Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in The Star
The Left, still aching for surrender, ply
Their scorn, amid the columns’ row.
Update – From a reader and teacher who was assigned this essay question for her class; “Is the poem “In Flanders’ Fields” by John McCrae, propaganda? “
“They’re making it sound like a sin if you don’t go fight and avenge them. It sounds to me like John McCrae is trying to guilt us into going to war.”* “‘The torch’ seems to represent nationalism. [. . .] The poem is no different from most pieces of propaganda at the time.” “The poem is propaganda because he said he lied — ‘and now we lie’. If he didn’t want this to be propaganda then he should have said ‘and now we lye’ as in lye down not I’m going to lie.” “No, this poem is not propaganda. It is not putting a positive spin on the war to try and get people to join. Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote the poem in honour of the fallen soldiers.”
I would offer the comment that it is a rather inoportune time to play around with Lieutenant Colonel McCrea”s wonderful and much loved poem.
Per Ardua Ad Astra
Regardless of what was in the Toronto Star.
It would be interesting to know if any of the Toronto Star’s hierarchy ever attended a Rememberance Day ceremony, wouldn’t it? I mean are they allowed to even wear poppies at work?
The Harper / Hillier military bashing cartoon simply emphasizes the poisonous mindset the corporate editorial body at the Toronto Star holds for the current Conservative government.
Coming on the heels of a duplicitous Harper headline earlier in the week completes the toxic leftist, defeatist spin.
The ‘star children’ will do whatever they want.
I’ve dug out my WHY WE FIGHT videos featuring ‘The Battle of Russia 1943’, and ‘The Battle of Britain 1943’ to watch them.
That’s my way to remember what the world went thru those dark days, and why we are where we are today.
Kate, I agree with BCer about the inappropriateness of modifying the poem at this time.
As for the Star’s editorial cartoon, that is absolutely repugnant. Does having a grade 3 education or beyond disqualify someone from being an editor at the Star? Hopefully the vast majority of the people who subscribe to this rag will cancel their subscriptions over the next few days. Pathetic.
and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
May God grant us a dove
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We Will Remember Them
Inappropriateness is the point.
In somewhat bad taste considering the day, wouldn’t you say?
I agree BCer.
http://pipingdesign.com/poppy.jpg
With respect, I’m not buying your excuse (12:55 AM). I sincerely doubt that you INTENDED to highlight the inappropriateness of the Star printing that cartoon on the eve on Remembrance Day by making an inappropriate modification of In Flanders Field. I think you thought you were being clever, and now you’re trying to cover up your mistake by pretending it was meant to be ironic all along.
I think you candyasses need to grow up and grab a brain. TorStar struck first and Kate struck back in a manner designed to make you think while highlighting the absurdity of the TorStar cartoon.
Though it may be painful for you to think objectively about what TorStar just did, you have to. No matter what freakin’ day it is.
I’m a “lefty” and even I was somewhat offended by the modification of the poem. I figured out why you did, but two wrongs not making a right…
Just a re-play of the Liberal cartoon – soldiers, in our cities…
Regardless of the Star and what it did, this crossed the line. This should be a time for peaceful and respectful time, and if the Star can’t rise above it, leave them alone with that. Don’t engage in equally puerile activities.
One wouldn’t need weapons and an army to successfully invade Canada, one need simply to say something shocking and outrageous and the Canadian people, not overly burdened with stoicism, will keel over by the millions.
People, please, Canada did not become great by righteous indignation, quite the opposite. Our forefathers did not affect poses, they did not “vogue”. They worked, and were too busy being men and building a nation with their bare hands to cry and whine like we do today. Enough! No more righteous indignation!
Here come the lefty trolls acting all indignant. That’s rich, after years of lieberal cuts, and open disrespect for the military. I agree with Kate on this one. Inappropriateness is the point.
Toronto Star, is beyond the pale. As are all the suddenly righteous trolls who oppose standing up for what we believe in, democracy and freedoms and fighting for them if need be.
They have the gall to wear a poppy which is the most blatant hypocrisy.
If it were up to their ideology we wouldn’t have any military forces and defending our sovereignty would be impossible.
Well done, Kate. I was a little concerned with changing the poem, but I think those who value this work are best suited to take your point.
Warning to the outraged; posts here sometimes require a little more thought than is otherwise required on the internet.
As for Garrett, just because you didn’t get it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
My husband’s immediate response was, “Well, they SHOULD bomb the Toronto Star.”
He wrote a letter to the editor earlier in the week about the Press Corps at the Prime Minister’s Press Conference, none, that he could see, wearing a poppy. As he said, this is showing respect for our country and for the price paid for our freedom–and their freedom to do as they darned well please, anytime they want–by so many in WWI and WWII?
