I’m going to take a few days off to clear my head of the campaign and election fog and to enjoy my kids. I’ll officially turn the controls of HBO Central over to CindyH on Monday. I’ve warned her not to check out the cooler by herself (especially after Joker’s detailed description re: what’s in there). However, she has my go-ahead to toss anyone in there that gives her too much guff. Or if she simply wants to feel the adrenalin rush that comes with doing so. So be careful. I don’t think Cindy will go power mad. But you never know. Now, I’ll play the Wild Card and prepare to go into vacation mode …
Two bad trends have supplanted the good old days. The radical right, the tea baggers its new
manifestation, is
purging the Republican Party of moderate officeholders and candidates,
and turning once-sensible office seekers into pander bears. Locally, an iron triangle of left interest groups (e.g. NARAL)
liberal media (The Stranger, PubliCola) and the labor left (SEIU) seek
to impose ideological requirements while slamming any Democrat who
hints at moderation. The local press hasn’t noticed, but Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash.,
endured sustained abuse from national conservative media and local
property rights wackos when he dared to vote for climate change
legislation. The national and state Republican Party were brushed aside by the
likes of Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh in New York’s 23rd District/Joel Connelly, Seattle P-I. More here.
Question: Will the Republican right save or destroy the party of Lincoln?
Tricia Jo Webster/Fabulocity writes: “I found this “Life is Crap” cup during my inaugural visit to Halpin’s, one of the Valley’s hidden treasures. OK, really – sitting prominently on the corner of Bowdish and Sprague with a sign that can be seen from space without a telescope – it’s not all that hidden … I’d simply never before taken the time to stop in. I’d heard the place mentioned in conversation. I’d driven past it at least 1,037 times. But last week I stopped a lady to ask her where she’d gotten her purse – a strappy black bag weaved from seat belts, very cool – and she said “Halpin’s.” That did it. It was time for a visit.” More here.
Question: What’s your favorite slogan on a coffee mug that you own?
While preparing for my conferences I started to think about what I would
like parents to know about teachers. Here are a few of them:
Question: Anyone have a good word for one of your kid’s teachers?
Idaho and Fresno State mirror each other in many ways. Fresno
State has the No. 3 offense
in the WAC, averaging 36.5 points a game,
while Idaho is the No. 4 offense in the conference, averaging 33 points
a game. The Bulldogs have scored 23 touchdowns while the Vandals have
scored 22. The Vandals have the slight edge in total offense, putting up 445 yards a game, while Fresno State averages 444. Offensively,
the difference is on the ground. Idaho is sixth in the WAC on the
ground, putting up 172 yards a game, but between Princeton McCarty,
De’Maundray Woolridge and Deonte Jackson, the Vandals can rack up yards
on the ground in the blink of they eye. The Bulldogs have the best rusher in the nation in Mathews, who averages 191 yards a game. The
Bulldogs also can throw the rock. Fresno State quarterback Ryan Colburn
averages just over 160 yards a game, hitting Seyi Ajirotutu for nearly
100 yards a game. The game should come down to whose defense steps up/Sandra Kelly, Moscow Pullman Daily News. Full story below.
Question: OK, prognosticators, let’s try again. Who’s going to win and by what score?
What too many people fail to recall, and in many cases I consider
this willful amnesia, is that
Obama’s sales pitch for the first
stimulus package included a promise that, if passed, unemployment would
rise no higher than 8 percent. Without the stimulus package, Obama’s
economic team (which includes Romer), predicted that unemployment might
rise as high as 9 percent. For reference, the official unemployment rate is now 10.2 percent.. And
that’s an underestimate. When one considers the underemployed and those
who have given up trying to find a job, the real unemployment rate is
actually about 16 percent or 17 percent. The “recovery act is working exactly as intended.”Obama promised that he would create or save 3.5 million jobs. But
recently the Obama administration boasted that it had “created or
saved” a somewhat more modest 650,000 jobs, a number repeated
uncritically over and over last weekend by the Obama-approved real news
organization, CNN/Michael Costello, Lewiston Tribune. Full column below.
