FOLLOW THE MONEY

 A series of headlines  just flashed past on Toronto's 2016  Budget,  on 680 News,Rogers Channel 3

The first noted City Council rejects a resolution by Councillor Michael Thompson, to cut the police budget by $25 million. 

The Police Chief , said "hacking the budget" , would mean a reduction of 400 officers. The billion dollar budget is apparently  25% of the entire city spending . Fire protection is likely another 25%. 

A Deputy-Police Chief, has just departed amicably with a settlement, following his statement that $10 million could be cut by using technology to reduce manpower. 

"Big Mike McCormack",president of the police association welcomed the deputy-chief's  departure.

 Likely he is  equally pleased with City Council's decision.

The Police Association Chief is son of former Police Chief Bill McCormack. Three  of his siblings are also officers in the department.

The Pater  retired after frequent red-faced tussles with Susan Eng , a former chair of Toronto Police Services Board who also tried to make a difference. 

Olivia Chow, losing candidate in the last Mayoralty contest, was also known to demur occasionally on the question of police costs and practices. 

Toronto C.U.P..E. outside workers  are currently negotiating  a contract with the city .They are on strike notice. They have made several hundred proposals  in hopes of obtaining an agreement one related to job security. 

Deputy-Mayor Denzil  Miinnen- Wong opines the Union does not understand the constraints the city is working under. 

I think one might conclude the workers understand very well who is in charge of  city spending in the main  and the source of  constraints. 

The Mayor and Council are unlikely under any  illusion . 

Former Mayor John Sewell, currently associate of a Police Accountability organisation, calls the 

billion dollar police budget " a pot of gold" .

A mere summary of the spending plan has been provided to his organisation. 

In response to Councillor Thompson's resolution, Mayor John Tory says  "community safety is too important to be dealt with on the back of an envelope .

In a pig's ear.  Mayor Tory  covers his posterior well.  He is unlikely to suffer the fate of former Mayor John Sewell ,who enjoyed but a single term in office back in the days. 

He was said by some to have been Toronto's  best administrative Mayor ever but not admired  by the  Police Association. 

He challenged  police budgets and practices all those years ago. Such a thing was as unheard of then as now.

PUT IT TOGETHER AND SEE

On Saturday , when his death was announced, I knew nothing about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. 

Zero, Zilch, Naught and Nada .

In two days, the media revealed much and  more was surmised. The seventy-nine year old 

Justice died at a ranch in Texas where he was on a hunting week-end. He retired early the night before because he was not feeling well. 

He was the first Italian appointed to the  Supreme Court. He liked to be known by his nickname Nino. He was on the Conservative side of the court.  

He had nine children. And twenty-nine grandchildren. His wife is barely mentioned.

An only child, he was educated in private catholic schools. His mother was a school teacher. 

A first picture showed him seated  atop a very large elephant with a colleague while on vacation in India. His friendship with  Liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg  was referenced a number of times. 

A Globe and Mail story on Monday referred to a Canadian Justice meeting with Justice Scalia on vacation in Australia. The Canadian said he found Scalia to be sarcastic. 

On the occasion, Scalia mentioned Americans love Australians and New Zealanders.They are like Canadians without the chip on the shoulder. 

A close friend  spoke of a conversation he had  with the Justice on the Wednesday before he died.

He spoke of a shoulder ailment and that he would no longer be able to play tennis and the world would just have to get by. 

There was an interview with Pierce Morgan ,the Irish host who took Larry King's place. It seems important American  personages can be skewered with liberal doses of humor so that everyone involved can pretend it's not happening. 

The Justice was accompanied by someone who appeared to run interference for him. 

Pierce Morgan had no skills in artifice. His interviews cut to the chase. He didn't last long in the role. 

What I appreciate most about the Internet is the opportunity for an instant profile or news story of whoever or whatever, in a search engine. 

But everything above and more beside  about Justice Antonin Scalia was presented by the media in the two days following his death. 

No effort was  required on my part for a picture to emerge. 

THE REAL ISSUE

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "AS BAD AS IT SEEMS": 


In the first year in office, the (let us assume new) president spends his time learning the ropes from his trusted inner circle of advisors, who themselves have little or no experience governing. He has made promises, commitments while running for office, but turning these into legislation seems to be impossible.

In the second year the opposition party starts in on shredding him, as with mid-term elections in the offing it does not want him to accomplish anything substantial.

