Tom Paine's blog

While (thankfully) this is NOT a Schwartzenegger original, his character in T-3 did make a profundity all Idaho Democrats should take to heart...memorize it, laminate it & put in your wallets:

"Anger is more productive than despair"

God Bless 'em, but Jerry Brady is still a trust-baby policy wonk and recoils at the mere thought of the taste of political blood in the water. Then he either...

#a. gets whacked enough & he gets mad (it's been patty-cake up until now)

#b. slinks back into his art-filled den to seriously contemplate, "do I really want this job?"

I'm betting on "#a." But lets not fool ourselves; the nimrods in the Idaho GOP are still unified, and the Brady-Dean-Richardson machine has not produced a true 'wedge issue'.  read more »

Consider this more a pure rant, unsubstantiated by facts & examples as is my usual inclination.

For some time now I have marvelled at the bland corporatist mentality of the Idaho Statesman news organization. Other than Dan Popkey, most of the writers at the IS, arguably Idaho's flagship newspaper---both for her biggest city & state capital, are either:
a. chickenshit weenies always fearful of losing their jobs
b. religious eunuchs who desperately avoid controversy & confrontation (80%+ of eastern Idaho--& working to secure the rest of the state as a colony of Utah)
c. completely stupid outdoors types, who only work (& with minimum insight) to fund their lifestyles, which are predicated on being single, in active good health & under 35.  read more »

Oh, my gosh! Cheney's aim, the Tan conspiracy, Abramoff in the White House...lions & tigers & bears, oh my!

The reason Idaho Democrats are an endangered species is quite simple: no value-proposition for Idahoans. Focus, people...remember Tip O'Neill, "all politics is local", etc, etc?

Back when we sold out our base (yeah, we listened to all the big money flakes from Sun Valley, Jackson, McCall, Santa Fe, L.A., etc...who told us forget about all those miners, forest workers, trades folk who were in unions, etc...screw them, what's important is OUR agenda, because we're soooooo smart & erudite and have ALL this money, and YOU hicks would be nothing without us deigning to help you...)  read more »

And they're just lickin' their chops for the March 14th school bonds.

Listen up people, if you cannot cause or make-happen a consequence, preferably economic, to this kind of "message"...you will always be fighting. The legendary banker (guy who invented the CD & Moneymarket acct) Walter Wriston, postulated what has come to known as 'Wriston's Law of Capital'...in that, "capital will always go where it's invited, and stay where it's well-treated"

I will shamlessly 'borrow' a page from old Walt (a Roosevelt Republican until his end) and postulate Tom Paines' Law of Technology...in that, "technology will always go where it's invited, and stay where it's well-treated"  read more »

By that, I mean don't be distracted by all the GOP efforts to ram 'social conservatism' down everyone's throats (there's an erotic visual metaphor for you...with Dolores Crow, no less)

My informal poll of key corporate execs (Micron, HP, misc tech companies) indicate they've about had it with the rural, white-trash Idaho GOP. Today, Micron is taking on 2 new tech directors, giving Appleton a 6-3 or 5-4 majority on the board. And Mr. Steve is itching to cash out of Idaho, either as a buy-out (best guess: Intel) or full exit, for him at least. Chief reason: the Koreans, who scare the shit out of all US tech companies...but the Bush Admn announced last week they'd be doing a free-trade agreement with S. Korea--fancy that, as if we didn't already have enough to worry about.  read more »

Reading the Spokane Paper this am, 3 notable GOP knuckle draggers--Crow, Moyle & Clark want to impose more imperial, micromanagement on the cities & towns. See story inclosed below.

Well folks, let's just give it to 'em...what they truly desire: a return to the 1950s, et al.

And this is how we do it in this day & age of the Internet: we expose Idaho for what it is to every significant corporate board (i.e. HP, Micron etc) and major data collections conduit out there (i.e. CCH, Brookings, Pew Foundation, Morgan-Quitno, etc)

As more & more become aware of what the GOP has done to Idaho...I predict they'll leave. And as Stan said to Ollie, "this is a fine mess you given us now".  read more »

After being near last in their ratings for several years, and having every single municipal candidate (IF, Pokey, B'Foot) they supported---lose in the local elections, Clear Channel Communications finally dropped a house on the 'mavens of malice', so-called conservatives, Trish Oak & Halli Stone.

The end came swiftly this evening to the notorious twisted sisters, both of whom had massive cases of penis-envy, ever since House Speaker Bruce Newcomb sued them in early 2000-2001. He managed to have them exiled to home-base in Idaho Falls, where they had tormented the locals ever since.

It wasn't until 2004 when a technology executive took them to task, daring to publicly criticize their unrelenting attack on moderate legislator Lee Gagner, who was defeated by 7 votes from one of the sisters' knuckle dragging listeners, Russ Matthews. Matthews, a Qwest "consultant" is now in his 2nd year; Gagner plans a rematch in May.  read more »

Yep! you read it right....Idaho's biggest slave-wage master and resident big-buck homophobe, is buying (correction: "final stages of negotiation") Bonneville Media's 6 radio stations in eastern Idaho.

After Thursday's Idaho Supreme Court ruling on how the spud state funds (its non-existent) public education, am I wrong in assuming this dystopia needs any more handicaps?

Resolution for 2006: get out of Idaho

Out shortly...
entitled "Boise's Watergate: University Place and All the Governor's Men"

More details at www.freemarketduck.com

Names names, places, amounts ($$$), deals done, deals pending, deals pending to be done.

Will rip the Kempthorne Administration a new one.

Ohio Democrats Weigh Governor Impeachment

by MATT LEINGANG, Associated Press Writer
20 minutes ago

Note** : This guy makes Idaho's slicko-scumbag look like Mr. Clean

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's House Democrats are considering impeachment proceedings against Republican Gov. Bob Taft, who pleaded no contest last week to four ethics violations.

House Minority Leader Chris Redfern said Sunday that Democrats had made no decision yet about whether to seek Taft's ouster — impeachment would be difficult if not impossible with Republicans controlling both houses of the Legislature.

But he said they had asked the Legislature's legal research arm to outline the impeachment process so they understand it when they meet Tuesday to discuss a response.  read more »