My family and I are getting ready to go to church to honour the war dead and all those in our family who have died, to pray for the repose of their souls, and to pray for God’s peace in our hearts and in the world. We will all be wearing poppies.
Yesterday, when I got my poppy from a veteran, who must have been in his eighties, I took his hand and sincerely thanked him for his sacrifice in the war.
‘Lest we forget.
Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord.
And may light perpetual shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.
Repugnant, but I bet there will be no carbques anywhere in Canada, no mass protests in the street, no burning of bldgs and no one will be killed. Who drew that piece of —-, and did he/she ever work for any university paper.
Some Canadian schools used to excise the entire third verse of In Flanders Fields owing to its warmongering nature:
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 those who die
We shall not sleep, tho’ poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
I’m sure some schools still censor this much-beloved poem. What do the people who are feigning outrage at Kate think of that? Are they going to protest to their local schools and school boards if they teach only the abridged version of In Flanders Fields?
Here is what Kady O’Malley of our “National Newsmagazine” Maclean’s had to say about our veterans only 6 days ago to a national audience:
“First it was the veterans who successfully bullied the War Museum into “reworking” the text of one panel in the appropriately named “Enduring Controversy” exhibit, which examines the strategic bombing of German cities by Allied Forces during the Second World War.”
forums.macleans.ca/advansis/?mod=for&act=dip&pid=85912&tid=85912&eid=48&so=1&ps=10&sb=1
See that? In a gratuitous shot to veterans wholly unrelated to the rest of her article on Lord Durham, Kady O’Malley tells us how she really feels about Canadian veterans. What a clever girl, cleverly burying a shot like that against the patriarchy only days before Rememberance Day!
Bullies.
She thinks they are bullies, and if you follow her line of reasoning inferred by the hatred dripping from her words she comes *very* close to saying that Canadian WWII veterans are war criminals. Actually it sounds like she’s waiting for the last of them to die before she just comes right out and says it.
Righteous indignation that.
So lowering yourself to the left’s level is somehow alright?
I guess Kady O’Malley hasn’t got it into her pointed little head that she wouldn’t have the freedom to express herself in Canada’s MSM if it weren’t for the sacrifice made by hundreds of thousands of Canadians who paid a heavy price to maintain our democratic freedoms against the tyranny of the tiny, little thug Adolph Hitler.
Let her call him and his armies “bullies.”
Of course, Kady wouldn’t have a clue, seeing as she has come up through the recent Canadian educational (sic) system which has, for years, sanitized and revised our national history and our role in international affairs.
My father and my two grandfathers (may the rest in peace) were veterans, who were willing to make the supreme sacrifice so that twits like O’Malley can spew their pea-brained mush to the rest of us.
Kyrie Eleison.
Rest eternal . . .
I’m off to church too with my family–all wearing poppies. Like batb, my grandfathers and dad were vets. God bless them all–and especially, today, all those who didn’t come back. May they rest in peace.
“two wrongs not making a right…”
No but they sure make one hell of a point eh?
So pissed about that cartoon right now I’m biting my lip!
I have 2 relatives in foreign war graves….not sure how they’d feel about dying for what we have in Ottawa today.
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” Mark Twain
With regard to the Toronto Star political ‘cartoon’ – it was outrageous. Not only for its slander of the military and its clear suggestion of military amorality, but also for its open lies about Harper.
The Toronto Star has been telling the public that Harper rejects cities. Their previous day’s headline of ‘Harper to Cities: Drop Dead’ was an open lie. The Star ignored his massive funding of Toronto’s transit system, etc.
Their latte-Liberal/NDP base of Cloud Dwellers in Toronto means that numerous letters to them from ‘realists’ can be, and is, ignored by the editors.
With regard to kate’s update, this essay assignment is also pure manipulation and is, like the Toronto Star’s actions, propaganda. Students will pick up key words in an assignment and then, to get marks, ‘give back’ those key words to the teacher.
If you insert the term ‘propaganda’ into the question, the young student will pick up on it, and agree – without having a clue what he/she is writing about. Only a few among the group will have the self-assurance to go against the teacher’s assumed opinions.
A 1915 letter to my Grandfather from (one) of his brothers in the Ypres Salient
This is to wish you a Merry Xmas
& a happy & prosperous
New Year France
Dec 11th/15
My Dear Old George
Thanks for yr letter dated Nov 6th/15.
At present I am in hospital with influenza, but am much better & will be out in a day or so. Willie & Alec are both well & going strong.
On December 1st our regiment was bombarded for two & a half hours & our numbers have been sadly reduced in both officers & men.
