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?

No related posts.

Nothing funny about this environmental and financial disaster, but cartoonists have a way of pointing their pens towards BP’s negligence in a way that the newspapers and sources have only begun to do the last month or so. News sites were so neutral before, it was disgusting! That’s not reporting, that’s siding with the enemy! I think cartoonists are more honest.

The great eight

daryl cagle oil spill at the dance cartoon, at cagle.com

I was really impressed by Daryl Cagle‘s cartoon of Obama dancing with the devil BP (who looks rather like a Smurf. And is that a Snidely Whiplash mustache on Obama?) I’ve seen dancing steps before, but not in oil!

Side note: I wonder if Daryl is a fan of Dancing with the Stars…:)

I found a few clever cartoons on who bears the ultimate responsibility for this tragedy, but I chose this one by Mike Scott because it’s not just a blame game – there is horror in those grey faces. Halliburton is obviously Frankenstein! Does Mike have a special issue with them?! I like the quiet colors and the hand-lettered red title at the top. Different. From Cagle.

And we go from horror to a beheading! What is a good collection of cartoons without some morbid chuckles? I really laughed at this.

And in case you haven’t guessed, now you know for sure that I’m not selecting these particular oil cartoons for my LA Times editorial  roundup. (That comes next time.) This cartoon would not be proper for the Times, I assure you! But it’s just right for us here in the bleachers. (And just to show you how neutral I am as a (self-appointed) editor for the LA Times, Steve and his good friend Ted Rall were judges on a small contest of editorial cartoons, and when they were informed that I was to join them as a judge, they told the foundation that “they would walk.” Nice.) From Gocomics.

dana summers little dead mermaid cartoon

Dana Summer’s cartoon of the little Mermaid drowned in oil made me laugh! So much more amusing than dead pelicans, which are WAY overdone, guys, and also very sad. And who doesn’t like a joke at Disney’s expense? I like Dana, who also does a comic strip, which I forget the name of, but this cartoon is another that wouldn’t be right for the LA Times. More of Dana at gocomics.com.

j.d. crowe cartoon of oily lawyers from cagle.com

I love these flying lawyers! It took me a minute to understand what was going on here, but this is a wonderful piece of art by J. D. Crowe, as the lawyers morph into birds of prey. I like the subtlety of  these mid greys; it would have been natural to paint the lawyers in dark suits, to have them stand out in the water, but this is far more effective. And I like the way there’s no punctuation in the captions, as if the men are thinking, not speaking. From Cagle cartoons. PS, I like lawyers, in case I’m involved in any lawsuits right now…

mike luckovich cartoon on the price of oil in the gas station

I picked this cartoon by Mike Luckovich to illustrate oil in the eyes of the consumer. I like this – Mike is an excellent cartoonist – but to my way of thinking, this is only half done! He should have added the loss of life – both man and animals. And this would have been much much better in color. Why do so many cartoonists hold back from color? Because it takes a lot more time – probably tripling the cartoon-hours. And that’s not just photoshop, that’s decisions and contemplation. Big guys like him don’t need color for the newspapers, but most artists should, if they’re going to go that new-fangled internet route.

stuart carlson cartoon on uncle sam getting strangled at the pump on the 4th of July.

I’m not one for a lot of  old symbols in my cartoons, but this cartoon by Stuart Carlson of Uncle Sam is such great design that I couldn’t resist it. Here’s the power of color, people! From Gocomics.

tom toles cartoon of the oil spill as a monopoly game

I don’t think I’ve included Tom Toles in any of my roundups before. He’s the cartoonist for the Washington Post, and I think he’s won a Pulitzer, but I think he’s too stylistic (or too cool?) for my taste. And every single time, I think the PS he adds in the bottom right corner detracts from the cartoon itself. Unfortunately, this has that, too, but I enjoyed the little monopoly player pieces, like the thimble, the iron, the dog, the ship, and the captions attached! Nice, Tom! From Gocomics.

Extra cartoon stuff

If you’re counting, this would be the 9th and 10th cartoons, but I’m way too modest (or too savvy?!) to include my own cartoons in the 8 best BP oil cartoons. Here’s a peek, if you want to look.

