O:9:"magpierss":23:{s:6:"parser";i:0;s:12:"current_item";a:0:{}s:5:"items";a:25:{i:0;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/37217.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Sat, 02 Jun 2007 21:23:28 GMT";s:5:"title";s:63:"Look, Honey--Democrats!  Notes from the John Edwards fundraiser";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/37217.html";s:11:"description";s:439:"
<br /><br />Some pix and tidbits from last night's John Edwards fundraiser are at our <font size="4">new Voice of Utah home:</font> <font color="#0000ff" size="5"><a href="http://voiceofutah.blogspot.com">http://voiceofutah.blogspot.com</a>.&nbsp;</font>Please change your links.&nbsp; We'll be posting pointers here only until&nbsp;<a href="http://utahbloghive.org">the Bloghive</a> starts getting our new feed.&nbsp; Thanks.<br /><br />";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/37217.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"5";}s:7:"summary";s:439:"
<br /><br />Some pix and tidbits from last night's John Edwards fundraiser are at our <font size="4">new Voice of Utah home:</font> <font color="#0000ff" size="5"><a href="http://voiceofutah.blogspot.com">http://voiceofutah.blogspot.com</a>.&nbsp;</font>Please change your links.&nbsp; We'll be posting pointers here only until&nbsp;<a href="http://utahbloghive.org">the Bloghive</a> starts getting our new feed.&nbsp; Thanks.<br /><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1180819408;}i:1;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36906.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:17:20 GMT";s:5:"title";s:28:"Voice of Utah -- new address";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36906.html";s:11:"description";s:495:"Can't upload more than few sentences of text to LiveJournal (again) <br /><br />+ CrapJournal "working on it" (again) <br /><br />+ Sick of CrapJournal unreliability <br /><br />+ <s>Three</s> Countless readers anxious to know VoU views on hot Utah issues <br /><br />= New Voice of Utah address, effective with this morning's inaugural post:<br /><br /><font color="#0000ff" size="5"><a href="http://voiceofutah.blogspot.com">http://voiceofutah.blogspot.com</a></font><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36906.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:495:"Can't upload more than few sentences of text to LiveJournal (again) <br /><br />+ CrapJournal "working on it" (again) <br /><br />+ Sick of CrapJournal unreliability <br /><br />+ <s>Three</s> Countless readers anxious to know VoU views on hot Utah issues <br /><br />= New Voice of Utah address, effective with this morning's inaugural post:<br /><br /><font color="#0000ff" size="5"><a href="http://voiceofutah.blogspot.com">http://voiceofutah.blogspot.com</a></font><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1180714640;}i:2;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36766.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Sun, 27 May 2007 17:21:33 GMT";s:5:"title";s:39:"Some unsolicited advice to Ralph Becker";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36766.html";s:11:"description";s:5268:"Ralph Becker's folks evidently liked the <a href="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660224426,00.html">story</a> in this morning's D-News reminding us that many of Utah's part-time legislators have conflicts of interest on bills that they sponsor. What a shocker! (Well, actually it was; we would have guessed the percentage of conflict bills at much higher than 25 percent.) Anyway, back to Becker, whose <a href="http://www.ralphbecker.com/2007/05/27/leading-by-doing-story-highlights-ralph-beckers-commitment-to-ethics-in-government/">campaign website</a> quickly linked to the article. That was understandable, because it depicted Becker as a guy interested in ethical government. That's always good. Ironically, though, when I got to this part I had to laugh: <br /><br /><ul>House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake, says he has considered several ways to make conflicts of interest more "open and transparent" in the Utah Legislature. But each time he has made proposals, he has met with resistance from colleagues and abandoned his efforts.</ul>The funny part wasn't so much the comment as the imagined reaction to it by VoU2 if she happened to read it. Just two days earlier, when asked her perception of Ralph Becker, VoU2 offered this take:<br /><br /><ul>"I think he’s been in the legislature too long. He’s been browbeaten. He doesn’t know how to run anything because he's used to rolling over."</ul>Don't get us wrong--we both think that Ralph Becker would probably be a pretty good mayor. He's one of our top three choices. He's intelligent, a capable businessman, and a Democrat. (Yes, we know, potholes aren’t Democratic or Republican, but until there is more balance in this state, party is a tiebreaker.) He just doesn't rev our engines.<br /><br />What’s our problem with Ralph Becker?  Mush.  Becker supporters, hold your fire.  These are honest perceptions formed by a couple of disinterested observers; wouldn’t you rather know what people are thinking?  What might tip the scales for undecideds like us?  We’re not saying that Becker isn’t smart; we know that he is. We’re not saying that he isn’t ethical; we know that he is. To us, he just comes across as, well, mushy.<br /><p>Willing to admit that I might be wrong, I sat down with a respected veteran of city politics a while back and ran through the list of candidates. Except for one candidate, they all have their pros and cons and would be acceptable, he opined. When it came to Becker, the burning question had to be asked: <br /><br /></p><ul>"Is he a wimp?" <br /><br />"A bit," he nodded. "But he would not be a bad mayor."</ul>Good to hear. So, can Becker get elected? He was at 9 percent in last month's early poll, but top candidate Jenny Wilson only had 20, so it's a wide open field. Speaking of Wilson, to an outsider she seems to have the personality trait what we're talking about: Oomph. It. Pizzazz. When Wilson upset incumbent Steve Harmsen in 2004, it wasn't just about (sur)name recognition, good organization, and perfect timing. She had attitude. Who could forget the time that she drove behind Nancy Workman's dignified vehicle in a little car with a sign that said, "Already saving the County money"? Brilliant. <br /><br />Salt Lake is used to a mayor who, for good or bad, grabs the bull by the horns. Love him or hate him, no one can accuse Rocky Anderson of being wishy washy. Granted, more than once we’ve wished that Rocky would do things differently, less eye poking and more hand shaking. But we want to feel confident that the mayor could jab someone in the eye if he needed to. Could Becker? We don't know. Could Wilson? Oh, yeah. In spite of, or perhaps because of, her background in child advocacy, Wilson is outspoken and gutsy – not inappropriately, and not all the time, thank goodness. Just as we don’t want to be led by the Lord of Milquetoast, we don’t want Mayorzilla stomping around, either. We’re not asking Becker to flip the bird to Greg Curtis or chain himself to the City Center Trax station to protest the Skybridge. We just want to believe that he could come out swinging if an occasion called for it. <br /><p>Becker is – and he’ll be the first to tell you this – a diplomat, a consensus builder, a collaborator, a compromiser, a guy who plays well with others. We get it already. GOP legislators won't hate you like they hate Rocky. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Compromise is a good thing. All true. We like a guy who seeks compromises, as long as he will put someone over his knee when needed, say, in the unlikely event that the state legislature did something irrational and/or retaliatory and/or mean-spirited. A guy who writes poetry is wonderful, if he can also punch out the mugger in the alley. If you want to win over waverers like us -- and if you don't, fair enough -- amidst all the "consensus-building" and "collaboration" and "quiet diplomacy," how about sprinkling an occasional "I feel strongly about this . . . ." <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008wqqa/"><img height="240" width="180" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008wqqa/s320x240" /></a></div><br /><br /></p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36766.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:5268:"Ralph Becker's folks evidently liked the <a href="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660224426,00.html">story</a> in this morning's D-News reminding us that many of Utah's part-time legislators have conflicts of interest on bills that they sponsor. What a shocker! (Well, actually it was; we would have guessed the percentage of conflict bills at much higher than 25 percent.) Anyway, back to Becker, whose <a href="http://www.ralphbecker.com/2007/05/27/leading-by-doing-story-highlights-ralph-beckers-commitment-to-ethics-in-government/">campaign website</a> quickly linked to the article. That was understandable, because it depicted Becker as a guy interested in ethical government. That's always good. Ironically, though, when I got to this part I had to laugh: <br /><br /><ul>House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake, says he has considered several ways to make conflicts of interest more "open and transparent" in the Utah Legislature. But each time he has made proposals, he has met with resistance from colleagues and abandoned his efforts.</ul>The funny part wasn't so much the comment as the imagined reaction to it by VoU2 if she happened to read it. Just two days earlier, when asked her perception of Ralph Becker, VoU2 offered this take:<br /><br /><ul>"I think he’s been in the legislature too long. He’s been browbeaten. He doesn’t know how to run anything because he's used to rolling over."</ul>Don't get us wrong--we both think that Ralph Becker would probably be a pretty good mayor. He's one of our top three choices. He's intelligent, a capable businessman, and a Democrat. (Yes, we know, potholes aren’t Democratic or Republican, but until there is more balance in this state, party is a tiebreaker.) He just doesn't rev our engines.<br /><br />What’s our problem with Ralph Becker?  Mush.  Becker supporters, hold your fire.  These are honest perceptions formed by a couple of disinterested observers; wouldn’t you rather know what people are thinking?  What might tip the scales for undecideds like us?  We’re not saying that Becker isn’t smart; we know that he is. We’re not saying that he isn’t ethical; we know that he is. To us, he just comes across as, well, mushy.<br /><p>Willing to admit that I might be wrong, I sat down with a respected veteran of city politics a while back and ran through the list of candidates. Except for one candidate, they all have their pros and cons and would be acceptable, he opined. When it came to Becker, the burning question had to be asked: <br /><br /></p><ul>"Is he a wimp?" <br /><br />"A bit," he nodded. "But he would not be a bad mayor."</ul>Good to hear. So, can Becker get elected? He was at 9 percent in last month's early poll, but top candidate Jenny Wilson only had 20, so it's a wide open field. Speaking of Wilson, to an outsider she seems to have the personality trait what we're talking about: Oomph. It. Pizzazz. When Wilson upset incumbent Steve Harmsen in 2004, it wasn't just about (sur)name recognition, good organization, and perfect timing. She had attitude. Who could forget the time that she drove behind Nancy Workman's dignified vehicle in a little car with a sign that said, "Already saving the County money"? Brilliant. <br /><br />Salt Lake is used to a mayor who, for good or bad, grabs the bull by the horns. Love him or hate him, no one can accuse Rocky Anderson of being wishy washy. Granted, more than once we’ve wished that Rocky would do things differently, less eye poking and more hand shaking. But we want to feel confident that the mayor could jab someone in the eye if he needed to. Could Becker? We don't know. Could Wilson? Oh, yeah. In spite of, or perhaps because of, her background in child advocacy, Wilson is outspoken and gutsy – not inappropriately, and not all the time, thank goodness. Just as we don’t want to be led by the Lord of Milquetoast, we don’t want Mayorzilla stomping around, either. We’re not asking Becker to flip the bird to Greg Curtis or chain himself to the City Center Trax station to protest the Skybridge. We just want to believe that he could come out swinging if an occasion called for it. <br /><p>Becker is – and he’ll be the first to tell you this – a diplomat, a consensus builder, a collaborator, a compromiser, a guy who plays well with others. We get it already. GOP legislators won't hate you like they hate Rocky. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Compromise is a good thing. All true. We like a guy who seeks compromises, as long as he will put someone over his knee when needed, say, in the unlikely event that the state legislature did something irrational and/or retaliatory and/or mean-spirited. A guy who writes poetry is wonderful, if he can also punch out the mugger in the alley. If you want to win over waverers like us -- and if you don't, fair enough -- amidst all the "consensus-building" and "collaboration" and "quiet diplomacy," how about sprinkling an occasional "I feel strongly about this . . . ." <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008wqqa/"><img height="240" width="180" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008wqqa/s320x240" /></a></div><br /><br /></p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1180286493;}i:3;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36430.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Thu, 24 May 2007 19:53:23 GMT";s:5:"title";s:90:"The Trib & Shurtleff's big chills; Siegfried & [Back Soon]; Mero's nerve; and the China 14";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36430.html";s:11:"description";s:6520:"<font size="2">A break in the work action means a chance to catch up on that all-important ranting... <br /><br /><strong><font color="#993366">Lawyers gagged (or just wishful thinking)?&nbsp;</font></strong>&nbsp;Last week, the Utah Supreme Court held that statements to the media are not entitled to what is known as "judicial proceedings immunity."&nbsp; In most instances, people can't be sued for things said in open court or in a court filing.&nbsp; However, as the Supreme Court&nbsp;noted, speaking to the media doesn't serve the same function as speaking to a court.&nbsp; The Tribune </font><a href="http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_5961936"><font size="2">laments</font></a><font size="2"> this ruling as&nbsp;essentially a "gag order" that will deprive the public of important information.&nbsp; Nah.&nbsp; Most lawyers already knew or suspected that statements to the press were not immunized.&nbsp; Lawyers are professional wordsmiths; they are supposed to know how to get a point across in a way that is not technically defamatory.&nbsp; They can advise their clients of the ground rules, or funnel&nbsp;inquiries through themselves.&nbsp; We predict little, if any, change in the availability of&nbsp;information on lawsuits.&nbsp; After all, such statements are usually in the client’s interest, not to mention free publicity for the lawyer...<br /><br />Meanwhile, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff expressed similar fears in federal court yesterday, arguing </font><a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5974168"><font size="2">unsuccessfully</font></a><font size="2"> that having to testify about things he said in 2003 regarding </font><a href="http://www.ksl.com/?sid=1233118&amp;nid=303"><font size="2">Parker Jensen and his parents</font></a><font size="2"> might have a chilling effect on politicians making public statements.&nbsp; So what's the downside?&nbsp; Okay, but seriously, if a public official knows of what he speaks – a big if, perhaps – then what's the worry?&nbsp; Besides, does anyone really think that Mark Shurtleff -- he of&nbsp;"Save the Dog!" and "Iraqi Rocky" fame, and author of today's </font><a href="http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_5970733"><font size="2">Tribune tweak</font></a><font size="2"> -- is going to become a wallflower? We don't think so.<br /><br />Speaking of non-wallflowers, Mitch Jensen of Siegfried &amp; Jensen, whose face appears on&nbsp;TV screens approximately every 3 minutes, has been placed on probation in his law practice for 6 months by the Utah State Bar.&nbsp; But on the upside, S &amp; J's ads are less traumatic these days--no speeding cars crashing into each other lately.<br /><br /><font color="#993366"><strong>Mero's jaw dropper.&nbsp; </strong></font>A few days ago, Utah Amicus </font><a href="http://utahamicus.blogspot.com/2007/05/usdp-sutherlands-mero-uses-worst-of-all.html"><font size="2">pointed out</font></a><font size="2"> the use of the "worst of all possible analogies" by Paul Mero of the Sutherland Institute in a pro-voucher column.&nbsp; Not having seen the Tribune column to which UA referred, we thought perhaps it was an off the cuff remark, an ill-advised choice of words for which Mero might be given some slack.&nbsp; In response to UA's comments, Mero provided a link to his </font><a href="http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/uploads/southcarolinaslavery.pdf"><font size="2">entire essay</font></a><font size="2"> "for any of your colleagues interested in thinking."&nbsp; What the heck, we'll try anything once.<br /><br />Warning:&nbsp; Mero's essay is not for the weak of stomach. It is not an off the cuff remark, not a&nbsp;slip of the tongue.&nbsp; It is 6 pages of Mero arguing that there are legal, familial, socioeconomic, and "disquieting" parallels between slavery -- <em>slavery</em> -- and not receiving public funds for sending your kids to private school. (Mero's essay downplays the fact that parents are legally free not to send their children to public school already; what we are really talking about is getting public money for doing so.)&nbsp; At the beginning of each section, Mero reiterates that slavery was, like, really bad, but then argues at length that it is still analogous to not getting voucher money.&nbsp; We like a good debate, and we have even been known to change our minds once in a while, but this analogy is just nauseating.&nbsp; In Mero's last reminder that slavery was really not a good thing at all, he writes, "As a personal experience, there are no sane comparisons."&nbsp; Just sane "parallels."<br /><br /><font color="#993366"><strong>Update on the China 14:&nbsp; </strong></font>Today we </font><a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5974152"><font size="2">learned</font></a><font size="2">the shocking news that the upcoming boondoggle to China by 14 legislators (and two staff members, apparently) is going to cost a lot more taxpayer money than they originally claimed.&nbsp; What's more surprising, though, is that after three months the China 14 still can't come up with a straight-faced justification for this junket.&nbsp; The typical explanation goes something like this: "Well, er, uh..."--except for House Majority Leader David Clark, who shows some&nbsp;chutzpah by arguing that, not only is the trip important for, uh, lots of reasons and stuff, but&nbsp;it's essential!&nbsp; They would be derelict not to go!&nbsp; Good grief–why are you dilly dallying then?&nbsp; Utah's economy is hanging by a thread!</font><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008s54k/"><img height="234" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008s54k/s320x240" /></a></p><font size="2">Now we are really ticked at ex-teacher Carol Spackman Moss, who decided that the whole thing was a bunch of hooey and that she could not in good conscience&nbsp;go.&nbsp;&nbsp;"If I couldn't justify it to myself or my friends, then it wasn't worth it," Moss said in the Tribune article.&nbsp; Not everything is about you and your conscience, Rep. Moss.&nbsp; If Utah's economy goes straight to the toilet, we'll be pointing a finger at you and that empty seat on the China Fun Bus.&nbsp; P.S. Could you introduce some of your friends to Sen. Dmitrich?<br /></font><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008thz7/"><img height="240" alt="" width="274" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008thz7/s320x240" /></a><br /></p><br />";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36430.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:6520:"<font size="2">A break in the work action means a chance to catch up on that all-important ranting... <br /><br /><strong><font color="#993366">Lawyers gagged (or just wishful thinking)?&nbsp;</font></strong>&nbsp;Last week, the Utah Supreme Court held that statements to the media are not entitled to what is known as "judicial proceedings immunity."&nbsp; In most instances, people can't be sued for things said in open court or in a court filing.&nbsp; However, as the Supreme Court&nbsp;noted, speaking to the media doesn't serve the same function as speaking to a court.&nbsp; The Tribune </font><a href="http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_5961936"><font size="2">laments</font></a><font size="2"> this ruling as&nbsp;essentially a "gag order" that will deprive the public of important information.&nbsp; Nah.&nbsp; Most lawyers already knew or suspected that statements to the press were not immunized.&nbsp; Lawyers are professional wordsmiths; they are supposed to know how to get a point across in a way that is not technically defamatory.&nbsp; They can advise their clients of the ground rules, or funnel&nbsp;inquiries through themselves.&nbsp; We predict little, if any, change in the availability of&nbsp;information on lawsuits.&nbsp; After all, such statements are usually in the client’s interest, not to mention free publicity for the lawyer...<br /><br />Meanwhile, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff expressed similar fears in federal court yesterday, arguing </font><a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5974168"><font size="2">unsuccessfully</font></a><font size="2"> that having to testify about things he said in 2003 regarding </font><a href="http://www.ksl.com/?sid=1233118&amp;nid=303"><font size="2">Parker Jensen and his parents</font></a><font size="2"> might have a chilling effect on politicians making public statements.&nbsp; So what's the downside?&nbsp; Okay, but seriously, if a public official knows of what he speaks – a big if, perhaps – then what's the worry?&nbsp; Besides, does anyone really think that Mark Shurtleff -- he of&nbsp;"Save the Dog!" and "Iraqi Rocky" fame, and author of today's </font><a href="http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_5970733"><font size="2">Tribune tweak</font></a><font size="2"> -- is going to become a wallflower? We don't think so.<br /><br />Speaking of non-wallflowers, Mitch Jensen of Siegfried &amp; Jensen, whose face appears on&nbsp;TV screens approximately every 3 minutes, has been placed on probation in his law practice for 6 months by the Utah State Bar.