The Chicago Tribune Creepy Cartoonist™ Breeds the Screaming Memes

Your LakeCountyEye is thinking of switching to a decaffeinated blend; breakfast is definitely not for the faint of heart when it comes to reading the Chicago Tribune:

Chicago Tribune, 05/31/2011

Is this a sign from the Chicago Tribune Creepy Cartoonist™ that Halloween or Armageddon is supposed to come early this year, or something?

Anyways, here's the cellphone photo of your LakeCountyEye this morning, caught off guard:

From now on, your LakeCountyEye plans to Munch down on a heapin' bowl of Count Chocula or Franken Berry before going again anywhere near the Tribune editorial page.

Consistency is the Hobgoblin of the Tribune's Creepy Cartoonist

The Chicago Tribune's Creepy Cartoonist was none too happy to see President Obama dragging his feet before going to war with Libya. From last week ...

Chicago Tribune, 03/18/2011

The next day the Creepy Cartoonist reminds everyone that Obama waited too long to pull the trigger ...

Chicago Tribune, 03/19/2011

What does the Creepy Cartoonist think this week? Ha ha, Obama is a war-monger:

Chicago Tribune, 03/25/2011

Your LakeCountyEye just has to ask, did Barack Obama run over the Creepy Cartoonist's dog with his Cadillac Yukon or something? Why does the Creepster have it in for the POTUS?

Elephant Joke

Fans of the Chicago Tribune's Creepy Cartoonist should be familiar with his Elephant-in-the-Room gags. The Elephant-in-the-Room is always some big-government outrage; and the outrage is symbolized by a drawing of some large, endangered African land mammal. Readers of this blog will recall ...

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist Oblivious to Elephant in the Room

where the outrage was the BLOATED GOVT DEFICIT, and the endangered land mammal was the African Black Rhinoceros.

Sharp-eyed operatives noticed, however, that the Elephant-in-the-Room is never actually a drawing of an elephant. The reason seems to be the elephant is the mascot of the Republican party. And if he used the GOP's mascot to represent government bloat, the Creepy Cartoonist might be drummed out of his secret skull'n'bones cabal ... or worse ... or something. So the creepster's drawings are limited in scope to rhinoceroses, gorillas, hippopotamuses, and other non-elephantine, large, endangered land mammals.

Of course, there is a reason that all these large, African land mammals are endangered. That reason being they will all be extinct within your lifetimes. And any sharp-eyed operative knows this means that sooner or later the Creepy Cartoonist will have a problem. Sooner or later there will be no large land mammals left to symbolize bloated government -- besides the elephant. So, for instance, the next time the Creepy Cartoonist is outraged by big government, as in ...

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist vs the 800 lb Elephant

there may not be any, say, Eastern Lowland Gorillas left to draw, and he may be compelled by the vicissitudes of cruel nature to use an actual elephant to represent bloated government.

Of course the thought of being forced to use an elephant on the printed page to symbolize out-of-control Illinois pensions is enough to make the heads of many Lake County natives explode. So with the snow yet to be shovelled off the walk, and in the interest of not creating any more clean-up work than necessary, your LakeCountyEye suggests that operatives take solace in this Northwest Herald story ...

Legislators write pension rules and cash in

It turns out that some high profile Illinois Republicans are doing quite well for themselves by way of that bloated Illinois pension system:

• Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka: $145,727
• Former Gov Jim Edgar: $130,925
• Former Gov James Thompson: 127,215
• Former State Sen Jack Schaffer: $96,126
• Former State Sen William Peterson: $91,007

None of these pensioners seem any worse for wear from the cognitive dissonance generated by the intersection of the GOP and their bloated government pensions. Why should you be expected to show any symptoms of cranial distress either?

In fact, the same Illinois pension system even bankrolls the anti-government incendiaries at the McHenryCountyBlog:

• Former State Rep Cal Skinner: $77,506

Operatives are advised to stay indoors. Your LakeCountyEye's head be exploding.

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist vs the 800 lb Elephant

Fans of the Chicago Tribune's Creepy Cartoonist know when they see a endangered African land mammal in one of the creepster's drawings, it means one thing: the endangered species depicted is supposed to represent evil government bloat. Operatives may recall one cartoon where the scapegoat was the endangered Black Rhinoceros ...

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist Oblivious to Elephant in the Room

Now the Creepy Cartoonist's crosshairs are aimed at the Eastern Lowland Gorilla ...

