Madrassa Veterans for Truth

The muslim smear about Obama is so widespread in this country it had to be addressed in the recent debate in South Carolina.

Here's the first comic about the Madrassa Veterans I did back when the fake story first broke. It looks like it stuck and we can all look forward to right-wing conspiracy websites telling us the "truth" about Barack Hussein Obama for rest of his political life.

Loofa Man's New Low

Bill O'Reilly is a disgusting piece of shit.

He started attacking John Edwards for mentioning the inconvenient fact that there are 200,000 homeless vets in this country. Talking with Ed Shultz, he said that there aren't "that many" and offered to get any homeless vet off the street if only someone could only find one.

Clearly the remarks of a completely out of touch elitist demagogue.

After being roundly criticized and rebuked, he's now trying to backtrack in the only way he knows how: by lying. Media Matters has the video of him switching the debate entirely:

Certainly there are homeless veterans, but it's not because of the economy. It's mostly because of addiction and mental illness, something politicians can do little about. But if Edwards admits the truth, it takes away the class warfare issue, which is his only issue.

He's right about the addiction and mental illness, or course, but no one is saying otherwise. (he never mentions physical disabilities for some reason). Edwards never said they are where they are because of the economy--he regularly talks about the lack of comprehensive mental health care and veterans services.

But according to him, Edwards is "demagoging" because this is "something politicians can do little about." He's completely wrong. It's just his rabid right-wing brain recoils in horror at the actual solution: homeless services, affordable housing, job programs, increased services for veterans, and drug and alcohol treatment are proven to help people off the streets (especially if they can be reached early on in the process) and get them back on their feet.

On the same program Bill said, "I am living proof that you can start with very little and prosper economically if you work hard and keep it honest." If you don't end up a millionaire, it must be your fault.

Those of us capable of feeling empathy for other human beings understand that were our circumstances different--a runaway from an abusive household or a mentally battered veteran of war--we could be freezing on the street begging for the change of a passerby who denies that we even exist.

When Bad Policies Collide

It bears repeating every now and then: It's 2008 and we kick people out of the army for being gay.

We also torture people using methods from the Spanish Inquisition on people who haven't even been charged with a crime.

Line of the week

On Larry King Live last night

KING: You worked with him on "Brokeback Mountain," right?

BRAGMAN: I did.

KING: How did he approach that role?

He certainly was not gay.

Great question, Larry. It opens the door to another baffling mystery: how could he play The Joker given the fact that he isn't a psychopathic killer who wears clown makeup. Truly the sign of a great actor.

Change!

Change. Maybe you've heard about it.

And why must McCain put "my friends" at the beginning and end of every sentence?

Site Problems

I had to switch over to a better server to deal with the increased traffic I've been getting. The site won't be going down anymore.

I'm having trouble getting the blog stuff worked out so bear with me on that.

Update: Looks like everything is fixed. The blog archives even magically started working again. Please let me know if anything is fishy with the site.

Scary Fans

This letter was sent to the Cleveland Free Times and addressed to me.

The LAW: Supreme Court Case. State of Texas vs. (2) Guys. The Supreme Court has stated that "sodomy" or "oral sequence" is NOT in the purview of the government and the government should not be involved with (2) consenting adult males (age 18 & older) in their private space such as a house/condo/apt./trailer/motel room/hotel room/lodge/tent/add on to a truck as long as this does not become a public nuisance & it is private among adult males. That's the law! Now, some states might say, We will not obey this "law" and cause all kinds of problems for the "gay males" in our jurisdiction &/or the booty freaks who are not gay males rather passive males that other males seek for sex ...

Many years ago I dated a young man whose family was from Tajikistan. We didn't cornhole, but we did kiss and rub our things together & after we left the restaurant this young man - damn near beautiful put his arm around me and hugged me walking down the street! And another young man from Tajikistan wants me to cornhole him (hard & often). ...

Race and Gender

Labeling: It Bugs The Shit Out Of Me

(click here to view)

Dick Locher Chicago Tribune Jan 19, 2008 EditorialCartoonists.com

Today's cartoon by Dick Locher illustrates the need many mainstream editorial cartoonists have to label things that simply don't need it. Look at the two panels. One is captioned "Airline travel," the other "Campaign trail." It's clear that two pilots and a candidate are seen in their respective panels. But why is the candidate labeled "candidate?" Why aren't the pilots labeled?

