— Musings —06.24.2013 10:25 AM
The 2013 Alberta flood: I am puzzled, as usual (updated)
In researching tomorrow’s Sun column, I came across a number of photographs of Alberta Premier Alison Redford, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper touring my flooded hometown. A question arose: why is Harper wearing a military flight jacket? Is such a thing allowed? Was he channeling Dubya (again)?
Anyway, I remain puzzled, as usual.
UPDATE: More here.
Stephen Harper pretends he is G.I. Joe. Alison Redford attempts to remain upright. Naheed Nenshi reflects on offers of thousands of Torontonians that he become their mayor, too, but in exile.
This pic reminds me of one thing.
The Farley classic: “Fat guy in a little coat”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYB3Fx0a8-4
Warren, Dubya actually earned his wings with the National Guard, so no not channeling Dubya. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush_military_service_controversy
I would say this is closer to a Dukakis moment, the man has lots of lip service to the military, photo ops, and pretense but has literally been at war with Veterans and the wounded warriors of this nation for several years over the NVC a cash grab and the fraudulent theft of hundreds of millions from Veterans Annuities . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRPZQ3UEN_Q
Of course a lot of us Veterans are perturbed at the arrogance and stolen valor issue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7D_drB0Ay4
While he assumes too much power and re-writes the law, or appears to be above it, when he wears the wings of a pilot an earned badge of honor. We all know Canadian Law is only intended for us PEONS though. The RCMP can give a speeding ticket, a don’t drive with your phone ticket, a stop at this stop sign or else ticket, but when it comes to a bona fide crime with evidence in living color, they look the other way. We all know he has a personal groomer for gods sake, plenty of clothing he has 5 million in the bank, sweater vests galore. To pretend that this was not exactly what it was, STOLEN VALOR is letting the King Wear Stolen clothes instead of invisible one, which may indeed be a service to the nation.
Unlawful use of military uniforms or certificates
419. Every one who without lawful authority, the proof of which lies on him,
(a) wears a uniform of the Canadian Forces or any other naval, army or air force or a uniform that is so similar to the uniform of any of those forces that it is likely to be mistaken therefor,
(b) wears a distinctive mark relating to wounds received or service performed in war, or a military medal, ribbon, badge, chevron or any decoration or order that is awarded for war services, or any imitation thereof, or any mark or device or thing that is likely to be mistaken for any such mark, medal, ribbon, badge, chevron, decoration or order,
(c) has in his possession a certificate of discharge, certificate of release, statement of service or identity card from the Canadian Forces or any other naval, army or air force that has not been issued to and does not belong to him, or
(d) has in his possession a commission or warrant or a certificate of discharge, certificate of release, statement of service or identity card, issued to an officer or a person in or who has been in the Canadian Forces or any other naval, army or air force, that contains any alteration that is not verified by the initials of the officer who issued it, or by the initials of an officer thereto lawfully authorized,
is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 377.
Dubya stopped showing up for his National Guard gig and was granted release from his unit under very suspicious circumstances.
He’s wearing a flight jacket because he’s a dick. That said, I prefer it to the quilted ski jacket emblazoned with the word CANADA that we were forced to endure for years.
I doubt it’s much different than your old boss wearing fatigues in Bosnia. At least he doesn’t have it on backwards. 😉
http://www.fredchartrand.com/Journalism/Chretien/17325875_R7dtGn/1315846639_5Xs9XQG#!i=1315846639&k=5Xs9XQG&lb=1&s=A
Chretien had no insignia. Harper’s not Commander in Chief like his US counterpart. Nor is he attached to a regiment for honors.
we praise commanders and play hail to the chief
as they rip off our consciences with practiced deceit
and still we do nothing because we’ve been bought
by fast food truth, hey thanks a lot.
At least he is wearing it correctly and not backwards like Mr. Chretien did. Besides…he was probably given the jacket by the military and they are not complaining. Wearing that jacket is fine as long as there is no rank (there is not) and no honours (medals – there is not).
The PM is *not* our Commander in Chief. That is *not* a technicality or a “political nicety” – rather it is “the truth of the matter”. Apparently Harper is *not* alone in suffering POTUS envy.
It is not accidental that Harper’s legions of supporters contribute their willful ignorance supporting the hilariously inappropriate Americanization of their Conservative Commander-in-Thief.
Once again “mailroom boy’s” Cheerleader Squadron proves the PM is a legend in his own mind.
