Politics as usual

Idaho's entire congressional delegation is united, again, against President Obama. This time they're against his cap and trade plan to reduce emissions and raise money to help pay for the national health insurance plan.

Walt says that it's not good timing to raise taxes in the midst of a recession, which is what the cap and trade plan does, admittedly. To that I'd say, your congressional BFFs will say there no good time to raise taxes, recession or not. Also, the taxes raised will help pay for the health care plan that Obama is counting on to lower medical costs thereby helping the entire economy.

Leon Russell sang, "I'm up on a tightwire, one side's ice and one is fire." Walt Minnick is trying to keep republicans happy so enough will vote for him that he can get re-elected. But he also has to keep democrats happy, or they will stay home on election day.

Well, so far, it seems that Walt is still on the tightwire, but he's listing awfully far right. Voting to allow loaded guns in national parks is one thing. Failing to support cornerstone policies, like energy or health care, is quite another.

Here's the break down. Two groups, die hards, will not be swayed by anything Walt does. Some will vote R, regardless, and some will vote D, regardless. Which leaves the leaners, and the true independents (a very small group). I'd guess that there are more R leaners. Say Walt spilts that group 50/50. He still will have to get pretty much every D leaner. Unfortunately for Walt, leaners tend to pay more attention to politics, and if they are, they're seeing Walt break right again and again.

So my quandary is, is having any D in the 1st District House seat better that any R? Possibly. Barely. But I'm not very motivated by that calculus to do much to help Walt get re-elected.

Arugula

Remember in the Presidential campaign when Barak Obama expressed a liking of arugula, and his opponents tried to use that against him, saying it made him an elitist. I'm not sure I've ever eaten arugula, but in honor of the President and by way of thumbing my nose at the clowns who tried to make an issue of it, I planted arugula in my garden over the weekend. Ha! Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.

Also planted tomatoes (Early Girl, Big Boy, cherry), a green pepper, watermelon, and a raspberry plant. That's it. Have green onions that return every year as well.

It's come to this

From fresh seafood in Virginia, to this feast, at a truckstop in Idaho..



Yep, burger with bacon and a fried egg, side of mayo, oddly paired with my choice of clam chowder or chicken noodle soup. Is this how truck drivers eat? One of these a decade will hold me.

AWOL

Sorry for the lack of posts and the unexplained absence the last week. I've been in Virginia at a military conference. Here's how I've been spending most of my days. Basically in a sensory deprivation tank.



Ah, but the evenings have been making up for it. This dinner cost about $21, all fresh. Trout, scallops, crabcake, shrimp, fired okra, hushpuppies.



Another $21 dinner. 6 oysters, 6 clams, 1/2 lb. shrimp, 1/2 lb. crab, all steamed and sprinkled with Old Bay Seasoning.



And libations. Although I asked in about every place I've been, I can't find anywhere that serves a decent hoppy beer. These aren't too bad, however.

Now what?

In the AM, minutes and even seconds are precious to me as I get up and head off to work, so I don't read the newspaper in the morning. I usually read it at lunch. I do like to read the funnies before I leave the house. I think they're often the most interesting part of the paper, and they help get me into a good frame of mind.

Anyway, this morning, I went to get the Statesman and saw that they printed the funnies, and the crossword and advice column and the stuff that's printed on the same pages as the comics, all on a separate sheet. Pages D1 and D2. One single two-sided sheet, stand alone, on somewhat thicker paper. Like an ad might be printed on. Kind of unusual.

Maybe the Statesman explains this somewhere, but, I haven't read the paper yet. Just the comics.

Two things that start with "C" that bug me

Cialis commercials, and capri pants.

Cialis has made as its "brand" two naked people in two old-style bathtubs next to each other. The commercials have placed those tubs out on a lawn, on a beach, at water's edge, in a Zion's National Park-like rock structure, and lately, floating in water.

Somebody decided it's romantic to sit naked in a tub next to your sweetheart, as a prelude to intimacy. I think the whole thing is stupid. Have you ever lounged in a tub like that when it has no water in it? I haven't, but I gotta believe that it's hard and uncomfortable. Plus, probably cold; they're naked. And wouldn't you feel a bit exposed, just looking down at your naked self in a bare dry tub? Outdoors? With your clothes nowhere in sight? That's supposed to put you in the mood? Jeezus.

