Comic Strip of the Day

CSotD: Failures of Intelligence

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Mike Peterson Published: January 21, 2014 1 minute 1 comment

There have been a lot of anti-NSA cartoons, but I like this Matt Bors piece because it is based on uncertainty, which seems to be about the only sure thing in the president's recent offer of reforms.

The problem I'm having, not just with the NSA but pretty much across the board, is figuring out where the line is drawn between knee-jerk responses and actual dishonesty, whether we're talking about Hilary Clinton's role in the Benghazi debacle, the rate at which young people are signing up for Obamacare or the actual science behind the fear of GMOs.

With the NSA, you have to start by eliminating the stupid jokes about the NSA reminding you to pick up bread on the way home before you get into the partisan stuff, but, once there, you also have to sort through genuine, verifiable concerns versus kneejerk distrust.

And overt lies, of course, but one thing I'm pretty sure of is that the really dishonest cartoons are not drawn by anyone with the work ethic to research what they're talking about. 

Specifically, you have to ask whether negative response to Obama's proposed reforms is actual criticism of the measures or simply blanket distrust of government?

But I think Bors places himself on very solid ground here. The FISA courts have, from all indications but their own, simply been rubber-stamping requests, and, furthermore, imposing extremely dubious secrecy requirements on people under investigation.

Given the Star Chamber nature of the system, it is perfectly reasonable to feel uncomfortable with the reliability of a rooster who has been appointed by the fox to watch over the henhouse. It's also reasonable to predict that the rooster will be gelded if he's allowed in at all.

I'm not persuaded across the board by critics of the proposed reforms, but I'm with Matt on this one.

I'm also wih Tom Toles

My only concern is that Toles seems to be assuming that the cart driver would, once aware of the problem, care.

I think he'd simply order a new horse from Bangladesh, Malaysia or China and repeat as needed.

Still, there's a penny-wise, pound-foolish aspect for those who haven't figured out how to serve burgers from 2,000 miles away.

And, hey, maybe a few more chemical spills or factory explosions or factory explosions or factory explosions and we'll decide to start requiring a little more diligent regulatory oversight and some employer spending on the private infrastructure end, even if we never touch the pay scales.

I can dream.

But I think Adam Huber missed the real purpose

Well, sure, Adam. As long as you remember to check that pocket before you throw your jeans in the wash.

As it is, I got a really good deal on a 16 Gig memory stick … or twig … or bit of sawdust … because BestBuy keeps mismarking things and then having to honor the price, which Staples also does, which makes you wonder at what point on the graph the lines of saving money by not paying the help and of losing money by having to eat their mistakes cross.

But if they're going to put a $6.95 price tag on a $26 item, I don't think it's dishonest to bring it up to the register. It could be a discontinued item or a loss leader or something.

Mind you, I've got some ethics — If I saw a Prius on a car lot sporting a $6.95 price tag, I would know something was wrong.

In any case, I can now lose a whole lot of information all at once simply by having this little tiny thing fall out of my pocket while I'm sitting on the couch. Or by sending it through the laundry in my jeans.

Anyway, he's wrong. I know what that little pocket is really for: Poop bags. (Gift wrapping available!)

Best part is that they go through the wash just fine.

Empty, I mean.

If your dog is small enough that you can stick a full poop bag back in that pocket, look again: Some underpaid pet shop employee sold you a mismarked gerbil.