chandra levy trial cartoon by mike lester

Caption: Jury convicts Ingmar Guandique, illegal immigrant and MS-13 gang member, of murdering Chandra Levy.

Mike Lester has a super-casual style, quite the opposite of old time editorial cartoons! This take on the Chandra Levy trial is a pretty straightforward idea, but I included it because I agreed with it. :) For one thing, I love trials and murders, and the Opinion pages rarely cover them. More importantly, this cartoon is about the media, which totally ignores important details in stories they cover, if they think it might “taint” the piece.

I remember when I first moved to Los Angeles, I was confused when the LA Times never reported the complete story about criminals or crimes. Was it an illegal alien or gang who did the deed? Wasn’t that, alone, enough to arrest someone? Never! Even when they were indicted, important info about the bad people was kept out of the papers. Mike points out here that Ingmar Guandique, the killer was indeed here illegally (and was already guilty of other crimes).

Chandra lost her life, Gary Condit lost his career. Yet the media, by and large, lets criminals keep their secrets and whitewashes the facts.

obama care cartoon by eric allie

Caption of Obama and Nancy Pelosi looking at Obamacare: We should have spent more time on the birth announcement.

I laughed out loud at this cartoon by Eric Allie on Obamacare! Something about the octopus in the baby carriage…He includes recognizable sketches of Obama and Pelosi staring at their little darling, too! There’s an Uncle Sam running in the corner, a rather tired old symbol, but his bug eyes and running legs are amusing. (Secret PS: I admire Eric for not drawing all 8 legs on the octopus (sorry, no link now, explained below), as I did. He’s carefree!)

dangerous north korea cartoon by paresh nath - naval exercise

Caption: The US and South Korea circle around the shark of North Korea with a big stick.

Let’s get serious, now, less fluff and more danger. And another Uncle Sam, but he carries a big stick, like certain states.

I don’t know if South Korea is really bff with the US, but certainly North Korea is on its own. South Korea wants a strong Navy, and that makes North Korea skittish. Very clever use of Kim Jong Il’s strange pouffy hair as a shark fin! Paresh titles this cartoon Naval Exercise, but I would call it every other country’s idea of America as surfer dudes on water skis.

Most political cartoonists, especially overseas ones, don’t use straight dialogue, and so they’re sometimes forced to add labels. The labels in this cartoon are unobtrusive and clear, and they don’t detract from the amusing and striking drawing, so good enough. I like the monarch floating in the water, too. Will a big stick work to keep him underwater?

Thanks to Cagle Cartoons for all good work from these guys!

My own recent cartoons:

In case you missed it, my DADT cartoon was picked as one of the best cartoons of the year for Slate. (Sorry, no link now. Uclick Gocomics threw away 2 years of my cartoons on Slate, Gocomics and Yahoo News when they kicked me out.)

don't ask don't tell cartoon

Okay, so it’s the last one in the list. Whatever, right?!

I also did this snazzy cartoon on Miss Sarah Palin. (Sorry, no link now. Uclick Gocomics threw away 2 years of my cartoons on Slate, Gocomics and Yahoo News when they kicked me out.)

cartoon of liberals making fun of sarah palin

It has 28 comments so far on Gocomics. (Sorry, no link now. Uclick Gocomics threw away 2 years of my cartoons on Slate, Gocomics and Yahoo News when they kicked me out.)

Related article on examiner.com:

• Cartoons on Obamacare, the media, and North Korea’s dangerous games. (examiner.com)

More cartoons:

1. Does North Korea have a target painted on our face?

9-11 Photographer Unknown.

Famous Falling Man photo from 9/11. Apparently the photographer made several photos of this man, one of which shows him aiming straight down, like an arrow.

I’m not sure if this is the same photograph sequence that Esquire talks about, although it’s obviously a tall man.  Esquire gets a little dramatic talking about what the AP photographer, Richard Drew, had in mind with his photos, but this still gives me chills:

They jumped to escape the smoke and the fire; they jumped when the ceilings fell and the floors collapsed; they jumped just to breathe once more before they died.

