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Conan O'Brien is the real villain in the "Tonight Show" controversy, contrary to the claims of his supporters. Several years ago O'Brien bamboozled NBC into taking the "Tonight Show" away from Jay Leno and giving it to him in spite of the fact that Leno had been leading his time slot for years. That's the equivalent of benching Bret Favre to play a quarterback who has never made the playoffs.

Shortly before the transition from Leno to O'Brien someone at NBC figured out Leno was one of the few at the network who could actually win his time slot. NBC decided to put him on in prime time even though variety shows, except for contest shows like "American Idol", hadn't worked in prime time for years.

The gamble didn't work. NBC lost viewers in both time slots and local affiliates complained because they were losing viewers.

Late local news programs are often considered relatively equivalent by viewers. Many viewers will watch whichever news program comes on after the prime time program they watched or before the late program they want to watch, particularly considering that there may not be any commercials between the end of one program and the start of the next. Many of those viewers who switched to David Letterman for late night viewing may have switched news programs as well.

Conan O'Brien complained because he had "only" seven months to show what he could do with the "Tonight Show". He ignored the fact that prime time television shows are typically only given about seven months to convince a network to give the show another season. Jay Leno would have been justified in protesting his removal from the "Tonight Show" because he was dominating the time slot at the time. O'Brien has nothing to complain about because he failed to match Leno's success.

Unlike the previous two Tonight Show hosts, O'Brien had been doing a similar show for several years. Johnny Carson had been doing a game show when he was given the job. Jay Leno had guest hosted the Tonight Show, but had never had a show of his own.

O'Brien's failure to match Leno's audience indicates he wasn't ready for that time slot. He should not have been surprised that NBC wanted him to move back and let Leno take over the first 30 minutes after the local news..

O"Brien basically said NBC wasn't big enough for both him and Leno. NBC has recognized that Leno is more valuable to the network than O'Brien and is doing what it should have done years ago, let O'Brien go somewhere else.

CBS's David Letterman and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel have sided with O'Brien for obvious reasons. The last thing they want is to have to compete with Leno again.

For example, Letterman, who hasn't been paying attention, on his Jan. 19 program he suggested that Leno should have just left NBC. The people at NBC have learned something since Letterman left. They had Leno under contract to prevent him from doing that. They gave him the prime time show to keep him from attempting to go to another network like Fox. Leno essentially threatened to go to Fox in his monologue after NBC cancelled his prime time show. NBC recognized that letting Leno go elsewhere would hurt their ratings and decided to put him back in at least part of his old time slot to keep him at NBC. O'Brien issued the ultimatum, essentially saying the network wasn't big enough for him and Leno and NBC said "okay, you leave."

It is becoming increasingly clear that in western society the inmates are running the asylum. The idiot elite that holds power in most western nations have demonstrated their insanity by accepting the outright lie that the essential atmospheric gas carbon dioxide is a undesirable pollutant that needs to be regulated.

The scam begun by the crooked Enron corporation in the 1990's falsely claims that very slight increases in CO2 would substantially raise air temperatures. Enron, and its successors, hoped to profit from trading carbon credits like it had profited from trading credits in sulfur dioxide, a byproduct of coal combustion. http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2009/05/29/lawrence-solomon-enron-s-other-secret.aspx

The scientific fact is air temperatures would rise substantially if atmospheric CO2 were to decline to a point insufficient to support plant life. Areas of bare ground are significantly hotter than comparably located plant covered ground because bare ground converts the solar radiation to heat.

CO2 is essential to functioning of the biosphere. Plants store solar radiation by converting atmospheric CO2 to complex carbon molecules instead of converting it to heat. The energy is stored in the form of the electron bonds that hold the molecules together. Plants also reflect solar radiation back into space, further reducing solar heating. http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1625289-CO2-Is-Essential-to-Biosphere

Those who talk about global warming have failed to provide any evidence of significant temperature change. They claim (depending on the source) only about a 0.5 - 0.7 C increase in temperature which is only a 0.23% change [Note: per cent changes are calculated using the Kelvin scale because of the arbitrary zero point of the Celsius scale - the only thing you can have less than nothing of is money.]

Such a small change could easily be the result of changes in equipment or the characteristics of measuring sites.

