The Religious Liberties Amendment

This past December I drew a number of toons highlighting the expanding assault against religious expression in our public school system. I capped the series with the image below-

The cartoon was inspired by a similar proposal written by Bruce Walker which I discovered in a Dec 12, 2004 article at Men's News Daily, where faithmouse can also be seen on page two bracketed by RSS feeds from other Minnesota nice sites Powerline and Captain's Quarters.
Yesterday, Delegate Charles W. Carrico, R - 5th District of Virginia proposed Bill HJ 537 as an amendment to the Virginia constitution. Lo and behold, the bill is being referred to as The Religious Liberties Amendment. Good idea, eh?
The wording of Bill's bill is a little more complicated than mine, but the spirit is the same. It simply restates the rights guaranteed in the First Amendment as they regard religious freedoms. Such an amendment enacted on a federal level would be religious America's 13th amendment. People of faith should no longer be slaves to the biased and intolerant secularism imposed upon us for the past fifty years as the results of a disastrous series of Supreme Court decisions. Boo lions, I say! Yay-Christians!
So far I'm one-for-one in proposed amendments to constitutions. The ACLU has already come out squarely against the bill, which pretty much validates the proposal as worthy of the general public's support. Let's hope like faithmouses' hanglider the amendment benefits from the natural lift of current events as well.

Happy B-day, George

Today's Washington's Birthday cartoon is a revision of yesterday's President's Day toon, which I've been mercilessly banging away at on the cartoon anvil. Thank goodness George the first (our George) made his mark or I'd be short a new toon for today. It's a hopelessly eclectic and failed cartoon, but so strange I almost like it.

Suicide is the fruit of the greatest despondency. All politics aside, we certainly pray for Hunter Thompson's friends and family and wish them comfort during their time of grief, which, because of the traumatizing nature of the act they may never completely see an end to in this life. Those debating the cost of a similar exit should pause and consider the legacy of guilt and suffering their actions would leave to others, especially surviving children.

Brave bloggers follow explorer Muir into conservative High Sierras

After recently viewing a wickedly funny and very un-PC toon on the front page of Men's News Daily, I emailed the author to offer encouragement and was flattered that he took a moment to email back a very kind reply.
No more evidence is necessary that the MSM is losing the media battle than the ever present fact that Chris Muir's graceful and always brilliant Day by Day remains unsyndicated.


While faithmouse keeps her eye fixed on a distant horizon, Zed, Jan, Sam and Damon (pictured left to right above) bask effortlessly in their fab modern existence. Chris shared with me his feeling that continuing attrition in the newspaper world isn't favoring his chances to see print, but I think he's wrong.
Quality and especially truth tend to win in the end.

Every which way but good

After three tries, I've thrown in my ink stained hat on the Million Dollar Baby toon. Enough already.
"Do you think your funny, punk?"
No!
"Go ahead, make my day. Try to draw me just one more time. "
No!

No Foaming Agents

If you've arrived here via one of the links related to the illustrious Northern Alliance or the somewhat noteable Minnesota Organization of Bloggers, of which I am a shiny pink newbie, greetings! This blog is composed primarily of relocated daily commentary from the HTML site (where the toons are; much more entertaining than this dry well) a number of original diatribes, and a repeat blogroll of most of the 275 or so sites which currently link and/or show my absolutely outrageous! Christian conservative toon 'faithmouse' (online since 1998.) Some of these sites you may recognize such as Newsmax and Intellectual Conservative; many are individual fans of the toon who aren't regular bloggers but who have placed a link to faithmouse or the code for the regularly updating toon itself on their site. The remainder are regular bloggers like myself, who, like myself, can't stop talking about themselves. Good luck with me.

Now that a few visitors are popping by this locale first instead of the HTML site I'll be changing my comment posting procedure. I plan to comment here first and then syndicate to the cartoon site. I'll let you know when the procedure is complete (if and when I can figure it out.)

Much of the past commentary here may not make sense unless you can view the cartoons they reference. Many of the older toons though are still accessible on various pages at the cartoon site or on Pookie18's Today's Toon thread at Free Republic (search 'Today's Toons'.)

Comments from February 13 through 17

Thursday-
I'm working on a revised version of the 'Million Dollar Baby' toon, which I'll post this evening sometime before those irritating claymation sheep return to haunt my dreams.

Proud I am to be a new member of the MOB (Minnesota Organization of Bloggers.) Thanks, St. Paul!
I've received some great photos this morning from Christpilot, our helicopter correspondent who has just arrived in Iraq (much more about this soon.) Please pray for him and his family, and all of our Service members.

Wednesday-
Oh boy, well, today's toon certainly took longer than a few hours to finish. You can view the previous version of the same toon here.

I'd like thank two God inspired women: Becki of The Question Fairy for the soul strengthening email, as well as the magical Stacy Harp of MediaSoul for successfully smuggling cartoon contraband into the NRB. Thirdly I'd like to thank the original faithmouse herself for the wondrous Valentine's Day dinner and especially dessert, which was extra sweet. Hubba.


While Howard Dean and other Democrats scramble to discover what makes people of faith tick (without expressing intentions to change position on any actual issue) I believe, unlike many on my side of the aisle who have been critical of this wholly politically motivated DNC epiphany, that only good can come out of the effort. The secret for which these strategists search is to simply live the personal life with Christ as the reference point for everything. Fellow travelers who also search for Christ will judge over the long run whether the efforts are sincere or not. Democrats should act confidently in faith, and any accusations of hypocrisy should generally be ignored, as it's usually impossible to discern the accuser from the accusee, you betcha. As far as Christianity is discerned, those who equate all faiths as being somehow equal in merit (as if such a revelation could be worth the price of God's sacrifice) or who are personally offended by the concepts of sin and redemption, are deserving of suspect status from any demographic which gave George Bush the edge in the last election, which would be just about all.

