You are what you listen to

The editor of La Prensa asked me to try coming up with some cartoons targeted at youth issues.

So this is my first stab at that.

I asked a Mexican businessman in Miami, a Puerto Rican graphic designer in Chicago, and our school's Spanish teacher for help with my translation.

Miami gave me the top version, the Spanish teacher just gave me some tweaks for this bottom version, and Chicago thought I had hit it right on the first time. I don't know if she'll use either, let alone which one- (editors are always too busy to anwer their email,) but I like them well enough to go ahead and post them here.

Here's, roughly, the English translation:

"Hey Kids! I've got everything you want-
Heavy metal with anger, hate, and violence
Gansta rap with sex, drugs, violence, and greed
And of course Mexican border drug smuggler ballads with drugs, guns, violence, and accordions!"

Who doesn't love accordians?

Here in Western Iowa, a lot of the farmers listen to "Polka Party" on the AM radio at Noon. Funny story, once we were driving home to Phoenix from Iowa for Christmas. We were somewhere West of Gallup on I-40 (near old 66) and my farmer-in-law found a station playing some great accordion & "oompa" music.

When the song ended, neither of us could understand what the DJ was saying. I couldn't even make out any Spanish. Turns out it was Tejano (Mexican border) music (not German Polka), but it was being played on the Navajo Nation (reservation) radio station.

Just goes to show you that accordians know no borders.

Mad as a hatter

These are three of Glenn Beck's actual quotes. What a nut! And he loves to throw "tea-parties."

"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?
— The Mad Hatter"
— Lewis Carroll (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass)

Paradoxical

Just dumb idea that came to me

be sure to wear it with a bandanna, stocking cap, feed, seed or trucker cap.

Historieta Política

¡Viva Posada!

I've been on the phone with the editor of La Prensa, Iowa the Spanish language newspaper. They publish in, Carroll, Storm Lake, Spencer, Perry, Ames, and Des Moines. If she likes my calaveras cartoon, this could be a bigger market than the Mapleton PRESS was. Of course, I barely know much "Spanglish," so I'll need her help translating, but that may force me to use far fewer words so that the images carry the joke. Who knows. We'll see how this goes.

This one has been corrected for better Spanish.

Here is the English:
The Mexican skeleton asks, "We're all the same under the skin, right Mr. King?"
Rep. Steve King replies, "Get away from me with your drugs and diseases!* We should've kept you out with electric fences like cattle!"

*April 27, 2006, the Des Moines Register published an op-ed piece by Steve King regarding the planned May 1 "Day Without an Immigrant" rallies.

King said "(without immigrants) Our hospital emergency rooms would not be flooded with everything from gunshot wounds, to anchor babies, to imported diseases to hangnails..."

Happy Editorial Cartoonist's Day y Feliz Dia de los Muertos.

Don't mind me

I was teaching 7th graders about complimentary colors and how they can both contrast and neutralize. Thus an oil pastel self portrait. I think I kind of look a little like David Alfaro Siqueiros- but I have been researching Mexican art for a special Dia de los Muertos lesson this week.

Happy Holidays

Maybe they're macabre, or secretly in league with the Devil, maybe they're all huge fans of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," maybe it has something to do with Mexican revolutionary editorial cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada who's famous skeletons of rich dandies make Ddia de los muertos so much fun- whatever the reason, this great American combination of cynicism, satire and silly pictures should be celebrated and remembered on Oct. 31 each year.

I suggest writing your local newspaper editor and demanding that they hire one. If they have one, write them and demand that they keep him/her. Perhaps write a letter to an editorial cartoonist and let them know that you enjoy and appreciate what they do- even when you disagree with them. The best thing you can do is to send them a card or some cookies!

Seeing as these days, everyone with a keyboard thinks of themselves as a reporter and everyone with a cell phone thinks of themselves as a photojournalist- what the hell, if you have a scanner, why not try some political cartooning for yourself?

Not sure you're up for it? Whatever, the very LEAST you can do is to buy a newspaper just for the editorial cartoons. Maybe clip one out that you like a post it on your door/cubical/bulletin board/fridge. If nothing else, you may as well explore some great editorial/political cartoons. Use these links to help you find some.

Editorial Cartooning

• Ted's Political Cartoons

• Alex Raffi, Southern Nevada's very own
  
• American Assoc. of Ed. Cartoonists
• American Political Cartoons: an Introduction
• Ann Telnaes, animated editorial cartooning goddess
• Comics on Slate
• Daryl Cagle's Pro Cartoonist Index
• Dirksen Center Collection
• Jose Guadalupe Posada, Mexican hero
  
• Keith Tucker, Tabloid Liberal
• Mark Fiore's animated editorial cartoons
• Mike Luckovich, one of my all time favorites
  
• Mr. Fish, of Harpers (a certifiable genius in my humble opinion)
• Neal Obermeyer, Of Lincoln, NE and San Diego, CA
• Pulitzer Prize Winners
• Stars of Political Cartooning
• Tim Eagan, another Genius
• Tribune Media Services
• Walt Handelsman, Chicago Tribune
• Washington Post Writer's Group

Mal•Adjusted; Happy Holiday!

