Nobody, and I mean nobody around me predicted that the 2006 Mayoral race in Hamilton would see Larry Di Ianni go down to defeat to Fred Eisenberger. I was so confident, so sure of Di Ianni sweeping back into office, that I only prepared one cartoon to run on the front page of the day after the vote Hamilton Spectator. I thought I'd mark the re-election of Larry Di Ianni by referencing his miraculous recovery after pleading guilty to 6 charges regarding illegal campaign finances in his 2003 campaign -- how all the king's horses and all the king's men managed to put Di Ianni back together again.

Well, you can't mess with the storylines of nursery rhymes it seems. The above cartoon was to be the sequel to one I did in March when things didn't look all that well for Di Ianni after city council voted to charge the him for violating the Municipal Elections Act. The charges probably would not have been made were it not for the dogged persistence of citizen Joanna Chapman. Next to Eisenberger, she could be considered a big victor in the aftermath of the vote.

Another winner in this race is the notion that you do not need to have the biggest campaign donation warchest in order to win the mayoralty in Hamilton. Fred Eisenberger only accepted campaign contributions from individuals because, he thinks big money shouldn't have a place in the electoral process. Turns out it was the principled stance to take against Di Ianni's acceptance of corporate and union donations.

The people have spoken, and I blew a whole day on a cartoon that'll never get printed. Oh well, lesson learned.

Today's cartoon needed to go out quickly so I drew it up rather haphazardly to get it in before my syndicate deadline. It got out all right but in a different form altogether from the version shown on the website.  This is how I originally composed it:

After some consultation, I came to the conclusion that showing the corpse of Saddam dangling at the end of a rope would be too much for editors to bear for publication. Besides, it doesn't bear in mind the appeal process will prevent Saddam's execution well after the losses George Bush's Republicans are sure to take as American voters go to the polls in today's mid-term elections.

So, I switched the two characters around, extended the wooden beam right across, gave Saddam his life back, fixed a missing rope segment I omitted under Bush's arm and extend the other pointed finger one.

Speaking of pointed fingers... here's my youngest daughter Jackie who became a one year old on the weekend. She celebrated the event in outer space:

This whole Income Trust thing isn't exactly the most sexy issue cartoonists have been given the opportunity to draw on. I don't profess to have much knowledge in the field of finance, and when it comes to reading up on this income trust story it doesn't take long for me to imagine myself in high school calculus class wondering when the bell's going to ring. It definitely has to be the most complex and confusing one we've had to deal with in a while.

One day, my younger brother, who works in the Investment banking and asset management canyon on Bay Street might explain what Jim Flaherty's tax on Income Trusts means in layman terms. I get the political significance of this being the Harper government's "McGuinty moment" -- it being a colossal reversal, or flip-flop on an election campaign promise. And for that I suppose the Tories need to be spanked, or, forgive the pun, be given a half-assed spank. In the meantime, it'd be nice to return to those simpler days... like when the national focus was on Peter MacKay's dog.

The above cartoon was done in haste, cobbled out from imagery from past cartoons:

  

I felt the need to get something out for my syndicate the morning after the news of an Income Trust tax was announced. I had an 45 minutes to piece it together. Busy and wordy -- not exactly a work of art, but I suppose it illustrates my lack of enthusiasm for the subject. 

Still, getting it out of the way freed up the day ahead and for the rest of it I worked on a cartoon illustrating a story on how Canadian cities were petitioning the United States Environmental Protection Agency over lax emmission standards which is allowing American smog to blanket Canada. That story, forgive yet another bad pun, seems to have blown over, and will remain unpublished in the Spectator until an appropriate time comes... and the time will come, unlike another Income Trust cartoon.

Local activist, Spectator letter writer, college instructor, and Jack Layton apologist, Frank Bendek is a gifted cartoonist.  I'm so flattered by this piece from a magazine called "MayDay" that I just had to share it with you. While his rant and banal writing is enough to put one to sleep, his drawing is definitely something to appreciate:

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.