Utah’s Ubiquitous Senator
Has anyone noticed that Sen.
Orrin Hatch seems to be
everywhere, all the time? His various political and Senate operations are churning out press releases,
op-eds, quotes and statements like crazy, and he’s all over the place on TV and radio. You’d think he’s
up for re-election or something.
Podcast Watch
Today’s
Inside Utah Podcast by
Jennifer
Napier-Pearce features interviews with State Sen. and Utah AFL-CIO President
Eddie Mayne on the state of
the unions in Utah; computer guru Pete Ashdown and Rep. Steve Urquhart
on the race for the U.S. Senate, and
citizen watchdog Claire Geddes on state and federal energy policy.
Excellent story on how Podcasting
is hitting the mainstream in the
New York Times. Also an
interesting NY Times
story on videoblogging.
Blog Watch
Be careful what you write in your blog.
It could get you fired.
Washington Watch
$1.8B for Utah Transportation Projects
Sens.
Orrin Hatch and
Bob Bennett issued press releases touting Utah’s receipt of $1.8 billion to fund multi-year highway and transit projects, including expanding I-15 capacity and $200 million for regional commuter rail. It’s the most federal funding ever committed to Utah in a transportation bill and it is long overdue, said Hatch.
‘No Cloning’ Law
Sens. Orrin Hatch,
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Edward
Kennedy (D-MA), Arlen Specter (R-PA), and Tom Harkin (D-IA) today announced new legislation that makes
it a federal crime to clone or attempt to clone a human being,” reports
American Chronicle.com.
House OKs Export Reform Act
Zwire.com
reports that the House passed the Controlled Substances Export Reform Act of 2005. Rep.
Chris Cannon is a co-sponsor. (The Senate version, sponsored by
Orrin Hatch, was approved July 13.) The legislation would make exporting less burdensome and costly for smaller pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Hatch Speaks for Judge Roberts
Sen. Hatch took
the Senate floor
for a speech on behalf of Supreme Court nominee Judge John Roberts. Roberts should be allowed to follow the Ginsburg rule of “no hints, no forecasts, no previews,” he said.
Senate OKs Heritage Area
Thursday the Senate unanimously passed legislation by
Sen. Bob Bennett establishing the National Mormon Pioneer
Heritage Area on Utah’s Highway 89. A Bennett
press release says the designation will help
preserve cultural and architectural treasures of Utah’s pioneer heritage and strengthen opportunities for
local heritage-related businesses and products in the state.
Wise Words
"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs
is to be ruled by evil men." –Plato
"No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut." --Sam Rayburn (Source: The Federalist Patriot)
Casual Friday
The Amazing, Self-Cooling Water Bag
When I was six or seven years old in the 1950s, my family lived in
Page, Ariz., during the booming dam-building days. Page was hot and dry and on some weekends we'd load our big
family up in the old Studebaker station wagon and head for Black Canyon, near Antimony, Utah, for camping, fishing,
and cooler weather.
Part of the ritual of those treks was seeing my father fill a large
canvas bag with water, screw on the metal cap, and strap it to the bumper or side mirror of the Studebaker. In
110-degree heat as we headed into the juniper and pinion-covered hills of Utah, we would make periodic pit stops and
take long gulps of cool, refreshing water from that canvas bag. (It was also good for refilling a boiling radiator
overwhelmed by the heat and a long climb up a hill.)
It was always amazing to me how the water in the bag could be so cool
on a hot, scorching day. My father explained it quite simply. The bag (I think it was called a Desert Bag or something
like that) was engineered so that moisture seeped into the canvas and kept the bag damp and slowly dripping. The
powerful evaporative effect of the wind passing over the damp bag hanging on the bumper as the car traveled 50 mph
kept the water nice and cool.
Today, we don’t need canvas water bags because we fill coolers full
of drinks in our air-conditioned SUVs, or we stop at one of many convenience stores along the way of most any trip.
But I’m not sure replenishing my gut-busting 32-oz. Diet Dr. Pepper
at a convenience store in Fillmore is any more satisfying than pulling under the shade of a large pinion tree along
Highway 89 near Mt. Carmel Junction, and taking a long guzzle from that amazing, self-cooling canvas water bag.
Best of Late Night Humor
David Letterman.... "Top
George W. Bush Solutions For Global Warming":
NASA mission to turn down the sun's thermostat; Federal subsidies to boost production of Cool Ranch Doritos; Convene
Blue-Ribbon Committee to explore innovative ways of ignoring the problem; Let Hillary worry about it when she takes
over; Give the boys at Halliburton 90-billion dollar contract to patch hole in ozone; Switch to Celsius so scorching
98 becomes frosty 37; Keep plenty of Bud on ice.
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