no, i have not disappeared into my navel

And I will be posting again soon, not that I think anyone believes a word I say anymore, as far as promises to blog go. I have not been writing for a few reasons which I'll try and explain soon. I haven't been sketching either, but I have been cartooning myself into a frenzy, and I'll put up a couple soon, despite the danger that they're unintelligible to anyone but myself. (Tried one out on my folks today. First I had to explain it. Then my mum goes, "Ha, ha. So, which one is supposed to be Bush?". But they're being very encouraging, actually.)
On the subject of toons, I was amazed at the Leak/Herge controversy the other day. I would've thought if anything Bill Leak would be helping to market Tintin, by reminding his newspaper's audience of the classic character. Mightn't the publishers even enjoy a sales spike in Australia from this?
I also enjoyed David's post on the Big Donor. It's not the first time BB has achieved a social purpose, as I vaguely recall there was the UK asylum seeker case but I'll have to dig out the clipping as I've forgotten the details.
And Helen had a fantastic post at surfdom. My thoughts on education are that the Howard Government's tendency to view education simply as a commodity only further entrenches disadvantage, since socio-economically disadvantaged kids can only access poor resources. I don't believe public schools should be devalued to the point where they become a place of last resort, yet the only place for anyone who can't afford to pay a premium for decent schooling. (And Helen, the thing about the Superior Mums was funny. Just recently I had a woman who doesn't like me say, "What, your son still wears nappies sometimes and he's three? Well, my daughter was completely toilet-trained by the time she was two!". To which I didn't retort, "And does it not occur to you that every child is different and such comparisons are arbitrary, you silly twit?").
Well, if anyone's still reading me despite the extended and unexplained absences, I really appreciate it and I'll be back soon. In the immortal words of the PM, trust me...