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rep. mike simpson : total dork

photo: via Getty Images on the NY Times website

That's right, the guy with the KILL sign is our very own Representative Mike Simpson.  Nice going Mike, way to represent Idaho in the best light possible.  Of course, both Minnick and Simpson voted NO on the bill . . . more info

record exchange rolls out a new website

the independent music and funstuff shop in downtown Boise, Record Exchange, just got a new website - featuring photos by Seth Ogilvie / arecity.

nollifur : the halloween show october 30 & 31

nollifur : the halloween show october 30 & 31, originally uploaded by arecity.

this halloween - this is what's to do.

and not just because i'm participating - but because it's going to be unlike anything you've seen in a long long time.

come.

arecity throws a costume party

at Modern Art 2009, at The Modern Hotel in Downtown Boise, arecity transformed Room 222 into a Participatory Costume Photo Shoot between 5:00 and 9:30pm on May 7th.

 

The Modern Hotel Blog has a post about the project as well.  

More Photos of the entire Modern Art Event are Here
(please forgive the link to F15 - i generally dislike their style/methods - but they have the most comprehensive photoset)

Boise Creative & Improvised Music Festival

Human Rights Protest

Downtown Boise, Idaho

art play in are city

wendy fox : ignite boise 01

Kite Skiing On The Camus Prairie

Watch Kite Skiing with Whitney in Sports  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Rotating Tongues 2 @ the VaC

Jim Risch on Washington Journal

                                    

                                                   < click here to watch >

                                    how many times does he say "de minimis"?

TODAY'S VISUALIZATION

Enormous Undulating

brought to you by Jim Risch, US Senator from Idaho

Sen Risch hopes by Thanksgiving, we'll be able to identify improvement with either the "enormous" spending package or the vagaries of an "undulating" world economy, or some other way - like with better policy - he said today in his first speech in the Senate, where they were debating the Stimulus Package.  It passed, 61-36.

Afterward, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gives him some love, as does Sen. Max Baucus - Democratic Senator from Montana.  Baucus explains that although he strongly disagrees with Risch, he hopes to work together in the future on Western Issues.

< listen here >   < House vs Senate #s >   < AP overview  another AP view >

 

ABOUT THE IMAGE:  One of Santiago Calatrava's finest works is the Bodegas Ysios in Laguardia, Alva, Spain. Its undulating roof and silvery edges are equisitely articulated.
from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Flash Mob @ Boise Towne Square

Saturday January 31st, 2009.   Boise Flash Mob finds its way to the central court of the Boise Towne Square and freezes in place for three minutes.  via arecity

PART ONE

PART TWO

Inauguration Photography: arecity

INAUGURATION PHOTOS

 

 

 

AFTER PARTIES

 

 

 

on the way to/from Washington D.C., arecity Visited New York City

Crapo Votes Against Lilly Ledbetter

Yes, our own Senator Crapo, who's very office is run by a woman (Susan Wheeler) has voted against the Lilly Ledbetter act.  Apparently, he's FINE with proven income disparity between men and women in the workplace. Shame on you Sen. Crapo, for not insisting on EQUALITY in PAY for women.

listen to Sen Byron Dorgan of ND discuss the bill

listen to Dennis Kucinich of OH discuss the bill

Lilly Ledbetter Responds to Vote

read more at the National Women's Law Center

Background on the Case

A View From Meridian . . .

in case you missed it - Andrew Sullivan was not actively blogging over the holiday and was posting a "view from your window" every day . . . and someone sent in a pic from Meridian.  - link

BSU Looses Poinsettia Bowl

With the economy giving even the strongest optimist pause, winter weather which is downright wintery, and the dull ache of the holiday-of-holiday's Christmas nearing - our hometown-heros lost their battle in the interpretive smash-up contest otherwise known as the Poinsettia Bowl.

