Slow news day special
1) The Standard-Examiner puts the spotlight on the Utah jobs market, with two stories predicting job losses for the year 2009:
It's been a persistent meme around these parts that Utah is special... that we're somehow immune to the recessionary forces which now cripple our national economy. The above data, together with similar information available elsewhere on the web, indicate that no amount of wishful thinking will spare Utahns from sharing at least some of the economic pain that's now being experienced across the U.S. economy.
Buckle up, folks. We're in for some difficult times... even here in the blessed Land of Zion.
2) The Std-Ex announces this morning that the city council has hired a California firm to perform an audit of Ogden's code enforcement management operation. Hopefully the $46 thousand in fees approved by the council will be sufficient to permit a thorough examination of various perceived code enforcement inequities, with an emphasis on some apparent enforcement preferences extended to "special" Friends of Matt.
3) Despite the ongoing bad economic news, it appears Utah is nevertheless poised to enter the 21st century, in at least one respect: to "legalize adulthood," and to bring our state's quaint liquor laws slightly more into alignment with the rest of the country. This from the Deseret Morning News:
We'd classify this as a "no brainer" for any state that's highly dependant upon the tourism industry.
4) With the Utah/BYU faceoff coming up one Saturday afternoon, the Std-Ex adds to the pregame hype, and shines the spotlight on two rival Top of Utah football players here and here. As the excitement builds for Saturday's Blockbuster Game, here's something that we found interesting:
We'll be enjoying the game at an Ogden Ute Alum tailgate party. We decided not to mortgage the house for a game ticket.
We apologize to our readers for the late posting of this morning's article. Seems our big-name broadband IP provider experienced some bugs and hiccups in the system this morning.
Update 11/19/08 2:05 a.m. MT: Ooooops! somewhere along the line while our big time IP server had a case of "the burps" all morning, we inadvertantly forgot to post this awesome Std-Ex tribute to your blogmeister's old pal, "Ogden home boy," Jeff Lowe. Let's just say Jeff's now in good company with another legendary Ogden "Hall of Famer."
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Emerald City News Roundup 11.18.08
A downtown property transaction and a 2008 election cliff hanger
We find two news items of particular interest in this morning's Standard-Examiner:
1) The Boyer Building, which Curmudgeon discussed here on Sunday morning, is right back in the news again today. Ace Reporter Schwebke reports this morning that The Boyer Company has lined up a prospective California buyer, and is hoping to get the RDA Board's cooperation in closing out these entities's mutual property interests in this money losing downtown albatross. Mr. Schwebke's lead paragraphs provide the gist:
Go for it, we say. The devil's in the details, of course.
2) Std-Ex reporter Di Lewis reports that two weeks post election, the Weber County Clerk's office is still counting a truckload of provisional and absentee ballots, something like 4,000 of them, to be exact.
We did a lot of cheering and celebrating on election night, and in the days thereafter, especially with respect to the unofficial results in House Legislative Districts 9 and 10. In the course of the post election discussion however, we heard cautionary admonitions here and here.
Lets all cross our fingers and hope we didn't count our chickens before they were hatched. We all remember what happened the last time Weber County Clerk Alan McEwan's office completed its final election canvass.
Take it away, O Gentle Ones.
We find two news items of particular interest in this morning's Standard-Examiner:
1) The Boyer Building, which Curmudgeon discussed here on Sunday morning, is right back in the news again today. Ace Reporter Schwebke reports this morning that The Boyer Company has lined up a prospective California buyer, and is hoping to get the RDA Board's cooperation in closing out these entities's mutual property interests in this money losing downtown albatross. Mr. Schwebke's lead paragraphs provide the gist:
OGDEN — The city’s administration plans to ask the Ogden Redevelopment Agency to support the sale of a 66,000-square-foot downtown office building owned by The Boyer Company.If there is indeed a ready, willing and able buyer waiting in the wings, this prospective transaction will relieve the Boyer Company of its current operational expenses, put the property fully onto the Weber County tax rolls, and add a few dollars back into the RDA's bank account. It looks to be a win-win for all the stakeholders indeed, assuming the deal goes forward.
The RDA board, made up of the city council, may vote on a resolution in the next few weeks enabling RLA Real Estate, based in Irvine, Calif., to purchase the building at the corner of 24th Street and Washington Boulevard within The Junction development.
The RDA board would have to approve the transaction because the city owns the land where the building is situated, which also could be sold to RLA, said Richard McConkie, deputy director of Ogden’s community and economic development department. The RDA provided the land and The Boyer Company funded the cost of constructing and operating the building, which opened in 2007.
A sale price for the building and land to RLA hasn’t been determined, said Tom Christopulos, the city’s business development manager. The land alone is valued at $213,500, according to records on file with the Weber County Assessor’s Office.
Go for it, we say. The devil's in the details, of course.
2) Std-Ex reporter Di Lewis reports that two weeks post election, the Weber County Clerk's office is still counting a truckload of provisional and absentee ballots, something like 4,000 of them, to be exact.
We did a lot of cheering and celebrating on election night, and in the days thereafter, especially with respect to the unofficial results in House Legislative Districts 9 and 10. In the course of the post election discussion however, we heard cautionary admonitions here and here.
Lets all cross our fingers and hope we didn't count our chickens before they were hatched. We all remember what happened the last time Weber County Clerk Alan McEwan's office completed its final election canvass.
Take it away, O Gentle Ones.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Emerald City Morning News Roundup 11.17.08
Not exactly "red meat," but still at least slightly nutritious
Three Weber County Forum topical articles in this morning's Standard-Examiner. We'll highlight them one-by-one:
1) The Editorial Board carries a fine lead editorial this morning, noting the accession of five "Top of Utah" state legislators to leadership positions in the State House and Senate. Indeed, legislative power has perceptibly shifted toward the north of the state, at least for the upcoming legislative session. The Std-Ex quickly cuts to the chase, and reels off new Utah House Speaker Dave Clark's laundry list of proposed ethics reform measures, all of which have been vigorously advocated at various times on Weber County Forum. The Std-Ex editors then close with this ominous paragraph:
2) In this morning's Std-Ex Op-ed piece (originally published in the Washington Post,) GOP strategists Christine Todd Whitman and Robert M. Bostock offer some good advice to Republicans who are feeling glum about their party's thrashing in the 2008 national election. And they offer one simple solution to the GOP's current malaise: "Free the GOP (from the 'Social Fundamentalists)"
Looks like sound advice from the point of view this GOP warhorse. We recognise some readers may have other views, however.
3) Last but not least, Emerald City will be investing in Green Garbage Trucks, if all goes well with the city council. Once in a while, even Big Spending Boss Godfrey tries to save a dime or two, we guess. And realistically speaking, the more he can save on little things like gasoline, the more he'll have to fritter away on his grand projects and schemes!
That's it from our hometown newspaper today. Not exactly red meat, but still at least slightly nutritious.
Our readers have been strangely quiet over the past several days. Hopefully these articles will help to stir the pot.
Three Weber County Forum topical articles in this morning's Standard-Examiner. We'll highlight them one-by-one:
1) The Editorial Board carries a fine lead editorial this morning, noting the accession of five "Top of Utah" state legislators to leadership positions in the State House and Senate. Indeed, legislative power has perceptibly shifted toward the north of the state, at least for the upcoming legislative session. The Std-Ex quickly cuts to the chase, and reels off new Utah House Speaker Dave Clark's laundry list of proposed ethics reform measures, all of which have been vigorously advocated at various times on Weber County Forum. The Std-Ex editors then close with this ominous paragraph:
Mere good intentions are not enough. It will take strong leadership and effective whips (do you hear us Dee, Jenkins and Bell?) to get the right ethics reform bill passed in 2009.Looks like the Std-Ex means business. We hope for their own sake Mssrs. Dee, Jenkins and Bell are listening up. Local politicians definitely don't want to get on the wrong side of the Standard-Examiner. If you don't believe us, ask poor 'ole Bill Glasmann, and the rest of the 2006 city council.
2) In this morning's Std-Ex Op-ed piece (originally published in the Washington Post,) GOP strategists Christine Todd Whitman and Robert M. Bostock offer some good advice to Republicans who are feeling glum about their party's thrashing in the 2008 national election. And they offer one simple solution to the GOP's current malaise: "Free the GOP (from the 'Social Fundamentalists)"
Looks like sound advice from the point of view this GOP warhorse. We recognise some readers may have other views, however.
3) Last but not least, Emerald City will be investing in Green Garbage Trucks, if all goes well with the city council. Once in a while, even Big Spending Boss Godfrey tries to save a dime or two, we guess. And realistically speaking, the more he can save on little things like gasoline, the more he'll have to fritter away on his grand projects and schemes!
That's it from our hometown newspaper today. Not exactly red meat, but still at least slightly nutritious.
Our readers have been strangely quiet over the past several days. Hopefully these articles will help to stir the pot.
Goldman CEO, 6 others forgo 2008 bonuses
Lean 2008 compensation for the top seven GS execs
From Yahoo News, we uncover a true man bites dog story this morning, from which we incorporate these encouraging opening 'graphs:
Thankfully, GS management will have hundreds of millions from previous years' bonuses to tide them over.
From Yahoo News, we uncover a true man bites dog story this morning, from which we incorporate these encouraging opening 'graphs:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS - News) said on Sunday its Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein and six other top officials will not get bonuses for 2008.With Goldman's profit dropping 70% in the last quarter alone, and its share price going into free-fall over the past year, this reported gesture of corporate contrition and prudence on the part of GS management might seem to the casual reader a "no brainer." It appears however that other factors may be involved. More from this morning's story:
Blankfein, Presidents and Co-Chief Operating Officers Jon Winkelried and Gary Cohn, Chief Financial Officer David Viniar, and three vice chairmen -- J. Michael Evans, Michael Sherwood and John Weinberg -- asked the board's compensation committee Sunday morning that they not receive a bonus, spokesman Lucas van Praag said.
The compensation committee met and agreed, Praag said.
The executives will only be eligible for a base salary of $600,000 each, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Last year, Blankfein made $68.5 million, Winkelried and Cohn got $67.5 million, and Viniar got $57.5 million. The compensation of the other three was not disclosed.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Goldman had taken "an important step in the right direction.What a shame it would be for these titans of the banking industry to land in the slam... we can't have that!
"Last month, Cuomo warned Goldman and eight other banks getting U.S. government money in the first round of capital injections under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program that using the funds for bonuses might break state law.
"This gesture by Goldman Sachs is appropriate and prudent and hopefully will help bring Wall Street to its senses," Cuomo said in a statement on Sunday. "We strongly encourage other banks to follow Goldman Sachs' step."
Thankfully, GS management will have hundreds of millions from previous years' bonuses to tide them over.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Retort to This Morning's Standard Examiner Editorial
Our home town newspaper's chirpy optimism spills over into babbitry and boosterism
By Curmudgeon
The Sunday Standard Examiner's lead editorial this morning lauds Ogden's "upbeat local economy." It speaks of new businesses spawned and fledged at the Business Depot Ogden now moving out to expanded quarters and business. It speaks of other Top of Utah businesses doing well... ATK, Alliant Technologies, etc... and it even pats itself on the back for being one of the few dailies in its size category not downsizing and losing circulation.
