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I always try to take The Vancouver Sun newspaper to bed with me in my parkade; my bike trailer gets to sit on newspaper in case it wets itself -- those darn drippy beer cans, and it only takes six big broadsheet pages to do the job.

That's how I found this headline staring me in the face last night. Ugly subject, ugly awkward headline. The worst thing about it wasn't how the whole thing turned on a comma, the worst thing was that I understood it perfectly, and that was because politics itself increasingly makes no little or no sense.

Naturally the headline will be as absurd as the subject (not to mention the resulting  post).

[caption id="attachment_7313" align="alignnone" width="497"] Mayor Gregor Robertson. He's holding the beer but is he drinking it? Click to go to Pacific Western Brewing's Flickr page.[/caption]

So Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has admitted he smoked crack -- once -- well, actually, he was so drunk at the time he's not actually sure, but he sure is sorry. In fact, he might be the sorriest excuse for a politician I've ever seen, but he's still not sorry enough to resign.

This is absolutely guaranteed, the first time in my life I have felt sympathy for Toronto. Sitting all the way over here on the West Coast, I can only watch the Gong Show tragedy unfolding in central Canada, and shake my head as I do so. How is it that Toronto "The Good" can be so in the thrall of a... a... goof! Did Rob Ford and his band of cronies put something in the water supply? He's like your best girlfriend's bad boyfriend -- what does she possibly see in him?

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is a toxic spill; he's a 50-car pile-up on the 401; he's a train wreck. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, not so much. Until I found the above -- deeply shocking -- photo of Mayor Robertson quaffing a brew, I never even imagined him drinking beer. I could see him drinking some wine with a meal, and yes, maybe the occasional juice binge. I think Vancouverites, whether they like his city administration or not, see him as a straight arrow. at worst, a photogenic do-gooder who means well. Who could imagine him dragging Vancouver through the gutter like Rob Ford has dragged Toronto? Not Gregor. He's more likely to convert the gutter to a bike lane.

I personally believe Rob Ford shouldn't even be allowed to visit Toronto's City Hall, let alone be the mayor; not just because he -- the person who sets the Toronto Police Service's budget -- admittedly smoked crack, but because in the last 12 months he has repeatedly demonstrated amazingly bad judgement. I also believe the way he has dragged things out, stonewalled, and frankly, tried to cover up his bad conduct, demonstrates a total contempt for the city he says he loves. I think he just loves to  be in charge.

I read coverage of Rob Ford's "apology" and thought "he's trying to get away with it." I can only imagine what Ontario's Premier Kathleen Wynne thought as she watched Ford apologize on TV, but afterwards she was quoted as saying:

“There are laws in place around when municipal officials can be — must be — removed from office. That’s why I say the police service and the judicial system have to take action.”

As Rob Ford, the titanic Toronto Mayor, steams towards the iceberg called the "crack video," his handlers are spinning things this way and that, to keep his career from sinking.

If the video, now in police hands, turns out to actually show Rob Ford saving dolphins, or counseling his alleged drug dealing co-stars to give up their life of crime, then Rob Ford emerges triumphant. If, on the other hand, the reportedly brightly-lit video shows Ford puffing on a glass pipe, he still probably emerges triumphant. No one can prove, based on a video, what was in the pipe, can they? That's the technical argument Rob Ford's lawyer, and his brother Doug, have been trotting out before the media. They can still hide safely in the letter of the law, even after pissing all over the spirit.

Today the Toronto Star is reporting that Rob Ford may have paid the utility bills at the Etobicoke crack house where he is alleged to have been caught on cell phone video smoking a crack pipe.

If nothing else media coverage of Mayor Rob Ford has made me curious about his home turf of Etobicoke, the west Toronto neighbourhood, central to his rise, and possibly now, to his fall.

According to media reports, Toronto police today revealed they have acquired a digital video file containing images of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Toronto Chief of Police Bill Blair explained the file was forensically recovered from a computer hard drive seized in connection with extortion charges laid against the mayor's friend, Alexander Lisi.

At a press conference today, in Toronto, Chief Blair said the video file was one of several deleted files which the Toronto Police Service intelligence unit computer technology section were able to identify, and recover.

"That file contains video images which appear to be those images which were previously reported in the press with respect to events that took place, we believe at a house on Windsor Road in Etobicoke."

Chief Blair appeared to all but confirm police had possession of the cell phone video alleged, back in May by gawker.com, to show Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine. While he did not actually describe the contents of the video. He was willing to describe his reaction. According to this CTV report, he told reporters:

"As a citizen of Toronto I'm disappointed. This is a traumatic issue for the citizens of this city and for the reputation of this city and that concerns me."

You think? Mayor Rob Ford apparently doesn't. He's repeatedly stated no video exists showing him smoking crack, and he has no plans to resign. His council has no legal power to force him to step down, and Toronto Police Chief Blair pointedly stated in his press conference that the recovered video does not support criminal charges against the mayor -- stupidity is definitely not illegal in Canada. If it was there's no telling how many of us would be in jail.