Thursday Pacific NWNews Service Online since 1992

Autumnal is around La Corner -RSS

Pacific NWNews Service

Serving Washington, Idaho, Oregon and California

SPOKANE, Wash.-- A driver drove into a South Spokane pond Wednesday evening near 44th and Regal.

The SUV was partially submerged into the pond behind Twig’s restaurant. Witnesses said the incident happened around 5:40.

The driver told KREM 2 News that his foot slipped off of the brake pedal and hit the gas. He managed to make it safely out of his vehicle.

 

Early Sunrise on the River -Foster Fanning<C> All Rights Reserved

Despite the fact that it is a $9Billion/Year industry, the National Football League (NFL) continues to enjoy status as a non-profit organization -- meaning it doesn’t have to pay federal corporate taxes. The Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, makes nearly $30 million a year -- earning more than the heads of companies like Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart. Through TV deals alone, the NFL has inked nearly $30 billion with various television networks. And so often, fans like you and me are asked to foot the bill for new stadiums through our own taxes. Yet despite being the most profitable sports league in the entire world, the NFL does not pay federal taxes. The NFL should pay their fair share towards our economy! Just like Major League Baseball, which gave up its nonprofit status in recent years, as well as the National Basketball Association, the NFL should not be able to hide under a nonprofit status in order to avoid paying federal taxes. The NFL has methodically worked to shift all the power to their side, leaving players, employees and PARTICULARLY THE FANS little say in what goes on with the league. We deserve a say, but do not wish to boycott our teams! Therefore, we are calling on our elected representatives to revoke the tax-exempt status we bestowed upon the league half a century ago. Pleaselet Congress know that you want them to reconsider the NFL’s tax exempt status.

Image by Rick Price adanacphoto.com

Pope Francis is warning that the Catholic Church’s moral edifice might ‘‘fall like a house of cards’’ if it doesn’t balance its divisive rules about abortion, gays and contraception with the greater need to make the church a merciful, more welcoming place for all.

Six months into his papacy, Francis set out his vision for the church and his priorities as pope in a remarkably candid and lengthy interview with La Civilta Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit magazine. It was published simultaneously Thursday in other Jesuit journals, including America magazine in the US. In the 12,000-word article, Francis expands on his ground-breaking comments over the summer about gays and acknowledges some of his own faults. He sheds light on his favorite composers, artists, authors and films (Mozart, Caravaggio, Dostoevsky and Fellini’s ‘‘La Strada”) and says he prays even while at the dentist’s office. But his vision of what the church should be stands out, primarily because it contrasts so sharply with many of the priorities of his immediate predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI. They were both intellectuals for whom doctrine was paramount, an orientation that guided the selection of generations of bishops and cardinals around the globe. http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2013/09/19/pope-comments-mark-shift-church-tone-abortion-gays/4JWLQZ5YtlvoXqzUY3khwK/story.html
 

Homes along Curlew Lake - Blanche Montbrousouss

WHO LIKES OBAMACARE? NOT THIS DEMOCRAT! YOUR EDITOR BOB

Many hospitals are slashing jobs and cutting patient services citing Medicare cuts, the difficult health care landscape, and the Affordable Care Act as the reasons behind their decision. Over a dozen hospitals have announced job cuts in the past three weeks, the Washington Free Beacon found. Some hospitals announced they would close altogether, while others are downsizing and eliminating some of their services. Connecticut’s Lawrence + Memorial Hospital announced last week it was cutting 33 jobs, citing the “sheer magnitude” of payment cuts from both Medicare and Medicaid. “L+M and other hospitals are contending with massive structural changes that are happening very rapidly,” hospital president and CEO Bruce D. Cummings said in a statement. “We are also experiencing unexpected—and previously unbudgeted—cuts in federal (Medicare) and state (Medicaid) funding. “

 

Medicare Clamps down on the Disabled Medicare is NOT doing it's job. New bill before congress may help IF IT PASSES

Towards the end of Macbeth, the eponymous hero reflects that life is a tale “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”. In the last few months, this has come to be an apt summary of Obama's incompetent approach towards Syria. How else can one describe a policy of allowing red lines to be crossed with impunity and issuing tough rhetoric which is then contradicted by inaction?
The Syrian dictator has every reason to feel protected as he sits behind his powerful Russian protector. Last year he heard that Obama had established red lines for the use of chemical weapons in his country. But then those weapons were used and no action was taken. That passivity gave a green light to committing further barbaric outrages, including the attack in Ghouta that reportedly killed up to 1,500 civilians.
That crime galvanised the President. Obama told the world that action was needed, that a "crime against humanity" had been committed and the international community's credibility was at stake. But then Congress had to be summoned, further delaying even this 'limited' strike and giving Assad vital breathing space to hide his chemical weapons.
While this was happening, the Secretary of State was assuring Assad that any military intervention would be "unbelievably small" anyway, destroying at a stroke any element of deterrence. But the appeasement didn't end there, for, at the eleventh hour, the President kowtowed to the Kremlin and allowed Moscow to dictate the agenda.