Bring him to justice – on Canadian soil

“He’s back.” Those are the words that greeted me when I answered an early morning phone call today.

George Flowers, aka Mr Flowas, has been returned from Jamaica, processed, charged with several counts of aggravated sexual assault and currently sits in a jail cell somewhere in or around Toronto. Not sure when he will appear in court for a bail hearing, but my best guess is sometime today. In my view, this will be a mere formality and bail will be denied as he is a flight risk – it just took almost four years to get him from Jamaica. As and when more information becomes available and can be confirmed, I’ll post it.

Once again, if you had sexual relations with this man but didn’t come forward earlier because you didn’t think he’d be caught or were afraid, well, they caught him. He’s in jail. And don’t be afraid any longer. Please contact Detective Sergeant Nancy Johnston at the Toronto Police Service, 55 Division, at 416-808-5505. You don’t have to have tested positive – DS Johnston wants to hear from you.

Cat.

O Canada what have you done?

Stevie and the court jesters have, in my opinion, gone ‘way too far this time.  Here’s the link to an editorial in The Toronto Star of Saturday, January 3, 2015: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/01/03/a_bad_year_for_canadian_citizenship.html

In this article, Citizenship Minister Chris Alexander is quoted as saying “Citizenship is not a right, it’s a privilege”. Um, excuse me Mr Alexander, perhaps you were Canada’s Ambassador to Afghanistan too long for you seem to have adopted some of the attitudes of that country. Under new rules just brought in, a Canadian citizen who either holds dual citizenship or can claim citizenship of another country through birth or other reasons can be stripped of their Canadian citizenship if they are convicted of treason, terrorism or espionage anywhere in the world.

What is truly terrifying about this is that whereas in the past, such citizenship actions would have to go through the courts, these actions are now at the discretion of the Minister.  No courts, no chance to plead your case, just the Minister’s opinion of whether or not you deserve to be able to call yourself a Canadian.

Let’s get silly here for a moment.  If I were to commit one of the actions listed above (although considering the number of times I’ve ripped into the Harper government in the past, jaywalking might do for a reason) I could be stripped of my Canadian citizenship.  I can claim American citizenship because both my mother and maternal grandfather were born in the US.  That I was born in Canada, raised and educated in Canada, paid Canadian taxes and served in the Canadian Armed Forces wouldn’t matter.  I committed some heinous act and the Minster (who also happens to be the Member of Parliament for my riding) decided I no longer held the privilege of calling myself Canadian.  Fortunately for me I am a law-abiding citizen – except for the jaywalking thing – so I‘m not too worried.  Otherwise I doubt that the next time CSIS came knocking, they would be carrying a pizza and a bottle of wine.

Since they obtained an absolute majority in the last federal election, the Harper government has been running rough-shod over the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and this is just the latest example. There is a federal election next year and I’ll tell you right now that if any party promises to rescind this horrible, discriminatory law, they’ve got my vote.

Have a safe and happy 2015 and remember to hug an artist – we need love too.

Cat

Robbie, you’re old news

Rob Ford has never been one to let facts get in the way of his version of events.  How long did it take him to finally admit that he had smoked crack?   Here’s another example of Robbie ignoring evidence in an attempt to smear a Toronto Star reporter.  The following section has been extracted from a CBC News report on an interview between Conrad Black and Toronto’s titular mayor Rob Ford:

At one point in the interview, Black asked Ford about media intrusion on his family’s privacy, and Ford singled out Dale for an incident that happened in May 2012.

Ford had confronted Dale outside the mayor’s west-end home in an adjacent park — a section of which the mayor was looking to buy.

“Daniel Dale is in my backyard taking pictures. I have little kids. He’s taking pictures of little kids,” Ford said. “I don’t want to say that word but you start thinking what this guy is all about.”

Dale said that at no time did he ever take any photographs of the mayor’s family, house or even his property — and a police investigation bore that out.

When asked directly about the Dale comments, Mayor Ford said at a press conference that he stood by his words in the interview.

“I stand by every word.”

