Davis County must pay fluoridation suit fees

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court has ruled the Davis County clerk/auditor’s office will have to pay the attorneys’ fees of the group that fought a revote for fluoridated water.The Associated Press reported earlier this week that the Utah Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling last week preventing Utahns for Better Dental Health — Davis from collecting attorneys’ fees from the county. UBDH — Davis, sued the clerk/auditor’s office and clerk/auditor Steve Rawlings in 2002 after Davis County placed the initiative on the ballot for a revote following a challenge from anti-fluoride activists. Pro-fluoride groups said the revote was a misinterpretation of the state’s referendum law.

Second District Court Judge Glen Dawson ruled in favor of UBDH —Davis, but did not grant payment of fees.

Utah Supreme Court Chief Justice Christine Durham, writing for the majority, said the refusal was “at odds” with the original referendum decision.

Now, the parties must go before 2nd District Judge Glen Dawson for a fee hearing to determine how much the county will have to pay.

Originally UBDH — Davis requested $45,000 in attorneys’ fees, but Dawson rejected the award in 2003 and the pro-fluoride group appealed the decision to the Utah Court of Appeals, which sent their case back to Dawson in August 2005.

At that point the group’s claim for attorneys’ fees rose to $145,000.

Utahns for Better Dental Health — Davis attorney David Irvine said at the time that in the two years following the original filing briefs, research and the appeal added to the fees.

Davis County voters approved fluoridating the county’s drinking water (except in Woods Cross) in the 2000 election by a 52 percent vote.

It was then ordered to be implemented in 2001. Later that year, a group opposing fluoridation brought an initiative petition to Rawlings calling for a revote on the issue.

Irvine and UBDH —Davis argued the revote was illegal because the petition should have been filed as a referendum, not as an initiative.

Dawson agreed that the revote should be pulled from the ballot and UBDH —Davis asked that attorneys’ fees be awarded to the group.

On Wednesday, Irvine said he received a partial payment for his services.

He hopes the hearing, which should be scheduled soon, will recoup all his fees. “I’m very happy the (Supreme) Court ruled the way they did.”

mwilliams@davisclipper.com

I' have been spending some much needed time with my family this holiday season, but this is an important issue that needs to be addressed since there is more to this for Davis County residents to understand.

You should read this too...

Davis must pay fees in fluoridation lawsuit

Stay Tuned...

Former Davis County Democratic Chair goes home on Christmas Day

Pearl Brough Goodson
KAYSVILLE - Pearl Brough Goodson departed this life on Christmas morning, 2007 as a result of celestial homesickness and other natural causes.

A life-long resident of Kaysville, Utah, Pearl was born at the home of her grandmother Harvey, on August 29th, 1925. She was the first child of Benjamin Orlo and Doritt Harvey Brough. Pearl was followed by three brothers and five sisters: Benorlo, Mary, Rebecca (Hilton), James, Harvey, Vilate (McDonald), Eleanor (Huff) and Evelyn. She thrived in this big, happy family.

Throughout her life she was surrounded by interesting and treasured friends.

Pearl followed and preached a path of life-long learning. She graduated from Davis High School in 1943 and earned credits from several colleges, including three years at the University of Utah.

She worked 11 years for the IRS Ogden Services Center and the Western Region Equal Employment Opportunities Office.

She served two terms as the Davis County Democratic Chairman and was a delegate to the 1964 National Democratic Convention. Arguing politics was a joy to this former high school debate champ.

Pearl Loved the gospel! She served many years as a teacher in various organizations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many of her children and grandchildren have served missions for the church.

Family was the heart and center of Pearl’s life. She married C. Edward Goodson, in the Salt Lake Temple, on September 11, 1946. He passed away on July 26, 1998. They have seven children, 28 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Their Children are: Kathleen G. (Scott) Lund; Orlo J. (Maxine) Goodson; Edward C. (Susan) Goodson; R. Matthew (Brenda) Goodson; Elizabeth G. (Stephen) Swanson; Mark B. (Jeanette) Goodson, and Mary G. (David) Miller.

She is preceded in death by her husband, her parents, her sisters: Mary Brough, Eleanor B. Huff, and a brother, G. Harvey Brough.

Funeral Services will be held Friday, December 28, 2007 at 11 a.m. at the Kaysville 4th Ward, 875 East and 200 North. Friends and family may call Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Lindquist’s Kaysville Mortuary, 400 North Main and Friday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the church. Interment, Kaysville City Cemetery. e-mail condolences to the family at www.lindquistmortuary.com

Thank You BNN Users...

for making The Utah Amicus Utah's "Most Influential Political Blog" for the last three weeks on BlognetNews.com/Utah.

Utah's Most Influential Political blogs

Rank	Blog	Prev
1	THE UTAH AMICUS	1
2	KVNU's For The People	2
3	The Senate Site	8
4	JM Bell	3
5	Mark Towner's Political Spyglass	5
6	The SideTrack	4
7	Pursuit of Liberty	10
8	SLCSpin	18
9	The World, According To Me	7
10	The Third Avenue	11
11	Weber County Forum	15
12	Utahania	-
13	Saintless	6
14	Simple Utah Mormon Politics	-
15	Out of Context	-
16	Reach Upward	9
17	Utah State Democratic Party	20
18	GenRolly Speaking	-
19	A Liberal Mormon	13
20	Centerville Citizen is a Democrat	-

Put your BNN blog rank on your blog.

