New York Governor David Paterson has proposed an 18% "obesity tax" on soft drink sales in New York state. The American Beverage Association objects ('natch), claiming that this tax will put the squeeze on the middle class. ("In an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on hardworking families." -ameribev.org )

Let's say I consume a single 2-liter Coca-Cola every 2 days. That's 180 2-liters per year. (Don't judge me.) At $1.50 per 2-liter, that's $270 I spend on Coke per year. I already pay 7% sales tax for Coke, meaning that $270 of Coke costs me $288.90. If I were forced to pay an additional 18% tax on top of that, those 180 Cokes cost $337.50, a nearly $50 increase over the course of a year. (That's a lot more than I spend on comic books these days.)

Even in these hardscrabble times, that's not really a lot of money. And I drink a LOT of Coke. (Don't judge me.) How many families in New York consume as much soft drink per person as I do? Turns out that according to the National Soft Drink Association, the national average is somewhere near 105 2-liters per American per year. For the average New Yorker (at, say 1700 Broadway in Manhattan, the home of DC Comics) paying a sales tax of 8.375% on that same $1.50 Coke, they'll be paying $199.04 instead of $170.69, an annual difference of about $30.

Needless to say, ABA, I don't think this will break the back of New Yorkers. And the number is so low, that it is unlikely to really discourage that many obese middle class buyers. (Though I do think of my dad, who won't buy any 2-liter soft drink at a cost greater than $1.00, because "the price was never that high when I was a kid!")

But don't take this article as me supporting the government involving itself in my buying habits on the grounds that it knows better than I do what's good for me. I'm the guy that opposes seat belt laws, remember? If I want to get too fat from sipping sugary beverages to be thrown to my death from my car in an accident, I think that's my right!. And I'll let the ABA use that argument if they think it will help them.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go to work saving my life by pouring another Coke.

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Paraphrased from the Georgia Secretary of State website:

Q: How do I cast a write-in vote?

A: Just as with older systems, the new electronic voting units allow voters to cast votes for write in candidates. Voters should note, however, that, under Georgia law, write in votes are only counted and compiled for those candidates who have filed an official notice of their write in candidacy. 

Up until a little over a half-century ago, it was considered bad form to campaign for yourself as a political candidate, especially for the Presidency. Funny how times change; even "write-in" candidates have to declare that they want to be candidates now.

If you're not voting Democrat, Republican, or Libertarian, your options are pretty limited. The complete list of approved write-in candidates in Georgia includes Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin, former Constitution Party candidate-who-is-not-seeking-office-but-is-on-the-ballot-anyway Michael A. Peroutka, Socialist Workers candidate James Harris, Green Party candidate (and ex-Representative bitch) Cynthia McKinney, former Green Party candidate and former consumer activist-turned-perrenial also-ran independent candidate Ralph Nader, Independent "People's President" Jonathan Allen, performance artist Frank Moore, and two other guys who just wanted to be on the ballot (Brian Russell Brown and David C. Byrne). But no superheroes.

See, all nine of those people I just listed above have notified the Secretary of State in writing that they wanted to be a write-in candidate and published their intention in their local newspaper. Not really so hard, is it? However, it's certainly more than any superhero can be expected to do between catching purse-snatchers and exposing crooked cops.

Sure, despite the fact that Superman is technically ineligible for the office (he was born on foreign soil, you know), he's still way over-qualified for the position (fighting the "never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American Way" nonstop for 80 years!) but can't accept your protest write-in vote without publicly begging for it.

Way to go, America. Once you start to eliminate the candidates of value, you end up with a turd sandwich or a giant douche in the White House. Or worse.

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I received my Congressionally-approved $300 of Economic Stimulus yesterday alongside my income tax refund.

I've given a lot of thought about how to spend it. I decided to donate the sum to a presidential candidate's campaign fund.

No, I'm kidding. That'd be throwing my money away. I'm spending it on lottery tickets.