The claim about CO2 causing warming by trapping IR ignores the fact that physicist R. W. Wood demonstrated in a 1909 experiment that trapping IR did not heat greenhouses as many in the 19th Century had believed and thus the process could not heat the atmosphere either. http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1181679-Earths-Energy-System

Those who talk of magical greenhouse gases have no understanding of the complexity of earth's energy system. http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1181679-Earths-Energy-System

Earth gets virtually all of its heat from the sun and changes in heating are most likely caused by variations in solar output than human activity. If human activity is affecting temperature the most likely mechanism would be the heat generated by human activity or changes in the thermal characteristics of the landscape.

Except in tropical areas the human body is hotter than the air most of the time. Human activities such as cooking and operation of mechanical devices generates additional heat. Pavement produces more heat than plant covered areas.

Any Western leaders who think they can benefit from the adverse economic consequences of restrictions on CO2 emissions should be taken to the Happy Home by those nice young men in their clean white coats.

Western leaders who think an economic calamity can benefit them are living in the wrong century. Any economic collapse in the West would speed up the process of shifting the economic center of gravity from the West to Asia. China is already benefitting from the West's economic mistakes and is moving toward controlling the American economy by buying American assets and becoming the creditor for its government.

ABC has run promos for All My Children (AMC) that are obviously false. I initially thought I wouldn't post this on blogs other than the one at Soap Central because it involves a show with fewer viewers than live in the 33rd most populous state, Arkansas. However, I realized that a network that will lie in promos for one show will likely lie in promos about other shows.

ABC claimed that the program would reveal the "real killer" of the character Stuart Chandler in the May 15 episode. Judging from the shows that have appeared thus far this month, AMC is not going to reveal the real killer.

Instead the head writer of AMC Charles "Chucky" Pratt Jr. has decided to name someone who could not possibly have committed the crime as presented in May. He has in effect rewritten the scene so that three characters who were pointing guns at the victim before the shooting just disappeared.

Viewers probably shouldn't have been surprised at this blatant disception. AMC had promoted the May 15 episode as having a major character being killed. Instead, the victim was a character who had been appearing only infrequently.

David Canary convincingly played both the major character Adam Chandler and his physically identical twin brother Stuart. They were opposites in terms of personality. Adam is a ruthless control freak who is usually seen wearing a coat and tie. Stuart was the "nicest guy in town" who was usually more casually dressed.

The writers initially made it appear that Adam had been killed, but the characters subsequently discovered that Stuart was the victim. Deception within a show is a acceptable dramatic device, but deception to get people to watch is a form of fraud. Producers of a commercial product who used similar advertising might face criminal prosecution.

In the murder scene three people [one (Kendall Slater) outside and two (Zach Slater and David Hayward) inside] are shown pointing guns at the man they believe to be Adam Chandler but actually is his twin brother Stuart wearing his suit coat. The inside lights have been turned off by another character as part of another story line. Exterior lights appear to still be on and there is occasional lightning.

The camera doesn't show the actually shooting, but a hole in a glass terrace door indicates the shot came from outside. The murder weapon is the revolver held outside by Kendall, the mother of Zach's child and occasionally his wife.

In the next episode, Zach fires the murder weapon within the vicinity of a police officer and then surrenders when he realizes he cannot get away with the revolver. Zach then confesses to the murder to the police chief Zach owns the local casino with an occasional implication he could be a possible "relative" of Tony Soprano. Police chief Jessie Hubbard subsequently reveals that fingerprints of both Kendall and Zach are on the murder weapon.

Zach and Kendall wanted to kill Adam because they falsely believed that a faulty heart valve made by Adam's company had caused the death of their infant son. They didn't know a doctor had revived the son after they have left for the Chandler mansion.

After the shooting Kendall is shown fleeing the murder scene with long time friend and occasional lover Ryan Lavery. When they arrive at the hospital to check on Kendall's son, Kendall remarks to Ryan "I need to remember why we did this.[kill the man they believed to be Adam]." Ryan replies, "you didn't kill Adam, Zach did."

Ryan's statement may indicate a conspiracy in which Zach has decided to take the fall for the crime to protect the mother of his child. Both statements indicate knowledge of the crime that they could only have gained by at least witnessing it.

