Post 65--Back to the Water

Hume’s Prophetic Warning

That precious stuff—water—has been discussed in posts 55, 57 and 58.  I want to continue with the topic today, for we here in BC are still in the serious water shortage of 2015 and we don’t see the end in sight.  Stephen Hume wrote us a strongly prophetic warning about the upcoming scarcity. He holds up California as the BC of tomorrow (“Water scarcity crisis looms in BC,” VS, April 6, 2015).  He warns that “Instead of tit-for-tat finger pointing, we now need an adult discussion of how to adapt to coming change with long-term planning that isn’t dictated by developers, investors and politicians wanting quick returns within short horizons.” 

Turning to stats, Hume tells us that over the past 50 years BC’s snow cover has “dwindled by 18% on average;” in  the Columbia region, 20%; Kootenay, 23%; mid-Fraser 47%!  50 years may seem like a long time to the juniors of this world, but to guys like me (77), that’s a short time, believe me, so short that we cannot afford to duplicate those stats during the coming 50.  Scientists are warning of “An impending water crisis in Canada’s western prairie provinces.” A crisis next door will become our crisis in BC, as farther-way California is already in terms of our food prices. 

Hume wants us to “to start having this conversation right now. Not in the rarefied atmosphere of academic conferences but as citizens prepared to bring the same passion to the discussion that we mustered over TransLink’s proposals. Believe me, water security is a much bigger issue than adjustments to the sales tax.” Amen, brother!

Mixed Public Reaction

In spite of his dire predictions and calls for serious actions on the part of citizen, government and UN, earlier in July, when our drought had already begun to make its mark, hundreds of Metro residents have been caught ignoring restrictions. Can you imagine such stupidity?  These are the people that have the power to vote, to determine our next governments!  No wonder we can’t vote satisfactory government into place. With such egocentrism and stupidity in place, how can you expect intelligent voting? 

I need to be fair. While there are those stupid ones, “across most of Metro Vancouver over the last decade” the use of water is down! (Gordon Hoekstra and Randy Shore, VS, July 17, 2015).  Despite increasing population, the total drop in Metro was 9% between 2004-2013. In per capita terms, this spells a reduction of 20% across the region. In the Township of Langley, water consumption dropped from 307 litres a day in 2004 to 282 in 2013—that’s 25 litres per capita per day. Try drinking that! You’ll see how much that is. So, credit where credit is due. Thanks to the more intelligent among us. Apparently we are still the majority!  Do I hear a shout of approval? Thank you. But, at the same time, 282 litres is still a lot that must be reduced.  How many bathtubs is that per capita?

Some Government Measures

What has caused this impressive reduction? Several measures taken by the authorities have helped. Hoekstra & Shore list education, sprinkling restrictions, better leak detection, improved water-efficient technology and charging for water, among others.  Then there are new requirements in construction. In Vancouver proper “the demolition of 1200 properties a year to make way for new homes…that require the lowest flow toilets and shower heads,” while “new single-family homes and duplexes” require the installation of meters. 

From Tub to Tank

In one of the earlier posts I confessed to a private water saving measure I have never before confessed publicly to others, only to find we are not the only ones to…. Well, remember that ditty? Today, in view of the extreme shortage we are facing, we are following advice we read elsewhere—from tub to tank. Our bathtub and toilet are right next to each other. So, we leave the water in the tub and whenever a flush is unavoidable, I get down on my knees and scoop water from the tub into the tank fast, so that the tank fills up from the tub and not from the “natural” mechanism inside of the tank. My guess is that at the end 75% of the water in the tank is from the tub. That’s a considerable saving.  Gross, you might think?  Extreme, you might snort? Well, yes, probably, but we are in an extreme situation and soon might be in one that’s gross if there’s no water to flush at all.

That’s it for today, but in the near future I do hope to return once or twice more to this most vital of topics—more vital than a half percent increase in sales tax and one that may well dwarf all TransLink issues. If there’s no water, there’s no need for the former.  Just to make you curious, the next post will be among the most politically incorrect I have ever plagiarized. 

Post 64--Competition between Government and Tax-paying Citizens

  

I had a few other subjects in mind for the next posts, but the issue of competition between Canadian governments and their citizens popped up again, unannounced and unexpectedly. The last post, you may remember, dealt with competition between the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a so-called “crown corporation” with special ties to the Federal Government (FG), and private broadcasters. The CBC receives hefty subsidies from the FG but also advertises like any other medium house, often against their private competitors who support them through their taxes. I have expressed my deep displeasure with that arrangement. 

