Meanwhile in Canada ...

[Lin]

The battle between the Mayors of Toronto and Vancouver for newsworthiness.

Vancouver - http://www.thebeaverton.com/breaking-police-recover-video-of-vancouver-mayor-smoking-what-appears-to-be-salmon.htm

Toronto - http://youtu.be/B1dzpgLQHKM

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/mayor-rob-ford-yes-i-have-smoked-crack-cocaine-1.2415533

[Ish]

This whole Rob Ford thing reminds me of this classic...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeI5ke0BENw[/youtube]

[BeauV]

Lin, this really made me laugh out loud!! I'm glad the US isn't the only place that has truly weird political types.

[cap10ed]

What a comic gift to late night comedy.

[Soñadora]

Let's start with....the crack smoking

LOL

Daily Show FTW

[JoeP]

That's perfect Lin. LOL.

[Ish]

It's like every day there's a new revelation. By the middle of next week he will have confessed to stealing the Lindbergh baby and starting the War of the Roses.

[Joli]

I watched his interview last night, pretty funny stuff, especially the part about a 1,000 pounds off his back. He's got a ways to go.

[SloopJonB]

Remember when politicians felt duty bound to resign their office if there was so much as a whiff of scandal involving them?

Of course that was back in the days when honour had some meaning and value.

What a complete scumbag - how did he ever get elected in the first place?

[Lin]

Remember when politicians felt duty bound to resign their office if there was so much as a whiff of scandal involving them?
Of course that was back in the days when honour had some meaning and value.
What a complete scumbag - how did he ever get elected in the first place?

I find he is an unscrupulous creep, (and his brother is from the same cloth). I have watched interviews with him, and he has an incredible amount of anger, contempt, arrogance and nastiness in his demeanour. I heard that he was elected because many viewed him, as the lesser of two evils. It's Toronto.

[BeauV]

I just had a conference call with a lady from Toronto today and she spent the first 10 min apologizing for this slob. I told her all our politicos in the USofA were perfect. That got a laugh and got her to relax a little. We spent the next 1/2 hour telling stories, trying to top each other. I still think the Weiner story is one of the best. Ah yes, then there's the mayor of Wash DC caught in a sting buying drugs... Geeesh! Where do we find these guys? Why do we elect them???!?

[Jamie]

Finally Canada get it's own Marion Barry

[Tigger]

What a complete scumbag - how did he ever get elected in the first place?

In a nutshell ... when the various municipalities surrounding Toronto amalgamated with TO itself to form the current mega-city, there was (and is) no small amount of enmity from the 'burbs toward downtown due to the perception that downtown was getting more than their fair share of funds for projects. Ford was 'their guy' to allegedly protect the interests of the suburbs--that is where his power base lies. Frightening part is--he could still get re-elected. Unless, of course, the crack is just the tip of the iceberg ... which is entirely possible.

[LarryHoward]

I just had a conference call with a lady from Toronto today and she spent the first 10 min apologizing for this slob. I told her all our politicos in the USofA were perfect. That got a laugh and got her to relax a little. We spent the next 1/2 hour telling stories, trying to top each other. I still think the Weiner story is one of the best. Ah yes, then there's the mayor of Wash DC caught in a sting buying drugs... Geeesh! Where do we find these guys? Why do we elect them???!?

Beau

Marian Barry is back on the DC Council.

Of course,of the 13 members of theDC Council, three have been convicted of felonies in the last 2 years and two are currently under investigation. DC local politicians make Congress look like saints.

[Jamie]

I just had a conference call with a lady from Toronto today and she spent the first 10 min apologizing for this slob. I told her all our politicos in the USofA were perfect. That got a laugh and got her to relax a little. We spent the next 1/2 hour telling stories, trying to top each other. I still think the Weiner story is one of the best. Ah yes, then there's the mayor of Wash DC caught in a sting buying drugs... Geeesh! Where do we find these guys? Why do we elect them???!?

Beau

Marian Barry is back on the DC Council.

Of course,of the 13 members of theDC Council, three have been convicted of felonies in the last 2 years and two are currently under investigation. DC local politicians make Congress look like saints.

Yeah, didn't they literally take most of the power away from the DC mayor?

[LarryHoward]

I just had a conference call with a lady from Toronto today and she spent the first 10 min apologizing for this slob. I told her all our politicos in the USofA were perfect. That got a laugh and got her to relax a little. We spent the next 1/2 hour telling stories, trying to top each other. I still think the Weiner story is one of the best. Ah yes, then there's the mayor of Wash DC caught in a sting buying drugs... Geeesh! Where do we find these guys? Why do we elect them???!?

Beau

Marian Barry is back on the DC Council.

Of course,of the 13 members of the DC Council, three have been convicted of felonies in the last 2 years and two are currently under investigation. DC local politicians make Congress look like saints.

Yeah, didn't they literally take most of the power away from the DC mayor?

