Peter McKay, Stephen Harper - Your Severance Is In The Mail.

We're proud of our troops up here in Canada - ambassadors, warriors, mothers, fathers, family...

But when something slides under the radar like Stephen Harper autonomously extending the stay of troops in Afghanistan to 2014, he's smearing mud in the face of our tired soldiers as it is.


Soldiers are tired... families are tired... and the populace is tired. Let's get something straight here boys - if you don't have family in the military, I don't think you have the authority to makes those sole decisions.

Sign up your sons and daughters, and I'm sure it'll be another issue.


This is a haunting snippet of a radio interview with one of the family members of our beloved troops...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4KCBpQ5x_g


-Dantait


Afterthought: Ever wonder how Politician Christmases go? They always just throw money at these issues - I feel like it would be like robots exchanging bigger and bigger boxes, rather than a real, intimate and traditional Christmas...

So it's come to my attention...

... That I haven't yet achieved what I feel I was meant to.

Rock Needs A Revolution.

The Youth Need Something to Stand Behind.




... I just want noone to get hurt.


I know how to do it, and I know now's the time to do it... but, can it be done?


... can I do it?

Thoughts This Past Remembrance Day...

It is my true belief that Remembrance Day was originally meant to be more than a day to remember those fallen in battle... We do our honorable veterans little justice in simply remembering their sacrifice for a day and then moving on "to the next holiday" in our lives, ignoring the deeper meaning and symbolism behind the day.

Sure, you put on a Poppy for a couple weeks prior to the day, and you fall silent at 11 o'clock - much like the guns fell silent oh so long ago, and you wear your red for the troops on Fridays, and you watch History Television's Week of Remembrance Specials, and so on... We all do that; you, me, and many of the veterans themselves. But what most of us are missing in the hurrah of things is hidden even deeper. It's the black beneath the surface of the water...

Let me try and explain... They have said in the past "The Great War was the war to end all wars...", and for a time it looked like it for the most part; Pacts and Treaties and Armistices were made, agreements, restrictions, and laws were passed to restrict wars and to properly punish war crimes. It looked like problems were solved, until problems arose again in the late 1930s, and then the world was back at it - another Global War.

Again, an unprecedented amount of blood was shed as the stakes grew higher - technology was improving, war machines were deadlier and more effective, the race for nuclear supremacy was just beginning, battles were fought over larger fronts and areas; it seemed that already the tragedies of the First Great War had taken a back seat to an Arms Race... Throughout all of this, the main goal of these countries was to be on top - it was well known that whoever was to be victorious at the end of this Second Great War was destined to lead the world into Nuclear, Space Travel, and maybe more... The stakes were high indeed - worth more than the lives of a country's citizens. Again, thousands upon thousands of men and women crossed the seas, took to the skies, fought bloody battles, and ultimately made the great sacrifice. At the end of it all - another set of treaties, pacts, laws, armistices...

It was a short time of peace, for the Korean War followed, and the Vietnam War, The Gulf War, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and so many more...

The war to end all wars... The war to end all wars...

It's a dream, for sure - And you could make a case for naivete at the time... But we must be reminded more than once a year that war is not the answer. No coalition, no government agenda, no arms race, and no sense of superiority gives us the right to go and destroy the lives of other people - and none of these reasons are worth the lives of bright and strong young men and women.

Fighting siblings rarely figure out the right answer when they come to blows - so why do we think that we'll find the answer through battle? Besides, when the battles involve communities, provinces, states, countries, continents - it's no longer coming to blows... it's massacre.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

We're pretty lucky here in Canada because of the sacrifice that our soldiers have made for us - and believe me, we really are. We don't have to be personally reminded every day of the atrocities of war. We see it through an emotionless box mounted on our walls as we lean back in a chesterfield with our families around us... We "know" that we're lucky, but since the majority of us haven't personally felt the pain of war, we're actually quite unaware as to how lucky we really are.

I am grateful for all of the men and women who have served in the forces in the past, and serve now - for they were/are willing to put their life on the line for me and my family, and that means a lot to me. If I ever have the chance to defend their freedom as they defend mine, I would take it in a heartbeat...

But my point remains...

They say "On the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month... the guns ceased to fire."

But really... have they?

-Dantait