Ken Nelson

I’ve been involved in the machinations of politics intermittently in my life, with varying degrees of distaste.  I do feel that these days, something is different, and bad enough that I should plug my nose and dig in. So I am.

I researched the candidates and talked or e-mailed with them or their supporters, and have come to a decision…. I support Cherilyn Eagar to replace Bob Bennett in the U.S. Senate.

Further more, in the spirit of digging in, as of last night I’m officially a volunteer for her campaign, and as of late last night, I’m the newly promoted District Captain for Washington County District 71.  This means I’m supposed to organize caucus efforts in Washington County east of I-15.  Wish me luck… and if you know me, I may be bugging you in the near future….

Now, why Ms. Eagar…. as opposed to Bob Bennett (incumbent), Tim Bridgewater, or Mike Lee?

I’m supposed to start with positives, but I prefer to be honest.  First off… there was no way I was going to support Bob Bennett for anything other than early retirement or recall. He was NEVER an option.

And to the rest of the candidates… well, we have an embarrassment of riches here. All three are terrific. But… you have to choose.  I had four priorities:

• fiscal conservative – all, except Bennett, fit the bill. Eager has promised no earmarks or pork. So she is strongest in that area.
• social conservative – all fit the bill mostly, Eagar was strongest here. Her Eagle Forum endorsement and involvement prove it.
• risk of going native — Bennett has already gone native. I felt Lee is close to that even before being in office because of his role as lobbyist for corporations here in Utah.  It came down to Cherilyn committing to a personal term limit. If you aren’t there, you can’t go native. Problem solved.
• avoid careerists… Bennett and Lee are clearly political careerists. Bridgewater… I get the sense he would be if he could just win an election somewhere.  Eagar, definitely, not. She has been an activist for issues I agree with.

So I’m off… embarking on a political career that, if things work out,  will end in success in March 2010. 

If you live in Utah and want to know how to help Cherilyn at the March caucus, just e-mail me.  And if you live in Washington County, especially east of I-15… , I definitely want to talk to you (-:

Caveat:  I intend to blog as normal, with possibly politically incorrect positions on major issues of the day.  Or even a few typos…   In no way are my positions Cherilyn’s unless I specifically say so.

The mayor of Salt Lake City wants to permit more bars. He says the move will attract more businesses.  Naturally, the predominant religion comprised of non-drinkers is blamed for wanting to force their views on everybody.  But I don’t think that is the case.  Not wanting bars seems a good idea, no matter your religion.

I’m not a teetotaler, but it seems to me the costs outweigh the benefits.

Here in St. George, we have one bar, aptly named “The One & Only”. I’ve been there once, to see my guitar teacher’s band play. I left after 2 sets, 3 expensive diet cokes, and my smoke filled clothes sat in the backyard for a week so as to not stink up my closet.   And when I left, I saw plenty of intoxicated people leave in their cars too.

One evening, three years ago, a drunk woman left The One & Only, got on I-15 Southbound, HEADING NORTH. She killed two friends of mine in a head on collision, leaving two children orphans.

So from my perspective, the tax revenue from The One & Only is small and unworthy compensation for the risk its patrons present.

I’d gladly pay off the owner to shut down. That would be tax money well spent.

Until then, every time I come home late, I wonder, is some One & Only drunk going to weave into my path?

I guess I’d prefer a bar named “Closed”.

 
And that is how my strategy of saying one thing and doing another has fooled an entire state for years.

I’ve had it with Jim Matheson… our nitwit Congressman for Southern Utah.  He just sent me an e-mail:

Now is the time to come up with a plan to significantly reduce the national debt. It is morally bankrupt and fiscally disastrous to keep piling up the bills on future generations.  Today, that debt stands at more than $11.9 trillion.

Gosh Jim… where were you $3 trillion ago. You’ve voted for all this crap (stimulus, cash for clunkers, so forth) and now that you are scared you might have to go ask Mom for another job that you want to do what Utahans wanted you to do years ago?

Jim – just do us a favor and resign. It will save us the trouble of booting your ass to the street next year.

Jim Matheson – chameleon exposed.

Scared for his political life, Jim Matheson voted against the stupid $155 billion “stimulus 2” bill yesterday.

But let me explain how this works…. Democrats have a majority. They did not need 30 or so votes, so they give passes to Democrats in districts that Bush or McCain carried. 

