Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for July 22, 2010

Megaconglomecorp. And that’s who owns the lapdogs and the office temp. But what about those nine people in the black robes? I mean they must be a subsidiary too. Don’t they have a role to play here?

An invasion sure does sound ominous.

Re: yesterday’s comments. I do not appreciate the personal attacks on me and my assumed intelligence. Please refrain from assuming anything about fellow posters and commenting on said assumptions. I need the Ekert right about now because I am filled with disgust and hurt instead of the usual good cheer that I get from reading “Non Sequitur” each evening.

Edited to add: Argh! I was specifically trying to avoid being partisan (I tend to hate politics) and yet …

No, Sheik, I am not JAD. I am a straight, married, female and I’ve even been belittled by that man himself. I hope I’m not as annoying as he can be.

Cutiepie ~ I understood your comment the first time (just to let you know). I agree posters should avoid saying derogatory comments about other posters. I hope the rest of your day is better.

It looks like JAD has returned and is posting as cutiepie29.

Wiley’s comment yesterday is worth repeating: Thank you all for your wonderful comments! I truly appreciate it. All I ask it that you try to refrain from engaging in the tiresome back-and-forth of partisan politics. It only ends up in mud slinging, taking all the fun out of this forum.

CutiePie, you need your thickest skin to take part in an online forum. The big boys and girls play very rough, and you face taking an insult broadside even for something as inane as “the sky is blue and the sun is shining.”

My best advice for you is to just let it roll off of you – meet measured, logical discourse with measured, logical discourse…and ignore the rest of it.

And on this forum in particular, let yesterday be yesterday. The discussion starts anew with each new panel.

Mega what?

Yep, those guys sure are more powerful than governments. Sadly :(

Hey, I have an issue with the sky is blue and the sun is shinning! The sun hasn’t risen here yet and it isn’t doing either…

just thought I would add a little bitterness…. zap!

Oh, my… the ekert just hit me, oh, I feel better.

and Cutiepie29 - start a political bashing, you sure can expect harsh answers. Ah, life in a forum…

had to go back and read all of yesterday’s commentary.

then i saw it. panels 2/3 aren’t our favorite Chairman of the Federal Reserve. look closer

then look here

http://www.allstars2004.com/images/cards_2008/GeorgeSoros.jpg …

the nose, the glasses, calling presbo an office temp and congress lapdogs and running Megaconglomecorp. go ahead, try to tell me i’m wrong.

either that or it’s sam walton.

i love this cartoon and the thinking required to truly enjoy it. thanks wiley!

Megaconglomecorp should be Monsanto. Those guys give me nightmares.

What is the cat looking at? And why can’t I have a perch cat? I hope the alien cats get involved in this!

If only we could cross the ekert with tribbles!

JAD is back as Otra Vez (Spanish for “again”); he made several appearances earlier in the week.

Thanks, Baslim. I had wondered why the cat was facing backwards today. Glad to see I’m not the only one.

Pauley’s covering your back Captain Eddie. Ain’t no stinking Ekert gonna get your evil thoughts.

Wiley you are the greatest. Thank you.

Wiley has often revealed his prejudice against the corporate world (always excused as merely innocent humor), so I’m expecting another round of cheap shots at Big Business in the next few days.

Hildigunnur: You said “those guys sure are more powerful than governments”. This is a common sentiment but it makes a serious error. Confusing economic power with governmental power is to ignore the difference between voluntary cooperation and involuntary submission. You don’t have to buy from GM or Monsanto or BP or your own favorite boogeyman, but you MUST do what the government says at risk of exposure to government power.

Mao was an evil man, but he was absolutely accurate when he said all political power comes from the barrel of a gun. If you can’t tell the difference between the power of the dollar and the power of a gun, I just hope no one ever points a gun at you.

(The proper and improper use of government power is for another time.)

Gary, how have you reached your stage in life without ever hearing of any car company besides GM?

But if you are really trying to say that you MUST deal with SOME large company, that is something you should be grateful for, rather than resentful, since they are the exact reason you DON’T have to build your own (or ride a bike, or get a horse, or walk, etc.)

But if you share Wiley’s anti-business prejudice, I don’t suppose I’ll be able to convince you.

One Man’s “nice” is another’s oppressive social engineering.

One cannot be nice simultaneously with forcing a worldview on others. Using Orwell’s newspeak to mask the hideousness behind fluffy words is certainly not “nice.”

@cutiepie29 - There seems to be a core of sarcastic, witty, clever, intelligent, etc. posters/commenters involved here. If you don’t enjoy their by-play and just want to keep your ‘usual good cheer’ then maybe you should JUST read Non Sequitur. Reading these posts is an entirely different form of entertainment. They outdo each other with puns and wisecracks… Highly entertaining and goes to show the types of people who enjoy Wiley. :-)

Gary - You can choose to buy from a smaller, lesser known company, walk, or ride a bike. With government, your choices are submit to power, or go to jail…

Gary, I see you will just ignore my my major point of the crucial difference between governmental and economic force. If you think you are being “forced” into anything when you choose to buy something (or not), then we’ll probably never agree on what “force” means (unless you get mugged sometime soon).

