Right Mind

Happy Birthday, USA! The City Of Moscow’S Salute To The 4th In Friendship Square At Noon On The 4th!

Via City Councilwoman Linda Pall:

Local elected officials are not sponsoring a parade but the Fourth of July just couldn't pass unremarked in Moscow. City elected officials have been invited to join together at noon at Friendship Square on the Fourth of July to celebrate the nation’s birthday.

The City will have a 4th of July celebration on Friendship Square at noon on July 4. The Declaration of Independence will be read. A representative of American Legion Dudley Loomis Post No. 6 will read a letter from President John Adams to his wife, Abigail, about celebration of the Fourth of July. The Hawley-Jamison Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars has been invited to participate. Members of the local Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force ROTC have been invited to attend as has the Palouse Peace Coalition. The City will recognize both the American Legion and the VFW for their placement of the flags along Main Street for 4th of July decoration.

There will be music, along with free ice cream for anybody and free flags and free coloring books for children. High noon on Friendship Square will be the site for Moscow’s birthday celebration of the nation’s 230th birthday. Everyone is welcome.

The Ultimate pro-WalMart Article

Via Tom Forbes:

Paul Kirklin posted this over at the Ludwig von Mises Institute site. It's powerful, hard-hitting stuff. A long essay, but you need to read it. Send it to a friend to read. It's important that everyone in Pullman know the truth and what the Wal-Mart battle is really all about.

‘Takings’ initiative submitted for ballot

Details from Betsy Z. Russell's blog An Eye on Boise. Russell is a staff writer with the Spokesman Review.

Conservative activist Laird Maxwell has delivered 12 boxes of signed petitions to qualify his “This house is my home” initiative for the November ballot. The measure seeks to ban both taking of land by eminent domain for economic development or other purposes where it will be transferred to another private owner; and to require property owners to be paid in cash whenever any land-use law is enacted that reduces the fair market value of their property.

“It does appear to have the signatures” to qualify for the ballot, Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said, but his staff is verifying that now. The petition signatures already have been verified by the counties in which they were gathered.

If it makes it, the land-use initiative will be the second one to land on the November ballot. Already qualified is an initiative to raise the sales tax by a penny to increase school funding, sponsored by the Idaho Education Association.

QoD

If an individual’s spiritual paradigm is defined by what or whom they are against, the individual has committed himself to be controlled by his enemy.

Vernon Robinson for Congress

Robinson is a USAF Academy graduate and former Air Force officer.

You have to listen to this campaign commercial.

http://vernonrobinson.com/twilightzone2.shtml

Quite clever.

Belgian Government Prosecuting Homeschool Family for Political Dissent

Here’s the coverage in the Brussels Journal: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1114

This from LifeSite News:

Paul Belien predicted in May of this year that he would be under a legal assault from the extreme left Belgian ruling party. Now Belien is indeed being prosecuted by the Belgian government, for the “crime” of homeschooling his children.

His wife, Alexandra Colen writing in Brussels Journal said her husband was questioned by Brussels police on Wednesday. He was told that his offence was homeschooling his five children, four of whom are now in university.

Colen said her husband was told that, as a homeschooler, Belien has “not adequately educated his children,” which constitutes the criminal offence of “neglect of parental duties.” The order to arrest Paul Belien came from the Ministry of Education, who instructed police to take down his statement for evidence.

Belien is a lawyer and has written for a number of influential journals before founding Brussels Journal. Alexandra Colen, a Member of Parliament who holds advanced degrees in philosophy and linguistics, gave up an academic career to be a full time mother and homeschooler.

The family is among a rapidly growing number of Belgian families who have removed their children from the government-run schools, where drugs and violence are rampant and, Colen says, children are indoctrinated in socialism.

Homeschooling parents in Belgium are closely monitored by government officials and are required to sign a declaration in which they agree to school their children “respecting the respect for the fundamental human rights and the cultural values of the child itself and of others.”

In the carefully manipulated language that rules the European establishment, “fundamental human rights” could mean anything at all and the government document declines to define it saying it is up to the inspecting officials to decide. The Belien family has refused to sign the declaration.

Under the Belgian rules, two negative reports from the inspectors result in the children being forced into an official government recognized school. The criteria used by these inspectors are not revealed to parents.

Belgium is an enthusiastic signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which stipulates the rights of children include the right to refuse religious education or to be raised according to their parents’ values. Under Article 13, parents could be subject to prosecution for any attempt to prevent their children from interacting with material they deem unacceptable.

