Greg Awtry

As I write this editorial column on Sunday, December 30, 2012, to be published on Wednesday, January 2, 2013, I have no way of knowing if you will ever read it.

As publisher, it is my job to lead this newspaper through the often times opposing views of journalism and capitalism. To do this we have to approve an annual budget, establish subscription and advertising rates, ensure all the logistics of printing and distribution are in place, and adhere to all the government’s regulations. On top of this we are expected to produce an excellent product five days a week and do so at a profit.

We should have done all this work in the latter half of 2012, but we were too busy trying to cover the election and fighting the pipeline route, so we “kicked the can” down the road until after the election. Then we spent the next seven weeks arguing amongst ourselves about the entire process. Then, we decided since it was the Holidays we would just wait until the last day of the year to do all this, so we could spend more time at home.

So today (I mentioned this was written on Sunday, December 30, 2012) I called our management team together to see if we could actually produce newspapers in 2013 and avoid the fiscal cliff we made for ourselves by not doing our jobs as our readers expected us to do in 2012.

Around the table we have Kathy Larson, our Advertising Director, Steve Moseley and Melanie Wilkinson our Managing Editor and News Editor respectively. There is Bryan Emick our Circulation/Distribution Director, Valerie Nunnenkamp who leads our Creative Department, and Eric Eckert, our Online Director. All of these individuals are instrumental in leading their departments and represent important elements to all of our readers.

I open the meeting by telling those present at the table, we need more revenue, and just like President Obama’s budget, which calls for a 64.2 percent increase in personal income tax rates over the next five years, I ask the team to raise rates by 62 percent, but that we should consider only raising subscription and advertising rates on the richest readers and largest advertisers.

Kathy Larson in sales immediately says that is not fair and balanced. Bryan Emick in circulation says we don’t know how much money our readers make so we would have to ask everyone for their tax returns to see if they should pay more.

Eric Eckert, our digital expert and Valerie Nunnenkamp suggest we cut out expenses instead. Eckert says let’s stop printing the paper and make everyone read the paper online. Nunnenkamp says let’s drop all color ads so we don’t have to print the paper in color.

Moseley and Wilkinson in our news department want us to expand the paper so we can print more news stories and more photographs.

Larson says if we raise ad rates by sixty percent that nobody will buy the ads and we will actually bring in less revenue. Emick says if we raise subscription rates by sixty percent people will cancel their subscriptions and a hundred newspaper carriers will lose their jobs.

I just want to play golf and take the family to Hawaii, and if we can’t get this done, we’ll fall over the fiscal cliff and possibly won’t be able to produce newspapers our readers deserve!

Of course none of this really happened. But if we actually ran our newspaper like Washington is running our country, I guarantee we would have readers more outraged than they are with the way our federal government is taking care of the peoples’ business right now.

We would have hundreds of York News-Times readers writing us letters to the editor and calling to cancel subscriptions. Our advertisers would be outraged and threaten to cancel advertising contracts. Our contracted carriers who are up in the middle of the night trudging through snowdrifts would picket our office in fear of losing their jobs.

Yet most of us sit idly by watching Washington mismanage our country to the point it jeopardizes our future, while placing a near insurmountable burden on our children. Where is the outrage?

Have we all given up on the notion that our country was founded on principles that the people would rule through representatives? Are you happy with the way they are doing the job we hired them to do? Have you contacted them and told them about your feelings?

All of us here at this newspaper try desperately each and every day to put out a paper that is representative of our community. We are not perfect and don’t claim to be, and when we mess up, you let us know, and you should! When our nation is in peril and your congressman, senator or president mess up, do you let them know? You should!

My resolution in 2013 is to watch our Washington, Lincoln, and York representatives like a hawk. You deserve that from your newspaper. Your job, if you choose to accept it, is to help us. Help us build by letting us publish your opinions on how well (or not so well) our elected officials (your employees) are doing.

Here, at the News-Times, Larson, Moseley, Wilkinson, Emick, Nunnenkamp and Eckert did their jobs in 2012 so we could keep our business running efficiently and profitably in 2013.

If Obama, Reid, Boehner, McConnell or Pelosi, were to apply for work at the News-Times, they would be turned down, not qualified based on poor job performance.

