On the second Sunday in Advent we focus on Peace. The endless search for peace in a world still bound by war. A world sometimes mired in hatred and abuse. A world touting the ethics of the strong, justifying great abuses of power, deriding the 'self-inflicted' misery of the weak: the man on the corner; the woman at the food...

Following the city’s overzealous and incorrect use of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act (FIPPA) to withhold letters that are clearly in the public’s interest and do not “unfairly” harm anyone’s reputation, I am left wondering what, exactly, remains in the five redacted lines in Coun. Kathy Moore’s letter...

“What does not kill us makes us ___”   Nietzsche      Happiness is a warm gun.  Lennon Everybody knows how to complete the epigraph quoted at the top: “Stronger”. Poor Nietzsche, so many profound things to say, and remembered by masses of slightly-educated people for this one slogan alone. What makes us more contented, or...

As part of its annual general meeting, the Canadian Department of Peace Initiative held the last of its public consultations on the creation of a Department of Peace. The meeting which took place at St. Paul University in Ottawa featured a panel of five commissioners and interventions from the public.  (It was especially...

I’ve never been a member of a political party, although I did consider joining the NDP earlier this year, just so I could vote for Nathan Cullen in the leadership contest. Now I’m considering joining the Liberals, just so I can vote for Joyce Murray. In the rarified air of Parliament Hill, where so many Opposition MPs seem ...

I’d like to share with you my past few weeks – it is a time in my life that I would like to leave behind and never re-visit again. EVER.  It all started when my two sons came down with the chicken pox. Both were pretty nasty cases; they were itchy, sore, feverish, spotty, oozy, […]

The story of the 2012 US presidential election we should pay attention to in Canada is not the performance of the candidates; it is a story of mathematics. The star in this regard is Nate Silver who predicted the outcome of the election with uncanny accuracy. Most pollsters held that the election was too close to call. Silver,...

It was the end of times. On moving to Trail from Castlegar we kept our rent down by agreeing to take down some of the trees that were rooting far too close to foundations and roof lines for either comfort or the good of the house. All told, I created stumps from an evergreen, two deciduous, and an ancient birch. The remains...

A few months into the new blended learning model at Rossland Secondary School and we are able to take some time to reflect on the successes, as well as discuss the adjustments we need to make. We know it takes time to implement change and for the students and teachers to adjust to the new system and realize that the program...

I don’t see how a person as afflicted with ADD as myself could help but adore Christmas – all those twinkly lights and sparkly ornaments and bows and ribbons and bells, oh my! I hear other people’s angst about the increasingly commercial aspect of the holiday, but that’s never troubled me over much. Seems to […]