Smart bombs

Governments have taken a number of steps recently to increase Election Day turnout: voter registration when getting a driver’s license, vote by mail, extensive publicity campaigns and so on. But it took Idaho gubernatorial candidate Dan Adamson to think outside the bun.

The Pocatello Republican is offering a free taco to those who can prove they voted in Tuesday’s primary. You can prove it by taking a picture of yourself with your ballot as you vote.

But why a taco? Adamson’s Web site has the answer: “Yes, the Dan Adamson for Governor Campaign is attempting to lure the Latino vote. What campaign in Idaho’s history has ever made room for descendants of Mexican or other Latino geographic locations?”

But why stop there with culinary bribes? Scones for the British. Cannolis for the Italians. Streudel for the Germans. Perogies for the Poles.

Hey, not everybody is into issues, but who doesn’t have an appetite?

Just drive like me. Ooh, don’t you just hate those twits who change lanes at the last minute, while everyone else waits politely in line? Or how about those morons who slavishly obey the speed limit? Grrr! And then there’s the idiots who drive too slow and their counterparts who drive too fast! Argh!

Which brings me to a couple of questions: Have you ever lived anywhere that had good drivers? Do you think we could even agree on a definition of “good driver”?

Home sweat home. Let’s see, in the past year we’ve replaced a roof, a fence, a backflow contraption and several sprinkler heads. Had the house painted. Tuned up the lawnmower, aerated the yard and removed some trees. Hung a folding door and some drywall. Installed a bathtub wall. Painted several rooms. Replaced the microwave and the dryer.

Yep, we’re living the American dream.

The rear-view mirror. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Republicans ran an ad that alluded to John Kerry’s support for a 50-cents-per-gallon federal gasoline tax. They called the 1994 proposal “wacky,” because it would’ve raised the price to about $1.50 per gallon, or about half what it is now.

If that proposal had passed, we’d be closer to energy independence and spewing fewer greenhouse gases. Wacky, eh?

Carry that weight. On Wednesday, the world was stunned to learn that Paul McCartney and his wife had separated. The couple noted that intrusions by the media have made marriage difficult.

One month earlier, Spokesman-Review columnist Jamie Tobias Neely wrote the following after spotting the dreamy Beatle on a flight: “He wore a plum-colored vest, a matching shirt and a familiar expression of British glee. As I watched him, he grinned at me and winked. I was instantly 8 years old all over again.”

Hmm … is there more to that story?

Well my heart went “boom.”

When I crossed that room. …