I don’t like the media very much. You can tell, I know. More often than not, the media displays a habitual, even vindictive, Leftist slant in virtually every issue. Sometimes, reading the paper or watching the news, it’s hard to imagine that they believe conservatives can do anything right or that liberals can do anything wrong. Every now and then, however — not often, mind you but just often enough — I come across something that just plain makes good sense and demonstrates that even the media is capable of heaving its head out of its arse from time to time.

Maybe I judge the media too harshly. Or maybe it’s just a case of even a stopped clock being right twice a day. Whatever it is, I do enjoy seeing it on those occasions it comes along. Today’s editorial in the Freeps was one of those occasions. Check it out for yourselves:

Reinforce our troops

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rightly reminded the opposition parties that Canada has an obligation to its NATO partners in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

But NATO has an obligation to Canada as well.

Because, along with the British and Dutch, it is our troops who are on the sharp end of the stick when it comes to the fighting in the deadly Kandahar region.

To date, 44 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan, 36 of them this year in and around Kandahar, including two killed in a suicide bombing this week. Almost nine per cent of the 511 coalition soldiers killed in Afghanistan since fighting began in 2001 have been Canadians.

This week, Harper came away from a NATO meeting in Latvia with only vague assurances that more countries in the 26-member alliance will start sharing the heavy lifting in Kandahar.

There was also confusion about which NATO countries will supply needed troops; and about the extent to which restrictions they have placed on their military that preclude their forces from serving on the front lines in Kandahar, will be lifted.

Harper who had gone to the meeting looking for reinforcements from other NATO countries, acknowledged that while Canada will be getting some help, it is not at the level he had hoped.

“Look, we’re not going to kid you, the security situation remains a challenge in the south,” he said. “We still believe we are under-manned, but we’re getting more forces all of the time, we’re getting more flexibility from our NATO partners.”

Gone are the days when Canada stood apart from these deadly conflicts and self-righteously lectured from the sidelines. Canadian soldiers are now in harm’s way, doing what must be done in Afghanistan if it is not to fall back into the hands of the religious fanatics and terrorists who first plotted 9/11 from within that country.

Canada has earned the right — through the sacrifices made by its soldiers in Afghanistan — to have its concerns taken seriously at the NATO table.

Crack a cold one, throw Flight of the Valkyries on the turntable and enjoy the spectacle of all the soaring swine. That’s right boys and girls, Rick Mercer said something with which I am in total agreement. He actually manages to take all the criticism of Harper’s stance with China and, in what I must admit is a very Canadian fashion, put it in just the right light.

No, I haven’t been drinking. Well, not that much anyway. Here, see for yourself and see what you think.

Alright; I get it. Bigger letters. Gotcha. I can take a hint. Since that last post, I’ve gotten over 150 emails! 😯 Yes, that’s right. And all of ’em basically said the same thing: bigger letters bigger letters bigger letters bigger letters bigger letters bigger letters bigger letters…. Never let it be said that I can’t take a hint.

So… I’ve GIMPed it and reworked the design a bit. Did I mention how much I loathe working with image editing software? Just thought I’d grumble about that a little. At any rate, here’s what I have so far:

And folks: PLEASE limit commentary, criticisms, etc to the comments sections. My email box is TOTALLY stuffed… 🙄

As for me now, I’m gonna go try to figure out just WHAT the H-E-double-hockeysticks Harper is thinking… 😕

Okay, I know I’ve been babbling about this for a while now, but this time I really mean it. Here’s the first draft for the first shirt design:

I’ll keep at it till it finally looks right to me.  When it does, I’ll make ’em available.  So, in the meantime, what does everybody think?

PS – Yes, I KNOW that I’m not worth a damn at image editing… 🙄

Opinions have been flying fast and thick lately over HMPM Stephen Harper’s decision to take a harder line with the communist Chinese regime’s human rights record than previous Liberal governments have. For those of you that have been in a cave and haven’t heard yet, the PM has declared that he will pursue a policy of “constructive engagement” with China, rather than the fawning appeasement displayed by previous governments. Lefties in the MSM, naturally, are flummoxed. Some of the more honest, however, are willing to suck it up and say otherwise.

Harper said that, while trade with China may be important, Canadians have values and a fundamental, deep-rooted sense of right and wrong and ” they don’t want us to sell that out to the almighty dollar.” Previous HypoGrit governments have insisted that trade with China is somehow vital to our economy but as one of my favourite loudmouths, Ezra Levant, put it in his Calgary Sun column today:

If the idea was that being China’s moral apologist would help Canadian businessmen sell to China, that idea failed.

