Never forget your traditions.

Never forget your traditions — promise me.

The vote down here in Utah is now officially a landslide for gay marriage. Opponents of marriage equality have suffered a rout, crushed. We’re talking Reagan ‘84 numbers down here, or LBJ ‘64, or. As of 11:27 PM PST, 65% of voters in Utah are backing same-sex marriage, with just 35% opposed.

Despite Mitt's support for McCain, many of his robber baron friends are reluctant to commit to McCain, because they don't much like or trust the Republican maverick. But a McCain-Mitt '08 ticket could make all the difference, says Ted Welch, a former national finance co-chairman for Romney." You can raise a lot more money if you're passionate about what you're doing."

Other Romney supporters are holding their tongues out of fear their comments could hurt Mitt's chances. Says one:

The fact remains that Romney supporters are demonstrably better givers and more aggressive givers. But nobody's going to come out and say anything to make it look like they're putting Senator McCain into a corner. . . . John McCain is a fiercely independent individual who's going to pick what his gut tells him to pick.

His [Christensen's] claimed use was for the schoolchildren of Utah. Any use of the pamphlet other than that is inconsistent with his request.

Calling it “a little straight talk,” Sen. John McCain told Nevada backers at a town hall meeting Wednesday he still supports the construction of a nuclear waste repository north of Las Vegas as long as it meets all the regulatory requirements.

But the Republican presidential hopeful from Arizona also said he wants to address nuclear waste by reprocessing spent fuel and trying to find a place for an international repository, which he said the day before may make it unnecessary to build the Yucca Mountain facility.

Poster DJ Adequate on Daily Kos predicts it will cost McCain Nevada.

Earlier Jon Ralston of the Nevada Sun was skeptical of McCain's earlier statement in Denver that he would pursue an international solution to N-waste:

If a man told you for years that he didn’t love you, essentially had no regard for you at all, and then suddenly, when he needed you, told you he adored you, would you fall for it?

.....McCain’s proposal would seem more sincere if only he hadn’t been so sincerely committed to the dump — and been so unabashed and frank about his support. But on the eve of his trip to Reno and on the eve of a general election in which Nevada could well be critical...

Ralston says McCain's option of establishing an international dump — is ludicrous:

We are going to ship nuclear waste overseas? Will Kathie Lee Gifford be seen dancing on a Carnival deck, pointing to canisters and promising cut rates to those tourists who travel onboard? John McCain’s Love Boat?

I don't care if you think Christ is the Messiah. I don't care if you think Christ is the anti-christ. I don't care if you think you are the Messiah. ... Care factor: zero.

Do whatever you want to do. Just don't knock on my door before midday on Saturday. Don't do it. I'm looking at you Mormons.

Sally Kern, Gerald Allen, Chris Buttars - you've got company. Meet Jeff Wagner...

This view fits right into the story they've been taught since birth, the story that all outsiders are evil and only want to see the downfall of the FLDS way of life. ...

Yet as difficult as it was for me to stomach this [court] decision, it merely reinforced my feelings. Ultimately, I believe that these FLDS families need to be reunited, but not until the FLDS parents have proven that they can and will prevent underage marriages from taking place.

This is not a black and white situation, but unfortunately, because children are involved it has to be. People can not compromise when it comes to the safety of these kids. As a result, both Texas and the FLDS need to contribute to a system that will put an end to the practice of underage marriage. The two sides need to work together to find a middle ground.

Navy Adm. Kirkland Donald conducted a wide-ranging investigation of the delivery foul-up and is trying to figure out how to avoid future faux pas like, say, sending an intercontinental ballistic missile to Odyssey House's ROTC program.

Voting with Coray were commission chairman Sam Granato, also a nondrinker, and Mary Ann Mantes, a social drinker.

Commissioner Jones, a fall-down drunk, abstained, while Commissioner Young, who is celebrating his 133rd day of sobriety, voted in favor. But Commissioner Gumble, burped, "Phl-l-l-l-nay," killing the motion.

Maese was so convinced he was used as a pawn in the district attorney election, he has spent every waking moment since the raid plotting to bring Miller down.

As Miller likely has long suspected and as Maese acknowledges publicly in this story, he was the one who hired a private investigator to dig through Miller’s trash, secretly place a GPS tracking device on her husband’s car, videotape the exterior of the district attorney’s South Jordan home and turn the resulting investigation over to Salt Lake City news outlets earlier this year.

What the City Weekly doesn't reveal is that the primary investigator tailing party girl Miller was formerly one its staff writers, Shane Johnson, (he was CW's media critic, no less). The Deseret News reports that and more about the Miller-Maese Mess from public records it obtained under Utah's records access law.

