Usually I try to work one week ahead in case I get the flu or design deadlines overwhelm me. It does mean I sometimes sacrifice timeliness. I had a different cartoon planned for this week, but the writing was taking an inordinately long time. Then Harper made me angry.

Granted, this happens a lot these days. But his insinuation that the Liberals were against extending the Anti-Terror Act because they wanted to avoid the father-in-law of one of their MPs being forced to testify at a potential Air India inquiry was an especially dirty blow. Firstly, provisions for forcing people to testify in terrorist cases are to prevent terrorism. (The Air India bombing happened 22 years ago. The Tories were in power for the first eight years of the botched investigation.) Secondly, they've never been used, despite being available for the past five years. Thirdly (and thankfully), the tide is turning in favour of human rights after drowning many civil liberties in overwrought security measures.

So I stared at the wall on Friday morning and thought about how Harper might see Stéphane Dion. Soft on terror. Cuddly. Like a teddy bear. A terror bear. The rest flowed from there. Sunday night I changed the last panel to take into account Friday's Supreme Court ruling on the five Muslims who have been imprisoned without trial for years. (Those darned judges -- another soft-on-crime group.) I hope nobody thinks the bears in the last panel are supposed to be Santa's elves or something. It's not my fault Supreme Court judges wear such ridiculous get-ups.

10 Years Ago This Week: March 6, 1997
Beware the Ides of March! 'Tis a violent time in Weltschmerz. This cartoon from a decade ago is even more nasty than this week's. Parental discretion is advised. (My Mike Harris caricature was getting mighty fearsome. And having two Clonservatives battling it out... Well, you can close your eyes at the scary parts.)

Retailers for Attack of the Same-Sex Sleeper Cells:

Toronto:
Pages, 256 Queen Street West (at John).
The Beguiling, 601 Markham Street (near Bloor and Bathurst)
Book City, two locations - 348 Danforth Ave., 663 Yonge St.
Hairy Tarantula, 354 Yonge Street (near Dundas).

Guelph:
The Bookshelf, 41 Quebec Street.
Macondo Books, 18 Wilson Street

Waterloo: Words Worth Books, 100 King Street South

Kitchener: KW Bookstore, 308 King Street West

Hamilton: Bryan Prince Bookseller, 1060 King Street West