Ivins Blesses Troubletown; Others Differ

Wow, check it out, Molly Ivins mentions Troubletown in her column on the wreckage of the Bush economy. The column even has "Trouble" in the headline! That doesn't happen every day. But before I could get comfortable with my new bigger head, I was brought back down to earth by the messages I found that conclude that I SUCK BIGTIME:

I know that OC Weekly is a far-left publication, but your racist depiction of Condoleezza Rice in a political cartoon with big lips and bucked teeth goes over the line [Lloyd Dangle's Troubletown]. I am a 50-year-old, African-American male who used to be a Jimmy Carter Democrat and was just as left as you guys are in my beliefs. But you guys have gone too far. Your hate-filled commentary and racist cartoons do nothing but expose your true character. You guys keep on running people away from the left and into the arms of the Republicans. Wise up and grow up, or you will be such a minority in this country no one is going to give a damn what you say.
––Kelvin Brown
Fountain Valle

Here's the offending cartoon. You be the judge. (And Don't forget to visit Troubletown.com to play "Offendo")

This one was from my guestbook, which automatically turns swear words (some anyway) into #%@&'s:

Put all you liberal commies on a friggin' boat and sink the SOB!
Opinions:
GITMO Rules! We should beat those @#%$! 24/7 with rubber hoses and electrical shocks up their anus! They are scum and they suck! They have no frickin' rights! The pussies don't even wear a goddamned uniform! And they expect Geneva Convention protection? @#%$! them! @#%$! you for supporting the liberal commie media @#%$! too! You suck and so does your @#%$! asswipe cartoon @#%$!! You suck asshole! @#%$! You!
Anger:
Livid
Feedback:
@#%$! You
Idiotic Thoughts:
@#%$! you more!
Criticism:
I've got plenty

This one is from an important comics interview:

Newspaper comics today, and newspapers in general, do suck pretty hard. I tend to think that they have been co-opted by the politically-correct liberal media which force rules and quotas onto everything, and simply censor anything that doesn't fit their ...blah, blah, blah,... Aaron Mcgruder is another dupe, keeping blacks down with his kneejerk opinions. He just enables Democrats to keep taking the black vote for granted. They know they don't have to work for what blacks...blah, blah, blah,...Garry Trudeau is better than most, but essentially a lap dog to...blah, blah, blah...And don't even get me started on Lloyd Dangle. I used to really enjoy his Troubletown strip. It used to have balance but now it's obvious he's just carrying water for the liberals, who, after all, pay his salary.
Cartoonist, Rick Altergott

Yep, It's the money that keeps me from singing the praises of Karl Rove and Rick Santorum. And finally here's one from my email bag:

I came across your cartoon on a leaflet handed out by the Amherst Vigil and thought it was a good satirical take-off of those interested in debunking science. The last panel troubled me, however, as it seemed to imply that flowers are pollinated by "sexually active bees". While it's true that flowers are pollinated by bees, it is during the bees' quest for pollen, and is entirely a chance by-product of that activity, whereby pollen from the "male" part of one plant gets brushed off onto the "female" part of another plant. The bees that accomplish this pollination are workers, which are not sexually active. The only sexual activity engaged in by bees happens between drones and queens, and has nothing to do with plants.

Ordinarily I would ignore this faux pas but, since you were acting in the guise of critic of those ignorant of science, it behooves you to get the science right.
––Warren Hubley

To the last one, I penned this response:

Mr. Hubley,
Thank you for your message, however I must disagree. If you and a partner, or you alone for that matter, were aided in a sexual act by another consenting individual (bee), would you not describe that individual as also having a "sexually active" role in the transaction? Perhaps you would demean that individual as merely a "worker," in your case a "sex worker," as they are called, but it would be difficult to know and arrogant to assume to know the complex nature of the desires that drive that individual's actions. The same is true for bees, sir!
––Lloyd Dangle

So my emotional scorecard looks like this: One Molly Ivins FOR Troubletown. One offended Jimmy Carter African American, one second-rate cartoonist, one foul-mouthed right winger, and one beekeeper AGAINST Troubletown. That's not too bad.