A
Little Light Gatling Music
 There
was once a time in our recent past when people
earnestly believed that it was possible to develop
a weapon
so devastatingly powerful that it would make armed
combat meaningless. A device of such unimaginable
fury that war, as then practiced, would be reduced
to senseless slaughter.
The Gatling gun was famously one
of these weapons. It was a hand-cranked, multi-barreled
gun capable of firing an astounding 200 rounds
per
minute, though later incarnations reached 1200 rounds
per minute. They were first used in the American
Civil War but to limited effect.
We as a society don't
think in such noble terms any longer because we all
know there's no hiding from nuclear weapons. Mutually
Assured
Destruction
has kept us alive for the past 50 years but even the
deepest bomb shelter won't make the landscape any less
poisonous for the lucky survivors should worldwide
nuclear war break out. And we all know it.
On the plus side, most countries have agreed that chemical
weapons have no place in civilized warfare,
though such agreements haven't stopped both
the U.S. and
its little doppelganger Israel from
using white phosphorus bombs on their foes for fun
and profit.
Meanwhile, the Gatling gun has been reinvented as the
M61 Vulcan, a monster capable of spitting out almost
100
bullets
per second. Why the NRA hasn't yet promised two in
every pot
and one in every garage is anyone's guess.
=Lefty=
----------------
Note 1: Just when you thought Donald
Trump couldn't get any more odious his equally-odious
progeny recently travelled to Africa to hunt endangered
species. (Hey!
Let's ALL go kill us some leopards! What could be
the harm?)
Note 2: A Redditor decided to watch
only conservative
news outlets for a week. The results
were not pretty.
Note 3: In my last
comic I lampooned
the very lampoonable PATRIOT Act. By some vast
coincidence information became public that
very day revealing that our government is using secret
interpretations of
the
Act for their
own benefit. <Insert screaming noises here.>
Note 4: As though the Israeli government
isn't already practicing discount genocide against
the Palestinians they're now planning to demolish renewable
energy installations in Palestinian villages.
Note 5: And, semi-finally, some
atheist
levity in comic form.
Note 6: Say "Hello!" to Rick
Santorum!
------------
And now our Chart of the
Day: College
completion by income. (America: Where stupid and
rich beats smart and poor.)
Somewhat more immense version here.
------------
Republican Job Creation Update
 3-19-2012: The
House is theoretically in session. They're back in
Washington but nothing much is scheduled this week
except for hearings. They might as well be painting
their bedroom's black and listening to Led Zeppelin
albums.
View the entire two-year list of non-job-related
House activities
here.
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Dump Fox News
 Fox
News' Sean
Hannity, in defense of Rush Limbaugh,
says he knows of no conservative who would go after
the president's kids. He, uh, forgot about Rush Limbaugh.
Click here to help Drop
Fox from your cable system.
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