Jesus, Les, get a grip. Regardless of what you like, you are legally and factually incorrect padding the PM’s pathetically thin resume with the title of Commander-in-Chief.
Why do you want to tear apart Canada rather than deal honestly with this PM’s pathological need to shove it up the arse of Westminster Parliament 24/7/365? Aren’t you a tad tired of watching Harper continue to cornhole Canada with zero regard for Canadian law, democracy, or Parliamentary traditions? Harper’s non-Conservative rogue ideologies have painted Tory blue an ugly brown.
Like it or not, Les, there isn’t specifically a Canadian law prohibiting the PM from acting like an arsehole – but perhaps Canadians themselves might have higher aspirations.
There are differences between being Commander-in-Chief and being the democratic leader like a PM, I believe – the PM, with Parliament, can decide whether war is declared, but I don’t believe that can actually command the military in any particular way. I don’t remember ever hearing an instance of Winston Churchill telling the military to do anything during WWII…
Puzzled, indeed. I am down right worried that Dear Leader does not have a very firm grasp on reality most of the time. Like Kim Jong-un there seems to be a bit of a gap between the real and the imagined, and Steve’s legendary paranoia, his iron grip on the message and assorted other aspects of his behavior make me wonder about his perceptions and his judgment. I am so sick and tired of the batshit crazy, out of touch, delusional who are making it to the top and making decisions (not just in Canada, look at corps., other countries, etc). Sane people cannot cope with the double speak and pretending wrong is right and ignoring evidence and all the other aspects of trying to work with these cretins. This may account for the inability of these types to keep staff for long, or the staff drink the kool-aid to survive the boss. All future Executive Job description” extreme estrangement from real people and the real world” and we appear to be just about there.
WM. Lyon Mackenzie King (an interesting, quirky fellow :-)) looks pretty darn stable next to Steve IMO. A few seances seems pretty harmless next to rampant paranoia and delusional thinking.
The jacket is the very first thing I noticed when photos started circulating of Harper during the flood.
My father and three uncles served overseas in WWII, one as well in the Korean War. They all returned alive, my father with a permanent physical disability. My mom joined CWAC and served in Canada. If my one uncle was still alive today he couldn’t wear his Navy uniform without government permission.
Harper proves, once again, he is nothing but an empty suit.
The wings indicate pilot qualification???
“Mr. Harper, sir! Nice jacket!”
“You mean this old thing? It’s just something I wear around the house.”
“You wear a flak jacket around 24 Sussex Drive?”
“Certainly. I mean, the military is just giving this stuff away.”
“Um… yeah.”
“It’s cozy. And the pockets! Have I shown you all the pockets? Before I was Prime Minister, jackets simply didn’t have enough pockets. Now I have places to store all my valuables. Look, this is where I put my marbles. Here’s some kleenex for when the kids need some. My cellphone goes in here. My wallet in here. Tic tacs. My… well, I’m not sure what this thing I’ve pulled out is, but at least now I have a pocket for it.”
“I see what you mean. You can never have too many pockets.”
Nice 🙂
Maybe Mrs. Harper forgot to pack a outdoorsy jacket for Stephen and the RCAF loaned him one of theirs. After all he is the Master and Commander-in-Chief of H.R.H.’s Canadian military… isn’t he?
That would be the GG, Harper is just a civilian MP, head of his party and the govt. and he has not earned the badge in that picture, and has no proof upon him that states he has. If he had just taken the Velcro wings off and put them in one of the pockets, he might have slipped by unnoticed, but people earn those wings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commander-in-Chief_of_the_Canadian_Forces
Big mistake. If anyone would know the significance of respect or honour for the image of military service it should be him. After all the talk of Veterans and service ( backed up by cuts and court cases against them) it should have given him pause to insult his ‘homeland security’ forces. Guess you can ‘dress him up but you still can’t take him anywhere.’ Imitation isn’t always the highest form of flattery.
The Army and Navy are probably jealous now and the next time Harper boards a tank or submarine, the services will have their jackets ready for him too!
Harper suffers from POTUS envy, and likes to see himself as the commander in chief.
It’s not the jacket, it’s the pilot’s wings. That is an honour Air Vice Marshall Harper, VC, DSO, MC, DFC, has definitely not earned. He’s such a pimp.
Um, don’t they have one, with like the expanding belly pouch & stuff? You know room for the Molson muscle? the O’keefe centre? the Budwiser bulge? MGD gut? PBR paunch?
