TrouBLOGtown

May 8 & 9 Troubletown Events

2008-05-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm doing another couple of intimate and entertaining evenings in the SF Bay Area next week! If you haven't seen my Floor Show Slide show yet, it's a fun, cartoony jaunt through the '90s and the '00s that one fan called sexy, and another (my son, Oscar) called okay but not worth watching twice.

Thursday, May 8, 2008 from 7pm to 9pm
Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco
$5 General Public, Free for Cartoon Art Museum Members
655 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
415-CAR-TOON
http://www.cartoonart.org/

Friday, May 9th, 2008 7:30- closing
The Book Zoo
Free
6395 Telegraph Ave. at Alcatraz Ave.,
Oakland, California.
(510) 654-BOOK (654-2665)

More Upcoming Events!

2008-04-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

Troubletown Told You So Book Tour Lurches On Like an Unstoppable Force! Featuring Lloyd Dangle LIVE – the Comedy Floor Show Slideshow!

Friday, April 18, 7pm Antigone Books
411 North 4th Avenue, Tucson, AZ
Tel: 520-792-3715
antigonebooks@qwest.net

Tuesday, April 22, 7pm
With the hilarious Jen Sorensen, author of Slowpoke: One Nation, Oh My God!
Cody's Books - New Location! 2201 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley
Tel: 510-559-9500

How to Draw McCain, Video Tutorial

2008-04-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

1. Draw a potato.

2. Add a comb-over and necktie.

3. Remove any potato eyes. Add ears. Add eyebrows.

4. Draw three horizontal forehead lines, add nose, eyes, refine facial lumps.

5. Add a mouth with a strong bottom lip -- and you're done!

Cocoa Bhopal

2008-04-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

I was sitting on my sofa watching Keith Olbermann on the tube the other night when I smelled the strong aroma of chocolate. Oscar found a haul of candy on Easter at an egg hunt, so I immediately thought he must've left some half-eaten chocolate lying around like he does with everything else. I searched in and around the couch, found fifty cents, but no chocolate. It occurred to me that only melted chocolate would smell so much, like maybe a Snickers bar that had been shoved down the heat duct. But who would ever do that with chocolate instead of eating it? I went to bed without figuring it out.

The next day I went into the living room and the chocolate smell was stronger than ever. Nobody else noticed it, so I considered the possibility that I was having olfactory hallucinations. But it wasn't a quality chocolate smell, and if it had been my hallucination it would've smelled like swiss chocolate with hazelnuts. I was pulling my hair out, turning everything in the room upside down, and cursing. Standing over some treasure maps on the floor that Oscar drew, my nostrils went into high alert. I put the paper up to my nose and discovered that he'd been drawing with scented markers! Not lightly scented, either. The drawings were off-gassing like a cloud of Radon. I had to bag the drawings up hazmat style and remove them from the premises.

Damn it, Crayola! Keep the scents out of the art supplies! Art supplies are supposed to smell natural, you know, like benzine, formaldehyde, and bleach, not like a gag-yourself-sweet chocolate chemical leak.

Why Won't He Leave Me Alone?

2008-04-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

Steven Colbert is at it again. He's made the Airborne box part of The Colbert Report almost every night, snarkily suggesting last night that the health care problem is bigger than ever now that Airborne doesn't work. Am I upset? No, I'm grateful. Dozens of companies have already contacted me to bring my power of deception to the brands of their stuff that doesn't work. Below, comedian, Ted Alexandro, claims to see Hillary in the packaging for Airborne On the Go, in a monologue from his kitchen.

Ask Doctor Bush

2008-03-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a thing I did for Internet Sexuality Information Services (ISIS) for their Sex Tech Conference held recently in San Francisco. It was a series of cartoons of "Dr. Bush, the Abstinence Doctor," being asked questions from kids confused by the bullshit abstinence-only sex education they have been receiving in school. Some abstinence-only education actually tells kids things like that they have a higher risk of cancer if they have an abortion, and that condoms will not protect you from AIDS.

The twist to the slide show is that the audience gets to text-message their own punchlines and watch them automatically appear in the word balloon! Don't ask me how it works, but it opens up funny possibilities. Look at some of the ones they came up with.