Today this same topic intrudes again as I read yesterday’s VS today. This time the issue is between BC Government Liquor Stores (GLS) and private wine stores. Please understand, I am hardly a wine bibber and so this does not personally apply much to me, except that every individual in any given jurisdiction is affected when major economic shifts occur. There is always a ripple effect. Furthermore, sometimes I wonder whether we all would not be better off without all that alcohol stuff, given the misery and suffering it creates form day to day. Yes, I do take a drink very sporadically and sometimes actually enjoy it, but wines, hardly.

A major shift has occurred in the alcohol world of BC. Whereas formerly, liquor was sold only in GLS-es and bars, with the exception of wine that was also for sale in private wine outlets, recently, the gates have been opened with the result that liquor is now available in all kinds of places. That spells serious competition for the wine sellers, but it’s private vs private. That’s the nature of our economy. Not a problem to me, though such major adjustments spell serious challenges to which those sellers have to adjust. Again, that’s our economy for you. Change is as common as stability. You have to learn to cope. It’s the name of the game. Nothing guaranteed.               

The problem is that the GLS has increased its business hours to include Sundays and statutory holidays.  Patrick Greenfield, owner of a wine store complains that his Sunday sales are down considerably. On Good Friday 2015 they were down by 40% for him. Another owner, John Clerides, said his Sunday sales have fallen 15-20 percent since FGS opened Sundays. Greenfield complained, “It’s hard to compete with the government, which seems to have a ‘bottomless chequebook,’ noting the millions of dollars being spent to add refrigeration facilities to government stores.”  He continues, “It’s hard when the government is (both) your competitor and your supplier,” without even talking of its control over legal power. It’s not a “level playing field,” for GLS doesn’t “face the same consequences.” For one thing, not every store needs to show a profit, for it can be carried by the entire network. 

Clerides has applied to the Government—the very department that makes the rules and from which he gets his supplies—for “the right to sell beer and spirits in his store so he can better compete against government stores,”but that request was turned down.  It has, he surmises, “obviously” fallen on deaf ears. Why is that not surprising?

You see the mess such an arrangement creates?  Someone please explain to me why the Government is into liquor sales. Has anyone ever defined the role of a government, especially in a “free” Western society? I checked the internet about the history of this mess, but perhaps lacked the patience to pursue it long enough, for I did not find any reference to this history. If it were important enough to me, I might even go to the Public Library for literature on the subject. As it is, I am left guessing. One of my guesses is that it is one of these brilliant NDP achievements with its union friends blocking any move towards a freer market.  Well, yes, they have a good thing going for themselves, what with government salary and job security as good as guaranteed. I am almost jealous! 

But what of its citizen tax payers?  It is unconscionable that these entrepreneurs are forced to purchase their supplies from their competitor, who has virtually unlimited power over the market and part of whose income comes from those very taxes. No government should be allowed to compete with its citizens and no citizen should be saddled with such a competitor-master. I am not anti-government and certainly not anarchist. I'm just a plain old conservative with a Christian twist. Note the small "C," though I am also (still) a large "C-er."

The same argument can also be applied to private schools vs public schools, but that’s a much more complicated issue that I’ve touched upon before and, no doubt, will again in the future. 

I think I will visit my neighbourhood wine store and buy a bottle just to show my support. It would be the first time in my life, not of buying wine but of buying in a private wine shop. 

[With thanks to Bruce Constantineau for his VS article “More choice is a bad thing for private liquor stores” (Aug 15, 2015).]

Post 63—SumOfUs: Protecting the Spoiled CBC

             SumOfUs is a movement of consumers, workers and shareholders speaking     
             with one voice to counterbalance the growing power of large corporations. 
             Join us on our journey as we seek to make the world a better place for 
             ourselves, our children and all who share our planet.  

That’s how this organization introduces itself on the Internet. I’m not sure I’m a member, but I do receive emails from them regularly and every time they urge me to vote for this or that anti-corporate cause. Apparently the organization is capable of arousing millions of people around the globe into action. It really is quite remarkable how it can mobilize those millions to change the actions and policies of various megacorps. I am really quite impressed with them, though I’m not sure I know enough about them to recommend them to you or, to the contrary, to warn you against them.  

I know quite a bit about that corporate world actually and am very aware of the oppressive shenanigans they pull off against the peoples of the world, including their own fellow citizens. If that sounds like a boast, I claim the right to that boast after I wrote a 220-page book on the subject under the title  Caught in the Middle: Christians in Transnational Corporations. The entire book is within your immediate easy reach for free on my website. Just go to < www.SocialTheology.com/Boeriana.htm > and do a search (^F) there.

