ooh look a treasure chest!

image courtesy of Flickr user _delineated

So I have this theory, which I can't remember if I shared it with my ever so loyal readers: every year, the Utah legislature's leaders let one or more of their brethren say, do, or propose crazy stupid things. And while everyone is all hot and bothered (including yours truly) about said stupid thing, the real agenda gets passed without anyone noticing. So for every Wolf Killing bill, every "let's get rid of school because one time I saw an empty school bus on my way to work" bill, every "who needs 12th grade anyway" bill, every the word "international" in international baccalaureate sounds commie bill, for every "global warming is a vast conspiracy to control population growth" bill, there is a slew of bills made or altered at the request of lobbyists.

The same thing happens in Congress. Orin Hatch makes a big fuss about the BCS, and Health Care, and let's his cellphone ring when he is asked to say a prayer at the national prayer breakfast. But Hatch gets big bucks from Comcast and NBC folks when he sits on a key committee to approve the Comcast purchase of NBC. He extends copyright laws all the time and gets his rich friends out of tough spots.

If you as his constituent want help with your real problems? Well how we talk about abortion or "socialism", so something, anything else but the fact that Orin's son is a lobbyist. I am sure it is just because he is really good at persuading people, and not because his dad used to be chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

I pick on Sen. Hatch because he is easy pickings, but he is far from alone. Democrats couldn't get health care reform passed, but they could get Ben Bernanke reappointed to be Fed Chair. I don't know about you, but I am not going to get distracted by the comical stuff the legislature does every year, I am going to try to focus on the sausage making.