patriotism: standing up for our boys, eh?

“What seems to be missing is the principle of honouring Veterans by generously providing benefits.” 


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/Somnia/article1672810/

           Twitter from veterans' ombudsman retired colonel Pat Stogran regarding the federal bureaucracy's attempts to block initiatives favorable to veterans. 

           Surprised? The Conservatives publically strike a populist "Canada # 1", "we support our boys" pose combined with a militaristic foreign policy. However, this stance is less transparent than it might appear at first glance. Stogran and other veterans' advocates are discovering that there is a hidden agenda of penny pinching public service cutting (everyone likes tax cuts, right - should we expect an election soon?).

             Like other public servants whose attempt to perform their duties with diligence has found disfavor with budget slashing, "Little Government / Free Market" ideologues, col Stogran has found himself out in the cold: nonrenewal of mandate.

"Col. Stogran joins a long list other federal government appointees who've been shown the door, including Peter Tinsley, former head of the Military Police Complaints Commission and Linda Keen, the former head of Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission."

              For another similar case, see yesterday's entry in this blog..

              Also indicative of the lack of transparency of the feds is the refusal to discuss the reasons for the dismissal of the various ex-mandatees who would not tow the neocon party line:

 "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." - attributed to Karl Rove of the Bush cortege.