And then this:
However, in order to be credible in its praise of the local economy, and the Mayor's role in it, the Std-Ex needs also to recognize some of the problems created by the "local leadership" and the questionable [to say the least] calls it has made. Dividing the city for years and sinking tens of thousands of public money into promoting his personal [and foolish] flatland gondola obsession is but one example. Campaigning to sell the city's largest park to a real estate developer to pay for the flatland gondola is another. There are more, mostly involving the debt the city has taken on under his leadership, and the consequences of that debt if major elements of the development the mayor has sold to the Council and the citizens don't pan out as hoped, and if city tax revenues continue to shrink in the deepening recession.
Was down at Sonora Grill yesterday [it's arrival at The Junction was a good thing for Ogden, as was the arrival of Iggy's Sports Bar at the same location], and noticed a realtor's banner on the unfinished Earnshaw Building at The Junction, which was to be the first of several condo developments coming on line. The banner said simply "Available." I did some checking and found Kristin Moulton's article in the SL Trib dated June 22 this year, reporting that: "Unfortunately, lease revenue from the rest of the mall has fallen short, he said. On Tuesday, the City Council will be asked to tap into the flush coffers of Business Depot Ogden to help cover $819,000 more of The Junction's debt payments. Already, the city was using $750,000 in BDO funds to pay mall debt this year. Arrington said some of the shortfall was in property-tax revenue since development of Phase 1 has been slow. "
Ms. Moulton also reported in the article that "The first owners of condos in the tallest building - the six-story Earnshaw Building - should be able to move in later in the summer, according to developer David Earnshaw."
Here it is, mid-November, and the building is not finished and is not occupied so far as I could see. Ms. Moulton also spoke to the owners of the groundfloor retail space in the Earnshaw Building:
And the Well's Fargo office block at the Southeaat corner of The Junction is not yet fully leased, after being open for the better part of a year. That's the building the Mayor asked the city council to add another floor to, at the city's entire risk for construction and leasing, because the Mayor thought Ogden lacked sufficient good office space. [By a one vote margin, the Council spared the city that continuing drain on its coffers.] One thought to be signed restaurant for The Junction has pulled out.
So there seem to me to be reasons for some concern that ought to temper the Editorial Board's optimism and confidence in the business judgment of the current administration, and reasons to question the Std-Ex's certainty that we have "the system in place" to handle increasing economic adversity. What "system" would that be, I wonder? Congratulatory editorials are fine, as are editorials expressing confidence in the city's economic future. But such editorials, if they are to be credible, must also take into account the evidence on the other side, so that they reach in the end... and take their readers along on the trip... reasonable and balanced conclusions. When an Editorial Board looks only at the upside, and ignores the downside, when it looks only at successes and ignores failures, or when it cavalierly counts not-yet-proven-projects as successes already achieved, then it risks slipping over from exercising sound editorial judgment into Babbitry and Boosterism. We have a Chamber of Commerce infatuated with flatland gondolas for that. We expect... and Ogden needs... better than that from the Standard Examiner editorial board. We're not getting it.
By Curmudgeon
The Sunday Standard Examiner's lead editorial this morning lauds Ogden's "upbeat local economy." It speaks of new businesses spawned and fledged at the Business Depot Ogden now moving out to expanded quarters and business. It speaks of other Top of Utah businesses doing well... ATK, Alliant Technologies, etc... and it even pats itself on the back for being one of the few dailies in its size category not downsizing and losing circulation.
And then this:
The Economist, a respected British magazine, recently did an article on why Utah's economy is soaring above its neighbors in the West.... The article also cites local and state leadership as a plus, singling out Gov. Jon Huntsman and Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey for their corporate recruiting skills. "Ogden, until recently a decaying railway town north of Salt Lake City, has quietly become the world centre of winter sports equipment," the article states. "Mike Dowse, who oversees brands such as Atomic and Salomon for Amer Sports, gives three reasons: 'the mountains, the mayor and the money.'" While we understand recent developments, including the announcement of budget cuts by Godfrey, indicate that Top of Utah isn't immune to the economic turmoil affecting the rest of the country. However, how well the state has been weathering the storm so far is reassuring. If things do get worse before they get better, we have the system in place to best handle the challenge.Let's clear away this first: Mayor Godfrey's effort to attract outdoors-oriented companies to Ogden, and to try to rebrand Ogden as an outdoor tourist destination were both good ideas, and have had some good results for the city, and he deserves credit for that. And I've no problem with the Std-Ex providing the occasional and deserved pat on the back to Hizzonah.
However, in order to be credible in its praise of the local economy, and the Mayor's role in it, the Std-Ex needs also to recognize some of the problems created by the "local leadership" and the questionable [to say the least] calls it has made. Dividing the city for years and sinking tens of thousands of public money into promoting his personal [and foolish] flatland gondola obsession is but one example. Campaigning to sell the city's largest park to a real estate developer to pay for the flatland gondola is another. There are more, mostly involving the debt the city has taken on under his leadership, and the consequences of that debt if major elements of the development the mayor has sold to the Council and the citizens don't pan out as hoped, and if city tax revenues continue to shrink in the deepening recession.
Was down at Sonora Grill yesterday [it's arrival at The Junction was a good thing for Ogden, as was the arrival of Iggy's Sports Bar at the same location], and noticed a realtor's banner on the unfinished Earnshaw Building at The Junction, which was to be the first of several condo developments coming on line. The banner said simply "Available." I did some checking and found Kristin Moulton's article in the SL Trib dated June 22 this year, reporting that: "Unfortunately, lease revenue from the rest of the mall has fallen short, he said. On Tuesday, the City Council will be asked to tap into the flush coffers of Business Depot Ogden to help cover $819,000 more of The Junction's debt payments. Already, the city was using $750,000 in BDO funds to pay mall debt this year. Arrington said some of the shortfall was in property-tax revenue since development of Phase 1 has been slow. "
Ms. Moulton also reported in the article that "The first owners of condos in the tallest building - the six-story Earnshaw Building - should be able to move in later in the summer, according to developer David Earnshaw."
Here it is, mid-November, and the building is not finished and is not occupied so far as I could see. Ms. Moulton also spoke to the owners of the groundfloor retail space in the Earnshaw Building:
"The largest retail space in The Junction, the ground floor of the Earnshaw building, has not yet been leased. But Dan Musgrave, who bought the space with two other Ogden investors, Bill Hancock and Gordon James, said he expects to have it leased in 90 days. The partners are talking to health-food stores, day spas, doctors and restaurants, he said. When he bought the property, Earnshaw said he wanted to attract a grocery store.The partners are talking to health-food stores, day spas, doctors and restaurants, he said. When he bought the property, Earnshaw said he wanted to attract a grocery store."Yet as of October 25th, the ground floor, all 18K square feet of it, was being listed for sale [not leasing] on LoopNet [which lists commercial properties for sale].
And the Well's Fargo office block at the Southeaat corner of The Junction is not yet fully leased, after being open for the better part of a year. That's the building the Mayor asked the city council to add another floor to, at the city's entire risk for construction and leasing, because the Mayor thought Ogden lacked sufficient good office space. [By a one vote margin, the Council spared the city that continuing drain on its coffers.] One thought to be signed restaurant for The Junction has pulled out.
So there seem to me to be reasons for some concern that ought to temper the Editorial Board's optimism and confidence in the business judgment of the current administration, and reasons to question the Std-Ex's certainty that we have "the system in place" to handle increasing economic adversity. What "system" would that be, I wonder? Congratulatory editorials are fine, as are editorials expressing confidence in the city's economic future. But such editorials, if they are to be credible, must also take into account the evidence on the other side, so that they reach in the end... and take their readers along on the trip... reasonable and balanced conclusions. When an Editorial Board looks only at the upside, and ignores the downside, when it looks only at successes and ignores failures, or when it cavalierly counts not-yet-proven-projects as successes already achieved, then it risks slipping over from exercising sound editorial judgment into Babbitry and Boosterism. We have a Chamber of Commerce infatuated with flatland gondolas for that. We expect... and Ogden needs... better than that from the Standard Examiner editorial board. We're not getting it.
Utes 63; Aztecs 14
The Utes clinch at least a piece of the Mountain West Conference Championship
We congratulate the Utah Utes, for yesterday afternoon's Mountain West Conference blowout victory, wherein a game but clearly overmatched San Diego State squad was methodically dispatched by a University of Utah team which finally showed up for the first time in the season ready to play on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball:
Ute football: Well in hand
Big game coming up next Saturday in Rice-Eccles Stadium, where the unbeaten Utes host conference rival BYU.
We congratulate the Utah Utes, for yesterday afternoon's Mountain West Conference blowout victory, wherein a game but clearly overmatched San Diego State squad was methodically dispatched by a University of Utah team which finally showed up for the first time in the season ready to play on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball:
Ute football: Well in hand
Big game coming up next Saturday in Rice-Eccles Stadium, where the unbeaten Utes host conference rival BYU.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Take It For What It's Worth
We posted an article earlier today, incorporating this video... Google deleted it
This talking head/financial analyst, Max Keiser, gets it completely right, we think. It's the truth. The source (Al Jazeera) really doesn't matter. This is the kind of information you won't get from American government contolled patsy news sources.
Lets see whether Google will let this post stand.
Do we really have free speech in America?
We'll see.
This talking head/financial analyst, Max Keiser, gets it completely right, we think. It's the truth. The source (Al Jazeera) really doesn't matter. This is the kind of information you won't get from American government contolled patsy news sources.
Lets see whether Google will let this post stand.
Do we really have free speech in America?
We'll see.
Ogden Volunteers Spruce Up Shelter
It's really quite simple... when we give, we get back
A Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat to Ogden City's Wadman Construction, and a few un-named other generous benefactors. From this morning's Cathy McKitrick story:
It's great to see that the Wadman volunteer tradition remains alive.
A Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat to Ogden City's Wadman Construction, and a few un-named other generous benefactors. From this morning's Cathy McKitrick story:
OGDEN - An army of volunteers stretched 500 yards of carpet and rolled on 60 gallons of paint Friday, updating nine apartments where homeless women and children live while they get their lives back on track.Wadman Construction founder Jay Wadman and his company have a long tradition of generously pitching in on worthy local projects and causes.
The nine-hour project was organized by Wadman Construction, an Ogden-based company, with the help of 10 other companies that donated everything from carpet to paint to light fixtures.
“It's simple,” said Wadman President Dave Hogan, who was on his knees taping and stretching carpet in one of the apartments at Your Community Connection. “Givers gain. When we give, we get back.”
His company's 95 employees were working alongside 20 subcontractors, such as painters and carpet-layers, who wanted to contribute.
It's great to see that the Wadman volunteer tradition remains alive.
Friday, November 14, 2008
In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?
Is it time to close the national money hole?
How about the Ogden money hole?
Listen... and YOU decide.
