Dear members of the Rolla City Council, et al.:

Apparently there is a rumor going around that I am selling Donna in Blunderland cartoon T-shirts. Mr. Magdits asked me for royalty payments since I was using his name and picture [sic!]. Mr. Hicks asked if he could buy an autographed copy of his T-shirt. Mr. Butz also asked if I am selling T-shirts.

To clear up these rumors:

Permission from Victorian Web to use the digital images of the original Alice in Wonderland / Through the Looking-glass illustrations by Sir John Tenniel applies to scholarly and educational purposes only. While I doubt these cartoons qualify as scholarly, they are certainly educational. I've learned tremendously from creating them. I hope you have found them to be educational too. In my opinion, commercial use would not qualify as either scholarly or educational.

I have placed T-shirt images of six of my 13 Donna in Blunderland cartoons on my website, including the one Mr. Hicks requested. Directions for downloading and transferring images to T-shirts are also on my website: http://tomsager.org , click on "Rolla City Council T-shirts (free download)". I am, of course, happy to sign a T-shirt for Mr. Hicks or anyone else who wishes my autograph on a Donna in Blunderland T-shirt.

Since I last wrote you about the Donna in Blunderland cartoons, I have created two new ones:

Phelps County prosecutor, Ms. Courtney George, earned her place on a Donna in Blunderland cartoon, (click here) , by using her office for political purposes. Ms George charged Ms. Hawley with assaulting RMU finance director, Dennis Roberts, while Mr. Roberts tried to prevent Ms. Hawley from entering an open meeting. Ms. Hawley is disabled and often can barely walk. Mr. Roberts appears to be a strong healthy male.

Dr. James Stoffer earned his place on a Donna in Blunderland cartoon, (click here) , with his September 8, 2009 presentation to the Rolla City Council on global warming, in which he cast doubt on what is arguably the most serious catastrophe facing mankind since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Three of the more ridiculous hypotheses put forth by Dr. Stoffer are:

1) It is numbers of humans rather than human activity which are responsible for the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

If this is true why isn't China given credit for its one child per family policy? Why are we asking India and China to curtail their industrial activity rather than their population?

In fact, it is industrial activity that has made possible the exponential increase in human population. We in the United States have shown that a relatively small human population (about 5% of world population) can be responsible for creating tremendous quantities of greenhouse gases (25% of world total carbon dioxide emissions 1950-2007, Worldwatch Institute ).

2) Since carbon dioxide is necessary for human life, more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is not necessarily a bad thing.

Try increasing the concentration of oxygen (also necessary for human life) in the atmosphere. (Have a fire extinguisher handy when you try it.) Try increasing the concentration of hydrochloric acid, also necessary for human life, in your stomach. (Have the tums ready when you try this.)

The truth is that our atmosphere is a delicate balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other gases. A change in the concentration of any one of these gases risks upsetting the delicate balance on which life on Earth depends.

3) We should not be required to give up our life style based on an unproven hypothesis.

Global warming is not an unproven hypothesis. It is happening right now as I write to you.

Eight of the warmest ten years on record occurred during the current decade. Our life style has already changed due to our unsustainable use of planetary resources. Within the past decade we have witnessed war on an unprecedented level as an increasing human population vies for shrinking planetary resources, increased weather related disasters such as the destruction of New Orleans, and increased famine as large formerly productive areas of the planet become less productive due to change in temperature and rainfall patterns.

Our life style will continue to change. We can choose between a self-imposed orderly change or a chaotic change imposed upon us by outside forces, both natural and human.

There is an excellent primer on climate change available online from Worldwatch Institute, (click here) .

Thank you for your interest in my Donna in Blunderland cartoon series and have a good day.

Sincerely,
Tom Sager

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