Cartoonist Howie Schneider, 1930-2007

A recent Sunshine Club strip--click image to see strip on comics.com

I heard the sad news this morning that Cape-Cod-based cartoonist, artist, sculptor and children's book author Howie Schneider has passed away at the age of 77 due to complications from heart surgery.

I only got to know Howie in the past year (I don't usually talk about it in this blog, but I work at a syndicate), and I am deeply sorry I didn't know him longer. Howie would often send me witty hand-written notes with each batch of cartoons. I taught him how to use a scanner and PhotoShop so he could submit his comic strips to the syndicate by e-mail. He came to visit New York not long ago, and told me over sushi lunch that he preferred to send the strips by mail because it gave him an excuse to go into town and chat with his friends at the post office.

Howie always called me "sweetie," which coming from someone else could have sounded condescending but coming from Howie was high praise and an expression of his generally sweet nature.

Sweet he may have been in person, but his cartoons had bite. The Sunshine Club, Howie's syndicated strip about "Generation Rx," and issues of aging, often used dark humor and touched on politics, health insurance (and the lack thereof), prescription drug costs, death, life expectancy and much more.

Here's the PDF press release about Howie's passing, which has lots of biographical details.

Here's what his hometown paper, Provincetown's Banner, wrote about Howie yesterday.

Wikipedia has some more information on Howie as well. I could not find any online examples of Unshucked, other than this book collection.

Come see Cartoonists With Attitude in DC 7/7/07, or my cat will CRY!

Riley regrets that his lack of opposable thumbs precludes him from drawing angry editorial cartoons about the human military-industrial complex

The Cartoonists With Attitude gang storms the capital on July 7 with an edgy satirical cartoon slideshow and book signing!

• When: Saturday, July 7, 2 p.m.
• Where: Borders 18th & L Streets NW Washington, DC 20006 ( 202.466.4999)
• Price: Free!

Celebrate Independence Day weekend with a slideshow and signing with edgy, groundbreaking and controversial alternative cartoonists from around the country! Be there or the torturers, bombers, ex-gays and wire-tappers win! Meet:

• Ruben Bolling ("Tom the Dancing Bug")
• Matt Bors ("Idiot Box")
• Keith Knight ("The K Chronicles")
• Brian McFadden ("Big Fat Whale")
• Stephanie McMillan ("Minimum Security")
• August Pollak ("Some Guy With a Website")
• Ted Rall(Silk Road to Ruin)
• Mikhaela Reid ("The Boiling Point")
• Ben Smith ("Fighting Words")
• Jen Sorensen ("Slowpoke")
• Masheka Wood ("Not Just Knee Deep")

And in case you weren't aware, you should really read our group blog (also available as an RSS feed if you want to get all our blogs and most of our cartoons in one convenient place. We also have a not-so-frequently updated Cartoonists With Attitude MySpace page if you want to be our friend.

Conservative commenter claims Martin Luther King Jr. supported segregation

I am so sick of this argument. Check out her comment and my response.

For more on why this is so ridiculous, see Brownfemipower.:

This is the wonderful and self explanatory logic of racism. MLK didn’t die because a racist white man shot his ass, and the racist white man didn’t shoot MLK’s ass because he was advocating for FUCKING DESEGREGATION–MLK died because he didn’t want white folks to lose their place at the top of the food chain!! He didn’t want black folk to be JUDGING on white folk!

And lordy lord, MLK didn’t get thrown in Birmingham jail (or any of the other jails he was thrown into) because his black ass was protesting SEGREGATION (note from MLK: Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States.) he was thrown in jail because he was upset beyond all reason at how black folks were hating on white folks with their reverse racist calls for desegregation. HE WAS PROTESTING BLACK FOLKS!! Didn’t you KNOW???

I stand corrected! I must have been watching Eyes on the Prize backwards.

Brown v. Board lawyers: Roberts twisted our words

From the NY Times ("The Same Words, but Differing Views")

In an unusual effort to cement his interpretation of Brown, [Roberts] quoted from the transcript of the 1952 argument in the case.

“We have one fundamental contention,” a lawyer for the schoolchildren, Robert L. Carter, had told the court more than a half-century ago. “No state has any authority under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to use race as a factor in affording educational opportunities among its citizens.”

Chief Justice Roberts added yesterday, “There is no ambiguity in that statement.”

Oh yeah? Too bad for Roberts that Carter, now 90, is still alive to call bullshit:

“All that race was used for at that point in time was to deny equal opportunity to black people,” Judge Carter said of the 1950s. “It’s to stand that argument on its head to use race the way they use is now.”

Jack Greenberg, who worked on the Brown case for the plaintiffs and is now a law professor at Columbia, called the chief justice’s interpretation “preposterous.”

“The plaintiffs in Brown were concerned with the marginalization and subjugation of black people,” Professor Greenberg said. “They said you can’t consider race, but that’s how race was being used.”

William T. Coleman Jr., another lawyer who worked on Brown, said, “The majority opinion is 100 percent wrong.”

New Toon: Resegregation Nation, or Goodbye Brown vs. Board of Education

All you closet Klansmen out there, you would-be Bull O'Connors and George Wallaces, listen up: it is officially time to party! Get out your balloons and confetti, and iron your best white robes, because the Bush Supreme Court has officially declared that racial integration and diversity DON'T MATTER AT ALL. The Bush court says that not only is segregation totally cool (as long as it's the "natural" result of segregated housing areas), it's actively RACIST to oppose segregation. Why? Because racial diversity is AGAINST the spirit of Brown vs. Board of Education.

Yes, that's right--it's against the spirit of the decision that made it possible for children of all colors to go to school together to encourage children of all colors to go to school together. The only way to avoid racism is to DENY it and ignore it and NOT DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT. That's what being "colorblind" is all about!

