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Archive for January 2009
Item: Economic rush breeds recruiting rush for military/Rick Thomas, CDA Press
More Info: The Marines are looking for lots of good men, and the job market is making it easier for them to be selective. The same is true for the Army. Both branches of the U.S. military are asking their recruiters for more volunteers, and they are finding all they need and more. “For the quarter January through March, our goal was 22,” said Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Mason II, station commander for the Army’s recruiting station in Hayden. “We have already put in 17.” A shortage of jobs has helped bring in more candidates in their 20s, Mason said.
Question: Why did you join the military? Was it a good experience?
The Idaho Republican Party Central Committee on Saturday voted to press on with plans to close its primary. Rod Beck, an advocate of the closed primary, told The Associated Press that the Central Committee voted overwhelmingly to reject a recommendation passed at the June GOP state convention in Sandpoint that favored maintaining the 37-year-old open primary. There’s a federal court date in a Republican lawsuit against the state on Feb. 18 in U.S. District Court in Boise seeking to close the primary. Beck and others want to close the primary because they think Democrats and independents are switching sides and skewing elections in favor of candidates who don’t support Republican ideals/AP.
Question: Do you support closed primaries for Idaho?
Gonzaga’s Demetri Goodson slaps the ball away from San Diego’s #11 Trumaine Johnson, late in the first half in the McCarthey Athletic Center. Dan Pelle, SR
Item: Barnes & Noble cancels Riverstone Store: Developer sues for breach of contract/Rick Thomas, CDA Press
More Info: Plans for a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Riverstone have been abandoned, and the developer of the project has filed suit against the company, claiming it failed to live up to an agreement to occupy a 28,000-square-foot corner on Main Street. Riverstone Center Companies filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Washington, in Spokane, claiming unspecified damages because the Delaware company failed to accept the purpose-built structure when it was presented for delivery on Nov. 14, 2008.
Question: Where do you buy your books?
A bull-moose calf snacks on some low-hanging branches Friday in a backyard in Post Falls, Idaho. The calf and a cow have been taking up residence in the neighborhood since Monday foraging through gardens and trees. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
How do you plan to spend Super Bowl Sunday?/Huckleberries Online
As far as I’m concerned Winter 2008-09 ends Monday, Feb. 2. Groundhog’s Day has always been special for me. That’s the day my late father was born, in 1921. Mentally, I tell myself that Groundhog’s Day means winter’s back is broken, whether or not Punxutawney Phil sees his shadow. Of course, that strategy didn’t work last year as Winter 2007-08 went on forever. But it seems to be on the money this year. As we begin a new day, I just heard on the scanner that there’s a one-vehicle rollover in the e/b lanes of I-90 @ M/P 8 that has injured 2 people. On the national scene, a tour bus crash near the Hoover Dam has killed 7 Chinese nationals here. Tom Daschle, the cabinet nominee for HHS, has failed to pay $128,000 over the last 3 years here. The mother of the California octuplets was hoping for one more girl here. And the Wild Card is in play …
TUBOB: But based on what I experienced last year, Capone’s is too small, you need a place with a conference/banquet type room to reserve just for this gathering and perhaps have something fun like a little awards ceremony and give out dorky little plaques/certificates for funny HBO-related awards (Best Wingnut, Best Flaming Liberal, Most Likely to get Coolered, etc.)
Digger: I know that DFO isn’t excited this year for BlogFest since we’ve had some stomp-offs and blogfights this year but I think that BlogFest will provide him with a new and rejuvinated view of his Merry Hucksters as the majority of us get along
DFO: Bob’s right. I enjoy Capone’s atmosphere. But Blogfest ‘08 was too cramped for 75 or so people. So we need to move it elsewhere. I’ll chat with Bond Girl about a possible location in Post Falls. But I have another one in mind in Coeur d’Alene. I don’t want those who want to partake of Bent’s brew at Stickman’s to have to drive too far. I like the Feb. 28 date, too. I need to check to see if it’s in conflict with any major sporting events. Also, I want to assign a coupla you to take charge of HBO-related awards — mebbe JeanieSpokane & CindyH. Mebbe someone to oversee the event. Digger makes a good point. The last 6 to 8 weeks have been tough on me, mebbe the toughest stretch since I started the blog. Not only has the switch to the new blogware been taxing, but the simmering feuds in the comments section have sucked some of the fun from what I do here. Mebbe Digger’s right. Mebbe Blogfest ‘09 will rejuvenate me. It’s not every day a blog turns 5.
I thought I was being so good, so healthful. So proud of myself for
sticking to my diet plan, even sacrificing yummy Monterey Cheddar bread
for a sensible nine-grain wheat and opting for light mayo. Anyway, I’d
always thought of tuna as weight-loss-in-a-can, touted by obsessive
bodybuilders as a protein-rich miracle food that can help achieve
maximum muscle hypertrophy and give you that fetching Lou
Ferrigno glow. At least it felt like a step in the right direction away from the
Baconator blues. Au contraire, for my research reveals that a juicy
Wendy’s Baconator burger weighs in lightly at a mere 830 calories, with
51 grams of fat. A foot-long Subway tuna with cheese and all the
fixings and extra banana peppers waddles in at 1,060 calories, with a
fat count of 62 grams. 62 grams of fat sounds like a heck of a lot to
me, especially when I think of it in raw form, jiggling away like flan
on a silver tray in the liposuctionist’s office/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Question: Chicken teriyaki is my favorite Subway sandwich. What’s yours?
It’s OK to admit it now, I guess. After all, it has been 45 years since
I had a “tween” crush on 
Cathy and Patty – the Lane cousins. Remember
them? Before Ginger and Mary Ann, early ’60s television offered
rambunctious Patty and her prim and proper English cousin, Cathy, on
the “Patty Duke Show.” They were played by the same Academy
Award-winning actress who gave the show its name and has lived in Coeur
d’Alene for quite some time. I’ve met Patty Duke – or as she prefers,
Anna – a couple of times. She’s City Councilman Mike Kennedy’s aunt and
mother of actor Shawn Astin of “Lord of the Rings” and “Rudy” fame.
I’ve never told her that I was more smitten by her portrayal of the
English cousin Cathy than the American one. I’ve always had a thing for
a British accent. So why am I telling you all this? Patty is reprising
her roles as the TV cousins to encourage us aging baby boomers to sign
up for Social Security benefits online/DFO, Handle Extra Huckleberries. More here.
Question: Mary Ann? Or Ginger?
The reporters noted that these multiple births not only involve the potential for all kinds of health problems for mother and babies; they also “consume enormous financial resources for hospitals, health insurers and families.” Some people have strong opinions on this issue. On The Seattle Times website, a woman who identified herself as Bothell mom wrote: “This woman went into the hospital and had a ‘litter’ like an animal. This is going to cost society at some point. There is NO way you can convince me that this family is going to foot this bill on their own for the lives of these kids. Unless this family is pulling in A-List Hollywood paychecks, they’re going to end up being a drain on taxpayers. …”/Virginia de Leon, Are We There Yet? More here.
Question: Do couples have an obligation to society to avoid purposely having multiple births, unless they can afford to do so?
What do you make of the brewing feud between President Obama and Rush Limbaugh?/WorldNetDaily
There was nothing fishy about the Fight for the Fish spirit doubleheader Friday. The No. 1-ranked Coeur d’Alene girls concluded the regular season undefeated with their third consecutive victory over Lake City, 65-46, while the top-ranked Lake City boys had no problem dispatching the Vikings for a third straight time, 59-43, before a near-capacity crowd of 2,600 at LC. LC reeled in the Rainbow trout, the wooden trophy given to the school which is deemed to have demonstrated the most spirit at the basketball games/Greg Lee, SR. More here.
Question: When is the last time you watched a high school athletic event?
In the news this evening, the Dow Jones Average fell almost 9% in January, the worst January in Wall Street history, here. Tom Daschle has hit a tax bump on his way to becoming HHS secretary here. Alaskans are braced for an eruption that has nothing to do with Sarah Palin here. More than the P-I newsroom is all shook up in Seattle here. The national Republican Party elects its first black chairman here. And today’s Wild Card remains on the table …
Bear, a dog that fell through the ice on a pond in Fort Mitchell, Ky., awaits rescue by members of the Crescent Springs and Fort Mitchell Fire Departments which responded to the scene. Crescent Springs firefighter/EMT Wayne Keller and another Crescent Springs firefighter, Jonathan Berwitz, donned wetsuits for the rescue. (AP Photo/The Cincinnati Enquirer, Patrick Reddy)
Blogging has become a way to be creative and share about life and my opinions. I was an avid pen pal and I just consider this a modern twist without the postal delay. Huckleberries is a warped little community that makes think, laugh, get pissy, and be rude. My common experience is often your common experience. Besides, when I am in public and don’t agree with someone I am held by the bounds of politeness. Here on Huckleberries I can ignore them and turn it off. Its good stuff/Sparky re: question: Why do you blog? Or hang out here to comment.
DFO: We need to begin a conversation re: Blogfest ‘09 (i.e, where? when?) The obvious date, Feb. 14, is out for obvious reasons. I have a conflict with Feb. 21. Should we make it Feb. 28? Or sometime in March? Also, should we return to Capone’s for a third year. That venue could barely hold the 75 or so of us that showed up. Let me know your thoughts.
Freya Ford, a Sandpoint High graduate, became the first young woman from North Idaho to be crowned Miss Rodeo Idaho. Bashful Dan, who provided this photo of the recent events at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch, said Ford is available to appear at events in the panhandle during her 2009 reign as Miss Rodeo Idaho.
Melissa Bentley, 18, of Allentown sits on a mailbox Thursday in Whitehall, Pa. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/The Morning Call, Don Fisher)
Top Cutlines:
Eight fifth-graders from Post Falls are taking the state Legislature by storm today, making presentations to the education committees in both houses, greeting state Supt. Tom Luna after his budget pitch, and generally livening up the Capitol Annex in their white lab coats and laboratory goggles decorated with colorful pipe-cleaner swirls/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
” So I took him out, Boss,
and I showed him aroun’.
Says it’s nearly as nice
as his Wallace hometown.”
The Bard of Sherman Avenue
Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, center, is congratulated by supporters after the announcement that he had been elected the first black Republican National Committee chairman by the RNC during their winter meetings in Washington. Steele was the most moderate candidate in the field and was considered an outsider because he’s not an RNC member. He beat back four challengers, including incumbent Mike Duncan. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Steele Coming To Idaho Feb. 18: Michael called me soon after the November elections and I told him that I would be proud to support him. He later asked me to be on his leadership team as one of a dozen whips across the country, helping to garner votes among the 168 members of the RNC. Michael came to Boise to visit and strategize with me over breakfast at the Grove Hotel on January 18. We discussed the success that Republicans enjoy in Idaho and how to make that happen in other states. Now that vision is set to become a reality/Idaho GOP Chair Norm Semanko. Full statement here.
Question: What do you make of this development?
Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin, Police Chief Cliff Hayes and Post Falls PD Lt. Greg McLean pose with the torch at the Post Falls Police Department/KerriT, OnLocation North Idaho. More here.
How To Win A Husband: My fellow blogger Bay View Herb asked a little favor of me to share a love story, in particular my love story with my husband. He only asked for 100 to 200 words but as I sat down to write how my husband and I met and why we are still together after all these years, I realized I had more than 200 words to share. I don’t want to spoil Herb’s article so I won’t disclose any of the tidbits I gave him but I will share how I won my husband in a bet/Sparky’s Notes. More here.
It’s no secret that I have great disdain for anything and everything to do with Jimmy Buffett. Bully to the parrots, the beachy latitudes, and the cloying light rock sounds! Karaoke versions of “Margaritaville” have been known to turn me into a violent ashtray-thrower. I’d sooner eat Dung Beetle Supreme than dine at one of his hoaky burger joints. There’s something so smug about the cliquey gatherings of aging fans who don painfully tacky hawaiian shirts and jerk arrythmically to Jimmy Buffett tribute acts on the tragic dancefloors of cruise boats and casino lounges. CDA Press columnist and local negative nelly Mary Souza has reprtedly been spotted getting all dance-funky at several of these types of events and the very thought of her doing it, her flaxen hair bobbing to and fro, her tight lips in an upturned grimace, makes my brain burn all dull and hot. /Orange TV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Question: Do you share OrangeTV’s aversion “to aging fans who don painfully tacky hawaiian shirts and jerk arrythmically to Jimmy Buffett tribute acts on the tragic dancefloors of cruise boats and casino lounges”?
I never really considered whether my photos and commentary would make others uncomfortable and, as often is the case with blogging, was being a bit self indulgent with them. I mean I know my commentary can be funny and I think the photos are cute, but truly this was mostly for me. Also, if God forbid! I was hit tomorrow by a chunk of satellite junk shrieking down from a decayed and broken low earth orbit to defy the astronomical odds and drill me with a ton of hot molten metal and leave a smoking hole where I once stood, then at least I’ve left a sort of record here of my feelings and musings on my kids and remembrances of times a lot different than the last 10 years or so. I guess what I’m saying is I’ve left these little posts for my kids. Would this be better private?/TUBOB. More here.
Question: Why do you blog? Or hang out here to comment?
A Bonner County employee (John Hanson, 61, of Colburn) was killed Friday morning in a head-on collision that also forced one woman (Jennifer Gibson, 26, of Priest River) to be airlifted to a Spokane hospital in serious condition. Idaho State Police received a call of a vehicle on fire at 7:50 a.m. on Highway 2 approximately five miles west of Sandpoint at milepost 23. The worker was driving a Bonner County Roads Department truck, which was carrying diesel fuel. The road was closed for more than 3 hours/KREM2. More here. ISP reporter (pdf) here.
In this photo provided by Chris Nakashima-Brown, an electronic road sign is seen in Austin, Texas on Monday. Two electronic signs intended to warn motorists of construction near the intersection of Lamar and Martin Luther King boulevards were changed yesterday by hackers. (AP Photo/Chris Nakashima-Brown)
Whatta Hoot: Crafty hackers in Austin, Texas, changed some construction signs that typically read things like “merge right” to “Zombies in area! Run for your lives!” Austin Public Works is pretty upset about the ordeal. They said it endangered the public and are planning to press charges if they can figure out who did it. But I say kudos to the hackers — despite how I might have crushed anything or anyone in my path while frantically escaping the zombies, in retrospect, I think it’s hilarious/Syndey, UI Argonaut. More Off The Cuff here.
Question: Do you consider this prank humorous? Or dangerous?
“This bill is going to spend more money than we have, it’s going to spend it inefficiently, it’s going to leave things out, and it’s going to spend so much there’s nothing left for anything else,” he said. “I think we could spend a quarter of what we’ll end up spending and still get two-thirds of the job benefits. If it were cost-effective and had an end in sight, I would have voted for it”/Congressman Walt Minnick, explaining why he was one of 11 Democrats to vote against the $819B economic stimulus bill that passed the House this week. Story here (pdf).
Question: What’s your impression of Walt Minnick’s work in Congress so far?
Rathdrum teenager Rose Flack hugs Principal Conrad Underdahl at Lakeland High School Thursday. Flack came back to the school to say hello at a pep assembly the day after she was featured as a contestant on American Idol. All she could say about the show was that she was one of the 13 or so contestants chosen to go to Hollywood from the Salt Lake City auditions. Story here. (Jesse Tinsley/SR)
Another rate hike by Avista. Do they not know we are in a recession? Families losing homes, dropping medical insurance, no jobs or work available. Avista officials say we upgraded equipment, etc. They need to use profits for that, not another rate hike. They get a rate hike but it stays on forever in most cases, even after the work they did has been paid for 10 times over with the new rate hike they got. Then next time they fix equipment, etc. they ask for another hike. It’s a crime that users of electricity and gas from Avista keep their heat on 60 to 65 degrees, wear extra sweaters and still pay $250 to $300 for the electric bill each month/David Mallery, Post Falls (CDA Press letter write). More here. H/T: Joan Harman
DFO: Like any greedmonger, Avista will continue to ask for every dime and nickel it can get to boost executive salaries and dividents. Angry ratepayers should focus their energy and anger on the state regulators who approve these rate hikes. You can read Avista’s defense of its latest rate hike request here (pdf).
Question: Agree w/the letter writer? Disagree?
If Sali runs, look for him to try to cobble together a coalition of support among disaffected Republicans who want their party to take a hard turn to the right; small-government libertarian-leaning Ron Paul Republicans; and voters who, recession or no recession, focus on social issues. An odd alliance — but in a fractured Republican primary, it could be enough to get Sali another nomination. Northwest political blogger Randy Stapilus sums it up well; “Sali won in 2006 in a deeply fragmented field that advantaged him almost perfectly. There’d be strong pressure in the Republican hierarchy to avoid a repeat of that scenario”/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Do you expect mainstream Republicans to rally behind one candidate to defeat Sali in the 2010 primary? Or will it be another free-for-all with Sali emerging victorious?
Here is Ben Stein at the American Spectator, pointing out a few things about the so-called “stimulus bill” that was just passed by Nancy Pelosi’s Democrat House. The bill has been called “porkulus” by Rush, and “The Generational Theft Act of 2009” by Michelle. I just call it Democrat Fraud. It does NOTHING to stimulate the economy. Most of the money won’t even be spent this year. It creates NO real jobs (aren’t these the people who always bitch about “lilving wage jobs”?) that produce anything in the economy. But there is an awful lot of Liberal Democrat Payback in it, according to the reports I’ve been reading/BillH, Free In Idaho! More here.
Question: Is the economic stimulus bill passed by the House really ‘stimulus’ or ‘porkulus’?
Two juvenile elk wander in a field Wednesday, near the Prairie Falls Golf Club in Post Falls. A small herd of elk claimed a section of the eighth fairway at the golf course for most of the afternoon to sun bathe, according to a homeowner. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
Idaho’s Brandon Wiley (11) shoots between Kurt Cunningham (50), Mark Sanchez (43) and Paul Noonan (25) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game on Thursday in Moscow. It was the first time in 14 meetings — almost a decade — that the Vandals won a rivalry matchup game. UI Argonaut story here. (AP Photo/Lewiston Tribune, Kyle Mills)
Question: How important was Idaho’s win over Boise State last night?
“I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready to make this transition at this time,” said Rockefeller Tuesday as the Senate voted to put the changeover date off from Feb. 17 to June 12. Fortunately, the House refused to go along, rejecting the delay on Wednesday. It isn’t broadcasters who Rockefeller and Obama think are not yet ready, mind you. It is television viewers themselves. So where have those viewers been the last several months? It can’t have been in front of their television screens. There, network after network and station after station have been running announcements about the pending switch from a low-quality analog signal to a high-quality digital signal that will make almost everyone’s picture better/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Do you think the switch to digital TV should go ahead in February or be delayed until June?
Others seem to think his message will inspire people everywhere to work harder and be more compassionate. Worst of all, however, are the countless depictions, both on the Internet and in print, of Obama as a superhero. I have just one humble question for those who depict our new president in this way: really? It wouldn’t bother me if children were drawing pictures of Super Obama, but even then it would prompt a reminder he is only a man. What bothers me is we have intelligent adults drawing these pictures and making these statements. Does this not concern anybody else? If history shows us anything, isn’t it that this sort of adoring, blind trust and devotion for a leader is at best naïve and at worst dangerous?/Benjamin Ledford, UI Argonaut. More here.
Question: Are you concerned that many Americans are simply smitten by the new president?
What do you think of House passage of the $819 billion ‘stimulus’ bill?/WorldNetDaily
Gonzaga’s Steven Gray, Saint Mary’s Diamon Simpson and Omar Samhan and GU’s Jeremy Pargo and Austin Daye battle for a rebound in the second half of the West Coast Conference matchup Thursday at the McCarthey Athletic Center at GU. Jim Meehan’s SR game story here. ESPN boxscore here. More photos. (Jesse Tinsley/SR)
Idaho’s Mac Hopson passes the ball to Terrence Simmons as Boise State’s Aaron Garner, left, and La’Shard Anderson defend in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game on Thursday in Moscow. (AP Photo/Lewiston Tribune, Kyle Mills)
Washington State’s Klay Thompson (1) moves the ball against Arizona State’s Jamelle McMillan during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Tempe, Ariz., Thursday. Washington State won 65-55. ESPN game story & boxscore here. (AP Photo/Aaron J. Latham)
In the news this evening, President Obama slams Wall Street execs over bonuses here. California workers will take two days off per month without pay here. A study finds a link between preemies and autism here. Americans receiving jobless benefits hits a record here. And the Wild Card is back on the table …
Rathdrum teenager Rose Flack jokes with her former classmates at Lakeland High School Thursday. Flack came back to the school to say hello at a pep assembly the day after she was featured as a contestant on American Idol. All she could say about the show was that she was one of the 13 or so contestants chosen to go to Hollywood from the Salt Lake City auditions. Story here. Video of Rose’s ‘American Idol’ audtion here. (Jesse Tinsley/SR)
Question: Can you sing well?
In the stands, I was tense. Not for the outcome, which didn’t concern me so much, but for Katie’s feelings. Part of her struggle with Asperger’s is an occasional inability to cope with strong emotions, and I was afraid of how she would handle the losing part of competition. Would she be overwhelmed and burst into tears of disappointment? Or would she bear up with stoic seriousness until the round was over? Although I had tried my best beforehand to prepare her for the possibility, I held my breath every time she stood to spell/Katrina, Notes On A Napkin. More here.
Question: Can you relate a time when you were very proud of your child?
Special Olympic athlete James Neeson, from Maghera, Ireland, holds the miner’s lamp that carried the Flame of Hope into Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, during the arrival ceremony this morning. The Special Olympics Flame of Hope, lit almost three months ago in Athens, Greece, where it began a 37,000 mile voyage across five continents, is scheduled to arrive in Coeur d’Alene to begin the final leg of its journey to the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. Story here. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
Kristen McIntosh, 7, eats snow from the fort her step-father was making in the snow in front of their apartment at Devonshire Gardens in Evansville, Ind. on Wednesday. McIntosh was too little to remember the last real snow so this was her first chance to enjoy it, but she was more interested in eating it than helping build the fort. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Evansville Courier & Press, Erin McCracken)
Top Cutlines:
3. Figuring if you can’t lick government you should embrace it, little Kristen experiences her own ‘Stimulus package’.
League of His Own: Bob
HM: ThomG
Surrounded by members of Congress President Barack Obama hands out pens after signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act with Lilly Ledbetter, standind left of Obama, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009, in the East Room at the White House in Washington.
Idaho Democratic Party Executive Director Jim Hansen today applauded the signing of the historic Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. The first bill signed into law by President Barack Obama, the Act will ensure that American workers are treated fairly under the law by correcting wage disparities/Idaho Democratic Party. Full press release here (.pdf).
Question: What’s your reaction to President Obama’s signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act?
I’ve been getting my first reports back about the new MacKenzie River Pizza joint in the old failed Cheesecake place on US95 and word is that it’s pretty gosh darn cool. One of Stephanie’s house cleaning clients said that “The Athenian” was actually some of the most intense pizza she had encountered in ages, and that the service was good to the point of being over the top cheesy. That’s fine, as long as the pizza’s over the top cheesy as well. Stephanie and I plan on conducting a thorough investigation as soon as we can get a large enough party together to be able to try several different menu items. She’s already got a clutch of her other house cleaning clients on board, so it should be kind of a trip. I’m going to hang up my health plan for the night for this place, and I cannot wait. This boy needs some hot pepperoni/OrangeTV. Get Out! North Idaho. More Bread Crumbs here.
Question: Any of you tried out MacKenzie River Pizza, yet? What did you think of the food and the place?
Illinois lawmakers have not only thrown out Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, they have barred him from ever holding public office in the state again. Both votes were 59-0. Blagojevich’s removal comes nearly two months after his arrest on charges of trying to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat. He is the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed by impeachment. Democratic Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn automatically became the new governor/AP. More here.
Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, commended Luna for focusing on preserving the time that teachers spend with students. In nearly 20 years as an elementary school principal, Hammond said, he concluded, “The thing that I would need more than anything else is the people that are working for me. I could live without new textbooks for a year, I could live without the computer purchases.” He said it’d also be preferable for workers to take a pay cut than have layoffs. Luna said his proposal for cuts in state funding for pay for teachers and school administrators, implemented as school districts see fit, allows for that/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Would you willingly accept a pay cut if it meant preserving other jobs at your workplace?
Jim, looking like Sam Elliot in cowboy boots and hat,walked over as I chatted with friends. He introduced himself and in a smooth, confident baritone said, “We need to be dating.” How storybook, how romantic! Since I was totally unfamiliar with dating etiquette, all I could do was laugh in his face and sputter an embarrassed “I don’t think so!” in my most sarcastic voice. I had been alone for five years, prior to that, happily married for twenty years to my best friend since old Hippie days. We were growing up and planning on growing old together. His loss was sudden, devastating, life changing; but I had adapted well. I wasn’t interested in another relationship or dating, wasn’t looking, wasn’t interested!/JanTri, Brand X Ranch. More here.
Bayview Herb is looking for love stories here.
Question: What’s your love story?
You saw what became of former colleague Taryn Hecker in the post below. Now, Marianne Love/Slight Detour informs us that she spent an afternoon with another former SR colleague of mine, Erica Curless (above) here.
HBO Numbers (for Wednesday, 1/28/09): 5520 page-views/2991 unique views
In case you were wondering what happened to my former CDA bureau colleague Taryn 
Hecker … I got this note from her today: “In addition to working at the youth center in the afternoons, I am opening up a photo studio and office in downtown Spirit Lake at 6147 Maine St. #8. I am offering affordable portraits. My introductory specials are $99 for senior portraits and $50 for family or children’s portraits. All of my customers get a CD of the images, plus the copyright so they can print the images themselves and share with family and friends. I do weddings, too! I am also doing freelance writing, marketing and consulting work.” You can check out Taryn’s work here and here.
DFO: If you have a “Where Are They Now?” nominee, send me an e-mail with info about that person. It’d be fun to run those here.
It helps that four of Idaho’s five starters haven’t played against Boise State. This time last year Mac Hopson was riding the pine as a redshirt while Kashiff Watson, Marvin Jefferson and Brandon Wiley were honing their skills at the junior college level. The Vandals have mixed and matched those skills with other transfer players and those who are Vandal veterans, and the results have surprised many. Idaho enters tonight’s game 9-10 overall and 3-3 in the WAC. Coaches throughout the conference have said playing Idaho is no longer a game they can mark as a win when they are flipping through their schedules/Sandra Kelly, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Full story below.
Question: Are you still an avid Idaho Vandals fan? Or have the mounting losses in football and basketball taken a toll in recent years?
Item: Mail may show up less often after cut: Post office considers five-day delivery/Washington Post.
More Info: Worsening economic conditions and the changing habits of Americans are threatening to do to the U.S. Postal Service what few things can: stop delivery of the mail, at least for a day. In testimony before a Senate subcommittee Wednesday, Postmaster General John “Jack” Potter said the post office may be forced to cut back to five-day delivery for the first time in the agency’s history, citing rising costs and an ongoing decline in mail made worse by the global recession.
Question: Would you be drastically affected if the U.S. Postal Service delivered mail 5 days per week instead of 6?
Special Olympic athletes Arnold Morgado, left, from Twin Falls,Idaho, and Ben Rigby, from Pocatello, Idaho, hold the miner’s lamp this morning that carried the Flame of Hope into Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and the torch so it can be carried across Idfho. The Special Olympics Flame of Hope, lit almost three months ago in Athens, Greece, where it began a 37,000 mile voyage across five continents, is scheduled to arrive in Coeur d’Alene to begin the Final leg of its journey to the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. Story here. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
Not all girls like pink and Palmer, expressed concern that pressure to conform to a fluffy princess image of girliness will harm them. However, Spokane author Michael Gurian doesn’t think color preference is cause for worry. In the same article he said, “My daughters love pink, but are very successful young women. Their love of pink and of girl stuff has not held them back.” That certainly has been my own experience, and Palmer may be relieved to know I’ve been severely restricted in perpetuating my pink passion. I have four sons – they loathe pink/Cindy Hval, SR Voices. More here.
Question: What’s your favorite color? What does it say about you?
The title paraphrases Nixon’s famous petulant quote after he lost the California Governor’s race in 1962, and it appears Sali won’t go gently into that good night. He’s itchin’ for a rematch with Minnick after several thousand of his party abandoned him last time to vote for Walt. Bring it on. Sali has a great opportunity to get a crowded field again in the primary and win it, drawing a bead right on the Republican Party foot. In the words of Montomery Burns, “Excellent, release the hounds”/Sisyphus, 43rd State Blues.
Question: Would you like to see a rematch between Walt Minnick and Bill Sali in 2010?
“We’re looking at those founders as our inspiration as how to do less with more” — NIC PRmeister John Martin to Joint Finance & Appropriations Committee, as quoted in the CDA Press today.
Question: Do you think John misspoke? Or was he misquoted?
Pedestrians stop to watch a live broadcast in downtown Chicago, of impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich deliver his closing argument at his impeachment trial in Springfield, Ill., Thursday. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Gore testified Wednesday to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, of which Idaho freshman Sen. Risch is a member. Milbanks reported on their exchange: “What does your modeling tell you about how long we’re going to be around as a species?” Risch asked. “’The Goracle chuckled, Milbanks wrote. “’I don’t claim the expertise to answer a question like that, Senator’”/Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Was Sen. Risch asking former VP Gore a legitimate question? Or mocking him?
So, the majority Democrats in the House voted for and passed by themselves the President’s so-called stimulus plan, what Michelle Malkin is calling the Generational Theft Act of 2009. Not a single Republican voted for it, including Idaho’s Rep Mike Simpson thank goodness. But one thing you might not hear in the main-National press is that our new Representative from Idaho’s 1st District, Walt Minnick, Democrat, was one of the eleven Dems who voted against it/BillH, Free In Idaho! More here.
Question: Has Demo Congressman Walt Minnick’s vote against the economic stimulus package changed your opinion of him?
… see video of Rose Fleck, 17, of Rathdrum, a girl who was praised by Judge Simon as unforgettable and won thumbs up from all four ‘American Idol’ judges last night here.
Hat Tip: MamaJD
Gonzaga basketball player Matt Bouldin delivers a pepperoni pizza to Channing Parabis, 19, of Seattle, as Parabis camps Wednesday outside the McCarthey Athletic Center. Students started camping Sunday to secure the best seats at tonight’s matchup. Team members arrived with 50 pizzas and hot chocolate.
DFO: Matt Bouldin moved toward the head of the list for my favorite Zag this year. What a cool gesture by him to visit fellow students who are waiting to see tonight’s home game with St. Mary’s.
Question: Who’s your favorite Zag on the 2008-09 team? Why?
re: Who do you want to handle your P (prostate, pap, pee) exams — male, female docs?
As one who performs both exams, I must say that “parts is parts”. An exam of your ear or your throat or your respective hoo-hoo’s is done in a clinical, professional manner; ensuring the patient’s dignity and comfort. I warm up the speculum, and will almost always use the small one… yes, there are 2 sizes!!! I don’t have to impress anyone with the size of my speculum. As for the big P exam, they are much better now that I am over my “All-men-are-pond-scum” phase/Brand X Ranch.
Any further questions?
A local developer is suing the manager and board members of the North Kootenai Water District for denying him due process in obtaining water rights for the Hayden Lake property he used to own. “I guess the availability of the district service depends on who is asking for water connections,” said Spirit Lake developer Larry Spencer, acting as his own legal representative. Spencer approached the district about obtaining a Will Serve Letter in January 2006 for his 17 acres in Honeysuckle Hills, where he was applying for a county permit to develop a 21-lot subdivision. The board instructed Spencer to pay for a water study to determine if services could be provided to the property. Yet several months after Spencer handed over the $2,000 fee, the district had still failed to complete the study, he said/Alecia Warren, CDA Press. More here.
DFO: In case you were wondering what had happened to Larry Spencer.
Riley Torgerson, 5, left, Nez Ogle, 6, and Savannah Ashtiani, 5, hide under their desk to surprise “Mr. Blue” at his birthday party Wednesday at KinderMagic in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Mr. Blue is one of the classroom mascots that lives under one of the teacher’s desk. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
In August 1996, he was inducted into Idaho’s Hall of Fame in recognition of a career in business as well as service to his community and the state. In Oct. 1999, he received the “Esto Perpetua” Award from the Idaho State Historical Society in honor of his significant contributions to the preservation of Idaho history. Many of the historic sites of North Idaho are preserved as a result of Harry’s work. The Cataldo Mission was especially close to Harry’s heart. He worked for years to bring about the completion of Sacred Encounters, a permanent exhibition of Indian artifacts. Harry was highly honored by the Coeur d’Alene Indians and received the Cataldo Medal in 2003/CDA Press obituary. More here.
Who has had the biggest impact on Idaho: J.R. Simplot, Duane Hagadone, or Harry Magnuson?
Item: Teacher-student sex targeted: Lawmakers, others want tough law after state court ruling on 18-year-olds/Rich Roesler, SR Eye On Olympia
More Info: It’s not illegal for a teacher to have consensual sex with an 18-year-old student, a state appeals court said two weeks ago. The response from state lawmakers: Well, it ought to be. House and Senate legislators want to ban any sexual contact between school employees and students when there’s more than five years’ difference in their ages. Violations would be a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Question: This is simple common sense, right? Anyone want to argue that 18-year-olds are adults with the right to vote — so they should be able to date whom they want?
A boxscore that shows Babe Ruth had two hits in three official at-bats during a game in 1921 isn’t as valuable as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Corey Shamburg of CdA found that out when he asked a sports memorabilia answer man for the Redding (Calif.) Record-Searchlight about a discovery made by his brother recently. Brother Ken was dumping some construction waste in Shreveport, La., when he noticed wood debris in the trash pile. He investigated further and found some old newspapers in prime condition, including the 1921 New York Yankee boxscore with Ruth’s name in it. According to Babe Waxpack of the Record-Searchlight, the newspaper clip has value only as a conversation piece/DFO, Huckleberries. More here.
Question: Do you think today’s kids know much if anything about Babe Ruth?
How often do you eat peanut butter?/Lewiston Tribune
A coupla things in the news this afternoon worth mentioning: Boeing has announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs here. Starbucks will cut 6,700 jobs, close 300 more stores here. House Republicans led a successful move to stop a delay in the switch to digital TV here. The Mariners swung a trade today for two players in the Chicago Cubs system here. Anti-smoking activists want to add another $1 per pack in sin taxes in Washington (which’d push more Evergreen State smokers to buy their smokes in Idaho) here. And the Wild Card remains in play …
Kevin Vandeventer, 35, works out Tuesday at Gold’s Gym in north Spokane in preparation for the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Boise in February. He will compete in cross-country skiing. Meanwhile, the Special Olympics Torch will arrive in Coeur d’Alene by boat at the Third Street docks at 8:10 a.m. Thursday and then be taken to the downtown library for a ceremony at 8:35 a.m. You can find the complete schedule for the torch’s journey through North Idaho here.
I asked the checkstand girl at Petersons (former IGA) the other morning if she’d heard any dirt on what was going on across Sherman Ave., in the remains of the old China Gate Restaurant, which was badly damaged in a fire last year that killed the 1210 Tavern and the Gamer’s Haven. A crew has rebuilt the exterior to resemble a triple-wide mobile home in drab beige and it’s fugly as hell, zero personality. She told me she heard it was going to be a “sports bar” and that it would take the entire building. I can’t imagine it, since the place seriously looks more like Aunt Edna’s Retirement Home than a hip place to hang out. What gives?/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More of today’s Bread Crumbs: Random Bits & Mailbag here.
Question:Which business has the coolest sign in the region?
Hundreds of small cells of would-be terrorists exist throughout the United States. They travel under various names—Ku Klux Klan, National Socialist Movement, Vinlander Social Club, American National Socialist Workers Party, World Wide Church of the Creator, National Alliance, White Aryan Resistance, National Vanguard. To the dismay of civil rights groups, on the margins are a few politicians and rural law enforcement officers who express their disdain and distrust of black Americans and Hispanics, plus radio talk show hosts who tend to give stature to racist propaganda/Idaho Mountain Express. More here.
Question: Are white supremacist organizations still a threat in this country?
Gonzaga University students decorate their tents as they wait in line for seats to the Gonzaga/St. Mary’s basketball game on Thursday evening. Dan Pelle/SR.
Animal rights activists from PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and AnimaNaturalis stage a naked protest in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Top Cutlines:
A list of the inmates currently incarcerated @ the Kootenai County Jail can be read here.
At Vox Box, Blogmistress Erin Daniels tells of a flap on the University of Washington campus, triggered by a pro-con debate re: gay marriage in the college newspaper. You can read the pro-con arguments (take particular note of the cartoons that ran with them) here. The anti-gay marriage column and cartoon triggered a record 651 letters to the editor, many of which were published in eight full pages of a subsequent student newspaper edition. Also, the Graduate and Professional Student Senate demanded an apology from the paper and the firing of some Editorial Board members. Earlier this month, Editor Sarah Jeglum told readers that the paper would not issue an apology, in response to the Senate demands. You can read it here. You also can read Vox Box’s version of the hubbub here.
QUESTION: What do you think? Should the paper apologize?
This image provided by Madame Tussauds shows senior sculptor Colin Jackson working on a clay head mold of first lady Michelle Obama at Merlin Studios in London. The clay molds are a crucial step in the up to six month-long figure creation process. The full wax figure of the new first lady is expected to be unveiled at Madame Tussauds in Washington in March. (AP Photo/Merlin Studios)
I was making dinner the other night and needed to open a can of olives. As I watched the can spin around on my electric can opener, I realized that I had received that can opener as a wedding gift. 16 1/2 years ago. I figure I open about 5 cans a week times 198 weeks of marriage. That’s 990 cans that have been opened by that can opener. Then I began to think of other things that I still use that I got as wedding gifts/A Butterfly Moment. More here.
Question: Are you still using gifts you received at your wedding?
It may not have grabbed the limelight with the same pizzazz as the rest of the hoopla at the 56th quadrennial inauguration, but Riley Creek Lumber Company’s logo received worldwide visibility shortly before Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. A photograph and slideshow of the construction of the inauguration platform displaying stacks of lumber draped with Riley Creek’s distinctive emblem on its white-and-blue bagging at the west steps of the U.S. Capitol was viewed by hundreds of thousands of Internet users/R.J. Cohn, RuralNorthwest.com. More here.
I’m the first to admit it’s a crappy beard. There are a few bald patches here and there. I was not blessed with the hirsute gene. I know guys who could grow a full beard over a three day weekend. But for someone like me, who normally shaves only twice a week, it takes a while. Plus, there’s a big patch of white whiskers on my left side, that makes me look like I fell asleep against a freshly-painted wall. The rest is various shades of red, brown, auburn and silver. Not grey, but silver. Looks like little chrome threads sticking out of my chin/Bob Wire, New West. More here.
Question: Do you grow a winter beard or other type of facial hair? Does it look good?
A phenomenon known as “light pillars” spreads across the night sky over Victor, Idaho, on Monday. The colorful columns form when light from the ground reflects off flat snow crystals descending through very cold air. (AP Photo / Jackson Hole News&Guide, Bradly J. Boner)
EJS (re: MikeK sez Bris rather than Circ-Word): Being a male I ask the rest of the males in here: Who better to do a prostate exam, a man or woman doctor? And to the women, a male for female OBGYN?
Sisyphus: I have a very attractive female GP who performs the procedure on me every year, ejs. And still she offers no cigarette when we’re done.
JeanieSpokane: Uh, DFO, P exams for lunch? That covers so many things. The prostrate exam, the pap smear, and the pee test. I’m hungry already.
Question: Who would you prefer to handle the sensitive part of your physical exam? A male doctor? Or a female one?
North Idaho College, which had its budget hearing before JFAC this morning, had been hoping for $605,100 next year to start up a much-needed dental hygienist program in partnership with a local free clinic, and $334,500 for the first year of a two-year campus technology upgrade to get its classrooms up to minimum technology standards. But Gov. Butch Otter didn’t recommend funding for either item in his proposed budget for next year/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick will vote against the economic stimulus bill later today, Minnick spokesman John Foster said a few minutes ago. A vote is expected later today. Republican Rep. Mike Simpson has said he will also vote against the bill/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman.
Question: Do you support or oppose the proposed economic stimulus bill?
Mensch is Yiddish for a good person, and that’s what I found author John Updike to be when I interviewed him on the phone a few years ago. Updike died (Tuesday) at the age of 76. I read a memoir he wrote in which he talked a lot about how he stuttered when he was a kid. At one point during my interview with him he lapsed into that stutter for only a word. I’ll never forget the humanness of it: The great writer showing a small vulnerability/Mike Butts, 2C Etc.
Item: Local athletes heading to world stage in Boise: Special Olympics games include snowboarding, skating/Mike Prager, SR
More Info: The Olympic flame, which was lit in Athens, Greece, in November, arrives in Coeur d’Alene on Thursday for its final journey to Boise.
Question: Are you planning to watch as the Special Olympics torch passes through Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene, or other parts of North Idaho Thursday?
Item: Avista rates face appeal: Attorney general targets increases that started Jan. 1/John Stucke, SR
More Info: Washington’s attorney general has appealed a sharp increase in Avista power bills and aims to unravel the company’s plan to collect an extra $112 million from businesses and residential customers in Eastern Washington.
Question: During its days as Washington Water Power, Avista was considered a good corporate citizen, for its contributions to the communities it served. Do you still consider Avista to be a good corporate citizen?
Kootenai County firefighters wait to clear the scene of a minor-injury accident in the eastbound lanes of Interstate-90 near Highway 41 in Post Falls, Idaho following a short, but havoc-causing freezing rainfall that caused dozens of accidents Tuesday between Stateline and Coeur d’Alene. Story here. First mention on Scanner Traffic here. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
Iraqi policemen hold up their ink-stained fingers after casting their vote in the country’s provincial elections in Baghdad, Iraq, earlier today. The polls opened Wednesday for members of the Iraqi security forces, detainees and hospital patients. General voting is scheduled on Saturday. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Item: Assertive Idaho bank manager talks bank robbers into surrendering: 2 masked men call Luwana Couch ‘ma’am’/Idaho Statesman
Question: Would you try to reason with a bank robber? Yes? No? Don’t know?
Wasn’t I skinny? Wasn’t I moody? I didn’t actually smile from the ages of 15 until 19. The car to the right is the family’s truckster of the time a massive 1973 Ford Country Deeded Landowner station wagon. It had a 500 cubic inch something gasoline sucker and I only did two cool things in that bomber - once I destroyed a drive through car wash stall at a gas station on Pines road when it jumped the rails and smashed the side of the car wash knocking the thing akimbo, and once I stuck it up to its axles in a mud bog I tried to barrel through while christmas tree hunting on Inland Empire Paper Co land in North Idaho/TUBOB. More here.
Question: What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever did to your parents car?
On his Facebook page, Councilman MikeK couldn’t bring himself to say the Circ-Word when referring to the medical procedure that baby son Ronan endured recently. So he called it a Bris — the Jewish word for the circumcision ceremony. Which prompted an SR colleague to leave a not on his Facebook page, asking MikeK if his wife was Jewish. She isn’t. A Jewish friend from the East Coast chided MikeK for not picking a better Jewish custom to name as a substitution for the Circ-Word, like Bar Mitzbah. She reasoned: “At least there’s a bar in that ceremony.” MikeK told Huckleberries that the word “circumcision” is “so tough for a guy to manage.”
Question: How do you feel about the practice of circumcision?
What do you think of Obama granting his 1st interview to Arab TV?/WorldNetDaily
In the news this evening, a Los Angeles man killed his wife, 5 kids and himself, after he lost his job here. Bill Clinton earned $6M in speaking fees last year, chiefly from foreign sources, here. The New York Times features the impact the late John Updike had on the literary world here. The mandatory digital TV switchover has been pushed back to June 12 here. A House Repub tells Rush Limbaugh to back off here. And the Wild Card is back in play …
While President Barack Obama was on Capitol Hill meeting with Republicans a Uniformed Secret Service Emergency Response Team officer lets his security dog get some exercise and play in the light snow that covered the White House grounds in Washington today. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Larry Brown (right), chairman of the Lakeland School Board, and CDA School Trustee Vern Newby visited the Idaho Legislature today to lobby for money for Idaho schools. You can read Betsy Russell’s Eye On Boise story here.
But don’t let that stop people from coming down Thursday morning at 8:30 - big doings with the Special Olympics Torch entering Idaho - the Final Leg - on the way to the games in Boise and surrounding areas. One outdoor brief ceremony with great visuals at 3rd St. Dock and another indoor one at the library just a few minutes later to send the relay crews off strongly. Truly a once in a lifetime sort of event in Coeur d’Alene - we’ll have Idaho’s First Lady Lori Otter there, too/Councilman MikeK. Full comment below.
A plate flies off a table set for two as Mason Hill, 8, rides down the hill at the 4th annual furniture races at the Bruce Mound Winter Sports Area near Neillsville, Wis., Saturday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Marshfield News Herald, Dan Young)
In this photo provided by the Social Security Administration, Patty Duke, now of Coeur d’Alene, reprises her teen-age roles as TV’s Lane cousins to drum up enthusiasm for retiring online. As a teen-ager, Duke played the characters Patty and Cathy Lane from the hit 1960s sitcom “The Patty Duke Show.” If you can remember CDA’s Patty Duke in the “Patty Duke Show,” you’re probably deep into your AARP Years and mebbe even Social Security. You can see the video here. And you can read the full press release here.
Question: Which one of Patty Duke’s “Lane” twins did you like best?
… Blogmeister Ryan has increased the number of posts that are shown on the front page from 20 to 30. Ditto for the number of posts that can be made in the comments section. Can you think of any other tweaks that are needed?
“This past week there have been robin sightings nearly every day,” posts KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho. “On Sunday a large flock came for a breakfast of berries. While there’s no scientific evidence to back up my conclusion that even though North Idaho is in the midst of a near single digit cold snap, the robins are anticipating an early spring.”
Digital TV Conspiracy: First, this is a government mandated conversion. For your television connection. I think all kinds of conspiracy theories can propagate themselves right in this one little conversion proposal. It’s government mandated! It’s very “Big Brother is Watching You.” I wonder if this means that Big Brother is **really** watching me as I watch Desperate Women. Can Big Brother hear conversations in my house? Is that just too paranoid? Is it really? If the government can mandate how your television is connected, then can it eventually mandate what you watch and when you watch it?/JeanieSpokane, Nuts & Nonsense. More here.
HBO Numbers (for Monday, Jan. 26): 6935 page-views/3519 unique views.
Flemming, who is unemployed and has no family in the Silver Valley area, was charged with lewd conduct with a minor under 16-years-old and two counts of sexual battery of a minor under 16-years-old. Authorities arrested Flemming while executing a search warrant to find evidence he was manufacturing child pornography as part of an ongoing investigation/KXLY. More here.
If you want the best seat in the house at the Kennel for Gonzaga’s Thursday night showdown against St. Marys, you may need to dig out your camping gear and find a place to pitch your tent. Students have wasted no time setting up an impromptu tent city near the McCarthey Athletic Center, all in order to be that much closer to the action on Thursday. Named “Few-ville” by it’s residents, more than 40 tents are given a number denoting their place in line to be the first ones into the Kennel on Thursday/KXLY. More here.
Question: Is there a performer, concert, sports contest, or something else worthy enough for you to camp out overnight on a wintry Inland Northwest night?
It may be the dead of winter with a snow storm heading our way, but the denizens of Priest Lake are looking ahead to summer, as this photo from Pecky Cox/As The Lake Churns, indicates.
In this Oct. 23, 1990 file photo, author John Updike, speaks at a lecture at the Boston Public Library in Boston. Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, prolific man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce and other adventures in the postwar prime of the American empire, died today, of lung cancer, according to a statement from his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. He was 76. Story here. (AP Photo/file)
Question: Which Updike book is your favorite?
Item: Surviving Octuplets Born for Second Time Ever: Doctor: Eighth Baby Was a ‘Tremendous Surprise’/ABC News
More Info: After she gave birth to seven babies, a California woman — and the massive 46-person team of doctors that was assisting the birth — thought she was done. But one last baby, perhaps hiding behind the others, had other ideas. When the baby popped out Monday at 10:48 a.m., the woman, whose name the hospital did not release, became the second ever to give birth to surviving octuplets — six boys and two girls.
Question: What advice would you give to a woman who’d just given birth to eight surviving infants?
In a truly bipartisan effort which the IVA wholeheartedly supports, two Republican and one Democrat lawmaker are coming together to work on legislation to provide, for the first time in Idaho law, mandatory minimum sentences for those who commit sex crimes against children. Many people are unaware that in Idaho an offender has to commit two sex crimes against children before the law mandates a minimum time behind bars. This loophole - all in the name of giving judges “discretion” in sentencing - resulted in a 150-day sentence for Bradley Stowell, a man who abused two teenage boys at a Boy Scout camp and admitted molesting 24 other victims, one as young as six. Yes, you read that right - 150 days for molesting two dozen children/Bryan Fischer, Idaho Values Alliance. More here.
”There’s no organization in Idaho that is dedicated to the purpose of finding free market solutions and empowering individuals to take back their freedoms,” Hoffman said. “We are the state’s only think tank dedicated to that purpose” — Wayne Hoffman, Idaho Freedom Foundation. More from 2C Etc. here. Randy Stapilus’ thoughts on Hoffman’s new organization here.
I was once in the Black Hills of South Dakota and saw a family of wild burros. The baby burro, or foal I think they are called (or are baby burros called “burritos”) was the cutest animal I’ve ever seen in the wild. It was multicolored and playful and running around with his mommy and daddy burros. As cute as it was, and it was beyond cute, it wasn’t as cute as my kids/TUBOB. More here.
Question: Please feel free to use this thread to brag about your kids.
Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, asked Idaho State University President Arthur Vailas if perhaps he should consider charging differential tuition - higher for high-cost programs, perhaps, that also set students up to earn big incomes once they’ve completed them. “Perhaps we should look at some kind of differential tuition?” he asked Vailas, at ISU’s budget hearing this morning in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Would you support Sen. Jim Hammond’s call for a sliding tuition scale, based on the type of degree an Idaho university student is pursuing?
It took less than two hours for a jury on Friday to convict a Coeur d’Alene man of attacking a woman at her home last year. Graham Burrage, 27, (pictured) was convicted last week of sexually assaulting the woman while her three children huddled in a nearby bedroom. That woman, “Mary”, said Monday morning that she’s no longer a victim but a survivor now that Burrage has been convicted of attacking her. Now she looks forward to no longer being afraid. Last week, Mary confronted Burrage in court at his trial for the assault which happened a year ago in her Coeur d’Alene home/KXLY. More here.
DFO: Years ago, I attended church with the convicted man and his family. He was a little kid then. I didn’t know his family or him well. But I was still fairly surprised when I learned he was involved in this heinous crime. His mother and siblings are of good stock. I feel for the victim and the Burrage family today. I doubt that this wayward son will be seeing freedom any time soon.
“We saw a bicycler pedaling his way around the lake, we met up with folks doing some ice fishing, we saw kids playing hockey, we saw hikers and even a lady leading a horse along the road near the shoreline,” Marianne Love, Slight Detour. You can find out where Marianne was by clicking here.
It is, of course, a calculated outrage. Meaning, it was spewed by a clown in the media circus to kick a familiar sequence into motion: angry denunciation by bloggers, pundits and supporters of President Barack
Question: Do you hope Barack Obama fails or succeeds? Did you want Bush to fail or succeed?
Regardless of whether students are allowed to live in the same suite together, individuals who choose to engage in sex will. Through this restriction, the university is preventing students from gaining a maturity they will need when they graduate and likely will be faced with living in a mixed-gender community. By offering a co-ed option, the university would actually have been offering a chance for a safer transition into mixed-gender situations with resident assistant supervision and the right to choose a roommate. This should not be worth arguing. The Idaho Values Alliance was wrong to make assumptions that prevent students from taking more responsibility in life/UI Argonaut Editorial Board. More here.
Question: Agree? Disagree?
Joe Heller/Hellertoon
Question: Would you want your mother-in-law to live with you?
President Barack Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden, listen to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, speak after Biden swore him in as Treasury Secretary at the Treasury Department today in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
In the news this evening, the House Judiciary chairman has subpoenaed Karl Rove here. The Senate confirms Geithner for Treasury secretary here. Rush Limbaugh fires back at Obama criticism here. The Senate passed a bill to delay digital TV switch here. Obama says his Mideast envoy will ‘engage vigorously’ in a quest for Israeli-Palestinian peace here. And the Wild Card remains on the table …
Seattle’s Space Needle is viewed through water droplets on glass Monday. (AP Photo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Mike Urban)
This undated photo provided Saturday by Mike Roberts shows a 7-carat diamond ring that Roberts rescued after it fell in a toilet at the the Black Bear Diner in Phoenix, Ariz. It took eight hours and bills totaling more than $6,000, but the Arizona plumber became a hero to a California couple after retrieving the $70,000 diamond ring. (AP Photo/Mike Roberts)
How much would an item have to be worth for you to fish it out of a flushed toilet?
More from Vickie Holbrook/Idaho Press-Tribune
Question: Anything to add to Vickie’s commandments?
This artist rendering provided by the U.S. Mint shows the Washington, District of Columbia (DC) quarter, featuring Duke Ellington. The quarter is the first of 2009 and the first in the DC and U.S. Territories Quarters Program. (AP Photo/US Mint) Question: Have you collected the quarters from the U.S. states’ series?
Here I am, almost 60 years old and I’ve been sniveling about NOT being “chosen” for jury duty. Like it was some kind of contest. So typical of my life – first in 4th grade being the last.one.standing to be picked for one of two teams. Now, I am entering close-to-retirement years and I finally got picked for jury duty. They say you have been “randomly” picked – but I know better. They couldn’t find anyone else taller, smarter, prettier, or more athletic and they had to settle for … me/JeanieSpokane, Nuts & Nonsense. More here.
Question: Do you react as graciously as JeanieSpokane/Nuts & Nonsense when you’ve been summoned for jury duty?
“This tree line along the road on the way to Fernan Saddle, high above Fernan Lake offers a typical picture postcard view of beautiful North Idaho in the winter,” posts Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho.
As an intro, just let me recognize that all parents believe their kids at different points in their lives were the cutest kids ever. Many have photos and videos to prove the so-called cuteness. And by God, some of their photos and videos damn near make you cry from the cuteness. But seriously, my kids were the cutest ever. No contest. Don’t argue. Just read my blog this week/TUBOB. More here.
Question: Do you agree with TUBOB — that almost all parents believe their children are the cutest ever? Were yours?
Item: Flathead Valley’s best mechanic finds honesty the best policy/Jim Mann, Daily Inter Lake
More Info: Following that creed helps in a business that can be painfully expensive for customers who often are suspicious. “People feel that they are going to get ripped off,” he said. “People just feel that way, and I do hear horror stories … where prices are just unbelievably gouged.” For his part, Buckallew said, “I just hope people realize that I have a conscience and I want to sleep at night.”
Question: Do you trust the mechanic or dealership where you take your car for repairs?
Beau Breedlove, the young man involved in the scandal that’s threatening new Portland Mayor Sam Adams political career, is shown Saturday at the offices of The Oregonian in Portland, Ore. Story here. (AP Photo/The Oregonian, Rob Finch)
In this image released by Warner Bros., Heath Ledger starring as The Joker, is shown in a scene from “The Dark Knight.” Ledger was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor, Thursday, for his role in “The Dark Knight.” The 81st Oscars will be presented Feb. 22 in a ceremony airing on ABC from Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre. (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, Stephen Vaughan) Question: Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker in “Dark Knight” is reaping award after award, including the SAG award for supporting actor last night. Was his performance worthy of these top awards? Or a sympathy vote in wake of his untimely death?
The next cuts could include eliminating 5 percent, or 80, of the university’s faculty and staff positions, Daley-Laursen said, saying that’s something “we are prepared to consider.” All cuts would be of vacant positions; the university already has a hiring freeze. Currently there are 32 vacant faculty positions and 55 vacant staff positions. Daley-Laursen said he’s also planning a 75 percent cut in state funds for travel, a $2.3 million cut in university-wide operating expenses and a half-million-dollar cut in capital outlay/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: After seeing about half my colleagues ushered out of the newsroom in the last seven years via buyouts and layoffs, I understand that no one is immune from these times. Yet, I also understand that higher education offers the quickest path out of poverty and grunt work. So here’s the question: After these cuts, would you be more or less willing to send your kids to UI?
Serephin/43rd State Blues spotted this nugget in a Washington Post blog: 1.
Wyoming (D): Don’t be fooled by the election of Rep. Walt Minnick (D) last November. Wyoming is still rock-ribbed Republican country and without term-limited Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) on the ticket, this is going to be an almost impossible hold for Democrats. Minnick gets some mention as a possible candidate but he seems likely to revel in the House majority for the next two years. Beyond Minnick there is virtually no Democratic bench in the state. Two statewide elected Republicans — the Agriculture Commissioner and the Auditor — as well as state House Speaker Colin Simpson are weighing bids. More here.
Question: Do you think Congressman Walt Minnick will have to become a DINO to win re-election in two years?
Dawn rides atop Dan, a border collie, during a break in bull riding action at the Fear No Evil Bull Riding Challenge on Saturday in Houma La. The act featured two monkey-toting collies rounding up a herd of rams. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/The Houma Courier, Matt Stamey)
Top Cutlines:
How do you effectively fight a war when our guys stand out like beacons because of their armor and uniforms while the opposition fades into civilian crowds because they don’t dress for war! They surely do match us in weaponry. I’m just a bit edgy these days but I’m tired of these governments scolding us when it’s our young men and women who are being maimed or slaughtered to keep their sorry selves in power. War is Hell. Civilians get killed. If they don’t want their civilians killed stop the wars! Quit blaming us. If they don’t want us there, let’s oblige them. I’m sure all our Johnnie’s would be more than happy to come marching home/Dogwalk Musings. More here.
Question: How soon will President Barack Obama get troops out of Iraq & Afghanistan?
Similarly, millions of voters during the presidential election said they preferred some of the lighter and less experienced candidates because he or she was “just like me.” That disturbing declaration tended to temper my tendency to identify personally with several of the candidates. A troubling question came to mind: Do those who say they favor a given candidate because that candidate is “just like me” mean to imply that they are as smart as that particular candidate and equally qualified to be president? Or do they mean that we should all welcome a candidate as ordinary and inept as we are?/Bill Hall, Lewiston Tribune. Full column below.
Question: Would you want a president that was just like you?
Patrick Adair, 12, of Nampa, Idaho, right, sticks our his tongue as he gets a close look at a common boa constrictor with Olivia Fisher, 5, left, and Isaiah Fisher, 12, middle at the aquarium displays set up by the Idaho Herpetological Society at the Saturday at the Nampa Civic Center. (AP Photo/Idaho Press-Tribune, Greg Kreller)
People called Harry F. Magnuson “Mr. Wallace,” but his reach stretched far beyond his hometown. He saved historic buildings from wrecking balls and helped rescue Gonzaga University from financial collapse. Magnuson believed that tourism and recreation would revive his beloved Silver Valley, and he lived long enough to see this vision become reality. Magnuson, 85, died Saturday at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. His son, John Magnuson, said that his father was being treated for pneumonia when he died of a heart attack. “Everybody has a Harry Magnuson story,” said Ron Garitone, mayor of Wallace. “The man loved the little town. He grew up in it. He still has a house here. He’s what we’d call a ‘good old Wallace boy,’ but his (influence) goes way beyond our little community”/Rebecca Nappi, SR. More here.
David Bond’s article re: ‘Lion of Wallace’
Question: Do you have a Harry Magnuson story?
Dallas Academy’s Shelby Hyatt, from left, Lauren Click, center, and Eleanor Callan, right, participate in a shoot-around in the schools gymnasium in Dallas Thursday. Covenant, a private Christian school in Dallas, defeated Dallas Academy 100-0 last week. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Do you agree with the firing of the coach whose basketball team won 100-0?/WorldNetDaily
Item: Nervous 401(k) investors shouldn’t bail out/Chris Barone, CDA Press
More Info: By continuing to invest a fixed dollar amount each month into your 401(k)’s stock portfolio, you’re able to buy more shares when prices are low and fewer shares when prices rise. Add that to your employer’s matching contribution and tax-deferred compounding, and you’re poised to see the value of your plan go up when the market rebounds.
Question: Are you still putting money into a 401(k)? Or have you bailed out?
Item: Ed corridor considerations: The world looked a whole lot different six months ago/CDA Press editorial board
More Info: Property values have fallen, leading reasonable people to suggest that a new appraisal of the site is warranted — particularly because most, if not all of the purchase price will be coming from Kootenai County taxpayers via tax increases.
Question: Should North Idaho College seek another appraisal of the old DeArmond Mill site that is proposed to serve as a future education corridor along the Spokane River? Or should trustees move ahead with the purchase b/c waterfront property is still prime land, even in a downturn?
In the news this morning, Barack Obama took a swipe at Rush Limbaugh to make a point with congressional Republicans here. Mariana Bridi, the Brazilian beauty queen who lost her hands and feet to disease, has died here. ‘Slumdog’ won the top film award from Hollywood producers here. The pilot who landed his jet safely in the Hudson River received a hero’s homecoming here. And I’ll let you entertain yourselves with this Wild Card today …
Idaho guard Kashif Watson (32) shoots over New Mexico State guard Hernst Laroche (13) during the first half of an NCAA basketball game Saturday at the Cowan Spectrum in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Dean Hare)
In the news this morning, Apple’s MacIntosh is celebrating its 25th anniversary here. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has taken to the offensive in the fight for his political life against federal corruption charges here. Starbucks employees are bracing for another layoff here. The IRS claims WaMu owes $12.5B here. Costco sees an upside to the down economy here. And you can play this Wild Card to start your own threads …
Miss Indiana Katie Stam, center, is crowned Miss America 2009 with host Mario Lopez, left, in Las Vegas on tonight. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)
At about 12:42 a.m. today, Post Falls Police received a tip from
Spokane Crime Stoppers that Michael Miller was staying in a local hotel
in the Post Falls area. Miller was wanted for the armed robbery of a
Walgreens Store on North Argonne in the Spokane Valley. Miller
allegedly entered the Walgreens store with a knife and demanded
Methadone and Oxycontin. After receiving the tip, Post Falls officers
responded to the Howard Johnson Inn, and took Mr. Miller into custody
without incident. During the arrest, officers located paraphernalia
that had been used to smoke Oxycontin, as well as, cash that is
believed to be proceeds of drug sales. Mill was taken to the county
jail, where he was booked on a fugitive warrant and for possession of
paraphernalia with the intent to use/Post Falls Blue news release. KREM2 story here.
Gonzaga’s Austin Daye, left, fights for the ball against Loyola Marymount’s Brad Sweezy, center, and Vernon Teel during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Los Angeles tonight. (AP Photo/Hector Mata)
This photo provided by Mark Bernstein of Bethesda, Md., shows Bernstein with Carolyn Weiss of Rockville, Md., at the West front of the U.S. Capitol on the National Mall in Washington Tuesday, during the inauguration ceremony for President Barack Obama. Bernstein chose the setting of Obama’s inauguration to declare his love for Weiss and ask her to marry him. She said yes. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Mark Bernstein)
Question: Where did your marriage proposal take place?
The consensus among Americans is that if you’re
gay or lesbian you are somehow less of a human being than your
heterosexual peers. The venom spewed by the likes of Fred Phelps and
even Bryan Fischer would make you think that gays are the spawn of
Satan and this hate speech against the gay community is generally
accepted because, well, gay is the new black. But
it’s not just the gay and lesbian community. Folks who hold different
religious beliefs, including the members of Christ Church, are
demonized because of their beliefs. We
must remember that we are a country of freedom. Free to believe what
you want to believe and how you want to believe it. But there is a very
thin line between your freedom to believe what you want and at the same
time not leading a crusade to take freedoms away from your fellow
citizens/Henry Johnston, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Full column below.
Question: Do you agree or disagree with Henry “Digger” Johnston that ‘gay is the new black’?
When Proposition 8 passed, gay activists didn’t just get mad; they went about getting even. To do so, same-sex marriage advocates exploited California’s campaign finance laws to discover the names of all donors to the “Yes on Proposition 8” campaign and have not only posted their names, addresses and other personal information online, but used Google’s Map application to supply directions to whoever wishes to track down the donors and target them for intimidation, harassment or possibly, violence. The Nuremberg Files was the creation of a lone crank in Georgia. In this case, the world’s largest search engine has lent itself as a facilitator for intimidation and will share moral, if not legal, complicity when one or more of Proposition 8’s supporters come to harm/Michael Costello, Lewiston Tribune. Full column below.
Question: Do you agree or disagree with Costello — that Proposition 8 opponents & Google’s Map are using the same tactics as anti-abortion Nuremberg Files in publishing the names and other vital information of individuals to punish them?
Barrett was once detained at the Boise airport for carrying a
derringer in her luggage and is renowned for pungent quotes skewering
what she views as an overreaching government. “I wish I’d kept a notebook and written all those down,” said House Speaker Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale. An
example from earlier in the week: Former House Speaker Bruce Newcomb,
who now lobbies for Boise State, was introducing his new intern,
Christy Perry, to legislators. Barrett gave Perry a useful thumbnail:
“I don’t spin and I don’t raise taxes!” Barrett chairs the House Local Government Committee and is beginning her ninth two-year term/Dan Popkey, Idaho statesman. More here.
Question: Who is the most colorful lawmaker that you’ve known?
The place was full of large, talkative families who added aggressively
to the overall din along with the emphatic Chinese discourse emerging
from the kitchen, the cheerful gossip of the waitresses, and the syrupy
Asian pop music The place was full of large, talkative families who added aggressively
to the overall din along with the emphatic Chinese discourse emerging
from the kitchen, the cheerful gossip of the waitresses, and the syrupy
Asian pop music each other’s cochlear implants as we discussed the massive framed
watercolor that hung right above us, a painting of wild horses
splashing along the beach at sunset signed with Chinese characters that
probably translate to something like “Under pink sky /the color of
spicy shrimp/you rude/belch too loud/make wild horses run away”/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Question: What do you think of the food at the Golden Dragon/Post Falls? Ever been there?
County Clerk Dan English empathizes with Chief Justice John Roberts
after that bobble while 
administering the oath of office to President
Barack Obama on Tuesday. English admits he’s missed a word or two while
swearing in deputies in his various departments, during his long tenure
as clerk. (All county elected officials except commissioners have sworn
deputies.) The oath he administers is similar to the ones that are
recited by the governor and, to some extent, the president. English
offers a key tip to those swearers as well as the swearees: KISS (or,
Keep It Short, Stupid – my words, not English’s). Says English: “I’ve
learned over the years through trial and error that it is best to just
go a few words at a time so it doesn’t make it awkward for them or me.
I think we even had a few minor stumbles recently when our county
elected officials were sworn in.” It may seem easy to repeat about
three dozen words, but humans are human, says English, adding: “In the
end though, just like in a marriage, it’s how the oath is fulfilled,
not how it was uttered that will be important”/DFO, Handle Extra Huckleberries. More here.
Question: Do you think Chief Justice John Roberts’ flub of the presidential oath was a big deal?
Question: What’s your view on embryonic stem-cell research?/WorldNetDaily Poll
In the news this evening, Rod Blagojevich’s attorney has bailed from the Illinois governor’s fraud and bribery case here. 45 Gitmo prisoners are on a hunger strike despite Obama’s order here. Hillary Clinton’s replacement in the U.S. Senate has risen quickly to political power here. 3 people are accused of an extortion plot against John Travolta here. And it’s time to replay the Wild Card and go home for the weekend …
“North Idaho temperatures are taking a dip in the next few days,” posts Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho, ”dropping down into the single digits. Bundle up and enjoy the beauty of fog on the lake and the icy artistry on the trees. This solitary boater has a chilly Lake Coeur d’Alene all to himself.”
I heard it for the first time while driving home from town the other day. At first, I thought I probably had heard it wrong. Then, the singer crooned the line again. It went something like this: Oh Lord, let me be what my dog thinks of me. Not a bad goal, I thought. Then, I got to wondering: what DO my dogs think of me? What do my horses think of me. What do my cats think of me? And, Lord, what about my family and my friends?/Marianne Love, Slight Detour. More here.
Question: Can you tell whether your pets like/love you?
Kempthorne is testing the waters about a possible run in 2012. Kempthorne has a proven track record of accomplishment as Boise Mayor, U.S. Senator, governor and Interior secretary,” Bogert said. “His record of accomplishment in 23 years of service is something that he can be proud of and Idaho can be proud of,” Bogert said/Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: What would you think of Dirk Kempthorne running for president in ‘08?
Three-year-old Kyra Wine is at home with her grandparents George and Deanna and sister Amanda, 6. The toddler has undergone several surgeries since she was taken from the Hells Gulch home of her mother, Christina Haynes, last June. Today, 29-year-old Charles Smith admitted he inflicted Kyra’s injuries. See highlighted item below. Photo by Ralph Bartholdt, St. Maries Gazette Record.
Smith Admits Kyra Wine Abuse: The North Idaho man authorities say is responsible for the worst case of child abuse in Benewah County history has admitted he was guilty for Kyra Wine’s injuries. Twenty-nine-year-old Charles Smith has pled guilty to severely abusing his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter Kyra Wine. Smith changed his plea to guilty Friday morning/KXLY. More here.
Swiss skier Daniel Albrecht looses control during a downhill training on the legendary Streif downhill course in Kitzbuehel, Austria, Thursday. Albrecht injured himself in the crash after he lost control and flew through the air for about 40 meters (yards) coming to a stop near the finish line. You write the cutline.
They’re sleek. They’re hip. But darn are they hard to deal with when there’s a problem. University students with Macs face overwhelmingly few options when their machine is in need of repair. “We need an Apple store. With as many people on this campus who have Macs [Spokane] needs an Apple store,” said junior Rachel Harper. Harper has had her share of problems with her Apple laptop computer (donned a “Mac”). Her freshman year, after working on a term paper all night, she woke the next morning to a picture of a folder with a question mark on her screen. Apple support recommended that Harper take her Mac to the nearby CompUSA/Asia Hege, Gonzaga Bulletin. More here.
Question: Which do you prefer — Mac or PC?
People made a stink over Dr. Joseph Lowery’s benediction at the inauguration. They say his prayers for a day when “brown would stick around,” “the red man would get ahead, man” and “white would embrace what is right” are in bad taste. He was merely throwing a little humor into a serious event and hoping for a day when we are all equal. Lighten up/Jake Barber, photo editor, UI Argonaut. More Off The Cuff.
Question: Were you bugged by Dr. Lowery’s light-hearted prayer at the inauguration?
Granati gives us a bird’s-eye view of a car wash at OrangeFrog 76.
What if I waited for Joe? Would divorce and single motherhood still be in my future? Where would I live? Who would I be? Would I be Mrs. Joe or would I be Jeanie, formed from my past struggles and obstacles into a person who takes such things in stride, if not with a sense of humor. Would I have lost that person to become Mrs. Joe? Or would having wealth and prosperity and St. George’s school for my sons make me into something else. Would I have had more children? Would I have a daughter? Would Joe have been like my Dad, loving and kind, successful, affluent? Or was Joe only human too?/JeanieSpokane. More here.
HBO Numbers: 6103 page-views/3395 unique views
Question: Have you ever wondered what would have happened had you married another sweetheart rather than the one you ended up with?
In this undated photo released by NOROCK, Brazilian model Mariana Bridi poses during a photo session in Vitoria, Brazil. According to Espirito Santo Health Secretariat, 20-year-old Bridi is fighting a generalized infection which caused the amputation of both her hands and feet last week after the flow of oxygen to her limbs got compromised. Authorities said Bridi’s condition deteriorated overnight and was changed from “serious” to “very serious”. Story here. (AP Photo/ Octavio Bastos/ NOROCK)
Forget about football and basketball. Tantrum-defusing is Spokane’s No. 1 spectator sport. Practically everybody goes to the grocery store. And sooner or later we all witness little kids having meltdowns. So we also get to see how parents handle these public scenes. As you might have noticed, approaches and results vary. Some parents remain calm. They count on exhaustion or the eventual triumph of reason. Others lose it right along with their child down there on the floor, kicking and screaming. That can get ugly. Now it almost goes without saying that there are right ways and wrong ways to conduct yourself on the periphery of a category 5 tantrum/Paul Turner, SR Slice, More here.
Question: Paul Turner goes on to give several “right” and “wrong” ways to handle a tantrum when someone else’s kid is throwing a fit. How do you handle a tantrum when you encounter one at a store?
When they got to a restaurant she didn’t want to have to get back in the car with her date, but she had no money for a taxi. She spotted her landlady, Gert, and asked for cab fare, but Gert and her date didn’t have cash or a car either. “Let’s ask Denny,” she said, leading Vina to the table where her dream man sat. The evening stretched into the wee hours of the morning. “It ended up being a double date,” she said. At 2 a.m. they had a fried chicken feast at a local restaurant, and at 5 a.m. Denis took her to Mass, even though he wasn’t Catholic at the time. Two weeks later, 19-year-old Vina and 27-year-old Denis were married/Cindy Hval, SR Voices. More here.
Question: How long did you date your spouse before you married?
Greg Halvorson, of Portland, holds a sign outside of Portland City Hall in protest against Mayor Sam Adams. Adams, who admitted lying about a 2005 sexual relationship with an 18-year-old boy, says Portlanders should know “within days” whether he will resign. Meanwhile, Orbusmax reports that problems are mounting for the Portland mayor here. (AP Photo/Oregonian,Ross William Hamilton)
Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference in Albany, N.Y., today. Gillibrand, a second-term lawmaker from upstate New York, was named to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated when Hillary Rodham Clinton resigned to become secretary of state in the Obama administration. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
University of Idaho’s Eric Hunter falls into the end zone after blocking the first quarter Idaho State punt of Jon Vanderwielen Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008, in Moscow. Now, Collingwood Corner reports on his blog that Idaho State will play national power Oklahoma next year here. (AP Photo/Lewiston Tribune, Steve Hanks)
Question: At Collingwood Corner, the blogmaster points out that Idaho State (which had one win in the 2008 campaign in Division I-AA competition, will play No. 5 Oklahoma and Arizona State next year. It’ll receive $500,000 for playing Oklahoma. Should Idaho State be scheduling games against top I-A teams?
Item: Obama flashes irritation in press room/Politico
More Info: President Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press corps Thursday night, but got agitated when he was faced with a substantive question. Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration with a Deputy Defense Secretary nominee who lobbied for Raytheon, Obama interrupted with a knowing smile on his face. ”Ahh, see,” he said, “I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can’t end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I’m going to get grilled every time I come down here.”
Question: How open will Obama be to the media, after he’s been stung by them a time or two? Do you care if he’s open with the media?
I’m having trouble posting photos today. The techs are working on the problem.
Joseph Duncan, the notorious serial killer and child molester whose attack on a Coeur d’Alene family shocked the state, has been extradited to California, where he faces another possible death sentence for the 1997 kidnap and murder of 10-year-old Anthony Martinez. Earlier, Duncan received three death sentences in federal court in Boise for the kidnap, torture and murder of 9-year-old Dylan Groene of Coeur d’Alene, and multiple life sentences for the murders of Dylan’s mother, mother’s fiance and 13-year-old brother, and for the kidnap and molesting of his then-8-year-old sister Shasta, the only one to survive Duncan’s 2005 attack on the family/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Do you think the prosecutor in California is trying to gain the notoriety of prosecuting Duncan, who already is on Death Row? Or is he trying to serve justice?
So, I’m shopping for a few groceries this evening at Safeway and as always am jetting right past the organic foods, and as I shove my cart I muse a bit about my resistance to purchasing and eating organics. It’s partly the expense in these treacherous economic times, but that’s kind of a red herring actually, yes, organic foodstuffs are more expensive, but the true and most real reason I don’t eat them is they gross (me out). When I think of organic foods I think of crops eaten to pieces by horrid mutant crop bugs, the size of kittens, clacking and clattering with shiny chrome carapaces and antennas like swords. Bugs made fat and deadly on vegetables and grains grown sans pesticides and herbicides. I don’t want to eat a carrot with carrot weevil fang marks on it and bug crap smeared deep in the orange carrot crevices. Yuck/TUBOB. More here.
Question: Does organic food gross you out, too?
Looks like the ITD board is going to reverse itself today and put the Dover Bridge back on the list of “shovel-ready” projects that are candidates for federal economic stimulus funds. Their excuse: Now it looks like we’ll get more money, so they don’t have to pare down the list. Earlier they bumped the North Idaho bridge that’s received national attention as one of the worst in the country, because they wanted to spread the money to other parts of the state. Betsy Russell/Eye On Boise reports that Gov. Otter is happy with the change of heart here.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gives the state of the state address to a joint session of the Senate and House in the Capitol in Juneau, Alaska on Thursday as Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, left, and House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski listen. (AP Photo/Al Grillo)
Question: Who plays a better Sarah Palin — Sarah herself? Or Tina Fey?
Item: Economy, Jobs Trump All Other Policy Priorities In 2009: Environment, Immigration, Health Care Slip Down the List/Pew Research Center
More Info: As Barack Obama takes office, the public’s focus is overwhelmingly on domestic policy concerns – particularly the economy. Strengthening the nation’s economy and improving the job situation stand at the top of the public’s list of domestic priorities for 2009. Meanwhile, the priority placed on issues such as the environment, crime, illegal immigration and even reducing health care costs has fallen off from a year ago.
Question: No surprise that economy and jobs are the top two concerns that Americans have as the Obama administration begins. Are you surprised that global warming is dead last?
Item: NIC cancels popcorn forum: Funding, format cited as reasons for cut/Maureen Dolan, Coeur d’Alene Press
More Info: It’s the first time since 1970 that the annual lecture series and symposium will not be held on the college campus. Open to the public each spring, the forum featured a week-long string of lectures, panel discussions and workshops focused on critical political and cultural issues. “The Popcorn Forum has been a valued program at North Idaho College for more than 30 years,” said NIC Vice President for Instruction Jay Lee. “And while it will certainly be missed this year, it has not been forgotten.”
Question: Should North Idaho College make a stronger effort to continue the Popcorn Forum? Or should the college simply let it retire as guiding light Tony Stewart did?
In the news this evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid predicts that Treasury nominee Timothy Geithner will win approval, despite his tax problems, here. Pro-lifers marked the 36th anniversary on Roe-v-Wade with a rally at the National Mall here. Reportedly, Sarah Palin is working on a book here. Obama’s urging Israel to open Gaza borders, a departure from Bush policies, here. And the Wild Card remains on the table …
Gonzaga’s Demetri Goodson drives past Pepperdine’s Keion Bell during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Malibu, Calif., this evening. Gonzaga game story & boxscore here. (AP Photo/Branimir Kvartuc)
At 4:10 p.m., Coeur d’Alene Police with assistance from Post Falls Police, took Cherish D. Miller, 19, of Coeur d’Alene, into custody after receiving a tip that she was at her parent’s residence at Sonic Drive and Mullan Avenue in Post Falls. Her parents were not home when officers arrived. Miller was still wearing the handcuffs on her left hand. She was transported to jail and is facing charges for escape and malicious injury to property, due to the damage to the patrol vehicle/CPD Blue press release.
Chris Kunishige and his daughter Sarah, age 3 years from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho,, take a break from visiting the 2009 RV Show at the Spokane Fair & Expo Center in Spokane, Wash., today. They have recently purchased a RV but were there helping friends look for a RV. DAN PELLE The Spokesman-Review.
The University
of Idaho is ditching a plan to allow students of the opposite sex to
live together in campus suites when the fall semester begins in August. In a statement Thursday, interim university president
Steven Daley-Laursen says he is not comfortable with the proposal
because although the suites have private bedrooms, they include shared
bathrooms/AP. More here. Question: Did the University of Idaho make the right decision in the end?
White ice crystals, known as radiation frost, decorate the flag on a mail box Wednesday in Coeur d’Alene. The tiny spikes form on cold clear nights when radiation losses into the open skies cause objects to become colder than the surrounding air. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
In this two image composite, Laura Zuniga is crowned as Miss Sinaloa state at left in the city of Mazatlan, Mexico July 8, 2008, and is shown to the press with unidentified gunmen after her recent arrest in the city of Zapopan, Mexico. Police said Zuniga who was stopped at a checkpoint, was riding in one of two trucks with seven men, where soldiers found a large stash of weapons and some $53,300 in U.S. currency. You write the cutline. (AP Photo)
Top Cutlines:
John Martin has been selected as
the new vice president for community relations and marketing at North Idaho
College, a role he was appointed to on temporary assignment in August of 2008. Martin was asked to serve in the
interim after former NIC vice president for community relations Kent Propst
accepted a position as the executive director of the foundation of Peru State
College in Nebraska. Martin served as the regional
director for U.S. Senator Larry Craig’s North Idaho office from 2004 to
2008. Prior to that, he was the disabled veterans outreach program manager for
the Idaho Department of Labor.His background also includes more
than 30 years of human resources experience both in private industry and the
military. He retired as lieutenant colonel from the U.S. Air Force after 24
years of service/NIC news release. Full release below.
Mayor Sam Adams apologizes for his lie and his sexual relationship with an 18 year old (who may have been under-age at the time) at a press conference in the Rose Room Tuesday at City Hall in Portland, Ore. Randy Stapilus no longer believes that Adams’ scandal will blow over here. And Michael Costello of Red County believes the media is ignoring the fact that Adams is a Democrat here. (AP Photo/ Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian.
Question: Should Sam Adams step down for lying about this affair, especially if it’s discovered that the individual involved was under-aged at the time? Or should he soldier on and make his constituents recall him, as was the case with Spokane Mayor Jim West?
Coeur d’Alene Police are looking for Cherish D. Miller, 19, of Post Falls, who escaped from police custody at 12:35 p.m. today. Miller was detained for a misdemeanor warrant for failure to appear on a crime she was charged with while still a minor. She was handcuffed and placed into the rear seat of a marked patrol car. The patrol vehicle was not running and the doors were locked. While the officer was interviewing other suspects with warrants at the residence, Miller pried off a foam seal around the window of the cage that separates officers from suspects. It is believed she slipped her cuffs in order to have her hands in front of her. She opened the slide mechanism on the window of the cage and. She climbed through the cage and exited the vehicle. Officers searched the surrounding area for Miller but couldn’t find her. Miller is a white female, 5’8, 130, blonde hair (was pinned up today) and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing black pants, black Vans shoes, and a black and red flannel jacket. She is possibly still wearing handcuffs.
“Rathdrum Creek runs off Rathdrum Mountain and here, where it flows through Rathdrum City Park, outcroppings from the shore create an icy mosaic,” posts Kerri/OnLocation North Idaho.
My husband sent me a text and I replied to him to be safe and that I loved him. A few minutes later, I got a text from my boss saying he thought highly of me too, but he was sure my text of love was for my hubby. I turned several shades of red, then giggled as I realized what I had done, and turned more shades of red/Live, Love, Laugh, Hope (“Color Me Red”). More here.
Question: Have you ever sent a personal note to a family member or loved one, only to be embarrassed when it accidentally landed in someone else’s e-mailbox?
Rep. Steve Kren, R-Nampa, got himself peppered with questions today when he proposed legislation in the House Resources Committee to limit so-called “super hunts” mostly to state residents, allowing only 10 percent of the permits to go to non-residents. That’s the case already for most controlled hunts, but the super hunts are a special program in which about 40 tags are raffled off each year, allowing the winners to choose from any valid open hunt in the state. Kren said about 30 percent of the winners have been out-of-staters, and that’s gotten folks in his district grumbling/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Do you support Rep. Kren’s idea re: limiting the number of nonresidents who can participate in Idaho’s “super hunts”?
At Eye On Boise, Betsy Russell tells us that a “suspicious” package containing hair products for Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, shut down the down the state mailroom and parking garage above it temporarily Wednesday. When Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis poked fun, Schroeder responded: “I guess all of you know why I’m so beautiful now.” Betsy tells you all about it here.
Item: Seniors tackle, master basics in Computer Kindergarten: As easy as tying your shoes/Cindy Hval, SR Voices
More Info: This three-day computer class is designed to introduce novices to the world of Windows, keyboards and mysterious icons. Fender teaches at the Hillyard Center and said he’s instructed students from age 55-90. Older students are often “afraid of the computer,” he said, because they haven’t used one. But according to Fender, “They’re the largest new group of computer users.”
Question: Do you plan to learn a new/different skill after you retire?
Traffic passes by an Adopt-A-Highway sign along U.S. Highway 160 in Springfield, Mo., Thursday. A neo-Nazi group recently volunteered to clean up trash along the stretch of roadway on Springfield’s west side. Members of the highway cleanup program are required to clean up trash at least four times a year. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Question: Would you be more apt to litter along this stretch of highway? Or to call Adopt-A-Highway officials and ask what’s going on?
Does Rush Limbaugh hate this country? When was this ever asked about people who spent years doing nothing but undermining the efforts of our troops and our nation overseas? What we’ve been hearing for years is that not only is it okay to undermine your country and the commander-in-chief in a time of war, but, “Don’t question their patriotism.” And let me say this, I didn’t recall a whole lot of people shouting, “I hope Bush succeeds” back in 2001 from the left. In the aftermath of Florida, the far left was gunning for Bush/Adam’s Blog. More here.
Question: Has dissent become unpatriotic as the age of Obama dawns?
Item: Dover Bridge back on stimulus list/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise
More Info: The Idaho Transportation Board, meeting this morning in Boise, has voted 4-1 to put the Dover Bridge and the I-84 Vista Interchange back on its list of “shovel-ready” projects ready to receive federal economic stimulus funds. Two weeks ago, the board had crossed those two projects off the priority list, saying they wanted to spread the money around the state. “Things are changing on a daily basis regarding potential stimulus package,” ITD Director Pam Lowe told the board.
Question: Did the Transportation Board find more money? Or did it give in to common sense and pressure? After all, the Dover Bridge was listed as one of the 10 in most need of attention in the country.
Item: 20% of UI frosh failing academically/Travis Mason-Bushman, UI Argonaut
More Info: Twenty percent of the University of Idaho’s 2008 freshman class is on academic probation this spring, and that stark figure, released by the Office of the Dean of Students last week, put UI officials on a mission to help these students boost their academic performance and get back on track for graduation. A total of 405 UI freshmen were placed on academic probation as a result of their fall semester or cumulative grade point averages falling below 2.0.
Question: Do you think University of Idaho is that demanding academically? Or are many in the fall freshman class lazy or too busy with non-academic pursuits?
Geese forage for food on a grassy slope Wednesday, near Lake Coeur d’Alene in Coeur d’Alene. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
More Info: President Barack Obama plans to sign on Thursday an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center (AP photo above) within a year and halt military trials of terror suspects held there, the Associated Press reported. The executive order was one of three expected imminently on how to interrogate and prosecute al Qaeda, Taliban or other foreign fighters believed to threaten the United States. Update here.
Question: Will Obama be disrespecting the memory of 9/11 victims if he closes the Guantanamo Bay detention center?
It is painfully obvious some would chose to room with a significant other. This is America, and two consenting adults are free to do whatever they can possibly imagine. However, this is with the state’s assistance. While I am sure our student body is doing everything possible to be “safe,” accidents do happen, and the state is currently working to prevent unwanted pregnancies and financially supporting single mothers. It is counterproductive for the state to simultaneously support mixed-gender cohabitation while at the same time pleading for people to abstain until they are financially solvent/Jeff Reznicek, UI Argonaut. More here.
Question: Is the University of Idaho sending mixed messages with its intention to offer mixed-gender housing?
Item: Naples grandfather takes us NIC dorm life: Student didn’t want to make long driver every day/Gwen Albers, Hagadone News Network
More Info: Roger Kramer occasionally has to ask his neighbors to turn down the rock music. These aren’t his neighbors in Naples, but at North Idaho College, where the 58-year-old former long-haul trucker lives in the dorm. “I just yell over to them,” Kramer said when his fellow students crank up the likes of AC/DC or Metallica. An accident that left Kramer with crushed vertebrae and fractured discs in his back made it impossible to continue trucking, so he gave up his career of 32 years.
Question: Are you with it enough at your age to survive life in a dorm?
Scott Stantis/Birmingham News
In the news this evening: Caroline Kennedy is bowing out of the U.S. Senate stakes in New York here. President Obama is ready to lay off torturers at Gitmo here. Obama short-circuited any possible right-wing conspiracy theory by re-taking the oath of office here. A new study concludes that life expectancy is up as a result of cleaner air here. And the Wild Card stays on the table …
Gerard Coleman, chocolatier and co-founder of L’Artisan du Chocolat in London. shows one of his collection made of chocolate during a press preview of a chocolate fair at a department store in Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
I was a total geek in high school. I played the tuba. I was in advanced math classes. I was too afraid to go to dances. But, besides ALL that … I was proud to be the fastest typer in keyboarding class. It was slightly old school, we actually used electric typewriters. I think it was about the time that schools were trying to figure out how to integrate this new-fangled computer thing. Ever since, I would occasionally find myself looking at a roadside sign, and typing it out in my head. I felt stupid for doing so/Otis G Experience. More here (caution: Eye Candy).
Question: How many words can you type a minute?
A lone coyote makes his way across a frost and snow covered field today near Johnson, Wash. (AP Photo/Lewiston Tribune, Kyle Mills)
President Barack Obama gets caught in first lady Michelle Obama’s dress train as they dance at the Commander in Chief Ball at the National Building Museum in Washington Tuesday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Top Cutlines:
“I think FDR himself would be proud of the New Deal Meal at the Beachouse,” said Jerry Jaeger, president of Hagadone Hospitality and co-owner of Hagadone Hospitality Co., which owns the Beachouse. “All people need to do is call us at 664-6464 and make reservations for the New Deal and we’ll make them happy. Even so, times are tough and they may want to give themselves a little discount. We will trust their judgment, no questions asked.”
Question: At the Beachouse, you can buy a New Deal Meal — with dinner entrees ranging from $18 to $38 — for whatever price you want to pay. Would any of you have the nerve to walk away without putting down any cash but a tip?
“Having been inside a honeybucket once at The Festival with two naughty adolescents peering down at me through the vent,” writes Marianne Love/Slight Detour, ”I wonder how many people were a bit reluctant to use the facilities. I’m guessing, however, that Mother Nature’s calls far exceeded modesty in that setting.” Bryant Jones, a former student of Marianne’s, provided Slight Detour with this photo and others of offbeat scenes at Barack Obama’s inaugaration Tuesday here. Question: Would you use a honeybucket with a person or two sitting on top who could look through the vent at you?
Here is one the best little legal tidbits MamaJD could ever provide her friends: Free makeup or perfume lotion at Macy’s here in Coeur d’Alene as well as in Spokane and also at Nordstrom! There is a class action settlement that entitles you to a regular size item from an assortment of choices (Lancome, Estee Lauder, Clinique, etc) which can be obtained now at Macy’s and Nordstrom. You do not have to have a receipt. You will need to sign your name releasing your claim to something that you didn’t know you were eligible for. Men - if you want to impress your lady, go on into Macys and get some smelly lotion (for free). I saw a couple of men there picking items up for their ladies/MamaJD. More here.
I don’t think I have lost my identity – you hear women whine all the time that they don’t know who they are. I am first and foremost – Mom. It’s my favorite job. It’s my longest running job – I have never been fired nor laid off and I doubt I will ever have to worry about job security until the day I die – and then it is my children who will have lost their parent / teacher / friend / nurse / fireman / instructor / life coach / driver / all-around rescuer from all things girl, pet, sport, life in general issues. (I haven’t quite figured out how to put that down on my resume)/JeanieSpokane, Nuts & Nonsense. More here.
Question (for mothers): Do you mind being know as “Mom”?
In this Jan. 13 file photo, Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Secretary of State-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., looks on during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate has confirmed Hillary Rodham Clinton to become secretary of state. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Early numbers for the inauguration of Barack Obama are impressive but, perhaps surprisingly, could come in below those for Ronald Reagan‘s first term in 1981. Preliminary Nielsen estimates show that 29.2% of U.S. households were watching the presidential inauguration — easily the largest in decades but below the 37.4 household rating for Reagan. … In primetime, Fox’s “American Idol” scored the biggest numbers Tuesday, as people seemed to tire of inaugural coverage/Variety. More here.