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CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and all the local channels were reporting on the Virginia Tech shooting, so I changed channels and watched Revenge of the Nerds. Things that I noticed:

1. Breaking into campus housing, a sorority, and leaving cameras behind, the protagonist Nerds committed crimes including but not limited to Breaking and Entering, Criminal Trespass, Disorderly Conduct, Intrusion of Privacy, Unauthorized Videotaping, and Vandalism. No police investigation was depicted. (Granted, the Nerds committed these crimes in retaliation for similar crimes committed upon them, but retaliatory vigilantism is not a defensible stance in the eyes of the law.) Moral: Have fun at others expense; privacy and security are rules made to be broken!
2. During the Adams University sponsored Homecoming Carnival, one sanctioned event requires tricycle riding participants to drink one12-ounce can of beer for completing each of twenty laps around a short racing track, simulating a dangerous drinking-and-driving scenario. In addition to mocking DUI statutes, this reckless encouragement of binge drinking and excessive consumption can pose a serious health risk to those participating. Moral: Go ahead and drink and drive; trying to stay on both of the roads that you see will make you a better driver in the long run!
3. After essentially being raped by a man impersonating her boyfriend who has also widely distributed pictures of her in a state of advanced undress (another criminal act altogether, even if proceeds of the crime are going to charity), the head cheerleader, Betty Childs, decides to abandon her previously aggressive anti-Nerd role. Again, no investigation is indicated for the sexual misconduct of the Nerd in question, though since Ms. Childs is an adult and unwilling to press charges, unless someone complains about the indecent pictures, little legal action is necessitated. Moral: Use sex as a weapon, but be good at it!
4. Seven black fraternity members are threatening enough to the pro-Jock establishment that they cow them into allowing a voice to the Nerd minority. In this case, the African-Americans are actually supporting the previously unenforced rule of law rather than challenging it, but this clear depiction of unequal race relations is still a jarringly clear disparity between factions of the University community. Moral: Black people in fraternity sweaters are especially violent!

Violence on campus: still hilarious.

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Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran an article about a contest between dog groomers, er, "pet stylists" in downtown Atlanta this weekend. The goal of the contest was apparently to dress a dog up like some cheap Party City Halloween costume. To no one's great surprise, most, if not all, of the dogs in the contest were standard poodles. (One was painted to look like Paul Stanley, which I would think both the poodle and Stanley would take as an insult.) As much as I enjoy grooming Chere, I wouldn't dress her up like a tramp for a chance at a $500 prize. A poodle's got to have her pride.

I just don't understand the inclination to make dogs look like people. (Especially people in Halloween costumes.) Every time I don't pay enough attention, my father is painting Chere's claws. Don't ask me; I don't know why. You read stories about people who hold weddings and birthday parties for dogs. Some dogs see psychiatrists. And I'm sure that some dogs are over-medicated by well-intentioned but stupid owners. Try to get it through your thick heads: dogs aren't people, people. If dogs were people, I'd hate them, too.

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When Superman foils a robbery, as a duly authorized deputy of the law, he can testify in court about what he stopped those criminals from robbing. When Batman subdues a rapist, as a sanctioned vigilante, he'll be left off the police record as the Gotham Police will cover for him. When Green Lantern stops a murderer, as an intergalactic policeman, he has an organized system to ensure that justice is served. When Aquaman encounters a litterer on the high seas, as the King of Atlantis, he can do pretty much whatever he wants to that litterer. But how do the more secretive heroes handle criminals?

Green Arrow is a masked vigilante who has no love for "the establishment." As a result, he has no official pull in the criminal justice system of the cities he has fought crime in. So when he catches a drug-trafficing punk and leaves that punk tied up outside the police station, what happens next? Arrow isn't going to testify in court about what happened, and the police aren't likely to take his word for anything while he maintains a secret identity. Even if Arrow left the drugs tied to the fellow, in court the punk could testify that they were planted after Arrow grabbed him, and who's going to prove that they weren't? Therefore, the punk would go free. Is it enough for Arrow to prevent the crime even if he didn't stop the criminal? Is the threat of being shot in a sensitive but non-fatal body part with an arrow a strong enough deterrent against crime for that criminal? And if Green Arrow does shoot the punk, then the punk can send the police after Arrow. No wonder the Arrow is so hostile towards "the system."

