David Baldinger - Cartoonist & Photographer

About the protests in Oaxaca, Mexico . Very powerful work by Carlos Latuff . Carlos never ceases to amaze me with his political clarity and artistic skill.

Remember this Corporate America...this works both ways. I don't have to but your products either. Media Advisory published by FAIR Air America on Ad Blacklist? ABC document: Sponsors shun liberal network 10/31/06 An internal memo from ABC Radio Networks to its affiliates reveals scores of powerful sponsors have a standing order that their commercials never be placed on syndicated Air America programming that airs on ABC affiliates. The October 25 memo was provided to FAIR by the Peter B. Collins Show, a syndicated radio show originating on the West Coast. Headlined "Air America Blackout" and addressed "Dear Traffic Director"—referring to the radio station staffer who coordinates programming and advertising—the memo gives the following order to affiliates: Please be advised that Hewlett Packard has purchased schedules with ABC Radio Networks between October 30th and December 24th, 2006. Please make sure you blackout this advertiser on your station, as they do no...

Refusenik Omri Evron (Keren Manor/ activestills.org ) Amir Tibon, The Electronic Intifada , 28 October 2006 Omri Evron, a 19-year-old from Tel-Aviv, is weeks away from earning his B.A. in ethical philosophy from the Tel-Aviv University (TAU). He started studying for this degree when he was still a high-school student. Omri is known around the campus of TAU as a leading social activist. Last month, for example, he started a petition of university and high-school students from around the country, protesting the exploitation of maintenance and cleaning workers in educational institutions. At least once a week, Omri visits the Palestinian village of Bili'in, showing his support for the local Palestinian farmers who are campaigning against the Israeli separation wall that separates them from about 50 percent of their lands. In Bili'in, just like in Tel-Aviv, Omri has earned the reputation of a respected human rights activist. However, Omri is considered a criminal by Israeli authori...

As posted on Alternet Official Film Site Official Dixie Chicks site Because we certainly don't want a Press that criticizes the government... "NBC is refusing to run the trailer for the Dixie Chicks documentary, Shut Up and Sing, because: 'it won't accept the spots... disparaging of President Bush." Harvey Weinstein, said in a statement that: "The idea that anyone should be penalized for criticizing the president is profoundly un-American." For the moment they've got YouTube and the other networks who are willing to air the ad." Another fine example of the hypocrisy that is the USA. Once again I feel the need to remind all the "patriotic" Republicans out there what President Teddy Roosevelt said about criticism of a president: "The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his eff...

News from Don Quichotte magazine: Turkish cartoon master Semih Balcioglu has died.

As posted on Think Progress : Ohio GOP Smears Al Franken In Press Release With Doctored Photo, Fabricated Quote Yesterday, the Ohio Republican Party sent out a news release (full text here) attacking Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) for enlisting the support of comedian Al Franken: It is not surprising that Sherrod Brown is enlisting the help of a Hollywood liberal, who like him, is so far out of the mainstream of Ohio values. What is troubling is that Brown would solicit support from someone [Franken] who compared conservatives to Nazis “who should drink poison and die.” The quote used in the news release is taken from Bernard Goldberg book, 110 People Who Are Screwing Up America, in an alleged interview between Goldberg and Franken. But in his book, Goldberg makes it clear that the exchange is completely fictional . The Ohio Republican Party represented it as fact. (there's a big surprise! DB) The news release was accompanied by this photograph, showing Franken dressed up like a baby bun...

Director Gabriel Range defends his controversial decision to make a film about the fake assassination of George W. Bush. Official " Death Of A President " film site.

