Friday Tulip blogging 

gas prices panacea

How many times...think back now...how many times have you heard people complaining about high gas prices over the past say decade? Every spring and summer prices get high and some idiot pundit says this will hurt the party in power in DC, which lately has been the GOP. And what happens every year? Nothing.

And that is what is going to happen again this year. Chuck Schumer may think he found the magic bullet, or as he put it the final nail in the coffin, that will seal the deal for a Democratic majority in Congress. I wouldn't hold your breath.

It doesn't matter how high the price of gas goes, or how much profits the oil companies make by purposely shutting down or failing to build new refineries. The American people love their giant cars, trucks and SUVs too much.

While my parents are away on vacation for my father's birthday, they let me use their SUV, so that my wife and I now each have a car for the time being. And I have to admit that I have enjoyed the ability to go anywhere any time. Still, we won't buy another for a while. Taking the bus and TRAX is great as is walking or riding my bike. But understand the lure of the automobile. It defines the American dream of being able go anywhere anytime without someone telling you what to do. The Supreme Court has found the freedom to travel is constitutionally protected.

So as much as people moan and whine about gas prices, they still haven't bothered to get on a waiting list for a Prius, demand hybrids from the manufacters, or kick out those oil-loving congressmen (mostly because those guys represent oil-rich districts). So the Democrats might take over Congress this year, but it won't be because Exxon gave their CEO $400M or that gas costs $3/gallon.

Will Kanab become the next Dover, PA?

Signs point to no...but there is still time.

While Kanab Mayor Kim Lawson narrowly defeated a challenger in 2001, no one stepped up to face him during his re-election campaign last year. Incumbent council members also faced little opposition. To date, only one council member, Carol Ann Sullivan, has publicly pulled support for the resolution.

The group called Kanab Take Our Community Back committee might morph into Dover CARES II.

"We are reaching out to a broad spectrum of individuals and political groups to make sure they know about the resolution and the way it was handled down here in Kanab," said Scott Clemans, a member of a grassroots organization in Kanab that is calling for state legislators to create a method for recalling elected officials who fall from favor.
"I don't know what kind of a response we'll get, but I do know there are many folks who recognize the need for a recall law." [snip] The mayor and City Council members are autocrats rather than public servants," McCrystal said. "This is not a partisan issue. When elected officials are more interested in suppressing public opinion than listening to it, they've violated their sacred trust and need to be removed from office."
Utah has no provision for recalling elected officials. The Kanab group hopes to gather support in the state Legislature to consider passage of a recall law, Clemans said.
"I truly believe the word is getting out that there is a vast majority of people in this town that do not support this resolution, or the mayor and council in their actions," he said.

Folks are angry, but will that energy coaless into a ticket for the city council or mayor? I just hope that high school kid who the mayor tried to silience by calling up his school superintendant and his LDS stake leader runs against the mayor some day. I would donate to that kid's campaign.

Folks down in Kanab are worried about tourism, and during the radio broadcast cited a number of hotel bookings that had dissipeared specifically due to the resolution. The mayor during the broadcast said he would eventually be willing to reexamine the resolution if it really was hurting business, but he didn't think it was. A principled stand as usual.

But how can people boycott Kanab if they don't even know what's in Utah?

Images that Utah residents always thought defined their state — the golden spike at Promontory Point, Delicate Arch at Arches National Park and the Salt Lake City skyline — apparently aren't all that identifiable with Utah.
Pictures of those locations and six others that tourism officials always considered iconic to Utah were more closely associated with surrounding states, according to the survey's findings, which were released Tuesday.
"It's shocking," said Bob Syret, a Utah Board of Tourism Development member.

[photo credit, Lynn Arave, Deseret Morning News. (c) 2006 Deseret Morning News]

Sounds like someone has their work cut out for them. First off, people are dumb. Usually questions about Utah are on Jeparody! Why do people confuse Utah with Arizona, Colorado, etc? People most people who took the survey are probabbly from the Northeast. Those folks never had a clue where Utah was unless they went skiing/hiking there. All the big western box states for them blended together. For Utahns, they don't know where those Northeast states are exactly, only that they are "on the East Coast," so the ignorance is mutual.

ripe for the pickin'

New York, Pennslvannia, Connecticut and California should be where the democrats' bid for a majority in the House is either found or crushed. NY has two blow outs at the state level that should discourage GOP voters from the polls (Hillary and Elliot), this formula helped Mellisa Bean in 2004 with Barrack Obama crushing Alan Keyes. Same goes for Penn possbily if the Santorum-Casey race continues to be a snoozer...although the Swann-Rendell race should keep GOPers interested. Connecticut, should Joe Lieberman prevail, would also face snoozers of statewide elections. California will be a hard fought battle for the governorship. E-bay millioniare versus planet hollywood millioniare.

Also going for the democrats this year is all the scandals. It seems almost every member of the California GOP delegation is tied to some sort of scandal, whether it be Doolittle and his wife's 15% cut of every donation, Pombo's ties to Cunningham's bribers, Dier's rumors of homosexuality, there are too many to name. But NY GOP just got itself a big headache:

Sweeney showed up drunk to a frat party near, but not in his district. The one good note: "It was reported that one student approached the Congressman with drug paraphernalia and asked to take a picture. The Congressman refused." When fratboys say you are openly-drunk, I take that as an expert witness testifying.

It will be interesting to see whether the Democrats' "Northeast Strategy" plus all the scandal fall out from Duke-stir will help them take back the House.

Here's to hoping.

1 down, 2 to go

Monday was an 8 hour thrill ride for the sake of Due Process, Equal Protection, and The Freedom of Speech. Glad that is over with, even though I enjoy constitutional law.

Next up, tomorrow I match wits with a guy that argued against Miranda in at SCOTUS on a criminal procedure exam. I am sure Dickerson will be a topic of discussion, and I am happy to have the guy live out his high light, especially since his 7-2 loss in 2000 would now likely be a 5-4 loss now. Even though I have disagreed with him, I think Cassell is a great teacher and fair minded judge. He has trouble at times seeing things from the Public Defender's tilted view of the world, but generally I would say he is a good person.

Everyone likes Prof. Richards who will be giving me my last exam, but I don't think I am such a big fan. First off, he blows me off when I raise my hand. Granted I am a talker in all my classes and I could see how I might be annoying or distracting to discussion, but I can think of several other worse offenders at my law school. Plus, he lets others go off on tangents becuase he possibly knows them from first year.

But my real beef is that he has given us no clue what to do to prepare for this test, and the amount of information is staggering. At least my notes are crazy long.

Just now my wedding videographer arrived and delivered the DVD. For those of you keeping score, my wedding was last June. We had a nasty fight over the bill, giving me a remedial contracts lesson and general frustration with business transactions. Hopefully it won't be too cheezy. He has granted us permission to make copies of it, so I will use that permission to place it on google video and send the link to those who were at the wedding or those we wished could have come. Ah the joys of technology.

lifting my head up

sorry for the non-existent blogging lately. I am studying for my law school exams which will kick off in a manner of minutes and last 2 weeks. So light blogging in the next while.

Ethan seems pretty modest, so I will link to the Deseret News article about SLCspin and him. As far as I know, he is the first local blogger to get some MSM love. I think it is because of his short but biting commentary. Mine are much more long winded and often focus on outside events...although I love to write about Kanab because it is indicative of a larger problem with red-state cities (the blurring of church and state and officials sticking their noses into the town's most personal business).

But I love how the press covers blogs, with a picture of a computer on the blog's home page. Even better is Ethan's quote: "In the end, I'm just a dude with an Internet site. If everyone stopped reading it tomorrow, I'd just disappear."

We all love to read your commentary, which is pretty fair and honest I would say. Perhaps he has no love for Hatch. But really, the man is fraud. The only good thing I can say about him is that his seniority means that if he wanted to, he could get stuff for Utah. But he doesn't.

Well, my exam's here. See you all on the flipside.

Moussaoui is Schizo

Can someone explain to me why they let Moussaoui pled guilty and the jury was allowed to decided whether or not to execute him? Sure the man wanted to kill Americans like his Al-Qaeda friends. Sure he tried to learn how to fly an airplane, but he was not involved in the planning, nor did he know about the 9/11 plot in any real detail. I suspect bin Laden or his lieuteniants decided Moussaoui was too unstable for the job.

It seems to me that the U.S. government will execute Moussaoui for being an Al-Qaeda member and a wannabe standby member of the 9/11 crew. Any rational actor would not behave the way Zacharias has these past years. Just contrast his behavior to that of Brain David Mitchell, who was found insane in Utah. And I am not the only one who thinks Moussaoui is crazy. [From the NY Times]

Dr. Xavier Amador testified about an encounter with Mr. Moussaoui last April in the holding cell of the courthouse in which the trial is taking place. He said Mr. Moussaoui repeatedly spat water on him and exhibited several classic symptoms of schizophrenia, including sudden shifts in the defendant's views accompanied by denials that he had only moments earlier held the opposite views.

Under questioning by Gerald T. Zerkin, one of the court-appointed defense lawyers, Dr. Amadeor picked apart Mr. Moussaoui's testimony last week in which he seemed to offer rational, if not plausible explanations for his odd behavior over the previous four years. For example, Mr. Moussaoui had regularly charged that his lawyers, whom he reviles, were part of a conspiracy to kill him.

