Monday Morning Musings

Today I thought we'd just have some fun here on the blog. I did not watch the news at all over the weekend, although I did buy a newspaper on Sunday, but I only read the comics. Usually I read the editorials as well, but never got past the funny papers yesterday. Several of the strips had me nodding and chuckling, so I thought I would share them.

First we have this from Shoe by Gary Brookins and Susie MacNelley:

Senator Batson D. Belfry is holding a press conference, telling Shoe and Cosmo, "I was on an important trade mission to Pango Tango in the Pacific. And of course, I needed assistance from my staff,  so naturally my executive assistant, Miss Starlight, had to accompany me. And those, um, incidences at the resort pool and Tiki bar were misreported by the press. So a clarification of the subsequent arrest by the Pango Tango police is in order."

Cosmo sighs and says, "Here he goes again burning the scandal at both ends."

Next up is this from Non Sequitur by Wiley:

A future President of the United States is sitting in an easy chair in a cave being interviewed by a reporter, and the reporter says, "Okay... so it turned out there wasn't an advanced army of alien roaches hiding inside the moon preparing to invade earth right?"

The president says, "So?
 
"So? You blew up the moon for nothing, resulting in disastrous consequences on a planetary scale."
 
The president sips a martini. "I fundamentally disagree with that."

The reporter stops writing in his notebook, "Wait... you disagree about the actual results of your actions?"

The president nods, "Facts are debatable"
 
"Blowing up the moon puts us back to living in caves and on the verge of extinction."

The president waves one hand. "Like dwelling on the past is going to change that? So let's stay focused on what we should do now."
 
"Like trying to blame all of it on the current administration for not putting the moon back together? Right?"
 
"Oh, like that's so much to ask?"

Finally one from Dustin by Steve Kelly and Jeff Parker:

Dustin's parents are at a restaurant for dinner, and the waiter steps up to the table. He says, "We have a sumptuous dessert special this evening. It's seven sheets of flourless chocolate cake with chocolate mousse, in between glazed and rich chocolate ganache dusted with cocoa powder and topped with dark chocolate shavings.

"The chef calls it 'Death by Chocolate.'"

Dustin's father says, "Actually were trying to watch our diets. Could you just bring enough to put us in critical condition?"

Did any of these make you laugh? I didn't laugh at the one from Non Sequitur. That one was too much like reality to be funny. And I do wish that waiter would come to my house and offer me that dessert.

Friday's Odds and Ends

When my sister told me she had to pay $4,000 for a pill to help her body deal with the effects of chemo she was receiving for breast cancer, I thought we had a bad phone connection. Surely it didn't cost $4,000 for one little pill. To my dismay, I found out it really does. Not only that, a lot of cancer treatments are costing much more than they were even a few years ago.

According to a recent article by Donald W. Light, a network fellow at Harvard University's E. J. Safra Center for Ethics and a professor at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, and Hagop Kantarjian, chair of the Department of Leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center, drug companies believe the higher prices are necessary. Pharmaceutical companies say that the new drugs are improved, but oncologists disagree. The doctors say there are few clinical advantages of the new medicine over existing drugs.

The other justification for higher prices of all kinds of medicine is the cost of research and development. In the article Light and Kantarjian wrote for the AARP Bulletin, they dispelled this justification as well.

Overall, investment in basic research by pharmaceutical companies to discover new drugs is quite small - about one-sixth of overall company research costs and about 1.3 percent of revenues after deducting for taxpayer subsidies.

Research for cancer drugs specifically is paid for by the National Cancer Institute and various foundations, yet the price of cancer drugs has doubled in the past decade. 

The authors conclude the article with a call to congress to hold hearings on the rising costs of specialty drugs and allow Medicare to negotiate discount drug prices. They believe bringing down the cost of drugs and treatments could cut health care costs.

Now for some funny papers fun from Mallard Fillmore. A news news anchor says, "Good evening… The F.C.C. will be observing, but in no way interfering with tonights newscast….

An officious guy with a huge smile next to him says, "He actually meant to say, "The friendly, helpful F.C.C., didn't you, Roger?"

This next one is from One Big Happy. Grandma and grandpa are out for a walk and meet a neighbor who says, "I'm looking to lower my taxes. Do you all give money to charities?"

Grandma says, "Yes, Roy. We donate to our church."

"Aw, I can't do that, I'm an atheist."

