Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 2257 - 2281 of 3750
There’s an old saying that people living in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks. The moral is that before criticizing others, you should make sure your own house is in order. Companies, such as REI, supporting Gov. Inslee’s climate change legislation should heed that advice. REI is an iconic Northwest retailer of high-end outdoor gear popular with nature enthusiasts and millennials. REI has been a big booster of Gov. Inslee’s climate change agenda which pits Washington businesses against one another. The company hosted the governor’s rollout of...
Who are they? The Gazette had a front page story, below the fold, about Patagonia buying full page ads in several newspapers in Washington state. These ads were to get people to agree and contact our state senators to attempt to destroy four hydroelectric dams. The ads failed to mention these dams have generated very cheap power for Washington residents for many years. If these dams were gone, several unintended consequences would be: 1. Electricity rates for many Whitman County users would skyrocket. 2. Every spring these rivers would run...
Manicures and pedicures aren't usually news or fodder for commentary, but a blockbuster report in The New York Times has made them a compelling issue. Under the headline "The Price of Nice Nails," the story cataloged the abusive treatment of workers in New York City's ubiquitous nail salons. The story generated an enormous reaction; it highlighted the poignant juxtaposition of affluent women enjoying what once would have been a luxury, thanks to poor, exploited women with no other options. It is a tableau that doesn't feel very American or...
"Used to be I couldn't spell 'politician.' Now I are one." Yes, it's come to that. It seems that now candidates are proudly declaring as they run for the most powerful political office in the world that they don't know the first thing about politics. In fact, neurosurgeon-turned-presidential-candidate Ben Carson made no brains about it: "I'm not a politician," he insisted. "I don't want to be a politician. Because politicians do what is politically expedient -- I want to do what's right." Easier said than done, Ben. There are an awful lot of...
The candidate filing period is closed. Even the special three-day filing period for positions without a candidate closed Wednesday. The look of the August ballot is decided, except perhaps for a write-in challenge. Mary Dye of Pomeroy, just appointed to fill Susan Fagan’s vacated state representative seat, has filed to retain that seat by popular vote. Two others, Richard Lathim of Pasco and Kenneth Caylor of Othello, have filed to take it for themselves. In Colfax, incumbent Todd Vanek wants to keep his job. Two others want it as well. F...
How is Seattle’s Lighthouse for the Blind connected to the Export-Import Bank? Very closely. Since 1918, The Lighthouse for the Blind has provided education, training and manufacturing jobs for people with visual and hearing disabilities. Of the 400 people currently employed there, approximately 240 are blind or deaf-blind. In its certified machine shop, the Lighthouse employs more than 70 visual or hearing-impaired machinists whose customer list includes the Federal Defense Logistics Agency, The Boeing Company and BAE Systems. The m...
Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2010. I’ve read that an average dog possesses a vocabulary of 200-300 words, which is enough for him to have his own Twitter account. Most people won’t buy their dogs a smartphone, though, so you don’t see too many canines tweeting their friends unless they have access to a computer. Probably from the dogs’ point of view there are a lot of words they would just as soon not know, the N-word being the most obnoxious. Here’s an excerpt from a dog’s wiki-dictionary on known words:...
Three things Could we ask our state legislators to do three things regarding recreational drugs? One would be to take some action against the largest recreational drugs. What’s to stop our state from declaring that alcohol, tobacco (and marijuana?) are semi-legal drug s— legal enough to be sold in restricted circumstances, but not legal enough to be advertised? Tobacco kills 420,000 Americans each year, and alcohol is the number one drug related to crimes of violence, including violent sexual predations, and produces about half the workload for...
Our country is unraveling, right before our eyes. No longer can we treat the eruptions of violence in places like Baltimore as isolated incendiary incidents. If, as a nation, we don’t take immediate remedial action, which means a complete overhaul of a brutally unfair system, the grudges that have simmered for so many generations will explode wherever there are people who are oppressed by those who benefit from a grossly inequitable economic system. It’s too easy to dismiss the rioting in Baltimore as the actions of some punks who went on a r...
President Barack Obama responded to the Baltimore riots with a heartfelt bout of self-righteous hectoring. Supposedly, we all know what’s wrong with Baltimore and how to fix it, but don’t care enough. Not only is this attitude highhanded, it rests on a flagrantly erroneous premise. President Obama doesn’t have the slightest idea how to fix Baltimore. His solutions fall back on liberal bromides going back 50 years. Dating back to the Kerner Commission after the riots of the 1960s, the left’s go-to solution to urban problems has been more so...
Numerous local elected positions are coming up for a vote throughout the county. Friday is the last day to file for these offices and to be on the fall ballot. These positions are of vital importance to the direction municipalities, school districts and other taxing districts take. Those elected to these posts can make a big difference. These are the positions that intimately affect local lives and communities. The outcome of these elections often have a greater impact on communities than elections for higher offices. This voting cycle, which i...
Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2010. My parents live in the part of the United States that is Canada. It is so far north that Minnesota lies in the same direction as Miami. They have four distinct seasons: Winter, More Winter, Still More Winter, and That One Day of Summer. They’re not completely isolated: They can send and receive text messages, for example, provided they have pen and paper handy. And electricity is a lot more reliable now that it no longer comes from flying a kite in a thunderstorm. It sti...
