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Friday, February 29, 2008

Trouble in the 'People's House'

Animal rights protestors are dragging the state into court again claiming state troopers violated their First Amendme

nt rights. Utah Animal Rights Coalition was barred from holding signs outside the House chambers in support of an anti-animal cruelty bill.

Their attorney, Brian Barnard, says capitol security is violating its own recently re-written rules to allow free speech at the Capitol —

The green-coated security folks, the Capitol Preservation Board and the UHP in dress uniforms at the Capitol are enamored with their own power. Legislators will talk to lobbyists in expensive three piece suits, but do not want to see nor hear 'the great unwashed' nor the plebeians who use posters and protests to communicate.

Barnard is asking a federal judge for a temporary restraining order to allow protests during the last few days of the legislative session.

Buy your lawmaker a beer

Beer drinkers around the country are stunned by the Utah Legislature's openess to allowing 200 gallons of beer to be home brewed without a license or tax. BeerBlog says:

This is getting out of hand. You know there is an anti-Pigovian tidal wave out there when the state of Utah is considering dropping an important fee related to beer.

Still, BeerBlog is disturbed that the proposed law's wording, "personal or family use and consumption; or an organized event where fermented alcoholic beverages are judged as to taste and quality," could bar sharing a homebrew with friends.

Born to be mild

Bonneville, a movie filmed in Utah, opens this weekend offering something extraordinary — Mormon characters who are not creepy, sanctimounious, polygamous or, even, overly earnest.

Matt Zoller Seitz of the NYTimes give Bonneville a positive review as "Thelma and Louise in first gear." Widow Arvilla Holden (Jessica Lange) and her two best friends take to the road in a '66 convertible with an urn of ashes.

As it happens, Carol, Margene, Arvilla and many other major characters are devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The film’s screenwriter, Daniel D. Davis, and its director, Christopher N. Rowley, treat their characters’ faith as a given — as merely one characteristic among many. It’s the Mormon flip side of a typical Hollywood movie set in a world in which no one ever mentions God, prays or enters a house of worship. The movie’s no-fuss treatment of religion is as deft as it is unexpected.

When a hunky hitchhiker and the women separate, one offers him her Book of Mormon. He refuses it. He already has two.

For the local take, read the Trib's Sean Means' review here, or the DNews' Jeff Vice's here.

Royalty: UK vs. Utah

Pondering England's bad-boy Prince Harry's tour of duty in Afghanistan, Allison Kilkenny at the Huffington Post reminds us that despite their dad's vocal support of the Iraq War, Mitt Romney's kids haven't enlisted.

Romney says his kids were serving the nation by helping him get elected president. If you remember, Mitt got walloped and "suspended" that campaign, so the kids must be at loose ends. (Josh, of course, may be running for Congress.)

Says Kilkenny: He showed himself to be a racially insensitive, wildly out-of-touch corporatist, who thinks so little of the serfs crammed into Iraqi desert bunkers that he compared his sons campaigning for his pathetic presidential run to soldiers serving in the armed forces. Mitt Romney compared his sons riding in his air-conditioned bus with the service and sacrifice of soldiers. He did so with a straight face, despite almost 4,000 bodies having arrived back home (an increasing number of them suicides), plus anywhere from 23,000 to 100,000 wounded, and approximately 80,000 Iraqi civilian deaths from violence, which is a conservative estimate.

Wow. If you would like to read more of Kilkenny's screed, go here. If you want to read the words of Prince Harry's famous bad-boy predecessor to his band of brothers, go here.

What about the droppings?

Finally, a Mormon blog that tackles the theological questions we really care about — such as, what happens to our pets when they die?

"This might seem like a silly topic but I have never heard about a position from the Church on what happens to animals when they pass on," asks JcDean78.
"Are animals,like dogs, simply organic machines that are here to be with us while on earth only or since they are alive do they too continue on in some way?"

A lively discussion follows. InTheArmsofSleep offers solace, "We'll be reunited with our animals just as we will be with our family members in the afterlife. I know they have spirits, and I know

they are innocent."

It might comfort JcDean78 to hear what my Mormon mother-in-law (she's actually the mother of my ex, but Ms-in-L are forever) told her grandchildren after one of our cats checked out. The righteous, she promised, will be reunited with all their pets at the "Rainbow Bridge" in Heaven.

I guess I've read too much Stephen King and Ambrose Bierce, but that scares the heck out of me. I dream of all those hampsters, hermit crabs, goldfish and pill bugs that will be laying in wait under the Rainbow Bridge — and wake up screaming.

Utah's special county

From its perch at the top of the state, the Ogden Standard-Examiner offers a theory on "why the rest of the Beehive State tends to remark unflatteringly about so-called Happy Valley."

In a nutshell, Utah County's image problem is due to leaders like — Sen. Margaret Dayton, the Standard-Examiner says.

At issue is her ignorance and accompanying willingness to kill additional funding for the International Baccalaureate program in various Utah schools.

The Orem Republican crushed the unanimously supported House bill because she was handed an Eagle Forum tract that claims IB propagandizes for one-world government.

The temptation is to hoot over such paranoia. Except it isn't funny -- these people run state government. Dayton, as we noted, chairs the Senate Education Committee, yet apparently knows nothing about the International Baccalaureate program except the unfounded rumors she's been fed by other people and organizations that are equally clueless about it.

Update: Dayton has apol0gized to IB students and their parents "for not being more appropriate in my comments in committee," after Gov. Jon Huntsman (a son in IB) and others came out in support of the program. Sponsor Rep. Carol Spackman Moss said the bill was salvaged after she talked to "wiser, more reasonable people . . . who realized it would be an embarrassment to our state if that story went national."

The program is set to receive $100,000, but it's too late to stop the story from going national.

Teaching the indie biz

Tallahassee.com reports that Geoffrey Gilmore, the director of the Sundance Film Fest for the past 18 years, has accepted a position on the faculty of Florida State University's film school as filmmaker in residence.

FSU's film school dean Frank Patterson made the surprise announcement yesterday at the Seven Days of Opening Nights art festival. He said Gilmore will return to FSU several times a year to discuss the business of film.

Gilmore discussed the challenges independent directors face in getting their films distributed. He told the festival audience:

Getting the films to you guys is the hard part. Finding visibility for a film is crucial. ... Word of mouth doesn't exist any more. The films can't stay in the theaters long enough for you to catch them. They're there one week and gone the next. So trailers have become very important. You have to have a good trailer.

Leavitt's deadline

Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt has gone on to greater depths as Bush's health secretary.

Lawmakers (even Republicans) say they will bring a contempt citation against Mikey if he doesn't cough up information in an investigation into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Leavitt promised to resolve the issue. "I feel confident."

The House Energy and Commerce Committee wants documents and interviews with certain FDA employees into whether officials gave bogus testimony on a dangerous antibiotic, Ketek.

Now, re-elect the bums...

The Salt Lake Tribune editorial page eviscerates the Utah Legislature today — accusing lawmakers of power grabbing, bullying and pandering to special interests. Did I leave out hate mongering? It hits that too.

If anyone in Utah still believes that there's nothing rotten in the state of Utah's legislative branch, then they haven't been paying attention for a long, long time. Perhaps they'd rather hold to the belief that their lawmakers are as ethical and honorable as they keep claiming they are. Well, many of them aren't, folks, and we take no pleasure in saying so.

It does a citizen's heart good to see a newspaper breath fire and righteous indignation — something all too rare in Utah. Read it to your children.

What finally set the Trib editorial writers off was the revelation that Senate President John Valentine had covered up an ethical breach by Sen. Chris Buttars (unrelated to his habitual hate mongering) until it finally seeped out, like flatulence, in news reports.

Basically, Buttars, hoping to help a pal, used his Senate position to try to influence a judge. But Judge Derek Pullan turned out to have that combination of ethics and intelligence that confounds political hacks.

I have a quibble with the editorial — and all so-called "house" editorials. It bugs me that newspaper opinions are not signed by somebody. If you're curious, here's the opinionated passle of op-ed writers led by Vern Anderson.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Bennett crosses to McCain

Sen. Bob Bennett, an early supporter of ex-presidential candidate Mitt Romney, says John McCain "won the Republican nomination fair and square," and has embraced his fellow senator.

Apparently Mitt doesn't hold out hope that McCain will be tripped up by news media allegations of cavorting with lobbyists, and has released Bennett.

In any case, Utah's junior senator says it's time Mike Huckabee to toss in the towel:

John McCain deserves the time to unite the party and prepare for the battle in November rather than being distracted by a candidate that hopes lightning will strike even though the thunderstorm has since moved on.

A bolt out of the blue may be exactly what is keeping Huckabee in the race. Although it's "mathematically impossible" for Mike to overtake McCain in convention delegates, the former Baptist minister likes to say he's "a miracle kind of guy."

In a blog item, titled "John McCain May Be Screwed: And it has nothing to do with a lobbyist named Vicki..." The New Republic says that miracle may be coming, in the form of some botched campaign financing.

Or how about this bolt of lighting in The New York Times.

Mr. McCain’s likely nomination as the Republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a “natural-born citizen” can hold the nation’s highest office.

Capitol color

At a hearing on a proposal to ban domestic-partner registries this morning, Sen. Curt Bramble cut off SLC Mayor Ralph Becker at the two-minute limit. Bramble graciously let Becker finish his sentence, then joked that the mayor's pile of documents had given him a scare. He thought Becker "was going to be filibuster on the bill."

Everyone chuckled, except Sen. Scott McCoy, standing in a far corner of the room. The Senate's only openly gay member had his own one-liner response to Bramble's filibustering joke:

"Not yet."

Soon after, Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka gave her predictable speech about the city's domestic partner registry being a threat to America. For the occasion, Gayle wore a gun-metal blue patriotic-themed sweater, complete with a colonial American flag across the back. On closer examination, it appears the quilter was no Betsy Ross — Ol' Glory only has eight stars.

The United States had 13 original colonies, as any International Baccalaureate student can tell you. So why eight stars? It's all too clear.
The stars, I suggest, represent the Chicago Eight, who were charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot in connection with the 1968 Democratic National Convention that brought about the end of Democratic control of the White House.

Or maybe Gayle had run out of white gingham.

Updated with new photo.

$17 dreadful

If you haven't gotten a gutful of polygamy from the Tribune, DNews and "Big Love," then here's guaranteed satiation: a tome about Warren Jeffs' clan.

Inside the World of Warren Jeffs, by author Dr. Carole A. Western, takes the reader inside Short Creek, two nearby communities in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., where the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) leader ruled until his arrest and conviction in the fall of 2007 as an accomplice in the rape of a 14-year-old girl.

Western follows the lives of young women "enslaved in Short Creek," says the publicity release, and exposes with lots of exclamation points how they were "coerced into virtual servitude and forced into unwanted pregnancies by the "husbands" they were ordered to marry."

The few men and women who manage against great odds to escape, tell tales of deprivation, starvation and beatings, but does anyone really listen?

No penny dreadful exploitation here, no siree.

Western, above, is an English teacher who moved to Southern Utah, according to the book's publicity. "It took seven years, death threats and undercover visits to Short Creek to glean information for her book."

Targeting the "elites"

The Salt Lake City Weekly is profiling Utah Minuteman Project commander Eli Cawley this week. If you think the group doesn't like illegal immigrants, you are missing the point, Cawley tells City Weekly:

Our trouble isn’t with the people, it’s with the elites in our state. Those [companies] who just think about their economic advantage or the churches that are just trying to put more butts in their pews—I don’t have any desire to come together with them, as far as I’m concerned they’re the enemy.

Cawley, who is married to an Asia woman who legally immigrated, says his epiphany came when his son was attending a diversity assembly and was given a North Vietnamese flag to w

ave. "That’s when I decided there was something wrong in Zion.”

Cawley says that the dozen proposals on immigration working their way through the Legislature is proof the movement's goals have been widely embraced in Utah. “We’ve just had an amazing outpouring of support on this issue. It warms my heart.”
Update: A colleague points out that the flag of North Vietnam is now the flag of modern Vietnam (a U.S. trading partner), which includes the former U.S. ally South Vietnam.

America can get complicated

Mormon hybrids are in the news.

The Palestinian-Mormon hybrid Aron Kader, part of a comedy entourage called "Axis of Evil," does standup on the challenges growing up with Mormons and Arabs in the family. He says at the age of 19, he was asked by his Mormon relatives to go on a mission.

"To an Arab, a mission's a whole different thing. We don't come back from those."

Connecticut's Fairfield University Mirror reports the audience there "roared with laughter at Kader's predicament." For more Axis of Evil humor go here.

On a tragic note, California Rep. Tom Lantos, former chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, died earlier this month. The only Holocaust survivor elected to Congress, Lantos was fiercely pro-Israel.

He was also married to a Mormon.

Lantos' wife, Annette, also a survivor, had converted to Mormonism and his daughters Katrina and Annette were reared Mormon.

The Jewish Ledger in Connecticut addresses the Lantos families' faiths:

In Jewish Washington, it was the fraught and thorny question that inevitably came up in discussions about Tom Lantos: What about the Mormon thing?

The Ledger reports Lantos' secular Jewish ethos was unswayed by his wife's embrace of the LDS Church.

"Tom didn't believe in God in the way that most of us do," she said at the service in the U.S. Capitol building.

His daughter, Annette, explained that Lantos was a man of "profound faith," then listed his beliefs: in the U.S. Constitution, in education, in friendship, in the responsibility to change the world for the better. But, she said, he didn't believe in God. Lantos admired his wife's beliefs, but would not embrace them: "He had faith in the sustaining power of her faith in spirituality."

What would Cheney do?

For the week's whackiest story, the Tribune reports that a sales manager is accused of waterboarding an employee to motivate the sales team. Really.

Not even the British version of "The Office" would attempt this plot line — it's too far fetched.
In the words of the Trib's Erin Alberty:

A supervisor at a motivational coaching business in Provo is accused of waterboarding an employee in front of his sales team to demonstrate that they should work as hard on sales as the employee had worked to breathe. In a lawsuit filed last month, former Prosper, Inc. salesman Chad Hudgens alleges his managers also allowed the supervisor to draw mustaches on employees' faces, take away their chairs and beat on their desks with a wooden paddle "because it resulted in increased revenues for the company."

Company president Dave Ellis responded that the allegation "sensationalized" his methods, which would appear to also include humiliation and fear.

As the CIA's "motivational consultants" would advise: As long as you don't cause organ failure, it's probably OK.

Black Cougars

The Deseret News reports — superficially — on the trials of 158 blacks among the 30,000 students enrolled at Brigham Young University.

Niiboi Amertev from Ghana, told the DNews that he feels white people in Utah obviously don't feel comfortable around him. "Actions speak louder than words."

Barima Kwarteng a computer engineering major from Ghana, says most people at BYU "think I'm here to play sports."

The students also said they don't appreciate the folklore spread by seminary teachers regarding blacks in the church, such as blacks were punished with the color of their skin because they "sat on the fence," or weren't fully committed to Christ in the pre-mortal life.

Such folklore is not supposed to be taught in the seminary program, says Thomas R. Valletta, director of the Church Education System curriculum.

Says Catherine Spruill, a black Cougar, says:
"People make ignorant remarks. They're not worth remembering. We've been commanded to forgive. The easiest way to forgive something is to forget about it."

Domestic partners, Round 2

Blogging from the Utah Legislature...

A fundamental battle between Salt Lake City and the Legislature reopened today with Sen. Greg Bell presenting a revised bill in committee that would bar SLC from creating a domestic partner registry.

Bell, of course, replaced the controversy dogged Sen. Chris Buttars as sponsor of the sensitive bill that would have impact on gay families.

Bell's changes makes the crux of the issue semantic. Mayor Ralph Becker wants the city to be consistent with governments nationwide in using the term "domestic partnership."

But those two words give the heebie-jeebies to conservative Utahns, who fear SLC's registry is a step toward sanctifying gay unions.

" 'Domestic partnership' in Utah, with some people, has become a loaded term," Becker explained later. "For Utah to be scared of that term, when it is the common term across the country, is a bit odd."

Odd or not, Bell's bill was approved by the the committee along party lines — the Democrats voted against it. Sen. Gene Davis and others want the bill to include a provision guaranteeing hospital visitation rights for financially interdependent adults (i.e. domestic partners). "This bill still needs a lot of work," Davis says.

Meanwhile, Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson says she'll push for healthcare benefits for unmarried employees, including gays, as soon as the session ends.

(In photo, failed congressional candidate LaVar Christensen speaks against the bill. Behind LaVar is ventriloquist Ruzicka. If you look closely you can almost see her lips move.)

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Booze news

Gov. Jon Huntsman's brinkmanship with the Legislature apparently paid off today. Sen. Curt Bramble blinked and the Senate passed a compromise liquor bill that would require alcopops be sold in state liquor stores — but adds a provision increasing the size of a shot in drinks served in bars and restaurants.

It's some sort of Utah lawmaker calculus. Huntsman had made it clear he would veto Brambo's bill to remove hard lemonade, etc. from grocery shelves if the state's liquor laws weren't "normalized"— in this case Huntsman meant increasing a regulation "shot" from 1 ounce to 1.5 ounce.

Meanwhile, a another bill making its way through the Legislature would repeal the li

censing requirement for small-time home brewers. As it stands, it costs hundreds of dollars in license and application fees to legally homebrew beer.

Whoa, before you start barricading the windows — just like you, virtually no one has bothered to buy the state license. Nevertheless, the House approved a measure that would allow amateurs to brew up to 100 gallons of beer annually without a license. Wait a minute (...100 x 128... carry the 1...≠ 24...) — that's only 44 cases of brewski, barely enough to get an average family through a U. tailgate season! Consider boarding up the windows.

