http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/Home.aspxMike Stafforden-usCopyright 2010, CFMJ-AMFri, 03 Sep 2010 03:17:53 GMTMon, 30 Aug 2010 15:15:26 GMT1http://emmisinteractive.comGet your Maria Augimeri ringtone by right-clicking HERE!http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10135549info@640toronto.com (Mike Srafford)http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10135549Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:15:26 GMT   A fishing trip gone wrong! Koral Wira, 14, was fishing with her parents and a friend near Venice, Fla., when a barracuda went for her dad's bait and ended up biting her instead. Her dad, Rob Parker, stopped to take this classic photo before rushing his daughter to the hospital for multiple stitches.http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10128892info@640toronto.com (Mike Srafford)http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10128892Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:13:54 GMTIt's not exactly a secret that the rank and file police officers in today's politically correct world (ie: TORONTO) bang their heads against the wall when it comes to the decisions made at the command level. We saw it during the endless Tamil terrorist protests on University last year. Police wanted to use their lawful powers to clear the street, safely and without jackboot tactics. They weren't allowed to. Pressure, and there's no smoking gun memo to prove it but it happened, came from City Hall to Toronto Police command and a crowd of young, hip wannabe Tigers used the city's second major north-south street as if it were its own. Now Chief Bill Blair, in the wake of the G20 cloud of fart, is scrambling to make sense of what you can't: how police did or did not react to anarchists, riot tourists and downtown bleeding heart moms and ...http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10123175stafford@640toronto.com (Mike Stafford)http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10123175Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:39:03 GMTA couple of thoughts about the G20 weekend in Toronto, some of it based on response from listeners. This was the Super Bowl of protests. It's the G20, not a Saturday afternoon gathering to bitch about the injustices of the world with the hope the rally will make the 6:00PM news. Saturday's 1:00PM rally was so packed with messages the messages couldn't get through the white noise. That's cool. Gather, lift the signs and march. But if you participate and express surprise that a hardcore group was using you as a cover for their smash-it-up agenda, you're either lying (organized labour) or you're rolling off the turnip truck (suburban bourgeois kids). As for the Sunday night incident on Queen at Spadina, the so-called "boxing" that subjected hundreds to hard rain, no escape and a violent pushback from police, did you really think that your pastel bird drawings on the street, ...http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10122913stafford@640toronto.com (Mike Stafford)http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10122913Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:03:07 GMTI'm in the home stretch of a two week vacation, back from Las Vegas into the G20 hype and a freaking earthquake that had the social media working overtime debating whether people felt the temblor or not: "I was nursing my baby and all the how to raise my baby books fell off the baby nursery shelf!", "I didn't feel anything. I think it's all part of the G20 fear campaign!" and "GO GERMANY GO!". Helicopters were buzzing midtown Toronto today from 9:30 AM until I quit playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare about two hours later. I'm guessing there were some motorcades making their way through the area or it was just a training exercise. Thousands of hours have been spent writing about the insane inconvenience this is causing Toronto but I think the most telling outcome can be drawn from a conversation I overheard on an elevator at ...http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10122160stafford@640toronto.com (Mike Stafford)http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10122160Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:57:32 GMTMy German friend Ingrid is very upset that I'm going to be in Las Vegas for the first week of the World Cup of Soccer. Through intermediary Linda, Ingrid is questioning why I would take the first of two weeks vacation away from the endless television coverage. She's right, of course. Las Vegas is not only located in a physical desert; it's a desert when it comes to the coverage of professional sports. Few pay attention to the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, horse racing, dog racing and footy. All those TV screens in the "sports" books are always tuned to what I call the Judge Block of daytime TV: Judy, People's Court, Mathis, etc. And The Young And The Restless. Anyway, the World Cup is about to begin and I'll be okay if the amazing Ingrid and her delightful young French-born lover Henry get to celebrate a German victory. I ...http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10118030stafford@640toronto.com (Mike Stafford)http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10118030Fri, 11 Jun 2010 01:29:22 GMTYou've read about Debrahlee Lorenzana. She's the former Citibank employee who is suing because her tight fitting work clothes drew attention at...work. She was all over the media last week crying that she was "too sexy for work". Her sob story had the media nattering on about how difficult it is for women to be taken seriously in a workplace if they have a natural beauty, women are still objectified because they never get a look in the eye if you know what I mean, women can't be women if there's even a hint......... Turns out Debralee wants it both ways. She claims she's been objectified for her natural beauty and just wants to do her banking work without the comments (and I imagine the ladies in the office were probably about as catty as the men were panting) but she's a plastic surgery addict. On the Discovery Network ...http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10117683stafford@640toronto.com (Mike Stafford)http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10117683Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:14:25 GMTThe events surrounding Darcy Sheppard's death last August on Bloor street have been surreal, coming to an end today with all charges dropped against former AG Michael Bryant. It was a tragedy that didn't need to happen. It wasn't just a single factor that killed the 33 year old. It was like a plane crash investigation where they find that a number of mistakes and occurences end in disaster. You had a man, arrested development personified at the age of 33 in the faux family environment of the city's courier community, with a history of everything that can be wrong in the Native world....foster homes, fetal alcohol syndrome, problems with alcohol and anger. Already in trouble that night, Sheppard was likely ready for a fight with anyone. That world literally collided with a political star, driving home from an anniversary dinner in the kind of car that, if it got ...http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10114972stafford@640toronto.com (Mike Stafford)http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10114972Tue, 25 May 2010 21:49:17 GMTWho is stupid enough to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year running an animal protection agency and be too incompetent to stop the spread of a fungal infection? The person in charge of the OSPCA I guess. And the paid leadership at the Newmarket branch of the York OSPCA. The same people who attacked the PETA braintrust that ran the Toronto Humane Society which doubled as a museum for mummified animals. As somebody (me) said today, "can't a human run an animal shelter anymore?". The tragedy of ethuanasia in Newmarket has drawn a particularly strange reaction on the citizen Internet today...many wonder why patients with resistant diseases in hospital situations aren't similarly dispatched by a hypo stuffed with death drugs. Comparing human life with the life of a cat, dog, rat or those dogs that look like rats. Some citizen Internet types have called for the execution of ...http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10112558stafford@640toronto.com (Mike Stafford)http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10112558Wed, 12 May 2010 00:06:16 GMTGood on the Toronto Star for following up the insanely frustrating story of Linda Sepp, the Toronto woman finally evicted from her High Park avenue apartment who is now living on her elderly father's condo balcony because of something called "20th Century Disease". Multiple Chemical Sensitivity syndrome is Linda's ailment. It's medically controversial and according to some, it's all in your head, like a major anxiety disorder. Sepp claims she can't be anywhere near irritants like smoke, cleaning chemicals, paint, sprays, esthers, etc., without having major reactions like migranes and fatigue. She's literally unable to live just about anywhere. When the Star started writing about this woman a few years ago, she was being helped by a number of agencies, doctors and politicians. This week, she was finally evicted by a landlord who offered to go above and beyond to get her a place to live (she's getting disability and ...http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10112008stafford@640toronto.com (Mike Stafford)http://www.640toronto.com/Blogs/MikeStaffordsBlog/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10112008Fri, 07 May 2010 22:26:56 GMT