I know people want revenge for 9/11, and the families deserve justice. But killing this man really isn't going to do it, because he did not do anything to further the 9/11 attack, didn't know about it, and was mentally incapable of doing so.

If you are so wacko that bin Laden doesn't think you are a good candidate for a suicide bombing, you have some serious issues, to say the least.

Kanab keeps koming

"The bottom line is that it's not the business of a city to tell people how to live their lives." I couldn't have said it better myself (JoAnne Rando-Moon, who moved to Kanab seven years ago and owns a pet-supply business there said it). According to the Deseret News:

Residents now are starting a campaign to send a different message than that of the resolution. One group of residents is distributing a 6-inch round decal to businesses in Kanab that states, "Everyone is welcome," said Rando-Moon. So far, 82 businesses are displaying the decal on their front doors.

Only 7 businesses refused the decale, according to Rando-Moon. "Carol Sullivan, the only council member who voiced support for revoking the resolution during the Feb. 28 meeting, said the issue has severely divided her town." That's the trouble with Culture wars even in fairly red areas like Kanab, they create struggle and animostity where there doesn't need to be any. "I'm really worried for our businesses. One hotel in town has lost $14,000 because of cancellations," said Sullivan. "There are a lot of innocent people in business who are caught in the middle of this. I don't know where it's going or where it will end."

Of course, the supporters are not backing down. But is nice to see that the theocrats are wasting everyone's time effort and livelihood on a powerless yet hate-filled resolution. The folks in Kanab, Utah should meet with the folks in Dover, Penn. Seems like they both have something in common.

the fundamental problem with Bush foreign policy

If you thought this would be a post about how dumb invading Iraq was, sorry, that is overplayed and everyone pretty much knows it by now. What I wish to discuss is how the Bush foreign policy team doesn't just have pre-9/11 thinking but pre-1989 thinking.

The reaction to the 9/11 attacks by the Bush team was one that Reagan would have had, not because Bush is like Reagan, but because Reagan fought against Nation-States, specifically the USSR (and Granada and Panama). The Nation-State is so 20th Century. Al-Qaeda is focused on an ethno-religious identity-- the Wahabist, who is usually Arab. Although the Fillipinos are heavily Muslim, most of Al-Qaeda's most active recruits are Arab. The know no country, in fact, these folks are militant preciesely because they are unwanted in their own countries.

Yet Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld's approach was to take out Afghanistan rather than Al-Qaeda. In reality, they did neither well. Both are back and the country is unstable as ever. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to invade Afghanistan in 1998 when I learned what the Tailban were up to and that is where bin Laden lived (who had killed people in American Embassies in Kenya). But to do it on the cheap outsource the hunting of the actual people that were responsible for 9/11 was criminal negligence.

When they decided to topple Iraq, they ignored the fact that Iraq is a middle eastern Yugoslavia, with competing ethinic groups that don't necessarily get along. Even worse than Yugoslavia, these three groups are also found in other not so stable countries and so the impact is felt more widely. Now because of no post-war planning, not enough troops, no international support, and general bungling by Rummy, we have a ethic war that is making Sarajevo look relatively better everyday.

As Bush drums up for war with Iran in a feable attempt to repeat his 2002 off-year election performance, his people should be made aware that Iran probabbly already has lots of its intelligence people in Iraq right now instigating more violence. The Persians share religious sectarian beliefs with a large portion of the Iraqi people. And Iran is a mountainous country with lots and lots of young men with not much to do. These young people like some parts of American culture, and Bollywood stars, but they don't like Bush and his Bible thumping friends.

And frankly, most of Americans don't anymore either. So don't let yourself be distracted into worrying about Iranian nuclear technology. Sure their leaders are nuts, but their people aren't, and the leaders aren't so nuts as to actually pick a fight with us. But if they are attacked, watch out.

rethinking the immigration debate

previously I posted my praise of the immigrant protests and how much solidarity I believed there was between all classes of immigrants. Having talked to children and relatives of recent legal immigrants on Thursday, I can tell you that they are honestly upset with a easy amnesty program.

I learned about how many hoops would-be legal immigrants have to go through, the years of waiting. And if one little thing goes wrong, it can be decades before they let you back in (of course, the deport you). My friend Jeff, whose father is Pakistani, told me of a Jordanian friend of his who let his student visa lapse. Unlike the 9-11 hijakers, he was caught after he had married and fully immigrated into America. In fact, when he was deported to Jordan, the country didn't want him, so he had to move to Kuiwait, where he is a perminant second class citizen. His wife, a white woman with no language skills, cannot get a job in Kuwait and he can't get a good job because he is not Kuwaiti. So she has to fly out to the middle east to see her husband, and I believe they have a child.

Another 3L told me of a relative of his who cannot come back to America for 10-15 years because of some technicality (his family is from India I believe). Both were upset with the idea that just because some one snuck in over the boarder a couple years ago, they should get amnesty while their friends and relatives are banished from the US for decades. A woman who works for the US district court told us that the number one type of case they hear is illegal immigration.

There is no easy solution to this. On the one hand, we can all agree that illegals who commit crimes in the US have no business being in America. And we can all agree that granting a Reagan-style Amnesty to current illegal immigrants while letting the rest who were deported for silly reasons languish in places like Kuwait for 10-15 years when they have clear ties to US is ridiculous. On the other hand, these folks didn't immigrate to America illegally because they wanted to, it was because there weren't enough temporary visas. Most of these undocumented peoples work hard, go to church, pay someone elses taxes, send their kids to school and try to learn English and how to be an American.

We need to cut out the red tape to get in and get visas while doing a better job of doing background checks and monitoring of immigrants, especially if they come from countries with terrorist ties. My half Pakistani friend and my Indian (south asia) friend both agreed that we need more liberalized immigration, not to round up all the illegal Mexicans.

I just wonder how serious Bush and Frist really are about true immigration reform that both parties can agree on, besides that it needs to occur and they need to use it against the other party. After the recess, I think it won't come up again, and Bush and Frist will stick to their blame it on Reid plan. After all, it eventually worked against Daschle.

The second year, at dusk

As I sit in the downtown library enjoying the sun from the saftey of UV-blocking glass, I think back on the guantlet that was my 2L year. It is much better think about this stuff now before the grades come in, let alone think about the world outside with its daily car bombings and impending official war with Iran.

I learned more about the first amendment as a "high school teacher" than I did in my Con Law class. I learned more about Criminal Procedure, Tax Law, Constitutional law, etc. at my job than I did in any class I took. But nonetheless, I think the tuition was worth it to hear some of the great professors and to meet and get to know my future collegues, assuming we all get jobs.

School work was very taxing, especially this trial and journal work, as well as my student organization. But the nice thing is, I am 99% done with that.

Hopefully Bush doesn't think that bombing Iran is the wise thing to do or that it will improve his ratings, because neither is true. He has lied too much to be believable to the American public and bombing Iran will only make things worse.

waking up to 21st century America

Until immigration was pushed to the forefront by President Bush in a last ditch effort to revitialize his ratings, many Americans were probabbly ignorant as to the extent of immigrants (illegal or legal) who have recently come into this county.

These massive protests proved that the First Amendment still works and that there are Americans who care a lot about this issue. Notice I said Americans. All of the protesters, illegal or not, consider themselves Americans and Mexicans, or Chinese or Purvians or whatever. What was also amazing for me was that while a few people showed up to protest the Iraq war, this turnout has been impressive for how widespread, how large, and how grassroots it was. This was not a bunch of Unions and immigrants rights members marching around, like the war protestors were mostly members of certain peace groups. Nor was this organized by partisan officials. Rather, this was something talked about on Spanish-speaking radio, flyers in mom-and-pop businesses & churches. This was the real deal.

I would imagine, contrary to what Rep. Tom Tancredo belives, that most of the protesters were legal immigrants. There is a lot of solidarity amoung immigrants, both illegal and legal, not because they are all from the same county or speak the same language, but because they are related through mutual friends, marriage, and they are all struggling to make it in strange land. Granted, they came here willingly and are overjoyed with the oportunties in America.

This is just what you want in an American, someone who believes in the American Dream. Those who marched against the war were mostly middle-to-upper class folks who had maxed out all of what America could do for them. They aren't hanging out next to the Home Depo hoping some Gringo will hire them as a day laborer under the table. They aren't using fake tax IDs to get a job picking vegatables. But that's who marched on Sunday and Monday against the Sensenbrenner bill.

In politics, like if life, decisions are made by those who show up. Will the hundreds of thousands who marched the last couple days show up to their polling place in November? If they are illegal, the answer is no. Will it encourage folks like Chinese-Americans, many of whom have lived in America for a long time and have sympathized and marched with Hispanics on April 9th and 10th, to vote this time? That is the $10,000 question.

Democrats have new reason to hope that is the case, as most who marched remembered only that Republicans are the ones that supported the Sensenbrenner bill, but Democrats shouldn't count on these votes putting them over the top. The GOPers should be nervous however. The counter protests by Minutemen groups have been pathetically small in comparison when they even occured.

