MangledCat

Most of the vegetables are harvested, we will soon tear out the garden and then it will be time to extract the honey. All of this means that I will now have time to devote to other things, such as this.

The old Sony is in the closet, the new MacBook Pro is in it's cradle and I'm trying this post out on the iPad while watching what can arguably be called the ugliest football game I have ever witnessed (Bears/Giants).

Want to see the inside of the Temple without, you know, going through that whole missionary, conversion and temple recommend thing?

The Church has made it easy for you:

Twelve decades after the completion and dedication of its Salt Lake Temple, the LDS Church is opening up the iconic Mormon landmark to the public for tours -- in a virtual, visual and small-scale way.

And the hope is the replica -- replete with cut-away walls and views of detailed depictions of the building's layout and rooms -- will help visitors better understand the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Wow. Another 80's pop-culture icon says goodbye.

Is anybody really surprised? About the Bush slam, I mean?:

The Obama administration Friday extended for another year the moratorium on most logging and mining in millions of acres of remote and rugged backcountry sections of national forests.

The idea of preserving roadless areas for wildlife habitat and clean water came out of the Clinton administration. The Bush administration tried to open them up to more logging and mining by giving states control.

Me Either.

Salt Lake had snow this morning. My house? Well, look for yourself.

Veiw of the front:

View of the back:

It's all melted now and tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70's. That's spring in the mountains for you.

I wasn't living in SLC when this whole thing went down, but I'm glad to be here when it get's resolved.

I've been traveling for half of them, but it still boggles my mind how quickly time has started to go by since I turned 40.

Today will be a rather busy day even though it's 50 and raining... After almost 10 years with Earthlink, we are going to be making the tranisition to Comcast because this DSL just doesn't have fast enough upload speeds for Lisa's work VPN. We will likely be changing our email address but will make sure that we notify everybody.

We also have the Safelite people coming by to put in a new sliding window in the pick-up. It should be the final peice of the trucks minor restoration. New radio, new mirrors, new front windsheild, shocks and tires and most recently new seats and seatbelts. SInce I already had the interior panels pulled out, I thought it would be easier on the window guy so it's all going to happen today.

I hope to be back to a somewhat regular schedule, but as always, there are no promises.

That didn't take long.

I wonder who saw that coming... all of two days ago.

So Bennett goes down as expected. Also as expected, there have been inside the beltway coniption fits.

There is however, one unintended consequence that I believe will result of this: Salt Lake City has just lost the GOP convention.

The delegates just booted an establishment Republican and there is no way that the RNC will reward the city after giving the boot to one of it's stalwarts.

Look for Chairman Steele to annouce that Tampa has been chosen as the site for the 2012 Convention and then a not so quiet press release about how Salt Lake City has become, with it's ousting of Bennett, a "not Republican Friendly" or "Not in the mainstream" site that doesn't fit with the values of the RNC, or something like that.

I hope I'm wrong about this but I doubt it. That's how inside the beltway politics works, unfortunately.

Former Governor Huntsman is in town and the Tribune couldn't help tracking him down to get his insights on Utah politics. Less than 2 days before the delegates vote, the Governor thinks the convention system, a system he took advantage of to win Givernor twice, mind you, should be replaced with an open primary:

"The answer simply needs to be: How do you engage more people in politics? And if that's through a direct primary, that needs to be a very serious consideration," Huntsman, who is now U.S. Ambassador to China, said in an interview Thursday.

The good Governor goes on to refuse to pick a side in the Senate race but his endorsement of an open primary is almost an endorsement in and of itself. It's fairly common knowledge that Senator Bennett is well liked by the public, just not by the delegates. An open Primary would almost certainly benefit Bennett and would eliminate his delegate problem all but ensuring reelection. It's moot, I know, as nothing can be done about it now, but it's an interesting observation.

And discovers the smell of desperation:

To campaign in Utah for his political life, embattled Sen. Bob Bennett missed more roll call votes this year than all but two other senators -- and they endured long hospital stays.

Also, 31 of those missed votes have come since the week before the March 23 GOP caucuses that elected state delegates. He has a 62 percent voting rate since then as he campaigned especially hard against the seven Republicans challenging him.

