Damn They Missed

THIS CAME FROM A SOLDIER’S WIFE. IT SAYS IT ALL.
>
> I SAT, AS DID MILLIONS OF OTHER CANADIANS AND WATCHED AS THE GOVERNMENT UNDERWENT A PEACEFUL TRANSITION OF POWER ON NOVEMBER 4 , 2015.
>
> AT FIRST, I FELT A SWELL OF PRIDE AND PATRIOTISM WHILE JUSTIN TRUDEAU TOOK HIS OATH OF OFFICE.
>
> HOWEVER, ALL THAT PRIDE QUICKLY VANISHED AS I LATER WATCHED 21 SOLDIERS, IN FULL DRESS UNIFORM WITH RIFLES, FIRE A 21-GUN SALUTE TO THE PRIME MINISTER.
>
> IT WAS THEN THAT I REALIZED HOW FAR CANADA’S MILITARY HAD DETERIORATED.
>
> EVERY ONE OF THEM MISSED THE BASTARD.

I should like to make a couple of observations. One – Prime Ministers only get a 19 gunsalute. However, regardless of number of shots they should have used a bigger gun

God Bless and keep reading.

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Who Can Understand DVA????

See the similarity between these two stories? It boggles the mind trying to understand the people that make these ridiculous decisions. But then again I suppose its inline with Trudeau and his statement “You are asking for more than I can give.  Do these government employees  even know both the RN and RCN both flew the same white ensign?

Gordon Smith has been a Canadian citizen for more than half a century. Second World

White Ensign on HMS Belfast

War veteran Gordon Smith proudly displays his medals.
A Canadian war veteran is being denied access to a Halifax veterans hospital even though there are empty beds in the facility — all because he wasn’t Canadian at the time of his wartime service.
Sitting recently in his home in Hubbards, N.S., 91-year-old Gordon Smith showed off the medals on his tunic. There’s one for good conduct in the Royal Canadian Air Force and one representing his time in the fire service.

There’s a war medal from the British Royal Navy for service during the Second World War and the one that means the most to him — a medal representing his volunteer service in the British Civil Defence Corps.
When he was just 14 years old in London, England, Smith signed up to carry stretchers.
“I carried so many injured and dead,” he said, his voice breaking with emotion. “It stays with me.”

Gordon’s Smith’s medals represent his service in the Royal Navy, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian fire service. (Kayla Hounsell/CBC)
When he was 17, Smith enlisted in the Royal Navy, sailing the North Sea searching for debris and bodies. He was on guard on VE Day. After the war, he immigrated to Canada and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a firefighter for 18 years.

This is Gordon Smith’s certificate of service in the Royal Navy. He was 17 years old when he enlisted. (Eric Woolliscroft/CBC)
Upon retiring from Canada’s air force, Smith volunteered for another 20 years with the Royal Canadian Legion, visiting veterans in long-term care to ensure they were getting the care they needed.
Smith has been a Canadian citizen for 51 years, and he always thought he would end up in a place like Camp Hill Veterans Memorial in Halifax. But it isn’t working out that way.
Smith’s granddaughter, Sabrina Smith, said Veterans Affairs has told her family her grandfather can’t go to Camp Hill because the majority of beds at the facility are for war veterans. And because Smith’s service during wartime wasn’t with the Canadian Forces — but rather an allied force — he isn’t considered a Canadian war veteran.
“They’re completely disqualifying him on the fact that he wasn’t with the Canadian Forces at the time,” said Sabrina Smith.
Not Canadian during wartime

Gordon Smith, second from left in the back row, returned from mine sweeping with the Royal Navy in the North Sea in 1945. (Submitted)
Gordon Smith does have a letter and a certificate from the Canadian government, signed by former prime minister Stephen Harper, recognizing his “service and sacrifice during the Second World War, in defence of Canada and our shared values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law.”

