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Morning Brew: Reaction to Ford's Pride snub, poll shows support for transit tax, Toronto Zoo loses accreditation, and Kenk's bikes are back
The fallout from Rob Ford's decision to skip out on the Pride Parade for the second year running is continuing to unfold in the media: Torontoist has a thoughtful look at the implications of the decision while the Globe and Mail is urging the mayor to attend other pride events before disappearing to his family cabin if he wants to claw back any affection from the city's gay community.
Here's one for you to chew on. A poll conducted for Spacing Magazine has found 74% of Toronto residents would support a sales tax to fund new transit projects like subways, LRTs and, yes, even highways. Los Angeles already has such a system in place and has managed to make significant additions to its rapid transit network in recent years, including several LRT lines. Would you vote for a tax hike to fund subways and highways?
Torontonian Neil Pasricha's 1000 Awesome Things blog, which has slowly counted down life's little wonders over the last four years - like the smell of the coffee aisle, becoming a regular at a cafe and an airport pickup - has finally wrapped up with the announcement of its #1 awesome thing, "anything you want it to be." Pasricha posted the open-ended final entry just after midnight last night without the usual explanation, story or personal confession. Just anything you want. AWESOME!
City council's decision to send three Toronto Zoo elephants packing for a California sanctuary has cost the Scarborough attraction its Association of Zoos and Aquariums accreditation. The loss of AZA approval will apparently have minimal impact on the day-to-day running of the zoo but there's going to be a bunch of un-official looking animals this summer.
Woodbine Live!, the long-delayed shopping complex (with an exclamation mark!) scheduled to be built in Etobicoke, will begin construction "soon," according to the National Post. The developer says it's also interested in building a GTA casino too! With an exclamation mark!
Thousands of Igor Kenk's dubiously acquired bikes have found a new home in a disused swimming pool at Central Commerce CI near Harbord and Ossington, according to report by The Grid. The bikes - many missing wheels, pedals, and other vital parts - are being repaired by school students for extra credit. Perhaps not surprisingly, Kenk himself has apparently tried to get some of the bikes for himself.
A video of Rob Ford getting lunch at a KFC published on the front page of the Star's website has been attracting criticism in the media and on Twitter as an apparent below-the-belt attack on the mayor. The National Post's Matt Gurney calls it "mockery masquerading as news" in an editorial. Reaction on our Facebook page is, on the other hand, mixed. What are your thoughts?
TWEET OF THE DAY:
Because fighting graffiti is so much more important than championing equality...
@shitrobfordsays
Shit Rob Ford SaysThe war on graffiti has just begun.
13 hours ago via TweetDeck · Reply · Retweet · Favorite · powered by @socialditto
IN OTHER NEWS:
- Luke Scott hits grand slam as Jays fall to Rays, 12-2 [CTV]
- LeBron James nets 28 points as Heat burns Raptors, 96-72 [CTV]
- Toronto man charged in elderly father's death [CBC]
- Friends, family 'extremely worried' about missing teen [CBC]
- Police board to examine outsourcing crossing guards [CBC]
Photo: "That Feel" by Lychee_Aloe in the BlogTO Flickr pool.
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If he was really concerned about his family's health he should have ordered Subway or bought a ready-made chicken at Metro. KFC is bad for EVERYONE. Especially those guys who made a commitmentnt to lose weight.
"oh look at me so hard to lose weight"
suck it up. eat a salad and workout.
When I was trying to quit smoking, my friends and family gave me so much shit every time I lit up.
That said, I think the media attention paid to the video is a little much.
We all understand that most people who are gay or put a high priority on equality did not vote for Rob Ford. And we all understand that a significant number of people voted for him precisely because they think he shares their "traditional" outlook. So we all understand that this probably helps shore up his base (although anybody who is a Ford supporter who acknowledges this should think about what that means) and enrages mostly people who would never vote for him anyway.
