Hence my new cartoon, the week in flight – a mylar, a silicone cougar, and a martyr balloon:

This new movie is the subject of this week’s cartoon.

Moore has been know to use questionable,  deceptive, and misleading tactics starting all the way back with “Roger & Me.” Now that GM and the major investment banks, the target of much of Moore’s criticism, have been forced to reinvent themselves, a new release gives the filmmaker a chance to bask in his pyrrhic victory.

The screening of the film begins with an  “alms collection” for the “host of needy banks.” While greed did serve as a major driver of the financial downturn, it’s too simplistic to blame capitalism per se – instead, there’s a lesson to be learned about human nature here, independent of the regulatory system.

Further, it’s interesting that a film criticizing capitalism is released to earn profits from sensationalism.  I don’t plan to buy a ticket– there are plenty of other worthwhile things to spend my money on during this financial downturn.

So, what exactly did Chavez give to Obama? An influential leftist track from 1971 entitled “Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent,”  which is about mineral extraction and Spanish colonial legacies. The book rose to number two on the Amazon best-sellers list, giving the publisher better publicity than the best astroturf viral campaign ever could hope for.

The art of diplomacy has to do with taking on your enemies and getting them to do what you want. You can’t use the “Bush” doctrine as a guidepost forever. I don’t care for Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro or Iran either, but diplomacy is needed because we can’t go to war with everyone.

Obama is going to make his mistakes, but at least he is sizing up America’s opponents without  idle threats. Time will tell, but a new approach to diplomacy may actually make progress.

AIG Bailout Bonuses

AIG is letting us know that our bailout cash is apparently going to be used to pay bonuses. Democrats are up in arms trying to shift the attention away from themselves. What did they think was going to happen when they gave money to a company that was mismanaging its money to the point of going bust?

AIG’s excuse is that the bonuses are contractual. That makes sense if it is business as usual. However, when you receive bailout money, legal obligations should be renegotiated.

I blame this squarely on the government for thinking they had to bail all these companies out without making sure that the money was going to be put to good use. Where are the taxpayers’ contractual obligations?

I say to hell with the rich. Save some of your hard earned cash and don’t buy their designer brands or their mindless products or even pay full price to see their movies. There are so many ways to have access to quality, generic goods and free entertainment that we shouldn’t be wasting our dollars so they can pay the mortgage on their third vacation home. This year learn to be cheap, and let rich, spoiled celebs watch a million or ten go out the door…hence, “Celebrity Pawn Shop”:

Celebrity Pawn Shop

Valentine's in Iran

I watched a video on CNN.com about Valentine’s Day in Iran. It is becoming increasingly popular, despite being frowned upon by the government and the clerics.  I’m sure that it drives The Iranian Clerics -who are similar to Fundamentalists of the first order – crazy because they have no control over this celebration of “free love.” Young people are deciding for themselves which relationships they want to be in, and that doesn’t necessarily lead to marriage.

In addition, the people who are really benefiting from the holiday are the merchants selling the same sentimental crap, er, memorable “I love you” items that we sell in the US. I say good for them. The Clerics know they can’t compete with “fun” and secretly I’m betting they want in on it. After all, even tyrants need love:

However, these layoffs are still going to hurt in the short term. Most jobs that you can pick up within a month do not pay very well. In addition, when people aren’t in demand, salaries go down and bonuses are eliminated. I hope after this dismal year we can start to recover. I also wish the government would understand that continuing to prop up corporations with aid money does practically nothing to help the little guy. They may save jobs in the short term, but these actions often indirectly cause good pay to go out the window in the long term. Hence, “The Layoff Bubble”:

The Layoff Bubble