Interest Rates

With all of us so concerned about our personal and nation finances, we are told that we need to get out there and spend. In Utah we have handled the situation very well with the hard work of all involved. Some of the very banks that we are bailing out with taxpayers help and now we find out that they are gouging us! Some have reported that their credit card interest rates spiked at 23.9%! President Obama has waded into the issue and advised that while the nation is in the current economic conditions, this is not the smartest thing to do.

When we talk about credit cards, we often forget the role of the merchant. How many times have you gone to the store and they don’t accept certain types of credit cards, that is because of the fee placed on them by the credit card companies. Sometimes the merchant loses up to 3% percent on every transaction. Imagine that times by a gazzilion people. Now to make things worse, we see bills being sent out late, if only by a day or two, and now the interest rates go sky high.

Caller Randy felt the credit card industry isn’t the only one taking advantage of American citizens. The medical insurance industry is another one that is taking advantage of us. To a degree we all have a responsibility here with the education that we have provided for our kids. For those that say they had nothing to do with the problem have everything to do with it.

Caller Patricia used to work for a company that took calls for over 20 credit card companies. They had to have extensive training before they could talk to any customers. Every company is different and had different rules and regulations.

Caller Matt told about a documentary that was made about how credit card companies purposely withhold payments so that they can charge the higher interest rates.

Caller Cindy thinks that the credit cards shouldn’t be regulated, but should be left alone. If we are to pressure them into taking up the slack for those that don’t pay on time, they will make it hard for those that have excellent credit scores and stop giving them benefits.

Tightening the belt

President Obama pointed out that the American people have a confidence gap in where and how their money is spent by the government. He challenged the government find a way to save 100 million dollars. 100 million dollars is merely a drop in the bucket these days. President Obama wants to save to first ladies pet project and needs to cut 100 million dollars from the national budget to do so.

Where would you cut things?

Caller Todd thought that the post offices could take the hit to find these funds.

Caller Sheri felt that President Obama could cut back on welfare by allowing the disadvantaged to serve at the same time that they receive help to cut down operation costs.

Caller Tyler proposed that if the government held off on buying new automobiles then they would have the money in no time.

Caller Todd is thankful for this god-given nation and thought that the streamline could start with the army core of engineers and secondly the tax code. We want them to function, but how many offices do you need? Every other business is having to take some cuts, so should the government.

Predator or Defender?

Are pay day lending establishments predators or are they a useful institutions? Sadly, many of those that do use these services are getting themselves deeper and deeper into a hole of debt. If you want to see smoke come out of KSL’s financial advisor Clark’s ears then mention pay-day loaning. There were 21 pay day lenders in Salt Lake City in 2007, only two years later there are more than 50! How many people really understand the idea of personal finance? With the fact that so many exist, what does this say about our society? What does it say about credit unions or other financial institutions?

Payday loaners are the tip of the iceberg; they are the product of a larger problem.

Are they predators or are they defending a place in the marketplace?

Caller Mary has a loan for 700 dollars. She has to pay 70 dollars a week for 12 weeks. She is a grandma raising two grandkids and works full-time but is able to somehow stay afloat. She feels that payday lenders should be outlawed.

Caller Greg would vote for the establishment of payday loaners. There is a desperation factor that the payday loaners meet. It’s amazing how many businesses do not cater to their customers’ needs.

Caller Mike thought that in the financial world there are so many other providers that we don’t have to use the payday loaners. There is a need out there that is not being addressed by the banks and credit unions. Maybe it is a matter of more convenient hours?

Immigration

I truly believe that I will be judged on how I judge others. And there will come a point where I will have to stand before my maker. I will say that I saw these people as my brothers and sisters. I will know that there is justice that must be met, but yet there is also mercy that should be given. The Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner D. Lance Davenport recently spoke at a community center in a Hispanic community and said they are concerned with traffic safety and the community. The journalist who covered this thought that this promise only held true to the Hispanic population. The Utah Highway Patrol, according to Commissioner Davenport, would be in charge of renewed immigration efforts.

If we want the Utah Highway Patrol to be able to do this, then we have to give them additional funding. They were the first department to get the short end of the stick on the budget cut last October. The Department of Corrections received a 20precent budget cut. Chief Burbank thought it was absurd that we isolate a community so that they fear to call the police for fear that others in the community will get busted.

A caller whose parents are from Mexico told of how her father came here illegally. All the kids have graduated from college and her parents haven’t done anything wrong. Her dad tried to legalize the right way and immigration wouldn’t let him. Most people that are upset with immigration are racist.

Caller John takes real issue with the previous caller and the accusation that if you are concerned about immigrants that you are racist. He also agrees with Doug in that you can’t round everybody up and send them home. His thought is that action needs to be taken to stop illegal immigration and deal with those here.

Caller Tyler agreed that there needs to be addition funding given to local law enforcement agencies. Doug agreed that action needs to be taken but the army that we would need to enforce immigration is off the charts.

Airport Privacy

We should have nothing to hide, why do we care? I am just glad that the police are out there doing their job. However, our founding fathers died so that when the police knocked on your door, you could simply refuse to let them enter your home. This is a sacred American right. You have that right and privacy is a big part of it.

Now they are trying to enhance the capabilities of the scanners in airports. How far are we going to go on this? You see some real detail on these scanners. How do you feel when you go to the airport and people have the ability to look at ANYTHING. Some people use the airport as much as some use the UTA bus.

How far do we go to insure our security at the airport? How much of a right to privacy can you expect?

Congressman Jason Chaffetz joined the program from Capitol Hill. There comes a point where we over step privacy barriers and this is way, way over the boundary. The TSA is doing a terrible job to let people know of the details. The scanners are able to detect a bead of sweat on someone’s back, imagine what else they can see. If you refuse to go through the machine then you cannot get to your flight. This is absolutely ridiculous.

Doug has a high respect for the TSA and understands that they will most likely not abuse this. But the fact that these images are available is scary. These definitely aren’t something you want your kids looking at, so why would you want anyone else to have access to them. If people actually say what was required for them to get on an airplane, they would be absolutely appalled.

Caller Josh is an aviation student at UVU and researched this topic closely recently. What he found was that the machine is able to focus on specific aspects or regions of the body. Doug acknowledged this but what happens when people get clever and start hiding things in different places.