&nbsp; But on the upside, S &amp; J's ads are less traumatic these days--no speeding cars crashing into each other lately.<br /><br /><font color="#993366"><strong>Mero's jaw dropper.&nbsp; </strong></font>A few days ago, Utah Amicus </font><a href="http://utahamicus.blogspot.com/2007/05/usdp-sutherlands-mero-uses-worst-of-all.html"><font size="2">pointed out</font></a><font size="2"> the use of the "worst of all possible analogies" by Paul Mero of the Sutherland Institute in a pro-voucher column.&nbsp; Not having seen the Tribune column to which UA referred, we thought perhaps it was an off the cuff remark, an ill-advised choice of words for which Mero might be given some slack.&nbsp; In response to UA's comments, Mero provided a link to his </font><a href="http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/uploads/southcarolinaslavery.pdf"><font size="2">entire essay</font></a><font size="2"> "for any of your colleagues interested in thinking."&nbsp; What the heck, we'll try anything once.<br /><br />Warning:&nbsp; Mero's essay is not for the weak of stomach. It is not an off the cuff remark, not a&nbsp;slip of the tongue.&nbsp; It is 6 pages of Mero arguing that there are legal, familial, socioeconomic, and "disquieting" parallels between slavery -- <em>slavery</em> -- and not receiving public funds for sending your kids to private school. (Mero's essay downplays the fact that parents are legally free not to send their children to public school already; what we are really talking about is getting public money for doing so.)&nbsp; At the beginning of each section, Mero reiterates that slavery was, like, really bad, but then argues at length that it is still analogous to not getting voucher money.&nbsp; We like a good debate, and we have even been known to change our minds once in a while, but this analogy is just nauseating.&nbsp; In Mero's last reminder that slavery was really not a good thing at all, he writes, "As a personal experience, there are no sane comparisons."&nbsp; Just sane "parallels."<br /><br /><font color="#993366"><strong>Update on the China 14:&nbsp; </strong></font>Today we </font><a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5974152"><font size="2">learned</font></a><font size="2">the shocking news that the upcoming boondoggle to China by 14 legislators (and two staff members, apparently) is going to cost a lot more taxpayer money than they originally claimed.&nbsp; What's more surprising, though, is that after three months the China 14 still can't come up with a straight-faced justification for this junket.&nbsp; The typical explanation goes something like this: "Well, er, uh..."--except for House Majority Leader David Clark, who shows some&nbsp;chutzpah by arguing that, not only is the trip important for, uh, lots of reasons and stuff, but&nbsp;it's essential!&nbsp; They would be derelict not to go!&nbsp; Good grief–why are you dilly dallying then?&nbsp; Utah's economy is hanging by a thread!</font><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008s54k/"><img height="234" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008s54k/s320x240" /></a></p><font size="2">Now we are really ticked at ex-teacher Carol Spackman Moss, who decided that the whole thing was a bunch of hooey and that she could not in good conscience&nbsp;go.&nbsp;&nbsp;"If I couldn't justify it to myself or my friends, then it wasn't worth it," Moss said in the Tribune article.&nbsp; Not everything is about you and your conscience, Rep. Moss.&nbsp; If Utah's economy goes straight to the toilet, we'll be pointing a finger at you and that empty seat on the China Fun Bus.&nbsp; P.S. Could you introduce some of your friends to Sen. Dmitrich?<br /></font><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008thz7/"><img height="240" alt="" width="274" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008thz7/s320x240" /></a><br /></p><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1180036403;}i:4;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36279.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Sun, 20 May 2007 19:36:47 GMT";s:5:"title";s:23:"Mitt & Jim & Guantanamo";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36279.html";s:11:"description";s:1937:"<p><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008p9gc/"></a>Don't you hate it when that crazy little thing called work gets in the way of the important stuff, like blogging? No time to encapsulate the thoughts buzzing around one's head into actual sentences, so one has to rely on visual aids . . . <br /><br />As a reader of local newspapers, of course, the most persistent buzz is the Mittster, the big hunter who fears only dirty diapers, the guy accused by John McCain of changing his position in "even numbered years." <br /><br /></p><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008kd7b/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008kd7b/s320x240" width="172" border="0" /></a></div><br />One thing that Mitt can claim consistency on, however, is Guantanamo, a subject dear to the heart of our own Jim Matheson. <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008qf8c/"><img height="210" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008qf8c/s320x240" width="320" border="0" /></a></div><br />"Heck, yes, I'm concerned about Guantanamo," Romney said recently. "Concerned that it's too small! It may be decades before all the people in there die! How are we going to fit all the new ones in?" <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008rxst/"><img height="240" width="210" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008rxst/s320x240" /></a></div><br />"What kind of wuss would vote for such a wimpy internment camp?" Romney said. <br /><br />Matheson--served! It's on!  Stay tuned for . . . the Wrath of Jim . . . <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008p9gc/"><img height="238" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008p9gc/s320x240" width="320" border="0" /></a></div>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36279.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:1937:"<p><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008p9gc/"></a>Don't you hate it when that crazy little thing called work gets in the way of the important stuff, like blogging? No time to encapsulate the thoughts buzzing around one's head into actual sentences, so one has to rely on visual aids . . . <br /><br />As a reader of local newspapers, of course, the most persistent buzz is the Mittster, the big hunter who fears only dirty diapers, the guy accused by John McCain of changing his position in "even numbered years." <br /><br /></p><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008kd7b/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008kd7b/s320x240" width="172" border="0" /></a></div><br />One thing that Mitt can claim consistency on, however, is Guantanamo, a subject dear to the heart of our own Jim Matheson. <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008qf8c/"><img height="210" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008qf8c/s320x240" width="320" border="0" /></a></div><br />"Heck, yes, I'm concerned about Guantanamo," Romney said recently. "Concerned that it's too small! It may be decades before all the people in there die! How are we going to fit all the new ones in?" <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008rxst/"><img height="240" width="210" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008rxst/s320x240" /></a></div><br />"What kind of wuss would vote for such a wimpy internment camp?" Romney said. <br /><br />Matheson--served! It's on!  Stay tuned for . . . the Wrath of Jim . . . <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008p9gc/"><img height="238" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008p9gc/s320x240" width="320" border="0" /></a></div>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1179689807;}i:5;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36085.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 16 May 2007 05:56:00 GMT";s:5:"title";s:49:"Utahns sticking up for poor celebrity lawbreakers";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36085.html";s:11:"description";s:3491:"Sitting here in a hotel room, working really hard, not watching the Jazz game at all, the thought suddenly came to mind that Baron Davis shouldn't even be in tonight's game, but the NBA&nbsp;doesn't care that he threw an intentional elbow at Derek Fisher's face.&nbsp; They let it go because of who he is, the gutless greedy wonders.<br /><br />But hey, it's not the first time that someone has received special treatment because of who he or she is.&nbsp; Ex-Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy "Scarface" Workman, for example, was allowed to smile in her mug shot, when plain ordinary arrestees are not. There's just something about celebrities, it seems.&nbsp; Consider:<br /><br />Last week on CNN's Nancy Grace program, local attorney Greg Skordas argued&nbsp;that poor Paris Hilton shouldn't go to the slammer for 45 days just because she violated probation a couple of times.&nbsp; Lighten up, Judge!&nbsp; From <a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/08/ng.01.html">the transcript</a>:<br /><br /><ul>GRACE: Out to Greg Skordas, a very astute trial lawyer out of Salt Lake City. In a DUI, when you violate twice, it is not unusual to go to jail, so all this business about unfair treatment is complete BS. <br /><br />GREG SKORDAS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I disagree with that, Nancy. When you have a first offense -- and this was actually reduced from a DUI down to an alcohol-related reckless driving. It was a no contest plea. She was placed on probation, a typical sentence for someone who violates. And this was a -- not necessarily a technical violation, but she drove her car while she shouldn`t have been. It`s not like... <br /><br />GRACE: Twice. <br /><br />SKORDAS: ... she got another DUI or hurt someone... <br /><br />GRACE: Twice. <br /><br />SKORDAS: ... would have been 48 hours in jail. <br /><br />GRACE: Twice. <br /><br />SKORDAS: ... some additional probation, an additional fine or take a class or something like that...</ul>Yeah, make her take a class or something!&nbsp; That'll show her!&nbsp; We're sure that's what would happen to us ordinary probation violators...<br /><br />Meanwhile, another Utah attorney is also pushing an "it's just the law--who cares?" argument lately.&nbsp; Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, the state's chief prosecutor, has taken it upon himself to <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_5782865">help out</a>&nbsp;Duane Chapman,&nbsp;TV's "Dog the Bounty Hunter."&nbsp; Chapman, a bounty hunter who tracks down scumbags who skip bail, has . . . skipped bail.&nbsp; But wait--there's a difference, Shurtleff says:&nbsp; Chapman was in Mexico and&nbsp;violated Mexican law, not American law.&nbsp; That doesn't count, apparently, which should come as some relief to Mexican citizens who break American law while in America.<br /><br />True, Shurtleff might seem to be setting bad precedent with his effort, but&nbsp;this case is especially important to Utahns.&nbsp; After all, Dog is from Utah--oh, he's not?&nbsp; Well, he has tracked down several dangerous Utah criminals--he hasn't?&nbsp;&nbsp;Um, well, people in Utah have watched him on televison, anyway--more than enough to invoke the Celebrity&nbsp;Exemption.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008h4a3/"><img height="240" alt="" width="264" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008h4a3/s320x240" /></a></p>YEA, JAZZ!&nbsp; WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS, BABY!&nbsp; Or so I hear...<br /><br />";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/36085.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"2";}s:7:"summary";s:3491:"Sitting here in a hotel room, working really hard, not watching the Jazz game at all, the thought suddenly came to mind that Baron Davis shouldn't even be in tonight's game, but the NBA&nbsp;doesn't care that he threw an intentional elbow at Derek Fisher's face.&nbsp; They let it go because of who he is, the gutless greedy wonders.<br /><br />But hey, it's not the first time that someone has received special treatment because of who he or she is.&nbsp; Ex-Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy "Scarface" Workman, for example, was allowed to smile in her mug shot, when plain ordinary arrestees are not. There's just something about celebrities, it seems.&nbsp; Consider:<br /><br />Last week on CNN's Nancy Grace program, local attorney Greg Skordas argued&nbsp;that poor Paris Hilton shouldn't go to the slammer for 45 days just because she violated probation a couple of times.&nbsp; Lighten up, Judge!&nbsp; From <a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/08/ng.01.html">the transcript</a>:<br /><br /><ul>GRACE: Out to Greg Skordas, a very astute trial lawyer out of Salt Lake City. In a DUI, when you violate twice, it is not unusual to go to jail, so all this business about unfair treatment is complete BS. <br /><br />GREG SKORDAS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I disagree with that, Nancy. When you have a first offense -- and this was actually reduced from a DUI down to an alcohol-related reckless driving. It was a no contest plea. She was placed on probation, a typical sentence for someone who violates. And this was a -- not necessarily a technical violation, but she drove her car while she shouldn`t have been. It`s not like... <br /><br />GRACE: Twice. <br /><br />SKORDAS: ... she got another DUI or hurt someone... <br /><br />GRACE: Twice. <br /><br />SKORDAS: ... would have been 48 hours in jail. <br /><br />GRACE: Twice. <br /><br />SKORDAS: ... some additional probation, an additional fine or take a class or something like that...</ul>Yeah, make her take a class or something!&nbsp; That'll show her!&nbsp; We're sure that's what would happen to us ordinary probation violators...<br /><br />Meanwhile, another Utah attorney is also pushing an "it's just the law--who cares?" argument lately.&nbsp; Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, the state's chief prosecutor, has taken it upon himself to <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_5782865">help out</a>&nbsp;Duane Chapman,&nbsp;TV's "Dog the Bounty Hunter."&nbsp; Chapman, a bounty hunter who tracks down scumbags who skip bail, has . . . skipped bail.&nbsp; But wait--there's a difference, Shurtleff says:&nbsp; Chapman was in Mexico and&nbsp;violated Mexican law, not American law.&nbsp; That doesn't count, apparently, which should come as some relief to Mexican citizens who break American law while in America.<br /><br />True, Shurtleff might seem to be setting bad precedent with his effort, but&nbsp;this case is especially important to Utahns.&nbsp; After all, Dog is from Utah--oh, he's not?&nbsp; Well, he has tracked down several dangerous Utah criminals--he hasn't?&nbsp;&nbsp;Um, well, people in Utah have watched him on televison, anyway--more than enough to invoke the Celebrity&nbsp;Exemption.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008h4a3/"><img height="240" alt="" width="264" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008h4a3/s320x240" /></a></p>YEA, JAZZ!&nbsp; WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS, BABY!&nbsp; Or so I hear...<br /><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1179294960;}i:6;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/35641.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Sat, 12 May 2007 15:42:22 GMT";s:5:"title";s:56:"SL Valley Health Department:  Take the stairs -- or else";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/35641.html";s:11:"description";s:694:"<p align="left">Following the rule of, 'If it makes you laugh, it's blogworthy . . . .'&nbsp; From the Salt Lake County building yesterday:<br /></p><div align="center">When the health department says this:<p>&nbsp;</p><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008f8q2/"><img height="240" alt="" width="160" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008f8q2/s320x240" /></a></p><p align="center">They mean it!</p><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008ew9c/"><img height="240" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008ew9c/s320x240" /></a>&nbsp;<br /><br /></p></div>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/35641.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"5";}s:7:"summary";s:694:"<p align="left">Following the rule of, 'If it makes you laugh, it's blogworthy . . . .'&nbsp; From the Salt Lake County building yesterday:<br /></p><div align="center">When the health department says this:<p>&nbsp;</p><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008f8q2/"><img height="240" alt="" width="160" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008f8q2/s320x240" /></a></p><p align="center">They mean it!</p><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008ew9c/"><img height="240" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008ew9c/s320x240" /></a>&nbsp;<br /><br /></p></div>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1178984542;}i:7;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/35566.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 09 May 2007 05:05:09 GMT";s:5:"title";s:51:"Kudos from a BlackBerry user to Rocky and KSL Radio";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/35566.html";s:11:"description";s:2469:"Two thank-yous tonight from a BlackBerry user, one to Mayor Rocky Anderson, and one to KSL Radio.<br /><br />Thank you, Mayor Anderson, for last month's order&nbsp;banning city employees&nbsp;from using cell&nbsp;phones while driving on city business.&nbsp; The publicity from that, along with the horrible&nbsp;death-by-cell-phone of Lauren Mulkey last month,&nbsp;guilted us into cutting back&nbsp;our cell phone usage in the car.&nbsp; Well, one of us, anyway; the other rarely used a cell to begin with.<br /><br />Until now, I have been one&nbsp;of those who believed&nbsp;I was such a wonderful driver that I could cruise down the road wholly unaffected by the conversation in my ear; it was those other people who should hang up and drive.&nbsp; I must admit, though, that I have missed exits and driven past parking lot entrances while immersed in&nbsp;phone calls.&nbsp; Like it or not, that means I was not paying complete&nbsp;attention.&nbsp; So, it is now Week 2 of BlackBerry cold turkey -- well, lukewarm turkey.&nbsp; Week 2 of not checking and replying to e-mails while sailing down I-15 -- yes, I admit doing that&nbsp;-- and of restricting outgoing phone calls to secretary and family.&nbsp; I still answer incoming calls, but I try to keep them short.&nbsp; And I still check e-mail at stoplights.&nbsp; I don't know if the CrackBerry habit can be broken entirely, but until then it's one day at a time.<br /><br />Meanwhile, thank you, KSL Radio, for helping me keep this pledge.&nbsp; Driving home tonight, I switched over to The Nightside Project,&nbsp;thinking that I might call in if the topic was interesting.&nbsp; (It wasn't.&nbsp; "Can single guys and single gals be just friends?"--I'll never get those brain cells back.)&nbsp; Shortly after I tuned in, a recorded message went out inviting listeners to call KSL-TALK.&nbsp; No phone number followed.&nbsp; That made it easy not to call, because the letters on a BlackBerry, unlike other phones, do not match the phone dial.&nbsp; On my BlackBerry, KSL-TALK is 6?6-2?'6.&nbsp; On a full-QWERTY BlackBerry, it's '4"-(*"'.&nbsp; Not that I would call in from my cell phone,&nbsp;but don't forsake BlackBerry users, KSL -- give us the actual phone number, too.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008d9eb/"><img height="240" alt="" width="275" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008d9eb/s320x240" /></a><br /><br /></p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/35566.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"4";}s:7:"summary";s:2469:"Two thank-yous tonight from a BlackBerry user, one to Mayor Rocky Anderson, and one to KSL Radio.<br /><br />Thank you, Mayor Anderson, for last month's order&nbsp;banning city employees&nbsp;from using cell&nbsp;phones while driving on city business.&nbsp; The publicity from that, along with the horrible&nbsp;death-by-cell-phone of Lauren Mulkey last month,&nbsp;guilted us into cutting back&nbsp;our cell phone usage in the car.&nbsp; Well, one of us, anyway; the other rarely used a cell to begin with.<br /><br />Until now, I have been one&nbsp;of those who believed&nbsp;I was such a wonderful driver that I could cruise down the road wholly unaffected by the conversation in my ear; it was those other people who should hang up and drive.&nbsp; I must admit, though, that I have missed exits and driven past parking lot entrances while immersed in&nbsp;phone calls.&nbsp; Like it or not, that means I was not paying complete&nbsp;attention.&nbsp; So, it is now Week 2 of BlackBerry cold turkey -- well, lukewarm turkey.&nbsp; Week 2 of not checking and replying to e-mails while sailing down I-15 -- yes, I admit doing that&nbsp;-- and of restricting outgoing phone calls to secretary and family.&nbsp; I still answer incoming calls, but I try to keep them short.&nbsp; And I still check e-mail at stoplights.&nbsp; I don't know if the CrackBerry habit can be broken entirely, but until then it's one day at a time.<br /><br />Meanwhile, thank you, KSL Radio, for helping me keep this pledge.&nbsp; Driving home tonight, I switched over to The Nightside Project,&nbsp;thinking that I might call in if the topic was interesting.&nbsp; (It wasn't.&nbsp; "Can single guys and single gals be just friends?"--I'll never get those brain cells back.)&nbsp; Shortly after I tuned in, a recorded message went out inviting listeners to call KSL-TALK.&nbsp; No phone number followed.&nbsp; That made it easy not to call, because the letters on a BlackBerry, unlike other phones, do not match the phone dial.&nbsp; On my BlackBerry, KSL-TALK is 6?6-2?'6.&nbsp; On a full-QWERTY BlackBerry, it's '4"-(*"'.&nbsp; Not that I would call in from my cell phone,&nbsp;but don't forsake BlackBerry users, KSL -- give us the actual phone number, too.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008d9eb/"><img height="240" alt="" width="275" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008d9eb/s320x240" /></a><br /><br /></p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1178687109;}i:8;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/35077.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Mon, 07 May 2007 07:09:26 GMT";s:5:"title";s:22:"Self-checkout epiphany";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/35077.html";s:11:"description";s:3280:"If there's one thing more enjoyable than working late on a Sunday, it's remembering that you're supposed to stop at the grocery store on the way home.&nbsp; Oh, well.&nbsp; Get in, get the hell out.&nbsp; Doesn't Albertson's say that?<br /><br />Grab, grab, grab, check out.&nbsp; Machine or human?&nbsp; Cut out the middleman, as they say.<br /><br /><em>"Please scan your first item."