Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Sorted by date Results 180 - 204 of 2578
To The Eagle: Did I provide false information, maybe not. Always fact-check at the actual source, ignore false Snoops weasel wording. I’m told in an Eagle letter “From the outset and ever since, FICA taxes have never been tax deductible.” That is just wrong (another Snoops oops). On SS taxation visit “ssa.gov” “history taxation of benefits”: Original SS Act became law Aug 14, 1935. Until 1984 SS benefits were not being federally taxed. SSA “Research Note #12: Taxation of Social Security Benefits: …1938 Treasury Department Tax Rulings, and anot...
To The Eagle: State and Federal legislators need to focus on helping citizens by “reducing the burden” of unethical government regulations and oppressive taxation. Government’s role is not to solve society’s problems, but to “prevent government created problems” from occurring which hurt society by legislative design. My wife and I request that all legislators judge every bill with a mature analysis, [1] will this bill reduce or increase government regulatory burdens forced on citizens? [2] will this bill reduce or increase government...
To The Eagle: Republicans are talking a lot about pedophilia. Over the past year, GOP candidates, elected officials, and media influencers have been increasingly obsessed with conversations about children’s sexuality. Republican conservative extremists have been slandering gender support and care for kids as acts of predation, or “grooming,” as they like to call it. Such repulsive innuendoes subject loving families and dedicated teachers to surveillance, investigation, and violence while leaving kids isolated, afraid, and vulnerable. There...
To The Eagle: A Genome Association Study involving 500,000 participants from the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden, studying genes associated with sexual orientation, has confirmed that sexual preferences and behaviors are polygenic: determined by a complex interplay of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences.* Since no single gene appears to be responsible for sexual orientation or preference, it seems reasonable then, that gender orientation, and gender dysphoria, would also share the same interplay of complex factors....
To The Eagle: It’s my opinion that the Republican party’s emblematic elephant needs to be retired. That poor pachyderm is collapsing under the weight of its party’s last straw, denialism. A suitable new logo would be a sketch of Edvard Munch’s iconic artwork, ‘The Scream.’ The haunted face in that painting, an image of howling anxiety, eerily illustrates MAGA’s jaundiced view, eyes huge with imagined fears, mouth agape as if babbling “la-la-la,” with hands locked over the ears, refusing to hear unpalatable facts. This new GOP, like the Par...
To The Eagle: To say I was shocked by Fox News being for entertainment only would do a disservice to my integrity. When they finally admitted it was when I was shocked, but only for a moment. When it was revealed that the powers that own and run the network were losing audience and money, they quickly reversed themselves and went back to telling sweet lies to the folks that wanted nothing to do with the actual truth. Of course their ratings along with audience went back to their previous levels. Somewhat along the same lines is the regrettable...
To The Eagle: If you wondered why FOX News promoted Trump’s unfounded assertion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen these last two years, the answer was recently made public by the Delaware Superior Court from evidence gathered during the discovery and deposition phase of Dominion Voting Systems Inc. 1.6 billion dollar liable and slander lawsuit against FOX News, Network LLC (CaseNo.N21C- 11-082-EMD). FOX’s internal company emails and related court depositions reveal that Rupert Murdoch - FOX Chairman, and TV hosts Tucker Car...
To The Eagle: A letter in last week’s Eagle written by the liberal Town Crier loaded with a ton of personal beliefs purported to be facts can not go unchallenged. I grew up in New York City in integrated neighborhoods, went to school where I was the only White kid in my classes for years. I was one of only two whites in our large Cub Scout Den and Boy Scout Troop. I served in the Army with many black soldiers. I have been in three integrated Labor Unions. So I have been a member of the great American melting pot and referred to by my many Black...
To The Eagle: A writer’s list submitted last week emphatically stated it contained the “facts” about social security. With respect to the writer, an easy, quick fact-check shows that everything on the list is either demonstrably false or a gross misrepresentation. The list appears to be a nearly verbatim recast of a partisan email first circulated in 2005, the last time politicians proposed privatizing SS or cutting benefits, and has been thoroughly debunked. Without going through every item on the list here are a few samples: -- “FDR said mo...
To The Eagle: The expression ‘stay woke’ has been used by Black folks since the 1920's, urging people of color to stay aware and vigilant against racial discrimination. The subsequent Civil Rights movement fostered cross-cultural awareness of other forms of oppression; against women, homosexuals, immigrants, Jews, and other targeted non-Christian minorities. Conservatives have co-opted and inverted ‘woke’ into a slur, mocking what activists of my generation refer to as ‘having a social conscience,’ being alert to injustice in society, es...
To The Eage: Has the Longview TDN or CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC reported that LA and NYC permit CCP (Chinese Communist Party) police stations into their cities? Why on earth would LA and NYC allow CCP police stations on USA soil? If they exist in LA and NYC, in a matter of time it will spread across the USA. Already, they exist in Toronto, Canada, Western Europe, South America, Africa and other countries. So why are they here? Why is the news media silent? This is important information; we need to know what is going on in our country. Makes you...
To The Eagle: Cyber crime, is for the most part, tricking someone, or someone’s computer, into doing what the criminal wants it to do, without you knowing. I was a victim of that last week, and would like to let the community know, that they are here as well, or rather their intrusions are here. “They” could be anywhere in the world, connected in, to me, unknown ways of cyber space. Do not do, as I did, call the number provided in the following account, of what happened. Working on the computer, all of a sudden, the screen is black, with a prom...
To The Eagle: Sports’ greats Jack Robinson, Hank Aaron, Jim Thorpe, and Roberto Clemente, as well as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, civil rights heroine Rosa Parks, and Nelson Mandela, Africa’s former president and apartheid’s legendary nemesis, all share two commonalities: First: they are ‘people of color’ whose published biographies reflect upon their lifelong struggles against, and personal triumphs over, the racial prejudice and bigotry they had to overcome as they fought to live successful, ultimately famous, lives. The second co...
