The Week Ahead
The last week of June ought to be a slow week for politics, and
so it is. A few legislative committees are scheduled (see
legislative calendar), including the task force considering
which roadways should be moved from state control to local government
control. On Thursday, Common Cause holds a forum on GRAMA issue
(see calendar on the right). On Friday, plenty of people will be
heading out for a July 4 holiday get-a-way.
It’s Weise vs. Hansen
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Pete Ashdown has hired Carla
Wiese as his campaign manager. See a little about her background
on Ashdown’s campaign Web
site. Sen. Orrin Hatch has had veteran campaign manager
Dave Hansen working on his re-election bid for several weeks.
Ashdown also has a new biography
page on his Web site.
State News Posted
The state government Web
site now has a news
portal where press releases from agencies are posted.
Papers on Family Sought
The Sutherland
Institute has announced a "Call for Papers" to coincide with
its Sept. 23, 2005, celebration of the "family as the fundamental
unit of society." The Institute will issue cash awards for the best
papers submitted from the following categories of authors: elected
officials, business, college-level students and professors, and
K-12-age students and teachers (including private and home schoolers).
Each category winner will receive a $1,000 cash award. Papers will
be judged by the Sutherland Institute Board of Scholars. More information
is posted
here on the theme of the papers and other details.
Washington Watch
More Media Hits for Bennett
Sen. Robert Bennett’s proposal to save Social Security got
some serious play in a Sunday Washington
Post column by David S. Broder.
Consult, Says PFAW
With the potential for a Supreme Court vacancy this week, the liberal
group People for the American Way (PFAW) is
calling for a spirit of genuine consultation between the Senate
and President Bush. As an example, PFAW says Pres. Bill
Clinton consulted with Sen. Orrin Hatch, then the ranking
Republican on the Judiciary committee, before nominating Ruth
Bader Ginsberg.
Slate Profiles McConnell
The on-line political magazine Slate
includes former Utahn Michael McConnell on its short list
of possible Supreme Court nominees. Profiles of those on the list
are provided.
Government Dependency Growing
"Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ
of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition."
-- Thomas Jefferson
The Heritage Foundation has published a very interesting "2005
Index of Dependency."
Reader Response
Campaign Finance Reform
Scott Hinrichs: I wish to respond to Andy Wilson's
and Clarity Sanderson's criticisms of my free market approach
to campaign financing. I posted my response to Mr. Wilson's rambling
article on my
blog.
Ms. Sanderson would force everyone to pay for political campaigns
whether they agree with them or not. While the stats show that a
disproportionate number of businesses and individuals contributed
to Utah political campaigns last year, this is due to the fact that
everyone involved exercised their free will to either participate
or not.
No one prevented the businesses and individuals that failed to
contribute from doing so. They exercised their right not to do so.
That, of itself, is a form of political free speech. The public
financing model would remove that right. It would also limit the
rights of those that wish to participate more actively.
While our current system is somewhat messy, it follows precisely
with the type of government our founders designed. While some advantages
might be gained by public campaign financing, I fear that we would
lose a crucial part of our amazing system of self governance. The
electoral process might become more efficient, but not necessarily
better.
More on Sinister Lefties
William Brace: This (the study mentioned in Friday’s UPD)
isn't the first study of left handedness. A left-handed psychiatrist
friend read almost everything published on left hand use and came
up with some awful facts:
You guys are more prone to suicide than righties. You guys are
an average of 35 points higher in IQ. You are somewhat more prone
to violence. You have a shorter life span...most male lefties are
gone by 60. You are more successful in marriage--they last longer
and are more solid. But you guys are more inclined to be homosexual.
(Something like 18% of lefties are gay whereas the national norm
is something like between 6 and 10%.) Sorry about that. Of course,
if you're Mormon this doesn't apply, since gay Mormon is an oxymoron.
You guys have difficulty in grade school with cutting and pasting
as the use of scissors is for right handers.
You guys are, apparently, more tolerant of diversity than righties.
Yours is the first report I've read that discusses skin color. Interesting.
Me? I'm ambidextrous and a bundle of nerves on all matters.
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