Best Cheese Ever

The family of one of my high school buddies belonged to a cheese club. (My family belonged to the Kraft club). They were very classy, kind people, and were always very happy to share with me things they enjoyed. From their club, they'd get all sorts of terrific cheeses, and it was heaven to indulge. I've been a cheese fan ever since.

Wonderfully, one of my daughters shares the passion. Today, we found the best cheddar ever -- Beecher's Flagship Reserve. Beecher's is based at Pike Place Market in Seattle. If you go to Pike Place, you've gotta try a Russian pastry at Piroshky-Piroshky.

Sara, if you're reading this, I have a little Christmas hint.

Sarah Palin Shattered the Glass Ceiling on 9/3/08

Until the day I die, I will remember a sprint relay race I saw in Laredo, Texas, when I was just 10-years old. In the small schools division, Lampasas High School trailed badly after 3 legs. The batons were handed to the anchors. Ten seconds later – I don’t doubt but that it might have been 9 seconds later – other runners crossed the finish line far behind Lampasas High’s Johnny Jones. My brother, my dad and I knew that we had just seen greased lightning. But, no human being alive, much less a high school kid from Lampasas, Texas, could run as fast as we just saw Johnny Jones run. It had to be an illusion. He must be fast, but those other small school runners must have been really slow.

Two months later, in a larger venue in Montreal, Quebec, 18-year old Johnny Jones won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the United States sprint relay team. A few months after that, he ran a world record time that would have stood untouched for the next 15 years, but for a glitch in the official timing system. We had seen greased lightning in Laredo, Texas.

Last night I saw greased lightning in St. Paul, Minnesota. I will remember that powerhouse speech as long as I live. With her first “hello,” Sarah Palin transformed the highest stakes, hardest fought contest in the world. But, I think something even bigger happened last night. The glass ceiling shattered.

At times, the vanguard of a movement stands in the way of the movement. With a fundamentally misogynistic perspective, Womyn’s rights groups lately have been guarding the glass ceiling. Listen to the vile contempt Sarah Palin faces from them. The elitist, yapping class derisively tells Sarah Palin that she belongs in the kitchen, that she – and all women like her – have no business trying to perform in this man’s world. Without apology or equivocation, the professional womyn’s movement broadcasts that most women (all non-liberal women) are to be held in contempt as dull, backwards creatures. Sarah Palin, as seems to be her way, just cut straight through that nonsense. She questioned whether it should be a man’s world and answered her own question with an emphatic, but distinctly feminine, “No.”

Sen. Obama apparently commented today, “I assume that she wants to be treated the same way that guys want to be treated.” Wrong. That’s the pre-Palin, misogynistic view that it is a man’s world – with female participants and female fellow travelers. It is the view that a woman must choose between the sidelines of the man’s world or forfeit something to enter the man’s world and, then, be treated like a man. Sarah Palin made the solid case that women are not guests or pretenders in a man’s world. Sarah Palin has changed the rules. She is a woman, she doesn’t need anyone else’s permission or approval for her choices, and everyone else had better deal with it. She expects to be treated like a woman. Liberals’ confusion comes from their belief that “woman” is synonymous with inferior, less capable and victim.

UPDATE: This, as the article describes, is the woman that womyn are saying is not qualified. Please, someone tell me anything that Sen. Obama has ever done in office to compare with it. You simply can't.

Cliff Lyon's Huge Hammer

I posted a call for depoliticized scientific inquiry (as it applies, for example, to the Right’s desire to muddle science with Divine Design and the Left’s desire to shut down scientific inquiry into global warming).

Cliff Lyon demands (in the comments) that I recant or face an Internet inquisition. (Cue Announcer: "In tonight’s production of Fear of Scientific Inquiry, the part of Pope Urban VIII will be played by Cliff Lyon").

Cliff warns:

I'm challenging you Steve. Retract this shameful post or we will be forced to take a special interest in your re-election.

When I ask him to engage in some scientific curiosity with me, he threatens:

Last chance Steve. You of all people should appreciate the power of blogs.I suggest you just delete the whole post. Certainly such a tactic lacks integrity, but not as much as parading around as an expert in Climate Science while deceiving Utahns in order to pander to the oil and gas industry (hmmm, Iol & gas, St George, hmmm)When I have questions about things I know nothing about, I refer to experts. And Mr. Urquhart, unless I'm missing something, you are no expert on climate science.If however, you have any questions about the real power of blogs, please feel free to call. I'm listed in Holladay.

