The LA Times had a very interesting article about how they decide to write an opinion piece. (This was far more fun than most opinions they actually run. And, hint, Meghan Daum is one of the worst.)

The Times editorial board meets three times a week to discuss what we’re going to say in our editorials, but sometimes news breaks between meetings and we scramble to reach a consensus through e-mail. The announcement that President Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize is a case in point.

Oddly enough, considering how rabidly liberal they are, the majority of them decided, like I did, that Obama didn’t exactly deserve this Nobel Peace Prize. Regardless of whether the Nobel committee decided this back in January, a couple weeks after he entered the office – which is what I read – or more recently, he just hasn’t had time to do anything to deserve this. And I’m not so sure that he will anyway. Promises, promises.  

And it makes me sad that more deserving folks could have used that million dollar award for their hard work more than he can. He’s already the Pres.

This cartoon is in Slate today – actually went up before 10 PM PST. Just 5 minutes ago I saw that Top of the Ticket copied my idea here:

He’s already got two real Grammys for being a good talker of recorded books. And some jokers on Twitter have started petitions to get Obama into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame as well as this year’s Heisman Trophy.

Oops! Did he really get a Grammy?! Well, not for music, anyway. I think my cartoon trumps Twitter jokesters, but as always, dear readers, I’ll let you decide that for yourself.

Cartoon Caption: President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize! He will also be awarded a Grammy for a song stuck in his head! And he will win an Oscar, for a good dream he had one night!

Do you like Obama here? I think this is one of my best sketches of him. He’s hard to draw – so slender, good-looking, with features of both black & white races. I just drew his head, floating, like those ads on TV lately for I forget what.

Okay, this is definitely going to be my first item for sale in Cafe Press: a bumper sticker saying You Go, O! (and if anyone else does this, remember how I sue at the drop of a hat. :) ) This drawing took a little struggling with rearranging all the items and text, but worked out just fine. It wasn’t until way into it, moving the arrows around, that I suddenly realized that the last, key sentence could be the Oscar speaking! This is when cartoons come alive: you write, draw, and then the drawing writes. Magical, really.

More cartoons:

1. Making raw meat into Obama’s War Team.
2. LA Times forgot Dilbert, but readers didn’t.

"When the deadline passed, and California couldn't make its budget, it began to eat its own young..."©D.Barstow 2009

Sometimes ideas come to me out of nowhere! In this case, I think I began with the sentence up to budget…and then just tried out some endings. I also don’t know why I thought of Mickey Mouse! It’s not like I like the character, or like Disney in any way. But it was a symbol that one could hurt…

I only do cartoons about California now and then, as it’s obviously not national, but an LA Times article said recently, the State Treasurer claims it’s “too big to fail.”  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said they’d have to make education cuts – which I say, hallelujah – we have a terrible record of even teaching kids to read and write, with the most corrupt school system, at least in SoCal.  He also talked about selling landmarks like San Quentin! and the LA Coliseum.  The WSJ reported:

Other properties on the governor’s list include a landmark concert hall called the Cow Palace in Daly City, Calif., and fairgrounds in Sacramento and near San Diego. It’s unclear how much the proposal could actually raise.

Disneyland was never mentioned, of course, but everyone associated it with California. I couldn’t remember what Mickey looked like, so I had to Google him. There are some artists – maybe a lot, I don’t know- who seem to have a photographic memory, and just know how something should look. That’s never been me. I’m almost the opposite. I find it very hard to remember faces or clothes. For me, it’s words and ideas first. So I think I did a pretty good job with him, but wondered if cutting off the fingers was too much. At least I didn’t add any blood. (full disclosure: when I was drawing him, and I cut off his fingers and his ear, and he was crying, I got tears in my eyes. See, I’m not the tough oped cartoonist you thought I was.)

And I like the caption, drawn as a storybook page that ends quite tragically.

More cartoons:

1. If California was as cool as Glee.
2. Sometimes it sucks to be gay.