War Hawk and Love Dove: Occasionally, I read a cartoon so good I wish I'd done it myself. This is one of those cartoons.

In reference to my March 23, 2003 cartoon ("War is Sell"), I've done a quick and dirty survey of how the major news networks have branded the U.S. war with Iraq:

CNN - War in Iraq
Fox News - Operation Iraqi Freedom
MSNBC - Target: Iraq
CBS News - America at War
ABC News - War with Iraq
NPR - War in Iraq

These short taglines can be read as commentary and show shades of the networks' leanings. Fox News is patriotic and militaristic in taking the official name of the operation. MSNBC's "Target: Iraq" casts the U.S. action more negatively as aggressive, even violent. Listen to NPR and note the mournful, slow bumper music that follows the war stories. Turn up your sensitivity to these subtle cues and you can begin to see the bias.

Free Speech paid for by Oscar: On Sunday night, I watched the 75th Annual Academy Awards half to see what won "Best Picture" and half for the political statements from Hollywood. I was not disappointed.

I recommend you check out Dumb Celebs for more commentary, positive and negative.

Ironic Broadcast: Listening to the radio this morning, I heard an ABC News report of peace protests at the American Embassy in Yemen where 2 people were killed. Followed by a vigorous quote of "Dow Industrials are up 66 points." Is this an ironic juxtaposition of messages or a subtle commentary?

More ironic: Hit the ABC News site and try to watch the "Live Video Coverage, Latest Updates". You get a come on for the "Real One Superpass". A free trial but they want your billing information first. $9.95 a month thereafter. I guess Wall Street isn't the only one to profit from war.

Still more: You're coming to this site. Reading what I have to say. Looking at the ads I've placed. Uh, oh. I may have put myself on the list of people hoping to profit as well.

Showtime. I don't need to tell you it's started. We'll watch it like we watch everything else. But this is real and unscripted.

War Hype: It's probably inappropriate to say this. And I don't mean to imply the situation isn't real or grave. But doesn't all the speculation and talk about the would-be U.S. war with Iraq feel like the prelude to a big Hollywood blockbuster? We've seen the previews for months. Now we're waiting in line to watch the film. We wonder if it will live up to the hype. We wonder if we'll like what we see.

Before it's old news, read the March 16, 2003 Small World cartoon. As the cartoon said, you can view the 2002 U.N. Security Council Resolutions online. Amazing but true.

Anti-war or pro-war, my most concrete opinion about 'the situation in Iraq' has been there is a value to making a credible threat. That is a more sure path to peace than making threats which are never believed. That was true in getting U.N. inspectors back into Iraq. And it is still true even today. Let's hope and pray the credible threat works.

Hello to the World! Welcome to the new and improved Small World web site. There is still a fair amount of work to do, but we are up with the latest cartoons and archive. More to come. Keep your eyes open.

A major addition is the occasional "blog" entry you are now reading. Yes, this cartoonist-at-large is getting trendy. I'll keep you up to date on Small World as well as highlight some of the more interesting things I find online. For example, I'm gratified when I've done a cartoon in the past and then find the subject covered at a later date in the mainstream press. Take a look at this from Fox News:

The Death Tax for the Other 98 Percent of Us

And now, this cartoon from our archives. Hmm. As always, thanks for reading.