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?

More cartoons:

1. Ted Rall scolds Time Magazine for their Top 10 cartoons.
2. Who’s your rac-ist?

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.

More cartoons:

1. Second Amendment cartoon on the 4th of July.
2. Am I mean?

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.

And in my own housekeeping here…

• Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged.
• I started a Facebook Page. Not personal, just my cartoons. Anyone can see it, anyone can Like it or join it. I also have a link to it in the sidebar. This coordinates all my cartoons in one place: political, general, for Psych Today, etc, so Like  it and get updated on all the new cartoons that go up.
• I had to disable comments because of so much spam this month. I’ll re-able soon, or when someone requests it
• My traffic took a big nosedive in February when Google changed their precious algorithm, and rewarded big sites, while they downgraded original, small sites like mine. They also weigh backlinks heavily now – that is, who links to the site. There are very few editorial cartoon blogs, and most of them are connected with newspapers, so they can’t link to me. Just a couple of politics sites link to me, and that’s not enough.
• Traffic went down again once school started this month. I have been keeping track of certain schools anyway. Cartoons aren’t free, people, just like lunches and blackboards and books and teachers aren’t. Just looking is fine, but I know certain places, who come back all the time, are using my cartoons in class. Infuriating. But at least now I have a list, for September, rubbing my hands together!
• I don’t know if I’ll continue this blog.
• How you can help: send OpEdCartoons (this site) to newspaper editors, link here yourself or suggest other sites link here. Or, donate to my Paypal tip jar in the sidebar. Otherwise, grab a shovel.

Check out my Father’s Day Cartoon in Psychology Today.

More cartoons:

1. Arnold and Maria split because Arnold lost his mojo. UPDATED
2. Governor Schwarzenegger’s Bequest – Toot, toot!

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)

The Times says Schwarzenegger told his wife only after he left office (!) and that the woman in question just happened to quit working for the family a couple of months ago, after she met her goal of 20 years with them. So I guess she’s a woman who fools around, but also sets personal goals! What a gal. Can’t wait until they find out her name and what she did on staff.

Jerry Brown kicks Arnold Schwarzenegger out of Governor's office

That really is scandalous, to have it be your hired help. How humiliating for Maria, and says so much about Ahnold, to have him keep this mess next to him for years. I wonder why he told her now. Maybe he just couldn’t keep the secret any longer.

The Cartoons

Top Cartoon Caption: IF ARNOLD STILL HAD TERMINATOR TENDENCIES. Ahnold is at the podium, and says, Okay, the people of California voted down my tax plans. But I still control water, roads, electricity, etc. So…I’ll be back. I did this cartoon in May of 2009, the first one I ever did of Arnold, and/or California, since I had just started doing political cartoons a few months earlier. It’s also the best likeness of him! I did several more of him for Calwatchdog, and found him very difficult to draw for some reason. This might be because I think he’s handsome, and it’s harder to draw even features. Also, the Terminator is SO overdone – I never did that idea again, but I was a newbie!

I notice in his early pictures he had quite the jutting jaw, when he was more German (Austrian, really), and less American. More than one plastic surgeon said he had plastic surgery to correct that, and it’s pretty obvious to me that he did. Interestingly, this is the opposite of Bristol Palin, who just appeared with a totally new face last week, and now admits that she had surgery “correction”, which makes her jaw longer and more pointed. I don’t think I like it.

Bottom Cartoon: OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE…USED. Jerry Brown, who was the former Governor of California twice before, steps into the role once again in January of this year, and kicks Arnold S down the hall with all his boxes from the office. Arnold has a sign saying Don’t kick me…I’m Arnold.

Explanation: Since JB had already been Gov, he wasn’t New, he was Used. And Arnold never likes to be pushed. He looks back longingly at the Gov’s Seal. He had a title. Not like the Kennedys, but still.

UPDATE:

Honestly, I don’t know why I bother to do good blogging and journalism.  I’m rarely out first with a story, but this time I was. Now, commenters on PuffPost and Twitter stole my little condom joke (title above is: Arnold told his secret to Maria: he forgot to wear a condom.) and vomited it into the internet like it just occurred to them. Imitation is flattery only if I get paid for it.

