Gonzaga’s Bol Kong (34) gets out of the way after a dunk by Oklahoma’s Tiny Gallon (24) shattered the backboard during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Spokane tonight. (AP Photo/Rajah Bose)

Husband has courtside seats right behind Ronald McDonald. Oklahoma dude just broke the backboard. Game delayed while they bring in a new backboard. Sigh.

• ESPN running boxscore here.
  

While other Hucksters weren’t thrilled about gearing up for Christmas I gotta say New Year’s Eve doesn’t do it for me.
Could be too many disastrous New Year’s Eve dates when I was single. Could be that I don’t like change. Could be that it’s hard to decide how to celebrate when your kids range in age from 10 to almost 20.

Whatever it is, I just wasn’t feeling festive– until the last half hour of the Humanitarian Bowl. I’m not a U of I grad, but my oldest brother is and though he’s serving with the U.S. State Dept. in Tel Aviv, I could could feel his Vandal pride across the miles.

2010 is on the way with a blue moon to boot.

So I’ll raise my coffee mug to all you Hucksters and advise you to make the most of the last day of 2009! And do yourself a favor and give this a listen.

Carrie Prejean

“I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where it says you shouldn’t get breast implants.”—Carrie Prejean

“I know lots of people that take cocaine three nights a week and get up and go to work every day, no problem. But we never hear that side of the story.” —Lily Allen

“Why do they call you beautiful?” —Victoria Beckham’s response to Naomi Campbell’s question: “Why do they call you Posh?”

“Another kid already?” —Sean Penn to ex-wife Madonna about her new boyfriend Jesus Luz

I don’t really see the point in washing your hair. If you don’t care if your hair’s clean or not then why would you wash it? It’s like, I don’t clean my apartment ’cause I don’t care. I have my apartment for sleeping in and I have my hair for just, you know, hanging out on my head. I don’t care if it’s clean or not.” —Twilight’s Robert Pattinson

“I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book’s autograph. I am a proud non-reader of books.” Kanye West .

“I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.” Kanye West .

“My temper is ridiculously bad. I’ve had to say to Brian, ‘You have to go and stop talking to me, because I’m going to kill you. I’m going to stab you with something, please leave,’ I’d never own a gun for that reason. I wouldn’t shoot to kill. But I would shoot him in the leg, for sure.”—Megan Fox on her temper.

More here.

COEUR d’ALENE — It’s a tradition that goes on each New Year’s Day and dates back to the late 1970s, no matter if it’s freezing, snowing, raining or a combination of all three.

Yes, it’s the polar bear plunge in the Lake City. The 31st annual charge into Lake Coeur d’Alene will be at noon Friday at Sanders Beach. An expected 500 or so — with about an equal crowd on hand to watch — will dash into the lake, dive under, and rush out with a scream. More.

Gosh. As much as I’d love to be there, I’ll have to take a pass this year. But since I’m blogsitting, there isn’t any reason DFO can’t join the fun, now is there? But maybe the blogmeister might be all tuckered out from running the Hangover Handicap?

I’ll await your reports.

Leslie Nelson, left, gets a hug from Deb Farnsworth as they enter Nelson’s remodeled home.

When Leslie Nelson met Deb Farnsworth last year, she couldn’t have imagined their friendship would result in a community project that changed her entire house. Nelson just wanted to change her life.

Farnsworth leads a Celebrate Recovery group at Valley Real Life church. The ministry focuses on those “struggling with hurts, habits and hang-ups.” Farnsworth recalled their initial meeting. “Leslie had come out of a dysfunctional, abusive relationship and was a recovering meth addict. When she told me her story, crying, I asked her, ‘What do you want?’ ”

Farnsworth’s voice broke as she recalled Nelson’s answer. “She just looked at me and said, ‘I need prayer.’ ”

That reply touched Farnsworth.

“I was in,” she recalled. “This is all about showing her the love of Christ.” She agreed to mentor Nelson.

Later, when she visited Nelson at her home, she found the kitchen sink was broken, and Nelson had to wash dishes in a bucket or in the bathtub. No easy task for a single mom of eight, six of whom live with her. In addition, the bathroom floor was disintegrating. Farnsworth began looking for a way to help. Cindy Hval, SR More here.

Have you been more blessed by giving our receiving this holiday season?

At the Spokane Convention Center, Christine Mebesius holds a First Night banner as New Year’s Eve revelers gather for the start of the STCU-Masquerade Parade.

So what are you doing this New Year’s Eve? Partying like it’s 2009/2010 or staying home with a good book? Or maybe something in between?

KANSAS CITY (Reuters) – If you recently tweeted about how you were chillaxin for the holiday, take note: Fifteen particularly over- or mis-used words and phrases have been declared “shovel-ready” to be “unfriended” by a U.S. university’s annual list of terms that deserve to be banned.

After thousands of nominations of words and phrases commonly used in marketing, media, technology and elsewhere, wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University on Thursday issued their 35th annual list of words that they believe should be banned.

Tops on the Michigan university’s list of useless phrases was “shovel-ready.” The term refers to infrastructure projects that are ready to break ground and was popularly used to describe road, bridge and other construction projects fueled by stimulus funds from the Obama administration.

And speaking of stimulus, that word — which was applied to government spending aimed at boosting the economy — made the over-used category as well, along with an odd assortment of Obama-related constructions such as Obamacare and Obamanomics.

“We say Obamanough already,” the LSSU committee said. More here.

Sexting, bromance, and teachable moment made the list. Any words you’d like to see included?

A barista in training perhaps?

You won’t find too many necklace holders like the one Josee Bassett has in her room.

It’s the antlers of the buck she shot not far from her Coeur d’Alene home.

“She’s got to accessorize,” her dad, Paige Bassett, said with a laugh.

Josee shot the 4-by-4 whitetail buck last month, the second day of hunting season. It was also just two days after her 12th birthday — when she was officially old enough for a hunting permit. Full story.

When I was 12 I discovered lip gloss and boys. My father would have probably preferred I took up hunting.

Item: Fox, Time-Warner at odds — again;  Channels could go dark if agreement is not reached/Alecia Warren, Coeur d’Alene Press

More Info: News Corp. is threatening to let several of its Fox channels go dark on Friday unless Time Warner Cable agrees to pay higher fees for the right to retransmit Fox programming. The companies have until the end of the year — when Time Warner’s contracts with Fox and several other networks expire — to reach an agreement.

Question: Have you switched from Time-Warner yet?

This image provided by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Tuesday Dec. 15, 2009 shows hundreds of brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds.

MOSCOW – Russia’s space agency chief said Wednesday a spacecraft may be dispatched to knock a large asteroid off course and reduce the chances of Earth impact, even though U.S. scientists say such a scenario is unlikely.

Anatoly Perminov told Golos Rossii radio the space agency would hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis. He said his agency might eventually invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project.

When the 885-foot asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated its chances of smashing into Earth in its first flyby, in 2029, at 1-in-37.

Should the Russians intervene?

Sit back and prepare to be amazed.

Clarnak the Magnanimous returns today in his sequined turban and bejeweled loincloth to mystify you with his guaranteed predictions for the coming New Year.

That’s right, I said guaranteed. Unlike other, less-gifted seers, Clarnak’s soothsaying comes with the following ironclad promise:

If even one of Clarnak’s prognostications fails to come to pass, you may dial up my editor and demand a full refund.

And now I will lapse into a trance even deeper than my normal newsroom work daze.

Ah, yessss … the spirits will begin to speak.

Prediction 1: Alcohol-disabled former Spokane cop Bradley Thoma will suffer a hernia while trying to blow-start his Dodge Ram.

Prediction 2: Republican Spokane County Commissioners Todd Mielke and Mark Richard will sell Spokane Raceway Park and invest all of the proceeds in “Star Trek” collector plates. The move will be hailed as a far more responsible use of public funds.

Prediction 3: Wildly popular KREM-TV news anchor Randy Shaw will finally get that mole taken care of.

Prediction 4: Bob Apple will abdicate his position on the Spokane City Council to become king of Hillyard.

Prediction 5: Three dimwitted North Idaho skinheads will suffocate when they attend a Klan rally wearing plastic sheets. More here.

