Monthly Archives: December 2010

The Citizens for Safer Streets & Lower Taxes have been spending a lot of money lately with Bruce Smith and his newspapers – The Yakima Valley Business Times and the Central Washington Senior Times. Who is this committee and how … Continue reading →

The latest (Dec 17-31 issue) B. S. editorial has got to be his lamest ever. Click and follow the link to complete editorial; When it comes to hitting below the belt and taking cheap shots Bruce Smith has no equal. … Continue reading →

Who lobbied against the DREAM Act? The Overseas Chamber of Commerce lobbied the Senate for its overseas clients that paid the Chamber to prevent the closure of a corporate tax loophole that only applied to them. Lobbying activity is disclosed. … Continue reading →

The Yakima City Council operates under a Charter, much as the US Government operates under the Constitution. As in any document the language used makes an attempt to cover as much ground as possible. Many times the “intent” of the … Continue reading →

The Yakima City Council held a special two-minute meeting on Friday, Dec 10th at 9:00 AM because they screwed up and in their haste to vote on the language and format of their Strong Mayor proposal they inadvertently forgot to … Continue reading →

I went shopping yesterday and had an amazing epiphany. While my intent was to seek a new and better guitar, I patronized several pawn shops–sometimes a used guitar is better than a new one. Passing a gun counter, and being … Continue reading →

On Tuesday, December 7, 2010, the Yakima City Council has dismissed without discussion the citizen request made by Mary Baechler of Central Washington Progress that was made at the November 16th meeting. The request was that the city council provide … Continue reading →

“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployme­nt insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes … Continue reading →

There is a rule of thumb that one private sector job will be lost for every public sector job that is cut because the direct and indirect reductions in demand trickle throughout the local economy. The City Council meets this … Continue reading →

Clearly, it was unconscionable to pay for tax cuts with borrowed money. The tax cuts were understood to be a bad idea from the start. Republicans used reconciliation to bypass a filibuster and the Vice-President was called upon to break … Continue reading →