China-Canada trade has increased during the past decade, but it has been China selling their goods to us, not the other way around. Canada buys about triple from China what they buy from us. And what China covets most is our energy and other natural resources — global commodities Canada would sell on the world market.

Silence about Chinese fascism has not made Canada rich from China — though both Paul Martin’s sons’ business, Canada Steamship Lines, and Jean Chretien’s son-in-law’s business, Power Corp., have thrived there.

How very convenient. China’s economy grows, the balance of trade shifts away from our favour, but at least 2 former PMs’ kin get filthy rich in the deal. Nice. So, will a sour relationship with China hurt our economy? Not a chance.

We run a massive trade deficit with China. The fact of the matter is that neglecting human rights hasn’t opened a lot of doors either. So obviously, we don’t think you get anywhere by shortchanging your values.

– Prime Minister Stephen Harper

In the short run, it could be a bother because we’ve gotten used to cheap Chinese goods. In the long run, however, it is China that would be on the short end of the stick in any trade fracas. The name of the game is “raw materials and natural resources: we have ’em and they need ’em; it’s just a question of price.” While cheap manufacturing jobs can easily pack up and move to a democratic India and not end up costing much more than they do now, natural resources have a bothersome habit of staying put. And we aren’t going to run out of people to sell our oil to anytime soon.

China has a long history of ignoring our interests, our principles and even our sovereignty. Harper has decided that he isn’t going to sit still for that kind of crap. The Prime Minister’s decision to stand up to this Asian bully has returned us to our rightful place on the world stage as a nation that holds true to its beliefs and is cause for us to take pride, not to be second guessing.

China’s president, Hu Jintao, had requested to meet with Harper at the conference. But Hu refused to allow Harper to raise specific issues, demanding the meeting be “strategic” only — abstract generalities and pleasantries, precisely the kind of thing at which Chretien and Martin excelled.

Avoiding specific issues meant China would never have to answer for specific actions, ranging from detaining a Canadian citizen in a Chinese jail, to violating Canadian trademarks and other intellectual property, as China so brazenly does, such as with their “Redberry” rip-off of Canada’s BlackBerry.

When Harper’s diplomats pressed for a meeting about substantive matters, the Chinese reneged.

Had it been Chretien or Martin who were snubbed, they’d have panicked and gone into appeasement mode.

They probably would have groveled, promised not to raise prickly issues, and perhaps even raised Canada’s absurd annual gift of $65 million a year to China in foreign aid, the largest amount we give to any country.

Harper dug in. Then an amazing thing happened. After Harper’s statement on human rights, his declaration of his plans to speak openly about China, Beijing called Ottawa, and asked for the meeting again. They blinked. There are a few lessons here.

Indeed there are.

Edmonton Sun columnist Graham Hicks usually starts off his colums every day with at joke or two.  Sometimes great, sometimes groaners, but almost always a joke.  Not today, though.  Today, he started off with something that should be required reading for just about everybody, especially at this time of year.  The author is unknown, but the message is unmistakably clear:

Your alarm goes off, you hit the snooze and sleep for another 10 minutes. He (or she) stays up for days on end.

You take a shower to wake up. He goes weeks without running water.

You call in sick with a headache. He could be splattered with bullets or shrapnel, but keeps moving forward.

You put on your anti-Afghanistan shirt, go meet your friends. He fights for your right to wear that shirt.

You talk “trash” with your buddies that aren’t with you. He may not see some of his buddies ever again.

You walk the street, staring at the pretty girls. He walks the streets, searching for insurgents and terrorists.

You complain about 30C in summer. He wears his heavy gear in 40C heat, not daring to take off his helmet to wipe his brow.

You change your clothes every day. He’ll wear the same army issue for months, but makes sure his weapons are clean.

You’re angry because your class ran five minutes late. He gets told he’s staying in Afghanistan another two months.

You hug your girlfriend every day. He holds the letter close and tries to think of his love’s perfume.

You criticize the government – war never solves anything.

He sees the innocent, tortured and killed by their own, and remembers why he’s fighting.

You see only what the media thinks you can handle seeing. He sees the bodies and blood, lying around him.

You sit and judge him, saying the world is a worse place because of men (and women) like them.

If only there were more like them.

(Author unknown)