Maybe there is a Nixonian "silent majority" wanting to criminalize undocumented workers and those who protect them, as well as a burning desire to deport them. But I bet they only exist in GOP primary voters and not the public at large.

bribed to vote

A fellow in Arizona by the name of Mark Osterloh, an Arizona physician and attorney, is proposing a state law via ballot initiative that would act as an incentive to increase voter turnout. The method: everyone who votes is automatically entered into a $1 Million lottery. Currently, more people buy lotto tickets than vote, hell more people vote for the next American Idol than the their next president. But really, I can think of a better way to increase turnout without costing the state a million dollars every 2 years.

At 62.3%, this month's Israeli elections were the lowest voter participation ever. In 2004, with billions spent to increase turnout and wide knowledge of the American Public at the importance and closeness of the election, the turnout was higher than it has been in many years. And after all that, the turnout only 55.3% in America. As Jon Stewart said the other night, the middle east should be bringing democracy to us.

So how does Israel and many other democracies get higher turnout rates? Well for one, election day is not a day people have to work. In Israel, it is a national holiday. In Europe, it is during the weekend. Israel and most of these European countries have a parlimentary system meaning that the ruling party can call for elections pretty much whenever they want. So Bush would have asked for a new election on September 12, 2001 and won in a landslide in March 2002 or so.

But our founding fathers didn't like that idea of being able to game the system and set up a perminant unmovable (except special elections) federal election day. For holiday purposes, this is much better for businesses, who will know when no work will get done and can plan accordingly.

Of course, if Election Day were a national holiday, Americans might do what some Iraelis are now doing, go on a vacation over Election Day. This is why early voting should still be a part of the solution, as well as making elections competitive so that people have a reason to vote (read: redistricting). In Iowa, turnout is much higher than California, in part because each vote actually counts in Congressional and Presidential elections.

Alberto Gonzales, Attorney at leak

I have a sneeking suspicion that this "knowledgable lawyer" AP refers to is none other than ex-WH counsel and current US AG Alberto Gonzales. He was neck-deep in all the crap that Bush pulled, whether it was the NSA illegal wiretapping, the "16 words" in the State of the Union or the continual hit job on Joe Wilson.

Here's how Gonzales tries to make things better for his boss:

President Bush declassified sensitive intelligence in 2003 and authorized its public disclosure to rebut Iraq war critics, but he did not specifically direct that Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, be the one to disseminate the information, an attorney knowledgeable about the case said Saturday.

Bush merely instructed Cheney to "get it out" and left the details to him, said the lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case for the White House. The vice president chose Libby and communicated the president's wishes to his then-top aide, the lawyer said.

It is not known when the conversation between Bush and Cheney took place. The White House has declined to provide the date when the president used his authority to declassify the portions of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, a classified document that detailed the intelligence community's conclusions about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Calling yourself just a lawyer when you are really much more than that is typical Bush Administration style. Remember when Scooter Libby was just a former House Staffer? While both titles are true, they tend to mislead and distort the nature of the source.

If it isn't Gonzales, than it is Harriet Myers, who was also up to her chin in Bush's lies. She was the one that did the PDB's pre-9/11, including the "bin Laden Determined to Attack US" one. She too was in the WH counsel's office justifying all kinds of illegal and dishonest activities with Alberto Gonzales. Both were supposed to be promoted for all the hard work they did being yes-men and women, instead of instructing their President that what he was doing was illegal or unethical. Al got the AG gig, and Harriet got a SCOTUS nomination. Both have been terrible lawyers, but Al went to Harvard Law, so he gets to keep lying at a higher level.

trial advocacy

Today at one PM, my partner and I have our fake trial. As employees of the local DA, we have experience writing memos, but never doing examinations or entering things into evidence. But this has been a fun and nerve-racking class. This is one of the few practical courses I have taken at law school (the other appellate practice).

Tonight, an old high school friend and bridesmaid will be in town and my wife and I are excited to see her. Last night, I had my co-counsel and all our fake witnesses over for dinner and one last shot at trial prep. Most are pretty into it and are going to try to tear up at the appropriate moments (it is a murder trial). Hopefully my partner and I won't be the one's crying...afterall, we are going against the best oralist at this year's Traynor Moot Court Competition (who won the "moot court madness" very un-George Mason-like). His partner is no slouch either...but then again, thanks to all our memo writing practice, we got both graphic photos in and prevented him from excluding all of our hearsay at least until they object during the trial. We shall see how it goes.

By 6 PM tonight though, I will be done with that class (and my teaching in HS class as well) and will have 7 credits more under my belt before I ever take the finals for this semester. And that's a nice feeling.

the real difference between modern Democrats and Republicans in Congress

When Democratic leaders leave congress, they do so because they lose a narrow election (see Daschle, Folley) or they retire (see Mitchell, Gephardt). In either case, no one questions their ethics, although they might question their ideology.

When Republican leaders leave congress, it is either because they pled guilty to $2.4M in bribes (Cunningham...soon Ney), all their former staffers, friends, and family members have either pled guilty to money laundering, violating tax law, etc. or are under the shaddow of an indictment or looming indictment(DeLay). Or they are so incompetent that they can't run for reelection, or be Majority Leader, or run for president at the same time (and suck at all three) (Frist). Or they lead the charge to impeach a president for lying about an extramarital affair while having their own (Livingstone) or making money off a book deal (Gingrich). Or they get pushed out because they long for the segrationist policies of Strom Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign (Lott).

The difference between congressional Dems and GOPers are the dimes one takes, and the other doesn't.

Bill's revenge?

Like Montezuma, will Bill Clinton have his revenge? The heart of Utah's 3rd district is centered around Utah County, a place were Sean Hanity goes when he needs an ego-boost, where Bush would hold his phony town hall meetings without screeners, and yet...we have a chance to knockout an encumbent.

"A new Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll conducted last week by Dan Jones & Associates finds that Rep. Chris Cannon" has only 36 percent support among his voters. Cannon was one of the many House Impeachment Managers against President Clinton. Bill has made it a personal challenge to beat every impeachment manager, like the curse of King Tut. [all quotes from the Deseret Morning News]

"With nearly two-out-of-three voters saying they don't now support Cannon," I think we have a chance. In 2004, Cannon was challenged from the right on immgration reform (aka Xenophobia) and had a primary challenge, meaning he couldn't get rid of his challenger in the UT GOP convention. This year, the heat on immigration reform is even hotter and the polling in Utah suggests it is in favor of a House style bill, rather than the Senate version or McCain-Kennedy.

This year, he will face two real challengers before he faces a Democrat "former GOP 2nd District U.S. Rep. Merrill Cook, who over the years has spent nearly $4 million on his numerous races, and Utah County water-and-land developer John Jacob, a fellow Republican who says he may well spend $1 million to $1.5 million of his own money on his race."

When Cook lost in the primary in 2000 (and lone UT Democrat Jim Matheson replaced him), he faced two wealthy challengers "and found himself down in the polls, losing 45 percent to 21 percent to the then-Democratic newcomer Jim Matheson." Jim by the way is sitting pretty with 58 percent approval, including 37 percent of the Republican vote, compared to only 27 percent by state Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper his probable challenger. And even though Jim is rather moderate compared to national Democrats, we Utah Democrats are a pragmatic bunch: Jim gets 91 percent of the Democratic vote and 75 percent of the independent vote. And verey importantly, he gets 51 percent of the LDS vote, which is key when you face a guy named LaVar Christensen.

Here's the poll break down for UT-03 and -02



The Senate race is anything but, unfortunately. Orrin Hatch will likely have this seat until he dies or retires (or is appointed to something). But Pete Ashdown is self-funded and netroots savvy (he is a founder of a local ISP). He even has a campaign Wiki. Here's the poll break down:

I listen to ClarkCasts, do you?

Appearantly, lots of you listen to what ex-General Wesley Clark has to say once a week. According to Hotline:

And now his podcast is right now the most popular political podcast in the nation.

The third installment of Clark's audiotaped thoughts ranks ahead of Sean Hannity . It's more listened-to than Sen. Barack Obama's audio doodlings. Than ex-Sen. John Edwards's podcast, too.

My advice to Wes: do more interviews and chats, and less scripted speeches. The first ClarkCast was terrible in that you could hear Clark pause at the wrong points and hear the page turning. Speak from the heart extemporainously and then you can edit it down or do more takes later.

I will sum up by quoting Hotline again:

Too many people handicapping the Dem field aren't paying attention to Ret. Gen. Wes Clark. The guy has a monster travel schedule on behalf of other Dems. He's still the to-go talking head for Democratic national security events. He's doing the party's national radio address this Saturday.

This man has a big following, even if the insider's poll says it all Hillary. And Clark's stock will raise even among them if all his people get elected-- he has at least one house and one senate candidate that are Clarkies.

no double standards

Here is something I agree with the right wing blogosphere on: our dislike of Rep. Cynthia McKinney (oh and I hate her dad too). Hotline On Call reported that she assaulted a Capitol Police officer because he didn't recognize her as she bypassed the metal detectors (as Members of Congress are allowed to do when they wear their member pin).

The officer called out "Ma'am, Ma'am," in an attempt to stop her.

When the officer caught up to McKinney, he grabbed her by the arm.

McKinney pulled her arm away, swung around, cell phone in hand, and punched the officer square in the chest, according to the witness.

This is the same woman who sides with Hamas over Israel, who is more extreme left than Noam Chompsky, who blamed her 2002 primary defeat on Republicans in an overwhelmingly democratic district with overwhelmingly democratic turnout. (the margin of victory was greater than all the GOP voters who voted in the democratic primary) McKinney is what is wrong with the far out left. Most of the liberals are no where near as crazy and bad as she is, but they need to condem her.