As the NAACP's Theodore Shaw put it on The Newshour With Jim Lehrer tonight, it doesn't get much more Orwellian than this. This is Civil Rights Lite to the extreme. Hence the vigorous dissent:

[Souter] said the chief justice’s invocation of Brown vs. Board of Education was “a cruel irony” when the opinion in fact “rewrites the history of one of this court’s most important decisions” by ignoring the context in which it was issued and the Supreme Court’s subsequent understanding of it to permit voluntary programs of the sort that were now invalidated.

I was particularly horrified by the anti-integration argument that many parents "don't want this" ("this", presumably, being the horror of their children going to school with black kids). For example, here's Roger Clegg, president of the deceptively named "Center for Equal Opportunity" (his group filed an amicus brief in the case) celebrating the anti-integration decision on the NewsHour:

I think that school boards are also going to be sensitive to the fact that most parents don't like it when they are told that where they can send their children to school depends on what color they are.

And...

I think the question is whether anyone believes that a politically correct racial and ethnic mix, that kind of diversity, is worth the price of racial discrimination. And I think that most Americans would say that, no, it is not.

Sure, lots of Americans--bigoted and ignorant ones--protested school integration back in the day because they didn't want it, either. That didn't make them RIGHT. That was the whole POINT of Brown vs. Board! As the NAACP's Shaw put it:

This [integration] is not about school districts telling people that they can't go to school on the basis of their skin color. This is about school districts trying to continue to fulfill the promise of Brown and to avoid segregation. In no way is this comparable to the kind of regime of segregation and discrimination that existed under Jim Crow.

Exactly.

Finally, while we're on the topic of Brown vs. Board of Education, this is particularly bad timing, because I just did a dystopian cartoon for Lambda Legal wondering "What would life be like without integrated schools?":

Prepare to find out. And God Bless Our Colorblind America, where the playing field is level, everyone has an equal chance, and white kids can just learn about colored folks on their Tee-Vees!

Next up: in a landmark victory for Americans who don't like sharing water fountains, the Supreme Court rules that allowing black people and white people to drink from the same water fountains violates the Constitution.

P.S. I would have called this cartoon "Separate But Equal: The Sequel", but I already drew a cartoon with that title. Oh well.

P.P.S. Just so it's clear--in the cartoon, the kids of color are locked up in a "Jim Crow Max Security Educational Facility" not because they're troublemakers or deserve to be there, but because they live under racist segregation.

For more on this horrible decision, see BrownFemiPower and Amanda at Pandagon and Samhita at Feministing.

Why Wall Street Journal Reporters didn't show up for work today

Were I still an employee of the Wall Street Journal, I might not have shown up for work this morning, thanks to Rupert Murdoch's insane quest to dominate the world with right-wing wingnut faux news crap.

Even long-time readers might be surprised to hear that I worked full-time for three years (through the end of 2006) as an information graphics journalist at the Wall Street Journal, initially for the Money & Investing section and more recently for the Economy page. I made 2-5 daily charts and graphics, mostly tracking economic indicators and analyzing trends in the stock and bond markets. I also did the occasional medical or technical illustration, including a graphic about abdominal aortic aneurysms that accompanied a Pulitzer-Prize-winning front page series. (Read old blog post here...)

I was also part of the union, and participated in several union actions regarding benefit cuts, pay cuts and large-scale layoffs (I'll spare you the slogans, but it was pretty damn cool to see financial reporters carrying signs and chanting old-school labor song-type lyrics).

The Wall Street Journal is a top-notch paper with reporters and editors of the highest caliber and in-depth investigative reporting and features you can't find anywhere else. Aside from the New York Times, it's the only paper I read almost cover-to-cover every day (with the notable exception of the editorial page, which I take in very small doses on a strong stomach).

So as you can imagine, I've been following the news about Rupert Murdoch's attempts to add Dow Jones to his stable of faux news outlets with growing horror and disbelief. Does anyone REALLY think he would allow the WSJ to preserve its editorial integrity? For example, via CNN I read that even the "editorial integrity protection" deal would give Murdoch sole discretion to pick top editors. I can just see Bill O'Reilly leading the Politics & Economy team!

Via Romanesko, I just heard that many of my former colleagues chose to stay home today in protest. From the union's release:

Wall Street Journal reporters across the country chose not to show up to work this morning.

We did so for two reasons.

First, The Wall Street Journal's long tradition of independence, which has been the hallmark of our news coverage for decades, is threatened today. We, along with hundreds of other Dow Jones employees represented by the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, want to demonstrate our conviction that the Journal’s editorial integrity depends on an owner committed to journalistic independence.

Second, by our absence from newsrooms around the country, we are reminding Dow Jones management that the quality of its publications depends on a top-quality professional staff. Dow Jones currently is in contract negotiations with its primary union, seeking severe cutbacks in our health benefits and limits on our pay. It is beyond debate that the professionals who create The Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones publications every day deserve a fair contract that rewards their achievements. At a time when Dow Jones is finding the resources to award golden parachutes to 135 top executives, it should not be seeking to eviscerate employees’ health benefits and impose salary adjustments that amount to a pay cut.

We put the reputation of The Wall Street Journal and the needs of its readers first. That's why we will be back at our desks this afternoon, producing the day's news reports. But we hope this demonstration will remind those entrusted with the future of Dow Jones that our publications' integrity must be protected, and sustained, from top to bottom.

I hope it makes a difference. But my guess is, Dow Jones current owners just see dollar signs and will salve their consciences with lies about "preserving editorial independence" until its too late.

Mikhaela in the news: "Hitting the funny bone"

Ethan Jacobs has a cool piece in Bay Windows this week about the Life Without Fair Courts contest, with a good dabble of quotes from me. Here's one segment:

Reid said the five finalists took very different approaches to tackling the subject of fair courts. Rall, Fox and Bors all painted nightmarish visions of a world without a fair judicial system, with gay couples exiled to Antarctica and people thrown in jail for either engaging in or facilitating sodomy. By contrast, Johannsen and Cruté used a more personal perspective, showing how a lack of legal protections would impact their own lives as an M-to-F lesbian transwoman and a bisexual woman respectively. Reid said the contest is a great way to acquaint people with cartoonists like Johannsen and Cruté who do not yet have a large following.

