Berge's Cartoon Blog

What a Bunch of Dicks! (The Sequel)

2012-02-17T17:07:00.000-06:00

We've all seen the photo of the wall of men testifying before Darrell Issa's committee yesterday on why the Fedrul Gummint shouldn't interfere with the Catholic Church's control over women's reproductive health.

From columnist Connie Schultz, here's a screen capture of the discussion of that event on MSNBC's Morning Joe today:

Never Mind.

2012-02-17T12:50:00.002-06:00

The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that "according to people familiar with the show," taping of the Colbert Report was suspended Wednesday and Thursday due to an emergency in his family.

I suppose that if the emergency hiatus had been due to the contraceptive segment, as I had speculated yesterday, the likes of Bill Donahue and the other professionally offended media watchdogs would be crowing about their success in cowing Comedy Central, CBS, Viacom, and the Greater Secularist Conspiracy. Likewise, it would seem out of character for the Daily Show not to mention a contretemps between the Colbert Show and the network brass, and they haven't dropped a hint of it.

So let's hope there is nothing tragic going on chez Colbert, and wish the family our best in coming through this emergency.

P.S.: It's been a while since Editorial Explanations has been baffled by my cartoons, but this week's oeuvre breaks the easily-understood streak. I had rather thought it might do so, since I was so stingy with labels, but at least one reader has ventured an accurate guess.

Whither Steven Colbert?

2012-02-16T11:00:00.000-06:00

Like many Comedy Central viewers and the folks who lined up to see last night's Colbert Report, I was surprised to find Wednesday night's episode cancelled. Comedy Central and Viacom are not saying why Stephen Colbert has been indefinitely suspended, but the fact that Tuesday night's episode is not available on the Comedy Central web site indicates to me that it's an issue of something he said or did on that show, rather than some personal or health issue.

The prime suspect would have to be the segment titled "Contraceptive Crusade," satirizing the dispute between the Obama administration on one side and the Catholic Church and Republicans opposed to "Obamacare" on the other.

Colbert described the Catholic church's stand on sex as being strictly for procreation, involving the sperm from a male husband, the egg from a female wife, and a soul from God in a "divine and ineffably beautiful three-way." In a joke that somehow got past CBS censors, Colbert further explained Catholic teaching that contraception of any kind is anathema, because, "when you use contraception, you are not only sinning, you're cock-blocking the Almighty!"

Continuing, if you didn't get the joke that Rick Santorum's opinion that the administration's contraceptive insurance mandate puts our rights on a slippery "or lubricated" slope, well you haven't googled the ex-Senator in a long time. But you couldn't have possibly missed the phallic imagery of Colbert sliding a condom over a banana, then standing behind it as, at crotch height, he cut it in half with a miniature guillotine.

Q Toon: No, #8

2012-02-15T10:59:00.000-06:00

Justices of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last week continued the legal trend of finding marriage discrimination against same-sex couples unconstitutional.

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Feb 15, 2012

EditorialCartoonists.com

Maggie Gallagher of NOM, and the others of her ilk, are wont to point out that wherever marriage equality has been put on the ballot, it has been defeated. Wherever it has been judged in the courts, the opposite is true.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2012-02-14T06:40:00.000-06:00

There's Justice for you. And in honor of Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, both breasts are covered.

Happy Valentines Day to all you lovers.

Ptoon: Obamacare Redux

2012-02-13T06:56:00.001-06:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Feb 13, 2012

EditorialCartoonists.com

Okay, I know I said some disparaging things about drawing cartoons for free. But I had to spend an afternoon in a waiting room this weekend and started doodling. I went ahead and finished the cartoon, and here it is.

New York Times Weekly Cartoon Contest

2012-02-09T17:13:00.000-06:00

The Sunday New York Times has just announced its new editorial cartoon contest! It has invited 80 top editorial cartoonists in the country to send in a completed editorial cartoon every Friday by 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The Times editors will select one cartoon to run in that Sunday's paper and award the winner a $250 prize.

The Times will require that it retain exclusive rights to the winning cartoon, meaning that it cannot be syndicated to other newspapers or magazines, or appear in books, or, presumably, be submitted to the Pulitzer committee. The 79 losing cartoonists will get bupkus for their efforts, but on the bright side, they don't have to pay an entry fee.

I'm not one of the select few cartoonists to receive the invitation to try to draw for the Times (remind me to cry over that later), so I don't have any personal stake in the righteous indignation of pretty much the entirety of my profession. Tom Richmond explains why we cartoonists have our panties in a knot over this:

"[T]he people who received this letter and were invited to participate are professional editorial cartoonists who are among the best in the business. They are being asked to work on spec, something that no creative professional should be asked to do, and the rate being offered is roughly 1/3 what exclusive printing rights should be going for."

The kerfuffle probably mystifies those in the general public and the Huffington Post who think editorial cartoonists should be happy to draw for "exposure" alone. I've tried that -- my cartoons for the now defunct Racine Post were for exposure alone, and a lot of good that done me. I write this blog for exposure; ditto. (But then, I spend considerably less time on this blog than on cartooning, so there.)

I've got a couple of sunken lengths of sidewalk in front of my house. As soon as I find a contractor willing to fix my sidewalk for "exposure," I'll reconsider my lack of enthusiasm for cartooning jobs that pay in that precious commodity.

Q Toon: Boycotting the Gay Away

2012-02-08T10:00:00.000-06:00

"One Million Moms" has decided to boycott J.C. Penney because they've signed Ellen deGeneres on as their advertising pitchperson:

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate + Feb 8, 2012

EditorialCartoonists.com

“Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families. More sales will be lost than gained unless they replace their spokesperson quickly. Unless JC Penney decides to be neutral in the culture war then their brand transformation will be unsuccessful.” -- OMM statement

The American Family Association quickly joined OMM in their boycott effort:

"Does it offend you? Are you offended by this or are you kind of just ‘ho hum, so be it’? There comes a time when there needs to be a holy rejection of corruption that is literally putrefying our families. It’s time, long overdue, and too many people are sitting back and just letting Sodom and Gomorrah come walking in the door.
…
"Does it offend you, when you hear what retailers now—putting icons before you and your kids who are known, and according to some, flaming homosexuals?"

Meanwhile, right wing organizations are also trying to boycott Starbucks because the coffee vendor has come out in support the current bill to legalize marriage equality for same-sex couples in the state of Washington. So have Google and Microsoft; can One Million Moms chuck their PCs and learn to Bing on their Apples? Wait a minute -- Bing is Microsoft! Oh, when oh when will Rupert Murdoch buy up a search engine that will be "fair and balanced" and "neutral in the culture war" as conservatives see it?

And are the wingnuts still boycotting Ford?

This Week's Sneak Peek

2012-02-06T07:43:00.002-06:00

I didn't see any J.C. Penney ads during the Super Bowl last night.

Not being an east coaster, I couldn't bring myself to root for either team. There just wasn't an interesting narrative for the build-up to the game. It's not as if the coaches were brothers, or one of them was hoping to avenge his brother's loss in the playoffs, or either side was a Cinderella team in their first Superbowl game ever, or my favorite team hadn't choked in the playoffs.

But at least the Giants and the Pats kept the game interesting right up to the final second. Unlike the Pro Bowl game the week before, which only served as a reminder to most Americans that, hey, your team may not have made the Superbowl, but at least your quarterback isn't Cam Newton. (Sorry, Carolina.)

Happy St. Ansgar Day!

2012-02-03T08:37:00.001-06:00

Today is the feast day of the patron saint of Denmark and Sweden, St. Ansgar. Legend has it that if the French-born archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen awoke on his feast day to see his shadow, there would be six more weeks of æbleskiver. Or until green beer would be on tap. Something like that.

From the web site of St. Ansgar Catholic Church of Hanover, Illinois:

"Deep in his heart, he carried the desire to give his life for his faith, to show his love through martyrdom. Contrary to his wish, Ansgar died peacefully in Bremen on February 3, 865, and was buried in the cathedral. After his death, Sweden again returned to paganism."

But all was not for naught: eventually, a crater on the moon was named for him.

Ansgar is also the patron saint of people whose life story wouldn't make a compelling movie.

Q Toon: Meeting the Founding Fathers

2012-02-01T08:32:00.001-06:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate Feb 1, 2012

EditorialCartoonists.com

Last week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vowed to veto any bill out of the state legislature extending marriage equality to same-sex couples.

When only judges had the temerity to find that the Constitution applies to gays and lesbians, conservatives would blast those "elitist judges" and call for legislatures to vote to keep homosexuals in their proper place. Now that legislative approval of marriage equality in New Jersey is all but guaranteed, the governor avers that the matter is too important to be left to the people's representatives and ought to be put to a vote of the people themselves.

My knee-jerk instinct was to draw parallels to the Black Civil Rights movement, but it seems Governor Christie has already done that:

“People would have been happy with a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets of the South.”

Likening the struggle for gay rights to other facets of the fight for civil rights, particularly for African-Americans, is debatable. Many on my side of the debate say that while the issues in both fights are not identical (I'll concede that there are more gays who are able to pass as straight than there are blacks who are able to pass as white), there are still significant similarities (you think LGBTs don't get lynched? It's called gay-bashing, and it still happens).

But out of respect for African American History Month, I decided to steer clear of that particular argument this week.

Besides, the ridiculous parallel I might have drawn had already come straight out of Christie's mouth. I'm pretty sure that referenda on civil rights would have gone down to defeat in many states in the '60's, and not just down in Dixie. I'm absolutely certain that the marriage of future President Obama's parents would have been voted down by the same caliber of people who today question his citizenship (I'm looking at you, Georgia Republicans).

Pogo and the Jack Acid Society

2012-01-31T23:03:00.000-06:00

Hunting up Pogo on line last week, I came across a mention that in the early 1960's, Walt Kelly had satirized the John Birch Society in a series about the "Jack Acid Society." I had never seen that series, and was curious to find any other mention of it.

I found a site where someone had posted scans of several pages of a Pogo book where Pogo and Churchy fall in with (and eventually out the window of) the Jack Acid Society. It's mostly the zany madcap humor typical of the strip: thousands of monkeys at typewriters are producing pages of gibberish which the leaders of the Society treasure as profound literature; the real powers behind the group keep deposing the nominal figureheads of the Society at their whim.

On page 5, the incumbent leader of the Jack Acid Society is a chicken -- a chick, really -- named Prince Pompadoodle.

In some panels, he reminds me a little of Newt Gingrich. He may, I suppose, have been a caricature of a real John Bircher; Kelly certainly liked to de-anthropomorphize real people for his cartoon.

Before long in the story line, Pompadoodle is imprisoned within a bass drum and replaced with the unassuming Pogo. But Walt Kelly apparently liked Prince Pompadoodle's name, and brought the character back in 1968. By then, Pompadoodle had matured a bit, growing tail feathers, a southern accent, and a marked resemblance to Alabama Governor George Wallace.

As far as I know, Walt Kelly never found an excuse to revisit the character as a roosterfication of French President Georges Pompidou.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2012-01-30T08:29:00.001-06:00

We're hopping into the wayback machine for this week's Q Syndicate cartoon. So dust off your waistcoat and britches, powder your wig and get ready to hold some truths self-evident.

Q Toon: Ante Up

2012-01-25T07:39:00.000-06:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate Jan 25, 2012

EditorialCartoonists.com

Buried beneath the news of the Republican brawl for president, the U.S. Conference of Mayors last week came out in favor of marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. 80 mayors -- Republicans, Democrats, and Bloombergs -- announced an initiative dubbed "Mayors for the Freedom to Marry." The move fell short of getting unanimous support -- mayors of Dallas and (Republican convention host) Indianapolis were two of the dissenters -- but was nevertheless overwhelmingly approved.

Some quotes from the mayors:

"Marriage for gay couples has made my city of Boston a much better place to live." -- Boston Mayor Thomas Menino

“Allowing loving and committed couples to join in marriage has benefits not just for couples and their families, but also for society.” -- San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders

"For me, the question is not if marriage equality will come to all 50 states. The question is when, and with America’s mayors standing up for what is right in their cities, I believe that day will come sooner than most people think." -- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg

“I’ve often said in L.A. that it doesn’t matter who your father is ... and hopefully soon, it won’t matter if you have two of them.” -- Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Romney, a la Kelly

2012-01-24T19:59:00.001-06:00

Since this caricature of Mitt Romney is pretty much a rip-off of a Walt Kelly cartoon, I'm not putting it up on the AAEC site. But it's something I wanted to draw, and I'm posting it here anyway -- which, I suppose makes this a Bergetoons Exclusive. Count yourself among a privileged few!

