text:
If you're a dyed-in-the-wool property bull who hates seeing a negative thought written about property prices, stop reading now; what follows will only upset you. But if you're open to considering alternative views, please read on.
First, let me make it clear that I'm not making a prediction about a setback in the Australian property market. To insist that prices must fall seems as foolish to me as ignoring the possibility of a fall altogether. What follows is simply an observation about a potential risk, alluded to in a speech given by Phil Coffey, Westpac's chief financial officer.
In a presentation to the Australian Banking & Finance Capital Markets Forum last week, Coffey touched on the risks:
''Notwithstanding our strong credit ratings and our healthy relationship with global investors, at some point, institutional investor appetite or concentration risk may become a constraint. It is unusual and untested for an ongoing current account deficit to be funded so much by the majors of a banking system.''
These candid comments point to an inversion of the argument frequently advanced by banking bears: that falling property prices could cause enormous problems for the banks. There's certainly truth to that position but what Coffey is alluding to implies the opposite. Risk also lies in the exposure of our banks to offshore funding; that it may, in fact, be this reliance on offshore funding that triggers a property market meltdown.
Traditionally, banks use depositor funds to finance their lending. Yet that's no longer the case in this country (see Bank headlines you won't want to see). Australian banks now finance much of their lending from offshore because our national thirst for credit outstrips our collective ability to fund it. And, in exhausting our domestic savings pool, our banks have headed offshore to fill the breach, rather than curtail their lending.
Coffey, perhaps unwittingly, is inviting us to consider what might happen to the costs of servicing our mortgages and other loans if our foreign benefactors lose the will to extend further credit at some point. He politely described this disaster scenario as a ''constraint''.
We saw how our banks reacted to the reduced availability and increased cost of wholesale funding during the credit crisis of 2007, the forerunner to the global financial crisis. Credit was rationed and higher funding costs were passed on to borrowers. That provided a small dress rehearsal for what might happen if the cost of the banks' funding were to rise sharply, or dry up altogether, as a result of ''Coffey's constraint''.
A$ risks
Any such loss of confidence or appetite for Australian credit by international investors would most likely be accompanied by a loss of confidence in our currency. Again, we've had a fairly recent preview of this in late 2008 when the Aussie dollar plunged from more than 90 US cents to just 60 US cents in three short months. It's not popular to say, but several key parts of the Australian economy are dependent on the continued confidence of foreign investors.
The nightmare scenario goes something like this: International investors refuse to extend our banks credit at a reasonable price. This forces the banks to pass on additional costs to their customers and, in some cases, refuse credit.
These tight credit conditions could squeeze property developers and highly-geared property investors alike. Many developers would be forced to offload housing stock quickly- by reducing sale prices - to raise cash to repay their loans as they fell due and/or cover the increasing costs of their debt.
Ordinary property investors would face a similar squeeze; seeing prices fall and facing growing debt-servicing costs. Some would be forced to sell into a falling market, pushing prices even lower.
In effect, we'd witness the reverse of the positive feedback loop we've seen in the property market for many years. Instead of positive sentiment driving prices higher, negative sentiment, a lack of available credit and higher interest costs would push prices lower.
Again, this disaster scenario is not a prediction -it isn't even likely. The chances of this playing out as described are remote indeed. Our Reserve Bank, for one, has a few shots in its locker. But you only have to look at the US or Japanese housing markets to realise that once people's confidence is broken, low interest rates can only do so much.
The events of the past few years have shown that most of us are prone to underestimating our exposure to low probability/high impact events (see Nassim Taleb's book The Black Swan for more on this topic). Australian banks' reliance on foreign funding may well be one of those factors that seems all too obvious a risk in hindsight but nobody bothers to raise beforehand. With thanks to Phil Coffey, consider it raised.
This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 282288).
Greg Hoffman is research director of The Intelligent Investor. BusinessDay readers can enjoy a free trial offer at The Intelligent Investor website. For more Intelligent Investor articles click here.
How Australia's banks could trigger a property crash
If you're a dyed-in-the-wool property bull who hates seeing a negative thought written about property prices, stop reading now; what follows will only upset you. But if you're open to considering alternative views, please read on.
49 comments
All rational people know that the value of Australian property can only rise. History has proven this - prices double every seven years. It takes guts to invest, however the rewards are infinite.
- Commenter
- Rodan
- Date and time
- August 02, 2010, 10:56AM
The premise of this argument is that lack of international funding leads to property developers triggering a drop in house prices. Surely though, the majority of property developers are into building apartments. So, therefore, wouldn't apartment prices drop instead of house prices?
One would say that, since the Australian economy is doing so well, that this scenario will never take place. The dollar drop in 1998 was due to global fears that resources would plunge in price. Is there still that fear in the world? Not at the moment. If anything, resource prices are predicted to go up. Whilst this is the case, Australian property prices will never crash.
- Commenter
- DeeK
- Date and time
- August 02, 2010, 11:24AM
All rational people know that the market cannot go up forever, and that some point it must come down.
It takes guts to write an article such as this highlighting the systemic risks and negative feedback loops.
True investors know when their asset holdings have passed fair value and sell before bubbles burst. This is how wealth is retained, not merely created through paper profits.
It takes courage to sell when many are spruiking things can only get higher, but that courage has endless rewards of selling at the top and buying at the bottom.
I wonder how many dyed in the wool 'property investors/speculators' have this courage?
- Commenter
- Date and time
- August 02, 2010, 11:30AM
Rodan - you're obviously joking. Good one.
Greg, brave story written exactly like i'd expect it would. I love the way the media refuses to admit the massive problem in this country at the moment...because no-one wants to be responsible for the ensuing panic.
Heres the facts: Ignore Demand vs supply article. Ignore all the little arguments you people have made to keep this rediculously inflated housing bubble going. The demand in this country was brought forward by an almost embarrassing lapse in rules of credit. Cheap credit = demand. Those days are now over, and the banks have made it obvious that rates are heading north. But thats not the thing that will pop this bubble. What is, has already started happening.
>3 years ago, everyone was talking on the streets about housing being the guaranteed way of making money. People were panic buying because they didn't want to be left out of the market forever. "it'll be like europe". etc etc.
Talk on the street now is how people would be crazy to buy into this. We've now seen what happens - US being the worst case scenario, the UK, Ireland, and now Canada all collapsing. It's NOT different down here. It's already happening.
- Commenter
- Geoff
- Location
- Brisbane
- Date and time
- August 02, 2010, 11:34AM
A bit like the rational Americans, Spanish, English etc; "you can never loose money on property"
- Commenter
- Thoughtful
- Date and time
- August 02, 2010, 11:38AM
All rational people? Some rational people know that past events shouldnt be relied on to predict future events. It's the drivers of those events that need to be understood and whether the same fundamentals are likely in the future. The artical clearly communicated that things have changed but that the future outcome is uncertain. I'm a little uncomfortable about that having a large mortgage and having hoped for significant capital gains but not ignorant enough to conclude that all will be rosy because I want or need it to be and anyone who thinks differently is irrational. That would be the height of irrationality.
- Commenter
- Kyuss
- Date and time
- August 02, 2010, 11:50AM
Don't see what one wants to see - see the facts. The chance of collapse is not "unlikely", in fact, it is a certainty, though the timing is not always clear.
Hyman Minsky describes 3 major phases of an economy, starting with strict lending and ending with lax lending. Right now we have lax lending and easy credit.
It is cheap credit that is proping up property prices, not demand for housing. The end of cheap credit always occurs because credit cannot forever become cheaper.
One day, maybe not tomorrow, but one day, credit will cost more and that is when asset prices will adjust downwards. That time has arrived for the US and Europe. And that time will come for Australia when a small event like the flap of butterfly wings in Singapore sets off a chainreaction, leading to more expensive credit in Australia.
The natural conclusion of capitalism is not forever towards greater efficiency, it is towards chaos if not regulated properly. And the banking industry has not been regulated properly.
- Commenter
- Lloyd
- Date and time
- August 02, 2010, 12:11PM
Nop, here is different. House prices always go up. House prices going down now means that prices will go up in the future.
Since I've start to write this message, the houses went up 10%
- Commenter
- houseUp
- Date and time
- August 02, 2010, 12:19PM
The first statement in these comments is a brilliant piece of sarcasm that catches the irrational essence of the "infinite" magic pudding mentality that has driven Australia's property market to it outer limits. Well done, RODAN!
- Commenter
- Crash Likely
- Location
- Magic Pudding
- Date and time
- August 02, 2010, 12:19PM
Fair point Greg - I would also add that the GFC and its related increased credit cost is now 3 years old so its not really a true Black Swan event, if anything what were seeing now is the offspring of the Black Swan that came home to roost in 2007. That said Australia is currently comparatively well cushioned from the worst of the effects due to our connection to growing economies and the fact that we have the flexibility to re-direct our exports. Thankfully for us its as easy as changing the destination of the ships that transport our raw materials unlike the UK,US and Europe who are tied to their service based economies. The days of cheap credit may be over but for those looking to cash up and wait for the truly rainy day I would say you could be waiting for a long time.
- Commenter
- Mikka
- Location
- Brisbane
- Date and time
- August 02, 2010, 12:27PM


text:
A building series about State collusion in depravity
PAEDOFILE SPECIAL: After Shapps attack, BBC's Paul Gambaccini fitted up, sorry, arrested
By John Ward November 2, 2013 Alistair McAlpine & Grant Shapps Boris Johnson follows the medals Elm House paedophile case Jeremy Hunt. Jimmy Savile Max Clifford Newscorp Paul Gambaccini the Met Police
THE PAEDOFILE: Tertiary ethical dementia in the Conservative Party as focus of child abuse to be privatised
THE PAEDOFILE: Now Gove blocks mandatory sex-abuse reporting….as missing care home children numbers rise by 19%
By John Ward June 12, 2013 19% rise in missing British children Boris Johnson says Fernbridge has gone to earth Education Minister Gove blocks reporting of paedophile abuse Social services under-reporting
THE PAEDOFILE: Sheffield Judge in sex-abuse denial as Rochdale MP's hypocrisy on paedophiles revealed.
Why, if you're looking for help against a pervert, the last thing you should do is approach the judiciary or a legislator A Judge retires to consider his verdict. Judge Alan Goldsack QC (left) of Sheffield Crown Court spoke out last … Continue reading →
Filed under PAEDOPHILE BREAKING….bigoted judges and hypocritical MPs
Tagged as 35 years to catch sex offender Garry Layfield, Cyril Smith, Judge Alan Goldsack, Judiciary and legislature in denial shock (not), Rochdale MP Simon Danzuck, The Rotten Borough of Rochdale
THE PAEDOFILE: Why exactly was this particular fellow chosen to adjudicate in the McAlpine-Bercow case?
