It turns out that the number one geographical location searching for “men kissing” is Utah. Interestingly, Utah also turns out to have the highest number of search requests for “kissing” alone.
The top searches coming from Utah since 2004 are:
I don’t know why Utah residents search for lyrics a lot. I suppose they like to kiss and sing. Who doesn’t? Interestingly, the list doesn’t change much going back the last 90 days only.
A 30 year storm for Vegas, probably that for us too.
Ken’s Pool. No swimming today kids!
Why hide the budget?
Apparently this year’s Washington County budget of $26.1 million is “frugal”:
The proposed 2009 budget has an increase of $67,300 over the 2008 budget and commission chairman James Eardley called it "frugal" at a meeting two weeks ago.
Salaries have been frozen for next year and many open positions will not be filled as the county looks at ways to make ends meet during these difficult economic times that are impacting residents, businesses and municipalities.
I believe Mr Eardley believes that. But how am I to tell? Well, I could spend a bunch of time confirming it:
Eardley said public input on the budget is welcome.
Copies of the proposed budget are available at the county office.
But Mr. Eardley, if you want my input so bad, why not put the darned budget online? This isn’t proposed FY 1979…. is 2009! Get it online!
Big Pensions Splash about to happen…
Richard Rider, of San Diego Tax Fighters, is VERY proud of his mayor:
But in the last 15 years I’ve never been more proud of a city politician than when Jerry said to the city council, “We don’t exist to fund employee pensions.”
Rider is pessimistic about San Diego doing anything about it because of the recent addition of “two more city labor union sycophants” to the San Diego City Council.
He favors contracting out most city functions.
I’m a bit worried about St. George ending up in this situation as well. The town seems to have an inordinately large # of employees (over 1000) for the size of our community.
Plus check out this jewel from the sgcity.org website:
Question
What benefits does the City offer its full-time employees?
Answer
The City provides full time employees with an excellent cafeteria benefits package including health, dental, vision, and flex spending accounts. In addition the City provides paid life insurance, AD&D, LTD, and an impressive retirement plan. Employees have the option of payroll deductions for 401 & 457K plans and direct deposit. All benefits are effective on the first day of employment. The city also provides 12 paid holidays plus 12 paid sick days per year.
That said, they seem to be doing some harder things like taking away Christmas bonuses and not hiring:
The assistant to the city manager Marc Mortenson says at the begining of the budget year the city decided to cut back every department about 10 percent.
Frugal… but that “impressive retirement plan” worries me…
H/T: Instapundit
It has to come from somewhere
Two “bold” energy moves by local government…
St. George, UT – my town – has invested millions in a solar generation facility. The electricity is generates costs more than natural gas facilities. In other words, dumb idea. They consider it “innovative” which I don’t understand since plenty of towns have used stupid projects like this to waste resident money – hardly “innovative”.
Roosevelt County, NM – I was pleasantly astounded when I read of a deal between BlackLight Power, a beyond the leading edge power generation company with technology physicists don’t think works, and Roosevelt County’s (New Mexico) electrical co-op. They intend to generate 250MWs and do it cheaper than any competing means.
Why can’t my town waste money in such leading edge style, I asked?
The brilliance of Roosevelt County’s approach that while the solar thing was a calculated loser from the start, the Backlight Power deal just might work. They are trying to succeed, not knowing they will fail but proceeding for publicity or “feel good” reasons.
I would love it if St. George would be on the front end of energy from Liquid Thorium reactors.
Dealt a tough hand
Are 400 people to be laid off from the Oasis Casio in Mesquite, NV? That is the unconfirmed report. What is confirmed is:
“We have decided as of this morning to curtail operations at the Oasis,” Randy Black, CEO of Black Gaming, told the Desert Valley Times Monday. “We’re going to cut back on some of the operations.
“The bottom line is that business is so bad, we have to save what we have.”
In tough times the optional expenses go first. Fancy dinners out, gambling, staying at hotels, high end golf courses, – and it would seem you are totally hosed if your business involves all four.
Our local fish wrap, the Spectrum, again says that changing from 3% to 5% unemployment is a “2% increase”:
Figures released Monday by the Department of Workforce Services revealed a 5 percent county-wide rate of unemployment in October, a 2 percent increase from the same month last year.
I suppose it is, but that isn’t how they are usually reported. The increase in unemployment is the difference (2) over the original rate (3) or 2/3 or 66%.