The Longshoremen’s work slowdown that snarled west coast ports for nine months is over, leaving behind bitter memories and billions in economic damages. But the global trends that foreshadowed that port disruption remain. Big container ships are coming to Washington ports and they are behemoths. Stand one upright and it would be taller than the Empire State Building. A decade ago, the world’s largest container ship sailing into the ports of Seattle and Tacoma carried 9,600 20-foot containers — enough to hold 1.3 million color TVs or 50 milli...
(Open letter from Susan Fagan written last week prior to her resignation from office) Proud to serve It is with a sad heart that I am informing the governor by letter tomorrow that I am resigning, effective at the close of business Friday. This is not a decision I made lightly. It concludes a process that began about six months ago, when issues were raised regarding mileage reimbursements from the state. After careful review of my records, many of these concerns have been resolved. At the same time, I agreed that some were problematic, and...
When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks, the world should listen. He has a much keener sense of the direction of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program than the president of the United States, and is evidently much more forthright about it. When the Iranians and the United States cut what was portrayed as a tentative deal on the Iranian nuclear program, they described it differently. The U.S. emphasized that sanctions would only be phased out gradually and that inspections would ensure complete transparency. Ayatollah Khamenei tweeted that t...
I used to go to the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, but wouldn’t now, even if I was invited, which I’m not. It has evolved into a country-come-to-town grabfest where those who skulk around Washington’s power centers mingle with Hollywood stars, corporate sponsors and their political sources, playing like they’re exciting, or even interesting. One of the highlights, though, is the speech from the president, where the chief executive pretends he likes the press while making remarks dripping with sarcastic, and might I add funny...
(Della Evans of Hooper contributed this poem in memory of Gazette reporter Sally Ousley who died over the weekend.) For Sally, I think you would have liked this poem had you had time. Rest in peace my friend. A Favor Don’t sing any sad songs for me. Rejoice and be happy. For it is time to put me away, so get together and celebrate this day. Because I’m looking forward to this next step I’m to take And I’ll take my pen, pencil and camera through the gate. I think the Boss probably knows I’ll be happy reporting this new adventure for me I’m go...
Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2010. The Internet has turned the world into one gigantic linked community, capable of instantly sharing vast amounts of incorrect information. Anyone can create a “fact,” such as, “If you do nothing but watch sports all weekend, the lack of physical activity will convince your body it is slipping into a coma, so to stave off unconsciousness it will start burning calories like crazy.” Post this new fact to a blog, and the search engines will dutifully pick it up so you can win a...
To many, giving President Obama more authority is a bad idea. However, regardless of how you feel about him, the President of the United States needs the power to negotiate trade agreements. The issue before Congress is a bipartisan bill granting the President’s trade negotiators the power to help write the terms of trade agreements. Senators Orin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) brokered the deal, which hopefully makes its way through Congress. World trade creates 38 million American jobs, 846,000 in Washington. Our state has the h...
Deserve better The very recently hired City Administrator and City Treasurer along with the Mayor had determined that fraud had occurred involving the City books. The State Auditor had a routine audit of the City books scheduled. During that time the State Auditor was hired by the City to do an additional audit without knowing the extra cost. The result of that audit was that there was no fraud. The employees, former and current, deserve better than being described as contributing to anything that could possibly be described as fraud. Fraud by...
Baltimore was ablaze Monday night as rioting throngs in various parts of the city looted and battled with police. Violence occurred again Tuesday night. The riots grew from protests over the death of a young African-American man while in police custody. Local police were reinforced by area law enforcement, the state police and the national guard. Calls also went out for more firefighters. Rioters tried to destroy fire hoses as the firefighters fought blazes. The governor declared a state of emergency and a curfew is now in place. Schools are...
A rigid rule of life: Never ever ask someone “Do you know who I am?” — particularly when you’re irate at how you’re being treated. Second, always remember that everything you do is being recorded by cameras that are now everywhere, except the bathroom ... at least some bathrooms. We don’t need to tell that to Britt McHenry, who, of all things, makes her living on-camera, presenting herself as one of the many blond, young female news and sportscasters who are all over TV these days. Fox News is crawling with them, but Britt McHenry is on ESPN....
Prepare for the rise of the landed nobility. Democracy as we’ve known it was nice while it lasted, but House Republicans have signaled the beginning of its end with a vote to repeal the estate tax. Or so you would believe, based on the hysterics on the left over the proposed end of a minor, inefficient tax that is evidently the fragile keystone of our system of government and way of life. “Repealing the estate tax will surely sow the seeds of a permanent aristocracy in this country,” according to Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington. His colle...
Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2010. Of all the major-league sports that I follow, probably the one that asks the most of its elite athletes is competitive eating. That is why I was stunned and saddened to hear that one of the top face-stuffers in the world, Takeru Kobayashi, was arrested at this year’s international hot-dog-eating contest on Coney Island. Takeru reportedly “went berserk” during the contest, reminding all of us of the time that Mike Tyson became so worked up in a boxing match he bit both of...
Will you celebrate Tax Freedom Day this year? Until April 24, every penny we’ve earned in 2015 goes to pay your taxes. While this year, national Tax Freedom Day is 114 days into the year, for us in Washington, it won’t arrive until April 29. In 2015, Americans will pay $3.28 trillion in federal taxes and $1.57 trillion in state and local taxes, for a total tax bill of $4.85 trillion. That is a whopping amount, virtually impossible for you and me to grasp. But think about it this way: If you earned $40,000 a year, it would take you 125 mil...
