There is no doubt that yesterday’s US presidential election was a historic event. No matter who you supported in the race, the fact that Americans elected a multiracial president is a significant event in a country where African Americans were once slaves. It is an event that will be remembered for generations around the world, and people will remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard Barack Obama was the President-Elect of the United States of America.
I voted by absentee ballot, as there are no polling places in my tiny, mountain community. On election day, I was headed home from a quick trip to Seal Beach, CA. In order to avoid traffic, my twelve hour drive home began at 4:30 am. As I drove by McCain/Palin signs in Republican Orange County and the vast farm lands of I-5, I began to doubt an Obama victory. We listened to talk radio, from conservative to liberal stations on the satellite, before finally setting on the BBC. Hearing callers from around the world share their excitement and hope that Obama would win, I was moved at how this man has reached out to the world with the same message of hope and change he has given the American people. Read the rest of this entry »
Thanks for the inspiration George!
I actually mean it. I don’t know if I would’ve started writing and doing editorial cartoons had George W. Bush and his administration not made such a mockery of our democracy. 8 years of corruption, cronyism, environmental degradation, economic turmoil, corporate handouts, an unnecessary war, and international disdain has seemingly motivated more folks than just little old me (ie. yesterday’s election).
So I mean it when I say thanks (kinda), and want to celebrate the end of the Bush era (Go Barack!) by sharing all of my Red Green and Blue W-themed cartoons.
I’ve also added (at the top of the list) my very first W cartoon from the 2004 election when the talk of John Kerry being a “flip flopper” was all the rage…oh, times were so much simpler then…
From 10/13/2004
“Things can ALWAYS get Worse” 3/22/08
This cartoon was inspired by Bush’s recent intervention to weaken limits of smog-forming ozone in our air. “Afterall, They did it to the Native Americans” 4/6/08
This cartoon came after feds neglected environmental rules (specifically the protection of Jaguar habitats) during the completion of the border fence. “Hug ‘em While You Can” 4/19/08
After reading the NRDC’s Bush Record’s section on ‘National Forests and Roadless Areas’, I thought of this one. “The 800 Pound Gorilla is Biking to Work” 5/3/08
Our dubious leader can acknowledge our gas price crisis, but not offer any real solutions. “Analyzing George Bush’s HanDWriTing” 5/23/08 “White House Completes a Realistic Climate Change Report 4 Years Late” 5/30/08
Smart aleck mouse! “W’s Solution to Floods and Fires” 6/38/08
The unfortunate events of the summer inspired this solution from the cartoon W (cameo from Dick “The Puppeteer” Cheney). “Selective Hearing” 7/17/08 “Obama’s Election Key to the Future of our Planet” 7/26/08
It’s fun to look back on this one knowing now that Obama is the future leader of our great country. “Drowning the Unjust” 10/21/08
Inspired by one of my favorite Mark Twain quotes: “The rain is famous for falling on the just and unjust alike, but if I had the management of such affairs I would rain softly and sweetly on the just, but if I caught a sample of the unjust out doors I would drown him.”
If you haven’t made up your mind who to vote for in tomorrow’s presidential election, I’m not sure that what I am about to tell you will help — but it just might. Both candidates told the web site sciencedebate2008 that they accept the scientific agreement that greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels are changing the Earth’s climate. And both candidates have said they want to cap emissions produced by the burning of those fossil fuels.
But only Barack Obama has said he would regulate CO2 as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Read the rest of this entry »
In an open letter (pdf), the Laureates cite the politicization of science under the Bush administration, particularly in the fields of heath and climate, saying that “vital parts of our country’s scientific enterprise have been damaged by stagnant or declining federal support,” adding that through an advisory process “distorted by political considerations” America’s “once dominant position in the scientific world has been shaken and our prosperity has been placed at risk.”
Despite John McCain’s claim that he is the true agent of change for all that has gone wrong under George Bush, both he and his remarkably incurious and misinformed (at best) running mate show how they plan to continue Bush’s appalling lack of regard for science; combining an inexcusable ignorance of the importance of basic scientific research, with the morally bereft penchant for using science as yet another divisive wedge to promulgate their politics of intolerance, fear, and derision - aiming straight at the lowest common denominator in the body politic. Read the rest of this entry »
A federal judge has stopped Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt to clean up the air in New York City by using fuel-efficient hybrid taxis.
The judge, Paul A. Crotty, of Federal District Court in Manhattan, issued a 26-page ruling (PDF) to stop the city from enforcing the rule because, he said in a written order, the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in a key legal argument — that only the federal government has the right to set fuel efficiency standards under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, which bars state and local governments from setting their own, competing standards.
On Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Barack Obama pledged to work with Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, on the issue of Global Warming no matter who wins the White House on Tuesday.
During this race for the U.S. presidency, many a candidate noted their ability to reach across that proverbial aisle, truly defying party lines. And while I greatly respect that ideal, I questioned its reality. Read the rest of this entry »
EPA officials have been working on a fast tract to meet a Saturday deadline for a new rule that would weaken pollution regulations for power plants, allowing them to increase emissions without adding new controls, according to reports.
In essence, the Bush administration’s proposal would open a loophole and allow power plants to upgrade without installing costly new air pollution equipment. Read the rest of this entry »
Is Sarah Palin’s Natural Gas Pipeline Really a Maverick Move Towards Energy Independence or Republican Politics as Usual Favoring Big Energy Business?
The first time I heard about Palin’s proposed $40 billion Alaska natural gas pipeline was not when she asked the Wasilla Assembly of God to pray for it, but it was during the October 2, 2008 vice presidential debate:
We’re building a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline, which is North America’s largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever, to flow those sources of energy into hungry markets.
We introduced the big oil companies and their lobbyists to a concept some of them had forgotten — free-market competition. They had a monopoly on power and resources, and we broke it. The result is, finally, progress on the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history — a nearly forty-billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.
When the last section is laid and its valves are opened, that pipeline will lead America one step farther away from reliance on foreign energy. That pipeline will be a lifeline — freeing us from debt, dependence and the influence of foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.
First place–Brent, caption is in the cartoon. Second Place–Derek, “You’re either with us or against us!” Third Place–Jerry, “Hey, what’s the name of that conservation commission I chaired?”
Thanks to everyone who shared a caption! There were many impressive entries.
Look for another caption contest sometime in late November…
Framed by the fall color of 100 year-old cottonwoods, Senator Barack Obama addressed an estimated crowd of 50,000 people in the Oval at Colorado State University in Fort Collins on Sunday. The stop was the second of the day for the Democratic candidate for President, who drew 100,000 people to Civic Center Park in Denver, 60 miles to the south.
Seeing the sheer volume of people attending these two events patiently waiting in lines that stretched up to two miles long, striking up unlikely conversations and talking politics with new friends, was to see the tangible evidence of the punctuation on a political shift in Colorado that might just help put Barack Obama in the White House.
Red, Green and Blue brings together voices from across the political and ideological spectrums to discuss and debate critical environmental issues and current events.
There is no doubt that yesterday’s US presidential election was a historic event. No matter who you supported in the race, the fact that Americans elected a multiracial president is a significant event in a country where African Americans were once slaves. It is an event that will be remembered for generations around the world, and people will remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard Barack Obama was the President-Elect of the United States of America.