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BlogNetNews' Blogosphere Influence Rating combines a variety of data sets to determine which blogs are most powerfully influencing the direction of the Utah political blogosphere. The exact method BNN uses to calculate influence scores must remain proprietary in order to prevent attempts to game the system. BNN's methodology takes into account the fact that all Internet data is profoundly limited in its reliability by using multiple data sets that, when combined, reveal a fair picture of activity in the blogosphere.

The Ultimate in Ironies

My husband received this email today. I will post it at the end of my thoughts, but to me it represents the *ultimate* in ironies.

It was sent to Mark (my husband), who is a state employee. It was sent to him and the entire group of state employees who work in his division in our region. It was sent by a supervisor who works for the state of Utah... you know, one of those government employees whose salary is paid by hard working Utah taxpayers.

The irony is not *just* that as a state employee he sent an email complaining about politicians and taxes - you know, the politicians who approve or deny whether he gets a pay raise every year.... no, I find even greater irony in the fact that, as a state employee, using a state-owned computer, with a state-owned email account, on state time, he chose to send out this email to *other* state employees about the evils of taxes and politicians. And you just know that the email is going to rile up some other state employee, who will then hit the forward button his state-owned computer.

Now, paying my taxes bugs me as much as the next guy. I work hard for a living and I want my hard earned tax dollars to be used wisely. So please forgive me if I don't find this email so amusing.

Enjoy???... and Happy New Year!

********************************

TAXES IN PERSPECTIVE:
The next time you hear a politician use the
word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the 'politicians' spending
YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,
but one advertising agency did a good job of
putting that figure into some perspective in
one of its releases.

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were
living in the Stone Age.
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division .

Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans Interesting number, what does it mean?

A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of
New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you
each get $516,528.
B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in
New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.
C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family
gets $2,066,012.
Washington, D.C . HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken??

Tax his land,
Tax his wage,
Tax his bed in which he lays.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes is the rule.
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirts,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he tries to think.
Tax his booze,
Tax his beers,
If he cries,
Tax his tears.
Tax his bills,
Tax his gas,
Tax his notes,
Tax his cash.
Tax him good and let him know
That after taxes, he has no dough.
If he hollers,
Tax him more,
Tax him until he's good and sore.
Tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in which he lays.
Put these words upon his tomb,
'Taxes drove me to my doom!'
And when he's gone,
We won't relax,
We'll still be after the inheritance TAX!!
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Perm it Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance TaxInventory Tax

IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax), IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax), Liquor Tax, Luxury Tax, Marriage License Tax, Medicare Tax, Property Tax, Real Estate Tax, Service charge taxes, Social Security Tax, Road Usage Tax (Truckers), Sales Taxes, Recreational Vehicle Tax, School Tax, State Income Tax, State Unemployment Tax (SUTA), Telephone Federal Excise Tax, Telephone Federal Universal Service Fe e Tax, Telephone Federal, State and Local Su rcharge Tax, Telephone Minimum Usage Su rcharge Tax, Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax, Telephone State and Local Tax, Telephone Usage Charge Tax, Utility Tax, Vehicle License Registration Tax, Vehicle Sales Tax, Water craft Registration Tax, Well Permit Tax, Workers Compensation Tax.

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago,
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened? Can you spell 'politicians!'
And I still have to 'press 1' for English.

I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times

What the heck happened?????

A message for Democratic primary and caucus voters

The following anecdote illustrates, in a just a few words, a very important message for those few voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina who (unfortunately) will largely decide who the Democratic presidential nominee will be.

On last Sunday's Meet the Press, one of the discussion panelists told the following story. A reporter was talking with a small businessman in Iowa who was a lifelong Republican and self described Reaganite. He was complaining to the reporter how disillusioned he was with today's Republican Party, citing among other things the massive borrowing, spending and government growth during the Bush Administration. The man said he was so disgusted with the GOP he was actually considering voting for Democrats in 2008.

At that point, the reporter asked the man, "So, would you consider voting for Hillary?" At the mention of that name, the man's eyes hardened, and he replied with just one word:

Never!

While performing my usual Democratic missionary work among my fellow Utahns, I've seen much the same attitude. Hatred for Hillary Clinton among average Utahns is deep, visceral and unreasoning. Yes, I agree with her husband that these impressions are largely unfair, and the result of a decade and a half of unremitting character assassination by the Right. But my response to these conclusions is: So what? Politics is a blood sport, unfortunately. No matter how qualified, why would Democratic primary voters choose a presidential nominee who starts the race with almost half of Americans having a negative opinion of her?

I personally don't share those biases. I think Senator Clinton would make a good President, although she is certainly not my first choice. But Democrats do not get to choose the next President. That is the prerogative of the American people. Democrats need to remember that, and not repeat the mistake the Republicans made in 1948, when they were so assured and arrogant about winning the presidency they chose a wooden man with zero charisma named Thomas Dewey as their nominee.

With his approval ratings in the basement, President Bush likes to compare himself with Harry Truman, whose own approval ratings were quite low during much of his presidency - a nutsy thought, given Truman's liberal, populist views. It would be a shame if the Democrats did a Thomas Dewey in the 2008 election and gave more credence to that argument.

`et in terra pax hominibus, bonae voluntatis"

Logan

Thanks to Cameron at Magic Valley Mormon for posting this.

No matter what one may believe, Logan's sincerity is, well, beautiful.

Romney should not be president

Click on the link above to read the Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor editorial on Mitt Romney.

Or, if you just want to get to the jist of it...

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!