Just like its allies, the USA in Iraq, Israel just couldn't resist the temptation to use horrifying phosphorus bombs during the recent assault on Lebanon. Does this make me anti-semitic because I am appalled? Gehenna from Wikipedia: "Pagans once sacrificed their children to pagan idols in the fires in Gehenna, and this was an abomination; in 2 Kings, 23:10, King Josiah forbade the sacrificing of children to Moloch at Gehenna (though Baal is not mentioned in this particular verse). Rashi claims that the Tophet was the Molech. Since priests would bang on drums so that the father would not hear the groans of the child when he would be burned by the hands of the pagan image, Molech, they called it Topheth. There are stories of fires that were kept burning via the adding of brimstone (sulfur). Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible Volume I, explains, “It became the common lay-stall garbage dump of the city, where the dead bodies of criminals, and the carcasses of animals, and every...

Walt Harper early 1990's by David Baldinger The above photograph is a scan of an old photo I shot when Mr. Harper performed at the local community college. Unfortunately, I can't find my only print to do a rescan and I don't have possession of the negative. I remember how pleasant he was to shoot that day. I am sorry to read that he passed away with a sudden heart attack. I'm sure Pittsburgh will miss you, Walt! Here are two articles that relate better than I could a little about Walt Harper: -- A Life In Tune: Walt Harper Enjoys Holding On To "Satin Doll" from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Dec. 21, 2003 -- Local Jazz Legend Dies Of Heart Attack from WTAE TV News on Yahoo Walt Harper And All That Jazz Official Website

The apartment complex where I live provides a dumpster for trash. This morning, I was dropping a bag off and came upon a huge raccoon looking through the garbage for tasty scraps. At first, when it saw me, it couldn't decide what route to take for an escape. Finally, it decided to try and squeeze its huge belly through the gap between the dumpster and the dumpster's door. It struggled for a few moments and this is what it looked like. The whole scene was quite funny, the poor thing. After managing to get through, the raccoon climbed to the ground and looked back at me. I'm not sure if the look was embarrassment or disgust at my interrupting dinner.

President Bush and his Republican cohorts in crime are trying to use fear to keep voters from choosing members of the Democratic Party in the coming November 7th elections. Karl Rove is the political mastermind behind Bush and the person most known for devising clever dirty tricks to damage opponents.

By Carlos Latuff

I discovered today that a film I have been waiting a long time for on DVD has finally appeared as a 2 disc 25th anniversary edition. Warren Beatty's "Reds" has been a favorite of mine since I first saw it many years ago. It is incredibly priced around $13 or $14 too! Amazon.com essential video Warren Beatty's lengthy 1981 drama about American Communist John Reed and his relationships with both the Russian Revolution and a writer named Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton) is a compelling piece of little-known history told in a uniquely personal way. Beatty plays Reed as he did the title gangster in Bugsy and Senator in Bulworth, as a visionary likely to die before anyone fully recognizes the progressiveness of the vision, including those who are supposed to be on the same page. Jack Nicholson has an interesting part as fellow intellectual Eugene O'Neill, and the late author Jerzy Kosinski--himself a refugee from then-Soviet-controlled Poland--makes a strong impression as R...

I can guarantee that you didn't see this on any national news here in the US: Angry Steelworkers Drive Bush Brother Into Subway Closet Denise Winebrenner Edwards People's Weekly World PITTSBURGH — Laughter, cheers and applause filled the Steelworkers union headquarters here, Oct. 7, when Allegheny County Labor Council President Jack Shea introduced steelworkers who had forced Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to flee into a subway closet the day before. Bush had ventured into this steel town to try to boost the campaign of Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, whose voting record is 90 percent anti-labor. “Steelworkers aren’t kidding when they say ‘Pittsburgh is a Santorum-free zone,’” said Shea. More than 150 local union volunteers savored the story as they finished their coffee, reviewed their suburban maps and assembled their two-person teams to hit the streets, ready to deliver literature and talk to union voters. The big turnout on a picture-perfect fall day usually filled with football, soc...

