EnMasse

sparqui · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 4:11 pm Post subject:

That's adorable, unionist.
_________________
“If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a tractor.”

-- Gilles Duceppe

Raos · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:03 pm Post subject:

And he's at it again.

Rob Ford accused of driving past open streetcar doors

F. · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 2578

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:08 pm Post subject:

Tehanu · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:36 pm Post subject:

I was more than routinely disgusted by Rob Ford's comments that Toronto is still the safest city. Yeah, I do agree with not getting into a moral panic, but when you're touring the scene of a tragedy, you may want to focus on expressing sympathy and sorrow for the people who have been hurt and killed.

"Toronto's the safest city in North America," Mayor Rob Ford said Tuesday morning. "I assure you, Toronto is not like Detroit. People should come here and enjoy this great city." (Globe and Mail)

And yes, lots of people outside of Toronto have been bringing up his comments today. Broad condemnation, along with frustration that yet again he's the sole person on council who's holding out on funding youth engagement programs but is all gung-ho with the lock 'em up mentality.

And today he's ranting about getting gang members to leave the city. Um, what? How, exactly?

And he wants to meet with Dalton McGuinty to get more money for cops, not social programs. Um, what?

Ass.

F. · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 2578

Tehanu · Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 2:13 pm Post subject:

Indeed. Trying to follow what passes for a thought process in Rob Ford is getting increasingly challenging.

So yesterday I posted a "huh?" when he was talking about forcing gang members to leave the city. Now he's saying he wants to consult with Jason Kenney and the PMO about how to do that, being that they're all about immigration and citizenship and all. And his flailing when queried about this would be hilariously comical, if it wasn't so sad (and almost certainly racist).

Basically it comes down to this:

A) Rob Ford thinks that all "gang members" are immigrants who haven't yet received citizenship, so they can be deported; and/or,

B) Rob Ford thinks that Jason Kenney has the magical ability to strip citizenship from Canadians (and what, send them somewhere else?); and/or,

C) Rob Ford thinks that somehow the federal government can draw some kind of border around Toronto and forbid people to cross it.

In case you were wondering how very, very incoherent Ford's sounding, here's a sample, more at the link:

Raos · Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 3:24 pm Post subject:

The mind, it boggles.
Bangs head on wall

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 3:37 pm Post subject:

The mind-boggling part is how anyone could vote for this dunce.
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

Tehanu · Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 3:54 pm Post subject:

Anti-intellectualism run amok, would be my guess.

voice of the damned · Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 4:27 pm Post subject:

Raos · Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:31 am Post subject:

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 4:49 am Post subject:

Well yeah, a couple of bumpkins who fell off the turnip truck might conceivably vote for Ford, but how could the electorate in the most sophisticated city in the northern hemisphere choose this clown?
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

Raos · Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:10 am Post subject:

Something in the water? Mass hypnotism? Collective insanity? Soviet mind control? Inflationary pressure due to inadvertent subconscious word recognition following the success of the auto bailouts? People just really like subways, enough that even if the purported guarantee of a viable funding model is obviously a crock of shit they'll still flock behind the banner of buried railway?

The field of speculation is clearly wide open, though my money's on the last suggestion. I mean, subways! And on a more productive note (yeah, I know, that bar's set awfully high): Mmm... turnip...

The Evil Twin · Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 2:27 pm Post subject:

sparqui · Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:45 pm Post subject:

I'm sure amalgamation didn't help.
_________________
“If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a tractor.”

-- Gilles Duceppe

DSquared · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:47 am Post subject:

voice of the damned · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 3:17 pm Post subject:

The Evil Twin · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 4:20 pm Post subject:

I think Pantolone suffered from the "Gordon Brown", "Paul Martin" or "Ernie Eves" disease. He was well regarded didn't have the charisma, popularity or political instincts of Miller (just as the other guys I mentioned didn't have the political instincts of Tony Blair, Jean Chretien or Mike Harris). In a cruel twist though, while he didn't get the benefits of being associated with the popular Miller, anything negative in the public mind regarding Miller (for example the garbage strike, TTC service disruptions and the supposed "coddling" of civic workers - total bullshit IMO but it was a constant theme of the Ford campaign and it unfortunately stuck to Pantalone in a way it never did to Miller). Again this is similar to how various policies/scandals which happened under Blair, Chretien or Harris bit their party's chosen successors in the ass (Adscam, the Iraq War, Walkerton, the fudged Ontario books which hid a huge deficit).