Sitting around the Whitehouse on the last day of the year trying to figure out how pay for a government we can no longer afford is no way to run a country, which is why we could never hire any of these national leaders. They don’t deserve to sit around a negotiating table with people of real integrity like we have here at the York News-Times.

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Senator Ben Nelson, of Cornhusker Kickback fame, is at it again.

Remember back on that cold December night in 2009 when Senator eBay Nelson sold his health care reform vote for what was reported at the time to be a $45 million Medicaid exemption for Nebraska. His deciding vote sent us down a path which led to the passage of the 2,000-plus-page Health Care Bill which nobody had time to read. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said we had to pass it so we would know what’s in it!

I wrote then that Senator Nelson didn’t respect the wishes of fellow Nebraskans who were overwhelmingly opposed to the bill. Now, a year down the road, he is still insulting Nebraska voters with his most recent comments about this poor piece of legislation.

Last week he said, “I continue to support the health reform law because it is the right thing to do for Nebraska. There are a lot of good parts in the bill and some that I will work to improve.” Senator Nelson is right. Even I can’t argue with that statement. He should have stopped there.

But no, he went on to say, “Who wants to go backwards and tell 220,000 Nebraskans they can’t have health insurance? Who wants to deny young adults coverage on their parents’ plan? Who wants to deny children health insurance because they have pre-existing medical conditions? Who wants to see Nebraskans forced into bankruptcy, or have to choose between selling their home or paying for medical care? Who wants to see all Nebraskans’ health care costs continue rising every year by double digits or more, with no relief in sight? And who wants to send the tax collector out to take the money back from seniors who’ve gotten money to help them with their Medicare prescription drug benefit?”

He ends by saying, “That’s what this is about.”

Well, Senator, that is NOT what this is about, and the answer to all of your questions is, “Nobody!” Obviously you are talking about Republicans, who are trying to repeal AND replace this bill. You insinuate that Republicans don’t want children to have health care, do want to see people go bankrupt, and want to send tax collectors to grandma’s house to take back their Medicare money.

Do you honestly believe what you said? Do you honestly believe your fellow Nebraskans believe your little word games. Senator, this is not a time to play word games. This is a time to listen to the people, and deliver a health care bill that should have done what it was intended to do in the first place, to address the rising costs of health care and make it more affordable for everyone.

If the health care law you solidly support is so good, and was intended to cover all Americans by forcing everyone to buy insurance, then why has the Obama administration already given out over 700 waivers to different companies and organizations? Companies like Orscheln’s, 24-Hour Fitness, Waffle House, some cities, counties and schools, even some health insurance companies like Aetna, and about every type of labor union imaginable. Right now there are waivers for over two million people. Sounds like it’s not so good for everybody after all.

Now is a golden opportunity for both sides to work together to develop a bipartisan law, that takes the best ideas from both parties. Again, to answer your rhetorical questions of last week about who wants to tell 220 thousand Nebraskans, sick children and our senior citizens they have been denied coverage … nobody wants to tell them, because nobody intends to deny them coverage. Senator Nelson, come on, you know that.

Senator, you admit this law still needs work. It’s sad you didn’t do the work before the bill was passed. My grandpa always told me to measure twice and cut once. Seems you may have missed out on that valuable advice as a child.

Bill Engvall, a stand up (blue collar) comic has made famous the phrase “Here’s your sign.” He does bits about people that do stupid things, saying they should all wear “I’m Stupid” signs.

He gives dozens of examples, like the time he had a flat tire. The gas station attendant came out and said, “Looks like you got a flat tire.” Bill Engvall looks at him funny and might say, “Nope! I was just driving around and the other three (tires) just swelled right up … here’s your sign!”

Well Bill, I have a day job for you. Your services can be used at the Obama administration. You could travel around Washington visiting nearly every federal department and agency handing out signs.

Bill, you could start at the Treasury Department. Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury, is the one who cheated on his taxes, the one who now is in charge of our nation’s fiscal policy, and the one who believes we can spend our way to prosperity.

He needs a sign.

Then there is Nancy Pelosi and her now infamous line about the health care bill, “We have to pass it before we know what’s in it.” And about jobs, she says, “If you want to create jobs, the quickest way to do it is to provide more funding for food stamps …”

Think she needs an “I’m stupid” sign?

Now Bill, just a heads up. When you visit the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security, allow yourself more time than usual, and bring more signs than you think you’ll need. Eric Holder, Attorney General of the U.S.A. is suing the state of Arizona because Arizona passed a law that would actually help him enforce our own laws.

