Opinion - Commentary - The Salt Lake Tribune

A federal ‘shield’ for reporters

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

A federal ‘shield’ for reporters

by Xxxxxx The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 21, 2013 01:01AM MDT

President Obama may be engaging in political damage control in proposing that Congress resurrect legislation to protect the confidentiality of journalists’ sources. But his call for action on a federal shield law is welcome even if it is inspired by a desire to deflect criticism of the Justice Department’s seizure of the phone records of The Associated Press. Although described as a “reporter’s privilege,” protection for confidential news sources actually benefits the public by making it easier...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

GOP overplays its hand

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

GOP overplays its hand

by Dana Milbank

Published May 21, 2013 01:01AM MDT

WASHINGTON — By the end of a truly dismal week in his presidency, President Obama remained lucky in one crucial category: his opposition. It has been only a matter of days since two scandals — the IRS harassment of conservative groups and the administration’s seizing of AP reporters’ phone records — have dropped into the Republicans’ lap. But instead of playing the public outrage to their advantage, Republicans have already begun overreaching, turning legitimate areas of inquiry into just some ...

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Obamacare, Part 2

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Obamacare, Part 2

by Xxxxxx The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 21, 2013 01:01AM MDT

The following editorial appeared in Monday’s Washington Post: Thought you had seen the last of the fighting over the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare? Since its passage in 2010, after all, it has survived Supreme Court review, innumerable challenges from House Republicans and Mitt Romney’s unsuccessful campaign to evict its author from the White House. Nonetheless, with the heart of the reform set to take effect next year, its most contentious days may lie ahead. The law will affect...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Obama is no Nixon, but misdeeds not trivial

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:36:02 MDT

Obama is no Nixon, but misdeeds not trivial

by Xxxxxx The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 19, 2013 05:36PM MDT

Standing before reporters Thursday, President Obama declined an invitation to compare the recent scandals weighing down his administration with those that forced President Nixon to resign in 1974. So allow us to do the work for him: There is no comparison. Nixon, in a series of crimes that collectively came to be known as Watergate, directed from the White House and Justice Department a concerted campaign against those he perceived as political enemies, in the process subverting the FBI, the IRS...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Paul Rolly: Will Mia Love learn from past errors?

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:33:22 MDT

Paul Rolly: Will Mia Love learn from past errors?

by Paul Rolly The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 18, 2013 06:33PM MDT

Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love’s announcement at the Republican State Convention Saturday that she once again will run for Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson’s 4th Congressional District seat spelled deja vu in more ways than one. The obvious back-to-the-future story is that Love was the Republican foe of Matheson in 2012, vanquishing several Republican opponents in the GOP state convention only to lose by fewer than 1,000 votes. But another ghost from the past is Casey Voeks, the recently el...

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Drop that phone and drive

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:07 MDT

Drop that phone and drive

by Rolayne Fairclough

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

By Rolayne Fairclough As I write this, three girls are in hospitals with serious injuries. They were hit on their way home from school by a driver who was sending a text message. The sad irony here is that this week also marked the date when Utah’s new teen driver cell phone ban went into effect. We know from the Utah Department of Public Safety’s “2010 Utah Crash Summary” that inexperienced teen drivers made up 8 percent of Utah’s licensed drivers in 2010, and yet they were involved in 21 p...

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SLCC’s role in small business

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:07 MDT

SLCC’s role in small business

by Cynthia A. Bioteau

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Small business is big business in Utah. Our state is home to more than 58,000 small employers with 500 employees or fewer. Salt Lake Community College, the governor’s office and regional business-service providers are working together through the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses initiative to bolster Utah’s economy and provide business resources for the creation, growth and recruitment of companies to Utah. Gov. Gary Herbert has taken on the tremendous task of creating 100,000 jobs in 1,00...

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Hot and getting hotter

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:06 MDT

Hot and getting hotter

by Mark Reynolds

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

In the rarefied air of Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, 11,141 feet above sea level, scientists have charted the passing of a milestone that, if ignored, heralds a future for civilization both tragic and chaotic. I’m referring to the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which Charles David Keeling began monitoring in 1958. At that time, CO2 concentration was 313 parts per million. We are now at 400 ppm and that is not good news. Why is this number so important? For hundreds of thou...

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The president and the senator

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

The president and the senator

by Michael Harold Paulos

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

During the recent effort to pass gun-control legislation, President Obama and his Democratic counterparts strategically framed the issue as an opportunity to protect America’s children from harm’s way. Certainly not the first politician to deploy this thread of argumentation, Obama and his surrogates’ recent appeal to Congress to pass “common-sense” gun-control reforms was strikingly similar in style and substance to the political rhetoric used by U.S. Sen. Reed Smoot of Utah, the Mormon apostle...

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A troubling case of tenure denied at UVU

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

A troubling case of tenure denied at UVU

by Scott Abbott

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Scott Carrier may be the best-known member of the Utah Valley University faculty. His publications have appeared in Harper’s, GQ, Mother Jones, and Esquire. Stories have been broadcast on public radio programs that include “All Things Considered,” “Day to Day,” “Marketplace” and “Hearing Voices.” As an assistant professor at UVU, Carrier’s single-minded pursuit of truth has taken him to the heart of the war in Afghanistan and to the center of a raging avalanche in the pre-dawn Wasatch Mountains....

