This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Sporkmaster

  • University of Regina responds part 2

    Yesterday I received a email from the Vice President of the University Barbara L. Pollock about the School’s view on Project Hero. I sent here a thank you letter for taking the time respond and to my my concerns clear.

    Dear Ms Pollock,

    First I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to reply to my email. It is a concern that programs like Project Hero may be protested because of it’s affliction with those in military service. If any of these programs were canceled I believe that it would be a legitimate concern that it would be used as a example to target similar programs in the United States.

    I understand the need for necessity to have a forum for debate and disagreement. However I believe that in opposing this project that it is forgotten that this is not the political leaders but the military dependents that are affected.

    So once again I want to thank you for taking the time to read my email and for your continued support for those who are in need.

    Andrews, Warren
    SPC

    Her letter to me was short but too the point.

    Thanks for your note. I don’t think our profs have forgotten the military dependents, I suspect their views about military policy are really the root of the debate. We continue. Thanks very much for writing. Barb

    Barbara L. Pollock, APR, FCPRS

    But the question that I have is if the professors have not forgotten about the dependents then why is the military policy even the main issue. They do not have control of it or responsible for how it is run. The Professors are there make sure that their students have the best chance to receive a quality education and the University Administration to give these students the best chance to get and stay in school.

    (1) The immediate withdrawal of our university from “Project Hero”.

    (2) An institutional deployment of public pressure on both orders of government to provide immediate funding sufficient for universal access to post-secondary education.

    (3) A public forum on the war in Afghanistan and Canadian imperialism more generally to be held this semester before exams begin.

    The only point in there, number two does not address that the school has a list of scholarships that regularly never get used.

    So why is military policy even a topic of debate when student needs are being put at risk over polices that these professors do not have control over.

    ADDED: July 10, 2010

    There has not been much more press about this since March. But I am happy to report that the Durham College is joining Project Hero as of June 24th of 2010.

  • Tragedy for Poland

    Some of you may have already read that a plane heading for Russia crashed with no survivors. What makes this different from other tragic plane crashes is that it held the senior leadership of Poland to include the President Lech Kaczynski.

    The crash devastated the upper echelons of Poland’s political and military establishments. On board were the army chief of staff, the navy chief commander, and heads of the air and land forces. Also killed were the national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, Olympic Committee head, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said.

    So this is going to be complicated in how Poland will react will to the sudden loss of these people.

    Rossiya-24 showed hundreds of people around the Katyn monument, many holding Polish flags, some weeping.

    Poland’s parliament speaker, the acting president, declared a week of national mourning. Tusk called for two minutes of silence at noon (1000GMT) Sunday.

    “The contemporary world has not seen such a tragedy,” he said.

  • Why we have no pity for Phony Soldiers.

    Medals don’t make the hero

    That is what a blog post by a author named Mark McCarter.

    He talks about a Marine by the name Greg Suedmeyer

    He did a tour in Iraq. When he got back to the states, he was at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He was headed home to Huntsville from there last weekend.

    Then, on Saturday evening, because a 71-year-old man was inexplicably going the wrong way on I-20 outside Atlanta, Suedmeyer was killed.

    There’s the life lesson for us all on the fragility of it all, the “you never know” that sobers us all. You sign up to be a Marine, you get sent to Iraq, the odds slide against you. Bombs, rockets, insane insurgents.

    Then you lose your life on a Georgia freeway because somebody is driving the wrong way. Your wife is at your side. Your dog is in the back seat. It’s not supposed to happen.

    People like Skyler Tarquin Smith

    He claimed that he had several awards to include two Purple Hearts. But seems he went AWOL before his unit deployed.

    But here is the real reason that caused me to write this post. Also the caption for this next photo is so perfect that I cannot say anything better.

    Why do we expose frauds and phonies?

    Take a good look at this picture and then tell us a phony has a constitutional right – “Freedom of Speech” –
    to say he earned a Purple Heart when he did not.

    That says it all right there.

  • University of Regina responds

    Yesterday I sent a email to the President of the University asking them continue to support Project Hero. I got a reply this afternoon. The important part is highlighted in bold.

    Mr. Andrews,

    President Timmons asked me to thank you for sharing your views with her.

    The University of Regina is participating in Project Hero to support the education needs of the children of those who have given their lives in service of the Canadian Forces. We join approximately 50 other Canadian universities and colleges who would like to smooth the path for those who might find it difficult to access post-secondary education. We plan to continue with that bursary program.

    Universities are places where diverse opinion and debate are encouraged and you are experiencing an example of that philosophy. We support our faculty in their right to express their views.

    Again, our thanks for taking the time to write.

