Tony Auth by Tony Auth
- October 01, 2009
- From Beginning
- Previous feature
- Show Calendar
- Next feature
- Current
Editorials A-Z Navigation
Chuck Asay by Chuck Asay
Donna Barstow by Donna BarstowAbout Tony Auth
Jules Feiffer has described Tony Auth best, "His perspective is that of a bemused and often angry comic historian. Irony, never a favorite form with Americans, is his meat and potatoes. He is not smug, and though he can be mean, he is never mean-spirited. Auth is a moralist and an optimist. He insists, even in this day and age, that hope is more than the name of a right-wing comedian or the shtick of a reactionary president."
© 2009 Universal Press Syndicate - All Rights Reserved.
Comments (29) Jump to Comments Form
scottfreitas
said,
about 1 month ago
Lies, dam lies, and statistics.
They don’t tell you it’s 77% of people in San Francisco…
Fairportfan said, about 1 month ago
Lies, d*mn lies and Republican press releases.
churchillwasright said, about 1 month ago
I’ve been waiting for a couple of months for someone to bring up the “general welfare” clause, because the left uses it to justify everything. It is obvious they’ve never read it. The General Welfare Clause is immediately followed in the Constitution by a list of the ways Congress may promote the general welfare. Just in case you missed it, here it is:
=To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
=To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
=To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
=To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
=To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
=To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
=To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
=To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
=To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
=To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
=To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
=To provide and maintain a Navy;
=To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
=To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
=To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
=To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;–And
=To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution
That is the General Welfare Clause. Nothing about Universal Health Care, nor for a myriad of other things that the Congress decided were under their pervue.
believecommonsense
said,
about 1 month ago
Thanks, Auth, for pointing out what was obvious to most Americans until the right wing started trying to repackage big health insurers as the good guys in order to protect their own deep pockets and torpedo true health reform.
Bubba_Boo said, about 1 month ago
Every other industrialized country provides universal health care for it’s citizens. The greed that motivates our country is sickening.
scottfreitas
said,
about 1 month ago
No other country is America.
No other country has our Constitution.
You love other countries with their Godless Socialist governments so much, MOVE TO ONE. And let America keep right on being America…
Jase99 said, about 1 month ago
Every nation on Earth except the US is Godless? Even the Vatican City? Can you spew that over my garden? It could use a little fertilizer. That whole “love it or leave it” bit went out with the Bush Administration. It was a manufactured sentiment spoon feed to people who blindly follow.
Our country was founded by people who questioned government authority. They understood they couldn’t plan for every issue that would come up in the future, so they created a government framework that could change as the people’s needs change.
Our needs have changed, Scott. The times have changed.
ray32648 said, about 1 month ago
Scotty, the rule in the US is love it or CHANGE it, not love it or LEAVE it.
Simon_Jester said, about 1 month ago
Uhhhh, you ARE aware, aren’t you church, that the guy you took your name from was all in favor of public health-care?
As for you Scotty, yer a laugh and a half….you come here preaching hate, anger and selfishness, and then have the nerve to brag about who CHRISTIAN you are.
Four words for you…..keep ‘em in mind, coz yer gonna be hearing ‘em again someday.
I
Never
Knew
You
HOWGOZIT said, about 1 month ago
77% of what grouping? Public option is not the pick of majority of thinking Americans (but of course those polls don’t count).
hlp54 said, about 1 month ago
A public option (choice) is the only way to lower health insurance costs. Wait until you lose or cannot afford your health insurance. Without forcing the insurance companies to lower costs they will keep increasing costs.
Many politicians won’t help because they are getting a share of the obscene profits health insurance companies are making. Max Baucus gets the largest amount. AND you are now paying for the uninsured (with higher premiums) when they go to emergency rooms - Baucus plan calls for tax payer support for those unable to pay large premiums - so your tax payer money will go to more profits for insurance companies. And you would be forced to buy insurance. And if forced to buy insurance what a windfall that will be for those companies.
We are becoming a nation of fearful, greedy, uncaring people. I’m old enough to remember when we used to care. Too many today are too young to remember BEFORE Medicare and Social Security. Are they all willing to give those programs up and have to work until you die UNLESS you are extremely rich or maybe a CEO of a big corporation. And guess what happened to wives and families when the breadwinner died or became seriously ill and had no insurance.
striper77 said, about 1 month ago
wtfallnamestaken
Stated the people in San Francisco is more Christ like than Scott.
What are you thinking? Is heaven full of homosexuals, transgender and people that belong to the following groups:
Black Panthers, ACLU, NAACP, NGLTF, UNION GROUPS, TERRORIST GROUPS, MUSLIM GROUPS, GREEN PEACE, MoveOn.org, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Constitutional Rights,Electronic Frontier Foundation, Ella Baker Center, Equal Rights Washington, Feminist Majority, GLBT Bar Association of Washington, Global Exchange, Hate Free Zone of Washington, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch - www.hrw.org,Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Legal Momentum (Women’s Rights), Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice, America - www.naral.org, NOW, People for the American Way,Reclaim Democracy, Reform Network, Seattle NOW, Sensible Seattle Coalition, Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Whatcom Human Rights Task Force, Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND), ACLU-Washington, Civil Marriage Collaborative, Don’t Amend.com, Entre Hermanos, Equal Rights Washington, Evergreen State College Labor Center , Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, Gill Foundation, GLAAD, GLSEN , Green Party of Seattle, GSBA, Human Rights Campaign, Ingersoll Gender Center, Lambda Legal, Laura Pierce Consulting , Legal Marriage Alliance of Washington, Lifelong AIDS Alliance, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Northwest Women’s Law Center, PFLAG, Planned Parenthood of Washington, Pride Foundation, Pride at Work/Outfront Labor Coalition, OutSpokane, Rainbow Center of Pierce County, SEAMEC, Seattle Commission For Sexual Minorities, Seattle LGBT Community Center, Social Justice Fund Northwest, Stonewall Democrats of Washington, ETC.