Gordon Smith’s certificate from the Canadian government recognizing his service in the Second World War. (Eric Woolliscroft/CBC)
His granddaughter said she is disappointed in the Canadian government.
“He went out there in 1945 as a 17-year-old, he enlisted on his own, of his own free will, and he risked his life for us,” she said. “So for me, it’s not acceptable that he doesn’t get, number one, the recognition that he deserves, and number two, the services that come along with that.”
The Nova Scotia Health Authority says it provides long term care at Camp Hill on a contracted basis, but it doesn’t play any role in determining eligibility criteria. Veterans Affairs Canada is responsible for that.
Adding to the family’s frustration is the fact that 29 of the beds designated for Canadian war veterans at Camp Hill are empty.
A spokesperson for the Minister of Veterans Affairs said allied vets can only have access to those beds if there is no other place for them to receive the care they need, which is not the case for Smith.
Smith’s Member of Parliament, Bernadette Jordan, said she is aware of the situation and is working with the Minister’s office to try to find a solution.
“Our view is that any veteran, regardless of their age, when they’re in need of special care, should be entitled to have a special care bed,” said Mel Crowe, president of Nova Scotia Nunavut Command of the Royal Canadian Legion.
Smith is not the first veteran to face difficulties accessing a bed at Camp Hill. In 2016, Norwegian-Canadian war vet Petter Blindheim was denied access to the facility, until public protests prompted a review by Veterans Affairs, which increased access to the facilities for some veterans.
Ex-MP Peter Stoffer ‘very disturbed’ by Petter Blindheim case
Halifax WW2 vet Alan Sagar fights for place in Camp Hill
Expanded access
As of June 2016, there are actually 25 beds set aside at Camp Hill for any veteran who is eligible for care, including Canadian Armed Forces veterans and allied veterans. That doesn’t help Gordon Smith, because those beds are currently all in use, and his family has been told the wait list is so long, there’s no point in being on it.
The Minister’s office says there are 30 people on the wait list and placement is not determined by the person who is next on the list, but rather by the person in greatest need. Veterans eligible for these beds also qualify for any other provincially licensed long-term care bed.
But that’s not what Smith wants.

Gordon Smith as a young sailor with the Royal Navy. (Submitted)
“It’s the comradeship,” he said. “It’s the fact that you’ll be talking to people that had similar experiences — not the same, but similar experiences to what you have. You already have something in common.”
Smith said his health is declining, and he has decreased mobility.
“I’ve recently had an operation for cancer. I’ve had my right shoulder replaced, my right hip replaced, and I know that my health will not improve,” he said.
Smith said he’s not bitter about the government’s decision, because he’s happy to be recognized as a Canadian. He just wants to finish his days in a place where he feels comfortable.
His family wants Veterans Affairs to count his wartime service and reverse its decision. They know time is not on their side.
“I’m grateful that my grandfather has people to advocate on his behalf,” said Sabrina Smith, “and it makes me really worried for the people who don’t.”

Norwegian Sailor!
Posted on June 6, 2016
by irishroverpei

This is a very difficult story to believe!!!
Not an eligible veteran?
I cannot understand Veterans Affairs turning this man down, surely the proof is overwhelmingly in his favour. They have his Naval identity book, it states Royal Norwegian Navy and they have photos of him in his uniform. They have a history of his naval service. What more do they need??? I have not heard one mention from the Royal Canadian Legion? where are they on this? should they not be supporting this 94 year old veteran. Is this not what we Legion members stand for? are we not here to support veterans???

Blindheim always planned to spend his final days at Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Hospital, his son says. But Veterans Affairs rejected his application.
“They sent us a letter explaining that he was not an eligible veteran,” said his son. “I appealed on the grounds that he was in the Royal Norwegian Navy. I provided more documentation and they came back, ‘not eligible.’”

The 94-year-old’s family has stacks of documents showing his service with the Royal Norwegian Navy. Veterans Affairs Canada has stated in rejection letters that Blindheim was in the Merchant Navy instead. (Peter Blendheim)
His son believes the problem hinges on a single document dating back to 1939.
“Because they say he was in the Merchant Navy, he should have signed this T124 agreement. Well, I can tell you, he was not in the Merchant Navy first off—he was in the Royal Norwegian Navy,” Blendheim says.
“I have documentation from his war book.”
Veterans Affairs rejection
Veterans Affairs has a narrow window of eligibility for former members of the Norwegian Armed Forces, between April 8, 1940, the date Norway was invaded by Germany, and June 9, 1940, when Germany formally occupied Norway.
Shame on Veterans Affairs and shame on the Royal Canadian Legion for failing to go to bat for this allied veteran
God Bless and keep reading

History Repeating Itself.

