Future Farmers of Backyards

Well, I have a secret. The main reason I live in Idaho, the one thing I dream of every night, my goal for the rest of my career and into my pending retirement, is to strive for a simpler, more paleolithic existence. More caveman.

I say that sitting in my wooden house blanketed in fiberglass insulation typing on my PowerBook G4 and fully aware that I have pathetic facial hair and, while not perfect, a decent posture.

But I yearn to cut myself off from cheap plastics, processed foods, things that society tells us we need (insurance, investments, gasoline). And I yearn for DK Donuts and Hagen Daz and an iphone.

This is paleomedia: absolute relativity, the obliteration of contradiction. Online Luddite. Stem and seed eater who has a burger and fries for dessert. Total paleomedia is what you will find here.

At this point in my life I am failed big game hunter and lame fisherman. I am growing some lettuces and onions in my backyard, but the plot is rife with weeds and I let my chickens chew up the Asian greens. My pile of sheep and elk hides is starting to decay. It is time to get serious in my cave.

Join me in this journey, dear readers. I will need help. So I will turn to books and local experts to make me into the caveman I yearn be. Soon it will be my birthday. In the next year I plan to accomplish the following, and you, especially you boor bastards who don’t live in Idaho, can accomplish the following too and even make snide comments along the way, here, at PaleoMedia.org.

Here is my cave list for the next four seasons:

• Put up enough ginger pickled radishes, eggplant and bean “chopped liver” and stewed tomatoes to last through next winter.
• Tan the hides I’ve collected in the last year and make something useful from them (baby blankets and sheepskin vest to wear to the Legislature?)
• Shoot an elk or a deer with my heretofore ornamental bow.
• Keep my young flock of chickens alive long enough to make the ultimate caveman omlette (stay tuned for this one).
• Teach the 4-year-old to catch, clean and fry a fish, consistently, and maybe from the Boise River.
• Write regularly about these activities for the less fortunate.

Anything I missed? Probably. But it’s time to crack another beer and brainstorm ways to make my own beer by this time next year.

Here’s a few links to get you started thinking about this too. In one of these stories, the point is made that there is no time to wait. So I started in on my personal j-schooling white papering yesterday.

National Public Radio, looked at a a few models of new, new, new journalism [listen], including the innovative world news site GlobalPost.

GlobalPost relies on paid ads, premium content and online opportunities for paid subscribers and syndication to fund a large network of foreign correspondents. Writers are paid a retainer and earn a stake in the company. (Did you know that 20 million Chinese migrant workers have lost their jobs?)

Walter Isaacson at TIME, who claims to have invented banner ads and such, recommends a system of micropayments to pay for online journalism. Like dropping a coin into a slot:

One of history’s ironies is that hypertext — an embedded Web link that refers you to another page or site — had been invented by Ted Nelson in the early 1960s with the goal of enabling micropayments for content. He wanted to make sure that the people who created good stuff got rewarded for it. In his vision, all links on a page would facilitate the accrual of small, automatic payments for whatever content was accessed. Instead, the Web got caught up in the ethos that information wants to be free.

I want information to be free too. And I want to be paid to tell stories. And I don’t want pity or charity. And, frankly, I don’t want to need to worry about the business side of journalism. But it’s time to worry. Or at least to get serious.

If you are reading this, you probably expect to get your news for free online, as I do. So who should pay for its production people?

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Note Idaho’s 33 percent evangelical vote, with 80 percent for McCain. Oklahoma, which gave McCain his highest margin of victory, had a 52 percent born-again vote.

You may be interested in a new blog that is part of my day job. I call is citydesk (lower case please) and it is a mix of Boise, Boise Valley and state news that comes across our radar down at the Boise Weekly offices. You can take a peak todaycheck it out here, but set your bookmarks for citydesk.boiseweekly.com…

I am going to keep PaleoMedia.org going because I still think it’s a good idea. But I encourage you to check back maybe once a week rather than every day. Maybe consider it like your Sunday paper, without the paper… We’ll have lots more stuff on here during the legislative session of course and maybe some new features.

