Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 2282 - 2306 of 3750
A helping hand? The original intention of the SSI/DSHS programs were set up to assist the disabled or impoverished - e.g. those born with mental/physical ailments that make it difficult for them to do what others are more easily able to accomplish; And/or those who find themselves placed in an unexpected situation in which they are ill prepared for and in need of temporary assistance due to illness, accident, single parent etc. The SSI/DSHS system was NOT designed for and does not have the funds or capability to support those whom are able but...
You can never know what that wacky Hillary Clinton will do next. At the outset of her latest presidential campaign, she decided to drive from New York to Iowa for her first campaign stop. Or, to be more precise, she decided to be driven to Iowa by a Secret Service agent as part of a three-car caravan in keeping with her security needs. For a former first lady and global celebrity, this is traveling light and spontaneous — let’s load up the Secret Service detail and blow this joint. Her campaign referred to her vehicle as “her Scooby van,...
With all that divides us these days, there are certain things that we all have in common. Think about it. For instance: Is there anybody reading this who doesn’t have a local TV news station with the slogan “7 on Your Side,” “11 on Your Side” or “13 blah, blah, blah ....” It’s the handiwork of the consultants who advise their broadcasting clients that they must establish a personal rapport with you, the viewer, by being “on your side.” It’s their way of stating that they care about you more than, say, ratings and big bucks from advertiser...
Over the last few issues of the Gazette, individuals have been running ads promoting the new Tomosynthesis 3-D mammography equipment at Whitman Hospital and Medical Center. The individuals running the ads are women who have had breast cancer. They are not seeking sympathy. Some of their trials are well known. Others have been more private. Yet, they are publicly promoting the use of this technology because of the importance of diagnosing breast cancer at the very earliest stages. This new, state of the art equipment now at the hospital gives...
Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2010. In order to write a book about teenage girls (“8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter,” Workman, 2001), I had to get inside their minds, which was a bit like Queen Latifah trying to squeeze into a size 4. My basic approach was to imagine what it would be like to be angry at everything, unwilling to listen to anybody, fascinated by boys my father didn’t approve of and wearing so much mascara my eyelids stuck together. My daughters loudly and vehemently hated the ide...
Ask the Commissioner, “Why?” Imagine you have a product that customers love. It’s top quality, affordable and meets or exceeds all state and federal benefit standards. Better yet, your product fills a void in the marketplace that left people vulnerable and unprotected. Now, half a million people in Washington use your product and your customers gladly buy it year after year. Nevertheless, a government regulator steps in and tries to put you out of business. Why? That’s a good question. The product we’re talking about is health insurance...
Response Last week the Gazette published a letter from Rosalia Mayor Nan Konishi to State Rep. Susan Fagan listing concerns of local officials about lack of state funding for local entities. Rep. Fagan’s response is published below. Nan; Thank you for your thoughtful letter. You and other locally-elected officials have the biggest challenge because, as you point out, you don’t have enough tools available to address the challenges that come before you. The Legislature has developed some ways for cities and counties to secure funding for spe...
We live in the era of the anti-Christian pogrom. The slaughter earlier this month at Garissa University College in Kenya that killed nearly 150 people was the latest example of the bloodlust. Usually, such mass-casualty attacks are indiscriminate, but the killers of the Somali-based al-Shabab terror group sought to be exacting during their all-day assault on the largely Christian university. A student told The Associated Press, “If you were a Christian, you were shot on the spot.” One witness described his best friend begging for his life, pre...
I’m endlessly amazed by the continued success of Orwellian doublespeak, where propagandists — uh, excuse me, advocates — are able to shamelessly turn language upside down. Employing their rhetorical sleight-of-hand, the victimizer becomes the victim. The most egregious example these days is from those who try to impose their dogma on the rest of society. Remember that religion already gets favored treatment in this country. Churches and other houses of worship are not taxed; billions of dollars are lost to the economy as a result. At the same...
Hillary Clinton has formally announced her candidacy for President of the United States. According to her camp, this time around she will be more natural and show how connected she is to common Americans. This plan will show the real Hillary, they say, as opposed to the last plan which apparently didn’t. So, she kicked off her campaign with a slick video presentation with images of herself and common Americans interspersed with her message. She is also taking a road trip in a van to Iowa. Along the way, she is meeting with common Americans a...
Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in July, 2010. The Tour de France is on this month ... and on, and on, and on. It started July 4 in Belgium and will end in Paris on July 25 — about twice as long as it took the German army to cover the same distance, and they were walking. You’d think a bicycle race would be fairly straightforward — people get on their bikes and ride, well, straight forward. But this is France, so it’s more complicated than that. For one thing, the clothing the teams wear is extremely important...
North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple has announced new rules that reduce the vapor pressure in oil tanker cars leaving his state’s booming oil patch. The goal is to reduce the risk of fiery explosions like the one that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec in July 2013. In separate efforts, Congress is beefing up safety standards for oil tank cars and the White House is calling for increased rail inspections and slower speeds for oil trains traveling through populated areas. Meanwhile, the Washington legislature is working to tighten r...
General hospital If you should be so fortunate as to run a rusty spike up through your foot and end up with an appendage that looks more like a foot long bright red cucumber than a foot, look no further than the Whitman County Hospital for treatment. I cannot say enough great things about the care I received from the moment I limped through the emergency room door, to the day I limped back out the front door on the original foot I was born with. It could have been a different story if the wonderful doctors, nurses and staff had been less...
