The postcard image of Utah is a state of gleaming cities, majestic mountains and persistently smiling people. But new research shows a very different picture of the state, a snapshot of suicide and widespread depression.

Inspector General Gordon Heddell says MSHA, overly influenced by the mine's operator, Murray Energy Corp., erred when it approved risky retreat mining at Crandall Canyon.

Now, Pleasant Grove is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to step in before city parks everywhere start to look like so-many boneyards. Lawyers for Pleasant Grove argue:

Government bodies are now sitting targets for demands that they grant 'equal access' to whatever comparable monuments a given group wishes to have installed, be it Summum's Seven Aphorisms, an atheist group's Monument to Freethought or Rev. Fred Phelps's denunciations of homosexual persons.

*"You can't cheat an honest man—so never give a sucker an even break or wise up a chump."— W.C. Fields.

One thing is for sure, if I am elected, Utah will be one seriously fun place to live.

Wikipedia is run by terrorists.

These are my personal favorites:

It’s too bad that all of the media in Utah are liars and murderers, you just destroyed the greatest computer company of all time. ... All this hatred was created by you. You’re basically angels of Satan. All I can say to the people in Utah is, please pray for all the news people.

If I was a really bad guy do you think any of these news reporters would still be alive? Ask yourself that question. You know you all have the ability to repent because of the grace of God, but you are still alive to do it because of the grace of SUPERDELL.

A Tribune letter writer fondly remembers the Totally Awesome billboard campaign that announced SUPERDELL was "lost," but, unfortunately, he was found again.

You get the biggest bang for the buck in helping small businesses. And in rural counties that face additional challenges, helping get a small business started makes even more sense.

So why is Congress trying to fix a $2.5 trillion industry that isn't broken? Apparent answer: Because it's there.

His wife and co-driver Janet Filiczkowski was piloting their C.R. England rig along I-90 west of Sioux Falls when she saw a car carrying Jeff Bern and his daughter Abby cross four lanes of traffic and plunge into a pond. She called her husband out of the sleeper compartment. Filiczkowski dressed and ran a quarter-mile to the scene.

I dove right in because I saw Abby pounding on the car’s back window. My only instinct was to get her out of the car as soon as possible. In situations such as that, seconds count.”

Filiczkowski was able to get Abby to safety, but could not save her father.

Thomas Alvord, with the group No More Pornography, told a shocked KSL News: "The issue is exposing people to pornography."

The English Department assigns* the graphic novel in an attempt to expose students to different literary genres. And, "Fun Home" has lots of pictures, so most UofU undergrads can handle it.

"Fun Home," chronicles Alison Bechdel's growing up as a lesbian with a gay father. If that weren't enough to flip out the bluenoses, the novel addresses gender roles and suicide.

I loved what [Mitt] said to some reporter who interviewed him after that speech. This lady — the reporter — said, "What were you doing, mentioning “Mormon” only once? Were you ducking or something?" And Romney responded coolly — again, I am paraphrasing — "Actually, we don’t call ourselves Mormons. I just threw that one reference in there for the likes of you."

There are probably 20, maybe even more—I can think of probably 20 names of people who I think would be excellent vice presidential nominees for our party.

One of those names is Jon Huntsman.

But MSNBC's FirstRead notes:

It is remarkable how much Mitt Romney is helping McCain. If you didn't believe it before, then believe it now, this guy wants the second slot... badly.

Wonkette takes a more cynical view:

Mitt Romney joined his "successful" nemesis John McCain on the campaign trail yesterday, and they raised some cash from Mormon Fat Cats and other mountain men in Denver and Salt Lake City. They even rode together on John McCain's stupid little plane. But Mitt wants to be McCain's vice president, and McCain wants to woo the "Romney Wing" of the Republican party — Space Elves — so they had to play it nice for the cameramen.

Rocky Mountain News' blog says it could happen:

The McCain and Romney camps loathed each other during the Republican primary season but vice-presidential amnesia for prior slights is well documented in each party. McCain tagged Romney as a flip-flopper but George H.W. Bush called Ronald Reagan's fiscal policies "voodoo economics" yet still wound up as his running mate in 1980.

It's not just churches with Utah and Mormon affiliations buying his music.

Castner says: "I am pleased to say I have heard from, and taken calls from, many of my Utah listeners who listen to the live stream."

UFM, the brainchild of former KRCL volunteers and listeners, is still exploring format and funding direction, but organizers expect to begin broadcasting on the Web in mid-April.
Co-founder Troy Mumm says:

Utah Free Media was founded by, and will rely, on a talented bunch of folks who know community radio inside and out and are dedicated to quality on-air programming.

The wool has been pulled over our eyes big time," "It is a huge concern.

I don't see it as a federal issue. If the state of Tennessee wants to take it, and if the state of Utah wants to take it, I'm going to punt it back to them. It is within their purview.

Congressman Jim Matheson is co-sponsoring a bill that would ban such nuclear-waste imports.

LOGAN, UT—According to an alarming new study published Monday in the American Journal Of Sociology, the vast majority of Americans are critically discussed after leaving a room occupied by two or more additional people.

The study, according to The Onion, contradicts decades of previous research in which respondents "adamantly denied ever having talked behind others' backs."

A Dr. Edward Phillips, professor of sociology at Utah State University, is quoted:

Our findings will come as a great shock to the millions of Americans who have assumed people do not speak derisively about them as soon as they are out of earshot. ...If you have ever feared that people whom you considered to be good friends were mercilessly mocking and insulting you shortly after you left their presence, your fears are almost certainly 100 percent correct.

The Carpetbagger Report wonders why Mitt had to answer for being Mormon, Barack for being black, Richardson for being brown and Hillary for being penis-free, but the GOP candidate John McCain has yet to open the dialog on being a geezer.