VA SEN- Allen needs, er, stimulation

DSCC has a clip of Sen. George Allen saying he wishes he was born in Iowa. Hotline notes that "He was born in California although his parents, er, created him, in Sioux City."

DSCC has a great line "Looks like Senator Allen is not only bored with the Senate, he's also bored with the entire Commonwealth of Virginia."

VA SEN-let's get it on!

All signs point to a preemptive war buildup in the Old Dominion State. The Democrats have fielded not one but two serious candidates. One, the self-funder and friend of ex-Gov. Warner Harris Miller. The other, netroots favorite and ex-Reagan Sec. of Navy James Webb.

On the other side, intellectual lightweight but strategy smart Senator George Allen. After defeating Chuck Robb six years ago by about 225K votes, the former Governor and son of famed Redskins coach by the same name is one more football analogy away from pissing his pants.

His chief of staff is Dick Wadhams, who engineered the paid bloggers for Thune as well as the rest of the nasty mudslinging victory over ex-Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Before that, he saved Sen. Allard's butt in Colorado with similarly nasty tactics.

Turdblossom II has now "taken a leave of absence" to run Allen's reelection campaign. We have to punish bad behavior and end Wadhams' winning streak before he gets the keys to a national campaign.

This is just one more sign that George Allen is taking Webb and Miller very, very seriously. I can't wait to see the negative ads, they should be out by this summer.

body count

every day, if you listen/read/watch the news, you learn about another pile of dead, tortured Iraqis found in and around Bagdad. They are being killed by ethnicity and Baghdad in 2006 is quickly becoming like Yugoslavia 1991-92. Sunnis are the new Croats. Or Serbs or whatever. I am not taking sides on this one.

This is the very definition of a civil war. I don't want to hear any more euphemisms: "high-level sectarian violence" or "ethnic strife" or "freedom's birthing pains" etc.

It is ludicris not to see that Iraq is going down the toliet in a hurry and the US miliary is powerless (either politically or practically) to stop it.

Kontinuing Kanab Knews

Now business-owners from out of town are worried about Kanab's "full quivver of children" resolution. Victor and Pat Sandonato of the New York/New Jersey Area (Connecticut, New York's other suburb) bought a western supply store in Kanab, the hottest property in town. Lee Benson, the twin brother of Federal District Court Judge Dee Benson, is the author of the Deeret News follow-up. Although I don't think too highly of Judge Benson's brother's reporting normally, I enjoyed this article.

"Eighty percent of this business is international," he says. "That's what we thrive on."
He looks outside his office window at the empty parking lot that is typical in March and hopes it isn't a preview of months to come.
"Yes, I am worried," he says. "I just bought the place, and suddenly I have controversy."

Although Victor loves the environs of Kanab, he wonders why the Mayor and the city council had to thrust their views on the public. "It reminds me of that old Christmas movie, 'Miracle on 34th Street,' " he says, "where they want to put down Santa Claus. And the people tell them, 'Maybe you don't believe in Santa Claus, but don't go there. It's not a good idea.'" So I guess gay people are like Santa Claus, both possibly make-believe? But I digress (before I go on, notice that all Lee did was drive down to this store and interview this one couple).

Victor and Pat hopes the whole thing will just blow over, since this was a astroturf uprising. "[W]e haven't heard anybody local say they're all gung-ho about what's going on. A lot of people think it's silly. We haven't had any impression at all that the town is bigoted." Those big folks up at the Sutherland Institute up in Salt Lake City really know Kanab values.

Certainly Victor and Pat will welcome in gays who have money, "We welcome all people from all walks of life." He just won't admit that he believes homosexuality to be a "life-style choice." Look, retiring to Palm Springs is a life-style choice, not whom you love.

sign of hope for Utah Dems?

Courtesy of the Salt Lake Tribune and Pat Bagley

A Sunday or two ago, the LDS church asked that a statement be read at the wardhouses and stake centers in advance of the precinct meetings political parties would be holding. The statement said that the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints could be found in both political parties. This is what Wayne Owens has always said, that the Democratic belief in helping the less fortunate is compatable with LDS teachings.

As a result, the turn out in various ultra-red areas for Democratic precincts was suprisingly strong. This prompted a KUER radio show on whether Democrats have a shot of legitimacy now and why the tie between the GOP and LDS church seems so strong.

I sure hope that the tie between the parties can end and Mormons everywhere will not feel compelled or pressured to be a Republican. There are some aspects of each party that should find appeal to LDS church goers, just like it does for Catholics or Jews or many other major religious groups.

This year Democrats in Utah may do a bit better, but I am not expecting much. I would like to have the power to block stuff in the State Senate so the GOP leadership would at least consult and listen to Democrats. By 2012, I am hoping to have 1 safe Democratic seat, 1 toss up and 2 solid GOP seats. Oh and whenever Hatch or Bennett retire, I would like Jim Matheson to run for the vacant seat. Utah Democrats are a practical bunch.

photo of the day

Courtesy of the Washington Post

Bush's trade ambassador, Robert Zoellick, is trying to get US-China trade in even better shape so that he is hugging babies, baby Pandas. "You want to know how the panda felt?" he asked. "Very soft."

Is he soft on China's human rights record? Trying to get more cuddly pandas for our Zoos? Trying to get the Chinese to float the Yuan? Or endorsing the engagement policy/theory on China?

I think it is a little bit of both...and pandas are soft and I am very jealous. Some day, I want to be trade ambassador so I can hold pandas.

the nerves of Steele

The Balimore Sun seems to have found yet another ethical violation with the Ehrlich/Steele Administration: Pay for Play with Steele.

Officials with three of four African-American groups that in early 2004 received a combined $250,000 - the result of an insurance settlement received by the state - gave $13,711 to the lieutenant governor about the same time or in the months after, according to a state elections board database....The proceeds were distributed to four groups without a competitive application process and were announced in letters stating that the money was given "on behalf of Lieutenant Governor Michael S. Steele."

Michael S. Steele of course is running for U.S. Senate to replace Sarbanes. First he makes up the Oreo cookie story, then he compares stem cell research to the holocaust in front of a jewish audience, and now we learn he either diverted state tax dollars to his campaign or that in order to win contracts, all you have to do is donate. Something is rotten in Annapolis.

Who will be at this party?

Courtesy of Hotline On Call blog

the obligatory look back

canvasing the blogs I read (see sidebar) it seems like some thoughts on the Iraq War are necessary since we have reached an artifical milestone-- 3 years of war. This is just as artifical and just as sad as the other milestone-- 1,000 dead. Now we are over 2,500 dead American soldiers and many more wounded.

A great way to sum up how badly things have gone in Iraq-- how divergent those outcomes have been from the rosy projections of hawks-- is Professor Juan Cole's Top Ten Catastrophes of the third year of the war. Not even top ten of the whole period...and that there are so many to choose from, that one can create a top ten.

The only good things that the Bush Administration did was topple Saddam and appoint this current Ambassador. The trial has been a mess, the security never existed, the country is in civil war, terrorist have the perfect training ground to attack our troops, etc.

Like most Americans, I tire of reading about another bombing in some market somewhere, or a checkpoint bombing, or a mass grave found, or a car full of executed men found. Likewise, I tire of the "things getting better, says Bush" articles and stories on the TV. I tend to just skim the headlines, because if I were to know more, I would be more and more angry and depressed.

Occationally, I think about what would have happened to our world in the last 6 years had Gore won the recount. Saddam might still be in power, but most of those 2,500 soldiers would be alive (and 10,000s of Iraqis). Bin Laden would probabbly have been caught (as more resources would have been directed towards finding him instead of WMD's in Iraq and prepping for the other war). Our air and water would be cleaner, the courts would be filled with moderates rather than extremists. There would have been mass evacuations of the lower 9th ward and many lives would have been saved (Gore himself rented a chopper to save people with his own money and asked for no press) Plan B would have been available over the counter for years now. The Abramoff , Enron, Worldcomm and so many other scandals would have been agressively pursued from the get-go. Global Warming would be a State of the Union issue, and real measures would be made for citizens to curb consumption (Conservative Pundits would compare Gore to Carter). The congress would have tried everything to stop Gore, only to lose Jeffords in 2001 and then the majority in the Senate in 2002. The house would have fallen later, once all the bribery and lobbying scandals became to the fore.

Instead, Gore is a CEO of a TV station and on the board of companies like Apple. And Bush is at 33% and striving to run the country further aground. I wonder if O'Connor regrets her vote.

boycotting Kanab?

I got a great laugh out of this Deseret News story. To me it shows how both sides of the Blue State/Red State talk right past each other and really don't get it.

Kanab, in their infinite creativity, passed a resolution that the Sutherland Institute wrote for them. Fearing the devitalizing scourge of gay marriage and gender equality, their city resolution supports "upholding the marriage of a woman to a man, and a man to a woman as ordained by God." Homes, Sutherland's resolution said, should be open to a "full quiver of children" and young women to become "wives, homemakers and mothers." I am assuming they mean one wife per a household, given the singular use of woman in the above quoted language. I won't even get into the Establishment Clause issue right now.

