Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling for March 11, 2011
Transcript:
The Tom the Dancing Bug Comic Strip. COUNTER-EARTH SUN EARTH There circles the sun another Earth, a Counter-Earth, whose diametrically opposed orbit keeps it forever beyond our detection. Let us explore this strange world that is not quite the opposite of our own...BUT SOMEWHAT DISSIMILAR IN CERTAIN WAYS! By Ruben Bolling On Counter-Earth, the U.S. Dept. of Education is all about National Defense! Man: Give our schools money, or there'll be hell to pay! The nation's toughest patriots are given carte blanche for their critical mission. Man: These education budget numbers are untouchable. They ensure our economic competitiveness, and therefore our security! Teachers are revered as brave and selfless protectors of our way of life. Man: Why aren't you saluting? Woman: Do you hate America? Educators are entrusted with America's greatest asset: it's true meritocracy. Man: Each of these poor kids could be in the army of our economic engine, and any of them could lead it. And no amount of money is too much to keep the Dept. of Education at the forefront of technology. Or would you rather be issued devices by Chinese overlords? Man: Yes, every single kid gets one! Meanwhile, the military, filled with weak and fearful nervous nellies, must scrounge for funding. Man #1: There's a guy who says his group wants to harm us! Woman: We need weapons! Man #2: I'm scared! Hold me!!
Tommy1733 over 13 years ago
It’s funny because it’s true ! No, wait, not ‘funny’, what is the word - ‘terrifying’!
number9dream over 13 years ago
Think of London, a small city It’s dark, dark in the daytime The people sleep, sleep in the daytime If they want to, if they want to
I’m checking them out I’m checking them out I got it figured out I got it figured out There’s good points and bad points Find a city Find myself a city to live in.
There are a lot of rich people in Birmingham A lot of ghosts in a lot of houses Look over there!…A dry ice factory A good place to get some thinking done…
“Cities” Talking Heads, Fear of Music
jnik23260 over 13 years ago
If the military had to hold a bake sale, we’d all be eating strudel and wearing lederhosen.
DarkHorseSki over 13 years ago
Yawn, we pay over 2x as much (in inflation adjusted dollars) now on each kid as we did in the 70’s and there has been no improvement in the ability of our kids to read, write, do math, understand science or know history.
There is no reason to believe that any further increases would change that.
BrianCrook over 13 years ago
Wow, Horseski, where did you get your information?
agentadq over 13 years ago
I like strudel…
ickymungmung over 13 years ago
“…there has been no improvement in the ability of our kids to read, write, do math, understand science or know history.”
Stop it! You’re gonna give Rupert & the Koch Brothers a woody.
Chrisnp over 13 years ago
I think if education were accustomed to getting funded like the military, education would be accustomed to throwing money away like the military. Big education contractors will charge exorbitant amounts, and the Dept. of Education will act like it’s just the cost of doing business. New and improved learning systems and gadgets would be unveiled every year, and I imagine the process would become more important that the ultimate usefulness of the product.
meetinthemiddle over 13 years ago
And the $11 trillion in deficit spending on the military since Reagan have made us demonstrably safer?
Anarcissie over 13 years ago
It’s interesting that while both the military and the education industry are authoritarian systems in service to the ruling class, one is popular with the folk and the other is abused and despised. I understand that even the police-prison industry is doing better. Perhaps the education system isn’t authoritarian enough?
pschearer Premium Member over 13 years ago
The last panel makes me think of SecDef Gates quivering in fear at the thought of a no-fly zone over Libya.
Meantime, while ga-Daffy slaughters his people, Obama takes on the real threat: high-school bullies. Wouldn’t want any of those nice people in other countries to think America is anything special.
chimmy Premium Member over 13 years ago
Where can I find a rocket taking me to this Teacher paradise? My wife & I would be true patriots & respected for it. I like that.
BrianCrook over 13 years ago
Tom The Dancing Bug makes an excellent point here. When speaking of serving your country, one should speak of teachers first.
If only education were funded and supported as strongly as is the military.
tobybartels over 13 years ago
If education were funded as much as the military (especially at the federal level), then it would be as wasteful as the military. (And it is getting funded more, and getting more wasteful, all the time, but it will never catch the military.)
@ pschearer
It was delightful to hear Gates admit the plain truth: that imposing a no-fly zone on another country is an act of war. Even liberals were denying that one up and down during the Clinton years (throughout which the U.S. was violating international law by waging war against Iraq, among other things), and they may have to start denying it again.
But actually I agree with you: as acts of war go, a no-fly zone is a pretty good one, being essentially defensive (although not defensive of the U.S., of course) and the war in Libya (currently a civil war) already exists. Although my pacifism rebels at it, I must admit that even Clinton’s no-fly zone in northern Iraq (however illegal) did good. It’s still outrageous that the United States treats the world as its empire, and this obviously does far more harm than good overall, but emperors can do good things as well as bad.
tobybartels over 13 years ago
Yes, certainly. Like Obama is now, Clinton was just sticking with the policies that were begun by a Bush.
ineza Premium Member over 13 years ago
Yayy number9 cities in “that earth”!!
tobybartels over 13 years ago
I wrote:
But actually I agree with you
Of course, NATO went beyond shooting down murderers in aeroplanes very quickly this time. So much for that idea.