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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Matter of Opinion archive for Jan. 1, 2011

TUESDAY, FEB. 22, 2011

State budgets/collective bargaining 21 

The budget battle taking place in The Cheddar State is whipping up a sharp divide nationwide on the issue of public employee pay and collective bargaining rights. Gov. Walker could accept union concessions and call it a victory, but he's angling for more. Meanwhile, here's…

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MONDAY, FEB. 21, 2011

MONDAY, FEB. 14, 2011

The Valentine's week thread 27 

Where is the love? House GOP is hammering out a spending plan. The president released his budget plan. Looks like both sides are waiting for the other to go first when it comes to addressing the big budget drivers: SS, Medicare, defense, tax rates.

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WEDNESDAY, FEB. 9, 2011

Keep your shirt on!

Sometimes the stupidity is just breathtaking. Rep. Chris Lee, R-N.Y., resigned from Congress after a report emerged that he had sent flirtatious e-mails, including one with a bare-chested photo of himself, to a woman he met on Craigslist. Lee is married and has a child.

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Once the smoke clears

Watching Spokane County commissioners Tuesday evening as they agreed to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors, I was struck by the fact that here you have three middle-aged male Republicans, all of whom avoided ever becoming smokers. That's a remarkable change from my…

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MONDAY, FEB. 7, 2011

FRIDAY, FEB. 4, 2011

MONDAY, JAN. 31, 2011

Turmoil in Egypt 30 

This is a good place to keep updated on rapidly changing events. Any thoughts? UPDATE: Many attacks on media. Mubarak says he can't leave now. That would be chaos. So, instead, he'll literally bash the coverage. Thugs. Plain and simple. UPDATE: Egypt photos from former…

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WEDNESDAY, JAN. 26, 2011

TUESDAY, JAN. 25, 2011

No saving seats 

There's been a lot of talk on the political TV channels today about the change in seating arrangements for tonight's State of the Union Address. Rs and Ds will mingle rather than divide into partisan blocs in the House chamber. Or, as Republican Sen. Lisa…

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MONDAY, JAN. 24, 2011

The Creach case 12 

Spokane County Prosecutor decides not to seek charges in the shooting death of Wayne Scott Creach. It's is a tough situation. Two people involved in the encounter. Only one lives to tell about it. Would it help to have coroner inquests in cases like these?.…

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FRIDAY, JAN. 21, 2011

Myth of Hero Gunslinger

Interesting column by Timothy Egan (formerly of Spokane) about the notion of increasing safety by carrying a gun. It is related to the Tucson shootings. It defies logic, as this case shows once again, that an average citizen with a gun is going to disarm…

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TUESDAY, JAN. 18, 2011

Backpack bomb 

The backpack found downtown during the MLK march had a bomb in it, and the FBI is treating this as an instance of domestic terrorism. Rachel Maddow interviewed the S-R's Tom Clouse. You can watch that here. Otherwise, this has not become a national story.…

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SUNDAY, JAN. 9, 2011

Tragedy in Arizona 104 

We live in a free and open society, and I doubt many of us would give that up in return for the efficiency of a dictatorship. Our freedom lets us say, write and do pretty much anything in reason and go where we want. It…

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THURSDAY, JAN. 6, 2011

New House Speaker John Boehner takes the gavel from outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday.  (Associated Press)

Remedial history 54 

The new Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives drew some snarky comments for its decision to open business Thursday by reading the Constitution. I don't see the problem. Everyone ought to read our main historical documents every so often. About an hour after…

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Hello to 2011 97 

Open thread here. Members of Congress are reading the Constitution. Wonder who gets this part? Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to…

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MONDAY, JAN. 3, 2011

Has the budget deficit grabbed our attention? 64 

Alice Rivlin, former budget director for President Clinton, has been probably the most outspoken Democrat in recent years about the need to deal with the federal budget deficit. In a commentary from the Brookings Institute's website, she sounds hopeful that bipartisan progress could be made…

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A Matter of Opinion is really a matter of three opinions – those held by the people responsible for the opinion pages of The Spokesman-Review. Check in regularly to find out what they’re up to, what they think and where they differ and to joust with them if you want.



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