Right Mind

Bill & Terry Sali

I had the opportunity to meet Bill & Terry Sali (http://www.billsali.com/) during his recent swing thru Moscow. Sali is an Idaho candidate for Congress.

• He's hard-core pro-life. http://www.billsali.com/issues1.asp?id=13
• He's a strong 2nd Amendment supporter: http://www.billsali.com/issues1.asp?id=12
• He's opposed to the sales tax increase in Idaho: http://www.billsali.com/issues1.asp?id=11
• He's outspoken against homosexual marriage, etc.
• He was named Idaho's #1 conservative by the Idahoans for Tax Reform
• The following significant groups have endorsed him:
  • Club for Growth
  • Concerned Women Political Action Committee
  • Government Is Not God PAC
  • Gun Owners of America Political Victory Fund
  • Republican National Coalition for Life
  • Conservative Victory Fund
  • Idaho Chooses Life
  • National Pro-Life Alliance
  • American Conservative Union

What Do the Immigrant Walkout Day and Iraq have in Common?

Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

The American Dream without the American Part

Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

Killing off the Term "Evagelical"

Christianity magazine (the British counterpart to our own Christianity Today), has called for an end of the word “evangelical.” Why?

Now to the unchurched and people of other faiths – evangelical is increasingly shorthand for: right-wing US politics, an arrogant loud mouth who refuses to listen to other people’s opinions, men in grey suits who attempt to crowbar authorised version scripture verses into every situation, or ‘happy-clappy’ simpletons who gullibly swallow whatever their tub thumping minister tells them to believe.

The name fundamentalist was coined in 1920 to designate those "doing battle royal for the Fundamentals." Also figuring in the name was The Fundamentals, a 12 volume collection of essays written in the period 1910 - 15 by 64 British and American scholars and preachers. Three million copies of these volumes and the founding of the World's Christian Fundamentals Association in 1919 gave sharp identity to fundamentalism as it moved into the 1920s. Leadership moved across the years from such men as A T Pierson, A J Gordon, and C I Scofield to A C Dixon and Reuben Torrey, William Jennings Bryan, and J Gresham Machen.

As fundamentalism developed, most Protestant denominations in the United States felt the division between liberalism and fundamentalism. The Baptists, Presbyterians, and Disciples of Christ were more affected than others. Nevertheless, talk of schism was much more common than schism itself. Perhaps the lack of a central organization and a normative creed, certainly the caricature of fundamentalism arising from the Scopes Trial (1925), the popularization of the liberal response by representatives like Harry Emerson Fosdick, well publicized divisions among fundamentalists themselves, and preoccupations with the Depression of the 1930s and World War II curtailed fundamentalism's appeal. By 1950 it was either isolated and muted or had taken on the more moderate tones of Evangelicalism.

McCain Says "Clean Government" More Important Than First Amendment

Via Mark Tapscott.

"He [Michael Graham] also mentioned my abridgement of First Amendment rights, i.e. talking about campaign finance reform....I know that money corrupts....I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I'd rather have the clean government."

HT: R.F.B.

Shedding the Intellectual Straitjacket

Activist David Horowitz, along with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and hundreds of students and professors, are asking state legislators and Congress to push back against politics in the classroom. Mr. Horowitz, who recently helped launch a campus network called Students for Academic Freedom, teamed with Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) to push a measure called the Academic Bill of Rights (ABOR) through the U.S. House last month.

Attached as a "sense of Congress" to H.R. 609, the College Access and Opportunity Act of 2006, ABOR affirms intellectual diversity as a key strength of education and states that students should not be intimidated or graded down because of their political, religious, or ideological beliefs. Versions of ABOR have been or are up for discussion in the legislatures of more than 20 states.

