Author: Ann

Day 3- Memorial de Caen cartoon conference

Posted on April 5, 2014 by - free speech, human rights, politics, society

Panel: “Cartooning in war time”
Cartoonists from Palestine, Iran, Algeria, Morocco, and Russia discuss working in countries under repressive governments and during wartime.

Sabaaneh/ Iran Mohammad Sabaaneh, Palestine
“The most hard thing a cartoonist faces in the Arab world… is the audience”

Alizadah, Iran Javad Alizadeh, Iran
“If I think about danger, I would never draw a cartoon”

Bogorad/ Russia Victor Bogorad, Russia
“Most magazines and newspapers prefer not to deal with the subject” (Putin and Ukraine)

Gueddar/ Morocco Khalid Gueddar, Morocco
“Sex, Religion, Royal family” (taboos in Morocco)

Lounis/ Algeria Djamel Lounis, Algeria
“No satirical reviews in Algeria anymore (due to) repressive laws concerning journalists”

Day 2- Memorial de Caen cartoon conference

Posted on April 4, 2014 by - free speech, human rights, politics

The cartoonists were taken on a tour of the museum and D-Day landings on Thursday. The museum is divided into sections, beginning with the events leading up to World War II.  Propaganda posters during Vichy FranceI found the area dealing with Germany in the early 30’s especially interesting because it shows how intolerance and fear enabled Nazism to gain power in Germany.

D-day beachAmerican cemetery

No cameras in the Supreme Court

Posted on March 27, 2014 by - human rights, politics, society, womens issues

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this past Tuesday for Sebelius v Hobby Lobby, one of the cases which brings up the question whether a business can deny its female employees birth control coverage under Obamacare because of the owners’ religious beliefs.  As usual, the line for public seating started early. This is the scene Saturday morning:SCOTUS03222014

By Tuesday the line had grown to this:HobbyLobbyLine0325

Only about 100 members of the public are seated for SCOTUS arguments; about another 100 seats are for the press and select choice seats are designated for guests of the Justices. Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom so the majority of Americans never get the opportunity to watch as one of their three branches of government makes important decisions which affect their civil liberties and personal lives.

My take about cameras in the courtroom from the Washington Post’s Post Partisan blog yesterday.

Here’s a good piece by Washington Post blogger Alyssa Rosenberg on the subject of cartoonists being allowed in the court.

24 hour speculation on Malaysia flight 370 disappearance

Posted on March 17, 2014 by - society

The cable news channels is having a field day with the disappearance of Malaysia Air flight 370, now in its ninth day. Especially CNN, as Eric Wemple tweeted:Screen shot 2014-03-17 at 7.06.51 AM

We’re having some video problems so my latest animation which deals with this subject isn’t posted yet (hopefully sometime this morning) but meanwhile here’s an archived cartoon from 2005:122805ReportAirDisasCOLIf I recall correctly, the Denver-bound Frontier was diverted back to Los Angeles after the plane’s cargo door warning light had turned on- which left plenty of time for CNN to speculate about what exactly would happened if the door ripped off, all while the flight was still in the air and passengers were being readied for an emergency landing.  Thankfully the plane landed safely and we were all spared watching CNN do wall to wall coverage of the carnage on the tarmac.