I've said repeatedly that if the Tribune Editorial Board is for something, I'm generally against it. There have been a few excpetions, but this has proven to be true for me more often than not.

Cue this mornings editorial in support of Bob Bennett:

Like the song says, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone." We hope that's not the case with Utah and Bob Bennett, who could be swept away by an anti-incumbent tide at Saturday's Republican state convention.

But a recent Tribune poll reveals that Bennett, while leading the race among the Republican rank and file, is running a distant third among delegates and could be shut out of a primary election.

Color me shocked that someone on the editorial staff is a fan of the 80's hair metal band Cinderella.

The irony of using that song is it is likely more appropriate if sung from Senator Bennetts perspective. The song is, after all, a plea from the singer to, in this case, a love he doesn't want to lose. At least the singer realizes that there is a problem, hence the second verse of the chorus:

If we take some time, think it over baby
Take some time, let me know
If you really wanna go
Don't know what you got til it's gone
Don't know what it is I did so wrong
Now I know what I got
It's just this song
And it ain't easy to get back takes so long

The problem that Senator Bennett has, and its one shared by the writer, is that neither think that the Senator did anything wrong, while the lover in the song, and Senator Bennetts constituents, would tend to disagree.

The editorial lists all the reasons why they think conservatives dislike the Senator and the first and second reasons, especially the first, are indeed true.

He's been vilified for his support of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Bush administration's Wall Street-bailout bill. But leading economists agree that without hasty federal intervention the economy could have collapsed, and the Great Recession would have turned into a deep depression.

Plus, Bennett has been called on the carpet for proposing an innovative market-driven, bipartisan health care plan that would have abandoned the failed employer-based insurance system and reduced health care costs.

The TARP bailout was an egregious expansion of Government and despite the Tribune's attempt to justify it, there is no part of it that conservatives like and Bennett's support is indeed reason for us to toss him out.

Further, the bipartisan health care plan is pretty much what we got with ObamaCare and the Senator doesn't realize that we don't want either one. Senator Bennett has fallen into the inside the beltway trap that almost all Republicans fall into. That being the one where Republicans buy into the notion that expanded government is a good and necessary (and let's be realistic, unstoppable thing. We might as well just accept it) thing and that good Republicans just need to come up with plans that minimize the damage, make it somehow more conservative.

The lesson that inside the beltway politicians are, in most cases, not learning from the Tea Party Movement, is that no, this is not okay. We need to not minimize the damage done by an expanding federal government, but stop the damage altogether and then start reversing the process. That is what Senator Bennett isn't getting and it's why he will likely be tossed out on his rear end on Saturday.

This doesn't bode well for Bennett's chances of coming through the convention:

SALT LAKE CITY -- The current bashing of Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, by some GOP state delegates apparently will be part of the official Republican state convention agenda Saturday.

In addition, there is a tough anti-illegal immigration platform amendment co-sponsored by three of his challengers.

Something tells me Bennett will be a casualty of the anti-incumbant fervor that is swelling this year. Frankly, I don't think that is a bad thing. A complete turnover of Congress would be refreshing.

It's no shock that Utah is a red state, so no one should be surprised by the results of this poll commisioned by the Trib:

Mitt Romney enjoys nearly lock-step support of Mormons in Utah and would wallop President Barack Obama in the state in two years if the former Massachusetts governor is the GOP nominee, a new Salt Lake Tribune poll shows.

"I don't think anybody would argue with me if I said Utah is Mitt Romney's strongest state. Period," says J. Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, which conducted the poll for The Tribune . "That's his political base: Utah."

Indeed. However, Romney needs more than this to compete nationally.

Much more.

With Saturday's delegate vote looming, incumbant Senator Bob Bennett yesterday made a plea directly to the delegates. On point was his 3 term experience in Washington:

Down in the polls with less than a week before Saturday's convention, Bennett started his new campaign with an e-mail and mailing to GOP activists that ended with this slogan: "Before you vote, know what the consequences are."

"They will not lose a conservative vote because, frankly, on the big conservative issues, my voting record and my opponents' voting records would be identical," he said. "But what they will lose is the Utah voice on Utah issues."

