There's no rest for the weary in the blogosphere. I'm working on a couple of new articles, but there's no telling how soon I'll be able to post them here, with the social interruptions of a long holiday weekend staring me in the face.Meanwhile, you can use this thread to discuss anything or everything that comes to mind.
If anybody has any good ideas about what to do for the upcoming holiday weekend, by the way, I'm sure our gentle readers would love to get the lowdown from you.
As for me, I've always been partial to Huntsville's 4th of July celebration. It has a nice small-town feel, and includes the greatest little parade you ever saw, as well as day-long entertainment and a nice fireworks display in the evening:
Huntsville: July 4, 6 a.m., wake-up call, 7 a.m., breakfast, 10k and 5k races, 8 a.m., flag raising, 9:50 a.m., fly-over, 10 a.m., parade; 11 a.m., patriotic program, games, food, fun; 1 p.m., auction; 2 p.m., three-man basketball; 5 p.m., volleyball; 6:30 p.m., melodrama; 8 p.m., DJ music and dancing;10 p.m., fireworks, 745-0216.For those who'd like a list of activities across Utah, the Deseret News published this comprehensive article on June 26.
How about you? What's the best event for the July 4th weekend, in your opinion? You can tell us all about it here. The Raptors are on the road for the weekend, so we can unfortunately rule that activity out.
10 comments:
The war on eminent domain is not lost, not just yet anyway. There are many battles to be fought over this basic constitutional right. Battles on the local levels as well as state and federal. The dirty bounders aren't going to get away with taking away this sacret property right all that easy! People like Mayor Godfrey must be stopped before their "vision" thing takes all of our homes. Their ambitions know no boundries.
This went out on the AP wire, I don't know why the Standard didn't pick up on it, or did they?
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - The House voted Thursday to use the spending power of Congress to undermine a Supreme Court ruling allowing local governments to force the sale of private property for economic development purposes. Key members of the House and Senate vowed to take even broader steps soon.
Last week's 5-4 decision has drawn a swift and visceral backlash from an unusual coalition of conservatives concerned about property rights and liberals worried about the effect on poor people, whose property is often vulnerable to condemnation because it does not generate a lot of revenue.
The House measure, which passed 231-189, would deny federal funds to any city or state project that used eminent domain to force people to sell their property to make way for a profit-making
project such as a hotel or mall. Historically, eminent domain has been used mainly for public purposes such as highways or airports.
The measure, an amendment to an appropriations bill, would apply to funds administered by the departments of Transportation, Treasury and Housing and Urban Development.
Also in this morning's Salt Lake paper was a very well stated letter to the editor on the subject of eminent domain: Unfortunately our local paper does not seem to be interested in this side of the issue.
This court decision did not open a new door. Cities have been using eminent domain for private gain for a long time. This decision just allows the practice to continue. Eminent domain, like all politics, is a local issue to be decided at election time. If you are nervous about this percieved threat to your property, then vote for candidates in November that are against this sort of thing.
When your in the voting booth remember where Jorgensen, Burdett, Filliaga and Garcia were on the vital subject of your private property rights -vs- Ogden city's ambitions.
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SL Tribune letter to editor:
New London, Conn., is a long way from Utah, but we should nonetheless be very worried about the implications of the June 23 Supreme Court decision regarding eminent domain. Under this ruling, private property rights are now explicitly contingent upon and subservient to the government's desire for revenue.
We only own our homes and farms and businesses until someone else wants them who the government thinks will use the property “better” and pay more in taxes. This promise of more taxes does not have to be guaranteed, nor must the property be run down or blighted. Government only has to believe it will collect more in taxes from someone else in order to exercise this new right.
The potential for abuse and arbitrary application should concern us all. How far we have come from the days when our founding fathers debated whether private property rights were considered so important as to be called inalienable, along with life and liberty. As we approach this Independence Day, we would do well to reflect on just what it is we are celebrating.
