This will no doubt have the media bed-wetters in a tizzy. After all, Doug is the slightly more stable brother of former crack-head TO mayor Rob Ford, and surely you remember how relentlessly our "free press" hounded him to death.
In fact, Toronto Star intern Dan Dale did such a bang-up job on the Ford file that the Star dispatched him to Washington, complete with an actual paycheque and expense account, to become the official Donald Trump Fib Tracker.
Why a money-losing Canadian news platform would consider that a useful deployment of their dwindling resources is a question you'd have to ask them.
But back to Ford. Rob was relentlessly portrayed as a racist and misogynist bigot across the spectrum of our mainstream media.
That was mostly fake news.
Take a gander at this video of Rob Ford's funeral.
WTF?
I see brown people galore paying their respects to the racist. And women too!
Frankly, I didn't believe Doug could pull this off, but the Conservative leadership race was such a shit-show that anything was possible.
And here we are. Doug was the only candidate who had a chance at unseating Wynne. She could have easily whupped those females candidates, but Doug Ford is a new game.
Doug Ford will be the next premier of Ontario.
And that's not a happy thing.
Showing posts with label Rob Ford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rob Ford. Show all posts
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
RIP Rob Ford
The think tank here at Falling Downs had a lot of fun at Rob Ford's expense, but I'd like to think that overall, it was good well-intentioned fun. While I don't think he had much in the way of political accomplishments to boast about (that was pretty much limited to turning modestly paying trash collector jobs into poorly paying privatized trash collector jobs), he certainly carried himself with an admirable I-do-what-I-do swagger.
We don't have to live in Toronto, thank God, but we listen regularly to Toronto traffic reports, just so we can remember why we should keep thanking God. But we get there every couple of months to meet up with the Juniors and sometimes the old Jewish relations who can't make it up here anymore, so we're somewhat familiar with the place, but we're not intimately acquainted by any stretch.
That's why we relied on the Toronto media for our Ford Nation info, especially the faux liberal Toronto Star. Ford Nation was, the way I understood it, a bunch of backward looking white racists pining for the good old days of Toronto the Good.
The good and white. Wasn't hardly a day where I wouldn't pick up the Star and read all about Ford's misogyny and racism and alcoholism and addictions and misogyny and racism etc. In fact, the Star bent the boundaries of journalistic integrity on a regular basis with reportage that amounted to fat-shaming and general character assassination. They still somewhat lamely claim that paying money for "gotcha" videos was a public service, as opposed to a black eye for journalism.
So I was a bit taken aback when I viewed a little bit of the funeral today. Seems that women and non-white folks were extremely well represented. What did they see in the man that the Toronto Star missed?
Anyway, this is about Rob Ford, not the sorry state of journalism today. All respect, Mr. Ford, and condolences to your loved ones. Thanks for being you.
We don't have to live in Toronto, thank God, but we listen regularly to Toronto traffic reports, just so we can remember why we should keep thanking God. But we get there every couple of months to meet up with the Juniors and sometimes the old Jewish relations who can't make it up here anymore, so we're somewhat familiar with the place, but we're not intimately acquainted by any stretch.
That's why we relied on the Toronto media for our Ford Nation info, especially the faux liberal Toronto Star. Ford Nation was, the way I understood it, a bunch of backward looking white racists pining for the good old days of Toronto the Good.
The good and white. Wasn't hardly a day where I wouldn't pick up the Star and read all about Ford's misogyny and racism and alcoholism and addictions and misogyny and racism etc. In fact, the Star bent the boundaries of journalistic integrity on a regular basis with reportage that amounted to fat-shaming and general character assassination. They still somewhat lamely claim that paying money for "gotcha" videos was a public service, as opposed to a black eye for journalism.
So I was a bit taken aback when I viewed a little bit of the funeral today. Seems that women and non-white folks were extremely well represented. What did they see in the man that the Toronto Star missed?
Anyway, this is about Rob Ford, not the sorry state of journalism today. All respect, Mr. Ford, and condolences to your loved ones. Thanks for being you.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Another fucked up French-Canadian tries to stab a soldier, and therefore Canada must prepare for Jihad?
Yup, Tarek Fatah spells it out for you in the Toronto Sun.
Maybe one reason the SunPostMedia brand of journalistic hysteria is sinking like a stone is because the vast majority of Canadians recognize this as the rancid fear-mongering bullshit that it is.
