Category Archives: Peace

Thanks and More Thanks!


For many Canadians this time of year can be great fun! We get into the excitement of yummy turkey dinners with mashed potatoes, gravy and the best stuffing recipes only YOUR mom can make best. My mouth is watering just thinking about this Thanksgiving. It can also be easy to get so involved in the festivities that we forget what the holiday is really all about! BEING THANKFUL!!! Giving thanks for all of the creature comforts that we are blesed with and the numerous opportunities before us as humans in North America is a really great way to remember just how fortunate we really are. It helps us to look on the bright side of our daily lives and realize how significant our experience really is.

Canadian Thanksgiving is traditionally a time to be thankful for the years harvest and also has some historical ties to the early settlments of Canada as a time of year to give thanks for the land and for surviving the long journey it took to find it. Enjoying turkey dinners of course is relevant to that because the harvest is what brought our food to us. Nowadays there is even more to it as our food travels varying distances before coming to our plate and the plethora of food selection we have is so deliciously enormous!
So today, for all who are reading this, perhaps we can take the time to remember just how lucky we all are and not forget to count our blessings along with our helpings of YUMMY GOODNESS!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Algerians Forgive

Algerians have voted to grant amnesty to hundreds of fundemental Islamic militants. It is argued that this move will bring more peace to the are by removing a threat of violence.

From the article:

“Interior Minister Noureddine Zerhouni said 97.4 percent backed a referendum on Thursday on a “charter for peace and national reconciliation,” which saw a participation level of 80 percent of 18.3 million eligible voters.”

A Bee Plus for Finding Landmines

Bees can now take the sting out of land mines – kinda. Bees can be trained to track down buried land mines without risking the lives of humans or trained dogs.

By making the bees associate the smell of explosives with food swarms of bees will be attracted to land mines. The bees hover around for a few seconds looking for food, then fly off disappointed. But by following swarms of bees land mines can be found.

Of course a human will have to defuse the device. Regardless, trained bees can help in the predicted 450 year time frame it will take to discover and diffuse all the land mines in the world today.

Puppy miraculously survives!

align= A 6 month old puppy from Florida somehow managed to swallow a 13 inch serrated knife! Whats most miraculous about this story is not that the dog just managed to get it down, but that she survived! The Saint Bernard puppy, named Elsie, had the blade between her esophagus and stomach for about FOUR DAYS before it was removed earlier this week in a 2-hour operation. With only an 8 inch scar left on her tummy the puppy is now home safe and sound with her family (who is now wrapping their sharp objects in towels and placing them in high places).

Canadian Government increasing support for Addicts

Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh announced yesturday that $851,000 in federal funding will be spent to help curb the crystal meth abuse by first nations across Canada. More than 340 aboriginal addictions counsellors and health workers will be trained in how to counsel addicts of methamphetamine. Measures to help prevent the use of crystal meth will also be part of the 30 hour certification program that the counsellors will learn at the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies.

“By training these skilled and experienced community workers in the prevention of crystal meth abuse, we are strengthening our response to this very serious health threat.” Dosanjh says.

Dosanjh has also reaffirmed Health Canada’s plan to spend, over the next three years, more than $6 million of its $29-million Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund on anti-drug programs geared to the West, considered to be one of the worst areas for meth and heroin addiction. Raising awareness and creating better support for users of meth and other debilitating drugs is a much needed step towards minimizing serious chemical dependancy in our communities.