Michael Tugendhat….judging Bercow Tediously, a very poor legal judgement earlier in this truly depressing week for justice forces me to make one thing clear at the outset of this post. After extensive enquiries, and genuinely to the very best of … Continue reading →
Filed under Establishment v Sally Bercow….no contest
Tagged as Alistair McAlpine, Carter-Fuckup, Family issues, Michael Tugendhat, Rochdale's Roger Ellis, Safeguarding & Protecting children….not, Sally Bercow, The blind eye
THE PAEDOFILE: A matter of £135m….and 90% under-reporting of missing children
Today: making money and missing kids, Cyril Smith investigation Risen from the Dead, and how the MoD ignores the abuse of army-heroes' children This edition looks at just three of the many different motives behind the under-reporting and otherwise covering-up … Continue reading →
THE PAEDOFILE: How rubbish parents, recent technology and royal connections aid the incorrigible child molester
Andrew & Charles….a little help from their friends New danger from technology, old case of It's a Royal Knockout The Daily Express 'reveals' today that – "shockingly" – a large proportion of parents think pupils as young as five or … Continue reading →
Filed under Paedophile cover-up: why technology + Royal power are new barriers to detection
Tagged as Braindead parents, Children & pornography, Elm House, Markov fields, paedophiles, Prince Andrew are Mr Epstein, Prince Charles's unique security services relationship
THE PAEDOFILE: How rubbish parents, recent technology and royal connections aid the incorrigible child molester
Andrew & Charles….a little help from their friends New danger from technology, old case of It's a Royal Knockout The Daily Express 'reveals' today that – "shockingly" – a large proportion of parents think pupils as young as five or … Continue reading →
THE PAEDOFILE: GMP denies Cyril Smith case being dropped, digs deeper hole for itself.
New in this post: is this where all those GMP avenues were leading? L to r…Rowen, Smith, ginger bloke For those of you who haven't yet seen it, the good old Rochdale local press has run a GMP 'denial' of … Continue reading →
THE PAEDOFILE: Cyril Smith 'victim' claims police ordered to call off their dogs by 'on high'.
Big Cyril….interesting choice of teeshirt And German Greens reveal paedophile history repeating itself A Mancunian male claiming to be a victim of sexual abuse by Cyril Smith emailed The Slog just before Monday lunchtime to allege that Greater Manchester Police … Continue reading →
THE PAEDOFILE: Why West Yorkshire Police, Ben fellowes, and Bradford Council are either mad or cunning
Would you trust Ken Clarke with Ben Fellowes, Jimmy Savile with a policeman, or Bradford Council with anything? As to whether Ben Fellowes (left) is mad or a double-agent, the case continues. His latest posting about Kennneth Clarke is a … Continue reading →
Filed under THE PAEDOFILE: Savile & Yorkshire cops + Fellowes and Clarke + Bradford Ambassadors
Tagged as Ben Fellowes, Bradford & Bonkers, Community Ambassadors and c;leaning teeth, Jimmy Savile, Kenneth Clarke, West Yorkshire Police whitewash
BREAKING: Stuart Hall, Bill Roache and Owen Oyston linked to top Tory dirty tricks history
Why did Barbara Hewson choose now to enter the debate so controversially? The charges, motives, political figures, police victimisation, local government corruption and legal ramifications of the Great Celebrity Distraction Campaign took a sensational turn overnight. Further Slog desk research … Continue reading →
Filed under BREAKING: Barbara Hewson + Stuart Hall + Bill Roache + Owen Oyston linked to Tory dirty tricks campaign
Tagged as A company owned jointly by Oyston Roache and Hall since 2004, How Owen Oysten was framed by Tory bigwigs, Stuart Hall and Bill Roache cases take on new political dimension, Why did Barbara Hewson intervene now?
THE PAEDOFILE: First official glimmer of hope as Fernbridge cops admit 'Elm House part of wider conspiracy'.
Featured today: cover-up in Salford, father of groomed son's struggle to nail a pervert, and Stuart Hall's Parliamentary chums Elm House…..'part of a loosely organised, wider network of paedophiles and pornographers' Like J Edgar Hoover denying the existence of the … Continue reading →
Filed under BREAKING PAEDOPHILE LEADS: Systemic abuse evidence piling up
Tagged as Closing ranks in Salford, Elm House 'part of wider plot', How cops sided with paedophile against father, Kincora Boys Home, Owen Oyston + Tom Pendry + Stuart Hall
EXCLUSIVE: Met unearths sex crimes of very dead people
Scotland Grave Yard at work: exclusive Slog photo In a daring series of distracting dawn raid gestures yesterday, Metropolitan police took several thousand bones into custody. Swooping on countless car parks and Time Team digs, specialist sex-crime officers were this … Continue reading →
Filed under EXCLUSIVE: Only corpses are paedophiles
Tagged as Met's compleat paedophile history, PAEDOPHILES: Anything is better than arresting somebody powerful
THE PAEDOFILE: Stuart Hall references to 'parliamentary accomplice' add grist to Westminster paedophile mill
Hall….predator or patsy? The peer who was Hall's friend, the spies who abused Kincora boys, and the MPs who tried to normalise paedophilia academically Since the Stuart Hall verdict was announced, several websites have referred to the Establishment 'help' he … Continue reading →
Filed under Stuart Hall 'paedophile' verdict: disturbing new leads
Tagged as 1980s Home Secretaries and paedo cover-up, Alfred Kinsey helped by paedophile, Kincora Boys and spies and Ulster MPs, Kincora case link to Elm House, Mystery of charges against Stuart Hall, peer who signed 1999 Commons motion on Hall, Riddle of trial held in camera, Stuart Hall, Stuart Hall – paedophile or nuisance?
THE PAEDOFILE: The Establishment decides to fight Secret Family Courts with Secret celeb prosecutions.
Why was it necessary to try Stuart Hall in camera? The more one gets into the area of child sex-abuse, the murkier it gets. Eight years and eleven separate promises of action later, the Secret Family Courts are still secret. … Continue reading →
THE PAEDOFILE: Police investigating the previous police investigation which investigated the one before that find themselves investigating the Police Complaints Commission
Can thirty years of failure in Richmond really be down to incompetence? As the evidence of paedophile child-trafficking cover-ups in Richmond goes from slightly sneaky to the multiply slimey, the absence of any arrests is getting harder and harder to … Continue reading →
THE PAEDOFILE: What connects Welsh care home tragedies to the Secret Family Courts?
Britain treats its frail children as pawns in a ghastly game of privilege. We should all be ashamed. At The Slog on April 13th 2010, in a moment of optimistic triumphalism, and following an investigation by Judge Nicholas Wall, I … Continue reading →
THE PAEDOFILE: Did David Cameron refer to "gay smears" in order to protect Tory Elm House paedophiles?
CHE's blatant attempt to get old paedophile charges wiped out Cameron on the ITV sofa…defending gays or covering for paedophiles? Growing suspicions in and around the Elm House paedophile investigation: senior Conservatives "hiding Downing Street connections to paedophile activists in … Continue reading →
Filed under Breaking Cameron connection to Elm House cover-up
Tagged as David Cameron "gay smears" defence, Ian Harvey, Liberty disaffiliates Tory CHE for paedophile aims, Mary Moss, Peter Spindler bumped off Fernbridge, Suspicious death of Carole Kasir, Tory Campaign for Homosexual Reform, Tory CHE keen to stop old prosecutions of paedophiles
THE PAEDOFILE: Are paedophilephiles simply daft, or is there something else going on?
Helen Reece….is anyone really this silly? In today's Daily Telegraph, there is a report (which I have checked out fully) about how Helen Reece, a reader in law at the London School of Economics, called on Theresa May, the Home … Continue reading →
Filed under PAEDOPHILES: the Left tolerates them and the Right denies they exist
A PAEDOFILE SPECIAL: The Fat Kitten at the CICA on £95,000 a year who keeps sex-abuse victims waiting for their compensation
Three years after an 'urgent review' of the CICA, Carole Oatway is still there. Why? …and Why has Ken Clarke made it harder for sex-abuse victims to claim compensation? The disgrace of an Establishment ethically unable to prosecute paedophiles among … Continue reading →
Filed under EXCLUSIVE: HOW WHITEHALL BUNGLER STARVED COMPENSATION VICTIMS BUT STAYED IN POST
Tagged as 7 decades to catch Graham Ovenden, £3000 for sex abuse victims if they're lucky, £95000 a year for CICA mandarin Carole Oatway, Ken Clarke makes it harder for sex-abuse victims to claim compensation, Millions of £s owed to 50000 victims, Paedophile Graham Ovenden out on bail
April 2, 2013 · 7:21 am
THE PAEDOFILE: Mass grave in Miami stuns the US
Is this America's Haut le Garenne? 50 hidden graves near old school Scientists are exhuming bodies thought to have been Wards of the now defunct Dozier School for Boys. Last week, soil-penetrating radar revealed nearly 50 unmarked graves that the … Continue reading →
Filed under PAEDOPHILIA: Shocking truth of Dozier Boys' School
Tagged as 50 unmarked graves of abused kids, Child rape, Dozier Boys School, Familiar pattern of cover-up, Familiar pattern of sadism, Haut la Garenne, Miami USA, Paedophiles commit murder too
Yesterday's revelation that the man in police custody is Rolf Harris represented yet more distraction away from the mainstream of British paedophilia. But The Slog will continue to report the reality. This from a victim of sexual abuse by John … Continue reading →
THE PAEDOFILE: A conflict of interest waiting to become a scandal
How to protect every paedophile in Britain International children's services provider, Core Assets Group has announced the acquisition of Carter Brown Associates Ltd – the UK's leading family expert witness firm. It is at best regulatory indolence and at worst … Continue reading →
THE PAEDOFILE: Downing Street accused of 'gagging' victim support groups
All Quiet on the Rocks Lane team as more history of blatant cover-up emerges Recently, a paedophilia victims support group was raided by police, and evidence removed. This morning, Downing Street stands accused of restricting funds to help people sexually … Continue reading →
Filed under PAWEDOPHILES: More of the cover-up history emerging
Tagged as Downing St to gag victim support groups, Jack Straw, Lambeth Council, Massive cover-up, MP Paedophiles
Nick Clegg, the Man from Nowhere
Still approximately 24 years behind the music, Ed Miliband has said it is "not wrong or prejudiced" to worry about immigration. Given his Party has only just started being concerned about it at all (now the country is roughly 20% … Continue reading →
Filed under Nick Clegg Nowhere Man
Tagged as Chris Huhne, Ed Miliband, immigration, Justice and Security Bill, Nick Clegg, paedophile MPs, Richmond Council, Rocks Lane, Vince Cable
PAEDOPHILIA: How one piece of news can kill a novel
There is a paedophile syndicate that runs across the British Establishment at every level. When will it be purged? This is one of the oddest posts I've ever put up. Yesterday by email, somebody sent me this flashback to an … Continue reading →
Filed under DENIAL OF PAEDOPHILE SYNDICATE IS KILLING CHILDREN
Tagged as A 70 year-old syndicate they claim doesn't exist, A network of like-minded deviants, david cameron, J Edgar Hoover, JFK assassination, Jimmy Savile, Leon Brittan, Nick Clegg, Soham killer Ian Huntley
ELM HOUSE & RICHMOND COUNCIL: First arrests.
