Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for October 26, 2012

Welcome to the real world, Jeff. You’ll have to forgive me for laughing but……

This is the first time I’ve seen Rick smile.

Hate to say it, but it seems Jeff does have a point.

M.C. Hammer said, “I had $50 million and bought a $50 million house. I doesn’t work that way.”

Guess Jeff mistook that royalty advance for a monthly paycheck . . . Oops. Hey though, plenty of work for hire still in Trashcanistan.

@ Clark Kent – If you share a birthday with Edison, you also share it with Sheryl Crow, Burt Reynolds, and Sarah Palin, and me too. An apparently random assortment, suggesting that astrology doesn’t work very well.

Rick’s more of a high-school-level rival than a father. Not that Jeff deserves better. But the relationship illustrates human nature all too well, on the part of each one.

Exactly how much of an advance did they give Jeff, anyway? It’s hard to believe it would have been enough for even a down payment on all of that, but maybe that’s the point…

I still remember the first time seeing the sweet, bright boy Jeff had been as a rude, shallow teenager and thinking he’d be all right after he graduated high school. But he never did and he’s still that boy no matter how old he is. Hopefully this will finally put him on the path to maturity.

Sweeeeet!!! I have been waiting for that hedonistic spoiled brat to get whapped upside the head by the real world!

Hey, I realize Jeff isn’t the most aware of characters and this is a comic and all, but really, was the repos and eviction actually a bolt out of the blue for him? I use to work for a finance company; repossession was the last step, not the first. The creditors don’t want the car or house, they want the freaking money.

U wanna understand this foolish dude? Read THE GREAT GATSBY by F.Scott Fitzgerald.

Is this a parody on the USA?This happened to a friend-money from a car wreck. He should have paid his Dad’s mortgage. Instead he & friends smoked/doped it all up—$500,000 worth! Cash! The wreck almost killed him & he has pain to this day. Now, nothing left but memories and pain.

This is utterly delicious.

He’s the kind of parent with the words “I told you so” on the tip of his tongue.

Typical! Jeff makes monumentally stupid decisions, spends money like he has any, looses his ass, and it’s somebody elses fault. Barnum validated. Not one nano second of sympathy for him or anybody else that happened to. You dug that latrine Jeff, now live in it.

Requirements to be a parent:1. Emotional maturity. NO2. Financial stability. NO3. Understanding of a child’s needs. NO4. Study of psychology and human dynamics. NO5. Mental health. NO6. Self-esteem.NO7. Likes children. NO8. Long term plan. NO9. True desire to be a parent. NO9. Free of drug or alcohol dependency. NO10. Has reached the age of sexual maturity and is capable of having successful sex. YESAnd then, a person has complete, total power over another human beings life. No other relationship has the type of power discrepancy as between a parent and a child or grown-ups and children. Seen the statistics of children sexually abused lately? The basis of Doonesbury is Trudeau’s statement; “we can do better”. Certainly applies to parenting. Anyone disagree with that? (would you fly in an airplane with a pilot who had the same qualifications and training as your parents?).

Maybe Jeff can start blogging for some conservative web site?

I wonder if Jeff’s “shades” are like BD’s helmets. The visible symbol of his isolation from the real world, or of his narcissism. When the glasses go, Jeff will still be Jeff, but a more mature self-aware sort of Jeff. Just a thought.

The I told you so’s are superfluous at this point. SNERK

Maybe now Jeff will start listening to the good advice his readers give him.

lol It’s been months since I laughed here. Was waiting for that!

Happy anniversary! “Doonesbury” started today in 1970!

Maybe with experience in doing a graphic novel Jeff will start doing a daily comic strip like Doonsbury.

The old song " Who’s Sorry Now ? " goes perfectly with this arc.

And the mighty have fallen…Karma is such a bitch!

One with a memory?

At least Rick has the decency to try to hide his glee. Have you ever been in a situation where you had to laugh, but shouldn’t? It can be quite painful.

Yes, parent-child rivalry can be painful, too. I had a very bitter client who got his college diploma and showed it to his father. His father said, “That and a quarter will get you a bus token!” The son then built his life around resentment over this. He never would get the old man’s approval.

