The economy has been a lot on my mind, as I figure it's been on the minds of a lot of Americans these past few months. Whenever I look at the headlines it just seems to be more bad news on the economy and I have to admit to being a bit scared of the things that I've read. I know friends and family who have lost their jobs and I often get confused trying to understand what the various experts say about the root causes of our recession. I've been trying to read about economics from various books and magazines to try to understand better about this economy. I did a cartoon for the February 18, 2009 edition of the Tri-City Voice about Obama trying to help the average American in this turbulent economic time.

One of the things that everyone talks about when President Obama is mentioned is how great a speaker he is. Over the course of the year, he has done several good speeches, and one speech in particular, his speech on race that he did early in 2008, inspired a national conversation on the topic. Throughout our history, speeches and writings have had a profound influence on the way our country thinks and feels.

Two really good books are out right now that collect many of the greatest speeches and writings of American history. Ripples Of Hope, edited by Josh Gottheimer, is a collection of the great civil rights speeches in American history. Voices of a People's History of the United States, edited by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove, similarly takes the voices of dissent against racism, war, economic exploitation and imperialism and collects them in one volume.

As a set, both books are a wonderful overview of the brave voices that have fought for rights of the poor, the marginalized and the ignored in America. One of the things that I responded to the most about two books was how they showcased the connections between the various human rights causes.

Here is a cartoon I tried to do of the Arab Israeli conflict. One of the struggles that I always have is with dialogue. I don't know any Palestinians, but I have quite a few Jewish friends who are strongly pro-Israeli and I tried to remember some of the arguments that they've told me in defense of Israel to incorporate into this cartoon. While I was writing the dialogue in this cartoon, I also played two DVDs and took snippets of dialogue that I'd hear to try to create the point of view of the Palestinian and Israeli characters. The two movies are Encounter Point, a documentary by Julia Bacha and Ronit Avni about the Family Bereavement Forum that fights for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and Paradise Now, a good feature movie about the motivations of two Palestinians who become suicide bombers.

Some parents may protest if they find their children reading about racism, nuclear war or the evils of fascism. Yet their children may have already read about such weighty topics without their knowledge of it. If their children have read a lot of Dr. Seuss books, it is more than likely that these kids have been exposed to such adult subjects in books like Yertle the Turtle, The Lorax, The Butter Battle Book, or even Horton Hears A Who! Dr. Seuss has always expressed his opinions in any of his works, and his books show a clear liberal political bent.

Dr. Seuss had never been shy about expressing what he felt. His wife Audrey Geisel said in the December 14, 2008 issue of the L.A. Times,

“He did not play to the audience. They could take it or leave it. He had something he wished to say and he said it.”