Pros in the shipping business would tell you that it's imperative to hustle those packages closest to the door. One of the most promising fields of evangelization amongst the Christian conservative community are conservatives themselves. While many pure political types are appreciative of religious nuts such as I who seemingly (but not provingly) gave The Right the edge in the last election and promise similar conquests in the future, some regard Christ only as an unproven but powerful piece to play. Christians who use their own lives as an example of the honesty and practicality of the integrated life with all it's bruises and inconsistencies may be employing the best strategy for evangelization, lest the proselytizing which The Left as a long dull mantra accuses The Right of but now steels itself to wield with desperate abandon. After all, we need those doorways free for the George Soroses and Howard Deans who are doing the good work of inadvertently producing the next wave of the faithful. -Dan

Tuesday-
I'll post the rework of Captain Wash's toon in a few hours. Also, I'll be updating the galleries below. -Dan

Look! I'm famous, but I slept through the whole thing. Your cartoonist and Hugh Hewitt in Minneapolis on Thursday. Hugh holds a copy of Pookie18's Today's Toons; I clutch a copy of Hugh's Blog to keep from falling over.

Monday-

Today's toon was a request by Stacy Harp of MediaSoul and E-Involved. With some luck she'll be able to present the toon to Craig Parshall at the National Religious Broadcasters conference going on now until Tuesday in Anaheim, California.
Stacy describes Craig's work thusly-
The series is about Will Chambers, former ACLU attorney who finds Christ and solves really hard cases. It's a 5 book series and the final book is coming out this month. It's called The Last Judgment.
So there. Now you know why Judge StarMole is freaking out in the last panel. Happy St. Valentine's Day!

Craig's better half Janet has been kind enough to feature a recent faithmouse cartoon in her online newsletter and is allowing a few items with said design to be offered for the benefit of her fans in our CafePress shop. Thanks, Janet!

Pookie18 has posted a thread on the Hugh Hewitt/Today's Toons connection with some photos I took at the recent Hewitt/Beinart debate. Your host can be viewed in the pics in all his overworked glory.

I've come to the conclusion that you can't have an in depth discussion with an ardent leftist without somehow ending up psychoanalyzed (by the leftist.) Comparing the merits of Hillary Clinton versus Condoleeza Rice descend at some point into accusations against conservatives of being dearthly afraid of old school feminism. Owning a large car is obviously a case of compensating for much smaller physical attributes (um-height, for example.) Defending one's country (which means defending one's family and the defenseless, which Christ doesn't ask for us to leave to the mercy of wolves) is just a violent acting out of feelings of inadequacy, fear, jealousy, guilt, prissiness, what have you. Deconstructing all matters down to the personal for the purpose of revelation is a technique best left to Christ. Fellow fallible sapiens, don't try this at home! -Dan

Comments from the week of February 6, 2005

We know he's skinny: when faith was pink-circa 2003

Saturday-
The 'tsunami series' is on temporary hiatus while I attend to a few notions and commitments.




I'm sorry to report that Jim Ownbey's Bushcountry has closed shop after a five year presence on the net. Let's hope that Jim returns in similar form as did Wayne Lutz (of the Tocquevillian)
as a revitalized and refanged blogger.

I have a pretty nifty picture of Hugh Hewitt holding a copy of Free Republic's Today's Toons collection, but I'm letting Pookie18 post it as an independent thread with kudos to Hugh and Fraters (thanks 'St. Paul' for the kind regards on Fraters to the original faithmouse. She is a lovely wife.)

I posted an old Rush cartoon (old toon not Rush) at the end of a freeper thread on Wednesday which Pookie repeated on Friday, which I've again reposted here in all it's dated glory. It's from olden days when I referred to faithmouse as 'the cartoon of the Christian Right' a tag line still powerful enough to make cyberleftists implode, although I've relegated this wildly inflammatory tag line to the back shelf of the history arsenal for now. Other tag lines currently in use include 'a Christian editorial cartoon called faithmouse' and 'faithmouse: surreal fantasy of a funky dweeb.'

Hey, St. Valentine's Day cartoon tomorrow, as well as a toon later in the day saluting Craig Parshall.

Thursday-
Welcome to our new toon affiliate Into The Word Magazine.

Loads of fun at the Hugh Hewitt/Peter Beinart debate last night. Chris glassed over a few times during the evening (to her credit, politics isn't her strong suit) but she did get to meet one of her
favorite writers James Lileks, and Mr. Hewitt (one of only two people I met at the event besides St. Paul of Fraters Libertas who knew of the cartoon-nice to be obscure) was good enough to pose with Wednesday's collection of Pookie18's 'Today's Toons' (69 pages!) from Free Republic, which I presented to him as airplane reading material. I'll drop the film at Walgreens later today and post the photos this evening. It's a great day to be a freeper.


The 14 year old George Bush impersonator at our debate table we learned is also a cartoonist and Flash whiz who operates a webtoon called Peabodies. Please don't call Tom an amateur because his work is quite adept (he works with the vector based Adobe Illustrator, while I continue to grind out pixels in Photoshop.)

As you can see I have Chaplain Walsh's cartoon posted, but it obviously needs a little more work. Not a bad start, though....

Wednesday-
Well...there's one. This toon is an addition to an earlier part of the timeline. 'Helo' is navy slang for helicopter. Chris and I will be attending the Hugh Hewitt Peter Beinart debate in Minneapolis tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be able to snap a photo of Hugh with a collection of toons I'm giving him from Pookie18's Today's Toons collection on Free Republic.

There's a story linked on Drudge right now about cable to begin broadcasting The Pentagon Channel..but here in the upper Midwest I've been watching TPN on local Dish Network for the last week or so. Because TPC is categorized as a public interest channel it resides only a few clicks away from the anti-military Free Speech Network. TPN is a great education tool, focusing not only on the who, what, where and why's of the U.S. presence in various parts of the world, but also on the feelings and motivations of our soldiers. Highly recommended! -Dan

Tuesday-
Progress is pretty darn slow on two cartoons I'll have online later today. One of the toons is from photos supplied by Chaplain Steve Walsh of the 42nd Police Brigade in Baghdad, who is pictured below. If you would like to send Chaplain Steve your well wishes, please email me and I'll be happy to pass them along. -Dan

Ramblings for Monday Part Deux-

Not only haven't I finished today's cartoon, I lost in my category at the EU blog awards! The winner is Rantings of a Lord of The Rings Fanatic by Handsome Tom. The adjective which best describes Tom's site is 'goofy.' Also to his credit are nice quotes on his homepage by Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill. To all who took the time to vote for faithmouse-thanks! A list of all of the winner's can be found here.

