Cdn-Firearms Digest Monday, September 15 2008 Volume 12 : Number 164 In this issue: Eating veggies shrinks the brain - Times of India Kingston Whig-Standard: Taking aim at history U.S. Arms Sales Climbing Rapidly- NY Times/The Tuscaloosa News Trusting politicians? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:55:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Eating veggies shrinks the brain - Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthSci/Eating_veggies_shrinks_the_brain/articleshow/3480629.cms Eating veggies shrinks the brain 14 Sep 2008, 0103 hrs IST,AGENCIES MELBOURNE: Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain - with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage. Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin. The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people between the ages of 61 and 87. When the volunteers were retested five years later the medics found those with the lowest levels of vitamin B12 were also the most likely to have brain shrinkage. It confirms earlier research showing a link between brain atrophy and low levels of B12. Brain scans of more than 1,800 people found that people who downed 14 drinks or more a week had 1.6% more brain shrinkage than teetotallers. Women in their seventies were the most at risk. Beer does less damage than wine according to a study in Alcohol and Alcoholism. Researchers found that the hippocampus - the part of the brain that stores memories - was 10% smaller in beer drinkers than those who stuck to wine. And being overweight or obese is linked to brain loss, Swedish researchers discovered. Scans of around 300 women found that those with brain shrink had an average body mass index of 27 And for every one point increase in their BMI the loss rose by 13 to 16%. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:12:32 -0600 From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: Kingston Whig-Standard: Taking aim at history The Kingston Whig-Standard - 2008.09.15 PAGE: 1, BY IAN ELLIOT Taking aim at history Man believes pistol once belonged to governor general of Upper Canada http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1199575 General Charles Murray Cathcart may have left more than Martello towers behind in Kingston. A Kingston man thinks he has one of Cathcart's pistols, which the general apparently presented to a local family before leaving Canada to return to England. The governor general of Upper Canada for less than a year in 1846 and 1847, Cathcart oversaw the building of the Kingston fortifications during a turbulent time rife with fears of an American invasion. The Martello tower on Cedar Island is named after him. Harold Riley has owned the pistol since 1945 and can trace its provenance back more than 100 years through various old Kingston families. Now with his health poor, he wants to make sure the pistol stays in Canada, preferably in a museum. After the piece was examined last week by a curator at the National War Museum in Ottawa, Riley may get his wish. Not only did the official endorse it's vintage, he suspects the weapon may be even older than Riley ever thought. "It says 'General Cathcart' on the pistol, but that name could be his father, who was also a general and who may have passed the pistol down to his son," Riley said. The pistol itself is what dealers consider a nice piece, if not terribly valuable as an antique. A well-kept specimen with hand-carved stock and fine detail carved into the metalwork, similar pieces sell among collectors for between $500 and $1,000. Riley has kept his gun in a safety deposit box for decades and although it has been examined by several antique dealers over the years, no definitive judgement was ever made of it. After The Whig-Standard contacted the war museum in Ottawa with details of the gun earlier, it caught the attention of Jason Ginn, who thinks it looked older than a mid-1800 make. "What I see is an English pistol that seems to have been converted from flintlock to percussion, which was popular at the time." Flintlocks were an early technology that, as the name implies, used a spark from a piece of flint on the hammer to ignite a charge of gunpowder. It didn't work well in wet weather and loading, priming and firing a flintlock was a slow and cumbersome process. It was replaced in the early 1800s by the superior percussion mechanism, in which the hammer dropped on an explosive cap, crushing it and firing the bullet. After taking apart the lockplate this week, a process that provides the most definitive evidence of a gun's age, Ginn confirmed that the pistol had been converted from one firing mechanism to the other. The gun carries marks on the barrel indicating it was manufactured in Birmingham, England, and the name of the maker is Anderson. Little is known about the maker, and there were two firms by that name, one that operated between 1800 and 1813 and the other between 1814 and 1831. In those days, officers bought their own service weapons, usually from gunsmiths with whom their families had long done business. If Cathcart's father had owned the gun, then passed it down to his son, it would have originally been part of a pair, experts say, and based on its appearance, used for dress or ceremonial occasions. It