Utah's autobahn

With any luck, we'll be subjected to the most boring stretch of highway outside of Nebraska for a shorter period of time.

A proposal in the Senate would allow UDOT to increase the speed limit on I-15 between Nephi and Cedar City from 75 mph to 80 mph... and beyond. (Why dawdle? If it weren't for that three-legged cow near Scipio, there'd be nothing to see.)

The proposal, which would require UDOT study some minutiae like fatalities, environmental impact and "roadway geometry," would give Utah one of the highest speed limits in the country.

I say, let's go for the highest speed limit. How about "SPEED LIMIT: Same as Bonneville Salt Flats"? Or visualize a sign that says, "MACH 1, Daddy-O."

Utah is in last place for teacher pay, student spending and nightlife — hell, let's be in first place for something.

Huntsman lines up with SLC

Even with a new sponsor and an overhaul, Sen. Chris Buttars' bill to shoot down Salt Lake City's domestic-partnership registry is running to opposition, this time in high places.

Gov. Jon Huntsman, as usual, eschewing fire-in-the-belly rhetoric, told the Tribune attempts by the state to control a city is inappropriate.

"I'm not sure that the state has a place overreaching or micromanaging what is done at the local-government level," the eloquent Huntsman says. The registry probably is consistent with state law, he says, leaving it to city officials "to do what they want to do."

After Buttars' bent everyone out of shape this month with homophobic and racially insensitive comments, the Senate put Sen. Greg Bell in charge of drafting a new version of the measure.

The refurbished bill has yet to see light, but Huntsman says unless it is significantly different than Buttars', it probably won't reach his desk to be vetoed.

It could be worse

The Tribune reports that, as dismal as it may seem, Utah's real estate market is the best in the country.

In a report released Tuesday by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Utah is No. 1 among all states in home-price appreciation, from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the same period in 2007, with a 9.27 percent gain. It is the state's fifth consecutive quarter in the top spot.

"We do have a lot of inventory, which has caused prices to have flattened," says the Salt Lake Board of Realtors' Bill Heiner. "But we're still doing well."

For that, thank Utah's continued job and population growth and low unemployment.

Roz McGee won't re-up

Rep. Roz McGee told her fellow Democrats today she will not seek re-election.

During three terms, Roz has made her North Carolina accent heard on tax reform, environmentalism, ethics and common sense at the Legislature. Unfortunately, she is in the minority and, as you may have noticed, little has improved in those areas — especially the last. As a reporter, I have seen McGee, unruffled, subjected to flat-out rude behavior by the majority party.

“Representing House District 28 here on Salt Lake City’s east bench has been a rare privilege because it is a neighborhood of folks heavily engaged in community and education leadership,” says McGee.

It's too soon to say who the Democrats will run to replace McGee, but a possible Republican contender will be Frank Mylar, a lawyer who has made his name crusading against gay-rights measures. Mylar, one of Eagle Forum president Gayle Ruzicka's many finger puppets, is basically the Anti-Roz. Putting the two in proximity could explode the time-space continuum.

So much for suspense

For all you conspiratologists out there who have been warning that electronic voting machines, Utah's Diebold's touch screens in particular, are the end of democracy as we know it — check out this news item on The Onion, shout "I told you so" and high five your 35 cats.

The Onion reports that due to a "minor software glitch" thousands of Diebold voting machines have released the winner of the 2008 election months early to the consternation of "the group of military and corporate leaders who have chosen every American president since Eisenhower."

Best person-on-the-street quote:

"If you can't trust your shadowy overlords to keep a secret, what is the purpose, really?"

Enter the ethics-free zone

A KSL- Deseret News poll finds that three in four Utahns are ready for ethics reform in the Legislature.

But what the people think has never had much effect on the Utah Legislature. Still, after Sen. Chris Buttars' shenanigans, one would hope that GOP leaders might be open to a tweak or two in the ethics code.

Buttars has done the favoritism fandango all over the ethics rule stating: "Members of the Senate or House shall not exercise undue influence on any government entity." The senator, who was head of the judicial screening committee, scolded a state judge for not ruling in favor of a Buttars buddy.

It takes three senators, however, to sign a letter to trigger an ethics investigation. Because Buttars has yet to light fire to the Capitol, murder someone or designate a wilderness — that's not likely to happen.

Rep. Roz McGee, who sponsored legislation this session to create an independent ethics commission, told the Tribune the Buttars case makes her point.

"Part of the value of establishing an independent ethics commission is reminding elected officials and the public that where vigilance is needed, there would be a place to take problems and complaints."

Of course, McGee's a Democrat and a woman to boot, so her commission is DOA.

House Minority Leader Brad King laments to the DNews that Democrats have run reform bills for years. "But with the exception of a few innocuous and ineffective changes, nothing passed."

Meanwhile, somebody keeps electing these guys.

On the Cirquette

The Defamer gives Utah's Cirque Lodge a bad review: "Eva Mendes latest victim of Cirque Lodge's non-miraculous healing power."

The Defamer alleges that after spending several weeks at the Sundance-based treatment center for a "substance abuse" problem, Mendes checked out on February 7th (passing Kirsten Dunst in the turnstile). Eva was soon back on the party circuit.

But Eva's not the only Cirque alum who hasn't quite kicked whatever habit they went in there with; illustrious fellow Cirque-ers include David Hasselhoff, Mary-Kate Olsen, Richie Sambora and our favorite topless "art" model, Lindsay Lohan. So how well did each of these stellar examples of tip top health fare after leaving the Lodge, sober certificate in hand? From hamburgers to hoovering powder on the beach, the verdict is in.

Maybe Eva missed the most critical part of the cure: a shopping adventure in Orem. On the other hand, that could hurl the most determined twelve-stepper off the wagon.

Measuring Mormonism

The Pew Religious Landscape Survey is a religion researcher's dream — a mountain of statistics that theology wonks are just beginning to mine.

LatterdayMainStreet used it to discover that the replacement rate of the Mormon Church has dropped to 80% in the United States. For those who don't do math, it means that for every five Americans who leave Mormonism, four new converts join the Church.

If that number were correct, and that is what the evidence says, it would indicate a substantial demographic challenge for LDS leaders and the Mormon community.

J. Nelson-Seawright digs into the study to argue that in the U.S., Mormonism is "no longer a missionary religion."

U.S. Mormonism now has the demographic profile of an established intergenerational church more than a missionary one.

Lamentably, the Pew study didn't survey the number of angels dancing on the head of a pin.

Buttargate

Though it's a horrible headline cliche, "Buttargate" does sum up what's going on at the Legislature. (And it rolls smoothly off the tongue.)

Long before Sen. Chris Buttars was busily offending blacks, gays and anyone with post-Attila the Hun politics, he was bringing his trademark brand of arrogance to the judicial system.

The Tribune's Robert Gehrke reports that Senate leaders have known since last summer that Buttars wrote a letter on Senate letterhead castigating a state judge who had the temerity to rule against a pal. But Senate President Valentine, lest he breach decorum, let Buttars continue to run the committee that screens judges.

It wasn't until after the Tribune reported on the letter and the Bar Association rose up in rage that Valentine canned Buttars.

Buttars' pal, land developer Wendell Gibby, told the DNews that Valentine approved the letter. "It would seem odd to me that Valentine would sack him for something he approved."

Valentine, who has ambitions of someday being governor, is in hiding. He issued a statement late yesterday that Buttars' letter was an exercise of the senator's First Amendment rights. Earlier, he claimed he had no idea of the letter's contents.

A couple weeks ago, I was lamenting that it was an exceptionally boring Lege session. Then Buttars opened his mouth —bless his lilywhite heart.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Homework for teachers

Even though public school supporters last year stomped out the Legislature's attempt to set up an educational voucher program, the stompers apparently still want some payback.

Utahns for Public Schools is calling on its supporters to prepare for their neighborhood caucuses.

Thousands of volunteers reached out to their communities, educated their families, friends, and neighbors, and stood up to elected officials who had forgotten who they are supposed to represent. ... To encourage continued citizen involvement in state and local government, Utahns for Public Schools offers a new informational section on our website: Countdown to Caucus.

Being good educators, the anti-voucher web site has links to everything you ever wanted to know about caucusing, conventioneering and running for office. In fact, pro-voucher people might want to read it and they are more likely to show up at caucuses.

You can almost hear the voice of your first-grade teacher on the site:

Follow the links to learn how you can really make a difference in state government and influence education policy. Here's a hint: It takes more than voting, and it starts long before November!

How about a gold star for everyone who helps take out House Speaker Greg Curtis!

Buttars' funny Valentine

The Tribune's Paul Rolly blogs today on the ongoing tango of Chris Buttars with Utah Senate leaders.

Rolly has already written about Buttars' scathing letter (on Senate letterhead) to a state judge on behalf of a campaign contributer and erstwhile land developer. Senate President John Valentine took away Buttars control of the Judiciary Confirmation Committee. Just a coincidence, I'm sure.

But Buttars, he of the gaping pie hole, has been telling people that Valentine approved the letter.

With the Bar in an uproar about Buttars' judge squeezing, Valentine has been forced to explain through his mouthpiece that, yes, he did tell Buttars he could write to the judge. But Valentine claims he never knew the letter would contain ugly stuff.

Nice try, Val. But Chris Buttars asking you if it would be all right to mail a letter to a judge, is like Mark Hofmann asking you for permission to send a package to a friend. In either case, anyone with an IQ the size of their hat band knows there's something explosive inside.

Send a copy to Bonzo

It's up to the governor now. On his desk is a bill that would make Feb. 6, 2008 "Ronald Reagan Day."

Yes, 2/6/02 was three weeks ago.... so what's your point? It's still a nice thing to do for the Gipper.

Because of various legislative hangups, Utah's lawmakers were not able to pass until now the resolution that "encourages Utahns to participate" in celebrating Reagan's birth. If you want the ugly details, go here.

The resolution, a sort of late birthday card, will be sent to former first lady Nancy Reagan— that is if and when Huntsman signs it. The Gipper isn't getting any younger, you know.

Government seal of approval

Yet another Big Bro' measure is emerging from Utah's Legislature. It's no surprise that in HB407 common sense, business friendliness and privacy take the backseat to good ol' porno-fighting.

Sponsored by Utah County's Rep. Mike Morley the proposal would require the state's Consumer Protection agency to issue a "seal of approval" to Internet providers who promise to block access to nasty material. If the ISP accepts this smut-fighter seal, it could be fined up to $10,000 if porno slips through.

"It's a positive thing for those who are looking for a site that is dedicated to fighting pornography," says Morley.

Maybe, but it makes XMission's Pete Ashdown crazy. On his blog, he calls it "another sweet gem of ignorance" from the Lege.

Where it gets fun is how it asks the ISP to voluntarily give up the 4th Amendment protection of its customers. Line 85 reads, “cooperate with any law enforcement agency by providing records sufficient to identify a customer if the law enforcement agency requests the information and supplies reasonable proof that a crime has been committed using the Internet service provider’s service”. It says nothing of reasonable proof being determined by a judge and thusly issuing a court order. ...
XMission has always taken the stand that if you want customer information you’re going to need a court order. This act asks us to discard that stance in order to use a “seal” in our marketing. ... No thanks.

Candice Daly, representing the American Electronics Association, tried to dissuade the House committee from approving the bill, saying the companies she represents, including Google and Yahoo, "don't see themselves as signing up for this seal."

Jarvik rows into the sunset

Rob Jarvik, the genius behind Utah's mechanical heart, won't be peddling Lipitor pills in the future.

Pfizer's Jarvik spots came under fire from Congress as misleading advertising, forcing the company to cancel the $258 million campaign. Although Jarvik, a researcher, has a medical degree, he is not a cardiologist and was never licensed to practice medicine.

One television ad depicted Jarvik as an ace in sculling and had him rowing across a lake. Unfortunately, the ad used a body double for the Rob, who does not row.

Another ad shows a younger man calling for "Dad," to join him in a run. Reportedly, the man is not Jarvik's son.

Pfizer’s president of worldwide drug operations, Ian Read, said:

"Going forward, we commit to ensuring there is greater clarity in our advertising regarding the presentation of spokespeople.”

Orrin Hatch and Chris Cannon can't last forever and Utah's supplement industry, which faces few advertising constraints, will be looking for a credible spokesman.

Hey Rob, it's time to start chugging XanGo.

Mission possible

The 142nd Military Intelligence Battalion has the questionable honor of being the first Utah Guard unit to leave families and jobs to do a second combat tour since 9/11. The 300 Utahns are going to Afghanistan after they finish additional training.

Few citizen-soldiers are delighted about going overseas, but Commander Derek Tolman says he saw his men's morale soar when they heard what they would be doing.

"The biggest thing was that our mission is predictable," Tolman told the Tribune's Matt LaPlante. "That's unlike Iraq, where we trained for a mission that we never ended up doing."

In their deployment to Iraq in 2003, the 142nd's morale sagged under boredom. "There is no need for us to be here...," a veteran e-mailed LaPlante.

In Afghanistan, the unit will do what it has trained for — collect intelligence and help hunt insurgents. They will do final training along side the unit they are replacing, before taking over.

Enter the Veepstakes

Gov. Jon Huntsman says continuing speculation that he will be Sen. John McCain's running mate is "parlor games."

"If it is mentioned, it is only in the sense of people using it in a humorous way," the guv says.

But, as any Utahn knows, parlor games are fun! And I want my turn.

Reasons for Huntsman to accept a VP offer:

Higher national profile. (Foundation for a future senate or presidential run.)
Though he's been immensely popular as Utah's governor, the guv's had historic budget surpluses with which to frolic. But Utah's economy is going down the crapper and ugly decisions lay ahead. Might be a good time for Jon to leave 'em laughin'.

Reasons against a McCain-Huntsman ticket jelling:

After eight years of Bush, any Republican is going to lose. With McCain, who brings advanced age, tired policies and a potential lobbyist-scandal into the mix, it could be real bad. Jon's not stupid.
Mitt Romney has proven a Mormon (even a non-robotic, personable one like the Guv) doesn't bring anything to a ticket. McCain's not stupid.
If McCain should win, he might offer Jon the ambassadorship to China during a historic period.

Put me down for: It won't happen. See, the Veep game is easy and fun!

News flash: Mormons have lotsa kids

Here's a non-surprise to anyone who has waded through the toddler-tide at Salt Lake Airport — Mormons have the biggest families in the United States.

Yes, indeed, an expensive Pew survey found that LDS folk have the largest families in America. Second place goes to Muslims.

Here are more no-really? results of the survey:

Members of the LDS Church have the most children living at home.
Mormons also lead in households with three children — 12 percent — double the national average.
The national average of families with no children is 68 percent. But among the LDS members surveyed, it's only 51 percent, the smallest proportion of any group surveyed.
More LDS members, 76 percent, live in the West than in the rest of the country combined.
Utah has the highest proportion Mormons, but it's dropped to 58 percent of the state's population. (Less than 60 percent? That is surprising.)
LDS represent 2 percent of all Americans to 51 percent protestant faiths.

Woodshed for Buttars

The last couple days should give heart to citizens who think they have no voice at the Legislature.

After Chris Buttars made outrageously racially insensitive remarks in the Senate, the NAACP called, citizens wrote letters to the editors, bloggers raged and students read protest poems in the Rotunda. Still, it seemed the senator would ride out not only the "black baby" controversy and earlier homophobic remarks, but an unrelated revelation that he had used his position to attempt to pressure a judge to rule in favor of a campaign supporter.

It seemed business as usual in the Utah Legislature.

But Sunday, Buttars appeared at Calvary Baptist Church and apologized face-to-face with many of the people he had hurt.

Monday, the senator suffered the belated wrath of GOP senators. Though they supported Buttars publicly, some say privately Buttars' behavior had brought disgrace upon the entire Senate. Senate President John Valentine stripped Buttars of his chairmanship of the Judicial Confirmation Committee.

House Speaker Greg Curtis had already made it clear that Buttars' bill to prevent Salt Lake City from offering a domestic partner registry was not welcome in his body as long as Buttars' name was attached. Now, the bill has been taken over by another senator and rewritten. It's future still is uncertain.

As far as having any impact on Buttars, the man — that's a different story. Remember the throwback who speechified: "This baby is black, I'll tell you. This is a dark and ugly thing," then described those who complained as a "hate lynch mob" and "those people"? Monday, Buttars described his reception by the Calvary Baptists to the DNews thus:

"There must have been 30 or so ladies that gave me a hug and wanted a picture with me. Which I found a little shocking. They're a wonderful people."

Monday, February 25, 2008

Mitt II?

It's been primary season with enough ups, downs and come from behinds to make a decent television series. The plot thickened yet again when we heard of John McCain's alleged romantic entanglement with a Washington lobbyist (Apparently, according to the NYTimes, he's entang

led with many lobbyists, but was romancing only one.)

Now, Josh Romney tells the LATimes it's "possible" his father may jump back in the race either as a VP candidate or even presidential, if McCain is tripped up by the NYTimes allegations. Further contradictions to McCain's denials have turned in other media. Romney holds sway over about 300 delegates.

Meanwhile, Josh Romney has floated his own plans for a possible challenge to Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson.

Tougher times ahead

Utah likes to see itself as unique and different (in a good way) from the rest of the nation. You've heard the bunk. Utahns help their neighbors in disasters, unlike other Americans. People in Zion are more ethical and moral and love their kids more than folks out there. Finally, the state's economy — diverse, retooled for the global economy and lousy with entrepreneurs — is immune to the recession trashing the rest of the country.