<br /></em><br /><em>Beep!</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;One bag of catfood down, two inessentials to go.&nbsp; See?&nbsp; Who needs people?<br /><br /><em>"Unidentified item in&nbsp;bagging area.&nbsp; Please remove."<br /></em><br />Unidentified item?&nbsp; Oh,&nbsp;the catfood.&nbsp; It wants everything put into a plastic bag, apparently.&nbsp; But even if I wanted to waste a plastic bag on a single item, this wouldn't fit anyway.&nbsp; Guess I'll set it on the ground.<br /><br /><em>"Item removed from&nbsp;bagging area.&nbsp; Please return."</em><br /><br />But you said--oh, whatever.<br /><br /><em>"Unidentified item in bagging area.&nbsp; Please remove."<br /></em><br />But--fine.&nbsp; Maybe if I put it&nbsp;on&nbsp;this--<br /><br /><em>"Item removed from bagging area.&nbsp; Please return."<br /></em><br />Okay, how about--<br /><br /><em>"Unidentified item in bagging area.&nbsp; Please remove."<br /></em><br /><em>"Item removed from bagging area.&nbsp; Please return."</em><br /><br />"You piece of junk."&nbsp; (Transcript not verbatim.)&nbsp; Embarking on quest for self-checkout attendant, spying her in conversation with group of attentive males unlikely to end any time soon.&nbsp; Sigh.&nbsp; Sometimes the human element is really overrated.<br /><br />Wrongly judged attendant immediately terminates chat with co-workers.&nbsp; "You breathed on the machine," she guesses.<br /><br />"Apparently.&nbsp; It keeps saying--"<br /><br />"Are your eyes two different colors?"<br /><br />Um . . .&nbsp;"Partially."&nbsp; Pointing at possessed checkout station, "This thing keeps saying--"<br /><br />Stepping around attendant station to peer into objects of interest, "That's beautiful."<br /><br />"That's nice of you to say.&nbsp; A co-worker once asked if I'd been in an accident."&nbsp; What have you been smoking?<br /><br />"Oh, no way."&nbsp; Squinting.&nbsp;&nbsp;"It's like blue wasn't good enough and brown wasn't good enough.&nbsp; Your parents must have both had dominant genes."<br /><br />"That may be."&nbsp;&nbsp;I&nbsp;have no clue.&nbsp; "This thing keeps saying I have to remove the bag, but&nbsp;when I remove it, it accuses me of removing it."<br /><br />Waving it off,&nbsp;"Oh, I cleared that already."<br /><br />"Oh--thanks."<br /><br />"You don't have to look these&nbsp;up.&nbsp; You can just type in the code here."<br /><br />"Oh--thanks.&nbsp; That'll save me a lot of time in the future."<br /><br />Smiles happily at having been helpful.&nbsp; "Have a great night!"<br /><br />Later,&nbsp;curious, typing "dominant gene"&nbsp;and "eye color" into search engine . . .&nbsp;sometimes the human element is really underrated.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008csz0/"><img height="240" alt="" width="184" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008csz0/s320x240" /></a><br /><br /></p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/35077.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"6";}s:7:"summary";s:3280:"If there's one thing more enjoyable than working late on a Sunday, it's remembering that you're supposed to stop at the grocery store on the way home.&nbsp; Oh, well.&nbsp; Get in, get the hell out.&nbsp; Doesn't Albertson's say that?<br /><br />Grab, grab, grab, check out.&nbsp; Machine or human?&nbsp; Cut out the middleman, as they say.<br /><br /><em>"Please scan your first item."<br /></em><br /><em>Beep!</em>&nbsp;&nbsp;One bag of catfood down, two inessentials to go.&nbsp; See?&nbsp; Who needs people?<br /><br /><em>"Unidentified item in&nbsp;bagging area.&nbsp; Please remove."<br /></em><br />Unidentified item?&nbsp; Oh,&nbsp;the catfood.&nbsp; It wants everything put into a plastic bag, apparently.&nbsp; But even if I wanted to waste a plastic bag on a single item, this wouldn't fit anyway.&nbsp; Guess I'll set it on the ground.<br /><br /><em>"Item removed from&nbsp;bagging area.&nbsp; Please return."</em><br /><br />But you said--oh, whatever.<br /><br /><em>"Unidentified item in bagging area.&nbsp; Please remove."<br /></em><br />But--fine.&nbsp; Maybe if I put it&nbsp;on&nbsp;this--<br /><br /><em>"Item removed from bagging area.&nbsp; Please return."<br /></em><br />Okay, how about--<br /><br /><em>"Unidentified item in bagging area.&nbsp; Please remove."<br /></em><br /><em>"Item removed from bagging area.&nbsp; Please return."</em><br /><br />"You piece of junk."&nbsp; (Transcript not verbatim.)&nbsp; Embarking on quest for self-checkout attendant, spying her in conversation with group of attentive males unlikely to end any time soon.&nbsp; Sigh.&nbsp; Sometimes the human element is really overrated.<br /><br />Wrongly judged attendant immediately terminates chat with co-workers.&nbsp; "You breathed on the machine," she guesses.<br /><br />"Apparently.&nbsp; It keeps saying--"<br /><br />"Are your eyes two different colors?"<br /><br />Um . . .&nbsp;"Partially."&nbsp; Pointing at possessed checkout station, "This thing keeps saying--"<br /><br />Stepping around attendant station to peer into objects of interest, "That's beautiful."<br /><br />"That's nice of you to say.&nbsp; A co-worker once asked if I'd been in an accident."&nbsp; What have you been smoking?<br /><br />"Oh, no way."&nbsp; Squinting.&nbsp;&nbsp;"It's like blue wasn't good enough and brown wasn't good enough.&nbsp; Your parents must have both had dominant genes."<br /><br />"That may be."&nbsp;&nbsp;I&nbsp;have no clue.&nbsp; "This thing keeps saying I have to remove the bag, but&nbsp;when I remove it, it accuses me of removing it."<br /><br />Waving it off,&nbsp;"Oh, I cleared that already."<br /><br />"Oh--thanks."<br /><br />"You don't have to look these&nbsp;up.&nbsp; You can just type in the code here."<br /><br />"Oh--thanks.&nbsp; That'll save me a lot of time in the future."<br /><br />Smiles happily at having been helpful.&nbsp; "Have a great night!"<br /><br />Later,&nbsp;curious, typing "dominant gene"&nbsp;and "eye color" into search engine . . .&nbsp;sometimes the human element is really underrated.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008csz0/"><img height="240" alt="" width="184" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008csz0/s320x240" /></a><br /><br /></p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1178521766;}i:9;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/35012.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Sun, 06 May 2007 13:38:55 GMT";s:5:"title";s:46:"James Evans still GOP Chair -- thank goodness!";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/35012.html";s:11:"description";s:1467:"<p>On paper, it might seem like a bad thing:&nbsp; James Evans has been&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5830099">re-elected chair</a> of the Salt Lake County Republican Party, and is making it his life's ambition to oust the louse -- hey, there's your campaign slogan! -- in the Mayor's office, that wild man Peter Corroon.&nbsp; But let's diagram that sentence for a moment.<br /><br />James Evans.&nbsp;&nbsp;The guy who cinched&nbsp;the election for&nbsp;the new Democratic sheriff in town by circulating a training video and claiming it was how Jim Winder really talked?&nbsp; The guy who lost the auditor's office to a Democrat?&nbsp; The guy who almost lost the District Attorney's office?&nbsp; The guy who helped boost Peter Corroon's popularity through personal attacks and accused Rocky Anderson, of all people, of racism?&nbsp; Basically, the guy who helped Democrats have their best year in a long time&nbsp;at the local level?&nbsp;&nbsp;We like his instincts!<br /><br />Even more important, he's&nbsp;a blogger's dream.&nbsp; Just when you're wishing that some local politician would do something silly, there he is!&nbsp; Please let us know the next time you're up for re-election, James.&nbsp; We want a yard sign.</p><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008bd3g/"><img height="212" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008bd3g/s320x240" /></a><br /><br /></p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/35012.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"4";}s:7:"summary";s:1467:"<p>On paper, it might seem like a bad thing:&nbsp; James Evans has been&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5830099">re-elected chair</a> of the Salt Lake County Republican Party, and is making it his life's ambition to oust the louse -- hey, there's your campaign slogan! -- in the Mayor's office, that wild man Peter Corroon.&nbsp; But let's diagram that sentence for a moment.<br /><br />James Evans.&nbsp;&nbsp;The guy who cinched&nbsp;the election for&nbsp;the new Democratic sheriff in town by circulating a training video and claiming it was how Jim Winder really talked?&nbsp; The guy who lost the auditor's office to a Democrat?&nbsp; The guy who almost lost the District Attorney's office?&nbsp; The guy who helped boost Peter Corroon's popularity through personal attacks and accused Rocky Anderson, of all people, of racism?&nbsp; Basically, the guy who helped Democrats have their best year in a long time&nbsp;at the local level?&nbsp;&nbsp;We like his instincts!<br /><br />Even more important, he's&nbsp;a blogger's dream.&nbsp; Just when you're wishing that some local politician would do something silly, there he is!&nbsp; Please let us know the next time you're up for re-election, James.&nbsp; We want a yard sign.</p><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008bd3g/"><img height="212" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008bd3g/s320x240" /></a><br /><br /></p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1178458735;}i:10;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/34650.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Sat, 05 May 2007 14:38:52 GMT";s:5:"title";s:21:"Shurtleff's big chill";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/34650.html";s:11:"description";s:2118:"Under a typically dull Tribune headline ("Shurtleff no critical thinker"), there is a thoughtful <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_5820786">letter to the editor</a> in today's paper. The writer dislikes Mayor Rocky Anderson, but rips Attorney General Mark Shurtleff for using the juvenile taunt "Iraqi Rocky" because it essentially implies that all Iraqis are terrorists. "Next time he chooses to castigate someone, Mr. Shurtleff should try not to demean the people he's claiming he's trying to help," the letter says.&nbsp;<br /><br />Ggood point.&nbsp; In trying to be cute, Shurtleff revealed a basic lack of thought about what he was actually saying.&nbsp; Now we can understand why Shurtleff doesn't want to testify about the public statements he made in the Parker Jensen case a few years ago.&nbsp; (Parker Jensen was the boy whose parents were arrested for child kidnaping when they refused to start him on chemotherapy because they questioned whether he really needed it.&nbsp; At the time, we thought the parents were fruitcakes, but since the kid never had the chemo yet is alive and well four years later, we've had to eat a little crow on that.)<br /><br />According to an <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_5815546">article</a> in yesterday's Tribune, a&nbsp;judge is allowing the Jensens' lawyers to take Shurtleff's deposition (question him under oath) about the factual basis of 11 pages' worth of public statements he made about the Jensen case.&nbsp; Shurtleff told the Tribune that he might appeal:&nbsp; "Shurtleff said Thursday that he has no problem testifying but worries the ruling could have a chilling effect by making officials hesitate to speak out." <br /><br />To speak out of their hats, maybe.&nbsp; Just imagine -- a politican having to back up his public statements.&nbsp; Now, how do we get the presidential candidates in front of this judge . . .?<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008agd7/"><img height="240" alt="" width="253" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008agd7/s320x240" /></a></p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/34650.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:2118:"Under a typically dull Tribune headline ("Shurtleff no critical thinker"), there is a thoughtful <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_5820786">letter to the editor</a> in today's paper. The writer dislikes Mayor Rocky Anderson, but rips Attorney General Mark Shurtleff for using the juvenile taunt "Iraqi Rocky" because it essentially implies that all Iraqis are terrorists. "Next time he chooses to castigate someone, Mr. Shurtleff should try not to demean the people he's claiming he's trying to help," the letter says.&nbsp;<br /><br />Ggood point.&nbsp; In trying to be cute, Shurtleff revealed a basic lack of thought about what he was actually saying.&nbsp; Now we can understand why Shurtleff doesn't want to testify about the public statements he made in the Parker Jensen case a few years ago.&nbsp; (Parker Jensen was the boy whose parents were arrested for child kidnaping when they refused to start him on chemotherapy because they questioned whether he really needed it.&nbsp; At the time, we thought the parents were fruitcakes, but since the kid never had the chemo yet is alive and well four years later, we've had to eat a little crow on that.)<br /><br />According to an <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_5815546">article</a> in yesterday's Tribune, a&nbsp;judge is allowing the Jensens' lawyers to take Shurtleff's deposition (question him under oath) about the factual basis of 11 pages' worth of public statements he made about the Jensen case.&nbsp; Shurtleff told the Tribune that he might appeal:&nbsp; "Shurtleff said Thursday that he has no problem testifying but worries the ruling could have a chilling effect by making officials hesitate to speak out." <br /><br />To speak out of their hats, maybe.&nbsp; Just imagine -- a politican having to back up his public statements.&nbsp; Now, how do we get the presidential candidates in front of this judge . . .?<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008agd7/"><img height="240" alt="" width="253" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0008agd7/s320x240" /></a></p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1178375932;}i:11;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/34556.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Tue, 01 May 2007 06:26:30 GMT";s:5:"title";s:53:"Uncharitable doings at the LDS Family History Library";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/34556.html";s:11:"description";s:9645:"In this corner: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, operator of the largest genealogy library in the world. <br /><br />And in this corner: The Generations Network, Inc., operator of the largest genealogy website in the world, Ancestry.com. <br /><br />Caught in the middle: 800,000 genealogists in Utah and elsewhere who are getting the shaft. <br /><br />A little background . . . <br /><br />The Church-owned Family History Library, founded in 1894, is the largest repository of genealogical records in the world. It has more than 4,000 local branches worldwide, called Family History Centers. The Library and the Centers receive thousands of visitors a day. Many arrive on organized tour buses. Many are retirees finally getting to enjoy their passion. Many are members of the Church who see genealogical research as a religious duty. Many are professional genealogists, or researchers who track down missing heirs. <br /><br />Many of these visitors also shell out $200-$300 a year for subscriptions to Ancestry.com. With <a href="http://myfamily.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&amp;item=33">800,000+</a> subscribers, Ancestry is in the <a href="http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2002/dec02/dec16/4_thurs/news4thursday.html">Top 10</a> of all subscription websites, right up there with Consumer Reports and the Wall Street Journal. When it launched in 1997, it was not much more than a blip on the genealogy radar. Free sites like Cyndi’s List, Rootsweb, and others were the staples. One way that Ancestry was able to grow was by using Library resources and support to create databases to offer on its website. In 2000, Ancestry.com had 2,500 databases; it now has 24,000. <br /><br />Meanwhile, Ancestry allowed free access to patrons of the Library and the Centers. As the family history librarian at BYU <a href="byu:  http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/63677:">said recently</a>, "Many people don't realize that Ancestry.com was originally started by LDS entrepreneurs in collaboration with our library and with the Church. It was able to grow so rapidly...by the fact that they were very quickly available to thousands of people through the family history centers." Of course, the Church also received a significant benefit, as did the patrons themselves. <br /><br />Over the past year, Ancestry.com's parent company has shifted focus. It changed its name from MyFamily.com to The Generations Network. It launched a national <a href="http://myfamily.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&amp;item=95">ad campaign</a>. It sent a cease-and-desist to <a href="http://www.interment.net/freeonancestry.htm">FreeOnAncestry.com</a>, which had originally operated with its predecessor's blessing. It began foisting unwanted ads on paying customers. It changed Rootsweb (which it bought in 2000) to make formerly free <a href="http://bigfile.rootsweb.com/newsroom/?p=36#comment-3778&lt;br /&gt;">features</a> available only to Ancestry subscribers. And -- the biggie -- it decided to hit the Church up for licensing fees. <br /><br />Insisting on a license for the use of Ancestry.com at Church facilities was a perfectly legitimate thing to do. So was <a href="http://genealogyblog.com/family-history-library/discontinued-ancestrycom-access-to-the-family-history-centers-5875">cutting off the Church's access</a> on April 1 when they couldn't come to terms. But Ancestry didn't stop there. It also cut off access to its <u>own paid subscribers</u> if they try to log in from the Library or any of the Family History Centers, even if they are using their own laptops.&nbsp; (When people sign up for Ancestry.com subscriptions, they aren't told that they can only log in from certain locations, not including the place they need it the most.&nbsp;&nbsp;Nor do the <a href="http://www.ancestry.com/legal/Terms.aspx">Terms and Conditions</a> mention that Ancestry can cash customers' checks but refuse access if it doesn't like the service provider being used to access their account. Let's hope Ancestry doesn't get into a beef with Comcast or XMission...)<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00088zhc/"><img height="237" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00088zhc/s320x240" /></a></p>To a subscriber, the ability to access your account while you're at the Library is crucial.&nbsp;&nbsp;Suppose you're looking at Peter Evans' will and you notice it was witnessed by a William Hendrix. You have some missing daughters you haven't been able to trace, and you wonder if Hendrix might have married one of them. You don't want to spend time researching this guy if he isn't related, so you pull out your laptop or walk up to a public computer and log onto Ancestry to see if it has information about William Hendrix's wife. Or suppose you find a son who was born in 1842. If he served in the Civil War, you can look up his records on microfilm.&nbsp; A quick check on Ancestry.com would answer that question.&nbsp; Cutting off&nbsp;subscribers' access like this&nbsp;costs hours of unnecessary work, prevents people from following up on&nbsp;leads, or forces them to go home or back to their hotel just to do a 3-minute search.&nbsp; (Hence the occasional scene lately of desperate researchers huddling near a south window trying to access a weak wireless signal from the Plaza next door.)&nbsp; Tough luck, Grandma.<br /><br />Ancestry.com is accomplishing all this by refusing access to anyone trying to log in from an IP address belonging to the Library or a Center, including the new WiFi service. Here's the <a href="http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/APG/2007-04/1175808368">company line</a>, posted on an Association of Professional Genealogists forum April 5: <br /><br /><ul><p align="left">The Family History Library and Ancestry.com have used IP authentication for several years to help manage the access to the Ancestry.com experience to the library. Since Ancestry and the FHL started using IP authentication several years ago, patrons at the Family History Library have not been able to use their own personal accounts on Ancestry.com. With the changes in the FHL access to Ancestry.com effective on Monday, this has become more of an issue than it was in the past.</p><div align="center">* * *</div><br />Ancestry and the FHL are currently exploring solutions to allow people to gain access to their personal accounts at the Family History Library while still protecting the privacy of customers. Rest assured that we (Ancestry and the FHL) are working on a resolution--but there is not yet a timetable for its completion. <br /><br />SUZANNE RUSSO ADAMS, AG(r) <br />Professional Services Desk Manager <br />ancestry.com <br />Part of The Generations Network</ul>It has now been a month, a lifetime by technology standards. Ancestry.com can't figure out how to fix this? Poor guys, in over their heads on all this computer stuff, except for things that matter like <a href="http://www.omniture.com/downloads/cs_myfamily.pdf">marketing</a> or saving money on <a href="http://www.rightnow.com/news/article.php?id=1472">customer service</a>, not to mention their extremely sophisticated <a href="http://www.ancestry.com/home/mbDefault.aspx">website</a> itself, in all of which areas Ancestry is a technological innovator.&nbsp; An IT guy tells us that Ancestry could adjust this if it wanted to. (Access to personal accounts was available from Library computers <a href="http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/03/ancestrycom_ter.html#comment-63816072">before 2007</a>.) In fact, it took only one day for a blogger to <a href="http://genealogyblog.com/ancestrycom/comment-on-ancestrycoms-latest-public-relations-move-5900">come up with</a> a workaround allowing subscribers to log in from the Library -- and only one more day for Ancestry.com to <a href="http://genealogyblog.com/ancestrycom/ancestrycom-is-now-blocking-access-to-subscribers-personal-accounts-5899">shut it down</a>. As Russo's post said: <br /><br /><ul>Ancestry learned a few days ago that patrons at the Family History Library had inadvertently used a deep link into Ancestry.com to bypass the IP authentication that made the computer unable to log out of a personal account, even if the user wanted to, creating a security risk. Ancestry closed that hole to protect our site security and customer privacy. Shutting down the deep link log in function on the FHL computers was not a direct or an intentional ploy to upset current Ancestry.com subscribers.