Back in the USSR

Last week a story in the Telegraph said the former leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, "admits" that he is a Christian. This was mentioned on numerous networks and blogs, especially right-wing types who trumpeted this as a victory from the grave for Ronald Reagan and Jesus (some right-wingers have managed to not conflate the two). We are morally superior! Our religion wins! He has denounced communism and atheism!

Well, looks like a reporter bothered to ask him what he believes.

"Over the last few days some media have been disseminating fantasies – I can't use any other word – about my secret Catholicism, citing my visit to the Sacro Convento friary, where the remains of St. Francis of Assisi lie," Gorbachev said, according to an Interfax article posted Friday.

"To sum up and avoid any misunderstandings, let me say that I have been and remain an atheist,” he stated.

How many right-wing blogs will note the correction?

I bring this up not because I care what Gorby's religious beliefs are. I don't think famous world leaders thinking like me verifies or discredits any certain belief about the world. But I think it's a great example of how these things work.

Often we are told of a statement, statistic, et al, that confirms something many people want to believe. It might change an election or ruin a career. People who pay attention to the news see the correction and wonder why everyone else is so stupid. Often they hold onto the original belief when confronted with facts refuting it. It's why we have 10% of white Democrats thinking Obama is a muslim.

Corporate Socialism

What's Bosnian for "Clintonian?"

When is it politicians will stop lying about incidents that were caught on tape and that they clearly won't get away with? And when will someone call these utterances "lies" instead of accepting "I misspoke" or, my favorite, "I had a different memory."

Lies like this may have worked for Marin Van Buren, but they don't usually turn out good in the age of You Tube.

Talking Points Memo has a recap of the whole thing. You know, if you give a shit.

This anti-Hillary ad is pretty funny.

Monday: Corporate Socialism!

Clowes on Editorial Cartooning

I remember reading Dan Clowes' "Modern Cartoonist" in college. It was a very small booklet about cartooning that came with an issue of Eightball. Fantagraphics has posted the whole thing online.

He makes a brief mention of Editorial Cartoons here:

Turds

While John McCain was in Iraq late last week with his two barnacles, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham, he repeatedly connected Iran and Al Qaeda. McCain claims he misspoke but repeated the claim at least three times. This is his lifetime of experience we are supposed to like. ThinkProgress.org has good coverage of the "gaffe" here and here.

Why can't he differentiate between Iran and Al Qaeda, Sunni and Shiia? Because he views the world through a militaristic prism. All enemies are woven from the same evil cloth and must be eradicated with extreme prejudice. We're talking about a man who's only lament about the Vietnam war was that we didn't stay and win. We already know he vilifies at least one entire race as enemies and sub-humans.

During the 2000 campaign McCain came under fire for saying "gooks" all the time. When asked about it he replied "I hate the gooks, I will hate them as long as I live." He finally agreed to quit saying the racist slur in public.

I wonder: would Obama still have a viable presidential campaign if he declared an undying hatred for "honky ass crackers" let alone made the same remark about Iran and Al Qaeda?

Civil Discourse

cross posted at the ACLU Blog

Over a year go the ACLU contacted me to do a series of comic strips on Civil Liberty issues. The success of those strips led to the creation of Civil Discourse, an entirely new bi-weekly comic strip that launches today, available exclusively on the StandUp website.

In the first comic, I address the real-life ACLU case of a paranoid Principal keeping the high school yearbook safe from a dangerous photograph. You see, a 17-year-old submitted a picture of himself wearing medieval garb and holding a prop sword. Very threatening. I'd put it up there with rap music.

What's with this whole asserting your individuality thing kids are so into? They need to sit down, shut up, and enjoy their abstinence only education!

Expect the topics covered in Civil Discourse to run the gamut from the important to the absurd. I'll be addressing the legal limbo in Guantanamo Bay, Racial Justice, Privacy Rights, and crucial national security issues like The War on Christmas.

