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Favorites
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July 4, Give or Take a Day (07/5/08)
Obviously, Independence Day has a lot to do with freedom. But what does it have to do with bungee jumping? [more]
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Real Men Don't Smell Like Strawberries (06/7/08)
A case study in the free market's shampoo aisles. [more]
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Playing Politics with Economics -- as in Food Prices (05/30/08)
This happens, and food gets more expensive. That happens, and food gets more expensive. The other things happens, and everything gets more expensive. It's all quite predictable, if you understand the difference between politics and economics. [more]
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Last Week an Angry Liberal, This Week a Right-wing Nut Job (04/11/08)
This didn't turn out exactly as I planned. My original strategy proved to be too much like carpet-bombing some of my neighbors and relatives, so I shelved it. Something more surgical is indicated. [more]
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This Morning I Tried to Be a Liberal (04/4/08)
. . . Not just any liberal, you understand, and not a thinking liberal like some of my friends, but a liberal like Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and, yes, Barack Obama. [more]
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What's in a Word? (03/19/08)
When things continue at approximately the same speed, we're told that things "basically ground to a halt" -- if those things are economic. And the words "qualified, certified, and competent" can be used to resist improvement and reform, when the subject is education. [more]
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Obama and the Flag: What's Not in a Symbol (02/26/08)
If you want to convince me that Barack Obama isn't sufficiently loyal to his country, you'll have to do better than to tell me he doesn't wear an American flag on his lapel. [more]
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American Fork City's Next Two Years (02/25/08)
There's a particular sort of progress we need to see in our City government. [more]
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Almost a Dozen Reasons Honest and Intelligent People May Have for Voting Against Vouchers (11/5/07)
On the day before Election Day I, who already voted for vouchers, do my best to find some reasons why good, honorable, intelligent people might want to vote against them -- as opposed to the false or deceptive reasons filling the mailboxes and airwaves of Utah. [more]
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Vouchers and the Public Schools (10/4/07)
Here is the best explanation I can give of what may seem a contradictory fact: It is my commitment to and my belief in public schools which moves me to advocate school vouchers. [more]
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Buying a Used Car: A School Voucher Parable (10/3/07)
It's a bird. It's a plane. Good grief, it's positively Orwellian. [more]
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Guarantees? (08/17/07)
Did Governor Huntsman mean it? Has he thought this through? Or did exhaustion and emotion just get ahead of his reason for a minute? Admittedly, the duress was considerable. [more]
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The Battle of 9600 West (08/15/07)
Somehow I manage to incorporate chemical warfare, invasion, trade sanctions, and passive resistance into a discussion about widening a street in Highland. (I'm having fun. Are you?) [more]
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Voldemort and Global Warming (08/9/07)
On the uncanny resemblance of He-Who-Must-not-Be-Named and That-Which-Must-not-Be-Questioned. [more]
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Moscow: July 4, 1987 (07/4/07)
Twenty years ago, rather by surprise, I celebrated American independence with a bunch of -- gasp! -- Soviet Communists. [more]
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Random Smokin' Thoughts (05/12/07)
First, I have to say positive things about the Utah Jazz, because 'tis the season. Then I present my two-part plan for a kinder, gentler, less littered society. Preview: It's a pair of truces. [more]
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A Little, Concrete Test of American Fork's Commitment to the Rule of Law (05/10/07)
The concrete is actual concrete. The law is an ordinance passed by the American Fork City Council. And in a small city that has been committed only selectively to the rule of law over the years, the rule of law seems now to have a fighting chance. [more]
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We Can't Prevent Another Virginia Tech Massacre by Passing a Law (04/24/07)
32 dead -- 33, if you count the shooter. 29 wounded. Labels and accusations and proposed legislation are swirling everywhere in response. There is nothing in that maelstrom that will bring back the dead. There is nothing in it that will prevent this from ever happening again, either. [more]
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Dorothy, This Ain't Panguitch Any More (Revised) (04/4/07)
J C Penney wants to come to the Meadows in American Fork, along with some mixed-used development. This happy news prompts some more general thoughts about attitudes on the Wasatch Front. [more]
