It has become more or less a sick joke with the so-called “right” these days; marking occasions such as National Public Service week while simultaneously, and very publicly, destroying the very things they’re there celebrating; just like Ford’s speech at International Freedom of the Press Day, made shortly after he announced his open war against all the “maggot” media.

One might almost call it a perfect example of irony if it wasn’t so disgusting.

“I want to extend my appreciation to all federal public servants who serve with dedication, professionalism and commitment to the interests of Canadians,” Harper said in a statement issued Sunday.

This is, of course, anti-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is doing his damnedest to make Canada’s civil service into a glorified form of slavery, something he’s trying to do to the rest of Canada too because, after all, it’s the absolute highest ideal of the neo-Con business model / government. No, seriously, I defy anyone to name a business that wouldn’t want its workforce labouring for free and cowering in fear at the whims of the owner(s), and that’s what Ford, Harper, and the rest of their slimy cronies, have been pushing for loud and clear.

This is all being done under the manufactured banner of austerity which the politicians have made quite clear will only be saddled on the regular, average taxpayers while they themselves can be free to “misplace” billions of dollars of our increasingly hard-earned money. On top of this, it’s painfully obvious that the government is not in any way interested in making the civil service more effective and they sure aren’t interested in reducing any waste. Regardless of how much they lie in public, it doesn’t take much to put these facts together and to determine what their intent is.

Lost among the tumult of Rob Ford’s office staff leaving is a Globe piece about brother Doug that exposes more rot surrounding the Ford family tree at City Hall.

We learn that Doug is now the only member of a 13-person Build Toronto board after all of his colleagues quit for one reason or another.

Build Toronto is the group that’s supposed to be revitalizing the east-end waterfront; you know — the people behind the monorail, water hotel, and the Ferris wheel ideas. And just like his brother, Dougie is now trying to get his lapdogs into every vacant position on that board (it’s not hard to guess why):

The prospect of [Doug’s short-listed candidate] Mr. Kraljevic taking over at Build Toronto is a cause for concern among citizen groups who worked for years on plans for the Lower Don Lands only to have them threatened by Mr. Ford and Toronto Port Lands.

“How is this okay?” asked Cynthia Wilkey, chair of the West Don Lands Committee, a coalition of community groups that has worked for more than a decade on the waterfront development.

Ms. Wilkey said she was “gob-smacked” that the head of an agency that flouted the will of council is under consideration for a job managing a large city-owned real estate portfolio.

This must be the Fords’ definition of building a consensus.

Sometimes, it’s just about the pretty pictures, like the ones that ones that were featured in the 2013 Toronto Workforce Innovation Report: http://workforceinnovation.ca/sites/default/files/TOP2013_WebVersion_0.pdf

Here are the originals:

http://www.torontocitylife.com/2010/04/20/going-parking/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/torontocitylife/3685347357/in/photostream/

The second photo was also used, oddly enough, in an Israeli textbook (or so they claimed!)

So you see, it’s not all about Rob Ford all the time. It’s just that he makes it so damn easy.

I could be wrong, but I believe this is the first time Rob Ford has publicly apologized:

I’m sure you understand this has been a very stressful week for myself and my family, but that doesn’t justify using the terminology I did to describe the media, so I sincerely apologize to each and every one of you. I understand you have a job to do. It’s been bothering me a lot: I know we agree and disagree on some issues, most of the time, some of the time, but you have to move on.

So, to be fair, we have to give him this little ray of sunshine. Plus, he knew that “maggots” comment would be a stinky turd the moment he opened his mouth.

But the rest of his statement, delivered this afternoon with the intent of addressing the recent “personnel” changes in his office (plus those additional, pesky, ongoing stories), don’t fill me with much additional confidence:

And that’s it, it’s business as usual.

…

Everything’s fine. I have no idea what the police are investigating. It would be best to talk to the police about that.