Does abortion really have side effects?
Huckabee getting elected.

Will using condoms affect my health?
It certainly affects the right side.
(I don't really get that one.)

Do condoms work?
If only my dad wore one!

The cartoons were supposed to be projected onto the side of San Francisco's Flood Building. Hopefully next time it won't be rained out. Hey, maybe I oughta do that for my Election Nite Party in November! Details to be announced.

More Controversy

2008-03-24T17:22:00.000-07:00

Boing-Boing has a pretty funny discussion about Airborne, the "fake cold remedy." A couple posters are Dangle fans! They understand that the cartoons themselves cure colds, not the stuff inside the box. Uh-oh, did I say that? See, I can't stop deceiving!

To me the funniest comment, after fifty in a row slamming Airborne for its worthless placebo, was this one:

I always thought Emergen-C worked better! I love that stuff.

And one guy/gal points us to an eye-opening study that says that Vitamin C doesn't work either. Why don't those guys sue Vitamin C? Talk about systematic deception!

Over at Stupidtom dot com, stupid tom gives those Airborne-haters an earful. And one poster even sympathizes with me:

jerrster, on March 9th, 2008 at 8:07 am Said:

…the cartoonist Lloyd Dangle (Trouble Town) who did the illustration for the Airborne box will be hurt financially I’m sure…kill all the lawyers!

Actually, the lawsuit won't hurt me financially at all. It'll help. Just consider, that prostitute that ex-governor Spitzer hired charged him $5000 for sex before the scandal. Now she can charge a million! Deceptive cartooning works the same way.

Floaty and Leafy Tackle the North Pacific Gyre

2008-03-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

The first I heard about the North Pacific Gyre was from my cartoonist, editor, and pal Pete Friedrich, who used to drive a 1970 Impala, but has since gone enviro in a big way and reduced his carbon footprint to half that of a chipmunk's. He's also the one who taught me that cooking with a Teflon pan on high heat can kill your canary, which I never do anymore.

What's the Pacific Gyre? It's an enormous mass of plastic debris the size of texas that is trapped at the center of the circular Pacific Ocean currents. Plastic, as we know, never goes away, but it does break down into smaller bits eventually. Those bite-sized pieces are consumed by jellyfish, birds, and other creatures who partially digest them and return it to the water as plastic poop. So the Gyre is a soup, not only of bottles and tampon applicators, but also tiny, microscopic bits of plastic that permeate the entire habitat and food chain.

Pete made a comic book about it, so I have to believe him. And it's funny and charming and well-written. It's suitable for kids and will turn them into environmentalists. Of course, after the way the way we've left things they'll have to be. Get a copy here here.

Airborne Controversy Brings Prime Time Exposure!

2008-03-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

As you might have heard, the big controversy here last week was that our greatest client ever, Airborne, was sued for false advertising and settled for $23 million. The complaint argued, among other things, that my highly scientific and suggestive pictures of germs and sneezing humans on the box deceived a whole class of honest, hard-working people into believing that Airborne cures colds.

The story has gotten a lot of play––my cartoons are on the news everywhere––even in a tongue-in-cheek segment on the Colbert Report. New York Magazine wrote a snarky piece under the headline: Sickos Behind Marketing Airborne Lied To Us All. But, with the exception of a few, the tone of the coverage was that of indignant, torch-carrying righteousness, matched with glee over the settlement and Airborne's long overdue comeuppance. Plus, Airborne agreed to refund customers for up to six boxes, which is almost as good as Bush's stimulus package.

"Airborne is basically an overpriced, run-of-the-mill vitamin pill that's been cleverly, but deceptively, marketed," snarled one critic. Funny, I thought it was pretty commonly accepted that vitamin C, the main ingredient in Airborne, is a natural cold-fighter. The once popular natural cold remedy Echinacea, another ingredient, was debunked recently by the New York Times, causing sales of the plant extract to plummet, but then re-bunked by the same newspaper.

Remember when margarine was supposed to be healthier than artery-clogging butter, but then it turned out to be trans-fat that stops your heart in half the time and makes lab rats sprout with tumors? Eggs were bad now they're good but muffins are bad. And as many anonymous posters to this blog know painfully well, the ointments, patches, and devices purported to enlarge penises don't work. No wonder they're so angry! How do those companies get away with it? The answer, I'll bet, is that they don't haul in the kind of bucks that Airborne does, making it unattractive to the lawyers.

