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In 1971, the boys of Monty Python were persuaded to make two TV specials for German TV. Why did they do such a thing? And what happened there? Our pal Greg Ehrbar tells me about a BBC Radio feature on this odd venture…and you can listen to it here.

Here we have another one of those online tests that determines whether you're a Liberal or a Conservative or whatever you are. Whenever I take one of these tests, I find myself thinking that most of the answers I have to pick from do not reflect my viewpoint. But I pick and the end result lumps me in with (probably) the proper group but without the allowance that I may not be that on every issue. Still, they're fun to take.

A couple of folks have written to say they want to order the Mickey Mouse book I just plugged but they want to wait until later in the year when Volume Two is released and both will be sold as a boxed set. That's not a bad idea. Here's an Amazon link that will allow you to do this.

See that book up there? That's Volume One of the new reprinting of the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip by Floyd Gottfredson and a few other people. The folks at Fantagraphics Books, its publisher, were nice enough to send me an advance copy…and they were shrewd. Because they knew there was no way I could get one and not rush here to give it my highest possible rave and recommendation.

This is, first of all, superb material. If you've seen it elsewhere — some of this has been reprinted before but not like this — you know. If you haven't and you hear the name of M. Mouse and think of lightweight committee-produced froth — or if you knew this strip based on its last few decades of gag-a-day funnies — you don't know and need to. Way back when, it had a continuity and some darn good stories, illustrated with dynamic and expressive art. It was everything you could have wanted a newspaper strip to be, including being quite funny at times…and even suspenseful.

The book itself is perfect and by that I mean I can't think of a single way it could have been improved. The reproduction is sharp. The editorial material fills you in nicely about the history of the strip, plus there are articles that discuss its merits and significance. The volume itself is handsome and will look good on your shelf.

But it really was a great strip, way back when. In the eighties when Disney was first getting into TV animation, I was involved in a meeting to discuss which of their classic characters might make the leap to that marketplace. I suggested that they oughta do a show with Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge adapting or writing new episodes in the vein of the classic tales by Carl Barks. As it turned out, I was about the three hundredth person to suggest that. Custodians before me had proposed such a show and sure enough, a year or two later they did Duck Tales. But I may have been the first person to tell a Disney exec there — a man who had never heard the name, "Floyd Gottfredson" — that they oughta consider putting Mickey and Goofy into an adventure format based on the first decade or two of the newspaper strip. I also suggested taking a look at the Mickey Mouse serials that ran in the back of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, the ones drawn mainly by Paul Murry.

Everyone was enthused at the idea and for a few weeks there, it looked like it was going to happen. But then it fell apart and when I asked wha' happened?, I was told that there were simply too many people involved in any decision involving The Mouse. He was such a symbol of the company (and I guess, of Walt) that everybody in the Disney payroll had strident opinions about how Mickey should be depicted…and I don't mean just the folks in the entertainment division. Involved in every Mickey discussion were the merchandising divisions, the theme park operations, the folks who ran the Disney Stores, at least five of the Seven Dwarfs, the robot of Abe Lincoln at the park, past employees who'd been dead less than 25 years, etc. The people I was talking to had soured on the whole idea because of that. They'd realized how complicated it was going to be to do anything with Mickey…and I sure couldn't disagree.

Looking at the early newspaper strips, I sense a vital reason they were so good. Mickey wasn't the corporate icon he is today. I mean, there was lot of commerce centered on him but the folks there didn't play power games and office politics about who'd get to handle the firm's most valuable asset or worry that much about bespoiling his image. The comic strip guys (mainly Floyd) could just do the strip and if there was any disagreement over what was "right" for Mickey, someone could ask Walt and he'd rule and that would be the end of it. The heads of eighty-four different divisions did not get a vote.

I think that shows in the product. If you'd like to pre-order a copy of this splendid book and see how much fun Mickey can be, here's an Amazon link.

So after finally realizing that the country ain't with them on this idea of revamping Medicare, Republicans in Congress are now saying they won't be pushing for that. Trouble is that without that, the Paul Ryan plan (which they all voted for or support) isn't worth very much.

