Say hello to our newest moderator: Jack!

[Brian Cruz]

Since I'm gonna be busy working on various projects this summer (like adding Buddy cartoons to my Early Years page), I won't be around as much as I'd like. So Jon and I decided to add a fourth moderator to the TTTP... our very own super rabbit: Jack!

Jack will now be able to edit, delete, copy, move, merge, split, stick, unstick, lock, open, and otherwise alter your posts whenever he sees fit, just as Jon, Matthew and I already can. So you should all try and stay on his good side, because he now has ultimate power over us all. http://www.sargessmilies.homestead.com/files/grin_anim.gif

[laugh4me]

Congrats on the new promotion, Jack! :D

[barnyarddawg]

But Jack is a sloth according to his profile;) , are you sure he can handle it:confused: :p ?

[Sogturtle]

Greatest congratulations Mr. Yak!!! I know you'll do swell and get promtly drunk with power and start deleting all our posts;) :p

[Brian Cruz]

Originally posted by barnyarddawg
But Jack is a sloth according to his profile;) , are you sure he can handle it:confused: :p ?

Yeah, but another thing I noticed in his profile is that, apparently, he was never born! Anybody who can walk around without having been born must be pretty special, so I figure he can handle anything.

[BobChief]

.

[Jack]

Thanks everyone! But just so you know, being a lazy streetcar bum takes LOTS of energy, I have to wake up at the crack of dawn, stay on the back bumper of the streetcar all day, while frightening small children, spitting, and trying to catch birds for lunch. Fortunately, the post office bums can help me when I'm down and out.




Jack:D
P.S. I have a birthday now, but you all have to guess on the year, bwa ha ha!

[Thad Komorowski]

Originally posted by Jack
P.S. I have a birthday now, but you all have to guess on the year, bwa ha ha!

Hmmm, I am guessing........1985 or 1986!!!

-Thad

[Jack]

Originally posted by Thad:
Hmmm, I am guessing........1985 or 1986!!!

Not quite:)



Jack:D

[happyheathen]

at least make an entry saying they were deleted, OK?

[Jack]

I wonder who did delete them (twasn't I), but to make you happy:

The remainder of the thread was deleted, presumably because of political commentary, that, while not all partisan, was inappropriate when compared to the the common subject matter of the Termite Terrace Trading Post message board.



Jack:D
Edited by Jack with recommendations made by happyheathen in mind, with the following few posts (with those recommendations) being deleted.

[snowpeck]

Since you are an administrator now, you can close the thread too.

gcb

[Jack]

I'm really a moderator, I assume Administrators have more power. Locking the thread would be a tad drastic (more useful for ending flame wars, but that rarely if ever happens here (the closest we've ever gotten to one would be an argument of which is better: post 48s or pre48s), I think a warning not to talk politics or you're post will be deleted would be just as effective.



Jack

[happyheathen]

note: this is *NOT* political

dave

p.s. - how about historical commentary? Also banned?

[Brian Cruz]

T'wasn't me. That leaves only two possibilities...


p.s. - how about historical commentary? Also banned?

If it relates to cartoons it's fine. If it's just about bashing some president or event you didn't like, then no. There are plenty of places to do that. This is a cartoon board.

[Jon Cooke]

I was the one who deleted the posts in the thread last night. I apologize for not making a note of it, but I planned to today. If you wish to discuss politics there are plenty of other Internet forums which are much more suitable for it (or you could take your debate to private e-mail). I thought it would be wise to get rid of the political posts before the thread turned ugly. I come here to discuss classic cartoons not read political commentary, I assume the majority of other readers do so as well. I am sure you guys understand.



-Jon

[Calhoun07]

Hello, Jack, delighted to have you on board!

http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/contrib/ruinkai/biglaugha.gif

[Cartoon King]

Hello, Jack! Congratulations!


"Of course you realize this means war!"

