by Rob Wipond, September 2010

Out of sight from parents and the general public, school teachers and administrators are waging an increasingly tense battle over children with special needs—and the outcome could influence the future of public education.

It’s discouraging. It’s depressing,” says Julia Christianson, a special education teacher at Cedar Hill Middle School. “I have many parents cry on my shoulder. And many times I ask myself, ‘What else can I do?’”

Now, like many teachers, Christianson is protesting publicly. And it’s not about pay, benefits, or holidays; it’s about “class size and composition.” Just a fuzzy phrase to outsiders, it’s gradually become a flashpoint for public education.

by Sam Williams, September 2010

Round 2 in the battle of Johnson Street Bridge finally gets underway

"My recommendations and conclusions will be along these lines: Retrofit rather than replace...retrofit to lifeline standards can be achieved by installing a new, relatively flexible foundation to relieve the existing timber pile arrangement. Together with electrical/mechanical upgrades, painting and other rehab items this retrofit option is currently estimated to cost in the order of $8.6M." —Dr Joost Meyboom, November 21, 2008

by Leslie Campbell, September 2010

How corporate media killed quality journalism.

It’s not every month that Focus gets threatening letters from a big corporation. But this month the Times Colonist took issue with one of our web commentaries by Sam Williams. We were confronted with the possibility of being sued by an outfit with deep pockets—or making a small change. We chose the latter.

by Gene Miller, September 2010

A different set of maps might help extend humanity’s stay on planet Earth.

As I write at the start of August, I’m coming across the occasional online speculation that while the oil at the surface of the Gulf of Mexico appears to have dissipated—broken up by storms and wave action, magically re-absorbed by the biota in the seawater, dispersed by chemicals—there is a “lake” of oil a mile down, held in place by the enormous cold and pressures of the ocean depths. 

Matthew Simmons, Houston-based oil investment banker and peak oil whistle-blower (Twilight in the Desert, 2005), a cold-sober observer of industry doings, wonders about the potential for ocean storm turbulence to dislodge this oil from its resting place, releasing not just the tarry substance but the exceptional toxicity of methane and related ingredients and, potentially, forcing the hasty human evacuation of a vast coastal arc of the Gulf. 

by Briony Penn, September 2010

The birds and the bees are missing in action and so, as Stockwell Day says, what we need are more prisons.

I couldn’t agree more with Stockwell Day that there is a rise in “unreported crimes.” I have been keeping a tally this summer of crimes against our life systems that no one reports. The interesting thing about such unreported crimes is that not only is the activity itself a crime, but the lack of reporting is one too. And both are escalating precipitously. 

I have absolutely no data to prove the degree of assault on ecosystems. All I have are my eyes and intuition, because the federal scientists who normally gather statistical data on population declines and environmental impacts and threats have either been let go, muzzled or resigned in passionate frustration. 

As for evidence of lack of reporting, I only have the absence of data to go on.