Update: Pentagon Terror Futures Market Plan Scrapped

Yeah, so I wrote that post right before this article appeared...

I should also note that although this particular futures market made the betting on war and misery thing particularly obvious and in-your-face (especially because it was being run by the Pentagon itself), it's nothing new for markets (and especially futures markets) to be involved with war, suffering and misery. The oil futures market (and the stock market) went nuts over the war in Iraq, for example. Diamonds, cocoa, and all kinds of commodities are tied up in bloody conflicts. And so on.

In sum: this was just an extreme government-sponsored example of the kind of thing that goes on all the time.

Pentagon Wants to Help Investors Profit from Death and Terror in the Middle East
Former Reagan advisor and Iran-Contra boy John Poindexter at it again...

It sounds too disgusting to be true, but then again, so has every plan from John Poindexter's new Terrorism Information Awareness (formally Total Information Awareness) office. According to this morning's New York Times ("Pentagon Prepares a Futures Market on Terror Attacks"), the TIA is planning to start a futures market in Middle East instability:

It is an online futures trading market, disclosed today by critics, in which anonymous speculators would bet on forecasting terrorist attacks, assassinations and coups... . Traders bullish on a biological attack on Israel or bearish on the chances of a North Korean missile strike would have the opportunity to bet on the likelihood of such events on a new Internet site established by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The Pentagon called its latest idea a new way of predicting events and part of its search for the "broadest possible set of new ways to prevent terrorist attacks." Two Democratic senators who reported the plan called it morally repugnant and grotesque... "Can you imagine," Mr. Dorgan asked, "if another country set up a betting parlor so that people could go in — and is sponsored by the government itself — people could go in and bet on the assassination of an American political figure?"

I mean, how would Dubya feel if, say, the Saudi Arabian government started a futures market in which investors could bet on his assasination? Would he congratulate them on their dedication to free-market capitalism?

Anyway, the Pentagon's defense is that investors are somehow magically going to help them predict events (perhaps a sign that they're feeling less than confident in the "intelligence community"?):

The Pentagon, in defending the program, said such futures trading had proven effective in predicting other events like oil prices, elections and movie ticket sales... "Research indicates that markets are extremely efficient, effective and timely aggregators of dispersed and even hidden information," the Defense Department said in a statement.

Yes, the market is a magic fairy godmother that will whisper in your ear right before a terrorist attack occurs. Who needs intelligence when you've got investors? (Let's for the moment forget all those burst stock market bubbles and lost fortunes...)

According to descriptions given to Congress, available at the Web site and provided by the two senators, traders who register would deposit money into an account similar to a stock account and win or lose money based on predicting events.

"For instance," Mr. Wyden said, "you may think early on that Prime Minister X is going to be assassinated. So you buy the futures contracts for 5 cents each. As more people begin to think the person's going to be assassinated, the cost of the contract could go up, to 50 cents... "The payoff if he's assassinated is $1 per future. So if it comes to pass, and those who bought at 5 cents make 95 cents. Those who bought at 50 cents make 50 cents."

And if you owned 100,000 futures, you'd have $100,000 dollars. Also, the betting is anonymous. So if someone has a lot of money riding on, say, an assasination, who's to say they won't do a little bit here and there to help make it happen? (Which I suppose would make the market a magical fairy godmother after all!) The consequences of this kind of insider trading make Martha Stewart look like the small fry she is, corporate-criminal-wise.

The initiative, called the Policy Analysis Market, is to begin registering up to 1,000 traders on Friday... "Involvement in this group prediction process should prove engaging and may prove profitable," the Web site said.

Yes, what fun! Let's bet that more soldiers will be killed in Iraq today!

Sigh... Anyway, it's further evidence that there's nothing moral or self-regulating about markets, and that many investors are just gamblers (and con men) without the stigma. Whatever the Pentagon thinks, the market is NOT a omniscient being or a magical predicting machine, and certainly not a benevolent one. It's made up of a bunch of institutions and investors often pulling their guesses and hunches from thin air (or even more fun, from insider information)... and all looking to make money for THEMSELVES. And in this case, looking to make money for themselves no matter how much blood that money is soaked in. So I'm appalled, but not shocked.

In case anyone wants my opinion...
... on the whole dead Hussein sons business, and some cartoons on it...

...for the record, I agree with August and especially with Robert (whose post on the issue is a must-read). In sum:

• Yes these guys were evil but...
• Assasinating them was both wrong (whatever happened to the assasination ban?) and stupid--they should have been captured alive. Aren't we supposed to be the good guys, ha ha ha?
• Bush doesn't deserve any congratulations, and this is hardly some big strategic victory that is going to miraculously make Iraq OK again or make the world a much safer place. (North Korea, anyone?)
• Focusing on the deaths of these two guys is a way of trying to take attention away from the whole WMDs issue and the "we're really bad at rebuilding" issue and the "U.S. soldiers are still being killed every day" issue...

