Rob Ford's Toronto

[Lenser]

Scientific fact will tell you that if you have a penis, you're a male--if you have a vagina, you're a female. That isn't debatable. Enza is a man, dressed like a woman. That's his business and right, but it's certainly not convincing anyone that he's really a woman. If pretending one is a member of the opposite sex isn't a form of mental illness/unstableness, what is it? It's not normal, that's for sure. How we're born is how we were meant to be. If Enza was supposed to be a female, he would have been born as one.

Who cares if he's convincing people about his gender or not? What's the big deal, really? What does that have to do with running for mayor?

Just because someone who identifies themselves as transgendered can change the sex on their birth certificate doesn't mean it isn't "nutty" and odd. So what if one calls themselves a man or a woman? Honest reality isn't pliable. That also shows you how spineless our society is. We're so afraid of offending the sensitivities of people that we'll defy logic in order to make others feel comfortable. Why encourage others to be what they obviously aren't? If Enza isn't mentally unstable, why can't he live as a man? His pretending to be a woman suggests that he's not happy how he was born, thus my indication that there's something mentally wrong with him. What makes someone act against their true nature?

What makes you so upset about someone else's private life? Even if they make it public by running for mayor of this town? I mean, who cares? Why do you have to decide if it's "true" or not? I don't even know what "true nature" really means. Ask ten people and you'll get ten different answers - so much for absolutes. With regards to what you see as our so-called "spineless" society, all I have to say is I pity you. There's just so many other more substantial windmills to tilt at. My .02.

 

[Jaguar4u]

I agree with Lenser 100%.

I cannot believe that the issue of sexuality is being debated on this forum.

 

[Torontovibe]

Mayor Ford may be the dumbest politician this city has ever known, but who in their right mind would vote for someone (Enza) so mentally unstable and unhappy with the way they were born? Why are people referring to Enza as a 'she?' Was he not born with a penis?

Grow up and stop trying to provoke people. Don't we have bigger issues to deal with in this city?

 

[jamincan]

I know it's tempting to rise to Joe R.'s bait, but I think we've strayed pretty far from the subject of Rob Ford.

 

[RC8]

Interesting, first of all, I am fairly certain there is a rather large corpus of scientific literature out there that illustrates that homosexuality is NOT abnormal in a pathological sense of the word

Not reaallly... When it comes to psychiatry we pretty much decide what's pathological and what isn't arbitrarily.

If you were infatuated towards, say, a washing machine, you would probably be prescribed psychiatric treatment. Ultimately the main reason why we do not treat homosexuality or bondage-fetish as a pathology is down to individuals being able to carry out happy and meaningful lives while embracing whatever they're into.

We make plenty other exceptions to the rules of what constitutes pathology: think religion.

 

[RC8]

If Enza is hormonally more like a woman, wouldn't he actually look like one, naturally, at least somewhat, instead of having a fraudulent semblance of one through cross dressing? Hence, wouldn't he be closer to a hermaphrodite and not simply someone who dresses like a woman? There is no record that I can find that states he's a hermaphrodite, but simply a man that wishes he was a woman and I guess thinks he's one? He could cognitively have a strong female presence, but how can we be so sure that he's just naturally that way and hasn't developed differently because of circumstances in his personal life, i.e. no mother in the picture, which is what seems to have been the case for him. Maybe his father was hard on him and since he had no mother (as it appears) to comfort him, perhaps that distorted his emotions and left him feeling unsure about himself? There are many things that could have contributed to him becoming a cross dresser. I don't think there's some inborn instinct that makes someone turn out that way. I feel bad for the guy though. I'm sure his life hasn't been very easy.

No.

Enza Anderson does strike me as a terrible candidate, btw. But I would support a transgendered candidate if they were, well, better candidates. While you or I may find cross-dressing a ridiculous activity, it is not really as ridiculous as someone who dresses up in robes, expects people to pay him for nothing, and refuses to have children because god told him it was wrong.

Yet I know plenty of priests I would elect to public office. Our private life is just that.

 

[freshcutgrass]

I do find that someone who is clearly a man, but calls himself a woman, to be unfit for public office, on mental grounds.

While this topic is far more complex than it is being made out to be, it can hardly be taken seriously as a mental disorder. I mean if you want to get clinical, then it is not diagnosable as a psychiatric disorder unless it causes distress to the individual or harm to others.

Cross-dressing isn't delusional....you know you are dressing up as the opposite sex. Believing in the supernatural is delusional, therefore anyone who believes in god is a delusional person, and this delusional belief does indeed affect important political decisions, and therefore quite dangerous. You should therefore not consider any person who believes in god (any god) to be mentally fit for public office.

Enza seems quite stupid, and therefore not suitable for public office on those grounds. Cross-dressing is a very noticeable, but benign habit in and of itself.

Rob Ford on the other hand, almost certainly suffers one or more personality disorders, and has the dysfunctional family to back it up. Plus he's stupid on top of it.

 

[Ice_Burn]

It's amazing that a transgendered person is unfit on mental grounds but we have proven lunatics ROB FUCKING FORD, Giorgio Mammoliti, and Doug Ford currently holding office. If mental instability were a disqualifying factor, hey let's start with the guy with the obvious alcohol problem and whose house is frequently visited by emergency services for domestic abuse.

 

[nfitz]

If Enza isn't mentally unstable, why can't he live as a man?

Why is this so important to you?

I've never heard of her ... but what gives you the right to tell others what to live? I really don't see the need for such vile and extreme bigotry here.

 

[Admiral Beez]

........such vile and extreme bigotry here.