Ramblings for Monday-

Voting is on now until Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Blog Awards. You can visit EU to cast your vote or send an email from here directly to Eric with a note which simply says 'faithmouse.'

Please welcome Carla's Reflections of the Times to our blogroll. Carla was a finalist in the same category as faithmouse until the second round. I think she has a great blog - it's certainly worth a visit!

Today's toon is an addition to the storyline already presented. I'm also working on a redo of the 'lamaze' cartoon from a few days ago (part of a set of two.)

A fan of the cartoon who is also a chaplain in Baghdad has sent me a few photos which I'll be using as reference for tomorrow's toon.
-Dan

Ramblings for Sunday-

Faithmouse has made it to Round Two of the EPA, which is a big honor. I don't think I'll win as 'Best Evangelical Blog-Humor' but it's great to be nominated (a lot of the blame can go to Eric at EU who's a fan of the cartoon, but I'll accept the kudos regardless.)

A recap of the current 'Tsunami' series so far...

The South Asian tsunami catches a vacationing Ms. StarMole and her chihuahua Petri off guard as they are vacationing at Khlao Lak, Thailand. Faithmouse, Timothy A. Bear and Augustine
the Cat, hearing of the disaster, head to the area in a Nighthawk helicopter loaded with relief supplies. They pluck Ms. StarMole from the ocean (after she refuses a lift from the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln) and fly to Indonesia, where they are shot at by Government soldiers posing as hostile guerrillas, causing them to return to Thailand instead. In the meantime, medical officer Gaybear, having recently earned a certificate in Lamaze coaching, heads to the Indian Ocean aboard the hospital ship U.S.N. Mercy, which will take thirty days to reach the disaster area. A secondary subplot (which is the actual focus of the entire series) should make it's debut this week as well.

Faithmouse became a continuous storyline startling with the widely criticized 'Gaia' cartoon shown at the very end of last year. It's a direction I had considered for some time, after experimenting last year with a few similar series. Previous to this series, faithmouse has been primarily a single issue cartoon with a continuing roster of characters. Faithmouse could continue as a single panel issue cartoon (when I come up with a popular one it's pretty widely circulated) and none of the affiliates would complain...but I felt that it was time for the cartoon to grow. Faithmouse in it's current form can be challenging, and can serve almost as an impetus against gaining new affiliates (um, Dan..if you have a point you're sure taking your sweet time getting there) but, like a good novel I hope it will grow on you in time. Currently I'm working on backtracking and adding to the plot thus presented.

If the story line so far seems cold hearted, please keep in mind that I'm staging the adventure on a very broad pallet and that we haven't even arrived at the heart of the tragedy. In the spirit of the many Christian relief agencies long at work in this and similar theaters of human need, the series keeps a 'chin up' attitude in the face of danger and challenges. Hundreds of thousands have perished in this disaster, but the task of the living is to improve the lives both physically and spiritually of the millions of survivors, most of them children. So, that's what I'm trying to reflect with the cartoon.

If the cartoon is good for anything other than entertainment value it's to help point the way to who Christ is and just as importantly who Christ is not, and to encourage those who aim to do good in Christ to continue in faith. If you don't care for what I'm saying, primarily that I have political viewpoint as well as a theological one and that I put them both on the line, God bless you! If you share my understanding that the Christian experience is a personal and passionate journey, where Christ can make use of every part of our lives (like the root of a plant makes use of every bit of it's pot) then-God double bless you!-Dan

Notice: Regardless of the current claim of the CafePress ad further below on this page, we have no thongs for sale in our faithmouse store.

Comments from the week of Jan 30, 2005

Ramblings for Thursday-
I've put together a panorama from photos I took in 2000 of the roof of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. It's a rather large download (nearly two minutes on a 56k modem). I'll keep the file on the cartoon site for at least a few days (but on the adjunct blog indefinitely.) If you're game, click on the image below.

I'll post the completed toon for today ('Gaybear' onboard the hospital ship Mercy, still in route on it's thirty day long voyage to South Asia) sometime later this evening.

Ramblings for Wednesday-
Today's cartoon fought me tooth and nail but I think I won the battle. I'll fix Ms. StarMole's 'transparent hand' during my next late night excursion into Photoshop. I'm going to run just a cartoon or two on the homepage for a while (instead of the usual four or five.) Perhaps visitors will appreciate the quicker loading versus the wealth of toons, which can still be viewed here (current series) and here (archive of two months of toons before the current series.)

Ramblings for Tuesday-

I'm working on a quick gallery of some photographs Chris and I took at the Vatican during the Jubilee Year. The thumbnail photo above is of a video screen set up during John Paul's Wednesday audience, seen here below the statue of Charlemagne. I have quite a few of these photos, including a number I've always intended to scan and compose into panoramas. Considering the Pope's hospitalization, this seems like a proper time to present them.

Comments for the week of January 23, 2005

Ramblings for Monday-
As is our habit I'll be relocating these comments to our adjunct blogmentary this evening. A new cartoon will also be posted later today.

Faithmouse continues it's modus operandi of 2005 as a continuous story line. Thank goodness as events warrant that my characters are able to stop and pray about any particular situation, no matter the geographical location of their current adventure (Thailand.) Events on Sunday in Iraq rightly delayed the arrival of Professor Ferret. I'll be backtracking a bit this week and adding a few panels to the story line already presented. Also, a rather nice placard for the series is in the works.
Pookie18 has posted an especially large toon collection for today on Free Republic.

Ramblings for Sunday-
Faithmouse has been nominated in the category of Best Evangelical Blog-Humor at the 1st Annual Evangelical Blog Awards at Evangelical Underground. The awards have been generating a lot of good publicity by way of sites such as Captain's Quarters, Evangelical Outpost, La Shawn Barber, The Roth Report, etc. It's nice to be nominated. Thanks, Eric!

Ramblings for Saturday-
A hearty welcome to our new affiliate Damascus Road. Today's cartoon (in progress) is by special request of faithmouse fan Joseph Volpendesta.

