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James A. Haught’s commentary titled “It’s a crime to trust God” (Cheney Free Press July 22) shows a deep misunderstanding of both the Constitution and Christian values. The misrepresentation of the First Amendment directive is rampant. Nowhere do the words “separation of church and state” appear. Instead, the specific wording is, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” That’s it. In other words, it guarantees freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM reli...
Massive forest fires in western parts of our country are not only choking us with layers of thick smoke, but are leaving behind millions of acres of scorched hillsides, ridges and valleys. Simply, there are not enough trees to absorb CO2 and prevent erosion. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, record wildfire seasons in recent years have destroyed millions of trees. Many forests have burned so severely that natural regeneration is not possible making replanting necessary....
After a war has ended, historians, elected officials, and faith leaders, no less than the people involved, often raise doubts over whether the outcomes were worth the many horrific costs. But mourning diminishes over time and life for the survivors goes on. Such a recovery from destruction is no longer assured or even likely in the age of nuclear weapons. World leaders, however, continue to play the game of war in ways that risk the war that could end life on earth. Recent U.S. actions in Asia are bringing us closer to such...
The Spokane County Elections Department has conducted 21 recounts of specific races over the past 20 years, according to the department’s online archives. To me, that indicates an inclination towards openness and transparency in the electoral process, not just the number of recounts but also the easy availability of the outcomes. Add to this the department’s willingness to allow election observers, and I feel pretty good about trusting the reliability of elections in our region, whatever they may be. Other voters should too...
Fundamentalists and Republicans who dominate Mississippi put “In God We Trust” on car license plates, forcing all drivers to promote religion. The only way a motorist can avoid the motto is to pay $30 extra for a special plate of one’s choosing. Gov. Tate Reeves declared that the 2019 action reflects the core values of the Deep Dixie state. American Atheists, Mississippi humanists and others filed a federal lawsuit saying the motto violates the separation of church and state guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Bill...
Jacquelyn Belock will be a fresh voice to represent the unrepresented in the Cheney City Council and build a bridge between the city of Cheney and EWU and between the young and the older residents. Jacquelyn is a young, well-educated enthusiastic serious college teacher as well as a mother of two and the wife of an Army veteran. She has traveled extensively around the United States, even obtained her M.S. in South Dakota. However, she wanted to come back to Cheney where she obtained her first degree at EWU, because she...
Over the last 16 months, each one of us has suffered through endless chaos and uncertainty of COVID-19 and the seemingly endless monarchical restrictions affecting every facet of our lives. We’ve all borne witness personally in some way — sick and dying loved ones (not just from COVID); economic insecurity; long-term isolation from family, friends, church and helping each other in time of need; loss of personal freedom; watching individuals and families struggle with job loss or the collapse of their businesses; watching our...
By ANDREW MOSS Contributor Last month, attorneys from the Department of Justice joined with counsel for the private prison corporation, the GEO Group, to present oral arguments supporting private immigration detention in California. Speaking before judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the attorneys appealed an earlier U.S. District Court ruling that largely upheld a 2019 California law mandating the phase-out of private immigration detention facilities in the state. Essentially, the government and GEO Group...
Power shortages, rolling brownouts and blackouts? In the Pacific Northwest? One regional utility alone – Avista – had brownouts that affected 15,307 ratepayers last Monday, 6,793 last Tuesday and another 602 last Wednesday. Other utilities, too, had brownouts. I know we’ve had a day or two of record-setting high temperatures. But that’s not an excuse to shut down power to residents and businesses here in Eastern Washington. Columbia River basin dams generate roughly 44% of...
Homelessness is a growing problem in virtually every state. Nowhere is it more pressing than in California, which in the past three years spent more than $13 billion, roughly $30,000 annually for each homeless person, to address it. Tragically, its “housing first” approach is a colossal failure. Overall, says the state auditor’s office, California’s homelessness programs are disjointed and poorly managed. Despite little progress, policymakers keep throwing more money at the problem. Rather than adopting Califor...
If you’re trying to beat the excessive heat by staying indoors this Fourth of July weekend and you run out of things to do, let me offer a suggestion. Read the Declaration of Independence. At 1,338 words it’s actually a short read. I’m sure you could find it on Kindle, but instead of listening to someone else read it, you read it. We learn more when we engage our minds in the active exercise of reading versus the passive course of listening — although the latter is essential and needed more these days. Don’t worry about mem...
Even as Democrats and Republicans continue their negotiations, there is one aspect of infrastructure that still continues to enjoy broad support — and it also happens to be the most important part of the plan: billions of dollars in broadband infrastructure. This investment would ensure every single American has access to high-speed internet. For the sake of our country’s economic well-being, leaders in Washington must make broadband expansion a priority. Doing so will change millions of lives for the better. Expanding int...
