Bors Blog
Archive for August, 2009
Lagging Indicator
“Democrats have always believed that a basic civil right of all Americans is that their right to earn their own way. The party of the people must always be the party of full employment.”
That was Ted Kennedy during his famous 1980 speech at the DNC convention. Times have changed. Politicians no longer pretend full employment is possible or even desirable in the age of globalization. Alan Greenspan once noted that it is needed to keep a downward pressure on our wages.
There’s is a level of unemployment and homelessness which we have all agreed is socially acceptable for America, the richest country to exist since the Big Bang. We’re working hard to get back to it so we can start ignoring it again.
Wed: Ted’s legacy
More Good News
The Journal News recently laid off their 2004 Herblock and Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Matt Davies. They have now reversed that decision and will keep Matt on board. The Daily Cartoonist has more.
Illustration Friday
These are for the OC Weekly.
A guy spots a carefree Muslim girl in a hijab cruising around a supermarket on those roller shoe things and has a nice you-are-the-future-of-the-country moment.
Some obnoxious guy was chain smoking at a golf course.
What Makes The Grass Grow?
There have already been two shootings by right-wing lunatics since Obama’s election and it will only be a matter of time until another, perhaps more devastating, attack will occur from a racist hillbilly christian nationalist with PTSD and a copy of The Turner Diaries. How could it not? Conservative commentators and members of congress openly promote the idea that Obama is an illegitimate Kenyan turning the country into a socialist state. The climate of paranoia and hostility on the right has reached a fever pitch. Obama still talks of working with them.
Many black men in America can’t “open carry” their wallet near police without being shot 50 times. Anti-government extremists, meanwhile, brandish assault rifles outside of a presidential rally–implicitly threatening violence–and it’s their sacred right. An armed society is a polite society, they say, so there should be no better way to calm the raucous town halls than for all the attendees to have loaded assault rifles.
I recommend Frank Rich’s column on the subject and a great cartoon by Kevin Moore on the “Tree of Liberty” quote.
One Term?
Robert Gibbs today:
I have heard the president say that, if making tough decisions in getting important things done that Washington has failed to deal with for decades means he only lives in this house and makes these decisions for four years, he’s quite comfortable with that.
So when will we see him act in a manner according to that statement?
Illustration Friday
This appears in the current issue of Portland Review, a literary journal that publishes poetry and fiction. The editor wanted to sprinkle self-portraits from local artists throughout.
I chose this direction since I have been seeing a lot of myself in Photo Booth lately, having posed for hundreds of reference photos for War Is Boring over the last 8 months.
A small flash of hope
There seems to be no bottom to the continued layoffs that have decimated the ranks of editorial cartooning for the past few years, so when a bit of good news comes along it’s worth mentioning.
After nine years of searching for a replacement for the late Jeff MacNelly, The Chicago Tribune announced earlier this week that it would hire Scott Stantis, who currently works for The Birmingham News. Stantis makes sense as a replacement: he’s a conservative with an independent streak that works in a traditional style. He and the Trib seem excited to get local cartoons in the mix, an attitude I hope more newspapers adopt in the coming years.
In addition, The Birmingham News announced they will hire another staff cartoonist to replace Stantis. Let’s hope it doesn’t take nine years.
Long Form Gender Certificate
Birthers of the gender variety:
BERLIN (AP)Facing questions about her gender, South African teenager Caster Semenya easily won the 800-meter gold medal Wednesday at the world championships.
Her dominating run came on the same day track and fields ruling body said she was undergoing a gender test because of concerns she does not meet requirements to compete as a woman.
…
The process requires a physical medical evaluation and includes reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, internal medicine specialist and gender expert.
I’m not sure what I would enjoy more: Semenya being born female and proving the haters wrong, or being transgendered and foisting uncomfortable questions on the sports community, which operates under strict separation of the sexes.
Either way, I’m sure Caster Semenya isn’t enjoying any of it. No teenager wants their genitals scrutinized by the entire world.
Crying Turd Alert
War Is Boring
The Guide To Literary Agents Blog recently posted the War Is Boring pitch David Axe sent out as part of their “Successful Queries” series. May be of interest, I don’t know.
The book cover shown was only for our pitch to publishers. The final product will feature a different cover–one that I’m drawing up today, in fact. The book will be out next year.
