From CNN:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is casting doubt on a plan under consideration by President Bush that would increase troops in Iraq, calling the U.S. Army overextended and “about broken…”
Powell appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation”
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NOTE: Apparently, our collective visual memory might not be as… collective as I’d thought. If this cartoon makes little sense to you, please click right here.
Fanny Roborat
48 comments
Landis
December 19, 2006 at 1:48 pm
1Photo-toons are back!
Are you using iComic? That looks really good.
meantim
December 19, 2006 at 2:55 pm
2and its about dang time… I’ve been jonesing for photo-toons for a while now.
nato
December 19, 2006 at 2:56 pm
3What? What did he find in the White House basement? Is that a stick of gum? A suppository? The list of GW’s accomplishments? What?!
Adam Felber
December 19, 2006 at 3:39 pm
4Landis (and everyone) -
“iComic” is, to my knowledge, a comic viewing program. But I am - finally - using Comic Life.
It’s just plain great, and I should’ve looked into it much, much sooner. I’d been using Photoshop only to make my ‘toons, and they took hours and hours. The above toon took about 30 minutes.
Really.
Hopefully, I’ll do many more in the months to come.
—–
For the geeks: I was actually surprised how well my snazzy apps worked to make this. I got the pictures from a Crooks and Liars video of Powell’s appearance on “Face the Nation.” I paused the video when I saw stills I liked, and then used the Mac “Grab” utility. Those selections were simply cut n’ pasted into Comic Life.
The only exception was the last still, which I whipped up in Photoshop by grabbing the right arm from a picture of Powell dangling that vial at the UN. His suit was a different color, but it wasn’t too hard to make it sort of match. Sort of.
Then I saved the thing as a Jpeg and uploaded it using the wonderful WordPress software that the Amazing Jennifer installed for me to make this site with.
As I’m sure this exhaustive explanation indicates, I’m very, very excited about how easy this was.
Now I just have to make ‘em funny…
Adam Felber
December 19, 2006 at 3:41 pm
5Oh, and nato: As I said above, that’s the vial of “anthrax” that Powell used as a visual aid at the U.N.
Did ANYONE get that? Or was it too obscure?
Sharon
December 19, 2006 at 4:08 pm
6Sorry, Adam, just not vial-looking enough, I guess. I didn’t get it, either. Like nato, I was trying to figure out what a stick of chewing gum had to do with anything. But I love the concept. Well done. Do some more!
On an entirely separate note, it seems that Edgar….I mean, Cheney…is going to have to testify…under oath?!…at Scooter’s trial. I love it.
amiee
December 19, 2006 at 5:02 pm
7i didn’t get the vial. maybe because he’s holding it like a used band-aid.
siobhan
December 19, 2006 at 5:37 pm
8One problem with collective visual memory is that it doesn’t work as well for people who get most of their news from NPR.
Jim (OJNTNJ)
December 19, 2006 at 5:44 pm
9Amiee,
Of course he’s holding like a used band-aid. You KNOW what a germaphobe Colin is.
And Sharon, since “vial” is one of the topics of this thread, Cheney’s testimony is not on an ENTIRELY different note.
(It would be great if someone could tell me how to use the html tags to bold, underline, or italisize a single word without applying the tag to everything after said word).
Boomer
December 19, 2006 at 6:30 pm
10amiee, actually I thought Colin was holding it, not like a used band-aid, but more like a used condom. Sorry. My stream-of-consciousness mind is at work & I just can’t stop it.
Jim (OJNTNJ), I’m a newbie myself. For italics use (without the spaces) to start it and ( again, remove the spaces) to end it. See the end of the “Type your comment…” paragraph above. Or just Google “HTML tags” and go wild.
siobhan, good point. I have the same problem.
amiee
December 19, 2006 at 6:38 pm
11boomer, i said band-aid because i didn’t want to admit what i was thinking. all apologies on that one.
jim (ojntnj), i’m actually an html guru, so if you need help, let me know.
siobhan, ditto. not only that, all my knowledge of vials comes from csi; i’m lost without the vegas team telling me how it should be held.
Boomer
December 19, 2006 at 6:40 pm
12Jim - see, I am a newbie. That wasn’t much help at all, was it? What I should have said was - See the tags in the “Type your comment…” paragragh below. Go here http://www.web-source.net/html_codes_chart.htm and try to puzzle it out. Good luck.
Erik
December 19, 2006 at 7:18 pm
13Adam: I got the anthrax thing. I didn’t laugh at the comic, however.
Harold
December 19, 2006 at 7:36 pm
14Vial of anthrax? Nonsense. We never claimed that anyone had anthrax. Or WMD’s. Iraq was all about regime ch…I mean, bringing Democracy to that great land. Anthrax? Like, the band? Nope. No recollection of Colin Powell and vials of anthrax.
Oceania is at war with Eastasia. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
Lauren (admittedly, a geek)
December 19, 2006 at 8:37 pm
15Adam, your photoshopping was excellent. I would never have guessed you’d spliced. Well done!
