West of the Rotunda

We camped last week on the Imnaha River in northeastern Oregon. It was beautiful and wonderful to be with my family. You should visit.

My great grandfather settled in the next valley, south of the Wallowa Range. The 1910 census says he entered the United States in 1877. I have no idea when he staked out his horse ranch in Pine Valley, but I do know that land, and the land I live on today in Moscow, Idaho was part of the 1855 treaty agreed on by the Nez Perce chiefs and the United States government. But things changed.

You should also know that the US government decided it had made a deal it didn’t want to keep and in 1863 tried to renegotiate that treaty with the Nez Perce chiefs. The offer was for a much-reduced area in central Idaho, what now comprises the Nez Perce Reservation. Joseph, whose father was buried near Wallowa Lake refused to sign, as did many other signatories who saw their land being taken. A Nez Perce chief who lived on the proposed reservation did sign the agreement. The US Army showed up to tell Joseph and his band to leave the Wallowa. “You say I have sold my land when a neighbor has signed the contract?” The rest is the bitter tale you must know. The battles, the deaths, the strategy and maneuvering that led to the surrender of the “nontreaty” Nez Perce 40 miles from the Canadian border, in the cold of winter. This story should be known by all.

Should our children know this story? Would teaching this story in Idaho classrooms be “compelling” them to believe one race is better than another? I don’t think so. I believe my great grandfather saw the grassy Pine Valley opportunity and took it. But if the 1855 treaty held, he could not have owned that land. Our government, and the US Army cleared the way for him.

But did the US government, and the hordes of immigrants looking for opportunity in the late 19^th century in this great American west consider this an injustice? I doubt it. Free land, make of it what you can.

The Idaho legislatures half kneel to the right-wing conservative legislators who swung the “Critical Race Theory” effigy from their pike embarrasses me. Why can’t we stand up to bullies?

Maybe they learned from Joseph. He tried for years to discourage settlers into the Wallowa Valley, peacefully. He opposed talk of war. But when it became inevitable, he worked with his people. His younger brother, Ollokot, was killed. Many other chiefs and warriors and tribal members were killed as they ran for their lives to Canada.

Joseph tried to make the US Army, the US government, the bullies see the injustice. They could not. He and his followers paid.

This is a story that needs to be told. And I feel the shame. I don’t know if you will, and I cannot compel you to. But the story must be told.

Stories like this make one consider the balance of justice, and the world we strive to build.

We took a hike up from a trailhead in the hot sun and shaded timber to the Blue Hole of the Imnaha. The clear late June runoff ran between basalt out-croppings and you can stand above and look through the clear water. When we did this a couple years ago in the fall, the steelhead could be seen, heading up to their spawning grounds. It should be the season for Chinook salmon to spawn. I stood for a long while. But I gave up.

It is hard to know how to stand up to the bullies and opportunists around us. Knowing justice is just the beginning of the fight. Stories teach us. We should tell them.

My wife and I have had this discussion multiple times. Should we wear a mask in a store now that we are both-dose vaccinated? It seems some people still wear masks; some aren’t and maybe never did.

We went out and had a beer last Friday night at a local pub with some friends. It was great to catch up. Their lives are ongoing, as are ours. We need to check in with our neighbors and friends and this pandemic has made that hard. We are social animals.

I’ve dropped the mask. I realize if I’m exposed to an active case, I could carry the virus a bit, but the number of cases has dropped. Besides, the folks who want to be immunized probably are by now. So, the risk I might pose when unmasked is to someone who has chosen to run the risk.

Lots of Idahoans over 65 have gotten immunized. According to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Data Dashboard, about 72% of folks over 65 are fully immunized. Mainly, we’re the ones who died from the disease; 80% of mortalities were in the over 65 age group. It makes sense we’d go out and get the shot.

