Some of you may recall my post about Repent Amarillo, a group of busybodies who have engage in acts of harassment and intimidation against legal activities they don’t like, including targeting a swing club, blaring Christian music onto the property and, worse still, going through trash and snapping pictures of license plates in order to get names of various attendees which were sent to the attendees employers, co-workers and neighbours.
The Facebook Group Amarillo Citizens Against Repent Amarillo organized in response and, recently, posted a series of YouTube videos about Repent Amarillo’s activities which, among other things, named certain members of the group. That, it seems, was beyond the pale for some members of Repent Amarillo.
After complaints from Repent Amarillo were lodged, the people who posted the YouTube videos voluntarily removed the names in question, but were rather smug about the whole thing, saying:
The poor little boys of Repent Amarillo cried to YouTube about the videos that were uploaded today. I deleted the boy’s names. YouTube will look at it again in 48 days. (four names deleted -jb) did not like their names and pictures out on the web.
(link)
So, a group of people who see nothing wrong in posting other people’s names to neighbours and co-workers with the intent to shame are upset when their own names are posted to neighbours and co-workers with the intent to shame. Gee, what is that called? Oh, the word is on the tip of my tongue. I think it starts with ‘h’.
Does Bill Murdoch Read My Blog?
True maverick Bill Murdoch becomes the latest in the growing line of politicians who suggest that Toronto should become Canada’s eleventh province.
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch wants Toronto to be its own province.
The notoriously independent-minded PC would like to see Toronto separated from the rest of Ontario — he believes people in the Big Smoke think differently than in the rest of the province.
To support his idea, he also points out that the megacity has a larger population than PEI.
Murdoch adds that London could be the capital of the new, Toronto-less Ontario.
(link)
Unfortunately, Murdoch is in his typically combative state. He doesn’t want the 905 region separating with Toronto, and then goes on to complain about the rise of rural windmills in Ontario’s power plan, suggesting that this is a Toronto issue. “Where are they going to get their power? We’ve got a nuclear plant. We don’t need Toronto.”.
Sorry, Bill. If this is about giving all Ontarians, regardless of whether they live in Toronto or North Bay, government that fits their needs, rather than a punitive attempt to get Toronto cooties out of your hair, then the province of Toronto includes the regional municipalities of Niagara, Hamilton, Halton, Peel, York and Durham. The issue of provincehood for Toronto is about the need for a regional manager, and that region has long stretched well beyond the boundaries of the City of Toronto, and has done so since at least the 1970s. Most people in the 905 area code already acknowledge that their economic future is inextricably linked to that of Toronto, and that there is a need for service sharing and coordination on a number of issues, including transportation and social services. If Toronto leaves, it has to take the 905 area code with them. Which means that they’d get a nuclear power plant too (two of them, in fact: Pickering and Darlington), and they’d get Niagara Falls.
And, again I’d point out that creating an actual province out of the GTA would require a constitutional amendment — one that likely would have to be agreed to by all ten provinces as well as Ottawa. That’s not going to happen. Regional devolution, on the other hand might be feasible, and might address the issues. Murdoch is especially concerned about the inaction from Queen’s Park on dealing with the coyote issue. That might be something a regional parliament in southwestern Ontario would have more time or inclination to deal with.
And, p.s.: has Murdoch asked Rick Hillier for his opinion on this matter? Whatever Eastern Ontario thinks of Toronto, it is, at least, just down the road from them. How would they feel if the capital went to a smaller town a few hundred kilometres further west from them, anchored in an area which is considerably less rural than they are? You think they might want a capital city of their own? Centered around Kingston, perhaps?
And Now For Something Completely Different
You remember Sally from Coupling? Remember how they ended the series with Sally having discovered that Patrick has hidden a ring with Sally’s name on it in the closet of his love? I like to believe that this short, starring actress Kate Isitt, is Sally, about five years on.