Grandpa says, "No problem, Roy. Atheism is a non-prophet group."

Roy scratches his chin. "It is?"

As grandma and grandma walk off she says to him "You're so bad."

Closing With a Literary Lesson: This is from Laura Lippman's novel, Life Sentences when a character is reflecting on how a white friend thought about the weekend that Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, "She hadn't known, couldn't know what had gone on in the living rooms and kitchens of black folks' homes that horrible weekend, the fear and grief and terror of it all. As Donna said, she meant no harm. But Tisha knew that people who meant no harm were often the most dangerous people of all, the real tar babies from which one might never disentangle."

Friday's Odds and Ends

Which won't be much this morning as there is nothing in the news that I care to talk about. The mess in Washington is just that, and nothing I can say will make those folks behave.

So let's just have some fun with some comic strips and forget about the news.

This first one is from One Big Happy, and I'm sure moms around the world can relate.

Ruthie runs up to her mother with a note. "Mom, I forgot to give this to you."

Mom reads the note. "A class play? Fun with Food Groups? On Wednesday?!"

Ruthie: "And I'm the zucchini."

Mom: "So I only have three days to make a zucchini costume?! Ruthie, I have a million things to do this week. (waving the paper in the air) How do they expect working parents to take the time to construct elaborate costumes on such short notice? I'm going to call the principal of yours and let her have it."

Ruthie: "But, Mom, they're using the same costumes from last year's play!"

Mom: "Oh.... You're in the class play? What fun!"

Next up is Baby Blues.

Wanda and Darryl are in the grocery store and the butcher hands Wanda a package of meat, saying, "You'll need to trim off the excess fat, Ma'am."

The next five panels show Wanda and Darryl finishing the shopping, driving home, preparing a meal, eating, clearing the table and doing the dishes. That's when Wanda asks THE question. "He was talking about the roast, right?"

Darryl: "For his sake, I hope so."

Finally in the spirit of snark here is one from Mallard Fillmore. I do love the way Bruce Tinsley nails issues.

Two dinosaurs are walking along and one is saying, "Sometimes I think that if the man-made meteors, the man-made volcanoes, or the man-made Ice Age doesn't get us, the man-made mammals will...."

Fridays Odds and Ends

One couple in Fort Worth, Texas are missing the home that belonged to the husband's grandmother. It was demolished by the city when a demolition crew went to the wrong address. The house next to it was the one that was supposed to be razed after being condemned. The owners were not there at the time, but a neighbor tried to intervene and get the demolition crew on the right track, but those attempts failed. According to an editorial in the Dallas Morning News, the owner is not in the kind of snit many of us would be. He is requesting that the city pay him the fair market value for the house that was demolished, and could the city please remove the concrete slab. "It's not much good anymore."

Not the actual slab, but imagine driving up to your house and seeing this.

 In an interesting take on the whole debate about Snowden and whether he is a traitor or a hero, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson said that one good thing to come from the mess is that now a public debate about NASA's domestic snooping is now unavoidable.

I agree that the discussion needs to happen. Ever since 9/11 the average citizen has been negatively impacted by anti-terrorism efforts in too many ways. More thought has to be put into how we protect against terrorism without infringing on the rights and privacy of American citizens, lest we live under the control of Big Brother as fictionalized in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
 

The original cover of the 1949 British Edition

In a real feel good story, I read about a boy of four who is raising money to replace the neighborhood park that was destroyed in the plant explosion in West, Texas. Apparently, this was the park that the boy liked to play in near his grandparents' home and he lost it, along with the home and his father who was a volunteer firefighter. The boy, Parker, is following in his father's legacy of raising money for charitable works, and he held a hot dog sale on a recent Saturday to start raising money to rebuild the park. His grandparents, while still grieving the loss of their son and Parker's father, joined in the effort, along with other residents who added a bake sale and a silent auction to the event. According to the grandmother, the amount of money raised was not enough to even get started on rebuilding the park, but she thought it was important to work with Parker and let him make this effort.

Kudos to Parker and to his grandparents.

Now for some fun from the funny papers. This one is from One Big Happy. Rose, Ruthie's grandmother, is sitting at a desk with a laptop open, her husband, Nick, stands behind her, looking over her shoulder.

Rose says, "Wasn't that cat video adorable."

Nick says, "Below it is the comment 'ROFL'"

Rose translates, "Rolling on the floor laughing."

