in
This page provides an Index to my columns for 2012 published in the Kamloops Daily News
EYE VIEW 
2012
Dealing with death while we're still alive Sometimes death barges in; sometimes he waits patiently at the end of the bed. Always ready to lend a hand, death comes along for the ride as the partygoers pile in the car. Everyone is having fun and the driver has probably too much booze. Or, as life slips away from a failing mortal shell, death takes charge. January 12, 2012
Kamloops should be a fair trade town What does Golden, B.C. (population 4,400) have that Kamloops doesn’t? Designation as a Fair Trade Town, that’s what. So do 15 towns and cities across Canada, including Vancouver. More than 20 others have applied. Achieving Fair Trade Town status is not a cakewalk. It requires a sincere commitment by city council, businesses, schools and community leaders for an application to succeed. Fair Trade Towns support not only social justice for those who grow our food but a commitment to a sustainable supply chain. January 26, 2012
Who do we trust to protect the CBC? Despite electing a majority Conservative government, Canadians trust the NDP more to protect the CBC according to a survey done by the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. Results from Kamloops lean even more heavily towards the NDP than the Canadian average: almost 60 per cent of Kamloopsians trust the NDP to protect the CBC while less than 50 per cent do nationally. Trust for Conservatives to do the same is only 15 per cent in Kamloops. February 9, 2012
Arts centre the right investment for city What are the similarities between our proposed new Arts Centre and our water treatment plant, you wonder? Both are a source of civic pride. Some cities lacked the confidence to build a water treatment plant, but not Kamloops. Not only did we fund and build that public facility, we were also innovative about it. When the plant opened in 2005, our water treatment centre was the largest facility in North America that employed membrane technology. February 16, 2012
Health products may not be as healthy as you think Canadians want natural, healthy products. Regrettably, a lot of them wouldn’t know one if they saw it according to a Health Canada survey. Confusion surrounds the definition of natural health products. You would reasonably think that they were just naturally derived, safe products that do what the manufacturer claims. You would be wrong. March 1, 2012
Conserve energy on food growing We agonize over the price of fuel to run our cars and heat our homes while virtually ignoring the cost of fuel to grow our food. Food production uses a lot of energy. About ten per cent of our total fuel consumption is used to raise, process and distribute food. It makes sense to find efficiencies in food production because the problem is only getting worse. March 15, 2012
Removing OxyContin simplistic solution As the war on drugs drags on, a powerful narcotic has slipped through the radar. When OxyContin was introduced in 1996 it was a godsend for the six million Canadians who suffer from pain. It quickly grew to be one of the most prescribed drugs in Canada, so common that it was passed on to friends and family for non-medical use and eventually sold on the street. March 29, 2012
Too easy to think the worst of hydro It's disappointing that many British Columbians are so ready to believe the worst of BC Hydro. After all, it's our corporation, owned by the citizens of British Columbia. Profits flow back to us, not to some private corporation. We are the shareholders of BC Hydro. It's "Our Dam Power" stressed BC Hydro workers when the B.C. Liberals imposed the inefficiencies that have left us with higher hydro bills. April 12, 2012
Sometimes a leader can make a party Christy Clark would make a wonderful leader of the Liberal Party of B.C., if there were one. Unfortunately for her, she is leader of the B.C. Liberal Party. As everyone knows, the B.C. Liberal Party is not liberal. It is a coalition of conservatives and the old Social Credit Party. So, when conservatives abandon the party, there's not much left. April 26, 2012
Canadian mining needs more than a makeover Canadian mining businesses have a bad reputation internationally according to a report commissioned by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. The findings were so damning that they never saw the light of day until Miningwatch.ca got a hold of them. The embarrassing details of the report reveal that Canadian mining companies have four times the abuses of their nearest competitors in Australia and India. May 10, 2012
Surplus water could result in lower hydro bills but for independent producers Water behind the dam is as good as money in the bank and this spring, BC Hydro's dams are full. This matters because it's our water, our dams, our power corporation and eventually, when the water generates electricity and the electricity produces revenue, our money. This surplus water would be good news if our government hadn't signed contracts to buy electricity at a high price from independent power producers (IPPs). May 24, 2012
Mulcair offers different vision No wonder Tom Mulcair's comments on oil and gas were not taken kindly by Western Canada premiers. Other than grain, the West has never had an economy than depends on anything else but resource extraction. Mulcair says that oil and gas exports have driven up the value of our dollar and the result has been that our manufactured goods have been priced out of the international marketplace: the so-called Dutch Disease. The politics may be debatable but the facts are not. June 7, 2012
The right to
decide how we live and die We
should worry about elder abuse but fears that doctor-assisted suicide will
increase that risk are unfounded. Opponents of the right to die worry that the
despicable people will hasten granny's demise for an inheritance, or kill off
disabled people because they are inconvenient, or hasten the demise of patients
to free up health care resources. These practices already occur too frequently.