Check out my cartoons on Psychology Today this week: if your boss is an asshole cartoon, and my least popular cartoon on Psychology Today.

More cartoons:

1. Arnold as Baby-daddy for Father’s Day.
2. Governor Schwarzenegger’s Bequest – Toot, toot!

5 republicans defect and join jerry brown on the other side (left)

Jerry Brown wants to hurry up and put a proposition on the ballot in June for voters: can he set up a special election to extend higher tax rates on sales, vehicles and income for five years. It’s not exactly raising taxes, but doesn’t lower anything. (Our sales tax is almost 10%, outrageous.)

From the Sacramento Bee:

Brown is negotiating with a splinter group of five GOP lawmakers, whose wish list contains issues that have divided the Capitol for decades.

Republicans want to curb union power and demands, and put a hard cap on spending.  So why are these 5 Republicans acting like rogue elephants (dangerous when separated from their herd!) and acting beguiled by Governor Brown’s tax increases? Beats me.

Business Week says:

Republicans are seeking rollbacks of public employee pensions, a cap on state spending in future budgets and business-friendly regulatory changes…

Steinberg and Brown have complained that Republican lawmakers have not been specific about what they are willing to trade for their votes on a special election.

However, 2 of the Republican runaway leaders said they gave Brown a “wish list.” Oh, Amazon.

Even John and Ken, some of my favorite hosts on KFI got involved, along with state Republican Party official and blogger Jon Fleischman and Jon Coupal. From the LA Times:

The activists offer no alternative budget plan and say no policy concessions on Republican priorities — such as a state spending cap or a pension overhaul — are worth ceding ground on taxes.

When these anti-tax rabid rabble-rousers found out 5 Republicans were negotiating with Brown, Fleischman dubbed the group the “Rogue 5.” (John and Ken call them and people they don’t agree with, Heads on a Stick. Eyuuh!)

Sometimes that’s all it takes to make a cartoon, folks!

More cartoons:

1. If California was as cool as Glee.
2. Meg Whitman’s maid has nothing on John and Ken.

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. :(

The governor wants to put tax increases — which would amount to more than $50 billion over five years — to a vote of the people in June. I think the people should be given a choice on taxes, but they should be given all the choices. If the governor wants to put tax increases on the ballot, then he needs to put an equal or higher tax cut on the ballot, as well. This is the only way voters will truly have their voices heard.

Read  the Star link further to see who would get the juicy tax cut.

Cartoon Caption: IF CALIFORNIA WAS STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL. Current cool kids (the Dems). Feel-good Principal Jerry Brown (he could kick you out, but he won’t) Lunchroom Lady Lockyer (California Treasurer). And the newest clique: The Taxpayer Caucus.

Interpretation: I know political cartoons can be confusing, especially to those not in the state. Or, maybe those in the state. (Most people in California know very little about how the state is actually run.) In this case, The Taxpayer Caucus recently started in California as a way for the GOP (Republicans) to stop Jerry Brown from pushing through his tax ideas. Brown wants to raise taxes, to lower the California budget, but he needs permission from other politicians to put in on the ballot for June.

The GOP says, wait a minute: if you’re going to make a proposal to raise taxes, we want some changes in return. So they started a new club: The Taxpayer Caucus.

I found this game very amusing, and drew it as a high school, with various people jockeying for positions! (Not saying Bill Lockyer, the Treasurer, necessarily wears dresses, however…)

Coming up soon: the 5 Rogue Republicans who are bucking the party line to meet secretly with Jerry Brown: they will probably be ostracized and get Slushies thrown at them.

More cartoons:

1. When Republicans turn into rogue elephants.
2. Meg Whitman’s maid has nothing on John and Ken.

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.

No details about the show have been disclosed, but it’s being billed as “Charlie Sheen Live: My Violent Torpedo of Truth.”

Cartoon caption: The Prison of Public Opinion. Charlie Sheen: Two and a half years for harassing and grossing us out.

Image via Wikipedia - Charlie in March, 2009 What's that star thing on his lapel? I thought he was Jewish.

