While, judging by the previous strips, you may have been using Boopsie's voice to say something ironic (or moronic as the case may be), Iranians are not, on the whole, Arabs. They're Persians.

GBT's response: Yes, I knew that Iran is not an Arab country, so cannot pin it on Boopsie. Choosing the word "Arab" instead of "Muslim" was pure sloppiness, and I apologize to all who have taken offense.

While I maintain without apology that D'bury is the greatest cartoon in the history of civilization, I was disappointed to see today's strip implying that Iranians are Arabs. Iraninans are ethnically Persian and speak Farsi, not Arabic. I would hope GBT would not fall prey to the common misconception that Muslim-majority nations are all populated by Arabs -- or, for that matter, that all Arabs are Muslims.

Re today's strip: Iranians are not Arab, they're Persian. To the extent your character is talking about empowerment of women in the Middle East, she may be on relatively solid ground. The fact that Persian Shiite women get by with demonstrating in the streets likely won't carry much weight, though, in Arab Sunni societies.

Iran is no more an Arabic state than France is a Slavic state, or Spain is African. It seems implausible to me that B.D., an officer who has served in Iraq with its Sunni/Shia tensions and recent history with neighbouring Iran, would be unaware of this.

You'll probably get a lot of comments about this, but in today's strip you made the comment that there were lots of "Arab" women out in the streets. However, Iran is not an Arab country. Its roots are Persian, and the Iranian people identify more strongly with the Persian ethnicity than the Arab. It would have been more appropriate to label them "Muslim" than "Arab." Peace.

I like how B.D. is now the much more informed citizen than Zonker is -- not that Zonker was all that in touch with much more than himself of course. I remember in the early 80s him declaring that he didn't much care who was running for president, as long as it wasn't Reagan.

Six years ago, my husband (an officer) objected strenuously to the use of torture as a means of gathering intel. Proposed methods included mutilation. His military career quickly ground to a halt. He now works for the military as a civilian employee -- for two-thirds his military salary. I love my country and regard those who want to "put the past in the past" as my countrymen. The fact remaining is that a strong case can be made for the prior administration having both actively and passively promoted war crimes. I'm ashamed to think it may be swept under the rug as "divisive" to pursue.

I want to thank Garry for articulating what so many Americans feel. I am referring to the June 21st strip about torture. You are right on and I, my family and friends appreciate it!

Okay, Toggle's buddies' band is made up of a bass player and an admittedly mediocre drummer, no guitar? Sounds like a riff on the rash of popular "duo" acts like the White Stripes and Black Keys.

I've been amused by Zonker's conversations on calories. Now I've read The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, by David A. Kessler, MD, and I see how serious the subject is. Thanks for making all of us more conscious of a growing planetary problem as you poke "fun" at Big Burger.

I'm heartened by Toggle and Alex's getting together. And I'm not worried that they're not equals, whatever the class/educational differences. But I do want to see Toggle admire Alex as much as she admires him. The girl oo-ing and ah-ing over the boy-musician-producer: a bit retro, but okay. But I do want to see what Alex is doing/producing/thinking/sharing that impresses him. I want Toggle to be someone who can handle a strong woman, and I want Alex to be confident and creative enough to show that strength. In a strip that's famous (and loved, by this reader) for its politics, I'm liking this couple, and look forward to more than the usual hetero mythologies.

The strip on Sunday, June 21st was perfect. It reminded me of the closing comments from Morgan Freeman in the movie version of The Bonfire of the Vanities: "Be decent."

I can't believe how many people are defending the ill-matched couple of Alex and Toggle. There are many couples consisting of a PhD and an unschooled mate? As a university professor I know vast numbers of people with PhDs and believe me, not a one of them is married or otherwise hooked up with someone 'unschooled'. They may not have a PhD, but they've got a lot more on the ball than Toggle. Not because of human worth, but just because people need to have solid common ground for a relationship to work and last. A juvenile love of awful music just is not enough on which to build a marriage.

Just think, Roland. All Twitter, all the time!