Not that Idaho ever wants to be compared to any other state, but we’re lagging the national pace. We’re down with Mississippi and Alabama, with a statewide rate of 34% fully vaccinated. And of note, the rate of vaccinations has slowed both nationally and here in Idaho. Last week, about 23,000 Idaho pulled up their sleeves, the lowest number since last winter when the shots first came out.

Now, I know these hold outs aren’t just Republicans, though, statistically, it’s possible. Registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats in Idaho 4:1, and Unaffiliated voters 2:1. Despite what some will tell you, there are no “Independents” in Idaho; it’s not a recognized party. You may consider yourself “independent”, which is noble, but the Secretary of State will list you as “unaffiliated” unless you pick a party to belong to. Indeed, one small survey in Twin Falls found Republicans more reticent about getting shots. Can’t we explain everybody’s behavior these days on party affiliation?

Maybe. But some heavily Republican states are ahead of us in this. Look at Utah, ten points up and just as red. But that group of states in the back of the pack with us, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Wyoming are pretty darn red.

Some of those folks already immunized in this conservative state just have to be Republicans. There are so many of them. Let’s do the math:

Idaho total population 1,873,681

Total Registered Voters: 983,333

Total Registered Republicans: 524,722

Total Registered Other: 458,311

Total Immunized: 416,619

So, it’s possible that all those shots went into “Other” arms. Statistically very unlikely, but possible. If the car you drive, the hat you wear, and the church you go to all tell us something about your political persuasion, why not immunization status?

Of course, the question arises, whenever talking about Republicans in Idaho, just what kind of Republican?

Maybe this is the new loyalty test the party could consider at the upcoming state convention. Lots of legislators in the statehouse declared their “courage” in the face of the “China Virus” by not wearing masks or social distancing. Did they sneak out and get a shot when no one was looking? Or are they loyal to the hydroxychloroquine, Ivermectin party line?

It would be simple to test for antibodies at the convention. But some might claim they were “naturally immunized”. I’m sure there’s a lab somewhere that could sort that out.

Finally, Idaho Republicans can know the truth about each other. No loyalty oath to sign, just do the test.

Of course, the true Democrats will just keep wearing masks even if immunized. We are such tribal creatures, even in the face of a viral pandemic.

Maybe it’s just supposed to be a rite of passage. I remember sports physicals when I was a high school athlete. The whole team would line up in the gym in our t shirts and shorts and some old doc from town would go down the line. Of course, what all the guys talked about was “Turn your head and cough”. Now I’m an old doc from town and I find myself doing things differently.

It took a while. When I was a young doc in town we would have “sports physical night”, put an ad in the paper, charge $20, and run them through. I’m not proud to say I’ve done 30 “sports physicals” in two hours. And I wasn’t the fastest doc by any means.

What was the purpose? I came to realize, the requirement for a sports exam by a medical provider mainly shifted the liability risk from schools to us. I came to believe us medical providers were participating in a sham. So, I started doing things differently.

I was glad to do a sports physical for any patient, but I preferred if they would be for families under my care. I asked that they be scheduled regularly, I had evening hours one day a week, and I would only charge what the going “sports physical” rate was at the time. But I wanted these young folks to realize I was interested in their health, not just participating in a sham.

Young people need to know they are valuable and running them through in a mass tells them they are not. Further, there are some important issues to discuss.

The highest risk for serious injury or death to a teenager will happen behind the wheel of a car. We sure didn’t talk about seat belts on “sports physical night”. I do now when I see a young person for a sports exam. It may be my only chance.

The second highest cause of death in this age group is suicide. And Idaho often has one of the highest rates in the nation. That risk factor doesn’t get discussed when we just have them “turn your head and cough”. I look for it now. In fact, I tell the young student this. I ask if they had such thoughts, who would they talk to? Most shrug, some nod toward their parent. I let them know such thoughts are common but can be a sign of a problem. I ask them to please speak to someone, their parent, or me, if they feel so burdened. Such conversations I hope, let them know the door is open. And they are valuable.