If you recognize the name Walt Kelly, it's probably as the cartoonist who created Pogo, a daily comic strip about an unassuming possum and a huge cast of animal characters who inhabited the Okefenokee swamp. Actually, the cartoon first appeared in book form in 1941 before moving to newspapers when Kelly was hired as editorial cartoonist of the New York Star in 1948.

Kelly drew a series of cartoons depicting the 1948 Republican presidential nominee with a cash register for a body. One such cartoon depicted Dewey placidly scooting along railroad tracks as two of the other three major candidates race to catch up to him. Kelly drew incumbent President Truman running blindfolded, alongside Progressive candidate Henry Wallace, who is encumbered by "168 gross of old boomerangs." Another cartoon showed the three candidates jealously sporting identical women's hats. (Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond is missing from these cartoons, I suppose, because as a strictly southern candidate, he wasn't a significant factor in New York.)

The Star folded a few months after Kelly started work there, and Kelly's editorial cartoons disappeared along with it. Pogo survived to be picked up by Post-Hall syndicate. Kelly still worked politics into his comic strip: a wildcat named Simple J. Malarkey appeared in 1953 as an obvious caricature of Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy. J. Edgar Hoover showed up as a secretive, suspicious bulldog, and Vice President Spiro Agnew was a self-important hyena. Those are but the best examples out of many. Mitt's father, George Romney, made a brief appearance as a wind-up toy who sticks his foot in Pogo's mouth.

After Kelly's death in 1973, his widow, Selby Kelly, and son Stephen continued drawing for a couple of years. But the ever-shrinking size of newspaper comic space (which was still bigger in 1975 than it is today) was ill-suited for the densely drawn and wordy comic strip -- not to mention the lettering: there were characters who spoke in Gothic lettering, ornate script, or other flashy fonts. I have read that the Los Angeles Times revived the strip for a while starting in 1989, but that didn't last long, apparently.

Pogo remains one of my all-time favorite comic strips. Walt Kelly's uncanny ability to transmogrify politicians and issues into goats, spiders and wilder creatures, and his ability to entertain without sacrificing his message, are an inspiration to any editorial cartoonist who aspires to draw more than just didactic talking heads.

This week's sneak peek

2012-01-23T08:04:00.001-06:00

So much for the "Battle of the Harbaugh Brothers" story line. And even the "Revenge of the Surviving Harbaugh Brother" story line got trashed..

It's going to take more than a couple of weeks to get worked up over the "Eli Gets to Play in His Brother's Sandbox" story line.

And this week's cartoon has nothing to do with any of that.

Git Along, Now, Rick Perry

2012-01-19T17:28:00.001-06:00

Rick Perry announced today that he was dropping out of the GOP presidential race. After some frightfully bad moments in the candidate debates, and one loopy campaign appearance, the Texas governor sank from Party Darling to Late Night Punch Line. And finally, like former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman before him, he had fallen behind Steven Colbert in the South Carolina polls, so he had to admit that it was time to go.

But before he rides off into the sunset, here's a caricature of the feller, Texas swagger and all. (But curiously unarmed.)

Q Toon: Troy Mayor Daniels

2012-01-18T12:10:00.000-06:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate Jan 18, 2012

EditorialCartoonists.com

Tea Partisan Janice Daniels has only been mayor of Troy, Michigan since November, but she has quickly come to the attention of national LGBT groups for her vociferous antigay bigotry.

It started with a post on her Facebook page back in June, saying, "I think I am going to throw away my I Love New York carrying bag now that queers can get married there." After the post blew up in her face in December, she apologized for the language, but not the sentiment, reiterating her opposition to marriage equality for same-sex couples.

In an attempt at further damage control, she met with a gay-straight alliance (GSA) group at the Troy high school. The damage, however, spiraled further out of control:

According to [Troy High School senior Skye] Curtis and others who attended the meeting – including GSA member Zach Kilgore and lesbian couple Amy and Tina Weber – Daniels, while discussing mental health and suicide among members of the LGBT community, at one point suggested putting together a panel of psychologists to show that homosexuality is dangerous to your mental health.

Mayor Daniels has denied that she made such comments. She has also so far refused to release recordings her staff made of the meeting, so we are left to wonder whether or not she indeed knows how to watch what she says.

And perhaps it's a good thing if she doesn't. As the Detroit Free Press opined in a strongly worded editorial:

The most peculiar thing about bigots is that they never figure the term applies to them. Or they're smart enough to know that, at least in polite society, prejudice is like nose-picking. So prejudice in 2012 is the art of veiled references and coded language. ...It's a reason to be thankful for someone like Troy Mayor Janice Daniels, who wears her own irrational biases like a fashion accessory of which she is especially proud. She's a throwback who makes it distressingly clear how elusive tolerance still is. ...

[I]t's better for residents in Troy to hear what she's really thinking, and see how she's representing them publicly. Elections have consequences, and Daniels' embarrassing run so far as mayor of Oakland County's largest city is a good reminder of how swiftly those consequences can materialize.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2012-01-17T07:27:00.002-06:00

I'm taking a break from presidential politics this week to comment on a local story out of Troy, Michigan.

Besides, the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire have spoken and the voters of South Carolina speak on Saturday, which means the presidential nominating process is over, anyway. Right?

Keep the Martin Luther King in Martin Luther King Day

2012-01-16T07:46:00.003-06:00

"Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man."

--Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Newt Gingrich caricature

2012-01-14T11:29:00.000-06:00

Today's caricature is of our old buddy, Newt Gingrich.

Mike Peters has a cartoon about Gingrich in the latest Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year in which he has shaded in Newt's hair. It looks all wrong in grayscale, so I assume it was meant to be printed in color.

What color would you shade Newt's hair? Light blue?

Rick "Dastardly" Santorum

2012-01-13T06:18:00.000-06:00

Earlier this week, I mentioned that after having inked Rick Santorum riding his dog in this week's Q Syndicate cartoon, it hit me that I could have cast them as Dick Dastardly and Muttley.

Returning to that thought:

With apologies to Messrs. Hanna and Barbera.

Ron Paul caricature

2012-01-12T08:25:00.000-06:00

If a cartoonist gets half an idea -- a germ of an idea that just doesn't sprout, he has two options: he can either post it as a caricature of the person involved, or he can put an empty caption balloon on the cartoon and post it as a Cartoon Caption Contest.

Cartoonists are divided on the merits of these CCCs. Some of the younger, internet-savvy ones embrace it as a way to be interactive with their audience, while some of the older fellas think it's a waste of time.

Middle-aged cartoonists -- those of us who have embraced Facebook but don't have thousands of followers on Twitter -- view CCCs as a way to salvage cartoon ideas that just weren't gelling. Why wait to have a complete cartoon idea when you can just start drawing, and if you don't have a caption by the time everything else is drawn, just let the reader fill it in for you?

So anyway, I'm drawing a few caricatures of the candidates who are going to be yesterday's news before voters in 47 states get any chance to have any say in the matter. Here's Ron Paul for ya. If you can think of anything for him to say, not only can you fill in your own caption, I'll let you draw the balloon!

Q Toon: Santorum Out of the Gate

2012-01-11T07:39:00.000-06:00

Just in time for contrary results out of New Hampshire, here's this week's cartoon for Q Syndicate:

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate # Jan 11, 2012

EditorialCartoonists.com

After having already inked Mr. Santorum and his dog, it occurred to me that I could have drawn them as Dick Dastardly and Muttley from the Wacky Races, a Saturday morning cartoon from the 1970s. I wonder if anyone would have recognized them. (As it is, I'm hoping the caricature of Santorum is recognizable enough, since I opted not to label him.)

This Week's Sneak Peek

2012-01-09T19:46:00.001-06:00

Last week's cartoon was about Ron Paul, who was surging in the Iowa polls when I drew it. Then Rick Santorum essentially tied for first in the Iowa caucuses

Drawing this week's cartoon about Rick Santorum when he's not particularly likely to repeat that performance in New Hampshire tomorrow may have been kind of foolish. But on the other hand, why save this cartoon for later when the history of polling this year suggests that second place is followed very quickly by oblivion?

Q Toon: The Ron Paul Report

2012-01-04T08:32:00.001-06:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q SyndicateJan 2, 2012

EditorialCartoonists.com

Oh, Iowa! You send Ron Paul to the top of the Anti-Romney heap in the week before your caucuses (cauci?), so I go to work to churn out this cartoon about Ron Paul and his lovely little newsletters, cramping my hand creating all the teeny tiny type, and what do you do? At the last minute, you decide to make Rick Santorum the story, after stubbornly ignoring him for an entire year!

How do you expect anybody to pay any attention to you in the future if you can't be serious about the selection of a presidential candidate?

The rest of us (well, outside of New Hampshire) don't get to meet candidates strolling into our breakfast nooks and hardware stores. If we see them at all, it's from the back of a crowd, catching Mr./Mrs. I Want Your Vote as he/she sweeps through the state on the way to some other state a thousand miles away -- that is, if we feel like standing around in the cold starting at 6:00 a.m. for a campaign visit that is scheduled for 11:30 but that includes an hour and a half of pep talk from local politicos and activists and a couple of pastors before the Candidate actually strolls onto the stage.

At least we think that's him/her. It could be that comedian from Saturday Night Live. The Candidate's plane is snowed in at Buffalo. Or Boise.

And if we're not able to lose a whole day at work for the stump speech the press corps can recite in its sleep, what are we left to do to decide who ought to lead the free world?

We can always Google the guy.

Oh, Iowa...

This Week's Sneak Peek

2012-01-01T07:30:00.001-06:00

I had this week's cartoon drawn a few days early this week -- I couldn't manage to do the same for Christmas weekend, but I figured my editors and myself would appreciate a little time off for the New Year's holiday.

Best wishes to you and yours for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012, with no pesky Mayans to spoil your joy.

2011 in Headlines

2011-12-31T14:29:00.000-06:00

For 40 years now, I've been marking the end of each year by taking a picture of newspaper front pages and magazine covers from the previous year. Originally they served as a sort of bookmark in my photo albums; nowadays, the only photos I print out for putting in albums are the best ones from vacations, but I've kept up the habit anyway.

The choice of reviewing a year this way tends to skew what stories are included. The Greek default crisis, for example, didn't make banner headlines in the newspapers in my corner of America. Silvio Berlusconi's resignation wasn't the top story of November 8 as far as midwestern editors were concerned, either. The independence of South Sudan was below the fold, if not on a back page.

Stock market plunges and rises in unemployment make headlines; economic recovery (or stagnation) rarely does. The end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"? Almost a non-event once it finally happened. Marriage equality in New York? I don't get any New York newspapers here. Well, I can find the New York Times, but their headlines are seldom legible in these photographs.

Disasters usually make headlines, unless they happen on a Saturday night after the Sunday paper has gone to print. Monday's headline may be something tangential, such as "President Promises Aid Package." Even if the disaster is fresh, my local newspaper figures everyone has already heard about it on cable news and Facebook, so its headline is either the number of dead (in spite of the fact that the number is bound to have changed between press time and finding the paper on your doorstep) or some pull quote like "It Was Terrible!"

Other stories unfold over the course of several months. As significant as were Wisconsin's protests against Governor Walker and his Republican putsch -- and similar protests in Ohio -- and the Occupy protests -- it seems unfair to give them the same weight as the protests in Egypt, Libya, and Syria. (To say nothing of the protests in Bahrain, Yemen, and those in Tunisia that sparked them all... and these headlines indeed say nothing about them.) Time's "Person of the Year" cover will have to suffice.

This Week's Toon: John Lawrence

2011-12-28T08:00:00.001-06:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q SyndicateDec 28, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

John Lawrence, the plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas, died on November 20 at the age of 68. While his death was not kept secret, it only came to national attention after a lawyer in the case attempted to invite him to a commemoration of the ruling.

Tyron Garner, the other man arrested with Mr. Lawrence (and also a petitioner in the court case), died in 2006.

The arrest stemmed from a false complaint from a malicious neighbor of gunshots in Lawrence's apartment, because of which a Harris County, Texas, sheriff's deputy entered the unlocked apartment with gun drawn.

