Fix It!

Man, tonight was rough. I got called out on a bunch of stuff that wounds the pride. First of all, my buddy called me out on making an argument or comment that was like grabbing for air. Second, I got called out on how my words and actions don't coincide.

About the first point. Well, I have always prided myself on being open-minded and understanding different perspectives. I like to think what I say usually sounds reasonable to the people I come into contact with. So, when Jimmy said, "you're up in the air, man," it struck home - and struck hard.

I think it has to do woth being open-minded but it also has to do with making sure you understand what the other person is saying before you respond definitively. This is because I made a comment to Jimmy that seemed to be on point - I was wrong. This may have resulted from not understanding exactly what Jimmy was saying. Instead, I was making assumptions about what he was saying. That's dangerous, and typically a bad practice.

Now. To the second point. My friend told me tonight that my words and actions don't coincide. Well, I found it interesting she said that. Mostly because I have been thinking about this very alleged flaw and inconsistency in behavior, and so I have something to say about it.

Why is it so bad to have your words and actions contradict one another? Isn't the world full of contradictions, and we accept them. Religion is probably the primary environment in which people are most willing to accept contradiction without argument. And yet we get so worried about some behavior inconsistency?

But at the end of the day, I concede the point. my words and actions didn't coincide and I need to fix that.

Gettin a Piggyback

Gary Herbert, Utah's governor (our left) is getting as close as he can to Jon M. Huntsman (pictured here) with the intent to capitalize on his friendship with the popular ex-governor.

First of all this picture is just so funny. Huntsman is not even looking at Herbert, yet the two are holding hands. Perfect Photo-op. But Herbert doesn't have much of a choice

Herbert needs all the help he can get because his chances of re-election appear slim as many Utahs wouldn't mind seeing Herbert go. And considering popular Utah state representative Jim Matheson has entertained running against Herbert in the upcoming gubernatorial election, Herbert may have some more things to worry about.

Matheson, comes from a family of politicians: Son of Scott M. Matheson (ex Utah governor), brother to Jim Matheson (Utah state representative), and brother to Scott Matheson (Utah politician. Scott lost to Hunstman in the governor's race).

Not only would it be a big win for his family, but also a big win for Utah Democrats. Considering the fact that Matheson is a Democrat, were Matheson to unseat Herbert, not only would he be just the sixth democrat to hold the governor's seat in Utah's history, but also he would be the first democrat governor in over twenty-six years -- the last of which was Matheson's father Scott. M. Matheson.

Let's hope he runs.

Bread or Clean Air?

Is making money more important than clean air or water?? It is according to one of the justices of a case I read today. He said the following.

"One’s bread is more important that landscape or clear skies."

This argument is usually made by huge corporate entities who are trying to continue their unbridled polluting for the sake of profit and social efficiency. Their reasoning is that some pollution is necessary in order to ensure economic efficiency and growth. If the government were to prohibit all pollution emission, the economy would slow down. That scares market capitalists.

What is fundamentally flawed about the argument is that it fails to address two important points. First, the fact that pollution imposes an incredible health risk to people. To what extent is it okay to harm individuals in order to secure progress and capital? And the second is the earth's limited resources. If corporations are able to pollute in excess, the earth won't be able to produce any bread to buy.

It is ridiculous for people to consider economic efficiency as more important than sustaining the earth's resources and people's overall health.

I think the government should impose strict regulations on how much companies can pollute. If the regulations curb economic efficiency -- so what -- the regulation creates an incentive for the company to innovate and create new, sustainable solutions, which is exactly the type of thing of which America needs more. And if they can't innovate, they die.

We gotta say NO!

Utah's governor is leading a multi-state initiative to push back the deadline one year for implementing new federal pollution regulations.

This attack on the environment just adds to the litany of setbacks in environmental regulations we've experienced this year. So I guess it shouldn't come as a big surprise, but I wonder when we're going to learn that protecting the earth's resources should be concomitant with protecting profits. That's sustainability.

As of now, corporations are depleting resources to protect profits and things are getting ugly.

Two-faced Politics

Obama's fundraising juggernaut is dauntless. During the third quarter of 2011, Obama's team pulled in just over $70 million.

The campaign touted their grassroots movement, which has grown to over 980,000 individual donors most of which are giving upwards of $50 each. This early in the campaign that is impressive.

But what's not impressive is Obama's two-faced politics. He woos the American people claiming to be their savior from this economic mess while he simultaneously gets in bed with the corporate giants on Wall Street that ultimately got us in this mess to begin with.