Don’t worry, as soon as Mitt is elected, he will be looking for agents to work in Iran.

what happened to all the money?

This should please the people who adore personal responsibility. Except that Jeff should repent and grovel.

Wait a minute….we’re making fun of Jeff because he’s mad because things that he can’t afford and/or didn’t earn are no longer his? Where’s a bailout when you need it?

I read the strip daily, but for some reason missed the exact series when this went down. Or was there one?- I figured out what had happened, but just wondered if it was in fact mentioned in a panel or two.

“Welcome to Obamaland”

Where rich a-holes who didn’t really earn their money don’t get to hoard it all? I’m in.

What goes around, Jeff.

I don’t know what the prescription is for the millions of children in pain and suffering, but I do know that the concept of “planned parenthood” goes a long way toward the idea of having a world in which every child is a wanted, happy child.

Karma is a b!tch.

Jeff’s fallen on his face. But he isn’t reponsible for anyone but himself. No spouse, no kids, parents both working. Heck, he didn’t even have people, did he? Now’s the time to fail. Maybe he’ll shape up by the time he’s got real responsibilities.

Well, we just disagree on this. I don’t think that Rick really wanted a child and Joan was not very successful at parenting was she? To be competitive with your children is sad and sick and I feel that Rick is emotionally a very regressed person. I love my children and like them very much and all I ever wanted for them was to exceed me in every respect which fortunately they’ve done. I’ve never felt like they owed me anything, that I owed them everything since I brought them into the world and I’ve tried very hard to deliver to them what they needed to be successful in their lives. Think of that scene between Sidney Poitier and his movie father in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” as a reference point. Rick and Joan are cartoons but I think that there are millions like them in this world. If the contempt that Rick shows for Jeff in this week’s strips, the reveling and gloating at his setback isn’t hate, then what is it? I hope nobody feels that it’s love, although I acknowledge that possibility. My father used to tell me that the more his father beat him up the more it showed he loved him. I found that to be pitiful and weak and I managed to raise really decent, intelligent , thoughtful human beings without ever beating them up or venting my frustrations on them and I still am not so impressed with myself but wish I could have been a better person for them like their mom is. Parenting is a humbling job, and Rick is pathetic and repulsive to me and totally lacking in insight, as was my father.

Wait a minute…Wasn’t that (now squandered) check an advance on two new novels? I’m guessing he hasn’t made much progress as of yet.If that boy doesn’t get his act together soon, a certain publisher will want to collect on his debt. And I fear that not even a movie deal may save him.So, to Jeff Redfern, let me give you some words of advice…KEEP… ON… WRITING!!!

Trudeau has opened up a can of Harm and is forcing poor Jeff to eat it.

HARP = Hardtimes Administration for Rich People?

It seems to me that Rick is amused but not because he loathes Jeff; if he did, he would not be laughing. Now Jeff is in the situation of moving back with his parents, so if Jeff hated him he would not be laughing. People are complex, and life is complicated. God is simple, but … yeah … The Jeff-Rick (alphabetical order) relationship is far from simple, and Rick is far from the ideal father. But he and Joan were rightfully worried about the effect of that windfall on Jeff. If you ask me, Jeff is fortunate to have had this experience so young. Hopefully he is one whom it will turn to wisdom.So maybe Rick’s laughter is more of relief. But look at Jeff’s face now. Where is the innocent who naively got $10 for the proof of the Pelosi biography that inadvertently ended up in the envelope he received from the editor instead of his. Used it to treat Rick. Of course he was ostentatiously naive with Rick then, so … ahem … well … er …But look at poor Jeff now: old and mean.The worst personality spin that I know of him. Will he ever get out of it? What’s his real personality? He’s at the age when it comes out and sets. We shall see. And Rick is also hiding his tears. Satire is such a relief.

Jeff, Live fast, die hard..I’d be snickering too, love the lad, but enjoy the moment and hope the boy learns a valuable lesson from it..Enjoy today, but plan for tomorrow.

DNFTT

And I apologize to Garry Trudeau for my error in my earlier post re: September13. It was not a rocade, just a “simple” rerun this time.

There are few moments of parenthood as rewarding as the results of good advice being completely ignored.