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Blogging since 12/14/2006.
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"This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change." President-elect Barack Obama
Across the country, food banks are struggling to keep up with increased demand. And with the holidays approaching, Democrats Work is doing something about it. We need your help.
An examination of the parcels, superimposing low-resolution government graphics onto Google Earth maps, shows that in one case drilling parcels bordering Arches National Park are just 1.3 miles from Delicate Arch.
Elections have consequences for our children and grandchildren that thought we were going to leave our state in the same condition we found it.
If anyone deserves to have their dog looked after it is Julianne Hancock who is soon leaving for another tour in Iraq. Hopefully once she is home this war will be over.
Good to see another member of Daily Kos getting some props. Julianne also has a great blog with a segment that she did for ABC 4. Go check it out.
While searching the internets for stories the other night I found a great new Utah blog that I wanted to let everyone know about. Marshall Thompson from a soldiers peace has a brand new blog. Here is a little bit about him that I grabbed off the about page.
A pre-midlife identity crisis is in large part fueling this blog. I turned 30 this year and I realized that my life so far has been full of apparent contradictions. I've been a soldier in Iraq, but then I've also been a full-time peace activist. I've been a journalist, but I've also been a public relations flak. I'm a devout Mormon, but I'm also a crazy liberal. It just doesn't add up.
Of course, it all seemed perfectly natural to me at the time. It still does, actually. I've come to understand, however, that it doesn't make a lot of sense to other people. So, this blog is my way of explaining myself.
Why would I take the time to explain myself to other people? Because I care what other people think. I know in our day and age of mavericks and go-it-alone rangers it's an embarrassing admission to make, but it's true. It's just a debilitating weakness of mine that I'm going to have to work through.
Another reason for this blog is to add a few more shades of gray into popular debates. Television news analysis in particular seems to have fallen into a Republican-said-Democrat-said rut. Well if you want more variety and you're wondering what the liberal-Mormon, pacifist-veteran, journalist-flak demographic is thinking, then you've come to the right place..
Take note Republicans, this is what a patriot looks like.
I have visited Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City every winter to see the buildings and trees lit up for the holidays - and I promise it's the most beautiful sight you'll ever see. They won't turn on the lights for another 21 days, but I would have given anything to have been there tonight.
Equality Utah to propose legislation based on the LDS church's position that they do not object to equal rights for same-sex couples.
Throughout the recent election cycle, the LDS Church has demonstrated its willingness to participate in political issues by asking its members to do all they can do, including donating their means and their time, to support California's Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution and eliminated gay couples right to marry by defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
Personally I am not holding my breathe, not because I don't think the LDS church will honor it's position but more because the Republican party is so tied to these bigots that use religion as a cover. These are the people that make up the Republican base and they will not go away lightly, the only hope is to push their hypocrisy in their face until they shut up.
Just what our state needs right now, a boycott of an important industry. And for those that say this will never materialize all you need to do is look to what happened to our neighbors in Colorado.
Remember Amendment 2 in Colorado which denied gays the basic discriminatory protections given to the rest of us.
The passage of this amendment began a long trend where the Colorado tourism industry saw a significant decline with numerous conventions canceled that was felt for years to come. According to one study Colorado experienced a 30 percent decrease in market share between 1993 and 1997 - link.
Our state doesn't need an image problem and I hope people think twice before they blindly support something without thinking of the ramifications.
Dr Peter Millican, a philosophy don at Hertford College, Oxford, has devised a computer software program that can detect when works are by the same author by comparing favourite words and phrases.
He was contacted last weekend and offered $10,000 (£6,200) to assess alleged similarities between Obama's bestseller, Dreams from My Father, and Fugitive Days, a memoir by William Ayers.
...
The offer to Millican to prove that Ayers wrote Obama's book was made by Robert Fox, a California businessman and brother-in-law of Chris Cannon, a Republican congressman from Utah. He hoped to corroborate a theory advanced by Jack Cashill, an American writer.
...
Millican took a preliminary look and found the charges "very implausible". A deal was agreed for more detailed research but when Millican said the results had to be made public, even if no link to Ayers was proved, interest waned
So funny, yet so sad, if Republicans spent this much effort working to improve our country just imagine the possibilities.
Democratic candidate to the first congressional district of Utah did not pull any punches about nuclear waste in last nights debate with entrenched Republican congressmen Rob Bishop.
Bishop said he supports the right of states to choose to import what type of nuclear or radioactive waste they want and from what locations. He said he backs Utah's decision to import low-level radioactive waste and deny waste from Italy.
Lets flex the right of Utah to deny radioactive waste from representing our state. Unelect Bishop!!!!