Sometime later Kendall confesses to the murder just before the DA plans to prosecute her. Kendall and Zach subsequently remarried so they could not be compelled to testify against each other.

The recent portrayal of the murder has Adam Chandler standing outside where Kendall was and pointing the gun inside. The writers want us to believe he shoots his twin under the delusion he is shooting himself.

There has been a suggestion that he was shooting at his reflection in the glass terrace door which would have made it impossible for him to have hit his brother who was off to the side and out of that line of fire. The limited lighting inside, from a fireplace, makes it unlikely he would have thought his brother was himself, although someone expecting to see Adam in the room might have falsely assumed the white "mane" of hair meant the man was Adam.

Considering that at least five people were looking for Adam at the time, it is virtually impossible for him to have been in that location without being seen. If he had pointed the gun toward the inside, the two armed men inside would have seen him easily and opened up on him knowing that they could have claimed to have fired in self defense.

If he had committed the crime how would Kendall and Ryan have known about it and how would Zach have obtained the murder weapon? If Adam killed Stuart why weren't his fingerprints on the gun along with Zach's and Kendall's?

AMC has become an Alice in Wonderland type world presided over by its own Mad Hatter, head writer "Chucky" Pratt. The writers are apparently incapable of coming up with a new story line to replace the murder one, so they are artificially perpetuating the Stuart murder story line by changing what happened and deliberately lying by claiming they are now identifying the real killer.

Those of us who remember the murder episode know that the writers are lying about the possibility of Adam Chandler being the "real killer". Unfortunately. those who didn't see it or have forgotten what happened in the murder episode may be deceived by these claims and watch the farce the program has become. We cannot be sure that AMC won't come back in another month or two and claim someone else is the "real killer"

Incidentally. I am continuing to watch the program as an historian who is interested in the decline of network television. If I had been a fan of the show I would have given up on it long ago due in part to the highly repetitive dialogue of some characters.

In the long run successful advertising depends upon the credibility of the advertiser. ABC as an advertiser no longer has any credibility.

A network that lies about what will happen on one show will lie about other shows. It probably isn't illegal for television networks to falsely advertise programs. The only recourse for viewers is to ignore promos by networks that have been known to lie.

I wouldn't watch any ABC program based on an ad on the network. For that matter, I wouldn't attend, rent or buy a new Disney movie based on advertising because I don't believe I can trust ABC Disney to tell the truth.

I wonder how many people realize that the "new" series "V" is actually a remake of an 80's series of the same name. The new series may, or may not, be consistent with that series.

Broadcasters receive licenses based on serving the public interest. A network that lies to attract viewers is not acting in the public interest. The FCC should consider revoking ABC's license allowing it to own individual television stations.

Supporters of convicted criminal, movie director Roman Polanski believes he should be allowed to get away with skipping out on sentencing 32 years ago. He had originally been charged with giving a 13-year-old aspiring model champagne and part of a Quaalude and then raping and sodomizing her among other charges in spite of her pleas that he stop. According to the girl's grand jury testimony he photographed her topless, ostensibly for a magazine, and then had her completely disrobe before attacking her.

He managed to plea bargain the charges down to a simple unlawful sex with a minor charge. However, he fled the country when it appeared the judge might sentence him to a longer jail term than what he had agreed to in the plea bargain.

As many people know, male Hollywood producers, directors, etc. have long had a reputation for requiring woman who wanted to succeed to grant them sexual favors via the casting couch. Polanski possibly thought this tradition meant he could get away with attacking a young girl who wanted to become a model.

40-year-old men who rape 13-year-olds usually are sexual predators who have preyed on more than one girl. I wonder if there are other girls who were raped by Polanski but didn't report it because they were ashamed, considered rape part of the cost of getting in show business, felt it wouldn't do any good to charge someone so well known or were paid to forget the incident.

Polanski has avoided arrest for 32 years because France allows it criminals to return home without fear of being extradited for their crimes. French leaders apparently believe it is perfectly acceptable for French citizens to rape American girls.

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand was quoted in French media as saying, "In the same way that there is a generous America that we like, there is also a scary America that has just shown its face." French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told France-Inter radio that he and Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski asked Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that Polanski be released on bail, calling his arrest a "bit sinister."

French opposition shouldn't be too surprising considering the country's past support for accused artists.

