John McCain the Mangler | 1st Video

(NOTE: You may have to refresh (F5) your page - as the crazy FLV plugin I have isn’t working).

Here’s a short little video that I put together tonight, inspired by The Mangler (1995), the Beach Boys, Atom Bombs, and a Little Psycho. Strangely, the guy in The Manger intro sounds a lot like John McCain. Very creepy.
As this is my first attempt at putting together a political, John McCain video, and while I’ve been dying to try out my new software (Final Cut Express, After Effects, Garage Band, Flash), I’m still struggling a bit with the tools. I’m sure you can guess which ones. Forgive my rush to publish stolen content in the name of satire and parody.

Peace. (To Be Continued…)

Secret Killing Program Key to Iraq Success

What century and what country to I belong to?

That’s what crossed my mind when I read Bob Woodward’s remark, “It is a wonderful example of American ingenuity solving a problem in war, as we often have.” Woodward was discussing his most recent book, The War Within: Secret White House History 2006-2008 (2008). According to CNN, Woodward suggested the secret killing program was comparable to the World War II era Manhattan Project.

“It is a wonderful example of American ingenuity solving a problem in war…”

- Bob Woodward, Journalist

Supposedly, this secret killing program is meant to target al Qaeda and other insurgent leaders. Is this supposed to be comforting? And what do we typically learn about Bush’s secret programs.

I’ve been searching for speculative answers as to what might be entailed in this secret program. A few answers have been offered. One details the use of targeted GPS bombings, another, the random mass killing by new rules of engaged sniper fire.

There’s a complete diary tread that can be followed on the speculation over at the DailyKOS.

Whatever the case may be, a secret killing program is not an example of “American ingenuity.”

Why We Can Trust Obama on Negotiations with Enemies

“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” — John F Kennedy

Today is likely to mark Obama’s move to finally secure the democratic nomination for President of the United States. This long journey has been marked by gaffes, preacher associations, heated debates, conflicting polls, and passion filled charges. Now it will be marked with the end, a final speech to kickoff the general election. For those that have been following this from the beginning though, the Obama nomination has not always appeared to be so likely.

In June of 2007, after one of the first debates, Hillary threw the first punch, hoping to expunge any Obama “hope” early in the game, by demonstrating that his inexperience on foreign policy was his greatest weakness. Unfortunately for her, she helped him create one of the key differentiators between them, and gave him a foreign policy stump speech.

Now, over the weekend, in reflecting on a conversation Obama had with Clinton, he recalled:

“… she and I have been on this same journey together, and … once the dust settled, I was looking forward to meeting with her at a time and place of her choosing.”

No preconditions.

Hillary can bring her requests for a spot on the ticket, or her plea for aid in repaying her $40 million in debt. Despite suggestions an innuendo that she might be waiting for the worst to happen to Obama, he’s willing to sit down and talk. It can be over tea or whiskey, at the shooting range or bowling alley, in West Virginia, or Kentucky. It’s her choice. And she can lay out the conditions. He will listen. And then they will negotiate.

If Obama can negotiate the mending necessary to bring Clinton and her supporters on board, I have full faith he’ll be able to start a dialogue that secures our borders, starts the path to peace in the middle east by involving Iran and Syria, and convinces Dr. Strangeglove of North Korea that he really doesn’t want those nuke toys western countries harbor so selfishly.

Bitterness in Small Town USA

A slow news cycle means the silliness returns to the Democratic primary campaign. The most important issue facing Americans today, is Barack Obama’s “elitist” comment on the roots of bitterness and the justification of bigotry in small town USA.

My problem with the Clinton camp making a big deal out of this is first, there are much more important issues at stake (the whole reason Americans are bitter with their government) and it looks desperate on her part. And second, it’s pretty common knowledge that Obama does not pull well in rural areas of uneducated, white voters in the first place. Other than solidifying her base in rural, predominantly Republican districts, I’m not sure where this gets her.

Hell, either way, I thought I’d do a little pot stirring myself.

In Black and White (and Red) Day 7: China Olympic Disaster: A Silence Kept Too Long

I’m normally not one to recycle material, however considering that most visitors to this site are new, I’m going to guess you, my angry reader, won’t mind. (I’m assuming your angry, otherwise you’d probably not be interested in cartoons bashing China’s human rights position and the fact it was given the Olympics to host despite this obvious mark on its record.)

This is a drawing I did way back in the early days of this blog project called PixelMarx, I did a cartoon for the Darfur: An Unforgivable Hell on Earth. Since then, this cartoon’s been buried. That was until recently, as the public began to awaken to this whole issue.

Now with the protests surrounding the Olympic Torch relay, the image is all the more relevant. Those who’ve already seen this, I apologize (well maybe not).

You can read the original post, Foul Smell from Beijing More than Olympic Sized Pollution.

There are a few comments, including the most recent one just the other day.

Sier wrote, “Your drawing is based on your biased imagination and showing you have not any real knowledge about China.” To the biased imagination part, I fully agree (in fact I’m thinking I might steal that line when describing what I do here - drawings biased by my imagination - it has a special ring to it. But I digress.

Instead, I’m making my own pledge to boycott the Olympics, the whole thing. I’m not going to read, watch, pay any attention to the event. It’ll tie nicely into my boycott of NBC and the rest of mainstream media. And to all those who say boycotts don’t work…don’t think you persuade me :).

Note: For anyone wondering who the man behind the mask might be, it’s Hu Jintao (pronounced “who”).

In Black and White Day 6: Howard Zinn and A People’s History of American Empire

Howard Zinn’s upcoming book is being introduced by this nice presentation/political art film that’s narrated by Viggo Mortensen and guess what…it’s in black and white. I’m being lazy today (actually I’m trying to learn animation) so I thought I’d let another artist do the work.

Check out the work of Mike Konopacki, a political cartoonist, who’s brief 2 second spot at the end of the clip doesn’t give enough recognition to the artist…

In Black and White Day 2 - Seeds of War

Day 2 and I didn’t get to spend as much time as I’d have liked with this drawing. but something started to emerge toward the end. Although drawing in Photoshop, I tried to emulate a scratchboard technique. For those not familiar with what scratchboard is, it’s basically a clay board, covered in black ink. You then use a sharp object and you scrap away to reveal an image. It’s a challenging technique to do it well, of course with Photoshop, there is considerably less challenge.

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