US homeschooling advocates have warned that this Convention is being interpreted to mean that parents have no rights to guide the education and upbringing of their children.

Michael Farris, the chairman of the American Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), pointed out that in 1995 “the United Kingdom was deemed out of compliance” with the Convention “because it allowed parents to remove their children from public school sex-education classes without consulting the child.”

The Belien family’s problems stem from the effectiveness of their opposition to the socialist and statist ambitions of the Belgian establishment. Colen is a Member of Parliament for the Flemish secessionist party, Vlaams Belang, and as such, represents an increasingly persecuted Christian and socially conservative viewpoint.

A month ago, LifeSiteNews.com reported that the Brussels Journal was being threatened by the leftist Belgian government for voicing opinions on immigration, homosexuality and abortion that do not toe the politically correct line.

In May Belien, editor of Brussels Journal wrote, “Belgian journalists, lawyers and politicians (including Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt), say that I am responsible for creating the atmosphere of hatred” that led to a shooting by a young mentally unstable man. A press release was issued by a leftist law firm demanding that Belien be prosecuted.

Brussels Journal’s dared to point out that the wave of violent crime in Belgium and the rest of Europe has mostly been the result of an influx of young Muslim immigrants from North African who have been welcomed in huge numbers into Europe and who many Christian and conservative writers have pointed out hold in contempt traditional European Christian cultural values.

Arkansas' Supreme Court Imposes Its Own Morality On Vulnerable Children

FOXNews.com - Arkansas Supreme Court: Gays Qualify as Foster Parents

From the Idaho Values Alliance:

One of the lies of the left is that "you can't legislate morality." Critics of conservative policies use this nostrum all the time, but they immediately betray their own hypocrisy by insisting that their policies need to be adopted because they are right, just, and fair, etc. What is that but an appeal to the superior "morality" of their policies?

The truth is that morality is in fact the only thing that can or ought to be legislated. The only question then is whose morality will be legislated. Will it be the morality of the Judeo-Christian tradition, or the morality of the godless church of liberalism?

It is particularly dangerous when judges adopt the view that you cannot or should not legislate morality, and then proceed to do that very thing.

The latest example comes from Arkansas, where its state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that foster children must be placed in homosexual households because the policy of restricting placement of foster children to two-parent homes was "based upon the board's views of morality and its bias against homosexuals."

But you notice immediately that the court is imposing its own "view of morality" on the entire state, and victimizing vulnerable children in the process, evidently believing it's o.k. for certain views of morality (theirs) to be imposed on the populace but not others.

The fact that a child is a candidate for a foster home in the first place is an indication that the child has already suffered serious emotional trauma. Compassion dictates that such a child be placed in a normative home with both a foster father and foster mother. If our goal is truly to put children first, it should be unthinkable to put them anywhere else.

 

GOP Issue On '08: Character Of Candidates

Bryan raises an important question: if a man cannot be trusted to fulfill his marriage vows, how can he be trusted to faithfully run a country?

From the Idaho Values Alliance:

A column in today's edition of AlterNet explores an important issue facing GOP voters in the run-up to the next presidential election. The issue simply is this. No self-confessed adulterer has ever run for the presidency of the United States.

But that will change in '08 as the GOP field will include at least three candidates - John McCain, Newt Gingrich, and Rudy Guliani - who have openly acknowledged adulterous affairs while married to wives they eventually divorced.

Conservatives cannot say that character matters - as conservatives did quite loudly as more and more of President Clinton's peccadilloes came to light - and then suddenly go mum when character issues surface in the conservative movement.

Personally, I think Mr. Gingrich is a brilliant thinker, and his policy recommendations often strike me as artful applications of a conservative political philosophy to current problems.

But it will be hard, and I would suggest virtually impossible, for the pro-family community to simply give a pass to a man who has made such poor choices in his own family life and has expressed little or no remorse over those actions.

The reason that character in family life matters is that we expect political leaders to establish policies that make for strong families. If the family unit is the centerpiece of a healthy society - and it is - then a man's character as it is expressed in his own marriage and family becomes a very important qualification for public service.

For instance, we desperately need to reform our divorce laws, as the advent of "no-fault" divorce in the early 70s has contributed to spiraling increases in family breakdown and all its attendant trauma on victimized spouses and innocent children.