As Robert points out, a lot of this seems to have been lost on even many liberal bloggers. I will add to that that a lot of this seems to have been lost on many liberal cartoonists, with the exception of Jeff Danziger and a few others. If you want to see a lot of cliched cartoons showing Uday and Qusay arriving in hell, or Uday and Qusay as rats being run under the wheels of an army tank, or Uday and Qusay as playing cards or the deaths of Uday and Qusay as somehow PREVENTING future wars, see Cagle's collection of Dead Evil Sons cartoons.

Speaking of cliched cartoons, Wiley had a great cartoon today about all those awful "Martha Stewart redecorating her jail cell" cartoons.

And not speaking of cliched cartoons or the dead Husseins, Scott Bateman feels the same way I do about the "economic recovery," and Ted Rall has a great one on the American political spectrum, Kevin Moore notes that our streets look a little different lately and Ampersand wonders "What if Babysitters Were Compensated Like CEOS?"

And not even speaking of cartoons, this blog is now listed in the Ms. Magazine blogroll, which is pretty cool.

More on the Secret Service "Studying" a Cartoon

(see original post for background info)

Jeff Danziger has a good cartoon on the investigation (although in his cartoon it's Homeland Security and not the Secret Service).

And the incident made reader Brenda Ann recall an incident from her high school years:

I had a very similar thing happen to me in high school. It was the early 70's, and bomb threats were the 'in' thing (think SDS, Black Panthers, etc.). Our H.S. principal was a really boring type who made long, rambling, monotonous announcements each morning on the P.A. I hit upon the idea of a political cartoon combining the two situations. It went something like this:

1st. panel showed the outline of the school, and the morning bell ringing.
2nd. panel showed the principal on the P.A. "blah blah blah"
3rd. panel showed the school blowing up.
Last panel showed a P.A. speaker hanging by it's wires from a post jutting out of the rubble.. "Oh, yes... by the way, we've had a bomb threat..."  

I was really kinda proud of it, even though I'm no kind of artist, and the drawings themselves were very crude.  

The cartoon got passed up to the teacher, who then took it to the principal... before the period was over, the local cops had me in the office, and the F.B.I. was called. I was accused of making a bomb threat!! Everything eventually got ironed out, but just imagine that same thing in today's political climate!

Yes, just imagine...

Judge rejects "transsexual panic" defense"
Update on the Gwen Araujo case

It's impossible to picture the terror, horror and pain this young woman went through in the last hours of her life. According to newspaper reports such as this one from the AP:

Araujo was slapped, choked, beaten with a skillet, tied up and strangled in an attack that lasted about two hours. Her body was driven to the Sierra foothills about 150 miles east and buried in a shallow grave.

TWO HOURS. Yet her murderers dare to argue that the murder charges and hate crime enhancement should be dropped because these poor boys just couldn't help it--they went into a panic when they discovered Araujo was biologically male!:

Attorneys for the three men argued that they were emotionally overwhelmed by the sudden realization that the beautiful girl they knew as Lida -- the girl two of them had had sex with -- was a man.

However, a judge rejected those arguments.

And rightly so. Again, it won't bring her back... but at least she's not being blamed for her own murder!

Mikhaela gets interviewed!
For a blog and a BOOK. How exciting is that?
+ A few cartoon shout-outs

Blogger Disco the Kid has an interview with me over at Earthbound Disco Ball... It's so weird, I never thought of myself as someone worth reading about before....

But Disco isn't the only one: I was also recently interviewed at length by Ted Rall for his upcoming anthology Attitude 2: The New Social Commentary Cartoonists (sequel to the must-have Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists). I was really nervous about the interview but Ted reminded me that it wasn't a test and I wasn't getting graded on it (I think his exact comment was "you Harvard people.") Now, I'm not at liberty to reveal the identities of the other cartoonists who will appear in Attitude 2, but I almost fainted when I saw the list I was so honored to appear among them. "I'm not worthy!"

Some cartoons I've noticed lately

I know, I know. I need a links page. Badly. But until then, you'll just have to pick through my blog. These are not political cartoons but comic strips and personal journal cartoons (i.e. "social commentary" cartoons). And in case it bothers you, some of them have sexual content, so click at your own risk, OK?
• AstroGirlX2 by Lydia Johannsen. Cartoons about the life of Lydia's coffee-drinking transsexual lipstick lesbian drag king cartoon alter-ego, Astrid.
• Venus Envy by Erin Lindsey. A sweet and addictive (i.e. once you start reading the archives it's hard to stop) daily web comic about the trials, tribulations (and love life) of Zoe, a redheaded transgender high school student.
• Imitation of Life by Neil B. This is one of those ones where my first reaction is jealousy--"Why can't I draw like that!!!" It's a personal diary strip with occasional political/gay content, really well done, the art and coloring are beautiful, and you can see how far Neil has come since he started the strip less than a year ago.

