Blog Heap of Links for the day 2 September 2011

[Hitler meme video]

On the one hand, he ran a remarkable campaign in 2008. He sensed what the American people needed to hear, and he emerged from nowhere to defeat vastly more qualified opponents. On the other hand, his performance as President has been dismal. Most Americans recognize that his policy preferences range from the irrelevant to the counterproductive, and leftists contend that he has been ineffectual in pursuit of their agenda. So is Obama smart? Yes. Obama is a certain kind of smart. Unfortunately, it's the wrong kind. ... He possesses the skills necessary to navigate our most prestigious institutions and to perpetuate our most important mutual admiration societies. He is smart enough to impress in any role that does not require innovation, problem solving, or execution. Unfortunately, the Presidency is emphatically not that sort of job.

sitting members of the U.S. Congress can be heard and seen inciting violence among their constituents with baseless threats of black lynchings, a return to Jim Crow, and similarly incendiary language.

Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford is attempting to derail a move that would finally make Illinois a major player in Republican Presidential politics. The dispute revolves around a proposed rule change to the process of selecting delegates to the Republican National Convention.

Using ambush tactics and perverting political protest into a beast more akin to anarchy, liberal activists, most of them from outside of Carroll County, turned U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley's town hall meeting at New Hope Village Monday into a hostile environment, a showcasing of the rock-bottom worst contemporary America inspires in far too many of its people. Not content to interrupt and hurl insults at the senator during the public forum, the mob that is Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) crowded Grassley, 77, in the hallway, blocking his entrance to a post-event media interview, and later, used physicality to prevent his clear passage from New Hope to a car. It was shameful, hateful and, most of all, dangerous. And CCI spent Monday night bragging about the disruptive behavior

Washington is among eight big-city metropolitan regions in which minorities became a majority in the past decade, according to a new analysis of census data showing white population declines in many of the largest metro areas. Along with Washington, the regions surrounding New York, San Diego, Las Vegas and Memphis have become majority-minority since 2000. Non-Hispanic whites are a minority in 22 of the country's 100-biggest urban areas.

…the proportion of Americans today who are able to understand Common Sense (13%) is smaller than the proportion that bought Common Sense in 1776 (20%).

They really kept the show in line with the spirit and look of the strip.

I can think of no other modern comic strip that inspires such fiercely passionate fandom as Calvin and Hobbes. Bill Watterson's masterful work has also inspired some fans to mix up the titular duo with other pop culture figures.

Zippy, the character, not the comic strip, passed the forty-year milestone late last year, and on May 26, the comic strip celebrated its 25th anniversary, just the day before its creator, Bill Griffith, made a presentation at the annual convention of the National Cartoonists Society, a happy coincidence that escaped our attention altogether at the time. But to make up for our dereliction, we're reprinting (and updating slightly) an interview we enjoyed with Griffith and published in Cartoonist PROfiles No. 101 (March 1994).

Jack Kirby (1917-1994) was born today 94 years ago. Kirby was one of the most influential comic book artists ever, and as a big fan I've been pleased to see several blog posts and tweets marking the occasion already this morning. And I also think this is one of those times that a picture really is worth a thousand words, so check out the gallery below for several examples of Jack's original artwork.

Jack Kirby, the mighty heart of the American comic book industry, would have been 94 years old today. …a tiny, even insignificant sample of his awesome image-making power, many of which were culled from around the Internet…

Four pages of a 1754 edition of The Pennsylvania Gazette featuring the first editorial cartoon ("Join, or Die" by Benjamin Franklin) is now up for auction and is expected to fetch more than $100,000.

For a long time now I've suffered from what I had been calling "anxiety attacks." I'd get them for no real reason. It's not as if I had a particular reason to have anxiety. Sure, at a job interview or the like, I'd get them, and sometimes badly. But often I'd get them for no reason at all.... A couple of doctors tried to diagnose me. Futilely.... I was thrilled to know that this was, apparently, not some rare and exotic syndrome, but that it had a name, it was diagnosable, and, best of all, it was treatable.... panic disorder....

Vernor Vinge is a former San Diego State University math professor and a Hugo award-winning science fiction novelist. In Vinge's 1993 essay "The Coming Technological Singularity" Vinge wrote, "Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended." [video]

Stacy Drake of Conservatives for Palin writes: "I do know that Ken Crow is a Rick Perry supporter who has managed to make a mess out of a highly publicized event that Governor Palin will be headlining on Saturday. I also know that he has been trashing Governor Palin to the press."

During July, 2011, a small group of people from North Carolina Tea Party groups travelled to Arizona to make a film about the illegal alien problem on our border with Mexico. Sheriff Larry Dever of Cochise County lead them on their investigation and showed them the territory.