I don't get this. I mean, they do polling and they're supposed to have a reasonable idea of what will and won't fly with the electorate. You and I have long known that a plan which pays a lot less towards Medicare isn't going to fly with most of this country, especially if at the same time you're cutting the taxes of the Koch Brothers. How come the leaders of the G.O.P. didn't know this? Didn't anyone tell them they don't control the Senate and the White House? And that even if they did, passing this would be a good way to lose both?

Steve Martin tells you all you need to know about the 72 Virgins.

Three more thoughts about the previous item…

I think a lot of folks are trying to read too much into that photo and I hope I'm not one of them. The gent at KTLA in the video came to the conclusion that "Brig. Gen. Marshall B. 'Brad' Webb seems to the running the live feed [since] he is the ONLY one looking down." Well, the only one looking down in this photo. There are clearly other people in the room, including whoever was manning the laptop next to Joe Biden. One of them could have been running the live feed and Webb could have been playing Angry Birds or reading newsfromme.com.

Secondly, it's no surprise they ran this operation on PCs. I mean, a MAC is fine if you want to draw cute little pictures but if you're planning on assassinating any "most wanted" terrorists, you need to be on a PC. With Windows Vista at the least. I wonder if the Hewlett-Packard people are staring at this photo, trying to think of some way to use it in an ad.

Lastly, Hillary Clinton's expression makes you think they're watching someone being shot or something equally jarring. She said this might just have been "one of my early spring allergic coughs." I wish she hadn't felt the need to say that. It may have been true but my guess is she's worried that some day when she runs for President, someone's going to haul that photo out and say, "See? In a time where leadership was needed, she reacted like an onlooker in a bad horror movie." That will be unfair and ridiculous but a lot of people think the President of the United States shouldn't ever be shocked by anything. One assumes she did not select this photo to be among the ones that were released.

Hi, I'm Mark Evanier and this is Just Kinda Wondering…

The other day, I was called by one of those robo-calling pollsters, Survey U.S.A. It was about the offing of Mister Bin Laden and the possible responses from me were like, "Press 1 if you think it will be good for this country that he is dead, Press 2 if you think it will be bad." You've probably gotten one or more of these. Anyway, I gave the answers that readers of this blog can probably guess I gave, then I was asked whether I was a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, etc. I gave the proper answer (Democrat) but before I did, I wondered for a half-second if I shouldn't say "Republican." My thought, I guess, was that I'd like to see more Republicans give Obama proper credit, agree with his actions, etc. It would be nice to see a poll say that they did because that might get some momentum going in that direction.

I answered honestly but it got me to pondering: How many people tell pollsters not the truth but what they think will help their side?

The latest Washington Post poll says that 14% of Republican now think Barack Obama was born outside the U.S. That's down from 31% the previous time that poll asked that question, which was prior to the release of his long-form birth certificate. So I'm wondering how many of those really and truly believe it…

I'm wondering how many of that 14% figure he was probably born in Hawaii but they don't like the guy and don't want to see him elected again and figure, "Well, I'll just give the answer that hurts him the most." That would be "outside the U.S."

And at the same time, I'm looking at that 17% that shifted and mulling how many of them thought, "Oh, I'm pretty sure he was born in Kenya but we'll never convince America and this thing is hurting the party and making us all look like lunatics. Let's give him this one and hammer him on the economy instead."

To be clear, I'm not asking about only Republicans or about any one poll. I'm thinking that a lot of people when asked their opinion on some volatile issue, give the answer that will help their side, regardless of what they really feel. You feel momentarily empowered when a pollster calls you. Your ability to influence the world may still be microscopic but it's bigger than it was before that phone rang. Why waste it with the truth? Why not take this opportunity to send a teensy message? After all, important and influential people read poll results, right?

I'm thinking we could do a survey to find out how many people think people give honest answers in polls. Of course then, we'd be unsure how many people who responded to that poll were saying what they really felt.

Thanks for listening. For Just Kinda Wondering, I'm Mark Evanier.

The fine author Neil Gaiman recently found himself the target of a very silly politician — the kind that discredits his own position via childish behavior. In this case, it involved calling Neil a "pencil-necked little weasel" and a thief. The "pencil-necked" part is kind of odd. I mean, I know Neil and I've seen his neck…and apart from having "Dixon Ticonderoga" imprinted on it and few teeth marks, it didn't look particularly like a pencil to me. His ears, however, do look very much like erasers.

