Lard A-Mercy!

To be honest, these kind of cartoons are the result of lazy cartooning. St. Peter is just another fictional character, like Santa or Jesus, who has a rep as a straight-up dude so it's convenient to use him as a straw man when someone of any import dies. A cartoonist of a particular political ilk, and you know which ilk I mean, could just as easily have drawn St. Pete welcoming Jeffrey Dahmer or Pol Pot to sit at God's right hand. (Though according to the bizarre rules of Christianity that's not really much of a stretch.)

On that note, it will be fascinating and no doubt psychologically disturbing to see what kind glorifying masterpiece the conservative side of the editorial cartooning profession pukes up when this loathsome orange son of a bitch finally masticates his last Big Mac.

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Satirist Tom Lehrer died yesterday at the age of 93. His continuing existence to that ripe old age in this particular multiverse always surprised me as I was sure that PETA would have ambushed him long ago for his scandalous "pigeon" song.

Mr. Lehrer's hilarious satirical ditties popped up on my radar back in the mid-70s while I was listening to something new called "public radio" (Support your local station. Thanks.)

His songs, some over twenty years old by that time, blew my tiny little mind. These songs did not reflect the staid, politically constipated 50s (R&B notwithstanding) the movies and high school social studies had taught me.

His deft and clever dissection of serious topics was like something from another planet. It was clear that he was something worth further inspection so I thereupon proceeded to collect copies of all of his masterworks. I was never disappointed.

Yes, he was cruel to the pigeons, and a squirrel or two, but his warnings about pollution, nuclear proliferation, education and war still remain relevant to this day.

After I taught myself Flash animation in the late 1990s one of the first things I animated was a version of Lehrer's "The Elements". It became a minor internet sensation but resulted in a letter, addressed to me, of concern from Mr. Lehrer, better known to me as "St. Thomas", himself. This was the wild internet days before Youtube so such appropriations of copyrighted material were in a legal gray area and he was understandably concerned.

Happily for me, it turned out that he found the animation adroit enough to be entertaining and eventually decided to take the stance of free speech on the matter, giving my modest creation his blessing to remain online. There is little doubt that the animation was to his benefit as, it became clear to me, there was a noticeable Lehrer eruption on the media landscape as a result of its existence. I could not have been happier though I think a rising awareness of his old material may have been an embarrassment to him.

With Tom, you never knew.

One last thing... yesterday afternoon Ms. Magoomba and I were kibitzing on the subject of human mortality and we both agreed, which is rare, that it exists within the human bosom a desire to leave a legacy. Shortly afterwards we both learned of the passing of one Tom Lehrer. Without a doubt he left one HELL of a legacy.

Thanks, Tom!

- Lefty