To which Nick says, "Oh, I thought it meant 'Reaching out to fellow losers.'"

And from Pickles: Earl is sitting on the edge of the bed and Opal asks, "Why are you just sitting there staring into space, Earl?"

"I'm having one of those mornings where I can't decide whether to comb my hair or put on my socks."

"What, you can't do both?"

In the last panel, Opal has walked out and Earl calls after her. "Hey, we're not all overachievers like you you know."

The dog that is on the bed next to Earl adds an "Amen."

Did anything in the news recently strike you as particularly interesting or absurd? What is your favorite comic strip?

Friday's Odds and Ends

The most talked about news story this week has been about the Cleveland kidnap victims Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michele Knight who were allegedly subjected to years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of suspect Ariel Castro. This happened in a populated area of the city, not in some remote rural area, and questions have been raised as to why the police were not on some kind of alert since Castro had been charged with abusing his wife in 1993 and had other run ins with police. People also wonder how the neighbors did not hear sounds of the horrible abuse the girls endured, and if they did, why didn't they call the police? If this were fiction, an editor would poke holes in the plot line. How could this have gone on for so many years and nobody heard the girls screaming or crying? Were the neighbors deaf? Did the man never leave the girls alone and give them an opportunity to escape? 

We won't know the whole story until the investigation is complete, but it is another example of "truth is stranger than fiction." (Pardon me for using the tired old cliche, but it is so appropriate.)

Residents of Mayflower, Arkansas who were victims of Exxon’s Good Friday tar sands spill that coated their neighborhood in toxic tar sands recently traveled to DC to hand-deliver a letter to Secretary Kerry asking that he reject Keystone XL. The members of the Remember Mayflower Coalition stood in front of the State Department to appeal to Secretary Kerry to consider the recent spill—and the subsequent devastation—and listen to the Vice President’s opinion on the pipeline as he makes his final analysis of Keystone XL.

Here is an excerpt from the letter they gave to Kerry: Before you issue your final evaluation of Keystone XL, we ask that you and your staff come to Mayflower to see what happens when a tar sands pipeline ruptures in your backyard. We ask that you observe the remnants of black tar, smell the toxic chemicals that are polluting our air, and ask yourselves whether you can in good conscience inflict this same devastation on families along Keystone XL’s route.

Now for some fun. This is from the strip Baby Blues. Hammie is on the couch with a notebook and pencil and Zoe climbs over the arm to check it out. "What are you writing?"

"Nothing"

"Come on, tell me." Zoe takes the notebook from him.

"It's a list of things to avoid this summer."

Zoe is reading the list. "I see 'thinking' topped the list again this year."

Hammie leans back on the sofa pillow with his hands behind his head. "Yeah. It's kind of a tradition with me."

Literary Lesson

This one didn't come from a book written by the author of the quote, but I read it in the book, The Woman in the Photograph,  a memoir written by Mani Feniger that I am currently reading. Then I saw it on Susan Swiderski's blog, I Think, Therefore I Yam.  I thought it was a neat coincidence to read the same quote in two places on the same day. Perhaps I needed the message, so, without further interruption, here is the quote: "We all possess certain talents and gifts that are unique to only us. You already have everything that you need to start living an extraordinary life. It's up to you to turn the switch and let your light shine."   [Randa Manning-Johnson]

Everybody, all together now, lets sing, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..." 

One last note. My historical mystery, Boxes For Beds, will be free this weekend as a Mother's Day special. 

Some Friday Fun

I'm still working on the history book and my deadline keeps getting closer and closer. Things keep interfering with my plan, like getting the flu a couple of weeks ago. Then my writing partner got sick last week and was still feeling poorly early this week. More delays. UGH! But you know what? The world will not end if the book is a few days late. Of course, my editor might not feel that way, so I hope she does not read this.

Anyway, I thought I would share some levity from the funny papers. Enjoy....

Last week's Blondie strip was amusing. Blondie and Dagwood are in bed and he has his iPad open. He says, "I'm posting that it's time for me to turn in."

Blondie says, "I think you're getting addicted to posting too many trivial things on your Facebook page."

In the next frame Dagwood says, "Honey, please. I can quit posting any time I want to."

To which she responds, "I don't know, it seems like you're getting carried away."

Dagwood's last Facebook post, "Get this - Blondie thinks I post way too much trivial stuff on my Facebook page."