A Charlie Brown Christmas

The Queen Bee's Hot Christmas Spiced Punch

What is Christmas and Thanksgiving without Grandma Judy's (The Queen Bee) Hot Christmas Punch?

1. Five quarts of water
2. Three cups of sugar
3. One 12 ounce can of frozen lemonade from concentrate
4. One 12 ounce can of frozen orange juice from concentrate
5. One 46 ounce can of pineapple juice
6. Five to twelve large cinnamon sticks (depending on individual taste)
7. One teaspoon of ground cloves

Instructions: Put it all together and heat it up to desired temperature

And for those of you who like to spike things, like The Captain, add some spiced rum!

America needs you, Harry Truman

So many good books, so little time.

I finally got around to reading the David McCullough classic biography Truman. I know Jeff Bell is already the anointed #1 Harry Truman fan in the state, but after reading the book, I'd like to audition for second place. Here is an inspiring story of a decent, humble American who was anything but ordinary; who was thrust into the most difficult job in the world, in the most difficult time in our history, endured some of the most withering partisan political attacks on record, and still steered our nation successfully through a very difficult time.

They say (correctly) that history repeats itself. During the last two years of Truman's first term, he worked mightily to pass an ambitious progressive agenda through Congress: national health insurance, increases to the minimum wage, improvements in unemployment insurance, and tirelessly fought for civil rights. But he was stymied in most of these efforts by obstructionist Republicans in Congress. Sound familiar? At the end of this period, when his certain defeat for election in 1948 was simply assumed, he took his case to the people. In fiery language reminiscent of John Edwards in our day, he went out on several great whistle-stop train tours of the country and took his case to the people:

I think the government belongs to you and me as private citizens. I'm calling this trip a crusade. It's a crusade of the people against the special interests, and if you back me up we're going to win. The basic issue of this campaign is as simple as it can be: it's the special interests against the people. Now use your judgement. Keep the people in control of the government. I not only want you to vote for me, I want you to vote for yourselves, and if you vote for yourselves, you'll vote for the Democratic ticket.

And of course, he won.

I'm reminded of the late seventies song the pop band Chicago recorded, titled simply Harry Truman:

America needs you
Harry Truman
Harry, could you please come home?
Things are looking bad
I know you would be mad
To see your favorite men
Prevail upon the land you love

America's wondering
How we got here?
Harry all we get is lies.
We're gettin safer cars
Rocket ships to Mars
From men who'd sell us out
To get themselves a piece of power.

We'd love to hear you speak your mind
In plain and simple ways
Call a spade a spade
Just like you did back in the days
You would play piano
Each morning walk a mile
Speak of what was going down
With honesty and style.

Americas calling
Harry Truman
Harry you know what to do
The world is turnin' round and losin' lots of ground
Oh, Harry is there something we can do to save the land we love?

Port 15 Utah - Cedar City's Economic Development

Hi folks,

Just wanted you to check this out... www.port15utah.com. I just finished this website and I think it is pretty darn cool, even if I did it myself. What I like about Port 15 Utah is that it is a collaborative partnership between Cedar City, School Lands Trust, and private business.

Check it out. I especially love the talkin dude at the bottom.

Best,

Emily

Uncle Don Miller on The Flat Tax Grand Illusion

Zounds, according to yesterday's front page of the SL Tribune, the University of Utah is creating grand illusions again. About 19 years ago we became a nationwide joke on late night TV as a result of the U of U's claimed discovery of cold fusion. The mainstream scientific community said that Utah's cold fusion "research was surely an illusion."

The most recent grand illusion was announced Thursday when a U of U tax study reportedly said, "Contrary to conventional wisdom, Utah's flat tax system will be somewhat more progressive than the old sliding scale bracketed income tax." Now that is indeed another grand Utah illusion. For the first time since basic math was invented, a regressive flat tax system engineered by the GOP majority, which was created by dropping the old top bracketed rate of 6.8 percent to a flat 5 percent, has somehow morphed into a more progress tax.

No wonder Senate President John Valentine said "he was met with a lot of skepticism when he tried to explain the progressive nature of the change."

Don L. Miller

Lakota Indians Announce Formal Separation from the United States

From the Cleveland Leader: On Wednesday, the Lakota Indians declared their independence form the United States of America. The tribe of such legendary warriors including Sitting Bull [above] and Crazy Horse, delivered a message to the U.S. State Department earlier this week, announcing that they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties signed with the U.S. Government.

The Native American tribe has territory spanning five midwestern states, and have said that the treaties have been repeatedly violated by the U.S. Government. In all, the Lakota tribe feels that a total of 33 treaties have been broken.

More here...

Emily is in the House!

It was announced yesterday that Emily Bingham Hollingshead, Cedar City Resident, chairman of the Iron County Democrats, and A contributing member of The Utah Amicus blog, was named Communications Coordinator for the Utah House Democratic Caucus. Emily was the candidate for the Utah Senate District 28 in 2006 and was the Chairman for the 2007 Jefferson Jackson Celebration, the highest grossing Jefferson Jackson event in Utah to date.. Emily owns “Cedar City Sidewalk” a website design and marketing company, specializing in websites for small businesses. She and her husband, Mark, live in Cedar City with their two sons, Sam, 10, and Chas, 15.

Congratulations Emily! Our Democratic House Leadership has made a fantastic choice!

From Congressman Jim Matheson: Caring for children is always the right thing to do

Dear Robert,

Congress adjourned this week. Before returning home, we passed a bill that maintains coverage under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for children currently enrolled, which will provide access to health insurance for an estimated 6 million kids nationally for another 14 months. I worked hard over the past year on a more expansive proposal. So I feel the bill we just passed falls short of our moral obligation--to provide enough money to enroll the estimated 10 million children who meet the criteria.

