Editorials
LIKE A GATHERING STORM
It's coming. In less than the time it takes to get a bachelor's degree, serve a military tour or complete high school, taxpayers earning $30,000 to $80,000 will see increases in their tax liability from $1,600 to $2,300. At the end of 2010, the tax relief enacted in 2001 and 2003 will expire, absent changes to current tax policy by Congress. The writing is on the wall - those tax cuts will very likely not be made permanent next year or the following. Some taxpayers are already starting to prepar… Continue Reading
May 28, 2008
PROTECTING OUR KIDS--ONLINE
The Internet is the centerpiece of our Information Age. It brings the world to our fingertips and takes us thousands of miles away at the click of a mouse. It has fundamentally altered research on any topic, and has increased interpersonal communication to a degree unimagined a generation ago. From facilitating medical outreach to rural areas to creating an entirely new form of global commerce that gives consumers instantaneous access to just about any product in the world, the Internet is, in s… Continue Reading
May 21, 2008
HALLOWED GROUNDS
"Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic." - General John A. Logan, Commander-in-Chief, Grand Army of the Republic, from General Orders No.11, WASHINGTON, D.C., May 5, 1868, which establish… Continue Reading
May 14, 2008
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
A devastating cyclone in Burma; a major earthquake across Sichuan Province, China; a volcanic eruption in Chile; powerful deadly tornados in Missouri, Oklahoma, Georgia and Virginia: It's been a spring rife with natural disasters at home and abroad. The world is mobilizing to assist those in need and, while we help those who are suffering, we must be prepared for disaster ourselves, whether it be earthquake, fire, flood or even an act of terrorism. It's important to utilize federal, state and lo… Continue Reading
May 07, 2008
KEEPING THE PEACE
"It's a war that may never end, but for centuries, men and women, have readily and willingly put themselves in harm's way, right here at home, to keep the peace." -David Kerr, Author The year 2007 was a particularly deadly year for United States law enforcement officers. The 181 officers killed in the line of duty last year is nearly a 20 percent increase over the previous year. In total, 358 officers were added to the National Law Enforcement … Continue Reading
April 30, 2008
AMT AND OTHER TAX CALAMITIES
This year, April 20 marked the day that the average Idahoan had worked long enough to pay their federal, state and local taxes for the year. That's more than three and a half months just to pay your entire tax bill; 74 of those days were spent working to pay federal taxes alone. Add to that more than a day spent compiling information and hundreds of dollars to complete the filing process. For reference, the instructions for IRS Form 1040 have grown from four pages in 1945 to 155 pages last year.… Continue Reading
April 23, 2008
YOUNG AND OLD: HERE'S TO HEALTH!
In April, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Washington released a 40-year life expectancy study. Among other things, the study found that "four percent of the male population and 19 percent of the female population experienced either decline or stagnation in mortality beginning in the 1980s." The affected population was located in regions outside of Idaho, but the trend indicates an ongoing need to address preventive care and promote healthier living. The … Continue Reading
April 16, 2008
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS WE CAN SEE
"Conservation is the application of common sense to the common problems for the common good." -- Gifford Pinchot April 22 is Earth Day, the annual effort by organizations, communities and governments to promote efforts to reduce pollution and increase conservation of our natural resources and environment. As I've often said, no federal policy contributes more to improve our environment than the Farm Bill. The Farm Bill conservation title is a prime example of the fede… Continue Reading
April 09, 2008
IN IDAHO'S BEST INTEREST
Trade issues typically get less media than hot button issues like immigration, mortgage industry challenges and energy prices. However, regulating trade between the United States and other nations is a Constitutional obligation of Congress. In 2007, the U.S. recorded $1.6 trillion in exports, representing scores of American jobs. Exports account for a larger percentage of U.S. GDP than ever before, and jobs supported by goods exports pay wages 13 to 18 percent higher than the national average. … Continue Reading
April 02, 2008
APRIL: FINANCIAL LITERACY MONTH
Since taxes come due in April, it tends to be a time that people think more often about their personal finances-savings, investments, income and expenditures. The annual focus on our finances is exacerbated this year by high fuel prices, concerns in the housing market and some resulting upward pressure on the prices of goods. Unfortunately, personal savings rates in the United States are at historic lows, declining and in the negative now for over three years. In April 2007, a personal finance s… Continue Reading
March 26, 2008
LEGACY OF THE 1ST CONGRESS
