Canada, U.S. should leave Afghanistan: expert

A retired American colonel and prominent academic is calling for U.S. president-elect Barack Obama to reconsider his plans to expand his country's military mission in Afghanistan. Andrew Bacevich , a foreign affairs specialist at Boston University, said the U.S. and allies like Canada should start to withdraw from the war-torn country because it "simply does not make sense" to stay. While on CTV's Question Period Sunday he said that the original objective of the mission was to make sure that the country doesn't become a breeding ground for Al Qaeda terrorists. He said that now that the Taliban has been forced out of power there is no reason for western countries to stay and try and turn it into a modern democracy.

I agree that the U.S. should start pulling their troop rather than expanding their missions, because they have already completed what they were originally sent to do. It makes no sense to further complicate thing and risk the loss of more lives.

Barack Obama to visit Canada after inauguration

Newly elected U.S. president Barack Obama will visit Canada for his first foreign visit after his inauguration later this month. "We're honoured and thrilled he has chosen Canada," Peter Kent, Canada's minister of state for foreign affairs of the Americas, said. This trip will continue a longstanding tradition of new American presidents going to Canada for their first official state visit. The tradition was broken by President George Bush after his election when he went to Mexico instead.

I think that it is great that Barack Obama has decided to continue this tradition of newly elected U.S. presidents visiting Canada first. I think it shows how important Canada is to the U.S. as a trading partner.

SNC Lavelin to lead $50M Afghan dam repair project

The Canadian Government has selected SNC Lavlin to lead a $50 million project to fix a dam in Afghanistan. When these repaires are done this dam should create thousands of jobs for locals and provide irrigation for about 10,000 hectares of land. The dam under repair is located in Kandahar city and is Afghanistan's second largest dam. It had fallen to a state of disrepair after decades of war. Along with the dam there will be repairs to a series of irrigation canals. "There's going to be 10,000 hectares of agricultural land brought back to its full potential and 10,000 seasonal employees and work for the local Afghan people, so this is major project and we're very, very pleased," Bev Oda told reporters.

I think that as a peace keeping country it is important that Canada helps to fix war damages in other countries. Especially the one's still at war. The fact that there will be so many jobs created and so much land brought back to use full farm land is Hugh. I think it will help develop Kandahar.

Go ahead, sleep on the job

This article explains how taking small naps through out the day can help your overall work performance and improve you memory. people who take day time naps out perform those who don't. A mere six minuets of shut-eye is enough to refresh you brain. The mere act of sleeping activates a brain boosting process.

I think that the nap time kids had in kindergarten should follow though all of high school. Student would improve will small nap times through out the day, lasting maby ten minuets. These naps would help all students and could improve markes.