Another Weekend of Cartoons

Here is the cartoon from Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal.

Conceptually, I'm really quite happy with this cartoon. I took a cartoon cliche of the food chain and turned it on its head to make a a statement about the state of the American Automobile industry.

GM announced last week that they cease production at their plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, about 40 miles south of Madison. From what I gather it wasn't a huge surprise because the Janesville plant, was one of GM oldest and specialized in building big SUVs, those cars that are being devoured by smaller imported automobiles.

Nonetheless, it tough when over 2000 people lose their job at the same time, through no fault of their own. The people who lost their jobs in Janesville, did not decide to build obsolete SUVs at the plant, and it wasn't their fault that GM and the other American car companies have failed build the small fuel efficient car that Americans are now desperate to buy.

People will blame cheap foreign labor, unions, or America's broken health-care system for the loss of these jobs, and their partially right. But the real reason auto workers are losing the jobs across this country, is that the American car corporations simply are not developing and making the cars for the future.

Here is the cartoon from Saturday:



The Madison city council, particularly Alder Julia Kerr, have been stalling a plan to turn a block of vacant buildings across the street from Camp Randall (University of Wisconsin-Madison's football stadium) into a hotel and a bar. The developer has reworked the plans several times to accommodate the concerns of Kerr and residents of the nearby neighborhood that she represents. The residents are concerned that the hotel's bar will become a haven for drunk football fans.

This is ridiculous.

The neighborhood is already a mess on Football Saturdays, with passed out and drunken party animals strewn about the street. This hotel and bar (and might i add city tax payer) won't make a noticeable difference on the party scene. Besides, the drunks are something you should expect to deal with when live in the neighborhood. If you live in the neighborhood and don't like the noise, go to the movies or the mall on those 8 Saturdays when their are football games. If you can tolerate the party crowd, charge 'em to park in your driveway and quit your whining.