Fox Program Red Eye – The Ugliest Americans

Canada has just suffered the loss of 4 more soldiers in Afghanistan and they will be repatirated today and travel the Highway of Heros.  So we now have to put up with ugly stupid Americans who have demonstrated why they are hated around the world.  The Fox program Red Eye chose to mock Canada’s efforts in Afghanistan not even knowing that we have been there from the beginning of this mission.  We are one of the few countries that answered the call for combat troops who would engage in combat and these idiot Americans have no understanding of their neighbour to the north.  They have no concept of the importance that Canada is to the success and prosperity of America.  After 7 years of conflict, most of the equipment is wearing out, um, I seem to remember reading about the US having equipment problems having a large percentage of its equipment worn out sitting awaiting action in Iraq.

See for yourself:

In this video, these people demonstrate how narrow minded and ill-informed they are about anything outside their borders.  They represent the last 8 years where America damaged its standing in the world.  No longer could America legitimately claim that they believe in freedom, liberty and integrity.  They set up the Guantánamo Bay detention where they were sheltered from their own laws and conducted torture and numerous human rights violations.   There was no due process – so much for the fair minded America.

The current world financial crisis can be laid at the feet of greedy people who ignored what few rules there were and managed to bring down the worlds economies. 

We can hope that theirs is a radical minority viewpoint.  If it is mainstream then America will have to continue to bully the worlds countries and use military force to impose its will.  We all know this works, just look at Iraq.

Their comments are disgusting and they would call for an invasion should someone else say things like that about America, oh wait they did call for an invasion of Canada and those silly Canadians.

What are the long term effects of the current world crisis?

 You can sense that something isn’t right.  Something is changing and not for the better.   If you look at the world today you get snippets of what is happening, but is it a trend? 

 Economic recovery will very much depend upon a positive attitude in the consumers and investors around the world.  Almost everything we hear nowadays is anything but good news.  The Financial Sector in a majority of countries is corrupted and virtually bankrupt.  The leaders of many companies have run their companies into the ground trying to maximize their personal wealth through salary, bonuses and equity.  Their remuneration is obscene and totally unwarranted.  They have not added value to their companies, they have destroyed them and now it is the taxpayers (their former clients) who are being tasked with bailing them out.  It’s too bad that we are rewarding bad performance and not allowing companies that deserve to fail to do just that.

In North America, we have an Automobile Sector that blew it and made all the wrong decisions.  They misread the trends and developments and actually reversed themselves in areas where they were being innovative and getting it right.  The best example is the GM EV1 which was revolutionary and a good start to getting off the carbon trail.  I equate it to the Avro Arrow which was the best fighter bomber of its day never to have been built.  In both cases the products were destroyed to try and move the clock back.  We had quality issues which have for the most part been addressed.  I remember my first Japanese car – it was a piece of junk but then they got it right in subsequent years to where they were tops in quality and it took the big three awhile to finally catch up but we still have the perception that the quality isn’t there.  Recent surveys have shown that many of the vehicles from the North American manufacturers are better than their Japanese counterparts.  The Big 3 screwed up and we are being forced to try and save them – the jury is still out on that front. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People are angry with having to bail out the financial institutions around the world and they don’t see any change in behaviour or method of operation.  Maybe China’s solution would smarten them up – look at the Milk crisis and the main perpetrators have gone to jail for a long time or have been sentence to death.  Sounds like a deterrent to me.

Robberies and violence seem to be on the upswing.   People are losing hope and are getting desperate and doing what they can to survive or thrive.  Can this be the start of a trend that could lead to anarchy?  A Russian scholar says “There is a high probability that the collapse of the United States will occur by 2010,” Igor Panarin told dozens of students, professors and diplomats Tuesday at the Diplomatic Academy — a lecture the ministry pointedly invited The Associated Press and other foreign media to attend.  Will there be a lot of social unrest?  There was during the Great Depression so it is quite plausible for the same to happen in modern times.  How far it goes will depend upon the levels of hope or despair we get to in the future.

If the ones who helped create this situation don’t change their ways we can expect a push back by the investors and consumers who are needed to right the ship. 

I despair for the lack of will on the part of governments to correct the causes of the problems in concert with their efforts to reverse the effects of the downturn in the economy.  It is just going to get worse but the creators of the problems are sitting pretty with their bonuses and offshore bank accounts.  They won’t even face paying the taxes that will pay the final tab on this problem.

Am I a Grumpy Old Man?

I am beginning to think that I am a grumpy old man.  There are a number of things that are happening that I don’t fully understand nor support.  These aren’t just local but national and international in scope.

