
Santorum Feeds Hungry Republicans
Celebrity Obsessed Culture
The Oscars are here! Time for Americans to drool and fawn over millionaire celebrities at the Academy Awards dueling it out over a little golden statue.
One cartoonist who has been outspoken about our celebrity obsessed culture is our very own Brian Fairrington. Here are some of Brian’s harshest cartoons aimed at anyone who chooses US magazine over The New York Times.





Readers Respond to ‘War on Women’ Cartoon
For the past few weeks, the rhetoric on the campaign has shifted from the economy and job creation to birth control and women’s reproductive rights. Many cartoonists have weighed in on the topic (view our collection of women’s rights cartoons here), but this cartoon by Adam Zyglis of the Buffalo News stood out.

We’ve had a lot of readers react to the cartoon via our Facebook and Twitter pages. Here just a sample of what they said about the cartoon:
Steve Berlin: “Totally unfair. Because the GOP would never put “Women” and “rights” in the same sentence.”
Don Mitchell: “Why not? Sarah Palin can draw targets on a map and play the victim card.”
Gerardo Enrique Garibay Camarena: “It’s Foul, and it amazes me how libs are incapable to understand that the symbol used in Palin’s map was NOT a target.”
Theresa McGrath Moran: “Takes a woman to make a man…remember who’s body you came out of.”
Dave Washburn: “Oh wait, I get it. If you’re against the government forcing religious institutions to violate their religious beliefs, you’re for shooting women. OK, now it makes sense.”
Maite Brown: “Contraception is the target. Sadly….NOT fair.”
Paul J Falkowski: “THIS IS Another expression of violence.”
Barbara Elizabeth: “This time it is not being promoted as something that SHOULD be done to the other side, but instead as something that the other side is ALREADY doing. Big difference since the weirdos out there won’t see this as an instruction from the left, but instead as a critique of the right.”
What do you think? Comment below and weigh in – fair or foul!
Republican Debate and Jesus

Academy Award Cartoons
It’s that time of year again, where we celebrate the movies and garnish actors and actresses with awards and accolades for keeping us entertained. Personally, I’m protesting the Oscars this year, not because I don’t enjoy movies or the spectacle of a big awards show. I just think the Presidential race has been much more entertaining.
Don’t agree with me? Check out our Academy Awards cartoon collection, and tell me who’s a better actor – George Clooney or Mitt Romney.

It’s make-or-break time for Rick Santorum (who still can’t escape the infamy of his last name on Google). The culture warrior has risen in popularity among the Republican base by throwing out red meat pertaining to religion, birth control and slamming the president’s value system as a “phony theology.”
Can Santorum not only win the GOP nomination, but somehow unseat President Obama from office? Our cartoonists sure don’t think so. Here are five recent cartoons that sum up their thoughts…





Our cartoonists don’t draw many sports cartoons, but when a great story enters the zeitgeist, they sharpen their pencils and dig in. Jeremy Lin, the out-of-nowhere star player for the Knicks, has almost single-handedly reversed the fortunes of his team.
Check out what our cartoonists think of Linsanity with our new collection of Jeremy Lin cartoons!

My Rising Gas Price Cartoons
With the cost of a gallon of gas inching closer and closer to $4, many economists worry that the pinch people are feeling at the pump will harm our current recovery.
The rising cost of gas is something that happens every year, but it seems to be getting worse. Gas prices have never been higher this time of the year than they are now, and we can expect even sharper increases at the pump because gas typically rises in March and April.
I’ve drawn lots of cartoons over the years about the rising cost of gas. Here are some of my favorites…







What Political Cartoonists Do
Pat Bagley, cartoonist extraordinaire for the Salt Lake Tribune, came up with this funny look at political cartoonists…

Last week, I wrote a column about a new policy initiated by The New York Times geared towards returning political cartoons to their Sunday Review section. I applauded the decision to bring back cartoons, but was critical of the paltry fee they were offering, as well as their idea to have cartoonists submit their ideas on spec.
Today I received an email from the Editors of The Times, which said:
As I’m sure you all know, we got a lot of reactions to our request for cartoons for a new feature in the Sunday Review — much of it negative. Your very good questions and criticisms of our process have forced us to take a second look, and to reconsider. We are going to postpone adding the cartoon to our section until we can figure out a process that is fair to cartoonists and also works for us.
This is good news, and hopefully they will consider all suggestions and come back with a more reasonable offer that respects the great work that political cartoonists do.
Here were my suggestions:
1. Try reprinting the best syndicated cartoons again, with signatures of the artists in place, and without the title, “Laugh Lines,” so that cartoons which make a reader cry or think might get equal play in The Times as the little jokes.
2. Or, if you want an exclusive cartoon, trust one cartoonist and pay him or her fairly. Find someone whose point of view is in line with The Times’ editorial stance; commit to that cartoonist and give him the same freedom that you do with your columnists. After all, editorial cartoonists are graphic columnists, except that our work is more powerful than the words of columnists. Nobody tears out a column and sticks it to their refrigerator.

