Wednesday, August 25, 2010
FORDamania...
Matt Gurney: Ford cracks Toronto’s left-wing armour
Chris Selley’s Full Pundit: Have you slagged off Rob Ford lately?
Christie Blatchford
The logic behind Rob Ford’s bid to derail the ‘gravy train’
For starters, Toronto public servants are already well paidSimplicity Of Solution Will Get Lost In The Bureaucracy
Chris Selley: Forget ‘customer service.’ Make the trains run on time
August 24, 2010 – 2:57 pm
My major complaint about the report the Toronto Transit Commission’s Customer Service Advisory Panel released yesterday is how much it focuses on customer service. (Hey, I didn’t say it was a fair complaint.) The 11 civic-minded volunteer members of the panel — who clearly mean well, I must stress — include the general manager of a downtown Toronto hotel, the vice-president of “people relations and culture” (ugh, really?) at WestJet, a marketing professor, the CEO of a marketing firm, and someone who’s in charge of “loyalty and retention” for a telephone company, of all things. They’ve come up with recommendations that range from obviously essential to downright dumb. But fundamentally, I just think they were working on a false premise. The TTC’s customer service crisis is largely a symptom, not the disease.
It’s not surprising given the complement of the panel, but it’s frustrating how much time the report spends worrying about the TTC’s “brand” — its “image” — in abstraction. It recommends an “audit … to explore the current state of the TTC image/brand from the perspective of the customer. This information can act as a foundation to plan future marketing campaigns.” But the TTC isn’t a brand to be marketed like Pepsi, Wendy’s or Indigo. They’re trying to convince you to drink a certain cola, eat a certain burger, buy books at a certain place. The TTC is a take it or leave it proposition. All it is is the service it provides, and no amount of brand enhancement will alter the fundamental public transit calculation: if it can be counted on to get me from Point A to Point B in an acceptable length of time, at an acceptable price and in an acceptable degree of comfort, I will use the service.
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It’s not surprising given the complement of the panel, but it’s frustrating how much time the report spends worrying about the TTC’s “brand” — its “image” — in abstraction. It recommends an “audit … to explore the current state of the TTC image/brand from the perspective of the customer. This information can act as a foundation to plan future marketing campaigns.” But the TTC isn’t a brand to be marketed like Pepsi, Wendy’s or Indigo. They’re trying to convince you to drink a certain cola, eat a certain burger, buy books at a certain place. The TTC is a take it or leave it proposition. All it is is the service it provides, and no amount of brand enhancement will alter the fundamental public transit calculation: if it can be counted on to get me from Point A to Point B in an acceptable length of time, at an acceptable price and in an acceptable degree of comfort, I will use the service.
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Message To Drug Dealers...
...do not hide your drugs! Keep them out in the open where they are easily accessible and visible.
Drawing a police line
August 24, 2010When they crashed into a townhouse looking for drugs, Toronto police weren’t taking chances. They battered down the door, tossed a stunning “flash bang” into the home, and rushed in with weapons drawn. Two people were charged with drugs offences.
Fair enough, Ontario Superior Court Justice Michael Code decided. The police had a warrant for the 2007 bust, and acted reasonably.
But then they proceeded to ransack the place with a zeal that dismayed Code and violated the residents’ constitutional right to be secure against “unreasonable search” or seizure.
They hacked open the back of a sofa, broke a cabinet door, emptied every closet, drawer and bookshelf out onto the floor, and left an “extraordinary mess” behind, Code found earlier this year.
“Particularly troubling” was the officers’ attitude. When asked why they didn’t put the scattered property back, one said: “We are police officers. We are not Molly Maid.” Another said: “There is no need to put it back. We are not trying to be polite.” Code found this “betrays a serious misunderstanding of the limits of their powers.”
“The deliberate and unnecessary damage to property, and the deliberate and unnecessary disorder and disarray in which the property was left, rendered the search unreasonable and in violation of Section 8 of the Charter (of Rights and Freedoms),” he found.
Code decided to let seized drugs be presented as evidence. But he warned that the police will risk future cases being thrown out if they don’t smarten up. It’s a ruling the drug squad should take to heart. Whatever some officers may think, there are limits. Crossing them discredits the force, and puts justice in jeopardy.
Sid Ryan And The OFL Recruiting Campaign Seems To Be Working...
Postal union gives stamp of approval to Gaza mail mission
Wed Aug 25 2010
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is giving its backing to a group planning to steer a Canadian-registered boat through the Israeli blockade of Gaza....new letter carrier uniform. Keep the dog in the house!
Relentless Is A Subjective Term...
...and I would like to see the list of possible breaches made by other councilors that are under investigation. Integrity and politicians is an oxymoron.
Integrity commissioner's witchhunt
Enfant terrible and front-running mayoral candidate Rob Ford says the city’s integrity commissioner was absolutely “relentless” in her pursuit of the latest complaint about him.
CTV Should Do A Follow Up...
...and determine is road hockey allowed in the neighborhood, can a child setup a lemonade stand, is it a welcome and safe haven for the homeless, etc.? Is the "church" group breaking the law? Are the "church" group going beyond the boundaries of Freedom Of Expression?
Tensions erupt between T.O. church group, neighbours
Tensions erupt between T.O. church group, neighbours
Toronto street preachers deny homophobia
A member of a church group that has been accused of targeting the home of a gay couple in Leslieville with its street preaching says the media and area residents have jumped to faulty conclusions.