Caller Alice agreed that the images are very, very specific. She has been flying since she was 6 months old and if they implement this technology she will not fly again.

11 year olds with possible felony

Set the time machine for 5^th grade in Mrs Anderson’s class. Doug was there with all of his great friends. I think of some of the things that we were expected to know and do in the 5^th grade. We are supposed to know the difference before right and wrong. According to Scholastic Parents we should be able to differentiate between fiction and non-fiction. We should now then be able to present a comprehensive report, long division, and retain facts from science from the year before. How many of you would have survived through the fifth, sixth, and seventh without a felony? When pornography appeared in an elementary school last week in American Fork, the parents weren’t called, the police were. Two fifth graders showed some classmates pornography and the school suspended them. Since the police were involved, this was brought to juvenile court. Now that it is in the legal system the prosecutors could charge the two with dealing harmful materials and could be charged with a second degree felony. The police say that most likely this will be the case. These images are disturbing and this is never appropriate, but to charge them with a felony! Reportedly these kids had never been in trouble before!

You talk to anybody and there is probably a story like this in anyone’s family. A police officer was able to use a little bit of judgment and instead of taking the kids to the station, he drags them home to the parents because the penalty will often be more effective. The laws are so tough these days that the officers have no choice.

Caller Ann knows one of the kids and affirmed that he had never been in trouble. The fact is that they don’t know a whole lot. Shouldn’t the teacher be charged with a felony too?

Caller Les thought that many time children are charged with the maximum because once lawyers become involved that the punishment is going to be reduced considerably. Everybody has to be able to claim a win and how they slapped with the maximum penalty but because they wanted to be lenient it was reduced.

One of the moms called in and told her take on the story. She went into the office and found her son in there and thought that he had gotten into a fight. He told her that he typed in a word on the computer and pictures of naked women came on the screen. The mother said that they were looking up cars and one of the peers suggested that he type in the word “lesbian” in the Google search box, which brought up pictures of naked women. Her first reaction was why would you do this and then she thought of how could you do this? The programs should be better than that. When it first happened she didn’t know what was going on. After waiting a couple of hours, the police officers read her son his rights and asked his about what had happened. After the questioning the kids were told that they would be charged with a felony for the distribution of pornographic material. These kids had never been in any kind of formal trouble ever.

Nuclear Waste

On top of the nuclear waste stored in Utah we talk about things that have been discovered by playgrounds and schools. At one time the Western desert used to be designated for things like this. Radioactive things give people creeps and rightly so. At the same time, where would you like them to be? If Utah were to become the place to store these things, there are a lot of people that would be concerned. Are we destined to accept foreign waste?

Dr. Dianne Nielson joined the program from Capitol Hill. Her understanding is that the NRC doesn’t have the federal authority to band the waste being shipped to the state. The Northwest Compact is what holds the authority. It is one of the compacts established by the state to be able to make the decision on how they want to manage the waste within the state. Later on the state agreed that waste could come from outside the compact. The NRC does confirm what the state said in that the Northwest Compact is what will determine what will be done with the waste.

Nothing will happen with regards to this waste until the state has reached a decision. The general sentiment is that they do not have the power or authority to band accepting outside waste. We should not approve the facilities to generate waste, but simply just to store the waste.

Better as a paper weight

51 volumes containing autobiographies, drama, dialogues etc. comprise the U.S. tax code. 70,320 pages long. With the math, we figured it would take you 24 years to read it if you were to read it like the USA Today A section each morning during breakfast. It needs to be blown up; it has got to go. All of our lives are so intertwined with this in the details of how many kids we have, bank accounts, assets etc. It has got to be simplified.

Caller Ron is in favor of the consumption of taxes. However taxes are so intertwined with our everyday life that it would seem almost impossible to do this. It needs to be done in logical process starting with corporation taxes.

Who in the world can sort out all those modifications? Do you or do you not allow reductions? Would the vast majority of things you buy be taxed in a flat tax? You bet. This would create a black market where you could buy things without taxes.

The system that we have now encourages more dishonesty. When asked to sign the tax return and vouch that you have given the most accurate information, the sentiments are “I sure hope so. But I am not sure?”

Caller Louise questioned whether there would be taxes on everything you buy? The theory is that with a flat tax is on whatever your income is. There might be a slight reduction for home payments or charitable contributions.

Caller Jason thought that it would be easier to have a bonfire and burn them all. He has spent his tax refunds already and helping that economy along.

Conscience Clause

Many hospitals in the old days and today have religious affiliations. Some of these doctors and nurses could be in your very congregation. What if the government were to come and dictate that your practice must provide certain procedures if it is deemed legal? What if a deeply religious doctor were asked to perform abortions or even the morning after pills? The Conscious Clause allows health care workers to not participate in any practice they feel is contrary to their beliefs. The Obama administration is working to reverse the Conscious Clause.

Every time these laws have been pitched the question is raised that cannot religious institutions also practice their freedoms, their civil rights to act how they will? Are we really going to get into the position of forcing others to do something against the dictates of their conscience? There are plenty of people that would rather get a new job.

Planned Parenthood is working to end the Conscience Clause because it puts women in jeopardy in that few physicians will perform abortions. The Supreme Court established in the Roe vs. Wade case that health care workers should not be held to practice procedures against their personal morals.

We are not out of line to ask how many more steps to go before the actual government will ask you to go beyond your own morals. Should we not also consider the rights of those in health care and not just those seeking these medical procedures?

Caller Lori mentioned the Hippocratic Oath includes that doctors should do no harm. Is this asking doctors to break this oath?

Caller Alexis is from the Buffalo, NY area. She told of how there is a large community of Catholic healthcare in her area where many doctors have been forced to leave their jobs because they will not perform certain procedures.

Its a pirate's life for me

Somali pirates took American oil ship captive off the coast of the horn of Africa. What we have here is a good old stand-off. We have some of the pirates in a lifeboat holding the captain hostage, out of fuel just staring about each other. This sounds like something that Jefferson dealt with in his time. We have to go back a hundred years to see the last time that this happened. There is so much at stake considering what these ships and their cargo is worth. Secretary Clinton told that the world must come together to end piracy.

This is an international problem. All the money that pours into the UN could be used to create a protective force that would accompany international vessels. If the UN ever wanted to step in to say that they weren’t useless, this would be the chance.