Aurthur Frommer, founder of the travel advice empire that includes books videos, and a syndicated column advocated to his newspaper readers not to go to Kanab, whose economy is dependant on tourism. Frommer decided Kanab is "homophobic" and "bigoted," but failed to realize lots of towns in Red State America have passed similar things...in fact I think over 20 of the 50 states in the union have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. There are crazier cities and towns in Utah as well (see LeVerkin and Virgin's no-UN zone).

Kanab's reply? "Mr. Frommer obviously doesn't know much about Kanab," Mayor Lawson said. What is there to know? "His primary audience does not visit Kanab. They go to Europe," he said. "They go to places that have given up on the family long ago. That's where they're comfortable."

Yes Europe, where there are no more families and the continent has given up on them. Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't Frommer make travel guides for families on a budget? Sure Americans love to travel to Europe, but not because they have given up on families (even if that were true), but to see castles, museums, royalty, and other old stuff.

Personally, I don't think it is Arthur’s place to tell people to boycott Kanab. The people that would be offended by the resolution would have already avoided after Frommer informed them. The others who think it is funny or support it won't boycott the city. And how many of his readers even know where Kanab is? Or LeVerkin? Or Virgin?

Similarly, what will Kanab's resolution actually do? Make people feel better? Gay marriage has been banned twice statewide, most recently in 2004 by Amendment 3. Those who are gay in Kanab will likely emigrate to a big(er) city to meet other homosexuals and to not feel as outcast. I don't homosexual couples would dare live and raise a family in a small city/town like Kanab.

In sum, both Kanab and Frommer wasted their time and effort on a cultural issue that has little real effect on either party. Both just made themselves that much more ridiculous.

On a personal note, I am traveling to a small western town for the weekend to get a break from working full time this week and enjoy my spring break such as it is. Our motel will have wireless, so I can report from the road if a I feel so inclined. Enjoy your weekend.

quote of the day

Conservative Washington state columnist Adele Ferguson promotes school vouchers, defends slavery: “The pony hidden in slavery is the fact that it was the ticket to America for black people.”

Yeah, what a ticket! Nevermind most of the people crammed into the boat died before they even got to North America. Or that folks were beaten to death and or raped by their masters when they got to America. Or that they were enslaved for centuries. Or that it took another century after they were freed to sit in the same schools, drink from the same fountains, wait at the same bus stops, eat at the same lunch counters, etc. as white people. And I won't even get into police brutality, racial profiling, differing employment opportunities etc. Those lucky duckies!

hat tip Center for American Progress

cheating and the war on terror

I looks like yet again, the Bush Justice Department has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. And yet again, they did so by violating the rules which prosecutors are supposed to play by. In Michigan, a case was thrown out after massive prosecutorial misconduct--Richard G. Convertino (the lead prosecutor appointed by AG John Ashcroft) suppressed evidence that might have bolstered the defendants' claims of innocence.

In Virginia, the "20th hijacker" case involving a dude that liked al Qaeda but never actually was part of the plot and might have sorta known about it, the Bush appointees got two witnesses on the phone together and discussed their testimoney, and read back to them parts of the trial transcript. This is highly unethical and violates the exclusionary rule in the Federal Rules of Evidence. The upshot is that the death penalty is off the table for the jurors.

These are just two of the many terror cases the Bush Justice Department has bungled since 9/11. Remember that 'sleeper cell' near Buffalo, NY? All they could get them on was traveling to Afghanistan and going to an Al-Qeada camp...a crime they called "providing support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization."

Is it that these cases are hard to try? That the evidence is always scanty? Or is it that these prosecutors are eagarly tring to make a name for themselves, and in so doing cross the line? It has to be more than a coincidence.

Curiouser and curiouser

When I read the headline yesterday that Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his cell, I thought 'oh crap.' General Clark agrees with me. "He escaped justice and it's a tragedy for the people of Serbia," Clark told United Press International Sunday.

"They were denied the truth," said Clark, who had met the Serbian leader numerous times. "Milosevic," Clark told UPI, "led the Serb people on a foolish and immoral quest for greater Serbia.

I knew that people would speculate about a murder plot. To wit, this from the Melburne Herald Sun:

Milosevic's lawyer revealed a six-page letter from the former Balkans strongman, written the day before he died and alleging he was being given the wrong drugs in an attempt to kill him.

The letter, dated March 10, was addressed to the Russian embassy. A one-page English-language cover note asked the embassy to forward the letter to the Russian Foreign Minister.

The letter alleged that a powerful drug used to treat leprosy or tuberculosis had been found in his blood during an examination on January 12, said Milosevic's legal aide, Zdenko Tomanovic.

"They would like to poison me," he quoted Milosevic as telling him.

Reading a sentence from an English translation of the letter, Mr Tomanovic said: "In any case, the persons who are giving me the drug for the treatment of leprosy surely cannot be treating me, and especially those persons from whom I defended my country in the war and who also have an interest in silencing me."

Somehow, there was an antibiotic found in Slobo's bloodstream during the autopsy, that is designed to counteract those high blood pressure meds. Was he drugged to death? Was he trying to make himself sicker so he could go to a Russian medical facility and never come back to the Hauge? Did he comit suicide, like his parents had?

Somehow I doubt we will ever know for sure. I am pretty certain that what Slobo said was a lie. No one at the UN or ICC would try to kill him. If anything, some Croat, Serbian, or Kosovar general did the deed. To me, the most likely scenerio is that he tried to get himself sick and did too good of a job.

Photo of the day

We raised nearly three and a half thousand dollars this week. Even if Cheney won't, I am retiring...from my position as president of my student organization. Let some young blood in and let me sleep finally.

This week is spring break and so I might go somewhere last minute, but in all likelihood, I will just work and study. Happy Friday everyone.

over the hump

as tired as I am, I feeling pretty good. This week's fundraising has gone really well in my book and I am proud of all the volunteers, all the donors and all the support in general. Lots of people came up to me over the week and expressed their graditude for what our group was doing and all the work we had done to set up every morning, take down in the afternoon, and talk people into donating during the day.

To wit, we have raised nearly $3,000 for needy 1Ls and 2Ls that will be working over the summer for a non-profit or government job that is little or no pay. This sleepiness was worth it. Tomorrow is our last day of constant fundraising and my last early morning set up.

Politically, I loved watching Bush implode over the ports deal, and their weasel out attempts. I am enraged about Intelligence Committee and Pat Roberts in general. What a horrible senator he is because he is acting as a member of the Bush cabinet and not as a member of the legislative branch or representative of the residents of Kansas.

long week

man, it feels like it is wednesday or thursday already. I have been up early brewing coffee for the college of law along with setting up bagels and much more. Then today I got up early and taught my high school students.

and somehow I haven't been able to get to sleep because of the various things and I just feel drained.

port security--WH 08 edition

Who gains, who loses politcally? Of the likely candidates, Hillary has legislation that is nationalistic (all ports must be American owned). Edwards in his senate days had a bill on port security that he can point to, but he really hasn't said much on the UAE deal. Clark has spoken out very clearly on this issue, saying it doesn't matter who owns the port, we need to make sure the containers are checked here and their originations points.

Winner: Clark and maybe Clinton. Hillary's stance is one that in theory would play well in the heartland and plays off the GOP's fearmongering of Arab countries, but then again, it is Hillary, and the heartland will still hate her for various other reasons. Clark cut to heart of the matter and disagreed with Clinton while not saying he is against her bill, as George Stephanopolis wanted him to say. In fact, this issue is a winning one for Clark, because it plays into his national security and foreign affairs strength. It is one less time that he has to try to talk about domestic stuff, which he was clearly less confortable with in 2004.

As far as the GOP WH 08 race, McCain seems to be coming to Bush's defense ("Could you spare a few more staffers for my campaign, George?") by telling everyone to take a deep breath about it. Frist is staking out some breathing space between him and Bush by asking for a delay...which is just to give Bush more time to sell/hope people forget about it. I haven't heard from the other folks about the deal.

My problem is not necessarly the fact that UAE is in charge, although they aren't as trustworthy as i would like. my issue is that bush broke the law again and doesn't care.

what's a matter with oscar

poor Jon Stewart. It looks like his jokes were all watered down like American beer. We are now on our second montage and I just learned that Lauren Baccal can't read.

Why does there need to be a theme? Or an ode to film nior or bio pics? I mean really, the Oscars are an hour and a half show that is made into 3+ because of over production. And annoyingly enough the producers always manage to get Emmys.

The best bit so far was Steve Carell's bad makeup bit and the negative advertisment gag film. I love how they send out latina who bombed her singing of a nominated song last year for 'Crash' song.

reredistricting is unconstitutional

In my opinion, it goes against the spirit and word of the 13th and 14th amendments, plus against all that Madison and company talked about in the Federalist papers.

However, after reading reports from election law experts who attended the oral arguments of the Texas reredistricting case, it seems that the Justices were leaning in the following directions [according to UCLA's Rick Hansen and OSU's Ned Foley]:

"1. No majority to find a partisan gerrymander (under equal protection, First Amendment, or any other clause of the Constitution) ---apparently this leaves Vieth in place [one of the least helpful opinions since Furman v. Georgia], because it does not appear that Justice Kennedy was signalling he's ready to vote for nonjusticiablity distinguish between a statewide gerrymandering claim and the distric-specific claims that Stevens was interested in... for more read here

"2. No majority to hold that mid-decade redistricting violates one person, one vote because of the failure to use updated census data.

