New West Network

My Page: Sharon Fisher

from the new west blog: obama's big night

If elections were judged on the basis of who has the most and coolest t-shirts, Obama would win hands down, at least here at the Boise Obama watch party in Legends at the Boise Spectrum, where some 75 people have gathered to watch the Montana and South Dakota results -- and, they hope, to see Obama go over the top.


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idaho history

Not far from Kuna is the cradle of Idaho’s hydropower industry, the Swan Falls Dam, on the Snake River Canyon. Built in 1901 to provide electricity to the Silver City mines, the dam continues to provide electricity today (though the powerhouse was rebuilt in the 1990s).

After the powerhouse was rebuilt, the old powerhouse was turned into a museum to celebrate its history, including pictures of the old and new powerhouse being built, equipment from the powerhouse, explanations of how electricity works, and vintage advertisements encouraging farmers and farmwives to use electricity.

In the wake of 9/11, access to the powerhouse was restricted as a security risk, but the museum and surrounding area – which is on the National Registry of Historic Places – has an open house one day a year in May during Idaho Archeology and Historic Preservation Month. [more]

Column "Agricultural" television

More farm, not so many huge tracts of land.

That's the consensus of the real farmers who are watching "Farmer Wants a Wife," the most recent variant of the so-called reality shows that pit a number of potential mates against each other while the searcher gradually winnows them out based on a series of tests.

At least, among those real farmers who have a satellite dish or time to watch tv during spring planting season. "Do we *have* to look at the girls?" complained one. [more]

presidential election

Western states that are largely controlled by Democratic governors are poised to play a role in selecting the next President, New York Times columnist Tim Egan told the Boise City Club this week.

Defining Western states as "public land states," a definition that he said excluded Texas, Egan said 8 of the 11 of them had Democratic governors. Moreover, four of them -- Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico -- are "swing states" that combined have 50% more electoral votes than the more traditional swing state Ohio.

Egan went on to describe the number of ways in which Democrats have captured key positions in those states. [more]

state politics: idaho

Facing what appeared to be defeat, Chair of the Revenue and Taxation Committee Representative Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot, pulled a bill that would have removed a tax exemption for providing broadband Internet, after a long bipartisan debate against the bill.

A number of representatives – particularly those representing the rural Idaho areas that are currently underserved – urged a “no” vote on the bill until such time as all Idahoans had access to high-speed Internet. Several cited H543, a bill that takes the first step toward creating a statewide broadband network that is initially intended for education but will also support government and industry. [more]

state politics: idaho

In classic game theory, there is an exercise known as “Prisoner’s Dilemma,” where two players have to decide whether to cooperate or betray their opponent, based on a series of rewards or punishments built into the game. Typically, in a single game, various studies have concluded that betrayal works better.

Last week, a Harvard University study on iterated prisoner’s dilemma included a variation: the addition of costly or spiteful punishment, where one opponent could punish the other in return for paying a fine itself of one-fourth of the punishment. The result, according to David Rand, the biology graduate student at Harvard who designed the experiment, is that “people who punished in response to defection did very badly, and people who did not punish did very well.”

Apparently, the Idaho Legislature doesn’t read Harvard studies. [more]

Idaho Politics: Sharon Fisher's Blog

Is there any stronger human motivator than “Hell, I can do a better job than that”?

Whether it’s becoming an athlete, writing a book or a movie – or becoming a politician – that motivation is there. Not just doing a good job, but doing a better job than the so-and-so who’s doing it now.

That motivation is particularly strong when one is a journalist. You spend your entire life in observer mode – watching other people do things – and while that puts you in what seems like an inherently superior position as you comment and judge and critique, you start to wonder. You wonder whether your position actually emanates from fear. Maybe you hear it from other people, or maybe you start hearing it from yourself: “Well, if you think you’re so damn smart, you try it.”

I’m trying it. [more]

state politics: idaho

Members and followers of the Idaho House of Representatives heard something today they may not have heard before: "Madame Speaker."

Representative Margaret Henbest, D-Boise, filled in for Speaker Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, for a while during today's session, primarily consisting of a series of appropriations bills (beginning with, coincidentally, the appropriations bill for the Women's Commission).

Representative Cliff Bayer, R-Boise, was the first to say "Madame Speaker," drawing a round of applause from the House, and representatives seemed to make a point of finding an excuse to say "Madame Speaker." [more]

state politics: idaho

The Idaho House passed unanimously yesterday a bill directing the Idaho Department of Transportation not to implement the federal REAL ID Act – a decision that, if passed by the Senate and signed by Governor Butch Otter, could theoretically prevent Idahoans from using their driver’s licenses for boarding planes and opening some kinds of bank accounts.

The so-called Real ID is an unfunded Congressional mandate from 2005 for nationwide specifications for drivers’ licenses that was ostensibly intended to help protect Americans from terrorists, but it has since been opposed by more than 30 states, including Montana. [more]

state politics: idaho

The Idaho House hopped to it today, clearing not only the backlog of its own bills and Senate bills but also whipping through several appropriations bills that typically wouldn’t have been voted on til tomorrow.

It’s a slick legislative maneuver that gets done to bring up a bill from the second reading calendar to be voted on. It was previously done in this session on a field-burning bill to get it completed as quickly as possible, but in this case it was just being done to reduce the backlog of bills and get done faster. [more]