 

 

 

We have a great country and have many opportunities that we can go after.  The world is in financial meltdown.  Credit and jobs are getting harder to find and easier to lose.  On the one hand the US has admitted that the financial crunch started there yet they can’t understand why we are annoyed with them.  I can’t understand why the world continues to invest in American securities when they are going downhill fast.  They are spending all kinds of money, in the $trillions, yet they are talking about tax cuts.  How will they pay for all of these bailouts and loans?  The greed of the financial marketers to create all of those bad mortgages and loans and resell them over and over creating derivatives and other totally speculative financial instruments where they made obscene profits.  Even today after the bailouts these people just don’t get it.  They continue their greedy and self serving ways with “taxpayer” money.  There is no accountability, no shame.  This thing is going to get worse before we start to see a return to financial stability in the world.  This pisses me off.

 

In Canada, we are being pressured to rescue the big 3 Auto Makers.  This is a real challenge because we need the jobs but the companies haven’t corrected the problems that got them their in the first place and they don’t seem to want to address this issue.  They went for short term profits and built gas guzzlers and not fuel efficient vehicles using new technologies.  There was little or no long term thinking nor trying to address the “green” market.  Toyota and Honda both had hybrids that perform well and sell well.  GM killed their electric car.  The Canadian autoworkers say it was the financial crisis that is causing the problems today yet these same worker wanted GM to keep a truck plant open that couldn’t sell its products.  The company screws up and the workers pay.  This pisses me off.

 

We are in NAFTA yet the Americans don’t play by the rules and they almost destroyed our forest industry because we didn’t use the same model that they use.  The US Congress is likely to become very protectionist and hurt Canadian jobs as a result.  My thinking is that we should turn off the tap for Canadian oil and sell it elsewhere in the world where is would buy the appropriate respect.  This pisses me off.

 

Canadian politicians at the municipal, provincial and federal levels are jerks.  Our city politicians can’t decide what the city should be funding and what it should not fund therefore our property taxes are out of control.  The Ontario Government has failed miserably except when it comes to teachers.  Now a teacher with the appropriate time in can make over $90,000 a year for less than 10 months work.  Their argument that they work very hard during those months doesn’t cut it, when I was in the Army we were expected to be available 24/7 no matter what for so-so pay.  The provincial liberals just got blasted by their auditor general who says they suck.  The federal politicians don’t really care about us; they only want their perks and powers.  This latest coalition crap is symptomatic of the problem.  Jack Layton says that this is the way that proportional representation would work yet he rejects things before he hears them and he is overly partisan about anything that he does provide assistance – if he touches – Jack and the NDP did it.  A pox on all their houses.  This pisses me off.

 

There are a number of strikes currently under way and I for the life of me cannot understand what is going through their heads.  I’ve been on strike and it is so stupid and non-productive, you never get it back.  The bus drives say they want respect, the postal techies say they want respect yet they show none to their customers, the people who make their jobs possible.  What about the hundreds of thousands who have lost or could lose their jobs because of all of the above?   We all have to sacrifice in this time of crisis but it seems to be me first.  This pisses me off.

 

Something is wrong with society when greed is rewarded and running a company into the ground gets you a government bailout and people show no respect for their fellow human beings.  We are doomed.  Our future is dark.  No wonder I am a turning into a grumpy old fart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s Next?

The Governor-General prorogued Parliament giving the Politicians a chance to take a breath and reflect on their actions.   Everyone of the elected Members of Parliament need to shake their heads and realize that they should be ashamed of their behaviour.  No one is exempt from this shameful demonstration of power politics.  Canadians in general are not amused and are disgusted by their actions.  A pox on all their houses.

The Prime Minister initiated the troubles with his ill thought out plan to kick the opposition when they were down.  His misjudgement has probably damaged his reputation forever.  He has done enough damage to the Conservative cause that they will never achieve a majority government under his leadership.  It’s time to groom the replacements.

The Leaders of the three opposition parties needs to have a reality check.  Yes, if you add up all their votes and all their members they outnumber the Conservatives but there is no consistency in their party policies that would justify saying that they represent a majority view.  They are 3 distinct views that are barely similar and often opposed to each other.  So saying that they represent a majority of Canadians is invalid.   The Liberals under Stephane Dion are desperate for power since they lost it, but they lost it for a reason and they haven’t corrected that reason.  They haven’t cleaned up their act like the Conservative had to when they were down to 3 seats.  There is little contrition for the bad faith they showed Canadians under the various scandals and little cleanup.  Stephane Dion is desperate to change his legacy of being one of the few Liberal leaders that weren’t Prime Minister and I think that is what drove him to work out this coalition.  He probably saw it as a golden opportunity to improve his historical record.  Even now the second place runner in the leadership contest, Bob Rae, is trying to use the coalition for his own political gains.  This could precipitate a complete collapse of the Liberal party should they piss off the Canadian people which is their current direction.

The leader of the Bloc sees this as an opportunity to have a veto on any and all actions in parliament.  The other members of the coalition try to pretend that they haven’t given the Bloc the equivalent of Sovereignty Association.  The terminology in the agreement was between Canada and Quebec.  The Bloc had nothing to lose everything to gain no matter what happens.  Canada is the one who loses by this political pandering to Sovereignists.

