Special Session

This cartoon is about a week old, but I never got around to posting it online. The gag is pretty straight forward but my editor loves the character of Jimmy Doyle. I will miss Jim when his term runs out next year.

Believe

I liked this image. I think it's a little bit sad, and sobering, but I'm not sure the message is razor sharp which, after all, is the point of an editorial cartoon.


Still, I like drawing Santa and Polar Bears, so there.

Stuck!!!!

I thought this was a great image to describe this unpleasant situation.

DUI Snowman

State Legislators will likely pass a bill this week to "toughen" Wisconsin's pathetically lenient drunken driving laws. While the legislation hardly sends the message that Wisconsin is serious about cracking down on the scourge of the state, something is better than nothing.

But the problem is, lawmakers likely won't be able to raise enough money to cover the cost of tougher enforcement. They will be relying on fees charged to criminals, which will likely only raise $15 million, and hopefully less (I'm pro less crime). If legislators were serious about raising money to crack down on drunken drivers they would raise the state's minuscule beer tax. But as this cartoon illustrates, they don't have the snowball for that.

Let it Snow

It is dumping in Madison right now. We have about 15" outside our front door right now. We lost power for a while last night while the storm raged, and we have a tree in our backyard that is being seriously weighted down by at least a foot of wet, heavy snow. Still, since I work from home, I don't think I'm going to get a snow day today.

Edgewater Hotel

Here is the cartoon, I drew earlier in the week about the Edgewater Hotel in Madison. A developer wants to spend to $93 million to fix up the hotel and add an 8-story tower and dozens of more rooms.

I think it's amazing that in this economy, somebody wants to invest our community. Some neighbors think it will destroy the character of their downtown neighbor. I say they can go jump in a lake.

Downtown Madison belongs to all of us, and I don't think a small group of NIMBY folks should be able to slow down progress. There are lots of benefits to living in downtown Madison. You are close to fine restaurants, bars, intriguing shopping and fantastic cultural institutions. The down side is that you shouldn't be allowed to complain about tall buildings in your neighborhood.

DNR deer count

There has been a whole lot of hoopla about the DNR count of the Wisconsin Deer Herd. Hunters think the DNR has been grossly overestimating the size of the herd, and therefore has been advocating for unsustainable hunting practices, like "earn a buck" which forces hunters to shoot an antler-less deer, before allowing them to shoot a trophy Buck. Hunters cite the dramatically lower deer kill this year (which was down about 30%), as evidence of the DNR faulty numbers. Of course, the DNR suspended the "earn a buck" program this year, and hunters killed a very few antler less deer. Perhaps the change in policy explains the change in the deer kill.

But the cartoon is still a lot of fun.

Tax Heck

I thought this cartoon was pretty funny. I like the idea of HECK, some sort of watered down, not so bad version of eternal damnation.