The Week Ahead
It’s Thanksgiving week, so let’s all pledge to keep things nice and quiet, be thankful for our political leaders, and avoid controversy. A few important political events are happening, however, including a meeting of the Legislature’s Equalization Task Force today at 2 p.m., W135. The focus will be on proposals and draft legislation to equalize public education capital outlay (see agenda). On Tuesday, the Medicaid Interim Committee meets at 9 a.m., W135 (see agenda.) For other political events this week, see the Utah Policy.com calendar.
Utah Policy Daily will publish every day but Thursday. However, on Wednesday and Friday we’ll publish holiday versions with mostly just the news links and calendar.
LDS Church Ramps Up PR
In response to unprecedented national and international interest in the LDS Church as a result of Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy, the LDS Church has stepped up its public relations presence in a number of ways. Church leaders have addressed the subject in General Conference addresses, instructing members how to deal with questions about the church. Top church leaders are also making media tours, pro-actively seeking audiences with major news media to explain church positions and history.
The church has also significantly upgraded its web site, using video clips and podcasts to answer questions often asked by the national media and opinion leaders. Mark Tuttle, director, Utah Relations, Public Affairs Department, notes that more than 70 video clips have not been posted in the Commentary section of www.newsroom.lds.org covering topics such as Mormons and Polygamy, Balancing Interest and Good Taste, and Approaching Mormon History. Reporters and others can sign up for Newsroom Podcasts and selected Newsroom audio content through RSS.
Washington Watch
Cyber Crime Bill Approved
The Senate approves a bill that includes Sen. Orrin Hatch-authored provisions to combat cyber crimes such as computer hacking, theft of confidential information, and spreading computer worms and viruses (see press release).
Senate Extends Insurance Act
The Senate approves a seven-year extension of Sen. Bob Bennett's Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), a program created after 9/11 to help protect American businesses from the uncertainty of terrorist acts (see press release).
Regional Politics
Energy Corridors Opposed
Denver Post: "A proposed web of more than 3,700 miles of new pipelines and power lines across the West's public lands ... is pitting growing energy needs against environmental preservation. ... The plan ... is drawing fire from environmentalists concerned about marring national forests and national parks with high-tension power lines and wide swaths of land stripped of vegetation for underground pipelines."
Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Mormons
Not only did he have apostle Ezra Taft Benson as his Secretary of Agriculture, but Eisenhower appointed a Utah woman, Ivy Baker Priest, to serve as U.S. Treasurer. Her signature appeared on all U.S. currency for eight years. Ike also was the first President to enjoy an LDS Family Home Evening, with the Bensons and Marriotts. (From Mike Winder’s Presidents and Prophets: The Story of America’s Presidents and the LDS Church)
Today in Political History
November 19, 1863: Abraham Lincoln delivers the 272-word Gettysburg Address at the dedication of Gettysburg National Cemetery. (National Journal 2007 Political Calendar)
November 19, 1945: The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials commence on this date and continue until October 1, 1946. (Perspicuity)
Wise Words
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
--Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, delivered 144 years ago today (Showcase)
Leadership Tip
Know Yourself
All leaders should realize they are, in fact, four or more people. They are who they are, and who they think they are, (and these are never the same); they are who their bosses think they are; and who their subordinates think they are.
Leaders who work hard to get feedback from many sources are more likely to understand and control their various selves, and hence be better leaders.
--Maj. Gen. Perry M. Smith, USAF (Ret.) (Source: govleaders)
National Politics
Best Stories From . . .
-- New York Times: Editorial: "It has been two long months since Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, cowed Congressional Democrats into silence, championing President Bush's misguided course on the war. We're pleased to see that the effects of his briefing are finally wearing off. The bad news, as ever, is that Mr. Bush and his Republican allies continue to resist reason."
-- Washington Post: Editorial: "The evidence is now overwhelming that the 'surge' of U.S. military forces in Iraq this year has been, in purely military terms, a remarkable success. By every metric used to measure the war ... there has been an enormous improvement since January. It is, however, too early to celebrate -- as Gen. Petraeus and his commanders in Iraq are the first to point out."
-- Weekly Standard: Columnist Bill Kristol explains why he thinks the Boomers are America's "not-so-great generation."
-- The Hill: "Front-runners for the Democratic presidential nomination have repeatedly criticized President Bush for his administration's penchant for secrecy, but Bush was more transparent in revealing his biggest fundraisers in 2004 than the White House hopefuls have been this cycle."
Lighter Side
Q: What did the mama turkey say to her naughty son?
A: If your papa could see you now, he'd turn over in his gravy! |