So stay in touch.

“Business is just bad,” Weaver said. “If the economy was better we wouldn’t be doing it.”

The Canyon County paper posted a story Wednesday afternoon announcing the layoffs.

“Even though the economy is currently bad, there are many positive things at the Press-Tribune, including home delivery and single copy sales reaching new records. Combined with our growing online audience, the total Press-Tribune readership is higher than at any point in history.”

Layoffs will affect the entire building, but Weaver said editorial staff will not be let go.
Last month the paper announced a joint printing deal with the Idaho Statesman in which the smaller, Nampa-based paper will begin printing the Statesman. But that deal will not produce revenue for the Press-Tribune until next year, Weaver said.

The Statesman announced 16 layoffs last month at the same time as the joint printing contract was made public and also said an additional 20 layoffs would come when the Press-Tribune takes over printing.

The Press-Tribune which is owned by Pioneer Newspapers, gave employees two weeks notice and some type of severance package that may include a health coverage option through November.

1. Hart votes no, voters say yes. Rep. Phil Hart: “I vote no a lot, but I think my district appreciates that. Sometimes legislation isn’t ready. You can have a good idea, but the bill isn’t ready.” Hart beats Rawls with 70 percent in N. Kootenai. Greene in the CDA Press. Also, Jorgenson garners some 61 percent.
2. Takasugi, recovering from cancer, pulled out 500 more votes than Otter-appointee Curtis Bowers in Caldwell. Pat Tagasuki, former ag director, gets 57 percent in conservative Canyon County district… voice of relative moderation. To face Democrat Mike Warwick, who has at least 613 friends, in November.
3. Beebe-Bauer hand it to Thayn. Near split vote in District 11 was close all night. Incumbent Steve Thayn, who has perfectly honed the family values message, ended up on top this morning with 38 percent. In neighboring District 9, wise-use veteran Judy Boyle unseated Otter-appointee Diana Thomas in a fairly close contest.
4. Closer in to Boise, Chuck Winder pulled off a 10 point spread on incumbent Stan Bastian in a crowded 4-way. We interviewed Winder late Tuesday night for Boise State Radio and he criticized Bastian’s leadership in the Legislature and said that he did not regret entering the Senate race rather than taking on Moyle, with whom is at odds on transit issues facing the Boise Valley. Carpenter-Pundit Kulczyk, who said he was not really running, managed 247 votes.
5. The only Legislative Democrat primary in the state, for Moyle’s seat in District 14, fizzled out early on. Moyle will face Michelle Waddell (991 friends) in November. Moyle easily warded off a write in effort and said he enjoyed the battle. Glida Bothwell opted to mount a write-in challenge for Raul Labrador’s seat and will appear on the ballot in November.
6. Former Rep. Julie Ellsworth will get a shot at Brandon Durst in District 18 in November. Ellsworth, who was beaten by King when 18 went all Dem in the last elections, wants to take back the district for the Micron employees. First time candidate Gail Hartnett, who had some serious assistance on her race, did not overcome the Ellsworth name recognition.
7. Snodgrass out in Meridian. Rep. Mark Snodgrass took on Sen. Shirley McKague, putting his political career, or at least his legislative career, at risk. He could not pull off the votes. McKague, who went to the Senate on another Otter appointment, won 53 percent to 47 percent in a bell-weather district.
8. In The Home, Tim Corder pulled off a decisive victory against blogger Clayton Cramer, who was backed by Idaho’s captains of industry. Cramer “surprised” and Californicated.
9. Tom Loertscher pulls big win in far-East Idaho.Loertscher gets 44 percent in far-spread East Idaho district. Lots of driving for votes. Davidson in the Post-Register. And Erik Simpson beat Ann Rydalch in 32, 59-41.
10. Bonus races: District 21 turned into a very interesting contest with a triumvirate of challengers nearly unseating the entire District 21 delegation. Rep. John Vander Woude lost to Rich Jarvis by some 60 votes. Rep. Bayer and Sen. Fulcher squeaked by in their races, nearly losing to Jarvis’s buddies.

