OH I SO HOPE THIS ISN'T A PHOTOSHOP: Scans Daily brings us the Archie universe's token nerd Dilton Doiley, summarized in four panels. (Bonus Scans Daily: the debut of Squirrel Girl.)

POSSIBLY AN UNDERREPORTED BREITBARTESQUE STORY: If you dimly recall hearing about a murderer getting a liver transplant ahead of more deserving non-murderous people--as I dimly recall hearing about on one of our dismal local talk stations on the way to work--it isn't the least bit true. Of course had I known the New York Post was the original source for this story I would have suspected its truthiness from the start.

SOME OLD COMICS LINKAGE: On the enduring appeal of Catwoman:

Okay, Wayne might have had a tough go of it, but a million young’uns the world over lose their parents every single day and its only because he’s so stinking rich that he can indulge and nurse that wound forever. Most people just have to get on with it. Poor Bruce, yes, but poor Selina? Definitely yes. Literally yes. ‘At least you get to work out your neuroses in a palace surrounded by stuffed tyranosaurs and batbikes…’, she seems to say. The point is, every time she thumbs her nose at Batman, something inside us should give a little cheer. Batman represents old money, old power and, essentially, patriarchy. He’s stiff and uptight and privileged. Selina Kyle is none of these things. Basically there’s an element of class war to everything she does and all of her best incarnations reflect this.

Via a more recent Catwoman appreciation.

THE LATEST IN LOCAL DEAD TREE MEDIA: The Inquirer remembers one of the things you can't get on the Internet:

Beginning next Sunday, The Inquirer will make some important changes to the Sunday newspaper.

First, we have heard you loud and clear, and your favorite comics will return to full size in a four-page, reader-enhanced, color broadsheet section.
In addition, we've decided to change with the times as our readers' habits have changed. Because most television viewers now use their remotes to access up-to-the-minute schedules through their cable providers, we are discontinuing our Sunday TV section. However, the Sunday prime-time TV listings will move to the Sunday Arts & Entertainment section, while daily TV listings will continue to run in the features sections.

YES. Thank you, Philadelphia Inquirer, for acknowledging the twin realities that 1. a TV section in this day and age is a waste of paper and 2. there is no on-line equivalent to the broadsheet full color Sunday comics. (They had been sticking the Sundays in the back of a magazine-style foldover TV section. Wasn't great.)

HEADLINEZ: BP replaces CEO Hayward, reports $17 billion loss. Yes, the yacht race guy is replaced by an American. From Mississippi. And if they lose enough money maybe people will say they've suffered enough and not take egregious punitive action against them, would be my dual meta-analysis of this AP headline.

ME PERSONALLY I WOULD NEVER JOIN ANY JOURNOLIST THAT WOULD HAVE ME AS A MEMBER: But Foster Kamer has retroactively joined the vast media conspiracy TO MAKE OBAMA PREZNIT!

AND IN EVERY ERA WE EXPLAIN THE UNIVERSE IN TERMS OF CULTURAL ARTIFACTS WE UNDERSTAND: Aliens are probably using Twitter.

RANDOM LINKS AS I GET MORE LEFT-WINGY: Bernie Sanders says say no to the oligarchy--and I approve. Slate says Breitbart is, objectively, a liar--and I approve. Honestly I don't feel all that different than when I was more of a self-declared libertarian. I just don't see much value in defending the oligarchy or Breitbart. Which means I must be a total pinko!

SOME FINE PIC SPAM FOR YOUR RSS READER: A blog full of unconventionally beautiful animals. Via Jim Henley.

WILL THE LAST KAGAN HATER PLEASE TURN OFF THE LIGHTS?: God bless Paul Campos here for summarizing everything that's wrong with the Kagan nomination, and why Barry O is the kind of person who thinks nominating Kagan is the right idea. Hint: he may not be the liberalist liberal who stole from industrious self-made individuals to give to the shiftless lazy underclass.

SO CERTAINLY EVERYONE LOOKS BAD IN THIS SHIRLEY SHERROD THING: Except Shirley Sherrod, of course. Breitbart obviously looks worse than usual--I mean this time his creative edits were exposed in a matter of hours. But the Obama administration looks bad too for responding so quickly. You fire somebody to avoid a night of cable news talk? Ridiculous. Though I guess it worked in the sense that we're all talking about how wronged Shirley Sherrod was and not about how OMG REVERSE RACIST she is. It does sort of turn the tables on Breitbart, in other words, though I doubt that was the intent. And of course the NAACP looks bad for getting bamboozled hoodwinked snookered by Breitbart. But at least they owned up to it, unlike Vilsack and company. Yes, it was all Vilsack's decision, and the Obama administration supports it completely. Mmm-hmm.

