Wusses in the Wisconsin and Winners in Tampa

Wisconsin lawmakers seem incapable of making the tough decisions they need to balance the budget. They are too scared of voter backlash to either cut services or raise taxes to balance the budget, instead they've devised a series of accounting gimmicks that give the appearance of a balanced budget.

For instance, Republicans in the Assembly want to put off paying for this years school aid until next year. Democrats want to borrow against the money the state won in lawsuits against tobacco companies, which will provide the state with money now, but millions less than they were entitled to. The Governor wants to take real money out of the transportation fund to balance the budget, and borrow money to fix the state's ailing infrastructure.

Every suggestion just leaves the next budget in worse shape, and puts off the real hard decisions for another session of the legislature. Perhaps the thinking is if they put off their obligations for several more years, the economy will rebound and and revenue will increase. But I don't want to bet on that horse.

And speaking of sports, the formerly named "Devil" Rays of Tampa, have a winning record after 40 games for the first time in the organizations history.

Good for them.

And here is the rough of that cartoon.



As a Detroit Tigers fan, it's good to know that somebody is winning baseball games.

The Cheesiest

This is probably one of my cheesiest cartoons of all time, but it's still fun.

WOLF...WOOOLLFFF!!!!!!

Just a couple of years after they were taken off the endangered species list, gray or timber wolves might soon get their own hunting season.

I guess the wolves have bounced back nicely since Wisconsin hunters almost drove them to extinction in the 1950s and 60s, but I'm still not sold that hunting wolves is a good idea. Supposedly there have been some reports of wolves attacking livestock and domesticated dogs in Northern Wisconsin, and people need to hunt wolves to defend their animals. But I have sneaking suspicion that the folks advocating for a wolf hunt, are really deer hunters who are worried about being able to bag that buck this fall.

I constantly hear the argument that deer hunting here is Wisconsin is not only a tradition, but good wildlife management. If hunters didn't "harvest the herd," deer would destroy the forest undergrowth, cause an ever-increasing number of traffic accidents, and eventual starve from a shortage of food. So to prevent all of these atrocities, it has been our duty, come November, to pump bambi full of lead.

The deer population is out of control becasuse they don't have any natural predators. That at least was the case until the wolves bounced back. Wolves eat deer, a lot of deer. If there are enough wolves to kill and eat deer, we might no longer need to kill deer to keep them from starving.

Wolves are a danger to Wisconsin's hunting culture, and therefore a threat to everything that is good and sacred in this state. So do your duty this wolf season. Huff and puff and blow the wolves away.

Really Wild Turkeys

Here is the cartoon from Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal. There is a gang of Wild Turkeys attacking mail carriers in Madison. This is another cartoon that sort of wrote itself.

On a simple cartoon like this, it is sort of fun to push the visual action as much as possible. I personally am quite proud of the way I was able to make the mail carrier is this cartoon come alive, as he hammers the wanted poster onto the wall.

I am worried however, that maybe the action is a little distracting from the message of the cartoon. Then again this cartoon isn't making some sort of earth shattering point about government or society. Rather, I've just taken a news item and humorized it in an attempt to give readers something they can relate to, and above all else something that is fun to look at. And this cartoon, in my honest opinion, is very easy on the eyes.

Government Priorities.

Every once in a while a cartoon writes itself. I haven't posted of these until now, but I've started drawing about one editorial cartoon a week for the Tampa Tribune, in Florida.

Like just about every other state in the nation, Florida is having problems balancing their state budget. Unlike other state Florida seems more willing to make cuts in social services programs like prenatal care, for poor expecting mothers.

At the same time they plan on making these draconian cuts, there is another bill working its way through the legislature, that would require women who want an abortion (many of them the poor women who need the state supported prenatal care) to have an ultra-sound before they can exercise their right to choose.

Talk about screwed up priorities.

Hence this cartoon:


And the sketch:


On another note, Florida has one of the ugliest state capitol buildings I've ever seen. Apparently, there is a historic undersized capitol that was built in the 1850s or 60s and a monstrosity behind it, built in the 1970's after the state's population had ballooned.

Election Hangover

After Tuesday's primary election in Wisconsin, where Obama won handily, Hillary is in need of some serious momentum. Hence today's editorial cartoon.

This idea actually was inspired by Jason Stein, a reporter at the State Journal, and I think it works well considering the weather and the political winds. I'll buy him a beer at some point for suggesting I draw Hillary stuck in the snow (the bus was a Phil Hands original idea).

I'm starting to actually feel sorry for Hillary. I didn't vote for her, but I'm starting to feel sorry for her. I saw her speak in Madison the other night and she was somewhat impressive. She's definitely qualified and has a deep and strong understanding the of the issues.

But there's a serious problem with Hillary, and it's not her fault. I don't have any scientific data to back this up, (and I'm not sure if you could even gather such data), but I imagine that about 15 to 25 percent of American's vehemently hate Hillary. They simply hate her. They are Republicans, Democrats, independents, men and women, black and white, and they hate her. They refer to her as "the bitch." Often they can't explain why they hate her, they don't need a reason. Hating her is reason enough.

Liberals didn't like George W. Bush when he took office in January 2001. They were upset about Florida, and mad that Gore had lost, but most people didn't know enough about W. to fundamentally hate him.

Hillary's had over 15 years in the public sphere for people to develop and irrational aversion to her.

She might be ready for the oval office on Day 1, but she'll also be hated on Day 1.

I'm not entirely sure how effective a president can be when he/she is hated on day 1. I think Nixon had enough years in the limelight to inspire some bonafide hatred amongst his consituents. It's possible that this very hatred led to his paranoia, which led to Watergate, which led to his downfall, which destroyed Americans' faith in our government and institutions. Some would argue that 30 years later, America still hasn't recovered from Nixon's presidency.

Will Hillary become the next Nixon. I doubt it. She already seems more mentally stable than "Tricky Dick." But it won't help unite the country in any common goals, whether that is Health care, education or a resolution to the war in Iraq.

But that's not why I didn't vote for Hillary. In the end I just think she's too darn liberal. That's the problem with being independent and moderate. Every candidate presents you with something you hate.

Election Day

Those of us in Wisconsin will have the chance to go the polls today and actually make a difference in a Democratic presidential primary. But when either Hillary or Obama winds up on top when the polls close this evening, the losing camp will undoubtedly be sore, and claim that is was some sort of "ism" that kept them from securing the nomination. Hence today's editorial cartoon.

It's a darn shame. We've come so far in America. We actually have a women and and a black man squaring off to take the nomination of a major political party. This means that for the first time in history the democratic party candidate WILL not be some old white guy (sorry John McCain).

But this also means that the runner up of the democratic primary WILL not be some old white guy, and the loser will likely play the race/gender card. That won't diminish the accomplishments of the 2008 election season, but it will leave a bad taste in the mouths of all of us who hoped we could move beyond the labels of gender and race.

Hopefully, I'm wrong and the either Hillary or Obama, will accept the will of the voters (let's hope the voters figure it out, so the super-delegates don't get the chance), and reject the temptation to play the victim.

As for me, I still don't know who I'm going to vote for today. Maybe I'll just avoid all the controversy and vote for McCain. Just don't tell anyone in Madison I said that.