Propaganda über alles.

I didn’t think it was possible to have any less respect for a Utah politician.  I was wrong.

An evening at the Capitol Building

“A picture is worth a thousand words” so here’s about 27,000 words, plus just a few I need to add.

The rally was great.  The Capitol Rotunda was packed and there were people lined up two deep all along the second floor, and most of the third, and people were still showing up as the rest of us started to leave.  The energy was amazing.  Now, on to the pictures including a bunch of the better hand-made posters.

Now, we get to see if it did any good.

A morning at the Capitol Building

The brother of a friend of mine is one of the few Democratic Senators in the Utah State Legislature, Senator Gene Davis (D-District 3).  Today we went up to the Capitol and got to sit right on the Senate floor.

Here I am with the Senate in the background.  The picture below shows the bench we sat on (that’s my friend on the bench.

It was a very interesting and informative couple of hours, watching them debate and vote on bills.  At one point Sen. Davis called for a “personal privilege”, where he got to introduce to the entire Senate the two visitors he had there (me and his sister).  I have to admit it was pretty cool having my name and occupation said out loud to the entire Senate.  that’s him in the picture below.

There was a somewhat heated debate over a bill having to do with the unincorporated areas of Salt Lake County.  It was fascinating watching two Senators go for each other’s throats in an incredibly civilized and respectful manner.  And the political manipulations that led to the bill being shelved for another day, without an actual vote on the bill, were eye opening.

During the debate on another bill, Senator Howard Stephenson (R-District 11) questioned some lines in the bill.  He went on for almost a minute before someone informed him that they had already been removed, and although he didn’t say it, he had that look on his face:

All in all, so far it was a great day.  And I’m headed back up there this evening for a Pro-Education rally.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

Oh, and here’s a picture of where the Senators wash their hands after they pee.

If you agree, please sign this petition.

Click HERE to go sign the petition.  Thanks.

More proof?

Want more proof that the powers that be in the Utah Legislature are trying to ruin public education and get (more of) that money into the pockets of their cronies?

HB-197

11          This bill:
12          ▸     requires the State Board of Education to make certain rules regarding administrative
13     or supervisory licensing; and
14          ▸     makes technical changes

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26          (1) A local school board or charter school governing board may request, and the [State
27     Board of Education] board may grant, a letter of authorization permitting a person with
28     outstanding professional qualifications to serve in any position that requires a person to hold an
29     administrative/supervisory license or certificate, including principal, assistant principal,
30     associate principal, vice principal, assistant superintendent, administrative assistant, director,
31     specialist, or other district position.

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(c) The board may not require that an applicant described in Subsection (3)(a):
43          (i) have a particular graduate degree;
44          (ii) hold a teaching license;
45          (iii) complete an education leadership graduate program;
46          (iv) obtain a professional recommendation solely from a school with an approved
47     preparation program; or
48          (v) have experience in an education field.

So, if this bill passes, the person running your local school, making decisions that effect your children, identifying good teaching and bad teaching, allocating resources, implementing rewards and consequences, hiring, firing, approving and rejecting educational programs and the million other decisions that require an understand of how students think, act and learn will not need to have any educational experience at all.

Yup.  ‘Cause managing a business with a hundred adult employees that can be fired is exactly like running a Junior High School.  Yup.  Uh huh.

Making Utah look even stoopider…

From the Salt Lake Tribune, Feb 3, 2015 (no, not 1955):

"If an individual has sex with their wife while she is unconscious ... a prosecutor could then charge that spouse with rape, theoretically," said Rep. Brian Greene, R-Pleasant Grove."That makes sense in a first date scenario, but to me, not where people have a history of years of sexual activity."

Same place, Feb 4, 2015:

This year, lawmakers are lining up to order a special edition AR-15, manufactured by Tegra Arms in Orem, a semi-automatic rifle similar to the M16 used by the military.