Jahfre: I sincerely wish I understood what in the world you are talking about. (But I’m signing off now. Have a good day.)

@ Brian and Schearer, Mr Schearer makes it seem that GM, Monsanto and BP are the only large corporations doing business in the U.S. We are forced to do business with large corporations such as WalMart who drives smaller businesses out of communities and even kills industries to monopolize some lines of merchandise. (Make it in China) As for government, we can change it. Granted, it will never be as any one of us wants, but elections are intended for the purpose of eliminating the officials we do not care for and install those more to our liking.

The ekert •could• be named after Eckhart Tolle, a spiritual teacher — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle

Jeeze, that Pschearer! What a pretentious pedant. He apparently comes out of Dan Manion’s forum with corporate zeal running at red alert and lays the fascist propaganda on thick over here.

Huh?! What the heck does Megaconglomecorp do with Ekert, the elephant-fairy problem? Does Capt’n Eddie know all about Ekert, the elephant-fairy before? Weird!

READING THE POSTE COMMENTS IS MORE FUN THAT THE CARTOON SOME TIMES, BUT EITHER WAY IT IS MY FAVORITE COMIC IN THE GOCOMICS, AND ALSO THE PAPER OUR PAPER HERE HAS THE HABIT OF CHANGING THEM OCCASINLY I JUST HOPE THEY NEVER STOP THIS ONE IT SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR OUR ELECTED PEOPLE

Large corporations aren’t the problem, there is always an alternative. Large corporations that are propped up or in bed with government (select auto manufacturers and financial institutions) are a serious problem, because they’re given an unfair advantage in the marketplace, somewhat like a monopoly. We could go our entire lives without ever setting foot in a Walmart, many choose to shop there because it’s cost effective, no one is forcing Walmarts on us. But we cannot relax inside our own homes without some type of government (a.k.a. force) affecting our lives.

Obviously, the Ekert is a mam-moth.

I can’t help but notice that the bulk of yesterdays comments are directed at the “office temp” rather than the “lapdogs.”

Say’s something don’t you think, when people focus on the action of one individual when we – collectively – elect another 535 (100 Senate, 435 House) to participate in the process.

Wiley, you really have the troops riled up today. Pretty hard to stay away from politics given the subject presented. Interesting posts… relatively civil.

Brian 35 We have ourselves to blame for our democratic government. We voted them into office. We have no control over the actions of a corporation except to refuse to buy from them. With the consolidation of corporations, that becomes more and more difficult.

After a week of “no good deed shall go unpunished” while trying to help out a monk (Catholic) whose only doing good deeds, and a neighbor able to overstuff ekert- the sentiment is appreciated, Wiley. It isn’t all just corporations, captn.

Also we have a “perch cat” thanks to a “donation” from our son, good thing is she wakes me in the morning with a nice Shiatsu back massage- wonder who she’s channelling??

harrietbe - I agree. Ask any farmer about Monsanto and bio-engineered seeds.

Wiley, you are not anti-business. I find you most even handed when it comes to nailing guilty entities, either business or political. Keep on keepin’ on….we really do love it when everybody gets so stirred up!

Where would the referees (the nine boys and girls in the black robes) fit into this game? Do they have a preference? At times, it would sure seem so.

Megaconglomecorp. HMMMMM. They actually have there fingers into everyone else company. Explains alot don’t it.

Here is a link about too much government power.

http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/beatles-lyrics/taxman-lyrics.html

Hope it doesn’t haunt you all day long.

I still think corporations exercise too much power at time, also.

cutiepie29: I have said it before; slanderous rhetoric is the identity of a typical liberal. Any criticism of a liberal icon no matter how slight or true stimulates vile eruptions. So, keep your chin up, this is still a great forum.

I don’t know about Wiley himself, but many of the political commentors here seem to confuse the big corporations, who exploit us, with the government, whose job is to protect us from the corporations.

What’s truly discouraging is the extreme confusion of the Tea Party, who are so hostile to big government that they decry even the government’s legitimate functions. These—-besides regulation of commerce—-include taxing us in order to protect us and to spend on our welfare.

When does government become “too big?” When it spends our taxes on corporate welfare and the banks.

I’m libertarian enough to wish Bush and Obama had let the Wall Street investors go bankrupt. On the other hand, I’m glad our two presidents prevented the collapse of pension funds and insurance, college endowments, and our retirement savings.

