On my way east on I-80 last week, between Cheyenne and Laramie, I came across the Wyoming Abraham Lincoln Monument. It originally stood at Sherman Summit, 8,878 feet above sea level, the highest point along the old coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway. When I-80 was completed in 1969, the head was moved to its current location, about 195 feet lower but seen by many more travelers.

The monument was created in 1959 by Wyoming State Parks Commission and the sculptor Robert I. Russin, a University of Wyoming art professor, to honor the sesquicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. The bronze bust of Lincoln’s head is 13.5 feet tall. Russin required ten tons of clay and eleven months of work to create the head.

The original casting was done in Mexico City and the sculpture is comprised of thirty pieces that were bolted together. The bust, weighing two tons, sits on a thirty-five-foot tall granite pedestal. The base is hollow and when Russin died in 2007, his ashes were interred inside.

The Monument is a reminder of Lincoln’s Second Annual Message to the Senate and House of Representatives on December 1, 1862 wherein he detailed his plan for the remunerative emancipation of slaves:

It is not “Can any of us imagine better?” but “Can we all do better?” Object whatsoever is possible, still the question recurs, “Can we do better?” The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. (Abraham Lincoln, Second Annual Message, emphasis added.)

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1. Cedar Breaks National Monument
2. San Jacinto Monument
3. Utah Shakespearean Festival: The 39 Steps

So what are these banners for? I will explain in the following paragraphs spaced among the photographs.

Brett Gee of Forthgear has been hired by Kaysville City to help the City develop a brand, particularly as it relates to marketing potential commercial enterprises. Gee explained that the City should set a strategy and marketing efforts to enhance the tax base. Forthgear looks at what makes each entity unique. He stated that Kaysville needs to decide what they want to do to remain viable in the expansion of its commercial base.

Gee says that if the City does not brand itself, it will happen on its own. He believes that affordable housing is critically important to the City which is predominantly white and LDS. The City has a higher household income than the rest of the state, the City is almost 50/50 male/female, and that the median age in the City is 24. The City needs to decide what story they want to tell. He stated that taxes will need to be increased to accomplish this goal.

Forthgear has gathered and analyzed data for Kaysville City. A good brand understands the City’s strengths and weaknesses. Gee believes that there are things that make Kaysville unique. Forthgear isolated some of those variables that make the City stand alone.

The brand positioning for Kaysville states that Kaysville City serves their citizens, both residents and businesses, and that Kaysville provides the opportunity for a lifestyle steeped in the traditional American spirit. He explained that Kaysville City is centralized in the county and northern Utah and is uniquely situated in the middle of everything. It is accessible to Ogden and Salt Lake City, is located between the Wasatch mountains and the Great Salt Lake, two important recreational areas in the state, and is bordered by two major traffic arteries, I-15 and Highway 89, both connected by one large, easily traveled east/west street, 200 North. Accessibility into the city is a significant benefit to Kaysville businesses and commercial enterprises. He believes that this is a marketable trait.

The theme for Kaysville that is being recommended is “Utah’s Hometown.” Gee stated that a good brand creates emotion. At the June 1, 2010 Kaysville City Council Meeting he presented a copy of the new City logo, theme, letterhead, banners, website, business cards, etc. which showcased the new brand image.

Sources

Kaysville City Council Meeting minutes
19 January 2010 — Regular meeting
2 March 2010 — 5pm Special meeting
1 June 2010 — Regular meeting
Forthgear website

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1. Kaysville City Council Thanks Mayor Neka Roundy
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Arlen Specter

First Utah’s Senator Bennett (alias Bailout Bob) was stricken from the November ballot. Then Democrat Representative Mollohan of West Virginia lost to anti-incumbent sentiment. Last night Rand Paul soundly defeated establishment candidate Trey Grayson and Arlen Specter lost to a younger and far less experienced rival in Pennsylvania.

With record deficits it is obvious that Washington has failed. This is an anti-Washington year as incumbents are finding out. The big spenders are getting particularly hard hit, especially those that voted for the bailout. Now it is time for the voters to bailout the congressmen — all the way into retirement.

I am not one to get rid of an incumbent just because they have been in Washington a long time. I vote against the big spenders who keep on racking up the debt that one day will have to be paid back — plus a whole lot of interest.

See if it is time for your Member of Congress to be retired by perusing The Bailout Page.

