2/27/2011 Diary

Steve Benson, Comics.com (Arizona Republic)

War Room by Clay Bennett, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Chattanooga Times Free Press

Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Gov. Walker, Reagan Wannabe by Dave Granlund, Politicalcartoons.com, Buy this cartoon

Steve Breen, Comics.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Jeff Danziger, Yahoo Comics/New York Times Syndicate and Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News

(click link to enlarge cartoon, Peters’ cartoon is for February 23, 2011)

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THE WEEK IN EDITORIAL CARTOONS

This weekly diary takes a look at the past week’s important news stories from the perspective of our leading editorial cartoonists (including a few foreign ones) with analysis and commentary added in by me.

When evaluating a cartoon, ask yourself these questions:

1. Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge base and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?

2. Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?

3. Is the cartoonist reflecting prevailing public opinion or trying to shape it?

The answers will help determine the effectiveness of the cartoonist’s message.

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INTRODUCTION

Debate Over Lester Teacher Cartoon – Cagle Cartoons

http://blog.cagle.com/2011/02/…

Wisconsin Government: In Cash We Trust, But Unions We Bust

By Gene Lyons

http://blog.cagle.com/2011/02/…

Labor Unions: Good for Workers, Not for U.S. Competitiveness

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/18…

Include GOP, Economy, Education, and SS Cartoons

– two albums

Britt: The unions and their loyal dog named Pat Quinn

http://www.sj-r.com/opinions/x…

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1. GOP and Business

Mike Thompson, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Detroit Free Press

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Thompson blog – http://www.freep.com/article/2…

The War on Public Employee Unions

The gap between the richest 1% of Americans and the rest of us is wider today than at any time since just before the start of the Great Depression. Writing for Forbes.com, Eva Pereira noted recently that since 1983, 43% of all financial wealth created in America went to the top 1%, 94% went to the top 20% while the remaining 80% of Americans were left to divvy up just 6% of the wealth created since the early 1980s. As a result, the Website econproph.com pointed out, income inequality in America is even greater than in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen, nations that revolted in part because of income inequality.

But not to fear, Republicans have responded by targeting the wild excesses of…public employee unions. Having sucked the wealth out of workers in the private sector, Republicans are now targeting workers in the public sector for wanting decent pay, health care coverage and a retirement spent above the poverty line. To this end, Republicans have been busy sowing intra-class warfare by stirring up resentment among the middle class against public employee unions. Apparently, Republicans are hoping that you can always hire one-half of the working class to kill the benefits of the other half, to tweak a quote by railroad baron Jay Gould. Pay no attention to that man in the gated community who shipped your job overseas, destroyed the value of your home, drained the wealth out of the country and tanked the economy, go after your neighbor for having health care coverage.

The war on public sector unions began in Wisconsin and has since spread to Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. As Ezra Klein pointed out in the Washington Post last week, states aren’t in dire financial straits because of public employee unions, states are reeling because of a recession brought on by the excesses of Wall St. But as MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell quipped last night, “Republicans aren’t about to let a crisis go to waste.”

Tim Eagan, Deep Cover, Buy this cartoon

Lloyd Dangle, Troubletown, Buy this cartoon

Jack Ohman, Comics.com (Portland Oregonian)

Unions and Middle Class by Mike Keefe, Denver Post, Buy this cartoon

Gargantuan Banks by Bruce Plante, see the large number of reader comments in Tulsa World, Buy this cartoon

John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)

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2. Union Busting

Bob Englehart, see reader comments in the Hartford Courant, Buy this cartoon

Englehart blog – http://blogs.courant.com/bob_e…

Well, Wisconsin, what did you expect? This is what happens when you elect a tea party toady governor. There are so many things I’m thankful for. I’m thankful I don’t live in Wisconsin. I’m thankful that conservative Republicans don’t dominate here in Connecticut and never will. I’m thankful the good, decent, educated citizens of Connecticut see through that tea party madness. In fact, I rejoice when I think about it.

Conservatism, as it’s practiced today, is a response to terrorist-generated fear. The old standards of conservatism have been pushed aside by the modern reaction to terror. Look at the record. I’ve read that we’re supposed to become more conservative as we get older. That hasn’t been the case with me. When I was a young man in my twenties, I was much more conservative, mainly because I was afraid I couldn’t handle the responsibilities of husband, father and homeowner I’d taken on at such a young age. As I was able to meet them and conquer them, I became more confident in myself.

Conservatives always come off as being heartless, cruel, hypocritical and selfish dogs-in-the-manger. Now, the governor of Wisconsin, who wants to change a deal already made in good faith, and is refusing any sort of compromise, is adding a new one. Contemporary conservatives are without honor.