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I Ran Away to Chicago -- in February! (02/27/07)
I'd do it again, too. Art, pizza, Russian bookstores, a Chicago hot dog . . . And a flight delay led to an excellent lunch in Houston. (Note: This is not about politics. Not everything is, you know.) [more]
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Infinite Shades of Grey (02/13/07)
Some of our horror at the bad things which happen in "good" places, such as Salt Lake City, is rooted in our preference for black-and-white categories, instead of infinite shades of gray. That preference is actually dangerous. [more]
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A Utah Institute of Technology? Why Not? (02/9/07)
The best idea I've heard lately is a little-discussed proposed direction for UVSC's future growth: a polytechnic university. (Think MIT, Cal Tech, Georgia Tech, etc.) [more]
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David's Plan for Utah's $1.6 Billion Surplus (02/6/07)
There's something for everyone. One-fourth goes back to the taxpayer, and half goes to education, but not precisely how you might think. [more]
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Traffic School (01/24/07)
Will Traffic School Guy be coming soon to a comedy club near you? He almost could. Here is the latest chapter in the continuing saga of my life as an alleged scofflaw. [more]
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Some Sample Limericks (01/19/07)
I couldn't resist -- I didn't really try -- and I am quite unapologetic. [more]
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Two or Three Recent Encounters with Local Government (01/17/07)
Water, water . . . well, not exactly everywhere. Hot chocolate is also mentioned. And then there's my recent life on the other side of the law in the People's Republic of Rockyland. [more]
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The Other Wise Man (12/21/06)
Contemporary American chamber opera, professional wrestling, beauty, and power meet in my review of The Other Wise Man. (The production itself has all but one of these. Guess which.) [more]
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Re(nick)naming the Delta Center (11/22/06)
I decided to be a slave to fashion and tell you what I think about what we used to know as the Delta Center. In the process, I identify the best nickname I've heard from someone else and offer my own suggestion for a nickname, too. [more]
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Signs of the Times (10/16/06)
Here are photos of some signs I saw in southern Utah this weekend. I'm still laughing. You should, too. [more]
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Twinkies, Anyone? (10/13/06)
I never buy Twinkies. I don't like them. But I did today -- as a political statement. [more]
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Last Night's City Council Meeting as Civic Education (10/11/06)
A school teacher berated the Mayor and City Council of American Fork last night for teaching his students bad things. Here's my view of what his students might have learned at the City Council's meeting, including some lessons that very teacher should not have been teaching. [more]
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It's That Time of the Century (09/21/06)
In today's offering you see parts of my personality you might have hoped never to see together: the math geek and the literary scholar, in a bizarre dance with the more familiar political blogger. I prefer to call this erudition, but I'll understand if you consider it some sort of bothersome multiple personality disorder. In any case, read on, and good luck . . . [more]
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I Joined the Math Wars (09/18/06)
Here's the text of a letter I sent last week to the principal and teachers at my children's elementary school. [more]
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Is It Fair that All Taxpayers Pay for Everything? (08/4/06)
Sometimes a good test of a principle is to attempt to follow it where it leads. [more]
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Happy Blogiversary to Me (07/27/06)
No one else asked to, so I interview myself in honor of the occasion. [more]
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Israel and Its Enemies: The View from My Own 'Religion of Peace' (07/14/06)
How many attacks must Israel absorb before fighting back? Here's my scriptural view. [more]
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About that Closed Republican Primary (06/27/06)
Is it good or bad that you have to be a Republican to vote in a Republican primary in Utah? [more]
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How Many David Rodebacks Are Too Many? (05/30/06)
Meet David Rodeback the Older, David Rodeback the Deadbeat, and David Rodeback the Halfwit Moral Cripple. None of them is me, I think. [more]
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How Illegal Are They, Anyway? (05/17/06)
I see legal immigration as a national blessing, perhaps even a moral obligation. I'm not isolationist or xenophobic at all, as far as I can tell. And now that we've established that, let's talk about illegal immigration, because I'm not entirely sure there still is such a thing. [more]
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Broadband's Impact on American Fork's Economy and Quality of Life (05/2/06)
