Take your time reading correctional health expert Dr. Marc Stern's report to U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill about how contractor Brentwood, Tenn.-based Corizon is managing health care in the Idaho prison system. But you'll eventually realize the state isn't spending enough to safeguard the health of the men and women in its custody. Maybe you'll get there by page 8, where Stern reports finding inmates who waited five weeks before health care providers responded to their requests for help. Or how about page 12, where staff failed to resusitate an unconscious, barely breathing man who later died of cardiac arrest?/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Is health care for Idaho prisoners a matter that concerns you?

Rick Santorum has seen Idaho at 35,000 feet. He knows Idaho is a conservative bastion. He reads about a place seething with resentment toward federal agencies restoring wolves to the wild and choking off logging. He hears the antipathy toward Washington, D.C., that Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter regularly expresses. From these factoids, Santorum has concluded Idahoans are ready to throw off the yoke of their federal landlord. The federal government owns about 33.7 million acres of forests and rangeland, about two-thirds of the state. By stoking the fires of the Sagebrush Rebellion, Santorum believes he can peel off a sizeable number of votes in the March 6 Idaho Republican presidential caucus.So Santorum parachuted into Boise last week and promptly said: “We need to get it back into the hands of the states and even to the private sector. … And we can make money doing it.” Now why didn't somebody think of that before? Fact is, they have. Idahoans have spent a lot of time thinking about this/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here. (AP file photo of Santorum visiting Coeur d'Alene earlier this month)

Question: What do you think about Santorum's idea, espoused during his trip to Idaho, to sell off federal land to states and private individuals?

Here's what you don't know about last week's Idaho Supreme Court rejection of the GOP insurgency against the citizen redistricting commission. The insurgents couldn't shoot straight. Which is rather funny when you consider how many times they've said that about Attorney General Lawrence Wasden.Their latest challenge to Wasden followed the Supreme Court nixing the commission's original plan to realign Idaho's population growth to its 35 legislative districts, sending the panel back to work on a new mock-up. House Speaker Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, and Idaho GOP Chairman Norm Semanko tried to fire their appointees, former state Reps. Dolores Crow, R-Nampa, and Randy Hansen, R-Twin Falls.After Denney and Semanko lost, the six-member panel went back to work and adopted a new plan. But the court didn't say Denney and Semanko were wrong. It tossed the case because the attorney representing the speaker and the chairman dropped the ball/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Whose opinion would you trust move on a legal issue involving the Idaho Legislature — attorney general Lawrence Wasden of House Speaker Lawerence Denney?

Anybody who subscribes to Woody Allen's notion that “80 percent of success is showing up” wasn't watching Idaho Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter's State of the State address Monday. Otter was present to deliver his sixth session-opener of Idaho's Legislature. Like his predecessors, it's his job to set an agenda. Some governors offer a detailed blueprint for governing. Others issue a call to action on a handful of initiatives. But Otter's six-page, 28-minute address was devoid of either. He offered a porridge of feel-good slogans — jobs, education and tax cuts - that was thin on passion and weak on detail. Filling in the blanks will be lawmakers who at the end of a 90-day session likely will find a governor willing to sign most anything they put on his desk/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Were you inspired by anything in Butch Otter's State of the State address?

Paul Ezra Rhoades' execution - now set for Friday - will be edited for content. By the time your eyes and ears at the event - the four reporters among 14 witnesses - are ushered into the room, they will see a condemned man strapped down on a gurney with hypodermic needles already inserted into his veins. They'll listen to Rhoades' death warrant being read. If Rhoades - convicted nearly a quarter-century ago of murdering three people in eastern Idaho - has any last words, they'll hear those as well. Then, they'll view Rhoades coming under the spell of sodium pentothal, which is supposed to render him senseless. From there, they'll wait as a second agent, pancuronium bromide, paralyzes him and halts his breathing. Finally, potassium chloride will stop his heart/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Should the U.S. televise executions?

