Bors Blog

Border’s Books adheres to sharia law.

The Borders and Walden book chain have decided not to carry the latest issue of Free Inquiry on their stands in America because they have reprinted the Muhammad cartoons inside. The threat of Islamic Terrorists ransacking Border’s is very high, so I understand their decision.

From SF Gate:

“For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority,” Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday.

—

“What is at stake is the precious right of freedom of expression,” said Paul Kurtz, editor-in-chief of Free Inquiry. “Cartoons often provide an important form of political satire … To refuse to distribute a publication because of fear of vigilante violence is to undermine freedom of press so vital for our democracy.”

Border’s wouldn’t want to offened anyone with what they carry, would they?

Life Drawing

I joined a weekly Life Drawing Session at the local art museum. It was the first time I’ve drawn from observation in a while and was a good change of pace from the deadline oriented drawing I usually do.

Here’s a naked guy:

click to enlarge

New Toon: Sell Out!

I have sold out the name of my strip to a large corporation. In a post two weeks ago I mentioned I would be doing this along with running classified ads in the panel gutters. That didn’t quite work out because at the size the text had to be to fit it was unreadable.

I spent some time last week talking to high level advertising executives of popular sports apparel companies trying to hip them to the idea of buying some cheap ad space in my comic strip. None seemed too interested. Apparently they don’t have too much overhead what with their high paid garment workers.

I don’t blame them for not wanting to be a part of this, but these people truly live in another world. One particularly odd exchange happened with an ad. exec. For the company I ultimately included in the title. After delivering my pitch:

Brand Chiefton: hmmm….that’s interesting. What is this all about, though?

Matt Bors: See, I’m doing a parody of all the strange new advertising trends; forehead ads, tattoos, and the like. And now Sports Teams are re-naming themselves after companies that buy them out.

Brand Chiefton: Really?! (sounds surprised, seems to be jotting down ideas.)

Matt Bors: Yeah, Red Bull just did it wit a soccer team in New York. So my idea is I go through all this stuff and then at the end the joke is that I too have sold my strip’s name.

Brand Chiefton: Wait, so this is going to be….funny?

Matt Bors: Yes, Funny!

Brand Chiefton: We don’t want to be involved with anything funny.

Become a Republican!

This video makes a convincing case.

The Podcast Post

I spend my days (and nights) shifting between a computer and a drawing table, so over the last year podcasts have become my new best friend. It’s such a great medium; they are put out mostly by regular old folks and there’s no commercials (yet) . Like the blogosphere there is a lot of half-assed shit you have to swim through to find the good stuff. Here’s a selection of the best I have discovered. If you know of any great ones I’m missing, let me know.

If you have the time, wade through this list. There are some gems:

• Blast The Right: While I am partial to Jack Clark’s show having worked with him on various projects, I think it is the best progressive political podcast out there. A half hour every week of intelligent commentary. Jack isn’t much of a “news of the week” guy. Most podcasts deal with important, broad issues such as the minimum wage, the social safety net, class disparity, GOP tactics, etc. Every episode is filled with the facts behind his arguments instead of the rhetoric of right wingers he frequently deconstructs. Check it out here.
• Point Of Inquiry: A weekly show from The Center For Inquiry that looks at the world with a skeptical, rationalist view. It is a secular humanist organization, but the focus is much broader than religion. It devotes long segments to debunking and studying the paranormal, alternative medicine, and psuedoscience. You can listen and subscribe through pointofinquiry.org.
• Onion Radio News: A daily 60 second podcast by the Onion. Hilarious fake news reports with Doyle Redland, the best anchor in the biz. Go Listen!
• American Dissent Radio: Currently the host is in the process of reading his novel, but usually this podcast is home to some scholarly essays on constitutional matters. A bit dry, but very informative.
• The Infidel Guy: An Atheist radio show/podcast by the most informed layman I’ve ever heard. From what I gather this guy is somewhat of a sensation to the secular humanist internet community (you know, that huge group). There is some high caliber debate going on in this show. Religious scholars, famous authors, and religious fundamentalists all have their turn at The Infidel Guy, usually not to the degree of success they expected. He also created a documentary called “Is The Sky Heaven” which touches on issues of creation and religion I have never heard anyone state before.
• HNN: Monthly secular humanist podcast from the Humanist News Network. HNN runs my comics on their website and I appeared on their fourth podcast to discuss the Mohammed cartoon controversy.
• Skepticality: Apparently on hiatus, this show talks about a whole wack of topics relating to skepticality, from bigfoot and UFOs to Ghandi and Jesus to George Bush.
• The UnderDog Democrat: A short, to the point (and too infrequent) critique of the Democratic Party from someone who knows what he is talking about. He is very professional, possibly having some experience in broadcasting. Check it out.
• Republicans Behaving Badly: “Black Sentinel”, as he calls himself, has the fine job of going in to Republican audio chat rooms and recording his conversations. The show is usually extremely long; his comments mixed with long segments of chatting, but the first show is highly recommended. Entitled “Republicans and Race” see how often the host (a black man) is referred to as a ‘nigger’ by these GOP loyalists.
• Pure Imagination: I just started listening to this show. It has a very strange and unique format. Matt Gajewski writes and narrates odd, funny stories with music in the background and his friends playing different characters. Considering he is a college kid the quality is really impressive. The website is here.

