Picking subjects to cartoon about is a tricky thing. I wrote in an earlier entry about how the summer silly season makes it a bit challenging to pin down a topical subject that's the current talk of the water cooler circles. I took this Monday off leaving some delicious issues to bake and grow stale...and then become fresh again (after I initially thought the issue was long past expired.) So drawing cartoons is a balance between covering the different levels of news goings-on, i.e. world, national, provincial, and local stuff, and being sure not to miss the really topical news stories of the day. The big story may not gel for a few days, so it's easy to get ahead of yourself by cartooning too early, or missing the the story altogether in case the story gets overtaken by other events. What I've got to keep reminding myself is that I can't cover everything. By missing one day in the news cycle, however, you can't help getting upsep when good news stories come and go.

Today I face a whole list of great stories I can draw on, but the trick is figuring out which one will appeal to a broad audience and have the most shelf life. The Muslim world vs. Pope Benedict XVI issue continues to go on. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ranted in front of the U.N. last night, and Stephen Harper appears tomorrow. The Chairman of the CBC quit his job for a rather comedic reason, and the Liberal leadership race goes on with some interest which I haven't had the opportunity to comment on since early June.

A photographic essay of Peter Mackay and Condoleezza Rice's Tim Horton's Odyssey.

Peter: "I'm thinking about a double chocolate glazed donut."

Condi: "I'm wondering about the cream filled eclair."

Peter: "Perhaps it's best if we stick to coffee for the time being."

Condi: "Yeah, let's get out of here, this cup is burning my palm."

Condi: "ha ha... ha ha... get me out of here now!"

Condi: "Maybe next time I'm in Pictou I can drop by your apartment to see your beanie baby collection, but right now I really have to run."

Secret Service: "Not so close, Tubbo."

Condi: "Get me back to Washington now."

Condi: "Much better."

The above cartoon relates to the resolutions passed and debated during the past weekend policy conference of the New Democratic party. A colleague at work raises a good question -- Is the stupid gas actually being pumped into the convention centre, or is the truck actually harvesting stupid gas from the assembled dippers? When drawing the cartoon my intention was to assume the gas was dumbing down reasonably intelligent delegates. The notion of stupid gas being collected from an assembly of already stupid people, whom happen to be NDP'ers, is a little harsh... yet still funny.

---

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Spectator's cartoonist has missed the mark.

Had someone really been pumping "stupid gas" into the NDP convention, party leader Jack Layton would have praised Prime Minister Stephen Harper for providing exemplary leadership and U.S. President George W. Bush for defending democracy against terrorism. Now that's stupid!

— Geoff Ondercin-Bourne, Ancaster

* * * * * * * * * *

Jack Layton and the delegates to the NDP national convention are anything but stupid! I presume your cartoonist is taking exception, in his own childish way, to the convention decision demanding Canadian troops be withdrawn from Afghanistan, which, by the way, is the majority opinion of Canadians according to recent opinion polls.

The delegates, of whom one was my son, have the integrity to stand up and speak loudly against the injustice of invading and occupying a country that has done absolutely nothing to harm us. That war is illegal, immoral and unwinnable. If your cartoonist is looking for stupidity, he should check out the prime minister's office because the decision to sacrifice the lives of young Canadian soldiers for U.S. President George W. Bush's stupid dream of empire was made there.

By taking this bold decision, the NDP has made itself the only real parliamentary opposition in this country. Canadians who wish to see peace, justice and an independent foreign policy would be wise, not stupid, to support the NDP in the next election.

— Kathryn Basham, Hamilton

---

ARTICLE EXCERPT OF OUTRAGE

From the leftist website Raise the Hammer:

"The war in Afghanistan, and Canada's evolving role in it, is anything but clear-cut.

Unfortunately, people like [columnist Andrew] Dreschel and Graeme McKay [sic], whose recent editorial cartoon had the NDP breathing "stupid gas" for its principled opposition to the war, would rather shout down that opposition than engage in a productive debate.