Well, there is that whole health care thing that Bennett co-sponsored with Democratic Senator Wyden, which shakes out to be pretty close to what we got rammed down our throats. That is a fairly big conservative issue with which the good Senator doesn't have an identical record with his opponents.

It continues:

He argues his replacement would not be in position to stop the impending shutdown of NASA's Ares rocket program, which could result in 2,000 Utahns losing their jobs. He said his replacement wouldn't have his clout to be an effective advocate for Utah's water needs or a sustainable energy plan as the top Republican on the energy and water appropriations subcommittee.

Ah yes... The Hatch Defense. He's been there so long that he has the experience and the contacts to actually get things done... Meh.

Being a fan of term limits, I think they have both been there too long, especially Senator Hatch. Changing things up is the way to go. Just look at the exposure that Scott Brown has gotten. Removing an incumbant can be a good thing, so I don't by this.

It continues:

Patterson said Bennett may sway some by touting his power in D.C., but his strategy also comes with an inherent risk. With a general anti-incumbent mood in the nation, Bennett may turn people off by reminding them he's part of the Washington establishment.

"People are frightened that our government leaders are asleep at the wheel," said Tim Bridgewater, one of the leading candidates to unseat Bennett. "A new generation of leaders is, in effect, what the country is clamoring for from coast to coast."

Yep and Yep.

Imagine that. State employees giving favorable treatment to relatives:

An internal audit at the Utah Department of Transportation revealed that an employee gave a helping hand to family members at taxpayers' expense, the agency confirmed Friday.

"We did an internal audit of the right-of-way division in October and several problems surfaced," UDOT spokesman Nile Easton said Friday, noting that management talked to Langford immediately and placed her on paid leave while the agency conducted a full investigation.

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

Watched the game after I got home from Dallas last night and was bitting my nails for awhile there. A great fourth quarter, though.

Now it's on to L.A where we have not fared well. Keep your fingers crossed.

There it was hot... Here it is cold.. and snowing at the moment.

That's springtime in the Wasatch, for you.

If the Governor was smart, he wouldn't listen to anything this snake oil salesman has to say. Anything.

First Arizona... Next Utah?

Let's see...

Make a raft from logs...Check

Put said raft on a river and bypass the permiting process from Park Rangers...Check

Forget to bring flotation devices...Check

Make the wise choice of doing this on a river during snowmelt which is cruising at ofer 200CFS...Check

The only thing missing was alcoholic beverages... Something tells me a cooler will be found.

I'm glad I hadn't eaten breakfast before reading this.

I'm going to reprint the 2nd half of the article (split into two sections) and then just ask a question of the author.

First this:

It took me back to William Andrews, whose case I had covered for about five years before he died.

Five years later, reporters gathered at the Department of Corrections' training center at Point of the Mountain before witnessing Andrews' last moment. We were briefed, searched and held in a room until a van arrived to take us across the freeway to the execution chamber.

And then this:

Again, the corrections officials and officers were composed and somber, even as a couple of reporters started making rancid jokes about how Andrews was doing that night.

When a human being is put to death, it seems only right that we respect the pain and sorrow his loved ones will feel, too. And that we respect those who carry out their duty conscientiously and with great gravitas.

Pat, do you think that Andrews and Selby had any respect for the pain and sorrow of the loved ones of those they raped, mutilated with Drano, and ultimately murdered and if they did not, which seems obvious given the brutality, why should we?

All the primary candidates, including incumbant Bob Bennett, spoke to the delegates last night trolling for votes. In their efforts to persuade the delegates to their side, the candidates focused their ire on the federal government and it would appear that everything is on the potential chopping block:

The Republican contenders for Utah's Senate seat pitched their vision for major cuts to the size of federal government, including eliminating entitlements and disbanding the departments of Education, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development.

Let's look at this for a moment:

"I would turn all of the entitlement programs over to the states. That means Medicare and, in particular, Medicaid to the states," said businessman Tim Bridgewater, referring to the government-run health care programs for the poor and the elderly. "That would eliminate a major part of the debt and deficit we have on an annual basis. In addition, we need to eliminate the departments of Energy and Education."

I'm pretty sure that occurred in the health care bill.

Now let's look at this:

"I'd start by eliminating the U.S. Department of Education at a cost of $50 billion and then move on to Housing and Urban Development," said Mike Lee, who is regarded as Bennett's leading opponent.

