The "Them" in question is the editorial board for the Tribune. Seeing as it snowed yesterday, it can almost seem like hell has frozen over as I find myself in agreement with them:
The most charitable thing you can say about Obama is that he made a serious mistake by not denouncing sooner some of Wright's most extreme pronouncements. But it goes deeper than that. Obama either does not understand how offensive some of Wright's remarks are to most Americans, or he is willfully tone deaf. This, in turn, leads many Americans, rightly, to question the candidate's judgment, and his inability to meet head-on the first real crisis of his campaign.
Imagine... the truth spoken in a newspaper. Well done!
The latest census findings have been reported and anyone paying attention (or has found they need an English to Spanish dictionary just to order anything at a fast food joint) can tell you that the Latino population is on the rise:
Utah's population keeps showing more racial diversity, with blacks leading the way in percentage growth as a population last year and Latinos accounting for a quarter of the state's total growth, according to U.S. Census estimates released today.
There is even a handy graph:
Strangely, there was no May Day protest marches here in the Bee Hive state. Could it be the snow? Nah. The Trib says they're scared. Between the legislation passed last year and the apparent apathy of the populace, it seems to have protesters thinking twice. I can live with that.
It's Utah Law Day!
I get nervous when this kind of language is used, but I can attest that the state economy is strong and has been for some time:
Salt Lake City finds itself among the nation's most recession-proof cities, according to Forbes.com, the magazine's Web site.
The Utah capital comes in at No. 9. Oklahoma City is No. 1.
While cities across the country are facing tough times because of declining home prices, rising unemployment and contracting economies, Oklahoma City's trend has been the opposite, Forbes.com said.
Among the top 50 metro areas, Oklahoma City has seen falling unemployment, solid growth in the energy, agriculture and manufacturing sectors and possesses one of the strongest housing markets in the country, Forbes.com noted in its "America's Recession-Proof Cities" article.
San Antonio was ranked second on the list. Also in the top 10: Austin, Houston and Dallas, Texas; Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C.; San Jose, Calif.; Salt Lake City and Seattle.
Hot Air post's the video. I watched a bit of it and got the same impression that Ed got. He looks and sounds tired. The one thing I found really interesting was his comment about never having thought they would get this far, or words to that effect. Could he be prepping the masses for a big let down?
From Bloomberg News:
Average temperatures in areas such as California and France may drop over the next 10 years, influenced by colder flows in the North Atlantic, said a report today by the institution based in Kiel, Germany. Temperatures worldwide may stabilize in the period.
Not just the coasts, mind you. Want to see what I woke up to this morning?
View imageAndrew Sullivan finally discovers that Wright is divisive.
When I listened to that Q & A this morning on my way into work, I had one thought: Reverend Wright just ended Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign. Period.
There is a great, above the fold in the print edition, story on Utah Jazz player Kyle Korver. He is the son of a minister and very grounded in his faith and it shows in how he carries himself and how he lives his life. These types of stories are not written every day, so please give it a read.
I've been staying out of this because I'm conflicted. I think that particular sect of the predominantly local religion is a perversion, but they still have rights, which upon reflection, have not only been violated, but ripped to shreds. I would love to see them go down, but not like this. Related thoughts here and the Deseret News has more here.
I've been paying attention to Rush Limbaugh's Operation Chaos and absorbing it almost by osmosis listening on my iPod while working in the yard. I just put up my outdoor speakers for the season (in case you're curious, it's these) and was looking for something rocking to play this afternoon when I stumbled across a cd I haven't listened to in almost 15 years. I was a junior in high school when this album came out and it has languished in the cd rack for many years but after seeing the title, Radio K.A.O.S, I had a nice chuckle and threw it in. It was nostalgic, to say the least, and after listening to it twice, I discovered some interesting parallels to Rush's Operation Chaos. While Waters attacks Reagan, Thatcher, nuclear war and all things technological, the songs could easily, with a couple of word changes here and there, be applied to today's war with the Democratic Party. The last song on the cd is especially apt. Titled "The Tide is Turning" it has a line that goes thusly:
Who is the strongest, who is the best
Who holds the aces the east of the west
This is the crap our children are learning
Brings to mind what is being taught in schools today, no? At the end of the song, there is a rousing male choir singing the chorus that brings to mind the Army choir rush played a few days back. Inspirational both, FWIW.
Jim at Thinking Right is at it again providing much needed contact with our deployed troops. When I was in Bosnia, we had Operation Dear Abby and we would occaisionally get bags of letters addressed to "Any Soldier" from schools, churches, community groups, etc. It was wonderful being on the receiving end of those and I'm sure the sailors and marines aboard the USS Russell, DDG-59, will be grateful for them, so please participate. I will be donating 4 bags of coffee to the cause.
