In light of recent events, I feel like it's become necessary to get this off my chest now before it takes on a life of its own.

Back in my high school days, over 20 years ago, I once attended a Halloween dance dressed as a girl. I don't know whether there are any pictures of this out there, but I feel I should get ahead of this now so I can put it behind me and continue to pursue my career and political goals without this hanging over me like a ticking bomb that could go off at any time.

I never meant any disrespect for girls and it didn't come from a place of hatred or belittlement of women.

I sincerely apologize if any girls were offended, both then or now, by this and deeply regret having made the decision to do it.

I only hope that I can move forward from this with people understanding that I have nothing but respect and admiration for women and have never felt that they were lesser people or deserving of ridicule.

Please forgive me. I wish I hadn't done it but I cannot change the past. I can only move forward from here hoping that people will judge me for the character they know me to have and not view me in a lesser light due to the mistakes of my youth.

I know that's a very loaded headline so there's a few things I'd like to get out of the way right off the bat.

Firstly, I mean it. Exactly as it's written. If you encounter a Nazi it should be ok to simply shoot them in the face and be done with it. If you think this makes me just as bad as they are then I encourage you to look into the parodox of intolerance.

That said, I also want to acknoledge that there are a lot of people out there that think they're Nazis but aren't actually. Whether through ignorance or stupidity they don't actually know who and what the Nazis were and have rallied around some ideal they don't understand. I vaguely sympathize with those people, though only to the extent that I feel bad for stupidity in general. In their case I'm mostly just embarassed for them as their stupidity frames their awfulness to be even worse than it already is.

I acknowledge that you can be a white supremacist asshole without being a Nazi. That still makes you awful, but doesn't mean you should be killed for it. That would be a Nazi way of thinking and in no way would I even suggestively endorse it.

And that's the kicker.

Nazis weren't just right-wing zealots. They were monsters. If you don't believe that torturing and murdering the people you dislike is a perfectly reasonable solution for dealing with them, then you're not a Nazi. You can't redefine what Nazis are and try to portray yourself as a kinder gentler Nazi. If that's your way of thinking then you're not a Nazi and should be standing right beside me in condemning anyone who is.

The world seems to be normalizing this insanity. The president of the United States has defended actual Nazis. The people of Toronto just cast over 25 thousand votes for a Nazi sympathizer to be mayor. I fear that people are forgetting what Nazis are and that it's allowing a dangerous rise in tolerance for people who cannot be tolerated.

If you disagree with me on this premise and don't think they should be killed, then I suggest that you too don't actually know what Nazis are and what they did.

Now I know that we will never tolerate the execution of Nazis who haven't otherwise committed any crimes yet, but if there's one thing I'd like everyone, no matter your political persuasions, to take from this it's this: If you find yourself shoulder to shoulder with Nazis on any issue whatsoever, the most important thing in that moment is to separate yourself from them and to condemn the Nazis.

There is no issue whereby your shared beliefs make it ok to stand with them. They are everyone's mortal enemy. Whatever it is you're standing for, you must first be opposed to Nazis. Only then can you deal with whatever issue it is that is so important to you that you even considered allying yourself with a Nazi in the first place for.

Apparently the citizens of Ontario have said that the Liberal Party can do whatever the heck they want to with no consequences whatsoever.

I just don’t understand.

I just got a phone call from the provincial Liberal party telling me that Tracey something or other, our MPP, has been doing a great job for us and asking whether they can count on my vote in the upcoming election.

So I asked what she'd done. The poor girl on the phone had absolutely nothing for me. She replied that she didn't have information about the platform, to which I responded that I was really only interested in what she's done so far.

Nothing at all, apparently.

I probably couldn't be swayed in my vote at this time, but heck… you'd think they'd at least try. Or maybe this area is so locked up for them that they don't need to bother.

It looks like this is the end of the line for our lovable crackhead mayor.

It's just over a year ago now that I tried to pass on some sage advice. It would appear that he either didn't read it, or chose to ignore it, and HOOOWEE!!! What a year it's been!!

All I can hope for now is that some suitable replacement will step up to the plate. I mean… looking back… I honestly can't think of any ways he's screwed us over the way David Miller repeatedly did.

