The cartoon, which the newspaper defended as a parody of Washington politics, depicts a police shooting of an ape, playing off the real shooting of a pet chimpanzeee in Connecticut this week. One of the police officers says, "They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill." Because Obama promoted the $787 billion economic stimulus that he signed into law Tuesday, critics of the cartoon interpreted the dead chimp as a reference to Obama, who became the first black U.S. president on January 20.  "The cartoon in today's New York Post is troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African Americans as being synonymous with monkeys," civil rights activist Al Sharpton said. Calling the cartoon "offensive and divisive," he promised to stage a demonstration outside the Post offices Thursday. New York City Councilman Leroy Comrie said he received numerous calls from outraged constituents