by WALTER BRASCH On a bright Monday morning, a day before tax returns were due, I bumped into my ersatz friend Marshbaum who was placing a change container at the Gas-High Mini-mart on Low Octane and Greed avenues. “March of Dimes?” I asked. “Dimes. Quarters. Ten-dollar bills. Whatever.” Since he misunderstood my question, I tried it another way. “What charity? Humane Society? MS? Veterans Relief?” “Even...

Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Pulitzer Prize judges should reconsider their decision. By declining to name an award-winning novel this year, they have overlooked the greatest creation of all, a huge work of collective fiction titled “Obama.” In other categories, the Board expanded its vista beyond the printed page to Politico and the Huffington Post. Why not recognize an achievement that brings cave-dweller story-telling into the 21st...

Mitt Romney commenting on Ted Nugent controversy There have been several developments now in the mini-flap over presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney endorser Ted Nugent’s violent anti-Obama comments — which some analysts (including TMV readers in comments and via emails) feel sound like a reference to assassination: 1. Apparently the Secret Service is intrigued, since they reportedly...

UPDATE: fr D. de Wind: The Secret Service Says They Are Investigating Ted Nugent’s Threatening Remarks Toward Obama | Ted Nugent’s threatening remarks about President Obama at the annual National Rifle Association convention in St. Louis have earned him a follow-up conversation with the Secret Service. … The Secret Service, which investigates all threats against the President, confirmed to New York Magazine’s...

This is the second short video about creating The Big Belch, a graphic novel taking on environmental concerns and corporate greed. It’s a bit more about the story line. Please click here if you would like to find out more about The Big Belch.

The New York Times, my favorite newspaper, has won two 2012 Pulitzer Prizes, one for its reporting on Africa (INTERNATIONAL REPORTING: Jeffrey Gettleman) and another for an investigative series on obscure tax code provisions that allow wealthy corporations and citizens to avoid paying taxes, (EXPLANATORY REPORTING: David Kocieniewski). I was also pleased that The Huffington Post — an online news outlet...

The 2012 Three Stooges UPDATE: I’m a lifelong Stooges fan so I MUST trumpet the news: the new Three Stooges movie is out. Not only am I a stooges fan, but when I was a reporter on the San Diego Union I covered the Three Stooges getting a belated star on Hollywood Boulevard. I met the late Joe Besser, who was the only Stooge able to show up (the others passed away and Joe DeRita was too ill). I also interviewed...

Five years ago, a family that had captured the American imagination suddenly disappeared from TV screens with no real explanation, just as the current national soap opera, “The Santorums” abruptly ended this week. They sit around a table, nothing untoward happens…and then fade to black. We had been mesmerized on the weekend by their daughter’s hospital stay, we were looking forward to the gang war...

Sorry to have to be so blunt and I have never used the words in a review before, but may I say “Rip off?” Yes, I know that the publishers of the Our Name In History disclose that these are short books, have some statistics and deal with immigration and old immgration records. But I — like I’m sure others have and will — bought this because the titled suggested it was a book ABOUT...

Disney will help China develop its animation industry, which from China’s perspective helps it develop its culture. China is one of the world’s fastest growing film markets. Details from Newsy.com:

Sorry to bother you, Mr. B. But something happened this morning I thought you should know about. What is it Selig? A leak in the piping? I hope my Stall #8 hasn’t been flooded. No, sir. Nothing that serious. It was just that guy who came by this morning. I don’t know who he was, but he said he was here to install gun mounts over the sinks and toilet bowls. Oh that. No need to worry. He was authorized....

UPDATE: While the Japanese ambassador to the United States apologized in person three years ago to 73 surviving POWs of the Bataan Death March at a ceremony in San Antonio, Texas, yesterday Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Toshinao Urabe expressed apologies for the atrocities committed by then Japanese soldiers during World War II. The Philippine Star: “Seventy years have passed since those cruel...

I put cartoons up on The Moderate Voice from time to time. I’m now working on a graphic novel with themes some TMV visitors might find of interest — the environment and corporate greed. The Big Belch is kind of like Dr. Strangelove meets BP. Here’s an early video about its creation. Please click here if you would like to find out more about The Big Belch.

Many rulers and architects have left behind their imprint on the historic Indian city of Delhi over the centuries. While a Mughal king’s artisans built an impressive Shahjahanabad in Old Delhi, the English architect Edward Lutyen’s legacy is the sprawling ‘Imperial’ New Delhi at the height of British Raj. In 1952, the American architect Joseph Allen Stein arrived in the newly Independent India from...

I’m finishing up a nine month nationwide car tour in my other incarnation, and for months now I’ve carried, read and re-read a little book that is such a sheer delight. It’s intelligent, witty, makes me think, makes me laugh and has things I may agree and disagree with. It is a JOY. It’s “The New Devil’s Dictionary” a 21st century version of the classic made famous in...

It’s the start of a new baseball season, so how could I not post this political knock-off of the immortal “Casey At The Bat?” I don’t believe the progressives in this version of the poem, however, are going to strike out this November the way Casey did… Progressives At The Bat It looked extremely rocky for progressives in D.C., The folks they’d long depended on to others bent...

Another baseball season is upon us. Here’s a classic baseball number from the old musical “Damn Yankees” — Six Months Out of Every Year, pitting the wives against the sports loving husbands. From a great high school production: And here’s another EXCELLENT version, staged differently: King’s Park High School Finally, here’s the CD with the original cast Broadway...

Jumping on a weaker-than-expected jobs report, the Etch-a-Sketch candidate is telling crowds, “The reason I’m so animated about defeating Barack Obama is because he’s failed the American people.” Yet, as he promises voters more wealth, Mitt Romney is still going to great lengths to hide his own. In 48 accounts from Bain Capital, on financial disclosure forms the GOP candidate-to-be fails to “identify...