Well, my main issue is that not only do I often not understand them, it’s that you often admit in the commentary below your cartoons that you have grave doubts that your audience will understand them. I think there was one in which you said you didn’t even get it yourself. Other times, you go to great lengths to explain the cartoon and why you think it’s funny. Chris

ESL cartoon English as a Second Language

Another man wrote me to complain about the cartoon above. (We’ll call him Anthony, since his name is Anthony.)

I saw this cartoon and decided immediately that you are out of touch with reality.  For you information, even school districts in Kentucky, (not known as a bastion of education reform) require all students in high school to take Spanish as a second language. It’s obvious from your cartoon your are a RACIST AND BIGOT!

Spanish is spoken by thirty four million Americans in the U.S. and that number is growing. Only right wing, Bible thumping school districts, like those in Texas, would not teach the fastest growing second language in the U.S.!

A little education for you, since it’s apparent you failed your ESL!

Spanish was the language spoken by the first permanent European settlers in North America. It was brought to the territory of what is the contemporary U.S. in 1513 by Ponce de León. In 1565, the Spaniards, by way of Juan Ponce de Leon, founded St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest, continuously occupied European settlement in the continental U.S. …

Your Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh mentality is apparent!

Chris, meet Anthony.

Actually, I don’t normally explain my cartoons – I write about why I did them, and talk about the news. But in this case, I guess I do have to explain it, since you say you often don’t get them, Chris, and for sure Anthony didn’t get a word of this. And Anthony, I don’t normally respond to rude and rac-ist name-calling, but since you say you’re an author (The Third Cell)….maybe you will understand words better than cartoons.

According to this LA Times article:

California schools educate 1.6 million English learners, a quarter of all students; they comprise the largest concentration of English learners in the nation.

Nearly 60% of English language learners in California’s high schools have failed to become proficient in the language despite more than six years of a U.S. education, according to a study released Thursday.

The article goes on to say this threatens the economic future of California!

But they develop major deficits in reading and writing, fail to achieve the academic English needed for educational success and disproportionately drop out of high school, according to the study by Californians Together, a statewide coalition of 22 parent, professional and civil-rights organization who support English-learners.

The flaws in California’s English-language programs have placed hundreds of thousands of children in academic jeopardy, dashing their dreams for college and imperiling the state’s economic future. The off-spring of immigrants make up 55% of Los Angeles County’s child population.

This is on top of many failures for ESL – they’ve come up with the same fail for decades. As my cartoon points out, hopeful libs and Dems still believe what their hearts tell them – just try harder!

The cartoon says: ESL has failed. The man makes a little joke about making Spanish the second language – which it already is, of course. The woman says Ola. (A combination of Hola and Ole.)

I think a good education always includes learning a second language, Anthony; I myself took several years of French and Latin (I was considering being a lawyer) and even a tiny bit of Greek! So why can’t foreigners (in California,  they are usually here ILLEGALLY) learn English in 6 or even 12 years, huh?

Don’t assume you know who I listen to on the radio or watch on TV, either. And don’t call me the r-acist word – as Tammy Bruce would say, that’s just being a lazy writer. And the fact that you call me that because I do a cartoon about the Spanish language….is an example of how whites get targeted unfairly ALL the time! Also, retarded.

Caption for search engine: THE LIBERALS FIX EDUCATION. This study says ESL has failed again. No problemo. We still have some money left. Let’s try Spanish as a Second language! Ola!

I’m told this cartoon got lots of excitement and comments over 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.) And if you want to read my California cartoons before they’re in Slate, go to Calwatchdog.

More cartoons:

1. Meg Whitman’s maid has nothing on John and Ken.
2. The Meg Whitman Fork-tongued Doll.

Of course, the PB oil spill continues to be the biggest story around. In one way, I’m happy about that, but before you label me an oil-hugger, let me explain that it’s because environmental issues, or green, as the kids call them, are almost always B or C stories in the news. Just blips most of the time. And now everyone is seeing what a terrible natural disaster (MANMADE, you BP asshats) does to the whole world.

Also, this is a great issue for cartoonists to dive into. Yes, it took an oil spill tragedy to get cartoonists to STOP dwelling on Sarah Palin. Forgot about sniping for a while, didn’t you, guys? SNAP.

Speaking of, I’ll do another oil cartoon roundup later this week, as there are a couple of great cartoons on that, but will focus on other news with this LA Times editorial cartoons selection.

nate beeler on incumbents from politicalcartoons.com

I thought I knew what incumbents are – those people already in office- but wondered why there were a number of cartoons about them recently. Ask and ye shall receive. Half hour ago from the LA Times:

Discontent with incumbents and anti-Washington anger are adding up to a potentially record-breaking crowd of congressional challengers this election year.