</ul>Right--"We're worried about your privacy, so we're denying you access entirely." Gosh, thanks. And here we thought you were just using innocent Library patrons to pressure the Church into meeting your <a href="http://genealogyblog.com/ancestrycom/another-side-of-the-ancestrycom-removal-from-the-family-history-centers-5877">"fair" demands</a>. Considering what you're doing to your own subscribers these days, one has to wonder what your definition of fair is. <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000873tq/"><img height="240" alt="" width="253" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000873tq/s320x240" /></a></div><br /><p>P.S. We can't pass up this opportunity to mention the funniest genealogy joke we've ever read -- check out the <a href="http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/ITALY-ARBERESH/2006-01/1137037477">Top Ten Genealogy Websites of 2050</a>. Our favorites: 6) Iraq War Service Records, 2003-2038, and 10) Cyndi's Granddaughter's List. (Thanks to our professional genealogist pal for the pointer.) <br /><br /></p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/34556.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"2";}s:7:"summary";s:9645:"In this corner: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, operator of the largest genealogy library in the world. <br /><br />And in this corner: The Generations Network, Inc., operator of the largest genealogy website in the world, Ancestry.com. <br /><br />Caught in the middle: 800,000 genealogists in Utah and elsewhere who are getting the shaft. <br /><br />A little background . . . <br /><br />The Church-owned Family History Library, founded in 1894, is the largest repository of genealogical records in the world. It has more than 4,000 local branches worldwide, called Family History Centers. The Library and the Centers receive thousands of visitors a day. Many arrive on organized tour buses. Many are retirees finally getting to enjoy their passion. Many are members of the Church who see genealogical research as a religious duty. Many are professional genealogists, or researchers who track down missing heirs. <br /><br />Many of these visitors also shell out $200-$300 a year for subscriptions to Ancestry.com. With <a href="http://myfamily.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&amp;item=33">800,000+</a> subscribers, Ancestry is in the <a href="http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2002/dec02/dec16/4_thurs/news4thursday.html">Top 10</a> of all subscription websites, right up there with Consumer Reports and the Wall Street Journal. When it launched in 1997, it was not much more than a blip on the genealogy radar. Free sites like Cyndi’s List, Rootsweb, and others were the staples. One way that Ancestry was able to grow was by using Library resources and support to create databases to offer on its website. In 2000, Ancestry.com had 2,500 databases; it now has 24,000. <br /><br />Meanwhile, Ancestry allowed free access to patrons of the Library and the Centers. As the family history librarian at BYU <a href="byu:  http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/63677:">said recently</a>, "Many people don't realize that Ancestry.com was originally started by LDS entrepreneurs in collaboration with our library and with the Church. It was able to grow so rapidly...by the fact that they were very quickly available to thousands of people through the family history centers." Of course, the Church also received a significant benefit, as did the patrons themselves. <br /><br />Over the past year, Ancestry.com's parent company has shifted focus. It changed its name from MyFamily.com to The Generations Network. It launched a national <a href="http://myfamily.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&amp;item=95">ad campaign</a>. It sent a cease-and-desist to <a href="http://www.interment.net/freeonancestry.htm">FreeOnAncestry.com</a>, which had originally operated with its predecessor's blessing. It began foisting unwanted ads on paying customers. It changed Rootsweb (which it bought in 2000) to make formerly free <a href="http://bigfile.rootsweb.com/newsroom/?p=36#comment-3778&lt;br /&gt;">features</a> available only to Ancestry subscribers. And -- the biggie -- it decided to hit the Church up for licensing fees. <br /><br />Insisting on a license for the use of Ancestry.com at Church facilities was a perfectly legitimate thing to do. So was <a href="http://genealogyblog.com/family-history-library/discontinued-ancestrycom-access-to-the-family-history-centers-5875">cutting off the Church's access</a> on April 1 when they couldn't come to terms. But Ancestry didn't stop there. It also cut off access to its <u>own paid subscribers</u> if they try to log in from the Library or any of the Family History Centers, even if they are using their own laptops.&nbsp; (When people sign up for Ancestry.com subscriptions, they aren't told that they can only log in from certain locations, not including the place they need it the most.&nbsp;&nbsp;Nor do the <a href="http://www.ancestry.com/legal/Terms.aspx">Terms and Conditions</a> mention that Ancestry can cash customers' checks but refuse access if it doesn't like the service provider being used to access their account. Let's hope Ancestry doesn't get into a beef with Comcast or XMission...)<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00088zhc/"><img height="237" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00088zhc/s320x240" /></a></p>To a subscriber, the ability to access your account while you're at the Library is crucial.&nbsp;&nbsp;Suppose you're looking at Peter Evans' will and you notice it was witnessed by a William Hendrix. You have some missing daughters you haven't been able to trace, and you wonder if Hendrix might have married one of them. You don't want to spend time researching this guy if he isn't related, so you pull out your laptop or walk up to a public computer and log onto Ancestry to see if it has information about William Hendrix's wife. Or suppose you find a son who was born in 1842. If he served in the Civil War, you can look up his records on microfilm.&nbsp; A quick check on Ancestry.com would answer that question.&nbsp; Cutting off&nbsp;subscribers' access like this&nbsp;costs hours of unnecessary work, prevents people from following up on&nbsp;leads, or forces them to go home or back to their hotel just to do a 3-minute search.&nbsp; (Hence the occasional scene lately of desperate researchers huddling near a south window trying to access a weak wireless signal from the Plaza next door.)&nbsp; Tough luck, Grandma.<br /><br />Ancestry.com is accomplishing all this by refusing access to anyone trying to log in from an IP address belonging to the Library or a Center, including the new WiFi service. Here's the <a href="http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/APG/2007-04/1175808368">company line</a>, posted on an Association of Professional Genealogists forum April 5: <br /><br /><ul><p align="left">The Family History Library and Ancestry.com have used IP authentication for several years to help manage the access to the Ancestry.com experience to the library. Since Ancestry and the FHL started using IP authentication several years ago, patrons at the Family History Library have not been able to use their own personal accounts on Ancestry.com. With the changes in the FHL access to Ancestry.com effective on Monday, this has become more of an issue than it was in the past.</p><div align="center">* * *</div><br />Ancestry and the FHL are currently exploring solutions to allow people to gain access to their personal accounts at the Family History Library while still protecting the privacy of customers. Rest assured that we (Ancestry and the FHL) are working on a resolution--but there is not yet a timetable for its completion. <br /><br />SUZANNE RUSSO ADAMS, AG(r) <br />Professional Services Desk Manager <br />ancestry.com <br />Part of The Generations Network</ul>It has now been a month, a lifetime by technology standards. Ancestry.com can't figure out how to fix this? Poor guys, in over their heads on all this computer stuff, except for things that matter like <a href="http://www.omniture.com/downloads/cs_myfamily.pdf">marketing</a> or saving money on <a href="http://www.rightnow.com/news/article.php?id=1472">customer service</a>, not to mention their extremely sophisticated <a href="http://www.ancestry.com/home/mbDefault.aspx">website</a> itself, in all of which areas Ancestry is a technological innovator.&nbsp; An IT guy tells us that Ancestry could adjust this if it wanted to. (Access to personal accounts was available from Library computers <a href="http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/03/ancestrycom_ter.html#comment-63816072">before 2007</a>.) In fact, it took only one day for a blogger to <a href="http://genealogyblog.com/ancestrycom/comment-on-ancestrycoms-latest-public-relations-move-5900">come up with</a> a workaround allowing subscribers to log in from the Library -- and only one more day for Ancestry.com to <a href="http://genealogyblog.com/ancestrycom/ancestrycom-is-now-blocking-access-to-subscribers-personal-accounts-5899">shut it down</a>. As Russo's post said: <br /><br /><ul>Ancestry learned a few days ago that patrons at the Family History Library had inadvertently used a deep link into Ancestry.com to bypass the IP authentication that made the computer unable to log out of a personal account, even if the user wanted to, creating a security risk. Ancestry closed that hole to protect our site security and customer privacy. Shutting down the deep link log in function on the FHL computers was not a direct or an intentional ploy to upset current Ancestry.com subscribers.</ul>Right--"We're worried about your privacy, so we're denying you access entirely." Gosh, thanks. And here we thought you were just using innocent Library patrons to pressure the Church into meeting your <a href="http://genealogyblog.com/ancestrycom/another-side-of-the-ancestrycom-removal-from-the-family-history-centers-5877">"fair" demands</a>. Considering what you're doing to your own subscribers these days, one has to wonder what your definition of fair is. <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000873tq/"><img height="240" alt="" width="253" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000873tq/s320x240" /></a></div><br /><p>P.S. We can't pass up this opportunity to mention the funniest genealogy joke we've ever read -- check out the <a href="http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/ITALY-ARBERESH/2006-01/1137037477">Top Ten Genealogy Websites of 2050</a>. Our favorites: 6) Iraq War Service Records, 2003-2038, and 10) Cyndi's Granddaughter's List. (Thanks to our professional genealogist pal for the pointer.) <br /><br /></p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1178000790;}i:12;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/34061.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Sun, 29 Apr 2007 16:47:47 GMT";s:5:"title";s:97:"Watching sausage get made:  the "Trademark Protection Act" instills confidence in our legislature";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/34061.html";s:11:"description";s:13741:"Long post today, but we've spent a lot of time scratching our heads over this particular issue. This morning's Salt Lake Tribune has an interesting <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5778185">article</a> about how the State is paying the legal bills of Unspam, a private company, in a lawsuit defending Utah's 2004 Child Protection registry. Great timing, because we've been wondering lately how Utah ended up with this new Trademark Protection registry that is going to get us sued, and the two are related. <br /><br />The latest entry in Utah's registry craze will allow national corporations to register electronic trademarks in Utah. The bill, sponsored by Dan Eastman (R-Bountiful), was targeted at keyword advertising, as he explained in a floor debate: “Let me give you an actuality. For some time – it’s been corrected since then – but for some time if you were looking for a Ford automobile, and you typed Ford on the Google search engine, all of the local GM dealers may pop up on your screen, nothing having to do with Ford. And those popups are actually purchased on a daily basis by various advertisers who want to be in that search, even though it’s a specific search for Lear, Cessna may pop up and say ‘We have something like that, let’s pay this internet provider X number of dollars to have our product intercept a request for Ford or Cessna or Lear or whatever.’”<br /><br />Translation: People will be too dumb to realize that an ad for "GM" is not an ad for "Ford". Suppose someone typed Voice of Utah into Google, and an advertisement popped up for Alienated Wannabe.  Under Eastman's theory, the searcher would naturally become confused and assume that Voice of Utah <em>is</em> Alienated Wannabe, and thus both condoned and condemned Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Syria. Even if the searcher figured out that the two are not the same, she couldn't possibly benefit from seeing (and thus should not be allowed to see) Alienated Wannabe's ad, because she obviously doesn't want to read any other blog or she wouldn't have typed in 'Voice of Utah'.  Those are the kinds of assumptions underlying Eastman's bill.<br /><br />This week, after a meeting with some annoyed companies – eBay, Google, Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, etc. – legislators <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_5753392%22%3Eseemed">seemed surprised</a> that Utah might get its butt sued by some or all of them. House majority leader David Clark then uttered this classic line: “I wish we had had this interaction with industry 60 days ago. We would have all been better off." Hey, here's an idea: How about having interaction with industry <u>before</u> you rush through a bill? They knew it would have nationwide impact. Did these guys do any independent investigation? Remember all those times that Utah legislators have voted against public sentiment because, they said, they are so much better informed than the masses? So who was driving this bus? At first, we thought it was Overstock.com and/or 800-Contacts, because of an April 10 <a href="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660210666,00.html”%3ED-News">D-News article</a> that said:<br /><ul><em>Eastman and Clark said they didn't come up with the idea but believe in the cause. They said they understood they were doing the bidding of a select group of state companies. That group, they said, includes 800 Contacts Inc., which has been fighting a losing court battle against pop-up advertiser WhenU.com. They also mentioned internet retailer Overstock.com.<br /><br />Representatives at both companies acknowledged they have a problem with rivals stealing their customers but insist they weren't involved in drafting the Internet trademark law.</em></ul>But Overstock later issued a <a href="http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-electronics/20070418/LAW12718042007-1.html%22%3Epress">press release</a> that denied any involvement and called Eastman's bill a “dumb” law. Okay, if it wasn't the Big O, then who? The D-News went on:<br /><ul><i>Eastman and Clark said they were approached by Unspam Technologies Inc., a Utah company that maintains a state database of children's e-mails kept off-limits to adult advertising. Unspam operates a similar database for Michigan, and critics say the company is angling to maintain Utah's new trademark registry. <br /><br />At first, Unspam Chief Executive Matthew Prince denied his company was involved, but the legislative sponsors said Unspam Vice President Erin Barry, who also is a registered lobbyist, pushed the legislation. <br /><br />Asked for clarification, Prince said Barry was freelancing when she talked up legislators about "ways this could benefit Utah." <br /><br />"We wear different hats," Prince wrote Monday by e-mail.<br /><br />In one of his own hats, Prince is identified only as an adjunct professor at Chicago's John Marshall Law School on the Utah Senate's blog site, where he wrote a defense of the Trademark Protection Act. The blog makes no mention of Prince's business interests.</i></ul>Back on April 4, Prince had posted a <a href="http://senatesite.com/blog/2007/04/guest-blog-utah-trademark-protection.html">guest blog</a> on the Senate Site, the respected blog of Utah's Senate majority, touting the merits of Eastman's bill. He was identified as Matthew B. Prince, Adjunct Professor of Law, John Marshall School of Law. (In case it's not clear from the title, an "adjunct” professor of law is not a regular law professor, but rather a businessperson or practicing lawyer who teaches a single class at a law school.) He didn't mention that he had helped draft the bill, or that he is the CEO of a company that offers registry services. On April 9, another guest blog from Prince appeared on the Senate Site, again with no mention of his day job.<br /><br />When the Trib and D-News articles came out, we asked on the Senate Site about Prince not mentioning a potential business interest. The site responded: “Matthew Prince works for UNSPAM. He has confirmed that UNSPAM has no plans to bid on the contract. Not sure they'd be allowed to, anyway. Not sure what his plans are, but if he, or anyone else wants to get involved as private individuals, more power to them.” If Prince in fact has no potential financial interest in the bill, we would agree. But an <a href="http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625557”&gt;article&lt;/a">article</a> by Clickz News about the proposed registry made us wonder if that was entirely true. It said: <br /><ul><em>Eastman said he believes Unspam is interested in fulfilling that service for the state, but Prince stressed otherwise. "Unspam has no financial interest in this legislation . . . . Unspam has no plans to bid on that contract, but that doesn't say I won't be involved at some point," he said. Prince assisted in drafting the legislation, and stressed his connection to it is on a separate basis as a lawyer who has studied the use of trademarks in keyword advertising, not as CEO of Unspam. Prince said he began consulting with the state in January on the new legislation. <br /><br />Senator Eastman told ClickZ News he worked closely with lobbyist Craig Peterson when designing the legislation. A former Republican Utah Senator, Peterson listed Unspam as a client in 2005, according to The Center for Public Integrity. Prince confirmed Peterson is still lobbying on behalf of Unspam, and the two had discussed the Trademark Protection Act. Prince doesn't consider the new law significant for Unspam because it doesn't involve spam; however, Prince said, "I told Craig that I supported it."</em></ul>If Prince might be "involved" at some point, how? If Unspam didn’t bid on the contract, could it still benefit? The bill might not be about spam, but it does create a registry, which is how Unspam describes its business. Unspam's website says that it has a patent pending on <a href="http://www.unspam.com/about.html?vid=5fsdkksn797obv13mp5tr1tsl7&quot;&gt;some">some kind of</a> secure registry technology--could Unspam license the technology to someone else who bid on the contract? We don't know. If Prince says that he and Unspam do not have, and will not have, any involvement with or financial interest in the trademark registry, we will rest assured. Otherwise, we're skeptical. <br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00085a6c/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00085a6c/s320x240" width="256" border="0" /></a></p><p>Back to how our legislators passed this bill. Lots of debate and study, right? Especially after the <a href="http://le.utah.gov/~2007/bills/sbillamd/sb0236.htm%22%3ELegislative">legislative review warned</a> of a “high probability” that it was unconstitutional. On February 20, Eastman's bill was discussed at a committee meeting for a whole 6 minutes (including 25 seconds when no one was talking). After a brief summary of the bill, the committee than approved an <a href="http://le.utah.gov/~2007/comreport/SB236S10.pdf%22%3Eamendment%3C/a">amendment</a> that would save the State a lot of money by shifting the startup costs for this trademark registry to any private contractor that ended up running it. Specifically, the amendment changed this language: <br /><ul><i>(2) The division may contract with a person to maintain and operate the database.</i> </ul>To this: <br /><ul><i>(2)(a) The division may contract with a person to maintain and operate the database. <br /><br />(b) If the division contracts with a person to maintain and operate the database, the person with whom the division contracts is responsible for all costs of creating the database and readying it for use.</i></ul>Great--at least the State couldn't be on the hook for the <a href="http://le.utah.gov/lfa/fnotes/2007/sb0236.fn.pdf%22%3Efiscal">estimated $120,000</a> in startup costs, we thought. But then came Day 39 of the session, when the bill came up on the Senate floor. After a short discussion -- two questions into which Sen. Greg Bell was told they were running out of time -- the rules were suspended and the bill was deemed to have been read for the 2nd and 3rd time (in other words, hurried up). At the same time, Sen. Eastman offered an oral amendment that eliminated the mandatory cost-shifting language the committee had earlier added, making it “discretionary” instead:<br /><ul><em>(b) If the division contracts with a person to maintain and operate the database, the person with whom the division contracts <u>may, at the discretion of the division</u>, be responsible for all costs of creating the database and readying it for use.</em></ul>Eastman's only explanation for the amendment was that it "impacted the fiscal note." Yeah--by making it <u>worse</u>. After learning from the Tribune that the State is paying Unspam's legal bills for the child protection registry, does anyone think the State would exercise its "discretion" to make Unspam (or other theoretical private contractor) pay the startup costs on the trademark registry?<br /><br />Eastman then said: “The value of this legislation has yet to be determined, but I think it opens a door very wide for additional commerce within the state, and we just look forward to becoming a repository of such for trademark registrations, and I think it might be a little cottage industry that could spring up and be profitable to all those who participate.” A little cottage industry? Sounds like a great reason to enact legislation. (And this from the same guy who <a href="http://www.daneastman.com/photo_album.php">said</a> during his campaign that, "My role, as your representative, is to make sure that the powers of government are closely defined, carefully watched, it's power limited, and it's growth contained.")