Stanek Sunday funnies 2-20-11
Surprisingly, political cartoonists this week failed to address the pro-life budget cuts in the federal budget. Was looking forward to Planned Parenthood zingers, rats.
Nevertheless, here were my top 5 favorites for the week, 1st by Michael Ramirez at Townhall.com (background on this one here, if you need it)…
by Gary Varvel at Townhall.com…
by Mike Lester at Townhall.com…
And finally a couple cartoons tipping the hat to civil dissidents around the world, breaking free of brutal regimes with the help of social media and blogging. Here at home Andrew Breitbart said at a rally in Wisconsin on February 19 that we’re engaged in an “electronic civil war.” And our side is winning, including those of us fighting to protect the sanctity of human life.
by Dana Summers at GoComics.com…
by Mike Luckovich at GoComics.com…
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
More gibberish from democRATs and their fellow travelers in the press corps [that’s pronounced ‘core’, not corpse though corpse might explain the deafening silence and the demise of journalism.].
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Rep. David Wu’s staff confronted him over concerns about his mental health
Published: Friday, February 18, 2011, 9:03 PM
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/02/rep_david_wus_staff_confronted.html
WASHINGTON — Three days before the Nov. 2 election, [democrat] U.S. Rep. David Wu’s most loyal and senior staffers were so alarmed by his erratic behavior that they demanded he enter a hospital for psychiatric treatment.
Their concern had been spiking for weeks in tandem with the Oregon Democrat’s increasingly unpredictable performance on the campaign trail and in private. He was loud and sometimes angry, some of them told The Oregonian. He said kooky things to staff and — more worrisome with a tough election fast approaching — around potential voters and donors.
Several staff members confronted Wu for the final time on Oct. 30. Wu’s psychiatrist was brought into that meeting as well, joining the group at the Portland campaign headquarters by speaker phone. The meeting was held after four consecutive days of troubling behavior that led the staff to agree that Wu needed a higher level of medical care, according to people intimately familiar with the events of that period.
Wu, however, remained defiant, sources said. He left the meeting and said he was going to a movie.
Faced with a stalemate, the campaign essentially shut down at the very time when most other candidates were at their most frenzied. No public announcement was made, but campaign staff withdrew and Wu did not hold another formal campaign event until he emerged on Tuesday night after winning a seventh term.
Last month, The Oregonian reported that at least a half-dozen members of Wu’s staff had resigned after he won re-election in November. That group included his longtime chief of staff and his spokeswoman. In addition, he lost his campaign pollster and his fundraiser.
In the early morning of Saturday [October 29.2010], several odd messages written from Wu’s private House of Representatives e-mail address were sent to some staffers, all female, with still others copied on them.
One message was written in the name and voice of Wu’s son. “Cut him some slack, man. What he does when he’s wasted is send emails, not harass people he works with.”
Yet another was purportedly signed by both children, who are adolescents. It praised the female staffer for sticking by Wu. “My Dad says you’re the best because not even my Mom put up with him for [REDACTED: #] years and you have. We think you’re cool.”
Aides with knowledge of the messages told The Oregonian they were convinced all were written by David Wu. The messages were sent from his BlackBerry around 1:30 a.m. Moreover, the private e-mail address of a member of Congress is closely guarded and it would be highly unusual for another person other than the elected official to have access to the account.
At that point, staff knew something was terribly wrong with their candidate. That Saturday, Oct. 30, they checked for available hospital beds and consulted with his psychiatrist. Veteran pollster Grove sent staffers the e-mail that signaled the end. She declined to comment for this story but earlier told The Oregonian that she would never work for Wu again.
There was no doubt Wu was having a rough 2010. He had separated from his wife, and he faced a credible opponent — Republican Rob Cornilles — in a difficult year for all Democrats. He [Wu] told people he had stopped drinking in July.
Sources reported that over the years Wu would have normal periods, followed by times when he seemed disturbed. Each episode seemed more erratic, they said. But just before the election, they said, was the worst they had seen.
As Election Day approached, the prevailing mood, according to one person, “was that the only thing worse than losing the campaign would be winning it.”
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Wu’s staff’s fears were realized. The ‘worst thing’ did happen. democRAT Wu won re-election to the United States Congress.
Compare Wu’s and his staffs response to Wu’s clearly impaired and unstable condition to that of a newly re-elected republican congressman Chris Lee who’s ‘crime’ was to send a photo of himself sans shirt to a woman who had requested such a photo.
New York Congressman Resigns Over E-MailsBy RAYMOND HERNANDEZPublished: February 9, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/us/politics/10lee.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Not saying Lee should or should not have resigned.