But what kind of moral authority can a man lend to this issue, when he himself has taken advantage of liberal divorce laws to break up his own marriage and family? What kind of leadership can we expect him to provide on family issues when he himself has proven unwilling to make the commitment it takes to build a lasting marriage and an intact family?

AlterNet: Adulterers in Chief

Potty Humor, Japanese Style

OK, this has got to be one of the funniest videos I have ever seen.

While my girls don’t enjoy this kind of humor, the boys and I laughed so hard!

Be sitting down, not eating/drinking anything.

http://www.youtube.com/v/8gNsDp2N6yM

Christopher — any helpful translations or insight into this kind of humor? This certainly wouldn’t fly in the USA!

HT: Ry Jones

The ECUSA is Unraveling

From my friend, Joel, writing about the unraveling of the Episcopal Church.

In case you haven't been keeping up, the ECUSA is basically beginning to unravel.

The Diocese of Newark (Spong's old stomping grounds) have put an openly homosexual guy prominently among their candidates for bishop, despite the request of the General Convention to refrain from such things.

The Dioceses of Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, San Joaquin, Central Florida, Quincy, and South Carolina have all appealed to Canterbury for alternative primatial oversight.

In the Diocese of Virginia, Truro and Falls Church -- the two largest parishes in the Diocese -- will likely follow the example of Christ Church, Plano, TX, and vote to sever ties with the ECUSA, though only after a period of discernment over coming months.

To put things in perspective, Christ Church, Plano, is itself as large as the entire Diocese headed by the new Presiding Bishop-elect.

In the Diocese of Virginia (the largest single Diocese in the ECUSA), Truro and Falls Church comprise together around 10% of average Sunday attendence in the Diocese and, if they leave, are likely to be followed by a number of other parishes.

In other news, Archbishop Akinola, the Primate of Nigeria and Chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa, has issued a statement saying that, in his understanding, one is either "in" the Anglican Communion or "out" of the Anglican Communion, so that any "observer status" or what-have-you, with regard to any formerly Anglica body, would involve being removed from membership status in the Communion. It wasn't clear if this was meant to contradict ++Rowan or to clarify what he understood the ABC to be saying.

It'll be interesting to see how all this falls out. It won't be the equivalent of a handful of folks leaving the PCUSA under Machen, that's for sure.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness - Spain Declares Equal Rights for Great Apes

Via Reuters:

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's parliament is to declare support for rights to life and freedom for great apes on Wednesday, apparently the first time any national legislature will have recognized such rights for non-humans.

Apes are granted greater humanity than even our unborn.

Kids Count survey ranks Idaho No. 20

From the Associated Press:

Fewer teenagers are having babies or dropping out of high school since the start of the decade, but slightly more live in poverty with parents who don't work year round.

A report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation charity found that measures of health and income for children and teens are no longer improving as much as they did in the 1990s. Instead, children are "treading water," said foundation President Doug Nelson.

"We're not talking about a catastrophe or the bottom falling out of anything," Nelson said. But, he added, "We've still got to do some poverty-rate reduction. We've got to make improvements from those 2000 numbers."
…
Idaho's overall rank was 20, a decline from the previous year's ranking of 16. The report showed Idaho exceeded the national average in the rate of child deaths per 100,000 people with 26 compared to the U.S. average of 21. Teen deaths from all causes were also higher in Idaho than nationally, with 72 per 100,000 people compared to an average of 66 nationally.

Bonner County leads state in property tax appeals

From today's Idaho Statesman:

Nearly 3,000 Bonner County property owners with as many as 5,000 parcels — a quarter of the parcels in the county — have appealed their property valuations.

"It's pretty staggering," Joe Young, a county commissioner, told the Bonner County Daily Bee. "Some of those appealing their assessments have multiple properties." Because of so many appeals, the Idaho Tax Commission extended the county's hearing deadline from July 10 to July 24.

Property taxes are a hot issue in the state, especially in northern Idaho where property values have been increasing rapidly. Gov. Jim Risch has suggested calling a special session of the Legislature to deal with the property tax issue, which lawmakers couldn't agree on during the regular session earlier this year.

Officials said record numbers of appeals have been filed in Benewah and Shoshone counties. Large numbers of appeals have also been filed in Kootenai County.

Assessed property value in Bonner County increased 69 percent from 2005 to 2006, and jumped 40 percent in Kootenai County during the same period. According to the Idaho Tax Commission, other resort areas that saw hefty increases in assessments were Sun Valley, McCall, and Teton County.

