Friday thoughts

Sometimes, my post contain multiple topics and ideas, and while they seem to all interrelate with tidy transitions to me, most see them as disjointed. So today, I will just do bullets my disconnected thoughts:

• This last week is probably the first time anyone other than Illinios voters and political junkies have even heard of Speaker Hastert. And their first impression: a guy who would rather keep a seat safe and save a couple million than protect teenagers from a known sexual predator.
  Hastert has become radioactive: no one wants him to raise money for them, let alone campaign with them. It is only a manner of time before he loses his job, either after or before November.


• Lohra Miller's "ask a cop" slogan referrs to the fact that the policeman's union of SLC and SL Co. Sheriff's union have endorced her. Why not just "say endorsed by county and SLC police officers?" Instead, people have defaced signs by mocking the slogan. i have seen the word "ask" struck through with and replaced with "kill" (which is terrible and I condone). Another has "Don't" inserted before "ask." Stupid slogan, if she just kept it simple with her "justice first" and a "endorsed" one would be better. "Ask a cop" requires the voter to do the work, and they won't.
  
  "Justice first" I found out, does refer to her critics of the DA's office, most of which are based on her lack of understanding or willful ignorance of the system.
  Her point that over 70% of sex crimes cases are dismissed when the defendant pleads guilty overlooks the fact that many times victims are unwilling to testify and sex cases tend to get weaker as time goes by: couples get back together, people forget details, stuff gets lost/destroyed, people move away, etc. The felony DUI cases dismissal rate is high because a felony DUI needs two certified DUI convictions within the last 10 years. These are often hard to obtain. Case numbers are misentered into the RAP sheet, files are archived or destoryed within a few years. Often, this means that a felony DUI charge is dismissed, and refiled as a misdemeanor DUI. So the notion that 20% of DUIs go away completely is eroneous.
  
  As to her charge that politics comes first, I haven't seen that personally.

Page-gate: how to handle it

This all could have blown over in 2005 and gotten rolled into a news dump on Katrina. Rep. Foley could have been pushed to not run for reelection, and the GOP could have kept his money (all $2.7M of it) and had time to find a decent replacement. The might have lost the seat, anyway, but at least they would have a fighting chance.

But once the news came out, the last thing the GOP leadership should have done was each talk about it separately and point the blame. With each telling differing stories and blaming each other, voters begin to think, "well one of them is lying, let's throw them all out." Next time, hold a closed door caucus meeting and vote the dude out of caucus and then have him resign immediately afterwards.

Next, take some blame. Say "hindsight is 20/20, but we should have heeded the warnings signs." Fire the staffer who tried to shove it under the rug that day too. Offer to have a full investigation after the election by the ethics committee.

Offer bills to reform the page program so that members cannot get too close, since appearantly pages in the well of the House are like Cookies in a jar.

In fact, the handling looks so bad that I am beginning to think this a coup to chop off the head of the GOP House leadership. Rep. Blunt lost the Maj. Leader race, and with Boehner, Hastart, and Reynolds all implicated in this scandal, he could become speaker/min. leader. Blunt could blame the loss of control on those guys, and cruise up the leadership ladder. And if the Dems win is very narrow, and 2008 is a big GOP year, his 4 year plan for the Speakership is done.

Or this could be a plan to purify the GOP by arch conservatives, social and economic. There is a list of Gay GOP staffers going around, ripe for posting on the internet and blacklisting. Some religious conservatives are blaming Foley's behavior oh his homosexuality. You don't see Barney Frank propositioning pages though. The current GOP in the House spend like drunken sailors with wads of cash, lust for power like they lust for pages and mistresses. The fist rots at the head as they say, and boy does that fish stink.

SLCo DA neck and neck

This race interests me because I will in all likelihood be applying for a position with the District Attorney about a year from now. And right now, my would be boss is unknown.



