Idaho

Actually, I’m enjoying a pot o’ tea this morning, rahhhther. A hot cuppa something on the first Monday of the year is definitely called for, yes?

Speaking of taxpayers’ money being flushed down the crapper (h/t Jill Kuraitis at NewWest Boise via WaPo):

The Washington Post has a report today about outgoing Interior Secretary andformer Idaho Gov. and Senator Dirk Kempthorne spending about $235K to renovate his office bathroom.

If Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) is confirmed this month as interior secretary, he’ll have a snappy, scarcely used bathroom in his fifth-floor office, thanks to Dirk Kempthorne, the outgoing secretary.

Seems Kempthorne spent about $235,000 in taxpayer funds renovating the bathroom a few months ago, which included installing a new shower, a refrigerator and a freezer and buying monogrammed towels, department officials told our colleague Derek Kravitz.

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(Read the full post about ‘Jerk Dirk perk of obscene latrine to assay at $235k’…)

In light of the obvious collusion between Israel and the Bush Regime, I’d like to give this fond farewell to those that are leaving the mess to the real leaders:

Fuck you and every lobbyist ass you rode in on. I hope the maggots that infest your body cavities reek of the fetid smell of death that permeates everything you have touched and done in the world.

To those that supported these arrogant assholes while they were in office:

I hope you all die gruesome horrible deaths, right after watching all of your family and friends die while you sit there hopelessly, just like the Israeli and Palestinian people.

Most of the right wing are busy washing their hands of the Bush Administration, or they are busy rewriting the history that implicates them.

(Read the full post about ‘Gentle Fairwell’…)

Opposition to restoration of genetically pure bison to Fort Peck once again shows the real agenda-

Ranchers from nearly empty NE Montana are opposing the restoration of bison (derived from Yellowstone) to the remote Fort Peck area.

Once again they cite brucellosis, even those these bison have been quarantined for three years. They obviously think they can ride the fear of this not so fearsome disease another mile or two trying to hide their true agency of showing us all who is really the boss in Montana, including Native Americans who refuse to take their subordinate position.

Ranchers oppose bison relocation. By Tom Lutey.

(Read the full post about ‘Ranchers oppose bison relocation’…)

Wolf watching good in cold and snowy Yellowstone-

Once again Kathy Lynch has favored us with her detailed observations of the wolves on Yellowstone’s northern range. The redistribution of the much reduced wolf population continues, with the Druids providing a note of stability.

Famous wolf 302M seems to now, finally, lead a pack, although mating season is upon us and often causes even more wolf pack restructuring.

Here are three previous links to put Lynch’s report in context:

• Yellowstone wolf report. Enormous change in pack compositions. Nov. 28, 2008. By Ralph Maughan
• Kathie Lynch: Northern Range wolf upate. The Druids are doing well .

(Read the full post about ‘Kathie Lynch: end of the year Yellowstone Park wolf notes-’…)

Mark Rey set to hamstring Western national forests and counties allowing developers to pave Forest Service logging roads for remote subdivisions-

The “Darth Vader” of the national forests is poised to strike again during the Administration’s deaththrows. Former timber lobbyist Rey, who bosses the Forest Service, will try to set in stone the plan to make it easier to turn the remote backcountry to ugly, tax-draining subdivisions.

This is on behalf of Plum Creek Timber who would rather sale for subdivisions their timberlands interspersed with national forest land rather than grow trees.

(Read the full post about ‘More last minute Administration swipe at the economy and the environment’…)

STEVENS COUNTY, Wash. - Two animal rescue groups worked in harsh weather conditions to save dozens of horses from starvation in Stevens County.

Will Mueller

Rescuer say the white horse was suffering from starvation and could not produce any milk to feed her newborn.

The horses were on a reservation near the town of Wellpinit. Their owner was a 75-year-old man who told rescuers it became too difficult for him to care for them.

On Saturday, people in the area worked to plow rural road leading to the property.

Video

Watch the KREM report

Rescuers with Shepherds Way Rescue and Fantasy Farm Thoroughbreds worked to catch the horses and load them in trailers.

(Read the full post about ‘More than 30 horses rescued from harsh condtions’…)

Clackamas County Sheriff’s deputies discovered a body located in a log jam along the Clackamas River on Sunday.

KGW

The Clackamas River.

Deputies had been searching the area after the mother of a 46-year-old Eagle Creek woman reported her missing on Saturday.

The woman’s mother told police that her daughter, who works as a bartender at the Eagle Creek Tavern, never made it home after her shift on Friday night.

Around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, deputies located a truck, similar to the one driven by the missing woman, in the river near SE Kitzmiller Road in Eagle Creek.

(Read the full post about ‘Body discovered in Oregon log jam’…)

A woman was treated for a gunshot wound after a bizarre accident early Sunday morning.

kgw.com graphic

Sergeant Brian Schmautz with the Portland Police Bureau said that officers were called to Legacy Emanuel Hospital after a 46-year-old woman arrived at the hospital suffering from a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

Officers spoke to the victim and learned that she was shot while sleeping in her apartment in the 8600 block of North Columbia blvd around 4 a.m. Sunday.

Investigators determined that the bullet came through a common wall shared with the victim’s next door neighbor, 45-year-old Alvert O’Neal Jr.

(Read the full post about ‘Woman injured in bizarre accidental shooting’…)

Video: Teen mother arrested in death of newborn Larger screen

PORT ANGELES, Wash. - Police say a 16-year-old Port Angeles girl killed her newborn baby and then threw the infant in the trash. 

The trash was collected on Friday, compacted, then taken by train to Tacoma and was to be taken to Oregon. Police say the baby’s body is buried in up to 60 tons of garbage.

A witness tipped off police that the boy was born at the Port Angeles home early Friday and then thrown in the city trash.

Port Angeles detectives searched the home of the teenage mother in the 100 block of East 12th Street.

(Read the full post about ‘Teen mother arrested in death of newborn’…)