Vouchers Would Save Millions

Press Contact:
Nancy Pomeroy
801.361.5284



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Utah Study Indicates Significant Savings
From School Vouchers
Empirical Research Proves Millions Would be Saved

Salt Lake City, UT — February 1, 2007 — A study of the fiscal impact of school choice in Utah shows that a state school choice program could save approximately $26 million each year. Released today by The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy and the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, (founded by Nobel laureate in economics, Dr. Milton Friedman) and Parents for Choice in Education (PCE), the study provides credible evidence that no local school district would suffer a net loss of funds as a result of the introduction of a school voucher program. It also identified the potential additional savings from school vouchers for each district throughout the state and suggests that as the percentage of children using vouchers increases education expenditures and tax rates decline. "The detailed analysis completed by Dr. Susan Aud, senior researcher, and professor teaching Quantitative Methods in Political Science Research at the Paul H. Nitze School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University shows that a statewide choice program won't hurt schools financially. In fact, quite the opposite is true.

“Local schools would receive more money to educate fewer students—bottom line" said, ________________ of The Josiah Bartlett Center.
Key Findings

Utah public schools receive $6,325 in revenue per student, including $3,508 from the state, $2,220 from local sources, and $597 from federal sources.
A universal voucher program that allowed Utah parents to use a portion of their state education funding to attend schools of their choice, public or private, would reduce the need for more teachers and classroom space in the public school system, or, alternatively, help the state reduce teacher-student ratios.

If 2 percent of public school parents participated in the voucher program — a participation rate well below the 5 percent rate achieved by Ohio’s new voucher program in its first year of operation in 2006 — it would remove about 9,662 students from the public school system in the first year.

Such a universal voucher program would result in a net fiscal savings of about $700,000 in the first year, and the savings would grow as the program grew.


—more—
Study Proves Vouchers Could Save State Millions Page 2

Because not all school revenue varies with enrollment levels, local Utah school districts would retain about $2,674 in revenue for each student who left with a voucher — a financial windfall that would total about $26 million per year.

"We’ve always known that school vouchers would be a net gain for Utah public schools, Utah taxpayers and Utah’s children," said Elisa Peterson, executive director, PCE.
"Now we have research that proves it." For a copy of the study's results, methodology and conclusions please visit:
About the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy
http://www.jbartlett.org The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy is a non-profit, non-partisan, independent think tank focused on state and local public policy issues that affect the quality of life for New Hampshire's citizens. The Center has as its core beliefs individual freedom and responsibility, limited and accountable government, and an appreciation of the role of the free enterprise system. The Center seeks to promote policy that supports these beliefs by providing information, research and analysis.
About the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation http://www.friedmanfoundation.org The Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, dubbed "the nation's leading voucher advocates" by the Wall Street Journal, is a non-profit organization established in 1996. The origins of the foundation lie in the Friedman's long-standing concern about the serious deficiencies in America's elementary and secondary public schools. The best way to improve the quality of education, they believe, is to enable all parents to have a truly free choice of the schools that their children attend. The Friedman Foundation works to build upon this vision clarify its meaning to the general public and amplify the national call for true education reform through school choice.

About Parents for Choice in Education
www.choiceineducation.org
Parents for Choice in Education (PCE) is dedicated to the improvement of education in Utah through meaningful parental choice. We believe that publicly supported education is vital to the strength of our state and that real options should be made accessible and available to everyone regardless of income or geography. We believe in parents and their ability to make the best education choices for their children whether through public, charter, or private schools. We envision and work to achieve a vibrant education system, offered through diverse, competitive providers focusing on the child, not the system.
Since its founding in November 2000, PCE has taken the lead role in advocating for school choice reforms in Utah

Voucher bill jumps first hurdle

As expected, Greg Hughes delivered a passing commitee vote for Choice.


http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660191518,00.html

As Paul Rolly now agrees, it's a done deal.

http://blogs.sltrib.com/politics/


Mark Towner,
The Spyglass

My Position on Education Funding

My response to James Cone and others,

My position has not changed on this issue at all. Maybe you confuse my support for public education would also suggest I do not support vouchers. That would be wrong. I never, ever supported Tuition Tax credits, and I took a lot of heat and likely lost a State School Board race because of this position.

My position is the same as that of LaVarr Webb of Utah Policy Daily. I want to see more (not less) funding of public education. But I also want to see parents have options like charter school's, and private schools as well.

The problem with funding public education is how we currently calculate resources. Teacher salaries and class size is a local school board issue, not the Legislature's. Am I 100% happy with this legislation, the answer is NO. However we need to take baby steps to make sure our kids are not hurt in the process.

What would be a perfect solution regarding Educating our children?

1. Eliminate the Department of Education, and send it's budget directly to the states.

2. States to provide a voucher to each child that can be used for a private or public school. If the student chooses to attend a public school, the voucher would go directly into the account of that local school and administered by the principle as they see fit, including providing merit bonus and specialty teaching (math and science) incentives.

3. The Legislature would provide funding to each district to cover costs associated to maintaining buildings, infrastructure, books, and a baseline budget.

4. Implement the A.P.P.L.E. in congress.

If both sides would just get off their high horse and see how they both could benefit, we might actually get somewhere.

Mark Towner,
The Spyglass

Steve hits a grand slam on vouchers

steve u. said...
It is an odd leap to conclude that this bill is hostile to public education. Along with helping families seek educational options that they believe are best for their children, the bill pushes increased money to public education, which will be accompanied by historic levels of overall funding. Hardly the barbarians at the gate.I look forward to the proposals the first commentor promised. Public education officials seem to be spending far too much time looking over the fence at the way 3 to 7% of Utah children will be educated elsewhere and not nearly enough time on the 93 to 97% of Utah children for which they have direct responsibility. If Chairman Burningham has innovative ideas for improving public education – other than guarding the status quo and fighting against anyone leaving the system – I’d like to hear them.

Webb hits nail on the head

Webb: This is an exciting year for public education in Utah — in more ways than one. On the funding side, the Legislature is poised to dish out the largest public ed increase, by far, in Utah history, by any measure. The governor has recommended $320 million in new money. The House is talking about $300 million and the Senate an almost unbelievable $400 million or more. That's an eye-popping amount to boost teacher salaries, reduce class sizes and fund special programs. And all of it is needed and deserved. Good teachers who want to make teaching a career ought to be able to support a family. However, funding isn't the only exciting public education story in the Legislature this year. Equally dramatic is the likelihood that, along with shelling out the big bucks, lawmakers are going to demand more accountability and impose significant reform on public education. And they are absolutely right to do so. Now is the time for education reform, including voucher scholarships, merit pay and higher pay for in-demand teachers. And that ought to just be the beginning. I have been a strong supporter of our public schools my entire life. I am a product of Utah's public schools and all my children have exclusively attended public schools. There is no more important mission than making our public schools better so they prepare our children and grandchildren for professions in a vastly different world than that of my generation. It's hard to overestimate the changes in the global economy, the incredible international competition, the need for our children to excel in math, science, languages, critical thinking and innovation. We have mostly terrific teachers and administrators doing the best job they can in a culture and system that is badly outdated and highly bureaucratized. It is unfortunately a culture that fights change and innovation, that wants to keep doing things the way they've been done for a century or more while the rest of society has long since undergone dramatic change. I am a big supporter of voucher scholarships because it is fundamental, structural reform that will leave more money in the public schools and foster a public school climate of improvement, competition and innovation, better preparing our children and grandchildren for the world they will enter. The free market does not tolerate mediocrity. It is incredibly unfortunate that the public education establishment is so averse to change and fresh thinking that they won't even engage in a modest pilot project featuring school choice. It is almost like a religion, and they are fanatics. So the Legislature is going to have to take some leadership. This is the year: big bucks and real reform.

