Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 1095 - 1119 of 3750
I normally watch the news as I brew my morning cup of tea. As we were experiencing a significant winter storm, I was anxious to check school closures and road conditions. I was disappointed to find all news channels filled with Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony. I could either turn off the TV or watch the proceedings as I prepared my scrambled eggs with toast. I thought I could at least find out how Mr. Cohen got into so much trouble. After three cups of tea, I was left wondering why all the hype. I still don’t know what Cohen did wro...
The draft has had a tumultuous history ever since the draft riots during the Civil War. More recently, draft riots rocked the nation during the Vietnam War. Although the Selective Service mechanism for drafting citizens into the military has remained intact, it has not been used since 1973. That is because the country shifted to an all volunteer military. The draft is now back in the news. A judge recently declared the Selective Service all-male draft unconstitutional. The fact of registering 18 to 25 year old males is legal enough, but not...
Okeydokes The lady in the pickup who picked me up walking up the hill towards the hospital. Do a random act of kindness for someone....
It's already begun. With the first serious discussion of "Medicare-for-all," meaning government-financed health care, and with the introduction of the so-called Green New Deal, those on the right, and even those who get away with describing themselves as moderates, are flinging around the S-word like it's the ultimate pejorative. Oh F-word it, let's be clear: They're braying about -- gasp -- "SOCIALISM." To borrow from the "The Music Man," it starts with an "S" and that rhymes with "mess." So, what is this scourge? My online dictionary defines...
The day has arrived in the Democratic Party when Sherrod Brown is a kind of moderate. The impeccably progressive Ohio senator who has long occupied a spot on the left flank of the Democratic caucus is declining to sign up for the fashionable radical causes of the hour. Brown has not endorsed the Bernie Sanders "Medicare-for-all" plan that contemplates the end of private insurance in America, nor for the outlandishly expensive and eminently mockable Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "Green New Deal." This marks Brown out from other Democratic senators...
I did not vote for Trump. Almost every day my choice not to elect him is vindicated by what he does and what he says. The worst fear I have is how he puts the U.S.A., our country, at risk. This is a so-called Commander-In-Chief who abruptly without consultation with the generals whom he says he respects, announced on twitter that America would be pulling our troops out of the fight with ISIS fighters. This is a President who said his number one job was keeping Americans safe, and yet he meets in secret with a hostile leader, Putin of Russia,...
The animosity expressed by tone of voice, facial expressions and questions about undocumented people (i.e. illegal aliens) at political meetings amazes me. I attended a 'Conversations with Cathy' meeting in Medical Lake in October 2018 when disdain for the undocumented was expressed by one woman who shouted out “Build that Wall” and others appeared to agree. On Feb. 21, I attended another 'Conversations with Cathy' meeting in Medical Lake. After Representative McMorris Rodger’s opening remarks, the first rather aggressive question was why t...
I went to college in New York. It was a long way from home, but West Point offered to let me play football in exchange for a quality education and a career. New York was quite a culture shock for a small town farm boy. The drinking age was 18; the voting age was 21, and the only thing that prevented us from smoking was the price of cigarettes. We did most of the stupid things that college kids do, but no one got hurt that I know of, and we didn’t break any laws. Times have sure changed. College kids are now deemed mature enough to vote at a...
Through out the country’s history, states have faced efforts to divide them up. A current movement is to split California into three states. Arizona, Maine and Michigan are just a few that have faced similar efforts in the past. Our own state, Washington, has over the years faced the threat of being split. The movement is fundamentally spurred by the overwhelming imbalance of population and the difference in political ideologies and life styles in those populations. A current effort is most visibly centered around a state representative from S...
Okeydokes The plow crews! We live on Parvin Road and they do a fantastic job keeping our road clear. For neighbors on Southview who saved their elderly neighbors from the snow....
When it comes to stories, most of us prefer tacky over technical. Tacky trumps substance. Or these days, attack-y Trump deflects substance. That certainly could explain the decidedly non-substantive high interest in Jeff Bezos, one of President Tweet's favorite targets. (True, there are thousands of favorite targets on Trump's list.) Normally, Bezos does not generate sordid fascination. The founder of Amazon, he is the richest man in the world, and he does own The Washington Post, as any reader can tell you after being treated to that disclaime...
If Democrats are held to their own standards, then all three embattled state officials in the Commonwealth of Virginia should resign. Even if Gov. Ralph Northam didn't appear in blackface in an image in his medical-school yearbook, he confessed to once darkening his face as part of a Michael Jackson costume. Attorney General Mark Herring, who called Northam's conduct indefensible, also used blackface once. Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has been accused of sexual assault. If ever wearing blackface -- even in the 1980s, as both Northam and...
Sometimes you don't have to say a whole lot to say a whole lot. I support Colfax Chief of Police, Rick McNannay. --Ron Conrad, Colfax...
