The Maple Curtain

What's going on with Verizon trying to leave Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont?

Go find out now at PolitickerNV.com.

Free at Last?
PolitickerME

Does the GOP know where Nevada is?

What's that elephant doing to the great state of Nevada?

Go find out now at PolitickerNV.com.

O'Malley won't like this

Here is a link to today's cartoon over at PolitickerMD.

And here's the sketch:



O'Malley and Franchot battle over slots
PolitickerMD

Corzine gets a payback from Rutgers

It's Wednesday, so that means a new cartoon over at PolitickerNJ.

This story just caught my attention the minute I read it. I can't say it any better than Wally did over at PolitickerNJ:

Governor Jon Corzine is already getting a return on his investment. He announced this week that he would contribute $1 million to Rutgers University as part of his decision to help raise money to privately finance a stadium expansion. Now Rutgers has announced that they have hired Jeannine LaRue, Corzine’s Deputy Chief of Staff, for a new position to advise Rutgers on government relations at an annual salary of $250,000 – about double what she was making in the Governor’s office.

I seems to me that Corzine's biggest enemy sometimes is his own checkbook.

Here's the sketch:



Here are some links:

You can't make this stuff up
PolitickerNJ

Carroll objects to Rutgers' $250k lobbyist
PolitickerNJ

And just for fun, when I went googling for Rutgers reference pics, this is what I found:



"Log off, that "cookies" shit makes me nervous!"

Playoffs?!??!! Playoffs??!?!

The best of the Coors Light commercials.

The look on the black guy's face is absolutely hilarious!!!!!

Tom Kean Jr. = Mirror World Spock?

I report...you decide.

Future budget crisis insurance enclosed

Here is a link to today's cartoon over at PolitickerOR.

Education in Orgeon is underfunded because the state has absolutely no savings or rainy day fund for when the economy goes sour. Oregonians love getting money back from the government in the form of a kicker check, but they also cry foul that our schools are falling apart because we don't fund education from property taxes - they get their money from the general fund.

Since the kicker checks went out there have been numerous ads and columns on how and where you can donate your kicker money to the community. Here's a quote from a press release from the Oregon Center for Public Policy:

Oregon is the only state in the country with a law that automatically "kicks back" revenue to taxpayers when it exceeds the state's forecast for the two-year budget period by 2 percent or more. This year's kicker refund -- the largest ever at about $1.1 billion and 18.6 percent of taxpayers' 2006 liability -- is being sent out between now and December 15.

Here's the sketch:



Kicker sends message: “We don’t have the political will”
Oregon Center for Public Policy

Ron Paul hearts Paul Pope

So this post mixes comics and politics. The internet's favorite candidate, Ron Paul, spoke to ComicMix about his favorite superhero, and the answer may surprise you (if the fact that he had a favorite super hero did not):

"My favorite comic book superhero is Baruch Wane, otherwise known as Batman, in The Batman Chronicles. "The Berlin Batman," #11 in the series by Paul Pope, details Batman's attempts to rescue the confiscated works of persecuted Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises, from Nazi Party hands.

“Batman's assistant Robin writes in the memoirs, "[Mises] was an advocate of individual liberty, free speech, and free thinking... and so, should I add, the Berlin Batman. Batman, a Jew in hiding in Nazi Austria, was willing to risk his life for the sake of the promulgation of freedom, and I find this to be super-heroic."

Hat tip to: The Beat

New Indiana Jones movie poster

I am terrified about this movie. The Indiana Jones trilogy (especially Raiders of the Lst Ark) ranks up there for me among my favories, including The Third Man, 2001, Raging Bull, and others. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited about seeing how it turns out, and that I wouldn't be seeing it opening night.

Here's the first of what seems like is going to be at least four movie posters for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Going back to the well, they've enlisted the aid of Drew Struzan, the famous poster artist who brought us images for the previous 3 films.

Why can't films have painted posters any longer? They are much more evocative and impressive them the lame, photoshoped pieces of garbage that blanket the posters and dvd covers today. I remember when Bill Sienkiewicz came to the Kubert School, he had a painted poster and comps that he did for Clint Eastwood for Unforgiven that were magnificent, but ultimately they went the photo route.

Not that it changed how I felt about the movie, because it's still great. It's just one thing that has disappeared that I miss.

Will he be able to do anything?

Here's the sketch:



After Setbacks, Corzine Looks to Make Up for Lost Time
New York Times

Steve Breen wins Berryman award

Congrats go out to a buddy of mine, Steven Breen, the cartoonist for the San Diego Union-Tribune, for being announced as this year's winner of the the Clifford K. & James T. Berryman Award for Editorial Cartoonist. One of his 5 winning cartoons is shown above.

The award was endowed in 1989 by Florence Berryman, former art critic of the Washington Star in memory of her late father and brother, both of whom were Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonists.

