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Published March 13, 2011 by Donna Barstow

Charles Manson Cartoon and Me.

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

crime death Los Angeles Times ted rall

Published December 22, 2010 by Donna Barstow

No Christmas bells for Bell CA

I don’t care how much money someone makes. I’m a capitalist, and good on you for being rich. I was amused, then, to watch the Bell CA fiasco, when the…

California, here I am Politicians who aren't Obama

Bell California crime Los Angeles Times

Published August 19, 2010 by Donna Barstow

The cop who ordered green ice cream.

Cool creamy ice cream and money for your summer vacation.

My editor at CalWatchdog, Steven Greenhut, like many journalists in many states now, is really interested in pension reform, and what pensions are doing to the rest of the state as they grow more humongous. I haven’t read his new book yet, Plunder: How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation (I prefer serial killer novels for the summer), but he’s been on the radio and tv talking about it, so it must be great!

police pension cartoon — are police pensions so high they make you scream?

Yeah, I had to read up about it to understand the nuances. Or to understand anything, really. It’s actually very simple: unions (mostly) arranged for moderate to low wages in certain industries, by including benefits on the back end, like retirement pensions, that laborers could feel reassured with.

This makes sense. Until you think about pyramid schemes. I’ve known for a while that the police can retire super young, like 40, and still get a livable pension, while even starting a different career. Since they work so hard, in dangerous situations, it seems fair. But somehow the pensions start to multiply, and with interest rates less than 1%, where will all this new money come from? The city, county and state. Oh.

It becomes more annoying when it’s state workers, who live in cubicles or offices and aren’t in danger at all, unless they jump out a window. I went to a seminar just a couple years ago at the LA Press Club when a smart entrepreneur said that all of us laid off journalists should go get state jobs, with little experience, with wonderful benefits, which you got no matter your age when you started. He teaches courses in Sacramento and other cities, and has a book out on this, too. He made it seem very enticing!