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Youtube video showing Michael Bryant ramming cyclist, Darcy Sheppard
And to think Michael Bryant and Penguin Canada are publishing a book about the death of cyclist Darcy Sheppard. It’s all about profit$ and money-making.
I can’t believe Sheppard is lying on the road as Bryant drives around him after ramming him and dragging him along the street first..
And the man got off scot-free. There’s justice for you. In his book, 28 Seconds, Bryant will attempt to explain the justice system to us. As he sees it.
Vile.
Former Attorney General Michael Bryant to publish 28 Seconds | Afterword | National Post
Well, it took such a short amount of time. Former Ontario A-G, Michael Bryant, crusader against pit bulls and all dogs resembling them, is now penning a book about HIS “descent into a kind of hell.”
This man makes my blood boil. He really does.
Anything to make a buck, even if it’s at the expense of dragging the family of the late Mr. Sheppard through Bryant’s filthy muck again. And you have to love the publisher’s (Diane Turbide of Penguin Canada) spin on things. You’ll have to read the nauseating remarks yourself at the National Post’s site, or any of the main Ontario sites that are carrying this story.
You see, “…everything changed for the Harvard-educated lawyer, politician, and CEO that night when his car dragged Darcy Sheppard, resulting in Mr. Sheppard’s death.”
So through 28 Seconds (the name of the book) Bryant will explain the justice system to us, as he says so eloquently, perhaps hoping that some of us may feel some pittance of sympathy for him.
As if.
It’s important to pass along lessons learned regarding our justice system. I’m ready to speak to these very personal issues.
I find it unbelievably ironic now, as I did at the time, that our former A-G was the one who brought about legislation against pit bulls in this province – and any dogs resembling pit bulls – because – are you ready for this? They were dangerous! He brought about legislation, despite being unable to identify the very breed of dog he was banning.
Diane Turbide and Penguin Canada ought to be ashamed to be associated with a book that will profit from the death of Mr. Sheppard. To offset profits, however, a “portion” of the profits will go towards the Pine River Foundation. What “portion” is not revealed. If it were to be a hefty portion, I’m sure they’d make that known immediately.
Michael Bryant, quite simply, disgusts me.
Former Attorney General Michael Bryant to publish 28 Seconds | Afterword | National Post.
John Tory at the Beach
A clip from Newstalk 1010 showing John Tory at the beach. Maybe it’s just me, but I find this pretty funny, probably because I just can’t picture John Tory out of a business suit for one thing. On the other hand, and after being a fairly regular listener of Tory’s show at 4pm weekdays, he seems like a really good sport.
Kelly McParland: Latte futures plummet as Toronto contemplates Ford mayoralty « National Post | Full Comment
Hilarious piece that had me (and Tom McConnell) howling. Oh Toronto, get ready for your new look!
Ontario politics
Our local channel 10 in this city decided to run its local election coverage of the (Ontario) elections last night. It was so gripping (sarcasm at its best) that I can’t even remember the host’s name, a man who really wasn’t up to snuff to conduct the program.
Unfortunately, I remember well the two pundits, regional council members, Debbie Zimmerman and Peter Partington who were, without any doubt whatsoever, the most lacklustre, characterless, unstimulating, mind-numbing commentators I have ever had the displeasure of watching and/or listening to. In the words of my mother, “there’s more life in a bottle of pop.”
What’s that old adage? Watching paint dry? Comparatively speaking, drying paint would have been riveting.
So, I flicked channels between CP24, CITY… any coverage at all where there were a few up-to-date figures from any race! I couldn’t put myself through the misery of watching Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum blandly droning on in my city. I thought pundits – real ones, I mean – were to strive to offer provocative thoughts, a (minus a crystal ball) look into the next four years, to at least speculate on the results as they flow in. Sadly, not much was flowing into channel 10, or out, either, come to think of it.
The St. Catharines Standard, in my opinion, was no better.
Alex Bradnam, one of the candidates for the School Board is still wondering this morning if he’s in or out! Unbelievable! I hope Alex is indeed on the Board. The man knows of what he speaks.
The most interesting news of the evening as I saw it, was juggernaut Rob Ford bulldozing his way to oust David I-love-bike-lanes Miller. What I enjoyed even more was listening to Hurricane (and rightly so) Hazel McCallion blast The Toronto Star and the Mississauga News for nothing short of condemning her on a daily basis these past months. Things didn’t go well for Hazel… Instead of her 90%+ usual election numbers, she only garnered 76% of the votes! The Toronto Star should be eating crow this morning.
Loved watching you blast the rags, Hazel. Good on you! You’re more on the ball than most younger than you, which would be most of the population.
Then there was George Smitherman. While I didn’t want Smitherman elected, I must admit that he gave the most gracious, sincere and classy concession speech I think I’ve ever heard. (And he meant it when he wagged his finger at the booing sour grapes that came from the peanut gallery, along with a stern warning to NOT boo – something to the effect of ‘…this is Toronto you’re booing.’)
George, you were a class act last night. It’s too bad I don’t agree with your political views.
As I remain at home today waiting for a FedEx delivery, I will listen some more to 1010′s Jerry Agar, then change gears to gloat when Mike Bullard gives his views on the election. Come to think of it, why does Bullard even have an hour of 1010′s broadcast? Roll on, John Tory!