To The Eagle: SS Cards until 1980s stated SS number was “not to be used for Identification.” FDR planned federal Social Security and promised participation would be 100% voluntary. Today SS (FICA) withholding is no longer voluntary. FDR said SS participants would only pay 1% on first $1400 of income. Today you must pay 7.65% (FICA) on first $90,000 of income. FDR said money put into SS account is 100% ‘income tax’ deductible. Today SS is no longer tax deductible. FDR said SS money would be put into an “independent trust fund” and not be used...
To The Eagle: A couple of things to rant and rave about. First: the state of the union speech was lauded as the absolute, bar none, best speech EVER by the NPR crowd. A friend, aged as myself, sent me a link to Glenn Beck which I listened to. He stated point by point how it was absolutely the worst speech EVER. Hmm. How can anybody be right if everybody is wrong? I dearly wish my pen crossing friend Howard Brawn was here to contribute his wit and wisdom. Second thing: Not sure if you were able to see the halftime show on Super Bowl Sunday, but...
To The Eagle: I was reading a letter to the editor where the writer said that another writer the week before had expressed missing Howard Brawn’s letters. So do I. In fact I miss the person of Howard. And, I myself, sometimes strongly disagreed with a stance he took. So, for the people who miss “crossing swords” or just having intense discussions about all manner of things, I want to tell you what I miss most about Howard Brawn. In intense differences of opinion in articles, he was never the one with his knickers in a twist. It didn’t make him...
To The Eagle: Why are there so many half-full, in the USA? The country has made it through a worldwide pandemic in much better shape than most of the rest of the world. Inflation, would not have been or be as bad, had not all oil companies kept prices up, while making record profits, not Biden’s fault! Inflation has been on a downward trend since July, 2022. The US economy added an astonishing 517,000 jobs in January, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.4% in January, marking the lowest the unemployment rate has been since 1969. Even with intere...
To The Eagle: How on earth did our country get to the sorry state it seems to be in? The answer requires a deep reach back into pseudo-history before ‘the fall.’ It may seem strange, but it explains much. It began with two amateurish mistakes. “Do not eat from the fruit of that one tree.” Duh. What would any adventurous child do when challenged like that? It was destined to happen. Of course, there was some encouragement, from the world’s first politician. It was that kind of snake who fabricated creation’s first lie in order to deceive the...
To The Eagle: Regarding the January 26 article in The Eagle “Inslee: Homeless programs need more money,” does Inslee think we’re stupid? To say that the homeless consist of people with chemical addiction and mental problems is an insult. The real problem is the homeless are families whose livelihoods have been ruined by Covid. When Trump was President, he ordered a lockdown but it lasted about a month. He put America back to work with no mandates of any kind and business was back to normal. When Biden took over, he and the likes of him, Insle...
To The Eagle: On Jan. 9th the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, studying the possible effects indoor gas cooking stoves might be having on air quality and health in homes, suggested that “stricter regulation of new gas stoves” might be in order. Immediately, gas stoves became the new hot button issue in the culture war. Fox News fabulist provocateur, Sean Hannity, seized the occasion to cultivate disinformation and anger, announcing "Not only is Biden coming for your paycheck, he is coming for your stove. You heard me right. The Whi...
To The Eagle: Regarding speed limits, the council and mayor might consider painting the roads instead of speed humps. There have been multiple studies and reports demonstrating that public art decreases traffic accidents and speed between 17% to 45%, and may be a safer option than speed humps. Plus, street art would bring some additional beauty to our town and local artists could be featured. I ask the council to refer to The Asphalt Art Initiative for information and potential grants. Hillary Lauren Puget Island...
To The Eagle: Last year April 2022, AT&T DirecTV shut down my favorite news channel OAN. Just recently midnight Jan 25 they shut down another news channel Newsmax. Quote from Newsmax: “DirecTV pays cable license fees to all top 75 cable channels and to all 22 liberal news channels it carries. Almost all of these channels are paid hefty license fees significantly greater than Newsmax was seeking, despite the fact that most of the channels have far lower ratings than Newsmax.” I may be wrong but I believe OAN was #1 news when DirecTV can...
To The Eagle: The last thing Cathlamet needs is a town manager. In my experience, this conversation arises because council members (or former members) seek to distract a mayor they disagree with, even though the idea is unrealistic. For one thing, there is no money in the budget to pay the cost of a full-time manager. It would cost, conservatively, twice the annual library budget. For another, you'd be hard pressed to find someone as effective as the town's current chief executive. Blaming him for the Butler situation, or for inflation and...
To The Eagle: Mayor Olson’s council letter published in last week’s Eagle attempted to counter my earlier stated rationale regarding Cathlamet’s need for a town manager. By picking and choosing certain details, yet conveniently forgetting others, his obfuscating of actual facts (while accepting limited accountability) actually helps make my case. My statements were largely based off previous budget discussions with our clerk treasurer, direct Q&A with Jon Hinton (the town’s consulting engineer at the time) and time spent on both the town’s...
To The Eagle: This is a shoutout to some of my heroes. First is soon to be 90, Lou Cunningham. She likes to make knit hats. She gave me over 200 hats for Santa to pass out to all the students and workers at the grade school. And she wants to do it again this year. Next is Lacy Woodside Vik, not turning 90. For Thanksgiving she takes dinner packages to needy people. At Christmas she delivers gifts, lots of gifts, to deserving households. Santa went with her at Christmas and it was an awesome experience. At one stop Santa saw one of the students...