When you're paying attention, Idaho state Sens. John McGee, R-Caldwell, and Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa, are the souls of thrift. If conservative government demands slashing the meager Medicaid benefits Idaho allocates to its most vulnerable citizens, McGee and McKenzie are there. f the state simply can't avoid another round of cuts at Idaho's institutions of higher learning, McGee and McKenzie are dependable votes for economizing. And if there is no other way to balance the budget than to chop away at public school budgets, you can count on McGee and McKenzie to go along. … When your backs are turned, it's a different story. Then, McGee and McKenzie have no such scruples about lavishing limited state resources - on themselves/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: What will it take for GOP legislative leaders to clean up their houses?

Call it the fabric of civic involvement. Volunteering. Cooperating with your neighbors. Joining with groups. Voting. If you see people who care enough about their communities to volunteer and join hands, chances are they'll vote as well. If not, something's wrong. So says the Corporation for National and Community Service, an umbrella group that is responsible for everything from AmeriCorps to taking the nation's temperature for community participation. Washington is ranked ninth in the nation in terms of neighbors working together, 11th for volunteering, fourth for banding together within organizations and sixth for voting, with 52.8 percent of those eligible casting a ballot last year. Then we have Idaho. It's ranked fifth for neighborliness, 10th for volunteering and 17th for group participation. Voting? The Gem State is no better than 25th/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Why is voter turnout so poor in a patriotic state like Idaho?

In an editorial today, Marty Trillhaase of the Lewiston Tribune lambastes state Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, (pictured) for his insensitive remark that a gun safety class might have prevented the murder-suicide at the University of Idaho that claimed the life of grad student Katy Benoit: “That transcends oafishness. It's beyond ugly. It exceeds insensitivity. Inhumane doesn't begin to describe it. Such talk from anyone is irresponsible. From an elected official charged with writing our laws and embracing our standards of decency, it is nothing short of depraved. Complete editorial here.

Question: Do you think Rep. Hagedorn has learned a lesson in using this tragic matter to push his political agenda?

If you still harbor doubts that fanaticism is close to gaining the upper hand in Idaho's government, look no further than the current dust-up on the Idaho Land Board. Made up of Idaho's top state officials - Gov. C. L. (Butch) Otter, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, schools Superintendent Tom Luna and Controller Donna Jones — the board manages the state endowment trust. Ever since that group purchased Affordable Self Storage of Boise as an endowment investment, it's been under fire. How dare the board put government in competition with private businesses, complained conservatives led by Boise activist David Frazier and the conservative Idaho Freedom Foundation. They got Otter and Luna to back down. Jones, Wasden and Ysursa are standing their ground/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Is the state in competition with private business by going ahead with purchase of Affordable Self Storage?

For those keeping score at home, 60 percent of the respondents to a current Lewiston Tribune poll support a referendum to overturn the public education “reforms” pushed through the Idaho Legislature by Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna and Gov. Butch Otter, as well as a recall of Luna. You can vote in the poll if you'd like by going to the Tribune Web site here.

JEERS … to Republican congressional candidate Raul Labrador. In his televised debate with Democratic incumbent Walt Minnick last week, Labrador had this to say about trucking hundreds of megaloads hauling oil company equipment up U.S. Highway 12: Don’t ask him about it. Transportation is a state issue. Gov. C. L. (Butch) Otter has done a “good job” of handling the issue. Come on, Raul. Sure, there are state issues that a congressman has no business messing with — such as budgets, taxes and initiative campaigns. But these “rolling roadblocks” — each as much as 24 feet wide, 210 feet long, 30 feet high and weighing 290 tons — will be traveling across a federally designated highway, built with federal highway tax dollars, across national forests and wilderness areas. It’s a matter of interstate commerce/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Is the mega-load controversy on Highway 12 involving various oil companies just a problem for the state of Idaho to deal with?