Ironically, the inevitable result of ignorance is dumbed-down policy that's immune to the facts."

---

BLOGS OF OUTRAGE

More irate, albeit stoned people at the Cannibus Culture Forum forgetting that I've been their biggest hero in the past by glorifying several of their pot activists. Anything but mellow reaction from the commentators!

"In the five years since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center — when hijackers flew two planes into the twin towers, killing more than 2,700 people — New York has made a stirring recovery. Lower Manhattan shows signs of economic renewal and is once again a trendy place to dine; real estate values citywide have soared; the stock market has strengthened; new construction is booming; the overall crime rate is down; ticket sales on Broadway have hit an all-time high; and tourists are flooding the city in record numbers." The Los Angeles Times

Quite optimistic sounding, but the article actually pertains to how anxiety ridden New Yorkers are 5 years after the attack. The excerpt above stuck out when I read it since it goes against the daily mantra that things will never return to the nice and carefree days before September 11, 2001, and that in order to exist in this day and age we have to live in fear while always looking behind our backs.

Has 9/11 really changed the world as much as we've been led to believe? Are we cowering in our basements waiting for the next terrorist attack to occur? Have our liberties been curtailed that much by paraniod governments? Have our economies crumbled in the aftermath of September 11th? I suppose if we're connected to anyone who was killed in the 9/11 attacks life did change for some. Those of the Islamic faith must feel the impact and inconvenience everytime they pass through airport security. While there were economic consequences which put airlines out of business and put a dent in travel immediately after 9/11 our day to day activities really didn't change at all.

We still eat out at restaurants, fill our gas tanks with ridiculously priced fuel and we still do all the normal daily things we did 5 years and a day ago. The attack on America was a huge event and its memories will always remain with us for years to come. Are we feeling as fearful as critics are suggesting we are as something orchestrated by the Bush administration? I don't think so.

There's an excerpt of Michael Moore's movie Bowling for Columbine (and you know how much I love Michael Moore) which I think is very nice observation. Its examination of America's culture of fear as a root cause of gun violence also extends to the higher levels of office. America's need to have something to be scared of has essentially been the bedrock of its strength since its earliest colonial days. Michael Moore gives an entertaining chronicle of things which have scared the bejezus out of Americans for the past 230 years.

I don't think it's just an American thing. Most countries need to fear something in order to keep itself together. Canada has feared the U.S. in the past and continues to do so today. Not too long ago, we were shaking alongside the U.S. and the so called "free world" waiting for the day we'd all be annihilated by Soviet nuclear weapons in the 1980's. My 9/11 occured in the 5th grade when my music teacher decided to reveal the existence of nuclear weapons pointed at every city in North America. It was the early 1980's, and that revelation alone freaked me out for years.

No doubt a lot of fifth graders became freaked out 5 years ago today. But like my own introduction to fear of nukes everyone from every generation enters the culture of fear sometime in their lives. 9/11, as horrible and surreal as the film footage and images freaks us all out is just another moment of collosal human tragedy and fear which is repeated over and over and over through the centuries. Something is bound to push the events of 9/11 from our collective memory. Maybe that's what's so worrisome. 

Ontario's Premier, Dalton McGuinty, goes to work everyday wearing a uniform. Dark pants, a white shirt (usually), and a red tie...(always Liberal red and always loosened). Sleeves always rolled up. It proclaims to the people, "hey, I'm in charge, but I'm going to be comfortable while I work very hard at this job." It may also declare, "hey, yeah, I'm Premier, you don't have to be scared of me, I'm not Mike Harris afterall."

Accordingly, I depict him with his Premier's costume in editorial cartoons. The transformation is chronicled in my Dalton McGuinty Gallery.

The forefather of Ontario's jacketless, loosened red tie, rolled-up-sleeves appearance was the last Liberal Party Premier of the province (1985-1990), David Peterson, shown here in this official Queen's Park portrait:

Here is the former Premier of Ontario in a recent photograph: