Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 3071 - 3095 of 3750
Thoughts given to Joseph Every Christmas season, after contemplating the miracle of the incarnation, we often think of Mary, and rightfully so! For it was through her that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, came into the world. But little thought is given to Joseph, the man whom God called to be the earthly “father” in the life of our Lord in His early years! In Matthew 1:18-25, we learn a great deal about Joseph. First, we learn about Joseph’s DILEMMA. Matthew 1:18 says, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother...
I appreciated Gordon Forgey’s editorial in the Gazette two weeks ago. I’m glad that a message is again being sent to Congress about the failure of their super committee’s work and the failure of Congress in general to do what’s best for this country and the American people. I hope that the legislators in Washington, D.C. will sooner rather than later get the messages and act, as he said, like adults (instead of two-year-olds fighting over who gets all the toys, and who gets to be re-elected). There is a quotation attributed to Justice Oliver...
Newt Gingrich racked up between $1.6 and $1.8 million in payments from Freddie Mac through the years for, the former speaker maintains, essentially doing nothing. It’s not inconceivable that he’s right. Such was the incredible largesse available to the government-sponsored mortgage giant that one or two million dollars over the course of a decade was practically chump change. Gingrich says he didn’t lobby for Freddie, and in response to a question about his payments at one of the Republican debates, said he only offered advice to Freddie “as a...
The United States Postal Service is facing billions of dollars in losses, and it has to make changes. Its solution: raise prices and cut service. With the internet and package delivery services already stealing business from the once proud organization, these changes can only guarantee a continued slide. Over the last ten years, its volume has reportedly dropped 29 percent. It is expected to be halved from this in the next ten years. To catch up with the decline and to be ready for what is to come, USPS will cut out nearly half of its processin...
SOMEBODY STOLE my newspapers from my driveway on Thanksgiving morning which should have been no surprise since bad luck usually befalls me on that holiday. I won’t go into detail over the previous Thanksgivings which involve hospital visits to the emergency room, storms that knocked the power out and such as that. I had no intention anyway of shopping on Black Friday using ads that made the papers almost too heavy to stagger up the stairs to the house with when my paper lady brought me replacements. I think the ads were the lure, however, f...
A lesson left by Uncle John: Live in a state of gratitude Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. (Psalm 139:7-8) Just before Thanksgiving, I went to Arlington National Cemetery for the funeral of my great-uncle John, who was a prisoner of war for 40 months during World War II. He was captured at Corregidor when the US surrendered the Philippines and somehow managed to survive POW camps in the Philippines, transportation to...
Health care exchange should preserve choice Even as the new health care law heads for the U.S. Supreme Court where it faces an uncertain future, Washington state is moving forward with its $23 million effort to design and implement a health care exchange. State health care exchanges, mandated by the federal law, must be in place by 2014. They were billed as a way to promote competition and provide access to subsidies for qualified consumers. While each state is supposed to design its own health care exchange, exchanges seem to fall into two...
W. Bruce Cameron As part of his ongoing home-improvement project, my dog recently chewed the little tassels off the throw pillows on the couch. He was just ripping up the last one when I walked into the living room, and he was so proud to show off his industriousness that he took the pillow and shook it like a rat. “See?” his expression seemed to be saying. “Where would you be without me?” Without a dog, I would have tassels on my throw pillows instead of little stubs of yarn that look like small worms. The pillows seem to function just fine wi...
Times have changed. The holiday season once started with tree lighting ceremonies and carolling. Now, it starts with Black Friday mayhem, marked by frantic shoppers crowding and scrambling for sale goods. One desperate woman pepper sprayed her competitors for discounted merchandise at a WalMart. A man was killed when he was robbed of his Black Friday bounty in a store parking lot. Store employees were injured by the throngs of shoppers rushing to bargains. Then came Cyber Monday. A day when Internet shoppers click on specials and deals while...
Whale with 20 plastic bags revives calls for ban WELL, THERE GOES the Seattle Times again, pushing the City Council to ban plastic bags only two years after voters said fuhgeddaboutit. It apparently was driven to take up the cudgel again by the finding in West Seattle last year of a beached whale that had more than 20 plastic bags in its stomach. Now I like whales as much as anybody, but I would be curious to know what kind of bags they were so their source could be identified. Campaigns to ban plastic bags are chiefly aimed at those in...
Tips and Resources for Long-Distance Caregivers Dear Savvy Senior, What kinds of help are available to long-distance caregivers? My mother has gotten very forgetful in her old age and has fallen a few times over the past year, but is determined to stay living in her own house. How can I help her from 700 miles away? Worried Daughter Dear Worried, In today’s mobile society, caring for an elderly parent from afar has become increasingly common. In fact, the National Institute of Health estimates that there are around 7 million Americans who a...
I recently watched as volunteer firefighters/emergency responders from Rosalia/Malden/Thornton voluntarily practiced their skills in an all day Sunday training session. I continue to be filled with gratitude for the immense amount of time our fellow citizens volunteer in training and service to our communities. They readily leave their families and jobs to assist the rest of us in our time of need. To emergency volunteers throughout our county, you should indeed stand proud for the unselfish service you provide. This and every Thanksgiving, I...
The congressional super committee was charged with the task of coming up with solutions and plans to address the debt and deficit crisis in this country. Its goal was to trim the federal budget by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. This week it announced it had failed. Its bipartisan members could not come to agreement on how to solve the nation’s looming budget problems. The six Republicans and six Democrats accomplished nothing after weeks of meetings. They found compromise too distasteful even if compromise meant progress towards solving the curre...
