The Irony

July 1 saw Idaho's new English only law take effect. All Idaho business must be done in English. Also, the Idaho quarter was just released, with Idaho's Latin motto "Esta Perpetua" and the phrase from US currency "E Pluribus Unum." If "Idaho" is truly from an Indian word, then none of the words on our official quarter comply with our English only law.

Gov Otter signs his correspondence with, instead of yours truly or sincerely or whatever, Esto Perpetua. Since his official correspondence is state business, I guess he'll be changing that. He signed the law into effect.

See below a picture of the pigeon that ate Idaho and burped Latin. I showed it to a guy today. He's lived here for about 10 years but was deployed to Afghanistan when the coin selection was announced. He wondered why we have a bald eagle on our quarter. Jeezus.

Here is our, er, Dirk Kempthorne's, choice. A couple of alternatives follow. Sorry for the small pix. Best I could do.

Here's an alternative showing, I think, Shoshone Falls.Another alternative, submitteed by Ian Stenseng, and described by Betsy Russel

Ian Stenseng came up with this design for the Idaho Quarter, which he described thusly: "A young woman stands on the bank of a river. She wears turn of the century mountaineering clothes and holds a pair of field glasses and a western slouch hat. She is looking to the west. Behind her stand the Sawtooth Mountains. Written to her left is THE PIONEER SPIRIT"

Stenseng's version is a total departure from all the other state quarters I've seen. Of the three, I'd have voted for it, except there was no vote.