Endtown by Aaron Neathery for March 22, 2013

Indeed, as history teaches us:“They got it wrong! We’ll do it better”But all we achieve, after all the fussIs another shackle, another fetterAnd part of how this comes aboutIs changing the history that we learnThus we fall without a shoutWe seem to corrupt what we don’t just burnSo Al’s tormented by what he seesHe’s just been in that group a short whileCorruption sets in by degreesWhat horrifies him makes the others smile=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

History is doomed to repeat itself. Strip mankind of all the frippery, electronic gadgets, fancy polywhatsis clothing, and cars, etc..and you’ll STILL find creatures whose brains have not advanced since their ancestors were living in caves. When we think no one’s looking we’re afraid of ghosts, knock on wood, and wage war on each other for rights to property and mates. We plan our lives without consistantly using logic, and pick and choose what to believe, when it suits us.

I wish we could tell Al we’ve evolved, but we haven’t. It will take a genetic mutation before we as a species put down those weapons and find the courage to accept each other as we are. I wonder if Aaron’s preparing to have Endtown tear itself apart…and those darn topsiders are just waiting for Endtowners to make enough noise so they can dig them out.

I’m pleased that the Endtown Examiner has the good taste to publish a proper eight-column broadsheet. Obviously a solid, dependable periodical.

All is as it will be. and it will be better Monday. In the mean time I have to do something about the yodeling goof that inhabits my computer and the tenors singing in my Oxygen generator. Lost all O2 the other night, didn’t know it until the machine started hammering on the floor. Don’t like that feeling . 2 years, I have become attached to it without even thinking. Sigh.Blessed Be

Don’t let evil get away with it! Own it for yourself! Help save Endtown from evil!(Auction ends tonight.)

Dry your tears Al, it’s time for action!

Evil wraps itself in half-true, misleading, and outright fabricated statistics, rational-sounding arguments which are built on a superstructure of lies and distortions. Evil wants control, nothing else. It takes skeptical thinking and a mindset of “is that REALLY true?” to avoid being sucked into the ignorant abyss of the controlled and manipulated. Take Portland, OR, which has a murder rate of 3.4/100,000. Gosh, sounds terrible! Something must be horribly wrong! Oh, wait—the national average is 5.5/100,000m and Portland is slightly below Virginia Beach, VA, and WELL below Arlington, Texas. What to make of that? Nothing, if one is sane, and not attempting to mislead. Certainly not any correlation related to drug legality.

I love Al and Gustine. I hate to see him cry.. the anguish on his face is palpable..

Well said there Mr. Butler well said.

Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.

Edmund Burke

You would think that this sort of thing would not occur until there have been a enough generations between the cause of it all and the present hierarchy to forget what started it all.However alas as long as there are enough people to form groups one will always torment the other.And so on and so forth peace is not something that can be granted it must be won again and again.

Hey, Gustine, long time no see…

And to think, this all started because a certain koala decided to be nice and try to make someone feel loved, instead of dwelling on her checkered past.

Well said. I have a good friend in Oregon, he lived there during that time and he’s never mentioned such apocalyptic conditions. ‘Hooked on pot’. GEEZ.

Surfstuff55,Any reason for the !20??? I’ll respond to your long awaited challenge when I get home from work.

What exactly is a fin anyways? We’re not talking shark body parts, are we?

Diamonds always look better against a dark background, and we’ve got a lot of gems in this strip (and commenting on it) that are going to be called on to show their quality. How grand of life to give us food and drink and monsters to fight.

And a shout out to DOL! Having an Oxygen generator give out is truely scary. Hang in there, Braveheart!

Who can add to that.E’nuff said.

At least Al made it home.