Incredible Op-Ed on Vouchers, Gotta Read This!

I stumbled on this while scanning the Bloghive. The title did'nt register at first so I passed over it. Later just for kicks I though I would see what the fuss was and WOW, what a great article.

Everyone should really take a deep breath on both sides, sit down and calmly ready this post from Frank Staheli

http://economicspolitics.blogspot.com/2007/01/pull-up-drawbridge-were-under-attack.html

The Spyglass

Partisan races for school boards?

SB194 would let political parties pick candidates

The Brambo flexes his muscles

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,655191730,00.html

The Spyglass

No Go for REAL

Looks like Curtis was right. Soccer is Dead in Utah

http://deseretnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,655191591,00.html

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5094415

Checketts responds:

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,655191601,00.html

Stadium deal doomed?

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,655191742,00.html

The Spyglass

Maybe the SL County Clerk will start removing some of these dead people

There is an ongoing problem with the Salt Lake County Clerk's office. Dead people keep showing up to vote. When will this Elected official finally admit that there are hundreds if not thousands of Registeres voters in Salt Lake County that are dead, or moved to another county or state and registered there. The voter registration database should be cross matched with Drivers License, death records, tax records, and phone directory databases and purge these people.

This is 2007, please fix this problem. Here is a start

http://www.utahopinions.com/index.php/2007/01/26/utah-death-certificates-1905-1954-online/

The Spyglass

Senate Dems learn Photoshop

Well I guess my little post this morning sparked somebody in the Senate minority to get some quick lessons in PhotoShop and correct their Oooops. www.amicus.com interesting site.

Well done..... http://utahdemsenate.com/

The Spyglass

Chris Cannon gets ripped in Utah Senate

Ouch!

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5091610

The Spyglass

Utah Democratic Senate Website OOPS!

Well several weeks ago I posted a comment on a blog site wondering why the Senate Democrats didn’t have a website to post their positions on bills that were getting shoved down their throats.

Well it looks like somebody in their caucus realized they didn’t have anything better to do so why not learn a little Dreamweaver and put a site together.

Only thing is folks they have broken the law right off the bat. You see nobody but the Lt. Governor can authorize the use of the State seal. OOOPS….. http://utahdemsenate.com/

67-1a-7. Use and custody of great seal. Except as otherwise provided by law, the lieutenant governor, or the lieutenant governor's designee, is authorized to use or affix the Great Seal of this state to any document whatever and only in pursuance of law, and is responsible for its safekeeping. Any person who illegally uses the Great Seal of this state, or such seal when defaced, is guilty of a felony. Enacted by Chapter 68, 1984 General Session

So whoever mocked this up had better change it quick, or Gary will send his enforcer Mr. Demma to have a talk with you.

The Spyglass

Voucher Bill has the Votes!

Voucher Bill has the Votes

Well according to my sources, when push comes to shove vouchers legislation will pass the House with 40 or 41 votes, not 38.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,655191416,00.html

Another interesting tidbit of information in this annual slugfest is the revelation that Vic Arnold, the UEA lobbyist, is the Chair for the Democrat State Party Education Committee.

This should eliminate any doubt that the UEA is a direct extension of the Utah Democratic State Party. So let’s quit kidding ourselves folks.

The Spyglass

Nicole Stricker posts update on vouchers

Here is an update on Vouchers

By Nicole Stricker The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 01/23/2007 01:04:22 PM MST

http://www.sltrib.com/Search/ci_5060104

The Spyglass

Urquhart, draws back the curtain on Voucher bill

Legislator posts a draft of voucher bill on blog
Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, has released a draft of his voucher bill on his blog, steveu.com/blog/. The blog also provides answers to questions about the bill. Urquhart hopes to gather public comment on the measure, and says he might change the bill based on that input.

The Spyglass

Quote of the Day from UPD

Quote of the Day
“It sort of makes the debate at this year's Legislature seem like a food fight over baby steps. But if Utah won't even take baby steps in parental choice among its poorest citizens, what chances do our kids have against other nations?”
-- Editorial page editor and columnist Jay Evensen, writing about a report from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, which calls for changes in the nation’s public education system far more radical than school choice vouchers (Morning News).

Do Vouchers belong in Utah?

The Salt Lake Tribune chimes in:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5060104

Mark Towner,
THe Spyglass

Voucher would empower all families

By Greg Hughes, Bill Colbert and Mark Cluff

A recent My View column (Jan. 10) called upon parents, grandparents and citizens to take a hard look at the issue of making education vouchers available for Utah's schoolchildren. We agree that serious scrutiny is needed on the issues facing public education and how we deliver education to children. We are convinced that as we peel back the layers of misinformation and rhetoric, what is left is a powerful argument for increased funding for our public schools and more options and opportunities for all of Utah's children.

As this debate has raged, the misperception that is hardest to overcome is the notion that affluent families are the target of an educational voucher. The opposite is true. The voucher bills in recent legislative general sessions all included means testing — providing families with the fewest resources a voucher in the greatest dollar amount. A voucher would empower all families — but particularly the underprivileged. An existing scholarship program called Children First Utah that targets families whose children qualify for free and reduced lunch is meant to mirror the financial assistance that a voucher would provide. The demand for these scholarships is three times greater than available resources, without any program advertising. We have met some of the families who have benefited from this exceptional opportunity, many of whom struggle with English as their second language, and the excitement and gratitude speaks volumes.

When families choose to send their children to a private school using an educational voucher, it saves public education real dollars, since the voucher would only provide 10 percent to 60 percent of what it would cost to educate their children in public schools. Vouchers would leave more dollars in our public schools. This isn't just a rosy prediction; it is exactly what has been happening over the past decade in the Milwaukee public schools. Many policymakers from Utah have been to Milwaukee and have had the privilege to witness their voucher program firsthand. Only a hardened skeptic would refuse to see how the rising tide has lifted all ships in a town that was once sinking fast.

Another misconception is that public dollars could be spent for "any conceivable private school." Yet closer scrutiny of past proposals would demonstrate accreditation requirements for any private school receiving an educational voucher.

Constitutional arguments about the prohibition of public dollars landing in private institutions are comical when you consider the amount of public funding provided to students attending schools such as Notre Dame and Brigham Young University in the form of Pell Grants. Also, when a low-income family can't afford food, the government will provide them with food stamps or a Horizon Card — a government voucher spent at a private business of their choice. Even traditional public schools pay private schools to help educate special education students.