Consider this the kickoff to a Friday evening open topic thread.
How about the Ogden money hole?
Listen... and YOU decide.
Consider this the kickoff to a Friday evening open topic thread.
Prominent Local Citizen Activist Receives the Prestigious Pfeifferhorn Award
Well-deserved recognition for Ogden City's own Dan Schroeder
By Amy Wicks
Congratulations to Dan Schroeder of the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club!
Dan is the 2008 recipient of the Pfeifferhorn Award! The Pfeifferhorn Award was inaugurated in 1995 to honor an individual who should be recognized for serving the public interest by helping to preserve and protect some aspect of the natural environment of the State of Utah .
The award is presented by Save Our Canyons, The Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, The Wasatch Mountain Club, Wild Utah Project, The Nature Conservancy and The Salt Lake Audubon Society.
Dan is an exemplary watchdog and protector; and because of the countless hours and passion he puts into so many different issues- Utah is truly a better place.
In honor of Dan and his work, I made a donation to Save Our Canyons today. It's easy and you can do it online with a PayPal account.
By Amy Wicks
Congratulations to Dan Schroeder of the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club!
Dan is the 2008 recipient of the Pfeifferhorn Award! The Pfeifferhorn Award was inaugurated in 1995 to honor an individual who should be recognized for serving the public interest by helping to preserve and protect some aspect of the natural environment of the State of Utah .
The award is presented by Save Our Canyons, The Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, The Wasatch Mountain Club, Wild Utah Project, The Nature Conservancy and The Salt Lake Audubon Society.
Dan is an exemplary watchdog and protector; and because of the countless hours and passion he puts into so many different issues- Utah is truly a better place.
In honor of Dan and his work, I made a donation to Save Our Canyons today. It's easy and you can do it online with a PayPal account.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Internet Providers Cut Off major E-mail Spammer
Computer security experts estimate that McColo Co. of San Jose was responsible for 75% of the junk e-mail sent in the U.S. each day
Good news from this morning's Los Angeles Times.
Internet providers cut off host of spam e-mail:
We incorporate the lead paragraphs below:
Realistically, however, they'll no doubt be back in business with another web host within a matter of hours.
Update 11/14/08 12:18 p.m. MT: Per the LATimes... Spam traffic plunges after report blames server hosting company
So how's your email inbox looking this afternoon, WCF readers?
Be sure to chime in.
Good news from this morning's Los Angeles Times.
Internet providers cut off host of spam e-mail:
We incorporate the lead paragraphs below:
The volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide may have dropped drastically Wednesday after a San Jose Web-hosting firm, identified by many in the computer security community as a major host of organizations engaged in spam activity, was taken offline.In a perfect world, these McColo Co. scumbags would wind up in Guantanamo.
McColo Co., which computer security experts say serves as a U.S. staging ground for international firms that sell items including counterfeit pharmaceuticals and child pornography, ceased operations after two Internet providers blocked Web access.
SecureWorks, an Atlanta security-services provider, estimates that McColo was responsible for 75% of all spam sent in the U.S. each day.
Realistically, however, they'll no doubt be back in business with another web host within a matter of hours.
Update 11/14/08 12:18 p.m. MT: Per the LATimes... Spam traffic plunges after report blames server hosting company
So how's your email inbox looking this afternoon, WCF readers?
Be sure to chime in.
Lawmakers, Investors Ask Fed for Lending Disclosure
The Fed and Treasury Department stubbornly play it "close to the vest"
Per Bloomberg.com:
Lawmakers, Investors Ask Fed for Lending Disclosure
A few excerpts from this morning's story:
No disclosure demands yet from Democratic side of the legislative aisle... so far. Hmmmm.....
Today's story also reveals that the lumpencitizens are raising hell too. This from one LSU perfessor:
According to awesome internet watchdog bailoutsleuth.com, by the way, the current taxpayer price tag for the secret 2008 banking industry bailout is now at least $2.46 trillion; and according to yesterday's Forbes online story, U.S. lumpencitizen bagholders may actually be on the hook in excess of $5 Trillion! And most of this is occurring in secret, hooboy.
$5 Trillion here, $5 Trillion there... pretty soon we'll be talking about REAL money, we guess...
Don't let the cat get your tongues.
Per Bloomberg.com:
Lawmakers, Investors Ask Fed for Lending Disclosure
A few excerpts from this morning's story:
Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Members of Congress, taxpayers and investors urged the Federal Reserve to provide details of almost $2 trillion in emergency loans and the collateral it has accepted to protect against losses.The Fed claims this requested info is "confidential." And no... we are NOT making this up. Read the article linked above.
At least five Republican members of Congress yesterday called for the Fed to disclose which financial institutions are borrowing taxpayer money and what troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. More than 300 more investors and taxpayers also pressed for more disclosure in e-mails and interviews with Bloomberg News.
"There cannot be accountability in government and in our financial institutions without transparency,'' Texas Senator John Cornyn said in a statement. "Many of the financial problems we are facing today are the direct result of too much secrecy and too little accountability.''
House Republican Leader John Boehner and Republican Representatives Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Scott Garrett of New Jersey and Walter Jones of North Carolina also are pressing Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke to elaborate on the Fed's emergency lending. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in the separate $700 billion bailout of the banking system that was approved by Congress last month.
No disclosure demands yet from Democratic side of the legislative aisle... so far. Hmmmm.....
Today's story also reveals that the lumpencitizens are raising hell too. This from one LSU perfessor:
Not knowing which banks are in trouble shuts down the entire credit market said Joseph Mason, a banking professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.We think it's high time for our congresscritters to get off their lazy derrieres and do something about this. Professor Mason and Senator Cornyn are right. It was a lack of transparency in the banking industry that caused the current economic meltdown in the first place, innit? And now the FED and U.S. Treasury are compounding the financial markets "confidence problem" by repeating the same boneheaded blunders -- this time with our taxpayer dollars?
If you don't know where the losses are, it's rational to pull back from the whole system,'' Mason said. "I've heard the argument that government shouldn't pick winners or losers. Duh. That's what bank examiners and regulators do. Tell us where the losses are and there won't be a panic."
According to awesome internet watchdog bailoutsleuth.com, by the way, the current taxpayer price tag for the secret 2008 banking industry bailout is now at least $2.46 trillion; and according to yesterday's Forbes online story, U.S. lumpencitizen bagholders may actually be on the hook in excess of $5 Trillion! And most of this is occurring in secret, hooboy.
$5 Trillion here, $5 Trillion there... pretty soon we'll be talking about REAL money, we guess...
Don't let the cat get your tongues.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
As Public Transit Grows, Cities Desire Streetcars
Time to abandon childish obsessions... and get Ogden in line for some of that federal cash for a trolley line
By Curmudgeon
Also of some interest locally in today's NYTimes, this story, headlined "As Public Transit Grows, Cities Desire Streetcars."
From the story:
Still, if the Feds are going to pump money into urban transit, and in particular, light rail and trolleys, it would be nice if Ogden's Mayor could get past his gondola obsession and start now... three years later than he should have... to get Ogden in line for some of that federal cash for a trolley line from downtown to WSU and McKay Dee Hospital. Please?
By Curmudgeon
Also of some interest locally in today's NYTimes, this story, headlined "As Public Transit Grows, Cities Desire Streetcars."
From the story:
As gas prices soared and dozens of North American communities sought to reintroduce electric streetcars as an alternative to diesel buses, Europe’s tram builders were some of the biggest beneficiaries. Now, as the administration of President-elect Barack Obama contemplates an infrastructure expansion to keep Americans working through a severe slowdown, trams may be one of the building blocks of economic revival and energy efficiency.Unfortunately, the US does not produce trolleys much. Notice, not a single American company is in the game in a serious way. Not one. It's European companies, mostly, that own the market [yet another example of the way American industry looks ahead and demonstrates its excellence... just like Ford and Chrysler who fought all attempts to impose higher mileage standards on their fleets by Congress, and who now are stuck with unsaleable gas guzzlers and want a federal bailout]. And it's mostly European companies that are looking to cash in on federally subsidized transit expansions in the US.
“Trams were invented by the Americans,” said Jean-Noël Debroise, vice president for product planning at Alstom, the French streetcar builder that is selling its sleek Citadis tram to cities like Houston and Toronto. “It’s a big market,” he said. European companies like Alstom, Siemens of Germany, AnsaldoBreda of Italy, CAF of Spain and Skoda of the Czech Republic will be at the head of the line. They, along with non-European companies like Bombardier of Canada and Kinki Sharyo of Japan, are among the leading suppliers of streetcars, which are also known as light rail vehicles. “If we get a program funded at the federal level, a lot of cities will be expressing interest,” said Jeffrey F. Boothe, a Washington lawyer specializing in public transport. “At the end of the day, only lack of federal money was stopping them.”
Still, if the Feds are going to pump money into urban transit, and in particular, light rail and trolleys, it would be nice if Ogden's Mayor could get past his gondola obsession and start now... three years later than he should have... to get Ogden in line for some of that federal cash for a trolley line from downtown to WSU and McKay Dee Hospital. Please?
Affordable Housing Deals Are Stalling: The Market for Tax Credits, a Catalyst for Construction, Is Drying Up
Many developers are finding it difficult or even impossible to put their deals together
By Curmudgeon
The New York Times today has a story on its economics pages that is not un-related to Ogden matters. The headline is "Affordable Housing Deals Are Stalling: The Market for Tax Credits, a Catalyst for Construction, Is Drying Up. "
Two points of interest in the story. First, federal tax credits [in this case for building affordable housing, mostly apartments] are now falling in value. The developer gets the credits and then sells them to raise money to build the project. Federal tax credits for affordable housing had been selling for 90 cents on the dollar. Now they're going for 78 cents on the dollar... if you can find a buyer. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Citigroup... all major purchasers of tax credits in the past... have stopped dealing in them altogether, as have others. Funding tax-credit and tax-free bond financed projects has become, as a result, much more difficult.
Second point: the projects that are being funded... and some are... tend, according to the story, to be projects to build low and mid-income housing, not high end housing. From the story: "Affordable housing is said to do better than other real estate sectors in a bad economy because government subsidies are available, land and construction costs fall and demand for the apartments rises."
Wondering about the impact on Ogden, because the model for downtown regeneration Ogden currently has in place rests heavily on attracting relatively up-scale condo owners to the downtown area, exactly the kind of construction the Times article suggests is doing badly in current market conditions. [E.g. the Reid condo development, now on what is politely being called "hiatus" for at least two years, and maybe forever. The condo building just north of the Salomon Center has still not been completed, I think, well after its planned completion date. And have the new condos now completing to the east and south of the Salomon Center been leased or bought? I don't know. Just curious. ] I'm wondering what the Times story might mean for downtown Ogden going forward, if anything. How does the River Project development Mr. Leshem plans fit into all this? Would it be wise for the City... Mayors office and Council... to look again at the development model for downtown and to consider whether it needs to be changed in light of new circumstances? Worth chewing over, probably. Anyway, the Times article can be found here:
"Affordable Housing Deals Are Stalling: The Market for Tax Credits, a Catalyst for Construction, Is Drying Up. "
It's worth a read.