• After a student pro-life group erected a display on campus, Northern Kentucky University literature professor Sally Jacobsen invited her graduate students to help her destroy it. On April 12 at about 5:30 p.m., the tenured teacher and her students uprooted about 400 small white crosses and chucked them into garbage cans. The U.S. Supreme Court has extended First Amendment protection to such displays, but Professor Jacobsen told reporters: "Any violence perpetrated against that silly display was minor compared to how I felt when I saw it."
• When a conservative foundation last year organized a lecture by a pro-Iraq War veteran at New Jersey's Warren County Community College, freshman Rebecca Beach promoted the event by e-mailing faculty members. John Daley, an adjunct professor of English, replied with an e-mail of his own: "[R]eal freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors. . . . I will continue to expose your right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like yours won't dare show their face on a college campus." Mr. Daley later said he did not know he was e-mailing a student, but he also argued that his critics were attacking his "academic freedom."
• The University of California-Berkeley's course offerings this spring include "Ethnic Studies 198: The Prop. 209 Project." Prop. 209, a California voter initiative that prohibited the state from creating preferential programs based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin, passed handily in 1996. Although UC's course content policy states that the university "must remain aloof from politics," the course description for Ethnic Studies 198 has students crafting "a political strategy" to reverse Prop. 209, and a course application asked students to "please describe any technical skills that would be useful in a political campaign."

HT: Jeff M.

Who is John Galt ?

For those who have read Any Rand's Atlas Shrugged … it's close to being made into a movie.

"Stars" being considered are Angelina Jolie = Dagny Taggert and Brad Pitt = John Galt.

Rand must be spinning in her grave at the mere thought.

• http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/cat/atlas-shrugged-movie/
• http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/529.php
• http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/530.php

McDonalds Makes It to Africa

HT: Pat F.

Logos 8th Grade History Trip

American Conservative Union backs Sali

April 28, 2006

PRESS RELEASE

American Conservative Union backs Sali's bid for First District seat

MERIDIAN, Idaho - For the second time in three days, Rep. Bill Sali has received the backing of one of the nation's leading conservative organizations as the American Conservative Union officially announced its endorsement of Kuna Republican and his bid to win Idaho's First District congressional seat.

The American Conservative Union is the nation's oldest and largest grassroots lobbying organization. ACU's purpose is to communicate and advance the goals and principles of conservatism through one multi-issue, umbrella organization. ACU's Statement of Principles expresses its commitment to a market economy, the doctrine of original intent of the framers of the Constitution, traditional moral values, and a strong national defense.

"Bill Sali has gained a very impressive list of endorsements from conservative groups across the nation," said Bill Lauderback, Executive Vice President of the American Conservative Union. "With his primary election just a few weeks away, it is time for true conservatives in Idaho to rally around the clear conservative choice - Bill Sali."

Sali, who has been in the state legislature since 1990, was pleased with the support of the ACU.

"The American Conservative Union has been on the front lines of conservative issues since 1964," said Sali. "We share the same core values. I really look forward to working with them."

The ACU joins the roster of organizations endorsing Sali. That list includes the Club for Growth, Concerned Women Political Action Committee, National Right to Work, Government Is Not God PAC, Gun Owners of America Political Victory Fund, Sixty! Votes Coalition, Conservative Victory Fund, The Coalition for Natural Health, Idaho Chooses Life, National Pro-Life Alliance, and the Republican National Coalition for Life.

Rugby

Students Win Approval For Hours Change; New Schedule At Paradise Creek Allows More Time For Work, Faculty Flexibility

As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Students at Paradise Creek Regional High School are catching a break on school hours. The Moscow School Board approved new hours for the alternative high school Tuesday night in response to requests from the students.

The change comes near the close of a year when the alternative high school gained attention in both city zoning debates and a community survey of plans for a school bond.

Roughly 38 full- and part-time students take classes at the school. When the changes take effect in the fall, classes will be in session from 11:08 a.m. to 5:10 p.m.

For the remainder of this school year, students will retain the current schedule from 12:09 p.m. to 6:10 p.m.

Tax Freedom Day 2006

302 Idaho prisoners will move from Minnesota to Texas this week

As reported in today's edition of the Idaho Statesman:

The Idaho Department of Correction will move 302 inmates to Texas from Minnesota within the next six weeks, a spokeswoman said.
Officials of the privately owned Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minn., told Idaho officials in February that the 302 inmates housed there since last fall would have to be moved to accommodate Minnesota’s own growing prison population.

The inmates will join 150 Idaho inmates housed at Newton County Correctional Center in Newton, Texas, since March 14. That privately run prison is owned by the GEO Group Inc.

Idaho prisons have been overcrowded for years. State officials have made do by adding more bunks to cells and by creating outdoor prison camps. But a court last year ruled out double-bunking prisoners. Inmates were moved to Minnesota soon after.

Correction Department spokeswoman Melinda Keckler said this week that the contract with the Texas prison runs for two years. It will cost $51 per inmate day, compared with $48 in Idaho prisons.

INL To Review Plans For New Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plants

The Bush administration will rely on the Idaho National Laboratory for technical review of proposals by businesses and local government groups seeking to build a new plant to reprocess spent reactor fuel, a practice the U.S. discontinued in the 1970s because of concerns it was spurring the nuclear arms race.

"There's a good bit of technology that we need to be a lot more sure of, and some good solid technical work that needs to be done before we would be in a position to make a decision to proceed with such a facility," Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dennis Spurgeon said Tuesday after touring INL. "Idaho is the lead laboratory for nuclear energy and they are in effect my right arm when it comes to providing that technical analysis."
...
Congress allocated $20 million this year for the Energy Department to begin evaluating proposals for a new reprocessing facility somewhere in the U.S. The goals would be to reduce the amount of nuclear waste that must be sent to a repository and reclaim some of the spent fuel for reuse in commercial reactors.The Bush administration is now seeking $250 million in the Energy Department's fiscal 2007 budget request to Congress to pursue development of a test project to show that fuel recycling can be done on a large scale with processes that create less waste and contain radioactive isotopes that decay to background levels of radioactivity at a faster rate.

An Energy Department request for "expressions of interest" by private companies, individuals and local governments seeking to build one of the new nuclear fuel reprocessing plants drew 36 replies this month, including Boise-based Washington Group International and Idaho Falls-based Regional Development Alliance Inc.

Idaho Prepares Booklets Required For All Women Getting Abortions

As reported in today's edition of the Idaho Statesman:

Starting July 1, all women getting abortions in Idaho must receive three booklets detailing risks of the procedure, fetal development and alternatives to abortion.

Anti-abortion advocates said the booklets allow a woman to make an informed choice about how to deal with an unwanted pregnancy. Abortion-rights groups like Planned Parenthood of Idaho, an abortion provider since 2005, said the booklets contain manipulative and misleading information.

The old law said the booklets had to be given out if reasonably possible. But anti-abortion advocates claimed women weren't getting the booklets. Legislators agreed, changing the law to penalize health-care providers who don't provide the materials.

The change means all women except those with an immediate medical emergency will receive the booklets. The old laws let health-care providers use their own judgment and make exceptions in certain cases, like those involving rape or incest, according to Rebecca Poedy, president of Planned Parenthood of Idaho.

What you should know about abortion, a 20-page booklet describing the different abortion procedures and possible emotional and physical side effects of each. The booklet also has a one-page explanation of possible side effects and risks of childbirth, and another page describing the process of adoption. This booklet says:

• On page 1, "it is the public policy of the state of Idaho to prefer live child-birth over abortion."
• "Talking to a trusted friend, family member, clergy or counselor about the important decision you are facing."
• About 6 weeks after fertilization is considered the safest time to have an abortion. On average, Idaho women have abortions at 10 weeks.
• The risk of death is 0.6 per 100,000 abortions and 6.7 per 100,000 live births. Fetal development, a 16-page booklet detailing the stages of embryonic and fetal growth, with color photographs of the fetus at two-week intervals. This booklet:
• Contains a photo of a 6-week-old embryo taken from a book published by Ohio Right to Life called "The Moral Question of Abortion," detailing the wrongs of abortion from a pro-life perspective. Most pictures are from a book called "A Child is Born," a 40-year-old book updated in 1986, featuring color in-utero photos of every stage of fetal development.
• Details key development milestones, such as when a heartbeat begins and when the lungs are capable of breathing. It also notes when a fetus begins to open and close its eyes, cry and suck its thumb. Directory of Pregnancy and Child Health Services, a 45-page booklet providing information about counseling, financial aid and housing help available to pregnant women. This booklet:
• Lets pregnant woman know about child support they can receive from their baby's father and from adoptive parents
• Provides pregnancy counseling on both sides of the abortion debate, including Birthright and Planned Parenthood locations. Copies of the three booklets can be purchased at cost from the Department of Health and Welfare by calling (208) 334-5977.

