My Page: Nathaniel Hoffman

<< Newer articles <<    Author Home     >> Older articles >>

Western senators vote 10-6 to kill bill

A U.S. Senate attempt to overhaul the nation's immigration laws has failed for a second time in as many months. The lengthy compromise bill contained enough, well, compromises that foes and advocates of immigrants alike could not support it.

According to Senate vote tallies, Wyoming, Montana and New Mexico senators voted together to kill the bill. Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Nevada senators split on the bill and Arizona's senators both voted to further its progress through the legislative process. They voted for cloture, that is, if you recall your high school civics lesson.

Media reports from Washington are crediting a last minute flood of calls from opponents of the bill, mostly people who do not want to see any form of legalization or amnesty for undocumented immigrants, for its failure. But if there are any senators out there who had not made up their minds at this late date, or who were swayed by a bunch of last minute phone calls, then this bill was doomed from the start.

As we said yesterday, Idaho and the nation need some detente on immigration. The Congress, however, is not able to get it done.

Craig, Crapo split on Senate immigration bill

In Idaho, as in most of the United States, immigration is a divisive issue.

Some areas have taken a reactionary tone toward new residents, while others have welcomed them. Some communities just ignore the new immigrants in their midst. The issue has even divided Idaho's senators, with Sen. Larry Craig playing a major role in pushing for earned legalization of undocumented farm workers and other immigrants and Sen. Mike Crapo insisting that no form of amnesty is acceptable.

This story, the first in a NewWest series on immigration, starts and ends at the Idaho Hispanic Chamber of Commerce gala last week. I missed the fiesta, but spoke to many people who were there.

Maria Mabbutt, who has worked with the state's Latinos for years, recounted a moment at the gala when a conservative Hispanic Nampa businessman realized that another local businessman with whom he had interacted for several years, had once been here illegally.

As the U.S. Senate continues debate on immigration reform this week, thousands of Idaho families with any number of immigration situations are hanging on every word of debate. While the senators have many constituents who feel strongly about this, it would behoove them to remember that the facts on the ground have changed in Idaho in ways that have not registered in polls or in Census figures.

The bankers that gave $100,000 to start a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Idaho know that. The unions have heard the call. The corporations are licking their chops. The farmers are finally listening. The tamale eaters and salsa dancing gringos are thrilled.

But true immigration reform remains elusive. [more]

Where everyone else counts the years for Xutos

My buddy Al does not recall turning 30. He told me this on Saturday night at a ridge top campground behind Boise’s Bogus Basin ski area where 40 of my closest friends gathered surreptitiously to celebrate my 30th birthday.

Al was the senior guest at the party. I think he is in his 70’s and is justified in forgetting his 30th. He was in grad school then, probably reading and rereading T.S. Elliot.

But I have no such excuse for forgetting birthdays. I just don’t put that much thought into the passing years. The significance that we put on age should end at about 18. I stopped counting around my 20th year.
[more]

Cows and lack of fed funding are threats to former internment camp

The former Japanese internment camp at Minidoka was named one of America’s 11 most endangered historical sites today by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

I wrote about the threats to the camp in February. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has put together a very nice Web page (click on "More”) with a history of the site and, if you read to the end of this story, ways you can help preserve it.

The Washington, D.C.-based group, recognized that a huge feedlot proposed near the camp, now a National Monument, could threaten its viability as a tourist attraction and diminish its historical value.

[more]

Where Xutos discovers Cuba's up and coming chinatown

On my recent trip to Cuba I spent a few days wandering around the barrio chino, Havana's old Chinatown.

I went armed with a digital recorder and brought back this report for KQED radio's Pacific Time. Have a listen... [more]

Where Xutos skirts a hearse to vote

It is a minor election day here in the Boise Valley. Though my wife, who does things electoral, urges me to vote absentee, I prefer to visit with the old ladies who "man" the voting booths. I vote in person. When I vote, that is.

The reporter in me always hopes I will sniff out some electoral fraud as I wait in line.

But today there is no line.

As I pulled up to my polling place, the majestic Cathedral of the Rockies in Boise's North End (no this is not another Church-State story), I was surprised to see a larger than usual police presence.

A woman mumbled into a walkie talkie: "We're loaded up and ready to go."

Then I saw the hearse.

Technorati Profile [more]

Updated Tuesday May 22

Update May 23: Idaho's NBC affiliate, KTVB, is now reporting this story as well as the Idaho Press-Tribune and KTRV Fox Channel 12.

NewWest.Net/Boise's report from May 17 follows.

Six years ago I wrote a series of articles about religion in Canyon County, the rapidly developing mass of farm country west of Boise.

Looking at the yellowed tabloid today I am struck by two things.

The first is how far we went in order to demonstrate that this conservative Southwest Idaho county did have a diverse religious history. The 24-page pullout begins with Native American religion and the Buddhist practice of 19th century Chinese immigrants. It then goes on to describe 21 different denominations of Christianity (including Catholics and Mormons), interspersed with tales of local Jews, Muslims, Hindus and an active Baha’i community.

The second thing I notice is the cover: a giant white cross under a foreboding stormy sky.

In these parts crosses and other Christian symbols are everywhere. On billboards along the road. On hills above towns. In parks. Near crash scenes. In the newspaper.

And in 2005 the Canyon County commissioners added one to their redesigned county seal. They included a small church and cross in the new emblem, meant to show a “consistent message,” according to the minutes of the November 2005 commission meeting where the seal was approved.
[more]

Where Xutos finds a really cool bowl

Using the latest in blogging technology, I capture here the old school toilet bowl on the 6th floor of the James A. McClure Federal Building in Boise. No motion detectors here. The seat pops up to the 14 degree angle (not verified) shown and flushes itself. Pretty amazing stuff.

NOTE: This post is not meant to reflect in any way the business of the Federal Courts, Idaho's Distrcit Court, or the business of any other occupant of the McClure building. Nor is it a reflection on the work that attorneys do. Nor is it journalism, per se.

Where Xutos picks the wrong bowl

I always wanted a bird. Grew up with dogs. Never much liked cats. This morning, however, I settled for some fish.

Petra and I wandered into a fish store after a quick trip to the pediatrician. I’d thought about getting her a few fish, but hadn’t told her that was the plan. Just in case.

So we walked into the fish store. It smelled like fish. There were large tanks everywhere and I was immediately pleased with myself for not getting her 2-year-old expectations up about owning some fish.

I looked at the price lists posted on each tank and had total sticker shock. The fish in this store were like $30, $26.50, $85. Really cool fish, but c’mon. I’ll pay $25 for an Idaho fishing license. I’ll buy wild salmon for $11 bucks a pound once in a while.

But when I was a kid fish were, like, free. [more]

The anti-embargo movement from Boise to Havana to DC

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter's recent trip to Cuba is part of a larger anti-embargo push across the country. You can meet some of the players and find out how they operate here.

Also, for those of you still following the Idaho domestic elk debate, I wrote a long overview of the issue this week for Headwaters News...

<< Newer articles <<    Author Home     >> Older articles >>