Ramblings for Friday-
Hats off to Kevin Lauer for reminding me what year it is. What, it's 2004 already?

Ramblings for Thursday-
I would love to talk to the long time visitor to this site from Turin, Italy (a city Chris and I visited during the Jubilee Year to view the Shroud of Turin.) Please email me sometime! Deciding to move away from hand lettering on the cartoons (in order to save more time for the artwork) has made me realize how much I detest font lettering. I officially retract my pledge
not to hand letter. Forget I ever said it! I was whacked out on hot chocolate at the time.
Today's cartoon is a reworking of yesterday's toon. The only part I could salvage was the center panel.

Ramblings for Wednesday-
Former faithmouse affiliate DebateUSA.com is for sale, due to a serious illness in owner's Jamie Walker's family. It's a great domain name, and the purchase would go to a good cause. Click logo for more information.

'St. Paul' at Fraters Libertas posted a nice link to the toon, after I emailed him and the other folks at Fraters after reading an article about fellow Minnesota
bloggers in the Pioneer Press during a Culver's run with Chris. Atomizer has a good post there about Madonna Clinton's recent show of empathy towards the never-born; yet another rhetorical feeler meant to check the temp of her own supporters as she begins to pump the gas on her four year long 'Reinvention Tour.'

Democrat lawmaker wants tiny boxing gloves on Roosters inspired me to post this moment of epiphany via Colonel Kurtz at Free Republic.

After having stood down from the cartoon for the past few days I'm cracking open the windows to let in some cool air. Today I'm doodling some character spec for Professor Ferret Nietzsche. Chris and I have moved our cross country gear a little closer to the front of the garage, in anticipation of another convenient round of fluffy stuff sometime during the next month or two. In the meantime I'm nesting and full exploring what must be a mid-life crisis by researching everything I can find about the fascinating Agnetha Fältskog.

Comments for the week of January 16, 2005

Ramblings for Saturday-
An act of God (i.e. snowstorm) cost me the opportunity on Friday to meet both Janet Parshall and Michael Medved. Oh, the injustice!
I've created a new 'What is Faithmouse' page-Dan

Ramblings for Friday-
I'd like to thank emailer Chuck (and others) for effectively talking me out of most every change I've been making to the site during the past few days. All the galleries and files will be back in place later tonight. So, I'll buy more bandwidth....okay.
A revision of today's toon is in the works.

Today's AP Story - Midwive's Deaths Affects Indonesia's Newborns helps explain the 'Lamaze' cartoon of a few days ago. -Dan

Ramblings for Wednesdays-
Chris and I saw The Polar Express last night in Imax 3D. 3D or no, it's a superb film. -Dan

Ramblings for Tuesday-
A complimentary posting of a cartoon from the current series can be found at Linus from Singapore's Cucumblogs. Nice dragonfish pic!

Most of the 'set-up' panels are now complete for the current series, although I'm still planning to make changes to a few of the previously presented toons. Today's cartoon is a rework of yesterday's cartoon, which was only uploaded to Men's News Daily (I was in a flying rush.) The cartoon of the 15th has been revised as well. There's a companion cartoon which closely follows the U.S. Mercy toon, which by the way is still underway from San Diego to the Indian Ocean-a thirty day voyage (the hospital ship, not the cartoon). This week we should trod more firmly into the story lline. -Dan

Complete 'tsunami' series to this point...

Mailbag

'One of the most unusual and most delightful web sites around, Faithmouse.com is sure to become one of your favorites. There you'll meet a creative conservative Christian artist who has mixed the best of Bill Buckley and Bugs Bunny to come up with a great new hero whose comments on contemporary culture are of great value.' -Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Ministries

I am the chaplain of the (withheld) military Police Brigade (in a large Iraqi city.) Every day I brief my Colonel and our staff on activites involving religious support to our soldiers. I was wondering if I might use a few of your military Faithmouse cartoons to catch their attention. As they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words" and I think that Faithmouse says a lot. Thanks for the support. Blessings, (name withheld)

You are on my blogroll...one of the few and the proud. If you want to add mine, feel free, if not, no big deal, I think your stuff is genius. The blogsphere could be the next great evangelistic tool as well as the greatest grassroots form of Christian activism since Luther. Thanks again and keep up the good work. God Bless, webmaster Fredof 1754blog

Hi, Dan I hope that you have enjoyed (your holidays) with family and friends. I was checking out the comments on your cartoons and, boy these Liberals are certainly a tolerant lot, aren't they. (Tongue in cheek) Whenever some one tells me Jesus was a Liberal, I tell them, oh no, Jesus did not tell me to take Dan Lacey's money and help the poor, He told me to take my own money and help the poor. Felt I had to throw my two-cent's worth on that subject. In any event, Thanks a lot, I have reccommended your 'toons to many people.... emailer Joseph

Thanks for a thoughtful website. You are unique. -emailer Cindy

Thank you for making such an inspirational, Christian editorial cartoon. As an amateur cartoonist, I simply adore your political cartoons. You have such a cute style of artwork! :)

God bless you, and I'm looking forward for more, so you better notquit, no matter what happens! ~Fan of Faithmouse

Hello, I've been honestly enjoying the comic the last couple of days (came to it in a roundabout way from Portal of Evil), and I think it's some kind of surrealist genius, even though I don't necessarily agree with all (or any) of the conclusions you reach. -Evan

A new link we've added to the sidebar is Faithmouse.com... We checked out this site and strongly recommend it for anyone reading Our Word. They are saying things about our culture that need to be said, and doing it in a way that is very accessible to people. When you've looked at the cartoons, read some of the comments sent in by people*. If it's true that you can often judge a man by his enemies, then I think Dan's "enemies" prove that he's doing the Lord's work. Some of the comments will make you mad, but let that righteous indignation turn to prayer for these people, some of whom have a great hatred of God and Jesus, that they will turn their energy and their souls over to Him, Who can do all things. -Judith and Mitchell Hadley Our Word and Welcome To it. (*negative commentary removed.)