The Gay Straight Animal Rights Alliance is queering animal liberation!

…working to promote the awareness and advocacy of speciesism as a social justice issue, one that's as real as racism, sexism, homophobia, heterosexism, anti-Semitism, and oppression based on class, religion, age, ethnicity, national origin, or disability.

HT: Craig DeLuz

A "Cambrian Explosion" of Creativity

Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

Linking Mary McCarthy to Clinton

Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

They Don't Teach Evolution Any More

Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

Courthouse Evacuation

At 11:35 am on 4/25/2006, the Latah County Dispatch Center received notification from the office of the Court Clerk at Latah County that a bag-style briefcase or overnight bag had been left in courtroom #1 and that it was making a "suspicious ticking" noise.  The courthouse was immediately evacuated and a perimeter was established around the block by Moscow Police Department and Latah County Sheriff's Office personnel.  The Latah County Dispatch center, while maintaining radio contact throughout the event, began their relocation to the remote dispatching site in Moscow.  All county employees and courthouse patrons and visitors were evacuated from the building for a period of about twenty minutes, with the exception of jail personnel and the inmate population.  Due to security procedures, the jail population was being prepared for relocation to our remote temporary holding location when the officers and deputies investigating the incident notified Latah County agencies that the owner of the suspicious bag had been located and that everything was fine.  Apparently, the owner of the bag had legitimately been at the courthouse for a scheduled appointment and had left his bag in the courtroom.  The bag, which was determined to be an overnight bag contained personal items.  There is no plan to file any charges or to take any action against the man as no crime was committed. 

We would like to take this time to remind everyone that it is never a good idea to leave personal items unattended while in a public area.

We also want to extend a sincere thank you to the men and women at Moscow Police Department for their help in immediately responding to the courthouse and for helping us investigate the situation.

Days of Silence

9-year-old, Razia, was beaten and raped on April 26 in the town of Faisalabad, near Lahore, Pakistan, ending up in the hospital with multiple burns, a lacerated left eye, a broken right arm and rope marks around her hands and mouth.

"She was working as a maid in a Muslim house," said Shabazz Bhatti, chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance. She was told by them, 'You are Christian and infidel, and we will take revenge on you for the killings of Iraqi children.' The case is similar to hundreds of others in Muslim countries. According to Bhatti, it has been registered with police, but the culprits have not been arrested even though their identity is no mystery.

The American media is strangely silent about the persecution of Christians in Muslim countries. The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, representing Christian, Hindu, Sikh, and other communities, has compiled a "catalogue of terror" on attacks against female Christians, beginning with the May 3, 2000, gang rape of eight Christian girls by militant Muslims near Lahore.

Contrast this account with an informational flyer distributed at our High School on May 6th [2004], just a few short days after Razia suffered her ordeal. A number of students pledged themselves to silence that day. When asked about it, they produced an informational flyer that said: “I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence caused by harassment, prejudice, and discrimination”. Oh. I see.

Margaret Wilson knew all about harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. In May of 1685, the Scottish Covenanter lass was 18. She was famed for her nobleness of life, kindness of heart, and sympathetic generosity to all in distress. Yet, she was hounded out of house and home for declaring her Christian faith. A disappointed suitor betrayed her. Margaret was apprehended and commanded to swear that King Charles II was the head of the church. She refused on the grounds that Christ alone was head of the church.

Her sentence was unusually cruel, even by 17th century standards. With the tide out, she was tied to a stake in the tidal flats. As the tide rose, she was badgered and harassed to renounce Christ as the head of the church. As the waters rose to her neck, she sang Psalm 25. With the water over her head, they pulled her up in one last effort to force a change of heart: “Say God save the King”. “I hope He does”, she said; “but Christ alone is yet head of the Church”. Outraged by her steadfastness, the soldiers forced her back under to drown. Without exception, history textbooks are silent about such persecution.

Meanwhile, back in Fallon, the Gay/Straight Alliance at the High school simpers about harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. Pah! Homosexuals in America are not persecuted. They are catered to by lawmakers, pandered to by the dominant media, and thumpingly approved by the courts. Despite all this, they continue to demonstrate, remonstrate, and otherwise whine because not everyone approves of their way of life.

