Cartoon for Thurs. Oct. 2

This ended up being the last cartoon I drew for the Mapleton PRESS- at least for a while. I don't know how long the hiatus will last, but my wife asked me to lay off of politics for a while. Democrats are pretty much a 20% minority where we live and not all of the 80%, but the most vocal extreme Republicans have made it hard on us.

I was pretty happy with myself. It's not often that I get it in one drawing. Usually I have to piece together several drawings or layers in Photoshop. Plus this is a local issue, going on in Denison, IA so I can give readers a break from the campaign. It should appeal to everybody- Liberals will like the pro-union stance, Conservatives will perceive it as being anti-illegal aliens.

Although, I have to say with only a month of Thursdays left before the vote, it's pretty hard to not draw an election cartoon- especially with McCain throwing another "hail Mary pass" by "suspending his campaign to focus on the mess he helped make!

Here's the original drawing too-

Cartoon for the Sep 25, 2008 PRESS

One of the things I love to do is to use politicians own words against them. All of what Hoover is saying here is from two different McCain quotes. Like everyone else, I'm scared of a new Great Depression. Syndicates DEFINITELY won't be hiring cartoonists, and schools won't be needing Art teachers.
Here is how it will look in black and white when they run it in the Mapleton PRESS next week. And below is the original caricature from my sketchbook.

And in case anyone wants to save this sign and send it to all your Republican friends or turn it into a bumper sticker or post it on your MySpace of FaceBook-

Cartoon for Sept 18 Mapleton PRESS

Barks like a duck, attacks like a duck... Now- I never caller her anything that rhymes with rich- you're reading something into this material.

I loved how Obama clarified his comments on David Letterman, McCain's policies are the pig- Sarah Palin is the lipstick! McCain used the "lipstick on a pig" line months before Obama about supposed liberal Democratic policies anyway. And don't forget, Palin called herself a pitbull with lipstick, even before she was picked for VP. Although some people say she's more of a lapdog since McCain's campaign won't let the press ask her any serious questions.


Here, I kind of wanted to see ahead of time how it will look in black and white:

Introducing...

I know, I'm just a sexist pig. That's exactly the strategy that the GOP had in mind- should Liberals attack their VeeP candidate and they'll get to cry "sexist" and make us liberals look like a bunch of hypocrites. Listen, I think I'm letting her off easy with next week's cartoon- as if she's the victim, when it's more likely that she'll be the attack dog. But don't get me started on what I REALLY think of her.

Yes, this woman has provoked my ire so much, I even started an anti-Palin Facebook Group! Come join- http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=24253491939&#/group.php?gid=25459575535

No new rejection notices yet- maybe no news is good news. I feel really bad about not drawing all matter of Maladjusted cartoons (or any non-political cartoons for that matter) but school has just been crazy. Coaching is turning out to be a bugger too lately. Hopefully I'll muster either some self-discipline or better yet, some sense of humor next week. Whine whine, moan moan, gripe, complain.

For Thurs Sept. 4

I have to admit it, Hillary had a great line in her speech last night. It inspired me this week.

For Aug 28, 08 Mapleton PRESS

I had thought about this idea for today's newspaper, but then I decided to go with that whole "Birth of Venus/Obama" thing since the convention is the 25th-29th. Guess I got things backward. It was actually a half-ways original idea when I thought of it back on Aug 14, since then every cartoonist and their brother have pretty much drawn a variation on this theme. Whatchyagonnado?

Cartoon for the Aug 21 Mapleton PRESS

There, now you can't say I've never drawn an anti-Obama cartoon!

I'm mailing my first envelopes of columns and cartoons today, to the The Washington Post Writers Group. Wish me luck. Probably won't hear anything for a month or more.

Shoot a mile, I just realized something- (no doubt a pitfall of using Photoshop) I failed to put my signature on this one anywhere. Dang. Well, obviously I owe credit to Raphael and the Denver tourism bureau anyway.

For August 14 Mapleton PRESS

I like my caricature of McCain on the right better than the one on the left, the emotion really comes through. His teeth are so like they are in real life, forget about his heroic jaw. I'm also really proud of how smug Rove looks! Politics certainly does make for strange bedfellows, doesn't it? Someone who smeared McCain so bad in the South Carolina primary eight years ago is the very one who he hires to help him out now. Such is the Machiavellian nature of politics.

Rove loves to attack your strengths rather than weaknesses, Obama's too popular, Obama recommends saving on gas by inflating your tires... But maybe America finally is genuinely tired of negative campaigns. The ad comparing Obama to Paris and Brittany seems to have backfired pretty bad. I almost drew a cartoon endorsing Paris for President, but I thought that would be too easy- besides it would be treating a symptom, not the disease.

Mike Royko used to have a sign in his office; "Aquila non captat muscas" Eagles don't hunt flies. Okay, so I have a long way to go till I'm an eagle, point is why shoot low, aim high, right?