It will be interesting to see who buys the Toronto Sun out of the scrap-heap of bankruptcy after that Paul Godfrey engineered trainwreck that's been going on in slo-mo since 2010. After all, the Sun is probably a viable stand-alone title.
I'm thinking it might be a great side project for the Ford Brothers.
Maybe one reason the SunPostMedia brand of journalistic hysteria is sinking like a stone is because the vast majority of Canadians recognize this as the rancid fear-mongering bullshit that it is.
It will be interesting to see who buys the Toronto Sun out of the scrap-heap of bankruptcy after that Paul Godfrey engineered trainwreck that's been going on in slo-mo since 2010. After all, the Sun is probably a viable stand-alone title.
I'm thinking it might be a great side project for the Ford Brothers.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Journalism is... doomed
I see where Carleton and Ryerson and Postmedia remain major sponsors of the Journalism Is... PR campaign designed to entice gullible youth into a journalism programme.
Wonder how that's working out?
I don't imagine Postmedia will remain a corporate sponsor of this campaign for much longer. Postmedia Networks has sacked more journos in Canada than any other employer over the past few years, so the brazen hypocrisy of their sponsorship is eventually going to contaminate the entire campaign.
Journalism used to be an honourable profession, one that I contemplated committing to at one time. Had a few stories in the Ontarion back in my U of Goo days. It was all fun and games when you're getting high with the Downchild Blues Band, but write something critical about the Big Dogs at the OVC, and all of a sudden "journalism" got downright creepy.
Yup, the Rolex crowd didn't waste any time letting me know what I had to change in my stories.
Oddly enough, the hippy dippy rebels running the Ontarion at the time were more than a little ambivalent about exposing the bullying of those Big Dogs. Truth be told, I pretty much knuckled under too.
So it was with some mixture of nostalgia and bemusement that I read Marsha Lederman's impassioned paean to the profession in today's Globe. Marsha's getting the A2 space these days, so obviously the big dogs at the Globe are on board.
According to Marsha, professional journalism has forestalled many a catastrophe in these times. For instance, it was only the professional journalists at the Toronto Star who short-circuited the second term of mayoral nightmare Rob Ford.
Maybe.
What I recall of that fiasco is that the "professional journalists" were pretty much as cringe-worthy as Fat Ford himself. Ya, on one side you've got this dude with obvious substance abuse problems, and on the other side, the side of virtuous professional journalism, you've got folks buying up videos of Ford's drunken rants to better facilitate the mayor's public shaming.
JournalismIS... that?
I'd like to think not.
Wonder how that's working out?
I don't imagine Postmedia will remain a corporate sponsor of this campaign for much longer. Postmedia Networks has sacked more journos in Canada than any other employer over the past few years, so the brazen hypocrisy of their sponsorship is eventually going to contaminate the entire campaign.
Journalism used to be an honourable profession, one that I contemplated committing to at one time. Had a few stories in the Ontarion back in my U of Goo days. It was all fun and games when you're getting high with the Downchild Blues Band, but write something critical about the Big Dogs at the OVC, and all of a sudden "journalism" got downright creepy.
Yup, the Rolex crowd didn't waste any time letting me know what I had to change in my stories.
Oddly enough, the hippy dippy rebels running the Ontarion at the time were more than a little ambivalent about exposing the bullying of those Big Dogs. Truth be told, I pretty much knuckled under too.
So it was with some mixture of nostalgia and bemusement that I read Marsha Lederman's impassioned paean to the profession in today's Globe. Marsha's getting the A2 space these days, so obviously the big dogs at the Globe are on board.
According to Marsha, professional journalism has forestalled many a catastrophe in these times. For instance, it was only the professional journalists at the Toronto Star who short-circuited the second term of mayoral nightmare Rob Ford.
Maybe.
What I recall of that fiasco is that the "professional journalists" were pretty much as cringe-worthy as Fat Ford himself. Ya, on one side you've got this dude with obvious substance abuse problems, and on the other side, the side of virtuous professional journalism, you've got folks buying up videos of Ford's drunken rants to better facilitate the mayor's public shaming.
JournalismIS... that?
I'd like to think not.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Harper gives tip of the cap to Ford brothers at Kiss of Death rally
I couldn't possibly make this shit up.
Yup, there's the "tough on crime" PM Big Steve sucking up to crack-head Rob and renowned drug-pusher Doug.
What can I say?
Yup, there's the "tough on crime" PM Big Steve sucking up to crack-head Rob and renowned drug-pusher Doug.
What can I say?
