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September 20, 2001

THE COVER ABOVE is from a combination comic book and military fact magazine that Dell Publishing issued in 1941.  No, I don't know who wrote or drew it or anything else about its publishing history.  It just seemed like a good time to post it here.  And in the box below, we have a few more links to articles that I thought said something that needed to be said about the tragedies of the other day and what might happen next, even if I don't agree with every word of them.  (By the way: I won't be doing this much longer.  I mean no insensitivity to the issue but I really think I'm overdosing on it.  I'll try to explain why below for those of you who care to hear...)

HERE ARE some more random thoughts which I offer here for whatever they may be worth...

• There's an old saying that I just made up and it goes like this: The insufferable thing about Conservatives is that they always act like they have an exclusive on faith and patriotism.  The insufferable thing about Liberals is that they always act like they have an exclusive on intellect and compassion.  In the coming days, we shall see my just-invented old adage proven, time and again.
• Since I got started "reviewing" the late night shows' returns, I might as well finish up: I thought Jay Leno's first show was quite good and admired his not-unsuccessful attempt to offer up a monologue the second night.  I have a casual acquaintance with Jay and, for what it's worth, find him to be a much smarter and more sincere person than the straw man with a big chin that some of his detractors have erected.  I wish though that, instead of rolling out one of his motorcycles to auction for a charity auction, Jay had found a non-self-serving way to remind us that he and his wife have been donating and raising money to fight the oppression of the Taliban for years now...and that maybe, if more folks had, the problems America now faces would be a little less acute.  But perhaps there was no way to say that.
• Conan O'Brien, whom I usually think is terrific, is doing fine now but he disappointed me with a shallow, nervous opening talk his first night back.  Like Craig Kilborn's the previous night, he seemed to think that the most pressing problem confronting America today is how to do a late night comedy show.  I don't think any of these guys have to apologize for being back on the air, or to alibi that the President asked them to go back on.  They're back because that's what they do and an increasing percentage of America wants to try and normalize their lives.
• Which is as it should be.  We have an unfortunate tendency in this country to feel like, when someone close to us dies, we have to sick ourselves up with mourning to prove that the deceased was important to us.  It's like, "If I can go on without him or her, it trivializes the loss."  No, it doesn't.  What happened last week is depressing but you can only cry so much before you begin extending the damage.  Broadway shows are closing prematurely because, The Producers aside, no one's going.  Businesses of all kinds are suffering in other ways.  We can't undo what happened to the World Trade Center but we can prevent, or at least minimize, further destruction of the restaurant down the street by going out for dinner.  It sure beats sitting home, watching (a) people on the news talking about their lost loved ones and (b) political point-men trying to spin this thing to their advantage.
• About the latter: I have a little directory in my Internet Explorer of websites that embrace extreme, opposing political opinions.  Like, I have one bookmarked that is maniacally for Gun Control and one that is just as adamantly against.  I have one for abortion rights, one against, and so on.  There are about fifteen corresponding pairs and I often find their blindness fascinating...though usually not in a good way.
• Tuesday morn, when the buildings were crumbling and we were all still trying to figure out what was happening, I was trying to get to a news site but I blundered into the wrong directory and got one of those web pages...either the pro-gun or anti-gun, I forget which.  (They're more alike than their operators would ever agree.)  I don't think the second tower had even collapsed and there were already messages up, trying to say, "Well, this proves conclusively that our cause is right."  Before the day was out, every single site in that directory would be trying to turn the tragedies to their advantage, essentially demanding unconditional surrender from those who had ever argued against them. (I once visited a site whereupon people debated who was the better dancer — Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire.  It doesn't seem to be online anymore but if it were, there'd be someone saying, "The tragedies of 9/11/01 are the responsibility of all you morons who refused to accept that Fred could out-dance Gene any day of the week...")
• Therein, I believe, lies one of the dangers ahead for America: Our inability to settle or even suspend emotional, unresolvable arguments.  Jerry Falwell tried to use the occasion to bash gays and the A.C.L.U., and had to back off and apologize.  Unfortunately, most will not get called on it when they try to score similar, contemptuous points.  I even came across one ultra-conservative site that was demanding that, in the name of patriotism, everyone who ever said George W. Bush was dumb should admit they were wrong and apologize.  (Fifty bucks says this person would not be faulting those who, in the corresponding situation, criticized President Gore.)
• Frankly, speaking just for me, I think it's going to be a long time before I'd be secure in any opinion of President Bush.  Certainly, an awful lot of things that his predecessors did now look smarter or dumber than they did at the time, and Bush is so far being evaluated, not on results but on photo-ops and speeches.  I think those things and all the stuff about his garbled vocabulary are trivia.  If the executive branch winds up doing the right thing, vis-a-vis the terrorist situation, he'll deserve to be hailed as a good or even great president.  If he doesn't, he doesn't.  Ultimately, the words will pale in significance compared to the results.  I'd like it if he seemed more able to inspire confidence but, in the long run, I don't think any politician's public image is as important as what he or she actually does.

THAT'S ALL that occurs to me at the moment.  Comic fans, read our just-posted obit on Johnny Craig...and the next time I update this page, I'm going to try and talk more about comics and animation, less about people dying.  Let's see if I make it.

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