Auchtoon!

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, January 7, 2011

I was hoping to be less right about the third panel than I actually was — for Jane’s sake….

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, December 31, 2011

This is a pretty inside joke for West Michiganders. You can click here for some context, but here’s the basic story: The piece that won ArtPrize this year was “Crucifixion,” a stained-glass mosaic of Jesus Christ on a cross. This did not sit well with some who saw it as purposely pandering to the Christian inclination of West Michigan. There was some interesting debate around the topic. But the most interesting thing to me is how a few just would not let it go. I thought it’d be funny if this was their very first thought of the new year….

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, December 24, 2011

I have to compliment myself on this one. Not so much the cartoon (it’s okay — it was fun drawing Uncle Sam, but I never did get his hands right). No, it was the timing. I had to get this one done Wednesday morning before Christmas. At that point, the Senate’s two-month extension of the payroll tax cut and extending unemployment benefits was considered dead in the House. I gambled the deal would get done (including the nonsensical bit about fastracking an oil pipeline) by Saturday. Then, blamo!, Friday it went through. It was, well… for America it was yet another partisan politics debacle. But for me it was a Christmas Miracle!

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, December 17, 2011

The backstory. I mean, honestly. Reminds me of back in 1998 when Vermont was trying to make Lake Champlain a “Great Lake.” That deserved a rude gesture, too.

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, December 10,  2011

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, December 3,  2011

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, November 26,  2011

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, November 19,  2011

Lower taxes are nice. Lower taxes are helpful. But there’s more to building Michigan’s economy than lower taxes….

Attended opening night last night, and it was fantastic! (The Shrew and the Haberdasher in particular) Shows tonight and Saturday at 7:00PM. Click here for details: http://gpsblogs.org/ghstheater/

Originally published in the Grand Rapids Press, November 12,  2011

Basic summary: A Republican State Representative, Paul Scott of Grand Blanc, was successfully recalled from office this past election. The effort to recall him was largely funded by the Michigan Teachers Union (the MEA), which skews heavily toward the Democrats. Republican-leaning special interest groups have vowed revenge. For analogies, I flirted with Pandora’s Box and Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots, but eventually settled on the hammer.