A lot of very busy, important sites have linked to me in the past for some reason, but I was amused, and, yes, a little concerned, when I was linked on Google’s finance page for BP Oil for my recent cartoon on them. 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 mean, I was literally one of the first 2 or 3 cartoonists to have a cartoon out on the oil spill, since I work on the weekend and since I can’t resist any green issues. So I was furious at British Petroleum. But still, I am a capitalist, and it makes me sad that something I might do would end up on their finance page, when they are trying to make money…

So, anyway, back to the cartoons 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, 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! Read more »

I’m a little late for my roundup of last week’s best cartoons. Okay, way late. Dealing with insurance companies, filing a report with the CHP, going to the doctor – none of them very fun at all.

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…   Read more »

When I started cartooning for Slate, they labeled me as a cartoonist on the right. I wasn’t totally comfortable with that, and yet I was mostly conservative… Well, no one is totally liberal or conservative, they told me. But cartoonists on the right are rare, and they wanted to put someone else in that category, so…

“You’re fiscally conservative,” my very liberal friend Candy told me.

That’s true. I’m liberal on women’s issues and especially on conservation or animal issues. Yet I often make fun of Democrats – it’s easy, isn’t it? (And every time I do, I lose my subscription ranking in Gocomics, for a week!) And I disagree with Obama most of the time.

conservative cartoon on illegal immigration

Why is the category of being on the right or the left  important for a cartoonist? Because it’s important to newspaper editors. I’ve talked to dozens of editors this year, who tell me they want either conservative or liberal, or want a balance of liberal and conservative (and  they count ‘em!)

Since I began my roundup of cartoons each week for the Los Angeles Times, reading almost 300 cartoons each week, I realize how true it is that there are hardly any conservative cartoonists out there. Making fun of everything Obama does isn’t conservative, it’s lazy writing.

And illegal immigration is such a hot-button issue, with every liberal blogger in the universe hoping to point a finger or etch a K three times, that I didn’t find more than one or 2 cartoons saying illegal immigration is wrong, because, oh yeah, it’s illegal! Everyone’s afraid of being called a rac-ist! (Hyphenated because Google is terrified of that word, too, and takes away my ads.)

It took me a few days to figure out how to approach this issue, but I finally got it: Arizona is right, and the other states should man up and take control of the situation, if it’s happening in their state. Sadly, Republicans hire illegals instead of legal older folks looking to supplement social security or legal teens looking for college money, who are both just as cheap, and equally as deserving of a job. Even though in their hearts they know it’s wrong. Liberals follow their own self-satisfied and sanctimonious path.

Still, I do ask the question! And who else is drawing Jack and Jill? No one. What a crazy pair.

You can find all of my cartoons on Yahoo!News or Slate. California cartoons are here.

Cartoon caption: The question is, why is illegal immigration still allowed in the other 49 states?

(left) We like illegal immigrants! They give us the votes we need!

(right) We love illegal immigrants! It’s cheap labor, and undocumented!

Oh, okay, then.

I was so infuriated by the AP article on Yahoo entitled Choppy seas frustrate effort to contain oil spill that started out by saying:

High winds and choppy seas frustrated efforts to hold back the oil spill seeping into Louisiana’s rich fishing grounds and nesting areas Friday, and the government desperately cast about for new ideas for dealing with the nation’s biggest environmental crisis in decades.

bp plc oil spill cartoon

Like it was just A problem, a natural disaster, instead of being entirely manmade by BP!!!

The spill — a slick more than 130 miles long and 70 miles wide — threatens hundreds of species of wildlife, including birds, dolphins and the fish, shrimp, oysters and crabs that make the Gulf Coast one of the nation’s most abundant sources of seafood. Louisiana closed some fishing grounds and oyster beds because of the risk of oil contamination.

A lawsuit filed this week by an injured technician on the platform claims that Halliburton improperly cemented the well. Cementing is a process in which a slurry is used to fill the gap between the drilled hole and the casing, or the pipe that brings oil and gas up out of the ground.

They STILL don’t name the company that caused this disaster! Read more »