Solution to teen pregancy: Sterilization?

A letter was printed in my local paper last week that was so outrageous I had to write a response. I don't expect them to print it so I'm posting it here. Below is the first letter that I'm posting in full without permission, followed immediately by my response. To understand what he's talking about at the beginning you'll need to know that 65 of 490 girls at Timken High School (local inner city school) are pregnant.

Obvious solution for teenage pregnancies: Sterilization
Thursday, August 25, 2005

Oh boy! Sixty-five more on the welfare rolls from one school, assuming, of course, that none of them gives birth to twins, triplets or worse. One pregnant teenager from one school used to be cause for a scarlet letter. Not anymore. By the way, it’s not the fault of Timken High School.

In “The ‘irresponsible’ should get blame” (Aug. 21), Rick Senften appears to be assuming teenage pregnancies are accidental and unwanted. He feels that these girls’ parents are not good parents. How does he know that the parents, if there are two of them, didn’t say, “Look at all the money the government will give you.” Like mother and father and father, like kids.

It appears these breeders are, in fact, very involved in their offsprings’ upbringing by teaching them what they themselves have come to realize about life in the welfare state. More babies, more money. (I must say they’re doing a fine job.) Just because these “parents” don’t emulate Ozzie, Harriet, June and Ward doesn’t mean they don’t have the best interests of their children at heart.

These kids can’t learn the Three R’s, let alone comprehend something like personal responsibility.

Their parents didn’t learn it, nor are they likely to miraculously wake up one day and decide to become productive members of society.

The real solution is obvious: sterilization. Save them from themselves. Save our country from them. No sterilization, no government freebies. Insist that these girls name their partner, validate with DNA testing, and sterilize him. There wouldn’t be bragging and chest puffing going on by these macho punks.

Taxpayers deserve to have their hard-earned dollars spent on something to solve a problem instead of throwing money at politically correct social programs.

Give us taxpayers a break. Cut tubes and taxes.

FRANK MANELLO JR.
JACKSON TOWNSHIP

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Editor,

Frank Manello Jr's irrational proposal "Obvious solution for teenage pregnancies: Sterilization" was the most thoughtless, non-sensical letter I've ever read in your paper, or any other.

American teens have less sex than other western nations, but have a substantially higher pregnancy rate. Why? Teens do not get pregnant as a strategic money making maneuver as Manello suggests. Teen pregnancy is directly linked to the quality of sex education and to poverty in an area, as a quick comparison of Timken and Jackson High School (Manello's area of town) would reveal. Our country would rather speak of sex as some abstract evil than face reality and openly deal with this huge problem.

I don't want to mince words here: Frank Manello is talking about initiating a state sponsored Eugenics program, which is defined quite simply as "The study of hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled selective breeding." Eugenics is not explicitly racist as some people think. It is systematically engineering a "better" society by forcibly sterilizing those with mental illness, low intelligence, or deformity. This was a big hit in Nazi Germany where they sterilized about 400,000 people who were deemed too costly for society to have offspring. When he uses words such as "breeders" to describe pregnant teens you hardly realize he's speaking of fellow citizens. Young, impoverished women of Canton take heed: Frank Manello has declared you unworthy to perpetuate the human species. When you stop viewing your neighbors as human beings and see them as burdensome commodities you have crossed the line of intelligent debate.

In the end his real motivation is revealed. He simply needs more tax cuts. Tax cuts during a time of war was not enough to sustain his lifestyle in Jackson Township. Like the welfare mom's he speaks of, he just wants more money and he'll sterilize you to get to it.

Matt Bors
Canton, OH

Anyone want this?

ORIGINAL Lick Dick in '72 shirt. I'd like to get rid of this for about $20. It's small/child size so think of all the hipsters that desire nostalgic, undersized clothing. Sell it to one on e-bay! e-mail me if you're interested.

New Toon

I have been sitting on the idea of creating racist mascots other than Native Americans for a while. I can't really give a good reason why I chose this week except that, well, I couldn't think of much else.

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Missing Children "Epidemic"

I turned on Fox News for a moment yesterday and I couldn't believe what I saw. On a news break, between reports of missing children, Natalee Holloway, and Cindy Sheehan bashing, there was a brief mention by Laurie Dhue of a new study showing that child abductions have declined 80% in the last decade, the vast majority are found within 24 hours, and that most abductions are from someone the child knows or is related too. These findings stand in direct opposition to the epidemic of child abductions they paint everyday. I dug around the Fox News website for about an hour trying to find something related to this, but to no avail. I saw it, I swear!!!

