I don't think the cartoonists do.

 

[B Goy]

le snip

thatcherism is not something anyone should play devils advocate for least of all towards people who where actually there Mr 17 year old who's suddenly a political expert on everything.

the vast majority of the wounds that are still hurting do so for a reason.
hell, even her own party avoid direct political association with her actions.

there isn't a tory alive who would tell an open mic they were "thatcher 2.0"

so for all the information you can gather from external sources and all the excuses you can make on her behalf and all the supposedly informed political comment you can pass maybe you should pause and ask yourself just why that is.

There is a difference between saying you are Thatcher 2.0 and being it. New Labour was essentially maintaining the Thatcher reforms and even committed to keeping Tory spending budgets until 2001 which implies that they believed that it was a pretty good thing. Ed Miliband also supported the Thatcher reforms in a speech he made while leader, the reforms even created GDP growth that continued until the Great Recession.

Considering the economic stance of many in the Conservatives, they pretty much are declaring that they are Thatcherites, even Mandelson said it back in the New Labour years and people didn't hear much objections in mainstream Labour. I'm not saying that everyone should love her, she made mistakes. Yes she went overboard in fighting the miners and did damage to the coal mining communities but she did try to help them with the Nissan plant in Sunderland and was Scargill going to be lovey-dovey and accept any deal that involved closing any pits? The Poll Tax was monumentally stupid so I won't argue on that. I could mention other myths about Thatcherism such as "Privatise everything" when she opposed privatising British Rail, British Coal and saw the NHS as a "third rail" and was trusted more then Labour with it by David Owen but that may take a bit. I would like to ask how old you were during Thatcherism and why you don't wish to combat these statements I'm making instead of just dismissing them based on age.

 

[Rangerboy87]

"Critical Miss: Equal Opportunity Insulters. Insulting all viewers since 2010. Must not be taken with Seriousness as serious side-effects may result including whining, soap-boxing, name-calling, fear-mongering, and erectile disfunction."

 

[B Goy]

I'm American and pay attention to politics and this comic still doesn't make sense to me.

Thank god, I thought it was just us non-Americans who were getting worried there.

 

[Zero=Interrupt]

More storyline stuff, and less of this, please. Just when Erin gets moderately interesting you interrupt it with things like this, and it's not even remotely gaming or story related.

Unless you count what that guy said about DmC, which looks so bad it's depressing. Sigh....

 

[nyysjan]

Having followed the elections, and having seen the kind of shit Republicans keep doing, and how the media keeps putting out this inane "both sides do it" meme, i find this comic not only not funny, or accurate, but also fucking arrogant "oh look at me, i'm too smart to be taken in by the lies of either side".

There is a clear contrast between the two major parties in USA, while neither is perfect, one is lot less honest, and lot more insane, than the other.

 

[Therumancer]

I'm American and pay attention to politics and this comic still doesn't make sense to me.

It's about political detachment, using stereotypes. Basically we're dealing with a piece of banal celebrity news, where some Jersey shore type dweeb dying from a heroin overdose, this being big televised news as opposed to other more important issues. While irrelvent to anything of note going on both political parties try and use it to their favor in attacking the other. We have the handsome, smooth talking liberal, with a rather psychotic agenda against your freedoms if you read the "small print", and a raving older gentleman representing the conservatives, which are also a tool of special interests, the idea here being since it's about death, they are representing the interests of the Grim Reaper much like how they are accused of representing corperate intersts and such.

You'll also notice a triple whammy of banality in the first panel, the ticker on the bottom has a homeless person saying "muffins are tasty" (which made the news) but the this becomes a double because you'll notice the alleged homeless guy is apparently being quoted from a tweet meaning he obviously has a smartphone or something despite his "plight", which makes it even more insane he would be quoted on the news since he's obviously faking.


Got it now? Pretty much everyone from the media, to society (for watching this reality TV garbage and making things like a moron ODing on Heroin imporant news at election time), to both political parties got blasted within this one strip. In three panels it's pretty much a summary of the idiocy of current politics, with part of the point being that as idiotic as the politicians are, we're just as bad, as are the people covering it.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Boobies..
...


boobies..everywhar

_>

^
that.

course, that because i regard politicians as nothing more then lairs who have been bought and paid for by special interest groups.

 

[PunkRex]

Boring news is generally a good thing as it means no ones dying. Unless its a scientific discovery, thats exciting... but that may just be me saying that.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

If you think that's funny Then you should see whats goes down during election season. I always thought politics was like if the cast of dragon ball z was replaced by a bunch of old rich dudes, 5 hours of yelling and spamming flaming money balls at each other.

I never realized how accurate that statement was until now.

 

[B Goy]

You forgot blind Thatcher-hate based on nothing.

Yes, nothing. Nothing at all. Well, except the corrupt ministers, the assault on worker's rights, the poll tax, the prudish censorship, the various privatisations of previously public enterprises which resulted in demonstrably worse service for everyone except the rich, the massive deregulation of the financial sector which is directly responsible for the recent global financial clusterfucktastrophy, and deploying the Met around the nation as government enforcers with no regard for civil liberties.

Huh, so maybe quite a few things then. Of course, Tories don't generally consider funneling wealth from poor to rich, abuse of power, mindless deregulation, uniformed thugs beating up peaceful strikers, and forcing everyone to adhere to their own backward Victorian moral code to be problems, so I can see where you'd get confused.

If Thatcher is responsible for the Great Recession then Clement Attlee is at fault for the Winter of Discontent and stagnation of British industry during the 70s.

I direct you to my previous posts which you seem to avoid so that you can ignore anything that bursts your nicely made ideological bubble. I must complement your strawmen though.

Anyway, I imagine you also think that 1979, 1987 and 1992 were rigged as well considering the Tories got a constant vote share.