Question: What does this say about our country — that a weekly showing “American Idol” can trump a historic inauguration?
Kate StormoGipson, 24 of Coeur d Alene, climbed the tree to see if there was any movement at the front of the long line trying to get through the barricades and witness Barack Obama’s inauguration. (Photo/Justin StormoGipson)
The crowds are huge. We are packed tightly against each other. People trying to cross through what might be the line squeeze through miserably. There is no, zero, crowd control; all the thought seems to have gone into controlling the crowds inside the barricades around the mall. There is absolutely no one to organize the crowds on our side. The question/comment goes through the crowd frequently: Do you all have purple tickets? Everyone does. It defies logic that they would issue too many tickets for the area we’re ticketed for, so we continue on the faith that this line will move and they’ll start getting us in/Inaugaral Afoot (four Sandpointers on foot for the inaugaration). More here.
Question: What will you remember most about the inauguration?
How many books did you read last year?/Lewiston Tribune
Item: Teen challenges curfew law in Idaho town/KTVB
More Info: David Heida, an attorney representing a boy identified as John Doe, told the court Tuesday that Wendell’s curfew ordinance is void because it is too vague, is an overbroad violation of a child’s First Amendment rights, violates the Equal Protection Clause, and violates a parent’s fundamental right to parent a child.
Question: Are curfew laws obsolete?
Caelin Bradshaw, 6, of Ketchum, Idaho, sits atop the shoulders of his father, Neil, at a small rally in downtown Seattle Tuesday, following the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The family traveled to Seattle so that they could celebrate the inauguration with a greater diversity than they said could be found in Idaho. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
When riding in an aircraft it’s not good to hit a goose, and yet one would prefer that to the same thing with a moose. The Bard of Sherman Avenue
One after another, the members of the House State Affairs Committee voted “Aye,” all 18 of them, on Rep. Darrell Bolz’ proposal to reject legislative pay raises this year. Bolz’ proposal also rejects all the changes in mileage and per diem expenses that a citizen committee had recommended this year. “What we are doing is rejecting all of these,” he told the panel this morning. The committee voted not only to introduce the measure, but to send it to 2nd Reading Calendar of the full House, which means it goes directly to the floor without a further hearing on the House side. It’ll save the state about $180,000 by foregoing raises or any other compensation boosts for lawmakers/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Still, wouldn’t you like to vote on whether or not you receive a pay increase?
Model builder Gary McIntire puts the finishing touches on a Lego presidential inauguration scene at Legoland California in Carlsbad, Calif. The scene was built to celebrate President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony. (AP Photo/Sandy Huffaker)
Question: Do you have Legos in your house?
Ah, meeting the speling, er, spelling bee champions from Sagle Elementary School’s fourth-grade contest. This cutline appeared in the Tuesday edition of the Bonner County Bee. Click on photo for enlargement. Hat Tip — to eagle-eye Sue for spotting it.
The victory last fall of a tall, skinny candidate for president who defeated a short candidate has revived the myth that the tallest candidate always wins. Actually, there’s some truth to the myth. Historically, the tallest candidate for president doesn’t always win, but he wins far more often than not. People are probably talking about that pattern again now because the 2008 winner, Barack Obama (6 foot 11/2 inch) is 71/2 inches taller than his opponent, John McCain (5 foot 6-inch). Obama seems even taller than he is because he’s only about 4 inches wide. However, eight presidents have been taller, including the tallest of all, that other Illinois bean pole, Abraham Lincoln, at 6 foot 4 inches/Bill Hall, Lewiston Tribune. Full column below.
Question: What role do you think such physical attributes as height play in the success of political candidates?
When my daughters were young they went camping, hunting, fishing and everything with me. Then they became teenagers. Suddenly I was avoided like the plague. At 19 I started coming back into good graces. I’ve come to understand that they may not grow up to be my best hunting buddies, but PLEASE don’t marry some little golfing nerd. At least marry a hunter so we can have some resemblance of a relationship! My oldest daughters boyfriend Chris just bought a shotgun. I think all boys want to hunt if they have someone that will teach them. He tried to burn the barrel out the first week/Tom Claycomb, Get Outta Town. More here.
Question: Would you rather have your child marry a hunter or a “golfing nerd”?
Appetizers
Question: Which appetizer would you choose to eat first?
“Considering that many neighborhoods in Kootenai County have experienced an over-population of deer,” writes Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho, ”I was surprised to see this advertisement on the side of the farm and feed store on Highway 53 in Rathdrum. Deer Chow? Who knew. ”
Did Obama change your perspective on the country’s future Tuesday?/Idaho Statesman.
Kage Mann: Thank God,the festivities are over and Obama doesn’t have to speak anymore. He has been talking for two years now,but now it’s time to put up or shut-up. No more rhetoric,but action. Let’s see what he will do in crunch time, esp. when the chips are down. BTW, what’s up with one of the shortest speeches in presidential history?
Question: Are you ready for Obama to put shoe leather to the rhetoric?
Item: Did lobbyist offer cash for regulator’s vote? A candidate was promised $500 but didn’t get it after her DEQ board vote on a rule opposed by Realtors/Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman
More Info: A canceled campaign contribution from Idaho’s most generous lobbying group is prompting calls to toughen the state bribery law. A $500 contribution was promised in October to House Republican candidate Joan Cloonan of Garden City. But it was withdrawn hours later after Cloonan, who sits on the Department of Environmental Quality board, voted for a rule on septic systems that was opposed by the Idaho Association of Realtors.
Question: Should Idaho toughen its bribery laws to prevent individuals from rescinding promised political contributions?
It has been quite a day. A historic day. A day of new beginnings. Barack H. Obama’s inauguration, of course, dominated the news. But there were other things going on, too. U.S. Sens. Ted Kennedy was forced by illness to leave inaugural luncheon here. The U.S. Senate confirmed 6 members of Obama’s Cabinet Tuesday here. Wall Street gave Obama the coldest welcome in inauguration history by tumbling 332 points here. Meanwhile, thousands were shut out of the historic festivities, despite holding tickets and waiting hours here. And it’s time to replay the Wild Card …
Former President George W. Bush, left, salutes and his wife, Laura, waves as they depart Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Tuesday. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Do you think Barack Obama can carry out his massive agenda?/KHQ
What I mean by remarkable is following the swearing in, Obama will begin glowing a sapphire blue with a ruby tinged aura and laser beams will shoot out of his eyeballs, except they won’t be death rays they will be happy golden loverays infused with silvery motes of mica flakes dancing in the happy beams and as he scans the crowd and his happy eye beams touch each and every one of us, even those of us watching at home, because he will also glance at the tv cams, we will instantly become better persons, persons willing to stop bitching about everything and roll up our sleeves and do something to make the country better, to restore and repair the damage our 8 years of complicity to the snarling hell dogs unleashed by the prior president who will now remain nameless befitting his soulless status/TUBOB. More here.
Question: Have we entered the new millennial with Barack H. Obama spreading love and benevolence throughout the country and world, as TUBOB contends? Or the Great Tribulation, as some Obamaphobes might maintain?
“At first glance,” writes Kerri Thoreson/OnLocation North Idaho, ”I thought I’d spotted an eight-legged and very wide sheep in a farmer’s field on the Rathdrum Prairie. Alas, it was a pair of wooley pals staying warm on a frosty morning.” Kerri has several new photos on her blog.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, in wheelchair, waves on the tarmac earlier today at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Question: Some of you say Cheney in the wheelchair today reminds them of Dr. Strangelove. Others of Montgomery Burns from “The Simpsons.” What say you?
At As The Lake Churns, blogmistress Pecky Cox provides her readers — as well as Huckleberries commenters and blurkers — a reminder that winter in North Idaho has its unique beauty.
Well, I am a pretty ordinary person. I have an awesome husband and two awesome kids. I like to write, some say its a gift, some say its a curse. I post twisted, yet funny stuff on myspace and facebook way too much. I blog here about more serious stuff. I started this blog partly because I found myself growing frustrated responding to other peoples blogs and figured constructive action was better than criticizing others. That and I had to do something with my time when I didn’t get into law school/Liz, My Life’s A Freak Show. You can welcome the newest blogger to the HBO Blogosphere here.
President Barack Obama walks down Pennsylvania Avenue with his wife Michelle Obama on their way to the White House in Washington this afternoon. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
In honor of the inauguration of President Obama, Washington state’s Secretary of State is selling U.S. flags that are being flown at the state capitol today. (Yup, there’s some person who’s going to be busy hauling flags up and down all day. Really.) You can buy the 3-foot by 5-foot flags for $14 if you pick them up at the Secretary of State’s front desk, or they’ll mail you one for $17.25. “People just snatch them up,” said Dave Ammons, a spokesman for Secretary of State Sam Reed. Each comes with a certificate, state seal, and Reed’s signature. Any proceeds go to thestate capitol historical furnishings fund./Rich Roesler, Eye On Olympia. More here.
Word evidently got back to U of I administrators of this brewing storm, because by 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon, every legislator had received a plaintive letter from Bruce Pitman, the school’s Vice Provost of Student Affairs and Dean of Students. Pitman complains that press accounts had misrepresented the school’s policy, and assured legislators that co-ed options would only be open to upper class students – juniors and seniors – as if it was the age and not the concept that was of primary concern. The purpose of the co-ed option, says Pitman, is “to effectively foster positive relationships with the opposite sex” and is available only to “older students.” Trying to defend the policy change on such slim grounds is farcical, since 20- and 21-year old girls can get just as pregnant and just as an infected with an STD as an 18- and 19-year old/Bryan Fischer, Idaho Values Alliance. More here.
Question: Should Idaho legislators pressure the University of Idaho to overturn its decision to allow co-gender living arrangements on campus?
At the nation’s Capitol, Kootenai County Demo chief Thom George finds an interesting individual to chat up — new Illinois Sen. Roland Burris, if I’m not mistaken.
5-year old Sophie Saari of Coeur d’alene takes the microphone from co-chair Ivan Bush and proclaims “Happy Birthday,” to the crowd at the conclusion of the Dr. Martin Luther King Unity March in the atrium of Riverpark Square Monday. J. BART RAYNIAK The Spokesman-Review
At the inauguration (courtesy of Justin StormoGipson), Coeur d Alene residents in attendance include (from left): Steve and Bev Moss, Maj and Justin StormoGipson, and Susan and Charlie Nipp. Charlie, of course, is the local boy who helped develop our Ironwood medical center and recently served as chairman for the Lake City Development Corp. Wife Susan is famous for the creating the Wee Sing series and as a co-author of the Mudgy & Millie children’s book. Which raises the question: What are a coupla well-heeled CDA residents like the Nipps doing hanging out at the Obama inauguration? Aren’t all of Lake City’s wealthy people Republicans?
Chief Justice John Roberts is a man who has made very few public missteps in his life — but he appears to have made one when swearing in Barack Obama. Roberts slightly flubbed the oath, which then tripped up Obama. The oath is contained in the Constitution: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” But when Roberts swore in Obama, he flipped some of the words, saying: “I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully”/Daily Kos. More here.
DFO: Hey, it’s a new age. Daily Kos, as the go-to blog of the Left, should have face time here. Having said that, I’ll let you click on the link to discover the headline that Kos used. Which you won’t see in a headline at Huckleberries Online.
Billy Johnson, far left, of Charlotte, N.C., photographs General Mealer, right, with his grandsons Daryll Mealer, 7, second from left, and Jason Mealer, 6, with a cardboard cutout of President-elect Barack Obama on the National Mall in Washington Monday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Early results in a KREM.com survey indicate nearly 60 percent of readers and viewers believe President elect Barack Obama is ‘overhyped.’ Those respondents - 62.07% - indicated they are not excited about Obama as president. After that 20.69% respondents said they are excited about Obama while 17.24% said they are indifferent/KREM2. More here.
DFO: Do you agree with these early results?
First lady Michelle Obama wore a sparkling yellow-gold sheath dress with matching coat by Cuban-born American designer Isabel Toledo for the inauguration of her husband, a choice many applauded as a cheerful message of hope and a vote for the American fashion industry. She paired the embellished ensemble with green gloves from J. Crew and green shoes. President Barack Obama wore a red tie and white shirt with his suit, topped with an overcoat adorned with an American flag pin. Their daughters were style icons in their own right, with 10-year-old Malia in a double-breasted periwinkle-blue coat with a blue-ribbon bow at the waist, and Sasha, 7, in a pink coat with orange scarf and satin belt, a coral-colored dress peeking out at the hem. Their coats were from Crewcuts by J. Crew/AP. More here.
Question: What did you think of the new First Lady’s outfit at the inauguration?
Study: Men better at suppressing their hunger/AP
More Info: Faced with their favorite foods, women are less able than men to suppress their hunger, a discovery that may help explain the higher obesity rate for females, a new study suggests. Researchers trying to understand the brain’s mechanisms for controlling food intake were surprised at the difference between the sexes in brain response.
Question: How much willpower do you have in suppressing hunger during diets?
Item: Man’s best friend in death, too: Bill would let pets be buried with people/Rich Roesler, Eye On Olympia
More Info: On Monday, while many people had a day off, state Sen. Ken Jacobsen was facing a state Senate committee, trying to persuade his fellow lawmakers to let people be buried with their pets. He was absolutely serious. The idea came to him a couple of years ago, when his beloved 23-pound cat, Sam, died from cancer. “I asked the kids to bury him in the backyard and I told them that when I’m ready to go, I’d like to take Sam with me,” said Jacobsen, 63. “Because he really was one of my best friends.”
Question: Would you want your favorite pet buried with you?
Cassie Krajack, 7, waits to introduce the next “I Have A Dream,” poetry reader from Sorensen Magnet School as Meike McCaw, 7, finishes her reading Monday, Jan. 19, 2009 at a Martin Luther King event at Calypso’s Coffee in Coeur d’Alene. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
Barack Obama, second right, joined by his wife Michelle, far left, and daughters Sasha, second left, and Malia, not shown, takes the oath of office from Chief Justice John Roberts to become the 44th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol in Washington today. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen)
DFO: Let’s have a conversation about today’s historic events under this posting.
President Bush, right, walks out with President-elect Barack Obama, on the North Portico of the White House before sharing the presidential limousine enroute to Capitol Hill for inauguration in Washington this morning. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
How are you feeling about today’s inauguration?/SeattlePI
All I could think of this morning was Woody Guthrie. The last two stanzas of his American classic are:
“As I was walkin’ - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin’
But on the other side …. it didn’t say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!
“In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’
If this land’s still made for you and me.”
Today, Woody, you can rest peacefully because this land is still made for you and me/MikeK.
A few years ago, I went to visit my aunt in St. Louis. I was excited to visit the University district, after hearing it was culturally diverse. I found my way there, and for the first time in my life, experienced what I had always wondered possible. There were Muslims. Latinos. African Americans. Everything I’d never seen in Idaho. They were all shopping, walking among each other, and surprisingly… talking to each other. And the best part? Nobody seemed to really think anything of it. Just the naïve white guy from Idaho. I felt hope for America. At the same time, I also wondered why this wasn’t the norm for America. I returned to the boring, white safety of Idaho/Otis G’s Experience. More here.
Question: How will Obama’s election and performance is president affect racism in America?
At Keokee Co. Publishing in Sandpoint, the staff is combining efforts to post their insights into Barack Obama’s inauguration with this new blog, Inaugural Afoot, here. Meanwhile, ThomG will be all atwitter with his Twitter feeds Tuesday (if he can get the signal out). The Wayward Episcopalian will be posting his thoughts in D.C., too. And Justin StormoGipson has been sending Huckleberries photos, like the one above. Finally, Video Journal colleague Colin Mulvany provides a poignant video of the Cheney High student who died in a car crash here. I’m off today, for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. But I’ll be ready to moderate the discussion re: the inauguration in the North Idaho blogosphere Tuesday. Now, for your first Wild Card of the week …
President-elect Barack Obama speaks at the Lincoln Memorial during an inaugural concert in Washington Sunday. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
It’s a new beginning for the country. We have matured to where we’ve elected a man for his qualities without qualification. How wonderful is that? At times I wonder if we elected him more for the man he would seem to be than for his policies. Quite probably. Next week the hype will begin to subside. The pundits will ratchet back up and start picking apart everything Obama. The realities happening around the world will again make the headlines. For now, though, it’s a time for the celebration of new beginnings. No matter what may lie ahead, I’m going to take the week and rejoice in the fact that this infant of a nation, which has been crawling for years, has taken a huge first step/Dogwalk Musings. More here.
Question: Are you filled with hope or despair as America stands on the doorstep of the historic inauguration of Barack Obama?
When the news of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination hit Spokane on April 4, 1968, some lashed out in anger. “Windows Broken at 16 City Firms,” reported the Spokane Chronicle the next day. Rock-throwing vandals smashed shop windows along Third and Fifth avenues downtown. “It is unfortunate that a small group of people saw fit to copy the actions of small groups of people in other areas,” said police chief E.W. Parsons. Yet this reaction was mild compared with the riots that erupted in Memphis, Washington, D.C. and other cities. It was also mild compared to what was happening in Seattle, where a series of gasoline bombs caused 21 fires, or in Tacoma, where rioters started arson fires and looted shops/Jim Kershner, SR. More here.
Question: What were you doing when you heard about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.?
Obama, the first African-American to be elected president, looked out at the sea of people and told them, “What gives me hope is what I see when I look out across this mall. For in these monuments are chiseled those unlikely stories that affirm our unyielding faith – a faith that anything is possible in America.” He gazed fleetingly at the Washington Monument in the distance. “Rising before us stands a memorial to a man who led a small band of farmers and shopkeepers in revolution against the army of an empire, all for the sake of an idea,” he said. He looked at the World War II memorial down the mall, “a tribute to a generation that withstood war and depression, men and women like my grandparents who toiled on bomber assembly lines and marched across Europe to free the world from tyranny’s grasp”/McClatchy Newspapers. More here.
Question: Why is Obama so popular?
At the risk of sounding pollyanish, I’d like to express my gratitude to the people of Coeur d’Alene. My husband and I moved our family here three years ago and have never had a regret in choosing Coeur d’Alene as our relocation destination. The schools have provided an excellent education to our children, the business community has been open-minded, and folks you meet in the course of a routine day are about as friendly as they come. As the world around us becomes increasingly complex, bordering on inhuman, I am thankful for the warmth and friendliness I encounter here in the course of a normal day. Coeur d’Alene still is a small town in the important ways/Leslie Macomber, Coeur d’Alene.
Question: Are Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden and Sandpoint still small enough towns for you?
I set up a new computer work station at home this evening, for those days when I want to blog from home rather than the office. It involved hooking up the Mac Book to a new monitor, keyboard and printer. I remember the old days when I spent hours trying to figure out where all the cords and plugs went. Apple, of course, seems to make these operations simple. But I must have picked up something along the way because I was able to noodle through the one or two snags I hit. Same thing with the new blogware. Once I understand the concept, I can figure out how to make the software do what I want it to do. I recall that New Year’s resolution of 2007 — or mebbe it was the year before — not to be intimidated by technology. That’s why I opted for the Mac Book over a familiar PC (which I was using to interview Mayor Sandi Bloem for my first of the old Huckleberries Gone Wi-Fi interviews in 2007) when I was assigned a laptop. I haven’t become a Mac snob. But I can see why many people swear by them. I’m sure I’ll find excuses to post from home in the coming days. Meanwhile, I’d better play this Wild Card and go to bed …
The most memorable Inauguration during my teaching tenure was that of Ronald Reagan in 1981 when Iran’s release of the hostages after 444 days coincided with the new President taking over. It always seemed like a real “in your face” to Jimmy Carter who had been so paralyzed at do anything about the hostage situation which kept us all riveted for so long. I was always proud that my students got to see history in the making, even if only through the lens of a camera–they were, at least, seeing it as it happened. We didn’t have such options when President John F. Kennedy assumed office in 1961. I was in junior high at the time, and I had to come home to hear my mother tell about what a stirring speech he had given. I think I heard “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country” by the time I walked from the kitchen to the living room where we sat and watched Walter Cronkite and the evening news in black and white to see what the new President had said that day/Marianne Love, Slight Detour. More here (second item).
Question: What was your most memorable inaugaration?
In a photo provided to Huckleberries by Justin StormoGipson, new Idaho Congressman Walt Minnick gives a group of Coeur d’Alene resident a personal tour of the Capitol on Saturday. The four North Idaho Democrats are getting ready to celebrate the inaugaration of Barack Obama on Tuesday. The are (from left): Hana Truscott, Maj StormoGipson, (Minnick center), Justin StormoGipson, and Kate StormoGipson. Justin StormoGipson will provide Huckleberries with inside photos of the inaugaration, while Kootenai County Demo chief Thom George plans to Twitter the event. Also on hand providing color will by Nathan Empsall (aka Wayward Episcopalian and Transplanted Texan).
Philipps is the 53-year-old CEO of Rosauers Supermarkets, a Spokane-based chain with 21 outlets spread across the four states of the Inland Northwest. Two Saturdays ago, Philipps and his management team gathered at a North Side pizza joint, along with employees whose lives had been in turmoil since Dec. 29. That’s when a massive buildup of snow collapsed the roof of the Rosauers at Five Mile.None of the 40 customers or 40 workers who was inside when the sky fell that early evening was hurt seriously. One employee suffered a few minor injuries when the avalanche force of descending snow and ceiling literally blew her out the front door. That was the good news. The bad news was that this was no clean up on Aisle 12. The roof was burnt toast. Building a new one will take four to six months. And so the 120 employees affected had steeled themselves for unemployment checks and less-than-certain futures. Then Philipps dropped the bombshell.No lost jobs. No unemployment checks. The decision had been made to keep every worker/Doug Clark, SR. More here.
Question: Have you heard of another company doing something as magnanimous as this?
More Info: Still, even his critics acknowledge that Kempthorne cleaned up the corruption and the political interference that marred many of the agency’s years under Bush. He also stood up for the nation’s national parks, resolved one of the most polarizing water disputes in the West, and aggressively pushed oil and natural gas drilling - either helping boost the nation’s energy independence or further destroying the environment, depending on whom you ask.
Question: Did Dirk Kempthorne serve the nation well as its secretary of Interior?
Item: North Idaho nonprofit helps working class families move into homes of their own/Alison Boggs, SR
More Info: Then their banker told them about a new North Idaho nonprofit agency organized to help working-class people buy homes.Now the couple plan to move into a new home in Coeur d’Alene this spring. Their three-bedroom, two-bathroom rancher will be built on a lot big enough for a yard and, one day, a shop, Chris Dietzman said with a grin.
Question: Describe your first home.
Item: Oxycontin addiction can touch anyone/Meghann Cuniff, SR
More Info: A Coeur d’Alene attorney reportedly recruited a client to help him feed his prescription pill addiction, paying for the man to travel to California monthly to fetch hundreds of OxyContin pills. It went on for several months until the client turned to the police, launching an investigation that ended with the lawyer’s arrest last month. Shawn C. Nunley, a former Kootenai County deputy prosecutor, faces a federal charge of conspiracy to distribute drugs, though he told police he used the pills himself and never sold them.
Question: What should be done to protect pharmacy workers from robbers with an OxyContin addiction?
What do you think of repealing the Constitution’s term limits on presidents?WorldNetDaily
1. It’s a great idea - Obama’s going to need more than 8 years to bring the change we need
2. The 22nd Amendment should be repealed - term limits are repugnant to the people’s right to choose
3. It’s a good thing we didn’t have them during WWII - America’s continuity of leadership was a factor in our victory
4. With groups like ACORN trying to steal elections, term limits may be the only guarantee we have that a bad president can’t stay in power indefinitely
5. Considering how appealing the idea of “change” is, I don’t think we need term limits - voters generally want someone new anyway
In the news this morning, the Obama Cabinet seems to be headed for quick approval here. Circuit City is closing its remaining 567 stores in this country, putting 34,000 employees out of work here. Divers are looking for both engine of “miracle” plane in Hudson here. A rogue FBI agent who inspired “The Departed” will be jailed for 40 years for killing a witness set to testify against the mob here. And I’ll play the Wild Card now before hitting the sack …
San Francisco’s Blake Wallace makes a pass against Gonzaga’s Josh Heytvelt in the first half of their NCAA college basketball game in Spokane, Wash. Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009. Gonzaga won the game easily 85-51. ESPN game story and boxscore here. (AP Photo/Rajah Bose)
Item: Avista customers hit with whopping January power bills/Shawn Vestal, SR
More here: A lot of people got a shock in the mail over the past couple of days: a whopping power bill. January’s bills are typically among the year’s highest, and this year’s came loaded with the effects of four weeks of harsh winter, a longer-than-average billing period, and rate increases for Washington customers. Add to that the fact that many bills are computer estimates – since meter readers couldn’t reach many homes during the peak of the storms – and customers have a lot of questions for Avista.
DFO: My power bill jumped from $88 to $145 — and I primarily use a wood stove for heat!
Question: Were you shocked by your January Avista bill?
“We haven’t seen new snowfall in North Idaho for the past several days,” posts Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho, “but the fog combined with freezing temperatures has decorated the pine trees on the Rathdrum Prairie in winter white.”
The crowd was vivacious as Billy and Sue sang the final hoots and hollers of another rousing rendition of their trademark tune “Dixieland Delight.” The hunched figure shuffled out to the middle of the dance floor and blurted out to anyone listening something along the lines of “Hey! I’m not gonna be disrespected anymore!” followed by a string of curse words shocking even in the context of the bar. Suddenly, the ugly blanket was tossed away, revealing a polyester jacket and skirt, which also came flying off, revealing a Britney-style schoolgirl outfit, which took quite a bit of effort to remove actually, revealing a rather large and angry looking woman in her early forties, standing there in nothing but black skivvies, her various body parts unraveling themselves in every direction. It was a kamikaze karaoke striptease/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Question: Have you ever sung a Karaoke song in a bar? Which song? Are you a good singer?
At Remember The Roxy, OrangeTV reminds us of the men and women with vision in the depths of the Great Depression who knew the importance of higher education for the Coeur d’Alene area. I wonder if there were misguided individuals who opposed the creation of a community college then as we have now who are fighting tooth and nail against the expansion of that great dream of long ago into an Education Corridor?
Question: Did you attend a community college?
Do you plan to watch Barack Obama Inaugaration Day events?/Idaho Statesman.
t is very fitting that Barack Obama will be inaugurated the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Indeed, the dream has come full circle. The battle is far from over, but this election is as big of a victory as any for racial equality in the history of our country. This election of hope seemed unimaginable when hope itself seemed to die with John F. Kennedy in Dallas. When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, no one could foresee the inauguration of another leader of change, President-elect Barack Obama. Forty years after the untimely death of presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy, Obama�s campaign ended in transformative victory/Derrick Skaug, WSU Evergreen. More here.
Question: Is Barack Obama’s presidency the beginning of the end of racism in this country?
Item: NFL remains strong with Idaho ties/Idaho Statesman
More Info: Former Boise State standout Quintin Mikell will be in the Eagles’
starting lineup. Mikell, a safety, had a breakout season with
Philadelphia. He had 93 tackles, two sacks and two fumbles in
the regular season, after which he was voted an Associated Press
second-team All-Pro. He had his first career playoff interception in
the Eagles’ 23-11 win over the Giants on Sunday. Former Idaho State linebacker Pago Togafau will be representing the state of Idaho if the Cardinals make it to the Super Bowl.Togafau is a special teams dynamo who had 12 tackles in six games with the Cardinals.
Question: Which of the remaining 4 teams do you want to win the Super Bowl?
Nathaniel Pulliam of Black Sheep sporting goods in Coeur d’Alene works the gun counter on Wednesday. The owners of Black Sheep put up the cutout of Barack Obama after the election. Kathy Plonka/SR.
Mirroring a national trend, gun owners in the Inland Northwest appear to be responding by purchasing as many guns as possible before Obama takes office. At Black Sheep Sporting Goods in Coeur d’Alene, a life-size cutout of Obama stands behind the gun counter adorned with the phrase “Salesman of the Year.” “There’s a lot of fear of peoples’ gun rights,” said Dave Knoll, owner of Black Sheep, speaking from a gun show in Las Vegas this week. “With a total Democratic Congress, anything’s possible. People are reacting in a strange way”/Alison Boggs, SR. More here.
Question: Will Demo control of the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government mean far tighter gun control?
In the news this evening, hate crimes experts are closely watching white supremacists as the inaugaration of Barack Obama nears here. Inflation slows to half century low here. Arab investors lost $2.5 trillion from credit crunch here. Now, I’ll play the Wild Card and head off for a three-day weekend …
For some reason, the material in the drop-down box from earlier today has disappeared.
At Live, Love, Laugh, Hope, the blogmistress spent 24 hours visiting with her mother, sister and nieces at the Pend Oreille Shores Resort/Hope. “We had a great time, walking the docks, watching a muskrat weave in and out of the dock slips trying to hide from us,” she writes. She also took some swell photos, like the one above and here.
A not-so-funny thing happened to Time Warner cable guy Travis Greer Thursday morning when he tried to shut off service to a house at 2025 N. 14th Street. He knocked on the door and rang the door bell. When no one answered, he proceeded through a fence to the back of the yard. Where he’d just disconnected the cable when he was confronted by a man. Who leveled a handgun at Travis and asked him why he hadn’t used the doorbell. The householder directed Travis to leave without making a threat, holding the gun on him at all times. Later, a CPD Blue learned the weapon was a pellet gun. The householder explained that he’d seen the shadow of a man go past his window. He grabbed his gun because he has been having trouble with his brother. And he thought the man could be his brother or someone sent by him. The officer didn’t make an arrest but he did file a report to be sent to the prosecutor’s office for charges.
“A moose stopped by (the Bentwood subdivision) for a visit,” e-mails MamaJD. “Actually, a neighbor kid couldn’t make it home because the moose was in his way. The moose was nice enough. He posed for a few pics and even obeyed the traffic sign as he made his way thru the neighborhood.” Also on the moose patrol was ThomG and Mr. & Mrs. Mike Kralicek, who happened to be driving by.
It is dismal and dark and travel’s impeded, but still I applaud it for shovels aren’t needed. The Bard Of Sherman Avenue
On Jan. 11, I pulled into A&D’s on the corner of Fourth and Best to fill up my truck, attracted by the gas price sign of $1.35. I started filling up with the regular, 87-octane, unleaded and noticed I was being charged $2.05 per gallon. When I brought this to the attention of the clerk, he said it was because I chose to use the “red handle” which was the “special pure gas” trucked in just for them and not available in most other places. Yes, I should have noticed the tiny $1.99 designation on the pump and I should have expected the five-cent charge for debit cards. But a 50 percent increase?/Dave Paquin, Coeur d’Alene Press letter to editor. More here.
Question: Do you feel cheated when you realize that the price shown on the gas pump doesn’t include an additional charge of 5 cents or so, for paying with a debit or credit card?
Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information that helps capture Michael Alan Miller, 24, of Coeur d’Alene. Surveillence footage showed where the robber had touched glass at the pharmacy, located at 2702 N. Argonne, and the fingerprints matched Miller’s, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. Miller has a warrant charging him with felony first-degree robbery after deputies say he held a knife to a customer’s throat and demanded OxyContin and methadone, according to a news release by Sgt. Dave Reagan. The robber fled westbound, and a K-9 team tracked him within a block of where Miller had been staying with a relative/Meghann M. Cuniff, SR. More here. Original story here.
DFO: Colleague Meghann Cuniff is writing a story for Sunday about the allure of oxycontin. You might want to look for it.
At As The Lake Churns, Pecky Cox provides photo coverage of the recent annual Snowshoe Softball Tournament @ Priest Lake. Click here.
New U.S. Sen. Jim Risch got a prominent mention in the Roll Call newspaper’s “Heard on the Hill” column this week, headed “A for Effort,” which noted, “Looks like the new guy’s an over-achiever. HOH spies have noticed Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, spending a lot of time on the chamber’s floor, apparently toiling away at his desk.” The column said Risch has been at his desk in the chambers even when there’s nothing much happening, but for “whichever senator happens to be yapping away for the C-SPAN cameras.” The explanation? “One part apple-shining and one part necessity,” the column said/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Facebook, the popular social networking Web site most of us waste entirely too much time on, recently began removing photos of mothers breastfeeding their babies from the pages of its members, claiming such photos violate its indecency policy, something the other popular social networking Web site, MySpace, started doing two years ago. The Facebook terms of agreement state any content that is offensive, illegal or harmful or threatens the safety of any person may be deleted, and apparently breastfeeding is part of that. In its defense, Facebook said most breastfeeding pictures are allowed, but they draw the line at exposing a woman’s nipple and areola, the part of the breast that surrounds the nipple/Anne-Marije Rook, UI Argonaut. More here.
Question: The issue isn’t whether breastfeeding in public is right or wrong. It’s whether Facebook made the right call by removing photos that show a breastfeeder’s nipple and areola?
Family and friends wait to greet returning airmen at Mountain Home Air Force Base on Thursday in Idaho. Mechanics from the 366th Fighter Wing and support personnel from 391st Fighter Squadron’s “Bold Tigers” returned from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, where they had been deployed since August. (AP Photo/Times-News, Ashley Smith)
Sparky: The question I want our bloggers to answer is how many of you were a class clown? I was … The principal knew by first name. My only defense is that when teacher asks you for your opinion they open the door for said opinion.
JeanieSpokane: Sparky, no way on God’s green earth was I going to make a spectacle of myself. I was invisible; I was wallpaper; I would rather hide in my locker (which was just my size). At my 20-year reunion I was shocked that anybody knew who I was. I am much less shy now - but high school was horrible.
Question: What were you like in high school? Class clown? Wallflower? What?
The color pink might be damaging to girls, a recent BBC story suggests. In “Should
we not dress girls in pink?” writer Clair Bates interviewed several people who believe it’s not healthy for girls to be “obsessed” with the color. “We are creating little fluffy pink princess, an image of girliness, that is very specific and which some girls don’t want to go along with, but due to overwhelming peer pressure, are having to conform to,” said Sue Palmer, author of “Toxic Childhood.” But Bates also interviewed Spokane’s own Michael Gurian, therapist and author of numerous books on raising kids including “Nurture the Nature.” Gurian told the BBC that an overexposure to the color pink (or any other color) has absolutely no biological effects/Virginia De Leon, Are We There Yet? More here.
Question (from Virginia): Do you have a daughter who loves pink? Are you at all concerned about the stereotypes and messages behind the “fluffy pink princess” and other “girly” images?
Minutes later I got this note from Wayne Hoffman: “Vickie, just got an email forwarded to me from you regarding the Idaho Freedom Foundation. The Idaho Freedom Foundation is a new non-profit, non-partisan think tank that looks for free-market solutions to challenges facing the state. I am its executive director. Heather Lauer (whom you emailed ) is board president and Briana LeClaire is a board member. IFF conducts research, issues policy briefs and offers opinion and analysis of issues including education reform, private property rights, personal responsibility, individual liberty, economic freedom, and transparency and accountability in government/Editor Vickie Holbrook, Idaho Press Tribune. More here.
You can read Serephin’s entertaining words that go with this “poster” at 43rd Street Blues here.
As we work to try and clean up this mess at least we can take solace that this ideological phase
of our long national nightmare is over. Bush’s policies have drained the treasury, destroyed our credit, commenced the demise of Pax Americana, sullied America’s ethics and values into an unwelcome pool of disrepute, and heralded the most severe world wide economic collapse in modern times. In so doing Bush rends assunder just about every conservative principle that first got him elected, including the eschewing of a conservative mutilateral foreign policy for a radical unilateral one leaving the United States virtually alone and vulnerable/Sisyphus, 43rd State Blues. More here.
Question: Do you consider George Bush to be a conservative?
And his attacks on my legacy as a P&Z Commissioner? Fabrication. There was one person who didn’t like my vote to protect the safety of children. The other person who complained was LCDC’s Executive Director Tony Berns. He was not happy that I asked too many questions when he gave his power point presentation on the wonders of urban renewal. The people in the packed audience, however, appreciated my firm but respectful questions and gave me a round of applause/Mary Souza, OpenCDA.com. More here.
Item: The Ex Files: George W. Bush joins club/James Taranto, Wall Street Journal
More Info: When Barack Obama becomes the 44th president next week, George W. Bush will join an even more exclusive club. Of the 42 men who have served as president, Mr. Bush will be only the 34th to become a former president. (Grover Cleveland, of course, served two “terms” as an ex, 1889-93 and 1897-1908.) What does a man do after leaving the highest office in the land, whether by his own choice, by that of the voters, or by constitutional mandate?/Wall Street Journal. More here.
Question: What will George Bush do after Tuesday?
At Slight Detour, Marianne Love offers a number of “Winter Afternoon” photos of her Lovestead property, including this one she titles, “Stump Bouquet.” Click here.
In this 1987 file photo, American artist Andrew Wyeth stands beside one of his paintings of “mystery model” Helga at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Wyeth died early today at the age of 91 in his home outside Philadelphia, according to Hillary Holland, a spokeswoman for the Brandywine River Museum.
Question: Who is your favorite painter?
His consummate skill, the years of experience he possesses and his pilot’s instincts, are one thing, but the fact that dead-stick landings such as Sullenberger completed safely yesterday afternoon, defy the odds against survival. The statistics against surviving in an aircraft after a bird strike strongly go against you walking away to face another day. If you enter the water with the nose of the aircraft in an attitude-down position, the plane can disintegrate when it hits the water. The pilot brought the plane in nose-up, and thus made himself a place in history/David Laird, Community Comment. More here.
Question: Are you afraid of flying?
William Petersen as “CSI’s” Gil Grissom may have retired. But that doesn’t mean 
Thom George will be switching allegiance to David Caruso and
Question: Did you go to high school with someone who later became famous?
Gonzaga’s Matt Bouldin, left, dances up the sideline trying to stay inbounds after stealing the ball from Santa Clara’s Michael Santos Thursday at Gonzaga. Bouldin stepped out of bounds a moment later, turning it back over. ESPN game story & boxscore. Jesse Tinsley/SR
In the news this evening, everyone’s talking about the miracle splash landing of a jet plane in the Hudson River here. Time puts Obama on its mag cover for the 13th time in a year here. In his farewell address, Bush says he kept America safe here. A poll shows Americans believe Obama will deliver despite bad times here. And the Wild Card remains on the table …
Airline passengers wait to board boats to be rescued on the wings of a US Airways Airbus 320 jetliner that safely ditched in the frigid waters of the Hudson River in New York today after a flock of birds knocked out both its engines. All 155 people on board survived. (AP Photo/Steven Day)
At 3:30 p.m. today,
Bat Masterson, a longtime Athol horsetrainer with his horse Buckwheat earlier this month. He along with his daughter Shanda Masterson recently won the World Championship of Cowboy Mounted Shooting held in Amarillo Texas. Kathy Plonka, SR.
When I see them I can’t help but wonder. How long does it take them to put on the uniform? You know the one. Baggy pants with their boxer shorts pulled high in the back so the entire world can admire their taste in underwear. Untucked shirt, complete with the latest rock bank or video game jargon blazened across the front. At least, I guess that’s what all those graphics are all about. Being near fossilized, I have no idea to what things of great importance to which the $25 T-shirts of today make reference. Of course, no ensemble is complete without the baseball cap - slightly askew - sitting atop a head of hair that typically needs a good scrubbing/Dan Hammes, St. Maries Gazette-Record. Full column below.
Simply amazing so many of us survived with rough wooden cribs, laundry baskets
as bassinets and wash cloths dipped in honey as teething rings. I don’t know how I have all my appendages considering the playground equipment I used as a child had metal links, (gasp), and nothing but dirt to cushion my fall. I’m pretty sure that about a month after I have my son his car seat will be recalled, the mattress pad in his crib will be found to have a sort of foam in it that when mixed with certain paints becomes toxic and breast milk will be considered unsanitary. But I’m pretty sure he’ll survive … as long as we have our trusty wipe warmer. Because no son of mine is going to have a cold bottom. Damn the cost or consequences!/Shenelle Kraack, St. Maries Gazette Record. Full column below.
Question: Are you surprised that you survived childhood?
At OrangeFrog76, Granati provides this mouth-watering photo that he dubs “Stir Fry.”
Open Letter to George Bush:
I know we’ve had our disagreements. I know I’ve made fun of you in the past, mocked your speeches, your colloquialisms, your mis-statements and mis-pronunciations. I know we didn’t see eye to eye on Iraq, the environment, Guantanamo, the economy…we still don’t. But I don’t want you to think that at this point in history that I wish you any ill will, because I do not. We disagree, that’s all. I found your leadership style unappealing. I don’t find myself warming to your character in any way. I would never find myself comfortably “having a beer” with you. But I still do not wish you any ill will/Toadman, Synaptic Disunion. More here.
HBO Numbers (for Wednesday, Jan. 14): 5760 page-views/3330 unique views
Passengers in an inflatable raft move away from an Airbus 320 US Airways aircraft that has gone down in the Hudson River in New York today. No deaths or serious injuries were reported. Story here. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Anti-Boise sentiment is easy to drum up in this state, since we’re the Capital city and everybody hates government. But after the latest shuffling in the membership of the key budgeting body of the Legislature, the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee, the Treasure Valley finds itself on the decidely short end of the not-quite-so-big stick of this year’s budget: just three members instead of the six we used to have. The Mountain Goat Report picked up the editorial from south-central Idaho, where the Magic and Wood River valleys (Twin Falls, Sun Valley, that lot) have temporarily stumbled into the 30% of the Committee membership that we used to have/Fort Boise. More here.
DFO: Here, in North Idaho, we’ve been short-changed and ignored for years by the Idaho Legislature. There were times when we had one or no representatives on the budget committee. And little influence elsewhere. Ada County, the state’s most populous county, is going through something similar now. It’s hard to feel sorry for the Kingdom of Ada, given its pols haven’t felt sorry for us in the past.
Question: Do you feel ill will toward Boise, Ada County, or the Treasure Valley?
JohnA: With a virtual monopoly on boat moorage, I believe government needs to get into the business of regulating what is charged, like the PUC regulates the monopoly of Avista. In my opinion, marina owners who use our waterways for their docks should be allowed to recoup only the cost of their operations, including depreciation, and no more. The other alternative is for cities to get more into the business of marinas, with fair pricing to cover the costs (no taxpayer support) like CDA has at 3rd and 11th Streets. Something has to be done before mooring a boat is a rich man’s right only.
Question: Should Idaho regulate fees charged by private marina owners who lease state waterways to ensure that most boaters can afford moorage?
Veterinarians operate the Budapest Zoo’s oldest gorilla Liesel in Budapest, Hungary, earlier today. The surgery became needful due to a progress of tumor, which could cause the death of the ape. During the three hours long intervention, human doctors with assistance of the zoo’s veterinarians checked the 32 years old, female, low land gorilla’s fibroids in the uterus, which is anatomically very similar to the human body. Worldwide any surgeries on gorillas are extremely rare; and this was the first time that this kind of intervention became mandatory in Hungary. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky, POOL)
When I was in the 3rd or 4th grade my teacher was convinced I was hearing impaired. I was sent to the audiologist for testing. My hearing was normal. She was certain I was nearly deaf because she would call on me in class and I would not respond. Well, it was because I was lost in daydreams. I still struggle with this autistic-like tendency to space out and go tripping the mind fantastic, although not so much true fantasies anymore but just engagements in god knows what reality-based whimsy or escape/TUBOB. More here.
Question: What to you daydream about?
Several years ago, it became apparent that using my home phone as a business phone wasn’t going to work. I missed calls because my kids were on the phone, and on one memorable occasion a child woke me at midnight to say, “I forgot to tell you. Your editor called this afternoon. It’s urgent – he wants you to call him back right away.” So, I bought a cell phone and can’t imagine life without it. It keeps me connected to both work and family. When I’m away from home, the kids and their schools can still reach me in case of emergency. And here is where the difficulty lies: It appears that my children and I have different definitions of what constitutes an emergency/Cindy Hval, SR Voices. More here.
Question (from CindyH): How do you use your cell phone? As a business phone, for emergencies only, as your main phone?
A just -born lamb gets cleaned up by its mother in a pasture near Roseburg, Ore., on Saturday. (AP Photo/The News-Review)
Hard to believe that Mary needs a correction, but she hasn’t been to a council meeting that I can recall this year. Maybe one, but I can’t think of it. I can’t recall one single solitary instance when I or another council member has ever stepped away during public comment - I can’t remember one. … If Mary needs lessons in rudeness, she should watch replays of how she treated people who testified in front of her during Public Comment while she was on the Planning Commission. It was a subject of multiple citizen complaints. In fact it would have been more polite if she had stood up and walked away instead of mocking, taunting, and belittling citizens and staff as she did/Councilman MikeK. Full comment below.
Kevin Richert of the Idaho Statesman complains that Gov. Otter’s proposed 2009-2010 budget creates three new full-time attorneys in the public defender’s office, the agency responsible to defend death-row inmates. He claims this has turned capital punishment into a “growth industry” in Idaho, even though Idaho has executed only one criminal in the last 50 plus years. But there is a connection between an increase in public defenders and a decrease in executions, and the connection is out-of-control judicial activism. Taxpayer-funded public defenders are nowhere required in the Constitution, and have been imposed on a compliant and meek public only by activist judges/Bryan Fischer, IVA. More here.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and her husband Mike offer a toast at the Governor’s Inaugural Ball Wednesday at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. The event marked the beginning of the second term in office for Gregoire. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Top Cutlines:
CindyH: Bent, You just outed yourself as a former journalist, which begs the questions: In which profession is profanity most prevalent? In which is it the least accepted? All I know is they must have a special, secret profanity test for editors. If they know all the words and can use them in creative sentences, they get the job. Photographers are a close second. Then again, having hung out with off-duty police officers, I now know why they call them the “men in blue.” Yeesh! I’m thinking non-swearing professions must be ministers and teachers.
Question: Which profession swears the most?
More Info: resident Barack Obama’s inauguration next week is set to be the most expensive ever, predicted to reach over $150m (£102m). This dwarfs the $42.3m spent on George Bush’s inauguration in 2005 and the $33m spent on Bill Clinton’s in 1993.
Question: Is the cost of Barack Obama’s inaugaration reasonable at a time when America is in such dire financial straits and many Americans are wondering if they’ll survive financially this year?
Over the weekend, Marianne Love and hubby Bill enjoyed snowshoeing in the Grouse Creek area, about 15 miles northeast of Sandpoint. You can read about their adventure here.
The 25-foot statue titled “God Bless America” by J. Steward Johnson, inspired by Grant Wood’s painting “American Gothic,” accumulates snow near the Chicago River on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile Wednesday. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
With the state facing shortfalls in revenue, what should the Legislature cut the most?/Idaho Statesman
At OpenCDA.com today, community nag Mary Souza takes aim at the city’s long-standing practice of collecting a small percentage of public works projects for public art. (Mebbe this is the column that wasn’t published on Sunday’s editorial page. Mary’s now been reduced to bi-weekly columns, as a result of the CDA Press cutbacks.) As is her habit to rave against all things involving Sandi Bloem and her administration, Souza slams council members for taking self-imposed breaks during public hearings. (Hey, Edinger needs a smoke from time to time, after all.) Opines Mary, “The council’s lax manner of walking out while a citizen is speaking at the podium is shameful. Mayor Bloem should put a stop to this behavior at once.” Seems Mary had more bladder control when she was on the P&Z commission than some of the council regulars. And, therefore, speaks from authority in picking this nit. You can read about it here.
Question: Is Mary right? Should council members ask Mayor Bloem for a break when they have to smoke or use the restroom? Or simply get up as indiscreetly as possible and do so?
For those of you keeping score at home, the answer is – four times as much. Boat-
slip rental at the Coeur d’Alene Resort marina has increased that much since Duane and Jerry, ahem, took over Bob Templin’s hospitality empire in the mid-1980s. Usually, I don’t run with resort marina boaters. But one of them hangs out at Huckleberries Online when he’s slumming. He told Huckleberries that he paid $650 per season for slip rentals when the resort opened, April though October. Last year, the Berry Picker paid $2,400 for that same slip. But there’s a catch, he said: “In order to maintain a slip at the Resort, you now must also store your boat with The Boat Shop for the off months. For the winter. If you want to store your own boat, you can, but you still pay the 12-month fee.” So, out the door last year, the Berry Picker paid about 3 grand for moorage. He feels privileged, too. Sorta. Kinda/DFO, Prairie Voice Huckleberries. More here.
Question: Do you own a boat?
In this evening’s news, Steve Jobs is taking a health leave of absence from Apple here. Gay America is preparing to party at Obama’s inaugaration here. Studies indicate surgeons could save lives and $20B by using a checklist here. It’s 40 degrees below zero in Minnesota here. And the Hump Day Wild Card remains on the table for your play …
In this photo released by the Centerville Police Dept. shows a shattered toilet in the restroom a Carl’s Jr. restaurant Tuesday in Centerville, Utah, Tuesday. Police say a man’s gun fell out of its holster while he pulled up his pants after using the bathroom at a Carl’s Jr. restaurant Tuesday. The gun fired when it hit the floor and shattered the commode. (AP Photo/Centerville Police Dept.)
Item: William Petersen to appear in final CSI episode Thursday night/Dana Stevens, Slate
More Info: For those of you who haven’t watched the (CSI), Gil (Grissom) is hardly the most obvious object of erotic longing; he’s a gray-haired, slightly dumpy, middle-aged workaholic who probably smells faintly of formaldehyde, and whose social skills are inversely proportional to his forensic acumen. Whence the mystique? Why are so many people in love with Gil Grissom?
Question: Which CSI lead actor (William Petersen, Las Vegas; David Caruso, Miami; or Gary Sinise, New York) is your favorite?
At Remember The Roxy, OrangeTV posts a photo of the devastation in Wallace after the Aug. 20, 1910 fire.
Question: What’s your favorite place to visit in historic Wallace?
In this 2008 file photo, McKay Hatch, right, the founder of the 50-member South Pasadena High School’s No Cussing Club, jokes with his father, Brent Hatch, at his father’s restaurant , in South Pasadena, Calif. McKay Hatch’s stand against public profanity has suddenly subjected him to a torrent of four-letter-word abuse and other harassment. He and his family did draw the line, however, when the death threats started coming in over the Internet. They contacted the local police department. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
Question: Are you concerned about the level of profanity in our culture?
A peanut butter maker that sells bulk supplies to institutions issued a nationwide recall of peanut butter from one its plants as officials on Wednesday reported two more deaths associated with a salmonella outbreak/AP. More here.
Question: On a scale of 1 to 10 — with 10 being “I’d like to rub it all over my body” — how much do you like peanut butter?
If you’ve read this column for any length of time, you know that I’ve long campaigned to repeal January and replace it with something warmer, lighter and shorter. In that spirit, I’ve decided to designate today - Jan. 14, which happens to be Benedict Arnold’s birthday - as the least distinguished day of the year. If today happens to be your birthday too, I’m sorry. But any child who happens to be a Capricorn (born between Dec. 22 and Jan. 21) needs to take it up with Mom and Dad, who if they were any kind of parents wouldn’t saddle a kid with a birthday that’s 25 percent shorter (as measured by the amount of daylight) than the birthday of a Gemini (born between May 22 and June 21)/Steve Crimp, Twin Falls Times-New. More here.
Questions: Does January have any redeeming value?
In this 1987 file photo, Ricardo Montalban and his wife Georgiana attend the American Cinema Awards in Los Angeles. Montalban, the Mexican-born actor who became a star in splashy MGM musicals and later as the wish-fulfilling Mr. Roarke in TV’s “Fantasy Island,” died this morning. He was 88. Story here. (AP Photo/Alison Wise)
Marianne Love/Slight Detour writes:
Marianne Love/Slight Detour fills in the rest here
Finish this sentence: Every time I …
At As The Lake Churns, Pecky Cox (pictured) calls this photo, “Room For Rent.” Cutlines Pecky: “Great view of lake, a little bit cold but will provide blanket.”
To start, my perfect day would begin with a Jimmy Dean sausage and eggs and potatoes and toast and coffee breakfast. No homefries. No herbs. No omelets or eggs benedict. No. Just fried or scrambled eggs with hash browns and toast with strawberry jam or preserves canned by Mom or one of my sisters and plain ole coffee out of the can: MJB maybe. Mom usually has Yuban. It could be Folgers or Maxwell House or anything else ordinary and normal/Raymond Pert, Kellogg Bloggin’. More here.
Question: Describe your perfect day.
Let me set the disclaimer first. I love meat. Hamburger, hot dogs, chickens, fish,
turkey, well you get the idea. But if the idea of e-coli in the meat keeps up and if the pump up shots for quick growth, and the possible side effects on humans keeps coming.. well, it makes you start to look at exactly what are you eating. Being most of us don’t raise our own anymore. So we feed (no pun intended) into the idea that being a vegetarian is the way to go, what would happen if we ALL became vegetarians. Worldwide/Cis, Simple Mind. More here.
Question: Do you ever see yourself embracing veganism?
“The dam at Post Falls displays snow-covered rocks now but when the spring thaw in the mountains raises the lake level the gates will be wide open and spectacular”, posts Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho. “The viewing platform at Falls Park is a popular vantage point all year long.”
Last night I experienced a rare middle of the night dream that I remembered vividly right after I woke from it and later this morning. It was a bear dream. I’m riding on the back of a motorcycle, a fairly nondescript trail bike, and I’m behind a man whose face I can’t see and never see the entire dream. He’s wearing a white shirt and jeans. We’re riding on a fairly well graded logging road in a forested area. There are green cut areas to the left, rising up on gentle meadowed hillsides, to the right is a downsloped dark forest. I spot a large bear with two fairly small cubs running parallel and a bit behind us on the hillside above. We continue riding but now the bears are on the road and behind us, they are pursuing us. The cubs run on the outsides of the road but the mother bear, which appears to be a grizzly by her dished face and size is straight behind us and gaining. She has a firm and grim look to her. She is not chasing us merely for exercise/TUBOB. More here.
Question: Do you dream often? If so, of what?
In this State of the County address, Chairman Rick Currie of the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners told a crowd of 250 at the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce Upbeat Breakfast that the county’s future is bright, despite increasing crime and the nation’s economic woes. Do you agree that the best days for the county — and North Idaho — are ahead?
If legislators go along with Otter’s recommendations, he will earn a place near the top of Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman’s list of what Krugman recently called 50 Herbert Hoovers in governors’ offices. Krugman’s charge was based on the refusal by most state governments to continue investing in their futures during tough economic times/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. Full editorial below.
Question: Should education be spared from Idaho budget cuts?
Dressed as the Statue of Liberty, Toby Earley waves to cars as he tries to attract customers to Liberty Tax Service in Roseburg, Ore., on Tuesday . Earley said he auditioned for the job and was hired for a 15-week gig. (AP Photo/The News-Review, Robin Loznak)
Top Cutline:
The freedom to do your taxes, but only if you have a job. At least “Lady Liberty” has work for the next 15 weeks — Arch Druid.
3.“Come on people”,Toby Earley barked as people made their way down to Liberty Tax Service.”This line is for people who are paying their taxes and the other one is for people who don’t want to pay their taxes”.”Hey,wait,I was only kidding, please stop”.
The Bush Administration will remove wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes from the endangered species list only days before it leaves office but leave them protected in Wyoming/Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Can Idaho & Montana be trusted to handle wolf populations properly?
My overall grade for the Bush Administration: C-. Not the worst President we ever had, but certainly not the best/Adam’s Blog. Complete report card here.
Question: What grade would you give President George Bush?
Marc Stewart, spokesman for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, said the tribe is concerned about Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal to drop state funding for Old Mission State Park. “The tribe is disappointed in the decision, and it’s really too bad that the budget crisis is going to affect this successful partnership between the tribe and the state co-managing the park,” Stewart said. “The tribe has begun preliminary conversations with the parks folks to find out what options are available for the future of the park”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Should the Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe be asked to take over funding for Old Mission Park?
Baillee Schott, 11, of Boseman, Mont., takes a picture at the Cataldo Mission in Cataldo, Idaho on Tuesday. State officials say budget cuts will force them to cut off funding on July 1 to the Old Mission State Park in North Idaho, the location of the state’s oldest standing building along U.S. Interstate 90. The state is trying to convince the Coeur d’Alene tribe, which owns the land, to take over upkeep. (AP Photo/The Spokesman-Review, Kathy Plonka)
In this Tuesday, Dec. 16 file photo, Heath Campbell, left, with his wife, Deborah, and son Adolf Hitler Campbell, 3, pose in Easton, Pa. Last month, Deborah and Heath attempted to buy a birthday cake for their son at a nearby ShopRite supermarket in Greenwich, N.J. but were told that the store would not spell the youngster’s name out on the cake. Holland Township Police Sgt. John Harris says workers from the state Division of Youth and Family Services removed 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell and his younger sisters, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell from their home Tuesday. Harris says family services did not tell police the reason the children were removed. Agency spokeswoman Kate Bernyk says it does not comment on specific cases. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz, File)
Question: Could you be considered an unfit parent if you named a child after Adolf Hitler?
What do you tend to look for in a win label?/Idaho Statesman
The vetting process aside, I’m wondering what it says about these men who have been chosen to serve! Richardson knew he was under investigation, Blair knew what his activities were in East Timor and certainly a potential Treasury Secretary, Geithner, would remember he had failed to pay his taxes! If he doesn’t remember, being a money man, I don’t want him managing mine! Is the urge to be part of the power base so strong it precludes honesty? And if it does do we want these men serving?/Dogwalk Musings. More here.
Question: Who’s to blame when fatal flaws are found in nominees for important positions — the president who nominated them and his vetting process? Or the nominees for not being forthcoming?
If our region is perceived as highly contaminated and unsafe, prospective businesses would be less likely to start or relocate here, tourists would be less likely to flock here, and the loss of jobs we’ve seen in this recessional wave could look minor compared to what comes next. We also believe property values throughout the region would plummet. If the plan now before the Legislature is not approved, clean-up authority will revert to the federal government. For the good of all North Idaho, we urge legislators to support the plan and approve its funding. We’ve come too far to let this good work be derailed now/CDA Press Editorial Board. More here.
Question: Should Lake Coeur d’Alene be declared a Superfund site, if it really is one?
In the news this evening, Barack Obama stubs his toe again as the nation learns his Treasury pick failed to pay his taxes here. (Dogwalk Musings comment here.) House Demos are seeking a criminal probe of Bush “abuses” here. “American Idol” kicks off its 8th season tonight here. Utah’s Whittingham has been named college football coach of the year here. And the Wild Card remains on the table …
Shaun Key of Lewiston soaks up the sun as he takes in the stunning view from the top of the Lewiston Hill, as a sea of clouds covers the valley, earlier today Lewiston. (AP Photo/Lewiston Tribune, Kyle Mills)
Cis: Are you paying attention to the rise in gas prices? My sister told me in S.C. where she lives it went up 20 cents in one week. She was paying $1.42 a week ago… now it is $1.61. Sandpoint has raised from $1.42 to $1.55 in 4 days.
Question: Anyone want to guess what gas prices will be at the end of the month?
Poolman: I lived through the Stephanie Vigil early years of bad hair cuts and chattered news reading. I’ve been willing to accept Dan Kleckners transition from a pretty good sports guy to sort of goofy news guy. But, the fact that they cannot pony up the jing required to broadcast Gonzaga basketball in HIGH DEFENITION is off the charts infuriating. Don’t broadcast the games if you aren’t going to do it right. Even Fox Northwest is doing games in HD. I guess on the bright side the Jeremy Pargo New Kids on the Block hair cut is not nearly as annoying in Low Definition, analog, or whatever it is they are broadcasting in.
Question: Anyone else feel Poolman’s pain?
A group of skiers made the summit of Scotchman Peak in May for this picture by Conor Branski of Hope. The image is a winner in the Friends of the Scotchman Peaks Wilderness annual photo contest for 2008. Photo by Conor Branski
Visitors entering town via east Sherman Avenue will likely have a new impression of the Lake City next year. The Coeur d’Alene Arts Commission is soliciting bids from artists to ensure a creative, colorful display greets guests coming into town from Interstate 90. … The piece will be featured on the southeast corner of 23rd Street and Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive adjacent St. Thomas Cemetery. Artists from Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Montana and Utah have until May 15 to submit proposals for the $100,000 project/Tom Hasslinger, CDA Press. More here.
Question: Do you support a $100,000 public arts project to upgrade the eastern entrance to Coeur d’Alene?
My daughter was telling me about one of the gals who works at the place she works. The gal 
called (Ponderay) Pizza Hut for a pizza delivery … and it went down hill from there. She lives 1 and half miles from Pizza Hut (in Kootenai). Yet the person who is on the other end of the phone is FROM OVERSEAS!!! Yes, I said Pizza Hut call was answered overseas. She had to spell the name of the street 5 times. It was Brittany St. The man never heard of it. This took at least 15 minutes, and finally he has it right. Then he tells her they don’t deliver there. She said WHAT? The man repeats, Pizza Hut doesn’t deliver there. He had Googled her address, and it wasn’t there. She told them she lived a mile and half away and had pizza delivered there before.. Sorry, ma’am, it isn’t on Google. She hung up/Cis, Simple Mind. More here.
Question: Is this taking outsourcing a bit too far?
Idaho Gov. C. L. “Butch” Otter concludes his annual State of the State and Budget Address to a joint session of the Idaho legislature at Boise State University on Monday in Boise. Meanwhile, Betsy Russell/Eye On Boise continues to crank out the last news from the Idaho Legislature on her blog, including news that — surprised! — Idaho Demos find fault with Otter’s budget proposals here. (AP Photo/The Idaho Statesman, Joe Jaszewski)
The parents of an 8-year-old girl with special needs say their daughter was handcuffed, arrested and charged with battery after a Friday incident at Kootenai Elementary School. The family is not being identified because of the girl’s age. The girl suffers from a neurobiological disorder called Asperger syndrome, which causes her to have “episodes” of disruptiveness, according to her parents. The girl’s father admits the episodes can be alarming, but said they are not violent. Without identifying the girl or her family, Lake Pend Oreille School District Superintendent Dick Cvitanich said law enforcement officers removed a student from school Friday for spitting on and inappropriately touching two staff members/Conor Christofferson, Bonner County Bee. More here. Question: The parents of the girl is thinking about suing the district. Did the Pend Oreille School District act appropriately?
Item: Appellate court rules teachers can have sex with 18-year-old students/AP
More Info: State law does not bar teachers from having sex with 18-year-old students. That’s the decision of a three-judge panel of the Washington Court of Appeals, which on today ordered the dismissal of a case brought against Hoquiam High School’s former choir teacher. The teacher, Matthew Hirschfelder, was charged with first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor.
Question: Do you agree with this ruling?
At Remember The Roxy, OrangeTV posts this postcard drawing of the historic Old Mission at Cataldo, as it looked in its early days. Now, it seems as though the Old Mission park may lose state funding (just less than $300,000 last year). Story here.
Question: Should the state continue to provide funding for the Old Mission park?
“Kootenai County Commissioner Rich Piazza lost his wife last night to a long and courageous battle with cancer. Mary Lou Piazza was admired, respected and loved by all that knew her. Our hearts and our prayers go out to Commissioner Piazza and his family” — statement from the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners regarding the loss of Commissioner Rich Piazza’s wife, Mary Lou, to cancer Monday night.
Yabetcha: Anyone else having trouble with KHQ, cable ch 6? The images are vertically stretched; long and skinney people. It’s been this way for over a month. Been told by KHQ earlier it was a cable problem but Adelphia says its a broadcast problem. Please, no comments about going to Direct TV or dish. I just want to know if others are troubled and what run around they are getting. I probably should learn to enjoy it, as at least I don’t have to look at all these really obese people.
Question: Anyone?
A toddler and an infant were in protective custody Tuesday after Post Falls police discovered weapons and drugs within the little hands’ reach inside the home. Police seized pills, small amounts of marijuana and cocaine and 15 marijuana pipes from the home in the 200 block of East Second, said Post Falls police Lt. Pat Knight/Jody Lawrence-Turner, SR. More here.
Canada geese snack in a snowy farm field north of Moscow on Monday. (AP Photo/Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Geoff Crimmins)
Orbusmax Special: Former stray cat predicts owner’s emphysema attacks here.
Men don’t understand women’s obsession with shoes. They always seem to have 1,378 pairs. High heels, boots, tennis shoes… and other assorted “foot coverings”. Like most guys, I probably have around 5 pair. In years past, I’ve had 2. We just don’t get excited about such things. So I wondered, what is it that guys get excited about? T-shirts. I have probably 30 t-shirts hanging in my closet. Some of them I’ve never worn. Some of them were bought purely on a whim. Some of them I paid too much for, while others were absolute bargains. And granted, some of them should have been retired years ago. Sound familiar, ladies?/Otis G. More here.
Question: Has Otis G hit on something here? Are T-shirts to men what shoes are to women? Depending on your gender, how many shoes/T-shirts do you own?
State government will be leaner next year: the going estimate is that about 100 jobs will disappear from a work force of close to 27,000. But one potential growth area is the business of the death penalty. Gov. Butch Otter’s proposed 2009-10 budget creates about three full-time attorney’s positions in the state’s appellate public defender’s office. This is the agency assigned to defend death-row inmates. … To put this in context, the 2009-10 budget creates only 8.12 full-time positions. So more than a third of the new positions would go toward a capital punishment infrastructure — in a state that has executed exactly one inmate in the past half century/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question (from Kevin Richert): Can somebody argue for the efficacy of the death penalty?
Secretary of State-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., gives Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. a kiss on Capitol Hill in Washington this morning, as Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., second from left, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., second from right, look on, prior to the start of Clinton’s nomination hearing before the committee. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Top Cutlines:
What is Fred Gwynne doing in this picture? I thought he passed away shortly after doing “My Cousin Vinny” — Poolman.
Hillary: Just a second, sweetie. One little peck … . and {poof!} Corker turns into a tiny tree frog — JeanieSpokane.
I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse.—Godfather accent — Charlie
HM: Kage Mann
Huckleberries has learned that Mary Lou Piazza, a well-known community booster and wife of County Commissioner Rich Piazza, died Monday night after recurrence of cancer in December. Post Falls Councilwoman Kerri Thoreson, who wrote about Mary Lou’s latest battle with cancer in her weekly Coeur d’Alene Press column last week, said of Mary Lou this morning: “She was a long time breast cancer survivor, very active and inspirational with the cancer groups locally. Sadly cancer returned in early December and she just couldn’t win this battle. Did you know her? She was one of the most upbeat sparkling personalities I knew. She will be missed, it was terribly unexpected and swift.” Mary Lou was first diagnosed with cancer in 1984 and suffered a first recurrence in 1993. Mary Lou and Rich were married at least 40 years.
American Idol begins tonight. What better sign of spring could there be! The show is in its eighth season, and it’s been around long enough now for me to consider its return as one of the rites of the early spring–or, at least, a refreshing diversion from the humdrum of a long January/Marianne Love, Slight Detour. More here. Question: What do you view as your first sign of spring?
The University of Idaho will allow students of the opposite sex to live together in campus suites when the fall semester begins in August. Previously, the university in northern Idaho has allowed male and female students to live in the same dormitory halls, but they could only live together in campus apartments if they were married. University housing recruitment coordinator Tina Deines says students who live in campus suites at the Living Learning Communities housing complex this fall will have the option of being housed with the opposite sex. Students who live in the mixed-gender suites must be in their sophomore year or older/AP. More here.
Originally posted at 5:17 p.m. Monday
Question: Do you support mixed-gender housing at the University of Idaho?
The same day, however, Minnick disproved the Republican Congressional Committee’s charge that he “took his marching orders from his Democrat leaders” by voting against a companion measure called the Paycheck Fairness Act. Minnick’s spokesman John Foster says Minnick was one of three Democrats opposing that bill because it provided for class-action lawsuits in which people had to “opt out” of the class, rather than choose to join it. As a former employer, Minnick found the provision unfair to businesses, Foster said./Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. Full Editorial below.
DFO: I consider our current delegation to be light-years better than the previous one, with shamed lame-duck Larry Craig and cantankerous Bill Sali. If Minnick does nothing more than to get Idaho wilderness bills through Congress, he will have accomplished far more than Sali. If Risch makes the U.S. Senate and the country forget about Craig, he’ll have accomplished much. It wasn’t that long ago that a national magazine ranked Simpson as one of the 10 best congressman. We now have a delegation we can be proud of.
St. Maries native Keith Mueller, documents a North Idaho Maritime tugboat breaking ice Friday on the St. Joe River near St. Maries. Gov. Butch Otter issued a disaster declaration Friday for Benewah County due to ice jams that have formed on the river creating the threat of flooding in the area. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press Shawn Gust)
*Otter, lawmakers clash over computer veto/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise
*Spirit Lake woman fights back from devastating injury/KXLY
*Crowd opposes budget cuts proposed by CDA schools/Maureen Dolan, CDA Press
*Amber Alert leads to arrest/Tom Hasslinger, CDA Press
*Fulcher beats Post Falls’ Hammonds for leadership post/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise
*Idaho plans to cut funding to Old Mission park/Idaho Statesman
What do you think of Butch Otter’s proposed budget, which includes a 5% cut in education?/Idaho Statesman *Love it *Not enough cuts *Too many cuts *Close, but needs work
Item: Check your credit cards: You may need a bailout, too/Trish Gannon, River Journal
More Info: Although banks have figuratively gone to the taxpayer with hat in hand to beg, “Please, sir, I want some more,” the role they seem to have cast for themselves recently in this Dickensen financial melodrama is more in keeping with the board members of the poor house when dealing with those same taxpayers who are customers. Have you opened your credit card statement lately? Many have, only to be shocked to find the rates on their credit cards have climbed astronomically—in some cases, more than 100 percent.
Question: Have you noticed that the interest charged by your credit card company has increased significantly?
The evil Ape-Child gave his last news conference yesterday, whining and bitching in a bizarre defensive appearance indicative only of how badly his alcoholism has returned and what a repulsive monster we’ve been cursed with these last 8 years. How could you America? It staggers the mind that this reptilian and scabrous horror was RE-elected. He uses his 3 shots of bourbon before stepping out into the cameras anger to feebly attempt to bring back his old swagger, a swagger never deserved, never earned his entire life, a fake Texas cowboy wannabe anti-dad swagger now just the bitterness of a failed drunk executive impotent and soundless./TUBOB. More here.
Question: Anyone else want to politically eulogize our soon-to-be-ex president?
In the news this evening, a new study shows that a lack of sleep can lead to colds here. The U.S. Senate will seat Illinois’ Roland Burris here. Heath Ledger’s Golden Globe will go to his daughter here. And here’s your re-played Wild Card …
Debris flies in all directions as an Army Blackhawk helicopter crashes in a field at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, today. (AP Photo/Dave McDermand, Bryan-College Station Eagle)
Alaska’s tourism industry is taking a hit because of the downturn in the U.S. economy, as well as the slowdown in the economy globally. That has the state’s major cruise ship operators slashing prices in hopes of filling ships this summer. Cruise ships bring roughly 1 million visitors to Alaska each year. To get them here this summer, cruise ship lines are discounting tickets by as much as 40 percent/AP. More here.
Question: When did you last go on a cruise? Did you enjoy it?
“Gas prices in Coeur d’Alene remained at $1.49 a gallon for the past few weeks until this most recent drop to $1.35!” posts Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho. ”A tank of gas in the FYImobile set me back just $15.”
*Yellowstone wolves decline for first time in 3 years/New West
*Otter speech long on platitudes, short on specifics/New West
*Sen. Fulcher replaces Little as caucus chair/Idaho Statesman
*Ada County to cut staff to ‘offset dwindling revenues’/Idaho Statesman
5:09 p.m. R/P reports 3 cattle trucks are driving aggressively on Highway 53 en route to Rathdrum, making hand gestures and flashing their lights.
5:06 p.m. A man in his 40s is lying on the sidewalk on the south side of 15th & Sherman. R/P reports that he appeared to be unconscious but later awoke. He might be extremely intoxicated. Several teen-agers are on the scene.
4:21 p.m. R/P reports possible animal abuse on McGuire Road/Post Falls, a pitbull is tied up to a post with a chain.
As Gov. Butch Otter left his State of the State speech, after talking with the media, he got into an impromptu debate with House Democratic leaders over his budget proposal. First, House Assistant Minority Leader James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, said with Idaho families struggling, “This is not a time to raise taxes in Idaho.” Otter challenged Ruchti and House Minority Leader James Rusche, D-Lewiston, saying they were “mixing apples and oranges,” and said, “Are you suggesting we take money out of transportation and put it into social services? … So where are ya going to find the money?”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Should Idaho legislators raise taxes to protect social programs by raising taxes — or by transferring money from other budgetary areas, like for roads and bridges?
Critics of the parents who let their kids take an arctic-like dive in the Polar Bear Plunge: Sorry, but you’re all wet. We take mild issue with those critics, mild because we know they mean well. These are the same critics who tend to complain when the newspaper publishes a photo of a teenager doing a flip into the lake or a tyke on a bike sans helmet. With all the right intentions, they wrongly meddle in the responsibilities of others. Bless them. What we take major issue with is any critic who calls out the Sorensen Magnet School teacher who offered “points” to any student who engaged in the annual New Year’s Day plunge into frigid Lake Coeur d’Alene. That’s sticking one’s protruding schnoz where it has no right to be stuck/CDA Press Editorial Board. More here.
Question: What kind of busy bodies bug you most?
… Sid and Stacy Smith. Smith, the former state Repub exec and spokesman for U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, and his wife (a Boise elementary teacher and former Coeur d’Alene High sports star) welcomed first child, son Taylor Carlin Smith, Friday in Boise. According to Sid’s mother, Ruth, Sid will be in town next Monday to begin his duties as U.S. Sen. Jim Risch’s regional director. The couple has been trying to get back to Coeur d’Alene for years after living in Washington, D.C., and Boise.
He told lawmakers, “As you all know, our means are not what they were when we last met here a year ago. … We are better off than many states. However, we as leaders must be sensitive to the fact that far too many Idahoan are out of work or under-employed. … No doubt about it - times are tough. But they have been tough in the past, and we have weathered the storm by working together with a common purpose”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here. Idaho Statesman’s coverage here.
Now that Bill Sali is no longer a congressman, he’s going to need a new job. He wasn’t exactly prospering as a lawyer before going to DC. After all, he had to work three jobs; lawyer, legislator, and musician. I’d guess that an unpopular 1-term congressman isn’t going to be a prime candidate for a lobbiest or consultant job. So, I wonder if Gov Otter will toss ol’ Bill a bone and give him a state job. I know of one that’s coming open in a few weeks at an annual salary of $89,711. The Idaho Industrial Commission, which administers Idaho’s workers compensation system, has three commissioners/IdaBlue. More here. Idaho Blog roundup below
Question: What will Bill Sali do while he waits two years for another run for Congress?
At Remember The Roxy, OrangeTV provides this 1909 remembrance of Coeur d’Alene’s Electric Dock. More vintage photos here. More Local Blogs links below
*Dueling headlines/Dogwalk Musings
*7 degrees of separation/Gathering Around The Table
*Self interview: Confessions (No. 3)/Kellogg Bloggin’
President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to issue an executive order his first week in office—and perhaps his first day—to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, according to two presidential transition team advisers. It’s unlikely the detention facility at the Navy base in Cuba will be closed anytime soon. In an interview last weekend, Obama said it would be “a challenge” to close it even within the first 100 days of his administration/AP. More here.
Question: Should the U.S. close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility?
Former Eastern Washington University All-American basketball player and current Detroit Piston guard Rodney Stuckey shows off his retired #3 jersey at a ceremony honoring him during half-time of the Eastern Washington Weber St. NCAA college basketball game in Cheney on Sunday. Weber St. beat the Eagles, 77-69. (AP Photo/The Spokesman Review, J. Bart Rayniak)
*Twin Falls recovers Baby Jesus statue in mall/Twin Falls Times-News
*Gay activists rally against Defense of Marriage Act in Boise/KBCI
*Coeur d’Alene Mines company wants to dump waste in Alaska lake/AP
*Washington County pays inmate $250K after girl recants molestation claim/KREM2
*Orbusmax Special: Gas prices rise 17% in Washington in one month here.
… That Councilman MikeK has another little mouth to feed. And baby Ronan (pronounced Ro-nen) James makes 7. Ron — who joines Will 13, Nora 11, Maggie 9, Max 6, Quinn 3, and Jack, who turns 2 Jan. 30 — arrived at 8 pounds 5 ounces and 20.5 inchjes long at 3:22 p.m. Saturday. Of consequence, Mike told Huckleberries, Ronan’s head is 14.5 inches in circumference, which made for a long delivery. Mike said he’s trying to increase the population of Demos in North Idaho. But his wife’s independence could undercut his quest. At the swearing in ceremony for new Prosecutor Barry McHugh this morning, Mike told Barry that his large family is a result of two things — old-fashioned Catholicism and whisky. Dead-panned Barry in return: “You should tell your wife to quit drinking.”
Our elderly neighbor had had a stroke while visiting family in the Midwest. His daughter, who I don’t know well, had stopped by the house before Christmas to tell me about it and asked me to keep an eye are their house. She and I have only had a couple brief conversations in the 15 years we’ve lived across the street from her parents, but she knows we’ve always watched out for them, and she knows how much I miss my own dad. She stopped by yesterday and asked for me. My husband told her I was out. She said, “My dad died last night. I just wanted to tell Cindy,” and started to cry. Now, my husband is a hugger. He’s warm and affectionate, but he paused as this virtual stranger cried on our doorstep. “I wanted to hug her,” he said. “But it was weird”/CindyH. More here.
Question (from CindyH): Do you hug people you don’t know well?
What looks like a pinecone amongst the green pine needles is not as it seems, posts Councilwoman KerriT on her blog, OnLocation North Idaho. Without looking, can you guess what it is? You can see if you’re right by click on this link?
… Several Huckleberries Online readers have e-mailed privately to ask if the Coeur d’Alene Press has pulled Mary Souza’s column after a less-than-stellar and interrupted run of a coupla years. This, as a result of Souza’s column being missing on the Press’s op-ed page Sunday and the note that comes up when you click on her CDA Press.com link: “You have followed a link to a page which no longer exists on the server.” I’ve e-mailed that question to Press Editor Mike Patrick.
I was like this with dirty eyeglasses during my entire childhood career of bespectacleism. Then, as a teenager, I was relieved of the obligation of eyeglasses by my Optometrist who told me we’d done all we could to ameliorate the laggardly right eye. Whatever happens happened. I was free of being a “four eyes.” Until around 5 years ago when I left the 30s to join the 40s where I am currently midpointing. Then it was reading glasses because even with my long apelike arms I could no longer hold reading targets far enough away from my sadly poor eyes to read. Now I wear 1.25 power reading glasses and guess what? I don’t hardly even much care if they become besmudged or besmeared! Not unless they develop a grimy film that makes everything kinda gray and smeary when I try to read. Then I’ll clean em/TUBOB. More here.
Question: Have you ever been called “four eyes”?
Newlyweds Paul Brooks, sitting left, of Normal, Ill.and Caragh Brooks, right, of Australia, share a Taco Bell meal during their wedding while family, friends, and members of the media capture the moment at Taco Bell in Normal, Ill. Friday night. Caragh Brooks, 21, of Australia, met Paul Brooks, 30, on an Internet dating Web site. They already had the same last name. The entire wedding cost about $200. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/The Pantagraph, B. Mosher)
… That outgoing prosecutor Bill Douglas didn’t attend the swearing-in ceremony for new Prosecutor Barry McHugh.
Item: Bush defends record in final news conference/AP
More Info: By turns wistful, aggressive and joking in the final news conference of his presidency, President George W. Bush vigorously defended his record Monday but also offered an extraordinary listing of his mistakes - including his optimistic Iraq speech before a giant “Mission Accomplished” banner in 2003.
Question: What will be President Bush’s legacy?
The restroom fiasco may prove to be the most prominent moment in Kempthorne’s 20-month legacy as interior secretary. Let’s face it, an interior secretary doesn’t command the profile of, say, a treasury secretary. While Westerners are interested in Interior’s policies on endangered species, national parks and Indian tribes, that buzz doesn’t translate nationally. For some Americans, the first and only thing they will know about the former Boise mayor and Idaho governor is the $236,000 bathroom story – an unflattering tale, and one skeptical taxpayers can relate to easily. Maybe that isn’t fair, but that is the reality/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Is it fair that another Idaho politician on the national scene may be remembered for his misjudgment involving a bathroom?
Item: Other cities not as forgiving toward those who don’t shovel sidewalks/Dan Hansen, SR
More Info: Stowell reached the point of frustration after her district and others repeatedly urged the public to clear their sidewalks. Some obliged. But there’s no penalty for those who did not; local ordinances requiring the removal of snow from sidewalks are not enforced.
Question: Should North Idaho cities crack down on scofflaw residents and businesses who don’t shovel snow from their sidewalks?
The bow of a North Idaho Maritime tugboat, the Florence Lee, breaks ice floes Friday on the St. Joe River near St. Maries. Gov. Butch Otter issued a disaster declaration Friday for Benewah County due to ice jams that have formed on the river creating the threat of flooding in the area. KXLY story here. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Shawn Gust)
*Keough to miss first week/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise
*Idaho Veneer to lay off half of work force indefinitely/Brian Walker, CDA Press
After Florida’s big 24-24 victory over Oklahoma in the BCS Championshipp NCAA football game last week, winning QB Tim Tebow was all smiles — and proudly showing off his “John 3:16” eye black for post-game cameras. The photo was a popular Google search for days afterward. AP Photo/Lynne Sladky. Question: How do you react when you see someone holding up a “John 3:16” sign at an athletic event?
The Idaho Legislature begins its 2009 session today. What issue do you consider to be the most important that it will face:
*School funding
*Roads & bridges
*Tax reform
*Social issues
*Other
It wasn’t a great rope swing, but it was a darn good one. It was also the most well used and loved I have ever seen. This rope swing was a deciding factor in our family’s move to Sandpoint. Almost a dozen years ago when we were contemplating moving here, I first spotted the rope swing after we had finally found the entrance road to Sandpoint’s City Beach. A herd of tough local ten to fifteen year-olds was hanging out around the uphill side of the rope swing close by the railroad tracks on a hot June day, as they have been doing for generations. Being a rope swing connoisseur, I was itching to try this one, but was stymied by how to get a turn with the locals who seemed to rule the place. As I walked up still trying to figure out an angle or at least find the end of the line, a thirteen year old towhead just handed me the rope. Offered like a gift of innocence/Arpie. More here.
Question: Have you ever swung off a rope swing into water? Where?
Rick Cooper of Coronado Classics dusts off the same story whenever someone asks him what life is like in the Lake City. Years ago, when his shop was on Sherman Avenue and open seven days a week during decent weather, he saw a fella nab his Sunday paper, jump in his car, and drive off. Rick wrote down the fella’s license number – and called the cops because he’d had several papers stolen. A CPD Blue showed up five minutes later and knew who the thief was. At that point, the guy was facing a night in jail because he couldn’t see a judge until Monday. Reasonably, Rick thought that was harsh punishment for a newspaper. Instead, he agreed to talk to the guy/DFO, SR Huckleberries. Rest of the story here.
Question: Have you had a good experience that involved local law enforcement?
Gonzaga’s Matt Bouldin, left, dribbles against Portland’s Ethan Niedermeyer, center, and Kramer Knutson, right, in the first half of their NCAA college basketball game at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane on Saturday. Gonzaga won 67-50 to open WCC play. ESPN story and boxscore. (AP Photo/Rajah Bose)
Item: Good Samaritans tough to find: Volunteers to shovel roofs, sidewalks in short supply/Tom Hasslinger, CDA Press
More Info: They don’t make them like they used to. Kind-hearted Samaritans who used to volunteer their time shoveling out disabled and elderly people during Coeur d’Alene winters have disappeared under this year’s record snowfall. And the 100-plus inches of snow, sleet and ice has left entrepreneurs in their place. “Seems like everybody’s out to make a buck,” said Vickie Harrison, manager of Lake City Senior Center. “Not that you can blame them.”
Question: Have you been helped unexpectedly by a Good Samaritan this winter?
She can’t honestly think Caroline Kennedy hasn’t taken her lumps for her “you knows” and “ums” during interviews. She has. They both need some lessons on how to communicate effectively. When she is wondering out loud, to a reporter of course, if Caroline is receiving preferential treatment for a Senate seat because of her name, education and the fact she lives in Manhattan and is more cosmopolitan than the rurally oriented Palin, it makes me chuckle. Kennedy is after all making a run for the Senate seat from New York. Manhattan is in New York. Many of the reporters are based in New York. Yet I find no lack of scrutiny because of it/Dogwalk Musings. More here.
Question: Is Caroline Kennedy qualified to be a U.S. senator?
If I take the concept behind an avatar, then I am assuming that each user is displaying his persona in that little icon. On Huckleberries – unlike any other forum displaying avatars – the individual avatars change sporadically throughout the day, expressing that individual’s mood at that moment: naughty, nice, cantankerous, ornery, quizzical, mysterious. Mine at the moment is pixyish fairy with a subtle mischievousness – in other words, a brat. :) (Tinkerbell) (I did find a naked Tink and gave it about five seconds before I visualized my avatar — and me — being banned forever and ever.)/JeanieSpokane, Nuts & Nonsense. More here.
Question: Why did you select the avatar that you did? Have you changed the original yet?
Housing prices are plummeting. Jobs are evaporating. The economy is a mess. But singles are wading into the online dating pool in record numbers, giving virtual matchmakers their best traffic figures in years – and giving users even better odds for finding a snuggle buddy, a fling or The One. In addition to “This Cougar is looking for her prey” and other bootylicious come-ons, lonely hearts are headlining their posts with more somber sentiments, such as “its a gloomy time of year and im not talking about the rain” or “need hot girlfriend, will provide food”/LA Times. More here.
Question: Do you consider online dating to be safe?
A friend in Coeur d’Alene has discovered that she is not alone. PApparently others, including several of her co-workers, cannot easily read the handwriting of their grandmothers and elderly aunts.“When my husband and I receive such a letter from an elderly aunt, it’s somewhat of a puzzle to try to decipher what it says and it’s always kind of fun, but we can never get it all,” she says.Oh, well. At least those ladies still write letters. They might be the last to do so/Paul Turner, The Slice. More here.
Question: How would you describe your hand-writing?
What should Obama’s first objective be to turn America’s economy around?
1. Raise taxes significantly on the rich
2. Tax Social Security benefits for the rich
3. Raise taxes across the board
4. Implement a new “New Deal” that puts everyone to work
5. Create a massive program to rebuild America’s infrastructure
More below
If the weatherman is right, we have another night of snow tonight and then 10 glorious days of sunshine. After the last month, it sounds like a great formula for breaking out of the winter doldrums. Meanwhile, Gonzaga kicks off the West Coast Conference by hosting Portland at The Kennel tonight here. Jim Kershner discovers that Clint Eastwood once lived in Spokane here. Two Spokane social service groups are offering counsel to Seasoned Citizens facing the digital TV switch Feb. 17 here. And it’s time to play the Saturday Wild Card and go to bed …
Coeur d’Alene’s Devon Austin, left, comes around to harass Lake City’s Logan Frederickson Friday at Coeur d’Alene High. Behind Frederickson is Coeur d’Alene’s Chris Reed. Lake City defeated Coeur d’Alene 68-63 in overtime. You can read Greg Lee’s Sportslink blog account here. Jesse Tinsley/SR.
Arpie: The best named paper I know is the Fish Wrapper from Ennis, Montana.Toadman, you will have a hard time coming up with a better named paper than that.
Question: If you started a newspaper, what would you call it?
Thwatful Reader (after noting Thursday’s page-views and unique views, 7461/4319) asks: Are those numbers way down? Seems to me they are. Could be the new blog software, or certainly, things are quieter since the election.
DFO: HBO numbers dropped steeply after the switch from the old site to the new one before my Christmas vacation — about one-third, from 9000-9500 per day to 6000-6500. That pattern continued through the first of this week and then began improving, from 6000 to 7800. Other SR blogs have taken big hits, too. I suspect the new site and registration has something to do with it. The search engines have yet to rediscover our sites. By spring, I hope to be somewhere back to the November numbers. Either way, the new software is a major improvement over the previous baling-wire-and-bubblegum system.
When I was in high school, I cut out and kept a Ziggy cartoon. Do you remember Ziggy? (If you’re not old enough, don’t tell me. my daughter commented on one of my columns saying, “what’s a boob tube?) anyway, the cartoon showed Ziggy walking down a road in the middle of nowhere, hands in his pockets, whistling. And out of the sky behind him was this huge hand, poised to flick him in the head.I still have the cartoon, It’s my philosophy of life/Trish Gannon.
Question: Which comic character or stip shares your philosophy of life?
I put the black cat in the microwave oven, and turn away to get a drink of water while it warmed up. All a sudden I heard crackling, and looked at the microwave, and saw the cat on fire. I open the oven, and threw the cat into the sink and sprayed it with water. Seems the cat’s tail had a wire in it. Cut off tail, snipped burnt parts off and put in the dryer, which I should have done in the first place/Cis, Simple Mind. More here.
Question: What’s the greatest mess you’ve made that involved a microwave?
For only the second time* in my life, I’m completely stranded. The first was when I was caught in a brutal blizzard that stranded me overnight in Moses Lake when I-90 was closed. But this is worse, because the flooding is supposed to increase madly and gigantically as the Pineapple Express storm blasts more rain today and tomorrow, another 3 to FIFTEEN inches. Basically, unless I could find an alternate southern route to I-84 in Oregon and then run the gorge east and up through the Tri-Cities, there’s no way, without flying, I could get home if my roof collapsed or something bad happened at my home in Spokane. Spokane is undergoing its own sloppy wet weather hell from the Pineapple Express melting some of the vast amounts of snow there. Vast enough to keep Spokane on the national news/TUBOB. More here.
Question: Have you been stranded somewhere?
We’ve been handed a deck of cards that is, for all intents and purposes, stacked against us. We’ve been short-sheeted in the atmospheric department so far this winter. In short, it’s been hard times of late. Also, lately around these parts, there’s been a lot of what I call “bitching and moaning” about the former stacked weather cards and shorted atmospheric sheets. But you know what? We live here. We dance here. This is what we’ve been dealt and we must either deal with it, or lose our minds. Complaining does no good. The almighty has dealt us this stacked deck, and we must use the abilities we’ve been endowed with to meet it head on. Therefore, I propose the people of the Inland Northwest start dancing with the one who brought them, as it were/Toadman, Synaptic Disunion. More here.
Question: On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being an absolute meltdown), how have you dealt with the winter this year?
This cliched comedy “Bride Wars” tosses out stereotypes about female materialism and cattiness with all the giddy gusto of a newly married woman flinging the bouquet at her single girlfriends. It’s amazing that two of the film’s three writers are women: Casey Wilson of “Saturday Night Live” and June Diane Raphael (the third, Greg DePaul, also gets a story-by credit). But what’s just as baffling is the way in which director Gary Winick – who brought the radiant best out of Jennifer Garner in the 2004 charmer “13 Going on 30” – manages to squander the appealing screen presence of Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway/AP. More here.
Question: What’s the last “chick flick” that you’ve seen?
In the news on this TGIF evening, Illinois Gov. Rod Blogajevich dismisses the House impeachment vote today as politically driven here. The number of obese Americans now outweight those who are merely overweight here. A Texas Death Row inmate pulled his good eye out and ate it here. And here’s your re-played daily Wild Card …
You know it’s deep when the ducks start swimming in the potholes. First, there was record snow and now comes the potholes in downtown Spokane/Christopher Anderson, SR.
I am appalled to see pictures of children of all ages participating — both “willingly” and unwillingly — in the plunge into the 35-degree lake. It had never occurred to me anyone beside consenting adults would participate in this activity. As far as I can see, this is a form of child abuse. People who are supposed to protect children — such as the teacher who gave her student “points” for plunging and the grandmother who was holding onto an apparently unwilling 4-year-old — are failing miserably as protectors of children. Then there are the 16-year-olds who are participating due to peer pressure. Where is the common sense?/Karen Norskog, Coeur d’Alene Press letter writer. More here.
Question: Is it child abuse for a parent to participate in the Polar Bear Plunge with a younger child?
