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w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER Th ur sd ay , N ov em be r 1 8, 2 01 0 6 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council.The council is located at 80 Gould St.,Suite 206,Toronto,Ont.,M5B 2M7.Phone (416) 340-1981.Advertising is accepted on the condition that,in the event of a typographical error,that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item,together with a reasonable allowance for signature,will not be charged for,but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate.The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline.Editorial and adv rtising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. United Way of Oakville Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America NEIL OLIVER Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager DANIEL COLEMAN Regional Online Sales Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com DANIEL HO / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER IN MEMORY: Retired Army Captain Percy Purpua kneels behind a row of candles during St. Cuthbert Anglican Church's Choral Evensong service held on Remembrance Day to honour veterans and fallen soldiers for their sac- rifice. This year, 152 candles were lit for the Canadian soldiers killed in action since the Afghan mission began. Purpua was speaker at the service. He is director of casualty support for the Department of National Defence and is with the Canadian Memory Project (CMP), an educational effort to keep the memory of our veterans alive. ATHENAAward Letter to the editor Despite promises to bring our troops home in 2011, our federal govern-ment, with the support of the Liberals, now intends to extend our missionin Afghanistan. My heart goes out to the Afghan people, as I am under no illusions about the Taliban, but it is important to recognize that after nine years, billions of dollars, and thousands of Canadians and Afghans killed or injured, this war has achieved none of its objectives. Between civilian casualties, Taliban reprisals against civilians, and the gener- al disruption of war, it is seriously questionable whether the Afghan people are better off. The Karzai government we defend is ranked second most corrupt in the world and is involved in human rights abuses, including torture. Osama bin Laden has not been captured, nor has Al-Qaeda been weakened. On the contrary, military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan has driven recruit- ment into terrorist groups. Rather than make us safer from terrorism, Canadian involvement in Afghanistan has made us a target. Canada can no longer afford to fight this war. The total cost of the Afghan mission so far is roughly $20 billion. We have yet to recover from the recession, and currently have a deficit of over $50 billion. If Canada continues to pour money into the war in Afghanistan, on top of the billions being spent on fighter jets, corporate tax cuts and jails for non-existent criminals, the money for deficit reduction will have to come from social pro- grams. Then there is the human cost of the war. Afghan civilian casualties are estimated to be at least 11,000, while Canadian casualties are over 1500, with 156 dead. Current support programs for wounded veterans are inadequate. Despite assurances that our remaining soldiers will be safe, they will still be in a warzone. The Taliban has shown a remarkable reach in its attacks, with roadside bombs on public roads taking a deadly toll on our troops. In order for military training of Afghan forces to be effective, part of it will be have to be in the field, where Canadians will again be targets. The Harper government has argued that extending our mission does not need to be sent to the House of Commons for debate, despite previously promising to do so. While the decision to extend the mission would undoubtedly pass with Liberal support, this does not mean discussion by our elected representatives is not important. Polls show that a majority of Canadians are against the war. In a democracy, matters as important as this should be put to a national debate before the public, not made behind closed doors. JAMES EDE, FEDERAL NDP CANDIDATE FOR OAKVILLE War isnt working The Oakville Beaver is a division of When it comes to diets, I thought Id heard it all. Fromthe weird, the wild and the wonderful to the nonsensi-cal and (literally) nutty. Oh, and then theres the diet that has Hollywood starlets all 80 pounds of them apparently existing solely on grapefruit and the odd decadent leaf of lettuce. A few years ago, it was nearly impossible to buy a banana in Japan where The Banana Diet based on a book that sold more than 800,000 copies had weight-conscious Japanese eating bananas every morning, along with imbibing room-temperature water, to goose metabolism and allow dieters to eat whatever they desired for the rest of the day without ever gaining an ounce. The diet slowly lost its, ah, appeal once people determined they werent losing weight, and were feeling an irrepressible urge to swing from trees. Until recently, I thought the craziest diet out there was the Sleeping Beauty Diet wherein someone wishing to shed weight would heavily sedate themselves and sleep off-and-on for the bet- ter part of seven days, waking at weeks end slimmer and trimmer. Apparently Elvis Presley tried this diet when he was having trou- ble slipping into his jumpsuits. Alas, when he woke from his sedated slumber, he was so hungry he gorged himself for days. Well, along comes Mark Haub, a pro- fessor of nutrition at Kansas State University, a man with apparently too much time on his hands and too many pounds on his body. Haub had a theory that when it comes to weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters, not the nutritional value of those calories. To prove his point, the nutty professor put himself on the so-called Twinkie Diet one Twinkie every three hours (for variety he allowed himself the occasional Oreo or some Doritos). Importantly, he consumed only 1,800 calories each day, about 600 calories less than a man of his size and weight would normally intake. In just two months, Haubs body-mass index went from 28.8 (considered overweight) to 24.9 (considered normal). And he shed (drumroll, please) 27 pounds. Now, in case you dont really know what a Twinkie is, its a snack cake made from 37 evil ingredients, including stuff like par- tially hydrogenated oil (trans fats), assorted flavourings and colourings, and an ungodly whack of sugar. In other words, all the things health gurus advise us to avoid. I know what youre think- ing: the nutty professor might have lost weight, but he probably damaged his overall health, right? Wrong. Haubs LDL (bad cholesterol) went down. His HDL (good cho- lesterol) went up. On both counts, by 20 per cent. And his level of triglycerides (a form of fat) dropped by a whopping 39 percent. All of which gives us hope for our second son who seems to exist sole- ly on The All-Oreo Diet, a diet that once caused us great concern. Of course, Im kidding. While Haubs experiment did reaffirm the degree to which caloric intake is key in the grand scheme of weight loss (or gain), over time, of course, the Twinkie Diet would doubtlessly kill a person. You know, its called a truism because (duh) its true: if you want to lose weight you simply have to live well: eat less, eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, etc. There is no magic pill. And, sadly, theres no magic Twinkie. Or grapefruit. Or banana. Andy Juniper can be visited at www.strangledeggs.com, con- tacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, or followed at www.twitter.com/thesportjesters. When it comes to weight loss theres no magic Twinkie Andy Juniper