Robbie, the whole city knows you don’t like The Toronto Star, but to suggest one of their reporters is a paedophile is low even for you.  Despite the existence of a police report (see bolded section above) you stand by your comments.  Then again, even though you knew of the existence of a certain tape, until the police announced they had retrieved a copy of it from a hard drive, you denied there was such a tape.  So what’s it going to take this time before you retract your accusations?

News flash Robbie: You’re mayor in name only and no matter how much huffing and puffing you and your brother do, that ain’t gonna change.  You’re old news.  Stop trying to draw attention to yourself.

Cat.

Robbie, take a break

I wasn’t going to write about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford because I didn’t feel I could add anything.  Before I start, I don’t live in Toronto so have no personal axe to grind. I do however think it is sad to watch a life spiralling out of control, especially when that life is that of a public figure.

A little recap first.  Back in May the Toronto Star and the website Gawker were offered – for a six figure sum – a video tape of Robbie smoking crack.  He stated he did not use crack cocaine and had never used crack cocaine and further stated the video in question did not exist.  About a week ago Bill Blair, the Chief of Police for Toronto, announced they had recovered a video tape from a hard drive and when asked by reporters, said the tape was consistent with earlier media reports. In other words, it appeared to show Hiz Honour smoking crack.  After a few days of typical Ford denial, during which his lawyer said that it may not have been crack in the pipe,  Robbie finally admitted that yes, he had smoked crack, about a year ago, but said it was “probably while in a drunken stupor.”

Yesterday another tape surfaced, this one showing his rotundness ranting and jumping about while he demonstrated how he was going to kill someone and dropping the f-word many times.  This time he had the grace to come out early and admit that yes, it was him on the tape, but he was “extremely inebriated,.”

So, from his own mouth, we have admissions that the mayor of all subway-loving citizens of Toronto has used crack and is a drunk.  Or do we?

CP24, the Toronto all-news station, was granted an exclusive interview with the rest of the Ford family yesterday.  During this interview, his mother tried to defend Robbie by saying something along the lines of he isn’t a drunk although he does engage in binge-drinking every two or three months.  Excuse me?  As I understand it, binge-drinking involves pouring back the alcohol until you are absolutely blotto. And if you drink with the express purpose of getting hammered, doesn’t that make you a drunk?  Of course the Fords seem to have their own method of quantifying alcoholic influence.  Is being in a drunken stupor and smoking crack better or worse than ranting about killing someone while extremely intoxicated?  Or are both states roughly equal?

Rob Ford has consistently lied to the citizens of Toronto.  Yet his brother Doug, a Toronto City Councillor, stated on the Ford radio show last Sunday that “Rob is the most honest person I know”.  Doesn’t say much for Doug’s standards, does it?  Doug has been defending his brother for years and when the police announced they had the now infamous crack tape, called for the police chief to step down as he had a bias against the mayor.  In a move more worthy of children in a schoolyard than elected municipal officials, neither Ford attended the annual Police Gala two nights ago and withdrew their donation for the charity auction that forms part of the Gala.  I understand it was  dinner with the mayor, so perhaps withdrawing it was the wise thing to do under the circumstances.

Robbie, listen to your advisors and all of city council and take a leave of absence and enter rehab.  You know the situation is dire when even Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” turns serious and urges you to go to rehab.  And do us a favour and take mini-mayor Doug with you.

Finally, while not confirmed, rumours in the area of Toronto where the first two tapes were supposedly shot are that yet another tape exists.  That should be interesting if true.

Cat.

You sir, are dangerous

A friend posted a photo and two quotes on Facebook yesterday.  The photo is of an American senator and no I won’t tell you who, or his party affiliation, or what state he represents, purely to save him any further embarrassment.

His comments referred to AIDS and were both uninformed and highly inaccurate.  There were no dates or places attached to these quotes, so I don’t know how old, or new, they are but they would have incensed me anyway.

Here’s his first comment: Most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community.  It was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men.  It was an airline pilot, if I recall.  Senator, you are so far off-base on this you aren’t even in the ballpark.  A while ago I read an article, probably on the Toronto Star news site, about research that had been done on the origins of AIDS in humans.  I do not recall the author of the research nor the institute that conducted it. If anyone knows, please tell me so I may amend this posting and give them proper credit.

