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Opinion General
JONESIE: What voters aren’t told
The votes are counted, the elections are over. The winners are celebrating and the losers are contemplating. But with apologies to the mayors and councillors and directors and trustees elected to a long four-year term, it’s tough to recognize victory. Not at 30 per cent voter turnout. From my place in the world, this election...
GOG: The Git’s plan for catching up with women’s lib
At the end of October I was reliably informed that the law now requires all males to grow a moustache in November, while the month itself has apparently been officially re-named by parliamentary decree to “Moevember,” “Moe” being a Japanese slang word for “adorably cute.” As one of Her Majesty’s most loyal subjects I have...
Margaritas and Mexico’s missing and murdered women
As the polar vortex shifts the seasons into a wintery overdrive, even the ordinarily balmy and frivolous Thompson-Okanagan has taken on a grey pall. The mercury is heading south and the frost-tipped ears after a morning walk suggest that it’s time to think about booking some time down south again. For years now my partner...
PARKER: Perfecting the art of faking it
If there’s one thing I don’t keep a secret it’s that I love wine. I love it, and I know a lot about it — like it’s made from grapes and if your tongue feels hairy after you drink it you can thank something called tannins. So, when I was asked to pour wine at...
HELSTON: Welcoming worldwide celebrities the Okanagan way
We’ve all seen photos of mob-like crowds pooling around celebrities, smartphones thrust above the horde, paparazzi elbowing their way to the front, stars diving into vehicles while body guards hold back the gawkers. The famous people at the centre of it all just wanted to enjoy an ice cream cone at the park, or something...
STAHN: When is it time to listen to the students?
Students and teachers have been asking for it. A petition with more than 770 student signatures was submitted to the school board last year. This year another 300 students have already signed another petition. Yet an anti-homophobic harassment policy still does not exist in our schools. The bureaucratic process has its place. Legally steps need...
GOG: You can’t claim that on television
I have learned that the makers of a beverage called “Red Bull” (because it is red and is made with something called Taurine, which once came from the testes of bulls) have had to hand out rather a lot of money in $10 increments to their disgruntled customers. They need to compensate them because, contrary...
LOEWEN: Lest we forget: A meditation on Remembrance
In the southern Ontario of my youth in the Seventies, we were surrounded by reminders of war. Every little town, every larger city, had its monuments and memorials erected to commemorate the fallen, usually young men of British descent whose names, borne in stone, stared back at us, muted reminders of mass suffering too horrible...
JONESIE: What is really going on with Taxpayers First?
The Kelowna municipal election has truly taken a turn for the bizarre courtesy of the City’s first political slate. If you haven’t been keeping track, nearly every day Taxpayers First has one-upped itself on pie-in-the-sky goodies that make American politics look sane and orderly. Already they’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars in promises along...
PARKER: Putting an old adage to the test
CLEARLY MY BOYFRIEND HAS NO IDEA WHAT 'STRAIGHT' MEANS AND THIS WAS A PROBLEM. There’s an old couple’s adage — that’s probably now a meme — that says thou shalt not hang wallpaper together. The thing is, Urban Outfitters has this super cute metallic silver and black print stuff that I just knew was going...
