The Week Ahead
Not much happening in politics this week, but at least the college bowl season begins and there’s a big astronomical event. The Winter Solstice occurs on Saturday, Dec. 22, the time in the northern hemisphere when the sun is at its lowest point in the sky. It is the shortest, darkest day of the year, and also the first official day of winter. Spring can’t be far behindLawmakers will continue moving to the newly renovated Capitol building, but otherwise it will be a quiet week at the Legislature. Only the Legislative Management Committee’s Audit Subcommittee will meet to discuss a performance audit of class-size reduction funds (see agenda). For all the week’s political events, see the UtahPolicy.com calendar.
Campaign Toolbox
For political junkies, the Washington Post has a campaign toolbox where you can read candidate profiles, check a campaign money database to see contribution amounts and sources, take a quiz to see how your views compare with the candidates’, see the latest polls, and keep track of primary election dates and delegate counts – and more.
Washington Watch
Hatch Measures Approved
The Senate Judiciary Committee approves a bill sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch that reauthorizes "funding for the nation's premier center for the protection and rescue of missing and exploited children" (see press release); the Senate passes Hatch's legislation "to educate parents and health care providers about newborn health screening, improve follow-up care for infants with an illness detected through newborn screening, and help states expand and improve their newborn screening programs" (press release); Congress approves an amendment consponsored by Sens. Hatch and Bob Bennett that "requires the Secretary of Defense to submit to congressional defense committees a report on maintaining the capabilities of the United States' solid rocket motor industrial base" (press release).
Regional Politics
Park Service to Shoot Elk
New York Times: Rocky Mountain National Park, 90 minutes northwest of Denver, has too many elk. The National Park Services is expected to approve a plan to shoot up to 200 of the animals a year.
Feds Adopt Water Guidelines
Los Angeles Times: "The federal government Thursday ushered in a new era of shortage on the Colorado River, adopting a blueprint for how it will tighten the spigot on the West's most important water source. The guidelines ... come in the eighth year of the worst drought in the century-long historic record of the Colorado River, which supplies water to 25 million people and 1 million acres of farmland."
Today in Political History
Dec. 17, 1903: Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful man-powered airplane flight, near Kitty Hawk, N.C. (New York Times)
Dec. 17, 1992: The North American Free Trade Agreement is signed by Pres. George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican Pres. Carlos Salina de Gortari. (NBC5 )
Wise Words
"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what is will be tomorrow."
-- James Madison, Federalist No. 62, (Source: GMU.edu)
Leadership Tip
Leadership is a Personal Thing
By Pete Smith
Leadership is derived from the personal abilities and traits of the leader. There is no set model or secret formula for successful leadership. There are 76,000 volumes on leadership listed on Amazon -- ranging from "Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun" to "Primal Leadership: Recognizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence" to a book entitled, "Leading Ladies: Transformative Biblical Images for Women's Leadership," which among other things extols the leadership virtues of Mother Teresa.
So that's it -- if we can only find the common thread between Attila the Hun and Mother Teresa, we'll know the true secret of leadership. Peter Drucker said: "No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings." (Source: GovLeaders)
National Politics
Best Stories From . . .
--The Politico: "Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), who was on the national Democratic ticket in 2000, will cross the aisle to endorse Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) [Monday], Republican sources said."
-- Des Moines Register editorial board endorses McCain and Hillary Clinton for the 2008 Iowa caucuses.
-- New York Daily News: Columnist Michael Goodwin: "A year ago, it was in the bag. Six months ago, dead certain. Six weeks ago, no problem. Now, it's hold your horses. Rudy vs. Hillary, the battle of titans, could be called off. ... Storms named Obama and Huckabee are roiling the presidential campaign."
-- Washington Post: "A year after approval of President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq dipped to an all-time low, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds discontent toward the war easing slightly, with Republicans and independents significantly more positive about the situation than they were 12 months ago."
Lighter Side
“A clear conscience is usually a sign of a bad memory.”
-- Steven Wright (Reader’s Digest)
|