TSOJ read your post yesterday about the Council.I say the entire program has been compromised and all the ones on the council are all in agreement with each other. Al may have finished his term so he is out replaced by someone probably picked by that what got them all on to begin with. The ones taking over have done this slowly as to now draw attention. Now the trigger has been pulled and now they have to strike while the iron is hot tore-forge Endtown into something else.I don’t think the Society is in charge. If they were WHY were there not more members at the lecture. This group in the council now I believe is something else. They are using the Society as a cover for who they really are.Here is possible scenario. Supplies are nearly out topside. Too dangerous to go out. A settlement has figured that they can survive using the mutant products to supplement their supplies. Now get Endtown to ban all mutant product usage and declare all mutants that produce product dangerous and should be separated from the others. NOW come forward and hold out a hand to those now “illegal” unwanted mutants to come to YOUR settlement where this is not illegal and in fact is encouraged.First things first you have to gain control of Endtown to make mutants who make a product undesirable and unwanted. Drive them out to say. How to do that? Take over the council. I think they are all from outside Endtown. Infiltrators so to say. The picking of the council has been rigged. It was tested on the group that Al was with along with block Al from ever being in the First chair. It worked so now install all the others so the Council is completely taken over. No one knows who they are. They are bunkered in and control the Security.You see the Security I believe is going to have to be a part of the solution. Without them the whole thing and Endtown is doomed.

So sadly, sadly true. If those from other worlds ever wanted to know about human behavior, nature, and intelligence, then all they would need to do is look at our history.

All that history has tought us humans, is how to destroy each other in a more efficient way.

And what makes us think…just because we form a new governing body that it will be, oh so much better. There will always be someone ambitious with his/her own persuasive perverted agenda to muddy the waters.

Me thinks this and yesterday’s strip got switched around.

Go to any good rehab and tell them you are “hooked on pot” they will laugh at you and say “come back when your hooked on real drugs!” It happened to me!And personally I’ve had more friends killed over hard drugs and not anyone got even so much as a bruise over pot, unless they tripped over something while eating two cheeseburgers at once!

Al was walking in the door to the news paper. What happened once he was inside? Yesterday was the cliff hanger… Now he is home, with hot tears of shock and the dread feeling something major has happened… which he must have heard about from a 1st hand view point from Dottie. His reaction must come later that they will have to do something, but what??He is witnessing a coup! Hope he can get it together enough to do what needs to be done. Or playwwhat part he needs to be.

hear…hear.

Just remembering…this all started out as Linda’s story…but we haven’t heard anything from Linda since just after she was arrested. From the way she looked last maybe she’s all talked out…

Nebbuk, you are a grumpy bitter old man. it’s no mystery as to who you belong to. I was a census taker a couple of times and the old ladies were the grumpiest, but the grumpy old white men were the most suspicious, feared anything new, didn’t trust the government and were “Hooked on” rage. Enjoyed being outraged. they didn’t feel satisfied that things usually worked out, the Needed to feel hatred.You are feeling that way even worse since the election.

How about if the Endtown Examiner keeps the “Stacked Deck” headline, and below that, prints that picture of Velda?

This entry includes a statement on politics, but related to the story. Feel free to skip it if you want.

It is hard to avoid some political comments since part of this story arc involves how Endtown operates its system and what influences it. To me, Aaron is showing us what can happen if we don’t pay attention and be involved in our community. Look at the corruption that happened in Bell, CA a few years back when the City Council and Police Chief got themselves outlandish wages and retirement benefits. It wouldn’t have happened if people in the community were involved. Part of this is a message to us. Are WE involved? If there’s something wrong in our community is it because we haven’t paid attention? Do we avoid jury duty because it’s “inconvenient”? On a similar note, why is politics considered “dirty”? Yes, there are people in politics seemingly in it just for the take. Yet are they there because politics is no longer considered an honorable profession? If it is no longer honorable, isn’t it because we, the people, decided it wasn’t? If we want to have good politicians, my guess is we need to honor the position they seek. No matter who is in the office, let them be judged good or bad by their actions, not the position they hold.I’ll get off the apple box now.

