Sarah Palin’s Hand

I questioned myself as I thought of and drew this editorial cartoon.  Even now I understand the impact of the word “retard” or “retarded” but I don’t know if I am offended by every usage of it as others.  First some background.

Former Vice Presidential candidate and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin continues to make news this month.  This week she was a keynote speaker at the Tea Party Convention.   During a Q&A discussion she could be seen checking out notes written on her hand.

And last week she called out President Obama to fire Chief of Stafe Rahm Emanuel for saying that some liberal activists are “fucking retards”  Yet when Chris Wallace confronted her about Rush Limbaugh’s similar use, she blew it off as satire.  So when someone uses the word “retard” or “retarded” in jest it is OK.  HUH??

As someone with a close relative who has Downs Syndrome, I would have to be restrained if someone called her a retard.  But I don’t have the same visceral response if someone called me it or my ideas retarded.  So as I say, I struggle with whether or not “retarded” should be avoided in all speech. 

For those who have an issue with using “retarded”, do you have similar issues with words like “idiot”, “moron” or “imbecile”??  If not, why not??  All of those words were used as IQ categories before the term “mentally retardation”  We now use terms such as “special” and “developmentally disabled”.  In 25 years, will those too be considered bad?

What is your opinion??

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Scott Brown and Abortion Cartoon

It is interesting how often political party members get into a tizzy when one of their own doesn’t go along with the party line on every single issue.  Not that it ever was a secret but now it is out in the news that Scott Brown, the Republican who won Ted Kennedy’s Senatorial seat, is not a pro-life senator.  He believes the government should stay out of the debate (with the exception of late-term abortions) and shouldn’t provide federal funds to support it.

Are Republicans who looked at this guy as a savior now going to backtrack?  The problem Republicans are having is their small tent litmus test mentality that says you have to fit into every category to call yourself a Republican.  At least on the surface I like the fact that Brown is trying to open the doors of the tent a little wider.

Fiscally I lean to the right and socially to the left.  As I have said before I want the Conservatives to stay out of my pants and the liberals to stay out of my wallet.
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Flatulence in Broadcasting

While this editorial cartoon resembles Rush Limbaugh it could stand for any fringe person who is given a pulpit to spew lies and hatred.  I must give credit to Jammer has written several interesting posts lately, the most recent title gave me the line of Flatulence in Broadcasting (a take off of Limbaugh’s Excellence in Broadcasting Network) which inspired this cartoon.  Notice the acronym is F.I.B.  Also interesting are Jammer’s posts on hatred and how the fringe becomes the mainstream.  The only real error that I saw in the last post is that he only focused on the right fringe, while the left is alive and well (they just don’t get as good of ratings).

One difference though is when Olbermann spews lies and rants, he is is percieved as representing the left but not the Democratic Party.  When Limbaugh does it, he is viewed as a party leader?   How did this happen?  Michael Steele and the moderates need to take back their party from the fringe elements.  The fringe represents a small portion of the party yet are getting all the press.

The problem is when a person on the fringe of your beliefs is given a microphone and allowed to talk.  Are YOU going to let that person talk for you?  Because if you do and say nothing when you disagree with thier words or actions, the fringe is percieved as the Mainstream.  When the first Tea Party rally happened in Cincinnati, there were a handful of people who held up nasty and sometimes racist signs about Obama.  Who do you think got the press?  And while there were some in the crowd who told them to take it down, there were others who chose to ignore it.

You have two choices in that case, either disassociate yourself from the group entirely or stand up when someone is misrepresenting your opinion.  If you don’t, their opinion becomes your opinion in the minds of others.  There are plenty of websites, that I no longer like to comment on anymore because the owners allow political bile to go beyond discourse.  I am all for freedom of speech but remember that YOU control your website.  You allow this to happen on a regular basis and their views will become the perception of your beliefs.

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Bearman Cartoon: Aussies and Racism

Now my Australian readership (which is about half the visitors on this site) might take offense to my latest editorial cartoon, but remember I poke fun at Americans all the time.

It seems that when some guys did a blackface version of the Jackson 5 on an Australian Gong Show and guest judge Harry Connick Jr found it offensive, some (not ALL…some) Australians responded that blackface isn’t offensive like it is in the United States.

Then when KFC put out an ad where a white guy gets a bunch of black folks to sit down so he could watch the game by pulling out a bucket of chicken, some Australians responded that Americans took it wrong and it isn’t offensive like it is in the United States.

Now it seems that an Indian cartoonist got upset that Victoria police were slow to indicate that the murder of an Indian student in his belief was a race crime.  So he published a cartoon in the Delhi Mail Today of a Victorian Police officer in a Ku Klux Klan outfit.  Now the Acting Prime Minister of Australia has come out and said that the cartoon was offensive.  Really??  The KKK as I understand is strictly an American racist organization so clearly it can’t be offensive like it is in the United States.

Thanks to the Daily Cartoonist for turning me onto this story.

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Bearman Cartoon: Russian Vodka Price Jump

I hope my Russian friends got their drink on for New Years because new government regulations have set the minimum price for Vodka at almost twice the previous going rate.  Part of this crack down was to not only target rampant alcoholism in Mother Russia but also to curb Vodka bootleggers who have captured 50% of the market.

Please tell me how raising the price of Vodka will curb bootleggers.  Won’t they up their production?  Or am I missing something?