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The Politics of Yellow Ribbons - MERGED

The Toronto Police Service still has not approved the placing of the "Support Our Troops"decals on their cruisers. This after the famous flip flop in their favour by Mayor David Miller and an unanimous vote by city council. It seems the problem is the [civilian] Police Board chaired by a Miller left wing lackey Pam OConnell and that other Miller lackey Chief Bill Blair. Miller knew he could make a show of supporting the troops while having his lackeys on the Police Board and minions in the police top brass block this patriotic campaign.
It's time for another petition to drive home the message that the troops must be supported to the spineless Toronto mayor and his shifty socialist council and Police Board.
 
I'd sign the petition, but is it going to be inundated with the same rhetoric as the above post. To be honest I have yet to see a police cruiser out west with a ribbon on the vehicle, and I'm unsure of whether or not they have them on fire/ems vehicles as well. But I'd assume that adding any decal to a police vehicle would need to be approved first by the proper authorities. Even with military vehicles, I'd assume if a member wanted to add a decal it would first have to go up the chain and be approved by those at a higher position.

As well I believe it was a city bureaucrat not mayor Miller who wanted them removed. City council squashed that decision when it made headlines.

 
captaincarver said:
The Toronto Police Service still has not approved the placing of the "Support Our Troops"decals on their cruisers. This after the famous flip flop in their favour by Mayor David Miller and an unanimous vote by city council. It seems the problem is the [civilian] Police Board chaired by a Miller left wing lackey Pam OConnell and that other Miller lackey Chief Bill Blair. Miller knew he could make a show of supporting the troops while having his lackeys on the Police Board and minions in the police top brass block this patriotic campaign.
It's time for another petition to drive home the message that the troops must be supported to the spineless Toronto mayor and his shifty socialist council and Police Board.

So, load up an online petition and send us the link.
 
Sigs Guy said:
... But I'd assume that adding any decal to a police vehicle would need to be approved first by the proper authorities. Even with military vehicles, I'd assume if a member wanted to add a decal it would first have to go up the chain and be approved by those at a higher position.
...

EXACTLY. 

I've stayed out of this thread up to now, mostly because I don't feel strongly enough about the issue to weigh in on either side.  Sigs Guy has just hit the nail on the head - Police Officers, Firefighters, Soldiers, civilian government employees, etcetera, DON'T GET TO DECIDE, on an individual basis, what stickers are put on their vehicles.  The POLITICAL body which employs those folks gets to make that decision - and THAT makes the question political.

 
Well when I go into town and if I see a police cruiser, EMS, etc. not having a ribbon I really don't mind because I already see tons of them on civilian vehicles. I think the issue has been blown a little bit out of proportion and their are more pressing concerns. Instead of writing alot of articles and letters dealing with ribbons on government vehicles perhaps they should instead write more articles highlighting the progress that has been made in Afghanistan, if a reporter or any person wants to support the mission that's the best way to do it.

While it is a good gesture, it's just that a gesture. Their are a ton of ribbon campaigns out there supporting good causes, but what good is it if people in general are ignorant about the cause. What we need now is to see that the mission can obtain the overall goals set about, and see it done with the support of the nation once they know all of the information about what we are doing over there.
 
Re post #135

I am sorry you don't appreciate my "rhetoric" however what is not rhetorical is that Mayor Miller publicly spoke against the application of decals on the police service cars and city hall was deluged with emails and calls after which a quick decision was made at council to approve. Secondly  All other EMS vehicles have applied the decals. Thirdly the police union bought the decals after council approval and has delivered same to city hall. Miller is hiding in the tall grass while Chief Blair and McConnell block this troop support effort.
By the way it is also not retorical that a "wear red" campaign was held at the CNE Friday past attended by McKay and Hillier. No official attendance from city hall was seen.
 
Well first of all what would be the point to even blocking this campaign? I'd hope he would have better things to do then block the addition of ribbon's being added on police vehicles. Second, we still don't have all of the information yet, if you could get us an article to back up and articulate your claims by way of a newspaper article or another source. I don't remember hearing Miller speak against the decals, from what I read it was an overzealous city bureaucrat whose decision was later overturned by city council.

From what I understand the one city which doesn't allow the ribbon's on the vehicles is Calgary due to a vote against it by their city council. However if people feel this strongly about it then simply start up a petition or a rally. But then again I haven't been clawing over any article I could read on the issue.
 
Give peace a chance, Giambrone says
TTC to vote on whether drivers can wear "peace" pins or yellow ribbons at work
September 18, 2007 03:54 PM DAVID NICKLE
Article Link

TTC riders will soon know where their bus driver stands on Canadian troops in Afghanistan, if commission chair Adam Giambrone gets his way at Wednesday's meeting.
Commissioners will be dealing with a report recommending that transit operators be permitted to wear yellow ribbon "Support Our Troops" pins. The pins were requested by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 so that operators could show support for Canadian troops deployed in Afghanistan, in the same way that firefighters and police in Toronto are able to.