I think another factor was that Smitherman's capabilities were vastly overestimated (including I'll admit, by me) and his liabilities (especially his long association with the increasingly unpopular provincial Liberals and the scandals when he was Health Minister) were underestimated. Also because he was more brash and outgoing than the more reserved Pantolone, people thought he'd be the perfect guy to take on the loudmouthed, bombastic Ford. In retrospect, Pantolone got a raw deal (even from traditionally left voters) and Smitherman was given too much of a free ride and was unable to deliver. I suspect underestimating Pantolone and overestimating Smitherman is a mistake the city's leftist and centrist voters will regret for a long time - at least as long as we're stuck with this incompetent idiot and international embarrassment as Mayor. Embarassed

_________________
I can't support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day. - Assclown Rob Ford

voice of the damned · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 4:49 pm Post subject:

Tehanu · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 7:39 pm Post subject:

The "David Miller not running again" thread has an extensive analysis of the Toronto election.

My thoughts (in addition to the anti-intellectualism/Tea Party approach)?

In effect, Pantalone was a non-entity before and also during the election. Sweet guy, good values, not a serious candidate. It's almost as though when David Miller said he was leaving, the left folded. It also didn't help that we were having provincial and federal elections every five seconds, either.

And Smitherman tried to play the I'm-progressive-vote-for-me-strategically card, and that helped muddy the waters. Pantalone wasn't strong enough to counter that. Smitherman was loathed because of the EHealth scandal and, I suspect, because he's gay. Certainly there were plenty of homophobic undercurrents.

A.k.a. the perfect storm, and it took far too long for anyone to take Rob Ford seriously as a candidate. We were too busy goggling in shock that anyone else was taking him seriously that the counter-campaign didn't get a whole lot of momentum, and what did end up happening was that every time Ford was attacked his supporters used it to underscore his (completely mythical) underdog status, and paint the people who opposed him as intellectual snobs. Definitely Tea Party/Sarah Palin tactics, and it worked. Even better than when Mel Lastman (another person who was scarcely an underdog but liked to play the martyr).

I also agree with ET that Smitherman also got something of a free ride, especially at the beginning.

Anyway, Ford continues to cover himself with glory ...

The Evil Twin · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:49 pm Post subject:

From Tehanu's Star link

Tehanu · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 4:02 am Post subject:

Assuming he doesn't get re-elected, that is. Doh!

voice of the damned · Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:06 am Post subject:

Vundo Draxon · Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2012 3:07 am Post subject:

Raos · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 5:56 pm Post subject:

It just never ends with this guy. Toronto Mayor Ford was 'probably' reading while driving

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 10:21 pm Post subject:

On the bright side, this story suggests that Ford can read.
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

F. · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 2578

Please let it be 50 Shades of Grey, please let it be 50 Shades of Grey ...

I guess at least now I understand why he wanted to get rid of bike lanes.

Slumberjack · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 9:35 am Post subject:

Caissa · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 1:08 pm Post subject:

When i reported this story to the very apolitical Ms. C. at the supper table last night, her response was "He can read?"

anne cameron · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:16 pm Post subject:

I thought from the look of the guy all he could do was eat.

The Evil Twin · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:07 am Post subject:

F. · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 2578

voice of the damned · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:18 pm Post subject:

Rob Ford likes Edmonton's fountain.

I have nothing really for or against that particular fountain, it's actually never made much of an impression on me at all. Even when I'm by or at Edmonton City Hall, it barely registers with me.

Then again, I've never enjoyed splashing around outside in the hot sun.
_________________
I hear words I never heard in the Bible.