As to Airborne being overpriced, as one of my anonymous posters explained, it's only expensive because Dangle was so overpaid for the cartoons. Yeah, right.

So what will happen to Airborne? Will it lose its customers and go down the tubes? Will the school teacher have to go back to teaching in the California public schools? Brandweek says no:

Airborne's false advertising claim will probably be quickly forgotten, asserted Laura Ries, partner of branding consultancy Ries & Ries, Great Neck, N.Y."As a brand, Airborne has a lot of trust with consumers," she said. "It has been immensely successful with its marketing and packaging. Strong brands tend to survive and consumers are willing to forgive."

But will America forgive my deceptive cartoonery?

Comics "Reading" at the Booksmith

2008-01-04T12:07:00.000-08:00

Hey, I can't believe it's 2008 already. My twentieth anniversary of doing Troubletown! We kick it into high gear next week with my big-ass book party at the Booksmith in SF. What happens at a comics book signing?, I'm always asked. Does the cartoonist hold the book up to his face in front of a crowd and read his comics, explaining the drawings as he goes along? No way! That's what you do on a radio interview! In person you use slides! Here are the details, and, in case you forget who I am, the listing info for you to copy and paste and send to your friends!

Friday, January 11 at 7 pm,
The Booksmith 1644 Haight Street (between Clayton & Cole), San Francisco, 1-800-493-7323

Troubletown Told You So: Comics that Could've Saved Us from this Mess is the new collection of comics from Lloyd Dangle, the nationally syndicated cartoonist whose work appears in the San Francisco Bay Guardian and other alternative newsweeklies and lefty political magazines. In his introduction, columnist Dan Savage says, “Thank God there’s at least one person out there who can clearly see the lies and the malice - and he’s still got a sense of humor! This is no small comfort in Bush’s America."

Ranked in the top ten on About.com’s top ten list of political books, Troubletown Told You So takes aim at topics like the war, terror, ethics, consumerism, religion, 9-11, and corporate greed in what is destined to become the definitive account of the George Dubya Bush Years.

Oakland, California cartoonist Lloyd Dangle grew up in Michigan, where he drew cartoons for Michael Moore’s muckraking newspaper, the Michigan Voice. He has also worked for the Village Voice, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Mother Jones, The Nation, Utne Reader, and Wired. Lloyd was also the first cartoonist assigned to cover the Republican National Convention in New York City.

Dangle Events This Week!

2007-11-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

Dangle on Radio, Sort Of

Hey, If you want to hear me pontificate and bloviate, I'll be on the radio, well, internet radio, if that counts, tune in to Doctor Blogstein Tuesday night the sixth, that's tomorrow, at 9pm EST.

Political Party of the Year

The fabulous gals at the Imagineering Company are launching their new book, Pat the Politician #2! and the Political Suckers I helped 'em create. I will be making a rare public appearance at the event in my old neighborhood. Come and look for me. Yeah, afterwards I might take my acoustic guitar over to Haight Street and strum for nickels.

Here are the details:

The Imagineering Company, Susan Carp and Julie Marcus
Books Inc. Laurel Village
3515 California St.,
San Francisco, CA US
When: Wednesday, November 7, 6:30PM
Phone: 415-221-3666

Washington Hotel Precautions

2007-10-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

I've stayed in hotels all over the world, people, but this is the first time I've seen one that restricts you from going up in the elevator unless you stick your room card into a slot first. The reason, obviously, this is a very moral and traditional town but with a significant hooker problem.

And a madame problem.

Food Safety

2007-10-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

No luck on finding a place to cool my heels at Barbara Lee's office. They were at capacity with cheerful interns working away at every desk. I introduced myself as a constituent and Scott, Nicole, and another young woman who excused herself, tended to the voter being as friendly as possible.

After asking them to thank Rep. Lee for being the only decent representative in either body, except for John Conyers,
well, okay, my favorite, I left, shuffled along those endless hallways with all the flags posted next to everyone's doorways, and posters with faces of all the dead soldiers from the particular representative's states. If you peek into a Republican's office invariably there is a photograph of the time that that god-fearing person shook hands with Ronald Reagan.