The pins are a step back from decals affixed to the vehicles of those services.

However, Giambrone (Ward 18, Davenport) wants to go a step further, and give TTC staff the option of also wearing a "peace" pin, likely sporting the popular peace sign that originated as a badge for the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and later appropriated by the American anti-war movement in the 1960s.

"It speaks to issues of peace and is recognized around the world," Giambrone said.

"I think there are very few people who don't support peace and there are very few people who don't support the members of the Canadian Armed Forces. The ribbon is not a sign of support for the military missions in Afghanistan or Iraq."
More on link
 
London ON is now embroiled. An interesting take on the argument about the issue being "political" from the London Fog:

http://thelondonfog.blogspot.com/2007/09/representing-community-one-piece-at.html

Representing the community, one piece at a time

Post from Monday, September 17 updated below…

City council will vote tonight on Board of Control's recommendation (PDF):

    That the expenditure of up to $1,000 BE APPROVED for the placement of yellow ribbons supporting Canadian Troops on City-owned vehicles…

But, according to the London Free Press, at least a few councillors are opposed to the city government's implicit endorsement of a "partisan political statement." All fine and well, of course, but didn't Councillors Eagle, Winninger and Barber also approve the precedent when the council voted to fly the pride flag at City Hall earlier this summer, and at the tune of a $2,500 unsolicited donation to pride week organizers? Consistency may not have quite the status of a virtue, but it's regrettable that it appears to have no political utility at all.

But, of course, it's only a "political statement" if the sentiment doesn't coincide with the moral posturing of the progressive and socialist left.

See also: Alt-London

    All in favour of God, Motherhood, Apple Pie, Canada, the Pursuit of Truth and Happiness, Ham and Eggs (avec toast) and Hot and Cold Running Water, stand up and say "Yay."

Update, September 18: By an 11-8 vote, council approved the measure after an "emotional debate," for crying out loud.

    The ribbon proposal was brought by deputy mayor Tom Gosnell, who said it had nothing to do with politics.

… as political an assertion as anything else uttered throughout this brouhaha. Except for the occasional lapse, which is what all good journalists live for, everything politicians say and do in council is political.

Also: Alt-London backs the "eight council members [Barber, Armstrong, Baechler, Branscombe, Winninger, Eagle, Bryant and Usher] who refused to be cowed and showed the courage of their convictions despite the political risks involved."

Not to denigrate anyone's courage on anyone else's say-so, but were not these same eight councillors all among the majority who approved the rainbow flag precedent back in July? Was that courageous too, to take a completely opposing position then on "attempting to tell Londoners how to act and think" as now? Or is it just politics again?
 
Here we goo again...


Article link/Kitchener Waterloo Record: http://www.therecord.com/home_page_local_story/home_page_local_story_1102227.html

Article shared in accordance with the fairdealings.


N.B. group behind anti-yellow ribbon campaign

Updated Fri. Sep. 28 2007 10:26 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Fredericton's mayor is calling a peace coalition misguided as the group pressures local businesses to stop displaying yellow decals calling for support of Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

Mayor Brad Woodside says the group is focusing its criticism on local proprietors when it should be lobbying the government.

"When you ask people to take down the yellow ribbon that says support our troops, I think we're really going after the wrong people," Woodside told CTV Atlantic.

"If you have a problem with what the military is doing, then go after the politicians."

Tracey Glynn is a member of the Fredericton Peace Coalition and says that wearing a "Support Our Troops" yellow ribbon trumpets positive support for the war.

"I think by putting the yellow ribbon on or wearing the red shirt, you're being a cheerleader for the war," Glynn said.

Glynn says members of the coalition have threatened to withdraw support of local businesses if they continue to display the decals. The group's intention is to reignite the debate over the war in Afghanistan.

"We'll be launching a take down your ribbon campaign in October, just before the sixth anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan," Glynn told CTV Atlantic.

Cathy Delong is responsible for the visible sea of yellow around Fredericton. After being inspired by the support of another New Brunswick town, Delong went door to door asking residents and business owners to display their support for Canadian troops.

"If (the coalition) doesn't want to support the troops and their families, leave the people alone who want to do it," Delong said.

The decision to show support for the Canadian Armed Forces with the decals has not been without controversy in other parts of the country.

In August, Ottawa police began displaying the yellow ribbons on their cruisers causing some civic politicians to vocally oppose the plan.

While in Vancouver police allow the decals on their patrol cars, in Calgary, police have been prohibited from displaying the decals by the city.


