Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 2532 - 2556 of 3750
To paraphrase the line often attributed to Mark Twain, there are lies, damn lies and the “equal pay” statistic. The factoid that women earn only 77 cents of every dollar earned by men is the focal point of a feminist cargo cult. It has its own movement and its own quasi-holiday, the so-called Equal Pay Day, marking how far into a new year women supposedly have to work to match what men made the prior year. The figure is presumed to clinch any debate over the continued existence of massive discrimination against women in the workforce. Dra...
Those of us who rely on political drama, real or contrived, to justify our professional existence are drooling over the possibility that the next presidential balloting will be a dynasty election. Obviously we have a huge amount of foolishness and outright nastiness to get past between now and then, but what a story it would be if the party nominees are Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, Queen Hil vs. Prince Jeb. Imagine the plot lines: Tudors, Windsors and the Beverly Hillbillies. Instead of a Democratic Convention, that party could have a...
It seems all the news is grim. Not so. Some of it is just inexplicable. Take the California teenager who reportedly sneaked onto a major airport, roamed the tarmac and climbed into the wheel well of a Boeing 767 jet bound for Hawaii. The flight was about five and a half hours long and reached altitudes of more than 30,000 feet. He didn’t freeze. He didn’t die from lack of oxygen. He didn’t fall to his death when the wheels were dropped for landing. After the plane landed, he stumbled out onto the tarmac apparently no worse for wear. Docto...
An honor I am voting yes for the Oaksdale school bond. I feel it is my honor and privilege to do this for my community. Our parents and grandparents accepted the responsibility to build a school back in the 1930s. Now it is our turn to step up to the plate and do this for the future of not only our school but our communities as well. My husband graduated from OHS, my children graduated from OHS and now my grandchildren are working their way through. A “Yes” vote for the bond is a “Yes” for the future of our present students and future student...
When President Obama permanently grounded America’s space shuttles a couple of years ago, he made a huge mistake. He gave Russia carte blanche over the International Space Station and we now pay $70 million each for our astronauts to hitch a ride. With Vladimir Putin flexing his muscles in the Ukraine and thumbing his nose at the United States and rest of the world, what happens if he gives our astronauts the boot? We’d be up the creek without a paddle. Our shuttles were hauled off to museums. Not only did Obama tube the shuttles, he can...
It’s hard to tell if Washington NFL team owner Dan Snyder has publicly embraced the desperate plight of Native Americans because he’s genuinely moved, or whether it’s a cynical crisis-management stunt by a man whose franchise is under siege because its name is a slur, the hateful R-word. If it is the latter, then Snyder might want to find new PR people. He and/or they have announced that economic assistance will be funneled through their Original American Foundation. That’s right: OAF. Critics are having a field day with that, suggest...
Flight 370 is still missing. As of this writing, no debris from the plane has been located on the ocean surface. However, through some very sophisticated guess work and complicated calculations, the search area has been defined. It is being refined more tightly now because the Australians with American equipment finally received the long sought after “pings” from the flight recorder devices. The electronic signals have been acquired four different times. Search commanders are giving some very positive statements about ultimately being able to n...
Stand up In an historic bipartisan 68-32 vote last June, the US Senate passed an immigration reform bill that included a path to citizenship for eleven million illegal immigrants, an innovative temporary worker program, and increased visa numbers for skilled foreign workers, as well as a nationwide employment eligibility verification system and stricter border control. This was a result of bipartisan cooperation among lawmakers, business groups, labor unions, agricultural interests, and immigration advocates. Although many predict that the...
Millions of unemployed college graduates are back where they started, living with their parents. Upon receiving their diploma, they find themselves saddled with crushing student loan debt and unable to find a job. More than 36 percent of those who have found jobs aren’t working in their chosen profession and many are working for minimum wage. At the same time, millions of good-paying jobs are going unfilled. Nationally, an estimated three million jobs are available in the skilled trades – electricians, plumbers, manufacturing workers, pipe fit...
In a feat that would have been unimaginable a few decades ago, the anti-vaccine movement has managed to breathe life into nearly vanquished childhood diseases. It took all the ingenuity and know-how we are capable of to find safe, effective ways to dramatically diminish diseases like measles and whooping cough in the developed world; it took all the hysteria and willful ignorance we are capable of to give them a boost. A developer of the measles vaccine, Dr. Samuel Katz, says the question “is not whether we shall see a world without measles, b...
Our climate is changing. It is warming. Most scientists agree. In fact, the United Nations just issued a dire report on the anticipated consequences of climate change. In short, it states the world is at serious risk. Initially, the impact is environmental. Water and food shortages are predicted along with extreme weather events, coastal flooding, and loss of species, both on land and in the oceans. All these would ultimately cause social, political and economic upheaval. The report should be taken as a serious warning. So far, disjointed...
Unconscionable I can’t believe that the board and administration of the Oakesdale School District is continuing their asinine idea of bulldozing through the bond for $7.1 million dollars to rebuild and remodel the school. There are approximately 100 students in the whole school. To spend this amount of money on this number of students is unconscionable. And to put the taxpayers in debt for the next 26 years to boot! We will be paying the bill long after any small benefit is exhausted. News flash: A new school is not going to get the students w...