Cartoon for August 7 Mapleton PRESS

"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


HOMEGROWN TOMATOES, by Guy Clark

Ain't nothin' in the world that I like better
Than bacon & lettuce & homegrown tomatoes
Up in the mornin' out in the garden

Get you a ripe one don't get a hard one
Plant `em in the spring eat `em in the summer
All winter with out `em's a culinary bummer
I forget all about the sweatin' & diggin'
Everytime I go out & pick me a big one

Homegrown tomatoes homegrown tomatoes
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes

You can go out to eat & that's for sure
But it's nothin' a homegrown tomato won't cure
Put `em in a salad, put `em in a stew
You can make your very own tomato juice
Eat `em with egss, eat `em with gravy
Eat `em with beans, pinto or navy
Put `em on the site put `em in the middle
Put a homegrown tomato on a hotcake griddle

If I's to change this life I lead
I'd be Johnny Tomato Seed
`Cause I know what this country needs
Homegrown tomatoes in every yard you see
When I die don't bury me
In a box in a cemetery
Out in the garden would be much better
I could be pushin' up homegrown tomatoes

Cartoon for the July 31, 08 PRESS

Elvis is IN the building, no wait, today he's still in Germany. Will it be another JFK? Or would that be counter productive? Is it too soon to come off too presidential?

Has anyone told McCain that there is no Chezkslovakia anymore, that Iraq and Afghanistan don't share a border, that Iran was training Hamas members, not Al Queda members, or how to use the internet? Is he senile or just dumb? And if Obam had made the same mistakes- especially in say a 2 week period, wouldn't the media have eaten him alive? And here's another thing- (and please forgive me for using these ugly words, it's just to make a point) if it's wrong for Jesse Jackson to use the word "nigger," why is it okay for McCain to use the word "Gook?" Isn't it insanely racist against Asians?

There was a time when I had patience for, even a level of comfort with McCain, but I just can't seem to take him seriously anymore.

For July 24, 08 M.PRESS

He's at it again! Not many people will recognize subcommittee chairman Nedler from New York, but what can I say- I like those kinds of subtle details.

Allow me to suggest you also check out www.kingwatch.org to see what other embarrassing things my Congressman has been up to- like asking Scott McClellan “Couldn’t you have taken this to the grave with you and done this country a favor?” while the committee was asking him about the Bush Administration. Or of course the classic, when he announced his re-election he said that if Barack Obama gets elected "then the, the radical Islamists, the, the al-Qaida, and the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11…."

And I know cartoonists are supposed to be equal opportunity offenders, rather than partisan- but if you happen to live in Iowa's 5th District, may I also recommend www.hublercongress.com. Rob Hubler is a veteran, a pastor and counselor, and he believes in responsible representation for Iowans- as opposed to extremist, immature representation for special intrest groups and lobbyist money.

For the July 17 PRESS

Screw politics (this week)

Cartoon for the July 3 PRESS

Summer with 3 kids is a lot crazier than you'd ever imagine. I swear I'll try to draw some more maladjusted cartoons soon. I don't think "successful" freelancers have lives. I don't know how they do it. If you are fortunate to cartoon for a living, you can escape everyone and everything and just take care of it. Sure, I'm a teacher on summer vacation, but there was the workshop to get re-certified to teach web design, and the truckloads of yearbook proofs and the school website, and the cheer camp... not to mention all my own family's activities. This is a great hobby, but if I'm really going to make a go at making it more than a hobby, I guess I'm going to have to be more disciplined and either stay up later or get up earlier.

Cartoon for the June 26 PRESS

Cartoon for the June 19 Mapleton PRESS

Cartoon for the June 12 Mapleton PRESS

Thought I'd actually draw again this week instead of just juxtaposing stuff. Alas, once again, it will be hopelessly out dated by the time it gets published!

The nut doesn't fall far from the family tree

Cartoon for May 29, 08 Mapleton PRESS

You'll have to click on this one to be able to read the captions under the elders, but I promise, it's worth it.

Once again, I'm posting on the day I get done, rather than the publication day, and once again, I'm hopelessly out dated. But doggone it, like Indiana Jones, I hate NAZIs almost as much as I hate hypocrites.

From April 1944 on, the American Air Force could have destroyed the camp with air raids, as well as the railway bridges and railway lines from Hungary to Auschwitz. The murder of about 400,000 Hungarian Holocaust victims could have been prevented.

A January 22 1944 executive order signed by President Franklin Roosevelt calling on the government to take all measures to rescue the European Jews. That order was ignored because of pressure brought by a group of big American companies, including BBH, where Prescott Bush was a director.

Some legacy. But by God, he's a "born-again-Christian" who's opposed to abortion and gay marriage. More guys like him and maybe we can get prayer back in public schools and evolution out of them!

When will Christian voters get a clue. Republicans are about money and eliminating the middle-class, they only SAY they're for those socially conservative, traditional, "family values" issues to get your vote. Really, they're about money and power for themselves and their cronies.

I bet we make Jesus cry. One of my favorite bumper stickers is "Drive Republicans crazy, live like Jesus."

Okay, okay, I'll shut up. Cartoonists are supposed to be funny, not preachy. Besides, the more I write about it, the more I look like some kind of conspiracy theorist crank. But I still can't believe that he had the gall to say what he did, on foreign soil, when he's not running for re-election, in front of the Israeli parliament on the anniversary of the Jewish state- especially with his family's background!

Sigh. I only wish more Americans had noticed or given a rip.

"I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments" ~Exodus 20:5-6

Cartoon for May 22, 08 Mapleton PRESS

Lately I've been wishing this was my real job and I had to do it daily instead of weekly- not so much because it was my dream when I was a kid, but lately because there's so much to draw about. My readers in rural western Iowa care about the Farm Bill, but come on, George W. Bush, grandson of Prescott Bush (NAZI sympathizer) standing in the Knesset itself, comparing Obama to Neville Chamberlain! That's PRICELESS! Last week Hillary Clinton was on Bill O'Reilly! Ron Paul was on NPR. McCain talking about getting out of Iraq by 2013. You can't get any more surreal than this year.

Bumb Rushed