Tom Toles - WaPo Weasels
02.03.06This is in response to WaPo (Washington Post) Weasel Tom Toles who put this cartoon out and angered the Army and the majority of Americans. Sock it to ‘em, Russ. I love the edge on this piece.
Wanna draw a soldier, Toles? Here I am,
Back with all four limbs from Vietnam.
You wanna draw pictures of fighting men?
Just tell me where and tell me when.
I’ll give you a pose to impress any viewer,
Your punk arty ass comatose in the sewer.
Like all of your kind you don’t have a clue
Who fightin’ men are and what fightin’ men do.That you, your kind, you effete panty waists,
With Hollywood morals, metrosexual tastes,
Would taunt a brave warrior’s fight for life,
Mock his loss, his pain, deride his strife;
And use his sorrow to support your screed,
With no concern for the warrior’s need,
Tells me you are clueless of the facts of war,
You’re a cut ‘n run, spineless, media whore.Go to Walter Reed hospital, smug Mr. Toles,
To see those you’ve mocked, grave injured souls
View wounded warriors with bodies so broken
And think again of the message you’ve spoken,
So abysmally ignorant, so smug condescending
That even most liberals won’t waste time defending.So Toles it’s a fact that your most famous work
Will proclaim you forever as a pitiless jerk.And Washington Post you’re as bad as this weasel
You gave him the forum, provided his easel.Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66
Checkout TCOveride, and Blackfive.
UPDATE »
Russ has received alot of feedback on this particular poem of his, which was denied being published on his home site due to the suggestion of violence in it. (comatose in the sewer) Here is a follow up response and a good read. Going To The Dogs.
Damn, that was intense. That’s the exact response that was needed for something so stupid. Also, like Vaughn said, the washington post is just as responsible for publishing it.
# February 3rd, 2006 at 11:54 amLook What I found…..
Primary Owner: TOLES,THOMAS G
Secondary Owner:
Mail Address: 4625 46TH ST NW
WASHINGTON, DC 20016
Site Address: 4625 46TH ST NW
WASHINGTON, DC 20016
Telephone Number:
APN: 1569- -0015
Reference APN:
Census Tract: 10.017
Housing Tract Number:
Lot Number: 0015
Page Grid Old:
Page Grid New:
Legal Description:
Subdivision:
Property Characteristics
——————————————————————————–
Bedrooms: Year Built: 0 Square Feet: 2,901
Bathrooms: Garage: Lot Size: 4,400 sq ft / 0.10 acres
Total Rooms: Fireplace: Number of Units: 1
Zoning: Pool/View: Use Code: Single Family Residence
Heating/Cooling:
Sale & L0an Information
——————————————————————————–
Transfer Date: 07-08-2002 Seller: Document: 0000078722
Transfer Value: $596,500 Cost/Sq Feet: $205.62 Title Co.:
First L0an Amt: Lender: Nationsbanc Mtg Last Trans W/O$:
L0an Type: Interest Rate Type: Last Trans W/O$ Doc:
Assessed & Tax Information
——————————————————————————–
Assessed Value: $561,460 Percent Improvement: 51.17 Homeowner Exemption: Y
# February 3rd, 2006 at 3:19 pmLand Value: $274,161 Tax Amount: $3,686 Tax Rate Area: 96
Improvement Value: $287,299 Tax Status: current
Woodser, you loan officers have access to such sweet information.
I think it’s time for a road trip guys! I really wanted to see that whole “comatose in the sewers” bit come to be!
# February 3rd, 2006 at 3:28 pmThis info is all public info. You just have to know where to look!!!
# February 3rd, 2006 at 6:45 pmNo telephone #, shame.
# February 4th, 2006 at 2:07 amDude must have a sweet house.
# February 4th, 2006 at 11:10 amI thought the cartoon was criticizing Mr. Rumsfeld’s attitude towards the wounded soldiers, not the soldiers themselves. The point seems to be that Rumsfeld reduces the terrible injuries of the soldier to “battle hardened”…
# February 4th, 2006 at 11:18 am“Last month, in response to a Pentagon-commissioned report that said the Army was stretched so thin that it had become a “thin green line,” Rumsfeld said the war-fighting experience had made U.S. troops “battle hardened” — stronger rather than weaker.” - I think that is the attitude Toles is criticizing.