During the Winter Olympics, viewers around the world marveled at the pristine snow-capped mountains surrounding Sochi, Russia’s Black Sea resort city. One American camera crew even took a ride on the Siberian railroad filming the picturesque countryside. Too bad they didn’t go all the way to Norilsk, some 1,800 miles from Moscow in the middle of Siberia. Norilsk is Russia’s most polluted city. It reminds you of an America mining town a century ago. It is pockmarked with tall smoke stacks belching out nearly 500 tons each of copper and nicke...
It turns out that SAT words were too abstruse. The College Board is updating its iconic test yet again in ways that are indistinguishable from dumbing it down. The old vocabulary words are out, the math is easier, guessing is no longer punished in the scoring — and we’re supposed to believe that the test is better than ever. The SAT, relied on heavily in college admissions, has long been attacked for not producing sufficiently egalitarian results. The multiple-choice test has been accused of everything from racism to classism. It is almost cer...
Normally, you wouldn’t think the cost of electricity would clobber ranchers, but in Hawaii, high power rates are the central competitiveness issue. In fact, the owners of the mammoth Parker Ranch on Hawaii’s big island have calculated their “per cow” electricity costs. Much of the famed ranch’s 130,000 acres is rich grazing land on a high plateau between Hawaii’s twin 13,000 ft. volcanos. Parker Ranch is one of the nation’s largest beef producers, with much of its product sent to the mainland. The ranch has an extensive water system with l...
The “reset” with Russia had a brief, unhappy life. It began with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presenting her Russian counterpart with a mistranslated reset button reading “overcharged.” It ended with current Secretary of State John Kerry denying knowledge of the late, unlamented policy on “Meet the Press”: “Well, I don’t know what you mean by the reset.” Memories are short in Foggy Bottom. And understandably. Who wouldn’t try to forget a geopolitical initiative that has been exposed as willful naivete and strategic obtusenes...
A great mystery has captured the attention of the world. Speculation and conjecture are filling the airwaves. Few facts are known, other than a Boeing 777 on Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 with 239 passengers aboard disappeared on route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It went off radar and, but for occasional, cryptic “pings,” never reappeared. The plane has been missing for nearly two weeks now. More than 26 different countries are involved in the search and investigation. A search was started in the area of its last known location and pro...
There are few, if any, people who have more moral authority in the black community than President Barack Obama. A few weeks ago, he put it to good use. The president launched the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, aimed at fostering achievement among minority young men. He gathered black and Latino teenagers in the East Room of the White House to exhort them in a highly personal speech. He recounted visiting a program in Chicago for promising kids who have gotten into some trouble. They sat in a circle and shared their stories. “I explain...
One of the worst parts of a sudden global crisis like the one that has erupted over Ukraine is that we have no idea what’s really going on. The diplomats and intelligence people of our national-security apparatus, along with our political leaders, are playing their Cold War games mostly in secret. The bigger problem is that we can’t be sure that even they have any idea what’s going on. What does it mean when President Barack Obama warns Soviet — uh, excuse me, I mean Russian — President Vladimir Putin that “there will be costs” if he sends t...
High school athletics is part of a complete education. It is not so much a road to professional sports, but a road to learning cooperation, teamwork, and the value of hard work and personal discipline. Team athletics can build confidence and set the tone for the rest of a student’s life. All student athletes in rural county should take pride in their accomplishments and dedication. Not everybody can win. In many cases, it is the effort that counts and that builds character. Even so, somebody will win, and win local schools did. It is a...
Appreciation The elected and appointed officials of Whitman County appreciate the citizens of Whitman County for their support on Proposition #1, Whitman County’s Levy Lift. The close election demonstrates the need for a proactive approach as we move forward. We as county officials will continue to find efficiencies and strategically plan for long term infrastructure needs. Whitman County elected and appointed officials Daylight savings We are getting ready to return to Daylight Savings Time. The first time I can remember doing this was d...
The Obama administration says that we need to end what it calls “the era of austerity” in Washington. Notably excluded from this admonition is the one department of government that is actually experiencing austerity worthy of the name. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel unveiled a military budget that will reduce the U.S. Army to pre-World War II levels. The spin is that this will be a smarter force better suited to 21st-century challenges, but everyone knows that it is all about accommodating the trillion dollars in defense cuts adopted during the...
Like anyone, my life is governed by certain principles. Among them is the steadfast belief that one should always aim low to have any chance at all of avoiding failure. It’s an article of faith, or actually, an article of a lack of faith. Whatever, it would follow then that even in this age of obscene financial inequality, those few who hold power and riches would be anxious to throw a crumb to those at the bottom. Never mind any sense of altruism, which is obsolete these days, but a tiny act of generosity might keep the rabble from getting r...
Martin Hall, the multi-county facility for incarcerating juveniles, is in financial trouble. Simply put, not enough juveniles are being sent there. A consortium of counties is trying to solve the problem. The answer is simple: Incarcerate more kids. Follow a long-held government tradition: Go for the money. One classic example is the state of Washington a few years ago during the budget crisis. After years of criminalizing marijuana, the possibility of getting income from taxing marijuana sales prompted some legislators and government...
Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2009. Last week, I explained that despite the fact that I had poured (plainly labeled) bird seed into a (universally recognizable) bird feeder in order to feed (well, duh) birds, a lawless squirrel had invaded. This so intimidated the local birds that they weren’t landing in the feeder, though I suppose they might also have been put off by the way my dog and I kept noisily charging out the door to curse at the squirrel. In the face of this injustice, I felt I had no choice but to...