A few days ago, SumOfUs sent me a message under the heading “Terrifying news for the CBC.” For the non-Canadians among my readers, “CBC” is the acronym for “Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,” the semi-government-owned and, if you can believe them, most popular and most effective broadcaster in the country. It’s what we call a “crown corporation,” by virtue of which it is heavily subsidized by the Federal Government. I may as well be upfront by immediately confessing I’m not all that fond of it, even though I do watch it quite frequently, along with other Canadian channels.

So what’s this “terrifying news?” Allow me to quote SumOfUs’ own “alarming” statement:

Documents were just leaked from the top-secret Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations -- and the news is bad for the CBC. If the TPP passes, Crown corporations like the CBC could be required to operate entirely for profit. And worse -- this move could force the CBC to be privatized.

The mission of the CBC is to tell the bilingual and multicultural story of Canada – not just to exist for corporate profit. Canadian politicians are extremely vulnerable to public pressure right now as they head into one of the longest election campaigns in Canadian history -- let’s make sure our CBC is protected and not sold off for profit.

To make sure readers get the full impact of this horrible scenario, they repeat, “Leaked documents show CBC could be forced to operate solely for profit if the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal passes,” all of it in bold letters. 

Ah, yes, this could turn out to become a Canadian nightmare.  But the axe was not restricted to CBC. Canada Post and “other crown corporations” are also slated for the same treatment. Now I could be motivated to protect Canada Post, since it delivers where private carriers won’t be seen, but to me the CBC is a very different kettle of fish.

I have long been annoyed by this govt-funded CBC. You want a completely govt-funded CBC, but it isn't even now. It advertises like any other medium and, worse, it advertises against the very people who pay the taxes that support it.  I am talking about the private TV and radio stations against which it advertises and competes. Govt should not be competing with and advertising against its own tax payers. Months after this post was published, Andrew Coyne, one of my favourite journalists, wrote that the CBC should be defunded. "This disparate treatment" can no longer be tolerated, he wrote. Among other things, it leads to a sense of superiority vis a vis the private competition (Vancouver Sun, February 18, 2016,  p. B2).

Besides, “for-profit” is not the only alternative. Let CBC become a not-for-profit but privately funded medium. Then it will have to be more concerned to appeal to the public, all the public. Certain religious groups are either ignored or given mostly--mostly, not totally--negative coverage.  I have occasionally watched some of their “comical” programmes, but almost without exception turn them off in disgust at the poor, not to say, brutish, taste displayed on the screen, again often at the expense of certain groups in society.  As it is, it can afford to ignore or lambast without consequences for itself. 

Still another alternative is for government to give some support to all radio and TV channels on condition that they include certain types of programmes alongside those of their own choice. Treat them all alike. Now that would be true pluralism. However, that would be impossible for sure. Coyne writes that if the government subsidizes some, in the name of fairness, it would have to subsidize all, but "that way lies madness." Therefore, if it cannot subsidize all, it should subsidize none.

SumOfUs, you are giving a false picture by suggesting that a purely capitalist system is the only alternative. I am not sure of your motive. Are you getting some kind of support from CBC either in the form of money or favourable coverage? I don't believe you are giving a one-sided picture because you can't think beyond your nose; you're too smart for that. So, there must be a reason, possibly the one I just hinted at. 

In closing, I cannot resist making a statement I’ve made many times in different contexts. If you’re criticizing corporations, don’t forget the largely faceless and nameless people behind them—the shareholders. Some of them may be members of SumOfUs, but it is those shareholders with their demands for and expectations of dividends that drive the corporations.   SumOfUs should consider targeting those shareholders, that is, the ordinary citizens, and hold them also responsible for the distortions they introduce into society.

But perhaps you would like to hear to hear more from the horse’s mouth. That is to say, from the same sources from which SumOfUs got their info. They kindly have left us with the address of their sources, which I herewith pass on to you:

TPP Trade Deal Proposal Would See CBC, Canada Post Exist Solely For Profit, Huffington Post, 30 July 2015.
Analysis of Leaked TPPA Paper for Ministers' Guidance on SOEs, Professor Jane Kelsey, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland, 28 July 2015.

Post 62—Celebrating NASA’s Pluto Miracle

                               

“It’s been an incredible journey,” to quote John Grunsfeld, NASA’s Science Mission Chief, the day the New Horizon came as close to planet Pluto as had been planned or, perhaps a better term, hoped. Grunsfeld’s was a fair enough statement, but I would classify it as an understatement. Of course, he knows better than I do, for he was part of the journey, even if not physically in the New Horizon. To adequately express it, one would need to pile up almost every word denoting extravagance and a myriad of “!!!!’s”. Among the words I would choose is “miracle.”  Yes, a scientific miracle.