Classy!
Thanks! I’ll have to hop to it and get my armyman jargon updated!
🙂
My LT(N) CD2, Ret. father said: “What the hell is that mug doin’ wearing that jacket!?” as soon as it popped up in the images on Friday evening. He’s not a Harper supporter on his worst day but still took umbrage above-and-beyond the standard nightly news outrage.
It’s the same one he wore in Brandon 2 years ago.
He couldn’t help it.
The sweater-vest was so 2008 and the cowboy outfits haven’t exactly generated “positives” for the PMO/CPC spinners.
Crotch stuffing is next in the re-branding strategy.
“Why is Harper wearing a military flight jacket? Is such a thing allowed? Was he channeling Dubya (again)?”
http://albertadiary.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Hemet3.jpg
I dunno. Probably.
Nice try, apologist. Chretien was pilloried for years about that. Get ready for more of the same for your boy – the key difference being your boy wore badges he had not earned.
One, Chretien was pilloried, and NOT rightly so; I am hardly an “apologist”. Two, Harper is not my “boy”,
We are a military state in Harper’s reshaping of Canada. The more kids we can get blown to bits in war crime wars in foreign lands the better. He may as well put a line of medals across his chest.
What news reporter said that it didn’t matter what leader he met, Fascist, Liberal, Conservative, Socialist, or Communist, they were all the same, just working in different markets.
I find this disgusting. Calgary’s flooded and these morons worry about dressing him up to score political points. That’s empathy.
I’m sick of this government and their cancerous attitude.
isnt this what all tinpot dictators do…wear military gear to make their inadequacies fade…and heighten their manly manliness…even if they are economic nerds. I think plenty of leaders are cowards who show solidarity with shallow gestures and dressing the part. Harper if nothing else is a performer!
I was on a flight once sitting near an 8 or 9 yr old girl. A flight attendant asks her what she wants to be when she grows up – she sez ” flight attendant”. They gave her a blazer and scarf and let her hand out cookies for the rest of the flight. Think something like that happened here with Harper.
On a Nenshi note a meme going around town this weekend :
Mayor of Montreal: Arrested
Mayor of Toronto: Disgraced
Mayor of Calgary: Puts in a 40 hour work DAY ( not week ) – citizens start #Nap4Nenshi on twitter demanding he get some rest
Naheed Nenshi was on CBC on Sunday. He had very articulate explanations with regard to water flow rates, evacuation plans, remediation plans and his concerns for the coming few days. Ford would have stumbled on the first question and couldn’t have explained anything. How could a city like Toronto have ever elected this useless lump while supposedly redneck Calgary elected an intelligent, progressive, articulate man for mayor.
I was thinking that same thing. I am soo impressed with Mayor Nenshi, why cant more folks like him run for office and win!
Lots of people like him DO run for office. The problem is that the Conservatives who despise them are better at funding and running elections. Good intentions and good policies do not win elections. Bile and outrage do.
yeah I know…thats the part of the win that bugs me. Also the Money buys the guy no matter how idiotic. I think there was a movie just recently about this….its sad!
Oooh, if you want to see an -anti-politician- movie… Go find yourself a copy of Bullworth. A corrupt US Senator who goes off the rails and starts campaigning on the truth. Very poignant and highly entertaining.
At least he didn’t show up in the fishing vest he wore to Mexico.
Poor taste really…shows his PR team generally misjudges public reaction.
PArtisans care about this stuff, the general public rarely do.
Wanted to make an impression since he didn’t stay long. Note in some photos you can see 01 on the new Presidential plane.
His remarks were “it’s all about me, me ,me “, then some incoherent ramblings ,then he left. How many hours was he there?
Oh yeah he fired the guy who forgot the teleprompter. Just kidding!
Redford stock soaring along with PC party which actually seems to believe in government. God knows about Nenshi, talk about leadership of the kind we haven’t seen in a long long time.
Stevie is always trying to impress someone with the George S. Patton sthick, though he’s more like George Zimmerman. Perhaps, in fact, a George Zimmerman wannabe., though he does have an impressive collections of silly hats. What was needed was an ivory-handled pistol on his hip.
https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.ca%2F2013%2F06%2F20%2Fstephen-harper-conservative-spring-session_n_3474019.html&ei=8K7IUb6hGcq3rQHs_YCIDQ&usg=AFQjCNH4VGXLb5KpWyBtgTB0g3ch8WOb2g&bvm=bv.48293060,d.aWM
I hope this doesn’t mean we’re going to see banners like ‘Mission Accomplished’ or ‘Canada’s Action Plan’ or some combination throughout press conferences or the flood affected areas.