I get that daily papers want all their readers to get the comics so there's pressure to make it very clear by putting big badges on people with their names. But if a man who is on the "campaign trail" standing at a lectern with an American flag behind him talking about his opponents is not recognizable as a generic candidate then you shouldn't be allowed to read the paper. I also think it's insulting to assume your readers to be that dumb.


Update: As Kevin Allman notes in the comments, "He also misspelled "campaign" as "campaiagn," and "collision" as "collison" -- two out of 25 words in the whole cartoon."

Television and Strikes

I've talked to a few friends and neighbors about the writer's strike and found even very liberal people wishing it was over for a very trivial reason: they simply want their shows back on tv. People feel entitled to it. And besides, we're not talking about poor factory workers--these are bigshot writers.

As someone who makes their living through media (as a freelancer) I'm directly affected and deeply concerned by the lack of value media companies have placed on content as they switch over to "new media." This strike is important and their demands are not outrageous.

I've heard people say that they needed to go back on the air to save the shows so they would be there when the strike is over. This is a kind of circular argument. Of course the shows are in trouble--it's the point. One could just as easily point out that shows can't exist without writers (strikes exist to make this painfully clear to those at the top). As for the argument that the dispute doesn't affect these shows--it does. They're part of a union.

Another defense is that this is primary season and not a good time for these shows (Colbert and Stewart) to be off the air. That others would have soon lost their jobs. And that, you know, it's been a while, and they made their point. The point of a strike--the last resort unions have for leverage--is to put pressure on employers. You want them to be inconvenienced. If you're successful, you can get them to negotiate in good faith.

The fact that a lot of this kind of language seems like outdated griping and we should all go along and get along is really a testament to how much unions achieved in the first part of the 20th century. The level of comfort we've attained in our work week and labor conditions were not the result of asking nicely.

I don't even watch their shows regularly, but I tuned in the other night and found them doing some humor about the strike and being very ironic and showing some reluctance about being on the air. It made me feel a little uneasy. As we joked in our press release, they can't be let off simply because they are funny and we like their show. I agree with Rall's point here:

2. They're talking a lot on the air about unionism and the strike. While that's very meta, it doesn't wash. The best way to make sure the corporate bosses feel the pinch would have been to stay off the air.

What if all the shows are "forced" back on the air, like Colbert and Stewart, or deals are made with them all? Where would this strike be? No one said it was going to be easy.

There are numerous shades of gray that can be applied to how difficult there decision was, but when it comes down to it, I see it like this: they are WGA members, there was no deal for them to go back on air and they clearly have written material. Therefore, they should not be back on the air. They should be out on the sidewalk.

I'm getting very polarized reactions to my comic already. Some very supportive and amused, some very unhappy comedy central fans. I'll probably do a post about some of the reactions in the next two days.

Scab

View Ted Rall's cartoon on Jon Stewart here.

Press Release

January 16, 2008

CARTOONISTS DECLARE JIHAD ON COMEDY CENTRAL SCABS

Syndicated political cartoonists Ted Rall and Matt Bors will issue cartoons ridiculing two figures generally revered by liberals for their political humor: Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" and Stephen Colbert of "The Colbert Report."

Despite not making a deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, Stewart and Colbert have returned to their shows--without writers --in a move that has generated little to no criticism from the liberal press.

Rall and Bors, who write and draw all their own material and are not members of the Writers Guild, decided to team up and deliver a one-two punch, with each of them taking on one of the Comedy Central hosts in cartoons issued by their respective syndicates on the night of Thursday, January 17. The cartoons will also be available at their websites www.tedrall.com and www.mattbors.com

"One naturally hesitates before unleashing the fearsome power of Rall and Bors," said Bors and Rall, "but the stakes are too high, the issues too important, the hypocrisy too hypocritical for us to just put down our pens and tune in to their union-busting, albeit highly amusing, programs."

Rall's cartoon imagines rough and tumble union members from 1938 traveling through a wormhole to encounter Jon Stewart, whom they identify as a "scab." The comic ends with Stewart being carried away on a stretcher after being violently beaten. "Stewart's wry, vaguely left-of-center wit fails to register with the visitors from a more straightforward time," Rall writes in the comic.