# February 4th, 2006 at 11:20 amWho cares what he is criticizing? The manner at which he choose to do it was distasteful and demeaning.
Do us a favor “Whatever” and don’t try to justify this scum. It makes you look like an idiot.
# February 4th, 2006 at 1:09 pmoh goodness, i wouldn’t want to look like an idiot.:roll: I just think you’re misreading the cartoon. Are you saying that he shouldn’t depict dismembered soldiers? Because other than that I don’t see how this is insulting to the soldiers. If anything, Toles was trying to highlight Rumsfeld’s lack of regard for the soldiers at Walter Reed.
# February 4th, 2006 at 3:01 pmyea, what was I thinking? You don’t have any shame.
# February 4th, 2006 at 11:16 pmYeah, basically.
# February 5th, 2006 at 1:30 pmRuss definitely has a way with words. I especially like his incredibly colorful (and in no way distasteful) language in the closing paragraphs of “Going to the Dogs.”
# February 6th, 2006 at 12:34 pmThe following is an anouncment to Mr. Whatever: I regret to inform you that your honorary membership to the club known as “People Who Think Before They Type” has just been revoked. This was voted on by our board of directors after reviewing your comments on this post. Our board found that you almost always do not think before typing, and the one time you actually did was just a fluke. You are no longer eligible to recieve any benefits from the club.
membership void as of: 2/6/04
# February 6th, 2006 at 12:43 pmThree things daddy always taught me. 1) Never corner a coward 2) Think before you speak 3) No matter how tough you think you are, there is always someone tougher.
My point is, thank God for our soldiers who are anything but cowards. They are fighting cowards who send innocent kids to blow themselves up. When you speak against such nobility you obviously are not thinking. I once read, “It is better to be a fool in question than to speak and remove all doubt.” Above all… I don’t think I would be coming to a site call “Pass the Ammo” and defend a picture that depicts an American soldier that has given all, as battle hardened. There are other ways to make your point. To place this point in a COMIC setting is sickening. My rant is done.
# February 6th, 2006 at 4:21 pmWell said, well said.
# February 6th, 2006 at 7:46 pmMe- I’m not going to dignify your sorry attempt to craft a seemingly intellectual insult with a response. Your feeble imitation of verbosity does not intimidate me. name-calling is childish.
You never responded to the point I raised after reading the article that Chad attached to this post. What Mr. Toles’ cartoon was referring to, acocrding to that article, was: “Last month, in response to a Pentagon-commissioned report that said the Army was stretched so thin that it had become a “thin green line,” Rumsfeld said the war-fighting experience had made U.S. troops “battle hardened” — stronger rather than weaker.”
So if anyone was diminishing and mocking the sacrifices of the troops, it was the always tactful Mr. Rumsfeld. He’s the one that said that they were “battle hardened”. Whether or not Mr. Toles’s cartoon is offensive is a matter of opinion, but I assert that regardless, he did not intend it to be offensive (except perhaps to Rumsfeld, whom he was trying to criticize.)
# February 7th, 2006 at 4:02 pmWhatever, lay off the kool-aid and the thesaurus. Too much of each will result in a comment much like your previous.
# February 7th, 2006 at 4:29 pm:shock:don’t u love the super sass laid out by the notorious MC JJ. He calls that one hell from above…….
don’t mess with him….or he’ll straight up murder ur ass.:shock:
# February 7th, 2006 at 5:33 pmWhatever, isn’t it amazing how fast you can go from being commended here to being insulted? One rational comment and BOOM! You’re out of the club.
Haha
# February 7th, 2006 at 6:21 pmI don’t think this comment qualify’s as rational.
Obviously Rumsfield wasn’t suggesting that quadruple amputee’s are “battle hardened”. And it is the liberal way of takin Rummy’s words out of context. The thing is, here at PTA, we don’t feel the need to spell the obvious out to you. So if you say something like that, ridicule tends to follow after.
But we always welcome Whatevers and Guavs arguements. At least I do. Helps keep us on our toes.