SCHIP is a highly successful, bipartisan program that provides a safety net for children in families whose parents work, but either are not offered or can't afford health insurance for their children. The program is a public-private partnership that has given states tremendous flexibility to design a solution that meets the needs of their citizens.

Since it began, more than 110,000 Utah children in low-income families have benefited. I have met some of them. Ask any worried parent what it means to be able to get care for a sick child--it makes all the difference. We know that children who get preventive care cost the system much less than those who wind up in the emergency room as a last resort.,

Twice, President Bush vetoed bipartisan legislation to renew and expand health care for kids. The original 10-year program expired in September, but stop-gap funding has been included in temporary spending bills approved this fall.

An estimated 45,000 Utah kids qualify under the program, but are not enrolled because of a lack of funds. After working very hard to provide access to health care to these children, I am disappointed that partisan politics interfered.

Caring for children is always the right thing to do. Recent studies show that the percentage of children who are uninsured is larger in Utah than in any other state except Vermont. As a parent of young boys, I know how important good health is to their future. My goal is to provide the same opportunity to every deserving Utah child.

Sincerely,

U.S. Representative
2nd District of Utah

Above Photo: Congressman Matheson adds his print to those of children at the Iron County Children's Justice Center

Utah's Naughtiest Spammer

No Jesse, it's not the Captain.

It's Kathy Dopp.

I understand that you are passionate Kathy, but your absolute refusal to remove me from your e-mail group might seem, well, a bit hypocritical.

If you have a blog, or if you would like to start one, I would be happy to link it.

But until then, please respect my multiple requests and remove me from your e-mail list.

With every best wish,

The Utah Amicus

From Uncle Don Miller

Nicest Prayer I Have Heard In A Long Time...

Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares .

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together .

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.

Utah Democrats issue response to “McLaughlin Group” panelist

Regarding “The McLaughlin Group” telecast of Dec. 9, 2007, on KUER and KBYU:

Lawrence O’Donnell’s comments regarding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on “The McLaughlin Group” telecast of Dec. 9, 2007, have no proper place in the political discourse of our nation.

I realize the slash and burn format of “The McLaughlin Group” encourages throwing sucker punches. Few regular viewers tune in expecting civility. Perhaps, Mr. O’Donnell thought his role on this particular episode was to demean Mitt Romney by demeaning his faith. If that is the case, he demeaned only himself with his bigoted tirade against the LDS Church.

Members of the LDS Church have seen religious bigotry for much of the Church’s existence. Simmering just below the surface, the ugliness has come to the top of the cauldron as an obstacle to Romney’s candidacy in a Republican Party that has overly relied on public piety as a political tactic. I was saddened to see a Democratic voice joining the GOP chorus calling for the rejection of a candidate for public office based on their religious beliefs.

There are many legitimate reasons to oppose Governor Romney's candidacy, which we do. His ever-changing positions on matters of public policy and his past job performance leave many areas for appropriate disagreement.

Mr. O’Donnell, Democrats in Utah do not associate ourselves with your commentary. We reject it entirely. Utah Democrats refuse to become collateral damage because of your misguided attack on a Republican candidate for President of the United States. To do otherwise would undermine fine Democrats who are members of the LDS Church, most prominently on the national stage is U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

Members of the LDS Church claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. And, they honor the civic compact of our nation by believing in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

That’s how it is in America, Mr. O’Donnell. That is our social contract. I think you owe Mitt Romney, the members of the LDS Church, and the Democratic Party an apology.


Wayne Holland

Chair, Utah Democratic Party

The Dark Knight is Coming!

But, so is the Joker!

It's a Wonderful Life?

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Starring
Rob Miller as George Bailey ( I always wanted to be George)
Hillary Clinton as Mary Bailey
Cliff Lyon as Uncle Billy
Tom Barberi as Ernie
Chris Buttars as Baby Zuzu
and
Paul Mero as Clarence the Guardian Angel

Utah Bloggers Snowball Fight

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Starring:
Bob Aagard, The World, According To Me
Emily Hollingshead, The Utah Amicus
JM Bell, JM Bell and Friends
Ethan Millard, SLCSpin
And
Tom Grover, KVNU's For The People, as Snowballs the Elf

To PAYGO or not to PAYGO; that is the question

The debate over eliminating the AMT has my dander up.

One of the first things the new Democratic leadership did this year was pledge to follow the PAYGO rule, where any new tax cut or spending increase has to be paid for. The non-partisan Concord Coalition, the nation's leading advocacy group for fiscal sanity in government, has been pleading for years for Congress to re-institute the PAYGO rules, but it took the Democrats to do it.

Now, in the debate over eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax, which threatens 23 million middle class Americans next year if it isn't fixed, the Democrats and moderate Republicans have been honestly working to follow PAYGO and find a deficit-neutral way to pay for it.

However, President Bush, as part of his new-found discovery of the veto pen for the first time in his presidency, has threatened to veto any AMT relief that doesn't use his preferred way of paying for tax cuts: charging it up to our grandkids.

My wife and I are are included in the group that could get hit by AMT for the first time next year. But I would much rather pay the extra tax than to steal money from my grandkids. Paying for tax cuts with deficit spending is just plain immoral.

Anyone who can utter the phrase "Republicans are fiscal conservatives" these days without breaking into maniacal laughter isn't paying attention.

