Has Bruce gone off his meds?

A lot of humor is about context. If this same strip were to appear under the title "Bizarro," it would be hilarious. If it were to appear under the heading "The Family Circus," it would be funny. And under the heading "Mallard Fillmore," it mostly leaves me relieved that there aren't any more of the lame gift ideas.

But what does the strip mean? A google search on "the golden flash" doesn't turn up any likely candidates. I'm stumped. Maybe it's another cryptic plea for socialized medicine.

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Mallard Fillmore tackles health care

Some might read today's strip as some sort of booze-induced incoherence. And they're probably right. But I prefer to see this as Bruce Tinsley waking up to the mess that's the healthcare system in the United States and making his own covert plea for a single-payer system to finally make sure that all Americans have access to quality health care. After all, in our current system, we spend more and get less than every industrialized country with universal health care. They say that a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged. What's a conservative who's been mugged by his insurance company?

Be a glutton for punishment: Read the strip