Another interesting finding is that

Gill has a lot more money in his war chest to get him through the last month of the election. According to recent financial reports filed with the county, Gill has approximately $30,099 left in his campaign fund, while Miller has $1,699.
Throughout the campaign, Miller has raised $94,338, while Gill has total contributions of $116,613.
Other races for Salt Lake County elected positions aren't nearly as close, with incumbents holding commanding leads, according to the poll.

By commanding they mean 60-40 races.
So with Gill's money edge, slight polling (within the margin of error) edge, and slightly superior billboards, it will all come down to turn out. Will Jim's massive cash edge and GOTV machine help Sim? Will it be a Democratic year in Utah too? These questions will all soon be answered in a month's time.

I love elections, as Herold Ford said, it's like Christmas. Except the day after Christmas has never been depressing for me.

Quote of the Day

"It’s hard for Americans, all of us, including me, to understand what’s wrong with these people,... Why do they hate each other? Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me." fmr. Maj. Leader Trent Lott (R-MS)

Remember these is representative of Republican leadership.

Sensenbrenner demands UT re-redistricting

Lame duck House Judiciary chairman Sensenbrenner, the author of the immigration bill that caused mass protests in the spring, now demands that Utah's legislature go into special session to approve the four-district map Huntsman proposed.

...Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., says he won't allow a full hearing on a bill to give Utah a fourth seat and the District of Columbia its first vote in Congress until Utah lawmakers have a 'final Utah redistricting plan,'

This plan would make the second district a safe seat for Democrats, signaling the state GOP has given up beating Jim Matheson.

It looks like this will happen, with absolutely no input from Democrats on Salt Lake's Capitol Hill. "The governor is willing to call a special session, if appropriate,” said spokesman Mike Mower.

What Republicans don't understand is that this scheme may net two Democratic seats: one from D.C. (who really deserve representation anyway) and one more from Utah (assuming Jim runs in the new 4th or new 3rd and a decent [aka not Rocky] Democrat runs in the new 2nd). Hopefully, no one powerful in Utah or D.C. reads this blog.

Photo of the day

Your liberal media at work:

hattip: Rising Hegemon
The U.S. media is still fearful of the right wing noise machine (RWNM), so afraid of reporting the truth because when they do, the RWNM screams "liberal."

American media is anything but liberal. Individual journalists may be socially liberal, but the overal slant is risk-adverse against charges of liberal bias. So they go for celebrity or proxy celebrity. In this case, Annie Liebowitz, the photographer of the stars and most recently of Tom Cruise's baby. With all that is going on in the world, is that really the most important piece of news for the past week?

If you are going to do a proxy story on Tom Cruise's baby, why don't you contrast that with Brad Pitt's baby, and how the two stars decided to publicize their child's birth. Cruise gave an exclusive to some magazine and fancying photographer for millions. Pitt and Jolie had an auction for the photos to go to charity and also publicized a country at the same time. How many more teenybopers have now heard of Namibia that didn't even know it existed?

Why not do a story on how Bush is losing Afghanistan AND Iraq? That is big news for the U.S. and the world because it means terrorist may be at our collective doorsteps soon. It also means there will be one more failed state since 2001 than there was before. Iraq might have been ruled by an evil dictator, but it was under control.

mapmakers

Mapmaker, mapmaker, make me a map...
Draw it up so one party wins, forget those Constitutions...

OK so maybe I am making a terrible parody of "Matchmaker" from "Fiddler on the Roof," but I do have a point. Here it is:

Huntsman, House Speaker Greg Curtis and Senate President John Valentine - all Republicans - endorsed a map Wednesday for four congressional districts, in which Matheson would represent northern Salt Lake County and Summit and Morgan counties.

Even in that super GOP year of 2002, Jim got 60% from his portion of Salt Lake County. By "Northern Salt Lake County" they probably mean: Rose Park, West Valley, Magna, Salt Lake City, and a few others...in otherwords, the most Democratic parts of the state. Add to that Park City and Morgan country for fun and you have a super safe Democratic seat. I haven't checked, but I bet if you look at the Utah Democratic Party's 2001 redistricting plan, this district would look awefully similar. Jim proposed a more consolidated district based on areas of interest, not voting patterns in 2001.