You are beautiful Salt Lake City. Thank you for standing up.

He helped bring down that lying constitution-betraying Nixon administration.

People tell us to be quiet and just go along. We... Won't... Keep... Our... mouths shut. ...We'll never let up. We call on them to join us.

Ever since John McCain pissed all over Mitt Romney in a debate, and even before then, Mormons haven't taken kindly to the foul-mouthed, unhandsome, twice-married atheist grumpus. So it's no surprise that McCain might get a lukewarm reception at a couple of Utah fundraisers — even when they feature big draws like George Bush and Mitt Romney.

A state judge who rejected a plea bargain in a fraud case as too lenient has warned prosecutors he will scrutinize any new deals to make sure victims are treated fairly. Both sides in the case accuse Attorney General Mark Shurtleff of caving under political pressure.

Pending a new deal, Marc Sessions Jenson, a man with powerful friends, is scheduled for trial on fraud and racketeering charges in connection with schemes that included involving investors in buying a bicycle company that would contract with the LDS Church to supply bikes to missionaries. (Heck, I'd buy a few shares of that.)

...hired people who are lobbyists who I've worked with or who I've known and am friends with, people who have raised money for me in the past, to try to get me to drop the charges. I've heard from mission presidents. I've heard from family members.

Take note, LDS folks and/or comics fans: Madman is apparently Mormon as well. Even back in the ’90s, Madman was being stalked by “the Three Nephites,” which Mormons will recognize as a reference to Book of Mormon-related folk myth. More recently, his archenemy Monstadt tried to corrupt him by paraphrasing dialogue spoken by the Satan character in the LDS temple ceremony. Madman sang the oddball Mormon hymn, “If You Could Hie to Kolob” to himself after being blasted into outer space. And in the March issue, Madman even got married, kneeling at an altar across from his bride, while an alien performed the ceremony. This may be an unusual way for most Earthlings to marry, but it does closely resemble the “sealing” ceremony used to perform marriages in Mormon temples. Um, minus the aliens.

Also, Madman's world is populated by mutants, extraterrestrials and freaks, but just one superhero: Madman. Sound like SLC during general conference?

For more on the religious affiliation of comic book characters, go here.

Depression is pretty serious and should not be gossiped about.

1. Houston (Sweltering home of cockroaches the size of pit bulls)
2. Raleigh, N. C. (Actually a nice place.)
3. Omaha, Neb. (Hub of a rectangular state.)
4. Boise (Logan with better bars.)
5. Colorado Springs (The Chamber probably got A.F. cadets to cheat on the stats.)
6. Austin, Tex. (Willie Nelson runs the place, which ain't bad.)
7. Fayetteville, Ark. (You don't have to wear shoes!)
8. Sacramento, Calif. (Doesn't your grandma live there?)
9. Des Moines, Iowa (You don't have to pronounce the 's's!)

10. Provo (Gateway to Orem)

• Some of the Guv's earliest memories are of making sales calls with his father to sell eggs to grocery stores in California. (Yeah, and Lincoln split rails.)

• His first job in Washington was delivering the Washington Star newspaper when dad worked in the Nixon administration. (Nixon! That's creepy.)

• Huntsman played keyboards in a couple of bands in high school (and still does when no one's looking).

• In his senior year of high school, Huntsman essentially dropped out. He entered the University of Utah that summer and proved himself academically. (He also grew a beard and changed his name to Don Vliet, so his daddy's bucks would not give him an unfair advantage.*)

• Huntsman went on a mission to Taiwan where he learned Mandarin Chinese so he could order from street food vendors, "The closer to the street the better." He still has hideous intestinal parasites.

• Huntsman is fan of rock music (Captain Beefheart is a fav, apparently to make up for that Nixon thing), motorcycles, mountain biking, wiping out and screwing up his shoulder. He also likes to get elected to higher office.

• He enjoys "dinking," a term he coined for taking his kids to eat at greasy-spoon diners to test their intestinal fortitude. More parasites.

• His wife Mary Kaye is a babe.

• Though he does not drink himself, Huntsman has been a champion of liberalizing Utah's drinking laws, which makes non-Mormons very suspicious of his motives, but they forget about it after a few of the new full-strength cocktails and may elect him governor for life.

*OK, I totally made that up the stuff about the pseudonym — Jon Jr.'s rebellious impulses ended with the garage bands. Now, he looks like Mitt Romney's idea of an insurance salesman.