And I try to establish a relationship. It’s good if the parents are there, to see how the young athlete and parent interact, but the athlete gets the questions. And they are expected to answer, not the parent. I’ve had to ask pushy parents to step out in the hall.

Then I do a brief physical, looking for loose or tight ankles, posture, skin, heart, and lungs, and indeed, turn your head and cough.

But the most important question for any athlete, indeed most patients in general, has to do with your relationship with your body. Playing sports, you ask your body to do things. Do you listen when your body talks to you? It might scream about doing one more lap. Can you calm it down to be quiet so you can keep running?

What if it tells you something hurts in a different way, are you going to listen? You have to have a good dialogue with your body, you can’t ignore its messages if you want it to work for you.

Healthy teenagers rarely see a medical provider unless they have an acute injury or illness. But these valuable young people are worth our time and investment.

Wars kill, and somehow that death in battle is more hallowed than another. Service should be honored. The ones who live through a war might have lost something vital too. As we remember the wartime fallen this Memorial Day, let us also remember the harm we cause when we pursue mortal conflict.

My father was no flag waving patriot, though he was a Republican. World War II found him nearing the end of his college time at Oregon State. He paid for his tuition bussing tables at a frat house and spinning ropes to entertain dudes in Sun Valley. He enlisted because he knew otherwise, he’d be drafted, and maybe through enlistment he could become an officer. Their pay was better.

But he wouldn’t tell me about it. I was a third grader, drawing pictures of tanks and bombers, reading American Heritage books about every war I could. I even asked him about the medals I heard he’d gotten.

“Dad, what’s a Purple Heart for?”

He pulled on his Pall Mall and shook his head.

“How did you get yours?”

He looked away and held a long pause. “Shrapnel in my butt. Million-dollar wound they called it.” I had seen the divot in his buttock when he got out of the bath.

“How about the Bronze Star? What was that for?”

Here he shook his head even stronger and looked up and away. “They gave those to everybody.”

I tried many times to ask him about war, fighting, getting shot at or shooting at others. He would tell me nothing.

Maybe I just didn’t know how to ask my old man in a way he could relate to. Maybe it was my distance from him he felt, his only son. Maybe he was born with too much shame.

His birth was in a tent out by the creek because his dad’s family wouldn’t allow the woman/girl his father married six months before his birth into their respectable house.

Or maybe the war had damaged him, and he just couldn’t share that pain. I will never know.

Maybe it was the shame I felt, when the teacher asked, “What does your father do?” and I answered as I had been told, “He’s self-employed.” Because I couldn’t say he played poker for money and didn’t pay taxes on his winnings. He didn’t know anything about Libertarians, but Republican was as close as he could get fifty years ago.

I grew into my teen age years and my disrespect grew. Mark Twain talked about how the teenage son sees his father for a fool. Twain says the son marvels that the old man can learn so much as the son matures. But it was much later I grew to respect him; too late.

I was arguing with a friend about inherited intelligence. “Look at our family. My two sisters were valedictorians in high school classes for 400+, and I was salutatorian in a class of 500+, and my parents were pretty average.”

He smirked. “Are you sure?”

I can’t be.

Dad was very complex, even though he was a Republican.

Maybe it was when he beat me time and again in Scrabble that I saw him differently. Maybe it was when he was so tender with my daughters, and I didn’t remember that tenderness that my sight changed. I don’t know.

His drinking faded. His business failures did not burden me though I believe he carried them. And the war experience might have explained how we had to be so careful waking him up. Mom would say, “Dinners ready, go wake your dad.” And I, the youngest would have to.

“Dad!” I would call from the doorway. If I had to touch him, I knew to step back because he would lash out violently.

Wars kill. Wars main. Wars harm. Let us remember.

Back in the stone age when I went to medical school, the “complete physical” was a full course in first year. We were taught where to poke, push, prod, palpate and percuss. We practiced looking at fingernails, eardrums, nipples and the back of your eyeball. Then the stethoscope came out and we auscultated (doctor for “listened”) to every sound your body might offer. I never heard any farts in the exam room, though I imagine they could tell me something.

