A Little Something For The Cinephile

Enjoy!

From The Pens Of Editorial Cartoonists

...some Saturday afternoon wisdom:

The Medium Of The Moronic

New and long-term members of the Profoundly Stupid Club can rejoice: their mascots, Rob and Doug Ford, the darlings of the dimwitted, the bastions of the benighted, the exemplars of intellectual enfeeblement, will live to fight another day.

Sun News, favored by those who like their commentary simple and absolutist, the place where the good guys wear metaphorical white hats and the bad guys black ones, has announced that starting Monday, the dimwitted duo will be hosting a new show called, predictably, Ford nation.




I guess this addition to their lineup will solidify Sun TV network's reputation as a repository of the ridiculous and banal, if any doubts still linger.

No word yet on whether the network is going after broadcasting rights to the World Wrestling Federation as a followup.

I Have No Shame

Not one to take the high road, I will state the obvious here. Clearly, the Rob Ford bobblehead is not built to scale.

One Picture Really Is Worth A Thousand Words

Who invited this guy?



H/t The Huffington Post

Uh Oh - The Big Boy's Mad

One cannot help but wonder if Toronto's Chief Buffoon, Rob Ford, had been 'over served' in some capacity (take your pick of mind/mood altering substances) before making this call to Sun reporter Joe Warmington last night.

A Sad Spectacle

“This comes down to left-wing politics. The left wing wants me out of here and they’ll do anything in their power. I’m going to fight tooth and nail to hold on to my job. If they do for some reason get me out I’ll be running right back. As soon as the next election, if there’s a byelection, I’ll be the first name on the ballot.”

Thus spaketh Rob Ford, the soon-to-be former chief magistrate of the self-proclaimed 'world-class' city of Toronto. Although I do not live there, I have had an abiding interest in its political machinations since Ford was elected, and I retain that fascination in the reaction to his ouster.

Rob has been called many things: stupid, arrogant, willful, stubborn, and uncouth, to name a few. It seems to me that most of those qualities are evident in the above excerpt from this morning's Star; moreover, being an ardent student of human nature, I find his reaction emblematic of the mindset of the right-wing, echoing as it does the sentiments of brother Doug and other reactionaries who have made their way into politics.

To take a reductionist approach, those reactions seem to epitomize something ingrained in those inhabiting a certain part of the political spectrum: intolerance of those who have a different viewpoint. How else can one explain the absolute dismissal of a legal ruling by a respected judge? How else does one explain the following by brother Doug:

His and his ilk's inability to admit any wrong by Rob Ford, his dismissal of the proceedings as 'politically motivatated' and engineered by 'the social elites' and 'the unions' bespeaks a kind of contemptuous fanaticism dangerous to the collective good. Populist politics, I guess the Ford brothers' only real political currency, is better left in the history books with people like Huey Long.

We need and deserve better.

Sometimes It Is Hard Not To Feel Smug

Many years ago, the singer Mac Davis wrote and performed a satirical song entitled "It's Hard To Be Humble," about a man so impressed with himself that he has no insight whatsoever into what a buffoon he really is.

I sometimes think of that song when I ponder the shenanigans of Toronto's chief magistrate, Rob Ford, a legend in his own mind and, in his fevered yet cruelly limited imagination, the victim of unwarranted aspersions cast by the envious, aka the pinko left, the chattering classes, and, well, just the damned envious.

So it was with much delight that I read this morning's column by The Star's Thomas Walkom. Entitled Three cheers for Rob Ford, true face of the modern right, the piece suggests that unlike those who try to conceal their true agenda, (think Stephen Harper and the recently-exposed Mitt Romney),

... Rob Ford is never flummoxed. Or perhaps it more accurate to say he is in a state of constant flummox.

His hypocrisy is upfront. Any other politician who made his name fighting the so-called gravy train might be embarrassed when found to use public resources inappropriately.

Ford, however, is unapologetic. Did he pressure city workers to fix up the street outside his family business? So what? Did he break conflict of interest rules? He never read them. Is he using taxpayer-funded resources for private activities? Forget about it.

And so the psychodrama continues. But unfortunately, when pondering people like Rob and brother Doug (the alleged 'brains' behind the operation), I sometimes find that, to paraphrase Mac Davis' song, it's hard not to be smug, something I usually strive to assiduously avoid in my journey through life.

