Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 - The Mendacity of Hope

What a year 2012 was. A year with genuine hope for change...which never came. Well, there was change, but it was pretty much all for the worse. Still, we have every reason to believe that 2013 will make the previous year look like "the good old days." And just so we don't forget those fun times, here's a look back at some of the precious moments we all shared here on Hope n' Change Cartoons when we weren't drinking.









JANUARY - Barry comes up with a big "jobs plan" to make it easier for foreigners to enter the U.S. with less intrusive security checks under the theory that, given the chance, terrorists would rather see Disneyworld than the 99 virgins.

JANUARY - Barry wasted no time kicking off his campaign goal of turning Americans into bloodthirsty enemies and used the State of the Union speech to attack capitalism and the accumulation of wealth as "unfair" to the envious rabble.
JANUARY - Barry's reelection campaign relied heavily on stoking racial anger. The MSM immediately defined allegedly racist codewords which were offensive to blacks. Conservatives attempts to woo black voters by renaming the "Founding Fathers" the "Consitution Daddies" failed to help.
FEBRUARY - But hey, who needs codewords when you can enjoy blatant anti-white racism? Obama's campaign created a special interest group for blacks only. They also wouldn't let white people use the good drinking fountains.

FEBRUARY - The election was going to be a major battle of dollars and unprecedented mudslinging - both of which could be handled with Super Pacs. Barry had no problem finding donors once it became clear that he pays everything back with interest... using tax dollars for subsidy giveaways.
FEBRUARY - Barry supports the arts by commissioning a fantasy film about his accomplishments. No, we can't actually think of any either, other than his decision to go golfing the morning he could have stopped the mission to kill Bin Laden.  
MARCH - We lost the man we most needed at the time we most needed him. His spirit and work live on, but we'll never know how much might be different today if his voice hadn't been stilled.
MARCH - Barack Obama took to the airwaves to rhapsodize about Trayvon Martin, saying "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." He didn't mention that if he had a son who'd gotten the living hell beaten out of him, he would have looked more like George Zimmerman.
MARCH - With the Senate refusing to pass a budget yet again, Barack Obama submitted one of his own. It made no cuts, raised spending, and was such a joke that it didn't receive a single favorable vote from either party.
APRIL - The Supreme Court decides to consider the Constitutionality of Obamacare. Alleged Constitutional scholar Barack Obama appears stunned to learn of the existence of the Supreme Court, and says that our laws shouldn't be judged by people who aren't elected.
APRIL - It becomes clear that Mitt Romney will be the GOP Presidential candidate, causing Conservatives everywhere to contort their faces into pained smiles in public and drink more heavily in private.
MAY - The Obama campaign released the cartoon series "The Life of Julia," showing that women no longer needed husbands or daddies or paychecks because the government will supply everything. Unfortunately, what the Right saw as a sick joke turned out to be a hugely popular message for young, stupid, irresponsible women.
MAY - Since nobody bothered to vet Barack Barry Hussein Soetoro Obama the first time around, a new attempt was made. But the MSM media was still uninterested in his Marxist/Socialist/Radical roots and writings, his dislike of capitalism and "typical white folks," his fraternization with terrorists, and the fact that he eats dogs.
MAY - Shattering all previous records for lying, the Whitehouse actually made the claim that Obama was the most fiscally conservative president in generations. It was a ludicrous statistical and semantic trick. And the MSM lapped it up.
JUNE - Barry stuns dying businesses and desperate job-seekers by declaring that "the private sector is doing fine," and our actual economic goal should be putting more money into increasing the size of the government.
JUNE - Chief Justice John Roberts casts the decisive vote that Obamacare is Constitutional, as long as the unconstitutional parts are renamed. This is the day that the American medical system died - and with it, any love for Chief Injustice John Roberts.
JULY - The bloodsoaked "Fast & Furious" scandal is big news...except on ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, or any major newspapers or periodicals.  Hundreds are dead - and no one on the Left gives a rat's ass.
JULY - B. Hussein trots out another in a series of dumbass campaign slogans, hoping that one of them will finally stick. Each is retired within a week or two after being used as a rich source of Internet humor.
JULY - Despite letting foreigners into Disneyworld, the jobless numbers continue to suck. Which is why far more people started taking disability payments than getting jobs.
AUGUST - The election campaign was in full feces-flinging mode, and nobody was quicker to sling crap than "Whorehouse Harry" Reid, who claimed to have inside knowledge from his imaginary friend that Romney didn't pay taxes. Reid was lying through his store-bought teeth, but the MSM still treated the story as gospel.
