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Published June 26, 2009 by

Torture in Gitmo, and Tasers in the USA.

Police discuss torture with tasers
tasers as torture cartoon, 5th amendment cartoon

Nancy Pelosi seems so far away now, doesn’t she? There was a story that didn’t last long. Or tptb buried it! Yet it was just last month…

I’m sure she did know about the CIA tortures in Guantanamo Bay. Politico says she did. She was probably only given a few details, and didn’t quite understand it: no one is proud of torture, even, or maybe especially, the armed services. Many decision-makers just believe it has to be done. I’ve read that it’s not an efficient way to get confessions,  but I’m quite sure I would squeal about anything in the world after about 1 minute of it. Maybe less.

News reports say only 3 of the Gitmo detainees were actually waterboarded, which everyone agrees is the worst kind of torture. One of these guys claimed responsibility for beheading Daniel Pearl – and nothing is more heinous than beheading someone, in my kingdom. But US News & World Report says:

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, has claimed responsibility for beheading Pearl, but it recently came to light that the al Qaeda operative was waterboarded more than 180 times in 30 days. This has left some of Pearl’s colleagues skeptical of the confession.

Um, me, too, now.   This is certainly going overboard. Who’s telling the truth?

Read MoreTorture in Gitmo, and Tasers in the USA.

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Published June 24, 2009 by

Does North Korea have a target painted on our face?

alternate bomb for North Korea
"IF KIM JONG IL WANTED TO BE A DO-GOODER." ©D. Barstow

I think I just wanted to draw my first nuclear bomb.

I don’t know why, but when I saw how seriously the news was taking reports of Kim Jong Il setting off nuclear bomb tests, it made me kind of giddy, like laughing in church. Perhaps I am a bad person (but not saying I’m wrong, of course.)

I mean, the man might be sick,  in a coma – or there are concerns he had a stroke. In any case, he’s been out of view, so we don’t know what he’s really doing. Today the timesonline (UK) said:

Mr Kim, 67, is believed to have suffered a stroke last year that removed him from the public eye during several key national events. The medical machinery needed is among a number of items banned under the trade embargo on North Korea, which followed the regime’s first nuclear test in 2006.

Oops, this is what happens when you ban things.  

Read MoreDoes North Korea have a target painted on our face?

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Published June 22, 2009 by

Navy sonar is like unsolicited sales calls to whales.

090601op
"So...the Navy will continue to use sonar, but we can pick any beach in the world. To die on." ©D.Barstow

I first read about this last fall. From the Christian Science Monitor:

In a 6-3 ruling on Wednesday, the high court criticized a federal judge in California for imposing restrictions that the majority justices said jeopardized national security in an effort to protect the environment.

MFA sonars send intense pulses of noise through the water that can disrupt or injure marine mammals nearby. Scientists say it can trigger fatal mass strandings under certain circumstances.

Joel Reynolds, a senior NRDC attorney, said the high court left in place undisputed portions of the federal judge’s order concerning Navy training. As a result, the Navy must continue to abide by a 12-mile coastal buffer zone and must continue to avoid the Catalina Basin, an area with a high concentration of marine mammals.

Check out this killer whale video to actually see whales in Puget Sound reacting to Navy sonar.  Umm, how much proof are they waiting for?

Well, that’s the point, isn’t it. The Navy has the proof, they’re just making a judgment call (no puns, thanks.) that they have to keep making the same sonar sounds over and over, like 3 year olds playing with their toys.  

Read MoreNavy sonar is like unsolicited sales calls to whales.

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Published June 19, 2009 by

Obama tackles detainees with gloves and a white suit.

Barack Obama cartoon as beekeeper for Guatanomo
"Some beehives suffer from "colony collapse disorder." Be careful, Mr. President." ©D.Barstow

When I was little, I remember lying on the living room couch with a sore throat and an upset tummy, miserable as only sick children can be. My grandmother was playing cards with a few of her friends, and I couldn’t have felt less festive. One of her friends, Aunt Rita, made me honey toast. I didn’t even want it, but I ate some, and I was instantly healed.

No one pointed at me as if it was a miracle, but that was okay- I was pretty shy, so I just sat up, got dressed properly, and went to play. Even having experienced this, and having read that honey was used in World War 1 as a wound healer in the battlefield, because of its antibiotic qualities, and other good things that bees put in honey, I don’t eat it all that often. But I do collect honey cookbooks or pamphlets I come across, and I like to buy local honey from any place I visit, as a souvenir!

That’s about all I know about bees or beekeeping, but a few months ago, when I investigated the whitenose syndrome that has been killing off bats,  I read in several sources that scientists suspect it’s related to the devastating die off of bees, which syndrome is called, “colony collapse disorder.”

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Published June 18, 2009 by

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Published June 14, 2009 by

Mickey Mouse as human sacrifice for California budget?

090605op
"When the deadline passed, and California couldn't make its budget, it began to eat its own young..."©D.Barstow 2009

Sometimes ideas come to me out of nowhere! In this case, I think I began with the sentence up to budget…and then just tried out some endings. I also don’t know why I thought of Mickey Mouse! It’s not like I like the character, or like Disney in any way. But it was a symbol that one could hurt…

I only do cartoons about California now and then, as it’s obviously not national, but an LA Times article said recently, the State Treasurer claims it’s “too big to fail.”  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said they’d have to make education cuts – which I say, hallelujah – we have a terrible record of even teaching kids to read and write, with the most corrupt school system, at least in SoCal.  He also talked about selling landmarks like San Quentin! and the LA Coliseum. 

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