I certainly don’t want to see homosexuals persecuted; and particularly not like the Christian women in Muslim countries, or like Margaret Wilson. However, I count myself among the many who believe they should stop engaging in such practices. If they do choose to continue such activity, homosexuals should not flaunt their decision. Now here is the truth: they are all for diversity until they actually encounter the real thing. Requiring tolerance of others, they themselves are intolerant of diverse beliefs.

I would like some days of real silence. I would like the gay nation to be silent about it.

HT: Mr. Ed

Everyone's a Conservative Compared with Sorensen

Tom Henderson (always concerned for charging RINOs) writes the following in today's edition of the Lewiston Tribune. This appears to be a direct response to my previous articles (Idaho Statesman Exposes RINO In The Race and "Traditional" Republican Seeks Otter Seat???) -- notice how the issues are addressed by Henderson. What he doesn't say is how much money Sorensen raised from the "Women's Campaign Fund", and that the "Women's Campaign Fund" only funds Democrats and RINOs. How convenient.

Is that Sheila Sorensen with Al Franken?

Franken is a notorious liberal with his own radio show. You know what this means? Squat, actually.

In the fantasies of Bill Sali and Robert Vasquez, however, it means a smoking gun. Sorensen -- one of their opponents for the Republican nomination in Idaho's 1st Congressional District -- must be a RINO (Republican In Name Only).

Sorensen attended an event sponsored by the Women's Campaign Fund March 13 in New York City. Franken was the keynote speaker. Other guests included Sen. John Kerry, former Texas Gov. Ann Richards and various other Democrats.

The guest list also included various Republicans -- including Sorensen. The Women's Campaign Fund is a bipartisan group dedicated to protecting abortion rights. Sorensen makes no excuses for her stand on abortion.

Does this make her a Democrat in disguise?

Yes it does make her a Democrat in disguise -- just like Gary Schroeder. Would you like to argue that Schroeder is a traditional Republican as well?

PBS Interview on "Christianity and the Environment"

Bryan Fischer, Executive Director of  the Idaho Values Alliance, was interviewed for about an hour yesterday by a PBS film producer from New York for a documentary Public Television is preparing on "Christianity and the Environment". It will air sometime in the fall. 

These were the points he made in the interview:

1. The Cultural Mandate of Genesis 1, which God has never rescinded, indicates that population growth is a good thing, not a bad thing. While God says, "Be fruitful and multiply," the environmental movement aims at zero population growth. (Although the environmental movement says there are too many people, Thomas Sowell once calibrated that the entire population of the earth could move to Texas and live in comfortably-sized homes, leaving the rest of the planet uninhabited.)
2. Geographical expansion is a good thing. God says, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." Only about 5% of the total surface area in the United States has currently been developed, and at current rates of development, 88% of it will remain untouched a hundred years from now. We're not running out of land. The environmental movement, on the other hand, constantly seeks to restrict expansion and growth.
3. Man is God's vice-regent over the earth, and has received delegated authority from God to place his imprint on the environment. God instructs man, "Rule over the earth and subdue it." So when man extracts natural resources from the earth and converts them to human use, he is doing a good thing, not a bad thing. The goal of the environmental movement seems to be to remove man and his imprint from nature wherever possible, and to prevent him from extending his reach. It often seems to regard man as an intruder, a parasite, or a noxious weed in the environment rather than a rightful steward of God's creation.
4. The Judeo-Christian tradition places a great stress on care for the poor. Many environmental policies and restrictions result in higher fuel, food, and construction costs, which raise the price of transportation, heating and cooling, sustenance, and housing for everyone. While the rich can absorb such increases, these impacts are felt most keenly by those who can least afford them. As those who care for the poor, we should be inherently suspect of policies that make life more difficult for them.
5. Dominion is not an excuse to rape and pillage the earth. Jesus also taught us to do unto others as we would have them to unto us, and Moses taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves. This means that when human enterprise causes direct harm to a neighbor, adjustments should be made. However, we must be certain that the cause-effect relationship is clearly established, and not a matter of speculation or mere theory.
6. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." Followers of Christ's teaching are always to be governed and guided by truth, fact, and the best available science. Since much of the "science" that underlies the theory of human-caused global warming is suspect, and since good science suggests other factors may be primarily responsible, it would be poor public policy to make dramatic restrictions on human enterprise in an effort to curb global warming. This is particularly so since it is the poor who will bear the brunt of these restrictions.

