Bors Blog
Archive for April, 2007
New Toon: The Abortion Solution
Only one cartoon this week. I’ve been busy working on a few different comics for magazines and getting multiple major projects lined up. Can’t talk about them yet, but soon…
Brush Fired
John Citrone, the Editor of the Alt Paper Folio Weekly, has been kicked off his guest slot on a morning show for making a joke about brush fires. From AAN:
…He usually said something funny about the previous segment. In this case, it was a segment about the fires, and Citrone, admittedly not knowing about their severity and wanting to have a little fun with an interstate rivalry, asked “in a Groucho Marx-y” way, “Do we really care if Georgia burns?”
He offered to apologize on air, but wasn’t allowed on the show again. He wrote:
“At the time the remark was made, I heard only a portion of the report and assumed it was a minor forest fire. Unaware of the gravity of the situation, I put my giant foot in my mouth. But there is no excusing my remark.”
Great business decision in not letting him back on air for the apology. Who knows, he may have made another joke that offended someone.
New Toon: It’s Getting Better All The Time
I linked to the quote at the beginning last week when I posted one of my comics and decided it needed a comic all its own.
Lexicon of Bigotry
Introduction where, to avoid confusion, I let you know, that yes, I too think Don Imus’ comments were sexist and racist and he should have apologized or better yet not said them. Now…
Don Imus has been doing what he does–did–for decades, no surprises there. If you think “nappy-headed hos” qualifies for a firing, we are in for a revolution on the airwaves–most hosts will be gone soon. If you think the FCC should regulate offensive speech, you’re fucked up. Let me be clear, I don’t really have a problem with people being fired for saying racist things if their employer deems it necessary. My problem is with these organized campaigns by people who don’t even listen to the program but want to write the broadcaster (or whoever) and demand the person be fired. What kind of person does that sort of thing?
Liberals are going way over the top with the censorship campaign. On Alternet, Earl Ofari Hutchinson makes a “progressive” case for censorship that sounds like it was taken out of the Right-Wing Christian Fascist Playbook:
Now that Imus is officially out, the question is will Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the civil rights leaders, black professional and women’s groups march on say a company such as Koch Records and demand that they pull Snoop Dogg’s forthcoming album, The Big Squeeze?
They should, and that means ignoring Snoop’s loud protest that he’s no Don Imus. He’s not, he’s worse.
Why on Earth should a record company pull an album guaranteed to sell millions just because people who will never buy it anyway don’t like it? Not that there should be any threshold, but if we set it at saying “bitches and hos” we’ll have to take half the music out of the stores. Are we going to go after Elvis for gyrating his hips next?
While Imus’s “nappy headed hos” slur has been plastered all over creation, the “B” “H,” and expletive-laced rant that Snoop unleashed against Imus, has barely got a squint of mention.
His R rated words are so vile they can’t be printed in adult company. But here’s the gist of what he said. He gave veiled praise to the Rutgers women basketball players as ladies of distinction.
The words can’t be printed? I hate a lot of the violence, glorifying of drug dealing, misogyny, and homophobia in rap. That’s why I don’t buy a lot of it that is like that. I’ve always thought of Snoop as more of a cartoon character anyway. Who doesn’t like the classic album Doggystyle? The lyrics are atrocious, but it’s a great album.
When Hutchinson laments song titles like “F—-in is Good for U” he sounds like a Christian fanatic. He also denies the reality that Snoop is right: Fuckin is Good for U. And when Snoop sings:
Rollin down the street, smokin indo, sippin on gin and juice
Laid back…with my mind on my money and my money on my mind
It doesn’t cause me to drive drunk and high while obsessing over my bank account. It causes me to bob my head at a fucking party.
Rap, Talk Radio, America, the fucking planet has race issues. They won’t go away by banning it.
Finally, a very succinct comic by Ann Telnaes and a funny one by Mike Lester.
