I want to thank all of you who wrote to wish me Happy Cartoonists Day yesterday, May 5. In honor of the occasion, I took the day off from my duties here at arloandjanis.com. Actually, that’s not true. I had no idea it was National Cartoonists Day, and I had a better excuse: I was busy drawing cartoons.

I also want to take this occasion to apologize to my friends, the French. It is not like me to take cheap shots. It isn’t that I’m so principled; it’s just that I’m too stubborn to take the easy way out in most cases. Yesterday, I whipped that old dog, the French armed forces. Anyone who knows much about me knows I’m something of a Francophile, and I think anyone who truly believes the old shibboleth about the French being incompetent and cowardly in battle is neglecting much of history. The French just had a bad century. To my knowledge, no one has complained about the strip yesterday. It’s just been on my conscience.