Free Republic

"This strangely looks like a Palin rally. So many uninformed white people. And NC...This is very much about Obama. Don't lie. All these people are just mad that their candidate didn't win. What is funny is that the taxes of a majority of these people won't change. Taxes were actually higher for the wealthy under Reagan. It really doesn't make any sense." "These parties were organized by fox, Gingrich and Armey. You know that. Stop trying to act like this is some sort of grassroots movement. It's a bunch of clueless white people who can easily be manipulated by corporations,...

Video on site http://www.notoriouslyconservative.com/2009/04/salt-lake-tea-party-attorney-general.html

Video on site http://www.notoriouslyconservative.com/2009/04/salt-lake-tea-party-jason-chaffetz.html

Here are some pictures from the Salt Lake City tea party, at the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building downtown. It's hard to get a scope of just how many people were there from the pictures, but I would guess there was somewhere between 1000-2000. I imagine all the snow and rain kept even more people from coming. Congressmen Jason Chaffetz, Congressmen Rob Bishop, and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff all spoke, as well as some activists and citizens. There was a huge range of people there, from the old, to the stroller bound. From white, to Asian, to African American....

After the 2010 census has been held, the number of seats held by each state in the U.S. House of Representatives will change. The National Conference of State Legislatures recently estimated what the 2010 reapportionment will mean for each state. Eight states are expected to lose one seat each, in the U.S. House and in the Electoral College. They are Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. States that will gain will be Texas (3 seats), and one each for Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Utah. If the bill now pending in Congress to expand the...

Salt Lake Tribune Updated:04/09/2009 11:01:48 PM MDT A crowd of more than a hundred Latinos stood and applauded Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank for his commitment that officers would not become immigration agents. "We think you're a hero," said Frank Cordova, vice president of the Centro Civico Mexicano, where the gathering was held Thursday. Burbank had announced a day earlier that he would not cross-deputize his agency with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a provision Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has said is allowed by SB81, an immigration reform bill set to become law July 1. "We need...

We cheer the reddest. We corn the hardest. And, apparently, we grin the widest. Because Nebraska is the happiest state in the U.S., a new study says. The survey — conducted by personal finance Web site MainStreet.com — ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia from fiscally happiest to saddest based on a few factors of economic well-being. These included foreclosure numbers, unemployment rates and the ratio of average debt to average annual income. “It reflects the attitude of this state,” said Gov. Dave Heineman. “We are a positive people with a can-do attitude who are focused on...

There may be retribution for police not enforcing Utah's new immigration law. Senate Bill 81 makes it more difficult for illegal immigrants to get a job and to utilize some government services. But the responsibility of enforcement falls on police. Detective Dennis McGowan says Salt Lake police won't be enforcing it as it is written because it implies a form of racial profiling. Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, was the House sponsor of the bill. He says he's angry, it's appalling and he will look at ways to make the Salt Lake City Police Department uphold the law. "If they don't...

Are you ready for a FReepathon!!? Well, it's a new quarter and a new president and he's everything we knew he would be. In less than 90 days he's managed to take an economic downturn and turn it into an unmitigated disaster for good old American capitalism. Never let a good crisis go to waste! The government is now printing money as fast as they can run the presses. Our federal budget is doubling and tripling and the Fed is running with no controls or oversight whatsoever from the congress, pumping trillions more into the "economy." The government now spends...

I am so excited about this tea party on April 15, 2009 at the Federal Building (125 S. State St.) from noon to 2pm. We have covered all of the media bases and are expecting a good turnout. I am also pleased to announce that Glenn Beck's producer has said he will show our tea party on his show. Another interesting note is that his producer told me that she is going to have me on The Glenn Beck Program on Fox News at the end of the week. I will let everyone know the details as I receive them....

SALT LAKE CITY – Police said a customer fired one or two shots into a Salt Lake City McDonald's after the driver of the car he was in .. was told only breakfast was available. .. two men then got out of the car and one pulled a sawed-off shotgun from the trunk, shooting into the drive-thru window once or twice, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Monday. No one was injured. ...

