In the wake of the forum implosion the time has come to revive the daily news you all held so dear. So let's begin with something truly in line for this Ministry and an entire country: Beer!

Brewery employees to donate beer to troops in Afghanistan

TORONTO (CP) - Canadian troops in Afghanistan can expect a little extra holiday cheer under the Christmas tree this season.

Or rather, holiday beer. Employees at Steam Whistle Brewery have decided to donate one week's worth of staff beer rations to soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. The company has vowed to match those donations.

While alcohol is not readily available in the Muslim country, troops are allowed to have liquor on the base three times during the year, including Christmas.

The Toronto brewery gift will include limited edition Steam Whistle pilsner holiday 12-packs wrapped in festive colours and topped with a gift tag.

Source: Canoe.ca

Dare I say it first... Canadian troops have invaded a country in the shadow of their neighbour?

Although taking alcohol to a Muslim country isn't in my eyes a decent thing, we are rest assured that (y)our troops are red-nosed at night like I am :P

I wonder if Tim Hortons is going to ship any do(ugh)nuts over? TV - you could claim responsibility with your whole Ministry and all ...

I like to claim responsibility for lots of things other people actually do. The facade of responsibility is so much easier to maintain than the actual work. :P

I agree, Omni, but I appreciate that it will be confined to the base (or so I hope) and at least shows some mutual respect: the muslims for soldiers without the same beliefs and Canada for keeping it confined to their own soldiers.

Canadian man climbs highest mountains on seven continents in 187 days

INVERMERE, B.C. (CP) - A Canadian man is laying claim to a record-breaking feat in mountain climbing.

Daniel Griffith, 55, a native of St. Thomas, Ont., who now lives in Invermere, B.C., climbed the highest peaks on each of the seven continents in just 187 days - an achievement that he says puts him in the book of Guinness World Records.

Guinness could not be immediately reached to comment on the claim on the climbing record.

His quest began on May 24 when he ascended Mount Everest in Nepal. He followed that up by summitting Mount McKinley in Alaska on June 15, and Mount Elbrus in Russia on July 4.

On Sept. 24, Griffith reached the top of Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia. He summitted Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on Oct. 3, and Mount Aconcagua in Argentina on Oct. 20.

Griffith conquered Mount Vinson in Antarctica on Nov. 27 for the last of the so-called Seven Summits.

Source: Canoe.ca

Nude 'pothole' calendar for sale

REGINA (CP) - They're an unlikely group of calendar centrefolds - one owns a pharmacy and another a grocery store - but these pinups have come together to raise awareness about a pressing issue: potholes.

Eleven men and one woman from Leader, Sask., have bared all in the 2007 Highway 32 Pothole Calendar. One man is pictured riding in a canoe in a pothole, another plants potatoes in a pothole and a third has a strategically placed hubcap. In the background a sign reads "Lost: Highway Paving Crew. Last seen 10 years ago."

It's a humorous approach to a serious problem, calendar organizer Gord Stueck said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

"Highway 32 from Leader to Swift Current was so bad . . . you were driving all over the road trying to avoid these potholes," said Stueck.

It was so difficult to travel, Stueck said, that ambulances were forced to take alternate, longer routes.

"You couldn't transport patients that were cardiac patients or fracture patients. You just couldn't transport a patient on that."

Saskatchewan Highways Minister Eldon Lautermilch said a nude calendar won't solve the problem.

"They're very creative people," Lautermilch told reporters after seeing the calendar at the provincial legislature.

"But I don't think a calendar is going to rebuild a road. I think recommendation from my department in terms of priority will probably be a fairer gauge."

He also insisted the condition of Highway 32 had not escaped government notice.

The province converted a portion of it to a safer gravel surface instead of a TMS - thin membrane surface - road with potholes, the minister said.

"The ultimate solution there is pavement," said Lautermilch.

"It's $400,000-plus a kilometre and it's not the only area in the province that needs that kind of attention."