Chicago Tribune, 02/10/2011

which he tags with the label PENSIONS. Your LakeCountyEye surmises the GORILLA is supposed to represent the Illinois pension system, more specifically its obligations -- pension obligations ignored & exacerbated by previous Illinois administrations with names like Thompson, Edgar, Ryan, Blagojevich. And who are the recipients of these pension obligations? Your LakeCountyEye will only say that the Creepy Cartoonist chose to represent them as a gorilla. Operatives are asked to do their own math.

For your LakeCountyEye, the real elephant in this room is the lack of an elephant in the room. If the common phrase is "the Elephant in the room" then why does the Creepy Cartoonist want to talk about the Gorilla in the room? The African & Asian Elephants are large, endangered land mammals -- and would seem to completely satisfy to the Creepy Cartoonist's requirements for a threatening behemoth to represent government excess. Oh wait a minute, the Elephant is the symbol of the Republican Party. Ha ha, nevermind.

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist Wants to Know: Hu's in Jail?

The Chicago Tribune's creepy cartoonist imagines a dinner conversation between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Chicago's Mayor Daley:

Hu: In glorious motherland we send counter-revolutionary Packers to detention camp.
Daley: That's a great suggestion President Hu ... but I'm pretty sure we can't jail the Packers.

Chicago Tribune, 01/21/2011

Ha ha, sure we can. Someone in the White House declares the Packers enemy combatants. And off they go to Guantanamo. Perfectly legal.

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist Asks ... Who Would Win in a Fight: Abe Lincoln or the Grim Reaper?

The Chicago Tribune creepy cartoonist is back, with more trademark corn on the macabre. This time the creepy cartoonist has Illinois's death penalty in his crosshairs:

Chicago Tribune, 01/10/2011

One would expect a hairtrigger 2nd Amendment proponent like the creepy cartoonist to favor a death penalty. Not so, apparently. Your LakeCountyEye speculates that the creepy cartoonist takes his moral instruction from the Vatican. This may also explain all the Hieronymus-Bosch imagery in his drawings. This drawing in particular depicts a Lincolnesque figure banishing the death penalty from Illinois. However the actual law abolishing the death penalty is not a Republican or even a bi-partisan bill. The bill now sitting on the Governor's desk is mostly the work of the Democrats. The Chicago Tribune creepy cartoonist will point his finger at the Springfield Democrats when they pass legislation he doesn't like. But when the Democrats pass a law that he favors, the creepy cartoonist praises the people of Illinois. Consistency must be the hobgoblin of little minds?

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist: I'm In Ur Internetz Stealin Ur Ideaz

It may be that he is out of ideas. Or tired of the fear-mongering. Or simply wishes to grow beyond his artistic limitations. What else explains the Chicago Tribune Creepy Cartoonist's out-of-character stab at political humor?

Chicago Tribune, 11/26/2010

Just between you and your LakeCountyEye, the joke was funnier when it was a lolcat ...

Cheezburger Network

Your LakeCountyEye, however, is still trying to figure out where Woody Allen fits in all this ...

Woody Allen

Creepy Cartoonist Caricature

Woody must be easy to draw or something?

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist Fails to See the Humor

Parody
par·o·dy /pærədi/ [par-uh-dee]
noun: Any humorous, satirical, or burlesque imitation, as of a person, event, etc.

Daily Show host Jon Stewart is staging a political rally this weekend in Washington DC ...

Rally to Restore Sanity

The whole thing is an obvious goof to mock Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor Rally held in DC last August.

Beck promoted his rally as non-political event. Stewart, in deadpan Stewart fashion, follows suit and is promoting his rally as non-political.

But you have to get up pretty early in the morning to fool the Chicago Tribune's Creepy Cartoonist ...

Chicago Tribune, 10/28/2010

Erm, either the Creepy Cartoonist did not get the joke or he was asked to explain the joke to the Trib's readers. Halloween and the election are only 2 days apart this year. Your LakeCountyEye suspects that the Creepy Tribune Cartoonist's bandwidth is, for the time being, maxxed out.

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist: Draw Your Weapons

Your LakeCountyEye was disarmed by the latest drawing from the Tribune's Creepy Cartoonist ...

Chicago Tribune, 07/02/2010

A drawn-to-scale Chicago Mayor Richard M Daley is depicted taking a principled one-man-stand against a much better armed gun enthusiast ...

It may not be obvious to some Operatives, but the label Gun Violence in the cartoon is code for the Gun Lobby. For doubters, your LakeCountyEye has the exclusive documentary evidence ...

Peter & Repeater?
Gun Lobbyist	Wayne LaPierre
Creepy Cartoonist Depiction	Big Gun, Natl Rifle Assn

Wishing everyone enjoyed a safe and pleasant holiday weekend. Your LakeCountyEye spent the 4th shooting ...

a) Shooting off fireworks.
b) Shooting off your LakeCountyEye's mouth.
c) Shooting blanks.

