Impressionable Youth

It's weird how something you experienced as a youngster can make such a strong impression on you ....

I Hope Day Don't Have Dee Lady Moaning On Dis Voision

Stupid & Shameless

That's about the size of it for your "conservative" political base. Soon, we'll find out that somewhere between 15 and 20 % of Torontonians are debased enough to say: "Sure, he beats his wife and fucks underage girls, and drives drunk, and sends his city-paid staff to run personal errands for him, oh yeah, and then there's that whole 'media-circus' about the crack smoking with the gangsters and stuff, ... but I think he's done a good job fiscally."

Or the Conservative Party delegates who came out of their last coven still believing in stephen harper, even though that asshole had, by that point, changed his story at least three times since the Senate scandal broke.

The shamelessness of Rob Ford, to stubbornly think he can carry on, even after his total hypocrisy on pretty much everything he claimed was important, ... that's the same stupidity and shamelessness of the US-repugnicans who dragged Clinton through the Lewinsky scandal, wherein the shape of the President's penis became a topic for public discussion, who then shrieked how it was an assault on the dignity of the office of the president to remark upon bush II's cretinism, and who now carry pictures of Obama with a bone through his nose.

These are the same types who let bush II shit on their Constitution but who are now patriots standing up to Obama's depredations.

But every time I write this shit, I think of the "progressive" partisans who turn a blind eye to Obama's stated belief that he is constitutionally empowered to kill them.

Ah, fuck it all.

Scandal-riffic!

Gawd, but Rob Ford's stupidity and hypocrisy, .... his total lack of shame, ... his bullshit apologies, .... it's like as if all the mental sludge of the "Blogging Tories" ooozed out of their brains and congealed into this rancid parody.

And stephen harper's response o his own self-inflicted disaster betrays the man's innate cowardice, selfishness and sleaze. T'would appear that Duffy has destroyed him. In denial, harper the pathetic imbecile, thinks he can throw Nigel Wright under the bus. harper is a dead man walking though. he's implicated and his months and months of lying are all public record.

Finally, Peter Mansbridge; the scumbag's softball interview with the brothers Ford doesn't surprise me. This is the dunce who sat there chatting with harper about how Canadians were too stupid to grasp the genius of harper's Afghanistan policy. He's just a tool.

Us vs. Them: Part XXIX

When we on the bleeding-heart, loony left hear about gang violence in Toronto, especially the shootings in the Eaton's Centre, Yonge Street or the Danzig neighbourhood, ... we tend to want to see the perpetrators apprehended, but there is also a lot of discussion about how these gangs and the accompanying violence, were the product of Harris-era cuts and neo-liberal hopelessness and austerity in general.

Right-wingers, on the other hand, say that they have "zero tolerance" for these products of their own creation. They advocate police violence against them, stiffer penalties, lengthy jail terms (regardless of the costs, which they ignore entirely). They also, stupidly, reject government programs to direct young men away from gangs ("hug a thug" programs that only coddle these scum).

Then, it turns out, the tuff types are actually smoking crack with the gangsters.

Un-fucking-believable.

Rugga-Bugga

This isn't a life.

What I Tried To Say

How did we get to the place where Rob Ford is not only happening, but we're all reconciling ourselves to his existence? For this to have happened, we needed a critical mass of people who still support him after all the hypocrisy and ridiculousness.

Ford Nation

Argh. No, he's NOT doing a good job for the city otherwise. Add up the extra expenses of his subway fever and get back to me.

When stephen harper rocks out ...

So, apparently the gutless coward (who prefers to skip the country when the pressure's on, or at least hide from accountability to Parliament) was turning on the "charm" again, exploiting his apparently okay voice (I've never heard it) at some club somewhere.

Between his fall from power and his imprisonment for war crimes, SUN News could feature him in concert, out of gratitude for all the government advertising that kept them afloat for so long. Then, harper could learn how few Canadians actually give a shit about his singing.

But when harper is rocking out, ... do you suppose the stupid idiot fantasizes about twenty-something female chippies sucking on his slimy putz?

The Ford Brothers and SUN News

The fact that the ridiculous Ford brothers, Rob and Doug, ... the slobbering imbecile and arrogant doofus, have gone to SUN News is perfect. Rob's ignorance and incompetence were initially trumpeted by the SUN newspapers and his public humiliation is the epitome of what their level of right-wing populism always leads to and what it always means.

These are all stupid people.

And SUN News shows its desperation and failure by giving these two toxic blowhards a forum in a doomed attempt to stave off their inevitable bankruptcy and demise. These vermin were all made for each other.

They're sure not here for our benefit.