would not have been a piece that would have been carried every day. "It's an interesting historical piece," Ginn said. The elder Cathcart was a much-decorated soldier and diplomat who died in 1843. His son also distinguished himself in battle early in his military career, most notably at the Battle of Waterloo, where he had three horses shot out from under him. Before the Oregon Treaty of 1846 made him dispensable, Cathcart briefly held the highest civil and military powers in Canada at a time of high tension with the Americans, acting simultaneously as governor general, commander of British forces in North America and administrator. History has dismissed Cathcart as one of Canada's shortest-serving and least effective governors general, although the amateur scientist did achieve acclaim for papers he published on geology, a field some commentators have said interested him more than public administration. Other antique firearms collectors concur with the general date of Riley's piece and say it appears genuine, though the fact that it bears an engraving identifying its purported owner is actually a red flag in the trade. The easiest way to increase the value of a run-of-the-mill antique is to associate it with a historical personality. In Kingston, for instance, there is almost a cottage industry of objects supposedly having belonged to John A. Macdonald. Every dealer has seen swords, pistols and other militaria that have been tarted up with fake engravings at some point during the object's life. "I can tell you as a firearms purveyor, that an engraving means absolutely bugger-all," said Joe Salter, who does business in Canada and New England. "If you wanted every gun that General Custer or Buf falo Bill ever 'owned,' based on the engravings, you'd need a tractor-trailer to hold them all." Salter, who has bought guns in Kingston but who had not seen this particular piece, noted that Cathcart was a rather obscure historical figure, unknown to the majority of Canadians. Establishing that it was his pistol would increase its historical interest but do little for its value. Salter also noted that the Canadian market for antique firearms is soft at best, and it would hardly be worth the time for anyone to put a nameplate on such a gun in hopes of increasing its worth. "Canadians tend to be blase about their history, and especially their guns," he said, saying there was little interest in firearms even when they were known to have belonged to Canadian prime ministers. Riley said it was satisfying finally to have confirmation of the object's age and history, but has yet to decide where the pistol will ultimately go. "I haven't made my mind up on that yet," he said. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:16:49 -0600 From: "David R.G. Jordan" Subject: U.S. Arms Sales Climbing Rapidly- NY Times/The Tuscaloosa News New York Times International Feed Home > New York Times Feed > New York Times International Feed http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080914/znyt03/809140326&tc=yahoo U.S. Arms Sales Climbing Rapidly ERIC LIPTON Published: Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 3:30 a.m. Last Modified: Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 3:27 a.m. WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is pushing through a broad array of foreign weapons deals as it seeks to rearm Iraq and Afghanistan, contain North Korea and Iran, and solidify ties with onetime Russian allies. From tanks, helicopters and fighter jets to missiles, remotely piloted aircraft and even warships, the Department of Defense has agreed so far this fiscal year to sell or transfer more than $32 billion in weapons and other military equipment to foreign governments, compared with $12 billion in 2005. The trend, which started in 2006, is most pronounced in the Middle East, but it reaches into northern Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and even Canada, through dozens of deals that senior Bush administration officials say they are confident will both tighten military alliances and combat terrorism. “This is not about being gunrunners,” said Bruce S. Lemkin, the Air Force deputy under secretary who is helping to coordinate many of the biggest sales. “This is about building a more secure world.” The surging American arms sales reflect the foreign policy tides, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the broader campaign against international terrorism, that have dominated the Bush administration. Deliveries on orders now being placed will continue for several years, perhaps as one of President Bush’s most lasting legacies. The United States is far from the only country pushing sophisticated weapons systems: it is facing intense competition from Russia and elsewhere in Europe, including continuing contests for multibillion-dollar deals to sell fighter jets to India and Brazil. In that booming market, American military contractors are working closely with the Pentagon, which acts as a broker and procures arms for foreign customers through its Foreign Military Sales program. Less sophisticated weapons, and services to maintain these weapons systems, are often bought directly by foreign governments. That category of direct commercial sales has seen an