Cartoonists With Attitude

click for comic

Oh crap! It’s May. I have so much to do over the next two weeks.

Next Week: The Great Pandemic Panic & Flu Freakout

I meant to post this last week when I saw it and here it’s been sitting in Blogger as a “draft” this whole time. Anyway, here’s what a positive news story looks like these days:

The Army last month stopped accepting felons and recent drug abusers into its ranks as the nation’s economic downturn helped its recruiting, allowing it to reverse a decline in recruiting standards that had alarmed some officers.

…yay?

I was very surprised to see this box front and center on AOL's homepage a couple of hours ago:

I was struck by the sub-headline, "Middle Class Is About to Feel the Pain."  I'm not aware of any planned increases to the middle class tax brackets, so I was interested to see how other changes to the tax code will be adversely affecting the middle class.

Clicking on the headline led to this box:

This Middle Class Model, apparently living in a dystopian 2011, looks very upset about the tax pain he's feeling.  Let's go to the gallery…

And now we get a full view of our pinched model and an actual explanation of how the "Middle Class Is About to Feel the Pain."

Think Taxes Are Too High Now?  Just wait:  Congress is all but certain to raise them a couple of years from now.  Tax increases will hit both businesses and individuals - and not just singles making more than $200,000 a year and married couples over $250,000 a year.  They’ll be the first to get pinched, but not the last.  There’s just not enough revenue that can be drawn from the wealthy without crippling the economy, so in time, middle incomers will feel a bigger bite, too.

So the headline on the homepage reports Big Tax Hikes, saying the Middle Class Is About to Feel the Pain.  It takes two clicks in to find out that this is based on sheer speculation.  A theoretical prediction about the future of the economy and what the government will do about it.  The tax increases are "all but certain," which means of course: "nothing but uncertain."

I guess getting people scared and angry about imminent tax hikes boosts the click-through rate, even if those hikes are non-existent.  This is what we're replacing newspapers with.

Here’s an email I just sent to the ISP that hosts “Alas, a Blog.” This is regarding the cartoonist Donna Barstow, who work has been criticized on “Alas” here and here. Donna sent an email to the ISP, which the ISP forwarded to me.

Part of Donna’s complaint is that two of her cartoons have been reproduced on “Alas” (which I think is fair use). However, it’s clear that her complaints relate to the entire posts, not just the copyrighted cartoons. For example, she complains about the charge of racism, calling it “defamation.” She also quoted some other ISP’s policy against “Threats & Harassment,” which I think is misplaced, since criticizing her work is not a threat nor harassment.

The email I sent the ISP:

Dear Ben,

Thanks for forwarding Donna Barstow’s email to me.

I believe I have a first amendment right to criticize Ms. Barstow’s cartoons, including reproducing a cartoon of hers under the “fair use” provisions of copyright law.

However, I hope it will help your situation that neither cartoon she refers to is currently hosted on your server. They are both “hotlinked” from the blog but hosted on another web server. So you can honestly tell Ms. Barstow that neither of her cartoons are on your servers, and this has nothing whatsoever to do with your ISP. I hope that will convince her to stop bothering you.

It is my understanding that political criticism of published, publicly available cartoons falls squarely under the “fair use” standard, and that I’m well within my rights to show my readers a political cartoon in order to critique its politics. As a professional political cartoonist myself, I’ve had the same thing happen to me countless times. Donna Barstow is attempting to use bullying and legal threats to shut down legitimate, legal criticism of her publicly displayed political cartoons.

I really hope you’re not going to give in to something like this. It’s a real threat to freedom of speech if ISPs are willing to remove political criticism removed from blogs if the person being criticized sends a strongly worded email.

I am certainly willing to discuss this further with you. Please email me if you have any further questions or concerns.

Best wishes,

Barry Deutsch

Related.

From Salon's Letters section, in response to the latest God-Man installment.  Clockwork Smurf (?) says:

UPDATE:  Thanks to alert readers, I now understand the Flying Spaghetti Monster reference.

This is a guest post by Nezua, cross-posted from The Unapologetic Mexican.)

OVER AND OVER we hear about The Hispanic Vote™ and The Latino/a Vote® and it is a real thing we are talking about in all of this. Our people—nuestra gente—have long been a force in this land, be it under the golden sun harvesting the corn that has for thousands of years fed our antepasados (ancestors) or away from the sun and working hard in US places of business or doing so much to build strong familias together, as las mujeres—the women—among us are known for historically. We are a beautiful and long enduring people, and responsible for so much creation here that sustains us today: Art, Literature, Food, Clothing, Song.

And yet, our voices have yet to be utilized and enjoined in a way that can efficiently organize around the issues that affect our communities. Don’t mistake what I say: the Latina/o (or “Hispanic”) community is famous for its ability to organize on the local level, and we are proud of this. And that is why it is time to continue to tie this ability and history together and bring it to an even higher level.

It’s true that while so much joins us, we do come from many different backgrounds and hold varying views on the issues that affect us. We will not always agree, nor should we. What we can agree on, though, is that we should have a way to centralize and engage the politics that affect us on so many levels.

I am involved in launching a site called presente.org that is determined to achieve this very goal. Please stop over and check it out. If what I have written above interests you, please sign up.

Hasta luego!

• One note: On my own blog I do tend to speak more to Mexican@s and Latin Americans, because that’s the point at my place. But Presente.org has a much wider focus as “Latinos” and “Hispanics” can come from a wide range of origins. As far as some of my words above, not all of us have come from farming families, or the hot climates! Though many traditions and struggles do overlap. I just wanted to make clear that while I am involved in the organizing of this effort, there is a variance between my readership and presente.org’s intended audience.

