Tom Toles by Tom Toles
- November 03, 2009
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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 (25) Jump to Comments Form
dtroutma said, 18 days ago
Oh when those poppy fields get rotten, can’t pick very much…
Is that Tom at work in the bottom right corner?
toasteroven said, 18 days ago
Ok, what does the Wizard of Oz have to do with any of this? Seriously, what is the point of this cartoon?
comYics said, 18 days ago
haha dtroutma, that is part of his signature.
Ronshua
said,
18 days ago
Winter………… or should it be harvest ?
Anyol'tomcat
said,
18 days ago
“Winter” probably alludes to the movie when the Good Witch sent snow to kill the poppies and waken the travelers. http://tinyurl.com/5h68pw
rikoshayrabbit said, 18 days ago
If we really want to help the Afghan people, we should buy more heroin.
omQ R
said,
18 days ago
Well, here’s the thing…I’ve never watched Wizard of Oz. :|
Unbelievable, I know. Same thing with Gone with the Wind. Must have been the year of 1939.
I know there’s a yellow brick road, a wicked witch of the east, Kansas, a cowardly lion , a scared scarecrow, a tinman (no brain?) and a doggy. Red shoes? Wasn’t there a fourth? I could wiki it but meh.
So, I don’t get the ‘toon. :(
Kylop said, 18 days ago
Tom, good work, as usual. Keep it up!
Simon_Jester said, 18 days ago
Don’t you just luv watching angry, little nobodies trying to lecture Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonists on how they should draw ‘toons?
LOL
Magnaut
said,
18 days ago
where’s O’BAMBI?
fennec said, 18 days ago
omQ, you don’t have to watch the movie, you can read the book (“The Wizard of Oz” by Frank L. Baum). When your daughter is a bit older you could read it to her…my granny read it to me way before I saw the movie.
omQ R
said,
18 days ago
fennec: Will do, I like your book recommendations. Not even 2 and she already loves books like her mom (&dad). ;-)
dtroutma said, 18 days ago
No heart, no brain, got us into the mess. Courage without wisdom is best left asleep, and our policy is more like being on PCP than Ambien.
Fennec, agree again- We read to our kids from an early age. They “got” stuff by four years old many “grown-ups” can’t seem to grasp in our current culture. Reading at a young age, even being read to, builds imagination, intelligence, and the ability to actually analyze what you’re reading, or being told.
rikoshayrabbit said, 18 days ago
If you’ve seen the movie, then the point of the cartoon is a “no-brainer” , Scarecrow. Toles is implying that there really is no policy at all, be it drugs or “terrorism” and they are going to wait for some magic-induced snow storm to awaken and kick their policy into gear. In the film, and the book, Dorothy and the Lion could only awaken from the spell of the poppies after “Glynda the Good Witch” cast another spell bringing the storm, and thus, their awakening. I can’t believe there are people who haven’t seen this movie. I’ve seen it probably a couple of dozen times throughout my life, and just a year ago it was played for free in a theatre in Santa Fe to a house filled with kids. This was first time I’ve actually wept watching it. It is one of the greatest films of all time.
fritzoid said, 18 days ago
As in most cases, seeing the movie is no substitute for reading the book, but in this case reading the book is also no substitute for seeing the movie.
Baum’s “Wizard of Oz” is amusing but mediocre; MGM’s “Wizard of Oz” is sublime.
There are enough differences between the two to consider them separate animals, and the movie is a better movie than the book is a book (like “Gone With The Wind”).
d_legendary1 said, 18 days ago
No yellow brick road for this one.
annamargaret1866 said, 18 days ago
Oh fer cryin’ out loud, another balloon one!
churchillwasright said, 18 days ago
Can’t you people read? Dorothy’s dress says “Afgan Policy”; the tagline is “Waiting for Winter”.
Obama is waiting for winter to make up his mind, because Afgan winters are so harsh combat always crawls to a stop.
And OMQ: Wizard of Oz is definitely one of the greatest movies ever made. I’ve seen it dozens of times, too, and it never fails to bring a tear to my eyes (I’m one of those sentimental evil conservatives!)
You and your daughter should definitely see it.
One word of caution: Family legend has it that when my grandfather took my mother, then 6 y.o in 1939, to see it, that when the wicked witch first appeared on screen, my mother got so scared and hysterical, they had to leave the theater! (although a 6 y.o.’s sensibilities may have changed in the last 70 years - we’re not in Kansas anymore!)
fritzoid said, 18 days ago
When winter comes to Oz, Dorothy will curl up inside a nice woolen blanket; it’s her Afghan Policy.
I saw “Wizard…” on the big screen just a couple of weeks ago. It may be the first time I’ve ever seen it other than on TV. That twister is still mighty scary (when I was a kid watching it on TV, I’d duck under the blankets when it came), and if 6 year olds today find it “too tame” I hope they never decide that REAL ones are nothing to worry about.
Fairportfan2
said,
17 days ago
The film of “Wizard of Oz” is one of the most over-rated films in history. (Another was made the same year - “Gone with the Wind”.)
The book is much better - and Disney’s “Return to Oz”, which combines the next two books by Baum, is a nearly-perfect represntation of what Oz is really like.
nemesis-of-empire said, 17 days ago
No one’s mentioned the obvious yet, so I guess I have to do it.
Afghanistan remains one of the world’s largest producers of opium. And whence comes opium?
From the black sap of the seed pod that forms under the blossom of … poppies.
Which is why Dorothy, Toto and the Cowardly Lion all fell asleep amidst the beautiful narcotic flowers.
That’s not the point Toles was making here, but it’s too fine a visual pun not to honor the sense of humor that put it there.
NoFearPup
said,
17 days ago
Actually the somatic qualities of the poppy fields make perfect sense as the poppies create the resources the Taliban, the War lords and the Afghan Government are fighting over. How about a small footprint while the Afghans sort out their loyalties? Better now than 6000 American deaths later…
oldlegodad
said,
17 days ago
churchillwasrightsaid:
Obama is waiting for winter to make up his mind, because Afgan winters are so harsh combat always crawls to a stop.
Just like in the 1880s and 1980s
IF we can get the troops promised in February there by spring it might make a difference…regardless of any more deployments. But this being a ‘crat admin who knows??
churchillwasright said, 17 days ago
OLDIE: I agree with you. Sorry if it didn’t come across that way.
HARVIN GWIN said, 17 days ago
No, Karzai is in Obama’s hip pocket.