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Mike Thompson by Mike Thompson
Gary Varvel by Gary VarvelAbout Tom Toles
With his singular style, Tom Toles tackles the complex issues of the day. This Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist skillfully targets political, economic and social concerns — in particular complicated environmental issues — with a clear-eyed precision that hits the mark every time.
© 2009 Universal Press Syndicate - All Rights Reserved.
Comments (18) Jump to Comments Form
ahab
said,
1 day ago
Cement galoshes, a cure he could understand.
toasteroven said, 1 day ago
You know, I’d like to see how far back the entire “bag with dollar sign as a shorthand for money” goes. When did we start doing this? No doubt someone out there knows, but I don’t.
scottfreitas
said,
1 day ago
Toles is the only cartoonist I know of who always draws Aunty Sammy as being incredibly obese–almost like a Weeble doll.
Is that his way of saying that America is a nation of fat people? Which is pretty much the truth nowadays from what I see while out in public, but still… it’s sort of bizarre.
Ken Warren said, 1 day ago
The small comment at the bottom says it all.
Let’s get out now, why should our troops die for this. If the Republicans use our withdrawal to attack Obama we should remind everyone that Cheney/Bush and the Republicans are the ones who put this guy into power, kept looking the other way, and ran the war so badly that there is no way we can win – unless we are willing to stay for 10 - 20 years, lose thousands and thousands of lives, and spend trillions, and even they we may no win.
Fairportfan2
said,
1 day ago
toasteroven said
You know, I’d like to see how far back the entire “bag with dollar sign as a shorthand for money” goes. When did we start doing this? No doubt someone out there knows, but I don’t.
I’m pretty sure it goes back at least as far as Thomas Nast.
algurka
said,
1 day ago
Karzai: “And don’t pay me in your worthless American dollars. Pay me in euros, or gold, or even better–barrels of oil!”
BOB HASTY
said,
1 day ago
Scott,
Since you are a product of the fat multi-national corporate bosses who profit from Bushie’s adventures in war-mongering, it is not your fault when you don’t recognized the fat cats who are trying to run our country into the ground for fun and profit!
Trying to ignore the irony in political cartoons is like trying to pretend your Ben & Jerry’s has no flavor!
vayankee said, 1 day ago
Unfortunately, Tom Toles’ view here is standard America is the greatest thinking. Karzai and Afghanistan, where our troops are dying along with many Afghanis, has a history of tribalism. That’s not a bad thing in a country which has been the crossroads for many others, and little to hang onto. Yes, corruption can and does flourish, as a legacy of that tribal society. We know that - we used it in 2001 when we went in there to help some tribes fight the Taliban, right? I wonder if any one reading this cartoon has any suggestions other than pull out. Then who do you blame after the Taliban from Pakistan and the Afghani Taliban get together and cooperate with other to play their terrorist games, against us and others.
charlie555 said, 1 day ago
It’s just life in a pagan world.
”[Rewards for students] programs are
proliferating, especially in high-poverty areas. In New York City and Dallas, high school students are paid for doing well on Advanced Placement tests. In New York, the payouts come from an education reform group called Rewarding Achievement (Reach for short), financed by the Pershing Square Foundation, a charity founded by the hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. The Dallas program is run by Advanced Placement Strategies, a Texas nonprofit group whose chairman is the philanthropist Peter O’Donnell.
Another experiment was started last fall in 14 public schools in Washington that are distributing checks for good grades, attendance and behavior. That program, Capital Gains, is being financed by a partnership with SunTrust Bank, Borders and Ed Labs at Harvard, which is run by Dr. Fryer. Another program by Ed Labs is getting started in Chicago”.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/health/03rewa.html
Herbabee said, 1 day ago
But he’s OUR puppet leader!
fritzoid said, 1 day ago
“It’s just life in a pagan world.”
Sorry, Charlie, Islam may be many things, but “pagan” it ain’t. The word has a meaning, it’s not just a synonym for “not Christian.”
Unless you’re mis-using “pagan” to mean “secular”, as if only civil institutions such as non-theocratic governments (which would surely not include Afghanistan, and probably not the Dallas Public Schools) are capable of being corrupt. Look up the Roman Catholic Church’s history of simony, or (more recently) the scandals involving the PTL Club and others.
charlie555 said, 1 day ago
^I believe pagan traditionally meant someone who was neither Jew, Christian, or Muslim, and is now considered derogatory in that sense.
I mean it in its hedonistic sense. What a world we live in that we have to pay people to do what they should be thanking God for the opportunity to accomplish for His glory and the consolation of mankind.
And they have no shame to take the bribe.
fritzoid said, 1 day ago
Again, though, there’s been no shortages of bribe-taking hedonists in any era or religious tradition in the history of the world.
In that part of the world there’s a tradition of “baksheesh” which to our Western eyes is indistinguishable from bribery, but over there is considered more or less the price of good service, as tipping your waiter is here… (I’m not trying to justify it, I’m just sayin’…)
HARVIN GWIN said, 1 day ago
Buy American!
charlie555 said, 1 day ago
fritz
I do wonder how much is cultural. I would consider it a sin on my part to bribe my children to do their work because it is their duty as Christians to advance in knowledge so as to know God better and contribute to society. Other cultures may see more value in the monetary reward than the character development; that work is an opportunity to serve oneself rather than serve others.
Ken Warren said, about 20 hours ago
The papers have been pointing out that Afganistan is number 2 on the list of the most corrupt countries in the world – they also list the top 10 least corrupt countries.
Maybe it’s just me, but it kind of bothers me that we aren’t on that second list, I mean if you leave out Chicago, and few places in the South, our governments aren’t bad – dumb, stupid, misguided maybe, but not corrupt.
citynights
said,
about 17 hours ago
Didn’t we complain last time about pulling out too early and not finishing the job over there before the Clinton era began? Maybe we should finish what we started.
God bless our troops.
fennec said, about 5 hours ago
Maybe we ought to realize that some things are not possible no matter how much we want them to be. It’s like realizing that the Tooth Fairy doesn’t exist.