You have no idea what a terrible thing a bombardment of that description is like. Shells of all kinds coming over in hundreds & hundreds, the explosions of the high explosives being deafening & making the whole earth tremble & heave like an earthquake & the…
II
…parapets built of sandbags 30 or 40 feet thick would totter & sway like drunken things.
The suspense is awful as the shells would hit first one side & then the other of the parapet & we always expected the next to land right on top of us. We were very lucky to come out of it unscathed, but it was different luck with some of our poor fellows, especially those in Alec’s old squadron C. One place where I had left just a few minutes before was blown to atoms & the poor fellows were blown 40 yds out in the rear of our trenches. We went out & got them at night.
At this place we are only 100 yds from the enemy, & we were…
III
…delighted to see our artillery set to work & blow them to pieces. One battery (4 guns) alone sent 400 shells into them in 1-1/2 hours & altogether our artillery gave them worse than they (the Germans) gave us. They literally blew the German trenches & parapets to pieces for a space of 500 yds & the Germans, or what was left of them, fled over the open country.
You can imagine the din that was going on within 150 yds space of us where our shells & the German shells were exploding, to say nothing of the reports of the guns as they fired.
Talk about hell, we got it that day & with a vengeance. However, we are alright &
IV
…ready for some more, though believe me, not very anxious. Major Fane, who was blown up on to the top of a dug out & had his leg shattered, lay there & encouraged his men, calmly smoking a cigarette, & I’ll tell you he wasn’t half pleased at the way the boys stuck it out.
One of the other regiments next to us along the line wanted to retire into the communication trenches, but their Colonel would not hear of it, as he said we are not getting it half as bad as the (censored), meaning our regiment, & they are sticking it out.
Quite a lot of the fellows went bughouse & crazy…
V
…& there are some of them whose nerves are so badly shattered that I doubt if ever they will be of much use again.
We hear from Muriel & Aunt Julia from time to time & get parcels from them with cigarettes, chocolate, etc. You ask how you are to address me in your letter, well private is right for Alec & I & Corporal for Willie.
Well must wind up now & will try & write again soon. Best of luck to ee my zun
Yr affect brother
Arthur
The Toronto Star exploited the fact of Remembrance Day for political purposes, to make what they thought was a legitimate point about Conservative Party policies and attitudes towards Torontonians.
Kate exploited right back the fact of Remembrance Day for political purposes, to make what she thought was a legitimate point about “the Left’s” policies and attitudes towards Canadian soldiers.
Both acted in poor taste. Both believed they were justified. Neither will apologize. Partisanship will continue to rend this country apart.
Lest we forget.
“It is the soldier, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves under the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.”
– Father Dennis Edward O’Brien
I didn’t pick the timing, Z.
The left talks a good game, but in everything they do – from voting for the Taliban Jacks, to “Soldiers In Our Streets”, to the relentless drumbeat of failure that spews across our media, to the silence when the tables turn and we score military success, to hiding behind meaningless slogans such as “we support the soldiers but not the war” – the political left has spent 50 years undermining the military, and seeding suspicion about the motives of anyone who supports a robust defense policy.
The Ted Rallesque Star cartoon, along with the editorial policy that permitted it to run (at any time of the year), should result in the cancellation of so many subscriptions that the newpaper is forced to close its doors. But it won’t. And the fact that it won’t is evidence that their efforts are successful among a great number of Canadians.
They scorn the military. They use the casualties for political purposes, but they have no respect for the dead or anyone else in uniform, unless they can recast them as victims and themselves as their advocates.
Never forget, indeed.
“Partisanship will continue to rend this country apart.”
No, a shrill ignorant minority, a lunatic fringe, on “the Left”, who have infested the media, the public service and the education system, are still fighting for the 20th century’s global communist revolution, and are the ones trying to rend this country apart.
SDA is just a small part of the steadily growing backlash against the destructive lies and hate mongering of “the Left”. “The Left” dragged us into the gutter and set the tone, now we have to crush them on the battlefield they chose.
Is it simply the military that the left derides, kate, or is it what our military fights for? Our military fights for freedom. Freedom of the individual.
The left also fights. For slavery. They support the Taliban, Al Qaeda; they support Islamic fundamentalism. They support communism and socialism. They support all fighting for these modes of life. They revere Castro, Guevera, Lenin, Mao – and Bin Laden.
They reject any and all rights of the individual. Thought, speech, actions. They insist on a homogeneity of belief and behaviour. Differences are permitted only when sealed into groups, kept isolated and sealed from entrance and exits.
