Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 92
The criticism of President Trump’s tariff war continues to grow. The attacks are mostly centered around the American consumer. I understand the concern. I don’t want the prices at the checkout to be any higher than they absolutely need to be. I enjoy a good bargain as much as anyone. But consumer thinking is short term. Could our President actually be looking out for the long term best interests of our nation? A few years ago, I was asked to list the most serious problems facing our country. First on my list was our growing d...
Congratulations graduates! It’s been a long time since I stood in your place. I remember being excited to finish a big phase in my life and apprehensive about starting a new one. I am sure you feel much the same. For the past 12 years, you have been a child in our public school system. Your graduation is the rite of passage from childhood into the world of adults. Well...almost. Our court system considers you an adult, so shoplifting is no longer a juvenile offense. You can serve in the military or get married without a...
The first law of economics is Murphy’s Law. The second, right behind Murphy, is the Law of Unintended Consequences, which says: “Any outside input into the free market tends to disrupt its normal flow.” The free market can be visualized as an intricate web of connections, kind of like a spider’s web. The spider can feel a fly at the very extreme edge of the web and reacts to secure a meal. The market also feels the slightest outside influence and reacts in ways that can only be predicted in hindsight. More often than not, th...
Our court system is out of control. I was watching a Mariner’s game the other day when the network filled a break in the action with a half dozen commercials. My drink and chip bowl were both full, so I sat back in my recliner and day-dreamed. I came fully awake when a law firm announced they had won a $289 million settlement against the makers of Roundup and requested I call the number on the screen to see if I could share in the bounty. I have used Roundup in my garden for several years, so, after the ball game, I r...
Twenty years ago, Washington voters outlawed ethnic discrimination within our state. Initiative 200, passed by a decisive popular vote, specified that employers or those granting contracts, “shall not discriminate against nor grant preferable treatment … on the basis of race, sex, ethnicity or national origin.” This past Sunday during their last minute session, our Legislature struck down the people’s initiative. Ethnic background is now a required criteria for evaluating new employees and granting state contracts. Propone...
On March 15, a small group of white supremacists attacked a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 50 worshipers. Political and religious leaders throughout the world condemned the act and the terrorists. The six gunmen were rounded up and will be punished to the limit of New Zealand law. As far as we know, the motivation of the attack was more racial than religious. In retaliation, a group of Islamic terrorists sent seven suicide bombers to Christian targets in Sri Lanka last week. They inflicted 800 casualties, 300...
Our state Legislature has accomplished all their goals. They have outlawed eyeball tattoos, enacted the biggest budget increase in history, raised the price of gasoline, and enabled the worst school funding debacle since statehood. Having done all this with time to spare, they recently voted to change the amount of available daylight. As I understand the logic, too many people get confused during the change from daylight savings to standard time, so we should quit changing. Making daylight savings time permanent would give us...
Big headlines announce one in 12 Spokane teachers may lose their jobs. Those who follow my column may remember last fall when the Legislature poured money into K-12 education statewide, I said it would do little, if anything, to improve classroom education. As predicted, the first in line to grab the money was the teachers’ union. I blamed the State Supreme Court for mucking around in areas beyond their expertise. I blamed the Legislature, recently unconstrained by a conservative majority in either house, for pouring money w...
Yippeee! I finished my taxes. I was concerned after the media horror stories of taxpayers who expected considerable refunds only to discover they owed thousands to the IRS. I didn’t know what to expect. I was happy to discover my small refund was approximately the same as I have received for the last 10 years or so. I guess those horror stories were rare exceptions broadcast for shock effect. After I electronically submitted my return, I did some quick calculations and was a bit surprised that I paid just under 10 percent o...
I was tired of shoveling snow the other day and needed some comic relief, so I decided to read the most recent newsletters sent out by my state representative. Finding out what is happening at our state capitol is challenging. I usually start with the newsletters, then Google for more details. If you don’t get these newsletters, you should. Your representative’s office will gladly add you to their email list. Then you, too, will have something to break up the monotony of late winter. As our governor has been reborn as the...
Homelessness has been cussed and discussed with no solution in sight. With no viable plan, most government officials wring their hands and hope the problem will go away. The latest suggestion is to pay the homeless a living wage. Thus, the unfortunate street people could afford the requisite training to find jobs. I guess this is possible. The evening news interviewed an ex-homeless lady who received money from a private charity and was eventually able to open a coffee shop, thus, becoming a local success story. We sometimes...
I didn’t think it was quite time for political season, but it seems to have started. I was just sitting down to dinner when my phone rang. If it had been 30 seconds later, I would have let the answering machine take it even though I was expecting a call from my agent. The caller asked for my wife, and being well trained, I asked if I could tell her who was calling. I guess talking to my wife wasn’t the caller’s highest priority because he went right into his spiel. He started by thanking me for past contributions I have...
I normally watch the news as I brew my morning cup of tea. As we were experiencing a significant winter storm, I was anxious to check school closures and road conditions. I was disappointed to find all news channels filled with Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony. I could either turn off the TV or watch the proceedings as I prepared my scrambled eggs with toast. I thought I could at least find out how Cohen got into so much trouble. After three cups of tea, I was left wondering why all the hype. I still don’t know what Co...