Related posts:

1. Representative Alan Mollohan Loses in Primary
2. Rand Paul Wins in Kentucky
3. Say No to Politicians who said Yes to the Bailout

Ron and Rand Paul

Last week Democrat Representative Mollohan of West Virginia lost to anti-incumbent sentiment. The loss came soon after Utah’s Senator Bennett (alias Bailout Bob) was stricken from the November ballot.

Now conservative Rand Paul in a Republican Kentucky primary has soundly defeated establishment candidate Trey Grayson. Rand Paul in his victory speech said:

We’ve come to take our government back. This Tea Party movement is a message to Washington that we’re unhappy and that we want things done differently. The mandate of our victory tonight is huge. What you have done and what we are doing can transform America. I think America’s greatness hinges on us doing something to save the country. The Tea Party movement is about saving the country from a mountain of debt that is devouring our country.

The Los Angles Times wrote:

Paul, 47, a Bowling Green ophthalmologist who had never sought political office, started far behind the establishment favorite Grayson. But he surged ahead with a plain-spoken style and a platform rooted in small-government, anti-Washington thinking: term limits, a balanced-budget amendment, a requirement that lawmakers read every word of legislation before it passes and a stipulation that laws spell out their constitutional underpinning.

See if it is time for your Member of Congress to be retired by perusing The Bailout Page.

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Related posts:

1. Arlen Specter Loss Jolts Political Establishment
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3. Representative Alan Mollohan Loses in Primary

USS Utah was a battleship that was attacked and sunk in Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. A Florida-class battleship, she was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the U.S. state of Utah. Prior to World War 2 she had declined in usefulness and had even served for a while as a mobile target for gunnery practice. In 1941, however, she had been refitted and was in use for training purposes when sunk by a torpedo in the Japanese attack.

Utah was laid down on 9 March 1909 at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was launched on 23 December 1909 under the sponsorship of Miss Mary Alice Spry, daughter of Utah Governor William Spry; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 31 August 1911, Captain William S. Benson in command. (Wikipedia)

Semaphore flags are a system for conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands. Information is encoded by the position of the flags; it is read when the flag is in a fixed position. Semaphores were adopted and widely used in the maritime world in the early 1800s. Semaphore signals were used, for example, at the Battle of Trafalgar. This was the period in which the modern naval semaphore system was invented. This system uses hand-held flags. It is still used during underway replenishment at sea and is acceptable for emergency communication in daylight or, using lighted wands instead of flags, at night.

Photo Credits: Library of Congress USS Utah | Turrets on Utah | Semaphore on Utah

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The great misfortune is that a notion obtains with those in power that the world, or the people, require more governing than is necessary. To govern well is a great science, but no country is ever improved by too much governing…most men think when they are elevated to position that it requires an effort to discharge their duties and they leave common sense out of the question.

The best part of this quote by Sam Houston is saved till last: “Govern wisely and as little as possible!”

If our current state governments would take those seven words to heart we would soon see improving economies and happier people.

Derek, Bryson, Sarah, Jill, and Rick at the feet of Sam Houston

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2. Return to a Limited Government, Step 4
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Representative Alan Mollohan

Last week Democrat Representative Alan B. Mollohan of West Virginia lost in a primary defeat that indicates the anti-incumbent sentiment is alive and well. Mollohan’s loss comes soon after Utah’s Senator Bob Bennett was stricken from the November ballot in the state’s Republican state convention.

Mollohan is a 14 term veteran who hasn’t faced a serious primary fight in over a decade and was considered unbeatable. Mollohan was dogged by ethics allegations over the past few years and opposition for his vote in favor of President Obama’s health-care bill didn’t help.

Mollohan was a veteran appropriator who took pride in delivering federally financed projects to his state. But voters’ alarm over deficit spending is turning that practice into a liability. With unsustainable debt voters are not buying pork barrel projects and bailouts any more.

See if it is time for your Member of Congress to be retired by perusing The Bailout Page.

Photo Credit: The National Academy of Sciences

Related posts:

1. Arlen Specter Loss Jolts Political Establishment
2. Rand Paul Wins in Kentucky
3. Say No to Politicians who said Yes to the Bailout

Bailout Bob

The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), commonly called “The Bailout”, is a program to which a majority of citizens were opposed. The total cost, as of May 2010 is $586.3 billion, allocated or promised to 836 companies and 13 programs. $79.7 billion was spent on companies for which the bailout was not intended, such as in the non-financial sector, with money going to auto companies such as GM.