Next, I don't get Capri pants. This is totally a woman thing, so maybe I'm not expected to understand. Anyway, Capri pants come out when the weather warms up and I've started to see them around Boise, like dandelions. I've never worn them, but, is it really that much cooler when your pants leg stops at mid calf? Is that why women wear them? How much cooler can pants be by leaving off the last 8 inches, but covering up the entire rest of the leg?

Or, do they think it's kind of sexy, showing a bit of lower calf? News flash; it's not sexy. Wanna be sexy, wear shorts, or a skirt.

When I was a kid we laughed at "high-water pants," and to me, that's what Capri pants are. Super high-water. Sorry, but I think they look goofy. Some of them are bell bottomed, and those are really goofy looking. Why don't they just go ahead and pair them with clown shoes; it couldn't be any worse. But, with Capri pants, the clown shoes would have to be the open-toed version.

Does any guy out there like the look of Capri pants on a gal? Anyone?

Statesman's woes

I heard on the radio today that the Statesman's circulation is up 1%, but it's important Sunday circulation is down 2%.

If you get the Sunday Statesman, you know why fewer people are reading it; there's almost nothing there to read. In my home, the Sunday Statesman now is mostly a vehicle for delivery of ads that I don't read or want.

I suppose the Statesman is trying to save in newsprint costs, or something, and thus cut back its content to require less paper. Seems a poor decision to me.

Part of my Sunday morning used to be to relax with a cuppa coffee and leisurely read the paper. Well ,now there is so little paper to read that "leisurely" is no longer in the picture. It takes all of about 15-20 minutes to read the entire thing. I then hop over to the internet and catch up on all the other news the Statesman didn't print. My Sunday AM leisure is now mostly in front of a computer screen, which I really don't prefer. I'd rather be relaxing on the sofa.

I wouldn't mind more AP and wire reports and stories. Just give me more to read. I'm thinking about getting the Sunday NY Times, just to have something to read.

Crying wolf

It seems that the Swine Flu pandemic is waning, or at least concern about it is. Schools no longer have to close upon having a single child with flu symptoms. People, especially people in charge of such matters, are calming down.

I see two chief upshots of this panic. One, our health care system had a really good test, and should be much improved from it.

Unfortunately, the other result is a negative. Run of the mill folk, that is, people not particularly in the know about our health care system, like me, are going to look at the next outbreak with much more scepticism. Kind of like the Y2K panic, which also fizzled out.

Maybe it was the 24 cable news constantly flogging the issue. Maybe it was the over-reaction by whoever issued edicts such as closing an entire school upon one child getting ill. Either way, "Wolf!" was cried, and next time people won't be frightened so easily.

Update:

Republican standoff

In the tussle over Governor Otter's proposed gas tax, it's come to this. The Gov and the Senate are aligned against the House, in what has become a power struggle between the moderates and the wingers.

Otter is legitimately trying to drum up an ongoing revenue source for road repair, and the House is having none of it, ostensibly because they don't want raise taxes in a bad economy. But that's just an excuse. It's all about the power.

I understand that Lawrence Denny and Mike Moyle backed Norm Semanko when he ousted Kirk Sullivan as the Republican party chair, and of course, Sullivan was Otter's guy. So there's that. The Senate, being composed of Senators as it is, has much ego on the line, and doesn't want the unwashed masses in the House to have the upper hand on them. So it has sided with the Gov against the House.

To save face, Otter has to get more than the $68 mil offered up last year, and the House seems determined to stick it to him because he rejected the $68 mil as too little. Otter has moved around and offered various alternatives in the gas tax effort, but the House isn't buying any of it.
Here's how you can tell it's all about power, despite the excuses. Otter's most recent offer delays implementation of the fuel tax for 2 years. House leadership rejects that saying, paraphrased, "We've got two legislative sessions before that tax would take effect, and we don't know what the economy will do. It's prudent to study the matter, and if things get better, we can enact something in one of those upcoming sessions, and still have a tax in place by when the Governor proposes it to start."

That sounds reasonable, at first glance. However, flip the argument and you'll see it's completely bogus. If the House wanted to compromise, it would throw the Gov a bone and accept the proposal. If the economy isn't in shape by the second session, they could repeal the tax before it takes effect. That would meet the Gov half way and would respond to their concern about the economy. Agreement reached; Gov gets his road money, House gets a chance to protect the taxpayers.

But no, the House is going to continue to try to rub the Gov's nose in it and refuse ANY compromise. Schism in the Idaho Republican Party ensues.

Update; of course, I'm late again. The Unequivocal Notion has links to more, as well as numerous other interesting links. Check it out, if you haven't.

Working for Idaho. John Miller