Colorado is going to be the mother of all swing states this year. It is also the state where I was born and raised, so I know the good people of Colorado are not taking this election lightly but they could use a little motivation. Luckily we are just a skip, jump, and hop away to help provide a friendly face for the Obama campaign. This is where you come in.
Misty is putting together a road trip for Obama to Colorado. Find the details here and help out if you can.
In 2001, Utah's Republican lawmakers used sophisticated new software to redraw the district maps. This software was later used by Tom Delay for redistricting TX. In both cases, the software worked superbly for Republicans, leading to dramatic losses in Democratic in the 2002 election cycle.
In Utah, redistricting led to the loss of 9 of 28 State House seats and 4 of 11 State Senate, producing instant Republican Supermajorities in both legislative bodies.
Supermajorities (greater than 2/3) permit the majority to pass any legislation it wants, without regard for public opinion or interests.
Since 2002, due largely to the district maps and the ongoing popularity of the war and Bush in Utah, the Democratic Party has only managed to regain 1 seat in each chamber of the legislature.
2008 presents a historic opportunity for Utah Democrats. First, support for the War and Bush have waned considerably, even here in Utah. Second, support for McCain has been lukewarm, and the response to Sarah Palin is also mixed, perhaps in part because, in both cases, the Republican Party overlooked Mitt Romney. It may be that Palin's history with the Assembly of God/Pentecostal Church, which has called the LDS faith an "invented religion" that is not "Christian" will depress enthusiasm for this ticket even further over time.
In addition, the publicly bi-partisan battle to defeat the legislature's egregious (unregulated) School Voucher Bill, which represented a fierce attempt by both the Republican legislature and the Attorney General to undermine our troubled public school system, has made the party and several individual lawmakers particularly vulnerable.
Ethics scandals, of course, have also been an ongoing theme.
In 2008, we have a few seats to defend and numerous viable opportunities to gain seats in BOTH houses. This is a truly historic opportunity which may well result in a truly historic, watershed year for Utah's Democratic Party.
I was not surprised when I learned that Rob Bishop interrupted Iraq War veteran Marshall Thompson's question at the town meeting the other day. I am also not surprised that he couldn't or wouldn't meet with Thompson in Washington D.C.
As Marshall Thompson wrote in the Herald Journal blog, he had sent formal requests to all the Utah delegates weeks in advance and everyone agreed to meet with him to talk about problems he'd seen in Iraq. Everyone, except for Rob Bishop, welcomed him to their office. Marshall Thompson felt like he was able to communicate and make some progress with all the delegates, except of course, Rob Bishop. Sen. Hatch was out of town but set up a time with one of his top aids and Thompson appreciated Sen. Hatch's response. From Rob Bishop, however, he got a flat no. Rob Bishop was also slated to speak to returning soldiers in Cache Valley in July and missed that meeting. Thompson's question to Rob Bishop, if he had not been rudely interrupted, would have been how Rob Bishop could improve outreach to veterans.
I'm not surprised at Rob Bishop's rudeness because I saw him in a "meet the candidates" night back in '02. My daughter had some school assignment to fulfill so I drove her to the meeting. Rob Bishop did OK speaking - he is a competent speaker and a conservative Republican, about what you'd expect from a guy who now has voted along party lines 97 percent of the time. The problem was his behavior when the other candidates were speaking. Then he'd roll his eyes, make faces and smirk. He showed no respect for the others. My daughter turned to me and said, "Daddy, he's rude, he's sleazy."
You would never know it from the media coverage but John McCain is not one of America's greatest war heroes. He is a former POW who survived, heroically. He deserves to be honored for that heroism.
But one thing distinguishes McCain from other war heroes, the kind whose heroism changes history rather than their life stories.
America's two greatest war heroes were Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower. Grant saved the union. And Ike saved civilization.
And neither one ever bragged about their experience. (Can you imagine Ike smacking down Adlai Stevenson by saying that while Adlai ran a nice medium-sized state, he was the Supreme Allied Commander who ran D-Day, defeated Hitler, and liberated Europe?).
Impossible. Like Grant, Eisenhower did not brag.
Actually, modesty about military accomplishments is typical of war heroes and not just here. In Israel, it is unheard of for great military leaders to brag about their service.
Utah Democratic Party Vice-Chair Rob Miller, owner of The Utah Amicus blog, has been granted press credentials for the National Convention (Aug 23rd to 29th) as part of the DNC's "State Blogger Press Corps." program, and has invited several Utah bloggers to join him in providing unique grassroots coverage of the event.
