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BREAKING NEWS - Good Bye OWS - Toronto

Dear Occupy Toronto, Fuck off! Love, Mayor Rob Ford

By: Colin Perkel

TORONTO - Allowing Occupy Toronto protesters to remain in a downtown park would amount to supporting anarchy, something Canadians have rejected, a judge ruled Monday in upholding the city's trespass bylaw.

There was no immediate word on when the demonstrators might be evicted or whether they would appeal the ruling.

But the city's mayor said he expected the protesters to get out of the park immediately.

"We've asked the protesters to leave as soon as possible," Mayor Rob Ford told a news conference.

"We'd appreciate their co-operation."

In a 54-page decision, Ontario Superior Court Justice David Brown upheld the city's trespass bylaw as a "reasonable" infringement on the demonstrators' freedom of expression.

"Anarchism has a long political history," Brown stated in his ruling. "But Canada has not chosen anarchism."

Some protesters in the park said they would defy any attempt to remove them, while others did not want to risk a confrontation with police.

Sakura Saunders, a volunteer with Occupy Toronto, said those who choose to stay will be "non-violently resisting" attempts to tear down their mini-village of tents and other shelters.

"That's simply us standing our ground," Saunders said.

"We do have charter rights to be here and it is the opinion of everyone here that our charter rights should ... be greater than the right of someone to walk their dog through this park."

Brown, however, disagreed.

"The tents and other shelters hog the park land, and non-protesters who seek to use the park face a chilly and somewhat intimidating reception," he said.

"The charter offers no justification for the protesters' act of appropriating to their own use — without asking their fellow citizens — a large portion of common public space for an indefinite period of time."

Members of the Occupy Toronto protest, who took over St. James Park in the city's downtown Oct. 15 as part of the global protest movement, went to court to block the trespass notice issued last Tuesday.

In its notice, the city said putting up tents or being in the park between midnight and 5 a.m. violated bylaws.

City Manager Joe Pennachetti said the city did not consider midnight to be a deadline for the protesters to be gone.

"We want to move quickly and hopefully beat that time frame," Pennachetti said.

Police said they were in discussions with the city, but would not speculate further.

Five protesters argued the occupation of the park, including tents, were an intrinsic part of their right to protest and hence their ability to assemble and express themselves.

Brown rejected the notion that the Occupy Toronto protesters were worthy of a special exemption.

"It would be a most curious constitutional exemption which would have the effect of excluding many members of the public from a park, while granting a small group exclusive possession of it," he wrote.

The judge, who heard a day of arguments on Friday, said the notice represented "minimal impairment" on the protesters' freedoms.

On agreement of the parties, Brown made no order as to costs given the "public importance" of the issues.

Across the continent, civic authorities have either evicted, or moved to evict, their Occupy protesters.

Most protest sites in Canada have already been dismantled but some remain.

A judge in Victoria has said the demonstrators have to go, but has not yet given the city the authority to evict them if they don't.

In Vancouver, a judge has given Occupy protesters until Monday afternoon to clear their camp in front of the downtown art gallery.

Montreal has taken no action against its downtown protesters.

Police have also cleaned out Manhattan's Zuccotti Park near Wall Street, where the Occupy movement began in mid-September.

While most of the protests have been peaceful, there have been violent clashes as police moved to evict the demonstrators in places such as Oakland, Calif., and mass arrests in New York City.

SOURCE: The Canadian Press

Read this: Ocuppiers Right, Wrong

Source: Toronto Sun

BY LORRIE GOLDSTEIN ,

Recently I’ve been writing about some of the views I share with Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York, Toronto and elsewhere.

Today I’m going to write about my disagreements.

To review, I agree with them financial fraud on Wall St. and political corruption in Washington are largely responsible for the global economic mess we’re in today.

I agree the public justifiably feels betrayed by how stock markets were manipulated and banks and investment houses bailed out with U.S. taxpayers’ money.

I agree key regulations governing stock markets were gutted by Wall St., which bribed politicians into stacking the rules in their favour, a phenomenon known as crony capitalism.

I agree public anger at corrupt Wall St. executives and their bought-and-paid for politicians — Republicans and Democrats — is justified.

But I disagree with the Occupiers’ view capitalism itself is the problem and wealth redistribution by the state is the answer.

