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Utah Senate launches Blog

How cool is this? The Utah Senate has started the country's first senate Web log, where citizens can read and respond to lawmakers' comments.

Cats will be cats and dogs will be dogs

There are some things in life that one knows with a high degree of certainty. One knows that a cat meows and a dog barks, and not vice-versa.

The governors of Louisiana [D] and Mississippi [R] are now forever bound by Hurricane Katrina, but the sounds they make regarding Washington's reaction to an overwhelming catastrophe will be starkly different. Each governor's background, alliances and experience would have them see things very differently and consequently each will verbalize a different spin on events. Of course, the hardest hit was Louisiana, particularly when New Orleans' levees gave way and the city was flooded. LA's Democratic governor, Ms. Blanco, a school teacher by training, is not part of the Washington establishment and has been very critical of Washington's response to Katrina. And, predictably, Washington has found fault with her response -- but not Governor Barbour's.

On the other hand, Mr. Barbour of Mississippi is the consumate Washington lawyer and insider. He is very close to the president, and the law firm he founded is the top lobbying establishment in Washington. He seems to have aspirations to run for president in 2008. He curries political favors by being supportive. So, do not look for criticism of the federal government from this governor. Such remarks would not be in his political interest. Morover, whining doesn't look presidential.

We know who will meow against the administration and who will bark for it. Dogs and cats act according to their nature and interests. Meanwhile, the people still count their losses.

Source: Wall Street Journal, Free Articles

Gas prices high? Try an eco-friendly, $3.5 mln Skycar

CHICAGO (Reuters) - If that Hummer is draining your cash at the gas pump, Neiman Marcus Group Inc. has the perfect holiday gift: A fuel-efficient, $3.5 million "Skycar" that flies 350 miles per hour and burns environmentally friendly alcohol.

America's right made a left!

"Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then gets elected and proves it." - P.J. O'Rourke

The Economist, a magazine that is very kind to conservative ideas, leads this week with the story about "What's gone wrong for the right?" (Subscription needed.) It speaks of the indictment of Tom DeLay, fiscal troubles and the aftermath of Katrina having tipped George Bush's presidency into deep trouble.

Bush's compassionate conservatism has translated into big government. According to the same Economist article, Bush has spent more than any president in the past half century save liberal President Johnson, author of The Great Deal (aka Mr. Spend). While spending like a drunken sailor on shore leave, the GOP has dropped its revenues by significantly lowering taxes. So, our government increasingly grows bloated on debt.

Now, if that remarkable drift of Republican idealogy from fiscal conservatism to free-spending liberalism wasn't alarming enough, there are also the numerous and major mess-ups, the down right incompetence and managerial sloppiness to deal with. The most recent was FEMA's dealing with Hurricane Katrina, one among many. The lack of WMD evidence in Iraq was another. It takes competent people to make one of the largest and certainly the most powerful government on earth effective.

The Economist hit the nail on the head. What has gone wrong with the right? They look like an eagle but fly like a pea-hen. Please get back to the basics, to the platform. And I am not alone in such feelings. Conservative media such as The Weekly Standard are calling for a focus on Republican basics. Even the National Review of all places had a lead article on Pork-barrel Republicans.

Is that too hard to ask for? Someone please step up. I want my old Republican party back.
Photo by Pam Roth c/o Stock.xchng (also see her website)

Being an idiot father

"Few things are more satisfying than seeing your own children have teenagers of their own." -- Doug Larson

That line really gives fathers like me hope in one day getting even because right now during the teen years, we Dads feel helpless. At least, I do. Whatever wisdom comes from our mouth will be construed as the words of an idiot. About the only thing Dad can say that would remotely be construed as wise is how beautiful, kind and wise our children are. Beautiful, yes. Kind and wise, not always. At any rate, that's about where the border of my particular fatherly reach lies.

This evening there was a very intense conversation around driving privileges, slipping grades and driving with a broken car across the Rockies to a far off place. It was a battle of wills between mom and daughter on who could argue with the best skills. The conversation turned loud at times with threats of "I'm leaving whether you like it or not." Frankly, I was hoping that I would be the one leaving.

These are times in which I want to sometimes turn to my teen daughter and ask, “Who are you”? “What have you done to my daughter? But, I don't. I resist. She would just tell me that I should say nothing at all if I don't know what I'm talking about. Besides, the conversation has taken a turn for the better. Her Mom seems to be gaining ground.

I hope there will be a light at the end of the tunnel and that the light at the end is not the headlight of a train right before it hits. There is some point in a child's development that one just has to have faith that correct principles have been absorbed by osmosis, even though there is no evidence of such thinking at home. We can hope that one day when our children have children of their own, they just might realize that Mom and Dad aren't the complete idiots they thought we were, just half-idiots trying to do the best they could.

You parents out there, know what I mean?

The Prez responds quickly

I wrote the piece below late last night about how the president needed to take the lead from President Pierre Nkurunziza in conserving government spending on fuel and cars. What I didn’t realize is just how quickly President Bush would respond to my concerns. Within 16 hours, Scott McLellan announced that the White House will begin conserving energy. They will send out memos to staff to conserve on fuel, use fewer government vehicles, turn off office lights, computers and printers when not in use. This little memo below had the president and staffs respond within hours. I mean, I just started blogging yesterday. But thanks for listening, Mr. President. Since I now have your attention, Mr. President, how about really cutting government expenditure?