Slog prediction vindicated….but not enough of it. We've been waiting fifty years. Where are the big arrests we've been promised? Boothby…..never went to prison The week before last I ran a piece based on good sources about Richmond Council employees … Continue reading →
Filed under BREAKING….RICHMOND COUNCIL EMPLOYEES ARRESTED BY FERNBRIGE
Tagged as Bob Boothby, But big Rocks Lane fish remain untouched, Elm House – 2 Fernbridge arrests, Leon Brittan, South Coast arrests of Richmond Council employees, Time some big collars were felt about Elm House scandal
PAEDOPHILES IN POLITICS: A Beecher's Brook of a scandal which may yet unseat David Cameron
With the issue of EU membership neutralised for the time being, the Prime Minister neverthless still faces the problem of upcoming Newscorp cases in which he is clearly implicated. But towering above any other obstacle is the emerging depth and … Continue reading →
ELM HOUSE PAEDOPHILES: Cyril Smith named, but Coalition in fear of evidence closer to home about Rocks Lane parties
Brittan worked for Cameron, promoted Clegg Brittan….speculation about Rocks Lane scandal As the late MP Cyril Smith was last night named as a suspect in the case of paedophile parties at the Elm guest house in Rocks Lane Barnes, media … Continue reading →
ELM HOUSE PAEDOPHILES: Richmond Council in the frame
Sources close to the Rocks Lane paedophile investigation centred on the Elm Guest House in Barnes told The Slog today that the Fernbridge specialist police unit (now moving rapidly towards arrests) has earmarked Richmond Council employees as key suspects in … Continue reading →
ELM HOUSE PAEDOPHILES: Three face arrest, public figures implicated
Westland helicopter scandal dragged into Fernbridge investigation Following the Slogpost of a few days ago predicting imminent arrests in relation to the Elm Guest House paedophile scandal, I understand that three people will initially face charges. I also have two … Continue reading →
Filed under ELM PAEDOPHILE NAMES + WESTLAND HELICOPTER DIMENSION
Tagged as 3 MPs 1 Irish 1 Labour 1 BNP, Elm Guest House, Jimmy Savile, Leon Brittan and Hamilton Blackburn, paedophiles, Royal household
Paedophile lawyers and legal aid scams in Scotland:
The Crown Office, quashed paedophile charges, perversion of the course of justice, embezzling millions from the taxpayer, State collusion with organised crime, and death in Pakistan On 23rd May 2007, a prominent Scottish QC appeared in Court – this time … Continue reading →
Filed under REVEALED: paedophiles + bent judges + fiddling lawyers in Scotland
Tagged as Graft & sexual abuse on an industrial scale, How did Jimmy Savile get away with it?, Mark Strachan, Rupert Murdoch Paul Carlucci Newscorp mobsters, Scotland another State complicit in organised financial crime, SLAB, Tireless revelations of Peter Cherbi
PAEDOPHILE POWER: You ask how Jimmy Savile got away with it….read this.
Top Dutch official faces Demmink evidence…but still walks free A long last, the Dutch government has brought somebody involved in a paedophile case to Court. The Dutch nation eagerly awaits the result of the man's second trial that begins today, … Continue reading →
Filed under HOW SENIOR EUROPAEDOPHILES GO FREE
Tagged as etc etc, innuendo, International condemnation gets nowhere, Investigator Micha Kat put on trial, Jimmy Savile, Joris Demmink, Protection of the powerful, Rumour
Lets end the daft muddle, and start poking into the dark puddle As more details emerge of the Rotherham 'UKIP foster parents' case, it is I'm afraid turning into a classic of the kind I witnessed several times on the … Continue reading →
Facebook paedophile plans further legal action against networking site
What happens when the authorities neglect their duty We have rampant paedophobia in Britain – thanks to endemic paedophilia. We deserve to have neither. A Facebook page set up to monitor paedophiles has been removed after a judge in Northern … Continue reading →
England vs Foreigners in the Leveson Cup: it was a game of two halves, squire.
Somehow, Boris, Rupert and Alistair snatched victory in the needle match between decent journalism and tabloid toadies I'm indebted to The Slog's peripatetic media correspondent Dietrich von Ausland for reminding me about the foreign ownership thing in relation to Leveson. … Continue reading →
EXCLUSIVE: Judge with long track-record of bizarre paedophile verdicts becomes resident Judge in Exeter.
Seven years bad luck for abuse victims in the West Country Astonishing decision to promote controversial 'paedophile-soft' Judge On 2nd August 2012, Judge Francis Gilbert QC (left) was appointed resident judge at Exeter. He has a long – and to … Continue reading →
At the End of the Day
Oh God, not more rumour and innuendo Over the last five years, two secretive societies kept coming onto my radar over and over again. The first was the Masons, and the second was Common Purpose. I have a deep and … Continue reading →
Filed under At the End of the Day
Tagged as Doing nothing in the face of contemporary Caligulas
ROTHERHAM: Childcare boss in UKip row presided over paedophile epidemic:
but her only aim was to find the whistle-blower The Director in charge of Children's Services for Rotherham Joyce Thacker (left) called in South Yorkshire police nearly three months ago on the issue of child protection failures in the region. … Continue reading →
Filed under Joyce Thackers covers arse while kids get abused in Rotherham
Tagged as falls on arse, Farce in Rotherham as polemics triumph over foul crime, PCC rides to rescue, Time for MSM to focus on real sex abuse problem
At the End of the Day
Oh God, not more rumour and innuendo Over the last five years, two secretive societies kept coming onto my radar over and over again. The first was the Masons, and the second was Common Purpose. I have a deep and … Continue reading →
Filed under At the End of the Day
Tagged as Doing nothing in the face of contemporary Caligulas
ROTHERHAM: Childcare boss in UKip row presided over paedophile epidemic:
but her only aim was to find the whistle-blower The Director in charge of Children's Services for Rotherham Joyce Thacker (left) called in South Yorkshire police nearly three months ago on the issue of child protection failures in the region. … Continue reading →
Rotherham in 2012 is bad enough: but the 2008 Stafford psychiatric childcare fraud is still in play.
Serial child-napping fraud George Hibbert is still at large and in practice. Can Jeremy Hunt explain why? The last few days have seen the spotlight on a Left-dominated Rotherham Council behaving in….well, the manner we've grown used to when it … Continue reading →
Lord Mandelson, Prince Andrew, Shaun Woodward, and convicted paedophile pimp Jeffrey Epstein
HOW THE POWER OF PRIVILEGE PROTECTS THE PERVERT: A CASE HISTORY Epstein and friend, Prince Andrew In a previous post earlier this week, The Slog suggested that the main weapon protecting Establishment paedophiles is genuine fear among the elite about … Continue reading →
Filed under PRIVILEGE & PAEDOPHILIA: EPSTEIN MANDELSON PRINCE ANDREW SHAUN WOODWARD
Tagged as Power + Privilege + Protection + Perversion, This is how Jimmy Savile got away with it, What would PC Plod do if these were oridnary people?, Why are the names of several senior British Establishment figures in Epstein's address book?, Why did Jeffrey Epstein get 13 months for offences usually carrying a 20 yr stretch?
IGNORING THE PAEDOPHILE THREAT: 17,727 child sex abuse cases recorded, only 1600 convictions
The political bollocks, ignorance and cover-up protecting sociopathic sexuality: another double-header from The Slog As a distinguished blogger pointd out to me yesterday, the paedophile scandal is turning into a cross between political football and media circus. The protection of … Continue reading →
Filed under PAEDOPHILE OFFICIAL: 17727 COMPLAINTS OF SEX ABUSE AND UNDER 1600 CONVICTIONS
Tagged as Childrens' Commissioner quango, Ed Balls, Harriet Harman, Lord McAlpine's attempt to handcuff the media, Right and Left have equal interest in cover-up, Too much point scoring not enough action
The paedophile cover-up: don't kid yourself that this is something new.
HAGUE'S APPEAL TO THE SECURITY OF THE NATION IS SIMPLY THE LATEST PLOY. WE WOULD ALL DO WELL TO SEE IT IN A HISTORICAL CONTEXT. Hague…gearing up for listening in In the Daily Telegraph this morning, Foreign Secretary and State … Continue reading →
Filed under Paedophile cover ups: Hague confirms the standard approach is favoured
Tagged as 'Don't publish' paedophile piffle, Bob Boothby, Hague and the need for sicherheitsdienst, Harold Wilson, History of paedo-hiding, John Pearson, Pearson FOIs still being refused 50 yrs later, Ronnie Kray
The Sunday Splash
There is great news for Michael Parkinson in today's soaraway Sunday Sun: Emu was a paedophile, and Rod Hull was a groper. We don't need 'allegedly' in this observation, because poor old Rod fell off his roof adjusting the TV … Continue reading →
Filed under Jimmy Savile's church shags and Rod Hull's paedophile Emu
Tagged as David Rose in toy-throwing shocker, Jimmie McAlpine-Savile, Jimmy Savile-McAlpine, Paedophiles paedophiles paedophiles, Sunday's big splashes in the Press
Pandora's box of British paedophiles: why the unknown nature of the contents keeps the lid on them.
Part Two of today's Slog Special unveils the key four-letter word: FEAR Masons perform odd rituals, bullies choose positions of power, and exclusive clubs tolerate unspeakable practices. But the central truth I have arrived at in relation to institutional paedophilia … Continue reading →
Filed under REVEALED: the named paedophile fears that haunt the British Establishment
Tagged as Ben Fellows, david cameron, Dermot Murnaghan, Ed Miliband, Harriet Harman, Jack Dromey, Jeremy Hunt., JHJ Lewis, Jimmy Savile, Kenneth Clarke, Leon Brittan, Peter Mandelson, Prince Andrew, Suspicions about paedophiles the very thing that causes cover-ups, Unite Union, William Hague
THE PAEDOFILE: Red herrings,old meat and new developments as Tom Watson stays silent
Thatcher's rear-gunner Sir Peter Morrison Lord McAlpine, Boris Johnson, Edwina Currie, and David Mellor: an examination of motives The Establishment (along with countless hacks and bloggers) have known for aeons that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher appointed a serial sex abuser … Continue reading →
THE PAEDOFILE: Lawyers 4, Justice 4
(Extra time being played) Some facts appear to be coming clearer as Britain tries to grasp the nature of the Wikipaedofile, and the fecundity of the McAlpine family. I'm now informed by a BBC insider that, although the initial impression … Continue reading →
Filed under let's have some Justice
Tagged as BBC bloodbath, Jimmy Savile protected by threats, Labour disarray, Polly Toynbee, So-called experts doing exactly what hid Jimmy Savile, Where is Peter Tatchell when you need him?
