The Red Friday Rally and my Singing Soldiers Video

I didn't really want to go to yesterday's Red Rally at the CNE.

But Sébastien, who has been really affected by Quebec's Black Week in Afghanistan wanted to check it out.

So I thought I'd better go along in case he got carried away...and decided to re-enlist.

And besides.... his four-year-old nephew who is visiting from Quebec absolutely HAD to see the CNE...and it's important for little Quebecers to get to know and love English Canada ...if that's possible....before it's too late.

So off we went....in the 35 degree heat.

I was even prepared to wear a red t-shirt. But the only red one I could find in the bunker belongs to Farmboy...













And I didn't think it was appropriate...













As it turns out the rally was a bit of a bust.

The median age of the crowd was about 70.....If a shoutout was expected from this rally, Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan will need to strain their ears in order to hear it.

And when we finally arrived ...about 40 minutes late.... there was practically nobody there.

Which in retrospect turned out to be a stroke of good fortune. Because if I had been forced to listen to the French-hating Don Cherry... or the idiots Mel Lastman and Peter MacKay babble on about patriotism .

Or watch the chickenhawk Rick Hillier strip down to his underwear to show off his red t-shirt...I think I would have vomited.

I need that kind of cheap jingoism like I need a hole in the head. And quite frankly neither do our troops. They don't need rah rah rallies or hero highways. They need choppers and new technology to help keep our casualty rate down.

Canadian soldiers are getting killed in Afghanistan at more than three times the rate of troops from other nations, including those from Britain and the United States also in the thick of the fighting against the resurgent Taliban.

The threat from improvised explosive devices is heightened by the fact that Canadian troops have yet to receive the latest anti-IED technology and lack helicopters to avoid the perils of land transport.

How depressing.

Still despite everything ....Sébastien and I managed to have a good time. The little terror loved the carney...and the Tiny Tom donuts.

And the BEST thing was when we went into the big recruiting tent they all but ignored Sébastien and came after ME !!!!

Which meant that I REALLY cleaned up...

















But at the end of the day I couldn't help feeling a bit sad too. We do have a pretty decent bunch of soldiers. But the mission is fucked. They are being asked to do the impossible...and I hate to think how many more must die before EVERYONE realizes that.

So I made a little video....of La Musique des Fusiliers de Sherbrooke band.... singing a song....that seems to fit the desperate situation...



Hmmm....maybe we can send the human cannonball's cannon to Afghanistan...so our soldiers can FLY over those IEDs.

In the meantime.... my day at the CNE didn't end there....the worst was yet to come.

Sébastien won a giant PINK plush fish at the carney. The little terror gave up the ghost.... and Big Boy had to carry him home in his arms....on a packed and sweaty streetcar.

So guess who had to carry the monstrous fish? Ugh. Never mind those damn red shirts.

The things I do for my country...