THUMB DOWN: Hang 'em up » Dang it. The showdown at the OK Corral is off. Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, will have to holster his six-shooter and the Brigham Young University scientists can go back to their labs. Gov. Gary Herbert's much ballyhooed debate on climate change has been indefinitely postponed. The small-scale summit was to have brought together those who deny that humans, with their air-polluting ways, are the main cause of climate change and those who believe the staggering amount of scientific evidence that says we are the culprits. The topic, much like the Earth's temperatures, is just too hot. "Emotions are too high to have a good debate," said Ted Wilson, the governor's environment adviser. The debate wouldn't have settled anything, of course. But it might have taken our minds off the melting polar ice, dwindling glaciers and more severe droughts and wildfires in the West. For a time, anyway.

THUMB DOWN: We object » When President Obama named Scott Matheson Jr. as his nominee to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Republicans and Democrats both applauded. The consitutional scholar, former law school dean and former U.S. attorney for Utah has "judge material" written all over him. At least that's what everybody said until a blogger at the Weekly Standard suggested that the appointment was a quid pro quo for U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson's vote in favor of Obamacare. Jim is Scott's younger brother, and anyone who knows both of them laughed the Weekly Standard's suggestion off the table. We object to this ridiculous slur on the Mathesons' reputation, and move that it be stricken from the record.

THUMB DOWN: Pay up! » When in doubt, blame the IRS. When Utah's own Rep. Jason Chaffetz put forward the draconian idea of firing every Capitol Hill staffer who doesn't pay back taxes, the bill went nowhere. See, the problem is the IRS, according to Rep. Stephen Lynch. He says 80 percent of default cases arise from a dispute with the IRS, so why be forced to pay up when you might get off? It's a fair question. As for Chaffetz, we doubt he'll be able to get a Hill staffer to sharpen a pencil.