And of course, I'll be checking in on our government's endless effort to keep our shores safe from evil doers that do evil. They've been cracking down in two key areas: booting gays out of the military (who needs 'em?) and keeping our skies safe from people who wear Arabic language T-shirts (foreign words hate freedom).

Press Release

ACLU’s StandUp Teams Up with Nationally Syndicated Cartoonist Matt Bors:
Bi-weekly Civil Discourse Uses Humor to Inspire a New Generation of Activists

MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org (212) 549-2666

NEW YORK - Today, the American Civil Liberties Union announced the launch of Civil Discourse, a bi-weekly comic strip created for the ACLU by nationally syndicated cartoonist Matt Bors. Civil Discourse is part of the ACLU’s StandUp campaign, an ongoing project that educates younger audiences about today’s pressing civil liberties issues. The strip can be seen online at www.aclu.org/StandUp.

“Matt’s cartoons are often about civil liberties violations and other injustices,” said Anthony Romero, ACLU executive director. “We’re excited to have someone as original and talented as Matt help us inspire the next generation of civil libertarians.”

The ACLU’s work with Matt began more than a year ago, when the StandUp campaign enlisted him to create a short-run series of print comics about civil liberties. The success of those led to the creation of Civil Discourse, an entirely new series of comic strips that are available exclusively on the StandUp website.

Subversive cartoons, in formats ranging from the graphic novel to the online comic strip have exploded in popularity in the past two decades, and comics have a long history of educating people about injustice. In a time of unprecedented civil liberties violations, Civil Discourse is an ideal way for the ACLU to communicate with younger audiences about the issues that impact their lives.

“We've seen a lot of our civil liberties trampled on over the last few years and the ACLU has been fighting back regardless of which way the political wind blows. I'm proud to be working with them.” said Bors. “With Civil Discourse, I want to make people laugh, but I also want them to think about their how important their rights are.”

------------------------------------

About Matt Bors:
Matt Bors is a nationally syndicated cartoonist with United Feature Syndicate who lives in Portland, OR. His editorial cartoons appear in papers across the country including The Village Voice, the Cleveland Free Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He’s created comics for The Nation, CampusProgress.org, Free Inquiry and The Oregonian.

About StandUp:
StandUp is the ACLU’s campaign for students and young people. Started in 2004, the ongoing project seeks to educate, inspire and activate the next generation of civil libertarians.

About the ACLU:
The American Civil Liberties Union is the nation’s number one defender of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and has played a major role in nearly every key civil liberties battle of the last century. Whether you’re young, old, rich, poor, straight, gay, black, white, male, female, pious or atheist—every person in this country should have the same basic rights. Since 1920, the ACLU has been working hard to make sure no one takes these rights away.

Trinity United Vets for Truth!

I think we know what the attack line against Obama's going to be in the general election now, no? On the bright side, most people don't think he's a muslim anymore.

Online Content

Musician Billy Bragg had an Op-Ed in the New York Times on Saturday on the issue of artists who post their work for free on sites like myspace which makes millions from the traffic it brings:

The musicians who posted their work on Bebo.com are no different from investors in a start-up enterprise. Their investment is the content provided for free while the site has no liquid assets. Now that the business has reaped huge benefits, surely they deserve a dividend.

What’s at stake here is more than just the morality of the market. The huge social networking sites that seek to use music as free content are as much to blame for the malaise currently affecting the industry as the music lover who downloads songs for free. Both the corporations and the kids, it seems, want the use of our music without having to pay for it.

Cartoonists face a similar problem. As print publications slash content, radically downsize and ultimately cease publishing, we look for websites that want to pay for content. Sadly, they barely exist. But not due to lack of funds. Vampire capitalists like Ariana Huffington are raking it in with their highly trafficked websites that pay nothing to their contributors. The only form of compensation you get for being on the site is "exposure." ( I should note that I'm writing this on the same day that I announce my new ACLU strip--a paying gig, so I shouldn't be so glum. But these outlets are drying up fast for mosts artists).