The New York Times, with the curiosity of nerds poking at a bug in a bottle, probed Utah's newly reported economic downturn. Apparently, the chamber of commerce, the guv and Utah lawmakers were wrong about the state being different.

Single-family housing permits issued in Utah fell 32 percent in December, the steepest one-month decline since 1980
Sales of existing homes plummeted, off nearly 34 percent in the fourth quarter of last year — the sixth worst record in the nation.
Job growth projections for 2008 were recently cut by a third.
New housing starts are expected to fall nearly 60 percent in Utah in 2008, a worse hit than Nevada or Arizona, which have become national symbols of the housing mess.

The dismal picture of boarded-up, foreclosed houses that can be seen in places like Las Vegas or Riverside, Calif., would not happen here, business leaders said with a touch of smugness, because Utah, marching to its own fiscally prudent drummer, had not overbuilt. — NYTimes.
“We’re no longer insulated,” Pamela S. Perlich, a senior research economist at the University of Utah, told the NYTimes. “Utah still has a special story, but it got blurred by the engine of economic growth.”

Still, the Times analysis holds out hope: "Utah does not have the same magnitude of problems that other states are facing, and if history is a measure it will weather a recession better than many other regions."

Orem's red carpet

According to the Popsugar, Kirsten Dunst was permitted a shopping trip away from the Cirque Lodge treatment center in Sundance.

But Target? Next time, Spidergal, check out the Macey's in Orem for local color and great deals! The food storage section is to die for. You can win Jake back with a pallet of #10 cans of pinto beans.

Popsugar takes a catty shot at Dunst's outfit. "...fingers crossed this Cirque legging trend doesn't develop into a full-on habit like it did for [Lindsay] Lohan after her time there. Maybe it's something in the Utah water?"

Note to Kirsten: If you want to really want to lose the paparzzi in Orem, stub out that gasper and don a denim jumper.

Winged things

The Daily Kos probes at length Utah Sen. Margie Dayton's attack on the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. Dayton successfully cut off additional funding to the esteemed high school program, alleging "they promote the U.N. agenda."

In response to angry e-mails, Dayton's intern sent out a form response that says "Senator Dayton's concerns with the IB program result from information she has received from the Education Reporter."

The dKos blogger ragged claws scuttling points out:

The Education Reporter ("The Newspaper of Education Rights") is a publication of the Eagle Forum, Phyllis Schafly's conservative group.

The Eagles are concerned that the UN's educational wing (UNESCO) supports IB. UNESCO sees IB as a way "to promote peace, human rights and democracy . . . accept the need to educate responsible citizens respectful of other cultures and the need to resolve conflicts peacefully."

Keep that up, warns Eagle Forum, and us North Americans will soon be speaking Canexican (Mexi-nadian?) and buying our daily baguette with euros.

Once again, the puppet strings at the Legislature lead back to Utah's most powerful woman, Utah Eagle Forum president Gayle Ruzicka. Because of her feared phone tree, Ruzicka has always wielded inordinate power over conservative GOP lawmakers. But Dayton and Sen. Chris Buttars — she and Chris regularly shares "walks" in the Capitol — do her bidding as flying monkeys, excuse me, "eaglettes."

It's all purple

Josh Romney has figured it out.

A Romney may face difficulties getting elected nationally, but it's a slam dunk in Utah. Even someone who is distantly related to Mitt, Savior of the Salt Lake Olympics—let alone a son, is going to kick butt within the state's borders.

Josh Romney, who lives in Utah, told the Deseret News that he is considering running against Utah's only Democrat in

Washington, Congressman Jim Matheson. Matheson, who has only had to whup boneheads like LaVar Christensen, ought to be shaking in his shoes.

As for the rest of us, it's a toss up. A Romney Republican is basically the same thing as a Matheson Democrat. Jeepers, they even look alike!

Meanwhile, will Patriarch Mitt follow his son's lead and come back Utah to be a U.S. senator?

Cracking down

The Tribune this weekend reported on the continuing tragedy of the LDS church's pressure on dedicated members who complain publicly about the church's stance on homosexuality.

Peter Danzig, a musician, came under church scrutiny and was barred from performing with a church orchestra because he wrote a letter to the Tribune in support of BYU instructor Jeffrey

Nielsen who was fired for arguing in the Tribune that the church was misguided in its stance on gays.

The struggle of Danzig and his wife Mary, who resigned their membership to avoid excommunication is worth reading in detail here. Danzig's account of angry leaders and subtle pressure, overlaid with internal politics echoes accounts of Galileo's persecution by the Catholic Church of his day (except, presumably, Danzig doesn't face burning at the stake).

An aside I found interesting, for obvious reasons, is the apparent view within the LDS hierarchy that the Tribune is an enemy of the church. Mormon Tabernacle Choir officials (one was Mr. Mac) told Danzig that writing a letter to the Trib "looked like rebellion."

I was informed that the Tribune was viewed as an "enemy" of the Church and that by publishing a letter critical of the leadership of the Church in the paper I had appeared to declare myself an enemy. I explained that I did not feel that I was an enemy and that was not my motivation. I merely wished to speak out about public injustices that were happening within the Church.

Of course, judging by the LDS hierarchy's draconian reaction to questioning, it would not take long for the limpest newspaper to get on the church's wrong side.

The church's sensitivity to the issue is obvious in a official statement that followed the Tribune story. I found this to be particularly ominous:

The Church felt compelled to defend its position when Mr. Danzig made this information public and because of the blatant, inappropriate editorializing by the Salt Lake Tribune in what was purported to be a news story.

The Apology

The Tribune's Robert Gehrke reports that Sen. Chris Buttars apologized to the black community in Calvary Baptist Church Sunday for a series of statements that began with a reference to a bill as "This baby is black . . . It's a dark, ugly thing." Buttars referred to the outcry that followed as a "hate lynch mob."

"All I can do is say I'll beg your forgiveness. It was wrong. It was stupid. And I ask, if it's possible, forgive me. I knew as soon as I said it, that it was a horrible remark...All I can do is say I'm sorry."

The Rev. France Davis told his mostly African-American congregation:

"It takes a big person to say, 'I'm sorry,' . . . and to do it off of familiar territory. I want - on behalf of you if there are no objections - to accept his apology."

The question remains: Will the NAACP accept Buttars' apology? The group has vowed to do everything in its power to unseat the West Jordan senator in the next election.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Bernick's drive-by

Deseret News political editor Bob Bernick opened up on two senators who wrote a column last week on the DNews editorial page criticizing Bernick and Lee Davidson's article that alleged rampant lawmaker conflicts of interest in sponsoring bills that would affect their professions.

Majority Leader Curt Bramble and Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich's column accused Bernick of shoddy journalism and worse ethics: "This is not the first time he has reported his opinion as fact. H

e knows better. Or he should know better."

Besides being an editor and reporter, Bernick writes a weekly opinion column on politics — which requires a shifting between objective reporting and opinion that has been criticized by some law makers in the past. In this case, the column gave Bernick a unique opportunity to mix it up – and he got personal:

The two fine public servants accused me, among other things, of having poor journalistic ethics. I'll put my journalistic ethics up against these two public servants' political ethics any day. ...

... guess who was the top dog in taking lobbyists' gifts in 2007? Yep, that fine public servant Dmitrich. A man who has never seen a free golf game or Jazz ticket he didn't like. ...

Guess who was third in the overall gift-taking list? Right again, that fine public servant Bramble, who was just slightly in less need of freebies than Dmitrich.
Oh, and how much in gifts did I take from individuals or groups trying to influence my reporting in 2007? Zero. Nada. Nothing.

You might be thinking it will be uncomfortable for Bernick, sometimes called the "Dyspeptic Dean" of political reporting, to cover the Senate for the rest of the session. Though he has oversight of all DNews political coverage, Bernick only reports on the House.

Kane County Justice

In the ongoing contest at the Legislature to see who can say the most ignorant thing, Rep. Mike Noel took his shot today.

The icon of Utah's Cowboy Caucus argued against Democrat David Litvack's HB247 that would enable victims of dating violence to get protective orders against their abusers. "We can't just turn our heads from the protective needs of victims," Litvack said.

But Noel brought up concerns the bill could possibly restrict firearms. The bill, of course, was DOA.

But Noel, helpfully, offered an alternative to the justice system for victims of abuse.

"I absolutely abhor individuals who would take advantage of a young woman. In Kane County we have a way to deal with those people. It's not very pretty. Usually the father handles it first, then there is a posse that goes out and takes care of the rest of it as we drag them across the sagebrush."

Not-so-good Scouts

The Boy Scouts and the Mormon Church face another lawsuit for alleged child sexual abuse, this one for $5.1 million.

A Portland man alleges that a Boy Scout and Mormon youth leader abused him as a Scout in Idaho and Oregon between 1967 and 1970.

The youth leader, now 72, was convicted in Idaho, in 1985 of felony child abuse in an unrelated case.

A 1990 letter from Scout Council says:

"Arnold's ecclesiastical leader . . . had firsthand knowledge of child sexual molestations of one or more Scouts. No charges were filed as the mother was talked out of it at the time by church leaders."

The plaintiff, now 53, is the seventh Portland man suing the Boy Scouts for alleged sexual abuse. Combined, all the suits seek $33 million.

Buttars gets poetry slammed

About 30 people gathered in the Capitol to protest racism and recent gaffes by Sen. Chris Buttars that have offended many in the community including Gov. Jon Huntsman.

The rally was placid and the mostly young crowd wrote and read poetry to make their point.

One counter protester stood outside the group, sheilding his face from photographers.

University of Utah student Flora Bernard, right, read her poem "God Shed His Tears" as a protest to racism.

Buttars has been trying to ride out a storm of protest after he used racially charged statements to argue a bill, then later complained of being the victim of a "lynch mob."

The Provo Daily Herald today defended Buttars' use of language as not particularly intelligent, but not racist either:

"The bottom line is that a couple of stupid remarks are being used as a tool against a lawmaker who is seen as an arch-conservative. Salt Lake County Republican Party Chairman James Evans commented astutely that "people decide who's a racist and who's not based on their agenda."

Chris judges the judge

Tribune columnist Paul Rolly reports that Sen. Chris Buttars doesn't like uppity judges who rule against his campaign contributors. And he's not above threatening them as chair of the Senate Judicial Confirmation Committee.

After 4th District Judge Derek Pullan ruled against Buttars-bud developer Wendell Gibby in a land dispute with the city of Mapleton, Buttars wrote the judge on Senat

e letterhead that he was "embarrassed" that he supported his confirmation.

"I had hoped that we had appointed a judge that would err on the side of individual rights, not a liberal activist judge who would champion government."

Gibby has been in a lengthy dispute with Mapleton over developing land that is in an environmentally protected area.

Meanwhile, Gibby warned the Mapleton City Council this week that if they couldn't settle with him, there were lawmakers prepared to resolve it.

"It is a way for Wendell Gibby to go back and strong-arm the city into creating another agreement," says Jim Lundberg, a leader of Gibby's opposition.

Lookin' for love, love, love...

Evangelical Christian polygamists (you heard me right) are using the Internet to find additional wives.

The Morrisions, Albert and Sarah, believe that taking multiple wives is spiritually superior to monogamy. "David, Abraham, Jacob, Solomon -- they all had multiple wives,"

Albert says. "The Bible never banned polygamy, it glorified it."

But the Idaho couple has been having difficulty "dating" — even with the success of Big Love, polygamous bars are not plentiful in the Gem State. So the Morrisons turned to the Web, where they have had great success with 2Wives.com, ChristianMarriage.com and SoulfulHarmony.com.

Their personal ad reads:

"Loving couple seeks to share life with like-minded woman. We don't care what color your skin is, we want to get to know your heart."

That's the beauty of the Internet, Albert Morrison says. "It eases the loneliness of being a Christian polygamist. You can connect with people all across the country."

She will bury us

Sen. Margie Dayton successfully cut off additional spending on the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program, universally respected by educators, because it's an "anti-American" front for world government.

"I'm opposed to the anti-American philosophy that's somehow woven into all the classes as they promote the U.N. [United Nations] agenda."

[BTW, I am not making up the above.]

Dupes like you may think Margie is an idiot*, but parents in Utah County and the Jordans are asking, "How do I know if my child has been lured into this infernal IB?"

Here are the warning signs:

At pep rallies, your child sings "The Internationale". (MP3)
His or her book bag contains but one text— a little red book.
Instead of a bus, your student rides to school in a black helicopter.
When you tell your daughter to be home by 10 p.m., she calls you a "paper tiger."
Your bearded daughter takes state in the shot put.

Full disclosure: My children are products of SLC's West High School. My daughter, Kit Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Fonda Warchol participated in West's IB re-education camp. My son, Sam Douglas MacArther Goldwater Gipper Warchol, did not.

*Senators Howie Stephenson and Sen. Darin Peterson followed Margie's lead.

Utah's sad history

Wellsville in Cache County will become home to the equivalent of an American Indian holocaust museum.

An exhibit commemorating the 1863 Bear River Massacre, one of the largest massacres of American Indians, will be created at the American West Heritage Center.

Tourism Cares, which promotes responsible tourism, is putting up $10,000 to commemorate the massacre of 300 to 500 Shoshone Indians (American hero Sacagawea's tribe) by California volunteers. New (and grisly) evidence indicates the death toll was higher than previously thought.

David Sidwell, heritage center program director, says:

"As a museum and center for history in our area, our goal is to present important stories. The Bear River Massacre is not a pretty story, but it's an important story. It is a story that should be told."

What might have been...

The Boston Herald brings up a point that is agonizing Mitt Romney supporters today — what if the New York Times story that Sen John McCain had a romantic liason with a 30-something lobbyist Vicki Iseman broke sooner, before McCain's dazzling comeback or even later, before Super Tuesday?

"What if the NYTimes hadn’t held its fire so long? That is the unyielding, gut-churning question within Romney’s camp today.

As one might imagine, they are fuming."

The Washington Post follows today with more scrutiny of McCain's two-faced approach to lobbyists.

What must be especially galling to Mitt is that the story broke after he blew $42 million of his own money on his failed campaign.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Nick: The U's guardian

CNN reports that a University of Utah student has been carrying a concealed handgun to classes since the shootings at Virginia Tech. "Nick," who CNN does not name in the article, has a concealed-carry permit and "says he's not part of the problem of campus shootings and could instead be part of a solution."

"Last year, after Virginia Tech, I thought 'I'm not going to be a victim. My first thought was 'how tragic.' But then I couldn't help but think it could've been different if they'd allowed the students the right to protect themselves."

Griselda Espinoza, who recently transferred to the U, doesn't agree.

"I feel less safe knowing that a stranger sitting beside me in class may have a gun in his or her backpack. The only people that should carry guns are trained officials."

FYI: Carrying a gun to class is not as simple as sticking a semi-auto down your pants, Nick explains, it's a fashion statement. If he's wearing a T-shirt, he packs a smaller, low-profile weapon. If he's wearing a coat, he may carry a large gun.

Praying for enlightenment

Gov. Jon Huntsman says Sen. Chris Buttars' recent comments were "intemperate and inappropriate." The governor today repeated earlier comments that it's up to Buttars' constituents to decide his fate as a senator.

Still, it was the strongest language to date from Huntsman to describe a series of Buttars' gaffes that many, including the state NAACP, feel were racist.

"I was personally offended by [the comments]," Huntsman said.

The governor, speaking at his monthly KUED-TV press conference, said he attended services last Sunday at the predominately black Calvary Baptist Church in Salt Lake City.

Many at the service were outraged by Buttars comments, Huntsman said. "The Rev. France Davis asked the congregation to pray for Sen. Buttars."

At right: Rev. France Davis.

White woman's burden

The Utah Senate seems to be chock-a-block with wordsmiths who specialize in disgraced early 20th Century lingo.

Sen. Chris Buttars, of course, regularly goes to his hillbilly* phrase book for gems like "lynch mob" to describe angry emails and "those people" for African-Americans.

Now, Sen. Margie Dayton shows her stuff, speaking against a Buttars' bill that would create a registry for minority owned businesses.

Dayton, Majestic Matron of Orem, asked why minority businesses should get special treatment.

"It seems like the white male is such a burden or frustration to society. I really have angst with the growing discrimination towards the white male family oriented Christian male. I'm just frustrated with that."

We can only hope Margie doesn't get a necktie party in her inbox.

*As a native Appalachian, I apologize, in advance, to hillbillies everywhere.

"Wake-up" call from Wells

Gov. Jon Huntsman says an earthquake near Wells, Nev., that was felt on the Wasatch Front, is a "wake-up call" for Utah preparedness.

"How prepared are we?" Huntsman said at his monthly KUED press conference. The Capitol has recently been revamped to ride out seismic tremors, he said. "But what about our schools?"

The governor said that the state health department and public safety units in the Wendover area are standing by to offer assistance to Nevada authorities.

"Slam job"

At his monthly KUED press briefing this morning, Gov. Jon Huntsman said a New York Times story that Sen. John McCain may have had a romance with a Washington lobbyist is "a typical slam job."

McCain denied the report in Ohio.

"I studiously avoided [the NYTimes story], as I studiously avoid National Enquirer reports," Huntsman told reporters. The governor was an early and enthusiastic McCain supporter.

McCain said the report about "close ties to a woman lobbyist was untrue, that he had no romantic relationship with the lobbyist and that he had no confrontations in 1999 with worried staff members who told him to stay away from her."

Buttaphobia peaks?