According to this research, poor tribesmen would capture, kill and skin monkeys in order to sell both the meat and the hides.  If you’ve ever worked in a kitchen preparing food, you know how easy it can be to cut yourself.  No different in this case.  They would cut themselves accidentally and then come in contact with the monkey blood.  If the monkey was infected, the virus would transfer to the human.  Some of these tribesmen would also sell their blood to augment their income which is how AIDS made its way into the blood supply.  No bestiality has taken place Senator, except in your tiny mind.

The person referred to as “Patient Zero” was a steward for Air Canada (sorry Senator, not  pilot – your memory is wrong).  He was involved in a crash of some kind in one of these African nations and required a transfusion.  Unfortunately, the blood was tainted.  Being gay, when he returned to Canada, he engaged in sexual activity with other men, which spread the disease.

The senator’s other comment is equally stupid – and that’s the only word for it.  My understanding is that it is virtually, not completely but virtually, impossible to contract AIDS through heterosexual sex … very rarely.  Senator, you are a complete ass.  Senator, I suggest you read my series of postings under the heading “Bring him to justice”, then explain to the ten victims of George Flowers who are now HIV positive how it is “virtually impossible” for them to have contracted HIV/AIDS from Flowers.  I’m sure they’ll give you a proper hearing before they laugh you out of the room.  By the way Senator, George Flowers is now wanted by the Toronto Police Service on at least ten charges of aggravated sexual assault related to these women.

Surely, as a senator in the Government of the United States of America his office budget would allow for a research clerk.  Before he opened his mouth and proved his stupidity, couldn’t he have asked someone to get him some factual information on AIDS?

I’m not sure which I find more frightening, that people actually elected this man or, that since he is a senator, they will accept his pronouncements as gospel.  As I wrote in the title, this man is dangerous.

Cat.

**Since posting this, I have learned this foolish, foolish man is a state senator, not federal. C **

Oh Robbie, not again

As I’ve written before, I’m glad I don’t live in Toronto and have Rob Ford as mayor.  The mayor where I live is so low-key I’m not even sure of his name.

There are reports on both the CBC News site and the Toronto Star news site this morning that Mayor Robbie was asked to leave a gala event called The Garrison Ball on February 23 because he was intoxicated.  The Star article also mentioned that on Saint Patrick’s day hizzoner was asked to leave an establishment because he was also intoxicated.  And the Star article also mentions there are photos on Twitter of Robbie leaving liquor stores with mickeys of vodka.

Apparently it has been an open secret around city hall that Robbie has trouble with drinking and a couple of attempts to get him help, or into rehab, were rebuffed by Robbie.  Even some of his strongest allies are commenting on his problems with alcohol, pointing to such events as his DUI conviction in Florida in 1999 and an occasion at a hockey game where he drunkenly berated a couple in the stands. He at first denied both the DUI and the hockey game incident, but “remembered” when the press turned up his Florida mug shot; and he later apologized to the couple he had harassed.    In the Garrison Ball incident, his brother, Councillor Doug, claims his brother wasn’t intoxicated.  Strangely neither Robbie nor Doug are available for comment, which would seem to belie the “not drunk” claim.

The Garrison Ball ejection came two weeks before what the Toronto media are referring to as “Assgate”, where Robbie was accused by a woman of groping her while they posed for a photo.  She also claimed he appeared to be under the influence of something.

This man has been a disaster as mayor.  His record is filled with leaving council meetings early to coach highschool football; avoiding 99% of events involving the LGBT community, although Pride Week brings in millions in tourist dollars; using his cellphone while driving (against the law in Ontario) and on at least one occasion, reading while driving at 45 miles per hour on an expressway (his excuse was “I’m a busy man”) and at least two court cases, one of which could have cost him his job.  And just this past Sunday, he called a radio show to make what have been called “prehistoric” comments on a case that at the time was before the courts.  The case is now in the hands of the jury.  And perhaps one of the lowest blows of all, on a trade mission to Chicago, the American press called him “obnoxious”.  Americans unfortunately suffer from the “ugly American” stereotype when they venture beyond their borders, so how bad was Robbie that Americans consider him obnoxious?

