Congress is returning today after their a 5 week recess (you had most of August off from your job, didn’t you?) to face the question of Syria. President Obama will also be making his case for airstrikes on six(!) networks today, followed by a Tuesday prime-time address from the White House.
Here’s what I thought in 2003 about Bush’s push for war in Iraq:
…and here’s what I think about Obama’s case for airstrikes in Syria.
Outer Banks, NC
Oh, this is rich.
“One thing that is very interesting, it seems to me, is that there really hasn’t been any indication from the administration as to what our national interest is with respect to this particular situation,” Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said in an interview with Fox News’s Neil Cavuto. 
It’s looking more and more like the US will be launching air strikes in Syria, possibly as early as Thursday. You’ll have to excuse my cynical tone, but here we go again. Here’s an illuminating chart by a well-known Egyptian blogger which shows the complicated and constantly changing relationships in the Middle East. Of course our past policies have contributed to the never-ending cycle of violence in the region:
There are some congress members speaking out against military action.
Here’s my latest animation on the subject.
Yesterday as I was finishing up a deadline, I noticed this at the Guardian website. The partner of Glenn Greenwald (one of the journalists who broke the Snowden/NSA story) was detained for 9 hours at London’s Heathrow airport. As an American and an editorial cartoonist, this is a very disturbing development. I remember right after 9/11 how ordinary people were detained for weeks without access to legal counsel, all in the name of preventing terrorism threats.
This reinforces one of my biggest fears- that people who criticize the government will be targeted. Every time I’m interviewed I always talk about how we American cartoonists never have to face the types of threats other cartoonists around the world do because we have the First Amendment to protect us. This is the first time I truly feel the situation has changed.
Here’s Glenn’s response and Andrew Sullivan’s piece challenging PM Cameron. Be sure to read the last line; the unfortunate reality is that it’s a question which needs to be asked.
I’m in NYC for a Cartooning for Peace interview with fellow cartoonists Liza Donnelly and Jeff Danziger. The filming was done at the historic Society of Illustrators building. We discussed the state of cartooning, free speech, and what limitations we deal with here in the US.
These photographs by Dina Goldstein are great; I especially love the Rapunzel one. There’s a short interview where the creator explains how her princess-obsessed daughter was her motivation behind the series. I did several comic strips along the same line during my Six Chix days. Here’s the title page from the chapter “Happily Ever After” in my book, Humor’s Edge:
I work from home so I only go into the actual Washington Post building about once a month to meet with my editor and touch base. Since it was such a beautiful day, Jim suggested we talk over coffee at the corner Starbucks. As we waited for the elevator, groups of WPost employees were making their way down to a company wide meeting where everyone expected the announcement of the location of their new offices to be made (there were plans for months to sell the iconic 15th Street building). Right as we sat down Jim received a text and said something like “Holy sh**! The Washington Post was just bought by Jeff Bezos!” I thought he was kidding at first but as soon as I started scrolling my twitter feed, I could see it was true. Amazingly, no one saw this coming- it seemed like everyone at the WPost was caught by surprise and genuinely shocked.
More to come….
One more post about Congress before they leave for their 5 week break. On Friday they voted for the 40th time to repeal the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare. You do know why they continue to schedule these votes, don’t you? Since the Senate is controlled by the Democrats the bill won’t get beyond the House but that doesn’t matter to Speaker Boehner. The reason for having all these votes is to allow new members of Congress to vote on repealing the health care law so they can talk about curbing big government spending when they start campaigning for re-election. Isn’t that great? You, the taxpayer pays for their time as well as keeping the Capitol open, the staff, security and whatever else it costs while Congress continues doing nothing.
Well, guess what? Congress has yet again recessed for an extended break, this time for almost the entire month of August. Ezra Klein from the Washington Post writes in defense of this regular practice, saying that the fact Congress members go home to meet with their constituents isn’t the problem, but what they do while in session is. Fair enough, but I’m pretty sure they spend most of their time meeting with contributor$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
Bradley Manning was found not guilty yesterday of the most serious charge, aiding the enemy. However, he was found guilty of several charges of espionage. The sentencing hearing begins today and Manning faces over 100 years in prison.
Today a military judge will rule on the Bradley Manning Wikileaks case. If Private Manning is convicted on the “aiding the enemy” charge, he could face life without the chance of parole in a military prison. Regardless if you feel Manning is guilty or innocent, this could have a serious impact on investigative journalism and how much we know about what our government is doing. It’s a big deal.