When I was five years old, a car pulled up in front of our house in New London, Connecticut, and a Navy officer rolled down the window, and shouted at my father that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. My father immediately left for the submarine base where he was stationed. I rarely saw him again for four years.

Carpetbagger points out:

Now, I suspect the story was intended to remind the audience about the proud military history in McCain’s family, but there were probably more than a few people who heard the anecdote and thought, “Wait, McCain was already five in 1941?"

We may be small and ineffective but, by God, we have our pride. ... If anything, SUPERDELL is an anti-libertarian. He’s a bully, a bigot and a homophobe who has fired employees because they were gay or non-LDS and who brandishes a gun at people.

I’m Christian and I love all people equally; that’s what a Christian is. It’s ridiculous … I disagree with [homosexuals’] practices, but that doesn’t mean I hate them. I disagree with adultery, and there’s no difference. I’m a libertarian because I believe in lower taxes, smaller government and less infringements on rights.

What Mr. Smithson might have thought about the drilling plan is among the issues in dispute. State officials and some art historians, pointing to Mr. Smithson’s own writing about the “Spiral Jetty,” and the film he made about its construction, said he reveled in the juxtaposition of industrialism and beauty, decay and rebirth, rot and permanence.

“The sense of ruined and abandoned hopes interested him,” said Lynne Cooke, the curator at Dia. “He didn’t look for beautiful places, but rather despoiled landscapes where industry and the wild overlap.”

The owner of “Spiral Jetty,” the Dia Art Foundation in New York and the Friends of Great Salt Lake have sent more than 3,000 e-mail messages to the state. A decision on whether to allow the drilling is expected in April.

Above: Photo by Tom Smart for the NYTimes.

It seems that the accepted media talking point that “Saddam had no link to Al Qaeda” has become an axiom akin to “tax cuts for the rich.” What both have in common, however, is the falsity of their underlying premise. As much as saying across the board tax cuts are “for the rich,” saying “Saddam had no link to Al Qaeda” is equally false and disingenuous.

The fact we have gotten Mitt Romney indicates the importance the McCain campaign attaches to Lancaster County. If you can't get McCain, (Romney's) one of the better persons to come in and speak.

Gotta wonder if Mitt and McCain will take time to talk veep in SLC? Some pundits say the best Mitt can hope for is a cabinet position. Anthony Palmer of The 7-10, in fact, says Romney pretty much screwed, even in 2012:

Should McCain lose this year's election, there will be a new wave of conservative presidential aspirants looking to lead the party out of the wilderness. At least one of these aspirants will be the consensus candidate that unites fiscal, social, and foreign policy conservatives — and probably do so more effectively than Romney ever could.

Oh well, there's always U.S. senator from Utah.

Meanwhile, the college paper at University of Pennsylvania reports that senior Abby Huntsman says her dad "laughs off" questions about becoming McCain's VP pick.

"I think they have a very unique connection and are really there for support no matter what. It's a genuine friendship."

The Idahoans lust after Utah's film industry, which under similar breaks has landed production of the Disney Channel's popular High School Musical and its ghastly sequels.

Says Sen. Dean Cameron of Rupert:

Everyone that goes to see a movie that shows Idaho's beauty, mountains, ski resorts and way of life will think highly of our state and may come and visit us.

Idaho Falls Sen. Mel Richardson reminded his colleagues of the international attention that Idaho garnered after Sun Valley Serenade was shot in 1941: "That's advertising you can't buy."

You remember Sun Valley Serenade... starring Norwegian Olympic skater Sonja Henie and Milton Berle as "Nifty?"

Anybody?

The fuses trigger nuclear warheads on Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles. The government has yet to figure out how the two very different items were mixed up in August 2006 and then got out of the country.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered a probe, the second such probe in a year to examine serious lapses in the care of nuclear weapons. (The Air Force lost track of six nuclear warheads for a day and a half when they were aboard a bomber flying between North Dakota and Louisiana. Has anybody heard from North Dakota recently?)

UPDATE: President Bush told Chinese President Hu Jintao today that the shipment of nuclear missile fuses to Taiwan was a mistake.

Ryan Henry, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, who presumably can tell the difference between a 5-inch battery and a yard-long nose-cone fuse, says:

In an organization as large as DOD, the largest and most complex in the world, there will be mistakes. But they cannot be tolerated in the arena of strategic systems...

Some legislators, led by the irrepressible Sen. Chris Buttars (happy guy at right), forced the name change for the city's domestic partnership registry for siblings, long-term roommates, parents and gays because it might violate Utah's Amendment No. 3, banning same-sex marriage.

Alex Blaze of The Bilerico Project is baffled by the continuing name changes.

Wasn't "civil union" supposed to be the non-"marriage" long-term commitment of not-just-heterosexual-couples? Then wasn't "domestic partnership" supposed to be the watered down version of "civil union"? And now apparently that's too close to gay marriage, so there's another name being thrown out there?

It has even someone like me wondering when this ride will stop and people will find some kind of agreement on what these words all mean.

The name change should be accomplished, appropriately, on April 1, which is Buttars' birthday, and, of course, Fool's Day. And for perpetuity, MCF Pride Day.

From a review of the book at BCDaily.com appears the Canadian media has an uncertain understanding of the FLDS, perhaps confusing it with the mainstream Mormons. In describing Bramham's "The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in a Polygamous Mormon Sect," the reviewer notes, "Daphne Bramham has been covering Mormonism and polygamy in both Utah and Bountiful for close to five years."