Wherever this has been tried, the state becomes the ultimate crony capitalist and it does to the public exactly what Wall St. and Congress did to them starting in 2008, only on steroids.

The solution is not to replace capitalism but to fix it — by restoring laws for the proper regulation of the financial services sector that arose out of the stock market crash of 1929.

Things like keeping the activities of commercial and investment banks separate, so commercial banks that accept depositors’ money can’t use it to speculate in high-risk securities in the stock market.

Things like placing limits on “leveraging,” meaning buying investments using debt, which can result in huge financial losses.

Things like regulating the use of derivatives such as collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps.

These were the two weapons of mass destruction in the subprime mortgage securities scandal that wiped out trillions of dollars of people’s life savings and pensions world-wide, while costing tens of millions their jobs and homes.

But I disagree with the protesters who say they are against the bailout of Wall St. banks, but in favour of bailing out giant auto companies, which they’ve indicated by accepting the support of the Canadian Auto Workers.

That tells me these protesters aren’t really against the government picking economic winners and losers. They just want it to pick the winners and losers of which they approve.

I also disagree with the Occupiers’ failure to condemn the roles played by government entitlement programs and public sector greed in the ongoing global economic crisis.

Indeed, excessive entitlement programs and runaway public sector spending lie at the heart of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, that could cause another global recession.

The problem with countries like Greece — as in much of Europe — is their economies were already basket cases before the contagion of toxic subprime mortgage securities spread around the world and sent their finances over a cliff.

As former Wall St. money trader Michael Lewis, author of The Big Short, widely considered to be one of the best and most understandable accounts of the 2008 subprime mortgage securities scandal, explains in his latest book, Boomerang, Travels In The New Third World, the Greek economy was basically a giant Ponzi scheme before it imploded.

For example, the wage bill of Greece’s public sector has doubled in real terms in the past 12 years.

The average government job pays almost three times the salary of the average private sector one.

Greece’s state-owned railway has annual revenues of 100 million euros, against an annual wage bill of 400 million euros (average salary, 65,000 euros per worker), plus 300 million for other expenses.

Greece’s public school system, among the lowest ranked in Europe, has four times as many teachers per pupil as the highest ranked, in Finland.

The retirement age under Greece’s prohibitively expensive public pension system is as early as 55 for men and 50 for women for over 600 professions classified as “arduous,” including hairdressers, radio announcers, waiters and musicians.

Finally, bribery and corruption are widespread in the public sector.

To sum up, the Occupy movement is correct to condemn the greed, fraud and corruption on Wall St. that led to the global economic mess we’re in today.

But to ignore those same things in the public sector, and their contribution to the economic tsunami we’re now experiencing, is absurd and blatantly inconsistent. 

Source:The Toronto Sun

Rioted and Looted so Hard Last Night LOLZ!! Best Time Ever!!!

WTF?
We live in a democratic society where everyone has an opinion and they have a right to be heard.  Throughout history, once a people feel ignored or persecuted they often rise and protest against the state.  a recent example of this can be seen in Iran where thousands of brave souls have risked their lives to rise against their state and be heard world wide.
Recently the cities of Toronto,Vancouver and London have received unwanted publicity due to their recent rioting and "sacking".  While many claim that there is an underlying cause for their anger and revolt,  it is wrong and unfair to associate these opourtunists to the struggles faced in Iran.

Most recently in London's riot, many believe that the rioting was triggered by the death of unarmed black man at the hands of the police.

This is far from the truth.

We're Rioting.....from high prices!

Many British political scientists and politicians have began laying the blame for these riots on each other - the left claiming that this was due to the frustration from the nation's segregated communities, while the right blamed England's failed attempt at multiculturalism- while little has been written about the most important issue about these events...Rioting has become cool.

Sweetness

Also, with the creation of Social Networking sites and tools, people are more connected than ever.  Unfortunately, our generation is suffering from becoming a lost one due to our inability to create a significant history - few significant wars, and cultural movements.  Due to this, many of us strive to be remembered and want to be involved in historical opportunities.  These protests not only connected people, the perpetrators were given a false sense of being involved in a historical event.