By Curmudgeon
The New York Times today has a story on its economics pages that is not un-related to Ogden matters. The headline is "Affordable Housing Deals Are Stalling: The Market for Tax Credits, a Catalyst for Construction, Is Drying Up. "
Two points of interest in the story. First, federal tax credits [in this case for building affordable housing, mostly apartments] are now falling in value. The developer gets the credits and then sells them to raise money to build the project. Federal tax credits for affordable housing had been selling for 90 cents on the dollar. Now they're going for 78 cents on the dollar... if you can find a buyer. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Citigroup... all major purchasers of tax credits in the past... have stopped dealing in them altogether, as have others. Funding tax-credit and tax-free bond financed projects has become, as a result, much more difficult.
Second point: the projects that are being funded... and some are... tend, according to the story, to be projects to build low and mid-income housing, not high end housing. From the story: "Affordable housing is said to do better than other real estate sectors in a bad economy because government subsidies are available, land and construction costs fall and demand for the apartments rises."
Wondering about the impact on Ogden, because the model for downtown regeneration Ogden currently has in place rests heavily on attracting relatively up-scale condo owners to the downtown area, exactly the kind of construction the Times article suggests is doing badly in current market conditions. [E.g. the Reid condo development, now on what is politely being called "hiatus" for at least two years, and maybe forever. The condo building just north of the Salomon Center has still not been completed, I think, well after its planned completion date. And have the new condos now completing to the east and south of the Salomon Center been leased or bought? I don't know. Just curious. ] I'm wondering what the Times story might mean for downtown Ogden going forward, if anything. How does the River Project development Mr. Leshem plans fit into all this? Would it be wise for the City... Mayors office and Council... to look again at the development model for downtown and to consider whether it needs to be changed in light of new circumstances? Worth chewing over, probably. Anyway, the Times article can be found here:
"Affordable Housing Deals Are Stalling: The Market for Tax Credits, a Catalyst for Construction, Is Drying Up. "
It's worth a read.
Fed Covers Up Financial Crisis
The China connection to Goldman Sachs figures prominently in the current crisis
Per Canada Free Press: "Fed Covers Up Financial Crisis". Excerpts from yesterday's highly enlightening Cliff Kincaid opinion piece:
Per Canada Free Press: "Fed Covers Up Financial Crisis". Excerpts from yesterday's highly enlightening Cliff Kincaid opinion piece:
Our “adversary” media have been extremely deferential toward those promoting the looting of the American taxpayers during the ongoing economic and financial crisis. However, Bloomberg News should be congratulated for filing suit against the Federal Reserve in an effort to disclose the securities the central bank is accepting on behalf of American taxpayers as collateral for $1.5 trillion of loans to banks such as Goldman Sachs.More from yesterday's CFP article:
“The American taxpayer is entitled to know the risks, costs and methodology associated with the unprecedented government bailout of the U.S. financial industry,” said Matthew Winkler, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News.
Another way that the media can begin to fix the blame for the financial meltdown is to cover the views of those who predicted the crisis and understand how it happened.
Consider watching this video of a debate that financial analyst Peter Schiff had with Arthur Laffer on CNBC back on August 29, 2006. Schiff predicted the deep recession that is now underway and made mention of China’s role in our unfolding economic troubles. Laffer’s talk about our economic policies “working beautifully” makes him look utterly ridiculous in today’s climate. “The United States economy has never been in better shape,” he declared:
The China connection to Goldman Sachs figures prominently in the current crisis. Because China owned $376 billion of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae paper, it played a big role in the financial crisis, and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, with his own personal and financial ties to China, admittedly tried to reassure the Chinese through this process that their investments would be protected. They are being “protected” in the sense that the American taxpayers are now on the hook for these government mortgage companies, which have been nationalized. On top of this, Paulson, a former CEO of Goldman Sachs, made sure, as part of the bailout legislation, that he could bail out Chinese banks holding other troubled U.S. assets. Schiff, who blows the whistle on these schemes, is not very popular in the media, which have been telling us consistently that things would get better after Wall Street was bailed out. But Schiff was on Bloomberg on October 28 talking about how the problems will get worse if we continue to follow the current tax, spend and bailout policies. His basic message is that the U.S. is broke and that the situation will get worse under an Obama Administration because of its commitment to more federal interference and involvement in the economy.Flash forward two years and don't miss the October 28, 2008 Bloomberg video interview, mentioned in the preceding paragraph: Peter Schiff October 28 2008 Bloomberg - Open Exchange Update 11/12/08 8:51 a.m. MT: Just for laughs, check out Art Laffer Regarding his Challenge & Bet Made With Peter Schiff And don't let the cat get your tongues, Weber County Forum economics wonks.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Hot Emerald City Rumor of the Day
Interesting intel re Boss Godfrey's unquenchable gondola fetish
By: WhatWardRUin
Chris Peterson and Godfrey have had a falling out; in fact they have become bitter adversaries.
Godfrey is now working with Sen. Hatch, Gov. Huntsman, the Board of Regents and Earl Holding to develop Weber State University land and run a gondola to the top of the mountain to link directly to Snowbasin. The latest Nicklaus golf plan shows a new driving range and golf holes surrounded by condos on WSU property.
Godfrey has "foreign" investors lined up to finance the whole thing, including relocating WSU maintenance buildings.
Remember you heard it here first.
By: WhatWardRUin
Chris Peterson and Godfrey have had a falling out; in fact they have become bitter adversaries.
Godfrey is now working with Sen. Hatch, Gov. Huntsman, the Board of Regents and Earl Holding to develop Weber State University land and run a gondola to the top of the mountain to link directly to Snowbasin. The latest Nicklaus golf plan shows a new driving range and golf holes surrounded by condos on WSU property.
Godfrey has "foreign" investors lined up to finance the whole thing, including relocating WSU maintenance buildings.
Remember you heard it here first.
Monday, November 10, 2008
WSU's Coach Mac Gets a "Clean Bill of Health"
Despite Saturday's illness, Coach McBride's health is reportedly tip-top
We learn from the Standard-Examiner today that WSU football Coach Ron McBride, who's finally seeing his recruiting/coaching efforts come to fruition with his 2008 WSU Big Sky Conference Champion Football squad, spent the night in a Pocatello, Idaho hospital Friday night, but was released the next morning with a clean bill of health:
WSU coach says he is ‘OK’ after hospital stay
Today's Jason Asay story reports that coach McBride planned to attend the Wildcat Club Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. today, at Ligori’s Pizza & Pasta.
We're hoping he skipped the pizza and pasta, and ordered the salad... without the blue cheese dressing... just to play it safe.
Special thanks to gentle reader Kevin, who dutifully allayed our fears and delivered the good news to WCF readers on Coach Mac's health yesterday afternoon.
Gotta confess we were a mite worried -- before Kevin finally chimed in.
We learn from the Standard-Examiner today that WSU football Coach Ron McBride, who's finally seeing his recruiting/coaching efforts come to fruition with his 2008 WSU Big Sky Conference Champion Football squad, spent the night in a Pocatello, Idaho hospital Friday night, but was released the next morning with a clean bill of health:
WSU coach says he is ‘OK’ after hospital stay
Today's Jason Asay story reports that coach McBride planned to attend the Wildcat Club Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. today, at Ligori’s Pizza & Pasta.
We're hoping he skipped the pizza and pasta, and ordered the salad... without the blue cheese dressing... just to play it safe.
Special thanks to gentle reader Kevin, who dutifully allayed our fears and delivered the good news to WCF readers on Coach Mac's health yesterday afternoon.
Gotta confess we were a mite worried -- before Kevin finally chimed in.
A Hopeful Message from U.S. Congressman Ron Paul
Hopes for the future from the last remaining politically-prominent "paleo" Republican
By US House Representative Ron Paul
Via: Texas Straight Talk
With the election behind us, our country turns hopeful eyes to the future. I have a few hopes of my own.
I congratulate our first African-American president-elect. Martin Luther King, Jr. certainly would be proud to see this day. We are stronger for embracing diversity, and I am hopeful that we can continue working through the tensions and wrongs of the past and become a more just and colorblind society. I hope this new administration will help bring us together, and not further divide us. I have always found that freedom is the best way to break down barriers. A free society emphasizes the importance of individuals, and not because they are part of a certain group. That’s the only way equal justice can be achieved.
We will face more tough economic problems during this new administration. In fact, the worst is yet to come. A vast amount of problematic mortgages have not begun to reset their variable interest rates and go into default. We already have unprecedented deficits, spending is out of control, and more big industries are coming to government with their hands out. My hope is that this administration will handle this economic crisis better than the interventionists and big government spenders of the 1930’s, the bureaucrats that prolonged the Depression. I hope that new government programs and spiderwebs of red tape do not pop up to interfere with American productivity, and that we can quickly get our financial footing again. We have to understand that an economic correction needs to take place and the only way out of the coming recession is to go through it. Efforts to avoid it can only prolong it. I hope we can somehow find our way back to sound money and reject corporate cronyism.
We cannot address our budget problems at home without changing our disastrous foreign policy abroad. I am hopeful that the new administration can take on the mantle of peace and diplomacy in foreign policy that many Americans feel they were promised. Many other nations also have this hope, which exudes from their congratulatory sentiments offered after the election. They hope that national sovereignty will be respected. They hope that through diplomacy violence and war can be averted. I hope so too. One thing is unquestionable: our aggressive foreign policy of the past has been costly, in blood and in treasure. Our treasure is running out, and fewer volunteers are stepping up to enable that foreign policy. So for these reasons, if we are to continue to have an all-volunteer military, and see prosperity again in the future, I have every reason to hope our foreign policy will change. In order for it to remain the same, mandatory military service would have to return, as well as accelerated theft through debt and inflation to pay for it. I have a hard time imagining popular support for these policies, simply for the sake of war and conquest, when we clearly want peace.
I have many hopes for the future in this time of transition. But I have seen this country face many forks in the road, and sadly take the wrong one too many times. We have heard a lot of talk, and it remains to be seen what actions and specific policies that talk will translate into. So while I may be hopeful, I remain deeply concerned about our future.
By US House Representative Ron Paul
Via: Texas Straight Talk
With the election behind us, our country turns hopeful eyes to the future. I have a few hopes of my own.
I congratulate our first African-American president-elect. Martin Luther King, Jr. certainly would be proud to see this day. We are stronger for embracing diversity, and I am hopeful that we can continue working through the tensions and wrongs of the past and become a more just and colorblind society. I hope this new administration will help bring us together, and not further divide us. I have always found that freedom is the best way to break down barriers. A free society emphasizes the importance of individuals, and not because they are part of a certain group. That’s the only way equal justice can be achieved.