enormous surge as well, as measured by export licenses issued this fiscal year covering an estimated $96 billion, up from $58 billion in 2005, according to the State Department, which must approve the licenses. About 60 countries get annual military aid from the United States, $4.5 billion a year, to help them buy American weapons. Israel and Egypt receive more than 80 percent of that aid. The United States has also recently given Iraq and Afghanistan large amounts of weapons and other equipment and has begun to train fledgling military units at no charge; this assistance is included in the tally of foreign sales. But most arms exports are paid for by the purchasers without United States financing. The growing tally of international weapon deals, which started to surge in 2006, is now provoking questions among some advocates of arms control and some members of Congress. “Sure, this is a quick and easy way to cement alliances,” said William D. Hartung, an arms control specialist at the New America Foundation, a public policy institute. “But this is getting out of hand.” Congress is notified before major arms sales deals are completed between foreign governments and the Pentagon. While lawmakers have the power to object formally and block any individual sale, they rarely use it. Representative Howard L. Berman of California, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he supported many of the individual weapons sales, like helping Iraq build the capacity to defend itself, but he worried that the sales blitz could have some negative effects. “This could turn into a spiralling arms race that in the end could decrease stability,” he said. The United States has long been the top arms supplier to the world. In the past several years, however, the list of nations that rely on the United States as a primary source of major weapons systems has greatly expanded. Among the recent additions are Argentina, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Georgia, India, Iraq, Morocco and Pakistan, according to sales data through the end of last month provided by the Department of Defense. Cumulatively, these countries signed $870 million worth of arms deals with the United States from 2001 to 2004. For the past four fiscal years, that total has been $13.8 billion. In many cases, these sales represent a cultural shift, as nations like Romania, Poland and Morocco, which have long relied on Russian-made MIG-17 fighter jets, are now buying new F-16s, built by Lockheed Martin. At Lockheed Martin, one of the largest American military contractors, international sales last year brought in about $6.3 billion, or 15 percent of the company’s total sales, up from $4.8 billion in 2001. The foreign sales by Lockheed and other American military contractors are credited with helping keep alive some production lines, like those of the F-16 fighter jet and Boeing’s C-17 transport plane. Fighter jets made in America will now be flying in other countries for years to come, meaning continued profits for American contractors that maintain them, and in many cases regular interaction between the United States military and foreign air forces, Mr. Lemkin, the Air Force official, said. Sales are also being driven by the push by many foreign nations to join the once-exclusive club of countries whose arsenals include precise, laser-guided missiles, high-priced American technology that the United States displayed during its invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. In the Persian Gulf region, much of the rearmament is driven by fears of Iran. The United Arab Emirates, for example, are considering spending as much as $16 billion on American-made missile defense systems, according to recent notifications sent to Congress by the Department of Defense. The Emirates also have announced an intention to order offensive weapons, including up to 26 Black Hawk helicopters and 900 Longbow Hellfire II missiles, which can knock out enemy tanks. Saudi Arabia, this fiscal year alone, has signed at least $6 billion worth of agreements to buy weapons from the United States government — the highest figure for that country since 1993, which was another peak year in American weapons sales, after the first Persian Gulf war. Israel, long a major buyer of United States military equipment, is also increasing its orders, including planned purchases of perhaps as many as four American-made coastal warships, worth $1.9 billion. In Asia, as North Korea has conducted tests of a long-range missile, American allies have been buying more United States equipment. One ally, South Korea, has signed sales agreements with the Pentagon this year worth $1.1 billion. So far, the value of foreign arms deliveries completed by the United States has increased only modestly, reaching $13 billion last year compared with an average of $12 billion over the previous three years. Because complex weapons systems take a long time to produce, it is expected that the increase in sales agreements will result in much greater arms deliveries in the coming years. (All dollar amounts for previous years cited in this article have been adjusted to reflect the impact of inflation.) The flood of sophisticated American military equipment pouring into the Middle East has evoked