In a curious development, Dale Carpenter (who used to write for Q Syndicate in its early days) is coming out with a book in March which charges that Lawrence and Garner were not in fact engaged in any sex act when arrested for “deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex”; indeed, Lawrence had told Carpenter that the two had never had sexual intercourse before, during or since.

At any rate, the Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that Texas' antisodomy law was an unconstitutional infringement of personal liberty, overturning an earlier case, Bowers v. Hardwick. In his dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia, departing from his insistence that only the U.S. Constitution should inform a case, trotted out a parade of horrors that the court's decision would void laws defending Civilization against same-sex marriage, bigamy, prostitution, bestiality, necrophilia, and masturbation. (And what hope does Civilization have if the State can't outlaw masturbation in the privacy of one's home?)

The court's ruling voided anti-sodomy statutes in thirteen states. If you live in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Oklahoma, Missouri, Utah, Idaho or Michigan, you can thank John Geddes Lawrence for fighting for the right of you and your consenting adult partner to deviate from the missionary position without ending up on the National Registry of Sex Offenders, condemned to jail time followed by living under a freeway overpass.

Thanks to Dr. Thomas Schmeling for alerting me to this story!

Merry Christmas to All, and to All According to Their Needs

2011-12-25T11:14:00.001-06:00

For the heck of it, here's a cartoon I drew for the old Minneapolis Gaze Magazine for Christmas 1993, the day after all the presents have been delivered.

Scott Walker's "Holiday Spirit"

2011-12-23T20:44:00.000-06:00

This feel-good ad by "Friends of Scott Walker" has been in heavy airplay here in the Badger State as he seeks to thwart a probable recall election:

As Chris points out, if this governor were not a Republican, Fox News and AM radio would be giving him holy hell for declaring war on the word he and Mrs. Walker fail to utter.

Intrigue Surrounds Heiress' Death at 104

2011-12-23T16:25:00.000-06:00

In the course of posting cartoons from The Minneapolis Tribune Cartoon Book for 1901: Being a Collection of Over One Hundred Cartoons by R.C. Bowman last year, I included a series of cartoons about Montana Senator, newspaper publisher and copper mining millionaire William Andrews Clark. Those cartoons caught the eye of msnbc.com reporter Bill Dedman, who has been covering the legal tangle over the financial affairs of Clark's sole heir, Huguette Clark, who died this past May at the age of 104 after living almost her entire adult life as a total recluse.

To explain the cartoon again: William Clark was elected to the U.S. Senate from Montana (with the strong support of the newspaper he owned) but forced to resign when evidence of bribery surfaced. Still determined to keep the office he had bought and paid for, he arranged for Montana's Lieutenant Governor to appoint him Senator on the same day Clark resigned -- the Governor being conveniently out of the state that day.

Whereas other robber barons (sorry, I mean Job Creators) of the day, such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, left civic and charitable institutions to bear their names, Senator Clark left his name only to Nevada's Clark County, keeping his money in the family after he died in 1925.

Since corresponding with Mr Dedman, I've been following the story of the Clark estate with some interest, and there are new developments today.

"Based on 'shocking' evidence of tax fraud, a judge on Friday suspended [Ms. Clark's] attorney and accountant ... from handling her $400 million estate.

"The judge said there was more than enough evidence that the two men engaged in a tax fraud that allowed the elderly woman to run up an IRS bill of $90 million in unpaid gift taxes, interest and potential penalties."

The judge in the case declined to rule on the question of allowing descendants from Senator Clark's first marriage to enter into the legal dispute, which involves two wills signed six weeks apart in 2005, when Huguette was 98. The first leaves most of her fortune to those descendants; they are cut out of the second will entirely, although the aforementioned attorney and accountant would make out handsomely from it.

Bill Dedman's series on the Clark case is on line on this msnbc.com page.

Q Toon: Pfc. Bradley Manning

2011-12-21T08:37:00.000-06:00

The defense in the pre-court martial hearing of accused Wikileaker Pfc. Bradley Manning argues that the U.S. Military has no one but itself to blame for having foolishly entrusted its Top Secrets to a gay soldier with gender identity issues in the first place.

From msnbc:

"The defense stated Saturday that Manning, 24, had written to one of his supervisors when he was stationed in Iraq before his arrest and said he had concluded he was suffering from gender identity disorder, which is classified as a medical disorder in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. He included a photo of himself dressed as a woman in the letter and said the issue was affecting his ability to do his job or think clearly. A defense attorney and a witness also stated that Manning had created a Facebook profile and opened at least one email account using the name 'Breanna Manning,' which the attorney described as an 'alter-ego.'"

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate Dec 21, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

As for myself, I reserve judgment on whether Pfc. Manning's actions amount to high treason or not, but I wish his defense would concentrate on the government's habit of stamping "Top Secret" on everything from aircraft crash reports to last month's cafeteria menu at Foggy Bottom.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-12-19T23:21:00.001-06:00

Somehow, I forgot to post a sneak peek last week. Not that anybody missed it, but I do try to post more often than once a week even if it's just to say "Next on Bergetoons...."

So anyway, here's this week's sneak peek, and just a few words to try to clarify something I wrote over the weekend -- or maybe just to walk it back a little. Plagiarism is a serious charge, and I still hope that the Steve Breen cartoon I mentioned is not in fact a case of it. I really like Breen's work, and think he's a very good cartoonist. It is entirely possible that both he and Jeff MacNelly were inspired independently by Winslow Homer's painting. I have no way to know one way or the other.

You would think, moreover, that if he had any recollection of having decided to redraw a cartoon he'd seen somewhere else, Mr. Breen wouldn't risk the opprobrium from his fellow inkslingers by submitting the thing to Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year where anyone who owns MacNelly's Directions is bound to see it.

Plagiar-Vu All Over Again

2011-12-17T13:49:00.000-06:00

I just received my copy of The Best Editorial Cartoons, 2012 edition from the publisher the other night. Its founder, Chuck Brooks died shortly after the deadline for submissions, so one wonders how many more editions of the book there will be.

There are more on-line only cartoons in the book than ever before, and a few idiosyncratic choices -- there is only one Tom Toles cartoon, for example (aside from the one in the chapter for cartoons which won awards this year), but five by Chuck Asay. In my humble opinion, Toles is far and away the better cartoonist, but Asay's worldview is more in line with the late Mr. Brooks's.

I was struck by two cartoons: one by Jeff Stahler and another by Steve Breen. Mr. Stahler just lost his job at the Columbus Dispatch over charges of plagiarism -- charges which have relaunched a debate over what in fact constitutes plagiarism. Accusers pointed out cartoons which seemed to echo New Yorker cartoons, although some of the questionable cartoons involved ideas which easily could have occurred to multiple cartoonists independently (what Daryl Cagle calls "Yahtzees"). Cartoonists have also been debating where to draw the line between a plagiarized idea and a common meme.

The Stahler and Breen cartoons in BECY illustrate the murky of this delineation. Stahler's cartoon shows presidents from Nixon to Obama saying one word each of the sentence "We must reduce our dependency on Mideast Oil." To my mind, that recalls a Mike Peters cartoon about the Vietnam War, drawn for the Dayton Daily News and reprinted in Time magazine and other national outlets, in which presidents from Eisenhower to Ford said one word each of the sentence "Victory is just around the corner." (One of them must have had two words, but I don't remember which.) Other cartoonists besides Jeff Stahler have used the same gimmick since -- at least once on the topic of energy independence -- and it just seems to me to be lazy to swipe Mr. Peters's basic idea to rehash it as your own.

Steve Breen's cartoon is more disputable. He substitutes President Obama for the hapless boatman in Winslow Homer's painting "The Gulf Stream." Breen duly credits Homer, as he ought, but I was instantly reminded of the 1974 cartoon by the late Jeff MacNelly depicting President Nixon in the exact same painting.

Is that plagiarism? Just about every editorial cartoonist in the country, myself included, has drawn some parody of Grant Wood's "American Gothic" to comment on every topic from the weather to inflation to marriage equality. The same with several of Norman Rockwell's paintings, da Vinci's "Last Supper" and James McNeill Whistler's "Arrangement in Gray and Black: The Artist's Mother." But any first grader is bound to recognize those paintings to some degree or another, whereas many adults are not familiar with the works of Winslow Homer at all. Some cartoonist, forgotten to history, was the first to draw each of those parodies, and the rest of us have, let's face it, swiped those ideas.

Does the fact that an image is already well-known make it okay for a cartoonist to swipe it? Aside from paintings, many cartoonists have borrowed and re-borrowed many images from movies. I have no idea who the first cartoonist was to draw Toto pulling the curtain aside to reveal the humbug behind whatever politician is projected as the Great And Powerful Oz, but many have drawn that same cartoon since. (There's one in the new BECY about Newt Gingrich, who has also inspired a new round of Grinch Who Stole Christmas cartoons for anybody who missed them back when he was Speaker of the House.)

We cartoonists traffic in cultural images all the time, so it makes sense that we'd reuse images that everybody knows. The tricky part is reusing less well-known images that only Art History majors and other cartoonists will recognize.

Oh, and I have one cartoon in the book, by the way. Most of my favorite 2011 cartoons before the book's deadline were about flash-in-the-pan stories (does anybody remember the Craigslist Congressman any more?) which would have required a paragraph of explanation, so I'm not at all disappointed.

Q Toon: Perry Christmas to All!

2011-12-14T08:31:00.000-06:00

This past week, LGBT citizens got a good preview of the choice they have between the major political parties next year. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton stood up before the U.N. to defend the equal rights of gays and lesbians around the globe; and Texas Governor Rick Perry posted a TV ad in which he bemoaned as a Christian that gays can serve openly in the military, but schoolkids can't celebrate Christmas.

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate Dec 14, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

And by "celebrate Christmas," he means of course that Christians are not allowed to use the public schools to proselytize other people's children.

Think about it. It's amazing how free we are in America to celebrate Christmas. We can display larger than life glow in the dark nativity scenes on our front lawns. We can send Christ Is the Reason For the Season cards to all our Jewish friends. We can spend our property taxes to put religious messages on City Hall (and if you doubt that, just witness the furor when anybody tries to say No to it). We can wear hideous sweaters in public.

In my other career as a church employee, however, I can tell you that what churches are worried about most this year is that Christmas falls on a Sunday -- meaning that the church will be obliged to hold a worship service that will be attended by the pastor, the altar guild, organist, and an usher doing double duty as the acolyte. If we're lucky, some son or daughter of the congregation who arrived back in town too late on Saturday to make it to the Christmas Eve service will bring Mom and/or Dad to the Christmas morning service.

I was taken a bit aback the other day when I asked one of the talented musicians of one of my congregations whether he would be available to play a song at the Christmas Eve service, and he gave his regrets with the reason that Christmas Eve is "family time." Somewhere along the line, without my noticing exactly when, there has evolved a separation of church and family time.

This phenomenon isn't universal; one of my churches includes a congregation predominantly made up of Mexican immigrants and first generation Americans. I suspect that their attendance numbers on Christmas morning will put the Anglo congregations to shame, even though their Christmas Eve worship service is bound to run well into the night.

I don't mean by any of this to scold. I guess where I'm coming from is that I recently read the church history published in 1956 by a Lutheran congregation somewhere on the border of North Dakota and Montana to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its founding. The book included stories told by those of its founding members who were still alive, and the tales of winter hardship are truly impressive. (One old-timer speaks of how their winters came as such a rude shock to newcomers who were used to the "mild winters" of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota!)

The congregation hadn't quite finished building their church when a three-day late October blizzard hit; after everyone finally dug themselves out of their homes, they had to shovel feet of snow out from the inside of the church. The first time Christmas fell on a Sunday after their founding was 1910; it would be interesting to know what their worship service was like that day. I wonder if they even had Christmas Eve services. When you recall that back in 1906, these rural settlers didn't have snowplows or lighted highways, their stories of getting lost in the snow at night, unable to get home until dawn broke, are absolutely harrowing.

So anyway, I hope everyone reading this has as much family time as they can possibly stand this Christmas. And if there are any of you who are anxious to Keep Christ In Christmas, rest assured that it's very likely that there is a church just minutes from your house where someone would be more than happy to see you.

Weather permitting.