Just stumbled onto your web site and wanted to express my appreciation for your art and your brave and correct stand on the issues. Keep up the good work - I've included your site as part of my "Favorites" directory. - Al

I discovered Faithmouse on comic sherpa. Of course, that led me to your site. Great comic and a great site. I have a special appreciation for Christian cartoons, but yours stands out. Not only is the artwork superior, but the writing is sharp as well. The concept of the comic as an ongoing editorial cartoon is unique. Your messages are clear and direct without being overly "preachy". There is also an edge to the work that I find very appealing. Many Christian cartoonists go for the mild and meek approach, which dilutes the quality of the overall work and message. Keep up the great job. -David

I've been reading Faithmouse for a while. I am a Christian, yet I do struggle. I'm also a United States Marine. I have to thank you for your support of our president and for the support you have for my brothers in Fallujah. I also thank you for your pro-life stance -- abortion is the greatest evil in America today. -name withheld on request

While I do not agree with virtually any of your opinions, you have a right to voice them just as much as the liberals do. Both sides trying to eliminate each other's opinions is a hypocrisy. That said, I do enjoy your artwork, and I can say that your artwork is very well done, in both the right and left wings - Tarik

I'm a huge fan of your work, and a daily visitor to your site.... Thanks for your great cartoon. I look forward to it every day. God bless you and yours over this holiday season. - Clifton

I found your artwork and site through a link on NewsMax. What a great cartoon and message. As a member of the Army, I would like to thank you for both your stand as a Christian and your support of the Military. I go to work every day defending the rights of others and their right to freedom of speech. It is a pleasure to know that there are those like yourself that are taking a stand and expressing the same views and beliefs that I hold dear. I go to work every day to preserve the right of OUR beliefs to be heard and made public as well. ...It is so representative of the fact that those of us in uniform can be Christians, maintain our faith, encourage each other and be Warriors at the same time. There is no conflict, but one aspect brings peace while performing our duties in the other.
Thank you for what you do and taking a stand. Your site is now my start page and I look forward to your future art. Respectfully-name withheld, United States Army

Thank you for making such a funny comic, you really have a great talent! God gave you the ability to draw, and it's great to see you are using the talent for the best. -Robert Phillips

May the Lord our GOD bless you and your faithful muse this morning. You might remember that I have made y'all the homepage for the Finance Office. What joy you bring to our world of numbers! -Wanda, Finance officer, Baptist Church

I LOVE your cartoons!! Thank you. - Dawn

Thank you for making such wonderful comics! Never stop. :) -"Shmorky

Even at my age (a lot), I look forward to the comics after reading the front of the newspaper. So many of the so-called "popular" strips have become nothing but mouthpieces for liberal causes and others hostile to our values. "Doonesbury" stopped being funny years ago when Trudeau started taking himself so seriously. On the other hand, we have rags like the L.A. Times refusing to run Johnny Hart's "BC" when there is a Christian theme displayed. I'm looking forward to the gentle, uplifting message of "Faithmouse" appearing in one of our Newspapers. Thank you for your efforts. Yours in Christ, Joseph

Your sense of humor and artistry is a talent for God's ministry. I've always been searching for some light Christian humor for some friends who cannot see things optimistically. Now I found it. -Christina

Hello again, Dan... Been a brief while since I wrote -- there's a whole lot of activity in this world of ours lately. The pictures from Fallujah, the death of Pat Tillman, the al-Qaida bombings in Madrid, the continuing chaos in Afghanistan (largely dwarfed by the war in Iraq), the pictures from Abu Ghraib, the footage of Nick Berg's execution, the betrayal of state secrets by Mr. Chalabi, the apparent sanctioning of prisoner torture by our own leaders... this insanity seems to go on and on and on without a pit stop, doesn't it? And it required the death of Ronald Reagan to take our minds off of all that. Up front: The main reason I'm writing again concerns the 6-6-04 entry of faithmouse in ComicsSherpa. So far, it's the best memorial to Reagan I've seen. There's a whole lot of utter nonsense emanating from both Reagan's harshest detractors and his doe-eyed fans these days, and your modest entry transcends all of that. Good -- I'm glad I saw it. - email from JY (6/10/04)

Best of luck to you with your excellent work. Sincerely, David Limbaugh (author
of Persecution)

Hi Dan, I read Faithmouse everyday. I thought it was about time I emailed you. I really like Faithmouse; keep up the good work. I believe that the Lord wouldn't necessarily have us look at our own political party through rose-colored glasses, but see it for both the good and the bad. I read both conservative and liberal editorial cartoons daily. I'm a conservative, but I must say I sometimes like hearing things from a fresh point of view because it may have been something
I overlooked. I guess it's just my personality not to be so loyal to someone that I defend them even when I think they're wrong. -Joseph Ward of AmongWolves

Thanks for your encouraging email, especially the part about keeping on when nobody seems to care. I've wondered many times over the past few years if anyone really cares about what I'm doing, but just when it seems that it's all a waste of time I get an email from someone who has been blessed by the Sheep Comics. I never wanted the Sheep Comics to be political, at least in the sense of "right"versus "left". However, the Doonesbury strip to me went beyond politics and into raw bigotry, so I felt compelled to respond.Thanks again for the encouragement. God Bless, Web Shepherd of Sheep Comics

Comments for the week of January 9, 2005

Ramblings for Sunday-
I'll relocate these comments to the blog this evening. It's our regular vowel movement, a habit of this site which constitutes our Sunday blogging constitutional.

Welcome to the right-on-the-mark and north-of-the-border Black Kettle and also to Mary's Hope4America Yahoo group, the latter to which I'm an infrequent contributor but daily peruser.

Ramblings for Saturday-
Welcome to our new link partner, the very enjoyable Among Wolves cartoon by Joseph Ward. Joe is another old Comic Sherpa comrade. After you've looked at Joe's site please check out Charles (Top Secret) Stouff's new Carneez toon. Best of luck on the new direction, Charles!


A faithmouse cartoon is included in a new Ratherbiased cartoon collection.

Ramblings for Thursday-
In response to a quote attributed to John Adams posted on a theophobe site and meant as evidence of Adams' anti-Christian sentiment, and also in honor our Prez's upcoming second Inauguration, I present this page in defense of the true beliefs of our second President.

Welcome to three new affiliates today - WhitleyWorld (libertarian) Missouri Conservative and ChristianTeen Network.

