Well, we survived the first week of summer. It’s all downhill from
here, as days get shorter, even though the heat and sun will continue
for a few more months. Better take advantage of summer fun while
you can.
Washington Watch
PILT Funding Boosted, But Still Small
Rep. Chris Cannon says in a press release that Utah will
receive over $19.6 million this year from the BLM under the Payments
in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Act. Cannon says this year’s PILT payment
is nearly $500,000 greater than last year’s, but still only a fraction
of the fully authorized PILT funding level. “. . . Utah and every
other state should be receiving the fully-authorized level of PILT
funding.” He said PILT payments recognize that counties and other
local entities with substantial federal acreage can’t collect sufficient
taxes to provide needed services.
Storing Nuclear Waste at Federal Facilities
Sen. Orrin Hatch has secured the assurance of Senate Energy
Committee Chair Pete Domenici that the Senate will pursue
a strong policy of storing nuclear waste at federal facilities rather
than private, offsite facilities (such as the proposed nuclear waste
repository at Skull Valley). Hatch took the Senate floor during
yesterday’s debate on the energy bill, saying “President Bush has
called for a robust nuclear power strategy, but we cannot have one
until we know what to do with all the spent nuclear fuel.”
Bennett Criticized
Sen. Robert Bennett is
being criticized by the NAACP National Board of Directors, which
said “the guilty verdict by a Mississippi jury in the lynching of
three Mississippi civil rights workers in 1964 stands in stark contrast
to 11 U.S. Senators who refuse to sign an apology for lynchings
that killed more than 4,700 people, mostly African Americans.” Bennett
has not signed the apology.
Blog Watch
Rep. John
Dougall takes on the Supreme Court over eminent domain,
the Salt Lake Tribune over tax reform, and hopes Gov.
Huntsman’s economic plans will focus on basic reforms that benefit
all businesses, not a chosen few . . . Democracy
for Utah defends Howard Dean and attacks Republicans
. . . Rep. Steve
Urquhart
talks about politicians connecting to the people through blogging
and the Internet, and also discusses access to higher education.
Municipal Broadband Fight
The Wall Street Journal published a lengthy
article (paid subscription required)Thursday on the fight between
the big telecommunications firms and local governments that want
to provide access to high speed Internet services.
Double Loss
Condolences and best wishes to Dale Gardiner and his family.
Gardiner is a former Democratic congressional candidate, Riverton
mayor, and all-round good guy. He lost his wife, Vicki, on
Thursday to a long illness, after his father had passed away just
two days earlier. Gardiner is a partner with the law firm Parry
Anderson & Gardiner. We appreciate Todd Weiler, another partner
in the law firm, for making us aware of the situation.
Casual Friday
Don’t Get Me Angry
I happen to be left-handed, so I was interested in a short story
in The Economist, the British newsweekly, on left-handedness.
It said that on average, left-handers are smaller and lighter than
right-handers, but they seem to do better in sports and they are
also more violent. At least that’s what two intrepid researchers
from the University of Montpellier II, in France (it’s not only
Americans who waste money), reported in the Proceedings of the Royal
Society.
The researchers looked at the literature, checked crime statistics
and found that the proportion of left-handers in a traditional society
is, indeed, correlated with its homicide rate. “One of the highest
proportions of left-handers, for example, was found among the Yanomamo
of South America. Raiding and warfare are central to Yanomamo culture.
The murder rate is 4 per 1,000 inhabitants per year (compared with,
for example, .068 in New York.) And, 22.6% of Yanomamo are left-handed.
In contrast, Dioula-speaking people of Burkina Faso in West Africa
are virtual pacifists. There are only .013 murders per 1,000 inhabitants
among them and only 3-4% of the population is left-handed.
Just thought you ought to be forewarned.
Late Night Humor
Leno: Thank you for coming out. Boy it was hot today. It
was 96. I was sweating like Senator Dick Durbin at an American Legion
convention. It was so hot today, American flags were bursting into
flames all by themselves! . . . Earlier this week, the prime minister
of communist Vietnam met with President Bush in the oval office.
Before the meeting, President Bush asked the prime minister, "So,
are you from the good Vietnam, or the bad Vietnam?” . . . The NBA
has reached a new labor agreement between the owners and the players
and they’ve agreed on a minimum age of 19 for the players. You must
now be 19 years old to play in the NBA. I guess they feel that 18-year
olds aren’t ready to become illegitimate fathers yet. . . . Here's
an interesting statistic -- according to "Cosmo", over 30% of men
between the ages of 18 and 34 still live with their parents. These
men are known as "Star Wars" fans. .... Major heat wave in India
-- 122 degrees today. It was so hot people in India were sweating
like Americans waiting to hear if their job is being outsourced
to India. .... A top Taliban member said today that Osama bin Laden
is alive and well, which is great because that means we can still
kill him.
Letterman: I hate to talk about people when they’re not
here but last night’s audience was dumb! Just awful. They were so
dumb I thought they were an L.A. jury. . . . It was so nice out
today. A beautiful day. It was a great day to get drunk, steal a
plane and fly around Manhattan for five hours. . . . You can tell
it’s summer time. The New York City pools open today. I walked past
one today and saw a rat doing laps. . . . Today was the first day
of New York City pools being opened up…and the first 100 swimmers
got a free hepatitis shot. . . . Did you hear about the idiots putting
up the huge popsicle? The popsicle is 17 tons. For one day the coldest
thing in New York wasn’t Hillary Clinton.
Conan: Martha Stewart says she will be using a different
phrase than "you’re fired” on her "Apprentice” show. Instead she
will be saying, "Prepare to be beaten to death!” . . . Government
officials in California now have to pay a one dollar fine when they
use a word that’s hard for taxpayers to understand. In a related
story Arnold now owes $50,000. . . . President Bush has announced
that he plans to visit Vietnam. He says that it must be a nice place
because he heard John McCain spent five years there.
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