When it comes to rhyming satirical political cartoonists, not many people can hold a candle to Florida’s Gus St. Anthony. And now, thankfully, the very best of his “Uncle Bam” creations are contained in one very slick-looking color-covered booklet.

For those of you who don’t know who Uncle Bam is, let me acquaint you. Uncle Bam is the trigger-happy twin of Uncle Sam who reflects the bloodthirsty aims of our political leaders and neo-con war machine (with a healthy dose of compliance from our corporate-controlled media). Yes, Uncle Bam likes death & destruction, and as the reader soon finds out, St. Anthony portrays his main character with uncompromising clarity and savage wit.

After you open the front cover, Uncle Bam takes us on a guided tour of the 9-11 Hoax, America’s attack on Iraq, the lies which led to this war, and who ultimately profits from it. (And please don’t forget that “war is swell” to the PNAC crowd.) To facilitate this Wizard of Oz WMD scenario (“Weapons of Mass Deception”), St. Anthony shows us how the network propaganda puppets have snowed and sold us on the war. While these conditioners perpetuate the status quo by cowering to those in power, Uncle Bam struts around with a placard which boasts, “The Bogey Man is coming! Only WE can save you!”

As this macabre dance of death takes place, Dick Cheney smirks, “Lying is a noble endeavor” (echoing the neo-con guiding light Leo Strauss and his twisted Machiavellian vision) as George Bush reads, “How to Ignore Public Distrust” by Benito Mussolini.

But these aren’t the only scoundrels who appear with Uncle Bam --- the whole cast of characters are in attendance: Ahmed Chalabi (U.S. puppet leader and head of the Iraqi National Congress), Tom Ridge, Donald Rumsfeld thumbing his copy of “Non-Bidders Bible for Government Contracts,” George Tenet falling on his “Sucker’s Sword,” Kellogg Brown & Root, Halliburton, the Carlyle Group, and of course the smarmy oil cartel.

Amid all this biting frivolity, St. Anthony also exposes the massive phoniness taking place in our society, such as George Bush’s fake turkey photo-op on Thanksgiving Day in Iraq, or how Tom Kean, who replaced Henry Kissinger as head of the “independent” 9-11 commission, is also an oil man (i.e. Director of Almerada Hess). More importantly, these comics tackle the conspiracy surrounding 9-11, including the World Trade Center’s controlled demolition, how jet fuel doesn’t burn hot enough to melt steel girders, and how all the wreckage was immediately (and surreptitiously) smelted and carted away to China.

The book’s highlight, though, has to be Condoleezza Rice (reminiscent of Salome before King Herod) doing a striptease of the Seven Veils. After undressing, we see pasties with American flags covering Condi’s nipples, and a g-string with the word “peace” on her nether-region. Finally, as the climax, Condi pulls her g-string off to reveal a globe in front of her crotch with a stick of dynamite in it! Folks, this is good stuff!

So, if you want to learn something and get some laughs at the same time, check out “The Best of Uncle Bam 2003.” And while you’re leafing through each page, maybe one of the headlines contained within will prophetically come true: “Parts and plans for nukes dug up under Rose Bush in Back Yard of White House.”