</p><p>During the floor debate, Eastman added, “The point of this legislation is that there’s no other state in the union that allows you to register a trademark in this manner.” Red flag, anyone? If it’s such a hot idea, what are the odds that no one else would have thought of it? And what happens if all 50 states follow suit? Would national companies have to check registries in every state? <br /><br />Sen. Scott Jenkins asked a logical question: “It appears to me that this is a national issue than a state issue. Why are we addressing this on a state level when Google and the internet goes everywhere? I don’t quite understand that.” In response, Eastman reiterated that there is money to be made (not counting the hundreds of thousands of dollars it would cost when Google sues us): “And this would create a – for instance, there’s a lot of people that have corporations in Delaware because of the ease of the corporate law there. I mean everybody who’s anybody has a corporation in Delaware," Eastman said. "And this would set Utah up as the home of trademark registrations, and it creates a small cottage industry for that very issue.” Oh, now we get it--he meant a cottage industry for <u>lawyers</u>... <br /><br />Time spent discussing the bill's “high probability” of unconstitutionality? 0 minutes. <br /><br />Time spent discussing the cost of defending the inevitable lawsuits? 0 minutes. <br /><br />Time spent discussing who was pushing this bill behind the scenes and why? 0 minutes. <br /><br />You know what? We've changed our mind about legislators going to China on the taxpayer’s nickel. It’s okay with us—if they do it in February. <br /></p><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000865q1/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000865q1/s320x240" width="165" border="0" /></a> <br /></p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/34061.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"5";}s:7:"summary";s:13741:"Long post today, but we've spent a lot of time scratching our heads over this particular issue. This morning's Salt Lake Tribune has an interesting <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5778185">article</a> about how the State is paying the legal bills of Unspam, a private company, in a lawsuit defending Utah's 2004 Child Protection registry. Great timing, because we've been wondering lately how Utah ended up with this new Trademark Protection registry that is going to get us sued, and the two are related. <br /><br />The latest entry in Utah's registry craze will allow national corporations to register electronic trademarks in Utah. The bill, sponsored by Dan Eastman (R-Bountiful), was targeted at keyword advertising, as he explained in a floor debate: “Let me give you an actuality. For some time – it’s been corrected since then – but for some time if you were looking for a Ford automobile, and you typed Ford on the Google search engine, all of the local GM dealers may pop up on your screen, nothing having to do with Ford. And those popups are actually purchased on a daily basis by various advertisers who want to be in that search, even though it’s a specific search for Lear, Cessna may pop up and say ‘We have something like that, let’s pay this internet provider X number of dollars to have our product intercept a request for Ford or Cessna or Lear or whatever.’”<br /><br />Translation: People will be too dumb to realize that an ad for "GM" is not an ad for "Ford". Suppose someone typed Voice of Utah into Google, and an advertisement popped up for Alienated Wannabe.  Under Eastman's theory, the searcher would naturally become confused and assume that Voice of Utah <em>is</em> Alienated Wannabe, and thus both condoned and condemned Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Syria. Even if the searcher figured out that the two are not the same, she couldn't possibly benefit from seeing (and thus should not be allowed to see) Alienated Wannabe's ad, because she obviously doesn't want to read any other blog or she wouldn't have typed in 'Voice of Utah'.  Those are the kinds of assumptions underlying Eastman's bill.<br /><br />This week, after a meeting with some annoyed companies – eBay, Google, Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, etc. – legislators <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_5753392%22%3Eseemed">seemed surprised</a> that Utah might get its butt sued by some or all of them. House majority leader David Clark then uttered this classic line: “I wish we had had this interaction with industry 60 days ago. We would have all been better off." Hey, here's an idea: How about having interaction with industry <u>before</u> you rush through a bill? They knew it would have nationwide impact. Did these guys do any independent investigation? Remember all those times that Utah legislators have voted against public sentiment because, they said, they are so much better informed than the masses? So who was driving this bus? At first, we thought it was Overstock.com and/or 800-Contacts, because of an April 10 <a href="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660210666,00.html”%3ED-News">D-News article</a> that said:<br /><ul><em>Eastman and Clark said they didn't come up with the idea but believe in the cause. They said they understood they were doing the bidding of a select group of state companies. That group, they said, includes 800 Contacts Inc., which has been fighting a losing court battle against pop-up advertiser WhenU.com. They also mentioned internet retailer Overstock.com.<br /><br />Representatives at both companies acknowledged they have a problem with rivals stealing their customers but insist they weren't involved in drafting the Internet trademark law.</em></ul>But Overstock later issued a <a href="http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-electronics/20070418/LAW12718042007-1.html%22%3Epress">press release</a> that denied any involvement and called Eastman's bill a “dumb” law. Okay, if it wasn't the Big O, then who? The D-News went on:<br /><ul><i>Eastman and Clark said they were approached by Unspam Technologies Inc., a Utah company that maintains a state database of children's e-mails kept off-limits to adult advertising. Unspam operates a similar database for Michigan, and critics say the company is angling to maintain Utah's new trademark registry. <br /><br />At first, Unspam Chief Executive Matthew Prince denied his company was involved, but the legislative sponsors said Unspam Vice President Erin Barry, who also is a registered lobbyist, pushed the legislation. <br /><br />Asked for clarification, Prince said Barry was freelancing when she talked up legislators about "ways this could benefit Utah." <br /><br />"We wear different hats," Prince wrote Monday by e-mail.<br /><br />In one of his own hats, Prince is identified only as an adjunct professor at Chicago's John Marshall Law School on the Utah Senate's blog site, where he wrote a defense of the Trademark Protection Act. The blog makes no mention of Prince's business interests.</i></ul>Back on April 4, Prince had posted a <a href="http://senatesite.com/blog/2007/04/guest-blog-utah-trademark-protection.html">guest blog</a> on the Senate Site, the respected blog of Utah's Senate majority, touting the merits of Eastman's bill. He was identified as Matthew B. Prince, Adjunct Professor of Law, John Marshall School of Law. (In case it's not clear from the title, an "adjunct” professor of law is not a regular law professor, but rather a businessperson or practicing lawyer who teaches a single class at a law school.) He didn't mention that he had helped draft the bill, or that he is the CEO of a company that offers registry services. On April 9, another guest blog from Prince appeared on the Senate Site, again with no mention of his day job.<br /><br />When the Trib and D-News articles came out, we asked on the Senate Site about Prince not mentioning a potential business interest. The site responded: “Matthew Prince works for UNSPAM. He has confirmed that UNSPAM has no plans to bid on the contract. Not sure they'd be allowed to, anyway. Not sure what his plans are, but if he, or anyone else wants to get involved as private individuals, more power to them.” If Prince in fact has no potential financial interest in the bill, we would agree. But an <a href="http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625557”&gt;article&lt;/a">article</a> by Clickz News about the proposed registry made us wonder if that was entirely true. It said: <br /><ul><em>Eastman said he believes Unspam is interested in fulfilling that service for the state, but Prince stressed otherwise. "Unspam has no financial interest in this legislation . . . . Unspam has no plans to bid on that contract, but that doesn't say I won't be involved at some point," he said. Prince assisted in drafting the legislation, and stressed his connection to it is on a separate basis as a lawyer who has studied the use of trademarks in keyword advertising, not as CEO of Unspam. Prince said he began consulting with the state in January on the new legislation. <br /><br />Senator Eastman told ClickZ News he worked closely with lobbyist Craig Peterson when designing the legislation. A former Republican Utah Senator, Peterson listed Unspam as a client in 2005, according to The Center for Public Integrity. Prince confirmed Peterson is still lobbying on behalf of Unspam, and the two had discussed the Trademark Protection Act. Prince doesn't consider the new law significant for Unspam because it doesn't involve spam; however, Prince said, "I told Craig that I supported it."</em></ul>If Prince might be "involved" at some point, how? If Unspam didn’t bid on the contract, could it still benefit? The bill might not be about spam, but it does create a registry, which is how Unspam describes its business. Unspam's website says that it has a patent pending on <a href="http://www.unspam.com/about.html?vid=5fsdkksn797obv13mp5tr1tsl7&quot;&gt;some">some kind of</a> secure registry technology--could Unspam license the technology to someone else who bid on the contract? We don't know. If Prince says that he and Unspam do not have, and will not have, any involvement with or financial interest in the trademark registry, we will rest assured. Otherwise, we're skeptical. <br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00085a6c/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00085a6c/s320x240" width="256" border="0" /></a></p><p>Back to how our legislators passed this bill. Lots of debate and study, right? Especially after the <a href="http://le.utah.gov/~2007/bills/sbillamd/sb0236.htm%22%3ELegislative">legislative review warned</a> of a “high probability” that it was unconstitutional. On February 20, Eastman's bill was discussed at a committee meeting for a whole 6 minutes (including 25 seconds when no one was talking). After a brief summary of the bill, the committee than approved an <a href="http://le.utah.gov/~2007/comreport/SB236S10.pdf%22%3Eamendment%3C/a">amendment</a> that would save the State a lot of money by shifting the startup costs for this trademark registry to any private contractor that ended up running it. Specifically, the amendment changed this language: <br /><ul><i>(2) The division may contract with a person to maintain and operate the database.</i> </ul>To this: <br /><ul><i>(2)(a) The division may contract with a person to maintain and operate the database. <br /><br />(b) If the division contracts with a person to maintain and operate the database, the person with whom the division contracts is responsible for all costs of creating the database and readying it for use.</i></ul>Great--at least the State couldn't be on the hook for the <a href="http://le.utah.gov/lfa/fnotes/2007/sb0236.fn.pdf%22%3Efiscal">estimated $120,000</a> in startup costs, we thought. But then came Day 39 of the session, when the bill came up on the Senate floor. After a short discussion -- two questions into which Sen. Greg Bell was told they were running out of time -- the rules were suspended and the bill was deemed to have been read for the 2nd and 3rd time (in other words, hurried up). At the same time, Sen. Eastman offered an oral amendment that eliminated the mandatory cost-shifting language the committee had earlier added, making it “discretionary” instead:<br /><ul><em>(b) If the division contracts with a person to maintain and operate the database, the person with whom the division contracts <u>may, at the discretion of the division</u>, be responsible for all costs of creating the database and readying it for use.</em></ul>Eastman's only explanation for the amendment was that it "impacted the fiscal note." Yeah--by making it <u>worse</u>. After learning from the Tribune that the State is paying Unspam's legal bills for the child protection registry, does anyone think the State would exercise its "discretion" to make Unspam (or other theoretical private contractor) pay the startup costs on the trademark registry?<br /><br />Eastman then said: “The value of this legislation has yet to be determined, but I think it opens a door very wide for additional commerce within the state, and we just look forward to becoming a repository of such for trademark registrations, and I think it might be a little cottage industry that could spring up and be profitable to all those who participate.” A little cottage industry? Sounds like a great reason to enact legislation. (And this from the same guy who <a href="http://www.daneastman.com/photo_album.php">said</a> during his campaign that, "My role, as your representative, is to make sure that the powers of government are closely defined, carefully watched, it's power limited, and it's growth contained.")</p><p>During the floor debate, Eastman added, “The point of this legislation is that there’s no other state in the union that allows you to register a trademark in this manner.” Red flag, anyone? If it’s such a hot idea, what are the odds that no one else would have thought of it? And what happens if all 50 states follow suit? Would national companies have to check registries in every state? <br /><br />Sen. Scott Jenkins asked a logical question: “It appears to me that this is a national issue than a state issue. Why are we addressing this on a state level when Google and the internet goes everywhere? I don’t quite understand that.” In response, Eastman reiterated that there is money to be made (not counting the hundreds of thousands of dollars it would cost when Google sues us): “And this would create a – for instance, there’s a lot of people that have corporations in Delaware because of the ease of the corporate law there. I mean everybody who’s anybody has a corporation in Delaware," Eastman said. "And this would set Utah up as the home of trademark registrations, and it creates a small cottage industry for that very issue.” Oh, now we get it--he meant a cottage industry for <u>lawyers</u>... <br /><br />Time spent discussing the bill's “high probability” of unconstitutionality? 0 minutes. <br /><br />Time spent discussing the cost of defending the inevitable lawsuits? 0 minutes. <br /><br />Time spent discussing who was pushing this bill behind the scenes and why? 0 minutes. <br /><br />You know what? We've changed our mind about legislators going to China on the taxpayer’s nickel. It’s okay with us—if they do it in February. <br /></p><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000865q1/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000865q1/s320x240" width="165" border="0" /></a> <br /></p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1177865267;}i:13;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/33826.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:52:00 GMT";s:5:"title";s:37:"Cheney in Utah - with all due respect";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/33826.html";s:11:"description";s:2129:"(Warning: Junior-high humor ahead.)<br /><br />Tuning in to Vice President Cheney's speech at BYU this afternoon, something funny from last night's KSL Nightside Project came to mind (again).&nbsp; Reporting on Cheney's impending visit, one of the news guys opened his piece with:&nbsp; "How do you prepare for the nation's number two?"&nbsp; <i>(Snicker. Okay, full-out laughter.)&nbsp; </i>Yeah, that's how we think of him, too, but it still seemed a bit impolite to come right out and say it...<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00082xgf/"><img height="187" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00082xgf/s320x240" /></a></p>Having enjoyed our South Park moment, we do believe in credit where credit is due:&nbsp; It was actually a pretty good speech, nonpartisan, short -- are you listening, Rocky? -- and Cheney did a pretty good job of delivering it, managing not to frighten small children.&nbsp; Before that, the Veep stopped off at LDS Church headquarters in downtown Salt Lake to say whaddup to President Gordon B. Hinckley.&nbsp; Dozens of people lined North Temple in anticipation&nbsp;-- well, in anticipation of being allowed to cross the street and continue on their way, actually, but there were still several people (besides yours truly) who were there because of the V.P., and the atmosphere was crackling.&nbsp; One group of nattily dressed ladies stood there with what appeared to be lunch leftovers, waiting for . . .<br /><br />"What are we waiting for?" one of them finally asked.<br /><br />"I don't know, but it breaks up the monotony," her friend replied.<br /><br />Brings a tear to the eye.&nbsp; Fortunately, the late-lunchers' dedication paid off a few minutes later, when Cheney's limo whizzed by.<br /><br />"I saw him for a whole three seconds," the woman said.&nbsp; Woohoo!<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00083g38/"><img height="199" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00083g38/s320x240" /></a><br /><br /></p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/33826.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:2129:"(Warning: Junior-high humor ahead.)<br /><br />Tuning in to Vice President Cheney's speech at BYU this afternoon, something funny from last night's KSL Nightside Project came to mind (again).&nbsp; Reporting on Cheney's impending visit, one of the news guys opened his piece with:&nbsp; "How do you prepare for the nation's number two?"&nbsp; <i>(Snicker. Okay, full-out laughter.)&nbsp; </i>Yeah, that's how we think of him, too, but it still seemed a bit impolite to come right out and say it...<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00082xgf/"><img height="187" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00082xgf/s320x240" /></a></p>Having enjoyed our South Park moment, we do believe in credit where credit is due:&nbsp; It was actually a pretty good speech, nonpartisan, short -- are you listening, Rocky? -- and Cheney did a pretty good job of delivering it, managing not to frighten small children.&nbsp; Before that, the Veep stopped off at LDS Church headquarters in downtown Salt Lake to say whaddup to President Gordon B. Hinckley.&nbsp; Dozens of people lined North Temple in anticipation&nbsp;-- well, in anticipation of being allowed to cross the street and continue on their way, actually, but there were still several people (besides yours truly) who were there because of the V.P., and the atmosphere was crackling.&nbsp; One group of nattily dressed ladies stood there with what appeared to be lunch leftovers, waiting for . . .<br /><br />"What are we waiting for?" one of them finally asked.<br /><br />"I don't know, but it breaks up the monotony," her friend replied.<br /><br />Brings a tear to the eye.&nbsp; Fortunately, the late-lunchers' dedication paid off a few minutes later, when Cheney's limo whizzed by.<br /><br />"I saw him for a whole three seconds," the woman said.&nbsp; Woohoo!<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00083g38/"><img height="199" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00083g38/s320x240" /></a><br /><br /></p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1177635120;}i:14;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/33632.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Thu, 26 Apr 2007 03:46:35 GMT";s:5:"title";s:33:"Checketts:  Fire your P.R. people";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/33632.html";s:11:"description";s:4118:"Has there been a local business figure with a longer string of P.R. gaffes than Dave Checketts? Maybe, but not in recent memory. I remember when it first came to light that Dave Checketts was involved with a group looking to land an MLS franchise in Utah. "That's great!" I told the excited employee who rushed in with the news. "He knows what he's doing, and he's already got a reputation here." If Checketts was involved, this would be a well-run franchise, I figured. I authorized the purchase of season tickets for the inaugural season (and the next one) for my company. I tried to watch games on TV and read about them in the paper so that I could discuss them with my enthusiastic co-worker. I agreed to go to a game so that he could help me understand the rules better.<br /><br />Funny how things change. For both of us VoU bloggers, Dave Checketts has gone from "Good choice!" to "I don't believe a word that comes out of that man's mouth."  On KSL's Nightside Project this evening, Dave Spatafore, co-chair of the Salt Lake Athletic Complex, said that Checketts used a "four-letter word" (G-I-F-T) when discussing the team's $7.5 million contribution for youth soccer fields in Rose Park, and we don't recall Checketts ever correcting media reports that echoed that impression.  In contrast, Real Salt Lake CEO Dean Howes said no, it's not a gift, and RSL won't hand over the $7.5 million letter of credit until it <strike>gets its way</strike> works out "the details" on naming rights, concessions, etc.  Here are the <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5745055">Trib story</a> that sparked the latest debate and <a href="http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&amp;sid=1145363">KSL's</a> version.<br /><br />We don't know whether RSL's demands are new or not. (Apparently, everyone agrees that RSL didn't share these "details" with the Utah legislature before it rushed through RSL's $35 million gift in February, but frankly, the legislators didn't ask, and most of them wouldn't have cared, anyway.)<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007x78h/"><img height="219" width="320" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007x78h/s320x240" /></a></p>All we know is that a large segment of the public wouldn't view Checketts as a sleazeball if he was more up front about what he's really doing.  Remember the old "will this involve any tax money" questions that Checketts refused to answer until after the November 2005 election?  Checketts knew all along that they planned to siphon off county hotel taxes, but played coy until after Sandy's mayor was safely re-ensconced in office.  (By the way, Dave--remember when you said this deal wouldn't cost "Utah taxpayers" anything?  I know you're a man of your word, so where do I send the bill for the hotel rooms I rent for out-of-town clients and family?  I've got a stack of receipts here that include the hotel taxes that I paid;  I just don't know who's going to write me the check.)<br /><br />For some of us, our biggest problem with the Real Salt Lake is all the back-door dealing.  Perception is reality, and the perception for <a href="http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&amp;sid=1145363&amp;comments=true#msg_1">many people</a> is that Checketts waits until he attains his immediate goal (Dolan's re-election; the $35 million), and then it's, "Oh, by the way..."  