Sisyphus's blog

Lets try and weave this into something political. Imagine the truck is Otter, and the pedestrian ramp is the legislature, and the highway is the State of Idaho. That's the way Marty Trillhause sees it.  read more »

Using labels in the course of political discussion typically heralds the demise of substantive discussion into the inevitability of Godwin's Law. Here's a thoughtful and persuasive analysis of the use of labels in modern discourse by an academic conservative (I've discovered that's not an oxymoron):

From the start, Republicans had been labeling Clinton a radical leftist, when he was on the whole the most “centrist” Democrat in the White House since Grover Cleveland. The 1994 result itself was the product of a number of factors, including a huge number of retirements in the House, but these included the demoralization of union members and party activists in the wake of NAFTA and the failure of health care legislation. I very much doubt that the midterm elections are going to be anything like ‘94, but one similarity that exists is the disillusionment and loss of enthusiasm among party activists and rank-and-file voters. On the whole, aside from a few badly-handled, largely symbolic culture war controversies, Clinton governed as a “centrist” more or less from the beginning, and he moved even farther away from liberals after 1994, which did not stop the charges that he was a huge leftist.  read more »

The vicious partisan divide on health care reform arrived in Idaho with the sponsorship of the Idaho Health Freedom Act by Representative Jim Clark and co-sponsored by Reps. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, and Raul Labrador, R-Eagle. The bill would prohibit a state official or employee from enforcing any penalty for violations of the policy. From the Statement of Purpose:

This bill known as the "Idaho Health Freedom Act" codifies as state policy that every person in the state of Idaho is and shall continue to be free from government compulsion in the selection of health insurance options, and that such liberty is protected by the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Idaho. The bill removes the authority of any state official or employee from enforcing any penalty which violates the policy. It also tasks the office of the Attorney General with seeking injunctive or other appropriate relief , or defending the state of Idaho and its officials and employees against laws, enacted by any government, which violate the policy.  read more »

UPDATE 1/29: Damn I can't believe this. Check out this quote. "Of course, duping people is the point. ... That's one of the reasons why it works so well," said one Republican operative familiar with the program, who said it’s among the RNC’s most lucrative fundraising initiatives. “They will likely mail millions this year [with] incredible targeting.” Its from Politico no less. The Attorney General MUST take notice of this comment. If the state wants to assert itself, it should defend the citizens against this. They have "incredible targeting" fergodsake. The case is made.

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Last night, I first heard about this four page "census document" circulating the state but since Dan Popkey already wrote it up, I'll let him tell it.

Joan Lang is a 78-year-old Idaho native who says she has "never voted for a Republican in my life." Nevertheless, Lang received a fund-raising letter from the Republican National Committee that's being criticized for confusing citizens as the decennial census is conducted this year.

The mailing from RNC Chairman Michael Steele is billed as an "official 2010 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT CENSUS" and came with "Census Tracking Code #A10PD25." In much smaller type, the survey says, "Commissioned by the Republican Party," and notes that the mailing was paid for by the RNC. It came in an envelope stamped "DO NOT DESTROY OFFICIAL DOCUMENT" and asking Lang to return it by Feb. 5.  read more »

There's been some frustration upon the Masasachssetts election with some in the blogosphere, like John Cole, endeavoring to find enough unity in the Party to get an accomplishment, any accomplishment, with this super majority before it succumbs to a demise of its own making in November. In so doing Cole lashes out at liberals who insist on getting their way. Kos responds that Democrats in Washington have failed to fulfill the destiny we gave them and therefore have created a larger than usual base problem noted in this recent polling data:  read more »

I wish I could supply him with the courage.  read more »

Here's an apt little story summarizing the futility of engaging people who lack solutions and refuse to participate in any event in favor of obstruction.  read more »

Like most states, Idaho already has "socialized" medicine. Idaho administers Medicaid, and in the recent past it ranks among the worst in the nation in terms of eligibility, scope of services, quality of care, and reimbursement largely because of an ideological disgust by Idaho Republicans for any government, particularly one that administers social programs. And now Idaho's load on the health system for the poor has increased dramatically.  read more »