The majority (77%) of Hucksters believe downtown Cda after 9 pm is safer than downtown Spokane. 133 folks participated in the poll.

Do you like the new positioning of the daily poll?

Next year may be to appliance buyers what 2009 was to car buyers: time for government rebates.

Modeled after the popular Cash for Clunkers program, which was intended to get cars with low gas mileage off the road, a federal appliance rebate program is launching in early 2010. It offers a boost to people buying energy-efficient clothes washers, refrigerators and other appliances — those that qualify for the federal “Energy Star” designation — and to manufacturers, whose sales fell 10 percent in 2008 and another 12 percent through mid-December this year.

The program has only $300 million, one-tenth as much money as Cash for Clunkers, or about $1 per U.S resident, so it could run out fast. States are receiving roughly the same amount per capita, with California getting the most at $35.2 million, but what’s eligible varies by state. Read more.

Would you trade your Hotpoint for hard cash?

Vandals receiver Preston Davis evades Bowling Green’s secondary during first-half play Wednesday at Bronco Stadium in Boise. Idaho Press-Tribune

BOISE – If it wasn’t completely true before, it became true Wednesday: Idaho football turned the corner.

And ran smack into 1998.

You know what this means, don’t you? Every Vandals football coach – caught in the klieg lights on the biggest of stages, weighing the merits of all-or-nothing against the safety of a tie or the conservative call – will have no real choice but to push all his chips into the pot.

Because now it’s tradition.

As the yearly bowlapalooza continues to expand like Tiger Woods’ little black book, the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl is one of those snarkily cited by college football’s snob elite as being, well, irrelevant and unnecessary and not worthy of their attention.

Folks, not if Idaho shows up. More game analysis here.

Still basking in the post-game glow?

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Republican attorneys general in 13 states say congressional leaders must remove Nebraska’s political deal from the federal health care reform bill or face legal action, according to a letter provided to The Associated Press Wednesday.

“We believe this provision is constitutionally flawed,” South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster and the 12 other attorneys general wrote in the letter to be sent Wednesday night to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

“As chief legal officers of our states we are contemplating a legal challenge to this provision and we ask you to take action to render this challenge unnecessary by striking that provision,” they wrote. Full story.

Locally, Butch Otter’s not too happy either:

BOISE – Idaho Gov. Butch Otter said he may sue to stop federal health care reform, calling U.S. House and Senate bills unconstitutional and too costly.

Otter sent letters Wednesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, telling them he’s considering legal action to keep the federal government from imposing “a crushing unfunded mandate” on state and local governments. More.

Thoughts?

APhotographer Matt Cilley captured several scenes of Idaho’s dramatic 43-42 victory over Bowling Green in the Humanitarian Bowl earlier today in Boise. Click the arrow on the rights side above to see the slide show. Then, hold your cursor over the photo to read the cutlines.

Max Komar made a sliding 16-yard touchdown catch with 4 seconds left and Nathan Enderle passed to Preston Davis for the 2-point conversion, lifting Idaho to a dramatic 43-42 victory over Bowling Green in Wednesday night’s Humanitarian Bowl. ESPN game story and boxscore.

• Josh Wrights Sportslink story and notebook here.
• Idaho Statesman Humanitarian Bowl photo gallery here.
  

Two days remain in 2009. Three days until I start screwing up endless checks by writing the wrong year. Five days left on DFO’s vacation clock. Six days until my next big deadline. Ten days until my oldest son reaches his second decade.

Not that I’m counting. 

Honestly, I’m not a big fan of change. I still miss 2008— all those loops were fun to write. Heck I still miss September— that was a good month. But as this guy said, the times they are a changing.

Oh dear. I definitely shouldn’t wax philosophical before my second cup of coffee. But I just spelled definitely without spell check— twice. Thanks Cabbage Boy.

Post your own contemplations below.

jt: “First, no plot was “foiled”. The idiot didn’t know how to properly detonate his crotch and when the passengers figured out he just tried to kill them all, well, they “controlled” the situation.” Full comment.

Los Angeles International Airport Police Officer Jerome Evans uses K-9 Alda to check baggage under increased security Monday.

#1. Alda was grateful for baggage duty since the alternative was sniffing crotches. Sisyphus

#2. The Government’s crackdown on Milkbone continues as the police us special trained dogs to track down the rogue treat at airports across the country. PatrickH

#3. Sherman lamplaster, aka “Gangsta Sherm”, questions his recent decision to stash his last dime bag of weed in his Christmas briefs tucked into his luggage. Smacky

From your career path to your amorous adventures to just life in general, Astrology.com takes a good, long look at what the stars have in store for you this year! Click on your Sun sign below to get started with your 2010 Yearly Overview, and then check out the stellar insights into Your Career in 2010 and Your Romantic Life in 2010. Here’s to a cosmic time in the coming year!

I know it’s bunk but I couldn’t resist reading. “Aquarius often gets pegged as being a little too cerebral for its own good. But the truth is, that’s where you do your best work. The next year is going to give you the opportunity to use those sharp mental powers to focus on what it is you really want out of life.”

What the heck? I’ve got “sharp mental powers?” Who knew? Maybe I could use those to figure out my romantic overview.

How about you? Do you like the way your stars are lining up?

Liberty Lake police Sgt. Ray Bourgeois writes a speeding ticket recently for a man he says was driving 43 mph in a school zone.

Please tell me if you have occasion to use this advice. I really need to know if it works, but I’m concerned about option two: “Drive around with something really weird in your car.”

It’s the holidays, we’re coming off a brutal recession, and the last thing any of us needs is a speeding ticket. And yet someone reading this — I hope not the person writing this — is going to get a speeding ticket in the next week or so. According to the National Motorists Association, between 25 million and 50 million speeding tickets are issued every year. So with that in mind, and since plenty of people get pulled over on their way to and from work, we’re offering some suggestions for talking your way out of a ticket.

BOISE — Idaho tribal leaders want Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter to create a cabinet post dedicated to improving tribal relations.

That includes resolving disputes that erupt when non-tribal members are apprehended for reservation crimes, only to be released without arrest because no agreements — or trust — exists with sheriffs in neighboring counties.

Coeur d’Alene, Nez Perce, Shoshone-Bannock and Shoshone Paiute tribal leaders met with Otter, though the Republican governor made no commitments, especially during an economic downturn when he’s cutting state budgets.

Coeur d’Alene Tribe Chairman Chief Allan on Wednesday, “Tribal economies in Idaho generate at least a half billion dollars annually. It only seems fair for tribes to have place within Governor Otter’s administration.”

Otter aides called last week’s meeting a “listening session.”

Do you think it likely Otter will grant the tribes a place within his administration?

A centuries-old Matthew-Tyndale Bible.

One nice thing about having my eldest son home for the holidays is that he’s a fount of quirky web site knowledge. He showed me this article where I learned that the Bible is the most frequently shoplifted book.

“…But perhaps the most intriguing bookworm of all is the bibliokleptomaniac, or what we like to call the kleptobrainiac. These people are book thieves, the nerdiest outlaws this side of Hogwarts…”

Also ranking high on the list of purloined books:The Virgin Suicides, The Naked Lunch and On the Road.

Who steals books? “It’s mostly younger men stealing the books,” he told Rabb, “They think it’s an existential rite of passage to steal their homeboy.”

Feel free to purge your conscience before the start of the of the New Year. Have you ever shoplifted anything? If so, what?

Do all beagles look alike to you? What about black labs?

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Two black labs didn’t make it home for Christmas this year.

The two pooches swapped homes after a mix-up at an Eastside dog hotel led them to be released to the wrong owners this month.

Bella, who belongs to Stacey and Rob Peterson, of Maple Valley, ended up spending a few weeks in Issaquah with Anne Galasso.

Galasso’s dog, LaiLa, spent time in Canada near Stacey Peterson’s parents, and then in Maple Valley when the Petersons returned from a vacation in Europe.

PetSmart PetsHotel of Issaquah, where both dogs were boarded, is working to make amends, in part by refunding both families’ boarding fees.

Both families knew something was amiss, but never dreamed they had ended up with the wrong dogs. Full story.

How long would it take you to discover you’d taken the wrong pet home?