As for the "weasel" part, Neil donated the money he allegedy stole to charity, which doesn't sound like the kind of thing a weasel does. It doesn't even seem like something a thief usually does.

The person who did this name-calling is Minnesota House Majority Leader Matt Dean…and he's apologized for the pencil-necked stuff but he seems to be sticking with his main charge, which is that it was theft for Neil to accept a large speaking fee for a recent appearance. The money was offered to Neil and he accepted it and delivered the speech…and no, I really don't see how that translates to theft. I mean, you might be able to argue that it shouldn't have been offered but if that's your position, take it up with those who did the offering.

Neil, like anyone else who is in demand for speaking engagements, has an established price and they didn't call up and ask him to appear for free or for less. They offered his price or something close to it. (If you read the accounts, it's a little puzzling what the amount is. If I read Neil correctly, he says he usually gets $45,000 and that they offered $40,000 and he actually got $33,600. Nonetheless, Dean is accusing him of stealing $45,000. Someone needs to quote to that man the line in William Goldman's The Princess Bride that goes "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.")

If I were a Minnesotan represented by Matt Dean, I'd be worried that he doesn't understand a simple concept like what "theft" is and also that he can't tell the difference between $45,000 and $33,600. It's very hard to manage a financial crisis, such as every state has, when you think different numbers are equal. And if I were a Republican, which is what Mr. Dean purports to be, I'd be wondering what he has against private individuals being allowed to set the asking prices for their services. Dean reportedly has a number of proposals for controlling health care costs. I wonder if any of them are that pharmaceutical companies should not be paid the full price they set for prescription drugs and they're "stealing" if the state offers that and they accept.

Obviously, I'm utterly on Neil's side on this (you can read his views on it all here) and I'm glad to see he seems to find it all as amusing as he should. He won't lose one admirer over this, which is more than I can say for Matt Dean.

Stooge expert Brent Seguine just sent me some corrections on the history of Kooks Tour and I updated the item to reflect those. Thanks, Brent.

There seems to be a debate going on as to whether the White House should release photos and footage of the death of Osama Bin Laden and maybe his "burial" at sea. It seems to me that in the era of WikiLeaks, that's not the question. The question is whether that stuff's going to get out via an official, Obama-approved release…or whether it's going to mysteriously turn up one day on some untraceable website and quickly go viral with the White House saying, "We didn't do it and we're outraged that someone got hold of it…" These days, you don't have to release something to release it.

A lot of folks are debating if it's wrong to feel elation at the death of someone even if that someone is Osama Bin Laden. I don't think it makes you a bad person if you do or you don't. If it bothers you, set yourself some reasonable dividing line…like it's okay to cheer the demise of someone who caused 1000 or more innocent people to die. I think that's about where the cutoff point would be for me. If I'm in a compassionate mood, maybe 1500.

My own sense of elation over the announcement came from a number of different places, none in the vein of "that bastard deserved to die." I was happy that there was some potential closure there for folks still feeling the pains of 9/11. It may not matter to some but it's there for those who want to grab it. I also thought America is in bad need of a "win" and this can be viewed as a big one. And maybe the first thing I thought was, "Good…no trial."

I believe that any person — yes, even the killer of 1000+ people — is entitled to a fair trial, complete with genuine legal representation. I just don't think there's any way Osama Bin Laden could ever have received anything resembling a fair trial…and the logistics and jurisdictional disputes would have been nightmares. I'll bet at least a year and thousands of man hours would have been spent just to decide where to have it. His attorneys would have been attacked as terrorist enablers. There would have been demonstrations outside and hourly bomb scares and speeches and grandstanding and…jeez, what a mess. If the man could had a trial with no showboating and overlays of martyrdom, great. Take him alive. But does anyone really think he could have been tried in a court of law? For real?

And what if he'd gotten the first O.J. jury?

Congrats to my longtime pals Bill and Cheri Steinkellner. This morning, they became Tony nominees for the book they wrote for the Broadway musical, Sister Act. They are good, bright people deserving of every possible honor. And I'm not just saying that in the hope of scoring house seats, next time I go to New York.