Here is a list of activities which broadband Internet access enhances or enables. All have economic implications; most also affect the quality of life. [more]
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Broadband's Economic Impact: Public vs. Private (04/28/06)
In comparisons between municipal broadband systems and private industry's broadband offerings, measuring their respective economic impacts, it turns out there is a clear winner and a sound economic reason why. [more]
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Exceeding the Bounds of Authority (04/14/06)
The Sutherland Institute wants the Utah Legislature to assert authority that no government rightfully has. The Mayor of Kanab and a senior local church leader in American Fork seem oblivious to the bounds of their authority. [more]
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My Precinct's Caucus and My Party's Platform (03/22/06)
I wasn't particularly pleased with either. The caucus was poorly attended and the platform is poorly written, whatever one may think of its political content. Do I expect too much? [more]
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Do Little Things Matter? And Avionic Flu . . . (03/15/06)
In professional settings, how much does spelling count? How about typeface? How about good writing generally? And you'll want to read up on "avionic" flu. [more]
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Early Help for Next Valentine's Day (02/15/06)
I sent my wife several e-mails yesterday with good and/or fun quotes about love. Here are most of them, in case you need them next year. My favorite, at least for yesterday's purposes? This one: Nunc scio quit sit amor. (If your Latin's rusty, google it.) [more]
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What Are You Doing to Celebrate Groundhog Day? (02/1/06)
Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. I'm going to party. It's just a small affair, immediate family only, and not even they are required to come. If they do come, they can watch the movie Groundhog Day with me . . . and I will feed them "mystery meat." If they don't come, I'll watch and eat alone, which isn't as sad as it sounds. This may inspire some questions in your mind . . . [more]
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How Can Part of the Constitution Be Unconstitutional? (01/24/06)
Some propose the repeal of the 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides for the direct election of US Senators by the people of their states. At least a few of them call the amendment "unconstitutional." This doesn't seem to make sense . . . but we'll follow it where it leads. [more]
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Systems So Rigid We Don't Have to Use Our Brains (01/17/06)
Long ago and in a hemisphere far, far away, I lived for a few months under a government that was even more rule-bound than our own. Almost every good thing I saw happen there happened in defiance of some rule, regulation, or law. A few years after that, the system collapsed under its own weight. The same thing may happen here, eventually. [more]
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The Rule of Law, or 'Living' Is Libspeak for 'Dead' (01/10/06)
Our question today is, "Is the US Constitution a living document or not?" [more]
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Grandpa and Veterans Day (11/11/05)
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Campaign Ads and Slogans That Didn't Make the Cut (11/5/05)
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A Spectrum of Political Courage (10/15/05)
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Rocky Anderson Has His Own Brand of Intolerance (10/6/05)
Let's hear it for Mayor Rocky, whose campaign to become a major national political (cartoon) figure is going just fine, thank you, if his goal is to become the next Al Sharpton. . . . [more]
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Responsibility Starts at the Bottom, not the Top (09/7/05)
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Price Controls Are a Stupid Idea. Don't Fall for Them. (09/1/05)
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Yes, I Would Vote for a Druid (08/18/05)
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About Bullies: Look Out for That Passive Voice (08/16/05)
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54th with an Asterisk (07/19/05)
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Barack Obama's Great Speech (06/20/05)
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Goodbye, Joan, You Were My Favorite (06/16/05)
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Gambling vs. Investment (04/5/05)
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A Christian Hero, a Modern Giant Has Left Us (04/2/05)
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Mormons, Abortion Policy, Harry Reid (11/17/04)
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A New Psychic in American Fork (09/21/04)
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It's Too Good to Be True If . . . (08/19/04)
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Contrast: A Public School Ponzi Scheme and the Emperor's New Math (07/31/04)
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Welcome to My Blog (07/27/04)
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