Classify lottery ticket people in convenience stores as a social irritant of mine. Surely, I'm not the only person who seems to be wanting to purchase a newspaper or a pop, only to have someone at the counter hold up everybody's time because he or she is checking their lottery numbers, and buying tickets for the next one. Yes, it's a small irritant compared to the atrocities in the world, but one of several issues I like to illustrate on.

Don't get me started on what I think about lotteries in general

Lotteries are among the other less significant trouble spots I've highlighted in the past, such as drinking coffee on boiling hot summer days, icicle lights (here's another), suburban garage doors, radical vegetarians, Canadian comedians, summer news filler, and lousy neighbours.

While I may come off as irritating complainer, I'm just getting things off my back. My rants about drivers have barely been illustrated, and my wife can attest to how critical I get on every occasion we happen to share a drive some place.

Pet peeves are often occur as fleeting events. You get into everyday situations that aren't new but are enough to make you pound your head against the wall when they happen... and then you forget about it. A few weeks ago I was reminded about one of the most annoying thing that occurs during economy class flight travel. And it always happens to me. This time I took note... I'm buckled into my seat on a commercial airplane and the moment it becomes ok to recline your seat the person in front of me always, always, finds it's necessary to recline right to the limit and stay reclined for the duration of the flight. It doesn't matter that the reclining will cause the crunching sound of the newspaper I was reading and compounded with the tightening grip of my hands on that same newspaper hoping for some kind of retreat by the recliner. Some how I'll eventually get around to illustrating that particular pet peeve of mine... it's just a matter of remembering.

From time to time I'm asked to draw little graphics in the paper to illustrate articles and features. It didn't take long for an innocent graphic to inspire some Spectator readers to react, shocked and appalled.

The above graphic is the same 'shoulders' illustration the letter writer speaks of, but the head is of someone else other than the female (Teresa Cascioli) spotlighted for the "If I were Mayor" feature. Just a fun and entertaining typical local election thingy. You get the point. 

It seems, in order to be fair, I should've drawn a female head and shoulders with maybe, a nice fluffy feminine scarf. But lets not stop at gender, the hands should be coloured to illustrate the diversity which makes up Hamilton's population. I might want to consider representing physically challenged people running for mayor... come on... it's a cartoon. Besides, ties are not only worn by men.

I think the history books will mark the events of the past week in Iraq and Washington as the turning point of resolve in the Iraqi War. While others will argue it was unwinnable from the start without a formal international mandate from NATO or the U.N., others will say the turning point came after prisoner abuse was uncovered at Abu Gharib prison, or following news of the Haditha massacre. Perhaps it was the lack of clear evidence Iraq has built up an arsenol of weapons of mass destruction. I think it was the combination of factors which transformed a fighting force bent on bringing peace and order to Iraq to become a caretaking operation there to ensure that sectarian violence doesn't turn a war into a genocide.

The coalition has dwindled in the past few months. Today, the United States no longer has the support of nations who were once standing shoulder to shoulder, among them, Poland, Italy, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Spain, Romainia, and Japan, who combined, contributed over 10,000 soldiers. Worst of all for the U.S. is the strong likelihood that Britain may very soon pull out the bulk of its 7,200 fighting force, in response to the overwhelming unpopularity of the Iraq war among Britons.

But it's when George W. Bush acknowledges comparisons between this war and the war in Vietnam that I see little hope for further success in Iraq. The small victories, such as rejoicing the end of dictatorship in Iraq, the capture of Saddam Hussein and many more of his cronies and his bad apple sons, the election of a new government, seem to be fading even in the eyes of the most steadfast supporter of the war, the President.

I still find it difficult how the Vietnam war compares to Iraq with regard to American deaths which amounted over 58,000 in the former war. It's hardly a quagmire...yet.

It seems as though my Caledonia March for Freedom cartoon has stirred up a bit of anger among some folks judging by the feedback and blog reaction it's getting.  (Note some of the posted comments on my own blog in this entry.) Today's Spectator prints a letter to the editor related to the cartoon:

This is a complaint about the editorial cartoon in the front section of The Hamilton Spectator. It features Gary McHale leading the March For Freedom in Caledonia. For a newspaper to poke fun at someone's weight, creed or colour is disgraceful and tacky. The Spectator should hang its head in shame.

We live in Stoney Creek and attended the protest on Sunday in Caledonia. We saw a lot of residents from Caledonia and only three little incidents at the police barricade. Those incidents were nothing like those at the speeches when a pickup truck full of natives sped through the site yelling racial remarks at the non-natives.

We also witnessed non-natives not being allowed past the police barricade, but natives were free to walk up the street, pass the police barricades, get their coffee at Tim Hortons, and return to the Douglas Creek Estates.

My wife asked an OPP officer why this was happening. He said he didn't know.

If people can't see there is a two-tier justice system in Caledonia, they are blind.

Gary Thompson-Stoney Creek

The writer best articulates a common complaint among all the feedback I've received and read -- that 1) I was unfair to depict Gary McHale and the protesters in the way I did, and 2) that clearly, the law is being enforced by the O.P.P. on non-natives, whereas natives seem to be free to do whatever they want.

Regarding point 2, I think it's a very legitimate complaint by the protesters, and I've drawn on that sentiment in the past. Here's another concerning the O.P.P.

As for my depiction of the protesters and Gary McHale, well, yeah it was ad hominum in its nature, but frankly, that's what we cartoonists often do when we approach issues. An Editorial cartoon is designed to generate laughter from half of an audience while creating howls of scorn and outrage from the other. It's our little box of anarchy on an otherwise serious, and pontifical editorial page. Don't expect editorial cartoonists to be fair. We're there to entertain, to make cheap shots, to illustrate popular sentiment, and to make readers think. Peruse my archives and you'll find many many cartoons which you may find funny, whereas others will take great offence.

And finally, editorial cartoonists work on our own. We aren't part of any corporate agenda. We don't draw whatever the publisher or editor wants us to draw -- we get our cartoons spiked if they ever think we've crossed the boundary into bad taste or libel, but we are our own masters. On Caledonia, I comment on whatever big events are added to the chronology of this standoff, whether, as shown above, it's an angry mob of non-natives marching like the 7th U.S. Calvary being led by General Custer, or if its a goofball native father teaching his kid how to construct a roadblock. I've done several other cartoons poking the natives, who often voice the loudest complaints when a little bit of humor is made at their expense. Oh well.

 

I sit on the Editorial Board here at the Hamilton Spectator. Yep, lumpy me, the editorial cartoonist, has a seat at the table which forms the opinion of a daily newspaper. It's kinda like being Greenland and having a seat on the United Nations security council. I'm there mostly to listen, and nod my head, and read newspapers when discussions get boring. Occasionally, we get guests who appear before the board to state their cases and receive questions. Most of the time its local politicians, city staffers, activist groups or organizations that'll sit down with us. I usually politely bow out attending those... you know, I've got a cartoon to draw, 'fer Pete's sake.

Other times we get some bigger acts coming through, particularly at election time... we've sat down with Dalton McGuinty, Ernie Eves, Jack Layton, Ralph Goodale, and even Stephen Harper. This morning it was David Wilkins, U.S. Ambassador to Canada. Everytime I show up for these things I always bring some paper and a pencil and I sketch away. Here's Wilkin's portrait: