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Posts tagged: Idaho Blogs
For some (in the Birther movement), it’s an emotional thing. They’ve put themselves too far out on the limb to come back and sheepishly say I was wrong. Anytime, there’s a conspiracy theory that people become 
obsessed with, some become too emotionally invested to admit there was no conspiracy. Therefore, people believe the Warren Commission was a fraud, and that two Independent Counsel reports from offices overseen by Republican IG sconcluding that Vince Foster committed suicide, are merely covering up. For others, there are more practical reasons to keep the conspiracy alive/Adam Graham, Adam's Blog. More here.
Question: Are you nursing a conspiracy theory that you're willing to share?
As the first anniversary of the controversial national health care reform legislation – or more correctly health 
insurance reform legislation – came and went a while back there was increasing acceptance of the notion that the U.S. Supreme Court will get the last word on the issue that continues to shape our politics. That word will likely be handed down across the street from the U.S. Capitol right in the middle of the next presidential election campaign. One of the most vocal defenders of the controversial law, New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, admitted recently what many are thinking: the Supreme Court will overturn the law, or at least the portion that mandates individual coverage/Marc Johnson, The Johnson Report. More here.
Question: Do you expect the U.S. Supreme Court to overthrow part of federal health care reform?
The great western artist Charlie Russell - that’s him in a tent with a paint brush - never, as far as I know, contemplated a political life. Considering that he spent many early years as a cowboy in the tough country of central Montana, he would have been a shoo-in. Russell, a great artist, was by all accounts also a great story teller and he could ride a horse. Russell was a legit cowboy. That might just have been good enough to win high public office/Marc Johnson, The Johnson Report. More here.
Question: Who is your favorite western artist?
Ted
Stevens was tough on environmentalists and those who dared to cross
him. He was a champion of the earmark back before speaking ill of
federal appropriations became a litmus test for every politician. By one
count, Stevens had a hand in nearly 1,500 earmarks over his Senate
career worth more than $3.4 billion. Like his friend the late Robert
Byrd, Stevens came to the Senate to take care of his state and that
meant appropriating money for projects back home/Marc Johnson, The Johnson Report. More here.
Question: Should a state’s U.S. senators and representatives try to bring back as much pork as possible, as Ted Stevens did?
The political war of words between the state’s top party leaders
continues today, with Norm 
Semanko, Idaho Republican Party chairman,
issuing a statement sharply critical of Idaho Democratic Party Chairman
Keith Roark’s guest opinion last week, which was entitled, “You Have
Been Invited to Leave the Idaho GOP” and derided the “fringe element now
running the Idaho Republican Party,” saying Idaho voters are “tired of
one party rule and your loyalty oaths.” Semanko called Roark’s
statement “sad” and an “attempt to mislead Idahoans and spread
falsehoods about what took place at the Idaho Republican Party State
Convention in Idaho Falls when he wasn’t even there”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here. (Also: Semanko paints Dems as party with loyalty requirement/Brad Iverson-Long, IReporter)
Question: Do you think Idaho Democrats have an informal loyalty oath (as Semanko claims in the Idaho Reporter link above)?
It’s
been a while since Hollywood produced a really good political film. With the exception of Primary Colors and Frost/Nixon, I’m hard pressed to name another really good recent film with a political theme. I’ve got to go back to the 60’s to begin my “best of the best” list. So, lets go to the movies and consider politics on the big screen. Gore Vidal, to the extent he is remembered at all these days, is recalled as a relic of the 60’s thanks to his feuds with Norman Mailer, his lefty politics, etc. Vidal, a really fine writers, deserves much better, not least for his play - and screenplay - for one of the best political movies ever — The Best Man/Marc Johnson, The Johnson Report. More here. Also: Falling for Doris Day
Question: Which political movie do you consider the best one ever?
When
two professors, Washington University law professor and political science department Chair Andrew Martin and Colorado State University political scientist Kyle Saunders, analyzed every vote cast in the Idaho Legislature, they found no evidence that Democratic crossover voting in Idaho’s primary elections has resulted in the election of “Republicans in name only” who actually vote like Democrats. Instead, they found that all of Idaho’s GOP lawmakers voted more conservatively than the state’s Democratic lawmakers/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Are you surprised by this result?
U.S.
Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, in an interview: McChrystal had appeared to be the right person at the right time in Afghanistan, but his critical remarks constitute a “serious, serious error.” “(Obama) didn’t have much of a choice,” Risch said. Petraeus probably will be confirmed swiftly by the Senate, as Obama wants, and he has Risch’s vote. “He’s probably the best choice the president could have made”/via Kevin Richert’s blog. More here.
Question: What do you make of our current presence in Afghanistan?
Idaho’s State Board of Education, meeting yesterday in Idaho Falls, backed upgrades in the University of Idaho’s athletic facilities but was leery of a UI proposal to establish a new nonprofit research lab in Post Falls; that proposal was delayed until the board’s August meeting. Board members noted that issues of mismanagement, nepotism, misuse of resources and allegations of grant fraud plagued the lab’s predecessor, the Center for Advanced Microelectronics and Biomolecular Research/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Democratic
U.S. Senate nominee Tom Sullivan is taking heat for withholding information about his business tax troubles, from his party’s leadership, and from Idaho voters. But Sullivan did discuss some of his tax problems in a May 7 Statesman editorial board interview (here’s a link to the audio; Sullivan discusses his tax troubles about three-fourths of the way in). We should have followed up during the interview, and we should have incorporated the information into our May 18 endorsement in the Democratic primary. We often take elected officials to task for failing to exercise due diligence. In this case, that criticism applies to us/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: What do you think re: Kevin Richert admitted a mistake?
I’m
more likely to learn of interesting websites while I’m on the web, but today I found this website over morning coffee while looking at the Idaho Statesman. This website, created by Andy Lintner of Royal Oak, MI, opens a Google map of the spill in the correct location. How to use the site isn’t totally obvious, but in the blank above enter a location (such as Idaho) and then hit “move the spill.” It’s pretty dramatic. Placed over Idaho, the spill goes from Boise way past Challis. To understand what’s happening in the world around us, putting things into a context we can relate to is always a challenge. This site does that very well. /Rick Johnson, Idaho Conservation League. More here. (AP File Photo: A Brown Pelican is cleaned at the Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at Buras, La.)
Question: How closely have you been following the story re: BP’s oil spill?
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Idaho GOP congressional candidate Vaughn Ward wave to the crowd during a rally for Ward at Qwest Arena this morning in Boise. (AP Photo/The Idaho Statesman, Chris Butler)
As
you know Sarah Palin was the star attraction today at Quest Arena in Boise stumping for Idaho 1st CD GOP hopeful Vaughn Ward. I want to extend a thank you to the Ward Campaign for giving ICB press credentials. It was fun tweeting during the event and irritating the print press with my presence at their table. As you know ICB is a huge Palin fan and today she did not let me down. I have some pictures and a video below/Idaho Conservative Blogger. More here.
Question: The Idaho Press Tribune/Nampa posted a story today, saying that mainstream Republicans are staying w/Ward despite his missteps. Will Palin’s appearance on behalf of Ward today shore up his credentials among undecided conservatives in this race?
Can
you say “sprawl?” As if there isn’t enough of this unsightly and wasteful use of land, the Kootenai County Commissioners just assured everyone that sprawl and leap-frog development will continue as usual. Rest in peace, Rathdrum Prairie. So long, rural character. After nearly a year of deliberations on the county’s draft comprehensive land use plan—the blueprint for growth in the county—commissioners Rick Currie and Rich Piazza voted last week to throw out all density guidelines in the plan. Essentially, this means the plan gives no guidance whatsoever for how many homes per acre (or minimum lot size) should be allowed in rural areas versus urban or suburban areas. This is where the rubber usually meets the road in a land-use plan/Susan Drumheller (pictured), Idaho Conservation League. More here.
Question: How much longer will it be before the Rathdrum Prairie is covered w/houses?
The
two Republican candidates for the Idaho 1st congressional district dropped the gloves in tonight’s debate broadcast on public TV and more than anything else, I was left wondering are these really the best two candidates the party could come up with? I guess that would explain why Greg Smith’s poll shows 50% support for Democrat Walt Minnick’s re-election, and only 20% for “the Republican candidate,” in a state where most voters don’t need to see anything other than the “R”/Tom von Alten, Fort Boise. More here.
