EnMasse

Tehanu · Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 2:32 am Post subject: Toronto's Mayor Rob Ford

Continued from the thread Toronto mayor David Miller not running again, which was where we'd been discussing this.

thwap · Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 12:57 pm Post subject:

Rob Ford is a doofus.
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Man! I hate them fancy-lads!

ronb · Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 3:54 pm Post subject:

Remember when David Miller used to hang out with Paul Martin all the time, having sleepovers and doing each others hair and all of that? Me neither.

The Evil Twin · Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 1:58 am Post subject:

anne cameron · Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 3:34 pm Post subject:

So someone who is usually reliable told me Laureen had split the sheets and taken off with someone else, leaving Steve and his hair alone in the big fancy house...

is that true? Does anyone know? If it's true it's just another front page story our journalistic castratii have managed to overlook...and no surprise there, they overlooked pretty much the same thing in B.C. when Mrs. Campbell said no way not me...

Caissa · Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:26 pm Post subject:

The rumor has been kicking around and if I remember correctly denied by offical circles.

anne cameron · Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:45 pm Post subject:

And so do we believe official circles? It was official circles told us the Liebrals would never bring in the HST...and guess what...we got'er!

Caissa · Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 5:16 pm Post subject:

You can Google "Laureen harper rumors" to get a feel for what has been said in cyberspace.

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8700

To be honest, I'm not sad if our journalists have overlooked something like that. It's got nothing to do with government. Crap like that is a short, slippery slope to hacking cell phones. Shocked

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Tehanu · Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:58 pm Post subject:

For once I'm in agreement with Magoo on a political issue! Shocked

Apparently it's an open secret in Ottawa, but the media has refrained from making it an issue. I actually appreciate that politicians' personal lives are generally considered private in Canada. Can you imagine the Sun staking out Jack Layton's hospital bed?

The Evil Twin · Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 8:34 pm Post subject:

anne cameron · Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 10:32 pm Post subject:

I can halfway agree. Right up until the political dweeb starts bringing the happy family on stage, getting high fives of congratulation from the smiling son, standing with his arm around the waist of the dutiful wife, etc.

If political dweeb wants his family life left out of the media then the onus is on political dweeb to stop pimping the family to promote his platform.

When political dweeb is in a position to ram through laws which will affect the family life of everyone in the nation then I want to feel political dweeb has some idea of what "family life" is .

I don't need up close pictures of intimate behaviour but by damn I don't want to be fed another bowl of bullshit, either. As soon as political dweeb starts sending out Christmas cards (or anything else) featuring the happy family gathered together with the pet cat, then any screech of "that's private" rings hollow. It ain't private if political dweeb has made it public.

There are no small lies, you know. A lie is a lie is a lie is a lie.

This particular political dweeb has not demonstrated any understanding of queer reality. Now we're being told we have to "trim" budgets and "cut" programmes and... and if political dweeb has been dumped and the ex is shacked up with a dyke, then every dyke in the nation can sit and wait for the cuts and trimming to impact us in negative ways. For yea verily political dweeb is known to be a vindictive prick.

One who has appointed the guy who said he wouldn't bring in the HST and then brought it in to represent us in London... accompanied by the single mother of his very young son... and we're all supposed to ...what? Just smile and say oh yes, it's all just fine with us...baa baa baa...

TS. · Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 10:41 pm Post subject:

The Evil Twin · Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 2:45 am Post subject:

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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

Tehanu · Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 3:44 am Post subject:

Vundo Draxon · Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 4:36 am Post subject:

Tehanu · Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:21 pm Post subject:

Georgio "McCarthy" Mammoliti is continuing his quest to be dubbed Toronto's nastiest rightwing kook of a councillor. He's started a Facebook group apparently for the "silent majority" of working class Toronto people who don't want to camp out at City Hall to talk to Council. Because the ones who do are "layabouts and communists." Yeah, really? Because they say things that you don't like?

Lovely.

I didn't realize that he had a history with CUPE and the NDP though. Want to know what turned him against them? Seems it was same-sex benefits. Okay, so you're a nasty homophobic rightwing kook.

