December 3, 2016 – Pack Rat – Political cartons by Michael Ramirez        

          Yesterday I worked so hard in the garden, it reminded me that I am no longer “super woman” and can’t do 6 hours of heavy garden work at one time.  I’ve got to learn to cut it back.  So, I was pretty lame this morning and had to find something easier to do today.  Cleaning out stuff and more stuff – remember I am a Pack Rat.  There is always something to clean out or toss out.

          Lucky me, I unearthed a stash of The Weekly Standard magazine.  It is definitely a conservative Republican slanted weekly magazine.  It has few advertisements and is very slim.  It is just about all “reading” material.

When it arrives, usually on Thursdays, the first thing I do is read The Scrapbook and look for the Ramirez carton which always gives me a good chuckle.  Then, I push work of every nature aside so that I can inhale the contents.  My husband is used to my weekly “date night” with The Weekly Standard. In fact, he always puts The Weekly Standard on the top of the mail pile because he knows I enjoy it so.  He too, often flips inside to take a glance at the political cartoon.

I am not sure why I keep them unless it is the unholy price of the yearly subscription; that is probably what prompts me.  But, it could be the incredible writing skills of the various editors and contributing editors.  Often I find a story so “on point” with my philosophy I read it out loud to my husband.  [He loves that and hates it at the same time.]  It is usually a sentence or two that is a perfect “slice-and-dice” or a stunning touché.  The language is rich and the content remarkable.  However, since my husband doesn’t know the complete context I am pulling it from, it irritates him.

          Also, it is fun to read what my favorite pundits who visit Fox News have written in print.  I fell in love with Fred Barnes years ago. Now, I see Stephen Hayes more and adore him as well.  However, my all-time favorite is Charles Krauthammer.

          So, I flipped through each of the old issues and I cut out the cartoon and made a nice stack of them.  Then I snagged about a dozen articles that I loved.  Two examples are: The Divine Miss H, revisited, by Joseph Epstein and Goodbye to the Shade Tree Mechanic by Geoffrey Norman.

I had over 4 years’ worth in the stash and took the time to flip through them for several reasons.  We will be inaugurating President Donald Trump next month and the last several years I have enjoyed the Political cartoons capturing the Obama administration and all the “foolishness” in Washington.  During the presidential campaign it was even more fun with the caricatures of Hillary and Donald.

I now have a stack of just the cartoons which measure about 5 x 7 inches and one half inch thick that won’t take up much space.  They will give me great pleasure in the future when I flip through them for a trip down memory lane.  This little stack of cartoons boils down the essence of the last several years of political “news events” in a humorous or ironic way.  That is the right way to remember our political past – in a light hearted way then it won’t be so painful.

Now that we have a new President coming on board, it will be just as much fun to see how they poke at President Trump and his minions.  Perhaps this coming year once read I can cut the cartoons out each week and toss the magazine out instead of pack ratting it.  Hey, I am going for a New Years’ Resolution.  This one is doable.  It’s a plan; possibly it will ‘come together’.

If you are unfamiliar with Michael Ramirez, a conservative political cartoonist – you can visit him at his website:

http://www.michaelpramirez.com/index.html

He is awesome.