For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for October 10, 2011

Yeah, you’ve got a real watch dog there! (HA)

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!!

Thank you for the kind wishes for Canadian Thanksgiving.  I hope Columbus Day is pleasant for everyone who is doing it.

Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends!

Turkey before candy day? What fun is that?

Actually—English Sheepdogs have hair, not fur—and are therefore less likely to trigger an allergic reaction.

Yes thank you, it is a great turkey day! and It’s 25C ( 77F) the past 5 days. Well here in my part of Canada it is!

hahaha from Lynn’s notes:

Lynn’s Notes:The MaGoon family did live on McVeigh Avenue in Lynn Lake. The funny part of this strip was that their dog was the size of a chipmunk and sounded like a squeaky toy, no matter how furious he was!

Here in SoCal, our turkey day comes along and we normally are still running the AC during the day – but that could be on Christmas and usually is on New Year’s Day.

Happy Turkey Day to all the Canadians.

Shame on Lynn. There might have really been a family on McVeigh that this was patterned after. But the street name really should have been changed before this ran. That name is still a huge slap in the face whenever it pops up.

Night-Gaunt49 … how dare you? do you have any idea at all who Timothy McVeigh was? How would you feel about someone including “Osama Ave.” in a family comic strip?

yeah like that work..

bpqmagnolia … I’ll ask you the same. Do you not understand who Timothy McVeigh is and why that name is troubling to many, many people? This strip was presumably written well before 1995, but when reviewed prior to deciding to run it, someone should have flagged it. It would not have harmed the joke to change the name of the street, but it would have prevented a lot of heartache today for those, like me, who were directly effected by the OKC bombing, and for millions more who still share in the grief of that day.

Happy Thanksgiving Canada. All the best to a good neighbor.

Rhonda, you are mistaken. Lynn J. has started to repeat her cartoons starting from the very beginning. This cartoon aired before my daughter who is now 29 was born. I remember reading this one! This was loooooooong before the Timothy McVeigh tragedy. This cartoon also takes place in Canada.

No, I’m not “mistaken.” I know these are repeats. What I said was it was surely written well before 1995, but these are not on autorepeat and it should have been edited before rerunning. — My point is, someone looks at these and who ever that is (or the team that reviews these) should have flagged it and it should have been changed to almost anything because the name of the street is incidental to the joke. And yes, this takes place in Canada, but the audience is just as much US as Canadian.

If you are that upset over it, it’s time to get over it and move on. I was there and knew people who were affected by it. It’s past time to quit being overly sensitive about one tragedy of many. Especially on a site that is a cartoon being rerun many years later. Grow up people, this was a defining moment, not one set in stone. Happy Thanksgiving Lynn and many other Canadians!

My dog only weighs 9 lbs. but she’s got a really ferocious sounding bark!

;-)

rhonda: My deepest condolences for any loss you suffered in the Oklahoma City bombing. The name “McVeigh” always takes my thoughts there to that day, as well, even though it’s been 16 years now since it happened. I’m so thankful he was gone by the time 9/11 happened because I’m sure he would have done a dance of glee at our pain and misery that day, which would have made it all that much worse given that he was an American terrorist traitor. What a waste of time that guy was! Sure glad he wasn’t my son; I don’t know how his family lives him down!

@Rhonda- “McVeigh” is an ancient and proud surname of Celtic/ Gaelic origin. To decry its mere mention because of the actions of one madman is to ignore and demean the positive contributions of the tens of thousands of others who bear or bore the same name, There is no reason why OK should have even been mentioned in connection with this strip.

@rhonda, so if someone named Washington or Lincoln commits a heinous mass murder, we should never again mention that name in a family comic either?

To compare someone responsible for the terroristic deaths of 168 — including 19 children from the onsite daycar (whom he callously termed collateral damage) to serial killers responsible for 11 and maybe 26 deaths respectively is completely missing the magnitude of April 15, 1995. And how exactly do you “get over it”? I’ve moved past it. I don’t dwell on it every day. But hearing that name brings it all flooding back. I’m tired of this argument and the hateful comments it’s produced. If you don’t understand the pain that man caused, so be it.

Do Canadians serve turkey on their Thanksgiving? I heard they serve some other kind of dishes, but I forget what. Anyway, happy Thanksgiving to you all. I spent a weeks vacation in Hamilton, Ontario once and found it really great.