I think these are the sort of issues that cause most superheroes to fight costumed criminals. When you subdue someone dressed like a clock, you don't really have to worry about the lingering effects of how the courts treat him. When the cops find him dressed in a skin-tight costume modeled on a Texas Instruments TI-80 calculator, you don't have to worry that the cops will take his word over yours. And when you "accidentally" break the arms of a man dressed as a calendar, you know that no one will think that the broken arms are the strangest part of the case.

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I need some help. I'm trying to identify the character in the bottom right of this panel from DC's Invasion Book 3, page 40, published in 1989. If you know, please tell me. Not knowing is slowly killing me.

Top left is Booster Gold, who is descending from the Blue Beetle's Bug ship alongside Beetle himself. At the bottom left is Two-Face, one of Batman's many villains. Next to Two-Face is the mystery character. I assume from his reaction to the arrival of two Justice Leaguers that he is a villain, but for all I know he's just surprised to see a flying bug. It is the only appearance of either Two-Face or the unknown mystery fellow in the entire Invasion event, and though it is not expressly stated, I believe that it is supposed to take place in New York City since in previous panels Oberon mentions that Blue & Gold are "battling villains" in NYC.

But who, oh who, is in the foreground bottom right? I've been pouring over issues of DC's Who's Who from 1985, but with little luck so far. (It would probably go faster if I could stop reading every single entry. I mean, I know that there is no way that this is the Legion of Substitute Super-Heroes Color Kid or the original Doom Patrol ally Mento, but I just can't stop myself from reading about them. It's yet another one of my character flaws.)

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On October 2, Emerson Electronics sued GE because NBC showed a person's hand being chopped up from being thrust inside a running InSinkErator brand garbage disposal on the show Heroes. Emerson manufactures the InSinkErator and claims that NBC's parent GE, also a manufacturer of garbage disposals, was trying to sully the InSinkErator brand name by showing the damage it could cause to a human. Money.CNN reports the lawsuit, including the plaintiff's argument that "according to data from the government's Consumer Products Safety Commission, you are actually ten times more likely to get injured by your dishwasher than your garbage disposal."

First of all, I should think that InSinkErator would be pleased to demonstrate what it can do to a human hand. If it can destroy bone, it damn well should be able to take care of a few apple cores and potato rinds. Secondly, why does the government track and study how likely you are to get injured by a dishwasher? Are we in imminent danger of invasion from insurgent dishwashers? (Well, I guess possibly so if you count Mexicans.)

So the lesson here, NBC, is that next time you should show a person's hand being chopped up from being thrust inside a running GE brand dishwasher. You'll save yourself money in the long run.

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Why wasn't Mr. T ever asked to join the Justice League? He's stronger than Superman, wittier than Aquaman, dresses better than Hawkman, and has more wealth around his neck than Batman has secured in the batcave. And he really, really cared about saving the children.

Not to mention the fact that T had experience in the field of super-heroics. He had his own cartoon and his own group of super gymnasts who fought crime. (Come to think of it, everyone on children's TV of the late 70s/early 80s seemed to have their own crime solving group. It sure seems like TV is telling me that I should be part of a crime solving posse. Or I should be committing crimes for a crime solving posse to solve?)

Clearly the Super Friends could have used the diversity. They let Black Vulcan in just because he had the word "black" in his name. (Apparently, space monkeys didn't qualify as an ethnic minority in the eyes of Uncle Sam's anti-discrimination laws.) Seems to me that Mister T was much more qualified than Black Vulcan.

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At long last, the intro animation should finally be up and running. (I say "should" because I haven't extensivly tested it yet. I'm sure that there are horrible flaws and it's broken somewhere. Everything I post for the first time is broken somehow.) If you didn't access the blog through the front page, go back and give it a try.

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