Some 40,000 people in the US state of Utah live in illegal polygamous families in which a man takes more than one wife. These fundamentalist Mormons have now begun a campaign for a change in the law they regard as discriminatory and unfair... Under US law it is a felony, and technically the adults could be jailed and the children taken into care. But there are simply too many... Kody and Christine Brown live in a polygamous relationship...I had met the Browns a few hours earlier at the Utah State Legislature where they had joined a campaign to legalise polygamy....

After more than 40 years, some of the strictest—and strangest—liquor laws in the nation are being hustled out the barroom door, yet another sign that even a state dominated by teetotaling Mormons is willing to reconsider decades-old mores if it helps the economy. No longer will bartenders be separated from customers by a glass partition known as a "Zion Curtain." And patrons won't have to join a social club or pay a membership fee before entering bars. "Having to pay $5 or $10 to join a club to drink any kind of alcoholic beverage is absurd," said Mark Caraway, a...

Have a Coke and a tax Once government starts down the "sin tax" road, it is very hard to stop. Everyone loves to tax a product they do not use. When revenues run low, alcohol and cigarettes are always at the top of the new tax list. Some municipalities have even proposed a "fat" tax. Now, a legislator in Utah has proposed a tax on caffeine. Be careful whose sin you tax. Yours may be next. Let's tax caffeine, legislator argues

(Video on site) Here is some video from the Salt Lake City Tea Party, held March 6th, at 12 noon at the Utah State Capitol. No that's not me in the video, that is the protest organizer, David Kirham. http://www.notoriouslyconservative.com/2009/03/salt-lake-city-tea-party-video.html

A robber died Monday in Centerfield when a gun was fired during a struggle. Antonio E. Ramos, 42, was dead on the floor when police arrived about 12:20 a.m. at Walker's convenience store. "It was a pretty classic case of self-defense," said Sanpete County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Peterson. Police said Ramos approached a clerk as she was taking out the garbage at closing time. He held a .22-caliber rifle and forced her back inside the store, where he took a second clerk hostage and demanded money. The man forced the two clerks to tie each other up, police said. But...

Bountiful Jr. High School teacher Valynne Bowers for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 13- or 14-year-old student. The 39-year-old is charged with forcible sodomy and rape of a child. Police say the acts took place at the teacher's home in December. Police say a second teacher will also be arrested for similar charges for having a sexual relationship with the same student. Police say they found out about the crime through this second teacher who came in and confessed. Police do not believe any other teachers or students are involved.

The Salt Lake Tea Party is on the West Stairs of the Utah State Capitol to protest the out-of-control spending and the squandering of our country's future. The "Salt Lake Tea Party" (in honor of the Boston Tea Party) will be on Friday, March 6, 2009 at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City. Poster making begins at 11:00 AM and the rally will kick off at 12:00 noon when the legislators break for lunch. We want to tell the legislators what we think as they walk down the stairs to go to lunch. There are tax breaks and...

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A new study is revealing, what some may consider, startling information about Utahans and what they do online. New research shows Utah is number one in the nation for online pornography subscriptions. The research is just coming out Tuesday, from a study done by Harvard Business School Professor Benjamin Edelman, published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives. It tracks subscriptions to online pornography sites by states. The study measures the online porn subscriptions per thousand people, per thousand homes with internet users, per thousand homes with broadband users, and also when accounting for...

From our friend David: I am sure you have all seen the video "The Shout Heard Round the World" from Rick Santelli that started the "Tea Party Movement." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZB4taSEoA I sat around and watched other cities throw tea parties and I waited for someone to organize a Salt Lake Tea party. When no one did, I decided to do it myself! So, I am organizing a "Salt Lake Tea Party" on the West Stairs of the Utah State Capitol to protest the out-of-control spending and the squandering of our country's future. The "Salt Lake Tea Party" (in honor of the...

Why are there no tea party protest in Utah? I would love to participate, but there aren't any that I can find. I'd organize one myself, but I have no time with my full time job, and new baby boy. Anyone know of one, or willing to orgainze it?