Finally, we have Jack and the NDP.  He knows that this is the closest he will have come to being in power.  Canada is not a socialist country and wouldn’t support their policies in government.  They provide a counterbalance to other policies but they aren’t mainstream.  When Jack has participated in anything in a cooperative way you get told by him that he did it.  He takes credit for everything that comes close to him.  He needs constant reinforcement that he is a good boy.  Jack loves the camera and just can’t resist puffing himself up.

The politicians have damaged their standing in society – they have shown themselves to be more interested in power than getting the job done.  Originally the opposition didn’t want to cooperate with the Conservatives lest they be successful in handling this crisis.  Canadian have engaged themselves in this situation and hopefully they will hold the politicians to account for doing what we citizens want them to do.

Canada unveils a new, top medal for battlefield bravery

This is our newest top military honour and it is perfectly tied to the past and still represents Canada. This article is from CP. In the second image, the clasp represents a second award.  Queen Victoria’s original award was a hand crocheted scarf made by the Queen herself although not considered to be equivalent to the VC, a total of 8 scarves were awarded.

Canada had at least one recipient of the scarf, Private RR Thompson of the RCR was awarded  the Queen’s Scarf for bravery during the South African Campaign.

“By John Ward, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA – What’s old is new again as a link with Canada’s military past and a symbol for the future was resurrected Friday when the Canadian Victoria Cross was officially unveiled.

The new decoration, formally unveiled by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean, is almost identical to the original Victoria Cross. It has been modified slightly by adding fleurs de lis to thistle, shamrock and rose and changing the original English inscription to a Latin motto, Pro Valore. It retains its frowning lion and the royal crown.

It replaces a medal which for more than a century was the top bravery award available to soldiers, sailors and aircrew of the Commonwealth.

The medal, or VC, is a modest little thing about the size of a matchbook, a bronze cross with a brownish patina hanging from a bit of crimson ribbon. But it is the highest honour Canada can bestow for heroism in battle and even takes precedence over the top level of the Order of Canada.

The VC was instituted by Queen Victoria in 1856 as a way to mark exceptional courage in the face of the enemy and was the first such medal available to all ranks, from private to general.

It is said that when she was shown the first version of the cross, bearing the inscription, For the Brave, she rejected it, saying: “All my soldiers are brave.”

The motto was amended to read: “For Valour.”

The VC had been in abeyance for a generation, as Canada worked out its own system of honours and bravery decorations. In the end, though, it was decided that the historical links were too strong to be broken completely and so a Canadianized cross was born.

“Canada wanted its own Victoria Cross, a cross that would still resemble the British cross but would better reflect who we are,” the Governor General said.

The links to the past remain even in the metal used to cast it.

Since 1914, British and Commonwealth VCs have been made from pieces of two old cannon captured in some long-forgotten war.

When Natural Resources Canada was creating a unique metal for the VC, it took a piece of this gunmetal, along with a copper medallion struck in 1867 to mark Confederation, plus native copper and other metals from across Canada and melted them into a special alloy, a sort of “tinny brass,” one metallurgist called it.

The smelt produced 65 kilograms of ingots, which were locked away and which will provide the raw material for the cross for centuries.

“I think it was important historically to keep the richness of the mystique of the decoration by keeping the historical link in the metal itself,” said air force Capt. Carl Gauthier of the Defence Department’s honours branch.

“It keeps that link to those Canadians that came before us wearing the uniform, yet it is a medal for the Canadian military of today and tomorrow.”

John Dutrizac of Natural Resources helped oversee the creation of the alloy and the casting of 20 of the new crosses. It was a tricky job, using a “lost wax” technique that dates back thousands of years.

“The casting of the thin section of the Victoria Cross is a challenge,” he said. “There’s a large reject rate where you don’t get complete filling of all the fine detail . . . you have to cast more blanks than you really expect.”

The cross is only awarded for the most conspicuous bravery, or a pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice in the presence of an enemy.

Of the 1,353 crosses ( and three bars given repeat winners) awarded since 1856, 81 went to members of the Canadian military. About a dozen others went to Canadians serving in the British forces or to people who later moved to Canada.

One of the very first was awarded to Alexander Dunn of Toronto, who was honoured for his actions with a British cavalry regiment in the famous 1856 charge of the Light Brigade.

The last Canadian to win the VC was Hampton Gray, a Canadian navy pilot honoured posthumously after sinking a Japanese destroyer in the dying days of the Second World War.

The last surviving Canadian holder of the VC, Ernest (Smokey) Smith, died in 2005.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the heroes of the Victoria Cross “enshrined the reputation of the Canadian soldier as second to none.”

He also noted that Canadian troops are once again risking their lives abroad and one of them will likely end up wearing the decoration.

“We rarely hear about their everyday heroics, but some day, somewhere, one of those men and women will do something so brave, so gallant, so exceptional that we will hear about it and he or she will join the legendary group of Canadian forces who wear the pride of a nation on their chest.”"