In the third year his own party starts in on shredding him for being weak and ineffective. Alternatives start popping up out of the woodwork. 

In the fourth year he is facing a dog-fight with a handful of his own party members, all seeking his party's nomination for president for the next four years.

WHY? 

Posted by Anonymous to  Our Town and Its Business at 15 February 2016 at 17:55

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The first year of a second term is the (no longer new) President's fifth year in the office. He and his administration are as experienced and sure-footed as they are likely to be in the context of urgent matters that cannot always be predicted but always require immediate response. 

The fourth year of a second term is the eighth and last year of his or any other presidency. 

His  legacy is established or it is not. The  determination is never immediate.   

Nor is his legacy the issue before voters . 

The choice of president is not a grocery store brand.

At this time, the choice is .....who will be the NEXT PRESIDENT.

The legacy of former  President George Bush has not yet been assessed. 

President Obama has not even completed his second term in office. 

Americans everywhere are engrossed in making the decision. 

People of every stripe and colour and every level of social structure. 

Even those  who have no stake....and yet we do....people world- over have an interest in who becomes  President of the United States Of America. 

Americans may not  not  be aware  or concerned  about the interest of the world. 

But the  world is interested nevertheless. We are holding our breath. 

A person without experience  in the business of government is unthinkable. 

The contest does not even begin until the wheat is separated from the chaff. 

AS BAD AS IT SEEMS

Anonymous  has left a new comment on your post "THE MOVIE SCRIPT IS ALREADY WRITTEN": 

They touch on the Canadian health care idea but never really pursue it.

Posted by Anonymous to  Our Town and Its Business at 14 February 2016 at 09:31

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The late Tommy Douglas had a story to tell about the  bitter battle and millions of U.S. dollars that flooded north to  Saskatchewan to prevent establishment of  health care for the masses anywhere 

on this continent. 

Tommy :outlaws had to stand on a box to reach the microphone.

The provincial initiative compelled the Federal  government to introduce the service nation wide. 

Mr. Douglas told the story in a church on Yonge Street ,Richmond Hill at the inaugural of the New Democratic Party in this riding more than half a century since. 

I  caught the second half  of the movie "WagThe Dog " on television . I  waited for a repeat to  

see the whole thing. 

Chick movies seem to be repeated  every other week. They are a welcome light relief of  comedy-romance. 

The Bourne Supremacy seems to be on just about every evening. 

"Wag The Dog" is a movie about a war contrived to make a President look like Captain Courage captivating the greatest number of followers. Hollywood  Director ,Dustin Hoffman masterminds the villainy.  I have yet to see the whole movie. 

Surfing the web today, I caught the tail-end of "Man of the Hour" ,a  film with a similar plot mentioned by Christopher Watts . It's about a successful presidential campaign starring comedian Robin Williams

as a comedian. 

It used to be, I read all the popular books about American politics. John Drury  wrote a series with the same characters.

I watched the movies, back to stars John Barrymore and Spencer Tracy. I was always glad to have read the books first. The movies were never as good. 

Then the Watergate Hearings happened with Tip O'Neill in the chair and I enjoyed the real thing better. 

Snatches  of last night's Republican debate were circulating  throughout news channels today, laced with news of the demise and replacement of a Supreme Court judge. 

I swear, every day it gets harder to separate fact from fiction, 

In all these years, I've never seen anything so irresponsible  pthat remotely resembles the  rabid battle between the rightest of the right taking place before our eyes over and over again on television. 

In a weirdly perverse context, in the  competition for power, the bizarre and bellicose billionaire keeps coming out ahead of the rest in the polls and  already in one of  two states decided.

Now the death and  required replacement of a Supreme Court Justice is being used to add fuel to the fire. 

The final year of four, they argue, a President is a lame duck. 

Last night, CNN introduced an academic  with an opinion.  He  claimed the second half, two years, of a presidential term can be deemed to be without authority . 

CNN  announced his credentials as head of a teaching institution and allowed his view to stand alone. 

No alternate view was offered. 

I was a very young child when fascism took over in Europe. I did not of course speak any of the languages.

We  had no television  or radio. Only British Pathe or Movietone News at the Saturday matinee. I have a sketchy understanding of how Hitler came to power in Germany and held on to it.

