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  • Bob Franken: Founders and Floundering

    Jun 22, 2016

    As I was watching the Tony presentations, where the remarkable musical "Hamilton" was showered with honors, I could not shake the feeling that Alexander Hamilton and our nation's other founders would be worried that this glorious experiment in democracy was being overwhelmed by hatred. It's not just the hatred of that maniac who, several hours before the awards telecast, had pretended he was an Islamic warrior as justification to massacre some of those whose alternative views of sex had apparently enraged him. As we all know, he chose a gay...

  • Crack art

    Jun 22, 2016

    This is about crack art. No, it may not be what you think. It has nothing to do with low-rider pants. Crack art is small-scale urban art that uses imperfections in buildings and cracks in sidewalks as a starting point. It is sort of like graffiti, but smaller. And, it does not necessarily need a flat surface. Crack art can be found around the world. It is now just catching on in America. As stated in the story this week, Colfax may be the first to really promote and encourage the idea. A little creativity and just the right crack or... Full story

  • Don C. Brunell: Oregon’s Tax Measure Potential Boom for Washington

    Jun 15, 2016

    Washington’s next economic development plan may be written by Oregon voters next November. The plan’s centerpiece is a new gross receipts tax which would transform Oregon from one of the nation’s lowest business tax burden states to one of the nation’s highest. IP28 (Initiative Petition) would create a 2.5 percent tax on total sales for companies operating in Oregon. The threshold is $25 million or more each year. If enacted, it would set a $30,000 annual minimum tax for these corporations and then tack on another 2.5 percent on sales above $... Full story

  • Letters June 16

    Jun 15, 2016

    Taken away I am writing this letter because I can, thank God, still share my opinion as an American citizen. This past year I have been feeling like many of my freedoms are being taken away without my opinion being considered. For example, last year the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) changed my teaching certification without notifying me or the district I teach in. When my administrator called OSPI to ask why they would do that to hundreds of teachers throughout the state without notification the answer was...

  • Bob Franken: Paul Ryan's Amorality

    Jun 15, 2016

    Of all the Republicans displaying their two faces in accommodating Donald Trump, none is more obnoxious than Paul Ryan. Ryan has spent years carefully constructing his own pedestal upon which he has placed himself as the conscientious conservative intellectual who is above petty politics. It was the platform from which he maneuvered to become House speaker. It turns out that the pedestal is nothing more than a sanctimonious mirage. By endorsing Trump, while at the same time expressing concern about the GOP presumptive nominee's various... Full story

  • Too much hatred

    Jun 15, 2016

    The worst mass shooting in U.S. history occurred in Orlando, Florida, over the weekend. The current count of dead is 49. An additional 53 were injured. The scene was a gay nightclub. The shooter was a radicalized young man with jihadist sympathies. He had been twice investigated by the FBI, although the investigations ended without any charges. Just before the shooting he legally purchased two guns, the ones used in the massacre. The outrage over the murders is intense. The response is worldwide. Millions grieve over the tragedy and seek...

  • On the record

    Jun 8, 2016

    MARRIAGE LICENSES Carlos M. Olivares, 24, and Angeline Mali Phouksouvath, 25, both Pullman, May 24. Jonna Angel Davis, 22, and Emily Morgan Cates, 35, both Pullman, May 25. Zheng-Ming Dong, 75, and Kwang An Ni, 63, both Pullman, May 25. Anthony Tyler Ochs, 21, Jonissa Bandia Adams, 20, both Colfax, May 27. Drew Michael St. Marie, 33, and Bethany Harris Hobaugh, 47, both LaCrosse, May 27. Robert Dennis Schoepflin, 33, and Carly Michelle Raska, 29, both Palouse, May 27. Savuth Vann, 30, and Alyshia Raene Rosiles, 29, both Colfax, May 31. Justin... Full story

  • Don C. Brunnell: Lost Economic Opportunities from Energy Projects Mounting

    Jun 8, 2016

    Recently, the Wall Street Journal pegged the economic value of fossil-fuel related projects which were rejected or withdrawn since 2012 at $33 billion. But the costs of lost opportunities are much higher nationally if the list includes wind, coal and other energy developments canceled prior to 2011. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that if the 351 projects identified in its “Project No Project” inventory were approved our nation would have a $1.1 trillion short-term boost to the economy and created 1.9 million jobs for construction wor...