Ramblings for Tuesday-
Faithmouse has been stretched for bandwidth recently due to intense interest, a problem I imagine most cartoonists wouldn't mind having. I've pulled the 'past month' archive located on this site but left the Typepad site (a great gift from Stacy Harp...thanks Stacy!) as it doesn't require bandwidth from faithmouse.
So, if you copy any of the images from the Typepad site and post them using your own bandwidth, please remember to also post a return link to faithmouse, which is the only payment I ask for showing my work online. I've also removed a few of the galleries, perhaps only temporarily, just to see what the effect on my numbers are. I've also noticed that the old Comics Sherpa archive has fallen off the edge of the world- I'll try to find time to repost many of these older toons on the Typepad site as well. Also please note that hundreds of the older traditional format cartoons (the 'b' series) which I had collected into sets last year and was giving away for print reproduction have been pulled and are gone forever. Sorry, but I needed more lift in my balloon.

At the moment I'm working on four cartoons at once, which is why the site has seemed somewhat bottlenecked for new work. A few new emails have been added below; I've color coded them blue for quick perusal-Dan

Ramblings for Monday-
A hearty welcome to our new and refreshing Tall Glass of Milk.

Today's toon is the most recent in the current tsunami series. I'll dedicate a separate page to the series later this evening. -tsunami series

Our new 'puffing' (my, aren't we wonderful) quote is courtesy of Digital Chirper, who maintains Moe Lauzier's Issues of the Day (check out The Metaphorical Wall by Judge E. F. Harrington while you're there as well, a great primer on the modern fool's gold issue of 'the separation of Church and State'.) Now and then Digi posts a faithmouse cartoon on Mel's site. Thanks, Digi! Positive affirmations are highly appreciated.


I'd also like to thank emailer Mike T. for his observation that the earth would actually feel smoother than a croquet ball in one's hand, rather than 'just as smooth.' I'll change the wording on that toon...

The current series will not only go on for a while-it also denotes a change of direction for the cartoon. Up until now faithmouse has largely been composed of individual cartoons commenting on separate issues, punctuated with the occasion short series and the rarer longer series (the latter many a time left unfinished.) As a New Year's resolution I've decided to dedicate the cartoon to one continuous storyline. This tact will allow me to express more complex ideas over a longer time period. It will also accentuate the relationships between the characters. This last point is the most important, as character interaction is the engine which drives good fiction. -Dan

Tsunami email

Ramblings for Monday-
Here's a recent email from a fan regarding the current series-

Dear Kim,
Thanks for the thoughtful response. I won't go into responding to your points. I think you should just wait to see how the series pans out.

You're very welcome, and thank you for your own. :) I do intend to check back with the series as time goes by, and I'm sorry if my assumptions have been very off-base.

One of the reasons I believe I've been able to develop and improve the cartoon is that I consider the viewpoint of those who have strong criticisms of it. I think that my cartoon covers a lot of unexplored territory, and I try now and then to take some risks. I appreciate your interest in my work, even though (allow me to make the assumption here) you have a very different viewpoint than mine both theologically and politically.

Not so much as I would have been a year ago, actually, but still quite different. Though just to quickly mention here, while it's sort of off-topic, I do appreciate a lot of your Gay Bear series. I've had at least three gay Christian friends over the years, and by mentioning their struggles you're discussing something that's often overlooked or covered in fire and brimstone. The "gay marriage as red herring" comic is a particular favorite of mine, as whether or not anyone believes gay marriage to be immoral there's far more to be solved about American marriage than who does or doesn't get to participate. But I digress, and I don't want this to turn into a debate of values either - I'm glad to agree to disagree. :)

I try to keep the idea as I'm exploring it fluid and open to interpretation, not only for the audience but also for myself. That's because I realize instinctively that ideology can kill an artistic impulse, even though I may very much agree with a certain viewpoint and wish to communicate that to the audience. That's the reason a number of my 'message' cartoons, about subjects I really believe in, haven't made very compelling cartoons. So, your observations are very intriguing and, because I work off of subjects which intrigue mewherever I may find them, I believe your feelings will influence the series.

I've noticed your regard for dissenters, to the point that you freely post their comments, and it's part of what made me more eager to email you and see your response. I appreciate your ability to acknowledge criticism, and especially the fact that you might actually let them influence your work on some level. Thank you.

I'm not trying to avoid your questions, but that's why I balk at 'debating' the political and theological points of the cartoon, especially while I'm still developing the idea. I'm more than able to defend my muse, but I don't want to drain all the interest out of a particular series before I finish it. I already have a few series I feel pretty guilty about not finishing, because I've already finished them in my head. So, all I can say again is that you've made some very good points.Everything is put back a few days because my crash (you missed a great opportunity to make the joke 'Jesus saves, why didn't you?') so I probably won't pick up the series until Sunday or Monday. However, I am making a few changes to yesterday's (which is again today's) cartoon. Something you may wish to keep in mind is that Ms. Starmole is a fake. She doesn't really believe in anything. I'll try to make a better point of that in the cartoon.

I think if you watch the series, you'll see it become pretty dark, and then light again.

I know this doesn't answer many of your questions, but I hope it's an improvement upon my frantic and exhausted response of this morning.

God bless!
Dan

As something of an amateur writer and poet, I can totally understand the draining of the muse as well as its evolving nature. So I'll end my emails here until the series is done. :) Thank you very much for all your comments and insights into your work, and I look forward to seeing how it pans out.

God bless and Happy New Year!
Kim

Comments from the week of Dec 26, 2004

Ramblings for Friday-
At five A.M. my wife heard me yelling 'No, no, no!' and assumed I was talking to the cat. Actually, I was speaking to the mouse. Jesus saves, but Dan did not. Today's cartoon therefore is a redo of yesterday's cartoon. It's a much better version, trust me.

Ramblings for Tuesday-
Today's cartoon is the third try at the Religious Liberties' amendment cartoon. I've deleted the previous versions and substituted today's toon for those already hot linked on various sites. The faithmouse cartoon has a new friend at ConservativePosts and a future friend at Idiotopia. A new cartoon will still be posted for later today, although I haven't decided if it should be about lower suicide rates among the religious or tsunamis.

