My family just moved to a new city, into a subdivision with many other families with children of similar ages to my own. I was dismayed to find that when I reached out to a few of my neighbors to coordinate play dates, I was met with icy responses - some said their kids weren't around, others said they really don't let their kids play at other people's homes. Do you find that strange?

Start over. While clearly disconcerting, your initial reception from your neighbors should not turn you away from forging positive family relationships forever. Go slowly. Reach out to one family at a time. Ask whether you can have coffee with one of the mothers. Get to know one, and eventually you may be invited to know others. . . .

It makes sense to put the two of them together.

Simply put, Bernick claimed that “legislative leaders” intended to take on the [referendum] law. The only problem with this claim was that it was not true. It was not merely a prevarication; it was not run-of-the-mill media bias; it was not even an inaccuracy.

It was a lie.

When facts spill out that give citizens a misleading impression of our work on their behalf I believe we have a right - maybe a responsibility - to offer further perspective. In actuality, we let it slide most of the time but the current situation seems to be moving beyond the accidental slip-up . . . .

John Fellows, legislative general counsel, explained the situation to Lee Davidson of the DNews, when Davidson called in a dither. Davidson exploded that Fellows “knew what they wanted.” . . .

Davidson threatened Fellows, saying that his refusal to relent to the demands of the Deseret News would “constitute a declaration of war.” Fellows told him to redraft his request.

Immediately thereafter, the DNews hit the Legislative Office of Research and General Counsel (LRGC) with an unprecedented number of records requests, many of them dealing with – you guessed it – personnel issues involving LRGC.

When the GOP Legislators you worked to elect avoid talking to your political editor, but are more willing to talk to your liberal competitor, you have a problem.

These are core beliefs of the Republican Party that are sometimes lost. I call [Returning to your roots] reform of a sort.

Tell Sen. Bramble that if he wants to do that, he can run for governor.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are more like the Jews than they are like members of any of the other world religions, he said. In the United States neither group fits in the fabric of society. . . .

The Book of Mormon prophesies of the conversion of the Jews to Christ, and when that happens the Lord will gather them.

Think that Bramble should have played by the rules and coughed up the cash, or used his credit card rather than pitching a hissy fit? Let him know:
Email: cbramble@utahsenate.org

Bramble mattered to me for a few days, the way a stubbed toe would matter for a few minutes. But I have a 3-day-old niece to coo over, a new apartment to organize, a "History of Nicolitalia Pizzeria" to edit, a friend to congratulate on her mission call to England, and Boggle to play.

Hatfield fears that big money buys influence.

I'm trying to figure out a place to draw a bright line because we've got to draw a bright line. No one entity should be able to put $10,000 toward any campaign or initiative.

Doesn't Hatfield know Bramble's best friend and state Republican Party boss is Stan Lockhart, the lobbyist for an extremely big business, Micron Corp.? They hang together on Lake Powell houseboat vacations. Lockhart's wife is Rep. Becky Lockhart another Bramble BFF.

He claims that doesn't sway his voting a bit. So Brambo obviously is going to soar high above something as paltry as a few thousand of dollars donations from lobbyists who are complete strangers.

Bramble, who likes to remind people he is an accountant, explains to the Provo Daily Herald that it's simply more efficient to raise funds from businesses and special interest groups, than to get it from individual voters. Think about it: He's saving his constituents money! What a guy.

Never one to let an opportunity for arrogance slip by, Bramble adds:

Their money spends as well as anyone else's.

A political convention is a weeklong televised pep rally, squeezed in around a vast amount of cocktail parties, where a lot of people who have already made up their minds who should be the next president try to make enough noise to wake up baseball fans before they go back to sleep.

It helps that Benson hooked up with Todd Taylor, executive director of the Utah Democratic Party, who has a sack of polished one liners. Taylor calls conventions "group theater" — with great parties at the intermissions:

At my first convention I remember thinking, 'Oh GREAT, it's a weeklong cocktail party!'

At my second one I thought, 'Oh great, it's a weeklong cocktail party!'