Circulation manager Larry Carter says the entire inventory of newspapers disappeared overnight from boxes from 1300 West to 4000 West along the busy artery of 3500 South. Boxes in key locations in Kearns and along 5400 South in the heart of the Taylorsville business district have been emptied, as well.

Could it have been, oh I dunno, maybe someone incensed over Stephen Dark's cover story, "Taylorsville 911!?" Just because Dark delved into a case that started with the theft of a Boston terrier, then drew Taylorsville police ire because one of the players in the drama is a fellow cop (on the Midvale force) and is now headed to U.S. District Court alleging civil rights violations--well, is that any reason to go (again, allegedly) stealing more than 1,000 copies of City Weekly?

We are engaged and very happy with that. She is my fiancée and that says everything, doesn’t it?

Bob and Sibylle (is she artistic, or what?) live at his 5,500-acre ranch.

His partner of eight years, Shawn Thomas, had told a reporter, somewhat mysteriously, that she hoped he'd walk out: "But I'm resigned to the fact that it's not going to happen."

The Minneapolis Star Tribune profiled Wolff, an expert on animal behavior who sometimes frightened students with his intense questioning, Thomas said, adding that he was a brilliant researcher who worked seven days a week.

He didn't want people to see that he was human. He's very stoic. It's the German and Norwegian in him. He was all about work.

[The outdoors] was where he found solace. He was able to reconnect with nature.

Sorry to burden you with yet another death. I am gone in a remote wilderness where I can return my body and soul to nature.

Neil LaBute, a Brigham Young University graduate who has won a global artistic reputation for his controversial films that probe the darkest recesses of human nature, discussed his roots with The Independent in London, where his play Fat Pig is opening.

Mormonism is known for its bizarre history and practices and its bigotry. ... Until 1978 (when the rule was changed, but prejudice hardly vanished), it was one of the tenets of the LDS that black skin was God's curse. Brigham Young, its first president, believed that flat noses were "the mark of Cain".

How could LaBute join such a tacky religion?

LaBute says that having endured a tumultuous childhood, he was attracted to orderly life that the church promised:

I was looking for something different from what I'd grown up with, and so many of those people were great to be around. The church may be relatively new in terms of churches, but it has so many well-educated people. As for its history – well, what about the concept of Christ? Really! That's out there! It's no harder for me to believe in the finding of some golden plates. I didn't know when I joined about the prejudice – that's one of the things that you find out along the way.

I was asked to reflect on what I had done, but what they were asking of me as an author was something I couldn't do. They were telling their members not to go to R-rated movies, and I was making them. I finally decided it was better for my kids to have a father who was a non-Mormon rather than a bad Mormon.

People who took the time to vote: Dude, 12 million of us like the other David better.

Archuleta*, lamely: Winning isn't the big concern. It's always doing your best. ... That's what's important.

SLCrawler: Gag...ralph, ralph.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You've made loan payments for years on a house, plus poured sweat equity into it, then the bank tells you it is selling your home to someone else — unless you buy it back at market value. You get zero credit for your money and sweat.

People ask, 'Didn't we buy it once? Why do we have to buy it again?' It's a very legitimate question.

We are still shell-shocked by what old Community Wireless did — what the hell happened? We understand [KCPW listeners] are mad. I tell them, 'I'm as angry as you are. But anger is not going to save KCPW.'

I would say it's going to be about the same as last year, which was down quite a bit. Maybe it will be a little less."

Last summer, Mormon crickets covered less than 1 million acres of Nevada -- about 10 percent as much land as was infested in 2006.

State Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden told Health and Human Services officials:

We basically need to pay what it's going to cost to do the job right and we need to know, to the best of your ability, what that cost is so we can factor that in when we're making decisions about other worthwhile costs and needs in this state.

Here's a glimpse of the raid, by the numbers:

$5.3 million — Initial cost of the raid.

$1.7 million a month — for the state to care for children scattered in foster-care facilities around the state.

$2.2 million — for local courts to handle legal proceedings for each child.

If you were choosing an all-star team of 20th-century American writers to represent the liberal mind - construed expansively, not in narrowly political terms - you might have Lionel Trilling batting cleanup, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. hitting eighth and so on. But you'd have to reserve a spot in the lineup for a non-Mormon graduate of the University of Utah (class of 1930)...

Wilson reviews a new biography of the novelist, conservationist and chronicler of Utah and the West, Wallace Stegner and the American West by Philip L. Fradkin. Stegner's centennial comes in 2009.

Stegner fought to block the Glen Canyon Dam, and:

By the end of his life, he had come to feel that much of the West was changed beyond recognition and maybe beyond repair.

