Blog tools...

I really appreciate LeftyBlogs because--to be honest--I would either forget to check various Idaho blogs on a regular basis or I would keep checking and checking and the bloggers wouldn't have added anything since the last time I checked. I'd stop checking after a while and then later, I'd find a bunch of posts that I'd missed!!

If they fit the criteria of LeftyBlogs (over a few months old, subjects are mostly state and local liberal politics) and sign up for it, then I can get an update everytime I bring up my own blog. (You can see it also over on the left column.)

However, it still doesn't meet all of my needs:

• There are a couple of my favorite blogs who aren't listed on LeftyBlogs...
• People without blogs still have to remember to check blogs like mine that provide that information.

So, I found Feedblitz and plugged it into my blog. It doesn't solve my challenges with my favorite blogs (Alan, you are one of them!) where I try to remember to check on a regular basis for current updates -- but it does allow others to sign up for my updates, if they want to. Go all the way to the bottom of the page and you can subscribe to my feed there...

Maybe some of my favorites will also sign up for Leftyblogs AND Feedblitz? {They are both free...}

Protect Our Children...

The situation in northern Idaho has been a concern of many Idahoans. It doesn't help that the murderer/child rapist has been connected with a previous murder/rape of a child in California. If you haven't caught the MSNBC Datelines recently (where they caught online predators who thought they were meeting a 12yo or 13 yo boy or girl), you really should. You will see how many of them looked like our teachers, our priests (some WERE)... and you need to know that they are ALL someone's NEXT DOOR NIEGHBORS!! What is the most frightening is that many of these people are REPEAT offenders -- even if they only have been caught once! They leave looooong lines of victims in their past.

Thus said, I just had a NEW experience today. I put MY address in Family Watch Dog and discovered, to my SHOCK, that my new next door neighbor is a registered sex offender (for rape). I now need to decide how I should handle this, feel about this, and how to best protect my family while respecting his individual rights as well. I have to keep in mind that what he was convicted of MAY NOT mean that he is a threat to my family. But on the other hand, it might. I live in a small town, so I may be able to find out enough information to feel "safe". Or I may not. I don't know yet. I DO know that I am glad to be aware of my next door neighbor's status, as I have a teenage daughter as well as three young boys (my friend reminded me today that boys are at risk of pedophiles as well...).

Family Watch Dog Enter your address... you will then be directed to a map of your town/neighborhood with a little "house" icon at your address. All the little colored boxes are Sex Offenders, different colors = different offenses. Click on them and you get a name & picture of the person along with his crime.
Two other sites to be familiar with:
Idaho State Police Sex Offender Registry
National Sex Offender Registry


NOTE: I am not in ANY WAY supporting or encouraging or suggesting that the individuals listed below are harassed or intimidated etc. in any way. See below:

WARNING:
The information in the sex offender registries is provided only for the purpose of protecting the public. It is not to be used for the purpose of harassing or intimidating anyone. A person who uses registry information to commit a criminal act against another person is subject to arrest and prosecution under section 18-8326 or 18-8413, Idaho Code