Question: Who would you rather see run as a Republican for the 1st Congressional District seat held by Democrat Walt Minnick?
The 2010 version of the Gem State Voter Guide is now available to view online at www.GemStateVoterGuide.com. This is the sixth edition of the online publication which was first produced in 2006 and covers each Idaho election on both a state and federal level – excluding judicial races and superintendant of public instruction. Candidates throughout the state were asked 26 questions on subjects covering: Life, Marriage and Family; Education; Freedom and Liberty, Fiscal and Tax Policy as well as various other subjects. The Gem State Voter Guide is a joint project of the Idaho Chooses Life and the Idaho Freedom Foundation and is designed to serve both the voters and candidates in Idaho’s upcoming primary election/Jeff Anderson, Trish & Halli. More here.
Question: Would you look at the Gem State Voter Guide for guidance in choosing your candidates?
What’s the difference between North Idaho and southern Idaho? Well, there’s that whole water 
thing. This is Lake Coeur d’Alene this morning, amid country that’s so different from the arid south. And then there’s the wild GOP politics in Kootenai County, where the once heavily Democratic region is now heavily Republican, particularly in fast-growing areas like Hayden that are filling up with newcomers who never saw the old North Idaho Democratic politics. In these parts, there are the Republicans, the Reagan Republicans, the Pachyderm Clubs, the social conservatives, the constitutionalists and a whole lot more/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Besides beauty and mebbe politics, how do you think North Idaho differs from southern Idaho?
However,
the Statesman is trying to impose extra-legal restrictions on the use of their content to restrict the same bloggers whose work the Statesman without permission for nearly two years. Folks like me and Dennis Mansfield shouldn’t have to worry about whether we can link a Statesman article after they took the fruits of our intellectual labor for free. However, I intend to honor the Statesman’s request. If I find an article of interest on the Statesman, I’ll find another article somewhere else and give them the Google Juice the Statesman was getting. Failing that, I’ll paraphrase the facts of the case without actually quoting the Statesman. Saying, “Police don’t have any clues in the the killing of Robert Manwill.” is not something I can be sued over/Adam Graham, Adam’s Blog. More here.
DFO: I enjoy a good dust-up in the local or Idaho blosophere. But I hope cool minds prevail here — and the Statesman and sundry blogs go back to their previous relationship. Online newspapers need the blogosphere and vice versa. Still, this should provide all of you bloggers and commenters a lesson in proper use of other material. Don’t copy material wholesale without permission. And always provide credit and a link so the original source benefits to your post or comment, too.
I’ve written before that I suspected that Sarah Palin’s glasses are just glass, and have no real correction. I think she wears them to give herself a bit of gravitas. Our society tends to view attractive women only in the context of their looks. Most folks do not look at an attractive woman and think “I bet she’s really smart.” So, I can understand her wanting to be taken seriously/IdaBlue. More here.
Question: Do you think attractive women who wear glasses appear smarter?
The
state legislation had nothing to do with resolving the health care crisis in Idaho and was instead taking the partisan hackery, with ideological undertones, pervading the federal legislation, to the state level. In debate the sponsor even acknowledged the defensive nature of this legislation and argued that Idaho should step up on providing solutions to address health care reform, conceding that they had not done so yet/Sisyphus, 43rd State Blues. More here.
Question: What do you make of the approach by the Idaho Legislature to health care?
Ben
Bernanke was confirmed today to remain as chair of the Federal Reserve. the Senate vote was 70-30, a clear win margin. But two-thirds of the Northwest delegation was against him. Both of Idaho’s Republicans, Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, voted against; most of the 30 opposition votes were Republicans. But the area’s four Democrats split – seniors against juniors. The senior senators in Washington and Oregon, Patty Murray and Ron Wyden, voted in favor. The juniors, Maria Cantwell and Jeff Merkley (who has been loud for some weeks in his opposition to Bernanke), voted against/Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press.
Question: Did you support Ben Bernanke’s confirmation to remain as chair of the Federal Reserve?
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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