In June, a similar backlash to the yellow ribbons occurred in Toronto when emergency personnel were ordered to take down decals on city-owned EMS, ambulance or fire vehicles.

City council voted unanimously on a motion to indefinitely extend the use of decals after concerned veterans voiced their complaints to city hall.

Canadian troops are in Afghanistan as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force. Seventy-one Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died since the combat mission began in 2002.


With a report from CTV Atlantic's Erin O'Hallahan


Tracey Glynn seems to like talking to the media, quite a bit when she can.  It is a shame, she can not seperate her political views, from the views of support others have for the troops.

dileas

tess

 
Let the idiot boycott the stores ...

It won't mean much to those business' who do support their troops in that other

New Brunswick town

referred to in the article. That other town just happens to be the Home of the Army, a mere 14 ks up the road ...

26 crackpots who don't have a clue?? Or thousands of soldiers and Land Force students situated there?? D'uh ...

I wonder if the crackpots even realize that Oromocto & Freddy have been "supporting their soldiers" for years & years, well before Sept 11th 2001 (and our 'occupation of Afghanistan  ::) ) ...

Just run a search right on this very site regarding "Military discounts" ... the list is huge for those Fredericton NB business' looking after their troops, and it has always been that way.

Let her boycott them ... bet that'll attract lots more business for them from relish suits than she'll manage to take away from them...

What another waste of O2.
 
I googled her name, and evidently she tried to get people to boycott the census because Lockheed-Martin had been contracted to do the census.

"Boycotting the census is about refusing to line the pockets of a company that actively seeks out more war to sell its weapons of mass destruction, nuclear arms, depleted uranium and weapons banned in Canada like land mines," says Tracey Glynn, a peace activist based in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

From the Dominion paper http://www.dominionpaper.ca/features/2006/05/11/it_doesnt_.html
 
211RadOp said:
I googled her name, and evidently she tried to get people to boycott the census because Lockheed-Martin had been contracted to do the census.

From the Dominion paper http://www.dominionpaper.ca/features/2006/05/11/it_doesnt_.html

Like I said, just another crackpot.

Unfortunately this one seems to be given too much airtime and ample opportunity to

senselessly spout her bullshit, thus contributing to the depletion of our essential ozone layer ...

and thieving oxygen from the people of the world who do have half a clue. Call out Greenpeace to protest her ...
 
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070928/yellow_support_070928/20070928?hub=TopStories

Fredericton's mayor is calling a peace coalition misguided as the group pressures local businesses to stop displaying yellow decals calling for support of Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
---------------
"When you ask people to take down the yellow ribbon that says support our troops, I think we're really going after the wrong people," Woodside told CTV Atlantic.
Tracey Glynn is a member of the Fredericton Peace Coalition and says that wearing a "Support Our Troops" yellow ribbon trumpets positive support for the war.
"I think by putting the yellow ribbon on or wearing the red shirt, you're being a cheerleader for the war," Glynn said.
Glynn says members of the coalition have threatened to withdraw support of local businesses if they continue to display the decals. The group's intention is to reignite the debate over the war in Afghanistan.


Just my comment, but since there are over 5000 people at the CTC in Gagetown, who do a majority of their business in Freddy, I don't think that many businesses would feel any pinch.  Except maybe for the Green-Tea Hash House and Emporium  ::)







 
Mortarman Rockpainter said:
Just my comment, but since there are over 5000 people at the CTC in Gagetown, who do a majority of their business in Freddy, I don't think that many businesses would feel any pinch.  Except maybe for the Green-Tea Hash House and Emporium  ::)

I hear they are missing you already  >:D
 
I wish these groups would just mind their own businesses. If they chose to NOT support the troops, then that is their choice. BUT don't pressure others to stop visibly supporting them because you have a problem with the mission in Afghanistan.    :threat:

And to think that my husband died for their right to spout their bulls**t.
 
It's surprising that the "war mongers" aren't more aggressive in getting non-supporters to put ribbons up...  ::)
 
teddybear said:
And to think that my husband died for their right to spout their bulls**t.

No Teddybear he died to ensure that all of us continue to have the right to live in free and overall decent society and speak our minds without fear of reprisal.

Unfortunately that sometimes includes those misguided and naïve persons noted here.
 
Danjanou said:
No Teddybear he died to ensure that all of us continue to have the right to live in free and overall decent society and speak our minds without fear of reprisal.

Unfortunately that sometimes includes those misguided and naïve persons noted here.

That I agree with. However, they don't need to pressure those that do support the troops. What they need to do is inform themselves on what our troops are actually accomplishing in that country. Then, if they still disagree with the mission, pressure the government to end it in Feb 09.
 
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