Bramham says of Winston Blackmore, leader of Bountiful group and a former follower of Warren Jeffs:

He’s quite charming and quite funny. And like some religious or political leaders, from the moment he meets you he’s looking for your weaknesses and looking at ways that he can expose them and exploit them.

And of his 22 wives:

The women really become the public face in a way because the men are so scared of being arrested. And these women, they’re so well-trained to tell you that they’re happy in this sort of sweet way.”

Her conclusion is that such polygamy should not be allowed to flourish amid the maple leaves: "It’s antithetical to Canadian society."

I was quite disappointed when Sean Hannity at first tried to say he didn't know me and then went on to say that I ran some senate campaign in New Jersey. In fact, Sean Hannity does know me and we were quite friendly a number of years ago.

That's an impressive list of supporters. But since Lavar Christensen [a former GOP lawmaker who wants to take his seat back from Andersen] apparently has Heavenly Father's endorsement doesn't that trump all the others?

Unfortunately, Moon has spouted his share of crazy sh**, including crowning himself “savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent." See him at his whackiest here.

Orrin, in particular, might want to take a closer look at his Korean friend's theology, which would upset many Christians even more than Mormonism. Moon says that Satan corrupted mankind by doing the horizontal hokey pokey with Eve in Eden and that only sexual purification can save mankind. Moon argues that Jesus blew his chance to save humanity because he did not father children.

According to The Consortium for Independent Journalism:

Moon sees himself as a second messiah who will not make the same mistake. He has engaged in sex with a variety of women over the decades. The total number of his offspring is a point of debate inside the Unification Church. Moon's rhetoric has turned stridently anti-American, another problem for the Religious Right and its strongly patriotic positions. On May 1, 1997, Moon told a group of followers that "the country that represents Satan's harvest is America." [ Unification News, June 1997] In other sermons, he has vowed that his victorious movement will "digest" any American who tries to maintain his or her individuality. He especially has criticized American women who must "negate yourself 100 percent" to be a receptacle for the male seed.

The Raw Story says that in 2003, Moon's priests held a funeral for the Christian cross near Jerusalem.

They buried the cross because it was Satan's icon, Moon said, cleaving Jew from gentile, Christian from Muslim. Moon demanded a new symbol that everyone could agree on: the Crown of Glory. In February and March, 2004, on Capitol Hill, U.S. politicians would attend two ceremonies celebrating this gospel, the last climaxing with the selfsame Crown Of Glory lowered onto the Times owner's head.

*Former Trib middle manager/editor.

Doughty said the mining industry is much more transparent these days and that such a risk discovered today would be reported immediately. "I think things would be very different today," she said.

1. Calculate Kennecott's legal liability by assigning a dollar figure to the lives of men, women and children who might suffocate in the muck if the dike failed.
2. Bully state regulators to keep the scary engineering reports hidden away.
3. Secretly buy up homes that would be in the path of destruction.
4. And, oh, yeah, begin a 30-year repair of the tailings impoundment.

In 1972, in Thailand, a Mormon missionary had his picture taken sitting on top of a statue of Buddha. It became an international incident.

Says Mark Tippets, a missionary in Thailand at the time:

"We [the missionaries] were front page news for a solid month. We were the entire front page."

While the missionaries involved were jailed for a short time before they were pardoned, Thai converts were under enormous and lasting pressure. A postal worker who had joined the LDS church was told by his superiors that he would be fired if he went to church. Missionaries were told not to identify themselves as "Mormons" because that was the word used repeatedly in news accounts.

"I think it was harder on the members than on the missionaries," Tippets says. "We leave. They have to stay."

If this were a soap opera, it would be fine drama. Trouble is, it's a reality show, starring Salt Lake County District Attorney Lohra Miller. And it's getting embarrassing, for Miller, and the people she represents.

For citizens to maintain confidence in the criminal justice system, it is essential that the people who prosecute lawbreakers obey each and every law. Miller needs to pay up, and settle down, before this daytime drama turns into a prime-time comedy.

John McCain and Mitt Romney fought bitterly as presidential candidates and don't seem to like each other very much. ...

[But] A presidential nominee doesn't need another best friend. He needs a ticket-balancer - and from the ridiculous to the sublime, his ex-rival fits the bill.

Romney has hair; McCain has much less; Romney is robotic; McCain is temperamental. Romney shifts positions with enthusiasm; McCain does it without any.

No doubt some of my friends will see this as a matter of party or intellectual treachery. .... But they will readily agree that as Republicans, we are first Americans. As Americans, we must voice our concerns for the well-being of our nation without partisanship when decisions that have been made endanger the body politic. Our president has involved our nation in a military engagement without sufficient justification or clear objective. In so doing, he has incurred both tragic loss of life and extraordinary debt jeopardizing the economy and the well-being of the average American citizen. In pursuit of these fatally flawed purposes, the office of the presidency, which it was once my privilege to defend in public office formally, has been distorted beyond its constitutional assignment.

Noel compared his lawmaker vigilantes to "my long departed Blue Healer and faithful cow dog Zero. Z knew a snake, thief, liar and any other malcontent when he saw them, and he did his upmost to keep me, my cow herd and my family protected."

"Did some of those profits end up in the hands of other SUWA directors, staff or contributors' pockets or in SUWA coffers? ... Frankly this whole deal smells and needs a big dose of sunshine to clear things up."

SUWA's real crime, in Noel's eyes, is that it "orchestrated" the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and wants another 9 million acres of Utah backcountry protected as wilderness. Noel wants that land open to coal, oil and gas development.

Verlin, 42, completed his 15th season with head coach Stew Morrill, the last 10 at Utah State. Verlin takes over for George Pfeifer, who was fired Tuesday after two seasons. The Vandals were 12-48 under Pfeifer, including 8-21 this season. Idaho finished seventh in the Western Athletic Conference.

