Canadian Forces; Strong, Proud, and fucked over 24/7 by their political masters

Here at Falling Downs we're not newbies on the CF file.

We're always amazed at how the rank and file boys and girls get the short end while the brass live large on studies and reviews and overviews and reviews of the overviews etc.

I am in fact working my way through a couple of books penned by "disgruntled" former CF dudes. I've got Strogan's "Rude Awakening" and also the "Dirty Little Skirmish" by MacLeod and Leduc, and I will provide full book reviews once I'm through them.

But turn to page A12 of today's Globe and Mail and read up on Brad Elms' story.

Hey, I'm an out and out sissy pacifist, and I can't remember a CF engagement that I thought was worthwhile, but I have total respect for the working class guys and girls who go into the CF because they see it as a good career choice.

And it completely burns my ass to see how they are treated by that bureaucracy.

By the way, it was a hell of a thing just getting these books from the local Indigo. Apparently neither of these titles are "Heather's picks," and it took months from making the order to having them in hand.

Welcome to Brampton, centre of the universe

The multi-culti universe!

Me and the Farm Manager went to see a Juno-nominated singer last night, Alysha Brilla. She may proudly proclaim her KW home base, but she still admits her roots are in Brampton.

Brampton used to be a place you drove through on the way to Toronto.

It's where Russell Peters comes from, for God's sakes; the funniest Canadian comic ever!

Now it's a "place."

I think when Drake talks about the "west side of Toronto" he's getting pretty close to Brampton.

It's over for our Baghdad bumboys

Seems that America's grip on Iraq is quite quickly slipping out of US control. In fact, actual real live Iraqis seem to be grabbing the levers of power.

This cannot be allowed to stand.

Once one batch of towelheads realizes they can overthrow the yoke of Yankee domination, all kinds of others will be sure to follow.

Then what?

Koch Bros. prove yet again that just because you inherit great wealth doesn't mean you're smart

These must be trying times for Dave and Charlie.

It was not even a year and a half ago that the Koch boys proudly announced that they had set aside almost a billion USD to determine the outcome of the 2016 election. Check it out here at the New York Times.

How is that going for them?

Well, thanks to a loud-mouth NYC condo promoter, not that great.

Seems a lot of regular folks took umbrage with the idea that a couple of rich boys would brag about the fact that they intend to buy America's next election. That single story in the NYT probably did more to kick-start the campaigns of both Bernie and Donald than it did for any candidate associated with the Kochs.

Contrary to what Mittens told the public in the last campaign, corporations are NOT people too, and an overwhelming majority of ordinary people in America are disgusted with the thought that the political class is so out of touch that they can go around making such idiotic statements.

Or announcing that they've got a spare billion lying around to buy the next election.

So the Koch bros have been looking on in horror as the Manhattan Motormouth steamrollers over their bumboys. Within the past few days you've seen the erratic desperation from their team.

Cruz and Kasich combining forces to stop Trump?

We saw last night how that brain-wave worked out.

But not to worry. Ted Cruz just pulled the ultimate Hail Mary out of his ass; announcing Carly Fiorina as his running mate! After he pretty much lost even the longest of long shot chances at the GOP nomination!

Hey Dave and Charlie, listen up! I know you've got a well-paid army of "political consultants" designing strategy for you, but isn't it time to admit they're a bunch of retards and show them the door? I mean announcing Carly as a "running mate" at this point in the game is ludicrous. What are they running for? The Canadian border?

Anyway, the think tank here at Falling Downs can give you way better advice than what you been getting, and I'm willing to bet we'll save you a bundle too.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Corruption in American politics is so deeply embedded that we barely notice the ripples on the surface

It was a busy day. In between planning home renovations and napping, I had occasion to peruse a few of my favourite news sites.

I like the Guardian. Nice middle of the road perspective, generally speaking. One of the first stories to catch my eye was a missive by Kevin Watkins about corruption in Africa.

Kevin built his story around certain revelations revealed in the "Panama Papers." Seems a whole lot of those African despots are crooks out the ying-yang. Yup, same old same old. African leaders are crooks... no news there! Hey, even my hero Dan Gertler got a passing mention in the story!

Elsewhere in my day, I read a story that Junior forwarded, about HRC's collusion in the Honduras coup of 2009. Not only does Hillary compromise the entire USA intelligence apparatus with her private (as in wide open to every semi-competent intel service in the world) e-mail accounts, but then she posts in her e-mails all the back-stabbing anti-democratic shenanigans that America's Secretary of State is conniving in!

Heck, that's corruption and incompetence on a scale that would leave those African despots wide-eyed with wonderment!

But wait, we're not finished yet...

A little further on in the Guardian, I come across this American crime thriller. Seems a certain Guerrero Chapa has been the de facto leader of the Gulf Cartel since 2003. As I'm sure you appreciate, Cartel leaders have many enemies; the law (but maybe not so much), rival cartels, ambitious underlings, and so on. Ten years after becoming the de facto leader of the Gulf Cartel, our man Chapa gets rubbed out in true gangster fashion while shopping with his wife in Dallas Texas.

But here is the sentence, dropped incongruously many thousands of words into our story, that caught my eye;

Guerrero Chapa lived legally in the US and was an informant for American authorities.

Say what?

The leader of the Gulf Cartel lived legally in the US and was an informant? The leader of a Mexican drug cartel is allowed to live legally in the US and continue running his cartel in return for what? Information on rival cartels? Which would make the entire "War on Drugs" infrastructure complicit in the drug trade they have allegedly been doing battle with, would it not?

How far up the hierarchy do you figure that rot has spread?

No wonder that after forty years of a supposed "war on drugs" your kids can still buy dope at their school playground.

And we're not done yet. Those drug cartels are small fry compared to the big dogs like Lockheed Martin. Here's a story from Sputnik about how the military-industrial complex has been cleaning out the US treasury while lining its own offshore accounts to the tune of billions while fobbing off unworkable crap like the F-35.

And it's all done in the name of the flag and patriotism and defending our freedom, don't ya know! Hell, they'll be lucky if they get approval to fly those duds over a NASCAR invocation, nevermind taking on an actual enemy.

But we see none of that. We're too busy rooting out corruption in Africa!

Top rabbis claim Messiah will show up any day now

Cheryl Chumley said so at the WND website, so it must be true!

Yup, no less an authority than Moishe Sternbuch, top gun at the Rabbinical Court, figures that we are for sure in the last days. Hmm... so the Messiah is gonna drop by.

My hunch is that He's not going to be well pleased. In fact, He's going to be pissed off something fierce.

We've certainly made a hash of things, have we not?

Who can blame Him if he elects to put a match to His creation and start over?

Public outraged by Nenshee Madness

Get the fuck outta here!

Nenshi is by far the most sensible mayor in all of Canada!