Just read this Star story in the COMMENTS section about a young woman who was deported for no reason at all. I am disgusted. Who the fuck was the bureaucrat who made this decision? Send him/her back to the Isle of Douche…
Carla Campagna was placed on a flight to Santiago on Sept. 21, 2010, hours after losing a deportation appeal in Toronto. (SUPPLIED PHOTO)
All of Toronto is buzzing now with the news that Rob Ford has 46% of the decided vote for his attempt to become mayor of our city. Now, right wingers have always been behind Ford but only recently have a lot of centrists and even left wingers come to see him as the only solution to all that stinks in the city’s politics.
So, not to pat myself on the back too hard, but I realized that I declared my support–which surprised and/or saddened a few people–back in April, well before the non-right wingers started swallowing that bitter pill. The excerpt below is what I had written back then:
And as I discussed a few months ago, Councilor Rob Ford, who’s a douche many times over, is running for mayor of Toronto. As I explained before, he may be a douche but I can’t think of anyone better to fix Toronto’s sorry, sorry state of affairs after years of mismanagement by THE MOST ENTITLED assholes in all of Canadian politics, Toronto City Council–okay, they’re tied with Vaughn City Council. And things got worse when David Miller took over, which is pathetic, given that his predecessor was the embarrassing buffoon, Mel Lastman, who has less class, intelligence or tact than a used car salesman. Looks as if others share my view, as Ford is now in second place in the race and gaining momentum. This is getting exciting. If only the politician with the most integrity, John Tory, would run; that might also keep him off the radio, where he unfortunately sucks as a host.
Toronto Mayoral candidate Rob Ford speaks to the media in this file photo from Aug. 18. Tara Walton/Toronto Star
Sorry, but if you turn around and fire a gun in a busy mall at a security guard chasing you for shoplifting, you deserve to spend the rest of your life in jail. This is not an “accident.” It’s not a “bad choice.” It’s attempted murder. It’s a lack of regard for life. It’s a sign of a sociopath. It’s a damn miracle that no one was hit and killed. Lock this animal up for life. Don’t waste money trying to redeem him.
Unfortunately, this is Canada, so he’s going to get a slap on the wrist and will get a 10th or 100th chance to actually kill someone next time. There truly is no justice. There is no deterrence. The COMMENTS section contains the details of this scumbag and his scumbag partner. Kudos to the security guard. I hope he is not traumatized.
Police are on the hunt for Christopher Alexander, left, and Shaun Mobeen. (TORONTO POLICE handout) Okay, here’s the short version (the entire Sun article is below in the COMMENTS section): A woman is gang-raped by four men. Two please guilty, which strongly suggests they did it. The other two get to go free because the trial took too long, due to incompetence by the police, meaning that their rights were violated. Boo freaking Hoo. Their co-rapists plead guilty. They were therefore likely guilty too. But that doesn’t matter here in Canada. And none of the incompetent cops will suffer any consequences. Hell, they didn’t even apologize to the victim until after she went public. Sheesh.
If you can up to this point, speak to me after checking out this site:
http://www.afathersnightmare.com/
If you don’t want to go there, check out this story:
http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/michele_mandel/2010/09/08/15286666.html
It’s all true. It’s scary as shit.
I’ve often said that one sign of the apocalypse is that more than one person on the planet sees “Jersey Shore’s” Snooki as a role model. Please be clear: If you have children and one of them says such a thing, you should be stripped of your label “parent” because you have failed completely. It’s bad enough when kids look up to a pathetic waste such as Lindsay Lohan or, worse yet, Paris Hilton. But Snooki?? The end is nigh…(and the COMMENTS section contains the entire story in which a judge makes the appropriate comparison):
Well, “good” depends on what side of the fence you’re on (no pun intended). The Globe and Mail story in the Comments section below (thank you, CM!) discusses how Toronto Police Chief, Bill Blair, has been admitting to errors during the Sunday Clusterfuck at the G20. As it postulates, by taking the blame NOW, right before a class-action lawsuit, they’re hoping to take most of the sting off of the charges by saying, “Hey, we’ve admitted we’re wrong, so what’s the problem? No need for any review of our incompetence or malfeasance here, folks…No need for any accountability…”
Now, to be fair to Blair, he may have had little authority to do anything; he may have acted on someone else’s commands but he’s the guy who must take the hear for it. I have no idea if this is true or not, but it certainly wouldn’t be the first time the true evil doers hide behind their minions. And a police chief is a pretty high-ranking minion. So you never know…But if the whole security idiocy on Saturday and Sunday was Blair’s fault, he needs to be held accountable. And so do PM Harper and Premier McGuinty. Fuckers, all of them….