Indiana is experiencing its two minutes of hate. Indiana’s sin is that its Legislature passed and Gov. Mike Pence signed into law a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, setting out a legal standard for cases involving a clash between a person’s exercise of religion and the state’s laws. To listen to the critics, you’d think the law was drafted by a joint committee of attorneys from the Ku Klux Klan and the Westboro Baptist Church. The enlightened are stumbling over themselves in their rush to boycott Indiana. Seattle and San Francisco are banning...
What is it about religion? Even in these modern times where we are exposed to a world full of ideas, how can what presents itself as the ultimate force for love bring out the absolute worst hate in people? In the state of Indiana there was a law passed, purported to be a protection for religion, yet motivated by a desire to humiliate human beings whose only “sin” is choosing a member of the same gender to love. Under this legislation, religious reasons can be cited as legal justification to discriminate against gays, meaning that the bigot can... Full story
The effort to breach the Snake River dams is once again gaining momentum. This issue, although a very serious one, is like a whack-a-mole game. Hit one and another pops up elsewhere. The idea apparently has a life of its own. The revival of the idea cannot be because of the fish runs. The fish runs are healthier than they have been in years. Millions of dollars have been spent on protecting the fish, and the effort is working. It cannot be because all the wind farms are generating so much electricity. The power from these does not compare with... Full story
Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2010. My neighbor Tom is going on the “caveman diet,” which he believes will improve his athletic performance if he ever does anything athletic. “See, we’re surrounded by all these chemicals and processed foods,” Tom told me, so excited he momentarily stopped coating his hotdog with aerosol cheese. “But on the caveman diet, you go back to eating the way we did when there were dinosaurs roaming the land.” “I think if we had been around when dinosaurs roamed the land, they would...
Ever since the $15 wage proposal was narrowly approved by City of SeaTac voters, municipal leaders in neighboring Seattle have pushed to impose the same edict. Washington already has the nation’s highest starting wage of $9.47 an hour and the state legislature is considering hiking it to $12, but Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and some city leaders want to peg it at $15. Starting April 1, large businesses in Seattle — defined as those with more than 500 employees — will be required to raise the minimum wage they pay their employees to $15 an hour...
Trail potential Last week Publisher Gordon Forgey wrote an editorial cheering on the small towns of Palouse and LaCrosse to aspire to stem the tide of shrinking commercial activity and renew their communities. Grow on an existing base, establish a common commitment and belief in what is possible, support what the community already has to grow new ventures and projects. All good advice. I would add, if the shoe fits, wear it. Colfax should consider trying this advice on for size. The rail line between Colfax and Pullman offers a unique asset to... Full story
The socialist government in France usually doesn’t have much in common with congressional Republicans, for whom both France and socialism tend to be anathema. But the French, according to a Wall Street Journal report, are taking the toughest line among the powers negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program and are alarmed by the Obama administration’s accommodating approach. “Some U.S. officials,” the Journal writes, “privately believe France is seeking in part to maintain strong ties to Israel and to Arab countries deeply skeptical...
Now that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has raised his thumbs up — which also is an elevated other finger to U.S. President Barack Obama — by coming out ahead in Israel’s Byzantine election, the obvious question is what does it mean for Mideast peace? That’s an easy one: It’s not going to happen, certainly not now. Perhaps it’s more appropriate to ask what it means for Mideast war. And that one is a lot dicier. Bibi’s explicit declaration that there will not be a Palestinian state on his watch definitely knocks the legs out from... Full story
The Germanwings flight that was intentionally flown into the Alps by its co-pilot adds a new wrinkle to flying. And, it is not a good one. The co-pilot took control of the plane after the pilot left the cockpit. He locked the pilot out and proceeded to dive the plane into the Alps. All 150 people aboard were instantly killed when the plane crashed into a mountainside. This airline co-pilot reportedly had a long history of mental illness. At one point he was reportedly diagnosed as suicidal. He kept his treatment secret from the airline, even th...
Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2010. Most parents of teenage daughters, hearing that Los Angeles parents Laurence and Marianne Sunderland stuck their 16-year-old daughter on a boat to sail around the world on a year-long voyage, thought to themselves: “A whole year without having my teenager screaming at me? Where can I get a boat?!” Typical parents are unable to afford the kind of yacht the Sunderlands used — you can’t just stick your kid on a rowboat and shove her out into the bay, as tempting as it may sound...
Folks in the Pacific Northwest may not like what Matt Ridley has to say, but we should consider his points about energy. Ridley, a British journalist and author of several popular books on science, the environment and the economy, is a businessman and member of the House of Lords. He is often shunned because he owns land where coal is mined. Recently, Ridley wrote in The Wall Street Journal that while oil, gas and coal have problems, their benefits are beyond dispute. He advances three reasons for not giving up on fossil fuels. First,...
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton hasn’t been frog-marched from the Russell Senate Office Building — yet. To believe the Arkansan’s harshest critics, that’s only because felonious traitors don’t get the punishment they deserve. Cotton wrote an open letter to the leaders of Iran pointing out true and obvious things about our constitutional system, and the world came crashing down on his head. Disgracing the Senate, per a hyperventilating Vice President Joe Biden, was the least of his supposed offenses. He was aiding Iranian hard-liners, violating...
