Letter From A Nut

In yet another of Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor's public humiliations, the Ottawa Citizen has obtained a letter written by O'Connor to former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld late last year.

The letter consists of little more than O'Connor fawning over his American counterpart, even as the disgraced Rumsfeld was in the process of having his ass handed to him by President Bush.

"You have helped transform the armed forces of the United States to meet the threats of the 21st Century. Your vision in recognizing and responding to these new threats has set the standard for forward-looking defence planning in an uncertain world," O'Connor wrote.

Forward-looking? Vision? Was O'Connor referring to the time Rumsfeld said this:

"We do know of certain knowledge that he [Osama Bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead."

or this:

"We know where [Iraq's WMDs] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."

or this:

"It is unknowable how long that conflict [the war in Iraq] will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

or this:

"Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war."

or this:

"[Osama Bin Laden is] either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive."

Gordon O'Connor is clearly either

a) a sycophant of the highest order

b) a colossal ignoramus

c) a and b

I wonder if O'Connor will receive a similar congratulatory note from Rumsfeld when Stephen Harper shuffles him off to the fortress of solitude currently occupied by Rona Ambrose?

Tanks for Nothin'

Monte Solberg has been taking some heat lately. Turns out that his Ministry of Human Resources hasn't been providing resources for some very needy humans.

In one of their usual bait-and-switch manoevers, the Conservatives slashed the previous Liberal Summer Career Placement Program, then replaced it with a plan of their own that included revised criteria for funding. Stephane Dion maintains that the new program was underfunded to the tune of $11 million dollars relative to its Liberal predecessor (although Solberg denies this). In any case, dozens upon dozens of worthy community organizations across the country have, for the first time in years, found their funding requests denied. Some of these undeserving organizations included the "Yes I Can" camp for autistic children, the Fredericton Sexual Assault Crisis Center, and a little league baseball league for disabled children.

Happily though, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor was able to find $1.3 billion dollars to fund the purchase of 100 'gently used' Leopard 2A6 battle tanks. If that figure seems a little high, thats because it is - roughly twice as expensive as the Conservatives' initial public estimate. But hey bleeding heart Taliban-lovers, used tanks cost money! So even though its been a bad week for a number of disabled and disenfranchised Canadians, Stephen Harper can sleep easy knowing that he's at least put a big smile on the face of his number one fan, General Rick Hillier.

Addendum: So as not to end this post on a sour note, there is a little bit of good news to report. The Government of Ontario has decided to intervene on behalf of the "Yes I Can" camp for autistic children.

Mary Anne Chambers, Ontario's minister of children and youth services, said she was moved to act after reading in yesterday's Star that Ottawa had rejected the camp's funding request..."We, the government of Ontario, will invest the $38,000 that they have lost in order to ensure that these kids can continue to have a summer camp," she said.