Not In The West? (a reply to PLG)

Yesterday I asked out of frustration just how the progressive "tactic" of isolated protests (which is the chosen form of activism by the people whose politics I mostly share) is supposed to provide any sort of real change to the world we all describe as veering towards some sort of apocalypse.The always worthwhile Purple Library Guy responded in a way I was not expecting:

Thwap, if you want to make a difference, move to Latin America. If you want to win, go to Venezuela. If you want to struggle with a chance of winning, try one of the places where there's some progress but it's hard to say what might happen, like Argentina or Brazil. If the world changes it will start from there.

If you're a bit more audacious, go to Spain or Greece and fight austerity with Syriza etc.

Canada is the place change will reach last, probably slower even than the US itself. As the old order crumbles across the globe, we'll be largely unaware of the news. I don't think radicals can do much here except on a very local basis, trying to build little enclaves less affected by the cold neoliberal winds and gradually grow and connect them.

I have a couple of problems with this: First of all, it removes our responsibility as radicals for the failure of North Americans to adequately respond to the outrages of our short-sighted, self-centered elites. I've always asked how apolitical people who are busy living their lives are supposed to behave differently if we're not giving them some sort of realistic program that speaks to their own experiences. Secondly,.it is my belief that if changes are going to be lasting, they have to originate from within the wealthiest, most powerful countries.

The USA is not as powerful as it once was, and it has become distracted by its own desperate efforts to maintain control over Middle East oil supplies, and has therefore lost control of many South American countries. But Colombia remains a powerful enemy; one which could probably destroy Venezuela militarily. And Obama showed he can still make short work of non-compliant Central American governments in Honduras. I think the corporate state is too powerful to be met by "people power" in the USA, but this isn't the case in Canada yet. We Canadians could tame our own state elites and serve as an example for the benighted people of the United Police States of America.

This is not to criticize PLG, who I have tons of admiration for. These are just my own thoughts on the subjects he raised.

How Is It Supposed To Work?

I won't ask the Liberals. They're clueless. "Compassionate Capitalism" or some sort of nonsense. In their language, that means slashing services for the poor in order to afford their tax-cuts for the rich "come hell or high water." Of course, the rich are supposed to "create jobs" with their tax savings, but that's just a religious mantra, never explained.

I won't ask the social democrats because they're too busy turning themselves into stupid liberals.

So, I ask the radicals: How are your protests supposed to change anything? Some of you even believe we live in a total sham democracy. That our rulers don't even pretend to listen to us. So what's the point of protesting then? To let the sheeple know what you're about? As if that matters.

It boggles the mind really. The complete and total lack of a coherent strategic analysis on the part of the Left. Complete and total.

Useless.

Political Loyalty

 
Ford Nation continues to love their boy. Of course, the same thing holds true for the party faithful and stephen harper. But it ain't just a conservative thing. Look at the supposedly progressive types who still praise the record of the disgusting Dalton McGuinty! Or the pathetic rationalizations of Obama supporters! (If you google "obamabots" you'll get too many links from even more pathetic repugnicans who wanted to be part of a human centipede with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to be able to find a sane critique of Obama.)

I think the reasons for this loyalty above sanity or decency isn't so much partisanship as it is human stupidity. The same reason the entire Canadian left was incapable of rising to the challenge of stephen harper.

We, as a species, are unfit for survival. We made a pretty impressive showing when you think about our rivals on this planet. But we've created more problems than we can now solve and this pathetic loyalty above our values is a symptom of our incapacity.

Weep For Me Jimbo ...

First of all, let me begin by saying that I despise Jim Flaherty. He's a cretin whose economic understanding is stuck in the 19th Century. What he does that isn't based on two hundred year old cliches is based on crude, deliberate fraud. He's a thug, who has made more people homeless, condemned more children to poverty, caused more suicides, caused more suffering overall, than perhaps any other finance minister in Canadian history. He's an enemy of democracy, what with his serial mega-omnibus bills that have entire sections in them with nothing to do with his balliwick. He's a hypocrite. Just recently I pointed out that the snivelling cockroach's yammerings to First Nations peoples fighting for the preservation of their land was rank with double-standard given the career criminals that populate the harper regime.

So, I could do nothing but snicker when I saw Flaherty's stupid face on the TTC's television screens, tearing up  in response to a reporter's question about the drunken, crack-smoking buffoon Rob Ford. Here's a different take on it:

Forget politics, just for a second. Ford’s spectacle has a lot of people talking about politicians as human beings. The mayor deserves not just help, but our sympathy, some say. There’s no place for ridicule that might reinforce the stigma attached to addiction. Ford’s stubborn determination to hold on renders that conversation moot, but at least it reminds everyone that he’s a human being.