Weston Withers stands on Dec. 22 in the bus that his late nephew Merle Coldwell was building before his death.

Merle Coldwell wanted to show his sweetheart the wonders of America last summer before she went blind – a grand gesture for a man of limited financial means and a weak heart.

Coldwell didn’t let those obstacles get in the way: He bought an old, yellow school bus, named it Gracie, and went to work in two metered parking spots outside the Dresden Apartments along North Monroe Street in Spokane. He painted it white and red, like a Valentine. Coldwell raised the roof and covered the sides with cedar shingles.

Every weld, every nail was guided by his singular purpose: to get on the road by summer with Neoma Smith, who had glaucoma and cataracts and whom he called his wife although they were never legally married. More.

Alas, no happy ending to this love story. What’s the most romantic gesture you’ve ever received or offered?

It’s not just the after-hours scene. Apparently, getting your morning cup of joe can be dangerous in the Lake City, too.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested this morning following an attempted holdup of a coffee stand in Coeur d’Alene in which the barista pulled a gun on the would-be robber.

A plainclothes deputy sheriff for Kootenai County was in the area of the robbery serving civil papers when a radio broadcast went out alerting officers to the incident.

The robber had a gun in the attempt to take money from Sunshine Espresso at Ironwood Drive and Government Way, but left without getting any cash.

The barista, Michelle Cornelson, said the robber showed a handgun and demanded money, but when a vehicle pulled into the lot for an order, it caused the robber to lower his gun, according to Coeur d’Alene police.

She told police she used the distraction to grab her own weapon and point it at the robber, ordering him to leave. More here.

And the latest from KXLY here.

Boy howdy! Gun totin’ baristas. What next?

WASHINGTON – U.S. intelligence agencies had enough “bits and pieces” of information to thwart the attempted Christmas Day airplane bombing, a senior administration official said Tuesday, but they failed to properly analyze and share it.

Instead, what President Barack Obama called a potentially catastrophic “mix of human and systemic failures” allowed the 23-year-old Nigerian suspect to board a U.S.-bound airliner, allegedly with an explosive device that could have killed nearly 300 people.

“A systemic failure has occurred, and I consider that totally unacceptable,” Obama told reporters near his vacation retreat in Hawaii. Full story.

Perhaps we should stop referring to them as “intelligence agencies.” Just a thought.

Tracy Hermanstorfer kisses her newborn son, Coltyn, Monday, at a hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo.

DENVER – Mike Hermanstorfer was clutching his pregnant wife’s hand in a Colorado hospital on Christmas Eve when she stopped breathing, her life apparently slipping away. Then he cradled his newborn son’s limp body seconds after a medical team delivered the baby by Cesarean section.

Minutes later he saw his son show signs of life in his arms under the feverish attention of doctors, and soon he learned his wife had inexplicably started breathing again.

“My legs went out from underneath me,” Hermanstorfer said Tuesday. “I had everything in the world taken from me, and in an hour and a half I had everything given to me.” More.

Nothing better than a happy ending, even if they had to mangle the spelling of the baby’s name. What’s the best news you’ve heard this week?

Marmitetoasty says,”Everyone that owns a telly here in Britain, irrespective of if you have cable or sky, HAS to have a ‘telly license’ its about £140 ($280) a year and even if where you live just has a tiny portable telly or you have 4 or 5 big widescreens the price is the same…..its not on how many tellys you have…. you can have 1 or 10, you just have to have one license….. ” Full comment here.

In an earth-shattering HBO moment Larry Spencer and Spookelooneh are in complete agreement and advocate no TV at all. You know, I could watch “Lost” on my computer, so I’m kinda leaning to the no-TV camp.

How about you? If you had to pay for a TV license would you, or would you just say “no” to television?

Safety Shiloh Keo and UI teammates in the defensive backfield are charged with keeping Bowling Green star Charlie Barnes in check.

Game time: 1:30 p.m. | TV: ESPN | Radio: 1080-AM/700-AM

Big day for Idaho football. I happen to know someone who’ll be watching the game and offered to post live box scores. If you’re doing something crazy like DVR-ing the game, and are going to yell about spoilers, DON’T check back on this thread. Just saying.

BOISE – Deonte Jackson has been in the University of Idaho football program long enough to be able to put 2009 in context. He’s seen the damage caused by coaching upheaval. He’s been through seasons where any victory seemed like a minor miracle.

Up until this fall, it all looked so hopeless – which, of course, makes today’s appearance in the Humanitarian Bowl that much more satisfying for veterans like Jackson.

Clearly, though, just getting to Bronco Stadium’s blue turf isn’t enough.

“To make it is a great accomplishment, but to win it would just be like the exclamation point on the season,” said Jackson, a junior tailback. “It’s tremendous. It’s a real big thing for everyone involved in this program, this school.” More.

And be sure to follow all the stories here.

In this Aug. 20, 2000 file photo, Tiger Woods points to his ball as it drops for birdie on the first hole of a three-hole playoff against Bob May at the PGA Championship at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.

Like years past, this one has been a whopper for high-profile philanderers. Psychologists aren’t surprised, as guys are wired to want sex, a lot, and are more likely than gals to cheat. The behavior may be particularly likely for men with power, researchers say, though they point out that despite the genetic propensity to sleep around, cheating remains a choice, not a DNA-bound destiny.

The list of powerful individuals whose marital transgressions came out this year includes Tiger Woods, David Letterman, former senator John Edwards and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

The obvious question, perhaps most perplexing when it comes to wealthy men who had beautiful wives and seemingly enviable lives: “What were they thinking?”

Turns out, they may not have been thinking consciously about the acts at all.

“I’m guessing these things don’t happen at the forefront of their brain,” said Scott Reynolds, assistant professor of business ethics at the University of Washington in Seattle. “They aren’t things he sits down and calculates out. It’s in the background.” Full story.

This has got to be the understatement of the year: “I’m guessing these things don’t happen at the forefront of their brain,” Still, the article is a good read even if the answer is pretty simple– cheating is a choice.

Of course, your thoughts may differ.

I interrupt my Christmas vacation to bring you the following Huckleberries Online PSA (public service announcement). Blogmeister Ryan has provided a new spot for the weekdaily polls — in the upper corner of the left rail. I asked him to do so to make the polls more visible. They tend to settle to the bottom of the main thread in the afternoon. Now, they’ll be on top all day. Ryan tested the new poll by using the question from the last one I published before vacation: “Are you better off today than you were 10 years ago?” That attracted 20 more answers before I subbed in the new question for today. The final total was: 50% (74 of 147) voted that they are better off today. 41% of 147 voted that they’re worst off. And 8% (12 of 147) said that they are the same now as they were at the beginning of the decade. You’ll see that today’s question compares the late-night safety of the downtowns in Coeur d’Alene and Spokane.

President Barack Obama speaks to the media Monday about the airliner bombing attempt on Christmas Day.

It’s not just me. Our president is looking worn out.

WASHINGTON — After a sleepless, overnight flight to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, President Barack Obama made a not altogether surprising admission. He was tired.

Who could blame him? The president was on his ninth foreign trip to his 21st country; he added a 10th trip the following week. The year had been bookended by the two most intense periods of his young presidency - the early decisions to bail out the nation’s banks and automobile industry, steps the president deemed unpopular but necessary, and his December orders to deploy 30,000 additional U.S. troops to fight the war in Afghanistan. More here.

Would you want his job?

Rarely a dull moment in HBO-land. You know, when DFO returns I think I’ll need a vacation to recover from his vacation. Just saying.
But it’s a new day. I skipped my Wii workout because I’m thinking 62’s not a bad age and I’d hate to find out I’ve reached my seventies overnight. There’s still so much on my “Things to do before I turn 45 list.” Things like karaoke, starting a fire without a match, and learning to spell definitely without spellcheck. I’m going to the gym instead. Maybe I’ll ask for the senior discount.

Use this Wild Card to discuss what kind of discounts you deserve or anything else that comes to mind.

Actress Jenny McCarthy works out with the fitness program, “Your Shape.”