Smoke Signals
The paedophile net tightens, smokescreen or not. Somebody knew the PM of many years ago rather well. She was hotter under the collar than a Madras curry when she found out who the PM had appointed. Although the Establishment may … Continue reading →
Islamist gets his freedom, the EU gets another tick from Westminster, bankers' safety-net strengthened….
….10,000 UK kids a year abscond from care to evade sexual abuse Which form of freedom should come first? Abu Qatada is a fashionably high-profile Human Rights recipient, whose newly confirmed permission to stay in the UK (while in the … Continue reading →
Filed under 10000 uk abused kids on the run but Ed Miliband wants to debate BBC systems
Tagged as 10000 care home kids on the run from paedophiles, Arse elbow Britain's vulnerable children and Ed Miliband's unfortunate wanking habit, Britain heading for controlled press, Deport Murdoch and oppose press regulation, Steven Messham, The McAlpine smokesceen
We don't want an emergency debate about the the BBC. We want a proper debate about the shameful treatment of Steven Messham. Dear Ed Just a few minutes ago, as yet unconfirmed news arrived to say that the Bryn Estyn … Continue reading →
The McAlpine 'shame on BBC' smears: Something for Sir Alfred to explain…
Alfred 'Jimmie' McAlpine….teenage chauffeurs Hounding Steven Messham, smears in the Mail, threats against MPs, & police complicity In what I admit is something of a risk, The Slog today tries to blow away some of the dry-ice being liberally sprayed … Continue reading →
OPINION: We should be applauding Schofield, not gagging him
The very Establishment leaders busy castigating the BBC over the Jimmy Savile affair are now protecting paedophiles at large from the House of Commons to Sky News. Bullying the tv media is crass hypocrisy, and the media reaction thus far … Continue reading →
Filed under Beware the Paedophile Protection League
Tagged as Andy Burnham, David Cameron bollocks, Ed Balls, Harriet Harman, James MacAlpine, Jeremy Hunt., Jimmy Savile, Ken Clarke, Lord Mandelson, paedophiles, Philip Schofied, Sky TV's hidden paedophile, The Gay shield, The Groucho Club
The Sunday Splash
The two men suffering most in the public eye this weekend are David Cameron and Jimmy Savile. Mr Cameron is a living Prime Minister and Savile is a dead paedophile, but the coverage of each is roughly equal – with … Continue reading →
Filed under Cameron & Savile in new Toff paedophile sensation.
Tagged as david cameron, Jimmy Savile, Alex Salmond, Norman Tebbit, Sunday papers
From the Archives
Given the current obsessions with Jimmy Savile and Gary McKinnon, I thought Sloggers might like to cast their eyes over this piece from April 2010: Supreme Court: Paedophile rights more important than autistic rights. The judge heading up our Supreme Court … Continue reading →
Filed under The protection of paedophiles
Tagged as Ed Balls, Gary McKinnon, Jimmy Savile, Supreme Court
Paedophiles in Power: Why Jimmy Savile got away with it.
The Slog has been scanning recent articles in search of powerful perverts. TODAY: THE LABOUR PARTY Some of you may have noticed that Ed Miliband has called for the Government to set up an independent inquiry into the Jimmy Savile … Continue reading →
Filed under Savile is a distraction as long as Labour faces its own paedophile crisis
Tagged as Harman Balls and protecting paedophiles, Hunt Maria Miller and protecting paedophiles, Judiciary sending wrong signals in paedophile sentencing, Savile is a distraction from systemic paedophile protection
Sunday Splash
The national obsession with Jimmy Savile's alleged paedophilia continues. This morning, the Telegraph investigates how the police let prisoners down in failing to nab him. As this torrent of accusation gathers speed, I have reluctantly had to conclude that I … Continue reading →
Filed under Sunday paper headlines & highlights
CHILD ABUSE: Why Harriet Harman and Ed Balls should face charges of criminal neglect
Today's Times exclusive (£walled no links found) about endemic paedophile networks run almost exclusively by the Pakistani community in Britain reveals yet another South Yorkshire plod cover-up. But above all, it is about three things: 1. The obvious dangers of … Continue reading →
Filed under The South Yorkshire paedophile scandal is a direct result of Balls and Harman's dereliction of duty
Tagged as Abused children let down, Paedophile Pakistani rings ignored for years, South Yorks police cover-up, There can be no justice without better politicians
Illegal camerawork at The Groucho Club:
was it a missing link in the Hackgate saga? On the trail of Groucho members, Newscorpers, and Shadow Ministers The story so far: we know that the Groucho Club run by JHJ Lewis indulged in unregulated surveillance. We know that … Continue reading →
Filed under CAMERON LINK? MORE REVELATIONS, EXCLUSIVE: HACKGATE + GROUCHO-HUNT + NEWSCORP + CAMERON….LINK UNVEILED?
Tagged as david cameron, Groucho Club illegal surveillance, James Murdoch, Jeremy Hunt., JHJ Lewis, Pattern or coincidence?, Slog at the Groucho Club, Steve Coogan, Tyrone D Murphy
Is this an amoral shit greeting a Crooked bastard at the Olympic games? And if so, which one is JHJ Lewis backing? DAY 2 OF THE GROUCHO-HUNT FILES The man who bankrolled Jeremy Hunt's controversial visit to New York in … Continue reading →
Filed under HUNT BACKER IN PAEDOPHILE SEX STORM
Tagged as david cameron, DCI Grant of the Met and his unfeasibly trusting nature, Jeremy Hunt's £4000 trip to New York, Jeremy Hunt., John Henry James Lewis, Liz Murdoch, Matthew Freud, paedophile ring cover-up, Rupert Murdoch shift son to New York., The Groucho Club, Tyrone Power, Why did the Groucho club need so many cameras?, Why does a millionaire MP need a sugar daddy?
VETTING & BARRING: If nothing else, we are seeing a return to commonsense
Ed Balls was quick to tweet that new Home Secretary Theresa May (left) was 'woefully ignorant' in abandoning his mad Vett & Bar scheme. (See numerous Slogs passim, but especially this one). And The Slog was quick to tweet back … Continue reading →
Supreme Court: Paedophile rights more important than autistic rights.
The judge heading up our Supreme Court rationalised its decision to delist two serious sex offenders on human rights grounds today. Lord Phillips said the offenders' list notification requirements were 'an interference with their rights' – in the case of … Continue reading →
OPINION: Why does anyone imagine the local council will be any more honest than the Catholic Church?
We should learn from the secrecy and suppression of the Vatican mindset The question of paedophilia in our country is ruled by all the wrong instincts. On the one hand, we have the tabloid press keen to tell us that … Continue reading →
Filed under Catholic church, child care system, denial of paedophile problem., local government, paedophiles

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Teenagers and parents have been reminded of the importance of teaching driver safety following an accident that killed five teenagers on Sunday about four miles northeast of Dumas.
Jacob Paul Stipe, 16, of Sunray was driving a Chevrolet Cruze with four teenage passengers west on Morton Elevator Road and struck a Volvo tractor-trailer after disregarding a stop sign at Farm-to-Market Road 1284, Department of Public Safety officials said. Stipe and his passengers, October Dawn Roys, 17, of Dumas, Elizabeth Kay Roys, 15, of Dumas, Derrek Lee Hager, 17, of Stratford and Christopher Lee Moore, 17, of Sunray, were pronounced dead on the scene, officials said.
The tractor-trailer driver, Ezequiel Garcia of Amarillo, remains in critical condition at the burn unit of University Medical Center in Lubbock, officials said.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teens in the United States, and the fatality rate of 16 to 19-year-old drivers is four times that of 25 to 69-year-old drivers, according to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
About two-thirds of teen passenger deaths occur when another teen is driving, and teens are almost 10 times more likely to be in an accident during their first year on the road, according to the Children's Hospital.
"Teens do recognize their ability, and they want to be seen as safe drivers and want to be responsible in their cars, but they do need to recognize how dangerous interacting with anything while driving can be," said Chris Mullen, Director of Technology Research with State Farm.
Distracted driving can be a particular risk to teens, Mullen said.
"The problem is exacerbated by the fact they're novice drivers, and learning to drive should be their No. 1 priority," she said. "When we get on the road, we're used to hazard awareness, or scanning the road looking for hazards to anticipate what there may be out there, so we're ready to act. Teens are not used to the same behavior, and they're looking straight ahead and not scanning for hazards."
Mullen recommended teens learn to keep electrical devices out of the picture to keep abreast of potential problems on the road.
"As far as teen drivers are concerned, they have enough to do with learning to operate a car," she said. "There should be no distractions in the car, and that includes electrical devices, like smartphones, but it also includes the radio and conversations. It's critical that teen drivers don't have teenage passengers in the first few months they have their license, because they can be distracting."
But distracted driving isn't limited to teens. According to a survey from State Farm, 61 percent of teens say their parents were distracted by cellphones or other electronic devices while they were teaching them to drive.
"Distraction is a reality for teens, but also for parents," Mullen said. "Parents don't realize their child has been watching them since they could see over back seat. If they are doing things like wearing their seatbelt, children start to learn what good driving looks like. It happens long before they are 15 or 16 years old."
Texting also can present a safety risk while driving.
"I think people underestimate the level of distraction that can happen from one text or looking away from the road for a second," Mullen said. "Teens have been texting first before driving, but the older generation learned to drive first. It needs to be something parents tell them first thing, that the phone can go in the console and is not touched again until the car is off."
Wearing seat belts also is an important safety measure, particularly among teens, who have the lowest rate of seatbelt use of any age group, with 65 percent of teens consistently wearing seat belts, according to Children's Hospital.
"A seatbelt is the primary and most efficient restraint, but for teens, they need to watch parents modeling this behavior from day one," Mullen said. "They shouldn't even turn their car on without it. It's a misconception that you don't need it if you're just going on a short trip belt. It needs to be on every time."
Mullen recommends parents think of themselves as role models while driving, but also avoid scare tactics in an effort to promote safe driving practices among their teens.