Raos · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:50 pm Post subject:

I quite like the city hall fountain, I've spent many a hot afternoon sitting on the side and reading. Encountering Ford by it would probably ruin the experience, though.

Tehanu · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 11:20 am Post subject:

Have folks been following the latest episode in the Rob Ford soap opera? In this case, he's got Clayton Ruby on his tail. Now since Ruby's not a lawyer to waste his time, this may go somewhere, and in the meantime Ford's testimony confirms everything we've thought about him.

The bare bones:
-- While a city councillor, Ford solicited donations for his football foundation on council letterhead. A no-no. (Above The Law #1).
-- He was told not to and to repay the money raised (about $3K) by the city's integrity commissioner.
-- He ignored her (Above The Law #2).
-- The integrity commissioner hied herself off to Council. Ford did not declare a conflict of interest, and voted in favour of a motion rescinding the previous one that he was in conflict of interest (Above the Law #3 ... oh, let's face it, could be #5420).

Now Ford is saying all kinds of unbelievable things on the stand. He didn't know it was a conflict of interest. He never read the city councillor handbook (which he would have been given four times). Any previous times he absented himself from a discussion or vote in which he'd have been in conflict, it was because the city's staff advised him to, and they didn't this time, so it wasn't a conflict, so presumably he doesn't know how to behave in council unless a staff member tells him what to do? And so on, and so on.

Consequences if found guilty: He could be turfed as mayor and barred from running again for up to seven years.

Of course that would just hand his fans more ammo, but come on, people, you're defending someone who's portraying himself as dumber than a post in order to evade taking ethical responsibility for his own misbehaviour. And blaming the vast left-wing conspiracy to boot. While whining that his football program saves kids' lives.

I think that last bit is the most irritating. Ford has actually declined public grant funding for youth at risk of violence, saying that he doesn't believe in "hug-a-thug" programs. Instead, let's toss kids in jail. How is his much-vaunted football program not "hug-a-thug"? Private charity vs. public program, perhaps.

Ah well. If he's tossed his brother will probably run to replace him and we'll have even more Fordiness in Toronto.

Case background.

Ford says he ain't lyin.

Slumberjack · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 12:10 pm Post subject:

Crooks and their cronies pretty much embodies politics everywhere doesn't it? Exchanging one gang for another changes very little, except for the granting of influence and access to a new slate of friends in high places, typically the ones that brung ya. For instance, didn't the Fed NDP have to pay back illegal campaign donation monies recently. Down here in NS, the NDP Deputy Premier once had his knuckles rapped for habitually wining and dining his friends on the public dime. People don't like Rob Ford because he makes little attempt to hide the fact that he's an reactionary asshole, but meanwhile there's plenty of crooks hiding behind publicity smiles and intentions.
_________________
There is this old notion, Bolshevik, a little frigid for sure; the building of the Party. I think that our present war is about giving new content to this depopulated fiction.

Vundo Draxon · Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 2:56 am Post subject:

cco · Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 2:51 pm Post subject:

anne cameron · Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 3:14 pm Post subject:

I don't expect anybody who is a regular here is the least bit surprised by the particulars of this case. I don't think it's correct to say that those of us who consider virtually all politicians to be crooks are bitter or cynical people. And if we are, who and what made us that way? Certainly most people who live out here on the usually-wet coast have enough exposure to downright criminal activity to have good reason to distrust even the most seemingly "clean" politician. This with the mayor of Tarana is such small potatoes out here it probably wouldn't hit the headlines. So help me. Our provincial government, an amalgamation of losers from every political party who came together and call themselves "liberals", has sucked so much out of this province that I'm sure we're trembling on the very brink of bankruptcy. Right now the premiers numbers are about as low as they can get. "Everyone" expects the NDP to clean up in the next election and be elected with a powerful majority. Unfortunately, that will not clean up the mess. And I'm quite sure that once in, the NDP will all too quickly line up, insert snouts, and snuffle in the trough just like they did the last time they were government.