The reality is that Utah has more children per capita than any other state. The duty to provide an education for Utah's children requires a Herculean effort from all of us. With a projected 20 percent increase in our student population in the next eight years, there are no silver bullets available to accomplish this task. An education voucher program would offer us another arrow in our quiver. We must prioritize the needs of our children over the protection and care of the current status quo. There is an economy for education in Utah. If we empower large swaths of our population with increased educational options, those in the business of educating children will invest their dollars to meet this demand. The time has come to adopt a voucher bill. Join us as we make this a banner year for education and Utah's children.

Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, chairs the House Education Standing Committee. Bill Colbert and Mark Cluff are members of the State Board of Education

Senate Gets Jump on the House

Senator Brambo and company lays down the numbers.....

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650224763,00.html

The first punch has been thrown.

Mark Towner,

The Spyglass

Vouchers GOT the MO

Article, after article says this is the year we get choice for parents. Here is another interesting article that our legislators need to read, read again, then without emotion, read it again.Finally please lets knock off the rhetoric, and look past the mud slinging and smell the roses. Our kids today are not just competing with each other for college and high paying jobs, now with the internet, Voice O/IP and the bandwidth available, we now have call centers in India, and china where you have College graduates with engineering degrees are taking support calls.The sooner the Education machine realizes that what they are producing is giving our kids a completive disadvantage, the sooner we can get on a global road of improvement.Let’s see Utah take the lead.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650224076,00.html

Mark Towner,The Spyglass

Lampropoulos will not seek State GOP Helm

In a email message sent by former Campaign Chair Dave Hansen, he said "Fred Lampropoulos is NOT running for Chairman."

So this opens the field wide to many possible candidates, as Fred would have been a tough person to beat in a SCC vote. So does this mean that Enid will again seek the top spot?

The next week will be interesting to see what is in the works.

Mark Towner,
The Spyglass

I'm in to Win says Clinton

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070120/ap_on_el_pr/clinton2008_19

The Dem's list gets longer and longer. What happens if they have 25-30 people running for the nomination?

The Spyglass

The Stars are in alignment for Vouchers in 2007

This looks like the year vouchers may actually pass the legislature. We have lots of money in the bank, and the Gov wants to up the ante 18% for public education. I see a back room deal being cut here that will finally get vouchers into law. If Vic Arnold (old Queen Ann Grizzlie foe when we both lived in Seattle) and the UEA don't blow things, they may get their cake and eat it too. But if they attack any possibility of a voucher, watch that 18% get cut in half, right off the bat and go down from there. The Gov wants full time kindergarden, and increased pay for teachers. But the pay structure is in the hands of the local school districts, so this is where the pressure needs to be applied. My suggestion for both of these groups is work it out, you both win.

A new poll will be released this weekend that has some interesting numbers. Both sides in this yearly battle need to read the tea leaves. I predict that by the closing gavel of this session, Utah will follow many other states and Washington DC and make vouchers available to Utah's kids.

It appears Jennifer Toomer-Cook is getting the same vibes as I am.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650224177,00.html

The Spyglass

GOP faces tough vote on Bush's war plan

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 30 minutes ago
Bruised by the elections and divided on the Iraq war, Republicans will find themselves in a tough spot when Democrats force them to go on record for or against President Bush's troop strategy.
Democratic House and Senate leaders intend to hold votes to gauge GOP opposition to Bush's decision to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq. Senate leadership is expected by Thursday to propose a resolution denouncing the plan, with debate planned around the same time Bush delivers his State of the Union speech next Tuesday.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (news, bio, voting record) said the House will follow suit with its own resolution.
The resolutions would likely be a symbolic expression of Congress but would not affect the Pentagon's war budget or challenge the president's authority over U.S. forces. Such votes could be a shot across the bow to Bush, who said Jan. 10 that the extra troops are needed to protect U.S. interests in Iraq.
The resolutions also would help Democrats measure GOP support for more aggressive legislative tactics, such as cutting off funds for the war.
Such a vote puts many Republicans in an uncomfortable position. They will have to decide whether to stay loyal to an unpopular GOP president and risk angering voters disillusioned by the war or buck the party line.
Bush has been trying to sell his revised war plan to the public in a series of television interviews. He told PBS's Jim Lehrer in an interview broadcast Tuesday that keeping his old policies in place would lead to "a slow failure," but withdrawing from Iraq, as some Democrats and other critics suggest, would result in an "expedited failure."
"I am frustrated with the progress," Bush said. "A year ago, I felt pretty good about the situation. I felt like we were achieving our objective, which is a country that can govern, sustain and defend itself. No question, 2006 was a lousy year for Iraq."
In spite of Bush's efforts to gain support, several GOP members are offering only tepid endorsements of his plan, as well as a wait-and-see approach to the Democratic resolution.
Republican Rep. Chris Shays — who scraped by in the November elections while his GOP Connecticut colleagues Rob Simmons and Nancy Johnson lost their seats — said his vote would depend on what Democrats come up with. He said he supports the troop push if there are guarantees offered by the Iraqis that they will reach a political settlement.
"In the end, it's a difficult thing to have to say to the American people we don't succeed unless the Iraqis do their part," Shays said.
Likewise, Sens. Saxby Chambliss (news, bio, voting record), R-Ga., and John Sununu (news, bio, voting record), R-N.H. — both up for re-election in 2008 — say they think Bush's plan might work, but only if the Iraqis come up with a way to share oil and reach other political milestones.
Lining up behind Bush in the Senate are Republican stalwarts and a few members who have long backed sending more troops to Iraq, including Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz.
At least seven Republican senators have said they flatly oppose the troop increase: Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record) of Kansas, Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record) of Nebraska, Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record) of Minnesota, Gordon Smith (news, bio, voting record) of Oregon, George Voinovich (news, bio, voting record) of Ohio, Susan Collins (news, bio, voting record) of Maine and Olympia Snowe (news, bio, voting record) of Maine.
Acknowledging their party is divided on Iraq, Republican leaders are trying to stave off a showdown in Congress by casting Democratic efforts as a political ploy to embarrass the president. On Tuesday, House leaders offered GOP members a second day to air their concerns about Bush's plan behind closed doors.
Republicans are also discussing alternative proposals, including one House resolution promising to keep funding for troops in combat.
The White House has moved to bolster Republican support, inviting GOP members to the White House to attend a Wednesday briefing on Iraq.
Sen. Pat Roberts (news, bio, voting record) of Kansas — a conservative who ultimately backs the president's plan as the best choice in tough circumstances — said the vote puts many Republicans in a tight spot.
"I think everybody is," he said.
Senate Democrats on Tuesday tried to reach out to Republicans to endorse their proposals and negotiate precise language. With only a 51-49 margin and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record), I-Conn., backing the president on the troop increase, Democrats have to walk a fine line to entice Republicans to vote for their resolution.
"I will have nothing to do with some political thing to embarrass the president," Voinovich said.
Democratic leaders are also under significant pressure by several members, including Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Christopher Dodd (news, bio, voting record), D-Conn., to go far enough to stop the president. Dodd said he plans to offer an amendment to the resolution that would cap troop levels at existing numbers, which is about 130,000.
House Democratic leaders say their approach will be simple: put Bush's plan in a nonbinding resolution and subject it to a vote. If it fails, the House will be on record as rejecting the additional troops.

