DarylCagle.comIt’s been a busy week – everything from a Norwegian terrorist to the death of a Grammy Award-winning singer, plus some debt ceiling nonsense thrown in for good measure and an end to the NFL lockout.
Want to recap? Then check out our new Week in Political Cartoons slideshow.
Are you sick of all the debt ceiling talk yet? Tired of hearing about the looming default crisis, and what it’s going to do to our economy, jobs and interest rates? So are the nation’s cartoonists!
For weeks, they’ve been hard at work cranking out cartoons nonstop about the debt crisis we face, so I thought I’d pull ten cartoons that I think really sum up where we are, as depressing as that might be.
1. Caricaturist Taylor Jones thinks it’s about time to start learning a new Pledge of Allegiance…
2. Nate Beeler of the Washington Examiner thinks the media has frame the “lack of compromise” poorly…
3. David Fitzsimmons of the Arizona Star feels he’s found the source of Republican’s unwillingness to compromise…
4. Jimmy Margulies of the Bergen Record thinks Obama is living up to his campaign pledge (sort-of)…
5. Pat Bagley of the Salt Lake Tribune seems to have found his villain in this whole debacle…
6. Ottawa Citizen cartoonist Cam Cardow thinks we should just listen to Lincoln…
7. Buffalo News cartoonist Adam Zyglis sees a problem in the Republican fire-fighting methods…
8. Bob Englehart of the Hartford Courant was inspired by Pixar to describe his debt ceiling thoughts…
9. Eric Aille sums up his thoughts about the largest problem our country faces… Audrey 2!
10. This Taylor Jones cartoon of Eric Cantor seems to sum up the debate nicely…
The “going out of business sale” is underway at 399 Borders stores across the country, marking an end to the once-strong bookstore chain. As sad as the closure and the job losses will be for the local communities Borders serves, it is somewhat ironic that the very store that helped push independent bookstores out of existence is now suffering the same fate due to Amazon’s power.
What do cartoonists think of Borders’ shutdown? Check out our Bankrupt Borders cartoon collection to find out.
Amy Winehouse, the British singer who was elevated into stardom by her iconic single “Rehab”, was found dead in her London apartment last Saturday of yet-undetermined causes. She was 27 years old, and joins a long list of music greats, from Jimi Hendrix to Janis Joplin, who never made it to their 28th birthday.
Click here to view our Amy Winehouse cartoon slideshow.
Click here to view the Week in Political Cartoons slideshow
It’s hot all across the country. It’s hot in Washington, where politicians can’t come together with an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. It’s hot in the media world, where Rupert Murdoch’s phone-hacking scandal continues to roll along. It’s hot in Florida, Texas and many places across the country that will feel the pain of the end of the space shuttle program.
So sit back, cool off, and enjoy a look back at the week of big news stories through the eyes of the nation’s best cartoonists with our Week in Political Cartoons slideshow.
A cartoon by Peter Brookes, the staff cartoonist for the Murdoch-owned Times of London, is getting criticized for a cartoon he drew addressing the ongoing coverage of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.
In a cartoon titled “Priorities,” Brookes drew a group of starving Somalians, with one saying, “I’ve had a bellyful of phone-hacking…”
One could argue that Brookes is making a legitimate point about the media’s focus on Murdoch, and its lack of coverage on other important issues, including a horrendous famine in the Horn of Africa. Brookes himself wasn’t available for comment today, but I hope to add his views as soon as I can.
The cartoon seems to echo comments made by several Conservative members of Parliament that the debate in the House of Commons on the phone hacking scandal was a big distraction from more important issues. As MP Peter Lilly noted, “I am only sorry that we are not being recalled to discuss the problems of the eurozone, the slowdown in the world economy in the face of higher energy prices, and the famine in east Africa.”
Regardless, Twitter went ablaze with critics like NPR’s Louisa Lim, who noted the cartoon is crude and tasteless, and “comes off as pro-Murdoch propaganda.” The BBC’s Robert Rea also chimed in, claiming that the cartoon “implies focusing on corruption allows famine to go unchecked.” Solange Uwimana, writer and editor for Media Matters, said he has no words for the cartoon, but thought that “Murdoch and all his minions couldn’t be any more depraved.”
Others were more balanced. British photographer Russell Cavanagh said the cartoon is an attention-getter, and that “sometimes the truth is tasteless.” And Rob Crilly, a reporter for The Telegraph newspaper in London, said, “I don’t know why people are upset by The Times cartoon today. Be shocked–but not at the pic.”
What do you think of the cartoon? Fair or foul?
The space shuttle Atlantis touched down at Kennedy Space Center this morning, marking the end of a successful chapter in the nation’s space program. I saw some interesting statistics from NASA on twitter this morning. This was the 33rd and final flight for Atlantis, which spent 307 days in space, orbited Earth 4,848 times and traveled nearly 126 million miles. It was also the 19th night landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a fitting end for the 135th and final space shuttle mission
The question still remains – what’s next?
John Cole, cartoonist for the Scranton Times-Tribune, thinks the U.S. is giving up more than the shuttle program…
Green Bay Press-Gazette cartoonist Joe Heller notes recent programs that are no longer flying…
According to David Fitzsimmons of the Arizona Daily Star, we’re planting a different kind of flag…
While Mike Keefe of the Denver Post has a novel idea how to use the retired shuttle fleet…
Nate Beeler of the Washington Examiner compares the Shuttle to other workhorses being mothballed…
Jimmy Margulies of The Record wonders what the future of U.S. manned spaceflight will be like…
While John Darkow of the Columbia Daily Tribune focuses on more immediate concerns…
RELATED: Check out our additional Space Shuttle cartoon collections!
Poor Rupert Murdoch. He had a “humbling” day testifying before a House of Commons committee, telling British lawmakers he was not responsible for a phone hacking scandal that has rocked his global empire just before a British comedian attempted to shove a pie tin full of foam into the media mogul’s face.
So what do cartoonists make of the continued fallout of the phone-hacking scandal? Check out our new Murdoch’s Mess cartoon collection to find out.
As the August 2 deadline for raising the debt ceiling grows near, several economists and organizations, let by Warren Buffett, are calling for an end of the debt ceiling entirely, arguing it is nothing more than an “artificial limit” that ends up wasting time in Congress.
Speaking of wasting time, the Republican-controlled House is set to pass a balanced budget amendment that has no shot of passing the Senate, and that Obama has already said he’d veto. What do our cartoonists think of all these shenanigans? Check out our Obama and the Debt Ceiling cartoon collection to find out.
