Right. Two sixty- or seventy-somethings give a rat’s ass about “M.T.V.”
The unseen fourth panel depicts Purple Hat Lady and Tony re-enacting the famous scene in “From Here to Eternity“.
Tag: Tony
Tar Har Har
Batiuk’s attempt to make lemonade out of real-life disaster continues to leave a sour taste. Doonesbury did a terrific job with these events, taking aim at BP as well as at the White House. TB uses the spill as an excuse for more lame wordplay and, of course, smirks.
Hang On, Sploopy
Took me a whole five minutes of research to demonstrate why today’s strip is so much unfunny bullshit.
Q: Do you wash birds as soon as you get them?
A: Not right away. Because oiled birds often suffer from hypo- or hyperthermia and the birds often haven’t eaten in days. They also are dehydrated and exhausted by the time we capture them. They must be stabilized before attempting cleaning. Stabilized birds have a much higher survival rate than birds that are not stabilized prior to being washed.
Q: How much water does it take to clean a bird?
A: The amount of water used depends on the size of the bird, how badly it is oiled and the bird. One pelican can use as many as 300 gallons of water.
Q: Do the animals know that you are helping them?
A: No. They are wild animals and highly stressed by handling and captivity. Although some species will act more friendly as they become accustomed to humans, they need what is termed “flight space”…that allows them to feel comfortable when in the presence of their care takers. Getting too close to them will create a stressful situation and often painful bites to their intruder. Handling and viewing is only done when absolutely necessary in order to minimize stress.
Q: Where do you release them?
A: All rehabilitated animals are released in clean and oil free areas chosen by federal and state trustee agency personnel and IBRRC. If the area that they were captured in is still oiled then the animals are sometimes transported to more remote locations for release.
Washed-up Dreams
Where the hell is OSHA? These old geezers have no business shoveling tarballs under Florida’s August sun. Rubber gloves and boots? No hazmat gear? TB needs to write a story arc where somebody travels to Kilamanjaro: at least he’s been there. The more he tries to inject reality into this strip, the further from reality things get.
Sandgripers
Eleven men were killed and seventeen injured when the oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20. Over the next hundred days, an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico, killing untold numbers of sea creatures, birds and animals. The effects of this unprecedented disaster on the environment, the economy, and the people who live and work in the Gulf region will not be fully understood for decades to come.
Of course, in Batiuk’s worldview, the real victims are those who own vacation homes on Florida’s west coast. Why does everything bad happen to Tony?
Son of Stuck Funky 
