The Week Ahead
October comes to a frightful end on Wednesday and the holiday season is just around the corner. But first we have an election to finish up as candidates and ballot proposal partisans put on a final push before the Nov. 6 election. Is anyone as sick as I am of voucher commercials and debates?
The legislative calendar features an Equalization Task Force meeting today at 2 p.m., where proposals for statewide school building equalization will be heard. The Medicaid Interim Committee meets Friday. See agenda. For all the week’s political events, see the UtahPolicy.com calendar.
Washington Watch
Hatch: Fix Tax Law
Sen. Orrin Hatch introduces legislation "to correct an unfair tax law that helps make health insurance more affordable for millions of self-employed individuals and their families" (see press release).
Matheson: Compensate Navajos
At a Washington hearing on uranium contamination, Rep. Jim Matheson says Navajo uranium workers and victims of atomic testing should receive compenstion from the feds (Gallup Independent).
CPPA Newsletter
The University of Utah's Center for Public Policy & Administration has posted its latest Policy Perspectives newsletter. This month's edition looks at the basics of Utah's proposed voucher program and the possible impact of splitting school districts on education quality in Salt Lake County.
Rutherford B. Hayes and the Mormons
Leveraging their influence with Susan B. Anthony and other suffrage leaders, LDS women Emmeline B. Wells and Zina Presendia Young gain an audience in the White House with Hayes and the First Lady, where they plead with them to halt the anti-polygamy legislation because it is tearing Utah families apart. (From Mike Winder’s Presidents and Prophets: The Story of America’s Presidents and the LDS Church)
Today in Political History
October 29, 1929: "Black Tuesday" on Wall Street. Widespread panic sets in as prices collapse on the New York Stock Exchange. The Great Depression of the 1930s follows.
October 29, 1940: The first peacetime military draft in U.S. history begins with a lottery.
October 29, 1956: Israel, acting in conjunction with Britain and France, invades Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Egypt was refusing to let Israeli ships use the Suez Canal. (Source: perspicuity)
Wise Words
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
--Patrick Henry (Source: Patriot Post)
Utah Spotlight: Carbon County
In 1894 the territorial legislature created Carbon County from a portion of Emery County. Most of the county's residents live in the Price River Valley and at the foot of the Book Cliffs. The western end of the county rises to the Wasatch Plateau and slopes down eastward to the Price River, which cuts through Castle Valley. This valley stretches across the southern half of Carbon County and continues into Emery County, with the Wasatch Plateau and Range on the north and west and the Book Cliffs all along the east. The Green River marks the eastern border of the county. Geographically, Carbon County is in the Colorado Plateau physiographic province.
Area: 1,476 square miles; population: 20,422 (in 2000); county seat: Price; origin of county name: from the vast amounts of coal found there; principal cities/towns: Price (8,712), Helper (2,148), Wellington (1,632), East Carbon (1,270), Sunnyside (339); economy: coal mining, transportation (railroad), energy; points of interest: Helper Historic District, Scofield Reservoir, Price Canyon recreation area, Western Mining and Railroad Museum (Helper), College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum (Price), Nine Mile Canyon. (Source: Utah Edu)
National Politics
Best Stories From …
-- The Politico: "The best indicator of Hillary Clinton's growing dominance of the Democratic presidential primary is not the widening gap in the polls, but the widening line of attack the Republicans have been taking against her over the last several weeks."
-- The Hill: "First Lady Laura Bush said Sunday that she is much more involved in policy than many people think and then went to bat for her husband on children's health care and foreign policy. Calling the state children's health insurance program (SCHIP) 'a perfect issue' for Democrats to demagogue on, Bush waded into largely uncharted public territory for her by taking exception to the party that opposes the president."
-- FOX News: Columnist Dick Morris explains "why Bush should sign SCHIP."
-- Wall Street Journal: "You can't say Charlie Rangel lacks for ambition. The House Ways and Means Chairman has been saying he wants to pass 'the mother of all tax reforms,' and even that doesn't do justice to the trillion-dollar tax baby he delivered unto Washington [Thursday]."
Lighter Side
How Government Works
Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, "Someone may steal from it at night." So they created a night watchman position and hired a person. Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.
Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One to do the studies and one to write the reports. Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they hired a time keeper, and a payroll officer.
Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?" So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.
Then Congress said, "We’re way over budget on this operation.” So they laid off the night watchman. (E-Jokes.com) |