By my third one I realized, 'It's a weeklong cocktail party — and I get to choose my parties.'

Here's the problem: Utah Lake's endangered June sucker is on the verge of a $39 million turnaround, except for one seriously ugly, bottom-feeding, problem. The lake's carp eat the bottom vegetation, making the June suckers, er, suckers for predators.

The ideas so far: compost, a humanitarian food source and pet food. Cassie Mellon, a fish biologist with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, says even biofuel is a possibility:

How cool would it be to be driving a car powered by carp?

MATTHEWS: Who are the Republicans gonna run for Vice President Bill?

MAHER: Well I would love it to be Mitt Romney since I have a movie about religion coming out. And Mitt Romney, of course, will have to educate the American people on the lunacy that is Mormonism. And I think that would be very funny.

I also think it's funny that the Republicans were for Rudy Giuliani but we showed five different pictures of him dressed up as woman at one point. And then the Republican base went, "Well let's go to Mitt Romney." Then they found out about Mormonism and they went, "Let's go to Fred Thompson." And then they wound up back with McCain.

MATTHEWS: Well let me defend Mormonism. It's a good religion. Let's move on from that. Shall we demure on that subject?

Our immediate goal is to settle things down in the Air Force.

Hill has been a microcosm of the Air Force's lack of focus:

1. Shipped nuclear missile fuses, instead of helicopter batteries, to Taiwan, nearly triggering an international incident with China.
2. Allowed radioactive scrap to be incinerated at a civilian trash burning plant.
3. An F-16 riddled a training vehicle, complete with soldiers, with cannon fire in a "friendly fire" oopsie in the West Desert.
4. A case of M-16 rifles got lost (then found) at the base.

His son was helping take down the balloon and Senator Bramble starts screaming at him in a way that I thought was very inappropriate given the facts that he’s surrounded by people and he’s just told us how great of a leader he is. . . .

Now Senator Bramble has someone produce his dog for him. . . . He then commands the dog to “get ‘em” and takes the leash off. The dog races across the park and begins chasing his dutiful son.

What’s wrong with this, aside from the screaming? Well, I’m sure that the dog is a gentle giant, but the park is clearly labeled as only allowing dogs on leash. Here’s the highest ranking lawmaker in the state blatantly ignoring the law because it suits him in front of the mayor and several police officers.

So, you’ve gotta wonder: is anyone running the DNews? It makes up news, admits that it made up news, chastises people who pointed out that it made up news, makes up follow-up news, and, then, editorializes that the Legislature is rotten for seeking to do something the DNews editors admittedly know the Legislature never intended to do.

I am often these days attacked by bloggers, and while I make an effort NOT to read the misinformation about me and my work (just keep on plugging away), I know for a fact how inaccurate and unfair blogs can be. . . .

Matheson sided with Bush 41 percent of the time — the sixth highest percentage among House Democrats.

Not only do I have a good relationship with the party, but it has given me a reputation so that people in both parties know that I am someone who will look at the substance of a bill and not just the politics. So they are willing to work with me.

It only goes to show how liberal our Democratic-controlled Congress has become.

We have been informed that American Mormon missionaries were detained on the territory of secret military facilities more than once. They are accused of having CIA connections, and it is reasonable.

You know, there was a mistake in the play. The actors called Buttars a representative, but he is a Senator.

I just want to make it clear he is in the OTHER BODY — the Senate.

Evans told the Deseret News that Gardner's story seems to have some legs, since Gardner, a parolee who could have a lot to lose making accusations against a sitting state senator, went to the Attorney General's Office to make a complaint against McCoy. it.

Gardner ... said he knew Buttars from the seven years Gardner was in the Boys Ranch, where Buttars was the long-time director until he retired several years ago. McCoy said Gardner then ticked of a number of bad things that alleged happened during his time there. The Boys Ranch is a private institution that provides help and education for troubled teenage boys.

The first thing to look at in a McCain-Obama race then, is fundraising after Romney dropped out to see if the state's Republican base forgave the GOP pick. Beginning in March, Utahns gave about the same amount to each presumptive nominee through Aug. 20 — $433,470 to McCain, $431,659 to Obama.