Last week it was Towhey who was cast adrift on the high seas, today it was Rob Ford’s press secretary, George Christopoulos, and communications aide, Isaac Ransom, who decided they don’t want to sail on the S.S. Ford any longer :

“Mayor Rob Ford’s press secretary has quit”, Toronto Sun City Hall Bureau Chief Don Peat tweeted Monday.

Ford communications aide Isaac Ransom also quit, according to Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale.

Seems the smart rats can all sense the impending wreck. Maybe it’s Ford’s latest “the media are a bunch of maggots” comment, or maybe the crack thing, or maybe it’s the connection to the murder of Anthony Smith, or maybe it’s the fact that brother Doug is now under the microscope for his own history with drugs, or maybe the uncountable middle fingers Rob has given to supporters and detractors alike. Any way you slice it, shit’s getting real, and it’s about damn time — just in time for the Crackstarter campaign to wrap up (only a few thousand to go as of this post).

Rob, in proper Ford fashion, continued to stay mum and ignore the swelling crack scandal, and has instead decided to fire his chief of staff of just 10 months, Mark Towhey.

The firing was likely pretty sudden and not terribly congenial as Towhey was escorted out of City Hall by security. Rumours are that it had something to do with football, but it’s hard to imagine what exactly that could be.

This is Rob’s second chief of staff in as many years, and is in line with the Fords’ disdain for pretty much everyone and everything that doesn’t lick their shoes.

It should be noted that the choice of the mayor’s chief of staff is well within Ford’s purview, so I’m not suggesting that he did anything wrong or illegal, but there’s obviously a tempest brewing behind the scenes, and we all know who’s providing the hot air for that storm.

Shit’s about to get real!

Seems like the Don Bosco community’s grievances have come home to roost:

Although I tend to lace my political analyses with a lot more profanity and not so subtle calls to action, I’m heartened to see that the mainstream media seem to be waking up to what’s happening — at least here in Canada.

Christopher Hume’s piece in the Toronto Star today, for example, demonstrates a willingness to no longer tip-toe around the issues. Although I wish I could quote the entire article, the last few-ish paragraphs sum it all up perfectly:

It was painful to watch our prime minister and chief environmental scofflaw, Boss Harper, squirm in New York last week as he tried to talk his way out of his antediluvian attitudes to climate change.

It was just as excruciating to witness Sheriff Ford’s efforts to deal with reports of a video of him apparently smoking crack. The man has yet to mount any defence beyond, “ridiculous.”

Through it all we remain so polite, deferential and glad to be of use, that a good many Torontonians lined up to denounce the media that did them the favour of revealing the mayor for what he is, an overgrown man-child who does what he wants, the city be damned.

Harper, by contrast, knows what he’s doing. He knows his actions are reckless, but to him ethics are a nicety leaders can’t afford.

Neither Harper nor Ford respect government, its institutions or the positions they hold. Both believe themselves exempt. To them, Canadians are gullible or too preoccupied with getting by to hold them responsible.

As bad as things may be, Canadians are terrified they could be worse.

I applaud you, Mr. Hume, for taking a stand against the blithe illegality and corruption of our various levels of government. Now we just need more people to do the same.

I found it interesting to read what Peter Worthington’s final thoughts were about the paper he helped to found in his auto-obituary:

Of course, there is the Toronto Sun, which was never as good a newspaper as it could have been, but which was always a fun place to work, with good people who seemed to be forever being replaced by other good people.

The Sun was always pretty tolerant of me and, I must say, I was pretty tolerant of it from time to time. We both served each other’s purpose.

Not great, high turnover, and a necessary evil — or am I reading that wrong?

You must know me by now, I’m not exactly what you’d call fond of the Toronto Sun. But I guess it must fill some void out there because it’s managed to stay alive since 1971, and credit for that certainly must lie with Peter Worthington, the paper’s founding editor.

Worthington died from staph complications today, and although I’d probably have nothing polite to say to him (despite him occasionally being right on the money), you gotta give it to the man — he gnarled on that conservative bone until there was nothing left.