Hey, did you hear about Spencer Stokes......

He's a head volunteer for the Nolan Karras gubernatorial campaign. So, last night he leaves a message on the answering machine at rival candidate Jon Huntsmans Jr.'s campaign offices. He proceeds to threaten the Huntsman team by telling them that "we have serious shit on Huntsman Sr., so you better not do any negative campaigning or we'll use it."

The Huntsman team then, of course, releases the tape to the media and Stokes looks like a total dumbass. He's been trying to say that it was a "heat of the moment" type thing and that he regrets it. My question is, is it possible to run a clean campaign? Seriously, even the best candidate always seems a bit slimy and dishonest to me. With the possible of exception of John McCain. I like that guy.

Stop the T.W. conspiracy!

Does this guy get on every day and vote for Radiohead on the poll? He and his ballot stuffing ways must be stopped! I know we are meant to use love and persuasion to teach people the error of their ways, but I feel I must rebuke him, betimes with sharpness! Stop the madness!

Contemporary Form of Segregation?

It's disturbing that this happened in a modern Utah high school...It's that good ole' "English Only" mentality. What positive and non-prejudiced results that attitude brings!

Cottonwood High forces a fluent-English speaking latino student into ESL classes -
http://www.sltrib.com/2004/May/05172004/utah/167365.asp

While they're at the "English Only" movement, why not adopt a similar "White culture is superior initiative" or "Latinos are equal when they learn our language" policy? Both (like English Only) without any substantive effect on actual law or regulation. Just you know....to make it "officially" clear. Then they can justify it (like English Only) by explaining that they're trying to help the minority cultures become more...well...like them.

Right.

Reviews for Michael Moore's new film are coming in...

God bless this guy....

From www.imdb.com:

"Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 received a 20-minute standing ovation when it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday. Thierry Frémaux, the festival's artistic director, told today's (Tuesday) New York Times that it was the longest ovation he had ever witnessed at Cannes. Meanwhile, the Times reported that instead of making a deal with a single distributor, Miramax chiefs Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein are attempting to put together a consortium that would ensure the anti-Bush documentary the widest theatrical release possible. Times critic A.O. Scott called Fahrenheit "the best film Mr. Moore has made so far, a powerful and passionate expression of outraged patriotism. ... Is it partisan? Of course. But there are not many important films that haven't been." Desson Thomson in the Washington Post called it "the film to beat" in the festival's competition. "What's remarkable here isn't Moore's political animosity or ticklish wit. It's the well-argued, heartfelt power of his persuasion," Thomson concludes. Jami Bernard of the New York Daily News confessed that she was "in tears" after watching the movie. "As annoying and outrageous as he can be, he has the guts and talent to tie together various aspects of the post-9/11 era in a way that makes you question many things," she wrote. Peter Bradshaw commented in Britain's Guardian newspaper: "It was strident, passionate, sometimes outrageously manipulative and often bafflingly selective in its material, but Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 was a barnstorming anti-war/anti-Bush polemic tossed like an incendiary device into the crowded Cannes festival." However, the Hollywood Reporter commented that the film offers "no debate, no analysis of facts or search for historical context. Moore simply wants to blame one man and his family for the mess we are now in." And Lou Lumenick in the New York Post described the film as an "incredibly superficial and misleading treatment. ... Far from [being] the political hot potato ... Fahrenheit 9/11 is more like a lot of hot air." "

I Love Gay Marriage!

I love it. I honestly do. Does anyone have anything to say about that? I say, if you're against gay marriage then there's only one sensible thing you can do. DON'T MARRY A HOMOSEXUAL!

Packin' on Campus

Hmmm, Alright...that last post didn't inspire any comments. This post should hit a little closer to home since its a big issue in Utah.

Compare the following:

"The U.[of Utah] has asked a federal judge to issue a summary judgment supporting the university's right to dictate gun policy on its campus...
The motion also contains affidavits from 15 supporters of the U.'s right to ban guns on campus — even those carried by persons with legal permits. Among the supporters is Merrill J. Bateman, president of Brigham Young University, which is owned by the LDS Church. The BYU support, which tacitly implies the support of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for gun-free campuses, is considered important by U. backers....
Bateman said in his affidavit that a no-guns policy instituted in 1986 on BYU's campuses has promoted a "safe campus almost completely free of incidents involving the use of firearms." He said he knows of no instance in which there was a need for any person to carry a weapon at the Y. for purposes of self-protection and that the policy has allowed the school to pursue the core goal of academic freedom."
-Deseret News, "Gun Debate at U. Resurfaces" June 28, 2002

------------------------

"[Republican] Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told Machen the university was in violation of state law by enforcing a total gun ban on U. premises....Pro-gun [Republican] legislators tried to pressure the U. to change by threatening to cut by 50 percent the administrative budgets of any state entity not in compliance with the state gun permit law. That law that allows permitted gun carriers to take their weapons anywhere except for a few very specific places such as airports."
-Deseret News, "Gun Debate at U. Resurfaces" June 28, 2002

Republican Candidate for Utah Gov. John Huntsman Jr.: Gun Rights -
"This right must be preserved. There are limited circumstances when the rights of gun owners must be balanced against the need for absolute security in such places as airports and courthouses." - Campaign Website

- Not in schools or churches huh?

So wait, the Utah Republicans' stance on this issue is not consistent with BYU and impliedly the Church's? Could it really be? (Do you think President Bateman, a general authority, could have issued that official statement without Church approval ? I highly doubt it)

First Post

-To start off this blog, I thought I'd post some thoughts expressed by one of my favorite leaders:

“We should, of course, respect the opinions of others, but we should also be unafraid to dissent – if we are informed. . . Only error fears freedom of expression. . . People should express their problems and opinions and be unafraid to think without fear of ill consequences. . . We should be dauntless in our pursuit of truth and resist all demands for unthinking conformity. . . Tolerance and truth demand that all be heard and that competing ideas be tested against each other so that the best, which might not always be our own, can prevail.”

- Elder Hugh B. Brown (LDS Apostle who also served in the First Presidency) (An Abundant Life: The Memoirs of Hugh B. Brown p.138)

What are your thoughts / interpretations ?