Memo to the Toronto Star: Beware of Somalis Bearing Gifts

Originally posted by masqua
Not sure if you've caught this interesting development in the Star/Ford saga, but police activity in and around the house where the supposed video was supposedly made has me wondering what's going on here.

Especially the bit about 'gunshots'. One down, two to go kinda thing?

The video is said to have left town. And we have Smith murder suspects being grabbed up in Fort McMurray...and an apparent defenestration (love that word) from an apartment building up there which is believed to be connected to the whole sordid affair. OK, it was a balcony. Still...

Ford crack scandal: Man injured in balcony fall The Star

I have a hunch that the whole story has already been sussed out by the media and just awaits confirmation. No problem. Somebody is going to blab pretty soon.

reply to post by JohnnyCanuck


Can this story have any more twists and turns than are already obvious to those of us following it? I'm starting to think we're in an alternate universe season 25 of 'Lost'. Every day, more questions arise, but remain unanswered and all we are left with is one or two huge elephants in Toronto City Hall (metaphorically speaking, of course).

Originally posted by masqua
reply to post by JohnnyCanuck

 

Can this story have any more twists and turns than are already obvious to those of us following it? I'm starting to think we're in an alternate universe season 25 of 'Lost'. Every day, more questions arise, but remain unanswered and all we are left with is one or two huge elephants in Toronto City Hall (metaphorically speaking, of course).

Indeed, it is a tale for our times. On the one hand, we have 'authority' with the ability to monitor our goings-on with unprecedented ease. The erosion of privacy must have former Stazi operatives looking on with envy.

On the other hand 'important people behaving poorly' must do so with caution, right down to the cops. Everybody has a camera and once stuff has hit the net, it's there to stay...somewhere.

Oh...is that a beer? Thanks, and pass the popcorn willya? This show is getting good!

The Star is definitely closing the net.

They have a front page story this morning detailing more of the legal and behavioral problems of the residents of the house where Mayor Ford was photographed partying with people who look like gang bangers, although they could very well look like fraternity brothers given youth fashion these days. The gangsta look being so popular.

www.thestar.com... aine.html

One resident of the home where Mayor Rob Ford was photographed with murder victim Anthony Smith has been convicted of trafficking (illegal commodity).

Another was found guilty of possessing a prohibited weapon.

In 2011, Elena Johnson, the 51-year-old daughter of homeowner Lina Basso, was convicted of trafficking in (illegal commodity).

Her brother, Fabio Basso, was convicted in 2005 of possessing a prohibited weapon.

The only real question remaining from a political point of view, in my opinion, is whether Torontonians have less tolerance for a Mayor who exercises appalling judgement in his off hours social conduct or for a major newspaper with a major case of election sour grapes conducting a witch hunt against someone whose personal and social profile is not unlike that of many Torontonians.

Meanwhile, just up the road at Queens Park, we have an unelected lesbian/untouchable Premier, sitting pretty amidst a 500 million dollar power plant scandal, where it has been confirmed, not alleged, that email and other evidence was deleted to cover up the truth, yet the Star still speculates on Rob Ford, the crack smoking, thug killing, baby eating, big fat Mayor of Toronto. I think it's fairly clear that this is not business, but personal. Just shameful.

Originally posted by Orwells Ghost
Meanwhile, just up the road at Queens Park, we have an unelected lesbian/untouchable Premier...

Please explain to all of us what her sexual orientation has to do with anything? I am really quite anxious to know why you think it matters.

Originally posted by ipsedixit
The only real question remaining from a political point of view, in my opinion, is whether Torontonians have less tolerance for a Mayor who exercises appalling judgement in his off hours social conduct or for a major newspaper with a major case of election sour grapes conducting a witch hunt against someone whose personal and social profile is not unlike that of many Torontonians.

First off...classic shoot the messenger here.

Secondly...and more importantly is your comment about their 'personal and social profile'. You mean coming from a wealthy, influential family and being blessed with inherited money? But you buy into their 'Joe Sixpack' routine.

That, for all who wonder, is how Ford got elected. 'He acts like an oaf so he must be one of us.' - which is a pretty sad commentary on so many levels.

Certainly. In my opinion, much of the Canadian media has made it such that those with other than a heterosexual orientation are treated with kids gloves and can do no wrong, especially if they fall to the left of the political spectrum and are media friendly. See George Smitherman, who many people in the media still want as the mayor of Toronto, even though on his watch a billion tax dollars disappeared; but he also happens to be a gay man with an adopted child, so clearly he can do no wrong. This is the fear/guilt/shame game, where you must be afraid of being perceived as something you are not, much akin to the geo-political game of not speaking anything against the government of Israel for fear of being labelled an anti-semite.