The backlash against the astonishingly stupid statements of Sen. Chris Buttars reached a crescendo today as the Tribune editorial page explored the question of whether Buttars' recent comments are bigotry or "stupefying ignorance."

For most Americans with even a modicum of racial sensitivity, the answer is obvious. Buttars is a bigot. But for many Utahns, who repeatedly have watched Buttars turn his deep homophobia into discriminatory legislation that his Republican colleagues have obligingly passed into law, the answer seems less clear. Yes, he embarrasses Utah. Yes, he may be insensitive, even ignorant. But a bigot?... We see no distinction here. Buttars himself has made the question moot.

The Logan Herald-Journal editorial page wants to spread the blame around.

Heck, he was elected and re-elected for saying things like this. The shame and embarrassment here shouldn’t rest solely on Buttars’ shoulders. Let’s give the voters in his West Jordon district some credit too.

Rebecca Walsh at the Trib says GOP leaders should take responsibility for their party idiot, but "Fairly or unfairly, all Utahns will be blamed for our leaders' thumb-sucking."

For years, we have struggled to buck the state's backwater image.... Now an out-of-touch and stubborn politician has reinforced all the tired old jokes about this place.

Buttars seems to have finally learned to shut up and keep his head down. But an anti-Buttars rally planned for Friday could trigger a counter rally by Gayle Ruzicka and the Eagle Forum. "He's got unbelievable support," Ruzicka says.

Buttars will soon find out if his "black baby" and "lynch mob" remarks have killed his legislative agenda.

Nuggies for the Greenies

The Legislature is on its way to approving an anti-bullying and hazing measure, fortunately they didn't include themselves. Otherwise, a recent spate of beating up on environmentalists would earn them a trip to the vice principal's office.

The Tribune's Patty Henetz reports that Sen. Margie Dayton demanded Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance attorney Stephen Bloch be put under oath before he spoke in opposition to Rep. Aaron Tilton's anti-wilderness resolution HJR10.

Lobbyists for the Mining Association, Petroleum Association and Farm Bureau did not, of course, have to swear to tell the truth before they offered testimony in support of the resolution.

Last week, Rep. Mike Noel, R-Pluto, humiliated the Utah Rivers Council into removing their name from a water conservation bill.

In other environmental news, the Provo Daily Herald editorializes in favor of Bureau of Land Management selling leases for gas and oil drilling on public land.

For some insight on the cost of past energy development in Utah, Congressman Jim Matheson will take questions today at 10 a.m. on KCPW's Midday Metro.

Matheson says the Department of Energy is way overdue in cleaning up 16 million tons radioactive tailings near Moab. You can call 355-TALK or Email midday@kcpw.org during the show to grill Jim.

Screwing the poor

Utah likes to see itself as a moral and ethical leader, a shining symbol of integrity in America, you know, like a loan shark.

A University of Utah law professor says the "payday" lending industry, which charges interest rates often twice those of mob loan sharks, is more prevalent in Utah and other conservative Christian strongholds.

The U's Chris Peterson's research will be published in the Catholic University Law Review:

"A generation ago, populist Christian leaders were among the most aggressive opponents of usurious lending. But today, many Christian leaders take large campaign contributions from the credit industry and no longer support the biblical injunction against usury in public life."

Fun fact: Salt Lake County Republican Party Chairman James Evans, a former state senator from Rose Park, owns several payday loan businesses.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Blood in the water

Holly Mullen at the City Weekly says the Dems are circling Sen. Chris Buttars like coyotes around a wounded weasel.

Says Mullen, "This is their moment to swoop in and pick up the seat that Buttars is all but handing off to an opponent—almost like one of those people at Costco who pass out free egg-roll samples."

Rob Miller, vice chairman of the state Democratic Committee, tells Mullen:

“We want [Buttars] to run. Oh man, do we want him to run. Republican leaders keep saying it’s not up to them to tell Sen. Buttars what to do, that the voters should decide. But I’m sure that behind the scenes, leadership is giving him some trouble.”

I've got to say, however, if any group could blow a good thing, it's Utah Democrats. And keep in mind, Buttars may be crippled, but Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka's got his back.

Mormons in brief

On The Juvenile Instructor, David G. asks for a little help with boiling Mormon History, 1830-1844, down to 150 to 200 words.

I’m currently drafting an encyclopedia article on Mormon history from 1830-1844. The essay is supposed to pick up right after the founding of the Church in April 1830 and conclude with the Martyrdom.

We can only hope that Dave isn't an impressionable child — his post is an Internet "Kick me" sign. So far, he's gotten one rather restrained comment, from Ben:

‘Dem Mormons are crazy.' (summed it up in 3 1/2 words).

Apology For Dummies

When it comes to damage control following a stupid comment, Sen. Chris Buttars could to take some advice from Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. apologized this week to a Utah Muslim woman after an employee mocked her veil. Earlier this month a cashier at the Riverdale Wal-Mart teased the Muslim shopper: "Please don't stick me up!"

Wal-Mart management was on the situation like a Forest Service air tanker on a brush fire. Before the yuck-yuck-gone-bad could blow up into what is now known as a "Full Buttars," Rolando Rodriquez, a vice president and regional general manager, apologized with great supplication*.

"I can assure you that the associate in question was disciplined in accordance with our employment policies as a result of the situation," Rodriguez said without disclosing details. Rodriguez said employees at the Riverdale store would undergo "sensitivity training," specifically in the Islamic faith and Muslim culture.

"We applaud Wal-Mart for taking appropriate action to resolve this incident," said Yasser Moten, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Has anyone offered Buttars a butt-load of sensitivity training?

*DNews MormonTimes Word of The Week!

The Tao of Bob

On CapeCodToday, Jack Coleman recalls a 2004 GOP retreat at which Mitt Romney regaled a crowd of 100 party leaders with some excellent advice that Utah Sen. Bob Bennett gave him during the Olympics.

"Never explain," Bennett told Romney. "When you explain, you're losing."

It wasn't long after Romney began running for president that he came under attack for switching from a moderate to a "true conservative." He had somehow forgotten Bennett's advice, Coleman says, and tried to explain.

Romney's repeated attempts to explain what he meant by his earlier statements did more to compound than clarify. Anyone who doubts this, or who seeks confirmation, need only google "Romney flip flop" for abundant fodder.

Days of '47, watch your back

India Post is spreading the news that Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light, may soon be one of Utah's state holidays.

Rajan Zed, a Hindu priest who conducted a prayer at the Utah Legislature Feb. 14, "presented a memorandum to Utah Governor Jon Huntsman at his office... requesting to proclaim Diwali as one of State of Utah festivals, replying to which Governor Huntsman said, 'of course, why not?' "

Huntsman, who adopted an Indian daughter, told Zed that Utah is the only state where the Festival of Light is celebrated annually in the governor’s mansion. Huntsman also confided to Zed that he keeps a constant supply of nimbu-chutney, a sweet relish, in the mansion's fridge.

Gunning for the U

Gun rights fanatics and gun control zealots at least can agree on one thing– Utah's gun laws are a mes

s. The poorly worded statutes often are open to interpretation. Can I put my roscoe in the glove box or must I display it on the seat of the car? If my coat blows open and someone sees my legally concealed gat, am I illegally "brandishing." What's the etiquette of toting a 9mm into Psych class?

Rep. Curt Oda pushed a measure to the House floor that will clarify that a concealed-gun permit holder also can carry his pistol unconcealed — as the Tribune explains, " in almost any publicly owned space in Utah, including university campuses, public schools, sports arenas and hospitals."

Oda's HB473, not incidentally, would stick it up the snoot of University of Utah officials who gave in to allowing concealed weapons on campus — but argued that concealed weapon-permits holders must keep their guns out of sight lest they disrupt learning.

The bill flew through committee without opposition less than a week after a student at Northern Illinois University killed six, including himself.

Making art history

No less than The New York Times — joined today by the Tribune — has put out a call to save the Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake. Few Utahns know it, but our state not only has a world-class lake, but, in it, a world-renown work of art.

Against the pinkish-violet water of the lake, Robert Smithson's sculpture is a holy s**t! sight too few Utahns have seen. It's all the more wonderful that it takes a day's drive over dirt roads and a quarter mile hike to visit it. Yet people from around the world do it.

But Utah's place in art history texts is threatened because a Canadian company plans to begin oil-drilling from a pair of barges near the jetty. Hence, the NYTimes plea:

It is the most important and familiar of Smithson’s earthworks — a giant swirl of basalt and soil that redefines the landscape it inhabits. In that terrain, drilling within five miles — as the company hopes to do — is not much different from drilling through the heart of Smithson’s earth sculpture.

Here's what scares me: What better way to turn oil hungry, environmentalist-hatin' crazies like Rep. Mike Noel against the Spiral Jetty than a bleeding-heart NYTimes editorial? Talk about throwing down the gauntlet.

Just shut up

You've got to give Chris Buttars this — he's got a unique approach to crisis management.

The West Jordan state senator, already reeling from charges of racism, continues to garner nationwide attention by failing to show up for a meeting with Utah NAACP leaders yesterday. They insisted the meeting be public, but Buttars smelled a "cheap shot."

"We wanted the media to be here to see that we, the NAACP Salt Lake Branch, we're not a lynch mob as we were so-called," Jeanetta Williams told the DNews, referring to Buttars' reference to critics as a "hate lynch mob."

The senator's "lynch mob" explanation to the Tribune just dug the hole deeper. "Lynch mob is a Western term. You wouldn't find one person in 10,000 in Utah that thinks that's a racist term. That's not a racial term in my opinion. How do I know what words I'm supposed to use in front of those people?"

Not the best word choice, Chris.

"At first I thought maybe it could be a generational thing," said Williams, "but I know folks who are much older than he is who don't talk that way and don't refer to 'those people,' and 'lynch mob,' and 'babies that are black are ugly.' "

The Ogden Standard-Examiner opined today that Buttar's "black baby" statement on the Senate floor is "obviously racist" and urged Senate leaders to force his resignation.

The time for being polite has passed. The leaders have an opportunity and a responsibility to display actual leadership -- to send the message that such obviously racist comments will not be tolerated anywhere in Utah government. Buttars may be their friend, but he's a canker on the legislative body. In this case, their colleague deserves nothing but the old heave-ho.

Cold case reheated

It sounds like a post-writers strike script for Big Love. After years of searching, FBI agents are closing in on the last member of a murderous polygamous clan — a hit woman.

In truth, it's more a reality show concept. The Bureau has gotten hot leads in the

search for the last wanted member of Ervil LeBaron's polygamous family, his daughter Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron.

The FBI released a fresh snapshot of the fugitive taken last year in Honduras. "He met her socially," Special Agent Juan Becerra said of the photographer.

The informant returned to the United States where he read a news article about Jacqueline, who disappeared in 1988, making the FBI's Most Wanted list. The FBI wants her in connection with four murders carried out simultaneously in Ervil's name.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

In love with Shakespeare

Fred Adams, founder of the Utah Shakespearean Festival is lobbying the Legislature to cough up $10 million to begin building a new home for the fest in Cedar City.

A theater reminiscent of Shakespeare's Globe would be the first stage of a $62 million Elizabethan-themed village planned to abut Southern Utah University. Festival backers hope to have the new $25 million theater in place by 2011 to mark the festival's 50th anniversary.

Even with a shrinking state budget surplus, Adams has a strong hand to play at the Lege and even stronger with our economic development governor. The Shakespeare Fest is not only an economic engine that draws 150,000 visitors annually to Southern Utah where they can spend additional time and money in the National Park circuit — but it has earned national attention by winning a Tony Award.

In Utah, no less.

500 miles for peace

A Soldier's Peace, a documentary about a Logan Army Reserve soldier who walked 500 miles to bring attention to the Iraq War being unjustified and ill-conceived will premiere in the Weber State Union theater, Ogden, March 8 at 4:30. Army journalist Marshall Thompson, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, walked the length of the state in the fall of 2006, hoping Utahns would reconsider their support of the war.

The Tribune's Matt LaPlante interviewed Thompson during his walk.

The journey began early on the morning of Oct. 2 [2006]. Approaching Logan that afternoon, Thompson braced himself for a spiteful response, akin to what he had tasted during the prewar protest. Instead, more than 150 people gathered to walk by his side. Among the ranks was Thompson's father - who in the months since his son's return had come to the conclusion that the war in Iraq needed to end.

Over the next month, Doug Thompson would spend many days walking with his boy. "It was as if I was finally home," Marshall Thompson said.

According to the filmmakers, their documentary explores the cost and effectiveness of peace activism. "Our documentary is screening at festivals throughout the country, but we're most excited about the Utah premiere because we hope to be joined by the people who made this walk possible."

You can check out the trailer at www.soldierspeace.com.
(Above: Thompson says goodbye to his daughter before returning to Iraq. Kristen Olsen, for the Deseret News.)

Sweet deal in Daggett

KSL-TV's Investigative reporter Debbie Dujanovic and producer Kelly Just report that a Daggett County affordable housing program seems to be tailor-made for local jail guards. In fact, corrections employees are just about the only people who seem to qualify for the taxpayer-subsidized $125,000 houses.

With six homes all but done, we have learned four are all owned by men with something in common. They are Daggett County jail guards. They all get paid to watch over the very inmates who built their homes. We confirmed one guard even supervised prisoners during construction of his own home. And, we're told a fifth guard has recently been qualified.

KSL learned some non-guard applicants often never hear back from the county. "Then, after we began contacting county officials, someone who is not a jail guard suddenly got the green light for a home," Dujanovic says.

Dujanovic apparently was acting as an investigative agent of Rep. Neil Hansen of Ogden who "had actually asked KSL to investigate the program. He had received an anonymous letter about problems. ... Hansen says he is now ready to order a government investigation into the program."

Mayor of Babylon

The Tribune's Derek Jensen does a check on Mayor Ralph Becker's regime so far and finds a new mayor and a new style are not making any better headway at the state Legislature than the city's despised Rocky.

"Where Rocky was gruff, Ralph is gregarious - a diplomat, not a dictator.
But with roughly two weeks left at the Legislature, new Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker appears mired in the same mud that buried his predecessor, Rocky Anderson."

Becker has run into the wrath of lawmakers with the city's domestic-partnership registry that is seen by lawmakers like Sen. Chris Buttars and the Eagle Forum as part of a "homosexual agenda."

Other lawmakers are plotting to reach down from the Hill and overturn a new Salt Lake City green law that protects stream banks from development.

Finally, Ralph has been sucked into yet another controversial Buttars bill that would

seal police misconduct files from public scrutiny.

"The city was supposed to fare better with a kinder, gentler mayor - especially one who spent a decade at the Capitol, finessing both ends of the political aisle."

Obviously, in the eyes of Republican legislators, whether its mayor is a maddening maverick, right, or play-by-the-rules Ralph, left, Utah's liberal-Democratic stronghold needs to be sat on — for its own good.

Does Buttars have Tourette's?

Despite a firestorm over a speech that many saw as racist, Sen. Chris Buttars says he has no intention of resigning his seat or not running for re-election.

In fact, the irrepressible senator from West Jordan was feeling so good, he let himself spout more racially charged language to the Tribune.

"I thought once again the first couple days, 'Well you're getting beat up but you deserve it, you made a mistake.' But then they started getting meaner and meaner and meaner to the point it is just a hate lynch mob."

Lynch mob?
Didn't Buttars' hero President George W. Bush — not exactly a PC guy — less than a week ago denounce references to lynching and nooses as being "deeply offensive" to Americans, particularly black Americans? "They are wrong. And they have no place in America today," Bush said.

Buttars, it could be argued, lives somewhere else. An America without noisy ethnic groups, visible homosexuals, uppity women or Democrats — sort of like Utah, 1847.

Sex to resume in Davis County

Spencer Gifts in Layton Mall, raided by police two days before Valentine's Day, may be given an opportunity to shape up — if it puts its sex toys on a high shelf.

None of the novelty items and erotic treats police seized in the raid are necessarily illegal, but may have violated Utah statutes by being visible to young eyes. (Presumably, Davis

County young'uns have never watched prime-time TV or looked at mom's Cosmo.)

In a deal to avoid prosecution, Spencer Gifts said it would be willing to hide the flavored lubricants, pole dancing kits, body frosting and "naughty knots" from kids' view.

"Their attitude was cooperative," says Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings. "They want to be good members of the business community."

'Golden age' for golden plates

This could get interesting. Havard's Divinity School is offering a course in Mormonism to augment its classes in American Buddhism, Jewish Apocalypticism, and Classical Sufism. Apparently, having a Mormon governor/presidential candidate has sparked interest in the Salt Lake-based faith.

The Boston Globe says:

The decision by Harvard to add "Mormonism and the American Experience" reflects what appears to be an uptick of interest in Mormonism in higher education nationally.

"Some people believe we have entered a golden age of sorts in Mormon studies," says instructor Melissa Proctor, who grew up in the church and is working on a book about contemporary Mormon women.

Proctor's spin on the LDS religion could be interesting as well — she was invived to teach at the divinity school because of her expertise in gender and ethics.

As the Globe points out:

Mormonism has at times been a difficult field to study, particularly for Mormon scholars, because the church has excommunicated scholars - in 1993 and 2000 - who expressed opinions the church viewed as dissent, particularly on women's issues.

Cops and Ralph

Tribune columnist Rebecca Walsh wades in on a proposed state law to close police misconduct reports to the public. She points out how the currently open records made it impossible for even the po

lice union President Tom Gallegos to be in cahoots with SLCPD chief Chris Burbank to keep a lid on some nasty Gallegos antics.