More on Rob Ford

I hope that I can be forgiven for what might appear to some as either an unhealthy obsession with Toronto's chief magistrate or an Ontario-centric regional preoccupation. It's just that I continue to be fascinated by the fact that Canada's largest city is led by someone so manifestly unsuited for the job. What it says about the current state of democracy in Canada I will leave to you to ponder.

After Ford's 'crime-summit' with Dalton McGuinty yesterday, here is what The Star's Martin Regg Cohn had to say:

The tone was civil, but the bottom line is that Ford brought nothing to the table.

No ideas, no money, no serenity in a time of anxiety for the people of Toronto.

Sadly, that assessment could also be applied to Ford's entire mayoralty thus far.

'Sheriff' Ford 'Clarifies' His Statements

I wonder if there is anyone within the Rob Ford administration with the courage to tell him to just keep his mouth shut for the sake of Toronto's rapidly-waning reputation?

Mayor Rob Ford Won’t Attend Gay Outreach Event

But then again, would anyone really want this clown to attend their function?

The Absurdity Continues

I feel just a tad guilty writing this post today, given that world events are of their usual dire nature, the slaughter of protesting Syrian students by a brutal and repressive regime not the least of them. Nonetheless, I will deal briefly with a more parochial issue, the brutal and repressive regime operating out of the Toronto mayor's office.

As I am sure the details of the confrontation between Rob Ford and Star reporter Daniel Dale are now well-known, I won't rehash them here. The mentality of the mayor, however, got me thinking about my 30-year teaching career, and I realized that Ford reminds me very much of some of the students I encountered during that career.

While the vast majority were good kids, there were always those who believed the rules weren't made for them, that the normal standards of decorum didn't apply, and that respect for institutional traditions was for others to follow; they laboured under the delusion of having a special dispensation from them. Needless to say, these tended to be kids for whom academic success was elusive.

The problem these students posed for the classroom dynamic were significant. Their presence tended to contribute to a lowering of the tone of discussion and in the behaviour of their fellow students. Oftentimes, their parents were enablers, attempting to bully teachers into accepting their rather warped view of reality. In short, they were the kind of people who attempted to exert a disproportionate influence over the classroom which is, among other things, a microcosm of society.

So in many ways, Rob Ford is like those errant students of yesteryear - he defines reality and the rules by his own worldview; like a wanton child, he is having a tantrum as he threatens to end the public's right to information about the goings-on at City Hall unless a reporter he takes exception to isn't removed from the City Hall beat; he is enabled by a family member, brother Doug; to conclude, the mayor is a disruptive influence on the rest of the citizenry.

It is sad that today when I opened The Star I was confronted on the front page by what should be a trivial matter, while important issues such as Dalton McGuinty's political machinations and Harper's move to limit democratic debate on the omnibus budget bill are pushed to the inner pages. Like those pesky students of my earlier life, Rob Ford is disrupting our larger classroom once again.

No Surprise Here: Rob Ford Fails in His Civic Responsibility Again

Not that I expected any better of the brazen buffoon wearing the chain of office in Toronto, but Rob Ford once more amply demonstrates that he is not the mayor of everyone in his once-proud city.

Another Poke At An Easy Target

A busy day ahead of me, so I have chosen the path of least resistance for my post today. Enjoy.

The Pleasures of Ford-Spotting

Were I a fully actualized human being, I would no doubt lead an exemplary life, the proud possessor of a heart filled with love for both friends and enemies. Alas, I am not such a person, and so I freely confess to the on-going delight and pleasure I take when things go awry in the fantasy world of the right-wing.

I suspect that is at least part of the explanation for my ongoing fascination with the 'mind' of Toronto's mayor, Rob Ford, about whom I have written several times already. The latest source of my impure pleasure is the Chief Magistrate's total obliviousness to (or absolute indifference to) the caricature of administrative competence that he conveys to the world, at the same time heedlessly dragging down with him any notion of Toronto as a 'world-class city.'

His latest contribution to my merriment came in an article in today's Star, where the big boy threatens to unleash the "Wrath of Kong" against a former MPP under Mike Harris, Councillor John Parker, for falling to support his one-track mind on subways.

As a consequence of this failure of fealty, the ungentle giant is saying he will turn the 2014 election into a de facto referendum on council’s transit votes, ... hinting publicly he will support an effort to defeat Parker.

Nothing I enjoy more than a good cat fight among right-wing extremists.