Matheson's spokeswoman Alyson Heyrend refused Wednesday to comment on the new proposal.
"This is the governor's map, and the Republican leaders' map," Heyrend said. "They're going to have to answer questions about the map. It's not Matheson's map."
In a statement, Matheson said there was a compromise bill that took partisanship out of the formula, "until one member of Congress blocked the bill's progress. If it gets unstuck, I look forward to voting for it. But clearly, the ball is in the majority party's court."
Heyrend did say that Matheson will vote for the bill to give Utah a fourth seat - with or without the at-large provision - if it makes it to the House floor.

Good point Alyson. But I disagree with MD Rep. Steny Hoyer who thinks that having Congress drawing up their districts is a bad idea. Right now, they delegate that to their cronyies in their local state houses, while giving them input on what they actually want. What Congress should do, is set up minimal conditions for a fair district and then let localities decide. For example, they should be as compact as possible, using town/city and county lines, with "communities of interests" kept in mind.

That is, Utah could have one rural district, one district centered around Utah County/Southern SL County, one based around Davis/Weber/Morgan/Toole County, and one based around Salt Lake/Summitt County. This would help everyone, all districts would be 55-60% Republican, addressing the needs of the communities and not playing favorities or ignoring certain areas.

Will Utah get a 4th district? Maybe. Will this scheme be challenged in the courts? Probabbly if it passes. Will Jim happily take his safe seat, or mess up the GOPs plans and run in the 4th (with S. SL County, which loves him, and St. George which is starting to love him, and Iron County, his ancestral home)? I could really see Jim running in the 4th, winning and giving another Democrat (please no Rocky) a chance in the Democratic-leaning new 2nd.

35,000 hits

I know sites like DailyKos gets this many hits in a hour or so, but I just reached a milestone.

Thanks to the readers who have kept me in check.

Today I want to talk about Iraq. In northern Iraq, the Kurdish controlled areas have outlawed the Iraqi flag and only flag a flag of Iraqi Kurdistan. Something that I am sure Turkey just loves (they have Kurdish majorities in Eastern Turkey). Meanwhile, hundreds are being murdered every day in that country, and Bagdad is being walled off. The nominal head of Iraq is trying to get as tight with Shia-mullah controlled Iran.

So to recap, as a result of this war, we have created a civil war between Shia and Shi'ite with Kurds seeking their own country. This battered and divided country is now closely alligned with Iran, who is 5-10 years away from a nuclear weapon. Iran is now the new head of the middle east. Although Saudia Arabia has the money and Mecca, Iran leads the new ideological mindset of the Arab world.

We made one of our axis of evil more powerful (by assuming Iraq), as well as North Korea (by letting their nuclear program accellerate). We spent hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis lives.

Oh and the Taliban has regrouped and about to take back Afghanistan, Al Qaeda has grown more amorphous and harder to crush, bin Laden is still loose. And I got 35,000 hits.

How to win as a Democrat in Utah

Have Rocky critize you. SLC Mayor Ross Anderson is very unpopular and a boogy man to the right. It looks like Jim Matheson just lucked out. But SLCo. GOPers think this was coordinated:

"I think it's coordinated with Matheson's campaign. He's helping Matheson win re-election," Evans told a University of Utah communication class this week. "It's another cynical ploy. It's vintage Rocky. He operates like [he's playing a game] in three-dimensional chess."
Both Matheson and Anderson dispute the conspiracy theory.
"That's crazy talk," Matheson said.
And Anderson called Evans "paranoid and looney."
But Evans' comments reveal the political implications of the spat. Conventional wisdom would say that anything the mayor does or says boomerangs outside of Salt Lake City. If he advises "Don't vote for Matheson," conservative Utah voters might give the congressman a second look. Rather than pushing voters toward Brister, Anderson's criticism of his fellow Democrat could pull voters away from Republican candidate LaVar Christensen and guarantee a Matheson win.