He needs a sign. Don’t think so? Read on.

Jerry Seper, a reporter for the Washington Times, reported earlier this year the Department of Homeland Security warned the state of Arizona’s law enforcement that armed Mexican assassins have crossed into the United States and will attack anyone who disrupts their flow of illegal drugs. Why? Why warn Arizona law enforcement? If they help they get sued, if they can’t help, why warn them?

Janet Napolitano, ironically the former governor of Arizona, now head of Homeland Security needs a sign!

These armed assassins, according to Homeland Security’s memo, are “very well equipped and armed sicarios (assassins) complete with bullet proof vests … disguised as groups of backpackers.” They are there to protect their shipments of multi-ton loads of cocaine, heroine and marijuana, and are operating on American soil in southern Arizona.

The local sheriff has told of Mexican scouts on high points that “literally control movement.” He says they have radios, optics and night vision goggles and are 70 to 80 miles inside the U.S. operating only 40 miles from our fifth largest city, Phoenix. The sheriff also asked the Obama administration for 3,000 National Guard soldiers to be sent down there to help out.

Even U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), part of Janet Napolitano’s Homeland Security Department, said violence has risen dramatically and is now targeted at drug cartel rivals and federal, state and local police.

Bill, get your signs ready. What did the feds do about this? They posted signs, warning Americans that traveling here was unsafe because of drug and alien smugglers! The signs warn travelers they are entering an “Active drug and human smuggling area and that they may encounter armed criminals traveling at high rates of speed.”

Somebody in our government needs to wear a sign, ya think?

Maybe we should have done this at Pearl Harbor. We could have had signs displayed on our battleships, “No torpedoes allowed.” Or maybe we should have had signs hanging from the World Trade Center’s towers, saying “No Fly Zone.” That would have worked, right?

Or maybe the Obama administration should just “man-up” and protect the sovereignty of the United States of America and get these armed drug smugglers out of here instead of putting up signs warning Americans there are bad guys around.

Or maybe we all need to wear “stupid” signs for allowing this to happen to America.

Or maybe we just accept it and say, “It’s a sign of the times.”

If that’s how you feel, then, “Here’s your sign!”

“If you want to create jobs, the quickest way to do it is to provide more funding for food stamps, and to have unemployment insurance for people who have lost their jobs from no fault of their own.” Whoa, you better read that again.

“If you want to create jobs, the quickest way to do it is to provide more funding for food stamps, and to have unemployment insurance for people who have lost their jobs from no fault of their own.”

I didn’t say that, but someone who is in a very high position of power in this country did say that. Let me give you a hint. Not too long ago this same person said, “We won’t know what’s in it (the health care bill”) until we pass it.” That’s right. Nancy Pelosi said it. Can you believe it? To be completely honest, she said a panel of economists told her that. And do you want to know the most unbelievable part? She believed them!

Two things come immediately to mind. One, if that is true, food stamps and unemployment checks create jobs, why didn’t Pelosi introduce a bill to send everyone in America food stamps and an unemployment check? And two, Nancy Pelosi has lost her mind.

If it is true, “the quickest way to create jobs” is with food stamps and unemployment checks, then the America I know is dead. But of course it’s not true. Is it? Pelosi went on to say, “It’s the biggest bang for the bucks!”

Is this the new American Dream? Is this what she wants kids to aspire for when they grow up, food stamps and an unemployment check? Is this what America has become? Let’s hope not. Let’s hope Nancy Pelosi never opens her mouth again, if all that is going to spew out is pure garbage. The EPA should classify Pelosisms as toxic waste and place them on the hazardous material list and banned in all fifty states.

If next month’s election pans out the way it is being forecast, then a new group of folks will control the House of Representatives. It will once again be the Republicans. Won’t that be fun. The last time they had control they went out of control on a drunken power play and spent money like, well, like Democrats!

Have the Republicans learned anything? According to our own representative, Republican Congressman Adrian Smith, third Nebraska district, they have. In a visit to the York News-Times last week, Smith was open, honest and didn’t avoid questions. He told us we spend too much, that he would vote to eliminate the Department of Education, greatly pare back the EPA, and most importantly, pass a budget.

