'Bye to daily topical 'toons

Today's cartoon (apologies for the parody of Warner Bros. famous 'farewell' scene) marks the end of a 4 year odyssey which began as a combined blog-illo challenge and health crutch and morphed into an almost all-consuming enjoyment.

Having proved all the early misgivings incorrect... I now have to declare 'mission complete' and resume something like a normal aged existence. Removing the self-imposed imperative of daily performance will enable me to catch-up on many of the other mundane 'life' tasks which have somewhat languished since 01/01/2011.

Cartooning will remain my first choice leisure activity and this blog will still be as entertaining as I can manage. I hope I can feed it with more diverse cartoon-related original work and info (including topical stuff) as often as I can muster the effort... Just not every day just for the sake of continuity.

BTW, I haven't tried to count the number of cartoons produced during the 4 years. Let's just settle on a figure substantially more than 1500 and wallow briefly in the unexpected glow of dis-belief that I started it in the first place.

!! YAWN!!

PS... Happy New-Year to all who read this.

As 2014 sinks below the horizon...

... this will be the last 'daily' topical cartoon I will be posting for the foreseeable future. I am lifting the self-imposed imperative of 'a cartoon a day keeps the doctor away' which I imposed from 01/02/2011... in the first place as simply a response to a challenge to see how long I could sustain a daily submission of a new cartoon to amuse a large group of over-50s on-line readers. I warmed to the idea mainly because it represented a discipline which might help me emerge from a period of depression which had settled on me after suffering a debilitating illness during  2010. Both premises combined to satisfy the needs of viewers and me.

Tomorrow will mark the completion of 4 years of uninterrupted posting of at least one 'toon a day of a topical nature... despite minor in-dispositions, computer and/or power failures, at least two hospitalizations for removal of skin cancers and the closure of the original host site during 2013 which necessitated me starting my own blog-site in order to continue the 'streak'. I'm chuffed to know that I was able to maintain the output for so long... not the expected result 4 years ago!

The reason I'm abandoning the 'challenge' is to permit me time to attend to other 'life matters' which have often been ignored temporarily in my manic desire to avoid breaking the cartoon continuity. It doesn't mean I'm abandoning cartooning altogether. That would be stupidly non-productive. All I'm removing is the 'imperative' to perform. I shall continue to operate the blog-site with regular... but hopefully more varied and interesting cartoon material.  

Cable TV PM?

An opinion piece in today's OZ Guardian line-up holds that Tony Abbott has become  a 'Foxtel' prime minister in the same way George W. Bush was nick-named the Network President... a reference to his governing only for his supporters (mainly the 'big' end of town) and those who voted for him.

In his first post-poll speech, Abbott honored the traditional 'weasel' phrase "I will govern for all Australians... not just my party's supporters" as uttered by all of his predecessors as far back as Hawke in my distinct memory. Like much else emanating from the mouths of politicians... not necessarily a 'Core' undertaking.

In my purview, the first 18 months of Abbott's administration hasn't brought forward any legislative proposals which have met with the mass approval of any Australian constituent groups which one might characterize as 'centrist' or  'opposition-leaning' demographics to my knowledge! So, who or what were they intended to benefit?

One suspects 'subscribers' only?

signs of the times

This is the result of wandering ruminations following a short burst of energy wholly spent on clearing
weeds and surface bush grass from a back yard in quite intense sunlight. Which is 'polite' for 'buggered' because it was too bloody hot for manual labour!

Super Trawled?

The devil (fishiness) can be measured in the detail?

Swaggy Bill

Interesting opinion piece by Jason Wilson in today's Guardian on-line highlighting the stupidity of clinging to imported European myths like Santa Claus... especially with all of their retained trappings
like seasonal backgrounds intact. The fat old bloke's visit to the antipodes remains in the unquestioning minds of children firmly anchored on December 25. when depiction of his costume and spectral vehicle surrounded by ice and snow hardly equates with the season south of the equator? Similar confusion attends the traditional fare served at Christmas celebrations... roasted meats and heavily cooked sweet courses hardly compatible with potentially +/-  40C ambient temperatures.