Caller Givon thought they need to hire a watchman that could protect these tankers with millions of dollars worth of cargo on it.

Caller Mike imagined if he had any ownership in one of these boats he would have a permanent guard on board that could prevent something like this from happening.

Caller Jim pointed out that we have satellite technology that would allow us to identify where these pirates came from. It also seems like it was easier to rob the ship than it is to rob a convenience store.

Caller Brad felt that we need to send out a message that we are not going to tolerate behavior like this.

One of these days these pirates are going to run amuck. One of the crew members could decide they don’t have anything to lose and open fire on the pirates. Considering how flammable the cargo on these ships are something bad could happen.

Refugee Center Shooting

A man walked into the refugee center in New York and opened fire killing several people before he turned the gun on himself. The analysis was that this was a crime against that system and the economic problems. This is completely false. Normal people do not do this. This had nothing to do with the economy or weapons; the man was mentally ill.

How do mentally ill people get their hands on weapons?

The analysis up to this point has been completely wrong. The shooter wrote a note explaining how he had been abused by cops. This was the crime of a mentally ill person.

Caller Tiffany didn’t have a solution to the problem of gun control because he would have lashed out in another way if he didn’t have a gun.

Caller Joyce problem with restricting the problem to those that are mentally ill is that there is no way to screen everyone.

Caller Todd thought that the craziest person out there is the person that blamed this on the gun. You can’t stop crazy people from getting them.

Sedetary Hereditary

1 in 5 four year olds are obese. How is it that you get to that point? When you think about it our kids our kind of following in our footsteps or we are pushing our lifestyles on our kids. We all know that we sit around too much and should we be surprised if our kids do that as well? The American Way is simply to take a diet pill and that solves the problem. Should doctors develop these for children?

Caller Nancy agreed that lifestyle plays a large part of the problem. To add to that there is this toxic solution of diet pills that needs to be taken care of.

Caller Jenny pointed out that you have a lot of homes where both the parents come home from work and plop down on the couch and the kids only do likewise. You have to figure out how to be active even in the winter months.

Can we really demand our children to live lives that we are not willing to live ourselves?

Caller Julie thinks that everyone is talking about food when they should be concerned about lifestyle. Kids need sports to keep them active.

Caller Rob told that as a kid he rode the bus home and there was an obese girl that rode the bus as well. She was the subject of many jokes but every day without fail the girl’s mother would meet her as she exited the bus and would have a plate of cookies or brownies for her. Rob felt that we point our fingers at others too easily instead of looking at our own lifestyle.

President, should I shut it down?

We pay our bills; check our stocks on the internet every day. I appreciate the fact that the law makers are looking into the security of the environment. What will be the actual presidential power over the internet? The president could potentially disconnect anyone from the internet at any time. As we move into this brave new world we become ever more involved with the internet. The extreme case of 9/11 still gives the government cause to pass something like this. In that case should President Bush have had this power over the internet?

The experts that are watching this say that there will be no review; they will just shut it down if there is any question.

Caller Clinton expressed that there is not enough safeguard against the government’s regulations. He is a computer geek himself and does not endorse hackers but does not see enough threat for the government to step in.

As we look into the future of this cyber world and we identify how much of our lives are dependent on it, we need to take a proactive role. We give the government considerable power to shut down other types of systems, like the airplanes on 9/11, and should this extent to cyberspace? We ought to be able to regulate that.

Caller Cameron thought there is a time where in national security measures need to be made. With the internet there might be specific aspects that could be shut down without the entire system.

Caller Matt feels outraged by the thought of anyone having this kind of power. The people that are sponsoring this bill don’t have a comprehensive knowledge of the internet.

DeChristopher the Winnie

University of Utah Economics student Tim DeChristopher bid on 13 drilling parcels near Arches and Cayonlands with no intention of paying the 1.8 million for them. He is most likely not going to spend ten years in jail and he is not going to pay 750,000 in fines. The bottom line is that he needs to realize this is serious. He told how he thought that Obama administration was going to bail him out. Not going to happen. This guy doesn’t get that we are in the middle of economic hardship. These people like DeChristopher want you to believe that they are going to put a derrick right under Rainbow Bridge. They are nuts, it doesn’t happen that way. Doug has an oil derrick across the street from his house and they are not raping and pillaging the land. We can do extract oil and be sensitive to the surrounding environment.

DeChristopher stepped up to take away jobs in these hard economic times so that he could have his ten minutes of glory in the name of the environment. He is not Rosa Parks, DeChristopher is just a weenie.

What sentence would you give Tim DeChristopher for his crime?

Caller Wendy felt that DeChristopher should work as an unpaid intern working to solve these problems in a productive way

Caller Spencer felt that DeChristopher was successful in the delay of further drilling. Doug felt there are rare times that civil disobedience. There is no way that he could be considered successful. This only proves how clueless DeChristopher is to the situation.

Caller Jeff felt that punishment for this should be given. This is not how business in Utah is done. Maybe those at the auction should have a say in the punishment as well or should receive restitution. DeChristopher stole the potential or delayed the potential revenue, he stole the time and efforts out into the auction and he is a criminal.

Depression

What is more teen then imagining there is nothing more important than what is going on in that moment? There is nothing more teen than feeling that life will be over if they do not find true love by senior prom. Does this mean that they need a psyche evaluation? Do they need to be screened for depression?

Good pediatricians have at their fingertips proper help. We should never be embarrassed by it and it should be encouraged that pediatricians know how to identify and treat depression. From the reports it seems there is a power grab from an industry that is starving for patients.

Caller Lloyd told about a son of his that was diagnosed with depression. His son got a new girl friend and was fine but the medical records of his depression are available to the public and have prevented his son from getting various jobs. The employers can’t afford the insurance needed to treat employees with a history of depression.

Caller Katie feels that a really big problem and reason for teenage depression is the gap between parents and teenage children. Research shows that their brains are changing rapidly and parents need to find coping skills instead of diagnosing their children with depression.

This doesn’t change the fact that every teen has to reconcile the world and find your place in it. They have to choose which way they are going to go.

Caller Rob felt that this is another example of wanting the government to solve our problems. Parents should recognize that they can solve this problem and Rob found it kind of scary that this recommendation was made.