Lewiston gets national chain stores

This could have been Moscow. Good for Lewiston, for keeping the no-growth people out of power. They will grow; we will diminish.

From the 25 June Idaho Statesman:

LEWISTON — Some national retail chains have come to the small city of Lewiston.

Eddie Bauer, an 85-year-old casual apparel company, has applied for a building permit with local officials. If approved, the company could join Pier 1 Imports, Famous Footwear and Ross Dress for Less at the Nez Perce Plaza.

Eddie Bauer officials did not immediately return calls, but the building permit application includes an estimated construction cost of $450,000.

Pier 1 Imports, Famous Footwear and Ross Dress for Less received occupancy certificates on Friday, allowing the businesses to open their doors to customers, city representative Sarah Redenbaugh said. Site plans for the plaza show room for three more stores, as well.

HT: Jack V.

Death of another Wal-Mart bill

The Thursday edition of the Times Union of Albany has a story on the death of another "Wal-Mart bill." See: http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=493717

After their valent efforts to pass the Maryland-inspired "Fair Share for Health Care" bill in 30 other states, the anti-WalMart paid critics have been unable to pass a single one of these bills into law anywhere.

Lewiston Tribune Runs Response To Attack Piece

Thanks to the Tribune's "turnaround" policy, individuals who are named in editorials are given space to respond. Here is Bryan Fischer's turnaround to Tom Henderson's 15 June screed.

Via the Idaho Values Alliance:

I had to chuckle when I read Tom Henderson's recent attack piece on me. ("Red alert: A Republican is thinking for himself!" June 15).

He complains that I call Gov. Mitt Romney a "dirty, lousy, good-for-nothing %$#!" when actually those are Tom's words, not mine. He's welcome to call Gov. Romney names, but that's not my style.

He counsels me to work on my "people skills," while at the some time accusing me of wanting to blindfold people, throw temper tantrums, think for others and run for God. Not exactly from the Dale Carnegie "How to Win Friends" game plan.

Gov. Romney has in fact staked out radical positions on abortion, saying he believes Roe v. Wade must be sustained, and opposing any restrictions on access to abortion services. Not even Ruth Bader Ginsburg thinks as fondly of Roe as Romney does.

He is on record stating that homosexuals should be allowed to serve as Scoutmasters, which ought to be of concern to every thinking citizen in the state after sex scandals involving predatory scout leaders surfaced in eastern Idaho.

Plus, he made those remarks while serving as a member of the Boy Scout governing council, knowing full well that homosexuality is a disqualification for participation in Scout leadership. His public departure from Scouting policy forced the organization to rebuke him publicly.

He doubled funding just this past year for Massachusetts' high school programs designed to promote the normalization of homosexual behavior among teenagers.

Tom lauds Gov. Romney for "thinking for himself" and separating himself from the Republican herd. But Romney has now publicly switched his positions on abortion (he has suddenly discovered pro-life convictions), marriage amendments (he opposed them in 2002, but now suddenly likes them) and assorted other elements of the conservative social agenda.

So here's the question for Tom. Was Romney thinking for himself then, or is he thinking for himself now?

Romney sounds suspiciously like a man who's not thinking for himself at all but instead thinking about how he can entice conservatives into voting for him in '08, and undergoing an extreme makeover in the process that he hopes no one will notice.

The bottom line is that the pro-family community ought to be skeptical of Romney's newfound conservatism. If anybody ought to be thinking for himself, it's a conservative voter looking at Romney's flip-flops and asking some pretty direct questions.

And perhaps there is a question for Tom in all this. Is he in fact thinking for himself, or is he simply parroting the mindless party line which attacks conservatives for the sin of, well, being conservative? 

America's Left Driving Us Towards Fascism And Anarchy

This is not the first time I’ve heard these comments—is it, Larry?

From the Idaho Values Alliance:

The new inquisition

We are witnessing two alarming, parallel, and synergistic trends in our culture right now that ought to be of great concern to every free-thinking, freedom-loving American. These trends are the result of the relentless push of the left toward a new kind of fascism and a burgeoning anarchy.

The drive toward fascism is expressed in a fierce repression of any ideas that are outside the parameters of the new orthodoxy of abortion, sodomy, diversity, and secularism. The "church of liberalism," to use Ann Coulter's adept phrase, has launched a new inquisition in which the Torquemadas of the left identify and ruthlessly punish anyone who dares to utter heresy.

