JumpStart by Robb Armstrong for September 11, 2011

You would think after all the talk about 9-11 there would be something in all the strips today. Guess some people don’t care.

Maybe “some people” just figured that others had the subject well-covered, and there’s still the need for some normality as well. Guess what? “Some people” were absolutely right.

After the Pearl Harbor attack, Al Capp caught a lot of flak because he didn’t have Li’l Abner rush off to enlist, like so many other comic strip characters. His explanation was similar: It wouldn’t have suited his character, plenty of others had the subject covered, and people would still need some normality.

you should read today’s doonesbury.

This morning I set my alarm to wake me at 9:11, as I have done every year on this date for the past ten years. I showered for 9 minutes and 11 seconds, and brushed my teeth: nine strokes lower, eleven strokes upper. I put on my 9/11 shirt and walked to the corner diner, where I had the Twin Towers Special, two stacks of mini-waffles served in the shape of the WTC. I couldn’t bring myself to eat them (it would destroy the towers anew), but I still considered it $9.11 well-spent. As I walked down the street, I shouted “Remember 9/11!” to the passersby. Mostly they responded with a moment of silence, which moved me. However, one person shouted back “Happy 9/11 to you too!”, which I thought was TOTALLY inappropriate, so I beat him up. What sort of insensitive lout would dare to be happy today, of all days? As I walked past a playground, I saw children playing their childlike games. I accosted one ruffian: “How can you be playing? Don’t you know it’s 9/11? Don’t you remember what happened 10 years ago today?” The boy said that he was only six years old and so couldn’t remember, and started crying. I was beating some respect into the little brat, when I noticed a crowd of parents started moving towards me, no doubt to help me. I could tell the adults were aligned with my sympathies, because many of them were saying “Call 9-1-1! Somebody call 9-1-1!” It was mere moments before our heroic First Responders arrived on the scene, in thier crisp blue uniforms, carrying their shiny wooden clubs. “God bless you officers, and God bless America!” I called to them. “I’ve written you a poem, in honor of this momentous day. Allow me to read it to you…”

That was the last thing I remember…

Well-said, “Fritzoid”!

Thanks, robb armstrong. Back atchya. Anybody who reads this strip regularly knows that you don’t need a special day to appreciate police officers, or fire fighters (or nurses, or teachers, or…).

As long as you’re here, though, I gotta ask. Did “Klondike Ike” run a 9/11-themed strip today? And either way, what was Joe’s Dad’s reaction to it?

ignore t1warrenhe’s been posting the exact comment on all the strips that don’t meet his standards of “remembrance”

I was surprised that this strip made no 9/11 reference, but I assumed R.A. had his reasons and I tamped down the temptation to hold it against him.

Fritzoid, on the other hand,…

I stand by all three of my previous posts, pschearer. And if you want to understand my position on the strips that have run today, I expect you to take all three on them into account.

OK here’s something about what WAS in the strip today. I always thought of Marcie as anything but an airhead who would go online "like"ing things she did not know about, so it seemed out of character. But maybe it adds some breadth to her character. They are all a great family. In the current e-tmosphere of electronic communication, I bet many otherwise sensible people do stuff like that.

Year long tally: 28 Nonsensical : 226 Realistic] Thank you Robb for today’s realistic and funny comic!! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I can understand Marcie’s problem. The social media phenomena is getting very, very time consuming. It seems to be extracting too much of most people’s already limited time. People are having to be very selective about what they focus on… which is what Marcie did.