There isn’t a single law, particularly in the realm of health, education or housing in this country, that doesn’t have Ted Kennedy’s footprint on it somewhere. .... And the great irony is that for all the myth and legend that surrounds both of his martyred brothers, it’s Ted, the baby brother, who would go on to become a far more powerful and influential figure on the national stage, than either Jack or Bobby.

Yes, even Mitt Romney, the venture capitalist who became governor by preaching the gospel of small government, was all over the airwaves yesterday acknowledging that Ted Kennedy was indeed his “go-to guy” in Washington.

Oh, yeah, in a U.S. Senate race once upon a time, the Mittster tried to brand Kennedy as the ultimate corpulent symbol of a bloated Washington bureaucracy. But years later, when he needed Washington to buttress his “entrepreneurial state government,” Mitt “put aside all partisan differences” and went running to Ted Kennedy.

In 2004, while Bay State governor, Mitt, Utah's adopted native son, also triggered an unusual law in Massachusetts requiring a special election to replace a senator who decides to step down, rather than gubernatorial appointment. The Democratic Legislature didn't trust a Republican governor to do the right, or in this case, left thing.

The final irony would be Mitt, himself, running in that special election to fill Ted's big shoes.

Being that I have worked in the service industry for a while, I tend to tip a person based on the quality of the service I receive, not the price of the service. Leah always makes sure my coffee is fresh and hasn’t been sitting on the warmer for 3 hours. She refills my cup at just the right time. She remembers that I like the half and half creamers, not that foofy flavored crap. She makes sure I don’t get mushrooms on my Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich, or guacamole on my Quesidilla, and she bring us extra napkins, because, well, we’re slobs.

Our LG will, unless he becomes GOV in the interim, file to run as a GOP representative for the US Senate seat in 2010, regardless of who might also be in that race - the incumbent, included.

Ted and I have been friends for 30 years.

Republicans told the Boston Globe that Kennedy's "courtly pragmatism" has allowed him to maintain close friendships with conservatives like Hatch. Long-time Kennedy retainer Bill Carrick says:

He's been in the Senate long enough to know you have to build allies and coalitions that transcend party and ideological differences.

The danger comes when candidates woo them with plastic flowers and drugstore chocolates, with empty promises and fatuous Web sites.

"Estamos Unidos con McCain," his Web site trumpets.

Pandering? Of course. But, so far, he has not descended into the smarmy, cloying tactics displayed by his colleague, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

"I love Hispanic people," Hatch said in 2005, when Alberto Gonzales was nominated as attorney general.

They all do -- especially during campaign season.

McCain embraces Spanish now, but where was his affinity for Latinos in 2006, when he voted for a proposal to make English the national language? The measure went nowhere, gracias a Dios, for the candidate might have had a tough time explaining his Spanish-language Web site.

There are times when doing the right thing means not playing it safe.

Hatewatch, an online arm of the Southern Poverty Law Center, says that members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have settled on some of the properties, which are the largest cluster of land holdings outside Colorado City-Hildale along the southern Utah state line.

Custer County Sheriff Fred Jobe says:

Quite frankly, we don't know what to do. We are definitely aware that they here but until they break some laws, there isn't much that we can do.

For you romantics who thinks that things change when constituents get fed up with lawmakers who treat them like gum on their shoes for tossing the Lege's pet voucher program, the Deseret News' political editor Bob Bernick is there to burst your bubble:

But after all the convention voting was done — in 29 county conventions and the state conventions — any incumbent push-back because of vouchers had vanished.

And anti-voucher Democrats, Republicans and even independents who may have come into the party nominating system found themselves sitting on the sidelines as the incumbent Republicans rolled to victory.

Outside of the voucher issue, even embattled archconservative Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, won renomination to his district in the Salt Lake County Convention.

Buttars' victory was the real shocker for those who believed that the Utah Republican Party could purge itself of questionable incumbents.

Republican Sen. Chris Buttars, of course, enraged many when he disparaged a bill by calling it "a black baby ... a dark, ugly thing." Buttars also honked off his own party leaders when he used his position as chairman of the judicial confirmation committee to dress down a state judge who ruled against a Buttars' crony.

On the bright side, "Atom Aaron" Tilton — who was trying to build a nuclear power plant while serving on a committee that regulated the same — got the bum's rush.

• avoiding eye contact
• walking carefully backward
• yelling

Mesquite, Tex., rodeo announcer Cheyenne Pipkin gave Lerwill the moniker "Wild Child":

He puts on shows that are incredibly entertaining, and he's funny.

Pass the earplugs. The headache reliever too.

Welcome back to, uh . . . heck. We're not only not in Lakerdom anymore, we're about as far away as we can get.
This is the Anti-Lakerdom...