Spread it like butter

When Doug walked into the 7/11 this morning and asked the attendant Matt how he was doing, Matt answered without hesitation, “Better”. One word can have such a profound effect. This reflects the statements that President Obama made in how we are at the end of the beginning. Imagine if we all went out and bought a little stock that would do worlds of good.

Is there anything good happening out there?

There is a website called spread the joy where people can go to find positive

What are we all doing to pull this country out of this funk? We all have our role in funk and we all have our role to get us out of this funk.

Caller Shawna is taking time off with her family to go on vacation.

Caller Leanne told of how her children recognized the joy in the journey and she challenged her children to find it in their day

Caller Linda told that she’s danced to footloose every morning. Which Doug pointed out was shot in Utah County

Let it go

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner faced grilling at hearing over AIG’s payouts. In an effort to cover the embarrassment the legislature passed a 90% tax, instead of just taking the money back. Do we really want to use the IRS as a club to beat someone over the head that we don’t like? There is no shame in giving a bonus to someone that deserves it provided the company is doing well. When we have a failing company that took irresponsible risks, droving their company onto the reef, there is no way that they would deserve bonuses. Some of the bonuses that were over a million dollars were retention bonuses; they weren’t even with the company anymore! Then we find out in the testimony today that if we sued to get the money back and lost, in accordance to the law in Connecticut, we would have to pay double what we sued for.

Here is the rub. Many of us are still dwelling on yesterday when there are bigger fish to fry. There was a trillion dollar proposal made to stimulate the economy yesterday but it was over looked. This is how messed up we are. 160 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the problems that we currently have.

Caller Forrest told Doug that he was missing the boat. He felt that the liberals were running the show these days and once the conservatives take over again is when things will turn around. Doug expressed his frustration in people that point out a boogie man and we need to act like Americans and not democrats vs. republicans.

We are suffocating ourselves with dogmatic views towards the other partisan. We are Americans and we need to get over this division. Wouldn’t you love to be called a peacemaker? This doesn’t happen only in times of wars but peace can be brought to the bargaining table.

Is there any bipartisanship anymore? Honestly, when are we going to listen to each other?

Caller Dean thought that Doug has done a great job this morning. Doug felt that sometimes we get caught up in what we perceive. There is something wrong with the absolute idea that when someone from outside reaches over the isle and is seen as a traitor but when someone from the other side of the isle they are seen as heroes. This is not right.

Caller Joe feels that Doug is a voice of reason that he can listen to. Finds its ironic that some of the challenges that have come upon the nation is because of the media. He doesn’t know what KSL is doing when they run Sean Hannity in the afternoons. Hannity advocates that anyone crossing the isle is a traitor.

Compromise is this nation is a glorious word.

Stick a needle in my eye...

There have been an increasing amount of people that have been getting tattoos…on their eyes. This craze has stemmed from medical practice of corneal tattoos in order to treat corneal scarring. Even doctors are hesitant to perform such procedures but to do something like this solely for the purpose of body adornment is ludicrous.

What do you think about tattooing your eyes?

Caller Justin thought it is crazy. Maybe we need to come up with better contact lenses so that people don’t have to tattoo their eyes.

Some of these tattoos you can never cover up. Sometime in the future, maybe when they are in their 80’s, would want their

Caller Dave thought that the eye tattoo is a little scary and sick. Has two sons that have tattoos. Once of his sons had a Chinese character tattooed on him, and it turns out that they go the character wrong. The symbol actually means flatulence.

Caller Matt works in the tattoo removal business. There are a lot of clients that come in and tell him “what was I thinking?” They have brand new equipment that is actually able to remove colors. The sticker price to remove a smaller tattoo is about 700 dollars.

Grassley calls for suicide

What do we do with people that are corporate pirates? What do we do with people that are evil? Some have suggested that they “fall on their own swords” and do away with themselves. At least three people have committed suicide from news of personal losses with Bernie Madoff’s 50 billion Ponzi scheme. Iowa Senator Charles Grassley suggested that the executives of the insurance giant AIG should accept responsibility for its collapse and kill themselves.

Did Senator Grassley’s comments go too far or is he expressing the sentiments of the American people?

Caller Chris didn’t feel that comment was right but would like to see those responsible for writing the contracts give an explanation. How could their bonuses be guaranteed even when they knew that the company was going bankrupt?

Caller Brian didn’t agree with suicide that was suggested by Senator Grassley. Brian as a business owner would never give a bonus when the company didn’t perform. Let them and General Motors go down the drain.

Caller McLain also didn’t agree with Senator Grassley’s comments but can understand his frustrations. We need to look down the street and others that are taking the government handouts need to take a bow. Some of these situations were made possible by the legislation. What some of those people in the committees should put a mirror in front of themselves and identify what they have done to facilitate these things. Some of this could be traced right back to congress.

Caller Barbara owned a small business for ten years and wouldn’t think of giving money away when things weren’t going well. She also asked: “what happened to honor?” Shouldn’t the captain go down with the ship?

The good news is that with these huge examples of fraud, there are still lots of people that want to do things the right way.

Caller Bruce owns his own company and when it started to tank in November he cut his own salary significantly. Bruce met with his bank and some other investors to make sure that things would work out in these tough times. There is a great feeling that comes with doing things the right way.

Missing the point

Is nothing sacred in this world anymore? What we are talking about is the HBO program depicting life as a polygamist called Big Love. HBO promised the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that it would not depict the church in any way. However that line has become blurry in recent episodes.

The show’s producer told the press that “We are going to show something that has never been shown on television before.” “They researched it out the wazoo,” in order to insure that it was accurate. Doesn’t this sound like something sincere and respectful? They supposedly hired an x-Mormon consultant to insure its accuracy.

There are members of the LDS church that are contacting their local cable providers to tell that if this airs than they are going to have to reconsider cable services.

Caller Tanya told of an experience where she was given a Bible from another faith that contained a pamphlet explaining the LDS temple ceremony. It is sacred but the temple ceremony is only valuable when the spirit is present. This will not happen for the television show.

This is nothing exclusive to Mormons, but the benefit of this ceremony is with the spirits presence.

Caller Kim didn’t understand why this ceremony is so intrinsic to this show. They are obviously not members of the LDS church so why do they care so much? Doug pointed out that there are some resemblances in the FLDS church and that is why it’s important.

Caller Steve says bring it on. There have been efforts in the past by Hollywood to cast negative attention on the LDS church like The Mountain Meadow Massacre which absolutely flopped.