People taking part in these protests don't give a damn about the struggles of minorities, or the death of a black man. rather, these people are opportunist.  These people are not acting towards a cause or an idea; rather, they are acting for the simple case of acting....kind of like the Paris Hilton of civil disobedience.  These cowards saw an opportunity for civil unrest and took it. These people became obsessed from the idea of what they can take from these acts, rather than what they can change.

Flush out

A Man on a Toilet...and his Plan to Save the City

I recently went online during my "session" and read a wonderful piece of literature from the Toronto Sun.  This article  suggested three horrible ways Mayor Rob Ford can save Toronto and then offered readers to give their suggestions. So i did, and here they are.

1. Go paperless

Make you ride the bus...It can do that

Today more things are going paperless, and we should do the same with our services.  First on the cutting block are libraries.  As I wrote earlier, Toronto has 99 Libraries, much more than New York, LA and Chicago.  We should find ways to have Library books and resources available online for us to use so that we don't need as many.  

Another Idea is to have a TTC pass on your smartphone.  We should have an app where we may buy tokens and passes and when we get to the bus or subway, we simply scan a barcode to verify that we have paid.  This method can also be used for other forms of social services.  The city of Toronto should find other ways to take advantage of the popularity of smartphones.  

2. Make Toronto more pedestrian friendly

Get off your ass Toronto

Anyone who has been to Europe knows how great it is to walk on the street in the middle of the night.  Toronto should have an area where people can gather and not worry about the cars.  Cities such as Florence have poles that sink during the day and rise at night to prevent cars to go through.  These poles can be placed throughout the city such as Yorkville, Little Italy or even the just-proposed French district.  

I also believe that the city should strive to have more bike lanes on these high traffic areas.  I understand that toronto's weather does not make biking very comfortable for the enitre year, but by having more access to lanes that are specifically designed for bikers, more people are going to use this method of transportation rather than using their cars.

3. User Fees

Everyone's Everything's got a price

Many people in Toronto are against cutting any services and instead want to go the way of the Millerites and tax their way out of this hole.  Well, I suggest that if you want a service, than you pay for it.  Essential services must be cared for; however, things such as community centers, and pools could have a small charge to offset the costs.  You could even charge a small monthly fee for the library if you want to keep it open.  Toronto can not conitnue to drain it's citizens to pay for the services of others; instead, people should be responsible with these services and pay for what they use.

In Socialist Toronto, Books Read You

This week, Toronto City Council endured the longest meeting in their history.  Spanning over 22 hours, 168 socialists, labour union leaders, and lobbyist argued, complained, and in some cases ridiculed Rob Ford over the city's proposed service cuts and privatization of other services.  The message I got from these people was very simple - DO NOT CUT ANYTHING.  Apparently, these people believe that Toronto does not have a spending problem.
I am shocked and also amused at these people and their disapproval for the current Mayor of Toronto and his attempts to fix many of the spending issues we have had since the election of David "the Swiffer King" Miller.  Where were they when Miller decided to spend $400 000 to build $0.25 public pay toilets (if you do the math, it is going to take 1.6 million flushes to pay off these shitters)?  Or those wonderful gourmet food stands that no one wanted, but apparently we needed? How about the cities decision to create a  $60.00 Vehicle registration tax?  Wasn't the city taking the money out the hands of hard working Torontonians and giving it to a wasteful council?  I guess these people thought that this was fine.

After researching this further, I have come to a few conclusions about our city

1. There are 169 annoying people in Toronto (Adam Vaughan is one of them)

Sure does!

Whether you are a crying 14 year-old girl, or a Grandmother with a bad haircut, if you were one of the 168 people that decided not to go to work and instead go to this speak or cheer at the last city council, - you are annoying.  I don't mind you coming and speaking your mind at the council, what do I mind is when people bring sock puppets, write songs, or do really bad impressions and expect people like me to take you seriously.  I wont.