Idaho athletic director Rob Spear confirmed that Verlin will be introduced formally today. "Don is a winner. He has been involved with winning programs his entire career. He has been mentored by one of the most respected coaches in the game - Stew Morrill."

"I ask that we as Catholics, who believe in the forgiveness of Christ, will ourselves forgive, and pray for the young men who showed such a lack of tolerance and understanding. I especially ask the members of the San Luis community to help the healing process by removing any anger that exists in their hearts. This is the time that we can show our love of Christ by forgiving and loving our neighbors."

• Mayor candidate Richard Culbertson was charged with real estate fraud and his staff admitted running bogus campaign ads.
• Former Mayor Brian Olsen lied about having a masters degree and searched other council member's laptops for porn before resigning a step ahead of charges of misusing city funds.
• Olsen's replacement, Linn Strouse has been charged with accepting gifts while in office.
• Former Mayor Kelvin Bailey faked his own kidnapping.

"Unfortunately, we have a handful of people that have done things that have really embarrassed the rest of us as decent, honorable and good people," Lifferth says.

• They don't smoke. (I love Bonnie Tyler as much as anyone, but raspy-voiced singers spend their careers swimming upstream.)
  
• They don't drink alcohol or caffeine.
  
• They have large families that sing together at home and in tabernacle choirs.
  
• They live at high altitudes. Because they're used to thin air, their breath control is unrivaled.
  
• They don't dance.

We hold a duty to maintain public belief in a Supreme Being, regardless of our personal religious beliefs. If we do not, future generations will never understand the critical role our Creator has played throughout the history of this great Nation.

You have to say in public that you believe in God, or somehow you are not patriotic? — that you are un-American if you don't accept a belief in God?

Unitarian Rev. Tom Goldsmith says Leavitt has gotten his mythology of the Founding Fathers cockeyed. Most of them were deists who supported the separation of church and state. "To say they were near (Leavitt's) thinking on this subject is just crazy," Goldsmith says.

Leavitt's God pitch probably should not surprise anyone:

• Dave's big brother, former Gov. Mike Leavitt (now a Bush cabinet member), held seminary meetings with his staff to discuss blending "just and holy" Mormon principles into state policymaking.
• Spirituality is always a back beat in the district's races. Cannon's last serious opponent, John Jacob, told the Tribune that Satan had intervened against him.

They very wisely wanted to cash in on the extreme amounts of exposure I receive. They will be paying for a very large campaign staring SUPERDELL as their spokesman and inside of their commercials they will allow me to promote my campaign in any way I like. I much prefer this method as I feel I am EARNING my way through the campaign instead of begging others to fund it.

Majerus: “I don’t like BYU from my Utah days. You know, Mitt and magic underwear and all those guys.”

Patrick laughs and says: "You're going to get me put on probation."

Says Rieckhoff: "No matter where you stand on the war, the very basic way to support the troops is to pay attention to the war."

“If we had had a national Gayle Ruzicka – with certainly, in my view, better politics; but I do have a lot of respect for what she’s done in an organizing fashion – if there had been a national organization like that during the Bosnian genocide, during the Rwandan genocide, I think these past five years we would have seen major changes.”

Rocky's will take his message to church and civic groups. If the former mayor is willing to trade out global warming for fighting pornography, Ruzicka and her mighty phone tree might even sign on.

"It's a bit of a non sequitur where he's calling out one branch of government. It's easy for him to say I have the court shield so I don't have to have anything open."

"I still love the theology of the Mormon religion and I think it is a wonderful way to grow up. But I think any real commitment to religion takes time, effort and energy. I just got really lazy and it's hard to get yourself up on a Sunday morning."

The channel, available in 28 million homes, hopes to sell near $500 million. If neither NBC or CBS decides buy the complete stake in the channel, Cablevision, Time Warner and Viacom are as potential bidders.

The "independent minded" Sundance Channel shows films, documentaries and original programming. The network is separate from the Sundance Film Festival, but draws a similar audience.

Robert Redford co-founded the network 12 years ago to expand his Sundance Institute nonprofit.

Above: Nice Bombs, a documentary on the Iraq War being shown on the Sundance Channel.

By the time we arrive at Garduño’s [a restaurant], the discussion has moved on to the Romney brothers’ dad, Mitt. It’s two days after he suspended his run, and we’re trying to puzzle out why voters never really got around to liking the guy. “Mitt didn’t keep it real,” Meghan says, munching on a nacho chip.

• Barack Obama is sexy: “He’s a rock star. I think universally women find him attractive.”
• Mike Huckabee as Veep: "That's not going to happen. . . I don't think they'd be a good match for a lot of reasons and am not even sure if that's what Huckabee's going for, anyway. I think he wants to be the head of the evangelical movement."
• Herself: "I'm an Independent. Socially liberal, economically conservative. I believe in a lot of Republican ideals, with the war being the number one thing I completely agree with my Dad on."
• Her father: "I'm almost incapable of bulls***. He's the same way."

"Nobody said to us that we have to go. Nobody pushed us out of Salt Lake City, and nobody threatened us or treated us badly.

"On the contrary, local people comforted us after the tragedy, they gave us consolation. We came back to Bosnia simply because this is the best place for us at the moment, for me, for my sick wife and for our children,"

In February 20907, Talovic's 18-year-old son, Sulejman, shot nine people — killing five — before he was killed by police at Trolley Square. The final investigative report, issued last month, failed to find a motive for the rampage.

Suljo Talovic says his family may someday return to the United States.

"How about a state university wants to ban students having arms in the dormitory?"