AUGUST - Joe Biden brilliantly combined race hatred AND class envy by telling a black audience that it was Romney's goal to put their asses back in chains.
AUGUST - Barry declared that Romney's plan to build the economy was "trickle down fairy dust." Meanwhile, Barry's plan continued (and continues) to be "borrowing insanely will make everyone rich."
AUGUST - You can't buy votes without goodies, so Obama starts promising mush-headed college students that he's going to grease the skids to help them all get huge, impossible-to-repay college loans. Because that worked so well with mortgages.
AUGUST - To woo the votes of women who can't take care of either their morals or personal plumbing, Barry puts Sandra Fluke on the stump (so to speak) to declare that evil, ring-kissing, Pope-loving Catholics are fighting a war on women by refusing to pay for their $4/month birth control pills.
SEPTEMBER - The Democratic National Convention begins. "Fustercluck" is tried out as a new slogan, but eventually gives way to the entirely meaningless "Forward." Convention speeches center on Obama's personal killing of Osama bin Laden and skull-effing his lifeless corpse, secure in the knowledge that the Muslim world won't take offense.
SEPTEMBER - The GOP's hopes that VP candidate Paul Ryan's detailed and irrefutable math will help win over voters is dashed when it turns out that neither the MSM nor voters have even a vague inkling of how math works.
SEPTEMBER - In a huge campaign scandal, Mitt Romney is caught telling the obvious truth about the fact that Americans who are on the dole are unlikely to vote for him and so aren't the focus of his campaign efforts. The MSM reinterprets this to say that if elected, Romney plans to leave 47% of Americans in shallow graves.
SEPTEMBER - Barack Obama invokes Executive Privilege to hide the blame for "Fast & Furious," although it's unknown whether this is to cover for the guilty parties - or simply to hide the fact that Holder is an inept, incompetent, racist boob.
SEPTEMBER - Following the brutal slaughter of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya on the anniversary of 9/11, B. Hussein goes to the United Nations to try to praise Islam and pin the blame on an Internet video that no one saw (as opposed to the Democratic convention which everyone saw). He additionally suggests that these sorts of unfortunate things are the result of Freedom of Speech.
OCTOBER - Because there were still no answers about why no one came to the aid of Ambassador Stevens despite having warnings, requests for help, and a big screen TV in the Situation Room telecasting his murder, Hillary Clinton is presumably ordered to take the heat off of Obama by claiming responsibility and flying to Peru.
OCTOBER - In one of the few brief shining moments of 2012, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama meet for the first presidential debate and Mitt absolutely hands Barry's ass to him. The Socialist-in-Chief comes off as a total doofus who speaks a lot and says nothing at all.
OCTOBER - The president's campaign introduces "The New Economic Patriotism," which essentially says that unless you let the government take all of your earnings for redistribution, you're not a patriot.
OCTOBER - Any momentum Mitt Romney may have been generating gets derailed when Hurricane Sandy blows in, giving Barry a chance to plaster his "sad face" all over the news while promising weeping storm victims that he'll cut through government red tape and make everything right as soon as he's finished giving Governor Chris Christie an oil-scented massage.
NOVEMBER - Election day has nearly arrived. A chance to finally right the wrongs of the past four years, as long as it's the political will of the stupidest voters on Earth.
NOVEMBER - Obama wins reelection, handily earning the votes of blacks who he told to hate whites, women who he told to hate men, poor people who he told to hate the middle class, middle class people who he told to hate the rich, young people who he told to hate old people, Hispanics who he told to hate English-speakers, and liberals who he told to hate everything America has ever stood for.
NOVEMBER - Freed by the election from the shackles of reality, Tim Geithner announces that the way for America to avoid hitting the debt ceiling is not to spend less - but to eliminate the debt ceiling entirely, borrow insanely, and hope that the Mayans were right about an asteroid coming to destroy the Earth in December.
DECEMBER - Unfortunately, the Mayans were wrong and Americans need to do something about the fiscal cliff. Or, of course, not.  After campaigning for over a year on the promise to raise taxes on "millionaires and billionaires," Obama is offered a deal which raises their taxes but spares most small businesses. Barry reveals that he had his fingers crossed.
DECEMBER - Just when we think 2012 couldn't possibly suck any harder, a lunatic brutally murders 20 young children and 6 adults just days before Christmas. The Obama Administration and MSM enthusiastically pounce on the deaths to attack the 2nd Amendment and set the wheels in motion for gun-seizing programs in 2013.