Not only are you all annoying, you are absolutely selfish.  Instead of proposing ways the city may cut some "grease", the only option I tend to hear continually is "tax the rich"...which leads me to my next point

2. Tax The Rich(er than me)



Over and over again we hear the same thing, "share the wealth", "tax the rich"... it never seems to end.  But here is one thing people never seem to notice, when one says that the rich should be taxed, he is talking about those that are richer than himself.  A person who makes $30 000 will consider a person that makes $60 000 rich; however, if you ask him if he thinks he is rich,  he will disagree and state that a person who makes $120 000 is rich.  Whenever someone states that the rich should be taxed, they are considering people that make more than them, and do not place themselves in the "rich" bracket.  I bet if these people were placed in the rich bracket, they wouldn't be so supportive towards taxation.
And here is another thing... the rich don't pay taxes!  They have enough accountants to find loopholes in our system so that they do not pay; instead, it's the middle class that is forced to pay the taxes that fund these services.

3. Toronto Does Have Too Many Libraries

"and so they told me there is no 'H' in Italy..."

That's right, I said it! While the Toronto Libraries are some of the most frequented in the world,  the city has far too many establishments for its population.  The city of Toronto has 99 locations!  That is 12 more than New York (87), 22 more than Chicago, and 27 more than Los Angeles  (72) - all cities with a greater population than ourselves.  I feel that city is wasting a crap load of money on many of these buildings when they can do something things that can save them.
One way the city can save is by becoming digital.  By having a great deal of your resources available online, Torontonians are able to access the libraries services from home 24 hours a day.  Another way the city may save is by placing an extra emphasis on school libraries.  Every school in Toronto has library that is barely used.  The city should find ways that the school library resources are more available to the public.

4. The City Should Review The Funding of The City Arts/Theatres

Indie...the new emo

The city should seriously consider reviewing its funding for many art programs that run throughout Toronto.  I am a big fan of the arts and believe that they have a strong influence in the city's culture; however, any conservative that has gone to any recent art exhibit or theater show knows that these programs are not the most welcoming.  People that do not fit in or agree with the "artists" opinons or views are placed in uncomfortable situations where they are not only not welcomed, but also openly chastised and criticized.  City of Toronto funds should go towards programs that encourage all people to be involved regardless of race, gender, or religious or political beliefs.

So here is my two cents
Flush out

Why I hate the TTC #1

Here is one of the many reasons why I hate the TTC!

New York

 

Boston

and Finally, TTC

What the hell is that!  Toronto has a subway system that doesn't take them anywhere!  And why the hell is there two lines that go the exact way only 2 blocks apart?  The person who designed this subway system is one huge asshole!  The Thing i hate most about this is the simple fact that I NEED TO DRIVE TO TAKE THE SUBWAY! Sick planning boys!  keep up the good work.

places where the subway DOESN'T take you

1. CNE
2. BMO Field
3. York University
4. York University Glendon campus
5. Molson amphitheater
6. Wonderland
7. Ontario Place
8. Toronto Island Ferry
9. Square One
10. Vaughan Mills
11. Centennial park
12. Humber College
13. Lester B. Pearson International Airport

Rob Ford....Show me some Pride

I wouldn't call myself a man that stands up for gay rights or take a stand on the legalization of gay marriage- I just do not care enough.  However, I also feel that if something doesn't affect me in anyway, I don't believe I have a right criticize.  Who am I to judge if two guys or two gals want to express their feelings for each other in such an intimate way? I like to take a libertarian view with this issue - as long as you do not bother anyone, enjoy yourself.

What does bother me is when people go and ruin a perfectly good career on stupid decisions such as the recent one by Toronto mayor Rob Ford.  For the last four-to-five years, I have been following Mr. Ford and have had supported him throughout his rise in Toronto politics.  For the most part I have always agreed with his views and his opinions, but his refusal to attend the Pride parade is not one of them.

I am going to give Mr. Ford the benefit of the doubt and believe that he has an annual tradition with his family that he feels that he must attend, and I also know that he is a very busy man that must cancel numerous events that occur throughout the city.  However, by refusing to attend this parade he has created a lightening rod for his opponents to pounce on and label him as a bigot and homophobe.

Ford promised to be a mayor for all of Toronto and this parade gives him an opportunity to prove it!  By not attending the parade, he will further alienate homosexuals and prove what his naysayers have been preaching - it's not like the liberal and gay community have accepted him since he announced his nomination against Smitherman.  For this week, let's just hope that he makes the right decision and stands beside the LGBT community during Pride.  Finally, Should Mr. Ford attend the event, let us also hope that the gay community makes the right move and accept their mayor and applaud his decision to attend.

Flush out