Here are some examples from just the last two weeks. A skating rink in New York has been warned by the State of New York for violating its Human Rights Law by doing nothing more than playing Christian music on Sunday afternoons for church groups. Not content to trample on the owners' constitutional rights to freedom of religion and association, officials are also trampling freedom of the press by going after a local newspaper for "aiding and abetting" by simply advertising the Christian skate time.

In Maryland, Robert Smith was fired last week from his governor-appointed position as a member of the Metro Transit Authority Board for expressing, on a tiny cable access show, that homosexuality represented "sexual deviancy." Citing the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church and his personal convictions, Smith refused to back down when ordered to recant and apologize. (Martin Luther, anyone?)

Five hours later, Gov. Robert Ehrlich fired the man he himself had appointed, sacrificing a good and decent man to appease the high priests of homosexuality and their media auxiliary. (Just days later, Gov. Ehrlich appointed an openly gay jurist to the family division - yes, the family division - of the Baltimore District Court.)

As columnist Patrick Buchanan said, "Smith was fired by a Republican governor for standing by a truth rooted in 2,000 years of Catholic doctrine, Natural Law, the Torah, the Islamic faith, the teachings of every Christian denomination and the laws of every Western up to the late 20th century."

You have heard of the Nevada valedictorian whose microphone was cut off by school officials the moment she began to speak about God in her graduation address. In other words, authorities treated religious speech as if it were as morally objectionable as the use of profanity or racial slurs, the only other offenses that could have led them to cut off her water in mid-speech.

The push toward anarchy

The list could be multiplied virtually endlessly. What makes this trend doubly dangerous is that the clergy of the church of liberalism not only use pet laws to punish dissenters, they simply ignore laws they do not like. The genius of the American experiment is that we are a nation of laws, not men. But the left is quickly making a mockery of that concept.

Examples of this profound disrespect for the rule of law likewise abound. For instance, officeholders and civic leaders continue to push "diversity" programs in direct defiance of the law.

The American Bar Association is threatening to withhold accreditation from any law school in the nation that does not grant racial preferences in admissions. This overt racism is against the law in places like California and Florida, but that matters not to the ABA.

A number of years ago, California passed Proposition 209, which bans racism in state jobs, hiring, and education. Willie Brown, then mayor of San Francisco, declared that the city was not obligated to obey the law since a majority of San Franciscans voted against it. California's attorney general, Bill Lockyer, actually went to court on behalf of these lawbreakers instead of going to court on behalf of the law.

When the state of Washington passed a similar initiative, the mayor of Seattle responded by preparing a fresh batch of racial preferences, and a city councilman said, "I'm not sure I care if we're in compliance" with the law.

You remember the mayor of San Francisco who openly defied state law by illegally marrying gay couples until he was finally stopped by the state supreme court. Now he is openly declaring that the city will refuse to enforce criminal provisions of any new immigration bill. Said the mayor, "If people think we were defiant on the gay marriage issue, they haven't seen defiance."

My friends, this push toward repression and anarchy must be resisted. The stakes are too high for us to remain passive and indifferent while this battle for the soul of our society is being waged. The IVA will continue to do its part. Thank you for standing with us!

• HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE - Is Catholicism Now 'Unacceptable'? by Patrick J. Buchanan
• Townhall.com :: Officeholders favoring diversity ignore laws they don't like - by John Leo

Ten Commandments Monument Allowed To Stay Put!

From the Idaho Values Alliance:

Our good friend Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition has office space right across the street from the U. S. Supreme Court. Pat and his colleague Rev. Rob Schenk of the National Clergy Council erected a Ten Commandments monument on the front lawn of their office building last month, and vowed to keep it there despite threats from the city to fine them hundreds of dollars a day if they did not remove it.

The city claimed Mahoney and Schenk needed a special permit, but at least 58 other properties in the neighborhood have "garden art" on lawns which face the street, and their owners have never been forced to seek permits for such displays.

Yesterday the city blinked and now will allow the monument to stay. The city evidently decided to back down when it became evident in federal court that the city was singling out the Christian Defense Coalition and demanding compliance from Rev. Mahoney and Rev. Schenk it was demanding from no other property owners.