But Lee said all of the cuts could be "like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic" if we don't address entitlements in a real way.

Despite how much I would like to see both the department of Education and HUD go away, it's just not going to happen.

These guys are all failing what I believe is a crucial test.

Look, we all want to see some of these things happen but what I want from a candidate is the straight scoop. It's easy to come in and say you're going to fix everything, the Federal Government is bad and when you get in to office, you're going to eleminate this department and that department, but the truth is you're not. These institutions are so entrenced that it will be extremely difficult to get rid of them and frankly, you're talking out your ass saying so.

I don't want platitudes, which these are, like it or not. I want specific items that you're going to address and more importantly, I want them realistic. Please stop pretending that I'm a starry-eyed follower who will swoon at the mention of your planned elemination of the Department of Education for just long enough to put you in office, where after you're there, you forget who I am and start posturing to please the reporters instead of us.

I know that Red Meat is always what's on the menu in primaries, but how about serving it up with a little less fat.

It wasn't exactly David Vs. Goliath, but with all the injuries the Jazz have I don't think anyone projected them to win the series. This is a good start.

I feel bad for the family of this kid who got hit by the Front Runner train, truly I do. That being said, my wife pointed out these two sentences from the article:

Assistant Police Chief Greg Krusi said the accident occurred about 7:20 a.m., just north of the Clearfield FrontRunner station and near the city's Center Street bridge.

"It appears the victim came down the north side of the bridge, went underneath a chain-link fence meant to keep people out of that area, and then had just come up onto the FrontRunner tracks [when hit]," Krusi said.

Emphasis mine..-ed

This is similar to those who crawl under the out of bounds barriers on the ski slopes and get caught in an avalanche. If you deliberately ignore warning signs that say you might be killed and then you get killed, well frankly, I don't care how good a person your friends and family think you are, you're an idiot who has chosen to deselect yourself from man kind.

Good riddance.

I would have taken the lethal injection, hands down. To have to stand there waiting to be shot? No thanks.

I sympathize, but only so far. All, and I mean all, informational, directional and emergency signage on our highways is written in English and anyone who drives needs to be able to not only read what they say, but understand what they mean.

I understand the challenges of being in a different country. I spent 3 years in Germany and really studied the language in order to navigate myself around. I felt it was important to be able to find, say, a policeman if I were in trouble, or a hospital if I was sick or a taxi, or restaraunt or hotel or any number of things... Most of these places will have signs (especially on the highway) written in the native language giving you directions and distances to them.

It's no different here, and those who wish to drive should know how to read them.

I didn't expect the country of Germany to accomodate me and give me special exemptions to their laws and I don't think we should either.

Which is why the absense. Will get up to speed today.

At first glance, I thought this article on home rebates was interesting enough. It supplied a list of potential rebates if certain systems were installed. Rebates for energy saving improvements are often great, and I have taken advantage of them myself. Last spring, we took advantage of the insulation program where a qualified company would come in and spray insulation into your attic and then submit for the credits through a split between Rocky Mountain Power and Questar Gas.

I thought it was a great program because I had to put up very little of my own money to get this service. The insulation company completed the rebate forms and even submitted them so I didn't even have the cost of my time in this. That's a good deal for me.

It would not have been such a great deal for me to put out a lot of my own money and/or time to get a much smaller rebate in return. And that is when it hit my what was wrong with the article. There were no example prices listed. Usually, in an informational article like this, one would expect to see examples. Hey look, if you spend $2,500 on this fancy new gadget, you could be in for a rebate of up to $1,000, something like that. All the article states are the potential rebates, but nothing, other than a description of the types of systems, on the systems themselves.

So I went looking.

Let's look at this one first:

While it's tough to quantify precisely the cash returns, in general the State Energy Program estimates a 1-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system would qualify for a $2,000 rebate. Such as system would generate the equivalent of about a 1 1/2 -month electricity supply for a typical household.

So out of a 52 week year, this system would get me approximately 6 weeks of power. That's not that much, truth be told. Let's look at the potential prices for a moment. I starting searching for these systems and found quite a few. This one is about average in the price range at $4,750 and that doesn't include the installation, wiring, or service disconnet which which, depending on the needed rating of the wires or the total linear footage needed, could add up to another $1,000 dollars for the install and that assumes no permits are necessary.

