Before we hand hundreds of billions of dollars to the Bush administration to buy and socialize our way out of the current financial crisis, it might not be a bad idea to pause. Pause and consider how efficiently they've handled large sums of cash in the past.

Think Progress has a partial list of cases where money has either simply disappeared or has been spent to get almost nothing in return. Some of it looks like deliberate efforts to transmit zillions in government funds (i.e., our money) to favored private corporations. Some of it looks like sheer, bone-stupid incompetence. None of it inspires confidence that they won't take all the money they now say they need to disperse and spend it all on gin.

I'm home and in my favorite chair. Decent flight. If I could get past their tendency to lose my luggage (which didn't happen this time), I could really like Southwest Airlines. They leave on time. They get in early. They have cheery and helpful employees. Their flights always seem to be packed, which I guess is why they're one of the few airlines showing a profit these days.

One other thing I don't like about them: They have "open seating," which means you get on the plane and select your own seat. It sounds good but what it means is that if you're travelling with three or more people and you aren't among the first third to board, it's highly unlikely you'll all get to sit together.

I got home to a couple of outraged e-mails from barbecue partisans. It's apparently a big deal to some people that I didn't prefer (or sample) their favorite place for ribs. Hey, you like some places better than others. We liked Jack Stack. Great rib ends. Some of the best barbecued chicken I ever had. It's fancier than Arthur Bryant's and it doesn't have the history…and I'm not saying I didn't have a great dinner at Arthur Bryant's and wouldn't go back. But we do have this little competition going. Everyone who recommended a barbecue place to me told me it was The Best. So I'm just telling them what I think is The Best of the two places I tried. The world will still continue to revolve if I prefer the ribs at a different establishment.

Lots of unpacking and catching-up to do. More here later.

This posting is being made possible by the free wi-fi at Kansas City International Airport. Sergio Aragonés, Stan Sakai, Tom Luth and I are waiting for the flight that will carry us homeward following a most enjoyable time at the Mo-Kan Comics Conspiracy. Note to anyone else who writes and/or draws comic books: If these guys ever invite you to be a Guest of Honor, accept. They're wonderful hosts and they put on a friendly little convention filled with interesting folks. Our thanks to all and especially to Cho Ravada, their genial guest wrangler.

En route to the airport, we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner (pick one) at another K.C. barbecue temple that came highly recommended…Fiorella's Jack Stack. Sorry, Arthur Bryant's boosters. Your fave is no longer ours. As fine as the meat is at Arthur Bryant's, we all liked Jack Stack a bit more. I'll write later as to why. Just wanted to report now in case any of you had money riding on the outcome. Next time I get to these parts, I'll try a couple of the other nominations we got (like Gates) but I'm sure going to try to return to Jack Stack.

I'd better go. Stan Sakai is having trouble getting his samurai swords through security, Tom Luth is attempting to color his boarding pass and Sergio is demanding to be strip-searched. The next message here should start with me announcing I'm home and in my favorite chair. I have to go see if they let bloggers pre-board.

Back in this message, I said that Joe Biden had voted for Phil Gramm's big "deregulate financial institutions" bill. I was wrong. He voted against it. Bill Clinton, on the other hand, did sign the thing.

Half the attendees at the Mo-Kan Comics Conspiracy today felt they had to tell me where in town to get the best barbecue food here in Kansas City. I didn't keep an accurate tally but it seemed to run about 25% Arthur Bryant's, 25% Gates, 25% Jack Stack and 25% Someplace Else. That last 25% included a couple of offers to go to someone's home and sample what they whip up in their backyards.

One of the things that intrigues me about the subject is that when I travel, I increasingly find one part of the U.S. looking like another…and tasting like it. This evening, after we dined at Arthur Bryant's, we drove past a P.F. Chang's, a Ruth's Chris Steak House, a Cheesecake Factory, a McCormick & Schmick's and several other restaurants that exist within three miles of my home in Los Angeles. A couple years ago, Carolyn and I were driving from Columbus, Ohio to Muncie, Indiana and we planned to stop off somewhere along that route and have lunch at some local establishment that was indigenous to that neck o' the woods and unique…preferably a place with a lot of history. We wanted a diner or dive that had been run by one family for decades.

We couldn't find one.

Oh, I'm sure there were a few along the route but they sure weren't easy to locate. At one point, we stopped in at a CVS Pharmacy for some supplies and Carolyn asked the employees to recommend such a place. They directed us to a Bob Evans by the freeway. (For those of you who don't know that part of the country, Bob Evans is a huge chain of restaurants, kind of like Denny's but without the sumptuous decor.) Carolyn described what we wanted and the CVS cashiers, who lived and ate in that area, shook their heads. They knew of no such place. The options were all chains: Arby's, Denny's, Subway, KFC. And when we got to Muncie, there was an Olive Garden, a Macaroni Grill, a couple more Bob Evanses, a Hometown Buffet and so forth.

