I can't think of a good title. Sue me.
First off, I would like to give my condolences to the family of Benoît Sauvageau, a Bloc MP who died yesterday. I don't agree with his politics at all, but from all reports Canada has lost a good man.
Jack Layton, our NDP leader, seems to always be good for a laugh. I've been having trouble figuring out exactly what his or his parties stance is regarding the Middle East, the "War on Terror" (good Lord do I hate that term), Afghanistan and such. On Sunday, Layton in an interview with Canadian Press said that Canada has the ability to contribute as many as 1200 troops to the "peace-keeping" mission to Lebanon. This info comes from an internal gov't document obtained through AOI laws. Still haven't been able to find a copy of this yet (help us out here Jack).
Now putting aside the various statements coming out of the NDP camp in recent months (removing Hezbollah from the terror list, a confused message on Afghanistan, etc). There are few problems with this statement that seem apparent to me. The first being, how many of these "troops" would actually be useful in that area? One fact often overlooked by those not close to the military, is that many of these numbers include support staff, logistics staff, transport and maintenance personnel. Now these are all essential elements of the CF, but how many of them would be useful in what is effectively a combat zone? Next, if these personnel are in fact combat troops we need to consider their recent deployments. During the last big peace-keeping blitz the Liberals went through in the 90's in the Balkans, Rwanda and elsewhere, many of the troops were being run into the ground by the deployments (as well as bad pay and whole host of other factors I won't get into). Many of these troops have wives, husbands, girl/boyfriends and family back here in Canada. And one can only be seperated from them for so long before they start to get a little resentful of the military for keeping them apart for so long. I believe that after they've put their lives on the line for me, someone they've never met and probably never will, they deserve a decent amount of time with their families. Otherwise I fear we'll hear stories like one from the 90's I remember in particular, where an infantry soldier in the PPCLI had a 7 year old daughter that he had seen for a total of 2 1/2 years. The last fact was pointed out by a friend of mine in conversation we had. Europe has how many people? (approx. 800 million) And how many troops have they contributed? (6900) Now Canada with approx 30 million is going to contribute 1200? We Canadians are a hard-working, resilient group but I think this might be a little much.
Some other tidbits I gleaned from the internets:
Jack Layton, our NDP leader, seems to always be good for a laugh. I've been having trouble figuring out exactly what his or his parties stance is regarding the Middle East, the "War on Terror" (good Lord do I hate that term), Afghanistan and such. On Sunday, Layton in an interview with Canadian Press said that Canada has the ability to contribute as many as 1200 troops to the "peace-keeping" mission to Lebanon. This info comes from an internal gov't document obtained through AOI laws. Still haven't been able to find a copy of this yet (help us out here Jack).
Now putting aside the various statements coming out of the NDP camp in recent months (removing Hezbollah from the terror list, a confused message on Afghanistan, etc). There are few problems with this statement that seem apparent to me. The first being, how many of these "troops" would actually be useful in that area? One fact often overlooked by those not close to the military, is that many of these numbers include support staff, logistics staff, transport and maintenance personnel. Now these are all essential elements of the CF, but how many of them would be useful in what is effectively a combat zone? Next, if these personnel are in fact combat troops we need to consider their recent deployments. During the last big peace-keeping blitz the Liberals went through in the 90's in the Balkans, Rwanda and elsewhere, many of the troops were being run into the ground by the deployments (as well as bad pay and whole host of other factors I won't get into). Many of these troops have wives, husbands, girl/boyfriends and family back here in Canada. And one can only be seperated from them for so long before they start to get a little resentful of the military for keeping them apart for so long. I believe that after they've put their lives on the line for me, someone they've never met and probably never will, they deserve a decent amount of time with their families. Otherwise I fear we'll hear stories like one from the 90's I remember in particular, where an infantry soldier in the PPCLI had a 7 year old daughter that he had seen for a total of 2 1/2 years. The last fact was pointed out by a friend of mine in conversation we had. Europe has how many people? (approx. 800 million) And how many troops have they contributed? (6900) Now Canada with approx 30 million is going to contribute 1200? We Canadians are a hard-working, resilient group but I think this might be a little much.
Some other tidbits I gleaned from the internets:
Animal rights protester force UCLA reseacher to quit
Alright you can disagree with the guy and his methods, but terrorizing his family and colleagues? I mean a Molotov cocktail on the doorstep? Reminds me of the pro-lifers killing abortion doc's, still haven't heard a decent explanation for that one.
Christian zealots destroy ancient Arctic petroglpyhs
I've got it. Lets round up all the religious crazies: Christian, Muslim, Jewish, any sort of religious extremist we can find (are there fundamentalist Buddhists?) and ship 'em to Pluto and let them kill each other off (who cares, its not a planet anymore)
Top 10 theories in Physics
For all you other fellow science geeks out there.
Alright you can disagree with the guy and his methods, but terrorizing his family and colleagues? I mean a Molotov cocktail on the doorstep? Reminds me of the pro-lifers killing abortion doc's, still haven't heard a decent explanation for that one.
Christian zealots destroy ancient Arctic petroglpyhs
I've got it. Lets round up all the religious crazies: Christian, Muslim, Jewish, any sort of religious extremist we can find (are there fundamentalist Buddhists?) and ship 'em to Pluto and let them kill each other off (who cares, its not a planet anymore)
Top 10 theories in Physics
For all you other fellow science geeks out there.
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posted by Daz at 4:15 p.m.
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I can't think of a good comment. Sue me.
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