Such things say more about the insensitivities of the producers and directors than they do about the LDS Church.

Race for the seat

Battle lines are being drawn for the Senate race coming up. The first is Bob Bennett which is currently serving his 3rd term. Utah Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, is the other contestant in the race for the Senate seat.

So who would get your vote? And if you are a Democrat, who would set your plate?

Caller Matt would vote in favor of Bob Bennett. They have both done a great job at where they are. So why ruin a great thing? Matt did feel that there were any apparent Democrat candidates but feels that both parties must make an effort to appease the other.

Caller Aaron would vote for Mark Shurtleff. This would be in part because of the fact that he really hates the career politicians or those that have been in office for a considerable amount of time.

Death with Dignity

The right thing to do when we see an animal suffering is the end its misery. Does this same principle apply to the human animal? This is the choice of a person that is suffering something worse than death. The advocate for this action, Dr. Kevorkian, felt that this was not a crime but rather a matter of choice. On the other hand, a majority feel that every person is of worth, whether 25 or 85. On the part of the physician, is this is a breach of the Hippocratic Oath?

Caller Michael is a physician himself and agreed with the adoption of the death with dignity law in Utah. He would not permit for someone to suffer longer than necessary. He felt that it wasn’t proper that we put our loved ones through pain.

Caller Scott watched his grandmother suffer from Parkinson’s disease and felt that it was a family decision. If you were to have a child in a serious accident and would be left as an invalid for the rest of their lives, would the family want to keep them that way?

There are a lot of elderly people that feel that they do not want to be a burden on their family. They don’t want to drain their estate and the resources of those they love while they suffer.

Caller Lynn is a hospice worker and feels that this is a mindset. We look to death as the most horrible thing that could happen but that we should see it as part of our life. We forget that as human beings we are here to touch others lives and likewise be touched. Death is just the opposite end of what began with birth.

Caller Judy had her sister just recently die from stomach cancer and consequently spent time in the hospice. Her sister hadn’t eaten any solid food for a couple of weeks. The hospice then increased the sedatives and Judy was told that most patients last for a week in this condition, but her sister hung on for two weeks. She wished that in this case this was allowed.

Caller Ken had changed his stance in recent years with his mother suffering from Alzheimer disease. She suffered for the last 4 years of her life in constant fear. He said that he would have made that decision for his mother.

Do we roll over?

What is happening on Capitol Hill in relation to the cigarette tax issue is really embarrassing. The attitude toward cigarette taxes in a poll last year was clear. 84 % percent thought that we really ought to raise the tax. Jacking it up the amount of tax to three dollars a pack this year, the approval only dropped 7 percent. Above food tax, and toll roads the majority want there to be taxes imposed on cigarettes. On Capitol Hill there are no ding, ding, dings as to the need for raising cigarette taxes, only ding-a-lings.

A good lobbyist with a lot of clout on Capitol Hill can make half a million dollars. There are respectable former legislatures that Phillip Morris has hired to fight against this tax. Anything that might happen is being thwarted by these powerhouses on Capitol Hill. Our problem is that we are so in awe of these former state legislatures that we will roll over and do what they want.

Senator Jay Seegmiller joined the show from Capitol Hill. He is currently lobbying for a bill that would prohibit smoking in the car with children. He has talked to hundred of citizen about this bill and only a handful of people have disagreed with him. The one point that he made about the tobacco lobbying is that citizen lobbying can be just as effective. We need to take initiative to support raising the cigarette tax. He pointed out that many of the legislators may not have ever taken a look at these polls and only paid attention to their emails and phone calls.

Utah is 34^th in the nation as to the amount of tax on cigarette. Why in the world are our legislatures so willing to listen when we are already so low? 87% on the website poll agreed with Doug on this issue.

Caller George has been smoking for 18 years and feels that we should raise the taxes on cigarettes.

Caller Kurt felt that Doug was saying exactly what needed to be said. Smoking is a tremendous health cost to our system. Doug recounted representatives of the tobacco industry told the Sweden government that the tobacco industry was saving the government money by killing people off sooner. Kurt recommended that we call our representatives and let them know, the issue is still on the fire.

Stimulus--Get behind it

Governor Huntsman defended his decision to take the federal stimulus money. It is a one-percent issue meaning that this is only a small part that we are talking about here. We are taking it because we have some holes in our economy.

Should Utah take the money?

Doug asked if we should come together and make the plan work or should we disagree with the plan and “gripe” about it? Governor Huntsman is not positioning himself, he has some legitimate concerns and has no qualms with taking the money. The bottom line is that this plan was voted on and passed and should we carp or grouse about it now?

Caller Ted does not support the idea of the stimulus package. He felt there is a point where we need to get ourselves out of the hole that we dug. Doug thought that the point was clear that the President elect, Senate, and House all voted in favor and are we going to get behind it or not?

Caller David agreed with Governor Huntsman in spending the stimulus money. David felt it would be counterproductive to not take the money and support the actions of the government. Doug made the point that by us not supporting the plan, are we trying to sabotage it? Doug felt that we cannot pick and choose here, this is designed to elevate the entire nation and not only those places that support the plan.

Every single American has a role in supporting this plan irrespective of opinion. We have to get behind this plan 100%.

Caller Parker also felt we need to get behind the stimulus package. There were a lot of people that we against the idea of the package but were glad when their vote didn’t matter.

Caller Rich voiced that in order to raise up the city like Doug had suggested in order for the stimulus plan to work then we need some engineering. Rich felt that there wasn’t any engineering going on. Doug felt the question here that we all need to ask is: Is this going to create jobs? Doug wished that we identified those issues that are of national importance. Then we would make it a 60-40 deal. 60% would go towards health care and those other national issues and the other 40% would be up to the states discretion.

Bogged Down By Buttars

The amazing thing about free speech is the fact that you will be held responsible. There are consequences to what we do and what we say. District 10 is a vibrant community with immense growth and that ought to be reflected in their Senate representative. Buttars not only represents District 10 but also the state of Utah. The least that we could expect from someone in this position is a filter on what they say.

The Legislative session has been bogged down in Buttars

Former President of the Senate John Valentine joined the show. He thought that the general consensus of the meeting yesterday was that Senator Buttars should be removed from two of the committees including the powerful Senate Rules Committee. Senator Valentine thought that Senator Waddups action to remove Senator Buttars from these committees was the appropriate thing to do.