Polanski has been flaunting the law for 32 years. It's time for him to be returned and serve out his sentence.

Ordinary citizens who have done the same have been required to return to jail. Why shouldn't big shot film makers?

Are entertainers in particular or the rich in general above the law? Are they only required to pay compensation to their victims and check into rehab when they get caught breaking the law? Do the entertainers who support Polanski believe rape of children by film directors is acceptable behavior?

It's not like Polanski questioned the charges by attempting to establish his innocence in a trial like Michael Jackson did. Jackson challenged the charges against him and the jury found him not guilty. Polanski readily admitted his guilt by agreeing to a plea bargain that implied only a minor violation of the law.

Lucas Wondra has achieved something only about 4 % of those who enter scouting achieve. He has achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.

His achievement is particularly significant because the 16-year-old Hutchinson (Kansas) High School student has the genetic disorder Down Syndrome. Lucas is one of many who are demonstrating that individuals with Down Syndrome can be productive members of society. Maybe they are not capable of performing brain surgery or becoming professional athletes, but then neither are the vast majority of the rest of us.

Individuals with Down Syndrome have an extra copy of chromosome 21 , a condition called trisomy 21, which can cause physical and mental disabilities because having three copies of some genes interferes with the normal operation of cells and development. Down Syndrome children may not be geniuses, but many of them are able to attend classes with other students instead of being limited to special education classes as was once the case.

The cause of the extra copy of the chromosome is unknown, but it is known that an extra copy may be received from one of the parents or the extra chromosome may appear during the embryonic stage of development resulting in some cells with the extra copy and some with only two copies of chromosome 21. The possibility of an extra chromosome developing in embryonic cells is a major reason why embryonic cells may be unsafe to use in treating human disorders

Lucas isn't the first Scout with Down Syndrome to earn the rank of Eagle Scout. For example, Adam Townsend of Mesquite, Texas, became an Eagle Scout on June1, 2009. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-eaglescout_01met.ART.State.Edition1.5084f30.html

A. J. Trueblood of Lakeland, Florida, became an Eagle Scout in August, 2006. http://www.theledger.com/article/20060814/NEWS/608140355?Title=Disabled-Teen-Becomes-Eagle-Scout

Clayton "Trey" Henderson of Ridgeview High School in Orange Park, Florida, became an Eagle Scout in April, 2006. http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/040106/nec_21499327.shtml

Down Syndrome scouts have to meet the same requirements as other Eagle Scouts if they are physically able to do so. A. J. Trueblood didn't even mention that he had Down Syndrome on his application.

Lucas is unable to swim so he substituted a 20 mile hike. He also completed five 10 mile hikes. I don't know if I even hiked 20 miles when I took basic training in the army, although it sometimes felt like 20 miles.

Lucas is physically unable to speak but can communicate using sign language and a PDA with voice software. He used the PDA to communicate with a congregation while serving as a chaplain's aide including offering a thought for the day and leading in the Lord's Prayer.

Many of those with Down Syndrome never had the opportunity for achievement that these Eagle Scouts had because their mothers listened to ignorant, prejudiced doctors and others who persuaded them to have abortions. Many share the prejudiced (or is it bigoted) view of Nicholas Provenzo that "a person afflicted with Down syndrome is only capable of being marginally productive (if at all) and requires constant care and supervision." http://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/2008/09/palins-down-syndrome-child-and-right-to.htm

Provenzo obviously doesn't understand what those with Down Syndrome can do. I wonder how many of those who think Down Syndrome individuals cannot do anything had the drive to become Eagle Scouts.

Perhaps the lamest argument for aborting Down Syndrome babies has been suggested to students on more than one occasion by University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Professor Albert K. Harris. "In my opinion, the moral thing for older mothers to do is to have amniocentesis, as soon during pregnancy as is safe for the fetus, test whether placental cells have a third chromosome #21, and abort the fetus if it does. The brain is the last organ to become functional." http://www.newsobserver.com/news/health_science/story/947991.html

"I know somebody who had a child like this, and it ruined their life," he said.

Down Syndrome babies do require more time and effort than some other babies, but that doesn't mean they should not have the opportunity to be born and live.

Active "normal" children may actually require more supervision than Down Syndrome children because they may be physically able to get into dangerous situations faster than Down Syndrome children.