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Who we gonna kick around now that we don't have Rob Ford to kick around anymore?
Why, Rob Ford of course!
Bruce Arthur has a front page rant in today's Sunday Star, ostensibly aimed at Ford's appointment to the Board of Directors of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Who cares, you say? Obviously the news-hounds at the Star care enough to give this valuable front page real estate over to sliming the former mayor as opposed to some more newsworthy subject, of which there are ample to choose from.
About eight paragraphs in Arthur makes a point of claiming the moral high ground vis-a-vis Ford's highly public battle with cancer. He wants us to know that his gratuitous anti-Ford diatribe isn't in any way personal and that he wishes the former mayor well... in which case not bothering to write a story with utterly zero news value would have been the way to go.
What I'd like to see is a little more spot-light on the current mayor, who ran the most expensive election campaign in Toronto's history. As an old-boy insider John Tory's life has been a never-ending cascade of serendipitous sinecures that speak volumes about entitlement and class privilege.
The Star invested vast resources in tracking down the so-called Ford crack tapes. They should invest just as much looking for Tory's dirty laundry.
Bruce Arthur has a front page rant in today's Sunday Star, ostensibly aimed at Ford's appointment to the Board of Directors of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Who cares, you say? Obviously the news-hounds at the Star care enough to give this valuable front page real estate over to sliming the former mayor as opposed to some more newsworthy subject, of which there are ample to choose from.
About eight paragraphs in Arthur makes a point of claiming the moral high ground vis-a-vis Ford's highly public battle with cancer. He wants us to know that his gratuitous anti-Ford diatribe isn't in any way personal and that he wishes the former mayor well... in which case not bothering to write a story with utterly zero news value would have been the way to go.
What I'd like to see is a little more spot-light on the current mayor, who ran the most expensive election campaign in Toronto's history. As an old-boy insider John Tory's life has been a never-ending cascade of serendipitous sinecures that speak volumes about entitlement and class privilege.
The Star invested vast resources in tracking down the so-called Ford crack tapes. They should invest just as much looking for Tory's dirty laundry.
Monday, July 28, 2014
The magic of outsourcing; why Temp Foreign Workers are displacing Canadians in Calgary's Parks Department
On the face of it, you'd think Rob Ford and Naheed Nenshi would have little in common, other than having been elected mayor of their respective cities.
Nenshi is the cerebral and soft-spoken mayor of Calgary, who has done more than any individual in recent history to roll back that city's reputation as the redneck capital of Canada.
Rob Ford you already know about.
But they do have one other thing in common; they both went down the road of outsourcing public services to private contractors.
In Ford's case that was outsourcing garbage collection in Toronto. In Calgary, it was summer maintenance of the city's parks, which led to this story at CBC today.
To save the good burghers of Calgary a few bucks on their property taxes, which are already among the lowest in Canada, park maintenance was outsourced to a private contractor.
The private contractor needs to make a profit, so they offer the outsourced jobs at 25% less than what the city workers used to make for the same work. Surprisingly, they suddenly run into a worker shortage!
Not a problem; fire off a Labour Market Opinion request to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, and before you can say "nay ho" you've got happy Chinese foreign workers trimming the lawns in Calgary's parks.
That's the way the system works, and it's the way it was intended to work. The hard-right Thatcherite fundamentalists in the Harper regime are firm believers in the free trade of everything, including labour.
The only reason Jason Kenney has been putting on a show of "reforms" recently is because there is an election on the horizon.
The 300,000 plus "guest workers" we are hosting are doing 300,000 jobs Canadians should be doing. If the cheap-ass employers would let the free hand of Canada's labour market work its magic, they'd soon find their employees. But they'd have to pay the wages that the laws of supply and demand dictate.
That's why they favour government intervention in the labour market; crank up the supply of labour to drive down workers' wages. And the strategy was working beautifully, until a few of the horror stories began to trickle into mainstream media.
Suddenly the TFW program is in the spotlight, people, i.e. potential voters, are getting pissed off, and just as suddenly the Harper gang is keen for reforms, or (if the polling numbers need a goosing) cancelling it altogether!
Canadian workers can vote.
Temporary Foreign Workers cannot.
Nenshi is the cerebral and soft-spoken mayor of Calgary, who has done more than any individual in recent history to roll back that city's reputation as the redneck capital of Canada.
Rob Ford you already know about.
But they do have one other thing in common; they both went down the road of outsourcing public services to private contractors.