D. Altshuler writes…

I agree with you of course that the next presidential election is a long way off and many things can and will happen between now and then. But are you really suggesting that Obama's election chances didn't just get a tremendous boost last night?

No, I think everything a President does and doesn't do affects his shot at another term. I'm just saying that the polls any minute now which will give him a big X% bump in his approval rating will be a distant memory by the time this nation votes. I always remember that sketch on Saturday Night Live in 1991 in which four prominent Democrats (Richard Gephardt, Mario Cuomo, Bill Bradley and Tipper Gore standing in for Al) debated and each argued against being the nominee of their party because whoever was was going to be crushed by George Herbert Walker Bush. This was back when those four names were being mentioned and most folks hadn't even heard of this Bill Clinton guy.

That sketch aired on November 2, 1991, which was 367 days before Bush lost…and lost rather badly to Clinton. Well, today is 554 days before America votes to see if Obama gets another term or if not, who takes over. And if anything, the news cycles have gotten more volatile with folks getting hysterical over every little thing. If Bush seemed unbeatable a year before that election, how could anything Obama did make him a shoo-in a year and a half before he stands for re-election?

What he has done though is make it a lot harder to hang things on him like "He's really on the side of the terrorists" and "He's a pussy when it comes to defense." That's not nothing…and that plus the smell of some economic recovery in the air and the Republicans' sorry slate of candidates make Obama look about as secure as anyone could look this far out. I just have this bizarre idea that something could possibly happen in the next 554 days which will have some impact, one way or the other, on the election.

My recent postings about Hot Turkey Sandwiches seem to have sent many of you scurrying to find a good one. Hope you enjoyed yours and that it was even half as good as the ones I enjoy at Magee's Kitchen in the Farmers Market at 3rd and Fairfax here in Los Angeles.

I seem to have become quite a connoisseur of turkey and if you live in Los Angeles, the following may be of value to you. They make an incredible turkey meatloaf at a little hole-in-the-plaster restaurant called The Main Course on Pico in West L.A. Also, if you shop at a Gelson's Market, you may have seen how the deli department has a guy who carves roast turkey that they sell by the pound. It's superb turkey but I'll let you in on a secret. If you ask (this isn't advertised), they'll sell you an entire turkey thigh — cooked and juicy and warm and delicious and with meat enough for 3-4 meals — for under three bucks. Such a deal. Such a delight.

Which brings us to maybe my favorite way to eat turkey. It's the Jennie-O Turkey Pot Roast — a heat-at-home hunk of dark meat that's been slo-cooked to make it oh so moist and oh so tasty. I've written about these before but it's my damn blog so I can write about them again if I like. Let me remind you of the reasons I like these…

• They taste great, whether you consume them as they come out of your microwave or you take the turkey meat and use it in some other recipe.
• They're easy to make and you can do it without any prep. If at 7:00, you get the urge for turkey, you can be dining on one of these by 7:15. These are lifesavers when I have one of my difficult-to-plan days…which lately is every day.
• They're healthy. Or at least healthier than anything else I'd be likely to eat if I didn't have one of these available.
• And they're cheap…about $3.33 a pound for cooked, almost-boneless turkey. One Jennie-O Turkey Pot Roast usually weighs in around three pounds so for ten bucks, I get an awful lot of good, cheap meals. They also reheat rather well.

So is there a downside? Yes, this: They can be hard to find. I used to get mine at Costco but the ones around me have stopped carrying them. In this post and later in this post, I detailed my frantic search to stock up before my supply lines were cut off. Just when I was running out, a couple of readers of this site, starting with Dave Sikula, came to my rescue. They informed me that they're now being carried in outlets of the Fresh and Easy market chain which currently has more than 170 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. I stopped in at one today and sure enough, there they were.

I believe some Costcos still carry them; just not around here. There are also some other market chains that sell them heated in the same place as they sell cooked rotisserie chickens. That may not be a bad way to enjoy them if you get them when they haven't been sitting out for hours, but you lose that wonderful sense of security when you have an unheated one waiting in the fridge and know you can make it whenever you like. Give one a try if they sell 'em near you.