I have not read Pollan's book, so I don't know whether he deals with this consequence of the US overproduction of corn, but too much cheap US corn + NAFTA = undercutting traditional Mexican corn farmers. Tens of thousands (at least) of corn farmers have been thrown off the land in Mexico since NAFTA corn rules went into effect 15 years or so ago. (This is one of the reasons behind the bump in immigration from Mexico to the US over the same period.) Lower corn prices has had little effect on the urban poor in Mexico; the government subsidizes low-price tortillas. But the effect on the rural poor -- and on Mexico's food security -- has been devastating. Mexico, of course, is where corn was first domesticated several thousand years ago, so it is also the country that has -- or had -- the greatest genetic diversity in corn varieties. At least up to the recent past, every valley in parts of central Mexico grew a different set of corn varieties, each adapted to its own microclimate. If corn is in trouble due to climate change, that is where the solution will be found -- if it isn't too late.

Was it just preadolescent me? The thing that I loved about The Prisoner -- the thing no one has mentioned -- was that it was funny. The perfect parody of a spy serious. (From "they've given you a number and taken 'way your name" in the lyrics to the ludicrously named Secret Agent Man to the anguished and defiant "I am not a number, I am a free man!" in The Prisoner -- who could read that as anything but satire?) At the time, I couldn't have imagined anyone taking the series seriously. Of course it was "non-linear": that was the fun of it! All 1960s humor was non-linear, wasn't it?

Is the remake even remotely funny? Was it made by anyone with a scrap of a sense of humor? Somehow I doubt it. Maybe I'll just wait for the remake of "Peek-a-boo, the Movie."

He pleaded or pled guilty. The slimy little weasel.

The New Salon format has 6 columns. On the comix page, you're using 3 for the comic, 2 for "In the News," and 1 for "Currently in Salon." Nobody seems happy. The comic is WAY too small; on a small screen, hardly more than a thumbnail. How about, instead: the full comic in fulll 6-column banner across the top of the page, and put "In the News" and "Currently in Salon" -- AND links to other recent comix (where'd they go?) -- UNDER the comic. Is that too hard to engineer?

I'm thinking of changing my signature name to "The Customer Is Always Right," just to remind y'all! Thanks for listening... I hope...

For years now the Republicans have been claiming at every opportunity that "this is a center-right country" -- and that theirs is the party that ought naturally to be in power. But no sooner does an actual center-right candidate run under the GOP banner than the right-wingers who actually control the party revolt, calling that center-right candidate (in Malkin's words) "a high-taxing, Big Labor-pandering, bigger government radical."

Every time I hear the "center-right" claim, I point out the logical and obvious truth: if center + right = majority, it is equally true that center + left = majority. The right has just rejected the center in a big way.

Question now: will the left accept a center-left alliance? GOP rejectionism on health care has made the Democrats the de facto majority, center-left party of the US. It is distasteful to purists -- I'd like to see a single-payer system, too -- but them's politics. If things keep going this way -- and if the left learns the right-wing trick of framing their issues as centrist (there's a big if for you) -- I don't see how the GOP can recover on a national level until they get over their little right-wing fit.

If the new format showed the comix at full size and had a button that said "click here to shrink," how many readers would click?

I wish someone at New Salon would just come out and say that this whole redesign is just a way to increase mouse-clicks on the Salon site. Then it would at least make some sense.

Oh, and btw... thanks, Keith, for another great cartoon! We live for your lines...

If you want to see (as opposed to squint at) the comix, use Salon Mobile: http://mobile.salon.com/

(link at sig).

You can see the cartoons better in "Salon Mobile" view. Bookmark this link:

http://mobile.salon.com/topics/comics/

It's the only way to beat the system! (Other than buying a bigger monitor, that is.)

(Link at signature.)

Thank you, Kate Harding, for a nicely balanced commentary on the "crying baby on a plane" issue. ("Crying babies on a plane" -- the sequel to "Snakes on a plane"? Hmm....) A little humanity and grown-upness on all sides (parents and fellow passengers) would go a long way. Harding's humane response is just what we need.

I wish I could say as much for 90% of the letters. What a bunch of jerks. Guess what, guys, those screaming babies will be paying for your Social Security and Medicare a couple of decades from now.

Sometimes the language of Yiddish is the most expressive. I want to be a "nudge" in Copenhagen.

I don't want to be a noodge but you should learn how to spell your Yiddishisms!