# February 7th, 2006 at 6:34 pmChad - That attitude “we welcome Whatevers and Guavs” - is one your friends could learn from. Rather than simply call me “french” “stupid” “troll” etc, tell my why I am wrong. The reason I come to this website is because, in the words of one of my friends, Isaac: “We live in a liberal bubble,” and it really annoys me.
Concerning the taking it out of context thing - Of course Toles exaggerates Rumsfeld’s comments - such is the art of political cartooning. While I don’t think the cartoon is particularly intelligent or funny, I don’t think it is intended to offend our troops or anything.
Guav - Yeah, the initiation process for “liberals” here is pretty intense. I’m not sure I was ever in the club, really. But what can you do? Political discourse has become very difficult everywhere. Many of the liberals I know are equally hostile to even the slightest conservative views as these guys are to mine. The other day I was confronted by a woman on the street who was helping organize some “Bush Step Down” rally or some other such cr@p. She loudly informed me that everything from Katrina to Iraq to the Asian tsunami were “genocides”. (I don’t think she understood the word) Sometimes you can tell it’s just not even worth arguing with them. So, I would say the dumbasses are about equally distributed on both “sides”.:roll:
# February 7th, 2006 at 7:51 pmOMG, I am tired of the yappy dribble. Don’t you people take a break? Am I being too anti-liberal here? Am I not being sensitive enough to other’s opinion? Im such a hate-mongering conservative.
# February 7th, 2006 at 8:16 pmGod help us, everyone is offended. According to liberals and Muslim’s this is the greatest sin known to man.
Let us repent!
Cartoon’s of this nature should be expected from this type of newspaper. Getting us worked up about it is the point. So when we argue on and on about it, they’ve won.
I refuse to care what liberals think about the war in Iraq.
# February 8th, 2006 at 4:51 am
Alright JJ, you’re very risque.
# February 8th, 2006 at 7:19 pmRisque? What the hell? I’m gunna have to throw a flag on that play. Thats a 10 yard penalty for improper use of a gay word.
# February 8th, 2006 at 7:28 pmI think that word is french, too… There’s another flag on the play!!!!
# February 9th, 2006 at 2:12 pmwow, the witty retorts just never stop coming.
football reference + homophobia = stimulating intellectual discourse.
i can’t wait to see your next thought-provoking post.
# February 9th, 2006 at 4:27 pmi got one too!
“we don’t like yer kind.”
and what the hell is homophobia??? I think I’m gonna have to do a post on this subject matter.
# February 9th, 2006 at 4:37 pmChad yer so friggin unoriginal. What I wudda done is come back with another insult… maybe make fun of his overuse of the thesaurus and using the words “witty retorts” in a sentence on a manly blog called “Praise the Lord, Pass the Ammo.” I know, I know, everyone can’t be as cool as I am.
And as for Whatever: I’m gunna have to call a 15 yard penalty on the use of the word “homophobia” and “stimulating” in the same sentence. Not to mention that whole “witty retort” comment (thats another 10 yarder.) I might just eject you from the game for unHeterosexuallike conduct.
# February 9th, 2006 at 4:58 pmit more or less means “fear of gay people”. Wikipedia says it’s “irrational fear of or contempt for homosexuality or homosexuals”. I was referring to JJ’s use of the phrase “gay word”, even though that doesn’t really qualify. i try to make snappy comebacks too.
Chad - I’m glad I can provide inspiration for you.:lol:
# February 9th, 2006 at 6:18 pmHey, anyone remember when wikipedia said that some journalist helped assassinate JFK? Yea, how often are they right?
# February 10th, 2006 at 6:53 amI don’t think there’s anything irrational about the reaction to the thought of having some mans johnson stuffed up your cornhole.
# February 10th, 2006 at 5:05 pmthey said “irrational”, not me. although you gotta admit, it’s not as if gay people throw themselves all over straight guys and beg them to “stuff their johnson up their cornhole.”
# February 10th, 2006 at 10:51 pmUmm can we change the subject you bunch of sick and twisted freaks.
# February 11th, 2006 at 9:16 amWhatever you obviously never lived in San Fransisco.
# February 12th, 2006 at 3:11 amhahaha, i guess not.
# February 12th, 2006 at 10:47 am