"It's something that might be doable, but again, that's so far from what we have here. We have here a ban on all guns, for all people, in all homes, at all times in the nation's capital."

Last November, you'll recall, Miller complained that neighbors' allegations she ran businesses out of her home in a upper-crust South Jordan development and hosted raucous late-night parties that involved teen drinking were "lies." She asked Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff to investigate the allegations and he "found no basis for criminal charges."

Todd Gabler, principal investigator for Rüdiger Investigations in Springville:

In November 2007, Lohra Miller said, ‘None of this is true; just call law enforcement,’ which of course we did. It turns out her statements are false.

We first initiated an investigation at the request of a client. We continued the investigation at Ms. Miller’s public request that she had nothing to hide. … This is not a politically motivated investigation; this is an investigation motivated by a sincere desire for truth and public accounting of public officials.

Fear not, my fundraising events will be worth their ticket if merely for entertainment value to the sceptics:). We are going to have some serious fun in Utah. I'm already working on my first event. I'm looking for acrobatic aircraft, base jumpers, powered skydiving pilots, helicopters, race cars, monster trucks, pyrotechnics and everything wild and imaginitive you can come up with. ...I can assure you nobody will be falling asleep at any of my rallies.

Utah lawmakers weren't alone in wrestling with the alcoholic content of adult beverages. When a proposal came up recently in the 'Bama state house to increase the alcohol limit of beer from 6 percent to 13.9 percent, Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, speechified:

"What's the matter with the beer we got? I mean, the beer we got drink pretty good, don't it? I ain't never heard nobody complain about the, uh, beer we have. It drink pretty good, don't it? Budweiser. What's the names of some of them other beers?..."

"We're just beginning to understand what is happening with concussions," Bigler said.

A week of protests turned violent last week as Chinese security forces busted the heads of Buddhist monks and other Tibetans. News is sketchy — a market burned, dozens killed — because, like Utah Senate caucus meetings, reporters are barred from Tibet.

Last summer, Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble led 14 lawmakers to Liaoning Province at taxpayer's expense. Reporters were assured it was not a junket. As VoU points out:

In addition to all that trade they would generate for Utah, one justification of the trip was to help foster "world peace." If only they had wandered over to Tibet instead of Liaoning.

Democrat Lin Alder, who stepped down as director of Citizens for Dixie's Future to take on Washington County Comissioner Alan Gardner, says:

"Voters are clearly calling for change—we now see the evidence daily. Whether it's Divine Strake, the Washington County Lands bill, Vision Dixie and the Toquop coal-fired power plant, local citizens have made it clear that some of our current elected officials are out of step with citizens' desire to protect the quality of life and natural resources that drive our economy in this beloved county."

Gardner and the rest of the commission initially supported the Toquop coal-fired power plant that would be built just across the Nevada border. They reversed their position after groups like Alder's protested.

All of a sudden, Mitt's spiritual guides, who include the late President Gordon B. Hinckley, don't look so weird.

Zachary Roth of the Columbia Journalism Review asks:

Could it be that white, Christian conservatives are now such a familiar part of the landscape of American politics, that reporters often fail to look closely at the beliefs of some of their leaders.

Gov. Jon Huntsman's popularity is obvious in the opposition that has filed against him. The only opponents with any name recognition are bat-sh*t crazy "Super Dell" Schanze and developer Monty "Millionaire" Nafoosi, best known for his pending marijuana possession charge.

Likewise with Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson, who faces Bill Dew, a developer from Sandy; Kenneth Gray, an author who supports oil shale development; some constitutionalist and two other guys. And, of course, GOP punching bag Merrill Cook, who probably won't survive the convention.

To help sort the mess out, the Provo Daily Herald offers a list of candidate nicknames, including:

• "SUPERDELL" Dell Schanze, Governor, Libertarian

• Monty "Millionaire" Nafoosi, Governor, Democrat

• Eric "The Hammer" Hanna, House District 42, Republican

• Demar "Bud" Bowman, Utah House District 72, Republican

• "Cowboy" Ted Hallisey, Utah House District 73, Democrat

New York's Court of Appeals ruled that Elizabeth McNabb of Longview, Wash., cannot share in the multimillion-dollar estate of her late mother, Barbara Woodward Piel.

Piel's grandfather, Orator Woodward, bought the Jell-O trademark in 1899 from inventor Pearle Bixby Wait and turned it into the mult-million-dollar business that makes every cultural event from funeral dinners to Jell-O shots and wrestling possible. Jell-O, the rubbery product of cow bones, hooves and godknowswhat is, of course, the beloved dessert of Utah.

Piel became pregnant in 1955 after an affair with a married man and put the child — later named Elizabeth McNabb — up for adoption. But McNabb traced her birth certificate through a court order in 1988 and learned about her wobbly family history.

After Piel's death in 2003, McNabb learned she was barred from sharing in the family fortune. Get the gory legal battle details here.

"The White House wasn't for it. We really roughed them up" in trying to get it approved over the Clinton administration's objections, Hatch said. "She may have done some advocacy [privately] over at the White House, but I'm not aware of it."

"I do like her," Hatch said of Hillary Clinton. "We all care about children. But does she deserve credit for SCHIP? No — Teddy does, but she doesn't."

The series of short takes, each with a different actor, was shot by emerging New York writer and director Brody Baker during the Sundance Film Festival. The improv vignettes build on the previous ones.

Josh Harnett (right) stars in episode 1. Each day the NYTimes will post a new T Takes episode.

The site recently recorded 2.7 million page views by reporting rumors that a contestant had a background as a male stripper. The singer was voted off the show last week. “We don’t go out of our way to dig up dirt," says Della Terza, "but if it falls in our laps, obviously we’ll post it.”