Robbie is talking of running for a second term as mayor in, I think, 2015 and could actually win. And that would be disastrous for the city.

Enjoy your day and remember to hug an artist – we need love too.

Cat.

More commercial comments

Last night I noticed two commercials that caught my attention.  And, if you’re a regular reader, you know that doesn’t usually bode well for the commercials.

The first is for something called “Wonga.com” which, according to the ad, is a British company specializing in short term loans and has apparently just opened a Canadian operation.  First of all,  I feel  the commercials themselves talk down to the viewer.  But what prompts this is that in this spot they show an example.  They use the amount of $300 for a period of 14 days.  According to the display, that would cost the borrower $30.  Excuse me – ten percent for 2 weeks.  Now, I readily admit math was never one of my better subjects at various levels of schooling, but even I can figure out that would be 26% on an annual rate.  Isn’t that approaching the threshold of usury?  Just asking.

The other commercial is for Frito-Lays Canada.  They are currently running a contest for people to create a new chip flavour.  Considering I only like plain potato chips, I’m not submitting an entry.  The prize for the winner is $50,000 and one percent of the sales of the chosen flavour.  Sounds great, but I do have one question: 1% of sales for how long? – a week; a month; a year, or in perpetuity?   Just asking.

One more item.  This isn’t a commercial, but an item I noticed today on the website for The Toronto Star.  Apparently Facebook is bringing out a revised newsfeed.  Whoopee!  I don’t really care about that.  My quarrel with the newsfeed – and probably something that won’t be corrected with this new version is this: presently users are given a choice on the newsfeed of “top stories” or “most recent” with “top stories” being the default.  I always change it to “most recent”, for how can Facebook possibly know what I would consider a “top story”?  This usually lasts about a week then it changes back to “top story”.  If Facebook really wanted to do something, they’d fix it so that if someone chooses “most recent” as their default, it stays that way until the user changes it.

Okay.  I’ve vented and I feel much better now.  Enjoy your week and remember to hug an artist – we need love too.

Cat.

I think we’re safe

Recently I read something, perhaps in a Facebook post by someone, that said the Mayan long calendar is wrong about December 21, 2012.  The reasoning was that the Mayans didn’t take into account leap years.  The addition of that extra day every four years is bound to throw off the calculations, and does anyone want to figure out how many leap years there have been since the calendar was (a) created and (b) deciphered?

Speaking of deciphering, I saw something on television last night that said the Mayan glyphs were actually deciphered by a mathematician and librarian in Germany.  So, this once again brings up the question “how do we know the decoding was accurate?”   Mathematic formulae can do wondrous things (such as get me through high school math) but since the Mayan glyphs are pictograms and not words in a foreign language I would think any values assigned by the decoder would need to be rather arbitrary and based upon his personal experience and education.  Which, as I wrote above, brings up the question of accuracy.

I would also think that something else that would cast doubt upon the accuracy of that dating is this: in 1752, much of the world switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.  September 2 was followed by September 13, not September 3.  Those eleven days surely would have also affected the accuracy of both the prediction and the translation of the glyphs.  So, given these possible variables, I think I can safely say we have nothing to worry about, except possibly the weather.

In any event, I ascribe to the view of an “expert” interviewed by the Toronto Star years ago who, when asked what he thought would happen December 22, 2012, said simply “the calendar will start over.”  Think about it.  Our calendar ends with December 31 every year.  Does the world end?  No, the sun comes up January 1 and life carries on, Why should it be any different with the Mayan long calendar?

Enjoy your day and remember to hug an artist – we need love too.

Cat

“If I only had a brain”

Two items from the Toronto Star website today have me wondering if the people mentioned in the two items have ever said those words to themselves.