Just have to believe republican leaders in the congress probably leaned on him pretty hard to do so.
Either way Lee resigned.
democRATs knowingly work to elect an alcoholic who is also exhibiting erratic emotional behavior and mental instability to congress at the same time admitting his election would be ‘worse’ than winning.
Nothing new about this, democRATs have been perfectly comfortable with electing and re-electing known racists, rapists, misogynists, murderers, perverts, perjurers, thieves and liars for decades.
Interesting, bro. Had no idea about Wu.
I don’t find that very funny myself. Stroke or migraine or neither, any neurological malfunction serious enough to debilitate someone’s ability to speak is not appropriate fodder for making fun or scoring political points.
joan,
I agree. I don’t find the first comic funny either.
Hi Joan,
For once we agree. A very tasteless cartoon, especially to those of us who have had loved ones and friends suffer strokes.
The first cartoon is a “pop culture reference” to a video of a reporter speaking gibberish. I don’t think it was meant to be offensive. But I still don’t think it’s that funny.
Personally my favorite of the five is Varvel’s. Obama with the tiny bucket, and the GOP with the slightly larger but still small bucket, as the nation drowns in red ink. That has to be one of the best I’ve ever seen from Varvel.
As the mother of a 3 yr. old who survived a in utero stroke, I find the first cartoon totally uncalled for. A stroke is NEVER funny and to make light of the seriousness of a person having a stroke is tasteless. Whats next? Shall we make fun of some people with mental retardation or perhaps some disabled folks?
Ken, your refusal to spell the name of the Democratic Party correctly reflects very badly on your morality and integrity. And your intellect.
Hey Hal,
Democratic, Democrat, it’s all the same. Democrat slips off the tongue more easily. We don’t say Republicanic Party, do we?
Janet, I might buy that if he didn’t do it this way. “DemocRAT”
Hal says: February 21, 2011 at 1:18 pm
“Ken, your refusal to spell the name of the Democratic Party correctly reflects very badly on your morality and integrity. And your intellect.”
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Hal,
If you had just substitute ‘immaturity’ for ‘intellect’ I might have been inclined to agree with you on that one point.
But could you be specific about my shortcomings in the areas of ‘integrity’ and ‘morality’.
I have never been accused of having ‘good taste’ and you have been faithful to point out that flaw.
But did you follow the link and read the whole story for yourself.
And if you did, doesn’t it bother you just a little bit that your fellow citizens would withhold information that any responsible voter should have been privy to before she/he cast his vote.
Would you have voted for Wu if you had known his condtion?
Are you asserting that the fellow running against Wu was still the worst choice?
Tell me you are not one of the mindless democRATs who cares more for your party than you do for your country.
Would you knowingly vote for an alcoholic for your city council?
Or would you wait til he gets behind the wheel of his Prius and drives off a bridge with a someones daughter in the car with him and leaves her to drown while he consults with his attorney to get his story straight?
Where is the ‘integrity’ and ‘morality’ in that?
But I do appreciate your gift for ‘brevity’.
bro ken:
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We certainly had little chance hearing it from the MSM. Your dedication to speaking the truth speaks highly of your integrity and intellect.
Oh, and as for democrat, democRAT, or demoncrat–I have seen all three and they are interchangable. Actually the question should be asked: “What has become of the democractic party”? Basically, they have gone socialist. There is not a dimes worth of difference between the dems of the late 50’s to that of the repubs today.
The last cartoon featuring Muammar Gaddafi would probably have more punch to it if it showed jets strafing the public with live ammo. The brutality of these regimes and their treatment of women should make us all get on our knees and pray in gratitude for our republic founded on Christian principles. No, that doesn’t mean we are perfect but I sure wouldn’t trade being here for anything.
P.s. And it doesn’t hurt that we have the second amendment. Imagine if the people of Libya were armed with all manner of firearms and were able to put up a determined resistance to the brutish military under the pathetic Gaddafi. Stories are that thousands have been gunned down without mercy by their wonderful leader.
“Oh, and as for democrat, democRAT, or demoncrat–I have seen all three and they are interchangable.”
Personally, I prefer “Demoncat” or “Demonrat”. What do they call the Republicans? “Repugnants” or something like that? “Repukelicans”, maybe.
Jerry, I agree that the modern Republican Party is very similar to the Democratic Party of 50 or 60 years ago. It’s ridiculous when you hear these Democrats who have gone off-the-charts left saying that the GOP has gone “way way to the right”. Uh, no, both parties have moved to the left. It’s just that the Dems have gone so far left that it’s hard to tell the difference between a Democrat and a Socialist now.