Although I despised Rob Ford with every bone in my body, I must admit I was sad to hear that he had died. Because nobody can celebrate the death of a man who died so young from such a terrible disease like cancer. And I feel sorry for his wife and two young children, and all the others who loved him. But when I see how so many people are falling backwards to praise Ford, I feel that this must also be said.
I have to admit I have been doing my best to ignore Rob Ford. I find keeping up with the criminal activities of Boss Harper and his Con gang hard enough. And I fear too much exposure to that monstrous dumb as a spoon Con buffoon might drive me over the edge eh? But how can you ignore this state of denial or delusion? Mayor Rob Ford called the events of Monday night a “minor setback” and offered no apology in a Wednesday evening press conference. Or the damage he is doing.
As Toronto woke up to a scene of devastation with more than a quarter of a million people without power, one man was missing in action. And you can guess who that was eh? The Mayor in Name Only. As city officials, staff and cleanup crews worked to repair the havoc caused by an icy storm, Mayor Rob Ford was unreachable, according to a source.
The mayor could not be found all Sunday morning by city staff working to organize warming centres and other emergency preparations, the source said.
Golly. Because I've been so busy trying to stay on top of the Senate scandal, I haven't been able to write anything about the continuing adventures of Rob Ford. But they are continuing. And it's still a horror show. Even though the Fordzilla can't seem to understand that he's only the mayor in name only.
His monstrous presence still threatens Toronto. But he is less of a threat than he was yesterday. The good guys are finally winning. The Fordzilla is finally being neutered. Toronto city council has voted to both remove Mayor Rob Ford's authority during emergency situations and, under a separate motion, has stripped his power to hire and fire the deputy mayor and appoint members of his executive committee. They are the first of three motions aimed at leaving Ford as mayor in name only.
He will continue his last 11 months as mayor with severely limited powers.
When I stare at that mugshot of Rob Ford. The one that was taken after he challenged a Florida cop to take him to jail for drunk and stoned driving, and was promptly arrested. I can't help wondering whether more people should have realized where that spoiled son of a millionaire was heading. Because now we all know eh? And it's not pretty.
I thought it was strange that at a time when Toronto was convulsed over the police shooting of Sammy Yatim, Rob Ford had nothing to say about what had happened. Nothing to say about the way the police acted that night. But instead ducked reporters, and when finally cornered while campaigning for Tim Hudak's Ontario Conservatives seemed incredibly nervous...
He's spent the last week running from the media. Refusing to answer questions about a video that shows him smoking crack with a bunch of criminals. Then he gets to go on his own radio show and claim that there is no video, and the media are maggots.
He has been drunk as a skunk in public. He has given women and children the finger. He is a crass, vulgar bigot, and the worst Mayor Toronto has ever known. Now let Rob Ford explain this one. A cellphone video that appears to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine is being shopped around Toronto by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade.
If you don't live in Toronto you probably know Rob Ford as the callous, vulgar, Con buffoon, who doesn't know what he is doing, and is always getting into trouble. But because he has no effect on your life, you can laugh, or shake your head, or shrug your shoulders at this latest democratic outrage. Among auditors Bruce Armstrong and Glen Davison’s findings: the mayor’s campaign overspent by $40,168, or 3% of the $1.3-million limit; it received $6,000 in donations made by 11 corporations, but listed them as coming from individuals.. It found the campaign attributed $19,500 to a “Bromell” fundraiser that never took place and that the money was actually raised at a Building Industry and Land Development Association event. But the sad part is that a lot of people who live in Toronto feel the same way.
He was so sure he was going to lose, they had to hire a squeegee kid to mop the sweat off his ample brow. And when he found out he had got off on a technicality, he was so relieved he sounded like the new and improved Rob Ford. He stood at the podium, grey faced. With a choking voice, he read from a script.
“This has been a very, very humbling experience,” Ford said. For about ten seconds.
Oh no. I can't believe it. For a while I thought this was the last I would see of the Con klown Rob Ford. Standing there, a stunned look on his idiot face, watching his career, and his team, going down the toilet. And like so many people in Toronto I thought it was a thing of beauty.
When I saw Rob Ford today, sort of apologizing for the first time in his life, I'm almost felt sorry for him. "Looking back, maybe I could have expressed myself in a different way. To everyone who believes I should have done this differently, I sincerely apologize," Ford said in a prepared statement at a Tuesday afternoon news conference at city hall. For his voice was hoarse, there were tears in his eyes. And the sight of a Con blubbering always moves me deeply eh? But then I remembered that he lost his voice cheering wildly at an Argo rally a few hours before, and then I noticed his brother Doug.
Well it was never going to be a pretty sight eh? You can't put lipstick on a Con. But there was Rob Ford as ugly as ever. Blaming everybody but himself, after hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
About six months ago I wrote a post about the little farm on the Toronto Islands that Rob Ford was threatening to close down.
Soon after that I thought it had been saved. But now it's on the chopping block again.
Even though just ONE weekend of ferry ticket sales would ensure its survival. And Ford threw away $60 million by canceling a registration fee for cars, in a city choking in its own fumes.
Now to add insult to injury it looks as if the little farm's survival may come at this price.
Lordy. Fan me with a feather. It look as if Rob Ford has really done it this time. Not only has he been totally humiliated.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has called his council's tumultuous debate on the future of the city's transit "irrelevant" after it dealt him a major defeat on Wednesday, voting down his vision to put new light-rail lines underground.