Flaherty, standing alone at that podium, gave voice to that humanity. He must have known the question would come. He must have had an answer at the ready. His friendship with the Fords is no secret. Still, he could barely find the words. We expect stoicism from people in power, not tears and tied tongues. Flaherty’s supposed to be able to answer any question. He’s supposed to be measured, or angered, or dismissive, as required. But his friend is going through something no one knows how to handle, and it was all he could do to struggle through a sentence or two.

When politicians show emotion, they’re often subject to ridicule. Yesterday, to the internet’s credit, there was none of that. There was just a man who cares for his friend and wishes him well, otherwise helpless—and dealing with it in public, on the job.

 What bullshit. The mayor and most of his fan-base had zero empathy for crack smokers until Rob himself smoked the shit and then it became impossible to deny it any longer. The shit-head Ford even voted against anti-gang programs, calling them "hug a thug" bullshit. Well, ....

Ford recently teamed-up with uber-shit-head Georgio Mammoliti in a campaign against city workers sleeping on the job. They should be fired. No exceptions, no excuses! ("Fuckin' A Rob Ford! Get those lazy, over-paid sons-of-bitches!") Then it turns out that thanks to police surveillance, we now know that Ford is doing a whole lot of anything but work during all hours of the day and night.

Ford and Flaherty are stupid men. Stupid bullies. I mock Flaherty's tears. They make me smile. It's only when somebody close to him (thanks to similar retrograde political beliefs) is hurting (thanks to his own reckless stupidity) that this imbecile begins to feel emotion.

Jim Flaherty, ... if you feel so bad for Ford (who did have all those possible video holders beaten-up or even killed I wonder?) you can go visit him in prison, in your retirement, after harper's regime goes down in toxic flames. You can then sit and wait after Ford drags his ass back to his cell and talk with the imprisoned stephen harper. Though I bet that even you wouldn't be able to bear the deranged, self-pitying rantings of that egomaniacal mediocrity.

Ah-yasss!!! Ha-ha-ha-ha!

So, My Boss Likes Rob Ford

Tells me that after he buys me lunch and news about the drunken buffoon comes on the radio. He likes the job he's doing so far. Mistakes the St. Clair streetcar line for LRTs. Thinks the cost overruns during construction were caused by ... ? (They were actually caused by lawsuits brought about by people opposed to public transit in the first place.)

Ford got the Toronto unions to sign a four-year deal that was tough on them because, at the start of his term he seemed incredibly popular while they weren't, and they knew he was a maniac who would gladly provoke a strike.

We should have a left-wing mayor try that tactic with a powerful right-wing group.

But Ford's whole budgeting is based on total delusion. He's wasted $1.1 billion on the public transit file. He continues to destroy public housing while hypocritically wailing about rotten living conditions.

I do believe though, that if Rob Ford was a black populist, like some of those high-level black Republicans, ... that if a black Rob Ford smoked crack with gangsters, they'd forgive that too. But if a pseudo-progressive black mayor smoked crack, they be calling for blood. (Whereas we really just want this embarrassing incompetent to resign.)

Thinking Big ...

I was recently told that my hopes n' dreams failed because my plans were too grandiose. I should think about smaller-scale things and do what's within my own personal capacity.

1. I see "smaller-scale things" as either being useless protests about some sort of recent elite atrocities, or as an attempt to mitigate the symptoms of a disease for which I have the cure.

2. I never, ever thought that I could accomplish anything on my own. My delusion was that many people (especially the left-wing big-wigs who are, evidently, bereft of ideas) would hear what I had to say, and either show me where I was a complete fucking bone-head who forgot something obvious which rendered all his schemes worthless, or, better, decide that what I proposed made sense and they would all do what they could to spread the word and try to make it happen.

Alas! Everyone else is doing "1" and the people without ideas are too busy with "1" to even think about getting off their hamster wheels.

Imagine If Canadians Controlled the Canadian Economy

COMPANY PRESIDENT

"So, let's have a vote! Should we protest the government's confiscatory taxation policies by shutting down and re-opening as another entity in Mexico?"

MAJORITY IN THE WORKPLACE

"No."

COMPANY PRESIDENT

"The absentee shareholders would like us to cut costs and dump our untreated wastes in the community drinking water. What say you?"

MAJORITY IN THE WORKPLACE

"No."

And on and on it would go. The centralized power of corporations, cut into and dispersed.

Why Wouldn't One War Criminal Welcome Another War Criminal?

So, the blood-soaked war criminal, anti-democratic, complete and utter shit-head, Dick Cheney was in Toronto yesterday. Speaking to a bunch of brain-dead sheeple about some stupid thing or other.

Disappointing.

Canada puts out the welcome mat for a mass-murdering, corrupt scumbag like Dick Cheney.

But it's no surprise. What with our illegally installed regime of the war criminal stephen harper. These blood-soaked cowards like each others' company.