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8700

Tehanu · Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:01 pm Post subject:

Magoo, do you think that if your marriage is over, having your estranged spouse pose with you in election campaign photo ops (gotta demonstrate those great family values) is honest?

To be fair to Stephen Harper, we don't get bombarded with the family warm fuzzies a whole lot.

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8700

Tehanu · Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 7:06 pm Post subject:

No, no, no. I said quite categorically that I am pleased that for the most part we have a lot more respect for politicians' personal lives in this country. The one thing is that when politicians bring their personal lives into the mix in a hypocritical way (and as I said, Harper's not really one to do this) then does that not open the door?

Classic example: Rightwing homophobic male politician trotting his wife out at every turn, spouting family values and fighting against LGBT equality, who is then outed. I am ambivalent about outing, but should politicians not be held to account for hypocrisy, if they are using that hypocrisy to oppress others?

lawlibrarian2 · Member Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 75

Did I hear you right?

Doug Ford's ex-gay lover in a threesome with Jack Layton and Laureen Harper?

Bring it on, I love tabloid trash.

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8700

Tehanu · Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 8:08 pm Post subject:

Well, I seem to remember it was you who trotted out Svend Robinson's breakdown and ring theft a few times, or was that someone else? Is that public or private? A character flaw that should be publicly aired? A forgivable mistake?

anne cameron · Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 10:40 pm Post subject:

Personally, I don't give a toot about a politician's marital status and I don't care if she/he is straight, gay, or hasn't figured it out yet. But if I get a Merry Christmas mail-out of Politico and the entire family, or if I see a TV news clip of a rousing speech with family up on stage leading the applause... and it turns out it was all staged, then I'm going to feel I've been lied to. And small lies are usually indicators there are bigger lies.

Clinton's weasel-words about Lewisnky and his snivelling protestations that he was being unfairly treated might not be directly linked to his less than open and honest behaviour in Africa but...small lies-big lies again.

JFK's family was a big photo op throughout his tenure. Now we find out he was a total horn dog and, yes, the lies implicit in that are linked to the attempted lies about the Bay of Pigs...

We know, NOW, that the whole Gulf of Tonkin "incident" was eyewash... then there's those weapons of mass destruction and the yellow fissionable material from Africa and ...

if we don't demand a higher level of truth from those gits, we'll never get one. And if they're willing to lie about their supposedly nearest and dearest then what the hell else won't they lie about?

There has to be a political reason for them to try to present themselves as "good family men" or they wouldn't bother. If there's a political gain to having a happy united family then obviously there has to be a political loss when the mirage explodes.

None of which means I think we need to turn Rupert Murdoch loose on each and every one of the politico's in the nation. But if what's being sent to me through Canada Post is eyewash, I want to know that...otherwise I'm left feeling (as I do) that it is ALL eyewash and that politico's are all bullshitters of the worst order.

When the person who knows you better than anyone else can no longer stand to be in the same room and moves out... that might tell the rest of us something which might possibly benefit at least some of us.

The whole HST deal between Harper and Campbell stinks and the lap dogs who pretend to be journalists in this country haven't examined it closely. And in both cases the same journalistic castratii didn't bother to report the break up of the family unit we'd been getting shoved at us at every possible occasion. Maybe there's no link, maybe Magoo is right, he often is, but... where's the "transparency" they're always talking about?

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8700

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8700

anne cameron · Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 9:36 pm Post subject:

You're in great form today, Magoo, m'darlin'.

In case you've ever had doubts about it, please allow me to tell you I (mostly) enjoy your posts.

Chester · Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:28 pm Post subject:

WTF is up with toronto city council? this Mammoliti guy going on about communists? they seem to have elected a wide swath of paranoids.

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8700

He's the same clown who videotaped the Dyke March this year and creeped a lot of people out.

Communists. LOL!
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TS. · Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:25 pm Post subject:

Senor Magoo · He's got a big one Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 8700

Giorgio fun fact: he used to sort of be a left winger until he became the intellectual equivalent of a helicopter with a broken tail rotor.
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The Evil Twin · Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 8:35 pm Post subject:

thwap · Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 8:57 pm Post subject:

It all depends on what's important to you.