The author examines the role these and other similar anomalies play in reinforcing the feeling that we are 'aliens' in terra australis desperately clinging to the phantoms of a lost past(?) to assuage our feelings of being out of place?

I ask myself... if the above theory is sound, why not replace some of the old world phantoms with figures or habits which have been generated locally after the first migration? Since Santa is already an overlay on a solemn religious festival (which is probably a discomfort to many of its solemn adherents?), why not create a home-grown benevolent replacement similarly equipped to maintain the delights of innocent children in much the same way as Mr. 'Claus'? Perhaps the OZ version could be moved to either xmas eve or Boxing day? Wont worry the 'littlies'... they'll believe anything!

Road trauma

To all seasonal revellers. Enjoy yourselves... but, if you've travelled by car. bike or any other wheeled form of transport to share your joy... be extra careful out there. Even people using 'shank's pony'... don't play russian roulette with the traffic!

Remember, Road Trauma loves a holiday... people's holidays that is. IT NEVER TAKES A HOLIDAY ITSELF!

Koala GOING...going...

Today's national news once again warns caring Australians that Koalas, one of our most enduring fauna icons, are in dire jeopardy of becoming extinct in the wild during our lifetime due to continuing destruction of their essential forest habitat.

WAKE UP OZ!

S.O.S.*

* In this case Save our Seats! Apologies to the viewer... and any other 'toonies who 'clicked' on this theme the moment Mr. Rabbit announced his re-shuffling of front bench seats in an effort to 're-set' the ship of state for the journey in 2015.

The Titanic disaster  analogy was just too hard to ignore!

Tried and proven methodology?

Social welfare recipients will look forward to the new year with normal faith and hope no matter what existing trials and tribulations may be for each. Only now... they have been re-shuffled to include 'be alert and very alarmed!'

Monsters are on the loose!

Hippo beach.

The open range zoo at Werribee (west of Melbourne) has announced it is opening a 'beach' built around water in the Hippopotamus enclosure, giving spectators an unobstructed view of the pudgy animals frolicking (or, simply sun-baking ) on their brand-new lido?

Great day...

... because of the lift I got from attending the annual ACA 'wind-up BBQ , once again at Jim Bridges' hacienda (also home of the OZ cartoon museum). Beautiful day for burning steak etc, and consuming the great heaps of beaut biteables on the smorgasbord. Ample beverages also on hand. My highlights were meeting 'old hands' like George Haddon, Peter Foster, Al Rose, John Spooner, Rolf Heimann, Paul Harvey, Ian McCall et. alia (not the least of which was JB himself) who I've greatly missed since being unable to make it to regular bi-monthly meetings. All in great shape, I'm very happy to report.

Lots of pic taking sessions so, something should turn-up on the ACA and/ or social media sites plus Inkspot in due course.

And, the down-side...? Got home after the long drive (I was family designated driver for the return trip) at +/- 5pm feeling extremely tired. Meant to post a caricature of Jim Bridges (probably circa 2002/3? My signature is the only clue.). I have no idea what brought about the quick B&W sketch way back then... but, again happy to report THE CARTOON MAN hasn't changed in visage or his passion for cartoons/cartooning during the interim. In any event. I spent the evening dozing... and it was too late to post a re-digitized version by the time I remembered the  omission.

So. here it is a day late as first cab off the ramp this Sunday.

Good year 2?

The prime minister has reaffirmed his belief that it had been “a year of achievement for our country”

Gun laws

In supporting his dramatic tightening of  'access to firearms' legislation following the Port Arthur shootings (perpetrated by yet another complete 'wacko')... John Howard omitted any reference to the strong element of  political opportunism which drove his actions at that time.

If he was so passionate about gun control legislation, why had he not initiated any such move before the Tasmanian tragedy?