A rooftop gas leak at the Clark Fork Jr.-Sr. High School forced a school-wide evacuation Thursday as officials attempted to diagnose and repair the problem, reports Conor Christofferson/Bonner County Bee. Story here. Above, Trish Gannon/River Journal provides a photo of the scene, with this comment: “My daughter was at bball practice wed night the smell was horrendous, they all thought it couldn’t be propane as it would have blown … but it was.”
*Cartoon: PI for sale/David Horsey, Seattle PI
*Best of SR afternoon blogs/Andrew Zahler, SR
*Murderer Duncan moved to Indiana prison/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise
*Moose crashes into Spokane basement bedroom/Rich Landers, SR
*Stepmother gets 62 years in Summer Phelps’ death/Karen Dorn Steele, SR
5:24 p.m. Malfunctioning stoplights on Highway 41, causing traffic to back up onto interstate.
5:02 p.m. A twentysomething man is walking around the Slab Inn area/Post Falls swinging a golf club at the ground and appearing to be “totally out of it.”
4:58 p.m. A man who appears to be drunk was walking n/b of the s/b lanes of Highway 95 @ Prairie. And later was spotted laying in a snow bank, twitching.
In this photo released by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, “George,” a live 20 pound lobster rests on a plate at City Crab and Seafood in New York today. City Crab and Seafood has spared the lobster, which is expected to be released Saturday, near Kennebunkport, Maine, in an area where lobster trapping is forbidden. PETA and the restaurant gauged George’s age at about 140, using a rule of thumb based on the creature’s weight. (AP Photo/P.E.T.A.)
Said a Tel Aviv spokesman named Gus,
“We regret this unfortunate fuss,
but Hamas is to blame
that we bomb, kill and maim —
and besides Hitler did it to us.”
The Bard of Sherman Avenue
At Remember The Roxy, OrangeTV continues to entertain us with photos like the one above of a Coeur d’Alene lifeguard from 1944. Let’s see, the lifeguard’d be in her early to mid-80s now. Anyone know her. More Remember The Roxy photos here. (Blogroll roundup below)
Item: Physical shoveling proves to be pain in the back: Therapists see influx of snow-removal strains/Alecia Warren, CDA Press
More Info: Physical therapists see influx of snow removal strains. Everything was fine while Devonne was chucking humps of snow out of her driveway last month. Only after she shed her shovel and jacket inside did the pain hit. And it hit hard.
Question: Did you injure yourself in any way removing snow this winter?
Blogmeister Ryan has figured out why the comments section and the drop-down box under the 12:03 Huckleberries wasn’t working. Ditto, for the original “Huckleberries Hears …” earlier today. You can now comment on those posts. And see the drop-down boxes. Thanks for your patience as Huckleberries continues to discover soft spots in the otherwise cool new blogware …
In the style of all these types of year-end communications my plan is to talk about the year just passed, and I preface it by borrowing from Dickens—these are the times that try men’s souls. They are times that are trying this woman’s soul as well, and the overriding theme of this year, for me, has been a struggle to keep my faith. Not just my faith in God, in a wise and all-knowing someone who guides the paths we walk, but also my faith in myself, and my faith that we choose our destinies, that no matter how difficult we find the path we’re on, we can only come out the better for walking it. That’s because 2008, with a nod to my grandma, was my year of eating the frog/Trish Gannon, River Journal. More here.
Question: Did 2008 try your soul? Or make you eat frog?
In fact, one of the most important parts of the pre-diet ritual is the December 31 “last supper.” This year, it was the ultra-classic Paul Bunyan Bacon Double Cheeseburger, a sublime, messy beast known to tear through twenty napkins, and a superb final indulgence before jumping on the wagon of salubriousness. Conversely, it’s almost always my inability to resist the voodoo pull of the bun-encased, cheese-slathered all-American ground beef patty that causes the New Year’s diet plan to go rattling violently off its tracks and crash into the nearest Zip’s Drive-in/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Question: How do you officially launch a diet?
Mike Evans, checking on the home of a friend, walks through fog and water two-feet deep earlier today, near Carnation, Wash. Thousands of people are still out of their homes and hundreds of trucks are stranded along highways because of floods, mudslides and avalanches in the Pacific Northwest. Moments ago, the Washington Department of Transportation announced that Snoqualmie Pass is now open on I-90. See story below. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
David Horsey/Seattle PI: Porn bailout
*USGS to fight Web operator who gave fake Yellowstone volcano warning/Billings Gazette
*Idaho jobless rate leaps to 6.6%/Idaho Statesman; Rising claims drain jobless fund/KTVB
*http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2009/01/09/news/local_montana/news_8768521326_05.txt/Daily Inter Lake
*Governor declares disaster in Benewah County/KTVB
*Orbusmax Special: Boeing to announce layoffs of 4,500 here.
Item: Seattle Post-Intelligencer up for sale/Seattle Times
More Info: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which first rolled off the presses in 1863 and has been the state’s longest-publishing newspaper, is up for sale, according to the paper’s Web site. The newspaper’s staff was called into a closed meeting today by publisher Roger Oglesby. Present at the meeting was Hearst Newspaper President Steve Swartz, who told the newsroom that Hearst Corp. is starting a 60-day process to find a buyer. If a buyer is not found, Swartz said, possible options include creating an all-digital operation, and shutting down the paper.
Question: Which newspaper did you grow up reading?
… That Ron Nilson of Ground Force Manufacturing declared war on the Education Corridor at the weekly meeting of the Pachyderm Club. A Berry Picker reports: ”Speaking very passionately, he encouraged all in attendance, whom he referred to as ‘the silent majority,’ to stand up and fight. ’The easiest way for evil to triumph, was for good men to do nothing,’ he quoted. He told them to not be silent anymore. He had tears in his eyes, I swear. I thought I was at a revival. …. Duane (Rasmussen) had to give Ron the hook or he’d still be talking.” Check below for more Nilson gems:
Kudos to Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden for his decision to join with the attorneys general from all 50 states to express their united support – regardless of party affiliation – for the time-honored practice of invocations at presidential inaugurations/IVA. More here. (More links in drop-down box)
*Palin packs a punch/Adam’s Blog
*IVA’s tax conundrum/MountainGoat Report
*Idahoans, DC & Kempthorne bathroom/Randy Stapilus
Question: Should invocations be removed from presidential inaugarations?
So much for safety first. The Idaho Transportation Board earmarked $94 million Wednesday - but nothing for a bridge dangerous enough to get written up in Popular Mechanics magazine. The Dover Bridge in Bonner County got short shrift in part because board members believed enough highway money was already going to the Panhandle. That’s no way to dedicate tax dollars, not even a one-time windfall from a federal economic stimulus bill. And it doesn’t reflect well on an appointed board that is, ostensibly, supposed to take politics out of road-building decisions/Idaho Statesman Editorial Board. More here.
Question: Do you agree with the Idaho Statesman that the Idaho Transportation Board opted for regionalism over safety when it ignored staff recommendations to fix the Dover Bridge w/stimulus money?
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich talks to the media at his home in Chicago on Friday. The Illinois House voted 114-1 earlier this morning to impeach Blagojevich, a first in state history. You write the cutline. Story here. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
… Community activist Mary Souza hit a speed bump in her attempt to gain Rotary membership for her OpenCDA.com blog buddy Dan Gookin. Seems some Rotarians told leadership — and I paraphrase — “over our dead bodies.” Stay tuned.
… Did someone at the Coeur d’Alene Press forget to include an editorial page in today’s edition? What’s up with that?
As it happens, Eastwood was talking about a fellow for whom sensitivity is not a problem: Walt Kowalski, the retired Detroit auto worker he portrays in his latest film, “Gran Torino.” Kowalski is the unlikely hero of a tale of redemption and sacrifice … unlikely because he is a cantankerous cuss with a mouth full of bigotry and invective, a guy who has it in for the “dagos,” the “micks,” the “hillbillies” and, most pointedly, the “slopes” … i.e., the Hmong refugees, an influx of which has left his once white, working-class neighborhood unrecognizable. In the years since he stopped acting opposite orangutans, Eastwood has become a fascinating filmmaker, willing like few others to confront the nettlesome gray areas of human existence. “Gran Torino” is a worthy addition to that canon but for all the nettlesome grays it illuminates, the most nettlesome might be one it suggests only obliquely: the notion that we are drowning in our own sensitivity/Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald. More here.
Question: Do you think we’re “drowning in our own sensitivity”?
On Wednesday morning at the crack of dawn I went “onlocation” in the cab of a Post Falls city snowplow on the first day of the warming trend. It had been exactly three weeks since the snow started falling and fell in great huge record-breaking piles every single day/Kerri Thoreson, OnLocation North Idaho. More here.
*Coeur d’Alene Tribe gets OK for radio station/Becky Kramer, SR
*Flooding concern high in North Idaho/Jody Lawrence-Turner, SR
*Craig, former chief of staff to form consulting firm?/Idaho Statesman
*Vandals deliver punch to Hawaii/Josh Wright, SR correspondent
*Idaho wilderness bill has encouraging future/Jill Kuraitis, New West Boise
In a CDA Press story by Maureen Dolan this morning, Superintendent Hazel Bauman said the Coeur d’Alene School District could cut athletics programs by as much as $800,000. How would you go about trimming the sports budgets?
*Eliminate travel to southern Idaho, except for state competition.
*Eliminate some less popular sports that don’t attract fan revenue.
*Make an across-the-board trim of all sports programs.
*Schedule fund-raisers to make up as much money as possible.
*Leave sports alone by cutting elsewhere.
Wow! The fewer qualifications you have the better job you can get! Heck, I ought to be Michelle Obama’s Press Secretary! I was browsing around and found this AP headline: Joe the Plumber to become war correspondent. Yep. He’s being sent to Israel to cover the Gaza war. Let’s see. Samuel J. Wurzelbacher. He could be Jewish. Which would give pause to the credibility of his reporting. But then if he’s German, that would too! Never mind the fact that he’s not even licensed as a plumber what’s more a journalist!/Dogwalk Musings. More here.
Question: Would you be interested in hearing a Gaza war report from Joe The Plumber?
There has been rare, spotty criticism of these magnificent animals by a few disgruntled locals, mostly hunters, who now actually have to get their rather ample derrieres off their over-equipped All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) and, you know, actually walk around and stuff when hunting for elk to blast from ungodly long distances using scoped high powered rifles, and rumor has it many of the big cat hunters despise wolves because the big bad wolves enjoy the yummy taste of a hound or two as the hounds bound baying after cougar. Oh well. You’re in MisterWolfers neighborhood now, and the magic trolley tends to end up in his tummy/TUBOB. More here.
Question: Do you love or hate Idaho gray wolves?
I’ve been updating my blog rolls today. You’ll notice: 1. The addition of “Bozeman (Mont.) Police Reports” in the Friends blogroll (b/c they’re fun to read). 2. That M.E. Vickie Holbrook @ the Idaho Press-Tribune is now flying solo on the blog, which is now named “From The Editor” instead of “From The Editors.” 3. Sam Taylor has a new Web address. 4. Also, three North Idaho blogs are in danger of being removed from the HBO blogosphere as a result of a lack of activity over the last month: Otis G, PDX Pup, and Soul Doubt. 5. Finally, on another subject, I’m beginning to make a list of individuals whom we haven’t seen since the switch to the new blog site. Duane Rasmussen and Larry Spencer head the list. Can you think of anyone else? While you’re mulling that question, I’ll continue to play the Wild Card …
Children wave flags at the Malecon avenue on the Anniversary of Fidel Castro’s triumphant march into Havana when he defeated Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista on 1959 in Havana, Cuba today. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) SR’s Today In Photos: Western Washington floods Question: Is it finally time for the United States to resume normal relations with Cuba?
Item: PETA wants NW Montana high school renamed ‘Sea Kitten’/Missoulian
More Info: Meow. Actually, make that, me-OW! The next time you hook into a lunker, and the rod tip bends as line spools out, the folks at PETA want you to look that fishy face square in the eye and think of it not as dinner, but rather as a “sea kitten.”
Question: Obviously, Whitefish residents aren’t going to rename their high school “Sea Kitten” to honor fish. However, does PETA subtlely push its agenda by the publicity it receives from such outlandish requests?
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter addresses a group of reporters today in Boise, Idaho. Otter, speaking at the annual AP Legislative preview, addressed topics from transportation to rising unemployment rates. Betsy Russell/Eye On Boise story here. (AP Photo/Matt Cilley)
*Best of Spokesman.com PM blogs/Andrew Zahler
Eye On Boise: Dover Bridge; Jockeying for leadership; and Pickens pledge
*Seattle PI to be sold or shut down/King 5
*Idaho’s Simpson to lead GOP on enviro spending panel/AP
*Polygamist leaders arrested near Idaho-Canada border/KTVB
*Leaky roof closes Sandpoint chamber office/Bonner County Bee
5:15 p.m. R/P reports a woman has been screaming for 15 minutes in the area of Indiana & 11th. He can’t make out what she’s saying. But he plans to drive by the site where the screaming seems to be coming from.
5:01 p.m. A possible suicide attempt involving a female in apartments near Government Way & Dakota.
4:40 p.m. Resident asks officers to remove a possible homeless man from his property. The man isn’t drunk or antagonistic.
Cis/Simple Mind asks: I know the gathering up of the local blogs is a pain, but I got to ask … How do you decide which ones to grab. Is it a random thing, like whatever is there for the day you decide to take from one of us. Or do you read thru the last couple days titles and see which one is a good one. As sometimes you will pull my one for the day, and some times you will pull one from a couple days before.
DFO: Cis, there is a method to my madness. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I highlight the blogs from A through M. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I highlight the remainder. On the off-days, when I have time, I also check out the bloggers that post regularly (like Dogwalk, Slight Detour, TUBOB, and yours) in search of material for a stand-alone post. For regular posters like you, there’s a chance that good material will fall through the cracks on off-days.
The snow mounds were still high surrounding the Coeur d’Alene Resort today. Hotels say snow days hurt, but the season is typically slow anyway. Hagadone Hospitality has lowered salaries and wages. KATHY PLONKA The Spokesman-Review
Question: How much money do you spend at the Coeur d’Alene Resort each year?
The space would be available to retailers on a need-basis. Dislocated businesses that had been caught completely without insurance coverage could move into the stores located at 9245 N. Government Way free of charge. Fortier said the arrangement would be open-ended, depending on the circumstances of the occupant. The Design Center would negotiate discounted rents for businesses that had some insurance but weren’t covered for extensive expenses, such as relocating/Patrick O’Brien, CDA Press. More here.
Question: Fortier hasn’t written a column for the CDA Press since mid-December. Anyone know if he’s still columnizing? Or was a victim of Press cutbacks over the holidays?
If you take away the Slumdogs and Benjamin Buttons of December, movies in 2008 were satisfactory at best. The predictably dreary early months (“Jumper,” “Untraceable”) gave way to a rocky summer (“Dark Knight” yes, “Hancock” no), and even the big fall blockbusters disappointed (“Twilight,” “Quantum of Solace”). Although I managed to avoid many of this year’s easy targets (“Meet the Spartans,” “Meet Dave”), the following list represents the dark side of Hollywood — the place where dreams die and moviegoers are pelted repeatedly between the legs/Tyler Wilson, CDA Press. More here.
Question: Which movie do you consider to be the worst of 2008?
As first reported in Scanner Traffic Wednesday, a local driver was threatened by another motorist with dark-colored hatchet about 3 o’clock at Ragan Equipment, 320 W. Hanley. Seems John Brand cut Road Rager off when a snow berm caused two lanes of traffic to abruptly become one at Kathleen and Government Way. Next thing John knew, Road Rager, in a white Ford Expedition, was on his tail, flipping him off and brandishing a rusty black knife, which the man drew across his throat while he pointed at him. Road Rager followed John to Ragan Equipment, where he jumped out the car, wielding a hatchet in a threatening manner while approaching within 20 feet. At that point, trucker George Williams stepped between the two and told the man to “chill out.” Road Rager left as soon as he saw Randy Ragan of Ragan Equipment dialing 911. Be careful out there.
At Remember The Roxy, OrangeTV has posted another half dozen or so vintage photos, including this one from the World War I era of the USO building that graced City Park until it burned down. You can catch up on OTV’s latest here.
*Winter Watch/Tumblewords
*Life with my strong-willed son/Rants, Raves & Random Thoughts
*Who brought you?/Synaptic Disunion
*A mother suffers a right of passage/Notes from the ‘Kan EWA
*Screw you, Hawaii, screw you/TUBOB
Idaho’s Transportation Board - faced with a staff recommendation to make replacement of the deterioriated Dover Bridge its top priority for federal stimulus funds - instead dropped the project to No. 7 on its list in a special meeting yesterday, with only six projects likely to get funded. Board members said North Idaho already is receiving lots of transportation money with the Sandpoint Bypass project going forward and the money should be spread around the state - a decision that infuriated North Idaho Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, and also aroused the ire this morning of Gov. Butch Otter/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Do you agree with the ITD board that stimulus money should be spread around to other state projects because North Idaho already is getting enough money for the Sandpoint Bypass?
Item: White supremacists try to polish image/Becky Shay, Billings Gazette
More Info: Kyle Anderson blends in with the crowd of businessmen and students sitting in a Billings coffee shop. His dark hair is cropped short. He wears a burgundy dress shirt and dark slacks. The only thing that distinguishes him as a “Creator,” a member of a group advocating an all-white society, is the pin with a large “W” on his black silk tie. The W stands for white. Presenting himself as professional is part of being a member of the elite white race, said the 19-year-old Anderson.
Question (w/tongue firmly cheeked): Let’s say you are a public relations expert without scruples. How would you go about polishing the image of white supremacists who want to blend into society?
*Nampa WWII plane used in movie ‘Valkyrie’/Idaho Press-Tribune
*PETA seeks to rename Whitefish school Sea Fish/Missoulian
*White supremacists try to polish image/Billings Gazette
*Buck floats down Yellowstone River on ice chunks/Billings Gazette
*Montana, Alaska lead states w/double-digit increases in birth rates/Billings Gazette
Harrington’s short, three-paragraph letter - which she wrote several days after the election - didn’t have Palin’s street address or even the correct zip code. “I figured if I put ‘Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, Wasilla, AK’ on the envelope, it would probably find its way to her one way or another,” said Harrington. “I ended up putting an Anchorage, Alaska zip code on it because I couldn’t find one for Wasilla.” The letter not only found its way to Palin; Harrington was stunned when she received a letter on Nov. 24, about two weeks after she wrote the governor/R.J. Cohn, RuralNorthwest.com. More here.
Question: Do you have a letter or autographed photo keepsake from a famous person?
Were Congress to repeal DADT, I would support a clause that gives everyone else in the military a option to get out with whatever type of discharge would normally deserve if they feel they can’t accept the change, without financial penalty; after all, they joined the military understanding that they wouldn’t have to serve with those who were openly gay. This way, you wouldn’t be making someone serve “against their will” with those whose sexuality they abhor. After the grace period ends, however, they’d need to toe the line and follow orders/Bubblehead, The Stupid Shall Be Punished. More here.
Question: What do you think of Bubblehead’s idea re: a grace period that allows troops to quit if they disagree if/when the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is rescinded?
Idaho Blog Roundup below
A mule deer buck mingles with statues of deer in a yard in Billings, Mont., Tuesday. The mature buck made its bed near the smaller statues and spent most of his day with them. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Billings Gazette, David Grubbs)
Top Cutlines:
1. TUBOB here.
2. Hoping to emulate the U.S. Bailout plan, a mule deer entrusts his future to fake bucks — JohnA.
3. I’d rather have a paper doe to call my own, than have a fickle minded real live fawn — Aliasjax.
HM: Marmitetoasty
In an announcement that launched a thousand unprintable puns, adult-entertainment moguls Larry Flynt and Joe Francis said Wednesday that they are asking Washington for a $5 billion federal bailout, claiming that the porn business is suffering from the soft economy. Francis insisted in a phone interview that this is no joke or publicity stunt, though his tone suggested otherwise.“ The government’s handing out money to the auto industry,” Francis, producer of the “Girls Gone Wild” video series, said on the phone from his Santa Monica office. “Why shouldn’t it hand some to an industry the nation could not live without?”/L.A. Daily News. More here.
Question (w/Hat Tip to Bob): Should the feds bail out the porn industry?
Two things have become clear since Washington state lawmakers passed a law banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving:1. Many drivers are still unaware of the law. 2. Many drivers are unconcerned about being ticketed because it is a secondary offense, meaning officers cannot issue tickets unless the driver was pulled over for something else. Even with the dangerous road conditions, many motorists can’t resist yakking on the phone. The problem with the law is that its authors didn’t take the offense seriously enough to begin with/SR Editorial Board.
Question: Should Idaho ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving and/or should such an offense be a primary rather than secondary one?
You need look no further than Kootenai County Democratic chief Thom George, if you want to know why Democrat Walt Minnick dumped Republican incumbent Bill Sali in the 1st Congressional District race. At one of those hush-hush Republicans-for-Minnick gatherings last year, a female voter who is known as MamaJD at Huckleberries Online told ThomG she’d vote for Minnick, if he’d jump in the lake. Not only did Thom jump in the lake, but he did so on New Year’s Day. Can you say Polar Bear, baybee? The ex-New Yorker joined dozens of other cuh-razies, to win MamaJD’s vote. MamaJD jumped in the lake, too, as is her custom/DFO, Huckleberries. More here.
*Athol has exotic menagerie/Herb Huseland
*Adopted Christmas horse dies/Cindy Hval
A maintenance worker services a fast food sign Wednesday in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
*Idaho Records/Sherry Adkins, SR
*Letter from Gov. Palin stuns Bonners Ferry woman/R.J. Cohn, RuralNorthwest.com
*Minnick fights partisanship/David Broder, Washington Post
*Weather wallops wildlife/Brian Walker, CDA Press
*Elk herd’s bad luck translates into food for pantry/Rich Landers, SR
*Vikings, Trojans grab early attention/Greg Lee, SR
Now that the snow is melting away on area roofs, it’s time to ask: Did you shovel your roof this winter?
*Yes, I did it myself in my spare time
*Yes, but others did it for me
*Yes, but I paid to have it done
*No, but I kept my fingers crossed for the last three weeks
North Idaho College President Priscilla Bell will be spending some time away from campus to recover from a medical procedure. An e-mail sent from the president’s office Wednesday alerted members of the campus community that Bell will take one, possibly two weeks of medical leave starting Friday to recuperate from a “hip procedure” she will undergo that morning. During Bell’s medical leave, Rolly Jurgens, NIC’s vice president of administrative services, will act as president/CDA Press. More here.
DFO: Seems this explains why Truly encountered the NIC prez in a medical office.
A lawyer for former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig says they won’t ask the Minnesota Supreme Court to void Craig’s conviction in an airport bathroom sex sting. Minneapolis attorney Tom Kelly says he concluded that the state Supreme Court would not accept a petition for further review of the case, so it would be a futile exercise. He says that means the legal wrangling in the case is over. Thursday was the 30-day deadline for Craig to ask the high court to review a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision that went against him/AP, Eye On Boise.
Question: Surprised that Craig would drop his appeal after he left office?
In the news this morning, Matt Drudge has picked up on that story of a Spokane snow rager shooting at the snowplow driver, incorrectly labeling the story: “Snow rage in Spokane; man shoots plow driver” here. You can read the latest re: Winter ‘08 coverage in the SR here. MamaJD provides a Smoking Gun link (with photos) to the guy who hung naked from the waist down after a ski lift accident here. Our friend Bubblehead (Joel Kennedy) at The Stupid Shall Be Punished needs some Huckleberries Online votes after being nominated for the Best Up & Coming Blogs in the 2008 Weblog Awards contest here. Also, TUBOB’s friend Blue Girl In A Red State is in the running for Best Diarist in the Weblog Awards. You can vote for her by clicking here. Now, for you daily Wild Card …
Gonzaga’s Austin Daye (5) drives against Tennessee’s Tyler Smith during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday in Knoxville, Tenn. Daye scored 20 points as Gonzaga won in overtime 89-79. ESPN boxscore & story here. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
Once upon a boom and bubble,
in the land of greed and trouble,
there schemed a ponzi crook
whose crass deception took
world wide panic straight to rubble.
Sue Turner/Tumblewords
Guard Demetri Goodson of Gonzaga, left, and Tennessee guard Bobby Maze race for a loose ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Old Spice Classic tournament in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Sunday, Nov. 30. Gonzaga, which won 83-74 in the earlier match, will be playing a rematch at Tennessee in the few minutes. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Question: Have you given up on the Zags this year?
So why is it that all through every day I have these brilliant blog posts go through my mind and then I sit down to write and everything is gone? I know that they are still in there somewhere, I just can’t find them. Oh well, maybe tomorrow/Jen, A Butterfly Moment.
Question: How do you fellow bloggers who post regularly fight writer’s block?
Six wild elk taking refuge from a storm were killed early Tuesday morning when this old hay storage barn collapsed under the weight of heavy snow near Boundary Dam in Pend Oreille County. See story below. Photo by Cassie Petrich.
David Horsey/Seattle PI ‘toon here.
*ITD picks 6 projects for stimulus package/Idaho Statesman
*Shoshone Commissioner Krulitz steps down/Ty Hampton, Shoshone News-Press
*Towelgate: Did Dirk have fancy towels, refrigerator in bathroom?/Mark Johnson, KTVB
*Collapsing roof kills 6 refuge-seeking elk/Rich Landers, SR
*Best of Spokesman.com blogs this afternoon/Andrew Zahler, SR
5:25 p.m. A gray Subaru is over the bank @ Highway 95 and Cougar Gulch. No injuries.
4:19 p.m. Mother & son fighting in 3rd Avenue/Post Falls. Mother’s in bathroom. Son’s in kitchen, crying.
3:15 p.m. Male suffered a broken ankle as a result of a fall in the Big D Steak House (formerly One Eye Jack’s in Rathdrum) parking lot on 15512 Highway 41 (cross Vernon & Washington). He’s bleeding from the ankle and his foot is facing the wrong way.
Score one for Otter, finally. After a downright disasterous run of horrible appointments, Senator Little (R-Emmett) was sworn in today as Lt. Governor. Little’s family has deep roots in Idaho. He’s a rancher and businessman. He doesn’t let ideology cloud his pragmatism. He’s personable, approachable, likable, respected and intelligent. He was one of the first ranchers to offer a hand instead of a fist towards environmentalists concerned about land abuse/Sisyphus, 43rd State Blues. More here.
*Shiny & new blog sites/Political Game
*Lt. Gov. Brad Little/Randy Stapilus
*Who will take Lt. Gov. Little’s Senate seat?/Unequivocal Notion
Pedestrian dodge huge snow berms in downtown Spokane today. Spokane Mayor Mary Verner held a press conference to talk about how the city is handling the aftermath of record setting snowfall over the past several weeks. Christopher Anderson/Spokesman-Review.
Question: Have Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden and other North Idaho cities done enough, to your satisfaction, to handle the massive snowfall?
“This 1905 home once stood on the corner of 9th and Sherman Avenue in Coeur d’Alene and our family lived there for almost a decade,” writes Kerri Thoreson/OnLocation North Idaho. “Owned by former US Congressman John T. Wood (served 1951-53), it was a grand house filled with beautiful and ornate furnishings and finishings. To see how my sister Janna and I came to be reunited with this nostalgia from our childhood, click here.”
Question: Among the many houses in which you’ve lived over the years, do you have a favorite one? Describe it.
You can discover why Jantri/Brand X Ranch wished she was born during the era of cowgirls by clicking here.
I am inviting you to join me at … MySpace, Face space, Reunion space, Family space. These are all nice things, but I am not a joiner. Never been good at clubs and such. Goes back to the Brownie bit. Remember, I used my Brownie dues for the Penny Store. I shared my bubble gum with the girls, but that didn’t count. And I got kicked out of Brownies/Simple Mind. More here.
HBO Numbers: 7696 page-views/4714 unique views
*Cowgirls/Brand X Ranch
*Stuff I’ve always wondered about/Atmospheric Ruminations
*It’s over for now/Bay Views
*Puffed childhood/Community Comment
Question: I’m with Cis (in the featured post above) re: not being a joiner. I’ve joined only one civic club in my life, Kalispell Kiwanis, and only because I was ordered by late Publisher Pat King to do so. How about you? Are you a joiner?
Suspect #2- White female, approximately 21 years of age, average height and weight, long dark hair, blue stocking cap, white ski jacket. See Sgt. Christie Wood’s CPD Blue press release in following post.
On Dec. 29 at 8:16 a.m.,
About 10 o’clock Monday night, I decided to give our 7-year-old soft-coated wheaten terrier, Annie, a bath. I took off her collar, scooped her up and headed for the bathroom. But she escaped my grip, bounded off in the direction of my oldest stepdaughter’s room and there encountered Carmen, our 10-year-old heeler. All hell broke loose. The dogs are territorial - Annie likes my wife and my bedroom; Carmen hangs out with Geneva - and they take a jaundiced view of incursions by the other. So we had ourselves a dogfight - not just a noisy dogfight, but an encounter that, in the immortal words of Jim Croce, left both animals looking like jigsaw puzzles with a couple of pieces gone. Geneva and I both tried to intervene; she ended up in the emergency room, my hands and arms look like chew toys/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. More here.
Question: Have you ever tried to break up a dogfight? What happened?
Jim Almond, a former police auxiliary member who works for Robideaux Motors, had a close encounter with a zany before Christmas. Seems Jim was in the Costco parking lot, driving round and round looking for a spot. With a female driver following him closely. At last, a spot opened before him and he took it. Only to have the driver behind him stop and yell: “That was my spot.” Surprised by the taunt, Jim noticed her license plates, from California. He isn’t proud of what he said next, in the heat of the moment and all, but out came: “Go back to California where you belong.” Not bad for spur of the moment. For his troubles, he found himself looking down the wrong end of a handgun. The woman reportedly pulled one on him while still sitting in the car. Jim knocked it out of her hand and called the police. Be careful out there.
One of former U.S. Rep. Bill Sali’s former aides has landed on his feet at the Idaho Republican Party. Jonathan Parker, a district director and a campaign worker for Sali before the one-term GOP Congressman lost in November to Democrat Walt Minnick, is taking over as executive director of the state party. Parker, who is also Young Republican state chairman, replaces former executive director Sid Smith, who took a job with new U.S. Sen. Jim Risch to run his Coeur d’Alene office/AP.
DFO: Hat tip to my old buddy Sid Smith. Who has worked at a serious of political jobs elsewhere, including PRmeister for U.S. Sen. Larry Craig before finally achieving his long-time goal of returning to his hometown of Coeur d’Alene. Sid and his wife, Stacy (daughter of Dave & Bev Chambers), both graduated from Coeur d’Alene High.
I am fascinated by the story (of the moose rescue at Priest Lake). Fish and Game officials, who weren’t on the scene, would have left the moose to die. Their thinking is that it is a potentially dangerous animal and the risk of human life for one moose isn’t worth it. This is the same agency who won’t remove a carcass from the highway because it isn’t their job. The rescuers were also chided for feeding the beast because the food was contrary to the moose’s winter diet and could kill it. Somehow I don’t imagine the moose ate enough to make much difference other than to warm her innards/Dogwalk Musings. More here.
