Toon: QwikBaby "Baby Plant" Seeds!

Click to enlarge

For a country that trumpets its "family values," the U.S. comes up laughably short on parental leave. We've been the worst industrialized country in that department for a while, as this piece in USA Today detailed in 2005:

Out of 168 nations in a Harvard University study last year, 163 had some form of paid maternity leave, leaving the United States in the company of Lesotho, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland.

The pitiful Family and Medical Leave Act only guarantees 12 UNPAID weeks of leave (for workers at larger companies.)

Companies have discretion to offer more leave (and pay for leave) if they choose to—but fewer and fewer make that choice. A recent study by the Families and Work Institute found that "far fewer employers provide full pay during the period of maternity-related disability, today at 16%, down from 27% in 1998."

It's part of a national trend towards cost-cutting and crappier workplace benefits (of course, these things should be provided by the GOVERNMENT, but gosh, that might be too SOCIALIST). More details here and here:

"I had my son on Thursday and, on Monday, I had to go back to work," said Selena Allen, a 30-year-old mother who was working at a non-profit agency near Seattle when she had a baby five years ago.

No paid maternity leave for Allen meant leaving her premature son, Conor, in the hospital for weeks without being able to care for him.

"I was an emotional wreck, I was devastated, but in order to feed my family, I had no other option," Allen said.

P.S. On a feminist note, I of course support a good long period of paid parental leave for parents of any gender and sexual orientation (including adoptive parents!), not just maternity leave or leave for heterosexual couples. I certainly don't want to encourage any policy that implies childrearing should be women's work, or that only women should stay home with kids, etc. Just to be clear and all...

P.P.S. A reader on Flickr notes that my cartoon reminds him of a creepy-sounding Czech movie called Otesánek (Little Otik). Eeek! I'll have to check it out.

Toon: Trend Tracker, Summer Style Report

Click to enlarge

The main inspiration for this was KMart's ridiculous "True Love Waits" pants, which I discovered via Feministing. Also, I really am concerned about the sinister evolution of the high-waisted pant.

Toon: Political Dads with Lesbian Daughters: A Field Guide

Click to enlarge

Oh my goodness, Deval Patrick is just too awesome—and apparently the awesomeness doesn't fall far from the tree. The newish governor of Massachusetts has been fighting for LGBT rights since long before his brave teenage daughter came out to him as a lesbian, too, which makes this story even cooler. Also, the Bay Windows interview with Patrick and his daughter ("With love and pride, Governor Deval Patrick’s daughter comes out publicly") in which Gov. Patrick tears up made me tear up like the sentimental woman I'm usually not.

And yes, this was a Father's Day- + Pride Month-themed cartoon, I'm just posting it late.

Change I'm Finding Harder to Believe In

I knew that whole optimism over Obama thing couldn't last. What's with this falling all over himself to be as centrist as possible these days? Supporting FISA? Speaking out for the death penalty? WHAT?! Why Barack, why? Yes, I know I'm unfashionably late to the Obama disillusionment party, but I've been a bit too busy being interviewed by BBC Radio 4 (seriously!) and other such excitement to update you all on my political grumpiness.

Toon: And now for a brief moment of sunshine...

Click to enlarge

Longtime readers may find this hard to believe, but when I heard Obama would be the nominee, I TOTALLY had a brief moment of optimism... which was only compounded when I heard California had gone for marriage equality and that New York Governor David Paterson had decreed that California/Canada/Massachusetts marriages would be legal in New York.

Seriously, I was upbeat and smiling and dancing around my apartment for nearly a MINUTE before I remembered that the economy is collapsing, the planet is warming and we're all DOOMED.

Also, I like drawing (and wearing) stripes and spirals. That is all.

Toon: Lesser-Known McCain Campaign Slogans

Click to enlarge

My first McCain caricature. I have to admit the dude is fun to draw, if not nearly as handsome as Obama. THAT DOES NOT MEAN I WANT HIM ELECTED.

Toon: Rich folks are feeling the recession — just like us!

Click to enlarge

My heart bleeds. And apparently so does Brian McFadden's, because he did a great cartoon on a similar topic the same week, "Hard Times for the Rich."

Mikhaela's K Chronicles Quasi-Cameo!

Another thing I've been meaning to blog for a while. I was getting my weekly Keith Knight fix on Salon and I realized I was IN THE K CHRONICLES CARTOON about "Love Is..." for April 9. Well, part of me was--Keef drew his fridge, and his fridge was adorned Save the Date! magnet from my wedding last year, so if you look closely at the top of the first panel, you can see the lower half of my face and neck and one of my trademark big round bead necklaces.

Speaking of Keef, have you heard that he's now doing a hilarious DAILY comic strip called The Knight Life? Tell your local newspaper so you don't have to go through any more Keef withdrawal EVER AGAIN.

I also think I should have more cameos from my friends and family in my cartoons. I've drawn my dad into my cartoon twice but my mom deserves to be a star too!

Ted Rall Looks Forward to the Free Future

(click here to view)

Ted Rall Universal Press Syndicate Mar 24, 2008 EditorialCartoonists.com

I meant to post a link to this fantastic cartoon ages ago. Folks need to stop drinking the Wired magazine "Isn't it GREAT that everything is going to be free?" Kool-Aid. Ted's cartoon is a great response to wealthy outfits like the Huffington Post that only pay freelance writers and cartoonists ("content providers") in "exposure"--only regular staff get actual money. Last time I checked, my landlords didn't accept "exposure" as payment, and not everyone can sustain a cartooning habit with witty T-shirt designs or book sales. (Personally, I had fun putting out my book collection, but I basically broke even on it.)

That said, considering how rough sales for political cartoonists were at the MOCCA Art Fest this year, I think I had better go design some witty T-shirts.