Question: Should Obama try to boost the economy by trying to pass another massive stimulus package?
While I sit here watching “Law & Order,” I’m thinking about the
movie that we saw earlier
this evening - the curiously named “The Men Who Stare at Goats.” Based on the trailer, i was expecting a comedy. And a comedy is what I got. What I needed, though, was an ending. The
conceit of the film, which is based on a nonfiction book by British
writer Jon Ronson, is that an American journalist named Bob Wilton
(Ewan McGregor) stumbles onto the story of his life. He meets Lyn
Cassidy (George Clooney), a retired “psychic spy” who prefers the title
of Jedi warrior. Seems Cassidy was once part of a U.S. Army team that
tried to harness powers of the human brain to create a new kind
of soldier/Dan Webster, Movies & More. More here.
Question: Which is the next movie you expect to see on the big screen?
Sandpoint
advanced to the state semifinals for the first times since 2005 by shutting
down a potent Middleton ground attack. The Vikings, which utilize the
double-wing, entered Friday’s game with a six-game winning streak and averaging
nearly 270 yards per game rushing. Sandpoint
(8-2) held Middleton (7-3) to just one first down and 14 yards in the first
half. “They
are coming off a six-game winning streak, and I think our kids made them look
like they were not a team on a six-game winning streak,” said Sandpoint coach
Mike Mitchell, whose team allowed the Vikings a total of 32 yards on the
ground. “That’s what it looked like tonight”/William Love, Sportslink. More here.
The Vikings, losers of two straight to conclude the regular season, redeemed themselves with a 38-14 win over Lake City in a State 5A playoff opener Friday before an estimated crowd of 3,000 at LC. Coeur d’Alene (7-3) will play host to third-ranked Eagle (9-1) in a semifinal next Friday at 7 p.m. Eagle handled Rocky Mountain 35-17. In the other openers, No. 1-ranked Capital (10-0) downed Mountain View 38-13 and defending state champ Highland (8-2) stopped Idaho Falls 34-26. The Vikings, who had to survive a three-team Kansas Tiebreaker on Monday, quieted the naysayers with three second-half touchdowns from junior running back Zach Keiser and a 34-yard field goal from Connor Williams as CdA blew open what had been a tightly contested game in the first half/Greg Lee, Sportslink. More here.
Sometimes, when I hear other wives talking about their flaky pie crust or their super secret all-
day lasagna recipe, I feel a little bad for Paul. All across this great land, men are trudging home from work, tired and hungry, only to be revived at the door of their warm, well-lit homes by the savory aroma of a lovingly prepared meat-and-potatoes dinner with a buttery homemade roll on the side. Paul, on the other hand, often has to rustle up his own grub, as do I, in a process we jokingly call “grazing”, as in: “Do you want to go out for dinner tonight, or just graze?” Grazing can mean sandwiches, or chips and salsa, or even cold cereal. I imagine it’s how most bachelors eat before they find that loving woman who promises to put their days of Ramen noodles and peanut butter firmly behind them. And it must bother me, at least a little bit, because I keep bringing it up/Katrina, Notes On A Napkin. More here.
Question: Are you a good cook?
CindyH will sub for me next week as I take some R-n-R to catch a breath after the elections and to enjoy Dr. Oliveria & my wonderful daughter-in-law, who will be visiting between interviews for medical residency at University of Washington and OHSU/Portland and sundry other places. I may give CindyH the keys to the cooler. No one else has ever thrown someone into the cooler since I launched Huckleberries Online almost 6 years ago. She had a devilish look in her eyes when she mentioned how cool it would be to throw someone in there. Just because it’s there. Be very careful next Monday through Friday. BTW, I’ve never been in the cooler myself. Can someone describe what it looks like in there? Now, for your Wild Card …
I saw the photo of the major smiling and holding a donut, just hours before he held out his gun and
devastated the lives of thousands of soldiers and their families. In one instant, an entire community of soldiers and their families faced a new dynamic of total uncertainty in their lives: the place they considered the safest turned into a setting for a horrific nightmare. We never know what the next moment will bring on any given day or how those moments will evolve into whole new twists and turns of our existence or lack thereof. Life is definitely an ongoing crapshoot, and we’re reminded every day of how powerless we are in writing its script/Marianne Love, Slight Detour. More here.