Ramblings for Monday-
A new cartoon is on it's way for this morning. I'd like to thank Mitchell and Judith Hadley of the Twin Cities, who posted a very nice 'thumbs up' for the cartoon on their Our Word and Welcome To It blog. Lime is a bright and positive new link courtesy of Pastor Anne in Norway.
The unfailingly loyal Stacy at e-involved has blessed the site with the present of a typepad blog, which I'm incorporating as a new and improved method of displaying recent archived cartoons.

Comments from the week of Dec 19, 2004

Ramblings for Wednesday-
Today's cartoon is a portion of a much larger piece I've been developing on and off for the past few years which I call 'The Shepherd of the Snows.' I've begun the process of scanning the drawing -it's so large it needs to be scanned in 10 segments, and I have a legal size scanbed, which says something about how carried away I got. I'll present the rest of the drawing in the weeks to come.

As an appendix to yesterday's cartoon; on Tuesday Chris and I were fortunate enough to meet the great, great, great, great (not sure about the number of greats) grandson of Charles Dickens, who performed an excellent one-man enactment of 'A Christmas Carol' at the St. Paul Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Following the show, Mr. Dickens was kind enough to sign my copy of his great great great (you get the idea) Grandfather's book 'The Life of Our Lord' with the following inscription-'To Dan & his faithmouse, Gerald Charles Dickens.' Not only that, but he drew a pretty nifty mouse as well.
A new character ducked his head into yesterday's cartoon; his name is Ferret Nietzsche.

Ramblings for Monday-
A great presentation of the operations in Fallujah from Techniguy's site. You'll need powerpoint and patience (large download) but very informative. I learned about this by way of the Hope4America Yahoo group I belong to. Hi, Mary!

Ramblings for Sunday-
Previous posts from the past week have been relocated as has been our recent vice to the blog.
I'm happy to retort that Men's News Daily has returned to form after a two day hijacking by Brazilian anti-war hooligans or vandals posing as such.

One of my recent cartoons is posted on this eloquent and thoughtful thread.

I write the Reverend Jackson

Dear Rainbow/Push Coalition,
Regarding the Reverend Jackson's recent comments-
"In the last budget, we cut housing again, and that was Jesus' dilemma. In Bethlehem, his family ended up homeless," Jackson told MSNBC's Campbell Brown. "Rome was a wealthy country that left Jesus and Mary and Joseph, in a sense, homeless," he complained. "He was born an at-risk baby."
No baby was born more 'at risk' than Christ, but His state wasn't due to a lack of governmental assistance. It was because man's sinful nature necessitated atonement.
Also, Jesus wasn't homeless, either 'in a sense' or 'not in a sense.' His parents couldn't find a hotel room. The holy family was on the road because of a census forced upon them for the purpose of tax collection.
I'm sure the Reverend will be supporting the coming overhaul of the tax system to spare current families similar unwanted burdens.

Merry Christmas!
Dan Lacey
New Market Township, Minnesota

Comments from the week of Dec 12 2004

Ramblings for Saturday-
I'd like to thank Janet Parshall
for including one of my recent cartoons in her current newsletter. Later tonight I should have the image posted in our Cafepress store (thanks also for the plug!) Stacy at E-involved is the culprit behind all of this....

Ramblings for Friday-
Men's News Daily has been hacked by Brazilian anarchists and is still on it's haunches. A few visits from friendlies once they return to form would be much appreciated by webmaster Mike. -Dan

Ramblings for Wednesday-
I'll be posting photographs of recent portraits later this evening (really truly) along with a cartoon I've drawn for Stacy Harp at e-involved. I've also moved the cartoons below this dialogue box to the 'past month' page (actually the past two months page) to save a little loading time. Those of you dialing in with a 28k modem probably won't mind a few less toons-Dan

Ramblings for Tuesday-
Today's cartoon is the first in a lengthy series addressing anti-Christian bigotry and repression in our public school system, which has become the dominant theme this holiday season. If you don't care for civil rights oriented Christmas cartoons, you may wish to return in a few weeks.

More Ramblings for Monday-
The assault against religious freedom continues this holiday season with even more cases of public schools pronouncing as illegal any form of Christian free expression. Most if not all of these cases (which have increased dramatically since the President's re-election last month) will be won by parents (as has been the history) but only after prolonged and expensive legal defenses waged by willing citizens. These battles fought over the rights of children to dress up in Christmas plays as angels, or to perform instrumental
music for their peers and parents, is forming a deep and wide foundation of support for a future 'Religious Freedom' amendment to the United States Constitution, which, written correctly, may
enjoy the broad based nonpartisan support which promoters of theTraditional Marriage Amendment found so elusive. Democrats would be wise to hop aboard this train, as it leads directly into the soul of the Middle American vote. Remember, you heard it here first, folks. Well, maybe not first.


Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' - banned by Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, Washington.

Ramblings for Monday Dec 13-
Today's cartoon is a revision of yesterday's toon. Things change quickly around here. The design is a take off on Mel Brook's High
Anxiety, which was itself a homage to Alfred Hitchcock. Mel Brooks, one of my heroes. I forgive him for the Spanish Inquisition bit in History of The World, Part II. Mel served as a Corporal in the Army during World War II, and while in France he and his comrades accidentally severed communications for the ninth army when they discovered a hidden German arms cache and used the white insulation caps on nearby telephones poles for target practice. Mel once said that the best way to deal with a bully was to make fun of him. Of course, the very best thing to do is to forgive him...right after you're done making fun. Second to beer, humor is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Ramblings for Sunday Dec 12-
I'm painting, painting, painting.......

Of Christ and Hitler Redux

For those still propagating the falsehood that Hitler was a Christian, and Nazism some insidious extension of the Christian faith-

The Confession of Faith of the Reichsarbeitsführer-
"Once your heart is branded with the swastika,
You hate any other cross!
If you identify yourself with your nation,
You laugh at redeemer cranks.
Beware anyone one who demands:
'Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself'
What the Nazarine demands is our demise..."