I guess the writer would have had trouble with Abe Lincoln entertaining the thought of marrying Mary Todd, because he was brought up in a log cabin. The circumstances are what you make of them. A lot of marriages are made up of the smart Phd. and the unschooled mate. Who is to say they can't be happy, or poor in some ways but so wealthy in other ways. Toggle and Alex will be happy and so wealthy because they accept each other at face value. Not inflated opinions of other people.

LMAO over Roland in HD. I first got HD a couple of years ago just before the Oscars. I spent an absolutely hilarious evening switching back and forth between impossibly beautiful people on the regular channel and very ordinary people on the HD channel. One actress in particular had absolutely shocking skin on HD -- kind of like Roland. What next? Will we stop air-brushing models?

Whoa! Roland in Hi-Def is not a pretty sight. Like an aging Bette Davis, Roland should be only shot through gauze. Actually, for Roland, make it an Ace bandage.

If someone tortured or killed one of my children, I would not just forget about it and move on like nothing happened! When the Bush Administration decided to torture people they broke the law. If anyone did this to American citizens we would be outraged and screaming for blood! Trudeau is 100% on the mark, as he is most of the time. There are other interrogation techniques that would have ended in more accurate information. In America, the Geneva Convention needs to be followed to protect us, and not be circumvented at whim to attack others.

It is clear from the June 21 Sunday strip decrying torture that Mr. Trudeau is unaware of the long tradition approving of torture in our country. Just because Northern middle-class people did not approve of torture does not mean that it wasn't tolerated and approved of in other parts of the country. In the former Confederate states, torture was routinely used to control the population. (Being wrapped in barbed wire and tossed into the river is not a suicide.) Even when the perpetrators were put on trial, they got off free. Such torture was approved of and supported by the local powers. People are still alive who were part of that.

When we fail to mention this recent heritage, the discussion of torture will only be people talking past each other. Until we all come to the same page, we will not have the shared background on which to have a discussion.

Thanks for always including the country's soldiers and spies. I think you are one of the very few who have done that since the mid-seventies when I became old enough to read your strip.

Re Sunday's strip: I'd like to remind you, and all readers, that your comparisons of WWII and now are not relevant. WWII involved uniformed soldiers, in a standing military force, during a time of declared war. Today's terrorists are just that, terrorists, not uniformed soldiers, not soldiers of any kind, but a bunch of religious thugs who hide behind children in order to do their deeds.

Re Sunday's waterboarding strip: I used to admire the US of A mostly because as a country you seemed to have higher standards than most. Sure, you have problems, but torturing people wasn't one of them. But now? I see Americans defending the indefensible. I don't think that's a good thing. I see this Administration trying to rebuild the US of A's tattered reputation. That can only be a good thing.

I agree with Marcia's comments. And while I don't consider growing up living in a trailer to make one an unacceptable life partner, I do want to point out that Toggle's mother lost their original home to the mortgage meltdown.

Thanks so much for being our mouthpiece and slamming hard on subjects that really are important, though the past administration, through total lack of conscience, pretended it was no big deal. The subject I am speaking of is waterboarding and general torture. It's always through artists like yourself that we pull ourselves out of our butts from time to time and remember what it is to follow a moral code. I love your work.

Considering how many Americans bought the repeated lies of the Bush Administration in the face of hard, real evidence it is critical that there are reminders of the evils done. Sunday's strip is a prime example of what is needed. I promptly forwarded it to all on my mailing list (Republicans first). Anyway, just keep doing what you're doing -- with Molly Ivins gone it's up to you until someone else steps forward.

Your Sunday, June 21st waterboarding strip was the usual hyberbolic history invention. A little perspective: In the Spanish-American War there were 332 officers and men killed in action for Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. There were ten times that number killed in 9/11. More terrorist attacks were expected. What is so bad about waterboarding -- what damage is done to the person? I don't see how it compares with the terror of those in 9/11.

It's okay with me if Mark is gay and wants to broadcast it on his station, but, please, give it up about the Bush administration's follies and focus on what's going on right now. Obama's pacifist "Why can't we all just get along" policy is going to bite him in his keester. I really like what you're doing with B.D. and family. His rehab and social interaction is great. Love his sharp wit. Long-time reader, huge fan.