When I started out freelancing I was willing to work with papers that had little to no revenue just to get illustration pieces in my portfolio and someone printing my work. The whole idea was that this would lead to better clients who could pay. And that happened.

But online even the top dogs won't shell out a few dollars a week for a cartoon. There are 90-some staff cartoonists in America right now, with a few being laid off every year. There used to be 2,000 in the early 20th century. When the lucky ones make it to retirement, it's a good bet most papers won't replace them. I'd be willing to bet I live to see the day you can count the number of staffers on your hands.

Jen Sorensen and Ted Rall have both done comics recently on the subject of providing free content, while Get Fuzzy comments on the state of the comics page.

Pat Buchanan on Race

From Media Matters:

America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.

Blacks. So ungrateful. It's amazing people like Rev. Wright aren't on their knees thanking moral pillars like Pat and praising this country for enslaving their ancestors and getting them off that African tribal malarkey and on some good god-fearing Christian stuff. I just hope they don't complain about race relations in heaven as on Earth.

Jeez.

In that statement and the rest of his column you get the sense that black people should somehow be thankful to whites for ending human bondage and American apartheid. Except he doesn't imply it--he comes right out and says it:

We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?

classy!

god=pink elephant?

This is from a real news story, by the way. Many people believe in god, but only liars and the mentally ill claim to personally talk with it.

Monday: My respite from presidential politics is over! I've got a comic about that whole Rev. Wright thing (a little news story you may have heard of).

And my new strip for the ACLU, Civil Discourse, will absolutely, without a doubt, for sure be debuting Monday.

It's Growing Up So Fast

It's been five years since we invaded Iraq. I thought this momentous day really called for something special so I made you a sparkly cartoon.

Skynet

The descendants of this robot will surely enslave us all.

The Atheist Apocalypse

Kevin Moore pointed way to this great comic.

Sex Scandal Cheat Sheet

Another argument for electing more women to political office (besides the whole equality thingy) is that the prostitution market is much smaller for them. Perhaps--and this is just a wild guess--they would be less inclined to order a prostitute or hit on people in a public restroom thus not having to resign in disgrace.

Given the shocking level of hypocrisy involved in the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal, it seemed he had no choice but to resign. But what if he were a Republican? They're good at hanging in there--just think of Larry Craig. And while a sex scandal sends the public and punditocracy into fits of rage, there is a surprising lack of resignation calls when people, say, invade a nation for no particular reason and kill hundreds of thousands of civilians. I guess hooker stories are more exciting.

And his wife. Her lifeless expression while standing next to her husband during his first public remarks spoke volumes. I'm going to stand and applaud when one of these women sends the man out by himself to face the cameras and spends the time hiring a good divorce lawyer.

Wednesday: Happy Birthday!

Smooth Skin: It's not just for the living anymore

This is part of an animated ad I saw on the Internet for some skin cream. Apparently this stuff works wonders. Just check out this before and after shot:

If your face looks like the image in the right, you have more immediate worries than wrinkles. Namely: you're dead. You are a corpse and have been decomposing for some time now.

Ethanol

With Ethanol production being subsidized in a growing number of countries, from the U.S. to South Africa, food prices are beginning to rise.

Not only does it use up our food supply, but it look like producing them may be even more energy efficient than oil.

..taken globally, the production of almost all biofuels resulted, directly or indirectly, intentionally or not, in new lands being cleared, either for food or fuel.

Even if it were green, our fuel consumption is so high we would probably have to turn the moon into a corn planet to have enough to replace oil.

Further reading:
Foreign Affairs - How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor
Common Dreams -Food Crisis Will Take Hold Before Climate Change, Warns Chief Scientist


Monday: Sex Scandal

Cartoon Exhibit

Any Portlanders out there?

Some of my originals will be on display at a local political cartoons exhibit/fundraiser for the MRG Foundation this Saturday. Originals and prints will be on display from Portland artists and fellow CWA members Shannon Wheeler, Kevin Moore, and Barry Deutsch (we'll be there in the flesh as well).

This will be a fabulous event featuring a rare opportunity to see some of the best political cartooning around.

