For someone who believes in the potential power of the people, this small demonstration against Rob Ford’s brutish abuse of power is heartening. Recommend this Post
Continue readingTag: mayoral ineptitude
Politics and its Discontents: A Crippled General Laid Bare
That is the phrase Star columnist Royson James uses to describe Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Even if you live nowhere near the city, his analysis of power misused and abused makes fascinating reading for anyone interested in the mentality and tactics of the right-wing. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Toronto Star- Another Winning Editorial Cartoon.
One of the many reason I love The Star. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Toronto’s Thuggish Mayor
The thuggish mentality of the Ford crew is captured rather nicely here, I think. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Elephant in the Room
I had a dream last night that Rob Ford and his brother were in my home, and everywhere they sat, the furniture broke. Could it be a metaphor for the policy impoverishment now afflicting Toronto, and accelerated by the firing of Gary Webster? But then again, I suppose a literal
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Video of a Sad Performance
See Ford bark, see ttc commissioners run. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Ford Gets His Way
The blowt king, aided and abetted by his minions, has gotten his way. Toronto is the poorer for it. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Christopher Hume’s Withering Assessment of Rob Ford and His Enablers
That Ford can still find five members of council willing to do his bidding, no matter how transparently shabby it may be, also speaks volumes about the sorry state of Toronto politics. The members of this odious quintet — TTC commissioners Norm Kelly, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Frank Di Giorgio, Cesar Palacio
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A ‘Dwarfish Thief’ At Toronto City Hall
For those who think Shakespeare has lost his relevance in our time, try out this quotation from Macbeth when you think of Mayor Rob Ford and his abuse of power: He cannot buckle his distempered causeWithin the belt of rule… Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach.Those he commands move only
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Arrogant and The Obsequious
For those both fascinated and repelled by the abuse of power happening in Toronto, and the obsequious who make possible that abuse, I highly recommend today’s column by Royson James, who speculates on the qualities of pusillanimous appeasement that will be required in Gary Webster’s replacement. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What Do Stephen Harper and Rob Ford Have In Common?
Both, it seems, have a constitutional aversion to being honest with the people they purport to represent. Click here for a story on Harper’s folly (i.e., the F-35 fairy tale Haper Inc. is fond of spinning to benighted voters) and here for how Toronto Mayor Rob Ford tried to bury
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Doug Ford Rarely Disappoints
The Star’s Christopher Hume has an amusing column on the other (better?) half of that dynamic duo known as the Mayors of Toronto. For those who enjoy their political theatre broad and farcical, the brothers Ford have been working overtime since their election, and Hume gives a great deal of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Doug Ford Enhances Brother Rob’s Reputation
Despite the way it may appear in some of my blog postings, I really take no particular pleasure or delight in pointing out the deficiencies and foibles of most of our politicians. Such is the weakness of my character, however, that I do exclude the brothers Ford, the mayors of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Rob Ford Continues To Make An Ass of Himself
While the title of this post might strike many as redundant, even I, despite having borne witness to a great deal of asinine behaviour over the years, was surprised to see the following headline on The Star’s website a few minutes ago: Mayor Rob Ford to Toronto: Don’t read the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Apparently They Don’t Hold With That Readin’ Thing Either
Or that might be the easy inference to draw about Mayors Rob and Doug Ford. As reported yesterday, The Toronto Star is filing a complaint with the City of Toronto’s ethics commissioner over the lads’ embargo of The Star of all official notices and pronouncements from the mayor’s office. Today,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Toronto Star Fights Back
Because the ever-petulant Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, backed by his always doting and sycophantic executive, continues to boycott The Toronto Star on all official notices and pronouncements from his office, the paper has decided to file an official complaint with the city’s integrity commissioner. As reported in an article by
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Power of the People
Despite our almost legendary passivity as a people, one small part of Canada is offering an example of what can happen when citizens shed the mantle of political disengagement that our politicians have long cultivated and counted on in order to push t…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Ford Gang Stays True To Form
Although I don’t live in Toronto, it has become an object of fascination for me since the election of Mayor Rob and Doug Ford. Within their fiefdom resides a psychology that provides fascinating examples of and insights into the darker aspects of huma…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Willful Ignorance in the Ford Administration
Toronto Mayors Rob and Doug Ford and their minions, like so many of the extreme right, tend not to let facts, reason, and data interfere with the purity of their ideological vision. Someone who describes city employees as ‘the gravy’ and denies that e…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Hamilton Libraries: Something To Answer For
The other day I wrote a post called Hamilton’s Vindication, with a link to a story detailing Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina’s invitation to author Margaret Atwood to tour the Central Library facilities. I suggested that Hamilton was enjoying a burgeoning …
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