Politically incorrect venting stands to ruin many careers

Deseret Morning News, Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Politically incorrect venting stands to ruin many careers
By Dan K. ThomassonScripps Howard News Service


WASHINGTON — This is the season of unfortunate remarks, and the remarks are likely to get worse as the bickering over Iraq policy accelerates. How could it be otherwise with seemingly half the Senate running for president and the Bush administration hunkered down to fight off those who would derail the latest solution for bringing Baghdad under control?


On Capitol Hill, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., accused unmarried and childless Condoleezza Rice of not understanding the risk that is being shared by families of U.S. forces in Iraq. Across the Potomac, a deputy assistant director of defense, Charles Stimson, suggested that major law firms representing detainees were un-American. Both remarks fall into the "I don't believe I would have said that" category of politically incorrect utterances that have ruined careers.
Boxer, of all people, should understand this, coming as she does from a political party whose stock and trade is to make mountains out of small-time verbal missteps, particularly those that show a moment of imprudence when applied to race or gender. Few groups are more sensitive to the equality of the single woman than the feminists who are an integral part of her party's base.


Although Boxer squealed that she had been misunderstood in her questioning, Secretary of State Rice seemed quite disinclined to let her off the hook. One can hardly blame her, given the grueling interrogation she received from the august Senate Foreign Relations Committee members, including nearly all of those Republicans she should have expected to provide some sympathy for her job as a spokeswoman for a difficult position.


During her career, Rice has shown she feels as deeply about the impact of her actions as if she had given birth to those she has helped put in harm's way. To suggest that a single woman could not understand the potential devastation to lives caused by the policies she is charged with promoting and defending is just stupid. To suggest this, in fact, is to accuse her of a monstrous insensitivity that makes her motives dishonest and almost inhuman. Has the incivility on the Hill reached that point?


Stimson, meanwhile, showed a woeful ignorance of the constitutional safeguards afforded anyone who comes in contact with our legal process. As the person in charge of detainee policies, he told interviewers that he was dismayed that top law firms were representing prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay and that corporate clients of those firms should think about ending their ties to them. The suggested boycott brought a round of huzzahs and support from a gaggle of conservative radio talkers, who clearly hadn't thought it out very well, and legitimate screams from the legal community far and wide.


The Pentagon was quick to disavow Stimson's remarks, saying he was speaking on his own and that his views did not represent official policy. One would certainly hope not. It would be proper, I think, to ask at this point: Why is this man still on the job, and why was he hired in the first place?


Nothing is more sacred than the judicial system, flawed as it is, that keeps us free. Legal defense is an integral part of that. Anyone who doesn't understand that should not be serving in this government, and perhaps should himself spend several nights in the hell of Guantanamo, where many are being held without charges and under only a supposition that they may have a link to terrorism.


The entire detainee policy has not been a pretty one. In fact, it has been a disgraceful twisting of the rule of law that threatens to do serious damage to the nation's reputation as the world's greatest democracy. It was a grotesque overreaction to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and it has morphed into a miscarriage that rivals those common to the repressive, regressive cultures we so righteously denounce. Obviously, Stimson has had a hand in that policy. His remarks now reveal exactly why it has become such a detestable experience.


So from both ends of the government, the word "blight" becomes more intense. Boxer's tongue won't be the only one that will get in the way of better judgment, and Stimson won't be the only senior official to show a complete lack of understanding about America's principles. We will survive, the songwriter says. Probably. But it certainly gets scary at times.


Dan K. Thomasson is former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service.
© 2007 Deseret News Publishing Company

What Public doesn't want it Jackie?

Tribune reporters REBECCA WALSH and GLEN WARCHOL contributed to this report.

Vouchers have the support of most legislative leaders, but Republican moderates have banded with Democrats to kill the bill in the past. Salt Lake City Democratic Rep. Jackie Biskupski expects the same outcome as in years past. "The public doesn't want it," she said.

Really, I live in your district, are you speaking for me on this issue?

HUMMMMM

The Spyglass

Vouchers - Vouchers - Vouchers

From the Utah Senate Site:

http://senatesite.com/blog/2007/01/vouchers.html

The Spyglass

Carrie Towner seeks Utah State Party Office

PRESS RELEASE: January 12, 2007

Politics and the law run deep in our family, so it’s no surprise that another Towner plans to throw their hat into the political ring. My great grandfather was Judge Rodelphus Gilmore, who served on the Colorado Supreme Court. My grandfather was John Breckenridge Richardson who in 1911 was instrumental in getting Statehood for Arizona in 1912. He was asked by his community to seek office in the new State House and was elected to the first session of the Arizona Legislature. While on break from the Legislature he ran into this barely five foot tall 100 lb fireball teacher in Tucson named Faith Gilmore at a Masonic Dance, and they fell instantly in love. Grandpa Breck was very active in the Masonic Temple, and advanced into the order of the Shriners.

Only one problem prevented them from getting married right away however, and that was a territorial law banning female school teachers from getting married. So they were secretly married and Grandpa Breck returned to Phoenix for the Legislature. Grandpa then introduced legislation that would overturn the law banning female teachers from getting married. Well word had got out about the secret marriage and Grandpa’s fellow Legislators played a little joke on him. After he presented his bill, which he anticipated little or no opposition, the House went into a furry. He was badgered from both sides of the house, and real fear set it that his bill might actually be defeated. However after sweating out the debate, they all started to laugh and passed the bill unanimously, congratulating Grandpa Breck on his Marriage to that activist school teacher. With one legislator saying, “The next thing them women will want will be the Vote”. How prophetic.

Towner family heritage and the United States Congress

Horace Mann Towner (October 23, 1855–November 23, 1937) was a Republican United States Representative from Iowa from 1911 until 1923, when President Warren G. Harding appointed him Governor of Puerto Rico, a post he held until 1929. Towner also served as a county superintendent of schools, a judge, and a lecturer on constitutional law in Iowa. During his congressional service, Towner was chairman for four years of the Committee on Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives.

Horace Towner was a pot stirrer, and his main issue was healthcare for women and children. After seeing the huge infant mortality rate and the poor health of many World War I draftees, with 29.1% judged unfit for service, Horace felt that the Federal Government should provide funding to States for the creation of child hygiene divisions in state-run public health agencies; the production and distribution of 2 influential, instructional pamphlets ("Prenatal Care" and "Infant Care"); and campaigns involving free diagnostic evaluations by health care professionals, which in turn could assist prenatal care.

This was quite controversial for Republican Legislation at the time, but the Sheppard-Towner Act was proposed in 1918 and signed into law in 1921. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/115/4/S1/1129

My Father Elverne Gorham (Hap) Towner, Naval Officer, Pearl Harbor, South Pacific, Korea, Japanese Occupation commander. http://politicalspyglass.blogspot.com/2006/12/remember-pear-harbor-and-my-dad-hap.html

Carrie Lynn Towner
Carrie married her High School sweetheart Mark in Oakland California in 1976. Carrie and Mark built a successful medical consulting business together for nearly 20 years, during which time they raised five daughters, and both received University degrees. Mark graduated as a research scientist with a BS degree in Fisheries Biology, and Carrie a cum laude in Business both from the University of Washington. Carrie always wanted to attend Law School, but knew she would not be able to devote the time required while raising her family, so after our youngest daughter enrolled at UVSC in aviation in 2004, Carrie applied and was accepted to the University of Utah School of Law, the only Grandmother in her class. Carrie is currently clerking full time in Salt Lake City with Stirba and Associates, and expects to graduate in the spring and take the Bar exam this summer.