At least he got rid of the plastic bag tax. Revisiting my closing statement from a year ago…

So then… are there any other fiscally responsible people out there willing to run?

The only news we've been hearing about the senate is about how they're all helping themselves to the public coffers.

Before that, they simply weren't in the news at all, unless some new one got appointed or something.

If we dismiss for a moment all the crap they've been doing to help themselves, can somebody tell me something any one of them has done for the benefit of the country? ANYTHING??

Is there some terrible law that they've voted down in their capacity as a "sober second thought"? Is there some tangible voice they've added to any debate? Have they done a damned thing to justify even existing as a governing body?

For all the bad news, I'd have thought there would be SOMETHING coming out to try to offset the bad publicity. "Sure… they're been making egregious claims left right and center to line their own pockets… but don't forget that they also… " WHAT??? WHAT HAVE THEY DONE???

If there was EVER a prime time to abolish this ridiculous institution for good… isn't it now?

Incidentally… the official government synopsis of their purpose is rather hilarious when thought of in the context of what they seem to actually be doing…

http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Senate/FAQJuniorVersion/brochure-e.htm

So Quebecers have gone and elected a whole pile of separatists again.

I know they don't have a majority, but maybe we'll get lucky and they'll hit that milestone next time around.

Last time they went in that direction there was a giant national swell of unity sentiment.

"Please don't leave us. We'll give you presents" said the rest of Canada.

This time, I'm not really hearing much at all. It's like people just don't care anymore. The honeymoon is over and we're just not getting any benefits for putting out anymore.

So far as I'm concerned, Quebec can go off on their merry way. Good luck to y'all.

Just don't ask us for alimony.

City council has just voted to ban all plastic bags as of next year in Toronto. Who do they think they are?

What right does the municipal government have to decide whether or not a store can give us a bag? What makes them the environmental police?

Am I still going to get a bag to carry my food at Swiss Chalet? Are people going to die because they've been putting leaking bags of raw chicken pieces into reusable shopping bags and growing mounds of bacteria for the next time they go shopping?

What's next? Will they ban those plastic things that hold 6-packs together? Nobody likes those, right? Will they ban plastic cutlery? That's wasteful, right?

What about plastic lids on disposable cups? What about plastic straws? Are those next? Will they be banning paper wrappers on sandwiches? What about the plastic bags they put flyers in before leaving them on my doorstep? Are those legal?

What about newspapers? Those get used for a day and then thrown out. Are those going to be banned?

This whole thing is completely idiotic.

I'm getting really tired of Rob Ford's buffoonery. I like his policies. I want the city to reduce spending and tighten budgets. I want to stop overpaying for labour and providing benefits that those who pay for them wouldn't expect.

What I don't like is his role as an ambassador for the city. I suppose this is a tradeoff we need to make to get his hardline policies. I mean… I like that he doesn't give a rat's ass about what anyone thinks of him and that he's steadfast in his convictions. I just think there are cases where he SHOULD care about his public image and where he MUST realize that he's not right about absolutely everything that surges through his brain.

His idiocy in thinking he can go around talking on his cellphone while driving has been nothing but damaging to his credibility. His utter contempt for the public when caught is even worse.

Now he's been caught apparently lying about what happened when This Hour Has 22 Minutes showed up at his door. He's basically coming across as a big sourpuss.

Geez man. Have some fun with it!

He recently made some comments to the effect that if we had another election he would be re-elected.

I think he might be, but I wouldn't put any big bets on it.

As I said before… I like his policies. I don't think he's found as much waste as we'd hoped for, but I'm glad he's looking.

You can be sure though, that if he had some competition from someone holding similar values, there's very little chance he'd get back in.

Of course, if he ran against another slew of bleeding heart commies looking to crank up our taxes and pay more and more for union workers, I think he'd be a shoo-in for another term.

So then… are there any other fiscally responsible people out there willing to run?

There's two things I've concluded from last night's election.

Firstly, most people in Ontario can't be bothered to care.

Secondly, people like paying higher taxes and are looking forward to more.

*sigh*