Just a few back-burner items to kick-start the Monday morning post-Christmas day discussion. We hope you all had a wonderful holiday, just as your Weber County Forum blogmeister did:
1) On Thursday, the Deseret Morning News reported that Saratoga Springs Mayor, Mia Love, will be entering the Utah District 4 Congressional race, under the GOP banner:
Refreshing news, we're sure, for those who might have previously believed that all Utah Republicans were home-grown, pasty-faced "priesthood holders." Gotta say we love Ms. Love's campaign slogan too, which immediately sets her apart from the rest of the Utah District 4 congressional candidate pack:
You can send a whole bunch of Wimmers to Congress. You can send a whole bunch of Sandstroms to Congress. You can only send one me.And as far as we're concerned, here's the Mia Love "money quote":
This is about leadership. It's not about throwing bombs or throwing messages out there and hope they stick. It's about tackling problems.Refreshing, we reiterate... to say the least... and we do wish Ms. Love our best.
2) Savvy and Informative op-ed in Friday's Salt Lake Tribune, wherein BYU professor and regular Trib contributor Joel Campbell provides a year-end legislative wrap-up of "the best and worst of Utah Freedom of Information in 2011." The 2011 legislature's ham-handed effort to "gut" the Utah Government Records and Management Act GRAMA (HB477) of course comes out the worst of the worst. No surprise there:
The watchword for the 2012 legislative session? The vigilant lumpencitizens of Utah will need to continue keeping a sharp eye on the sneaky pols on Capitol Hill, as we have our own sneaking suspicion, (after also gazing into our own crystal ball), that these secretive bastids haven't yet given up their plot to take their Utah constituents out of the public information loop.
3) The final results are in from our WCF "cursive writing" reader poll, which we ran in response to the Standard-Examiner's 12/21/11 editorial, with 83% of 18 respondents going along with the Standard's position that "schools [should] continue teaching our children cursive":
Click image to enlarge
We'll leave it up to our gentle readers to explain the "true" meaning of these polling results.
Don't hesitate to chime in on any of the above topics, or start up a brand new topic all your own. Helping to blow out post-holiday mental cobwebs is just one of the many services we provide here at your Emerald City home-town blog, of course.
12 comments:
"...a whole bunch of Wimmers..."Scary thought.
"...a whole bunch of Wimmers..."
Scary thought.
"...a whole bunch of Wimmers..."
Scary thought.
On another topic, here's an article that may be of interest to Ogden crime fighters:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-police-camera-20111224,0,6492627.story
I'd like to take this moment to thank Rudi for the valuable service he does to keep this forum going.
Yes, thank you Rudi, and I sent you $100 to help defray the cost of running the forum.
I am somewhat surprised that there is not a countdown clock on Matthew Godfreys remaining time as mayor. The other question is whether someone will step up in council meetings to continue the tradition of mayoral tantrums and rants when he/she does not get their way.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, CRJ. In truth, the publication of WCF is one of the most personally satisfying projects I've ever pursued; and it's a pleasure to render this service to our local community.
And on two other topics of possible local interest, both from Tuesday's NY Times:
1. NY times article on the metastasizing number of millionaries in Congress, and how members of Congress have been doing very nicely, thank you, during the economic downturn. E.g. "
Capitol Hill millionaires. That group has grown in recent years to include nearly half of all members of Congress — 250 in all — and the wealth gap between lawmakers and their constituents appears to be growing quickly, even as Congress debates unemployment benefits, possible cuts in food stamps and a “millionaire’s tax.” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/us/politics/economic-slide-took-a-detour-at-capitol-hill.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Congress%20millionaires&st=cse
2. Interesting review of two new books, "A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest," by W. DeBuys and "Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World's Least Sustainable City" [Phoenix] by Andrew Ross.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/science/a-great-aridness-and-bird-on-fire-book-review-drought-in-the-southwest.html?ref=science
Your monetary donation is greatly appreciated, FE. Many thanks. Between our readers' article and comments contributions, and generous dollar donations like yours, WCF remains largely lumpencitizen supported and driven, just as I'd hoped it would be when I founded this highly-unique community blog, way back in May of 2005. Thanks again, FE.
Thanks for the suggestion, BR. Thanks to your suggestion, you'll Find our new "Boss Godfrey Countdown Clock" embedded in our right sidebar.
SE reporting this morning on the Sears corporation planning to close 100 to 120 under-performing Sears and KMart stores nationwide, and possibly more. [
http://www.standard.net/stories/2011/12/27/area-workers-sears-kmart-stores-face-unknown-futures ] National press speculating on whether Sears has begun a death-spiral and will be the nation's next major chain store failure.
If one of the stores closed is the Ogden mall store, that mall will be in big trouble, having lost two of its three anchor store [Mervyn at one end, Sears at the other.] If that happens, Mayor Caldwell may begin his term with a major hole being blown in Ogden property and sales tax revenues right off the bat. Be best for Ogden if (a) it's mall store is not on the target list for closing, and (b) Sears manages to right its ship and return to profitability.
Not good news, especially on a day when the Trib reports on the miserable snowpack in Utah, that one resort has not even opened for the season, and the there's more snow on the ground at the ski area closest to Las Vegas than there is at any Utah resort.
Think snow!
Post a Comment