Idaho

2007-8-31 05:45:00

I just have a few minutes tonight so I thought I would make a few comments about this obscure state I live in.

Usually we are quite below the radar as far as national attention goes but lately we've been getting more than our share both good and bad.

On the good side Boise State started out the year winning Fiesta Bowl beating Oklahoma in what many observers called the best college football game ever. Then yesterday we started off the season with a bang by beating Weber State 56-7. Hopefully, we'll have another great year.

On the bad side some of our forest fires are getting national attention.

On the good side Barbara Morgan a teacher from McCall Idaho successfully went into space and returned on the Shuttle. She was the backup for Christa McAuliffe, who died in the Challenger disaster. Everyone here breathed a sigh of relief when she returned safely.

On the bad side Idaho Senator Larry Craig's lifetime career in politics appears destroyed for the accusation of soliciting sex in a bathroom.

I really feel sorry for the guy. We both attended the University of Idaho at the same time and both majored in politics and took many of the same classes together. At one time he was my debate partner. He always seemed like a decent fellow.

His foot touched the extended foot of an undercover cop in the bathroom stall next to him and this was interpreted as a signal he wanted gay sex and was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

After this problem hit the news he was immediately relieved of his positions and most of his colleagues were calling for his resignation.

But imagine if this supposed signal was a mistake and he was innocent. What a terrible thing it would be to have your life ruined over an innocent tapping of the foot.

On the positive side perhaps a future headline will read:

"JJ Dewey, author, teacher and all around good guy is selling millions of books. Readers from all over the world see Idaho as the new Mecca and make regular pilgrimages to attend his 'gatherings.'"

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
-- H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)