There was at least one 2012 presidential contender missing from the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington this weekend, traditionally a testing ground for any Republican even remotely considering a White House bid. That could be in part because Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. risked getting booed off the stage for some of his views. -SNIPAfter running for governor in 2004 as a supporter of a ballot measure that year that not only banned gay marriage but also civil unions, Huntsman made national news earlier this month by saying that he had changed his mind on civil unions. Largely under...

A Utah state senator has been disciplined over remarks about homosexual activism. State Senator Chris Buttars recently commented to a documentary filmmaker that he believes the homosexual lifestyle is immoral, adding that militant homosexual activism poses a grave threat to American culture. Matt Barber, director of cultural affairs at Liberty Counsel, says Utah's Senate president Michael Waddoups caved in and took punitive action against Buttars instead of supporting his own constituent. "What's unfortunate is the Republican leadership has thrown him under the bus," he contends. "Senator Buttars' comments and beliefs are shared by the vast majority, certainly of Utahans, and...

After impassioned testimony that harked back to the civil-rights struggles of the 1960s, Utah representatives Wednesday defeated a bill that would have required undocumented students to sign an affidavit swearing they had not worked in the state. The vote was 40-34 against the measure. A bill requires 38 votes to pass. "Whatever the purpose of the bill is, the actual impact of this bill will be to narrow the opening of the schoolhouse doors," said Rep. Kay McIff, R-Richfield. He said the measure reminded him of then-Gov. George Wallace trying to block black students from enrolling in the University of...

In a second reversal of the Bush administration, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday he is scrapping leases for oil-shale development on federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Salazar rescinded a lease offer made last month for research, development and demonstration projects that could have led to oil-shale works on 1.9 million acres in the three states, greatly expanding the program. "I am withdrawing that Jan. 14 solicitation because in my view it was a midnight decision, and it was flawed," Salazar told reporters on a teleconference call from Washington, D.C

WASHINGTON – Governments that receive donations of Ten Commandments displays and other monuments for public parks are not compelled to take everything they are offered, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The court said that a small religious group, the Summum, cannot force Pleasant Grove City, Utah, to place its granite marker in a park that has been home to a Ten Commandments monument for 38 years. Officials do not violate free speech rights when they reject requests to display monuments, Justice Samuel Alito said in his opinion for the court. "It is hard to imagine how a public park...

The District of Columbia's two-century-long wait for a voice in Congress was a step closer to ending Tuesday with a crucial Senate vote to take up legislation giving the capital city's 600,000 residents a full seat in the House. The Senate voted 62-34, two more than needed, to begin debate on the measure that would increase the House to 437 members. It would give the Democratic-dominated city a new vote while adding a fourth seat to Republican-leaning Utah. Key to the vote was that Democrats, who overwhelmingly support the bill, have seven more Senate seats than two years ago when...

A measure granting Utah an additional House seat and the District of Columbia its first full-voting member overcame its biggest likely hurdle Tuesday as the U.S. Senate on Tuesday surpassed the 60 needed votes to move the legislation to final passage. The Senate voted 62-34 to debate the bill and move to a final vote later this week, moving past objections from some Republicans that the legislation is unconstitutional. Utah's Republican senators split on the issue. Orrin Hatch backed advancing the measure, while Bob Bennett opposed it. The bill -- primarily aimed at giving D.C.'s overwhelmingly Democratic 600,000 residents their...

The Republican governor of Utah on Monday said his party is blighted by leaders in Congress whose lack of new ideas renders them so "inconsequential" that he doesn't even bother to talk to them. "I don't even know the congressional leadership," Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, shrugging off questions about top congressional Republicans, including House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "I have not met them. I don't listen or read whatever it is they say because it is inconsequential - completely." In a...

I was digging through some old calendars (I can never throw them away) and found a month with Delicate Arch. I figured that sometimes you have to just have a beautiful picture to look at. Click for FULL size. Also see note in first comment (from me). Just for fun, this is what Delicate Arch looks like from the other side:

A Utah state senator on Friday was kicked off a judicial committee he chaired after he drew criticism for comparing gay activists to radical Muslims in an interview aired this week. Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, also told former local television reporter Reed Cowan, an openly gay documentary producer who now works at a Miami station, that gay activists are "probably the greatest threat to America going down."