And

Reid said that Lambda Legal selected her in part because much of her own work focused on similar themes as the Life Without Fair Courts campaign.

“I have a somewhat dystopian view in a lot of my cartoons of what the future looks like when we have people in charge who do not care about equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people,” said Reid.

Don't forget to cast YOUR vote!

New Toon: New York vs. Boston, the other rivalry

Forget Yankees vs. Red Sox: let's fight over who's more pro-gay!

Whenever New Yorkers ask me where I'm from, and I say "Massachusetts," many say something like "Oh, so you're a RED SOX fan" in the tone reserved for statements like "Oh, SO YOU'VE GOT A TERMINAL ILLNESS." Thing is, I'm not an anything fan. The only sports news items that even tangentially impinged on my world in recent memory were the homophobic comments of basketball player Tim Hardaway, the awesome activisim of newly out gay basketball player John Amaechi, and the coming out story of openly transsexual sportswriter Christine Daniels.

Still, this cartoon has been rattling around in my head for a while and finally decided to rattle its way out.

Come on, New York, step up your pro-LGBT game! Don't let jerks like New York Republican State Senate leader Joe Bruno squash marriage equality! It is Pride month, after all.

Pix from MOCCA: Cartoonists With Attitude, Alison Bechdel, Ampersand, random Morgan Spurlock meeting!

Ayo + Cartoonists With Attitude Masheka Wood, Brian McFadden and Mikhaela Reid

Legendary Fun Home author and Dyke to Watch Out For Alison Bechdel and Mikhaela Reid; Mikhaela Reid and Barry "Ampersand" Deutsch drawing each other faces

Muckraking filmmaker Morgan Spurlock with his copy of Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela!; Masheka Wood and Frank Reynoso; cover of on-the-spot commissioned birthday card for a George-Bush-averse one-year-old

Masheka Wood and Ayo; Brian McFadden and Keith Knight with free booze and food at the Top Shelf 10th Anniversary Party

Last year, the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art's Art Festival was a low point for many of us alternative political cartoonists--we felt so alienated, disconnected and unloved and sold so few books that we decided to form the group Cartoonists With Attitude to help get more attention at conventions.

Apparently it worked. I'm happy to report that MOCCA this year was a whole other comics convention beast. All kinds of great comics readers, cool sales, and awe-inspiring cartoonists to hang out with, plus some cool comics discoveries. The tough part was keeping any of the money we earned and not immediately spending it on other comics.

The convention was also packed with alums from the Attitudeseries of books Ted edited for NBM: myself, Brian, Alison Bechdel, Barry Deutsch, Neil Swaab, R Stevens, Scott Bateman and others. Clearly, it's all about the Attitude.

If you scroll through my whole MOCCA photoset, you'll see I also got to chat with Hilary Price of "Rhymes With Orange" fame, who was attending her first comics convention to promote her book Reigning Cats and Dogs. Hilary is syndicated and popular for good reason.

More later on some of the cool comics I picked up at the event!

Pix from Planned Parenthood "Let's Talk About Sex" Book Event

Planned Parenthood "Let's Talk About Sex" Book Event: Jessica Valenti and Mikhaela Reid
Originally uploaded by M1khaela.

The signing at Think Coffee with Feministing's Jessica Valenti (Full Frontal Feminism) and Amber Madison (Hooking Up) was fantastic. There were plenty of seats but it was standing room only, and the hysterical laughter I got in response to my slideshow made me feel like a stand-up comedian on a good night.

Poor Amber's bus broke down on her way to the signing, but we held off the crowd with an extended Q&A until a very long cab ride from Connecticut finally got her to the signing.

Note: I apologize for blurring out the close-up photos of naked women's crotches that we did the reading in front of--I like to consider this blog safe for school and work, or I'd have left them! I am such a censor, it's embarassing.

Spam-tastic embarassment

So an acquaintance of mine sent me an email from some ridiculous site called Tagged, which I will not link to. It seemed to be a legit MySpace/Flickr-type social networking site, so innocently enough I decided to use the feature of checking my gmail address book on the site to see if any friends had profiles.

Well, the site AUTOMATICALLY EMAILED AN OBNOXIOUS "Mikhaela has tagged you ;)" email to EVERYONE I HAVE EVER EMAILED EVER via Gmail, including important editors of magazines and newspapers, journalists, my bank, my website host, all my friends and relatives, coworkers, ex-coworkers, managers, you name it. I feel embarassed, gauche, spam-tastic, awful, and worried that important journalistic and editorial contacts will now find me incredibly obnoxious and add me to their spam blockers.

This SUCKS. If you receive emails from this site IGNORE THEM or FACE THE PERIL.

Cheryl Lynn on "Black Hair, Comics and You"

Cheryl Lynn of Digital Femme (and The Ormes Society) has a detailed and handy cartoonist's guide to black women's hairstyles, from relaxed hair to braids and twists and afros and dreadlocks. Here's her intro:

If you have been sent here, the likelihood is that someone asked you to draw a black woman at one point and you completely screwed it up. I kid! I kid! Seriously though, I'm here to help. Together, you and I will go through some of the most popular hairstyles for black women. Never again will you have leagues of black women giving you the side-eye and bitching you out in blogs. Ready? Let's go!

Hopefully some of the mainstream comic book artists who have been annoying her lately will read her tutorial and wise up.

Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela Official Release Date Pushback to August 6

So I haven't had time to submit Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela to any reviewers or distributors yet, which means that although you can buy direct from the printer via Lulu.com and go to my early book tour events, the official release and distribution date is now August 6. I know this is confusing, but I've been advised by folks in the know that no one will review it unless I delay distribution until after I send out review copies. Good thing I haven't sent out my press releases yet!

The Cartoonists With Attitude DC event on 7/7/07 will be my last book event for a while, as Masheka and I are planning our wedding. The tour will restart in Boston in September.

