So essentially, I owe all my freedoms to the military? Fair enough. Why weren't you protecting our freedoms at the the G20 summit?
I guess the next time there is a sports event related riot, causing damage, we will expect the same amount of cracking down from the police?
I did not say I have any of this kind of martial or fighting training.
""No one should be so naive as to think these people were there for the purpose of lawful protest," Blair said during a Toronto news conference."
Wow, what a sweeping statement. Did he just say none of the protesters were there peacefully?
The way you give the quote, that is how I would interpret it.
Interestingly, after the incident with activist being killed trying to bring aid to Gaza, evidence was manufactured found that proved they were all violent terrorists (therefore not deserving of human rights, and legitimizing breaking international law and opening fire on these ships, BEFORE boarding them, during a night operation), also. This shows wide use of certain tactics, in case this is not clear, and that these tactics have proven effective in general, and have been refined through practice. But my simple math says 75 (supposedly anarchists, even though most self-described anarchists don't even know what it means, let alone the people using it here) does not equal 900; even if you try to factor in a few agents provacateur, who, I'm guessing, did not get detained, and on which point people on this forum merely applauded, rather than debated.
It's interesting how someone said OCAP don't have the right to protest, because there was a military funeral procession... and suggested that EVERYTHING that was going on, all these protests, simply boiled down to trying to disrupt the funeral. I understand how that may be what is important to you, but in doing so, in one sweeping statement, you dismiss the legitimate protests of more than 50000 people, gathered from all over, including outside the country who knew nothing about that, many of whom did not know each other before they got there, and many who probably don't know each other still, unless they shared a cell, perhaps. But yep, of course its all about you. The activists are out to get YOU, probably know you name and number, posting private things back and forth behind the scenes to their friends on various forums. Because activists like to work in secret, and wouldn't want anyone to know about their issues? Strength in isolation? For clarity, I am using sarcasm here. As a minor related note, it was a major discussion point that, while police are normally legally required to give name and badge number, none of this was available from the ISU forces who were doing this; nor was it given when asked.
It is nice to know that police chief Blair has encouraged the g20 security to investigate itself.
I would not define this as a fair and impartial inquiry, however.
semper fi. kinda means you're not afraid of anything, right? Like saying it how it really is, and not being afraid your buddies won't have your back if you disagree with the 'dominant paradigm' of folk in the military, the 'right wing theology' and bravado, the mythology that boys don't (or shouldn't?) cry, or get broken. I know people in the military too, and regardless of whether they are willing to speak their minds on some issues with 'their buddies' there, I know they are capable of thinking. Even free thinking, where you think about things, and in ways, other than simply how you are told. Practicing what we know, praxis, is not always easy though.
My intention for posting was not an attack on the military, but it seems the post since my last people have mostly only either applauded the ISU actions, or ignored those points entirely, when not feebly scrabbling for links to support police chief Blair's glorious party. Police chief Blair has his own history which I will leave out. In essence the argument I am hearing is that either all the protesters and media who are talking about this AND WERE THERE are lying and fabricating evidence of hastily uploaded unedited videos, or the government and other officials are lying; and with this, I agree.
Someone is lying. Someone is supporting the lie. I am not aware of any oaths of journalistic integrity that are given, requiring media to be factual, or specifically laws that would arrest those journalists for not being so, although part of this comes simply from a court case in the US involving investigative journalists who investigated the cancer causes effects of posilac, including through the milk, a bovine growth hormone monsanto produces. Fox news was threatened with lawsuits; the investigative journalists were fired; in the suit for wrongful dismissal, based on suppressing this important health evidence, the courts ruled that news was 'entertainment' and not required to be 'factual'. So I hope you find this 'entertaining', but more importantly I hope you are able to find some truth in it, somewhere, that maybe you would not find elsewhere easily.
I say this in part, because I wonder if the most vocal voices on this forum, in fact represent the majority. I do not know, but I choose to believe it doesn't not, and hope some are willing to consider other possibilities, because in the end it may be the difference between the military and other security agencies in Canada helping to GIVE Canadians freedom, - or to take it away.
Thanks for patiently reading through my frustrations, many generically directed toward what I see as military mentality. My personal experiences have biased me, not necessarily in an untruthful way, but sometimes to react emotionally instead of to focus on the issues, and on solutions, and the people who continue to follow this thread may well think it is important, and I don't want to imply our Forces care any less about Canada or Canadians, even if we have different ways of going about doing it (and serve our country in different ways).
I know there are people who put themselves through a lot to do what they believe is right; that perhaps most Canadians will never get the opportunity to know about. That doesn't invalidate my anger, or what I think is wrong with the system; but I am duly acknowledging that there is another side to the story, and people, including activists, sometimes are quick to blame, without understanding circumstances. But that is what forums are for; people can talk about things, and hear each other's view points, and maybe not take our assumptions about the world for granted so easily. (Including my own.)
It is ok to disagree. It is ok to let people make up their own minds. I hope compassion for the suffering of others is one of the values people use in making their judgments on this issue.