With the cost of a gallon of gas inching closer and closer to $4, many economists worry that the pinch people are feeling at the pump will harm our current recovery.
The rising cost of gas is something that happens every year, but it seems to be getting worse. Gas prices have never been higher this time of the year than they are now, and we can expect even sharper increases at the pump because gas typically rises in March and April.
I’ve drawn lots of cartoons over the years about the rising cost of gas. Here are some of my favorites…
Last week, I wrote a column about a new policy initiated by The New York Times geared towards returning political cartoons to their Sunday Review section. I applauded the decision to bring back cartoons, but was critical of the paltry fee they were offering, as well as their idea to have cartoonists submit their ideas on spec.
Today I received an email from the Editors of The Times, which said:
As I’m sure you all know, we got a lot of reactions to our request for cartoons for a new feature in the Sunday Review — much of it negative. Your very good questions and criticisms of our process have forced us to take a second look, and to reconsider. We are going to postpone adding the cartoon to our section until we can figure out a process that is fair to cartoonists and also works for us.
This is good news, and hopefully they will consider all suggestions and come back with a more reasonable offer that respects the great work that political cartoonists do.
1. Try reprinting the best syndicated cartoons again, with signatures of the artists in place, and without the title, “Laugh Lines,” so that cartoons which make a reader cry or think might get equal play in The Times as the little jokes.
2. Or, if you want an exclusive cartoon, trust one cartoonist and pay him or her fairly. Find someone whose point of view is in line with The Times’ editorial stance; commit to that cartoonist and give him the same freedom that you do with your columnists. After all, editorial cartoonists are graphic columnists, except that our work is more powerful than the words of columnists. Nobody tears out a column and sticks it to their refrigerator.
My daughter, graphic journalist Susie Cagle, has posted a new series of drawings from Occupy Oakland, which she has been covering for various media outlets.
“Occupy Oakland has captured the nation and even the world’s attention at times,” she writes on Truth-Out. “But those times have not been for Occupy Oakland’s thoughtful direct actions or peaceful marches, but instead for the brutality of its suppression by police.”
It’s Valentine’s Day, and while most guys are rushing around trying to get some flowers and chocolates impressive enough to satisfy their significant other, I’ve been selfishly co-opting the imagery of the holiday in a fleeting attempt to make readers happy.
Here are my Valentine’s Day cartoons for 2012. Between Obama and Mitt, I’d say Cupid has his work cut out for him…
Our very own talented cartoonist, Bob Englehart of the Hartford Courant, has been suspended for a week without pay over a cartoon and blog post he filed criticizing Connecticut’s plans for inner city schools.
In a blog post accompanying the cartoon to the right, Englehart’s target was Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy’s school-reform drive, which he gave good marks overall, but questioned how much help any government can offer if parents aren’t doing a good job raising their kids.
“Inner-city poor and minority-filled schools aren’t going to change until we can somehow change the pervasive core of the problem: dysfunctional inner-city poor minority families,” Englehart wrote in a blog post. “Sure, we hear of an occasional winner come out of the ghetto. Movie stars, athletes, business people, we know their stories, but they are the very rare exception. For the most part, losers raise losers. Somehow we’ve got to get to these families and teach them how to respect education. Till then, nothing will change.”
It was the “losers raise losers” line that caught the eye of New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, who saw the blog post prior to it being removed by the Hartford Courant.
“I don’t think it was inner city schools, I think it was particularly kids of color, quite honestly, that he was focusing on, you know, let’s be honest about it, that’s what he was doing and again, I say that only in the sense of it sounded like to me like a not particularly well thought out remark,” said DeStefano.
Bob Englehart
Englehart issued an apology for the post. Many have come to his defense, including Courant columnist Colin McEnroe, who agrees with the sentiment of what Englehart wrote, just not his choice of words.
“Kids in Simsbury and Wilton are born on second base, and they spend their school years rounding third and barreling for home as their parents pace the sidelines with stopwatches,” McEnroe wrote. “So slapping on a bright coat of of the trendiest education reforms or pumping in a modest amount of extra money — while not terrible ideas — are not going to fix the problem. And suggesting, as Malloy seemed to do, that education could be considered separately from its context seems equally wrong. I mean there’s a reason why the 20 to 25 worst schools are all in cities.”
McEnroe also criticized the Courant for pulling down Englehart’s cartoon and blog post.
“Newspapers are all about the examined record. We scream loudly when somebody else tries to obliterate a record. We spend our careers chasing down stuff that somebody wanted to take back or wipe away.. Newspapers should never, never, never get into the business of squelching.”
Here’s a news report from WTNH News 8 about the incident:
Last night, many people were shocked to discover that famed by troubled singer Whitney Houston was found dead in her Los Angeles hotel room yesterday afternoon. Some cartoonists have been quick to respond, and while the first wave of obituary cartoons about famous celebrities are usually very positive, today’s cartoons seem to have run the gamut of emotions about the talented singer who wrestled with drug addiction most of her career.
It’s also interesting to note that all of the cartoons that have come in to Cagle.com so far have been from international cartoonists, which speaks to the degree of fame Houston achieved in her career.
First, is the typical nice, uncontroversial remembrance cartoon that most readers seem to enjoy, drawn by Australian cartoonist Peter Broelman:
Click to share cartoon
Next is a cartoon that attempts to access both the good and bad of Houston’s troubled career, drawn by another Australian cartoonist, Peter Lewis:
Click to share cartoon
Finally, is a cartoon by South African cartoonists Jeremy Nell that goes right for the jugular by tackling Houston’s drug addiciton head on.
This week, after initially pulling out all funding of Planned Parenthood, Susan G. Komen for a Cure, an organization focused on breast cancer awareness and treatment, caved to public sentiment and returned funding to the nation’s leading sexual and reproductive health care provider (view all our cartoons about the decision here).
One person taken a back by the ruling was our very own conservative cartoonist, Gary McCoy. Gary drew three very strong political cartoons this week about Komen returning to fund Planned Parenthood, an organization that Gary has drawn a good deal of cartoons about.
I asked Gary for his thoughts, and here’s what he wrote me:
“I did the Komen/Planned Parenthood cartoons because obviously, I feel very strongly about the issue of protecting the liberties of unborn babies, not to mention my donated funds, or taxpayer funds going to an organization whose main business is terminating over 300,000 unborn babies a year. I had a women email me saying how much she appreciated my “Aborted Babies Cemetery” cartoon, because she aborted her first child in 1978, and has so much regret over it.”