Day Of Silence, Day Of Truth

From the Idaho Values Alliance:

Tomorrow, pro-homosexual student groups on high school campuses will stage a nationwide "Day of Silence" to promote the normalization of homosexual behavior. Five Boise area high schools had student groups such as Gay-Straight Alliances sign up to participate last year: Bishop Kelly, Boise, Centennial, Meridian, and Mountain View. No similar list was available on GLSEN's (The Gay, Les! bian and Straight Education Network) website for this year's event, although the stated goal is for 4000 schools to be involved.

On the following day, April 27, pro-family student groups will respond with the "Day of Truth," to communicate the truth about homosexual behavior on the same campuses. The "Day of Truth" is co-sponsored by the Alliance Defense Fund, Focus on the Family, Exodus International, and the Southern Baptist Convention.

A three-judge panel of The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday turned back a student's claim that he had been denied his constitutional rights when he was refused permission to wear a T-shirt last year in protest of the "Day of Silence." The net effect is that advocates for homosexuality were allowed to spread their messages around campus, but this student's pro-family message was censored and silenced.

The dissenting judge said, "I have considerable difficulty with giving school authorities the power to decide that only one side of a controversial topic may be discussed in the school environment." This, in his judgment, was a clear case of unconstitutional "viewpoint discrimination." The Alliance Defense Fund plans to appeal.

• U.S. APPEALS COURT: Public schools can ban anti-minority messages
• www.dayoftruth.org

Moscow Police Officers Seek Bargaining Agent

Listen Here.

Members of the Moscow Police Department Monday made a formal request for city officials to recognize the Moscow Police Protective Association as a collective bargaining agent.

 But two members of the Moscow City Administrative Committee refused to forward the request to the full city council saying it would be tantamount to recognizing a union.

"What this is about is, can we find common ground within the present city structure?" committee Chairwoman Linda Pall said.

Committee member Aaron Ament said police officers deserve council action, not more talk, on their request. "It's a union issue. Let's have an up or down vote by the city council."

Committee member John Weber sided with Pall, suggesting that police officer concerns over salaries, benefits and contracts can undergo some "tweaking and twisting" under the present structure.

"You're denying it?" asked Cpl. Art Lindquist, spokesman for the police association who presented the written request signed by every officer in the department.

"We're trying to get to yes in a different way," Pall answered, explaining that she's confident city council members and city staff will work in good faith with the officers.

Lindquist said after the meeting that officers want more than a "glorified handshake" from city officials. He said association members agreed they want "professional representation" from outside to help them with salary, benefits and other concerns.

"Right now it's just a bunch of cops going against a bunch of lawyers and accountants," Lindquist said.

Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney said the city has a "very good" relationship with the police department. "I understand about unions and what they can bring." But Chaney said she feared a police union would lead to requests by other city employees to form unions and that ultimately the power of taxpayers, through the elected city council, would be diminished.

Drugs Fuel Increase In Number Of Idaho Court Cases

As reported in today's edition of the Idaho Statesman:

The state's legal caseload kept growing last year, when appeals filed with the Idaho Supreme Court numbered more than 1,000 for the first time — an increase of 6.6 percent over 2004, according to the high court's recently released annual report.

District courts also logged record highs, with 20,683 cases filed, up 30 percent from 1995. Part of the increase can be blamed on the state's ever-increasing drug problem, officials said.

"The number of drug cases filed is where we have seen the most significant increase, and the judges would attribute that to meth production, use and addiction," said Patti Tobias, administrative director of the courts. "The increase in criminal cases overall is fueled by methamphetamine."

Last year more than 4,700 felony drug cases were filed, up from fewer than 1,500 in 1995. The 2005 number was more than 6 percent higher than the 2004 number, according to the report.

Juvenile cases also increased for the second year in a row, with nearly 13,000 cases filed last year, a 1.3 percent increase over 2004.