In Ford's case that was outsourcing garbage collection in Toronto. In Calgary, it was summer maintenance of the city's parks, which led to this story at CBC today.
To save the good burghers of Calgary a few bucks on their property taxes, which are already among the lowest in Canada, park maintenance was outsourced to a private contractor.
The private contractor needs to make a profit, so they offer the outsourced jobs at 25% less than what the city workers used to make for the same work. Surprisingly, they suddenly run into a worker shortage!
Not a problem; fire off a Labour Market Opinion request to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, and before you can say "nay ho" you've got happy Chinese foreign workers trimming the lawns in Calgary's parks.
That's the way the system works, and it's the way it was intended to work. The hard-right Thatcherite fundamentalists in the Harper regime are firm believers in the free trade of everything, including labour.
The only reason Jason Kenney has been putting on a show of "reforms" recently is because there is an election on the horizon.
The 300,000 plus "guest workers" we are hosting are doing 300,000 jobs Canadians should be doing. If the cheap-ass employers would let the free hand of Canada's labour market work its magic, they'd soon find their employees. But they'd have to pay the wages that the laws of supply and demand dictate.
That's why they favour government intervention in the labour market; crank up the supply of labour to drive down workers' wages. And the strategy was working beautifully, until a few of the horror stories began to trickle into mainstream media.
Suddenly the TFW program is in the spotlight, people, i.e. potential voters, are getting pissed off, and just as suddenly the Harper gang is keen for reforms, or (if the polling numbers need a goosing) cancelling it altogether!
Canadian workers can vote.
Temporary Foreign Workers cannot.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Who will pick up Rob Ford's Escalade at impound lot?
Let's see now; potentially life-changing or even world-changing elections in half a dozen countries in the past week, Ukraine troops and "terrorists" fighting it out in front of the Donetsk Porsche dealership, 2-300 Nigerian schoolgirls still in the clutches of terror obsessed Koran-crazed radical Islamists, the Pope in the Holy Land, climate change threatening to drown and bake or bake and drown all of us years before we ever thought possible, and the number one story in Toronto is this;
Who will pick up Rob Ford's Escalade at impound lot?
Who will pick up Rob Ford's Escalade at impound lot?
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Toronto's corporate sports overlords celebrate rare playoff appearance by giving fans a good screwing
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment is the name of the conglomerate that controls professional sports in Canada's biggest market.
They don't really concern themselves with fielding winning teams, because they have found the docile Toronto market will sell out their games year after year even with the most mediocre teams on the ice/pitch/hardwood.
This year was to be a rebuild year for the NBA Raptors, but after getting rid of one of the teams' bigger salaries in mid-season, the team unexpectedly gelled. Not only did they gel, but they're in the play-offs!
For the first time in six years!
So how does MLSE reward their long-suffering fans?
By sticking it to them with the highest playoff ticket prices in the NBA!
And how are the fans responding? They're lining up to buy the tickets, of course!
Don't forget; this is the same town that made Rob Ford their mayor!
They don't really concern themselves with fielding winning teams, because they have found the docile Toronto market will sell out their games year after year even with the most mediocre teams on the ice/pitch/hardwood.
This year was to be a rebuild year for the NBA Raptors, but after getting rid of one of the teams' bigger salaries in mid-season, the team unexpectedly gelled. Not only did they gel, but they're in the play-offs!
For the first time in six years!
So how does MLSE reward their long-suffering fans?
By sticking it to them with the highest playoff ticket prices in the NBA!
And how are the fans responding? They're lining up to buy the tickets, of course!
Don't forget; this is the same town that made Rob Ford their mayor!
Monday, April 14, 2014
Alwayne Bigby to challenge Rob Ford for Mayor's chair?
Now let me make it clear right off the top that Alwayne is presumed innocent until proven guilty. It's just an allegation that he shot that woman having a smoke in her garage, as he was cruising by in his Land Rover.
That's what makes Alwayne uniquely qualified to run for Mayor. The incumbent may strike a gansta pose, but he just cruises his Escalade aimlessly whilst in a drunken stupor.
Alwayne at least has the brio to shoot off his 9mil while he's cruising his Land Rover down your street.
And it's all allegations of course. We don't even know yet if he is alleged to be the driver or alleged to be the shooter.
So Bigby doesn't have the typical Mayoral wannabe resume, but he's no poseur; four years of NCAA and a Master's degree in education attest to that. He coulda made the NBA if he'd worked a little harder... Hell, if fate had taken a different bounce he coulda been the chair of the Toronto District School Board some day soon!