I remember the insane ranting...the roar of Zeig Heil ,the forest of  raised strong-armed salute

signifying regimentation of an entire nation. Although I did not understand it. 

I remember  the misery that came of it....the  Holocaust.....the cost in lives of an entire generation of the young world-over ,including Germany ....the years of recovery.

Most of all, I remember the words ....NEVER AGAIN. 

I think we are watching the world skating to the edge of unravelling again. 

THE MOVIE SCRIPT IS ALREADY WRITTEN

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "OUR WAY IS SO MUCH SIMPLER.": 

Darcy McGee was assassinated as an MP.

It resulted in Canada's last public hanging.

It was long ago but, it happened in Canada. 

Posted by Anonymous to  Our Town and Its Business at 13 February 2016 at 05:47

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I thought of Darcy McGhee but he was a Father of Confederation. Sir John  A MacDonald was Prime Minister and it was a hundred  and fifty years ago. Americans were assassinating Presidents then and

they're doing it now.

 The late President Ronald Reagan was the last one shot, though not killed.He never went anywhere without massive protection after that. 

i would be surprised if security around the current president and his family isn't as tight as it possibly

can be. 

I  imagine if  Senator Bernie Sanders was successful he might  be equally  at risk.

He is promising a revolution.

Most of the programs the Senator is proposing  are identical to those provided to the Cuban people 

by Fidel Castro's revolution. 

So far as the bellicose billionaire's promises are concerned ,he has barely stopped  short of seven virgins for every man in a paradise on earth or  Playboy Clubs for the masses. 

If elected, his too is a revolution of sorts. 

As far as Sanders is concerned, his promises are the same he has made throughout his career,

In all those years, he never had to deliver because he was never aligned with a machine that could. 

These are interesting times.  

Even as we watch, political parties are  hi-jacked with ease. 

For all intents and purposes , Trump has  hi-jacked the Republican Party. 

Senator Sanders has done the same with the Democratic Party. 

Stephen Harper did the same with the Canadian Progressive Conservative Party very few years ago. 

"Home-grown terrorists"  is  a common reference  in every country. Even as far away as Australia. 

Before our very eyes, the government of arguably the most powerful country in the world is being taken over by vernacular filled with exaggerated claims popular with wrestling fans.  

Not even Steven Spielberg has ever considered that as a plot for a horror movie. 

OUR WAY IS SO MUCH SIMPLER.

,Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "I MISS DAVID LETTERMAN": 

We cannot understand the American election system.
Neither can they.

Posted by Anonymous to  Our Town and Its Business at 12 February 2016 at 14:10

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We understand the differences between us.

Prime Ministers are not elected at large. The leader of the party elected becomes Prime Minister

of the country. 

The leader can be elected leader without holding an elected seat but can't effectively be Prime Minister without holding a seat . So if the leader elected doesn't have a seat ,he has to persuade another elected representative to give up his seat so the leader can be the leader. 

Candidate nomination requires party approval as well as a membership vote at the riding level. 

A member can be expelled from a party by the leader if they breach caucus discipline or bring discredit to the party. It happens. They continue to hold the seat until the next election. Although  they no longer represent the riding, they cannot be compelled to resign. 

A leadership convention can be called if a leader loses the confidence of the party. The convention is called by the leader.

Parties set the rules for leadership conferences. 

There are no term limits for Prime Minister. 

In the States, there's a tendency to assassinate Presidents and maybe a Governor or two. 

We don't do that. 

Also in the States, they campaign for the presidency in every state. Delegates are assigned. Some are gifted. 

But on election day, registered voters also cast ballots. Not everyone gets registered. Not sure how that works.  Votes are counted, excitement is intense. 

It seems one thing we have in common ,is difficulty making amendments to the constitution. 

In Canada ,every Province must support the amendment. Except,I think ,Quebec. 

See...it's so much simpler in Canada. it's probably why we find the American system complicated.

MARTIN LUTHER KING MADE HIS MARK....DIDN'T HE ?

Anonymous left a new comment on your post "I MISS DAVID LETTERMAN": 
17:42

Bloomberg is apparently worth $33.4 billion and he made it himself.

Trump is a piker at $4.1 billion which was primarily inherited. His two divorces must have been expensive.

So when it comes to cold hard cash Bloomberg can blow Trump away, although I doubt he will enter the race.

