Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Sorted by date Results 1463 - 1487 of 1862
Wow! It's a whole new year! Again. Well, it's not actually a whole new year as I'm writing this, since my deadline is Monday, but I'm projecting a bit here, trying to sound like the me I think I'll be on Thursday, when you might be reading this. That's right. I'll still be me. When I was a very young person, and even a not-so-young person, I still believed that if I tried hard enough, I could reinvent myself on an annual basis. I don't believe those things anymore. It's not...
Three months after the worst terrorist attack on an American diplomatic outpost since the 1998 Embassy bombing the state department is trying to clarify what happened in Benghazi this past September 11th. Congress was to be briefed by an advisory board on security in Libya. Two deputy secretaries were to testify in open hearings in the House and Senate. Fuller disclosure on Benghazi is supposed to set the record straight. However, the critical piece of the puzzle will still be missing. Hillary was scheduled to testify but...
We know that the House of Representatives has been unable to reach a sensible deal to avoid unnecessary fiscal trouble at the first of the year because of right-wing Republicans’ aversion to tax increases. But there is another issue on which conservatives are creating needless difficulties for themselves and the country: It’s harder and harder for politicians on the right to think straight about health care. Conservatives once genuinely interested in finding market-based ways for the government to expand health insurance cov...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 12/26/12: I suppose I could make a stupid joke about Santa leaving the wheat market a lump of coal but I just don't have the energy. For now the path of least resistance is lower until export volumes improve or investment money decides that grains are once again the place to be. Going into the end of the year doesn't look like it will be any fun. 12/27/12: Blah blah fiscal cliff, blah blah investment money, blah blah export demand, blah blah labor...
To a geologist like me, it was most notable by its absence in the political campaigns that lurched to their conclusions in November. I’m talking about an energy plan with real teeth, one that addresses everything from national security to the cost of energy to greenhouse warming of the planet. The best-known geologist in the country is T. Boone Pickens. He’s been in the energy business for decades – he’s now in his 80s – and he is still tirelessly devoted to pointing...
Could someone please tell me the difference between a Wal-Mart employee working at minimum wage and enrolled in Medicaid and state or federal employees drawing a salary of $70,000 to $250,000 a year whose health care and pension is totally paid for by the taxpayer? Why are we complaining when we have 47 million people on food stamps and half that number of unemployed and some who don't want to work who are totally supported by the tax payer? Seems like Wal-Mart employees are at least working and paying taxes. Joe Wollman...
Through tears we try to attach meaning to tragedy. The how and why troubles us. Yes, it would be nice if there were no guns, stones, clubs, cudgels, bows and arrows, crossbows, knives, spears, cannons or bombs. Legislation cannot prevent tragedy, mental illness or criminal intent. Nor does the answer lie in security unless it affects every facet of our lives, but Americans value freedom too much to put up with inspections and containment, even at great cost. And there are those who fear “Big Brother” more than the occasional...
If you are reading this, it is apparent that the Mayan calendar was not accurate! However, I can't help but wonder if a large percentage of our population thinks that I might as well use my credit to have one big Christmas before the "cliff and Obama care". Many people including myself are frightened by the unknowns that they will create as it is obvious that a lot of money is going to leave middle-class pocketbooks. The spending that I alluded to pushed the end of October tally to $2.75 trillion. This figure covers credit ca...
You must be stunned. I know I am. This week I wanted to write some humorous thoughts about how a family Christmas can go awry. But history intervened. It was bad enough to see news coverage of a multiple shooting incident at Clackamas Town Center, one of my favorite shopping destinations when I lived in Portland, and where I very nearly took a job. I could picture that scene, because I’ve been there. That incident hit close to home. Friday, I was at home all day, doing l...
We are not having a debt crisis. It’s important to make this point, because I keep seeing articles about the “fiscal cliff” that do, in fact, describe it — often in the headline — as a debt crisis. But it isn’t. The U.S. government is having no trouble borrowing to cover its deficit. In fact, its borrowing costs are near historic lows. And even the confrontation over the debt ceiling that looms a few months from now if we do somehow manage to avoid going over the fiscal cliff isn’t really about debt. No, what we’re having...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 12/17/12: Wheat prices continue to trade a lower range that was established after the USDA monthly supply-and-demand report last week. Chicago futures fell 6 cents on the day and white wheat dropped 3. The HRW belt is supposed to receive some needed moisture this week. However, what they really need is a change in the long term weather pattern and not one rain/snowstorm. 12/18/12: Wheat prices finally got low enough to entice Egypt into a tender on Tuesday...
The drought in the Midwest just keeps making headlines! The Midwest lies above Lake Ogallala, which is the largest underground lake in the U.S. It is large in the area of its borders, but not in its capacity as the farmes, towns and business have been pumping many billions of gallons of water for irrigation and various uses. This helped turn dust bowl land back into farm ground. They have been pumping at a rate that will dry it up between 2025 and 2030. Thus, they started looking north to the Great Lakes. This would seem to...
goodjobsfirst.org reported the following data about the hidden cost to taxpayers of companies whose employees earn so little that they have to apply for state aid to make ends meet. For the state of Washington, the figures are from 2006. Nothing current seems available, but given the trend nationwide of more and more companies' paying their workers a minimum wage, the cost to taxpayers averages around $1,000 per employee, according to Alan Grayson, newly re-elected congressman from Florida. No wonder the working man and...