BP meets their match: Dr. Phil

Comments on Dr. Phil. (Sorry, no link now. Uclick threw away 2 years of my cartoons on Slate, Gocomics and Yahoo News when they kicked me out of Gocomics.)

turtles being burned alive by BP oil

Comments on turtles. (no links there now)

And as always, many thanks to Cagle Cartoons and Uclick for allowing me to reproduce these cartoons. Go find your favorite cartoonists there, and you can comment, as well!

For search engines, who can’t read cartoons…yet. Cartoon captions:

Obama and BP doing a slow dance together: I’m getting tired of this dance. Not my fault.

Couple spots something coming out of the water:It’s the little mermaid! (covered in oil on the shore.)

Look at all those oily birds. So tragic. Those are lawyers. (lawyers turning into pelicans on the beach)

Couple at oil pump: Oil prices: I miss when it cost $2…Pumps have words instead of prices: The gulf of Mexico, Our national security, the world’s climate.

Fingerpointing: bird, Obama, BP, Mineral Management Service, Halliburton.

I want my head back – Tony Hayward says, with his head blown up.

Uncle Sam says: I’m looking forward to a true Independence Day, (strangled in oil pumps).

Current Oil Spill Strategies with Monopoly toys: Top Hat to collect oil, old shoe to walk on oily beaches, battleship to drag oil booms around, wheelbarrow for excuses, flatiron to iron out wrinkles in story, dog to wag tail at executives, thinble to distribute damage payments, race car to leave scene, legal strategy get out of jail free card.

PS. Have bugs? You’ll want to check out my insect cartoon.

My most popular BP Oil cartoons: BP Oil: When everyone knows your name, but nobody likes you.

More cartoons:

1. The beach, the surf, and California’s political campaign. Aah.
2. Have you ever tried to wipe oil off your soul?

I thought everyone could use some help on this. I’ve been doing cartoons on California and the upcoming elections for almost 6 months now for CalWatchdog, this extraordinary journalism site for a think tank in Northern California, but haven’t posted many of them here yet. It’s time.

demon sheep campaign by Carly Fiorina vs Tom Campbell

Okay, now this was  a pretty impressive campaign move. This Youtube on Tom Campbell as a demon sheep – or is it all other Republicans in general are sheep? – by Republican Carly Fiorina is classic Hollywood, and it went viral in days! Gather calls it “the most bizarre political ad ever.” And oddly enough, the makers of this video, just set up their own website 2 days ago, calling this a trilogy!

I think Fiorina’s…exaggerating. Plus, it’s not my voting dealie, so no comment on that election. More cartoons below.

meg whitman vs steve poizner in a technical Mexican standoff

I found the California Governor campaign much more shocking!! CalWatch journalist Steve Greenhut (formerly of the Orange County Register, and author of the best-selling Plunder: How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives) said he thought these exchanges between the 2 candidates for Republican governor were rather silly and much ado about nothing, but I was truly horrified. (the words in the cartoon caption are what they really emailed each other.) I had no idea such arrangements happened in the backroom of fierce political campaigns!

Sure, when millions upon millions are spent – and both these candidates are made of  Croesus’s gold – I can see why they would try to keep costs down and expectations reasonable. But they actually try to bribe each other, and make backdoor promises? Do they really follow through on these promises?

What happened is that Steve Poizner made these emails from Meg Whitman public, and did report it to the FBI, or threatened to.

From the LA Times:

Steve Poizner’s allegation that Meg Whitman used attempted bribery and extortion in an effort to push him out of the gubernatorial race was merely an attention-grabbing stunt by a desperate dark horse, many contend. Hopefully, they’re right.Because if Poizner was sincerely angry and really does believe — as he wrote state and federal prosecutors — that the Whitman camp deserves criminal investigation, this is scary.

It raises the possibility that Poizner has no stomach for making political deals, the kind of mutual back-scratching needed for any democracy to function.

No, it’s not scary, it’s exposing the truth. I don’t think most people know or think these kinds of deals are “needed for any democracy to function.”

But the campaign has gotten even more violent, with car crashes, and worst of all, the name LIBERAL thrown like mud on each other! OMG, there’s nothing the right hates worse than being called that! And I agree! From the Times:

So it has come to this: Two Republicans who said they would bring cool business acumen to the governorship are, in the last weeks of their primary race, locked in a screaming match over immigration and welfare and the hot insult “liberal.”