Bloomberg served 12 years as the mayor of New York City. Trump was a wrestling  mogul.

Your choice ????

Posted by Anonymous to  Our Town and Its Business at 11 February 2016 at 19:43

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I have  trouble taking commercial wrestling seriously. Grunts and thumps and swaggering and vastly exaggerated claims of superiority and circus costumery puts the sport into a separate category.

 Fans obviously love it.

It explains Donal Trump  and his followers to a T .  Mr.T.   

Cynicism at it's worst.

Isis could take a lesson. 

The meek shall not inherit the earth. 

If the American President's Office can be bought  by a  bellicose billionaire , any domestic terrorist or militarist organisation with money and a front could make the same deal . 

The field is wide open...and ripe for the picking. 

Trump boasts he is spending his own money. 

He is under obligation  to no-one. 

That's right. 

The ultimate Fascist dictator and robotic followers. 

Not even Tea Party Republicans can hold him to account, though he runs under their banner. 

In a different sense, Senator Bernie  Sanders is doing the same thing. He invites citizens to join the

revolution without even bothering to form his own political party.

Small donations averaging $27. and  together, he and they will change the world.

An independent in Vermont, Bernie Sanders has likely never taken a risk  in his entire career. 

He wrote  the foreword on a book highly critical of Democrat President  and in a public debate declares  commendation of the book , didn't mean commendation of the book and it was a low blow to suggest  

otherwise.

I hoped  Hillary Clinton would succeed in her last bid for the Presidency.

I regarded Barack Obama an opportunist the same as Bernie Sanders. Successful politicians are not ennui. 

But he was elected President. He was given the responsibility. That he was black made the event historic and a giant step forward in American history. 

Added to that was his undeniable intelligence and commitment to make a difference in people's lives.  

Yes indeed, as Marco Rubio repeated six times by rote in the last Republican debate, Barack Obama meant to change things. 

 Republican obduracy resolved then and now,  a black president could not be allowed to succeed .

 Shamefully, Republicans were  not the only obstacle. 

Bernie Sanders and Democrats of similar cowardly bent made their contribution.  

I  am a life time fan of Harry Belafonte but I can't admire his support of the leap-frogging Senator. 

Or of a former executive of the NAACP or any other African -American who carelessly tosses,like so much rubbish, what others fought for so hard. 

People  gave their lives and endured cruel and unusual punishment for equal rights. 

Women did the same,earlier in history. 

The struggle for equality is ongoing .

There have been successes. 

But the fight is not over. 

A front line is not enough. 

I MISS DAVID LETTERMAN

So, New Hampshire has made its choice. For Republican and Democrat nomination. The latter seems

to have the greatest support. Except Republican votes were split between six candidates. 

Now there are four. 

Carly what's- her -name cast the evil eye on Hillary on her way out the door. 

She advised the young and women not to take advice about how to vote.Then advised them not to vote for Hillary. 

I suspect other Sanders backers are masquerading Republicans with a method to their madness. 

The media went berserk after New Hampshire votes were counted. Every possible conjugation was cited to give meaning to both elections and a few more that contribute nothing at all to the conclusion. 

A preponderance of the evidence is strange to us but some things are obvious.

Bernie Sanders has been successful in politics by not aligning himself with any party discipline. 

 

It leaves him free as a bird to associate or disassociate, as suits the occasion. 

Sanders is no neophyte. 

He knows the territory. He knows what to say to keep him on the popular side of every argument. 

He risks nothing. In a fertile field it's  a winning strategy. 

Not unfamiliar. 

Clever if not courageous. 

Calculated.

Harry Belafonte today speaks of support for someone who "cares deeply about our country"  

Belafonte has spoken out before. But he has never offered to serve.

 I tend to look for that as a sign of commitment. 

Why has his name never been seen on a ballot?

ROUND AND ROUND IT GOES

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "COMIDRAMA": 
This is really sick.

Did they perchance all have assault rifles or were they beaver trappers?

No media?

I don't believe it. 

Posted by Anonymous to  Our Town and Its Business at 9 February 2016 at 11:37

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The media were there . They appeared in the closing, cake-eating scene. 

My point was the media did not comment on the all male cast. 

Now we learn from our conversation, Dixville, is a  place where the nine voters are men who work in a hotel which In northern New Hampshire likely hosts hunters who love their guns. 

No wonder Bernie Sanders is their choice of Democrat. 