Potential parents who are concerned that a child with Down Syndrome might require more of their time should reconsider the decision to become parents. Down Syndrome isn't the worst thing that can happen to a child.

A child could be afflicted with a fatal form of cancer or Muscular Dystrophy. A child might be severely injured in an accident or abducted.

A child might require greater effort from parents because of hyperactivity or autism. A "normal" child may decide to get involved with drugs or gangs.

These and many other problems that can occur with children can adversely affect families, but the problem isn't with the children. Major illness of the death of a child from any cause potentially can destroy a family if parents start playing a blame game. The problem in these situations is with parents who cannot accept adversity.

Sue Thomas was born in May, 1950, and was a normal child until she suddenly lost her hearing at 18 months. The "experts" told her parents that she would never amount to anything and should be institutionalized. Her parents ignored the advice and made sure that she had the opportunity for as normal a life as possible including attending school with children who could hear.

At the age of 7 she became the youngest Ohio Champion free style skater in history. In 1979, she became part of an elite FBI surveillance team. In 2002 a tv series Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye debuted based on her career, although many of the episodes dealt with the type cases facing the FBI at the time of the series rather than cases from the 80's. The Gospel Music Channel is bringing that series back on September 14.

Some people try to define others by what they cannot do instead of what they can do. Lucas Wondra, Adam Townsend, A.J. Trueblood and Clayton Henderson have done something I couldn't have done when I was their age. They have become Eagle Scouts.

I was a Cub Scout, but my family moved to another town when I was in the 6th grade and I never became a Boy Scout. Even if I had participated, I doubt that I could have fulfilled the requirements for an Eagle Scout because I was the stereotypical "98 pound weakling" in high school.

I cannot play a musical instrument like Sarah Itoh who has Down Syndrome and who was playing the clarinet by the time she was11 years old. She is an accomplished public speaker who particularly enjoys telling audiences how she enjoys Special Olympics. At her age I had enough trouble just repeating lines in a church Christmas play. http://www.somi.org/blog.php?entryID=558

We all have different abilities and disabilities. We can do some things that others cannot do and they can do some things that we cannot do.

Sue Thomas responded to her loss of hearing by learning to read lips. That skill got her a job as an FBI agent because she could what other FBI agents could not do. She could tell what a suspect under visual surveillance was saying without the need to plant a microphone near him.

We don't know the full potential of what individuals with Down Syndrome can do because for many years people just labeled them "retarded" and assumed they couldn't do anything. Maybe none of the Eagle Scouts mentioned will become an astronaut like Eagle Scout Neil Armstrong or a movie director like Eagle Scout Steven Spielberg. However, drama student and cheerleader Clayton Henderson might become a successful actor like Joseph "Chris" Burke who has Down Syndrome and was a star of the successful tv series "Life Goes On.."

How many of us could star in a tv series?

Some people claim that Down Syndrome children cost to society in the form of government programs that have assisted them. I doubt seriously all Down Syndrome individuals together have cost society nearly as much as Bernie Madoff.

I recently had the misfortune to observe some very bad psychological child abuse that I was powerless to stop. Calling the police would have done no good because the abuse was on a television show, the July 23rd episode of ABC's All My Children.

Several adults were ganging up on a little girl, Emma Lavery, trying to get her to stop saying she had seen one of them, Kendall Slater, kill someone by mistake. Worse than that they were attempting to coerce her into saying that she had seen her mother, Annie, commit the murder instead. One would talk to the girl than leave so another could continue the ordeal. By the end of the ordeal the poor little girl was catatonic.

I debated writing about the show because I don't usually write about television. I decided to write because no one else seems particularly concerned about the incident and because it appears none of the characters will be punished for their crime.

There is no excuse for such a scene. If child abuse is going to be dealt with on television, it should happen off camera or be referred to rather than shown. The purpose should be to deal with the subject rather than to allow adults to use it for some type of dramatic affect.

The incident is part of an effort by the show's ineffective writers to rescue a poorly designed story line involving a murder in the May 15 episode.

The episode was a ratings stunt to build sagging ratings by releasing rumors that a long standing character would be killed in the episode. Then ratings would be maintained by the mystery of who fired the fatal shot -- as in who shot JR on Dallas, except on AMC the shot would be fatal.