I added text to Bill Mauldin's classic editorial cartoon created after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I thought this appropriate since that stunted, wannabe dictator, GW Bush signed into law today a bill that helps gut normal protections under the US Constitution. "The bill also eliminates some rights common in military and civilian courts. For example, the commission would be allowed to consider hearsay evidence so long as a judge determined it was reliable. Hearsay is barred from civilian courts. The legislation also says the president can "interpret the meaning and application" of international standards for prisoner treatment, a provision intended to allow him to authorize aggressive interrogation methods that might otherwise be seen as illegal by international courts . White House press secretary Tony Snow said Bush would probably eventually issue an executive order that would describe his interpretation, but those documents are not usually ma...

Shirts, posters, tote bags and cards available now with this image. Merchandise available

America's cardboard army of Flat Daddies boosts families Paul Harris and Javier Espinoza Sunday October 8, 2006 The Observer It is one of the hardest things about being a military family. How to cope when a husband and father, or wife and mother, is posted abroad, especially to combat zones such as Iraq or Afghanistan. Now the United States army has come up with a bizarre solution: Flat Daddy and Flat Mommy. Many military units can provide families with a life-size cardboard cutout of their overseas warrior. The family can then take that figure to parties, put it in the passenger seat of their car, take it to bed or do whatever it is that families want to with a replica of their loved one. Named after Flat Stanley, a children's book character who was squashed flat, the cutouts have been a surprise hit since they were introduced. In Maine alone, the state's National Guard has given out more than 200 Flat Soldiers since January. The scheme began in North Dakota when one army ...

My caricature of the cartoonist most hated by Zionists everywhere, Carlos Latuff . Apparently, Carlos' passionate support of the Palestinian people and the refusal to accept their abuse at the hands of Israel makes him an "anti-Semite." Any criticism of Israel gets a person labeled as such so it really doesn't matter.

My interpretation of Ben Heine . Ben does fantastic political drawings and erotic paintings . I decided to incorporate an "erotic" element into the drawing in honor of his paintings.

Free The Five. org

A selection of my cartoons as displayed in the Syrian Baath Party newspaper.

I based this image on the US Revolutionary War Gadsden flag.

...and I think it is on purpose. Colorado Geography Teacher Quits over Foreign Flag Dispute "Hamlin was hired to teach world geography to seventh graders at the school, which is in Jefferson County, Colorado. For the past eight years, he says he has taught in that district. He prepared his classroom by displaying the flags of Mexico, China, and the United Nations, as he has in previous classes without incident, he says. But when Assistant Principal Victoria Winslow came into his class on August 21, the day before school was to begin, and saw the flags, she told him to take them down. “...That surprised me and caught me off guard,” he says. “I asked her why I had to take them down, and she said it was Jefferson County School District policy. I said I’d had the flags up before in Jefferson County, and if that was the policy, I had some issues with it. She left, and about an hour later she returned and said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry I was wrong. It isn’t district policy. It’s actually state la...

Published on Thursday, October 5, 2006 by The Progressive Criticizing Cheney to His Face Is Assault? by Matthew Rothschild Steve Howards says he used to fantasize about what he’d say to President Bush or Vice President Cheney if he ever got the chance. That opportunity arrived on June 16, the same day he says he read about U.S. fatalities in Iraq reaching 2,500. “Initially, I walked past him. Then I said to myself, ‘I can’t in good conscience let this opportunity pass by.’ So I approached him, I got about two feet away, and I said in a very calm tone of voice, ‘Your policies in Iraq are reprehensible.’” Howards says he was taking two of his kids to their Suzuki piano camp in Beaver Creek, Colorado. They were walking across the outdoor public mall area when all of a sudden he saw Cheney there. “I didn’t even know he was in town,” Howards says. “He was walking through the area shaking hands. Initially, I walked past him. Then I said to myself, ‘I can’t in good conscience let this opportu...