We will face more tough economic problems during this new administration. In fact, the worst is yet to come. A vast amount of problematic mortgages have not begun to reset their variable interest rates and go into default. We already have unprecedented deficits, spending is out of control, and more big industries are coming to government with their hands out. My hope is that this administration will handle this economic crisis better than the interventionists and big government spenders of the 1930’s, the bureaucrats that prolonged the Depression. I hope that new government programs and spiderwebs of red tape do not pop up to interfere with American productivity, and that we can quickly get our financial footing again. We have to understand that an economic correction needs to take place and the only way out of the coming recession is to go through it. Efforts to avoid it can only prolong it. I hope we can somehow find our way back to sound money and reject corporate cronyism.
We cannot address our budget problems at home without changing our disastrous foreign policy abroad. I am hopeful that the new administration can take on the mantle of peace and diplomacy in foreign policy that many Americans feel they were promised. Many other nations also have this hope, which exudes from their congratulatory sentiments offered after the election. They hope that national sovereignty will be respected. They hope that through diplomacy violence and war can be averted. I hope so too. One thing is unquestionable: our aggressive foreign policy of the past has been costly, in blood and in treasure. Our treasure is running out, and fewer volunteers are stepping up to enable that foreign policy. So for these reasons, if we are to continue to have an all-volunteer military, and see prosperity again in the future, I have every reason to hope our foreign policy will change. In order for it to remain the same, mandatory military service would have to return, as well as accelerated theft through debt and inflation to pay for it. I have a hard time imagining popular support for these policies, simply for the sake of war and conquest, when we clearly want peace.
I have many hopes for the future in this time of transition. But I have seen this country face many forks in the road, and sadly take the wrong one too many times. We have heard a lot of talk, and it remains to be seen what actions and specific policies that talk will translate into. So while I may be hopeful, I remain deeply concerned about our future.
Fed Refuses to Identify $2 Trillion in Bank Loans
The shameless looting of the public treasury continues unabated
Per Bloomberg.com:
Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Identify Bank Loans
Excerpts from this morning's hot-off-the press story:
Per Bloomberg.com:
Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Identify Bank Loans
Excerpts from this morning's hot-off-the press story:
Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.The shameless looting of the public treasury by George Bush and the banking industry continues unabated.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.
"The collateral is not being adequately disclosed, and that's a big problem," said Dan Fuss, vice chairman of Boston- based Loomis Sayles & Co., where he co-manages $17 billion in bonds. "In a liquid market, this wouldn't matter, but we're not. The market is very nervous and very thin." [...]
The Fed lent cash and government bonds to banks, which gave the Fed collateral in the form of equities and debt, including subprime and structured securities such as collateralized debt obligations, according to the Fed web site. The borrowers have included the now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Banks oppose any release of information because it might signal weakness and spur short-selling or a run by depositors, said Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs for the Financial Services Roundtable, a Washington trade group.
"You have to balance the need for transparency with protecting the public interest," Talbott said. "Taxpayers have a right to know where their tax dollars are going, but one piece of information standing alone could undermine public confidence in the system." [...]
The Fed's collateral "absolutely should be made public," said Mark Cuban, an activist investor, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team and the creator of the Web site BailoutSleuth.com, which focuses on the secrecy shrouding the Fed's moves.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Historic Preservation Pays... and Pays Big Time
Spotlight on this morning's Kirk Huffaker op-ed piece
By Curmudgeon
There's more in this morning's paper worth reading than the several stories about the Wildcats clinching the Big Sky Conference title. Kirk Huffaker, Executive Director of the Utah Heritage Foundation has a lengthy op-ed piece entitled "Stick With Historic Preservation to Net More Than Financial Gain."
That's only partially an accurate headline, since Huffaker also notes in his piece that historic preservation pays... and pays big time... for communities that take it seriously. For example, he notes, according to a study by the Utah Department of Community and Economic Development, every dollar invested in historic rehab projects returns to the community that invested it $35 in additional economic benefits and $4.16 in increased tax revenues.
The op-ed piece goes on to discuss, specifically, the Windsor Hotel matter and the Administration's attempt to raise building height limits throughout Historic 25th Street.
Well worth a read.
By Curmudgeon
There's more in this morning's paper worth reading than the several stories about the Wildcats clinching the Big Sky Conference title. Kirk Huffaker, Executive Director of the Utah Heritage Foundation has a lengthy op-ed piece entitled "Stick With Historic Preservation to Net More Than Financial Gain."
That's only partially an accurate headline, since Huffaker also notes in his piece that historic preservation pays... and pays big time... for communities that take it seriously. For example, he notes, according to a study by the Utah Department of Community and Economic Development, every dollar invested in historic rehab projects returns to the community that invested it $35 in additional economic benefits and $4.16 in increased tax revenues.
The op-ed piece goes on to discuss, specifically, the Windsor Hotel matter and the Administration's attempt to raise building height limits throughout Historic 25th Street.
Well worth a read.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Big Weber State U Game Tonight: Even Bigger Than ALL the Others
Watch WSU improve its historical record... on TeeVee.
Quick note on this afternoon's BIG GAME. The WSU Wildcats have an opportunity to make history again today, as they go on the road against Idaho State U. For the compleate skinny, read this morning's full Standard-Examiner story below:
’Cats can hoist Big Sky trophy
For those rabid 'Cats fans who can't make the actual game in Idaho Falls, the game's being broadcast on some offbrand TEEVEE station called ALTITUDE. If you don't have Comcast however, but DO HAVE BROADBAND IP SERVICE, be sure to check out bigskytv.org. It features free online Big Sky Broadcasts, including this Afternoon's Weber State/Idaho State faceoff.
The game has now started; check out the bigskytv.org internet broadcast below:
WSU @ Idaho State - live broadcast
More to come here in the post-game discussion... later.
In the meantime, enjoy watching the game.
Update 11/9/08 6:45 a.m. MT: Final score: Wildcats 59; Bengals 27. The Standard-Examiner provides two articles this morning:
Champs
Purple perfection
As an added bonus, check out this robust writeup from the Voice of Deseret.
Quick note on this afternoon's BIG GAME. The WSU Wildcats have an opportunity to make history again today, as they go on the road against Idaho State U. For the compleate skinny, read this morning's full Standard-Examiner story below:
’Cats can hoist Big Sky trophy
For those rabid 'Cats fans who can't make the actual game in Idaho Falls, the game's being broadcast on some offbrand TEEVEE station called ALTITUDE. If you don't have Comcast however, but DO HAVE BROADBAND IP SERVICE, be sure to check out bigskytv.org. It features free online Big Sky Broadcasts, including this Afternoon's Weber State/Idaho State faceoff.
The game has now started; check out the bigskytv.org internet broadcast below:
WSU @ Idaho State - live broadcast
More to come here in the post-game discussion... later.
In the meantime, enjoy watching the game.
Update 11/9/08 6:45 a.m. MT: Final score: Wildcats 59; Bengals 27. The Standard-Examiner provides two articles this morning:
Champs
Purple perfection
As an added bonus, check out this robust writeup from the Voice of Deseret.
SL Trib: New Utah Senate GOP Leadership
This a Senate leadership team which will require some close watching, we think
Here's some interesting post election news from this morning's Salt Lake Tribune. Utah Senate majority Republicans have elected new leadership, sacking former Senate President John Valentine and Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, and replacing them with Mike Waddoups and Sheldon Killpack. Could this change in leadership spell a softer, gentler attitude in the upper legislative body on the hill? Or... does this change in leadership signal a leap from the frying pan... into the fire?
And here's a story element with a local angle:
Long time Weber County Forum readers will also recall that Senator Jenkins and his big spending cousin are also great fans of the power of eminent domain. In 2007, Senator Jenkins was instrumental, of course, in restoring the power of eminent domain to Boss Godfrey's bag of tricks, over the opposition of Senator Bramble. What better for American democracy, we ask, than a Senator in leadership who thinks its just fine to take properies from random lumpencitizens for pennies on the dollar, and to hand them over to giant multinationals like Wal-mart?
This is a Senate leadership team which will require some close watching, we think. Corporo-fascist tendencies in great ones must not unwatched go.
And what say our gentle readers about all this?
Here's some interesting post election news from this morning's Salt Lake Tribune. Utah Senate majority Republicans have elected new leadership, sacking former Senate President John Valentine and Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, and replacing them with Mike Waddoups and Sheldon Killpack. Could this change in leadership spell a softer, gentler attitude in the upper legislative body on the hill? Or... does this change in leadership signal a leap from the frying pan... into the fire?
And here's a story element with a local angle:
Sen. Scott Jenkins of Plain City and Sen. Greg Bell of Fruit Heights round out the leadership team as the majority whip and assistant whip respectively.Senator Jenkins is Boss Godfrey's cousin, of course, and the same Senator Jenkins who sponsored the Godfrey-backed Senate Bill 229 ("Godfrey's Revenge"), which gave cities the option of abolishing civil service commissions. (We loved the part in the above-linked article, where Senator Jenkins dropped Ed Allen's name, to sell Godfrey's Revenge to former Democratic Senator Ed Mayne.)
Long time Weber County Forum readers will also recall that Senator Jenkins and his big spending cousin are also great fans of the power of eminent domain. In 2007, Senator Jenkins was instrumental, of course, in restoring the power of eminent domain to Boss Godfrey's bag of tricks, over the opposition of Senator Bramble. What better for American democracy, we ask, than a Senator in leadership who thinks its just fine to take properies from random lumpencitizens for pennies on the dollar, and to hand them over to giant multinationals like Wal-mart?
This is a Senate leadership team which will require some close watching, we think. Corporo-fascist tendencies in great ones must not unwatched go.
And what say our gentle readers about all this?
Friday, November 07, 2008
Another Half Baked Standard-Examiner Editorial
The Std-Ex editorial board fails (or refuses) to get its own reported facts straight
By Curmudgeon
Folks shouldn't miss the Standard-Examiner's remarkable editorial this morning in re: the Windsor Hotel. The editorial is not the Std-Ex's finest moment.
Why? Because it reports what happened inaccurately and ignores or distorts what was reported in its own news columns by Mr. Schwebke.
For example, the editorial argues that the Council turned down the Windsor's request to permit it to build higher than current zoning on Historic 25th Street allows, that what was before it was a request to let "the building" --- the Windsor alone --- exceed current zoning height limits on 25th Street. Nowhere in the editorial do readers learn that the Godfrey Administration did not ask the Council for a variance for the Windsor. That it asked the Council to change the zoning over the entire 25th Street Historic District, and that that, not a simple variance for one property, is what the Council said "no" to.
Nor will readers of the editorial hear about the letters from organizations with a long history of work in Utah historic preservation, cautioning the Council that changing the zoning over the entire 25th Street Historic District might endanger the street's valuable status as a federally-recognized Historic District.
And then there's this: "Ogden Properties would like to resell the Windsor to Ogden Redevelopment Agency, but that would be a very expensive proposition. Dave Harmer, Ogden's community and economic development director, believes the price might exceed $1 million."
Does the editorial so much as mention that the City, when it provided a subsidy to the Windsor owners so they could buy and rehab the property, retained the option to buy the property back, at the same price for which the Windsor developers bought it, plus the cost of capital improvements to the property, if the project had not been competed by a date certain? Well, no. Nary a mention. Though the Editorial Board found space to include Harmer's claim that the price might be as high as a million to buy it back, backed by nothing so far beyond the current owners demanding about $700K more for the property than they paid for it a year and a half or so ago.