To recap, a $5,750 investment could net me a $2,000 dollar rebate leaving me with $3,750 worth of out of pocket, up front costs and only give me about 6 weeks of power out of every 52. Sound like a good deal to you? Not to me.

At first glance, the Solar Thermal System looks like it could potnetially be the best deal. I found this A.O. Smith system for a reasonable price of $1,899 shipped. There are a couple of things that do bother me. The installation could be problamatic as there are a number of pipes that need to be routed up to the roof and back to the heater and if the water heater is in a basement (where most are, frankly), the installation costs could be extreme. The other is a plus/minus for me. It has a 120 gallon water heater which is huge. That could be an issue, but the capacity could be a plus. Without further research on the installation costs, I can only look at the equipment cost versus the rebate. With a potential rebate of $1,500 to $2,000, this one looks promising.

Now on to the wind turbine. This one has the largest potential rebate listed in the article and is the catalyst, I'm certain, for the lead sentence of "up to $5,000" in rebates. From the research I've done, the potential high rebate has to be because of the potential extreme costs associated with installing this unit. First the system is expensive. This, BTW, is just the basic 2.4 KW grid tied system, and it's $6212. and that is just for the turbine. This does not include any installation or even the tower that it sits on. Speaking of which, the list of, shall we say, basic system requirments pretty much eleminates most homes in Salt Lake City:

Will Skystream Work For You?
At least 10 mph (4.5 m/s) average wind speed. Best results at 12 mph (5.4 m/s) or more*
Your property is at least 0.5 acre (0.2 hectare) and has unobstructed views
The local zoning allows a structure that is at least 42 ft (13 m) tall
Your local utility has an existing interconnection agreement for homeowners

How many midvalley homes sit on at least 1/2 an acre? Most suburban homes are in the 1/8th to 1/5 range.

On to the tower. It is a monopole tower that must contain the wiring from the turbine and protect it from the elements. Monopole towers don't have much support (picture a stick in the ground as opposed to a triangle) so a rather large concrete footing needs to be built to support the weight of both the tower and the turbine and the electrical lines will have to be trenced in to the electrical meter. Depending on where the tower is positioned, just the electrical wiring, conduit and tower footing could be a hefty expense and that is before the turbine and tower are even factored in. We already know the cost of the turbine, so what is the cost of the tower? Anywhere from $3,399 to $11,215. Quite the disparity, don't you think?

So the upfront cost just for the turbine and tower are from $9,611 to $17,427. Given the sheet size of the concrete base and the amount of trenching involved with the electrical work, permits will be a certainty and the cost's will be high. I would estimate anywhere from $2,500 to $3,500 and that is a conservative guess and all this is contingent upon the city zoning even allowing you to place one on your property.

Sorry, but there is nothing at all even enticing about this. The costs are huge and the benefits, even after the potential rebates, are quite small. Oh yeah, and the city might not even allow you to put it up and you likely don't have a property big enough for it anyway, but hey, you could get up to $5,000 dollars back......or not.

Sigh. Remember this? Looks like I was right and the Tribune's lead editorial today rushes right in to prove me right:

It's the political equivalent of pole vaulting over the Wasatch Front. The Legislature has set the bar way too high for citizen ballot initiatives, making it nearly impossible for the people to exercise their constitutional right to make laws.

This year, three determined efforts by energized citizen groups failed to pass muster. Utahns for Ethical Government, proponents of comprehensive legislative ethics reform, believes it fell just short of acquiring the book-load of signatures needed to place its proposal on the 2010 ballot. Fair Boundaries, which espoused an independent commission to assist with legislative redistricting and limit gerrymandering, and The Peoples Right LLC, which proposed campaign finance and spending reforms, didn't even come close.

And I love this part. Here is a sentence directly from my post:

Yeah, that's the case. It had nothing to do at all with you failing to obtain the necessary signatures. Nope, nothing at all.

And here is the very next sentence from the editorial today:

It's hard to believe that the failures resulted from citizens refusing to sign the petitions.

Heh. This stuff writes itself.