A long line of suits and lobbyist-plastic fembots were arranged against the wall, so I got in line. It was for a hearing on food safety, and all the recalls of meat, and spinach, and hot tub sealant (which makes an excellent cream cheese substitute as long as you don't breathe the fumes), and, invariably...China. Those bastards!

Dangle-SPAN

2007-10-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

This morning I got up early to go to the House Judiciary Committee hearing on "Selective Prosecution within the Justice Department," which also could've been called, "Using Gonzales and Busting Karl Rove's Enemies," but it was canceled. Nobody showed up, but they don't tape a note to the door or anything, you just have to be in the know. I went upstairs to Conyers' office and a young man called somebody on the phone and said, "Eh, Matt, ya' guys got anything today? No? Okay. No sir, everything's postponed."

So then I bummed my way around the Rayburn Building with my heavy bag electronics equipment and books that was as heavy as a sack full of gold bricks, and went looking for a congressional office where somebody might let a citizen take a load off his feet.

Live From Washington

2007-10-11T09:56:00.001-07:00

Oh boy, Things are happening fast. The copyright conference is going on in the Cannon Office Building Caucus Room. I made it through security with my little scanner, laptop, a bunch of pens and Airbornes, a Wacom tablet, etc.

Chairman Conyers spoke for ten minutes about copyright and his trips to China. An author gave an incomprehensible speech about the lacrosse rape case and the book he's writing.

Highlights of my "speech:"

Hello, my name is Lloyd Dangle. I am considered to be the Issac Hayes of cartooning. Pause. Nobody laughed! I felt like Fred Thompson, "could I have some applause please."
I'm actually blogging here in the corner of the room on an unused podium. I better get out of here and scan elsewhere where I can find a connection. Sketches in an hour.

Live-Blogging Thursday

2007-10-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

I'm packing my scanner and toothbrush for DC and I'm going to be LIVE blogging on Thursday from the House office building. Tune in right here.

When She Looks at Wallace She Sees Bozo

2007-09-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

Hillary Clinton has a warm laugh.

Bushies' Pool Boy

2007-09-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

This reminded me of the summer I got my mom to drive me over to a local country club where word had it that money could be made caddying for rich golfers. We stood around in the parking lot elbowing each other for a chance to haul those big-ass alligator golf bags from the parking lot up to the clubhouse for a couple quarters. Occasionally the men would deign to allow you to carry the monstrous hernia-producing albatrosses around eighteen holes for ten bucks (if you were lucky). A lot of my friends at one time or another worked in the golf industrial complex. I loved it when one of my friends printed bumper stickers that said, "Golfers Suck." Here's an article where the Bush's former Kennebunkport pool boy dishes on his bosses.

Conservative Gets Lathered Over Dangle

2007-09-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

This may only be funny to me, but bear with me. I was doing my hourly vanity search of Google to see if anybody is talking about me when I came across a discussion of the mortgage lending crisis on Free Republic, a conservative rant board. A guy with the handle Hydroshock posted my cartoon on the subject, someone else said they enjoyed it, and they were instantly set upon by a Dangle-hater who challenges their conservative bona fides. One good natured writer tries to mollify his rabid brother only to come in for more abuse.(See below the fold)

posted by Hydroshock ("The Constitution should be taken like mountain whiskey -- undiluted and untaxed." - Sam Ervin)

-----------------------

To: Hydroshock

LOL, thanks for the cartoon - that was dead on.
posted by af_vet_rr
-----------------------

To: Hydroshock

Still admiring the work of radical leftist Lloyd Dangle? Still dragging his crap onto a conservative website?

That figures.
posted by Petronski (Why would Romney lie about Ronald Reagan's record?)
-----------------------

To: af_vet_rr

Another fan of the Marxist Lloyd Dangle. How sweet.
posted by Petronski (Why would Romney lie about Ronald Reagan's record?)
-----------------------

To: Petronski

Another fan of the Marxist Lloyd Dangle. How sweet.

You'll have to forgive me, I don't know who Lloyd Dangle is nor have I studied the history of Marxism (I'm guessing Dangle is dead and buried since I haven't heard of him).