More cartoons:

1. Farewell to Lost cartoon.
2. Jimmy Kimmel bats one out of Wrigley Field.

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 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

Analysis of 2 editorial cartoons

Let’s compare the 2 cartoons.

My first idea was to do something about it being an iPhone – kind of obvious, but popular – but I knew there was something better. For me, I’ve found that although the first idea might be easy, it’s not the best idea. That didn’t stop Ted, however, as he used the iPhone idea, and threw in AT & T.

I did my cartoon for CalWatchdog, a state journalism group from a libertarian perspective. Ted, a cartoonist in NY, was somehow hired by the Los Angeles Times to do local cartoons, so I’m surprised he didn’t hit the fact that the Manson murders were committed in Los Angeles, and the  famous investigation and trial was held here as well.

I included the fact that the state knows the guards are smuggling in thousands of phones, but they do nothing. I also brought up unions, since they are so hot in the news now. Ted had a woman shaking a feather pillow. He drew books in Manson’s cell, including the famous Helter Skelter one. It wasn’t until I read a comment at the LA Times link that I noticed that one of the books in Charles Manson’s cell is by Sarah Palin. Commenter on Ted’s cartoon:

There’s a Sarah Palin book on the shelf. Are you really equating Manson and Palin? Try thinking for once. I know it hurts. But please just try.

My cartoon is about corruption at the state level, with a joke about calling Charles Manson “Chuck”. Ted’s cartoon is a joke about an iPhone, and a dig at Sarah Palin. Of course.

But I have the knockout punch, a personal connection to Charles Manson: I live 2 blocks from the famous LaBianca murders. The really gruesome ones, where Manson and 6 of his “family” killed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, carved a word in his abdomen, and wrote Death to Pigs and Helter Skelter on the wall in their blood. It makes my stomach hurt just writing this.

I read Helter Skelter a while ago, but I don’t even know if I finished it and I didn’t realize any of the murders were in Los Feliz – it all happened before my time. The Sharon Tate house, home of the first Manson “family” murders, located  somewhere in the Valley, was torn down years ago, but the LaBianca house in Los Feliz still stands. (I was always more concerned about the Hillside Stranglers, which occurred 8 years after Charles Manson, as I knew they buried some of their victims in Griffith Park, which is also within walking distance (and I volunteer on a committee there.))

It was actually someone who lives in Burbank who finally told me about this notorious house in my own neighborhood…and so I finally discovered it, only 5 minutes away. It gives you chills when you see it. In fact, I bring all unsuspecting friends & relatives, and of course new boyfriends, to see it, to give them bad chills, too.

launderland for murderers from google street view

My landlady told me they washed their bloody clothes after the murders at a Laundromat called Launderland, that I drove by all the time, not knowing this…

So grumble, grumble about a New York cartoonist (Ted) thinking he knows everything all over the country, even though he’s 3000 miles away… Sorry, Ted, the home turf girl always wins.

early Charles Manson, from notorious Wiki

While looking up the link for the original article I found a blog by Prison Movement – kind of cool. Bossip.com refers to Manson as a “habitual texter and convicted murderer.” Hee!

My Charlie Manson cartoon captions: Corcoran Prison caught Charles Manson with 2 phones! (Love ya, Marci! Heya, Joe!) with shot of him and another inmate. State investigations conclude that prison guards bring in over 10,000 cell phones a year. (sketch of prison guard carrying bad that reads Less Smart Phones.) State officials claim unions would charge more if guards were scanned. So they aren’t. (drawing of government official shrugging in Sacramento) BOTTOM LINE: California is more afraid of prison unions than Charles Manson! (cartoon of prison guard saying, “We’re going to call you Chuck.”)

Caption of Ted Rall’s cartoon of Manson: Woman guard is shaking out the pillow. Prison guard says to Manson, An iPhone? How do you make it work? Charles Manson replies, “I can’t. It’s AT&T.” ANOTHER CELLPHONE FOUND IN CHARLES MANSON’S CELL

More cartoons:

1. Great Halloween cartoon of haunted house!
2. Arnold and Obama, sitting in a tree…

Afterwards, of course, they were accused of nasty misappropriation of public funds. The 2 reporters in the LA Times investigation, Jeff Gottlieb and Ruben Vives, spoke at the LA Press Club about their investigation. Interesting story, but I still don’t hate the accused.

