Author: Gary E Richardson

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Hari Heath & Integrity

Betsy Russell has posted an update on Hari Heath, the author of “Integrity matters to Idaho Republicans, who stand firm,” a guest opinion in this morning’s Idaho Statesman (July 14, 2014).

It will be interesting to see how long it takes the Statesman to follow up with an “integrity” update about Mr. Heath? Of course, in some quarters his tax protests and anti-government beliefs will make him even more the hero.

Mr. Heath’s about as good at the integrity thing as Mr. Otter ($x billions lost to his privatized prison donors), Mr. Risch (effectively defunded public education in his brief performance as gov.), Mr. Luna ($16-million-&-counting loss of federal funds for schools’ digital network wrongly awarded to Otter cronies), Mr. Crane ($10-million–$24-million lost through mismanagement of public funds), Mr. Denney…. Need we go on…?

How I miss the likes of John Evans and Phil Batt; now’s there’s integrity, folks!

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Progressives

I dropped by the Community Progressive celebration at Julia Davis Park on Saturday. My wife, Diane, was manning the booth of a new non-profit she’s helping that will enable seniors (like we have, inexplicably, become!) to stay in our homes as we age. Anyone whose parents did not prepare for their 90s can appreciate the need for such an organization.

I had an opportunity to make the rounds of the other booths. I was particularly struck by the presence of the labor unions, who had four booths. I was glad to see and chat those guys; a dozen or so were manning the booths and proudly presenting themselves as Progressives.

I don’t know if any studies have been done to show it, but I’ll bet there’s a direct corelation between implementation of the anti-union “right-to-work” laws and Idaho’s rise among states highest in percentage of minimum-wage earners.

Growing up back East in the mid-20th century, I took unions for granted. My family was part of the growing middle class whose children were leaving the mills and factories for commercial and semi-professional jobs. My own job history began on a truck farm, when I was 14—hoing through a muggy, hot Ohio summer for 50-cents an hour. I lied about my age the next summer and got hired as a prep-boy at a new Howard Johnson’s restaurant, where I quickly graduated to breakfast cook in the mornings, cashier and soda jerk in the afternoons. I was making 62.5 cents an hour, a 25 percent increase—No way was I going back to the farm!

The following summer my best friend’s dad got us jobs at a woolen mill on Cleveland’s west side, where he was controller. It was my first union job—United Textile Workers. I was making 72.5¢ an hour—a 45 percent hike over hoing. I was happy to return for a second summer before going off to Yale. In New Haven, during my sophomore and junior years, I worked at a corrugarted box factory and once again was a union member. That job carried me, my wife and our first-born umtil my scholarship was boosted to take over.

I’d venture to guess that the “right-to-work” laws have contributed heavily to the influx of undocumented low-wage workers into many jobs in the trades formerly filled by union members.

It was good to see both the union guys and Renee and Richard Stallings mingling among progressives on Saturday. Richard is running to regain his seat in congress held by Mike Simpson for too many years. I previously opined here about the punches Simpson pulled voting for, then, against the government shutdown last year. Stallings does not pull punches; he is as straight a shooter as I’ve known. He has spent his life in public service as a teacher, a local and federal official in several capacities and as a congressman from 1986–1992.

I worked with Richard to get the $900,000 appropriation from the Land & Water Conservation Fund (off-shore oil royalties) that made the complicated three-way land exchange work that saved Hulls Gulch from development. He knows how to make government work for people. Simpson has voted repeatedly to repeal Obamacare. He even voted to shut down the federal government for 16 days at a cost of some $24 billion in a cynical attempt to cripple the health-care law.

…but I ramble….

It’s good to see Democrats and union guys identify as Progressives. Isn’t that kinda like . . . liberal?

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It’s official: I’m a Democrat

Here’s how it happened:

I thought I was accompanyng my wife, Diane Ronayne, to the Idaho State Democratic convention this past weekend in Moscow, where she was an Ada County and Second Congressional District delegate. When she came back from registering Friday morning, she handed me a name tag and a folder and announced that I, too, was a delegate. I’m not sure who actually made me a delegate, but I decided not to make a scene and go along for the ride.

