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.

YouTube starts its own cyber symphony

Like "American Idol," YouTube announced plans on Monday for a YouTube Symphony Orchestra, staring a collection of wannabe musicians with Carnegie Hall, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, composer Tan Dun and others.
Through Jan. 28, musicians can submit entries as they perform two videos: one that shows their musical talents and an interpretation of an original work by Tan, who won an original-score Academy Award for 2000's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
A team of experts from some of the world's leading orchestras will narrow down the competition. YouTube users will then vote for the winners, who will be announced March 2.

I think this is cool and will be funny to watch. I also think that it is a great idea. This will be seen by millions of people with computers and Internet access and I plane to be one among those millions.

Jupiter, Venus, moon getting together for groupe shot

This weekend Venus, Jupiter, and the moon will gather together to make an awesome photo.On Thursday Jupiter and Venus will start to move closer together. By Sunday and Monday, they will look to be two degrees apart. Then on monday night the moon will in crescent form will appear Right next to them creating a perfect shot for a good camera.

I think this is cool. If i remember i will definitely use my dads crazy large camera to try and get a good picture of it. I know Mr.Joiner will be setting up his telescope in his back yard this weekend:)

Victim of 'kick a ginger day' head back to school

This article is about a young boy who on "kick an ginger day" was kicked by dozens of people all through the day. He was so rattled that he skipped the nexed day of school. Aaron Mishki was the boy being kicked says, "There were quite a few people kicking (me)," he said, noting he couldn't believe some of his classmates actually thought the violence was funny.
"I tried to explain to them that this wasn't right thing to do, that it couldn't be a joke because it involved violence. But they didn't listen to me," he said. "My opinion of the people (who participated in the kicking) changed. I didn't think they were capable of that before, but after Thursday I just viewed them in a different light. I didn't want to go back and see them again that day," he said. "Because really, it's like a hate crime directed against a group of people," he said.
"I like my red hair. I never thought it would be a cause for violence."

I agree that it is like a hate crime directed against a group of people, and i think that red hair the like the last thing that should cause violence. If I were him i wouldn't go back to school for like two weeks. Also what does this act of violence accomplish, maybe a few laughs from the bullies at school. People were hurt on this day and they had no reason for it.

Astronauts vow remaining tool bag won't drift away

During the two-week mission's first spacewalk Tuesday, the tool bad floated out of a larger bag as Stefanyshyn-Piper cleaned a leaking grease gun. Tied to the lost briefcase-sized bag were a pair of grease guns used to lubricate a stuck joint that controls the space station's rotating solar wing. The bag is one of the biggest objects ever lost by a spacewalking astronaut, and NASA guessed it cost about $100,000. "We're definitely not going to do it again. You're not going to see us lose another bag," lead spacewalker Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper said in an interview from the international space station

I find it stupid that someone would pay so little attention to a bag containing $100,000 dollars worth of tools. If I where her i would feel kind of embarassed as the bag slowly floated off into the cold darkness of outerspace.

Tampered Smarties found in Burlington

More tampered boxes of Smarties handed out on Halloween have turned up in the GTA.
A Burlington mother opened a sealed box of Smarties from her daughter's Halloween treat bag Wednesday and discovered a Tylenol DM cold tablet inside.

I don't understand why there would be a Tylenol in a sealed smarties Box i makes no sense. What if it had been a peanut or other food people are commonly alergic to and they die from a reaction to it. I think that it is important that nothing exept smarties are found in a smarties box.

Teen wins fight to refuse transplant

Hannah Jones, 13, is not afraid of dying – she is afraid of spending her remaining days in a hospital bed.

Hanna Jones was diagnosed with leukemia at age 4. Doctors later found a heart defect. In eight years, she has had chemotherapy and nearly a dozen operations. She denied a heart transplant that could save her life because she doesn't want to risk spending the rest of her life in the hospital.

If I where her I would accept the heart transplant in hope of living longer. But at the same time I can see where she is coming from in a sense that it would suck if you had to be in the hospital all the time you wouldn't have any freedom.

Voter turnout leads to long lines and some snags

U.S. Election officials are hoping for a record high turnout on Tuesday in the historic election. The total amount of people registered to vote is up 7.3% from the last presidential election. There where such line up to vote in some districts that some people had to wait up to Eight hours just to cast a ballot. In New York people started to line up at 4:00am to try and beat the rush of voters. In New Jersey People had to start using paper ballots due to problems with the electronic voting machines. I Virginia a librarian overslept causing a polling station to not open on time.