It's that time of the year and our property takes up an enormous amount of time in preparation for the growing season. Just about every minute of daylight after work is taken advantage of, which is one of the reasons I haven't been blogging much. Couple that with I just haven't been interested in much else and you get online silence, broken today. I still worked outside until dark but hey, it's earth day as well as the PA primary.
Via Powerline, please check out this incredible report on the Index of leading environmental indicators 2008.
Regarding the Primary, illary pulled off an impressive win. I can't wait to download the podcast of Rush's show tomorrow gleefully rejoicing in the fruits of Operation Chaos. Oh how the media will attempt to spin this.
April 15th, 2008 and it's currently 39 and snowing at my home in Salt Lake City
That is all.
Today's editorial decries WY's undeterred killing of wolves now that they have been released from the Endangered Species List. (Here's a clue: WY has lots of Ranchers. Ranchers have lots of cattle. Wolves kill cattle. Do the math.) Check out the comments, they're quite enlightening.
Took some time off to visit with my parents but back in the groove after digging out of the work emails.
My good friend Joshua Sharf is in the race.
Now as soon as I can figure out MT4 enough to place it in the side bar, I will (and add the rest of the RMA stuff too.)
Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) is headlining the Stadium of Fire celebration this summer.
(Mental note: Stay the hell away from Provo on July 4th.)
For members of the predominant local religion, it's that time of the half-year again. The Muslims only require a pilgramage to Mecca once in a life-time, but for the LDS, it's twice a year to Salt Lake City for the general conference. What is it, the 4 millionth? No? Turns out it's the 178th.
Have fun.
When I first saw this on the 10:00pm news last night, I had a sense of dread in my stomach. That dread has only gotten worse the longer she has been missing. Now her father is pleading for her safe return. Who wouldn't. It's now national news and I pray fervently for a happy ending.
I saw one of these on my office building this afternoon. If you live in Utah and care about the safe return of a little girl, consider printing one out and passing it around.
Ban phones from schools. Problem solved.
The Deseret reports on some unrelated child pornography news. Man, it's like in the water or something.
The Deseret points out why Utah is a prosperous state.
I woke this morning to 29 degree temperatures and 5 inches of snow. Spring indeed.
After being what amounted to a campaign promise from then candidate for Mayor, Ralph Becker, the Domestic Partnership legislation, or at least the language of it, is being swept under the rug.
Tomorrow night. It's just a fund raiser, I know, but could there be more joint appearances?
Needless to say I'm loving that it's news, but have to wonder why it took so long. It was out there long ago.
I worked today during the speech but listened to the majority of it on my handy XM Radio (xm121 Fox News) I had mixed feelings about it, feelings about which I'm still digesting. My gut reaction was that this speech would finally rend the country in two. We all knew deep down that the country was separated into black and white and while the good Senator walked the fence adroitly, it was only a matter of time before he would have to choose where his loyalties lie.
He chose, and let the chips fall where they may.
FWIW, I think it did more to set back race relations than to mend them. I felt somewhat chastised. I felt that as a white male I'm just supposed to understand and live with the fact that my predecessors oppressed people that I never had the opportunity to meet or engage with. I'm supposed to get over the fact that an entire class of my fellow Americans can vilify me, call me (and my race) evil, and decry the country that I was born in and fought for as a soldier and think they have a moral justification to do so. I'm supposed to understand that this is something I can't understand and because of that, I'm to have (voice) no opinion and if I do so, then I'm racist. I'm supposed to understand that (because of it's past perceived sins) those of the same skin color as those who had been oppressed are to have no responsibility whatsoever in the fixing of this as the onus falls on the (white) descendants of those who did the oppressing.
Well forgive me, but I reject the whole premise. I can not and will not be responsible for things I had no control over. I can only control my own life and that's all I will do. If the Senator wants to see things change, then perhaps he should look in his own house and the houses of the predominantly black churches who, Sunday after Sunday, preach the divisiveness and hatred ideal that it is (white people) the Man who is keeping them down and that they (are victims) have no responsibility for their own actions.
I see these churches as urban madrasses, breeding the next generation of anti-white victimology.
It's sad that it is that way, but reality is often a cruel mistress.
Even though he's a Democrat and the Brother-in-law to Howard "The Scream" Dean, I'm actually for Mayor Carroon. I had tha opportunity to watch a Jazz game with him in one of the suites shortly after his term started and thought him a bright, well adjusted guy and the way he has presided over the county has proven my instincts correct. I'll be voting for him this time around.
Speaking on Iraq. McCain is currently in Iraq. Coincidence?
