Bors Blog
Archive for November, 2008
Computer Trouble
My computer is in the shop so I’ll be unable to update the site until next week. I’m down at Ye Olde Internet Cafe now.
Today’s comic can be seen here.
Enjoy your Turkey.
Best of the Future
Two “Best of” collections of editorial cartoons are released each year–one from Cagle and one from Pelican. For some reason they have “2009″ in the title even though cartoons have yet to be created in that year. I believe they contain cartoons drawn in the recent past. (Those are the kind I submitted.)
Anyway, if you like these collections, I have something in both and they are available for Pre-order on Amazon.
Ted Stevens
Q: How does a convicted felon leave the Senate?
A: With a standing ovation from his colleagues.
Love It Or Leave It
Could there be a more selfish group than America’s rich conservatives?
They live better than 99% of human beings on Earth. They live better than almost all human beings who have ever lived. They live in the richest country to ever exist in the history of the world. And yet they complain endlessly about paying taxes–in a place where their selfish ass is allowed to thrive.
They’ve been coddled for decades. We’ve cut their taxes in times of peace and war. We’ve slashed regulations. We’ve weakened labor. We’ve given them lobbying laws that legalized bribery. We’ve bailed out their failed industries.
They still don’t think they have enough.
This is a country that migrants risk their lives to enter just for the privilege of toiling in the blazing sun to pick our fruit for sub-standard wages and men who make tens of millions of dollars a year sitting behind a desk have the nerve to complain about paying their fair share of taxes.
30 Years Ago
“Let the little children in and reassure them. They’re not crying from pain. It’s just a little bitter tasting.” -Rev. Jim Jones
Today is a good day to remember what can happen to people when they stop thinking for themselves.
While We Are Talking Bailouts
Why not bailout the newspaper industry? After all, investigative journalism is just as crucial to a democracy as pick up trucks.
A BusinessWeek article by Jon Fine makes a (humorous) case for one.
Long Blog Post Probably Not Worth Reading
Looks like conservative writer David Frum will be exiting the National Review. An article in the Times today discusses the split in the context of the current debate within the conservative movement about their future.
In the Times article, Frum is quoted saying, I am really and truly frightened by the collapse of support for the Republican Party by the young and the educated.
Frum seems to be in the camp of George Will, David Brooks, and Peggie Noonan–people who want to move conservatism into the 20th Century[sic] as opposed to putting forth candidates who think the earth is 5,000 years old, bash people who live in cities, and think Global Warming is a farce created by the Sierra Club to raise a few bucks.
But these are controversial progressive ideas to many in the conservative movement who seem intent on having Sarah Palin as their Bright New Star.
Back at the newly Frum-less National Review, Palin continues to enthrall. Kathryn Jean Lopez, the magazine’s Online Editor, argues today that Palin should be Time magazine’s Person of the Year. She predicts Obama will win the award–no surprise there–but goes on to claim that Time’s silly choice of “You” a few years ago may have been a stealthy way to set the stage for Obama:
And, come to think about it, the ink-stained pundits at Time have already vaulted the former senator from Illinois to top-dog status. When, last December, they declared the 2007 champion You, they hit on one of the key ingredients to Obamas successful strategy: he was so disciplined, so likable, so broad in his way of speaking that Americans were able to project their hopes and dreams for their country onto him, regardless of what he actually had to offer.
A few problems here. First, the “You” represented user generated content on the Internet and had nothing to do with Obama. Second, the 2007 champion was Vladimir Putin. “You” was chosen in 2006–a simple fact check any teenage YouTube content provider could have looked up in four seconds. But Kathryn filed her report from the Virgin Islands, so I’ll let that sloppiness slide. She is obviously busy on a NR cruise ship asking Joe the Margarita Mixer if he too is frightened of the coming Socialist State.
So why Palin over the first African-American elected to the Presidency? Simple:
Time shouldnt diss the not insignificant portion of the country that voted for Republican John McCain. And, specifically, they shouldnt ignore the people who were energized by the addition of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to his ticket.
Obama also “energized” a “not insignificant portion” of America, but never mind that.
Awarding the Person of the Year to important people who make the world worse is not without precedent. Hitler and Stalin won back to back victories. But these people actually did things. Palin is the Governor of an incredibly small welfare state who was tapped to be Vice President for John McCain and is widely credited with dooming the ticket. She spent two months in the media spotlight during which time she made incredibly dumb and divisive comments while never holding a single press conference. The majority of the electorate, never ones for deep skepticism of folksy politicians, believed her to be unqualified to hold that office.
If conservatives want to double down on the cultural issues, I’m all for it. It provides me with entertainment and cartoon material. They’ll only ostracize the growing number of Americans who don’t think gays are evil or want a President who talks to god.
David Frum is right to be scared. Conservatives are going to have a hell of a time winning if they throw their lot in with the Sarah Palin crowd. But it’s what they deserve. For decades the GOP has used resentment and fear to shore up a base of knee-jerk fanatics, using “welfare queens,” gays, college professors, Muslims, and Mexicans to frighten white rural Christians into supporting them. No one should be surprised that an anti-rational mutant from their base has ascended ranks to party leader.
Me, I’m going to sit back and enjoy the show. I’m even thinking of getting a subscription to the National Review. The next few years should be entertaining.
Liberal Media at Work
Newsweek has a new article: Is Obama The Antichrist?
It notes that the winning lottery number in Illinois was recently 666 and that “The people who believe Obama is the Antichrist are perhaps jumping to conclusions, but they’re not nuts…”
The “perhaps” in that sentence really does it for me.
Rahm Roast
I’ve seen a few blogs post this video of Obama’s speech at a 2005 Roast for Rahm Emanuel and it reminded me that I actually did some design work for that event–mainly the backdrop. (I can’t take credit for the type design, which was already developed by someone at CURE.)
You see, to subsidize my cartooning habit a few years ago, I became embroiled in the seedy underworld of developing backdrops for political events around the country through a contact I had in Washington DC.
Most of it was boring and involved laying out text such as “Jobs for Americans” on huge backdrops. The Rahm job was fun:
Join The Mailing List
It’s time I finally start a mailing list. I don’t have any huge plans for it but it seems like something I should have going in 2008. If you join, you don’t have to worry about being constantly bombarded with tons annoying crap from me. But there will be stuff you won’t see here.
Right now the list will be for sending out comics I draw for Free Inquiry and the ACLU before they appear anywhere else and any major news announcements I have. In the case of the FI comics, they don’t appear anywhere but the magazine so signing up may be your only way to see them.
As an incentive to join, I will send out an election season cartoon that I chose not to issue and has never been published or seen by anyone.
To sign up, please send an e-mail with the subject “Mailing List” to comics ~at~ mattbors.com