Romney is the candidate to beat!

Tom Barberi

You will excuse the bad punctuation, spelling, syntax, grammar and any other writing faux pauxs. I am beyond fed up with the nutless bunch who would be "Reverend-in Chief". Romney made a bigger fool out of himself than I thought possible. His "speech" was not only not needed but when delivered contained as much substance as a bucket of cotton candy. Gee, he is a man of faith....whoppeeeeee! I am a man of faith........in what? That government will continue to screw the public at every turn and there isn't a Goddamn thing we can do about it. Romney didn't make a Kennedyesque speech, he blathered on and on how much faith he possessed and how important it was in occupying the oval office. Kennedy said the opposite. Faith and government don't mix period. To think that Romney is now being dogged by Huckebeeeeeeatlejuice. Now there is a pair. Huck not only lost 100lb.s but most of his brain and common sense in the process. I don't have a horse in this race. The only positive that can come out of this election is Bush/Cheney will slink back into their respective holes. This after both should be imprisoned for crimes against America and the rest of the free world. If you think that Utah is a theocracy just wait to see what happens in D. C.

Mitt Romney’s Faith in America Speech

Last week, Mitt Romney delivered a speech about his religious faith and the faith of all Americans that the values of our beliefs should influence our government. But because of the religious bigotry that exists in the Republican Party, Romney felt he had to do a “JFK” type speech to convince GOP voters that the LDS Church will not dictate the office of a U.S. President.

In reality, this was a speech that should not have been given. After more than 200 years of religious freedom and the right to worship as we please, we still find some Americans who cannot accept certain Christian religions as Christianity. Many of the evangelicals in the Republican Party believe that members of the LDS faith are not Christians and believe that the church is a cult. But the description of a Christian is someone that follows Christ. And the dictionary definition of a cult is a system of religious rites with zealous devotion to a person, ideal or thing. In other words, the overzealous practices of the right wing evangelicals may suit the definition of a cult better than the title conservatives give Mormons.

Even though Romney gave a great speech, nothing has changed. In fact, his Iowa poll numbers have dropped his position to third in the GOP Presidential Primary race. The problem Romney has is his party affiliation with the Republican Party. Sadly, the Zealous Right has taken over the GOP and has pushed aside the reasonable, moderate party faithful.

Ironically, this type of discrimination that LDS Republicans are feeling from National GOP members is similar to a political bias in Utah politics. The discrimination in this state has been against LDS Democrats. It is interesting to watch Mormon Republicans wanting the country to accept them as Christians. Yet over the years, those same Mormon Republicans have rejected Mormon Democrats with statements like, “You can’t be a good Mormon and be a Democrat.”

Most Democrats believe that religion should shape the character of a person, but religion should not be used in determining an election. In fact, Romney mentioned Article Six in the Constitution where a religious test is not to be used in any election. However, party affiliation and religion has been a part of voting for decades, especially in Utah. In today’s politics, religious bigotry mostly exists in the Republican Party. An example is Senator Harry Reid. The most powerful elected Mormon Democrat in the country lives in a state where only 7% of the population is LDS. Clearly it is because most voters, especially Democrats, look for someone who will represent the people.

Likewise, Democrats in Utah feel it is more important to represent hard, working families rather than submit themselves to an over zealous group of self-interested attitudes.

Hopefully, Romney’s speech will be a wakeup call for voters. We need to elect competent and ethical leaders rather than vote for one’s religion or political party. The time is now to unite rather than divide our communities.

And the poll says...

Yes, KSL does have a Right-wing agenda!

The other day Doug Wright had a poll on his KSL web page asking if his listeners believed that NBC had a liberal bias (to know why check out Throwing Stones). The last time I checked KSL's poll 76% of those polled stated that they believed NBC did have a liberal bias.

Since polls are so much fun I decided to run my own poll where I asked, "Does KSL have a Right-wing agenda?" 96 percent of those who participated in my poll stated that KSL does have a Right-wing agenda.

96 percent.

The results of this poll made me think of a famous quote that over the years has been attributed to P.T. Barnum, but which was actually stated by David Hannum who said, "There's a sucker born every minute." Isn't it good to know that those suckers only make up four percent of our readers here, at The Utah Amicus.

Just thought you would like to know in case you had any doubts.

Chavez-Houck wins Becker’s seat

Democratic delegates Wednesday night elected Rebecca Chavez-Houck to State House District 24 by an overwhelming majority vote.

“Now the real work begins,” said Chavez-Houck, who was communications coordinator for the Democratic House Caucus and a long-time party activist.

The vote filled the seat held by Ralph Becker, who won the race for Salt Lake City mayor in November.

Four others filed for the seat: Richard Goldberger, David Berg, Mark Swonson, and Trudy Henderson

Also, Karen Mayne was elected to fill the State Senate District 5 seat that became vacant when her husband, Ed Mayne, died several weeks ago. She ran unopposed.

The votes were held at the Salt Lake County Council Chambers.

Toxic Toys

Anti-Mormon Wing of GOP Rears its' Ugly Biggotted Head

The Deseret Morning News reported that Gov. Mike Huckabee is spouting age old talking points from anti-Mormon propaganda when he brought up that Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers. Yes, it is Mormon doctrine that Lucifer was a fallen son of God and was cast out of heaven before humans lived on Earth. Yes, Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is literally the Son of God. But the doctrinal points and differences are less important than the fact that the GOP has a huge anti-Mormon constituency--that even Gov. Mitt Romney has to cosy up to--that will use differences in doctrine to defame Mormons and their beliefs. Look, it doesn't take a Ph.D. theologian to figure out that Catholics, Protestants, Mormons, Jews, Muslims don't agree on religious points of doctrine. We live in a pluralistic society--get over the bigotry!