Gallegos probably would rather not have the dirty details of his on-the-job sexual harassment training revealed. But even Chief Burbank couldn't help him. West Jordan Republican Sen. Chris Buttars can. He's sponsoring legislation that would allow cops like Gallegos - with the complicity of police chiefs like Burbank - to keep their disciplinary records secret. Under the bill, which is backed by the Utah Chiefs of Police Association, officers would have to consent to release information about their bad acts.

Meanwhile, SLC Mayor Ralph Becker has pulled back his previous total support for the cops secrecy bill. Ralph's liberal urban backers were bewildered by their new mayor's taste for government secrecy.

Becker has asked his staff to "further analyze the scope of the bill and suggest changes to narrow its effects," says his spokeswoman Helen Langan. She says the mayor doesn't want the law to impede his belief in "government transparency." Since when does Buttars listen to Becker?

Speaking of transparency, Mayor, what's this use of a mouthpiece for communicating with the news media? Where's the old Ralph who would bat an issue around with reporters, maybe field a hard question or two?

Monday, February 18, 2008

The Manchurian Veep

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman pops up in at New Yorker profile of Sen. John McCain. Huntsman, of course, broke with Utah Republicans to support McCain over Utah Olympic hero and brother-Mormon Mitt Romney. One of the dubious rewards earned by Huntsman is to listen to former-POW McCain's cringe-inducing jokes.

At one moment, bursting into laughter, he exuberantly explains why, after “a short period of waterboarding to find out what they did in their absence,” he would take back some of the staffers who fled his campaign at its low point. At another, he cracks up over one of his own familiar jokes. That morning, he was talking on his cell phone to Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr., of Utah, who made a surprise endorsement of McCain back in 2006... . Huntsman has a warm relationship with McCain and has been mentioned as a possible running mate. Somewhat improbably, he was stumping for the Senator in Miami. “Thank you, my friend,” McCain bellowed. “I just had my interrogation on Russert”—Tim Russert, the moderator of Meet the Press. “It’s a good thing I had all that preparation in North Vietnam!”

Ha. Ha. Hey, Guv, you might want to downplay your fluency in Mandarin Chinese.

Referring to the New Yorker piece, Arianna Huffinton wonders, "What is it going to take for the media to snap out of its starry-eyed -- stuck in 2000 -- view of John McCain?"

Despite an avalanche of evidence showing that McCain the Maverick has long ago been replaced by McCain the Pandering Pawn of the Party's Right Wing, the press refuses to believe its own eyes. ...
Despite the disastrous failures of the Right on everything from Iraq to the economy to health care to the environment to global warming to civil liberties to national security, the lunatics running the Republican asylum are stronger than ever.

Greens are blue

The Green Party of Utah fell short of getting enough signatures to put their presidential candidate on the November ballot — falling 300 short of the required 2000 signatures. The party apparently is still free to put nominees on the ballot as independent candidates.

The Green Parties — Greens have been merging with other parties around the nation — participated in the Super Tuesday presidential primaries in several states. Former Democratic (now a Green) Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney led in Arkansas, District of Columbia and Illinois.

Ralph Nader won by a landslide in California. Nader has not announced as a candidate, but has an exploratory committee.

Blowback at the DNews

Utah Senate leaders smacked Deseret News political editor Bob Bernick (who doubles as a weekly political opinion writer) around today. Read about it here.

A recent article by Bernick, left, and Lee Davidson, "One in four bills poses a conflict," examined lawmakers sponsoring bills related to their professions, annoyed Majo

rity Leader Curt Bramble and Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich enough to pen a response.

Mr. Bernick were a cub reporter, we would be more tolerant of his mistakes....This is not the first time he has reported his opinion as fact. He knows better. Or he should know better. ...

Apparently, Senate President John Valentine is especially honked off at a DNews' chart that indicates he sponsored eight bills, half of which Bernick and Davidson, right, see as "apparent conflicts."

"The problem with Mr. Bernick's claims is that all but one of President Valentine's bills are "boxcars," i.e. place holders to be used in the event a bill is needed later in the session," Bramble and Dmetrich write. "The bills, which create "apparent conflicts," are actually blank. The bills are literately blank pages! It is difficult to understand how Mr. Bernick could think that a blank bill creates a conflict of interest."

This is not the first critique of the article. Read Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke's concerns that such stories give lawmakers cover from investigations of serious economic conflicts.

Mountain sanctuary

The Tribune's Nate Carlisle reports from Tempe, Ariz., that an economic downturn and

some unfriendly new Arizona laws are driving undocumented immigrants to Utah.

"We have received anecdotal information where people are being invited to go to Utah, specifically Ogden and some of the communities outside of Salt Lake City," said Edmundo Hidalgo, president of Chicanos Por La Causa in Arizona. "The primary attraction is quality of life. People view those communities as having high family values."

Utah's Legislature is wrestling with 20 proposals to stem the flow of immigrants, but the state will likely remain attractive: With a an unemployment rate of 3.3 percent, job possibilities in Utah remain the best in the West.

In St. George this weekend, the Spectrum reported the Guatemalan consul renewed passports and embassy identification for Guatemalans living and working in Utah, Colorado and Nevada.

Anti-illegal immigration protesters said if the Guatemalans were legal immigrants, they wouldn't need the documents. "They use that means of ID for things they're not entitled to," says Jim Flohr, of the Citizens Council on Illegal Immigration.

"I don't see the big deal," Vice consul Rosa Maria Gallardo said. "I feel good that I'm helping my people, and I feel good that (the protesters) on the street are exercising their rights because this is a free country."

(The family in the photo above are job-seeking Italians arriving at Ellis Island.)

You too, can look like Orrin

The Associated Press reports that Lehi's XanGo has built a $1 billion business around its purple fruit juice tonic, which it claims boosts immunities.

"Music Man" Sen. Orrin Hatch, the snake oil-pusher's friend, says he chugs XanGo on a daily basis to wash down his supplement pills. "That's the only product they sell, and people are taking it around the world."

Hatch, of course, was the lead sponsor of the Dietary Supplement Act that allows

the sale of supplements unless the Food and Drug Administration can prove them dangerous.

But a lab test paid for by the AP found XanGo's antioxidant power to be at the mid-point of ordinary fruit juices costing a tenth as much — "slightly higher than cranberry juice, but lower than black cherry and less than half the power of blueberry juice."

The eagles have landed

The Eagle Forum, led by Gayle Ruzicka, right, is flocking to the support of Sen. Chris Buttars. The ultra-conservative group, which has a phone tree and email broadcast list that scares Utah lawmakers incontinent, put out a call for a gathering and a petition drive in support of Buttars.

Here's the call to action that went out over the weekend:

Eagles, We have a good friend in the Utah Senate. ...He has always stood up for our values and our families -- even when it was controversial and hard, and even though he has been persecuted for doing it.

He has been falsely accused of being racist, but when you listen to his comments in the context of the discussion, you will understand what he meant and that there was no racial connotation.

The eagles are asked to sign a petition in support of Buttars for having "defended correct principles." The forum will gather at the Capitol to cheer Buttars this week.

Remember, Senator Buttars has sponsored and led the fight for Amendment 3 [banning gay marriages] and other morality defending legislation. Defended our families. Been a friend to Utah Eagle Forum as we have worked to defend God, Country and Family.

And, this weekend, The Daily Herald in Provo offered more insight into the Senate's reaction to the Buttars' "firestorm," through the eyes of Senate President John Valentine. Despite Buttars' controversial bills, Valentine says, "Many of us share the same stands he takes, and for that, we as the Senate stand behind him."

Your prince will come -- post mortem

If you're a "gentile" (i.e. non-Mormon) in Utah, you sometimes feel like an anthropologist on a field study of an remote tribe. You're regularly trying to figure out strange customs, ceremonies and even underwear.

We get two glimpses into Mormon mating rituals from articles in the Tribune and the Deseret News.

Roxana Orellana at the Trib has a happy story. Brigham Young University — often exhalted as America's "stone-cold sober" university — is nevertheless, the nation's old-fashioned dating capital. BYU students have more dates in a semester than students at other schools have in their entire college careers, a new study has found.

"There is a whole lot of dating going on at BYU," says Bruce Chadwick, a BYU sociologist. Students at the school are "not into the casualness of single bars and Internet linking."

The goal is marriage, not NCMO (noncommittal make-out). "You can't really find a companion if you are always hanging out and hooking up," one student says.

Meanwhile, the DNews' MormonTimes includes an essay that finds things are not so hunky dory for the sisters, dating-wise, after graduation.

"For years, I'd fasted and prayed to the Lord saying, 'Please, I'm tired of doing all the asking. Just once can't someone ask me out on a date for a change? Please?' " writes Michelle Llewellyn. Her prayers were answered, but apparently the Lord, Her mysterious way, sends out a loser:

He was in his 30s, hadn't completed any higher education, saw no problem with a round of golf on Sunday and was still living with his parents.

Llewellyn prepares to spend Valentine's Day alone at home eating Ben & Jerry's out of the carton. Nothing exotic so far, then the essay turns to the promise.

It's not found in any scriptures (except maybe Isaiah 54:1), but the Lord has inspired the brethren of the church to give us single unmarried women some hope and counsel. From President Lorenzo Snow to our dearly departed President Gordon B. Hinckley, they have been quoted saying such things as "a young woman with no opportunity for marriage in this life ... will have every opportunity in the next."
It's a bitter pill to swallow, facing the fact that many of us may have to wait ... and wait ... and wait some more, perhaps until the second coming, or whatever has to come before being granted our heart's desire.
Trust the brethren, it will come.

It appears to be the reverse of the non-Mormon expression, "I'll be mellow when I'm dead."

Instead, the sisters will be rockin' with full dance cards when they're worm food.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Message received

Politics 101: Who's the Big Dog?

You'll m

ay recall that a water conservation proposal (HB137) was defeated early last week because Rep. Mike Noel wanted to bitch slap environmentalists. Noel really despises the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the bill was supported by Utah Rivers Council — in his eyes just another bunch of anti-development varmints.

Noel deli vered a letter to Republican House members calling on them to snuff the uncontroversial bill, which would bring about increased water conservation at state facilities.

Please support me in sending a message to this environmental organization that we won't support bills with their name on them until they clean up their act and stop lying to the people.
...we can make a strong statement that we are tired as **** and we won't take it any longer.

And it came to pass... HB137 died in the House.

A day later, Ted Wilson, head of Utah Rivers Council says his group got word from Noel that the measure would be reconsidered IF they took their name off as supporters.

"Utah River Council" was removed and the bill passed 68-0 and has moved on to the Senate. "It shows it was fundamentally a good bill," says Wilson.

The incident with Noel won't scare the Rivers Council away from lobbying, Wilson says, but "As a matter of practical politics, I'll probably talk to those guys [Cowboy Caucus] first, next time around."

Friday, February 15, 2008

Buttaphobia goes national!

Our homegrown sweetheart Sen. Chris Buttars is outraging folks nationwide, reminding high-tech executives and developers that Utah is a sweet place to relocate.

The Daily Kos has an extensive entry:

Sen. Chris Buttars is quite a legislator. He's offered bills to make illegal Salt Lake City's new domestic partner registry; to keep police disciplinary records secret; and worked to limit legislation to provide funds for STD education.

But now he's topped it. On the floor of the Senate, he rose to say "The baby is black. It's a dark, ugly thing."

dKos calls for two actions:

First — Emailing Buttars, Senate President Valentine and Majority Leader Curt Bramble.

"Be polite, but let them know that the whole world is now capable of watching the racist rantings of one locally powerful but ultimately pitiful state senator from Utah. ... Let them know that racism is unacceptable in the modern-day United States, and that the Utah Republican party should try joining the modern-day United States."

Second — run Buttars out of office.

Let's identify some possible candidates in the 10th Senate District. ...There are undoubtedly Utah National Guardsman who live in that district; perhaps there's one who has done a few tours overseas, and is ready to declare as a Democrat. That's the kind of candidate who may fly in that district.

Oda 1, Kid 0

While Chris Buttars held off the gays this week, Rep. Curt Oda took on a high school girl and kicked butt!

KSL-TV reported Utah Valley Youth Council member Alyssa Wood who is trying to get hard lemonade and other "alco-pops," banned from convenience stores, wrote Oda, "I really think they should be in state liquor stores."

Oda's first response was, "Sorry, but you obviously have no idea what you're talking about. Someone has fed you what to say."

Wood fired back, "I have seen many of my peers drink these beverages and it is becoming an issue in our society."

That sounded like Democrazy talk to Oda. It was time for the Clearfield Republican to rumble:

"You obviously expect the government to protect your friends from themselves. They know exactly what they are drinking and so do you. …Your friends choose not to take responsibility and you are defending them? …The government is not your keeper."

"He doesn't have to talk down to me just because I'm 16 years old," Wood says.

Actually Alyssa, that's how Oda talks to everyone who isn't a lobbyist, so you got an important lesson on how Utah government works. Next time butter Curt up, buy an insurance policy from him or ask to see his ankle gun.

Best buds

We learned yesterday that politics is a world of kindness and generosity of spirit. Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain forgave and forgot all the crap they've slung at each other for months.

Here's how the Guardian, which obviously doesn't have a dog in the American fight, describes the ritual hatchet burial.

During the contest McCain complained about Romney's underhand tactics, but yesterday he described him as having fought "an honourable" campaign. McCain added that primaries were often tough, and he had emerged from the battle with Romney as a better candidate.
Romney's endorsement opens the way for him to join McCain later in the year as the vice-presidential candidate. The latter said he expected Romney to campaign alongside him later this year.

But the Guardian doesn't completely buy it, pointing out that the personal animosity between the two men "would make it awkward for them to run together." Indeed.

Closer to home, the conservative Look2theWest, which loathes McCain, offers eight reasons for a McCain-Romney ticket:

It implies that Romney, a man of honor, came to terms on Florida. If Romney’s OK with McCain, I’m OK with McCain.
Romney is tough on illegal immigration. Some GOP are wondering if the party has left them - sold them out for pro-illegal immigration business interests. Romney as Vice-President keeps conservatives home.
In the general election, Romney can energize the base while McCain campaigns hard for independents - it’s a winning combination.
Romney fills some gaps in McCain’s resume - especially on the economy.
Romney as V.P. will reduce anti-McCain vote that Huck’s getting
Romney has raised more money and has more money than anyone.
Romney can help McCain in swing states like MI, MN, MA and Colorado
McCain looks like he might kick soon – nice to have Romney next in line.

Is Mitt shaking hands or taking McCain's pulse in the photo above?

Kill that Messenger

Pity the business reporters who have to tell Utah that its real estate market has tanked. Realtors, basically a highly organized mob, don't like downbeat stories. Not at all.

Unfortunately, a report released by the National Association of Realtors shows Utah had the sixth-highest decline in existing home sales — 33.8 percent — of all states in the fourth quarter. You're surprised no doubt, because you've been told Utah would NOT go the way of the nation, where the housing and finance markets have cratered like a mobile home with a leaky propane tank.

The Tribune's Leslie Mitchell broke the news like this:

Utah's residential real estate market, which once bucked the national downturn and all the negative press that went along with it, is now right smack in the middle of it.

In came the shrieking emails. Realtors, apparently not the brightest people, don't seem to understand that the reality precedes the news stories. They believe the invisible hand of evil business reporters strangles the market.

Mitchell even has been accused of triggering a recession. Spread the rage around, agents. Even the DNews, which hates to print bad news, has the story.

Missionary Work

A local entertainer is getting mixed reviews at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco. The Bay Times reports:

Mormon-American princess Steven Fales told me he actually is a member of the cult Church of the Latter Day Saints. In his cabaret show, he tells us what it was like growing up gay in highly conservative Utah, while maintaining a devotion to his religion.

The reviewer isn't impressed with Fales' tales of gay struggle in SLC. "This material might be shocking or inspiring to an adolescent in North Dakota..." Still, "his singing was wonderful. ... Steven’s voice commands and dominates, especially when he takes off his shirt."

Sen. Chris Buttars, in particular, would have appreciated Fales' homage to Evita in the poignant “Don’t Cry for Me Salt Lake City.”

Buttar's baby

After enduring a couple days of being kicked around over words that many Utahns see as racist, Sen. Chris Buttars has had enough. The moral crusader told the Deseret News that the issue "is done as far as I'm concerned."

That's it. It's over when the senator says it is.

And he's probably right. Gov. Jon Huntsman told the Trib he's sure not going to intervene; Buttars constituents "are the ones who ultimately will decide, based on their level of outrage, if he ought to resign." Senate President John Valentine, who thinks he's post-Huntsman governor material, described Buttars' statement as, well, "a lapse in decorum." Them's fightin' words, John.

If you've been off the planet for a couple days, Buttars followed up on a "baby" metaphor on an education bill by saying: "This baby is black, I'll tell you. This is a dark and ugly thing." Tribune cartoonist Pat Bagley sums it up here.

Earlier in the week, he launched legislation to crush Salt Lake City's "repugnant" domestic partnership registry. These aren't the first times Buttars has made insensitive statements about blacks or gays and it's getting hard even for his constituents to ignore.

And Buttars apparently isn't just a boob — he's a political hack. The Trib's Paul Rolly today reports that Buttars is pushing legislation to take care of a rich buddy. A radiologist/developer, Wendell Gibby wants 120 acres of environmentally protected land he owns in Mapleton to be un-protected so he can cash in.

Buttars seems to only have one problem remaining — local NAACP president Jeanetta Williams doesn't think the issue is done. She told the DNews Buttars has not had the courtesy to return her telephone calls. "It would seem to me he doesn't want to talk about it. He wants it to go away."

