Friday, October 06, 2006

 

VOCM Voice of the Common Man

Thank you Bill, Randy, Linda, Cheryl, Randy 2 sorry forget he other ones. Oh and of course steel communication.

I promise to be your pavlov dog from here on in . Support comes in many forms .

It seems we are all ok in speaking on VOCM talk shows call in shows but when it comes to getting together and making a difference we lapse in fact we don't even exist no one knows who we are, where we are, or what our concerns are we have become so marginalized we are the invisible province.

I fear that is what the long term future of our people, culture, and collective because without a collective will, knowledge, and understanding being we are out there alone and being alone is a sad sad feeling what do you think Israel's beef and feeling of being without a homeland or place of refug,and home is all about.

We will be forever wandering the streets of eternity. There is always the hope that what there is of us now, will one day meet and be together once again in heaven or shang ralla where ever, even in the same grave yard would be a comfort. In life if not in death.

I for one don't have any idea where i would like to be buried let alone would want to be buried.

My wife is from BC I'm from NL I've lived almost everywhere in Canada and worked throughout the world..

I recently even began thinking that if i were still serving and on tour in some god foresaken part of the world that I would be happy to be poor in my country that I would feel good being buried here in this oplace no one has ever heard of let alone gave a dam about but my country as a people have seen fit to allow me to represent their collective interests by hmmm spreading our style society (culture) god forbid democracy..

In order to be a good soldier you need to realize that there is nothing to fear but fear itself prefect: well trained experienced conditioned and informed.

Anyway I would feel honored to be alloewed to rest in the place I made the ultimate sacrifice for humanity and my fellow bretheren soldiers and citizens.

We came across a grave of a canadian while I was serving in Ethiopia/Eritrea. He had served in WWI I think I didn't actually get to see the grave, wasn't my place nor where there tours being arranged. Likje that would even be contemplated. A crew was set up to go and maintain the grave as wel as document the canadian Expats details. There were also graveyards like you woul;d see in Europe while they might not have been as well maintained or set up as the ones in Europe they were there and in decent shape. We were there to do a job in fact we were there to do a very specific job, 3 month set up. first in.

You know in the former yugoslavia back when we were allowed to drink on tour I spent a fair bit of time in local bars drinking with local people freedom fighters to them all carrying ak's and pistols odd one with a grenade in their pocket you didn't see grenades as much ?

They often referred to Quebec situation in Cananda as being the same as the situation in their country which is now war torn.

I'll edit out he mispellings later hopefully. I can't start to see mistakes. I have enough illiteratcy as it is without compounding it with typos.
Comments:
Whats so Voice of the Common man about a station that blocks out anything that doesn't conform to their way of thinking or anything that exposes Canada's mishandling of NL's resources?
 
This as been brought up in the house and also a soldier is suing the gov over it and nothing seems to be getting done so I would like to bring it to more peoples attention.. Please take the time an read it for more info on this just type in Unfair clawbacks in your google search...maybe somthing to bring up on open line shows..


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Reimburse Disabled Members: Military Ombudsman
OTTAWA (October 30, 2003) – Military ombudsman André Marin recommended that immediate steps be taken to end the clawbacks from ill or injured soldiers receiving insurance payments. In a report released today, he urges that benefits received under the Pension Act should not affect the amount of the long term disability cheques these soldiers are eligible for.

“Soldiers should not arbitrarily lose financial benefits after dedicating their lives to service for this country,” Marin says.

After receiving over 50 complaints regarding the Service Income Security Insurance Plan (SISIP) that serves members of the Canadian Forces (CF), Marin launched an investigation into the fairness of these clawbacks. The purpose of SISIP long term disability (LTD) insurance is to provide CF members with replacement income if they become disabled and are released from the CF.

Following discussions with former members who had approached his office, it was discovered that the clawbacks from the LTD cheques were due to “other income” the individuals were receiving, such as benefits under the Pension Act. The former CF members were having their LTD cheques reduced by the amount of these other benefits. They felt this was unfair for many reasons. First, their serving counterparts who were receiving Pension Act benefits were not having their salaries reduced. Secondly, the former members indicated that benefits are in fact not considered taxable because they are compensation for a disability related to military service.

After investigating the circumstances surrounding the complaints, Marin issued a recommendation that all the necessary steps be taken to ensure that SISIP long term disability benefits are not reduced by the amount of disability pensions former members are awarded under the Pension Act. Furthermore, he recommended that individuals who previously had their benefits reduced be reimbursed retroactive to October 27, 2000.

Though this amendment will cost the government more, Marin sees this being beneficial in the long run. “In my view, this additional cost is justified in light of the sacrifices and risks incurred by CF members in providing an invaluable service to Canadian society. The government has an obligation to look after them when they become ill or injured as a result and cannot continue to serve. The current regime treats military members as second class citizens.”

Marin stated that the Minister of National Defence, John McCallum, has reviewed the report and agrees with all of the recommendations. “We are happy to say that the Minister sees the fairness behind the recommendations and we are thankful for his support.”

The Ombudsman has noticed that many members calling his Office do not have a clear understanding of what benefits they can expect to receive from SISIP. Therefore, he made additional recommendations in his report, Unfair Deductions From SISIP Payments to Former CF Members. They are for SISIP to make documents regarding the policies of the plan more readily accessible, for the CF to routinely inform members of the benefits and limitations of their insurance plan, and to assign an officer to all CF bases, wings and formations to act as a resource person for SISIP related benefit inquiries and appeals.

The report is available online

Contact:

Barbara Theobalds
Director, Communications
Office of the Ombudsman
Tel.: (613) 992-6962
 
sqwveR The best blog you have!
 
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