That's about as close to a dead heat as it gets.

When called on the lie, the editorial board was forced to acknowledge it. They, then, forced Bernick to write a retraction. He didn’t. Instead, he furthered the lie.

Though Bernick admitted privately to President Valentine that he’d acted unethically, he publicly lied again. The D News didn’t publish anything approaching, “We made it all up.” Instead, Bernick wrote that Legislative leaders weren’t going to change the law after all – as if they’d seen the light only after reading Bernick’s article where he first told this lie. That is a significant misrepresentation. . . . .

It is important that they exercise a little of the transparency they supposedly laud, and give people a chance to see how accurate the DNews is with the facts.

Krusee was arrested in April after a trooper saw Krusee’s car swerving down a highway near Austin. The Republican lawmaker, mug shot above, failed the field sobriety tests and refused a breath and blood test

Krusee is known in Texas for successfully sponsoring the “driver responsibility program” that includes surcharges for driving offenses, including $1,000 for a first conviction of driving while intoxicated.

This rumor has no foundation whatsoever.

Missionary visits

You won’t be able to hide from the missionary ads, complete with door bell sound and well dressed missionary.

You’ve got LDS Facebook Mail

It’s not spam — it’s part of the legitimate missionary outreach from the LDS. Every day is a new passage from the book of Mormon.

A man and a man shall not use Facebook

Any hint of homosexuality becomes a breach of the revised LDS Facebook TOS, however you will be allowed to keep your account if you dedicate the rest of your life to overcoming your ungodly urges.

Pizza Girl is not allowed to accept checks, but Bramble forces the issue:

"Look, I'm the majority leader of the state senate . . .,"

He's gruff. I am uncomfortable, my eyes pleading, but I say nothing.

"Do you know what that means? I'm a public figure. If I bounced a check, it would be all over the papers. I'd lose my reputation!"

"Look, I'm a CPA, so I know a check is the same as cash."

"Where are you from? I'm from Chicago. You're probably from New York, right?"

How is this relevant?

"You're from Massachusetts? We're both Easterners."

Since when is Chicago considered the East? . . .

Mr. Logical Fallacy hands me the phone, and I'd like to say, "Nick, I'm sorry I sicked this long-winded bastard on you," but I just say, "Hi, Nick." He tells me I can take the check as long as the man shows me his driver's license and I write the license number on the check. I hang up the phone and tell Mr. Impressive Title what Nick said. . . .

Aren't politicians supposed to be charismatic and stuff?

Virpi Lummaa, an ecologist at the University of Sheffield, UK, presented a paper to at an international meeting of behavior ecology, that fought that men aged over 60 from 140 countries that practice polygamy to varying degrees lived on average 12 percent longer than men from 49 mostly monogamous countries.

For every 10 years a woman survives past the menopause, she gains two additional grandchildren, Lummaa says. It seems that doting on and spoiling grandchildren aids their survival, as well as furthering some of their grandmother’s genes.

At the risk of over-simplification, Lummaa theorizes that, similarly, the more grandkids a father spawns, the longer he lives, too.

So, in short, woohoo! git yerself a passle of wives. You, like the handsome weasel in the photo above, can live to be 200! (With any luck, half of that will be outside the slammer.)

We're not in the business of printing rumors*.

For the most part, rumor and innuendo are kept out of the news pages. And that's a good thing, serving as a protection for the reputations of innocent people and the credibility of the press.

John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont founded the so-called Amethyst Initiative to lower the drinking age (the Greeks believed the purplish gemstone warded off drunkeness):

This is a law that is routinely evaded. It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory.

Senate President John Valentine told the Deseret News the four-day, 1o-hour a day work week is a bad idea:

That's because I've had experiences in several municipalities that have used the same four-10 workweek.

Government is there to serve the public. The real question to me is whether it serves the public most effectively.

But the Senate leaders say they will "support" (if you call the above carping support) Huntsman during the one year trial of the program.

