Edit: I'm sorry. Tip jar now added. Much appreciated.
I haven't seen this diaried yet and I apologize if it has, but I thought this might be of some interest to the dKos community as a whole -- and particularly to the Canadians on the site. Local media is reporting that a number of people in the St. Paul and Parkdale-High Park ridings in Toronto were the target of politically-motivated vandalism over the weekend. What was their "crime"? Each was a supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada's candidate in the riding -- they all had Liberal signs displayed on their lawns.
And what kind of vandalism were they engaging in? I feel sick just thinking about it:
Toronto police patrolled a midtown area overnight, after vandals cut brake lines on at least 10 cars parked at homes with Liberal election signs on their lawns...
The cars were also damaged in other ways; some were scratched and keyed with L signs. Phone and cable lines of some homes were cut.
It is being reported that many of these vehicle owners didn't realize their breaks had been cut until they were on the road and couldn't brake. Many of these households are families with children -- a fact which these vandals surely would have known simply by looking for car seats in the back of the vehicles they were sabotaging.
As far as I know, no one has been killed or hurt, thank God, but it remains to be seen just how many people have been affected in total. There's still no word on who was responsible for these attacks, but naturally there is a lot of suspicion out there and only time will tell if the culprits had any particular political motivations behind their actions.
It seems, however, that this is not the first time this has happened this year; Sun Media and The Globe and Mail are both reporting that similar incidents of this nature occurred in the lead-up to local by-elections in the riding of Willowdale in March of this year, won by Liberal Martha Hall Findlay, and then again in August in the city of Guelph before that by-election was cancelled, a race which Liberal Frank Valeriote appeared headed for a win (though it seems that may no longer be the case this October -- the Conservative candidate in his riding is leading in the polls, but not by much).
These anti-Liberal attacks are shameful, sickening and undemocratic. Being a member of dKos has given me more than a few opportunities to hear Americans express shame and disappointment in their country, even though they rarely share responsibility for the events they are commenting on. Well, I guess today is my day. I am ashamed and saddened for my country. In all my life, I can't recall ever having to worry about anything worse than a lawn sign disappearing in the night. Now I learn there are people out there -- fellow Canadian citizens -- attempting to kill others for not sharing their political beliefs.
What I fear most is not that the culprits of these crimes may be Conservative supporters, but that they just might be one of us -- progressives who support one of the other liberal-leaning parties. I sincerely hope that it is neither.