Here we have a Premier whose government has not only been implicated, but caught red-handed committing a crime, yet she and her party are receiving no where near the scrutiny that is being placed on Rob Ford, even in spite of the lack of evidence against him. Were Kathleen Wynne a fat hetero conservative, I can't help but believe things would be much different.

I was leafing through this morning's edition of the Star when I found a very pleasant surprise. The surprise was an opinion column titled Let's not make a return journey to Miller-ville, by Rondi Adamson.

This sums up in words and wit much better than I could ever do, why Torontonians voted for Rob Ford and why they will continue to vote for him, absent some glaring failure to follow the mandate given him by the electorate to carry out the agenda for which he campaigned.

Kudos to the Star for introducing me to a new flavor fave in Rondi Adamson. She follows another Star writer, Linda McQuaig, into my personal top of the pops club.

She, like many of Ford's supporters, including me, are not 905ers (suburbanites) and are closer to downtown's metro-lefties in lifestyle than many would suspect.

I live in Toronto — downtown — and have been known to drink a Starbucks latte or 50. I don’t own a car. In a recent byelection I supported the animal rights candidate in my riding. In short, I don’t qualify for membership in “Ford Nation” and yet, in the 2010 municipal election, I voted for Rob Ford.

Here's a link to Ms. Adamson's extremely well written opinion piece:

www.thestar.com...

Winston Churchill once said words to the effect that the art of politics consisted of the skillful wielding of a blunt instrument. Torontonians know full well that Mayor Ford is a blunt instrument, but in the judgement of a plurality of them, that kind of instrument is what is required after a period of flaccid oversight of money matters at City Hall and whimsical notions of what the priorities of a city like Toronto are.

Originally posted by ipsedixit
Kudos to the Star for introducing me to a new flavor fave in Rondi Adamson. She follows another Star writer, Linda McQuaig, into my personal top of the pops club.

I would suggest that she is not a 'Star writer' in the same context as Linda McQuaig, rather simply one who submitted an opinion piece in the same fashion that you might. Personally, I disagree with her opinion - which is equally valid...as is yours. But some of her facts are skewed...lauding Ford for creating a surplus while he actually had very little to do with it. Most of it appears to come from the land transfer tax...didn't he run on eliminating it? Either way, kudos to the Star for running an opinion contrary to their editorial stance...don't see that much in the Sun.

Originally posted by Orwells Ghost
Were Kathleen Wynne a fat hetero conservative, I can't help but believe things would be much different.

You're the one who has a problem with her sexual orientation. I can't help but wonder...is life easier or more complicated when you choose to wear those goggles?

reply to post by JohnnyCanuck

On the contrary, I have no problem whatsoever, her sexual orientation is completely irrelivant to me, but it sure is to the guilt slinging politically correct crowd. Thanks for proving my point.

Originally posted by Orwells Ghost
reply to post by JohnnyCanuck

 

On the contrary, I have no problem whatsoever. Thanks for proving my point.

Perhaps not. You see, I have heard lots of criticism of Wynne in the media, on the street...wherever the healthy give and take of political discourse takes place. I've heard an equal amount of praise. But interestingly enough, yours is the only comment I've yet encountered that brought her sexual orientation into it.

You say that's evidence of suppression. I say that to the to the rest of the province...it simply doesn't matter..

reply to post by JohnnyCanuck


So you believe me to be a bigot, and I believe you to be either naive or willfully ignorant. We'll have to agree to disagree as I do not wish to derail this thread.

Originally posted by Orwells Ghost
reply to post by JohnnyCanuck

 

So you believe me to be a bigot, and I believe you to be either naive or willfully ignorant. We'll have to agree to disagree as I do not wish to derail this thread.

Gee...if you want willfully ignorant...just ask your riding association which senior Tory minister is a thinly-closeted gay. Which is to say the only ones who don't know are the voting public. Wynne has the stones to come out and make it a total non-issue.

Ford might take lessons from her in de-fanging the opposition by taking away the whisper campaign.

One more thing...you are wrong to call her un-elected. You see, in a Parliamentary democracy you vote for an individual who may or may not be a member of a party. If so, then the winning party choses a leader from its ranks. Normally, it is the head of the party. So...Wynne was indeed elected to Queen's Park. The leader of the party in power stepped down. The party elected a new leader...and yes I voted for her because she heard my issues and promised to respond to them. Which she has. Among them...to return to Queen's Park as soon as she was elected and not wait for the next session like some wanted.

So yah...she was elected because I voted for her.

Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck
Ford might take lessons from her in de-fanging the opposition by taking away the whisper campaign.