For Canadians last week, the big news focused on political scandal. In an ongoing Senate scandal, three senators, Pamela Wallin, Mike Duffy, and Patrick Brazeau, were suspended without pay until the next election in 2015, for their various acts of fiscal impropriety. As Jon Stewart quipped, thank goodness it was the Canadian and not the U.S. government for a change! Some Canadians think the senate should be abolished altogether, and these stories of waste and fraud certainly reinforce their case. But the real story last week, and the one that has provided fodder for comedians across the globe, is the scandal that broke in Toronto.
Our rotund “I’m-going-to-cut-out-the pork” Toronto Mayor Rob Ford
finally admitted that he had in fact smoked crack cocaine about a year
ago “in one of his drunken stupors.” This earth-shattering revelation came
after repeated allegations by The Toronto
Star that there was a video showing the mayor with a bunch of lowlife
gangsters smoking crack. That video apparently surfaced back in May of this
year, but then it mysteriously disappeared before it could be made public.
There was the (above-pictured) photo, splashed all over the news, of his honor
arm in arm with a couple of gang members, and one of those gangsters was
subsequently shot to death (coincidentally, not long after the news of the
video was reported). The whole thing was a huge scandal when the story broke
but, when no one could produce the smoking gun video, it faded away for a
while. The media “maggots” (Ford's words) would not let go of the story, and last week, not
only did the police announce that they had recovered the video from a
confiscated hard drive, but concurrently, the media came after Ford with guns a-blazin’.
It was Quasimodo in the public square. There were photos of Ford wasted at The
Taste of Danforth street party; reports of him stewed to the gills in City
Hall, carrying a half empty bottle of booze and accompanied by some strange
women; photos captured from a surveillance video insinuating some kind of drug deal
or payoff; and my absolute favorite: a photograph of his honor pissing in the
bushes, in some public place. Videos went viral; one showing Ford ranting menacingly
in a drunken rage about someone who had dissed him and his family, and another
of Ford embarrassingly drunk in public,
falling down while trying to pass a football. In short, last week was a train wreck
for the Toronto mayor, and he is now being tried harshly in the court of public
opinion.
Ford needed
a good spin doctor when the feces hit the fan, but like so many men in power,
he thought he could keep a lid on his bad behavior. The guy has a drinking
problem, and whether he is an alcoholic, or a binge drinker, or just a guy who
can’t handle his booze, his public behavior is clearly inappropriate for a
mayor of one of the largest cities in Canada. As much fun as it can be to
lampoon the ridiculous behavior of an elected official, I do not enjoy watching
this man embarrass himself in public. When Ford did finally admit that he had
in fact smoked crack, his attitude seemed to be, “ Hey, haven’t you ever been
so hammered that you did something stupid, like smoke crack, or shoot heroin, or
get a giant tattoo on your butt that says “This way to the Lincoln Tunnel?” The
media has literally hung him out to dry (out) and he is the now laughing stock
of the world, at least until the hyenas move on to the next wildebeest on the
savannah. Oh, please Mylie Cyrus, do something really stupid again and take the
spotlight off our mayor! While history is full of questionable behavior by
politicians (former President Bill Clinton and U.S Senator Packwood immediately
spring to mind), Ford has clearly crossed the line. He got caught with his
tent-sized pants down, and the real problem, for him and for the taxpayers of
the City of Toronto, is that so far he has refused to step down, or even to
take a leave of absence. It is almost impossible for anyone else to force him
out of office, unless he is found guilty of a crime, and by refusing to step
down, he has begged the police to come after him criminally. This guy has more
skeletons in his backyard than Pol Pot, and my suspicion is that his past is
going to bite him in his quadruple X derriere. Ironically, his approval rating
actually rose when the scandal was unfolding, and many of his constituents
think he has done a good job for the Toronto taxpayers. He could have beat this
scandal had he played his cards right. History sanitizes misbehavior, and
Marion Barry is proof positive that scandalous behavior can be overcome.
In more
significant news, last week Super Typhoon Haiyan hammered the Philippines as a
Cat 5 storm, with sustained winds of around 275 KPH. It is being called the
most powerful storm ever to make landfall. There may be as many as 10,000 or
more casualties from this super storm and the pictures of tornado-like destruction
tell the story. Tacloban city in the central region of the Philippine Islands
took a direct hit and is now a pile of rubble. Finally, it is Remembrance Day,
so let us all give thanks today to all the veterans, dead or alive, who sacrificed
so much to protect our freedom. Despite the bad behavior of some of our public
officials, we honor and appreciate your service to our countries.
- Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2013 ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED
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