The Syrian leader, Bashar Assad, is not a well known personality on the international stage despite being in his position since 2000. My first cartoon of him back in 2000 was based on an article I had read which claimed he liked to surf the web, enjoyed amateur photography, studied ophthalmology, and had a passion for the music of Phil Collins. Hardly the stuff to help groom a future dictator

Bashar's an accidental President of Syria owing to the fact that his late father, strongman Hafez Assad, originally intended the job go to his older brother, who died in a car accident. One can't help but be reminded of the North Korean dynasty of dictators where an awkward son inherited a kingdom from a ruthless and powerful dad.

Nobody seems to know how influencial Bashar is in ruling Syria despite having the title, President. He's definitely not as powerful as his late father, and there are assumptions that some of the advisors and associates of daddy Assad are actually pulling the levers in today's Syria. That's got to irk poor Bashar a bit. So who knows whether or not he's personally behind funding of Hezbollah in Lebanon or any past bombings in Israel. Still, it's always fun to draw Bashar.

And whenever I draw Bashar Assad I can't help thinking of my own leader:

A nice photo taken of the Spectator building with a lovely panoramic view of city of Hamilton sometime in the Spring. The Niagara Escarpment is to the right, and the steel mills way back on the horizon on the left. That's Main Street crossing over the 403. A nice angle. Thanks to whoever took the picture.

What, a whole day goes by with a cartoon focusing on the pot activists in Hamilton and I get not one bit of feedback, either positive or negative? Where are all the pot propponents? You know, sometimes a cartoonist intentionally puts out a cartoon to drum up some feedback, especially in the slow news days of summer. There isn't even anything mentioned on the Potblogs. Either the pot activists are comatose, or newspapers have just become so irrelevant that nobody cares.

To put some context to the latest local cartoon I feel compelled to explain who I placed in the position of God in my parody of Michelangelo's famous painting "The Creation of Adam". It's Michael Baldesaro, and most Hamiltonians know who he is. For the record, here's a photo essay I created after I was invited for a visit in February 2004.

An update on onetime federal PC leadership candidate, and mayoral candidate, the Rev. Michael Baldesaro, and his campaign manager, Brother Walter Tucker.

When you put the words "politics" and "Hamilton" together, the first name that springs to mind is Sheila Copps. But did you know that along with left leaning Coppsian politics, steeltown is also known for the political movement to legalize cannabis? The crusade has been led for years by the two founders from the Hamilton based Church of the Universe. On February 9, I was invited to their temple. Here is my photo essay:

The first thing one notices upon entering the temple is the high security system. Before being allowed in, I was observed from a closed circuit surveillance monitor. Following admittance, the door was secured behind me. Brother Michael tells me the building has been prey to trouble makers desiring free access to the church's leafy sacrament.

Notice the George Foreman grill to the left of the door.

Once comfortably seated in the temple kitchen, Brother Walter spoke about previous busts, jail sentences, and court challenges, as Brother Michael rolled a joint.

And they worshipped the sacrament...

We talked about some of the cartoons I had drawn of them, and they presented me with a framed drawing I had done in May, 1999.

The brothers, also known for advocating naturism, lobbied the city to consider creating a nude beach at the edge of Hamilton Harbour. Brother Walter, pictured in the cartoon on the right, confided that the cartoon motivated him to lose weight.

I had them pose together with the cartoon:

After an hour and a half visit it was time to get back to the office. Brother Michael offered me a brownie cooked by members of the church's ladies auxillary. Unfortunately, I had to decline consuming the brownie owing to the fact that I've been limiting my carbohydrate intake recently. He suggested I offer it to a colleague, and I obliged by handing it over to my office neighbour, The Spectator's City columnist. THE END

For more information, visit the Church of the Universe website at:
http://www.iamm.com

Nowadays I don't do a lot of cartooning on International issues, particularly anything having to do with Israeli-Middle Eastern affairs. Every editorial cartoonist knows from experience that if they stake even the most subtle position on any given issue regarding the Middle East they'll risk facing the wrath from irate letter writers. Take, for example, one response I received after drawing a cartoon marking Ariel Sharon's massive stroke...

This is not to say comments like this turn me off from drawing on Israel, but if enough people complain to my editor, which is always the case regarding anything having to do with Israel, then I start hearing demands from my masters to be more "nuanced" in my approach to such subjects. Unfortunately, and I know editors will back me up on this not so nuanced declaration, when one chooses to satirize or critique policies carried out by the state of Israel one must be prepared to face some local backlash, such as being branded as anti-semetic.

This week I kept myself in the safe zone as each of my 3 cartoons dealt with the Canadian connection to the conflict between Israel and the Lebanon based Hezbollah. Generally speaking, my targets were this week's most vocal complainers. Bill Graham complaining about Stephen Harper choosing not to mince his words by saying Israel's bombardment of Lebanon was a measured response to aggression by Islamic extremists. who complained endlessly about the Canadian effort to rescue them from being killed by rocket attacks. And finally the media, cocooned in the bubble around a travelling Stephen Harper which seemed complain to about his every word, from abandoning Canada's traditional stance of indifference in the mid-east, to his government's handling of the evacuation.

It wasn't easy to criticize Stephen Harper for much of what he said and did this week. It was refreshing to hear a Prime Minister lead without a script and it was noble of him make available his jet to rescue stranded Canadians. From wishy washy Liberals, to whinning media, to evacuees complaining about not being fed on a rescue ship, it was far easier to satirize those who were complaining than ridiculing Stephen Harper.

Yesterday it seemed Canada was destined to be the last country on the planet to remove its nationals who've been stranded in war torn Lebanon since Israel began its huge offensive against Hezbollah last week. Naturally, Ottawa's opposition leaders have been hugely critical of the Harper government's perceived slowness to act. The Lebanese community has been hugely critical, quite naturally, since they're concerned about the well being of their loved ones being evacuated safely out of Lebanon.

But the Canadian media, whether over the airwaves or in print have spewed nothing but bile against the Harper government ever since the PM left Canada last week to attend the G-8 summit in Russia. Its over-the-top reportage of how slow the government has been to evacuate Canadians from Lebanon is just one of the overblown items which make us look like a nation of whiners. Consider the news that is now coming out of the U.S., Australia, and Great Britain that they too are finding their governments facing similar criticisms and you'd think the whole western world is made up of complainers.

From the U.S. media, "I can't believe the Americans," said Danni Atiyeh, a civil engineer from Kansas City, Mo., waiting earlier Wednesday with his pregnant wife and sons, ages 6 and 10, for a bus to take them to the cruise ship. "Everybody else has gone home ... We're still here."

From Australian media, "Members of Australia's Lebanese community have criticised the efforts of the Federal Government to get stranded civilians out of Lebanon."

From the U.K., "The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office came under fierce criticism yesterday after evacuation efforts were condemned as woefully slow."

It seems as though we've been through this before in recent years. The Tsunami in Indonesia, and Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf states. It doesn't matter what catastrophe strikes it seems to only take people and the media mere hours before it starts to complain about the slowness to act.