Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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“The cover-up often is worse than the crime.” How many times have we heard variations of that quote? Usually, it’s trotted out in the context of a political scandal, one that wouldn’t really be a scandal if the principal had just gotten past an obsession with secrecy so severe that he or she acted suspiciously. In this case, it’s a “she” we’re talking about, Hillary Clinton, who repeatedly gets entangled in her fetish for privacy. It’s impossible when living such a high-profile life, with all the attendant perks, financed by the taxpayers. Sh...
The famously inactive Congress has decided to get things moving. Instead of trying to solve the immigration debate, the budget, growing racial tensions, our deteriorating infrastructure, our own national security and the many long-term problems facing the nation, it has decided to muck around independently in international politics. In an unprecedented move, the House of Representatives, specifically John Boehner, invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak. The invitation bypassed the president and may have long-lasting...
Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2010. I always thought if you made something with a three-dimensional printer, you’d need to wear special glasses to look at it. I was wrong, though: A 3D printer can actually take something you designed on your computer and “print” the object out in hard plastic — such as, for example, a pair of 3D glasses. 3D printers give us what we’ve all been craving: another reason to talk to technical support. When you finally get the thing working, though, you’ll be able to print out you...
California is in the midst of a fierce water war, a conflict that holds lessons for us in Washington State. In many ways, we are alike. Both of our states’ populations are growing and we have some of the world’s most prolific agriculture regions which require lots of water. Washington is served by a vast network of storage reservoirs that make up the Columbia River drainage. It stretches from the northern Canadian Rockies to as far south as Wyoming. On the other hand, California with its 38 million people has a series of reservoirs in the Sie...
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker belongs to an embattled minority that happens to be most of the population. The root of this paradox is that Walker is an outlier among the political class in not having graduated from college, at the same time that a solid two-thirds of the country lacks a four-year degree. Such is the domination of not just college grads, but specifically Ivy League grads, at the upper echelons of our government that the nation’s political competition can be seen as one big intramural battle at the Harvard or Yale Club. And here c...
There are a few reasons Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is flying high right now in the early Republican presidential sweepstakes, but none is mightier than his record of sticking it to organized labor. This is the man who, after all, staved off a recall election once he was successful in changing state law to severely restrict the negotiating power of public-employee unions even after thousands and thousands of protesters raised a ruckus at the Capitol in Madison. Nowadays, when he isn’t running for the White House prize, he’s back home again sup...
Every year since 2009, it’s been the Colton girls lifting the gold-ball trophy for the 1B state basketball championship. It’s a Washington record for all levels, both boys and girls. And like a great song that gets played over and over, it’s a testament to the song. Because the reasons for Colton’s constant presence at the top were particularly evident in their seventh consecutive title run. Even if 1B high school basketball games were seen only in black and white cardboard cutouts, the Colton girls would be identifiable. How they run to the...
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani instantly became the most notorious man in America when he said at a conservative dinner in Manhattan that President Barack Obama doesn’t love America. He gamely tried to defend the remark for a few days before issuing a semi-mea culpa in The Wall Street Journal regretting his “bluntness” and saying that he “didn’t intend to question President Obama’s motives or the content of his heart.” That was probably the inevitable end-point once the words came out of his mouth, since it is an unwritten rul...
I think we’ve missed one possible explanation for Rudy Giuliani’s behavior: Maybe he’s concealing the fact that he suffered a blow to the head severe enough to cause lasting damage to his prefrontal cortex. That’s the high-function part of the brain that controls, among many things, the ability to inhibit impulses, allowing us to regulate what we say and do. Actually, chances are that it’s not that at all, that Giuliani is continuing his very calculated effort to stay relevant by appealing to the ugliest emotions of the Republican Party’s base....
Local Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers found a dead bald eagle on an island in the South Fork of the Palouse River last week. It had been shot by a rifle. Since it is a federal offense to kill an eagle, the case is being led by U.S. Fish and Wildlife who is partnering with local WDFW officers in the investigation. They are investigating the case and will determine what kind of rifle was used to kill the eagle. With that kind of evidence, they hope to find the person who shot the eagle. When interviewing both officers, the...
Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2010. My parents are the kind of people who believe that dogs understand full sentences, like this: “OK, we’re going to the store, we’ll be gone a couple of hours, please stay out of the trash and don’t lie on my bed, that’s off limits and you know it!” What the dog thinks: Bed! So my father is perplexed that his two canines continue to bark at everyone who comes to the door, even though he’s sternly delivered his sermon “Thou Shalt Not Bark at the Person at the Door Unless He Is...
The fierce competition between Seattle’s Alaska Airlines and Atlanta’s Delta Airlines is spilling over to the Port of Seattle, and it may reach your wallet in the form of higher airfares. The Port commission, which manages Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, must decide whether to build a new international arrivals terminal at the south end of the airport or expand the north satellite to accommodate additional domestic flights. The commission prefers the international terminal, but there’s a problem — the price keeps ratcheting up. It star...
Hooray for Rich Lowry! “...Fifty Shades of Grey perhaps the most successful anti-feminist movie ever made.” Well said, Rich! As a woman who was (and still is) a feminist, I was appalled when I found out what the Grey books were about. Does anyone remember “I Am Woman”? Gloria Steinem? Bella Abzug? Poor Bella is probably spinning in her grave. In 1972, I started singing professionally. I was in the filthiest industry on earth, basically legal prostitution and pornography. For 30 years. Oddly enough, in the 70s, it wasn’t about sex or shock val...