When asked the difference between playing on the road and at home during the series against the Jazz, Warrior's forward Stephen Jackson said, ""Well, we're not hearing racial slurs, we're not hearing people wishing for me to go to jail," Jackson said. "That's the difference for me. I'm loved here in Oakland."

Jason Richardson was asked about the racial slurs and responded, "That was something new. It shocked all of us. We weren't expecting that. I mean, [Jazz fans] were trying to get into our heads any way they can, but I couldn't believe anybody would stoop that low. It's nonsense."

The LDS, following in the questionable steps of the Church of Scientology, has now issued multiple copyright infringement notices in an effort to get the information taken down. As we know, this strategy is unlikely to do anything but win the Mormons a share of the online community's unsympathetic attention, a quantity that until now Scientology has been enjoying alone.

Tech Daily points out, alas, the LDS information is vastly more bland than Scientology's near-incomprehensible secrets, including this bit of gibberish:

This same pattern, but given in an amusement park with a single tunnel, a roller coaster and a Ferris wheel, was used between about 319 trillion years ago to about 256 trillion trillion years ago, a long span.

Who's got a decoder ring?

The LDS handbook covers disfellowshipment, excommunication and a lot of "humdrum procedural information," that few members would read if the church required it. Says Tech Daily:

Now that the Internet is getting better at sniffing out documents that people don't want public, we're getting a nice picture of how much of this secret information was secret for its own sake. In other words, you have to wonder if there's any reason for LDS to want to keep its boring bylaws in a vault other than, simply, because it has always done so.

Politically, I suppose this is bad news for the Democrats, but not nearly as much as in 2004. For one, it's not coming out of a candidate's home state. For another, John McCain voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment: He can't demagogue this, and he won't. And finally, the issue's simply becoming less volcanic as the issue is normalized. The way things are going, Mitt Romney will be leading a pro-gay marriage campaign by 2016 or so.

As cool as Sugar House was, this could be even cooler.

"Hey, my neighbors are pissed. What the heck is going on?"

I brought this action only after it became came clear that the Church's concern was not with my son's welfare, but with protecting themselves from bad publicity.I was horrified that after I told the Church officials about the abuse, they still allowed the perpetrator free reign at the Church, and my son was terrified.

I’m scared to death of what might happen in Arizona. This is America; this isn’t supposed to happen here. This is the legacy we have been left with — unfortunately it is oftentimes not true,”

“Not on your life. I would not be asked anyway. I don’t know anybody who wouldn’t do whatever’s best for the country, but in my case it’s just not going to happen.”

“Of course. Big house, big car, not much to do. Why not?”

“If I were asked, I would say, ‘You’re out of your mind.’ ”

“The chances of that are so remote that I’m more likely to be hit by an asteroid.”

Last week, the 41-year-old former U.S. Ski Team racer (and daughter-in-law of Ian Cumming, Utah's long-time Democratic party money bags before he decamped to Jackson Hole) became one of Utah's superdelegates to the national Democratic convention, putting her in a key position to help Obama clinch the nomination.

The cult's founder Yisrayl Hawkins (he was born Buffalo Bill Hawkins but legally changed his first name, I guess, because it wasn't batshit-crazy enough) is a former Abilene police officer who was fired in 1980 for having beer in his patrol car. He moved his group to rural Clyde, Texas, because they needed more space to celebrate week-long Old Testament feasts. And yes, they practice polygamy or face going to Hell.

House of Yahweh members change their last name to Hawkins and take first names from the Old Testament, but spell them with a sprinkling of 'y's, like their leader. They keep semi-tractor trailers loaded with canned goods in preparation for the end of the world.

And you thought the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch was weird.

Texas authorities are looking into charges against the House's leaders for incidents that include sexual abuse, bigamy, welfare fraud, and an unusual death or two.

Callahan County District Attorney Shane Deel says:

If a bunch of adults want to get together and follow some con man and throw their lives away, that's their right in this country. But to me, when you do that to children and they don't have a chance, that's where the biggest concern is.

Conservatives seem to be snickering over the latest Susan B. Anthony List update.

... Importantly, SBA’s No. 1 goal is to end abortion in this country.

This is why some find it highly interesting that the two new co-chairs of the SBA List are former Mitt Romney folk: Barbara Comstock and Cesar Conda.

Still, heads are shaking at the news — especially considering Romney’s abortion-rights past. And, even better: SBA is also holding a fundraiser ($500 a head) with who as its highlighted star of the night? Mitt Romney.