Kissing gay teens getting kicked off busses, out of yearbooks

What is up with this bigoted nonsense and this bigoted nonsense? Leave the gay and bisexual teens to kiss in peace like their straight peers, people!

If I were a parent in Portland, I'd be horrified that two 14-year-olds girls were kicked off a bus and stranded in the street by a bigoted bus driver. Even more crazy, the girls were on their way to the LGBT youth center. MESSED UP.

Spotlight on Astrid Lydia Johannsen: Perfectionist Cartoonist Claims I Inspired Her to Start Graphic Novel

Panels from an episode of "Absolutely True Tales of Lesbian" Drama in which Aziza tries to defend Astrid from a transphobic woman... click to see full comic on Lydia's site.

Do I ever have the warm fuzzies! I first discovered the cartoons of Astrid Lydia Johannsen back in 2003, when she was drawing AstroGirlX2, a comic about her coffee-drinking transsexual lipstick lesbian drag king cartoon alter-ego, Astrid. I was sad when she took a hiatus from drawing (apparently she was busy studying Unix and religion in Oregon) and much cheered when she began posting her current strip, "Absolutely True Tales of Lesbian Drama."

Lydia is an amazingly talented illustrator and cartoonist whose lush color vector drawings inspire fits of jealous rage. But she has a problem common to many artists: insane perfectionism. I was getting really sick of her posting beautiful drawings and then commenting that they looked like crap, so I electronically browbeat her into entering Lambda Legal's Life Without Fair Courts Contest--in which she was named one of five finalists!

Well, now Lydia says being a finalist has given her a boot in the ass to start her graphic novel! But she says she's still worried about perfectionism, to which I say, hogwash! Go show Lydia some love by leaving nice comments in her blog. Tell her perfectionism is silly--you just have to draw your cartoons, and not worry if they're perfect, cause you can always draw another cartoon tomorrow.

Defend your cartoonist!

The Boiling Point launched on GoComics.com three weeks ago, but so far the only readers who have seen fit to leave comments are not exactly fans. Why not put in your two cents?

NYC June 22: Let's Talk About Sex! Planned Parenthood book event w/ Mikhaela Reid, Jessica Valenti and Amber Madison!

Let's Talk About Sex! (If You're Into that Sort of Thing)

• Location: Think Coffee, 248 Mercer Street New York, NY (212) 228-6226
• Date: 6/22/2007 from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
• Hosted By: Planned Parenthood, choicevoice@ppnyc.org
• RSVP by: June 21, 2007 at 2:00 pm

A bold and brazen discussion with three writers who know their stuff:

Jessica Valenti, 28, is the founder and Executive Editor of Feministing.com and the author of Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters.

Amber Madison, 23, is currently touring colleges throughout the country giving sex talks, and has made a number of television and radio appearances in support of her book, Hooking Up: A Girls All-out Guide to Sex and Sexuality, most recently on NBC's Today Show. www.ambermadisononline.com

Mikhaela Reid, 27, recently published her first book, Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela, available June 4th, 2007. She graduated from Harvard University in 2003, where she studied social anthropology and photography and drew weekly political cartoons for the Harvard Crimson. www.mikhaela.net

Join us for a conversation about what's good, what's bad, and what's just plain weird about being young and sexual in today's America.

Note: I'll be doing a mini cartoon slideshow for this one, focused on the cartoons I've done about sexuality and reproductive rights.

New Toon: Alberto Gonzales's Civil Rights Lite: Taking the "Justice" Out of Justice Department!

Taste the new "Justice" Department's Civil Rights Division Lite! Now with 99% less: hate crimes prosecution, voting rights enforcement and police brutality investigations! Super-Action-Packed with Loyal Bushies, Wiretapping and Religious Extremists! It's a Yum-Tastic Justice Department makeover!

The Bush administration has laid waste to the Justice Department on a large scale, as the scandals over the replacement of high-performing federal prosecutors with "loyal Bushies" and that whole warrantless wiretapping nastiness have shown.

The Bush makeover of the Civil Rights Division is similarly extreme. The pre-Bush Justice Department Civil Rights Division was founded in 1957. The Division protected voting rights and enforced anti-discrimination laws, with a particular focus on discrimination based on race and national origin. From the Division website:

The Division enforces the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968; the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended through 1992; the Equal Credit Opportunity Act; the Americans with Disabilities Act; the National Voter Registration Act; the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act; the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act; and additional civil rights provisions contained in other laws and regulations. These laws prohibit discrimination in education, employment, credit, housing, public accommodations and facilities, voting, and certain federally funded and conducted programs.

Or do they? Under Bush and Gonzales, Justice has shifting funding, focus and resources to more Dubyafied priorities. As the New York Times reported this week ("Justice Dept. Reshapes Its Civil Rights Mission"):

In recent years, the Bush administration has recast the federal government’s role in civil rights by aggressively pursuing religion-oriented cases while significantly diminishing its involvement in the traditional area of race.

Read the whole article, but here are some particular horrors:

DISCRIMINATION

The old Civil Rights Division (Civil Rights Clasic, if you will) fought discrimination in hiring. The Civil Rights Lite Division defends the right of religious groups like the Salvation Army to discriminate (see "Charity Cites Bush Help in Fight Against Hiring Gays" and "Court OKs Religious Hiring Bias by Federally Backed Charities").

HATE CRIMES

Civil Rights Classic lent federal enforcement weight to the prosecution of hate crimes cases: KKK attacks, lynchings, and more. Civil Rights Lite has diverted that funding to a pet cause of the Christian Right. Again from the NYT, the Civil Rites Lite Division is...

Taking on far fewer hate crimes and cases in which local law enforcement officers may have violated someone’s civil rights. The resources for these traditional cases have instead been used to investigate trafficking cases, typically involving foreign women used in the sex trade, a favored issue of the religious right.

Certainly trafficking cases deserve funding--but not at the expense of victims of racism, hate crimes and police brutality. Trafficking cases used to and should be handled elsewhere.

