untamedshrew's blog

The Boise Guardian, a blog run by Boise photographer Dave Frazier, posted this yesterday on his site. Apparently the Boise Police Department has removed the Guardian from its media contact list because the list is for “media only.” Frazier claims his site is a “news blog” and objects to BPD’s decision.

The Boise Guardian is primarily devoted to Boise City and Ada County issues. It is slanted, as the blog itself acknowledges – its tagline is “The Boise Guardian – a different slant on the news.” Frazier’s frequent target is the City of Boise, usually Mayor Bieter and his administration (whom he refers to as “Team Dave”). Frazier often uses his blog to grind whatever ax he has against Bieter. Here are a few headlines from his latest “news” stories:

Will Council Ground Bieter’s PR Flight of Fancy?
Team Dave Seeks $60K to Deny Citizen Voting Rights on Airport Debt Projects
Boise City Active in Real Estate Speculation
CCDC Seeks Expansion Despite Statewide Opposition
Boise Deceives Citizens on Hammer Flats
Mr. Bieter! Open This Building!

Frazier inserts himself into many of the "news" stories he posts (they often mention “The GUARDIAN” or Frazier in some way). Moreover, as I recently learned when he kicked me off his blog, he is thin-skinned and apparently cannot tolerate critical commentary directed toward his blog. In other words, trite though they may be, he can dish it out but he can’t take it.

Here’s just a bit of background. In early August a tuber on the Boise River floated past the traditional take-out spot in Ann Morrison Park and got caught in a diversion just down river. She was under water for several minutes and tragically died as a result several days later. Apparently there have been other incidents of Boise River floaters getting caught in this diversion.
 read more »

Kevin Richert posted an interesting item about Boise's District 19 on his Idaho Statesman blog yesterday (and it ran in this morning's print edition). Apparently Nicole LeFavour intends to return to the House, and wants Rep. Brian Cronin to run for her Senate seat. However, Anne Pasley-Stuart filed for the seat, catching LeFavour (and perhaps Cronin) off-guard.

I know very little of the relationship between our three legislators here in District 19 (although perhaps one can surmise a thing or two from this situation). But I do know this - I hear a LOT more from LeFavour and Cronin than I ever hear from or about Pasley-Stuart (which is close to nothing). She's never knocked on my door, sent me an email, asked me for money, given me a call, etc. I can't say that I recall any legislation she has carried, or even supported for that matter. Cronin and LeFavour work their butts off. Cronin appears to have ambitions for higher office, and lord knows we could use more young Democrats willing to run.

As such, I'd like to see Brian Cronin have the opportunity to run for Senate, but I'm also interested in hearing more. Any thoughts?

This week’s Rolling Stone has a great article about McCain and the religious “right” written by columnist Matt Taibbi. I love Matt Taibbi. He's so refreshing. He writes about politics much like my friends and I talk about politics. (Except that we aren't lucky enough to travel with the candidates, we aren't as smart, and we generally don't use phrases like "suck ***k." He's a wonderful writer, but his language is definitely not for the easily-offended. One more reason he's so fun to read, IMO.) He's privileged to write for Rolling Stone where he can call it just as he sees it, and often he's laugh-out-loud funny.

In this week's column, "Without a Prayer," Taibbi points out the obvious, that McCain is anything but a born-again, fundamentalist religious wing-nut. “This is not a guy who can get up in front of a church-going crowd in Asscrack, Arkansas, and start weeping to Jesus. In fact, he appears to deeply resent the implication that he needs to genuflect to the baby savior at all. As in, 'Hell, I already lived through five years of torture! You want me to do more?'"

The interesting question is whether the wingnuts will vote for him. James Dobson, who leads Focus on the Family, says no. Does that mean he intends to vote for (gasp) Obama? Surely not. Perhaps he and his minions will be staying home this November.  read more »

The California Supreme Court today overturned the state’s ban on gay marriage! This completely made my day. Big big news. Here’s an excerpt from the case:

While retention of the limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples is not needed to preserve the rights and benefits of opposite-sex couples, the exclusion of same-sex couples from the designation of marriage works a real and appreciable harm upon same-sex couples and their children. As discussed above, because of the long and celebrated history of the term “marriage” and the widespread understanding that this word describes a family relationship unreservedly sanctioned by the community, the statutory provisions that continue to limit access to this designation exclusive to opposite-sex couples – while providing only a novel, alternative institution for same-sex couples – likely will be viewed as an official statement that the family relationship of same-sex couples is not of comparable stature or equal dignity to the family relationship of opposite-sex couples. Furthermore, because of the historic disparagement of gay persons, the retention of a distinction in nomenclature by which the term “marriage” is withheld only from the family relationship of same-sex couples is all the more likely to cause the new parallel institution that has been established for same-sex couples to be considered a mark of second-class citizenship.  read more »

Last Monday, April 28, Matt Yost took his case against Secretary of State Ben Ysursa straight to the Idaho Supreme Court. In his Petition, Yost asked the Court to order the Secretary of State to reinstate his candidacy, and to declare that voter registration is not a requirement for candidate eligibility, as the SOS has maintained.

Below is a portion of a story about the case that recently ran in the Idaho Statesman.

At issue are two constitutional provisions, according to legal documents filed in the case.

The first, which covers qualifications for an "elector," or someone who can run for office, reads:

"Every male or female citizen of the United States, eighteen years old, who has resided in this state and in the county where he or she offers to vote for the period of time provided by law, if registered as provided by law, is a qualified elector."

The second covers qualifications for election to the Legislature and requires that a legislator "shall have resided within the legislative district one year next preceding the general election at which he offers his candidacy."  read more »

Matt Yost is not out of the race against John Andreason in District 15 yet. Matt's attorneys in Boise, with the help of Senator James Ruchti of Pocatello (who is also a lawyer), intend to file a lawsuit this week against Secretary of State Ben Ysursa challenging Ysursa's disqualification of Matt's candidacy.

Here's an excerpt from an article that ran on the front page of yesterday's Idaho State Journal in Pocatello. (Sorry, but I can't provide a link to the entire article because you have to subscribe to the paper to see it.)

Yost, currently a project manager for Snake River Farmers, has lived in Boise since 1989. However, as of November, he will only have been a registered voter for nine months. Ysursa and his office have argued the Constitution's language is explicit, saying a "qualified" elector is any U.S. citizen who has been registered to vote in their district for at least one year. Lawmakers defending Yost argued any citizen who has lived in their district for at least one year is already an elector if they are at least 21 years of age. Ruchti offered three vintage state Supreme Court cases showing proof that the registration requirement was only added for administrative purposes. He further argued that any citizen who has lived in a particular district for several years knows just as much about the area's politics as someone who has been registered to vote for one year.  read more »

Today, in Julia Davis Park, the VI and Brandi Swindell held a press conference to announce the possibility that they may push, again, for the return of the 10 Commandments monument to this public park, depending on the outcome of a case the U.S. Supreme Court recently decided to hear.

Here's a bit from the VI's press release:

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a Utah case (Pleasant Grove v. Summum) that Pleasant Grove would have to add a monument from an anti-Christian organization if it kept a Ten Commandments monument on display on public property. This flawed decision thus denied the city of Pleasant Grove its own constitutional rights to free speech.

But this activist decision has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Court has agreed to hear the case next fall. Attorneys from the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) will be asking the Court to rule that cities have the authority to decide which monuments they will display on public property without having to fear legal action to force them to put up additional and possibly objectionable monuments.

"You don’t have to put up a ‘Statue of Tyranny’ just because you have a ‘Statue of Liberty’ on public display,” said Bryan Fischer, Executive Director the Idaho Values Alliance, echoing arguments advanced by the ACLJ.

***

"We expect the Court to uphold First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, and to make sure that cities know they can choose to display public monuments without fear of petty litigation,” added Fischer.  read more »

This is one of the most remarkable political speeches I have heard in a long time. Instead of distancing himself from the Reverend Jeremiah Wright's recent remarks, as so many politicians today would do, Barack Obama manages to eloquently denounce Reverend Wright's words and at the same time honor the man and his work.  read more »

Larry Craig must be so happy to let some other schmuck's sex scandal grab the headlines for a bit. What in the name of god was Eliot Spitzer thinking?

Anyway - here come the jokes. Check this song out.

Here's a question. Can any of you name a female politician caught up in a sex scandal like this? :) (The astronaut in Depends doesn't count.)