“Having Romney headline a SBA event doesn’t pass the laugh test in town among real conservatives,” snickered one self-described “real conservative” who went on to ask: “Two senior Romney people in charge of the SBA? Are they trying to kill the institution?”

LifeNews.com wonders if Politico is trying to split dissension among anti-abortion groups.

Seldom do the new owners want to continue with the Zephyr ads, and I don't blame them. I speak my mind and take my lumps. The Zephyr's message is hardly the philosophy they dare embrace if they hope to assure their own survival....

I take my job seriously, and have always believed that being honest and even-handed, regardless of the consequences, was essential to good journalism. And so for the last ten years, I have tried to inform my readers of the impacts the amenities economy can create, even when it put me at odds with my own friends and the very advertisers who keep this paper alive.

There will be no peace for the dead — and no deterrence of future disasters — until there is a criminal investigation.

Never in all my life have I been so ashamed of being a Texan and seeing what and how our government agencies treat people.

It's kind of a two-sided coin. Some tribes don't necessarily regard it as derogatory.

Linguists differ on whether squaw is a corruption of an Algonquian word that means woman or a Mohawk word "ojiskwa" — a derogatory term for female genitalia.

Ed Naranjo, vice chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation at Ibapah, has no doubts about the word, telling the Deseret News:

That's an insult. It's like cussing someone out or calling them a name.

Paul's presidential candidacy has been correctly dismissed all along in terms of winning the nomination. He was even excluded as irrelevant by Fox News from a nationally-televised GOP debate in New Hampshire.

Bill Strauss with the Arizona Anti-Defamation League says recent attacks on Mormons may linked to the raid on the FLDS compound in Texas.

We have noticed, in at least one school, an up-tick in anti-Mormon graffiti. I am starting to think that maybe the prominence in the headlines has got people thinking along the lines of the Mormon faith and what makes them different.

Two Gilbert, Ariz., teens were shot at with a pellet gun, then attacked physically and verbally by two other teens, who asked the victims whether they were Mormon.

The suspects, later arrested, face charges of aggravated assault, disorderly conduct and illegal consumption of alcohol.

In an exchange of e-mails with the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Winston Blackmore, the leader of more than half the polygamists in Bountiful, says he is angered by Texas' decision last month to remove 463 children from their parents at an FLDS ranch near San Angelo. But he also blames FLDS leader Warren Jeffs for the children's trauma.

I do not like what the state of Texas has done to those people, and strongly urge them to get the children back to their mothers. The children have already been traumatized by their church and now the state. Oh, God, how much more suffering can the children stand?

Jeffs, the jailed leader of the FLDS who make up about 40 percent of Bountiful's polygamists, was convicted in Utah on accessory to rape charges. Blackmore says Jeffs "has ruined hundreds of families of men who were in our faith":

Most of the people in the Texas compound are the spoils of ruined and ransacked families taken by Warren and those faithful to his new teachings.

Like China's Last Emperor happily agreeing to reign over a puppet state in Manchuria after being deposed by the Japanese, Romney is presiding over various local--and less desirable--Republican events on McCain's behalf...

Worse, according to a Deseret News report, the recent raid on that really creepy fundamentalist Mormon compound in Texas could destroy Mitt's chances to be picked for McCain's No. 2.

Kirk Jowers, of the U's Hinckley Institute of Politics says:

Unfortunately, the FLDS issue has probably elevated considerations about what Romney's faith would do to the ticket.

I’m not supposed to come, but I did anyways. It’s kind of sad because my religion is supposed to be first and foremost to me, but it’s the Lakers and I couldn’t help it. I read my scripture before I came.

Let's redefine the prairie dress, let's give this some style. Let's give it some chicness. Let's help these women look great!

Their negligent acts attracted the bear to the area and caused the incident that is the subject of this lawsuit.

It starts and ends with an eerie kind of line-dance to Neil Young, the four characters staring blankly at the audience; in between there are multiple explosions of passion as each of them tries to express their individual cries for freedom from the claustrophobic world of Mormon repression.

Working together, I believe federal and state authorities can do even more to address the epidemic of lawlessness in polygamous communities throughout the southwestern United States.

This is not in any way an attack against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In a baptismal record, for example, there could be a whole list of maiden names that somebody might want to use for not-so-good purposes, to break into a computer and get that like a password. Maybe somebody was adopted and the natural parents are not known, that kind of thing."

Nice try, Bish.

But the Vatican directive specifically names the LDS Genealogical Society of Utah, not generic identity thieves. In fact, the Rev. James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, acknowledged the step was taken to prevent the Mormons from using records to posthumously baptize the ancestors of Catholics, "so as not to cooperate with the erroneous practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

You have to feel for Utah's man in red. Despite growing numbers of Catholics in Zion, Wester still has to get along in a political culture dominated by the LDS Church.