It doesn't matter who you vote for, it doesn't matter who gets the most votes, in every election, the system wins. And it stinks!

Slumberjack · Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 3:49 pm Post subject:

This is why I favour mass desertion from politics instead of continuing to participate in the mass confusion associated with politics. Any tactic or expression contained by and within today's politics tends to asphyxiate all expressions deemed to be of little use in maintaining and enhancing political leverage and power. Favours are bestowed upon various coalitions of willing dupes only where favoritism is warranted for maintaining loyalty. Alternately, we've seen favours as scraps in the form of programs and services, designed and tossed down in order to ward off social dislocations to productivity. Nowadays just about all productivity is easily outsourced to the guardianship of even more oppressive situations, which ensures far more productive stability at an overall lower cost per unit produced, while here the hardening of the repressive system is the inevitable result of a antiquated social compact between workers, citizens, and the corporate state. Operating within the existing political landscape hardly constitutes a sound tactic toward legitimate social agitation, let alone as an expression of democratic choice. It seems to me that fleeing once and for all the existing political charades is a first step toward lifting ones head up again in an affirmation of dignity. The human subject who has seen and endured quite enough.
_________________
There is this old notion, Bolshevik, a little frigid for sure; the building of the Party. I think that our present war is about giving new content to this depopulated fiction.

cco · Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 2:33 am Post subject:

It's reassuring to see at least Rob Ford brings the same standard of competence to the football field that he has to his governance of Toronto.

The Evil Twin · Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:01 am Post subject:

Was he drunk? We all know this wouldn't be the first time he's been drunk in public.
_________________
I can't support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day. - Assclown Rob Ford

voice of the damned · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:36 pm Post subject:

Just saw the headline. Rob Ford has been removed from office. Stay tuned.
_________________
I hear words I never heard in the Bible.

voice of the damned · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:38 pm Post subject:

So far, all they've got up at the Globe are reporters tweets. Looks like it's official, though.
_________________
I hear words I never heard in the Bible.

voice of the damned · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:39 pm Post subject:

From the judgement...

voice of the damned · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:43 pm Post subject:

Okay. Now I'm confused. Reporters' comments...

sparqui · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:30 pm Post subject:

I think he has two weeks to work with Council on a transition plan. They also have to decide whether they'll appoint a new Mayor or call a by-election.
_________________
“If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a tractor.”

-- Gilles Duceppe

anne cameron · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 6:32 pm Post subject:

Just ship him out here, he sounds like an ideal fit for our provincial Liebral government!!

Tehanu · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 9:27 pm Post subject:

I heard this earlier and gasped aloud. I really didn't think that the judge was going to do this, as the consequence of being found guilty was so draconian.

I know this is going to sound bizarre, because I have never concealed my utter loathing of Rob Ford's politics and most of his actions, but I don't like this much. Well, I like that he'll no longer be in office, but I disagree with the consequence being so extremely either/or, regardless of who did it.

(Well, I'll confess to a few minutes of delicious schadenfreude and delight that Toronto may no longer have to be the mockery of the rest of the nation. But the principle stands!)(And I of course think that Ford brought this on himself with his arrogant choice to ignore conflict of interest provisions, Council, and city ethics staff, and nobody's dumb enough to believe that he didn't know exactly what he was doing.)

I also think this gives the pro-Fordies a chance to hoot 'n holler about the left-wing judiciary (although from supposed law-and-order types that's a bit rich). Nothing like a martyr. Toronto will just have to count on the people who have been deeply dismayed about Ford's actions outnumbering the people who are convinced he's a poor, put-upon average dude who's just like them and deserves a break.

Unfortunately this didn't work when he was a councillor running for mayor, and we all knew what he was like back then. And yet he got elected. Nothing he's done since has been uncharacteristic of what we knew about him before he got elected mayor, so is anything going to change?

Well, I won't be voting in the next election, that's something different. Mr. Green

My thought? I'd say if Ford runs again in a mayoral by-election, the Toronto left better get their ducks in a row with a strong, single candidate that everyone can get behind. Anything else and you're just asking for a repeat.