By the way, I came across these last two through an article about LGBT cartoonists in the Washington Blade.

Secret Service "Studying" Pro-Bush Cartoon as Possible Threat
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

First, the cartoon in question, by Mike Ramirez. Basically, Ramirez is saying that Bush is being politically assasinated over WMD and intelligence issues. He's a conservative pro-Bush pro-tax-cut cartoonist (who as you may recall was not too fond of anti-war protestors).

Yet somehow, the Secret Service became convinced that the cartoon was a possible DEATH THREAT against Bush. Um, I'm totally serious here. From Reuters ("Officials See Threat in Bush Newspaper Cartoon ":

The Secret Service is studying a pro-Bush cartoon in the Los Angeles Times, showing the president with a gun to his head, as a possible threat, U.S. officials said on Monday.

..."We're aware of the image and we're in the process of determining what action if any can be taken," John Gill, Secret Service spokesman, said.

What exactly is there to study? It should have taken two seconds for them to realize it was a cartoon, not a death threat. And of course, the really bizarre part is that it was a really ridiculous PRO-Bush cartoon:

Ramirez said that he used the image because it represented to him the "political assassination" of Bush. "President Bush is the target, metaphorically speaking, of a political assassination because of 16 words that he uttered in the State of the Union," he said, referring to the controversy over Bush's accusation that Iraq was trying to buy uranium in Africa.

In sum: as Ann Telnaes put it, it's yet another fine example of Bush's intelligence gathering.

New Cartoon! The Brighter Side of Long-Term Unemployment

Aren't you glad that the recession is over?

P.S. This one is dedicated to my unemployed boyfriend. If anyone has any leads on jobs in Manhattan/Brooklyn for a guy with a BA in English and Film from Cornell and a Masters in English from Tufts, PLEASE let me know. (He has experience in copyediting and is interested in the publishing/journalism/media thing but wouldn't mind working in an administrative assistant or any other other position at a non-profit or something, as long as it pays and has health insurance).

Scott Bateman has a new book!

I'm not sure how Scott managed to find the time to do a mini-comic on top of drawing three kick-ass political cartoons a week and publishing a full-length graphic novel, but lucky for us that he did, huh? You can order your copy of the Lithium League from the man himself. I can't review it because I don't have my copy yet, but if it's consistent with his other work, it totally rocks. Also, it comes with a free CD from The Scott Batemans, so you can't go wrong.

My book now officially sold out!

That's all folks... I'll let you know if I decide to reprint it, but for now, it's done. Thanks to everyone who bought a copy, I actually almost broke even. :)

My book almost sold out!
And other odds and ends.

If you're wondering why I haven't been blogging, I've been busy signing and mailing out copies of my book, thanks to Atrios and Tom Tomorrow's kind mentions in their respective blogs. (I've also been apartment-hunting in Brooklyn). There are only FOUR, count 'em, FOUR copies left. I'm not sure I can afford to print up more (unless I get at least 20 or so requests), so when those are gone: that's all, folks. (update: they're all gone)

Random sidenote: as I was writing this I was listening to NPR and heard a clip from the White House Resident defending his lies with the following highly intelligent remark: "I think the intelligence I get is darn good intelligence." DARN GOOD? Well, if Dubya says something is "darn good" enough for him, than gosh, it's "darn good" enough for me! Who needs proof when something is darn good...?

I hereby direct you to Ted Rall's Moral Clarity Department. He's one of the few cartoonists I've seen who hasn't just gone ahead and drawn the more demure flag-draped coffins (I'm guilty of that). And while on this topic, Daryl Cagle's site has a collection of Bring 'Em On cartoons and "White House Lies" cartoons.

On a totally different topic...

I don't get it: this is supposed to be an antigay cartoon?

I know Chuck Asay is an antigay cartoonist--when the sodomy ruling came down, he did a cartoon saying the ruling left the door open for incest and so on. He's always doing cartoons about nasty gay rights activists harassing poor innocent heterosexuals. From other cartoons he's done I KNOW he's against same-sex marriage.

But I look at this supposedly anti-same-sex marriage cartoon, and I'm really puzzled. The cartoon shows two families, identical except that one has a mother and father and the other two fathers. The parents seem equally loving, the children equally happy.

The caption asks: "Which institution do YOU think is best equipped to raise children?" and I suppose the viewer is supposed to just automatically think "well, the straight family" (sadly, many and even most Americans would probably have this reaction). Maybe viewers are even supposed to be horrified by the idea of homosexual men holding children. But the picture seems to imply BOTH are equally equipped, so I have to say this one fails as a piece of anti-gay propaganda.