As long as the people who authorized and carried out torture have not faced any consequence, I'd like to suggest it's still worth an occasional mention.

As our President during the darkest, most dangerous time in world history would say, "A url which will live in glory!" Right on!

I can't agree that Alex and Toggle are necessarily a bad match. Assuming that they are wrong for each other on the basis of Toggle's socio-economic status (and his handicap) is discriminatory in soooo many ways.

Toggle's ma may not be a yuppie, but she's a devoted and supportive mother ("...turn it UP!"). Toggle is responding to his disability in positive ways, and there's every indication that he is a talented and creative young man. The only indication we have of the quality of Toggle's band (as augmented) is the look of delight on Alex's face when she hears it.

If all our best and brightest children became engineers and bankers, the world would be a very dull place. Let's hear it for the youth that has enough courage to walk the road less traveled by.

While I agree with the other posters that we now have other concerns as well, that doesn't mean that whether or not we are a country that tortures has ceased to be a relevant discussion. It's time we aspire to honor.

The subject of torture remains relevant until our own war criminals spend time in Guantanamo. Explain it to your children when torture is justified to be used on them. There is no grey area here, no left or right. These are totalitarian methods, about as un-American as possible.

"I, for one, wouldn't hesitate to torture a terrorist in order to save the life of my child or grandchild, or yours, for that matter -- wouldn't you?"

No.

1) I'd have no confidence that any info acquired this way would be accurate.
2) Torture threatens thousands of grandchildren -- by building and perpetuating hatred.
3) I don't know he's a 'terrorist' -- just because someone says so. I need some evidence (not acquired through torture).

Kudos and many thanks for the leftward dig in today's strip. The left's continuing bash of the Bush administration is becoming as tiresome as Mark's rant. Memo to The Left: We voted in a brand-new administration -- time to start discussing current events.

I, for one, wouldn't hesitate to torture a terrorist in order to save the life of my child or grandchild, or yours, for that matter -- wouldn't you? If not, perhaps you should explain that to your children, and theirs.

I read the liberal rant in the Doonesbury comic regarding "waterboarding" today. Don't we as Americans have other things to write about? Even though I am not a Bush Fan, I am tired of seeing the bashing. This country is being dismantled bit by bit by a socialist administration, and you are adding to it. Why don't you write about Mr. Obama's spending spree that will put our country into massive debt, or his anti-American views and the inflation that will come knocking at your door? It's coming! I have lost total respect for Doonesbury.

You have a right to your opinions, but you and people who think like you are the reason the country is in such a mess!

Great job on today's strip. Mark's rant says more, better, than anyone in that entire administration ever did.

Great comic today. Laughed my ass off.

I re-read Tuesday's strip, and fail to see moral relevance (or irrelevance). Paolo's playing skill (or lack thereof) is simple fact. That the track is still good is not a moral issue, assuming proper credit is given. Toggle did credit properly in the last frame.

As for today's strip, I'm still chuckling. It reminds me of the fire spinner telling his son, "No playing with thermite -- when I'm not around!"

I'm troubled that Alex seems inclined to mate down, like her own mom. She's a go-getter, in business since childhood, imaginative, brilliant, adorable, doing great at MIT, on her way to a life that'll use all her powers -- and she hangs with Toggle? Good kid, but burdened not just with his hurts but with such a mother, and such a home, and such appalling taste in music, and such limited aspirations!... Okay, am I classist here? I'm a mom too, and aware of how failure sneaks up on you. Can't Alex learn from her Dad that she can have it all?

Moral relativist? Strange, cause I thought the other way round. After all, he bought (not just copied) the solo. This was an honest and creative way to solve a problem. Without this they wouldn't have been able to produce the thing.

The syndicators of today's strip may be liable for damage to my office chair, which I dropped with a sudden thud due to the fact that Toggle, too, is portrayed in the last frame as a Moral Relativist. What an opportunity missed! Is there no end to the strip's parade of young males using the dumbed-down shortcut over actual creativity and thought? Dis--ap--pointed!