The IRS scandals just keep on coming. First, the agency targeted conservative groups seeking non-profit status. Originally characterized by IRS officials as a couple of rogue agents in Cincinnati, the practice was later revealed to be a politically-motivated campaign coordinated by Lois Lerner, the head of the IRS Exempt Organizations Unit. Then, Lerner’s infamous “missing” emails blocked investigators’ efforts to discover if the White House was involved. Now, the Internal Revenue Service is under fire for using federal law to seize the ban...
Thelma and Louise should be appalled. Almost 25 years after their epic road movie attacked “conventional patterns of chauvinist male behavior toward females” (in the words of one critic), here arrives “Fifty Shades of Grey,” perhaps the most successful anti-feminist movie ever made. The runaway best-selling novel is now a juggernaut on the big screen, driven by overwhelmingly female audiences that accounted for its record-breaking opening weekend. The dirty secret of “Fifty Shades” is that, underneath the kinky exterior, it’s a formulaic rom...
Who would have predicted that the head of the FBI could give a speech about cops and racial bias that would be so thoughtful and so balanced that it was embraced by both law-enforcement officials and those who have protested police tactics and have grievances about brutal racial discrimination. Certainly it was a surprise to most of us who have watched the intense animosity build, particularly since the deaths of blacks at the hands of white cops in Ferguson, Missouri; Staten Island, New York; and Cleveland. The nation has been split into...
Here we are at an important point in history: Terrorists are threatening the world. And, we debate over what they should be called. President Barrack Obama has been roundly criticized for trying to separate the terrorists from the Islamic religion. He says they have perverted Islam and should not be considered a part of it. Others say that he is being too politically correct for not calling them what they say they are, Islamic terrorists. Consequently, a debate continues over how we should refer to them. At times, it is more intense than...
Follow up This letter is written as a follow-up to the article in the Feb. 12, 2015, Gazette by Don C. Brunell entitled “Failing Businesses a Sign of Weak Economy”. The low percentage of people gainfully employed is also a sign of a weak economy. The great depression in the 1930s was prolonged for over ten years by increased taxes, increased government regulations, and by government interference and control of the economy. It took the Second World War, sending millions of our men overseas and employing many people for wartime production, to...
In his State of the Union address, President Obama highlighted plunging gas prices. Ironic, since Obama has done everything in his power to curtail domestic oil production and drive up gas prices. For example, the president wants to lock up untapped federal oil reserves surrounding the Trans-Alaska pipeline. If he succeeds, he will choke off future oil supplies to the pipeline, bleeding it dry and forcing it to shut down and be dismantled. That will not only hurt Alaska, but Washington and the Pacific Northwest as well. Refineries in our state...
Port premature I was disappointed to read that the Port of Whitman has prematurely decided to support abandonment of the railbed between Colfax and Pullman rather than rail bank it. Furthermore, it is disappointing that the Commissioners met only with representatives of the self-proclaimed “Friends of the Railroad” and not with citizens truly interested in preserving the rail bed before adopting this position. Abandonment is antithetical to the Port’s mission statement which says “The Port of Whitman is dedicated to improving the quality of lif...
Where is Chris Kyle when you need him? The late hero of the movie “American Sniper” made no apology for killing as many members of al-Qaida in Iraq, the precursor of ISIS, as he could get in his rifle sights. After a captured Jordanian pilot was burned alive, who would object to Kyle, or any other American sniper, shooting down these murderous fanatics if he could get access to them? And who would quibble with Kyle’s characterization of these people as “savages”? Part of what the left finds objectionable about Kyle is his unshakable moral cer...
We all know what a “homer” is; that sportscaster or columnist who shamelessly boosts the home team, which is his or her bread and butter. In fact, usually the team approves the announcers to guarantee this lovefest. It’s irritating but acceptable in the sports world, but it’s ridiculous when it comes to speaking about our nation or, dare I say it, religion. Unfortunately that’s rampant too, with pandering commentators and politicians ready to leap anytime anybody has the audacity to suggest that the home country or the home religion should ge...
Brian Williams is off the air as NBC’s nightly news anchor. At first, he said he would take off a few days when the scandal about his elaboration or fabrication of stories first hit. Then, NBC announced he was suspended for six months as doubts about him grew. Williams has been accused of misrepresenting or at least embellishing news stories. The first questionable story was about being under enemy fire in Iraq. Then, his recollections about Hurricane Katrina came under scrutiny. The network is investigating the incidents and much more. S...
It was interesting while it lasted, but the 2016 election is now officially “bought.” The purchasers are the Koch brothers, and the price, a cool $889 million. The news that the network organized by David and Charles Koch plans to spend roughly $900 million in the 2016 cycle has freaked out Democrats, outraged so-called campaign-finance reformers and inspired hand-wringing about the future of the planet Earth. The despair is misplaced. One sign it is still a free country is that a band of like-minded people, devoted to principles they con...
For the first time in American history, entrepreneurship is in decline. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, businesses are dying faster than they’re being formed. Each year, 400,000 new businesses start up nationwide; 470,000 close their doors. Gallup reports that in the 1980s, business startups outpaced business failures by about 100,000 per year, a trend that continued until the 2008 recession. Now, after six years of sluggish economic recovery, the entrepreneurial death rate in the U.S. is outpacing its birth rate. In fact, the U.S. now r...