I went to college in New York. It was a long way from home, but West Point offered to let me play football in exchange for a quality education and a career. New York was quite a culture shock for a small town farm boy. The drinking age was 18, the voting age was 21 and the only thing that prevented us from smoking was the price of cigarettes. We did most of the stupid things that college kids do, but no one got hurt that I know of, and we didn’t break any laws. Times have sure changed. College kids are now deemed mature e...
Along with millions of other Americans, I watched last week’s State of the Union Address. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it. The President was uncharacteristically subdued. He didn’t pick any fights nor call anyone names. He was definitely un-Trump-like. The Democrats and the national press hate everything the President does, so it was no surprise when they discounted everything he said. Republicans, on the other hand, proclaimed it to be the best speech since Gettysburg. To me, it was kind of bland....
Four Washington state counties announced they will not enforce Initiative 1639, and more may follow. I don’t understand. I was taught in high school civics class we were a federal, constitutional, democracy. I remembered the words but didn’t quite remember what they mean, so I looked them up in the dictionary. The “democracy” part means we have the right to vote. In a pure democracy, citizens vote on everything. Any time there is a question, the people gather at the meeting place and vote on the issue. We have both too man...
I visited a pot shop last week, something I thought I would never do. A senior citizen friend of mine has been experiencing rather severe knee pain and is trying to postpone an inevitable replacement. In the meantime, she has done almost everything: the magic shot series, physical therapy, horse liniment and continues to ask advice of friends and neighbors who have had similar problems. One friend experienced relief with cannabis oil and her primary care doctor advised her to, “Try it, you have nothing to lose.” She asked me...
After long and careful consideration, I have decided not to run for President of the United States in 2020. I realize this may come as a disappointment to my supporters, and I will leave my future options open, but the timing is just not right. This should not be construed to mean that I am not qualified. Admittedly, I don’t know how to use Twitter, but I could learn. Joe Biden stated that he is the best qualified American for the job, but the only thing he does better than the average citizen is find the White House b...
It looks as if the current government shutdown will set a new record with no end in sight. President Trump has avowed that he will not end the standoff unless there is funding for his wall. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is just as adamant that there will be no funding for the wall. Neither side shows any sign of budging. So, who is to blame? Is it the President’s fault for sticking to his campaign promises, or is it the Democrats’ fault for standing on their ideology? Maybe a bit of both, and maybe this budget confrontation is...
The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 per hour since 2009. Even though 96 percent of gainfully employed Americans earn more than the minimum, there is a push to increase it to a “living wage.” Minimum wage is a bad idea for several reasons, it ignores the concept of entry-level jobs, it forces mechanization and/or elimination of low skilled jobs and interferes with the free market. I got my first job off the farm before I was in the eighth grade. I bagged groceries at Bob’s Market for 75 cents an hour. A few months later...
I have about quit watching football. I did watch the Army/Navy game, and was pleased when my old alma mater made it three wins in a row. The only other college game I watched was the Apple Cup. I don’t watch the pros since some players decided to make a political statement and refused to stand for our National Anthem.I’m not sure whether their cause was just or not, but their actions not only slam our country but dishonor every veteran who fought for their right to protest. I also have no sympathy for Mark Rypien and his cam...
During our last family reunion, some of my siblings and I relived some of our childhood Christmas memories. We were not the most affluent family in town. Dad raised 10 kids on a factory worker’s pay, so to provide special holiday memories, our folks sometimes had to be creative. We all remembered the time some of us had begun to doubt Santa Clause. We drove up to Grandma’s that Christmas Eve, and when we returned, Santa had been there. We believed for at least one more year. Who could forget Mom’s silver tree? I think she f...
During the recent mid-term elections, Democrats campaigned extensively and at times quite successfully on health care. The specifics covered a wide spectrum. The recurring theme, however, appeared to be cost. Politicians across the board promised cheaper care. Realistically, care can only be cheaper if we reduce the quality or quantity. Twenty-five years ago, my uncle died of prostate cancer. There was nothing that the medicine of the time could do to save him. Now, however, patients have several treatment options, all of...
The President’s methods and manner usually leave much to be desired, but once in a while he gets something right. He is spot-on when he calls the growing crowd on our southern border a “migrant invasion.” I can’t understand why this concept seems new to anyone or why the national press objects to the title. Migrant invasions are as old as recorded history. When Moses led his people out of Egypt seeking the Promised Land, it was a migrant invasion. After 40 years wandering in the desert, they became strong enough to take up...
Dear CNN, I watched your broadcasts protesting the revocation of Jim Acosta’s White House press pass. You have now turned to the courts in order to bolster your continued feud with President Trump. I will agree that the president is pompous, rude and undiplomatic. He certainly carries much of the blame for your conflict. You should, however, acknowledge that you are at least partly responsible. In the case of; Jim Acosta, you are just plain wrong. Your network, and to a degree the national press in general, have come to b...
