It's been a while since the election when last I checked in on my fellow Idahoans.  A couple of interesting things popped out.  Thought maybe some folks might enjoy a change of pace ... so here they are:

Musings of a disillusioned republican ...
One of my favorite Idaho-centric sites, The MountainGoat Report, highlights this enlightening 2 part missive by conservative-leaning blogger Gary Eller:

Death of a Republican (Part I)
Death of a Republican (Part II)

Both parts are fascinating ... the 2nd gets more into the meat of the current political environment.  Seriously - at least skim it. This is one of the best things I've read recently regarding the plight of the GOP.

There are many take-away thoughts ...  one that strikes me is this being the first place I've seen Meghan McCain pointed to as an example of the right direction for the republican party in a truly genuine context.  Watch that girl.

My street has a Bard?
Someone has proclaimed themselves the bard of my little street ... so I thought I'd share their springtime contribution to the world of exceedingly short poetry.  The picture doesn't match the poem, but since a tulip-slug combo is hard to come by .... here's a pic from down at the visitor's center.

In warm April sun

while birds sweetly sing,

look-- on that tulip --

the first slug of spring.

-The Bard of Sherman Ave. (poem & photo via Huckleberrys Online)

The Aryan Nations Re-Emerge?
A couple of recent news  articles regarding Aryan Nations activity here in Coeur d'Alene caused some idaho bloggers to take note.  Apparently teabagging day inspired them to spend the quarters and nickles they usually use on beer to print up some fliers at kinkos - which they used to kick off a "recruitment drive" by papering random homes.

Granted, back in the day, the Aryan Nations was a menace. But comparing this group to the Aryan Nations of a decade ago is laughable.  This is like if Andy Griffith died, the town of Mayberry was burned to the ground, and Barney Fife, Gomer, and Otis decided to reestablish Mayberry from their new perch in a West Memphis crack house (without legal rights to the name "Mayberry").

These ass-clowns rent a house across from the local IGA ... and are best known for purchasing their beer with fists full of coinage (they aren't allowed to use more than $.25 in pennies).  The entire group could be eliminated by donating a $300 POS car to their cause.  They'd all be arrested in 2 days when pulled over in an unregistered vehicle for DUI and possession of meth. 

One good thing about this is that it will probably spur flagging financial support  for the Human Rights Education Institute which has seen donations wane since the decisive blow delivered to the original Aryan Nations movement several years back.  The group is very proactive in reaching out to the community and pursuing civil (and criminal) action.  The only negative to their success has been the community sort of forgetting about them, so this is a good reminder.

Dammit ... I missed a Tutu.
Speaking of the HREI, last month they hosted a fundraiser/banquet/awards thingie.  Ordinarily, even reading about the existence of such a thing would make me run screaming into the woods to hide, appearing otherwise engaged in ANYTHING, until the whole affair is likely to be over.  But this shindig featured Nontombi Naomi Tutu as the keynote speaker ... who apparently gave an excellent speech on race that I would really liked to have heard.

Next year ... I swear ... I'm going to figure out how to go to this sort of thing without having to deal with the ancillary bullshit.  Leave early ... show up late ... smile, make the donation ... whatever.

Local nonsense:
The big news in Idaho: our Governor is a total douche.  Ok, that's not really the news - we've known it for quite some time - but his douchey move of vetoing 35 bills in 2 days is really quite impressive.  Between the idiots in Boise and our new moron congressman, Walt "Idaho doesn't need your stinking earmarks" Minnick, it seems Idaho is likely to go back to unpaved roads traversed by people with a right fine 3rd grade education.

Gaaa .... I'm walking down to the lake to remind myself what I love about this place.  It sure isn't the politicians!

So that's Idaho this spring ... I promise, next time I'll learn how to make the "read more" feature work ... this got pretty damn long.