Stephen P. Smith
Sandy
I’ve noticed how many people here talk about what a bad state Ogden is coming to…. Or actually Ogden has come to. But I would like to say that I think we have become focused on the negative that we have failed to look for positive things happening in Ogden City. I have come across a magnificent advancement of the arts here. That would be Imagine Ballet Theater that is through the Egyptian Theater. I had the honor to watch their last show in April. Their Director, Raymond Van Mason, has done a marvelous job with these children. I could hardly believed my eyes when I saw that Kara Neilson, who performs the pas de deux of Swan Lake, was only 15. That’s the case with all of these young performers; their technique and love of ballet just radiates too the audience. My only disappointment was that they didn’t have a full house. IBT has only been around since January of 2004, but has already received Best of State for children performing group. I’m just bringing them to our attention, so we can embrace some of the few good things we have here. If you want to learn more about them go to their webpage imagineballet.org and check it out. Oh, and by the way, they are going to be doing a world primer of The Secret Garden with original choreography my Mr. Mason, and music by Kurt Bestor. This is going to be a must see for everyone.
Thanks for the comment, anonymous, and welcome to the WCF blog.
I know that it sometimes seems like we dwell on the negative at times, but you have to remember that many of the people here are political junkies who take a lot closer look at things than the average citizen.
As I've said several times here, citizen apathy is probably the biggest problem we face in our American democracy, and many of the folks who come here are anything but apathetic.
Sometimes we need to take our rose-colored goggles off once in a while and look under the political hood, especially if we smell smoke; and it isn't always a happy picture when we do that.
Discussing perceived problems is a very healthy thing in a well-oiled democracy, I think; and the only way we can solve problems is to identify them first and then put the wrench to them. That's what this venue is for.
Thanks for the ballet reference. I confess I didn't know anything about it. Please feel free to post any info that you have about similar upcoming events. That's also what this board is supposed to be all about.
As a courtesy to you and the other readers, I've created this link to the IBT website that you mentioned.
I hope you'll bookmart this blog site, and keep us abreast in the future of the "good things" that are happening in our community. The Imagine Ballet Theater sounds like one of them.
There is all kinds of good stuff about Ogden. It's just that these wanna be developers that have taken over the city aren't part of it.
I think the Ballet, Ball Park, Egyptian, Dinosaurs, Rivers, Mountains, Rodeo and most of all Ogden natives are all terrific. We also have a very colorful and interesting history. A history full of drama, crisis, scoundrels and hero's - just like today!
Ogden deserves better from our mayor and council than what we have been getting. Ogden can have a better future if these people are removed from office. It you don't like what has been going on in Ogden then the opportunity is right around the corner in November when the majority of the council will be up for re-election.
Think about it and vote...
The Real Salt Lake game on Monday evening should be pretty sweet. Since the Raptors are not in town and the Stingers games are simply not that exciting, give Real a try. The games are surprisingly exciting even when there is little or no score.
Hey anonymous,
If you want positive, give my blog a try; that's my focus. click here to go to "the good in Ogden"
No doubt about it. If you're plagued with doubt and confusion, it's always safest to go to a "happy place."
Wal-Mart foes win the right to a vote
Ruling in Sandy case is victory for Utah grass-roots efforts
From the Deseret News
Oh Anonymous, what an excellent post! In these troubled times, times full of confussion, doubt, scepticism, alienation and finger pointing, you have given us a vision of hope through the arts. It's a shame that most of us have forgotten the arts, but through your post I'm certain that many will look for ballet performances, concerts, art and literary exhibits and other like forms of beauty and discipline. The arts are a building block for us all, especially the youthful performers who put their body and soul into the performance. And if some of these events occur at the Egyptian Theater, another stepping stone to downtown progress will have been laid. Thank you so much for reminding us that the arts are available. We, the people of Ogden, should support the arts through our attendance and contributions. The arts are definitely an oasis in this time and place of turmoil.
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