Because of my weird dietary needs, I like and need a certain amount of predictability in my meals. There are restaurants where there's literally nothing on the menu I can eat and my life has been saved by a Boston Market or a Fuddrucker's. Still, there's such a thing as too much predictability…and the fear that a surplus of T.G.I. Fridays are crowding the little family-owned local establishments out of existence.

One thing that's great about barbecue is also one of the things that's frustrating about it: It doesn't travel. There is no Arthur Bryant's in Los Angeles and I'll bet if they tried opening one, it wouldn't be very good. It certainly wouldn't be the same Arthur Bryant's we went to this evening — the original location downtown, which everyone told me was the best. I guess I should give my report now…

Very, very good. I didn't care for any of their sauces — the vinegary one was too vinegary, the sweet one was too sweet — but the pork ribs were splendid nude. You can hide a lot of bad meat under an overpowering sauce and Arthur Bryant's ribs need no hiding. Sliced pork was great. Sliced beef was great. French fries were some of the best I ever had but the beans, made with what seemed to be their vinegary sauce, didn't do it for me. And of course, I didn't sample the cole slaw because all cole slaw is repulsive. Theirs looked like the remnants of Rip Taylor's act mixed with mayonnaise.

The restaurant is not fancy and not all that comfortable. We were told that John McCain had dined there a week or so before and that made sense because I felt a constant urge to change my position.

I may change mine about Arthur Bryant's tomorrow after we hit another BBQ shrine, probably Jack Stack. But for now, it's on my list of the five-or-so best places I've ever had barbecue. I'll have to mull a while before I decide precisely where it falls on that list…but it's up there. I think I may still like Porky's, a few miles from my home, a little better.

One last thought. People get fierce and argumentative when you start discussing where to get the best barbecue food. I've had some steamy e-mail lately about Obama versus McCain but that's Sunday School compared to the Gates advocates denouncing those who recommended Arthur Bryant's to me and vice-versa. You know how I feel about cole slaw? That's how a lot of people feel about any barbecue items not from their fave establishment. I've seen people also get this way about where to get the best pizza, where to get the best hot dog, where to get the best corned beef sandwich and where to get the best fried chicken.

You notice it's never the healthy foods that incite such passion? No one ever raises their voice discussing where to get the best salad. No one ever challenges anyone else to a duel over where to buy good tofu. No friendships have ended in debate about where you can get fine broccoli. I guess you can't get too worked up over food unless your cholesterol is way up there…

Here's an online treat but you have to act now. It may not be online for long. The other night, BBC2 Radio broadcast a concert, nearly two hours in length, celebrating the work (and birthday) of composer Charles Strouse. Mr. Strouse, in case you live in a tree, supplied the music for a host of Broadway shows including Annie, Bye Bye Birdie and It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman. For a limited time, you can hear this goodie at this link but don't dawdle. These BBC Radio links have a tendency to go away rapidly. Some of us have learned how to download the audio and listen to it at our leisure but if you can't do that, you have to listen while you can.

As we all know, the McCain plan for Social Security was (and may still be) to "privatize" it and basically turn everyone's financial future over to the same wonderful market forces that the government must now bail out. But as Paul Krugman points out, that's essentially McCain's plan for Health Care, as well.

I haven't seen the news at all today. Any more banks fail?

First things first: Yes, the seven thousand stray cats I feed at my back door are being fed while I'm away. Carolyn is there to feed them. (It's not really seven thousand. It's more like five with an occasional guest star. But when I look at what I'm spending on Friskies, it seems like seven thousand.)

Sergio Aragonés picked me up this morning, we motored to the airport and now we (and our collaborators on Groo, Stan Sakai and Tom Luth) are in Kansas City, MO. Tomorrow and Sunday, we will be doing the Guest of Honor bit at the Mo-Kan Comics Conspiracy, a convention of some import. If you're around, we'll be around.

So far, we're getting the Kansas City Royal Treatment. Our hosts took us on a tour of the Liberty Memorial, a place to remember World War I for those inclined to forget such things. Then it was over to Union Station, a building of impressive architecture and the scene of a famous crimeland massacre. A few years ago, writer Ande Parks (a local) penned an acclaimed graphic novel about the crime and tonight, Ande was nice enough to give us a personally guided tour of where it all happened. Then a whole group of us steaked it up at the Hereford House, a popular venue in which to devour dead cow. Tomorrow, we commence the much-awaited taste test of K.C. barbecue emporiums. It won't be much of a test since we'll only get to two BBQ places, three tops. But we'll call 'em as we eat 'em.

That's about it, diary-wise. Don't expect a lot of postings until I'm back in my own area code…but we'll try to keep you entertained enough to not un-bookmark this site.