Sacred Cash Cows!

It's amazing to me what can stir up an argument in this country. The current brouhaha over the changing of the faces on some of our currency seems like one of those shallow trumped up controversies meant to allow conversation about deeper issues which by themselves would prove too toxic for public consumption. That conversation is that for the whole of our history women and people of color have been deemed second-class citizens in a country which has traditionally elevated white men exclusively to positions of power and influence.  The money we carry around in our pockets merely documents that long-held prejudice, and now that finally after many decades of broader social urging we are seeing some transformation in these long benighted areas, those who cling to the past see any of these changes of "tradition" as a challenge to their basic understanding of how the world is supposed to work.

Whether it's Alexander Hamilton or Andrew Jackson or Benjamin Franklin or Ulysses S. Grant, someone will have to lose his spot to make room on the buckaroo bus. Whether it's Harriet Tubman or Martin Luther King Jr. or Elanor Roosevelt, a new face and a broader understanding of the true history of the United States of America will eventually be front and center on the federal documents we handle on a daily basis. It's symbolic for sure, but just like integrating bathrooms or housing or public transportation, making certain that all kinds and types of people are evident and even celebrated is significant to a population who aren't all white guys as much as some seem to forget that fact.

Andrew Jackson will not stop being a significant historical figure because he's replaced on a bit of currency, and neither is it required to demean him beyond his already famous faults to justify his replacement. It's just a necessary change in a country which needs to reorganize the limited parameters of its public imagination. And no, it's not sufficient to do something else to celebrate those new faces, as I hear so many critics quickly put up as a dodge on this issue. We are finally a nation which has celebrated having a black president, the first in forty-four tries and soon we might be celebrating a woman taking the helm for the first time. If that happens both events will for the time being, still remain one-offs. We aren't there yet folks.

But those changes nonetheless threaten many folks who still imagine that life is what it is pretended to have been in some misty golden era when America was "great". I fear the current fascination some folks have with returning to that imagined greatness is about limiting access and keeping a rigged game in place for those who have traditionally been in charge. I guess it shouldn't amaze me that this is a controversy after all, since the very fact it is a controversy, proves the need for us to make the changes and move beyond it.

It's not "politically correct" to want to finally at long last have someone other than a dead white guy on the money we use. It's just a necessary course correction. 

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Too Many #@&! Comic Books!

I have too many doggone comic books! It's a pitiful complaint to make, but sadly it's true.

I went to find the Sword of the Atom trade I bought a few years ago and I had to bust through nearly half the boxes in my over-crowded back bedroom to find it, and that was on the second attempt. I was exhausted after the first attempt and had to rest a bit before I tried again. I found it, and read and enjoyed it (review upcoming), but it was too hard to find. I need to clear out the stuff I haven't looked at in a decade or longer. It's just sitting there, soaking up room and offering up no value whatsoever.

Sadly, I know that much of what I have is largely worthless in the resale market, but nonetheless I need to bite the bullet and begin to move it out. I have some time today and and maybe it's time at long last to begin the great shift. It has to happen, regardless of the value I can reap on the other side.

I spend all my time with trades and collections these days.  I rarely read an individual comic book, and in fact Popeye is the only regular book I get still. It's time to begin. Wish me luck.

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Dress For Success!

It's apparent that Richie Rich, a most successful kid, knows what he wants to wear.


It makes the burden of the daily grind much easier, when one decides to wear the same style all the time.


And it can't hurt to have a dedicated and appreciative staff to assist with those choices. It's comforting to be conservative.


For clearly when Richie goes for another look things can go horribly wrong.


But always his winning ways come to the fore regardless.

And here's an intriguing article by a reformed/retired Republican worker named Mike Lofgren who calls out the "Richie Riches" of the world and shows how the Republican party of today works so diligently to see that the wealthy keep what they've harvested. It's an enlightening and insightful peek behind the scenes at where they keep and work the levers of power. The Democrats are quiet co-conspirators for the most part and deserve disdain, but the Republicans are true villains of our day for certain.

Here's the link.

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Oil And Water!

Even Richie Rich knows that oil on the beach is a bad bad idea.

Here are more of Richie's adventures with "Texas Tea".








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Money Monster!

This Richie Rich cover amazed me. You rarely see the Harvey characters off model, even for story purposes. Richie makes a pretty impressive monster!

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The Great American Bubble Machine!

I've been reading about this Rolling Stone article by Matt Taibbi for a few weeks now. I've wanted to read it and finally by way of Mark Evanier's site I was directed to the full thing. It's a vivid narrative about the firm Goldman Sachs and why our economy teeters and so many suffer while at the same time so many preen. It made me mad, but mostly it made me sad, sad for my children and grandchildren that their futures are being raided while those blowhards put in public office to protect us and them sit and count their lucre, and at the same time while those self-congratulatory peons in bigtime journalism say nothing. It's a tale of woe.

Here's the link:

The GREAT AMERICAN BUBBLE MACHINE

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