I can't believe BD lost a limb. Oh, Trudeau, how could you?

My friend infused a bottle of Smirnoff with fresh rasberries and then let it sit for three years.

It tasted good.

Now my head hurts. And I fell off my bike.

I can't believe BD lost a limb. Oh, Trudeau, how could you?

Yeah.

ER already did that.

I still can't believe that they allow swearing in Doonesbury, when the rest of the comics are so sanitized you could use them in surgery. Hell, I can't believe the strip hasn't been replaced by a strip about the foibles of parenthood.

In Response to FeldmanSkitzoid (#16301):

For better or worse, my entire knowledge of American history during the 1970s-late 1980s comes from reading Doonesbury.

I spoke too soon. I found this on another message board.

Some Papers Pull Controversial 'Doonesbury'

Friday, April 23, 2004

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A few newspapers around the country edited Friday's "Doonesbury" (search) comic strip to remove an expletive used by a character injured while fighting in Iraq, and at least two newspapers pulled the strip altogether.

In a story line that began Monday, B.D., a football coach-turned-soldier, lost a leg after being reactivated in the Army at the end of 2002.

In Friday's strip, his doctor explains how amputees go through a grieving process that starts with denial, followed by anger.

In the final panel, B.D. curses from behind a hospital curtain, skipping the denial.

The Pulitzer Prize (search)-winning comic strip written by Garry Trudeau (search) appears in 1,400 newspapers nationwide. The Anchorage Daily News declined to run the strip, instead publishing a note saying the comic "contained an unnecessary profanity."

The (Nashville) Tennessean also declined to run the comic. Editor Frank Sutherland said in a column that it uses language "we consider inappropriate for newspaper use."

The Green Bay News-Chronicle in Wisconsin edited out the expletive.

"I'd have a hard time printing that phrase as a direct quote in a news story, let alone as part of a piece of fiction on the comics page in big, bold letters," editor Tom Brooker wrote in a story published Friday.

The Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio, also removed the expletive.

"Context is everything," managing editor Mike Burbach said in an article explaining his decision. "In the Beacon Journal, 'Doonesbury' runs on the comics page. In that context, we decided it was best to bleep out the bad word."

The Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune ran the strip on its editorial page instead of the comics section, and said the move would be permanent.

The strip's distributor, Kansas City-based Universal Press Syndicate (search), said newspapers weren't contractually allowed to edit the strip, and the syndicate said it planned to contact those that did.

"I don't know what will happen," said Kathie Kerr, a spokesman for Universal Press. "It may just be a heads up just to refresh their memory about the protocol."

Kerr said 11 newspapers had called Universal to talk about the strip. She said she knew of two papers that were not going to print Friday's installment but declined to name them. Newspapers are not required to inform the syndicate when they pull a comic strip.

Trudeau said he started the story line to illustrate the sacrifices American soldiers are making.

"We are at war, and we can't lose sight of the hardships war inflicts on individual lives," said Trudeau, who began writing "Doonesbury" in 1968 while a student at Yale University.

The strip has a history of addressing controversial topics.

Just before the 2000 presidential election, at least two newspapers pulled an installment that accused George W. Bush of cocaine abuse. In February 1998, at least four newspapers refused to run strips about accusations that President Clinton had sex with a White House intern.

There I go posting news articles again.

In Response to Deathalicious (#16314):

ditto.

Actually, add the 90s to that as well.

In Response to Deathalicious (#16314):

For better or worse, my entire knowledge of American history during the 1970s-late 1980s comes from reading Doonesbury.

That was a bad comic pun.

In Response to FeldmanSkitzoid (#16326):

Everyone is missing the truly controversial part of those strips, which is that B.D.'s helmet is removed!!
The Apocalypse is upon us!

You've got to be kidding me. All he said was "son of bitch". That's what the fuss is about? I've worked in the media before and I've just got to say that the media really lacks perspective. They say "son of a bitch" or some variation of "bitch" on TV all the time. The papers are okay with shock value when it's gory, bloody, burned bodies of soldiers and babies, but D.B. can't express a little emotion when he loses a leg. For fuck's sake, somebody give me an editorial page. I've had it!

In Response to FeldmanSkitzoid (#16301):

I read Doonesbury online, so I was very surprised to arrive home and find the strip in question printed in the local small-town newspaper without any editing. They had cut a controversial Doonesbury Sunday strip last year (yeah, that one) and have played around with some others.

Then again, they often print duplicates of the same comic on the same page, so maybe they just have a sucky copy editor for that section.