I discussed earlier today how LaVar has terrible signs, and previously how he has no money. But now with Rocky out there doing the reverse physcology for Jim, it is all over.

The article claims that having Rocky go after a Democrat helps that Democrat with conservatives who lean GOP. But really, it helps them with Democrats too. Afterall, Rocky isn't running for reelection is he? And Jim's support amoung Democrats is around 90%.
Ex-SLC Mayor and father of 2007 candidate Jenny Wilson, Ted Wilson has a more apt analysis about what's going on:

"It is almost more about Rocky than it is about Jim," Wilson said. "Rocky's deepest conviction is that we're all too timid in what we say. There's a tendency in Rocky to say whatever's in his mind.
He's the most unfiltered political leader I've ever known."

I applaud Rocky for cutting the city's green house gas levels, and I like the public art around, but other than that, he has been a complete disaster.

I think Rocky has a future as a reverse lobbyist at the State Legislature. All he has to do is go up there and proudly support or oppose something...and watch the opposite happen. It is smart politics for any Democrat this year to pick a fight with Rocky. Smarter still to have Rocky pick a fight with you.

America needs better billboard slogans

Over the weekend I was running some errands and saw several poltical billboard for big candidates running this fall. I will tell you the slogans, then take them apart, and give my vote...but I would love to hear yours.

"America Needs Utah"
"Justice First"
"Experience Matters"
"The Real McCoy"

These are two Democrats, two Republicans, two terrible slogans and two not so bad ones.

St. Rep. LaVarr Christensen wins the prize for worst slogan: America Needs Utah. What does that mean? You are driving on the freeway or a state highway like 700 East and you see this sign, what are you supposed to think? He represents "Utah values" (aka LDS dogma)? Jim Matheson doesn't represent his state? I just don't understand what LaVarr is trying to get at. Moreover, the photo they chose is terrible...he looks like a cross between a horse and chipmunk. Grade: F-

Second to last place is St. Sen. Scott McCoy, or "the Gay" as Sen. Buttars calls him. His attempts at being clever fail miserably as cliched as they come. there was more to the slogan, but I can't even remember it...something like "people over politics" or something. And I am one of the most informed/interested voters in his district. That shows you something. He also gets a demotion for his campaign literature with the title "You've got issues." I really hope he didn't know they alternative meaning of that line. Grade: C--.

Attorney Loha Miller comes in second in a tight race for best slogan. The republican nominee for DA, Justice First is a pretty good slogan. But is that a subtle jab at the current DA, saying that politics comes first, or what? The reason she got second place was the "ask a cop" logo over a badge, in apparant reference to her endorsement to current SL Co. Sheriff Aaron Kennard [R](who is also up this year)...at least that is what I could come up with. What does ask a cop mean? Was she endorsed by a policeman union? If so, that would have been better than ask a cop. Every time I see her signs, I wonder what that means. Also, the colors are not compelling. Grade: B+

SLC Attorney Sim Gill wins for the best billboard. Sim's is simple: white background, read and blue letters. "Experience Matters" clearly says "i have relevant experience that my opponent doesn't have" which is true. Sim was an DDA here before he got ELECTED as the City Attorney, she contracts out misdemeanor cases for small municipalities within county limits. He has tried many more cases, more complex cases, than Loha. That complex message is boiled down to "experience matters" without losing much of the punch. Grade: A-

the taxman cometh

Despite the fact that enforcement budgets are down and Ohio churches helped orchestrate Bush's 2004 victory (and were not investigated), the IRS has taken upon itself to investigate the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). From Forbes:

the Internal Revenue Service has revoked the DLC's tax exemption on the grounds that it primarily benefited a private group--Democrats, and particularly "New Democrats" running for or holding office--rather than the community at large. The DLC has sued in federal court to overturn the decision; the outcome could affect the spreading use (abuse?) of tax-exempts by politicians and those seeking to influence them. Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff is just one character who has used money from tax-exempts to get the attention of legislators.