If child abduction has declined 80%, by what percentage do you think the coverage of it has increased on Fox? Seeing as how they are basically a 24 hour missing persons network, I would say at the very least -and I'm being nice here- 13,000%

UPDATE: Ben Smith sent me a link to this. Just this Wednesday Greta Van Susteren-the czar of missing persons- put up a post at foxnews.com defending her obsessive coverage of missing white girls. It begins like this:

I have read with some puzzlement the criticism of our show for focusing on so many missing people — including Natalee Holloway. The criticism does NOT come from the familes of missing people (they are desperate for our help) and it does NOT come from the many police departments we work with on these stories (they are very, very, very grateful for our help.) It comes from some print journalists who would rather throw stones, than help. Their ink and space could be put to better use than criticizing those helping the families and the police. I wish they would help — we have an epidemic.

Of course the criticism doesn't come from the families you insane scientologist! It comes from people like me who want to see NEWS, not endless speculation about a woman that's been missing for months with absolutely no developments in the case. Read the rest if you can bear it.

Or better yet, e-mail that show at ontherecord@foxnews.com and tell them to get back to their normal right wing propaganda immediately.

Two things about this site

1) I've updated my portfolio section.

2) The Cash Rules Everything Around Me shirt I made has been saying 'more coming in August' for a while. They are not coming. They will be back someday, especially since a Johnny Cash movie is coming out. I wouldn't want to miss my chance to...."cash" in. hahahahahaha!!!!!!!

New Toon!

For the first time I can recall I've posted my cartoon late. Apologies to the faithful seven people who check the strip every Monday. This one is also a little late in terms of the subject matter: The highway and energy bills that passed earlier this month. The comic was directly inspired by Matt Tabbai's recent article in Rolling Stone "Four Amendments and a Funeral". I'm not sure if my cartoon was that successful at portraying the insanity that goes into the pork process, but the article is well worth your time.


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New Toon Monday Night!

Due to being in airports for the last 24 hours I didn't get to finish today's comic. I'll post it sometime Monday night. Promise. Blogging shall also resume.

Bors in the Beast

It is with great pleasure that I announce Idiot Box will now be found regularly in the Buffalo Beast, which was founded by NY Press columnist and Rolling Stone contributer Matt Taibbi.

It was pretty notorious on the internet when it came out, but if you missed it, read their 50 Most Loathsome Americans list. Then read their account of Tom Cruise threatening to sue them for his entry in the list.

Blogging will probably be non-existent until next Monday as I am on the other side of the country right now and my internet access is limited.

Superman Pajamas and the Wal-Mart Thought Police

I illustrated two articles this week that are pretty interesting. First is The Wal-Mart Thought Police at campuprogress.org, which details things Wal-Mart executives - the arbiters of family values- have banned from their shelves.

The second is Superman Pajamas for the OC Weekly. In step with our national obsession with missing children, SmartWear Technologies has developed clothes with GPS chips in them. You may even be better off just visiting their website and viewing the trailer at the beginning. Be warned though: it's scary and you may want some of these clothes after they open your eyes to the dangers of living in white suburbia.

August 9th New National Holiday?

Perhaps. Katherine Harris, the election fraud maestro of 2000, was on Hannity and Colmes last night claiming it was an historic day "because one woman launched a United States Senate Campaign and another woman successfully piloted the shuttle launch back to Earth". A lot of launching for one day.

The woman running for the Senate is Katherine Harris herself, while the other woman did not pilot a "launch", she piloted a landing. In the video Harris was extremely giddy, twitching around like a little school girl, swaying, and displaying some trouble speaking. She was either really drunk or just extremely happy her criminal activities are getting her to high places within the Bush crime syndicate.

THE UNHEROES

The Unheroes is a five page story I illustrated for New York comic artist Neil Kleid, which, if a publisher picks up, may become a 12 issue series. Some people may be suprised to see me doing this kind of story; a superhero comic not steeped in irony, cynicism, and ridicule of everything surrounding it, but hey, I'm like multifaceted and shit. Over the next few months I'm going to post some comics I've done that have long been off this website or have never seen the light of day. Below is the plot summary. Enjoy.


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THEY SAY A LOT OF THINGS ABOUT BEING GOD.

ALL EXCEPT WHAT HAPPENS AFTERWARDS.


THE UNHEROES is the story of Simon Weiss, formerly known as the Seraph, and the "Power and Loss" support group he attends Tuesdays from 8-10 PM. There, he copes with "god-withdrawal" and blackouts amid a group of ex-heroes and power addicts while searching for a way to become the Seraph once more. But when the bodies of ex-superheroes begin to litter the streets, Simon worries that his blackouts are happening for a reason ­ and perhaps the Seraph is possessing him while he sleeps. He enlists the help of his support group to figure things out and help stop the Seraph... before the Seraph stops him.