He accepted the kudos of a public still reeling from the shock of that atrocious event... yet deprived only law-abiding citizens who were a soft and vulnerable target. Why nothing at all aimed at preventing  gangsters and other criminal elements from arming themselves to the teeth with even military strength armaments? They still appear to have no difficulty whatsoever in gaining access to the weaponry they deem necessary to support their nefarious activities... and probably run a prosperous business in on-selling so-called banned weapons to any member of the public with an imagined need for such equipment and deep enough pockets to pay for the service.

If I was Mr. Howard, I'd shut up about my supposed past political acumen, lest someone starts to ponder whether perhaps past political 'grand-standing' combined with failure to close obvious loop-holes, possibly facilitated many of the gun-related homicides which have occurred since 'Port Arthur'?  

Death-wish terror

Like most Australians, I was appalled by the atrocity perpetrated by an apparently lone deranged  gunman in Sydney's CBD within the last 48 hours. Naturally, my sympathies are with the families of the two innocent victims whose lives were lost as a result of the offender's criminal assault on them and other hostages. This atrocious incident will no doubt be long remembered... perhaps along with even worse events like Port Arthur in Tasmania and Hoddle Street in Melbourne during the latter half of the last century... because of the dramatic 'wall to wall' coverage by various media elements whilst it was actually taking place.

That's O.K. Premeditated terror attacks need to remembered if only to prompt continuous security up-dates aimed at limiting the opportunities for similar mayhem in future.

Meanwhile, there seem to be no nation-wide plans to effectively combat 'terror' attacks on our arterial and freeway road systems by maniacs who allow themselves to drive motor vehicles when either paralytically drunk on alcohol... or worse, completely off the planet on drugs like ICE. The frequency with which the media report incidents of innocent deaths caused by such criminal action would seem to indicate that a substantial proportion of statistical 'road deaths' (almost 2000 nation-wide in 2013) would be attributable to 'driving under the influence' crimes(?) Whatever, one would assume such road fatalities would certainly heavily out-number deaths connected to political or religious fundamentalist criminal attacks.

Perhaps 'terror on the roads' demands equal attention? 

Hibernation over?

It's a rude awakening when suddenly everything 'bears' down on top of 'old Smokey'?

Extinct instinct?

Sadly, Sea Turtles are way up there on the list of creatures which could become extinct before the end of this century if homo sapiens do not cease turning the oceans into a vast bloody acid bath!

Fishy tales?

Everything that comes out of Canbra is a touch on the fishy side. At the moment though, we are being subject to a spate of piscatorial-oriented stories (eg. the siamese fighting fish analogy a day or so ago) Now, we have an announcement of massive job losses being planned by the slippery government finance school as a result of their 'brilliant' idea to cull 176 government welfare agencies to help re-float their 'titanic' budget which has virtually sunk with very few survivors.

One thing is fairly evident. If this kind of short-sighted nonsense continues thru' 2015... the next election will emulate shooting fish in a barrel insofar as this hapless government mob are concerned!

BTW... how much would be saved if there were a cull of 176 federal politicians and/or their much vaunted 'advisors'?

A figurative Executive management meeting?

Illustrated minutes...

Bouncers?

See below. Very tired, but doing my best to maintain the 'cartoon a day keeps the black dog at bay' wellness theory alive.

I think they should ban intimidatory 'bouncers' from the game of cricket altogether!

Old Egg gag.

Today I'm going to be pre-occupied with household chores in general and run-up to xmas necessities in particular. So, in case I don't have time to produce the usual original daily offering... I've been prompted by a combination of yesterday's main news story exposing the CIA's journey into the darkness of barbarism and Lindsay Foyles' facebook post about his fondness for egg jokes. Strange bed-fellows.., but I too 'like' the ability of eggs to generate cartoon humour. I'm also fond of Penguins as a source of  cartoon ideas. This one is drawn from the astounding fact that males of the species stand for excessively long periods of time on blizzard-swept antarctic plains hatching eggs whilst female partners are off frolicking in the sea and gorging vast amounts of fish food.