"3. No majority to find a Shaw violation (maybe that gets only Justice Kennedy's vote)." Some find Thomas' silence "intriguing" while I find it wholly unsurprising for a me-too judge. Ginsburg and Alito were also silent, but she fell asleep at the end of arguments and Alito is probably not wanting to make a big splash. It was hard to read CJ Roberts views since he has tough questions both ways.

"4. A possible majority to hold that one or two districts violates section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, but no majority to hold that coalitional or influence disticts count for section 2 purposes (and a possible majority to affirmatively reject that stand)." Most commenters thought this was a far fetched possibility. Sounds like Orals did not go well for the petitioners.

In a few years, when state after state reredistricts whenever there is a change of hands in the state house, the US House will change hands since the party divide in this county is pretty narrow (since I believe the 15 seat edge the GOP have will sigificantly deminish after 2006, if not turn into a deficit). Maybe the unintended consequence of this will be de facto term limits, or maybe the Congress will turn into California's legislature, where there is barely any institutional memory and choas abounds. Maybe then congress will get off their duffs and redistrict themselves in a fair fashion...or they will just protect themselves as much as possible.

As things stand, every 10 years, candidates pick their voters, instead of every two years the voters pick their representative, as the constitution mandates.

Ye almighty [Republican] Executive

Isn't it sad that the minute the White House changes party hands, the Republican congress change their tune completely? How many inquiries did we have to the silly messups of the Clinton White House? How many grand inquisitors did Congress hire for that (3)?

Yet those same folks phone in their questioning and document requests and hearings. Folks like my Senator Orin Hatch ask softballs to administration officials when they are appointed by Republicans, but when hired by Democrats, he is all over them.

Now you can say partisan politics is corrupting both sides and copy and paste that into a "moderate" washingtonian column. But reality is that if Democrats were in control of congress and the presidency, the two branches would still eat each other alive (see 1992-1994).

McCelland Democrats

Digby's right, bloggers aren't extreme in the ideological sense, they are extreme in the tactic sense.

We are tired of being asked for more troops (money) without any more action (aggressive challenges) against the Rebels (extremist Republicans). The DC pundits and consultants seem to be afriad of their own shadows.

Bush's approval rating is at 34%, an all time low. The port deal is starting to smell more and more of cronyism. For the first time ever, more of the public believes Congressional Democrats, not Bush, have their best security interests at heart. Democrats lead by fairly large margins in generic ballot tests. Democrats are poised to pick up the majority of the governorships in the country, especially in the key swingable states of Ohio and Arkansas (and possibily Florida). Race by race polls show that if the election were held today, Democrats would have 49-50 seats in the senate, and make similarlly large gains in the House.

Now is not a time for timidity, now is a time for boldness. While the GOP is divided and weak, Democrats need to strike. They need to put out a platform that shows what we are for at the end the summer (launching a nationwide campaign starting labor day).

We need more Grants, and less McCellands.

Virgil [No]Goode and John Dolittle [for his constituents, but lots for his coffers]

Don't ethically challeneged GOP House members have great names?

Mitchel Wade, who bribed ex-Rep. (current con) "Duke" Cunningham, has pled guilty to giving illegal contributions to Goode, to the tune of $46K [by having his employees and their wifes donate to Goode and then reembursing them]


According to TPM, "Wade asked that Goode request appropriations funding for an MZM facility in Goode's district soon after he'd just delivered most of the $46K. This was at some unspecified time "in the spring" - the contributions were mostly made in March of 2005, so it can't have been long. By June 2005, 'Representative A [Goode] confirmed to Wade that the appropriations bill would include $9M for the facility and a related program.'"

Doolittle was busy taking Abramoff-paid trips (as were his staffers), as well as the other Duke briber, Brent Wilkes. Again, TPM lays it out:

Wilkes convinced Doolittle with $85,000 (from himself, his employees, his lobbyists) in contributions over three years. In return, PerfectWave won Doolittle’s support for $37M in earmarked appropriations. In a Washington Post story on this last week, Doolittle responded with a statement that "he frequently supports 'well deserving projects throughout the state.'" And "his support of PerfectWave Technology ‘was no exception and based completely on the project's merits and the written support of the military.'"

These two aren't the only ones, just ones with most scandalworthy names.

In response to commenters Bob, Col. Takashi and la

Here is the statement that was in the Salt Lake Tribune, they have it on tape, they have witnesses to confirm that it happened.

At a recent meeting in American Fork a man identifying himself as a former Green Beret stood to share his testimony.
"If you're a Democrat, I want you to understand that I support my president," he said in comments recorded by the church for homebound members. "And if you have a problem with that, we can talk behind the church."

I don't know if this is typical, or if this guy was LDS (I assume he was, otherwise, what was he doing testifying). I was only going off an interview of the article's author (who did interview lots of people and got many replies to his article) as to the extent of the problem. My concern is about over deference to authority, not the threat of violence.

As for the comparison of what Clinton did to what Bush did: Clinton did a limited strike based on concrete information. And for all we know, this strike is what eliminated WMD's in 1999 and Saddam fudged having them until 2003. By the way, republicans wanted to see proof and talked about "Wag the Dog" when he did it. I have no way of knowing what Clinton's motivations were. I think he is a smileball for having an affair with a 23 year old intern and lying to the public about it and his staff (and wife). But I don't think it was an impeachable offense.

There is mountains of evidence that the Bush administration knew that the intelligence was not rock solid, but they ignored or whitewashed any doubts or hesitations of those officials. There is some sketchy evidence that a DoD official (Larry Franklin) shopped the fake yellow cake documents to people in Italy to get the idea that Saddam had nukes or wanted them in the for front.

I can name dozens of times Cheney, Bush, Rice, and others misled and insinated that Saddam was connected to 9/11 and had nuclear weapons or was trying to get them. All of these instances are on tape.

As to Bush as sinner. I get the redemption thing and I am sure Bush doesn't drink anymore and he believes in all the doctrines of the Southern Baptists. And hats off to him for that. But he still a liar, he still supports tabbacco companies, he still thinks he is more important than other people, and he still is jealous, vengeful, hateful, hypocritical, deceitful, arrogant, incompetent, and irresponsible. And to make him out as more religious than say Kerry is ridiculous. Kerry was an altar boy. He goes to mass...religiously, he went even though there were threats to deny him eucharist because of his position on abortion. Anyone and everyone can refer to God (in God we trust, etc.), and that is fine with me. But when they say to friend that God put them there to do, it bothers me. As Lincoln said, both sides of the war think they are doing God's will; they both can't be right.

I think the Church leaders ARE more moderate than their political leadership. Rumor has it that the Prophet (President Hinckley) is a Democrat. A very good Mormon (head of the mission in Vancover or Montreal) was liberal Democrat: fmr. US Rep. Wayne Owens. I knew Wayne; he was a great man who spent his last days working for middle-east peace and leading search parties for Elizabeth Smart.

I sure hope that Bush has been dropping in Utah. I don't understand what there is to like about his administration, what he has accomplished. And don't say 9/11: any president would have done that. And Iraq, well I am glad Saddam is gone, but the country is definately less stable and less secure becuase of our presence (see the bombing of a Shite holy site today in Iraq). I wouldn't consider that an accomplishment. No Child Left Behind, Medicare part D, and other domestic legislation has been a disaster. The tax cuts haven't helpped anyone but the rich. I gave all of my $50 2001 tax cut to the Red Cross after 9/11, then wished I could have given it to a better organization. THe Bush presidency has been a failure and a sad example of how far partisanship will ruin our constitution and our country.

a pattern emerges

When did they bother to tell the president? That has become the question of the last couple of weeks and might as well be the question of the Bush presidency.

When Cheney shot a man accidently in the face, Bush didn't hear about it for several hours, and he had to beg Cheney to go on Fox News. When Katrina hit New Orleans, it was several days until someone explained to the vacationer in chief that the levees had failed. When we were attacked on 9/11, Bush's detail waited 9 minutes until they bothered to tell George to stop reading "my pet goat" to Florida school children. When a plane accidentally entered restricted airspace and officials evacuated the White House and Capitol, no one interupted Bush's bike ride in nearby Maryland. When DHS has outsourced our port security in key cities to a company controlled by a royal family that met with Bin Laden in 1999, no one tells the president until the information is leaked to the public and a fury erupts from everywhere.

Cheney sees himself as the co-president I guess, getting the right to call the shots from the situation room with Lynne on 9/11 while Bush is on Air Force One running away, and declassifying matters of national security for political purposes. Meanwhile, White House officials don't seem to think informing the president is that crucial in terms of decision making on major policy issues.

Is it because he doesn't like to hear bad news? His input is unnecessary if Cheney has given his? They don't want to scare/confuse him? Or Bush isn't really in charge? If the last one is true, then who is? Cheney? Some senior WH official? A cabinet level guy like Rumsfeld? Who elected these people?

Because when Bush is asleep at the wheel, bad stuff happens politically. And when he is on the ball, bad stuff happens administratively, and eventually politically.

America's spoiled brats in Torino

I know a million bloggers must have said this already, but I am tired of hearing about seeing or thinking about Bode Miller. All talk and hype (on the cover of TIME and Newsweek and probabbly sports illustrated) and nothing. The most impressive thing I saw from Miller was after he hit a gate and was already disqualified how he stayed on his feet with only one ski on the course (the other he was trying to get back in front of him). He doesn't seem to care about being there or winning or anything. He just wants to try some crazy way down the hill instead of finishing.