Several times in Idaho I have been called a communist in public. Now, it’s official; I’m a Democrat. I actually helped get the term “climate change” in the party platform, which some, no doubt, will see as evidence for the veracity of those former allegations. In some quarters, regulating the private exploitation of natural resources, land-use planning and public schools are communistic ideas—which, of course, they are—communal efforts to address the common good. Recognizing human caused global warming is perceived in those quarters as a United Nations Agenda 21 plot for world domination.

At Friday morning’s hearing on the first draft of the Democratic platform, a delegate recommended including “action against carbon-induced global warming” in the natural resources stewardship plank. It was one among a couple dozen suggestions from delegate members. At the Saturday morning hearing on the second platform draft, I was among several delegates who rose to speak.

I complimented the platform committee chair for the artful job her group did in incorporating most of the suggestions made the previous day, but called her attention to awkward phrasing of the sentence inserted to address global warming: “For the sake of future generations, we are committed to taking proactive measures to prevent and mitigate climate disruption.”

“I know we’re trying to avoid the term ‘climate change,'” I said. “However, climate cannot be ‘disrupted.’ Climate is the average pattern of meteorological variables such as temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation, etc.” I suggested that the phrase “the harmful effects of climate change” be substituted for “climate disruption.”

“The deniers are not going to be voting for us anyway,” I concluded. When the final draft was adopted unanimously Saturday afternoon, it contained the recommended amendment, minus the word “harmful.”

As has been widely reported, the convention was a love fest—quite a contrast from the Republican convention the week before, which failed to adopt a platform or elect a party chairman. Since they did not adopt a platform, the Republicans are stuck with a 35-page relic that emraces such Tea Party idiocy as repeal of the 17th amendment, which removed election of US Senators from state legislatures and gave it to the people.

The new Idaho Democratic platform is a one-sheet, two-page document that expresses the values Democrats share. It does not get embroiled in the policiy debates about how we act on those values. That theme—spelling out Democratic values and acting on them—was echoed in a rousing keynote address by Ed Rendell, former district attorney and mayor of Philadelphia, and attorney general and two-term governor of Pennsylvania (2003-2011).

Gov. Rendell emphasized the risks that acting on those values sometime requires. He illustrated be reviewing his daring first-term success raising Pennsylvania’s $5.15 minimum wage by 40 percent—to $7.15 in one year!

…which brings me to a trip several Idaho Democrats are making around the state today, June 24:

Foprmer 2nd District Congressman Richards Stallings, who is campaigning to regain his seat from Mike Simpson, is joining Lt. Gov. candidate Bert Marley and US Senate candidate Nels Mitchell
in a series of news conferences across southern Idaho. They terminate their trip on the Statehouse steps at about 4:15 p.m. They are proposing raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10.

Former US Rep. Stallings called to say he’d like folks to show up in support of the minimum-wage announcement. (see letter below)

He also agreed to come to Boise—tentatively Friday, Sept. 5—to meet with some friends at my home—especially those who helped save Hulls Gulch. (Directions & more info to follow for those who express interest.)

A couple decades back, Rep. Stallings played an important role in sealing the deal that saved Boise’s Hulls Gulch from development  He got us $900,000 of Land and Water Conservation Funds to make the complicated three-way land swap work.

Richard would bring real integrity back to our 2nd District representation in Congress; that’s why I’m supporting him.

Please, take the time to read his letter and/or visit his website; I think you’ll agree with him. He doesn’t pull punches (like voting to shut down the government in a cynical attempt to cripple Obamacare, then 16 days later, when INL workers are about to be furloughed, voting to end it).

Stallings for Idaho

Friend,

There is a crisis in Idaho. This is a crisis that is not caused by nature or terrorists, but by insensitive and mean spirited elected officials. This crisis is getting little or no press coverage and this crisis has NO ONE who is drawing the public’s attention to it–until now!!

Tomorrow, June 24, the Stallings for Idaho campaign, accompanied by Nels Mitchell, our Senate candidate, and Bert Marley, candidate for Lt. Governor will hold a series of press conferences across the 2nd CD to draw attention to this crisis by launching the R.T.M.W (Raise The Minimum Wage) crusade.

The current $7.25 minimum wage has forced tens of thousands of minimum wage workers to survive in poverty. According to the state, we have 29,000 Idahoans working at minimum wage and another 140,000 whose day to day lives would be drastically improved if Congress raised the minimum wage to $10.10. This simple act would add $5400 annually to those making $7.25 an hour and benefit at least 176,000 Idahoans. It would reduce the cost for federal food stamps, and benefit every community because these hard working folks would spend their additional funds locally. Families would have more time for their kids and, perhaps, allow them the opportunity to put extra dollars towards better job preparation and education. I believe this simple act would go a long way to restore the American dream for thousands of our fellow Idahoans.