Not an expert. Just a guy with some observations and opinions. Mr. Lyon, then, clarifies:

OneUtah is a hammer with a huge Utah audience (in case you weren't paying attention.

Ya, I guess I wasn’t paying attention, though I have enjoyed watching OneUtah rally tens of people to protest BUSHITLER in Salt Lake.

The real power of blogs is to advance discussion, not for some ninny like Cliff Lyon to shut it down with threats. So, sorry, Cliff. The post stays up. Let that huge hammer drop.

By the way, though, once you've rallied your huge audience, see if any of them can explain how the significant cooling since 2000 fits the doctrinal canon of anthropogenic global warming.

UPDATE: This is just too funny to be true. I believe that public-oriented blogs should allow all comments and have a publicly accessible site meter. That's just my preference; if you don't agree, fine. I checked my site meter at the end of the day (available at the bottom of the blog for all to see), and I saw a referral from Cliff's blog. Apparently, this afternoon he posted a warning to me on his blog. As far as I can tell, his post and link sent me ONE reader.

Maybe the huge hammer claim is relative to really small nails.

Breaking News: VP Change

Liberals are speculating whether there will be a VP change, in light of revelations that Sarah Palin's 17-year old daughter is pregnant.

I just saw Gov. Palin's convention speech. It is clear that there has to be a VP change.

Biden will be gone by Friday.

Newsflash: Sun Affects Earth’s Climate

Regardless how many lemmings are willing to jump off the same cliff, there is much about this amazing planet that scientists and politicians don’t understand. Science should be allowed to freely explore those mysteries. But, as it has for centuries, politics walls off huge swaths of scientific research.

I have fought divine designers from forcing a political agenda on science (and will continue to do so as long as there is a god in heaven). With equal gusto, I fight zealots of anthropogenic global warming (“AGW”) from forcing their political agenda on science.

To deny AGW today is to have denied God a few centuries ago. Though an AGW denier might not be burned at the stake, there are those who seemingly wish it were otherwise. Such zealotry likely will change, as scientist reluctantly admit that – brace yourself – the Sun affects the Earth’s climate.

Sunspots strongly appear to affect the Earth’s climate. Less sun spots, the Earth cools. And, this is where it gets controversial: more sunspots, the Earth heats up.

Ice ages and mini ice ages correlate with less active sunspot cycles. Less sunspots; the Earth cooled. That’s an undisputed fact. Not believing in forcing science, I’m not going to say “cause/effect” – just direct correlation.

It’s also a fact that the period between 1940 and 2000 marked the most active sunspot cycles in over 1,000 years. So, maybe – just maybe – those active sunspot cycles had something to do with the run up in temperatures the Earth experienced during that period. But, it has been heresy, to even suggest that hypothesis. Why? Because it cuts against the theory of AGW. And AGW is a fact. Rather, a FACT! (Scientific facts are lowercase, since they are always subject to question and critique; political FACTS are all caps, since they are not subject to question and critique.).

It seems that more people are willing to admit that AGW is not a fact. It’s a theory. Yes, yes, I am aware that lemmings continue to unquestioningly leap off the AGW cliff. People’s devotion to their gods should never be doubted. But, for those interested in science, let’s give the AGW theory a quick test.

A good experiment would be to (1) turn off sunspots, (2) leave atmospheric CO2 alone, and (3) monitor the effect on global temperature. If temperatures continue to rise, sunspots can be ruled out as a cause of global warming. But, if temperatures drop . . ..

Around 2000, sunspot activity began to subside. Now, the sun is dormant. After the record level of sunspot activity ended, global temperatures began dropping. Now, they are plummeting. (Remember: carbon dioxide levels remain a constant). This year, we’ve seen the greatest drop in global temperatures ever recorded. –O.7 Celsius.

So much for AGW being the end-all, be-all of the story. Because AGW does have theoretical validity, it should be studied – as we require of all other scientific theories. And competing theories should be studied also. These things are complex. Nature is rarely as simple as simpletons would have it be.

To tell you how simplistic our current knowledge is, we don’t even know the mechanism by which sunspots affect global temperatures. Yet, some people want to say that their favored theory is FACT and that we should reorder society to accommodate it?! We are an interesting breed.