The left supports Top Down Authoritarian government, setting themselves up as Philosopher-Kings who alone know what’s best for the enslaved peasants in the community. They reject reason, critical thinking, facts. They operate within emotion – they engender fear and offer themselves as safety from fear.
Our military and our defense is in support of individual freedom, to think, to debate, to work, to doubt, to innvoate and yes, to both fear and be courageous.
The left rejects all of this, locking themselves into cocooned havens isolated from the real world. That’s why the left are found only in the concrete unreality of cities. The real world isn’t as simple and manageable as they think it should be. That’s why they reject freedom. They can’t control it.
*
“BCer sniffs… it is a rather inoportune(sic) time…”
It’s exactly the appropriate time.
When the mother of Laine Watkins, a young Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan, commented on her terrible loss — “They deserve your respect. In supporting them, you’ll make our loss much easier to bear” — guess which Canadian Blogger had to go out of his way to spit in her face.
begin quote…
“With all due respect, Wanda, f@ck you and your grief. It’s not the job of the rest of Canada to continue to let its soldiers die just so you can sleep better at night.”
end quote.
shame on the lunatic left.
*
F’ing A, Kate. Good job.
Those four points from the teacher, were those answers he/she received from students, or were they discussion points assigned to the students? If they were answers, they’re disturbing enough (except for the last one). If they were discussion points actually written by an educator in order to “encourage debate”, I think I need to take a couple aspirins and lye down.
Not to worry. It is Remembrance Day. CTV QP is interviewing Dion, it’s all about the Mulroney-Shreiber affair. That’s the biggest concern for that pack of rat’s asses.
This is exactly what they’ve been dreaming of, all the MSM, something they can do for their Liberals, whack the Harper government.
Well, let’s continue down that path and really look into the dealings of Chretien during his reign. They want to clean things up? Lets get going, going back about a decade.
Absolutely unbelievable. Beyond the bounds of taste – which is quite an accomplishment for SDA. I thought you hit rock bottom with your attack on a dead man earlier this week, but I see you keep on digging…and that your minions here keep on salivating for more.
My new vow – in honor of veterans everywhere – is to no longer visit this site. Consider it my subscription cancellation. SDA has always had its attractions (in the way that rubberneckers slow down to gape at a car accident), but this post is, quite simply, delusional, hypocritical hysteria. It distorts and perverts its own twisted logic to its own partisan ends. The very fact that everyone here willingly overlooks Kate’s hypocrisy in assuming the very same approach she assails the Star for is proof positive that this site’s regulars are beyond reasonable discourse. It is, to be frank, a gigantic waste of time for anyone who fails to echo Kate in every word and deed to visit, let alone comment.
I would close by saying that I don’t know how Kate McMillan and her disciples sleep at night, but the truth is they probably sleep just fine. The truly simple, special people of the world often do.
I’ve debated with some of you on here, and made more than my share of idiotic assessments and comments. I doubt very much I’ll be missed. I only ask, and I do this with all honesty, that the regular partisans (of all stripes) who do frequent this site excercise some independent, critical thinking. Please stop blindly following your leader, whether it’s Kate, Harper, Layton or Dion. There’s far too much of this going on in Canada today, and its affects, judging from this site and other partisan sites like it, speak for themselves.
Absolutely unbelievable. Beyond the bounds of taste – which is quite an accomplishment for SDA. I thought you hit rock bottom with your attack on a dead man earlier this week, but I see you keep on digging…and that your minions here keep on salivating for more.
My new vow – in honor of veterans everywhere – is to no longer visit this site. Consider it my subscription cancellation. SDA has always had its attractions (in the way that rubberneckers slow down to gape at a car accident), but this post is, quite simply, delusional, hypocritical hysteria. It distorts and perverts its own twisted logic to its own partisan ends. The very fact that everyone here willingly overlooks Kate’s hypocrisy in assuming the very same approach she assails the Star for is proof positive that this site’s regulars are beyond reasonable discourse. It is, to be frank, a gigantic waste of time for anyone who fails to echo Kate in every word and deed to visit, let alone comment.
I would close by saying that I don’t know how Kate McMillan and her disciples sleep at night, but the truth is they probably sleep just fine. The truly simple, special people of the world often do.
I’ve debated with some of you on here, and made more than my share of idiotic assessments and comments. I doubt very much I’ll be missed. I only ask, and I do this with all honesty, that the regular partisans (of all stripes) who do frequent this site excercise some independent, critical thinking. Please stop blindly following your leader, whether it’s Kate, Harper, Layton or Dion. There’s far too much of this going on in Canada today, and its affects, judging from this site and other partisan sites like it, speak for themselves.
I think that’s the least we can do on Remembrance Day.