I find the recent Straw Poll results about Twitter interesting. It seems 70% of responders believe "There are no barriers to fiction on Twitter. Amazingly, I'd still rather trust news that's undergone verification and editing." Do they remember that in 2003 the Media covering Bush's call for war in Iraq had "undergone verification and editing"? How about the verification and editing that covered the 2000 presidential election? I don't see how anyone can so readily dismiss the Twitter reports. Why would anyone trust the verification and editing on MSNBC or Fox News? Personally, I am almost ready to trust Bill Moyers again.

We're trying to save the lives of Iranian activists who are risking their lives using Tweets to keep the rest of the world informed. If you have a Twitter account, log in and set your location to Tehran, Iran, and your local time to GMT +3:30. It's not much, but it may obfuscate the actual Iranian Twitterers who are currently being hunted electronically by the government.

I saw the new Straw Poll question this morning. Although I do not have a Twitter account, a couple of members over at Fark.com, a news dump site, have been relaying the information from Twitter to Fark. We are now on the eleventh discussion thread for the protests in Iran. It has been interesting, whether trying to give them tactics to help them out or just following the messages.

I look forward to seeing how Berzerkistan President-For-Life Trff Bmzklfrpz reacts to the Iranian election. I wonder if President-For-Life wannabe Ahmadinejad will turn to Trff for advice on the best methods for keeping the dissent in check.

Really good strip today with Zonker. He develops a conscience, only to be told since he was 'filling' orders and not 'following' orders, that he was good to go. I winced...and laughed.

Sunday, June 6, 2009 finds Alice, Elmont and Missy at the soup kitchen. Missy has yet to connect the survival operative with which Alice and Elmont deal daily. She still feels superior to her fellow diners. I await with bated breath, the literary twist, perhaps an Elmont-delivered blow to the psyche, that will bring her to a new view. "The colonel's lady and Judy O'Grady are sisters under the skin."

I would swear that I have eaten in a McFriendly's -- and I'm pretty sure that Zonker was my waiter. Thank you for highlighting the obesity epidemic, and the restaurant industry's role in causing it. Obesity isn't as exciting as the war in Iraq, and doesn't get headlines like GM and Chrysler, but it affects as many people as the economy does, with grimmer consequences.

Wow, one comment a week ago about the financial institutions that played such a big role in this mess we're in and all heck breaks loose. Imagine if there were biblical references to carmakers. The recent Straw Poll results have to be the most interesting in a while. Too bad there wasn't a second categorization: Mac or PC?

Your strip today just blew me away. I would love to see more of this new 'face' of the poor, who she is, her history, etc, and I would love to see her get a lesson in dumpster diving.

The current "What's Best for GM?" Straw Poll is way too telling. I can't decide if it prophesies doom or is actually hopeful. A clear majority appears to favor a future in which the automobile is a luxury and manufacturing in America goes another way. What a brave new world that would be!

My Alex-aged daughter is walkabout in London this summer. An automobile there, of course, is about as useful as a bicycle on a submarine. Even seeing the countryside is easy and stress-free by train. We could be like that here in the States. Imagine Yellowstone or Rocky with no SUVs! I wonder if Obama has read the Moore plan.

I had an unexpected laugh when I read today's strip. When Zip finishes with "Who remembers their graduation speaker?" I laughed aloud. For I do remember, Mr. Trudeau. For it was you. Thanks for a bigger Doonesbury smile than normal. And for making all those years of tuition worth even more to my dad in one shining moment. Smith College, Class of '87. Whoo hoo!

I remember my graduation speaker. It was you! Duke University School of Medicine, May 1988. I remember the conservative parents of the rich undergrad Dookies booing you when you made certain left-leaning political commentary. Good job!

I don't get this relentless hunt for hurts, resulting in the recent outburst over the latest Sunday Doonesbury. Apparently everyone knows that accusing Trudeau of anti-Semitism would immediately run aground, so a mere comic strip is subjected to intensive inference analysis to find insult where none exists and semantic recalibration to convert minor thoughts and word choices into major errors of doctrine and misrepresentation. In reality, it's just not there and finding what's not there diminishes one's own credibility, not Trudeau's.