(1) Trump-Make America Great Again.  Adolph Hitler-Creating a Master Race.  (2)Trump-Nationalism. Adolph Hitler-National socialism (NAZIS)  (3) Trump-Fake News.  Adolph Hitler-policy of Gleichschaltung.(control of free press)  (4) Trump-Anti immigration policy aimed at non white races. Adolph Hitler-Anti Jewish Policy.  (5) Trump-Supporter of White Supremacy-Neo Nazis. Adolph Hitler- Brown shirts.  (6) Trump-Homeland Terrorism blame Muslins. Adolph Hitler- burning of Reichstag, blame Communists. (7) Trump declared himself a Stable Genius. Adolph Hitler declared himself a Military Genius.

These are but a few of the similarities between Hitler’s rise to power in Germany and Trumps presidency in the USA. Hitler, by threats, bluster and outrage he slowly isolated himself and Germany from the civilized world. Trump by his arrogance inane comments lies and outright rage at everyone  who doesn’t agree with him is isolating the USA from all its allies. Scary times while this dangerously incompetent president remains in power. The question the whole civilized world needs to ask,  do we allow history to repeat its self again??????.

God Bless and keep reading

 

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We Will Remember Them

We Will Remember Them.
Posted on November 11, 2018
by irishroverpei

 

IN FLANDERS FIELDS POEM
The World’s Most Famous WAR MEMORIAL POEM         

Photo of my Father mother and sister at the end of WW1
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium
On May 2, 1915, John McCrae’s close friend and former student Alexis Helmer was killed by a German shell. That evening, in the absence of a Chaplain, John McCrae recited from memory a few passages from the Church of England’s “Order of the Burial of the Dead”. For security reasons Helmer’s burial in Essex Farm Cemetery was performed in complete darkness.
The next day, May 3, 1915, Sergeant-Major Cyril Allinson was delivering mail. McCrae was sitting at the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Yser Canal, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, Belgium.
As John McCrae was writing his In Flanders Fields poem, Allinson silently watched and later recalled, “His face was very tired but calm as he wrote. He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer’s grave.”
Within moments, John McCrae had completed the “In Flanders Fields” poem and when he was done, without a word, McCrae took his mail and handed the poem to Allinson.
Allinson was deeply moved:
“The (Flanders Fields) poem was an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene.”
God Bless and keep reading

A Little Saturday Humour.

Posting this on Saturday because tomorrow is Remembrance Day

Dr.Geezer, became very bored in retirement and decided to re-open a medical clinic. He put a sign up outside that said: “Dr. Geezer’s clinic. Get your treatment for $500 – if not cured, get back $1,000.”
Doctor Young, who was positive that this old geezer didn’t know beans about medicine, thought this would be a great opportunity to get $1,000. So he went to Dr. Geezer’s clinic.
Dr. Young: “Dr. Geezer, I have lost all taste in my mouth. Can you please help me?”
Dr. Geezer: “Nurse, please bring medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in Dr. Young’s mouth.”
Dr. Young: ‘Aaagh! — This is Gasoline!”
Dr. Geezer: “Congratulations! You’ve got your taste back. That will be $500.”
Dr. Young gets annoyed and goes back after a couple of days figuring to recover his money.
Dr. Young: “I have lost my memory, I cannot remember anything.”
Dr. Geezer: “Nurse, please bring medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in the patient’s mouth.”
Dr. Young: “Oh, no you don’t — that’s Gasoline!”
Dr. Geezer: “Congratulations! You’ve got your memory back. That will be $500.”
Dr. Young (after having lost $1000) leaves angrily and comes back after several more days.
Dr. Young: “My eyesight has become weak — I can hardly see anything!”
Dr. Geezer: “Well, I don’t have any medicine for that so, “Here’s your $1000 back” (giving him a $10 bill).
Dr. Young: “But this is only $10!”
Dr. Geezer: “Congratulations! You got your vision back! That will be $500.”

Moral of story — Just because you’re “Young” doesn’t mean that you can outsmart an “old Geezer.”
Remember: Don’t make old people mad. We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to make us mad.
ENJOY YOUR DAY !
P.S. Written in large print for old Geezers

The Legion should no longer hold a monopoly on the Poppy

This is a very good article by the author Sean Bruyea

Remembrance Day and the poppy are inseparable. But should the poppy and the Royal Canadian Legion also be inseparable? That’s the status quo now, with the organization holding a monopoly on use of the poppy symbol across Canada.
Last year, the Legion got in a public spat over the use of the poppy with one veteran charity. The charity, Wounded Warriors Canada, partnered with Telus for an online campaign that honoured 117,000 fallen Canadian soldiers. But because the campaign featured a poppy symbol on its website, the Legion demanded the campaign either remove the image or divert the donations to the Legion. Telus ended up donating to both organizations, but replaced the Wounded Warriors Canada logo with the Royal Canadian Legion’s.

