April 2010 » Hot Spots

Published April 27, 2010 by Donna Barstow

Gizmodo, the new fence for Nick Denton.

Fence, as in a way for him to sell his devious, stolen, demented ideas to the public in all of his skeevy dreary blogs.

I was interested in the news about Gizmodo and the iPhone last week, even though I don’t read/have either one, just because I like tech news. It took me a couple of days before I had time to read the details.

Gawker Media’s Gizmodo blog dropped a bomb on technology enthusiasts Monday with information and pictures of what looks like a prototype for Apple’s next iPhone. Gawker paid for access to the device from a person who found it at a bar in Redwood City, Calif., Gizmodo editor Jason Chen said. Gawker founder Nick Denton coyly acknowledged in a tweet Monday that his company has paid for exclusives before.

I was outraged at this! And happy to find this article from Daily Finance on how Apple could easily sue Gizmodo for knowingly buying the stolen iPhone. The author actually talked with Nick Denton.

Gawker Media has admitted — boasted, really — that it paid $5,000 to get its hands on a prototype of a fourth-generation iPhone for its gadget blog, Gizmodo.

Now that I’ve had a few hours to digest all this, I am somewhat scandalized, even outraged. Put simply, Gawker Media brazenly, publicly flouted the law. It subsidized a crime: the selling of stolen merchandise.

See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/aGnF2V

What Jeff Bercovici doesn’t bring up, however, is how Gizmodo also stole and used intellectual property, known as trade secrets.

Business Insider says that Denton now claims he LOST money because of this big scoop!

Mainstream Media Not that High Tech

blogs iphone tech

Published April 27, 2010 by Donna Barstow

Royal Wedding Woes.

Are you going? To the Royal Wedding, I mean. All the blogs are agog over it. I think I’d be more interested if the bride to be was a blonde.…

Barack Obama International cartoons

england libya wedding

Published April 25, 2010 by Donna Barstow

Editorial cartoons for LA Times, April 2010.

Last week Joel Pett included a cartoon from Pulitzer Prize 2010 winner Mark Fiore in his selection of cartoons for the LA Times. He had to go back 10 years to find a cartoon by Fiore. This is because Fiore is an animator now, not a cartoonist, and hasn’t done cartoons for years. Is the Pulitzer Prize committee so terrified of the direction of journalism that they have to give an editorial prize to a MOVIE? Apparently, yes.

(Animation is included in the Academy Awards because it is a movie. It’s not in print anywhere, because it’s a movie. It has pages of dialogue, sound, music, voices, and much movie software because it’s a movie. It’s only in a handful of venues online because it uses up a hella lot of bandwidth, since it’s a movie.)

It looks like the Pulitzer judges can no longer be trusted to judge cartoons. I’m going to look into this further, and if this is the case, I’ll do my own judging for the Pulitzers next year, thanks.

Back to this week’s REAL cartoons that I think are best for the Los Angeles Times!

dan wasserman of gocomics.com on Goldman Sachs

Dan Wasserman of Gocomics has a sly sense of humor! I liked one of his for last week’s roundup, too. Of course, he could have included a woman in the lineup, but that would just be icing on the cake. I am so ticked off at Goldman Sachs I could scream, as my grandmother would say. Humor is just a way of quieting the rage, while still drawing an excellent picture of how Goldman Sachs screwed the public. Again.

Funny Business LA Times Editorial Cartoons

education religion wall street

Published April 20, 2010 by Donna Barstow

Where can I find some juicy Medical Marijuana?

In Los Angeles. It’s all the rage. It’s an evergreen topic on talk radio…will it ruin the city? Does it destroy neighborhoods? Is it really legal?

Are really good brownies considered a medical miracle?

Oh, that’s interesting. I went to latimes.com to see what was new on the topic and this is the top article:

Peron, a hero to the marijuana movement, started the first dispensary in San Francisco and led the state’s medical marijuana initiative. Now, he and a team of weed-loving friends hope to turn the 106-room Normandie into America’s first pot-friendly hotel.

Well, the article has a particularly boring title, and it must be a slow news day, but you get the idea.

Here’s a poll that says most Americans don’t want legalized pot.

Respondents were skeptical that crime would spike if marijuana is decriminalized or that it would lead more people to harder drugs like heroin or cocaine. There also was a nearly even split on whether government spends too much or the right amount enforcing marijuana laws. Almost no one thinks too little is spent.