I need some new shoes! The pair that I am wearing are broken due to the stress from bending my toes in embarrassment at the obvious narrow-mindedness of the persons posting on BLOWBACK about Sunday’s strip.

It seemed so obvious to me that the strip on Sunday was a shot at the banks and their policies that it amazes me that anyone would be hunting beneath the surface for lurking vestiges of "Shylock" style anti-semitism.

On behalf of the Union for Reform Judaism, whose more than 900 congregations across North America include 1.5 million Reform Jews, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, whose membership includes more than 1,800 Reform rabbis, I write out of concern about the Sunday, May 31st edition of your popular comic strip, Doonesbury.

The strip, we hope and assume unwittingly, perpetuated centuries of anti-Semitic canards about Biblical-era moneylenders -- who were almost uniformly Jewish -- as the enemies of Jesus and the villains of the New Testament. As you know, similar caricatures have been used throughout the years to incite hate against the Jewish community and have cultivated and perpetuated offensive stereotypes.

This is, of course, not a small matter, nor is it only of historical interest. A recently released study by the Anti-Defamation League reports that American Jews are the religious group most often targeted in hate crimes. Whether intentional or not, public expression that smacks of anti-Semitism, even in cartoon form -- and especially by someone as well-regarded as yourself -- is cause for concern.

To be clear, I write as a fan. Satire is an invaluable means of focusing public attention on issues facing our society. It can amuse and illuminate, as you have shown repeatedly throughout your career. I hope my reading of the cartoon is correct that the focus appears to be on the current financial crisis; in this case, however, a line was crossed that allowed a pernicious stereotype to find its way into the discourse about the current economic challenges faced by our nation and world. If you agree with me that these challenges are not the fault of any one individual, group or religion, then I hope you share my concern that your cartoon might be read as blaming Jews.

In light of this incident, I hope that in the future, you will pay particular attention to ensuring careful consideration of the weight of the allusions made in your artwork and the many ways in which they may be interpreted.

Note: The above letter was also sent to GBT's editor Lee Salem at Universal Press Syndicate, who replied, "I appreciate your cautionary note about the use of 'moneylenders' in the context of the New Testament, and we will heed your advice. Neither Garry Trudeau nor UPS intended to revert to stereotype, and if any readers suggest to us that they approve of that connection, we will do our best to correct them."

We agree with the numerous people who are contacting us that Sunday's Doonesbury misquotes the Bible, maligns Judaism, and promotes a Christian heresy, all within eight panels. It reinforces age-old stereotypes about Judaism that have been the cause of much suffering and pain over the centuries, and which have been rejected by a variety of Christian denominations over the last decades.

Jesus' concern in the Gospels is with money-changers, not money-lenders. The money-changers converted the coins of the Roman Empire into the currency accepted by the Jerusalem Temple, as money-changers today convert dollars into Euros. To speak of money-lenders harkens back the stereotype of Shylock, when Jews were forced by Christians to engage in usury.

Christian teaching is clear: the God of the Old Testament is the same God as the God of the New Testament. Doonesbury's Reverend Sloan is guilty of promoting anti-Jewish stereotypes and biblical illiteracy. He owes both Jews and Christians an apology.

Abraham H. Foxman
National Director
Anti-Defamation League

From my perspective as an atheist, Yawah and his kid are both a bit cracked. Whether it's the commands for genocide in the Old Testament or condeming billions to the fires of hell in the New, we aren't looking at behavior that would be acceptable in polite society. That being said, as a setup to make fun of mostly white Protestant Republican banksters, I don't see the need for biblical correctness.

Re the theological discussion begun by Rev. Sloane in Sunday's strip, the responses from a number of readers are spot on about an unjust view of Judaism and the Hebrew Scriptures presented in the strip. A progressive, mainstream Christian such as Rev. Sloan (or, for that matter, "moi") would have a far more accurate view re Jews and Judaism than that presented in Sunday's strip. Similarly, as far as the view expressed by one reader that the New Testament regards any person other a Christian as condemned to hell, very few Christians (outside the wacky fundamentalist fringe) believe this any more.

