We're fairly certain that today - at least initially - our longtime readers may be a bit surprised by our stance on the topic of the day.
In case you missed it yesterday, President Obama, as promised during his big jobs speech last Thursday, delivered the complete initial legal version of his jobs bill to the House of Representatives. As any good House Speaker should on such an important bill, John Boehner immediately sent it on to the non-partisan CBO - the Congressional Budget Office - to have them officially "score" the bill.
For those of you who may have forgotten, scoring the bill is where the number-crunchers at the CBO go through the proposed legislation to see if the items requested to have government money spent on them will be able to be paid for - and actually be likely to deliver the outcomes promised.
All this is perfectly normal, including the speed at the which the proposal is moving from the President's bully pulpit to the House of Representatives, to the CBO.
Here's the shocker: We now think it's time that the President take an uncompromising approach to his jobs bill.
Yes, we've hammered for years on compromise as a tool that both sides need to employ- and we still believe that's true.
There are times, however, when wise individuals must make a stand - and we're very glad that the President is finally taking a position to insist that Congress get off their collective asses and finally do something to help the economy.
It's not as though the President hasn't outlined in the bill exactly how to pay for every piece of the legislation. He's even built in a $20 billion cushion, in both cuts and revenue increases. Tax hikes on those Americans who can most afford it are part of his plan, including a direct change on how "carried interest" - a concept that has allowed some of the wealthiest Americans to evade paying taxes for years - would be handled. He's also outlined some cuts that will likely anger members of both parties, and many smaller constituencies.
Every item of this proposal is exactly as President Obama said it was - tactics and methods to handle a jobs and financial crisis that everyone is deeply familiar with.
There are those Republicans, however, who are already wailing and gnashing their teeth, stomping their political feet and threatening to refuse to work with the President. They're calling him hypocritical, saying the President has called for compromise throughout his whole tenure and NOW he's being uncompromising.
We think the President is being uncompromising at exactly the right time.
When Bank of America, who the American people bailed out less than three years ago, announces it's going to fire 30,000 people; when a two-tiered wage system that significantly shorts American manufacturing workers is becoming normal; when 9% unemployment has become the "new normal" ... it is high time to be uncompromising about fixing the jobs and economy problem.
It is a good thing to see that at least SOME of the Republican congressional leadership - like Mr. Boehner - seem to be starting to grasp the true nature of the jobs crisis we face. However, the numbers of Republicans in Congress who actually get it are still too small.
"It" is an uncompromising fact.
If the economy doesn't improve in the next fourteen months, it won't just be Democrats and the President who will be destroyed by an economy that continues to limp along. Republicans will also be blown out of office by their willingness to destroy the Obama administration while ignoring the nation's REAL troubles.
If President Obama - and frankly, anyone who supports his jobs plan - are going to be labeled as "uncompromising" in their efforts to put America back to work, that's the kind of lack of compromise we're more than willing to support.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Giving Thanks Through Humor And Healing
Last week, America prepared to commemorate the Tenth Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on our nation. At the same time I [Paul] was honored to join a group of cartoonists from the National Cartoonists Society on a trip to Norfolk, Virginia and Bethesda, Maryland on a trip to visit and draw for some of our wounded warriors and active duty military personnel at a number of different hospitals and military installations.
The NCS has a long-standing tradition going back to WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam of going out to entertain the troops wherever they may be. In recent years, NCS teams have visited places like Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany and countless bases stateside. Our goal is to express our appreciation to these remarkable people for the job they do and the sacrifices they make to keep us safe here at home.
Our group consisted of Dr. Joel Goodman, founder of The Humor Project, who travels the world giving presentations on humor in the workplace and humor in healing. Our cartoonists were Mason Mastroianni, who draws the classic comic feature, “B.C.”; Jeff Bacon, whose cartoons appear in “Navy Times” and “Marine Times”; Bruce Higdon, freelance cartoonist and illustrator; and yours truly, Paul Fell. We were escorted throughout our 5-day trip by Leanne Braddock, retired Navy Commander who now does counseling for the wounded warriors and their families.
We began our trip in Norfolk, Virginia, where we visited the Portsmouth Naval Hospital to meet and draw for marines and sailors who are recovering from their wounds and receiving rehabilitation before returning to active duty or civilian life. We spent the morning drawing for these men and women in hopes of expressing our appreciation and to provide a brief respite from what is for many of them, a long ordeal of recovery. At the same time, Joel Goodman was doing his presentation “Humor and Healing” for hospital patients and staff.
Later that day, we visited the Portsmouth Navy base, where we were told we would see the largest collection of naval power in the world. They weren’t kidding. As we boarded the cruiser USS San Jacinto, we were surrounded by nuclear aircraft carriers, assault ships, destroyers, and naval vessels of every kind. We received a tour of the ship and then proceeded to the chiefs’ mess where we drew for the crew. As always, our scheduled stop of 90 minutes ran overtime. The crew members kept coming by for drawings, and we were happy to oblige.
