Is it time to disband the Canadian Armed Forces?

[211RadOp]

This from a paper in a city with a long military tradition.

http://www.thewhig.com/2013/02/10/is-it-time-to-disband-the-canadian-armed-forces?utm_source=addThis&utm_medium=addthis_button_facebook&utm_campaign=Is+it+time+to+disband+the+Canadian+Armed+Forces%3F+%7C+Column+%7C+Opinion+%7C+The+Kingston+Whig-Standard#.URjjrzU5vH8.facebook


Is it time to disband the Canadian Armed Forces?

By Dale Sutherland

Sunday, February 10, 2013 9:22:37 EST PM

Seventeen months from now we will be commemorating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of The Great War. The Austria-Hungarian Empire fired the first salvos of the First World War One into Serbia on July 28, 1914. The last shots were fired Nov. 11, 1918.

During the intervening 1,568 days and nights of war, 56,644 Canadian soldiers were killed outright. A multiple of that number were declared missing in action or died of wounds and disease or returned home to their people emasculated, blinded, limbs lost and otherwise physically and mentally torn up. The Canadian Forces killed and wounded an unknowable number of Europeans.

...

Canada is a respected secondary power. Our country has bled in every major war during the past 100 years (except Vietnam) and we have earned the right to decide to stop warring. Perhaps the greatest honour Canada could do for our fallen heroes and all the others impacted by Canadians at war would be for our country to take the lead among the nations and to totally disband the Canadian armed forces. We would thus remove the issue of armed conflict from our political agenda and disassociate our culture and economy from its commitment to participate in war.

...

(Much more on link)

 

[PuckChaser]

Long military tradition and large ostrich-head-in-sand NDP population...  :facepalm:

 

[jwtg]

This from a paper in a city with a long military tradition.

http://www.thewhig.com/2013/02/10/is-it-time-to-disband-the-canadian-armed-forces?utm_source=addThis&utm_medium=addthis_button_facebook&utm_campaign=Is+it+time+to+disband+the+Canadian+Armed+Forces%3F+%7C+Column+%7C+Opinion+%7C+The+Kingston+Whig-Standard#.URjjrzU5vH8.facebook


Is it time to disband the Canadian Armed Forces?

By Dale Sutherland

Sunday, February 10, 2013 9:22:37 EST PM

Seventeen months from now we will be commemorating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of The Great War. The Austria-Hungarian Empire fired the first salvos of the First World War One into Serbia on July 28, 1914. The last shots were fired Nov. 11, 1918.

During the intervening 1,568 days and nights of war, 56,644 Canadian soldiers were killed outright. A multiple of that number were declared missing in action or died of wounds and disease or returned home to their people emasculated, blinded, limbs lost and otherwise physically and mentally torn up. The Canadian Forces killed and wounded an unknowable number of Europeans.

...

Canada is a respected secondary power. Our country has bled in every major war during the past 100 years (except Vietnam) and we have earned the right to decide to stop warring. Perhaps the greatest honour Canada could do for our fallen heroes and all the others impacted by Canadians at war would be for our country to take the lead among the nations and to totally disband the Canadian armed forces. We would thus remove the issue of armed conflict from our political agenda and disassociate our culture and economy from its commitment to participate in war.

...

(Much more on link)

Nobody told me there had been a Second World War One. 

I never trust a journalist who can't write, or editors who can't edit.

 

[medicineman]

It looks like Neville Chamberlain was reincarnated...into a sub-standard reporter for a sub-standard newspaper.

MM

 

[Haletown]

Si vis Pacem, para Bellum.

True then, very, very true today.

 

[Journeyman]

I never trust a journalist who can't write, or editors who can't edit.

...or a Wolfe Island muck-raker   


To be fair, he's not a "reporter" -- merely a member of their "Community Editorial Board."

The Whig-Standard is inviting readers to apply for a place on the newspaper’s Community Editorial Board. You must be willing to commit to writing six columns and occasional 100-word pieces during the coming year.

These are volunteer positions.

 

[dapaterson]

To be fair, he's not a "reporter" -- merely a member of their "Community Editorial Board."

It may well be a volunteer position, but the Whig should still do basic editing.

And I still think he's overpaid...

 

[Journeyman]

......but the Whig should still do basic editing.