The Academy Awards are this Sunday - anyone game for making some predictions? My family has an annual Oscar party and contest every year. My brother is in the film industry, and my mom is retired and a movie buff, so every year they smoke the rest of us. Not this year! I'm gonna win, I can feel it!

Here are the top categories / nominees. I put a *by my picks. I generally pick based on a combination of whether I've seen the movie, what I've read, and who I personally think the winners should be (which is probably why I usually lose). And when we get to the categories like Film Editing and Costume Design, it's just a crap shoot anyway, isn't it?

ACTOR - LEADING

George Clooney - Michael Clayton
*Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises  read more »

The Idaho Statesman today published a Reader's View opinion by our own VI. Get this - it's entitled "Bill is danger to civil liberties, violates freedoms of business owners."

Basically, he argues that Senate Bill 1323, which would add to already existing Idaho law by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, presents a "clear and present danger to the civil liberties of good-hearted Idahoans."

He goes on to state that:

It would violate an employer's constitutional right to freedom of association, his basic right to select a work force that represents the values he wants his business to reflect, by giving government the power to drag him into court for making politically incorrect employment decisions.

Huh? He wouldn't know a civil liberty if it bit him in the ass!  read more »

Kudos to Senator Kate Kelly!!  read more »

By now you all have probably seen the great "Yes We Can" video on You Tube.

Here's the McCain version.

[More photos after the jump]

Wow! What a morning!

My son and I parked at the BSU parking lot in front of the Morrison Center at 7:15 am. (We tried to get to the pavilion by driving down Broadway, but in the first of many cell-phone conversations my brother advised me against it because the traffic was so bad.) As I walked toward the pavilion, I noticed a mass of people standing in front of the business building, still a good distance away from the pavilion. What? It's the line to Door 3? OMG!!!  read more »

Jack Van Valkenburgh, ACLU of Idaho Executive Director for the past 18 years, announced today his resignation, effective May 1. (See press release below.)

I have known and worked with Jack for many of those 18 years. I have only the highest respect for him and the courageous, passionate work he's done in Idaho on our behalf. He's one of my heroes.

I wish you all the best mi amigo bueno! Muchas Muchas Gracias!

BOISE, Idaho - Jack Van Valkenburgh, the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, recently submitted a letter of resignation effective May 1, 2008 to his state board of directors. “I love the ACLU, but I’m not getting any younger. After 18 years directing it in Idaho, I think it’s time to pursue some other interests,” said Van Valkenburgh.  read more »

Here's a little fun for your Wednesday.

In Gooding over the holidays (yee-haw!), taking a highly necessary mental health break from small talk, I stumbled across the following editorial in the Times-News. Tough choice - return to the dinner table to re-join the ongoing discussion about the possibility of snow - OR - hide out in the den to read this news about "Thayn and company?"

(Isn't it fun to observe, compare, and perhaps even mock if necessary, families during the holidays? At my Christmas Eve dinner table at my house, at which we served ham and potatoes and a lot of wine, the talk ranged from politics to Borat ("that horse was my ex-wife") to this, my favorite comment from my brother - "I think Tiny Tim needs to be put down." The next day, at a far different dinner table at which we were served ham and potatoes and far too little wine, my favorite comment, and possibly the most interesting, was this, from our hostess - "Do you like the extra cornflakes I added to the top of the scalloped potatoes?")

(I'm pasting the editorial in its entirety below because I'm still so stuffed full of Christmas sweets that I resemble the Christmas ham I ate way too much of, which means I'm too damned lazy tonight to remember (again!) how to provide you with the link.)

Enjoy! Happy New Year!

Gay-bashing Idaho legislators still insist they know best  read more »

Check out the excellent post about the Ada County JFK banquet and key-note speaker David Sirota at Red State Rebels.

I sensed some excitement in the room I haven't felt in Democratic circles in awhile. It might have been my particular circumstances - I got to sit at the big-wig table, I had a few tiny glasses of wine, and all night long I was otherwise surrounded by witty, handsome men. Perhaps my vision was a touch cloudy. I don't think so though. It was exciting to listen to David Sirota talk about the possibility of serious change, even here.  read more »

This morning's Idaho Statesman has a great guest opinion written by Will Rainford, the legislative advocate for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise. The title - "When I weigh all the issues of importance to me as a Christian, I must vote Democrat."

Here's a highlight:

Nice words to wake up to. Click here for the entire opinion.  read more »