I can tell you that I'm not a fan of people living beyond of their means, nor am I a fan of the government (especially a government that calls itself "Republican") trying to help out (reward) people who live beyond their means. In other words, a Conservative. We are, unfortunately, a rare breed these days, so make sure and tell your grandkids that you've spoken with a few. They may not believe you, but they'll still enjoy the story.
posted by af_vet_rr
-----------------------

To: af_vet_rr

(I'm guessing Dangle is dead and buried since I haven't heard of him).

He drew the cartoon you love so much. He hates Bush and capitalism and America, as far as I can tell. you think he's spot on.

I'm a Reagan conservative, I don't know what the hell you are.

If I want to teach my grandkids about you, I'll show them It's a Wonderful Life and point out Mr. Potter.
posted by Petronski (Why would Romney lie about Ronald Reagan's record?)
-----------------------

To: Petronski

He drew the cartoon you love so much. He hates Bush and capitalism and America, as far as I can tell. you think he's spot on.

LOL, relax, it's friday, and you can't tell squat about me based on a comment about a single cartoon, no more than you can tell if somebody is a Democrat simply because they drove a Ford or a Chevy made with union labor.

I'm a Reagan conservative, I don't know what the hell you are.

Some of us were Conservatives long before Reagan was President (or even Governor), LOL.

You've provided me with a couple of chuckles today, and I do thank you!
posted by af_vet_rr
-----------------------

Free Republic
Home · Browse · Search

I hope you guys can work it out!

Must Read: Man, This is Scary

2007-09-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

Bush to Journalist, "I'm a Nukular War President."
(September 11, 2007) Journalist Leonard Purvis, of the conservative daily, DC Scoop, made over 2000 requests for a one-on-one interview with president Bush, but it wasn't until publication of his August feature "A Messiah named George, the Strategy from God to Save America," that the White House began returning his calls. After titling his upcoming book, "George Bush Greatest Leader Ever Since Jesus," Purvis was given exclusive access to the president for eight hours of interviews in the cozy Woodrow Wilson room at the White House, to discuss his presidency and legacy. It was during this interview, excerpted below, that Bush let slip his intention to use nuclear weapons against Iran...

Purvis: I overheard you a moment ago speaking with someone on the telephone about nuclear weapons and Iran. Were you referring to––

Bush: Nah, I was talking about dukes. I said, 'put up yer dukes, Iran!' That's all I was saying. Didn't your mama teach you not to listen in on other people's phone conversations?

Purvis: I couldn't help it. I'm sure I heard you say, "nukular," in that way you always say it.

Bush: Nah, I was just asking my Air Force commander about his "nukular family." Like "how's your nukular family doin?" sorta thing. That's what you heard.

Purvis: Would you comment on the Air Force flight that accidentally carried six nuclear warheads to Barksdale Air Force base in Louisiana?

Bush: Yeah, I heard about it. Look, when you've got a lot of bombs, it's easy for the nukulars to get mixed in with the conventionals and the like. America has a lot of bombs. I was just telling my Air Force commander that he was doing a heckuva job catching the mistake and to keep up the good work.

Purvis: Isn't Barksdale Air Force base the staging area for shipments of munitions to the Middle East? Was it just by coincidence that the nuclear bombs were flown there? You aren't planning a nuclear strike in the Middle East are you, like maybe against Iran?

Bush: Okay, okay, since yer gonna write about it you might as well get it right. Six years into a 'ministration, a president kinda gets to thinkin,' who am I like? Am I like Taft, or Eisenhower, or maybe Fillmore, or more like Truman? What are the historians gonna say? Sometimes when I'm self-pityin' myself I think they might not remember me at all (laughs uncomfortably.) When my daddy was president, he missed his chance to get Saddam. Not me. I got Saddam. My daddy had chances to do things but he didn't take them. I'm not going to miss my chances. And one of the things I've always wanted to do was blow off a nukular. Ka-Pow! Know what I mean? Haven't you?

Purvis: A nuclear bomb? Are you serious?

Bush: Yeah, big ol' nukular shroom cloud going up over Tehran. Wouldn't that be cool? Point is, I've got the vision and political capital to do it.

