During our time serving in the Senate, a grudging respect for each other has given way to a close personal friendship that transcends politics. For example, we've counseled and consoled each other during hard times.

Beyond the most obvious question -- "Wait, Orrin Hatch is still alive?" -- you're probably wondering about the Senator's unusual fashion accessory: The giant red splotch on the side of his head!

Hatch is returning home from a Mikhail Gorbachev look-a-like contest (which he lost to Larry Craig).

He's trying to introduce bindis to the Mormon faith.

He stepped on a rake deftly planted by Senate prankster Russ Feingold, D-Wis.

The Board of Trustees of Community Wireless of Park City confirms that Blair Feulner resigned from the organization on July 15. Given his resignation, board members are not currently involved in negotiations regarding a sabbatical or other form of ongoing employment.

When food prices rise, the cost of my food doesn’t.

Webb, 37, said she has enough food in her pantry to feed her family for at least three months if her husband loses his job, an earthquake turns grocery stores to rubble, or market prices swell too much for the family to afford.

What Mitt Romney would do, as your vice presidential candidate, is weaken you in areas that you absolutely must carry: The South and the Bible Belt.

You cannot afford to underestimate the number of people who will never vote for a ticket that includes a Mormon.

If it were not for those issues, I would be voting for Obama this year. Instead, I must vote for you. And you must, for the sake of this country's future as a free land, win.

Even if Sampson was confused or mistaken in his interpretation of the rules that applied to [immigration judges] hiring, we do not believe that would excuse his actions. His actions, which were carried out over a lengthy period of time and were not based on formal advice from anyone, systematically violated federal law and department policy and constituted misconduct.

Unfortunately certain members have a tendency to pontificate and lose sight of our primary direction.

State Sen. Gene Davis told KSL:

He claims he's a Democrat. He is a Democrat. I believe he's a Democrat also. So it comes as a little bit of a disappointment.

How does Matheson respond? He refused to be interviewed by KSL.

Some find him loathesome because of his religion, some because of his flip-flopping, and others just because he's loathesome. But whatever the reason, people just really don't like Mitt Romney

Putting him on the ticket seems like an obvious recipe for disaster, but a potential boon to progressive bloggers who are really in need of a mockable choice.

Utah County millionaire and gay rights activist Bruce Bastian stood up at a San Francisco dinner in opposition to Proposition 8 that would define marriage as only between a man and a woman. Bastian wrote a $1 million check to the campaign against the constitutional amendment.

This is a campaign that's important to the entire country, not just California. The result will have effects across the United States.

The yarn: Motion detectors in the museum were set off several times, and the image above appeared on security monitors. Security officers investigated each time and found no evidence of a break in.

On average, members of Congress saw their net worth rise 84 percent from 2004 to 2006. More than 60 of the 100 senators are now estimated to be millionaires, including Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett. The median income in the Senate is $1.7 million.

. . . trains he nation’s most promising reform-minded school boards and superintendents to become effective, high-performing teams . . . to establish a wide range of efficient and effective policies and processes that will improve board operations, strengthen management oversight and directly improve learning opportunities for students.

• The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration found that the mine was poorly designed. Even then, the operator violated the approved mine plan and withheld from inspectors crucial information that showed how dangerous conditions were.

• A U.S. Labor Department review supported MSHA's findings, but went further —blasting MSHA itself for dereliction of duty in inspecting the mine.

It is kind of an important week to be around.

We've noticed 'Mitt' and 'Michigan' showing up in the same sentence a lot lately, so we thought it was time to take a hard look at Romney's record on the issue that matters most to Michigan voters--jobs.

Conventional wisdom in Washington might be that Romney's business experience means he's good on the economy, but even the slightest glance at his record indicates otherwise.

You would think Mitt would catch a break because he was born in Michigan. But the Dems there point out that as a venture capitalist his financial machinations sometimes resulted in factories being shut down and workers losing jobs.

I'll be addressing some of the more egregious abuses such as the complete disregard of Congress' statutory laws, the Constitution and treaty obligations by engaging in such outrageous and in many instances unprecedented practices. I'll also be addressing the president's assertion of completely unrestrained power and his theory that during the so-called War on Terror neither Congress nor the courts can restrict what the president does.

• Certifiable knucklehead David Farnham leaves his son in a parked car while he attends a midnight showing of Dark Knight. Farnham tells officers he left the child in the car with the windows rolled up "so the child could not be taken out." (It sounds like one of the Joker's psychotic gags). Two-year-old Justin survives.

• A week ago, a couple leaves their child asleep in a car parked outside the Sears in Salt Lake. The kid is treated at a hospital for dehydration. Police report that neither parent ''seemed upset at the circumstances."

• In May, multi-level marketer Kamilyn Kartchner Hadley kills her infant son by leaving him outside in an ovenlike car while she makes a business call. She gets probation.

• In April, 18-month-old Myles Gailey's mom left him in the back of her car after a shopping trip. Three hours later, she remembers him. He is dead. No charges are filed against mom, Jana Gailey.

But Mitt Romney has led the speculation recently.

It’s pretty easy to heal the wounds, if there are any — and they were minor — when you have someone who’s very generous and wants to work with you for the good of the country.

This is how small businesses get started, getting into this area and doing something beautiful that will also attract people to buy in the neighborhood.

• Former Rep. Mark Walker offered a job to his opponent Richard Ellis if Ellis dropped out of the state Treasurer race.
• Rep. Steve Mascaro sexually harassed an intern during the last session.

I don't see anything happening with Mascaro, unless something more from either side (in his case) comes up. And I don't think we'll see any (complaints against GOP leaders) from the other side, either.

What is obvious from the agreement is that both sides had enough dynamite—particularly in the realm of sexual impropriety — to blow each other sky high.

We have obviously been placed in a very difficult dilemma by Mr. Feulner's statements and actions, and we are struggling to try to make decisions that are in the best interest of Community Wireless, and that do not constitute a betrayal of the trust that Community Wireless listeners, donors and employees have placed in the board of trustees."

Already, whispers have started about who Barack Obama will appoint to the Supreme Court.
(Cue eerie organ music.)
His alleged first choice is Sen. Hillary Clinton.Who better to remake the courts into a political arm of the Democratic Party?

*To the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Let me be very clear: I am not advocating for a criminal investigation of former Rep. Mark Walker; I am not asking for an ethics investigation into an "unnamed legislator"; nor, for that matter, am I speaking of any particular legislator or incident. (Like allegations of sexual harassment against a certain Dem?)

If Congress continues to shrink from infrastructure spending and to insist its money go mostly to roads, Brookings scholars predict Utah could sprawl in ways that choke productivity. The Salt Lake region must keep up with 1.5 million newcomers over 30 years.

• Romney’s great-grandparents fled to Mexico so they could practice [polygamy]. The family returned to the United States after Mitt’s father was born. In summation: Mitt Romney’s ancestors were sex addicts, and his father was a Mexican immigrant.
• Romney left Bain Capital in 1998 to head the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games . . . . Romney’s Games made $100 million in profit, which is really what the Greeks had in mind all along.
• He began his term [as Massachusetts' governor] as a proponent of domestic partnerships for same-sex couples, and ended it urging the U.S. Senate to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage.
• Romney is currently against the conservative trifecta of abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research, despite the fact that the latter may hold a cure for his wife Ann’s multiple sclerosis. He supports the Iraq war, the death penalty and withholding constitutional rights from suspected terrorists. All positions, of course, are subject to change.