Familiar ground » The senator's says the movement is 'the beginning of the end' and worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.He called the gay-rights movement "probably the greatest threat to America," likened gay activists to Muslim radicals and dubbed same-sex relationships "abominations." Now Sen. Chris Buttars finds himself in a familiar place: under fire amid demands he step down. Last year, the NAACP called for Buttars to resign after comments he made on the Senate floor about a complex school-funding bill, saying, "This baby is black . . . It's a dark, ugly thing." But Buttars kept his seat and won...

I personally don't completely like his policies. He supports civil unions, and is big into global warming. Though, he is conservative on a lot of issues, and seems to be fiscally conservative. From the Deseret News: Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is looking more and more like a presidential candidate for the GOP nomination in 2012. During a trip this week to Washington, D.C., for a meeting of the National Governors' Association, Huntsman will make two political stops, including one in South Carolina. As the first Southern state to vote in a presidential primary, South Carolina is seen as a critical...

AlSKA. After a thorough review, state officials ordered Governor Sarah Palin (R) pay her back taxes related to per diem reimbursements she claimed while staying in her home. The Washington Post first reported last September that Palin had billed the state for nearly $17,000 worth of meals and other living expenses while staying in her Wasilla home during the first 19 months in office. NEW YORK. Former Governor George Pataki (R) met with NRSC officials this week to discuss a possible run next year against newly appointed US Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D). Congressman Peter King has also met with the...

Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, could face an official reprimand for a string of negative comments about gay people made public this week. The nature of that reprimand will be officially released at a news conference Friday morning. Sources close to the Senate told KSL's Richard Piatt that a reprimand will include at least being removed as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Lawmakers react to Buttars' anti-gay comments Both Senate Republicans and Democrats say they're outraged at Buttars comments, which included his belief that the radical gay movement is "the greatest threat to America today."

The face of Utah's gun-rights lobbyUtah won't ban out-of-state instructors from qualifying people for a concealed weapon permit despite worries from the gun-rights community about abuses that could erode the value of a Utah permit in other states. Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, originally was going to push an outright prohibition, but substituted his bill after speaking with lobbyists from the National Rifle Association. Now, his HB204 creates a formal complaint process to address issues with nonresident instructors. An instructor who has complaints is entitled to a hearing, and if found guilty, could lose his or her teaching license and concealed...

SALT LAKE CITY — Africanized honey bees have been found for the first time in the Beehive State. The bees, long the subject of lore as "killer bees," were recently discovered in Utah's Washington and Kane counties, the state Department of Agriculture said Wednesday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that seven hives – three in the wild and four managed by private beekeepers – contained Africanized bees. The hives have since been destroyed. The bees in Utah do not appear to be widespread and no injuries to people or animals have been reported. State and local officials have been...

A Bush administration decision that sparked hot controversy in Utah has been turned topsy-turvy by the Obama Administration. New Interior Secretary Ken Salazar this afternoon canceled 77 oil and gas leases in Utah. In a news release, he said oil and gas supplies need to be developed responsibly to help reduce dependence on foreign oil, but it must be done in a thoughtful, balanced way that protects signature landscapes and cultural resources. The 77 parcels, which are the subject of a temporary restraining order, were part of a Dec. 19, 2008 lease sale offering 130 parcels in three areas in...

A proposal to scan the driver licenses of bar patrons and keep it on file in a state law enforcement database is a good start, says Senate President Michael Waddoups, but he wants to see the program go further. Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, says he wants to see the database idea start with private clubs, but extend to restaurants that serve diners beer and liquor.

The words "liberal" and "Utah" are rarely used in the same sentence, unless you're talking about firearms statutes. Utah's concealed-carry permit law is one of the most liberal, and by that we mean permissive, in the nation. Utah permits are inexpensive, simple to acquire, slow to expire, easy to renew and are accepted in 32 other states through reciprocity agreements. And, for those reasons, they're the permit of choice for a nation of gun lovers. Approximately half of the new permits issued by the state in recent years have been acquired by nonresidents, many from states with more restrictive laws....

