CSotD: Rants
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Thank you, Darrin Bell.
Today's Candorville makes the point, now that every editorial cartoonist has done a "Trump kills Big Bird and Elmo" cartoon, that Sesame Street hasn't been a PBS or CPB production for a couple of years now.
This isn't to say that public broadcasting shouldn't be in the budget. But if you're going to comment on an issue — particularly if commenting on issues is your profession — you should do your homework.
Downton Abbey is at risk. Not Sesame Street.
Well, neither of them directly. Like Sesame Street, Downton Abbey is simply rebroadcast on PBS, not produced there.
There is an argument to be made that what is at risk is the ability of small children whose parents can't afford the upper levels of cable to access Sesame Street.
I'm not sure you'd get as much sympathy with a cartoon showing adults who can only afford cheap chardonnay and Laughing Cow in place of brie lamenting the fact that they can't get Downton Abbey over the air anymore.
And the good thing about Sesame Street over-the-air reruns is that the fact that it was on HBO earlier doesn't matter; it's relatively timeless.
Like Victor Borge routines, pop music collections from the Sixties and Simon and Garfunkel's concert in Central Park.
I mean, if, when you're fundraising, you showcase a comedian who died nearly 20 years ago and a concert from nearly 40 years ago and music that is half a century old, why not simply show Sesame Street reruns from Back in the Day?
I know, I know.
Kermit would probably demand massive residuals.
I wish that were a joke.
About that same target audience
Baby Blues focuses on little Wren today, and I certainly got the joke, though it seems a bit misplaced with the third child. By that time, Wanda would surely know better than to even ask.
When you hear a CRASH!, you have to go look. When you just hear a conk, a clunk or a bonk, you pause a few moments and, if there is no screaming, don't even acknowledge it, much less ask if it hurt.
That's an eternal truth of parenting.
Here's a technological change:
It used to be that the way to teach a baby to roll over was to lay him on the couch and get on the phone with one of his grandmothers on a corded phone that would not allow you to leap in and scoop him up before he rolled over, fell off the couch and began to howl.
Worked best if the grandmother listening in was your in-law and not your own mom.
Cordless phones sure ruined that.
Juxtaposition of the Day
The letter carrier in Pooch Cafe raises a good question but assumes facts not in evidence.
I'll admit my canine acquaintances are skewed, because 90 percent of them hang out at an unfenced, unofficial dog park and are thus well-socialized, relatively well-trained pups who neither fight with each other nor run away very often, though, as noted recently, sometimes there's a smell that requires investigation.
And, as in Buckets, the dogs at the park all know who's packing and who isn't.
Part of it, indeed, is sense of smell, because some people carry exotic treats that get that sort of outsized reaction, but they also learn who the perennial soft-touches are.
There are dogs who run up to greet me at the park, but they know that I never have treats and it's simply social.
Dependable dispensers of doggy cookies get much more of a "What did you bring me?" greeting and sometimes need to be rescued from all the enthusiasm.
We've discussed letter carriers at the park, and one thing our dogs all have in common is that they adore their letter carriers, including my dog who has never seen a carrier come to the door because I've had a PO box since before he was born.
However, he knows who walks through the neighborhood with treats and will nearly disjoint my arm at the sight of a postal worker.
He even recognizes the little vans they drive and, when he spots one, it's like being with a second-grader who sees an ice cream truck.
However, I have something of an answer to the question the mailman (sic) asks, and it has to do with the bureaucrats of the USPS who have, as part of their goals, driving their employees crazy.
In addition to periodically following carriers around and writing them up for things like not efficiently cutting across a lawn despite the carrier knowing that this particular homeowner feels protective about the grass, they make up rules that, at least in our ZIP Code, include forbidding employees from carrying dog treats. (A rule more honored in the breach.)
They do, however, outfit them with pepper spray.
I guess, theoretically, it's better to antagonize a dog than to make him look forward to seeing you.
Perhaps dogs should be outfitted like St. Bernards, only, instead of kegs of rum, they could carry cans of Pepsi around their necks.
I understand it's quite effective in preventing people from spraying you.
And speaking of treats …
I don't normally salute reruns, but Doc and Raider is gearing up for a major storyline and, while that is under construction, Sean Martin has posted, in one long piece, a series he did some time ago on gay marriage etiquette that is wonderful and hilarious.
Anne and Goodman
Anne Morse Hambrock gave this day's pensee the title "Sing Sing Sing."
Good choice.
And to circle back to PBS/CPB funding, a question: If you cut the arts so that kids no longer learn to play instruments, will any of them appreciate the concept of a "tight band"?
Because we used to marvel over the tightness of certain rock bands that only had four members.
This much larger orchestra was as tight as one of Gene Krupa's drums.
Would youngsters know that?
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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