VOTING RIGHTS

Civil Rights Classic defended the voting rights of people of color. Civil Rites Lite suppresses the voting rights people of color through new voter ID requirements and baseless "voter fraud" case--and has even pursued its first claim of voter intimidation against white people. As John Nichols writes in The Nation ("Curing the Rot at Justice"):

The Brennan Center for Justice and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law have uncovered evidence of what they describe as "a much broader strategy on the part of the Administration to use federal agencies charged with protecting voting rights to promote voter suppression and influence election rules so as to gain partisan advantage in battleground states." There is now a compelling case that the White House used the Justice Department's Civil Rights and Criminal divisions and the Election Assistance Commission to create a false perception of widespread voter fraud to justify initiatives--stringent voter identification laws, crackdowns on voter registration drives and pre-election purges of eligible voters from the rolls--designed to disenfranchise the poor, minorities, students and seniors.

The New York Times reports on this as well. Civil Rights Lite is:

Sharply reducing the complex lawsuits that challenge voting plans that might dilute the strength of black voters. The department initiated only one such case through the early part of this year, compared with eight in a comparable period in the Clinton administration.

Trouble is, only the federal government has the resources to deal with these voting dilution cases. Oh well--it's not like black voters get disenfranchised anymore, right? Too bad, but they've got a new kind of case to focus on:

The civil rights division also brought the first case ever on behalf of white voters, alleging in 2005 that a black political leader in Noxubee County, Miss., was intimidating whites at the polls.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM TRUMPS ALL OTHER FREEDOMS

But back to the Salvation Army. If you visit the Justice Department website, you'll read very little about racist discrimination and the ongoing disenfranchisement of voters of color. Instead, you read about this exciting "special initiative" from Alberto "Geneva Conventions Are Quaint" Gonzales, "The First Freedom Project":

Religious liberty is often referred to as the "First Freedom" because the Framers placed it first in the Bill of Rights. Yet it is not merely first in order: it is a fundamental freedom on which so many of our other freedoms rest.

Forget freedom of speech, forget freedom of the press and freedom of assembly, and most especially freedom from unreasonable search and seizure: the first and most important freedom is the freedom of religious organizations to receive government funding for firing gay people.

Some of the other evidence of Civil Rights Lite cited by the New York Times:

Supporting groups that want to send home religious literature with schoolchildren; in one case, the government helped win the right of a group in Massachusetts to distribute candy canes as part of a religious message that the red stripes represented the blood of Christ.

Conservative religious groups who love the taste of Civil Rights Lite say that the weight of the federal government is no longer needed to combat racism and discrimination--silly stuff like that can be left up to local authorities. Of course, local authorities often lack the resources, will or perspective to fight racism. Historically, local authorities in the South often deliberately turned their backs on racist attacks and civil rights violations, and I'm not so sure those days are totally behind us. And that whole federal ignoring of civil rights and the issues of black people worked out great during Katrina, didn't it?

HIRING LOYAL BUSHIES

Oh, and then there's the hiring thing. We all remember sweet little Monica "I crossed the line" Goodling, trying so hard to make everything harmonious at Justice by hiring only "loyal Bushies". The NYT analyzed department statistics and found that Civil Rights Classic hired lawyers with impressive backgrounds and qualifications. Civil Rights Lite hires lawyers from religious law schools (like Pat Robertson's academically questionable Regent Law) who play up their conservative and religious credentials as much as possible.

Finally, while we're on the topic of Civil Rights, I figured I'd close with Bush channeling his role model Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Cross-posted at Search and Destroy.

P.S. Have you bought Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela! Cartoons by Mikhaela B. Reid (with foreword by Ted Rall) yet? Why not?

DC, Mark Your Calendars: Cartoonists With Attitude 7/7/07

The Cartoonists With Attitude gang storms the capital on July 7 with an edgy satirical cartoon slideshow and book signing!

• When: Saturday, July 7, 2 p.m.
• Where: Borders 18th & L Streets NW Washington, DC 20006 ( 202.466.4999)
• Price: Free!

Celebrate Independence Day weekend with a slideshow and signing with edgy, groundbreaking and controversial alternative cartoonists from around the country! Be there or the torturers, bombers, ex-gays and wire-tappers win! Meet:

• Ruben Bolling ("Tom the Dancing Bug")
• Matt Bors ("Idiot Box")
• Keith Knight ("The K Chronicles")
• Brian McFadden ("Big Fat Whale")
• Stephanie McMillan ("Minimum Security")
• August Pollak ("Some Guy With a Website")
• Ted Rall(Silk Road to Ruin)
• Mikhaela Reid ("The Boiling Point")
• Ben Smith ("Fighting Words")
• Jen Sorensen ("Slowpoke")
• Masheka Wood ("Not Just Knee Deep")

And in case you weren't aware, you should really read our group blog (also available as an RSS feed if you want to get all our blogs and most of our cartoons in one convenient place. We also have a not-so-frequently updated Cartoonists With Attitude MySpace page if you want to be our friend.

Cartoonist With Attitude Ruben Bolling wins AAN Best Cartoon Award

Congrats to "Ruben"! Story here.

Don't forget that you can meet Ruben Bolling in person at our DC cartoon slideshow on July 7!

We're so sorry... that you don't understand why we had to kill your kids! Part 2...

A few weeks ago, I did a cartoon about the U.S. trying to spin civilian casualties in Afghanistan.

Well, once again, the U.S. is upset about civilian casualties in Afghanistan. And once again, they're not upset that the U.S. military killed seven children in a "targeted" airstrike, but that those unreasonable Afghan civilians just don't understand it's not REALLY the U.S.'s fault--there was nothing they could do! From the NY Times this morning ("7 Children Killed in Airstrike in Afghanistan"):

Seven children were killed during an airstrike by the United States-led coalition against a religious compound thought to be a Qaeda sanctuary in remote eastern Afghanistan, the coalition said Monday.