Katie
December 19, 2006 at 8:44 pm
16I just read the MSNBC Headline, “Bush admits we’re not Winning in Iraq.”
Whoa! Back Up! Time Out! (As P.J. O’Roarke would say)
How the hell did he manage to utter something approaching the truth?!! Obviously he didn’t use the “phone a friend” option, since they are all safety-wired to the party-line-rehtoric. Must have been a lucky guess on the 50/50 option. Maybe he was distracted by all of the swirly lights and music (and the cracking of the mirrors and the sputtering gasps of the empty smoke machine in the corner…… )
Katie
Katie
December 19, 2006 at 8:45 pm
17And on a totally unrelated thought….. did the FanAp Banner font change??!
Katie
Maximum Bob
December 19, 2006 at 8:50 pm
18I got the anthrax thing and I laughed at the comic. What do I win?
David
December 19, 2006 at 8:54 pm
19I loved it, even though I too had to click on the link because I’d momentarily forgotten about the vial of talcum powder and was, like the rest of the prurient FAers, wondering who’d boinked whom, and why Powell cared.
tess
December 20, 2006 at 12:32 am
20Mmmm . . . everything is better with highly alcoholic eggnog. I feel my liver swelling.
ginny
December 20, 2006 at 7:41 am
21Hmm.
Sharon
December 20, 2006 at 8:02 am
22Katie, LOL!!
Ann
December 20, 2006 at 8:04 am
23I knew what it was, but I didn’t want to know how Adam did it. Don’t ask an artist for his secrets!
Jim (OJNTNJ)
December 20, 2006 at 9:14 am
24Actually, that was a bandaid. It was meant to mend a faulty argument for war. Unfortunately, it worked for far too long.
Thanks Boomer, though I am embarrassed to admit that I’m not a newbie, just difficult to teach.
Who knew that the backslash would be needed to end the tag?
Boomer
December 20, 2006 at 10:19 am
25Jim, you picked it right up. I had a good feeling about you.
historyenne
December 20, 2006 at 10:43 am
26Adam, I got it, I laughed, and I’m excited to see a cartoon again, I missed them.
Harold, when I first read 1984, I remember thinking that it was simply not possible that people wouldn’t notice the news contradicting itself from one day to another. Someone would remember, I said to myself. They’d have to. Then this administration came along, and now . . . well, Orwell was only 20 years off.
nato
December 20, 2006 at 12:44 pm
27D’oh! I need to watch more news rather than read/listen to the news. Are we sure that’s anthrax and not just some coke dubya lost? And Adam, you did make it funny, even if, in my ignorance, I had to make up my own meaning for the last panel.
Harold
December 20, 2006 at 2:00 pm
28histoyenne, the fun thing is we can all have Winston Smith’s job now. Go and try it on Wikipedia - change a few facts that other people will reference and assume are correct. (No. Wait. Don’t.)
I have a friend - well, a sort-of friend - who’s a neocon/theocon who works as an editor and is also a blogger. He is famous for “redacting” his posts days, weeks, or even months after he writes them. He has also taken to editing comments made on his blog - not just removing entire comments, but removing parts of comments. So unless someone is making a backup copy, he is capable of changing both sides of every argument, removing or revising every statement he makes, and even dropping entire entries down the memory hole - all of which he does freely.
Jim (OJNTNJ)
December 20, 2006 at 2:34 pm
29Harold, I’ll ask the obvious question. Does your *kinda* friend work for the White House speechwriter’s office?
Harold
December 20, 2006 at 3:02 pm
30No, not at all. He’s just this guy.
Dale
December 20, 2006 at 4:07 pm
31Maybe it was a condom–after all, according to White House policy, those are weapons of mass destruction.
David
December 20, 2006 at 4:13 pm
32Good one, Dale.
Jim (OJNTNJ)
December 20, 2006 at 4:38 pm
33O.K. Harold, I’ll ask the second most obvious question. Is you *sorta* friend Hot Tub Tommy? After all HTT now has his own blog, but apparently only acts as editor.
Enquiring minds want to know. Leak it buddy.
JR
December 20, 2006 at 4:48 pm
34Harold,
That’s what they said about Zaphod Beeblebrox, too.
SeattleTammy
December 20, 2006 at 5:39 pm
35My comments to OJNTNJ were gobbled by Fannie yesterday. But I came across this today. It may be too technical for me, but I’m going to try and wade throught it.
How to make a Link
Jim (OJNTNJ)
December 20, 2006 at 5:50 pm
36Many thanks to Amiee (who apparently is a multi-faceted guru. Not just in HTML), SeattleTammy (I’m glad to see you weathered the storm of the decade for the Pacific Northwest - I lucked out down here in Portland and didn’t even lose power), and again to Boomer for providing links, instructions and offers of aid.
Sniff, Y’all are just GREAT !
SeattleTammy
December 20, 2006 at 10:06 pm
37Sniff.
we’re just so happy to be back looking at the comments, in the warmth. Sadly, it’s our entertainment. And we were damned well pissed when we couldn’t get on line. Tony’s 18th birthday party was held by candle light. It’ll give him something to tell in the years to come.
