Al Gore's rhythm continues to sway people towards solving two major crisises facing us, in our world today.  This was presented as an inspiring talk by Al Gore at TED conference (Technology, Entertainment, Design).

Al Gore speaking:

"In order to solve  the climate crisis, we have to solve the democracy crisis."

Here is the link to the video of Al Gore's Speech.

Saturday Morning Political Cartoon will resume next week..
This past week was a wash.. with tears.  My nephew, Shaun Michael, was in a car accident last Sunday night.  He suffered massive head injuries. He called himself a peace maker.
 
Please flip with me.

Come and join the comic Kos bunch  for Saturday Morning Political Cartoon!
This morning are remnants of Halloween.  One of the images that are around us this time of year are spider webs.
   
This was a digital doodle of a web, representing the web of life.

WEB

The idea here this morning, folks is to be a place holder for all those comic kossacks who would like to post their political cartoons in the comment section.  This was my first week of returning to college for serious academic study since 1978.  I've been too tired to cartoon.. but as somebody said somewhere,  "the show must go on."

September 9 was the one year anniversary of Saturday Morning Political Cartoon.. Where did the year go?  Today's Cartoon presentation is a partial retrospective representation of the first four months..plus "got GMO?" by my Friend MAX.. Plus of course offering by Comic KosArtists in the comment section. (This diary sure has a lot of Pluses!) :-)Please share your original cartoonability .

We'll start with "Got GMO?" by my friend MAX :

Greg Palast has written an article describing how many of the poorer districts of New Orleans are even now not repaired. Worse, housing projects that were either not damaged at all, or minimally damaged, have been locked against previous tenants.  Black water soldiers are guarding the projects.

Ms. Patricia Thomas was kept from her home .. And sometime between Greg Palast's interview with her and the writing of his article, Ms. Thomas died..  She survived Katrina, but not the neglect she suffered afterwards.

When our daughters turn sixteen, it is a threshold to woman hood.  There's a saying that reflects the innocence of children up to that age. It goes:
"Sixteen and never been kissed"  

For Abeer Qassim Hamza the reality is, Never sixteen and so sorely missed.   This is the day Abeer would have been sixteen-years-old.  But we've  forgotten already.

Welcome to Saturday Morning Political Cartoon!  This morning's feature cartoons are from me and my friend Max. Here's something to sleep on: who we are in bed with,  determines how well we rest.  How well we rest determines how well we think and function the next day.

One upon a time a vibrant tree grew.  It grew for more then 200 years. The trunk was as wide as a continent, and the branches reached right into space.
One branch even reached the moon.

"my friend MAX's" tribute to Lady Bird Johnson:

Shot at 2007-07-06
A great stink has been spreading across America.  Piles of little black balls, resembling deer turds,

Shot at 2007-07-06

are rolling around  in schools, institutions of learning,  public meeting halls, even in people's living rooms. Initially, folks didn't notice, because the black pearls were polemic emesis, which are more odious than visible, and came from a human looking face.  Folks didn't know they were encountering A Colt Her from the species A Hart Sagittarius, who had contracted  Demeanous Onerious Nastium Terribleum  disease. (DONT disease)

The pet food contamination story is crystallizing. Crystals being formed in the kidneys and urinary tracts of afflicted animals are apparently the byproduct of  chemical reactions between two chemicals: melamine and cyanuric acid. The crystals are extremely insoluble, and so collect in the kidneys:

Analysis of the crystals in the kidneys of affected animals have revealed that they are approximately 70 percent cyanuric acid and 30 percent melamine, and are extremely insoluble. Furthermore, tests mixing melamine and cyanuric acid in samples of cat urine resulted in almost immediate formation of crystals that were identical to crystals found in the kidneys of affected animals. Two other melamine- related substances-ammelide and ammeline-may also play roles and are under investigation.

The following are parts one and two of The uncensored Anger Manifesto, by Layla Anwar.

She is an Arab woman suffering with her people through the occupation by our country of hers..

Via  e-mail she gave me permission to post her work.. Her words speak for themselves. so no more introduction..

(Click on the titles,  and they will take you to the original web pages..)

This morning it was announced that Barney has withdrawn his support for the Iraq War from George W. Bush.  In 2005, when pressure for ending the war was building, Bush made this declaration (as told by Bob Woodward in a 60 minutes interview):

"Late last year he had key Republicans up to the White House to talk about the war. And said, 'I will not withdraw even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me.' Barney is his dog," Woodward says. "My work on this leads to lots of people who spend hours, days with the president."

When Barney was asked why he was withdrawing his support...

Saint Patrick is said to have driven the snakes out of Ireland, (though it's said there never were any).  Snakes represent for some a frightening living monster.  Dragons  without wings.
 Monsters represent our worst fears.   Facing monsterous images,  forces us to feel those fears.  But some images of death, like those from the front lines of war, seem too horrible to contemplate.
These have been called "war porn". Porn is acting.   The victims of the violence of war are not acting.  Why are photographs from war, called Porn?

Osama been missing now 5.5 years (since 9/11).  We haven't really seen or heard much from him. Maybe some Belated birthday messages will bring him out of his den. As of today, we're only one day late. (Ioo did a short diary on this yesterday)
What wishes do you have for Osama Bin Laden on the day after the 50th anniversary of his birth? Think about your message for Bin Laden, while I relate Raglin Brindleye's rebarks.

Daily KOS will have an extraordinary visual treat tomorrow.  Epppie, the newest KosArtist to join our growing group of artistic talent, will be hosting Saturday Morning Political Cartoon.  Stop by tomorrow morning and see his marvelous cartoons. I won't give away what they are, but here's a hint: they involve the SOTU.  
Epppie's creations have the look and feel of the classic definition of Cartoon:
Cartoons in the Fine Arts

In the fine arts, the cartoon is a full-sized preliminary drawing for a work to be executed afterward..

combined with political editorial emphasis.  When I asked Epppie for some information about himself for this intro, he replied, (on the flip side):

So says our Commander the thief.  
I saw this quote via a blog today at the Information Clearing House. Tim Dunlop wrote the commentary within which he links the transcript of Bush's 60 minutes interview, that is published at Mother Jones Magazine

PELLEY: Well, that the United States did not do a better job in providing security after the invasion.

BUSH: Not at all. I am proud of the efforts we did. We liberated that country from a tyrant. I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude, and I believe most Iraqis express that. I mean, the people understand that we’ve endured great sacrifice to help them. That’s the problem here in America. They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that’s significant enough in Iraq.