And decidedly so. Read articles about the race in the SL Trib, Deseret News, and Daily Herald. Congratulations to Jason Chaffetz for an impressive campaign, and good luck on the next phase.
I'm curious to learn more about the Democrat challenger, Bennion Spencer. It's funny that in the media there is this assumption that Chaffetz has it won at this point. I wonder with the political climate this year if that will really be true. Okay, it probably will be, but you never know. I know I'll take a serious look at both candidates.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
The Herald Backs Cannon
The Daily Herald yesterday published an editorial backing Chris Cannon for the District 3 seat for US Congress. The editorial includes some really good arguments that fall right along my reasons for leaning for Cannon over Chaffetz. I keep hearing that if you talk to Cannon one on one you can't help but be impressed with his grasp of the issues. One of these days I'd love to have that one on one. Maybe then I would be a little more comfortable overall with Cannon.
iProvo Emergency Transition
The Daily Herald reported on Broadweave's emergency transition of MStar phone customers on Friday. There's some discussion on the transition over at freeutopia.org. I'm glad to see that people are recognizing that Broadweave did some good things here. Unfortunately, this quick transition cut short plans to thoroughly test the process, but overall the number of problems have been satisfyingly low.
That said, if you are one of the customers with a problem it doesn't make you feel better to know that most other customers are not having problems. Broadweave is saying that they are committed to fixing the problems as fast as possible. If you were an MStar iProvo customer and you're having phone problems call 691-5800.
Also, let me know how they do in fixing the problem for you. I'm curious.
That said, if you are one of the customers with a problem it doesn't make you feel better to know that most other customers are not having problems. Broadweave is saying that they are committed to fixing the problems as fast as possible. If you were an MStar iProvo customer and you're having phone problems call 691-5800.
Also, let me know how they do in fixing the problem for you. I'm curious.
Parties for the People
I just read this editorial on the SL Trib site. I liked it. Political parties are not an end to themselves. I'm a Republican now, but I don't agree with everything the Republicans in office do and I would have no problems being a Democrat if I decided their platform represented me better.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
What's the Deal With Oil Shale?
Oil shale development is suddenly getting national play. See this AP article. Utah's Congressional delegation is all for it. Colorado's is against it. Why is that? You would think that both states stand to benefit economically from shale development.
From the above mentioned article, the CO people are saying there are environmental issues with developing oil shale. I'm willing to dismiss these kinds of concerns when a New York senator raises them about a project in Utah, but when a Colorado senator raises them about a project in Colorado, it's worth looking past the partisanship and seriously considering the concern.
To extract oil from shale you have to mine the rock that holds the oil, put it in a big oven and heat it until the oil comes out. Then you can put the rock back. So I have a vision that large scale oil shale development means huge strip mines across eastern Utah - digging out the rock, bake out the oil, put the rock back.
This does not sound like a low impact project.
From the above mentioned article, the CO people are saying there are environmental issues with developing oil shale. I'm willing to dismiss these kinds of concerns when a New York senator raises them about a project in Utah, but when a Colorado senator raises them about a project in Colorado, it's worth looking past the partisanship and seriously considering the concern.
To extract oil from shale you have to mine the rock that holds the oil, put it in a big oven and heat it until the oil comes out. Then you can put the rock back. So I have a vision that large scale oil shale development means huge strip mines across eastern Utah - digging out the rock, bake out the oil, put the rock back.
This does not sound like a low impact project.
Chaffetz Taking Pot Shots
Here is one of the things that concerns me about Jason Chaffetz. In this SLTrib article it talks about how Chaffetz took a public swat at the Governor in the convention, then uses the Governor's positive comments about Chaffetz in campaign literature.
Now, I think I understand why the swat - even at an incredibly popular figure like Gov Huntsman. Chaffetz is trying to position himself as not the establishment. Oh, and stridently conservative. District 3 likes that.