[Matthew Hunter]

I appologize...I never meant to cause a brouhaha. Come to think of it, I never did see the reply to my post. I realize it was off-topic, but I couldn't help but wonder what the "poor soul" comment was about. No offense meant by asking, and I wasn't offended by the comment, just curious. Never mind then!
-Matthew

[happyheathen]

Originally posted by Matthew Hunter
I appologize...I never meant to cause a brouhaha. Come to think of it, I never did see the reply to my post. I realize it was off-topic, but I couldn't help but wonder what the "poor soul" comment was about. No offense meant by asking, and I wasn't offended by the comment, just curious. Never mind then!
-Matthew

without going into politics or personalities -

you children of the '80's:

a. have never known a world without AIDS
b. Have always considered homelessness a 'normal' condition for many people.
c. Do not remember when street beggars where seen only the the poorest nations - never in the US.

on the plus side, you do not remember 'Duck and Cover' drills in grade school...

I wish you well...

[laugh4me]

Originally posted by happyheathen


you children of the '80's:

a. have never known a world without AIDS
b. Have always considered homelessness a 'normal' condition for many people.
c. Do not remember when street beggars where seen only the the poorest nations - never in the US.



Huh? Only one of these applies to children of the 80s and we have the cartoons to prove it. We musta grown up in different places. ;)

I say that "B" and "C" aren't new because I clearly remember working at a shelter for homeless citizens and giving money to beggars while growing up in the 60's and 70's. Heck, homelessness and beggars both appear in Looney Tunes and are portrayed as "normal" (see "Half Fare Hare", "What's Up, Doc?", "8 Ball Bunny" and "One Froggy Evening" for starters). Certainly, some of the ways we have dealt with these problems have changed, but they've been a visible part of society all along.

There are advantages and disadvantages to every generation, but overall I think these "kids" of the 80s have had alot going for them and much cause for optimism.

In fact, I'm hoping that a few of them will be instrumental in getting a complete, uncut collection of restored LT&MM cartoons released on DVD sometime soon... I can dream of a better day, can't I? ;)

[Sogturtle]

Greg~

I agree with you, "the homeless" i.e. bums, tramps, hoboes, have been with us in the good-ol'-USA for many decades. Charlie Chaplin's sublime character created in 1914 was called what?? "The Little Tramp". And Chaplin's intelligent slapstick comedy involving his hobo/tramp/bum was a great influence on the Warner cartoons (not just "Hobo Gadget Band" or the cartoons you cited). We have now unfortunately sanitized and sanctified all of the "homeless" without differentiating between the authentically poor from the bums, druggies, winos, and out and out psychos!!

Street begging has ALWAYS been present in the US, which is why many towns have long had ordinances against it, and that had the effect of making it less visible.


Some scientists think AIDS has been around a long time... (There is even an Old Testament description of a very similar or identical disease, including Karposi's Sarcoma symptoms...)

[happyheathen]

if you really think that we have always had beggars on every downtown street, that we have always had 1000's of families 'camping out' in parks for years on end, and Kaposi's Sarcoma (and more recent consequences of AIDS) date back 1000's of years, you and I definitely live in different universes.
Best wishes with your denial - I prefer to acknowledge reality - minimum wage does not pay rent, health care is too expensive for many, and we, as a culture, have chosen not to care.
I have seen 3 homeless people die on the street - how about you?
Is this what you wish to consider 'normal'?

(note: this is not political, just social observation, and besides, they started it...)

[Sogturtle]

Dear Happy~

Sooooo any luck finding "Horse Hare" yet?? As for AIDS, my look-a-like cousin died one of the most excrutiating and gruesome deaths known to mankind thanks to the disease back in the Eighties. His mother kept it all secret at the time. But nothing like seeing a whole photo album of your childhood playmate burning up and rotting away by inches while a vile black infection encircled every fingernail. Twas just like looking at pictures of myself as a dying ninety year old. Just the sort of thing you want to see and show to your friends where you live...