As far as I know the episode isn't available online, but if you can find someone who has a copy you might watch it. The episode was hilarious. If I didn't know better I would have thought it was written and directed by bad horror movie king Ed Wood. The show featured numerous individuals wondering around a darkened mansion seeking to kill the owner. A few bumped into each other. Others just missed each other. In the end someone killed the identical twin of the owner. The victim, Stuart Chandler, was the nicest man in town. His "evil twin" Adam was the object of the would be killers.

The writers managed to establish that several had a motive to go to the mansion to kill Adam. However, they didn't set up the crime scene so that the killer could have fired from anywhere in the room or through a doorway, including an open patio door instead of patio door that was apparently closed and fired through. They also should have had the murder weapon with several different sets of fingerprints or perhaps no fingerprints so anyone could have fired it.

Instead of many suspects they quickly ended up with only one, Kendall, who thought her baby had died because of a medical device made by Adam's firm. The writers attempted to remedy the situation by making "Crazy Annie" (Emma's mother) a suspect even though she had no apparent motive and was at the mansion to get her daughter who was visiting Adam's grandson.

Annie was under treatment for mental illness caused by abusive treatment from her brother. He eventually pushed her over the edge and she had killed him with a tire iron. She escaped from the mental hospital to get her daughter and leave town. The writers have decided to have the characters blame her for any violent crime and ignore the possibility that one of the town's leaders might kill. Considering the way the other characters treated Emma, Annie may now be the sane one.

Recent episodes make the abusive treatment of Emma unnecessary except to pad the storyline. Kendall, after seeing the ghost of Stuart accusing her of his death, decided to confess. Incidentally for those not familiar with AMC, Kendall is the daughter of character Erica Kane played since the show's beginning by the legendary Susan Lucci who holds the record for the most Emmy nominations before winning one. David Canary who played Candy Canaday on "Bonanza" began playing Adam Chandler in 1983 and his twin brother Stuart in 1984. Canary was briefly on a list to replace Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock during a contract dispute involving Nimoy.

I had watched AMC several years ago when I got soapnet with digital cable which ran a week's episodes on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon. The show had a reputation for dealing with social issues and I liked Lucci's performance in a version of Dickens' Christmas Carol, "Ebbie". At that time one of the characters had a teen age daughter who was autistic. I eventually decided there were other shows I would rather watch. After I retired I had more time and decided to try the show again. I have a research interest in television and its role in society.

Unfortunately, the show has been going down hill with the child abuse of Emma indicating the writers have run out of ideas. Unless the network can find some new writers the network should seriously consider canceling it. According to the ABC site the network plans to move the production of the show to LA . The network should save its money unless the move includes replacing the writers, director and producers responsible for the show's decline.

According to that round headed kid who shows up on tv for holidays this is National Newspaper Comics Week. I cannot verify the claim, but I'm going to assume the strip isn't being run during the wrong week. Charlie Brown and the other Peanuts aren't in as many newspapers as they once were but they are still around and appearing at the comic strip site comics.com Peanuts fans can even read the early Peanuts strips from the 50's.

Comics.com is one of three main comic strip sites on the web. Together they have over 200 comic strips along with political cartoons and puzzles. The other two are gocomics and dailyink.

Comic strips live in their own twilight zone. Some characters never age. Dennis the Menace is still only 5 and lives at dailyink. Another dailyink resident, Mary Worth, who seemed to be a woman of retirement age 40 years ago when Carol Burnett liked to poke fun at her, is still butting into people's lives and doesn't seem to be 40 years older. Annie at gocomics is no longer a "Little Orphan" but she is not yet an adult. Her Daddy Warbucks recently survived a plot by his double to kill him.

The characters at For Better of Worse at gocomics aged for many years with new characters including grandchildren added over the years. Now suddenly the original parents and kids have started over again. Spiderman at dailyink has also returned to his starting point. He is living with Aunt May and his marriage is forgotten.

Among them the sites have numerous comics most people have never heard of along with some old timers that have disappeared from the pages of many newspapers. A couple of the vintage comics at dailyink are even from before my time.

Gocomics.com provides reruns of Calvin and Hobbs for those of us who consider it one of the best comic strips of all time as well as older favorites such as Mutt and Jeff and Dick Tracy.