More cartoons:

1. Who set the Angeles Station Forest Fire?

2nd amendment cartoon on the 4th of July

They’re not legal in Philadelphia, either, but they have them in the Amish counties! Yup, Dwight Schrute territory. Right next to the special quilt fabrics and needles.

The writing on the corner is a soupcon of Outsider Art. What crazy people and others do – lots of word and writing to get the idea across.

That little boy looks so happy.

More on gun control to come, of course.

Cartoon caption: Amendment 2a: The right to bear sparklers. Happy 4th to our troops.

More cartoons:

1. Building a mosque near Ground Zero? It’s a NO-brainer.

soldier's grave and ipad cartoon

This cartoon cracked me up, but I am dark, so dark.

I don’t know who gets my cartoons, really. I’m just grateful that most editors do. But my editor at Slate didn’t put this really interesting drawing, with toned colors and mood and a really funny joke, on the front page! Astounding! Also, annoying.

Yes, I know Memorial Day is to honor downed military. But not everyone gets the gravity, especially young people.  The fact that the delayed health care plan may have killed this guy… and that getting his new iPad was equally as important (and it’s purple, which seems to be allowed at Apple)… This is Saturday Night Live humor, at least in my eyes.

Caption for blind Google: Gramps, thanks for protecting our country…I’m sorry Obama didn’t get the health bill done in t ime for you…and I finally got that iPad I wanted… JACK SHEPHERD, SOLDIER, LOST, HUSBAND and Here lies Politico.

Have a peaceful, honorable, and, yes, funny Memorial Day.

Also, I’m kind of behind in doing my LA Times editorial roundup, but look for one tomorrow.

More cartoons:

1. In which I get syndicated.
2. Ink spill cartoons for the LA Times for May, 2010.

I missed the 60 Minutes interview the LA Times is talking about here. (Is that show still on the air?)

Discussing in strikingly personal terms his order to escalate the war in Afghanistan, President Obama said Sunday that sending 30,000 new combat troops was the hardest decision of his presidency so far.

Can you understand now why I get so annoyed with the Times? WTH, “strikingly personal”??? Because he said he felt bad talking to the cadets? Geez, what a revelation.

First go round of this cartoon concept.

It goes on:

Critics have said his plan is confusing and contradictory because although it calls for the new deployment, it also sets a July 2011 date to start withdrawing troops.

I don’t know about contradictory, but I’ve found that the best way to broadcast your intentions, leak your war plans, and help out the enemy is to put the details on Twitter, Mr. President.

(another version of the cartoon is after the jump)

CNN says:

In his speech Tuesday, Obama said his strategy had three objectives:

• Deny al Qaeda a safe haven

• Reverse the Taliban’s momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow Afghanistan’s government

• Strengthen Afghanistan’s security forces and government

I hope it works out that way. This is a DayPlanner type strategy, isn’t it.

Does this cartoon make more sense? This is the one up on Slate now, but I think I prefer the first one.

Cartoon caption: RAW MEAT. One way to make military decisions. OR Is this the sign that made Obama order 30,000 more troops?

This seemed like such an obvious cartoon idea to me that I had to rush to draw it right away, for fear some other cartoonist would have the same idea, and beat me to it!! This happens to me a lot. As it turns out, other cartoonists don’t seem to think the way I do. There have been a couple of times when I suspected they copied me – will write about this in the future.

But for this event, I’m the only cartoonist who decided that word games was the obvious corollary to declaring war! Yes, RAW on the truck in big red letters transposed easily in Obama’s office, as he sat contemplating in the Oval Office, to WAR. And as war often has casualties :(, that leaves…dead meat, or raw meat laying on the battlefield.

What is really really strange about this is that after I had written, drawn and posted it on Slate, someone pointed out that meat spelled backwards was almost team; ie, which made it read (backwards) War Team.

I didn’t even think about this, but this happens a lot with cartoons, or my cartoons. Like alchemists turning lead into gold, you have the idea, add the drawing, and then things happen. If you’re lucky.

More cartoons:

1. Turn in your red meat! Guns are okay, too.
2. I’m going to the Royal Wedding in a pumpkin.