Also, I believe the report understates the issue. A lot of folks in the construction trade are “employed” still – as independent contractors, plumbers, electricians, but have no “work”, and thus no income. A lot of people are employed as real estate agents, but aren’t selling houses – no income. A lot of people used to sell big trucks to construction people … employed but less income. And so on.
I regularly question the math I see in newspapers. For instance, from this article on foreclosure rates in St. George… is this correct:
The rate of foreclosure in existing mortgage loans jumped to 1.6 percent in September, an increase of 1 percent from the same month in 2007, according to a First American CoreLogic report.
or is this correct:
The rate of foreclosure in existing mortgage loans jumped from .6 to 1.6 percent in September, an increase of 166 percent from the same month in 2007, according to a First American CoreLogic report.
Hint… a journalist wrote the first. I wrote the second.
BTW: the days of easy money are over for realtors:
“The days of quick, easy money are gone for realtors,” he said, “It is certainly the most challenging market in Washington County in at least 25 to 30 years”
Frankly…. That seems one plus of this ugly time.
How, exactly, am I supposed to obey this law (Utah Code 41-6a-804):
41-6a-804. Turning or changing lanes — Safety — Signals — Stopping or sudden decrease in speed — Signal flashing — Where prohibited.
(1) (a) A person may not turn a vehicle or move right or left on a roadway or change lanes until:
(i) the movement can be made with reasonable safety; and
(ii) an appropriate signal has been given as provided under this section.
(b) A signal of intention to turn right or left or to change lanes shall be given continuously for at least the last three seconds preceding the beginning of the movement.
(2) A person may not stop or suddenly decrease the speed of a vehicle without first giving an appropriate signal to the operator of any vehicle immediately to the rear when there is opportunity to give a signal.
(3) (a) A stop or turn signal when required shall be given either by the hand and arm or by signal lamps.
(b) If hand and arm signals are used, a person operating a vehicle shall give the required hand and arm signals from the left side of the vehicle as follows:
(i) Left turn: hand and arm extended horizontally;
(ii) Right turn: hand and arm extended upward; and
(iii) Stop or decrease speed: hand and arm extended downward.
(c) (i) A person operating a bicycle or device propelled by human power may give the required hand and arm signals for a right turn by extending the right hand and arm horizontally to the right.
(ii) This Subsection (3)(c) is an exception to the provision of Subsection (3)(b)(ii).
(4) A person required to make a signal under this section may not flash a signal:
(a) on one side only on a disabled vehicle;
(b) as a courtesy or "do pass" to operators of other vehicles approaching from the rear; or
(c) on one side only of a parked vehicle.Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 2, 2005 General Session
I can basically obey it, but odds are I broke it in some detail yesterday and probably will again. Most likely be not waiting 3 full seconds after signaling before changing lanes.
The trouble is that this is an open invitation to abuse by police. This is an excuse to “stop and search” law. It has some public safety merit but its real use is for police to have a reason to search you.
I looked it up because this sap was taken in by it:
It turns out he had some issue with his license and shouldn’t be driving. He is now in jail. But how many people do the SG Police pull over and bug to get this one hit?
Not me. I haven’t been pulled over, but I see it all the time. I suppose if I keep writing stuff like this they may take a look at my driving a bit closer. After all, it just takes a 2 second delay after signaling instead of 3 and I’m ripe for pulling over.
P.S. That cop who was behind me yesterday… he didn’t signal at all before switching lanes to turn left off the road I was traveling on.
What do you feel when a police car pulls in behind you on the highway or street:
This morning a St. George police car pulled in behind me after I dropped the kids off at school. He was just driving somewhere. I was driving to work.
My thoughts were not “oh, look, an awesome public servant”. Or “gosh, they do a hard job and I appreciate it”. Nope…. I thought “what kind of penty anty bs is he looking at my truck for?”.
It isn’t so much “police” as the St. George police specifically that inspires my admittedly dim view. I was up in Salt Lake City this weekend and didn’t feel that way when I saw a cop. My brother is a cop and neither he or his department hunt around for ways to bother average citizens. It’s just that SGPD seems overly interested in driver’s money. So when I see one on the road, I just think they are out for a public payday not to do any public good.
I wish I felt different, but their actions send the message and I’ve definitely received it.
They will say their penty anty traffic stops are for the public good, but that seems dubious to me. Most traffic safety problems are caused by drunks and reckless. Fine, pull them over. Hint… they are usually out after midnight, not at 8AM trying to get to work.