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Commentariat: A sampling of reader comments posted on sltrib.com

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

The Commentariat: A sampling of reader comments posted on sltrib.com

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

“You could disagree and state your argument without the petty attack and belittling analogy. Now we know where so many of your readers/posters learn their incivility.” — FOpete commenting on the May 11 Tribune editorial, “Pretend insurance: Utah sent off to play with its toy,” which compared Gov. Gary Herbert’s Avenue H health insurance exchange to a child’s car seat with a steering wheel and horn. “He said ‘Utah’ and ‘leader’ in the same sentence. Funny stuff. The only things Utah leads ...

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Pyle: An honest commencement address

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

Pyle: An honest commencement address

by George Pyle The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

George Pyle is out of state this weekend — attending a commencement ceremony. The following column was first published last May. Congratulations to the Class of [Year]. Now that you have [fought/earned/coasted] your way out of [college/high school/obedience training] you have earned more than a diploma, a funny hat and surprised parents. You have attained the requisite level of maturity to be given the ultimate secret of life, the universe and everything. Are you ready? Are you sure? OK. Lock...

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No skateboards on campus

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

No skateboards on campus

by Leonard C. Hawes

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

On May 9 and 10, The Salt Lake Tribune published news reports on the University of Utah police proposal and the University Academic Senate’s narrow approval of a policy to “prohibit recreational, athletic or other use of a non-motorized riding device on university premises unrelated to participation in university-related activities.” Both reports mentioned a university professor who had been seriously injured by a skateboarder. I am that professor. During final exam week of spring semester last ...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Embrace clean air standards

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Embrace clean air standards

by Jeff Miller

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

As a local Subaru dealer who works with one of the greenest brands in the nation, our air quality has become a major concern. The good news, however, is that new federal standards that could help dramatically improve our community’s air are being supported by a surprising alliance of car manufacturers and public health groups. Last winter, Wasatch Front residents struggled through 22 days of dangerously polluted air. Polluted air worsens breathing problems, shortens lives and especially jeopard...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Special prosecutor needed

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Special prosecutor needed

by Ronald Mortensen

Published May 18, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Based on reporting by the local newspapers, it is clear that the time has come to appoint a team of special prosecutors to investigate the conduct of former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, his hand-picked successor, John Swallow, and senior officials in the Attorney General’s Office. Shurtleff and Swallow have benefited from large campaign contributions ($30,000 to $165,000) from individuals or organizations facing serious legal difficulties. Both are accused of soliciting protection money...

Dyer: 3D guns, and everything else

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:36:03 MDT

Dyer: 3D guns, and everything else

by Gwynne Dyer Syndicated Columnist

Published May 17, 2013 09:36AM MDT

The story so far: Cody Wilson, who describes himself as a “crypto-anarchist” and almost certainly wears a Second Amendment belt-buckle, had a bright idea early last year. No government could ever oppress its people again, reasoned the 25-year-old law student at the University of Texas, if everybody in the world was able to manufacture their own guns at home. Well, not everybody in the world, exactly, but at least everybody with $8,000 to buy a 3D printer on e-Bay, or access to one of the 3D prin...

An ominous milestone

Fri, 17 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

An ominous milestone

by Xxxxxx The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 17, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Milestones are usually to be cheered, but not the one the world reached at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 9. For the first time in millions of years the level of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere reached above 400 parts per million. So what, you say? It’s just a bunch of scientific numbers. Not really. What these numbers tell us is that within 25 years, if we continue to produce CO2 at our present rate, we can expect significant alterations in our climate. Our seas will rise as the Earth heats ...

The death of old-time liberalism

Fri, 17 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

The death of old-time liberalism

by Brian C. Johnson

Published May 17, 2013 01:01AM MDT

I am musing about the death of real liberalism in America as I write my not insignificant annual check to the Human Rights Campaign, the national political action committee for LGBTQ rights in the United States. Why is it that, rather than simply being satisfied with my support for its incredibly worthy cause, the organization — along with so many others at least nominally espousing social justice views I find laudable — feels compelled to tout candidates and politicians (including the likes of ...

Swallow and the Legislature

Fri, 17 May 2013 01:01:03 MDT

Swallow and the Legislature

by Jim Dabakis

Published May 17, 2013 01:01AM MDT

It’s uncomfortable. It’s awkward. But it is time for the Utah Legislature to do its duty and begin its own serious investigation into the mess currently unfolding in the executive offices of our state government. It is a critical part of our system of checks and balances, and after repeated scandals and allegations linking enormous contributions to special treatment from the executive branch, it’s time for the people of Utah to get the facts. To avoid the discomfort of looking into the matter, p...

Paying for ACA

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

Paying for ACA

by Xxxxxx The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 16, 2013 01:01AM MDT

This week’s furor over the Internal Revenue Service’s selective scrutiny of tea party groups and the Justice Department’s secret collection of phone records from the Associated Press has obscured what may prove in the long run to be a more troubling ethical breach. Unable to secure funding from Congress to carry out the Affordable Care Act, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has responded with a bizarre error in judgment. Sebelius has been soliciting donations from the healt...