#1. One day she woke up and started her Wii fitness machine up and in a weird stroke of luck it told CindyH she was 29 again. keithincda

#2. Elin Woods demonstrates her new technique to ready Tiger’s balls for play. JohnA

#3. I see the timer on the TV shows the amount of time left on Jenny McCarthy’s 15 minutes. Cabbage Boy

NEW YORK – For more than 60 years, TV stations have broadcast news, sports and entertainment for free and made their money by showing commercials. That might not work much longer.

The business model is unraveling at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and the local stations that carry the networks’ programming. Cable TV and the Web have fractured the audience for free TV and siphoned its ad dollars. The recession has squeezed advertising further, forcing broadcasters to accelerate their push for new revenue to pay for programming.

That will play out in living rooms across the country. The changes could mean higher cable or satellite TV bills, as the networks and local stations squeeze more fees from pay-TV providers such as Comcast and DirecTV for the right to show broadcast TV channels in their lineups. The networks might even ditch free broadcast signals in the next few years. Instead, they could operate as cable channels — a move that could spell the end of free TV as Americans have known it since the 1940s.

Is this Rupert Murdoch’s fault?

How closely were you paying attention to world events in the news this year?

Test yourself with the BBC World News website end of year 2009 quiz to find out. There is one question per month.

I scored 8 out of 12 (on my second try). Bleh!

BOISE – Among the cottage industries spawned by college football, the manufacture of hoary bromides is likely the busiest – or surely no worse than second behind the office pool.

A particular golden oldie posits that “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” Author credit should go to Coach Epictetus of the Fightin’ Stoics, but since he couldn’t silk-screen it on a T-shirt in his day, it has been passed off as original thought by every Knute Rockne trying to will his team back from a two-touchdown deficit.

So fixated are the character-builders on trying to shinny up Mount Adversity that they forget the same truism applies during the rosy times. Which brings us to the University of Idaho and the Humanitarian Bowl. More here.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who had to look up “hoary bromides.”

1) Prepare for David Tennant’s last episode as the Doctor by watching every Doctor Who episode
2) Make bets on who Donna Noble really is
3) Mock someone who likes Windows 7
4) Continue to ponder if JJ Abrams is on LSD when he writes episodes of Lost
5) Watch Caprica on Hulu
6) Complain about the delay in Barnes and Noble shipping your preordered Nook
7) Watch Something, Something, Darkside

Care to add to his list?

“A friend of mine is flying from NYC to Edmonton and reports the following: “I’m disheartened though not surprised at new regulations that require we spend the entire flight from NYC to Toronto, and the last hour from Toronto to Edmonton, in our seats, without anything in our laps, not even a book; nor of being allowed to the bathroom only with escort; and to have our one carry-on bag each in the overhead compartment unavailable to us.”

Wow, not even a book? And now flight attendants will be spending the entire flight escorting people to the bathroom?

Do you feel safer?”

So, maybe I’ll take the train to Portland. How’s train travel these days?

Manny Pacquiao celebrates  after defeating Miguel Cotto.

Here’s some great advice for all of us:

1. Edit your privacy settings and friendships. Facebook’s maelstrom-causing privacy changes have given quite a few of us a head-scratching good time trying to figure out just how much of our private lives are to be made public. Before the new year begins, take a look at your settings on sites such as Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, LiveJournal and any other places you might be sharing personal content to make sure what you display is consistent with the public image you want to project.

2. Change your passwords. Safety first, friends. Social web security threats in 2009 were sweeping and surprised more than a few users with spam DMs, hacked accounts and malware of all kinds.

3. Own your name. I’ve conducted many a web search on many a professional geek this year, and I’ve been disappointed by how few of us have staked a meaningful claim to our online identities.

4. Prune your feeds. When going through your RSS feeds, do you find yourself impatiently scrolling more than you’re intently skimming? Is your list of unread items becoming unmanagable? The end of the year is a perfect time to get rid of the content you’re not reading and group the stuff you are.

Complete story here.

The Press reports on a local couple whose business is booming:

COEUR d’ALENE — Eric and Lisa Kelly love to blow things up, and their passion has landed them a spot on national television.

The owners of Advanced Explosions Demolition, based in Coeur d’Alene, will be featured in a six-part series, “The Imploders,” that premiers at 10 p.m. Wednesday on The Learning Channel.

“It follows the life of blasters,” Lisa said. “They follow us from job to job, country to country. Each episode ends with some kind of demolition.” Read More.

Is is just me or does this sound like a really fun job? Have you ever blown anything up accidentally or intentionally?

Idaho State Police are cautioning eagle watchers at Lake Coeur d’Alene not to stop in the middle of the roadway on state Highway 97, or they risk getting a ticket.

Some motorists have been stopping in the travel lanes along the two-lane highway that runs from Wolf Lodge Bay down the east side of the lake to Harrison. It creates a safety hazard for other motorists.

As a result, police have increased patrols in the area and are writing tickets for the violations. Highway 97 has a limited number of pull offs for stopping. Read More.

Really? People stop in the middle of the highway to watch eagles? Gosh, please use some common sense out there.

What would you stop in the middle of a highway to gawk at?

President Barack Obama speaks to the media Monday about the airliner bombing attempt on Christmas Day.

WASHINGTON – Two federal agencies charged with keeping potential terrorists off airplanes and out of the country have been without their top leaders for nearly a year.

It took the Obama administration more than eight months to nominate anyone to lead the Transportation Security Administration and the Customs and Border Protection agency.

President Barack Obama has ordered a review of U.S. security policies following the failed Christmas Day attack on a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam. He vowed Monday to “do everything that we can to keep America safe.”

The acting heads of the TSA and CBP — both created in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — will be at the forefront of these efforts. More here.

Thoughts?

President Barack Obama and his daughters Sasha and Malia watch dolphins at Sea Life Park.

Ready to communicate with dolphins? Take a spin in your flying car? Unfortunately, the future doesn’t always turn out as predicted. Here’s a list of things we thought we’d accomplish by 2010.

I can live without “construction nukes,” but dang, that 3-day work week sure sounded nice.

Anything you’d hoped to see by 2010?

Associated Press Bears WR Devin Aromashodu is mobbed after his game-winning TD.

Most have been a sad day in the KageMann household as the Bears rallied for a TD in overtime play.

CHICAGO – Brett Favre cranked up and made one more impossible throw, zinging a touchdown pass in the fading seconds. Too bad for the Minnesota Vikings, that merely put them into overtime.

The Vikings lost again Monday night, beaten by the Chicago Bears 36-30 when Jay Cutler tossed a 39-yard strike to Devin Aromashodu. Minnesota fell for the third time in four games, and the defeat gave the New Orleans Saints homefield advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

What two teams do you envision in the Super Bowl this year?

Young people partying and drinking in downtown Coeur d’Alene is nothing new; it’s been going on for years.

However, one thing that might have changed, several downtown business owners said Monday, is seeing young people bring guns along for the night. An early Sunday shooting outside a downtown bar left two young men hospitalized, one fighting for his life. In May, a young man was shot and killed outside a downtown bar after arguing with another patron.

Some business owners were surprised to discover they knew the suspected shooter in Sunday’s incident. Adam Johnson, 25, owns a telecommunications company and belongs to the same civic organizations they do. Full story.

Are downtown business owners right to be concerned? Do you feel safe after hours in the downtown area?

Lewis Smith, age 13, shovels snow as he builds an igloo in front of his home in Overland Park, Kan. Friday, Dec. 25, 2009.

The Inland Northwest may have missed out on a white Christmas this year, but forecasters are promising to make up for it this week.

National Weather Service meteorologists on Monday were eyeing a pair of Pacific storm systems moving toward the Inland Northwest.

They are expected to drop an inch or so of snow Tuesday night and Wednesday and again on Thursday night and Friday.

Already coming down in Spokane this morning. Good news or bad news?

A young businessman facing attempted murder charges after a chaotic confrontation in downtown Coeur d’Alene told police he felt threatened when he opened fire on a group of men looking for a fight.

“I did what I was trained,” Adam M. Johnson told police, according to court documents filed Monday. “I felt threatened and I didn’t feel that there was any other way out of it.” But authorities investigating the early Sunday shooting in the 200 block of Sherman Avenue that left two Moses Lake men with gunshot wounds are skeptical. Full Story.