The problem is that with his repeated snubs of the gay community, Ford is sending a message that says, "I don't like gay people, I think it's okay to not like gay people, and I think it's okay to let the world know that you don't like gay people."
Whether or not that's how he feels, that's the message he is sending. And he's sending it not just to the folks who go to the parade, but to the teenaged kid struggling with his sexuality, and to the social conservatives who fight tooth-and-nail against gay rights. He's telling that kid that the world will hate him and he's telling those Bible-thumpers that the world thinks they're A-OK.
And that message is not okay. Either he thinks it is, or he's too stupid to understand the consequences of his actions. And that's not okay either.
Good luck with that.
That picture is awesome.
"Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination"
Because I get to impose that one. It's the law.
Anyone arguing in favour of Ford's ongoing snubs of the LGBT community should try replacing "gay" with "red-haired", "black", or "blind", and tell me if it's still appropriate for him to single out this one festival for complete rejection by him as mayor of the city. It is bigotry, and it is wrong. So-called "traditional values" have changed so often over the course of human history that the terms means the same thing as "common sense" - whatever the speaker wishes it to mean, and in this case usually to justify whatever unjustifiable prejudices the speaker is trying to rationalize.
http://twitter.com/#!/mattgurney/statuses/192981719677288448
~George C. Wallace. Oh well, Wallace eventually caught up with the times. I hope you will as well.
Rob Ford, the person, has his own personal beliefs and mores and is perfectly entitled to those. If he's personally offended by gay culture, then that's something that Rob Ford, private citizen, has to deal with.
The thing is, though, he's the Mayor of Toronto. The Mayor of Toronto represents all citizens, gay or straight, black or white. The responsibilities of the Mayor of Toronto trump the concerns of Rob Ford, private citizen.
Pride Week is a celebration of inclusion and a boon for the city's economy. It's insane to think that the mayor of this city wouldn't do everything he could to prop up this event, just as he should be with Caribana and any other festival that brings money into the city's coffers.
That's why Rob Ford is wrong. He's entitled to his personal beliefs, just as you're espousing yours, but he's the Mayor of Toronto right now and he's doing his position and the city a disservice.
If the mayor doesn't want to attend a parade where public display of sex and nudity is god awful. Then good for him. better to take the kids to the cottage then to see this awful display.
What is the big TO Canada day event anyway? I've only lived here for a year and last year I was home on Canada day. We have a big festival with music and rides and booths and stuff by the lake at my hometown, what does TO do and where does it happen? I'd like to go this year.
To the guy saying catholic schools shouldn't be forced to promote gay rights, you are completely wrong. No one is forcing them to promote gay rights, we are forcing them to allow kids the freedom to start and name their own clubs whatever they want, because we pay for them. If the church/parents paid entirely for catholic schools (like they should since it's just another private school) then they can run their private school however they wish so long as it doesn't harm the kids. But since the catholic school gets public money (and mismanages it) we have a right to make sure they are treating kids right.
Also, 2000 years ago I don't think anyone cared about people being gay, since that was the time of the roman empire. I know at some point they really reinforced straight monogomy as a way to shore up the population to produce more soldiers, but that was more about conquering people and less about serving society well (especially the people those soldiers conquered).
The bible says that letting women go to school is deviant behaviour and recommends death to any such women. They should also not work nor should they ever speak against their husbands. It's in the same book of Leviticus that describes homosexuality as deviant behaviour.
(waddles off camera muttering to self..."I can't win. It takes a LOT of calories to pound on Mammo's juicy ass. When will it all stop? I just want to be a fat fuck fucking another fat fuck without fucking flack from fags and flakes.)
The "values" that you see as traditional today, once a upon a time were seen as quite radical and reactionary. As an example, the first Christians were considered quite radical
The only values that should be considered "traditional" & that serve all of "humanity" are those that teach - tolerance, respect and understanding of your fellow man. Everything else is just a "fad".
Times changes, humanity changes and values along with it.
Get on the boat of the change or watch it leave you behind.