Tag: political cartoon

Bearman Cartoon – Wind Farm

With the oil spill heading toward the coastline of Louisiana, the call for expansion of wind farms and the use of them as alternate energy streams already is getting loud. Careful jumping in with both feet…especially if you are a bird.

UPDATE: Check out the guest cartoon I did for Carlo Jose San Juan at Callous Comics. Story of Riann Nicah a newly practicing physician. Some get guardian angels; well she ended up with Cal, a guardian duck who is as new to the guardian position as Riann is to the medical field. Great thing is, Carlo’s day job is a real physician specializing in nuclear medicine. So not only does he shame me in the drawing world, he shames me in the real world too.

And thank you Carlo for the mention of my charity challenge. Want to get involved too? Please click the pic below to find out how you can help with no cost to you.

May 5, 2010
Editorial Cartoon – Healthcare Costs

So the Healthcare Reform Bill was passed into law today. Now as Nancy Pelosi said we will finally figure out what was in it. But I wonder while everyone will now be insurable will it do anything to really lower the cost of healthcare. And do we as Americans really care?

I put myself in this camp. If I had a shoulder problem and the doctor suggested a $500+ MRI, I would make a different decision if I was footing the entire bill. But with insurance, it is a no brainer to pay the $25 copay to get the MRI.

It used to be I would pay my copay to the dentist, he would submit the claim to insurance and they would only pay their negotiated rate. Well the dentist got wise to that and now he requires I pay the entire bill upfront. He still submits the claim to insurance but now they send their negotiated rate check to me. So he gets what he asks for and I get stuck with the leftovers. All of the sudden I started making different choices for my dental care including asking how much the insurance company would cover for procedures beyond cleaning. If I feel insurance doesn’t cover enough, I will look at different options including other dentists.

We all want the sports car but only want to pay for the smart car.

March 23, 2010
Sarah Palin's Hand

I questioned myself as I thought of and drew this editorial cartoon. Even now I understand the impact of the word “retard” or “retarded” but I don’t know if I am offended by every usage of it as others. First some background.

Former Vice Presidential candidate and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin continues to make news this month. This week she was a keynote speaker at the Tea Party Convention. During a Q&A discussion she could be seen checking out notes written on her hand.

And last week she called out President Obama to fire Chief of Stafe Rahm Emanuel for saying that some liberal activists are “fucking retards” Yet when Chris Wallace confronted her about Rush Limbaugh’s similar use, she blew it off as satire. So when someone uses the word “retard” or “retarded” in jest it is OK. HUH??

As someone with a close relative who has Downs Syndrome, I would have to be restrained if someone called her a retard. But I don’t have the same visceral response if someone called me it or my ideas retarded. So as I say, I struggle with whether or not “retarded” should be avoided in all speech.

For those who have an issue with using “retarded”, do you have similar issues with words like “idiot”, “moron” or “imbecile”?? If not, why not?? All of those words were used as IQ categories before the term “mentally retardation” We now use terms such as “special” and “developmentally disabled”. In 25 years, will those too be considered bad?

What is your opinion??

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February 9, 2010
Scott Brown and Abortion Cartoon

It is interesting how often political party members get into a tizzy when one of their own doesn’t go along with the party line on every single issue. Not that it ever was a secret but now it is out in the news that Scott Brown, the Republican who won Ted Kennedy’s Senatorial seat, is not a pro-life senator. He believes the government should stay out of the debate (with the exception of late-term abortions) and shouldn’t provide federal funds to support it.

Are Republicans who looked at this guy as a savior now going to backtrack? The problem Republicans are having is their small tent litmus test mentality that says you have to fit into every category to call yourself a Republican. At least on the surface I like the fact that Brown is trying to open the doors of the tent a little wider.

