Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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The New Year is traditionally a time for reflection and renewal. A shiny new year lies ahead, full of promise. The New Year is a time when people pledge to change their lives: lose weight, stop smoking, be a better parent, work harder, work less. Regardless of your situation, the New Year holds the opportunity for a fresh start. Our nation needs a fresh start. We are now entering the fifth year of the economic “recovery,” the slowest on record since the Great Depression. While there have been sporadic fits and starts of improved numbers, eco...
There’s a possibility that just a few people are discussing, and it’s that the “Duck Dynasty” family and maybe A&E network have just pulled off a public-relations coup. Granted, my evidence is strictly anecdotal, based on the personal experience of ... well ... me. I had never watched the show before now, but the moment father duck Phil Robertson made his comments to GQ about gays and blacks that are so ridiculous they could only be meant as farce, I made it a point to watch. Folks, it is very funny. Obviously it’s a parody, one that mocks red...
The current Time Magazine has an amazing photograph. It is of a Great White shark breaching out of the water in an attempt to catch a small seal. The shark’s mouth is wide open and its teeth are extended. The seal is not in the shark’s mouth as one might expect, but stretched across its snout as if doing a circus act on a big ball. The little seal evaded the shark’s teeth only to ride its nose high into the air. Many Americans over the last four years have been in a position like that little seal—trying desperately to save their lives in the...
During the holidays, our thoughts naturally turn to giving — not just giving gifts but donating our time and money to charities and community programs. This time of year, we’re reminded that, with all our frailties, we human beings are a pretty generous lot. According to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, 88 percent of American households donate to charity. In 2012, Americans donated more than $316 billion to nonprofit organizations. As it turns out, philanthropy is as old as civilization itself. One of the earliest recorded don...
Gen. George Washington’s army retreated from New York in ignominy in November 1776. As it moved through New Jersey, Lt. James Monroe, the future president, stood by the road and counted the troops: 3,000 left from an original force of 30,000. In December 1776, the future of America hung on the fate of a bedraggled army barely a step ahead of annihilation. The Americans confronted about two-thirds of the strength of the British army, and half its navy, not to mention thousands of German mercenaries. The defense of New York was barely worthy of t...
Over a hundred years ago, a young girl wanted to know if Santa really existed. Her friends were telling her not to believe. So, she wrote her newspaper to get the truth. This is the famous reply from the editor, Francis Church. Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been afflicted by skepticism in a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s are little. In this great universe of our...
Make sense? China is rapidly increasing the size and power of its military; we play softball with Iran; Putin adds the Ukraine to his muscle. Meanwhile the shadow cast by the U.S. military is shrinking as is our credibility and deterrence that depends on it. U.S. military spending on defense, adjusted for inflation, is higher than at the height of Reagan’s administration. It has been producing less than half of the forces and capabilities of those years. We had a 600-ship Navy then and now we have a 280-ship Navy. Reagan had a 20 division Army...
This summer, the nation sweltered in a deadly heat wave. High temperatures hovered near 100 degrees, the heat buckled highways in several states, and firefighters in Indianapolis evacuated 300 people from a senior living community when the air conditioning failed. Cities from New York to Seattle set up cooling centers as demand for electricity hit all-time highs. This fall, the nation froze in near-record cold. Temperatures in the upper Midwest recently plummeted to -31 degrees. Freezing temperatures and ice storms snarled air traffic across th...
President Barack Obama has his answer to Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” It is a war on inequality. The president’s formal declaration of hostilities came in a speech this month at the Center for American Progress, predictably praised as brilliant by his journalistic cheerleaders and touted by the White House as setting out the cause that will define the rest of his presidency. While LBJ’s war on poverty is nothing to emulate — it costs $900 billion a year, yet has manifestly failed in the stated goal of uplifting the poor — at least it h...
It is the week before Christmas—a perfect time for somebody to win the giant Mega Millions lottery. And, somebody did. In fact, two tickets had the winning numbers. One in Georgia and one in California. The jackpot was $636 million and may be more at the final tally. That is roughly two dollars for everyone in America, including all those we don’t know are here and all those just passing through. It is a tremendous amount of money and another blow to income equality, although it will not put the winners on the America’s most wealthy list....
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...