I don’t think there’s a food shortage. There’s plenty of food people don’t want to eat. It’s the same thing as with school lunches. There’s plenty of good healthy food available to kids, but they throw it away and would rather starve. Or they lie, cheat, and steal to get the contraband. Or to provide it. Someone in Endtown may have a Velda— er, vested interest in controlling the contraband food and drink, and Linda’s cake was too public and too tempting for them to overlook and let go. Like in the stories of the fox and the grapes, and the dog with the bone in the mirror (and a few Coyote stories… uh, yeah, they’re just stories…), they’ll find they’re reaching too far and will end up regretting it.

I’m surprised the rats haven’t hunted down every chicken in Endtown to find out who supplied Linda with the eggs needed to make the contraband chocolate cake.

I did check Endtown books 1 & 2 last night. Al was wearing his black and white saddle shoes, just like in yesterday’s first panel.

I did too. At first they looked like Converse tennis shoes. Chuck Taylor’s Old style due to the only the toes and heels were white. US Keds were like that too. Easy enough mistake.

@JackButlerThanks Jack, you saved me the trouble of doing a list of inaccuracies. I will never fully understand why people feel the need to create “facts” to prove what they can’t by logic.

I just noticed a thing. Al is thinking about reforms?? It would be best to concentrate on what is going on now and THEN worry about reforms. Tackle the problem at hand. Out of control Council, good Endtowners in danger, mysteries are afoot. A hero needs to rise. Is Al our guy??On the funny side……..Remember the Bat guy with the Owl some time back? There you go. Its time for BATGUY and his side kick HOOTERS the OWL. The were miners! They could tunnel in and rescue our lovely ladies in distress right under those stinking rats noses.Ehhhh. Make a good story. Ehhhh! (sometimes you just have to have some fun)( Hooters??)

Food is a valuable commodity. So are tobacco products and alcohol. There seems to be plenty of the latter, but little of the first. Real forward thinking of Endtown would have provided some means of growing food somehwere knowing the food would eventually run out. Here’s a few questions. Are those areas used for growing the items needed to produce cigars and booze instead of for food? Are Mallards attempts to grow food being thwarted by those in control of those areas? Al brought Gustine flowers and either real or fake whipped cream. Where did the flowers come from? Who made the dessert topping whether it’s made from real cream or vegetable oil? They’re not Twinkies. Neither product would have lasted six years.Comments from a few days ago mentioned corruption due to neglect and the surprise it happened so fast. Endtown’s occupation is too new for that to set in. The system was usurped and now we need to find out by who and for what purpose.

So I’m a whippersnapper? That must make you somewhat older than 50.

By the way, I didn’t have a five because I just got paid. Will a $20 do?

Um that would be “Stacked Chick”. Anybody coming to the auction block to play???

I wanted to comment on the quality of the ink wash prints that Aaron’s been sending out. I received my prints of “The Chase V2” and “Sitting Pretty” a day after getting the original of “Sitting Pretty” back from the framers and I was amazed at how good the prints are. I held my print of “Sitting Pretty” next to the framed original and honestly could not tell the difference. In fact I’ve decided to frame my print of “The Chase V2” and hang it in my living room. If you see any of the ink wash pictures that you’ve admired but missed out on getting the original, pick up the print, frame it and hang it on your wall. You won’t regret it!!!

“Which reminds me of DOL1’s comments a while back regarding those mutants living in the river eating “mutant byproducts” that got deposited in the river.”Yes, that is a particularly thorny issue with the Society. The probable resolution is to announce that gills and fins aren’t “appropriate accessories” and to outlaw them along with parachute slacks and platform shoes.

I know what you mean, I’m 50 and still play with toy cars. ;^)>

I have a horrible thought. Maybe Mr. Hopper isn’t really dead. He could be the one behind the power grab, and faked his death as soon as he found someone to build a case on. No one’s actually seen him dead, just been told he is.

Well, Mr. Hopper could be the surprise defense witness in Linda’s trial. Then he’d be on the side of goodness and nice.

One Hundred.

One hundred and one. I’ve been away for a quiet weekend.

@ Veteran & Three Steps Over Japan:What you both say is true, indeed…But with the way things are now, would it really be a surprise if the rats are given the order to round up everyone who has the means to provide food?Every cow, bird and possibly turtle in Endtown is in danger of segregation.