DECEMBER 31, 2012 - Hope n' Change Cartoons pops the cork on a bottle of bubbly (better than bursting a blood vessel) and lifts a toast to our many friends and supporters who helped make this year tolerable (or nearly so) and who will continue fighting the good fight in 2013, occasionally ripping out a sonorous, champagne-flavored burp as we storm the ramparts.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
FROM STILTON JARLSBERG
& HOPE N' CHANGE CARTOONS

25 comments:

drjim said...

Thanks for 12 wonderful months, Stilton.

I hope you and yours have a very Happy New Year!

Well....happy at least until all those new taxes kick in.....

SusieBee said...

I loved the "year in review" - now I'm bracing myself for 2013. Thanks for doing what you do, Stilton!

Grafton Cheddar said...

Thank you, Stilton. Happy New Year to you and yours and everybody here!

What a moment to be alive, eh? I look at the subjects of the cartoons for the year, and it becomes real clear that for Dear Leader, it has all been about divisiveness and how to best perpetrate it. You really have to take a step back and ask, "How the f--- did we get ourselves to this point?" That's all this guy is about.

Poised on the brink of national disaster, yesterday we get Big Guy's wide ranging take on the state of his kingdom and its minions (us), befouling the airwaves of NBC (oh, wait a minute, you can't do that: they're already befouled) with load upon load of fresh steaming BS, all of which is greedily gobbled up by David Gregory (whom I am more and more convinced has a touch of simian DNA, a gorilla in the woodpile somewhere back there, perhaps). And now the tragic news that Hillary is about to be "Fosterized" at New York Presbyterian Hospital. So much for getting at the truth about Benghazi - she should have stayed in Peru.

And all of the above happening while the world has somehow managed to keep from self-destructing in 2012 (totally, I mean), postponing all of the really major terrors (jeez, like Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Syria, etc.) to a later date when "leading from one's behind" will assumedly have begun to bear "fruit", whatever delicacy that may turn out to be. Such a rosy picture to look forward to. Pop the friggin' cork!

Jim Hlavac said...

Well, Happy New Year,
Stilt and All ...
I had always wanted to live in what the Chinese call "interesting times." It's getting more "interesting" by the moment; 2013 bodes even more, um, "interesting" things -- and I look forward to the, um, cheesy take on things around here.

On the bright side, the nation has shown itself quite resilient in the face of the destructive policies -- and I'm still not sure the Democrats will be able to completely destroy the nation, even with all the help the Republicans seem intent on offering.

Perhaps there's still some kick in Lincoln's old adage about fooling all the people all the time -- but, well, these "good times" can't last -- and I foresee more the collapse of the two parties than I do the collapse of the nation. But, I am an incurable optimist, so don't quote me. Just pop a cork and drink some bubbly -- it's about all one can do at the moment.

John the Econ said...

The amazing thing about America is that it keeps chugging along, even with the mass of self-serving incompetents attempting to lord over us all. We have a business hating President and congress, and yet we still manage to grow at 1% or so. Amazing.

The only question is just how miserable are those who support the Progressive agenda going to be made by the Progressive agenda before they figure it out. That's why I'm looking forward to the faux "fiscal cliff". I like the idea of the "middle class" getting hit with thousands of dollars in new taxes. Perhaps then at least some of them will get over this fantasy that someone else will pay their "fair share" for them, and get concerned about the massive spending and waste that is the Federal government.

Of course, if there is a deal made today, it will only be theater. There will be no real long-term solutions found to the real problem (out of control and unsustainable entitlements) and we'll just plod along for another 4 years or so until we elect some actual adults, or just a new generation of children.

Either way, here's looking to 2013.

Coon Tasty said...

Happy New Year to you, SJ! Many thanks for the many, many laughs you've given us all.

May 2013 bring unprecedented woes to the Obama Administration.

Irene Peduto said...

Stilton - your choices for the year in review are thoughtful & reflect the truth while exposing the propaganda from the WH & the MSM - all of them! If only we lived in an America that still had real values - like those gotten from Aesop's Fables (Aug. selection) - of course O never heard them since he was never a mainland kind of guy & his mom was too busy hanging around Frank Marshall Davis - but that's not a story we will ever hear from O's followers. Your comments on O's lack of support for his so-called budget, no real vetting despite so much controversial associations & such, calling him the "most fiscally conservative in generations", & his attacks on the basis of race & class were the tip of the iceberg. What lies beneath will continue to show itself as the next four years slug along.
I want to believe America can survive this, but I'm really not certain anymore. The will of The People is such that they believe the lies perpetuated by everyone who has access to the media - and so it very sadly does go.....
Glad to see this year come to an end - soooo hoping 2013 brings some glimmer of real hope!
Happy 2013 to all - hoping for serendipitous events early on in O's admin. which turn the course of events.......