There is no way I am going to buy another Microsoft OS. Win XP is as far as I go. Eventually due to the ultimate end of support and updates, I will be dumping XP. I've been experimenting with Linux in various forms. There is a lot to recommend this but it just ain't there yet for us normal, average computer users. I'm pretty good at figuring out how to make things work usually. Still, I will tolerate a headache only so far. My most recent experiment was with Ubuntu . The install went well and everything works great as far as internal hardware goes but...try getting a goddamned Epson scanner to work and see how pleasant the experience becomes. I followed every bit of instruction I could find. Everyone seems to have a different method. The assumption a person is familiar with the terminology is also maddening. Can someone manage to write step by step instructions that don't look like NASA commands to the Mars Rover? I understand the Epson scanners are bitchy with Linux bu...

Posted Oct. 3 on BradBlog : INCREDIBLE! FOX 'NEWS' LABELS FOLEY AS DEM DURING O'REILLY FACTOR! Three Different Video Cutaways, 15 Seconds or More Each, Credit Disgraced REPUBLICAN Congressman as Being a Florida DEMOCRAT! UPDATE: 'Erroneous' Caption Scrubbed from Late-night O'Reilly Rebroadcasts Without Explanation! Just amazing. Fox's O'Reilly Factor just covered the Mark Foley ( R -FL) issue in two different segments, one of them with a page who says he received communications from Foley, and another with Ann Coulter. Never mind the content of either segment for now. Incredibly , during a total of three different cutaways to video footage of Foley, he was labelled at the bottom of the screen eachtime as "( D -FL)" ! Three different times. In two different segements. Each cutaway about 15 seconds or more. Showing Foley as a DEMOCRAT . Amazing. Just an accident? We report, you decide. UPDATE 11:3...

As posted on Media Matters From the October 1 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace: CHRIS WALLACE (host): Does this feed into a sense that -- certainly, at least the Democrats are arguing that it shows an arrogant Republican majority that, you know, is more concerned about incumbency than about, in this particular case, protecting kids? HUME: It is very serious misbehavior on the part of Congressman Foley. Whether it stems from some overall arrogance or just the weakness of the human flesh is another question. It's probably worth noting here that there's a difference between the two parties on these issues. Inappropriate behavior toward subordinates didn't cost Gerry Studds his Democratic seat in Massachusetts, nor Barney Frank his. Nor did inappropriate behavior toward a subordinate even cost Bill Clinton his standing within the Democratic Party, even though, indirectly at least, he was impeached for it. Mark Foley found out abou...

If things shake down as they usually do here in freedom loving Amerika, the cops will be exonerated. We all know the pigs are never wrong. Now, I know some excellent police officers who do their jobs professionally. Members of my own family have been policemen. The State Police of my state of Pennsylvania have always been great when I've dealt with them. They do a job I wouldn't do under any circumstance. Unfortunately, local police forces seem to attract more authoritarian, power hungry pricks every day. These humps get off on corrupting law and process to boost their pathetic egos. Most, in my opinion, are glorified mall guards. The cops in my hometown are the typically ignorant, donut sugar dusted pigs that give all police a bad name. They are predatory prowlers slinking through the night harassing every person they find for the most minor infractions. I've seen a car surrounded by what appears to be every police car available for nothing more than a traffic stop. Trust ...

Can we shave these collaborators heads? George Bush thanks you for helping cover his ass when it comes to ignoring the Geneva Conventions and letting the US slide one step closer to a Fascist state. Thomas Carper (D-DE) Tim Johnson (D-SD) Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) Joe Lieberman (D-CT) now here's a real surprise...Not! Robert Menendez (D-NJ) Bill Nelson (D-FL) Ben Nelson (D-NE) Mark Pryor (D-AR) Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) Ken Salazar (D-CO) Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) Once again, so many members of the supposed opposition party have justified my decision to formally un-register as a Democrat and register as an independent. I take a hit on voting in the primary elections but does that really matter? The choices usually stink anyway. Wow, one politically connected insider or another! Who should I vote for? I see no use for any of the current Democratic Party. Many think we should work with what we have but I see that as just beating a dead horse (or jackass in this case)....