One Utah

Disclaimer: I do not know this person, and have no reason to believe he was emoting his inner-most feelings about George W. Bush or Dick Cheney. It is entirely possible he was simply getting ready to shake hands…

…with Orrin Hatch, which he did seconds later.
Unfortunatly, I ran out of film.

It’s another Ozone Red Alert day here on the Wasatch Front. It’s now been almost three months since I installed a 2 kWh, ten-PV panel, sun-tracking solar power system in my backyard. Some of you may have even watched the video of its installation: a series titled “Harvesting the Sun” on my website schreinervideo.com. When [...]

It’s not political at all but one of my favorite blogs belongs to singer songwriter Bob Mould.  Saw him in concert when I was in college - I was blown away.  I know most people prefer Workbook but Black Sheets of Rain is my favorite of his solo work.

Yesterday, Helen Thomas, who specializes in speaking truth to power, flummoxed White House spokesman Tony Snow by asking if anyone in the Bush administration has family members serving on the front lines. Snow replied: “Yeah, the President. The President is in the war every day.”
It was a non-answer, of course. George W. Bush [...]

Education sure is in the news a lot lately. It’s a subject near to my heart since I have spent my entire 24 year (so far!) career in the field.
This week, Utah Governor Huntsman endorsed a full year for teachers in a move to justify giving teachers raises. Of course we all know [...]

George Lakoff explores “the nation as family” metaphor in his books, especially Moral Politics.  Lakoff focuses on the strict father nurturant parent dichotomy.  But, the metaphor isn’t limited to that model.
Over a Republic of T, Terrance has been exploring the Myth of a Bush Recovery; in Part three he writes
George W. Bush may well have been [...]

Everybody loves Utah’s national parks, and being lucky enough to live in Utah means we have time to appreciate equally amazing wildlands in between the parks. The week before last, I went to visit the backcountry south of Canyonlands and north of Natural Bridges.
About 150 years ago, the Deseret News called this part of [...]

So I see via Debra Haffner that Missouri has passed a new law designed to keep kids ignorant of sexuality. 
the legislature of Missouri has now banned Planned Parenthood staff and volunteers from coming into its public schools
Debra points us to an article from the Missourian which has some choice quotes about the bill’s and from its [...]

Over Wasatch Watcher Marshall and Co. have been paying close attention to the voucher debate (here) and have done a lot of heavy lifting in sorting through the sleazy, nasty, obnoxious and downright dishonest tactics and propaganda of voucher proponents.
In Bruce Bawer’s Stealing Jesus, he recorded the history of the religious right, namely they got [...]

Once in a while the Pentagon comes up with a strategic concept so bad it puts everything else in perspective. Reminds me of Robert Redford’s refrain from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969): “You just keep on thinkin’, Butch, that’s what yer good at.”
From Noah Shachtman on Wired’s fascinating Danger Room blog comes [...]

Head on over to Republic of T for a good series - parts one and two are up.  Terrance explores the idea of the dry drunk and wonders how it applies to George. W. Bush, in light of last week’s photo of the Shrub sneaking a beer.

I’ve written about this before, and I’m writing about it again because I find it keeps coming up again for me over and over again in conversation.
This single interview WAS for me a major epiphany in the quest to understand why so many people are so willing to accept at face value whatever they are [...]