The biggest observation that Senator Valentine made was that we can sometimes lack respect in our discourse. To say that every person that speaks carelessly is totally without morals is not reasonable. Your public officials live in a fish bowl and everything that they do is in plain view and sometimes they forget that.

Caller Toby voiced his disagreement of Doug and Doug’s support of Governor Huntsman. Toby felt that Governor Huntsman was left-wing on his environmental issues. Doug affirmed that Governor Huntsman will not always tell you what you want to hear but he will be candid with us and that is what is important. Doug gave Toby the last word in which he chose to say that there are no public officials that accurately represent the political views of the state.

Senate Majority Leader Pat Jones joined the show to comment on Senator Buttars. What Senator Jones called for this week was to clarify, rectify, by removing him from the Judiciary Committee, and then let it die. The Republicans are very embarrassed by Senator Buttars actions. The fact is that a majority of Republicans and even Democrats agree on the topic of marriage between a man and a woman but Senator Buttars’ comments are inappropriate.

The Perfect Mess

For all those that imagined Doug with a corner office and an enormous oak desk, this video might be disturbing.

He is without sin, let him cast the first stone

“This next hour is going to be very troubling for me.” While Doug has some substantial differences from those on Capitol Hill, but he was shocked. Considering what Senator Buttars his thoughts have seemed to have run uncensored from his thought process to his mouth. There are people that absolutely circle around this guy. Doug was just stunned at his comments that were so divisive and mean spirited.

Ecclesiastical leaders have never given permission to degrade others with opposing views. Elder Clayton went on to say the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has always asked its members to treat all people with civility, respect, and love. Governor Huntsman said that these views are hardly representative of Utah’s views.

Almost a year ago to do the day Deseret News commented that Senator’s Buttars needs to think long and hard about running for re-election. Where is the filter? There is a shocking disconnect between his brain and his vocal cords. The Deseret News went onto say it would be easier to accept Buttars if not for his outrageous and hurtful statements on issues ranging from gay-straight clubs in Utah public high schools to teaching "intelligent design" in public schools…it is questionable how effective his representation can be. The answer ought to be obvious.

We all deserve better, not Buttars—better.

Caller Jeff felt that this statement represents what he feels. Doug was shocked by those that can condemn homosexuals regardless of how active they are in their sexuality. Doug said that the homosexuals he knows are some of the most moral that he knows. Where are the pleas for kindness?

He who is without sin let him cast the first stone.

Caller Marsha was concerned a little about the election process. One of the things that concerned her was that Senator Buttars had many adult children that would go back to the polls and vote for Buttars. Doug said that the convention process if all about who shows up.

Some say that Buttars was just quoting scripture. Well Doug quoted Exodus 35:2 that said that we are to observe the Sabbath day and if we don’t, we are to be put to death. Should we literally interpret that?

You can be a person with same sax standards but be in good standing with the church. There are homosexuals that have the tendencies, but choose not to act on them.

KSL coverage of Senator Buttars:

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Get that money to work

The number one thing that we are hearing throughout the government is that things have to happen now. The number one goal of this program is to put people to work. Utah is going to receive about 200 million dollars for roads in order to put 6000 contractors to work. Doug knows that many of you are cringing about these actions but things need to happen.

Geithner’s address was a sign that this problem is “beyond mere mortals” and that even the Secretary of State doesn’t fully understand. There is something that needs to be done is the bottom line.

Where do you want to have the 200 million dollars spent?

U-dot John Njord gave an update about how the money from the stimulus package will be spent. They anticipate advertising projects within the next two weeks. Intentions are to spend the entire amount received by the end of the calendar year. They want to get as many contractors to work as soon as possible. We as the public will see a list of the projects that will be voted on. The projects that will be focused on are those that already in progress and most likely have orange cones on them already. Norton didn’t feel that he had anything “sexy” to say. The number one priority is to get people to work. We are also the only state that has said that they were going to spend the money this year.

Caller Sean had the concern with this big injection of money into projects, what effect is it going to have on our commute? Is this going to have a negative effect on our local communities? Doug felt that in spreading these funds out they will not disrupt the normal flow of traffic. There more than likely will not be any traffic killing projects.

Caller Hyrum hopes that they would use those funds to correct community conditions rather than the larger highways. He would like to see them gang up on these small projects quickly and then move on. Doug agreed that there have been some projects that seemed like they never were going to end.

Caller Brian is a professional truck driver in Utah County and is happy that is getting money for things that are needed.

Caller Reed thought that the commuter rail extended out to Provo would be something that would be very beneficial. Doug thought that the funds had been secured for that project and Doug is completely on track there with Reed.

Clear As Mud

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner gave an address today on the plan to help credit markets. Our economic strength is derived from the makers and the doers of the countries. Banks are essential to these people. This system of banks provided the necessary capital and credit that allows for companies to be built around an idea. Many banks are reducing spending which makes credit rates struggle. The financial system is currently working against progression.

There were systematic failures within our system of checks and balances. The dramatic failures of large companies caused investors to pull back. The spectacle of tax relief to those vary companies that caused this catastrophe added to skepticism of the American people in regards to it leaders.

Policy has to be comprehensive and forceful. Governments applied the brakes too early; the plans must be followed through with. Government has to allow the public to see the impact of their investment. We must send a clear message to the world that we will sustain the financial system.

Tax payers will be able to see. See the effect of the government’s investments. See the actions of business executives with the how they spend the money given them from tax payers. This will all be available on the government’s website

The success of our financial stability plan depends on the cooperation of the nation and even globally.

This strategy will involve risk and will take time but it will work if we hold to the plan. There will be future times that will be worse and uneven progress will exist but things will get better.

Doug listened to that and thought where was the inspiration! How do I digest all of that? There was a lot of financial speech, but where was the clarity? Some of this was a clear as mud. And Geithner looked so scared. A gifted leader should recognize that the problem is huge. The only thing to fear is fear itself.

If there is anything that we have learned it is that we need to act quickly! This is the time to be aggressive. The financial markets are not responding to this well at all.

Caller Trent told that the overall gist of the speech was that we are going to use your money to try a bunch of different things. Doug felt that if President Bush hadn’t stepped in when he did then this could have been much worse. The free market system could take care of this but at what cost?