UPDATE: Exactly my point. In the comments, Cliff Lyon breaks from his war against BUSHITLER to demand that I retract my call for depoliticized science. Apparently, scientific inquiry into doctrine is irresponsible. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Governor Palin and Foreign Policy

Quiz: Of our last 5 Presidents, how many had extensive (or really any) foreign policy experience?

Answer: 1 (George H. W. Bush).

The other 4 – Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and W – were all Governors, like Palin. In office, they used their executive experience, to work with staff and figure it out.

Possibly because of that superior executive experience, Governors, not Senators, impress November voters.

Speaking of which, and speaking of the fact that Gov. Palin actually has kicked butt on the establishment while an executive, I’m fascinated by the sexist and sincere talk about Sen. Biden having to be careful that he doesn’t beat up on Gov. Palin too badly at their debate.

It might be the first debate to be stopped because of the 3-knockdown rule. During the second standing-eight count, Biden will ask, “Who am I? Why am I here? Can I go home now?”

Did McCain Just Win the Election?

Barack Obama’s many amazing talents might or might not qualify him to be a good President. John McCain, in order to win, must point out that Sen. Obama lacks experience and substance. He might have just done that, by introducing Gov. Sarah Palin into the mix.

Gov. Palin's experience (for the number 2 spot) easily matches that of Sen. Obama (the top of the ticket). If you dispute that, I’d suggest that you might be missing how much a Governor oversees and how little an individual Senator actually oversees. And, come to think of it, though the Lefties, (for the good of the nation, mind you), are deeply worried that Gov. Palin’s experience is problematic, they didn’t fretted much about that issue when first-term Virginia Governor Tim Kaine was being considered for the Democratic ticket. Could it be that Gov. Kaine simply is doing a more manly job of governing? My bad. Poor choice of words.

And, the difference in substance between Gov. Palin and Sen. Obama could not be greater. During Gov. Palin’s time in office, she has rocked the establishment. By contrast, Obama has rocked the vote. End of story. Nothing else. Disagree? Other than getting the nomination, please name Sen. Obama’s accomplishments. Other than getting the nomination, the man who would be President has never moved the needle. Not a smidge. He’s talked about it a lot. But, unless I missed it somewhere, he’s never actually done it.

Adding Gov. Palin to the ticket is a game changer. And, it seems that the Obama camp knows it. Their reaction to Gov. Palin: “Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.” Well, until recently, wasn’t the “community organizer,” um, organizing the community, or whatever it would be called? Again, Gov. Palin’s experience is equal, if not superior. Governors have done just fine, in making the step over to the federal system. What the Obama campaign really meant to say with the “town of 9,000” slight is that Gov. Palin’s common-man (though extraordinary) background is less worthy than the Harvard-to-Congress pathway; people outside the elitist circle are lesser human beings. Run with that vision, Senator! Voters eat that stuff up like pâté.

Compared to Sen. Joe “Gaffe-o-matic” Biden, I’m sure Gov. Palin will be very good. But, in her own right, I expect that she will be extraordinary. In a race that seemed to be offering nothing more than the same-old insider rhetoric and perspective, Gov. Palin should add significant energy to the debate. In a nation looking for real change – meaning something other than simply bouncing back to that other bad and predictable relationship – the winning ticket just might be the renegade old man and the hockey-mom-who-could.

UPDATE: It would be grossly false, of course, to say that opposition to Gov. Palin necessarily is sexism. Of course. Of course. Just like opposition to Sen. Obama is not necessarily racism. However, lots of opposition to Gov. Palin coming from the Left clearly is sexist. She took on the establishment, to become Governor. Of course, her responsibilities mirror those of the other 49 governors. As Governor, when others would still be "getting their feet under them," she again took on the establishment. And she beat it again.

Yet, the enlightened Left seems to think that she won a regional bake off, unlike several other first-term government figures involved in this cycle, such as Obama, Edwards, Kaine (speculatively, at least), and Romney (admit it), who carry the gravitas of office. With the mood of the country, Democrats have to work hard to lose this election. Right now, they're working their tails off.

UPDATE 2: Wow! Paul Begala just noted how poised Gov. Palin was during her presentation today. He noted that it was clearly the result of her beauty pageant training. Unenlightened Republican that I am, I might have thought her Governor gig had something to do with it.

