COMMENT: Too much Happy Valley farm … or too little imagination?
Recent comments by Coun. Cary Fisher and Coun. Jill Spearn—regarding Brenda Trenholme's appeal to subdivide her Happy Valley property—taste like a slice of logical swiss cheese on a slab of imagination tofu. And you'll need a pinch of salt for the cracker too. Sure, sure, everyone's in favour of local agriculture. Just not ...
OP/ED: The Power of One Light bulb
“The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” – Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day Ever wondered how much electricity you could save by turning off just one light? A column on that topic by Mike Sandiford, […]
OP/ED: Ginger: soooo much more than just a spice
I’ve been toying around with the idea of writing about gingerism for a while now. You know, the awesomeness of being a ginger. I’ve been a ginger my whole life, no kidding. I came into the world with a flaming red melon – none of this strawberry blonde stuff for me. And I didn’t always […]
Digging into life
Sometimes, when I stand in front of others and relate my journey, I begin with my family and the communities I've lived in, and I recount a partial history of the jobs I've held. Sometimes I relive relationships I've had. Once in a long while I'll tell the story of the time I was buried alive up in Pass Creek in '98. Despite...
Canada and Afghanistan
As we approach 2014 Canada will be preparing to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. However, at the request of the US Pentagon, the Prime Minister has opened the door to leaving behind a contingent of Canadian Special Forces beyond the NATO withdrawal date to assist with Afghan Commando training. Our Special Forces have ...
OP/ED: Remembering the health care outrage . . . smoldering still, after a decade.
By Glyn Humphries July 2002: I became one of the outraged. Outraged, not just about cuts to health care, but also about Canada’s bedrock of democracy: accountability and democratic process. It was a dark era for democracy. In one fell swoop, bureaucrats damaged Nelson’s hospital- like officials removing children from a family, without warning or […]
OP/ED: ” We pray God will give you judgement and the leadership you require…"
I sat down this morning to write a followup post on the mess in the legislature, checked my Facebook and stumbled right onto the latest bunch of bafflegab from the premier–on 100 Huntley Street of all places! Well giddyup folks and hold your hats, because I’m asking you to give up five minutes of your life to […]
OP/ED: The Northern Oil Pipeline is 2013′s BIG Election issue
The battle lines are being drawn--maybe even purposefully manipulated--to give the Liberals at least some hope of retaining power in BC’s next provincial election. It would have seemed implausible and statistically impossible only a few weeks ago for the Liberals to have a chance, given every poll over the past year. However...
OP/ED: Defending gay marriage and potato salad diversity
I have to admit, as the hot, humid summer days stretch out before us, I can’t seem to get myself worked into a lather over anything much more controversial than whether or not to put hard-boiled eggs in the potato salad for camping (I asked my Facebook friends and, 51 comments later, the consensus seems […]
OP/ED: Times are a-changin’ for sure, but are minds keeping up?
If you have been reading my musings this far, I trust you play with your ideas of truth. As Michael Jessen wrote in his column recently, truth is something that evolves, for humans. We have to keep questioning what is, and reality is not just factual. Truth is not just fact. Not all truth is […]