Lazy and much happier that way, it's...
T H E J U I C E A N D G I N
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Term XLI, Issue 03 (#197)
Weather outlook:
Surprisingly squidgy.
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* Contents *
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- Editor's Blurb
- Ongoing Events
- Greg's DTK
- Humour
- General Info
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* Editor's Blurb *
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Hey all
So how's the regular Wednesday edition of the Juice and Gin working out
for everyone? Good, because this is the way it's going to stay. That
is until I get lazy again and the newsletter starts to creep over into
Thursday, until it gets stuck there. And then the process repeats.
It's a happy little algorithm.
May-2-4 is coming up soon. Also known to you and some of me as Victoria
Day. But this year it's on the 22nd of May. Does anyone know why it's
called the "2-4" weekend? Does it have something to do with refreshing
beverages? I sincerely hope so. And if it doesn't, it certainly does
at my house.
Looks like the Juice and Gin and its editorial staff are creeping up to
their own little anniversary in a few weeks. 200 issues is a pretty
big milestone. How much longer can it last? My guess is that once you
stop receiving it, you've either changed email addresses or we've
finally packed it in. Which will win? Wait and see.
Anyway, everyone have a groovadelic long weekend, and we'll see you back
here in seven. Same crap time, same crap channel.
Until next time,
All come praise the Infanta.
Michael (mailto:nutsinfo$yahoo.ca)
And now, the rest of the story...
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* Ongoing Events *
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[See the Event Calendar on the web site for full descriptions.
--Ed.]
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Pool League
===========
Mondays
http://nutsevents.topcities.com/events/index.html#Monday
Contact: Dave and Michael (pool$solutionsatsource.com)
View the current players' statistics at:
http://nutsevents.topcities.com/events/pool/index.html
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Indoor Rock Climbing
====================
Thursdays
Contact: Andrew (akpallek$hotmail.com)
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* Greg's Deep Thought Korner *
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Originally I was going to write a bit about the mutual terrorism going
on being the right wing minorities in Israel and Palestine. Then I was
going to segue in to our own treatment of our aboriginal population, a
segment of which is accused (it is to laugh) of "occupying" a
subdivision in Caledonia, Ontario.
But then we have a few issues that are popping up more urgently. The
most important of these is the "debate" and "vote" over the Canadian
mission in Afghanistan.
The first problem is that the government initially refused to have a
debate, saying that missions already occurring were not open to debate
lest we demoralize the troops. This is an invalid argument. If a
military mission has gone to pot, then we'd better be able to debate it,
otherwise we're stuck there forever.
Next, the government allowed a debate on the subject, but made it clear
that there would be no vote at the end of it. What's the point of
that? There was no point. The MPs knew this and most of them didn't
show up.
Most recently, the government very suddenly announced that there would
be a parliamentary vote on the mission and that the MPs had until the
end of this week to discuss the issue and vote on it. This is
incredibly short notice for a debate of this magnitude, and yet no one
is asking the important questions.
Instead, if we were to watch the news, the only discussion is "who is
scoring points" with what part of the debate. Are the Liberals playing
politics? Are the Conservatives? What does Jack Layton have to gain?
Are the Bloc voting against it because they don't want to get blamed if
the "Vandoos start coming home in body bags?"
These are stupid questions. I know: there aren't supposed to be stupid
questions. Very well. These are the *wrong* questions.
The right question is this: what are we doing there? We have the
country divided up and assigned to what are called "PRT"s, or Provincial
Reconstruction Teams, which are supposed to be rebuilding parts of
Afghanistan. Infrastructure, schools and hospitals are supposedly being
built.
But as one PRT member put it, "we're more concerned with the security
situation." In fact, everything I've read has been regarding the
"security situation." There's been very little on the "reconstruction
situation" as that seems to come second in priority to "security." It
certainly sounds like, there being no information to the contrary, that
all that we are accomplishing there is to hunt down Afghanis for the
crime of... well... that part isn't so clear. Is this the blanket
"9/11" excuse? Are all these people "terrorists" by right of living
there and having guns and not liking us? Or are they bad guys because
the Big Oil Consultant who became president of Afghanistan says they're
bad guys?
Let us remind ourselves that to the north of Afghanistan lie several
dictatorships and republics that are sitting on top of the largest
untapped oil and natural gas reserves in the world. Do not pretend that
oil is anywhere but at the centre of all geopolitical strategic
discussions. Do not pretend that one of the most important goals for
many of the players here is the construction of a pipeline from those
oil-rich nations, down through Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the sea (as
opposed to through Russia or China).
In light of those very simple, unarguable facts, we should be having a
very serious debate in our Parliament. We are sending people, our
soldiers, over to Afghanistan. Some of them have already died. Many
more of them are going to die. Several times as many will be seriously
injured. What are we accomplishing in expending those lives? What
guarantee do we have, from this government of accountability and
transparency, that our soldiers aren't dying for a pipeline?
That's the debate I'd like to see.
Greg.
DND bulletins
http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/newsroom/view_news_e.asp?id=1660
http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/newsroom/view_news_e.asp?id=1703
RCMP bulletins
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/peacekeeping/prt_e.htm
[Send responses to DTKs or new Editorials to nutsinfo$yahoo.ca]
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* Humour *
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[Forward any good jokes or interesting web sites you see to
nutsinfo$yahoo.ca]
[Disclaimer: The Humour Section may contain content that includes dirty
words, adult situations and jokes that make fun of politicians. Viewer
discretion is advised. --Ed.]
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Up At The Retreat
=================
A bunch of deputy sheriffs went to a retreat in the mountains. To save
money, they decided to sleep two to a room. No one wanted to room with
Daryl because he snored so badly. They decided it wasn't fair to make
one of them stay with him the whole time, so they voted to take turns.
The first deputy slept with Daryl and comes to breakfast the next
morning with his hair a mess and his eyes all bloodshot. They said,
"Man, what happened to you?"
He said, "Daryl snored so loudly, I just sat up and watched him all night."
The next night it was a different deputy's turn. In the morning, same
thing -- hair all standing up, eyes all blood-shot. They said, "Man,
what happened to you? You look awful!"
He said, "Man, that Daryl shakes the roof. I watched him all night."
The third night was Frank's turn. Frank was a big burly ex-hockey
player. The next morning he came to breakfast bright eyed and bushy
tailed. "Good morning," he said.
They couldn't believe it! They said, "Man, what happened?"
He said, "Well, we got ready for bed. I went and tucked Daryl into bed
and kissed him good night. He sat up and watched me all night long."
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* General Info *
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Contact the NUTS Committee:
nutsinfo$yahoo.ca
The NUTS Website is:
http://nutsevents.topcities.com/
http://torpedo.ca.newbridge.com/mirror/ (for people within Alcatel)
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