By that standard, there are many other tax exempt groups that should have their status revoked, namely GOP-leaning ones.

The DLC also points to other issue-flavored (c)(4)s--Empower America, the Log Cabin Republicans and the Republican Main Street Partnership--whose founders are identified with one party. And it says the Democrat-only workshops ate up less than 5% of a $4 million annual budget while 70% went for publications available to the public.

The DLC does not seek to elect or endorse candidates, it only trains candidates in messaging, invites them to conferences to meet other candidates and big donors, and writes stuff on what Democrats should do policy-wise. And liberals on the blogosphere doubt that Democrat part because some of the prominant senior DLC folks are supporting Joe Lieberman, who is no longer a Democrat.

When I was working there, my bosses said over and over again how careful we had to be about not sounding too political, because "we have gotten in trouble with the IRS before" what I didn't know is that

The IRS began auditing the DLC in 1999 and in 2002 revoked its exemption for 1997, 1998 and 1999 (all the years audited), hitting it with a $20,083 back tax bill.

And if you don't think this is a partisan, ideological thing, then why is the Justice Department hiring Nader-founded Public Citizen to defend the IRS from the DLC's suit?

If there is any group DLCer hate close to as much as Republicans, it is Naderites. And if there is anything I hate more than hypocrisy, it is when it comes with partisan goals attached...and when Forbes manages to squeeze as many Jack Abramoff references into a story that is about a Democratic group that seeks to be tax-free, even though Abramoff was a college Republican and never gave a dime to Democrats. Hell, he was wearing an elephant tie to his sentencing hearing.

And don't say moral equalavence to me, Abramoff used charities as shams-- funnellers of money from one group to the next politican's pocket. There is simply no comparison Steve Forbes. The DLC may be organized to help a particular political group become powerful, but what 501(c)(4) isn't?

the importance of political stunts

People these days seem to confuse political stunts with grandstanding. Grandstanding, for the most part is what politicians do when other politicians complain of "political stunts," like pulling out an obscure (to Bill Frist) Senate rule to halt the Senate and force WMD's to be discussed. Grandstanding is "performing ostentatiously so as to impress an audience." That is, being Senator Joe Biden, who gives lengthy lectures to judicial nominees from his seat at the Judiciary Committee.

Political stunts, however, are guerilla tactics to get free media to a candidate or incumbent. For example, Democratic Candidate for the US House from North Carolina Larry Kissel copied another Democratic Candidate from Kentucky for the US House (whose name escapes me) by offering constituents gas at pre-incumbent prices to make a point that gasoline has become much more expensive since Congressman X went to DC...why isn't he doing anything about it? the gimmick attracted local news stories, and more importantly, potential voters to the candidates name and message, however briefly.

More recently, MO Secretary of State and US Senate Candidate Claire McCaskill bought 100 St. Louis Rams tickets so as to avoid a TV blackout for fans who can't afford said tickets. She then was able to get on local TV, giving away the tickets to charities for needy children or something. For $44,000, she got lots of favorable press coverage, more name ID, and appreciative Rams fans who might vote for her because of it.

Kissell's gambit also cost a couple thousand dollars, but it was well worth it, just Google his name and gas and see how many local news stories you see.

The key is, if done correctly, a candidate can get a dirt cheep positive issue ad out. One that sends a message that "I care about things that matter to you, and Congressman/Senator X doesn't."

Closer to home, Jim Matheson does this by donating his pay raise to charity. It is only a few thousand dollars each time, but it generates national coverage. Every year, some editorial board mentions his name about how more members of Congress should be like Jim and forgo their auto COLA. Every year, Jim gets to pick a needy charity who benefits from the money, and the coverage.