Nor will readers of the editorial learn that when the city provided a subsidy to the Windsor owners to allow them to buy and rehab the property, the new owners agreed to develop a rehab plan consistent with existing zoning restrictions within the 25th Street Historic District. They did not, but instead devised a rehab plan that required a zoning change. No one forced them to do that. They chose to gamble that they would in fact get the zoning change they wanted. That was a risk they and their investors assumed. That it did not happen as they wished is unfortunate for them, but the city bears no, repeat no, obligation to make them financially whole as a result of their taking a risk that turned out to be an unwise one. Perhaps the plan would have worked if the Administration had requested a zoning variance for the Windsor property only. But it didn't. It over-reached and asked for a zoning change to apply to the entire downtown Historic 25th Street District. Perhaps the developers need to redirect their anger from the Council chambers to the Mayor's office.
We can all agree with the editorial's hope that the Windsor can be saved and not simply demolished... at least I can. But when the editorial distorts facts reported in its own news columns, as it does, and carefully cherry picks what facts it does report, to rest responsibility for what happened nearly exclusively on the Council's shoulders, it betrays its readers and the sacred... yes, sacred... trust newspapers and newspaper men and women assume in a democracy. Jefferson understood how important the press is to the preservation of a democracy, and how vital it is that journalists honor that sacred trust when he wrote that if he had to chose between living in a nation without a government, or living in a nation without a free press, he'd prefer the former to the latter.
The Std-Ex's readers, and Ogden in general, have a right to expect, and to demand, better of Ogden's home town paper than we got in this morning's disingenuous editorial.
By Curmudgeon
Folks shouldn't miss the Standard-Examiner's remarkable editorial this morning in re: the Windsor Hotel. The editorial is not the Std-Ex's finest moment.
Why? Because it reports what happened inaccurately and ignores or distorts what was reported in its own news columns by Mr. Schwebke.
For example, the editorial argues that the Council turned down the Windsor's request to permit it to build higher than current zoning on Historic 25th Street allows, that what was before it was a request to let "the building" --- the Windsor alone --- exceed current zoning height limits on 25th Street. Nowhere in the editorial do readers learn that the Godfrey Administration did not ask the Council for a variance for the Windsor. That it asked the Council to change the zoning over the entire 25th Street Historic District, and that that, not a simple variance for one property, is what the Council said "no" to.
Nor will readers of the editorial hear about the letters from organizations with a long history of work in Utah historic preservation, cautioning the Council that changing the zoning over the entire 25th Street Historic District might endanger the street's valuable status as a federally-recognized Historic District.
And then there's this: "Ogden Properties would like to resell the Windsor to Ogden Redevelopment Agency, but that would be a very expensive proposition. Dave Harmer, Ogden's community and economic development director, believes the price might exceed $1 million."
Does the editorial so much as mention that the City, when it provided a subsidy to the Windsor owners so they could buy and rehab the property, retained the option to buy the property back, at the same price for which the Windsor developers bought it, plus the cost of capital improvements to the property, if the project had not been competed by a date certain? Well, no. Nary a mention. Though the Editorial Board found space to include Harmer's claim that the price might be as high as a million to buy it back, backed by nothing so far beyond the current owners demanding about $700K more for the property than they paid for it a year and a half or so ago.
Nor will readers of the editorial learn that when the city provided a subsidy to the Windsor owners to allow them to buy and rehab the property, the new owners agreed to develop a rehab plan consistent with existing zoning restrictions within the 25th Street Historic District. They did not, but instead devised a rehab plan that required a zoning change. No one forced them to do that. They chose to gamble that they would in fact get the zoning change they wanted. That was a risk they and their investors assumed. That it did not happen as they wished is unfortunate for them, but the city bears no, repeat no, obligation to make them financially whole as a result of their taking a risk that turned out to be an unwise one. Perhaps the plan would have worked if the Administration had requested a zoning variance for the Windsor property only. But it didn't. It over-reached and asked for a zoning change to apply to the entire downtown Historic 25th Street District. Perhaps the developers need to redirect their anger from the Council chambers to the Mayor's office.
We can all agree with the editorial's hope that the Windsor can be saved and not simply demolished... at least I can. But when the editorial distorts facts reported in its own news columns, as it does, and carefully cherry picks what facts it does report, to rest responsibility for what happened nearly exclusively on the Council's shoulders, it betrays its readers and the sacred... yes, sacred... trust newspapers and newspaper men and women assume in a democracy. Jefferson understood how important the press is to the preservation of a democracy, and how vital it is that journalists honor that sacred trust when he wrote that if he had to chose between living in a nation without a government, or living in a nation without a free press, he'd prefer the former to the latter.
The Std-Ex's readers, and Ogden in general, have a right to expect, and to demand, better of Ogden's home town paper than we got in this morning's disingenuous editorial.
Two Interesting Items in This Morning's Standard-Examiner
$1 million cleanup project; and a third climbing wall
By What Will It Cost Us
Well, two interesting items today in the Standard-Examiner.
1) The mayor wants $1M to clean up property in the area of 12th and Wall Avenue, since the developer can't afford to undertake the cleanup:
2) Another indoor rock climbing facility, ostensibly with private money... at least the article doesn't mention taxpayer money yet:
By What Will It Cost Us
Well, two interesting items today in the Standard-Examiner.
1) The mayor wants $1M to clean up property in the area of 12th and Wall Avenue, since the developer can't afford to undertake the cleanup:
OGDEN — The city council is leaning toward temporarily reallocating $1 million in capital improvement funds to spark massive retail development downtown.Excuse me... but in this economy can't they look around and see developers can't get the money to build these dreams? With Wal-Mart close how can another market survive?
The CIP funds would be used to finance the clean-up of contaminated soil at a 13-acre site at the corner of 12th Street and Wall Avenue that is targeted for the construction of a grocery store and half a dozen or so retail businesses.
The city council may decide Nov. 25 whether to appropriate CIP funds earmarked for several sidewalk, street and Centennial Trail improvement projects to remediate the shopping center property.
The shopping center has been tentatively named 12th and Wall Marketplace, Tom Christopulos, the city’s business development manager said during the council work session.
The shopping center could spur retail and commercial development on two other parcels encompassing more than 40 acres and extending south along Wall Avenue to 17th Street and west from 12th Street to Gibson Avenue, Christopulos said.
“I hope it will be the catalyst to large scale development,” he said.
Mayor Matthew Godfrey said Thursday night the shopping center fits in with the administration’s goal of transforming the 12th Street and Wall Avenue corridor into a major retail hub.
“One objective has been to make that corner a power center,” he said.
2) Another indoor rock climbing facility, ostensibly with private money... at least the article doesn't mention taxpayer money yet:
OGDEN — A Salt Lake City businessman says support is rising for a state-of-the-art climbing gym scheduled to open in the next few months at the AmeriCan Center.How will Irock take the news, since they were whining when Weber Rocks at the college opened up? Or has some of the city's economic development money already been hidden in the building, or the parking garage?
Dustin Buckthal said Thursday he has already sold 180 memberships to The Front-Ogden, which will be located in the center’s Building A at the southeast corner of 20th Street and Lincoln Avenue.
“People are excited for The Front to open in Ogden,” said Buckthal, who operates a similar climbing gym in Salt Lake City.
The Front will be the third indoor-climbing facility in Ogden. Others include the iRock climbing wall in the Salomon Center downtown and Weber Rocks at Weber State University’s Wilderness Recreation Center.
The Front may provide competition to Weber Rocks but will ultimately benefit local climbers by offering a place where they can congregate and flexible operating hours, said Tim Nguyen, assistant director of the WSU Wilderness Recreation Center.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Standard-Examiner: Ogden Feeling Financial Shivers
Big Spending Boss Godfrey reluctantly drops into "frugality mode"
This morning's Standard-Examiner reports that our big-spending mayor has suddenly absorbed a dose of economic reality, and ordered city department heads to slash city budgets by 4%:
But now that the city is in a forced frugality mode, the question arises: What happens next? Now that Godfrey has made it clear that he'll "scrounge up every dime he can from every piggy bank on every desk or wallet of every worker for the city as well as every city tax payer," (source) what happens to his ongoing signature pet projects?
As recently as September 10 of this year, Godfrey's spokesmen were urging the Ogden RDA to zero out its bank account, for piecemeal acquisitions of unacquired properties in the languishing River Project area.
And then there's the Ice Tower... and the Velodrome... and the Junction Money Pit (which has already soaked up at least $1.5 million in taxpayer dollars beyond Godfrey's original projections - with no end in sight,) and the whole array of other hare-brained plots and schemes that rattle around the Godfrey brain, and keep the little feller scheming late into the night.
As the the government of Emerald City hunkers down to weather the percipient 2008 recession -- and trims budgets beyond the bare bone -- will the Godfrey and his economic development "A" Team follow suit and lead by example? Or... is the belt-tightening to which Godfrey refers restricted to the "little people?"
Who will be the first to speak up about this?
This morning's Standard-Examiner reports that our big-spending mayor has suddenly absorbed a dose of economic reality, and ordered city department heads to slash city budgets by 4%:
OGDEN — Mayor Matthew Godfrey has ordered city departments to freeze general fund spending by 4 percent to cover a projected sales tax revenue shortfall spurred by a slumping national economy.Over the course of the last 8 years Boss Godfrey has been a one-trick pony, borrowing and spending like a madman, relentlessly fueling his megalomaniacal obsession to make over Ogden City into one giant kiddie amusement park.
The measure is expected to cut about $2 million from the city’s $51 million fiscal 2009 general fund budget, Godfrey said.
“Cities are the first to be hit in this kind of economic climate,” he said, explaining the reason for the spending freeze.
“ The first thing people do is stop shopping. We want to make sure precautions are taken to carefully save sales tax revenue.”
Based on early economic indicators, Ogden expected to receive about $15.2 million in sales tax revenue during fiscal 2009, which ends June 30, but is now projecting it will get only about $13.2 million, said Mark Johnson, the city’s management services director. [...].
Department heads in the city have discretion in determining how to freeze general fund spending within their individual budgets, Johnson said.
But now that the city is in a forced frugality mode, the question arises: What happens next? Now that Godfrey has made it clear that he'll "scrounge up every dime he can from every piggy bank on every desk or wallet of every worker for the city as well as every city tax payer," (source) what happens to his ongoing signature pet projects?
As recently as September 10 of this year, Godfrey's spokesmen were urging the Ogden RDA to zero out its bank account, for piecemeal acquisitions of unacquired properties in the languishing River Project area.
And then there's the Ice Tower... and the Velodrome... and the Junction Money Pit (which has already soaked up at least $1.5 million in taxpayer dollars beyond Godfrey's original projections - with no end in sight,) and the whole array of other hare-brained plots and schemes that rattle around the Godfrey brain, and keep the little feller scheming late into the night.
