Mickey Mouse as human sacrifice for California budget?

Last updated on January 3, 2023

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"When the deadline passed, and California couldn't make its budget, it began to eat its own young..."©D.Barstow 2009

Sometimes ideas come to me out of nowhere! In this case, I think I began with the sentence up to budget…and then just tried out some endings. I also don’t know why I thought of Mickey Mouse! It’s not like I like the character, or like Disney in any way. But it was a symbol that one could hurt…

I only do cartoons about California now and then, as it’s obviously not national, but an LA Times article said recently, the State Treasurer claims it’s “too big to fail.”  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said they’d have to make education cuts – which I say, hallelujah – we have a terrible record of even teaching kids to read and write, with the most corrupt school system, at least in SoCal.  He also talked about selling landmarks like San Quentin! and the LA Coliseum.  The WSJ reported:

Other properties on the governor’s list include a landmark concert hall called the Cow Palace in Daly City, Calif., and fairgrounds in Sacramento and near San Diego. It’s unclear how much the proposal could actually raise.

Disneyland was never mentioned, of course, but everyone associated it with California. I couldn’t remember what Mickey looked like, so I had to Google him. There are some artists – maybe a lot, I don’t know- who seem to have a photographic memory, and just know how something should look. That’s never been me. I’m almost the opposite. I find it very hard to remember faces or clothes. For me, it’s words and ideas first. So I think I did a pretty good job with him, but wondered if cutting off the fingers was too much. At least I didn’t add any blood. (full disclosure: when I was drawing him, and I cut off his fingers and his ear, and he was crying, I got tears in my eyes. See, I’m not the tough oped cartoonist you thought I was.)

And I like the caption, drawn as a storybook page that ends quite tragically.

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