C’mon, People, It’s Nie Nie Day!

Rep. Steve Clark’s daughter, Stephanie Nielson (author of the absolutely amazing NieNie Dialogues), and her husband Christian were in a plane crash and face a tough – and expensive – road to recovery.

My sis-in-law Gabby Blair (author of the absolutely amazing Design Mom) has declared today Nie Nie Day! and has helped organize over 165 auctions to help raise money for the beautiful Nielson family. (Check out all the participants listed at Design Mom, and marvel at the goodness that exists in this world!).

When tragedy strikes, people often wonder how they can help. Well, folks, here’s how! Check out the totally cool stuff being auctioned and part yourself from a few dollars. Many of the auctions close on 8/31/08.

And, please, outbid me on some stuff, or I’ll have to sell a kid to pay for it all. Start here, at Oh Happy Day – (the absolutely amazing blog of another sis-in-law Jordan Ferney). FYI, I’m gonna steal a tricked out ride, if no one out there loves their kids or grandkids.

UPDATE: this blogger went all in and needs some bids.

UPDATE (my auction item): A few years ago, I listed the things I do, and ranked them from 1-star (crummy) to 5-star (legendary). The 1- and 2-star items were plentiful. The single, solitary 5-star item I had was making waffles. Through hundreds of experiments that tested the outer limits of my wife’s marital vows, I created the best waffle batter ever. Truly. So . . .

. . . my auction item is awesome waffles and dulce de leche crème topping. If you live in Utah or want to come to my house in St. George, I’ll make them for you fresh. (My company alone might make this a bargain, since I soon might be the best person ever). Otherwise, I’ll freeze pack it and ship it to you (my cost, of course) with warmest regards.

And, yes, I realize that waffling might not be the best identifying superlative for a politician, but I publicly bare my shame to help out a great cause. Let’s start the bidding at $20. Include email or link, to make arrangements. Bid open until end of Sunday 8/31.

Deseret News Declares War on Legislature

In late-June/early-July, the Deseret News and the Tribune submitted records requests for documents. The Trib’s request was broad. The D News asked for a specific document.

The Trib’s broader request netted documents that led to a story. No documents matched the specific document requested by the D News. John Fellows, legislative general counsel, explained the situation to Lee Davidson of the D News, when Davidson called in a dither. Davidson exploded that Fellows “knew what they wanted.” Fellows explained that all sorts of liability could flow from releasing sensitive documents that were never actually requested. And, I’d imagine that Fellows might have wanted to add that it’s not his job to divine what a big, well-lawyered organization (that trades in words, for heaven’s sake) wanted, despite what it actually requested.

Davidson threatened Fellows, saying that his refusal to relent to the demands of the Deseret News would “constitute a declaration of war.” Fellows told him to redraft his request.

Immediately thereafter, the D News hit the Legislative Office of Research and General Counsel (LRGC) with an unprecedented number of records requests, many of them dealing with – you guessed it – personnel issues involving LRGC.

Last week, the D News ran a story that clearly would reflect poorly on legislative leadership. Problem is, the story was completely made up. In fact, D News editors privately admitted that the story was made up; yet, the D News is still running with the fabricated story.

Don’t mess with Big Media.

D News Runs Further With Admittedly Fake Story

Any minute now Ashton Kutcher is going to tell me I’ve been Punk’d. I hope. If not, the D News is punking Utahns big time. Here’s the summary.

1. On 8/19, the D News reported that GOP legislative leaders were going to take on the referendum process. The story was made up. Just the day before, legislative leaders told the D News editorial board the opposite – that Utah’s referendum process was sound.

2. On 8/20, editorial board members admitted to legislative leaders that the story was inaccurate. D News reporter Bob Bernick apologized to President John Valentine for acting unethically in writing the story. Bernick said he’d run a retraction.

3. On 8/20, Bernick did not run a retraction. Rather, he wrote a second story, suggesting that legislative leaders had decided against challenging the referendum process – a significant misrepresentation.

4. Since the beginning of this faux story, Bloggers pointed out that Bernick and the D News made up the referendum story.

5. On 8/22, Bernick snorted about the misinformation of inaccurate and unfair blogs (but courageously vowed to “keep on plugging away”).

