On a drizzly, dark day this past Sunday with a rare couple of hours to kill, I decided to take in coverage of the race for the Republican primary in Florida on CNN. While watching clips of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich speaking and glad handling their way through the crowds, I just had to roll my eyes and shake my head at the sheer absurdity of some of the proposals they were making.
A recent newspaper article prompted me to sit down and express my feelings about how difficult it must have been for Gov. Chris Gregoire to explain to students at the Clark County Skills Center why the state is facing more deep cuts to education.
OK, I'm going to level with you up front, dear reader. This column may not contain the most fascinating news you've read in your Post-Record for a while. No, it's not going to rank up there with the stories about the great success the Washougal and Camas girls' sports programs had this past weekend, or this week's Hometown front page story. Heck, even a City Council story will probably seem fascinating compared to what I'm about to write about.
For years, energy experts warned us that regulations and policies that reduce the supply of affordable conventional energy would result in higher prices for American families.
In today's dog-eat-dog world, change is constant and accelerating. Other countries are stealing our factories and jobs and are hungry for more. That is the new reality.
We acknowledge that in these complicated economic times, school districts are not exempt from taking their fair share of funding cuts. We recognize that difficult decisions are being discussed surrounding the state's constitutional obligation to fund education first.
Americans live in an idealistic world where, no matter what happens, we'll still be able to go home at night and switch on the lights or pull into a filling station and gas up the family SUV.
In January, Washington's minimum wage will crack the $9 mark and we will once again be No. 1 -- the state with the nation's highest minimum wage.
Why should the Washougal City Council ignore the conclusions of the Strategic Planning Team? Much of the work done so far has been based on a precariously unscientific survey. The Strategic Planning Team's survey results demonstrate the danger of relying upon data that may not be meaningful.
Bob Elliott's Aug. 23 Post-Record guest column offered a "different perspective on FAA funding" for the Port of Camas-Washougal's Grove Field. Unfortunately, Bob's perspective seems to be from the rather narrow viewpoint of many Grove Field airport users.
