Opinion - The Salt Lake Tribune

Paul Rolly: Will Mia Love learn from past errors?

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:33:22 MDT

Paul Rolly: Will Mia Love learn from past errors?

by Paul Rolly The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 18, 2013 06:33PM MDT

Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love’s announcement at the Republican State Convention Saturday that she once again will run for Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson’s 4th Congressional District seat spelled deja vu in more ways than one. The obvious back-to-the-future story is that Love was the Republican foe of Matheson in 2012, vanquishing several Republican opponents in the GOP state convention only to lose by fewer than 1,000 votes. But another ghost from the past is Casey Voeks, the recently el...

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Bagley caption contest: In your own words

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:19:01 MDT

Bagley caption contest: In your own words

the Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 18, 2013 05:19PM MDT

Submit a caption to go with this cartoon drawn by Tribune political cartoonist Pat Bagley. Contest rules: To enter, submit your caption by e-mail to caption@sltrib.com, by FAX to 801-257-8525, or by postcard addressed to: Tribune Caption Contest, Suite 700, 90 South 400 West, Salt Lake City, UT, 84101. All submissions must include the caption writer’s name, home address and daytime telephone number. Entries must be received by midnight of the Tuesday following the Sunday on which a new captionle...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Drinking drivers

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:09 MDT

Drinking drivers

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Despite an avowed aversion to anything coming from the federal government, Utah legislators seemed eager this past week to consider adopting the National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendation that states reduce their drunk-driving blood-alcohol thresholds. Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, who is the Utah Legislature’s leader in setting state liquor policy, said he and his colleagues will closely consider the NTSB’s support for prohibiting driving with a blood-alcohol concentration above 0.05...

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Short takes on the news

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:09 MDT

Short takes on the news

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

The real world • The latest boogeyman striking fear and loathing in the hearts of Utah conservative Republicans is the Common Core educational standards. According to news reports, they were planning to consider a resolution at today’s party convention to oppose using the standards in Utah public schools. This is ridiculous. Utah’s education officials, along with those in most other states, adopted the standards in 2010 in a reasonable and good-faith effort to better prepare students for college...

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Ho-hum hero

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:08 MDT

Ho-hum hero

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Richard Nixon had his silent majority; Tim DeChristopher has his vocal minority. It seems that everywhere I go I hear people say that DeChristopher is a hero for gumming up President George W. Bush’s ecologically questionable oil and gas leases with phony bids and then going to prison for it. Having done his time for his heroic lawbreaking, DeChristopher is now doing victory laps on all the media, including being canonized by Doug Fabrizio on KUER’s “RadioWest.” So with all the seemingly widesp...

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No tax exemptions

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:08 MDT

No tax exemptions

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

I have a solution for the possibly illegal and politically targeted scrutiny applied by the IRS to tax-exempt organizations. Remove tax exemption status from all organizations. If an organization operates in the United States, enjoying all the benefits of being in this country, then it should participate in funding the country. This approach would solve the current issue with the IRS, and it would allow churches like the Catholics and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to spout of...

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Medicaid nonsense

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:08 MDT

Medicaid nonsense

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

M. Royce Van Tassell’s op-ed, “Medicaid access doesn’t improve health” (Opinion, May 12), makes no sense at all. If that title were the case, why does anyone need insurance, including Van Tassell? He cites studies that say people without health insurance don’t have worse health than those who do. Does a person who has diabetes and doesn’t know it have the same health as a person with insurance who goes to the doctor, discovers the diabetes and sets up a treatment plan? I am 80 years old and hav...

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Get it over with

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:08 MDT

Get it over with

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

With the recent cascade of states legalizing same-sex marriage, Edward Cannon thinks we’re approaching a “tipping point when the … country must allow all adult Americans to marry whom they love” (“Gay marriage approval,” Forum, May 15). Wishful thinking. That speeding train of states will soon hit a procedural wall — the constitutions of 31 states ban same-sex marriages. Of the other 19 states, 12 now allow gay marriage, and not all of the other seven are likely candidates (think West Virginia)....

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Lobbyists have a place

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:08 MDT

Lobbyists have a place

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

When in session, our state legislators are very busy. They cannot know all facts and solutions. They can and should rely on ethical lobbyists for research and proposals on complex issues. It is helpful to be knowledgeable. Good lobbyists provide that function, along with staff. Face time is important. Given our representatives’ limited time, let’s let them have a free lunch or dinner or ball game with lobbyists and others to present their points of view. When we elect our legislators, we assum...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Short takes on the news

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:07 MDT

Short takes on the news

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Looking forward • The Utah Transit Authority’s decision to spend more than $2 million of taxpayer money on parking garages near the Jordan Valley TRAX station seems like a waste of money, since only a handful of the 1,200 stalls are occupied on a normal day. UTA officials say the agency built the structures at a cost of $15.5 million — of which the federal government paid $9.3 million and developers will pick up another $3.9 million — with an eye toward parking needs in 2030. In the meantime, la...