The death of the children on Sunday may well add to the crescendoing anger many Afghans feel about civilian casualties from American and NATO military operations. More than 130 civilians have been killed in airstrikes and shootings in the past six months, according to Afghan authorities.

The article goes on to say that the toll may rise to about 180 once the death toll from another airstrike are confirmed. But as for these murdered children, the U.S. had stock apologies and little sympathy:

The air raid against the religious compound was a targeted strike rather than a pitched battle. “We are truly sorry for the innocent lives lost in this attack,” said Maj. Chris Belcher of the United States Army about Sunday’s raid against several structures, including a school and mosque, in Paktika Province, near the border with Pakistan.

And

The American ambassador, William B. Wood, said the coalition went to extraordinary lengths to avoid civilian casualties. “Unfortunately, when the Taliban are using civilians in this tactical way, instances of civilian casualties, just like instances of casualties from friendly fire, cannot be completely avoided,” he said.

Consider those hearts and minds WON.

Crossposted at Search & Destroy: The Rallblog.

Meta: About those Google ads for Ann Coulter...

I installed Google AdSense a while back to see if I could pay for my webhosting and domain costs. But I was horrified the other day to click on my cartoons page and see that my little Google text ads had merged into a big Ann Coulter ad. I'm assuming that Google thought that because the words "Ann Coulter" were in one of my cartoon captions, my readers might be interested to read her hate-filled screeds. Google also seems to think you folks like John McCain.

Despite my annoyance and inability to target the ads (is there some way to do that?), I think I'll keep them around. I get a little bit of money every time someone clicks on an ad (I'm not allowed to click on my own ads, for obvious reasons). So far I'm making a measly 70 cents a day on average, and there's been a few days where the site actually earned a whole $4. Which means I'm on target to not actually lose money on the site, barely.

Update: Turns out that although I can't specify that I want liberal or progressive ads, I can block ads from specific website. I've just blocked the Ann Coulter ad so hopefully it won't show up again.

Morning gay-hate mail

From my inbox this morning, Lisa Labowski has this charming contribution:

Gays only have THREE rights: 1. the right to STAY IN THE CLOSET!!!, 2. the right to SHUT THE @#$$ UP, and 3. the right to BURN IN HELL!!!!

Show your bigot pride, sister!

Bechdel Blug

So awesome. Though I'm not sure what the second commenter means.

Cartoonists With Attitude at MOCCA NYC 6/23-24: Mikhaela Reid, Masheka Wood, Keith Knight and more!

• Date: Sat. and Sun. June 23-24 from 11 am - 6 pm
• Location: Puck Building (293 Lafayette at Houston), New York City
• Admission: Hours: 11:00am - 6:00pm

We're not on the exhibitor list, but Masheka and I just scored a last-minute table with our pal Ayo and "Big Fat Whale" cartoonist Brian McFadden! There will be tons of amazing cartoonists in attendance, including fellow Cartoonist With Attitude Keith Knight the awe-inspiring Alison Bechdel, Diesel Sweeties cartoonist Rich Stevens and Ampersand's Barry Deutsch.

Our Bluestockings Slideshow Was Awesome!

I have to admit I was nervous. The Village Voice and Time Out New York mysteriously lost our listings info, and a half hour before the signing the skies opened up in an intense downpour. But the signing was fantastic--I sold out of all the books I brought, and all kinds of friends and cool cartooning fans came out. Not to mention genius cartoonist Dan Piraro ("Bizarro"), Vanessa Valenti (of Feministing fame), Melody Berger (The F-Word Zine), Gwynn Cassidy (of the Real Hot 100), animator Dan Meth and cartoonist Ayo. Thanks to my best friend Márta for taking the photos!

Bluestockings is just a fantastic space, and you must go there ALL THE TIME. You can buy both our books there, too.

Take That, Bigots! Massachusetts Defeats Anti-Gay Amendment 45-151!

My home state kicks ass! From Bay Windows:

In the June 14 constitutional convention, state lawmakers defeated the proposed amendment to the constitution that would have taken away the civil right to marry from same-sex couples. The final tally on the measure was 45 in favor and 151 against. The amendment needed just 50 votes to pass. The vote came just five months after the first vote by lawmakers on the amendment in which 62 lawmakers backed it.

The Democratic presidential candidates may be too wimpy to stand for marriage equality, but Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and House Speaker DiMasi aren't! I heart Patrick and DiMasi! From the Boston Globe:

The vote came without debate after House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, Senate President Therese Murray, and Governor Deval Patrick conferred this morning and concluded that they have the votes to kill the proposal.

"Today's vote was not just a victory for marriage equality, it was a victory for equality itself," Patrick told reporters as cheers echoed in the State House. "Whenever we affirm the equality of anyone, we affirm the equality of everyone."

The three leaders - along with gay rights activists - spent the last several days intensely lobbying a dozen or more state representatives and state senators who had previously supported the amendment but signaled that they were open to changing their positions.

Cartoonists With Attitude Storm DC July 7!

The Cartoonists With Attitude gang storms the capital on July 7 with an edgy satirical cartoon slideshow and book signing!

• When: Saturday, July 7, 2 p.m.
• Where: Borders 18th & L Streets NW Washington, DC 20006 (202.466.4999)
• Price: Free!

Celebrate Independence Day weekend with a slideshow and signing with edgy, groundbreaking and controversial alternative cartoonists from around the country! Be there or the torturers, bombers, ex-gays and wire-tappers win! Meet:

• Ruben Bolling ("Tom the Dancing Bug")
• Matt Bors ("Idiot Box")
• Keith Knight ("The K Chronicles")
• Brian McFadden ("Big Fat Whale")
• Stephanie McMillan ("Minimum Security")
• Steve Notley ("Bob the Angry Flower")
• August Pollak ("Some Guy With a Website")
• Ted Rall(Silk Road to Ruin)
• Mikhaela Reid ("The Boiling Point")
• Jen Sorensen ("Slowpoke")
• Masheka Wood ("Not Just Knee Deep")

And in case you weren't aware, you should really read our group blog (also available as an RSS feed if you want to get all our blogs and most of our cartoons in one convenient place. We also have a not-so-frequently updated Cartoonists With Attitude MySpace page if you want to be our friend.

