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This page provides an Index to my columns for 2004 published in the Kamloops Daily News
EYE
VIEW 
B.C.'s poor a convenient target in the politics of class rivalry The B.C. Liberal government of Gordon Campbell will cut thousands of poor people off welfare in a few months. Welfare for the rich will improve, however, as B.C. continues to have the wealthiest citizens in Canada. By focusing on the poorest class, Campbell can avoid questions about why the rich deserve welfare but not the poor. January 6, 2004
Natural health-product regulations will bolster confidence Natural health products and herbal remedies will have to be proven safe and properly labeled starting in January of 2004. Health Canada is doing the industry a favour by requiring uniform requirements for products that have been neither food or drug, until now. When consumers are confident in what they are purchasing, all Canadians will be better off. Gone will be the personality-driven approach to marketing, now only clinical trials will be accepted as evidence. January 20, 2004
Campbell's gimmicky ads do little for those on the street B.C.'s Premier Campbell has spent millions of our tax dollars on a scheme that he hopes will inspire us to new heights. It's called Achieve BC and it features people climbing. Toddlers, teens, youths, adults, seniors, all climbing stairs. What is the meaning of this dream-like portrayal of British Columbians? February 3, 2004
High-fat marketing is likely to win over low-fat reasoning For the first time in recent history, our children will die sooner than we do. Modern medicine has managed to increase the life span of each generation but medicine is no match for primitive instincts and marketing of fast foods. There is no cure for obesity, only treatment of the diseases that will prematurely kill ourselves and our kids. We are eating ourselves to death. February 17, 2004
Hectic lifestyle catching up with Canadians' health No one expected that the result of technology would be the feeling that life moves to fast. Technology was supposed to reduce work and give more leisure time. The effect has been just the opposite. Technology takes more time from us than it saves. The faster technology operates, the less time we have. March 2, 2004
Clock the darling of today's world -also its death Time measurement transforms Europe from a marginal outpost of a Mediterranean power into global colonizers. The imposition of industrial time on backward colonies was a source of pride and now were are all subject of turbo capitalism. March 16, 2004
Cry for Argentina and its flawed fiscal policies Steve Hanke and his pal Kurt Schuler decided to try out their right-wing theories in a real live setting. Argentina was ripe for their little experiment in right-wing fiscal management. Hanke made good money as Argentina descended into financial ruin. March 30, 2004
File sharing may save Canadian musical careers Much to the dismay of the U.S. monster music industry, a Canadian court has ruled that file sharing of music on the internet is not illegal. The music industry makes very few musicians rich and shuts the door to many. It's hard to feel sorry for the music industry when they make the most money from the talents of musicians. April 13, 2004
Building a new university should prove interesting experience Governments in trouble become wonderfully sensitive to voter's needs. The University College of the Cariboo was conceived by such a government. UCC was born in 1989 with hope that this hybrid university college would improve the political fortunes of the Social Credit government and then Premier Bill VanderZalm. Now the B.C. Liberals hope that a proposed new university in Kamloops will improve their political fortunes. We'll see. April 27, 2004
World would be better off with higher gas prices Cheap gas would be a good idea if we had lots of the stuff. We don't. Prices for gasoline seem high but they are artificially low because of tax subsidies for oil exploration and refineries. Low gasoline prices prevent development of renewable fuels such as hydrogen from water, diesel replacement from vegetable oil, ethanol and methane from biomass is expensive. As long as today's cheap gas is around, no one wants to put research money into technologies that won't pay off in fuel sales. May 11, 2004
The world wants sexuality to be simple -- it isn't always Intersexuals want the right to choose their sexuality and gender. Each day 200 intersex babies are born around the world. They have anatomies that confound and alarm their parents. They are born healthy. Fingers and toes are all accounted for but when the parents ask "Is it as boy or a girl?" doctors don't have an simple answer. They are somewhere in between. In an attempt to remove ambiguity, doctors surgically "assign" gender. May 25, 2004
Stephen Harper soft on corporate crime The leader of the Canadian Conservatives, Stephen Harper, wants to expand the budget of Canada's auditor general. However, in his haste to support the popular auditor general, Harper contradicts conservative principles. Does he really want to expose waste in privately run, publicly funded foundations -- the very kind of private organizations that he champions? If so, then Harper has my support. I would like the auditor general's powers expanded even more to investigate corporate crime. June 8, 2004
Disaster movie does more than just entertain Amy Ridenour, President of the U.S. National Centre for Public Policy Research, protests too loudly. She doesn't want anyone to even think that global warming might be a fact. That's why she makes false claims to destroy the credibility of a Hollywood movie called The Day After Tomorrow. In doing so, she just appears foolish. After all, it's just another disaster movie. June 22, 2004
Lack of food and oil a recipe for world conflict The next war won't be fought over oil. According to a report from the Pentagon, global warming will cause political unrest and conflict. The next war will be fought over food. Global warming is the first stage. The Pentagon report also considers what happens next, an ice age as represented in the movie The Day After Tomorrow. Global warming will drive growing climates north with disastrous consequences. July 6, 2004