When ever people complain about political stunts, see if it is really grandstanding (to Biden). If so, join the chorus. But if it is truly a political stunt, you know they are just jealous they didn't come up with it first.

where I was today

Although the criminal clinic officially started a couple weeks ago, for me it really started today. I skipped class and played prosecutor for the day, wearing a suit and tie...well my one and only suit with the only tie that matches it that I own.

Anyway, I got to argue the motions that I had written a couple weeks ago in front of a Justice Court judge, against a member of the bar with a real defendant sitting there, and I pretty much succeeded. The facts and the law were overwhelmingly on my side, so I am not here to boast.

In fact, the defense attorney did his best to obfuscate the issues at trial with other matters and a long windbag style that had me befuddled too. Why would 6 months of logs for a breathalyzer be necessary for his case if we gave him an affidavit that said it was checked prior to and after the breath test was conducted and the machine was functioning properly? Why would he need a 911 tape of a witness who said he saw the defendant driving drunk when we had the eyewitness present in the courtroom to testify and the tape had been destroyed per administrative procedure? Why on God's green Earth did it take nearly 3 hours to resolve those issues and the legality of a semi-standard stop and arrest?

He pulled out cases that had nothing to do with the matter and tried to connect them. He decided to whap down the print on the State's table as if that lent them more authority. It was exaspirating. And after all that, I discovered that one of my motions was not delivered to the other side, so the judge gave him time to respond to my response, and cut off my argument.

I am almost certain that his motion will fail, but it sure was frustrating. My supervising attorney told me that I had had enough for several trials and that I had earned my stripes today. So I returned home happy, tired, but annoyed.

How was your day?

where were you?

For my Parents generation, everyone knew where they were when they heard Kennedy was shot. They remember lots of trivial things about that moment that make it seem alive again. For my Grandparents, it was Pearl Harbor. But for my generation, it will be where you were when you heard that the twin towers had been struck by Al Qaeda (not Saddam, you crazy 30%).

I remember getting up at about 9 something (I didn't have class that day until 10:30), looking out the window into the clear blue sky and feeling a pleasantly warm breeze on my face. The feeling of happiness and calm passed over me. I thought "what a nice day." Boy was I wrong. I turned on my computer and chatted with a mutual friend of my now wife's and mine, and she told me what happened. She is a woman who subscribed to the New York Times as a student and prides herself on being well-informed. So I belived her, yet it seemed so fantastic. So I went into the common room and turned on the TV...and like election night 2000, our TV didn't turn off for days.

What dark days those were, with the anthrax scare that followed. Yet we all had hope, we saw people coming together to do brave and simple things for the good of all and felt the condolances from our allies. Five years later, we can see of far Bush has pissed it away. No one trusts the U.S. government at its word any more (save those 30%), we have more enemies, more trained people trying to kill our countrymen, and less places to travel without feeling disliked than ever before.

I get a bit choaked up when I think about those firefighters rushing up the stairs, the people who carried disabled co-workers down 90 plus flights, the passengers who charged United 93's cockpit...but then I get so angry when I think about all those who have died in Iraq for a war of choice that should have been much further down the priority list (behind Iran, N. Korea, Syria, and certainly Al Qaeda itself).

Please use the comments section to tell me where you were on that fateful Tuesday morning.

Huntsman sticks it to the poor, again

Hot off the heals of jamming through his two tiered (with a new flat tax) tax system for his wealthy collegues, Jon Jr. now cut hundreds of hungry Utahns off food stamps. The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

About 875 Utahns lost their food stamps last month under a new policy that anti-hunger advocates say they would have opposed had they known about it.
That's fewer than 2 percent of the 54,750 households on food stamps in any given month. But it's the neediest 2 percent, mostly chronically homeless men and women, say advocates who complain the policy was never publicly vetted.

Good job also hunger advocates, who missed the boat on this one, thinking that more people would be covered under the new plan. Also, Huntsman's stooges didn't follow Administrative Rulemaking proceedures, calling it a temporary fix to a "crisis" that there is isn't enough food stamps to go around.

