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Washington Watch
Hatch Hails Growth of HSAs
Sen. Orrin Hatch highlights "the success of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), with 4.5 million Americans now covered under HSA-eligible health plans. That marks an increase of 1.3 million – or 40 percent – within the past year. ... Hatch has been a strong supporter of HSAs since helping to enact legislation that brought them to the health care market in January 2004" (see press release).
Hinckley Mayoral Candidate Forum
The University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics is hosting a "Meet the Candidates for Salt Lake City Mayor" forum today with Meghan Holbrook and Nancy Saxton at 11 a.m. in the Hinckley Caucus Room (OSH 255).
UAC Counties Factbook
The 2007 Utah Counties Factbook is now available. The book, published by the Utah Association of Counties, "is meant to provide county officials, state agencies, associations, private organizations, and citizens with a compilation of useful, county-relevant data. To this end, we've collected data from several federal, state, and county level governments. The information in this book describes the economic, demographic, public safety, and financial characteristics of each of Utah's 29 counties." For more info, click here.
Grand Old Party Awards
Jeremy Roberts reports that the Salt Lake County Republican Party Lincoln Club will hold its 2nd Annual Legislative Session Post-Mortem and Awards Event on Thursday, 7 p.m., at the home of Duane and Glenda Millard, 633 E. Holly Haven Circle, Murray.
Salt Lake County legislators will be in attendance to receive the Grand Old Party Awards and will speak about accomplishments of the 2007 session. Some candidates for municipal office in the 2007 election cycle will also attend. .
Roberts is seeking nominations for the following awards by this afternoon. Call him at 801.867.3866 with any suggestions.
- Legislator of the Year: The legislator who has worked hardest to support Republican values during the 2007 session
- Legislation of the Year: This award goes to the best piece of legislation for 2007
- Lifesaver of the Party Award: This award is presented to the legislation that best provides safety and security to residents of Salt Lake County
- Freshman of the Year: There's no green on this legislator!
- Campaign of the Year: The "Rudy" Award! Against all odds, this candidate came, saw and conquered
- Republican of the Year: The person or legislator who has been the strongest supporter of the grassroots of the Republican Party
- Spirit of Freedom Award: The legislator who did the best job to STOP a bad bill from passing
- Friend of the Taxpayer Award: The IRS has this person on their hit-list!
- Mary Todd Lincoln Award: The female representative who has been all-things to the Party...a phenomenal candidate, a great legislator, a grassroots supporter of the party
National Politics
Best Stories From . . .
-- RealClearPolitics: Columnist Thomas Sowell says of Rep. Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria: "Democrats can have any foreign policy they want -- if and when they are elected to the White House. Until [Pelosi] came along, it was understood by all that we had only one president at a time and -- like him or not -- he alone had the Constitutional authority to speak for this country to foreign nations, especially in wartime. All that Pelosi's trip can accomplish is to advertise American disunity to a terrorist-sponsoring nation in the Middle East while we are in a war there."
-- Washington Times: Sen. Barack Obama "is rapidly building a presidential campaign organization using students, the Internet, grass-roots organizers and the support from up-and-coming young politicians to do battle against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's cadre of established campaign operatives and long-time party bigwigs. Generating new Democrats and tapping newly elected leaders not tied to former President Bill Clinton is the best way for Mr. Obama to run competitively against Mrs. Clinton in the early going, say Mr. Obama's backers, though they say at some point his successes will earn him the broader support he will need to face the front-runner."
-- RealClearPolitics: Columnist Froma Harrop relates: "This may be the smallest sampling in the history of political polling, but I recently asked three liberal women friends whom they preferred among the Democratic hopefuls. Their answers were Obama, Obama and Obama. 'Not Hillary?' was my follow-up. Each respondent bristled at the suggestion that they might back Hillary Clinton because she is a woman. They rejected the idea as dated."
-- New York Times: Editorial says "[it] would be hard to overstate the importance of [Monday's] ruling by the Supreme Court that the federal government has the authority to regulate the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases produced by motor vehicles. It is a victory for a world whose environment seems increasingly threatened by climate change. It is a vindication for states like California that chose not to wait for the federal government and acted to limit emissions that contribute to global warming. And it should feed the growing momentum on Capitol Hill for mandatory limits on carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas."
Lighter Side
“Think about it. What profession is the subject of more jokes and humor than that of an economist. …OK, other than lawyers—who clearly deserve the abuse.
“Economics is known as ‘the dismal science … the painful elaboration of the obvious.’ It can be a bit intimidating, boring, frustrating, and confusing in the hands of an amateur. It gets even worse in the hands of a professional.
“As a friend of mine suggests (and he's a lawyer!), it's high time economics is given the respect and status it deserves alongside all the other occult sciences.” (Source: Jeff Thredgold’s The Economist Joke Book) |