I hate to tell you this but all the above people are not going to be in heaven. If you were to believe in Christ you would know that.
By the way California is a solid blue state for the democrats and it is due to the cities on the coast. San Francisco is one of those. All the people that belong to the above groups vote straight democrat.
fbrewer said, about 1 month ago
If heaven is full of people like stripper and snott, I’ll pass.
@churchill - You should have kept on waiting. I refer you to the Constitution of the United States, Article 1, Section 8, Clauses 1 and 18: [emphases mine]
Clause 1: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and PROVIDE FOR THE common Defence and GENERAL WELFARE OF THE UNITED STATES; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
Clause 18: TO MAKE ALL LAWS WHICH SHALL BE NECESSARY AND PROPER for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Regarding any 10th amendment proscription,
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment10/01.html#1
“That this provision was not conceived to be a yardstick for measuring the powers granted to the Federal Government or reserved to the States was firmly settled by the refusal of both Houses of Congress to insert the word “expressly” before the word “delegated”.”
And finally, I think it is beyond question that insurance underwriting and marketing is commerce by any definition.
In 1941, speaking for a UNANIMOUS Court, Chief Justice Stone wrote: “The power of Congress over interstate commerce is complete in itself, may be exercised to its utmost extent, and acknowledges no limitations other than are prescribed in the Constitution.”
In summary, there is NO constitutional argument against any of the reform proposals currently being discussed.
CatwomanNJ
said,
about 1 month ago
There are some who are against government run healthcare because we CARE about healthcare and want quality care!
dtroutma said, about 1 month ago
Going to church doesn’t mean your a Christian, any more than going in the garage means your a Toyota.
Tigger
said,
about 1 month ago
99.9% of Americans are against Public Option
deadheadzan
said,
about 1 month ago
Not true, tigger, opinion polls I saw are 77% are for it.
NoFearPup
said,
about 1 month ago
100% of people don’t know what’s in the non-existent bill; because Obama hasn’t told us what is going to be in it; mainly because he and his Lib-radical buddies pulled the whole concept out of their bleeep.
believecommonsense
said,
about 1 month ago
^ which is where you pulled your post from …
cdward said, about 1 month ago
^^You don’t know what’s in it yet you oppose it? That is, you oppose what you don’t even know?
fbrewer said, about 1 month ago
@cdwrd - You seem surprised. Health care and insurance reform. Simple, straightforward, cheaper, better, the right thing to do. Why in the world would you suppose that snott, stripper, ANancy, and ShakeyPoop, er Pup would support something that socialist? They’re much better Christian Amurricans than that.
DrCanuck said, about 1 month ago
“Don’t know what’s in the bill, but we oppose it.”
What a miserable state of affairs when people judge an idea not on the basis of its merits but on the basis of who thought of it.
NoFearPup
said,
about 1 month ago
100% of people, including the Lib posters here, are making their decision based on who’s telling them what; with only the vaguest notions of what is actually being called for.
Jase99 said, about 1 month ago
Stripe, if /you/ followed the word of Christ (his actual teachings, not what others tell you to blindly believe) you’d spend less time obsessing over what homosexuals do and spend more time worrying about what you do. My understanding of Christ tells me he believed in living well, having respect for others and having a personal relationship with God. Nowhere did I read Christ telling us to force others to conform to our own beliefs.
ShakeyPup, my aren’t you the pot calling the kettle black. I don’t need some overpaid cable TV pundit or radio talk show host to tell me what to believe. I read actual newspapers (plural) and make my own decisions based of my understanding of the facts. Try it some time. Turn off Fox “News” and/or Limbaugh and see what it’s like to think for yourself.
Craig Linder said, about 1 month ago
@fbrewer
As Huckleberry Finn once said, “If Tom Sawyer ain’t goin to heaven, then I don’t want to go there neither.”
NoFearPup
said,
about 1 month ago
Jason Mole, how do you do? And which of the venerated, bankrupt rumor-rags do you read everyday? And why should I care? There is more commercialism in your biased Liberal waste-paper mills than I could ever fault Maha-Rushie for. (I don’t watch Fox and do not like their editorial bent. When I watch television news I prefer Mr.Lehrer’s show and the perky, Katie Couric.). Have a nice day.
senorbullwinkle
said,
about 1 month ago
^ KATIE COURIC, Is a Lush and a Tramp ! She’s known as the ” Good-Time Girl ” of “K” street House !
She’s had like 29 abortions. Debbie may have done Dallas, but can’t hold a candle to KATIE and her Washington Republicans. She was once married to Rush. I think it was her 13th marriage.
kat827618
said,
about 1 month ago
Congress works for Big Business and not us, because Big Business has more money than we do, and Congress needs that money to convince us to vote for them.
Is that twisted or what?
senorbullwinkle
said,
about 1 month ago
YES, Vote for them so they can pass laws for the 1% Rich and Big Business, so they can get more Money,to spend to make us think they work for us.
And if you vote for me, I will work for you, and make Big Business and the Rich pay their fair share. I will cut out all the loop holes and create new ones for the deserving Rich and the little Big Businesses Who are over burdened with Billions of dollars they are forced to put into banks offshore or over seas. Having to move their companies to low wage countries and forced sell there Krap to America.
I will see you only have to pay, no more than 50% more each year for health care and get a little more for your money. I will see that we are no longer # 17 but we will be # 16 by the year 2018.