Qtoon this week: Barney Frank Retires

2011-12-07T07:07:00.001-06:00

If a public figure wears glasses, and the public generally never sees that public figure without them, a cartoonist is obliged to draw glasses on a caricature of that person. In fact, the glasses are often an essential identifying feature of the person. But some situations call for the glasses to be off... and the My Name Is ___ label to go on, as the familiar face becomes unrecognizable without them.

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Dec 7, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Such a wordy cartoon!

Mr. Trump, a True Diplomat

2011-12-05T16:03:00.001-06:00

‎

"Most of the important candidates will come. Huntsman has 1% of the vote. I don't think he's coming. And by the way, Mr. Huntsman called my office a number of times trying to set up a meeting; I didn't have a meeting with him; and then he went on a debate and he said 'I didn't meet with Mr. Trump like everyone else in the room,' so, I'm sure he'll tell the truth about that, because he's a Mormon."

-- Donald Trump, by phone, discussing his very own Republican presidential candidates' debate, on MSNBC's Daily Rundown this morning (around the 2:35 mark):

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-12-05T07:46:00.001-06:00

You might not be too far off if you took a guess that this week's Q Syndicate cartoon has something to do with redistricting.

World AIDS Day

2011-12-01T07:26:00.001-06:00

I chose not to draw this week's cartoon about World AIDS Day today. After 30 years, I'm not sure what new things there are to say about the disease.

And yet, after 30 years, I'm unsettled as to what image to use to symbolize AIDS. Ten years ago, I used a skeletal death figure, even though many people living with AIDS have reason to object to that as a characterization. (And, in my very limited personal experience, I count among my friends about as many living with AIDS as have died from it.)

In October, 1985, I was asked to draw an illustration to go along with an article about AIDS by Kari Dixon for the student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin - Parkside. For that illustration, I chose to illustrate the pariah effect the disease had in those days, when it was new to the public consciousness and there was no treatment.

(You have heard of Nathaniel Hawthorne, I hope. I certainly expected that a college readership would have.)

Qtoon: Red Meat for Republicans

2011-11-30T07:42:00.001-06:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Nov 30, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Well, look who's back!

It was back in October that Newt Gingrich called same-sex marriage a "temporary aberration that will dissipate," but he was back in the pack of also-rans then. Now that he is once again the Not Romney, his opinion of same-sex marriage matters to more than just his half-sister Candace and her wife.

As horrifying as the prospect of a Gingrich presidency is, he is actually rather fun to draw. He is, in fact, a cartoonist's dream. He's about as impolitic as anyone in politics could be, stubborn, egotistical, and prone to rash statements. And does anybody think he really has it in him to make it through eight years married to Callista?

Heaven forfend he should start an affair with wife-to-be #4 while in the White House and get impeached over it.

Vintage Barney Frank cartoons

2011-11-29T07:14:00.001-06:00

16-term Congressman from Massachusetts Barney Frank announced yesterday that he would not run for office again in 2012. He cited his redrawn district as one factor, and that at 71, he wanted to spend some time in academia before settling down to retirement.

As the first out gay man in Congress, he has been the subject of occasional Q Syndicate cartoons over the years. Rep. Frank's office requested the original of this one from August, 1998.

At the time, revelations of the affair between President Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky were coming out fast and furious; that the famous semen-stained blue dress was in existence and in evidence was a recent headline. While many congressional Democrats whispered that perhaps it was time for Clinton to resign and let Al Gore assume the presidency, Barney Frank was vocal -- and alone -- in his defense of the President.

Later that year, Frank was joined in the House by Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who has the distinction of being the first openly gay non-incumbent elected to Congress. The above cartoon refers to an incident where Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) was recorded referring to the Gentleman from Massachusetts as "Barney Fag."

After a separate incident of Armey making a poor joke about Frank's homosexuality, a reporter asked Frank if he wanted an apology from the Texan. "I’m trying to think of what I would be less interested in than an apology from Dick Armey," he replied. "Maybe the lyrics to the national anthem of Bhutan."

I'll wrap this post up with a cover I drew for Q Salt Lake. Playing up Rep. Frank's role on the House Banking Committee, I drew him as he might look on U.S. currency. This was in 1999, well before the subject of this week's Q Syndicate cartoon advocated throwing Mr. Frank in jail for the temerity of imposing rules and regulations on the banking industry whose reckless abandon (not, as Republicans have been trying to convince people ever since, schoolteachers' retirement plans) created the worst recession in 80 years.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-11-28T16:30:00.001-06:00

It sure would have been nice to have had some warning that Barney Frank was going to announce today his intention not to seek another term. As you can see, this week's cartoon will have something to do with another (former) congressman with a talent for keeping the conversation interesting.

Q Toon: Rush on Coach Sandusky

2011-11-23T08:00:00.001-06:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate Nov 23, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Last week, Rush Limbaugh told his radio audience, "[Jerry] Sandusky has to be — he’s a gay guy. Nobody’s mentioning that aspect, because it’s just too dangerous." The Gay Mafia, Limbaugh explained, is enforcing omertà on the mainstream media, keeping the former Penn State assistant football coach's homosexuality hidden way back in the closet.

This cartoon would have been easier to draw if Limbaugh hadn't taken the care to draw a distinction between gays and pedophiles. Right-wingers have a long history of broadcasting their belief that there is no difference between two consenting adults having a sexual relationship on the one hand and pedophiles or "Man-on-Dog" on the other. So I at least give Limbaugh credit for steering clear of that canard.

Another problem with this cartoon is that Limbaugh got more publicity out of calling Michelle Obama "uppity" this week, defending NASCAR fans who booed the First Lady as she, Dr. Jill Biden, a veteran and some children of servicemen prepared to say "Gentlemen, start your engines" a at a Florida race. Somewhere, an editor is wondering what Jerry Sandusky's legal problems have to do with a radio blowhard calling Mrs. Obama "uppity."

(Remember when all those elitist liberals booed First Lady Laura Bush at that one event? Yeah, neither do I.)

A couple weeks ago, when I drew a cartoon about Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh, I was happy to see that videos of him were going viral in the meantime, because it meant that there would be more readers who had some idea who he was. I don't need to worry about people not knowing who Rush Limbaugh is (although I will never forget a guy I dated for a while who thought that Senator Jesse Helms was an ally of the LGBT community; you can fool some of the people all of the time). I do expect, however, that a lot of readers will have no knowledge of anything Rush Limbaugh has said about the scandal at Penn State.

With any luck, there will be some news event of common knowledge to draw about next week -- although there's a big holiday this week shutting down Washington D.C. and many of the big-name newsmakers around the country are taking most of the week off. Unless I finally find some gay angle to the Occupy Movement (oh, God, I hope Offisa Pike is straight!), I suspect that next week's cartoon will be just as obscure as this week's.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-11-21T16:14:00.001-06:00

Is that who you think it is waving a gay pride flag this week?

This Week's Toon: J. Edgar

2011-11-16T07:37:00.001-06:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate Nov 16, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

And the winners in the expletive derby are "Gadzooks" and "Dang."

For all I know, J. Edgar Hoover was as foul-mouthed in private as Richard Nixon. Hoover came across as a hard-as-nails crime fighter, all business, who made it his business to know all the dirt on everyone in the country. That was before Susan Rosenstiel told Anthony Summers that Hoover got dressed up in drag to go out to Roy Cohn's private parties, where he was introduced to her as "Mary."

A little bit more back story to the cartooning here: I wanted to draw Hoover in drag in this cartoon, but after David Simpson's latest plagiarism scandal, I had to be careful not to copy Pat Oliphant's cartoon of J. Mary Hoover -- especially now that I gave This Land permission to cite me as having spotted three previously unnoticed examples of his down-to-the-crosshatch copying of other people's cartoons. (I would note that other cartoonists have spotted the same cartoons; The Oregonian's Jack Ohman also left a comment on This Land's previous article.)

To keep Hoover's garb contemporaneous with Hoover himself, the dress in the cartoon is patterned more after Marilyn Monroe's famous updraft dress or something out of the Folies Bergères. Not that it wouldn't have been fun to have shown him dressed like Snooki or Lady Gaga.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-11-14T07:24:00.000-06:00

We almost went to see this movie this weekend. I wish we had gone to see it, though; it would have been helpful for this week's cartoon to know what sort of expletives Clint Eastwood and Dustin Lance Black put in the mouth of Leonardo DiCaprio's J. Edgar Hoover.

Tune in later this week to discover my choice.

Joe. (My God.) Walsh.

2011-11-11T19:59:00.001-06:00

When I decided to draw this past week's cartoon about Illinois freshman Congressman Joe Walsh, I was worried that hardly anybody outside of his district would have any idea who he was. I certainly had never heard of him before.

I needn't have worried. The congressman has been caught -- twice --on video going batshit crazy at constituents, and both incidents have gone viral. He even made Willie Geist's "Week in Review" segment at the end of Morning Joe today.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

So Joe Jervis of the blog Joe. My. God. took note of my silly cartoon, and almost all of the reader comments approve enthusiastically. (Sorry, Charlie.) I appreciate the feedback.

It feels good to be ahead of the news curve for once!

This Week's Toon: Joe Walsh, Family Supporter

2011-11-09T09:56:00.000-06:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q SyndicateNov 9, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

This news item may not have the shock value of Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story, but we're giving it the notice it deserves here at Bergetoons. Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh (R-Teaparty, not the former Eagles guitarist) was recently named a "True Blue" member of Congress by the right-wing, gay-bashing Family Research Council. His "unwavering support of the family" falls somewhat short of supporting his own, however; he is more than $117,000 behind in child support payments to his ex-wife and children.

The thick nine-year-old divorce file in Cook County Circuit Court chronicles how every few years Laura Walsh has gone to court saying her ex-husband is not paying [child support] and asking a judge to order him to pay, sometimes garnishing his wages.

He claims that he and his ex agreed to let him slack off on child support.

Running for Congress is mighty darned expensive, you know.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-11-07T08:02:00.002-06:00

Yes, this week, we're handing out awards!

Incidentally, I guess there is nothing coming of the ire from a prominent blogger to which I alluded a couple weeks ago. I was only forwarded a portion of the e-mail he sent to an editor, so I don't believe I could fairly characterize his opinion. Since that editor did not print the letter -- perhaps it wasn't meant for print -- there's no kerfuffle, no dispute.

That particular blogger has since become far more interested in the Occupy Wall Street protests, so unless and until the topic of whether Barack Obama has done anything for the LGBT community comes back to the fore, move along; there's nothing to see here.

The David Simpson Plagiarism Scandal

2011-11-04T16:16:00.004-05:00

Yet another case of plagiarism by fellow cartoonist David Simpson has been exposed. Simpson lost his job at the Tulsa World in 2005 after he was caught copying a 1981 cartoon by Bob Englehardt of the Hartford Courant. Lately, Simpson had been drawing for Urban Tulsa. A week or so ago, alert cartoonists recognized a cartoon about giving a jump start to a bomber in a junk yard as having been copied from a cartoon drawn by the late Jeff MacNelly during the Carter administration -- even the other junk in the cartoon was in exactly the same place. Rival publication This Land then unearthed three more copied cartoons. The resulting calumny has forced Simpson into early retirement.

Since the Urban Tulsa doesn't keep an on-line archive of its cartoons (and I guess Simpson is the only cartoonist in the world who doesn't post his stuff on the internet), This Land posted pictures of Simpson's UT cartoons requesting help spotting any more plagiarized work. I spotted three right away: #3 is straight out of an August, 1972 cartoon by Pat Oliphant; #12 rips off another Oliphant cartoon from December, 1975. #35 copies a Jim Borgman cartoon from August, 1985.

Then there's #16. It's not the entire cartoon that is copied from a September, 1975 Jeff MacNelly cartoon, it's just the garbage truck. I remember that garbage truck well.

Because I used it as a model for a garbage truck in a May, 1987 cartoon.

The garbage truck was the sole focus of the original MacNelly cartoon, which blamed New York City's sanitation workers for their contribution to the Big Apple's financial mess. The cartoon showed the Manhattan skyline inside the back of the truck.

Back in the Reagan administration, we didn't have the Google like the kids of today have. If I needed to draw a garbage truck in a cartoon, my options were a.) draw one from memory, b.) see if the dictionary has a picture of one, c.) drive around town until I found a parked garbage truck and draw it, or d.) Don't I have a cartoon of a garbage truck in my scrapbook somewhere?