I am suprized on the amount of mis hapes there were on such a big occasion. The article that I did this on had tones of difficuties that have happend on the day of election that i couldn;t include all of them.

N.S. should lower voting age to 16: Liberal opposition

This article is about how Nova Scotias liberal party wants to lower the voting age to 16 years of age. They think it will improve the voting participation because there will be more people allowed to vote.

I think this is a good idea because once at the age of 16 these elections effect everyone 16 and over. Also it will improve the voters participation because there are tones of kids 16-17 in Canada.

Snow in Ontario leaves thousands without power

Thos article i about a snow storm that came through eastern Ontario Tuesday night has covered some parts of the region with as much as 15 centimetres of snow andcaused more than 26,000 Hydro One customers without power.

I don't understande wy there i snow before halloween, this morning i slipped like three times on my way to school. I still have to pay soccer in this. I hate snow:(

Gas prices sink below $1 per litre in Ontario

This article is about how gas prices are finally dropping to below $1 per liter for the first time since last February. The current price in Ontario is now 99.3 cents!

I think this is awesome. Now i don't have to hear about other complaining about how high the gas price is and how much it cost for a full tank. I also think that it is great because previously the price of gas was way to high.

Test on bottled water has discovers 38 contaminants in 10 brands of water, each brand containing at least 8 contaminants. some of the contaminants include: coli form bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium.

I think this is stupid because a lot of people drink bottled water because they think that it is healthier than tap water But with all of these contaminents i cant see how it is.

2.7 million register for do-not-call list in 1st week

This article states that in one week 2.7 million people registerd to be on a do not call list. This list is people who do not want to recive calls from telmarketers. This list was launched by the Canadian Radio-television and telecomunications commission at midnight on September 30 and gained 200,000 people in the first nine hours.

I hope my mom or dad are on this list because i hate it when i recive these stupide calls where I cant even understand what they are saying and they just keep talking even when you say you are like 15. They just brutaly anoying and i no my mom flip on these people. They always call at the wrong time like dinner or on the weekend when yo uare settleing down on the couch to watch a movie or something.

Robot suit for rent in Japan to help people walk

This article is about a robotic suit that that can read brain signals and helps people who have walking problems. This HAL robot or hybrid assistive limb will be out for rent in Japan for $2,200 a month starting on Friday. This battery operated computer system is belted to the waist and the leg brace attached to the thy and knee captured brain signals and help the person wearing them to walk. This HAL system only weighs 22 pounds.

I think that this HAL robot is awesome. It is cool the way it reads a persons brain signals to help them walk if they cant walk by themselves. hope that this system is out in Canada when I am old and cant walk. I think this is a great technological invention.

Harper's plagiarized speech makes worldwide headlines

This article is about an incident that occurred in 2003 when Steven Harper plagiarized a speech first presented by Australian leader at the time, John Howard.

Owen Lippert, Harper's EX speech writer took responsibility for stealing Howard's words, it was then that he quit his position as a Harper campaign aid.

Wow! I cant belive it! If he went to St. Andrews he would be on academic probation.

B.C. has lowest obesity levels in 10 years: minister

B.C.'s Minister of healthy living and sports says according to recent surveys the province has the lowest self- reported obesity rate in 10 years.

According to Mary Polak this shows that B.C is the only province to achieve a large drop in adult obesity rates.

It is the first considerable decrease since reporting started in 1996.

I think this is great the healthier the people of Canada are the larger our life expectancy will grow over other countries. I hope the rest of the Provinces of Canada will aclomplish what B.C. has.

Family abandons nine children at Nebraska hospital

This article is about how a father abandoned nine childeren ranging from the ages of 1-17 in the Emergency Room of a Nebraska hospital. This is because of a safe havens law intended for infants meaning under four or five years old but was required to use the word chils which some people take as any one under the age of nine teen. Since this law has been in effect 14 childeren have been abandoned.

I think that it is stupide to abandone nine kids who are at an age where they know who you are and probablly love you. If you dont want them why have kids in the first place let alone nine of them. This is crul for these kids to be tossed away by their own father. Think about how they must feel. To hope their familly will come for them but they never do. How could a person rais a kid for a couple years and then just leave to live alone.