Today starts the Worlds First Editorial Cartoon Story Arc. Each day for the next 6, I will be posting a differerent cartoon (each hopefully containing it’s own gag…sometime’s I am funnier than others) but all will be related to the newest game show sweeping the country…
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Before I head out on my work hiatus next week, I am planning on leaving you with a world first. Never before in the history of editorial cartoons has this feat been done (and if you find an example, just keep it to your damn self).
I will attempt the first ever editorial cartoon story arc. Five to six cartoons in a row each containing its very own gag.
Oh and don’t worry, while I am out of pocket, I have gotten several great guest cartoons that I will be posting.
This editorial cartoon was born of frustration. There are several sources that say the majority of American editorial cartoonists lean to the left while there are fewer that lean to the right. Then there are those like me who are moderate. I am conservative on some things and liberal on others, but I am willing to be convinced that my facts or data is wrong.
I am jealous of the liberal or conservative cartoonists because they can stay on one side of the fence and throw lobs across it. I on the other hand get to weave back and forth which is a blessing because it doesn’t limit me but it can also be tiring. I have been called too liberal and too conservative in the same week because of different cartoons.
I am tired of the generalized statements like Republicans are all this or Democrats are all that. It diminishes the argument or point you are trying to make and becomes a pissing match or just name calling versus open and honest debate. Whether it is Tea Party Members disrupting the speeches of Democratic Senators or College Professors organizing disruptions of Conservative Speakers, they both demand to be heard but won’t allow the speaker the same benefit .
There is a saying that is sometimes mistakenly attributed to Voltaire that says “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. Too much it is more like “I defend Freedom of MY Speech, F— the rest of you”
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The latest editorial cartoon was inspired by the budget issues in my home city of Cincinnati, Ohio. It seems like many cities, the economy is affecting city services. So now there is talk of having to lay off over 100 police officers.
Funny we have a part time city council and yet they continue to take over $60,000 a year in salary. I am sure there would be plenty of people willing to work full time for that kind of pay.
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Writer/Director John Hughes past away this week. Many know that he had a hand in Pretty in Pink, the Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles (which I really wasn’t into any of those) but you may be surprised that he wrote Home Alone and the original Vacation with Chevy Chase. Personally my favorite was Ferris Bueller. Anyone have a different favorite or favorite line?
Hughes had become rather reclusive and hasn’t directed in about 15 years so it was hard to come up with a reference shot of what he looks like. So I had to cheat and have him face away but I left in his big iconic glasses.
On a side note, I am playing around with how I ink my toons. I see many cartoonists put a darker ink layer on the outside of their characters so I tried it out. Looks cool to me but also adds time to my drawing time per toon so I don’t know if I will do it each time.
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So while reading the Friggin Loon the other day, I notice a story about a woman named Trina Thompson who is suing her alma mater Monroe College because she has not been able to get a job. Her claim is that it is the universities fault and she would like a refund of her $70,000 tuition.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all get a refund for things that didn’t go exactly as we planned. Some things for me would be:
– Refund from my dates that I shelled out alot of money for dinner only to find out that they decided after the first five minutes that they weren’t all that into me.
– Refund from my personal trainer because after 3 years of paying him, I still don’t have six pack abs. Even though I only work out really once a week and still eat what I want. But really it is his fault.
So what would you like a refund for?
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Christopher Smitherman is a former Cincinnati City Council Member and the current President of the local NAACP. As a public figure (like many others) there are many times that I agree with him and times that I don’t. But at least I tend to understand what he is saying until I find a recent press release from the NAACP
Huh???? I don’t get it. It starts talking about the budget but then veers off into talking about the Wizard of Oz.
Here is just part of it:
Smitherman says, “Will Mayor Mallory find his ruby slippers click them 3 times and show up at the finance meeting today?”
The Cincinnati NAACP is frustrated that a Scarecrow, a Tinman, and a Cowardly Lion have not been able to find the financial yellow brick road. The Cincinnati NAACP believes that city workers who are laid off deserve severance packages based on their years of service. “The only hope that City Council has in exercising financial responsibility is in the leadership of Toto. This means Cincinnati is in big trouble when I am looking for Toto to lead us out of this financial mess. The Cincinnati NAACP is very concerned that 600 city employees could loose their jobs over the next 12 months and there seems to be no leadership at City Hall for these families. The City Manager will ask the Wizard of Oz today how he can find $125 million to fund the Cincinnati Pension by January 2010? He will ask the Wizard of Oz how he can find $28 million in 5 months for 2009? Last but not least he will ask the Wizard of Oz how he can find $40+ million for the 2010 deficit?” Smitherman says.
Was this a reference to something that someone on Council brought up? Who is the Scarecrow, the Tinman, the Cowardly Lion or Toto? I just didn’t get it…but a couple of lines were just classic enough to make the following cartoon.
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Matchmaker, Matchmaker make me a match.
Some of you may not have heard but there was a big roundup of conterfeiters, rabbis, politicians and organ smugglers. (see here and here) It seems one part of this bust was around a group who would find people down on their luck in Israel, give them $10,000, bring them to the US for surgery and then sell the kidney to an American for $160,000.
Under 1984 federal law, it is illegal for anyone to knowingly buy or sell organs for transplant. The practice is illegal just about everywhere else in the world, too.
But demand for kidneys far outstrips the supply, with 4,540 people dying in the U.S. last year while waiting for a kidney, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. As a result, there is a thriving black market for kidneys around the world.
One rabbi was at the forefront while others laundered money from this operation and others through their charities.
Two things come to mind while reading about this.
1. Do we allow the open selling of organs? IE if I have a healthy organ and I want to sell it to make money, it is my body shouldn’t I be allowed? I say NO. Just as in this case, there were many “volunteers” who were coerced. I think it ends up doing more harm than good.
2. How could someone who says they are religious get involved in this? My feeling is that any group you find, there will be the righteous, the average, and the not so righteous. I don’t care if they are religious or not. To which some will say that the religious are then hypocrites. No…you can’t stereotype every religious person based on the actions of a group of them.
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I had never heard the term Blue Dog Democrats used so much until recently. You would think with a Democratic President and Congress, that anything the President wanted could easily pass. It seems while President Obama wants to rush through Healthcare reform this group of moderate, fiscal conservative Democrats may be the ones standing in the way as they want any reform to not be a drain on the taxpayers or on the deficit. Thoughts?
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I am putting out a general call and a specific one to anyone with the desire to have their work seen here for all my tens of readers.
First the specific call. I am going to be doing a work project that will keep me busy as hell starting late August for about a month, so my own postings will be sporadic. There are those who get mad when I go two days without posting something so I thought I would put it out there as a challenge to all of you with a webcomic. You may have seen my post titled Bearman at 100 and I would like to put out a similar challenge.
You can either load them to your images and send me a URL to link to the image or email me the image. Either way send to BearmanCartoons (at) Yahoo.com. Also if you have a link to a web banner that you would like me to include with the post, send that as well. Make sure to include your name and a little description of your webcomic.
The second call is to anyone ongoing who wants to do a editorial guest cartoon. My focus is on politics and pop culture. While I am pretty open about what I will include, I won’t publish anything I deem inappropriate.
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