One Utah

Does anyone remember the heady days of Paul Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Authority? The conquerors of Baghdad and the exiled politicians they brought with them were full of enthusiasm to remake the New Iraq, whether anyone else liked it or not. One of their genius ideas, unveiled in April 2004, was a new flag [...]

Via the Associated Press:
Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with al-Qaeda to blow up a radioactive “dirty bomb,” was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years and four months on terrorism conspiracy charges that don’t mention those initial, unproven allegations.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke rejected a prosecution request for a sentence of life imprisonment because Padilla was [...]

With yesterday’s largely ceremonial opening over and done with, today marks the first day of real work in the state Leg.
The schedule of events starts at 8 a.m. with committee meetings/hearings (remember, these meetings are where bills go to die).
The tools for staying abreast of what’s happening are plentiful and relatively easy to use. [...]

In the New York Times, Michael Gordon suggests that the presidential candidates are flunking Iraq 101. Our commanders in Iraq are always careful to emphasize that a long and difficult job still lies ahead if we follow through on the Bush administration’s “stay the course” strategy. In contrast, campaigning politicians only address the [...]

I love the fact that this time of year, I eat citrus - I much prefer the flavor of blood oranges to navels.  When people see the dark red fruit, smaller than a grapefruit, they ask, in a short of fascinated horror, “What are you eating?”  They know it’s not a grapefruit, but most people [...]

Hat tip to our good friends at Liberal Oasis for pointing us to this great article.
The broad point - as true today as in 2001 when Bush was pushing for his first round of no millionaire left behind tax cuts - is that economic stimulus from the government should to contain 5 primary components.  Tax [...]

8 bills per day.  That’s how many bills have to be killed or passed each day to get through the list of proposed bills in the 2008 session.
Utah’s legislative session lasts 45 days. 

Cutting through all the noise surrounding the primaries, is the remarkable apathy toward the republican candidates.
Here is a summary of turnout by party so far.
IOWA: 236,000 Democrats and 119,000 Republicans
NEW HAMPSHIRE: 284,000 Democrats and 233,000 Republicans
MICHIGAN: 593,000 Democrats and 867,000 Republicans (NOTE: Republicans had a primary with delegates at stake. Democrats did not)
NEVADA: 114,000 Democrats [...]

I saw this reported on KSL and decided I had misunderstood. Apparently not. Tragically not. From the D-News, I see that a group of students from BYU and UVSC are making some downright pathetic demands of Gold’s gym.
They are demanding that the gyms get rid of R-rated or sexually explicit PG-13 movies [...]

John Edwards appears three days before the caucus, like a Magician in a Casino showroom. I’ve been talking to everyone I see about getting past the media blockade down here and giving credit were it’s due to the real leader of the Democratic Presidential Nominees. Edward’s campaign has been the driving force [...]

So last night I’m watching CNN. They were running a story on the Republican primary in South Carolina and the importance of conservative evangelicals in the race. Apparently South Carolina has the highest concentration of conservative evangelicals in the country. Also, apparently, since 1980 no Republican candidate has won the nomination without [...]

I make no secret of my frustration with our state legislature.  There’s an ocean of bad bills out there that suck up time.
Every year, there are a few good ideas that seem to from nowhere and that usually vanish under the weight of the other stuff.  One this year I hadn’t given much thought to [...]