And here is Presente.Org’s formal intro:

Dear Friends,

On May 1st, thousands of us will take to the streets to demand an end to immigration policies that marginalize and dehumanize millions of our people. Our presence will be historic and important, but we must not stop there. Latinos have long been a driving force behind the economy of the United States, but we have yet to speak with a unified political voice that forces our government to do right by all of us. We can—and starting today, with your help, we will.

That’s why we’re launching Presente.org. Our goal is to create a broad-based online community of Latinos and our allies strong enough to make the United States honor its promises and protect our people. We’re starting with immigration, but we won’t stop there—we’ll provide you with ongoing opportunities to make change on the issues that most affect our communities.

The only thing we need now is you. Our power is in our voices and our numbers. It starts by affirming a simple pledge: to stand up and speak out for the interests of Latino communities. Please join us, and just as important, invite your friends and family to do the same:

President Obama has pledged to push for immigration reform, and other politicians are also with us. For the first time in a generation, we have a real chance to drastically change our country’s immigration policy, impacting the lives of millions of friends, family members, and coworkers. But we can’t rely on politicians to pass real and just reforms. There are strong forces who stand against us, and they’ve made it clear that they will fight true reform at every step of the way.

We know that real change will only happen if everyday people speak with a strong, unified voice. That’s what Presente.org seeks to make possible. On immigration and beyond, we’ll use the Internet and national media to hold our leaders accountable, making our political presence accurately reflect our importance to this country. Click here to stand up and be counted, and show the world how large our movement really is:

Thank you,

The Presente.org team

To direct people to Presente.org Please TWEET:

Stand and be counted, Latinas, Latinos, Hispanos, Gente, Amigos and Amigas! Join presente.org today. #latino #hispanic #immigration

Or TWEET:

Stand and be counted. Empower the Hispanic/Latin@ Community. Join presente.org today. #latino #hispanic #immigration

To direct people to this post

TWEET:

The Unapologetic Mexican: Presenting ¡PRESENTE! tinyurl.com/cw6fyp #immigration #latinas #latinos #hispanic

Para dirigir personas a Presente.org Por favor

TWEETEA:

Ponte de pie y seas contado, Latinas, Latinos, Hispanos, Gente, Amigos y Amigas! Unete Hoy! presente.org #latino #hispano #inmigración #migrantes

O TWEETEA:

Ponte de pie y seas contado. Apodera a la comunidad Hispana/Latin@. Unete Hoy! presente.org #latino #hispano #inmigración #migrantes

Para dirigir personas a este post,

TWEETEA:

El Unapologetic Mexican: Presentando a ¡PRESENTE! tinyurl.com/cw6fyp #latino #hispano #inmigración #migrantes

Queridos amigos:

El 1 de mayo miles de nosotros tomaremos las calles para exigir el fin de las políticas de inmigración que han marginado a millones de los nuestros. Nuestra presencia será histórica e importante, pero no debemos detenernos ahí. Los latinos somos una fuerza importante para la economía de los Estados Unidos; sin embargo, aún es necesario que nos hagamos escuchar con una voz política unida que obligué a nuestro gobierno a hacer lo correcto en favor de todos nosotros. Lo podemos hacer - y desde hoy, con tu ayuda, lo haremos.

Es por ello que estamos lanzando Presente.org. Nuestro objetivo es crear una comunidad amplia de latinos y aliados de nuestras causas en el internet; una comunidad que tenga la fuerza suficiente para lograr que este pais honre sus promesas y proteja a nuestra gente. Estamos comenzando con la inmigración, pero no nos detendremos ahí –nosotros les proveeremos oportunidades para lograr cambios en los asuntos que mas afectan a nuestras comunidades.

Tú eres lo único que necesitamos en este momento. Todo comienza con la afirmación de un simple compromiso: ponernos de pie y hacernos oír por los intereses de las comunidades Latinas. Por favor, únete a nosotros, e invita a tus amigos y familiares a hacer lo mismo.

Haz click aquí: presente.org/es

El presidente Obama ha prometido apoyar la reforma migratoria, y otros políticos también están con nosotros. Por primera vez, nos encontramos frente a la real oportunidad de lograr un cambio drástico en la política de inmigración de nuestro país, produciendo un gran impacto en las vidas de millones de amigos, familiares y compañeros de trabajo. Sin embargo, no podemos confiar en los políticos para que aprueben reformas justas y reales. Existen fuerzas poderosas que se levantan en nuestra contra.

Sabemos que el verdadero cambio solo ocurrirá cuando la gente se haga escuchar cada día con una voz fuerte y unida. Eso es precisamente lo que Presente.org busca lograr. Usaremos el Internet para hacer a nuestros líderes responsables en el campo de la inmigración y más allá; de esta manera, haremos de nuestra presencia política un reflejo exacto de nuestra importancia para el país. Haz clic en el vínculo de abajo para ponerte de pie y mostrarle al mundo cuan grande nuestro movimiento realmente es:

http://presente.org/es

Muchas gracias y Adelante!

Click the image to read it the whole thing.

Next week, I’ll try not to do a cartoon about torture. Unless someone else says something stupid about it. What are the chances of that?

Some recent stuff for the OC Weekly. A twenty-something bully bullies a teen that was bullying his younger brother.

And a woman in traffic court encountered a maniacal Judge.

It wasn’t until the promos for Jarvis Cocker’s new album Further Complications started coming out that I realized he and Lost’s recently deceased Daniel Faraday are the same dude.

I know one’s a fictional character, and the other is a real guy from Sheffield, but perhaps if you add a timeline change here or there, Daniel takes those piano lessons and becomes one cool-ass motherfucker.

The only other explanation is that skinny, hairy nerds are inherently cool, and nobody informed my high school classmates.