We were pitiful, not prepared. The bedside clock radio conked out and would not operate on the 9v. We were able to run HOT water long enough to pour it through the basket and have tepid coffee. Showers worked, but it was cold when you got out. Since the only groceries open were on Capitol Hill, I could get $10 wortha imported Swiss cheezes and boil it up over the Sterno, thinning with micro brew beer. The Bagette with seed sprinkles was a steal at $3.19! Romantic Fondue over candle light!
I gotta tell you- it was tough. And some people here are still out. And it was nothing like Katrina.
Harold
December 21, 2006 at 8:11 am
38No, no, Jim (OTNTNJ). He’s no public figure, just somebody I know. Edits a newsletter for law firms, or something like that.
David
December 21, 2006 at 8:48 pm
39Makes you really understand just how cold-blooded and criminal was - and continues to be - the administration’s response to Katrina.
Murray
December 22, 2006 at 2:58 pm
40Seattle Tammy,
When Hurricane Isabelle came crashing through 3 or 4 years ago, we were with out electric for 30 hours. At the time I only had 1 generator and had to keep schlumping it back and forth to the shop in order to keep the freezers cold. You can’t imagine the mess that several hundred frozen chicks can make when they go bad. (That’s what I feed the owl). On the other hand when you live in a cabin with out running water, there are some things you don’t even notice.
SeattleDan
December 22, 2006 at 8:51 pm
41Murray, I’ve seen all the bad storms of the last 47 years. Once in the 70’s on the farm, we had no ‘lectricity for 10 days. Waist high (to a kid) snows and on day 8, Dad drove us to town on the tractor. My sister and I plonked our butts on the tire fenders, clung with gloved hands on each side and had to keep our feet pinched on the rear axle. Seatbelts? Ha! hang onto the back end of this for 8 miles into town. That tractor was the first thing I learned to drive.
SeattleDan
December 22, 2006 at 10:13 pm
42That was Sea tammy above.
sigh.
Murray
December 24, 2006 at 7:49 am
43Seattle Tammy. That sounds very familiar. This is the vehicle that I first drove.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ytmag.com/gallery/br 98_41.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tractorshed.com/contents/ts28.htm&h=240 &w=320&sz=27&hl=en&sig2=qbEegnD66AvpjG9wu6E5mA&start=1&tbnid=DGwy8uLIY Mm_nM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=118&ei=yKCORY-6G82wJbaB8YEP&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcoc kshutt%2Btractor%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DRNWE,RNWE:2004 -52,RNWE:en%26sa%3DN
David
December 24, 2006 at 7:29 pm
44Cool lady, Dan. That history, brains, and political enlightenment - wow!
David
December 25, 2006 at 8:06 pm
45Murray,
Talk about an uptown tractor. Like Tammy, I was around N-series Fords, although my best friend’s father got a new 1955 Case AO (apple orchard) for his orange groves. It was big, beautiful, and awesome to us kids.
Murray
December 28, 2006 at 3:50 pm
46David,
I’m told that the Cockshutt was made in Canada by Oliver. Can’t tell you how accurate that was.
Grandpa also had a Farmall M but it was several years beforeI was big enough to push in the clutch on that one.
Now that I have 75 acres and need a tractor, I would love to have an M but they are available in tricycle only and my land is too steep, besides I need 4 wheel drive. Eventually I’ll get a Kubota or Cub, but it won’t have the soul of that M.
My uncle had a John Deere B and it always looked like it was missing the engine. It took me a while to figure out that it was a flat 2 cylinder.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.netins.net/showcase/ asservic/40%2520Deere%2520B%252001.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.netins.net /showcase/asservic/40DeereB1.htm&h=270&w=360&sz=38&hl=en&sig2=o5ja6DV P8fslL4Vlggp6lQ&start=10&tbnid=v4HhSh36ImZiVM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=121&ei=k1e URZvHLaXSJN_o_KMP&prev=/images%3Fq%3DJohn%2BDeere%2Bmodel%2Bb%26svnum% 3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DRNWE,RNWE:2004-52,RNWE:en%26sa%3DN
David
December 29, 2006 at 5:41 pm
47There’s an old M somewhere calling your name, Murray. Kubotas don’t really have any soul, as best I can tell. Certainly can’t put the kind of smile on your face the old M did. Think I’ll Google the Cockshutt - what a great name for a tractor.
David
December 29, 2006 at 5:47 pm
48Here it is, Murray. Love this stuff.
About Cockshutt Tractors
The original Cockshutt factory was founded by James G. Cockshutt in 1877. Located in Brantford, Ontario, James operated the company until it was incorporated in 1882. Primariliy a plow manufacturer, no one is exactly sure when Cockshutt started producing tractors.
By 1957 seven different models of tractors were being produced. The company was acquired by the Oliver Corporation in 1962.
A very complete and excellent article on the history of the Cockshutt Tractor has been written by Danny Bowes.