Marijuana use — medically and recreationally — is getting more attention in the political arena. California voters will decide in November whether to legalize the drug, and South Dakota will vote this fall on whether to allow medical uses. California and 13 other states already permit such use.

Wow, I didn’t know until I read this that California might legalize it. I can’t stand it on a personal level – druggies are the most boring people in the world, and the smell is nauseating – but I say go for it, get everything legalized, and take your bong and smoke into your bedroom.

LA Curbed has more on the hotel as “stoner-friendly.”

But brownies? I’m up for them any time. Recipes, anyone?

California, here I am Freedom Cartoons

drugs los angeles

Published April 18, 2010 by Donna Barstow

Obama, pedophile priests, political Cartoons for April, 2010.

It’s Sunday, so it must be time for the Los Angeles Times Choice Awards! For editorial cartoons, that is!

I had to wade through a lot of elephants saying no to Obama (for Supreme Court nominees), and a lot of Tea Party ridiculers, and of course Sarah Palin haters, before I found these gems. (I think Glenn McCoy and I may be the only cartoonists who even attempt to shed light on the liberal wussy left.)

I’ll start off today with a cartoonist who is firmly conservative, however: Lisa Benson from Gocomics.com.

Lisa is very local – lives somewhat to the North of LA, and is the cartoonist for a California paper. She usually attacks Obama, rather than political issues in general, as is true in this cartoon. For instance, one (like me) might target the evil bombing countries, but she prefers to blame the President! I picked this cartoon because the Nuclear Summit was in the news this week, and Obama’s facial expression and casual whistle as he walks away made me smile!

I guess I’m not always the best critic, because at first I thought she was saying Obama did a good job! But since the bomb is National Security, I guess not. Still, good cartoon (even though I don’t agree with the point of view) and she draws a credible Obama. Some other cartoonists might want to practice him, since he’ll be around for a while. :)

Green Cartoons LA Times Editorial Cartoons The Others (cartoonists)

bomb court religion

Published April 15, 2010 by Donna Barstow

Lysistrata is about withholding sex for peace.

This is a cartoon about Chief Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, who started her own tea party, neutrality be damned.\

It is also about a contemporary tea-party idea for a centuries old play! A woman in Greece, a long long time ago, before Christ, decided that she wouldn’t have sex with her husband until he stopped the war, and convinced every woman in the city to do the same! According to Wiki, this is one of only a few plays that we have left from Aristophanes, a Greek playwright BC. Sad. But what a fantastic premise!

Originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC, it is a comic account of one woman’s extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War. Lysistrata convinces the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace…

Sorry for the history lesson. I majored in Drama, and this playwright is unforgettable!

Lysistrata cartoon for Supreme Court Clarence Thomas

The play is about forcing peace upon people which is a turn-off and not very libertarian. I’m more war-like, myself.

I guess I just like the idea of withholding sex to get what I want. :)

The LA Times wrote Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Helen’s new hobby, her very own tea party. Once the Times gets their teeth into something, they don’t like to let go! But I can see why, in this case – it is pretty shocking that the wife of a Supreme Court Justice can just up and start her own political party! Influence, much? I can’t believe she is allowed to do this!

“I am an ordinary citizen from Omaha, Neb., who just may have the chance to preserve liberty along with you and other people like you,” she said at a recent panel discussion with tea party leaders in Washington. Thomas went on to count herself among those energized into action by President Obama’s “hard-left agenda.”

But Thomas is no ordinary activist.

She is the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and she has launched a tea-party-linked group that could test the traditional notions of political impartiality for the court.

…

Although Liberty Central is a nonpartisan group, its website shows an affinity for conservative principles. Her biography notes that Thomas is a fan of Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, author of “Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America.”

“She is intrigued by Glenn Beck and listening carefully,” the bio says.

Sounds like there might be 3 people in that bedroom soon.

Pick a Political Party! Politicians who aren't Obama Scandalous cartoons!

law literature supreme court tea party

Month: <span>April 2010</span>

Gizmodo, the new fence for Nick Denton.

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Royal Wedding Woes.

Editorial cartoons for LA Times, April 2010.

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Where can I find some juicy Medical Marijuana?

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Obama, pedophile priests, political Cartoons for April, 2010.

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Lysistrata is about withholding sex for peace.

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