"They should foster a positive environment, explaining positive consequences," she said. "Rather than touting negative consequences of bad behavior, they can explain all the good things that will come with (safe driving). It's more effective than saying, 'If you don't do this, you will get hurt.'"


text:
My last relationship ended a few years ago, but the way it ended still lingers in my mind. We had what seemed like a wonderful relationship for 2 years. He traveled 2 1/2 hours to see me every weekend. His time outside of those weekends was on the road for work. Even then, we talked on the phone for hours most every night. Everyone thought we were the perfect couple.
I found out he cheated on me, going to a strip club and pursuing a stripper. I confronted him on the phone because, what I found out sickened me, and I couldn't wait until I saw him in person again. He made some excuse and wasn't owning up to cheating. I told him when he was ready to tell the truth to give me a call. I didn't get a call. Instead, I got an email a few days later more or less saying he was dumping me and how unhappy he had been. Never in the time we were together did he verbally or otherwise express unhappiness. It would be stupid to drive 2 1/2 hours every weekend to see someone because you are 'unhappy'.
He later admitted that he wasn't unhappy with me, but with himself. He admitted that he destroyed our relationship. I didn't argue the case with him because I agreed.
I'll never understand, how a man who said our relationship was the best he ever had, could destroy it for something so petty and not try to salvage it. It isn't that I wanted him back, but I wanted to know I was worth having back.
Have you found out someone was cheating on you only for them to dump you instead of you dumping them?


text:
We the undersigned petition to Save the Wave More detailsSubmitted by Derek Mooney Deadline to sign up by: 2012-03-05 23:11:58 Signatures: 321
Irish people are reknowned, the world over, for their hospitality, friendliness and warm welcome. Tourists to Ireland have talked about their sense of joy when strangers smile, tip their hat or indeed wave at them. Even city folk who visit rural towns and villages have got a little lift from a stranger who greets them with a wave of the hand. But is this custom of waving at complete strangers dying out? We think it is and we want to preserve this endearing characteristic.
Derek Mooney, the Petition Creator, joined by:


text:
In an industry first, Costa Cruises simultaneously floated out two new ships today at two different shipyards in Italy.
A ship's "floating out" ceremony signifies that its exterior is complete; the dock in which it has been constructed is flooded and work begins on the interiors. When the interiors are complete, the ship will undergo sea trials, which test its seaworthiness.
Costa Luminosa was floated out at Fincantieri's yard in Marghera, near Venice. The 92,700-ton, 2,828-passenger ship is a new and innovative design for the line that will feature a 4D cinema, a rollerblading track and a spiffy golf simulator allowing you to virtually play on 37 courses around the world. Costa Luminosa will debut in April 2009. In the meantime, Costa Pacifica, a 114,500-ton, 3,780-passenger sister ship to Costa Concordia and Costa Serena, which will debut the following month, was also floated out -- at Fincantieri's Sestri Ponentri shipyard in Genoa.
Aptly enough, today's dual float out will be followed by a dual christening in Genoa on June 5, 2009, for the same two ships. This isn't the first dual christening planned by a cruise line. What is unique, however, is that because Costa Luminosa will have already been sailing for a month by that time, paying passengers will have the opportunity to experience the christening ceremony alongside the VIP's, luminaries, entertainers and heads-of-state who typically attend these events.
Costa spokeswoman Dana Dominici tells us that guests booked on Luminosa's 13-night repositioning cruise from Rome's Civitavecchia to Amsterdam departing June 3, 2009, will witness the ceremony and be able to participate in all of the festivities and the parties that follow, including the inevitable fireworks (Costa is well known for hosting some of the most fabulous, over-the-top christenings in the industry).
In other Costa news, Dominici also told Cruise Critic today that its next newest ship -- a sister to Costa Luminosa scheduled to launch in the spring of 2010 -- will be named Costa Deliziosa.
Stay tuned for more information on Costa's new-builds as we receive it.
--by Jana Jones, Cruise Critic contributor
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Costa Floats Two Ships, Names a Third
Costa Floats Two Ships, Names a Third
June 27, 2008


text:
Summer is driving my t-zone crazy! The humid weather induces excess secretion of oil around my nose and forehead which wipes off my foundation which is so annoying. So it's natural that I am drawn towards things that say 'mattifying'.
Hydrafresh Anti Shine All Day Hydrating and Mattifying Icy Gel
A light weight skin-cooling texture which brings an instant ocean splash to your skin, locking in a reserve of hydration and freshness. It controls your skin temperature to prevent perspiration and shine. Enriched with Zinc and Micro Sponge technology, it regulates the sebum and inhibits excessive oil production to bring an immediate mattifying action.
|L'Oreal Hydrafresh Anti Shine All Day Hydrating and Mattifying Icy Gel
|L'Oreal Hydrafresh Anti Shine All Day Hydrating and Mattifying Icy Gel
I am a fan of L'Oreal Hydrafresh Aqua Gel. Since it's gel-based, I find it great for my combination skin type. It's not just me; my sister who has an oily skin seconds me on this. I was hoping that Icy Gel might be even better for summer as it also claims to mattify the skin.
The first application wooed me instantly as the tingling icy feeling was so very refreshing just like it claims – an instant ocean splash to your skin. So yes, I absolutely love the minty scent and the cooling sensation. When I applied it, I noticed that Icy Gel takes teensy bit more time to absorb into the skin in comparison to Aqua Gel. When it sets, my skin feels firm and of course hydrated.
Icy Gel doesn't feel heavy on my face or look greasy at all but unlike Aqua Gel, which vanishes into the skin, I can somehow feel Icy Gel on my skin probably because of its skin firming effect or perhaps it doesn't soak into the skin completely.
The whole thing now comes down to the mattifying part. Does it keep my skin matte? Well, I don't think so. My T-zone remains shine free for two hours which is for a much longer time without this gel. It does fulfill the hydration role but doesn't prevent sweat or shine whatsoever. The micro sponge technology doesn't inhibit oil production for me. As a matter of fact, I believe, my oil glands get all the more active when I put it on which was never the case with Aqua Gel. Do not try putting this gel in excess (if you think that a greater quantity would magnify the mattifying property) because it will leave you looking like an oil spill after an hour and a half; less is more for this gel. Be warned: it might break you out.
The bottom line, Aqua Gel wins the battle. I really love the cool and breezy feeling of Icy Gel but it doesn't hold up to its mattifying claim. I am so disappointed with this product.
You might like it if…
- You have combination to oily skin type.
- You enjoy the icy cool sensation and the refreshing scent.
- You expect a little hydration with a non-greasy feel.
- You have super oily skin.
- You expect it to stop sweat.
- You expect it to control shine
- You over-do the quantity.
- It might break you out.
I purchased Hydrafresh Anti Shine All Day Hydrating and Mattifying Icy Gel from Agha's superstore Karachi for PKR 650.


text:
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By Virgil VaupelCourier Correspondent
Hinsdale Girls Basketball Win Games Over Turner And Scobey
January 8, 2014 | Volume 101 / Number 2
Virgil Vaupel / For The Courier
Chadaya Christensen shoots a jumper against a Turner defender.
The Turner Lady Tornadoes traveled to Hinsdale last Thursday to test their skills against the Hinsdale Lady Raiders.
Hinsdale put a hurtin' on the Turner, amassing 17 first quarter points while Turner could only get one point.
Hinsdale head coach Ralph Ellsworth put in his JV players for the second quarter and, playing well, they kept the lead for the next eight minutes. Hinsdale went into half leading 27-8 over Turner.
The varsity got to shine for the eight minutes following the intermission scoring 22 points while holding Turner to just 4. The JV finished the game scoring 13 points in t...
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text: Former Rams tight end Dominique Byrd pled guilty to two misdemeanors after grabbing a woman's buttocks and smashing a bystander's head with a bottle. The bottle broke and the man needed stitches to close the wound. Byrd served two years probation, attended anger and alcohol treatment and paid a $100,000 civil settlement after the boyfriend claimed he caused "serious, permanent and disfiguring" damage.


text:
We've reviewed every song on Drake's third LP, the soon-to-be-released Nothing Was the Same. Check out our opinions on each of the album's 13 tracks, collected in one place for your convenience below. Click on the links for the individual song reviews, or just click NEXT to read them one at a time.
1. "Tuscan Leather"
2. "Furthest Thing"
3. "Started From the Bottom"
4. "Wu-Tang Forever"
5. "Own It"
6. "Worst Behavior"
7. "From Time"
8. "Hold On, We're Going Home"
9. "Connect"
10. "The Language"
11. "305 to My City"
12. "Too Much"
13. "Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2"


text:
I CAN HAS COMIX?: Johnny Ryan
[Editor's note: This is part of a series of interviews I'll be posting that were rescued from WizardUniverse.com's now-defunct archives. Originally posted on August 3, 2007.]
The most controversial man in humor comics talks his upcoming Marvel project, racism, boogers and what it's like to work for both 'Nickelodeon' and 'Hustler'
By Sean T. Collins
The first thing you need to know about Johnny Ryan is that his comics will make you laugh out loud. Hard. Embarrassingly. To the point of distraction for your co-workers. The second thing you need to know about Johnny Ryan is that his comics will make you gasp "Oh my God" and "Holy sh--!" just as loud, hard, embarrassingly and distractingly. The third thing you need to know about Johnny Ryan is that both of these things will probably happen at the same time.
In his signature series Angry Youth Comix, his gross-out humor strip Blecky Yuckerella and his no-holds-barred parody collection The Comic Book Holocaust, Ryan has conducted a one-man jihad against good taste and unfunny funnybooks the likes of which comics has rarely seen before. He combines a pottymouthed penchant for bodily fluids that would delight a 9-year-old with a willingness to violate social taboos about sex, violence, race, religion and gender that makes Dave Chappelle look like Bill Cosby, all drawn in a style reminiscent of something you'd find in Alfred E. Neuman's bookshelf (or bathroom). And ever since signing with Fantagraphics--publisher of Dan Clowes and Love and Rockets--he's been one of the most divisive figures in the alternative comics scene.
With the 13th issue of Angry Youth Comix and the third AYC collection, aptly titled Johnny Ryan's XXX Scumbag Party, hitting stores over the past two weeks, Ryan got up bright and early to dish on the secret inspiration for his craziest characters, the lines he'd never cross and the comics creators who just can't stand him.
WIZARD: First of all, thanks for getting up early in the morning to talk to me.
RYAN: That's okay. I'm up early in the morning every day anyway.
Judging by your comics, it seems like you'd be the type of guy recovering from a massive, massive hangover until about 4 in the afternoon every day.
RYAN: You'd be surprised. I have a pretty nerdy lifestyle. I'm not the party animal that I make myself out to be in the comic. [Laughs]
Yeah, we were wondering around the office what you'd be like: whether you would be reserved and it all comes out in your comics, or whether you were like Harvey Pekar and what you see is what you get.
