This one came close to being put on the chopping block. Perhaps it already has and I won't know until I wake up and sit down 9 hours from now only to find its absence. (I waited around 2:00 this afternoon to cartoon on it after abandoning a startling, though dubious story from the National Post about Jews and Christians in Iran being required to wear Nazi styled badges.)

The boss thought it was a tad vulgar. He wasn't comfortable with how I showed Liberals with their heads up the @$$e$! to illustrate the typical wishy washy Liberal stance concerning Canada's role in Afghanistan. Then came the awkward discussion of what the term "head up your @$$!" actually means. I define it as self centeredness, stupidity, ignorance. It went offly well with the gag line " must be their defence position."

So other editors were canvassed and I suppose their reactions moderated my immediate supervisor's revulsion at the image. I can't blame him for his queasiness though. It'll be up to him, after all,  to answer to offended grannies and higher level editors put off by the scene. I just wonder if the impeding outrage (if any) will actually be less about the image and more about my editorial dart directed at the precious federal Liberal Party.  

* * * UPDATE - January 21 2007 * * *
Folks at the conservative news forum, FreeRepublic.com ranked this as number 9 out of 44 finalists for best cartoon of the year.

Did anyone even get this cartoon? I sense it was a classic head scratcher combining pop culture and news from the recent Auditor-General's report.

But at least give me some credit for trying to illustrate the eye opening news this week that $18 billion is still owed to the government by people and businesses whom I suppose don't feel like paying what they owe.  For the vast majority of people who casually monitor the national news that startling aspect of Ms. Fraser's report was all but lost to the  repeat of news that the old Liberal government oversaw and hid the costs of  gun registry $1 billion boondoggle.  

For those few who did catch the news of how much money is being evaded from the national treasury, I should've taken into account of how many of those folks would even know who Dog the Bounty Hunter is.  Several I heard from had no clue.

On the other hand, how many fans of the A&E show "Dog the Bounty Hunter" had any knowledge of the $18 billion news story? I suspect only a few.

So, there it is, the creation of a dud cartoon. But in my world, the cartoon makes perfect sense.

My boss got the heebee jeebies over the weekend by imagining the wrath he might've faced after letting the above cartoon run for all to see on Monday morning.
It's the first time I've been called in on a Sunday to kill one of my local cartoons only to see it replaced with a generic freelance federal cartoon.

It's funny how it's always the local cartoons that raise the most red flags in the minds of my editors. I've always thought local cartoons are what newspapers prefer to run rather than the syndicated stuff which really don't provoke much reaction from readers.

The above cartoon would rattle some people for sure. But for the vast majority of readers who have watched numerous blunders and acts of stupidity carried out by City Hall staff over the past couple of months the cartoon simply illustrates what has been going on.

No, absenteeism hasn't been the issue, but a lack of urgency and unprofessionalism is at the source of what's so srewy in Hamilton's City Hall.

This cartoon showed up in today's Hamilton Spectator after a bit a tussle with the Ed Page Editor.

Here's a closer look.

The EPE's issue was the term "Bite me" scrawled on the missile as President Bush's response to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's 18 page letter.  Alternative phrases were suggested like "suck a lemon", "stuff it", and "kiss my @$$*!?", but nothing quite worked more than the borderline socially acceptable term "bite me". Plus there's the whole innuendo of the message perched upon the tip of a giant phallic symbol.

So yeah, it was edgy, bordering on vulgar, and the boss decided to send it to the printers risking the wrath of irate readers the following day.

But incredibly, nobody complained.

This is my first stab at a genuine blog. I've maintained a messageboard for several years but it always gets hijacked by spammers who post their links for dubious itemry. But I like interactivity, and I like getting feedback from you folks.

So let this experiment begin.

I guess I need to talk about something so I'll start with a cartoon I had printed a couple weeks ago regarding the local drama involving a road blockade brought on by native aboriginals over a land dispute with the crown, O.P.P., province, developers... aka the whiteman.

I had a cartoon published on the editorial page of the National Post! Funny thing is my own editors wouldn't run this cartoon in the Spectator...

Friday April 21, 2006 Cartoon

...and the nice touch to my debut in the Post was a letter to the editor printed the next day by someone offended by the cartoon:

First Nations cartoon offensive

Published: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 Re: Editorial cartoon by MacKay, dealing with the native roadblock in Caledonia, Ont., April 25.

After the innumerable clashes between First Nations and provincial governments, you would think that people would start asking why First Nations are protesting, instead of ignoring them or, worse, poking fun at them. I found yesterday's cartoon purposefully ignorant of the actual conflict, and offensive toward the plight of the many First Nations in Canada. The artist's choice of employing stereotyped and offensive images in this cartoon goes far beyond a simple comical comment on events, and strives to depict the protests and protesters as absurd and without any relevance to our society. These protests are a reaction against years of discrimination and wardship; the opinions that the cartoon portrays will only serve to frustrate the very real problems that we as a country have brought on ourselves.

In the future, please be more careful when choosing the cartoon you wish to publish; I more often than not find the cartoons you publish quite witty, but this one pushed the envelope too far.

Cristina Newman, Vancouver, B.C.

This cartoon also appeared on the editorial pages of the Nanaimo Daily News in B.C., The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, and The Brandon Sun in Manitoba.