    Barb Pollock

    Barbara L. Pollock, APR, FCPRS
    Vice-President (External Relations)
    University of Regina

    So it looks like the main staff does not appear to have any plans to end this program at the moment and something we should keep a eye on. Because if programs like Project Hero are tossed aside in Canada because petty politics then it will not be too long before we can to expect it here.

  • Project Hero and University of Regina

    There was some more thing about this story that I found to be interesting to say the least. One was this story from a guy saying that because he was a solider in the Canadian military that he can say that Project Hero is a waste of money.

    Garson Hunter teaches social work at the University of Regina and is one of the professors fighting the Project Hero scholarship fund.

    Hunter says that the dependents of fallen soldiers have post-secondary education already paid for under the Children of Deceased Veterans Education Assistance Act.

    The Act was created in 1953 to provide dependents of slain and disabled soldiers the opportunity to get a post-secondary education.

    “(Project Hero) comes with no (government) money. Project Hero is provided solely by the U of R,” said Hunter.

    So if you want to say that the reason is that the school needs to help other students, then explain this statement from the University.

    Barb Pollock, spokeswoman for the U of R, said the university doesn’t always know what funding may be available to certain students.

    “We don’t look at what else is available,” she said. “For example, there are many scholarships and awards that students with Aboriginal ancestry can access.”

    Pollock said the Project Hero scholarship will not stifle other scholarship opportunities.

    “Every year, there are numerous scholarships available that never get used,” she said. “Through these scholarships we try to open up our university to as many people as possible.”

    You mean that there is a large list of scholarships that are going unused? Never.

    But giving Children who have lost a parent to war is a political tool.

    “It is absolutely deplorable to use soldiers’ deaths to aggrandize military endeavors in Afghanistan,” said Hunter. “As a former soldier, I find this disgraceful.”

    I wonder if Canada has a equivalent Freedom of Information act, because right now would be a good reason to use it.

    Oh there is a facebook fan page that is protesting the actions of these professors. As of this posting it has close to three thousand members. I am sure that we can help put them over the top.

    Also I would encourage writing to the school and making a case for keeping this program.

  • The end is near.

    Well looks like the HMMWV is officially being phased out with the last orders being put in for this year. But since the HMMWV has been in service for so long I thought it would be fitting to write something about what I remember about it.

    I have been in the soft shell versions, to the ambulances to the Up-armored ones. They have taken me all over Fort Benning Georgia, to Fort Irvin California to the different bases in Iraq. I sat as a passenger in every seat and even drive them. I even got a chance to ride in a Iraqi HMMWV. All in all a lot of memories but over all a long overdue for being replaced.

    Also I am sure that there are other stories that our readers willing to share.

  • The Two State Question.

    I want to shift topic up a bit since what has been happening in the Israel. One of the things that I had thought a while back after the Fatah and the Hamas splitting the West Bank and Gaza was that this was a chance for the Fatah to have a fresh start. That is they really wanted to seek a two state solution that they could do it with having to deal with Hamas.

    But it seems that for the most part that the West Bank is not that interesting compared to Gaze. That perhaps a real chance for peace could happen. Then why is Israel so focused on added more settlements in that area? I know that there will be a difference of opinion on this one so I wanted to see what is the point of all this.

    I can imagine that Hamas is looking for the next propaganda jackpot and this just plays right into their hand making dealing with Gaze that much harder. More so now since Hamas seems to be falling out of favor since their original elections.

    So what good is a few new houses going to do here?

  • No, just no.

    Ok this is just beyond stupid. The group Rethink Afghanistan trying to get people to send a pre-made message to the White House’s website that acts as a watchdog for Fraud Waste and Abuse.

    That’s why we’re asking you to report the Afghanistan War as an example of waste, fraud and abuse on the White House’s official economic recovery website, Recovery.gov, today. Simply scroll down to the field marked “What” and paste this message into the text box:

    “I’d like to report the waste of billions of dollars of our national wealth in Afghanistan on a war that doesn’t make us safer. It’s fraud to portray this as a war that increases our security, and it’s abusive of U.S. troops and local civilians to drag out this war any longer. End the war so we can have real economic recovery.”

    Really? I mean you really want people to take you seriously trying to pull stunts like this? What about the people that have real issues that need to be looked at. What your doing is encouraging the abuse of government resources wasting time looking at your political spam.

    Also some crazy to go out on.

    Americans only care about healthcare. They have ignored this abuse of power. If we didn’t spend so much on the wars, we’d have enough to pay for our OWN healthcare! We are taxed to death. Paying for these unconstitutional wars and other unconstitutional spending. People are just so stupid! Plus, the cost of caring for all … See Morethe vets with mental and physical repercussions from these illegal wars helps to bankrupt America. People just don’t get it! I’m so mad and frustrated with them!

    No, just…no.