WTOP: Ten Commandments Monument Staying Put

 

 

Nampa Library Loses Large Donor Over Stocking Gay Porn, Board Unmoved

From the Idaho Values Alliance:

According to a story in yesterday's Idaho Press-Tribune, a prominent businessman has decided to withhold a large donation to the expansion of the Nampa Public Library because of the board's insistence on keeping gay porn on the shelves and within reach of children.

Larry Knapp pulled a planned $10,000 gift to the library, which is in cramped quarters and in the middle of making plans to enlarge its facility or move to new quarters. If enough Nampa businessmen follow Knapp's lead, the library's plans for growth could be stopped before they even start.

Nampa has been fortunate to have business leaders who love their community and have made generous donations of money, time, and land to improve its quality of life. The same night that parent Randy Jackson brought his concerns to the Nampa City Council about "The Joy of Gay Sex," the Council announced two large gifts of land to the city, a 26 acre parcel and another 14 acre parcel which its donor plans develop into a community park and hand over to the city.

But many of these men are also committed family men and men of faith, and know that the moral character of a city is more important in the long view than how many parks it has and how big its library is.

They will not let the library board play them as suckers, taking large donations from them but ignoring their concerns about the impact of library material on vulnerable young children.

Board chairman Sharon Brooks remains unapologetic and defiant, claiming "The Joy of Gay Sex" is nothing more than an educational tool despite the fact that it meets the legal definition of "material harmful to minors" in exact detail. (Ms. Brooks handed out a Q & A sheet at the June 19 board meeting with this question and answer: "Shouldn't these materials be locked up to keep them away from children? NO." "No" was both capitalized and put in bold text.)

At some point, Nampa officials may have to appoint new library board members if they want their city to get a new library.

The Idaho Press-Tribune: Library loses large donor

Good News for Anglicans

The liberals’ promise of taking away church property, pensions, health plans, etc, often scares conservatives into staying in the ECUSA.

As I’ve said from the beginning, it’s the apostates who should be forced out, not the good guys. From the FRC:

Rowan Williams is the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the symbolic leader of the 77 million members of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Protestant Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. is a member of this worldwide body. Archbishop Williams yesterday sent a six-page letter to 37 of his brother archbishops throughout the world. Titled "The Challenge and Hope of Being an Anglican Today," the Archbishop's letter proposes a new structure for the church. It may be necessary, the Archbishop writes, to introduce a covenant relationship in which the more orthodox Anglican churches--and their not so orthodox adherents in America and Canada--stand together. Many critical details remain to be worked out, and the Archbishop of Canterbury has no power to impose his view, but this is an important step in the right direction. If this proposal becomes policy, it may be possible for orthodox Anglican dioceses and parishes here and in Canada to avoid having to break away and risk losing church property, pensions, health plans, etc. This is clearly a rebuke to the leaders of the U.S. Episcopal Church who made no significant effort last week in their annual convention to repair the damage their consecration of V. Gene Robinson as a bishop had caused. Robinson is living with his male lover (sic) in New Hampshire. Archbishop Williams is clearly responding to the cries for justice he has heard from Asian and African bishops. They have cried out: "Don't you believe the Bible you gave us?" It seems their cry is being heard.

Sali Earns Campaign For Working Families Endorsment

From Sali headquarters:

Bill Sali, Idaho State Representative and 1^st District Congressional Candidate, was endorsed today by the Campaign for Working Families (CWF).

Gary Bauer, a former Reagan advisor and Chairman of CWF said in a letter, "As Chairman of Campaign for Working Families, and on behalf of thousands of families across America, I am proud to offer you our endorsement in your race for the First Congressional District of Idaho."  Chairman Bauer continued, "Your tireless work to support pro-family, pro-life and pro-free enterprise policies is greatly valued by CWF and all of our members."

The endorsement was welcomed by Rep. Sali.  "I'm honored to receive the Campaign for Working Families support.  I've long been a strong advocate for traditional family values and personal responsibility.  I appreciate Chairman Bauer's and CWF's efforts to keep these issues in the national spotlight, and I'm proud to have earned their endorsement."

The Campaign for Working Families exists for the express purpose of supporting candidates who will proudly promote conservative values, such as the defense of the traditional family, the sanctity of human life and the promotion of individual liberty and free enterprise.

Congratulations! Great endorsement!

Recent Wal-Mart Polling Info

Here’s recent polling data that was done independently by Rasmussen: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/June%20Dailies/walmart.htm

Key findings:

• 69% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Wal-Mart
• 79% of current or former Wal-Mart employees a favorable opinion of the company 
• 54% of Americans say that Wal-Mart is good for the community

Are you surprised that Moscow’s and Pullman’s liberals do not reflect the values of the majority of Americans?

