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Utah Senate Majority Launches Blog
The Utah Senate Republican Majority has taken a big leap into the world of blogging with a combination blog/Web site called The Senate Site that focuses on state issues and activities of members of the majority party. It includes information like informal photos and profiles of senators (still being populated). The site is not an official state site and was developed without state funding.
The idea is for the 21 members of the GOP majority to each periodically write items for the blog about their legislation, ideas, positions on issues, activities, response to news media stories, and so forth. The success of the blog will depend on the willingness of the senators to write frequently enough that new postings appear frequently. Ric Cantrell, who works for Senate Pres. John Valentine and the Senate majority, is the site moderator.
One of the nice features of the unofficial site is a rundown of the Top 10 Features of the official legislative Web site, which has been named the best legislative Web site in the country.
The blog is designed to be provocative, air controversial issues, and provide a forum for senators to defend themselves, but it isn’t likely to become highly partisan, Cantrell said. The senators are too collegial to take partisan shots at each other. It is meant, however, to give the majority members a channel to communicate directly with citizens and opinion leaders without filtering by the news media.
The current lead item in the blog is an article by Sen. Sheldon Killpack on the Legacy Parkway. He was one of the Legislature’s lead negotiators on the agreement-in-principle announced on Wednesday. In the posting he lists the main features of the agreement. Here’s another blog posting:
Brigham Young?
An interesting thing happened last night in the Senate Chambers.
Toward the end of the Extraordinary Session, one of our spectators loudly remarked, "I am the reincarnation of Brigham Young!"
The Majority Leader turned around and asked, "Now, why do you think that?"
The spectator said, "God told me."
Suddenly a voice from Bill Hickman’s desk stated, "I did NOT!"
Ashdown Involving Citizens Via Web
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Pete Ashdown is doing some very interesting things on his campaign Web site. Check out his 20 minutes/20 dollars page and his “open source” MediaWiki citizen involvement/collaboration pages. Ashdown faces tough odds to win the election, but at least he’s breaking some new ground in Utah.
Ashdown will hold a “Collaborative Campaign Session” at the Salt Lake City Main Library, auditorium, Monday, Sept. 26, 6-9 p.m. He will discuss his Open Source Campaign and will personally help people navigate the system. The collaborative site is designed to “re-democratize the political process” by opening politics to everyone.
News From the Hinckley Institute
40th Anniversary Gala
The Institute’s 40th Anniversary Gala is scheduled Friday, Sept. 30, 6-9 pm featuring a keynote address by former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft. To RSVP, call 801.581.8501 no later than Monday at noon.
Institute Featured on KSL and KCPW
Tune in to KSL News at 10 pm next week (date still to be determined) for a feature on the Hinckley Institute and its 4,000 former interns. Last Monday, Bryan Schott at KCPW interviewed Hinckley Institute Directors Kirk Jowers, Ted Wilson, R.J. Snow, and J.D. Williams. The interview will be rebroadcast on Sunday, Sept. 25 at 5 pm on KCPW (1010AM, 88.3 FM, 105.3FM). Or listen to the interview at your convenience on the Hinckley Institute of Politics web site by clicking here.
Institute Co-Sponsoring KCPW Debates
The Hinckley Institute will co-sponsor Salt Lake City Council candidate debates next week. All debates take place live in the Salt Lake City Library Auditorium:
Council District 1 - Tuesday, Sept. 27, 10 am, rebroadcast at 9 pm.
Council District 7 - Wednesday, Sept. 28, 10 am, rebroadcast at 9 pm.
Council District 3 - Thursday, Sept. 29, 10 am, rebroadcast at 9 pm.
U. Plans New Public Affairs Institute
The College of Social and Behavioral Science at the University of Utah is launching a new Institute of Public and International Affairs (IPIA), an important development for public policy and administration in Utah. IPIA will be an “umbrella organization” that includes a variety of programs, centers, and institutes with related missions and interests, many of which are already in existence at the U. (such as the Hinckley Institute of Politics and the Center for Public Policy and Administration) and others that will be created as new programs and initiatives emerge. Learn more about IPIA at this web site.
A reception and briefing about the Institute and the opening of a nationwide search for a director is scheduled at the Alta Club on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 5:30 p.m. RSVP to Aleta Tew at 587-3556 or at aleta.tew@csbs.utah.edu by Oct. 4. Information about the position of director of the IPIA can be found here.
