Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Editor’s note: Is Tom McClintock for real? Check this out:

Over the email transom: Vote Notes from Tom McClintock’s Office.

Russ Steele

HR 1540 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012: NO.

I have one over-riding objection to this measure, which authorizes the Defense budget for the coming year: Section 1034 of the bill provides an unconstitutional and open-ended delegation of authority to the President to initiate hostilities with any country he alone determines is “associated” with al-Qaeda or the Taliban. The Constitution is explicit that only Congress has the authority to declare war, and the American Founders were quite clear that so monumental a decision should be reserved to the representatives of all the people and never left to a single individual.”

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A real, honest-to-goodness barbecue joint has opened on Hwy. 49 in North Auburn this past weekend — just in time for summer.

Hank’s Meat & Potatoes — “home of the finger-suckin’ good stuff” — offers ribs, chicken, pulled pork and tri-tips, as well as wood-grilled rib-eye steaks and burgers. A pulled-pork sandwich with a side goes for $6. Sides include potatoes hand cut the old-fashioned way into french fries (with the potato skin intact), as well as fresh cole slaw, baked beans and other items.

The smoker out front is custom-made. Hank’s is on Hwy. 49 at 25005 Shale Ridge Rd. in Auburn. Here’s a quick iPhone shot of the owner Jared and his smoker. (Hank, the restaurant’s namesake, “is in the car seat,” Jared told me).

Smokey’s Kitchen in Truckee also is a good rib house.

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Editor’s note: Henry Blodget, chief executive of Business Insider, has a sage financial analysis of the struggles faced by newspapers:

“Even if the paywall is wildly successful, it won’t stop the New York Times company from gradually shrinking into a shadow of its former self,” he writes.

“Why? Because of the old ‘digital dimes versus analog dollars’ problem. The digital business just has a very different revenue and cost structure than the print business, even when the digital business is wildly successful (as the New York Times’s is). And this problem, by the way, will continue to afflict all newspapers, not just the New York Times.”

He offers this example: “A Print Reader Is Worth 228X As Much As An Online Reader. The NYT collects an average of $879 of revenue per year for each print reader (wow!). This is composed of $434 of circulation revenue (subscription or newsstand) and $385 of advertising revenue. Online, meanwhile, before enacting the paywall, the company collected an average of $3.85 per year per average monthly unique user, all of which came from advertising.”

The rest of the article is here.

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“UTAH COUNTY — Tea party activists are getting involved in school board elections across the country, including here in Utah,” according to the Deseret News.

“Utah tea party organizer David Kirkham says most of the time, it’s more about being good citizens than victory for specific candidates.

‘”I really believe, and I think most tea partyers believe, if we have good people running for office and educate the voters, they will vote the right people into office,” he said. ‘Our schools will be better, our city councils will be better, our Legislature will be better — the whole state will be better for it.’

“Kirkham lives in Provo but says tea partyers got involved in the Alpine School District Board race last fall. A North Carolina school board got national attention when voters put in five conservative members to do away with socioeconomic policies they didn’t like.

“‘The goal is to have well-educated children. In order to have well-educated children we need well-educated voters and we need well-educated people running for those school board offices,’ Kirkham said.

“Kirkham says tea partyers he knows in Utah don’t have a specific agenda for school board elections.

The rest of the article is here.

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“Those who visit Central Square could see a new addition by fall,” according to the Auburn Journal.

“On Monday night the Auburn City Council approved a life-sized statue for one of the three pedestals in Central Square. The statue is scheduled to be a late 1800s male Nisenan Native American dancer and is being paid for the United Auburn Indian Community.

“Councilman Mike Holmes said he and Mayor Bill Kirby met with the UAIC April 25 to discuss two maquette designs and one was chosen to go on for City Council approval.

“Holmes said Wednesday he thinks representing the Nisenan people in Downtown Auburn is just another way to keep a piece of Auburn area history alive.

“’I think it is important that we recognize the Native American Nisenan people who were here before the Gold Rush and who, unfortunately, did not fare very well for many years,’ Holmes said.

‘”And now of course they are doing much better. I went to school with a number of tribal members many years ago, and as a native of Auburn I didn’t think too much about it other than they were just classmates and that sort of thing. So, I think this gives them some recognition, and also we are quite grateful to the tribal council for selecting a world-renowned sculptor to do the work.’

“Auburn artist Douglas Van Howd is crafting the piece.

“Auburn resident Tamala Satre said she thinks the statue will recognize an important part of the area’s past. ‘I think it’s going to be a very good addition,” Satre said. “I think we need a little more diversity here. There is a little more history to Auburn than gold mining that people don’t realize.”

The rest of the article is here.

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