In any event, that's the glory of Doonesbury. While it's a comic strip (and a very entertaining one), it can spark off some serious discussion about politics, religion, sex, or science. Keep up the good work.

Wonder what the going exchange rate is regarding satire to dogma? It's a comic strip for God's sake!

Today's Doonesbury contains three misrepresentations which add up to something that --- well, I don't want to bandy about the term "antisemitic", especially since I don't think GBT meant it to be, but it makes me very uncomfortable.

Canard One: "The Old Testament God is always cranky and snarky to everyone." This canard, of course, is 2,000 years old; it's like my kids calling me "meanest father ever" when I make them clean up their toys before reading a book.

"Give thanks to God, for He is good, and His lovingkindness is infinite; He gives food to all flesh, and His lovingkindness is infinite." (Ps. 136:1, 25) And "God is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing. In grassy pastures He sets me down, by placid waters He gives me rest." (Ps. 23:1-2) God in the Hebrew bible is a complex character, filling a parental and sovereign role, which sometimes means acting in accordance with the attribute of justice, and sometimes with the attribute of lovingkindness.

Canard Two: "The New Testament isn't about anger at all, it's about love. God's son is this total pacifist...." Well, there was that incident with the tree that wasn't bearing figs; even though it wasn't fig season God's putative never-angry-always-loving "son" blasted it.

And, fundamentally, which of these two is more loving and which more angry: the one who says "No one can come to the father except through me" and damns non-believers to eternal hellfire and brimstone just because they are not of the "correct" faith, or the one who says that there are seven basic moral precepts that all humanity is expected to follow, and religious observance is only obligatory on those who have accepted the "yoke of the commandments"?

Canard Three: "The moneylenders, Mom!" As I understand it, they weren't money lenders, they were money changers, like the kind at the airport. Their role was to allow pilgrims to exchange their foreign currency for the holy shekels that would be needed to purchase sacrifices. And (again, as I understand it) the issue was not even the moneychanging per se, but that the moneychangers had encroached on the outer courtyard of the Temple, bringing the tumah that was presumed to be on the coins into the tahor precincts.

Of course, over history the role of the moneylender in Christian society was foisted on Jews, who weren't allowed into many other lines of business. The "Jewish moneylender" was a common trope throughout Christian literature; Shylock is merely the most famous of these representations. Look at many of the political cartoons of the 19th and early 20th century and you'll see swarthy Mr. Moneybags with his yarmulke and his designs on the good people of the United States, Germany, France, Russia, etc. And of course we have the infamous forgery by the Tsar's secret police, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

By setting up a contrast between the libelous Christian canards of the "angry Old Testament God" and the "loving New Testament God", and then having his punchline basically be "But even the loving Christian God hates moneylenders" -- which many people will read as "But even the loving Christian God hates Jews" -- GBT has, probably subconsciously, set off one of the big tripwires in the "they're going to kill us soon, aren't they" alarm system programmed (or pogrommed) into every Jew.

I find the theology of today's strip disturbing, as it perpetuates a pernicious misreading of the Bible. In the Tanakh, the Jewish Bible, which Christians refer to as The Old Testament, God can be "crabby and snarky" as Sam suggests, however, God is also portrayed as loving, forgiving, merciful, and nurturing as well. It all depends on what passages one stresses.

By contrast, the God of the New Testament is the same God who condemns most of humanity to eternal damnation if they don't accept Jesus as Christ. I'm not certain that it's fair to say, in Sam's words, that "It's about love."

This misreading of scripture has been used for many centuries to excuse, and even promote, Christian contempt for and hostility towards Jews and Judaism. Rev. Sloan, who has been presented as a progressive since his first appearances, should have corrected Sam's misreading (or even questioned if he's been giving her and his other congregants the wrong message.)

Today's comic concerned me because I feel it can be easily misconstrued to be anti-semitic. I understand that the joke is supposed to be about bankers then and bankers now, but the "moneylenders" would have been Jewish and, with that in mind, the end of the joke takes a nasty turn. I do not feel that this was intentioned, but as a Jew and a loyal reader, it left me disturbed.