I think he could give Ford a run for his money!
Friday, April 4, 2014
Rob Ford brand lends invisibility to Foggy Dew pub
Apparently it's a bad bad thing to serve patrons after hours at a venue licensed to sell booze. When Rob Ford found himself thirsty in BC a couple months ago, his minders prevailed upon a local drinking establishment to keep the taps open past the official closing time.
That got them in a heap 'o trouble.
Fortunately, the storm has passed and it's back to business as usual for the Foggy Dew.
But I don't get the big deal. I remember when my missus of the time and her U of G girlfriends used to frequent a place in Guelph called the Baker Street Bistro. Alvin the proprietor got sick to death of them hanging around drinking their wine spritzers till all hours, so he made a deal with them. He'd go home and they could lock up when they left. Just don't let in any new folks, and we'll settle the tab next time we see you.
So the Alcoholic Feminists got free range of the Baker Street Bistro, and Alvin got hundreds of dollars of bar sales when the place was closed. Clearly a win-win for all concerned. And the gals knew they had a good thing going, so they never abused the priviledge.
That's a far cry from the only time I had free-range after hours at a drinking establishment. That involved locking the janitor and the stragglers of the wait staff in the walk-in freezer... how was I to know they had a gun in there?
...how was I to know they could get out?
Anyway, that's another story...
That got them in a heap 'o trouble.
Fortunately, the storm has passed and it's back to business as usual for the Foggy Dew.
But I don't get the big deal. I remember when my missus of the time and her U of G girlfriends used to frequent a place in Guelph called the Baker Street Bistro. Alvin the proprietor got sick to death of them hanging around drinking their wine spritzers till all hours, so he made a deal with them. He'd go home and they could lock up when they left. Just don't let in any new folks, and we'll settle the tab next time we see you.
So the Alcoholic Feminists got free range of the Baker Street Bistro, and Alvin got hundreds of dollars of bar sales when the place was closed. Clearly a win-win for all concerned. And the gals knew they had a good thing going, so they never abused the priviledge.
That's a far cry from the only time I had free-range after hours at a drinking establishment. That involved locking the janitor and the stragglers of the wait staff in the walk-in freezer... how was I to know they had a gun in there?
...how was I to know they could get out?
Anyway, that's another story...
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Putin revealed as "the devil"
Next to Rob Ford one of the favorite targets of the Toronto Star's soft left journo crew is Vladimir Putin. This morning sports writer Cathal Kelly takes a turn at international relations and is rewarded with a spot on the front page. Here are a few quotes;
Vladimir Putin doesn't make entrances. Like the devil, he appears.
He took a seat up in the rafters, leaned forward like a gargoyle.
...the expression of raw power.
Putin looks like he's wearing his own death mask.
...Putin is full-on evil.
He rules through a personality cult.
...combination of power and malice.
Well! Move over Masha Gessen! This kind of objective and carefully balanced reportage should get Kelly off the sports beat and into the Washington bureau in no time!
Vladimir Putin doesn't make entrances. Like the devil, he appears.
He took a seat up in the rafters, leaned forward like a gargoyle.
...the expression of raw power.
Putin looks like he's wearing his own death mask.
...Putin is full-on evil.
He rules through a personality cult.
...combination of power and malice.
Well! Move over Masha Gessen! This kind of objective and carefully balanced reportage should get Kelly off the sports beat and into the Washington bureau in no time!
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Toronto loves Rob Ford
Not the Toronto of community activists and the liberal millionaires and the Toronto Star and the beautiful people. Those folks are downright embarrassed by the man.
Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about Rob Ford?
OH MY GOD THE ETERNAL SHAME OF IT ALL!!! Not even on Jimmy Kimmel does Toronto get any respect!
The fat crack-smoking cracker just has to go!
There's another Toronto, though, that seems to quite like the guy, crack or no crack.
That's the Toronto of the tow truck driver and the hotel cleaner and regular folks of all stripes.
And that fact is evidence of one of the most successful cases of brand-building in recent history, because only in his drinking and recreational drug habits is Rob Ford "regular folks" by any stretch of the imagination.
Rob's Daddy was a millionaire businessman and successful provincial politician. Rob Ford inherited a business worth millions of dollars. The only money he has saved his city came out of the hides of the garbage collectors whose jobs he privatized.
That's the enigma of Rob Ford; an embarrassment to the beautiful people who has, in spite of his record, managed to become an icon to a lot of regular folks.