The three main sites are supplemented by some smaller sites such Dilbert's.

Conservatives can find political cartoons that appeal to their views at Townhall. Townhall also allows users to establish blogs on the site.

Townhall and comics.com are free sites. Dailyink and gocomics have an annual fee of less than $20. Subscribers can have their favorites emailed to them daily. Dailyink has more of the most popular strips, including Blondie, Beetle Bailey and Family Circus, but doesn't archive them for as many years as the other two sites.

Gocomics allows users to go back several months to get a complete set of strips for a day. Dailyink only offers this feature for the previous month. Comics.com only has the daily sets for the current day, but does allow displaying several days worth of a specific strip on a single page.

Gocomics and comics.com have many years of some strips. At gocomics you can go back to that fateful meeting on October 26, 1970 when Michael Doonesbury walked into the life of Walden College quarterback Brian Dowling. The real Brian Dowling was a star quarterback at Yale at the same time Garry Trudeau was there.

Comics.com and gocomics.com carry many of the same strips with comics.com more likely to have the color versions. Andy Capp, the man who frequents pubs while his wife works, is on both sites as is Wizard of Id. Dailyink has color versions of current strips with only Shoe being available elsewhere.

Those who fondly remember strips like Mary Worth, Judge Parker and Rex Morgan, M.D. can find them with Dennis at dailyink.com There is a new Judge Parker because the Judge's son has recently decided to follow in his father's footsteps and become a judge. He's been hearing a case of a crooked financial swindler. Prince Valient is still traveling the medieval world and getting into various scrapes.

On the humorous side, Barney Google's friend Snuffy Smith lives at dailyink along with other old funny strips like Henry and Hazel. The Katzenjammer Kids still harass the Captain every Sunday.

Funky Winkerbean and friends are older and not necessarily wiser and their kids are taking a bigger role in the strip. Becky is the new band director now that Harry Dinkle has retired -- except for recently directing his composition "The Magic Flutophone" which was a hit. Funky over the years has taken a mixed approach to the subject of the aging of comic strip characters. They remain at the same age for many years and then suddenly age rapidly as recently occurred.

Funky's writer Tom Bituik also cowrites a comic strip about the nation's most unpopular, and possibly oldest, school bus driver, Crankshaft. The comic is about a WWII vet and his family. You don't want to be around when he fires up his grill for the first time in the spring. He recently made the mistake of trying to dust a friend's home with a leaf blower.

Far Side fans might be interested in Bizarro or Mother Goose and Grimm among other strips at dailyink. There is a Retail strip about a fictional department store and Heaven's Love Thrift Shop. Pros and Cons is a humorous strip about the lives of a cop, a lawyer and a psychiatrist.

There are several strips oriented toward women including Six Chix which is written by 6 different women. Sally Forth is an office manager. The Pajama Diaries deals with the life of a stay at home mom who has a job as a freelance graphics designer using her home computer. Her husband was recently laid off.

Dailyink has several vintage strips including Beetle Bailey, Bringing Up Father and the Little King. Other strips with early and current versions involve Flash Gordon and "The Ghost Who Walks" -- the Phantom. In the vintage version of the strip the Japanese have just invaded Bengali.

If you miss Cathy and Calvin and Hobbs you can find them at gocomics. Remember the redheaded reporter with the boyfriend who wears a patch? Brenda Starr is at gocomics along with Dick Tracy. Annie no longer is a Little Orphan, but she is at gocomics with Daddy Warbucks. Gasoline Alley is still around and Walt Wallet is still alive. The Wizard of Id and Ziggy are there too. Mutt and Jeff is another oldie but goodie. Gocomics still carries the feel good comic Love Is...

The old cave man Alley Opp is still knocking "great big monsters dead on their knees" when he isn't time traveling to the present at comics.com. This is his 75th anniversary and the strip has been including children's drawings of dinosaurs. In the vintage Li'l Abner strip Li'l Abner is not yet married to Daisy Mae at comics.com. Tarzan is there too. Ferdinand is a comic strip like Henry with few if any words to explain the obvious visual humor.

If you like unusual facts you might enjoy Ripley's Believe it or Not on comics.com. Gocomics has a Sunday feature of a biography about some prominent individual.