Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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For the left, the Department of Veterans Affairs is how health care is ideally supposed to work. No insurance companies, no private doctors, no competition — just the government and the patient. The VA is an island of socialism in American health care. It generally provides adequate care — to a limited universe of people and for only certain conditions — but has long been plagued by scandal. It is perhaps the worst bureaucracy in the federal government. As with all such single-payer-type systems, the cost of the notionally free health care...
We’ve all seen the pharmaceutical ads on TV — you know, the ones that typically offer relief from something like, say, itchy elbows. Once you get past the narrative and the video, which shows the deep shame that anyone feels when scratching his elbow and introduces the blessed relief of some medication named Arm-Bend-numb or whatever, we get the long disclaimer: “Do not use Arm-bend-numb within 16 hours of eating. Arm-bend-numb can cause feeling of deep depression, a variety of cancers and problems with your immune system that can result in de...
Most county schools are sending off their seniors this week. It is an auspicious time, kids are venturing into the adult world. They will face more challenges, more responsibilities and more independence. They will also face new experiences. As important, they will face new ideas. It is a big occasion. The graduation ceremony is an important part of the transition. Recently, a trend has developed in graduation speeches. Students at some schools, particularly universities, have protested scheduled commencement speakers. Schools and universities...
Imagine 350 college grads walking across the stage to receive their degrees in a ceremony with no valedictorian and no student honors. That is exactly what the 2014 graduating class looked like when WGU Washington held its third graduation ceremony earlier this month. Sounds unconventional and non-traditional? It is, and intentionally so. WGU Washington has no campus and the students are not required to attend courses in person. They do their coursework online with their mentors while they stay at home with their families. Most work, but all...
It was inevitable that attacks on Hillary Clinton would be deemed sexist. We now know that they will be called ageist, too. A report in the New York Post’s Page Six that Karl Rove told a recent conference that Hillary Clinton might be brain-damaged after a 30-day hospital stay during her illness at the end of 2012 caused a volcanic eruption of denunciation aimed at the Republican strategist. Rove was accused, among other things, of dealing the age card from the bottom of the deck. Rove denies saying “brain damage,” and the Page Six repor...
I’ll tell you what: If Hillary Clinton doesn’t run for president, a bunch of people will have wasted a whole lot of energy. Why else would Vanity Fair resurrect Monica Lewinsky so we could revisit the tawdry case that blemished the family’s first White House go-around? There is a wide body of thinking that has it that rather than being Monica’s Revenge, the article by “that woman” actually will help Hillary when she runs (yes, the word “when” was intentional), because it will put an end to discussion of the dark period once and for all, declar...
Valuable crop? It sickens me to read in the paper that they are considering calling marijuana an agricultural crop. Having lived on a farm all my life, I always knew we were growing food to feed people. As we know marijuana is a weed, pot, or whatever you want to call it that does nothing but damage the brain. So I say away with the weed and grow valuable crops that feed the world. I have witnessed first hand the harmful effects of marijuana and it makes me cry hard with a broken heart in prayer for the people who are involved in using...
The Veterans Administration is under fire. Reportedly, records have been hidden or falsified to give the impression that all veterans are receiving timely care. In fact, some vets have died waiting for treatment. With mid-term elections coming up, this scandal at the VA is getting a lot of attention. It is the perfect political foil. Hopeful politicians can go on record supporting the country’s veterans while not fixing or changing anything. Even without a scandal, veterans are great fodder at election time. Vets get a lot of talk, only to f...
GOP change How times have changed! From 1960 until 1980 I voted for several Republicans, including Richard Nixon against Jack Kennedy in my first presidential vote, and Washington Governor Dan Evans three times. On some issues, such as the corrupting influence of big money, the Republican party then was left of the Democratic party now; e.g., President Eisenhower warned about the military-industrial complex and maintained the 90 percent income tax rate on the richest. Today’s Republicans seem intent on turning government into an oligarchy r...
At last we have a Benghazi scandal that Democrats are willing to acknowledge — House Speaker John Boehner’s decision to form a select committee to investigate the administration’s handling of the 2012 terror attack in Libya. This has been the occasion for outrage that Democrats haven’t been able to summon for any aspect of Benghazi to this point, including the lax security at the compound. The Democrats and their allies are in denial. Yes, a mistake was made here or there, but otherwise, nothing to see here. The deniers evidently believe...
The Democrats are doing what they do best. Once again, they’re handing issues to the Republicans. It’s their specialty. Of course, there’s Obamacare. By now, the constant efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act should have become an embarrassment to the GOP. True, Obamacare lately has had a string of successes, but it will take a long time for the Democrats to overcome the mortifying startup, which was the result of ridiculously bad management. It haunts them to this day, and more importantly, will haunt them till Election Day. But the Obama...
Washington state auditors recently attempted to audit the Whitman County financials for 2012. They were unable to complete an actual audit, reporting that there was not enough information to even conduct one. Thus, all they could conclude was that serious problems exist. Once again the county just doesn’t know where it stands financially. Some of the inaccuracies and discrepancies the state auditors uncovered are staggering. Obviously, bad financial controls and faulty financial information continues to plague the county. One thing is for s...