But, she says, "he's not just going to ride it out."

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Afternoon Delight

How will Ann Coulter take being dumped? A right-wing skank scorned is an terrible thing.

Mitt Romney will shack up with Sen. John McCain (at right — isn't he adorable?) this afternoon. Mitt will release his delegates and ask them to support McCain.

According to the NYTimes' Caucus blog:

Doing an endorsement now, while Mr. Huckabee remains in the race and continues to be a thorn in Mr. McCain’s side, allows Mr. Romney to demonstrate he is a team player for the party and to serve as something of a conservative validator for Mr. McCain, advisers said.

Ann had endorsed Romney and continued to bitterly denounce McCain as a lukewarm conservative after Romney dropped out. She recently said she would support Hillary Clinton before she would line up behind McCain. Ann sayeth: "Always choose a strong conservative from a blue state over a lukewarm conservative from a red state."

Dear deer

I like venison, but I don't know if I can afford it at $970 a pound. Yes, a Utah statewide mule deer tag was auctioned off last weekend for $187,500 at the 2008 Western Hunting & Conservation Expo.
The price of blood sport is getting very dear in Utah, judging from wads shot on tags

in the auction:

Statewide mountain goat - $27,000

Henry Mountain mule deer - $90,000

Statewide moose permit - $27,500

Pahvant any weapon elk permit - $45,000

Statewide desert sheep permit - $55,000

Statewide Rocky Mountain bighorn permit - $85,000

Statewide elk permit - $150,000

But those bidders are pikers compared to an unnamed hunter who slapped down $315,000 for an opportunity to bag a trophy Dall sheep, left, from the Yukon's Kluane Wildlife Preserve.
The auction benefits wildlife foundations.

Ralph's Secret Friend

Mayor Ralph Becker has joined Sen. Chris Buttars in backing a controversial proposal that would protect cop misconduct records from the prying eyes of citizens.

In short, Becker and Buttars are buds. I'll bet the majority of SLC voters never thought they'd hear that sentence. Many of Ralph's supporters are, as another blogger put it, "tased and confused."

Ralph, who tends to display about as much emotion as a contented gecko, wisely had his mouthpiece give us the news. "On the advice of our police

chief, we support it," she said. "It's a sensible thing to do."

Here's why Chief Burbank says the bill is "sensible": Buttars' Law, SB260, will deprive the public of police brutality and other misconduct records in the same way Salt Lake County already bars its citizens from determining who its cowboys are. It's logic only a cop could follow.

Police recently have been gunning down citizens from South Salt Lake to Brigham City. In between, a Highway Patrol Trooper in Tooele County tasered a stopped motorist for not obeying him quick enough. You can watch the fun here. Most of these acts were likely justifiable — but we can only be sure if we see the records.

Becker (at left displaying SLCPD's latest non-lethal weapon) want to make it harder to pry open these cases to find out what really happened.

Want an example of the kind of poop Buttars' Law could hide? Police Association President Tom Gallegos got caught last year for sending graphic photographs and sexually explicit messages over a work e-mail account and for nasty comments he made to a female co-worker.

When the SLCPD blocked a public request for Gallegos' disciplinary records, it was overruled by an appeals board and we got to see what the union leader was up to. Even then, Gallegos only got hit with a written reprimand.

Gallegos, like Ralph, is a big supporter of Buttars' Law.

Valentine for Mitt

Ann Coulter, heartthrob of the right, is still hammering John McCain and lovin' on Mitt. She attacked McCain's conservative cred in her recent column, "There's a Democrat Behind Door No. 1, 2 and 3":

In fact, McCain and Romney are mirror opposites: As Romney had to tailor his conservative views to the liberal voters of Massachusetts, McCain has had to tailor his liberal views to the conservative voters of Arizona. While Romney's record in a liberal bastion is as bad as it will ever be, McCain's record from a conservative bastion is as good as it will ever be. Which isn't very good. In the immortal words of -- well, me, actually: Always choose a strong conservative from a blue state over a lukewarm conservative from a red state.

Ann says Hillary is the most conservative of the top three candidates. In fact, she told Sean Hannity, Utah County's other Revelator, that she would support Hillary over McCain! Will Utah County swing Satan?

Lefties hate Coulter, but you've got to love the skank's brazen style: "A few more primary wins and B. Hussein Obama will be able to light up a cigarette during a televised speech and still get the nomination. It looks like the only thing that can stop him now is an endorsement from Al Gore."

"B. Hussein Obama" — the woman's diabolical.

Big Love

Utah's diminutive movie star and film festival supporter Gary Coleman (Who'd you think I was talking about?) has gotten hitched. The star of Diff'rent Strokes has put down deep roots by marrying (secretly until now) Utah native Shannon Price. At 22, Price is 20 years younger and, at 5-foot, 7 inches, considerably taller than Coleman (4-foot, 8inches).

The star of such cinema classics as the Kid With The Broken Halo told Inside Edition, "I never got the opportunity to be romantic or feel romantic with anyone, I don’t have issues with age, I have issues with intelligence. She’s more intelligent than I am, and that’s what matters to me."

Fortunately, height has never been important to Shannon. "He was 10 feet tall to me because he was sweet."

As sweet as the star of Church Ball can be, I've got to be frank — I see some bumps ahead for the couple.

"He lets his anger conquer him sometimes," Shannon admits. "He throws things around, and sometimes he throws it in my direction."

Fortunately, she's got the reach on him.

Trouble Tee'd Up

Tribune outdoors writer Tom Wharton thinks that providing recreation has become a core function of government and advises Utahns be wary of a pair of bills moving through the Legislature (HB75, HB76) that could open parks and golf courses to privatization.

A big problem with the privatization bills is they don't specify what happens if the board, which would be dominated by private business interests, determines a golf course or recreation center should be privatized. Would a city or county have to sell a multimillion-dollar facility built with taxpayer dollars to a private group? Could it lease it? Or would it be closed? If a swimming pool or golf course is privatized and fees increased dramatically, would that be fair to the taxpayers who paid to have the facilities built?

Finally, Wharton asks, will the bills just address recreation or include other government activities such as state liquor stores or garbage pickup.

I have to note that several of our lawmakers have been "privatized" by major industries, including nuclear power and charter school construction, and that experiment has yet to run its course.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

What's Orrin on?

Besieged Pitcher Roger Clemens may get all the headlines, but Sen. Orrin Hatch hit a homerun in today's Washingon Post, denouncing players as whiners and liars. All to argue that further federal scrutiny or regulation of the dietary suppleme

nt industry is, well, nonsensical.

The players and their representatives who have spoken so far -- to legislators and the press -- have offered a litany of excuses for how they ended up in the midst of a steroid scandal. The most preposterous, by far, is that dietary supplements are to blame.

Clemens, for example, has repeatedly denied using steroids or human growth hormone. But he acknowledged that he has been injected with vitamin B-12. Tainted B-12 was how Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro explained his failed steroids test in 2005. In his congressional testimony last month, Baseball union chief Donald Fehr blamed not just dietary supplements, but Congress for insufficient regulation.

Why is Orrin so riled up at baseball players and especially at Fehr?

Supplement pill pushers have been very, very good to Hatch. At least as good as baseball has been to Clemens. Their campaign contributions began when Orrin "shepherded" the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act through Congress. The law cut back regulation of the supplement industry and the baloney they print on their labels. And Utah, with 150 manufacturers, from NuSkin to XanGo, is the "Silicon Valley of the Supplement Industry."

Keep your head down

It's been a tough winter. If snow, sleet, avalanches and poor visibility aren't bad enough, Utah drivers have to duck wayward Cessnas and killer ice projectiles.

A pilot on his way to St. George had to make an emergency landing on I-15 today when his small plane ran out of fuel.

The Cessna bounced safely onto the interstate near the Arizona border and waited until Highway Patrol Troopers brought gas. Troopers then halted freeway traffic while the plane took off again and completed the flight.

A truck driver died in Uintah County yesterday when a sheet of ice slid off the top of an oncoming truck and punched through his windshield, hitting him in the head.

What can we expect next out of the heavens— frogs and toads?

Lege tackles road-side bombs

Land Line Magazine, the truckers' journal, is nervously following a proposal in the Utah Legislature to boost fines for highway littering. The law would target "trucker bombs" — bottles of urine tossed by drivers too pressed for time to make a pit stop.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Pat Jones, would increase fines, from $100 to $250, Land Line says, for repeat offenders of the state’s littering law "for such things as tossing containers of human waste along highways."

Judges also could order up to eight hours of community service.

UDOT spokesman Nile Easton told KSL-TV maintenance crews pick up over 20,000 urine bottles a year from the state's roads (...quick calculation.... enough wee-wee to fill up a couple backyard swimming pools.)

The Senate has approved the bill and the House Transportation Committee voted 10-2 to advance the bill – SB44 – to the chamber floor. Washington state has already taken on the trucker bomb issue, including distributing whimsical posters, right.

'Luv stuff' in Layton

The DNews reports police raided a Spencer Gifts novelty shop at the Layton Hills Mall, seizing 15 boxes of "sex toys."

"It's based on several complaints we've received over the last year or so," said Layton Police Sgt. Mark Chatlin.

None of the items in the shop are illegal, but the cops say Spencer may have crossed the line by putting products that the New Jersey-based Spencer Gifts markets as "Luv Stuff" out where children could see them. Are they worried about the emotional trauma to the kids or to parents when they have to explain why mommy and daddy would want a "Pole Dancing Kit" ($69) or "Sex Treat" flavored lubricants ($9.99) or, pictured right, the "Love Ring"?

Chatlin said police confiscated "General items in the shapes of genitals."
When was the last time this guy was in a gun store?

Cockeyed view

Joel Campbell, the Deseret News Mormon Media Observer, takes a look at how the news media (unMormon media, that is) regarded Mormonism after gazing into Mitt Romney's campaign crater.

Even I was interviewed by a Washington Post reporter wondering whether rank-and-file church members felt Romney's campaign was boon or bane. I think I was in a minority when I said in the long run I think it was a good thing. I invoked Brigham Young's quote I remember hearing when I was a kid: "Every time you kick Mormonism, you kick it up the stairs."

Campbell, who left out the polling information that shows a huge percentage of Americans, not just evangelicals, say they would be uncomfortable voting for a Mormon president, deems the reports not as bad as they might seem.

Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I subscribe to what President Gordon B. Hinckley once said about negative media coverage: this will be a “blip.” But it has opened a door of opportunity. Latter-day Saints do have our work cut out for us. We can no longer circle the wagons in grand pioneer tradition and hope the media goes away.

Good point about no longer circling the wagons, Joel. But I find it interesting the LDS Church-owned DNews has no generic media analysis in its daily paper* and that it chose an Mormon academic on the BYU payroll to blog on media coverage of Mormon issues.

*nor does the Tribune.

'Ski Utah' ad

Star sniffers and paparazzi are spreading an ugly rumor that Utah's acclaimed Cirque Lodge celeb-detox spa in Sundance is using a flesh-eating virus as part of its therapy. Says one photo parasite at Splash News:

Can someone please explain to me why it looks like someone tried to sand blast the freckles off of Lindsay Lohan’s face? Is there a flesh eating virus attacking rehabbed starlets? If so, I need to call up the Cirque Lodge and warn Eva Mendes.

Whoa, boys. Before you hotline the CDC, call in any Utahn for a second opinion. A glance at Lohan's face would diagnose her condition as high-altitude "Raccoon Face" from too much skiing and too little sunscreen. She, Mendes and Kirsten Dunst soon will have that beef-jerky complexion common to Utah powder junkies.

Sen. Buttars' bad week

First is was an unflattering photo that seemed to reveal his homophobic soul. Then yesterday's really bad metaphor in a floor speech that made him sound like a Klansman.

Utah's favorite moral crusader, Sen. Chris Buttars is rolling toward a public relations disaster.

Buttars obviously didn't mean his comment as racist — it's just his folksy, lame-brained way of speaking. Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, inadvertently got the ball rolling by calling a controversial education proposal "the ugly baby bill." Then, Buttars, whose mental motor, as usual, wasn't firing on all cylinders, went further:

"This baby is black. It's a dark, ugly thing."

Senate President John Valentine says, "I didn't take it as a racist remark, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was inappropriate and a breach of decorum."

Buttars has apologized for the remark and Eagle Forum President/puppet master Gayle Ruzicka still loves him, but the "breach of decorum" and photo have taken the clodhopper senator around a corner.

Buttars has been pilloried for years by gays, Democrats and even fellow Republicans as the senate's village idiot. But this week he snapped into focus as a symbol of something very ugly indeed.

Vagabond's best friend

Speaking of health insurance, a distant Tribune reader suggests a one-time $500 policy that could keep you desert rats from becoming Cathartes aura bait.

Minnesotan Nash Pherson recommends back-country wanderers buy a GPS with a pe

rsonal locator beacon. "These emergency devices trigger search and rescue via a satellite that allows rescuers to home in on your location."

"As an experienced search and rescue professional with the Civil Air Patrol, I cannot emphasize enough how easy this makes the job of a rescuer."

If $500 sounds expensive, think of the Garners, the Kearns couple who went missing in southern Utah's winter wonderland for 12 days. Ever try to find moss on a tree in the West Desert?

Huntsman's healthcare hammer

Gov. Jon Huntsman says he's willing to let the market respond to provide Utahns with affordable health insurance options — but it had better happen fast. "That market has got to be shook up."

"I'm very willing to let this year play out to see where we find ourselves in a year," Huntsman told the Tribune. "If that doesn't work, then I think we're looking very realistically at an individual mandate in getting us to where I think we need to be."

The Legislature has proven ineffectual in coming up with a healthcare plan, instead only creating a task force to look into the problem.

Huntsman knows as well as anyone the dismal track record of legislative task forces. He vows this one will not become the "abyss from which there is no return."

It's time, he says, for the private insurance sector to "play ball."

Huntsman threatens to drag lawmakers back up the Hill for progress reports. "I would be willing to call a special session just to provide a spot check."

It's one of the few goads the governor has. Normally the Legislature has one 45-day session a year; lawmakers hate special sessions.

Collateral damage

Yet another statistic shows that the casualties of the Iraq War are not just as a result of roadside bombs and firefights.

A new study has found that at least nine Utah National Guardsmen have committed suicide in the past three years. It's a rate of suicide several times higher than average for the rest of the population.

Utah Guard chaplain Gerald White says because Guard and Reserve soldiers tend to be older than active-duty troops, they have lives complicated by relationships.

"When you take people who may already be on the edge of crisis - maybe they have family relationship issues, divorce, health problems - and then you add a deployment on top of that, taking them away from their family for six months to a year and a half, you see people who may have been teetering before are now pushed into more of a crisis."

Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, says the new statistic shows Guard and Reserve troops need more support in dealing with the wrenching shift between civilian and solider.

"National Guardsman and reservists are literally in Baghdad in one week and in Brooklyn the next," Rieckhoff says, "and that transition is incredibly tough."

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Merchants of death?

A lawsuit filed by a survivor of the Trolley Square shootings brings up a vexing question for retailers and guns rights advocates: Is a store responsible for the injury, havoc and sorrow that the sale of a gun might wreak in the community.

Carolyn Tuft wants big money from the parent company of Sportsman's FastCash on Redwood Road. She was badly wounded and her daughter, Kirsten Hinckley, was killed by Sulejman Talovic who was wielding a shotgun he bought at the pawn shop.

Westley Wayne H

ill, who sold Talovic the pistol-grip shotgun, has been sentenced to a year's probation and a $500 fine for failing to ask Talovic for the second form of identification required of legal aliens. Hill's plea bargain left it unclear whether the shotgun's pistol grip also required Talovic to be 21 or older.

In a debate on KSL-TV, Toni Marie Sutliff, of the Gun Violence Prevention Center, said a store's responsibilities in selling a firearm are hard to fix: "The tragedy is we don't have the right laws on the books that would have prevented this tragedy in the first place. So whether they're liable or not, we just don't seem to have the reasonable gun laws in place."

Gun rights advocates argue that had Talovic, who already owned a revolver, been forced to produce a second form of ID, or even undergo a waiting period, the tragedy four months later would have still unfolded.

Besides, if Talovic shopped on KSL.com's classifieds, (same web site as the above debate) he could have bought a pump or semi-auto shotgun pronto with no identification or background check.

Huck to LDS: What? What?

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee told reporters in Washington today that he really, really likes Mormons.

"Anyone who says that I have this anti-Mormon prejudice is absolutely off the mark. And it has no basis whatsoever."

The former Arkansas governor, talking to reporters over breakfast, blamed a misconception that he disapproves of Mormon theology on a single remark he made to The New York Times Magazine.

According to NYTimes Magazine writer Zev Chafets:

I asked Huckabee, who describes himself as the only Republican candidate with a degree in theology, if he considered Mormonism a cult or a religion. "I think it’s a religion," he said. "I really don’t know much about it."
I was about to jot down this piece of boilerplate when Huckabee surprised me with a question of his own: ‘‘Don’t Mormons,’’ he asked in an innocent voice, ‘‘believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?’’

The Jesus-Satan family tree comment reacquainted evangelical Christians with their rift with Mormons. Huckabee also told the reporters Mitt Romney's being a Mormon should not have been a factor in the primaries. No, really.

"I have absolutely defended that and said I would be appalled if anyone voted for him or against him or for me or against me solely on the basis of religious affiliation." Huck told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Cannon fixes America

Utah Congressman Chris Cannon and some friends have put the squeeze on Berkeley — you know, Hippyland, Calif.