Podcast Watch
Jennifer Napier-Pearce’s Friday podcast features Salt Lake City Council member Dave Buhler on a groundbreaking move to offer health benefits to the domestic partners of city employees (:55); Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Chief Ken Wynn (5:37) and Bayou club co-owner Mark Alston (9:00) on a plan to move "alcopops" from grocery shelves to the liquor store; and reflections on a Legacy Highway compromise from citizen watchdog Claire Geddes and Salt Lake Chamber president Lane Beattie (13:57). Also, fall book recommendations from bookseller Catherine Weller (21:43).
Washington Watch
Payday For Utah
Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch issued press releases touting their congressional generosity: “Senate Approves $62 Million in Bennett Requests for Utah Military Installations.” . . . “Utah to Receive Millions in Military Construction Funding.” . . . “Bennett Helps Utah Ag with $50 Million Boost.” . . . “Ag Bill Contains Millions to Fund Utah Projects.”
Bill Good for Utah Small Business
Rep. Jim Matheson said House passage of HR 250, Manufacturing Technology Competitiveness Act of 2005, on Wednesday will help stimulate manufacturing, jobs and innovation in Utah.
Energy Watch
An Associated Press story says that by next February, companies in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming could begin testing new technologies to extract oil out of shale on federal land in the Green River Basin. The BLM has received eight applications for companies that want to try oil shale research and development projects in Utah.
Casual Friday
Too Busy to Go Fishing?
(A few weeks ago I published an essay by my father, LaVarr B. Webb, a prolific writer who died a number of years ago. Several readers said they enjoyed it and asked for more.)
I guess a man can classify himself as a real fisherman when he has sons of his own, and he begins to teach them, and watch them, and glory with them as they work at becoming fishermen. And, then, he can smile, and even laugh as he watches the man who taught him, his father, move in and teach and fish with those sons, his grandsons.
I remember we were having a big family gathering on Mill Meadow Creek back in the 1960s. I, with my family arrived early, and while my wife and I and our daughters started to pitch camp, my older sons immediately started fishing. Along toward evening, Dad and Mother pulled in. As they stepped out of their car, Sam, then about 10 years old, walked up to his grandfather, and said, “Grandpa, I can’t fish anymore because I caught my limit.”
And his granddad said, “Oh, don’t worry about that, you can help me catch my limit.”
All of the family, but Sam, pitched in and helped my parents unload and make camp. Sam disappeared. Just as it was getting dark, he came into camp, walked up to his granddad, and said, “Now neither of us can fish; I just caught your limit.” His grandfather was a little bit chagrined, but what could he say?
My sons and I enjoyed fishing with that old fishing partner, my father. And then there was the last trip. We were at Black Canyon, near Antimony, one of my all-time favorite fishing streams. Dad, getting older, was out on the creek alone. I became worried about him, and asked my mother which direction he had gone, up or down. She said that he had gone downstream, so I went looking for him.
I found him fishing in a beautiful hole about 15 feet wide and 40 feet long. It was deep, and there were some wild currants and wild roses hanging over the far bank, covering part of the hole. I told dad, “I’ll bet there is a big one under that brush.”
And he said, “Yea, I’ve been trying to get him interested, but can’t; why don’t you try it?”
I said, “I can’t; my pole is back at camp.”
He insisted that I take his. So, I walked up to the top of the hole, made a cast across the stream, and let the current carry the bait down the hole under the brush. Suddenly we watched the line take off, racing against the current. The line went to the top of the hole, turned, and raced to the bottom of the hole. We both knew that a large trout was the power behind that racing line.
I applied a little pressure as the fish plowed into the rapids at the bottom of the hole, and he turned, flying under the water, and then he became airborne, leaping completely out of the stream, a very large, fat, rainbow. He seemed to hang in the air for a long time, then he flipped his mighty head, the hook came out of his mouth, and he dived back into the
water and disappeared.
“Wow,” Dad said, “Did you see that?”
I said, “Yes, I saw that. I am sorry that I lost your fish. It must have been at least 3 or 4 pounds.”
That was the last time I fished with my old fishing partner. He had a fatal heart attack some time after that trip. I have wished many times over the years that he had kept his pole, and that he had been the one to tie into that big rainbow and feel its fighting strength as it plowed up and down that Black Canyon hole.
And as I look back over the years and remember the times that I was “too busy to go fishing,” I shed an inward tear. Life is short. Fishing trips are far too short, and the man with the horribly sharp scythe patiently waits -- putting an end to fishing trips and fishing partnerships. |
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