In our second and third and fourth years we were sent off to the wards to be the fifth or sixth person to examine a tired and sick patient. We were supposed to find things. So, if we had little mercy and were as worried about our grades as they wanted us to be, we prodded and probed the poor wretch with our inexperienced fingers. I always appreciated the patients’ patience, for their generosity gave me experience, a wonderful gift.

As I watched the more experienced physicians, I noticed their physical exams were often very abbreviated. I was listening to a sweating man’s heart in residency when the attending came in and said, “Get him up to the cath lab!” without even getting his name or saying hello. The EKG told the story. The expediency probably added some years to the man’s life. Time can save tissue when it’s dying.

But then I go into the office and see patients every day and wonder, just what do people expect when they schedule an “annual physical”? Do they know that no study has ever shown that such “annuals” are cost effective? We add some screening blood tests, consider some other tests, but the true value of seeing the doctor comes in developing a relationship. It is so I, or your doctor, can know your values, so when the tough times come, we can help you decide on a course of action that will support you and your values.

Five times in my medical career, with the patient undressed I noticed a mole that I thought suspicious that turned out to be stage 1 melanoma. A few times I have felt lumps that didn’t seem right. But of the thousands of physical exams I have done, most were on very healthy people. But that teaches you something too.

I decided to quit the medical group I had been in for the last 17 years, so I was surprised to see a “complete physical” on my schedule the last week I was scheduled to work. Our office had shifted to an electronic record about five years before and this 50-year-old man had no entries in the electronic chart. “Why is he scheduled with me?” I asked my nurse. She shrugged.

So, I went into the exam room. “Hello, I’m Dr. Schmidt. Who is your regular physician?”

He looked up at me and smiled. “You are!” he said.

I’m puzzled because I don’t recognize him. Indeed, he looks well, taking no medicines, blood pressure, weight all normal.

“I’m sorry,” I stammer. “When did I last see you?”

He grinned. “It was about five years ago. I came in for a physical. You told me to exercise, lose 25 pounds and come back in 5 years. So, I did, and here I am!” Not many patients take my advice. I appreciated that last complete physical.

High school sports physicals were another wonder to me. I came to see them as school districts shifting liability. If a student athlete keeled over, they could say “Doctor cleared him!”

But I came to view this opportunity to examine and visit with a young teenager and their parent as precious, though the form the school required to be filled out, boxes to be checked were pretty silly. More on sports physicals next week.

So go ahead and schedule a physical with your doctor. If you’re planning to stay put, that’s what you should be asking them, because the value is in continuity, not poking or prodding.

Well, Mike Simpson isn’t getting many folks to jump on his damwagon, but it seems everybody has a different reason. Simpson broached a plan to breach the lower 4 Snake River dams back in February. As he and many others have said, if we want salmon in Idaho, the best chance is to restore the lower Snake to a free-flowing river. Lord knows, “We’ve tried everything else” Simpson says.

His proposal  is supported by tribes, addresses energy, transportation and local economies. It also shackled the legal fights for years. See, there’s something to make everybody mad, from the energy brokers to the wheat farmers to the trial lawyers.

This week was notable for Washington Governor Inslee, and Senator Patty Murray kicking dirt on the wheels. These Democrats, while wringing their hands about needing to do “something” to save the dwindling salmon runs gave specific reasons why they couldn’t support Simpson’s proposal, stating it needs to: “honor tribal treaty rights, ensure reliable transportation and use of the river, ongoing access for anglers and sport fishers and the continued delivery of reliable hydropower.” In other words, these upstanding Northwest Democrats can’t agree with a Republican because his proposal includes everything they want. Oh, and they picked a bone about the “process”, promising collaboration, getting everybody together.

Maybe West-side Democrats can’t be seen working with a Republican like Simpson. I hope the salmon don’t go extinct while we wait for partisanship to subside.

