Depressing News

A new report says that thanks to our environmental destructiveness humans are "living on borrowed time." Great.

Oh, and another exciting report says that the U.S.'s crazed obsession with valuing abstinence over much more successful AIDS prevention tools is undermining Uganda's previous success in fighting AIDS. Yeah, sure, go ahead and LET MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN AFRICA DIE because you think that possibly being seen to condone extramarital sex might offend some American conservative Christians.

Plus, in the same vein as the so-called "pharmacists' rights" debate, Catholic hospitals in Colorado are fighting a bill that would require them to give information about emergency contraception to rape victims--they don't even have to provide it, just let them know it's an option. (Link via my friend Matthew, thanks!)

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot--in case you haven't seen it, I did a cartoon before the election that relates to the debate, though it's about a young gay man being refused condoms, rather than a woman being refused emergency contraception. I hate being right.

New Cartoon: "Breakup Lines for the Bush Era"
When the personal gets too political

(click detail to see full cartoon)

Now, it's probably obvious that you don't need to read this blog to see my latest cartoons--I post them all in the cartoon area, and I only stick them up here when I have the time and inclination. In future, I may only stick them here when I have additional comments or relevant articles. This cartoon is just plain silly.

P.S. If you want to get new cartoons by email (it's faster, trust me), please join my mailing list by sending a blank message to newtoons-subscribe@mikhaela.net. And yes, I'm still selling signed books.

Please let papers know you care

One of the things we talked about at the Women and the Media conference is the power wielded by conservative bloggers who write nasty letters to newspapers complaining about progressive content. These letter-writing campaigns have succeeded in getting some progressives fired or dropped from various outlets (such as when Ted Rall lost his cartoon space on the NYTimes and MSNBC web sites).

People usually send in letters to complain; letters of praise are rare. Newspaper editors REALLY pay attention to these things--since so few people write, one letter is considered to represent the viewpoint of thousands of readers. Space is at a premium in all publications (especially in print, where every inch of content is an inch not paid for by advertisers), so if you appreciate an article, column, or, say, CARTOON, it's important to let the editors know, whether or not your letter actually gets published. For example, one reporter I talked to at WAM told me that a three-part investigative series about women and poverty was cancelled midway because not enough people wrote positive letters.

Basically, what I'm saying is--next time you see a cartoon of mine that you really dig in the Boston Phoenix (letters link), or my newest paper, the Rochester Insider (contacts here), you would have my eternal gratitude if instead of just hanging it on your fridge or chuckling/groaning to yourself you just took a moment to let the editors know you read and like my stuff (and if you like, let me know too!). This of course also goes for Bay Windows (letters link) and InTheseTimes.com (contact here), etc., but especially for the Phoenix, since it's my largest-circulation print client.

And heck, it doesn't hurt either to forward the cartoon to your friends, mention it in your blog, whatever. But emailing papers is the most important thing.

And speaking of missing progressive voices...

Fellow altie political cartoonist and just generally awesome guy Scott Bateman has lost his job with King Features after 7 years of syndication. Read the whole story in his daily kos diary.

Some pharmacists want "right" to deny women prescription medication
Dispensing lectures and judgment rather than time-sensitive drugs

This piece ("Pharmacists' Rights at Front Of New Debate") in yesterday's Washington Post about pharmacists refusing to dispense the morning-after pill or birth control pills had me steaming, in no small part because it seems the language framework has already shifted to a discussion of "pharmacists' rights" (a term likely invented by the same folks who brought us "personal accounts" and "tax relief").

An increasing number of clashes are occurring in drugstores across the country. Pharmacists often risk dismissal or other disciplinary action to stand up for their beliefs, while shaken teenage girls and women desperately call their doctors, frequently late at night, after being turned away by sometimes-lecturing men and women in white coats.

"There are pharmacists who will only give birth control pills to a woman if she's married. There are pharmacists who mistakenly believe contraception is a form of abortion and refuse to prescribe it to anyone," said Adam Sonfield of the Alan Guttmacher Institute in New York, which tracks reproductive issues. "There are even cases of pharmacists holding prescriptions hostage, where they won't even transfer it to another pharmacy when time is of the essence."

Pharmacists' rights? What about a patient's right to get medication that has been prescribed by her doctor? What would the debate look like if some pharmacists decided that they didn't want to dispense, say, Viagra? Or another type of life-saving urgent medication that needed to be taken within 72 hours to be effective? This is not about rights. The Post makes these people sound like brave principled crusaders, but "Standing up for their beliefs" in this case really means "not doing their jobs." Body and Soul makes a similar point, and notes:

The Post also misses the fact that while there are surely individual pharmacists with sincere beliefs here, those people are being used by a larger political movement concerned with controlling women.

Goddamn. Anyway, this is a REALLY important issue, because it's yet another attempt to chip away at women's reproductive rights in practice if not in law. (Though I should note here that CONTRACEPTION is not ABORTION. If anything, it prevents abortion, yeesh.)

P.S. Yes, I'm actually blogging again. No, I'm not sure how frequently this will occur, but probably more frequently than in say, the last few months.

New Cartoons: "Respect for Life" and "Good News!"

(click detail to see full cartoon)

Ted Rall also has a great cartoon making a similar point--how f**ing ironic is it to hear the guys who happily sacrificed 100,000 Iraqi lives talking about a culture of life?

And I've also got one about the prepackaged news thing "Good News!"

P.S. If you want to get new cartoons by email (it's faster, trust me), please join my mailing list by sending a blank message to newtoons-subscribe@mikhaela.net. And yes, I'm still selling signed books.

Mikhaela at WAM in Boston March 19!
On a panel with Jennifer Camper, no less!

Last year's Women and the Media conference was fantastic, with great speeches and panels featuring all kinds of amazing women writers and journalists (and a cartoonist, yours truly). Myself, I'll be on a panel with legendary cartoonist and editor Jennifer Camper. And no, it's not too late to register!

Oh, and I know I've been pretty silent here but trust me, I'm busy with all kinds of projects, cartooning-related and not. You may have noticed I haven't been posting my weekly cartoons quite as quickly, so remember, you can generally see them online at In The Fray. Speaking of which, I've picked up two new outlets--my cartoons are apprearing regularly now in a paper in Rochester, New York, the Rochester Insider (a weekly insert in the Democrat Chronicle) and occasionally at CampusProgress.org.

New Cartoons: "How to be a Hard-Hitting Journalist" and "Don't Be Silly, Honey"

(click detail to see full cartoon)

And I've also got one about the whole U.S. not joining Kyoto because it would disrupt the American way of life thing, "Don't be Silly, Honey!"

P.S. If you want to get new cartoons by email (it's faster, trust me), please join my mailing list by sending a blank message to newtoons-subscribe@mikhaela.net. And yes, I'm still selling signed books.