"Progressives shouldn't let these scabs off the hook, no matter how hilarious they are," said Rall. "The War on Snarkism starts now!"

Bors' comic deals with Colbert in a parody of his popular segment "The Wørd." This time the word is "Scab" with Colbert remarking, "Writers may be able to hang out all day on their air conditioned sidewalks, but I have a mouth to feed, folks!" while the screen informs us of his ego's lunch break demands. It's something you could almost imagine Colbert saying, with Bors turning the faux-right wing persona back on the host.

"They have no integrity, no morals, and no guts," Bors huffed. "They're funny, sure, but not ha-ha funny. Not after this."

Ted Rall's cartoons are distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, while Matt Bors' work is distributed through United Feature Syndicate. They each draw three cartoons a week.

Neither Rall nor Bors will be available for appearances on either of the shows while the strike remains in effect. "We'd rather fight in Bush's wars than cross a picket line," they said in unison.

Bloomberg

Will Bloomberg make up his mind already about running for President.

War Is Boring

Before going into Somalia, David Axe got a call from his employer.

The most significant moment in American History since the assassination of JFK

Another sad example of how our election coverage works happened with the Hillary "crying" thing. She didn't cry. She simply welled up a bit, but "the moment" has taken on a life of its own now.

There was an incredible amount of debate happening on the cable news shows about whether the tear was fake or not. (video at thinkprogress). A lot of debate over it's authenticity, the timing, the female thing, how it will play with 19-23 year old single mothers who like romance novels demographic, but not really any talk about why on earth this type of thing should be covered and psychoanalyzed to death.

Voters who clam to deride this horserace stuff rewarded the pundits for covering this nonsense and let if affect their judgement. It seems to have played a part in how some people voted. Congratulations. You have just validated their firmly held belief that things like welling up and $400 dollar haircuts are topic worthy of lengthy discussion.

New Hampshire voters imagined themselves as bravely rejecting the pollsters and pundits "deciding it for them." I don't really get this since the polls were based on the candidates those same voters told them they were going to vote for a few days before. They apparently pride themselves on making up their mind at the last minute based on a whim, a tear, a pretty speech, whatever. It's not as if any policy changes happened from any democratic candidates between Iowa and New Hampshire. The intervening time was simply a chance for the candidates to capture undecided voters who may be swayed by a calming hand gesture or making eye contact with them as you move through a crowd.

Hillary of course is the "comeback kid" now with her amazing "come from behind" story of a presumptive nominee leading in national polls losing to Obama in one state and staying down in the polls for five days, then returning to how it was previously projected in New Hampshire. A truly exhilarating story of overcoming insurmountable odds that I'm sure will inspire Americans for generations.

It also presented yet another easy news peg for lazy cartoonists who didn't want to think that day. They do this every week though, literally wasting space in newspapers. Pat Oliphant was one of the worst offenders, exaggerating her into a whining female that our nefarious enemies will laugh at. This is typical behavior for the all-males club that is editorial cartooning. Kevin Moore dissects the comic here.

Huckabee

Mike Huckabee really is the candidate of change. He would like to change this country into Jesusland. He is crazy and thinks the Earth was created a few thousand years ago in precisely six days. I hope he wins the Republican nomination.

Weekend at Bernie's

NYTimes:

Even for the once-notorious Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, it may have been a first: Two men were arrested on Tuesday after pushing a corpse, seated in an office chair, along the sidewalk to a check-cashing store to cash the dead man’s Social Security check, the police said.

For the love of god, read the whole thing.

Horse's Ass

During the television coverage of the New Hampshire primary last night Tom Brokaw showed a little humility and embarrassment for his media colleagues by saying that maybe since the polls were so wildly off and they've been predicting doom, comebacks, and sweeping tidal waves of support for various candidates all week, maybe they could cool down on the horserace coverage and cover issues instead of tears and haircuts.

Chris Matthews' brain seemed unable to process the thought. But I guess that's not surprising from a man ho wrote a book titled "Life's A Campaign."

Joe Scarbarough came on directly after Tom and seemed to offer a rebuttal saying something to the effect of, "To all the people who are going to blame the pollsters and the pundits, I say to you, is it wrong for a sports announcer to cover a game and make predictions?"

