News   Mar 28, 2024
 504     0 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 401     1 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 743     0 

Rob Ford's Toronto

Status
Not open for further replies.
That is a rather loaded question. I believe in the right to freedom of expression, however, there are limits to how you can exercise that right. Having the right to freedom of expression doesn't give a person carte blanche to troll people on the internet, and since this forum is privately owned the owner has the right to limit the nature of the discourse that goes on.

Now let me ask you a question. Do you feel a person has the legal right to harass another person? Is that an extension of the right to freedom of expression?
 
Someone else makes a threatening gesture and is dealt with by the law: "x [the perpetrator] had it coming".

PopsiclePetesCajunHoedown makes what is deemed to be a threatening gesture: "x [the target of gesture] had it coming".

In practice, that's usually the subtext here.
 
Please move discussions about the CBC, the essence of liberty, the limits of freedom of expression and other off-topic subjects over to either Politics or General discussions.

Any further off-topic posts in this thread will be deleted.
 
Back on topic: Rob Ford offers further evidence of ongoing spousal abuse. Rob Ford supporters continue to believe that it is proper to call 911 when a reporter shows up at Rob Ford's front door but improper to infer misbehaviour when 911 is repeatedly called to attend to domestic abuse complaints against Rob Ford. The Toronto Police once again demonstrate their mastery over their nominal overlords.

We are each -- both Ford and the citizenry that elected him-- our own respective worst enemies.
 
What will happen if protestors show up at the Mayor's Levee? Is Robbie going to listen to them and have a civilized debate, or will he have them thrown out?
 
In the spirit of the New Year why not take some time to point out the positives or something you like about the city under Ford's leadership, or if you are a big Ford supporter be critical of a few of his mis-steps.

When I analyze a small business person I can always tell his business will never really succeed if he focuses too much on costs. While cost cutting is an important aspect of the business it can't be the vision (unless he is a cost cutting consulting) the vision must be the vision. While I don't agree with all his ideas I must admit that Ford is valuable as a cost cutting consultant and at the very least as a force to strike some fear into the hearts of the princelings in organizational departments and as a symbolic bad cop in contract negotiations.

On transit for all the boondogger, if I actually look at it Ford and I share some key philosophies. His desire to keep roads flexible and move fixed alternative transporations off road is a feeling I generally share. While I have biked in this city since 1998 and still do on occasion I must admit that some of the bike lanes introduced in the last decade were ill conceived. Also, while fixed road separations such as bike lanes and transit city rail-tracks may make sense in some places I must admit that high density cities such as London UK have an infrastructure philosphy that aligns more closely with Ford's ideas (underground or grade separated rail, open flexible roads with buses and very few bike lanes) than with Millers.
 
In the spirit of the New Year why not take some time to point out the positives or something you like about the city under Ford's leadership, or if you are a big Ford supporter be critical of a few of his mis-steps.

When I analyze a small business person I can always tell his business will never really succeed if he focuses too much on costs. While cost cutting is an important aspect of the business it can't be the vision (unless he is a cost cutting consulting) the vision must be the vision. While I don't agree with all his ideas I must admit that Ford is valuable as a cost cutting consultant and at the very least as a force to strike some fear into the hearts of the princelings in organizational departments and as a symbolic bad cop in contract negotiations.

On transit for all the boondogger, if I actually look at it Ford and I share some key philosophies. His desire to keep roads flexible and move fixed alternative transporations off road is a feeling I generally share. While I have biked in this city since 1998 and still do on occasion I must admit that some of the bike lanes introduced in the last decade were ill conceived. Also, while fixed road separations such as bike lanes and transit city rail-tracks may make sense in some places I must admit that high density cities such as London UK have an infrastructure philosphy that aligns more closely with Ford's ideas (underground or grade separated rail, open flexible roads with buses and very few bike lanes) than with Millers.

And are you willing to pay tolls and higher taxes? It seems Torontonians are not, so until Ford finds some magic way to raise money, putting serious transit underground is just a dream. You might as well wish for pink unicorns. The only real alternative I see, is LRT and streetcars. The only people who like buses are those who will never ride in them. I avoid buses at all cost and since I live downtown, I can do that, fortunately.
 
In the spirit of the New Year why not take some time to point out the positives or something you like about the city under Ford's leadership.

When I analyze a small business person I can always tell his business will never really succeed if he focuses too much on costs. While cost cutting is an important aspect of the business it can't be the vision (unless he is a cost cutting consulting) the vision must be the vision. While I don't agree with all his ideas I must admit that Ford is valuable as a cost cutting consultant and at the very least as a force to strike some fear into the hearts of the princelings in organizational departments and as a symbolic bad cop in contract negotiations.

Well, I don't agree with you or Ford on transit, so I'll leave it at that. However, given his mandate when he was elected and the success Martin had at the federal level with a 'cut x% across the board' mantra, I'll give Ford credit for that. He immediately drives a stake in the goodwill with his revenue-side issues, though.
 
I knew a Ford mayoralty would be a disaster, but for the first few months after the election I told everyone I could that I was willing to grant Ford the benefit of the doubt if he would hold firm on two particular campaign policies:

1. Control of the police budget
2. Fixing the taxi licensing system

My rationale, at the time, was that Ford was clearly going to do many, many horrible things regarding transit, the budget, etc., but he could still have done these two things as a "maverick outsider unbeholden to special interests", which, IIRC, was what he purported to be.

So far he's zero-for-two on even the kindest of anti-Ford scorecards.

EDIT: This is BS. Why should I post a bland, relatively kind description of Ford that lets him off the hook?

Rob Ford is a shamefully fat and stupid, drunk driving, wife-beating, hypocritical alcoholic bigot who has been arrested on criminal charges ranging from drug possession to assaulting and threatening to kill his wife. He has been publicly accused of physically assaulting not just his wife (on many occasions) but also children on a high-school football team; he has never successfully rebutted those accusations. He drunkenly threatened fellow patrons at a Leafs game and then lied about it only to fess up after being confronted with the business cards he handed out to his victims. He's a loser of sub-average intelligence, and his election as mayor of Toronto will forever mark this city as deserving of the worst the world has to offer.
 
Last edited:
Rob Ford is a shamefully fat and stupid, drunk driving, wife-beating, hypocritical alcoholic bigot who has been arrested on criminal charges ranging from drug possession to assaulting and threatening to kill his wife. He has been publicly accused of physically assaulting not just his wife (on many occasions) but also children on a high-school football team; he has never successfully rebutted those accusations. He drunkenly threatened fellow patrons at a Leafs game and then lied about it only to fess up after being confronted with the business cards he handed out to his victims. He's a loser of sub-average intelligence, and his election as mayor of Toronto will forever mark this city as deserving of the worst the world has to offer.

I wonder if NFITZ is aware that you are using his material?
 
I write all my own material, thanks, but really the credit should all go to Rob Fu*king Ford his-self. In this way (and this way alone) he is truly a self-made man.
 
I wonder if NFITZ is aware that you are using his material?
Why when someone states the undeniable obvious that everyone is aware of, is it my material? Nothing in that that wasn't published in some of the biggest newspapers in the country.

Not sure why you feel the need to violate the forum guidelines to post that ...
 
I write all my own material, thanks, but really the credit should all go to Rob Fu*king Ford his-self. In this way (and this way alone) he is truly a self-made man.

I feel I owe everybody -- most especially Rob Ford -- an apology: the litany of personal failings that constitutes Rob Ford's public persona are not his only self-made qualities. He is also morbidly obese, and given that I have never heard him claim that people are forcing him to eat against his will, I would have to conclude that he is a self-made man in that respect, too.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top