My goodness, what a weekend! What with HBO figuring promimently in breaking news and all. OTV witnessed the aftermath of the Sherman Avenue shooting.  Bpoole played a role in connecting Meghann Cuniff to the Facebook sources. And all Sunday evening the blog buzzed as Hucksters uncovered additional bits and pieces of background information.

‘Tis armchair detective work to be sure, but we’ll all be watching this closely as the CDA PD completes their investigation.  Victim Brandon Burgess is doing better.Meghann offers the latest here.

Whew! DFO’s off for another week, so fasten your seatbelts Hucksters, it could be an interesting ride into the new year.

While I gather my thoughts, feel free to post your own below.

Joker says: “Are reporters even necessary? This story proves we have lots of little news gatherers out there in cyberspace and they work for FREE.

Sure they have unconventional names and they mix in their opinion with what happened, but news is a conversation (shameless stolen from the departed Steve Smith). The Spokesman-Review should terminate every single reporter and let the bloggers tell us what’s going on the world.

Reporters, like the VCR, are no longer useful or necessary.”

I’m hoping this was written in that special invisible sarcasm font, but maybe not. What do you think— are reporters no longer useful or necessary?

The CDA press offers a few additional details.

Spokelooneh says “The witness also said Johnson was thrown through a window at Tito Macaroni’s. Anybody notice if that window was broken or boarded up, or notice it getting replaced?” Full comment.

Well?

Where do you rank as a taxpayer? You may not feel rich earning $35,000 a year, but you’re in the top half of taxpayers. Make $70,000, and you earn more than 75 percent of fellow taxpayers.

….More than 40 million Americans are officially living in poverty. And you might be surprised at how little income it takes to not be considered poor by the federal government. For 2008, the poverty threshold for a single person under age 65 was an income of $11,201, or less than $1,000 a month. For a family of four, the threshold was $21,834. For a family of six, $28,769. Full story.

Bent’s Beautiful Black Bay Day: Bent’s Beer Garden

Loveability And Ability Do Not Equate: Dogwalk Musings

Three Simple Pleasures: Church, Birthday Celebration, Facebook 101: Gathering Around the Table

Kerri T is looking for photos of you in your Snuggie: More Main Street

On pink fishing poles and not hyperventilating during Christmas Eve service: Midnight Marauder

Best Laid Plans: Notes on a Napkin

Lakewood police  officers listen during a Nov. 30 news conference about the shooting of four of their colleagues in nearby Parkland,  Wash.

WASHINGTON – Law enforcement deaths this year dropped to their lowest level since 1959, while the decade of the 2000s was among the safest for officers — despite the deadliest single day for police on Sept. 11, 2001.

The drop in deaths, cited in a police group’s report Monday, was tempered by an increase in firearm deaths. In one horrific November shooting, four officers were executed as they discussed their upcoming shift in a Lakewood, Wash., coffee shop. More.

Anyone else surprised by this finding?

TMZ has obtained a never-before published photograph which appears to show John F. Kennedy on a boat filled with naked women — it’s a photo that could have altered world events. Story here.

I’m not a fan of TMZ’s breathless hyperbole. What do you think the odds are that this photo is legitimate?

Idaho coach Robb Akey cheers his team against Hawaii during their game at the Kibbie Dome in October.

I have a feeling that this is the Bowl game that most Hucksters are interested in. Tonight Rocky Bleier will give the keynote address at the US Bank Humanitarian Awards Dinner at Boise Center. More here.

Anyone want to venture a guess on the game’s outcome?

If you’ve got an artificial tree perhaps it doesn’t matter so much, but today’s the day many of us with real trees start to ponder just how long to leave the tree up. Is it losing needles or in the way?

Some folks don’t take their tree down until New Year’s Day, and some take it down the day after Christmas.

When do you take your tree down?

Because outdoor burning has been banned in North Idaho until Wednesday.

Of course, I guess you could burn them inside, but It’s probably not a good idea.

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., talks with reporters.

Princeton, New Jersey (CNN) — Last month, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a strong defender of the public option for health care, warned: “I don’t want four Democratic senators dictating to the other 56 of us and to the country, when the public option has this much support, that it is not going to be in it.”

But in the end, those senators won the battle over the public option, as well as several other provisions in the health care bill.

They have emerged as the powerhouses of the Senate.

Before 2009, most Americans never heard of Sens. Ben Nelson, Max Baucus or Kent Conrad. More have heard of the Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman as a result of his Democratic vice presidential bid in 2000.

Yet now they are the movers and shakers in the Senate.

Agree or disagree.

NIC women win tourney opener: CDA Press

Humanitarian Bowl: Bowling for Beef: Idaho Statesman

Council adopts ban on text messaging while driving: Bonner County Daily Bee

State lawmakers to look at easing marijuana laws: Seattle Times

Optimism and spin: Idaho’s (really) pro-Micron governor: Kevin Richert

Especially when late last night I decided to recheck my fitness age and the stupid game said I was 62! I aged 13 years over the weekend. That’s what happens when all your kids are home for Christmas break and you have to sample everything bake, and DFO goes on vacation.

But there’s cheaper and less painful ways to get healthy. In fact, here’s 20 ways to get healthier for free.

OTV raises an interesting point:

“Certainly these guys should have taken advantage of Facebook’s privacy settings, but to me, picking on them because they didn’t is no better than the OpenCDA creeps picking on Christie for a couple of grammar errors.

Yes, these pages were freely accessible via Google, but was it really necessary to post direct links to them here on a newspaper blog? It’s not about privacy issues or freedom issues to me, it’s about respect. One of Kellen’s friends is involved in a horrid tragedy and he didn’t really need the additional stress of realizing his FB page had been linked to on a public forum.” Full comment.

Do you agree with OTV that this is a respect issue? Or do you feel that people who don’t use the privacy settings on Facebook get what they deserve?

This photo shows Associated Press photo editor Liz Schultz trying on a pair of 2010 glasses in New York. Associated Press photos.

You write the cutline.

“I spent many hours at 24-hour diners in my late teens and early twenties, drinking oceans of coffee, chain smoking and filling notebooks with pretentious poetry. At the time, they were pretty much the only places for the under-21 crowd to meet and socialize without pesky parental units leering over their shoulders.

Our circle of friends started out at Perkins, where we regularly annoyed the waitresses by acting like it was our living room and never buying anything more than a bottomless cup of joe and a large order of fries with a side of ranch dressing. When the management finally got fed up and threw us out for good, we relocated to Denny’s, where they seemed much more receptive to our chaos and where we would see a preview of our future selves; hungry post-bar drunks not quite ready to let the night come to a graceful end.” More here.

When is the last time you tried to find a place to eat after 9 p.m.? Where did you end up?

Zan Jafry, left, helps his father Syed Jafry with his coat after arriving on a Northwest Flight from Amsterdam at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Mich. on  Friday, Dec. 25, 2009. A Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria, who said he was acting on al-Qaida’s instructions, tried to blow up the plane Friday as it was landing in Detroit, law enforcement and national security officials said.

WASHINGTON – A Nigerian passenger onboard the same Northwest Airlines route that was attacked on Christmas Day was taken into custody in Detroit on Sunday after locking himself in the bathroom for an hour and becoming verbally disruptive upon landing, officials said.

The latest disturbance aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 came as the U.S. system for checking suspicious travelers and airport security came under new scrutiny, prompted by an alleged terrorist bent on destroying a jetliner who was thwarted only by a malfunctioning detonator and some quick-thinking passengers. More.

All I want to do is fly to Portland next month without being strip-searched. Is that too much to ask?

Adam M. Johnson, 25, was arrested early Sunday, accused of shooting in downtown Coeur d’Alene that left one person in critical condition.

Information provided by Huckster bpoole was instrumental in helping Meghann Cuniff break the story of last night’s shooting in downtown Cda. Says Cuniff: “It was huge, huge help. I was able to find the suspect’s name on the page, then confirm through the jail that the guy is the same guy arrested downtown this morning.” Full comment.

Read her story here.

I find it interesting that a commenter at OpenCDA criticized a reporter for asking for and following up tips posted on this blog. Because, uh…that’s exactly what a reporter is supposed to do. You know– work sources, follow leads. Maybe some folks aren’t aware of the role social media plays in reporting the news.