The brief story of Jesus and the money-changers, as told at Matthew 21:12, is commonly distorted to refer to "money lenders," which is what you did in today's strip. There is a difference, and significance to that difference. The distortion, often deliberate, is at the root of much anti-Semitic dogma, though I don't think for a minute that you intended it as such.

Garry, I gotta say, this last week of strips (Obama learning the Doonesbury ropes) hasn't been all that funny, but it's utterly brilliant. I suspect Obama is forcing all comedians/commentators to raise their games just a bit, and you're leading the way.

Quit stalling. Let's see the symbol, already!

I truly enjoyed this week's strips. Very funny, indeed! The most enjoyable part is that the series brought back many great memories of the strips involving Bush, which only served to heighten the humor. Kudos to you GBT!

I'm loving the "White House exterior" series on our relentlessly on-message president. Very, very smart.

Roland Hedley did a dirty trick to me. He started to follow me in Twitter (@sepponet) and when I followed back, after a while he secretly stopped following me. Not that I am surprised, I know the bastard, but it was quite a low trick anyhow. Just reporting this abuse, in case some inquiry ever emerges.

I was very amused at the first appearance of President Obama in your strip this week. Very tastefully done and funny too. You are the best!

Editor's note: In order to reassure those who might otherwise feel compelled to write, we hasten to acknowledge that president-elect Obama made an appearance in the strip shortly after the election.

I'd just like to point out that today's FLASHBACK page features two strips with "put your pants on one leg at a time" jokes...

Like life itself, the strip veers from profound on Sunday to hilarious on Monday. Love the Brechtian stuff like Mailbag. Happy Memorial Day.

And Buddha answered: I'm awake. Really ingenious. Taking four little pictures, using less than 30 words, and sending four reality-influencing messages all together:
-- Obama's so conscious and reflected that he's invited
-- conscious enough to play plus use the game
-- humorous enough to be the cartoon figure
-- and Dick Cheney is a war criminial!
The best lesson in effective minimalism I've had in years. Thanks a lot.

Yes, being able to say things that you never normally say is indeed part of the fun. Welcome to the wonderful world of Doonesbury satire, Mr. President.

"Dick Cheney is war criminal!" is a great fantasy. Yet you must have noticed that even as the president criticized Bush administration policies, he suggested he could make preventive detention legal by saying so, and imprison anyone for what they might do.

Finally, in today's strip we have a tease for what many of us have thought since the beginning of the Iraq war -- that it was Cheney's cynical brainchild. A war that he thought could be tidy, short and very lucrative for his buddies and business associates at Haliburton and KBR -- kind of like burning down your neighbor's garage and using his pension to pay yourself to rebuild it -- turned into a horrible, uncontrollable, expensive and endless mess. The only way he can deal with such an awful outcome is to distract us with xenophobic fear mongering and the weak claim that he was trying to protect us.

I particularly appreciated the post entitled TIP OF THE SPEAR. My father was a consul, and diplomats from every country are on what S. Dent refers to as the "tip of the spear" for their country's foreign policy -- and that includes their families too, as spouses and children are usually on post with them. And diplomats and their families are usually living in the local community, going to school etc., not in specially designed compounds. Decisions and policies that are hardly noticed in the home country can have an amazing impact on those living abroad, and in the case of diplomats has resulted in deaths. It is where the policies and decisions are implemented and felt where things can get rough. Thank you, S. Dent!

Your May 24th strip offers a thought that all Americans would do well to consider. More than a few of their countrymen serving in the national intelligence agencies have lost their lives in the line of duty. What makes these tragedies even more poignant is that the names, locations and actions of these brave people likely never will be disclosed to what should be a grateful nation.

Today's strip is very touching. The military is not the only entity of the U.S. Government to have lost lives in the GWOT (or whatever it's called now). The deaths and injuries of U.S. Government employee civilians (and contractors) also pays the debt for our freedoms. It gets "very windy" and very lonely on the very tip of the spear of U.S. foreign policy and influence.

Our lessons in torture techniques (to extract false information) go back further than the commies. We did a lot of give and take while warring in the Philippines a century ago, and the Japanese had water boarding down to an art when extracting (false) information from captured US submariners during WWII. For details, read J. McCullough's 2008 book A Tale Of Two Subs.