Bill Schorr cartoon on Bell councilmen in jail

Of course, when the populace is so apathetic and uneducated that only 1% of them voted in the election, these kinds of oversights and mishaps are bound to happen from time to time. :)

Last week, the LA Times reported that for at least 8 years, the City of Bell has been seizing vehicles for imaginary code violations, and then telling the owners that they had to pay various fees.

Normally, such cases would be reviewed by a judge to ensure that they had been settled fairly. But the vast majority of these cases do not appear to have been presented to a court.

The LA Times doesn’t stop after explaining this fraud and lack of due process. The article continues:

A number of those caught up in the enforcement efforts were struggling to get by.

Of course, the income of those having been bamboozled by these fake charges has nothing to do with the illegal activity of the City of Bell; these unlawful shakedowns by the city would offend and penalize both rich and poor.

But that’s the LA Times for you: if there are any low-income people connected with a story, the uber-liberal Times will point them out, as if they have more feelings and are more vulnerable than other citizens. Infuriating! Who knows, perhaps they hope that readers will get emotional and vote for more social services…

Bell, CA cartoon

California cartoonist Bill Schorr was right on top of the situation with this funny Bell cartoon. There aren’t enough cartoons about bad Councilmen. Online, most cartoons look better in color, and even the cratchety “classic” editorial cartoonists are beginning to work in color now, but black and white for prison works just fine! The vertical jail bar stripes also look good with the horizontal captions, so thanks, Bill.

You can find more Bill Schorr cartoons here, and if you wonder what will happen to this council, you might want to check out this scary cartoon. (Sorry, no link now. Uclick Gocomics threw away 2 years of my cartoons on Slate, Gocomics and Yahoo News when they kicked me out.)

Am I right about the LA Times, or am I right? I wrote more about this in the link below.

Related:

• You can run, but you can’t hide in Bell, California (examiner.com)

More cartoons:

1. June political cartoons on Obama, Helen Thomas, soccer and oil spill.
2. Yahoo! News Editorial Cartoon on food stamps.

…he initially said, “There’s no rush…. It’s not like I have something in my mind.”

The governor went on to say that he would like to work on public policy issues in which he could have an impact “with my celebrity power, and also my knowledge and experience.”

arnold schwarzenegger cartoon by rj matson

He said he’s hot for environmental issues, but also likes oil, because he drives a Hummer. That’s our Governator!

The Ticket jumps from there to the possibility that Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to work in some capacity with the Obama administration, and points out that Obama says he would like to add more Republicans to his cabinet, including Schwarzenegger.

Does this smell like love? Schwarzenegger is probably eager to jump into something ASAP, because his high-speed rail project didn’t jump off the tracks like he wanted it to. And because he’s never been shy.

The LA Times covers only the basics when it comes to state news, as I quickly found out when I had to work on state cartoons for CalWatchdog this year, but of course Arnold is part of the Hollywood crowd! There are only a handful of editorial cartoonists in California, but because California is kind of big, occasionally other cartoonists look over here, too.

Big-time cartoonist RJ Matson did this terrific cartoon on Arnold last year, when he was drawing for New York Observer. RJ has a very formal stylistic, well, style, that can be a little cold when he is discussing hot politics, but it looks great here. Because Los Angeles still thinks of  Schwarzenegger as one of our own. Actors.

Cartoon courtesy of Cagle Cartoons. Check these California cartoons out, as well.

My cartoon on stem cell research (Sorry, no link now. Uclick Gocomics threw away 2 years of my cartoons on Slate, Gocomics and Yahoo News when they kicked me out.), currently being funded big time in California. There’s a mouse in it for ya!

cartoon on stem cell

I’m talking about other cartoonists over on examiner.com.

More cartoons:

1. Arnold and Maria split because Arnold lost his mojo. UPDATED
2. Governor Schwarzenegger’s Bequest – Toot, toot!