11.11.2013 07:58 AM

A remembrance disgrace

I generally don’t get very political on the morning of the eleventh day, but this year I will make an exception.  As I was driving Son One to St. Mike’s this morning, we listened to CBC Radio, as always.  We heard that Rob Ford would be attending the City’s Remembrance Day ceremony, despite the rumours flying about the next video, which shows a certain prominent city official passed out, gangbangers flashing their guns near his head.

“What a disgrace,” said my son.  “He is disgusting. He is just…disgusting.”

26 Comments

  1. .. sounds like. ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ .. and when our elected civil servants become mired in that conundrum. they truly have become the damned.. serve no useful purpose, serve nobody but themselves and their cronies.. Simply said, they are distinct failures as exemplars .. have in fact attained the complete opposite .. Duly noted by your son, it seems58cr

  2. Allan MacDougall says:

    I usually agree with you on a multitude of issues but I’m not sure about this one. As turbulent and offensive as Ford is, you could imagine the backlash he’d face if he decided to skip attending a Remembrance Day ceremony. Then again it would probably just have blurred into all the other backlash that he’s getting.. lol

  3. Eric says:

    I was hoping that he would stay away. The bastard can barely remember what he did last week let alone understand what our servicemen and women have sacrificed.

    Articles like the one linked are legitimate, but I hope that, out of respect to the serving and the veterans (not of him), that the media don’t scrum him during or around the event and that the audience does not boo or catcall him.

    Seriously, fuck him for putting anyone in this situation.

    EJM, CD

  4. James Bow says:

    I think the best thing we can do to and for Rob Ford, right now, is to shun him.

  5. Tracey says:

    I agree, Warren. Though part of me hopes he shows up and uses his speech to turn spotlight back on him and how he is a victim. And makes a spectacle of himself.
    He deserves to be shunned.

    He is the antithesis of any veteran. And his arrogance to still hold onto the keynote speech position shows his ego-driven self denial. He could have shown up, but he could have passed on the speech. But that would have been the graceful and humble thing to do.

    Gangbangers with guns out over a passed out mayor??? Really? If this is true, he is complicit in the whole Jane Creba, Danzig street, Eaton centre shootings

    F*ck him

  6. james Smith says:

    I heard Michael Clements on the same programme this morning. Pity Mr Clements is not your Mayor.

  7. Jonathan Giggs says:

    http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/11/11/media_must_back_off_if_rob_ford_seeks_help_deputy_mayor_says.html

    “[Norm Kelly] took aim at critics asking Ford to keep away from Remembrance Day Ceremonies at Old City Hall.
    “I would hope that the importance of the day would transcend personal opinion,” told 680 News. “You salute the office, not the person.””

    • Matt says:

      I would agree with Kelly about media backing off Ford if he gets help on one condition.

      He takes a 30 or 60 day leave to check himself into a rehab clinic.

      Ford, it has been reported is looking at help while remaining on the job. I would think this kind of thing can’t be successfully dealt with on an out patient type of treatment program.

  8. patrick says:

    He IS the mayor. He DOES represent the city. It IS a city event. He HAS to be there. BECAUSE A WHOLE BUNCH OF STUPID FUCKING PEOPLE VOTED FOR HIM.
    And I hope he is stoned out of his brains, barfs on stage, preferably on his brother and his brother defends him and this puts a final stake through their political careers.
    Embarrassing, but worth it.

    • Reality.Bites says:

      Funny how that logic doesn’t apply on Pride Day.

    • david ray says:

      I doubt even a stake through the heart would kill Mr Flubways because he’s won the race to the bottom by creating a new bottom, one we’ll all be living in for a long time regardless of who replaces him.

  9. We all know who the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month is for. The public rage against Ford, the media circus, the White Poppy Campaign and the veterans demonstrating against V.A. cutbacks by Harper need to chill for a few minutes around 11 a.m. this morning. If Ford shows and speaks, he should be met with absolute silence and should not be scrummed, heckled or interviewed. Just for once, this morning is not about him….or us. Apparently some veterans will turn their backs on federal politicians when they lay wreaths. Seems like a good response.

    • Ted H says:

      Harper has to be there as PM of course but his presence carries a considerable weight of hypocrisy, considering the VA cutbacks. Turn their backs on federal politicians when they lay wreaths?….were it not for the solemnity of the occasion, booing and heckling would be in order for those bastards. They milk the military and patriotic feelings for all the votes they can get then turn and around and treat disabled veterans like garbage.

      • Ted H, I’m with you 100% on this one. Harper’s Conservative combat boots are caked in stinking hypocrisy here. “You are valiant heroes while in uniform; you are tedious expense items of spreadsheets when in wheel chairs.” Shifting disability payments from lifetime support to a lump sum (under 300k) is a kick in the gut for a wounded vet. A soldier who is crippled for life by a combat injury deserves lifetime care. If Dean Del Mastro deserves a lifetime pension (hopefully starting on election night, 2015, if not sooner, courts willing), do not these wounded vets deserve the same?

  10. Matt says:

    Like it or not, he’s still the mayor, and the mayor should be at the ceremony.

    The only ones who can take the attention away from the vets and make it about Ford are the media.

    And if they do, shame on them.

    • Matt says:

      Forgot to add, I know a few vets who were pissed at Miller for trying to force the removal of the support our troops ribbons from city vehicles like ambulances and fire trucks.

      That was a direct slap in the face to them, but he still attended.

      • IAJC says:

        “Support our troops” ribbons are imported American jingoistic crap and do not have a place in Canada. They’re not the same as Remembrance Day ceremonies.

  11. Cynical says:

    It goes against my instincts, but today is a day when politics should not show itself. The day is for the veterans and their families. Way down the list is the rest of us. At the bottom, the politicians. If they make a respectful appearance, let them, if decorum is maintained.
    I look at Remembrance Day as (among other things) an extended funeral for the departed.

    No protests (as legitimate as they may be), no grandstanding by posers in unearned uniforms, no criticisms on any side.

  12. Mulletaur says:

    At the very least he could have conducted himself in a way that was appropriate to the ceremony today. His speech was cringe-making, not so much because of the words he spoke but because of his half whiny, half hectoring delivery. At least he seemed sober.

  13. skeeter says:

    Is this the first mention of what could possibly be on the second tape? Other than the sex tape rumours floating around.

  14. Steven says:

    Perhaps there should be a “character standard” for any politician giving a speech or dedication on Remembrance Day:

    Is the politician one who (if they were also a soldier) would inspire confidence in his/her fellow soldiers that they would have their back, would not blame “the enemy” for their own problems and not run for cover when the going gets tough?

    How about it Ford Nation and HarperCons?

    • Uhhh, so some ‘special’ politicans will become ‘super patriots’? Approved by some noble committee no doubt. How about we simply forbid politicans to sully the day with their jingoism?

      And I must say that I am very proud today that as Canadians, we have doubled our patriotism. Instead of a minute of silence, we are now super-patriots and stay silent for TWO minutes. Cause you know, it is not the quality of your introspection that counts, it is the quantity.

  15. Max says:

    I HOPE that is what the 2nd video is, because I’m hearing that it is a sex tape (like a hand job) …. I got to throw up now.

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