Lautermilch could not say when Highway 32 would be paved, only that the final determination will come in next spring's budget when the government announces its road program.

The calendar is the latest in a string of efforts the community has made in hopes the province will take action.

Earlier this year, it sold $5 bumper stickers that read: "I survived Sask Hwy 32."

The proceeds go to the Leader ambulance "because every time they went down that road, when they did go down it, something would break," said Stueck.

Funds from the $20 pothole calendar will go to the Leader Lions Club for community projects.

Source: Canoe.ca

Layton's cheeky question steals the show

OTTAWA (CP) - NDP leader Jack Layton tried to take the Tories to task in the House of Commons, but instead his question became the "butt" of a joke.

Layton rose in the Commons today to attack the government over subsidies to big oil companies. But he tripped over his tongue and instead asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper if he would finally cancel subsidies to "big oil and big ass." Layton meant to say "big gas."

The slip of the tongue brought laughter from all sides of the House.

Harper jokingly answered that he would "get to the bottom of it."

He went on to joke that he wasn't sure if he should take Layton's miscue personally.

Source: Canoe.ca

Owner of rare Velvet Underground record not sorry to sell

MONTREAL (CP) - Warren Hill won't be sad to part with his rare copy of the Velvet Underground's debut album - and it's not just because he could make hundreds of thousands of dollars selling it.

"I don't want it," he chuckled in an interview at his tiny, six-month old record store located off a back alley. "Not enough to need it." Hill's not a big Velvet Underground fan.

He has been the target of a media manhunt since the brittle album he bought out of curiosity in 2002 was posted on the Internet auction site EBay and six-digit bids started rolling in.

Hill smiles when asked about all the attention - and the money being offered for the fragile 1967 acetate pressing from the experimental rock band that counted Lou Reed and John Cale among its members.

He says it hasn't sunk in yet.

"I'm going to wait until the auction actually ends before I get up," he said. "I don't think anything very big's going to happen with it."

Hill has seen the bids, which hit around C$178,201 late Friday, about six hours before the auction ended. But he's not taking any big payday for granted.

"If you took a look at the bidding on the Internet, there have been a number of rogue bidders out there that have just been bidding as a joke," he pointed out.

When the auction closed, the highest of 253 bids was C$178,431.51 offered by someone from Oakland, Calif. The validity of the bid couldn't be immediately confirmed.

Hill, a Vancouver native who settled in Montreal five years ago, went to New York to see a concert in 2002.

Browsing through some street bins, he came across "The Velvet Underground and Nico" along with a Leadbelly album and a water-damaged copy of the first Modern Lovers LP. He paid 75 cents for all three.

Hill didn't think much about the Velvet Underground LP after he bought it.

"It took about a year before I did enough research to figure out exactly what it was."

Millions offered for world's oldest hockey stick

About 150 years ago it was just a hunk of wood on an Ontario farm. Today it's valued at over $4-million dollars. Billed as "the single most important piece of hockey memorabilia in existence," the world's oldest hockey is now up for grabs on eBay. As of Thursday morning, 26 bids had sent the price of the coveted piece of Canadiana soaring to $2.2-million (U.S.).

Gord Sharpe has owned the hand-carved, one-piece hickory stick since the age of 9. It was given to him by his great-uncle, whose grandfather Alexander Rutherford Sr. fashioned the stick on his farm near Lindsay, Ont. for play on a nearby pond.

The stick is believed to have been carved between 1852 and 1856.

Proceeds from the sale will go towards the World Charity Award Program and fanscharity.com — an organization Mr. Sharpe started to promote Canadian charities and to educate children.

After some investigation by the Hockey Hall of Fame and Phil Pritchard, a leading authority on hockey sticks, its authenticity was determined and the stick was appraised to be worth $4.25-million (U.S.) in 2002.

Source: globesports.com

Those are some crazy dudes - Pele's 1970 final shirt went for a fiver compared to that.