I wish I’d met you Lavoid

I like to read obituaries. I often read them in papers of towns I’m traveling in. Some are sad, describing life ended too early. And some inspire. Or make me smile.

As did today’s obituary of Lavoid Leavitt, a long time resident of St. George. I was struck by this paragraph:

In order to achieve the dream of a college education, Leavitt walked from Bunkerville, Nev., to St. George so he could attend Dixie College. While at Dixie he would participate in football and drama. It would be here that Leavitt would meet Harriett Anderson, his future wife, the two of them marrying in Reno, Nev., on June 14, 1942.

Sometimes we forget what folks still walking amidst us did to achieve what we take for granted now. 

Lavoid walked 50 miles to go to college.

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Color me impressed. I’m sure I’d have enjoyed meeting and talking with Lavoid. I’m sorry I never got the chance.

It’s time for some St. George residents to look in the mirror.

About every 2 to 3 years the Feds descend on St. George and bust somebody for fraud.  This week’s was a doozy… a claim of $275 million in fraudulent activity by one Jeremy Johnson and his companies.  Jeremy is well known in St. George, mainly for donation of his various aircraft to search and rescue efforts and flying humanitarian missions where they need to go.  If you believe the Federal claims, the gas for those missions of mercy may have been bought with defrauded money from hundreds of thousands of other people.

I’ve been suspicious of his businesses since I first heard of them, so these charges surprise me not.  On issues of guilt or innocence, I’ll let the courts decide.  But if you read Jeremy’s defense of his business, your concern will rise:

Johnson said the order forms for his products prominently detail terms and disclosures that show customers will be charged $59.95 monthly if they do not call to cancel within a seven- to 14-day trial period. He pointed to prominent companies such as American Express that feature similar offers where consumers who are offered a “free” product must cancel or they will be charged for other goods or services.

I think anybody who bases a business on fine print that takes monthly $60 fees that they can’t cancel easily is doing a bad thing.  The courts can decide if laws were broken. I’ll just say the business model was contemptible.

Now here is the rub…

the complaint says. Johnson and others (emphasis added) then created dozens of “shell” companies to accept credit card payments in order to avoid fines and detection, it says.

There are people running around this town, the “others” mentioned above, that helped Mr. Johnson in his schemes. I’m sure I know some of them. I just have to wonder how they feel about being part of such shoddy business practices and how they kept doing it so long.

A friend of mine just posted this view from the Bloomington side of town on Facebook:

I don’t live too far from where this picture was taken, in fact I walk it with the dogs many times a month, including just two days ago.  But a week of rain has cause the river to jump the banks, putting where I walk the dogs, and the trail I bike ride regularly under water. In other spots the river is now a few hundred yards wide.

There doesn’t seem to be any risk to houses, unlike in 2005. The at risk houses aren’t there any more.

Here is another Facebook friend’s view from the Green Valley side of town, this is the Santa Clara river, which caused most of the flood damage in 2005:

Here is the river by my house as it was 2 days ago while walking the dogs, up with recent rain, but not over the banks yet.

and here it is a few weeks back running up from its summer low, but well within its banks.

Today is primary day in Utah. I just voted for:

Senate: Mike Lee –  This was a “plug my nose” vote. Lee says the right things, but he is too young (making this a possible “Senator for Life” opportunity), a lawyer, and has been in political activities most of his adult life.  Alas, Tim Bridgewater strikes me as a man willing to compromise principal to get ahead. He supported No Child Left Behind and his company specialized in wasting government money.  If this is the best Utah can offer, well, it says more about Utah than maybe should be said.  Anyway, vote for Lee, he sucks less than Bridgewater.

Sheriff: Cory Pulsipher -  Here we have the opposite of the Senate race. Two fine candidates that have served with honor and distinction. Friends I like and trust support both of them. In the end I picked Pulsipher because friends of mine who are current and retired Deputies picked him.

School board… no vote. I foolishly didn’t study for these positions. I had no idea about any of them, so I didn’t cast a vote.

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”.

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.

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.

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!”.

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.

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.

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.