A song of the 'Reichsjugendführer
"Before thee, my Fuehrer
though thousands may stand before thee,
each feels thy eye on himself alone
and thinks, his own hour has come,
when thou sees the depths of his soul.
In those few minutes in thy presence,
we would open every door to thee,
all thoughts we lift to thee, that thou correct and improve.
So good art thou and so great; so strong and infinitely pure
To thee we reveal without deceit our hearts’ innocence.
None depart from thee with empty hands,
if thine eyes have touched him with their steely gaze.
We know that thou proclaimeth constantly:
I am with you and you belong to me!"

Another widely used song of the Reichsjugendführer:
"How often we heard the sound of thy voice
and listened silently, folding our hands,
as every word pierced the depth of our souls.
We know it, one day the end will come,
and free us from force and from need.
What is a year when the era shall turn?!
Where is a law that will stifle our faith,
the pure faith you have bestowed,
that beats as our hearts and guides our existence.
My Fuhrer, thou alone art the way and the goal!

The official song of the Hitlerjugend (Youth of Hitler) at the Reichsparteitag 1934:
"We are Hitlers joyous youth,
What need we Christian virtue!,
Our Fuehrer Adolf Hitler is always our redeemer!
No wicked priest can hinder us,
To sense that we are Hitlers children;
We follow not Christ but Horst Wessel,
Away with incense and holy water!"

Instructions for the central memorial ceremony at the Munich Field Marshal Hall:
"National Socialist Worship
On these steps to the Hall of the Field Marshals,
to which we make pilgrimage, once stood a sacrament of battle,
In this, its only cathedral, Germany,
may stand only those who carve their motivation deep into their deeds.
You are pilgrims, if you honor the glory of your nation
above the revelations of any religion.
You sense the holiness of the Hall of Field Marshals.
What value have prayers and hymns,
The swinging of incense bowls
in comparison with the muffled rhythm of our drums
when our Fuehrer ascends the steps?
The sighs of the watchers extinguish the earth,
still trembling under our approach.
Gray clamour huddles at the end of the world.
The Fuehrer arises! He raises his hand to eternal salute.
His heart beats the heartbeat of his people
His step is our prayer ...
He arises and stands shrouded in miracles?
He burns with the faith of his comrades.
No priestly ordination has more power than the silent, stonelike prayer of the man
in whose being the nation is moved
The vow we make here is our prayer to the creator!
May our banner wave! Let it be hoisted, for it is our German high altar!
The standard bearers rejoice:
What is death, when you command us to live, O Germany!

From National Socialism as Religion, Global Journal of Classical Theology, Trinity College of the Bible and Theological Seminary

Comments from the week of November 28, 2004

Ramblings for Friday-
Today's cartoon promotes spiritual love for Christ, which easily trumps the carnal. Radical lifestyle oriented activism places the actual person second to their stated sexual preference; there is no respect in a militant universe for the homosexual who consciously turns his back upon what he perceives to be his own nature and follows a calling which supersedes the temporal. This intolerant posture allows the monsterous Fraud Fits' (and his Boptist Church of Bunnies) of today to operate with 'seeming' moral approval. Most homosexuals dedicated to the church are there because God calls them to a lifestyle of selflessness and sacrifice - this cartoon is for them.

Ramblings for Thursday-
A preview of Friday's new Gaybear cartoon (I know, promised two weeks ago..) is posted.

I just realized one can stretch an empty table in order to fill a vacuum rather than just typing a bracketed P over and over again. I'm a genius!

Greetings to our many visitors from Polipundit.I've traded a few emails over the past year or so with Vincent Newstead at Religion Related Injuries, a respectful although adamant critic of this cartoon and far more so of the philosophy behind it. Today's cartoon springs from a recent e-conversation. American history is a fine musical instrument and it's maestros are our saints. Looking at the cartoon again this morning I wish I had added rich wood grain to the column instead of red and blue, so, I'll put it on the block for a rework. I'll mosey around to it sometime over the weekend.

Ramblings for Wednesday-
A hearty welcome to visitors discovering faithmouse courtesy of Men's News Daily. Today's cartoon references the controversy concerning the fifth grade teacher at Stevens Creek Elementary School in Cupertino, California who's been forbidden to teach to students not only from the Declaration of Independence but from documents such as George Washington's journal, John Adams' diary, Samuel Adams "The Rights of the Colonists" (great beer, by the way) and William Penn's "The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania." My observation is this-how can some reconcile the competing arguments that (a) America does not have a Judeo-Christian foundation, against (b) our founding documents need to be suppressed because of their Judeo-Christian foundation? Reuters News story -Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School

A few posts old and new have been added to the emails I've been displaying for the past few weeks. The list has grown a bit long, so I'll be relocating the lot of them to the blog soon. Timothy has changed this week, and now Faithmouse herself will be 'macro-evolving'; a bit of this transformation can be cleaved from today's toon.

Ramblings for Monday-
The Reverend Martin Luther King cartoon is completed and posted as today's cartoon. This is in response to the continuation of racist attacks in the form of cartoons and commentaries which have greeted black politicians over the course of the past decade. History is slowly forgetting that the man who's name is synonymous with the Civil Rights movement found his strength through Christ. 'Reverend', his earned title, is rarely associated with his memory. We remember Gandhi as a Hindu, but not Martin Luther King as a minister. This cartoon was my answer to the dearth of responses in my medium to the rash of attacks upon a very capable civil servant.

Ramblings for Saturday-
Timothy A. Bear (teddy bear) appears in today's toon in his true colors; a ragtag assortment of secondhand textile patterns. Wishy-washy Christian that he is, he still has trouble believing the obvious, that he was made by a creator, and he is his handiwork. Faithmouse topped 200 affiliates with the Spare Change link added yesterday, with roughly half hosting the actual updating cartoon. Thanks guys!

Godspeed, Christpilot

Faithmouse is blessed to have a fan in Christpilot, who flies large sky vehicles with mounted weaponry for the United States Army (nuff said). Whether or not you believe that defending our friends from enemies does or doesn't violate Matthew 5:39 is beside the point: I'm glad he's there and doing his best to honor Matthew 7:4.
Christpilot returns to Iraq next month and promises to send photos of the countryside. These photos are sure to make their way into the backgrounds of future cartoons, and subsequently a home in our Pro-Military gallery.