So I'm reluctant to include Simpson cartoon #16 in the list of plagiarized cartoons, because it would mean I plagiarized, too. Besides MacNelly's garbage truck, I've referenced horses drawn by Pat Oliphant, whose drawings of horses in motion are some of the most alive and vibrant you will ever see in black and white. I certainly don't copy them, and I also reference Animals: 1419 Copyright-Free Illustrations of Mammals, Birds, Fish, Insects, etc., A Pictorial Archive from Nineteenth-Century Sources selected by Jim Harter (Dover Publications, Inc.You can probably find it in the art section of your local bookstore) .

We cartoonists copy images all the time. Just think of all the cartoons riffing on Shepard Fairey's poster of Barack Obama over the word "HOPE." (The poster image itself was swiped from an April, 2006 photograph by freelance photographer Mannie Garcia for the Associated Press.)

When Moammar Khadaffy was killed, several cartoonists whipped out cartoons showing the remnants of Pan Am flight 103 at Lockerbie, Scotland. Some didn't even bother to draw the image, but rather scanned the photograph and used that image as the basis of their cartoons.

(click here to view)

Bob Gorrell
Creators Syndicate Inc.
Oct 20, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

None of them credited the photograph or the photographer. Was that plagiarism, then? The copyright notice at Wikipedia would seem to say yes. The "Fair Use" doctrine gives us cartoonists the wiggle room to say no.

By the way, just to be clear: I do not in any way think there is any possibility that David Simpson ever saw my 1987 cartoon about Ronald Reagan and the Contras. I'm very certain that he referred to Jeff MacNelly's cartoon when drawing his garbage truck. But since I remember the 36-year-old cartoon I used as a model for a cartoon I drew 24 years ago, I find it utterly incredible that Mr. Simpson claims he can't remember where he found his sources.

This Week's Toon: The Theoconoclasts

2011-11-02T12:31:00.002-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate Nov 2, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Now that gay and lesbian military personnel no longer have to lie about themselves, and since some of them are able to marry, a group of service members and veterans has filed a lawsuit that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is discriminatory. DOMA, passed by the Republican Congress in July, 1996 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton, forbids any aspect of the federal government from recognizing the marriage of any same-sex couple in any way.

From the Washington Post:

Massachusetts Army National Guard Maj. Shannon McLaughlin, 41, and her wife, Casey, 34, are serving as lead plaintiffs in the suit, which includes five other troops and two career Army and Navy veterans. The McLaughlins, from Foxboro, Mass., married in December 2009 and have 10-month old twins. Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in 2004.

Although Shannon pays for the twins’ health care through her military benefits, Casey, a former high school history teacher who gave birth to the twins, pays about $700 a month for a separate health-care account, the couple said. ...If Shannon is deployed, Casey would be barred from taking the twins to regular medical appointments at a nearby military base, the couple said.

“What Shannon and Casey are seeking is the same treatment that their straight counterparts, who are legally married, receive every day without question and take for granted,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which helped organize the suit and once represented troops discharged for violating “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Likewise, same-sex widows and widowers of servicemembers are ineligible for survivors' benefits, unlike different-sex widows and widowers. Happily, there is nobody yet with standing to bring suit in that respect, but someone will inevitably be in that position someday.

It will be interesting to see how this legal issue plays out in court -- if the Republican-dominated state legislatures produced by the 2010 elections don't fast track a constitutional amendment first.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-10-31T19:26:00.001-05:00

After a decade and a half, is there any new angle on the Defense of Marriage Act?

Tune in on Wednesday.

This Week's Toon: the Pall Bearer

2011-10-26T07:02:00.000-05:00

Cartooning about youth suicide is dicey. It's not funny, and you don't want to glorify one suicide and thereby inspire others. (I'm not even going to link to the story that inspired me to concentrate on this topic, for that very reason.)For this week's oeuvre, I started out trying to come up with some incisive observation for a grieving parent to make, but ended up turning my focus to someone else:

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q SyndicateOct 26, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

When kids commit suicide, their parents are permanently devastated. Their friends grieve for years, but heal and go on with their lives. But do the bullies who drove them to it even notice? Or do they just grow up and continue to leave their mark on the world by posting insults on internet comment pages?

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-10-24T09:02:00.000-05:00

I was thinking of drawing a Hallowe'en-themed cartoon for this week, but nothing quite came together in that direction. Last week's cartoon will have to suffice in that regard: it wasn't what I had in mind when I drew it, but it would be easy for someone to look at my memorial cartoon for Frank Kameny and see his ghost haunting the White House.

This Week's Toon: Frank Kameny

2011-10-19T08:04:00.001-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q SyndicateOct 19, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Readers, the conventional wisdom goes, love cartoons memorializing the recently deceased. Editorial cartoonists, by and large, hate them.

Sure, there are cartoonists like Mark Streeter of the Savannah Morning News who draw obituary cartoons at the drop of a hat. But most cartoonists draw them begrudgingly, usually cranking out a cartoon of a single tear dropping from some object or logo associated with the dead person. Or St. Peter greeting the late lamented at the Pearly Gates with some catch phrase associated with the stiff -- even if the deceased was not a Christian.

(I heard objections to a cartoon I drew after the death of Meir Kahane that showed him storming away from the Pearly Gates upon finding that Palestinians were allowed in. On the one hand, I'm told that there is no Jewish concept of heaven; but on the other hand, where did Jesus come up with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus if the idea of someplace nice where Lazarus ends up were alien to his audience? How do you draw being in the bosom of Abraham?)

Matt Bors has drawn a cartoon mocking the obituary cartoons for Buddhist Steve Jobs which depicted him at heaven's gate. In coming up with a more Buddhist concept of the afterlife, it ends up being less that respectful of the dead, but cartoonists love this cartoon.

This is the second obituary cartoon I've drawn this year (the first being for Liz Taylor); in these cases and several others, I've let the deceased speak for him or herself. This quotation is from a 1965 essay by Frank Kameny titled "Does Research into Homosexuality Matter?" If you are interested in reading the quotation in context, you can find it in We Are Everywhere: A Historical Source Book in Gay and Lesbian Politics.

P.S.: Yes, Mr. Kameny came up with the "Gay Is Good" motto years after he picketed the White House. His picket that day was nowhere near as pithy.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-10-17T07:49:00.000-05:00

I guess that's it for the cartoons about the Milwaukee Brewers and Miller Park. Thanks to the Brewers for a fantastic year (allowing the Cardinals to score outscore the Rams notwithstanding).

So it's on to more current cartoons here at the old blogstead. Here's this week's sneak peek. For the benefit of any fellow cartoonists visiting this page, let me just point out that those are not the pearly gates back there.

From the Vault: Another Brewers Toon

2011-10-16T11:42:00.000-05:00

Of all the cartoons I've drawn about the Milwaukee Brewers, I think this is my favorite.

When Miller Stadium first tried out its new retractible roof, there were some kinks to work out. It screeched loudly, for one thing, and rain got through some areas. I only imagined this problem, however.

From the Vault: A Day Late and a Dollar Short

2011-10-15T11:39:00.004-05:00

As we cross our fingers that a return home will somehow help the Brewers overcome Shaun Marcum's pitching, here's a cartoon I drew in November of 2003 to accompany a Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee editorial lamenting the difficulty for a city of Milwaukee's size to assemble a great team under the MLB salary cap.

No lutefisk in this cartoon, although it's another example of having fun naming shops in a mall. (Having background people talking on the phone has been another of my leitmotifs.)

In re Obama at the HRC

2011-10-14T16:49:00.000-05:00

I am told that a prominent gay blogger is greatly displeased with last week's cartoon about President Obama's speech at the Human Rights Campaign dinner.

There may be more to post about it later. For now, I haven't heard anything from him directly, and haven't seen the conversation that is reportedly taking place.

From the Vault: I Sense a Theme

2011-10-14T07:39:00.002-05:00

Randy Wolf got the Brewers' pitching back on track last night, so there is new hope for the Brew Crew. Fans might even excuse a couple of losses if it means winning the division title at home (but not of the 12-3 variety!).

Anyway, here's another Milwaukee Brewers cartoon from my days at the Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee; this time the editorial had something to do with team owner Mark Attanasio's interest in determining what it is that draws fans to a ballpark.

I suspect that he found that the answer has something to do with a winning record.

The Minneapolis lady, by the way, is a tribute to Minneapolis Tribune cartoonist Richard Guindon. Apparently, there is some connection in my mind between baseball and lutefisk.

From the Vault: Meaty Issues

2011-10-13T08:08:00.003-05:00

If I were really, really, really, really optimistic, I could save this cartoon for Game 7 of the National League playoffs. But unless the Brewers manage to overcome their hitting and pitching slump, I'm afraid Milwaukee's racing sausages have had their last run in the nationally televised sun for the year. But having included lefse in yesterday's cartoon, I thought I'd haul out this one to continue the theme of Norwegian cuisine.

This 2003 cartoon (predating the chorizo guy) was drawn to accompany a Milwaukee Business Journal editorial critical of a New York Times article which had portrayed Milwaukee as a decaying, crime-filled rust belt wasteland with third-rate sports teams and no future. I guess the Times also mentioned the racing sausages. The BJ editorial sniffed that the Times reporter didn't know whereof he wrote.

Toon: Won't You Save Marriage from Those Sweet People?

2011-10-12T10:02:00.000-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q SyndicateOct 12, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Like Jim Borgman, I like drawing cartoons set at shopping malls just so I can give names to all the stores in the background. When I drew for the Milwaukee Business Journal, Christmas shopping was a recurrent theme of December editorials, giving me the opportunity to toss in The Hardhaberdashery, All Things Argyle, and Sandy's Sundries.

That whimsical approach didn't work when the topic of the editorial was on trying to boost the fortunes of a troubled mall -- Milwaukee's Grand Avenue Mall has been losing business for years -- and there were some unfortunate incidents at the Mayfair Mall which sparked editorials which would have been undercut by peppering the cartoon with frivolous shops.

But as fun as these background shops are to create, they are actually anachronistic. In the heyday of the shopping mall -- back in the 1970's and '80's -- malls were populated by lots of little specialty shops. (Does anybody remember the Saturday Night Live sketches about a shop that sold nothing but Scotch® Tape?) But the typical mall today is populated mostly by clothing stores and optical shops, with the occasional shoe store and a bunch of kiosks selling cell phones and piercing ears. The only real specialty shops are in the food court.

At any rate, I can only hope that the names of some of those stores are clues to the setting of the cartoon, since it isn't definitively stated until the last frame.

And before any Tar Heelers get upset, I'm not trying to suggest that North Carolina is totally devoid of nice people, okay? It's just that Minnesota has cultivated a reputation for niceness, don't ya know.

Michele Bachmann notwithstanding.

National Coming Out Day

2011-10-11T07:35:00.004-05:00

I didn't draw a National Coming Out Day cartoon this year, so here's a look back at the one I drew ten years ago. At the time, it felt a little too early to turn attention to such personal concerns, so my approach was to turn that feeling around.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-10-10T17:58:00.001-05:00

This week, we're taking a trip to the mall and talking with the lady at the marital aid kiosk.

Just Like Hitler

2011-10-06T20:20:00.000-05:00

Some redneck with a guitar Jr. got hisself axed from his gig singing the opening to ESPN's Monday Night Football this week. I was at a meeting, so I missed the first half of the game, and didn't know anything about it until the next morning.

Funny thing is, I thought the game ran pretty long. You'd have thought that skipping the "Are You Ready for Some Football" opener would have shaved a good five or ten minutes off the show.

Well, anyway, the problem was that the guy had gone on Fox 'n' Friends and compared the President of the United States to Adolf Hitler. To most of Fox News's audience, that's about as controversial as vanilla ice cream -- and ESPN might have let it pass if Monday's game were between Atlanta and Houston -- but ESPN ultimately decided that this was a metaphor too far.

Last month, Phil Hands, editorial cartoonist for the Wisconsin State Journal, took some heat for a cartoon in which a protester against Governor Scott Walker responds to Walker's announcement that he will "focus on creating jobs" by saying, "Ya know, Hitler created jobs in Nazi Germany!" The cartoon followed a Nazi protest in Milwaukee, at which some flyer distributed by counterprotesters included a remark that Hitler, like Walker, sought to bust unions.