It alienates people who might otherwise be willing to give RSL a chance.<br /><br />P.S.  We have a suggestion for your soon-vacant P.R. position:  The Nightside Project's Ethan Millard does a great job of making your case for you.<br /><br />P.P.S.  If you want to see the memo that Checketts gave the legislature that omits any mention of these latest "details," check out the most exhaustive resource on RSL issues on and off the field, <a href="http://www.rslfm.com/">the RSLFM Report</a>.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007y5s6/"><img height="240" width="224" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007y5s6/s320x240" /></a></p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/33632.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"7";}s:7:"summary";s:4118:"Has there been a local business figure with a longer string of P.R. gaffes than Dave Checketts? Maybe, but not in recent memory. I remember when it first came to light that Dave Checketts was involved with a group looking to land an MLS franchise in Utah. "That's great!" I told the excited employee who rushed in with the news. "He knows what he's doing, and he's already got a reputation here." If Checketts was involved, this would be a well-run franchise, I figured. I authorized the purchase of season tickets for the inaugural season (and the next one) for my company. I tried to watch games on TV and read about them in the paper so that I could discuss them with my enthusiastic co-worker. I agreed to go to a game so that he could help me understand the rules better.<br /><br />Funny how things change. For both of us VoU bloggers, Dave Checketts has gone from "Good choice!" to "I don't believe a word that comes out of that man's mouth."  On KSL's Nightside Project this evening, Dave Spatafore, co-chair of the Salt Lake Athletic Complex, said that Checketts used a "four-letter word" (G-I-F-T) when discussing the team's $7.5 million contribution for youth soccer fields in Rose Park, and we don't recall Checketts ever correcting media reports that echoed that impression.  In contrast, Real Salt Lake CEO Dean Howes said no, it's not a gift, and RSL won't hand over the $7.5 million letter of credit until it <strike>gets its way</strike> works out "the details" on naming rights, concessions, etc.  Here are the <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5745055">Trib story</a> that sparked the latest debate and <a href="http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&amp;sid=1145363">KSL's</a> version.<br /><br />We don't know whether RSL's demands are new or not. (Apparently, everyone agrees that RSL didn't share these "details" with the Utah legislature before it rushed through RSL's $35 million gift in February, but frankly, the legislators didn't ask, and most of them wouldn't have cared, anyway.)<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007x78h/"><img height="219" width="320" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007x78h/s320x240" /></a></p>All we know is that a large segment of the public wouldn't view Checketts as a sleazeball if he was more up front about what he's really doing.  Remember the old "will this involve any tax money" questions that Checketts refused to answer until after the November 2005 election?  Checketts knew all along that they planned to siphon off county hotel taxes, but played coy until after Sandy's mayor was safely re-ensconced in office.  (By the way, Dave--remember when you said this deal wouldn't cost "Utah taxpayers" anything?  I know you're a man of your word, so where do I send the bill for the hotel rooms I rent for out-of-town clients and family?  I've got a stack of receipts here that include the hotel taxes that I paid;  I just don't know who's going to write me the check.)<br /><br />For some of us, our biggest problem with the Real Salt Lake is all the back-door dealing.  Perception is reality, and the perception for <a href="http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&amp;sid=1145363&amp;comments=true#msg_1">many people</a> is that Checketts waits until he attains his immediate goal (Dolan's re-election; the $35 million), and then it's, "Oh, by the way..."  It alienates people who might otherwise be willing to give RSL a chance.<br /><br />P.S.  We have a suggestion for your soon-vacant P.R. position:  The Nightside Project's Ethan Millard does a great job of making your case for you.<br /><br />P.P.S.  If you want to see the memo that Checketts gave the legislature that omits any mention of these latest "details," check out the most exhaustive resource on RSL issues on and off the field, <a href="http://www.rslfm.com/">the RSLFM Report</a>.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007y5s6/"><img height="240" width="224" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007y5s6/s320x240" /></a></p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1177559195;}i:15;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/33355.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:01:40 GMT";s:5:"title";s:67:"Romney:  You have all of Utah's money, you can stop being silly now";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/33355.html";s:11:"description";s:2833:"Considering the excitement that so many Utahns have about Olympics Guy, we figure Mitt Romney is fair game for a local political blog.&nbsp; Most of the time, rantings this early in the&nbsp;presidential campaign merely warrant a roll of the eyes, but occasionally something spews out that is close to bizarre.&nbsp; When we heard Romney's attack earlier this month on Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria, we waited a while to see if the Romneydance would kick in ("That may be what I said, but a) I've since changed my mind; b) I really meant to say something else, or c) Do you have video?")&nbsp; Like the weather, if you don't like what Romney says, just wait a few hours and it will change.&nbsp; Okay, that's not fair--it usually takes more than a few hours.<br /><br />Anyway, on April 10, Romney made our nominee for silliest? dumbest? strangest? political quote of the campaign so far: <br /><br /><ul><em>What Nancy Pelosi did was one of the most divisive, partisan, ill-considered acts of any senior government official in this decade.</em></ul>Exaggerate much?&nbsp; How Romney can say that when the most senior of our government officials, President Bush and Vice President Cheney, have spent the past seven years doing little else but divisive, partisan, and ill-considered acts is beyond comprehension. Criticizing the Speaker's decision is one thing, but hyperbole like this just seems silly (or desperate--Fred Thompson, anyone?).<br /><br />At least Romney tempered his comment with this acknowledgment that four Republican Congressmen did the same thing just a few days apart:<br /><br /><ul>"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;."</ul>Oh, that's right--he didn't mention it.&nbsp; But Romney's explanation for why we should ignore the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group to reach out to places like Syria instead of poking a finger in their eye was enlightening: <br /><br /><ul>"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;."</ul>Oh, guess he didn't mention that in his speech, either.&nbsp; But who can ignore his pithy response to ultra-right-wingers like Chris Cannon who say they don't criticize Pelosi's trip or that of the GOP Congressmen, that such trips are "Code L," within legitimate Congressional purview: <br /><br /><ul>"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;."</ul>Hmm. Looks like Romney has been studying the proverbs: All is fair in love and war and presidential campaigns, and silence means never having to say you're sorry.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007w71q/"><img height="240" alt="" width="213" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007w71q/s320x240" /></a></p><br />";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/33355.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"4";}s:7:"summary";s:2833:"Considering the excitement that so many Utahns have about Olympics Guy, we figure Mitt Romney is fair game for a local political blog.&nbsp; Most of the time, rantings this early in the&nbsp;presidential campaign merely warrant a roll of the eyes, but occasionally something spews out that is close to bizarre.&nbsp; When we heard Romney's attack earlier this month on Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria, we waited a while to see if the Romneydance would kick in ("That may be what I said, but a) I've since changed my mind; b) I really meant to say something else, or c) Do you have video?")&nbsp; Like the weather, if you don't like what Romney says, just wait a few hours and it will change.&nbsp; Okay, that's not fair--it usually takes more than a few hours.<br /><br />Anyway, on April 10, Romney made our nominee for silliest? dumbest? strangest? political quote of the campaign so far: <br /><br /><ul><em>What Nancy Pelosi did was one of the most divisive, partisan, ill-considered acts of any senior government official in this decade.</em></ul>Exaggerate much?&nbsp; How Romney can say that when the most senior of our government officials, President Bush and Vice President Cheney, have spent the past seven years doing little else but divisive, partisan, and ill-considered acts is beyond comprehension. Criticizing the Speaker's decision is one thing, but hyperbole like this just seems silly (or desperate--Fred Thompson, anyone?).<br /><br />At least Romney tempered his comment with this acknowledgment that four Republican Congressmen did the same thing just a few days apart:<br /><br /><ul>"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;."</ul>Oh, that's right--he didn't mention it.&nbsp; But Romney's explanation for why we should ignore the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group to reach out to places like Syria instead of poking a finger in their eye was enlightening: <br /><br /><ul>"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;."</ul>Oh, guess he didn't mention that in his speech, either.&nbsp; But who can ignore his pithy response to ultra-right-wingers like Chris Cannon who say they don't criticize Pelosi's trip or that of the GOP Congressmen, that such trips are "Code L," within legitimate Congressional purview: <br /><br /><ul>"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;."</ul>Hmm. Looks like Romney has been studying the proverbs: All is fair in love and war and presidential campaigns, and silence means never having to say you're sorry.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007w71q/"><img height="240" alt="" width="213" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007w71q/s320x240" /></a></p><br />";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1177344100;}i:16;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/33148.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Sat, 21 Apr 2007 20:31:49 GMT";s:5:"title";s:66:"From annoyance to anticipation: Thoughts on the Salt Lake Marathon";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/33148.html";s:11:"description";s:2997:"<p align="left">I admit it:  I used to get irritated when races clogged up downtown streets, interfering with my commute and requiring creative license just to get into or (more important) out of my office. Even when roads were open, I was still afraid that one of those skinny-leggers would dart across the street or wouldn't hear me coming over her MP3 inspiration.  Basically, it was one big Grr.<br /><br />Then came the first Salt Lake City marathon, which was even more annoying.  Now I couldn't get to work <em>or</em> my hair appointment.  Thanks.  In my quest for a stretch of passable road that Saturday, it was nearly noon when I glanced out my window and saw a woman with a race bib walking along the route.  She appeared to be in no condition to try a marathon.  The sun was bearing down on her, and it looked as though she was in some discomfort, but there she was, plugging away with several miles still to go.  Heck, if that woman can do it, surely I could do it, I thought, before speeding past her in my comfortable car.<br /><br />It's been a few years now, but I still think about that woman, and what commitment it took for her to get up in the middle of the night and go run or walk for six straight hours (probably seven when she finished).  I want that.  I want to do that once (and only once) in my lifetime. Standing down at the Gateway this morning, cheering runners as they dragged themselves across the 26.2-mile marker, or launched into one last burst of speed, or held hands with their children who ran onto the course to finish the race with them, made me want it even more.  Marathon, you will be mine.  Oh, yes, you will.  Last month, I posted my <a href="http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/26445.html">marathon dreams</a> publicly to apply a little mental peer pressure.  So far, the mind is still willing, the body slightly less so.  Current progress: 6.2 miles.  Meanwhile, I got a vicarious thrill from this morning's race, which had everything:</p><div align="center">Symbolism:<br /> <br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007q88d/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007q88d/s320x240" width="221" border="0" /></a></p>Individuality:<br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007ryar/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007ryar/s320x240" width="200" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Accomplishment:<br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007tqsz/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007tqsz/s320x240" width="159" border="0" /></a> <br /><br />And aluminum foil (actually, disposable 'jackets' to keep to keep finishers from getting cold):<br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007sesz/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007sesz/s320x240" width="246" border="0" /></a> <br /></div><p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/33148.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"4";}s:7:"summary";s:2997:"<p align="left">I admit it:  I used to get irritated when races clogged up downtown streets, interfering with my commute and requiring creative license just to get into or (more important) out of my office. Even when roads were open, I was still afraid that one of those skinny-leggers would dart across the street or wouldn't hear me coming over her MP3 inspiration.  Basically, it was one big Grr.<br /><br />Then came the first Salt Lake City marathon, which was even more annoying.  Now I couldn't get to work <em>or</em> my hair appointment.  Thanks.  In my quest for a stretch of passable road that Saturday, it was nearly noon when I glanced out my window and saw a woman with a race bib walking along the route.  She appeared to be in no condition to try a marathon.  The sun was bearing down on her, and it looked as though she was in some discomfort, but there she was, plugging away with several miles still to go.  Heck, if that woman can do it, surely I could do it, I thought, before speeding past her in my comfortable car.<br /><br />It's been a few years now, but I still think about that woman, and what commitment it took for her to get up in the middle of the night and go run or walk for six straight hours (probably seven when she finished).  I want that.  I want to do that once (and only once) in my lifetime. Standing down at the Gateway this morning, cheering runners as they dragged themselves across the 26.2-mile marker, or launched into one last burst of speed, or held hands with their children who ran onto the course to finish the race with them, made me want it even more.  Marathon, you will be mine.  Oh, yes, you will.  Last month, I posted my <a href="http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/26445.html">marathon dreams</a> publicly to apply a little mental peer pressure.  So far, the mind is still willing, the body slightly less so.  Current progress: 6.2 miles.  Meanwhile, I got a vicarious thrill from this morning's race, which had everything:</p><div align="center">Symbolism:<br /> <br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007q88d/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007q88d/s320x240" width="221" border="0" /></a></p>Individuality:<br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007ryar/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007ryar/s320x240" width="200" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Accomplishment:<br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007tqsz/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007tqsz/s320x240" width="159" border="0" /></a> <br /><br />And aluminum foil (actually, disposable 'jackets' to keep to keep finishers from getting cold):<br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007sesz/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007sesz/s320x240" width="246" border="0" /></a> <br /></div><p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1177187509;}i:17;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/32872.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Fri, 20 Apr 2007 06:34:02 GMT";s:5:"title";s:39:"The China-trip Syndrome: now we get it!";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/32872.html";s:11:"description";s:3331:"<a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007kd52/"></a>For those of us who thought it was a bunch of hooey for a bunch of Utah legislators to jet over to China at taxpayer expense, the Senate Site offers an&nbsp;<a href="http://senatesite.com/blog/2007/04/liaoning.html">explanation</a>&nbsp;by Taowen Le, Professor of Information Systems and Technologies at Weber State University and Provincial IT Representative of Liaoning Province, on why this trip to Liaoning Province will benefit not only Utah&nbsp;but the entire world.&nbsp; Utah legislators will be "laying groundwork for key long-term outcomes," the professor writes, followed by an itemized&nbsp;list of said outcomes.<br /><br />When we perused the list, we did not both immediately conclude, "This looks like a fairly transparent effort by an interested party to conjure up post hoc rationalizations for a boondoggle after an embarrassing news article in which legislators couldn't come up with any justifications themselves."&nbsp; Nor did we ask, "If this trip is so great for Utah businesses, why don't Utah businesses pay for it?"&nbsp; Nor did one of us think, "Hmm...these sound a lot like the reasons that my two co-workers and I needed to go on that business development trip to Vegas a couple of years ago..."<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007pg3p/"><img height="240" alt="" width="259" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007pg3p/s320x240" /></a></p>No, we were too excited about the last item on the list: <br /><br /><ul>8. Help establish world peace along the way <br /><br />The world today has far too much misunderstanding about the U.S. and its people. Many people mistakenly believe bringing world peace is the task of federal governments only. Despite the sad reality that whenever peace is broken, it is the ordinary people that suffer, they sometimes fail to realize that true peace comes only when there is true mutual understanding and true mutual respect among different peoples of the world. Mutual understanding and mutual respect could not possibly be achieved without communication and exchange among the peoples at all levels. During their visit to China, Utah legislators will be able to discuss face-to-face with their Chinese counterparts any concerns people in Utah might have about China. Directly or indirectly, such mutual understanding will inevitably influence the way they make laws and regulations there.</ul>Neato!&nbsp; It's about time&nbsp;someone other than Miss America contestants shouldered the world-peace burden.&nbsp; How do we submit our concerns about China for our representatives to pass on?&nbsp; And why stop with China?&nbsp;&nbsp;After all, who better to facilitate world peace than a group of part-time legislators from the 34th largest state in the union?&nbsp; Will the State Department reimburse some of the expense?&nbsp; Gosh, the China 14 haven't even left yet and we might already have our first business opportunity directly resulting from this trip:&nbsp; Rent-An-Ambassador!<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007kd52/"><img height="225" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007kd52/s320x240" /></a><br /><br /></p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/32872.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"1";}s:7:"summary";s:3331:"<a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007kd52/"></a>For those of us who thought it was a bunch of hooey for a bunch of Utah legislators to jet over to China at taxpayer expense, the Senate Site offers an&nbsp;<a href="http://senatesite.com/blog/2007/04/liaoning.html">explanation</a>&nbsp;by Taowen Le, Professor of Information Systems and Technologies at Weber State University and Provincial IT Representative of Liaoning Province, on why this trip to Liaoning Province will benefit not only Utah&nbsp;but the entire world.&nbsp; Utah legislators will be "laying groundwork for key long-term outcomes," the professor writes, followed by an itemized&nbsp;list of said outcomes.<br /><br />When we perused the list, we did not both immediately conclude, "This looks like a fairly transparent effort by an interested party to conjure up post hoc rationalizations for a boondoggle after an embarrassing news article in which legislators couldn't come up with any justifications themselves."&nbsp; Nor did we ask, "If this trip is so great for Utah businesses, why don't Utah businesses pay for it?"&nbsp; Nor did one of us think, "Hmm...these sound a lot like the reasons that my two co-workers and I needed to go on that business development trip to Vegas a couple of years ago..."<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007pg3p/"><img height="240" alt="" width="259" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007pg3p/s320x240" /></a></p>No, we were too excited about the last item on the list: <br /><br /><ul>8. Help establish world peace along the way <br /><br />The world today has far too much misunderstanding about the U.S. and its people. Many people mistakenly believe bringing world peace is the task of federal governments only. Despite the sad reality that whenever peace is broken, it is the ordinary people that suffer, they sometimes fail to realize that true peace comes only when there is true mutual understanding and true mutual respect among different peoples of the world. Mutual understanding and mutual respect could not possibly be achieved without communication and exchange among the peoples at all levels. During their visit to China, Utah legislators will be able to discuss face-to-face with their Chinese counterparts any concerns people in Utah might have about China. Directly or indirectly, such mutual understanding will inevitably influence the way they make laws and regulations there.