Making the most of more of us

Cartoonists file almost zero about population issues, except when some new zero-filled number is attained, so after last week’s welcome of U.S. citizen No. 300,000,000, we’ll draw a blank on the subject until 2012, when global inhabitant No. 7,000,000,000 is expected to show up. The 300 millionth American milestone was officially downplayed (no ceremonial umbilical-cord cutting or anything) because of the political millstone of illegal immigration, but Bruce Plante marked it in Rio Grande fashion anyway. Steve Breen used the demographic landmark to debunk foreign policy, and Rob Rogers to deride domestic appetites. As for me, well, somebody had to take the globally bleak view.... I guess there’s one in every crowd of 300,000,000.