Hands still has his gig at the WSJ, which is a good thing. We really don't have many editorial cartoonists drawing about state politics in Wisconsin, what with the Milwaukee J. Sentinel having fired all its cartoonists and the Capital Times going web-only. Joe Heller appears in several state newspapers, and Mike Konopacki and Gary Huck draw for Labor papers. Since the Racine Post logged off, I haven't had a real outlet for any Wisconsin issue cartoons other than this here blog.

A friend asked me recently if I've ever used Adolf Hitler in a cartoon. I could only think of two, and have only been able to find one. Dating from 2003, it isn't likening anyone to Hitler; instead, it had to do with an allegation that Hitler was gay.

The other cartoon was probably in the 1980's, and may be lost to history. If I ever run across it, I'll try to remember to post it -- it's just that I don't remember what it was about. Just vaguely that I drew him shocked or surprised about something or other.

Toon: Obama at the HRC Dinner

2011-10-05T08:16:00.000-05:00

Speaking at the Human Rights Campaign dinner on Saturday, President Obama listed his administration's accomplishments in furthering LGBT rights.

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q SyndicateOct 5, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Originally, I had set up this cartoon to liken LGBT voters unhappy with President Obama's record to those Republicans who fantasize about Chris Christie getting into the presidential race -- having had those same fantasies about Rick Perry's bigger head until he actually became a candidate.

Since I drew the cartoon, Christie has decided that he won't run for president after all, which leaves the Republican party stuck with its earlier dream candidates. And Mitt Romney.

I'm glad that I decided that the Christie analogy version of the cartoon was too preachy. I cast about until I hit on the "Mama didn't raise me..." line, which seems to argue against the original point that I hoped to make, but I think it's a better cartoon. (It still allows President Obama to point out the positives in his record.)

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-10-03T08:18:00.002-05:00

This week's cartoon features the President of the United States and a list of things this cartoonist is no longer able to gripe about. No wonder it's such hard work to come up with cartoon ideas every week.

This Week's Toon: Controlled Outbursts

2011-09-28T08:30:00.000-05:00

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe" today, I saw Mitt Romney tell Joe and Mika that unlike Rick Perry, he had to work with an opposition-led legislature and therefore knows how to reach across the aisle and get things done. That, he predicted, would be the style of a Romney presidency.

Should the Democratic leadership declare that their Number One Goal is to make sure that Romney is a one-term president, that could be a little difficult. Not as difficult as if he were facing opposition from the lockstep Republican legislators; Will Rogers' quip, "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat," still holds true.

MoveOn.org has got nothing on the [Insert State Name Here] Club for Growth. Code Pink is peanuts next to the Tea Party.

Radical conservatives made their 2010 gains after a summer of disrupting the town meetings of Democratic Representatives and Senators in a coordinated campaign to provide the media with ample dramatic footage of supposedly grass-roots opposition to Health Care Reform and all things Democrat. Republican Congressman Joe Wilson shouted "You lie!" at President Obama during a State of the Union address.

And while Republicans in Congress have shielded themselves from heckling by charging constituents money to attend their town hall meetings, or conducting town hall meetings over the phone (where they can cut off any unruly outburst, and which it would be illegal to record), Republican presidential candidates are finding that the enthusiastic behavior their party's activists have encouraged is not limited to shouting down the opposition.

Texas leads the nation in death row executions. Wild applause! Should medical care be withheld from some 30-year-old without insurance? Heck yeah! Is that a gay soldier risking his life in Iraq in service to his country? Boo!

What is a political party to do?

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q SyndicateSep 28, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-09-26T16:57:00.000-05:00

The party of Joe Wilson is discovering that not all the news is made on the stage.

Job Creators Toon

2011-09-22T08:01:00.000-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q SyndicateSep 22, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

You know those rich people President Obama is talking about taxing at rates unheard of since the boom of the 1990s? No, not those famous actors, heiresses and Wall Street speculators. We're talking about the hard-working industrialists who have spent the last couple of decades making their companies lean and mean by laying off as many employees as they possibly can.

They are job creators now.

Turns out that the only thing preventing them from creating more jobs is that they still have to pay taxes. (We certainly can't wait around for all those laid-off employees to stimulate the economy.) The Bush tax cuts haven't been around long enough to encourage our job creators to get around to any job creating, but never fear. The Republican party is dedicated to making sure that job creators' bank accounts stay fat and contended.

So our Republican governors and state legislators have been hard at work cutting workers' pay and benefits. Republicans in Congress have discovered the federal debt after eight years of ignoring it, and are willing to bankrupt the entire country to get the federal government shut down. They are willing to "broaden the tax base," which sounds better than "raising taxes on the poor, out of work, and elderly," and are eager to stop government spending on -- well, the poor, out of work, and elderly.

Whenever you see one of these Republican politicians, they repeat the same lines about protecting our job creators, cutting taxes, getting rid of government regulations (such as worker safety standards, consumer protections, anti-pollution laws and the like) and making it more and more difficult for anyone harmed by lax safety standards, defective products, pollution, or the like to sue them in court.

And through it all, you never see the Charles Koch's lips move.

Bachmann Tooner Overheard

2011-09-21T08:04:00.000-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q SyndicateSep 21, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

This week should, I suppose, have been time for a cartoon about the end at long last of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," had I been confident enough that there wouldn't be some last second maneuver from out of the blue to stop its repeal. Happily, the transition to equal opportunity in the military has been achieved smoothly and without a hitch -- which doesn't make for a particularly funny cartoon, but perhaps Chuck Asay or Michael Ramirez will draw some cartoon heralding the End Times that will inspire a cartoon next week.

So here instead is another Michele Bachmann cartoon. In case you missed it, Bachmann claimed in a TV interview that some woman at a campaign appearance had told her that the woman's daughter had been given the vaccine to prevent the cancer-causing Human Papillomavirus, and the daughter had subsequently become mentally retarded. Medical authorities swiftly condemned Bachmann's claim, and Bachmann retreated slightly by saying that she was just repeating what some anonymous woman had told her. (But in these days when everybody and their dog has a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and a blog, don't you think someone would have already found some trace of this phantom mother by now?)

Meanwhile, it looks like Bachmann is Last Month's Flavor of the Month, so I'm now working on my Rick Perry caricature. Tune in again tomorrow for my first attempt.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-09-19T19:32:00.000-05:00

Stop -- hey -- what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down...

Cameo guest appearance

2011-09-14T19:48:00.000-05:00

Yours truly makes a guest appearance in Dave Brousseau's comic strip, "A Couple of Guys" this week. Dave is marking his strip's 15th anniversary by having the title couple renew their vows in a New York wedding. (Joey and Eric had earlier gotten married in Massachusetts, but are New York City residents.)

I'm in the second panel, seated next to Joan Hilty and Paula Martinac at the wedding. Chris thinks that Cartoon Me needs to look more like Chuck Todd to look like me; but Cartoon Me has more definition to his jaw line than I do, and his bald spot is safely out of view, so I'm not about to complain.

This Week's Toon: Gqhadđaƒphįyee

2011-09-14T16:24:00.004-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q SyndicateSep 14, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Well, that's just silly.

Or is it?

The lawyers for Brandon McInerney, the boy who shot and killed fellow student Lawrence King amidst an entire classroom of kids, successfully achieved a hung jury by use of the "Gay Panic Defense" -- that is, the idea that killing someone can be excused if the deceased is the same sex as the killer and thought that the killer was cute. This transfers all blame for the crime onto the victim, and transfers all victimhood onto the killer.

(Important: this only applies in the case of same-sex attraction. A gal is not allowed to kill a guy who asks her out on date, no matter how much of a creep she thinks he is. Creeps like him go on to become influential businessmen, lawyers, congressmen, and AM talk radio hosts who look out for the interests of their fellow creeps.)

The gay panic, blame-the-victim narrative appeared in the initial Associated Press account of the murder:

"Larry King was a gay eighth-grader who used to come to school in makeup, high heels and earrings. And when the other boys made fun of him, he would boldly tease them right back by flirting with them.
"That may have been what got him killed."

And somehow, in spite of the undisputed facts that McInerney told a friend the day before the shooting that he intended to kill King, that McInerney brought his father's gun to school, that McInerney sat down in the seat behind King (who didn't happen to be wearing any makeup, high heels or earrings that day), waited 20 minutes and then shot King in the back of the head at point blank range, the jury couldn't agree whether this was murder in the first degree or not.

So is it so silly to think that Muammar el-Qaddafi might try the same tack? It would at least garner him the sympathy of some in the religious right who have leapt to McInerney's defense.

Michael Brown, founder of ICN ministries ("Israel, the Church and Nations"), blamed gay activism in general:

"Some of the teachers in Larry's school, along with his adoptive father, specifically accused former assistant principal Joy Epstein, an open lesbian, of encouraging Larry's flamboyant behavior in order to promote her 'agenda.' If there is any truth to this, it is not just irresponsible, it is reprehensible. (At the least, there is no indication that she discouraged his pushy, sexual behavior.) ... It is true that Brandon McInerney murdered Larry King in cold blood, but gay activism is complicit in his death.

(By the way, who could Brown be quoting with that "agenda" crack? Not Ms. Epstein, I bet.)

Consider Tim Ravndal, the Tea Party leader in Montana who complained on Facebook that America is no longer America because you can't kill homosexuals at will any more and asked for an instruction manual on how Matthew Shepard was killed. (At least Ravndal was forced to resign.) Conservatives from North Carolina Congressman Virginia Foxx to presidential candidate Michele Bachmann argued against the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes act on the grounds that criminalizing assault and murder of LGBT people is an infringement of free speech.

* * *

When Chris saw this cartoon, his first question was whether Qaddafi had really said that the people he has killed are gay. When there are stories like that of the Catholic woman who is afraid to leave her house for fear that her children will see same-sex couples, it can be hard to tell fact from exaggeration. My convention for real news stories is to have "News Item:" in front of the caption. Perhaps captions such as this week's need to be prefaced with "Might Be an Onion News Item."

September 13, 2001

2011-09-13T12:38:00.000-05:00

Much has been said about the period of national unity that followed the 9/11 attacks. This cartoon is a reminder that the first to hurl accusations against other Americans were those on the religious right.
(Okay, there was also Ted Rall.)

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-09-12T07:21:00.000-05:00

It looks like I'm taking a break from domestic politics this week.

Or am I?

9/11

2011-09-11T11:34:00.003-05:00

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

Psalm 46:1-3

September 10, 2001

2011-09-10T17:57:00.000-05:00

The day before 9/11 was a Monday like any other Monday. In the morning, I scanned the above cartoon and sent three versions to Q Syndicate: a TIFF, a bitmap, a grayscale JPEG at 600 dpi and another at 100 dpi. I had drawn the cartoon Sunday night about Lynn Johnston's cartoon, "For Better or For Worse," in which one of the young characters had recently come out as gay. Some newspapers were deleting references to Lawrence's sexuality on the grounds that it was inappropriate for the funny pages.

I went to my job after that. I don't remember anything about the workday; the church where I work was planning for Sunday School Rally Day the following Sunday, so there would have been certain out-of-the-ordinary considerations for getting the bulletin started. An elderly woman was scheduled to come play piano for the senior citizens' group on Tuesday, and I remember that she was anxious about it and phoned for directions and details about how much music she should expect to play.

That evening, I got the e-mail from the Milwaukee Business Journal containing the first draft of that Friday's editorial, a eulogy for Milwaukee philanthropist Jane Bradley Pettit. My job for the BJ was to draw a weekly editorial cartoon to illustrate the editorial; my editor kindly attached a couple of photos of Mrs. Pettit to his e-mail. I spent most of the evening drawing the cartoon below, listening to Monday Night Football on the TV. (The Denver Broncos beat the New York Giants). I'm pretty I spent longer deciding what to draw than actually drawing it.

Dancing with the Stars 'toon

2011-09-07T08:33:00.001-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Sep 7, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Religious conservatives have found a new frenzy to get into with the announcement that Chaz Bono will be on this fall's Dancing With the Stars. Chaz is famous for having been the goldilocked baby daughter of Sonny and Cher, who would bring her out at the end of their 1970's TV show to be cute while they sang "I Got You, Babe."

At 42, Chaz is now Cher's son, which deeply upsets the moral monopoly in America. They are very concerned with the question of which lavatory people go to the bathroom in, and their Dancing With the Stars experience will be totally ruined because they can't help but spend the entire show picturing Chaz taking a dump.

