| 
The World is Going to Hell . . . Not!
-- The U.S. divorce rate is actually improving, according to a New York Times op-ed. “The facts are that divorce is down, and today’s marriages are more stable than they have been in decades. Perhaps it is worth stocking up on silver anniversary cards after all.”
-- The poverty rate is falling and Hispanics, in particular, are “enjoying substantial economic progress” according to a New York Times op ed. “Their poverty rate has dropped by a third from its high 12 years ago, falling from 30.7 percent in 1994 to 20.6 percent in 2006,” despite a tremendous amount of Hispanic immigration. “However one feels about immigration, the falling Hispanic poverty rate testifies to the ability of Hispanic immigrants to take advantage of the opportunities that they have found in this country.”
John Adams and the Mormons
When Adams died in 1826, a 22-year-old Eliza R. Snow wrote a poem in his honor, which was published by an Ohio newspaper. She would later become the LDS General Relief Society President. (From Mike Winder’s Presidents and Prophets: The Story of America’s Presidents and the LDS Church)
Today in Political History
October 2, 1967: Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the first black member of the high court. (Source: UH.Edu)
October 2, 1968: "Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1271-1287)" becomes law. (Source: Perspicuity)
Wise Words
“The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that they will answer readily, but how many questions he inspires them to ask him, which he finds hard to answer.”
-- Alice Wellington Rollins (Source: Think Exist)
National Politics
Best Stories From …
-- The Hill: "Senate Republicans are largely defying President Bush in what is shaping up as the most confrontational spending battle in more than a decade."
-- Los Angeles Times: Democratic Party officials in the Rocky Mountain states "worry their congressional candidates' chances may be hurt by unfavorable presidential hopefuls, such as Hillary Clinton."
-- New York Times: "An odd cellphone call from his wife, two rogue volunteers exploiting the memory of 9/11 to raise money, renewed questions about shifting stances on crucial domestic issues, upheaval within the campaign's upper ranks and more focus on an unconventional family life. It has been a rough time on the campaign trail for Rudolph W. Giuliani."
-- Human Events: Newt Gingrich explains why he decided to officially drop out of the presidential race.
Blog Watch
-- Rep. John Dougall says: "Phil Riesen, our legislative investigative reporter, was johnny on the spot last week. In his earth shaking report he outed Dave Clark's discussion with members of the business community. Phil indicated that Clark related legislative success in healthcare reform to legislative success in educational vouchers. Scandalous, don't you think? What if I also told you that legislative success in tax reform, transportation funding, math standard, primary elections, reading achievement programs, and every other legislative activity are all related to both healthcare reform and education vouchers? What is this magic glue that binds the whole legislative universe together? It's just one of those nasty 4-letter words: work! .... Vouchers won't happen just because some members of the business community issues a report recommending them as a component of education reform. Nor will healthcare reform happen just because another report was written. It requires painful, difficult, time consuming (day-after-day, year-after-year) work! I guess we all know why the media didn't report that. 'Rep Clark says: Stuff Takes Work.' Where's the news in that?" (For more on the voucher/education issue, see The Senate Site, Educating Utah, Jeremy's Jeremiad, Simple Utah Mormon Politics, and Utah State Democratic Party.)
-- Lincoln Shurtz sets the record straight about the status of a recent legislative proposal to eliminate the mayor position in Utah cities and towns.
Lighter Side
Bart Simpson: "Didn't you wonder why you were getting checks for doing absolutely nothing?"
Abe “Grampa” Simpson: "I figured because the Democrats were in power again." ("Old Man Simpson,” aired April 15, 1993) |