Even worse is Shani Davis, the speedskater. I know I am supposed to be all jazzed that he is the first black man and the first individual African-American winter olympian to win anything, let alone gold, but he is a jerk. And it isn't just that he decided last minute not to do the team race. That was his call and really all those speedskaters do their own thing. But it was another to be annoyed to talk to the NBC people after he won. The lady asked softballs, tried to get him to say something memorable, something positive. His answers were "yeah," "uh huh" and so on. Then he claimed "I am at a loss for words" when his tone was completely flat and there was zero smile on his face. The facial expression of his interviewer after tossing it back to the booth was priceless. To me it said, "I gave it my all guys, but he just is too cool to talk to, what the heck is his deal?" He was the moodiest gold medalist I have ever seen.

Shani could have turned his gold into more gold for him and his mother. He could have been nice and happy and flashed a smile and said something funny or memorable and gotten a nike endorsement. He could have even played the race card and been discussed. Now he just comes off as a bratty only child. His mama smeared the US speed skating organization, but didn't elaborate on how they "operate by intimindation, and I am not going to be intimidated." He trains with some guy in Canada most of the time, why doesn't he just join the Canadian team since he doesn't seem to care for the American one. And he isn't a poor black kid from the bad part of town in Chicago, they live in Evanston, one of the wealthiest areas of Chicagoland.

Meanwhile, the guy that got a silver in Shani's race, Joey Cheek, gave the bonus money he won from his medal (and the gold bonus money from the 500m race he won too) to a non-profit that allows kids in war-torn areas play sports. He asked the NBC people to talk about the non-profit and especially Darfur. They didn't even really interview Joey, too busy focusing on the bitch off between Shani and an ex-inline skater on the American team. Why aren't we celebrating Joey Cheek, NBC? He seems like an average guy who is humble, nice, good looking, and "All-American." Seems like perfect sponsorship material.

Watching this year reminds me of how cool it was to have the games in Salt Lake, and how magical it was to fly out from college and be able to see some events and go to the German house etc. There is talk about bringing the games back to SLC in 2014 or so. Hoepfully the city by then will normally feel like the city did during those 2 magical weeks in 2002.

What is wrong with Utah?

In 49 states, 98 percent of the states that make up the United States of America, Bush is at or below 50 percent. The only one where a majority of its residents support the President is Utah with a 58% to 39% approval-disapproval rating. (source: SurveyUSA - 50 State POTUS 02/06 Sort By State )

Why? Does it have to do with the general conservatism of Utah, and its overwhelming support of him in 2004 (I believe he got around 75% in the Beehive State)? Does it have to do with Bush's religious conservatism, which match up nicely on a great many "moral values" with Utah (drinking, gays, death penalty, abortion, etc.)? Or does it have to do with the nature of the LDS religion itself and the way it manifests itself in Utah?

I have talked to many LDS people living outside of Utah who tell me that they have been to or lived in Utah and they just couldn't stand the Utah "version" of their faith. Some said it was holier than thou, others that it was overly conformist and Orwellian in feel. Could it be that a desire to follow the herd, to blindly support authorities is more prevalent in Utah and in particular LDS Utahns? I don't know and I am not going to conjecture any further, since I don't want to be accused of bigotry.

I respect the LDS religion and my LDS friend's faith and devotion to their Church. I can understand their feelings on abortion, the death penalty, drinking, smoking, and a few other things. That is not to say that I agree with their viewpoints or beliefs, although I must say that I love the restrictions on drinking and smoking in this state. I think it makes for a cleaner, safer society.

But what I don't get is their support of Bush. This is a man that routinely lies, swears, was an alcoholic until age 40, might have done illegal drugs, got himself out of war via connections, supports cigarette companies and other polluters, who has stated that he is acting on God's blessing when he lies to get us into war, and so on. I can't find much Christian in Bush the man or Bush the office. He is jealous, vengeful, hateful, hypocritical, deceitful, arrogant, incompetent, and irresponsible.

In a ward meeting in American Folk, a man got up to testify and stated that he was a green beret, and that if anyone spoke ill of the president (or his policies) or the war specifically, he would like to "finish it outside." That is, he threatened physical violence. Others have reported that similar (although less blatant) statements have been made at their local ward/stakehouse. So too have other LDS Utahns said that their meeting house is more tolerant. But the tolerant ones, at least anecdotally, seem to be outnumbered by the intolerant according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

I think it is sad that there is no room for discussion of the war when the LDS Presidency has not taken any official stance on it. Sure, they have said support the troops and support the commander in chief, but even the Unitarians would agree with that.

[Correction: on closer inspection, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Alabama approve of Bush with a 50+% rating. However, Utah's is still the highest and has never sunk.]

head of the class

So today we taught again this mornning. A large portion of that was eaten up by a test we gave as part of the mid-terms and the requirement thereof. I was amazed by how many kids got 55% or below (1/3 at least). Some questions were a bit tricky now that I think about it if you weren't paying attention in class, but really, if you listened and took notes (we let them have a 1 page cheat sheet), you should have been fine.

In fact, because of extra credit, one kid got a 103. Many kids just gave up or made up crazy answers. And spelling was out of this world. But hey, I appreciate the effort for the most part. I think we have them whipped into some sort of shape after my partner gave them a pop quiz next time.

Fridays are always joke days for me at the law school, so I too half-listened while grading the High Schoolers tests. I am happy for the nicer weather after this bitter snow days and even happier for a long weekend and positive blood test results on my kidneys. (oh and I don't have HIV or Hep, which is good too). My sister the doctor ordered lots of tests but I had enough blood to spare.

In political news, I am amazed to some degree that Harry Wittingham appologized to Cheney for Cheney shooting him in the face. Notice in the photos you see of him his face is bruised but that the side that is shown in the left side, and he was hit on the right. So who knows what that side looks like. I hope Harry is feeling fine, and can go back to being an evil GOP lawyer soon.

McCain hypocrisy watch

So remember first off that McCain was a member of the Keating Five before he "got religion" and became a campaign finance crusader. It was a goal to save his own skin.

So then McCain signed up with liberal and contrarian Sen. Russ Feingold to eliminate soft money and close each and every loophole...once someone got in trouble (see the sudden desire to close the 'American Indian' loophole or 527 or sham 501(c)(3)s).

But now that he is running for president, he tossing aside foibles, hiring Bush fundraisers and pioneers left and right (today he hired Bush's NH fundraiser, someone who will be useful to prove support for a candidate inside the Granite State). More hypocritically, he letting himself be a money raising prop to people who gather funds in largely unregulated (or compared to the federal system underregulated) amounts.

In seeking to reach his goal [of raising $120 Million], Schwarzenegger is offering large donors personal access. Invitations to a March 20 dinner in Beverly Hills offer "head table seating with the governor" for two and six photos of couples with the governor for those who contribute at least $100,000 to his reelection campaign and the state GOP. The dinner's star speaker is Sen. John McCain..."The important thing is that all the rules within the state are followed, and the senator himself is not soliciting large donations," said John Weaver, a McCain strategist.

That's a pretty fine line. McCain isn't soliciting large donations for himself, but soliciting them for his friends, whom he can later ask political favors from in the primaries.

Let's say the GOP 2008 primary is between George Allen and John McCain (which CPAC straw polls show are by far the most liked candidates) and that McCain took NH but Allen took SC, the rest of the other states have been pretty even but now it is Super Tuesday and California is the biggest prize. Don't you think helping out Arnold get re-elected (let's hope CA voters aren't that dumb twice) would mean that the Governor would endorse and work for McCain?

a peek inside the mad house

From Hotline on Call:

We heard Mike Allen refer to this on Larry King Live, and this morning, The Note offers up this nugget: "Sources close to the Vice President say that there was actually a statement prepared either by Cheney, or with his help, to be delivered Sunday morning after the accident. It was something the White House suggested -- and might have been prepared with some White House help. But it was determined by his advisors and by him that morning that it was too 'convoluted,' and might not be the best way to proceed. They decided it might be best to have somebody who actually witnessed the accident explain what happened. For some reason, they thought that would seem more 'credible,' hence, the involvement of Katherine Armstrong. They now see that this was likely bad judgment."

Here's what Allen said last night: "And, Larry, the vice president and one of the staff members actually had worked up a statement that they considered releasing on Sunday morning but it was so obtuse and elliptical that it was decided that that would just cause even more of a frenzy, so they waited to do it this way."

So they couldn't even swallow the lies that they were preparing to give on the story. I wonder what it said, because the story that they did come out with via a lobbyist and an appointed ambassador, was pretty pathetic. Maybe they thought saying the same thing through a different source really would be more believable.

Meanwhile, when did the President hear about it? What about Scotty? Was Scotty's communications team crafting the story? Was Karl Rove? These folks are pathalogical lairs. Forthcommingness and honesty is just about the last thing that would come to mind.

Sure, Clinton's first reaction was to duck the hard truth about his womanizing nature, but he didn't shoot anyone in the face, neck, and chest. Nor did he lie to go to war in Kosovo or Haiti. As far as I can tell the CYA of the Clinton White House was on unnecessary non-scandals that were turned into scandals by zealous GOPers like Barbara Comstock. The CYA of the Bush White House involve Iraq, outing a CIA agent for political gain, information on key legislation (Medicare plan B, Energy policy, spending bills for Iraq/Afghanistan, etc.), warrantless domestic spying, Katrina, and much more.