Tony Perkins at the Family Research Council is urging his minions to boycott the show:

"Email ABC Network and let them know that we will not tolerate these subjects being forced into our homes. DWTS airs 8/7 central when children are awake and Christian families will not enhance the ratings by watching the show when it returns September 19 unless this issue is taken care of and these cast members are replaced."

"One Million Moms" whine "This is completely unacceptable, and Christians should not watch the show. No excuses." Fox News Asshat Dr. Keith Ablow advises the nation not to let children watch any DWTS episodes in which Chaz appears, adding, "Chaz Bono should not be applauded for asserting she is a man (and goes about trying to look like one) any more than a woman who believes she will be happier without arms, has them removed and then continues to assert that she was right all along—her self-concept was that of a double amputee." (I'm sure that Ablow is similarly against facelifts, tummy tucks, and hair plugs.)

I haven't been watching DWTS, but now I suppose I'll have to just to offset one of those transphobic Moms... even though I'm not a Nielsen Family, and it won't make a difference to the show's ratings.

Meanwhile, if you're one of those Million Moms, and Dancing With the Stars has been part of your family's weekly routine all these years, and you're petrified of having to explain to your children how Chaz used to be Chastity, I have a suggestion. Instead of boycotting Dancing With the Stars, it might be easier to keep your children from watching 40-year-old reruns of Sonny and Cher.

Mom Remembers 9/11

2011-09-04T22:19:00.000-05:00

The local newspaper, the Journal Times, asked readers to send in their memories of 9/11/01. Apparently, they liked my mom's submission enough that she was one of a half dozen people they asked to come in and tell it to the camera. This is her story about learning about it at her cabin out in the southwestern part of Wisconsin:

She gets the day wrong -- I can't forget that it was a Tuesday, because I had a cartoon to send to the Business Journal that morning.

I got off on a rather late start to my day and skipped the usual routine of eating breakfast while watching the Today show. I ate at the computer, scanning and e-mailing the cartoon I'd drawn Monday night. Getting in my car to go to my day job, I heard NPR's reporting on the story and thought that they were interviewing someone with a book about the February, 1993 World Trade Center attack. But the details seemed all wrong, and then they went to their Pentagon reporter as alarms started to sound around him, and it was clearly live reporting.

Tuesday was the day the senior citizens center met at work, and we had no cable television in the building -- just a TV used for watching VHS tapes and DVDs. The seniors spent the morning watching TV news coverage with extremely poor reception while I (along with hundreds of thousands of others) discovered that CNN.com and the other news sites were essentially overloaded for the morning. Washingtonpost.com had live video feed of the Pentagon from a traffic cam or some other fixed camera, so that and the radio were my source of news.

As in New York, the weather here that day was absolutely beautiful -- in total contradiction to the events of the day. And that weather continued as all air traffic over the country was grounded over the next several days; cloudless skies absolutely free of jet contrails for the first time in my life.

As for my Mom's recollection, I have to believe that she saw the second plane crash into the World Trade Center on her TV, not the first one, unless she's talking about several hours later when the footage of the first crash made its way onto TV. But 9/11 became for all of us who lived through it one of those days about which we will always remember where we were -- no matter how far removed from the actual events that happened to be.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-09-04T16:15:00.000-05:00

I want to be mindful of everyone who is cleaning up after Irene or Lee, or out of work, or shouldering the nation's military burden far from home; but to all of you, as far as it may be possible, I hope you're able to enjoy this Labor Day Weekend.

Bergetoon: Pat Robertson Doesn't Want to Get Weird

2011-08-31T12:48:00.000-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Aug 31, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Pat Robertson "doesn't want to get weird," but he just can't help it.

"Ladies and gentlemen I don’t want to get weird on this so please take it for what it’s worth. But it seems to me the Washington Monument is a symbol of America’s power, it has been the symbol of our great nation, we look at that monument and say this is one nation under God. Now there’s a crack in it, there’s a crack in it and it’s closed up. Is that a sign from the Lord? Is that something that has significance or is it just result of an earthquake? You judge, but I just want to bring that to your attention. It seems to me symbolic. When Jesus was crucified and when he died the curtain in the Temple was rent from top to bottom and there was a tear and it was extremely symbolic, is this symbolic? You judge."

As Pat Robertson pronouncements go, this one hardly raises an eyebrow. At least he wasn't blaming the earthquake on abortion, gay rights, or liberalism. Abortionists, gays, and liberals are not exactly running the show in Virginia politics.

On the other hand, I haven't heard what P.R. has had to say about Hurricane Irene's swath of destruction through New York and Vermont.

Last week's Virginia earthquake and Hurricane Irene spawned not just floods and tornadoes, but a whole lot of oral diarrhea and mental constipation. Take Michele Bachmann (please):

"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?'"

Her campaign later said that this comment was meant to be a joke. Many people failed to see the humor in it, including people who think that Michele Bachmann herself is a joke.

Fellow presidential candidate Ron Paul thinks that we should leave disaster relief to the Job Creators:

"[FEMA's] system of bureaucratic centralized economic planning... is a policy that is deeply flawed... I want to transition us out of this dependency... The whole idea of FEMA is a gross distortion of insurance. It's so far removed from the market and what insurance should be about... There is no magic about FEMA."

Not to be outdone, Glenn Beck observed that this year's disasters are further proof that the Lord wants us to hoard:

"How many warnings do you think you're going to get, and how many warnings do you deserve? ... If you've waited [to prepare and stockpile food], this hurricane is a blessing. It is a blessing. It is God reminding you — as was the earthquake last week — it's God reminding you you're not in control. Things can happen."

And what round-up of right-wing stupidity would be complete without a word from Rump Blimpaugh:

"I'll guarantee you Obama was hoping this was going to be a disaster as another excuse for his failing economy... If he's out there blaming tsunamis, if he's blaming earthquakes, and whatever natural disasters there are, this one was made to order, but it just didn't measure up."

All of which is to say that the quake and hurricane pretty much obliterated coverage of any actual LGBT news last week. (Even of Puerto Rico Senator Roberto Arango, R-NSFW, and the on-line Grindr photos of him showing off his rectal weight loss.)

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-08-29T16:40:00.000-05:00

The East Coast has one word for those smarty-pants on the West Coast who snicker at their panic over a minor earthquake and some wind and rain:

Carmaggeddon.

This Week's Toon: One of These Things Is Not Like the Other

2011-08-24T17:53:00.002-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Aug 24, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

This week's cartoon is for those queer readers who believe that marriage is an outdated social construct and who get upset with other gays and lesbians who want to buy into it. Some of those latter gays suggested last week that now that New York state sanctions same-sex marriage, it was time for Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie to make honest puppets of each other.

I was originally going to put Barbie's pal Ken into the cartoon -- an idea reinforced when my partner, Chris, ran across "Ken's Buddy, Allan" at a rummage sale last weekend.

Had I heard in time about Earring Magic Ken and Jewel Secrets Ken, I might have gone ahead with that plan. But it occurred to me that the folks at Mattel can be mighty protective of their trademarks, so I swapped out Ken for a fictional character who is half of a better known duo. Ken really isn't all that committed to Allan anyway, and is rarely seen with him in public any more.

And while Robin is a cartoon, not a puppet or doll, at least he lives in Gotham City, fairly near to Sesame Street -- unlike Ken, who lives way down in Malibu, I think.

So now I'm bracing for the blowback from DC Comics fans. I still remember getting an angry reaction from an "Laverne and Shirley" fan upset with a 1999 cartoon imagining that those two Milwaukeeans were still roommates nearly 40 years after the events of their TV show supposedly took place.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-08-22T08:25:00.000-05:00

This week's cartoon is brought to you by the letter M and the number 4.

In other news, Christian Century has a largely approving cover story on Dan Savage and his nationally syndicated sex advice column. The Indianapolis Colts are considering putting Brett Favre in blue and whites. And, in a story that interests nobody but Trekkies, a Cardassian got married.

Another Toon: Michele Bachmann Brings It to the Party

2011-08-18T07:15:00.003-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Aug 18, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Opening a rally in Iowa on Tuesday, Michele Bachmann told the crowd, "Before we get started, let's all say 'Happy Birthday' to Elvis Presley today!"

As any true Elvis fan knows, Elvis was born on January 8, 1935. August 16 was the 34th anniversary of his death at age 42.

I'm still searching for my Bachmann caricature, as you can see. Drawing her fairly small in this cartoon -- her head is a little more than an inch tall in the original drawing -- I just couldn't get those crazy eyes right.

This Week's Toon: Humpty Romney

2011-08-17T07:28:00.008-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Aug 17, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

The big challenge in this cartoon was to fit Mitt Romney's long, angular face onto a round egg (and then to redraw it again a centimeter to the left, because I hadn't left enough room on the page to put in the block of text. When I had a scanner that could handle a 14" by 17" sheet of bristol board, I would have just moved the border of the cartoon a centimeter to the right, but that scanner died earlier this year and I had to replace it with one with a raised barrier and a hinge immediately against two sides of its 12" x 8" screen).

While Rick Perry's face would fit better on Humpty Dumpty's head, I kind of like the insinuation that Romney is a fragile thing heading for a fall. It's difficult to imagine today's Republican party rallying behind a former Massachusetts governor whose major achievement in office was a health care plan that served as a model for Obamacare; and who isn't, by literalist fundamentalist standards, a Christian, and thus ineligible for public office as far as GOP theocrats are concerned. Their crowd was disappointed by John McCain and his lack of open religious fervor, and they're not going to lose another election cycle to someone who isn't one of their own.

Moreover, I like the name. It was a coin toss whether to call him Humpty Romney or Romney Dumpty.

For anyone who has not had the pleasure of reading Through the Looking Glass, Alice buys an egg from the White Queen (the Queen having turned into a sheep), who places the egg upright on a far counter. By the time Alice reaches it, the egg has turned into Humpty Dumpty, and the two have a conversation full of Dodgsonian wordplay.

[Humpty Dumpty said,] "There's glory for you."

"I don't know what you mean by 'glory,'" Alice said.

"Of course you don't -- till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'"

"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument," Alice objected.

"When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more not less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master -- that's all."

Alice was too much puzzled to say anything, so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. "They've a temper, some of them -- particularly verbs, they're the proudest -- adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs -- however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That's what I say!"

"Would you tell me, please," said Alice, "what that means?"

"Now you talk like a reasonable child," said Humpty Dumpty, looking very much pleased. "I meant by 'impenetrability' that we've had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well if you'd mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you don't mean to stop here all the rest of your life."

"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone.

As I noted on Monday, Alice -- in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass -- appears to be becoming a running theme for this election. I've already drawn the Republican field as Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum; and although I haven't yet set a cartoon at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, one seems inevitable. I wouldn't be the first to do so, however.

(Nor am I positing that Dwayne Powell was the first to do so. I'm pretty sure that every liberal editorial cartoonist has produced a Mad Hatter's Tea Party cartoon since the Tea Party emerged on the scene.)

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-08-15T19:21:00.003-05:00

This will be the second time I've gone to this particular well for a cartoon about the Republicans' 2012 presidential candidates. It may well become a running theme.

This Week's Toon: News Corp's Wedding Pride

2011-08-10T07:40:00.005-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Aug 10, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Gay City News of New York City reports that a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's staunchly conservative News Corporation smells financial opportunity in them thar gay nuptuals in the Empire State:

While the New York Post, the conservative tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, opposed gay marriage in an editorial and gave scant coverage to the June 24 state Senate vote that enacted that law, a second News Corporation unit in New York City is selling pricey ad space in the inaugural issue of "Wedding Pride: The Magazine for Gay and Lesbian Wedding Planning."

CNG Publications is a unit of the Community Newspaper Group, which puts out a number of local newspapers in the New York metropolitan area. CNG is owned by News Corp., which bought out previously independent papers such as the Brooklyn Paper and Times Ledger.

I can see Joseph Cotten storming out of Orson Welles' office right about now.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-08-08T07:55:00.003-05:00

I'm back home after attending a two-day seminar in St. Paul last week.

The seminar was for one of my other jobs and focused on web site design and using social media. Apparently, one should keeps one's Facebook posts shorter than one's tweets. One should also budget one hour every day to social media tasks, although I thought people expected prompt responses to their on-line feedback, complaints and suggestions. I mean, think how frustrated the customer would become if one's office devoted only one hour per day to the phone.