Berkeley's city council declared Marine recruiters "uninvited and unwelcome intruders." Boy, are they sorry now.

If you reca

ll, Cannon send out a press release bragging about a bill to divert $2.3 million in federal funding from Berkeley to the Marines. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Ted Poe of Texas compla

ined the city had a " '60s peacenik, hippie mentality [right] that world peace can occur by sitting around smoking dope and banging on the tambourine."

In the last 10 days, city officials have gotten 26,000 e-mails, 15 to 1 from people who agree with Cannon and Poe. Several council members have received death threats — not, as far as we know, a Cannon recommendation.

Councilman Gordon Wozniak, one of the dissenters on the declaration, says the emails "have run the gamut from being very thoughtful to dismissing Berkeley citizens as liberal scum."

Others said they were opposed to the Iraq war, but the council had gone beyond protesting the war to demonizing service members.

Will Monson bridge the divide?

Gay Mormons are calling their new prophet out, according to an AP story.

The invitation from the gay support group Affirmation, was sent to Thomas S. Monson just days after he assumed leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following the death of Gordon B. Hinckley.

''Although there are many areas of hurt and disagreement that have separated us, there are many more areas on which we can find agreement, and in doing so, become a blessing in the lives of many of the Saints, both straight and gay,'' the letter said.

A meeting between gays and the LDS Church president would be unprecedented, the group's assistant director David W. Melson told AP. Affirmation, which is not recognized by the LDS Church, has more than 2,000 gay, lesbian and transgender members. In his last years, Hinckley had called on the church to reach out to gay members with compassion and love.

An open meeting with church leaders could mend Mormon families and reduce suicides among young gay men, Melson says.

Common sense drought

Rep. Mike Noel held a pillow over the face of a water conservation bill and watched it die today — just to spite environmentalists.

The Kanab Republican suspected that the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, which he sees as a radical environmental group, was supporting the bill through the Utah Rivers Council

.

HB137's water conservation program would have provided "guidelines, procedures, and design and construction standards to improve water conservation in existing, renovated, and newly constructed state facilities." How diabolical.

The bill is supported by Utah Association of Special Districts, of which Kane County Water Conservation District is a member. Noel is the boss man at Kane County water district. Perhaps it's his evil twin.

Sponsor Rep. Larry Wiley argued that Utah, a desert state, ranks second in nation for per person use of water. HB137 would reduce water use 25 percent by 2050, he said.

Last week, Noel passed out a letter to Republican House members calling on them to kill the bill.

Please support me in sending a message to this environmental organization that we won't support bills with their name on them until they clean up their act and stop lying to the people.
...we can make a strong statement that we are tired as **** and we won't take it any longer.

Noel waded into the floor debate today, saying he had found information on the Utah Rivers Council web site that was "erroneous" and the River Council has "joined hand in hand with SUWA, the Sierra Club and EarthFirst." And, ohmaGod, the River Council has opposed the Bear River dam project, he said. (Their web page shamelessly confesses that the Council "protects Utah’s rivers and clean water sources for today’s citizens, future generations...")

The list of the River Council's crimes likely would have gone on, but Minority Leader Rep. Brad King interrupted Noel. King shocked the House with common sense by recommending the conservation program be judged on merits. "If you don't like the bill, vote against it," King said. "But don't take things that are extraneous to that argument into account."

The bill — and water conservation — was defeated 31 to 40.

Brigham City or Beirut?

About midnight police scrambled to Brigham City Hall to confront a man who was randomly firing an AK47 in the parking lot.

KSL-TV breathlessly reports the man was hollering obscenities and would not put down the gun. The latter is not unusual in Box Elder County, but shouting obscenities, no way.

A deputy shot the man three times and he's in surgery. Matthew Jaramillo, 32, is also the suspect in the robbery of a check cashing business Saturday. (What kind of fiend robs a check cashing store?)

They say he held a knife to the clerk to rob the store of more than five thousand dollars, and then tied up the woman in the

back of the store.

By the way, an AK goes for about $400 to $700 on KSL.com classifieds.

D for Desperation

In her heart of heart, Rep. Roz McGee knows this is desperation. The Salt Lake Democrat has joined forces with the far-right Sutherland Institute to get a lawmaker ethics bill passed.

McGee’s HB130 would create a commission that would investigate complaints about the shenanigans of legislators and other state elected officials. As it stands now, three lawmakers have to rat out an unethical colleague before the issue is examined. Like that's going to happen.

“It is vital to restore our citizen’s trust in the state government," says McGee, left. "The committee would work to assure government employees are held accountable to the law.”

Sutherland president Paul Mero, lower left, laments that “Ethics reform has been the ugly step-sister of the political process in our state for too long.” Presumably, McGee hopes the conservative-Mormon think tank will put lipstick on that ugly step-sister that is locked away in the rules committee attic, likely never to see the light of day.

But Roz, these are the same folks who supported vouchers, home schooling and the gay marriage prohibition. Are you going to shack up with Gayle Ruzicka next?

Besides, if Mero really wants to get ethics reform passed, why doesn't he mobilize some of Sutherland's friends, such as former House member, failed Congressional candidate and current Sutherland trustee LaVar Christensen? Or ask former trustee, current Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble to kick some butt in the name of ethics?

Vive la France!

In his speech ending his campaign for president, Mitt Romney made a, how do you say... tres gauche comment about France.

Laurent Lechifflart of Saint-Vallier, a Franco-Mormon letter writer, calls our attention to it: "It is bad manners to speak evil of a country that granted him hospitality for two years while he was a missionary."

For the

record, Mitt said:

I am convinced that unless America changes course, we will become the France of the 21st century... still a great nation, but no longer the leader of the world, no longer the superpower. And to me, that is unthinkable.

Comedic political pundit John Stewart also was disturbed by Mitt's France comment. "Isn't France the France of the 21st Century?" Stewart also refers to Mitt as "a salt-and -pepper man-shaped polymer case for a spiritual vacuum." It's a commentary worth seeing.

Left, France's new first lady Carla Bruni.

Veto shootout

Gov. Jon Huntsman is going to fight to keep his power to make interstate agreements with or without the OK of the Legislature. You got it?

Huntsman entered a climate change agreement with California's honcho Arnold Schwarzenegg

er last year. It was a move that many lawmakers didn't take kindly to. For one thing, they think global warming is hooey. They came up with SB144 that would handcuff Huntsman. The bill easily passed the Senate.

"I don't like that idea," Huntsman, doing his best Clint Eastwood, told the Deseret Morning News.

A veto at high noon?

"Yes, in a nutshell," said Big Little Jon, who unfortunately doesn't smoke cheroots.

It doesn't take a mind reader...

I would use this photo by the Trib's Scott Sommerdorf in a "Write the Caption" contest, but the results likely would be too horrible for even the Web.

Sen. Chris Buttars, right, is listening to testimony from Cristy Gleave, city employee, mother and lesbian, pleading for the Salt Lake City domestic partnership registry. Buttars is sponsoring a bill that would prohibit such "repugnant" programs.

If Sommerdorf's thousand words above aren't enough, you can read about it here.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Another little guy bites the dust

After a decade of fighting Goliath, David is taking the money.

Pearl Meibos and her family fought development at the Fort Union Family Center that surrounded their 1-acre property with a Wal-Mart and other big boxes. In court actions, the family whipped the developers again and again, defending the "little guy's" property rights.

Finally, burdened with $500,000 in legal debt, the family is settling the long-standing dispute, selling the family homestead for an undisclosed amount to DDR Corp., the Ohio-based company that now owns the Family Center.

"It was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. ...," Meibos says. "You win all the battles but lose the war."

Read the complete story here.

MoTab shut out

If she's so hot, I'd like to hear Amy Winehouse tackle "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

Winehouse, who couldn't even get a visa to attend the Grammy Awards in L.A., still managed to clean up, while the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with two nominations got shut out in its attempt to win its first Grammy in almost half a century. The MoTabs last won in 1959 for a stirring "Battle Hymn."

First Mitt Romney, now this. Tell me it's not a conspiracy.

Winehouse sang two songs via satellite, both about her incarcerated husband and Ringo Starr commented, "It's a pity Amy isn't here, but oh well, God bless her." I find it suspicious that in handing out blessings, Starr did not even mention "America's Choir."

"There's always next year," threatened Scott Barrick, MoTab manager, noting that the choir will have three CDs eligible for nominations next year, including a much-anticipated Frank Zappa tribute album.

Hyrum's sister city La Huacana

The Salt Lake Tribune offers an in-depth take on illegal immigration that, if nothing else, illustrates how morally complex and convoluted the issue is. Only opportunist politicians try to make a solution sound simple: Deport them. Amnesty. Build a fence. Guest workers.

"Life After the Swift Raids," an immigration package by Jennifer Sanchez, Kristen Moulton and Tom Harvey — with photos by Leah Hogsten — focuses on the lives of several

immigrants arrested in the notorious Swift meat packing plant raid in Cache County. It also looks into the needs of businesses and the impact on citizens who had their identities stolen to provide document forgeries.

Yes, the impoverished residents of La Huacana broke the law to come to Cache County. But the rest of their story is familiar to any Utahn descended from immigrants. They risked their lives and faced hardship to come to a new land, hoping for a better life. They provided labor for an industry desperate for workers. They helped provide Americans with cheap food and products.

As presidential candidates and the Utah Legislature struggle daily to find answers to immigration, "Life after the Swift Raids" offers only some insight — immigration policy is about people.

Brother Bigfoot

The Journal of Mormon History recently published an investigation into Mormon encounters with Bigfoot. (No, not Sen. Kevin Van Tassell, right, the other, hairier Yeti.)

The article discusses early LDS writings that seem to suggest that Bigfoot (a.k.a Sasquatch) is really Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve who murdered his brother Abel. Killer Cain was cursed to become a fugitive wandering the earth. Sort o

f like Rocky Anderson.

All kinds of sites, from LDS discussion groups to Bigfoot hunters have weighed in on the possiblities. 10ZenMonkeys reports on it:

It may not be the first controversy tackled by new Mormon President, Thomas S. Monson. But the article's author, Matthew Bowman cites a 1919 manuscript describing Hawaiian missionary E. Wesley Smith "being attacked by a huge, hairy creature, whom Smith drives off in the name of Christ" the night before the mission was dedicated. His brother tells him the attacker must've been Cain.

Much earlier there was the encounter of David W. Patten, a close Joseph Smith associate, with a big hairy guy. At dusk in 1835, Patten saw a tall galoot, covered in hair, lumbering near his mule. As Patten approached the potential convert:

...he replied that he had no home, that he was a wanderer in the earth and traveled to and fro. He said he was a very miserable creature, that he had earnestly sought death during his sojourn upon the earth, but that he could not die, and his mission was to destroy the souls of men. I rebuked him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood, and commanded him to go hence, and he immediately departed out of my sight.

In wasn't until the 1980s that the connection between these stories and Bigfoot was made, says Bowman on the Mormon Mentality blog.

I guess we can expect a bill from Sen. Chris Buttars requiring Bigfoot be taught in public schools as part of evolution.

Pursue this trivia

The Deseret Morning News crunched numbers and came up with some more evidence that Legislators put personal economics ahead of the state's. Lawmakers, of course, say it's just some trivia being sensationalized by the media. Read the story here.

Update: My colleague Robert Gehrke doesn't think much of the DNews expose and says so here. Gehrke argues, "it seems that calling some of these cases "apparent conflicts of interest" and casting the net so broadly doesn't really do much to shed light on the actual conflicts of interest that go on at the Capitol."

But everyone loves fun trivia. So, if conversation falters at your next party, toss this out: "One of every how many bills introduced in the Legislature creates an apparent conflict of interest for its sponsor?"

Answer: One in four (one-quarter, 25 percent).

Take Rep. Lorie Fowlke, for example. Every last bill she introduced this year would affect her job as a family law attorney. Her bills ranged from protective order amendments to stalking amendments to joint custody changes.

The DNews suggests that writing bills that affect their own professions or industry can make lawmakers "power brokers and leaders in arcane areas of the law, or help their professions."

Claire Geddes, a public advocate, told the DNews conflicts are "the number one ethical problem at the Legislature — and legislators just don't take it seriously at all."

"It is infamous that they pass bills that help their own industries," Geddes said. "The public loses big-time, and everyone just acts like it is OK because we have a part-time Legislature. It is not OK."

Hammered on the Hill

From the Legislature...

It was the duel the residents of Salt Lake City, a blue island in a sea of red, have been waiting for. The city, championed by new Mayor Ralph Becker, versus the state Legislature in the form of evolutionary throwback Sen. Chris Buttars, right.

The back story: Ralph kept a campaign promise by working with the city council to unanimously pass a domestic partnership registry last week. Buttars and former Rep. LaVar Christensen, now the head of a moral squad, quickly cobbled together legislation to kill it — the will of the local population be damned.

The issue was between marriage as a sacred relationship between a man and a woman only or should non-traditional families, including gays, have some legal and health benefit rights.

Under it all was "Becker vs. Buttars." Would the new mayor re-write the legacy of former Mayor Rocky Anderson, a liberal firebrand who was as ineffectual as he was detested on the Hill? Could Ralph's experience as minority leader of the House Democrats and his low-key political approach begin a golden era of city-state cooperation?

Maybe it's hard to change habit or a Pavlovian response... but Ralph is still a doormat for Legislative Republicans and Salt Lake City remains, in conservative eyes, a loathsome Babylon.

"Salt Lake City has a population that wants passage of the domestic partnership registry. If you override Salt Lake City that would be [ready for this?] a big mistake," Ralph told the committee, after acknowledging that, yes, indeed, they could tell the city council what to do.

As we all know, the Utah Legislature has never cringed at making a mistake — especially when it comes to moral issues, even it it costs a few million in legal fees.

In a soothing voice, Ralph reminded the lawmakers how much they hate the federal government when it overrides state prerogatives. "We are trying to do only what is best for our city and our residents."

Again, blatant hypocrisy is not something that ever detered the Legislature.

The committee, of course, approved Buttars' bill unanimously.

Sen. Brent Goodfellow the only Democrat present, spoke out forcefully to correct a misspelled word in the bill, then joined the Republicans in approving it.

Media blows it

The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz evaluates the news media's coverage of the presidential race and finds it bites.

A Project for Excellence in Journalism study found that 37 percent of media attention went to McCain, 21 percent to Mitt Romney and a scant 3 percent to Mike Huckabee (strumming Mitt out of the race, left).

Talk about betting on the wrong horse. Huckabee won five states -- which anchors and pundits treated as a stunning development -- and took Kansas and Louisiana on Saturday, while Romney abruptly dropped out.

Time and again, the media's preferred narratives for this campaign have collided with reality. Remember when journalists repeatedly declared that both nominations would be settled by Feb. 5? Scratch that.

Kurtz argues reporters "consistently overestimate the importance of money in presidential campaigns."

McCain was out of cash, and Huckabee never had any, so their chances were drastically downgraded. Romney gave his own campaign $50 million and his chances were constantly talked up.

Stuck with Huntsman

Gov. Jon Huntsman tells the Deseret Morning News that he won't cut short his tenure in Utah to accept a job from John McCain. That is, IF McCain gets elected president and IF Huntsman is re-elected governor and IF McCain offers Huntsman something tempting.

"I had a great opportunity to serve in different capacities in Washington. You do your time and move on. I'm very happy to be doing what I'm doing here. This is a great honor."

The speculation, of course, arises from Huntsman's savvy decision to energetically back McCain's candidacy, rather than Utah favorite Mitt Romney.

Still, Huntsman left the door open by refusing to pledge to finish a second term if offered a McCain job.

Former Gov. Mike Leavitt, you'll remember, bailed on the state when offered a cabinet position with the Bush administration. Spurned Utah went on to rack up a series of record budget surpluses. Maybe we should demand Huntsman go.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Mike's mad as ****

Rep. Mike Noel, R-Pluto, is incensed by HB137 , sponsored by Democrat Rep. Larry Wiley that would create the State Facility Water Conservation Program to reduce water use by state agencies. It's apparently not the bill's usefulness or the need for it that bugs the Conservation Rancher of the Year 1995 — Noel wants to kill it to send a message to the "radical" group he perceives is behind it, the Utah Rivers Council.

It's not news that Noel has no use for environmentalists, but this convoluted punitive action against the Rivers Council breaks fresh ground.

Noel circulated a letter to Republican House members — not meant for the eyes of you, me or them Democrats. "Utah Rivers Council is connected at the hip with SUWA," Noel says, going on to describe the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance as a "radical environmental group" that is protesting oil and gas development on public lands.

Noel implores House Republicans:

Please support me in sending a message to this environmental organization that we won't support bills with their name on them until they clean up their act and stop lying to the people.

They are taking credit on their web site for being moderate and supporting water conservation while with the other hand they are working nefariously with SUWA and other radical organizations to stop the development of Utah's natural resources and stop the use of one of the last renewable resources the state still owns.

Please speak to this so that we can make a strong statement that we are tired as **** and we won't take it any longer.

OK, correct me if I'm wrong — but Noel seems to be asking that a perfectly good water conservation program be deep sixed just because he wants to stick it to the Rivers Council and SUWA.

Note: Those are Noel's asterisks, not mine.

Jarvik rows up a creek

Robert Jarvik, a Utah hero for inventing the usable artificial heart that found a temporary home in the late Barney Clark's chest, is getting unwanted attention for his pill pushing for Pfizer. The drug giant spent $258 million in the past two years advertising Lipitor. Much of cash went for the Jarvik campaign.