First, a lady in Vaughan, north of Toronto, wants the city of Vaughan to cut down some oak trees near the school at least one of her children attends.  The child has nut allergies and the oak trees, as oak trees will in the fall, are – horrors! – dropping acorns onto the school grounds.  Her concern is that children, not just her child, will pick these up and eat them resulting in anaphylactic shock should these children have nut allergies.  Think about this for a moment.  Rather than teach her child not to pick things up from the ground and stick them in their mouth, she wants the trees removed.  In short, she wants the nanny society to “do something” instead of taking responsibility for her child’s safety. If city council is actually stupid enough to give her request any credence at all, think of the ramifications.  Does Vaughan then cut down all trees and pave over all grassy areas and gardens – after all, some people have allergies to pollen.  Do they ban all vehicles except electric ones because the pollution from internal combustion engines also affects people?  The logical solution would be, as one commenter noted “make your children aware of their allergies, not afraid of them”. If she only had a brain she could have figured that out herself.

Football coach and sometime Toronto mayor Rob Ford is back in court again today.  This time he’s defending himself in a $6,000,000 defamation suit resulting from comments made during the civic election in 2010.  These comments centred on the fact that a restaurant on the beach in east Toronto was given a twenty year lease, without calling for tenders from other interested parties. Robbie, during two separate interviews, made allegations that there was corruption involved, in fact during a radio interview he used that exact word.  Now, the residents of the area were upset that the lease was for twenty years because at the time, the place was a bit of dump, but while they were upset with the length of the term, nobody accused city hall of engaging in shady dealings.  Except Robbie.  So naturally, the owner sued over the comments.

City Councillor Doug Ford who seems to be paranoid and is Robbie’s brother, in an interview sometime in the past 24 hours, claims it’s “100% political” and further that every court case involving his brother is politically motivated.  No Doug, not so.  Some of these cases are the result of your brother being a total asshole.  And perhaps both you and Coach Robbie should repeat together “if I only had a brain”.

City Hall might run a lot smoother if three things were to happen: Coach Robbie became a full-time mayor and began to think before doing or saying anything and if you learned to shut up and stay out of your brother’s business. You’re being perceived more and more as your brother’s apologist rather than a City of Toronto councillor.

To my followers and readers, enjoy your week and remember to hug an artist – we need love too.

Cat.

Politics for the uninterested

I love politics and politicians.  Not because I thrive on politics, but because they provide such wonderful material for these posts.  There were three items on the news sites that caught my attention this morning.

Let’s start with the happy one: I’m not a big fan of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but in this case…  .  Here’s the story: A couple in Ottawa were in a public park taking their wedding photos when Stevie saw them.  He ordered his car stopped and walked over to congratulate them. Now, let’s be honest here – the last person you expect to crash your wedding is the leader of your country.  There are people out there who will claim he will do anything for a photo op, but in this case, I’m not one of those people.  Can you think of a better wedding gift than having, in this case, the Prime Minister of Canada, in the photos.  It is certainly something you’ll talk about for years.

Let’s move on to the “dumb and dumber” part of politics now.  An American politician not named Todd Akin has opened his mouth and it seems by doing so he shot the Romney campaign in the foot again.  Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock is reported as having said the following, copied from an article on thestar.com,  “I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God. And, I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen,” .  This was during a debate when he was asked if abortion should be allowed in cases of rape.  Romney’s campaign wasted no time distancing themselves from this comment.  I haven’t been following the American campaign, although I should have paid it some attention for I know that what happens will have an effect on Canada, but I understand that both Obama and Romney consider women key voters in the upcoming election.  And we have this idiot saying something like this?  May I suggest that Mr Mourdock just guaranteed that women voters in Indiana will likely vote for Obama because of his statement?

Civic politicians aren’t really much better in the smarts department on occasion either.  Recently Toronto City councillor Ana Baillao was stopped and charged with driving under the influence – blood alcohol was in excess of the Ontario limit of 0.08.  Ms Baillao had been at some Mayor’s dinner, where she probably imbibed, then went to a different location with some lobbyists for firms wanting to erect a casino in downtown Toronto, where she no doubt enjoyed more “beverages of a sociable nature”.  A few hours later, a police cruiser spotted her driving without headlights.  She ignored his original attempts to stop her.  When she did stop, as I wrote above, she was found to be impaired.  Given this, can anyone tell me why on earth she feels she can plead “not guilty” in court?  Why not just do the right thing and say “I screwed up – I should have taken a cab home”?

Enjoy your day and remember to hug an artist – we need love too.  And if you’re drinking, don’t drive.

Cat.