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The Week
Ahead
Time to get back to
work and school. Vacation season is over. Congress returns to
work. With the municipal primary just a week from today, it
will be a frenzied week of campaigning for municipal
candidates in primary races.
At the legislative level, the
Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee takes a field
trip Wednesday and Thursday to sites in south-central Utah.
See agenda.
On Thursday, the Government Competition and Privatization
Subcommittee will address public telecommunications projects
like UTOPIA and iProvo, and also municipal power systems and
waste disposal services. See agenda.
On Friday, the Medicaid Interim Committee will discuss
pharmaceuticals and long-term care. See agenda.
For all the week’s political events, see the Utah Policy.com
calendar.
Media
Watch
Those
On-Line Comments
In the olden days, if you wanted to
spout off about a topic or take issue with a news story or
editorial, it took a bit of effort. To write a letter to the
editor of a newspaper you actually had to hand-write or type a
letter, put it in an envelope, address it, paste on a stamp,
and get it to the Post Office.
Then came e-mail, making it very easy to send the editor a
letter. But it still wasn’t always easy to get a letter
published, because space was limited and editors selected the
most intelligent letters. What’s more, letter writers had to
be personally accountable for what they wrote, because
newspaper policies usually required writers to be identified
by their real names.
Today, comment by the citizenry has been almost totally
democratized, with most of the restraint, oversight and
accountability eliminated. Today, anyone can be published
on-line by adding a comment at the end of a news story or
editorial. (See 150
comments responding to Morning News story
about Rocky Anderson and the LDS Church.) But
is the arena of public policy debate richer and more
insightful for having given accessibility to the masses?
I’m all in favor of everyone having access, but it is often
difficult to find a nugget of wisdom or insight amidst all the
uninformed nonsense and name-calling. I enjoy witty repartee,
strong passion, and perception born of experience. But I’m
afraid people capable of making those sorts of comments shy
away from the silly debate that comes after many news stories
today.
What’s more, readers ought to be aware that candidates and
interest groups now sometimes orchestrate efforts to have
their views dominate the comments sections of some stories.
Clearly, the comments sections often don’t reflect the views
of a majority of people, or even a majority of news media
readers or viewers.
Without human intervention to referee these on-line
debates, and anonymity eliminating discipline and
responsibility, it’s the Wild West out there, a free-for-all
of ideas, opinion and debate. But I’m not sure this
marketplace of ideas will enrich our political dialogue until
people with more experience and insights weigh in.
United Way
Service Project
Nearly 3,000 people will converge
this Thursday as United Way of Salt Lake commemorates the 15th
Anniversary of Day of Caring, a day of extraordinary
commitment, caring and compassion. United Way of Salt Lake
Board Members and staff along with local corporations and
thousands of their employees will gather to celebrate the
spirit of volunteerism in our community.
New this year is a lunchtime service project open to the
general public. The project will take place from 11:30 a.m. to
1:30 p.m. at The Gateway. No need to call or register. Just
stop by for a few minutes during your lunch hour to help put
together oral hygiene kits. Local children in at-risk schools
will be given these kits by the Sealants for Smiles
Foundation, which provides preventative dental care, screening
and education to school children. Come join the fun, stay as
long as you like and help make a difference for some of our
most vulnerable school children.
Today in
Political History
September 4,
1954: A US Navy aircraft is lost off the
Siberian Coast, shot down by Soviet fighters. The aircraft's
navigator was missing and presumed dead; the 9 other
crewmembers were rescued from the water by U.S. forces. The
Soviet Union claimed the plane entered Soviet airspace and
fired on Soviet aircraft, charges rejected by the United
States. (Source: AirPOWMIA)
September 4, 1957: Arkansas Gov.
Orval Faubus of Arkansas calls out the
National Guard to prevent integration of black students into
Central High School in Little Rock. President Dwight
Eisenhower sends in troops to enforce the law (Source: Perspicuity)
Wise
Words
“Work as if you were to live 100 Years,
Pray as if you were to die To-morrow.”
-- Benjamin Franklin
(Patriot Post)
Communications
Tip
Test
Your Communications Skills
How are your communication skills?
Test your communications quotient with this
quiz from Witt Communications.
National
Politics
Best
Stories From . . .
-- Associated
Press: "President Bush, briefed by U.S.
military commanders and Iraqi leaders, said Monday some
American forces could be sent home if security across Iraq
improves as it has in Anbar province, a former hotbed of Sunni
insurgency."
-- Los
Angeles Times: "More than two-thirds of Americans say
the country is 'seriously off on the wrong track' under
President Bush. Still, a remarkable thing is
happening among Republican candidates for the White House:
They are enthusiastically embracing Bush's major policies and
principles -- even some of the most controversial and
unsuccessful ones."
-- New
York Times: "Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
of New York unveiled a new stump speech on Sunday,
outlining the 'four big goals' she would have as president and
saying she was willing to 'work within the system' and make
'principled compromises' to achieve them."
-- Washington
Post: "A Senate electoral playing field that was
already wide open for 2008 has become considerably more
perilous for Republicans with the retirement of Sen.
John W. Warner (R-Va.) and the resignation of
scandal-scarred Sen. Larry
E. Craig (R-Idaho)."
Blog
Watch
-- At UtahSenateDemocrats,
Sen. Patricia Jones says she
intends to sponsor legislation this next session "to
address the problem of litter and debris on Utah's highways,"
and lists the reasons why.
-- Scott
Hinrichs reports on a recent town
meeting hosted by Rep. Rob Bishop.
-- Frank
Staheli, Jeremy
Manning, and Tyler
Farrer post some thoughtful analyses of
issues surrounding the proposed voucher program.
Lighter
Side
“I asked Ann,
my wife, ‘Did you ever in your wildest dreams believe I would
be running for president?’ She told me, ‘You weren’t in my
wildest dreams.’”
-- Mitt
Romney (Quoted by
Joe Klein in Aug. 27 Time magazine)
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