May 2004

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No this is not about our friend, the Comic Book Guy. Jewel recently gave what many consider the worst concert ever. (excuse the Mormon euphemisms but I want to keep this a family site):

“People were literally walking out of the show,” she said. “As soon as she came out, she began to insult us. We thought she was joking at first because it was kind of weird.”

Witnesses said Jewel went on a tirade of insults from poking fun at fat people to others with no teeth. At one point, she asked the audience to yell requests and then told them to “shut the [heck] up.”

“I saw her live in Boston and it was the greatest show I’ve ever been to,” Dion said. “I don’t know if she was having a nervous breakdown or what. She told everyone to stop looking at her teeth and look at her breasts.”

Jewel was on stage for about an hour and played only four to five songs. Halfway through the show, Dion said Jewel began to talk about Zoloft and Paxil for about 10 minutes

“I don’t know what that was all about,” said Nicole Dion, who came from Canada to see the show. “I don’t know if she was on it or what. Maybe she didn’t take it.”. . .

“She said she saw a better audience at a barroom brawl and that all drinkers and smokers were sinners.”

Dion said she doesn’t blame the Casino, but believes something should be done to make it up to them. She said not only was the show bad, but people were not allowed to buy drinks or smoke a cigarette in the smoking room.

Kristen MacKinnon, a manager at the Casino, said it was Jewel’s request that smoking not be allowed at the show. Alcohol was served, but not in the main stage area because Jewel requested no waitresses in the main ballroom while she was on stage.

Dion said Jewel came out for an encore, but instead of singing one of her hit songs, she yodeled for a minute and then left the stage.

LDS Review is up!

LDS Review is a new web site geared towards covering news and reviews of LDS-oriented books, music, and films. Brian is the mastermind behind the project as an MBA student with an emphasis in Marketing. LDS Review seems to be a natural project - covering the emerging market of new LDS entertainment products. He also has others helping him out on the page (including one who doesn’t know what he’s doing but means well ).

Check it out.

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The State party conventions are over and while there were no surprises on the Democratic side (although it’s always sad to see Cody Judy go), there was some surprises with the GOP. Jon Huntsman, Jr. and Nolan Karras will square off next month in a state primary.

As a former state GOP delegate, I sure missed not being there but as a FYI for anyone interested there is a great new Utah politics daily newsletter that launched Friday. The Earlybird may not be that early for us on the East Coast ( 9- 10 am EDT) but it offers a great round-up of the day’s political news for Utah. Check it out and subscribe if you like.

While the whole UtahPolicy.com website is not new it’s worth checking out with an irregularly updated blog, tips, analysis, and links to resources around the state. No, this is not a commercial, just passing what I consider a pretty nice way to keep up on state politics. It’s too bad the local media doesn’t give it the attention it’s due.

Today is the National Day of Prayer. I have heard about it for awhile and it always sounded like a good idea. My un-informed impression was that it was an ecumenical recognition by our public leaders (including the President today) that prayer to God was a vital force in most people’s lives, and (hopefully) their own.

However, it turns out that once again, Mormons are not considered traditional Christians, and therefore cannot be involved in directing the services. Because the Church does not subscribe to the 1974 Lausane Covenant it is considered “Evangelical” and ineligible to lead prayer services. Perhaps that’s agood thing as a former missionary companion of mine has commented.

However, this policy to contrast with the President’s statements he made today as well as his proclamation which reads in part:

The National Day of Prayer encourages Americans of every faith to give thanks for God’s many blessings and to pray for each other and our Nation.

What is most disturbing is that seems to be a new rule. I don’t mean to have a persecution complex but it does not help my feeings towards the Christian Right.

It is worth noting that when the Utah County Interfaith Association learned of this new rule, they pulled out of the national event and hold their own later this month

Okay, I personally think the Mormon Blogosphere (or the Bloggernacle, or my preffered moniker, the DeserNet are blogs that are most worth a “Higher Being” designation. But what’s up with The Truth Laid Bear: The Blogosphere Ecosystem? Truth Laid Bear purports to track the popularity of blogs by how many other pages link to it.