RYAN: A year or two ago at the San Diego convention, Tom Spurgeon was saying that there were several people who had come up to him at the convention and said, "Do you know what was a really big surprise? It was how normal Johnny Ryan actually seems in person." They expected me to be sitting in my own sh-- and throwing toilet paper and bottles and things at people like I'm some kind of maniac.
Is comics pretty much your only outlet for that side of your personality, to the extent that you have it?
RYAN: I would assume so. I'm a pretty law-abiding citizen. [Laughs]
Speaking of San Diego, I first read your Angry Youth Comix collection Portajohnny there the year it came out. Up until then I'd pretty much thought that funny comic books were an urban myth; I really couldn't think of a time when I had laughed out loud at a comic. I picked up Portajohnny from the Fantagraphics table, sat down to eat lunch, started reading it, and I was just dying. I was laughing out loud, which was unheard of for me.
RYAN: Well, that's good to hear.
I've seen several other interviewers say much the same thing to you. What do you think it is that you're doing right that gets that response from people?
RYAN: Gosh, I don't know. I mean, I always approach my work trying to, I guess, make myself laugh. I'm trying to amuse myself and come up with crazy ideas that amuse me. As a writer of humor, I guess you want that. You want what makes you laugh to make other people laugh. That's the hope. It's just a roll of the dice, and hopefully it'll work.
I know that you're a big fan of Peter Bagge's Hate--when you first decided that this was something you wanted to do, what else was making you laugh at the time?
RYAN: That's a good question. When I first started out I wasn't really reading Hate very much, but probably the Robert Crumb stuff from like the late '60s, early '70s. I really think that nothing can top that as far as amazing, out-of-control humor, especially with the sketchbook stuff. I had picked up one of those German sketchbooks that I think was his work from 1967 to 1970 and it just blew me away how much fun and how crazy it was. When I saw that I was like, "This is what I want to do. I want to do comics that are like this." That was the inspiration.
Beyond comics, are there comedians or films that influenced you?
RYAN: Oh, sure. The Three Stooges. I'm a big fan of the Three Stooges. Those Hal Roach "Our Gang" shows are great. "The Benny Hill Show" was a big influence on me. [Laughs] That's some of them. I also used to read Mad Magazine a lot as a kid. I think that was a big influence as far as parodying and making fun of stuff, which doesn't really happen very much anymore, or at least in comics anyway.
I think that's maybe one of the reasons why Angry Youth Comix took me so much by surprise.
RYAN: I mean, the humor scene in comics is just rough. It's not really--I'm not just saying that because there's slim pickings as far as humor goes, but at least to me it doesn't seem like something that's really welcome anymore. The alternative comics scene seems as if it's concerned with being very literary and high-minded. They have these literary aspirations. They want to be regarded as a high art form, and I guess they…the overall feeling of the whole comics thing with humor, or at least the kind of humor that I'm doing, kinds of brings that down. I'm not going to get that interview on NPR or whatever.
I've definitely heard Fantagraphics co-publisher Kim Thompson crow fairly proudly that people will come to him and say, "I like everything that you guys do except Johnny Ryan."
RYAN: [Laughs] Yeah. The thing is, though, that I think it's sort of cooled off. When I first got picked up by them it was pretty overwhelming, the negative reception that I was receiving from comics--or at least from Fantagraphics--fans. It wasn't personal; I wasn't getting letters. But just the reviews and looking on message boards or whatever, the vibe I was getting was negative. I do have to say that I think it's slowly turning around. I feel like because of the time passing, people are a little bit more accepting that I'm a bit more of a staple in the comics scene than I was initially.
Judging simply from the back-cover blurbs on your books, it seems like even if the readers of art comics, or whatever you want to call them, were slow to embrace you, you made fans of the people who actually make those comics pretty quickly.
RYAN: Some of them. I mean, it's not an across-the-board statement, but there are some that are fans of mine and appreciate it. They see what I'm doing and appreciate it.
Do you know who likes you and who doesn't?
RYAN: Well, usually the people that I've communicated with over the years. Gary Panter--I'm a big fan of his and I know that he likes my stuff. Dan Clowes has already been very supportive. The Hernandez brothers. Peter Bagge, of course. I mean, I get the feeling that I'm not on the Top 10 list of Art Spiegelman or Chris Ware or Seth for that matter. Usually, though--and this is probably even true for me--if you don't like someone's stuff, you just don't pay attention to it or comment on it, because you just don't want to get into it. I can usually get the feeling [from people]. I actually asked Eric [Reynolds, Fantagraphics editor] to see if Seth would be interested in doing the introduction to XXX and he turned me down. I thought that it would be kind of funny to mix it up. I said that he could say whatever he wanted, but no.
You did that strip that parodies him.
RYAN: It was sort of inspired by his lifestyle, I guess. [Laughs] And I had heard that he does a slideshow where he shows my comic and talks about how people keep asking him about it and sending him the comic and wanting him to comment on it, and he continues to claim that he's never read it. I heard that after he shows the slide he throws the slide in the garbage. He has this whole thing. I was like, "Well, how about I let you do the introduction to my book? I think that would be kind of funny." It's sort of like when [Dave] Chappelle had Wayne Brady on. He just said, "No. It's not a right fit for me."
You've done a lot of parody work, from superheroes to classic strips to alternative comics. Have you had any other reactions like Seth's, or on the flipside, really positive reactions? How do you feel about that sort of thing? If you get the sense that someone doesn't like what you're doing, does that make you feel good or bad?
RYAN: Well, it depends, I guess. [To answer] the first part of your question there, I had only heard about the whole thing with Seth's slideshow and stuff second- and third-hand. I've never actually seen it and I don't know what, exactly, he says. As far as people approaching me who had a bad reaction, the only people who have reacted to what I've done as far as if I do a parody of them are people that I probably already knew previously and was friendly with, like Peter Bagge or Rick Altergott or Dan Clowes. Dan Clowes actually told me that he didn't think his was mean enough. [Laughs] So it's people that I either already knew or I was already friendly with. As far as people that I didn't know, I never got an unsolicited response from someone that I didn't know who just wrote, "Hey, I just saw your parody of me. You're an assh---" or "I loved it" or whatever. I was getting some people asking me, "Hey, will you parody me?" or "I was very disappointed to see that you didn't do me." So there was that.
And how do you feel when you hear or see someone's outrage about what you've done? Does that feel like a badge of honor or does it make you uncomfortable?
RYAN: It can vary from person to person. It depends. Like, if I was a big huge fan of someone and I find out that they hate me, I guess that my reaction will be, "That's kind of disappointing." But in a way, it kind of frees me up. In a way it's easier, if you don't know the person and aren't friendly with them, to totally slam them. [Laughs] So it's actually a little bit more difficult if I was somewhat friendly with them. If I do find out that someone doesn't like my work or what I'm doing, that almost encourages me to continue. If people make fun of you, you should just kind of wear it, and that way they'll stop.
I saw that Back in Bleck has negative back-cover blurbs.
RYAN: Yeah. I think that out of all of the stuff that I've done, that might be receiving the worst reviews, and for some reason I just thought that it was funny to put those on the back. It didn't just seem like they were bad reviews. It seemed like those people were enraged. [Laughs]
I'm surprised that you haven't gotten even more flack along those lines. I'm not just talking about Seth being upset at you making fun of how old-fashioned he is. A lot of your work is fairly transgressive humor, with racial elements and sexual elements…
RYAN: There've been little things here or there, but nothing that's been really crazy. I think that's just because I'm doing an underground comic, basically. If this was on TV or if this was on the radio I would probably be hearing a lot more negative comments, but this is comics. I only sell a couple thousand copies of it, and because of that I'm not really going to get the same kind of attention that those other mediums get.
Do you ever worry that there will be some sort of fluke situation like the Gordon Lee case, where a retailer accidentally gave a copy of a Nick Bertozzi comic to a kid and there was nudity in it and now he's been taken to court? Not so much that you have a national forum like Don Imus or something, but that maybe it'll get into the wrong hands and someone might choose to make an issue out of it?
RYAN: Well, I guess that's just a bridge that you'd have to cross when you come to it. I just see myself as an artist. I'm a cartoonist. I'm drawing what I think is funny and saying what I want to say in my comics. I'm just putting them out there, and as far as who gets them, I don't really have any control over that. I guess that I would feel bad, and I would hope that stores would realize that this is adult material. I'm not making it for kids.
A title like Johnny Ryan's XXX Scumbag Party will probably help out.
RYAN: Yeah. That's for the kids. They'll definitely be like, "I have to read this thing." [Laughs]
That's maybe the best comic book title that I've ever read.
RYAN: Oh, thanks. I initially wanted to call it Let's Be Assh---s, but Eric said that we would have distribution problems. I'm hoping that maybe within the next 10 years or so things will get a little bit more liberal and I'll be able to use that title.
I always find that sort of thing funny. When we run interviews with people who curse, we have a style as to how we abbreviate sh-- or f--- or whatever. It reminds me of how when you say "assh---" on television, they bleep out the word "hole," but you can say "ass." It's interesting to me that the actual "hole" is the offensive part.
RYAN: Depending on what channel you're watching and what show you're watching…I was watching that Kathy Griffin show last night and she was at the Gay Porn Awards, and I was amazed at what they were getting away with. It was like "up the ass" and "dick"...I thought, "Wow."
I guess it's about context. Speaking of which, I believe XXX Scumbag Party is the first big Johnny Ryan release in the post-Imus, post-Opie and Anthony era. Thinking about it in that light, there are some people who can do really edgy stuff and more or less get away with it-- Sarah Silverman, Dave Chappelle, "South Park"--and other people can't--Imus, O&A. I was wondering if you have any thoughts on why that is.
RYAN: I'm not really sure. I guess that it has a lot to do with whether or not people like you. [Laughs] Or if someone has a bug up their ass against you and is willing to fill out the forms and bring you down. But there's more to being funny than just cursing and using racism and all of that sort of thing. I think that you still have to be creative about it and come up with a funny joke about it and not just say "sh--" and "g--k" or whatever and think that people are going to laugh at it.
I think that's one of the things that's undersold about your work: There's all the dirty stuff, obviously, but it's also so weird. A strip will start in one way and then it'll end up being about something completely different. There's a fairly epic example of that in XXX Scumbag Party: the strip called "Dry Gulch Follies 2005," which starts with Sinus O'Gynus getting a babysitting job and ends with a gigantic robot prostitute giving the moon a sexually transmitted disease.
