Behind the Ad: GOP civil war battle lines are drawn in the Idaho 2nd Congressional District

By Richard K. Barry

Who: U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho)

Where: The Idaho 2nd Congressional District

What's going on: The district is solidly Republican, so this is all about the primary, and what a primary it is turning out to be. 

According to the Charlie Cook Report:

In 2014, Idaho's most fervent conservatives' long-simmering distrust of the consensus-building Simpson is set to boil over. And, because the May 2014 GOP primary has already turned into an all-out proxy war between the GOP's ideological purists like the Club for Growth and the Madison Project on one side and Speaker John Boehner and the Republican Main Street Partnership on the other, the results will have repercussions well beyond Idaho.

The hyper-conservative Club for Growth has already listed Simpson as one Republican they most want to beat in part because he is a close personal friend of House Speaker John Boehner, not to mention that he has been willing to actually get things done in Washington, a no-no for the crazy right. 

Idaho Falls attorney Bryan Smith is the anointed one for the Tea Party types and he has been attracting boat loads of outside cash in the hope that Rep. Simpson can be taught a lesson he'll never forget. 

Support for Simpson, on the other hand, will come from the part of the Republican base that is establishment oriented and business friendly and has had enough of Tea Party wack-jobbery. This will, of course, also include lots of outside money.

If you need more clarity on the distinction between the two, Smith was against Simpson's October 2013 vote with Democrats to end the 16-­day partial government shutdown and to raise the debt ceiling without any spending cuts.

Let the games begin. This is the real thing. 

Not surprisingly, in this ad, Mitt Romney (A.K.A. that guy who ran for president) comes down on the side of the establishment in his buttoned-down support of Rep. Simpson. 

Grade: Well, it has to be done, though the ad really defines the battle lines for anyone who wasn't sure. C

Stupidest Shithole in America: Dietrich, Idaho

By Michael J.W. Stickings

(It's our third entry in this new series. The first two were Nelson, Georgia and Mississippi.)

Maybe it's not fair to call a place a "shithole" simply because of the ignorant, moralizing stupidity of a few parents who object to the teaching of science and sex, but until this nonsense is done, this small "community with heart" in the south-central part of the state, roughly between Boise and Idaho Falls, qualifies for the title:

A high school science teacher in Idaho is under investigation by the state's professional standards commission because he reportedly used the word "vagina" during a biology lesson.

Tim McDaniel, who teaches 10th grade science at Dietrich School, told the Twin Falls Times-News that four parents were upset when they learned that his lesson included the word "vagina" and information about the biology behind female orgasm.

"I teach straight out of the textbook, I don't include anything that the textbook doesn't mention," McDaniel remarked. "But I give every student the option not attend this class when I teach on the reproductive system if they don't feel comfortable with the material."

Oh no! High school students learning about vaginas and orgasms! Ah, but no wonder: This is a part of the state with a heavy Mormon population. And of course Mormons have neither vaginas nor orgasms.

"[T]here are a couple people in the community that are trying to get Mr. McDaniel fired for teaching the reproductive system, climate change, and several other science subjects," students wrote. "All these subjects were taught from the book and in good taste. He cares for each of his students and goes the extra mile to help them all. Now is the time for us to help by supporting him!"

Well, the children are the future, and at least these nobly enlightenment-seeking examples of teendom don't want to live in a stupid shithole.

You're teaching them well, Mr. McDaniel.