Simple Utah Mormon Politics

This is one of those situations where he couldn't lose. He had the legislature, most of the media, and a plethora of vote counters on his side. Yet somehow he was beaten. Thank heavens. Despite some of the ostensibly good things Hugo Chavez did for Venezuela, it was all to be had at a very severe price. Good thing just over half of the Venezuelans didn't buy it. Will he go without a fight? I sure hope so. Maybe he can be Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's ambassador to hell. He was on the brink of becoming a dictator. But he was stunned by the throngs of Venezuelans who didn't want this to be the last time they voted. Let's let has beens be has beens. He never deserved to lead any country, but some how he propagandized his way to the top. Let's hope the fall is just as mercurial. I keep seeing in my mind the equivalent of a Saddam statue falling off its pedestal--over and over again, and I like it. God bless the people of Venezuela. They can yet solve the rich-po...

As the kids get older, some of our Christmas traditions have to be modified accordingly. Tonight's yearly foray into family gift getting was one of the more memorable. For the last several years, we have drawn names out of a hat to see who gets to buy a present for which family member. We have seven of us in our family, so as the kids get older, it gets more difficult to figure out how we're going to do it, especially because we all go shopping in the same store! This year we couldn't figure out who got to pick out of the hat (it was actually a bowl this time) first, so we all sat around the table and played rock, paper, scissors. Our right hands competed against the left hands of the family member at our right, and vice versa. If the opposing hand beat your hand, you pulled that hand out, and your remaining hand (unless you lost both hands) competed against the remaining hand(s) of the family member to your left and right. It actually worked pretty well. The hand le...

Now that scientists have discovered a way to emulate embryonic stem cells with adult stem cells, the need to use embryonic stem cells is over. But don't let that fool you into thinking that people will stop using them. James A. Thomson was the scientist who, about ten years ago, isolated and discovered embryonic stem cells. Shortly thereafter, many scientists and politicians held embryonic stem cells as a panacea for all ills. It hasn't turned out that way. As I recently wrote here, embryonic stem cells have been the cure for exactly ZERO diseases . On the other hand, adult stem cells have been beneficial in about 60 therapies. Mr. Thomson, co-discoverer of the new adult-to-embryonic stem cell method, was always a little bit squeamish about the result of his discovery. He said: "If human embryonic stem cell research does not make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, you have not thought about it enough." He's now made a discovery that means we don't ...

With the economic shape that Medicare and Medicaid are in, how can anyone expect that the federal government can provide universal health care? Yesterday on The Right Balance with Greg Allen, Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union made the statement that for the first time, this year, Medicare depends more on the federal government's general fund for its funding than it does on payroll taxes. Stated differently, Medicare payroll taxes as now constituted pay for less than half of the costs of Medicare. Should we raise Medicare payroll taxes? I don't think so. With this news, how can the government possibly think it can provide an effective service in the arena of universal health care?

It's a yearly ritual-BYU vs. Utah rivalry week. Yes, the football game, but more importantly, the protecting of signs, statues, and other objects from defacement by the opponent during game week. I'm not sure how bad the BYU trash talkers are, but I listened for a few minutes to one of the local sports stations last week, and there are some Utah fans that make me sick. Only some. I don't mean to generalize. My daughter's favorite password hint question is "Which team would you like to see always lose?" The answer is "The Utes". Actually, I'm a bit different. I only want to see them lose when they're playing BYU or when it affects BYU's chances of winning the MWC championship. Worse, though, was the BYU fan who gave the Utah fan a broken nose. Even if BYU had lost, such behavior is inexcusable. But no matter what side you came out on, you have to admit that this year's BYU/Utah football game in Provo was one of the more exciting...

What'll you bet that within just about 12 months from his resignation from the United States Senate that Trent Lott will be the recipient of a lucrative lobbying job? It's hard not to think that these 'Republicans' are plotting the downfall of the Republican party. At any rate, it's working. Some people have speculated that he's gay. He says that he needs to go in a different direction, and that he doesn't like the increasing rancor in the Senate. So Senator Trent Lott is resigning. It took a lot of people by surprise . But just follow the money. It didn't take much for the New York Times to come across something highly interesting: By resigning before the end of the year, Mr. Lott would beat the effective date for new ethics rules that double to two years the amount of time former Senators must wait before they can join a firm to lobby former colleagues. The new rule applies to those who leave office “on or after” Dec. 31. Mr. Lott is the sixth Se...

America is the most powerful nation in the world. The problem is that we act like other nations in history who have achieved this status—and those nations are long gone. Our emotional capital with the other nations of the world is at an all-time low and declining. Our economic standing is not far ahead. The American hegemon, rather than showing respect the rest of the nations of the world, has for decades dictated to the rest of the world how the game should be played. With the United States’ moral and economic capital at an all-time low, it seems that our “piper” is warming up his pipe and preparing to call in our loans. Shortly after September 11, 2001, the French newspaper Le Monde carried the front page banner headline, “We are All Americans”. George W. Bush and the United States received at that time a great deal of emotional capital from the nations. It didn’t take long, though, for us to squander nearly all of it. Instead of realizing that America is a nation among equal...