I worked as a Mormon missionary in Michigan, where I encountered this strange and angered group of people that spent lots of money, energy and time twisting, defaming and maligning LDS doctrines in the name of their beliefs in Christianity. I always thought that if they left the Mormons alone and spent all those resources on advancing Christian principles society would be a lot better off. But I was always amazed at the extent and resources devoted to their propaganda.

When I ran for Congress I had a few Republicans tell me that they agreed with what I had to say and would vote for me except that they just could not support the National Democratic Party's platform. When I asked what it was about the National Democrats that bothered them they would explain that they were opposed to gay marriage or more likely abortion and they thought that the National Democratic Party was in favor of those things.

Now, what affects a Mormon more, gay people living together and advocating for equal protection under the law or a personal decision of a girl or a women about her health and reproduction options or someone who indicts your personal belief system through lies, half-truths and propaganda? I personally find it offensive when someone attempts to lecture me about my religion and its' points of doctrine. No religion or philosophical belief system is void of having untidy history or critiqued tenets according to the prevailing zeitgeist. But I can figure out my belief system without your manipulative propaganda.

My question now to those Mormon Republicans is how can you belong to a political party where the National Republican Party defames your religion? The obvious answer is that there really is no national omniscient political party--republican or democratic. Planks in parties vary by region. But Mormons should think about defending their religion through the political process above and beyond a couple so-called wedge issues that make Mormons think they can't be Democrats.

Look at the polls: Mitt's speech didn't work. Why? Because too many Evangelicals are bigoted against Mormons like segregationists Southerners are against Jews, Catholics and Blacks. But I will tell you one thing: African American and Jewish groups do a lot better job at combating defamation and antisemitism than we Mormons do in combating false propaganda about us.

Getting the facts straight about us starts by looking at the political parties and deciding which party is really is going to advance our personal interests while not supporting groups that make up a political movement that defames our religion. With evangelical litmus tests and their control of the GOP it makes being a Mormon Democrat an easy choice for me.

Mayor-Elect Becker Announces Staffers

Salt Lake City Mayor-Elect Ralph Becker presented his first round of decisions regarding executive and support staff this morning.

• Chief of Staff - David Everitt
• Communications Director - Karen Hale
• Senior Advisor for Intergovernmental Affairs - Ben McAdams

Mayor-Elect Becker will also retain the current Chief Administrative Officer, Lyn Creswell, in his position, along with the current Economic Development Manager, Ed Butterfield. The positions of Senior Advisor for Policy, Education Partnership Coordinator, and Sustainability Director are not yet filled.

The Mayor-Elect's office will be structured slightly differently from the current mayor's office.

• The Chief of Staff will supervise the day-to-day operations of the mayor's office, and will coordinate the efforts of the Policy Advisor, the Communications Director, the Senior Advisor for Intergovernmental Affairs, and the CAO.
• The Communications Director will organize and direct communications with constituents, city departments, and the media. This includes the Salt Lake Solutions program for proactively addressing issues within the community.
• A Senior Advisor for Policy will coordinate the policy function, and will work closely with policy analysts throughout the city's departments to develop and implement the Mayor-Elect's 180-Day Plan and Blueprints.

Additionally, the Education Partnership Coordinator and the Administrator for the Office of Diversity will be located in the Mayor's office.

Mayor-Elect Becker will announce further structural changes by Friday of this week that will address the role of the Sustainability Director and the location of the Economic Development function.

Holiday Service Project For Your Family

Hey folks - this just in. Apparently the Toys for Tots program in Utah is short on marines this year to help them with this very worthy and important service project... With so many of Utah's marines serving in the war, they are having a difficult time with distribution of toys.

Read below to see how you can help.

Happy Holidays!

Emily

**********

The United States Marine Corps Reserve in Utah is in dire need of volunteers to help out with this year's annual US Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Campaign.

90% of the Marine force in Utah is busy this holiday season. 180 Marines currently deployed in Iraq and another 100 busy training for their 2008 deployment means that there are not enough Marines in Utah to pick up and distribute toys.

The Marines are very short staffed for the distribution weeks and need your help. They especially need some people that speak Spanish to assist with translation.

Round up your family and friends and join the US Marines for a grand holiday experience.

Please, cut and paste this post and email to anyone you know who can make the time to do a little with the men and women who do so much.

CONTACT TO VOLUNTEER
Laura Sexton
435-783-5806
435-640-7223
laura@sextonoffroad.commilitary@allwest.net

For readers in other states, visit Toys For Tots.com and look for a volunteer opportunity near you.

http://www.toysfortots.org/

Becker Transition Team Update

Salt Lake City Mayor-Elect Ralph Becker’s Transition Team Steering Committee reconvened Monday to report on findings and present recommendations to the Mayor-Elect. Committee members (listed below) focused on eight broad areas of study, and each member recruited 5-10 other individuals to carry out interviews and conduct research in their effort to evaluate the city’s effectiveness and efficiency.

Both the Mayor-Elect and Transition Team Chair Palmer DePaulis were very impressed. “The caliber of this input – particularly given the aggressive schedule we had to work with – is extremely high,” said DePaulis. “Each of these individuals marshaled a strong team that interviewed city employees, residents, business owners, experts in their area, and a whole range of other stakeholders. They also looked at what other cities are doing, and how they are organized, in order to compare best practices.”

