Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 2602 - 2626 of 3750
Two points I just read your editorial regarding internet sales. Two points to add to this: 1. Let’s not forget that the internet enables rural merchants to expand their marketplace beyond their sparsely populated local market in a way not possible cost efficiently previously. 2. Let’s not forget that the internet enables the start-up of small businesses in rural areas, with fiber optic connection now possible, in home offices which was once not possible. Both of the above mean an increase in revenue and in increase in small business, with a d...
THE TIME HAS COME. After 48 years of writing this column, I have decided it’s time to pack it in. Thanks to the trend on the part of the public to computer news rather than newspapers, I have only a handful of customers left although at one time the combined circulation of the papers that bought the column was larger than the circulation of the Seattle Times. True, I lost a few who disagreed with my opinions which tend to be conservative, but I never was an out and out Republican. I merely acknowledged that I believed more in the Republican p...
Have you heard of the Ethanol Shuffle? One step forward, two steps back. Actually, it’s not a dance; it’s part of California’s clean energy policy — a program our governor wants to emulate. Gov. Inslee recently signed a pact with California, Oregon and British Columbia pledging to support cap-and-trade, carbon taxes and low-carbon fuel standards as part of his climate change agenda. Why should you care? Because you will be paying the bill. The governor’s own consultants estimate that his low-carbon fuel regulations will increase gasoline...
Nelson Mandella is dead. He died in his home at the age of 95. Everyone knew he was close to death, but when it finally took him, the world reacted with sadness, respect and love. Millions, from the rich and powerful to the dispossessed, are mourning him. Mandella was not always revered. He was labeled a terrorist by many governments and had been imprisoned for 27 years in his own country of South Africa. He kept as friends some who did not share his love of liberty. His long fight to end apartheid gradually earned support around the world and...
Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler made national news when he quickly rejected President Obama’s call for insurers to extend individual health insurance policies cancelled because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also referred to as Obamacare. While five million insurance policies have been cancelled to date, the Obama administration estimated that as many as 18 million of these policies will be cancelled because of the ACA. Here in Washington state, some 290,000 people have already received cancellation notices. While K...
Let’s face it — too much of the coverage we provide from Washington is “inside baseball,” easily ignored by those who live in the real world. Sometimes, though, this stuff matters. A case in point is the decision by Harry Reid and his Democratic gaggle to invoke the “nuclear option.” It’s called that because Reid and his partisan majority blew up the traditional filibuster. Utilizing a parliamentary maneuver, they were able to circumvent the usual two-thirds vote necessary to change the rules and used a simple majority to do away with the bigg...
Billions of dollars are spent on on-line buys. Last Monday—Cyber Monday—set records for the volume of sales. And, it isn’t just one day a year that on-line sales are enormous. It is every day of the year. Each year the volume grows as more and more consumers go shopping electronically. A variety of reasons have prompted shoppers to go to the web. One compelling reason is that web purchases are most often perceived as tax exempt. Many purchases are not charged a sales tax. Although buyers are supposed to report the tax savings on their own a...
Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2009. One of the most aggravating things about my painful battle with sciatica is that my back has joined the other side. My left leg is apparently sending to my brain signals like this: “Hey, we’re fine down here, except that maybe we’re a little hairy and pale. Also, your foot stinks.” But when the signal gets to my back, it intercepts it and changes the message to: “Hi, this is your leg, we’re being gnawed on by a beaver. A beaver with a chainsaw. It really HURTS.” As 12...
Colfax Ranting How refreshing it was to open up this week’s Gazette and not see the ranting of Adele Ferguson. I do appreciate Don Brunell’s spin on business, and he even makes sense some time. Best of all was the coverage of the local championships and participation in state playoffs by all of our young athletes. Keep up the good work. Jack McBride, Landover Redskins OK pilgrims, listen up (John). Almost everyone who read my letter a couple of weeks ago asked what were you talking about. Well folks, we will take it real slow—101 type slow....
It is human nature to take things for granted. When you’ve always had something, when it’s been around your entire life, it’s only natural to overlook it, to think it will always be here. But that’s not the case, and this time of year reminds us to be appreciative of what we have. I’m not talking about creature comforts like plentiful electricity, clean water, electronic gadgets or the family car. I’m talking about the freedom and opportunity we Americans take for granted. My epiphany came during the Cold War when my military unit was sent to...
Quite a few people have been fooled by some new stories about Sarah Palin. One report had her describing how Jesus celebrated Easter and then quoted her charging President Barack Obama with keeping a Muslim museum open during the government shutdown. Both are false, and so bizarre that no one should have believed them. They were humor, fiction. Unfortunately, as usual, the Sarah Palin lampoon was entirely plausible. She’s back, roaming the country to promote her latest book, “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas.” The i...
A survey indicated that 50 percent of America shops on Black Friday. With all the images of people camping out in front of stores, trying to cram through entrance doors and frantically grabbing at merchandise while shouldering away other shoppers, it seems the entire country shops the day after Thanksgiving. In fact, Black Friday has become so big that it has now slopped over on Thanksgiving itself. Then, Cyber Monday starts. The day of frenzied internet shopping. Squeezed in between is a very important shopping event. It is Shop Small...