RYAN: I think that's one of the things that makes comics fun for me, and I guess it's also just a part of my sense of humor. It's that surreal element to my work. It's sort of nonsense that I find funny, where it starts somewhere and who knows where it's going to go and what kind of characters you're going to meet and what weirdness is going to happen?
The quality of the art in your stuff also doesn't get talked about enough. I went through the three Angry Youth Comix collections and the two Blecky Yuckerella books, I was just watching the progression of your line as it thickens and gets more and more lush and more self-assured. It's really lovely.
RYAN: Well, that's something that I'm actually pretty proud of, as far as where I began. If you look in the back of the Portajohnny book, there's a really early Loady McGee comic that I drew in 1992 or '93, and you look at how retarded it looks. It looks like I drew it with a pen in my ass or something. And how I moved from then to now--I'm always trying to improve and get better. I'm not always really sure exactly where I'm going; I just know that I want it to look clean and cartoony. I always feel like I'm practicing and trying to improve and get better all the time. I never really feel like, "Oh, this is exactly where I want to be."
If you had to pinpoint one person as an influence for your artistic style as opposed to your comedic style, who would it be?
RYAN: Gosh, one person for my style. I'm not really sure. I mean, I want to say a cartoony style like Ernie Bushmiller or Al Jaffee. For the most part I would say that. But as far as the actual content, that would be Robert Crumb.
I guess that style helps you bridge several different worlds, because you've obviously done clean, all-ages humor comics for Nickelodeon Magazine and things like that. How hard is shifting those gears in your head?
RYAN: It's not really hard at all. With my comics I'm doing exactly what I want to do with the stories that I want to tell and all of that, but for Nickelodeon, they're hiring me to do a job. When you're doing stuff for kids, they like that same kind of vibe that my comic has as far as the weirdness and the nonsense and the goofball aspects of it. That same sort of spirit I put into the comics for kids; it's just not sex or violence. It's like Christmas and pizza and boogers and barf. That's sort of what kids like, and I just bring that over into the kid world. Even when I do my comics for adults I think that there's still that same childish spirit that I bring to it, but instead of those things that kids are interested in, I do stuff that's more for the adults.
Have you been working long enough that you've had kids come up to you who started reading your things at Nickelodeon and then moved on to--
RYAN: No, I haven't. [Laughs] I haven't experienced that crossover yet with the Nickelodeon fans. I'm assuming that kids are enjoying what I'm doing in Nickelodeon Magazine. That's what I'm being told, but I've never received any comments from kids personally that say, "Hey, I've been reading your stuff in Nickelodeon and I love seeing your stuff in there." I haven't experienced that yet.
Are you looking forward to it?
RYAN: Oh, I mean, it's always nice to hear if someone likes your work or not, whoever it is, unless they're a total assh---. Then it's kind of depressing.
There doesn't seem to be any kind of self-censoring mechanism in your work. While that's true of several other cartoonists I can think of--Crumb is a good example, obviously, or someone like Joe Matt doing comics about his porn collection--for the most part they tend to be geared inward at themselves.
RYAN: Well, that's an interesting point that you bring up, because you're bringing up two autobio comics artists, for the most part. At least the later Crumb years are mostly autobio stuff, and that's a real prevalent genre right now. People are always talking about their lives, and it almost seems like a competition between all these autobio artists to reveal the most humiliating and degrading and embarrassing thing that they can in their life. It seems more about that than "Okay, I want to tell a story and make it compelling and interesting and funny." For me, I don't feel like I'm trying to do that same kind of confessional-type thing. I feel like I'm just trying to make people laugh. But I also don't want to do any self-censoring because there's things that make me laugh and that I think make other people laugh, but they're ashamed to let other people, or the majority of Americans, know about it. "If everyone knew the horrible, awful things that I laugh at, they'd be disgusted with me. I laughed at someone farting, so people will look at me like an idiot or a fool." Or whatever sort of transgressive or disturbing piece of humor. So I try not to censor myself in that way. That was the whole point of the Comic Book Holocaust book. I was going to put down whatever popped into my head, no matter how horrible it was. As long as I just thought that it was funny to me I was going to put it down, no matter how disturbing or horrible other people thought that it was. That was the whole point of that.
In some ways, it reminds of driving in your car and singing along to some horribly misogynistic and violent hip-hop song.
RYAN: True.
And you're dropping N-words and B-words and cussing left and right and talking about killing undercover policemen.
RYAN: Or the latest G.G. Allin record.
That's another good comparison. But at the same time you and I are both raised-Catholic, white, straight, American guys, and we have it pretty easy compared to a lot of the groups lampooned in your comics.
RYAN: Right. Well, the thing is that I see myself basically as a comedian making jokes. I don't have some sort of political agenda as far as, like, I'm making fun of black people because they're stupid and they shouldn't have the same rights as white people. I'm not standing on a soapbox here. I'm just making jokes and trying to elicit laughter. I think that people have the ability to laugh at horrible things and yet still not go out and murder people, not be influenced to kill and discriminate and be an awful person. I'm not going to cause people to be horrible, awful people. If they're already horrible and awful, it's not me that's going to inspire them.
So in your view, you're not a racist or misogynist or a homophobe or any of those things?
RYAN: I don't think so. I mean, those are usually terms that…I think if someone feels that I'm a racist or a misogynist, that's their right to think so. Personally, I don't think that I am.
You say that you don't have a reactionary political agenda, but on the flipside, would you also say that you don't have the agenda pointing that stuff out to make fun of it or lessen its power?
RYAN: No. I don't think that I have that agenda either, as far as "I'm going to use the word n----- over and over again until the word has no meaning" or something like that. I think that the word is always going to pretty much have some meaning. You can't get rid of it. It's always going to be there. That's sort of the point of using it, because it's so jarring. I like to incorporate that troublemaking aspect into my humor. For some reason it's exciting for me, when I'm drawing my comic, to think, "What can I do to really get people?" I try to use that shock element, I guess. Usually people use that as a derogatory term when dealing with movies or with any kind of art, but I think that it does have its place if used correctly.
There's something exciting about it.
RYAN: Sure. Growing up as a teenager and watching a lot of those exploitation movies from the '70s, I always thought those were really exciting and oftentimes more exciting than a lot of the mainstream stuff that they were showing. I wanted to use those kinds of elements in my work. It's fun. It's the same for the Surrealists from the early part of the last century. They were using a lot of that imagery just to really jar and shock people. For some reason it just makes the work exciting for me if I know that this is going to make people a little bit uneasy.
Do you feel like you've ever gone too far in that direction?
RYAN: If I have, I can't think of any point. There have been moments when my wife has gone, "I don't know about that." [Laughs] Sometimes I listen, and other times I'm like, "F--- it. I've got this gut feeling that I need to follow this through."
In terms of a politicized reaction to your stuff, have you gotten a harder time from conservatives or liberals, or is that anything you've even noticed?
RYAN: Maybe from liberals more. I don't know the statistics on this, but I think that's because most people that read alternative comics are more of the liberal outlook, so I'm mostly hearing a lot of stuff from liberals. The more liberal and literary bookworms they are, the more they dislike my stuff. And the racism and all of that stuff usually makes them uneasy. Sometimes I'll even get a positive review, like recently in The Comics Journal I got a pretty good review for The Comic Book Holocaust, but they were still mentioning how uneasy the racist stuff made them. I think that it's more the liberals who get more uneasy about it.
I think the first context in which I heard of your work before I'd read it was the reaction to the "Gaytroit" strip, where a gay Captain America-type character kills terrorists using his "AIDS Breath."
RYAN: Right. Well, that pretty much went nowhere. They were going on and on about how they were going to boycott Fantagraphics and they were going to picket, they were really going to go crazy and bring the whole company down until I was punished, and they were going to call GLAAD and all of this other stuff. It eventually just became nothing. They were pretty much calling me "the No. 1 Homophobe in Comics" or something like that, and I think that there's a lot worse examples than me. Like those Preacher comics. Have you ever read that thing? I was amazed. When I read it I was like, "Whoever wrote this is obviously gay." But it was written where all of the bad guys were gay and wanted to rape everything. It was sort of amazing that they were going to pick me over this guy. Gimme a break.
You've created several memorable characters. The first that come to mind are Sinus O'Gynus and Loady McGee, the stars of Angry Youth Comix. I've always wondered if they were your stab at like a "Beavis and Butt-Head" thing.
RYAN: No. When I came up with these characters it was little bit before "Beavis and Butt-Head." "Beavis and Butt-Head" came on and I was like, "Ah, sh--. They're stealing all of my jokes." I've since come to really like that cartoon, but I think that the dynamic is different. Mine is sort of the jerk and the wimp, whereas "Beavis and Butt-Head" is two jerks. [Laughs] Loady is a jerk and a bully and Sinus just kind of takes it. Plus, Beavis and Butt-Head are just stupid and they're always laughing and they seem to be having a good time. Loady is like always on a mission and is always in some kind of rage. And that's not to say that either me or "Beavis and Butt-Head" are the first to do the duo-type cartoons.
Were they based on anything, or were they conjured out of the ether of your brain?
RYAN: Everything comes from something, but I guess it's a sort of combination of different elements. Loady McGee came from a couple of different things. I guess it's a sort of combination of Butch from "The Little Rascals" and Vivian from "The Young Ones" and this kid that I went to high school with who had the worst acne that I've ever seen in my life. Sinus came from another kid that I went to high school with. I think that was just sort of my inner wimp too, or something--I don't know. [Laughs] The physical attributes of Sinus came from this kid that I went to high school with.
Next up is Blecky Yuckerella, who's your spoof of a "children's strip" character. You can see the roots of that with Little Lulu and Nancy and things like that.
RYAN: That actually came directly from this comic that I found at some comic stand in Seattle called The Little Monsters. I just picked it up and I saw this cover. It was some Gold Key comic, and the Little Monsters were these two boy and girl little Frankensteins. On the cover were these two little Frankenstein dudes, and in the back was a really mean-looking little girl. It was kind of like Blecky, with the curly blond hair and the little girl suit and the shoes and whatever, but she had a five o'clock shadow and a mono-brow. I was like, "Oh, my God, this looks like it could be the most amazing character that I've ever seen." So I bought the comic and I read it. I was kind of disappointed to find out that the story was about this midget mobster who wants to go into hiding, so he dresses up like a little girl and goes hide with the little monsters. I was like, "Oh, this isn't like some sort of transvestite-child type thing?" I thought I had to incorporate this into my work and do something with it, and create this transvestite monster child that actually has more of an upbeat attitude. That's kind of where it came from.
I can see how it not being a transvestite child would be an enormous disappointment.
RYAN: Yeah. I was sort of like, "Oh, my God. This is the most amazing character I've ever seen--and in a Gold Key comic!" So, yeah, I was sort of disappointed.
I guess she's mostly appeared in Vice Magazine, correct?