Let's hope Salt Lake City contender David Archuleta, 17, is squeaky clean. David has a personal goal to reach as many people as possible with his Mormon message, according to DNews columnist Doug Robinson. Robinson reveals that the Tribune excised this faith-promoting angle from a story on David. The Trib story, he says, neglected to report that David said "the first thing" he was going to do with $100,000 he won in another TV talent contest was pay his church tithing.

SUWA says the Kanab Republican is trying to discredit the group because of its work to get nearly 10 million acres of Utah designated as federally protected wilderness. "The land includes much of the state’s storied red rock country," says the NYTimes.

And that, of course, includes tracts that Noel and Springville's Rep. Aaron Tilton would like to see drilled for oil and gas or producing nuclear power.

“In Utah, wilderness is our scarcest resource,” says SUWA lawyer Stephen Bloch. “To the extent that Representative Noel’s efforts succeed in diverting the argument away from how we protect these spectacular public lands, that’s unfortunate.”

Says Noel of SUWA:

“These guys push us to the very brink of economic disaster within our state. It’s absurd to take this hammer approach to try and protect the environment. It’s way overkill.”

Cline, who appropriately markets these body scents from West Virginia, started an online company, Presidential Perfume, that offers personal fragrances named after the presidential candidates.

Sorry, I can't go into the details of her scents without throwing up a little in the back of my throat.

Sadly, Mitt Romney had pulled out of the race before Cline got her big idea. We can only surmise that "Mitt" would have either smelled like absolutely nothing — or constantly changed as the day wore on.

"I think anyone would be interested in being vice president, but is it a reality? Probably not. John McCain's going to have a lot of good choices and I suspect once you do the calculations, Utah probably isn't going to factor into it as a strategically consequential state."

"I'm hoping it's going to be terrific. You suffer and wait and pray for a good year, and when that year comes, you have to be out there every available moment. And then it's gone."

The late winter storms that soaked Utah, Nevada and California will spray paint the desert with wildflowers — purple, yellow and red. A hot spot is expected in and around Capitol Reef National Park. In 2005, the desert along state Route 24 was carpeted with yellow beeplant and purple scorpionweed.

Tom Clark, the chief of resource management at Capitol Reef, says rain this year should produce a wildflower season to beat 2005. The best place for sego lilies and larkspur this year will shift from Route 24 to the park itself, in the Strike Valley, and the canyons of the Waterpocket Fold for paintbrush, right, and daisies.

• Partying with Utah Association of Realtors (a major Herbert contributor that sometimes files its financial disclosures late).
• Building conservative street cred with the Heritage Foundation. (top photo)
• Back slapping with Rotarians.
• Rubbing elbows with the Australian ambassador (center).
• And of course, sucking up to lawmakers (bottom).

The Mormon Church's First Presidency, at least, is on top of the problem. It has issued its perennial letter to be read in meeting houses as "reports of fraud schemes and unwise investments prompt us to again counsel members with respect to prudence in managing one's financial affairs."

The rule of thumb, it would seem, is: If Bishop LaVarr offers you a killer investment opportunity along with the funeral potatoes — run, don't walk, in the other direction.

"Consideration should also be given to investing wisely with responsible and established financial institutions," the LDS letter says. "We are also concerned that there are those who use relationships of trust to promote risky or even fraudulent investment and business schemes."

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that Peppermill plans to build a $400 million resort with 1,200 rooms and a jumbo room-where-you-lose-your-shirt. West Wendover city manager Chris Melville says Peppermill pitched it as a "mini-Bellagio." Bellagio has 4,000 rooms.

"I can't recall the total square footage, but it will be a huge facility," Melville says. "It will also have a lot of outside fountains and other features."

Studies predict the Wasatch Front will grow by 500,000 people in the next decade and that will greatly expand Wendover's sucker base. Unlike casinos in Reno and Vegas, Indian tribes don't siphon off any of Wendover's take. Utah is one of two states that does not have some form of legalized gambling.

"People from the Wasatch Front and from Salt Lake do like to gamble, and when they do, they can get most easily to Wendover," said Bill Eadington, gambling researcher at the University of Nevada, Reno.

There's been a lot of "SXSW is the new Sundance" buzz in the air in the past year, written by people who'd never actually been there (like, er, me). Last year's festival broke Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, and with the Paris Hiltonisation of Sundance, SXSW is in a strong position to take over as the true showcase for American indie cinema. Backed up by the music and interactive festivals, the festival should continue to grow, but it's still a long way from becoming an essential fixture.

"Even if the quality of the movies has been patchy," he says, "it's such a friendly, relaxed, unpretentious event, it should prevail. I'd gladly come back next year."

“Ty was really good at what he did. He was a good administrator, a good nvestigator. He was tough and he was aggressive and he did the job.”

To rev up the crowd of 3,000, Shurtleff launched into some parisan stand-up that included ridiculing Democratic candidates' names:

"Barack or Hillary -- my apologies to the Baracks or Hillarys in the audience, but even their names sound liberal," Shurtleff said.

"When Hillary gets the call at 3 a.m., the call is, 'Do you know where your husband is?'"

Then, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Shurtleff pointedly referred to Barack Obama's parentage:

"Obama's fathers — one was African, one was Indonesian," said Utah's attorney general.

(It's no secret. Obama's biological father was a Kenyan. His mother's second husband was Indonesian.)

OK. Here's my question for Shurtleff: The first two jokes were just lame — but what was the point of the last comment? That Obama is African-American? That he's got Asian roots? Or that he grew up in contact with a non-mainstream religion? (Remember, Shurtleff is Mormon.)