I need your help! In fact I need the help of every Progressive, Democrat, Independent, and concerned Republican to help end this crisis. We need volunteers to assist with the voter registration effort and we need funds to hire some of these minimum wage folks to engage their friends and the public.

The Stallings for Idaho campaign has recently hired two single moms to help us find and register minimum wage workers to vote and, when we raise the necessary funds, we will hire more. We would like RTMW workers in every community as our goal is to register 5,000 new voters in the 2nd Congressional District.

A $10 contribution will hire a single mom, or a college student for one hour. A $100 contribution will put someone to work for ten hours. Please help, as your gift will be used exclusively to assist with our RTMW campaign, and 5,000 new single issue voters will help progressive candidates throughout Idaho. If you can volunteer please email us at rtmwcampaign@gmail.com.

https://democracy.com/Richard-Stallings/

Sincerely, Idaho’s Congressman
Richard Stallings
P.O. Box 154
Pocatello, ID 83204

What is it?

000 yellow blob1Can you identify this mysterious yellow blob that I photographed at a little park near the overlook for Snoqualmie Falls in Washington? It was lying in a grassy area strewn with pine needles after a misty rainfall; it’s about 2″ to 3″ in diameter. I would guess it is a fungus that grew out of the damp ground; or, perhaps, it fell there from one of the pines….

New photos from our Boise “backyard”

A few hundred yards from our home in the Boise foothills:

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Overlooking Cottonwood Canyon, Fort Boise Military Reserve, Boise Foothills 2014 © GaryERichardson

Sand and gravel used in construction of Fort Boise was taken from the hillside above the road to the gold mines near Idaho City, the largest town in the Northwest in the late 19th century. The road passed through the fort to ensure that gold from the mines made its way to the Union treasury.

Lupin & Arrowleaf Balsam

Lupin & Arrowleaf Balsam 2014 © GaryERichardson

At times like this, one almost forgets that we live in the high desert.

Phlox, balsam & sage 2014 © GaryERichardson

Phlox, balsam & sage 2014 © GaryERichardson

Bitterbrush, sage, balsam 2014 © GaryERichardson

Bitterbrush, sage, balsam 2014 © GaryERichardson

Boise Balsam

I’ve wanted to properly display a panorama of the Boise skyline that I created a few days ago with a series of digital images I made from a field of yellow arrow-leaf balsam flowers in the Fort Boise Military Reserve overlooking downtown.

Here’s my latest attempt:

0 Balsam-Boise pan

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/118172392986028742669/albums/6004439893502745393/6004439893990354594

This is a Google+ link to the panorama that I previously posted on Facebook, where there is no way to enlarge the image and pan the skyline.

Once you establish the link, above the image click on the little magnifying glass icon with  the “+” sign. A box appears to the upper left that enables enlarging and panning the image from the M-K Plaza building on the left to the 6th & Fort, Jim McClure Federal Building on the right.

Thanks to Mike Rolig at Google, who turned me on to this capability of Google+.

I’ll be looking for a way properly to display panoramas here. If you’ve had success doing that with Word Press, please tell me how.

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Double bass discovery

Last Sunday, I turned on the radio toward the end of “From the Top,” a public broadcasted program featuring talented young musicians. I caught part of a remarkable piece played on the double-bass by 15-year-old Kyoe Wellington.

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Kyoe Wellington at Carnegie Hall

When I got home I couldn’t recall the name of the piece or the composer but through the miracle of the internet located a recording of Ms. Wellington’s “From the Top” performance of François Rabbath’s “Reitba.”

I was touched both by the young woman’s playing and by the beautiful piece. Further research turned up a YouTube video of the composer, François Rabbath, playing “Reitba” with an orchestra. I had never heard such sounds from a bass.

Even further research uncovered Rabbath recordings ranging from Bach suites to truly avant garde jazz. Rabbath developed and has written extensively about new methods of fingering and bowing the string bass and gets amazing range and tonalities from his instrument. I plugged his name into Spotify and turned up several of his albums and individual pieces.

F Rabbath

François Rabbath