Headed out early to take advantage of the post-Christmas sales. I always find great buys for the winter birthday folks in my family.
I’m saddened to report that according to the Wii Fit, I’m 49. Since that birthday is still five years away, I’m either go to have to work out out a lot more with Sven (my Wii personal trainer) or take the lying piece of garbage back to the store. I did find out that I’m not at all bad at rhythm Kung Fu, but I can’t head a soccer ball to save my life.

Enjoy the weekend and be sure to stop in and give us a post-Christmas rundown.

Color me freaked out. Watched two people get shot in what appeared to be a random drive by on Sherman Ave. tonight in front of Titos, half a block from where I was standing. No details, sorry.  Story here.

Meghann Cuniiff’s story here.

Hat tip MKS.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers leads the sixth-ranked offense in the NFL.

It has been a chorus of this Seahawks’ season, but even by Seattle’s standards Sunday’s loss was enormous and that’s saying something given the number of double-digit whuppings Seattle has been subjected to this season.

Seattle lost 48-10 at Green Bay, which was not only the largest loss this season but tied for second-largest margin of defeat in franchise history.

And as bad as that was, it was almost worse. Tight end John Carlson’s 16-yard touchdown catch with 4:15 left saved a little bit of face in a game when it was tough to find anything to salvage.

A Spokane man has filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the state of Idaho for injuries he says resulted from a crash caused by potholes on Interstate 90 in North Idaho.

Kasey Crick, 22, filed the lawsuit Dec. 18 after the state denied any wrongdoing in response to a tort claim he had filed following the Dec. 28, 2007, accident.

According to court files obtained by the Coeur d’Alene Press, Crick was a passenger in a vehicle pulling a trailer when the trailer came dislodged after running over potholes in the westbound lane just west of Coeur d’Alene. Read more.

Forbes reports retailers aren’t slashing prices as much as last year, but there’s still good deals to be found.

Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie hangs onto Titans receiver Kenny Britt in the second quarter.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The San Diego Chargers have their first-round bye, and Philip Rivers is still perfect in December.

Tennessee’s bid for NFL history? The Titans lost that along with their postseason dream, looking like a throwback to the team that started the season 0-6.

Rivers threw two touchdowns passes, LaDainian Tomlinson ran for two scores and the Chargers beat the Titans 42-17 on Friday night to grab the AFC’s No. 2 seed and that first-round bye in the playoffs. More.

They play football on Christmas Day? Who knew?

This frame from the video released Friday purportedly shows Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, 23.

KABUL, Afghanistan – The Taliban released a video Friday of an American soldier captured in Afghanistan, showing him apparently healthy but spouting criticism about the U.S. military operation.

In Idaho, Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl’s family pleaded on Christmas Day for his release and urged him to “stay strong.”

Bergdahl disappeared June 30 while based in eastern Afghanistan and is the only known American serviceman in captivity. Full Story.

Merry Christmas Hucksters!

I’ve survived another festival of Strange Norwegian Meat and am ready to bask in a day filled with family, food and maybe a present or two (I’ve been good, and all are reports to the contrary are flat out lies!).

As I write this I’m reminded of the Christmas morning a small boy prodded me awake. “Mommy!” he whispered. “Santa came! He came!” He eagerly dumped his stocking on my stomach. I blearily squinted at the clock. It was 3 a.m. “Alex,” I hissed. “Santa, hasn’t even reached Idaho yet. If you don’t get back to bed and go to sleep right now, he’s going to come take this stocking back!”

That little boy is 17, now. and STILL sleeping. I may have to wake him up!

Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, whether you believe or don’t believe, my Christmas wish for you is still the same… peace, goodwill, great food and maybe just a moment or two Christmas magic.

Here’s some HBO Christmas Fun.

You’ll shoot yer eye out Cabbage Boy.

It’s a Wonderful HBO Life.

And it’s an HBO Christmas Carol.

Thanks, Bent! Merry Christmas Hucksters!

I had the worst dreams last night! I dreamed I couldn’t find my kids’ Christmas gifts, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon broke up, a couple Hucksters had a bloody duel and were buried in seagull crap. And the huge head of Bradley Thoma hovered above me saying– “It’s not my fault. I’ve got a disability…”

It was bad. No more eggnog for lunch.

Today, after all, is Christmas Eve, better known around our house as the Festival of Strange Norwegian Meats. We spend Christmas Eve with my Norwegian in-laws. Each year they make a pilgrimage to Ballard, Washington, and stock up on…meat. For example, Pinnekjøtt (literally “stick meat”) or dried mutton ribs, a traditional Christmas dish in the western parts of Norway. Pinnekjøtt is salted, dried and sometimes smoked lamb’s ribs.
Then there’s ribbe (pork belly) and Medisterkaker (ground pork and veal sausage). I tend to eat a LOT of mashed rutabega and cabbage, and wash it down with a fair amont of Glögg.

Now that I’ve whet your appetites, use this thread to share your own Christmas Eve traditions, or start a new topic.

Editor’s note: The following op-ed article is for grown-ups only. Children are warned that if they read it, they will not receive any gifts from Santa Claus this year!

Parents should stop teaching their kids to believe in Santa Claus. Reading stories about Santa is fine, and encouraging generosity and imagination is great. But tricking children into believing that an omniscient fat man, with a red suit and rosy cheeks, will slide down the chimney bestowing presents on Dec. 24 is just flat-out immoral.

First of all, it’s lying. It’s one thing to lie to save someone’s life, but stop kidding yourself. “It’s fun to watch the kids get excited” is hardly a noble cause. Nor is it harmless. I’ve amassed recollections of “finding out the truth about Santa,” and many were stories of genuine embarrassment and resentment. Read more.

I’d hate to be this guy’s kids. Just saying.

In the midst of unearthing Christmas decorations, I surveyed the downstairs family room. Actually, “wreck” room is a more apt description. Green and red bins burgeoning with tinsel and ornaments perched precariously on tabletops. Blue bins overflowing with winter garb towered with ominous instability in opposite corners. And stacks of paper on the floor revealed last year’s resolution to stay current with filing has been a dismal failure.

Overwhelmed, I looked for a place to sit. And then I saw it – my rocking chair. Banished to the basement when my youngest grew too big to cuddle comfortably with me in its confines.

I removed the mountain of snow pants and ski gloves that had buried it and sat down and began to rock. As I swayed, I remembered the first time I saw this chair, on a Christmas morning 20 years ago. Cindy Hval, SR. More here.

Has a baby changed your life?

For our family, Christmas isn’t complete until we sit down and watch “A Christmas Story.” We’re not the only ones. Here are Top Ten Reasons why A Christmas Story is the Best Christmas Movie Ever.

Reasons include The Scut Farcus Affair, The Bunny Outfit, and I Triple Dog Dare Ya.

What’s your favorite holiday movie?

Fly fishermen work the waters of the Missouri River near Wolf Creek, Mont., a stretch popular for trout fishing.

COEUR d’ALENE — Joe Roope, owner of Castaway Fly Fishing Shop of Coeur d’Alene and a small group of Northwest investors have created a new company, Nordic Fly Fishers, USA, LLC, the United States distributorship of Loop Tackle Design AB of Sweden.

Loop Tackle, located in Akersberga, near Stockholm, was founded more than 30 years ago by current owner and CEO Christer Sjoberg. The company designs and manufactures fly fishing equipment, clothing and accessories. More here.

Any dedicated fly fishers out there excited about this news?

I’m all thumbs when it comes to wrapping presents. For years I told everyone my toddlers wrapped the gifts, but actually toddlers with blunt scissors do a better job than I do. That’s why I’m so thankful for the advent of gift bags. I stuff ‘em with lots of tissue so it feels like unwrapping is happening :-)

How about you? Gift Wrap or Gift Bags?

Wes Hixon gets pushed into his new retrofitted van by his sister-in-law, Rachael Guberlet, on Sunday. The 24-year-old Iraq war veteran was presented with an early Christmas gift by the Wheels for Warriors organization recently.

Christmas shopping just got a lot easier for Wes Hixon.