At the beginning, I was proud to say, 'Yeah, I'm a Mormon filmmaker' because then, I was defining what a Mormon filmmaker was.

It quickly got completely out of my control. Now, no one wants to call themselves a Mormon filmmaker because you're associating yourself with a genre that's fallen into disrepute. It's like having porn on your résumé.

Dogs are not allowed and never have been on the FLDS compound. So most kids had never seen one and many have never even seen a picture of a dog.

Pasty Swendson, owner of Pennies from Heaven, a San Antonio dog therapy service, put the FLDS kids together with a golden retriever, two small dogs and an Irish wolfhound:

When we entered the room, the kids, boys and girls, showed restraint. But soon enough they became excited and the first dog they went to was the 135 pound Wolfhound. . . .

It was bittersweet seeing those kids go. Harder still was knowing that they would return to the compound, without the happiness of having a pet. Maybe one day they’ll have the opportunity.

I live in a small town in Utah — about 200 people — in a yurt, which is a traditional Mongolian shelter (that's) a cross between a circus tent and a teepee. There are canvas walls, wood lattice for support, angled roof, a dome and then just a round space. They're fantastic.

Why didn’t Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff simply email me or call me? Why didn’t Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff consult with his own subordinates about any agreements made between his office and me? Reason: Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff was acting on behalf of his campaign contributor Overstock.com and its "loud mouth" CEO Patrick Byrne to defame me.

The latest is news is that she was charged in 2004 in Tennessee with conspiracy to commit burglary and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

True to form, Joyce went on the lam before she was brought to justice. No word yet on if she topped her deaf actress (or was it blind nun?) disguise to flee England. Tennessee prosecutors, who were tipped off to the fugitive when she made headlines for cloning her dog Booger in Korea, are deciding whether to go after McKinney.

Open email to Attorney General Mark Shurtleff: Whatever Joyce may have done in Utah, please, please, don't bring her back.

This man has zigzagged extraordinarily.

There are better choices for Sen. McCain that have the approval of value voters.

A lot of the Republicans I know [who would they be?] are not necessarily comfortable with Romney.

What's the difference between John Edwards and Bernann McKinney?

Answer: They're the same.

One ran for President and the other cloned her favorite deceased dog, Booger, so maybe it's not a fair comparison. But both streaked across the public stage last week where they were busted for having secrets that muddied up their self-manufactured myths.

Dunst, who had worked hard to earn the sobriquet "Drunkst" in LA, checked into Cirque Lodge at Sundance for "depression."

During her stay, Kiki made a brief foray into the Orem hipster scene, left, but was apparently rebuffed.

Anybody, of course, can make it in New York and the The New York Observer reports:

The new Kirsten (as she’s known around town) rolls out of bed, throws on one of her several pairs of Ray Bans and wanders around lower Manhattan, puffing on American Spirit Blues. She doesn’t care so much about Hollywood as she does about her image outside of it; being just another downtown brooding artist seems somehow truer than being a done-up L.A. celebrity.

The law is what it is. You can't uphold some laws and cast others aside as unimportant.

. . . when the Chinese revoked Cheek's visa right before he was to travel to Beijing last week, the USOC looked the other way. Instead of standing up for the man whom the organization had named its 2006 Sports Man of the Year, it abandoned him.

On his way to celebrate the opening of Beijing games, Romney reminded Chinese President Hu Jintou and Premier Wen Jiabao of his support for Beijing's Olympics bid and asked them to restore Cheek's visa.

That [athletes] would be pressured and bullied not to say anything by the IOC and the Chinese government, it's Orwellian. The Olympics have always been about more than sport, until these Games, And now it's only about sport.

I have a notion in the next few years you will see some surprises. . . . With a small effort, we may save ourselves.

The dog lover known around the world, Bernann McKinney, admitted she was Joyce McKinney, a former Miss Wyoming who became a tabloid sensation in 1977 when she faced charges for kidnapping a Mormon missionary in England and forcing him to have sex with her. She jumped bail and was never brought to justice. British authorities say the case is too old to revive.