OMG LIBERAL JOURNALISTS COLLUDED! THOUGHT LIBERAL THOUGHTS!: This is this the dumbest Journolist scandal yet. Breitbart really thinks Spencer Ackerman is going to get fired over this? From freaking Wired? Ridiculous. Dismaying to see Matt Welch continue to have his buddy's back in this sort of sluggery.

EDIT: Because Matt didn't mention Breitbart in his piece I am being unfair in that last line. Apologies!

THIS WEEK ON DRAMABLOGS (SPONSORED BY PROCTER & GAMBLE): A blogger leaves. What does this mean? Where will other bloggers go? Is it all tl;dr? DRAMA!

(P&G reference since they're a soap opera sponsor--not a reference to Pepsigate.)

SO I OWE THE INTERNET A POST OR TWO: Please enjoy my Tumblr. Tumblr appears to be like Twitter, but with pictures. Kids these days and their crazy social networks...

IF THIS IS CHART PORN, IT'S A CRUSH VIDEO: How many months to get the economy respectable again? A whole lotta months:



Via TPM.

WHEN YOU'VE LOST THE ACHINGLY LOWER-MIDDLEBROW USA TODAY EDITORIAL PAGE: You've probably lost the argument:

Occasionally, however, citizen videotapes show an entirely different set of events than the police report. In March, for example, police in College Park, Md., arrested several students after celebrations following a basketball game turned rowdy. Police charged two students with assaulting mounted police and their horses — until a videotape surfaced that showed police officers beating the students. Charges against the students were dropped, and the officers faced investigation.

Some police departments have acknowledged reality and instructed officers to assume they'll be recorded and act accordingly. Other departments learn the hard way. Beaverton, Ore., was ordered last month to pay a $19,000 settlement to a man arrested after he videotaped his friend's arrest.

As police officers point out, videotapes can be taken out of context, or show an incomplete story. And, in some instances, police might have a legitimate need for privacy, such as when they meet with informants. But there are ways to deal with this without shutting down citizens' rights to protect themselves from abuse.

Via Radley, who is probably responsible for this issue getting attention from the USA Today hivemind.

DAVID AXELROD HAS NO IDEA: Why the banks blew up, not even a lousy narrative. He has the absence of narrative. Russ Feingold has the right idea, bless his heart.

HARVEY PEKAR LINK SUMMARY: Tom Spurgeon does the link work for you. Go! Read, remember.

FROM OFF THE STREETS OF CLEVELAND: And for the last time. Harvey Pekar, 1939-2010. One of the very greatest comics creators of the underground era, who remained active in comics up until the present day. Scott Eric Kaufman notes if you read him, you sort of knew him--his comics were a sort of proto-blogging. But since he recruited some great talents to draw his stuff, Crumb in particular, his stuff has a kind of depth blogging usually lacks. And for someone like me, who has spent most of his adult life working fairly mundane office jobs in a hospital, it was an inspiration knowing Harvey was out there. That he had gone through mundane life too, and made something out of it, and seen value and beauty in it and expressed it. One of my personal heroes, and I am sad today.

PROBABLY MY FAVORITE TAKE ON THE INTERNET VERSUS THE DAILY SHOW: Sady at Tiger Beatdown.

But that’s not what the interviewers are asking, and anyway, you’d hope that the “funny” part would be more important, if she’s being hired to do comedy. And thus far in her career, the “pretty” has been way more central. Her indignation that Jezebel described her as “primarily known for putting things in her mouth” is understandable on a human level (no-one likes to be told that they’re not qualified for their job) but doesn’t necessarily take into account the fact that she’s worked for years at a TV show that produced a greatest-hits package of her putting things in her mouth, and that there are over seven million hits on a G4TV-posted YouTube video of her (at first, reluctantly! Like fucking always, because that’s the dynamic her gross-assed viewers find sexy!)

Also worthwhile: Ginger Stampley's brief thoughts on the matter.

DEBTOR'S PRISONS ON THE RISE: And debt collectors have worse manners than bail bondsmen. Funny that they're so desperate in the midst of all this economic recovery...

And the fact that these tactics are being employed in the service of the very rich, who have the luxury of strategic default at any given time, is nauseating.

AH, FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO GET BLOGGER WORKING AGAIN: The new editor whatever wouldn't let me create anything! So I am off my usual post-a-day pace. On vacation anyway though, so limited posting until the end of the week. Have a good 4th! If you're an American. If not, just do what you always do.