concern among some members of Congress, who fear that the Bush administration may be compromising the military edge Israel has long maintained in the region. Not surprisingly, two of the biggest new American arms customers are Iraq and Afghanistan. Just in the past two years, Iraq has signed more than $3 billion of sales agreements — and announced plans to buy perhaps as much as $7 billion more in American equipment, financed by its rising oil revenues. Lt. Col. Almarah Belk, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said that making these sales served the interests of both Iraq and the United States because “it reduces the risk of corruption and assists the Iraqis in getting around bottlenecks in their acquisition processes.” Over the past three years, the United States government, separately, has agreed to buy more than $10 billion in military equipment and weapons on behalf of Afghanistan, according to Defense Department records, including M-16 rifles and C-27 military transport aircraft. Even tiny countries like Estonia and Latvia are getting into the mix, playing a part in a collaborative effort by 15 countries, mostly in Europe, to buy two C-17 Boeing transport planes, which are used in moving military supplies as well as conducting relief missions. Boeing has delivered 176 of these $200 million planes to the United States. But until 2006, Britain was the only foreign country that flew them. Now, in addition to the European consortium, Canada, Australia and Qatar have put in orders, and Boeing is competing to sell the plane to six other countries, said Tommy Dunehew, Boeing’s C-17 international sales manager. In the last year, foreign sales have made up nearly half of the production at the California plant where C-17s are made. “It has been filling up the factory in the last couple of years,” Mr. Dunehew said. Even before this new round of sales got under way, the United States’ share of the world arms trade was rising, from 40 percent of arms deliveries in 2000 to nearly 52 percent in 2006, the latest year for which the Congressional Research Service has compiled data. The next-largest seller was Russia, which in 2006 accounted for 21 percent of global deliveries. Representative Berman, who sponsored a bill passed in May to overhaul the arms export process, said American military sales, while often well intended, were sometimes misguided. He cited military sales to Pakistan, which he said he feared were doing more to stoke tensions with India than combat terrorism in the region. Travis Sharp, a military policy analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation, a Washington research group, said one of his biggest worries was that if alliances shifted, the United States might eventually be in combat against an enemy equipped with American-made weapons. Arms sales have had unintended consequences before, as when the United States armed militants fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, only to eventually confront hostile Taliban fighters armed with the same weapons there. “Once you sell arms to another country, you lose control over how they are used,” Mr. Sharp said. “And the weapons, unfortunately, don’t have an expiration date.” But Mr. Lemkin, of the Pentagon, said that with so many nations now willing to sell advanced weapons systems, the United States could not afford to be too restrictive in its own sales. “Would you rather they bought the weapons and aircraft from other countries?” he said. “Because they will.” Copyright © 2008 TuscaloosaNews.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:58:50 -0700 From: "Todd Birch" Subject: Trusting politicians? It isn't a matter of trusting politicians. No one older than 14 with a brain does that. It's a matter of controlling the bastards to do what WE want. Remember who works for who in this situation. Politicians lie like rugs and flip-flop, reneging on campaign promises, right, left and centre. Their aim is to get elected, re-elected and keep their party in power. That's Politics 101. Until we tire of it and change the system, we are stuck with it. Not playing the game makes it easier for those that do and is counted on as strategy. Paraphrasing Churchill - "Democracy is the worst possible way of governing ourselves - except for all the others." Benevolent dictatorships work best, but we only put up with that during wars. Just think - if we didn't have a system that thrived on professional, political animals, we wouldn't be embarrassed by the likes of Layton, Dion and other shmucks that couldn't find their own asses with both hands, twice on the same day. It's the system, stupid, and what we have to work with. Let's Cowboy Up and git 'er done! Then we'll work on getting them to work for us or look for a real job. TB ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V12 #164 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:drg.jordan@sasktel.net List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca FAQ list: http://www.canfirearms/Skeeter/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://www.canfirearms.ca CFDigest Archives: http://www.canfirearms.ca/archives To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next four lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".)