Question: Do you view life as a crapshoot? Or do you think there’s a divine purpose to everything?
Volunteer Chantilly Burtis, left talks with Lookout Ski Patrol member Ron Lichti during set up of this years 11 annual Winter Swap at Kootenai County Fairgrounds in Coeur d’Alene on Friday. The sale opens Saturday , November 7 from 9:00-3:00 with thousands of new and used winter sports items available. The “Swap” is the primary source of funding for the Lookout Pass and Silver Mountain volunteer ski patrols. (Kathy Plonka/SR)
Gabriel Harpe ,8, of Port Orchard, Wash. plays peek-a-boo with a squirrel at Evergreen-Rotary Park in Bremerton, Wash on Tuesday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Kitsap Sun, Larry Steagall)
Top Cutlines:
The Eagles Lodge reports that $2400 in cash, equally divided among 4 Washington Trust bank bags, was stolen from the Sherman Avenue organization between 5 p.m. Monday and 5:57 p.m. Tuesday. Trustee Bill Barlow reported to Coeur d’Alene police that the money was in an office inside the lodge. The money was discovered missing during a daily audit. Barlow provided officers with a short list of suspects who were in the lodge’s office during the 24 hours in which the money disappeared.
Floats carrying the New York Yankees baseball team make their way along Broadway during a ticker-tape parade celebrating their 27th World Series championship on Friday in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Question: Should New York have conducted the parade in light of the tragedy at Fort Hood, Texas?
The unemployment rate in October rose to 8.9 percent in Idaho and 11.1 percent in Kootenai County. In some rural corners of North Idaho, one in five working-age persons is jobless. Seasonally adjusted unemployment edged up a tenth of a point statewide last month. In Kootenai County, the rate increase half a percentage point from September. The number of Idaho workers without jobs rose 1,100, to a record 67,300, as employers held hiring to the lowest level since record-keeping began in 1998, the state Department of Labor said today/Spokesman-Review. More here.
Question: How much worse do you expect the local employment picture to get?
President Barack Obama said Friday the entire nation is grieving for those slain at Fort Hood, and he urged people not to jump to conclusions while law enforcement officers investigate the shootings. Obama met Friday morning with FBI Director Robert Mueller and other federal leaders to get an update on what they’ve learned. Thirteen people were killed and 30 others injured in the shooting rampage at the Texas Army post on Thursday. The suspected shooter is an Army psychiatrist; his motive remains unclear. “We don’t know all the answers yet. And I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts,” Obama said in a Rose Garden statement otherwise devoted to the economy/Breitbart. More here.
Question: Some Muslims are afraid that there will be a backlash against them as a result of this mass shooting. Is that a legitimate worry? (BTW, I purposely haven’t loaded this blog with info and photos from the horrific Fort Hood slaughter. I figure that you can get that information from TV or the Internet. Did I make the right call? Or do you want posts about upon which to comment?)
Four Coeur d’Alene High football players — three of them starters — suspended for an athletic code violation have been reinstated for tonight’s state 5A football playoff game at Lake City, Viking coach Shawn Amos announced Friday morning/Coeur d’Alene Press. More here.