Being bloggers, we are not equipped with the fundraising network that we are often able to create for candidates and the party. And quite simply, this trip is going to be costly (but worth it!). Hence, we are doing a bit of fundraising through PayPal (or visit The SideTrack and click donate in top left sidebar) to help cover housing, event access, equipment, and transportation costs in order to bring Utah live, daily coverage from the ground as citizen journalists.
Bloggers in attendance will include:
From Cache and Weber Counties Jason Williams (Hyrum, UT) and Craig Blanch (Ogden, UT) of The SideTrack
From Davis and Salt Lake City: Jeff Bell of JMBell.org and Rob Miller, Bob Aagard, Aaron Thompson, and Ben McAdams of The Utah Amicus (Misty Fowler of the blog Saintless and Utah for Obama is credentialed, but as of this release unable to attend)
I will also, through my new guest hosting "gig" with Tyler Riggs at KVNU's For The People, be providing live on-air coverage during broadcast hours (4pm to 6pm, 610am, and live webcam stream at www.kvnuforthepeople.com) throughout the week of the convention.
This is really a unique opportunity, not only for those of us Rob has invited to attend, but for the entire state, as our press credentials will allow us access equal to that of CNN, ABC, NBC, and all other major news corporations. Please help us make the most out of this first time opportunity with even a modest contribution, and allow us bring a very Utah perspective and new life to traditional press coverage. Be sure to keep an eye on The Utah Amicus throughout the week of the convention.
82% of Americans think our health care system needs a "major overhaul." On top of that, over 90% of Americans [pdf] think the next President and Congress should improve the quality and affordability of health care.
With the worsening economy continuing to be the top issue for most Americans, this hope for change isn't hard to understand. American health care spending is projected to reach a full 1/5th of our GDP by 2015, which means by then, we'll be spending twenty cents of every dollar we make on health care. Health care premiums have risen 86% between 2000 and 2006 while wages only rose 20%, putting the strain on working families. Health care costs continue to be the #1 cause of bankruptcy in America.
Depending on the study, 3-10% of adults contribute to political campaigns. When they do, they contribute less than .5% of their annual income. They spend more on cable.
In 2006, 100% of State Senate races went to the candidate with the most money. Over the past several cycles, 75% of State House races went to the candidate with the most money.
Win or lose, a well-funded campaign helps the party. The candidate and the district gain experience. Resources are identified: candidates, donors, activitists, volunteers, etc. A well-funded race let's everyone know that if a candidate steps up, there will be support. A well-funded race is a cornerstone to party credibility in any district.
Some districts will be won in the short-term, others will take longer. Either way, there are no losers.
The following ActBlue page lists 8 key races and includes profiles of the candidates. These are viable, vital contests. If we win half of these races, we'll cut the Republicans' majority to 3 seats.
$100 or more would be great and probably in keeping with the value of being represented. But $50, $25 or $5 will help, if that's what fits your budget.
-- High levels of asthma impacting minority children was because "the children got extra welfare if they were disabled." (July 2008)
-- The "handicapped" workers at the Phoenix Cafe would "drool" and put dung in diners food. He made up names for the food on the menu, such as "nutburger." (July 2002)
-- Members of the disability rights community are the "Wheelchair Mafia."
-- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the world's first civil rights law for people with disabilities, should be called the "Lawyers' Improvement Act."
-- His political opponents are "degenerate slime bags" with "mental disorders" and have a "virus like leukemia."
-- When he was younger, he "touched the hand of a midget [Dwarf]," it really "freaked him out" and, since that episode, he doesn't like public places. (June 2004)
-- The "autism lobby of devastated parents is just a scam to get more money."
See my step-dad has MS, he didn't ask to have MS, he hates that he has MS. But unlike Savage my step-dad knows what real work feels like. He was a sheet metal worker for twenty years before MS robbed him of the use of his legs. But he kept trying to fight his disease, he got a college degree(s) (economic and history) and he became a financial advisor for another five years before he lost the use of his hands and had to give that up. Luckily between his union pension and social security he is doing alright. My step-dad fought every day of his life to be the best person he could be even while Savage sits on his ass day in and day out judging those that have built this country.
Not only has Savage gone after a hard working American like my step-dad but Savage also has pissed off Doug Flutie. How do you piss off Doug Flutie? Like anyone else, by going after our kids. When you piss off Doug Flutie you know something is wrong, Savage couldn't hold Flutie's jock strap.
Savage has tried before going after Muslims but this time we are going to remove this parasite for sure. Savage's hateful attack against our neighbors, loved ones and children can no longer be tolerated.
So it is time to dump this two bit loser. Contact 1430 here and tell them that enough is enough. KLO even has a nice list of their sponsors here, I would be curious to know how many of them agree with the hate being supported by their dollars.
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