Kate et al:
I posted the first comment on this thread and I did so without imagining it would cause argument among the bloggers.
I wore a uniform for 28 years in the service of my country. I served during the dark years General Hillier describes so elequently but he was being kind because the dark years of Liberal disinterest lasted longer than a mere decade. Because I served during those years I believe I earned the right to speak out when I see a Canadian institution attacked or being twisted to gain an advantage. That is why I objected to the manipulation of Lieutenant Colonel McCrae’s wonderful poem.
I join you in your quarrel with the left and support the same causes held by most other SDA posters. I detest socialism and the constant disruption and dishonesty from the left but I feel it would be much more valuable to our cause if we exercise prudence in how we conduct argument in support of that cause. Twisting a long recognized iconic poem which honours our military and particularly those who have paid with their lives is not a proper way to wage battle. Pure and simple, and I’ll not budge from that position..
Per Ardua Ad Astra
The Bear wrote: So lowering yourself to the left’s level is somehow alright?
Not only is it all right my friend it is about time. The only way to beat a dirty fighter is to fight dirty.
That was why it was all right to bomb German cities. That is why it was all right to use the atom bomb on Japan.
It has been nearly 40 years since Trudeau put this country on the “glorious” path to socialism. The Left has had a virtual free ride shoving their politics of jealousy down our throats ever since.
The time is long over due that we get our hands dirty and fight fire with fire.
“Both acted in poor taste. Both believed they were justified. Neither will apologize. Partisanship will continue to rend this country apart.”
However, the Star bills itself as a ‘newspaper’ with Canada’s largest circulation.
The question subscribers must ask themselves is why they are paying to be blatently manipulated?
The Star is not a newspaper, it is a deceptive Liberal house organ masquerading as a newspaper. The publisher, editors and writers abide by no ethical conduct, let alone report balanced news.
In section ‘A,’ there’s a report trumpeting “Dion reveals party’s ‘bold goal.” Which states, “If re-elected, his party pledges to cut the number of children living in poverty by 50% within 5 years.”
Of course, there’s no substance to the statement. No strategy, nothing. “Precise details of how they intend to deliver on this promise will have to wait until the election…” They admit.
Most of this rubbish is based on findings from the leftwing, Centre for Policy Alternatives, which manipulates reality to their own end, as would be expected from socialist propogandists.
Further, in the editorial section, next to the cartoon, sits the headline, “Dion’s ambitious poverty strategy.”
Here’s an excellent example of the Star’s hardcore manipulation of its readers. What strategy, exactly? They once again state Dion’s ridiculous Kyoto like goals, with zero method to achieve them. Yet, it’s an “ambitious poverty strategy.”
Below that, under the headline, “Nix Senate Reform,” they state that, “Has Prime Minister Stephen Harper nothing better to do in the runup to the next federal election than plunge Canadians into a divisive and energy-sapping referendum over abolishing the Senate?
Isn’t the Bank of Canada’s overly high interest rate policy a greater worry?”
Yes, of course, anything is more important than further eradicating Liberal hegemony by reforming, if not getting rid of an unelected, non-democratic senate. That wouldn’t work for the Star’s political masters.
And on the same page, “Key role for lawyers in newsroom.” Which begins, “Journalists have long needed lawyers to help us get the story without getting sued or put in jail….Increasingly, it’s only Canada’s largest media organizations, such as the Star, that are willing to commit the resources to fight these legal battles for freer expression.”
“Freer expression,” to the Star obviously means partisan Liberal propoganda, unfettered by the truth. In the Star’s world, free expression, read Liberal propoganda, trumps truth.
It’s time Canada’s biggest tree killing machine died.
Randall Denley goes very low in the Ottawa Citizen today: “Disgraceful“.
Mark
Ottawa
We can scream about the Red Star to the believers but we must also contact editors and columnists through e-mail,telephone, etc to express our outrage!! Let them know how we feel!!
I think Kate’s perversion of McCrae’s poem would be much more offensive to the old Vets at the Legion Hall today then the cartoon she is ranting and raging over. Shame on you Kate … your emotional illness is becoming more and more evident to those who read your raging hatred!
Like it matters what I think, but I agree today is the last day for partisan politics.
So the left wing moonbats would defend the Star’s right to print a cartoon about Harper using the Canadian Forces to attack Toronto (on Remembrance Day), but vilify Kate for her rendition of the poem.
You lefties don’t even have to TRY to be hypocritical any more, do you?
Kate, you crossed the line. Justify it to yourself any way you want, but it was offensive and an insult to the men and women who serve and served.
Shame on you.
What’s that old saw about two wrongs?
Those are student responses, Ranter.