But that would be "the man" oppressing him; denying his freedom of word-mangling!  :bla-bla:

 

[ArmyGuy99]

I do believe my Great-Grandfather, Grandfather and other family members and friends who served in the Canadian Army just rolled over in their graves and  :boke: 

 

[Old Sweat]

It is a pity that the piece is so poorly written because it is a legitimate point of view. It also is an unrealistic and misguided point of view, but one that deserves to be put forward by someone who has a grasp of composition and grammar. 

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Perhaps the greatest honour Canada could do for our fallen heroes and all the others impacted by Canadians at war would be for our country to take the lead among the nations and to totally disband the Canadian armed forces. We would thus remove the issue of armed conflict from our political agenda and disassociate our culture and economy from its commitment to participate in war.

WRT to the yellow text, I fully support this line of thinking and think we can use it in other areas as well!

1.  Get rid of all the firestations/halls; thereby stopping fires from happening.

2.  Shut down all police stations, and lay off all law enforcement officer; thereby stopping crime from happening.

3.  Might as well include hospitals!  Shut 'em all down, afterall who likes sickness and disease?  Just eliminate it all by shutting down anything/everything designed to deal with it, and it will just go away.

Magical.

 

[Blackadder1916]

. . . . . the Whig should still do basic editing.

It appears to me that "basic editing" is these days limited to hitting the spell check button and even that may be a stretch.  One would only have to review the posts of some (supposedly university educated) aspiring recruits on these means to gain an impression of the importance placed on written English by many.  The language errors of the referenced piece are actually so common as to make them non-noticeable.  However, the premise of the piece, though legitimate (everyone is entitled to an opinion), is misguided.  The writer should probably have taken additional history courses as well as English in university.  But don't worry.  The writer may get his fifteen minutes seconds of fame locally, but I may not be far off in surmising that this thread may be one of the few national analyses of his suggestion and there is not much more to say that hasn't already been said.  This is just another "shake your head moment". 

 

[The_Falcon]

It appears to me that "basic editing" is these days limited to hitting the spell check button and even that may be a stretch.  One would only have to review the posts of some (supposedly university educated) aspiring recruits on these means to gain an impression of the importance placed on written English by many. 

My brother is an aspiring PhD in English at U of Alberta, the rants he posts on facebook about the quality of work that is submitted to him, makes for some very interesting and hilarious reading. 

 

[uptheglens]

"It is unlikely even one word will be spoken in memory of the widows and orphans and bereaved parents of the 'fallen.'"

To me, this just smacks of someone who has never gone to a Remembrance Day service, and doesn't know what he's talking about.

And I agree that his writing is appalling, especially from someone who lists himself as a "raconteur".

 

[Blackadder1916]

My brother is an aspiring PhD in English at U of Alberta . . .

I'm sorry for your family's woes, but it is possible that a cure will be found one day.

. . .  the rants he posts on facebook about the quality of work that is submitted to him, makes for some very interesting and hilarious reading. 

The use of some specific words annoy me when I see them, with "impacted" being a primary offender such as used by the writer of the commentary in The Whig.

. . . all the others impacted by Canadians at war . . .

Maybe it was my involvement with patients who were "impacted" that makes me think about a standard COD definition example whenever I see it used  -  faeces lodged in the intestine.

Maybe the writer is impacted (in the manner of the definition).  At the least, he is probably full of shit.

 

[The_Falcon]

I'm sorry for your family's woes, but it is possible that a cure will be found one day.

No woes, he is on a full academic scholarship, meaning he is a tough b*stard on his students, who think they can hand him crap, and still expect good grades.  We always knew he wasn't cut out to be a blue collar shlub like the rest of us. 

 

[Tank Troll]

If your country has no standing army.................................don't worry one will come sooner than latter.

 

[The_Falcon]

If your country has no standing army.................................don't worry one will come sooner than latter.

Unless you are Costa Rica or Iceland.

 

[VIChris]

Hatchet man beat me to it while I was typing.

Though in our case we have such a long standing tradition of helping out around the world, it would be almost selfish of us to just quit the game. I feel we still have much to offer the world, and are pretty much obliged to assist where we can.

 

[tomahawk6]

What would the lib's do with money that was earmarked for defense ?
President Obama is preparing to save US defense money by disposing of nuclear weapons. A bit naive if the other nuclear powers keep their arsenals.