Did you know that for the first time in thirty years, this Pelosi controlled House did not even pass a budget? They would simply spend all the money, then pass a continuing resolution to fund the government a little longer, then spend some more and pass another resolution… no budget whatsoever!

So why didn’t they pass Obama’s budget? Heck, I’m no economist, but I did study Obama’s budget that he sent to the House. It called for massive spending and even more massive tax increases. In the depth of a recession, Pelosi didn’t want to bring that budget up for a vote, so she didn’t. No budget, no plan, no roadmap, no spending controls, no leadership. What the American people got was kneejerk bailouts and a trillion dollar stimulus plan that fell flat on its face.

Now the folks who voted for all this are all back home asking for another term in office, but it is quite strange, none of them are running on their voting record, telling voters they voted for the stimulus, the healthcare takeover, and the bailouts. They are hiding from their actions, playing political blame games, hoping we are all stupid enough to not notice.

Well, we did notice. Two years ago we voted for change and we got it. Next month we are going to vote for change again. Let’s hope the new leaders get it. If the Republicans once again gain control of the House they better “get it” or we’ll be changing it again in another two years.

Here’s a bit of advice for the new leaders. First order of business in the new Congress… seek out and fire those economists who convinced Nancy Pelosi that food stamps and unemployment checks are the quickest way to create jobs. I can’t and won’t believe that. I believe people would rather have a job.

The biggest problem right now, and for the past two years, is that Nancy Pelosi still has her job and more and more Americans have food stamps and unemployment checks. Too bad it wasn’t the other way around.

Uncle Sam was driving to work in Washington. A heavy fog lay over the city that morning. Just as he got inside the beltway he was involved in a head-on collision with an empty U.S. Treasury van. He was thrown outside his vehicle and was lying on the pavement bleeding profusely.

It was a busy morning. Everybody was trying to get to work. Folks who saw the accident were stopping to gather around Uncle Sam wondering what they could do and if he would survive.

Bursting through the crowd was President Obama. He looked down at Uncle Sam. The people looked at him and desperately wanted him to do something, but there were no Teleprompters on the scene so at first he said nothing. He shook a few hands and mumbled something about hope he would be all right and we must change our driving habits. Robert Gibbs, Obama’s press secretary, said the empty Treasury van was bought by the Bush administration.

Senator Ben Nelson was in the growing crowd. He was convinced Uncle Sam needed help, but wasn’t yet sure what to do. He would wait until everybody else made their decisions.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed her way to the front. She frantically was asking everybody to empty their wallets and throw money at Sam to soak up the blood.

Finally, an unassuming cab driver walked up, obviously tired from working an all night shift, calmly sat down his cup of tea, and said, “We must apply pressure to the wound. We must stop the bleeding.”

Uncle Sam finally sat up, still dazed and confused. Just a few minutes earlier he had been lying on the Washington D.C. street, severely wounded, his future seriously in jeopardy. He saw the crowd. He knew most of the folks had stopped to help but he was disappointed most of them didn’t know what to do.

As the crowd began to disperse, Sam could see in the distance the Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln Monuments. The fog was lifting and the morning sunlight was striking the white stone structures, casting reflections of his nation’s amazing history in tiny miniatures across the surface of the Potomac River. He could feel his strength returning.

The paramedics arrived. Uncle Sam immediately asked about the condition of the other driver. He was told the driver of the empty U.S. Treasury van was uninjured, had gotten lost in the fog and was headed in the wrong direction when the accident occurred.

By now most of the crowd was gone. It was time to load Sam into the ambulance. The paramedics had been sidestepping the lone Samaritan still on the scene. They finally had to ask him to step away as they closed the ambulance doors. Slowly at first the ambulance began to pull away. The sirens came on as they sped up and rushed Uncle Sam to the hospital.

Traffic was resuming to its morning rush hour pace and yet one remained, staring at the wreckage on the side of the road. You see, the cab driver never left Uncle Sam’s side. He had been the one person, the only one that morning, exhausted from working an all-nighter who knew the right thing to do. He had applied pressure to Sam’s wounds to stop the bleeding. He had kept his head in the midst of chaos. He had stayed on task, not letting up for a single moment, knowing Uncle Sam’s life very well may have depended on him.

As the cabbie left the scene of the accident, one couldn’t help but notice all the taxis on the road that morning. It seemed like they were everywhere.