Not only has he gone from a zero, to Nero, or Marie Antoinette, in the time it takes to lose twenty pounds.
He has apparently cracked under the strain. Going on a bizarre late night tour of the subway system, immediately following his council loss.
Which scared the bejeesus out of people all over the city...
Only to forget to pick up a transfer, because he always drives to work. And have to take a cab all the way back to his home in the suburbs.
All of which has some calling the ignorant redneck a deranged buffoon. Others calling HIM irrelevant.
For Ford himself, Wednesday’s defeat was crushing. The day after being elected, he staked his mayoralty on subways, and now council has said no. The province won’t be far behind, which means Ford has alienated everyone but Hudak, who, like the mayor, lacks credibility.
Though he has three years left in his term, Ford is a lame-duck mayor. How long can he last?
Well at least we know one thing eh? When Rob Ford called 911 because he felt threatened by the comedian Marg Delahunty. And then used the F-word when talking to a dispatcher, because police didn't come quickly enough.
It wasn't because they didn't know where he lived.
According to numerous police and emergency service sources, 911 calls to the mayor’s Edenbridge Dr. home are a reality for the South Etobicoke division. Exactly how many calls have been made is unknown.
Now I don't give a damn what goes on in the Ford household. In fact I'd rather not think about it.
I didn't really want to write anything about this surrealistic confrontation, between Rob Ford, the grotesque Mayor of Toronto, and the Princess Warrior.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is apologizing for using the "f-word" during a 911 phone call but denies a report that he called dispatchers "bitches."
After being attacked in my driveway, I hope I can be excused for saying the f-word. I never called anyone any names. I apologize for expressing my frustration inappropriately."
I mean what more can you say about that eh? Except that the whole world is watching.
And that's a bitch. Because now they must think we're all IDIOTS.
And this:
(1) Any person who would tie up a 911 line, not once but twice, because he felt threatened by a well known elderly comedian, is either an irresponsible maniac, a moron, or a coward. Or all of the above.
And a public official who abuses a 911 operator should resign. Immediately.
(2) From the moment Rob Ford was sworn in as Mayor he has acted like an absolute jackass...
And the damage he is doing to this city, and its reputation, will take a generation to heal.
(3) The Ford Nation who elected him should stay in their suburbs grave yards...
And never show their faces in public again. Until well after midnight. The stumbling, bumbling, zombie CRETINS.
(4) If Stephen Harper could enthusiastically swap spit with Marge...
The Fordzilla could have at the very least offered her a friendly ear. Or let her fondle his ample buttocks.
(5) His Homophobic Monstrosity should definitely release this tape. So we can see whether he's squishing the truth. Again. And have a good laugh. Because he owes us eh?
(6) Could somebody please buy the moron a big bubble machine? To limit the damage he might do to the city, by distracting him for the rest of his term in office.
He blubbered, he bubbahed, he pouted, and then he surrendered.
In a significant concession to public opposition and to queasy council allies, Ford voted at the end of a 20-hour executive committee meeting to reject some proposed cuts and to put off decisions on almost all of the others to the 2012 budget process, which begins in November and ends in mid-January.
The votes call into question Ford’s ability to usher a hawkish fiscal agenda through council. They suggest that even some of the mayor’s loyalists have not yet mustered the fortitude to put their jobs on the line by endorsing cuts in the face of widespread disapproval from their constituents.
Chalk up one for PEOPLE POWER.
A few months ago he looked unbeatable, now he just looks pathetic.
The meeting ended on a humorous note. Ford finished his last speech by saying, “On that note, thank you very much, and goodnight everybody.” He had to be reminded that the committee had not yet voted.
All hail the leader of the Moron Nation !!!!!!!!
The bad news? The battle isn't over yet.
The good news? For the time being it looks like the old donkey and his friends will get to live out their days at the Far Enough Farm...
So I won't have to adopt him.
However if any petting zoo wants to adopt this Gluteus Maximus...
As long as they promise to feed him it enough gravy, they can have it for FREE.
The serious lesson? Ford would not have backed down if hundreds and hundreds of people hadn't turned up at City Hall. Or put pressure on him in other ways. Progressive parties are now empty vessels and will not be in a position to change ANYTHING for at least four years. Only people power can.
Now imagine what we might be able to do to the Harper Cons if Canadians across the country take to the streets. Or 100-thousand people gather on Parliament Hill.
Far Enough Farm is a little hobby farm located on one of the Toronto Islands. Every year hundreds of thousands of people visit it.
Because admission is free, it's a great place for poor families to take their children to, and introduce them to a way of life.
And to animals they would otherwise never see.
Except on a supermarket shelf.
It's also used extensively by children with special needs, who like other kids, can pet the gentle animals, and get free rides on ponies.
But now Rob Ford's Moron Nation regime is considering shutting down the farm, even though it more than pays for itself. Because that crass, vulgar, millionaire couldn't give a damn about poor people.
And the saddest thing is that because many of the animals have spent all their lives there, and are old, finding a new home for them will be practically impossible.
So they will have to be destroyed...
Which is why some of us are desperately trying to save the farm.
Like so many other things that make this city livable.
And why this afternoon, when I kissed the old donkey on its nose, I repeated my blood oath.
If Rob Ford and his Moron Nation want a war, so help me.