Mayor-Elect Becker will spend the week ahead digesting the reports so that he can make informed decisions on both any structural adjustments and staffing changes. “While I certainly have some specific thoughts on changes within city government, I have waited for this input before making any decisions with regard to the city’s departments,” said the Mayor-Elect. “But I plan to move quickly now, and will announce by Friday afternoon major changes for the start of my administration.”

Mayor-Elect Becker spent time during Monday’s meeting thanking the Steering Committee. “It has been a huge undertaking, and I know that all of you and your team members have given a substantial amount of time and energy for this process,” he said. “I am extremely grateful to you for it, and the residents of Salt Lake City will be better served because of your efforts.”

Palmer DePaulis, Chair

Mike Zuhl, Vice-Chair

Natalie Gochnour, Economic Development
Karen Hale, Neighborhoods and Community
Patrice Arent, Legal and Justice
DJ Baxter, Public Works
Soren Simonsen, Sustainability
Jennifer Mayer-Glenn, Education
David Ibarra, Administrative Services
Gary Cox, Public Safety
Rebecca Chavez-Houck, Boards and Commissions
Ben McAdams, At-large
Bob Huefner, At-large

A joyful vent

Zounds, I can breathe freely now. I can see that my concern about our air quality here [Washington County] was completely unfounded. Behold, as reported in the Spectrum, we can relax as our three local air quality and energy production experts, who also happen to be our three pro growth county commissioners, have carefully studied the proposed Toquop coal fired plant and concluded that all of our environmental concerns have been mitigated. Clearly since we are being environmentally safeguarded by our three county commissioners, its time for Vision Dixie and the other clean smokestack huggers to vanish from the local scene.

Don L. Miller

Throwing Stones

So I'm listening to Doug Wright on my way to work when he plays an ad from FreedomsWatch.org thanking the troops for their service. Then Doug explains that it took public outrage to force NBC to air the ad. He then continues to go on and on on what an outrage it is that NBC would play MoveOn.org ads this morning. On Doug's website he states, "Liberal bias? Is it real? Is there any doubt?"

On one point I do agree, NBC should play the ads thanking the troops. What I find hypocritical is Doug, or anyone else at KSL being outraged by NBC's supposed "liberal bias". I might remind Doug and KSL that they should be careful before throwing stones at NBC since their programming at 1PM is the most divisive show on the airwaves.

Maybe the time has come to have a few demonstrations of public outrage in front of Broadcasthouse to remind KSL that not everyone in Utah agrees with their right-wing agenda and Sean Hannity.

What do you think?

Overtreated: The Case for Single-Payer Healthcare

In her new book Overtreated, science writer Shannon Brownlee presents a well-researched, insightful argument for the root cause of America’s healthcare crisis: Market forces in the system result in powerful incentives to deliver too much care. She demonstrates how the system promotes intrusive, expensive treatments over simpler, more effective ones, and documents how those same market forces financially punish providers that deliver care which actually improves the health of their patients. A related problem is that America has largely delegated basic research to drug and medical device companies, which invariably drives the use of expensive new treatments over less profitable ones. The ultimate result of all of this is clear: We spend over twice as much per capita as other industrialized nations on health care, 46 million of us are uninsured, and the data place us somewhere between Costa Rica and the Czech Republic in standard wellness statistics.

Brownlee’s book was inspired by the work of Dr. John Wennberg of Dartmouth Medical School. Dr. Wennberg and his team have documented how the number of tests and treatments varies dramatically in different communities, while demonstrating how increased usage often correlates to higher rates of death and negative outcomes.

Consider the story of high dose chemotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer. The procedure was based on the intuition that if a little chemo is good, more is better. The problem is that high doses of chemo destroy the body’s immune system, requiring bone marrow transplants. After positive press coverage, pressure from patient advocate groups, and several high profile lawsuits, insurers began to pay for this expensive procedure in the early 1990’s, and doctors and hospitals were more than happy to go along with what became one of their biggest cash generators.

The problem was that the treatment was ineffective. Clinical trials completed and published late that decade showed conclusively that high dose chemo was no more effective than standard treatments. Faced with the evidence, the practice was largely stopped – but not before thousands of women suffered tremendously from the side effects of this procedure while millions of dollars were wasted.

The book contains other examples, documenting how increased usage of CT scans, expensive new drugs and invasive surgeries do not correlate to improvements in survival rates or better health.

What is the solution? Most Americans would be surprised to learn that the most cost effective, highest quality health care provider in the nation is a unionized system run by the government: the Veterans Health Administration.

This is a recent phenomenon. During the debate over health care reform in the early nineties, opponents could justifiably cite VHA as a negative example of socialized medicine. There were serious efforts to abolish the VHA and put veterans on Medicaid.

Instead, President Clinton hired Dr. Kenneth Kizer, a respected public health expert, to turn the system around. Dr. Kizer’s background was important: public health looks at health care as an integrated system. The VHA also has a crucial advantage: they have their patients for a lifetime. This gives them powerful financial incentives to actually improve the health of their clients. Kizer borrowed heavily from industry and implemented quality improvement systems, openness in reporting, facilitated the use of innovative information technology, and most significantly, created a teamwork based environment that stresses collaboration between doctors and other healthcare workers.

