[nfitz]

Making a joke is a violation?

I didn't think a joke was a violation. I simply thought it violated "Make sure your posts contribute something meaningful to the thread.". Not sure why that wasn't self-evident, and then requires several more off-topic posts.

But enough of playing wannabe mod ... let's get back to the core of the thread.

Apparently the first human sensibility one loses on the trek to self appointed Oracle status is a sense of humour. Pity.

I think you'll find that would be spelled "self-appointed" oracle, not "self appointed".

 

[CDL.TO]

Glass houses, nfitz.

 

[Danielinthecity]

Thanks

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.

Thank you voxpop!

It's wonderful how you've summarized him so succinctly and accurately. Reading this awesome post gives me some enjoyment and more importantly hope that next time around Torontonians will give greater consideration and thoughtfulness when considering who should be entrusted to run Toronto.

 

[neubilder]

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.

Yup

 

[k10ery]

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.

Such vitriol! I see Ford as more of a friendly buffoon, a lovable oaf, a charming scoundrel. Think of Falstaff. Sure, Prince Hal might make a better king, but which one would you rather hang out with?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

k10ery:

A friendly buffoon don't get drunk and let out an expletive laden tirade in public.

AoD

 

[Juan_Lennon416]

So we can personally attack Ford but not UT members? I thought any personal attacks were not allowed?

 

[Register123]

It's not personal if he's not participating in the discussion.

 

[Juan_Lennon416]

It's not personal if he's not participating in the discussion.

That is simply not true.

 

[toto]

So we can personally attack Ford but not UT members? I thought any personal attacks were not allowed?

That's not an attack on Ford. It's an accurate description of him and his behaviour.

 

[gabe]

Such vitriol! I see Ford as more of a friendly buffoon, a lovable oaf, a charming scoundrel. Think of Falstaff. Sure, Prince Hal might make a better king, but which one would you rather hang out with?

Are we talking about the same Rob Ford in these youtube vids? He should have gotten some anger management therapy before running for mayor. He is the kind of person i like to avoid having conversations with, you say wrong thing and he flies off the rails, also his attention span is about 30 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOi2wIUCTnA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8EpSdyB0zY

 

[cdr108]

So we can personally attack Ford but not UT members? I thought any personal attacks were not allowed?

public figure and mostly accurate description

 

[voxpopulicosmicum]

So we can personally attack Ford but not UT members? I thought any personal attacks were not allowed?

How is a factual description of the subject of this thread a "personal attack"?

public figure and mostly accurate description

Please describe any inaccuracies so that I may correct them. Never let it be said that I'm not diligent about accuracy (except when I use the phrase "some people say", which the federal government has told us is a magical phrase that allows a person to say anything about anyone).

 

[TrickyRicky]

Well at the least Vox I hope you can translate some of that passion into working for real change. You have a gift for words, while I post on this forum predominately so that I don't forget how to write in the english language.

For the record I am not a Ford support and have not nor ever will vote for him and vocally criticism him on a regular basis. That said, for those of you who utterly hate Ford and think that he is only in office because 40% of your fellow citizens are idiots and buffoons, I suggest you re-consider your paradigm. That line of reasoning is one of THE strategic errors of the leadership and brain-trusts that would stand to oppose Ford. It is to me an UTTER failure of understanding of the mechanisms that underpin human behaviour and dynamics. So I say learn and learn well from Ford (yes you have a LOT to learn from him) if you want him to not be re-elected and for a man like him to never be elected in this city again.

 

[voxpopulicosmicum]

TirckyRicky -- Unfortunately, I don't think that "real change" (in a positive sense) will be possible without first making the lives of most people much, much worse. I don't treally have the stomach for making people's lives worse, so I am left to either (1) work very hard to possibly achieve superficial change (which is how I spent my earlier years) or, (2) keep my head down and accept that I'm not going to be able to change anything, but I can at least spread my cynical (if truthful) toxins in cyberspace just so I can't be accused (by whom?) of allowing this horrible state of affairs go unnoticed.

I'm not saying that I don't believe in the good motives of some people -- even some politicians -- who are working, or have worked, for positive change. I just don't see their efforts as leading to "real change". It's how I knew in July, 2008 that Barack Obama would not actually change anything: because he was going to win the election. I thought Miller might have accomplished "real change". I continue to believe he accomplished some positive change but I also think he purposefully limited his efforts in order to foster a broader constituency. Notwithstanding his caution, the nonsensical anti-Miller backlash was sufficient evidence of a powerful constituency that can and will act in manifold ways to hinder "real change".

So I don't disagree that it is a mistake, from a political perspective, to write-off Ford and his supporters as idiots. But Ford was a known entity before the election, and -- politics aside -- I don't really have the patience to engage people who were willing to ignore, or happy to support, Ford's record. Yes, of course such people are entitled to a voice in our political system. But that's the problem. If that's the level of discourse necessary to be part of the political system, then why would I take part in the political system?

To illustrate the meaninglessness of my life: Back in November or December the federal Conservative Party plead guilty to a number of Elections Act violations, and I listened to a Conservative Party spokesman tell his dutiful CBC interviewer that the convictions proved that the Conservative Party was innocent. This same "black-is-white" mode of argument is repeated every day in respect of small and large issues by all levels of government. What good does it do to spend decades studying economics, politics and law if it can all be undone by a simple, unsubstantiated denial of fact?

We live in the circumstances that Orwell and Kafka predicted.