As the the government of Emerald City hunkers down to weather the percipient 2008 recession -- and trims budgets beyond the bare bone -- will the Godfrey and his economic development "A" Team follow suit and lead by example? Or... is the belt-tightening to which Godfrey refers restricted to the "little people?"
Who will be the first to speak up about this?
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
2008 Election Results - Invitation to an Election Post-mortem Discussion
Complete 2008 election results - everything from U.S. President to the local dogcatcher
For those Weber County Forum readers who'd like to engage in a 2008 General Election post mortem discussion, we'll provide a some useful web links this morning which fully summarize the unofficial results of yesterday's election.
First, here's a link to the cumulative outcome in Weber County, as reported by the Weber County Election Department website:
Election Summary Report - Summary For Jurisdiction Wide, All Counters, All Races
The Salt Lake Tribune also has an easy to read summary of all races statewide, complete with handy little bar graphs and everything. Click on a county in the right-hand column and then select a category in the tabs at the top:
Utah's Top Races & County by County
And for those readers fixated on national politics, we believe this New York Times web page provides the ideal starting point. Lots of good stuff here, including McCain and Obama's respective concession and victory speeches. Click the Senate, House, Governors and State Results links for robust information on the results in all those categories. If any single web resource can be considered one stop shopping for 2008 U.S. election results... this is it:
NYTimes - 2008 Election Results
Have at it, O Gentle Ones...
For those Weber County Forum readers who'd like to engage in a 2008 General Election post mortem discussion, we'll provide a some useful web links this morning which fully summarize the unofficial results of yesterday's election.
First, here's a link to the cumulative outcome in Weber County, as reported by the Weber County Election Department website:
Election Summary Report - Summary For Jurisdiction Wide, All Counters, All Races
The Salt Lake Tribune also has an easy to read summary of all races statewide, complete with handy little bar graphs and everything. Click on a county in the right-hand column and then select a category in the tabs at the top:
Utah's Top Races & County by County
And for those readers fixated on national politics, we believe this New York Times web page provides the ideal starting point. Lots of good stuff here, including McCain and Obama's respective concession and victory speeches. Click the Senate, House, Governors and State Results links for robust information on the results in all those categories. If any single web resource can be considered one stop shopping for 2008 U.S. election results... this is it:
NYTimes - 2008 Election Results
Have at it, O Gentle Ones...
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
2008 General Election Results: The Real-time Election Night Tallies
Keep on top of tonight's real-time election results here
As promised, and in conformity with our four-year Weber County Forum tradition, we bring you links to what we believe to be to the most reliable web-based election real-time vote tallies for the 2008 Utah General Election races, now that we're past the 8:00 p.m. Utah polling-place closings:
Utah General Election Preliminary Results. The data on this site comes from the Lieutenant Governor's office. This site performed admirably last year, and the format is almost identical to last year's setup, according to Mark Thomas, the Lt. Gov's webmaster. Just go to the main menu, and click categories and offices from there.
For the convenience of our gentle readers, we've also culled a couple of pages from the above site, with shortcuts to results of a couple of key races which we believe our WCF readers will be following extra closely tonight:
Utah House of Representatives, District 9
Utah House of Representatives, District 10
Don't let the cat get your tongues, gentle readers, as tonight's election resultspour trickle in.
Update 11/4/08 9:06 p.m. MT: About two minutes ago, MSNBC just "called" the U.S. presidential election in favor of Barack Obama, with a projected 284 electoral votes.
Update 11/4/08 9:30 p.m. MT: Twenty minutes after the above update, GOP candidate John McCain is just now delivering his concession speech. The next President of the United States of America: Barack Obama.
As promised, and in conformity with our four-year Weber County Forum tradition, we bring you links to what we believe to be to the most reliable web-based election real-time vote tallies for the 2008 Utah General Election races, now that we're past the 8:00 p.m. Utah polling-place closings:
Utah General Election Preliminary Results. The data on this site comes from the Lieutenant Governor's office. This site performed admirably last year, and the format is almost identical to last year's setup, according to Mark Thomas, the Lt. Gov's webmaster. Just go to the main menu, and click categories and offices from there.
For the convenience of our gentle readers, we've also culled a couple of pages from the above site, with shortcuts to results of a couple of key races which we believe our WCF readers will be following extra closely tonight:
Utah House of Representatives, District 9
Utah House of Representatives, District 10
Don't let the cat get your tongues, gentle readers, as tonight's election results
Update 11/4/08 9:06 p.m. MT: About two minutes ago, MSNBC just "called" the U.S. presidential election in favor of Barack Obama, with a projected 284 electoral votes.
Update 11/4/08 9:30 p.m. MT: Twenty minutes after the above update, GOP candidate John McCain is just now delivering his concession speech. The next President of the United States of America: Barack Obama.
Election Day 2008 - the Polls are Open
Election day open thread
Your blogmeister just got back from his neighborhood polling place, Polk Elementary School, at 27th and Tyler. The school cafeteria/auditorium was efficiently laid out, with three alphabetically-divided sign-in tables at the entryway, and 16 voting machines set up in a semi-circle around the periphery. The Polk School site serves three voting precincts.
The nine election judges were courteous and business-like, and processed our polling book entry and voting card issuance quickly. One additional worker stood in the center of the auditorium keeping an eye out for open voting machines, and gesturing to voters in line as soon as a machine was vacant.
It was evident that the poll workers at this individual polling place had been adequately trained, with particular emphasis on handling a large crowd. The election workers were moving the line along, leaving little time for chit-chat with other voters. By the time your blogmeister had returned his card to the ballot clerk around 8:00 a.m., 153 voters had already cast their votes. The whole process took about six minutes for us.
All in all it was a satisfactory experience; but we're also wondering about other voters' experiences.
In that context, we've decided to set up an open thread to find out how other Weber County Forum readers regarded their own trip to the polls.
For our readers' information, by the way, we'll post another election article this evening, with hot links to State and County real-time results. Look for that new article around 8:00 p.m.
The floor is open. Talk about the election... or whatever you want to talk about.
Your blogmeister just got back from his neighborhood polling place, Polk Elementary School, at 27th and Tyler. The school cafeteria/auditorium was efficiently laid out, with three alphabetically-divided sign-in tables at the entryway, and 16 voting machines set up in a semi-circle around the periphery. The Polk School site serves three voting precincts.The nine election judges were courteous and business-like, and processed our polling book entry and voting card issuance quickly. One additional worker stood in the center of the auditorium keeping an eye out for open voting machines, and gesturing to voters in line as soon as a machine was vacant.
It was evident that the poll workers at this individual polling place had been adequately trained, with particular emphasis on handling a large crowd. The election workers were moving the line along, leaving little time for chit-chat with other voters. By the time your blogmeister had returned his card to the ballot clerk around 8:00 a.m., 153 voters had already cast their votes. The whole process took about six minutes for us.
All in all it was a satisfactory experience; but we're also wondering about other voters' experiences.
In that context, we've decided to set up an open thread to find out how other Weber County Forum readers regarded their own trip to the polls.
For our readers' information, by the way, we'll post another election article this evening, with hot links to State and County real-time results. Look for that new article around 8:00 p.m.
The floor is open. Talk about the election... or whatever you want to talk about.
Monday, November 03, 2008
The Weber County Forum 2008 Election Predictions Contest
A chance for our gentle readers to demonstrate their ability to pick "winners"
At the suggestion of one of our gentle readers, we invite you to enter a little contest here to see who can best predict the outcome of the November 4 election.
To enter, you must successfully select the names of your predicted winners from our 2008 Weber County Ballot Roster, and the percentage of the popular vote they receive. For example, you might say: “Barack Obama, 51%; Brent Wallis, 75%,” etc.
The person who 1) selects the greatest number of prevailing candidates and 2) comes closest to the winning percentages in all races will be pronounced the Grand Prize Winner after the final official election tally comes in. In the event of a tie, the person who posts earlier will be the winner.
As an added bonus, we'll also pronounce winners in subcategories, i.e., individual races, such as the District 9 House of Representatives race, for instance, for those readers who don't wish to deal with the entire candidate list.
The deadline for contest entries: 8:00 tomorrow night.
And the prizes? Bragging rights.
At the suggestion of one of our gentle readers, we invite you to enter a little contest here to see who can best predict the outcome of the November 4 election.
To enter, you must successfully select the names of your predicted winners from our 2008 Weber County Ballot Roster, and the percentage of the popular vote they receive. For example, you might say: “Barack Obama, 51%; Brent Wallis, 75%,” etc.
The person who 1) selects the greatest number of prevailing candidates and 2) comes closest to the winning percentages in all races will be pronounced the Grand Prize Winner after the final official election tally comes in. In the event of a tie, the person who posts earlier will be the winner.
As an added bonus, we'll also pronounce winners in subcategories, i.e., individual races, such as the District 9 House of Representatives race, for instance, for those readers who don't wish to deal with the entire candidate list.
The deadline for contest entries: 8:00 tomorrow night.
And the prizes? Bragging rights.
Paulson's Swindle Revealed
Paulson and his banker buddies loot the public treasury... in broad daylight
Eye opening article from Thursday's edition of The Nation:
Paulson's Swindle Revealed
By William Greider
October 29, 2008
The swindle of American taxpayers is proceeding more or less in broad daylight, as the unwitting voters are preoccupied with the national election. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson agreed to invest $125 billion in the nine largest banks, including $10 billion for Goldman Sachs, his old firm. But, if you look more closely at Paulson's transaction, the taxpayers were taken for a ride--a very expensive ride. They paid $125 billion for bank stock that a private investor could purchase for $62.5 billion. That means half of the public's money was a straight-out gift to Wall Street, for which taxpayers got nothing in return.
These are dynamite facts that demand immediate action to halt the bailout deal and correct its giveaway terms. Stop payment on the Treasury checks before the bankers can cash them. Open an immediate Congressional investigation into how Paulson and his staff determined such a sweetheart deal for leading players in the financial sector and for their own former employer. Paulson's bailout staff is heavily populated with Goldman Sachs veterans and individuals from other Wall Street firms. Yet we do not know whether these financiers have fully divested their own Wall Street holdings. Were they perhaps enriching themselves as they engineered this generous distribution of public wealth to embattled private banks and their shareholders?
Leo W. Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, raised these explosive questions in a stinging letter sent to Paulson this week. The union did what any private investor would do. Its finance experts vetted the terms of the bailout investment and calculated the real value of what Treasury bought with the public's money. In the case of Goldman Sachs, the analysis could conveniently rely on a comparable sale twenty days earlier. Billionaire Warren Buffett invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs and bought the same types of securities--preferred stock and warrants to purchase common stock in the future. Only Buffett's preferred shares pay a 10 percent dividend, while the public gets only 5 percent. Dollar for dollar, Buffett "received at least seven and perhaps up to 14 times more warrants than Treasury did and his warrants have more favorable terms," Gerard pointed out. [...].
Read the the full article and weep, fellow U.S. taxpayers.
Gotta hand it to Paulson and his banker buddies though... for their sheer audacity. It takes considerable moxie to shamelessly loot the public treasury... in broad daylight.