Ra Jeong Chan, the head of RNL Bio, says that even if he had known about McKinney's record, it would not have changed his decision to clone her pet:

There was no reason to check her background.

The Joyce/Bernann McKinney story was quickly eclipsed in South Korean media by the country's on-going medal tally in the Beijing Olympics.

And Mitt's opposition to a proposed offshore wind farm in the waters of Nantucket Sound won't win friends with the renewable energy crowd.

Finally, RG&B's Timothy Hurst adds:

I know I might make some enemies by saying this, but it is my belief that no one with five children can honestly call themselves an environmentalist.

I don't think I really notice the pollution too much.

With gangs rampant, transporting inmates outside of an institution had become more dangerous then ever. Why on earth did the [corrections departments] in Maryland and Utah provide for only one officer on these details? Was it a staffing issue, a cost cutting measure, failed policies or just negligence?

We will probably never know because in both instances any review is more likely to be geared towards covering the department’s respective backsides than uncovering their glaring failure to properly staff outside details.

I won't support vouchers again — the people have spoken, they hate it.

• Youthfully attractive — Huntsman, Mitt and Obama in. Orrin Hatch, state Sen. Chris Buttars and John McCain out.
• Mesmerizing speaker — Eliminates Chris Cannon, Buttars, again, and President Bush.
• Idolized by the news media and public — Paris Hilton, Huntsman, Rachel Ray, the Osmonds and the cast of High School Musical in. House Speaker Greg Curtis, Gayle Ruzicka and Buttars, again, eliminated.
• Rises rapidly to political power and has horns — Super Dale and most Utah Democrats out. Buttars, finally, in.
  

On McCain's Web site, visitors are invited to "Spread the Word" about the presumptive Republican nominee by sending campaign-supplied comments to blogs and Web sites under the visitor's screen name. The site offers sample comments ("John McCain has a comprehensive economic plan . . .") and a list of dozens of suggested destinations, conveniently broken down into "conservative," "liberal," "moderate" and "other" categories. Just cut and paste.

• The company’s engineering plan was dangerous and should never have been accepted by the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
• Computer models would have shown the danger, but the company didn't use them.
• MSHA also failed to take control of the rescue.

This is not about me trying to force a political candidate on you and trying to see how you vote. This is just business and the way business works. . . .

You can't realize how much leverage this gives Huron going forward to ask various people for business.

His “bundlers” — supporters who raise large sums by soliciting donations from their friends and associates — include dozens of people who have, in some way, benefited from Romney’s business acumen (or largesse) and through the private-equity company he co-founded.

When you control vast sums of money, and have close allies who control even greater sums, you have a lot of ways to reward, say, Huron Consulting Group . . .

[Umpire Jack] Herbert determined the amount was illegal and -- after Coleman offered to ``wipe it off'' -- also found the bat to be corked. The umpire pulled out a piece of black rubber on the end of the bat and watched several "super balls'' spill out of the bat.

``Looks like you're going to have a short night,'' Herbert joked as he threw Coleman out of the game.

Coleman took more offense with the short joke than he did his ejection, bumping the umpire to the delight of the 5,000-plus in attendance. Eventually, Coleman set up shop behind the third-base bleachers, signing autographs (at $20 a pop) and posing for photos (those were free).

I don't think a modern corporation is capable of building anything close to being that cool.

I hope the Chinese government is able to reconsider this,Joey Cheek is by no means an out-of-control radical. He's a very serious, sober, responsible individual, and his support for human rights certainly can't be in any way a detraction from the games.

The Chinese officials know of my involvement in the past and will hopefully give consideration to my request, perhaps on a personal basis.

If McCain picks Romney for the ticket, I can go fishing for the rest of the campaign.

If you've forgotten — and who could — the Brits offer a condensed version of the Joyce McKinney saga:

Former US beauty queen McKinney jumped bail and disappeared in 1978 after kidnapping a male Mormon missionary, chaining him to a bed in a Devon cottage and forcing him to have sex with her.