Bring your dancing shoes! DJ Anjali and The Incredible Kid will provide great music.

Special Guests: Members of the March 4th Marching Band

A slew of other artists' work will be on display including Jen Sorensen, Tom Tomorrow, Alison Bechdel, Stephanie McMillan and Peter Kuper.

And, we'll have wonderful appetizers and desserts. No host bar

Tickets: $25 - $50 sliding scale

Event Date: Mar 15, 2008

Time: 7pm - 11pm

Location: Holocene 1001 SE Morrison (Corner of SE 10th and Morrison), Portland, Or, 97214

More info here.

It Lives!

The Weeping Statue of Liberty clichè made a triumphant return to the comics page today.

The Three Trillion Dollar War

Paul Wolfowitz, March 2003:

"We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon."

It turns out Paul was off by a couple trillion. No biggie. Thank you for bankrupting the country.

A new book by Nobel-Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates the cost at $3 trillion. If we are going to burden future generations with mountains of debt, can we at least buy something cooler than a dumb war? I want a platinum pen nib.

TMCM

I just scored tickets to the Too Much Coffee Man Opera-The Refill and I'm stoked. I'm going opening night!

The show is fairly priced, especially considering that it includes the previous opera back to back. But then you get into these goddamn ticket fees. After charging me a $6 convenience fee and a $4 processing fee (with the option of overnighting my tickets to me from downtown for only $14.95) I asked what those fees were for. The woman on the other end said one was for "processing" and one was for "handling." I asked if it would be cheaper for me to ride my bike downtown and buy them there. No, same fees.

All of you are aware of this shit. We see it on our phone and cable bills. There should be a law.

The Ticketmaster employee kept calling the show the "Too Much Coffee, Man Oprah," which I can only hope Shannon will consider doing for a third installment.

After the payment was made I was transferred to some third party overseas sketchy outfit that wanted me to pay a dollar for all kinds of amazing benefits including free hotel credits and chances to go on vacations. An introductory rate to their special program. Plus I would get $10 back from my useless fees I just paid. Make it $20 they said. After I declined, they said $40, then $60. How much do I pay after the "introductory dollar" mount expires?

$119.95.

Sorry, Sheehan

Democracy Now! reported this morning that at a Karl Rove speech he was asked "if he has ever shed a tear over the war in Iraq. Rove said he has cried for the parents of soldiers who support the war effort."

I guess any soldier who didn't support the war--like Pat Tillman--deserve no sympathy, to say nothing of the innocent civilians.

Prison Pop

This comic begins what will be at least a week, maybe two, of things other than the presidential election. It's just getting to be too much. And now for the comic...

We're #1! USA!

For the first time in the nation’s history, more than one in 100 American adults is behind bars, according to a new report.

Take that despotic regimes around the world! But wait--it gets worse:

Incarceration rates are even higher for some groups. One in 36 Hispanic adults is behind bars, based on Justice Department figures for 2006. One in 15 black adults is, too...

and worse:

...as is one in nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34.

yeah, maybe it's time to reevaluate that whole "war on drugs" thing (for starters).

Wednesday: The $3 Trillion Dollar War

Kenyan Gothic

Well, those smears on Barack Obama are coming along nicely, no? I can't even imagine where they'll be at come the general election. This segment from the weekly propaganda show "Hannity's America" gives us a clue. But hey, Hillary doesn't think he's a muslim...you know, as far as she knows.

I like watching reactions to Michelle Obama. There's one thing America hates more than a black man or white woman and that's a black woman. Every time she makes a strong statement or voices an opinion she's going to be called "angry" which is a code word for "uppity bitch."

Monday: Prison Stats: looking good!

Nader

Before ranting, I want to recommend the latest Blast The Right podcast by Jack Clark. He gives a far better argument than I can against Nader and flattens his followers claims about why voting for Nader is better than a Democrat. It involves a train. I had been talking with Jack about Nader in the previous weeks and it's what led me to do a cartoon on the subject.

