Laguna Beach Cartoonists

Photo: Phil Interlandi Cartoon from Pete Fulmer 1965 Book
"Frank Interlandi dies at 85; former L.A. Times editorial cartoonist" is the title of the February 10, 2010 Los Angeles Times article by Dennis McLellan (see http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/10/local/la-me-frank-interlandi10-2010feb10) "The Laguna Beach artist drew cartoons for the paper from 1962 until 1981."
The article includes "The Interlandi brothers [identical twin brother cartoonist Phil Interlandi of Playboy magazine] were among a gaggle of newspaper and magazine cartoonists in Laguna who began taking midday bar breaks together in the 1950s. Over the years, the group included Virgil (VIP) Partch, John Dempsey, Dick Oldden, Ed Nofziger, Don Tobin and Roger Armstrong."
The Laguna Beach Historical Society just received as a donation the 1965 book by Laguna Beach Post columnist Pete Fulmer "Laguna's My Studio" In it he wrote on page 28:
"There have been a wealth of cartoonists in Laguna Beach as they gravitated to the Community Playhouse putting into words on stage and activities about the theater the talents that they applied to the drawing board.

Phil Interlandi long ago found that the stage complemented the lonely way of life in his studio and in addition to his Post cartoons, Phil's work has been seen at one time or another in all major magazines in the country.

Ed Nofziger, also known for his many stage appearances, has done freelance cartooning for major publications, written children's comics, done many of the Magoo stories for UPA and is currently editorial artist for the Post.

Others who are members of the Playhouse, participating in various departments of the Players' activities, are Frank Interlandi, Phil's identical twin brother, whose Below Olympus cartoons appears daily in the Los Angeles Times.

Don Tobin created "The Little Woman" daily cartoon syndicated in King's Features; Pete Winters, also a Playhouse member, sketched "Toodles," the comic cartoon story. Roger Armstrong, currently director of Laguna Art Gallery Association, was a comic creator for many years and left his drawing board behind for the role of the general in the Playhouse production in 1959 of 'Romanoff and Juliet.'

When Armstrong was sitting at his drawing board, he created the comic strips of Ella Cinders and Napoleon."

Believe President Barack Obama?

"Consider the president’s basic promises about his health overhaul:"
■ "it actually would save money"
■ "the only new taxes would be on the very wealthy"
■ "individuals would be free to keep their present coverage and doctors"
San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Nov 5, 2009 "Fear of Health ‘Reform’ Is Warranted"

Campaign-finance disclosure rules have encouraged harassment of donors and coarsened public debate.

See Wall Street Journal March 10, 2010 Notable and Quotable at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704597704574487362609722156.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion#printMode

Notable & Quotable
Former Federal Election Commissioner Bradley A. Smith on campaign-finance disclosure rules.

"Campaign-finance disclosure rules have encouraged harassment of donors and coarsened public debate.

Imagine if the George W. Bush administration, in its waning days, had introduced something called the Patriot II Act. To prevent terrorists and foreign agents from influencing American governments and political parties, the act would require political campaigns and other groups to report the names, addresses, and employers of their supporters to the federal government, which would enter the information into a database. The act would also give businesses access to this database, enabling them to make hiring decisions, credit determinations, and other choices based on political activity. Can anyone doubt that Patriot II would be widely considered a gross violation of civil liberties?

Fortunately, the government never passed such a bill. Unfortunately, it didn't need to: this is already the law, and it has been for over 30 years. It is, in fact, one of the most popular laws in America: the Federal Election Campaign Act, which does indeed require campaigns, political parties, and certain citizens' groups engaged in politics to report the names, addresses, and employment information of their financial supporters. This information is maintained in a government database that is available to anyone—businesses, union bosses, local officials, nosy neighbors, and whoever else might be curious about somebody's politics.

The idea of limiting financial support of politics remains deeply controversial, even seven years after the passage of the so-called McCain-Feingold bill, which extended many of the Federal Election Campaign Act's limitations on contributions to previously unregulated political activities. Yet even the most ardent opponents of McCain-Feingold seldom question the disclosure requirements of the original 1972 act. So widely accepted is the idea that campaign contributions and personal information about donors ought to be public that many people don't even consider it regulation. When the First Amendment counsel for the ACLU, the late Marv Johnson, met in 2006 with a prominent congressional reformer to argue against a proposal to regulate grassroots political activity, he was assured that no new "regulation" was contemplated—"just disclosure."

But it's far from clear that the forced disclosure of political contributions has benefited society. Disclosure has resulted in government-enabled invasions of privacy—and sometimes outright harassment—and it has added to a political climate in which candidates are judged by their funders rather than their ideas."