I’m off today. So CindyH will be along in awhile to add posts to today’s lineup. There’s plenty of stuff below to get you started this morning. Please enjoy a safe and sane Independence Day weekend. And I’ll see you back here Monday. Now, for your TGIF Wild Card …
What are you most looking forward to tomorrow?
Actually, he just left one instruction: “Don’t overdo it.”
Well. No need to worry about that :-) If you had a sub the next time you took a day off, what kind of instructions would you leave them?
Hat tip to Nick Adams who says CNN is reporting Sarah Palin will not seek re-election. Current reports confirm that she will resign at the end of the month.
Update: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/jul/03/palin-resign-alaska-governor/
Let the speculating begin.
Talk about sibling rivalry: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/jul/03/williams-will-win-wimbledon/ ”Richard Williams refuses to watch his daughters Venus and Serena play each other. He says he simply can’t bear to see it, no matter the setting, no matter the stage.”
IMHO watching tennis is only little more exciting than watching golf or bowling, but still I’d rather watch paint dry.
Any tennis aficionados planning to watch the sisters play Saturday?
The other morning the boys and I saw something rather disturbing– a plush Elmo dangling by one leg from the trunk of a silver Subaru. Did some poor tot get dropped off at daycare without his Elmo? Is a mean older sibling torturing a younger sibling? Was Elmo’s precarious journey accidental or purposeful?
Have you seen any strange things dangling from cars lately?
Sounds like there’s going to be a lot of stressed out brides in the next couple weeks: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/jul/03/plan-b-for-brides/
I don’t remember being at all stressed out about my own wedding. Then again, it was 23 years ago. The only mishap involved the groomsmen who decided to make a Burger King run right before photos. Oh yeah, those same guys were later caught eating the carefully sculpted cream cheese mints.
Did your hitching go off without a hitch?
So, am I the only one who has to spend time at my desk today? Another S-R blog ran a thread titled “The Long Weekend Loose Thread,” which is fine, but the blog host put it up YESTERDAY. Geez.
Did your weekend already begin? What are your plans for the Fourth of July eve?
Dino, a 15 year-old male California Sea Lion at Henry Doorly Zoo, gets fed a handful of fish by a zoo keeper in Omaha, Neb., Thursday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Item: Kunka claims his bid for mayor will change Coeur d’Alene/Tom Hasslinger, Press
More Info: Joe Kunka says he wants to change Coeur d’Alene. The 49-year-old marketing manager for The Grease Spot feels the Lake City might be too focused on improving its service industry instead of diversifying its job base by recruiting more light industry businesses to the area. “It’s becoming very difficult to live in Coeur d’Alene when everybody is feeding hamburgers to each other,” Kunka said Thursday, referring to a letter to The Press which painted the town as only a tourist destination. “I want to see if I can’t change the focus from private communities — gated communities — to bringing in some living-wage jobs in the area.” Which is why Kunka announced his intention to run for mayor on Friday.
Question: Has Sandi Bloem accomplished enough to return as mayor for a historic third term, if she decides to run again (as she has told Huckleberries that she plans to do)?
Item: High skin cancer rates in Idaho, Wash. prompt warnings/Betsy Russell, SR
More Info: Idaho has the highest death rate from melanoma in the nation, and both Washington and Idaho are among the top 10 states for incidence of the deadly skin cancer, so health officials are urging folks to slap on the sunscreen and think about hats and shade as the sunny holiday weekend kicks off. Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire highlighted the problem in 2008 when she declared Washington a “SunWise” state, launching an EPA-sponsored program to educate kids in schools about how to be “sun-safe.”
Question: Do you take the threat of skin cancer seriously? What precautions do you take when you’re out in the sun?
I watched the dress rehearsal of Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” Thursday night. I can see why Digger’s begging for tickets for this one. It’s funny. Complex. And deserves a PG-13 rating. It may be the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre production of the summer. The show opens tonight and runs through Saturday, July 18, starring Eric Hadley as Max Bialystock (left), Jen Davis as Ulla, and Matt Wade as Leo Bloom. You can read Jim Kershner’s thoughts regarding the complicated play here. I plan to see it again next Thursday as a paying customer. (J. Bart Rayniak/SR)
Question: What is the last Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre production that you saw?
HMOffsuite: The unemployment and jobs numbers were released today for the month of
June. 
