Doomsday Budget Bunker

I've decided to go local on this 'toon. Secret Service ho' benders and GSA toga parties don't hold a candle to this...Baltimore City School System's Chief Information Technology Officer taking scarce resources from a cash-strapped school system and using it for his own office makeover. Here's the link to the article from earlier this week in the Baltimore Sun:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-ci-north-avenue-renovations-20120426,0,4904915.story

If I were still cartooning for the Sun I would have submitted this cartoon, which about says it all: self-serving, total disregard for the welfare of the children this dude, Jerome Oberlton, is supposed to serve. I'm surprised he didn't build a mini-bar into his new suite. Nothing like a few dry martinis to get the wheels a turning.

Stand Your Ground

I've always wondered when and how (not if) people of color in the United States, especially African-Americans and Hispanics, might one day say, "You know what. We've had it. We tried to play by the 'rules," but those rules have never been fair. To hell with it and to hell with you." There have been a few recent examples of such uprisings, in Los Angeles after the Rodney King trial, but our militarized state has been as adept at "keeping the peace" at home as it has waging pointless, unjust wars abroad.

For me, the Trayvon Martin case has brought home this issue, underscoring that we remain a nation that maintains separate and unequal systems of justice, depending on the color of one's skin. It was gratifying to see the million hoodie march but there needs to be a real transformation in these unjust systems and structures. When are all people of all races, ethnicities and classes going to put down their hot pocket, turn off the iPad-streaming video and say "Enough!"

This horrible tragedy should give President Obama the Amityville Horror moment he needs to realize it's now long past time to "Get OUT!" of Afghanistan. The original mission of defeating Al Qaeda and chasing off the Taliban was achieved by the end of 2001. We haven't had mission creep, we've had "mission of the month." What the hell is this? Baskin Robins?

Why on earth are we still there? Doesn't Obama give a damn about the innocent Afghans he has killed with his policy? Does he lose any sleep at night after sending all of the American men and women to fight in Afghanistan for no real measurable gain in U.S. security or national interest? Maybe the real reason is that his fragile ego and nervousness over re-election lead him to want to show the world that he can man up with the hawks in both political parties.

Meanwhile Leon Panetta should be forced to apologize personally to each and everyone of the people harmed by this tragedy: to the Afghan families who lost their loved ones and continue to suffer from the trauma of this massacre as well as to all of the soldiers whose sacrifice he minimized by glibly uttering this trite cliche. What a putz. Shame on him.

What senseless, unjust loss of human lives.

Grumpy Old Rush

Some of you might think this 'toon to be a bit harsh, but Rush's brutish behavior and "foibles" are all there on public record: his periodic pill-poppin' binges to the Caribbean and anywhere else where he can take a vacation from stomping the moral high ground into a field of cow pies. His hypocrisy reveals just how deeply sick he really is, which is maybe why 15-20 million fellow hatred-junkies tune into his show daily.

There are programs for people like him, and I hope one day he chooses to sober up. But even once he finally puts that bottle down, he'll still have to face himself in the mirror and account for all of the hatred and mean-spiritedness he has spread in the world in his 20+ years of broadcasting.

Barefoot in a Burka

Medieval and misogynistic - how else can you describe the Republicans' all-out assault on half the population? Supported by their pedophilic, homophobic brethren among religious "leaders," these vile, hateful little men are trying place us on a backsliding course to reverse history's trend towards greater equality, tolerance, and acceptance.

What would Jesus do? Shake his head in disgust, and being a good carpenter take a hammer and try to knock some sense into these knuckleheads.

Pimp-Daddy in the Caddy

As an editorial cartoonist you always strive to keep up with themost current news, what's hot in the latest news cycle. And while Mitt Money's line on his two-caddy driving spouse is still getting play, he's gone on to spout some more from-manor-born nonsense - he doesn't follow NASCAR but he has a couple of friends who are NASCAR owners. And he wonders why he can't connect with the common folk. It reminds me of that great line from History of the World Part I, "Subjects? I love my subjects. Pull!"

I don't know which is worse, Romney's clear lack of any sensitivity or empathy for most Americans or his bizarre attempts to try to connect anyway, twisting himself up in knots to show he's "down" with all that. Hence today's cartoon. I hope you enjoy it.

Inside the Borscht Beltway

Another budget showdown? Stop already, I'm getting all ferklempt over here. I love this joke, taken from a Woody Allen monologue in Annie Hall. One of the classic Jewish jokes, and oh so fitting for the (mishu)gas that passes (excuse me) for serious debate in Washington these days. It gives me such tsorres in the kishkes, this mishu-gas. Oy. Oy gevault.