"In the past, Utah has never exhausted its limit and should be able to roll over cases from last year or borrow from next year's allotment," said [ Bill] Tibbetts [, an advocate for the Anti-Hunger Coalition]. "I'm not sure why state officials kept this under wraps. It makes you wonder, are there other major changes in policy that we don't know about?"

I bet there are. You don't seem to be doing your job very well, since Huntsman is pretty crafty.

Utah, the army of God, and the US Army

One of my more liberal friends has pointed out to me that Utah has one of the lowest armed forces participation rate, yet is one of the few remaining supporters of Bush and Iraq. The Deseret News proves her right:

total military (Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines) recruits per 1,000 youths in fiscal year 2005, put Utah near the bottom of all states, with 2.5 per 1,000 youths ages 15-24. The top two states were Montana and Texas, at 5.7 and 5.2 per 1,000, with the national average being 3.8 per 1,000.
One reason for Utah's low ranking may be linked to the large number of young men in Utah who serve two-year missions for The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to both the NPP and an Army recruiter in West Valley City.

I don't see why that should matter. Maybe young men (and women) will be off a mission for up to two years, but that doesn't mean they can't join up once they get home. Are they saying that LDS youth get all their world traveling and being away from home and family out of their system by going on a mission?

This article is heavy on facts, and light on analysis. I think the mission explanation is used almost as an excuse for every atyptical stat on Utah. Then there is this factiod that is left hanging...

The NPP considers low- to middle-income neighborhoods to be those having a median household income between $30,000 and $55,000, a group the NPP says is "over-represented" in active-duty Army recruits. The NPP makes its comparison to recruits coming from "wealthier" areas, where NPP says the median household income is above $55,000. The latter group was already "under-represented" in active-duty Army numbers for new recruits, according to NPP's data from the previous year.

The article doesn't answer the question, nor does the NPP research director, but the answer is prety obvious. Military recruiters target poor, ill-educated neighborhoods, figuring that the military's "we'll pay for college and trips around the world" pitch will play better with people that can afford neither than those who send junior to the Ivy-League and on trips to Europe.

The poor are also those most in need of a good paying job that has low skill-level requirements. And the military offers that as well (obviously, they train people and also hire highly skilled folks as well).

Of course, people making over $55,000 and less than $100,000 are probabbly what you and I would call middle class, not wealthier. And over all, military recruiting has dropped rapidly as the Iraq war as dragged on...none of which should be surprising. It is a lot less fun traveling the world when your people will be trying to kill you along the journey.

recommendations

Today I find myself in the strange position of writing my own recommendation for a supervisior at work. Obviously those reading do not know her voice, but they might reccognize mine from my cover letter. Busy people typically request you write the letter for them, and then they get to skim it and sign it.

But I have trouble say wonderful things about myself while pretending someone else. Any advise from readers out there?

utah's schools need help

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend (thanks, Labor). I certainly did. Taking a break from blogging and catching up on family, friends and pop culture certainly was nice.

Today I spotted an article in the Deseret Morning News about a school building a yurt. And while the article is supposed to be about how cool this school is, complete with trips to Mexico and Washington DC, the fact that there isn't enough space for all the children in most Utah schools is the real story.

The circular, tent-like building will serve as an addition to the Walden School of Liberal Arts — it's cheaper than a portable classroom — while the administrators continue to raise money for a new building on 2 1/2 acres on University Avenue that they purchased for $560,000.
School administrators would like a 20,000-square-foot building by next school year, but they are discussing financing options. "We don't know if it will be ready," school director Diana West said. "It's looking less and less likely."

Charter schools often face the utter lack of a building, while normal public schools face inadaquate space.

The Beehive State has the nation's biggest classes, with an average teacher-to-student ratio of 1-to-23 students. The national average is 1-to-15.6. Teachers say those ratios don't do the problem justice: Those in big school districts say high schools can have 40 or more students per class.