The carbon fiber weapon is surprisingly lightweight, covered in a white Cerakote finish with a gray beehive pattern. The state motto, "Industry," is emblazoned on the side with a beehive. On the stock is etched a honeybee, the state insect, and the phrase "Vox Populi," the Latin phrase for "Voice of the People," which is the motto of the Utah House.

And finally, published on the 3rd of this month:

Utah lawmakers looking to make a statement want to change the oath of office and require elected officials to swear to defend Utah's Constitution first, ahead of the U.S. Constitution.

Rep. Brian Greene, R-Pleasant Grove, said state lawmakers are elected to act as protectors of the state and its constituents against the federal government.

Yup, our illustrious leaders thing that it is not possible for a husband to rape his wife, gave out an assault rifle as a commemorative trinket of their time at this legislative session and see the U.S. Government as the enemy.

I’m sooo proud to have them “representing” me.

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And from the “how the hell did THAT happen” file; saw this on the way home yesterday:

Oh, so proud!

How big a deal would it be if the Russians landed a man on the moon this year?  Yeah, big deal.  That was already done back in 1969.  (Well, unless you’re a aluminum foil wearing conspiracy theorist that thinks it was all faked).

I don’t know if it’s this bad outside of Utah, but for the last couple months I’ve had to put up with  front-page articles on the amazing election of Mia Love;  “the first black female Republican member of Congress.”

Big whoop.  The Democrats elected a black female to Congress back in 1968.   Shirley Chisholm was inaugurated over 45 years ago.

Ok, maybe I’m a little more annoyed at this celebration because I’ve had it thrown in my face almost weekly since the election.  I’ll also admit that it also has to do with the fact that I can’t stand Tebagger Party darling Mia Love’s politics.    It also could be that I’m disgusted by the fact that I am now “represented” by the Three Stooges (Jason Chaffetz, Mike Lee and now Mia Love) instead of only 2. 

Enough ranting.  Congratulations Republicans, you finally caught up with the Democrats -of 1968.

16,801 days late and a dollar short*.

Shirley Chisholm even made a bid for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1972.

* Considering the amount of out-of-state money that flowed into Mia Love’s campaign, I doubt she even came close to being a dollar short.

Speechless.

Utah’s Ex Arrested.

Early this morning the two most recent Ex-Utah Attorneys General were arrested.

Yup, two people who held the position of top lawyer in the state are charged with, among other things, accepting or soliciting bribes.

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Didja hear?

President Obama and the US Congress were run out of office on Friday.  Yeah, by “10 to 30 million like-minded Americans.”

Retired Col. Harry Riley called it the Second American Revolution, where at least 10 million people descended on Washington D.C. determined to clog the city until the present administration resigned and left office.

You didn’t hear about it?  Well, of course not.

Because much like Harold Camping’s apocalyptic predictions of 1994 and May & October of 2011, this Second American Revolution was an abject failure.

Reports on Saturday had the attendance somewhere around 500.  No, no, no, not 500 million.  Just a plain and simple 500.  Half of a thousand, which is 5 hundred-thousandths of the minimum prediction.

Let’s see; 500 ÷ 10,000,000 … mmmm, move the decimal over two. Hey, that’s .005%, or 5 thousandths of a percent of the backing good ol’ Harry thought he had.

Now, much like Camping’s end of the world (hey; Harold Camping, Harry Riley. mmmmm) Riley would not admit how much of a failure his prediction was.  No, no, no.  The latest news is that this whole “Operation American Spring” was conjured up by the liberal left to make the Teabillys look bad.

Ha, like they need any help!

Get Mikey, he’ll take the blame for anything.

For anyone desperately seeking to blame the President and the Democrats for the government shut down, I have a few things for you to consider.

1. The ACA (Obamacare) was passed into law by legitimate legislative process.
2. It survived 40 attempts at legitimate legislative repeal.
3. It survived a legitimate judicial review all the way to  the U.S. Supreme Court.

Whether or not you agree with the Affordable Care Act, it is law and the Federal Government is legally and morally bound to follow it, including it’s funding provisions, regardless of what whiney-ass morons like our own Mike Lee claim.