Below is my original web log and was posted on Monday, September 26, 2005 at 11:37 p.m.
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Judging from this article, there is at least one political leader in this great big world of ours who can reign in government spending, er, well at least this one time. Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has told ministers to stop orders for government SUVs in a drive to cut costs. I like Nkurunziza's attitude. Our president and his party of "small government and fiscal responsibility" could take lessons from Burundi's prez.

We Wear the Mask

I am reminded of a fireside with a rather famous latter-day saint, a lovely lady who had just gone on an extensive public tour revealing how she coped with chronic depression, divorce and great pain. Yet, there was never a mention of such things. Her life was described as peaches and cream, with not a hint of a single worm in those peaches. She felt comfortable enough talking about her struggles to the general public at almost every turn but obviously didn't feel the same when it came to her own church culture. She wore the mask.

I wonder how many lives could be reached by talking about our struggles with frailties and life's misfortunes rather than skirt past such unniceties. Like her, we probably all wear a mask of one degree or another. I respect that mask but thank heavens the scriptures have peeled away such masks by revealing the frailties and humanity of those striving to be more godly. At least I can turn to them in my hour of need.

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

Utah rumors of evacuees debunked

The Utah Attorney General used scare tactics of the worst kind, while not having his facts right. I heard Mark Shurtleff ring the alarm of fear about our evacuees from New Orleans on public radio, making the point over and over that there were dozens of convicted murderers living among the roughly 600 move-ins at Camp Williams. His facts were so wrong that 24 hours later he had to recant. What little political face the AG had remaining, he tried to preserve by saying that there weren't many but insisting there were at least some. Our AG seems particularly wary of a certain kind of stranger. This whole episode reminds me of the story of a senile state senator, who one afternoon saw a toy buffalo set on a platform in front of the state capital. Not understand the perspective he was seeing it from nor noticing the sticker flags on the toy, he thought the 3 inch toy was actually a monstrous two-ton bull. He screamed hysterically during the most solemn part of the congressional meeting to terminate the session immediately because the buffalo in Salt Lake were stampeding right through that same grand room. And what became of that senator? For his lack of perspective and judgement, the unfortunate senator was shortly retired from office. (Photo by Andy McAlister, UK via stock.xchng.com)

Kirby: My advice to all of you is . . . oh, nevermind

"I would really like to find the guy who invented advice and have him beaten senseless. It wouldn't be a real stretch. He was most of the way there when he started giving it." I'm with Kirby on this. I would add that advice is definitely better to give, particularly when it is long-winded, than to receive.

LDS Addicted to Sugar? Nah.

Reporter Peggy Fletcher of Salt Lake Tribune fame writes in this Daily Herald article about how good Mormons have a propensity for all things sugary. She writes, "Kent Christensen doesn't drink beer, wine, coffee or tea. And he certainly doesn't smoke. But he does love cake, cookies, candy and nearly every other form of sugary delight. While partying in New York City several years ago, one of Christensen's friends remarked, "I've figured you out. Sugar is the Mormon heroin."

In all fairness to Ms. Fletcher, I think her article was actually on food art or the sugar plum fairy, I forget which. I truly do understand where the quote above comes from. I've heard most of my adult life that we are the ice cream capital, the jello capital, the donut capital of the country -- at least that is the rumor. But I can't help asking myself where all that sugar we are supposedly eating is going to? I mean, it does seem odd that we LDS think ourselves as having such a propensity for sugary donuts, cakes, candy and so forth compared to the rest of the country, and yet we are some of the thinnest people in this porkulent , er, I mean corpulent country.

Not so, you say? Mormons are sugar loving fatties? Nah uh. I submit two pieces of evidence for your consideration. First, did you know that there are only a few states where the average citizen is thinner than a Utahan? When I visit elsewhere, like home in Hawaii, I see a lot of hefty people that I'm not used to seeing here (see photo). It is true that neighboring states of Montana and Colorado are thinner. We all know about the bitter cold, calorie-burning Winters of Montana and the hard Rocky Mountain climbs of Colorado. But, why are we in Utah roughly in the same league as the thinnest states? We have less harsh physical conditions here and a lot, lot more kids. Talk about conditions for fatness, and yet we aren't.

Want more proof? Well, according to Men's Fitness magazine, my alma matter of BYU has just been voted the buffest campus in America. Students actually get fitter there, while students at universities in say Mississippi actually get fatter during their college years. Utah, the sugar capital of the States? As John Stossel of the television news magazine 20/20 would say, "Give me a break", and while your at it pass some of those donuts this way.

12 Ways to Study the Scriptures

I'm starting to like Sister Woods, a frequent author of About.com's LDS community. She writes a practical guide of 12 ways to study the scriptures. I have perfected a thirteenth way, contemplating the scriptures by keeping my eyes shut. The Buddhist have their "aum" that they resonate to help meditate on the deep things of the universe. I emulate their practice but use a different section of the alpahabet. My LDS way of being one with the deep things of the scriptures is to let out a deep "zzzzzz". It is a very restful experience...

What if the Book of Mormon had been written by Dr. Seuss?

I always like wit and humor, and good 'ol Rachel Woods of about.com's Latter-day Saint community brings the Book of Mormon story into a format that even I can understand...

Here's my take

Alright. This was easy to set up.