This was not what either Steve Poizner or Meg Whitman said their campaigns were to be about….

For Whitman, the former head of EBay making her first bid for office, the turnabout from high-flying frontrunner to muddy brawler has been particularly brutal…

By last week, however, her once massive lead had diminished substantially and Whitman was firmly on familiar turf for a Republican primary — issues that play on cultural or racial notes.

The LA Times is on familiar turf, too, isn’t it? Saying if it’s Republican, it’s got to be rac-ist. UGH.

Who will win the sea lion prize? Whitman, Poizner, Brown political cartoon

Anyway, my last cartoon on them is ecological, of course. I seem to be the ONLY cartoonist on Slate who ever does cartoons on the environment or conservation. (except for the birds in oil, yuck, which are also cliche.) It’s true about the sea lions starving. I don’t know if it’s true that Meg Whitman doesn’t believe in green, or Steve Poizner said she’s not as pretty as he’s used to getting, or if Jerry Brown keeps a sea lion and other wildlife in his swimming pool. But he might.

You can find most of my California cartoons at CalWatchdog, the day they go up, and they have comments there, too.

Cartoon captions for blind Google: California: the most dramatic state in the union. I’m very rich. I’ll put you in the wood chipper! Don’t run for Governor – you can be a senator.- Meg Whitman. I’m mega-rich. Don’t threaten me! You bribed me! I’m telling. Hello, FBI? – Steve Poizner.

Does this picture make you think of Tom Campbell, Visine, or California’s need for a better Sheep Exorcist? Cartoon paid for by Carly Fiorina, For Senator.

Scientists say sea lions are starving because of El Nino. However, Meg Whitman doesn’t believe in El Nino, and Steve Poizner said she looks like a sea lion. Jerry Brown is keeping one in his swimming pool.

More cartoons:

1. The beach, the surf, and California’s political campaign. Aah.
2. Meg Whitman’s maid has nothing on John and Ken.

A lot of very busy, important sites have linked to me in the past for some reason, but I was amused when I was linked on Google’s finance page for BP Oil for my recent cartoon on BP. I loved the high volume traffic from this, but there’s a reason editorial cartoons are on the OPINION page, and not in the Business section! I was one of the first 2 or 3 cartoonists to have a cartoon out on the oil spill, since I seem to be one of the only ones interested in animal rights and environmental issues. So I was furious at British Petroleum. But still, I am a capitalist, and it seems odd that a cartoon would end up on their finance page, when they are in business, as sleazy as it is this time…

Los Angeles Times roundup of oil disaster cartoons

So, anyway, back to the cartoons I’ve edited for this week’s LA Times roundup. (I explain how and why I do this roundup over here. Because the Times needs me, they really, really need me.) As I promised last week, we have a theme this week of the oil spill disaster. There were some really great, moving cartoons, and even the usual old-fashioned guys who still think the world is just black and white, look good with this subject.

steve breen carbon footprints cartoon from gocomics

This is a gorgeous cartoon by Steve Breen- really more of a poster or illustration look. It reminds me of botanical illustrations in a way. I’ve seen a couple exhibitions of them – it’s so inspiring, the way they marry science and art! The stiff way these animals are all profiled, and the fact that one is half way out of the picture is interesting, too. And on a personal note, birds are kind of my thing, so I picked live rather than dead ones for these cartoons. This drawing is not reminiscent of SoCal beaches – well, maybe down in Oceanside a bit – but birder culture is very big in LA, and growing here.

drew sheneman oil spill cartoon from gocomics.com

I picked Drew Sheneman’s cartoon right away, because it really made me laugh! Whoever said Republicans don’t have a sense of humor must have been a Dem. I don’t know Sheneman’s work that well, but Gocomics says he is on the left. So is he making a leftie jab at Republicans? Or did he know how funny this was when he wrote it? I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt! Funny. This cartoon would probably have looked better in color, but this at least has lots of shades.

signe wilkinson on buying oil at the pump, from gocomics.com

Signe came out with this cartoon very early after the disaster. It just makes a good point in an effective way. I didn’t get why it was 2 panels at first, as I would have done just one, but that’s probably because she’s much more experienced than me, and won a Pulitzer, too! This is a great cartoon. And I’ve seen cars here and there in LA /sarcasm, so I think the Times readers will get and appreciate this one.

