Fortune

Fortune captures the wonder that is Cirque Lodge:

Even before you set foot inside the Cirque Lodge, it's monumentally obvious why people would come here. The Lodge -- a stunning structure of fieldstone, glass, and wood -- sits just up the mountain from Utah's Sundance Resort, a stone's throw from Robert Redford's Rocky Mountains estate.

With rooms for just 16 residents, it commands views that could literally lift you up when you've hit bottom.  . . . From the Lodge, you can see the Cascade Cirque on 12,000-foot Mount Timpanagos, still sparkling with snow in mid-May.

All for $1,595 day, with a 30-day minimum

Like a f

A hastily created coalition of environmentalists, including Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance attorney Stephen Bloch, say the governor expedited the permit process.

"After the meeting with the governor, a faster, finite timeline [for the permit] was part of the response from the division."

The dark-humor lining in the situation is that pave-Utah-end-to-end advocate Rep. Mike Noel has been catching hell from his Kane County constituents, complaining that the coal trucks will crush local roads, increase noise and dust pollution and generally screw up their quality of life.

I wonder if Herbert, friend of rural Utah, gave Noel a heads up?

“Much was accomplished”— Ambassador to China and former co-chair of the McCain campaign Jon Huntsman is in a new position of defending Barack Obama, at least the president's China trip. Huntsman spoke at Peking University, saying the U.S. will regain its economic leadership role, but must cut its long-term deficit and export more.

No more shapeshifting — Mike Huckabee, famous for his feud with Mitt Romney, says Mitt's chameleon ways are a voter turn off. "Mitt Romney just needed to be Mitt Romney. If he'd have been who he was, rather than trying to out-be who everybody else was, I think he could have possibly got the nomination."

Step up for torture — Jay Bybee, federal judge, BYU alum and torture memo author, has quietly set up a legal defense fund to pay for his defense if he is pursued by the Justice Department's internal ethics unit. A report trashing Bybee is expected out later this month.

Ethics farce heads for Lege — Political skeptics are underwhelmed, to say the least, by the ethics reform bill that will go before the Legislature. Says one blogger: It’s exactly what one would expect from arguably the most corrupt state legislature in the country:  window dressing.

Paperwork slam dunked — Karl Malone has been offered for consideration by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

New York

NY: How do you go from directing a movie like American Pie, where the object is getting laid, to Twilight, which has been called a Mormon allegory, with the writer of the series, Stephanie Meyer, being a Mormon?

Weitz: It’s funny now to work with a writer who is a practicing Mormon. I don’t mind that at all. I’ve never had a problem with religious people. I rather love that it’s men being objectified and the attitude towards sex is "think about it, be careful, this is a really big deal." Considering the number of 17-year-old girls objectified in film, I think this is just one back for the ladies. It’s almost revolutionary for a character to be a virgin and for the male to want to wait.

A better question might be how well Weitz, who, judging from the photo, is obviously a closely shaved werewolf, works with vampires.

An attorney representing the Cardalls gave The Salt Lake Tribune a copy of the autopsy report. The Washington County Attorney will not prosecute the officer who used the Taser on Cardall.

Last month, the manufacturer warned that its Tasers should not be aimed at the victim's chest — not because Tasers could cause cardiac arrest, they still deny that—but because avoiding those shots will reduce successful lawsuits.

Update —

At Joe the Plumber's rally at Utah Valley University, only 20 people showed up. One of them asked for plumbing advice, which is a little iffy considering Joe isn't licensed:

"We're re-doing our kitchen. How should we measure our sink to make sure it fits?"

Actually, his plumberly answer was probably edgier than anything he said in the Capitol Rotunda was how innocuous it was. Joe tol 80 or so "liberty-loving patriots" that turned out that they must get involved in democracy and shouldn't let the Mainstream Media, right or left, tell them how to think. He warned:

"Freedom is responsibility!"

That's all the fire in the belly Joe can muster? Hell, I am the Mainstream Media and I agree with that. (Note: Without the mainstream media's heavy coverage of the Plumber's Utah tour, only the few hundred people who showed up the events would have  known he was here.)

Everyguy Joe Wurzelbacher lays out his beliefs: He doesn't like abortion or same-sex marriage. He likes god and guns—"I want more." He says nice things about "Plumber's Helper" Cherilyn Eagar who invited him, but no one rips into her opponent. Only one speaker mentions Bob Bennett's name, let alone rails at him. I complain to Eagar that I'm sorely disappointed: "Where's the fire and thunder?"

The high point comes when Joe makes one of his famous Workin' Slob, cut-the-crap points about the lack of accountability among politicians:

"Being a plumber, if I come to your house and do a job and don't do it right — you are going to call me back to do it right. And you have a right to call me back."

Later, I ask Joe, being that he's a plumber with a strong belief in Rule of Law, if he has gotten a plumbing license yet. Joe admits he has not.

"The way I do plumbing, you don't have to be licensed."

Huh? I can only take that as one of those wiseguy euphemisms, like, "I can give you a deal on a HD TV that fell off the truck."

Of course, its all part of that freedom and responsibility thing. In any case, those folks with the kitchen remodel better get a second opinion on measuring sinks.

Don't tell me it's all coincidence.

1. The LDS Church supports a gay rights ordinance.

2. A fireball the "size of a stove" lights the sky over Utah.

3. An earthquake rocks Coalville, the "Middle of Paradise."

4. An glitch from Salt Lake snarls FAA computers nationwide.

5. Sen. Chris Buttars is suddenly copacetic with gays being treated somewhat like humans.

6. In-N-Out Burger opens 2 Utah locations.

7. Personal astrologers of Elton John and Billy Joel convince them to "stay out of Utah."

8. American "Idol" Damien Archuleta calls his minions unto him (and signs his new Xmas CD).

End of Days or what?