New West Network

My Page: Sharon Fisher

Bozeman, MT

Raising privacy and civil liberties issues, job applicants to the city of Bozeman are not only required to list all their social media accounts, but their passwords as well.

"Please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.," the City form states. The application shows a space for passwords. [more]

Column

Editor's note: Ms. Fisher's column is a companion to mine, here.

What was good about having Bryan Fischer here? And what is bad about having him leave?

1. Like it or not, he represents the views of a number of Idahoans. We in our vast left-wing echo chamber don’t listen often enough to opposing viewpoints, and we couldn’t escape his, including his strange fascination with and seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of homosexuality and deviant homosexual practices. Heck, he even had a blog devoted to deconstructing his missives.

2. He did a good job of promoting himself and his views, no matter how reprehensible some of them were -- including to other Christians. I believe he’s the person who came up with the “nonprofit” dodge that we’ve seen a number of other Idaho conservatives espouse, where they set up a nonprofit front with themselves as the primary beneficiary of donations, and which allows them to look like they represent an entire organization, rather than just themselves. He has a web page, he’s on Facebook (where I’ve been his friend, incidentally), he’s on Twitter. He worked it.
[more]

internet technology

"Universal service" should encompass broadband Internet access in the same way that it originally encompassed telephone access, according to a new report from the Federal Communications Commission to Congress.

The report, Bringing Broadband to Rural America: Report on a Rural Broadband Strategy, is written by Michael Copps, acting chairman of the FCC. It was written for Congress as a preliminary step for a national broadband plan, due in 2010, and as a requirement from the 2008 Farm Bill.

Comparing broadband Internet access to electricity, the report described the Rural Electrification Act, which brought first electricity and then phone service to farms, of which only 11.6 percent had electricity in 1936. "A shortsighted policy that brought the convenience, innovation, and new opportunities of electricity and telephone service only to urban and a smattering of rural areas could have created two Americas of utility haves and have-nots," the report noted. "We cannot make this mistake today." [more]

idaho transit

Attendees of the Urban Land Institute’s Infrastructure 2009 Pivot Point event in Boise yesterday heard a story. An Intermountain West city determined it needed commuter rail – a train intended to carry passengers into the city for work -- and needed it now, rather than waiting for the more typical 10 to 20 years.

Then the governor of the state decided to get involved. “Once he blessed it and got the support of the Legislature, funding was granted,” said Mark Warner, vice president and general manager of Motive Power Inc., a Boise-based manufacturer of train engines. The whole process took just two and a half years.

The state was New Mexico, and the city was Albuquerque. Now, the train provides 2,300 passenger trips per day, which is expected to increase.

Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter's office refused to comment. [more]

idaho governor:column

The Idaho Twittersphere was, well, a-twitter this morning with news that @ButchOtter -- a Twitter account set up to parody the governor -- had been shut down and the real Idaho Governor's office, which had been posting under @IdahoGov, had taken control of it.

Boise Tweeters familiar with the situation are tweeting this morning that representatives of the attorney general's office were being sent to people's offices in an attempt to find out who was behind the account, with threats being made about impersonation being a felony. [more]

Idaho Legislature

In what might be a first, Senator Melinda Smyser, R-Parma, took the lead of the Idaho Senate today.

"Madame President," said Senator Kate Kelly, D-Boise, as though asking permission to address the body. "I just wanted to be able to say that." "Thank you," Smyser replied. "I appreciate your getting it right the first time."

Idaho's House of Representatives did a similar action last year, putting Representative Margaret Henbest, D-Boise, in the Speaker's chair on one of the last days to honor her as she was retiring. [more]

Idaho Legislature

The Idaho House of Representatives had said it was going to adjourn sine die today, and by God, it was going to adjourn sine die today, even if it ends up being called back by either the Governor or the Senate, or both.

And in what appeared to be a violation of rule 18 -- "The following questions shall be decided without debate: To adjourn" -- both House Minority Leader Representative John Rusche, D-Lewiston, and House Assistant Majority Leader Representative Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, debated the constitutionality of the sine die adjournment, which capped a marathon session that ran until almost 9 pm. [more]

Column: idaho legislature

Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter's hard-line stance of vetoing appropriations bills until he gets the transportation funding he says the state needs continued today, amid evidence it may be having the opposite of the desired effect, with even legislators who had supported his failed transportation bills now backing off.

Meanwhile, both legislators and Otter's office are saying that they're doing what their constituents want -- and the legislators have a better claim. [more]

idaho legislature

The Idaho Legislature these days is like watching a tennis game. To recap:
Monday: Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter vetoed a series of bills, including eight appropriations bills, because the Legislature had not provided the funding he requested on transportation maintenance.
Monday afternoon: the Senate amended HB96, a bill on ethanol taxation, by adding registration fees and a gas tax of three cents each of the next two years.

Now, on Tuesday morning, the House has decisively rejected, 15-55, the Senate's amendments, meaning that Otter is likely going to be pulling out the veto stamp again. [more]

idaho legislature

Idaho's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, which had thought it was done, had to re-do a lot of work today: not only the eight appropriations bills that Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter vetoed yesterday in an attempt to force the Legislature to raise the gas tax and registration fees to increase revenue for road maintenance, but also SB1222, the bill on reducing personnel costs in state agencies that the Senate had passed and the House rejected last week.

The new version of SB1222, which passed 16-4 on a party-line vote, reduces personnel costs by 5 percent in agencies funded by the general fund, and 3 percent in agencies funded by the federal government, or by dedicated funds, such as licenses. If the economy permits, Otter at his discretion can reduce the hit on the agencies using $7 million of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), commonly referred to as the federal stimulus package.

"There will be layoffs," said JFAC Co-Chair Senator Dean Cameron, R-Rupert. [more]