Question: Did you residents who saved the moose from Priest Lake act properly? Or should they have opted for safety and allowed the animal to die?
In this image released by Twentieth Century Fox, Kate Hudson, left, and Anne Hathaway are shown in a scene from “Bride Wars.” (AP Photo/Twentieth Century Fox, Claire Folger)
Question (for women): Do you still have your wedding dress? Why? Why not?
Item: Judge sentences William Brinnon to be incarcerated for at least a year for strangling his wife to death/Meghann Cuniff, SR
HBO Question: Is this sentence appropriate?
*Yes, Brinnon has suffered enough after blinding himself
*Yes, Brinnon is no threat to anyone other than himself.
*Yes, there’s no guarantee that Brinnon will be freed in a year.
*Yes, the Brinnons each had a history of domestic violence.
*No, a life was taken — and Brinnon should be made to pay a stiffer penalty
Idaho Senator Brad Little (R-11) is the new Lieutenant Governor of Idaho, replacing Senator Risch. Congratulations, Lieutenant Governor Little. And congratulations to the State’s “Status Quo” establishment, you got your golden boy. Now to Idaho Conservatives, please take note, this matters. Lieutenant Governor Little represents a good ol’ boy establishment that cares little for conservative values or for making necessary reforms in our state. Come May, 2010, Conservatives had better have a serious challenge in the works for Little, or he’ll be set up pretty to build himself a political machine/Adam’s Blog. More here.
*Element of risks to Otter’s lieutenant governor pick/Kevin Richert
*Little no friend to traditional marriage/IVA
Question: Adam goes on to say that the last five elected lieutenant governors have gone on to become governor’s or gubernatorial nominees and more. Are you concerned that moderate Brad Little could become the next governor of Idaho?
Employment experts across diverse industries are extolling the virtues of older workers, once considered unwanted drag on the speeding vehicles of modern business. Rather than invest countless hours in seeking, screening, interviewing, hiring and training younger workers — many of whom are gone within a few months — increasing numbers of employers are finding great value in those with gray hair, hard-earned wrinkles and home addresses nearby/CDA Press Editorial Board.
Question: Do you consider older workers valuable?
Teddy McCord, 8, is held above the snow by his mother as his shoes are retrieved moments after battling his way back to shore from the Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s Day in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press,Jerome A. Pollos)
*Rooftop troubles: Jail must foot $20,000 bill for snow removal/Alecia Warren, CDA Press
*Highway 95 crash kills Liberty Lake man/Meghann Cuniff, SR
*Zags’ meltdown came at inopportune time/John Blanchette, SR
*Flooding fears surge: Warmer temperatures, rain in week’s forecast/Bill Buley, CDA Press
*Residents deal with water damage at Lake Forest Townhouses/Rick Thomas, CDA Press
Swiss ski jumper Simon Ammann soars through the air in front of the city of Innsbruck during the third competition of the Four Hills ski jumping tournament in Innsbruck, Austria on Sunday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Item: Senate Democrats Plan To Accept Burris: Blagojevich’s Senate Pick Meets With Reid, Durbin/CBS
More Info: Senate Democrats plan to accept Roland Burris for President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant seat. Burris was scheduled to meet Wednesday with the Senate’s top two Democrats — Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and assistant leader Dick Durbin of Illinois — on Wednesday, a day after his paperwork was rejected at the opening of the 111th Congress.
Question: Should the U.S. Senate seat Roland Burriss?
Item: Coeur d’Alene school trustees asked to make shuttered Hayden Elementary into kindergarten center/Maureen Dolan, CDA Press
More Info: Superintendent Hazel Bauman recommended to trustees on Monday that the district revamp some of the kindergarten through fifth-grade schools by creating a kindergarten center at the now-shuttered Hayden Lake Elementary school and adding sixth-grade classrooms to some of the schools no longer housing kindergarten students. The recommendation, Bauman said, came from the district’s long range planning committee in the wake of last year’s failed $31 million levy that included nearly $8 million to build a new elementary school.
Question: Would you like to see Hayden Elementary reopened, to become a kindergarten center?
So I’m in the Dr.’s office yesterday with my Dean Kootnz book waiting to be called back to the exam area when another lady comes in and checks in by the name of Priscilla. Priscilla sits down next to me and pulls out some documents and begins to read and make very heavy sighs as if whatever it was she was reading was too much information or a very big drag. Priscilla of course turns out to be Dr. Priscella Bell, President of North Idaho College. Being the creature of curiosity that I am, as I am human, I innocently glanced next to me to see what was causing Priscilla to be so overwhelmed in her breathing noises. Right there out in the open for anyone to see is a document discussing the possible termination of one of NIC’s instructors/Truly. More here.
Question: Would you have peeked?
In the news this evening, the new Congress is sworn in sans Al Franken and Roland Burris here. Jeb Bush won’t run for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat in 2010 here. Study: 16 states don’t give overseas voters enough time here. The death of John Travolta’s son is raising medical questions here. And it’s time to replay the Wild Card and head home (with sirens sounding on Northwest Boulevard) …
Mill Creek Elementary second-grader Morgan Lewis, center, comes face-to-face with the ultra-realistic baby Tyrannosaurus rex costume at the Idaho Center in Nampa for the Tuesday preview of the traveling production of Walking with Dinosaurs. (AP Photo/Idaho Press-Tribune, Greg Kreller)
Also, SR’s Today In Photos
S&S Herb: Having teens is God’s punishment for having been one.I can guarantee that none of my teens were as bad as I was. … Well, maybe not guarantee, but I was somewhat mischievous.
Question: How old were you when you left home?
5:31 p.m. R/P reports smoke coming from the Top of China restaurant on Appleway.
4:46 p.m. Broken water pipe flooding trailer @ the Town & Country Mobile Home Park @ 952 12th.
4:41 p.m. 4-vehicle injury accident — 2 involved in head-on collision — at Hanley & 4th. A female in a white pickup has suffered head, neck, chest and right leg pains. Hanley Avenue is now blocked.
4:08 p.m. A possible fatal accident is being reported in the southbound lane of Mica Grade on Highway 95 at M/P 424. Two or three cars are involved. One contains an unconscious man who is breathing but trapped in a white vehicle. The roadway is completely blocked and will probably remain blocked for an hour.
I agree with Katrina/Notes On A Napkin — “Let it slow, let it slow, let it slow.” Above, Pecky Cox/As The Lake Churns provides some idea re: the depth of the snow berms at Priest Lake.
*Otter can’t reject raise, will donate it/SR
*Minnick co-sponsors Simpson’s White Clouds wilderness bill/Idaho Statesman
*Idaho highway officials ponder stimulus money/Idaho Statesman
*Nampa electronics firm lays off 35 full-time, 100 part-time workers/Idaho Statesman
*Boise dealer offers 2-for-one car sale/KTVB
*Update: Fire claims Cataldo lumber mill/Shoshone News-Press
As a safety precaution, schools in the
Dozens of young men and women, employed by Eastside Excavation, scramble off the roof after shoveling off Athol Elementary today in the Lakeland School District. The group was headed toward Garwood Elementary next. Jesse Tinsley/SR photo.
Colleague Alison Boggs is working the phones after we received and confirmed tips (from ThomG & S&S Herb) that the schools in the Coeur d’Alene and Lakeland school districts will close again Wednesday. We’re checking out a rumor that there may be a problem with the Lake City High gym.
JanTri/Brand X Ranch had some fun with Photoshop today. Looks as though one of our HBOers was ready in Sophie this morning when the Bulgarians had an epiphany.
I love snow. Truly. But the berms on the sides of our driveway have grown so high that I had to plant warning flags on the crests to keep them from being hit by passing helicopters. I chased a couple of mountaineers off of one yesterday. Fortunately, one of them dropped his copy of Into Thin Air as he scrambled away over the lunar-looking landscape, so now I’ll have something to read today as we enjoy our fourth snow day of the year. Yes, fourth/Katrina, Notes On A Napkin. More here.
*Three Things/Tumblewords
*Things we have learned to live without in the nightmare that has become part of our lives/TUBOB
*Back to the grind/Silver Valley Stories
*Shovel it forward/Slight Detour
*Where will you be Jan. 20?/Wayward Episcopalian
HBO Numbers (Monday, Jan. 5): 6069 page-views/3486 unique views
Mongrammed towels
And wood panels, too;
He’s king on a throne
When he’s in the loo.
The Bard of Sherman Avenue
Item: Ex-Idaho Coach Holt Jumps From USC To Washington/Seattle PI
More Info: Holt coached USC’s linebackers during his first tenure in Los Angeles (2001-03) before leaving to become head coach at Idaho in 2004. He went 5-18 in two seasons at Idaho before resigning to become an assistant with the St. Louis Rams. Instead of going to St. Louis, though, Holt returned to USC, wooed back to Los Angeles by Carroll. Before his first stint at USC, Holt spent three seasons at Louisville (1998-2000) and was an assistant at Idaho from 1990-97, serving four seasons as defensive coordinator under former Huskies assistant Chris Tormey.
Question: Why do UIdaho coaches (think: Nick Holt, Tom Cable) prosper when they leave the Palouse?
They left their heart, or at least their bounce, in Seattle. It’s not much of a song title, but that’s what Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few figures has happened to his sagging Zags, who play a rematch game at 15th-ranked Tennessee on Wednesday night. “If A.J. Price’s ‘prayer’ three doesn’t go in, I think it changes our whole mentality,” Few said Monday. He was referring to a tightly contested trey with nine seconds left Dec. 20 at KeyArena by Connecticut’s Price that tied the Zags before UConn won in overtime/Bud Withers, Seattle PI. More here.
Question: What’s wrong with Gonzaga?
Tubob: DFO, here’s a new feature for you: Have commenters type in their actual lunch each day and you pick the top one or three.
Mine (ok, mine’s not gonna win but it more an illustration):
Bowl of Progresso Hearty Tomato soup w/lots and lots of pepper
Peanut Butter and Blackberry Jam Sammich
Tim’s Jalapeno Chips
Cold frosty 1% milk
Question: What did you have for lunch?
Denny Austad of Ammon, Idaho, poses with a bull elk that was certified on Friday, as the world record American elk by the Boone and Crockett Club. Austad hunted public land in the Monroe Mountain District in southcentral Utah to kill the bull on Sept. 30. Official measurers scored the bull at 478-5/8 non-typical points, more than 13 points (inches) larger than the previous World’s Record. Photo courtesy of Boone and Crockett Club.
David Horsey/Seattle PI ‘toon here
*Kuwait waste in Idaho is one of Time’s ‘underreported stories’/Idaho Statesman
*Missoula breast-feeding flap continues to stir emotions/Missoulian
*Some dinosaur daddies were caregivers/Billings Gazette
Orbusmax Special: Rifle found at Fort Lewis may have belonged to Saddam Hussein here.
“Bride Wars,” which opens Friday, stars Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson as best friends turned nasty nemeses when their weddings are scheduled for the same date. As the co-stars fielded questions to promote their comedy, your humble correspondent set off a lively exchange with one simple question: Watching this movie made me wonder: When crossed, are women meaner to each other than men?/Mark Caro, Pop Machine. More here. Question: Are women meaner than men?
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter made big political news just now with his announcement of his pick for the state’s new lieutenant governor: Sen. Brad Little, R-Emmett. Little is a rancher and Senate majority caucus chairman. “Nobody understands the issues, the personalities or the possibilities better than him, and nobody will work harder for the people of Idaho,” Otter said. Little pronounced himself “more than just delighted.” With many family members and supporters on hand watching, Little said, “I’m excited to join Gov. Otter’s team. We’ve got a lot of work to do … to get Idaho booming and boiling”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Are you as uninspired by Gov. Butch Otter’s selection of Sen. Brad Little for the lieutenant governor’s post as I am?
In this image released by Rogers & Cowan public relations, Jett Travolta, the son of actor John Travolta, is shown in an undated family photo. (AP Photo/Rogers & Cowan)
John and Kelly Travolta’s loss of their 16 year old son, Jett, breaks my heart. I can’t for a minute understand the depth of the loss they are going through, as they deal with his death…and the forever-ness of being apart from him. In years past, I would have attempted some trite comparison of Christianity and Scientology…coming up with some “accurate” statement about eternity. How shallow. How inappropriate. The loss of any child is a deep wound to every parent. To lose a child at 16, as the doorway to adulthood is so within reach, seems to be all the more saddening/Dennis Mansfield. More here.
*Selfishness versus marriage/Clayton Cramer
*Shine a light under the rocks/Fort Boise
*Idaho home-schoolers to be protected?/IVA
Question: John Travolta’s sister, Ellen, of course, is a local who performs occasionally at the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre. Has her brother John’s loss of his son affected you?
Bulgarians jump into icy water to catch the holy cross at a lake in the Bulgarian capital Sofia this morning. The Eastern Orthodox priests throw a cross in the river and the men take it out. It is believed that those who dive in the river will be healthy throughout the year. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)
Top Cutlines:
1. To the shouts of “You go, Slavs” the relunctant divers are lowered into the river via ropes, in a ritual known as “Sophia Lowerin”/JohnA.
2. This is from the book “Tabbouli for Dummies.” First, you soak the bulgur in cold water/Kevin Taylor.
3. And MamaJD promised them all she’d vote for Walt Minnick/Raymond Pert.
HM: Brent Andrews
Item: Feeling stressed? You ought to have a tantrum/Daily Mail Reporter
More Info: The end of the holidays, cold weather and economic gloom (made Monday) one of the most stressful days of the year for returning to work. But experts have come up with an unlikely remedy - throwing a tantrum. ‘Releasing tension through shouting and screaming is a really beneficial way to expel the negative energies caused by stress,’ said body language expert Judi James, the Big Brother psychologist.
Question: What would happen at your workplace if you threw a tantrum?
I don’t really like the idea of asking state employees, even ones at the top, to bear the brunt of budget shortfalls. People vote for fiscally conservative legislators, and they accordingly try to keep the budget lean. When state employees don’t get raises, or take days without pay, they still deliver the services of the agency they’re working for, so taxpayers don’t experience the effect of budget problems/IdaBlue. More here.
Question: IdaBlue goes on to say that well-heeled Gov. Butch Otter shouldn’t have to give back his housing stipend in these tight economic times. Do you agree?
Minnick won in large part thanks to outgoing Rep. Bill Sali’s (R) inability to play nice even with members of his own party. The incoming Democrat will attempt to hold down a district that voted 69 percent for President Bush in 2004, and he has shown the fundraising prowess to do so. Minnick would be well-served if Sali ran again, but, even in that case, the GOP primary would be no cinch for the one-term former representative/The Hill.
Jill Kuraitis story re: Minnicks in D.C.
Question: What must Congressman Walt Minnick do to be re-elected in two years?
Kjell Sthioeberg strides uphill near Coeur d’Alene during a 10-mile run Monday. Despite record snowfall in North Idaho, those who are determined face the winter blast to exercise outdoors regularly. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
*Kellogg woman sentenced for impersonating FBI agent/Alison Boggs, SR
*Big Sky structure falls as workers were ready to shovel roof/Bill Buley, CDA Press
*Pinehurst man to be sentenced for double murder today/Ty Hampton, Shoshone News Press
What would it take for you to do the Polar Bear Plunge (into Lake Coeur d’Alene on New Year’s Day)?/Lewiston Tribune
*Nothing, I’d do it for free.
*$10
*$50
*$100
*No amount could get me into the river on a winter day
Item: Can Idaho F&G land fee hikes in a recession? The agency wants hunters and anglers to pay more, but plan faces tough time in Legislature/Idaho Statesman
More Info: Hunting a big buck could cost you more bucks next fall, and the price of a salmon or steelhead permit could jump like a fish up a waterfall. While other state agencies are trimming their budgets because of lean state revenues, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is swimming against the tide by seeking a $6.9 million increase in hunting and fishing fees. But unlike other agencies, Fish and Game receives no state general funds, and it has not had a fee increase since 2005.
Question (from Idaho Statesman): Are you willing to pay more in fishing and hunting fees during a recession to cover game management costs?
Item: Roof snow load levels close area schools: Snow-covered sidewalks, narrow streets cause concern for student safety/Brian Walker & Maureen Dolan, CDA Press
Officials in the Coeur d’Alene and Lakeland school districts decided late Monday afternoon that schools would be closed today so they could deal with heavy snow loads on school rooftops. In the Post Falls district, roofs were cleared during the winter break so no early decision to close was made. The snow load levels in the Lakeland district were approaching 30 pounds per square foot Monday afternoon. The district’s roofs have a 35-pound limit
Question: Are school officials being overly cautious or prudent in closing schools to check snow loads? Should this have been done at Coeur d’Alene and Lakeland schools during Christmas vacation?
Well, it was nice — and challenging — to get back in the saddle at HBO Central today. It took awhile to get going. But I finally started to achieve some sort of rhythm this afternoon, thanks to Blogmeister Ryan moving the blog rolls to the new site. With a big assist from Blogmistress Gina. Also, it feels much more like Huckleberries with the posts now back in the middle instead of on the right side. We’re getting their, Merry Hucksters. A coupla more tweaks — and this thing will be better than the old site. By far. Now, I’ll move this Wild Card up to the top of the blog and repost it …
A group of protesters stand outside the Grove Hotel in downtown Boise while U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne addresses members of the public at a luncheon today. (AP Photo/Idaho Press-Tribune, Charlie Litchfield)
So, it is heretofore resolved therein:
*I’m gonna write a screenplay and sell it for mid-high six figures in
2009.
*I’m gonna find a love that makes the angels cry with envy.
*I’m
gonna lose 30 pounds of stupid dead pizza fat and gain 10 pounds of ripped, hard
spiritual muscle.
*I’m gonna take at
least one multi-day canoe camping trip this summer and again face my fears by
camping deep in Grizzly bear country but I might not stay up all night by a
campfire shining my Petzl constantly into the dark silhouetted woods.
*I’m
gonna exercise something somehow on some kinda schedule sometimes.
*I’m gonna
invent a new urban/suburban/exurban slang word for the kids to say to replace
“bling” maybe something like “scrap” (Shiny CRAP). “Yo, dog, dat scrap is fly,
yo”/TUBOB. More here.
Question: What have you resolved to do?
Chatterbox: Can anyone out there confirm there is no school tomorrow in Coeur d’Alene? At least for Lake City High School? Sonny-boy texted us with that news as he’s on his way to Wallace for a basketball game. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
DFO: An e-mail was circulated throughout the Coeur d’Alene School District this afternoon, informing staffers that schools will be closed Tuesday. This will allow school officials to assess the possible threat posed by snow load on school buildings. Shinie notes that Lakeland School District already has announced that schools will be closed tomorrow, too. Also closed will be North Idaho Christian.
“This sign warns against thin ice on the fishing pond at Falls Park in Post Falls,” posts Councilwoman KerriT/OnLocation North Idaho. “It’s also a good reminder that until there are sustained temperatures much colder than we’ve had here in North Idaho, caution is wise when ice fishing or skating on the lakes.”
*Investigators: No foul play in Kootenai County inmate’s death/KXLY
*Idahoans will appear on ‘Bachelor,’ ‘Biggest Loser’ this week/Idaho Statesman
*Kempthorne touts Interior reforms in last speech/AP
5:12 p.m. Apartment resident on Heartland/Hayden reports that she hears cracking on her roof. But the apartment manager hasn’t done anything to clear off the roof.
5:04 p.m. Dog is alive and needs to be put down after being hit on Highway 41, M/P 14 (cross of Hamilton)
4:01 p.m. Driver reports that a 5YO on his bus is having a seizure @ Hanley & Atlas.
3:58 p.m. R/P on Roundup Circle/Hayden reports that a neighbor is shoveling snow onto roadway.
3:48 p.m. A woman is pushing an older model sedan, with a handicap sticker, @ Highway 95 & Interstate 90.
Seems Kempthorne spent about $235,000 in taxpayer funds renovating the bathroom a few months ago, which included installing a new shower, a refrigerator and a freezer and buying monogrammed towels, department officials told our colleague Derek Kravitz. Washington Post. More here.
Question: Anyone out there willing to defend this expense?
He’s not telling. Among the many questions Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne received from the audience at the Boise City Club/Idaho Environmental Forum today was what nickname President George W. Bush had for Kempthorne as a member of his cabinet. After much laughter, including plenty from the secretary, he seemed to hesitate a moment, and then said, “Some things stay in the Cabinet”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise.
*Kempthorne: And she said ‘Sweetheart’
Question: What do you think was President Bush’s nickname for Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne? What job do you think Kempthorne will seek next?
Pecky Cox/As The Lake Churns spotted a sight that brought a grin to her face while she was out & about at Priest Lake. She has just returned from a vacation at warmer climes. So she might be sporting a tan yet.
Pecky Cox picks up where she left off in 2008, with another terrific winter scene, of snow circles on Priest Lake.
For the last two weeks or so, Huckleberries on line has been without it’s mentor, Dave Oliveria, while he lounges on vacation. As we approach the last day or so of life without DFO, many opinions have surfaced as to how we, the commentators did. I, too, have some opinions on that. First, most people that comment on line are opinionated. You may not have noticed. For the most part, nay, always, the discourse has been very courteous. Sure, feathers get a little ruffled, but only a little and things calm right down. While I’m not a liberal, nor am I terribly right wing, I have for a while recognized that sometimes we conservatives lack a well nurtured sense of humor/S&S Herb, Bay Views. More here.
Final ‘08 HBO Numbers: 2,565,365 PVs, 1,430,535 UVs
*What will never be the Bush legacy/Arch Druid
*I’ve been to the edge and back/Atmospheric Ruminations
*Things to do with this snow/Community Comment
Question: Who has a better sense of humor — liberals or conservatives?
Item: Washington drivers ignore cell-phone/AP
More Info: Then cellphone use started creeping back up, said Sgt. Freddy Williams of the State Patrol, who has carried on his own informal off-duty study of driving-and-talking. He can’t think of another law that’s been flouted quite like this one. “I’ve seen people walk out of their house and before they put their car in gear, they’re talking on the cellphone,” he said.
Question: How often do you talk on your cell phone while driving?
Nearly nine out of ten Oregon residents would send their children to private, charter, or virtual schools, or educate their children in a home school setting if they had the decision-making authority, according to the results of a public opinion survey released today by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, the Cascade Public Policy Institute, and several other state and national organizations. Eighty-seven percent of residents polled would opt for schools other than regular public schools, according to the survey/Cascade Policy Institute. More here.
Question: Do you prefer alternative schools (charter, virtual, parochial, home) to public schools?
Maggie Hurst, 8, tries to get out of the 35-degree water of Lake Coeur d’Alene during the Polar Bear Plunge held New Year’s Day at Sanders Beach in Coeur d’Alene. Hurst dove in by herself in order to receive 50 points from her second-grade teacher at Sorensen Magnet School. (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)
David Horsey ‘toon here
*2 arrested for allegedly shooting @ Spokane snowplow driver/SR
*100 layoffs, 4-day work weeks likely in new Otter budget/KCBI
*White House confirms review of Idaho soldier case/AP
*Some Powerball tickets have printing error/KTVB
*4 lost Minnesota snowboarders rescued/Daily Inter Lake
*Idaho aerials skier cited for public urination/AP
*Avalanche threat @ Snoqualmie closes I90/Seattle PI
Orbusmax Special: 9 of 10 Oregonians would opt out of public schools here.
Idaho’s highest-paid state employee isn’t the governor, a university president or a key scientist - it’s Boise State University head football coach Chris Petersen. Petersen heads the list of a record 310 Idaho state employees who now out-earn Gov. Butch Otter. The list has swelled from 284 last year, in part because Otter opted to turn down his scheduled 3 percent pay raise this year and stick with last year’s salary of $108,727. Petersen’s $806,998 salary, which comes from both state and private sources, is now more than eight times the governor’s salary/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Should a sports coach, now matter how successful, earn 8 times as much as a state’s governor?
Huckleberries hears … that the CDA Press has laid off 3 people in the newsroom, including veteran reporters Tom Greene and Linda Ball. Huckleberries also hears that the newly unemployed were given less than a week’s notice and no severance pay. They did receive pay for accrued vacation. Also, the Hagadone companies have levied a 5 percent pay cut across-the-board to rank-and-file employees and a 10 percent pay cut for managers. Stay tuned.
In this Nov. 4 file photo, Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken shakes hands with supporters after speaking at the Democratic election night party in St. Paul, Minn. Franken will be declared the winner of a recount by 225 votes with incumbent Republican Norm Coleman today. Story here. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
Question: Are the Democrats about to steal the U.S. Senate election in Minnesota?
Julia Piercey serves as the
Director of Education and Training for
Question: Has the Idaho Values Alliance raised an issue here that should concern Idaho parents?
I bought some of this on a 10 for $10 sale at Fred Meyer’s. I bought 5 cans. I probably should have bought even more. It is a canned chili that while vile and chemical laden and infested with chunks of what are likely huge field rats swept up into the bean trucks by the automatic beanpicking machines, it is edible. And even more, as the global economy continues it’s inexorable death spiral into a complete and catastrophic collapse, this will be the new currency. We will measure trade in Chunkeros and in Cheerios and in Cherry Cola. Our highways and biways and urbs and suburbs and exurbs and, yes, even our rural environs will be littered with the burned husks of BMWs and Chevys and Hondas and all the other vehicle brands that come to mind, stripped of their fuel, metals, and rubbers. In this post-economic apocalyptic nightmare, all we will care about are the basics: food, shelter, sex, and alcohol/TUBOB. More here.
Question: Are we headed for the acopalypse, as TUBOB predicts? Or will Obama right the ship and point us toward utopia?
Sparky: (I) almost rammed a half a dozen people just for fun. The last driver was lucky I had my child in the car. I ask you what idiot drives with a full cup of coffee in his hand? The dumb (expletive) hit a pothole and dropped his coffee cup in lap. He attempts to blot and move without removing the cup from his hand, breaking, or watching where he was going which was head on into us. When I honked my horn to remind him that he was driving, he looked up, twisted his truck into his lane and through down his coffee cup just so he could flip me off. It took all my control not to take his rusty old piece of crap out of commission and the fact my daughter said “(expletive)!”
Question: What is the worst example of idiot driving that you’ve seen since the berms began squeezing traffic into 1 1/2 lanes on the side streets?
I wanted to present proof that I occasionally support the hospitality industry owned by our local tycoon. On Dec. 28, I treated Mrs. O, Amy Dearest, Sweet Stephie & Junior to brunch at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. How good was it? Sweet Stephie requested that all future visits by Junior and her will end with brunch at the resort. It’s pricey. $30 a head. But worth it.
*Changes proposed for Highway 95/Alison Boggs, SR
*Most area college classes canceled/Jody Lawrence-Turner, SR
*Latest storm prompts closure of major INW highways/KXLY
*Local bars, restaurants report liquor sales down/Patrick O’Brien, CDA Press
Troy Stieve, center, of Ann Arbor, Mich., and his teammate Lester Marks, right,
of Monroe, Mich., compete during the World Series of Beer
Pong IV in Las Vegas, Sunday. With a $50,000 prize on the line, more than 400 teams flocked to
the Flamingo hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip for a chance to bring their
skills out of the bar and into the big time. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Item: Tuesday marks change for Idaho’s leadership: New congressional delegation will consider massive spending on public works, feasibility of new dams, public lands protection/Idaho Statesman
More Info: Gov. Butch Otter will announce Idaho’s next lieutenant governor Tuesday - a day of some pretty big changes among Idaho leaders. Otter’s pick to replace sitting Lt. Gov. and Sen.-elect Jim Risch is a hot topic among Idaho lawmakers as the Legislature prepares to deal with a sluggish state economy and falling tax revenues. Risch and Democratic Rep.-elect Walt Minnick will be sworn into office Tuesday as Congress reconvenes to talk about an economic stimulus package and other issues, including a massive lands bill that has Idaho impacts.
Question: Who would you like to see become the next Idaho lieutenant governor?
Item: Pat Robertson: God says U.S. will accept socialism
Broadcaster’s annual predictions also assure economic turnaround/WorldNetDaily
In HBO’s next-to-last Christmas Vacation Wild Card, I’m pleased to introduce you to Baby New Year 2009. Meet Jacob Robert Crawford, who arrived at 6:54 p.m. New Year’s Day at 8 pounds even and 19 inches long, after only 20 minutes of his mother’s labor. He’s the second son of Jessica Zabransky and Joseph Crawford of Post Falls. KMC PR meister Chris Wagar provided the family portrait. We’re down to two days before things officially kick off here for the new year. I’m rested and ready for the next six weeks that’ll take us into the 5th anniversary celebration of Huckleberries Online. Of course, the antics of the Idaho Legislature will help us get to Blogfest ‘09. Until then, I’ll play this Wild Card and kick back for another coupla days …
I tried to post MamaJD’s YouTube of ThomG taking the Polar Bear Plunge earlier today. But I’m blocked from posting YouTube’s, too. I need to discuss that with Blogmeister Ryan. It’d have been a great post for the third-to-last Vacation Wild Card. MamaJD provided the photo above of ThomG prior to the great plunge. And the story about the plunge here. Three more days, HBOers, and we’ll really begin breaking this new site in. BTW, I ran some year-end numbers today for HBO — 2,565,365 page-views and 1,430,535 unique views. As always, I thank all of you for supporting HBO by blogging, commenting, or simply tuning in. HBO’s 5th anniversary will arrive about the time spring training does. Mebbe much of the snow will be gone by then. If not, we’ll still have a good time here. Now, for your 14th of 16 Vacation Wild Cards …
CindyH asks 4 questions below. I’ll answer them here. At midnight, I watched the ball fall in Times Square at Frito Ray’s house with my Oliveria relatives. I kissed Mrs. O and ate a Frito chip. Easily, the worst thing about 2008 was another round of layoffs at the SR. The best thing about 2008 was the joy Mrs. O and I felt at watching Junior defend his dissertation in neuroscience and earn his PhD before returning to his 3rd year of medical school; watching Amy Dearest graduate from University of Portland and land a solid job in public relations; and hearing how much daughter-in-law Sweet Stephie enjoys her life as a pediatrics nurse. I haven’t thought that much about the future. But I’ll be pleased if 2009 brought another year or health, life and prosperity to my immediate and extended families. I’ll turn 60 next November. Which means retirement isn’t as far away as it once was. Which means, God willing, that a new stage of life is around the corner — 2 to 5 years off. Above, Junior and Sweet Stephie enjoy themselves at Schweitzer last Friday. Now, for your Wild Card …
I wish you good fortune
and rest from your worries,
wish you laughter and love
and no snow but flurries.
The Bard of Sherman Avenue
What were you doing when the clock struck 12 (this morning)?
What was the worst thing about 2008?
What was the best thing about 2008?
What are you most looking forward to in 2009?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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