He's mobbed when he goes to a football game.
Today he pulled another publicity stunt, dutifully reported by all the news media types who profess to despise him. He skipped a city council meeting to tour one of the worst apartment buildings in the city.
Check out that Katie Simpson tweet; "residents chanting Rob Ford."
Go figure!
Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about Rob Ford?
OH MY GOD THE ETERNAL SHAME OF IT ALL!!! Not even on Jimmy Kimmel does Toronto get any respect!
The fat crack-smoking cracker just has to go!
There's another Toronto, though, that seems to quite like the guy, crack or no crack.
That's the Toronto of the tow truck driver and the hotel cleaner and regular folks of all stripes.
And that fact is evidence of one of the most successful cases of brand-building in recent history, because only in his drinking and recreational drug habits is Rob Ford "regular folks" by any stretch of the imagination.
Rob's Daddy was a millionaire businessman and successful provincial politician. Rob Ford inherited a business worth millions of dollars. The only money he has saved his city came out of the hides of the garbage collectors whose jobs he privatized.
That's the enigma of Rob Ford; an embarrassment to the beautiful people who has, in spite of his record, managed to become an icon to a lot of regular folks.
He's mobbed when he goes to a football game.
Today he pulled another publicity stunt, dutifully reported by all the news media types who profess to despise him. He skipped a city council meeting to tour one of the worst apartment buildings in the city.
Check out that Katie Simpson tweet; "residents chanting Rob Ford."
Go figure!
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Have you noticed that whenever the Senate Scandal gets a little too close to Harper, "new" Rob Ford allegations blow it off the front page?
Coincidence?
Take today for example. The Conservatives used their Senate majority to squelch the appearance of the senior Deloitte director who was stage-managing the Duffy audit. That's an egregious bit of self-serving senate manipulation that should outrage the public and the media watch-dogs.
Nor only that, but also today Tom Mulcair was hitting rather close to home with his pointed questions about why a couple of New Brunswick senators, who appear to have been playing the same fast-and-loose game with their expenses as Duffy, remain in the senate.
All in all, a day of serious questions, serious enough that they would have led the evening news at CBCCTVGLOBAL....
But then, late in the afternoon, HOLY MOTHER OF BATMAN IF IT ISN'T A WHOLE NEW SORDID BATCH OF ROB FORD REVELATIONS!!!
Yup, that cleared the boring old senate scandal off the news agenda for the rest of this week!
And Ford doesn't mind. He's become bigger than Toronto. In fact my pal AC is talking him up on CNN even as I write these words. Did you see how they loved him at the Bills game on the weekend?
If Hunter S. Thompson had any idea the Ford story was coming down the pike he woulda stuck around just to see it for himself.
Take today for example. The Conservatives used their Senate majority to squelch the appearance of the senior Deloitte director who was stage-managing the Duffy audit. That's an egregious bit of self-serving senate manipulation that should outrage the public and the media watch-dogs.
Nor only that, but also today Tom Mulcair was hitting rather close to home with his pointed questions about why a couple of New Brunswick senators, who appear to have been playing the same fast-and-loose game with their expenses as Duffy, remain in the senate.
All in all, a day of serious questions, serious enough that they would have led the evening news at CBCCTVGLOBAL....
But then, late in the afternoon, HOLY MOTHER OF BATMAN IF IT ISN'T A WHOLE NEW SORDID BATCH OF ROB FORD REVELATIONS!!!
Yup, that cleared the boring old senate scandal off the news agenda for the rest of this week!
And Ford doesn't mind. He's become bigger than Toronto. In fact my pal AC is talking him up on CNN even as I write these words. Did you see how they loved him at the Bills game on the weekend?
If Hunter S. Thompson had any idea the Ford story was coming down the pike he woulda stuck around just to see it for himself.
Friday, November 22, 2013
On being "world class"
For fifty years Toronto has aspired to "world class" status.
What does that mean?
Who remembers when Mayor Mel was ruminating about whether the natives would want to toss him in a stew pot when he visited Africa?
That was pretty world-classless.
Now we've got Mayor Ford.
The Toronto press, and especially the Toronto Star, are agog at his antics. In fact, they are so agog at the stain that Ford has besmirched their world class city with that they have fully endorsed the short-circuiting of the democratic process just to get this world-class buffoon out of the picture.
After all, Toronto's reputation as a "world-class" city hangs in the balance.
What nonsense!
The democratic process has tossed up the occasional world-class screw-up from time to time long before Rob Ford hit the front page.