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@WMD- (Who commented when I accidentally put this page up a day early, but whose comment is worth sharing)

Happy New Year Stilt et al..!
I realize this site is secular but God help us all.
We're going to need all the help we can get.

@drjim- I'm not very worried about the new tax rates, owing to my clever strategy of being hugely underpaid.

@SusieBee- I think "bracing ourselves" is all we can do.

@Grafton Cheddar- I've got to admit that reviewing last year's cartoons to create today's overview was pretty depressing because of its tremendous clarity: Obama (and his minions) spent the entire year dividing our nation so he could reap the benefits on election day. And in the meanwhile, everything the president has touched has gotten worse, usually by design.

@Jim Hlavac- Your optimism is appreciated and duly noted. And with apologies to the Chinese, I'd be tickled pink to live in less interesting times.

@John the Econ- There are many Americans who will keep striving, building, earning and accomplishing unless they're stopped at gunpoint, and I'm grateful for every one of them.

It will be interesting to see if anything happens on the fiscal cliff today; I'm guessing some meaningless little stopgap measure. But I'd prefer that the GOP stands firm and says that if Obama wants to punish wealth creation, then let him do it at every level and see how it plays with the public.

@Coon Tasty- I'd like 2013 to be the first of four utterly horrible years for the Obama administration (but not necessarily the rest of America).

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Irene Peduto- In reviewing my cartoons for 2012, I wish I'd found a pattern of my being paranoid, over-worried, or just wrong about the news of the day. But sadly, everything stands up just fine. Not because I'm any mental whiz, but because the truth isn't hard to see once you decide you're willing to see it.

But 2013 is a new and unsullied year. And I'm hoping that at least some of its surprises will be good ones.

rickn8or said...

Happy (and hopefully Prosperous!) New Year to you and yours and all y'all here!

Necron99, Rebel with a Cause said...

Dr. Jarlsberg, I know I have said this over & over, but allow me to say it yet again; Thank Your Sir!!!

Thank you for your diligence in maintaining this site, your tenacity at fending off libtard trolls, your unclouded eye for reporting facts, your unflinching resolve to deliver the truth, your unrepentant love for our nation, and most of all..., for your ability to weave humor into the wretched acts of villainy daily perpetrated by '0' and his gang of scurrilous thugs & sycophants.

May Hope n' Change continue to be a shining beacon of lucidity in these 'Interesting Times' of libtard generated devisiveness and destructive 'progressive' bullshit.

Thank You Sir.

And Thank You as well to Everyone who posts comments here. Ya'll have expanded my knowledge base, provoked me to consider new ideas, and both warmed & broken my heart with your personal experiences.

You have all provided me with a reason not to give in to complete and utter disgust, but rather to remain stalwart. Dr. J, fellow posters, you make me a better person.

And for that I am eternally grateful.

Your Obedient Servant, Necron99

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@rickn8or- And to you, sir!

@Necron99- Aw shucks, and sincere thanks for your very kind words.

And this site really is about a great community of people who make this a richer and more meaningful place than I could ever create on my own. I can't tell you how much I value everyone here - and my gratitude at knowing that none of us has to head into 2013 without friends at our sides.

TrickyRicky said...

Thanks Stilton for helping all of us remain hopeful in the face of an horrendous, unthinkable decline in our great country. Being able to face what we are up against with humor and hope have been the hallmark of our success as a nation for many generations. Long may we continue to overcome the worst instincts that the dems/progs/socialists/Marxists try to cultivate on a daily basis.

It's No Gouda said...

Best Wishes for the New Year to all.
Here's hoping the Champagne will give us all a "positive outlook" other than being positive that 2013 is going to suck like a Dyson vacuum.
Stilton: Thanks for the year in review, being somewhat of a latecomer (Oct. or so) to "Hope 'n'Change" I really appreciate it. I always liked the current stuff so much I neglected to go to the archives to catch up on previous work. Keep up the good work!

Earl said...

Stilton - Your year in review had me foaming at the mouth calling Obama and cronies a "lying pack of feral dogs." (No disrespect to canines.) And thinking somewhat worse things about the MSM and voters. I have no doubt we'll see more Bark Obama cartoons since the alleged president can't tell the truth about anything. Thank YOU from all of us for being brave enough to do what the professional media and cultural icons won't.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@TrickyRicky- I believe there's power in laughter, if only to make our opponents nervous. It also helps if you develop an interesting facial tic.

