Editorial cartoons by Donna Barstow

Copyright infringement is a federal crime!

Fair Use vs Stealing

I recently had a problem with an unenlightened, uneducated and low-class site who stole (and are stealing)  a lot of my cartoons.

crow in black

They are a “humor” site, and they stole many dozens of my cartoons (which explains why this site was down for the last 10 days). I will deal with them separately, when my investigation is done, but because they were so very stupid, I wanted to try to explain Fair Use to my smart readers here!

Very very briefly, there are 4 rules of Fair use:

1. Purpose (entertainment, or education?)
2. Type of work (news, fiction, art)
3. Amount used in comparison to whole work
4. Monetary effect on creator

Examples of Fair Use

Here are some examples of Good Fair Use from the excellent Stanford Fair Use site :

•     quoting a few lines from a Bob Dylan song in a music review
•     summarizing and quoting from a medical article on prostate cancer in a news report
•     copying a few paragraphs from a news article for use by a teacher or student in a lesson, or
•     copying a portion of a Sports Illustrated magazine article for use in a related court case.

They added:

The underlying rationale of this rule is that the public reaps benefits from your review, which is enhanced by including some of the copyrighted material.

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Yeah, I know it’s not as sexy as the market fall (which Twitter is ignoring, btw- obviously everyone in there either a) has no money b) doesn’t understand Standard and Poors or c) thinks money is too crass to talk about)

But I wrote a big long report about the incompetent killing machine, the LA County Animal Shelters, and you might like to take a look. It’s in my animal/park blog, Griffith Park Interrupted. This was my first blog I started, and I have been able to see results from it, fortunately.

There are lots of pictures, too, taken by some of the worst photographers in the state, some of the shelter employees. Here’s one to whet your appetite.

Cold Water. Yes, that's what this is labeled. I'm going to guess there is a fish in here somewhere... Half the horses listed don't have a pic at all.

Excerpt from the post:

The photographs are so bad that I started making copies of them, and put them in my collection of Worst Shelter Pictures Ever. Some look like experimental art, and others like the animal is being tortured. I’ve asked several shelters if they need new cameras. No, they have several.  Each animal is photographed on intake (or should be) by the intake officer who picked them up, so the blame (or praise?) is on them. Shouldn’t the worst photographers be disciplined or trained or put on another job?

But let’s be honest here – EVERYONE has a camera with them at all times, in their cell phone if nothing else. No one needs itraining on how take photographs anymore. And no one would take pictures this bad of their friends or family. It’s unfathomable.  So what is their excuse for photos this terrible? This is the point at which we should seriously examine their motives: are these bad pictures a way to keep animals from being adopted…job security for the shelter workers, in other words?

* Finally cracked TIME Cartoons of the Week with this one! Yes, it took a local LA cartoon to make good on the East Coast. Also in Daily News today, LA Observed, CalWatchdog.

You can’t know the excitement here about…a Freeway. The worst freeway. The one everyone hates to hate, the 405. The warnings started weeks ago, and lighted signs everywhere else let us know that even on the East side we’re not safe.

They’re closing the Freeway for July 16 and 17 for 10 miles – but they really start work at 7 PM on Friday night, so it’s 2 1/2 days. Just like the riots, they’re warning everyone not to go anywhere. I guess we’re allowed to walk, since they’re into fitness, however.

405 shut down cartoon, as a portent for the future rapture - or rupture

Not that they’re improving the freeway – they’re tearing down a bridge. Half a bridge. The other half comes down a year later, but they aren’t publicizing this part as much, because then everyone would know what an assy plan this is.

I know Rob Long, and he’s a funny and clever guy, but I don’t get his take on the freeway closure here. There’s nothing funny about it…it’s just true. The 405 is horribly unpredictable and terrible.

Cartoon caption: THE PROLOGUE TO THE RAPTURE: The 405 Freeway shuts down July 16 to 17.

Interpretation of cartoon: Well, it’s funny! I saw a postcard years ago of one of the original Rapture paintings, and never forgot it, with people flying out of car crashes, graves, etc, into the sky. I was truly shocked. (Although I’m easily shocked). Somehow that stuck in my head with cars being thrown off the Freeway. Both are sort of unlikely, but hey, one of them is happening this weekend.

Found a good source for all Rapture paintings, and you can see the one I was thinking of there. I give you this link with some reservation, however: the site is called something like Jesus needs new PR, but it is both un-Christian and unethical and BAD BLOGGING for him to use all those images and not link to anyone or mention the artist in any of them!! So there!!

This cartoon also runs in Daily News this weekend.

You know the story: Arnold Schwarzenegger shacked up with an unattractive but very sensual maid, Mildred Baena, (I must assume she had sex appeal at some point). I’m guessing it happened in the pantry, don’t you think? While Maria campaigned for causes or politics in the foyer.

Arnold S cartoon - he talks to the media about his bastard child

Arnold cartoon

I know I said I wasn’t going to do a cartoon about this, but the story was so big that my editor of Calwatchdog, in Sacramento (state capitol), specifically asked me to! Sure, I was reading all the details, but…I just hate outing people, even politicians, for their sexual escapades. It’s kind of private.

In this case, I actually didn’t vote for Arnold because of his sleazy ways towards women in the studios before he became Gov’r. I worked in the studios for a while. I know what’s it’s like. Yes, I believed the LA Times stories on his groping, although other sources said they were lies at the time. So it was him taking advantage of the ladies that repulsed me, not the sexual inclinations.

This week, Orange County politicians called him a nasty word. I don’t like that word, so go see it.

Ooh, I found a lot of pictures of Arnold and the housekeeper, Mildred Baena here. Leave it to the British press!

Cartoon caption: Arnold Schwarzenegger talks to the media about his affair and illegitimate child with Baena? He says, Yes, I was a movie star, a groping governor, and now an adulterous father of a ba love child….I hope you will all accept me as a true American now.

Below, update on this blog.

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What, you mean philandering and affairs (Arnold Schwarzenegger) aren’t enough reason for a couple to separate, but leaving political office will do just fine? Typical Kennedy thinking, Maria!

Arnold Schwarzenegger cartoon as the Governator

Arnold S’s history with women in the studios

I’ve never run into Arnold on studio lots or in public, but I remember reading the very scandalous stuff the LA Times dug up on him before he became Governor. Many women came forward to claim he had sexually grabbed them. Here’s that original LA Times article on Arnold before the 2003 recall election. There were lots of women who came forward over several days to tell their stories of how he groped them and said sexually explicit things. At the time, the Republicans said the LA Times dug all this stuff up just to threaten his election, because the Times is notoriously Left.

But I’ve worked in the studios, on and off, for several years, and I know very well the caste system there, and how it works, and the power actors have, and I am quite sure every accusation was true. I didn’t vote for him, based on those stories.

Breaking news: Arnold had a child out of wedlock!

Whoa, stop the presses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I started this post just riffing on the breakup, and surmising that Arnold and Maria broke up because he stepped down as Governor, and Maria got bored with him, but just an hour ago it was announced Schwarzenegger had a baby with someone who was in their household staff, so she kicked him out!!  From the WaPost:

The Times reported Tuesday that Shriver moved out of the family’s Brentwood mansion earlier this year after Schwarzenegger acknowledged the child is his…

The Times did not publish the former staffer’s name nor that of her child but said the staff member worked for the family for 20 years and retired in January.

Such is the state of news now that it turns out, WaPo reported it, but that my own paper, the LA Times, broke the story. (2nd cartoon after the jump)

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