RYAN: Well, I initially started the script for the Portland Mercury. They asked me to come up with a strip, and I had this character and I thought, "Ah, I'll give it a shot." I was in the Portland Mercury with that strip for 4 years before they f---ing dropped me, pretty unceremoniously, for some new strip that is absolutely horrible, which added insult to injury. I would then color them and they would reprint them in Vice, but I've since stopped running them in Vice. I'm doing other projects for Vice. They have me do these full one-page things instead now.
How is your working relationship with them, as opposed to your working relationship with Mad or Nickelodeon or things like that?
RYAN: Well, Nickelodeon is definitely the best as far as working. [Nick's] Chris Duffy is the best editor. He's very easy to work with. I've worked with, like you said, Mad, and I've done stuff for Hustler and National Geographic Kids, but I feel like he gets my humor and he likes my humor and I have a real place in the magazine now. Vice is good too. They've always been pretty supportive of my stuff. But I have to say that our relationship is a little bit more contentious because we're always arguing about stuff.
About what? Content?
RYAN: God. It's retarded, the things that we're yelling at each other about. Well, they did that all-comics issue last year [which I guest-edited], and that was kind of a headache. It was just sort of like they wanted certain cartoonists in there, and I was like, "I don't want those people in there." It was just this back and forth. And a few years ago I was asked to do a one-page comic for the American Indian-themed issue. I asked the editor what the rules were and he said, "No penises and no Nazis." So I drew a comic called "Chief Sitting Bullsh-- vs. Nazi Penis." And they didn't run it. [Laughs] For the most part, though, they've always been good. Because they have Vice in the U.S. and they're spreading out and now each country has its own Vice, I've been doing comics for all of these other countries, for all the other Vice magazines. I think it started when there was a Vice France and they asked me to do a comic that totally insulted the French people, so I did a page of gags that were insulting to the French. All of a sudden it started this avalanche of all these other countries being like, "Oh, do us!" So I had to do one for Italy. I had to do one for Spain. Then I had Germany on the line, and they were like, "Ah, forget it." That would've been like the easiest one to hammer out.
Yeah. You kind of know exactly where to go with the Germans.
RYAN: I think there's stuff there that you can't make fun of. In the French one I was making of fun of them with stuff like them being f---ed in the ass by Hitler and things like that. That's okay in France. But I don't think that you can even show a picture of Hitler in Germany.
Angry Youth Comix #13 and XXX Scumbag Party just hit stores over the past two weeks. What's the next thing that you have coming out?
RYAN: Right now, today, I'm working on this thing--Marvel Comics is starting this Marvel Underground series, and I'm sure you know that they have underground artists doing their take on different Marvel characters. I did a couple of pages for that. I'm working on that right now.
That was probably going to be my last question, given our readership. Obviously, a lot of the stuff that eventually ended up in Comic Book Holocaust took aim at Marvel's material. I was wondering if you ever heard from Marvel about that.
RYAN: No, I didn't. Someone else recently interviewed me specifically about this underground Marvel thing, and I even mentioned The Comic Book Holocaust and how I'd done the parodies of the different characters, and I never heard anything. The editor of this particular series is Aubrey Sitterson, and he seems like a young guy who's just starting out there. He's a fan of mine, where I don't know how the old guard feels about that stuff. When I worked with him previous to this on that Stan Lee Meets thing--they did this whole series of tributes about Stan Lee and I did something for that. And he knew about the Mad Magazine where I had done a strip called "The Fantastic Four Has a Crap-Tastic Couple of Weeks" a while back. And even at that point he was saying, "Don't let the other guys see that you did that or send up any of that art, because they don't want to see that." I don't know if he's keeping that stuff from them or what, I don't know what's going on over there, but as far as he goes, he likes my stuff and he wants me to do some work, so that's fine with me.
Am I blowing your cover here, then?
RYAN: Who cares? [Laughs]
Comments (2)
The exact same arc of 1) intense negative reaction, 2) grudging acceptance, 3) appreciation happened to Rick Altergott about 7-8 years earlier.
Except Johnny has more farts and boogers.


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BOSTON -- Coming off a 6-5 overtime loss in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, in which he yielded his highest goal total in almost five months, Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask admitted it felt worse the morning after that game than immediately following the defeat. And with the Bruins tied 2-2 in their best-of-7 series with the Chicago Blackhawks, he was in no mood to dwell on the past.
Heading into Game 5 Saturday at United Center (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, RDS), Rask is all business.
Typically stone-faced the day after the loss, Rask wasn't interested in discussing peripheral things. He claimed he didn't notice Blackhawks stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews -- who combined for two goals and three points in Game 4 -- had been reunited on a line together. When informed his recently snapped home shutout streak of 193:16 established a new franchise record for the postseason, he barely batted an eyelash before admitting he wasn't aware of that either.
All he cared about was making saves.
"Every goal is stoppable. But I don't think there was any weak ones [in Game 4]," Rask said Thursday. "Mistakes piled up and then I wasn't able to bail our guys out. Sometimes you do it, sometimes you don't. To say I should have had it doesn't make any difference."
Chicago's first five goals all came off passes, rebounds or deflections that left Rask in vulnerable positions. And he said he didn't see Brent Seabrook's overtime winner, which was aided by traffic in front of the net, until the last possible moment.
To Rask's credit, he finished with 41 saves, his highest total in a game that did not go past a first overtime since the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, when he posted 45 saves back-to-back in Games 3 and 4 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"Tuukka was not the issue," Bruins forward Chris Kelly said. "I think it could have been much worse if it wasn't for Tuukka. Some of the saves he made were phenomenal. Tuukka has been, since Day One, our most consistent player and continues to be."
Rask's .872 save percentage in Game 4 was his second-lowest for a game in these playoffs. And though he did manage to keep the Bruins in a back-and-forth contest, the only number Rask is concerned with is the six goals he allowed.
"I always like to shut them down, obviously," Rask said. "I just try not to let in six goals again. You let in six goals, that's not something you look forward to repeating. They got a lot of traffic. They got those rebounds too. I try to control everything, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. I think everybody just has to be better."
One thing that likely won't change for Rask between Games 4 and 5 is his unwavering confidence. The Finn has been hailed the entire postseason for his ability to stay cool and focused regardless of any adversity he may face. The same should hold true in Game 5.
"That's the only thing you can do. It's the Finals," Rask said. "It's just one game. You've got to move on. No matter if you let in one goal or six goals, it's a loss. Try to take the positives out of it and move on. It's not that tough."
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Items Included In This Sale
- Veil: Blusher Ivory
Ended up getting a different dress so this super cute veil I originally bought to go with first dress doesn't work any more! Hasn't been worn. In perfect condition with original box and packaging. Beautiful!
- Terms of Sale: All Sales Final
- Location: , MO
- Will Ship to: Anywhere at Buyer Expense
- Payment Methods Accepted: Other
Please read our BUYER'S GUIDE before purchasing a dress online.


text:
The Adam videogame is available for use in its Beta version for internet
Books on Line
In opportunity of the 82th.Meeting of the Directing Council, the IIN launched its new Web site.
82nd Regular Meeting of the Directing Council of the IIN –its political
organ composed of the government representatives of the 34 OAS Member
States– will be held next 26 and 27 July in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
The Institute is the Specialized Organization responsible for the promotion
and protection of children's rights in the region through a family and
community-based approach.
Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Dr. José Miguel
Insulza visited the Office of the Inter-American Children's Institute (IIN)
on 13 June, 2007
with the celebration of the eighty years of the IIN creation on 9 June, 1927
the OAS Secretary General, Dr. José Miguel Insulza visited the headquarters
of the Institute. .
9 June the Inter-American Children's Institute celebrated its 80th
its 80-year life the Institute always tackled the issues related to
children and their families in an integral manner and through a
right-based approach.
"World Day
Against Child Labour", Debate on Child Labour in Uruguay: Actual Situation,
Challenges, and Opportunities
On the occasion
of celebrating the World Day Against Child Labour, the Director General of the
IIN, Maria de los Dolores Aguilar Marmolejo, participated as lecturer during the
Debate organized by the National Committee for the Eradication of Child Labour (CETI)
of Uruguay. As a way of supporting the activities developed by CETI, at the
opening of this debate the IIN launched its new video "Close/Far Away." This
video was also distributed among all Ministers and High-level Authorities on
Child Affairs who participated in the "IX Ibero American Conference" held last
May in Pucon, Chile, for further dissemination.
the Conference the Director General of the IIN, María
de los Dolores Aguilar lectured on "Constructing
the National Child System."
On 18 May, the
Inter-American Children's Institute and The Hague Conference on Private
International Law shared a working day within the cooperation framework
established between both organizations, with the participation of Ignacio
Goicoechea, HCCH Liaison Counsel for Latin
America; María
Dolores Aguilar, Director General of the IIN, and Jorge
Valladares, IIN Legal Advisor, for the purpose of coordinating
operational issues related to the next Meeting on International Child
Abduction to be held on September 2007.
World Congress
on Children and
82nd Regular Meeting of the
of the Directing Council
of the IIN
27 - 28 July, 2007
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia
Children Rights in digital press
Old News
International Abduction of Children
Site for Coordination of Actions in Favor of Children
XIX Pan American Child Congress
© 2007 Inter-American Childrens's Institute. All Rights Reserved.
Av. 8 de Octubre 2904, Casilla de Correo 16212, Montevideo (11600),
Tel. (598) (2) 487 2150 - Fax: (598) (2) 487 3242
E-Mail: email@example.com


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Use noise-cancelling headphones. Because of all the engine and background noise on an airplane, you have to crank the volume on your headphones up dangerously high just to hear the music. Invest in a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, which cancel out the background noise and let you clearly hear your music at a reasonable volume. Even if you don't listen to music, they are great for just reducing the noise.
Autumn brings a conclusion to wedding season. Hurry up for fall specials http://t.co/6kyyqGms
— Greg (@limochicagoland) September 10, 2012
Bring your own comfort items on the plane. With airlines trying to recoup costs wherever they can while keeping ticket prices low, many have resorted to charging for many of the comfort items that used to be free. A travel pillow, blanket, music and headphones can save you precious money that is better spent on your vacation.
Driving far in a car means consistently changing radio stations for ones that a clear. To solve this, make CDs or tapes with all of the group's favorite songs so you can jam happily without distracting yourself by trying to find a clear station while driving. This also allows for you guys to listen to music non-stop rather then sit and wait for commercials to end.
Schedule a late night flight if you are traveling with a baby. Airlines dim lights and raise the cabin temperature on night flights so that people can sleep easier. People are also much quieter and tend to watch movies or listen to music instead of talking. These conditions will help your baby feel relaxed.