Attention, Cartoon Lovers
You must, you must, you must buy Tom Tomorrow's new book!

Buy it from Powells, buy it from Amazon, buy it in your local bookstore. Why, you ask? If you like my cartoons, how could you not like his cartoons? If you loved his previous books, you love this one even more, it has special color pages, old hits, new stuff, obscurities and rarities, 208 fun-packed pages, kids. Plus, the book's current Amazon sales rank as I write this is 30--BEHIND ANN COULTER. How can you let Ann Coulter sell more books than Tom Tomorrow? That is just WRONG. Come on, even anti-free-market lefties like to compete in the marketplace!

And if you need a personal testimonial, I own all of Tom's books except this latest one (a tragedy to be remedied as soon as it arrives in the mail) and I can promise that they have indeed improved my life in countless ways and made me a better, if more cynical, human being. I first saw his cartoons in the Liberal Opinion back when I was a wee girl of 15 or so, and I've been a devoted reader ever since. If it weren't for the work of people like Tom Tomorrow (you mean it's OK to put WORDS in a cartoon?!), it might never have occurred to me to put cartooning pen to paper, or, for that matter, to blog.

But as they used to say on Reading Rainbow, you don't have to take my word for it: Tom has his own bookselling plea.

And while you're in a bookbuying mood, there are only 40 or so copies of my own modest little cartoon book left, so... (update: the book is now sold out)

New Cartoon! Mission Accomplished.

The Boiling Point takes a trip down memory lane back to Our Great and Wise Leader's Stirring and Historic Speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

P.S. Jeff Danziger has a good (though of course sad) cartoon about the casualties in Iraq...

Cartoons, cartoons

The Boondocks weighs in on Strom Thurmond. Ted Rall reassures us that of course history doesn't repeat itself. On this Modern World Biff has a breakdown. Also: Joel Pett on freedoms in Iraq and Kirk Anderson on creepy deviants who are after your kids.

Update (7/8/03): Huey's grandfather recalls an encounter with Strom Thurmond (or was it Ronald Reagan?) Plus, "bring 'em on" cartoons from Jeff Danziger and Tony Auth and a cartoon on those new overtime rules from Rob Rogers. And to return to the "cartoons that make me ill department, Glenn McCoy uses a weak argument to mock the sodomy ruling.

Freedom for Some

A little historical reading for the Fourth of July, courtesy of Alternet: Frederick Douglass's 1841 speech "What to the Slave Is 4th of July?" Below, a small excerpt:

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy – a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour.

New Cartoon! Sodomy Ruling Funnies
Plus: other people's cartoons on sodomy, Strom, and so on

This one is, of course, about my own difficulty in processing good news.

Other people's sodomy ruling cartoons...

On the icky anti-gay cartoons side: Chuck Asay makes that stupid slippery slope argument and Dick Wright says that morality has been thrown away. Whatever, boys.

On the pro-ruling side: Kirk Anderson eschews the usual "two guys with mustachessitting in bed smoking" cartoon for an oddly blurry cartoon actually depicting two guys happily going at it in bed (well, going at it in a PG kind of way). Rob Rogers explores a possible downside to gay parenting (for the parents, not society)... Matt Davies looks at the sanctity of marriage. R.J. Matson watches Scalia explode. And while most cartoonists used two gay men in their cartoons about the ruling (I'm sort of guilty, but my first cartoon about the laws showed women, so there), Joel Pett shows two well-known women.

By the way, don't take Bush's relative silence on the Supreme Court decision for agreement. Not only is Scalia Bush's favorite justice, but when Bush was governor and someone asked him about the law, he promised he would fight attempts to repeal it because "it's a symbolic gesture of traditional values." And he's really big on the whole "marriage is between a man and a woman only" thing, he just doesn't know if we "need" the amendment YET (which presumes it is "needed" at some point in the future?).

Other people's dead Strom Thurmond cartoons

Luckily, not all cartoons about the late segregationist senator look like this one. Ward Sutton imagines Strom pinching women in the afterlife. Ann Telnaes writes a little epitaph. Mike Luckovich and Doug Marlette do the "what if the guy at the gate or God himself is black" thing? Farai Chideya isn't a cartoonist, but wonders, "Do Segregationists Have a Heaven?"

Other people's cartoons not on sodomy or Strom

Lalo Alcaraz simplifies the 2004 presidential ballot. Ann Telnaes gives us the fourth of July, Bush-style. Ruben Bolling does a cartoon not at all related to politics, but brilliant anyway. Aaron McGruder gives his take on ending racial profiling, Bush-style. Scott Bateman on the Footnote Administration. And David Rees has a whole new batch of Get Your War On, this time it's knock-knock jokes.