Thus, as a possible 'filler' for the reader's daily entertainment fix... here's an egg-yolk...err, joke first published on April 12th., 2011 in a fore-runner of this blog. It was originally generated in a vector formatted 8 x 8 cms. so, simple to enlarge to 20 x 20 cms without loss of sharpness for its second outing here.

Torture!

Practically every facet of human life is touched by a never ending grapple with the right or wrong equation. Whilst demarcation between these polar opposites can sometimes be obscure, it is never satisfactory to proceed with something you know to be patently wrong just because substantial rafts of other human society find it advantageous to deliberately 'cross the line'.

IMO such is the case with practicing torture on presumed enemies for any reason. Emulating the barbaric habits of aggressive  opponents not only destroys our own moral fabric ... it also largely annuls our reason(s) for making war on them in the first place! Although previously strongly suspicious  about U.S. CIA tactics in the so-called 'war against terror', I am appalled to hear and read that U,S. officialdom has now formally admitted that systemic methods of torture HAVE been employed in places of 'suspect' detention like 'Gitmo'.

Sadly, it would now be 'hollow' in the extreme for any Australian to criticize our american 'friends' for their admitted transgressions of international law... since our own incumbent government's use of concentration camps to detain non-criminal asylum seekers is well down the same track the americans have allowed their 'security operatives' to travel. In so doing, their erstwhile reputation of being the 'good guy' in foreign affairs is in complete 'tatters'...and unlikely to be easily redeemable in the short term ahead at least.  

Green surge?

Subject to a re-count, it seems the Greens have reached a new high-tide mark in bowling over the sitting Liberal member for the Victorian seat of Prahran (Clem Newton-Brown) in the recent state election.

Since action on Climate Change is probably salient among Green party policies in both state and federal political arenas... perhaps it's time Mr. Rabbit took a seriously long hard look at his and the Liberal party's attitude to the world-wide problem?

If only in the interests of his and the party's continued eminence in Australian political administration!

Qantas diversions?

Shock Horror! Three flights involved in unplanned diversions in one day! The underlying inference in such media reports is that perhaps the passengers involved have been inconvenienced simply because of some systemic laxity in the airlines' maintenance standards. Hogwash!

These machines are comprised of thousands of electronic and mechanical parts which can, by their very nature, malfunction due to any number of various causes from changeable weather conditions to normal vibration via faulty manufacture or natural useful lifespan. Ever had a brand new household utensil or light globe 'fail' shortly after initial installation? Annoying... but, not life threatening in the overwhelming majority of cases. Well. the same can happen in a complex system like a modern airliner, except that the potential for minor failures is a thousand-fold greater than your household equipment. Yet, airliners have extraordinary built-in provision for redundancy of system components not typical of your average house. Despite that fact, safety conscious airlines routinely divert to the nearest landing place in the face of really minor component failures, because 'taking a punt' on any component failure not being the signal of a possibly worse malfunction is not an option. Being safe rather than 'sure' IS the only option!

And, thank your stars that is SO!

Santa-safe?

Well... why not destroy the whole fun, fear and/or fantasy of father christmas for children once and for all, you single-minded correctness nazis?

You know you'd like to...

Polie R & R?

Sooo... everyone intimately connected with (or affected by) the current Oz political malaise, may now take a well-earned rest and recreation break in whatever exotic locale they wish.

Well,.. perhaps not everyone?

Chicken wings?

Thank goodness the politicians have given us a spell from their almost non-stop Vaudeville show.

Time for some thought on future directions... punctuated by froth and bubble like this?

Reboot? Reset? REALLY?!

Hey Tone... how about you drop the impact sloganeering words and make a positive impact on the nation by actually doing something RIGHT the first time?!

Bronny's bucket

Blimey! If the standard of comedy scripts coming out of Canbra doesn't start to deteriorate soon... there'll be no more crawl space for satirizing of Pollie antics by the cartooning fraternity.

Seriously!

Re-Booted... Senate version

The patch-work club?

Porkies...

The Capital Circus MC finally (haltingly) admits pre-election promises were lies... no matter how sugar-coated they are now being re-packaged for public consumption. He deserves a 'Peppa spray' eh?!