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Ann Telnaes
New York Times Syndicate Apr 17, 2007 |
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Mike Lester
Rome News Tribune Apr 17, 2007 |
Media Matters goes after comics
Media Matters has an item linked to on their front page about a cartoon by Bob Gorrell (they don’t make note of the creator) posted at Townhall.com, a right-wing website that doesn’t care what Media Matters thinks. The page urges readers to “TAKE ACTION!” against the posting of this comic and labeling it as part of “The Funnies.”
The cartoon in question is here. Pretty stupid, I’m not sure what Gorrell is getting at. But nonetheless, is Townhall.com able to post a graphic of something they think is funny? Who really cares? The cartoon is posted on numerous websites including the AAEC. Will Media Matters call on the AAEC to remove the comic?
Many Liberal cartoons, including my own, demonize politicians. I plan on demonizing, ridiculing, and attacking them for as long as I live. Can conservatives do the same?
Media Matters is a good site when it points out errors and distortions of the press. But more and more I see them commenting on speech that’s not incorrect, but just something they disagree with.
God Hates The World…the music video!
Speaking of Free Speech, one of the men who really gets people fired up (so to speak) is Fred Phelps and his anti-everything army of Christian protesters. The Westboro Baptist Church is celebrating the VA Tech massacre and has announced it intends to protest the funerals. Nice.
But put that disgusting thought aside and watch their awesome music video “God Hates the World.” If you don’t watch until the end, you’ll miss the best part
Main Chorus: You’ll eat your kids. Then the background child chorus: Yeah, You’ll Eat ‘em!
Putting the New World Order in front of the cart
Everyone knows about the horrible massacre at VA Tech that happened yesterday. Before the dead bodies were even counted the pro and anti gun folks were ready to go into action. I’m sure the Christian Right is having a look in the murderer’s house for Marylin Manson records and gay porn and Joe Lieberman will propose banning video games. All of these people will get duly criticized as this endless media coverage plays out over the next month or so.
One person we probably won’t be hearing about is Alex Jones, the conspiracy-mongering opportunist. By early afternoon he concluded this was a government black-op–a “Columbine-style set-up” to push gun control and move towards the New World Order.
Early details about the horrific school shooting at Virginia Tech strongly indicate that these events represent a Columbine-style black-op that will be exploited in the coming days to push for mass gun control and further turning our schools into prisons.
No evidence is presented. Every thing is like this with Jones. He starts at a conclusion and works his way backwards.
What’s the big deal, right? This man is a fringe conspiracy theorist and is ignored by the media. Yes, but his ever-increasing conspiracy empire bothers me as it seems to keep pulling more liberals and celebrities into its fold. This guy is the main man for the so-called 9/11 truth movement. I keep encountering liberals who think 9/11 was an inside job and tout Alex Jones as some sort of muckraker (I wonder what they think about his theory that Global Warming is a plot from the global bankers and NWO overlords).
Many fellow liberals feel this way. Get a few beers in them and they start talking about the 9/11 inside job. “There wasn’t a plane crash in Pennsylvania.” What?!
Many otherwise completely smart and rational people have fallen for this garbage, putting their distrust and hatred for this administration into a convenient narrative and not thinking too hard about the facts.
Maybe a few who read this will take another look at the paper thin claims of Alex Jones after his bullshit claims made today to exploit a tragedy and start thinking about real solutions to problems that actually exist.
Poster Design
Here is a poster I designed for Campus Progress and their Iraq Film Project. They are hosting screenings of various documentaries related to the Iraq war on college campuses all over. It is more of a template as the names change as the schools and movies do.
click to enlarge
I prefer this version that wasn’t chosen for the final design
click to enlarge
New Toon: Educational-Industrial Complex
I’m going to set out for the post office in the morning to mail off my war tithing. Hopefully there won’t be a huge line.
It’s late and I don’t feel like typing a whole lot, so check out www.warresisters.org for a breakdown of our insane military spending and just how much of your tax dollar goes to past, current, and future military spending.
Also, event reminder: I will be tabling with fellow political cartoonists at the APE con this weekend in San Francisco.