A thinking conservative ponied up this critique of Sarah's intelligence delivered after the elections in '08. Since her fifteen minutes are not over it merits a look:

Those defending Palin’s intelligence seem to be living in a state of cognitive dissonance. They can’t believe that a Republican could be of only average intelligence. This is pretty stupid analysis. The average person is of average intelligence, and the Republican Party now celebrates its appeal to average Americans and not the elites. Someone from the ranks of the average inexplicably rose to governor of a state, and was then inexplicably selected as McCain’s running mate. Those two accomplishments don’t prove her intelligence. One thing I learned from this election cycle is that voters don’t put much value in a candidate’s intelligence. Until now, there has been a behind-the-scenes selection process which weeds out people of average intelligence before any regular voters get to cast a vote. For whatever the reason, the usual process didn’t weed out Palin.  read more »

A strong measure of a newby's viability on a high profile race is his ability to raise money. This is a pretty damn good start by this Democratic candidate in only three weeks:

The deadline for filing campaign finance reports that cover the period through Dec. 31 hasn’t yet arrived, but two candidates already are releasing numbers. Keith Allred, Democratic candidate for governor, announced today that in the three weeks since he filed his declaration of candidacy on Dec. 10, 2009, through the close of the period Dec. 31, he raised $130,807. “I am honored and humbled by the support my campaign has received from across the political spectrum in Idaho,” Allred said in a statement. “In spite of, or maybe because of, the tough economic times, people are so excited about a new way of governing that they are eager to contribute.”  read more »

Just a quick note on a fantastic movie I was motivated enough to see as soon as it came out because I'm a huge fan of former Monty Python member, Terry Gilliam. I agree with much of what is written over at Balloon Juice, although I'd say it was more of cross between Time Bandits and the Fischer King. I strongly agree that it could have been a great vehicle for 3D. I can think of no better person to depict an imaginarium than Gilliam. I've had several dreams which matched scenes in the movie. Heath Ledger's final performance adds nuance to his untimely demise. I'll own it as soon as its released. Trailer after the jump.  read more »

He exquisitely demonstrates the pretense of compassion among compassionate conservatives. Sorry to put too fine a point on it but this is some pretty sanctimonious chutzpah:

Wayne Hoffman, head of the foundation, also decried the fact that two state lawmakers who have missed all or part of two recent legislative sessions - one to care for his wife who was dying of cancer, the other for his own treatment for brain cancer - continued to receive state health coverage and pension benefits. The lawmakers both appointed substitutes to serve in their absence. Though changing that policy wouldn’t save any state money, Hoffman said it’s not “good for legislators to be gone for two legislative sessions and remain on the state payroll.”  read more »

This video shows our sun eating a comet. Also here's some recent Hubble photos peering back 13 billion years. Strange to think the light we see predates earth by at least 8 billion years and getting within 800 million years of seeing the big bang. All this accomplishment and yet Idaho Republicans still fail to see educators as anything but glorified babysitters.

You can read his teabagger laced health care reform tripe here or this summary:

Its an election year and the Democrats just put forth a viable candidate so I need to use my incumbency and the power of my office to make a meaningless political grandstand play in order to distract people from how much I bungled governance last legislative session.

As to the merits of Butch's contentions, the AARP thinks he's full of it:  read more »

Randy Stapilus provides some numbers demonstrating how the the pendulum in Idaho seems stuck into the red column on statewide races:

This kind of political freeze is a remarkable thing. It is a lot different than the story in Washington and Oregon. But it is also a lot different than Idaho traditionally has been. The 90s in Idaho were an arc from something not far from parity between the parties at decade’s beginning, to overwhelming Republican dominance at decade’s end. The 80s were less dramatic, but still represented great Republican strength around 1980 diminishing by decade’s end. Earlier decades went through cycles and transitions too, but not this most recent one. The pendulum, which once swung with some regularity, seems stuck in place.  read more »

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So the teabagger lesson here for us all is that if you can rave like a loon, engage in completely irrational and self defeating acts, you, too, can get on air. Isn't this what they call reality TV? I'm not liking reality. All of a sudden this rock got really heavy.