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Monday, October 18, 2004

What's This?
I just got hit by an email revealing an incredible piece of info:

The Republican candidate for Utah's Governorship, Jon Huntsman, Jr., son of a multi-millionaire, dropped out of high school to join a new wave band, took seven years to finish college, and got positions in corporations because of his dad.

First, find evidence that this true.

Talking off the hip, if these facts are indeed true, someone is going to have to sit me down and explain to me how Huntsman believes education is important when he obviously detested it growing up.  How much of an impact will he be able to have with the teens of the state who need encouragement to stay in school? How much will his policies be colored by his teenage notions of school-- what he felt was wrong then is still wrong now?

Research topic: Will he be the first governor of modern times who didn't complete high school?

This news, if true, just doesn't bode well for the image of Utah. I can hear it now around the water coolers-- Utah just changed the motto on their license plate. Instead of Pretty Great State, it now reads "Pretty Dumb State."

OK, so that was pretty dumb. But people simply like to make light of Utah when the opportunity arises.  After all, how long has it taken the state to shake off the polygamy stigma?

10:51:38 PM   | COMMENT [] | TRACKBACK []

Another Reason to Vote Against Bush
The Supreme Court.

Adam Cohen's special editorial feature in The New York Times paints a picture of what America could evolve into if Bush was re-elected and nominated the next two or three justices. Consider the Cohen's closing remarks to Imagining America if George Bush Chose the Supreme Court:

President Bush claims to want judges who will apply law, not make it. But Justices Scalia and Thomas are judicial activists, eager to use the fast-expanding federalism doctrine to strike down laws that protect people's rights. Last year, they dissented from a decision upholding the Family and Medical Leave Act, which guarantees most workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a loved one. They said Congress did not have that power. They have expressed a desire to strike down air pollution and campaign finance laws for similar reasons.

Neither President Bush nor John Kerry has said much about Supreme Court nominations, wary of any issue whose impact on undecided voters cannot be readily predicted. But voters have to think about the Supreme Court. If President Bush gets the chance to name three young justices who share the views of Justices Scalia and Thomas, it could fundamentally change America for decades.

I already feel like I'm living in a Twilight Zone episode. This is good food for thought going into the closing weeks of the election.

(By the way, Florida voters started going to the polls today! NPR reported that in many places today, there were more people standing in lines than at the primaries earlier this year. I'm hoping tomorrow's news will report that the process is going smoothly for all voters.)

10:25:13 PM   | COMMENT [] | TRACKBACK []

Flu Vaccine Shortage Lie
Terrorism is Clinton's fault. The economy is Clinton's fault. Nuclear Proliferation is Clinton's fault. Yes, it used to be that if something failed or or wasn't going as planned, it wasn't anyone else's fault but Clinton's, in the eyes of the Republicans. Well, it looks like Kerry is taking over the reigns-- the lack of funding for the troops in Iraq; the lack of security gear for the troops in Iraq; and any failings in the Patriot Act, Homeland Security measures, etc.

And today, the Bush campaign is saying that Kerry is to blame for the shortage in the Flu Vaccine. According the Center for American Progress, Ken Mehlman of the Bush campaign explained that John Kerry was responsible because "he opposed a 2003 bill that would limit legal liability for drug manufacturers whose products injure patients."

Why is this a lie? The bill never even came up for a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Can you spell desperate?

10:05:11 PM   | COMMENT [] | TRACKBACK []