Quincy Valley Post-Register Opinion

YOUR TURN

Page 4 of 5

Time for state to think outside the box

Feb. 19, 2009 - As state lawmakers scramble to fill what may be an $8 billion budget deficit, people in the private sector are urging them to “think outside the box” to find ways to economize and become more efficient.

A thank-you note to Middle America

Feb. 12, 2009 - Thank you Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, Stokely Carmichael, Julian Bond and many other black leaders who awakened us to the need for equal opportunity for all in America. Thank you also to Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver, Louis Farrakhan and the Black Panthers. Though we disliked your shrill rhetoric and abhorred the violence that you preached and too often practiced, you focused our attention on America’s biggest problem of the past century.

Gag rule proposal unconstitutional

Feb. 05, 2009 - In Olympia, a group of lawmakers introduced the 2009 version of the employer gag rule which was pulled off the table a year ago. At the time, Gov. Chris Gregoire said acting on the Washington version of the bill, which union leaders pushed as a primary organizing tool, was premature. She was right.

Tax dollars aren't always wasted

Jan. 29, 2009 - I know we’ve all witnessed our government wasting our money on about everything imaginable.

An inauguration day to remember

Jan. 15, 2009 - The upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama reminded me of something that happened a few years ago.

The state of Washington's economy

Jan. 08, 2009 - State lawmakers convening on Monday in Olympia will not have to rely on staff reports to tell them how bad the economy is. The evidence is all around them.

Don't scratch tax-incentive program

Dec. 31, 2008 - Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) and Democrats controlling the Legislature face a daunting task finding $6 billion to balance the state’s budget for the next two years. Gregoire says she plans to stand by her campaign pledge not to raise taxes. However, legislative staffers in Olympia are poring over more than 500 so-called “tax loopholes” which some believe will lessen the impact of budget cuts.