Jack Perry wants English to be College Park's official language

This issue is local to College Park, Md.

Another cartoon about the economy!

I've been on an economy cartoon binge, three in a row on the same topic. That's bad news bears for someone who wants to keep his jun fresh and edgy. But with this, I'm not concerned. News on the economic crisis changes daily, it has been lede story for the past week and opinion pieces on the matter reflect that. As should my cartoons. So as soon as the economy settles out (not soon) I can get back to the presidential election, or global warming, or any other of those stock issues we cartoonists shamelessly rely on for inspiration.

Stock Market Plummets, Fed loses it in the sun

Capitalism don't fail me now.

It's a scary thing when capitalism stops running smoothly. This year has been a disaster, but the government has managed to step in and prevent the economy from collapsing when major investment firms have fallen into financial ruin. As a result, there were a lot of funny cartoons about banks asking for loans from tax payers.

However, the Lehman Brothers are seemingly the first major firm denied the federal helping hand and we're seeing how destructive financial mismanagement actually is. The Lehman Brothers are about to be liquidated. Like a mattress store shutting down. Everything must go. This will probably happen to several more corporations this year. It will suck.

Cartoon Response

A letter to the editor ran in Friday's Diamondback about my cartoon a few days ago. It went thustly:

Skepticism on slots

Congratulations on your Sept. 9 editorial cartoon! You should reprint it every day from now to November. The cartoon says it all: Why stop with gambling, when there are many other socially undesirable practices that could be set up under state sponsorship and made to generate revenue? Of course, nearly half the slots revenue will go to the private firms that operate the racetrack and the business. And, of course, even legal gambling generates all kinds of unsavory (and sometimes illegal) sideline activities. The bulk of the funds will come from the pockets of poor people who are hoping for a lucky windfall, and therefore gambling is an even more regressive way to generate revenue than a sales tax. But nevermind: There may be some pennies left over for "education" (whatever that actually turns out to be). I am disgusted and ashamed the Board of Regents have been browbeaten into supporting the slots initiative, and I hope the student body will repudiate this support.
Lee E. Preston
Professor
business school

Here's a link to the original.


It's not often you get positive response to a cartoon. It's nice though. I'm looking forward to inciting negative criticism this year as well. We'll see what the future holds.

Lipstick

This cartoon doesn't send much of a message, its more of an acknowledgment that "lipstick" has been a real buzz word in the campaign. I don't like that we're using rhetoric about putting makeup on animals as points of debate, but I suppose we have to argue about something. Just hope the lipstick thing doesn't go any farther. Maybe move on to blush or eyeliner.

Slot machines

Slot machines were an issue when I was in high school, back when Robert Ehrlich was governor of Maryland. He championed the things, but the Maryland legislature shot him down. Now it seems O'Malley has support to legalize what was deemed immoral four years ago. We're sliding into the gutter, I suppose. I drew a cartoon about slots for my high school paper. Later, if I can find the thing, I'll post it.

Palin BABY mania!

I don't care that Sarah Palin's daughter is having a baby. It's a wonderful thing even, especially if this baby inherits its grandmother's good looks.

On the topic of grandchildren, there hasn't been a "first grandchild" in a while, has there? I suppose Barbara and Jenna Bush were H.W.'s grand kids during his term.