Rolling Eyes

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Man! I hate them fancy-lads!

sparqui · Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 1:19 am Post subject:

What I find shocking is that what is happening in TO is a harbinger of what will be happening throughout the country. Harper has succeeded in making it open season on anything remotely progressive and it's filtering to the provincial and municipal levels.
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“If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a tractor.”

-- Gilles Duceppe

voice of the damned · Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:47 am Post subject:

thwap · Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 2:42 pm Post subject:

Tehanu · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:52 pm Post subject:

This is rich. Really, really rich.

So Rob Ford gets elected by talking about how he's going to cut "gravy" but no services, and also cut taxes, and somehow be fiscally responsible. Which says something about the Toronto voters more than it reflects on Ford, frankly. But clearly not demonstrating a whole lot of fiscal prudence.

He gets into office and promptly cancels the vehicle registration tax. Which was intended to discourage people from driving in the city. And announces, among other things, that his main transit initiative would be some very, very expensive subways that nobody really seems to want, just so the non-drivers will stay off the roads. And proceeds to get some expensive consultants to conclude that startlingly enough, there's no gravy to cut.

And he's in deficit. Predictably.

So what does he do? Heads off to ask Dalton McGuinty -- a Liberal, no less, that he's vowed to de-elect in October -- for more money.

Dalton, feel free to tell him to fuck off for me, m'kay? Toronto needs to learn a[nother] lesson about not electing this type of person.

The Evil Twin · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 10:38 pm Post subject:

Tehanu · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:12 pm Post subject:

Is it voodoo economics if I get a Rob Ford "action" figure and stick a bunch of pins in it?

If Hudak distances himself from Ford that's really saying the wheels are off the (non-public-transit) bus. Too bad we don't have confidence votes at the municipal level, eh?

thwap · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 1:54 am Post subject:

Here's what I would do if I were Dalton McGuinty:

Promise Ford to give Toronto all the money it needs.

With the proviso being that Ford has to publicly apologize for either being:

a) A complete fucking liar

or

b) So clueless and stupid that he really had no idea about the realities of Toronto's budget situation.

AND THEN ...

Ford has to swear on the Bible (I'm assuming he's a Christian. If not, he has to swear by whatever he holds most dear.) that he will not run for re-election.

AND THEN ...

Being Dalton McGuinty and having enabled unconstitutional legislation in the dead of night (which is to say, giving the Toronto Police Service the power to arrest people for not showing identification at the G20 wall) ... I would myself publicly swear not to run again and tell people to vote NDP.
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Man! I hate them fancy-lads!

thwap · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:55 pm Post subject:

Ford shows us his true colours ... ignorant and stupid.
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Man! I hate them fancy-lads!

The Evil Twin · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:36 pm Post subject:

thwap · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:00 pm Post subject:

The Sun hasn't apologized for backing Ford and his stupid, ignorant lying.

That's really what is required.

A public apology. A grovelling apology.

But they won't because they're soulless hacks.
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Man! I hate them fancy-lads!

The Evil Twin · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 9:08 pm Post subject:

bshmr · Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 9:38 pm Post subject:

As an experiment, ask the 'The Sun' in a very public, almost demanding, way to apologize or at least admit to being deceived. Your object being to motivate others to do the same. Don't let your imaginations determine failure or recalcitrance before there is some.

IOW, make a public scene protesting 'The Sun' openness about their mistakes.

Tehanu · Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 3:32 am Post subject:

Okay, it's really painful for me to say this ... I ... I ... agree with one of Rob Ford's decisions.

He's kiboshed (unilaterally, which has pissed off at least one leftie city councillor, I like to think because of the process not the decision, and yeah, he's being overbearing, to say the least) a Toronto bid for the 2020 Olympics.

Which I don't imagine will endear him to his rah-rah followers.

Cartman · Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 3:37 am Post subject:

Don't feel too badly T, he was bound to make one or two proper decisions. I am just surprised that he had a temporary moment of enlightenment.

voice of the damned · Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 5:40 am Post subject:

voice of the damned · Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 5:58 am Post subject:

Tehanu wrote: