in
This page provides an Index to my columns for 2005 published in the Kamloops Daily News
EYE
VIEW 
Government credibility lost in haze of tobacco industry For decades, governments approved superficial changes to cigarettes but never seriously tried to make the toxic, addictive product illegal. Governments were as hooked on tobacco as smokers. The taxes collected were too hard to pass up on, and tobacco corporations were big contributors to political parties. January 4, 2005
Tribalism and all its emotions returns to millions of TV screens Marshall McLuhan was an unlikely oracle of the flamboyant sixties but his enigmatic manner and clever one-liners suited the cult of flower power. McLuhan proclaimed that the "The medium is the message." It creeps inside the perceiver unnoticed. "Any medium has the power of imposing it own assumption on the unwary," warned McLuhan. January 18,2005
World would benefit if link between oil and U.S. dollar broke If any other country in the world had the national deficit of the United States, it would be invaded by the men in pinstripe suits from the World Bank. The bankers would impose restrictions on all spending - - military, education, and social programs - - until the country got their financial affairs in order. February 1, 2005
With the end of globalization, nation states must define their role Good ideas last many decades, lesser ones not as long. The wild open-market era that started in the 1880s lasted 30 years until the depression. That era was followed by social reform which lasted 45 years. Globalization succeeded social reform in the 1970s. Now, it too has lost its vitality says Canadian author John Ralston Saul. It’s surprising that globalization lasted as long as it did. February 15, 2005
Neglecting environment can and will destroy entire civilizations While corporate and political leaders dither over the modest proposals of the Kyoto accord, the world slips into an environmental crisis from which our industrial society might never recover. It won’t be the first time. Many great societies have dissolved into the dust of history. March 1, 2005
CBC not perfect, but at least Iraq coverage didn't get U.S. hype News is not supposed to be treated the same way as entertainment. What’s acceptable in story telling is not acceptable in news reporting. Viewers of the news are not supposed to be manipulated to follow proscribed story lines. March 15, 2005
Society needs to take a careful look at health-care spending We spend billions of dollars annually on medicine and relatively little on preventing what kills us. The top killers of Canadians are largely preventable and the result of personal choice. We hope that medicine will make up for our unhealthy lifestyle and destructive behaviour. It only prolongs the inevitable. April 5, 2005
B.C. Liberals have given province's women nothing but grief It was a simple plan: Reduce the wages in order to create a desperate labour pool. Businesses would then flock to B.C. to take advantage of the cheap labour. The first part of the plan is going fairy well. Wages have dropped since the Liberals came to power according. The Liberals didn't anticipate the discriminatory effect job cuts would have on women. April 19, 2005
Chance to change electoral system does not come along often More than one million B.C. voters will be unhappy with the results of the next election on May 17 because their vote didn't count. It doesn't have to be that way. The chance to change our electoral system comes once in a lifetime, especially the hands-off approach that the Liberals boldly took. Don't let this chance to make history pass you by. May 3, 2005
What Harper really needs is for Liberals to win non-confidence vote As British Columbians go to the polls today, Conservative leader Stephen Harper is scheming to bring down the federal government and send us to the polls again this summer. It's a dumb idea. For Harper's own good, he should pass the budget and get on with the business of governing the nation. May 17, 2005
Electoral reform will return and, hopefully, next time we will lead Kamloops' voters have always been leaders when it comes to predicting the outcome of provincial elections. So, it's fitting that we elected a MLA to government. How did we get the other part of the election, the referendum on the Single Transferable Vote, so wrong? One explanation is that everyone is out of step but us. "We've always been leaders," says one Kamloops ex-politician. According to this reasoning, Kamloops must be right regardless of how everyone else votes. May 31, 2005
If there was ever a time to listen to the beaver, this is it Federal politics have been entertaining in the last year but it's bad theatre. The plots are unoriginal, the scripts clichéd, and the acting bad. Canadians are not amused. The opinion of politicians hasn't been this low since the Mulroney government in 1992. Good government, like our national symbol the beaver, toils away in relative obscurity and is only noticed when it makes a warning splash. Now is the time to listen to the beaver. June 14, 2005
Public clinics could be built to reduce waiting lists The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Quebecers can buy private health insurance. When waiting times are too long, the rights of patients to timely treatment was denied - - health care delayed is health care denied. Was this the end of our treasured health care system? What will save health care is a reduction in waiting times and all provincial governments have signed a $41 billion deal to make it happen. We'll see. June 28, 2005
Dying car era may cripple middle class, but at least they'll be healthy We spend more on automobiles than we spend on health care. Not only has the car shaped our living space of our cities, it has shaped our very society. Early in the last century, the "Fordist" model, named after Henry Ford, helped raise the standard of living of a large segment of society to create a mushrooming middle class. As the lights dim on the car era, wages have been driven down by a race to the bottom. July 12, 2005
Categorizing races not such a black and white matter Racism is getting so complicated these days. It used to be so simple when people could be divided into convenient colours - - whites, blacks, yellows and reds. Science has determined that we are all Africans. Our restless relatives in Africans began to wander over the whole planet about 60,000 years ago. There are slight differences in human families, but racism is not a useful way of describing them. July 26, 2005
Humans deserve the right to choose to die with dignity As Sue Rodriguez's body withered from a terminal illness, she fought for the right to assign some else the legal right she had -- to end her own life. In 1991, she took her case to the Supreme Court of Canada. "Whose body is this?" said Rodriguez. It's a good question. If someone is legally able to end their own intolerable life, they reasonably expect that others can help. August 9, 2005
B.C.'s image, economy at risk if pine beetles aren't stopped The march of the pine beetle is scary. Photographs of the infestation show the exponential growth of dead and dying trees. Each year, from 2001 to 2004, the damage spreads like a rusty stain across the province. And the visual damage is only a small indicator of what's to come. August 9, 2005
Conspiracy theorists may be wrong, but they're entertaining Jews have been implicated in conspiracy stories for a long time. In the 1900s, Russian Czar Nicholas II promoted a hoax document called the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. The troubling part of these fanciful conspiracy theories is that they discredit the real accounts of conspiracies. Sometimes, someone really is out to get you. So, how do you tell real conspiracies from the imaginary hoaxes? Chip Berlet, a researcher for Political Research Associates in Boston, has a few tips. September 6, 2005
Canada must carry a big stick if it wants U.S. to play fair More talk with the U.S. over their denial of Canada's rights under NAFTA is not going to help. We need more stealth. But first, we need to understand how U.S. politics is played. Decisions aren't based on trade or economic policy, or on rules of international law or diplomacy. They are based on raw power politics. September 20, 2005
Workers involved in labour disputes deserve public's support Unions benefit all workers. However, when strikes occur, there isn't the support that striking workers deserve. The wages of all workers are greater because of unions, regardless of whether they belong or not. B.C. is good example. We have a large union sector and we have the highest hourly wages in Canada. Unions set wage standards that nonunion employers follow. The degree of conformity depends on the employment sector and the qualifications of employees. It doesn't take much unionization to make a difference. October 4, 2005
Cubans achieved agricultural solution reluctantly, but successfully Cuba is not the place you would think of looking for the future, with its aging revolutionary president and 1950's cars. Cuba seems stuck in the past. If the U.S. had its way, Cuba would not even exist in its present form. It looked as though Cuba was finished after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1990. All the U.S. had to do was tighten the noose of embargo around Cuba and wait for it to fall. No one expected an agricultural revolution. October 18, 2005
Times are good, but more can be done to make them better. Kamloops has a lot of unrealized potential but unrealistic optimism creates complacency. A report from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of B.C., called "B.C. Checkup - - Live, Work, Invest in B.C.," paints a rosy picture. But the underlying fundamentals of our province, especially Kamloops, are resource extraction. Until we develop more technology, science, and invention, we will be subject to the vagaries of resource markets. November 1, 2005
Money, or the lack of it, remains big factor in success of marriages Romantic love hasn't always been a major factor in marriage, and it's certainly not global. Romantic love took hold in the late eighteenth century in Western Europe and North America. In most of the world, arranged marriages are still the norm; sacrifice and duty surpass romance. Modern western society regards these old values as backwards. Self-centered expectations of marriage plant the seeds of failure. The hallmarks of modern society - - courtship, personal fulfillment, the expression of free will - - are not enough to save many marriages. November 15, 2005
Report finds Internet serves as a supplement to other media, such as newspapers Canadian Internet users read newspapers more than non-users, and the same trend applies to magazines and radio. But not TV. Newspapers are not interactive but they appeal to the same literate sense as newspapers. With illiteracy rates rising, many depend on images and the spoken word for news. November 29, 2005