October Surprise

I think I'm about finally to a point where I don't really miss writing a weekly column. But if YOU still miss reading my weekly column- HERE ARE SOME HALLOWEEN RE-RUNS from years gone by, Halloween, Reformation and Dia de Los Muertes columns, some spooky pictures, and even some surreal Lutheran images!

Have fun but 'don't eat so much candy that you go into a diabetic coma!

Happy Holiday!

Most of our problem

Exterminate!

More fun with Dr. Who's Daleks.

Hurricaine Love

Here at looong last, is the latest Mayor Gonzo cartoon, illustrating one of the wild stories by West Florida's own gonzo journalist and honorable mayor of Key West- Sammie Mays. With any luck, these will show up in a book by her one of these days. Look for it at an Amazon.com near you.

New PhotoBucket Account

See all my Cartoons at once, organized in to handy albums at Photobucket!

You Bet Your Life

Teaching my 7th graders about pointillism. About as much fun as you can have with a Crayola Washable Marker without having to take a shower.

Just for the fun of it

Only true Dr. Who geeks will get this one, but I thought it was funny when the idea came to me. Feel free to share (if you actually know someone who's even familiar with this British sci-fi.

I have no idea what it means, just having fun with words and images. Contrary to what some right-wingers may think of me, Che is not a hero of mine, on the other hand, I really haven't researched him enough to feel the need to make fun of him specifically- I'm just having fun with a pop-icon. Pretty sure someone's already blended the Che poster with something from Planet of the Apes. Whatever. Just messing around.

Buffalo Buzz

Lies (and the lying liars who tell them)

lies- canned lies - talking points - inflammatory lies - distortions - mischaracterizations - propaganda - genuflection to the base -more lies - horror stories -misrepresentations -towing the party line -little white lies - fear mongering -hyperbole -

Ya know, I used to kinda like Chuck Grassley. He's always been a sightly more reasonable than Congressman Steve King, but Geez- he's just gone off the rails with this one.

Happy Holidays

"I love sweet corn. It truly is better than sex! I'm not lying! All across the Midwest tonight, a husband and wife will finish what husbands and wives do, and the wife will ask the husband: 'How was that?' And, if the man is honest, he'll say 'Well, it wasn't sweet corn, but it was nice.' It's a fact! Sweet corn is better than sex!...fresh sweet corn!...Store bought sweet corn, yes, sex is definitely better than that!" -Garrison Keillor

Okay, seriously, mustard and corn are two great tastes that do not taste great together. Save the mustard for the brats, but I have to tell you, I live in Iowa and this week the sweet corn is just coming on. Only home grown tomatoes can compare. If you don't "get" the humor of Garrison Keillor's quote, then either you are the world's greatest lover or you have obviously never had fresh Iowa sweet corn direct from the farm. MMMMMMmmm, ecstasy.

Facebook, Blogger, same WWWeb. This was hard to execute because I can't get my scanner to work. I had to shoot the drawing with a digital camera and then upload it. Happy WWWeb Day

Baaaa

Me, as a pop icon

Who's hungry? Actually, my kids think I'm the best chef ever, but how many ways can you prepare hot dogs, mac and cheese, or frozen pizza?

Aw shucks

It must have been a couple of years ago that I first accidentally ran accross some picture of Hitler that seemed banal, mundane, even downright charming. I knew it had to have been a bit of NAZI propaganda, but I just knew it was like the mother lode of irony- yet it lay fallow for all that time until now. All of a sudden I can't stop. Though I must say, if you do a Google search for "Hitler, sweet, friendly" you come up with some disturbing stuff. There are a lot of white supremacists and neoNAZIs out there who post these pictures without an ounce of irony and are proud as can be of their amazing leader. THAT gives me shivers. Let us all pray and remember and remind others so that it will never happen again.

What a great guy!

Once again, the initial point of this series is to highlight the way we sometimes blindly follow and loyally defend public figures without carefully scrutinizing all of their positions on all of the issues. There are figures whom I have criticized as a writer and cartoonist, such as Congressman Steve King and Governor Sarah Palin whom people vehemently protected as if they were family members. The same people, sometimes in the same breath would attack me for being pro-abortion. I am not pro-abortion, however, it's not the only political or moral issue out there and I believe that it is used callously as a politically expedient campaign tool. New reveal that the ultimate conservative, Richard Nixon actually advocated aborting the children of interracial couples.