Caller Richard told that the sad part is that the Obama campaign had painted Wall Street with a black brush and told that all the problems are because of them.

Phelps gets his hand slapped

When Kellogg decides that they want to put you on their box, should it not include and additional responsibility? This should be above and beyond the norm whether you do things like drugs but also how you carry yourself. Doug thought that this was absolutely appropriate for Kellogg’s to pull Phelps sponsorship.

Did Kellogg’s make an appropriate decision in not renewing Michael Phelps contract?

Caller Doug said that he didn’t feel the least bit sorry for Phelps. That is wrong if you put the blame on his parents. Phelps is 23 years old and should take the blame himself. Doug thought that when you sign a contract with Kellogg’s for millions, he would be stunned if there wasn’t a part in the contract that talked about conduct.

Everything boils down to theft. This action of Michael Phelps is theft to the image of Kellogg’s. He has also stolen something from all of us, specifically our confidence in him. Can you imagine a coach trying to explain that he wants his athletes in top shape but they reply, “but what about Michael Phelps, coach?”

Caller Vernon thought that Kellogg’s did absolutely the right thing. Most athletes only have their hands slapped. Michael Phelps should be thrown in jail because he broke the law. Doug felt that generally in society, we will never have to pay the piper or pay for our mistakes. Sadly it has been so out of balance recently.

Caller Scott thought that what Michael Phelps did was alright because it was his business what he did in his own home. Doug shot back that this is absolutely against the law and is not right. Plain and simple, it is against the law. This is a problem in our society that people think that the law doesn’t apply to them in certain situations. We need to change the law and for you that don’t think that it applies you need to help it change.

Caller John told of how his parents taught him at an early age that there are consequences to your actions. Kellogg not only has to stand by their image, but also the athletes that came before him. Doug thought that this gives parents a chance to sit down with their kids at tell them that there is a consequence to such actions.

Is this bill a business killer?

The idea that we do away with the private club laws moves into the scanning of drivers licenses. It then went to the idea that this would allow them to store information about those that came to the clubs. The first pool of thought was to store it at the club to have a better idea about the customers. Then it was thought best to store on a more permanent data base. Then there was the idea that the information would be shipped to the government to be stored there. Finally the pool of thought escaladed to the idea that the information would then be passed to other restaurants. The government has now come to the conclusion that there is a limit that needs to be put in place to intervention in private business.

Doug recounted “I have a mechanic that knows me quite well. I show up with my car and they tell me that it will take them about thirty minutes, so I usually walk to a nearby restaurant to get a bite to eat. One day I decided to go to a nice place to eat and so I went to a nice club where I had to purchase a membership.” If this law were into effect, Doug would now be put on the black ball list for being a member of a private club.

Is this bill a business killer!? They are proposing that there is a 5 to 25 cover charge for private clubs in order to discourage “bar hopping.” It seems that legislative had made a considerable effort to make things worse. It always could get worse and it just has. Then why don’t they leave the same person evaluates whether they need to call a cab for someone. We just want know that someone that goes into a bar isn’t underage or inebriated.

Salt Lake Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke wrote that Senator Waddoup’s comments as to the implementation of this law included that when the information was put into the computer it would be feed to a larger source. Senator Waddoups later claimed that this was not true to what he said. Doug wouldn’t blame anyone that thought about what they said the day before want entirely accurate. But the press is blamed way too much for getting a statement wrong.

Caller Jesse voiced that we all need to be accountable for our actions. Kids sneak in and they find a way to drink, why do we need to spend our money on this when there are much more important needs like education. We are trying everything to cut out budget and there are things much more important. Doug agreed that there are some laws that are even counterproductive.

Octuplets

On Monday, in Bellflower CA, a woman gave birth to octuplets. It is the second in the history of the United States. Doug said he doesn’t care how many kids that you have, somewhere along the line you have to consider the health of your wife and the babies. You aught to remember all their names, their birthdays and be able to spend some quality time with them. Not only does this woman have 8 newborn babies but--- these are in addition to 6 older children. We are talking about 14 children! All these embryos were implanted and so a doctor planted all 8 in this woman. Normally a doctor would implant 2. This woman is already 32 years old, why 8?

This brings up some real ethical questions here. When you already have 6 healthy children and considering the youngest being twins, but why 8? That is wonderful that they have the dedication to raise a family of 6 but why would you implant 8 embryos! The mother did have the decision to terminate a number of the children and she chose not to and that is admirable. But all these babies are going to be trust fund babies. Who is going to pay for these babies?

A source from CBS news found that the couple declared bankruptcy and abandoned their home a little over a year ago. The marital status is in question as well and to add to that the father is returning to Iraq.

The average family income is about 43,000 dollars a year. It costs 143,000 dollars to raise a child from their birth to 17 years of age. If you factor in 14 children, to raise them until they get through high school will cost just under 2 million dollars.

Caller David is from a family of 13 kids. In their situation the older kids were a tremendous help in raising the younger children. Some of the kids in the middle feel a little cheated but that is normal. In this case with the 8 newborns, the older kids are still way too young to take care of the babies.

Caller Lydia wanted to say that the fact that the doctor implanted 8 embryos is ridiculous. She has a daughter that has had infertility problems and recently paid 20,000 dollars for an artificial insemination. Her daughter and her husband had saved for years to afford that. It infuriates her that such an irrational action would be taken.

Caller Ryan said that we all know that it is the American tax payers that will take care of the cost. Doug said that somewhere you think that common since would kick in.

Outrage of the day: 18 billion in bonuses were given on Wall Street last year! President Obama called this behavior shameful! That is one of the highest numbers in history and it comes last year when everything was crumbling around them.

Utah Legislation is taking suggestions

Things are tough. You have to at least go back to the mid 80’s to find a similar situation. Utah is being swept along with a bigger national and international movement. Speaker of the House Dave Clark did something unique by handing out notebooks in which everyone was supposed to submit their ideas in what to do to solve Utah’s economic problems. Doug has his own and today and is going to be taking calls for suggestions to submit in his notebook to Speaker Clark.

Speaker Clark joined the show. You can email your suggestions at utahmatters@utah.gov. Speaker Clark assured that there is a group of economists and other academic leaders that compose a panel that analyzes the budget and spending. We have some tools but our big challenge is the spending of funds that don’t exist. Doug asked if the bond idea was feasible. The state is planning on using bonding to try and ease the impact of spending our rainy day funds.