None of which has any relevance to this week's Sneak Peek, but serves as a foreword to my humble apology for not having posted something in this cyberspace every day in spite of having taken my laptop along with me.

This Week's Cartoon: Rick S_nt_r_m

2011-08-03T09:29:00.003-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Aug 3, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Hmmm... if you google "Frothy Mix," is the first link the official web site of Rick Santorum?

Santorum, in case you didn't know it had anything to do with a real person, is the former Senator and soon-to-be former presidential candidate from Pennsylvania, famous for equating marriage rights with man-on-dog sex.

And while you're googling, look up schadenfreude.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-07-31T20:39:00.002-05:00

All the other editorial cartoonists are going to draw stuff about the debt ceiling this week. (Although some of them will draw about the federal deficit as if it were the same thing.) I'm taking on a totally different subject, however. Would it be going out on a limb and suggesting the possibility that Rick Santorum is not going to be the next president of the United States?

Oscar, Oscar, Oscar!

2011-07-28T23:04:00.003-05:00

My cartoon this week provoked the attention of the Editorial Explanations blog on Thursday. And after I explicitly stated that nothing, no, nothing whatsoever, was to be read into said cartoon. Feh.

Oh well. At least it keeps my name from shrinking to single pixel font size in Mr. Wheeler's labels list.

This Week's Toon: Oscar Wilde, Leather Daddy

2011-07-27T07:28:00.004-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Jul 27, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

In the face of death, despair, and dysfunction dominating the news, this week's cartoon is a break of sheer silliness. On July 14, California Governor Jerry Brown signed the "FAIR Act," (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful), adding LGBT people to the list of minorities whose historical contributions must be acknowledged and not demeaned in social studies curricula of California schools.

An antigay Republican organization has begun soliciting signatures to put a repeal measure on the ballot.

This week's cartoon doesn't take a stand on any of that (although it is gratifying that a major school system is countering the right-wing agenda of the Texas School Board). It is what it is, and don't read anything into it that it's not.

This week's sneak peek

2011-07-25T07:59:00.003-05:00

It's not even August yet, and I'm already drawing back-to-school cartoons.

You'd think I had bored kids moping around the house.

Wisconsin Republicans ♥ Bank Robbers

2011-07-23T11:02:00.004-05:00

An article in The Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee caught my eye yesterday. "Concealed Carry Law Stumps Bankers" (subscription required) outlines the difficulty Wisconsin banks, saving & loans, and credit unions face in operating under the state's new law allowing "concealed carry" of guns anywhere in the state (with the exception of the building where the legislators themselves work).

"On one hand, prohibiting guns in bank lobbies would seem like a no-brainer. Of the bank robberies in Wisconsin during 2010, 83% involved the robber showing a weapon or threatening to use one, according to the Community Bankers of Wisconsin.

"However, the law is written in such a way that banks and other businesses that post 'no guns' signs run a legal risk of being found liable for damages if someone is injured when a gun is discharged on the business premises. The law gives immunity from liability to businesses that do not post a concealed-weapons notice, but does not protect from liability businesses that prohibit concealed weapons in their premises by posting an appropriate notice, according to a memo the Community Bankers Association sent to its members."

Churches, bars, and other venues face the same legal exposure if they would prefer patrons to check their guns at the door.

I may have gotten a taste of the future of American banking during a vacation in Italy in 2009. I hadn't been able to get Euros from my bank at home before I left, so my plan was to exchange dollars for Euros as soon as I got to Italy. Knowing that the exchange rate at airports is generally less favorable than exchange rates elsewhere, I and the three other members of our family on the trip went looking for a bank the morning after we landed.

At every bank we found, customers had to use a security entrance of one sort or another. At the first bank, we couldn't figure out how the portal (I can't call it a door) worked. At the second, we had to remove all our metal items -- belts, coins, etc. -- outside the bank and place them into lockers on the street. Then we had to enter a small cubicle one at a time; the cubicle had sliding glass doors at either end that were controlled by someone inside the bank.

Maybe this is just a feature of Italian banks, but clearly, dealing with individual consumers inside the bank was not something they particularly enjoy doing. They dealt with my brother-in-law Gary's exchange first, then an Italian customer who came in after us, then finally me; there was only one person in the bank handling us customers, and she was very slow about it. Very. Very. Slow. But that's beside the point.

When it came time for us to leave, it was through that same glassed-in cubicle. The Italian customer was long gone, but Gary, Patty, and Chris had waited inside for me. Gary left second-to-last; the door to the street caught only partly open, but he was able to squeeze through. I went through last, and the doors stuck closed with me trapped in the cubicle.

The banking employees were annoyed, but in no way alarmed or apologetic. Indeed, they showed the same lack of interest that we had seen throughout our banking experience. Nobody came over to check the door, which leads me to believe that there was nothing new about the doors getting stuck and they knew that resetting the controls or whatever they were doing inside the bank would eventually work. And eventually it did.

But I've never bothered to step inside a European bank since. I'm no claustrophobe, but I'd rather pay the ATM fee.

Of course, gun controls are stricter in Europe, but they have more experience with terrorism (and the mafia) over there, and have learned to live with certain security measures that are still strange to us Americans.

As long as our gun-happy, tea partisan, careless legislators can't tell the difference between a bank and a barn, we may have to get used to them before long.

This week's toon: San Diego Pride

2011-07-20T13:51:00.004-05:00

(click here to view)

Paul Berge
Q Syndicate
Jul 20, 2011

EditorialCartoonists.com

Laudatory cartoons are rarely ever funny, or even clever. Some occasions, however, call for them, and the participation in Saturday's LGBT pride parade in San Diego of active duty military personnel is one such occasion.

A poster on the LGBT Weekly article points out that a contingent of active duty military personnel marched in a LGBT pride parade in New York in 1975. Marchers included Air Force TSgt. Leonard Matlovich, who made the cover of Time magazine that September for his pioneer efforts to get the military to accept gay and lesbian service members. So, yes, the San Diego marchers are not the first, even if they are the first in over a generation.

Today's marchers can see the light at the end of the tunnel of Don't Ask Don't Tell -- a policy that wouldn't even begin until 18 years after the 1975 march. Whatever promise the marchers with Sgt. Matlovich may have seen in the heady days of the sexual revolution (they couldn't know that darker days lay ahead of them), there is cause for celebration this year.

I don't think our lesbian and gay service members will have to wait 36 years to take part in their third pride parade.

Southeast Wisconsin Redistricting, part II

2011-07-18T22:45:00.007-05:00

In discussing the Republicans plan to join the City of Racine and the City of Kenosha into one state senate district, I described Kenosha as a solid union town. I neglected to contrast it with Racine except to say that the 21st Senate District has swung between Republicans and Democrats.

At the risk of sounding like I think Racine is a lousy place to live, and admitting up front that I'm going to be talking in stereotypes and broad generalizations, here is how I see Racine as being quite different from Kenosha.

Where Kenosha is Union Strong, Racine has developed a significant aversion to unions, and progressivism generally. It was not always thus: during the Great Depression, Racine got the nickname of Little Moscow due to its labor unrest. It even elected a Socialist Mayor in 1934, William Swoboda.

But not all major workplaces in Racine were union shops. S.C. Johnson & Son. Johnson Wax held off unionization by being one of the most progressive employers in the nation (recognizing same-sex domestic partner benefits in the 1990's when politicians were still afraid to stand up for LGBT citizens in any way.)

My generation -- the baby boomers -- grew up during a period when the public schools were repeatedly closed by public employee union strikes. The school janitors went on strike in 1970, and the teachers struck in 1972, 1974, and 1977. That last strike lasted 50 days -- from January until March -- and required Racine Unified School District to make up days by extending school through June 30, including six Saturdays (the maximum number of Saturdays allowed by law). Union president Jim Ennis proclaimed that he represented his union's interests, not the public interest, and people remember that. This winter, during the furore over Scott Walker's union-busting "budget repair" bill, I overheard a woman my age in a restaurant telling her fellow diners that the 1977 strike was the major reason she is against unions.

Augmenting Racine's skeptical view of unions is the longstanding attitude among many of its citizens that if something doesn't directly benefit me, I'm against it. If my children have grown up and moved away, I don't see why my taxes should pay for schools. If I don't exercise, I don't see why my taxes should pay for bike trails. If I'm scared to go downtown because of all the dark-skinned people who live there, I don't see why my taxes should pay for making downtown attractive.

In addition to school strikes, my generation was beset with Racine's reluctance to deal with school overcrowding. Year after year, voters rejected referenda to build a new junior high school, so my class and the one before it went through three years of "split shifts": seventh graders went to school from noon to 5:00 p.m., and eighth and ninth graders went to school from 7:00 a.m. to noon. (This coincided with a year of year-round daylight savings time, so everyone got a taste of walking to or from school in the dark.) Classes were only 35 minutes long, which is a pretty short time in which to teach geometry, to accomplish anything in shop, or to practice band. It's even less time to get anything done in gym class, factoring in changing into gym clothes, showering, drying off, and getting dressed for the next class. Finally, Gilmore Junior High (now Middle School) was built; but now, Racine's voters keep rejecting referenda to repair or replace the century-old elementary schools that are crumbling around today's students.

Here's another example of Racine's If It Doesn't Benefit Me, I'm Against It attitude. Saturday, I mentioned the recall of Republican State Senator George Petak. In 1996, the Milwaukee Brewers wanted to replace County Stadium. Since he couldn't sell the idea of a state tax to pay for a new stadium, Governor Tommy Thompson had the bright idea of a .1% sales tax limited to Milwaukee County and the five counties that border it: Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha, Walworth, and Racine. Petak supported the new stadium, but knew how unpopular the tax was in Racine and promised to vote against it. As legislators wrangled over the bill into the wee hours of the morning, it was clear that the stadium bill would fail unless Petak voted for it.

He changed his vote to Yea, and Democrats rode the wave of popular outrage to take over the 21st District Senate seat. Unlike this summer's recalls, the outrage was bipartisan: Petak had to win a primary against a Republican challenger before falling to Democrat Kim Plache (which also resulted in Democrats seizing a senate majority). It was a mean campaign, however, and the venomous atmosphere was long-lasting. It's still not a good idea when at a Brewers game to let other fans know you're from Racine.

Given their similar size and geographic location, what makes Racine and Kenosha so different? Is it that Kenosha has two colleges and Racine has none?

By and large, Kenosha was settled by Italian immigrants, and Racine was settled by Scandinavians (primarily Danes). Italians have a reputation for adhering less to the state than to more immediate sources of authority: family and clan on the one hand, and the Catholic Church on the other. Scandinavians came here with a greater respect for the institutions of the state, but as Protestants (Lutherans), expecting more control over their religious institutions.

I work at a Lutheran church in Racine which claims the title of the oldest Danish congregation in the United States. I've thorougly researched the history of this congregation, which is marked by decades of squabbling over doctrinal matters and the personal conduct of its pastors. In one episode, the congregation voted whether to denounce their pastor, a Dane living only temporarily in the U.S., for attending a dance held to honor visiting Danish dignitaries. Congregational action of that sort would be unthinkable in a Catholic congregation.

My point here is that Kenoshans have a greater willingness to pull together as a community and Racinians display a greater demand for personal autonomy. When Sarah Palin castigates Barack Obama for having been a "community organizer," Racinians laugh with Palin; Kenoshans laugh at her. Kenoshans also seem more likely to carry through with a majority decision once it has been decided; Racinians are more likely to continue attacking the leader associated with whatever majority decision doesn't go their way.

The effect has been that when Kenosha faced the disaster of the closing of the Chrysler plant and all the companies that supplied it with material, Kenosha pulled together to determine its post-industrial future. Racine spent the age of industrial decline unable to agree what the future should look like and unwilling to spend a penny on anyone else's vision for it. Kenosha facilitated growth by forging agreements with its neighboring townships; Racine and its neighboring townships erected virtual Berlin Walls. Kenosha strengthened its ties to Chicago by becoming the northernmost stop on the Metra line; Racine is dead set against any form of interurban mass transportation.

It will be interesting to see how the difference in style plays out in elections for the 21st Senate District. And -- fair warning, Senator Wangaard -- the 22nd as well.

This Week's Sneak Peek

2011-07-18T07:57:00.001-05:00

It's another crowd cartoon this week.