WEAC's Change of Heart

I must say, I'm really excited that WEAC has decided to change its position on merit pay, evaluating teachers and breaking up the Milwaukee School district. Making sure that our children have good teachers and that those teachers are compensated for their effectiveness not just their longevity is crucial to improving our nation's embarrassing education system.

That being said, it would have been nice if WEAC would have agreed to these reforms because they thought they were effective methods of better educating our children, and not just survival tactics employed to appease the angry conservatives in charge of the state government.

This cartoon also reminds me of one of the reasons I love being a cartoonist. I decided that the cartoon should be something involving a James Bond type scene, with WEAC under duress. Then I got to have the fun debate in my head over what would be the funniest and most visually interesting clichéd evil villain method of dispatching an adversary. In the end, I decided that a shark tank was funnier than a laser beam or a ticking time bomb.

In what other job, other than super evil genius, do you get to make that decision?

We are the champions

I drew this cartoon last week, and was hoping it would see the light of day (not like the Bucky Rose Bowl cartoon that we had to kill when they lost).

What a great game, and what a great season. I have to hand it to the Packers. I've never seen a team fight through so many injuries and setbacks and play so well and so passionately.

GO! PACK! GO!

And now, I'm taking a break from drawing cartoons about sports. After the last two weeks, as much as I love drawing cartoons about the Packers, I'm just burnt out. I really don't want to draw another cartoon about sports until Opening Day, but we'll see if I can last that long.

In the meantime, I think our new governor should keep me pretty busy.

Smelling the Roses

Very rarely am I completely happy with a cartoon as a visual piece of art. Usually there is something I wish I had drawn better or composed more elegantly, but had to call it good enough because of the constant pressures of deadline. But I'm quite proud of how this cartoon turned out.

Of course the message isn't exactly hard-hitting political commentary. But visually, the image is simple, I really like how I captured Bucky's pose and I like how few words I used in the cartoon. You might not gather this from how laden with text some of my cartoons are, but a cartoon that makes a point visually, without any words or labels, is my ultimate goal.

Some might have labeled the badger "Bucky" or "UW Football", or labeled the roses as "Rose Bowl," but in this instance, that wasn't necessary. Granted the words "sniff, sniff" appear in the upper right hand corner, but I liked those more for visual composition than anything else.

Plus, onomatopoeia are fun, and sometimes a cartoon doesn't have to move mountains, or carry some weighty political message. Sometimes, a cartoon should just be fun.

The Fat lady is warming up.

There are several members of Madison's city council who are particularly fond of the sound of their own voices. They like to talk late into the night about overarching philosophical matters.

Since I don't have to sit through these meetings, this usually doesn't bother me. But it's worrisome when they practice this procrastination with a deadline fast approaching.

That's what's going on right now with the Overture Center. Banks and donors have agreed to erase $28.6 million in debt that the art center has piled up, if the city can come up with an operating agreement by the end of the year. But, instead of hammering out the details of how to operate the center, some council members feel it necessary to blabber on and on about the role of the arts in the city.

If a deal doesn't get done, Madison taxpayers could be on the hook for some $6 million in debt payments, or about $70 a household. This is money that individual families don't need, and in many cases can't afford, to spend.

But the bigger danger of not finding a solution is that one of the city's greatest assets could be shut down, which would be a blow to the arts community and a spit in the face to generous philanthropists, like Jerome Frautschi, who bankrolled the project.

Dane County Marijuana Reeferendum

Like most people in Wisconsin, I believe that people who want to use marijuana for medicinal purposes should be allowed to do so.

Dane County will put the question to the voters in the fall on an advisory referendum (or reeferendum). Dane County supervisors unanimously supported the referendum (that's right all 37 of 'em), and officials expect the about 70 percent on county voters to support the measure.

Now it would be nice if the referendum actually had some teeth, but I guess it's a baby step in the process to give people access to the medicine they want.

I understand that in many states where medical marijuana is legal, the system has been abused. I've heard stories from places like California and Colorado where unscrupulous doctors will give anybody and their dog a prescription for marijuana, provided the patients pays a hefty fee. Some doctors will see hundreds of patients a day.

But at the same time the only thing particularly dangerous about marijuana is that it is illegal. I find stoners and potheads really annoying, but I'd feel safer with a stoner driving in the car next to me on the freeway than with a drunk.

And even though I wouldn't touch the stuff if it were legal, I'm excited that California is looking into legalizing and taxing pot. Advocates think the state will save money on police enforcement, earn money from taxes on pot, and shut down a portion of the black market for drugs that funds the murderous cartels in Mexico.

And I'm inclined to agree.

Earth Day's midlife crisis

Here is the cartoon I decided to draw for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. I liked it because it made a good point about the current state of American political discourse. I drew another Earth Day cartoon that I sent off my state-wide and national subscribers and I have attached that toon to this blog post. It’s not a bad a cartoon, but it doesn’t have the same edge.



It is sad that the environment and science itself has become such a partisan political issue. We need to be having a debate about what is the best way to address global warming, not whether or not it is a hoax.

Denying climate change is really a position for political wimps.

It is difficult to decide what is the best method of curbing green house gasses(i.e. what are the roles for the private sector and local, state and federal government, and what sort of mechanism such as cap and trade or carbon taxes are best at controlling carbon). It's much easier to stick your head in the sand and pretend that there isn't a problem.

Deer Hunting and socialsm

I'm not a hunter, and I was not raised around hunters or wildlife (although wild pheasants used to roam around the vacant lots near where I grew up in Detroit). But since moving to Wisconsin, I've tried to embrace the proud outdoorsman tradition that is so important to this state's identity.

There are many hunters out there who are true conservationists. These folks are excited that wolves are starting to thrive again in Wisconsin, and might reclaim the role as primary predatory to the white-tailed deer population.

But there are other hunters who only see the wolves as a threat. If the wolves cull too much of the already over-counted herd, then the DNR might have to consider rolling back the deer season in November. And certain hunters would rather see the wolves extinct, than to have their excuse to drink beer and play with guns in the Northwoods cut short.

As you can see from my editorial cartoon, I have less respect for these hunters.