Of course, having a TV show doesn't mean you're able to create logical arguments. The difference between covering a campaign and say, announcing a horserace, is that the winner of the horserace isn't determined by votes and all the announcing of the event can't effect whether Seabiscut beats out Black Beauty. A frightening amount of people vote for a candidate based on looks, likability, and the perception that they can win an election. If Joe doesn't understand this simple concept he should be fired. With most people getting their news from TV and the media fixating on the politicians with the biggest war chests, I suppose it's just a coincidence that they get the most votes.

I'm glad I didn't draw this cartoon today

(click here to view)

Gordon Campbell Inland Valley Bulletin Jan 9, 2008 EditorialCartoonists.com

Meet Some Candidate

This begins about a week and a half of election cartoons I have coming. There's just...so much to make fun of.

2008

2008 is going to be my biggest, busiest year ever. This will be my first full year as a syndicated cartoonist doing three comics a week and I can't think of a better time for that than an election year. I've spoken with a small number of young white college students in Iowa and they want "change" in their comics. All my editorial cartoons will now feature Donkeys and Elephants talking while holding giant newspapers that have explanations of the comic on them. I kid.

All of my illustration work has pretty much been dumped for the time being to take up some comic gigs. The first project out of the gate will be a bi-weekly comic strip for the ACLU titled "Civil Discourse." I mentioned this a few months ago and it's finally going forward soon. It will focus on everything from the War On Drugs to kids at high schools getting yelled at by mean teachers and will be slightly larger in format to my regular political cartoons so I can stretch out with the art a bit.

War Is Boring will continue and will see David go to Somalia, Iraq, and more places yet to be determined.

One project I'd finally like to do, if I have any extra time or money, is publish a collection of my best editorial cartoons. I thought I was going to have one last fall but plans fell through. I may take the slow approach with it this year and see if I can get it out.

With all of these projects and the Weekly Woof kids strip (as well as a top secret long term project) I'm set to draw around 300 comics in 2008.

Blogging will continue. Check back often to see if I've gone insane from sleep deprivation.

Kristol

Kristol is off to a good start in his first column. Michelle Malkin notes that she never said the quote Kristol attributes to her today--it was Michael Medved.

No detail, large or small, is too important to get wrong in a Kristol column.

Taggers Like Me

Graffiti scrawled on a Village Voice box in NYC: "adults are afraid of bors!"

kids too.

Kill Bill

"First of all, whenever I hear anything described as a heartless
assault on our children, I tend to think it's a good idea."
-Bill Kristol

If punditry worked like any other profession, serial liars and perpetually wrong morons like Bill Kristol would be ripping tickets at a movie theater. Instead he just landed a gig at the New York Times as a columnist. Is there really a need for a neoconservative warmonger on the most popular editorial page in the country just to appeal to conservatives who hate the paper? The Wall Street Journal hasn't felt the need to add Naomi Klein as a columnist.

The editorial page editor said he doesn't get the uproar over hiring people with "opposing views." It's not opposing views I'm mad about--by all means choose from any number of qualified conservative or libertarian thinkers--just don't pick the worst pundit currently working, one who called for your paper to be prosecuted.

The New York Times can find space for a Kristol column but can't find the space for a single editorial cartoon any day of the week. And for that they should be prosecuted.

The Beast is out with this year's Loathsome List. Here's Kristol's entry:

Bears the burlesque Cheshire grin of a sophist born with a large silver spoon jammed sideways in his mouth. A second generation neocon raised in the tradition of Straussian perception management and myth creation, Kristol is basically lying about everything -- always -- and he knows it. .... Bill is arguably the most egregious media hawk of a generation. Seems to have suffered no ill impact to his career or prestige despite having been completely wrong about everything to do with Iraq and Iran, and actually laughs about it with obnoxious frequency.

changechangechangechange

I'm glad I didn't play the Change Drinking Game for tonight's presidential debate and take a shot every time I heard the word. I would have been dead before the first commercial break.

Glossolalia Movement

I never understood the English Only movement too well. It's not as if we are in danger of waking up in a Kafka-esque scenario unable to communicate with anyone because Mexicans took over the entire country overnight. At worse we will have to deal with dual language "wet floor" signs and more Spanish language radio stations. Probably an increase in Mexican restaurants, but I don't consider that a bad thing.