Dick Cheney firmly believes that the executive can do whatever it wants and doesn't have to share any information. In fact, information sharing is a sin or necessary evil in the Cheney world view. And this was just the latest example.

friendly fire

by using this title, i can link together various semi-related topics.

Like Dick Cheney accidently shooting a 78-old friend from 30 feet away while the Abassador to Switzerland looked on. And then no one wanted to report it, except the campaign donor whose land they were on at the time 18-hours later. Oh and the man is still in intensive care. Much has already been said about this, and even my sleepy East High students knew about it and asked me what happened.

And now for the main thrust of my article, I ask that there be no more pieces from bloggers on how DINO one primary candidate is, and how the other is so much better, without laying out any policy positional differences. The number one offender of this is Michael in Chicago on MyDD. I have no way of judging other than money and polling at this point which candidate is better for Henry Hyde's seat. But just because the D-trip supports Duckworth over Celigis (sp?) doesn't mean that Duckworth is enherantly worse. There may be reasons to support Duckworth other than the fact that the bloggers liked the other canidate last time (fundraising ability, appealability to more voters, etc.). Same goes with Sharrod Brown and Paul Hacket.

I personally like Hacket in this one more than Brown, if only because Hacket got in first and didn't pretend like he wasn't going to enter the race only to enter in later. Brown just strikes me as more of a stereotypical pol than Hacket. Of course, whatever Ohio democrats decide is ok with me. Ditto for IL primary voters.

It is just completely unproductive to smear candidates without actually having any real policy discussion. I am fine with people not supporting Casey in PA because of his abortion stance, or is support of Alito (again on abortion most likely), but you can't deny that he stands the best chance against Santorum based on polls.

Again, go ahead and bash Lieberman and Cuegular (sp?) for their support of Bush policy's and contrast the differing positions of their oposition.

But don't bash John Morrison in Montana because the DLC named him as a new dem of the week (I did) or because he was a member of the DLC's 100 to watch a couple years in arow. The DLC supported Morrison because he looked like he would run for governor or senator down the road, and was vaguely in line with their political philosophy. I haven't heard much about Tester's positions other than his support by (1) Kos and (2) Pearl Jam. I like both, but that doesn't do it for me. Morrison supported ways of increasing health insurance coverage for Montana's children, he knows about water issues and western issues and can explain it to easterns in a way that will get positive changes made in Washington. Tester is an organic farmer whose district was republican in the state senate. That's about all I know of him. That, and as Kos points out, he has a donkey and the word "democrat" in his web banner. Who cares?

Oh and Morrison is currently polling ahead of Burns, while Tester is behind Burns (and Morrison has more money than Tester).

Whomever wins these contested primaries will need our support come November in order to have a chance of taking back either house of Congress. So please, if you prefer a candidate, state your reasons why in policy terms, not conspiracy/slur terms.

Long days

Wednesdays are long for me, but made only longer when they are sandwiched by long Tuesdays and long Thursdays like this week. Yesterday, I taught in the morning (7:45) with my fellow law student, worked for 4 hours at the DA's office, then went to school until 7:30. After that, I played basketball from 8:30 to 9:30 (I ate dinner and changed at a Subway restaurant). I didn't get home until 10 PM.

Today, I didn't get home until 8:45 and I had been going since 9 AM. Tomorrow's schedule is just like Tuesdays. At least Friday will be light, with a mid morning class, a lunch meeting and a afternoon class. I have the opening ceremonies to watch up at my parent's house while they are away. The big screen awaits.

In other commentary, I am impressed at how quickly messages can be solidified for the Democratic party/liberals on the lefty blogostan. [For example, see the reaction to the furor over CS King's funeral] Great talking points emerge from the big blogs, and evidence to back up the ideas emerge either within the group blogs or becomes linked to the big ones. Now all Democrats need is the ability to get this honed message out to the non-blogging public.

That requires getting real air time on cable news channels, which are becoming angry conservative AM talk radio with pictures and fancy graphics, or newsprint, which is filled sniveling cowardly bootlickers like the NYTimes staff and the WaPo editorial board. Occasionally, there are some good journalists, like ex-TIME now Slate's John Dickerson. Dickerson, while still a creature of the beltway, at least has a code of ethics and knows a rat when he smells one (and isn't afraid to point out the rat).

Soon, TV and radio may die away as effective messengers to the voters/opinion shapers. Blogs like Daily Kos are growing so rapidly that soon their "circulation" numbers will trump not just big papers like NYTimes, but all papers COMBINED.

Democrats have a built in advantage as consensus builders who like to argue out crap forever, while GOPers like the unity of top down messengers like talk radio, cable news, or op-ed columnists. Democrats need to learn how to use free tools effectively, and not just spam us bloggers for money twice a week. Like I care about the LG race in Alabama.

post-super bowl heartburn edition

This is my photo of the day. I know the person who put it up there mistyped, but I think it is a Freudian slip. The media is so gutless, so willing to report smears and pathetic arguments as "both sides" instead of the truth, that this caption is partially true. Norah doesn't sell herself for sex, but she is paid to be unnecessarily deferential to the White House's arguments and the Republican-controlled congress. That makes one an informational whore, not a sexual prostitute.

I went to go see "Good Night, And Good Luck" last night.

It was pretty well done cinematography wise, it had the feel of an old
(50s) movie beyond the fact that it was in black and white. The film
made me sad because there doesn't seem to be a Murrow
(except maybe Anderson Cooper) out there to challenge the current McCarthyesque
tactics of the current administration and their lackeys in Congress.

A Patriots-free Super Bowl just isn't the same for me. As much as I was rooting for the Steelers, I still had trouble caring as much. How sad that Tom Brady tossed the official coin instead of calling heads or tails and actually playing in the Super Bowl. And weren't those ads lame? The only "good" ones were the AmeriQuest ones, the McGyver one, and the Emrald Nuts one.

I remember back in 2000 or 1999, the ads were fantastic. Like that E-Trade one with the monkey ("Well we just blew $2 million, what are you doing with your money?"). All those Christian conservatives that yelled at the networks and the NFL over Janet Jackson when she and JC plotted the scheme to attract sales to her records. If you should be mad, be mad at Mr. Jackson who beat his children into being 1) a child molester 2) drug/alcohol addicts 3) a flasher to a billion people 4) just plain crazy [LaToya] and who knows what happened to Tito. The creativity has gone out the window in favor of super bland ads.

Here is another Super Bowl that was effective: WhatistheMaxtrix.com the ad for the movie that left me confused and intregued. Wow, that was neat I thought, I wonder what that ad was for. Then people explained to me it was a film. With Kenu Reeves? Well, I did see Bill and Ted's and that Budda movie, I must be a sucker for Whooa!

medicial reform

recently I have been having some health scares and have been seeing various doctors. And now from personal experience, I can tell my dear readers that our system is completely out of wack.

Because it is an employer-based and profit-motivated system, we get loads of unnecessary tests to bill to insurance rather than to make sure something is nothing. In the rest of the developed world, their health care system is dramatically cheeper and their life expectancy is just as good or better (Japan) than ours.

Why? They don't have loads of officials trying to weasle there way out of paying for something, or asking for people to fill out and copy the same forms a billion times. They share as much equipment and patients as possible, making the cost per a patient dramatically lower.

When the focus is on cost rather than profits, we will practice preventative medicine rather than letting millions of Americans wait until they have to go the emergency room until they get expensive care. There will still be precautionary tests, but we won't have doctors insisting on expensive tests that serve no purpose when it doesn't effect their bottom line.

By pooling patients and doctors, we can reduce medicial insurance and malpractice premiums, instead of creating thousands of little boxes to put people in. The more I think about our system, the madder I get and the more irrational and unnecessary it seems.

The rich could still have supplimental care so that all our super specialists could make their big bucks and do all their fancy tests with pricy machines, but most people would not need to use those super specialists except in rare cases of acute problems.

All this fear of socialism has gotten us into this prediciment. Our people are earning less because premiums go up while wages stay stagnant or lower. Americans are quickly having a competitive disadvantage relative to Europe Canada, etc. when it comes to companies wanting to employ people here. Why else would GM make noises about a single-payer system.

Here's a thought: change federal law so that states like Maine and Massachusetts could try out a single payer system. Then if it works in a place like Massachusetts, with all its teaching hospitals and specialists, it can work nationwide. What is Congress afraid of? Political donations from Pharma and insurance companies drying up?

update on teaching

so today I taught again, and it was much better.

part of the solution was that I had 30 minutes less time to teach. Another part was that I purposely slowed down and did some review with candy. Every time a kid answered a question correctly, I threw candy at them.

This got at least 5 people talking, but I would love to hear more ideas of how to involve more students.

I also was able to make it somewhat interesting to them by telling them about Utah's exonoree, Bruce Goodman and how the trial system and appellate process works.

On Friday, I plan on having them all act out the McDonald's coffee case, with some being witnesses and the rest being the jury. Any thoughts on how to wake the kids up, use up 1.5 hours, and make it fun are welcome. Thanks to commmentors who talked me off the proverbial ledge after Monday's train wreck.