There is still $319.4 billion outstanding, 59.6% of the total. See Pro Publica for the latest State of the Bailout.

I personally believe a strong message should be sent to those still in office, who voted for the bailout. An appropriate way to do this is at the ballot box in November. However, the opportunity may come sooner. When the citizens of Utah had the chance to finally tell a senator what they thought of his bailout vote, he was dumped at the state convention.

I have created a Bailout page containing a table so that citizens can see which of their representatives and senators voted for the bailout. When a politician leaves office, by choice or otherwise, I will update the table.

Related posts:

1. Bailout
2. Stimulus or Bailout: Is There any Difference?
3. Representative Alan Mollohan Loses in Primary

It allows you to vote, both online and on your cell phone, on spending cuts that you want to see the House enact. America is at a crossroads and the choices we make at this critical time will determine what kind of country we want to be. To get back on the right path, Congress must start to make some choices that simply can’t be delayed any longer. While we won’t be able to solve our deficit problems overnight or with one silver bullet, we can and we must begin to replace the culture of spending that now dominates Washington with a culture of savings. Just imagine if your government was as focused on saving money as it is on spending money.

The site has just begun and only has five spending cuts at the moment to vote on. Citizens can submit their ideas for spending cuts. You don’t have to register, just give your email.

Here are the the spending cuts listed as of this morning:

• Presidential Election Fund — $260 million in savings
• Taxpayer Subsidized Union Activities — $600 million in savings
• HUD Program for Doctoral Dissertations — $1 million in savings
• New Non-Reformed Welfare Program — $2.5 billion in savings
• Eliminate Wealthier Communities from CDBG — $2.6 billion in savings

The following are ideas I submitted to save money:

• Leave Iraq
• Leave Afghanistan
• End alternative energy tax credits
• End the child tax credit (but retain the exemption)
• End the mortgage tax deduction

I don’t know what the savings to the country would be with my suggestions. We will see if they come up for a vote online. Apparently, each week they will take the winner of the vote and try to force a vote in congress. Representative Ander Crenshaw said:

“We are going to bring it up next week, vote on it, and force a vote as long as we can week after week after week.… So there are going to be a series of small cuts. We are going to address it one spending cut at a time. If you cannot address the little things how are you every going to cut the big things?”

Well, we shall see. If no spending cuts take place YouCut will have been a big waste of time. Perhaps it would have been useful to raise awareness and a source of a blog post. However, in the current climate I am hopeful it will help to keep voters focused on November and to vote out the big spenders.

What are your ideas to cut spending?

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The Cost of War as of 11:15 pm 16 April 2010 MDT

I came across an interesting web site today called the National Priorities Project. The site analyzes and clarifies federal data so that people can understand and influence how their tax dollars are spent. One of the pages, called the Cost of War, lets you see the cost of war to your community.

For example, the state of Utah’s share of the money spent would be $5,277,419,209. For Texas, where my daughter lives, it is $80,460,219,390. You can even see what benefit your city would have received. For Salt Lake City, near where I live, the amount is $347,007,874.

The Numbers

The numbers indicate all of the approved funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to date. These appropriations do not include funds to support the “surge” of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, with estimated costs of approximately $30 billion.

Insurgents attack Combat Outpost Bar Alai, Afghanistan

By September 30, 2010, the cost of the wars will reach $1.05 trillion. The numbers include both military and non-military spending such as reconstruction. Spending includes only incremental costs, those additional funds that are expended due to the war. For example, soldiers’ regular pay is not included but combat pay is included.

Future Costs

Potential future costs, such as future medical care for soldiers and veterans wounded in the war, are not included. These numbers do not account for the wars being deficit-financed or that taxpayers will need to make additional interest payments on the national debt due to these deficits.

It is likely that the true cost of the wars will be a much higher total. It is unfortunate that money is being spent this way when in these tough economic times it could do so much good at home.

I have been surprised how quiet the media has been about the wars. When Democrats surged back to power in 2006 with cries that the war must end, the story was everywhere. Now that we have a Democrat President and Congress surely we should have left Iraq and Afghanistan by now.

At the very least the same media that carried the end-the-war-now message in 2006 should be advocating the same now.

Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gary A. Witte

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