Colfax Above call of duty I would like to take this opportunity to commend Helen H. Cowan for her wonderful letter about Whitman Hospital and Medical Center in last week’s Gazette. She expressed my sentiments and feelings exactly. I moved here in 2007 and have had many health issues and have been hospitalized many times in several different hospitals. Ours is far superior. The staff and doctors were awesome. The care that I received was superb. Everyone at the Whitman Hospital went far above the call of duty. I would like to express my a...
When Boeing warns that something is wrong, people listen — or at least they should. Our state’s largest manufacturer Boeing, with more than a century of history in Washington, employs more than 86,500 people and spends more than $4.6 billion a year with vendors and suppliers throughout the state. When it comes to Washington’s business climate, Boeing is our canary in the coal mine. When it starts gasping for air, something is wrong. Gov. Jay Inslee recognized that fact when he moved to convince Boeing to build its next-generation 777 in Washi...
Chris Christie couldn’t have been any more obvious about his 2016 intentions if he had begun his victory speech earlier this month with the words “My fellow Americans” and ended it with a balloon drop. He offered New Jersey as an example for national healing. “Tonight,” he said, “a dispirited America, angry with their dysfunctional government in Washington, looks to New Jersey to say ‘Is what I think’s happening really happening? Are people really coming together?’” Trenton, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you. None of this was subtle, bu...
The national healthcare website is fraught with so many problems that the rollout of the Affordable Care Act may forever be known as a classic government blunder. However, early on, some states opted to provide their own health insurance marketplaces and websites. Washington state is one of those. Unlike the national website, Washington’s health care rollout has been successful. In fact, it is one of the most successful in the country. Because of all the bad news nationally, many potential enrollees may be avoiding seeking information from t...
Three cheers Have you noticed the big banner hanging across the front of Whitman Community Hospital? It is there because of a very special earned honor, and now I know why. During this year I have spent time with close relatives in two “local” eastside hospitals, and in one shiny, new westside hospital. I was shocked at the lack of services or care for their patients. In four days at each of these hospitals my patient relatives received no bathing opportunities, no clean linens on the bed, or even straightening of the linens while the patient w...
The good news is, America is bringing its troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. However, that presents a challenge because a large number of those troops will leave the military upon their return. That shift, along with significant cuts in military spending, means tens of thousands of veterans will be looking for work. Unfortunately, those veterans have a higher rate of unemployment than the general population — 10.1 percent, compared to 7.2 percent for the general population. Many of these brave citizens who put their lives on the line for u...
This week Macy’s, Target, J.C. Penney, Sears, Best Buy and other retailers annnounced plans to open earlier on Thanksgiving Day. Last year was the first time in history that mainline stores opened on the holiday. With all of these chains competing with each other, if one is open the others have to be too. Or do they? There seems to be some missed opportunity in all of this. What if one big store just stayed closed? The sheer public relations benefit in being the high-profile store that says “no” would be worth it, likely in spades. They...
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently announced that they’ve gone insane. Of course, that isn’t exactly how they worded it. What they say on their Website, www.peta.org, is that from now on, we should all refer to fish as “sea kittens.” PETA, you see, is against eating fish and figures that renaming the sea creatures will cause people to think twice before they head off to Red Lobster. Don’t think that, in terms of eating fish, ordering a lobster lets you off the hook, no pun intended. According to the 1904 Entente C...
Visit Matthew In the wake of recent cuts in aid to the poor by Congress, and looking forward to even more cuts in the future, it may be time for those of us who profess to be followers of Christ to visit Matthew 25:31-46. Jesus said, “ I was hungry and you gave me to something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was homeless and you took me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you cared for me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” I am always struck by the fact that Christ did not say that the...
In the midst of all the turmoil, confusion and partisan infighting over the Affordable Care Act, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s words have come back to haunt us: “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.” Well, now we know. Millions of people who buy their own health insurance are losing their coverage because their policies don’t qualify under Obamacare. Contrary to the president’s repeated assurances, they can’t keep their policies or their doctors. And because Obamacare requires policies to include benefits an...
When he declared, “No one is madder about the website than I am,” President Barack Obama delivered the line with his usual unemotional cool. But apparently he sent out some strong signals. The woman standing behind him who was reduced to one of those awful Washington human props started to faint. Maybe she picked up on his anger. His displeasure is certainly justified. The bureaucrats, the contractors and the geeks have managed to make an unholy mess of his legacy-defining health-care reform, just as it was beginning to get off the ground. The...
Misleading & costly I am encouraging everyone to vote “No” on Initiative 522 in Washington State, the food labeling initiative. While we do not grow any GMO crops on our farm, and I encourage everyone to know where their food comes from and what is in it. I-522 does not do this. If you want to make sure there is not any GMO ingredients in the food you buy, there are already two federal labels in place. You can buy those labeled “organic” or “Non-GMO” and be assured that no GMO products are in those foods. A willy-nilly, state-by-st...
When the first passengers took off in Boeing’s 747 in 1970, the aircraft was dubbed the “Queen of the Skies.” Since then, the company’s mammoth plant just south of Everett has been the kingpin of the world’s jumbo jet production. To date, Boeing has built 1,500 747s — all of them designed and assembled in Washington. In 1994, the company launched the 777. Developed in consultation with eight major airlines, it was designed to replace older wide-body airliners and offer passenger capacity between that of the 767 and the 747. The 777 was a techn...
