A review of documents related to projects undertaken in the arena in 2010 and 2011 raises many serious questions and suggests that Mayor Granstrom and Council have not provided adequate oversight for the actions of staff. In December 2009, the City issued a proposal call for the upgrade of the arena roof.  Council did not...

I’m writing a column further to Christine’s column (http://castlegarsource.com/news/oped-looks-werent-deceiving-you-deceived-yourself-21868#.UJw81m80WSo), not because I disagree with her, but because I totally agree and don’t think she takes it far enough. Christine is a fundamentally nice person. I am not. The issue of stifling people’s self-expression through rigid social more is, to me, one requiring a less nice, […]

Personal appearance has become a common theme in my discussions over the past week, from online debates about teenage style to chats over coffee about what women do to feel beautiful, and it has made me realize how focused we are on self-expression/style/appearance. It all started when I asked my fellow Facebookers what their thoughts […]

How can the public give their input into the budget, as Coun. Fisher suggested, while avoiding the potential for "chaos" that Coun. Spearn feared? I have a suggestion for council: swing a deal with ThoughtStream for a software license for the city, and hire one of their facilitators.   Right now, the idea of "engaging" the ...

Just out of Jericho, Bartimaeus sits by the road. Hearing Jesus and the crowd he cries, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. ”Many in the crowd tell him to shut up, but he raises his voice and Jesus, standing still, says: “Call him here.” Changing their tone, the voices in the crowd tell Bartimaeus to “Take heart; get up,...

There is a fair amount of debate today about Canada's role in the world and the role that our military continues to play.  Many feel that Canada should be returning to a peacekeeping role, while others feel that the current direction is more appropriate in today's world.  Regardless of how we feel about this issue, I firmly...

Every Remembrance Day for the past six years I have gone to the Nelson Cenotaph at city hall and stood with anti-war protest placards, and been the target of much anger and some abuse. Last year, a threat too came my way. I will go there again this year and upset many in attendance. But […]

There is a class of people and corporations in this country whose illicit financial practices have an enormous negative impact on the country and its citizens. Yet the law and order regime of Stephen Harper barely plays lip service to the issue of tax evasion through tax havens. While Harper cuts billions from government...

Myths are powerful things, especially when they feature forces of good (“free enterprise”) and evil (“socialists”), and evoke heroes (BC Liberals), villains (BC Conservatives) and monsters (NDP) to spin a good yarn that is rooted in fear and in distortions of blindly accepted “facts.” Great myths derive their greatest power...

“Who will do the hard thing? ...Those who can.”--- Rabbinic proverb. “You are not promised that you will complete the Work, but you may not refuse it.”                                               --- Rabbi Tarfon, 1st C. BCE What keeps forcing itself on my consciousness lately is really not a new concern; it is new only in...