Strong government comes from high public participation What matters to youth are not the big issues that drive elections. One so-called big election issue - -health care - - hardly registers on youth. What they care about is affordable education, getting a good job, fair wages, and the environment. Individualism manifested as consumerism, celebrity worship, and therapeutic culture present a barrier to strong government July 20, 2004
Water-meter issue opens the floodgates of public opinion Voters of Kamloops rejected water meters when they could have saved millions of tax dollars in building our new water treatment plant. Water meters would have reducing water consumption and a smaller plant could have been built. But a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. Now the idea of voluntary water meters has raised the debate again. August 3, 2004
Premier playing clever politics with new strategies Premier Campbell is a clever politician. His lead in proposing that the federal government establish a national pharmacare program was "brilliant," according to Alberta premier Ralph Klein. It's about time the provinces got their act together and agreed about something. Up until now it's been the feds who have played clever politics while the premiers took the flack. Campbell's other clever plan may backfire. His government has launched a too-clever advertising campaign which links travel ads to political ads which proclaim B.C. as "the best place on earth." August 17, 2004
War on terror tough to fight when terrorism has no homeland Three years later, the U.S. has still not recovered. On September 11, 2001, nineteen men with boxcutters and kamikaze zeal cut deep into the American psyche. Horror followed disbelief after the twin towers fell in New York. Then anger and retaliation but still no healing. The muddled military response has not soothed the grief and fear. The U.S. bombed Afghanistan even though most of the highjackers were from Saudi Arabia. Then they invaded Iraq for reasons that are at best confusing. August 31, 2004
Protesters at Sun Peaks dividing aboriginal community Although the recent protestors at Sun Peaks have drawn attention to the slow progress of native land claims, they have picked a strategy least likely succeed. The preferred method is resolution of the Douglas claims, according to the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council. September 14, 2004
Similar beliefs merge on islands of Vanuatu for Survivor The faithful of Vanuatu have been patiently waiting for decades for their ship to come in, as their spiritual prophet John Frum promised. Meanwhile, the contestants of the reality TV show Survivor have arrived on one of the islands of Vanuatu to their spiritual roots. The contestants and the islanders seek the same magic materialism. September 28, 2004
B.C.'s child labour laws compromise the health of kids "British Columbia. The best place on earth to learn and work," crow the ads paid for by the government of B.C. Yes, it's a wonderful place -- unless you're a kid. If you are a child learning and working in B.C., then it is one of the worst places in North America says published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. October 12, 2004
Taxpayers have no say when it comes to bonus surpluses The federal Liberals have lots of excuses why they can't make estimates that are close to the actual amount of money in the treasury. They repeatedly lowball the budgets to avoid spending money on programs that Canadians want. The excuses are many but if they were simply mistakes due to shifting variables, then why aren't as many overestimates as underestimates? It turns out that overestimates are a political disaster, as former B.C. premier Glen Clarke found out. October 26, 2004
Electoral reform group picked voting system that is simple, fair The B.C. Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform overwhelmingly approved proportional representation and rejected the current voting system. The trouble with the system of voting that we now use is that most votes don't elect anyone. This leads to voter apathy. In the type of proportional representation selected, called the Single Transferable Vote, almost every vote results in an elected member of legislation. Now, all that has to happen is voter support -- 60 per cent of the popular vote and a majority in 60 per cent of the ridings. November 8, 2004
Lack of wealth distribution tough on B.C. residents The role of government is to distribute the wealth of the province -- wealth owned by British Columbians in resources (trees, water, metals) and in social capital (trust, collective will, civic duty). Distribution of wealth is a well-understood function of governments. Equalization payments by the federal government distributes wealth from rich provinces to poor, for example. It's not completely altruistic. Without transfers to the poorest provinces, even the richest will fail if the country crumples. November 23, 2004
Safety net needed for parents who must pay high costs of treating autism Canadians believe that a social safety net, funded by tax dollars, should be there to catch us when we fall. It's the Canadian way of helping each other when catastrophes strike. Options are running out for parents of autistic children. When Canadian court cases involving rights fail, and when autism is not considered as part of core coverage under medicare, maybe publicly funded treatment in the education system is the answer, as in the U.S. December 7, 2004
Canada's modernism poses threat to fundamentalist America The U.S. can defend it's borders from terrorists, but it is defenseless against the psychological terror of their own making. The real threat to the U.S. President Bush's America --the so called moral majority-- comes from the artificial war created in the minds of fundamentalists. They perceive states who voted for Democrats and Canada as the enemy. Canada is a threat. It is an outward-looking, multicultural, modern society with strong support for social programs like health care. December 21, 2004