Before taking the job in San Diego, Steve was the Asbury Park Press's first staff cartoonist, and he won the only Pulitzer the paper has ever received in 1998 for cartooning. They still haven't even considered filling his position, and as long as they are owned by Gannett, the probably never will.

Yet, they still tout it on their website, and if you get the paper, with the giant Pultizer medal on their op-ed page:

Here's the story:

National award for U-T's Breen
San Diego Union-Tribune

Maine mayor wants a 51st state...in New England!!!

Today's cartoon for PolitickerME is based on a great story out of Maine. I won't ruin it for you. Here's the story:

Mayor calls for secession from Maine
Portland Press Herald

Here's the sketch. Notice that I had drawn in some other framed items, like the Confer ate flag. I took them out for two reasons. One, I didn't want people to think I was calling Soule a racist. And second, I'm sort-of digging how the cartoons look on the web with only a white background. Maybe less is more :)

I heart the Local 226

Here's today's carton for PolitickerNV. Go check it out!

Here are a couple of takes on the Culinary Local's decision not to endorse a candidate until after the Iowa caucses:

Respectfully, maybe Anjeanette Damon's analysis of Culinary endorsement is just plain wrong
PolitickerNV

Culinary to sit out endorsement process until after Iowa
Inside Nevada Politics blog - Reno Gazette-Journal

Newest flavor of ice cream

What's the newest flavor of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream? Go check it out at PolitickerVT!!!!

How to preserve a film that has yet to be made?

Anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that Stanley Kubrick is my favorite American film director. He is closely followed by Orsen Welles, John Ford, and two more that figure prominently in this post, Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese.

Floating around the internets is an amazing homage to Alfred Hitchcock made by Martin Scorsese titled "Key To Reserva." It is based on a mysterious and incomplete three and a half page script developed for Alfred Hitchcock, but was never made.

From the Good Stuff blog:

Says Scorsese ‘it’s one thing to preserve a film that’s been made. It’s another to preserve a film which hasn’t been made.’ Together with Carta Nevada (the makers of FreiXenet) and JWT, Scorcese endeavored to make the film as Hitchcock would have made it - becoming a kind of hybrid director I’m calling Hitchese. But as with all good stuff, this is a supernova born from collaboration. The words of Ted Griffin (Oceans Eleven) were lit by Harris Savides (American Gangster) and made the cut by long time Scorsese consort Thelma Schoonmaker (The Departed, Good Fellas)

Check it out below:



a Hitchcock Film by Martin Scorsese and JWT
The Good Stuff: A blog by Craig Davis, JWT's Chief Creative Officer

Scorsese does Hitchcock: for Freixenet
Variety

Fight in the 3rd District!

Outgoing Congressman Jim Saxton stars in today's cartoon at PolitickerNJ. Go check it out, and let me know what you think New Jersey!

Can you hear me now?

Here's today's PolitickerMD cartoon. In Maryland, Ron Paul supporters are as determined as they are everywhere else in the country. Supporters of his presidential campaign filed a full slate of delegates and will vie for the Republican nomination in six congressional districts.

Here's the story:

Ron Paul supporters file full slate of delegates, 6 candidates for Congress
PolitickerMD

Public Service Announcement

Phew! Luckily, I received the following email from an anonymous well-wisher who just wanted to make sure my genitals aren't mistreated:

Choosing your penis enlargement method you should remember that some widely advertised methods are either ineffective or dangerous. Some advertisements are based on lies, lack of medical knowledge or are just frauds. Choose ExpressHerbals penis enlargement device to achieve penis size you dream of in a safe and medically approved way.

To reach your dream penis size you have just to order ExpressHerbals. It will be shipped quickly and discreetly and delivered just on time. Your life is going to change from then on.

I can't wait to reach my 'dream penis size!!!' But my favorite line is at the end of the email. My only question is why haven't we seen this on a billboard somewhere?

Make large penis your recipe for success.

Do we even have players on the practice squad?

Today's cartoon is from the great state of Oregon, and can be seen over on PolitickerOR. I'll let Wally Edge sum it up with the piece below:

Where in the world is the Oregon GOP?
PolitickerOR

Vermont, the "Feel Good" State

Launching today is the newest member of the Politicker family, PolitickerVT. This is a link to my first cartoon there. House Speaker Gaye Symington (D) thinks things are going great in the Green Mountain State. So great that Republican Governor Jim Douglas should stop yammering on about things that still need to get done, and just sit back and live the good life.

"I want to shift the discussion in Vermont," [Speaker Symington] explained in an unspoken reference to Republican Gov. Jim Douglas' penchant for talking about what's bad, such as high property taxes or complex environmental permit procedures. "If we only talk about our challenges," she said, "we lose sight of what our strengths are."

Here's a link:

Speaker wants to promote Vermont's strengths
Burlington Free Press