cummings on Louisiana gumbo from gocomics

Ah, Cummings, another cartoonist with just one name. Cummings is one of 3 honorable mentions this week, for an excellent and attractive rendering of a sad situation. (Back to note above: yes, this crawfish is dead, but we can’t see any details, so still okay.)

marshall ramsey mother's day and bp oil cartoon from gocomics

Another cartoon that made me laugh! It’s rare that I find 2 cartoons a week that make me laugh. It’s this guy’s expression and his flyaway hair and reluctance. Or maybe I shouldn’t even try to analyze it.

matt davies bp blame cartoon for gocomics

Matt Davies works only in black and white, that I have seen, but he appreciates the beauty of white, and you can actually see what is happening – a lot of action here- which is nice. An amusing idea to illustrate the fact that BP, Halliburton and TransOcean are all blaming each other for the catastrophe. And I don’t usually like puns, but this works. Thanks, Matt.

Thanks, indeed, to Gocomics, where I got all of my cartoons this week (and where they have hundreds you can see for free, and even sign up to get them delivered to your email), and all of the excellent cartoonists who work so hard to give us expression even in an emergency like this. As I write this, it looks like BP is making progress in containing, and even cleaning up part of the spill. I wish them the best, hurry up, and NEVER EVER do this again, you stupid stupid idiots.

My cartoons this week:

illegal immigration in az cartoon

Love this one!!! LA really did declare war on Arizona! More later! Comments on Hollywood Liberals are here. (Sorry, no link now. Uclick threw away 2 years of my cartoons on Slate, Gocomics and Yahoo News when they kicked me out of Gocomics.)

medical marijuana cartoon

Comments on pot cartoon are here. (no link now, see above)

endangered fish in california cartoon

Captions spelled out for Google: Happy mother’s day to mother earth from bp oil,

Dispersant for gulf spill blame game, with bp, halliburton, and transocean all running from the responsibility,

Cartoon of Louisiana gumbo of BP crawfish in a dish,

At gas station: news reporter says authorities are investigating who is responsible for this massive oil spill: guy at pump says, would someone turn this stupid thing off?!

2 people at water’ s edge of Gulf Coast: What a terrible tragedy. Republican: I know. Look at all that wasted oil.

Illustrations of marine life. Title:Carbon footprints, with egrets, mallards, crab, maybe a pelican walking out of ocean.

Drill, baby, drill history

Notice that I didn’t use any cartoon that says Drill, baby, drill, or Spill, baby, spill. So very tired and old – even the usually cool LA Weekly used one by Patrick O’Connor this week that said that. You can see tons of these drill cartoons over in Daryl Cagle’s roundup – and he has some very good ones without those words, too, thank goodness.

Btw, Sarah Palin did NOT start that annoying phrase, “Drill, Baby, Drill”. From The Hill:

Two senior Republicans on Tuesday distanced themselves from the controversial “drill, baby, drill” phrase first used by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and repeated prominently by 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

“That was not a Senate Republican phrase,” Kyl said. “I think there was a candidate that used that. I think our phrase was ‘drill here, drill now,’ meaning here in the United States and as quickly as oil and gas leases are going.”

Roberts said Republicans were always uneasy with the catchphrase.

Steele is believed to have used the phrase first in his address at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minnesota, where the delegates took to chanting it. Conservative blogger Erik Rush also used it around the same time, and Palin employed it that October in an exchange with then-vice presidential candidate Joe Biden.

So it sounds like no one knows who first said this expression. Daily Kos adds:

There are political reasons for shouting “drill, baby, drill.” It’s a feel-tough bounce for folks who want to give a kick to “tree hugger.”

Whatever.

More on BP: The 8 Oil Spill Cartoons You Have to See.

More cartoons:

1. The beach, the surf, and California’s political campaign. Aah.
2. Have you ever tried to wipe oil off your soul?

I think I’m on the other side, though. And I couldn’t let the whole week go by without pointing out the best cartoons of the week…for the Los Angeles Times crowd, that is! (Speaking about editors and awards, I used to write bitter posts here about Time Magazine’s Cartoons of the Week. I don’t bother anymore. Turns out Time chooses cartoons from only 3 syndicates – BORING – and so their choices are extremely limited, and are only what they pay for. Like every newspaper in town. So their famous award…not so meaningful now.)