After a travel day we visited the Bethesda/Walter Reed medical center. This is yet another huge facility where the wounded receive top-notch care for their injuries. It is truly sobering to see the extent of the wounds these soldiers, sailors, and marines have endured and the long and painful rehabilitation they go through. What truly touches your heart is their determination to move on with their lives and how their situations impact their families and loved ones. We spent part of our day drawing in the main lobby of the hospital for anyone who could stop by. Later we were taken to the acute care facility where the wounded are first housed when they are evacuated from the combat zones. When their condition is stabilized, which could take anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months, they are transferred to another part of the complex where they are housed in apartment-like facilities. Their families can then stay with them as they begin the long healing process.
This was my first NCS trip to draw for the Wounded Warriors and I already have my name in for another. Our association has groups preparing to head overseas next week and again in October. Time and time again, we received heartfelt thanks from the wounded, their families, and medical staff for these visits. In reality, we, as cartoonists are the honored ones, and we get even more out of these visits than those who have sacrificed so much for our country.
The NCS has a long-standing tradition going back to WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam of going out to entertain the troops wherever they may be. In recent years, NCS teams have visited places like Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany and countless bases stateside. Our goal is to express our appreciation to these remarkable people for the job they do and the sacrifices they make to keep us safe here at home.
Our group consisted of Dr. Joel Goodman, founder of The Humor Project, who travels the world giving presentations on humor in the workplace and humor in healing. Our cartoonists were Mason Mastroianni, who draws the classic comic feature, “B.C.”; Jeff Bacon, whose cartoons appear in “Navy Times” and “Marine Times”; Bruce Higdon, freelance cartoonist and illustrator; and yours truly, Paul Fell. We were escorted throughout our 5-day trip by Leanne Braddock, retired Navy Commander who now does counseling for the wounded warriors and their families.
We began our trip in Norfolk, Virginia, where we visited the Portsmouth Naval Hospital to meet and draw for marines and sailors who are recovering from their wounds and receiving rehabilitation before returning to active duty or civilian life. We spent the morning drawing for these men and women in hopes of expressing our appreciation and to provide a brief respite from what is for many of them, a long ordeal of recovery. At the same time, Joel Goodman was doing his presentation “Humor and Healing” for hospital patients and staff.
Later that day, we visited the Portsmouth Navy base, where we were told we would see the largest collection of naval power in the world. They weren’t kidding. As we boarded the cruiser USS San Jacinto, we were surrounded by nuclear aircraft carriers, assault ships, destroyers, and naval vessels of every kind. We received a tour of the ship and then proceeded to the chiefs’ mess where we drew for the crew. As always, our scheduled stop of 90 minutes ran overtime. The crew members kept coming by for drawings, and we were happy to oblige.
After a travel day we visited the Bethesda/Walter Reed medical center. This is yet another huge facility where the wounded receive top-notch care for their injuries. It is truly sobering to see the extent of the wounds these soldiers, sailors, and marines have endured and the long and painful rehabilitation they go through. What truly touches your heart is their determination to move on with their lives and how their situations impact their families and loved ones. We spent part of our day drawing in the main lobby of the hospital for anyone who could stop by. Later we were taken to the acute care facility where the wounded are first housed when they are evacuated from the combat zones. When their condition is stabilized, which could take anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months, they are transferred to another part of the complex where they are housed in apartment-like facilities. Their families can then stay with them as they begin the long healing process.
This was my first NCS trip to draw for the Wounded Warriors and I already have my name in for another. Our association has groups preparing to head overseas next week and again in October. Time and time again, we received heartfelt thanks from the wounded, their families, and medical staff for these visits. In reality, we, as cartoonists are the honored ones, and we get even more out of these visits than those who have sacrificed so much for our country.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Time For Heroes
With the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks this weekend on our mind, and the President's jobs speech still resounding in our ears, we began to gather our thoughts for today's commentary. As we knew when we began this week, today's commentary would be about heroes.
As a cartoonist, Paul has drawn heroes and caricatures of heroes for years. Today, he's continuing a tradition that many of our friends in the cartooning and media business have been involved in for years: visiting real heroes, through Navy, Army, and USO programs.
The men and women that Paul and the other cartoonists are drawing for this week come from many different situations. Some are injured soldiers and sailors in hospital wards, while some are healthy service members stuck on long-term duty stations and ships, both here in America and abroad.
The cartoonists are doing what they can, to help their fellow Americans get through a tough time. They're taking pictures with the troops, drawing them and their friends, telling jokes - trying to help them get a breather from the daily grind of their lives. Some have major injuries. Many simply do the things that keep our armed services running smoothly, things that rarely garner public recognition. Yet they're heroes, each and every one.
If you ask almost any one of our living Medal of Honor recipients, they'll all say nearly the same thing: that they're not really heroes either. When they took out whole groups of enemies in insane firefights, they were just protecting their friends, their fellow Americans - their family by another name.
Many of the heroes of 9/11 would answer that question in much the same way, if we could ask them. The buildings were falling - but they were going to do the job, to the best of their abilities, do it all the way, until they couldn't anymore.
When we repeat the words of our web guru's granddad - that anything worth doing is worth doing well - THIS is what we mean by "doing well."
Our President - the President of EVERY American - once again was trying to do his job well when he spoke to Congress, and to every American citizen, Thursday night. He called on us to act on the most pressing crisis of our time, the jobs and economic crisis.
