|
The Week Ahead
With the special legislative session behind us and the Thanksgiving holiday ahead, legislative activity is slowing down. See calendar for a few legislative committees this week. Also see Political Calendar at right for other events this week, including Gov. Jon Huntsman signing the Legacy Parkway legislation today, Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson hosting a KCPW show today with some interesting guests, and the Republican Party holding a major fundraising event on Wednesday with RNC Chair Ken Mehlman.
Washington Watch
Columnist criticizes Democrats for "proudly [saying] no to Social Security reform, even though Republicans such as Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah were offering fixes that allowed benefits for the poor to keep growing." (Washington Post)
Rep. Chris Cannon is supporting legislation that would give states more money for programs that help convicted criminals stay out of jail (Montgomery Advertiser).
People You Ought to Know
Name: D.J. Baxter
Position: Senior Advisor, Office of the Mayor, Salt Lake City
Education: B.A., Political Science, Swarthmore College (1989); J.D., University of Utah College of Law (1994)
Growing up: Williamsburg, Virginia, with a year in Leicester, England
Family: Brother a computer programmer. Father a retired college professor (political science, of course!) and Captain in US Navy Reserves; mother a retired middle-school reading specialist.
Why political involvement: I am passionate about the challenges and promise of urban areas, and believe that cities offer us the opportunity and the responsibility to live more sustainably. To do this, we must develop in ways that better preserve our natural resources and reduce our dependence on the car, promote walking and healthy lifestyles, provide access and mobility for people of all ability levels, and provide robust transit options and quality housing for all residents.
Hobbies: hiking, camping, skiing, SCUBA diving, travel
Motivations/ambitions: Would like to make Salt Lake City a place where people can easily live without a car.
Proudest moment: Creation of a railroad quiet zone on Union Pacific's 900 South rail line.
Favorite book: The Count of Monte Cristo
Favorite mentor: Many people, but my father leads the pack.
Blog Watch
National bloggers respond to BYU physics professor's theories about the WTC collapse on 9/11, here, here, here, and here, while Ken at Oblogatory Anecdotes gives the mad professor a good fisking... Charley Foster, in response to George Will's latest column, says Utah's rebellion against NCLB is just one symptom of a much larger disease in today's Republican Party... Wilf Sommerkorn responds to all the anti-Wal Mart sentiment out there: "We all hate Wal-Mart, until we want to buy something cheap. All those people who revile the store itself, seem to go shopping there anyway"... Jen's Green Journal hails the upcoming Hatch vs. Hatch campaign.
Podcast Watch
On Jennifer Napier-Pearce’s InsideUtah.com, you can listen to municipal election reflections with citizen watchdog Claire Geddes and Salt Lake Chamber President Lane Beattie (:45); a conversation with one Generation Y politician, 22-year-old Centerville mayoral candidate Michael Johnson (5:59); and an audio postcard from a naturalization swearing-in ceremony held on election day (11:46). Also, leasing the Great Salt Lake for oil drilling (18:58) and a run-down of Oscar-bound indie films from Tori Baker at the Salt Lake Film Society (24:32).
Wise Words
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
– John Stuart Mill
"Already the hour is late. Government has laid its hand on health, housing, farming, industry, commerce, education, and to an ever-increasing degree interferes with the people's right to know. ... We approach the point of no return when government becomes so huge and entrenched that we fear the consequences of upheaval and just go along with it."
--Ronald Reagan
(Source: The Federalist Patriot)
|