Matheson would have been their if they needed him, as he has before on close votes.

He is dangerous to have in Congress because he cannot be relied on to vote conservatively.   No matter what he does going forward, how can he make up for the trillions he voted for in the last year?  He can’t.  When they need him, he was there, and that shows you where he really stands (and it isn’t with Utah or the nation).

Plus… I don’t like him. I don’t like people that hide their true colors. I’ve had enough with this fractional truth kind of politics that folks like Matheson give us.

Via Instapundit:

http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/88474/

We (Tea Party and 912ers) decided it was time to put down our protest signs and start to organize for the convention. Notice there are no signs in the pictures. This was strictly business. We got all our email lists together and put out a call to action for a Tea Party/912 event to train people how to become delegates. During the event, I asked how many people were currently delegates…no more than 8-10 people raised their hands. There were all NEW people to the political process.

My only concern is that, to the best of my knowledge, our Southern Utah Tea Party was not involved, nor did I receive any notice of this.  Not good…

The Spectrum (our local fish wrap) covers the challenges faced by St. George area unemployed:

While attending an employment workshop offered by the Department of Workforce Services on Aug. 4, Chesley said she has applied for more than 25 positions at various companies in Washington County in recent weeks, but she has not received a single request for a job interview.

"There is nothing out there," she said of the region’s job market.

The article describes how competitive job hunts are now, with many more applicants than positions.  And it covers how our local government tries to help them compete better:

"It was eye-opening," she said of the workshop’s interviewing session, as participants are videotaped during a mock job interview to highlight their flaws and strengths. "I definitely gained a lot of knowledge."

Sullivan said she encourages other unemployed residents to take advantage of the free workshops.

Tough times highlight how the easy path doesn’t always turn out to be the best path. In Computer Science we call that approach the “greedy algorithm”. The “greedy algorithm” looks just one move ahead and makes the best move in that context, not considering any future moves.

So, yes, 5 years ago, skipping college and going straight into framing, or stucco, or waiting tables seemed a decent move. $80K a year, no college needed. But it doesn’t seem so bright now….

Your life is far longer and shorter than you think. Time and effort spent preparing yourself to have OPTIONS yields dividends your whole life through.

BTW: as an employer… faking me out with clever interview techniques not backed by real long term skills does you little long term good. I’ll find out soon enough and your job and/or your pay will reflect it.   You are given a gift in America – the gift of education and opportunity. How painful it is to see how many waste the offering.

Apparently our Washington County School Board doesn’t like charter schools.

Not because they are teach poorly. But because they compete, strongly, for educational funding:

"Either they’re (charter schools) going to get rolled back underneath the school district or we’re going to give up a whole bunch of property tax to the charter schools, there’s no way around it," Bills said.

And we if we spend money we have to have control (not the parents):

Bills said the issue is charter schools have their own community councils with the right to hire and fire teachers.

The entire article, except for a bone at the end, is about “them” and their bureaucratic problems. It is hard to plan because they don’t know where kids will be going. They don’t want to spend money and not have control over the teachers. Blah blah blah.

I can think of a million ways to make life simpler for bureaucrats. Starting with having less bureaucrats.

Utah schools spend the least per student in the country. Some look at that and say “we need to raise it”. And it has, spending has grown $1,200/student per year since 2006.  I look at our low per pupil spending and say, “nice – we are efficient, can we be more efficient?”.  How about this chart:

This seems relatively lean. I’m sure there is waste – for instance I think our schools have WAY too many administrators. 5 vice principals and an athletic director seems excessive to me for a 4A school, for instance.   And while our teachers are paid relatively low compared to other states, I betcha we could keep that lower and still retain a happy work force if we made the work satisfying and less of a hassle.

In other words, I don’t look to states like New York, or California for governance or educational advice. They’ve thrown money at education for decades and their student performance has not improved. And the lavish period has now setup a time where they are about to make dramatic cuts that are politically based to protect the unions, not the kids.

We are doing fine keeping it cheap. I say “keep at it!”.

Pappy O’Daniels would see a kindred spirit in Mark Shurtleff

Senator Robert Bennett is weak and politically bleeding. Another political shark notices and moves in for the kill. My guess is that Mark Shurtleff has been aiming for this day for a decade or more.

But.. he won’t get my support or money.

