One Utah

In the real world, every government policy is an experiment. We look to history to guide us but also ground ourselves in basic values.
Public education, supported by property taxes, open to everyone, is an experiment. Creating a progressive tax code is an experiment. Cutting taxes on the rich in hopes they will [...]

As I continue my desultory series on the four freedoms, I find myself, in the face of the seemingly endless sludge of bad economic news pondering the idea of freedom from want.
FDR’s original line was:
The third is freedom from want–which, translated into universal terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy [...]

Last night, I caught a show on CSpan that showed a series of clips from the international news on the RNC. Watching the international reporting got me re-examining both McCain’s choice of Palin and McCain’s own speech.
First, I think it’s fair to say that McCain’s VP choice is the single most cynical political move [...]

Let’s review: In three days Sarah Palin has managed to rack up a slew of scandals and controversies:
• Troopergate - the abuse of her power to get a former brother in law fired
• Bridge to Nowhere - she claims to have opposed it but she’s on record supporting it
• Pregnant Daughter - her 17 year [...]

Okay, look it’s hard not feel a little schadenfreude this week. After all, it was Focus on the Family that was encouraging people to pray for rain on the night of Obama’s acceptance speech. What Denver had was a perfect night weatherwise. Now, as the Republicans try to gather for their convention, [...]

McCain, in response to Russia’s attack on Georgia, actually said: “In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations.”
So the Irony Meter has gone complately kaput.
Think Progress has the video.

In Mistakes were made (but not by me) , Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson discuss the psychological process of self justification as it relates to initiation.
In particular, they cite a study in which students, to join a conversation, had to go through an initiation process; for one group it was relatively easy, for [...]

Paul,
I’ll tell you a bit about myself qua LDS person. I was born and raised in the church, served a mission to Germany, got married in the temple, paid my tithing, did all of the right things. Then one night as I was reading the Book of Mormon in preparation for teaching a Sunday school [...]

Thanks Leo for the tip. Personally, I see no place for pure libertarianism on this planet. Its light began to fade when the transcontinental railroad opened.
Nevertheless, this article speaks to the danger of the current Republican response to the SCOTUS case. Bad decision they say…as would have Hitler.
From the Future of Freedom [...]

Sometimes others say it better than I. I’d like to add one more culprit…OK, about fifty million culprits; every uninformed idiot that voted for him the second time too.
Sorry, Mr. President, But Your Legacy Is More Awful Than You Think
Posted June 11, 2008 | 04:57 PM (EST)
h/t Huffington Post
Rest assured, Mr. President, that [...]

Via Dispatches From the Culture Wars, I saw this great article by Elizabeth A. Castelli about the persecution complex among America’s conservative Christians.  These whiny ass titty baby Christians start crying persecution and “War on Christians” whenever things don’t go their way.  They create arguments in which a pharmacist refuses to fill prescriptions for contraception [...]

There seem to be a few folks left on the planet who cannot accept the science of climate change. None of them are scientists except for the ones being paid by Exxon.
I’m thinking OneUtah should build a record of this debate for the benefit of Anthropologists, Sociologists and writers who, fifty years from now, [...]