Elections offices in Ada, Blaine, Cassia, Latah, Lemhi, Madison and Teton counties are using brand new bubble (think SAT) or “arrow” ballots and optical scan vote counters in Tuesday’s Primary Election. Kootenai County has always used optical scan ballots but will be using new counters on Tuesday. And Canyon County will use punch cards on Tuesday, but is moving to optical scan for the General Election in November.

Ada County Elections Supervisor Jo Spencer said that the new machines count much slower than the old punch card counters, but the county has twice as many machines.

“We’ll start counting at 8 o’clock when the polls close and count until we’re finished,” Spencer said.

Punch card ballots zipped through the counting machines at about 1,000 cards a minute. The new optical scan counts about 300 of the larger ballots a minute, but the county has six counters, double the number of punch card counters they had in previous elections.

You can see side-by-side comparisons on the Ada County Elections Web site, at the bottom of the page. Election returns will be posted here Tuesday night.

The counties are phasing out punch cards because the machines are not being serviced any more and are being phased out across the country.

While returns won’t come in any faster with the new machines – and voting could be somewhat slower at polling places – the Secretary of State’s office is more concerned that the returns be accurate, says Idaho Help America Vote Act coordinator Jim Mairs.

Mairs added that every polling place in the state will have a “ballot marking device” for seeing impaired voters or those uncomfortable holding a pen. The ballot marking machines utilize a touch screen to physically mark a ballot – the devices do not record your vote.

The remainder of Idaho’s 44 counties still use paper ballots or punch card systems.

Caldwell Rep. Curtis
Bowers, District 10

At the same forum Bowers’ opponent Pat Takasugi, accused the incumbent, in a video message, of being bogged down in philosophical issues.

Bowers took part in a candidate forum last week for contested primary races in districts 10, 11, 12 and 13 comprising Canyon County and some of Gem County. All of the contested races in this SE corner of Idaho are Republican races, though several erstwhile Democratic challengers sat in the audience, including one who kept time.

Former Ag director
Pat Takasugi

Former Idaho State Department of Agriculture director Pat Takasugi was not present as he is recovering from a rare form of cancer and was at a Baltimore Hospital handing out potato pins to every doctor and nurse he saw. (Takasugi returned to Wilder late Wednesday night, but his campaign staff is taking all his calls.)

Takasugi sent a video opening statement to the Press Tribune forum.

In his statement, Takasugi said that you can’t solve problems when you throw labels around. While he didn’t name Bowers, he criticized those who are “engrained in philosophical issues and can’t move off center.” Takasugi said he was more of a “common-sense conservative – not one of those other strange labels our there.”

Takasugi campaign manager, Gayle Batt, former Gov. Phil Batt’s daughter-in-law, said that Bowers and Takasugi have similar platforms: they are pro-life, pro-educational choice and for lower taxes and gun rights. But while Bowers is well-read and well-spoken, Batt said, he is still learning the ropes and admitted as much at the forum.

“He has had the opportunity to know the legislative process and he’s not going to have to have a year to learn the ropes,” Batt said of her candidate.

Bowers did not respond to repeated phone calls to his home seeking a response.

During the question and answer period Bowers, one of four legislators appointed last term by Gov. C. L. “Butch” Otter, said he would support lower taxes, a staggered work day for state employees to help clear rush hour traffic, and more character education in schools to reduce incarceration rates.

Bowers said, in response to a question about saving the planet, that he lets his car idle a little extra in the mornings in order to give the trees a little extra CO2. The comment garnered some laughs until it became obvious that most of the other candidates agreed with him.

Bowers also said he is supporting Ron Paul in the presidential race, as did District 11 Rep. Steven Thayn.

Batt said that Takasugi will soon be announcing the support of all of the mayors in the district.

The Republican nominee will face Caldwell Democrat, former Marine and Middleton middle school teacher Mike Warwick in November.

Discuss this race in the PaleoMedia.org Forums.