On Dec. 5, the 24-year-old disabled veteran received a retrofitted Chevy Uplander courtesy of Wheels for Warriors. Since 2005, this national program, an offshoot of Operation Support Our Troops, has given 17 vans to veterans who’ve been wounded while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.However, Dec. 5 marked the first time a recipient has been from the West Coast.

Program chairman Steve Middleton said the modified vans give paralyzed vets the freedom to do simple things, like go to the grocery store. He was part of the crowd that gathered at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center to present the vehicle to Hixon. “It was very emotional,” Middleton said. Cindy Hval, SR. Full Story.

 Do you know someone who has preservered in the face of tragedy?

Members of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas gather in New York.

You write the cutline.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., center, answers questions outside of the Senate chambers on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009, after the Senate passed the health care reform bill. From left are, Senate Finance Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., Reid, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin of Ill., and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn..
(AP Photo/Mannul Balce Ceneta)

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats passed a landmark health care bill in a climactic Christmas Eve vote that could define President Barack Obama’s legacy and usher in near-universal medical coverage for the first time in the country’s history.

“We are now finally poised to deliver on the promise of real, meaningful health insurance reform that will bring additional security and stability to the American people,” Obama said shortly after the Senate acted.

“This will be the most important piece of social legislation since Social Security passed in the 1930s,” said Obama, standing with Vice President Joe Biden in the State Room of the White House.

The 60-39 vote on a cold winter morning capped months of arduous negotiations and 24 days of floor debate. It also followed a succession of failures by past congresses to get to this point. Biden presided as 58 Democrats and two independents voted “yes.” Republicans unanimously voted “no.” More.

Anyone surprised?

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter today announced the appointment of Kootenai County Magistrate Benjamin Simpson to succeed 1st District Judge Charles Hosack, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Simpson, 60, is a Colorado native and U.S. Navy veteran who received his bachelor’s degree from California State University in Chico and his law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane. Read More.

U.S. President Barack Obama, 4th left, is joined by other leaders in a multilateral meeting at the United Nations Climate Change Conference at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark Friday, Dec. 18, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that disappointment over the outcome of the Copenhagen climate change summit was justified, hardening a widespread verdict that the conference had been a failure.

“I think that people are justified in being disappointed about the outcome in Copenhagen,” he said in an interview with PBS Newshour.

“What I said was essentially that rather than see a complete collapse in Copenhagen, in which nothing at all got done and would have been a huge backward step, at least we kind of held ground and there wasn’t too much backsliding from where we were.” Story here.

Thoughts?

Kurt Cobain: Nirvana lead singer lived fast and died young, committing suicide at his Seattle home in April 1994. Associated Press photos

15 Music Legends who died in their prime. The list includes Cobain, Hendrix, Holly and Cline. Any others you’d include?

A guard talks to a Guantanamo detainee in the open yard in Camp 4 detention center on the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in January.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama‘s commitment to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by next month may be delayed until 2011 because it will take months for the government to buy an Illinois prison and upgrade it to hold suspected terrorists. Full story.

Thoughts?

So, I got the bulk of my Christmas shopping done early this year, and instead of sipping cocoa and smiling serenely, I’m super stressed.

Why?

Because when you live in a houseful of snoopy kids you have to get very creative about where to hide their gifts. This year I must have been inspired. I was so creative that I can’t remember where I stashed most of the loot. Seriously.

I tore my bedroom apart last night and came up empty handed (unless you count a box of candy canes I found under the bed that I’m pretty sure are from last year— or the year before).  If you know where I hid my kid’s Christmas presents please let me know.

Use this Wild Card to speculate on likely hiding places or anything else that needs speculating.

PM: I’ve learned a couple useful things today: #1 Write down where you hid the Christmas presents. #2 Holding down the control button and scrolling back and forth is way more fun than it sounds. #3 Maybe eggnog for lunch wasn’t the best choice.

This Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009 image made from video released by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department shows a man dressed as Santa robbing the Sun Trust Bank in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Nashville Police Department)

Top cutlines:

#1 On the way out of the bank, the robber Santa could be heard singing “Fleeced Navidad”. JohnA.

#2 “Times are tuff lady! Do you know the cost of reindeer food has gone up two-fold and with the economy this year there wont be enough milk and cookies to feed all my elves through till next Christmas.. Now, NO dye packs dammit!” coeurgenx

#3 Sorry, miss. That Brodwater kid wants another Star Wars Legos set. Taryn Hecker

Does anyone really enjoy Secret Santa? Is mistletoe just an excuse to grope the unsuspecting?

Here’s some Christmas traditions some could do without:

Secret Santa: Here’s the way Secret Santa should work: everyone in the office brings a $20, puts it in a hat, the hat gets shuffled up, and everyone takes out a $20. And then you say “Hey, $20! I can really use that! Thanks, Secret Santa!” and you go back to online shopping at your desk.

Leaving Anything Other than Cookies for Santa: Okay, you can get away with a carrot for the reindeer, but beyond that? Things are out of hand. The elves want midget porn, Ms. Claus wants some Midol, Frosty the Snowman’s looking for something from one of the local dispensaries to fill that corncob pipe. Everyone’s got their hands out nowadays.

More here.

(Though I totally disagree with the one about no stockings for your pets. Like Santa would forget Milo!)

Bradley Thoma sends his Christmas greetings to the city of Spokane by filing a $4 million damage claim.

“The claim, filed earlier today, contends the city illegally failed to accommodate Thoma’s disability - alcoholism.” More here.

Really? A drunk cop is involved in a hit-and-run, and it’s the city’s fault. Really?

People magazine reports: “One of Hollywood’s most enduring relationships has ended – Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have broken up after more than two decades together…”
Full Story

Anyone suprised? Anyone really care?

The movie poster for the Michael Jackson film  “This is It.”

Rolling Stone reports Jackson’s FBI dossier includes extortion attempts and terrorists threats. Story here. The files were released as part of the Freedom of Information Act.

Are these files something the public really needs to read?

Barack Obama sits on Kailua Beach in Kailua, Hawaii, last summer with his daughter Sasha.

For President Obama a white Christmas means sandy, white beaches. Click here for a guided tour of the first family’s vacation retreat.

Question: White snow or white sand for Christmas?

Rhubarb is a tasty treat and a hardy garden dweller.

In my unflagging efforts to spread warmth and holiday cheer, I give you this list of everyday foods that can cause much misery and death.

You know deadly things like, rhubarb, potatoes and water. So before you take another helping of deep-fried butter with a side of Namibian Bullfrog, please read the above.

Merry Christmas!

This Low-fat Cooked Eggnog made with a carefully re-worked recipe is “simply amazing _ and amazingly easy.”

Eggnog ranks right up there with Fruitcake when it comes to having both ardent enthusiasts and passionate loathers. Here the SR Food Panel weighs in.

Are you and eggnog lover or loather?

Richard Heene is photographed by a television crew as he leaves his house with his family in Fort Collins, Colo., on Monday, Oct. 19, 2009. AP Photo.

The parents who carried out the balloon boy hoax were sentenced to jail Wednesday and given strict probation conditions that forbid them from earning any money from the spectacle for four years.

Richard Heene was sentenced to 90 days in jail, including 60 days of work release that will let him pursue his job as a construction contractor while serving his time. His wife, Mayumi, was sentenced to 20 days in jail. More.

Does the punishment fit the crime?

Here’s a warm fuzzy hug from the CDA Press:

“Seriously. From now through Christmas Day, keep your crankiness to yourself.
That this is the most joyful time of the year is debatable, especially with so many people out of work and the rest worried about what the new year might really bring. It’s peace we want; it’s stress we get.
So let’s make a pact. Let’s all agree to a cease-fire of bad karma. Let’s pledge togetherness. Let’s endeavor to make each other feel better, raising the tide of goodness all around us.”
More here.

“I hate getting something I will never use and have to act excited to have recieved.” Full comment.

Coeurgenx comment reminded me of sweater shavers. Remember those? Like we all needed to sit around and shave our sweaters!

What’s the most useless gift you’ve ever received?