</ul>Neato!&nbsp; It's about time&nbsp;someone other than Miss America contestants shouldered the world-peace burden.&nbsp; How do we submit our concerns about China for our representatives to pass on?&nbsp; And why stop with China?&nbsp;&nbsp;After all, who better to facilitate world peace than a group of part-time legislators from the 34th largest state in the union?&nbsp; Will the State Department reimburse some of the expense?&nbsp; Gosh, the China 14 haven't even left yet and we might already have our first business opportunity directly resulting from this trip:&nbsp; Rent-An-Ambassador!<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007kd52/"><img height="225" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007kd52/s320x240" /></a><br /><br /></p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1177050842;}i:18;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/32548.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 18 Apr 2007 05:57:17 GMT";s:5:"title";s:44:"The Utah Flash, Frank Layden & Joey Crawford";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/32548.html";s:11:"description";s:2763:"On last night's <i>Colbert Report</i>, Stephen Colbert called on the LDS Church to replace President Gordon B. Hinckley with Boyd K. Packer, retroactive to last Thursday.  (A few days earlier, Colbert had incorrectly identified Packer as the "Mope" (Mormon Pope), and felt that the Church should be willing to make the change in order to prevent him from being wrong.)<br /><br />We mention this because, until today, we would have thought it equally likely that the Church would do such a thing as it was that the NBA would finally do something about perennial Jazz nemesis Joey Crawford.  Crawford is, and has been for years, a--well, we'll let former Jazz coach Frank Layden tell it. (Warning: Naughty word ahead.)<br /><br />At today's press conference announcing the naming of Utah's new NBA Developmental League team, the Flash, Layden was in fine form.  He started off with a joke: <br /><ul>"Two guys go into a bar" -- looks out at the crowd -- "do you know what that is?"  (Laughter.)  "It's like a saloon."  (More laughter.)  "So these guys are in a bar, and one of them says, 'That Joey Crawford is a real asshole!'  This big guy, you know, like [Jazz fan] Sudbury, comes over and says, 'I have a problem with what you just said.'  They say, 'Are you Joey Crawford?'  'No,' he says. 'I'm a real asshole.'"  (Laughter.)</ul>Utah native Gary Zielinkski is the <a href="http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_4499135,00.html">worst referee</a> in the NBA, which isn't surprising, since he used to be the worst referee in the WNBA.  So we knew it had gotten bad when we started crossing our fingers that the Jazz would draw him rather than Joey Crawford for any particular game.  Crawford has had it in for the Jazz as long as we can remember, but it finally took a confrontation with saintly Tim Duncan for the league to admit that he shouldn't be on the court.  The NBA has now suspended Crawford indefinitely.  Our fear?  He'll end up in the D-League, screwing up Utah Flash games.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007gxat/"><img height="217" width="320" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007gxat/s320x240" /></a></p>Speaking of the Flash . . . Good name.  Good logo.  Good GM, former Jazz man Dave Fredman.  Good owner, enthusiastic self-made millionaire Brandt Andersen, 29 (but who probably still gets carded).  Professional basketball at a reasonable price?  We haven't had that since the Starzz left town.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007hfzg/"><img height="216" width="320" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007hfzg/s320x240" /></a><p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/32548.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:2763:"On last night's <i>Colbert Report</i>, Stephen Colbert called on the LDS Church to replace President Gordon B. Hinckley with Boyd K. Packer, retroactive to last Thursday.  (A few days earlier, Colbert had incorrectly identified Packer as the "Mope" (Mormon Pope), and felt that the Church should be willing to make the change in order to prevent him from being wrong.)<br /><br />We mention this because, until today, we would have thought it equally likely that the Church would do such a thing as it was that the NBA would finally do something about perennial Jazz nemesis Joey Crawford.  Crawford is, and has been for years, a--well, we'll let former Jazz coach Frank Layden tell it. (Warning: Naughty word ahead.)<br /><br />At today's press conference announcing the naming of Utah's new NBA Developmental League team, the Flash, Layden was in fine form.  He started off with a joke: <br /><ul>"Two guys go into a bar" -- looks out at the crowd -- "do you know what that is?"  (Laughter.)  "It's like a saloon."  (More laughter.)  "So these guys are in a bar, and one of them says, 'That Joey Crawford is a real asshole!'  This big guy, you know, like [Jazz fan] Sudbury, comes over and says, 'I have a problem with what you just said.'  They say, 'Are you Joey Crawford?'  'No,' he says. 'I'm a real asshole.'"  (Laughter.)</ul>Utah native Gary Zielinkski is the <a href="http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_4499135,00.html">worst referee</a> in the NBA, which isn't surprising, since he used to be the worst referee in the WNBA.  So we knew it had gotten bad when we started crossing our fingers that the Jazz would draw him rather than Joey Crawford for any particular game.  Crawford has had it in for the Jazz as long as we can remember, but it finally took a confrontation with saintly Tim Duncan for the league to admit that he shouldn't be on the court.  The NBA has now suspended Crawford indefinitely.  Our fear?  He'll end up in the D-League, screwing up Utah Flash games.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007gxat/"><img height="217" width="320" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007gxat/s320x240" /></a></p>Speaking of the Flash . . . Good name.  Good logo.  Good GM, former Jazz man Dave Fredman.  Good owner, enthusiastic self-made millionaire Brandt Andersen, 29 (but who probably still gets carded).  Professional basketball at a reasonable price?  We haven't had that since the Starzz left town.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007hfzg/"><img height="216" width="320" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007hfzg/s320x240" /></a><p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1176875837;}i:19;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/32422.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Mon, 16 Apr 2007 05:37:29 GMT";s:5:"title";s:38:"Downtown zombies of not the usual kind";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/32422.html";s:11:"description";s:2825:"Another Sunday, another horde of flesh-eating undead jaywalking in downtown Salt Lake City. FX Channel, home of <i>The Shield</i> and <i>Nip/Tuck</i>, has turned its attention from dirty cops and amoral plastic surgeons to other beings with a similar sense of right and wrong: Zombies.  (Next project:  <i>Utah Legislator</i>, to be filmed on location in China.)  FX wanted 400-500 <a href="http://www.trees-mom.com/calltime.html">extras</a> to shuffle across Main Street on Sunday for the pilot of a TV series called "The Rising." It didn't appear that they got quite that many, but still plenty to eat the intestines of unsuspecting workers wending their way through construction zones. <ul><em>Bystander to VoU1, snapping photos: "Why aren't you out there?"</ul><ul>"I was actually just on my way to work. This is how I always look."</em></ul>It's not hard to imagine how FX chose the location for these scenes. "Let's see . . . we need a place where there won't be any traffic . . . somewhere deserted that looks like it's been ravaged by a catclysmic war with the living dead . . . downtown Salt Lake!"  Heck, the city's motto these days is even <a href="http://downtownrising.com/">"Downtown Rising"</a>. This zombie angle could be just the niche that Salt Lake needs -- Utah: Death Elevated.  One suggestion, though:  Next time, start filming at 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. No makeup will be needed. <p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007cr53/"><img height="210" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007cr53/s320x240" width="320" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center">Heading for the Free Fare Zone <i>(click on the pics for better detail)</i><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007byyt/"><img height="236" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007byyt/s320x240" width="320" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Disemboweling is thirsty work<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00076a26/"><img height="162" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00076a26/s320x240" width="320" border="0" /></a><br />&nbsp;<br />Salt Lake's new tradition:&nbsp; Last Night<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00078yqk/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00078yqk/s320x240" width="244" border="0" /></a><br /><br />"Blood me!"&nbsp;&nbsp;The blood sprayer sees a lot of action<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00077tph/"><img height="199" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00077tph/s320x240" width="320" border="0" /></a><br /><br />General Zombie Conference<br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007byyt/"></a></p><p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/32422.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"0";}s:7:"summary";s:2825:"Another Sunday, another horde of flesh-eating undead jaywalking in downtown Salt Lake City. FX Channel, home of <i>The Shield</i> and <i>Nip/Tuck</i>, has turned its attention from dirty cops and amoral plastic surgeons to other beings with a similar sense of right and wrong: Zombies.  (Next project:  <i>Utah Legislator</i>, to be filmed on location in China.)  FX wanted 400-500 <a href="http://www.trees-mom.com/calltime.html">extras</a> to shuffle across Main Street on Sunday for the pilot of a TV series called "The Rising." It didn't appear that they got quite that many, but still plenty to eat the intestines of unsuspecting workers wending their way through construction zones. <ul><em>Bystander to VoU1, snapping photos: "Why aren't you out there?"</ul><ul>"I was actually just on my way to work. This is how I always look."</em></ul>It's not hard to imagine how FX chose the location for these scenes. "Let's see . . . we need a place where there won't be any traffic . . . somewhere deserted that looks like it's been ravaged by a catclysmic war with the living dead . . . downtown Salt Lake!"  Heck, the city's motto these days is even <a href="http://downtownrising.com/">"Downtown Rising"</a>. This zombie angle could be just the niche that Salt Lake needs -- Utah: Death Elevated.  One suggestion, though:  Next time, start filming at 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. No makeup will be needed. <p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007cr53/"><img height="210" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007cr53/s320x240" width="320" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center">Heading for the Free Fare Zone <i>(click on the pics for better detail)</i><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007byyt/"><img height="236" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007byyt/s320x240" width="320" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Disemboweling is thirsty work<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00076a26/"><img height="162" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00076a26/s320x240" width="320" border="0" /></a><br />&nbsp;<br />Salt Lake's new tradition:&nbsp; Last Night<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00078yqk/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00078yqk/s320x240" width="244" border="0" /></a><br /><br />"Blood me!"&nbsp;&nbsp;The blood sprayer sees a lot of action<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00077tph/"><img height="199" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00077tph/s320x240" width="320" border="0" /></a><br /><br />General Zombie Conference<br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0007byyt/"></a></p><p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1176701849;}i:20;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/32023.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Sun, 15 Apr 2007 15:35:00 GMT";s:5:"title";s:88:"3 Utah quotes that made us laugh, and 1 that didn't (boondogglers, Romney, and the Jazz)";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/32023.html";s:11:"description";s:3519:"<a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000749tr/"></a>Following our first rule of blogging -- if it makes you laugh, write about it -- this morning we offer three chucklers and a head shaker.<br /><br /><ul>"I am personally not taking this trip saying, 'This is just eight days in China.'" House Majority Leader David Clark (R-Santa Clara), one of several legislators who couldn't articulate a purpose for their taxpayer-funded junket to China. <i>(<a href="http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5671937">"Legislators vague about China trip"</a>.)</i></ul><i>He</i> may not be saying it, but the rest of us are. This is one of the funniest articles in recent memory, legislators fumbling around trying to come up with a reason why taxpayers should be footing the bill for this boondoggle.  Why didn't these guys have a closed caucus to work out their story ahead of time?  Oh, wait, they couldn't--some Democrats are going, too.  But hey, why should we criticize them for picking a place to visit first and then figuring out later what to do when they get there?  Isn't that how most of us plan our vacations?<br /><br /><ul>"Howard Stephenson is the most vigilant, aggressive, anti-tax crusader on the Hill."  <i>Howard Stephenson, on his <a href="http://www.howardstephenson.com/conservative.php">campaign website</a>.</i></ul>If that is true, yikes--Stephenson is one of the China 14 sending himself overseas for 8 days on the taxpayers' nickel.  Stephenson also happens to be president of the Utah Taxpayers Association--you know, the group that supposedly fights against wastes of taxpayer money. What's that old saying . . . "Do as I say, not as I do...?"<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000749tr/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000749tr/s320x240" width="171" border="0" /></a></p><br /><ul>"Utah would naturally be a base of support for Governor Romney, since it was the location for one of his greatest accomplishments, having turned the Salt Lake City Olympic Games of 2002 into a magnificent success for the state of Utah and the nation as a whole." <em>Mitt Romney press secretary <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_5667357">Kevin Madden</a>, on why Utah is a close second to California in total dollars donated to Romney's campaign.</em></ul>Oh, good grief, just admit it:  It isn't the Olympics that is causing Utahns to open their wallets unlike ever before for a presidential candidate. It's silly for the Romney campaign to refuse to even mention the LDS factor like this.  Granted, Romney doesn't want the rest of the country to think him too closely tied to to the LDS Church, but why insult everyone's intelligence by attributing your Utah haul solely to the Olympics?  There's nothing wrong with Mormons supporting a Mormon candidate, but denying it makes it seem like there is.<br /><ul> </ul><ul> </ul><ul> </ul><ul> </ul><ul> </ul><ul><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00073ehg/"><img height="240" width="296" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00073ehg/s320x240" /></a></p>"We suck. Twelve out of the last 18. We suck."  <em>Utah Jazz owner </em><a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_5673053"><em>Larry H. Miller</em></a><em> in today's Trib about his formerly entertaining team.</em></ul>True.  What the Jazz have been doing to their fans for the past two months couldn't be shown at a Larry H. Miller theater . . .<p><p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/32023.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"4";}s:7:"summary";s:3519:"<a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000749tr/"></a>Following our first rule of blogging -- if it makes you laugh, write about it -- this morning we offer three chucklers and a head shaker.<br /><br /><ul>"I am personally not taking this trip saying, 'This is just eight days in China.'" House Majority Leader David Clark (R-Santa Clara), one of several legislators who couldn't articulate a purpose for their taxpayer-funded junket to China. <i>(<a href="http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5671937">"Legislators vague about China trip"</a>.)</i></ul><i>He</i> may not be saying it, but the rest of us are. This is one of the funniest articles in recent memory, legislators fumbling around trying to come up with a reason why taxpayers should be footing the bill for this boondoggle.  Why didn't these guys have a closed caucus to work out their story ahead of time?  Oh, wait, they couldn't--some Democrats are going, too.  But hey, why should we criticize them for picking a place to visit first and then figuring out later what to do when they get there?  Isn't that how most of us plan our vacations?<br /><br /><ul>"Howard Stephenson is the most vigilant, aggressive, anti-tax crusader on the Hill."  <i>Howard Stephenson, on his <a href="http://www.howardstephenson.com/conservative.php">campaign website</a>.</i></ul>If that is true, yikes--Stephenson is one of the China 14 sending himself overseas for 8 days on the taxpayers' nickel.  Stephenson also happens to be president of the Utah Taxpayers Association--you know, the group that supposedly fights against wastes of taxpayer money. What's that old saying . . . "Do as I say, not as I do...?"<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000749tr/"><img height="240" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/000749tr/s320x240" width="171" border="0" /></a></p><br /><ul>"Utah would naturally be a base of support for Governor Romney, since it was the location for one of his greatest accomplishments, having turned the Salt Lake City Olympic Games of 2002 into a magnificent success for the state of Utah and the nation as a whole." <em>Mitt Romney press secretary <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_5667357">Kevin Madden</a>, on why Utah is a close second to California in total dollars donated to Romney's campaign.</em></ul>Oh, good grief, just admit it:  It isn't the Olympics that is causing Utahns to open their wallets unlike ever before for a presidential candidate. It's silly for the Romney campaign to refuse to even mention the LDS factor like this.  Granted, Romney doesn't want the rest of the country to think him too closely tied to to the LDS Church, but why insult everyone's intelligence by attributing your Utah haul solely to the Olympics?  There's nothing wrong with Mormons supporting a Mormon candidate, but denying it makes it seem like there is.<br /><ul> </ul><ul> </ul><ul> </ul><ul> </ul><ul> </ul><ul><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00073ehg/"><img height="240" width="296" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00073ehg/s320x240" /></a></p>"We suck. Twelve out of the last 18. We suck."  <em>Utah Jazz owner </em><a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_5673053"><em>Larry H. Miller</em></a><em> in today's Trib about his formerly entertaining team.</em></ul>True.  What the Jazz have been doing to their fans for the past two months couldn't be shown at a Larry H. Miller theater . . .<p><p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1176651300;}i:21;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31778.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Sat, 14 Apr 2007 16:53:33 GMT";s:5:"title";s:38:"Utah's senior drivers - what the heck?";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31778.html";s:11:"description";s:4212:"Yesterday, a friend mentioned that his mother had just renewed her driver's license through the mail--at the age of 95.&nbsp; The renewal is good for five years, he cringed.&nbsp; "She's going to have a driver's license until she's a <em>hundred</em>."&nbsp; Being a Utah resident,&nbsp;she didn't have to do anything special to renew her license, other than provide a doctor's note that her vision is okay.<br /><br />His mother still drives, he said, around her neighborhood and such, which generated mixed emotions.&nbsp; On the one hand was the instinctive reaction: <i>95</i>?!&nbsp; To anyone who has seen the classic South Park episode about senior drivers or who follows the news, what an image that conjures up.<br /><br /><ul><em>WEST VALLEY CITY -- A 92-year-old woman who intended to take a written driving test crashed her vehicle into a Utah Department of Public Safety building on Wednesday... (Deseret News, Dec. 18, 2003)</em></ul>On the other hand, no one wants a loved one to be dependent or stranded, unable to get groceries or go to a doctor's appointment.&nbsp; And the dilemma is going to get worse:&nbsp; KSL hit us with a <a href="http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&amp;sid=1100709">newsflash</a> yesterday that as the number of seniors in the U. S. increases, the number of senior drivers will also&nbsp;increase!&nbsp; Seriously--it came straight from the federal government!&nbsp; Unfortunately, KSL used up its allotted 31 seconds with "They're coming!" and didn't say what to do when they get here.&nbsp; In our mind, there are two main considerations:<br /><br /><font color="#993366">Safety.</font>&nbsp; In Utah, turning 75 -- or 85, or 95 -- does not trigger any additional testing requirements.&nbsp; Yet numerous studies (by Duh University) show that, especially from age 75 on, seniors' reaction time and ability to process multiple input (stop sign + car signaling left turn + pedestrian in crosswalk + car pulling out of parking lot) are diminished.&nbsp; Although they drive fewer and slower miles,&nbsp;seniors recently overtook teens as No. 1 in per-mile accidents, yet only two states require road tests for renewals after&nbsp;age&nbsp;75.&nbsp; Fewer than half the states have shorter renewal periods for senior drivers.&nbsp; Other than a vision test, Utah has no&nbsp;senior-related restrictions, which are not prohibited by federal or constitutional law.&nbsp; To some, such restrictions might seem hurtful or based upon stereotypes, but laws are often made based on statistics -- <em>e.g.,</em> Utah's graduated licensing provisions for teens -- and this one would seem to qualify.<br /><br /><ul><em>PROVO -- An elderly driver drove the wrong way on I-15 for three miles Monday, causing a head-on collision, 2 other accidents and a small brush fire, authorities said...