"Do gods dream? Some faiths claim the mortal soul returns to god's presence each night, gaining wisdom at the feet of its creator. But what of those who once were gods- what do their dreams tell them? Do they speak of power, loss, emptiness and hope? Or do they fear the power ­ hoping beyond hope that they never have to hunt down another supervillain, fight another serial killer or face another day of loneliness and emptiness?

"Or maybe they just want to talk to someone who can relate.

"Feel free to join them. Front Street Community Center, Room 613. Tuesdays from 8-10 PM."

Read the five page preview.

New Toon

There's just not enough time to report genocide what with all these missing children and celebrities dating each other.

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Check out the site BeaWitness.org set up by the Center of American Progress. The chart at the bottom of the page compares news coverage of people being slaughtered in Africa to frivolous stories like the Runaway Bride. Here's some numbers: in June 2005 MSNBC had 259 stories about Tom Cruise and 23 on Sudan. Sounds equal to me.

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Fun Times

Living a short distance from Cleveland I went up for the Funny Times 20th Anniversary party last weekend. I attended as a contributor since they just started running my stuff in their last issue. The party was all weekend, but I only got to go Sunday (no car). I chilled with some cartoonists more reputable than myself and listened to some guy named the Sauce Boss, who played blues while cooking gumbo in a chef outfit. I decided to completely go overboard and take three whole pictures. I wasn't as miserable as I look in these pictures. Or stoned.


obscure cartoonist Matt Bors with Jen Sorensen, who is wearing sunglasses at night to combat the violent flash of my camera.


Beards help cartoonists think. Scott Bateman (right), Andy Singer, and me with half of my face cut off and blinking.



cartoonist Mary Lawton and Funny Times publisher Ray Lesser.

Conservative Comics Part II

There's a cartoon I used to read called Faithmouse by Dan Lacey that I just recently started checking out again. It's great, his recurring characters include Neverborn, the flying aborted fetus, Starmole, the mean atheist judge, and Gaybear, a gay....bear. The cartoons come from an extremly right wing christian mindset and almost always make me laugh. Like this ridiculous cartoon praising Joe Ratzinger.

For some reason he feels the need to continually post unfinished comics on his blog. Perhaps there is some frothing army of christian soldiers who cannot go very long without their Faithmouse fix. I know I can't.

The Wall of Balls

I illustrated the Right Wing Trophy Room for the rational radical Jack Clark which features the mounted juevos of politicians and media lapdogs who have been thoroughly castrated by the right wing.

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I've done some work for him before at billoreillyconman.com. Click on the graphics on the right hand side.

New Toon: How To Draw Editorial Cartoons Like The Pros

I had been sitting on the idea of a cartoon making fun of mainstream editorial cartoons for a while and finally convinced myself to do it after seeing all the predictable cartoons that accompanied the Karl Rove Leak. My comic hardly exaggerates the ridiculous visual puns (Karl Rove leaking water out of his body...GET IT?!) and that takes place every day on America's editorial pages. Go see them for yourself.

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My main gripe with editorial cartoons is the use of newspapers to explain the joke. You know the cartoon. Lyndie Engalnd with an Iraqi on a leash who is holding a four foot tall newspaper with the screaming headline "Americans put Iraqis on leashes in Abu Ghraib". Yeah, we know, we're reading a paper. First, it assumes you're audience is a bunch of complete morons that don't get what your trying to say despite your labeling of everything. Secondly, it completely ruins the cartoon by explaining away any humor that could be found in it.

Anyone interested in this should read Editorial cartooning-why does it suck so much these days? by Scott Bateman from a few years ago. In the article Bateman talks mostly of the excessive labeling, use of donkeys and elephants, and lack of any serious political statements being made. He goes on to talk about 'alternative' political cartoons:

Oh, there are a few people out there who are trying to push editorial cartooning forward into a new century. The cartoons of Tom Tomorrow and Ted Rall feature honest-to-God jokes and actual opinions, and Ruben Bolling ("Tom The Dancing Bug") is doing some amazing work. But for the most part, these cartoonists are relegated to the alt-weeklies rather than the daily papers, which prefer the safer, old-style cartoons, with all those dusty old symbols and labels.

Read the whole article here. I couldn't find the original article on NY Arts, but Cagle posted it on his blog (scroll down a bit).

And go check out Bateman's website.