@It's No Gouda- I thought the "year in review" format would be handy for bringing newer readers up to speed with the admittedly odd mindset around here. All of the cartoons from the past four years are in the archives- AND I like to remind people that there's a little search box in the lefthand column that lets you do keyword searches in case you want to track what's been said previously. It's fun (well, sort of) to look up things like "unemployment," "clinton," "stimulus," or whatever to see how clearly everything was predicted (or predictable) years ago.

@Earl- Thanks for the kind words, and rest assured that we haven't seen the last of Bark Obama. And if I can find a more insulting character, you'll see that too.

Cookie said...

SJ--I'm not a drinker, but after reviewing the year and contemplating what might be ahead, I may have to take it up! I'm kidding, of course, but I may just end up drowning my sorrows tonight in too much hot chocolate! Thanks so much for helping us all make it through these times that try our souls. And may I echo the request again, "May God have mercy on us all!" Happy New Year to all! God bless the USA!

CenTexTim said...

Geez, after looking back at 2012 in all its disheartening totality, the only thing I can think of is this quote from good ol' Willie Shakespeare:

"Come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness."

In any event, my sincerest wishes to our host and the members of this special community for a very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous 2013.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Cookie- My purpose on this site isn't to encourage the abuse of alcohol...it just seems to be one of those "unintended consequences" things that comes with paying too much attention to the news. That being said, I just bought a fresh box of mint hot cocoa mix to get 2013 started off right.

PRY said...

Yeh, the stock of many booze companies has probably gone up considerably...ha!
Seriously, take my wife....please! No, just thanks for all you do, Stilt, and everyone else...I enjoy being a part of this great buncha folks, this blog is like no other, thank God! Here's to a more sane year, not holding my breath, just reminding everyone...even though it seems like all is lost, it is not, because God is still in control. May not be much comfort to some, but it is true. Happy New Year!
Isn't Kwanzaa still in effect? Haapy Kwanzaa too! Love that word...Kwanzaaaaa!

Chuck said...

@Stilton said: “… precious moments we all shared here on Hope n' Change Cartoons when we weren't drinking.”
WHO wasn’t drinking (other than Cookie, I mean … cocoa works too)? I can multi-task … and pretty much had to this year!

Totally awesome collection today, Dr. Jarlsberg, and I can see you really worked hard on putting this together for us … and we appreciate it. I know you don’t necessarily ascribe to my religious beliefs, but I hope you won’t mind:

God. Bless. You!

You have helped me personally more than you can possibly know over these last years, and I need that help to continue … believe me! And that goes for all of you here, too.

A toast to you, my friends: my “coffee” of choice for this toast is Crown Royal (Toblerone dark for Cookie … goes well with CR)… at midnight (Eastern Time). Cheers to everyone!

One day, I hope we can gather and have a real toast together.

REM1875 said...

I want to thank each and every one of y'all especially Doc for helping me stay sane (ok ok not as crazy) through this difficult year. I look forward and rely on y'alls sage advice and alternate view to help me get through the trying times ahead. I really do need and appreciate each and every one. The REM1875 household wishes y'all a blessed New Year.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@PRY- I'm sometimes wondered if I should just take my retirement savings and fill a rental storage unit or two with cheap booze that I can barter with in the future. Though there are probably laws against anything so practical.

And I believe Kwanzaa is still in effect, and in a show of loving multi-culturalism I will drink a toast (or six) to it tonight!

@Chuck- Just for the record, prayers, blessings, and good wishes of all kinds are gratefully accepted and much appreciated. I'm not religious but neither am I a complete a-hole (well, depending on who you ask).

And believe me, the beneficial effects of our little community flow both ways. Remember when I announced I was cutting back to posting one day per week soon after the election? I think I subsequently missed one day and still managed to post four cartoons that week. And now I'm back to the MWF thing because, darn it, I like spending time with my friends.

And one of these days, it would be great for a bunch of us to gather together in person. Perhaps we can all be put in the same cellblock in Guantanamo? (Kidding, I hope!)

Queso Grande, now with nuts! said...

I'm constantly, and happily amazed at how our host is able; in 3 panes, to make so much sense, be so absolutely dead on, using such biting sarcasm in regards to the curent state of the State, You are one of the few things that have made my year palatable. Thank you, SIr. Thank you.
It refreshes my sense of (Gah, I hate using this word anymore) hope for our Country to be allowed to join in the colloquy of such fine, educated, articulate and humorous people as all the commenters here as well. It too has been a 'point of light' in my year. To all of
you, Thank you.

To everyone, and their families, friends and anyone they care about I wish a hearty, healthy & prosperous Happy New Year!!

Keep the Faith!! Fight the Good Fight!!

Queso Grande, Central NJ's fightinest' Conservative Civil Servant.

Anonymous said...

And a Happy New Year!