Mikhaela's reading list, or Friday odds and ends
In no particular order

Random Mikhaela business
• First up, I apologize to anyone who's written me an email lately and not received a response. I've been beyond busy these last two weeks, getting ready for a trip to Budapest and Prague (I have to draw extra cartoons for while I'm away). I will try to get to your message when I can, but if I don't, my sincere apologies.
• I went to the vet this morning and learned my sweet little kitty Riley has severe asthma.
• As a result of these and other things, my website redesign is still on hold, but if you haven't already, check out my new logo sketches.
• I've also had to put launching a new comic strip on hold indefinitely, but if you're looking for fun character names, or just a way to spend a fascinating few hours playing around or seeing how the popularity of your name has changed over time, go play with the Baby Name Wizard's Name Voyager.

Cartoons and such
• After a bit of a hiatus, Masheka has been posting cartoons on a weekly basis, his latest is "Holy Calamity." Just FYI, that is his self-portrait (though I must say he's way cuter in real life). Also, he is available for all your illustration and hand-lettering and cartooning needs.
• Stephanie McMillan wonders how 37% (now 34%, I think) of Americans could still be so deluded.
• Brian McFadden has a charitable cause we can all get behind: stopping Early-Onset Republicanism. He also suggests you tune in to the House Lobbying Network".
• David Reese continues to get his war on and astound me with his complete and total achievement of sick brilliance.
• Matt Wuerker did a great Flash animation (his first?) for Sunshine Week.

Blogs and news and things
• Via Pam's House Blend, Molly Ivins has had enough.
• Ezra Klein puzzles over the "skin in the game" health-care argument. (See also my toon "Too Darn Healthy").
• Poynter has advice for avoiding patronizing clichés when writing about people with disabilities, and some story suggestions.
• Regular Boiling Point reader Janine let me know about the campaign to make "napoli" a nasty verb, in honor of Bill Napoli, a South Dakota Republican state senator who thinks abortion exceptions should only apply to brutalized religious virgins. I feel bad for the Italian city that has to share a name with him.
• Check out the latest Carnival of the Feminists. I should submit to one of those things again.
• Over at Alas, a Blog, Maia critiques the supposed progressiveness of all things open source.
• Matt Bors' little brother was targeted by the military's freaky cute and hipster-looking "What am I going to do next? campaign, which basically suggests that all careers and college attempts will end in aimlessness and misery, and only the military can bring true purpose and fulfillment, blah de blah. They forgot to mention the whole dying in a madman's pointless war thing, though.
• Talking Points Memo has the goods on Claude Allen's evil twin.
• Atrios has a welcome rejoinder to all that "you mean secularists scare religious people out of the Democratic party" nonsense.

I actually have a lot more links, but I've got to go do my taxes now. Maybe later.