Ah well... anyone really surprised? That's what we've been fed for years by politicians of every stripe! What's left but to laugh at our own stupidity for repeatedly sucking up the BS at every election! Ha, ha.

Speaking of laughs. The Capital circus' current comedy bill is in its last week before the Xmas break. Three sessions daily... heaps of laughs ... don't miss the antics of freaks, trained animals, clowns and buffoons in the BIG SHOW tent! See your taxes at work!

Roll up...roll up!

Climate conference...LIMA

The latest round of climate talks begin today (Peru time) in Lima.

Victorian election.

So far,  it seems the Victorian election has led to a more or less ignominious defeat for the one-term Coalition government. Though he's been Labour leader since the fall of the last ALP administration, Dan is a relatively unknown and somewhat colourless politician. So obscure was he, that either he or ALP nabobs thought his given name of Daniel Andrews was unknown to the extent that people had mistakenly reversed his given names to 'Andrew Daniels 'occasionally. So, in mid-campaign he became DAN Andrews.

I only heard a few of his campaign utterances... but, he was saying the 'right' things in terms of being primarily a man for the people, not corporate interests etc, He survived a tirade of desperate invective from the government alleging he was an associate of big union interests and, by implication, corruption and thuggery. Although I don't think the ALP ever latched on to it... the name change opened up a field of advertising/propaganda slickness that cartoonists' would've loved to access...

Witness Dan the Van (see above)... Dan the Man... Dan CAN!... Dan fan...Dan Plan and, any others you can think of havng some kind of political connotation?

Pidgin Pie #1

The genesis of this 'toon was my noticing the word pigeon repeatedly spelled with a 'd' before 'g' in a recent facebook post. I later noted that Webster's 20th century dictionary does allow a 'd' as an alternative to the generally accepted English version... but, my interest focussed on the other 'pidgin' with a legitimate 'd' which sprung from the fracturing of general english expression by colonial subjects during the empire period... chinese and south pacific native populations in particular.  The 'pidgin' word has come to mean fracturing of anything by either omission or mispronunciation of the subject item's salient components... be it language or 'things'. In that regard... pidgin seems to me to be an apt description of cartoonists' stock in trade... exaggeration and/or selective simplification.

Plenty laughter in dat pella, I reckon...

Recycling....?

... or a tentative bid to start all over again with a clean slate?

Barnacles must be removed!

When blame for government haplessness is attributed... any available sucker will do...

Barbed Canoes?

Loudly expressing his expertise on the subject of small water-craft... David Johnston is perhaps also airing knowledge of barbed-wire gained during his custodianship of the defence portfolio?

The Great Gugal #1

This an experimental new panel vehicle for illustrating my reaction/attitude to unfolding current events dealt with in this blog.

BTW... you can make what you will out of the word Gugal. It is actually of Hindi origin for a number of fragrant plant resins which form the basis of incense ( not to be confused with common sense or any other sense of the word sense as far as I know!) Its use here stemmed from a fleeting thought of mine about the old adage... 'A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet'. It just sounded like an appropriate name for a cartoon Oracle or Guru.

Honestly.

Bailing out into what?

So, Senator Jacqui Lambi has 'jumped' from the P.U.P. vehicle to be a lone drifter... on the surface anyway?

Will the 'bail' turn into 'bait' for political predators?

New Senate P.U.P.pet Master?

Odds are that Nick Xenophon will become top cock of the 'C.O.C.S.' bloc being formed in the senate after apparent fracture of P.U.P. unity.

And, that's all from ABC Regional news for now...

... BTW, don't tune in tomorrow. Our next bulletin time is 'TBA'.

Obama hits a Reef!

Poor guy. Makes a fairly innocent remark about hoping the Great Barrier Reef remains a unique world heritage attraction long enough for his children to visit and enjoy its amazing beauty.

I think he innocently hit a raw nerve in the Australian Government's fantasy attitude to environmental problems like climate change in general and man-made pollution of the reef in particular!