Mr. Obama laid out his plan, and he made it VERY clear that we will ALL be expected give up some things for the greater good of our nation. Excesses in Medicare WILL be examined. Corporations and the wealthy WILL pay more in taxes. And if we fail to help each other, it is all of us together that will have failed, not just him alone.
The President will put the details of his together bill by next Tuesday, and submit it to Congress. Then Congress will need to act - not next year, not in fourteen months. NOW. But it's not just up to them. We, the American people, will need to push Congress every step of the way, day after day.
Like some of the heroes that Paul and the cartoonists are visiting this week.
Being a hero isn't just something that can be spun into an exciting story, a Hollywood movie, or a great cartoon. Heroes include the kind of individuals who tear apart a ship, and retrofit it so that we can protect our country with better, safer, faster ships. It's grueling work sometimes, work that takes not just hours or weeks, but months and sometimes years of doing the same thing - and doing it well.
The actions of heroes aren't just a single moment or a single day - and they shouldn't be just a single day's events for any of us either.
The heroes of September 11th didn't just show up on September 9th and become members of the NYFD or NYPD. They took years to become heroes. Some of the heroes that have died since that day passed away due to weeks and months spent digging through the rubble. Day after day.
Now it's our turn. We are each faced with a fundamental choice: we can choose to accept the ideas put forth by President Obama to help our fellow Americans, or we can look no farther than political labels and automatically ignore the most pressing needs of our time. Some of these people, our family by another name, have been out of work or severely underemployed, through no fault of their own, for years. Ignoring them is no less neglectful and dishonorable an action than ignoring our soldiers who come home physically whole, but mentally and spiritually damaged.
Our fellow Americans need heroes.
It's time - long past time, actually - that we become the heroes we need.
It is time we did everything well. Every day. No exceptions.
No excuses.
As a cartoonist, Paul has drawn heroes and caricatures of heroes for years. Today, he's continuing a tradition that many of our friends in the cartooning and media business have been involved in for years: visiting real heroes, through Navy, Army, and USO programs.
The men and women that Paul and the other cartoonists are drawing for this week come from many different situations. Some are injured soldiers and sailors in hospital wards, while some are healthy service members stuck on long-term duty stations and ships, both here in America and abroad.
The cartoonists are doing what they can, to help their fellow Americans get through a tough time. They're taking pictures with the troops, drawing them and their friends, telling jokes - trying to help them get a breather from the daily grind of their lives. Some have major injuries. Many simply do the things that keep our armed services running smoothly, things that rarely garner public recognition. Yet they're heroes, each and every one.
If you ask almost any one of our living Medal of Honor recipients, they'll all say nearly the same thing: that they're not really heroes either. When they took out whole groups of enemies in insane firefights, they were just protecting their friends, their fellow Americans - their family by another name.
Many of the heroes of 9/11 would answer that question in much the same way, if we could ask them. The buildings were falling - but they were going to do the job, to the best of their abilities, do it all the way, until they couldn't anymore.
When we repeat the words of our web guru's granddad - that anything worth doing is worth doing well - THIS is what we mean by "doing well."
Our President - the President of EVERY American - once again was trying to do his job well when he spoke to Congress, and to every American citizen, Thursday night. He called on us to act on the most pressing crisis of our time, the jobs and economic crisis.
Mr. Obama laid out his plan, and he made it VERY clear that we will ALL be expected give up some things for the greater good of our nation. Excesses in Medicare WILL be examined. Corporations and the wealthy WILL pay more in taxes. And if we fail to help each other, it is all of us together that will have failed, not just him alone.
The President will put the details of his together bill by next Tuesday, and submit it to Congress. Then Congress will need to act - not next year, not in fourteen months. NOW. But it's not just up to them. We, the American people, will need to push Congress every step of the way, day after day.
Like some of the heroes that Paul and the cartoonists are visiting this week.
Being a hero isn't just something that can be spun into an exciting story, a Hollywood movie, or a great cartoon. Heroes include the kind of individuals who tear apart a ship, and retrofit it so that we can protect our country with better, safer, faster ships. It's grueling work sometimes, work that takes not just hours or weeks, but months and sometimes years of doing the same thing - and doing it well.
The actions of heroes aren't just a single moment or a single day - and they shouldn't be just a single day's events for any of us either.
The heroes of September 11th didn't just show up on September 9th and become members of the NYFD or NYPD. They took years to become heroes. Some of the heroes that have died since that day passed away due to weeks and months spent digging through the rubble. Day after day.
Now it's our turn. We are each faced with a fundamental choice: we can choose to accept the ideas put forth by President Obama to help our fellow Americans, or we can look no farther than political labels and automatically ignore the most pressing needs of our time. Some of these people, our family by another name, have been out of work or severely underemployed, through no fault of their own, for years. Ignoring them is no less neglectful and dishonorable an action than ignoring our soldiers who come home physically whole, but mentally and spiritually damaged.
Our fellow Americans need heroes.
It's time - long past time, actually - that we become the heroes we need.
It is time we did everything well. Every day. No exceptions.
No excuses.
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