My good friend, Mike pointed me to TLB’s main page and the Latter-Day Blogs [sic] ring is the number one blog in the internet! Obviously something is amiss, especially when you consider the company directly following Latter-day Blogs (which I’m not sure if it even is a blog, technically speaking).

1.Latter-Day Blogs (3538)

2.Instapundit (2768)

3.Talking Points Memo (1627)

4.Daily Kos / Political State Report (1571)

5.Eschaton (Atrios) (1560)

6.Andrew Sullivan (1429)

7.Blog Shares (1338)

8.The Volokh Conspiracy (1290)

9.Little Green Footballs (1232)

10.A Small Victory (1228)

P.S. I have long wondered how TLB works because I am but a lowly “Slithering Reptile” and I know I have more blogs linking to ASA then they report. Perhaps it’s just a reminder to keep my blogging ego in check.

A federal district court dismissed the ACLU’s two charges that: (1) the Church and Salt Lake City conspired to the Main Street Plaza land swap and (2) that Plaza itself is a “historic public forum.” (It’s worth noting that until the Church bought the land this “historic public forum” was a strip of asphalt traversed by cars).

“I don’t know anything about the man personally; I just don’t expect any Utah federal judge to go against the position of his or her church,” Siegel said. “The way this state is run makes those of us who are not LDS feel like we are an oppressed minority.”

Siegel said he expects appellate judges in Denver will see things differently.
All but one of Utah’s federal judges are LDS Church members. Kimball himself has served in the church as a regional representative, stake president, high councilor and bishop.

ACLU of Utah executive director Dani Eyer said it’s likely her group will appeal the ruling to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. . .

The mayor, himself a trial attorney and former ACLU of Utah board member, said Monday that Kimball’s ruling was “exceptionally thoughtful and well reasoned. . . . I don’t think there’s any legal merit to this lawsuit. I never did.”
Anderson urged the ACLU and its plaintiffs, including Siegel and four religious and political groups, to “conscientiously consider whether there are any good reasons to spend more time, money and energy on this matter.”

“We should put closure on it and move forward” . . .

Even [Utah ACLU executive director Dani] Eyer admitted Monday the city had “crossed all its t’s and dotted its i’s” in crafting the deal, adding, however, the city shouldn’t be proud, since she still feels its intention was to silence LDS Church critics on the plaza.

Just wanted to thank fellow Mormon blogger and Sci-Fi writer extraordinaire, Eric James Stone (cool name) for his Movable Type instructions on how to post referrals on your page. Even cooler is that it includes search engines and the terms which brought people to your site. The instruction were pretty easy as I was able to do it. Thanks.

Your state university appoints a new school president. Who does the local news consult for reaction? - why the local atheists of course:

Richard Andrews, a member of Utah Atheists, called the decision “a step back” . . .
“Not only is he Mormon, but he’s also a male,” said Andrews when noting there has never been a female president at the university.

This is coming from those who complain about religion being in the public sphere too much. Instead, religion is always the issue (for me, it smacks of the liberal approach to racial discrimination where everything is about race).

The most shocking thing about moving out to Utah for law school at the University of Utah was the antipathy towards the Church. Apparently, too many expect certain institutions (like the University or the Salt Lake Tribune) to always counter the Church, and are disappointed when they aren’t 100% consistent.

I understand there are reasons to not like how some have used the Church, but too often these reasons have developed into excuses for religious bigotry.

My experience at the law school was on a whole a good experience, but I was discouraged that for a state school it seemed so out of touch with the state. Considering that the state population is 70% LDS and overwhelmingly conservative, is it too much to ask that one member of the faculty be LDS and/or conservative? I don’t know what the solution is, quotas are unacceptable, but the school appears to go out of its way to recruit “diverse” (AKA non-LDS, non-conservative, and non-Utah) professors.

Last month the Senate Judiciary Committee held a field hearing on the PATRIOT Act at the University’s law school. Considering that the non-governmental witnesses were stacked six to two against the PATRIOT Act (although only Senator Hatch attended the hearing it was a gracious gesture to the Democrats), we tried to get a law professor to testify with a positive view of the Act - but we could not get a single one who was willing to do so. You may say that is indicative of the Act, but I would say that is much more indicative of the faculty at the U and of academia as a whole.