For the homeless my friend, I have had the chance to work with a couple of the former "homeless". One freely admitted to being a reformed "brain-damaged" wino (his terms). Great descriptions of waking up with his pockets filled with vomit in the back of a Houston alley where he lived in morbid fear of the other "homeless" winos and druggies. He lived for years like this in a variety of cities before finally being helped to sober up and get a job and a place to live... I have a current work acquaintance who has vivid descriptions of living on the street while having a full time job, evidently the consequences of jail time. Another charmer (a cousin of mine) was a happy homeless heroin-addict living on the street and begging by day. Then burglarizing homes and shoplifting from Best Buys and a variety of other large stores. At age 43 he is quite dead now... I also have a much, much older cousin who has stories of running away from home as a teen-ager and "riding-the-rails" to join a "hobo caravan" back in the Thirties. His bout with willful "homelessness" ended when a railroad-man clubbed one his fellow bums with a two-by-four and took a shot at this cousin. Make a great cartoon...

As for my reference to an Old Testament description of AIDS or an AIDS-like disease. I will happily look it up and send it to you if you like... (Since it would go against your mindset you very likely wouldn't like it one little iota...) Keep in mind that was a world where every infectious disease (including leprosy) was running about freely with NO treatment. There have been news stories of AIDS being traced back clearly to the much earlier part of the Twentieth Century, and the history of the disease before that is really unknown. (There have been a few medical professionals who have stated their belief that it is a man-made disease, but I can't comment on that...).

Oh by the way I do have a tape of "Horse Hare"... Somewhere!

[laugh4me]

Maybe we do live in different universes... :)

But really, who's in denial here? You are refusing to accept that the poverty and homelessness problems date back beyond the 80s (and that cartoons are evidence to that). On the other hand, I am not denying your assertion that it is a problem today. Of course it is a problem today, you silly!

Since the late 1960s I have been involved in volunteer work which has frequently brought me in contact with people in need. From my firsthand experience I can say with absolute confidence that the poverty and homelessness problems did not first appear in the 80s (the cartoon world backs me up on this) - but in my opinion the problems have become more visible since then. Your mileage may vary, but let me respectfully suggest that just because you didn't see these problems before the 80s doesn't mean they weren't there.

Of course I do not *wish* poverty and homelessness to be "normal" and quite honestly, I'm a tad insulted by the attempt to paint me as uncaring. But I guess that it's an honest mistake since you don't know Jack about me and how closely this issue has affected me during my lifetime. I'm sorry to hear about the deaths you mention for I have lost poor and homeless friends too. I am not going to post a list or number them.
Currently I voluntarily donate time and/or money every week to a grass-roots group which is directly involved with people in need like this. A local social worker identifies the need, and we immediately mobilize and help them out, one person or family at a time. We even provide temporary housing for homeless families in our facilities - and like all kids, the homeless kids enjoy watching cartoons while there.
Sadly the reality is that these problems are a part of the world we live in and have always been there. And while we have made progress, they don't appear to be going away anytime soon. We are more aware of these problems today because of the compassionate efforts by volunteers, the attention given to "homeless advocates" and government programs have encouraged more of these people to come out of the shadows than in the past. That may be why it seems to you that there are more of them since the 80s. But they have always been here in significant numbers - at least in my universe. Finally, I don't agree that people do not care. They may not choose the strategies you would prefer for addressing the issues, but I see people caring more about this today than they did 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Some church-based outreach groups I was involved with 15-20 years ago were content to "mail in a check" and let others help the poor. Today the same groups still send money but also get involved directly to make a difference. I'd say it's a greater level of caring today. And returning to cartoons for a moment, when these issues arose in LT&MM cartoons the impoverished characters were treated with less compassion than today.

So, does anyone think we'll soon have homeless advocates calling for CN to cut Dawg's line "There is but one course for me to follow... I'll moider the bum!" or Bugs' line "I wonder what the poor rabbits are doing this season"?