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Drop that phone and drive

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:07 MDT

Drop that phone and drive

by Rolayne Fairclough

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

By Rolayne Fairclough As I write this, three girls are in hospitals with serious injuries. They were hit on their way home from school by a driver who was sending a text message. The sad irony here is that this week also marked the date when Utah’s new teen driver cell phone ban went into effect. We know from the Utah Department of Public Safety’s “2010 Utah Crash Summary” that inexperienced teen drivers made up 8 percent of Utah’s licensed drivers in 2010, and yet they were involved in 21 p...

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SLCC’s role in small business

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:07 MDT

SLCC’s role in small business

by Cynthia A. Bioteau

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Small business is big business in Utah. Our state is home to more than 58,000 small employers with 500 employees or fewer. Salt Lake Community College, the governor’s office and regional business-service providers are working together through the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses initiative to bolster Utah’s economy and provide business resources for the creation, growth and recruitment of companies to Utah. Gov. Gary Herbert has taken on the tremendous task of creating 100,000 jobs in 1,00...

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Ruining 1100 East

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:07 MDT

Ruining 1100 East

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Many times I have thought about writing to the Public Forum. “City Council: Sugar House Streetcar will run on 1100 East” (Tribune, May 8) finally pushed me to write. I live in Midvale and commute to the Avenues. After a particularly difficult day at work, I find myself heading toward 1100 East on my drive home. It is out of my way, and not the quickest route, but it is a peaceful drive. I love the atmosphere of 1100 East in Sugar House. There are so many cute, interesting little shops whose ow...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Room for more

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:07 MDT

Room for more

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

“Looking for the light in an imperfect world” (Opinion, May 7) by Tamara Bailie was a wonderful, uplifting guest column. It was like a ray of sunshine. I hope The Tribune makes room for more articles like this. Maurine Forman West Jordan

Sidewalk poseurs

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:07 MDT

Sidewalk poseurs

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

The author of “Signs of the times” (Forum, May 12) wrote with all good intentions and compassion for people who hold cardboard signs on the corners of streets around town. The problems is, many of these people make more money in one day that you or I who work for a living make in a week. I have talked to some people who have bragged to me that they make between $300 and $400 a day! If you do the math, that’s around $2,000 a week — tax free! The messages on the pieces of cardboard are designed t...

Hot and getting hotter

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:06 MDT

Hot and getting hotter

by Mark Reynolds

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

In the rarefied air of Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, 11,141 feet above sea level, scientists have charted the passing of a milestone that, if ignored, heralds a future for civilization both tragic and chaotic. I’m referring to the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which Charles David Keeling began monitoring in 1958. At that time, CO2 concentration was 313 parts per million. We are now at 400 ppm and that is not good news. Why is this number so important? For hundreds of thou...

Business avarice

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:06 MDT

Business avarice

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

If, as some say, a war is being waged against the American working class (evidenced by political union-busting and businesses outsourcing American jobs to countries such as China, India and, ironically, Mexico), then the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” immigration reform proposal seems a serious escalation (”Hatch warns of tech industry clout in immigration debate,” Tribune, May 13). Apparently, giving legal status/residency to illegal immigrants is imperative because they fill jobs Americans won’t do....

Born and unborn

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:06 MDT

Born and unborn

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

It is good to see that The Trib is informing us (at last) about Dr. Hermit Gosnell, who was just convicted (and sentenced) for murdering three newborn babies along with a host of other crimes against women and newborn and unborn babies (“Convicted Philadelphia abortion doctor gets life in prison,” Tribune, May 15). One of the issues that seems to evade those who favor abortion is the dilemma about the difference between killing a baby who is not yet born and one who is just born. On the legal si...

Capitol entrance exam

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:06 MDT

Capitol entrance exam

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

We need to make wholesale changes in the way we select members of Congress. Our representative republic deserves the best people. First, assure they are well-qualified and not just filing a statement of intent to run. A minimum score on an entrance exam is in order. Candidates should be well-versed in wide variety of subjects — law, economics, statistics, political science, public management, philosophy, history, etc. Second, pay them more. To recruit the best and brightest, the current $174,0...

Swallow exit

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:06 MDT

Swallow exit

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Re “Special counsel will investigate John Swallow’s financial arrangements” (Tribune, May 11): How many probes and investigations does it take for Utah Attorney General John Swallow to finally step down from office? Maybe the question is, how many days does he have left before his lifetime insurance and pension kicks in? Whatever it is, the people of this state deserves better people in office to represent them. Lloyd J. Cummings Draper