Exceedingly thin skin comes to mind with Bishop the younger's outburst.

Nation of One?

Just when you thought federal and state politics couldn't become any crazier...?

Can Do?

Yesterday whilst welcoming the Indian P,M. Modi, Tony Abbott mentioned the presence of two Can Do prime ministers in the House.

Presumably, Mr. Modi is one.

???

Turnbull the Tumbler?

Back on January 30th.  this year, I wrote the following about Malcolm:

Fabric fraying?

At last, a seemingly intelligent comment from someone in the federal government. Malcolm Turnbull's defence of the ABC against Abbott's ill-framed and stupid recent tirade, is a welcome breath of fresh air amidst the dank atmosphere created by the secretive 'tell 'em nothing' stance taken by this apparently 'out of its depth' group since the election.

There are probably other shadowy figures who aren't all that happy about this little act of defiance though?

But, now Malc. is toeing the line drawn by his new Tory brothers in applying the sword to ABC funding. Perhaps he has given up his former guise of 'small L' liberal?

If so, then perhaps I can remind them all of an addendum to my Jan 30. post? Especially the reference to 'following savage budget cuts dealt it (the ABC) by the Fraser Government in its dying days.

Nothing new under the sun?

As an addendum to today's blog entry... the ABC is probably well and truly inured to being the whipping post for just about every Australian federal government of the past 3 or 4 decades?

Witness, the accompanying cartoon which appeared in the November 1985 issue of Graphix, (a printing industry newspaper), as an illustration in support of an article chronicling a 'troubled' ABC reeling in its efforts to regain credibility as the 'national broadcaster'... following savage budget cuts dealt it by the Fraser government in its dying days. Many elements of society were critical of the resultant programming dilution as the ABC's top man Geoffrey Whitehead struggled to make ends meet.

Strangely, the press reaction was the opposite of recent times. The Australian had commented ... the cultural calibre of ABC TV's prime-time programming has become as imaginative, varied and worthy of the offerings that come from BBC2 or from the public service Channel13 in New York. That's pretty good in world terms...' On the same day, the Age said...'the corporation's television offerings remain effete, bland and deplorably foreign. They also represent an abrogation of the corporation's charter.'

Being the 'national broadcaster' clearly isn't as simple as ABC?

Yikes! Y-yellow Pupperil?!

As I recall, a propaganda catch phrase of the post WW2 era was "Beware of the Yellow Peril' which was (I suppose?) a bit of cold war anti-communist sloganeering aimed at the then great unknown... China.

Today... judging by some of the social media squawks arising from Clive Palmer's launch of his P.U.P. campaign ahead of the up-coming Victorian state election...  that same slogan may confuse our Chinese friends into thinking the hub-bub is aimed at the imminent announcement of the long awaited Australia-China trade agreement?

ACA's Annual 'big dance'... The Stanleys awards

Last night was the pinnacle of Australian cartoonists' year with awards presentations being given for the best (and fairest?) 'toonies in various categories of the craft as adjudged by their peers.

Top dog with two Stanleys*, one in the best Caricaturist category and another (the 'biggie') for Cartoonist of the Year overall... was David Rowe.

Goodonya Dave. And well done to all the other winners.

* Statuettes honouring the late, great Aussie cartoonist Stan Cross of Wally and the Major comic strip fame (and, much,much more of course)

G20. Gee whiz!

This comes from a collision between my distrust of politicians in general and reading a back-ground piece on the design elements brought together for the G20 logo so brilliantly by Riki Salam.

Lambie lost?

Jacqui Lambie MP has hit the headlines again... this time for rattling Clive's chain and possibly upsetting the PUP senate apple-cart(?)

A strangely diverse group... in this case, the alleged serpent is also a 'messenger'.

Stop the boasts!

Another challenge for the turner-round of boats? A Russian fleet bearing down on Australian waters?

If our fearless leader does undertake this possible task... may we hope he doesn't preface his act with any reckless out-burst like "I'll keel-haul 'em!"