She "raped" him three times, a court heard, after dressing him in silky pajamas and apparently used mink-lined handcuffs to spreadeagle him on a bed. ...

After absconding she later posed topless for US glamour magazines and revelled in her notoriety in the USA.

I'd ski naked down Mt Everest with a carnation up my nose if he asked me.

Ginned up . . . a backlash from Mormons, who accused it of religious bias. The PAC responded with a some-of-our-best-friends-are-Mormons post on its website, saying that it doesn’t oppose Mormons in general, just Mitt Romney.

Bill’s grateful for the support he’s received from Mr. Romney and his PAC and all the other organizations that have given to his campaign.

We want to present living proof that dogs, like people, should be judged as individuals. Just because some particular breeds have been mishandled and exploited by some people, all representatives of those breeds shouldn’t be denied the chance for good homes with caring people, where they will be as likely as other kinds of dogs to become good neighbors, good family members, and good citizens.

This is the least I can do. I can't go join the Army -- I'm 55 years old. But I do have something where I can say thank you with all my heart to the families.

OK, the man is a politician. As a Republican, he won the governorship of Massachusetts, the bluest of the blue states. It's an asset for someone in the GOP to understand how to do that.

This is just a fun way for me to say, 'Hey boys, I'm still here.' This is my redneck Stonehenge.

These can come out just as easy as they went in.*

The confusing tangle of family relationships within a sect where a handful of families have intermarried for decades and often use the same names has been a major hurdle for both CPS and the Texas Attorney General's Office now prosecuting the case.

According to one state source close to the investigation who asked not to be identified, at least 5 percent of DNA samples taken from children and parents was so similar when compared, it could not be determined in those cases which child belonged to which parent.

The Lord blessed me to go forward in marriage July 27, 2006, the day after I turned 15 years old.

The girl's scrapbooks included pictures of her passionately kissing her 34-year-old new husband.

For them to say that the marriage was going to take place in Salt Lake City on the 8th of August, they knew that wasn't true. But they ran it anyway, under political correctness, or for whatever reason they chose to do that.

I meant that he was coming back to the Senate.

He said, ‘Hey, Orrin, this is really wonderful.’ I said I was worried that he’d misconstrued the meaning. And he said, ‘No, don’t worry about it. It’s a good song.’

• The now infamous put down of a bill as "this baby is black... it's a dark and ugly thing."
• His support of a developer friend to the point of chastising a state judge on Senate stationary for ruling against said friend.
  
• Bragging to Mapleton city officials that "he is powerful; he could repeat the ‘black baby’ remark and that he was untouchable. He said, ‘If they wanted to get rid of me, they would have done it in the primaries, and they didn’t. I am here to stay.’ ”*

In 2000, Gardner managed to get into a Donnybrook with a nine-year-old neighbor over a flashlight, grabbing the kid by the neck.

In 2007, he was charged for fondling the thigh of a 26-year-old woman. (Gardiner maintains he wasn't copping a feel, but instead trying to get the woman to drive more responsibly.)

But before he could plead out to that mess, he staggered drunk out of a Springville convenience store into the arms of police.

Fourth District Judge John Backlund, at right in the photo, has proven himself something less than the Solomon of Utah County by putting Gardner on probation yet again, saying:

The court is impressed that Mr. Gardner is a very complex and disturbed individual. Given some of his erratic behavior in the past in other cases, I just am very concerned about this issue.

At Nine Mile Canyon in central Utah, truck exhaust on a road to the gas fields is posing a threat, environmentalists and Indian tribes say, to 2,000 years of rock art and imagery. In Montana, a coal-fired power plant has been proposed near Great Falls on one of the last wild sections of the Lewis and Clark trail. In New Mexico, a mining company has proposed reopening a uranium mine on Mount Taylor, a national forest site sacred to numerous Indian tribes.

With only 20 percent of the 193-million-acre national forest system surveyed for archeological content, LouAnn Jacobson, the manager of the Anasazi Heritage Center near Four Corners says:

We’re caught in the middle between traditional culture and archaeological research and the valid existing rights of the oil and gas leaseholders.