This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I swear I wrote my column before I saw Maureen Dowd's (complete with a death star reference to the Bluffdale NSA center) or Charles Blow's effort comparing Republicans to Captain Ahab.
(And, Maureen, next time you are in town, come see us. We'll buy you a gingerbread latte at the Starbucks down the mall. Complete with the 'c'.)
— How 'A Space Odyssey' explains Mike Lee — George Pyle | The Salt Lake Tribune
... The utter derangement of a handful of influential people in Washington, including Utah's Sen. Mike Lee, and their willingness to commit any form of fiscal mayhem in order to destroy the Affordable Care Act, was described in one Public Forum letter last week as downright Ahabian in its madness. Logan's Vince Eccles quoted Ahab's speech from "Moby Dick," the one that includes phrases like "to the last I grapple with thee," and "for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee." ...
... Now, about that giant National Security Agency data farm, under construction in Salt Lake County, which may or may not already be sucking up terabytes of personal data about every single one of us. Anybody else thinking of "The Return of the Jedi," when the second Death Star was thought to be vulnerable, because it was still under construction, but turned out to be fully operational?
No, George, only you.
Or maybe it's not only me:
— The NSA's creeping cloud over Bluffdale, Utah — Maureen Dowd — New York Times | sltrib.com
... Indeed, this valley of subdivisions, sagebrush and one of the remaining polygamous sects gets more exercised about the letter "c" — there's a Kapuccino cafe, a Maverik convenience store and a Pikasso print shop — than they do about the National Security Agency's secretive new $2 billion, 1-million-square-foot data death star. ...
— The Capt. Ahabs of the House — Charles M. Blow — New York Times | sltrib.com
... The far right needs Obama to fail in order to fulfill their most preposterous prophecies. Obama must deal with a Republican-controlled House of Representatives that wants nothing more than his demise. There is nothing between the House and the president but a table of cease-fire and surrender at which no one will sit. The House Republican caucus is full of Captain Ahabs, and Obama is their Moby Dick. ...