It's a recession version of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Rep. Jason Chaffetz, representing Utah's 3rd congressional district, promises to vote like a fiscal conservative and to live like one. Freshman Congressman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, is living more like a college freshman than a member of Congress. He plans to sleep in his Capitol Hill office on this small cot to save money on rent. (ABC News)Instead of renting a Washington, D.C., apartment, the Utah Republican plans to live in his Capitol Hill office to save money, while his family stays in their home in Alpine, Utah. "You work hard...

BY BOB BERNICK, JR.The Deseret News Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says he loves Mormons and believes they make the most effective public servants in America. "Utah doesn't need to think there is a problem with me," Huckabee told the KSL Radio Doug Wright show Friday morning. Huckabee has received some criticism in Utah for comments he has made about fellow former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and about some of the church's religious beliefs. Romney received 90 percent of the vote in Utah's Republican Party presidential primary...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Barack Obama says he still thinks there needs to be a playoff system for determining the country's college football champion. Obama, asked what he thought about Florida's 24-14 victory Thursday night over Oklahoma in the BCS championship game, congratulated the Gators and said he'd sent a message to a friend whose son plays for the team. At the same time, he said, "If I'm Utah, or if I'm USC or if I'm Texas, I might still have some quibbles." Obama said, "That's why we need a playoff."

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. endorsed a $2.30 tax increase on a pack of cigarettes this morning, giving Utah the highest state cigarette tax in the country with a goal of wiping out the remaining state sales tax on food. "I think that's a perfectly fair tradeoff," the governor said after publicly embracing the tax hike for the first time and going further than previous legislative proposals. Huntsman's target would more than quadruple the existing 70-cent tax on a pack of smokes. Legislative leaders were open to the idea, and said it will be among the topics discussed in the upcoming...

1. Utah ... national champion?! Why not? I still don't believe this is the best team in America, but without a playoff, it's all about the résumé. This wasn't a fluky win and this wasn't a case of Alabama coming out flat. Utah straight-up whipped the Tide on both sides of the ball, and remember, this was against a team that was No. 1 for most of the year and was a quarter away from playing for the national title. This was a great, great 'Bama team, and Utah beat it like a drum. This isn't 1984 BYU; that Cougars...

Way to go Utes! Eleven sacks! Twenty one points in the first quarter alone. The announcers kept asking if Utah could handle the Tide's big front line. Well, the French had a big front line in the 1930's and that didn't work out so well either.

It's all but over now. Linebacker Stevenson Sylvester recovered a fumble for the Utah Utes with 5:13 remaining against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl on Friday night, all but assuring an eighth straight bowl victory for the Utes - and a second straight in a prestigious Bowl Championship Series meeting with one of the legendary programs in college football history. The Utes have sacked quarterback John Parker Wilson seven times at the Louisiana Superdome, forced two turnovers, and held the Crimson Tide to 226 yards of offense.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. doesn't believe that a controversial state immigration law will take effect, as it is now on the books, come July 1. Speaking to KCPW Radio, the governor said that so much has changed since SB81 was first passed by the 2008 Legislature — specifically the poor U.S. economy with huge job losses leading to illegal immigrants actually going back to Mexico and South America — that there just is not the immediate need to crack down on illegal immigration today. Huntsman told the public radio station that Oklahoma is being sued by both sides of the...

SNIPPET: "The fire was reported about 11:23 p.m. Thursday by someone who called 911 reporting flames coming from the covered slips at the Halls Crossing Marina, a remote part of Lake Powell on the Kane/San Juan County border. National Park Service firefighters from all over responded, some flying up from Page, Ariz., to help. Photographs provided to the Deseret News showed boats engulfed in flames and burned out hulls floatingon the water. There were more than 150 boats moored at the marina — firefighters saved about 130 of them." SNIPPET: "Anyone with information on the fire is asked to call...

OGDEN — Officers have arrested a man they say tried to break into a home and then traded shots with the homeowner in the middle of the street. Ogden police said it happened about 9 a.m. Tuesday at a home on the 200 block of 29th Street when two men tried to break in. "They were kicking in the door, and the man was inside with his family," Ogden Police Lt. Scott Sangberg said Tuesday. "He went to the door with his 9 mm (handgun). Then the guy realized that the place wasn't vacant and started to leave." As he...