"Techniques specifically designed to make people lie." I am more and more convinced that in a way, that was the point of it. The neo-conservatives have a long track record of making "intelligence" conform to whatever pre-determined ideological viewpoint they already established. Torture, in combination with directed questions, is perfect to make people tell you the "facts" that you want to hear. Instead of the more reliable but perhaps inconvenient facts that might be revealed by a professional interrogator.

Techniques specifically designed to make people lie? GBT, how do you come up with nonsense like that? The techniques are not used to make people lie, they are used to make people talk. Either to extract legitimate information, or to make someone say what you want them to say. Establish an alpha leader and make the subject comply with your demands. Simple as that. What those demands are is totally up to the interrogator. Jeez -- I am really shocked I have to explain this stuff to you.

For those who might be stumped by Havoc's jargon in the strip today, SERE is an acronyn for Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape. It is advanced training given to Air Force pilots, special operations troops, CIA agents, and some State Department embassy personnel. It teaches them how to survive if trapped in hostile territory, and especially what to expect if captured and held as a prisoner of war.

The current romance is one of the best storylines of the strip. Thanks. It's right up there with "Huddled masses, time for volleyball" and "There's enough food here to feed all of Da Nang" from 34 years ago. Thanks!

May 15, 1974 (35 years ago today) deserves to go down in history; the first appearance of Lacy and Dick Davenport! It's wonderful to see that old strip on the Flashbacks page today. I just wonder if GBT had any idea how he would develop the Davenports when they first popped up while Mark was bartending class reunions. Lacy and Dick may both have passed on, but they are not forgotten.

Just wanted to tell you how much I'm enjoying the romance between Leo and Alex. It's great, thanks for such an endearing storyline. And thank you for keeping the war in everyone's line of sight through this and other storylines. Don't let them forget!

I lived 20 years with a guy who had one eye. It took him 18 of those years to get around to having a prosthetic eye made. That whole time I was like, "It's no big deal." I was wrong, Toggle is right. A missing eye changes the shape of the face in subtle but significant ways. Alex will be amazed by the difference -- I sure was.

p.s. The prosthetist that did the eye was a vet. He worked for Johns Hopkins and did incredible work.

The romance between Alex and Toggle is a wonderful bit of sunshine in our otherwise crappy location in the cycle of history. Thank you so much!

"To us." A phenomenal sequence of thoughts and words, making the whole so much larger than the parts. Lovely.

Wow. Today's strip is probably the best communication/summation of characters that I can remember. The order and content of the bubbles in the final frame really blew me away. Thanks.

I'm really really loving the continuing saga of our vet with TBI. As a psychologist who works with PTSD and TBI, I have found this to be the very best depiction of the realities -- the struggles and joys and resilience of folks. Good job, Garry!

Here I am at the office having to blow my nose because I'm crying over a comic strip. Thanks, GBT, for getting Toggle and Alex together. You've made them both outstanding people!

Today's strip was as honest and refreshing a moment as Mike admitting to J.J. that he was "the master of the emtional belly flop" -- the singular strip that cemented my loyalty to Doonesbury all those many years ago.

Toggle and Alex's toast moved me to tears... thank you! One of the best in the 39 years I've been reading Doonesbury.

I am completely moved by Toggle's triumph today in his battle with aphasia. As a casual conversation between new friends, "I'm getting better" could be seen as a throwaway line. But in the context of an agonizing recovery by a single soldier who represents the struggle of many, inside the larger struggle of a country trying to find its way, it's immense. Whew!

Um... Garry, the Cascades are to Seattle's east. The Olympics are in the west. We only get Cascade sunsets when Superman is doing that spin-the-earth-backwards-to-reverse-time thing.

OK, dude. You're busted. Everybody knows that artists do their best work when they're young, so the only way to explain your continued streak of brilliance is that you have outsourced your work to another country. Probably India. I think you covered this in one of your story lines, but I think that was simply clever misdirection. I would be happy to offer you further critical analysis and constructive criticism, but you will need to upgrade to my premium package to receive the full range of services.