Hidden among the granite and steel canyons of the Wall Street financial district of Lower Manhattan in New York City sits a building invisible from more than a few blocks away in any direction. Comparatively diminutive in appearance, its granite columns and ornate architecture call to mind a different age-memories of the birth of our nation. In fact, this building, known as Federal Hall, housed the 1st Congress of the United States of America from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1791. Nearly 220 year… Continue Reading
March 19, 2008
SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Amendment II, United States Constitution On March 18, the Supreme Court, for the second time in our history, began hearing arguments in a case that compels the Court to interpret the meaning of the 2 nd Amendment of the Constitution. The case challenges a Washington, D.C. law that bans handgun… Continue Reading
March 11, 2008
TV IN THE 21ST CENTURY
We've certainly come a long way from the television pioneering days of Philo T. Farnsworth, one of Idaho's finest inventors. Eighty years ago, the young inventor developed the theory that resulted in the first electric television. That unit and its contemporaries present a stark contrast to today's televisions. Early televisions had notoriously large electronic tubes and devices supporting very small screens; today's televisions are almost all screen, driven by tiny microchips. Television mechan… Continue Reading
March 05, 2008
GENERATING OPTIONS FOR ENERGY SECURITY
As Idaho digs out of an historic winter and gas prices approach record levels, energy is our minds. Our energy demands must be met with a firm, long-term commitment to research and development, conservation and promoting alternative technologies through tax incentives. At the same time, it's critical that we don't walk away from our nation's well-developed, traditional energy resources such as oil, natural gas and coal-based electricity. If we decrease domestic conventional energy production or … Continue Reading
February 27, 2008
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. -Dr. Seuss Theodore Seuss Geisel, known better by millions as "Dr. Seuss," was the son of German Americans. Geisel attended Dartmouth College where he served as editor of the humor magazine, and it was at Dartmouth where he began to use the name "Seuss" on illustrations and articles. He briefly attended Oxford University in England and then toured Europe. Upon… Continue Reading
February 20, 2008
IDAHO BEEF--A SOURCE OF PRIDE
For over a century, Idaho cattle families have been providing high-quality beef products to consumers at home and, in recent decades, markets abroad. With the exception of a few large operations in southern Idaho, most of those in the Idaho livestock industry are small, independently-owned ranch or feed lot operations. Cattle are raised in every county in the state-in Idaho, cattle outnumber people. The recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Class II recall of beef from a processing plant … Continue Reading
February 13, 2008
A TRILLION AND ONE WAYS TO FISCAL DISASTER
What's a trillion? National Public Radio's Science Friday calculated that one trillion dollars would buy 1,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies for every person in the United States. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher calculated that a trillion grains of Morton salt would fill an elementary school classroom. Salt and cookies, in reasonable amounts, are not bad things. The same goes for federal budget expenditures. But a $3.1 trillion dollar budget for Fiscal Year 2009 exceeds compreh… Continue Reading
February 06, 2008
THE RIGHT TO VOTE IS A POWERFUL PRIVILEGE
Last week, 22 states held political party presidential primaries. This historical event followed early primaries and caucuses in seven other states. Such events help states determine the delegates to send to the national political party conventions and the candidates those delegates support. The Internet and 24-hour news cycle have contributed to an increased awareness of our political process and issues of interest to voters. The fact that we are engaged in a war overseas has also heightened in… Continue Reading
January 31, 2008
ONE FOR THE HEART
February 1 was National Wear Red Day, a day to wear red in order to raise awareness of heart disease, and February is American Heart Month, a time when many national, state and local agencies and organizations work to educate the public about this number one killer of men and women in the United States. Heart disease is a disorder of the blood vessels of the heart that can lead to a heart attack, but it is a disease whose risk can be strongly mitigated by healthy lifestyle habits. Some facts ab… Continue Reading
January 23, 2008
TEEN DATING VIOLENCE AWARENESS AND PREVENTION
Over the past eight years, I've made the crime of teen dating violence a legislative and public awareness priority. Today, dating violence is a definition of domestic violence under federal law, which allows organizations and agencies to use federal dollars to help victims of dating violence. This year marks the third year that the Senate has unanimously agreed to my resolution declaring the first full week in February "National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week." A number of or… Continue Reading