Last year there were people storming the statehouse after Boise State came from behind to win the Fiesta Bowl.  Bronco Fever overcame the city.  We had won.  Well, not us specifically, but our team had won.  The team that lives in our city and goes to our university.  And so therefor, for a brief moment of time, we were all winners.  Degrees from Boise State suddenly carried more cache.  What was labeled "the best college bowl game of all time" became canonized with DVD-Rentals, television talk show appearances, and commemorative books.  Gone were the days of BSU/UofI rivalry - Boise had just clicked up one strata into a new level of football consciousness.

We watched the Poinsettia Bowl unfold at The Falcon Tavern - a downtown pub with excellent beer, surprisingly good food and a comfy view of several televisions as well as Main Street.  One Jalapeno Burger, One Corned Beef & Pastrami Sandwich, One Nutbrown Ale and One Stout kicked off our football watching.  As the game drew on, the third quarter required some coffee.  We were treated to many commercials advertising better pee-flow for men and various insurance/banking companies.

When the fourth quarter started, BSU was behind.  They kicked a field goal and got some points - but found themselves an unfortunate single-point behind TCU nearing the conclusion. (TCU is Texas Christian University) The team huddles up, devises a strategy, the quarterback throws - and with 1:53 left in the game - the ball is intercepted by the other team.  With that small amount of time left, it is almost impossible to get the ball back and make a touchdown - and the loss becomes clear.

From inside the pub, i didn't sense sadness or despair, but an overt numbness.  What does it mean to choke in the last moments of a game?  What must #11 feel right now, with so many adoring fans left hanging and feeling disappointed in their return to "regular" fan status without an undefeated team to seek exceptions for.

Stopping at the original Albertsons grocery afterward, reminded that the store had a "new look" yet would never be the local hometown favorite it once was, we spotted many in their BSU team gear.

Having played sports - i understand the psychological pressure of the last moments of a close game - which can turn anyones solid mental state into mush.  The anticipation turns performance upside down and creates the very thing the anxiety was trying to avoid - failure. 

What can we do to deal with this city-wide sense of defeat numbness?  Continue on and study ourselves.  For it is only in the realization that we are not "our team", that binary competition of us-vs-them has become obsolete, and that performance anxiety is crippling, in all areas of life. 

High Noon Today - A President is Picked

At 12:00 today, a neighborhood dog started howling essentially and rhythmically to the beat of a passing ambulance. The ambulance came and went quickly but the dog remained on pitch and time much longer. As the tones reverberated off of homes and branches, I realized our four legged friend was simply alerting the neighborhood to the real election taking place twenty blocks away at the Borah post office.



Darlene Bramon, Ben Doty, John Erickson, and Melinda Smyser walked into the post office, now with Butch Otter scent, and cast OUR states' electoral college votes for "the next president of the United States" Republican John McCain... well probably not the next president, but that is who we voted for.

All the pomp and circumstance of election day seems a little less spectacular when four white people slip into a post office more than a month after the election to decide the leader of the free world . . . or maybe it's just me.

Committee on Committees

WASHINGTON - Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo will for the third time head the team that parcels out two-year committee assignments to fellow Republican senators. via The Idaho Statesman

Interesting, only one comment:
rita wrote on November, 20 6:24 PM:
So how many times / different ways are you going to post the same story?

Rita, maybe the point is that no one seems to care about the power that Crapo now holds.  During a Republican "shake-up", where all the seats are being re-shuffled (or not) as the party re-thinks itself, our remaining Idaho Senator will be "the decider" for who gets to appoint the Minority Chair on each of these Committees.

We will keep and eye out for any announcements so we can all better understand who or what will be leading the republican party going forward.  or will it be just the same?  only time will tell.

MIKE CRAPO, a famous mormon in politics

photo via buddy stone's fickr

what happens in washington

photo via idahohum

Dirk Does Dicipline

The Interior Department has taken disciplinary action against more than a half dozen workers who accepted lavish gifts, partied and in some cases had sex with employees from the energy companies they regulated.

.....

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne had vowed to take swift action to squelch what he called an "ethics storm." But disciplinary procedures for civil servants prevented him from taking action for at least a month.

via AP

Walt Minnick Interviewed By NPR

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN HERE