If I recall, Shurtleff was the go-between in trying to straighten out the dust up between Sen. Chris Buttars and the NAACP. No wonder that was never resolved.

"It's beyond apologies," said town board member Rose Mendoza-Green.

...Someone, for the love of Pete, explain to me how Pole Dancing has become an accepted form of “core exercise”; not only for young women, but mom and the little girls too?
Many many many health clubs and womens fitness centers are now including workshops for “pole dancing”, “exotic exercise”, “core dancing”, and “pole training” etc. But when you look at the videos of their trainers, teachers and students, 95% of them are pole dancing in the traditional “Gentleman’s Club” fashion (read: bow-chicky-bow-wow sleazy).

And:

oh that is just uck!!!

Why do women just not get it????

I know that every woman needs/wants to feel sexy and wanted. We all want to be healthy and strong, but are these forms of exercise in line with the standards of an endowed member of the church?

What would you think of a man who views these forms of exercise? Do you think it would lead him to want other forms of sexy *exercise*?... Is this o.k.? If so, where does it end? What’s the line?

Tough questions for the bishop, for sure. Fortunately, a poster chimes in with the permission everyone was waiting for:

Regarding s’mee’s question of whether or not this ok to do for your hubby, I say what happens in your bedroom stays in your bedroom.

"To us, mine worker safety is a front-burner issue every single day. It is somewhat frustrating that it takes people getting killed, not just in one's and two's — which happens all too frequently — but in bunches for there to be attention paid to this"

Ken Magill attacks Utah's ill-conceived Trademark Protection Act, a G-rated Internet bill that promises to return next session and the child-protection do-not-e-mail registry.

Whenever I think of Utah’s state legislature, I envision a room full of Jack-in-the-Boxes straight out of a never-made Twilight Zone episode. Every fall, when it’s time for the next legislative session, their cranks begin to turn, a chorus of “Pop Goes the Weasel” begins, and on the note for “pop” the lids fly open and dozens of psychotic clown heads spring out of the boxes chanting: “New Internet Law! New Internet Law!”

Message to Utah’s voters: Would you please find a way to put the heads of your psychotic-clown lawmakers back into their boxes?

“I think any Republican leader in this country would be honored to be asked to serve as the vice presidential nominee, myself included. Of course this is a nation which needs strong leadership. And if the nominee of our party asked you to serve with him, anybody would be honored to receive that call…and to accept it, of course.”

Despite the serious support from the Bush wing of the GOP, McCain still has a small problem with Mitt — he has utter contempt for the former Massachusetts governor. Maybe that's why Romney is trying to show he'll be a pit bull on the campaign trail.

"Listening to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama talk about experience in a national security crisis is like listening to two chihuahuas argue about which is the biggest dog. When it comes to national security, John McCain is the big dog, and they are the chihuahuas."

Romney is loved by the big talk radio hosts and could be someone the base goes for. Plus, the VP needs to be the attack dog and Romney has shown is up for that challenge.

We still don't know what to do with some waste which has a half-life twice as long as the erosion of the monuments at Giza, but my guess is a few generations from now, there will be very hard-working folks in what we know as Utah digging it up to do, whatever with. Don't know what that will be, but it's plain that the public opinion is changing.

"I love this station. It's a great voice. We need time to raise the money. [Community Wireless] needs to be fair with us. They shopped this around without giving us a chance. We can raise the money but we need a fair amount of time to do it."

For decades geologists have debated whether the picturesque "Sphinx of Geology," viewed by millions of park visitors, was created by a volcanic outburst, an eruption of salt or a meteor impact. Then a crucial clue was discovered: "shocked quartz," which can be created only by the intense pressures of a violent meteor impact.

A shout out to German geologists Elmar Buchner and Thomas Kenkmann for clearing it up.

South Carolina's Legislature — where 37 (one in five) pack heat — has earned the right to kick sand in Utah lawmakers' faces and take their lunches.

The State reports South Carolina lawmakers, many who do not have concealed-carry permits, are wrestling with a bill that would extend to all lawmakers a right held by cops and federal judges to carry their concealed weapons into any public place. Rep. Todd Rutherford, who keeps a Glock semi-auto pistol in his car, explains why legislators need firepower:

“Most people ain’t in the newspaper and ain’t on the news. Your address is listed (on the State House Web site and in the manual). Your picture is listed. It’s got your wife’s name. It’s got your children’s names. It’s got your business and home number."

South Carolina's concealed-weapon records are open — for now. The State conveniently lists every lawmaker with a permit. But the S.C. Legislature is considering a bill to seal their records, too.

They heart Huck, because they hate Romney.

It had taken time for McCain's simmering dislike of the man, stemming from an eight-year-old dispute over federal funding for the Salt Lake City Olympics, to boil over into debate spats and, finally, pitched public battles. McCain had pledged in the beginning to run a positive campaign, and, mindful of his reputation for temper, he had done his best to keep quiet, demonstrating a sometimes impressive discipline. Way back in summer-warm Iowa, he had been asked whether he wanted to comment on Romney's misfire about his five sons serving the country by helping him run for president — McCain's youngest son, Jimmy, is a marine serving in Iraq — and McCain answered only by shaking his head. Now, though, there was plenty to be said.

"Another silver," Romney said.
McCain looked like he was going to throw up into the plant beside him.
"That's why I wanted to turn it down."

Utah, a Labrador retriever, earned the nickname the "$27 million Dog," by sniffing out more than 150 kilograms of illicit drugs including cocaine, heroin and MDMA. ABC News of Australia doesn't explain where Utah got his name.

At Parliament House in Canberra, Minister for Home Affairs Bob Debus praised Utah:

"The largest haul of drugs that he ever detected was something like 400,000 ecstasy pills, which were worth on the market $27 million."