Legacies, or Some Day, They're Really Going to Feel Like Fools

Cross-posted at Search and Destroy: The Rallblog

Marriage equality: yet another arena in which the Democrats are missing a spine.

40 years ago yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled in Loving vs. Virginia that anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional. The Loving decision invalidated the "Racial Integrity Act" that allowed Virginia cops to bust into the bedroom of Richard and Mildred Loving, arrest them for "illegal cohabitation" and sentence them to a year in jail.

Can you imagine the leading Democratic candidates getting up at a campaign stop today and hemming and hawing out the following nonsense?

I believe in full equality of benefits, nothing left out...From my perspective there is a greater likelihood of us getting to that point in interracial civil unions or domestic partnerships and that is my very considered assessment.

or

It's a jump for me to get to interracial marriage. I haven't yet got across that bridge.

or how about

I would not support the Defense of Racial Integrity Act today, if there were a vote today. But the part I agree with is the states should not be required to recognize interracial marriages from other states.

Those are all paraphrases of actual statements on gay marriage from Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. Obama has similar views. (found via Pam's House Blend, an excellent LGBT issues blog that regularly checks in on all the candidate's positions on marriage equality).

Some folks say the Democrats have no choice but to tone down their support of gay rights to appeal to religious voters or values voters. But is that the kind of visionary progressive leadership we want to promote?

Decades from now, the people who were too afraid to support full equality for gay Americans are going to look like spineless sheep, and rightly so. I can see the history books now "The Democrats bravely passed non-binding resolutions, courageously voted to fund an illicit war they claimed to oppose, did nothing of any note to remove an Attorney General with a serious torture fetish and tentatively supported domestic partnership benefits while opposing real marriage equality." Now that's a legacy we can all be proud of! As Susan Ryan-Vollmar wrote in her Bay Windows editorial last week (regarding a possible constitutional ban on gay marriage in Massachusetts):

Twenty years from now, when their time in office has long since ended, those lawmakers who back the anti-gay amendment June 14 will still be asked about their vote by their grandchildren, their neighbors and even reporters writing anniversary pieces. Trying to explain that they supported marriage equality but believed the civil marriage rights of same-sex couples should be decided by popular vote will sound even more disingenuous several decades from now than it does today.

Loving v. Virginia toon for Lambda Legal + Vote in Illustration Contest

OK, technically the 40th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court decision on interracial marriage was yesterday, but still, happy Loving Day! Here's the Loving toon I did for Lambda Legal's Life Without Fair Courts cartoon series (click to enlarge and read more about the case): And here are some more of my latest cartoons from the series:
Life Without the Right to Counsel: Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U.S. 25 (1972)
Life Without Equal Educational Opportunities: United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996)
Life Without Peaceful Protests: Edwards v. South Carolina, 372 U.S. 229 (1963)
Life Without Access to Contraceptives: Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972)

Finally, there's a cool Life Without Fair Courts illustration contest going on that needs your vote! Check out the awesome entries by the five finalists (Greg Fox, Matt Bors, Jennifer Cruté, Ted Rall and Astrid Lydia Johanssen) and cast your vote today!

Mikhaela in the news!

Check it out:

• Metro Times (Detroit): "Drawing Ire" by Sean Bieri
• The Villager: "Cartoonist Mikhaela Reid gets graphic" by Rebecca Cathcart
• Chelsea Now: Cartoonist makes mark with biting political satire"by Rebecca Cathcart
• Between the Lines: "Bi, bi Bush: Cartoonist Mikhaela Reid finds 'boiling point' in political climate" by Cornelius Fortune

Here's a quote from the Metro Times (Detroit) piece. I'm blushing!

If easy jokes or pop catchphrases show up in Reid's strip "The Boiling Point" — which is featured weekly on MT's letters page — it's only because she means to subvert them on her way to striking at the heart of an issue. Doublespeak and spin are among her favorite targets, and she often counters them by mashing them up against images of the ugly truths they seek to obscure. Her cartoons are never glib — they're wordy, meaty; there's a lot going on in them. Even her inky, thick-lined drawings suggest the gravity of her subjects. She's topical but not slavishly so, prefering to address the latest wrinkles in the issues she's passionate about rather than jump on whatever media bandwagon happens to be rolling by. And she's not afraid to make issues personal, even appearing in her own strips from time to time to address the reader directly. In a field of sound-alikes, she's a fiercely singular voice.

Our Green Brain Comics Signing in Dearborn ROCKED!

Goofing Off at Green Brain: Green Brain Comics owners Katie and Dan Merritt (on outside) with Mikhaela Reid & Masheka Wood

Eric Millikin ("Fetus-X") & Sean Bieri ("Jape"); Mikhaela and Masheka outside Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, MI And here are some pix from the fine proprietors of Green Brain:

Anyway, the signing ROCKED. We put it together on really short notice, and a beautiful sunny June Saturday is hardly a good day for a comics signing, but we got a great and enthusiastic turnout. (I was so worried it wouldn't happen at all due to me being so ill, but I pulled it together and despite having almost no voice, coughed and sniffled my way through my portion of the slideshow!)

We also got to hang out and talk shop with notorious "Fetus-X" creator Eric Millikin, "Jape" cartoonist Sean Bieri (who also wrote a really cool piece about me for the Metro Times, "Drawing Ire"), and the famous Cynicalman himself, Matt Feazell. We even did a comics jam on a piece of pita!

If you are ever in even the vague general Detroit/Dearborn area, run and do not walk to Green Brain Comics, and tell Dan and Katie we sent you! What a great store!

Heads up, DC: Cartoon Extravaganza with Ted Rall, Keith Knight, Ruben Bolling, Mikhaela Reid & other Cartoonists With Attitude July 7!

More info here.