As climate change concerns grow, researchers are turning to small tree farmers for help. Actually, they have been helping for nearly a century, but their efforts have largely gone unrecognized. For decades, the American Tree Farm program has emphasized sustainability and managing lands for water quality, wildlife, wood and recreation. Now, it is adding climate change. According to the American Forest Foundation, families and individuals collectively care for the largest...
The newly confirmed U.S. trade representative, Katherine Tai, is about as qualified as a person can be for the job. Which is a good thing, because she already faces a series of challenges. They aren’t necessarily the trade issues that grab the biggest headlines, like tough new negotiations with major rivals. In fact, one of the most important tasks for Tai is simply enforcement of existing deals with close U.S. trading partners. Well-thought-out, well-enforced trade deals benefit all Americans, ensuring lower prices for c...
Where did the main stream media report the major atrocities taking place in Israel and occupied Gaza? Of course, we heard about the bombing and destruction of the building housing Associated Press and Al-Jazeera and numbers killed, but we haven’t heard much about the “roof knocking,” the targeted killing of Palestinian doctors, the purposeful destruction of the Covid lab in Gaza, the “squatting” of non-Arab Israelis (many of which are American citizens) in Arab-Israeli homes in Jerusalem and other human rights violation...
There’s a lot of talk about endangered species. But the most important endangered species in America, may not be a plant or a wild animal. The most endangered species may actually be in your home, a friend’s home or next door. The endangered species I’m talking about is the American Dad. This coming Sunday is Father’s Day, the one day set aside each year to honor the American Dad. Honoring and thanking the fathers in your life should be your highest priority this weekend...
There’s a lot of talk about endangered species. But the most important endangered species in America, may not be a plant or a wild animal. The most endangered species may actually be in your home, a friend’s home or next door. The endangered species I’m talking about is the American Dad. This coming Sunday is Father’s Day, the one day set aside each year to honor the American Dad. Honoring and thanking the fathers in your life should be your highest priority this weekend...
In our zest to quickly switch from gas-powered to battery-operated vehicles and to convert our power grid to wind and solar generated electricity, the impacts of CO2 released from rivers, lakes and streams has been ignored. President Biden wants to transition America to renewable electricity by 2035 and have every car CO2 emission free by 2050. In the world of nature, the focus is carbon gases released from forest and rangeland fires. In California last year, wildfires...
Shortly after President Biden took office, he issued the sweeping executive order to transition America to TOTAL — 100 % — renewable electricity by 2035 — 15 short years from now. Translated that means no more power from coal and natural gas — quite a challenge considering 60 percent of the 4.12 trillion kilowatt hours (kwh) of electricity we generated in 2020 came from burning fossil fuels while 20 percent came from renewables including hydro. Land is the wild card. In Febr...
Right now, Americans can purchase nearly limitless quantities of masks, hand sanitizer, and other personal protective equipment. But this time last year, it was an entirely different story. Even hospitals and doctor’s offices were running out of PPE. The shortages almost certainly cost some healthcare workers their lives. Covid-19 won’t be the last pandemic we face. We need to be much better prepared next time — with ample stockpiles of PPE ready to distribute to areas in need. Last spring, the virus laid bare the vulne...
Washington Policy Center and League of Women Voters of Washington want to thank the Washington State House and Senate’s bipartisan leadership for the remote testimony processes established in the challenging legislative session that just ended. That session was historic in its approach to conducting meetings—the COVID pandemic and need for distancing caused the Legislature to build on the prior remote testimony process and add new virtual participation options, with great benefits to both legislators and the public. While thi...
President Biden has already laid out an ambitious climate change agenda. With a series of early executive orders, he set the stage for a ban on oil and gas drilling on federal land, an end to fossil fuel subsidies, and a transition to electric engines in government vehicles. But more is needed. President Biden and his administration need to take concerted actions to advance an area of research that could prove decisive in battling climate change: biotechnology. In recent years, scientists have found a host of surprising and i...
New COVID workplace restrictions, issued by Washington State Labor and Industries (L&I) late last Friday, May 21st, require employers to check employee vaccine documents before allowing relaxation of social distancing and mask requirements in the workplace. The new state rules require an employer to confirm, and have employees prove their vaccine medical status. The process used to verify vaccination, and the medical status of the employee’s vaccination record, including t...
Memorial Day is not to honor living veterans, but the military personnel who died in the line of duty. “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance ... Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. John A. Logan in 1868. It was three yea...
We knew it was coming. The moment lawmakers tried to get clever and thought they could gain support for a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (House Bill 1091) and Cap and Trade (Senate Bill 5126) by linking the policies with a future transportation tax package, it was clear what the governor would do – veto the restriction. Never mind the fact it appears to be illegal to do this. But since he has previously issued questionable line-item vetoes, there was never any doubt that he would do it again to secure his top environmental prioriti...