Carrie has been very involved in the Utah Republican Party. She ran for the GOP nomination for congress in 2002, was elected Salt Lake County Party Treasurer, appointed as finance chair, was elected to the State Central Committee and recently elected as the Senate Chair for District 2, and is currently a county delegate and chairs the Salt Lake County Republican Party SLAP (Salt Lake Action Plan) for the 2007-2008 election cycles.

Carrie will be seeking the State Party Office of vice Chair at the February 10th State Central Committee.

Re-Post How to Win Over Iraq and the War on Terror

Originally Posted in 2005, then again on Tuesday, December 12, 2006.

I actually received a letter from Senator Hatch indicating that he had put forward some of these ideas to the President. When will the people in power accept our Military is the most powerfull death and destruction machine on the planet, but they should not be asked to be policeman in a country where even the good guys hate you because somebody they knew or loved has been killed. Our Military can and should close all access in or out of Iraq, then encourage volunteer's to assist in rebuilding the country. If they start killing volunteer's, public outrage worldwide will reign down of the terrorists, and one by one they will be turned in or killed themselves by the common people of Iraq.

How to Win Over Iraq and the War on Terror

By Mark E. Towner, Salt Lake City UtahTo show the people of Iraq that the United States wants their country to be free from terrorists and allow them to pursue peace, happiness, and prosperity the United States should propose to the people of Iraq the following.The United States will agree to deploy US forces to Iraq totaling (500,000) from January 1, 2007 to January 1, 2009. The President will then ask all healthy former servicemen and women up to age 65 including all former Vietnam veterans, reserve, and current military to re-up for a six month to a one year rotation in Iraq. The President would call upon young Americans to volunteer a 1 year service mission to assist the rebuilding of the infrastructure of Iraq. The United States Military will totally seal off the boarders of Iraq, not allowing any entry into Iraq. All supplies into Iraq will be brought in by US convoy. The reserve and older ex military personal would secure the Iraq boarders using the latest technology available and guard and protect the oil fields and pipelines. This experience will also help us to perfect how to secure our own boarders here in the United States. I would expect over 1 million signups of former military alone. I would expect 1-2 million US volunteer’s to assist in rebuilding Iraq if they can be assured of security in the nation. The active Military would completely seal Baghdad and other hot zones in Iraq. They would also surround small remote towns and order its evacuation, giving the residents 48 hours to leave. Then the military would do a clean sweep of any terrorists. Once the town was secure, the US volunteer’s would move into the town and rebuild the homes, infrastructure, electricity, phone service, internet etc. and just like on the TV show, these efforts would be documented and reported 24 hours a day worldwide. When completed, the residents would be allowed to return to their homes where they would have clean water, sewer, electricity, etc.After this procedure has been repeated over and over, the minds and hearts of the people will be changed. The people will turn against the terrorists and they themselves will police their own neighborhoods and once again take pride in their community and country.In December 2008, all the troops including all the Old Vietnam Veterans, the Volunteer’s, everyone can come home to the arms of a grateful nation, and the people of the world will again respect and thank America.

Mark E. Towner

The Political Spyglass

Salt Lake County Mayor Needs to GO!

Lets eliminate the confusion. How about Salt Lake County Executive?

I never could understand why we have a County Mayor. Ask any voter in the county who their Mayor is and they might actually know their City Mayor’s name but County Mayor (Who)?

When Carrie and I and our 5 daughters transplanted from Seattle via Eagle River Alaska to Utah, we were confused by this County Mayor thing. I asked the question of someone at the first GOP function what exactly did the County Mayor do, and they replied they were the Chief Executive of the county. Well I understood this notion well becaue in Washington State each County (the largest being King) the elected official to run the county was called County Executive. This explains what the elected official is actually doing, with little questions.

The problem we have in Salt Lake County is we already have a bunch of Elected Mayors. And these Mayors are representing their respective cities and towns. And guess what folks, the cities interests and the Counties interests are not the same.

So lets fix this now, right now in fact and start referring to Mayor Peter Corroon as County Executive Corroon and get somebody up at the Legislature to change the name in the statute.

And since Peter has not plastered his name over all the County Buildings like the last Mayor, all he will have to do is get some new letter head and some .jpeg changes for the website.

Additionally I feel the need for 3 at large seats on the council to be redundant and was a bone thrown to the former commissioners. I would propose that in the next census in 2010, we eliminate these three positions, draw truly representative districts and save us taxpayers some money….

Any thoughts….

The Spyglass

New Dan Jones Poll shows I'm right on vouchers!

I broke this story yesterday, and here are the numbers to back me up.

This will happen in 2007 folks

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650221970,00.html

The Spyglass

NOT Enough Troops to secure the border's

This is not what is needed. We need 500,000 incountry to secure the border and allow the Iraqi military to take control inside their own country. We need to move our troops out of the cities and let these people decide for themselves what is best. We just need to keep the outside influences away, and dry up the arms.

Bush to order about 20,000 more troops to Iraq
By Steve Holland 45 minutes ago

President George W. Bush will tell skeptical Americans on Wednesday he will send 21,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq as part of a long-delayed new plan for the unpopular war, setting up a confrontation with Democrats.

The fresh infusion of troops will join about 130,000 already in Iraq. Senior administration officials said 17,500 would go to Baghdad and 4,000 to volatile Anbar province.
The first wave of troops are expected to arrive in five days, with others coming in additional waves. Under the plan, the Iraqi government will deploy additional Iraqi troops to Baghdad with a first brigade deploying February 1 and two more by February 15.
Senior administration officials said the cost of the troop increase would be around $5.6 billion.

An additional $1.2 billion would finance a rebuilding and jobs programs.
Democratic leaders of the U.S. Congress say they plan to hold symbolic votes in the House of Representatives and the Senate on Bush's plan, which will force the president's Republicans to take a stand on the proposal in an attempt to isolate the president politically over his handling of the war.

They also could try to cut funding for the revised war strategy, but so far Democratic leaders have shied away from threats to do that, although some would like to do so.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan, Kristin Roberts, Susan Cornwell and Jeremy Pelofsky)

2007 The Year of the voucher for Choice in Education

I have been following a national trend since the DC for choice got vouchers. The sky didn’t fall, the world didn’t stop spinning, and more and more reasons for not allowing vouchers continue to go up in flames. I never liked the TTC for many reasons, but mainly not every parent could take advantage of the credit, especially middle class working parents.

Plain and simple, vouchers level the playing field for everybody. Parents should be able to decide what school environment is best for their children. This will be the year of the Voucher for Utah, and like many other issues we will lead out on this issue. NCLB was a failure, but Republican legislators’ didn’t want the Bush administration coming down on their necks, so they punted.

Not anymore, voters are ready for change and the old tactic of legislators leaving a committee meeting to take "an important call" just before a vote on the record will not be tolerated.

