[Rissask]

On a more serious note. I do respect the brave Canadians who have given their lives in Afghanistan. I, for one, believe that we should be there (actually I believe that we should have more troops there trying to get Osama). And I do believe that in the long run that we are doing the right thing.

I sure agree with that bolded line! We might all be done in there by now if all those troops had not been 'diverted' to Iraq.

I do think getting rid of the Taliban is a very good thing. And it does affect us, the whole world.

Get a load of this story.

Hérouxville's mayor and all six of its city councillors have a simple message for immigrants looking to settle in the small Quebec town: "The lifestyle that they left behind in their birth country cannot be brought here with them and they would have to adapt to their new social identity."

In accordance with that message, municipal officials have drafted a five-page charter laying down the ground rules for life in Hérouxville. Among other rules:

"Stoning women to death in the town square, burning them alive or burning them with acid" is strictly prohibited."

"Schoolchildren are permitted to sing and clap their hands and play sports or games together."

"If children are eating beef, for example, they will not seek to find out where the beef came from, who slaughtered it or where, how and when it was slaughtered. In our families, what goes into the mouth feeds the body. The soul is fed otherwise."

"In order to facilitate your identification, it is at all times prohibited to cover your face in public. The only possible exception to this rule occurs on Halloween."

The 1,300 inhabitants of Hérouxville are, of course, overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly francophone and overwhelmingly Catholic. A Dominican family and an adopted seven-year-old from Haiti are the town's only visible minorities; a French man, an American man and a family from Nova Scotia make up the rest of the town's "new arrivals." There are no indications any of them have ever participated in public lapidation, expressed objections to singing and hand-clapping or lusted after Halal meat. But in Hérouxville, prevention is the best medicine.

Those French Canadians!!