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist Now Rated NC-17

Ordinarily the catcher flashes signs to the pitcher. This player seems to be flashing something else ...

Chicago Tribune, 06/17/2010

Is this what happens when a ballplayer drops a fly -- or are the Cubs playing an exhibitionist game?

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist Pretends Not to Care about Elena Kagan's Sexual Orientation

Does anyone think the (predictably creepily drawn) Senate Judiciary Committee will go anywhere near the whole lesbian thing? And with a ten foot pole? The only ones who care about these things are the right-wing blogs & talk-radio, where the sexual orientation of any nominee to high post is so much grist for their mills. Of course this didn't stop the Chicago Tribune from bringing up the issue -- and being shocked that anyone would bring up the issue.


Chicago Tribune, 05/19/2010

Operatives may be wondering: Well howcome your LakeCountyEye is bringing up the issue? The answer is: Keyword Stuffing. It is well known that web traffic can be doubled, tripled even, just by the judicious insertion of a few performance enhancing keywords into a website. While the precise identity of these keywords are closely held industry secrets, your LakeCountyEye is privy to insider information of this as well as diverse other provenance.

Experts agree, the one keyword always guaranteed to boost the web-stats of even the most moribund website is: LESBIAN. Other high yield keywords include LESBIANISM, LESBIANS and LEBANESE. As well as LESBIAN. And LESBIAN¹.

References

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¹Lesbian.

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist Doubles Down; Draws Yet Another Creepy Cartoon

Read it and creep ...

Chicago Tribune, 05/06/2010

... the horror ... the horror ...

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist Draws Another Creepy Cartoon

The creepy Chicago Tribune editorial cartoonist shriveled your LakeCountyEye's Grape-Nuts this morning ...

Chicago Tribune, 05/05/2010

Look out lady, the INFLATION goblins want to swallow your kid!

Posted from Underneath the LakeCountyEye Bed

Cognitive Diss

Hands-down the creepiest Chicago Tribune editorial cartoonist Scott Stantis is now challenging Dick Locher for the additional honor of the half-baked-est Chicago Tribune editorial cartoonist.

Stantis's latest Tribune cartoon takes a potholeshot at the sorry condition of our Illinois roads:

Chicago Tribune, 04/30/2010

Cartoonists, a sub-species of journalists that exist in perpetuum behind-deadline, typically troll the headlines for ideas. The cartoon no doubt was inspired by a recent GooGoo report covered, among others, by the Daily Herald:

Report: State's road are among worst

In and of itself, the cartoon is not so bad -- however compare it with this Stantis cartoon:

Chicago Tribune, 10/09/2009

Stantis and/or the Tribune are justifiably upset over the condition of our roads and justifiably upset over our tax burden. However one doesn't have to be a quantum mechanic to understand that the two ideas, when combined, equal a zero-sum game. You can't pay for one without stealing from the other -- we have to put up with either shoddy roads or higher taxes.

Perhaps Stantis/Tribune expects the Federal government to fix our roads, free of charge. If so, then what's up with this Stantis cartoon?

Chicago Tribune, 03/01/2010

From an editorial perspective, the Chicago Tribune is appealing to readers who have difficulty combining 1 + 1 and coming up with 2. Which, no surprise, coincides with the Tribune's recent hard turn to the right in the editorial pages. It's a given that old media, like the home delivered newspaper, is an endangered species on the verge of extinction. People that prefer their news hand-delivered to their front porch every morning, probably have difficulty extracting news from new media sources, like the Internet. Your LakeCountyEye speculates that this is the same demographic that identifies with the Tea Party. The demographic that wants to take our country back -- the same country envisioned by our Founding Fathers, one that once gave us free goods and services (like drivable roads) without asking us to pay for any of it.

Creepy Tribune Cartoonist Rips Off LakeCountyEye

Last Sunday, March 14, your LakeCountyEye posted a clever piece, one that faux-conflated the NCAA March Madness Playoffs with the Illinois Democrat's Lieutenant Governor vacancy. The gag revolved around mistaking NCAA bracketology hoopla for how the Democrats will eventually select their Lieutenant Governor candidate.

March Madness

Well, yesterday, March 17, the Chicago Tribune posted this political cartoon:

Chicago Tribune, 03/18/2010

When your LakeCountyEye rips off a Tribune idea, your LakeCountyEye at least goes to the trouble of trying to think up a joke to go with it.