More than 2,300 people are running for the House and Senate in the midterms, the highest number in at least 35 years…

Like Senator Specter was tossed out on his heinie. Well, there aren’t any dramatic incumbents in California, but I think LA needs to think about other cultures, like the East Coast, more. Like this homeless man. He’s very rude, which is natural back there. Nobody in LA would ever talk like this, nor would they throw food. ( I thought this was a general wearing medals at first, but now I see that it’s fruit on his suit.) However, we’ve all worked on or visited a movie set, so we get the pandering part.

Nice colors, Nate Beeler!

dick locher graduation cartoon from gocomics.com

Lotsa people looking for graduation cartoons lately. I liked this one by Dick Locher, as it didn’t have the usual stage with graduates setup. Location is king! Plus, I’ve never been to a tailor, but I like the details from an old department store. And clever use of just one word. I think this would have been better in color, however.

nuclear energy cartoon by rainer hachfeld from politicalcartoons.com

Time for an international cartoon for the great LA Times! I love this purposely stiff, comic-book style cartoon by Rainer Hachfeld! Obviously, it’s about nuclear energy, and it must be a very important news item, but mostly I love the amusing way the men toss the nuclear bombs back and forth without the guy in the middle even noticing! Oh, okay, these European cartoonists really know their stuff, and I don’t want to be an ignorant slut Angeleno, so off I run to Google to try to figure out who these men are. I do recognize Ahmadinejad – I think – from a previous cartoon, and the other 2 guys are…Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, suggests the New York Times.

I’m not going to read the whole thing.

But it looks like all 3 of them know about the nuclear weapons, including the guy in the middle. Was funnier the way I interpreted it. Note how the nuclear symbol switches from black to white according to its placement in the drawing. Very nice, Rainer! This is the kind of cartoon the LA Times should use as illustration, instead of the forgettable ones it has now. It would look fine at any size, it actually has something to do with the news, and it’s a very compelling visual.

obama cartoon with democrats by eric allie from politicalcartoons.com

I saved the best for last! I was so taken by this arresting cartoon by Eric Allie that I think my heart beat faster! Wow. Turning the black coattails into a pit in hell is pretty scary. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be oil or not, but that makes it even more intriguing. I mean, why is Obama dressed up in black tie, anyway? And will the Dems suffer this badly in his wake that they’ll go under? Great cartoon, Eric.

Great job, everyone, and thanks to Politicalcartoons.com and Gocomics.com (where you USED TO see my new ones each week) for continuing to employ such talented cartoonists. Later this week: more BP oil cartoons!

Captions for Google:

Get a real job, ya freeloader! Sign: incumbent, will pander for re-election. 3 world leaders from Turkey, Iran, and Brazil toss nuclear footballs around. Graduate has to suck it up for a limited job market – set at the tailor in a department store. Obama has Democrats struggling for their lives, riding on his coattails.

My recent cartoons:

Dr. Phil on oil spill cartoon!

Comments on Dr. Phil 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.)

Lost cartoon by d. barstow

So sad to see LOST go! Comments on Lost cartoon here. (NO LINK, read above)

memorial day ipad cartoon

Comments on grave and ipad here. (NO LINK, read above)

Thanks again to all the talented clever cartoonists I was able to include this week, and good luck for next weeks’ picks for the LA Times Opinion section!

Remember, if you want me to consider your work, the guidelines are here, as well as why I started this project: the Times needs a Los Angeles cartoon editor for the Los Angeles Times.

No related posts.

(Animation is included in the Academy Awards because it is a movie. It’s not in print anywhere, because it’s a movie. It has pages of dialogue, sound, music, voices, and much movie software because it’s a movie. It’s only in a handful of venues online because it uses up a hella lot of bandwidth, since it’s a movie.)

It looks like the Pulitzer judges can no longer be trusted to judge cartoons. I’m going to look into this further, and if this is the case, I’ll do my own judging for the Pulitzers next year, thanks.

Back to this week’s REAL cartoons that I think are best for the Los Angeles Times!

dan wasserman of gocomics.com on Goldman Sachs

Dan Wasserman of Gocomics has a sly sense of humor! I liked one of his for last week’s roundup, too. Of course, he could have included a woman in the lineup, but that would just be icing on the cake. I am so ticked off at Goldman Sachs I could scream, as my grandmother would say. Humor is just a way of quieting the rage, while still drawing an excellent picture of how Goldman Sachs screwed the public. Again.