Picture Courtesy of Suzy Covey Comic Book Collection

A good one from Dilbert. Dogbert is sharing news with Dilbert. "I got a job as a news manufacturer for an online media company. I quote people out of contect, add misleading headlines, and tie it all up with a snarky bow."

Dilbert says, "I thought the news occurred naturally."

Dogbert comes up with a snarky headline, "'Engineer thinks news is magic.'"

Picture Courtesy of the Competent Parent Blog

 Lessons From Literature:
Here's another one from A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. "A hero is someone who does something for other people. He does something that other men don't and can't do. He is different from other men. He is above other men."

I'm pretty sure Mr. Gaines meant the designation for someone other that a sports figure.What do you think?

Just for Fun

You know how much I enjoy reading the comic strips in the newspaper. Part of the reason is just the pure fun, but there is always a bit of truth in them, too.

This one from One Big Happy resonated with me and my hubby. Ruthie is watching TV with her grandfather and he says, "This is the reality show where the nasty rich housewives fuss with one another."

Then Grandpa changes the channel. "And  this is the reality show where the fishermen risk their lives in the freezing Arctic Ocean."

Ruthie thinks for a moment then asks, "Isn't there a show where the rich and nasty housewives fall off a boat into some freezing ocean?"

"I wish."

(Me, too.)

This is from Pearls Before Swine. Rat says to Goat, "Why do we allow people to bribe congressmen?"

"We don't. It's illegal."

"What are you talking about? Rich corporations are always giving these idiots money to vote in a certain way."

"Yeah, but those aren't bribes. They're campaign contributions."

To which Rat responds, "For the smart guy in this strip, you're pretty moronic."

Monday Morning Musings

Even with the convenience of getting news online or on TV 24/7, I still like to read a newspaper. Maybe I have a special affinity because of all the years I worked for newspapers. Perhaps. Anyway, one of my favorite things to do on Sundays is read The Dallas Morning News.

After scanning the headlines on the front page, I turn to the editorials and the comics. Sometimes in that order. Sometimes I read the comics first. I am always amused to find that some of the same topics are touched on in the comics and by the editorial writers. Art truly does reflect life.

Yesterday, I found the strip "Shoe" particularly clever. In the first panel, Cosmo and Shoe are fussing at each other, calling each other names. Roz says, "Hold it. Hold it. Why don't you gentlemen settle this like politicians?"

Cosmo asks,"You mean have a debate?"

Shoe says, "Don't be ridiculous. Only candidates debate."

Roz says, "Right. Real politicians just ignore the problem and hope it goes away."

Sad, but true. The politicians ignore solutions to problems because they are too busy playing partisan politics.

The Argyle Sweater was pretty clever, too. The strip presented Implausible Hollywood Headlines:

Playboy Enacts No Plastic Surgery Clause - Hefner cites integrity for implementation of new policy.

New Name - To portray a more accurate description of herself, Star Jones has name legally changed to "Pseudo-Star."

Kim Kardashian Abandons the Limelight - She chooses to live in quiet obscurity somewhere in Delaware.

Thankfully, none of those extreme changes will affect me. I didn't even know who Star Jones or Kim Kardashian are, and I've never put integrity and Hefner in the same sentence before.

What about you? Do you like to read newspapers? Do you read the comic strips first?

Friday's Odds and Ends

What is it with some people and their attitude toward kids? In one week's news in Dallas there was a story about a woman who killed her boyfriend's son by setting his bed on fire. The father woke up, but was unable to save the boy. 

Another story was about a mother who bit her five-week-old baby all over his body. There were also other signs of abuse, and she told doctors that she did it because she didn't want the child.

What's happened to maternal instincts?

"Ecologically it's not responsible & maybe ethically it is not a good idea either." Franklin Percival, wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survery questioning the wisdom of flushing pet alligators down the toilet when they get too big.

"What the heck?" Maryann Miller questioning the wisdom of folks who have alligators for pets.

Another oil rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday. Do we need to take a serious look at the safety of off-shore drilling?

And ending on a lighter note. I love to read the comics in the newspapers. One of my favorite strips is Pickles and a recent strip had Opal and a friend at the beauty shop sitting under a hair dryer. Opal is reading a magazine and says, "I'm feeling more irrelevant all the time."

"Why?"

"Every time I read a People Magazine it seems like there are more celebrities I've never heard of."

I'm not so sure I want to admit to how much I can relate to that.