The Friday Furo Questus

Idaho Edition!
Yes, I'm in Boise. I think I have come up with the perfect way to stop the folks in Berkeley from whining about everything. Make them live two weeks in Bliss, Idaho (pop. 12, trees 2, coffee shop 1, if you count the truck stop). They will then realize just how good they have it.

I also think southern Idaho should tell northern Idaho to stop hogging all the trees.

Boise itself is rather pretty, nestled down in the Boise River valley full of trees. I may post a bit of a travelogue next week - southern Idaho can be pretty, in a denuded sort of way. (Ed. - especially when going through the Raft River mountains and the Snake River valley.) The view is pretty nice - while the mountains have no trees, they are still spring green.

As for political stuff - the most interesting is the "Is 2008 Mormon in America?" article. The key quote, in my opinion, is this paragraph:

"Most Mormons would be thrilled at the prospect of a Romney candidacy, and not just because Romney is a Republican and Mormons overwhelmingly vote Republican (they went 95 to 5 percent for Bush in 2004, up from 88 to 12 percent in 2000). While Mormons are dispersed throughout America and engage in the same professions and activities as non-Mormons, they by no means have forgotten their history and would tend to see Romney's election as a sign that they are accepted as full participants in the American experiment."

Mormons are prone to a bit of a complex about this - possibly due to being chased out of every decent spot they tried to settle. And I think that quote is dead-on right, and Romney would bring a legitimacy to such a candidacy that Hatch could not. (Sorry, Matt.)

Thought of the Week:
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

Churchill Quote of the Week (and see the rest of the story at The Pacific Slope):
"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."