Eye opening article from Thursday's edition of The Nation:
Paulson's Swindle Revealed
By William Greider
October 29, 2008
The swindle of American taxpayers is proceeding more or less in broad daylight, as the unwitting voters are preoccupied with the national election. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson agreed to invest $125 billion in the nine largest banks, including $10 billion for Goldman Sachs, his old firm. But, if you look more closely at Paulson's transaction, the taxpayers were taken for a ride--a very expensive ride. They paid $125 billion for bank stock that a private investor could purchase for $62.5 billion. That means half of the public's money was a straight-out gift to Wall Street, for which taxpayers got nothing in return.
These are dynamite facts that demand immediate action to halt the bailout deal and correct its giveaway terms. Stop payment on the Treasury checks before the bankers can cash them. Open an immediate Congressional investigation into how Paulson and his staff determined such a sweetheart deal for leading players in the financial sector and for their own former employer. Paulson's bailout staff is heavily populated with Goldman Sachs veterans and individuals from other Wall Street firms. Yet we do not know whether these financiers have fully divested their own Wall Street holdings. Were they perhaps enriching themselves as they engineered this generous distribution of public wealth to embattled private banks and their shareholders?
Leo W. Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, raised these explosive questions in a stinging letter sent to Paulson this week. The union did what any private investor would do. Its finance experts vetted the terms of the bailout investment and calculated the real value of what Treasury bought with the public's money. In the case of Goldman Sachs, the analysis could conveniently rely on a comparable sale twenty days earlier. Billionaire Warren Buffett invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs and bought the same types of securities--preferred stock and warrants to purchase common stock in the future. Only Buffett's preferred shares pay a 10 percent dividend, while the public gets only 5 percent. Dollar for dollar, Buffett "received at least seven and perhaps up to 14 times more warrants than Treasury did and his warrants have more favorable terms," Gerard pointed out. [...].
Read the the full article and weep, fellow U.S. taxpayers.
Gotta hand it to Paulson and his banker buddies though... for their sheer audacity. It takes considerable moxie to shamelessly loot the public treasury... in broad daylight.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Readable Links for a Sunday Afternoon
Fodder for an end-of-weekend open topic discussion thread
By Tec Jonson
Here are some readable links for a Sunday. I am astonished at the willing militarization of America and the acceptance of military presence in our civilian domain. I was driving by Mt. Ogden Park a couple of weeks back on a weekday afternoon and there was a military exercise going on IN THE PARK!!! I stopped to take some footage and to discuss it with the commandants. It was WSU ROTC, but this is a military exercise or training. ROTC cadets are signed military trainees and their training exercisies are CLEARLY military training...in city parks. They were engaged in, what I would call crowd-control formations carrying dummy weapons (undetectable as dummy) marching methodically across the municipal turf with children at play in the adjacent sandpits. Does this offend anyone else? I invite comments. This is just a small part of the indoctrination of our citizenry to comfort with a military presence in our everyday lives. Stop this now!!!
Commander In Chief???
The single worst expression in American politics
ACLU Actions for Restoring America
The floor is open... O gentle ones.
By Tec Jonson
Here are some readable links for a Sunday. I am astonished at the willing militarization of America and the acceptance of military presence in our civilian domain. I was driving by Mt. Ogden Park a couple of weeks back on a weekday afternoon and there was a military exercise going on IN THE PARK!!! I stopped to take some footage and to discuss it with the commandants. It was WSU ROTC, but this is a military exercise or training. ROTC cadets are signed military trainees and their training exercisies are CLEARLY military training...in city parks. They were engaged in, what I would call crowd-control formations carrying dummy weapons (undetectable as dummy) marching methodically across the municipal turf with children at play in the adjacent sandpits. Does this offend anyone else? I invite comments. This is just a small part of the indoctrination of our citizenry to comfort with a military presence in our everyday lives. Stop this now!!!
Commander In Chief???
The single worst expression in American politics
ACLU Actions for Restoring America
The floor is open... O gentle ones.
What Have We Inherited in the Standard-Examiner's New Opinion Page Editor?
One gentle reader questions the rush to judgment in re the latest Ogden City corporate giveaway
By Disgusted
I was disgusted with the Saturday Standard-Examiner editorial that supported the mayor's decision to give away the parking facility to the landowner of the building that Marketstar leases. The editorial basically reiterated the story by Scott Schwebke and provided no new or better logic for the decision.
I am now clearly concerned as to what we have inherited in the way of a newspaper editor.
And what say our gentle readers about this?
By Disgusted
I was disgusted with the Saturday Standard-Examiner editorial that supported the mayor's decision to give away the parking facility to the landowner of the building that Marketstar leases. The editorial basically reiterated the story by Scott Schwebke and provided no new or better logic for the decision.
I am now clearly concerned as to what we have inherited in the way of a newspaper editor.
And what say our gentle readers about this?
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Another Community Blog Takes a Close Look At "Addled Ed" Allen
Good Addled Ed Allen stuff, guaranteed to crack our readers up
Just for fun between Saturday college football games, we'd like to direct your attention to a fine community blog, operating out of South Ogden, Utah. Blogmeister BenJoe Markland does at his From Where I Sit Blog many of the same things we do here at Weber County Forum:
• He reports on the happenings at city council meetings;
• He reports and invites comment about his community's citizen scuttlebutt;
• He thoroughly investigates and reports about the records of politicians who run for political office in his community; and,
• He has a sarcastic sense of humor and is funny as hell.
In the latter connections, we're delighted to link one of BenJoe's most recent blog posts, wherein he examines the record of Boss Godfrey's father-in law, "Addled" Ed Allen, the current Demo House of Representatives candidate in Leg. District 10, ( the last time the voters were lame enough to send him to the Utah Legislature).
"Addled Ed's" greatest landmark legislation, according to BenJoe? S.B. 155 (200o) UNLAWFUL USE OF A LASER POINTER!
Check out BenJoe's October 15 blog post. It cracked us up, frankly... and we're dang near certain it'll do the same for you:
Laser Pointers and Ed Allen
As an added bonus, we link another of Benjoe's posts, wherein he enlightens his readers about Addled Ed's recent possible misuse of his medical office's presumably confidential patient records:
Ed Allen - Did He Break the Law?
Something to think about, the next time Ed Allen shows up at your door, introducing himself as your "former Stake President," oozing "high ethics" from his every corrupt pore and asking for your vote, we guess.
You can also bet your boots we're adding a link to From Where I Sit to our right sidebar. BenJoe is good... danged good, we think!
Just for fun between Saturday college football games, we'd like to direct your attention to a fine community blog, operating out of South Ogden, Utah. Blogmeister BenJoe Markland does at his From Where I Sit Blog many of the same things we do here at Weber County Forum:
• He reports on the happenings at city council meetings;
• He reports and invites comment about his community's citizen scuttlebutt;
• He thoroughly investigates and reports about the records of politicians who run for political office in his community; and,
• He has a sarcastic sense of humor and is funny as hell.
In the latter connections, we're delighted to link one of BenJoe's most recent blog posts, wherein he examines the record of Boss Godfrey's father-in law, "Addled" Ed Allen, the current Demo House of Representatives candidate in Leg. District 10, ( the last time the voters were lame enough to send him to the Utah Legislature).
"Addled Ed's" greatest landmark legislation, according to BenJoe? S.B. 155 (200o) UNLAWFUL USE OF A LASER POINTER!
Check out BenJoe's October 15 blog post. It cracked us up, frankly... and we're dang near certain it'll do the same for you:
Laser Pointers and Ed Allen
As an added bonus, we link another of Benjoe's posts, wherein he enlightens his readers about Addled Ed's recent possible misuse of his medical office's presumably confidential patient records:
Ed Allen - Did He Break the Law?
Something to think about, the next time Ed Allen shows up at your door, introducing himself as your "former Stake President," oozing "high ethics" from his every corrupt pore and asking for your vote, we guess.
You can also bet your boots we're adding a link to From Where I Sit to our right sidebar. BenJoe is good... danged good, we think!
Big Game This Afternoon: The 'Cats Meet the Vikes
Time to put some fannies in Stewart Stadium seats
Weber County Forum Special: Live internet television feed
Just a quick reminder for Emerald City citizens of the big game scheduled for this afternoon. The 7-2 Weber State Wildcats meet the Portland State Vikings at Stewart Stadium. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m.
The 'Cats are plainly on the brink of establishing a new winning tradition. It's time we think, for Emerald City citizens to get aboard the bandwagon.
Thursday's Standard-Examiner editorial provides a persuasive argument supporting the idea that all Emerald City football fans should consider making it to this afternoon's game:
We're hoping to see a full stadium this afternoon.
First reader back here with a half-decent game recap gets his/her own front page article.
Update 11/01/8 4:16 p.m. MT: The Wildcats prevail 31-21, and go on undefeated 6-0, in the Big Sky Conference (8-2 overall).
Weber County Forum Special: Live internet television feed
Just a quick reminder for Emerald City citizens of the big game scheduled for this afternoon. The 7-2 Weber State Wildcats meet the Portland State Vikings at Stewart Stadium. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m.
The 'Cats are plainly on the brink of establishing a new winning tradition. It's time we think, for Emerald City citizens to get aboard the bandwagon.
Thursday's Standard-Examiner editorial provides a persuasive argument supporting the idea that all Emerald City football fans should consider making it to this afternoon's game:
Even if Weber State makes the FCS playoffs, a home-field game may not be guaranteed. FCS rules state that only the top four seeds of the 16-team playoff field are guaranteed home-field advantage through the quarterfinals. Weber State’s current 13th ranking makes it unsure it will be a top-four seed.An FCS national championship would surely put Ogden City "on the map." And that's exactly what Emerald City citizens want, right? ...to put Ogden City on the map?
In order to be considered for a homefield playoff berth, the FCS considers more than one factor. One is how well the community — business and personal — supports the football program. Are there adequate lodging accomodations for a playoff game? Is there ample community support promoting FCS football? Weber State University Athletic Director Jerry Graybeal is working hard to build support in the community for the team’s playoff drive.
Another factor is a school’s attendance figure for home games. This does not bode as well for the Wildcats. Although 7,000 fans — a healthy increase — watched the Wildcats defeat Northern Colorado two Saturdays ago, that number still dwarfs the routine sellouts at Montana, a ranked Big Sky team also fighting for a playoff berth. In fact, the Standard’s Asay reports today that WSU football is eighth in Big Sky attendance. Only Northern Colorado sells fewer tickets. [...].
Weber State is having a remarkable season. The team is playing well enough to contend for the FCS national championship. They deserve a sellout this Saturday.
It would be a letdown if the Wildcats won the Big Sky Conference, rose to the Top 10 of the rankings, and had to go on the road for the team’s first playoff game in many years because local fans wouldn’t fill the seats at Stewart Stadium.
We're hoping to see a full stadium this afternoon.
First reader back here with a half-decent game recap gets his/her own front page article.
Update 11/01/8 4:16 p.m. MT: The Wildcats prevail 31-21, and go on undefeated 6-0, in the Big Sky Conference (8-2 overall).
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