Excerpts from Obama's speech on politics and religion

Selected remarks by Sen. Barack Obama on religion and politics at the National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time: http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/state/14923299.htm

Interesting views from the Democrat's newest poster child.

Tag! More schools ban games at recess

Isn’t it really about losers feeling inferior? Doesn’t liberal-think go this way: no sports=no winners=no losers. How many kids do you know have gotten injured at dodge ball? Yet that’s been outlawed for years. At that time, though, educators were more honest about the reasons for outlawing it: losing.

Games are disappearing from school playgrounds because educators say they're dangerous.

Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Spokane, Wash., banned tag at recess this year. Others, including a suburban Charleston, S.C., school, dumped contact sports such as soccer and touch football.

In other cities, including Wichita; San Jose, Calif.; Beaverton, Ore.; and Rancho Santa Fe., Calif., schools took similar actions earlier.

The bans were passed in the name of safety, but some children's health advocates say limiting exercise and free play can inhibit a child's development.

Groups such as the National School Boards Association don't keep statistics on school games. But several experts, including Donna Thompson of the National Program for Playground Safety, verify the trend. Dodge ball has been out at some schools for years, but banning games such as tag and soccer is a newer development.

“It's happening more,” Thompson says. Educators worry about “kids running into one another” and getting hurt.

Via Elizabeth D.

One Last Time

“The night before the burial of her husband's body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of 'Cat,' and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. 'I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it,' she said. 'I think that's what he would have wanted.'”

HT: Donna W.

University of Colorado Chancellor Advises Firing Author of Sept. 11 Essay

DENVER, June 26 — The interim chancellor at the University of Colorado said on Monday that Prof. Ward L. Churchill, whose comments about the victims of Sept. 11 prompted a national debate about the limits of free speech, should be fired for academic misconduct.

Continued: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/education/27churchill.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

HT: Gary E.

Bird Sounds

You won't believe the sounds that this bird can imitate: Chain Saws, etc. It’s amazing.

Listen to the whole clip.

HT: Gary E.

Back from Vacation

Just got home from a ten day vacation. We took a trip thru the Canadian Rockies and stayed for three days with friends who have a cabin (and a ski boat!) on Sylvan Lake in Alberta.

Here’s where we went:

• Ft. Steele
• Radium Hot Springs
• Banff National Park
• Rocky Mountain House (lots of David Thompson stuff)
• Sylvan Lake
• West Edmonton Mall!
• Jasper National Park
• Yoho National Park
• Glacier National Park
• Mt. Revelstoke National Park

I’ll put up some of the better pictures from the trip over the next week.

Here’s a tantalizer. Can you name this place

Jehovah's Witnesses: The end is near... and this time we mean it!

Jehovah's Witnesses fan out across region; say end is near and invite all to their convention.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

HT: Tim T.

TAXES: Don't confuse rights with privilege

Here’s a great letter from David White of Rathdrum. This ran in the CdA Press:

First of all, to those of you who are mad at the county assessor: Read the law; he is only doing his job. You have a complaint, take it up with the taxing agencies whose meetings were politely printed on your assessments. I am. THEY decide your tax bill.

To those of you who complain of your property value increase: Don't solely blame the Californians. I have several friends from California and have visited the state to work and bring money back to Idaho. Californians were invited here by your friends who market this area nationally, and by developers and realtors who promise the great North Idaho experience with a "Pave the Prairie" campaign. It is the law of supply and demand, the developers and realtors are trying to make a living, and are entitled to that.

To those of you who complain about Mr. Erickson and his plan to build houses on HIS mountain: Buck up and shut up. He bought it; he owns it. You bought lower and had a view. If you want to keep the view, BUY HIS LAND. {DMC: but that’s not what liberals do. They vote themselves control over your property!}

Is he complaining that he has to look down on your home? Shouldn't he have a right to see grassland instead of your home, as much as you have a right to see trees instead of his development?

You people are confusing rights with PRIVILEGE.

Attend the meetings, get INVOLVED, use your brain and upgrade your skills. You are only as good as what you can do, so give up your whining and complaining because progress will happen.

Californians will come; good and bad people come from everywhere, money rules, property values rise, you only own the land you pay tax on, and life is what YOU make it.

David White, Rathdrum

HT: Dave G.