This year, the Legion began marketing a sealskin poppy for $50 each, even though the Legion and seal hunters were critical of an Iqaluit artist who created and sold similar poppies back in 2013. Meanwhile, the Legion has partnered with a B.C. brewer to market a beer with the poppy logo prominently displayed on the packaging and can.
Poppy trademark
Canadians might be surprised to learn that the image of the poppy cannot be used in “any colour or configuration” for remembrance without the Legion’s approval. One assumes, then, that schools, knitters and veterans must ask permission.
Canada’s Parliament granted the Legion this powerful trademark in 1948. As the Legion’s website explains: “This vital responsibility was bestowed upon the Legion to ensure that the Canada’s largest Veterans organization could act in preserving the Poppy as a sacred symbol of Remembrance of our Veterans.”

Yet the Legion is no longer Canada’s largest veterans’ organization, having experienced massively dwindling numbers over the last few years. In fact, it is not even a dedicated veterans’ organization. Instead, the Legion now labels itself “Canada’s largest Veteran support and community service organization.”

If the Legion is no longer the largest dedicated veterans’ organization in Canada, nor is it the organization with the most veterans, why does it retain the monopoly on the poppy? (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
The largest dedicated veterans’ organization in Canada today is probably Veterans Canada, which has around 8,000 mostly military veteran members. Even the National Association of Federal Retirees tracks its Canadian Forces (CF) veteran population at about 60,000. The Legion, on the other hand, likely has fewer than 30,000 post-World War II CF veterans.

So if the Legion is no longer the largest dedicated veterans’ organization in Canada, nor is it the organization with the most veterans, why does it retain the monopoly on the poppy? Tradition? The Legion isn’t even Canada’s oldest veteran organization. That honour goes to the Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans in Canada, which was given a Royal charter in 1840.
True, the Legion began its poppy campaign in 1921. However, it operated for 27 years without exclusive rights to the poppy. Since that time, it has built up a national mechanism for distributing poppies with more than $16.5 million collected in 2014. At the same time, questions have been raised in some cases about the allocation of those funds, without sufficient answers.

The Legion’s head office, known as Dominion Command, is not a charity and therefore has not been required to provide detailed accounting as to how the poppy funds are specifically distributed. Its “Poppy Manual,” however, stresses the organization, would “ensure that [the poppy] would never be used for commercial or personal gain or would never be desecrated through inappropriate use.”
Popular poppy products raise funds for Royal Canadian Legion
94-year-old veteran still distributes poppies ahead of Remembrance Day

Yet the Legion markets all sorts of products at poppystore.ca, including cell phone cases, wallets, totes, mittens, toques, umbrellas and even stuffed poppy puppies. In 2013, the Legion further trademarked the use of the poppy on hundreds of other products including lottery tickets, ashtrays, pool cues, hosiery, sweat bands and “underwear briefs.”
It is left to the Legion’s discretion to determine when and if the use of the poppy is in bad taste, or if profit overshadows sacrifice and remembrance. No one holds the Legion accountable.
Most if not all Legion members are well-intentioned. But why should the Legion have Canadian exclusivity for this international sacred symbol of sacrifice? Such responsibility should not be entrusted to just one organization, especially one that is not fully accountable to all Canadians. Charities and organizations working to assist veterans and serving members and their families should be able to share this solemn emblem of honour.
There are ways to maintain the dignity of the poppy image while opening up access of use. Canada could, for example, grant licenses to organizations that wish to use the poppy, complete with standards for allocation of funds. It could also monitor the use of the poppy image to ensure its portrayal is appropriate for such a prominent symbol of sacrifice.

Canada is about equal access, universality and non-discrimination. Everyone should be able to use a symbol that honours those who served for our nation.

God Bless and keep reading

Attempted Blackmail Online.

Just  in case someone gets the idea that Tony Clement was involve it’s not true! I  received a Blackmail email this morning demanding $900 dollars in bitcoin?? 