Utah is retiring to live with his handler Yencie Fogden in Yass, New South Wales.

It's hard to understand the depth of this hurt without knowing a little bit about the town of San Luis, population 739. It is a desperately poor place. ...

Although many people in the San Luis Valley lack in personal wealth, they are sustained by their faith. The Rev. Valdez told parishioners, "You have worked hard and this whole community has worked hard to build that shrine as an expression of our faith and an expression of our love of God."

Mormons, in particular, should understand this tragedy, she says.

The Mormon Church has endured religious persecution and discrimination throughout its history. Mitt Romney's recent run for president gave the nation a glimpse of that.

That process seems to have begun with the LDS Church's apology. Unfortunately, the statement was not offered by anyone of stature in the church. Instead, it was delivered by an LDS public relations specialist, who says the church will arrange a meeting with Catholic leaders to offer face-to-face apologies.

Considering that the descration story is being picked up by news agencies around the country, if not the world, it might be time for someone at the top to meet with San Luis' Father Pat Valdez — priest to priest.

Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, a Vatican sin expert told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that modern life requires additions to the seven deadlies. Pope Benedict has made several green appeals for environmental protection, saying issues such as climate change affect the entire human race.

The Mormon Church's new Prophet Thomas S. Monson, of course, will be under pressure to match the pope's sin expansion. But he'll have to proceed cautiously. Making a sin of earning obscene riches through bulldozing the environment could cost the church significant tithing from Utah's legions of developers.

The Weekly Standard says Romney's religion is not a problem. But Mitt's reputation for turning companies around by laying off workers could be an issue. "It might have resonance if a recession hits and unemployment is increasing."

"John McCain, if he were elected, would be the oldest person to serve as president of the United States," says Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. "He wants a running mate who is younger."

The New York Times Magazine reports that Lohan "is the latest Hollywood celebrity to seek to overcome scandal through the redemptive power of glossy fashion imagery," following in the footsteps (or more accurately, the photo shoots) of Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton. Britney Spears and Drew Barrymore.

Madonna's publicist Liz Rosenberg explains that rehab in Utah is a crucial step in saving fallen stars.

“A cover on Vogue or Bazaar, I think of it as the new celebrity rehab. Some people go to Utah,” she said, a reference to the Cirque Lodge detox program, where Ms. Lohan was treated.

Caru Das says many Mormon leaders support the temple because the LDS share the Hare Krishna emphasis on celibacy before marriage and abstaining from tobacco and alcohol.

Iskon, asks if news of Hare Krishna scandals in other parts of the world involving corruption, murder and child molestation made things difficult Mormondom. Caru Das says the dearth of coverage in the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News helped a lot:

“Though [wire services] sent out the articles, for some reason the local papers did not print them. I would like to think it is because we have been so proactive in Utah and generated so much good press that they simply preferred not to.”

“That's what I would like to believe, but it may be we got lucky.”

Those convicted of tongue-kissing a child would be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

The only nay vote came from a lawmaker who insisted that French kissing kids warrants a full-on felony.

Note: If the child is 13 years old or older — tongue kissing is A-OK in Va.

Noel considers the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance his enemy, and he is the leader of a witch hunt to prove the nonprofit environmental organization guilty by its association with two former SUWA officials who have been convicted of securities fraud. (The SEC found no SUWA involvement.) ...

The ridiculous demand, in the form of a letter that has no legal force, was backed, during a confrontational news conference called by Noel, by the threat of a subpoena or request of an attorney general investigation.

Wednesday, Porter Bowcut, 17, hopped a UTA bus for adventure in the north country. He wound up at Gateway Mall playing his violin for handouts. His dad Carl says the boy made enough to go to movies, "And to buy some church pants to go to church the next day."

"I just felt the impression that I should go look for him in Salt Lake. So I went there and found him."

After he finished his socialism lecture, Cannon told Rice that perhaps it was just time to “go on with [her] life” and forget about fighting the car dealer. Just pay for the car and move on, he counseled, because “the alternative is to say that the government take care of it.” Cannon recommended that rather than petition Congress, Rice ought to simply tell all of her friends what a “creep” the car dealer was so they won’t shop there. “Creepy people do creepy things,” Cannon declared.

1. Gehkre: A session of confrontation and compromise
2. Warburton: the budget
3. Daily Herald: Session ends in cooperation
4. Lisa Roche: The Guv's perspective
5. Bernick's uniquely House-oriented review of the session
6. (and so forth...)
   

The postcard image of Utah is a state of gleaming cities, majestic mountains and persistently smiling people. But new research shows a very different picture of the state, a snapshot of suicide and widespread depression.

"In Mormon culture females are supposed accept a calling. They are to be constantly smiling over their family of five. They are supposed to take supper across the street to an ill neighbor and then put up with their husband when he comes home from work and smile about it the whole time. There is this sense that Mrs. Jones down street is doing the same thing, and there is this undercurrent of competition. To be a good mother and wife, women have to put on this mask of perfection. They can't show their tears, depression or agony. Obedience, conformity and maintaining a sense of harmony" are unspoken but widely recognized behaviors, which all contribute to what he calls "the Mother of Zion syndrome."

There were two occasions when people, who were teammates, told me to my face that they thought homosexuality was wrong. These people happened to be Mormon, and they never asked me any questions. I found this reaction shocking since my own coming out, despite me being fearful, actually turned out great; my friends were very supportive. So I was actually more fascinated by the reaction since I had yet to be confronted by someone who saw me as an abomination.

Despite saying she “accepted” me being gay, she told me I should still just try to date girls. To me this reaction had absolutely no logic to it, and I grew distant with her.