The last thing we need here are a bunch of outlaws. I don't recommend anyone that's committing a crime or that's using religion to become a pedophile to come down here, because they're not going to be welcome.

I treat it as if my mother went to the sperm bank. I don't hate him for [not being in my life]. It made me a better person.

Malone might have served jail time had her family asked the district attorney to file criminal charges.

I grew up around good people. I never turned to a father figure. I was lucky. I didn't need one. I'm happy. I don't need anything else.

The Sundance Channel has produced original series such as “Iconoclasts,” a conversation series pairing two controversial people, and the environmental series “The Green.”

Our heritage will always be dedicated to features and documentaries.

STS is an emotional malaise that strikes people working with victims of trauma. Symptoms include "anxiety, sleeplessness, nightmares and intrusive thoughts."

Terry Secrest, a 10-year veteran social worker in Austin, says she used to leave her work at the office. But her involvement in the removal of 464 children — the largest such action in Texas history — from the FLDS settlement, "has touched me a lot more than I ever expected."

Vicki Hansen, director of the Texas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, explains that in most cases social workers understand why they're taking children from their homes. But in the FLDS case, they still don't know the details of the investigation or what led up to the mass relocation of kids across the state.

These workers are used to going into homes where things are really bad and feeling good about moving children from risk and danger. This situation is completely different. To look at the mothers and children, you would see love and affection and bonds, plus children who appear to be in good physical condition. It was wrenching to pull children away from their mothers.

...His polygamy “revelation” was put into The Doctrine and Covenants, one of three sacred texts of Mormonism. It’s still there – the word of God. And that’s why, to the people in the compound at Eldorado, the real heretics are in Salt Lake City.

The conditions surrounding the practice of polygamy in Texas today bear little resemblance to the plural marriage practiced by Mormons more than a century ago. As thoughtful historians know, a serious study of history does not impose contemporary understandings and sensibilities onto an interpretation of earlier time periods.

Keith Russell Judd comes across as a stand-up Democrat: He is pro-choice, wants to end the Iraq War, would blow Obama away in a bowling alley, plays bongos and — key in Idaho — is a member of the NRA.

Oh yeah, Judd is also an inmate at a federal prison in Texas.

Asked how a federal felon* could qualify for the Idaho ballot, Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa says:

We got conned.

The state recently eliminated the requirement for candidates to gather signatures; now they just need to fill out a form and pay a $1,000 fee. The Spokane Spokesman-Review, reports Judd sent forms and checks to 14 states, but only Idaho bit.

The chief's brother (state Rep. Neil Hansen, D-Ogden) was just on TV saying the chief was showing us how to clear a weapon when the gun went off — but that's bull. The chief said he was going to show us the rifling in the barrel of the gun, and he was pointing it around at all of us in the class. He was trying to disassemble the gun under the table when it went off.

That company babble translates to: "Attention, Utah rubes! Focus on the EnergySolutions Arena and the Jazz. We're on the same team here. You're getting sleepy..."

Defectors from the EnergySolutions' team include:

• Gov. Jon Huntsman, who finally came out against the plan last month.
• Congressman Jim Matheson, who is co-sponsoring a bill that would keep the waste out of Utah.
• Utah's Radioactive Control Board that says foreign N-waste in Utah is a bad idea.
• Bill Sinclair, deputy director for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and interstate compact representative, says he'll vote no.
• The big dog, Larry Miller, has not said a word.

The eight-state Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management (I wonder why Utahns have a problem following this issue?) will to listen to EnergySolutions' Italian nuke waste proposal this week.

Gayle Andrews, a spokeswoman for the Mashpee Wampanoag Nation — a real tribe in Massachusetts, says:

A lot of white people are like, `I'm Wampanoag.' But you can't just Google yourself into membership. It's not doable.

• 1.5 oz. of good (or so-so) gin in a shaker
• Muddle fresh sage leaves in the gin
• Add a couple slices of green apple
• A dash or two of dry vermouth
• SHAKE and pour into a cold martini glass
  
• Garnish with a few juniper berries and fresh tyme
• Drink and repeat until Utah looks normal.
  

Part of the problem is journalist's lack of understanding about the stark differences between the FLDS and LDS churches. Naively they write as if both fall under the umbrella of "Mormonism," or "Mormon faith." ...

Probably the most disturbing writing and bigotry was the work of New York Times writer Timothy Egan as he tries to link the LDS and FLDS.

