Mad #239 (Albert Feldstein) - Wastemoredoe Issue - June 1983

I am not a big fan of the "Mad's Occupation of the Year" articles since they tend to be formulaic and mean-spirited.  However, anti-war heroes Lou Silverstone and Al Jaffee really nailed one with "Mad's Defense Contractor of the Year."  This article has the look and feel of a Mad article from the 1950s with their parodies of Daddy Warbucks and General Westmoreland, and so many Elder-like sight gags in the four pages.  Jaffee's drawings show that he can do caricatures and chicken fat with the best of them.  I like that the general's eagle laid an egg on him.  President Ronald Reagan and his administration were responsible for the massive increases in the defense (i.e. war) budget in the 1980s that continues to grow to this day and is a major cause for the current government's financial difficulties.  We should cut that budget and put those people to work rebuilding our infrastructure instead of destroying the infrastructures of perceived enemies abroad.  Al Jaffee in particular has led Mad contributors with his campaigns against the waste and abuses of government.  [JAM 1/5/2011]

Look for publisher Gaines in "The Verdiccct."

Associate editor & writer John Ficarra interrupted an old Don Martin gag on page 21.

Departments:
This Smothers the Brothers - Simple & Simple
Don Martin - One Prehistoric Morning While Inventing; This is a Test; One Medieval Afternoon While Falconing; One Scary Night While Chasing a Monster
Bombs Away - Places to Hide the MX Missile (Where They'll Never Be Found)
Nuts with Dates - Pages from Celebrities' Calendars
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side
Video-Syncrasies - A Mad Look at Big-Time TV
Arms Robbery - Mad's Defense Contractor of the Year
Humor in a Jogular Vein - Long Distance Runs of the Future
Shift of Gab - More Parental Non-Sequiturs
Bumper Crap - Personalized License Plates for Fictional and Historical Characters
Sick Humor - Little-Known and Rarely Diagnosed Mad Ailments Contracted in Supermarkets
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Whiskey with an Ambulance Chaser - The Verdiccch

Fold-In - Boxing Ring