Last month, an inspector general for the Treasury Department revealed that from 2010 to 2012 the Internal Revenue Service handed out $1 million in bonuses to 1,150 workers who owed back taxes. Over the same period, the IRS paid out an additional $1.8 million in bonuses to workers with disciplinary problems, including misusing government credit cards, drug use, threats of violence and unemployment benefits fraud. Give us a break! Apparently, IRS workers don’t have to follow the same rules as the rest of us who pay their salaries. According to t...
Jeremiah Denton, the Vietnam War POW who died in March at age 89, uttered one of the great statements of defiance in American history. In 1965, he was shot down in his A-6 during a bombing run over North Vietnam. He became a captive for more than seven years and endured an unimaginable regime of torture, humiliation and isolation, managing to retain his dignity and spirit even as his captors went to hideous lengths to snuff them out. Soon after his capture, Denton was taken to Hoa Lo Prison, or the Hanoi Hilton, where he led the resistance to t...
So now we know that it was his girlfriend V. Stiviano who recorded Donald Sterling’s racist rant as they bickered while watching his Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA playoffs. And that he apparently knew she was, which is really weird. It’s too bad the mystery has apparently been solved, because it was fun to think it was the work of the National Security Agency, now widely described as “the only agency in government that listens.” Even the NSA head finds that line funny. But in the NBA, no one found anything amusing about Sterling being r...
“The Man Who Came to Dinner” is an old play and movie about a guest who never leaves. He drops in for a visit and then takes up residence. It is a comedy. But, there is nothing funny about Colfax’s version of the story. In this version, voracious hoofed beasts settle in town, make themselves at home and never leave. Many townspeople are furious at the invaders. Others surreptitiously encourage them to stay by feeding them and making them feel welcome. “Look! It’s Bambi,” they say. The visitors, of course, are deer. They have been here for so...
These days, too much of our politics is agenda-driven, with little regard for the impact on “real people.” Politicians proclaim their concern for the little guy, but they hang around with rich folks, celebrities and power brokers. Former governor Mike Lowry isn’t like that. If you are looking for Lowry these days, you’re likely to find him in central Washington putting together affordable housing projects. He’d rather have coffee with working people than hobnob with movers and shakers. Despite serving only one term as governor, Lowry remains o...
Hillary Clinton is in a formidable position to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, should she decide to run. But someone else also is in an enviable position: Whoever challenges her. The dynamics of the Democratic 2016 race so far feel more like an incumbent president clearing the primary field of any potential spoilers prior to a re-election bid rather than a wide-open nomination contest. At this early juncture, the question is not so much who will be her opponent(s), but whether she will have any, or even one. She certainly...
It’s a platitude we hear about politics all the time: Negative campaigns should be avoided. I don’t know how to break this to everybody, but at this point in our history, it’s nearly all negative. Let’s face it, we rarely vote for candidates. Normally, we cast our ballot against them. No wonder. As often as not, it’s a choice between bad and worse — or worst, if there’s a third party involved. Of course, this year it’s really about choices ... 468 of them: 435 in the House of Representatives, 33 in the Senate. But it’s also a singular decision...
Climate change assessment Eighteen percent of Americans do not believe in global warming. Not happening, they say. The federal government has a different opinion. Not only is climate change happening, it is happening more swiftly than originally thought. The National Climate Assessment report details changes for the country. Droughts will become more persistent and harmful. Floods from heavier, more concentrated rains will become more frequent. Storm surges in coastal cities will become more destructive. Crops and animals will become...
Project and process In light of the most recent failure to pass the Oakesdale School District bond issue, it seems appropriate at this time to have a candid and unemotional discussion of both project and process. To summarize, the District has attempted to pass a school bond issue three times in the last few years, and it has failed each time. Two of the three rejections have occurred in 2014, once in February and once in April. The April project called for a new elementary school and some high school renovations. The February project called...
Picking on Condoleezza Rice If Condoleezza Rice were as self-pitying and politically crass as Attorney General Eric Holder, she would be wondering aloud what it is about her race and gender that accounts for the hostility to her. Rice’s speaking gigs on college campuses and her ascension to the board of the Internet company Dropbox have sparked protests calling for her to be disinvited, cashiered and generally isolated and shamed. Condi Rice is not a natural lightning rod. She’s such a disreputable figure that she’s on the board of the Kenne...
Health-Care Politics — Not So Fast Just to be clear, I may have been wrong. Of course, that’s nothing new for a political commentator, although usually we don’t have to admit we were mistaken. I have been among the herd-followers who have argued that Obamacare might do in the Democrats’ chances in this year’s elections for control of the Senate, with Republicans wasting no chance whatsoever to tarnish their opponents with the Affordable Care Act. Now, however, I’m beginning to waver (another privilege that goes with this job). There are s...
Whitman County has lost its Standard & Poors Bond rating. This is because financial information was not received in a timely manner for the organization to judge the county’s credit worthiness. A minor clerical error? No, it is much more than that. The final financial reporting for 2012 (that’s right 2012, not 2013) is not yet completed. The problem is centered in the auditor’s office. From there it has been put on the infamous NewWorld accounting software and a litany of other culprits. Some time ago, we were told the county’s account...
Concert review I went to the band concert at the school Monday night. If you missed it, you missed an hour of pure enjoyment. From the 5th grade through high school and the jazz band it was perfect. It was all wonderful, but I must say that the highlight of the concert was when the high school band played a piece called Prairie Song that was the most amazing piece of music. Every note played told me the story of the prairie. I was riding in a covered wagon and the pages kept turning and pictures filled my mind and I was living a trip through...
