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It would be wonderful to see President Trump’s tax returns and a breakdown of all expenses of his and his family’s trips to their golf courses and hotels since taking office, along with a tally of the profits he is making while disregarding the Emolument Clause in the Constitution. How much has the security detail for Trump, his family members and Vice-President Pence cost us taxpayers, some now being used for campaign rallies for the 2020 election? In the meantime, he and his buddies are is so heartless they can’t provi...
Like Frank Watson, I’m also a Vietnam-era, retired Air Force officer, with similar life experiences, and yet my values are very different. For example, Frank’s dire warning against the evils of socialism (CFP, 8/1/19) is interesting coming from a guy who spent much of his working life living under a model socialist system. One of my minor conundrums in getting through my first weeks as a civilian after retirement from the Air Force was deciding what to wear every day. The Air Force not only decided that for me, they also pro...
I commend Lee Hughes for his fine Write to the Point opinion column of Oct. 3, 2019. He documents the fallacies proclaimed by Frank Watson and Don Brunell. Unfortunately, the latter two gentlemen and others who write articles expressing the same thoughts are quite effective. As proof I offer the letter to the editor by Ms. Paula Thornton who suggests Mr. Hughes needs to study economics. Sadly, it is she who needs the course in economics. The minimum wage of the successful New Deal did much to speed the recovery from the...
The United Auto Workers Union strike against General Motors has entered its second month with no end in sight. They are using tactics developed years ago when the big three automakers ruled the industry. Rather than strike across the board, the union would target only one of the three. That way they could keep two-thirds of their members employed while they brought one to heel. Then they would use the results to bargain with the other two. I’m not sure those tactics would work today. Times have changed. Big corporations a...
Jill Weiszmann is a community gem and we need her to continue serving us on the Cheney City Council. Jill has already proven her outstanding effectiveness representing all of us during her terms in office on the council. As retired educators, a former mayor and active participants in the community, we have known, worked closely with and been friends to Jill for the past decade. No one is better connected with the local community or more active in participating in local events or organizations. Jill is honest, energetic,...
Like Frank Watson, I’m also a Vietnam-era, retired Air Force officer, with similar life experiences, and yet my values are very different. For example, Frank’s dire warning against the evils of socialism (CFP, 8/1/19) is interesting coming from a guy who spent much of his working life living under a model socialist system. One of my minor conundrums in getting through my first weeks as a civilian after retirement from the Air Force was deciding what to wear every day. The Air Force not only decided that for me, they also pro...
In the Oct. 3 edition, Lee Hughes closed his column with “It’s simple: tax the rich.” The only thing simple in that statement is the nature of Mr. Hughes understanding of economics: simpleton. The fact is, while that may ‘seem’ ideal to increase revenues by taxing the rich, in reality the facts don’t bear out. It has been repeatedly shown that when taxes are are raised on the rich, the total revenues go down and the reverse is also true, when the tax rates go down the revenues go up. It would appear that Mr. Hughes has...
Throughout our nation, 42 percent of schools have contributed $789 million dollars to local foods through farm to school programs. This October marks the eighth annual National Farm to School Month, a time to recognize the importance of improving child nutrition, support local economies, and educate communities about the origins of their food. In the U.S., 23.6 million students have become engaged in programs such as school gardening, locally-sourced lunches, and sustainable agriculture education. These hands-on activities...
News flash – Nancy Pelosi learned President Trump is using his office for political gain so the House has begun impeachment hearings. I thought using the power of office was pretty normal in American politics. Members of Congress begin to campaign for the next election before the votes are counted for the last one. It is hard to unseat an incumbent. They have free news exposure, free mailings to constituents, free transportation for photo ops that make them look good, etc. They also have the opportunity to transfer pork b...
Some thoughts on impeachment. Under the Constitution, the House has the sole power of impeachment, which it has done 19 times in the past, a record that includes 15 federal judges and two presidents. That’s Article 1, Section 2, Clause 5. Under Article 1, Section 3, Clauses 6 and 7: “The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be con...
Honest. Consistent. Intelligent. Successful. Compassionate. Driven. Energetic. Giving. These are the words I would use to describe Jill Weiszmann who is once again running for Cheney City Council representative Position 6. I have known both Jill and her opponent for nearly four years. As a business owner in the West Plains, a member of the West Plains Chamber of Commerce, and vice-chair of the board of directors for a local non-profit organization, I can tell you that my experience with Jill Weiszmann has been nothing short...
The Cheney School District Board of Directors is headed for the second reading and vote of a new policy (3423) at their Oct. 9 meeting at Windsor at 6 p.m. This policy will allow the consuming of so called “medical” marijuana on school grounds, events and buses by school children. I was fooled by the word “medical” until I read that medical marijuana or regular marijuana is not approved by the FDA for the treatment of anything as other medical drugs have to be. The content of medical marijuana is just like regular marijua...
What once seemed like science fiction will soon become reality. Doctors will perform surgery from thousands of miles away using remote-controlled robots. Self-driving cars will zip through traffic. This is the promise of fifth-generation wireless technologies, or “5G.” Internet users will download up to 10 gigabytes of videos and documents per second -- one hundred times faster than existing 4G networks. The ability to transmit vast quantities of data virtually instantaneously will revolutionize our lives. But 5G will also un...
