I wanted to take a break from my media decisions series for a brief interlude to the events surrounding the Tim DeChristopher sentencing on Tuesday as I have now had an opportunity to gather my thoughts. I suspect that there will be a higher than average amount of discussion in the comments section – so [...]
Archive for the ‘Political Theory’ Category
Can lawmakers write for the paper? Yes. Should they? Hell no
Last Tuesday it was announced that West Vally City Mayor, Mike Winder will be a regular contributor to the Deseret News’ online, local news oriented, feature “Deseret Connect.” Since then, Mayor Winder and the Deseret News have successfully reopened the debate regarding how close is too close when it comes to having politicians involved in [...]
What is it they say about absolute power? Redistricting has already started without the public
Last Thursday, ABC 4 broke the news that the Republican dominated redistricting commission has, at least in some cases already started to set into place the political boundaries before even hearing one proposal from the public – this, despite the fact that lawmakers have claimed from day one that this is to be an open [...]
Hatch and the Bubble
Last week Senator Orrin Hatch held a “Tele-Town Hall Meeting” in Utah County where he asked various questions to the audience and posted results on Twitter. The questions he posed, as well as the responses he received makes it clear that Hatch is quite content in his bubble and more than happy to think that [...]
Pushing the Limit
As I told you last Friday, I appeared as a guest to debate the actions of protesters in our nations capitol. If you missed it, you can replay the show by following clicking here and pushing the play button. Overall, I thought it was a good discussion with many good points presented. Listen for yourself and tell [...]
Lawmakers Signal Early that they don’t Care About Redistricting Fairly
Yesterday the legislative redistricting committee met yet again, this time to discuss the rules that will guide the redistricting process. Motions from 2001 were mostly adopted, however one big change did take place, the reduction of the margin of difference between districts was reduced. This action directly harms rural Utah and benefits Republicans. The problem [...]
We are Democrats dammit, we should be better than this.
Yesterday, a well known individual within the Democratic Party went on to his Facebook page to imply that one of the candidates running for Salt Lake County Chair had a few skeletons in their closet, saying “I have been very torn about this race until my network of intelligence assets told me something disheartening yesterday. [...]
Protesting Gone Awry
Earlier today, eight or nine (reports vary) individuals continually interrupted the peoples business in House of Representatives as debate closed on the Democratic federal budget plans by singing, one by one, an altered version of the Star Spangled Banner (transcript). Currently, The City Weekly is reporting that one of these individuals was Deb Henry, local [...]
Senator Reid stands by GRAMA vote, despite logic
Senator Stewart Reid (R – Ogden, District 18) just doesn’t seem to get it as he continually chooses to stand by his yea vote on HB 477 and his nay vote on HB 1001 to repeal the draconian GRAMA (Government Records Access Management Act) law. In yesterdays Salt Lake Tribune, Reid said 477 should have [...]
Lets Hold a Rally!
Democrats in Utah certainly seem to be an innovative bunch. Over the past year various Democratic groups have been holding this rally or that to either “raise awareness,” “show unity,” or “fight for change.” Problem is, it seems like this is the only tool Democrats in general and progressives in particular, seem to have in [...]