Ford has a ways to go before he matches the boorish buffoonery of Silvio Berlusconi.
Have Berlusconi's foibles prevented tourists from visiting Italy? Have Berlusconi's antics caused head offices to flee from Italy to Luxembourg and Lichtenstein?
Of course not!
Italy remains a serious country and a serious tourist destination in spite of Berlusconi. That's because Italy is a world-class destination that is bigger than the personal peccadilloes of whoever sits in the big chair.
Same goes for Toronto.
What does that mean?
Who remembers when Mayor Mel was ruminating about whether the natives would want to toss him in a stew pot when he visited Africa?
That was pretty world-classless.
Now we've got Mayor Ford.
The Toronto press, and especially the Toronto Star, are agog at his antics. In fact, they are so agog at the stain that Ford has besmirched their world class city with that they have fully endorsed the short-circuiting of the democratic process just to get this world-class buffoon out of the picture.
After all, Toronto's reputation as a "world-class" city hangs in the balance.
What nonsense!
The democratic process has tossed up the occasional world-class screw-up from time to time long before Rob Ford hit the front page.
Ford has a ways to go before he matches the boorish buffoonery of Silvio Berlusconi.
Have Berlusconi's foibles prevented tourists from visiting Italy? Have Berlusconi's antics caused head offices to flee from Italy to Luxembourg and Lichtenstein?
Of course not!
Italy remains a serious country and a serious tourist destination in spite of Berlusconi. That's because Italy is a world-class destination that is bigger than the personal peccadilloes of whoever sits in the big chair.
Same goes for Toronto.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Why Trey Radel is not Rob Ford
First of all, lets get this out of the way; both of them blamed booze for their cocaine/crack cocaine use.
Yup, booze will do that to you. That's why we will never make any headway in the WAR ON DRUGS till we include booze in that war. Booze is obviously the gateway drug.
Have a sip today.
Sniff a line tomorrow.
Smoke a rock the day after...
Both of them are tough-on-(black)crime phonies too.
That's how they're the same.
How they're different is that Radel has worn the knees out of his suit pants with all the grovelling he's been doing.
Rob Ford hasn't.
Yup, booze will do that to you. That's why we will never make any headway in the WAR ON DRUGS till we include booze in that war. Booze is obviously the gateway drug.
Have a sip today.
Sniff a line tomorrow.
Smoke a rock the day after...
Both of them are tough-on-(black)crime phonies too.
That's how they're the same.
How they're different is that Radel has worn the knees out of his suit pants with all the grovelling he's been doing.
Rob Ford hasn't.
Rob Ford life story to become major motion picture
HarperCollins, the American publishing house, have revealed that they have sold the movie rights to Rob Ford's autobiography, Cracked, the Rob Ford story. Rumour has it that funnyman Ralphie May is being considered for the leading role.
Rob Ford signs million $$ book deal!
US publishing house HarperCollins has announced that it has secured a book deal with rogue Mayor Rob Ford.
Tentatively titled Cracked; the Rob Ford Story, the book is expected to be on the shelves in time for the next mayoral election.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Rob Ford and the "war on drugs"
The team at the Toronto Star that has been flogging the Rob Ford crack story to death for the past year had a banner day. Rob on the front page, the next page, the page after that... the first six pages of the paper were filled with breathless revelations about the bad boy mayor.
If that wasn't enough, the next section was a special feature Rob Ford collector's edition pull-out, the kind of thing you set aside and bequeath to your grandchildren someday, along with the special edition supplements of Princess Di's funeral and other great moments in modern history.
All this attention seems more than a little excessive given the alleged crime at the heart of the matter; Rob Ford smoked dope. Because Rob Ford may have smoked dope, and the self-appointed conscience of liberal (which today includes any ideas vaguely to the left of Tea Party fundamentalism) Toronto made that "story" front page news for months on end, Toronto's police department saw a great opportunity to demonstrate that tough-on-drugs laws apply to everybody, and launched an extensive and expensive long-term investigation of His Worship.
That investigation included multiple surveillance teams shadowing the mayor's every move for months on end. The irony is that Rob Ford was always a cop-friendly law-and-order politician. Expect him to find gravy in the Police Services budget once the current flap fades away.
Contrast that to the same newspaper's kid glove treatment of Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau's admission that he smokes dope. That story got zero traction, and rightly so. What business of yours or mine or the Toronto Star's is it if our neighbour lights up a pipe now and then? We have reasonable expectations that our neighbour will conduct himself in a responsible way, just as we do when the neighbour cracks a bottle of Crown Royal, and if they don't, there are laws...
