New Cartoon: "Inside the Sick World of a Serial Bomber"
A chilling account of lies, torture, and groundless war

(click detail to see full cartoon)

Yes, it's redundant to blog my cartoons, but I'm particularly happy with this one. I suggest you read it outloud to yourself in your best concerned news anchor voice. For a long time I was following a steady diet of NPR and PBS, and it was making my cartoons far too reasonable and intellectual. On Ted Rall's advice I've begun watching lots more CNN and even FOX in the last two weeks, and this cartoon is the result. You don't hear about Paula Abdul's "year-long battle with fingernail fungus" on The News Hour With Jim Lehrer, that's for sure!

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.

Ted Rall has some extremely practical uses for a flag-burning amendment.

From the "totally missed the point" department

A google search turned up the following anonymous comment from a self-described "independent liberal" about my Minutemen cartoon:

Your attempt to undermine the cause of the Minutemen by portraying them as a homophobic fringe group in a cartoon devoid of comic value was unsuccessful in the case of me, an independent liberal. First of all, the Minutemen have taken no stance on the issue of gay marriage. Secondly, it is the expressed policy of the Minutemen that their patrollers of the US-Mexican border not be armed. There have been no shootings nor any instances of violence involving any Minutemen on duty. Maybe you should, as it's said, "take this one back to the drawing board." And next time do your homework. Just because you're drawing an editorial cartoon doesn't mean you are exempt from doing journalistic research.

I don't even know where to begin, as I'm afraid this person is unaware of the meaning of words such as "hyperbole", "satire," and "cartoon." I'm not saying the Minutemen are ACTUALLY sitting at the Massachusetts border with guns anymore than I was saying that Bush had ACTUALLY bombed Massachusetts to stop gay marriage in my cartoon "Operation Heterosexual Freedom."

Anyway, it's all very simple. The Minutemen and their loony anti-immigrant friends are dangerous bigots, and varius forms of bigotry tend to go hand in hand. Bigots are terrified of Massachusetts and the homosexuals that lie therein. The end.

Speaking of bigotry, this cartoon was inspired by a web search on "illegal immigration" which quickly turned up all kinds of fun "border protection" T-shirts and bumperstickers. Particularly of note were: "End Medical rights for Illegal Aliens" (with an image of a flat-lining heart monitor... special), "Illegal Aliens fear armed citizens: be one!" (with an image of a gun target), and "If you can shoot home invaders, why not homeland invaders?" (also with a target). Oh, and don't forget "We're not vigilantes, we're undocumented border patrol agents." Man, am I going to sleep soundly tonight, knowing such fine citizens have taken it upon themselves to keep me safe from all those undocumented immigrants trying to feed their families.

AAEC Cartoonists - The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists

It's Not Torture if You Serve Rice
+ The New AAEC web site

I'm back from my various California cartooning adventures, and will shortly have a post on such. Until then, check out my latest cartoon, "It's Not Torture if You Serve Rice Pilaf" and my profile at the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists' awesome new web site (the front of the site is updated with new cartoons every day, so could be a handy way of getting your daily editorial cartoon dosage, eh?) Cartoons on the site are all available for reprint, and the cartoon database is searchable by keyword, so if you need that special cartoon on, say, "carbohydrates" and "torture", you're in luck.

Happy Birthday to Me, Going on Vacation
Plus, my latest cartoons

Yesterday was my 25th birthday, I don't know if that makes it too late for me to qualify as a young cartooning prodigy girl any more, but it does mean I can rent a car. Anyway, I'm heading out for a few weeks to the AAEC Convention (check it out, apparently I'll be meeting that lovable groping Republican jerk action hero). In the meantime, I leave you with "Obscene Literature", my sex ed manual for gay teens written by the religious right, and "Oops", which is of course about Iraq.