Did other candidates launch charges against Cain? I DON’T KNOW if Herman Cam is guilty of “inappropriate” behavior toward women employees of the National Restaurant Association but it was dumb of him not to anticipate accusations of same going public when he became a threat to his fellow candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. That’s where I suspect the tip came to the media of lawsuits brought by women who were paid off to hit the road and shut up about it. I think the Democrats have bought the persistent prediction from ma...
How about some good news heading into the holidays? It comes from our nation’s farmers and ranchers. Agriculture is an economic sector where America has not lost its edge. In fact, it is a bright spot in a persistently glum economy. The U.S. Agriculture Department expects our nation’s agricultural exports to reach a record $137 billion this year and grow by another $2.3 billion in 2012. While our nation has an overall trade deficit, our agricultural sector has a trade surplus, expected to top $42 billion in 2011. That is good news for our sta...
Earlier this week, our representatives in D.C. went to work, knowing that they were facing some of the most serious problems that this nation has ever encountered. Several wars, the loss of some of our finest in these wars, economic instability, high unemployment, more poor to take care of, and just about as unpredictable a future that we could face! So they rolled up their sleeves, gritted their teeth, and went to work. Not on any of the aforementioned problems, but on a decision as to whether or not, we should keep our National Motto, “In G...
The pressure is on. Every business wants you and your money. Even Black Friday is changing to get more of it. This year the Black Friday sales on the day after Thanksgiving will start earlier than ever. In fact, in some cases, they are not starting on Friday at all. Some stores will be offering Black Friday sales on Thursday, Thanksgiving night. Over the years, the opening hours for Black Friday have crept earlier and earlier in order to get the most shoppers. A lot of people find the wide-open, aggressive, contact shopping an adventure. Many...
Monday, Nov. 21, there will be a meeting called by the Colfax School District to be held in the high school library at 7 p.m. for the express purpose of getting feedback from the community as to the amount that should be put before the voters for next spring’s Colfax School District special levy. At the meeting we will receive the latest projections for District revenue to be received in the next two years and estimates of School District costs, in all of the spending categories. The State of Washington has a $2 billion hole to fill, and u...
Sometimes Dinner Really Bugs Me You may wonder why insects are causing so much buzz lately. Its because people are eating them — and not just in order to get on Reality Television. For example, in San Francisco, there's a food truck named Don Bugito that serves such fare as tacos made with fried wax-moth larvae. Look it up if you don't believe me. They also make food out of pallid worms, but I imagine when you hold the pallid worms up to the wax moths, the worms pale by comparison. Eating bugs is called entomophagy — or, for short, gross. Mos...
President Obama says he will delay until 2013 a decision about the $13 billion Keystone pipeline, which would carry Canadian oil to Gulf coast refineries. Supporters say the 1,661 mile pipeline would create as many as 20,000 high-paying construction jobs, reduce our dependence on oil from unfriendly nations and revitalize the stricken Gulf Coast economy. Opponents worry about potential environmental impacts, and Midwest property owners in the path of the pipeline say “not in my backyard.” Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the delay ma...
ACTUALLY, I was a little surprised that Initiative 1183, moving liquor sales from state operated stores to grocery stores, passed as hugely as it did. I thought our side – I opposed it – of firemen, doctors and nurses would be influential in convincing voters this would expand the availability and use of alcohol but there’s an old axiom in politics about looking to where the money is, and Costco’s $22 million spent on the campaign to pass it certainly had to help. However, the money Bellevue millionaire developer Kemper Freeman put into Ti...
In 1984, a gunman went on a killing spree at a San Diego area McDonalds restaurant. Patrons of the restaurant tried to hide under tables. Employees hid behind the counter and in the kitchen. No place was safe. Eventually, the restaurant was surrounded by police, and police sharpshooters killed the shooter. Twenty-one innocents died. Nineteen were wounded. Horrified survivors were traumatized. Psychiatrists and psychologists were called to help with their recovery. A concern was that they would forever suffer from the horrific experience...
Could the English Language be endangered? SCIENTISTS have come up with another study on creatures in the inland waters of Washington and British Columbia that need protection as threatened or endangered that has doubled what we listed only three years ago. When is someone going to do the same for the English language? It’s grating to watch our local television news shows any more as they drop their g’s and tell us about cams and temps and aves. Sure, I know or at least assume they mean cameras and temperatures and avenues but say it, damn it!...
GPS needs to control our skies too The next time you’re on a commercial airliner, think about this: The GPS navigation unit in your car is more advanced than the technology used by air traffic controllers. The radar-based air traffic control technology used today is almost 60 years old. While it worked well with fewer, slow-moving aircraft, today's modern jetliners can fly more than a mile and a half in the time it takes for a radar beam to sweep across the screen. Because of that, planes must be kept three to five miles apart. Airplanes forced...
Introducing the New Book W. BRUCE CAMERON Move over, Kindle: Cameron Industries, a mono-national corporation headed by CEO W. Bruce Cameron (no relation), announced today it will soon be marketing the “next generation” of portable readers. Dubbed the “book,” Cameron predicts it will take the world by storm. As described by Cameron, the book will mark major advances in current reader technology. Among them: Battery life: While some manufacturers boast that their reading machines can have as much as 150 hours of battery life, Cameron claims...