And while it is actually a radio show

• Democracy Now!: One of the best programs out there. You probably are aware of it by now, but if not Listen at Democracynow.org
• Everything else is starting to be made in podcast format as well: NPR shows, Air America, and Real Time with Bill Maher.

The War On Christians

Your Friendly Weekend Reminder: Attitude 3

Tom Tomorrow’s new book Hell In A Handbasket came out this week. You can order that along with pre-ordering Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists edited by Ted Rall along with through Amazon.

Attitude 3 comes out in June and will feature Idiot Box along with XQUZYPHYR & Overboard, Big Fat Whale, Partially Clips, Fighting Words, Cat and Girl, and Diesel Sweeties among others.

New Toon: Sweet Home Allah-Bomb-Ya

Iraq is really a forward moving country, eager to get their obligatory Civil War behind them quickly and move on to better things. We waited almost hundred years for ours! They are really showing us up. I bet they beat us to having gay marriage.

It will only be a matter of time though before Iraqi versions of racist shirts pledging loyalty to the side that lost will pop up.

A Different Moon

click to read comic.

Afghan Faces Death Penalty for Converting to Christianity: Judge Says He Could Escape Punishment If He’s Ruled Insane

Now that’s the type of headline that makes my morning! Er, until I realize we “democratized” that country four years ago and they are still executing people for apostasy.

Found via Americablog, Here’s some of the article:

KABUL, Afghanistan, March 20, 2006 – Despite the overthrow of the fundamentalist Taliban government and the presence of 22,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a man who converted to Christianity is being prosecuted in Kabul, and a judge said Sunday that if convicted, he faces the death penalty.

Abdul Rahman, who is in his 40s, says he converted to Christianity 16 years ago while working as an aid worker helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Relatives denounced him as a convert during a custody battle over his children, and he was arrested last month. The prosecutor says Rahman was found with a Bible.

Since our installment of Hamid Karzai as President after the overthrow of the Taliban, he is often jokingly referred to as the “Mayor of Kabul” since most of the country is still run by insane warlords. But this isn’t happening in some remote village; It’s happening in Kabul. Can someone explain? I mean, considering how Karzai is essentially this Administration’s bitch, you’d think they would pressure him into making sure stuff like this didn’t happen. Unless Afghanistan is way more fucked than anyone wants to acknowledge.

Presiding judge Ansarullah Mawlazezadah tells ABC News a medical team was checking the defendant, since the team suspects insanity caused Rahman to reject Islam.

…

“We will ask him if he has changed his mind about being a Christian,” Mawlazezadah says. “If he has, we will forgive him, because Islam is a religion of tolerance.”

mmmm.

Comics To Check Out

• Jen Sorensen created my favorite comic so far on the S. Dakota abortion ban.
• Mikhaela liberates children from Queer adoption.
• This Angry Flower is pretty funny.
• little kids find out about sex: both don’t have permalinks, but these comics by Neil Swaab and Wulffmorgenthaler are great.
• Lloyd Dangle points way to a cool new comic by the Pentagon. Must be a joke…must be.

Go Listen: MLK Speech

One of the many podcasts I listen to every week is Blast The Right, a great progressive show loaded with facts and logic. I regularly speak with the host, Jack Clark, and am designing the logo for the show, so I may have a bias, but last week’s show featuring a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. is something everyone in America needs to hear. I’m planning a huge podcast post for next week, but for now, go listen to MLK speak about the war on terrorism.

It’s not the usual speech that you are used to hearing quoted when everyone talks about what a great leader MLK was. It’s a speech that, were it given today by any Democrat or Progressive, would be denounced as an Anti-American, terrorist sympathizer, praying-for-the-death-of-american-soldiers ranting of a loon by the knee-jerk right. On his blog comments, I saw this by an Iranian:

Hi Dear Friend,

I have discovered your podcast and listen to it every week. But I was never this much touched by a podcast till I managed to listen to your recent episode (32). America needs men like you to be loved and not hated. I say this because I love America before, more than I loved my country, I spend 9 years of life in America, but now, I hate it more than anything else in the world. Don’t misunderstand, I don’t hate Americas, I hate as MLK Jr. said, the evil government, interest groups, companies of America that beat on war drums.

Soon our countries will end up face to face, aiming their guns at each other; Such a horrible thing that I need to defend my country against people whom I once called Family (Americans).