Deep Thoughts

Please don't send hate mail if your a Buddhist. I'm not trying to make fun of Buddhism of de-legitimize his amazing teaching in this quote. It ought to be obvious that the juxtaposition of a pacifist, pious philosophy with evil is supposed to, uh, um, it's supposed to uh, well, I don't know what it's supposed to do. I guess I thought it was funny when I started it, but I think by trying to explain, defend, or analyze it I've pretty much ruined whatever effect I might have been after.
Never mind.

Quiet time

So loveable and adorable

*Let me clarify- I am not equating and never DIRECTLY compared Congressman Steve King or former President Gorge W. Bush to Adolf Hitler. The point of this series is to highlight our tendency not to scrutinize some public figures if we somehow identify with them or find them charismatic. It could be a teacher, a leader, a therapist, a celebrity, athlete, clergy or political leader- it doesn't have to be Bush or King, we're often taken in and should always maintain a healthy level of cynicism. Now, I'll admit that I do think that some of King's statements lean toward racist and his politics lean toward corporatism (if not fascism) and Bush's grandfather was a financial supporter of the NAZIs running up to WWII, but seriously, I have not yet and am not now comparing either of them to the great scourge of the 20th century. But if I were (and I'm not) hyperbole is the birthright of satire, so as egregious as such comparisons might be, I think I'd still be within my rights as a smart assed trouble-maker.

No, no, forget that's not true. Egregious is egregious. No one is as evil as Hitler was and no one deserves to be demonized that much. People must be REALLY paranoid to compare Obama to Hitler and it's just as unfair, irresponsible and outrageous to compare Bush to Hitler too. So again, I promise that I'm NOT trying to compare anyone to anyone. Just trying to be funny and make people think by using irony. Cheap, overly simple, unfairly easy irony, but irony none the less.

On a lighter note, the momentum has taken over so that these are just starting to be funny now rather than a therapeutic means to work through personal angst. I think this one is particularly silly. Of course it's not true, although Disney's fifth major animated feature Bambi did come out in 1942 and it was based on a book by an Austrian author.

Who'd you rather have a beer with?

*This one was inspired by an article in USA Today back in 2004. Satirists shouldn't patronize their readers by spelling things out for them, but if you haven't caught on yet, the point of this series is that sometimes we're really taken in by how populist politicians try to be.

For example- I may see my Congressman (Steve King) as an egocentric, xenophobic, bigoted demagogue (based on his public statements, voting record and behavior) but plenty of good people just see him as "good people," partly because he's warm and friendly and partly because he's as "pro-life" as he can be to get having to kill a doctor at his church somewhere in Kansas.

Mind you, I'm not pro-abortion either, but some people don't think you should speak out about corruption, hypocrisy, economics, health care, civil rights, the environment, violations of the Constitution, or unjust wars unless you are as absolutely over the top zealous about eliminating all abortion as they are. But that's a different ax for me to try to grind another time in a different cartoon, collage, or image. Just had to get it out of my system.

A very nice guy who likes people

*Actually, this series of Hitler as a lovable guy was originally inspired by something someone said on facebook about Iowa Congressman Steve King, they had babysat his kids for him when they were younger and thought he was a really sweet guy. This particular installment is really about George W. Bush from an August 2005 column for Solon.com by David Brooks.

One of us

What a great guy!

Lame duck or dead fish?

Come on all you Caribou Barbie fans, let me have it. I know that nothing provokes your ire more than my poking fun at the lovely yet often incoherent hockey mom.

If you agree with this cartoon, feel free to download, upload, email, print, post, embed, share, print or whatever you want with this cartoon. It drives me crazy that all I can do is post it on the web and not publish it in some newspaper or have it be distributed by some syndicate. Whatchya gonna do?

I can almost guarantee that- even though I'm no longer published in the Mapleton PRESS- it will receive some angry feedback from friends here in the Western Iowa area and from hard core conservative Christians and fellow Concordia Alumni (thanks to my posting it on facebook).

Why they can't see that you don't have to make anything up or lie about her to make her look bad because she does it herself, I guess I'll never know.

But seriously, do me a favor and send this around or hang it up. If not for the hope of increasing my visibility and therefore marketability, if only to propagate awareness about the idiocy of her nonsensical career! Thank you!

Mal•Adjusted

In non clinical terms, Bob is a jerk.

Mal•Adjusted

Total nonsense. But Old Bob Miller's Sarsaparilla made in Mesa Arizona was awesome, it had bite. I think they're out of business now. Sioux City Sarsaparilla is now the predominant maker nationally, but just a little more sweet and a little more smooth than I personally prefer.

Mal•Adjusted

I've been reading 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.' The narrator isn't MPD exactly, but he's "chasing the ghost" of his former self. It made me think of this. I have a friend who's a psychology professor that asked if he could use some of my cartoons to illustrate lectures. I guess that also fed into this too.

Mal•Adjusted

Mal•Adjusted

*from 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' by Robert Pirsig