How refreshing it was to see the picture on the front page of the Gazette February 7, 2019 edition. A public meeting in the Steptoe school gymnasium was held on a floor that had been protected from damage caused by rocks, mud and water damage. My husband informed me that practice has been done since he was in school. He is now 81 years old. What a novel idea. Take care of what you have. I have read nothing that puts in place a plan that would maintain this $18.4 million remodel for 581 students at Colfax. A former school board member informed...
I would like to tip my hat to the Colfax High School staff and students for their generous hospitality in allowing the Southeast District 9 1B schools to hold their district tournament at the high school last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It begins as soon as you walk in the door and are greeted with a smile and assistance from Janel Stirling and the other office staff. Next, the willingness and flexibility of superintendent Jerry Pugh and principal Carrie Lipe allowed us in the school and let us adjust our dates when weather created a...
Frank Watson, in your opinion “State of Our Union," (WC Gazette, Feb. 14, 2019) you voice well-founded concerns about government intrusions in our lives. You state, “If the federal government can go beyond the Constitution to regulate abortions, it can go beyond the Constitution to regulate other matters. That's wrong.” Your reasoning would lead to the conclusion that we need a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing the citizens' right to privacy. --Mark Olson, Seattle...
The circumstances leading to Amazon’s decision to scrap its New York City project are trends corporate leaders need to examine closely. There are cultural and political shifts in America which are changing the way business is done. Amazon walked away from its deal struck with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio which would create 25,000 new jobs and added $27 billion in new city and state tax revenue. In return, Cuomo and de Blasio, who actively courted Amazon, p...
It is still up in the air. The long awaited compromise to avoid another government shutdown is in the works. It is being cautiously called an agreement “in principle.” A tentative agreement may be a better description. As of this writing, stalwarts on both sides are not enthusiastic, but more main stream members of both houses of Congress have made progress in crafting legislation to end the threat of a second shutdown as President Trump vowed. The votes in both houses seem to be enough to bring the deal to the President. At this point, how...
Okeydokes Palouse mayor should school Colfax! The county commissioners, who trekked out to meet constituents at the Steptoe school, came to listen and not to direct. It was a very good meeting. Our lovely friend who gave us the beautiful copper stamped sign. Very grateful at Penewawa....
I know that the suspense has been unbearable, but I'm finally ready to make my announcement: I am not running for president. I realize that by doing so, I have aligned myself with 328,113,170 or so other Americans who also have decided not to run for president. We have much in common, including our shared contempt for nearly all of those, on all sides, who practice the dark arts of politics, most of whom are running for president. In case you were wondering why I found it necessary to announce that I'm forgoing an election campaign, it's...
Sen. Kamala Harris committed a most unusual gaffe at her recent CNN town hall -- not by misspeaking about one of her central policy proposals, but by describing it accurately. Asked if the "Medicare-for-all" plan she's co-sponsoring with Sen. Bernie Sanders eliminates private health insurance, she said that it most certainly does. Citing insurance company paperwork and delays, she waved her hand: "Let's eliminate all of that. Let's move on." She met with approbation from the friendly audience in Des Moines, Iowa, but the reaction elsewhere was...
Although others have written about the importance of vaccination in light of the measles outbreak in Southwestern Washington, our representative Joe Schmick believes that decision is best left up to parents and their doctors! He is known as the healthcare expert, so he must know that if people who can be vaccinated are not, like in Southwestern Washington, it can lead to epidemics. If only those who chose not to vaccinate were affected, that would not be such an issue. However, children younger than 15 months who cannot yet be vaccinated,...
America’s drift away from our market-based economic system is perplexing. Equally, mystifying is the new push to replace entrepreneurs with government bureaucrats in planning and controlling services and products offered to us--the consumers. Scrapping capitalism is a very bad idea. History shows that socialist and communist regimes dominated by strong-armed dictators, such as in Venezuela, and Soviet-style politburos are ripe for economic collapse and suppression of free speech and human r...
Along with millions of other Americans, I watched last week’s State of the Union Address. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it. The President was uncharacteristically subdued. He didn’t pick any fights nor call anyone names. He was definitely un-Trumplike. The Democrats and the national press hate everything the President does, so it was no surprise when they discounted everything he said. Republicans, on the other hand, proclaimed it to be the best speech since Gettysburg. To me, it was kind of bland. One short segment...
After threats and counter threats, invitations and disinvitations, the State of the Union Address finally occurred. President Trump gave his speech from the House of Representatives Tuesday night. Behind him, Nancy Pelosi sat listening, sometimes engaged and sometimes reading from what appeared to be pages of future spontaneous remarks. Beside her was Vice President Pence, as always emulating the FIGI water girl. Not many State of the Union speeches are love fests. This could have been more tense than normal, but it wasn’t. In fact, the w...