I'm not a Ford fan and generally my politics aren't that far removed from what you'll find in the editorial pages of the Star, minus the excesses of political correctitude too often found there. In fact, the Star has often editorialized about the foolishness of our drug prohibition. But given an opportunity to use anti-drug hysteria to further what long ago became a personal vendetta against Ford, they're all over it.
It's time to end the hypocrisy once and for all. Decriminalize recreational drug use now.
If that wasn't enough, the next section was a special feature Rob Ford collector's edition pull-out, the kind of thing you set aside and bequeath to your grandchildren someday, along with the special edition supplements of Princess Di's funeral and other great moments in modern history.
All this attention seems more than a little excessive given the alleged crime at the heart of the matter; Rob Ford smoked dope. Because Rob Ford may have smoked dope, and the self-appointed conscience of liberal (which today includes any ideas vaguely to the left of Tea Party fundamentalism) Toronto made that "story" front page news for months on end, Toronto's police department saw a great opportunity to demonstrate that tough-on-drugs laws apply to everybody, and launched an extensive and expensive long-term investigation of His Worship.
That investigation included multiple surveillance teams shadowing the mayor's every move for months on end. The irony is that Rob Ford was always a cop-friendly law-and-order politician. Expect him to find gravy in the Police Services budget once the current flap fades away.
Contrast that to the same newspaper's kid glove treatment of Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau's admission that he smokes dope. That story got zero traction, and rightly so. What business of yours or mine or the Toronto Star's is it if our neighbour lights up a pipe now and then? We have reasonable expectations that our neighbour will conduct himself in a responsible way, just as we do when the neighbour cracks a bottle of Crown Royal, and if they don't, there are laws...
I'm not a Ford fan and generally my politics aren't that far removed from what you'll find in the editorial pages of the Star, minus the excesses of political correctitude too often found there. In fact, the Star has often editorialized about the foolishness of our drug prohibition. But given an opportunity to use anti-drug hysteria to further what long ago became a personal vendetta against Ford, they're all over it.
It's time to end the hypocrisy once and for all. Decriminalize recreational drug use now.
Friday, August 23, 2013
World-class wannabe delivers world-class dose of food poisoning
Folks in Toronto are so stunned they elected a right-wing dickhead as mayor because he campaigned on the age-old ploy of promising to cut wasteful spending.
What that meant in practice was privatizing trash pickup; what used to be a $45 thousand a year job has been privatized into a $25 thousand a year job - this in a city where the average house price is well north of half a million.
The world class wannabees are getting a double-dose of class today. None other than former world-class professional wrestler Hulk Hogan favoured the city with a visit!
Not only that, but he did a PR turn with the mayor by challenging him to an arm wrestle! Is that world class or what?
But... not only that, THE MAYOR WON!!!
OH YA WE'RE TALKIN' WORLD CLASS NOW BABY!
That should put to rest the vile crack video innuendo that's been dogging His Worship for months.
Sadly, news of the mayor's victory was eclipsed by the news that over 150 people have been felled by food poisoning after visiting one of the world's greatest open-air harvest festivals, the CNE.
Apparently what did them in was the "cronutburger", an invention that was to put Toronto on the culinary map once and for all.
That's how it goes in Toronto's neverending struggle to make the "A" list of world class cities... every once in awhile a step forward, but then, regrettably, a step back.
What that meant in practice was privatizing trash pickup; what used to be a $45 thousand a year job has been privatized into a $25 thousand a year job - this in a city where the average house price is well north of half a million.
The world class wannabees are getting a double-dose of class today. None other than former world-class professional wrestler Hulk Hogan favoured the city with a visit!
Not only that, but he did a PR turn with the mayor by challenging him to an arm wrestle! Is that world class or what?
But... not only that, THE MAYOR WON!!!
OH YA WE'RE TALKIN' WORLD CLASS NOW BABY!
That should put to rest the vile crack video innuendo that's been dogging His Worship for months.
Sadly, news of the mayor's victory was eclipsed by the news that over 150 people have been felled by food poisoning after visiting one of the world's greatest open-air harvest festivals, the CNE.
Apparently what did them in was the "cronutburger", an invention that was to put Toronto on the culinary map once and for all.
That's how it goes in Toronto's neverending struggle to make the "A" list of world class cities... every once in awhile a step forward, but then, regrettably, a step back.
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