Book Lover’s Lament: Closing The Wrong Borders Tyrades! By Danny Tyree Sometimes coincidences can really dampen your spirits. This week I was driving around with a CD that features Johnny Cash lamenting “I don’t like it, but I guess things happen that way.” Then I learned that the Borders bookstore chain will be shutting down completely by the end of September. One of the highlights of my small-town high school days was getting to run wild (or as wild as my strict upbringing...

Rainer Hachfeld, Neues Deutschland, Germany This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Are Cigars Endangered? by Tom Purcell Are premium cigars next on the federal government’s hit list? You see, as part of the 2010 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has the authority “to regulate marketing and promotion of tobacco products and to set performance standards for tobacco products to protect the public health.” Though the law does not automatically apply to cigars, the FDA can issue new regulations that make cigars...

Budget Debate Straight Talk And the truth about Medicare by Susan Stamper Brown If indeed the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, President Obama and his cohorts in the Democratic Party must be feeling the heat on their backsides on the eve of the Cut, Cap and Balance (CCB) vote. In response to the GOP’s proposal, it should come as no surprise that White House spokesman Jay Carney would use scare tactics to suggest that the CCB bill would impose egregious cuts to Medicare. Democrats...

Milt Priggee, www.miltpriggee.com This copyrighted Cagle Cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The GOP’s Cynical Bluff by Tina Dupuy GOP leaders in Congress don’t want a balanced-budget amendment. The party, which rails against government bureaucracy, is counting on government bureaucracy to prevent them from successfully changing our founding documents. It’s perfect because they don’t actually want to amend the Constitution — well, not in a serious way. Maybe in a drunken, overly-clever, 1:30 a.m. in a Hill-adjacent dive bar kind of way: “The 28th Amendment...

RJ Matson, Roll Call This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star The Cost of Success by Martha Randolph Carr Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, News Corporation, which includes American TV’s Fox News, is extensive to the point of global and is coming unraveled. At first the fallout from the phone and email tampering scandal seemed like it was going to be contained to a few people getting fired across the Atlantic pond. Perhaps there would even be some collateral damage to a handful of underlings, but something different is afoot...

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Crouching Lurkers by Will Durst Run for the hills, everybody! Armageddon is imminent! The sky is beyond falling; it’s anvil-plummeting! Onto our heads so fast the clouds are whistling the love theme from the movie “2012.” The U.S. economy is about to melt down like a Popsicle left on a Palm Springs picnic table, and it’s only a matter of time before this country liquefies into Greece’s financial twin without the pleasant distraction of all that melodious zither music....

Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

John Cole, The Scranton Times-Tribune This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Banning Circumcision is Simply Banning Judaism by Yaakov Kirschen A bill to ban circumcision of all males under the age of 18 will be on the ballot in San Francisco this November. This is alarming because circumcision of all males is the single most basic ritual of Judaism. Banning circumcision is a direct attack on the practice of Judaism, even if it is presented as having other motives. In fact, history shows us that viral anti-Semitism always comes to town in disguise, usually portraying its...

RJ Matson, Roll Call This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Keefe, The Denver Post This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The 112th Congress and a Lot of Nothing by Tina Dupuy In 1950 a largely unaccomplished lawmaker from Wisconsin, Senator Joe McCarthy, alleged that Commie sympathizers were infiltrating the U.S. Government and Hollywood. “Communist subversion!” was the claim; Red Scare, the aim. Televised hearings were held. Lives were ruined. No evidence of his accusations was found. McCarthyism, as it’s now known, is a blight in American history. On a good day it’s a parable. Otherwise,...

Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Luojie, China Daily, China This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.