&nbsp; (Deseret Morning News, June 20, 2006)</em></ul><font color="#993366">Helping seniors retain independence.</font> Most <a href="http://www.postwritersgroup.com/archives/peir0811.htm">commentators</a> point out that, as the number of senior drivers grows, communities&nbsp;need creative planning--walking communities, ride-share programs, more accessible public transportation.&nbsp; Some places offer senior weightlifting and other classes to sharpen reaction time.&nbsp; In some cities, seniors can voluntarily give up their cars in exchange for guaranteed rides.&nbsp; Perhaps we could offer lifetime UTA/Trax passes.&nbsp; Of course, that assumes&nbsp;seniors could actually get to a bus.&nbsp; Under the UTA's recent&nbsp;<a href="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660211149,00.html">much-derided proposal</a>, "routes will be taken out of city neighborhoods and moved onto busier streets, causing people to walk longer distances to catch a ride."&nbsp; (Here's an extended <a href="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660211616,00.html">analysis</a>).  So much for Grandma catching a bus instead of firing up the ol' deathmobile.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00071k36/"><img height="240" alt="" width="148" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00071k36/s320x240" /></a></p><p align="center"><br /><br /></p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31778.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"3";}s:7:"summary";s:4212:"Yesterday, a friend mentioned that his mother had just renewed her driver's license through the mail--at the age of 95.&nbsp; The renewal is good for five years, he cringed.&nbsp; "She's going to have a driver's license until she's a <em>hundred</em>."&nbsp; Being a Utah resident,&nbsp;she didn't have to do anything special to renew her license, other than provide a doctor's note that her vision is okay.<br /><br />His mother still drives, he said, around her neighborhood and such, which generated mixed emotions.&nbsp; On the one hand was the instinctive reaction: <i>95</i>?!&nbsp; To anyone who has seen the classic South Park episode about senior drivers or who follows the news, what an image that conjures up.<br /><br /><ul><em>WEST VALLEY CITY -- A 92-year-old woman who intended to take a written driving test crashed her vehicle into a Utah Department of Public Safety building on Wednesday... (Deseret News, Dec. 18, 2003)</em></ul>On the other hand, no one wants a loved one to be dependent or stranded, unable to get groceries or go to a doctor's appointment.&nbsp; And the dilemma is going to get worse:&nbsp; KSL hit us with a <a href="http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&amp;sid=1100709">newsflash</a> yesterday that as the number of seniors in the U. S. increases, the number of senior drivers will also&nbsp;increase!&nbsp; Seriously--it came straight from the federal government!&nbsp; Unfortunately, KSL used up its allotted 31 seconds with "They're coming!" and didn't say what to do when they get here.&nbsp; In our mind, there are two main considerations:<br /><br /><font color="#993366">Safety.</font>&nbsp; In Utah, turning 75 -- or 85, or 95 -- does not trigger any additional testing requirements.&nbsp; Yet numerous studies (by Duh University) show that, especially from age 75 on, seniors' reaction time and ability to process multiple input (stop sign + car signaling left turn + pedestrian in crosswalk + car pulling out of parking lot) are diminished.&nbsp; Although they drive fewer and slower miles,&nbsp;seniors recently overtook teens as No. 1 in per-mile accidents, yet only two states require road tests for renewals after&nbsp;age&nbsp;75.&nbsp; Fewer than half the states have shorter renewal periods for senior drivers.&nbsp; Other than a vision test, Utah has no&nbsp;senior-related restrictions, which are not prohibited by federal or constitutional law.&nbsp; To some, such restrictions might seem hurtful or based upon stereotypes, but laws are often made based on statistics -- <em>e.g.,</em> Utah's graduated licensing provisions for teens -- and this one would seem to qualify.<br /><br /><ul><em>PROVO -- An elderly driver drove the wrong way on I-15 for three miles Monday, causing a head-on collision, 2 other accidents and a small brush fire, authorities said...&nbsp; (Deseret Morning News, June 20, 2006)</em></ul><font color="#993366">Helping seniors retain independence.</font> Most <a href="http://www.postwritersgroup.com/archives/peir0811.htm">commentators</a> point out that, as the number of senior drivers grows, communities&nbsp;need creative planning--walking communities, ride-share programs, more accessible public transportation.&nbsp; Some places offer senior weightlifting and other classes to sharpen reaction time.&nbsp; In some cities, seniors can voluntarily give up their cars in exchange for guaranteed rides.&nbsp; Perhaps we could offer lifetime UTA/Trax passes.&nbsp; Of course, that assumes&nbsp;seniors could actually get to a bus.&nbsp; Under the UTA's recent&nbsp;<a href="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660211149,00.html">much-derided proposal</a>, "routes will be taken out of city neighborhoods and moved onto busier streets, causing people to walk longer distances to catch a ride."&nbsp; (Here's an extended <a href="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660211616,00.html">analysis</a>).  So much for Grandma catching a bus instead of firing up the ol' deathmobile.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00071k36/"><img height="240" alt="" width="148" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/00071k36/s320x240" /></a></p><p align="center"><br /><br /></p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1176569613;}i:22;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31522.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Fri, 13 Apr 2007 05:01:43 GMT";s:5:"title";s:39:"10 Little Candidates II (Becker/Buhler)";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31522.html";s:11:"description";s:1538:"In our first installment of 10 Little Candidates, we crossed Meghan Holbrook off our list of viable candidates for Salt Lake City mayor.&nbsp; A couple of days later, Meg crossed herself off the list.&nbsp; On Wednesday, we thought the Ralph Becker-Dave Buhler debate might knock off another one, but no, they both did okay.<br /><br />We would recap the debate but, frankly, we don't have the energy (it was a bit dull).&nbsp; Here's the <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5648304">Trib summary</a>, and here's the <a href="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660211144,00.html">D-News one</a>.&nbsp; Overall, we agreed more with Becker, and we like his ideas for increasing City involvement with schools, particularly compared to Buhler's&nbsp;"let's increase the tax base&nbsp;and tell kids to study hard."&nbsp; Buhler also made us nervous with an implication that a Republican mayor might <s>kowtow</s>&nbsp;get along better with state legislators, but he's very knowledgeable about city issues, and he was funny.&nbsp; He may have run from his GOP affiliation like Mitt Romney runs from a '90s campaign video, but we would never suggest crossing someone off for being Republican just because we're a one-party state and there aren't many opportunities to do anything about it...<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0006zbta/"><img height="182" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0006zbta/s320x240" /></a></p><p align="center">&nbsp;</p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31522.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"4";}s:7:"summary";s:1538:"In our first installment of 10 Little Candidates, we crossed Meghan Holbrook off our list of viable candidates for Salt Lake City mayor.&nbsp; A couple of days later, Meg crossed herself off the list.&nbsp; On Wednesday, we thought the Ralph Becker-Dave Buhler debate might knock off another one, but no, they both did okay.<br /><br />We would recap the debate but, frankly, we don't have the energy (it was a bit dull).&nbsp; Here's the <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5648304">Trib summary</a>, and here's the <a href="http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660211144,00.html">D-News one</a>.&nbsp; Overall, we agreed more with Becker, and we like his ideas for increasing City involvement with schools, particularly compared to Buhler's&nbsp;"let's increase the tax base&nbsp;and tell kids to study hard."&nbsp; Buhler also made us nervous with an implication that a Republican mayor might <s>kowtow</s>&nbsp;get along better with state legislators, but he's very knowledgeable about city issues, and he was funny.&nbsp; He may have run from his GOP affiliation like Mitt Romney runs from a '90s campaign video, but we would never suggest crossing someone off for being Republican just because we're a one-party state and there aren't many opportunities to do anything about it...<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0006zbta/"><img height="182" alt="" width="320" border="0" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0006zbta/s320x240" /></a></p><p align="center">&nbsp;</p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1176440503;}i:23;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31302.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:12:28 GMT";s:5:"title";s:87:"The role of Utah political bloggers (response to yesterday's Cannon experiment) UPDATED";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31302.html";s:11:"description";s:4184:"<i>Note:  See also <a href="http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31070.html">yesterday's post</a>, with photos.</i><br /><br />Apparently, all of us who were participating online in yesterday's <a href="http://conventionnext.politic20.com/">blogfest</a> with Chris Cannon lost the video feed early on.  Maybe that explains the lack of posts showing up on the main <a href="http://utahbloghive.org.">Utah political blogroll</a>.  But since nearly two dozen bloggers attended in person, we went looking for posts via Technorati.<br /><br />Here's the deal:  We want this kind of thing to succeed, to be considered worthwhile to both the politicians and <a href="http://www.phil801.com/wpblog/2007/04/09/bringing-politics-back-to-the-people/">the guy</a> putting it together.  Why?  Because it's one of the first real efforts to involve Utah bloggers directly in the political process, to let us gather information directly, instead of having to rely on local papers or KSL or other people's websites.  We want more of these opportunities.  We want bloggers (if they so desire) to be invited to press conferences, to be granted interviews, to get hot tips--to contribute not only to the discourse but to the information on a subject.  Wannabe journalists?  Maybe, but without the constraints of objectivity.<br /><br />Having said that, this is what we found on yesterday's experiment:<br /><br /><ul>DigitalThom started doing what the host had requested, which was liveblogging (although that would seem difficult while listening to a Q & A).  He got through one <a href="http://www.digitalthom.com/2007/04/11/first-post-on-conventionnext/">pre-session post</a> and one <a href="http://www.digitalthom.com/2007/04/11/second-post-on-conventionnext/">regular post</a>, but then the video feed failed.<br /><br />Kitchen Sink Web Marketing told an <a href="http://mymarketer.net/chris-cannon-web-20/">interesting story</a> about his prior experience with Cannon on an internet pornography issue.  He mentions that his questions about dealing with internet porn and about gay marriage, and his partner Janet's question about how Cannon is using the internet in his campaign, were asked, but unfortunately doesn't tell us what Cannon's answers were (outsiders were feedless by then).<br /><br />The aforesaid Janet, aka Newspapergrl, gives some interesting <a href="http://www.newspapergrl.com/620/writing-and-talking-at-the-same-time/">insight</a> about the difficulty of writing questions while listening (most people did not turn in questions before the event began), and Cannon's observations that it got a little "boring" for everyone to sit there silently while he did all the talking.  She also mentions Cannon's vague response to her internet query.<br /><br />Cliff over at Une Utah <a href="http://oneutah.org/2007/04/10/tightly-controlled-utah-political-bloggers-meeting-tomorrow/">groused a bit</a> in a comment to an earlier post.  We can quote the whole thing:  "I went. Cannon is still an ass. A slick willy. It quickly became apparent there was no use in asking him questions.  He contradicted himself with consistency. His concern for real solutions is virtually absent. He is but a political monster.  His constituents have what they deserve."  Love ya, Cliff, but if you're trying to get invited back to the next one, um...  (In fairness to Cliff, he did elaborate a bit upon cross-examination.)<br /><br />UPDATE:  Here are two we missed:  Steve Petersen of The Bivings Group <a href="http://www.bivingsreport.com/2007/politic20-connecting-politicians-and-citizens/">offers an interesting perspective</a> of the event, discussing Cannon's willingness to make himself the guinea pig for these kinds of events.  And <a href="http://www.localcommentary.com/davidblog/2007/20070411b.htm">Dave Rodeback</a> gives some interesting impressions.</ul>We hope more of these political outreaches to bloggers are scheduled, particularly as early glitches get worked out.  And it will be nice if video archives are available.  Most of us are not trained in the art of recording quotes accurately.  It would be nice to be able to doublecheck important quotes against the actual video.<p>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31302.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"6";}s:7:"summary";s:4184:"<i>Note:  See also <a href="http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31070.html">yesterday's post</a>, with photos.</i><br /><br />Apparently, all of us who were participating online in yesterday's <a href="http://conventionnext.politic20.com/">blogfest</a> with Chris Cannon lost the video feed early on.  Maybe that explains the lack of posts showing up on the main <a href="http://utahbloghive.org.">Utah political blogroll</a>.  But since nearly two dozen bloggers attended in person, we went looking for posts via Technorati.<br /><br />Here's the deal:  We want this kind of thing to succeed, to be considered worthwhile to both the politicians and <a href="http://www.phil801.com/wpblog/2007/04/09/bringing-politics-back-to-the-people/">the guy</a> putting it together.  Why?  Because it's one of the first real efforts to involve Utah bloggers directly in the political process, to let us gather information directly, instead of having to rely on local papers or KSL or other people's websites.  We want more of these opportunities.  We want bloggers (if they so desire) to be invited to press conferences, to be granted interviews, to get hot tips--to contribute not only to the discourse but to the information on a subject.  Wannabe journalists?  Maybe, but without the constraints of objectivity.<br /><br />Having said that, this is what we found on yesterday's experiment:<br /><br /><ul>DigitalThom started doing what the host had requested, which was liveblogging (although that would seem difficult while listening to a Q & A).  He got through one <a href="http://www.digitalthom.com/2007/04/11/first-post-on-conventionnext/">pre-session post</a> and one <a href="http://www.digitalthom.com/2007/04/11/second-post-on-conventionnext/">regular post</a>, but then the video feed failed.<br /><br />Kitchen Sink Web Marketing told an <a href="http://mymarketer.net/chris-cannon-web-20/">interesting story</a> about his prior experience with Cannon on an internet pornography issue.  He mentions that his questions about dealing with internet porn and about gay marriage, and his partner Janet's question about how Cannon is using the internet in his campaign, were asked, but unfortunately doesn't tell us what Cannon's answers were (outsiders were feedless by then).<br /><br />The aforesaid Janet, aka Newspapergrl, gives some interesting <a href="http://www.newspapergrl.com/620/writing-and-talking-at-the-same-time/">insight</a> about the difficulty of writing questions while listening (most people did not turn in questions before the event began), and Cannon's observations that it got a little "boring" for everyone to sit there silently while he did all the talking.  She also mentions Cannon's vague response to her internet query.<br /><br />Cliff over at Une Utah <a href="http://oneutah.org/2007/04/10/tightly-controlled-utah-political-bloggers-meeting-tomorrow/">groused a bit</a> in a comment to an earlier post.  We can quote the whole thing:  "I went. Cannon is still an ass. A slick willy. It quickly became apparent there was no use in asking him questions.  He contradicted himself with consistency. His concern for real solutions is virtually absent. He is but a political monster.  His constituents have what they deserve."  Love ya, Cliff, but if you're trying to get invited back to the next one, um...  (In fairness to Cliff, he did elaborate a bit upon cross-examination.)<br /><br />UPDATE:  Here are two we missed:  Steve Petersen of The Bivings Group <a href="http://www.bivingsreport.com/2007/politic20-connecting-politicians-and-citizens/">offers an interesting perspective</a> of the event, discussing Cannon's willingness to make himself the guinea pig for these kinds of events.  And <a href="http://www.localcommentary.com/davidblog/2007/20070411b.htm">Dave Rodeback</a> gives some interesting impressions.</ul>We hope more of these political outreaches to bloggers are scheduled, particularly as early glitches get worked out.  And it will be nice if video archives are available.  Most of us are not trained in the art of recording quotes accurately.  It would be nice to be able to doublecheck important quotes against the actual video.<p>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1176394348;}i:24;a:9:{s:4:"guid";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31070.html";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:36:21 GMT";s:5:"title";s:62:"Chris Cannon / ConventionNext bloggers:  Where's the liveblog?";s:4:"link";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31070.html";s:11:"description";s:1661:"Okay, lots of faces could be seen in the live video of the <a href="http://conventionnext.politic20.com/">Chris Cannon blogfest</a>, and I know they were encouraging liveblogging, so . . . how'd it go?  Cannon's answers to the first couple of questions (before the video feed went out, on this computer at least) were interesting -- we were surprised that he didn't jump on Sean Hannity's "Pelosi was wrong to visit Syria" bandwagon -- and we wondered what he would say on other bloggers' questions that looked promising.<br /><br />We hope this new idea works out, and give credit to Cannon for subjecting himself to it.  ("This is pretty cool," he said on the live audio before the session started.)  He had to know that most bloggers so far are progressive, so he wouldn't just end up with softballs.  Let's face it:  Most bloggers would love to have access to original information, to ask politicians our own questions, to do our own investigating instead of just criticizing the Tribune's (although that's fun, too).  So we're excited about anything like this that gives bloggers direct access to movers and shakers.<br /><br />Meanwhile, let's get cracking on the recaps, Utah bloggers!  We'll be <a href="http://utahbloghive.org/">checking</a>... <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0006x1kd/"><img height="199" width="244" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0006x1kd" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0006yz4g/"><img height="196" width="240" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0006yz4g" /></a><p></div>";s:8:"comments";s:45:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/31070.html";s:2:"lj";a:2:{s:8:"security";s:6:"public";s:11:"reply-count";s:1:"7";}s:7:"summary";s:1661:"Okay, lots of faces could be seen in the live video of the <a href="http://conventionnext.politic20.com/">Chris Cannon blogfest</a>, and I know they were encouraging liveblogging, so . . . how'd it go?  Cannon's answers to the first couple of questions (before the video feed went out, on this computer at least) were interesting -- we were surprised that he didn't jump on Sean Hannity's "Pelosi was wrong to visit Syria" bandwagon -- and we wondered what he would say on other bloggers' questions that looked promising.<br /><br />We hope this new idea works out, and give credit to Cannon for subjecting himself to it.  ("This is pretty cool," he said on the live audio before the session started.)  He had to know that most bloggers so far are progressive, so he wouldn't just end up with softballs.  Let's face it:  Most bloggers would love to have access to original information, to ask politicians our own questions, to do our own investigating instead of just criticizing the Tribune's (although that's fun, too).  So we're excited about anything like this that gives bloggers direct access to movers and shakers.<br /><br />Meanwhile, let's get cracking on the recaps, Utah bloggers!  We'll be <a href="http://utahbloghive.org/">checking</a>... <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0006x1kd/"><img height="199" width="244" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0006x1kd" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0006yz4g/"><img height="196" width="240" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/voiceofutah/pic/0006yz4g" /></a><p></div>";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1176312981;}}s:7:"channel";a:7:{s:5:"title";s:13:"Voice of Utah";s:4:"link";s:35:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/";s:11:"description";s:31:"Voice of Utah - LiveJournal.com";s:13:"lastbuilddate";s:29:"Sat, 02 Jun 2007 21:23:28 GMT";s:9:"generator";s:29:"LiveJournal / LiveJournal.com";s:2:"lj";a:3:{s:7:"journal";s:11:"voiceofutah";s:9:"journalid";s:8:"11310582";s:11:"journaltype";s:8:"personal";}s:7:"tagline";s:31:"Voice of Utah - LiveJournal.com";}s:9:"textinput";a:0:{}s:5:"image";a:5:{s:3:"url";s:50:"http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/59687348/11310582";s:5:"title";s:13:"Voice of Utah";s:4:"link";s:35:"http://voiceofutah.livejournal.com/";s:5:"width";s:2:"66";s:6:"height";s:3:"100";}s:9:"feed_type";s:3:"RSS";s:12:"feed_version";s:3:"2.0";s:8:"encoding";s:5:"UTF-8";s:16:"_source_encoding";s:0:"";s:5:"ERROR";s:0:"";s:7:"WARNING";s:0:"";s:19:"_CONTENT_CONSTRUCTS";a:6:{i:0;s:7:"content";i:1;s:7:"summary";i:2;s:4:"info";i:3;s:5:"title";i:4;s:7:"tagline";i:5;s:9:"copyright";}s:16:"_KNOWN_ENCODINGS";a:3:{i:0;s:5:"UTF-8";i:1;s:8:"US-ASCII";i:2;s:10:"ISO-8859-1";}s:5:"stack";a:0:{}s:9:"inchannel";b:0;s:6:"initem";b:0;s:9:"incontent";b:0;s:11:"intextinput";b:0;s:7:"inimage";b:0;s:17:"current_namespace";b:0;s:15:"source_encoding";s:5:"UTF-8";s:13:"last_modified";s:31:"Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:10:33 GMT
";}