About Glossolalia: some linguists actually bothered to study these people and figured out a scientific way to say "they are blathering idiots." It turns out that people in different countries all speak in tongues differently based on random fragments of their native language. Imagine all the other things they could have done with their time.

In Contempt

Kevin Moore has an excellent comic today mocking some cliches that too many editorial cartoonists rely on to make their deadlines.

Religious Ads

You may think Giuliani is the least religious republican candidate but I know better. The cross that emerged from the rubble of ground zero was a message from Jesus--approval of the way the Mayor handled the situation.

Romney Is A Liar

Mitt Romney recently claimed that he saw his father march with Martin Luther King. It turns out that he defines "saw" so loosely that I can claim I saw it too. The Boston Phoenix immediately questioned his claim and proved that he was a shameful liar.

The Phoenix ran my comic along with their editorial this week denouncing Romney.

Iowa and New Hampshire Republicans are about to start choosing a standard-bearer for the 2008 elections. If members of the GOP want to rescue their party from its disastrous decline in the public’s trust, they must reject the shameless, dishonorable, dishonest former governor of Massachusetts, Willard Mitt Romney. (read the rest)

Asshole of the Day

From a letter to the editor published today in the Oregonian. The topic was on Civil Unions.

Homo sapiens is never more than one generation away from extinction, but fortunately the libido that inflames us all will keep the earth overflowing for the foreseeable future. Although sex, unfortunately, is becoming a toy in America, it still has the central role in the dynamic of civilization: Without it, there would be no us.

So to pretend that gay relationships are normal, that we should embrace gay [unions] in America, that such [unions] contribute to society, is foolhardy. The gay lifestyle is not normal. It is aberrant, contributing nothing to the maintenance of the human race. It is to be tolerated, not encouraged.

HARRY NEUWIRTH Salem

Yes, the only purpose in the state issuing marriage licenses is to encourage reproduction and survival of the species in face of non reproducing queers. (you can tell we are in danger by the dangerously low population of Earth.) All the rights granted--hospital visitation, joint tax filing, inheritance--are merely incidental. As such, all single people, virgins, barren women, and childless couples are "aberrant, contributing nothing" and should only be "tolerated, not encouraged."

War Is Boring

In the latest strip, David stops in Kenya before heading to Somalia.

hey hey ho ho

A funny button I saw at a coffee shop.

Indefinite Torture

Despite sweeping measures to prevent suicides among the 305 prisoners here, a detainee slashed his throat with a sharpened fingernail recently and might have bled to death if guards hadn't rushed to his aid, officers disclosed here Tuesday. (link)

If you were a detainee at Guantànamo Bay and you fell, causing a bone to snap and jut out of your skin, you would be rushed to the infirmary for the best medical treatment available. What are we keeping them alive for? Not a trial. Not release. It just seems like the right thing to do.

If human decency tells us that it would be cruel to deny them healthcare, don't we owe them a trial as well? And why can't they commit suicide if they wish? How long, and to what extent, will we drag out their lives? When they start dying of old age, I imagine Congress will employ Schiavo-like tactics to keep their hearts beating.

Persistent vegetative terrorists, groaning randomly and seeming to follow balloons. And still a threat to Freedom.

I feel really bad for this detainee that's been my human piñata for the last few comics on torture. He's really been through the wringer.

Energy Bill

An energy bill was passed that will save us by mandating fuel efficiency standards by 2020 that are already achieved in saner countries. Incandescent lightbulbs were banned which I'm sure will make a huge dent in global warming.

Joe-Mentum Endorses McCain

The end of the year saw John McCain come back in the polls a bit as republicans scrambled to figure out which of their candidates was the least douchebaggy. They might have to swallow hard and support someone who is a right-wing fanatic, but just doesn't hate Mexicans or like torture as much as the rest of the crew. a decrepit careerist in his seventies, McCain finally shed his fake Maverick label to simply become the ol' reliable republican.

and we're back

Looks like the comic on the pope made me exceed my traffic limit for the month so the site was shut down. I'll be updating missed comics this week and commenting on a few things that happened during me exile from the web. I ave a few things going on in 2008 as well that I'll fill you in on.

Happy New Year