I REALLY LIKE THIS STORY – AT 8:28 A.M. ET:  As the U.S. wallows, directionless, led by a president who rejects American exceptionalism and apologizes for this country during his overseas travels, other Western leaders are finally reasserting their national traditions and legacies, saying, in effect, "Be proud of your country." 

Two of those leaders are David Cameron in Britain and Steve Harper in Canada.  Now Canada takes another step in reasserting its history, and I think it's great.  From London's Telegraph:

Canada's Conservative government, stressing traditional ties to the Queen and the monarchy, is reinstating the names Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy after a gap of 43 years.

The Liberals removed the "royal" designation in 1968 when they amalgamated the branches of service and called the military the Canadian Forces.

General Walter Natynczyk, chief of the defence staff, announced the decision to bring back the word "royal" for the official names of the two branches of the military in a memo posted on Monday on the military discussion site Milnet.ca.

The initiative to restore the names of Canada's former services "is aimed at restoring an important and recognisable part of Canada's military heritage," Gen Natynczyk said.

"These were the services that fought and emerged victorious from the Second World War and Korea and contributed to the defence of Europe and North America from the early days of the Cold War. These were also the services that paved the way in terms of international peacekeeping missions."

Peter MacKay, the defence minister, and other Conservative members of Parliament have scheduled what they describe as "significant" announcements on Canada's military history on Tuesday.

COMMENT:  Wonderful, wonderful.  Welcome back RCAF and RCN.  It's nice to have you back where you belong.   Maybe now Canadian kids will learn how much their country contributed to victory in World War II.  At the end of the war Canada had one of the largest navies in the world, despite a small population.  Today it is a shadow of its former self, starved by decades of "liberal" governments, led by the likes of leftist Pierre Trudeau and his party-loving wife, Margaret.  The libs also made Canada, during the Vietnam War, a haven for American draft dodgers.

Steve Harper's government is intensely pro-American, although not necessarily pro-Obama, is stalwart against the jihadist threat, and is restoring Canada to its rightful place.  Sadly, there are still plenty of liberal welfare staters and anti-Americans in Canada, and they are resisting Harper's policies.  It remains to be seen how much he can accomplish in his years in office, but we wish him the best.

August 16, 2011