Unemployment now at 9.5%, up from 9.4% in May. Not too bad, but
job losses were more than anticipated, however. But, one must realize
that the ‘actual’ unemployment figures are much higher. That is because
the number of people that quit looking for jobs are not counted and
many other metrics. The actual computed unemployment figure now is
16.5% and will rise to 20%. The Obama stimulus (joke) plan is not
providing much assistance and won’t, quite frankly. This is a bigger
deal than most give credit to and will cause severe economic
destruction in the months to come. Too bad Obama didn’t actually
stimulate the economy with all the money he spent. Watch out, folks.
Question: Do you agree w/HMOffsuite that the stimulus package isn’t working? Or is it too soon to tell what it’s doing?
Nick Adams: I’d say that objectivity in journalism dead. And, when it’s not,
it’s boring. Reporters will 
write something that’s objective, but it’s
really nothing more than a he-said, she-said item. Yawn. Meanwhile,
hundreds of other online, TV and radio sources have been spinning away
on the story. Most of us make up our minds based on the headline, lede and first
paragraph. The rest, we just let our filters take over. After all, true
analysis takes a lot of work and thought—something neither most
consumers or producers of news have the time nor energy for these days. Full comment below.
Question: Yesterday, Beth Bollinger launched a great discussion by asking for recommendations re: good news sources to read. Above, Nick suggets that objective journalism is dead. Do you agree? Can you name news sources that are not only good but objective, too?
JimmyMAC: My wife and I had dinner tonight with one of my best friend’s who is in
town from Denver with his girfriend visiting his family for the 4th.
His younger brother and the brother’s wife 
and two children joined us.
Younger brother was on the front lines in Iraq from the beginning up
until about 3 years ago, coming home to a wife who had just been
diagnosed with cancer. I’ve known him for a long time but haven’t seen
him since he was back from duty. I don’t have room here to describe the
conversations we had, and I have always admired and adored our
servicemen and women, but I am forever a changed person after our
discussions and feel ashamed because in hindsight, my appreciation has
never been enough, not even close. I am still shaken to the core two hours later.
Question: Do you have a family member or friend who has served this country during war, past or present? Tell us about him/her.
Today is the 183rd day of 2009. There are 182 days left in the year. On this day in history: In 1961, author Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death at his home in Ketchum, Idaho. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill passed by Congress. Writer-director-comedian Larry David is 62. In the news this afternoon: Air France Flight 447 was intact when it hit the Atlantic belly first, investigators say here. And the Wild Card remains in play …
Keith Wright, 50, of the Bronx, New York, sits nude on a US Airways flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles after he removed all of his clothing mid-flight Tuesday. Wright resisted a flight attendant’s efforts to cover him with a blanket before two off-duty law enforcement officers on board subdued and handcuffed him. The flight was diverted to Albuquerque where Wright was taken into custody by airport authorities, authorities said. (AP Photo/Marius Langlete)
He had parked the trash can at the curb and turned around to see a team of FBI agents in flak jackets, their guns drawn, converging on a house just a few doors down from us. We hurried 
back inside, wondering aloud what could be going on while taking occasional peeks through cracked blinds at the strange events unfolding outside. By the time we left the house an hour later, local police cars and unmarked SUVs (which must have arrived with the FBI guys) were parked all up and down our street as officers milled around taking pictures and going in and out of our neighbor’s house. We pulled up next to one of the officers and asked if it would be safe for us to return home later. He assured us it was, so I guess that whatever brought them there had already happened. And that’s it. We still don’t know what it was all about. Drug trafficking? Kidnapping? Unpaid parking tickets?/Katrina, Notes On A Napkin. More here.
Question: Have you ever had a bunch of cops checking out something in your neighborhood? How did the ‘hood react?
After serving as the university’s interim president, Steven Daley-Laursen takes on a new role
today, University of Idaho President Duane Nellis announced, as a senior executive to the president with a focus on “special federal initiatives.” It’s a one-year appointment for the former dean of the College of Natural Resources. The university said Daley-Laursen “will remain a tenured professor of forest resources in the College of Natural Resources, but decided not to return as dean of that college”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Spokane police have probable cause to arrest a 20-year-old man for brutally assaulting a small 
dog June 22 outside Spokane’s City Hall. Police are looking for Michael J. Jones for first-degree animal cruelty in connection with the case. Jones is accused of throwing a 4-year-old Shih Tzu named Cocoa Butter against a wall, after smashing a car window outside City Hall, pulling the dog out and swinging her from her leash. The dog’s owners, Louise and Tom Tuffin, left her in the car while they went to see a movie, returning several hours later to find the dog laying on the sidewalk. Jones was identified in a surveillance video, walking past the car/Sara Leaming, SR. More here.