Reminder: Mikhaela & Masheka's NYC Book Launch on 6/12 (40th Anniversary of Loving vs. Virginia)

Apparently, June 12 is also the 40th anniversary of Loving vs. Virginia, the Supreme Court Case that struck down anti-interracial marriage laws around the country. Why not celebrate this historic case by coming to our awesome cartoon slideshow?

Your RSVP would be ever so kindly appreciated. And please feel free to steal this image/text/links and help us promote this event! Please!)

• Who: Angry cartoonists Mikhaela Reid & Masheka Wood
• What: Slideshow/signing/book launch bash for Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela!: Cartoons by Mikhaela Reid w/ a foreword by Ted Rall and Deep Doodle: Cartoons by Masheka Wood!
• When: Tuesday June 12, 7 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
• Where: Bluestockings Bookstore & Café, 172 Allen Street between Stanton & Rivington.
• Why: You'll be sorry if you don't!
• No, really, why? Because:

"Mikhaela Reid's cartoons are right *$%@ing on."
-- Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home

"Masheka Wood has powers way beyond mortal cartoonists. Get on his bandwagon now before there's no room left!"
-- Keith Knight, creator of The K Chronicles and th(ink)

Bushies are bum-rushing Cheney's secret bunker! "Ex-gays" are quaking in their closets! Abstinence educators are shivering in their shiny silver purity rings! Greedy CEOs are heading for the hills! Brooklyn-based cartoonists Mikhaela Reid and Masheka Wood are on a rampage—and no hypocrite is safe! Slideshow, discussion, signing & party. Tasty treats available for purchase from the Bluestockings Cafe!

ABOUT THE CARTOONISTS
• Mikhaela Reid's cartoons have appeared in The Guardian, The Villager, Chelsea Now, The Phoenix, Bay Windows, Metro Times, In These Times, Women's eNews, Ms., Funny Times, Campus Progress and Bitch. In 2006, Reid was named one of the Girls in Government/Feministing "Real Hot 100" and was featured in the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art exhibit "She Draws Comics: A Century of Women Cartoonists." Ted Rall calls Reid "an insurgent cartoonist: smart, irrepressible and unpredictable." (www.mikhaela.net)
• Masheka Wood grew up in Boston where he was warped by MAD, Night Flights, Garbage Pail Kids and Tex Avery cartoons. His lettering, cartoon and illustration work has appeared on MTV and in The New Standard. Wood's cartoons were featured in a recent exhibit in Jackson State University, "Other Heroes: African American comics creators, characters, and archetypes." He is also a Glyph Award nominee for black cartoonist "rising star". (www.whatmashekadid.com)

Non-NYCers, here are the other dates/locales planned: June 22: NYC @ 7 pm, Think Coffee (w/ Jessica Valenti and Amber Madison); July 7: DC @ 2 p.m. (w/Ted Rall, Keith Knight, Ruben Bolling, Stephanie McMillan & more!); Sept. 28: Boston (Details TBA)

Good News: See You in Dearborn Saturday

I'm still bedridden today (and probably much of tomorrow as well), but I'm happy to report I'm finally getting better, I definitely DON'T have pneumonia, and my doctor has approved me to travel to my booksigning at Green Brain Comics in Dearborn on Saturday! What a relief! See you there!

Please feel free to steal this image/text/links and help us promote this event!

• Who: Angry cartoonists Mikhaela Reid & Masheka Wood
• What: Slideshow/signing for Attack of the 50-Foot Mikhaela!: Cartoons by Mikhaela Reid w/ a foreword by Ted Rall and Deep Doodle: Cartoons by Masheka Wood!
• When: Saturday June 9, 4 p.m.
• Where: Green Brain Comics, 13210 Michigan Ave., Dearborn, MI
• Why: You'll be sorry if you don't!
• No, really, why? Because:

"Mikhaela Reid's cartoons are right *$%@ing on."
-- Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home

"Masheka Wood has powers way beyond mortal cartoonists. Get on his bandwagon now before there's no room left!"
-- Keith Knight, creator of The K Chronicles and th(ink)

Bushies are bum-rushing Cheney's secret bunker! "Ex-gays" are quaking in their closets! Abstinence educators are shivering in their shiny silver purity rings! Greedy CEOs are heading for the hills! Brooklyn-based cartoonists Mikhaela Reid and Masheka Wood are on a rampage—and no hypocrite is safe! Slideshow, discussion & signing.

ABOUT THE CARTOONISTS
• Mikhaela Reid is a cartoonist for the Metro Times whose works has also appeared in The Guardian, The Villager, Chelsea Now, The Phoenix, Bay Windows, In These Times, Women's eNews, Ms., Funny Times, Campus Progress and Bitch. In 2006, Reid was named one of the Girls in Government/Feministing "Real Hot 100" and was featured in the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art exhibit "She Draws Comics: A Century of Women Cartoonists." Ted Rall calls Reid "an insurgent cartoonist: smart, irrepressible and unpredictable." (www.mikhaela.net)
• Masheka Wood grew up in Boston where he was warped by MAD, Night Flights, Garbage Pail Kids and Tex Avery cartoons. His lettering, cartoon and illustration work has appeared on MTV and in The New Standard. Wood's cartoons were featured in a recent exhibit in Jackson State University, "Other Heroes: African American comics creators, characters, and archetypes." He is a 2007 Glyph Comics Award nominee for "rising star". (www.whatmashekadid.com)

apologies for the silence, I've got the flu

I know today was supposed to be the big launch of my book, but I've been bedridden for the last three days with a horrible flu (I got it for my birthday on Friday and initially thought it was just a result of too much birthday karaoke). you can buy my book already, though (and Masheka's too). more cartoons and posting when I get better!

Update: over four days of yuck now and not feeling any better. Went to my doctor and looks like it's strep throat or something. Penicillin time! Hopefully I'll be better by Thursday in time for our book tour kick-off in Detroit Saturday. You can read last week's cartoon on GoComics.com, where I debuted on Monday. Back to bed!