Lily mentioned one of Rob Ford’s comments re. not wanting to take in any new refugees or immigrants because Toronto can’t afford to take care of the people who are already here. I know that sounds like a racist, ignorant comment. However, the fact is that Canada is known internationally as perhaps the number one place to come illegally because we are far too compassionate to EVERYONE. That is not acceptable to our citizens, to the people who come here PROPERLY, and to the TRUE refugees.
Before we start feeling sorry for the newest round of supposed refugees, at least four of whom are pregnant, we have to look at the facts:
1) The UN has declared that Sri Lankans do not face widespread discrimination, hence they don’t meet the conditions for refugee status a priori. Some INDIVIDUALS may, but not the people as a whole.
2) People who come here ILLEGALLY should NOT receive ANYTHING from us unless there are some extenuating circumstances.
3) Hundreds of thousands of rejected refugees and immigrants are wandering around Canada because of our system.
4) How many people have helped out a homeless or mentally ill person here? How many have helped out a Native/Aboriginal family in distress here? How many have helped out children who are victims of monstrous parents here?
I’m not a non-compassionate person. I do feel terrible for refugees and anyone else who has to endure hardships. But there’s only so much any one person can do, and I believe in watering one’s own garden before one begins to harvest elsewhere. So although Ford’s statement was made in the same bombastic manner as always, contained incorrect/exaggerated facts, and was said poorly so that people could focus on the bad points rather than those that have merit or make sense, I understand his sentiment.
Other countries have re-location policies: “You want to come here? You have to live in this or that place that WE decide.” What’s wrong with that? Even CANADIAN DOCTORS have similar programs, whereby they receive incentives to move to under-services places. But because Canada/Ontario is too weak, we would never think of doing that. What is the end result? Our city, which is already bankrupt and crumbling in all aspects, will be flooded with even more people who take out far more than they give, at least for now.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I know that so many immigrants and refugees are skilled, hardworking people. It’s a travesty that our system drives many of them into jobs that don’t allow them to use their intelligence, ambition, skills or experience. I think we need more language and training programs to accommodate them. But we shouldn’t pretend that ALL newcomers are the same. If you cannot show that you have the POTENTIAL to contribute to your new society, why should we go broke accommodating you? We have to be more discretionary in our selection process so that we do not destroy a system that is already over-burdened. Because when that happens, as it already is, you don’t do ANYONE any favours.
And to be clear, I’ve written about this before: I am disgusted at people who come to Canada and bitch about everything, mock us for being too “simple” in giving them so much, get our “free” education, health care and other social services and then go elsewhere so that other countries benefit from OUR investment, live elsewhere so that another country gets to tax them, defy our laws and not spend enough time in Canada (no one ever checks), then bring in all of their family members–including many elderly people–to leech off even more of our “free” health care and social services. Oh, and let us not forget that these are the very same people who spit in our face and go back to their country to spend most of their time/money–except for their periodic returns to get “free” health care–but as soon as something fucked up happens in their misbegotten country, they scream at Canada, demanding that we spend millions of dollars to bring them here, since they are now “Canadians.”
Does this sound like a xenophobic rant? Sure it does. But I’m not xenophobic. Like most Canadians, my parents were immigrants. The most important people in my life are not Canadian-born. I appreciate the value that immigrants bring to Canada. Many immigrants are harder working than people who were born in Canada.
But none of this changes the fact that Canada, Ontario, and Toronto are all on the verge of disaster. Every expert agrees that our health care system is broken and is failing those who pay for it. Our immigration system is a scandal plagued joke. Our taxes are higher than ever and keep increasing, while our services are decreasing. This is true at all levels of government.
So before we freely let in more people to mess up our system further, let’s try to fix what we have and take care of the citizens, immigrants, refugees, etc. that are currently living here. Let’s not pretend that the emperor’s clothes look smashing. Let’s get politicians and policy makers with the guts and brains to make the right choices for everyone. And when someone is not very articulate but does speak the truth (or at least a somewhat skewed version of it), let’s not ignore his entire message just because he does not know how to communicate well. Of course, if that person truly is a racist or some other bigot, then I do not support him. But I will not dismiss someone simply because they are not politically correct enough.
Although most of this rant is not directly related to Rob Ford, it WAS started by reference to him. So I have to reiterate that I am NOT a fan of the man as a person. I do disagree with a number of his opinions. And he may very well be a bigot, rather than just someone who can’t articulate himself well. Again, if he IS a bigot, I will not support him. But if he’s merely politically incorrect, I will not let that detract from the message underneath, if it’s a message I support.