Purvis: Have you considered the worldwide ramifications that nuking Iran may have? Have you, for example, discussed your intention with Vladimir Putin of Russia or the leaders of China?

Bush: Lee, I'm the President of the United States, I don't have to talk to anybody. Listen, presidents nukularize things. Putin understands that. And I 'preciate Putin. We 'preciate each other. He'll be cool with it. My mom used to say I was the runt of the litter (laughts). I'm gonna be remembered for blowing up the terrrists with the biggest bomb that anybody's ever seen.

Purvis: Do you see yourself as a nuclear president?

Bush: Nobody wants to be seen as a nukular holocauster, Lee, but I'm a nukular war president! I didn't ask for September the eleventh. I didn't ask the Qaedas in Iran and Saddam and Mahabinabagamajad and those crullers to attack us on that faithful day, they're the ones who––

Purvis: Crullers? Do you mean Mullahs? Iranian Mullahs?

Bush: Mullahs. That's what I said. Point is, I'm listening to my Air Force commanders on the ground, the ones that tell me what I like, and I won't take em off the table.

Purvis: Some have criticized your planning for the occupation in Iraq. Have you made any plans for the aftermath of nuclear attack? A cloud of radioactive dust engulfing the entire region, probably including Israel?

Bush: Huh? Well, I don't think it's gonna be that bad, Lee. Christine Todd Whitman and Rudy Giuliani assure me that the air at ground zero will be safe to breathe, and the oil will be sittin' there right on top.

Fred Thompson

2007-09-06T19:14:00.001-07:00

I hear that on the Jay Leno show Fred Thompson entered the presidential race. He is considered to be one fine hunk of man by more than the typical 70-something republican female or closeted-gay voter with bald head and glasses. Chris Matthews on Harball devoted a segment to Thompson's sex appeal. And the Times of London got quotes from a bunch of Fred's girlfriends who agree he's a terrific lover--and a gentleman. I dunno, he looks like a cross between a frog and a deflated nutsack to me.

New contest: who can draw the best Fred Thompson, one that really captures his sex appeal? And that is better than this:

Rudy and Hillary in Bed?

2007-08-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

Reader and radio personality Dennis Shanahan writes:

I have a 1999 6-panel cartoon with the 'pundit from beyond the pale': showing Rudy Giuliani and Hillary in bed together....awesome! How can I see it again?

When I received this message I could not produce a memory of drawing such a cartoon, but I went into the dank, musty Troubletown archive (temperature-controlled cave under my house) and found it. Here it is from July 20, '99 and 100% true today! (Click on it and you can see it larger.)

Don't Miss Ask a Liar!

2007-08-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

We've got a hot new game here at Troubletown.com for the whole family to play: Ask a Liar! Some of your favorite government officials, including the president of the United States are standing by LIVE to take your questions. Type a question and you will be answered in REAL time. The fact that these top level Bush officials were willing to cooperate with these inquiries is astounding!

Note: Even though Gonzo is busy packing his trinkets and keepsakes for the long Ryder truck haul back to Texas, he also agreed to provide some frank and honest answers to your questions.

More Praise on the Internets

2007-08-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

About.com Political Humor named Troubletown Told You So number two on their top ten political cartoon books! And a couple of my cartoons are in the #1 book too!

If that's not already an overdose of Dangle praise, check out Scott Butki's inverview on Blogger Critics.

Heartless and Evil?

2007-08-29T09:29:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness I'm starting off September on the right foot. By featuring a president Bush so demoralized over his dog resigning and his daughter becoming pregnant out of wedlock that he is temped to drink a bottle of bourbon, I have enraged the caring-for-recovering-alcoholic community. Typical is this response from Joseph Thinn of Featherville, Illinois:

Hello Lloyd~

Would you write something like this about anyone else who was a recovering alcoholic?

Didn't think so.....

Pretty heartless of you.

Hope you repent one day.

Sincerely,
~Joseph Thinn

Thank you, Joseph, you're a good man. Actual recovering alcoholics know that the temptation is always there, and so might recognize the truth in the cartoon, but still, perhaps I have crossed the line.

I'd love to hear from others of you on this topic if you can still stand to read this blog after what I've done.