Oops!

But at least young Tim manages to retain his boyish grin during yet another campaign gaffe.

TTC to Customer: We Take Your Complaint Seriously ...

But we won't tell you if we did anything about it.

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.

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.

Torontonians Rising to the Challenge Presented by Mayor Ford's Fascism

Although I don't live in Toronto, I am riveted to and outraged by stories of those who abuse their power. As discussed in my previous post, that is precisely what is transpiring in 'the big smoke' under the direction of Rob Ford and his acolytes.

Fortunately, however, people are fighting back. Despite the fact that the meeting to unjustly fire Gary Webster will take place behind closed doors, citizens are planning to show up at City Hall:

Community organizer Dave Meslin, who is part of one group calling on people to attend the meeting, said the frustration and anger among transit riders on Facebook and Twitter is “unlike anything I’ve seen before.”

“That’s because this goes beyond a simple debate about policy,” Meslin said. “This is now a debate about procedure, about governance, and about whether the City of Toronto uses evidence or ideology to make decisions.”

Meslin said firing Webster will create “a climate of fear” among the city’s senior staff, which “will effectively silence all our experts across the city.”

For those who live in Toronto and want more information, Meslin has started a Facebook page.

Good luck to all people who believe in the primacy of reason over ideology.

Fascism Spreads To Toronto

Although Canada will likely never see executions for wrong-thinking, the career equivalent of such is very much evident in Toronto, under the benighted 'leadership' of Rob Ford and his cabal of retrogressive 'thinkers' and Ford loyalists (aka TTC Commissioners Norm Kelly, Vince Crisanti, Frank Di Giorgio, Denzil Minnan-Wong and Cesar Palacio).

A special meeting of the commission has been called to discuss one thing: the fate of TTC general manager Gary Webster, expected to result in his termination. His 'crime'? Refusing to surrender his integrity by endorsing Ford's obsession with subway extensions that Toronto neither needs nor can afford. Webster's termination will send a strong message that the job requirement for city staff members has changed from that of offering the best and most impartial advice on the issues to being sycophantic toadies doing the bidding of their political masters.

For a full accounting of the situation, I highly recommend today's editorial in The Star.

How the aforementioned councillors can even pretend to be representing the best interests of their constituents instead of their own venal political ambitions is beyond me, but like another man of integrity, Munir Sheik, I suspect people will remember Gary Webster long after the people acting like fascist thugs are political dust.