And parents agree: a Dan Jones poll conducted mid-August showed that "82 percent of Davis County residents said their schools were overcrowded, with 78 percent in Salt Lake County, 79 percent in Utah County and 72 percent in Weber County answering the same way. Elsewhere in Utah, 70 percent of residents said their classrooms are crowded."

Even 39%--a plurality--said we should definity raise taxes to pay for reducing overcrowding, and 43% in another question said the surplus should go to schools. Yet what did the legislature do this session? Spend billions on bonds for construction of roads canals and the like that won't even begin for years to come. And what does Jon Huntsman Jr. want to do with any budget surplus? Create a tax break for the super rich.

I was blessed to be able to attend a school in Utah with small class sizes from pre-k to 12th grade, but the only place to find that is a private school. Even small towns now band together to create large schools.

If Democrats take back Congress this fall, then help will be on the way. House Democrats in the past have sought to give local government's favorable school construction/repair/remodeling loans, and I am sure they would propose to do so in the future. The same goes for teacher training and recruitment programs, which would forgive student loans for those who decide to teach primary and secondary school for a couple years.

Certainly, the fact that Utah has more of its population under 15 than any other state in the nation, and that Utah is also one of the poorer states doesn't help matters. But we as a state shouldn't be making the situation worse by giving new tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and buying more roads we shouldn't build. [We need to make our urban areas more compact and more public transit accessable to reduce traffic] I urge parents to talk to their legislators who are asking for their votes this November to promise them to make reducing class sizes and overcrowding the number one priority for them next session.

on protests

(Photo Credit: Leah Hogsten--The Salt Lake Tribune)

So there was a "large" anti-war/Bush protest in downtown SLC today, that is about a couple thousand people. Blow hard Mayor Rocky Anderson spoke. I saw it on the channel 2 jumbotron on Main Street, and I looked at the window as my TRAX train passed by.

Of all the people to protest to, however, Bush is the worst one to do. He doesn't care what the people think, especially now that he cannot run for re-election. If you protested Clinton, he might care because he loves people and wants everyone to love him (child of a alcoholic). Bush is charming, but he doesn't really enjoy people as people, only certain people. That is, he likes people who agree with him and no one who disagrees with him.

Moreover, I get extremely annoyed with ultra-liberals. They tend to want to talk about their pet issues, to go through the laundry list of greivences, rather than to stay focused and stick to a clear message that everyone can agree with. 55% of Americans want a change of course in Iraq. They don't necessarily want to impeach Bush, or take on Haliburton etc.

In the fall of 2002, I argued with people whom I thought would be the most receptive to preventing the war in Iraq: the DLC. As an employee, I tried to convince the higher ups that Saddam wasn't a threat, that there probabbly weren't any WMD's, that Bush would mismanage the occupation like he did in Afghanistan, that the war would be a big mistake. Of course, they didn't listen that much (but they did conceed that Bush probabbly would mismanage the occupation), and cheerleaded this disasterous policy. But I knew that grabbing a placcard and marching would have been even less effective.

That isn't to say that protests and marching in the streets in general is fruitless. The immigration march in the spring proved that protests are still very effective in the US. I just think protesting this president on this policy with this crowd is a waste of time and effort. But if it makes you feel better, have at it.

Photo of the day

MSGOP anchor Rita Cosby, who 'interviewed' ex-Rep. Tom DeLay right after his indictment, tries to get another scoop.

I am so glad that the media can stop its inane coverage of what's his bucket who wasn't even in the state when that little girl was killed. Now we can focus on some other funny images...

On the way to school today, I saw an astroturf pro-Bush banner on a GOP building owner (he is giving money to GOP SLCo. DA candidate Lola Miller so that she will move the DA's office to his building next year when the lease runs up). [It said "Thank you President Bush, you are our Hero!"] Then a few blocks later, I saw a lampost banner for a play at the University of Utah: George Orwell's 1984. Oh the irony. Eat that Atlantis!