Bloom County is a cartoon drawn by Berkeley Breathed, a talented, but possibly deranged artist. In Bloom County, Breathed has created a host of beloved characters, including perverted attorney Steve Dallas, a young Jerry Seinfeld-like human named Milo Bloom (after which the strip is named, and around whom the "action" takes place), Bill the Cat, who is pretty much the feline version of Jeffrey Lebowski, and the "Kramer" character, played by a flightless waterfowl named Opus. Breathed uses the light-hearted antics of his penciled protagonists to perform all manner of satire and spoof, much of it social commentary, and, of course, some political. The actual syndicated comic strip ran in hundreds of newspapers across the USA, until Breathed took a break in 1989. He recently began drawing it again, distributing it for free on a Facebook page. His foils over the years have included presidents (including Donald Trump before he was elected), Hollywood elites, and fictitious politicians standing in for real life politicos. Around presidential election time, the American Meadow Party has its convention, at which point it typically nominates Bill the Cat and Opus as their candidates, to run against the party favorites of the other two major parties.
My favorite "race" strip was during the 1984 election cycle when Ronald Reagan was running against Walter Mondale. The American Meadow Party yet again nominated Bill the Cat (who was temporarily deceased, at that point until strip genius Oliver Wendell Jones resurrected him from one of his nine lives) and Opus, the penguin, who had left the convention to go out for Ding Dongs. As they had just completed their nominations, a man with a "Mondale for President" hat stuck his head in the door of the hotel room where the Meadow Party was meeting, asking,
"Is this the Democratic National Convention?"
Milo Bloom replied,
"No, this is the American Meadow Party."
The Mondale supporter inquired,
"Oh? Who are you guys putting up against Reagan?"
Bloom answered,
"A dead cat."
To which the Mondale man shrugged his shoulders and answered,
"Oh, what the hell..." and joined the Meadow Party.
As one who gets WAY too torqued over political happenings and social justice advocacy, Bloom County is a needed piece of comic relief. Even though Breathed's strip is a soft version of Doonesbury, without shying away from all social commentary, it soothes the inflamed spirit and uses its mix of lovable, anthropomorphic animal characters and loony humans to build a joyous, two-dimensional community.
See, nothing.
Halloween just ended and Thanksgiving is coming, so that means Pumpkin everything is on the shelves. As one who likes only Pumpkin Pie, I am malignantly disaffected. Is there anything left that is not available in Pumpkin flavoring? Here are a few things I can think of: Pez candy; ketchup; Tootsie Roll Pops; meatloaf; axle grease; bourbon; Communion wafers; multi-vitamins; and olives.
I also eschew flavored coffees, if you exclude Irish Coffee, which I do like as a dessert. Other than that, I like my coffee coffee flavored, without Hazelnut, Vanilla, Maple Bacon, or Pumpkin.
Speaking of Halloween, why is it so hard to find apple cider all year round? Apples are grown somewhere all of the time. This is disappointing.
On a political note: don't forget to vote on Tuesday, November 5. You should always vote when you have the opportunity--it's an American right, and a civic responsibility. I urge you to vote "NO" on Marcy's Law. Using only 75 well-chosen words to describe a 500-word amendment to the Pennsylvania constitution, it is being marketed as a "no-brainer" victim's rights bill. However, it hides what may be serious limits to the rights of the accused, and since it requires several changes to the PA constitution, it violates the constitution, which states that changes to different parts of the constitution should be enacted individually, not in an omnibus referendum like this with a simple "YES" or "NO" vote. Both the ACLU and the League of Women Voters is urging a "No" vote on Marcy's Law, and I concur.
Speaking of pumpkins, I've seen a lot of posts on Facebook and other social media decrying why someone would steal a child's carved pumpkin from their front porch. Unless the pumpkin is observed smashed in the middle of the street, I've come to realize that it has probably been taken/eaten by a white-tailed deer. The deer like pumpkins, and deer are everywhere around our developments, because we have built whole communities over their former home woods.
Well, that's all the nothing I can think of for now. This doesn't bode well for this weekend's sermon...
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