June 2012
42 posts
“Now we’re up against something where we have an administration here and...”
– Better Know a Ward: Councillor Gord Perks, Ward 14 | OpenFile
Jun 1st
18 tags
#TeamFord's two-years-and-change horizon, and a...
My friend @cityslikr’s got another fine piece at Torontoist today. In it, he neatly dissects the discrepancies between Team Ford’s apocalyptic predictions of fiscal disaster and the fact that our benighted city somehow manages to return an operating surplus year after year. Matters aren’t helped, of course, by The Brother’s inexplicable characterization of...
Jun 1st
1 note
May 2012
24 posts
5 tags
“The trouble with debt, in the eyes of Team Ford members, is that you need to...”
– What Do You Call “One-Time Savings” That Happen Again and Again? | politics | Torontoist H/t @cityslikr. Can we get Josie #YellyLiarLady to hound Team Ford? I’m in for a tenner. Related posts: Fiscal discipline, @cityslikr and Toronto’s endless budget follies | #TOpoli #onpoli ...
May 31st
1 note
The Whole Buffalo Review: Dave Thomas: “Harper is... →
wholebuffaloreview: May 30, 2012 In a wide-ranging interview, SCTV alumnus Dave Thomas - who with Rick Moranis created the iconic Canadian characters Bob and Doug Mackenzie - says that Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper is probably “the worst thing that’s ever happened to Canada.” Thomas made…
May 31st
18 notes
10 tags
What Would George Tiller Do? | The Nation |...
Late last year the House passed the ironically named “Protect Life Act,” which would allow hospitals to refuse women abortions even if they needed them to save their lives. (The hospital wouldn’t even have to transfer the woman to a facility that would provide the life-saving procedure—they could simply watch her die.) And last year, South Dakota (followed by Iowa and Nebraska) proposed a...
May 31st
9 tags
“The budget chief needs to start coming clean with us and simply admit that he...”
– Budget Chief No « All Fired Up In The Big Smoke @Cityslikr on Mike Del Grande’s financial acumen and attitude toward governance. Combine that with John Del Grande’s thoughts about GSAs and the Catholic school system and you really have to wonder about the family DNA. Related...
May 29th
@dreahouston in Xtra: Drummond's glaring omission... →
Seems that when Don Drummond was setting out the austerity script earlier this year, the question of how much we’re spending to let Catholic schools teach homophobia never came up. Well, according to this piece from Andrea Houston,  the One School System Network says merging Ontario’s two school systems into one publicly funded secular system would save approximately $500 million each...
May 29th
7 tags
“Sorry to go all Rumsfeldian on you, but you work with the council you have, not...”
– Me, on the suggestion that Team Ford’s “plan,” to the extent that it has one, for the next couple of years is to disengage and stamp its feet hoping to get a more pliant group of councillors next time around.
May 29th
3 tags
May 26th
227 notes
8 tags
Video: Women in #TOpoli, with @dreahouston,...
Nothing fancy, all single shot, but collected here so they’re all in one place. Do I need to point out that the event totally rocked? Additional links to come.
May 24th
9 tags
Fiscal discipline, @cityslikr and Toronto's...
My pal @cityslikr has a thoughtful post over at his place, riffing on the whole Moody’s municipal credit rating thing. If you’ve been reading his stuff regularly, as you should, and keeping abreast of the #TOpoli big picture, then you know: contrary to the edge-of-the-abyss picture regularly presented by certain political camps and their tabloid-media enablers, city finances are not...
May 22nd
North Carolina Man Of God Would Like To Put All... →
Sorry, was I saying Christopher Hitchens was on to something? (h/t Sabina Becker)
May 21st
May 21st
4 notes
8 tags
“We should not aspire to become a feudal society where only the elites are taught...”
– How the Conservative Worldview Quashes Critical Thinking — and What That Means For Our Kids’ Future | | AlterNet I don’t disagree with any of the arguments made in this excellent essay. I just hate to see the extent to which the word “conservative” has been debased and...
May 20th
5 notes
7 tags
Mississippi Conservative Calls For Putting #LGBT... →
I’m not going to say Christopher Hitchens was perfect, or absolutely right about everything, but when he argued that religion poisons everything, well … looking at schmucks like this, it’s hard to argue with him. Related posts: For @TOMayorFord, credit where it’s due | #TOpoli Video: Laura Fitch, Jaime Jenett and Simon Lev Fitch-Jenett in Listen From the Heart ...
May 20th
1 note
8 tags
For @TOMayorFord, credit where it's due | #TOpoli
Yeah, I know, I know.  But I spend so much time dumping on him, it’s only fair to acknowledge when he does something good. And that’s not to minimize the “so what? It’s part of his job” argument.  .@emmamwoolley In the future, I will be sure to give him props for other basics requirements of the job, like showing up and wearing pants. — Scaachi Koul...
May 19th
War on the car, redux | #TOpoli
Guess it’s someone else’s fault that this jagoff chose to drive into the intersection without making sure he could get out before the light changed …
May 17th
“There is such a thing as a bad job. More importantly, there is such a thing as a...”
– Kicking them while they’re down « Framed In Canada
May 16th
Ballena Bay, Costa Rica. Scuba rocks
May 9th
7 tags
“… there’s often more than one issue simultaneously worthy of our...”
– Rob Ford’s behavior does matter, and it diminishes us all | Chris Tindal
May 3rd
6 tags
“Newsflash, folks. I spend more time reading the Toronto Sun than I care to...”
– All Fired Up In The Big Smoke Astonishing. 
May 3rd
7 tags
The mayor, the newspaper, and building bridges |...
It’s just a suggestion, but maybe if the mayor wasn’t so intent on freezing the newspaper out, the newspaper wouldn’t seem so keen on pursuing stories that don’t flatter him? Nothing to do with anything in particular. Related posts: An open letter to Councillor Doug Ford | #TOpoli #TeamFord @DavidHains on undermining @TOMayorFord’s enabling mythology ...
May 3rd
16 tags
An open letter to Councillor Doug Ford | #TOpoli...
Dougie (do you mind if I call you Dougie?), we need to talk. You’re hurting Robbie. I know you’re trying to help. Really, I do. But you’re hurting him, and you’re hurting him in ways that the rest of Team Ford can’t even approach. Where do I begin? I guess it’s with your frequent references to the private sector in council debates. Seems like every time...
May 3rd
13 tags
Team Ford to city staff: Keep your expertise to...
The mayor, a champion of car travel, went further on his Sunday Newstalk 1010 radio show, calling McKeown’s $290,000 salary “an embarrassment,” and promising to “look into it.” His brother, Councillor Doug Ford, calling in from Florida, asked: “Why does (McKeown) still have a job?” via thestar.com Goddamn those smart people with their facts and evidence and experience, anyway. So...
May 1st