But there's more to being in Congress than campaigning. You have to work with people. You need friends to get things done. It doesn't help to take pot shots at the people you need to work with later. Sure, articulate your policy stance. But don't start public fights when you don't need to. You can say "global warming's a farce" without saying "global warming's a farce, but the Governor still believes in it!"
Oh, and Jason, why is global warming a farce? And how does that affect your policies? I'm looking for "I'm convinced global warming is a farce because X. This means that I don't support Y and do support Z." I looked on your website and didn't see anything on global warming.
Now, I think I understand why the swat - even at an incredibly popular figure like Gov Huntsman. Chaffetz is trying to position himself as not the establishment. Oh, and stridently conservative. District 3 likes that.
But there's more to being in Congress than campaigning. You have to work with people. You need friends to get things done. It doesn't help to take pot shots at the people you need to work with later. Sure, articulate your policy stance. But don't start public fights when you don't need to. You can say "global warming's a farce" without saying "global warming's a farce, but the Governor still believes in it!"
Oh, and Jason, why is global warming a farce? And how does that affect your policies? I'm looking for "I'm convinced global warming is a farce because X. This means that I don't support Y and do support Z." I looked on your website and didn't see anything on global warming.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Cannon vs. Chaffetz - Who to pick?
I'm having a hard time deciding between Chris Cannon and Jason Chaffetz. I have generally been pretty anti-Cannon. Whenever I go to a meeting with him and listen to him speak to the crowd (I haven't spoken with him individually at all) I'm struck with how partisan he sounds. This last round he talked about how the recent Republican majority in Congress failed to do a good job because there weren't enough true conservative Republicans in office. The way to fix that problem is to vote in more Republicans.
On the other side is Jason Chaffetz, who sounds really good in speeches, but he's an unkown quantity, and can he get things done in Washington?
So I was a delegate at the Republican State Convention, and I was leaning Chaffetz when at the last minute there were two things that pushed me over to Cannon. 1) Chaffetz passed around a leaflet that added his position that we should eliminate the "anchor baby" provision of the constitution. 2) Cannon passed around a leaflet that showed how he does get a lot of things done in the background.
I'll reserve my problems with this "anchor baby" position to another post. But the other thing made me think: "Maybe Cannon is actually pretty effective in Congress, he's just a really poor campaigner." This article from The Daily Herald seems to be saying much the same thing, and I've heard it from a couple of other sources, too.
So I did vote for Cannon at the convention. I'm one of the 5 people that could have ended Cannon's run in Congress, but swung from Chaffetz to Cannon in the last few days. I'm still not sure it was the right call. I'd love to be convinced for sure, but some minor miracle would have to happen in Cannon's campaign for them to suddenly be good at communicating with voters. So far they seem to be happy with barely surviving the convention, then win in the primary on the power of incumbency.
Meanwhile I'm stuck balancing on a fence.
On the other side is Jason Chaffetz, who sounds really good in speeches, but he's an unkown quantity, and can he get things done in Washington?
So I was a delegate at the Republican State Convention, and I was leaning Chaffetz when at the last minute there were two things that pushed me over to Cannon. 1) Chaffetz passed around a leaflet that added his position that we should eliminate the "anchor baby" provision of the constitution. 2) Cannon passed around a leaflet that showed how he does get a lot of things done in the background.
I'll reserve my problems with this "anchor baby" position to another post. But the other thing made me think: "Maybe Cannon is actually pretty effective in Congress, he's just a really poor campaigner." This article from The Daily Herald seems to be saying much the same thing, and I've heard it from a couple of other sources, too.
So I did vote for Cannon at the convention. I'm one of the 5 people that could have ended Cannon's run in Congress, but swung from Chaffetz to Cannon in the last few days. I'm still not sure it was the right call. I'd love to be convinced for sure, but some minor miracle would have to happen in Cannon's campaign for them to suddenly be good at communicating with voters. So far they seem to be happy with barely surviving the convention, then win in the primary on the power of incumbency.
Meanwhile I'm stuck balancing on a fence.
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