That would be a PR mistake.
it might show up in an election ad. wouldn’t put it past them.
What is disgusting about him looking out the helicopter window, is that his official photographer was
with him. Everything is just a photo-op with this man.
Unlike every other politician in history?
I was in the crowd of volunteers today at McMahon Stadium today. Nenshi arrived to speak. Unlike Harper, Nenshi arrived alone, no entourage. No fake military garb. No ego. Just a regular guy talking to the assembled crowd. I loved it. So many people held up their iPhones to take pictures and, when he was done, Nenshi pulled out his iPhone to take a picture of the crowd, to the roar of approval from the crowd. That’s the big difference between Ford and Nenshi. Nenshi has and uses a smart phone and other tech whereas Rob Ford didn’t even know smart phones had video cameras … until recently that is. 😉
Anyway, the City needed 600 volunteers and I’ll bet 1,200-1,500 people showed up.
Actually Cujo, twentyfive hundred showed up!
“It was given to him by the helicopter crew in 2011 while touring the flood devastation in Manitoba,” wrote Carl Vallée. “He was wearing it as a tribute to the military assisting the people in difficult times.”
Lives lost, business’s ruined and a jacket given to him by a military crew is the issue?
Funny world we live in.
Okay. I was wrong. Apparently about 2,500-3,000 people showed up at McMahon Stadium.
He needs lots of pictures of himself in various assorted places and costumes for “The Gallery of Steve” . I hear it’s already quite extensive.
All of Canada – including her history, traditions, institutions and military – is just a neverending parade of props in the PM’s fantasy life. Including the burly security detail.
I saw that, and I thought it was very disrespectful.
Being a Soldier, especially a Combat Soldier is very serious business, and not something to be mocked by political opportunism.
Why is the PM wearing a flight jacket if vets can’t wear their uniform. It looks like their are pilot wings on the jacket, is he qualified to wear them? This is Stolen Valour for all the pilots out there that have earned their wings , the RCMP / MND/ at least the CDS should be standing up for the troops when the PM or any other MP wearing hours that they have not earned. Charges should be laid.
Come on, come on
You think you drive me crazy
Come on, come on
You and whose army?
You and your cronies
Come on, come on
Holy Roman empire
Come on if you think
Come on if you think
You can take us on
You can take us on
You and whose army?
You and your cronies
You forget so easily
We ride tonight
Ghost horses
Radiohead, Amnesiac
seriously people, get a grip, he obviously was given the jacket, so of course he should wear it, so many people displaced, so much destruction and this bunch of whiners is complaining about his jacket??????? sheesh what a bunch of children.
Exactly… well said.
Here’s more:
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/06/25/matt-gurney-how-a-flight-jacket-brought-the-harper-haters-to-a-new-low/
Too bad the article missed the point. The author focused on extreme examples of criticism from people nobody takes seriously. The real issue here is that the PM was wearing the pilot’s wings. He didn’t earn them, no need to wear them. He could have removed the velcro badge and avoided the controversy.
instead of whining and complaining why not get yourselves out there and help? find something constructive that will actually help people and get out of your self absorbed little worlds
Warren. I added some speech balloons to your picture but screwed up trying to upload the damn thing. Old age I guess. Am trying again if you’ll allow.
http://dissentistan.blogspot.ca/
Lives lost, hundreds of millions of dollars of damage, people displaced from their homes, and a Toronto liberal lawyer chooses to focus on on this issue. Tone deaf.
Yeah, it kind of reminds one of the `committing sociology`comments Harper made on the steps of Thatchers Funeral, on the eve of the Boston bombing. Except of course the Toronto Lawyer is from Calgary, and has actually put up several posts expressing his concern and good wishes to Calgarians, whilst the Prime Minister is scoring points again.
But he did go with the super tiny codpiece.
So, when are funds from the Alberta Heritage Fund ($16.4 billion as of December 31, 2012) going to kick in? Two specfically targeted projects of this fund are infrastructure and social programs. Alberta has the cash stash.
It’s a fragile economy for the ROC and they certainly have a sea of troubles lapping at their shores. Lots of questions online about the Heritage Fund but no answers.