Money is no longer an issue, and we no longer have a Governor who says he will veto any voucher legislation.Here are some very compelling statistics and up to date information on vouchers.

For specific background, laws, participation rates, and other statistical academic information click on the state.

These are the Hot states: AZ, CO, LA, OH, UT, and WI
About the State Profiles

Click here for larger version.

Mark Towner,The Political Spyglass

Apple Inc, is this the death to Palm and Blackberry?

Apple renames itself, unveils iPhone
By RACHEL KONRAD, AP Technology Writer1 hour, 8 minutes ago

Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday announced the iPod maker's long-awaited leap into the mobile phone business and renamed the company just "Apple Inc.," reflecting its increased focus on consumer electronics.

The iPhone, which will start at $499 when it launches in June, is controlled by touch, plays music, surfs the Internet and runs the Macintosh computer operating system. Jobs said it will "reinvent" wireless communications and "leapfrog" past the current generation of smart phones.

"Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything," he said during his keynote address at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo. "It's very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. ... Apple's been very fortunate in that it's introduced a few of these."

He said the company's name change is meant to reflect Apple's transformation from a computer manufacturer to a full-fledged consumer electronics company.

During his speech, Jobs also unveiled a TV set-top box that allows people to send video from their computers and announced the number of songs sold on its iTunes Music Store has topped 2 billion.

Apple shares jumped more than 8 percent on the announcements, while the stock of rival smart-phone makers plunged. The run on Apple stock created about $6 billion in shareholder wealth.

While Jobs noted the explosive growth of the cell phone market, it's not clear that a device as alluring as the iPhone poses a threat to mainstream handset makers due to the price, said Avi Greengart, mobile device analyst for the research firm Current Analysis. "My initial reaction is that this product actually lives up to the extensive hype, and I'm not easily impressed," he said. "But the vast majority of phones sold cost way less than $500." Instead, the rivals most likely to face new competition from Apple's handset are makers of higher-end smart phones such as Palm Inc.

Tim Bajarin, principal analyst with Creative Strategies, said the iPhone could revolutionize the way cell phones are designed and sold. "This goes beyond smart phones and should be given its own category called 'brilliant' phones," he said. "Cell phones are on track to become the largest platform for digital music playback and Apple needed to make this move to help defend their iPod franchise as well as extend it beyond a dedicated music environment."

Apple currently commands about 75 percent of the market for downloaded music and portable music players. But it's expected to lose market share on both fronts as rivals introduce their own gadgets and music stores.
Jobs said Apple expects to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008, the first full year in which they'll be available. That's about 1 percent of the global market for mobile phones; 957 million were sold worldwide in 2006.

The Apple phones, which will operate exclusively on AT&T Inc.'s Cingular Wireless network, will start shipping in June. A 4-gigabyte model will cost $499, while an 8-gigabyte iPhone will be $599. While wireless carriers typically offer discounts and rebates on new devices when they agree to sign a two-year service contact, Cingular said it was unclear whether this would be the case with the iPhone.

Cingular declined to comment on its financial arrangement with Apple.
IPhone is less than a half-inch thin — less than almost any phone on the market today. It comes with a 2-megapixel digital camera built into the back, as well as a slot for headphones and a SIM card. The phone automatically synchs the user's media — movies, music, photos — through iTunes on computers running either Mac OS X or Microsoft Corp.'s Windows. The device also synchs e-mail, Web bookmarks and nearly any type of digital content stored on a PC.
"It's just like an iPod," Jobs said, "charge and synch."

To make a call, users can tap out the number on an onscreen keypad or scroll through their contacts and dial with a single touch.
"It works like magic," Jobs said. "It's far more accurate than any touch display ever shipped. It ignores unintended touches. It's super smart."
Apple is also introducing what it calls "visual voicemail," so users can jump to the most important messages rather than have to listen to all of them in order.
The phone supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology and can detect location from Global Positioning System satellites. It also can send and display e-mail and text messages. Apple is partnering with Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) on Web-based e-mail and Google Inc. on maps.

With a few finger taps, Jobs demonstrated how to pull up a Google Maps site and find the closest Starbucks to San Francisco's Moscone Center, where Macworld is held. He then prank-called the cafe and ordered 4,000 lattes to go before quickly hanging up.
Jobs demonstrated the iPhone's music capabilities by playing "Lovely Rita, Meter Maid," from the Beatles' "Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band." The audience cheered, spurred by speculation that an announcement was imminent about a deal to sell Beatles songs on iTunes. But there was no such announcement, and Beatles songs still cannot be legally downloaded.
Also Tuesday, Jobs said Apple will begin taking orders immediately for the $299 video box called Apple TV. It will ship next month.

The gadget is designed to bridge computers and television sets so users can more easily watch their downloaded movies on a big screen. A prototype of the gadget was displayed by Jobs in September when Apple announced it would sell TV shows and movies through iTunes.
Apple TV will come with a 40-gigabyte hard drive that stores up to 50 hours of video. It features an Intel Corp. microprocessor and can handle videos, photos and music streamed from up to five computers within the wireless range. Apple also announced Tuesday it will sell movies from Paramount, increasing its online selection from about 100 to about 250.

Meanwhile, Apple's milestone of selling more than 2 billion songs on iTunes catapults the company into the top ranks of music sellers worldwide — more than Amazon.com Inc. and behind only Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Best Buy Co. and Target Corp., Jobs said.

Apple shares jumped $7.10 to close at $92.57 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $50.16 to $93.16.
Nearly 120 million Apple shares were traded on Tuesday, more than four times the average daily volume.
Meanwhile, shares of other smart-phone makers slid: Treo-maker Palm dropped 5.7 percent, BlackBerry's Research In Motion Ltd. lost 7.9 percent and Motorola Inc. shed 1.8 percent.

Watch this Guy get fired for speaking the truth

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:56
This from the Denver Post:

This text is from a county emergency manager out in the central part of Colorado after todays snowstorm.
Up here, in the Northern Plains, we just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

FYI:George Bush did not come.FEMA did nothing.No one howled for the federal government.No one blamed the federal government.No one even uttered an expletive on TV .Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.Our Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snowstorm.

Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.No one looted.Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the federal government do something.Nobody expected the federal government to do anything, either.No Larry King, No Bill O'Rielly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera.No Shaun Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found.

Nope, we just melted the snow for water.Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a penny.Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snowbound families.Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.We fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns.We put on extra layers of clothes because up here it is "Work or Die".

We did not wait for some affirmative action Fed. to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 42 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate." It does seem that way, at least to me.I hope this gets passed on.Maybe SOME people will get the message. The world does Not owe you a living.