Arcadio Esquivel of Caglecartoons.com on priest molestation

Here’s a great wordless cartoon by Arcadio Esquivel, of Mexico, I think, from Cagle Cartoons. Look at how the olive green and muted red bounce off each other! The cell phones look kind of dated…from 5 years ago? I wonder if priests really wear lemon colored tunics in other countries… No matter. Great illustration and comment. Since whites are now a minority in LA, I imagine Catholicism is the biggest religion, though I’m too lazy to look it up. Even so, the LA Times hates skeevy and anything too controversial, even when the whole subject is vulgar and disgusting, so they’ll love this one. :)

signe wilkinson of gocomics.com on high cost of education

Signe Wilkinson of Gocomics.com is one of my top 3 favorite cartoonists. The drawing is spot on, and love the colors. I saw several cartoons by other guys, while researching for this post, that used the Iceland volcanic ash to illustrate ideas like the economy, Goldman Sachs, war, etc. All viable. I think comparing it to the high cost of college is a bit of a stretch, but I’m not a parent, so maybe this is the time of year when tuition bills come due.

Also, I wanted to include this because education topics bore me, in general, but I’m trying to be more well-rounded, since this is for the TIMES.

Last, for Honorable Mention:

pat oliphant of gocomics.com on banana republic, the store

Okay, full disclosure: I can’t stand Oliphant. I think it’s okay to say it here, because he’s so popular nothing I say will make a difference, or hurt him, and I doubt he’s online much, if ever, so there you go.

He’s #3 in popularity in Gomics. And when I started there, for Slate, even one of the editors (not mine) said that Oliphant was his favorite! Uh-oh, I thought. He couldn’t be farther from what I wanted to do if he tried.

However, this particular cartoon caught my casual attention twice during the week, and since I may not like another of his cartoons for months, and the LA Times deserves the best cartoonists – and he did win a Pulitzer – back when it meant something, and didn’t include animation desperation- I want to include it here. I really like the jungle drawing, and the title at the bottom. Now, Banana Republic is one of my favorite stores, so I thought he meant two naked people wanted to go to Banana Republic to get new clothes. (It’s good to be a girl.) Twice I thought this, and wondered if the store was using illegal labor or something, which they are pretty clear about NOT doing.

But examining it more closely today, I think it is something about a banana republic, the political term. I haven’t heard that expression for a while and don’t have time to look it up on Wiki. She’s handing Adam a banana. I can see that. If you squint you can see one of those really annoying PSs he does that I never bother to read- it says they taste like apples.

I have no idea what this cartoon means. But here’s your Pat Oliphant cartoon, LA Times.

My own cartoons this week:

tax revenue cartoon in California

Comments on schools in California. (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.)

Gizmodo and iphone cartoon

Comments on Gizmodo and stolen iPhone. (Front page of Slate all weekend!) (Sorry, no link now.)

Obama as cheapskate for forest land

Comments on Obama as cheapskate for wild lands (Sorry, no link now.)(which appears in the Sunday LA Daily News (rival of LA Times) today because they have a great editor there! :))

An explanation of why I’m doing this collection each week, and how you can submit your own cartoon, is here.

Captions spelled out for Google: Kaboom. I hate opening the college tuition bill. Child confesses to priest from across the room. Thank you for trading with us! Have a cigar! Congratulations! Cigar? Congratulations! Goldman Sachs. Adam and Eve in the Banana Republic. What you got there, Eve? Beats me – here, try one. Label says “Made in China.” They taste like apples. Nation lagging, recession continues, etc.

What do you think of this collection? Were these the best cartoons you found this week?

No related posts.

Graduation thoughts: Choose fonts for resume, Look for good unemployment, Daytime TV. ©D. Barstow

What to do with your new diploma? Ewww, I hate daytime television! Never ever watch it. Even though I do like talk shows.

And I’ll never get unemployment, now that I’m self-employed. :( :( :( :(

I do like fonts, however. I got this idea after I read someone on MySpace who wrote, seriously, that he had just finished his 5-year plan, and now he just had to find a font for it. It still makes me laugh! Maybe I’ll redo this resume dealie next year.

Frankly, I hope these grads get off their duff, do some real work, and go buy my books.

Also, this cartoon is covered by the DMCA and copyright, and may not be used without permission.

More cartoons:

1. Santa was laid off. AGAIN.
2. Halloween party for liberals who worry.