  • Rich Lowry: In Defense of the Cincinnati Zoo

    Jun 8, 2016

    The typical response when someone saves a small child from harm isn't "How dare you?" But the Cincinnati Zoo has been subjected to a torrent of abuse for making the agonizing decision to shoot and kill one of its gorillas, a 17-year-old silverback named Harambe, when a 4-year-old boy fell into his enclosure. Invariably, the adjective used to describe Harambe is "magnificent," and rightly so. Gorillas are physically imposing and highly intelligent, with sophisticated social structures. In a better world, they probably wouldn't be confined for...

  • Bob Franken: Hillary vs. Donald, Bernie and Hillary

    Jun 8, 2016

    Maybe Hillary Clinton's supporters are correct that after she's finally put Bernie Sanders away, she'll stop slipping and once again widen her lead against the outlandish Donald Trump. But that presupposes that Bernie has any intention of being put away, even after he finally loses and Hillary officially claims the nomination. It's entirely possible that the hard feelings will remain and the natural allies will continue to be separated by the false hopes and resentments generated by the Sanders campaign. His millions of followers might be so em... Full story

  • Presumptive losers

    Jun 8, 2016

    The general election for president of the United States has essentially begun. Hillary Clinton has won the race for the Democratic nomination against Bernie Sanders. Tuesday, in the last of the Super Tuesdays, Clinton won four states, including California. This puts her pledged delegate count well above that necessary to be nominated as the party’s candidate. Without question, she is the presumptive Democratic nominee. Bernie Sanders cannot claim any chance for the nomination or even a brokered convention. Hillary has him beaten even if he w...

  • Don C. Brunell: Stay at Home Millennials

    Jun 1, 2016

    Today, more millennials are moving back home even though the economy is improving and wages are inching upward. Recently, Pew Research Center revealed that a third of young adults today are more likely to live with their parents than they were before the Great Recession. Unemployment among young adults has been dropping since 2010, as has the number of millennials living independently. In 2007, prior to the recession, about 42.7 million individuals in that age group lived on their own. In the years in between, the population of 18 to...

  • Letters

    Jun 1, 2016

    Trail correction Thank you for the news article about the meeting June 5 in Pullman to discuss the fate of the Colfax to Pullman rail line. This line is out of service and has been since August, 2006, when fire destroyed a trestle just south of Colfax. However, there is one major flaw in the story. The article says the purpose of the meeting is to determine “the fate of the state-owned rail line corridor.” It further states “DOT owns the asset.” This leads one to believe the State of Washington owns the rails, the ties, the road bed and the... Full story

  • Rich Lowry: The Trump-Sanders Two-Step

    Jun 1, 2016

    The upshot of the Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump phenomena is that both parties are moving to the left. Sanders' and Trump's styles and affects are very different -- the rumpled, oddball lecturer in Socialism 101 vs. the boastful, power-tie-wearing business mogul -- but they have worked in tandem to ensure that the center of gravity in this fall's presidential election will be further to the left than it has been in decades. By seizing the initiative in their race from the beginning to what looks like an increasingly bitter end, Bernie... Full story

  • Bob Franken: Daisy Then and Now

    Jun 1, 2016

    I wonder if the Democrats' plans against Donald Trump include reprising the "Daisy" ad. It was a major success in 1964 when Lyndon Johnson's campaign released it in an effort to portray Republican nominee Barry Goldwater as a dangerous wild man. It simply featured a 3-year-old girl innocently counting flower petals and ended with a nuclear explosion, then a voice-over: "Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd; the stakes are too high for you to stay home." The Democrats have made no bones about the fact they will hammer at Trump as an even...

  • There’s more than just the military

    Jun 1, 2016

    The Memorial Day parades and speeches are over. From the wreath laying by President Obama at Arlington National Cemetery and the patriotic concert in the National Mall to all the smaller celebrations across the country, Memorial Day was commemorated in a traditionally patriotic manner. The importance and the sacrifices of our military were honored and recognized. Those in the military, especially in times of conflict, provide vital service to the country. However, since the initiation of the all-volunteer military, a smaller and smaller... Full story