The entire responsibility for this shutdown falls squarely on the shoulders of Teabaggers  Lee and Cruz and the Republican House.  The only thing Obama and the Democrats are guilty of (in this fiasco) is demanding that the Government live up to it’s responsibilities.  Period.

So, go ahead.  Hail Lee as a protector of liberty.  Condemn the President and Democrats as the bad guys.  But the truth is that the Republicans are simply having a big temper tantrum because their legitimate attempts to derail the ACA all failed, so they step out into the realm of illegitimate acts to get their way.

And hurt a lot of people in the wake.

Time to dump the tea in the bay.

Is it a pipe dream? I hope not.

I got interested in the political group No Labels when former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. became a co-chair after his failed run at the U.S. Presidency. 

I’ve been interested in Huntsman’s political career because, unlike all the other conservative Republican Governors I’ve seen here in Utah, he governed the state in a way that made me feel like he was in fact my Governor.  I voted for him twice, and if the 2012 race had been Obama vs. Huntsman, I would have had a hard time deciding.

As Governor, he sought out and listened to both sides of an issue.  Most of the time he remained true to his conservative views, but many times he frustrated the Utah State Legislature by seeing the liberal side of an issue and acting in that manner.  This is what makes him perfect for the No Labels group. (OK, enough of the Huntsman lovefest, on to the purpose of this post.)

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No Labels is, as they put it on their new website; “a movement of Democrats, Republicans and everyone in between dedicated to promoting a new politics of problem solving.”  Their main premise is that Congress is broken and not doing their job, they are too interested in doing what is best for their respective parties and ignoring what is best for our country.

Their first political push was No Budget, No Pay;  if Congress can’t compromise enough to get a budget passed, they shouldn’t get paid.  On February 4^th of this year, President Obama signed a bill that made No Budget, No Pay law.

Their 5 key principles of political leadership are:

1. Tell the full truth,
2. Govern for the future,
3. Put the country first,
4. Be responsible, and
5. Work together.

Who knows how effective this will be in the current political atmosphere, but at least they are starting the conversation.  It took a while to get into this mess, it will probably take a while to get out of it.

I urge you, regardless of (perhaps because of) where you fall on the political spectrum, to check out their website and see for yourself.  You can click here: www.nolabels.org, or click on the picture above.

A better way to do it.

Short of totally abolishing the Electoral College, two states have a process that gives the voters a little better representation.

I live in the state of Utah, which for the last 40 years has given all it’s electoral votes to the Republican candidate for President.  Because I live in what is now known as a solid-red state, my vote is irrelevant.  And frankly, according to every Presidential candidate in every election I’ve been here for, every single Utahn is irrelevant at election time.  They know where the electoral votes are going to go, they never personally campaign here (yes, they do fundraise here, but that’s a one-stop and then hit the road), and we hardly ever see campaign ads here (blessing in disguise).

The entire population of Utah is marginalized, and the same is true of all the solid blue states.  We simply don’t matter come election time.

The Electoral College made complete sense in it’s day.  But now, with electronic voting, it makes no sense at all, and is detrimental to the democratic process.  It should be abolished.

That would take a Constitutional Amendment to do, since the electoral process is spelled out right in Article II of the United States Constitution.

But the way a state chooses it’s electors is up to the states themselves.  There is no requirement for all the electors to vote for one candidate.

Case in point: Nebraska and Maine.

Each state gets the same number of electors as the number of members they have in congress.  2 electors for their Senators and one for each Representative in the House.

In Nebraska and Maine, the two electors for the number of Senators go to the Presidential candidate that has the most votes state-wide.  The rest go to the Presidential candidate that their House of Representatives District votes for.  In 2008, the 2nd District of Nebraska gave one of the state’s electoral votes to Obama, while the other 4 went to McCain.

It may not be as good as eliminating the outdated Electoral College and actually letting every person’s vote count, but following Nebraska and Maine would be heading in the right direction.