Rob Ford Continues to Embarrass Himself

'Mayoral ineptitude' is probably only one of the many terms that could be used to characterize Toronto's Chief magistrate, Rob Ford. Not only has he regularly demonstrated his unfitness for municipal leadership over his inflexible position on public transit (subways, subways, subways), but he continues to embarrass himself and demean his office through the vehicle of his and brother Doug's weekly radio show.

Apparently happy to burn all bridges with councillors who don't share his monomaniacal enthusiasm for underground transit at any cost, Ford used his show to try to recruit candidates for the next election. Declaring a 'fatwa' against those who have a different perspective, one based on reason and cost analysis, Mayor Rob intoned:

“But you know what? We need to run a slate next time,” Ford said. “We have to get rid of these other 24 councillors.”

He was referring to the 24 councillors who backed light rail over Ford’s proposal to extend the subway system.

Continuing in the demagogic and absolutist vein so loved by the right-wing, he continued:

“You’re on our side or against us. You’re on the taxpayer’s side or against them. There’s no mushy middle. It’s left or right down there.”

Thus the campaign for the next municipal election in 2014 has begun. But what becomes of Toronto in the interim?

Rob Ford and Subways

While I know that the selection of Thomas Mulcair is the major topic of discussion today, I shall defer to those more knowledgeable than I and return to a topic of regional interest, but a topic that also, I think, sheds light on the right-wing mentality: Toronto's Mayor Rob Ford.

While I have previously written about the benighted mayor and his minions, they continue to fascinate me, providing as they do a window into the alternative reality they apparently inhabit, the best example being their dogged insistence on subways over more practical, less expensive forms of urban transit such as LRT.

What is especially striking in the entire debate that culminated in the humiliating defeat of Ford's vision is a) the ideological footprint behind the obsession (cars, as emblems of individual freedom, must have precedence over the collective good), and b) the refusal to accept that it is too expensive without raising taxes and/or user fees (Ford's insistence that once 'shovels are in the ground', private money will magically appear).

For me then, the politics of Toronto sharply parallel our national government, insistent as it is on measures that have no utility or are not needed (think omnibus crime bill) and the frank insistence that continuing to lower tax rates for corporation in light of massive deficits, naively and without empirical proof insisting that they create and maintain jobs in Canada (think Electro-Motive Canada or Vale Inco).

Finally, today's Star has a letter that prompted some of these Sunday morning reflections; I am taking the liberty of reproducing it below. it provides a logic and reasoning seemingly absent from the Ford Inc. worldview:

Re: Ford transit agenda buried by council, March 23

Rob Ford is right about one thing regarding the current transit issue. Generally, people do want subways. They are faster, they have a higher capacity than LRT and, let’s face it, those new trains running on the Yonge line are pretty cool. I love subways and wish we could have more of them. But I also want to live in the penthouse of the new Trump hotel, eat out every night at expensive restaurants, and travel the world and never have to work again. But then, reality hits. I simply don’t have the money for that kind of lifestyle.

Rob Ford will likely take Thursday’s council decision as a direct personal attack, when all he really had to do was show council the money. All this could have gone the other way if he didn’t act like a schoolyard bully so often. So much of being the mayor is in the approach you take with the other elected council members and the citizens you represent. Even Adam Vaughn would have supported a continuation of the Sheppard subway if the Fords were able to present a viable business plan on how to fund it.

On this particular issue, it’s all about the money. Subways simply cost much more than LRTs and take longer to build. It seems like we’re just compromising with LRTs, but we’re not. They will be great because they will be in their own dedicated lanes. Despite what you may have heard, zero car lanes on Sheppard are being sacrificed. However, there might have been a way to fund the subway even it was just one kilometre a year. But an eleventh hour parking tax proposal, which seemed to have little or no research behind it, came across as the act of a desperate child who isn’t getting his way. If there had been a well-studied new levy or a tax that went directly to new subway construction and progress was being made, most people would have probably been okay with that. Had Ford done his homework before declaring Transit City dead, rescinding the vehicle registration tax and promising subways while freezing property taxes, he would be in a much better mood today.

Joel Zigler, Toronto

A Video Rebuke of Rob Ford

Thanks to sol chom for posting this. I couldn't resist passing it on:

Rob Ford's Absolutism

In a report carried on CBC, Toronto's monomaniacal mayor issued the following pronouncement regarding support for subways:

You are either with us or against us. There is no middle ground.

Hmm, now why does that absolutist assertion sound so eerily familiar?

Lament For Ontario's Capital

Oh, how the mighty have fallen ...

UPDATE: Urban studies theorist Richard Florida offers his views.