“Scientific miracle?”  What’s that? Isn’t that an oxymoron?  It may be to some folks who see the two as opposites. Miracle to them is associated with religion, something from which science is allegedly far removed. That, of course, is a myth, a deceitful one at that. Yet, that myth has become the common sense of our century and thus the politically correct opinion to be contradicted only at your own peril. 

O’o, there’s that thing called contradiction again that I kind of legitimized in Post 60. Well, not really. The contradictions posited by the politically correct are pseudo contradictions, false choices the correctness folk impose on us without a rational basis. Those imposed on us are not contradictions at all. Science and miracle are perfectly comfortable bed partners.  How else explain the fact that modern science in its fetus stage got its start in the bosom of the Christian community, nay, in its very womb?  And, if you know your birds and bees, you know that most of us enter the womb in bed!

I insist on calling this achievement one of the greatest miracles in human history and am perfectly comfortable with that term.  Just think of the astounding numbers associated with it. Taking my data from an Associated Press article in the VS (“A Hallmark in Human History,” July 15, 2015,  B6), the project took 50 years of planning! What foresight, imagination and patience that required!—“the last stop on a planetary tour of the solar system a half-century in the making”!  It was “epic journey… that spanned more than 4.8 billion km and more than nine years”! The nearest it reached the planet was “within 12,300 km” at a speed of 50,000 km/h. Now, driving an RV that far, which I have done more than once, is a distance, but within our planetary environment that’s like next door! It’s like having arrived and all you need to do is to fumble in your pocket to retrieve the key to open the door. I confess to never having driven that fast!  And get this: “It actually happened 72 seconds earlier and about 65 km closer than anticipated”!  I can’t get my mind around that, absolutely not even close. What precision over so many years and kms! Even the cost of this adventure sounds pretty low in a day when we calculate our funds by the billions—a “mere” $720 million!  However, during the very moment of this miracle, NASA staff and friends were justifiably celebrating at countdown central in Laurel, Md., hundreds of them, but “the actual flight control room was empty save for a worker sweeping up”!  I regard this last bit of info as humorously amazing, but, true, somewhat downgraded from miracle.

The above paragraph is probably the most amazing one I have ever written; certainly the one with the most exclamation marks! You can’t write about this venture without inundating your story with those “!!!!’s”! It can’t be done.

Of course, some people, including many Christians, associate miracles only with God. It is true that the major miracle for which God is known is that of His love for a fallen people and His surrendering His Son to reconcile Himself to them.  That is an amazing miracle indeed. However, we don’t need to downplay the miraculous in human life in order to glorify God for His. There’s room for both in the realm of miracles. They are both miraculous, though of different nature and import. We may give full credit to humans when they perform what can only be considered a miracle, without detracting from God.

 I have published stuff on miracles. You can find those materials on my website at          

www.SocialTheology.com/boeriana.htm 

One of these days I hope to return to that subject.

Post 61—Persecution of Christians

                                     

I have decided to devote occasional posts on this blog to persecution of Christians. 

Why this decision? My wife, Fran, and I take time almost daily to meditate on the Bible and pray for ourselves, our family and neighbours, the Church and the world. One regular feature of these prayers is to read about persecuted Christians all over the world.  Over time this routine has made us very aware of this persecution not only but also very sensitive, tearful even and sad to think of our brothers and sisters in other countries being beaten, imprisoned and/or killed.  We read of their families getting ripped apart; children being orphaned; churches, homes and possessions destroyed or taken away; authorities like police and judges ignoring the law.  You read about this regularly and it gets to your heart; you become emotional, frequently indignant if not downright angry.

Today I am not going to describe any specific cases or tell concrete stories about persecution. This being our first post on the subject, I want to introduce you to people who monitor this situation and who help persecuted Christians throughout the world. There are a number of such organizations, but the one I am the most familiar with is BarnabasAid and its website < barnabasaid.org  >. They publish bi-monthly daily prayer booklets in which almost every prayer tells a persecution story.  They also publish a bi-monthly magazine that backs up the prayers with stories and other details.  In addition, they continuously publish books on the subject.  However, their main task is to render food and financial or legal aid to persecuted Christians, either individuals or communities. 

I have written quite extensively about BarnabasAid and its Director, Patrick Sookhdeo, in volume 8 of my series Studies in Christian-Muslim Studies and would urge you to check that out on the internet or go to either my website <  www.SocialTheology.com/Islamica.htm > or to <  www.lulu.com  >.   

I largely support him and usually agree with him except for one thing. He is stuck in the traditional western worldview that dualistically separates religion from other affairs and cannot understand how religion can legitimately mix with politics and economics, to name but two aspects of culture.  This makes it difficult for him to understand certain aspects of Islam, for example, especially its wholistic character.

            

There are more such monitoring organizations to some of which I will introduce you in due time.