The results speak for themselves. Between 1995 and 2004, the cumulative increase in the VHA’s cost per enrollee was 0.8%, compared with 40.4% for those covered by Medicare. For six consecutive years, VHA received the highest consumer satisfaction ratings of any health care system. Error rates for prescription accuracy in VA hospitals are around 0.003 percent, compared with 3-8 percent for other hospitals. Experts agree VHA has become the industry leader in safety and quality.

The conclusions are inescapable. Market forces are the root cause of America’s health care crisis, and the most cost effective, highest quality health care in the nation is being provided by the system that is the most “socialistic”. One can give ideological arguments against these conclusions, but the facts are indisputable.

The example of VHA provides a template for a system where America’s world class doctors and nurses could be allowed to provide excellent health care without bankrupting the country. The only impediments are those ideological arguments, and the political power of those who profit from the current system – power bought through millions in campaign contributions.

Does America have the leadership to ignore the special interests and save us from the crisis?

Please Santa, Please!

D-News: Opposition grows against Nevada plant

Company wants to see coal-fired power in Mesquite region
By Nancy Perkins
Deseret Morning News
Published: December 6, 2007

ST. GEORGE — Opposition is mounting against a private company's plan to build a massive coal-fired power plant on 200 acres of federal land about 12 miles northwest of Mesquite, near Utah's border.

The proposed $1.2 billion Toquop Energy Project would generate 750 megawatts of electricity, enough to provide power to 75,000 homes in the Las Vegas and Phoenix area, according to the permit application filed by Sithe Global Power.

The company's original plan to build a natural gas-fired power plant changed to coal when gas prices escalated. A new environmental impact statement is now required, according to the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada.

Critics say the coal-fired plant would pollute the environment, contribute to global warming and create unnecessary health risks for residents of the region.

More...

Karen Mayne to replace Senator Eddie Mayne while five others file to replace Mayor-elect Becker in House District 24

The deadline for filing to fill the vacancies in State Senate District 5 and State House District 24 was last night, December 5th.

Karen Mayne was the only person to file to fill the position in State Senate District 5.

The following five people filed for State House District 24:

• Rebecca Chavez-Houck
• Richard Goldberger
• David Berg
• Mark Swonson
• Trudy Henderson

The meeting to officially make the replacements will be held on Wednesday, December 12 at the Salt Lake County Council Chambers at 2001 S State St at 6:00 PM with a County Central Committee meeting following at 7:00 PM.

If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact the Salt Lake County Democratic Party at 801/220-0122.

Is Mitt Romney's "faith problem" of his own making?

On the eve of Governor Romney's much anticipated speech on his Mormon faith, this article from Salon.com makes some interesting points.

Hot Blava: Bloghive Board Announced

From Hot Blava:

The results are in! A new Bloghive Advisory Board has been elected. It was interesting to watch the results shift as the week of voting went on. If I didn't want people to learn how the voting system worked, I would have hidden the results until the end of the election to keep people from gaming the results. Having said that, I do trust that the results of this election are a good representation of the opinion of the users of the utahbloghive.org site.

The winners, in order of election:

Rob Miller (The Utah Amicus)
JM Bell (JM Bell)
Tom Grover (KVNU's For the People)
Jesse Harris (Coolest Family Ever)
pramahaphil (Green Jello)

More here...

Much thanks to Bradley for using this election to educate us on preference choice voting. I enjoyed both learning about, and experiencing this process first hand. I would also like to thank everyone who participated in this process, and I am both honored and humbled by your vote, and your trust.

Thank You!

BREAKING NEWS: Bob Aagard, you've got some splainin' to do!

For those of you who frequent the Utah's Political Blogosphere this post might come as a shock. Remember last summer when Bob Aagard (The World, According To Me) stated that he had been working for the LDS Church's Especially for Youth program? On that post Bob stated to me that he indeed is not married, but thanks to an anonymous source, The Utah Amicus has discovered that not only is Bob married, he is married to multiple wives. Let's take a look at the evidence, notice the above photo; looks like a wedding to me, Bob.

Do you think she has any idea?

How sad, he has so many wives he needs to use name tags

What a jerk, he wears the same shirt at all of his weddings!

And look at some of the outfits he forces his wives to wear

It's really sickening!

Can you imagine if Bob had been the star of PCE's Oreo cookie ad?

And last but not least the most incriminating photo of all.
All I can say is, "Bob Aagard, you've got some splainnin' to do!"

KVNU's For The People takes the number one spot two weeks in a row

Utah's Most Influential Political blogs

Rank	Blog	Prev
1	KVNU's For The People	1
2	JM Bell	2
3	THE UTAH AMICUS	3
4	The Senate Site	4
5	Mark Towner's Political Spyglass	5
6	The World, According To Me	13
7	Simple Utah Mormon Politics	11
8	The SideTrack	6
9	Pursuit of Liberty	7
10	Hot Blava	-
11	Green Jello	-
12	Jeremy's Jeremiad	-
13	Weber County Forum	12
14	The Third Avenue	9
15	Reach Upward	10
16	UtahSenateDemocrats.org	-
17	Out of Context	19
18	Wasatch Watcher	15
19	RedStateBlues	-
20	Davis Didjeridu	-

Put your BNN blog rank on your blog.

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BlogNetNews' Blogosphere Influence Rating combines a variety of data sets to determine which blogs are most powerfully influencing the direction of the Utah political blogosphere. The exact method BNN uses to calculate influence scores must remain proprietary in order to prevent attempts to game the system. BNN's methodology takes into account the fact that all Internet data is profoundly limited in its reliability by using multiple data sets that, when combined, reveal a fair picture of activity in the blogosphere.

Congrats!