Same stale thing every week. The straw-man thing functions as useful satire in moderation; maybe it's cathartic to play Republican in argument. A variation of approach may help, but this and Get Your War On have long overstayed their usefulness, in my opinion.

Not that I'm accusing Tom of anything. I'm not. What I am saying is that we're really not progressing very much, and that so much of the news doesn't seem so new anymore, even if it just happened a minute ago.

It's funny, but it hurts. Because I know that it won't make a difference.

Tom's preaching to the choir, of course. What choice does he have? The people who really need to see this sort of cartoon are irrevocably wedded to FOX News.

The triumph of the Endarkenment.

I agree that this is a completely unrealistic depiction of modern journalism. Specifically, most news shows don't even bother with a response from a member of the reality-based community.

Seriously, why?

I, however, still want to have Tom Tomorrow's babies.

If I could have babies, that is.

He's right on, every week.

"Seriously"? If you want a serious answer, then try asking a question that hasn't become an amusing cliche.

What Tom Tomorrow says mirrors the monotonous right wing propaganda it satirizes. That's why it's always the same, because what it satirizes is always the same. The hard-hitting and forthright Anonymous will of course say the same things every week about Tom Tomorrow's cartoons.

but if they ever get rid of Tom the Dancing Bug or the K Chronicles, I'll take to the streets in angry disaffectation.

A few months back I was both irritated and amused when Salon ran a fawning sycophantic article on the slobbering slacker who ghost-draws "The Boondocks" (Aaron something or another?) as if he were the only black cartoonist in America. Meanwhile Salon carries as a regular feature on their very own website one of the best cartoonists in America, who also happens to be black (Keef, of course). More patented Salon suckiness!

To Keef: some of us appreciate you, mang. Don't stop doing what you do.

It's fun to read the replies of people who blast This Modern World for seemingly ignoring the wrongs committed on the other side of the political coin, as they ignore Tom Tomorrow's earlier work, back when Clinton was in office.

What entertainment product with many episodes is not repetitive?

I see a lot of criticism of repetitiveness here of the structure of the strip: debunking propaganda techniques, debunking the cult-like attitudes we see too often in our society today, illustrating the fallacies via caricature.

But the criticism hardly seems fair; everything from the Sopranos (yet another season of the same mob family dealing with mob tensions, occassional violence), to The Far Side (yet more anthropormorphized animals saying something ironic), to Marmaduke (nuff said) - they have structures, yet many enjoy the Sopranos as 'fresh' each season, etc.

Indeed, I think the premise, the structure of This Modern World is itself far better than the typical comic.

It's one thing to set up 'surfer slacker Zonker, right-wing BD, and lefty rational Mike' for years, much less 'the cat likes to eat lasagna', and another to set up the premise of deconstructing propaganda with the right-wing caricatures.

I enjoy its variations on the theme, identifying various techniques used in modern communication.

It seems impressive to me to try to do an ongoing strip at all, much less one with TMW's subject matter.

Even Jon Stewart has to often fall back on the obvious and base for his humor some of the time. Hey, a penis joke...

I agree there is a measure of repetition in the strip. But, art does imitate life. We have been getting the same level of arrogant and divisive rhetoric from the White House ever since the Superme Court coronated Bush as King. The media has not stood up to this president; their spineless approach to news coupled with the demagogic nature of this president have combined to lower the level of public discourse. As such, strips like Tom Tomorrow are like the little boy in "The Emporer's New Clothes". It is a clarion call to remind us that the King is naked, despite his sycophants telling us how beautifully he is dressed.

If the strip gets annoying it is because anyone to the left of Attila the Hun has yet to figure out how to move the public discourse away from the vortex of lies, half-truths and distortions put out by this administration. The democrats have failed to develop a counter agenda and have an annoying lack of confidence in their core beliefs. This is a recipe for allowing Bush to dominate the discussion with hardly a whimper of dissent. If the strip gets annoying ,it is as was written in the comic strip Pogo - "We have met the enemy and it is us."