Oreo's Law

This is a political cartoon I felt compelled to do. The important thing to know about this is that the ASPCA is against positive progress in US shelters. Their medieval practices leave 25,000 animals dead in NYC alone each year. CAARA (Companion Animal Access and Rescue Act) would allow Rescue groups from NY and near by to take animals from the NYC ACC (animal 'care' and control) before they are euthanized. CAARA was started when an abused dog named Oreo was offered sanctuary by a Rescue group in upstate NY and instead killed by the ASPCA- even though there was safe, reliable rescue ready and willing to do everything to save Oreo.

Here is what No-Kill Nation's pioneer Nathan Winograd had to say the day CAARA was defeated:


Today, the ASPCA has succeeded in defeating badly needed shelter reform legislation in NYS, effectively condemning 25,000 animals a year to death. We've been trying to pass such a law since 2010. Each time, the ASPCA has led the charge to defeat the bill, choosing kill shelters and their regressive directors over the lives of the animals.

In fact, 49,404 animals have been killed in New York State shelters who rescue groups were ready, willing, and able to save since the ASPCA first defeated legislation which would have made it illegal for shelters to kill animals when qualified rescue groups were willing to save them. It is not easy to conceptualize 49,404 dead animals. But if you were driving along the road and each of those bodies was lined up end to end, that monumental trail of dead bodies would stretch approximately 15 miles long (and lead straight to ASPCA CEO Ed Sayres' door). Put another way, they would fill virtually all of the seats at Yankee stadium. When you donate to the ASPCA, you help fund this massacre. 

Dropping the ax was Agriculture Assembly Committee Chair Bill Magee. He did the ASPCA's bidding yet again. Let him know what you think:

Email: MageeW@assembly.state.ny.us
Telephone: (607) 432-1484

Law School Newspaper Illustrations

So I met this really nice guy at a bar a few months ago. He told me he is a law student- I told him I was an undergraduate Illustration major. He then asked me if I was interested in doing some work for his school's newspaper. Well, Faegans (the bar I frequent) has a night called 'Flip Night'. Basically the bartender flips a coin and if you guess correctly you get a free beer. Long story short- I had been winning a lot this night and have a huge soft spot for Franzikaner Heffeweizens. I answered this law student with an emphatic 'yes!'

I do not regret saying yes, but I did not realize how hard this would be for me. I am not a political/editorial artist really at all. It was hard for me to visualize the articles I had to illustrate. I decided that my Illustrator skills would better suit me for these assignments than my drawing ability. I actually really like the outcome- I think they are clean and to the point. (Which, from what I've learned, that's what you want out of a political cartoon or illustration).

The first Illustration is based on an article on how many of the owners of major oil companies used to be a part of or have connections with the formal KGB. The second Illustration is about how the withdrawal from NATO is in 2014 and how Afghanistan, Pakistan and the USA are trying to fight for how to deal with North Waziristan. The third illustration is based on a paper about how Obama has succeeded in weeding out a lot of terrorists but they have started to adapt to our tactics. The final image is my favorite one and it is about Pakistan's suicide bombers.