Groundhog Day and Global Warming

By Richard Larsen

Many of us were relieved that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Thursday signaling six more weeks of winter. In the context of one of the warmest Idaho winters on record, anecdotal quips and references to anthropogenic global warming (AGW), or manmade global warming, are on the increase. But of course, they can only be anecdotal since we know from the data that average global temperatures have been cooling slightly over the past decade, while manmade carbon dioxide (CO2) has been increasing steadily during the same period.

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Reflections on the 39th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

By Nick Gier When I learned that some anti-abortionists are ready to talk about the “personhood” of the fetus, I was excited and encouraged. I have always wanted to frame the issue this way, but the usual response was that this was just crazy philosophers’ talk that could just be ignored. After looking at the Personhood USA website, I was really disappointed.

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For openness, Statehouse lockdown worse in the longrun than Occupy Boise

By Wayne Hoffman Tents don’t have constitutional rights. It’s funny to listen to the whine of the people who make up the Occupy Boise movement, who face eviction from the grounds of the old Ada County Courthouse. Let’s be clear about what the Occupy people are doing and what they’re not doing: They are defending the right of their tents to stay on the lawn of the old Ada County Courthouse as their symbol of protest. But contrary to what they’d have you believe, the Occupiers are not engaged in a perpetual, constitutionally-protected assembly. Most days, the encampment is nothing more a collection of empty tents, vacated by the people who erected them. I won’t speculate on where the Occupiers are when they abandon their campground. But most of the people who created the encampment are not there.

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My problem with tax return game

By Eniko Jordan The brouhaha over Romney’s tax returns has brought up the larger issue of transparency and privacy in election campaigns. To release or not to release: That is the question. Or rather, that question has already been answered. As long as the public demands it, candidates are compelled to release their tax returns for multiple years, and they can’t get away with any pussyfooting around about it, as Romney found out to his chagrin

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State of the Union and “American Values”

By Richard Larsen

The president, in his State of the Union address declared, “The problems we’re overcoming are not the heritage of one person, party, or even one generation. It’s just the tendency of government to grow. And there’s always that well-intentioned chorus of voices saying, ‘With a little more power and a little more money, we could do so much for the people.’ For a time we forgot the American dream isn’t one of making government bigger; it’s keeping faith with the mighty spirit of free people under God.”

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Time to put political axes away

By Dave Bowen I read the “GOP Propaganda” article in the Jan. 1 Idaho State Journal and really appreciate learning the definition of propaganda. Propaganda is when someone only gives their view of the subject, whether factual or not. A propagandist can seem wise and reasonable with specific opinions and calls to action.

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A split U.S. would look like this…

By Larry Ferro Recently Kim Kardashian got a divorce. I, for one, was floored. Not only did I not see this coming but it rocked my faith in that venerated institution that needs undying protection from devious gay people. If Kim could divorce, anything can happen. What’s next, I wonder? Will these “United” States become un-united, the left going one way, the right another? Allow me, with all the vision of Harold Camping, the broadcaster who predicted the most recent end of all years only to miss by a few billion, to articulate my own vision of the future.

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THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE

By Leonard Hitchcock There are still many who believe that politics is “the art of the possible,” and that the most essential political skills are those of negotiation and compromise. It’s a point of view that is not just historically well-founded, but intrinsically plausible. In a large country such as the United States, with a heterogeneous population and a representative form of democracy, there will always be disparate and conflicting interest groups of sufficient strength to vie with one another for whatever benefits the government can bestow. Since resources are usually finite, it’s unlikely that each competing interest will be able to obtain everything that it wants, so the competing parties will often adopt the view that “something is better than nothing” and enter into negotiations, aiming at a compromised distribution of the available benefits.

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It’s time to invest in young people

BY MARK TRAHANT Presidents are required to be optimistic.The American people expect it — and reward those politicians who know their lines. President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night followed the script (so much so that Republicans released a video dismissing the president’s consistent rhetoric as more of the same).

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Health and Welfare takes center stage in Boise

By Sen. Diane Bilyeu Greetings from the Capitol! Last week was Health and Welfare week for the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee. Bruce Krosch, the director of Public Health District 3, addressed us regarding current health-related trends in Idaho, many of which are alarming. There has been a 36 percent increase in communicable diseases, a 46 percent decrease in child care facility inspections and our child vaccination rates are the lowest in the country with only 57.4 percent being fully immunized.

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