I thought of keeping the blackmail email and copy it here, but decided it was wiser to delete. It arrived this morning and stated, “This is from your Hacker”! He claimed he had my email address and password, True enough he had my email address, but then lots of people have it. The claim he had hacked my password was also true, however it was an old password that is still used on a few writer and author sites. (Its changed now) Nothing of any real importance was hacked and certainly not a password to banking etc. I have to think this hacker was new at the game, maybe I was his first break though? Whatever the reason his email was rather insipid, He threaten to expose all my elicit web sites of porn photos and such, and make me the laughing stock of all my friends. Indeed that part did worry me a wee bit, (not) hopefully there are no nude photos of my body on porn sites,  as amazing as my body is its hardly going to go viral, in fact its unlikely to even get one like or share!!! But I digress, so back to the subject. He told me if I paid him $900 in bitcoin within the next forty eight hours he would delete all my photos and un-hack me!. I had a problem with the blackmail money, I do not have a clue how to pay in bitcoin??I don’t have any bitcoin and even if I did I have no idea how to pay it. Can I write a cheque, do a transfer, maybe we could meet up and I could slip him a plain brown paper envelope!!! Seriously folks, we do have to act on these emails and take precautions. I have changed passwords, carried out scans etc. Still it does add a wee bit of entertainment to the day. Nevertheless, if you get any unusual emails from my address I would advise you delete them.

God Bless and keep reading

No News is not Good News, Its no News

What kind of news do we really get from CBC Compass. Well, we get the weather, local events, local disasters, fires etc. We get interviews with individuals that are of some vague interest. We get photo of the day, a community fund raising event, and jokes from Jay. What we don’t get is the real news, like what our Premier is doing, or who is his appointed deputy when he is out of province. Thanks to FB, I’m aware Wade plus forty others are off to China apparently on a trade mission, (wonder who is paying this bill). Didn’t he and his partner recently return from China on some Anne promotion? Meanwhile guess who is our Acting Premier. Giving the public the finger again, that amazing MLA Richard Brown! My concern is that I have not seen nor heard any mention of this on Compass or in the Island Newspapers. Surely real news is what we deserve and should expect from CBC and other news outlets.  Now, I could be wrong, perhaps they did mention these items, but if so it was done so quietly I must have missed it

God Bless and keep reading.

Remember Remember the Fifth of November

Although I have lived in Canada for more than 50 years I still recall the excitement we children  experienced on November 5th. Guy Fawkes day. Its not celebrated here in Canada, at least not in my neck of the woods. Yet strangely I have never forgotten those heady days collecting a penny for the guy. The fireworks and the fun of bonfire nights, bangers, wagon wheels jumping jacks and not so many rockets. Rockets were the most expensive firework while the banger was the cheapest, also the most disapproved by parents. However. as I write this I wonder why I have almost no memory of November 11th Remembrance/Armistice Day? Did we not place such importance on remembrance as on Guy Fawkes? Fawkes attempted to blow up the houses of parliament in 1605, yet we did not seem to remember the more recent 1914-1918 or 1939-1945, or Korean War. I do not recall any special mention at school. I was a Sea Scout but do not remember parading on Remembrance day. I cannot remember people wearing the poppy leading up to November 11th. In fact I cant remember the poppy being promoted at all? I joined the Royal Navy in 1955 and again do not remember parades or occasions involving remembrance. I certainly do not remember ever wearing a poppy in uniform. I wondering if its just me? or is only in more recent times we have started to remember the Fallen from those dreadful wars? I realise that today November 11th is a national holiday in many places, everywhere you look you will see people wearing the poppy. At cenotaphs around the world people gather to pay respects to those who fought and died for our freedom. But back in 1950 it seems we better remembered Guy Fawkes from 1605 than our dead from the wars of the twentieth century. I’m 80 years old so maybe its just my poor memory. but I wonder if others from my youth remember it as I do??

God Bless and keep reading

A Little Sunday Sad news

Please join me in remembering yet another great icon of the entertainment world.

The Pillsbury Dough died yesterday of a yeast infection and traumatic complications from repeated pokes to the belly. He was 71 and is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children, John Dough, Jane Dough and Dill Dough. Plus one in the oven.

The service was held at 3.50 for approximately 20 minutes