Fiscally I lean to the right and socially to the left. As I have said before I want the Conservatives to stay out of my pants and the liberals to stay out of my wallet.
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February 1, 2010
Flatulence in Broadcasting

While this editorial cartoon resembles Rush Limbaugh it could stand for any fringe person who is given a pulpit to spew lies and hatred. I must give credit to Jammer has written several interesting posts lately, the most recent title gave me the line of Flatulence in Broadcasting (a take off of Limbaugh’s Excellence in Broadcasting Network) which inspired this cartoon. Notice the acronym is F.I.B. Also interesting are Jammer’s posts on hatred and how the fringe becomes the mainstream. The only real error that I saw in the last post is that he only focused on the right fringe, while the left is alive and well (they just don’t get as good of ratings).

One difference though is when Olbermann spews lies and rants, he is is percieved as representing the left but not the Democratic Party. When Limbaugh does it, he is viewed as a party leader? How did this happen? Michael Steele and the moderates need to take back their party from the fringe elements. The fringe represents a small portion of the party yet are getting all the press.

The problem is when a person on the fringe of your beliefs is given a microphone and allowed to talk. Are YOU going to let that person talk for you? Because if you do and say nothing when you disagree with thier words or actions, the fringe is percieved as the Mainstream. When the first Tea Party rally happened in Cincinnati, there were a handful of people who held up nasty and sometimes racist signs about Obama. Who do you think got the press? And while there were some in the crowd who told them to take it down, there were others who chose to ignore it.

You have two choices in that case, either disassociate yourself from the group entirely or stand up when someone is misrepresenting your opinion. If you don’t, their opinion becomes your opinion in the minds of others. There are plenty of websites, that I no longer like to comment on anymore because the owners allow political bile to go beyond discourse. I am all for freedom of speech but remember that YOU control your website. You allow this to happen on a regular basis and their views will become the perception of your beliefs.

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January 18, 2010
Bearman Cartoon: Aussies and Racism

Now my Australian readership (which is about half the visitors on this site) might take offense to my latest editorial cartoon, but remember I poke fun at Americans all the time.

It seems that when some guys did a blackface version of the Jackson 5 on an Australian Gong Show and guest judge Harry Connick Jr found it offensive, some (not ALL…some) Australians responded that blackface isn’t offensive like it is in the United States.

Then when KFC put out an ad where a white guy gets a bunch of black folks to sit down so he could watch the game by pulling out a bucket of chicken, some Australians responded that Americans took it wrong and it isn’t offensive like it is in the United States.

Now it seems that an Indian cartoonist got upset that Victoria police were slow to indicate that the murder of an Indian student in his belief was a race crime. So he published a cartoon in the Delhi Mail Today of a Victorian Police officer in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. Now the Acting Prime Minister of Australia has come out and said that the cartoon was offensive. Really?? The KKK as I understand is strictly an American racist organization so clearly it can’t be offensive like it is in the United States.

Thanks to the Daily Cartoonist for turning me onto this story.

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January 8, 2010
Bearman Cartoon: Russian Vodka Price Jump

I hope my Russian friends got their drink on for New Years because new government regulations have set the minimum price for Vodka at almost twice the previous going rate. Part of this crack down was to not only target rampant alcoholism in Mother Russia but also to curb Vodka bootleggers who have captured 50% of the market.

Please tell me how raising the price of Vodka will curb bootleggers. Won’t they up their production? Or am I missing something?

January 2, 2010
Coffee, Tea or Depends

I worked on this editorial cartoon before I read that they are pulling back on the regulations but it still is a harsh reminder of how the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) can have a knee jerk reaction.

After the failed terror attempt on a Northwest Flight last week the following regulations went into effect for international flights:
Limiting international passengers to a single carry-on bag
Second-round security checks, including manual pat downs and body searches
On certain flights, disabling the map showing the plane’s progress and location
Prohibiting passengers from having blankets or pillows in their laps for the last hour of the flight
Requiring passengers to remain seated for the last hour of the flight

Now I have no problem with any of those things to promote security EXCEPT for the last one. It is at the point in the flight that they say I can’t get up for the bathroom, that I tend to always have to go. There were domestic flights that I took after 9/11 that they told us we would not be able to get up during the flight (less than 2 hours) so we had better go to the bathroom before boarding. Of course that was after I chugged a bottle of water.

When those of us with weak bladders and spastic colons are hindered in our ability to go when needed, then and only then have the terrorists really won.