But the partisans are having a heyday deriding Simpson’s damwagon. For some reason, Republican Party leaders keep referring to dynamite, blowing up dams. Makes the “Save Our Dams” slogan fit right in, even if it doesn’t have a shred of truth in it.  I guess if you buy into “The Big Lie”, throwing out little lies becomes acceptable.

Our local paper ran an opinion from Ed Schweitzer, founder of a big energy systems component manufacturer opposing Simpson’s damwagon. He said, “As we get more solar and wind, we need more hydropower, not less!”. I’m no expert in power systems, and he is, but he must know that energy use per capita in the Northwest has decreased by about 25% in the last thirty years. We have made more efficient homes, appliances, and at the same time grown the economy.

Bonneville Power Administration of course opposes losing any generation in that Snake River canyon. They sell the power they generate to utilities on long term contracts; most those contracts expire in 2028. BPA’s costs to NW utilities have been low for years. BPA made up for these low costs by selling any surplus power expensive to California. But California has ramped up solar, which is much cheaper than BPA’s hydro and their balance sheet shows the problem. They have become the most highly leveraged US utility, paying over $1.56B in interest and fees in 2018. Their reserves dropped and they have raised rates to now be higher than many other providers. In such straits, no wonder they can’t get on the damwagon. They own too many dams to see it any other way.

Here’s the rub. BPA’s Columbia dams make all the power needed for its contractual obligations. All the rest generated, including the lower 4 Snake Dams, which by themselves only produce 5-13% of BPA’s power, is surplus, which it sells.

I’m waiting for former President Trump, the great disrupter, to get on the damwagon. He said he wanted to drain the swamp. The Snake Lake could stand to be drained.

When Idaho spawned smolts can get to the Pacific and back to abundantly spawn in our clear streams and rivers, we can be proud we’ve done a good thing.

If you’ve been paying attention to the Idaho legislature you might have learned something this last long 5 months of their deliberations. And they aren’t over yet (Sunday night). They want to hang around to override vetoes. So, no doubt there’s more for us to learn.

Back in January, Rep. Heather Scott R-Blanchard, let us know the Covid scare was over. That was helpful. Not that we were all scared, but we have come to trust the wisdom of our elected officials.  But the legislature did then take a recess, mid-March to April because a dozen folks got sick. That recess cost us taxpayers about $300K so the out of Boise lawmakers could pay their rent. Not sure what we should learn from that.

But there have been some other interesting diseases or conditions quite evident this session, despite the Covid cases. It’s been a real pathologists dream.

The most glaring eruption has been a bad case of Republican schizopartiitis. The main symptoms are bitter disputes that don’t really interest the voters. The disputes can lead to meaningless votes rejecting budgets, then, weeks later approving them unchanged. Other symptoms include prolonged floor debates and stalling tactics. It can eventually lead to polemic bills that have no real effect but make a “statement”.

This condition can affect either party, but it’s usually most evident in the dominant one. Since parties don’t really stand for anything anymore, it’s easy for some members to claim others “don’t belong”. This condition is painful, but usually self-correcting if the electorate is informed and healthy.

Another disease identified this session in the Idaho Statehouse has been ideaitis. Basically, it just means inflamed ideas. It is becoming a much more common condition with the prevalence of social media. We are all subject to minor bouts now and then. Aunt Bessie and her persistent ideas about the squirrels emptying her bird feeder can only become a problem when she gets out the 12 gauge and takes out the neighbor’s picture window. But when we elect representatives to write laws for us and they have inflamed ideas, the destruction can be widespread.

Idaho legislators have had a fear of marijuana for a long time, but their inflamed idea of its threat has led to them altering and restricting the initiative process, trying to amend the Constitution to prohibit drug legalization, and prohibiting advertisements across state lines. It’s a simple condition to treat, but the legislature has resisted treatment. Many patients are in denial, I have found. The treatment involves listening to others who might have other ideas. The inflammation slowly subsides.