6. On 8/25, five days after the D News admitted the story was fake, D News columnist John Florez scolded lawmakers for plotting to change the referendum process.

So, you’ve gotta wonder: is anyone running the D News? It makes up news, admits that it made up news, chastises people who pointed out that it made up news, makes up follow-up news, and, then, editorializes that the Legislature is rotten for seeking to do something the D News editors admittedly know the Legislature never intended to do.

UPDATE: The D News would not post the following comment I left to the John Florez column:

John,

D News reporter Bernick apologized to President Valentine for making up the referendum story. There never was a movement to change the referendum process. The D News made that up. Talk to your editors; they admitted it. Now, you're criticizing the Legislature for something it never planned on doing.

Do you and the D News have any standards?

If you're just going to comment on things you read, read my blog. It's far more accurate than the D News.

The D News won't release the tape of the editorial board meeting, and the D News censors commentary critical of its work. Isn't legacy media supposed to be a bulwark against censorship and for open dialogue?

UPDATE 2: To get a taste for the kind of "dialogue" the D News promotes and/or discourages, you see my comment above thatit would not post. Compare that to the comments it did post following an article about AG Mark Shurtleff possibly losing his leg. Despicable.

Deseret News Opposes Transparency

Deseret News reporter Bob Bernick laments,

"I am often these days attacked by bloggers, and while I make an effort NOT to read the misinformation about me and my work (just keep on plugging away), I know for a fact how inaccurate and unfair blogs can be."

Yet again, Bob fares poorly when fact checked. Let’s look at the who, what, and how of his claim.

Who are the bloggers attacking Bob and his work? Searches on Technorati and Google Blogsearch reveal surprisingly little discussion about Bob. So, it seems Ric Cantrell mostly sums up Bob’s blogging critics.

What are those bloggers saying about Bob? The bloggers are saying that Bob made up a story about Utah’s referendum process.

How are those charges “misinformation,” “inaccurate,” or “unfair?” It would be simple for Bob and the D News to contradict these charges. They recorded the editorial board meeting at issue. Open it to public scrutiny. If I’m wrong, I’ve offered to eat my blog. I’ll double down. If I’m wrong about Bob fabricating this story, I’ll donate $100 to the Utah Democratic Party on Bob’s behalf. (Someone please convey this to Bob, since he does NOT read blogs).

But, I’m not wrong. Bob was forced to personally apologize to President Valentine and admit that he acted unethically in printing the made-up news.

So, why the lie in the follow up story? Why the Edwardsian attack on the “inaccurate and unfair blogs?” Bob’s just smarting that his ability to make up news is somewhat checked by people’s enhanced ability to communicate and exchange information for themselves.

This creates an interesting situation. The focus of Bernick’s sworn wrath* – the Utah Legislature – has become much more transparent to the public. Yet, the watchdog doggedly refuses to open itself to public scrutiny, and even castigates the public for daring to question it.

* (Next week, I’ll post a story about the D News declaring war on the Legislature – yes, an actual, verbalized declaration; unlike Bernick and the D News, I first want to verify some specifics.)

Deseret News Fabricates More News

Bob Bernick and the D News were caught in an outright lie. On Monday, Utah Senate leaders met with the Deseret News editorial board. In a broad ranging conversation, they discussed the State’s referendum process, concluding that it was in the right place.

Instead of reporting those facts, Bob Bernick and the D News made up a story. In complete contradiction of the facts, they reported that GOP legislative leaders were going to make a run at changing the referendum process. Again, that was a complete lie.

When called on the lie, the editorial board was forced to acknowledge it. They, then, forced Bernick to write a retraction. He didn’t. Instead, he furthered the lie.

Though Bernick admitted privately to President Valentine that he’d acted unethically, he publicly lied again. The D News didn’t publish anything approaching, “We made it all up.” Instead, Bernick wrote that Legislative leaders weren’t going to change the law after all – as if they’d seen the light only after reading Bernick’s article where he first told this lie. That is a significant misrepresentation. As indicated in the comments to Bernick’s “retraction,” people were (intentionally) led to believe that the Legislature reversed course. Nope. But, Bernick and the D News need to reverse course and clearly admit that they made up the story in the first place.

I called the D News and again asked for the recording of the editorial board meeting. It is important that they exercise a little of the transparency they supposedly laud, and give people a chance to see how accurate the D News is with facts.