I bought my first electronic calculator several years ago when I was in grad school. It was made by Texas Instruments and was a little bigger than a deck of cards. It could add, subtract, multiply, and divide much faster and more accurately than I could with my old slide rule. I paid $100 for it. After a couple weeks, I put my slide rule away and never used it again. Today you can find smaller calculators with more power at the Dollar Store. As manufacturers skill increased, the price went down. The fancy economic term for...
The proverbial bovine fecal matter has been piling up recently. According to columnist Frank Watson, in his Sept. 26 piece, the minimum wage was never intended to be a living wage, but an income for “untested, unskilled labor.” Meanwhile, Don Brunell complained in his Sept. 12 column about the skyrocketing national debt, blaming it on so-called entitlement programs and government overspending, noting “taxes must be affordable.” Both perspectives are patently misguid...
Traditionally, media coverage of the Paris Air Show focuses on the battle between Boeing and Airbus over market share for newer large commercial jets. However, this year Mitsubishi shared the spotlight with its state-of-the-art "SpaceJet." SpaceJet is not the latest aircraft to join British billionaire Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic suborbital space fleet. It is a new regional passenger aircraft designed to compete head-to-head with Brazil's Embraer E-175 for routes...
Chip, chip, chip away. Do you notice the chipping away of human rights of migrants and reduction of total number of refugees by the present administration? Day after day, it creates an even more cruel way to block asylum-seekers; the latest being the denial of refuge for Bahamians fleeing the ravages of Hurricane Dorian, and people living here sometimes for years, who require advanced medical care. This of course includes children being sent back to their countries of origin where there is limited access to medical care, a...
“Cigarette butts, the most littered items in the world, are proving to be an intractable trash problem for regulators and tobacco companies. Throwing them on the ground is a firmly entrenched habit for many smokers.” This statement published in the Wall Street Journal was sent to me recently. It goes on to say “Regulators are taking a tougher stance on cigarette filter pollution amid concerns about the environmental impact of single use plastic. For decades, butts have been made from cellulose acetate, a form of plast...
For years, politicians have railed about the high cost of prescription drugs. But now, they appear poised to take action. Democrats and many Republicans want to impose price controls on medicines. One proposal would allow patients to import price-controlled medicines from Canada. Another would allow federal bureaucrats to effectively dictate the price of medicines sold through Medicare’s prescription drug program. Yet another plan would index Medicare reimbursements for advanced drugs to the artificially capped prices paid i...
I heard a news report last week proudly announce, “The economy improved last week fueled by consumer spending.” Consumer spending, or lack thereof may be an indicator of economic strength, but it doesn’t drive. It doesn’t fuel the economy. Military bases weren’t always welcome in some communities. When signs begin to appear saying, “Dogs and soldiers keep off the grass” the Army would frequently pay their troops in $2 bills. This flood of $2 currency was supposed to demonstrate how vital the base was to the local economy...
Dear readers, I have worked for the Cheney Free Press for more than a year, and it has been a pleasure to do so. But now, it’s time to move on. While at the Free Press, I’ve travelled to firefighter trainings and photographed military parachute jumpers, covered city meetings and community gatherings and met some seriously wonderful people. I want to thank the subscribers of the Cheney Free Press for supporting your local newspaper, for being involved in your communities and for allowing us to share with you important new...
Our nation is on an unsustainable borrowing trajectory and it could get much worse unless voters start asking politicians: “How are taxpayers going to pay for what they promise!” We now owe over $22.5 trillion to lenders of which nearly half are off shore. (China $1.11 trillion). At the rate which we are selling treasury notes, the deficit will balloon to $24 trillion by 2020. That means when the presidential election rolls around next year, each taxpayer’s share of the debt...
Many of us in Cheney are affected by Spokane city and county administrations. At today’s (Sept. 5) Spokane Homelessness Coalition with candidates Ben Stuckart, Nadine Woodward, Breean Beggs and Cindy Wendle, I took away one realization. We need a mayor and city council president with experience to work together. I like to support qualified female candidates, but the only two I trust to improve homelessness is Ben Stuckart and Breean Beggs. I’ve immersed myself in these issues for the past year at Monday Camp Hope meetings wit...
I had a wonderful opportunity in 2000. I was selected as part of Spokane’s sister city educational exchange, and taught English in the Japanese public school system. One of my students was considering applying to be an exchange student in America. She asked me several questions including how safe my country was. I assured her that the reports of violence were overblown by our free and open media. Although we were not as safe as Japan, we felt secure anywhere in our country. I couldn’t make that statement today. School sho...
Is democracy threatened? Look around and it seems like — feels like — something is off. Things are amiss, and to offset what some consider the beginning of the end of democracy as we know it requires civic responsibility. We are seemingly bombarded on a daily basis by arguably disturbing news about far right conservative leaders like Donald Trump and Britain’s Boris Johnson, both of whom are actively undermining long-held and intertwined systems of trade, commerce and strat...
