The bottom line

Cartoonists have been toying with cut-rate Chinese imports for several weeks now. And once we got the cheap shots out of our system -- unfortunate fortune-cookie gags; Chuckie dolls: leaded or unleaded?; North Pole polemics about foreign elves -- we distributed some high-quality intellectual property into the global marketplace of ideas. Rob Rogers’ big point about outsourcing has legs. Signe Wilkinson led us another direction, with small arms. And Nick Anderson ensured a little healthy self-reflection about our kids.

It’s nice to know that home-grown American satire and irony can still compete. As for the cheap shots, you can’t really blame us. We’ve all been chewing on lead pencils for decades.

-- Joel Pett