Question: What should be the punishment for the individual convicted of this crime?
Earlier today, in the comments section, we were discussing bad naked. Scootermom offered this hilarious observation: “I don’t want to see bad naked. Isn’t that what marriage is for?” Which brings me to the point of this post. If you look on PM Scanner Traffic above, you’ll find that an R/P on NIC Beach, at the mouth of the Spokane River, reported an unusual sight this afternoon — two naked couples piloting an older brown boat. The R/P didn’t say whether the couple represented good naked of bad naked — simply that they were naked.
Question: What should the marine deputies do?
I can tell when a friend or family member has gotten a news item from Fox News: the story’s 
outrageous; it’s not on Google News (meaning, it’s not wide spread); and, after a little digging, it turns out to be either incredibly misleading as to the real facts or, sometimes, it’s just out-and-out false. I’m sure some of the Fox News stories can be accurate. But if I can routinely tell when stories come from Fox News because of their outrageous falsities … That’s a problem. I wish there was a solid conservative alternative out there. I do like to get my sources from a lot of places/Beth Bollinger, Accidental Rabbit Trails.
Question: Which conservative news source do you consider best?
Camera in hand, Idaho Dad/A Family Runs Through It takes us on a ride along the Hiawatha Trail here.
HBO Numbers (for Wednesday, July 1): 7504/4252
Question: Have you ever ridden the Hiawatha Trail or The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes?
… you can’t marry — or even become intimate with — your sister in Idaho. Case in point, a 36YO Boise woman and her half brother were arrested and charged with felony incest. Brian L. Reed, 30, and Marilyn R. Lee, 36, are both being held in the Ada County Jail on felony incest charges. Reed, Lee’s half brother, is a registered sex offender who was already in jail on a probation violation when he was arrested on the same charge Tuesday, according to Patrick Orr, Idaho Statesman. Orr goes on to report: “Only 16 people have been arrested in Idaho on the charge of incest between 2004-to-2008 — a list which includes only one woman. Eight of the 16 arrested have been juvenile males, according to ISP reports.” Full report here.
Question: Should incest involving consenting adults be a crime?
Another year, another black eye for Idaho when it comes to a simple, commonplace requirement that lawmakers disclose general information about their finances so citizens can weigh possible conflicts of interest. According to the Center for Public Integrity’s annual assessment, the Gem State is dead last again. Now, the state didn’t do any worse than it did in previous years, but that would be impossible when your score is stuck on zero. The state shares the accountability basement with Vermont and Michigan. Meanwhile, Washington is one of the first-place states, tied with Louisiana/SR Editorial Board. More here.
Question: How much attention do you pay to donors on financial disclosure statements filed by candidates?
Joey Chestnut, left, of San Jose, Calif., defending champion of the Nathan’s Famous July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest, answers media questions as former champion Takeru Kobayashi, of Nagano, Japan, poses for photos in New York Thursday. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Question: Which do you prefer at a picnic barbecue — hot dogs or hamburgers? Do you prepare your burger or dog any special way?
I applaud the TEA Party people for their civic engagement, but there’s a Rip Van Winkle quality 
to their sudden activism. If they’re so concerned about fiscal responsibility in government, then where were they during the golden fleece years from 2000 through 2006? That’s when Congress, ostensibly controlled by the party of fiscal restraint, kept handing blank checks to a president who ran up the tab like no one else in American history. Where were the TEA Party people when America’s foray into Iraq - originally billed as revenue-neutral thanks to oil sales - began incinerating hundreds of billions of our tax dollars? Where were the TEA Party people when lack of financial oversight finally caught up with, and hobbled, America’s once-robust economy? My retirement savings took a sickening dive when Wall Street tanked, and I’ll bet yours did too/William Brock, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here.
Question: Which major political party do you trust most when it comes to handling the nation’s checkbook?
D.F. Oliveria is an associate editor, editorialist, columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Recently, the Idaho Press Club selected Huckleberries as the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog. In 2007, the Society of Professional Journalists selected Huckleberries Online as the best news blog in the five-state Pacific Northwest. The print version of Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Tidbits Column contest sponsored by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University has cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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