  • Rich Lowry: The Bathroom Putsch

    May 25, 2016

    The authors of The Federalist Papers neglected to explain the fearsome powers that inhere in the "Dear Colleague" letter under our system of government. It is the instrument by which middling bureaucrats impose their will on the nation, as the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education and the principal deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice just did in the matter of transgender bathroom policy in our schools and colleges. The transgender edict is a perfect distillation of the... Full story

  • Don C. Brunell: Tips for a Safe Memorial Day Trip

    May 25, 2016

    The good news this Memorial Day weekend is more than 38 million Americans are expected to travel, making the unofficial kickoff to summer this year the second busiest on record. AAA reports nearly 34 million people across the nation will be driving, which is up by 2.1 percent from last year. Air travel is expected to increase as well with 2.6 million Americans taking to the skies. AAA finds stable or lower costs for airfares, rental cars and hotels. Compared with 2015, gas prices average up to 50 cents a gallon lower. So what’s the bad news? T...

  • Bob Franken: The Mean Latrine Scene

    May 25, 2016

    I'm certain I'm not the first to raise this question about the North Carolina anti-transgender law. We've all heard that the state now requires those who use public toilets, locker rooms and other male-female separated facilities to relieve themselves only in spaces designated for their gender on the day they were born: My question is, how will that be determined? Will there be potty police stationed at each entrance to check birth certificates? What if you're like most of us and don't carry your birth certificate with you? Then what? Are you...

  • It is not Disneyland

    May 25, 2016

    The national holiday honoring those who served in the nation’s military is this Monday. It makes for a three-day weekend. This is the time veterans and active military are spotlighted. Nearly every city has some special ceremony to commemorate and honor veterans. It is also when politicians give tributes and announce undying support for them. Veterans are an easy mark. Everyone declares support for them. Most often that support dwindles and does not always translate into tangible help. The government connection to many veterans is the much m...

  • Don C. Brunell: It is Time to Deal with our National Debt

    May 18, 2016

    Now that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are certain to be the Democrat and Republican presidential candidates, it is time for them to deal with our national debt. Our nation is on an unsustainable borrowing trajectory. We now owe more than $19 trillion to lenders of which nearly half are off shore (including China). At the rate which we are selling treasury notes, the deficit will balloon to $21.1 trillion by 2020. That means when the presidential election rolls around in four years, each taxpayer’s share of the debt repayment will be $... Full story

  • Rich Lowry: Blowing Smoke on E-Cigarettes

    May 18, 2016

    Down through all the millennia that mankind has smoked tobacco, no one would have believed (or even imagined) that a battery-powered contraption with no tobacco would one day be considered a tobacco product. We've long had smokeless tobacco; now we have tobaccoless tobacco. This conceptual breakthrough is the work of federal bureaucrats who are bringing the regulatory hammer down on e-cigarettes in a misbegotten extension of the war on smoking. The Food and Drug Administration has issued new rules so onerous that they will likely suppress the... Full story

  • BOB FRANKEN: The Tawdry Quandary

    May 18, 2016

    You gotta hand it to House Speaker Paul Ryan. He has successfully staked his claim to the moral high ground -- at least when it comes to his image crafting. So it shouldn't have been a surprise when he was asked by CNN's Jake Tapper whether he'd now endorse his party's presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, that he and his staff had prepared a ready answer: "I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now." Translation: What's in this for me? In politics, it's "whatever keeps me/us in power." Remember that as we ponder the...

  • Remarks at Hiroshima

    May 18, 2016

    President Barack Obama will be in Japan this month. While there, he will be the first U.S. President to visit the city of Hiroshima. Hiroshima was devastated at the end of World War II by the first atomic bomb used in combat. The city was virtually destroyed. Thousands of Japanese civilians died instantaneously. Thousands more died later of burns and radiation poisoning. After a second atomic bomb exploded over a second Japanese city, Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered, and the final phase of World War II ended. This was in 1945. No sooner had...

  • Don C. Brunell: Awakening of Undercover Boss

    May 11, 2016

    One of the highest rated television programs during Super Bowl week last February was “Undercover Boss.” According to the Nielsen ratings, it drew 6.8 million viewers. By contrast, the Greatest Super Bowl Halftime Shows had 5.72 million. Viewers’ watched CEOs leave their comfortable corporate offices, disguise themselves as workers, and risked the humiliation of doing something wrong. It is all about an awakening to what really happens on the company’s front lines. Too often people see “big bosses” as aloof and guiding the organization using im... Full story

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