A common theme heard over and over again whenever conversations shift towards taxes, services and growth or recession in Rossland is the idea that we must either raise taxes or cut services. Depending on which side of the fence you're on, the result of either is likely pay more to maintain the quality of life we enjoy or see...

Last May, the OECD put out figures comparing infant mortality rates in countries around the world. Perhaps the biggest story of all the figures were those attributed to Canada. This country has always boasted of its social stats — life expectancy, infant mortality, university graduates, and other measures of our success as a nation.   But not […]

I love stuff that is epic.  Epic music, epic stories, epic events, epic vistas - epic anything. The more epic the better. Except the Aeneid and anything by Dickens, that is. And that terrible Oliver Stone movie about Alexander the Great. But other than that, bring on the epic. I love the Kootenays because there is tons of...

“Like sand through the hourglass, so too are the shaves of our lives.”-Fabrizzio Mioggia, world renowned moustachier   Mo’vember 2010 has officially drawn to a close, the only remaining formalities a handful of gala parties in big bergs and metropolae where well connected Bay Street movers and shakers will handshake and...

 This episode of Faultlines on the Real News Network explores how Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is working to conflate the concepts of ‘anti-Israel as an apartheid state’ and ‘anti-semitism’ so that anyone critical of Israel will be considered anti-semitic. Essential viewing for anyone who cares about reason, democracy, and human rights.

As an adult, I think I’ve always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Christmas. Don’t get me wrong – I love the festive lights, the excitement of seeing my children enjoy the holidays, get-togethers and all the cooking…but I  really, really hate the commercialization, obligation and fake sentiment that also seems to have come to accompany the entire season. […]

So, I guess if you want to break the law – say, counseling someone to commit murder – you might want the judge to be the CBC’s ombudsman. Hundreds of people complained to the CBC’s guardian of what is right and wrong on the airwaves with complaints about the sinister and twisted Tom Flanagan’s Christian […]

NDP Leader Carole James mishandled the “Bob Simpson” problem several weeks ago ..and now that has come back to haunt her. At the time, I criticised James for having MLA Simpson turfed from caucus for publicly criticising as lacklustre a speech  she made to the Union of BC Municipalties convention. It was lacklustre.  But although he did not […]

 For over three years now, the Lower Columbia, Greater Trail, South Kootenay (or whatever the current branding of our region is) have been stuck in a much-reported sewer quagmire that has stalled the Liquid Waste Management Planning (LWMP) process at Phase one.   One would hope and expect that with notice given from the...

So it’s December first today and on Saturday there is going to be a sizable Christmas event in the town square, an event meant to “rekindle” our Christmas spirits. A tree will be lit. I think there will be fire involved, but I don’t really know what else is happening because I don’t plan on attending.   Let me state outright...