It would have been just another Christian faith had not Smith let his libido lead him into trouble. Before he died at the hands of a mob, he married at least 33 women and girls; the youngest was 14, and was told she had to become Smith’s bedmate or risk eternal damnation.

...His polygamy “revelation” was put into The Doctrine and Covenants, one of three sacred texts of Mormonism. It’s still there – the word of God. And that’s why, to the people in the compound at Eldorado, the real heretics are in Salt Lake City.

Help us naive journalists out, Joel: 1. Does the LDS Church believe in polygamy in the afterlife? 2. Was the renunciation of polygamy in this world permanent, or just a temporary political expediant to win statehood?

Give it to us starkly.

The Houston Chronicle reports that the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are packing up to leave the 1,700-acre ranch simply to be close to their children in state custody pending the investigation into sexual abuse.

FLDS member Willie Jessop says:

Who wants to be here on the weekend and not have their families? I'm not aware of anyone who has not made a move or not trying to ... go be with their children."

The adult followers, many with no work history, are trying to find jobs in the world they once shunned. As they leave, Jessop says their way of life is also disappearing:

How do you describe a life that you no longer know?

Texas Child Protective Services officials are working out supervised visitation.

There isn't a single time this session I could have raised my hand and said, 'I'm proud that's my senator.' We need a senator who can represent us with dignity as he fights the good fight.

[Buttars] had some of the most interesting spending. That included $7,757 for ads in the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune that apparently did not actually appear. They were to explain his comments at the Legislature, but Buttars pulled them at the last minute — so late that he still had to pay for them.

While we certainly can appreciate the impulse to drape today’s Hollywood stars in added layers of clothing—if only we’d thought of that for that damn Miley Cyrus shoot!...

Let's not ignore that just announcing a task force doesn't give you probable cause to launch an investigation and it doesn't allow you to ignore constitutional protections.

The problem is that young marriages - and all that they entail - can be part of the social fabric of fundamentalist Christian communities. I know this well from my time in Utah, where teen brides are common, even among the educated. To make it worse in the FLDS case, the marriages are polygamist and do not jibe with common American customs about what constitutes a legitimate family unit. This makes the religious freedom people (and anti-government partisans) chomping at the bit, looking for a controversy.

They should take a cold shower. ...

How is this related to counterterrorism? Muslim defendants in terrorism prosecutions sometimes claim that their planned violence should be excused because it was mandated by their faith. Same with heavy-handed family discipline, when challenged by state child welfare officials. This will be argued in Texas.

My bet is that there will eventually be an international consensus that sex with people under a certain age should be prohibited worldwide. Why? There are so many Hillary Clintonesque women in the human rights community for this not to be inevitable.

If I were their lawyer, I would tell them to couch it this way: people under a certain age have an individual human right not to be used as sex objects. People who engage in sex with them violate human rights. Far too often, this conduct is part of a larger dynamic that ruins lives. It's hard to argue with that.

We know that Timothy McVeigh acted out of outrage over the raid on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco. I pray we don't see a spike in domestic terrorism as a result of what's occuring in Texas.

Instead of us Obama supporters sweating, Romney and his supporters would be fielding calls all day to explain Mormonism, polygamy and the relationship of Romney’s faith to the cult compound in Texas. Does Mr. Romney believe that 14 year-old girls should marry? Does Mr. Romney plan to take additional wives in order to fulfill the moral requirements of his religion? If not why has Mr. Romney stayed affiliated and raised his children in a church with whom he so vehemently disagrees?

Yeah, Yeah, we know he gave some big speech about this issue earlier in the campaign, but how does he respond to what those women with the long skirts and weird hairdos said on the Today Show this morning?

Would Romney have thrown the [LDS President] Thomas Monson under the bus and even more provocative, would Monson have tossed Mr. Romney there?

You know that would have been great to witness! Maybe a little black liberation theology would have looked tame next to the FLDS.

• The WiFi connection was non-existent on one trip. On another, I had to move to another car to get it to work. It frustrated the heck out of several "professional" communters.
The fix: Get some good tech people, WiFi is hugely important to FrontRunner's success.

• On one trip, the engineer (operator) was horn happy — laying on the horn at every crossing and dirt construction path. A "station host" on board shrugged and explained: "It depends on the operator. This one's a honker."
The baring air horns rattled your fillings, terminated cell calls and likely cut in half the property values of the residential neighborhoods we passed through.

The fix: Hire engineers who are over nine years old.

Finally, how about a club car? A cocktail on the way home would erase the memories of the above-mentioned hassles, and increase ridership among some demographic groups.

These are the business class—business commuters and U. students.

Wow. It looks like a real city.