Month: <span>March 2011</span>

Sacramento can’t decide whether we’re more like Junior High or High School, however.

california politics are like high school cliques
california politics are like high school cliques

Dems vs the Taxpayer Caucus – RUMBLE!

Oh, I do like the slapfights in California politics. Wisconsin is in it to win; we’re in it to flex our muscle, even without the Governator.

The Taxpayer Caucus is the newest clique. Tony Strickland,  a State Senator who started the caucus, so probably isn’t biased at all, writes about it in the Ventura County Star.

California’s taxes are some of the highest in the nation. We have the highest sales taxes. Our corporate income tax is the highest west of the Mississippi. Our personal income taxes are the third-highest in the nation.

Sadly, all true. The sales tax, especially, puts a little sad face on me. :(

California, here I am Pick a Political Party! The Others (cartoonists)

Mainstream Media

Charlie Sheen cartoon. See, I promised you one. I haven’t seen any other good ones, but will post as I find any.

charlie sheen behind bars - at least, in my fantasy
charlie sheen behind bars - at least, in my fantasy

I mean, really. I’ve never watched Two and a Half Men, and don’t plan to now. Way too much bs, and the silly, silly media for encouraging this public breakdown!

Phil Hendrie (KFI) said the other night that he knows for sure that Charlie Sheen has been diagnosed with grandiose disorder hypomania, says Phil, or some “clinical” term like that. Maybe he’s back on cocaine, I don’t know.

But I know lots of actors, and they’re different from you and I – and they experiment with their own self, which is kind of neat. Maybe he’s just trying on the crazy mask, or the grandstanding one this month. I wish him luck in his 2 upcoming live speaker gigs in Detroit and Chicago, which are sold out.

California, here I am Entertainment

Oh, and Ted Rall, but not all in the same room, please.

Charles Manson cartoons

I’m the luckiest girl in the world, to get to do a cartoon on Charles Manson. Charles has been a bad boy again.

Charles Manson cartoon in prison with his cell phone
Charles Manson in prison with his cell phone

I take special note of news about Manson since something he did affects me personally…The LA Times said:

For the second time in less than two years, California prison officials caught Charles Manson, mastermind of one of the most notorious killing sprees in U.S. history, with a cellphone behind bars.

I took note of it the first time they found him using a cell phone – it’s hysterical, both that he is so free and easy and sly, and that the security there is so bad! My editor at CalWatchdog wasn’t so sure about the news item then, but when they found the second phone, and actually admitted they know it was the guards doing the smuggling – yet didn’t try to stop them!…okay, then!

From the Los Angeles TImes:

Lawmakers struggling to keep cellphones away from California’s most dangerous inmates say a main obstacle is the politically powerful prison guards union, whose members would have to be paid millions of dollars extra to be searched on their way into work.

Ted Rall did a cartoon on Charles Manson, too, a day after mine…

ted rall cartoon on charles manson's cell phones and att
ted rall cartoon on charles manson’s cell phones and att

California, here I am

And we’re back.

I know you guys are dying for some Charlie Sheen cartoons. I know I’m NOT. At first I was curious what he was going to do after Two and a Half Men was cancelled, but then he spun way out of control, and aren’t druggies boring!? The cartoons I’ve seen on him are pretty lame so far – many compare him with Gaddafi, which is just stupid. I’ll cover both of them later in the week.

Best cartoons of the week for the LA Times

I talk about why I’m editing these cartoons at the end of the post.

bob englehart union cartoon
bob englehart union cartoon

This cartoon by Bob Englehart from cagle.com is an effective simplification of the brouhaha in Wisconsin and other states over collective bargaining power – or, unions, if I may speak directly. (And why doesn’t the media?)

I don’t begrudge unions – I’ve been in IATSE, in the movie studios, and the National Writers Union, which is affiliated w/ the UAW (auto workers!) – and in the studios, especially, unions are really necessary for safety and health issues.

But with state unions, with benefits paid by taxpayers? The rules are different. (The LA Times current “editors”, btw, would never choose this cartoon – it’s too simple. They prefer obscure cartoons, fancying their readers to be like NY Times readers. But since they’re not (after all, I am one of them!) here is a cartoon they SHOULD be using.)

LA Times Editorial Cartoons