Constant battle for "home rule" in DC. One of the few contentious issues that the President has stayed away from (but he thinks that the Redskins should change their name if anybody is offended by it). The Federal government owns most of the "good commercial property" and some old rules on building height preserve the Capitol Hill vistas but limit commercial development and tax base. The Northern Virginia land (Arlington) that was originally part of the District is now where all the high dollar office buildings are. Federal funding to the District is "to much" according to Congress and "so low it's an insult and comes with too many restrictions" to the District government. They have mostly given back the power to the DC Mayor but most folks just shake their heads and accept that the DC government is corrupt at some level but limited in impact overall. The council knows they are virtually powerless so they pass laws such as the "big box retailer minimum wage" (where they want Walmart to pay much more then the DC government pays their lower paid staff). The mayor vetoed that one.

While Federal Politics get most of the press, local politics everywhere are probably the source of far more "insanity".

[Lin]

I see the link to the video I originally posted, is not working now. The video is available on several other links. http://youtu.be/9WV7YtmHEuw

As stated in an earlier thread, I am one who wishes to keep politics out of Scantlings, and my post was not meant to be "political" in nature, rather I was sharing some humour. So far the discussion has been very general which is great. : ) I have confidence that it won't slide down that slippery slope. PA in SA offers a venue for passionate political debate, for those so inclined.

[Rob McAlpine]

While Federal Politics get most of the press, local politics everywhere are probably the source of far more "insanity".

Our town is a happy exception, I guess. We just had a mayoral election with 2 excellent candidates to replace our outgoing, superb Mayor, who's (also excellent) predecessor lives next door to me.

We get very smart, successful people who decide to fulfill their civic obligation through honorable service, then return to their normal lives. Most of them are too rich as business owners to be bribed.

When the High School robotics team I coach went to worlds and I was raising money, the city council asked the team to come to a meeting so they could honor the kids and get a demo. The (now outgoing) Mayor commented that, as much as he would like for the city to donate for travel expenses it was not really an appropriate use of taxpayers money, as it only really benefitted a few kids. He then handed me a check from his company for $5,000, and asked the rest of the city council to make donations, no matter how small. He's about the only guy I don't mind putting hands on my wife, as they are yoga partners in a class taught by his wife.

There are advantages to smaller cities, where everyone knows who's honest and who's a crook.

[Tucky]

To keep the humor quotient up, here is Chris Rock on Mayor Barry- NSFW

"How did he get his job back- what i want to know is who lost to a crackhead".

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTMif8cGlcE[/youtube]

[BeauV]

Lin, I doubt that Scantlings could ever devolve into something like PA! EEEK! I think your original post was one of the most entertaining things I've seen in a long time and I, for one, just wanted you to know that you Canadians can fine equally entertaining (in a black humor sort of way) politicos on our side of the boarder as well. Cheers, BV

[SloopJonB]

Ever since Carlin died, Chris Rock is quite simply the best in the business. It's too bad that white people can't repeat his best bits.

[Cherie320]

There is at least one way we elect these guys. Years ago, there was a state representative who turned in a travel voucher for ~400 miles on a winter day when the state was iced over so bad that no travel of any kind possible. He was sent packing only to be elected to the same office in the next term. Name was Wright. No one believed that Mr Wright could do anything wrong.

[Jamie]

Remember when politicians felt duty bound to resign their office if there was so much as a whiff of scandal involving them?

Of course that was back in the days when honour had some meaning and value.

What a complete scumbag - how did he ever get elected in the first place?

I don't remember that. It seems to me it's always been this way.

[Orestes Munn]

Remember when politicians felt duty bound to resign their office if there was so much as a whiff of scandal involving them?

Of course that was back in the days when honour had some meaning and value.

What a complete scumbag - how did he ever get elected in the first place?

I don't remember that. It seems to me it's always been this way.

Nor do I. Andrew Jackson just toughed it out when it turned out he wasn't quite married to his wife. Grover Cleveland fathered a child by a woman whom he may have raped. No biggie there, either. Then there were Eisenhower, Kennedy, FDR, Wilson (perhaps not consummated fully), Jefferson, and who knows who-all who had affairs, which were known to friend and enemy alike, at the time. Then there's Credit Mobilier for Grant, Teapot Dome for Harding and We won't even start with the many august legislators, from ever since the dawn of the Republic, who brazened out their scandals.

[Ish]

I much preferred the Japanese code of ethics in office. If you screwed up, you brought out your sharpest knife and contemplated your intestines for a while. I think that would be an excellent habit for our politicians to acquire.

[SloopJonB]

Maybe it was a Parliamentary thing. I've seen lots of them resign under a cloud but it was long ago. Ethics & politics are strange bedfellows now. Expedience is all they understand now.

[Tucky]

Anyone remember the Profumo Affair?

He show how it can be done.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituar ... ofumo.html

[Lin]

Anyone remember the Profumo Affair?

He show how it can be done.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituar ... ofumo.html

Fascinating article. Thanks Tucky. Inspiring.

[Tigger]

Looks like you can add hookers to the list ... Something tells me it is going to be hard for the mayor to make it on to Santa's 'nice' list this year.

[Tim OConnell]

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