Joker: The door to the cooler is weathered wood with an ironwork across the middle. While
there is no door handle, there are claw marks on bottom of the door, as if something or someone couldn’t get out. The sounds of dripping water echo through the cooler. I don’t know how big the cooler is, but I tried to explore a little after I heard voices coming from the darkness. The further I went, the fainter the light blub got. As I was walking, I tripped on a what appeared to be a human tibia bone, but I am not sure. Then I heard a deep growling sound from the darkness, so I ran back toward the light.
Question: Anyone discover anything else in there?
While going through the “new” Midtown for the first time, I was aghast at how dangerous the experience was. Traffic roaring past cars trying to park and/or sight see. Harrowing might be a better word. The difference between downtown Sherman and Fourth Street is obvious to me — namely signals. Traffic on Sherman travels at 25 MPH posted, but with all the signals, it’s closer to 7 MPH. Meanwhile, traffic on Fourth is unabated from Lakeside to Harrison. It simply is the express route out of town for folks heading north on the east side. The obvious solution to make Midtown more like bustling Sherman is to put crosswalks and stop signs at every street in midtown. Slow the traffic down and prosperity and safety will come/Richard LeFrancis, Coeur d’Alene Press letter to the editor. More here.
Question: Do you share the same concern as letter writer Richard LeFrancis re: the speed the vehicles travel through the reconstructed Midtown street area?
A graduate of Rogers High School and Eastern Washington University working as a physician assistant at Fort Hood, Texas, was among 13 people killed in a rampage Thursday, according to a family member. Michael Grant Cahill was 62. Meanwhile, a Post Falls soldier wounded in the shooting spree is recovering in a hospital, his father said Friday morning at his North Idaho home. More here.
In his attempt to connect the dots, Bill McCrory/OpenCDA.com may be hinting that irregularities may have occurred during the City Council elections. It’s hard to say exactly what she means by posting the Idaho codes for contesting elections for reasons other than the tightness of the vote. Bill ends by saying: “While some people may argue it is unnecessarily expensive and time-consuming to contest an election, it seems obvious that Idaho’s legislators recognized the possibility of election tampering. More importantly, they recognized that the importance of honestly administered elections cannot be overstated.” More here.
Question: How do you read that post?
Lynne Stratton, talked about her step son George Stratton III at their home in Post Falls on Friday, November 6, 2009. Stratton was injured during the shooting at Fort Hood in Texas on Thursday. (Kathy Plonka/SR)
A Post Falls soldier wounded in Thursday’s shooting spree at Fort Hood in Texas in recovering
in a hospital, his father said Friday morning at his Post Falls home. George Stratton III, 18, called his family shortly after a gunman shot dozens of people on the large military base. Thirteen people were killed and 30 wounded in the attack. In an interview this morning, George Stratton Jr. of Post Falls said his son called around lunchtime Thursday and left him a message. His son said, “Dad, I’m in the back of an ambulance. I’ve been shot, but I’m OK.” “We were panicked, but we knew people were dying from it,” his father said. “We were relieved (that he was OK).” The soldier was working at the Fort Hood medical readiness center. He was shot in the shoulder; the bullet went through without damaging bone or nerves, his father said/Alison Boggs, SR. More here.
Question: Any message you’d like to send to this brave local soldier and his family?
DFO: What’s your reaction to the outcome of the Coeur d’Alene & Post Falls races?
Jeff Ward/Reagan Republicans: In Post Falls, we’re happy that Betty Henderson got elected.
Our endorsement didn’t have much influence because she was such a good candidate. We had a lot of effect in the Coeur d’Alene races. We came in late. We endorsed Jim Brannon and Betty Henderson. We were a month out. Brannon had not really had the apparatus in place to run a strong race. In terms of money, he was way behind. In terms of volunteers, it was slow. We felt we could have an impact in the race. Jim Brannon got more votes than any other challenger in Coeur d’Alene city history. The strategy of partisanizing race was effective in dramatically increasing turnout. Jim’s much further along than he would be if we hadn’t gotten involved.
Question: How much impact did the Reagan Republicans have in the Coeur d’Alene City Council races?