Is Denney intimidated by those far-right caucus members who see a patriot behind every tax cheat? Or does he not recognize his fundamental job is to protect the integrity of the House? A stronger speaker would first yank Hart from the Revenue and Taxation Committee. Then he’d ask: If Hart refuses to play by the rules, how is he any more qualified to serve on the committee that sets rules for public education? Do you really want him on another panel that writes the major laws in Idaho? Would you trust him on the budget-writing committee? Or any other position of trust? The good people of Kootenai County may elect Hart to a fourth term. He faces only token opposition from a write-in candidate. But the House is under no obligation to soil itself any further with him/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Is House Speaker Lawerence Denney intimidated by Rep. Phil Hart & his fans? Or is he sympathetic to Hart’s anti-tax ways?

Twice last week, 2nd District Judge John Bradbury asked what a lot of people would like to know: Why would ConocoPhillips spend $9 million barging massive oil processing equipment to the Port of Lewiston before getting the permits required to truck those mega loads up U.S. Highway 12? To make that kind of commitment without assurances would be, Bradbury said, “odd.” The judge didn’t get much of an answer. One lawyer said the oil company “had a sense” the permits would be issued. Idaho Transportation Department Director Brian Ness said the department hadn’t prejudged the matter.Since Bradbury ultimately halted the truck shipments and his ruling won’t get to an expedited Idaho Supreme Court hearing for another month, it would appear ConocoPhillips made a bad bet/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Why do you think ConocoPhillips went ahead with massive project at Port of Lewiston without getting necessary permits to transport massive oil processing equipment?

We socially twitchy human beings tend to judge other people not only by the color of their skins but by the weird accents of their voices. For instance, I know a man who speaks upper crust English in the same accent as former English Prime Minister Tony Blair. But that’s misleading. My friend is a man of ordinary interests no smarter than most of us. But when you hear him speak, the accent tends to make a person think the speaker has some giant brain. We don’t often experience that accent around here. But when we hear it on television, it is often some brainy British politician, philosopher or scientist. So we tend to equate that accent with smart people, whether they are or not. On the other hand, President Lyndon Johnson and President George W. Bush - two men with down-home Texas accents - sound like uneducated hicks to my bigoted ear/Bill Hall, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

DFO: My father-in-law was a sharp man who taught math and science in high school. However, he had an accent that made him sound as though he came from the streets of Brooklyn. Which he did — and an orphanage, to boot.

Question: Do you form opinions of others as a result of their accents?

I was walking up and down Lewiston’s Main Street Saturday afternoon, having a great time looking at all of the (Hot August Nights) custom cars and wishing one or two of them were mine. Then a bigot opened his mouth, and a nice day was instantly downgraded. While I walking along looking at cars, a man seated along the curb pointed at the T-shirt worn by another man who was looking at cars. The seated man made a comment of approval about the Raiders. That was his team. Then he said, loud enough for everyone in the nearby crowd to hear, “Now that they got rid of that watermelon carrier, they’re going to the Super Bowl.” The guy was referring to former Raiders quarter JaMarcus Russell. Russell was, by all accounts, a total failure at the job. Indeed the Raiders dumped him. Russell is black, which is why the guy said what he said. But Russell isn’t bad because he’s black; he’s bad because he’s bad/Jeanne DePaul, Virtual Deadlines, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

DFO: I had a similar experience Sunday. My wife & I were walking along the north shore, west of City Park, when that guy a U.S. flag and a confederate flag flapping from his beater pickup bed drove past. A half hour later, we saw an African-American female running along Locust Avenue. I hoped that she would never see the jerk in the pickup.

Question: When did you last encounter racism on the street?

On the Lewiston Tribune Facebook site, Publisher Nathan Alford is shown holding up a photo of his grandfather, Bud Alford, which bears the newspaper’s famous quote: “Our opinions are not for sale.” I worked for two years for Nathan’s father, Butch, as a news editor at the Trib. I can guarantee you that old Bud’s comment was accurate. Ladd Hamilton, Bill Hall, and later Jim Fisher wrote hard-hitting editorials and didn’t kowtow to anyone. Glad to see the new Alford at the helm of the Very Good Ship U.S.S. Tribune is following in the same footsteps.