Highwaymen of old made travel expensive. Modern day variants patrol on behalf of local governments.
Actual projection of
How Vegas will look
if Trend Continues for 80 years.
Vegas lost 10,000 people since July 2007. The last drop occurred in the 1920’s after the mining industry tanked there:
The decline came after 10 straight years of population increases averaging more than 60,000 and after Clark County officials boasted last fall that the county’s population had surpassed 2 million.
The decline came after 10 straight years of population increases averaging more than 60,000 and after Clark County officials boasted last fall that the county’s population had surpassed 2 million.
Industry’s built on growth suffer:
Experts said the biggest culprit for any drop in population is the loss of about 10,000 construction jobs in the past year. Casinos have also been trimming jobs. The jobless rate rose to 7.3 percent in September.
I think St. George is seeing some similar effects.
Wow… didn’t see this coming. Famous Dave’s closed Sunday morning – surprising employees who arrived to start their shift:
"I came in to work and everything was getting packed up and moved around," said Dan Boyd, a former server at the restaurant. "Nobody knew what was going on. They could have at least told us."
Boyd, a 24-year-old Washington City resident, said none of the employees were notified of the closing, including those working the late shift Saturday, the night before the moving trailers arrived.
The area director for Famous Dave’s said that “there was not enough business in town for us”.
My son and I ate there frequently, most recently Thu evening. It had never been “busy” except when it first opened. When we arrived Thu evening we both recalled why we usually ate there for lunch – dinner for $15 seems high for barbecue.
Thank goodness Samurai 21 seems to be thriving.
Don’t promote Judge Hilder
Just sent this letter to these members of the Utah Senate Judicial Committee:
Sen. Greg Bell, chair gbell@utahsenate.org Sen. Chris Buttars dcbuttars@utahsenate.org Sen. Mike Dmitrich mdmitrich@utahsenate.org Sen. Lyle Hillyard lhillyard@utahsenate.org Sen. Mike Waddoups waddoups@utahsenate.org
Dear Senators,I’m writing to ask each of you to oppose the elevation of Robert Hilder to the Utah Court of Appeals.
Based on Hilder’s actions in the University of Utah ban of guns on campus case, it seems he doesn’t support Utahan’s right to defend themselves with firearms. He has also prohibited, in violation of state law, firearms lockers in courts.
Finally, I was very displeased to read about Judge Hilder’s performance in the case of Natalie Turner’s custody and divorce hearings.
You have plenty of other options. Don’t let a judge who makes these kinds of mistakes make them at a higher judicial level.
Regards,
Ken Nelson
St. George, UT
Megan MCardle wonders about traffic tickets as fund raisers for government during a recession:
Cracking down on trivial violations invades the safety zone that allows us to rub along without too much disrespect for the law.
So that got me wondering about my little slice of heaven… St. George, UT.
Citations given by the St. George Police Department:
May 1235
June 1201
July 1168
Aug 1163
So they range by 5%.
Problem… the population of our area during this period drops by about about a 1/3. You see it on the streets – less traffic, restaurants aren’t crowded, left turns are easy.
YET somehow… tickets remain about the same.
A cynic might suspect tickets are issued to fund the city not for public safety.
Remember…. I’m libertarian, but I hope to take over the Republican party like the Socialists took over the Democrats. Where only a Republican is running, I vote Libertarian or write in myself.
Ballot is here.
President – John McCain
US House of Rep – Bill Dew
Governor - Write in Ken Nelson. I don’t like Huntsman and the Libertarian is a kook.
Treasurer - Richard Ellis
Auditor – Auston Johnson III
Attorney General - Mark Shurtleff (reluctantly, he is soft on polygamy)
State Senate Dist 29 – Steve Urquhart (reluctantly, he is soft on immigration)
State House District 71 – Brad Last (I know his opponent Colt Smith. Nice young man, but… sorry socialist)
State House District 73 – Mike Noel
State House District 74 – David Clark (reluctantly – soft on immigration)
State House District 75 – Don Ipson
County Commission Seat C – Alan Gardner (reluctantly, old boy network, but Lin Alder doesn’t meet my test)
Judges – Vote NO on all judges. Because they coddle criminals doggone it.
School Board – write in Ken Nelson. Poorly run school district. Spending out of control. Too much administration. I’d stop that!
Amendment A – Yes.
Amendment B - Yes
Amendment C - No (shorter session if No, less time to get crazy)
Amendment D – Yes
Amendment E - No. I don’t trust these investments to not be politically driven.