That's because the methamphetamine epidemic is affecting the state's youth, Tobias said, with magistrate judges seeing more teens struggling with meth addiction and abuse than in previous years.

"Traditional" Republican Seeks Otter Seat???

I cracked up reading the following in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Sheila Sorensen says her competitors say she isn’t Republican enough.

The other candidates for Congress “are trying to be the most conservative, but I’m not,” she said.

She maintains that she is a traditional Republican who believes in less government and personal freedoms.

The reason that's so funny is because of what I wrote here previously: Idaho Statesman Exposes RINO In The Race. Sorensen is as much a Republican as Gary Schroeder is.

“It should come as no surprise that Sheila Sorensen was out wooing the liberal left wing of the Democrat Party at a New York State fund-raising event. Sheila, who has only recently returned from living in Hawaii to run for Idaho’s 1^st Congressional District, has to renew her Democrat connections, while trying to convince Idahoans she’s a Republican.”

Commissioner Vasquez said.

“The Wednesday, March 15, 2006, Idaho Statesman states Idaho 1^st Congressional Candidate Sheila Sorensen was one of the honorees Monday night at a Women’s Campaign Fund event that featured a dozen swanky dinners all over New York City and a guest list that included Sen. John Kerry and Teresa Heinz! Kerry, former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, Martha Stewart, New Jersey Gov. John Corzine, Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons and more. The Keynote speaker? Al Franken”

The article defined the Women’s Campaign Fund as “the group works to elect pro-choice women of both parties, and Sorensen often fought restrictions on abortion while she was in the legislature.”

The Statesman article continued, stating, “Sheila’s spokesman, Chuck Malloy said he didn’t know how much money Sorensen raised in conjunction with the trip.”

“Perhaps Sorensen will bring Sen. John Kerry to host a fund raiser for her in Idaho. Or she might schedule Al Franken to do a meet-and-greet in Nampa, and expect Idaho’s 1^st Congressional District Republicans to bring their RINO checks for Sorensen.”

“While the Idaho Statesman tries to put a positive spin on this campaign note, every Republican in Idaho has just learned that the Democrats already have a candidate in this race, and her name is Sheila Sorensen.” Com. Robert Vasquez stated.

We already have one card-carrying RINO in Idaho. Do we need another one?

Businesses Not Welcome in Moscow

Jerry [Finch] reported that the Hawkins group has asked to withdraw the SEPA. They will address issues and are in in for the long haul. He explained the group had originally planed on building in Moscow but were not welcomed. They stopped in Colfax (county) on their way out of town just to check things out and spent two hours chatting with county planning staff. There were excited by the positive, helpful attitude. The plan is to build a 600,000 square foot modular type mall similar to the set up at Spokane Valley over 8 to 10 years. The buildings will conform to the topography and have appropriate landscaping and architecture, he said. It could end up a race though with Home Depot looking at Moscow and Lowes in Pullman.

If I were management at Home Depot, I sure wouldn't look to Moscow!

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Constitutionality Of Ten Commandments Display

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2006 - The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals announced today that it would reject a request to rehear a Ten Commandments case out of Kentucky. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), who represents Mercer County, the defendants in the case, was pleased by the court's 9-to-5 vote to not revisit the December 2005 ruling upholding the constitutionality of the Mercer County display.
 
''It's very clear that the full appeals court believes that its three-judge panel ruled correctly in upholding the constitutionality of this display,'' said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ. ''This is an important defeat for the ACLU and other groups that are committed to removing our religious heritage and traditions from the public square. If this case is appealed to the Supreme Court, we stand ready to defend the display and remain confident that the constitutionality of the display will prevail.''
 
The December 2005 three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit voted unanimously rejecting the ACLU's argument that the display, which includes the Commandments posted along with other historical documents in the county courthouse, violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
 
In that opinion, Circuit Judge Suhrheinrich said that the ACLU's ''repeated reference to the separation of church and state' . . . has grown tiresome. The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state.'' The court said that a reasonable observer of Mercer County's display would appreciate ''the role religion has played in our governmental institutions, and find it historically appropriate and traditionally acceptable for a state to include religious influences, even in the form of sacred texts, in honoring American traditions.''