Utah Policy Blog Watch

At Under the Dome, Rep. Craig Frank delivers a long post on laws regulating 16-year old drivers and unintended consequences….Neal Abercrombie posts some highlights from the 2007 Economic Report to the Governor, which was recently released by Gov. Huntsman's Council of Economic Advisors.... Shauna Harris explains "how organic farming can save Utah agriculture".... SLCSpin notes: "Here's something new. And cool. It's the most comprehensive collection of Utah political blogs to date".... At Out of Context, Robert Gehrke reports: "The White House announced Monday that Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt would lead a delegation to the inauguration of Daniel Ortega as president of Nicaragua. For those who missed the '80s, Ortega was a leader of the Sandanista movement, which overthrew the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua in 1979. In 1985, Ortega became president, but the Reagan administration didn't approve of his Marxist tendencies and bankrolled, trained and supplied Contra rebels who fought to overthrow the Ortega administration. Ortega lost an election in 1990, but didn't fade from the scene and won the presidential election in November, to the chagrin of the U.S. government. Ortega promises a moderate rule this time. In addition to Leavitt, the inauguration will be attended by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Should provide some interesting conversation for Leavitt: 'Hey, remember that time my government used illegal arms deals to try to throw you out of power? Ah. Good times'".... The Washington Prowler reports: "Sources inside the exploratory presidential campaign for former Massachusetts Gov. [Mitt] Romney say there are high level discussions taking place that would put former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the top most slot of the exploratory committee. 'The talk is Huckabee serving as chairman of the exploratory committee,' says one insider. Huckabee has been mulling a presidential bid of his own, and was viewed as a potential threat to the Romney campaign, particularly in the South, where the minister and former governor would peel away social conservatives from the Massachusetts moderate. 'This strategically would be an interesting decision, not only for Romney, but for Huckabee,' says one Washington insider who is aligned with the McCain campaign. 'It helps Mitt marginally, I don't see what's in it for Huckabee at all, which to my way of thinking means it won't happen.' On Thursday, Romney released the names of his big money finance co-chairs, which featured at least one eye-brow raiser, eBay CEO Meg Whitman, a woman considered by most to be of a liberal political stripe on social issues, as well as some economic issues. In 2006 Whitman entangled eBay in the 'net neutrality' fight in Congress, sending a letter to millions of eBay customers and clients, asking them to support federal government regulation of the Internet" (hat tip: Article VI Blog).

REAL Soccer Deal Dead

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4973281

Mark Towner,
The Spyglass

Romney starts dialing for dollars

Romney kicks off fundraising campaign

By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer 41 minutes ago
Republican Mitt Romney began his drive for the presidency in earnest Monday, gathering his national fundraisers in Boston and relying on their network of friends and colleagues to raise more than $2.5 million in less than six hours.
The former Massachusetts governor hoped the glitzy event at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center will help establish him as a credible challenger for the 2008 Republican nomination.
A four-screen projection TV system hung from the center of a ceiling, displaying pictures that included Romney in the Oval Office and at the presidential lectern.
"You guys today are my hope. I got to be honest with you. What you're doing is going to make all the difference in the world," Romney told the callers.
Besides the "National Call Day" event, Romney also sought over the weekend to shore up his support among evangelicals who have been dismayed to learn that he ran as a moderate for the U.S. Senate in 1994, as well as for Massachusetts governor in 2002.
He now is staunchly opposed to gay marriage, and says he supports a state-by-state approach to abortion rights.
"Now, I wasn't always a Ronald Reagan conservative. Neither was Ronald Reagan, by the way. And perhaps some in this room have had the opportunity to listen, learn, and benefit from life's experience — and to grow in wisdom, as I have," Romney said at a conservative gathering in Sea Island, Ga.
"My life experience convinced me that Ronald Reagan was right. I'm a conservative that gets the job done. And you don't just have to take my word for it, you can just look at my record," he added.
While Romney's presidential committee is still labeled "exploratory," he and his staff have made it clear they are in the race to win.
In e-mails sent last week, two of Romney's sons estimated he would need to raise $100 million to be among the "serious contenders" for the nomination. The stated goal on Monday was $1 million — some of which Romney will need just to pay for the event. Many of the callers, however, paid their own travel expenses.

Why am I not surprised?

Senate torn over ethics panel measure

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 8 minutes ago

Presidential candidates from both parties are urging the Senate to set up an independent office to probe ethical questions involving fellow senators. That could be a tough sell.

There is some "institutional resistance," said Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), D-Ill., a potential candidate who has long championed the notion of an independent office of public integrity that would take over some of the self-policing duties of the Senate ethics committee.
"A lot of members are concerned about the use of an independent commission as a political club to beat them over the head," Obama said at a news conference Monday as debate on ethics legislation opened.

A possible rival in 2008, Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., is also pressing to amend the ethics bill, the first legislation Democrats are taking up in their new majority role, to include the office of public integrity.

The ethics legislation, based on a bill that stalled in the last Congress, would ban gifts and travel paid for by lobbyists, slow the movement of former senators to lobbying jobs, require lobbyists to provide more information on their activities and oblige senators to be more open about their special projects, or earmarks. The Senate is expected to spend up to two weeks on the legislation.

The House passed a rules package last week with tough bans on receiving gifts and travel from lobbyists and their employers and banning the use of corporate jets.
Obama and McCain argue that, after the lobbying and ethics scandals that contributed to the Republican defeat in the 2006 midterm elections, the Senate must create an independent office to ensure voters it is serious about enforcing its own ethics rules.
But Sen. Pat Roberts (news, bio, voting record), R-Kan., a member of the six-senator ethics panel, said the nonpartisan group has done its job, and the new office would simply add another step to the ethics process. He added that the office of public integrity was "in danger of becoming a backboard for political tennis balls" with each side filing partisan charges against the other.

"Our ethics process in the Senate works very well," said Sen. Mark Pryor (news, bio, voting record), D-Ark., another ethics committee member. "We have not broken down like the House has."
The House ethics committee, torn by partisan wrangling, was dormant for about 16 months until May of last year. It did carry out an extensive investigation of disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., last fall.
Last year, led by ethics committee members, the Senate rejected a proposal for an office of public integrity by an 11-5 vote in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and then by 67-30 on the Senate floor.
Asked how that result might change this year, Obama pointed to eight Democratic freshmen that also attended the news conference. "We've got a whole bunch of freshmen and I also think the election changed the dynamics," he said.

The independent office proposal that Obama and Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., will likely offer as an amendment is identical to the idea being put forward by McCain, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record), I-Conn., and Sen. Susan Collins (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine, in separate ethics legislation.
It would create an independent congressional agency that would audit financial disclosure and lobbying reports and investigate alleged ethics violations. It could refer cases of possible violations to federal and state authorities. It would report to the House and Senate ethics committees, which would retain the authority to determine violations and penalties against members.

Feingold said they also would push for changes to move the Senate closer to the House, which last week effectively barred lawmakers from traveling by corporate jets. "It is one of these things that really sticks in the craw" of voters, he said. "It also has a corrupting influence."
Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said his office was working on various measures to expand the gift and travel ban to include companies that hire lobbyists, stop lawmakers from sneaking provisions into legislation at the last minute and strengthening the definition of what constitutes an earmark.

"This is just a start," he said of the bill he and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., introduced on the Senate floor. "We're going to improve this bill."

Everyone see's something different

How you see your own house

How your neighbors see your home

How your Bank Lender see's your house

How your appraiser see's your house

And finally how the IRS and Tax assessor see's your home.

The Spyglass

My Latest Book to Read for the Spyglass Report

Just picked this up at the Bookstore. I wonder if I will ever learn to spell?

Former Sen. George Allen got "Plutoed"

Pluto is finally getting some respect — not from astronomers, but from wordsmiths.