The court's ruling will not create more malevolent people; they already exist.
June 21, 2012
Climate change has become a political football Not so very long ago, climate change was a scientific fact. Its transformation into a political issue says something about our society's core values. Only two decades ago, politicians could state the obvious without repercussions. President George Bush Sr. warned in 1990: "We all know that human activities are changing the atmosphere in unexpected and in unprecedented ways. July 5, 2012
Being chummy with China Much of the copper mined around Kamloops will end up in China. That's hardly surprising, says Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian-born economist. China consumes 40 per cent of the world's copper. Sure, oil gets a lot of attention in developed countries but copper is necessary for improving the lives of billions. "Three billion new people will join the middle class by 2030," warns Moyo, and that fact spells copper. Those new consumers will be shopping for computers, TVs, washing machines, cellphones and dishwashers. July 26, 2012
The conflicting priorities of Dr. Day Dr. Day, owner of a private clinic in Vancouver, can't seem to decide what his priorities are. On one hand, he wants to reduce the time patients have to wait for surgery. On the other, he is determined to poke his finger in the eye of Canada's fabled health care system. He says he is dedicated to public health care. "I will commit to a policy that all Canadians receive timely access to medically necessary services, regardless of their ability to pay," claims Dr. Day. August 9, 2012
Eyes wide shut on trade deal German Chancellor Merkel came to Canada last week to talk about it but we still don't know what went on behind closed doors. Other than the usual platitudes about how great the trade deal would be for Canada, we know few details of the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA). It matters because the paths of Kamloops and Europe meet at CETA. It's an unlikely intersection. What would a trade agreement between the world's largest economy and the Government of Canada have to do with little Kamloops? August 23, 2012
Forest Plan a Flight of Fancy Our image of B.C. is so integrated with forests that it's impossible to imagine "the best place on earth" without trees. Verdant forests teem with wildlife. Tree-covered mountains and thicket-ringed lakes occupy our mental landscape. A recent government report shatters that illusion. The new reality is one with so few trees that lumber mills may have shut down. The report from the Special Committee on Timber Supply says that up to 70 per cent of our interior forests could be decimated by 2021. It's a process well underway. September 6, 2012
Atheists trusted more when 'watched' Atheists have an image problem and the Vancouver Police Department can help. In a study done by the University of British Columbia and published in Psychological Science, prejudice towards atheists is reduced after watching a video from the VPD. Watchful, moralizing gods may have served a vital function in the evolution of large cooperative groups. As governments grew more complex, they began to assume a greater role in surveillance. Gods and governments give people a sense of control in an unpredictable world. Both serve as social monitors to encourage cooperation among individuals. September 20, 2012
Politics of anger poison discourse What’s left? Which of the two political lefts represents the hopes of those who long for social justice? The fall of the Soviet empire in 1991 has split the left, says Richard Swift in New Internationalist magazine. While Soviet Russia exemplified one of the worst excesses of communism, it offered an alternative to capitalism. The fall of the USSR was seen as a triumph of capitalism. With its decline, the worst excesses of stock-market greed tore through global economies like a raging bull. October 2, 2012
War of 1812 does not make us warriors In an attempt to rebrand Canada as a warrior nation, the Government of Canada is promoting the War of 1812. The Tories have spent $4.5 million on advertising alone. It's a bad choice. October 25, 2012
The Kamloops Kid is better forgotten Unless we develop an appetite for sadistic torture, we won't see any historical reenactments of the Kamloops Kid. While trainloads of tourists may be amused by staged hold-ups of "gentleman" Billy Miner, the adventures of the Kamloops Kid would definitely not be family fare. November 7, 2012
The last bit of privacy to be lost: where we are. When David Pogue’s iPhone was stolen, he got it back using Apple’s application called Find My iPhone. The thief was unaware that possession of the phone marked his location. To level the playing field, maybe everyone, not just iPhone users, should carry GPS locators so that we all can be found at any time. Or maybe there is a limit to how much privacy we should give up. November 21, 2012
Social media not agent for revolution The role of technology in revolution has been overestimated. You would think that innovative technology would grease the wheels of progressive political change. That was not the result of the Arab Spring in Egypt. December 5, 2012