Doug really appreciated the headline that legislative was going to scale back. Cutbacks are definitely necessary but where is the question. And God bless those on capital hill that have to make those decisions. We should absolutely be tapping into the rainy day fund but again, how much is the question.

The Utah state constitution does not say that we cannot go into debt, it just needs to be reasonable. The argument on capital hill is whether to put public projects on hold or to continue investing. All this assumes that things are going to work out and there isn’t an economic turn around. This is kind of like one of those Solomon splitting up the baby decision, it is tough. However, let’s not make things worse by over reacting. We have been smart enough to put things away and use those bonds that we have put away.

Doug liked the idea of the government spending being “throttled back”. However, if you throttle back too much, then the engines stall and things become worse. There is nothing wrong with bonding, and with using the rainy day fund. We don’t have to start laying off teachers and shutting down projects in our schools. You have to believe, some of these things are a leap of faith.

Never bet on the end of the world because it only happens once and you won’t be around to collect.

What suggestions do you have for Capital Hill?

1) The state should organize on the internet how civic groups can organize efforts to clean up the highway. If people were to see how trashy the highways have become they will never litter again.

2) Lottery in the State of Utah

3) Eliminate middle management government jobs

4) Wine coolers back in the store

5) Rotating medical savings account that don’t go stale, otherwise referred to as the Cafeteria Plans.

6) Crack down on welfare and Medicare programs.

7) Why not allow the Utah supervisors the ability to spend their own funds and let the funds carry over.

8) Once a quarter have a payoff without pay. It is better to have a quarter without pay than to lose your job altogether. People will make sacrifice.

Why arent we voting?

Doug received a call from Governor Huntsman’s office and was invited to be on a commission with the pupose to engage more Utah citizens in the political system. The official title of the commission is The Governor’s Commission to Strengthen Democracy in Utah. Doug recently made a visit to the Capital building to attend the announcement of the creation of this commission. Doug found it interesting that in the creation of the commission, Governor Huntsman did not give a place where he wanted the commission to end up at. Governor Huntsman went on to mention issues that eventually were going to be faced. Among them was the idea that was ethics reform. It wasn’t given any particular attention but was mentioned. Today an article was published that this commission was in fact an ethics commission. It was very interesting to see the spin that was taken by the press.

The Governor also threw out the idea of open primary elections. Closed primarys need to be don’t away with! As red as we are with areas that are now blue, we still consider ourselves to be independent. Doug resents having to show up and declare a party affiliation. Doug absolutely agrees that this is a big reason that very few are voting.

A real barrier was broken and a new landmark was made at so many levels with the presidential elections this year. In 2004 Utah was 18^th from the bottom of the list in voter turn out rate. In 2008 we were 4^th on the list along side Arkansas! Over the past 50 years Utah has gone from the state with the largest voter turn out to one of the smallest.

Doug had childhood memories of German immigrants that would crowd his grandmother’s house in order to vote. These immigrants wouldn’t dream of not voting, that was a major reason why they came to the United States. So why don’t we vote?

If you could of voted why didn’t you? If you didn’t vote call me and tell me why.

Caller Chris didn’t feel real interested in politics until the government buy out plans. Then he felt that there weren’t enough sources for accurate information to make an educated vote.Doug said that next time Chris didn’t feel prepared to vote, call him and Doug will personally deliver to Chris the sources where he can find this information. Doug said he would personally drive to Chris’s home and give him that information!

Caller Gale presented the idea that there is a lack of confidence in the government over the last couple of years. Doug thought it was interesting that Gale mentioned that because when the Governor was being interviewed and Governor Huntsman proposed a term limit to his own office and not one supported the idea and so he limited himself. This shows how people have been paying lip service. Doug thought that Gale brought up a real valid point of how do we inspire confidence back into the voters?

Caller Darrel gave a complaint that the voter location has been changed so often. He had to even take a GPS to find a voting place. Doug felt that we do have a consistency issue in the voting process. Usually the voting places are published in the paper and are certainly found online. There are organizations that will even drive you to the poll!

Removing the hyphen from African-American

I hope we can open up our hearts in regards to the things that Will Smith has said. Do we have racist people among us? Absolutely. I am not saying we don’t have problems, but we have come a really, really, really long way. Even just in my life time.

Will Smith wrote an editorial for USA Today. In his commentary to what had transpired with the inauguration of President Barack Obama, he said how this event has untied us as a country that is not longer racial. Smith told how racism and prejudice is no longer institutionalized. We can all take pride in where we came from, but Smith said no longer have hyphens in describing out ancestors: African-American, Irish-American, or Asian-American. We are Americans of African decent or Americans of Irish decent or Americans of Asian decent.

When we describe someone, we tend to pick something unique or distinctive whether it is by hair color, face shape, body shape. When it comes to describing ourselves, the American needs to come first.

Are we still an institutionalized nation in regards to racism?

Joe called in to remind us that the Native Americans were technically the first people here. Doug referred back to the indigenous people. Where they came from is debatable. The point that Joe brought up is so valid though, that WE ARE ALL IMMIGRANTS. Even the American Indians came from somewhere that was not the North American continent.

Max called in to comment that there is still racism in the justice system. In terms of capital punishment there are twice as many African Americans sentenced to death than any other nationality. Doug sarcastically offered the solutions to this as the guys with the better lawyer wins, and the person with the deep pockets can afford the good lawyer. Even though we have put out the big fire of racism in the nation, there are still hot spots that are smoldering and the justice system is one of the big ones.

Doug played a clip from The Duke. The hyphen means that we are a divided America. A simple little line is a device as one can get. It can be a bridge and span all the differences of man. If you use the hyphen as a wall it will make your life small.

President Barack Obama's Inaguration

Doug did some commentary about the procession preceding the inauguration of President elect Barrack Obama. Among those in attendance are former presidents Carter and George Bush Sr., Clinton with his wife, soon to be Secretary of State, Hillary.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff called in from the celebration. He commented that there was a great spirit there among all the thousands in attendance.

Mayor Ralph Becker joined the show from the national mall. The image most impressionable to him is the “tens of thousands” of people and amongst them, Mayor Becker said, was a feeling of unity and anticipation.