The U. S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce thinks Jarvik — who is an M.D, but never got a license to practice medicine, let alone certification as a cardiologist — is misleading consumer

s. Jarvik insists he uses Lipitor and his goal is educating people about preventing heart problems.

Now, The New York Times is on the case. They've learned that a spot showing Jarvik sculling is bogus:

And, for that matter, what qualifies him to pose as a rowing enthusiast? As it turns out, Dr. Jarvik, 61, does not actually practice the sport. The ad agency hired a stunt double for the sculling scenes.

“He’s about as much an outdoorsman as Woody Allen," said a longtime collaborator, Dr. O. H. Frazier of the Texas Heart Institute. “He can’t row.”

The House committee also wants records proving Rob actually took Lipitor. Since Jarvik also appears in a touching ad with a younger man who calls him "Dad," maybe they should call for a DNA test, too.

McCain-Condo ticket?

It's time to start taking bets on McCain's veep. Mitt Romney, who bowed out like a real gent, and Mike Huckabee, who hasn't, both have chips on the table at the convention. But neither are high on most pundits' lists. The Wall Street Journal speculates on the vice presidential possibilities after McCain said he doesn't need to go for regional balance.

McCain said he would look for someone who is “fully prepared to take over” and someone who “shares your values, your principles, your philosophy and your priorities. I think that’s the first and only real criteria for the selection of a running mate.”

RealClearPolitics has begun a VeepStakes! based on blog mentions. Mitt failed to mak

e the shortlist and Huckabee is in a three-way tie at the very bottom.

Gov. Jon Huntsman, who stuck his neck out as one of the few Utah Mormons to eschew near-native son Mitt for McCain, only got one lousy mention as vice presidential possiblity. But, if McCain takes the nomination, then the election — he'll have cabinet positions to hand out, not to mention a ambas

sadorship to China, one of the Guv's favorite destinations.

Amazingly, a black woman is at the top of the list: Condoleezza Rice. Some conservatives say that would that take the wind out of a possible Clinton/Obama Democratic ticket.

RealClearPolitics' VEEPSTAKES! ^TM shortlist:

Condoleezza Rice (21)
JC Watts (16)
Sarah Palin (14)
Colin Powell (14)
Michael Steele (10)
Charlie Crist (9)
Bobby Jindal (9)
Fred Thompson (9)
Haley Barbour (6)
Chris Cox (6)
Rudy Giuliani (6)
Kay Bailey Hutchison (6)
John Kasich (6)
Tom Ridge (6)
Mike Huckabee (5)
Rick Santorum (5)
John Thune (5)

Hilton's half-life

If you think the commentary on Mitt Romney's "suspended" campaign will soon pass, forget it. Prepare for weeks of pundits sifting the ashes. For more from the NYTimes go here or for the Christian Science Monitor go here. Slate takes a different slant, discussing Democratic grief at Mitt's passing. Then, unless you're a political junkie, I suggest you turn your laptop off for a few days.

Heck, movie buffs are still debating the Sundance Film Festival that ended last month.

Today, while taking questions on WashingtonPost.com, film critic John Anderson had a moment to clear up a slander dogging the Utah festival. Paris Hilton did NOT have a movie in Sundance or have a part in any movie in competition.

She did, show up, to promote her first film — not in the festival, The Hottie & The Nottie. (The NYTimes' parental caution is all the film needs in the way of a review: Characters pass gas, denigrate little people and perform the most revealing downward dog in yoga history.)

Los Angeles, Calif.: About The Hottie & The Nottie, I take this movie is not what it could have been in the send-up, inside-joke, social-critique department, but one dispatch from Sundance had the trailer deemed unlinkable, due to its offensiveness to the blogger, who happened to be female. How does a movie like this get to Sundance?

John Anderson: The estimable Ms. Hilton's appearance in Park City is an unfortunate symptom of the sundance festival's success. The film wasn't in the festival -- the "Hottie/Nottie" folks came, held an event, siphoned off Sundance cred, and pulled a scam of sorts --just as so many hair products have done over the years, and continue to do. It's a parasitic situation, although I don't hear the festival complaining all that loudly about all the press they get from celebutante/jailbird sightings

Don't mess with the one-eyed dog

Blogging from the Capitol Plaza...

Supporters of Henry's Law demonstrated at noon by the Capitol Reflecting Pool to keep pressure on the Legislature to pass a animal protection law with "teeth."

Henry's "mom" Rhonda Kamper, says Sen. Alan Christensen's animal protection bill offends animal rights advocates for several reasons, including that it would not slap animal abusers with a felony until their second offense.

"What if it's not an animal the second time?" Kamper says. "What if it's a child? Or a woman? Or a senior citizen? There's a correlation — people who abuse humans begin with abusing animals."

She says if Sen. Gene Davis' bill (Henry's Law) is smothered in committee as Davis fears, she will fight to kill Christensen's bill, that she sees as worthless.

Henry's Law supporters have been canvassing Christensen's district on Saturdays, she says.

"He's got an election in November," Kamper says. "We'll be back."

Huntsman senior steps up

Jon Huntsman Sr., not the governor son but Big Daddy who turned humongous profits making plastic in Texas — but wants to be remembered for the cancer institute in Utah, gave a struggling Rexburg, Idaho, family a check for $100,000.

The Clark family has four children, all in wheelchairs with muscular dystrophy, a fifth child died.

"I was shocked. I was just shocked.," said mom Ruth Clark. "I mean I've always heard that he's been kind and generous, but I never would have imagined that it would have happened to us."

People in the Rexburg area kicked in another $200,000 at a fundraiser to help the family.

"Henry's Law" put down?

Blogging from the Utah Legislature...

"Henry's Law," the Legislature's long-suffering animal protecton bill named for a tortured one-eyed mongrel, will likely be stomped out of its misery this session like (dare I?) a pheasant at a Viewmont High School football

game.

In the complex machinations of the Senate, Henry's Law, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Gene Davis, will likely be supplanted by Sen. Allen Christensen's bill that the Utah Humane Society says will "set Utah's animal abuse code back 50 years."

It's not completely over yet. The committee postponed discussing Henry's Law today, but Davis is sure "It's not going anywhere."

Davis figures Senate GOP leaders want to set up Christensen as a hero after having taking so much flak for opposing Henry's Bill in the past. Even though animal advocates think Christensen's bill is "appalling," the North Ogden Republican hopes his district won't remember come election time, and, perhaps more important, "The Farm Bureau likes his bill," says Davis with a shrug.

Girding the loins

Admit it, we've all wished for a Movie Cop at one time or another. When you've got the idiot behind you that keeps asking moronic questions, like "Who's that guy?" Or, my favorite, hisses during a thriller, "Something's gonna jump out, I know it."
Where's a State Trooper with a taser when you need one?

This week a federal jury will take up the case of Deputy Skip Curtis.

Curtis was trying to raise his brow by sitting through the movie Troy at a Provo theater. Apparently, he was disturbed by people around him talking during the film.

As the movie's closing credits were rolling, witnesses say the deputy confronted a couple, accusing them of talking throughout the movie. In a classic example of frontier justice, the deputy demanded they pay for his movie ticket.

So far, so good, but then apparently the themes portrayed in Troy took hold — arms were grabbed, chests poked and somebody with the gender of Helen bounced down the stairs. Fortunately, no javelins were handy. Unfortunately, no one claimed the role of sage Nestor.

Animal cruelty

Blogging from the Utah Senate Judiciary and Law Enforcement Committee...

Utah has had its share of high-profile animal cruelty cases recently: a horse riddled with bullets near Ivins, a pheasant stomped to death at a football game, a donkey dragged behind a truck. The incidents have fueled heated opposition against Sen. Allen Christensen's take on an anti-animal cruelty bill complaining it will set animal protection back half a century.

But Christensen emotionally complained his proposal and he, personally, had been the victim of "twisted facts and outright lies from the Humane Society."

"I'm not trying to get even with this bill." he said. "I've got animals. I've shed more than a few tears over their problems."

Todd Bingham of the Farm Bureau said, "We don't believe in raising animals to the status of people." Bingham pointed out that when the previous item, a child-rape bill, was before the committee, "not a single media [four TV cameras] was rolling during that. I think that is sad state in our society."

Gene Baierschmidt, director of the Humane Society of Utah, told the committee, "Quite frankly, we believe this is an appalling piece of legislation. It will set Utah's animal cruelty code back 50 years."

Christensen, who fears animal cruelty laws will be used to harass farmers and ranchers, opposed a compromise amendment that would apply cruelty and neglect penalties to livestock if the actions are outside "customary farming practices."

Baierschmidt emphasized the Humane Society is not going after agricultural producers. "I personally ate steak last night. I am not an animal rights person."

(Photo above: Sadie, who was stabbed by a neighbor for barking, kicks back during the discussion of animal cruelty.)

Mitt's post mortem

Like the forensic detectives in a CSI episode, political and religious observers have begun the autopsy on the Romney campaign. What killed it?

Peggy Stack of the Tribune says Mitt dragged Mormons into public scrutiny that they thought would be a good thing.

With optimistic naiveté, many believed the more people knew of Mormonism, the more Latter-day Saints would be accepted into mainstream America, legitimate players on the national stage.
That didn't happen. Instead, some said, Romney's failed campaign revealed what many Americans really think about Mormons. It forced Latter-day Saints to acknowledge that they don't just belong to another American denomination.

LDS historian Richard Bushman told Stack, "We have to live with the fact that a lot of people think our beliefs are strange. Mormons have never had so much exposure as we have in the last year, so much genuine curiosity on the part of high-level media. I don't think we'll ever be the same."

The New York Times' Timothy Egan puts Romney's defeat in stark terms: "Blame Christians."

By significant margins, in poll after poll, in vote after vote a solid block of evangelical Christians said they would never vote for a Mormon. Since evangelicals made up nearly half of the Republican primary vote in some states, Romney was up against a deep well of distrust of a religion that many evangelicals still label a cult.

In the Deseret Morning News, Lee Benson argues the "politician" Mitt killed the true "moderate" Mitt's chances. Benson only indirectly mentions anti-Mormon bigotry.

And has there been a stiffer speech in all of politics than Romney's so-called religion speech last December? Instead of defending his right to be a Mormon and let it go at that, he attacked Americans who aren't religious — a subtle but obvious pander for the Christian voting bloc. He couldn't stop campaigning even when he wasn't campaigning.

Benson recalls the governor of Massachusetts and the Mitt who got along with liberal Rocky Anderson during the 2002 Olympics. "He's the absolute king of the moderates."

Benson's insights come as no surprise to a group of voters broader than evangelicals and the Mormons combined — those who simply don't care about any candidate's religion, but were disgusted by Romney, the flip-flopping, pandering opportunist.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Sundance casualty

Update, 2/9/08: Cirque Lodge Director of Operations Gary Fisher has denied Dunst is in the facility, "Nope, not true."

Maybe it's Utah's reputation for making it tough to get a drink, but the state's gaining fame as a rehab destination for the stars.

The latest is Kirsten Dunst. After a week of Sundance Film Festival parties, Spider-man's squeeze was reported to have checked herself into Utah's "mountain-top" Cirque Lodge Treatment Center, a hangout of Lindsay Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen. (Whoa, Spidey. Before you head up to Sundance with a balloon bouquet, E! has reported the Cirque said Dunst has not checked in. Updates as needed.)

"I'm sure t

he Heath Ledger thing put people over the edge," a friend told People . "Everybody hits that bottom where you feel [so] scared that that one heavy night of partying can really wake you up. It's good she's getting herself help."

Dunst will have company, actress Eva Mendes (Ghost Rider), left, checked in to dry out last week, checked out again, but is expected back.

Look out, Tail-Gunner Joe

It's often the case that the most fascinating reading in the Tribune is on the obituary page.
Florence Kaplan Strindberg died Tuesday after leading a life of service and hell raising. Born in the Br

onx in 1926, Strindberg, a social worker, worked in Harlem and with psychiatric patients in New Jersey. Her energetic opposition to red-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy, the Korean, Vietnam, Grenada and two Iraq wars attracted the surveillance of the

scrapbookers at the FBI.

"She is survived by her two absolutely wonderful children... who thank her for instilling in them a sense of humanity, but will continue to blame her for any problems or difficulties they experience in life.... She achieved the goal of any Jewish mother when her son became a lawyer and her daughter a surgeon."

She donated her body to science, of course.

Trib political editor Dan Harrie found Strindberg's final request blog-worthy, read about it here.

Hey, big spender...

If Mitt Romney really cared about America, he would have stayed in the race.

Another month of Mitt's wild-assed campaign spending — the frenzy reached $87 million — is just the economic stimulus the nation needs to pull out of its fiscal tailspin. Forget about tax rebates that citizens might bank or squander on buying down their debt — Romney was vomiting money into the nation's economic engine.

He single handedly kept television stations across America solvent with a $30 million injection of cash for a blitz of commercial spots. Here's a fun fact: To win those 133 GOP delegates, Mitt spent $654,000 each!

Compare that to Sen. McCain's less-than-patriotic spending — $39 million, a measely $57,000 a delegate.

Don't even bring up bargain-basement Huck and his lousy $45,000 per delegate spending.

Mitt, buddy, you've got $200 million in personal wealth left. Spread it around.

Before dropping out, candidate Fred Thompson mocked Romney's dropping of $2 million in South Carolina alone. “Governor, you can’t buy South Carolina,” Thompson said. “You can’t even rent South Carolina.”

Well, we checked on Craigslist. If Mitt had loosened the purse strings a bit and used Utah as a trade-in, he indeed could have purchased South Carolina.

Utah Swindle Classic*

Tribune cop reporter Erin Alberty turned up a scam that goes way beyond bunco. It's a hornswoggle that includes most of the "Bs" of quality court journalism, including Bigamy, Bikers, Bullets and, of course, Bunco.

A West Jordan man is accused of taking a second bride without divorcing his first wife (bigamy). He then cancelled wife No.1's health insurance and transferred it to wife No.2 to c

over No.2's pregnancy needs. (Hey, that's baby — the coveted fifth B!)

As the second wife began receiving prenatal care paid for by the man's insurance, the first wife learned that her medical bills were not being covered. Darn those blood-sucking insurance companies!

Wife No.2 called the insurer and learned she had been "div

orced." Not being a complete idiot, she called fraud investigators.

Still our wily hero had cards to play: He threatened to "send the Baron's Motorcycle Club" (bikers) to kill her, to shoot her boyfriend (Where'd he come from?) with an AK-47 (bullets). If that failed, he threatened suicide.

The man is looking at a count of insurance fraud, two counts of communications fraud and a count of bigamy, but has already won the awe of grifters everywhere.

*Because of the dizzying number of swindles in the Utah: America's Fraud Capitol, it's impossible to report them all. Instead, I will review exceptional scams as performance art, like theater or dance. Go here for our last Classic Swindle.

In dutch to Bonzo

Having some extra time on their hands after doing zip about healthcare, the Utah House has passed a bill calling for a "Ronald Reagan Day."

With it's characteristic foresight, the House passed the proposal yesterday, on the Gipper's birthday. Oops. Because the bill still needs to be approved by the Senate and signed by the Guv, we can't party like it's 1911 for at least a full year.

How important to Utah is Dutch Reagan? Rep. Chris Herrod says he named his kids Reagan (How do they know who he's yelling at?). Heck, Herrod says, he wouldn't have met his Russian-born wife if it wasn't for Ronnie.

Word on the Hill is the Democrats are preparing a counter bill, to declare a holiday honoring the other "Great Communicator" who choreographed day-to-day behavior in the House.

As yet, Hallmark has expressed little interest in Bonzo Day greeting cards.

I married a monster!

Apparently, the Brits never got over their 19th Century Mormon scare. The people who produced such quality pulp entertainment as Trapped by the Mormons, are still suckers for a good polygamy yarn.

Carolyn Jessop, who fled the Warren Jeffs (left) sect, is making the rounds of the United

Kingdom doing interviews on her book "Escape." The tabloids just eat up the polygamy accounts, and the latest article is in the Belfast Telegraph, under the headline: 'My husband had five other wives and sex with him was gross.'

"He was a monster and I don't know what sort of relationship we could have had, because there were two generation gaps between us. He was impotent and then his other problem was premature ejaculation. It was really gross. Needless to say, I had a very bad attitude towards sex for ... about 35 years."

At this point, the Telegraph writer may have wondered if she was interviewing a former FLDS wife or the victim of the Loch Ness monster — but that wouldn't be half as good a yarn.

If office coffee wasn't dangerous enough

Look at the world through the eyes of Mark Madsen and you see the landscape of Mad Max. Marauding hordes of chain-and-leather draped punks circle the office parking lot, waiting to set upon Dilbert and other innocents. (At $3 a gallon for gas, it starts to make sense.)

The Lehi senator is pushing a bill that would even the odds for Dilbert, by letting him pack a 9mm, sawed-off shotgun or crossbow in his car. "This is a measure to protect law-abiding citizens wanting self-protectio

n," Madsen says.

If a woefully misguided business owner wants to keep the company parking lot gun-free, Madsen says, build a security fence or wall around it, but have a gun locker available for concealed gun permit holders to store their gats. Second Amendment rights don't come cheap.

John Williams, president of restaurant chain Gastronomy, who obviously has never fought off a gay mohawked psychopath with a flame thrower (Madsen has and his name is McCoy), opines, "It sounds like a ridiculous waste of time, dealing with this kind of legislation. In the 35 years of doing business, nothing has occurred where this legislation would be required."

In a revealing choice of words, Madsen, who, incidentally, packs a handgun at the Legislature, argues a