The Laughing Wolf

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

The talented and interesting cartoonist Michael Ramirez, who does wonderful conservative cartoons in the leftist L.A. Times, is under investigation by the Secret Service for a cartoon published Sunday. The cartoon in question was a takeoff on the award-winning photograph of a North Vietnamese agent being executed by a South Vietnamese official back in the 60s.

That photo, which went out without a full explanation and made it appear that indiscriminate executions were the order of the day by the evil South Vietnamese regime helped turn the tide of public opinion in America against the war. It was a powerful image, and is used in texts and classrooms today in almost every photo or journalism school around.

Ramirez used this image as the basis of a cartoon attacking those who were trying to “assassinate” Bush over 16 words. It was a powerful and effective cartoon, and it clearly showed the artist’s opinion of those doing the attacking.

Somehow, however, it appears that the Secret Service is concerned that the cartoon somehow depicts a real threat to Bush, and that it constitutes the same thing as writing or calling in a threat to kill the President.

Give me a frelling break. Only someone with less than a room temperature IQ could possibly get that from the cartoon. Only someone chronically unfit to wear a badge of any sort, even as a dog catcher, could possibly decide that this was a “threat” worthy of investigation.

Someone at the Secret Service needs to go. Whether that is Agent Peter J. Damos or someone – or even several someones – above him is immaterial. When time and resources are wasted on an idiocy such as this, that is the thing criminal. And just plain stupid.

The march is on. We have the Secret Service investigating an editorial cartoon that supports the President. We have the FBI investigating a man for reading a leftist editorial. What’s next, investigating Snoopy for FAA violations or being a terrorist for all the strafing runs he’s done on his dog house?

This type of idiocy is why people are concerned, and justifiably so, with the Patriot Act and other homeland security measures being undertaken. We get assurances that all will be well, that there will be reason and care. What we get are these types of things, which destroy Citizen confidence and undermine real efforts at public safety.

To restore public confidence, steps need to be taken. The people responsible for these idiotic shenanigans, or otherwise took part in them, need to be fired (managers) and suspended (agents). There is no excuse for, or legal defense of, taking part in such patently absurd and illegal actions.

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