Mitt Romney, Man of the People

This is my response to Mitt Romney's latest comments wherein he stated (erroneously) that 47% of Americans have a victim mentality and expect a hand out from the government, and that all of those entitled voters support the Democratic party.

First of all: perhaps it seems a bit callus to attack people who don't pay federal income tax as "believing they are victims", when 75-90 percent of those receiving federal entitlements are the elderly, seriously disabled, or the working poor?  Maybe that seems a bit dickish?  Well, Romney stands by his statement.  He says he was highlighting the differences between those who would vote for Obama, and those who would vote Republican.  

But even that statement is inaccurate.  The states paying the lowest federal income taxes overwhelmingly vote Republican, while those paying the highest rates of federal income taxes vote for Democrats.  This all made the news months ago.  Not to mention, most of the people getting those tax breaks are elderly, who also generally support the Republicans.  He's spitting insults at his core voters.

Every interview and quote I hear from Romney makes him seem progressively more insular and incapable of empathy. Is this really the best that the GOP can offer?

#20 James Garfield (1881)

The twentieth president of the United States - James Garfield.

Garfield was the last of the log cabin presidents.  Those men born in a log cabin, that worked their way up to the highest office in the nation.

Unfortunately his presidency didn't even last a full year.  He was shot and killed by a lawyer.

The Romney Economy

I drew this a couple of weeks ago after the RNC.  With the inclusion of Paul Ryan as Romney's running mate, I have never been so adamantly opposed to a republican ticket. 

I think it's especially funny/horrifying that Ryan is meant to be a budget hawk, but hasn't even run the numbers of the Romney budget that he has come out in support of. He literally said so himself.  

In fact, after Romney's recent statements on Meet the Press, I don't even think there are numbers to run.

GIS Rage

For the last week I have spent countless hours trying to calculate probable distribution maps for my research using a program called ArcMap10. It is quite possibly the most infuriating software I have ever come across. Not only is it confusing to begin with, but it glitches constantly, and the help menus are usually the opposite of helpful.

It also didn't help that most of the step by step guides for my research methods were made for ArcMap9, and they seriously changed the programming language between the two versions, making it even more confusing.

I have been working on this illustration for days (usually while ArcMap was loading or freezing) to vent some of the frustration of having to use that maddening program.

Army Aunty

I was inspired to draw this after reading an awesome scientific paper about exploding termites that it started with this quote by E.O. Wilson (the grand-master of myrmecology).

The quote stuck a funny mental image in my head, so I decided to draw it.

I was just watching a TED conference presentation by E.O. Wilson that I enjoyed quite a lot.  I definitely recommend it to any young people with an interest in the sciences.

#19 Rutherford B Hayes (1877-1881)

The nineteenth president of the United States: Rutherford B. Hayes.

The product of one of the most contested presidential elections in the history of the country.  (Only in this instance they created a bi-partisan congressional commission rather than conceding to a biased supreme court).

Apparently Mark Twain even stumped for Rutherford.  That would have been amazing to see.

Rutherford willingly retired after his first term in office. I can't even imagine a politician doing that nowadays.