“Many have bemoaned the near-extinction of the political species known as the moderate Republican. Once thriving in cold habitats, particularly New England, socially liberal but fiscally conservative Republicans were gradually displaced by Democrats. The loss of these bridge-builders has left the Republican Party largely in the hands of the bridge-burners, and to the detriment of America.

I’ve missed the moderate Republicans, but the recent gang warfare over health care reform has aroused second thoughts. Maine’s Sen. Olympia Snowe is supposed to be one of the last of the breed, but exactly what was the point of her?” More here.

Do you agree with Froma Harrop? Are true GOP moderates MIA?

Cis says, “I have always disliked Christmas…. I had to really fight it around my kids when they were young.(they said they never knew) It was is so commericalized. Maybe not having a lot of money, and hating my kids go back to school and hear of the great things that their classmates got for Christmas that they would never have.” Full comment here.

Is there any holiday you dislike?

The Spokane Valley Fire Department responded to an early morning fire that burned portions of the landmark Cliff House mansion on the grounds of the Arbor Crest Wine Cellars overlooking the Spokane Valley.

Update: Tasting Room and GIft Shop still open.

“An early morning fire burned portions of the landmark Cliff House mansion on the grounds of Arbor Crest Wine Cellars.

Firefighters were called at 3:50 a.m. and found the building burning on all three floors. A second alarm was called a short time later, bringing 24 firefighters and six fire rigs to the scene. As they arrived, windows already had been blown out by the fire’s heat.” Read more.

Sad news regarding one of Spokane’s most beautiful historic homes. Have you ever been to Arbor Crest?

“A long lost brother, your future best friend, maybe an unknown soul mate. Actually I’m not quite sure. I know he is a big Minnesota Viking fan, was a professional huckleberry picker for a short time and has been involved in the logging industry off and on for many years. He has written letters to the editor to the CDA Press and had them published under the name KageMan. I’ll use his name in a sentence. Do you believe in KageMan? Go ahead and Wikipedia that…”

Poolman’s on a roll. This reminds me of the good old days when the word Gookin could be used as any part of speech. Feel free to use Kageman in a sentence. I’ll go first: “I was at Burger King yesterday, and this dude went all Kageman over a lady breastfeeding her baby in public.”

   “You see, a troll is one who never provides any intelligent thought provoking or humorous comments and only focuses on criticizing others. It really requires very little effort or skill to be a troll.” Full comment here.

Poolman’s definition works for me, how about you?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, center, accompanied by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd, left, and others, speaks during a Democratic health care rally Tuesday on Capitol Hill in Washington. Associated Press photos

WASHINGTON – Americans will feel the pain before the gain from the health care overhaul Democrats are close to pushing through Congress.

Proposed taxes and fees on upper-income earners, insurers, even tanning parlors, take effect quickly. So would Medicare cuts.

Benefits, such as subsidies for lower middle-income households, consumer protections for all, eliminating the prescription coverage gap for seniors, come gradually. More here.

Hmm…taxes and fees take effect quickly. Coverage for the uninsured not likely ‘till 2013. See anything wrong with this picture?

Update: Exultant Senate Democrats pushed President Barack Obama‘s landmark health care overhaul past a final procedural hurdle Wednesday, setting up a Christmas Eve vote to pass the legislation extending coverage to 30 million Americans.

A pair of shoppers, who did not want to be identified, sit on a bench Monday at the CambridgeSide Galleria mall in Cambridge, Mass. Associated Press photos

As someone who doesn’t like shopping or shopping malls, I concur with most of this list which includes:

The retail employee who cheerfully wants to know, as you’re being rung up, if you have all your Christmas shopping done now?

The local news

Unescorted men in Victoria’s Secret

Though Costco isn’t the mall I would add Costco shoppers who push their loaded carts down the middle of the parking lot. Nothing says Merry Christmas like putting along at .5 mph behind some Bozo and his big screen TV, case of Heineken, and drum of industrial strength cleanser.

Have you encountered any of the folks on this top ten list?  Anyone you’d care to add?

For a priest in northern England, the commandment that dictates “thou shalt not steal” isn’t exactly written in stone. The Rev. Tim Jones caused an uproar by telling his congregation that it is sometimes acceptable for desperate people to shoplift _ as long as they do it at large national chain stores, rather than small, family businesses. Jones’ Robin Hood-like sermon drew rebukes Tuesday from fellow clergy, shop owners and police. More here.

Question: Do you agree with Rev. Tim Jones that it’s okay for the poor to shoplift sometimes, as long as they do it at alarge national chain store and not mom-and-pop businesses?

Robyn Moore with her fiancee, William Acosta, right, exchange vows at the Corpus Christi, Texas International Airport on Monday after his arrival from Toledo, Ohio. Robyn Moore was at the airport waiting for him in her wedding dress with Justice of the Peace, Robert “Bobby” Balderas, below left, who married them on the spot. Story here. (AP Photo/Corpus Christi Caller-Times, George Gongora)

Question: Where did you get married?

CindyH’s going to take over the helm of Huckleberries Online, beginning Wednesday morning until Monday, Jan. 4. She’ll post Wednesday and some Thursday and then again next Monday through Wednesday, with some posts on New Year’ Eve days. You’ll have to get by with Wild Cards on the holidays and weekends. I appreciate the year we’ve had together as we rebuilt Huckleberries Online into the blog it is today. The first order of business in the new year will to begin planning for Blogfest 2010 in mid-February when HBO turns 6 (which is like 60 in blog years). Now, I’ll post this Wild Card and depart with this: It’s all yours, Cindy …

My one regret as a parent (Oh, ok, I have a gazillion regrets, but this one particular one wasn’t my fault!), and that is that my two sons never got their picture taken with Santa. We tried but failed miserably. It happened that my first son was born on the 10th of December – a little too young for a picture with Santa, mainly because as a new mother, I was NOT going to let just anyone hold my brand new baby. Not even a jolly old saint of a man, wearing red pajamas and ho-hoing loudly, giggling his large belly. No way. We settled for dressing the baby in a Santa outfit and placing him under the tree for endless adorable pictures/JeanieS, Nuts & Nonsense. More here.

Question: Did you drag your kids to the mall to get their picture taken w/Santa? Anything happen worth mentioning here at Huckleberries Online?

Bob Freer walks on top of the cement wall near Coeur d’Alene City Park with his dog Salty on Tuesday in Coeur d’Alene. Freer is from Coeur d’Alene. (Kathy Plonka/SR)

• 2 children presumed dead in Curlew apartment fire/KHQ
• Crash that killed Sandpoint pedestrian remains under review/Bonner County Bee
• Viggo’s hard ‘Road’ to hoe/Fresno Bee
• Sheriff’s warrants roundup for the week/KCSD
• Warming shelter to open Wednesday through Friday/Fresh Start
• Vandals prepare for Portland again/Josh Wright, Sportslink
• Member allegedly trashes church over $70 repair bill/KREM2
• Cancer claims veteran coach Pfeifer, 62/SR
• Bright side of Idaho unemployment?/Eye On Boise
• Micron posts profit for first time in 3 years/KTVB
• Bonner County adopts $12 TV disposal fee/Bonner County Bee
• Community helps to save puppies/Bonner County Bee

A 15-year-old skier died today in an accident at Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort in Sandpoint. Shortly after noon, a group of snowboarders reported that they came across a skier who had fallen into a tree well, an area of loose snow frequently hidden by low-lying branches, according to a Schweitzer news release. The ski patrol found the boy about 15 minutes later. He was unresponsive and ski patrol members began performing CPR. He was taken to the resort’s first aid area, where a doctor from Bonner General Hospital determined the victim had died/SR. More here.

Country music singer Carrie Underwood shows her new engagement ring as she watches her fiance, Mike Fisher of the Ottawa Senators, and his teammates take on Boston Bruins during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa on Monday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)

Top Cutlines:

• 1. Mike decided if she is to be a proper Fisher on Canada’s forested river banks, his bride will need to carry under wood her own tackle — JohnA.
• 2. If Mr Fisher has to buy that big of a ring to marry her, I can’t wait to see the size of the one he is going to have to buy her when he gets caught cheating on her — CoeurGenX.
• 3. I’m gonna be Carrie Fisher now!!!! — Liz.
• HM: Charles Dixon