Not just because he supports illegal immigration. Not just because he supports gay marriage. And not just because he was slow to investigate minors marrying in Utah’s polygamist communities.

I’ll not support him because he, Bob Bennett & Orrin Hatch are birds of a feather. Political narcissists, sharks, angling for personal gain paid for by our resources.

He said “we need new blood” at his announcement today, and that is true. But a new person doesn’t mean new “blood”, if the blood is that of the same old career politician that has done our state and nation such disservice.

What we need is somebody who cares about Utah and this Country, not their next career stop.

My suggestion…. if  you think the person has been thinking about the political office for decades… run away… fast.

 
Please go away

He hasn’t done anything in particular today to irritate me. But that is probably because I haven’t checked.

This did come in by e-mail from my brother:

In his first run for public office Hatch considered himself to be senatorial material. Although he was originally a Pennsylvanian, Utah voters agreed. Hatch ran against incumbent Frank Moss on a major campaign theme that Moss had been in office too long, thus losing touch with constituents.

Moss had been in office 18 years.

That was in 1976.

So Hatch has been in office now 33 years.

33 years he’s blessed Utah and the nation with his idiotic hypocrisy. Please go away.

And that ladies and gentleman is how you deceive an entire state

Jim Matheson, you may have a good Utah name, go to the right church, and use a Mac in your TV ads, but you DO NOT REPRESENT UTAH values.  Not anywhere close.

Confiscatory retro-active taxes on a specific minority is not a Utah value. Neither is forcing companies to violate written contracts. Neither is lying to constituents.

You should be ashamed of yourself you bald faced liar.

Jim, you should ask yourself, would I vote for something entitled:

To impose an additional tax on bonuses received from certain ministers of minority faiths?

But you won’t ask yourself that because you are a liar – to us and yourself.  Please have a nasty fall tonight. You’ve earned it.

P.S. Kudos to Rob Bishop & Jason Chaffetz, two Utahans that take our values to Washington, DC.

Arrested yesterday. In addition to this kook.

Aryan Nation tattoos – in St. George? Make it stop!

Water covers almost 12% of St. George… mortgages that is.  This compares to an overall national rate of 20%. The worst is Las Vegas where over 50% of the mortgages are under water (ouch).

I don’t have the data to back this up, but I’d guess that this represents almost anybody that bought a house in the last 2-3 years in St. George and financed it with less than 20% down.

The number of people ruing their timing with 20% or more down must be high as well. After all, it hurts _even_ more to lose your own money rather than the banks.

And in summary, that is how you fool an entire state 

So Jim Matheson votes for a 1.3 trillion dollar boondoggle called “stimulus” but that is really just Democratic party constituency servicing with other’s cash.

Now trying to get back the mantle of “fiscal conservative” he bitches about “31 billion” dollars in the new budget.

Matheson, you are a day late and a trillion+ dollars short man!   You may have the right last name, be of the right faith, and use a Mac in your TV ads, but we are onto to you bub…

Sayonara!

New at the Promenade is the “Indian Kabob Curry”. It lies between Samurai 21 and Durango’s.

They only had a $7.99 buffet available today, because their menus haven’t come back from the printer yet.  The buffet was pretty good – rice, chicken curry, lamb vindaloo, lentil, nan, and veggie pakora.

Tasty and good. A welcome addition to my tummy and St. George.

BTW: I love the spunk of these Indian immigrant owners. Lacking menus, they improvise a tasty buffet.  Knowing many Utahans are completely unfamiliar with Indian food, they explain what is in it, what it is like and even which yogurt sauce goes best with which dish. 

And what a horrible time to open a business, but they do it and the place was packed. 

Kudos – and I’ll be back.

As part of the celebration of Montessori Education Week (Mar 9-12), the Dayspring Montessori school in St. George is hosting:

•   daily open houses during school hours.
    Mon – Thu.
• 9 March – 6 to 8PM: Family Appreciation Night
• 10 March – 6:30 – 8PM: Elementary Information Night
• 11 March – 6:30 – 8PM : Early Childhood Schooling Information
• 12 March – 6:PM – whenever:  Health lunch and snacks for kids

Childcare provided for all evening events.

Contact Dayspring for more info (info@dayspringmotessori.com) or 652-9200

P.S. My kids attend  Dayspring. I heartily recommend it.