Wonder whence came the original idea for the name Dixville. 

The  question may we'll be how many Americans were aware of Dixville details as opposed to a Canadian who never heard of the place. 

Certainly candidates for nomination would know.

It's another example of awareness of the task. 

Except that someone must be chosen, it seems well-nigh impossible.  

The person who undertakes it must either be a fool or hugely courageous. 

It goes double for a woman. 

Hillary is not a fool. 

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Heather and Andy and the family  and sixty-odd other  families had their annual fund-raiser at Newmarket  Senior's Centre for the special hockey club they created. 

They have  a bar ,a DJ , food , games, raffles and a silent auction. Everyone has a fine time. 

Andy has the licence so the family does all the schlepping at the bar and make sure whoever needs it, has a ride home .

Every year, proceeds are a little better than the year before. The first event raised $13,000.

This year the total is about $25,000.

It's hard work and very satisfying. It means a group of different ability have a season of putting on a uniform, lacing on skates and taking to the ice to do what their heroes do in different circumstances. 

They pack their gear and fresh uniforms and travel on buses to compete with teams like theirs in other places and have a very fine time and form friendships in an ever widening circle. 

Life is good.

Better than it would  have been without a simple,honest, straightforward fund-raiser that does better every year. 

There are no awards or political blandishments. 

Just the simple satisfaction of making a difference.

COMIDRAMA

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "FOR THE RECORD": 

Hope your admiration for her pays off for our neighbors to the south. It will mean nothing for us exept maybe a couple of entertaining post election reality shows

Posted by Anonymous to  Our Town and Its Business at 8 February 2016 at 23:15

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I tried to detach myself. You know all that stuff that floats around on Facebook about how to be happy. 

Different strokes for different folks.

The picture fits into my television screen again. Calico cat must have stepped ona button   on the remote. It sits on the arm of my chair. He jumps up on my lap  then steps up on the arm of the chair climbs further across the back and walks around the back of my head,down the other arm before sprawling out on my lap. All without any encouragement whatsoever. 

Now the audio has closed down on some stations. 

Last night, I watched the silliest election event ever.

 In 1960, an individual in a small "town" in the northern reaches decided the election should be held at midnight. 

Nine ballots were cast. An official, presumably returning officer, stood by the ballot box with a stop watch. Lined up on the other side were five husky males, ballots in hand. 

The backdrop looked like the hardware store in Tim the Toolman. Each voter looked like 

varying sizes of Tim himself  dressed either in plaid shirt or sweaters. 

On the stroke of midnight, voting began. At 12.07, voting concluded. After the official thrust his ballot in the slot as well. 

Hillary did not win a single vote. Not a woman was in sight. It was an all male event. Not even the media noted the peculiarity.

The vote tallied at nine. When  the excitement was  over ,everybody ate cake. 

Women with microphones, one  lugging big heavy cameras ,augmented the crowd at that time. 

I really think the show was staged. Bernie Sanders received four votes. I don't think it was a coincidence Hillary was shut out.

The  guys were sending a message to their buddies . To Democrats, Bernie was the boy. 

Pun intended.

FOR THE RECORD

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "EENIE,MEENIE,MINEY,MO": 

22:19
Link ?
or more disinformation from you?

Posted by Anonymous to  Our Town and Its Business at 8 February 2016 at 04:16

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It's a valid point. 

I like to keep the conversation going but I do reject many comments. 

I have waffled though with some negative references that don't provide a source. 

From now on they will be rejected and I will remove those published already.

The blog is committed one hundred per cent to Hillary Clinton. 

Nobody has an obligation to be a candidate for public office. 

Nobody has a right to be chosen. 

Like Charlie Rose and Sean Penn's viewers,I may be one in 20 million,but on some days I have more American readers than Canadian.

I feel better putting my heart and soul behind Hillary. 

Something weird is happening to my television. As the New Hampshire Primary vote approaches and excitement reaches a crescendo, the  T.V. picture gets higher and wider and no longer fits within the screen. It almost seems symbolic. 

It's a good thing my attention is more listening  than watching. 

I understand about caucus voting. I understand voters can chose between Democratic and Republican in the New Hampshire Primary. I do not understand is the relevance of polls between Republicans and Democrats and candidates of both parties. 

Does a Primary vote mean New Hampshire voters are choosing their candidate for President.