Viral video in Leslieville is not what it seems
Screen image of religious fundamentalists in a Leslieville neighbourhood.YOUTUBE
Tue Aug 24 2010
Gay couple defends street preachers whose confrontation outside their Leslieville house has become a YouTube sensation.
Impossible Miller Banned Hand Guns...
Poll Speaks Volumes About The Fear Among Special Interest Groups...
...that their spot at the trough will disappear.
Miller Tops Voter Support: Poll
'Liberal' T.O. finally is PO'd
Anyone across Canada who considers Toronto a liberal (and Liberal) la-la land filled with sheep-like residents meekly accepting every new tax imposed on them, hasn’t been paying attention to its race for mayor.
Poll Shows Impressions of Rob Ford Change
Grassroots endorsement for Ford
By DON PEAT, Toronto Sun
Talk about return to sender.
Last place. That's got to sting
Kelly Grant
Mayor's race reduced to mudslinging: Mammoliti
Hey mayoral candidates, where’s the beef?
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Different Strokes For Different Folks...
Fatwa Chaos
Some useful fatwas:A well-known Saudi religious scholar recently advised that a woman could become kin to a man—and thus be alone with him without violating the Islamic ban on gender mixing—by giving him five sips of her breast milk. This religious ruling, or fatwa, followed one in Somalia prohibiting Muslims from watching the soccer World Cup; one in Malaysia saying Muslims should not do yoga; two in Egypt, one saying married couples should not disrobe when having sex and the other one labeling Facebook users sinners; and one in Pakistan forbidding polio vaccination because it’s a Western plot to harm Muslims.Yes, these rulings are certainly fascinating, but what's the real issue?
The purposes of some of these fatwas, which are supposed to be based in the knowledge and wisdom of those who issue them, are quite disturbing and are tarnishing the image of Islam. For Muslim governments, this expansion of fatwa-issuing is becoming a growing concern.Tarnishing the image? Au contraire, I'd say these fatwas are downright entertaining. It's the beheadings and bombings of infidels that is tarnishing the image of Islam.
Posted by Jaeger at 9:59 PM| Comments (13)
Becoming A Common Occurence Around The World...
Sara Schonhardt - August 23, 2010 06:44
...under the banner of diversity, religious freedom, etc.
Immigration Con Game
Chris Selley’s Full Pundit: Unlock and unload
August 23, 2010 – 12:51 pm
The Tamil saga continues
The Sun Media editorialists back off their “lock and load” position with regards to incoming refugee boats, explaining they arrived at it “early in the game.” We’re not sure there’s any point in such a discussion where it’s OK to advocate sinking unarmed ships full of would-be asylum-seekers, but we’re quite sure that last Tuesday — four days after the MV Sun Sea arrived on the West Coast — isn’t all that “early in the game.” Anyhow, while they blow a “secret government report” completely out of proportion (it was an anecdotal sampling of 50 people, as CBC’s Kady O’Malley explains), and while they needlessly get all pissy about the National Post’s editorial on Saturday that called them out for the whole “lock and load” thing, they are quite correct that the common practice of asylum-seekers returning home for visits, or to live permanently, can be seen, at least in some cases, as totally self-torpedoing their own claims of persecution.
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The Sun Media editorialists back off their “lock and load” position with regards to incoming refugee boats, explaining they arrived at it “early in the game.” We’re not sure there’s any point in such a discussion where it’s OK to advocate sinking unarmed ships full of would-be asylum-seekers, but we’re quite sure that last Tuesday — four days after the MV Sun Sea arrived on the West Coast — isn’t all that “early in the game.” Anyhow, while they blow a “secret government report” completely out of proportion (it was an anecdotal sampling of 50 people, as CBC’s Kady O’Malley explains), and while they needlessly get all pissy about the National Post’s editorial on Saturday that called them out for the whole “lock and load” thing, they are quite correct that the common practice of asylum-seekers returning home for visits, or to live permanently, can be seen, at least in some cases, as totally self-torpedoing their own claims of persecution.
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Artists Are Not Economists And...
...neither is this Mayorality Candidate.
Arts spending won’t make us rich
Sarah Thomson has a deal for you. The Toronto mayoral candidate claims a dollar spent on the arts returns $8.65 to the community in economic benefits; a 765% profit.
Time To Issue Them Distinctive Uniforms And Jackboots...
Bureaucrats leaving a sour taste
One of the few thrills of working as a bylaw enforcement officer is making people cryToronto Silly Hall...
Endorsements 'kiss of death' for Smitherman
An endorsement from Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Toronto-area Liberal MPPs may be the “kiss of death” for George Smitherman.
Ford headed for title fight
Could it end up being David versus Goliath?
Ford remains in lead
Councillor Rob Ford is now the clear man to beat in Toronto's mayor's race - unless David Miller jumps in.
Ford calls on Vaughan to enter mayoral race
Leading mayoral candidate Rob Ford has challenged fellow councillor Adam Vaughan to "be a man" and jump into the mayor's race.
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About Me
- Unhypentated Canadian
- I lean to the right but I still have a heart and if I have a mission it is to respond to attacks on people not available to protect themselves and to point out the hypocrisy of the left at every opportunity.MY MAJOR GOAL IS HIGHLIGHT THE HYPOCRISY AND STUPIDITY OF THE LEFTISTS ON TORONTO CITY COUNCIL. Last word: In the final analysis this blog is a relief valve for my rants/raves.