You have got to be friggin' kidding me

So there's this fella named Tom Toles. He's a political cartoonist whose work appears in the Washington Post and online, among other places. Recently, he drew this:




His point being, according to an Editor & Publisher story,

recent remarks by Rumsfeld about "battle-hardened" troops and "what came soon to mind was the catastrophic level of injuries the Army and members of the armed services have sustained...

So: Maybe not the funniest or most wickedly unerring satire ever published, but really nothing you'd think anyone needs to censor here in America, where at least we know we're free. So naive.

The Pentagon as respresented by The Joint Chiefs Of Staff has sent a letter to the Post complaining about the cartoon. I'm going to say that again, slowly. The Pentagon. Represented by The Joint Chiefs Of Staff. Apparently has nothing better to do than take umbrage at something which, like most political cartoons, would have been glanced and maybe smiled at ruefully, then forgotten.

As John A. says in the AmericaBlog post quoted above,

I have no problem with citizens speaking out about political cartoons they find offensive - hell, we've done it recently with the anti-gay cartoon in the Post. But when the government does it, that's a whole other story that smacks of censorship, especially when that government is the Pentagon threatening you during wartime.

Hey, here's a thought. Now that the Joint Chiefs have addressed the insidious threat cartoons pose to our troops, perhaps they can move on to less pressing issues like getting them their damn body armor.