Canadian Military to do Yoga?

I said I wouldn't get political, I lied. This post is in response to this clip from Fox's News Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcJn5XlbSFk

Okay, first of all...who the hell is Greg Gutfeld?? There IS a reason why he hosts a late night talk show folks (and by late night, I mean the wee hours of the morning where the only people who are likely to be paying attention are insomniacs and recreational drug users, kidding.) Mr. Gutfeld graduated from UC Berkley in 1987 and got his big break as editor in chief for Men's Health Magazine. He then moved on to such fine editorial works as Stuff Magazine (where he was fired) and Maxim UK. In February of 2007 the Republican pony boy "Fox News" decided to give this 'qualified' journalist his own segment..at 3am. The Red Eye News Segment is supposed to be a satirical look at news headlines, gossip and sports and for some reason the Canadian Military and its involvement in the US LED Iraq "war" is comical enough for Greg to take a jab. And the ignorance ensues...

He begins the segment by chastising our Lt. General Andrew Leslie for having "an unusual name for a man". The name Leslie is of Scottish/Gaelic origin and was the name of a rather prominent Scottish Clan in the 18Th century. The name Leslie was originally used as a BOY's name and it was only after it was adopted by the Americans that the name first started appearing on female birth certificates. Lt. General Leslie's official title is "chief of the land staff and commander of the land forces command of the Canadian force". This is a decelerated man in Canadian history who has demonstrated far more patriotism and dedication to his country than gutfeld ever did working for a second rate titty magazine.

He continues to say that Canada's military wants to "take a breather to do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white Capri pants"...and asks one of his 'expert' comedian panelists to comment on the issue, asking him "isn't this a good time to invade Canada? They have no army" to which the comedian replies "I thought that's where you go if you don't want to fight?" What would you call 60,000 active soldiers and 20,000 reserves? Clearly gutfeld hit the nail on the head, we obviously have no army. So why haven't they ever invaded? Ohhh wait...that's right, they tried. Once. The forgotten war of 1812 where the United States failed miserably at capturing Canada.

It blows my mind to think that here we are sacrificing innocent Canadian soldiers lives for a war created and sustained by the United States and Gutfeld has the audacity to paint a satirical picture of our nations peacekeeping efforts.

Let's take a look at the war shall we;
President George W. Bush Jr stated the reasons for the invasion of Iraq as being a)Iraq used chemical and biological weapons b)Iraq tried to build nuclear weapons and Iraq, apparently, had a long history of lying to the nations even after W. senior attempted to bring it into the 'family of nations' circle.
A couple years and hundreds of lives later, the George Bush Administration decided that this was no longer a war to disarm a nation, but more to 'free' a nation of terrorism and tyranny.

Gutfeld continues, by calling the United States the "greatest country in the universe". Oh wow. He just went there. Okay, so where do I start? If a country's worth is measured in patriotic ignorance than I would say that the United States is indeed a great nation. The united nations released their 'best places to live' list for 2008 and it goes as follows;

1. Iceland
2. Norway
3. Australia
4. Canada
5. Ireland

Where does the United States fall? 12th. So apparently the UN disagrees with the Gutfeld and that is good enough for me.

So next the camera pans over to the douchebag with the loosend tie(I didn't bother researching his name)who asks Gutfeld if he is at all suprised by this. He then goes on to make comparisons between their police forces and the RCMP.
"We have police officers and they have mounties. Our cops ride (in) heavily armoured cars, they ride horses. We have bullet proof vests, they have wonderful red jackets that can be seen from a mile away, this is not a smart culture Greg."

Clearly this guy is a genius, no really brilliant! His words are clearly a reflection of a smart culture. We refer to our Mounties as 'police officers', they wear bullet proof vest and ride around in police issued cars. The traditional uniform for the mountie is a red serge, these are no longer worn in active duty. Back to the horse reference, the NYPD - do they not ride horses? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Then blonde opens her mouth, as almost to 'excuse' Canada's actions. We are up here where it is fridgid and cold, which apparently has something to do with why Lt.Gen Leslie made his statement. Cold. Right. Those polar ice caps at the border are a bitch, eh? Give me a break!

The longer the Americans continue thinking that we need them, the better. I mean I would be ignorant to say that we didn't, everyone needs allies. But this group of geniuses even went as far as to say that we are merely following in Europe's footsteps and relying on the United States. As long as we allow them to think that they are the greatest nation in the world then we have no problems. My entire beef with this segment, be it satirical or not, is simple. We are dealing with lives here, men and women of every nationality from almost every nation risking their lives so that you and I can live and breath. I just think that its really unfourutnate that Gutfeld chose to even walk down this path as he sits at his New York home blogging frantically. Next time, I would like to encourage Gutfeld to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions and point the finger when you don't have that right - Grab a gun Greg, kiss your family good bye and come talk to me after your second tour. Not so funny anymore, is it?