Like many progressives, I agree with Nader on the issues. But his run accomplishes none of these goals. Bringing them into the national discussion? If that's what he is concerned about, why didn't he run for the Democratic nomination? It would have garnered a lot of coverage and he could have confronted the leading candidates on stage--something he won't get to do in the general election.

Ralph could crusade as an election reformer--or whatever else he wants to address in the twilight of his life--without a presidential run. His "spoiler" status alienates those of us who are most receptive to his arguments.

The purist "vote your conscience" appeal doesn't wash with me. It's an argument that comfortable liberals engage in so they can defiantly state how they didn't vote for a candidate like Hillary Clinton who has blood on her hands from the Iraq War and are therefore morally pure.

But voting tactically does make sense. Especially in a two party system. The fact is, if a McCain administration takes office life will be worse for the poor, the homeless, the working class, the military, Iraqis, Iranians that he threatens to bomb to hell and everyone in this country who will get to enjoy the 40 year legacy of his Supreme Court appointments.

The .3 % of the vote that Nader received in 2004 should be an indication of his post-2000 clout. I don't imagine him being that big of threat this time around and agree when he says "If the Democrats can't landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, emerge in a different form." If the Democrats lose this one, it's for bigger reasons than Ralph.

OK, that was a lot more than I planned to type about Ralph Nader. I'm going to go do something that isn't a waste of time now.

O'Reilly Logic

Tonight on the O'Reilly Factor I heard Bill say that since there are some people who won't vote for Clinton or Obama because of their race or gender and some people who will vote for them because of it, that both groups cancel each other out. Therefore, racism and sexism are not factors in the election anymore. They aren't worthwhile topics. Why are we even talking about them?

It's just that simple, folks!

3 A.M.

We are really getting silly now. It's 3 in the morning: who do you trust to answer the phone in the White House?

Do important events only happen in the middle of the night? What does answering phones have to do with anything? I like how Obama identified the Clinton ad as fear mongering and then released almost the exact same ad in response. When Hillary accuses you of being a plagiarist, it's advisable not to plagiarize her ads word for word.

Friday: American Gothic, updated.

Is there a vaccine against stupidity?

McCain embraces debunked fringe theories on the campaign trail:

“It’s indisputable that autism is on the rise among children,” Senator John McCain said while campaigning recently in Texas. “The question is, What’s causing it? And we go back and forth, and there’s strong evidence that indicates that it’s got to do with a preservative in vaccines.”

The preservative thimerosal, which doesn't cause autism to begin with, was removed years ago to combat the growing irrational fear of vaccines. I'd expect this from Jenny McCarthy or any other celebrity given a platform on Larry King to misinform people, but not someone running for President who will set policy at the CDC.

Yet another reason why the proposed Science Debate is a good idea. Several thousand individuals and organizations associated with science, technology and medicine have been pushing for this. Since it would be a debate about substantive issues and not Tim Russert asking dumbass questions, no candidate has committed.

doodle

McCain's head. Looks like an eggplant.

The Puppy Principle

The video of the American soldier throwing a puppy off of a cliff is going around the web and is, of course, stomach churning [adding: looks like the dog could have been dead and the sound added later]. As it deals with a cute dog instead of non-American humans, it has a chance of being touched by the mainstream media.

All I can think about is Jen Sorensen's cartoon. Jen, time for a sequel.

Ohio

I hope all my friends and family in Ohio today will vote for the candidate they think is best suited to return in four years and give them another round of lip service about jobs.

Ralph, as in "Vomit"

This comic pretty much sums up how I feel about Ralph Nader running for President again. I have a little more to say but will get to it later.

Wednesday: Red Phone...3 A.M.

Time Riots!

Yesterday, the Times had a column about the long history of trying to keep calendars accurate with leap years and such:

By the time Britain adopted the [Gregorian] calendar, in 1752, 11 days had to be eliminated, and many people were enraged at the loss. “Time rioters” took to the streets of London and other cities chanting, “Give us back our 11 days!”