U.S. World and Snooze Report Dumps Tom Tomorrow

Dan Perkins' provocative Tom Tomorrow/This Modern World strip has been dumped by U.S. News and World Report after less than six months. The Tom Tomorrow cartoon, arguably the most radical message consistently reaching large audiences in the U.S. -- fit has recently run in the New York Times and in 100 alternative weeklies with circulation close to 5 million -- had provided the boring weekly with a little pizzazz. ZUCKERMAN REVISITEDWhile Perkins himself is mum on exactly what happened, rumors suggest that tabloid owner, rich developer, and mediocre Hamptons softball pitcher Mort Zuckerman took a personal hand in the cartoon's demise. Zuckerman recently fired Daily News editor Pete Hamill for insufficient tabloidness as the more down and dirty NY Post was considered the city's true tabloid by many critics. Now the News and the Post go head to head so to speak as they did on January 24th: News: "She kept Sex Dress" Post: "Monica's Love Dress." Needless to say, as Jim Ledbetter points out in the Village Voice, Jackie Judd's original ABC story on the supposed semen-stained dress was basically unsourced, uncorrected, and probably false, but hey, it made good headlines that day.PERKINS PO'DWhile we are on the subject of Perkins, here's a message from Dan: "I just got back from a trip and discovered that my "Starr I Are" cartoon, which initially ran in the New York Times a few weeks ago has been transcribed and put up on the net without attribution and in some cases altered, not to mention being read on right-wing radio stations." Perkins says if you see it, please set the record straight. For those of you who haven't read it, here it is:STARR I ARE by TOM TOMORROWwith apologies to Dr. SeussI'm here to askAs you'll soon see --Did you gropeMiss Lewinsky?Did you grope herIn your house?Did you gropeBeneath her blouse?I did not do thatHere or there --I did not do thatAnywhere!I did not do thatNear or far --I did not do thatStarr-You-Are.Did you smile?Did you flirt?Did you peekBeneath her skirt?And did you tellthe girl to lieWhen called uponTo testify?I do not like youStarr-You-Are --I think that youHave gone too far.I will not answerAny more --Perhaps I will goStart a war!The public's easyTo distract --When bombs areFalling on Iraq!--Tom Tomorrow/This Modern World