Oh no, we've got nfitz started on the "bigotry" name calling again :0

 

[W. K. Lis]

Ford sees a witch hunt

From the Toronto Sun, at this link:

Councillors spent most of Wednesday fighting over how deeply involved Mayor Rob Ford’s office was in the civic appointments process.

Charges of cronyism were swirling in the council chamber as councillors waded into ombudsman Fiona Crean’s follow-up report on her investigation into the city’s appointment process. Ford and his allies battled back by dismissing the attack as a “witch-hunt” and “left-wing nonsense.”

At the centre of Wednesday’s heated debate was the existence of a list sent from the mayor’s office to staff in the city manager’s office that listed the names of some applicants for the library board, the Toronto Port Authority, the Toronto Police Services Board, the Toronto Parking Authority and the Metro Toronto Convention Centre board.

Left-leaning councillors argued almost 100% of those named in the confidential document got interviews and more than 70% of those on the list got the appointments they applied for. Several councillors also alleged many of those appointees on the list donated to Ford’s election campaign.

A tough-talking Ford called the day-long debate “absolutely left-wing nonsense”.

“This is absolutely ridiculous,” Ford said after the council session ended. “The first time I saw the list was today ... I knew three names on the list. Andy Pringle was one, who never supported me in the election … three out of 27 people on that list I knew them and if they contributed to my campaign it must have been after (the election) at the Harmony dinner.

“It’s all politics from the left-wing. It is not even worth the time of day. I never saw the list. I had nothing to do with the list.”

Councillor Frances Nunziata - chairman of the civic appointments committee - accused councillors of being bitter “because they didn’t get their friends on the committee.”

“When they’re not happy, they bitch,” she said.

Councillor Adam Vaughan blasted the appointment process.

“If this doesn’t smack of cronyism then what the hell does?” he asked council.

Councillor Joe Mihevc said it is clear the appointment process “has been corrupted.”

“There was undue political interference in the selection of the people on the agencies, boards and commissions,” he said.

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti seized the fact the debate was bubbling up on Halloween to make his point.

“A wonderful witch-hunt down here on Halloween,” Mammoliti said.

“A witch-hunt is being conducted by a number of councillors.”

In the end, councillors voted unanimously to accept the ombudsman’s report on the list.

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" and his band of "Death Eaters" say this is a "witch hunt"? Sorry, don't think the "Order of the Phoenix" would be too upset by this tease. They won't fall under his spell.

 

[CapitalSeven]

He's confused. It's actually a f@t b@st@rd hunt.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Your tax dollars at "work" - from the Globe:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...tball-game-that-ends-in-fight/article4844116/

AoD

 

[sarnya]

Your tax dollars at "work" - from the Globe:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...tball-game-that-ends-in-fight/article4844116/

AoD

We got a triple-whammy today - Leaving council to go to a football game, a crazy speech and a police dispatch.

Granted, Ford did not call the police himself but it sounds like he was part the situation, which required the police to be called.

 

[cdr108]

Your tax dollars at "work" - from the Globe:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...tball-game-that-ends-in-fight/article4844116/

AoD

for those who can't read the G&M online as they've gone to a paying structure:



‘I’m not changing’: Ford leaves council meeting to coach football game that ends in fight

Kelly Grant - City Hall Bureau Chief
The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Nov. 01 2012, 8:14 PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Nov. 01 2012, 9:10 PM EDT

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford left for more than two hours in the middle of a council meeting Thursday to coach a high school football game that ended with a fight and the mayor’s team being ferried home on a police-ordered TTC bus.

“If I wasn’t there, it could have gotten really ugly,” Mr. Ford told reporters after he returned to council. “I think you should talk to the school board and police. I controlled my team.”

Toronto police received a call just before 4 p.m. from someone at Father Henry Carr Catholic Secondary School in Etobicoke, where Mr. Ford’s Don Bosco Eagles were playing Carr in a post-season game.

Constable Tony Vella said the coach of the Carr team got into an altercation with one of the referees, forcing the game to be called early.

Const. Vella said police called the TTC to request a bus to take the Don Bosco players back to their school because of “weather conditions.”

Brad Ross, a spokesman for the TTC, said the transit agency dispatched the standard 40-foot bus to the field because the TTC always complies with such requests from police.

He said the TTC did not know it was the mayor’s team that needed a ride.

“Toronto Police called us requesting a bus to safely transport students. We were not informed of who or what team or why,” he said in an e-mail.

The time Mr. Ford devotes to his volunteer coaching duties has been an issue at city hall for much of the fall – at the end of September his own council supporters gathered at the mayor’s mother’s house to suggest, among other changes, that Mr. Ford stop skipping council and committee meetings for football.

On Thursday, Mr. Ford suggested his team risked forfeiting the semi-final match if he didn’t show up. His team won the game.

“What are we going to do, just forfeit the game? These kids, this is their education that rides on these games,” the mayor said, adding that, short of his suffering an accident, the game could not have carried on under the guidance of an assistant coach.

As for his coaching responsibilities, the mayor said: “I made a commitment. I have for 20 years and I’m not changing.”

The mayor, who left at lunch break, returned to the council chambers around 4:45 p.m., in time to deliver an impassioned speech against the legal agreement that finalized an $8.4-billion light-rail network deal with Metrolinx, the province’s transportation agency.

“The people of this city have spoken loud and clear in Etobicoke and North York and Scarborough. They want subways,” he said. “[If ] you support this, you are supporting more congestion, streetcars the people do not want – mass gridlock. This is terrible. This is the worst thing we could be approving today.”

Council voted against the mayor to adopt the master agreement with Metrolinx by a vote of 30-11.