Huckleberries: Mailings a waste of our money

I didn’t know that human trafficking was a problem in Idaho until I received a special message from Congressman Bill Sali last week. Seems this form of modern-day slavery was going on unabated along the Canadian border while I was fighting off a bad case of the crud last week. Or at least that’s the gist of the latest of a series of special mailings and phone calls I’ve gotten from Repub Sali since he took office. “Not only is this horrific practice occurring in the U.S.,” intones Sali in an underlined portion of his letter, “it is happening in Idaho.” Now, I don’t want to make light of human trafficking. It is one of the many social ills in this country and world today. But I doubt that it’s a significant problem in Idaho. Also, I wonder why he would use his franking privilege during an election year to warn me about it. Sali closed his letter by asking that I answer a question posed in an enclosed Legislative Opinion Ballot re: whether or not I support his efforts to combat human trafficking. I can’t wait for a Legislative Opinion Ballot in which he asks if I support his efforts to waste taxpayer dollars by circulating propaganda and rhetorical questions under the guise of legitimate Gem State issues.

Shipp twins

For those keeping score at home, former colleague Jim Hagengruber and photographer Brian Plonka are in the Middle East this week to continue covering the military life of Hauser Lake twins Robert and Matt Shipp. Hagengruber and Plonka have covered the Shipps for the past two years, beginning before the twins joined the Marines together as 18-year-olds in June 2006. Now, Matt Shipp is stationed in remote Iraq. His brother is aboard the USS Germantown in the Persian Gulf. Hagengruber and Plonka took the opportunity to kill two birds with the same rock by writing a story for the Christian Science Monitor about the 8,500 American Humvees being retrofitted and sold to the Iraqi military. Underscoring how dicey things remain in the Baghdad area, Hagengruber e-mailed friends recently: “Tonight as we sat in the press bunker, a soldier came in and said a convoy had just been hit and the combat hospital outside our door was surrounded by crying soldiers (they had just dropped off their wounded buddies). Pretty sad stuff.” Jim provides a firsthand account of his adventures in the Middle East on his blog, The Other Side (http://james hagengruber.blogspot.com/).

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: “God bless our troops with gentle grace/and keep them safe in that far place./Bless too those innocents who dwell/in fear there, on the edge of hell” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Iraq Prayer”) … Huckleberries hears that ex-CDA Press police reporter Dave Turner is now working for Tom Burnett’s Rathdrum Star … If you’re shopping around for the best Easter church service deal this week, it’d be hard to beat the one offered by Living Word, corner of 57th and Freya, Spokane, which is providing free lattes for first-time guests Sunday. Now, that’s something that wasn’t around at the first sunrise service some two millennia ago … Blog Spotlight: The Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization now offers a blog to provide county transportation-related info: http://kmpo.blogspot.com … Deep Thoughts: “Only terrorists admit to doing something before they get caught. Ever notice that? Now we have the governor of New York being linked to a prostitution ring. I don’t agree with what terrorists do, but at least they take responsibility before someone else pins it on them” – T.J. Tranchell, UIdaho Argonaut (“Off The Cuffs”).

Parting shot

Tongue firmly cheeked, an office wag suggested that the new interview room in the Spokane newsroom be named after U.S. Sen. Larry Craig. Why? Seems the interview room is being built next to the men’s bathroom …