Monday Morning: Seriously Humorous Commentary

From the STrib 5/7/'12

The op ed art should have included "we need fireworks", "we need more guns in more places to shoot more people",  "we need our own state currency", and let's not forget big Tony Sutton's fiscal irresponsibility or the disastrous and incredibly costly scandal of Amy Koch and Michael Brodkorb -- because the culturally conservative fiscally responsible right wing is anything but. The things to which they give lip service.  They are the party of arrogant overreach and mismanagement, overlaid by a heavy layer of intolerance.

and

Ed on Ed' - Ed Stein on Education

I'd call this 'Republican Math', where the numbers never add up the way they should; where the claims of fiscal responsibility are in fact irresponsible; and where EVERY TIME - EVERY TIME - they do something it is either culture war OR the policies benefit the 1%, or corporate special interests AT THE EXPENSE OF THE 99% (EVERY DAMNED TIME).

Usually when I post Ed Stein's wonderful editorial art, it is just the art, limited to any words that occur within the panels.  I'm going to make an exception here, and hope you will join me in taking regular visits to Ed's own blog, where he elaborates on the visuals.

In this case , I was so moved by the words as well as the visual images on his blog that I am cross posting them here:

Congress,  as usual, is paralyzed. It can’t figure out how to extend the low-cost student loan program. Without Congressional action, the interest rate will double, from 3.4 percent to 6.8, on July 1. The cost of extending the program for a year is estimated to be $6 billion. With the economy still weak and with the states having already made massive cuts to higher education, with more pending, tuitions at state colleges and universities are soaring. Raising the student loan interest rate likely will put college out of reach for many. Republicans call the program irresponsible and seem willing to let it die, unless it is paid for with further cuts to the safety net. In an economy that increasingly favors the wealthy and disadvantages everyone else, college is fast becoming a luxury of the wealthy. I guess the rest of us will be sending our children to Hamburger U, where they can learn the valuable skill of asking the children of bankers if they want fries with their Happy Meal.