So on balance, I have to say this “intervention” by big government was exactly what Hamilton and Madison (though not Jefferson) had in mind when they spelled out the government’s role in stabilizing the economy.

We’re not a democracy, we’re a republic. Democratic politics pays attention mainly to who rules and who gets ruled. (The Soros character in yesterday’s strip is just crying sour grapes: the world is coming to an end because the president and congress refuse to serve HIM.)

Republics are more complicated and comprise three groups: the people, the plutocrats, and the president elected by the people to safeguard them from the depredations of the plutocrats.

Plutocrats and oligarchs will always be part of our republic, even though Wiley tries to exclude them from his ideal world. They hate a strong president and regulation. Believing as they do in the law of the jungle and the survival of the fittest, they refuse to admit that anyone can belong to our society who is propertyless or helpless.

Richmond, CA (CAlifornia, not Richmond, BC, CAnada, google always doe that to me), 1040 hrs 10/10 cloud cover… LOVE this. can’t wait to see Capt Eddie taking his boat out to challenge Megalomanic Inc.!!!!

Imagine the half of the people who don’t vote showing up on election day & choosing someone Megaconglomecorp can’t treat like lapdogs & temps. Then the Ekert will fly out of my bum.

Gary Kleppe said, Oh yeah. If I don’t want to buy from GM, I don’t have to. I can build my own car out of spare parts. Great idea, ps…..

and into my little mind pops JOHNNY CASH, “I built it one piece at a time, and it didn’t cost me a dime….” Love the Man in Black! and Cap’n Eddie, and Flo, and Wiley, and……

No doubt about it….an invasion of goodness, honesty and integrity would bring about the collapse of everything we value.

Wiley, sir, I just love your creative to be continued adverbs.

Well, this is the reason I’ve stopped visiting other forums. The poli-jive doesn’t quit.

Anti-business, PS? Not really. More like anti-GREED. I’ve never made a living from someone (ie: corp., etc.) that went broke but at the same time how much is too much?

That goes for you ‘stockholders’ as well.

Anyway……Wiley has a great thing going here. A little levity to look forward to. A quirky way to relieve some pressure. Enjoy it for what it is.

Is there something wrong with a smile? You guys always have to ‘make your point”. Start your own dang forum and let the rest of us enjoy SOMETHING without your polluting it. Cutie….take a hint from HST…can’t stand the heat?…get out of the kitchen.

To those that insist on the constant bickering and having to be right…..No one makes you tune in but you are very close to making many tune out.

…just one guy’s take…

Balsim - Did I miss something back in 1991, when Congress gave the then office temp authority to pursue ALL means necessary to catch the bleeep behind 9-11? That sounds to me like an open-ended declaration of war, and we have been on war footing ever since.

Is Megaconglomecorp associated with the Federation of Associated Organizations?

Really Big anything usually means a system out of function. Both the government and business get unwieldly and destructive given too much size and resulting power.

Progressives who I assume Neocon is satirizing, were founded in the early 1900’s by small businessmen farmers who wanted to limit the power of the large corporate farms and saw only the government had the power to do that. Since that day,m however, the big businesses have gone to buying up as much government as possible so no one does speak for small businessmen and working folks any more, the speak for one or more power blocs. e.g., AARP will keep Social Security with us for a long time by forging a power bloc of older voters. Yet AARP is now a big business in itself selling insurance and other “goods” for older citizens. They had to get large to have any voice at all against large blocs. Tjhey speak as much for their organizations interests now as for the people they are claiming to rep.

To the larger point, Wiley is merely saying what the Bible said years ago. Send someone who will actually change the world for the better and they will crucify him and then sell all manner of things in his name. I look for an ekertism before this is over.

Hey Stebon,

don’t let the door…………………

pschearer, actually you’re wrong. Do you know which big corporations own what all the time? Do you know who you’re buying things from? It’s not easy at all to know. You can buy your food straight from the local farmer but most all big brands are owned and cross owned by Big Conglomerate (and no, it’s not just one). Take a look at this picture from Japan: http://www.svipan.is/wp-content/uploads/cache/4894_NpAdvSinglePhoto.jpg That’s just a tiny point in case. It’s everywhere. How do you know that GM doesn’t own a big share in Toyota? I wouldn’t know.

Government all to often bows to big money, look at all the incredibly stupid things being pushed through Congress by lobbyists. Is that not power? Political power can and is being bought. More than half of the 100 biggest economies on earth now is corporate, with only 49 being countries. Scary?

Hildi: My position is straight-forward – the separation of government and the economy, removing the use of force from all economic activities. When government no longer has any benefits or punishments to bestow, there will no longer be any incentive for companies to curry favor with politicians and bureaucrats.

The economics of free markets have been understood for centuries, at least by people whose concern is freedom, not controlling the lives of others.

As for people who feel “controlled” when a company offers to sell them something, that sounds like a personal problem to me.