Union Hunting by RJ Matson, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Buy this cartoon

Stuart Carlson, Washington Post/Universal Press Syndicate

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Ben Sargent, Washington Post/Universal Press Syndicate

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Joel Pett, McLatchy Cartoons/Lexington Herald-Leader

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Walker’s War Against the Unions by Randall Enos, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon

Union Busting by David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star, Buy this cartoon

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3. Collective Bargaining Rights of Unions: The Very Basis for an American Middle Class

Jen Sorensen, Slowpoke, Buy this cartoon

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Sorensen blog –

A Teachable Moment

If there’s one thing to understand about the Wisconsin battle, it’s that it’s not really about the budget, but a premeditated and politically-motivated attack on the teachers’ union. The teachers have already ceded to pay cuts — but now Walker is going to start firing them one by one if they don’t give up their bargaining rights forever. Never mind the fact that the Wisconsin budget was left with only a modest shortfall by Walker’s Democratic predecessor. To top it all off, Walker has added an additional $140 million projected shortfall to the next budget with his wealthy donor-friendly tax cuts.

After a commenter pointed out to me that Walker’s budget-busting measures were, according to Politifact, not part of the current shortfall, it occurred to me that the first panel of the cartoon is misleading. While I’d probably write it differently now, I still think the larger point – that he purports to care about the deficit while adding to it – is legit. And even if the current modest shortfall is not due to Walker, it’s clear that the Republicans are using the economic downturn to accomplish their long-sought political goals (union busting) even as they add to deficits themselves. [UPDATE UPDATE: some people are now saying Politifact is wrong (it’s a few paragraphs into the post). I give up. Can we just call Walker a douchenozzle and call it a day?]

If you had any lingering doubts that Wisconsin is part of a broader movement to attack workers’ rights, it’s important that Americans understand that Walker is in tight with the billionaire right-wing activists, the Koch Brothers, whose foundation Americans For Prosperity is picking ideological fights in several states:

The effort to impose limits on public labor unions has been a particular focus in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all states with Republican governors, Mr. Phillips said, adding that he expects new proposals to emerge soon in some of those states to limit union power.

Even if Wisconsin teachers manage to preserve their bargaining rights, my feeling is that the bigger picture does not look good. The forces aligned against what few unions remain are just too powerful. In this Gilded Age we live in, moneyed elites have managed to convince millions of ordinary, struggling Americans to reject one of the last means of recourse workers have left. It doesn’t really matter if Scott Walker goes down — they have the ideological vision, and the willingness to take the heat for it. Something weak-kneed Democrats might want learn from.

Steve Sack, Comics.com (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Jack Ohman, Comics.com (Portland Oregonian)

A Seat at the Table by Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News, Buy this cartoon

Bob Gorrell, Nationally Syndicated Cartoonist, Buy this cartoon

Dan Wasserman, Comics.com (Boston Globe)

Bruce Beattie, Comics.com (Daytona Beach News-Journal)

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4. Public School Teachers: A Convenient Scapegoat

Clay Jones, see reader comments in the Freelance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA), Buy this cartoon

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Jones blog – http://blogs.fredericksburg.co…

Wisconsin

The governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, says to balance the budget and to save the state from it’s fiscal crisis then the public employees will have to put more into their health care and pension cost and in a bold stroke, eliminate their collective bargaining rights. First off, what do the bargaining rights have to do with the budget? The amount of the budget shortfall is about the same, tada….as the amount the Governor and his Republican party gave to corporate interests in tax breaks. This issue, as you know has brought out thousands of public employees and their supporters to Madison at the state capitol to protests.

This has nothing to do with the budget. The governor has excluded firemen and police unions, as they contributed to his campaign. He and his party say there’s no room to compromise. These “greedy” teachers and their other union colleagues are willing to negotiate and pay more into their health insurance and pension. The GOP still says no deal. Why? They want to kill these unions. Unions are big supporters to Democrats (but not that much to Obama as has been suggested, and not nearly as much as Corporate America to Republicans). Getting rid of the unions is another step in making this country work on a one party system, the Republican party. It’s part of Karl Rove’s grand plan he mapped out before Bush’s election. I would never want this country in a one party system, like Iraq was….whether it’s Republican or Democrat. You’re probably thinking that’s a great conspiracy theory and I wish it was.

While many hate the unions, they have given us weekends, 40 hour work weeks, equal pay for women and child labor laws. While you may think, we have all that so we don’t need them anymore….what happens after they’re gone?

The Wisconsin Senate Democrats have fled the state to prevent the Senate from having a quorum and voting on this measure. A lot of people say they’re not doing their jobs and they’re being cowards. They’re standing up for the little people. Think of it as a filibuster which both parties love when they’re the minority in the U.S. Senate. Besides, last time a bunch of Democrat state senators fled a state to prevent a vote (Texas), the Justice Department eventually validated that maneuver.

My conservative friends, if you’re agreeing with the GOP on this, then you’re willing to be wrong on anything in the interest of your partisanship. There is nothing about this that is right. It shouldn’t even be a partisan issue. Stop standing up for big business, nonsense and stand up for the little person. The average American, the working American is under attack right now. Whether you’re union or not, this is aimed at you, unless you don’t have to count on ever receiving a paycheck.

Greedy Teachers by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Lalo Alcaraz, LA Weekly, Buy this cartoon

Jeff Danziger, Yahoo Comics/New York Times Syndicate

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Signe Wilkinson, Comics.com (Philadelphia Daily Inquirer)

Stuart Carlson, Washington Post/Universal Press Syndicate and Paul Fell, Artisans

(click link to enlarge cartoon; for Paul Fell’s cartoon, click the cartoon itself to enlarge)

Teachers by Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Buy this cartoon