Larry Roibal

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Dow Jones down a very unlucky 777 points as McCain failed to lead his party to pass a bailout bill.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Three time Academy Award winning actor Paul Newman was known as much for his philanthropy as his film career. Newman lost his battle with cancer over the weekend. He was 83

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Richard Shelby and other Republicans on the hill say No Deal. Washington Mutual failed, and was taken over by the FDIC.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Looking back on 08, will the big story be: the election of the first African American President, the first woman Vice President, or the economic meltdown of our financial system? I’m betting on the latter.  Politics be damned, foreign policy debates be damned, James Carvel had it right, it’s the economy stupid!

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Everyone is in agreement that in order for our financial system to work we need to restore confidence. What started as a sub-prime mortgage meltdown has turned into a crisis of confidence. Enter Chris Dodd, as chair of the senate’s Banking Committee, it has been his job to oversee the banking industry and it’s regulators. But after he admitted to accepting two sweetheart loans from Countrywide shouldn’t he step down as chair of the Banking Committee? Do we have confidence in him to oversee these hearings structuring a deal to instill confidence?

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Yesterday opportunity knocked on my door in the form of two local democrats and I drew their portraits for my blog. in the newspaper biz, I did what they call burying the lead. With all due respect to those two fine gentlemen, on Sunday evening the last game was played in the house that Ruth built, Yankee Stadium. Built in 1923 the Yankees played 6,579 games there going 4,132 - 2,430 - 17. I was lucky enough to have attended a small fraction of those games and it was always a thrill. Continue Reading

Ray Petronko in ball point pen on my local paper

All politics are local….Yesterday I was listening to the Football Giants game and painting a landscape for a California wine label when my door bell rang. Local Democratic Councilmen, Ray Petronko and Joe Scrudato were going door to door asking if I had any questions about this November’s election and their positions on the issues. The news junkie that I am, of coarse I’ve been following the race, and while I’m not going to go into the local issues here on my blog, I told them they could count on my support… These are genuinely nice guys who put in long hours of service to our community. After a long day of canvassing the neighborhoods they probably wanted to go home to their families, but they were very gracious to humor me when I asked if I could their picture so that I could draw their portraits for my blog, . Thanks guys!!

Joe Scrudadto in ball point pen on my local paper

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Okay, now that all of our financial woes are all taken care of…NOT!! Lets get back to politics.

Todd Palin is refusing to cooperate with a subpoena to testify in an abuse of power probe looking into whether Sarah Palin tried to use her influence as Governor to fire a trooper who was going through a messy divorce with her sister.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Hank Paulson may be the most important man in Washington today. In 2006 he left behind a 37 million dollar annual salary to become a public servant as Tresury Secretary. The one time Eagle Scout is one of the few Bush appointments that came to Washington prepared for the job….Good thing, considering the mess he found when he got their.

This is a painting I did a few years back, after Hurricane Katrina tested another Bush appointment, Mike Brown. His experience at the International Arabian Horse Association didn’t prepare him for the job.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Martin J Sullivan became CEO of the world’s largest insurer in 2005. Almost immediately AIG was saddled with three massive hurricanes and a South Asia earthquake, but it was not an act of God that was the last straw, it was the man made subprime mortgage crisis and Sullivan was forced out in June of this year.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint
Richard Fuld CEO of Lehman Brothers

It seems that besides the presidential campaign, the biggest stoiry of 08 is shaping up to be the state of financial institutions. Lehman Brothers, in existance for 150 years, has filed for bankruptcy, and following a rash of bailouts and more trouble on the horizon, Wall Street is content to let the market shake this one out…we could be in for a bumpy ride.

…and no, I didn’t scheduled my vacation to coincide with the end of the conventions… it just worked out that way. I’ll be back on Monday September 15th with an all new drawing.

In case you missed them, here are the reruns….doodles of politicians, athletes, world leaders, authors, musicians, CEO’s, actors, chefs, murderers, artists, terrorists, deceased, journalists, hostages, soldiers, comedians, and religious leaders that have been in the news over the past six months.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

I’m for a womans right to choose, and the evangelical base of the republican party is a little off putting, but I’ve always liked the maverick, John McCain. I think that our country would have been infinitely better served had the Republicans embraced him eight years ago, but the party loyalists hated him. It all seems so insincere now that they’re accepting him out of desperation, and unfair that he now be their standard bearer and suffer the slings and arrows from those rightfully upset with the incompetence of … Continue Reading

 Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Governor of Alaska and John McCains choice for Vice President, Sarah Palin introduced herself to many American’s last night by delivering a very good speech before the Republican National Convention.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

Day One..umm, Two of the Republican National Convention…Democrat, uhh, Independent,..Republican?? Senator from Connecticut and one time vice presidential candidate for the Democratic party, supported John McCain for president.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

John McCain picks Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, but Hurricane Gustav rains on the GOP parade truncating the planned events and speeches for the first day of the Republican National Convention.

Ball point pen on the morning newsprint