So, does anyone have any idea why Breathed looks like he's about to retire the strip or, even worse, kill off his most beloved character?

There's a network of crazy middle aged ladies who go to shelters and do ad hoc rescues of animals in the pound. They broker them out among informal and formal networks of other crazy middle aged ladies to take the pressure off the shelters and bring the animals to the public in a way that shelters do not.

So, I can see Opus in the hands of some bosomy matron clad in a floral pink dress being mistaken for a tuxedo cat. Maybe he will have a wild gay affair with Socks at Bettie Currie's house!

Wow. Way to piss in the punch bowl. Do you take toys from toddlers and steal walkers from grannies trying to cross the street? I've met muggers with more charm than you.

Either bird flu or being sodomized with power tools. Either one.

Bill denounces his minister, Sylvester Felini. "Shut Up, Shut Up, Shut Up!"

Bill sends his Comrad and namesake, Bill, ("Terrorist Bill") to a commune in Shasta County.

- "Don't come back, Bill, until after I've won."

Bill calls Hillary, "Can you help me out, this McCat guy really was a hero, what do I do?"

Bill tells Michelle: "Stop saying 'where is MY trust fund?' we almost got it licked.

was Oliver Wendell Jones sending subliminal messages to his dad

"Like, I feel like wearing salami on my head and sticking a pickle upmy nose?"

"Let's not be silly, son."

Also, Cutter John and the "touch the face of God" strip ("Did he survive?"

And I still have my "Starship Enterpoop""Ahead warp zillion!" tshirt.

I hope Opus gets to retire to a field of dandelions to have snuggle bunnies with some nubile young penguina.

A cartoonist will make a pen sketch. It's gleeful to one - and may irk someone? I like that BB irks, and why, `offend some? That's the point! A critic is working on improvement of the Self. Right? The nation is in a serious crisis.

Palin is fair game. BB is mild, and BB is not mocking a tongue-speaker, glossolalia in swimsuit. Or, a fundamentalist, a gibbering prophetic, a prophetic female, sitting n a church pew. Tom Toles- in a cartoon, *Palintology* has Sarah standing on a concrete slab, enclosed in a Bubble. The frustrated, distant media press, is unable to reach her. The Press try air pneumatic hammers, chisels, and other tactic to break a `creepy GOP. The reinforced "protections" to keep her mute, should, but,

She should not be-Hushed. No hide Palin.

The public want to know who is Mrs `Palin?.

Fred Hiatt has not vetoed T.T. cartoons yet.

Political cartoons mold opinion, no, or yes?

BB. 's Style may not be yours? It is too timid?

A Wa/Po, OMBUDSMAN, by Deborah Howell?

softdog, what ya wrote? maybe a okay read?

a song mentions, ya get old, ` none LISTEN.

Maybe ya want more bite? or, ya`status quo?

We are supposed to criticize people in power.

The lady Palin is enclosed by: bubble wrap, aluminum foil, kevlar, foam insulation. and shatterproof glass. I feel sorry for hard hearts.

Public People (Palin),, etc., should be shielded?

No shelter animals, public people, and softdog.

All the best in real life to BB but I wish I cared more about the fictional conclusion.

This strip just reminds how Breathed's content has narrowed as his drawing skill evolved. Opus began as a secondary character in a strip with a large cast that did both topical and character humor. Except for Steve Dallas he's the last full persona, and the only one with emotional resonance.

A rounded talent who used to satirize Garfield has become a slightly smarter Garfield with better art. Breathed was ambivalent about storytelling over the years and this incarnation necame a pure gag strip early on. Which makes the serious undertone of this slow finale mawkish, a sentimental gambit Breathed used to mock.

Maybe it would work for the final two strips, but BB has been milking this for over a month and it seems like all else from his career might get a passing mention at best. Opus is a great character, but there was so much more to Breathed than that. He even used to have women in major roles.

I was a big fan of Cutter John and Bobbi (who existed before Opus appeared in Bloom County), so it may be BB and I parted ways long ago. Yet it seems like even Steve Dallas may get a cameo at best in this slog towards death. Not the ending I'd choose for a much broader vision.

Presumably BB wanted a confused jumble. That's what memories tend to be.

Or perhaps this is a prediction of how Sarah Palin will do on the debate this week.

It's interesting to compare with the actual older cartoons. Either these are direct copies or BB just redrew them in his older style.

The Hare Krishna first asked Opus to "make an offering to to a spiritual pilgrim." Then Opus confused Hare Krishnas with Hairy Fishnuts. Then Prayer Temples became Pear Pimples for Hairy Fishnuts.

Finally, the Hare Krishna got angry and said, "Just cough up some dough, Mac."

As for the Moose Shoot, that sort of joke is all over the net now.

In the debates, watch them on C-Span. No highly paid talking heads afterwards, just brief interviews with the campaign staffers. All biased of course.

David Plouffe and David Axelrod are paid to get Obama elected. Steve Schmidt is paid to get McCain elected. Most interesting was David Axelrod.

This is a particularly good "story line". I/we do so hope that you aren't aiming at checking out, but you're doing a fantastic job either way.

Loon, thy name is Sarah!

a "Billy and the Boingers" sweatshirt, I'm really sad to see this end. I feel really bad for B.B. and his medical problems and truely hope that medicine will figure out a way to cure his condition.

I also appreciate what he has done for us, his fans, who have faithfully read his strips, bought his books, and even sweatshirts that make us look completely insane in public.