Father of dead soldier lashes out at Prime Minister Harper during funeral

[deadparrot]

WINGHAM, Ont. (CP) - Thousands paid tribute Saturday as the first of four Canadian soldiers killed in
Afghanistan was laid to rest.

And the father of Cpl. Matthew Dinning had some critical words for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Dinning was remembered through a video presentation that also criticized how the federal government is handling the return of its fallen soldiers.

Lincoln Dinning told the 2,300 mourners his son was well aware of the risks and died doing the job that he loved.

In a ceremony that lasted more than two hours, he showed home movies of Matthew as a six-year old boy singing Oh Canada, and as a young man giving a wedding speech.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/soldier_funeral

[rodeodance]

1. May he find peace some day.

[0007]

2. R.I.P.

The final images were of the 23-year-old's remains returning to CFB Trenton on Tuesday, footage the media were forced to shoot from behind barbed-wire fences after the Harper government banned journalists from the repatriation ceremony.

"Now I'd like to show you some of the video that Mr. Harper wouldn't let you see close up of Matthew's arrival home," said Dinning, who only weeks before his son's death penned a letter to Harper decrying the government's refusal to lower flags on Parliament Hill for fallen soldiers.

"Matthew had talked about this, it made him upset, so we wrote this letter," said his father, a provincial police officer. "I've never gotten a written response."

Is Mr. Harper taking lesson from junior?

[Canuckistanian]

6. I don't know what he hopes to gain

We're not idiots and they must know that this is a vastly unpopular move.

I still haven't gotten a reply from a letter to my MP about this.

I think all the Members of Parliament are getting flooded with angry letters and emails.

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. Harper has made this MORE visible as an issue methinks

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Way to go Mr. Dinning for dissing the PM in front of 2300 people!

a little more from the Posted Article:

"Harper, who was in New Brunswick on Saturday for a provincial Tory fundraiser, was not available to comment on Dinning's remarks.

Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh, who has assailed the Conservative government for what he's called their U.S.-style banning of the media at repatriation ceremonies, said he felt terribly for Lincoln Dinning.

"Mr. Harper has created an issue and a division among Canadians during a terribly dangerous mission and at a time when we should all be pulling together, for our soldiers and for their families," Dosanjh said. "There was absolutely no reason for this change. The prime minister made a mistake."
______________________________________________________

Prime Minister made a mistake is an understatement!

This is front page news on both The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail

and I think EVERY death will now be so publicized - getting even MORE attention than if Harper had just left the status quo alone.

our "bush-lite" PM belongs in the "poodle" club, right behind Blair

but still, Stevie-baby is "our" poodle for now

(sigh)

[whirlygigspin]

4. backlash on Harper

Link to video from CBC

Harper is a fool.


http://www.cbc.ca/MRL/clips/rm-lo/nagy-funeral-060429.rm

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. "The child will be our ultimate judge" - so true, but

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They will also have to deal with the dilapidated planet we leave them

I remember a movie, where after global war, Children ran most of the communities, and "big" people were the enemy -

Some sort of voluntary death at a certain age in the teens was mandatory if I remember right

But the young KNEW that people got really corrupted and greedy as they got older - losing that innocence, honesty and optimism that if one LIVED right, things would turn out right.

But as we stand, where moral values are sacrificed for the benefit of a monster called "economics" - we are destined to destroy ourselves, well, at least a whole friggen bunch of us anyways

and when one thinks about it

there is not one species other than our own that will miss our occupation and domination of this planet

We are ASKING for our own extinction

(sigh)

[Vidar]

5. Canada is still a democracy--couldn't happen here,