Aside from the BP oil spill – which according to my own stats, ranks right up there with Tiger Woods in the public’s interest and concern – not that many big stories last week. The headline on USA Today for Friday’s big news was about the weather: Gloom predicted in several states. That says it all.

As it happens, all my picks this week come from Cagle Cartoons, which is the most local syndicate to Los Angeles, anyway.

cameron cardow cartoon on bp oil spill and goldman sachs

What a great looking cartoon! Cameron Cardow is not only pretty, but has combined two issues in one: both the oil spill and the Goldman Sachs dustup (piggy activity).  Even though we are home to movie stars (and of course, oil wells, if you remember Beverly Hillbillies) all of us here know that even the stars love a good bargain! Why do you think  swag bags proliferate at every single event? And so, the LA Times gets a double header with this cartoon.

Great colors, limited gradient or fade tool (my least favorite effect in Photoshop) and super concept. Funny, there are an awful lot of Goldman Sachs rear ends in this cartoon…  

(I love this cartoon, but there are so many good oil slick cartoons out right now that I think I’ll also make it the theme for next week.)

jimmy margulies cartoon on the greek economy

I just love a little mythology thrown into the mix! Kind of like Lost does, but Lost is rather sucky this season, so let’s concentrate on Icarus. I knew Icarus was a Greek hero who made his own wings and flew too close to the sun and died, very sad. But Wiki also adds that he could have been the person who invented sails on boats, which is somewhat like flying, I guess, since roller coasters hadn’t been invented yet, and then he still died by falling out of the boat and drowning. (like Fate, in Lost…)

I like the Jimmy Margulies’ imagery of the Mastercard and Visa melting. Does this really represent Greek’s meltdown? Who knows? But it does relate to our own country’s confused and dysfunctional relationship with credit cards.

nate beeler cartoon on fannie mae and freddie mac and greek crisis and obesity

Here’s an article about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, since I’m unable to help you with this. It’s something about mortgages, and if I am ever lucky enough to own a house in my lifetime, I’ll read about it then. Even though houses are out of reach for so many people here,  real estate is super important in LA, so the Times will dig this cartoon by Nate Beeler!

At first I thought the cartoon was on the running theme this year on obesity, so it works that way, too. I didn’t even see Uncle Sam squeezed between them – I’m not a fan of donkeys, elephants, or Uncle Sam as symbols – until I had already downloaded the image. Oh, and it’s something about the Greek Debt Crisis, as well. Here’s a triple-subject cartoon for you, Times!

Honorary Mention: here’s one by Mike Lester, on National Prayer Day.

mike lester cartoon on national prayer day

I didn’t know there was such a day, but it’s a great idea, isn’t it? It’s kind of a lightweight cartoon, and the very loose drawing style matches that. I like all the sketchy pen strokes here – casual, yet controlled. I don’t know why his name is so childish and dark, however; it distracts from the easy lines.

People think of LA as being Godless. That’s not true. We don’t talk about it much, but we pray, we do.

Thanks, everyone, for the terrific cartoons I was allowed to share with everyone today! And thanks to Daryl Cagle for letting me borrow them.

My own cartoons:

census cartoon for republicans

Comments on Republicans are here. (Sorry, no link now. Uclick threw away 2 years of my cartoons on Slate, Gocomics and Yahoo News when they kicked me out of Gocomics.)

cartoon on hollywood unemployment

Comments on unemployment are here. (no link now, see above) And I hope you caught this one, one of my favorites!

cartoon on jack and jill -or illegal immigration, pick one.

Comments on illegal immigration are here.

Captions for blind Google: Icarus flies into the sun with Greek debt, Mastercard and Visa. An appropriate punishment for Goldman Sachs Executives: cleaning the Gulf shoreline of oil from BP. National Prayer Day – Governor says Pray! That’s a switch. The other 364 days they say Pay! Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Uncle Sam: Tsk! That’s what happens when you don’t keep yer house in order! Hey, buddy, ol’ pal! Can you spot me another $11 billion? Greek Debt Crisis.

No related posts.