DO NOT CALL LIST
Take action to stop those campaign calls
Carl Fisher recently wrote about political robocalls, asking not to be called. What many readers may not know is that such calls are against Idaho law.
Idaho Statute 48-1003 requires that, at the outset of a message, the name of the person for whom the message is being made, the purpose of the message, and the contact information of the caller all be given. Usually, this never occurs.
If you are annoyed by such calls, there are two things you might want to do. First, contact the attorney general (www.ag.idaho.gov) and register a complaint. Enough such complaints and something might happen. Second, contact the headquarters of the candidate making the call, point out that Idaho law is being broken, and that you are unlikely to vote for person who ignores Idaho law.
We do not have to just put up with this invasion of our privacy. Idaho law is on our side. We can take action.
CUTLER UMBACH, McCall
IDAHO REPUBLICANS
Paul supporter switches sides, goes establishment
Rusty Satterwhite, an organizer of “Tears of the Patriots,” pole-vaulted himself to a position of leadership of the not-yet-organized tea party movement and then on to the Ron Paul meet-up groups. Oh, Rusty talked the talk, giving constitutional speeches. He seemed to be a real tea party Indian decked out with feathers and war-paint and on board for the Ron Paul Rev-love-ution.
In 2010, the Ron Paul Republicans got over 50 percent of the committeemen elected to Twin Falls Central Committee, giving them the leverage necessary to get Ron Paul delegates to the state convention, but something happened. The Paulers nominated Rusty, who declined the position and gave his support to the establishment. Needless to say the members of the “Tears of the Patriots” really did have something to cry about after Rusty did his Benedict Arnold act!
Rusty’s reward for his dirty deed is to be appointed as chairman to the Idaho State Republican Convention, coincidentally being held in Twin Falls. This should guarantee that all Ron Paul supporters and delegates will be squelched in 2012. That is why Rusty and gang have banned videotaping in Twin Falls public meetings.
DANIEL GILL, Twin Falls
WEATHER
‘Normal’ is well defined
Hurrah to Phyllis Terry for her letter of June 12, asking “what does ‘normal’ mean?” Actually, the Statesman is only using the U.S. Weather Service’s terminology — take a look at the “climate” section at weather.gov/boise — an excellent site, by the way, for those who follow local weather. There are references to normal highs and normal lows (temperatures), as well as to the period of time over which data was analyzed to determine those norms. One would have to dig further to determine exactly how the daily records are analyzed, but it is clear that data for the most recent three decades was used. These particular norms are updated every 10 years.
DAVE CHURCHILL, Boise
‘Average’ and ‘normal’are different concepts
Responding to Phyllis Terry’s letter “What does ‘normal’ mean?” — she is right that mean, median, and mode, are the three main measures of central tendency, but they are not the only ones. There actually is a difference between average (mean) and normal in the sense that normals are idealized averages. For example, over the past 15 years, the average high temperature for June 6 might have been 80 degrees, for June 7 76 degrees, and for June 8 81 degrees. Now if this year the high temperature on June 7 was 78 degrees you would say that it was two degrees above average. But over many, many years one would “normally” expect June 7 to be slightly warmer than June 6, and June 8 to be slightly warmer than June 7. The normals remove, or smooth out, the slight variations inherent in day-to-day averaging. So although 78 degrees might be two degrees above average for June 7, it would probably be about one degree below normal.
LES COLIN, Meridian