But without treatment the festering inflammation can come to a head and erupt. Sometimes, after the pus drains, the patient can then heal. But if the inflammation goes deep, affecting the vital organs of the Republic, it can be fatal. History is rife with examples.

The chief example from this session had to do with public education and “critical race theory and social justice”. The idea that this was a threat was injected into our legislative body by the “Idaho Idea Development Laboratory” down in Boise. Some have argued it crossed over from infected sheep, but there is no doubt this was a lab created infection. The IIDL cooks up ideas all the time and then they inject them in susceptible legislators. This session they got a lot of people inflamed.

Finally, this legislative session, the longest in Idaho’s history, was marked by widespread hubris: that’s the old-fashioned name. Nowadays we call it, to make it sound like a medical condition, Self-Important Syndrome, SIS.

Be careful who you vote for next year. Wearing a mask doesn’t stop the spread of these conditions. We, the voters, perpetuate these harmful conditions at the ballot box.

During the four years I served on the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) I worked with many fellow members to craft budgets for where the state should spend the taxpayers’ dollars. Most of the time, as a minority Democrat I was working with Republicans, since that’s the main flavor in the Idaho Statehouse. But when considering how money should be spent, it really was about common sense, not political idealism.

We would get together and pore over the information and negotiate. Sometimes you could get something cut here, then someone would want to add something there and there would be honest negotiating. It was hard work but rewarding. We knew our job was not to make policy but balance the budget.

So, when the Idaho House votes to kill budgets, I’m scratching my head. Are they saying their colleagues on JFAC aren’t doing their work? If so, they should be lobbying to get onto JFAC and do the work themselves. It’s tough work, but not beyond their effort, I am sure.

Or are they wanting this state agency to behave differently? If that is the case, they can write a law directing the agency with new policy and direction. I can see they are doing that with “Social Justice”, “Critical Race Theory” legislation. Read House Bill 377 please. The bill states it is a public policy that no public school shall:

“direct or otherwise compel students to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere to any of the following tenets…” I guess the legislature, and the Freedom Foundation don’t trust our public-school teachers to behave professionally.

Indoctrination is not education. Wayne Hoffman and Richard Butler both graduated from public schools and attended public colleges. Maybe that was before this “social justice” threat. They both managed to grow up and think for themselves.

Maybe the “NO” voters just want this branch of government to go away. For the four years I built the Idaho Health and Welfare budgets, there would be 5-10 “NO” votes in the Senate, and 20-25 “NO” votes in the House. Nobody every spoke to me about the specifics of how this money should be spent differently. If there was any debate against the budget in the Senate, it was about “too big” or “not the role of government”. Which again, could have been addressed with legislation to eliminate the Division of Welfare, or the Division of Medicaid, or any of the other parts of DHW.  But those bills never came up.

A colleague explained it to me. Legislators get negative points on the Idaho Freedom Foundation Index if they vote for a budget. And LOTS of negative points for voting for the Health and Welfare budgets. IFF keeps score. If you want a good Freedom Index score, vote the way they tell you to. I would argue the IFF is working hard to indoctrinate legislators. And they are doing a great job of it.

It looks like this session the IFF has put the bullseye on education funding, both higher ed and K12, with the social justice boogeyman as the excuse.

The Idaho House killed a budget for K12 teacher pay. They also killed the higher ed budget. And the Federal Money from the Trump administration for preschool support got killed. Representative Shepherd (R-Riggins) said it clearly, when asked if he would support the Preschool grant. “And if I cannot educate them (the voters) on what the bill actually does in time, at this point it’s almost political suicide for me to support the bill.” I guess he’s not free to think for himself. He’s watching his Freedom Index.

Promoting good schools is a noble cause. I just don’t see the boogeyman the IFF has carted out for us. If Idaho legislators want to fight indoctrination, they should start thinking for themselves and not pandering to their Freedom Index.