I’ve always been one of those annoying Christmas people. You know, when you’re feeling all growly and grumpy, they’re the ones almost skipping down the sidewalk. They have a goofy smile on their face, and if you’re close enough, you can hear the Christmas carols they’re humming. I used to love finishing up my shopping on Christmas Eve. I loved hanging out with all the other desperate people at the mall, trying to find the least embarrassing gift for that last hard-to-s...
The United States is blessed with a reasonable supply of natural resources that we haven’t really utilized until recently. Along come new techniques and our government thinks we ought to share and sell to China. The United States and Russia lead the world with 611 and 589 billion cubic meters per year, respectively. Canada is third with 152 billion and Iran is fourth with 139 billion cubic meters. However, when it comes to proven reserves that determine the future, the picture is quite different! The world’s total known res...
I am so incredibly brilliant. I’ve been driving my latest automobile for two years now, and just discovered not only that it has fog lights, but that I’ve been driving with them ON for two years. My apologies to everyone. I know how annoying that can be. It just illustrates that my approach to new equipment may not be the best. I just hop in and start using whatever it is, figuring that the manual is only for when you run into problems, like setting the clock twice a yea...
I’m not going to give you permission in this piece to live a sedentary life, sitting at a desk at work all day and then on the couch watching television each evening. But medical science increasingly has some evidence of a general principal your mother warned you about: there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. A few folks really throw themselves headlong into aerobic exercise, running, biking, rowing or swimming for hours and hours each week. Most of these hard-core...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 11/30/12: Wheat prices closed the month on a sour note as soft white dropped 20 cents from Thursday. That spurred the Egyptians into action as they announced a tender after the close whether or not there's any Black Sea wheat in play will probably determine our direction on Monday. Soft white has been doing some decent export business recently with 7.5 million bushels sold this week, leading all classes....
To the Editor: What a wonderful way to celebrate Thanksgiving, in the midst of old friends and new friends made at the celebration at the Old Town Hall on Thanksgiving Day. I must say that Lise Ott and her “crew of many” did an excellent job, as they did last year, and I’m grateful for that. Not just for the food, not having to cook, serve or clean the mess is a big plus, but the dinner blessing, decorations, laughter, after-dinner games etc., etc., etc. In the wake of “problems” in our small community, it was just a pleasur...
Faithful letter writer Gerald Ray sent us two missives this week, so we have combined the two dealing with items currently in the news. 1) Our county is experiencing a severe drought that has seen cattleman reducing their herds because of a shortage of feed. They are watching in disbelief as California ships hay to China. China’s diet has changed and they have millions of cows that do not have enough pasture. Alfalfa exports to China have ballooned to an estimated 380,000 metric tons in 2012 from 2,320 metric tons in 2007. O...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 11/26/12: Prices haven’t moved very much in the last week, as exports for corn and wheat remain poor, while soybeans are flying off the shelf. Winter wheat condition scores in the Great Plains continue to suffer with poor emergence due to continued affects from this summer’s drought. The security workers’ union reached a settlement with the Port of Portland, averting a 11/25 strike. However, grain handlers still do not have a deal with the Longs...
There’s nothing like a little validation to make you feel good. I felt really good last Thursday, when one of the guests at the community Thanksgiving dinner turned to me and said, "This is the best Thanksgiving ever!" That’s what I was hoping for. We had approximately 50 people come to dinner. Most brought food to contribute to the meal. But everyone brought something. A sense of community. The turkeys turned out well (if I do say so myself.) A communication error on my par...
I have an elderly aunt who was diagnosed with breast cancer many years ago. She was treated and remained cancer-free for years. But I also had a next-door neighbor who got the same diagnosis. She was treated, but succumbed to the disease not too long after. My experience is not unique. Those of us who have been around the block a few times know people who have survived breast cancer and people who have died from it. Why the differences in results from person to person? Part...
I feel funny today. By that, I actually mean that I don’t feel funny today. I can’t think of a single entertaining thing to say. It’s possible that a serious over-commitment of time on my part has something to do with it. Can you hear my theme song playing quietly in the background yet? Oh, yes, there it is, “I’m just a girl who can’t say no . . .” Of course I can. I just don’t want to. I apparently get some kind of sick satisfaction from being overwhelmed with responsibi...
Among the reactions to the November 6 elections, the most common among conservatives might be shock. That very fact might indicate that too many of us have been living in an echo chamber, reassuring each other about our mutually-held convictions without listening to those who are, at best, ambivalent about conservativism. For example, Mitt Romney’s message of economic freedom, utterly persuasive to the conservative ear, was unconvincing to members of a powerful new demographic who cast their votes overwhelmingly for Barack Ob...