"Plutoed" was chosen 2006's Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society at its annual meeting Friday.

To "pluto" is "to demote or devalue someone or something," much like what happened to the former planet last year when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto didn't meet its definition of a planet.

"Our members believe the great emotional reaction of the public to the demotion of Pluto shows the importance of Pluto as a name," said society president Cleveland Evans. "We may no longer believe in the Roman god Pluto, but we still have a sense of personal connection with the former planet."

"Plutoed" won in a runoff against "climate canary," defined as "an organism or species whose poor health or declining numbers hint at a larger environmental catastrophe on the horizon."
Other words considered: murse (man's purse), flog (a fake blog that promotes products) and macaca (an American citizen treated as an alien).

Republican former Sen. George Allen was ahead in his re-election campaign when he said "macaca," which some regard as a racial slur, and "welcome to America" in referring to a U.S.-born man of Indian descent who was volunteering for Allen's opponent. Allen lost to Democrat Jim Webb.

The 117-year-old American Dialect Society comprises linguists, grammarians, historians and independent scholars, among others. Members conduct the vote for fun and not in an official capacity to induct words into the English language.

The society chose "truthiness" as its top word last year. The word is credited to Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert, who defined it as "truth that comes from the gut, not books."
Last month, an online survey by dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster declared "truthiness" the word of the year for 2006.

From Todays Utah Policy Daily

News Highlights
United Way of Salt Lake jumps into the political arena, encouraging legislators to pass bills promoting financial stability for Utah families, early learning opportunities for children and broader health care coverage (Salt Lake Tribune).
Majority of Utahns favor big tax cuts (Deseret Morning News).
Majority of Utahns no longer support the way Bush has handled the Iraqi war (Salt Lake Tribune).

New Utah Blog Concentrator

Here is a great new Blog Concentrator, Check it out at

http://www.lavalane.org/bloghive/


The Spyglass

Critics slam possible Iraq troop boost

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago

Days from announcing an overhaul of Iraq strategy, President Bush on Friday encountered a wall of criticism of the U.S. troop escalation that is expected to be the centerpiece of his new war plan.
Bush also reshuffled his war commanders, installing a new team to support the policies he will announce next week. Democrats and Republicans alike took aim at the expected increase in U.S. forces.
"It has to be significant and sustained. Otherwise do not do it," said Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), a Republican presidential hopeful and Vietnam veteran who has been advocating a troop increase.
Those for going in the opposite direction spoke out, too.
"We are well past the point of more troops for Iraq," new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., wrote in a letter to Bush a day after their party took the reins on Capitol Hill. Instead, Pelosi and Reid urged Bush to begin pulling troops out in four to six months.
The criticism underscored that Bush, preparing his new policy for an increasingly unpopular and costly war, will face a Congress that is not only controlled by Democrats who could challenge him at any turn but also populated with Republicans looking toward the congressional and presidential elections of 2008.
The president spent much of the day in last-minute consultations with members of Congress from both parties, by all accounts soliciting their input while giving few hints of his own plans. But doubts about dispatching more soldiers to Iraq — which Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson (news, bio, voting record) called "the elephant in the room" at the White House — were expressed to the president's face and before various audiences around Washington.
Rep. Heather Wilson (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., an Air Force veteran and member of the House Intelligence Committee who had just returned from Iraq, lambasted Bush's war leadership as lacking "a clarity of mission."
She spoke at a news conference against sending more Americans, saying the U.S. should be focused only on hunting for al-Qaida terrorists and ensuring Iraq does not become a source of regional instability.
"We're talking about goals in lofty terms that are not vital American national interests," she said.
CBS News reported that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended that the president order an immediate 10,000 additional troops to Iraq with an option to double that number by spring under a plan in which five additional brigades of troops could eventually help in Baghdad and two battalions in troubled Anbar Province. Asked for comment, a senior defense official told The Associated Press that parts of the CBS report were incorrect but declined to say which parts or to comment on any recommendations Gates might have made to Bush.
Bush, meanwhile, announced more changes in his team of military and diplomatic advisers.
He said Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander overseeing the theater that includes Iraq, will be succeeded by Adm. William Fallon, now Abizaid's counterpart in the Pacific. Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus is the president's choice to be the new chief commander in Iraq, replacing Gen. George Casey. The nominations must be approved by the Senate.
Petraeus led the 101st Airborne Division during the 2003 Iraq invasion and later headed the effort to train Iraqi security forces.
Both Abizaid and Casey already had been expected to rotate out of their jobs. Both also had publicly expressed skepticism about a troop increase, and when Bush began devising a new Iraq plan their timetable appeared to move up.
Also, Ryan Crocker, a veteran American diplomat who is now U.S. envoy to Pakistan, was expected to replace Zalmay Khalilzad as U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Bush nominated Khalilzad, a subject of criticism in Iraq as favoring his fellow Sunni Muslims, to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
In a White House that prides itself on discipline, there was much confusion about the personnel changes. There was a torrent of news leaks, unsuccessful efforts by the White House to control the flow of information and messy shifts in how the announcements would be made.
The president's talks Friday with several groups of lawmakers included moderate Democrats and loyalist Republicans but also some of the president's biggest critics, such as Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
"He did say he has not made up his mind yet," said Rep. Chris Carney, a freshman Democrat from Pennsylvania who is in the Navy Reserve and served as a Pentagon intelligence analyst.
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record), part of a later meeting with over a dozen senators of both parties, said the skepticism about whether a burst of troops could achieve anything was nearly universal.
"I don't think there was a sense that case had been made," said Coleman, from Minnesota.
Several senators said Bush promised an increase would be done only in concert with greater efforts by the Iraqi government, which has failed to rein in the Shiite militias and to supply the promised amount of Iraqi forces to work alongside Americans.
Nelson, who said he walked away with no doubt Bush is planning to boost troops, said the president suggested there would be "the expectation of the Iraqis carrying out their part of the deal or else." But, said the Nebraska Democrat, the president did not define the consequences.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, set to unveil his own revamped strategy within days, is himself uneasy about more American troops, preferring that the U.S. presence be pulled back to Baghdad's outskirts.
During a nearly two-hour discussion Thursday, Bush told al-Maliki he was ready to send additional U.S. forces. But the Iraqi leader replied "he would have to talk that over with his senior military officers to see if they were needed," Sami al-Askari, an al-Maliki political adviser, told The Associated Press.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, meanwhile, agreed with McCain that a small, temporary force boost would not be enough. Neither of the senators, appearing together at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, would put a precise number on how many more troops might be necessary.
However, they said that — at minimum — it should be another three to five brigades for Baghdad, where Shiite militias are terrorizing the minority Sunni population, and one brigade for western Anbar Province, the center of the mostly Sunni anti-American insurgency. With about 3,500 troops in each brigade, that would total 14,000 to 21,000 additional troops.
A letter from 28 House Republicans urged Bush to divert some of the 21 Iraqi battalions operating in peaceful provinces to Baghdad and other dangerous areas, to spare U.S. troops.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said Bush's meetings with lawmakers were more than just window dressing.
He said, "The fact is, these meetings may not be happy-face, kumbaya, but they have been very constructive."