Ford moving ahead
Not the car company, that is, but Rob Ford, mayoral candidate for Toronto. He’s still ahead of Furious George Smitherman – yes, that angry politician who didn’t so much as flinch when he used up a mere one billion dollars of Ontario taxpayers’ money at E-Health.
Fred for Mayor
I completely fail to understand how anyone can trust this man with Toronto’s finances after that infamous debacle. George is a speeding freight-train when it comes to spending, but sadly, he hasn’t yet figured out financial restraint.
I can sum up my preference for Toronto’s mayor by saying that I would prefer to see anyone, anyone at all, even Fred Freakin’ Flintstone as mayor, just as long as it’s not Smitherman.
Mr. Derbyshire Goes To Town
I read (and chuckled my way through) the Financial Post’s article on Holt Renfrew’s Mark Derbyshire’s attempt to bring Holts to the working class. Alright, perhaps one up from the working class, or maybe two steps up, it all rests on how you view the indisputable class system we all like to believe isn’t really there in our well-mannered, Canadian society.
Not to be confused with Ronald MacDonald, this gent comes from Human Resources over at Canadian Tire. I give him credit for trying to sell Holts like it’s an ordinary shop like Walmart (gulp) next to the ol’ Canadian Tire in the strip mall. I’m taking liberties here, of course, but, Mr. Derbyshire, slapping a couple of burgers on the menu isn’t a remedy to luring the 9 to 5 masses into your shops with the Visa and Air Miles cards at the ready.
If I hazard a guess, the plain hamburger a lá Holts will probably be dressed to the nines. (No pun intended…) Besides, there are better places to enjoy the real thing and they’re found at the burger joints on the road to cottage country. Now, those burgers are the real deal; smokey rounds of beef piled high with condiments, juices dripping down one’s chin and a thick strawberry milkshake. Yes, you’ve got to be decked out not in the overpriced Dolce & Gabbana T-shirt from Women’s Wear, 3rd Floor, but in your favourite, worn-out, cotton T-shirt, shorts, and this summer’s flip-flops, sitting at a picnic table under a hot July sun. That, Mr. Derbyshire, is how you enjoy a genuine, all-Canadian burger.
Does he really think we’re that naive, that artless, that wet behind the ears? Oh, Mark! Maaark! We understand you’re trying to appeal to the canaille, but a burger just isn’t going to cut it, my friend.
Aside from the preposterous notion that a Holts’ Happy Meal will blindly seduce us into lining the silky coffers of this shop, the fact remains that some of us adamantly refuse to squander hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars on a skirt, blouse and jacket that will be just another nice-looking outfit amongst others. When I was a twenty-something, single, working young woman with more money than brains, I was part of this manipulative designer cult, but then I realized it’s not about high-priced fashion, but rather substance, common sense. Oh, the folly of the money-happy and guileless among us duped into advertising designer duds to unimpressed friends and co-workers.
(Memo to File: Style is inherent – you either have it or you don’t. ‘Nuff said.)
Read Derbyshire’s quote from the Financial Times article…
“You’ll see people coming in here in jeans, coming in from the gym,” he said in an interview Wednesday at the company’s flagship Bloor Street store in Toronto. “We want to attract people who love style … it’s not about money.”
Don’t you just love that quote from Derbyshire? Spoken like, how do they say, the proverbial wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing? With self-effacing humility, he claims, “…it’s not about money.”
I’ve got news for you Mark, it really is about money. That’s why you’re in the overpriced clothing business. Winsome greeters in pink tartan suits and matching pill-box hats may be darling, but anyone quick on the uptake knows they’re just part of the overall smokescreen. (I have to admit I have comic visions of swirling smoke in an opium den, the sly smiles of Holly Golightly wannabes barely visible in the thick fog. 
)
Good luck with the masses, Mr. Derbyshire. I’m sure we’ll see Holt Renfrew & Co., next to a Canadian Tire store in the Smart Centres any day now.
Police vs. Criminals in Toronto
After watching the horrific scenes of criminals, vandals and thugs (not the peaceful protestors) destroy Toronto yesterday, it only illuminated the professionalism of Toronto police, as well as police officers from other jurisdictions.
It also illuminated the complaints from numerous people who complained bitterly that far too much money was spent on security. The naivete is astonishing. I hope these same complainants saw the images the rest of us saw on television Saturday; cruisers burned, glass smashed, incendiary devices hurled toward anything that could be set alight, to name just a few.
It shocks me that while police endured being spat at, injured, insults tossed at them, not to mention the goading and taunting by these thugs, that they tolerated this behaviour. Should it be the other way around, how many of these “protestors” would take it as the police did? “Police brutality” would be repeated over and over.
So before the bleeding hearts complain again that too much money has been spent on the G Summits’ security, remember the vicious attacks that have occurred thus far. You might also want to consider that two Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan yesterday while defending our right to democracy and to allow idiots like some of these violent protestors a free pass to destruct anything in their path.
McGuinty buying votes and playing favourites with health dollars: Opposition – Yahoo! Canada News
A well-written article by Maria Babbage (Canadian Press) illustrating McGuinty’s disturbing trends as he foolishly plays with our now misguided health-care system.
McGuinty buying votes and playing favourites with health dollars: Opposition – Yahoo! Canada News.
