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Posts published in “Day: December 24, 2009”

Christmas for the dogs of Harney County

December 24, 2009
dogs

The dogs shipped/Linda Watkins

Crossposted from the Dog Rescue blog and written by Linda Watkins.

I've spent most of the last three days working on this project -- ironic as I'd planned to do no more than help with a little networking and "let someone else take the dogs." But such is the nature of rescue that instead I've been helping Harney County Save a Stray with networking contacts; spent most of one day drafting a press release and researching and gathering the names and contact addresses for the relevant newspapers and television stations; and even found some foster spaces for some of the dogs. What else could I do?

Melanie was single handedly trying to find placements for over 60 dogs - and the frustrating part was that most people thought everything was already taken care of so we were having a hard time finding the help. The problem stemmed from the great news coverage the Oregon Humane Society got when they pulled over 80 of the dogs when the case first broke. We're all grateful that OHS took so many dogs, but unfortunately in the course of publicizing their work, the impression was left with the public that all of the dogs were taken care of. Instead there are scores of dogs still at the site and if we can't get them moved soon, they will probably be shot. (more…)

Sourcing

December 24, 2009

Noting here a new Northwest public affairs site, Idaho Reporter, which we'll keep on our regular-check list. It says that it will be following Idaho government and politics, and has posted a number of news stories already.

So who is doing this? Its about page says this: "We provide non-partisan, non-biased, un-opinionated news and information about government actions and proposals for use by the general public, elected officials and the news media. IdahoReporter.com does not endorse or voice support candidates or policies. IdahoReporter.com is a product of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan education and policy research organization based in Boise, Idaho."

The key phrase here is, Idaho Freedom Foundation: Its base is not dispassionately neutral. Its main public face and prime writer (and one of its board members), Wayne Hoffman, is a former spokesman for conservative Republican Representative Bill Sali. Its board also includes Dan Symms of Caldwell - and of the same Symms family that produced former Senator Steve Symms - so you should be getting an idea of where the financing and impetus is coming from. You may consider the "non-partisan, non-biased, un-opinionated" aspects to be in the eye of the beholder.

Not to be dismissive, though. The foundation also has been developing a substantial database site called OurIdaho.com which tracks the details of government spending, and is turning into an excellent information resource. And the columns by Hoffman (who has been working on the database) frequently have been doing in fact something conservatives should be doing a lot more of (instead of the generic and tiresome moan about how awful government is): He's been mining into the details of government spending, writing seriously about the nuts and bolts, and going after the specifics of what doesn't make sense. (A recent favorite: The column "Salaries of many state department heads outpace inflation.")

This material is not politically neutral. It has an agenda. But it is facts-based, quite useful and worth the read. If Idaho Reporter matches those standards, we'll be reading it regularly for some time to come.