Public Lands in Utah, Yes or No?

According to the Constitution of The State of Utah, Article III, Section 2:

“[Right to public domain disclaimed. Taxation of lands. Exemptions.] Second:--The people inhabiting this State do affirm and declare that they will forever disclaim all right and title to the unapropriated (sic) public lands lying within the boundaries hereof, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes. And that until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the disposition of the United States. . .”

This Constitution was ratified in 1896, and Utah became a state. The Constitution of The State of Utah is the law of our land. Utah disclaimed all right and title to the unapropriated (sic) public lands.

So why, you might ask, did the (Utah) Commission for the Stewardship of Public Lands pay $640,000 to Davillier Law Firm of New Orleans to analyze the legality of suing the Federal Government to allow Utah to take over all the public lands? (Salt Lake Tribune, February 2, 2016) And why won’t the legal team give the complete report to all members of the Commission, which consists of five republicans and two democrats? (Part of this report has been made available to the member of the commission and the public, it only outlines the “positive” effects of this proposed lawsuit.) Neither of the Democrats (Senators Debakis and Briscoe) have been allowed to review the entire report. Why not? What is the legal team afraid of? A conflict of interest on behalf of the law firm, or the chairman, perhaps? Or, more telling, that the State of Utah would lose this battle in court?

The head of the Davillier legal team has said Davillier is protected by client-attorney privilege and can only release the information to the chairman of the Commission, David P. Hinkins, or to others upon approval of Chairman Hinkins. What is the chairman afraid of?

Hold on just a taxpayer-fleecing minute. The entire commission voted to hire the legal team, not just the chairman. The entire commission should be entitled to the complete report, as should the voters of Utah! To withhold this information is to deny the commission, and the voters of Utah, the information they need to make an informed decision. We, the taxpayers, of Utah, paid for this report, and I for one want to read it, in its entirety, without redactions.

I also want to know who is going to benefit from the takeover of public lands in Utah. Will it be land developers, the extraction industries, the cattlemen, or the hospitality industry? What about hunting, hiking, camping, fishing, and off road enthusiasts, or antiquities thieves?

Is this just one more ploy of the American Lands Council, headed by Utah state representative Ken Ivory, to fleece the Utah taxpayers; to deny our children and grandchildren the right to enjoy all the outdoor vistas and experiences that Utah offers?

I fear it is. Please feel free to post your comments or thoughts.

Thank you, Senator Debakis and Robert Gehkre of the Tribune, for making this issue public.

Retrieved February 2, 2016, from : http://www.archives.state.ut.us/research/exhibits/Statehood/1896text.htm

The Frenzy over Riff-ruhs

Riff-ruhs, or Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, are all the rage in state legislatures across America  these days. According to the Associated Press (April 2, 2015), 20 states have passed some sort of RFRA, and another dozen are considering them.

So what is the cause of this? When the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriages, some conservative business owners were incensed. They felt the law now demands they serve, in the normal course of business, same-sex couples that want to, say, buy a wedding cake or flowers for their wedding, have a photographer take pictures of their wedding, buy dinner in a local restaurant, or perhaps buy a house. Most of the opposition is based on the owner’s “strongly held religious beliefs” that same sex marriage is against their religion, and therefore they do not want to offer their goods or services to those engaged in the legal act of same sex marriage. Consequently, the lobbied their state legislators to pass laws that would allow them to legally deny goods or services to “those people,” based on their religious beliefs.

Why? Do they not realize the consequences of these actions? Is discrimination against same sex couples so important to them, that they would rather go out of business, than sell to the whole public?

When a couple is preparing to marry, they consult with friends and family members, as well as social media, when choosing photographers, florists, and bakers. After making a decision, based on the above recommendations, they go to that particular shop, perhaps only to find out they are being denied service, because they are a same sex couple. If this happened to you, what would you do?  Perhaps in a large city, you would go elsewhere to purchase the goods or services; but in small rural communities, that may not be feasible. Then what?

Henry Ford once remarked, if a person is satisfied, they will tell 3 people; if they are dissatisfied, they will tell 7. In this day of social media, I suspect the numbers, in case of dissatisfaction, are considerably higher. So, what does that matter, you might be thinking.

Do you remember when South Africa was still enforcing apartheid? Groups of people rallied against investment firms and companies that were doing business in South Africa, and slowly but surely the economic factors began to have a telling affect. Investment firms, retirement funds, and businesses changed models and the money to support apartheid dried up. The change happened. (And no, I am not minimizing the effect of Nelson Mandela and others within South Africa who worked so hard for change.) So it will be for businesses that discriminate, albeit supposedly legal to do so. 

As for me, I am in a heterosexual marriage, so on one hand, this doesn’t affect me. But, being who I am, and my strongly held beliefs, I will not knowingly patronize a business that discriminates against anyone, regardless of the reason.

Just some food for thought.

Your comments are welcome, as always.

R.M. “Bob” Hartman

"Official" Religion

Utah’s charter member of the Senator for Life Club, Republican Orrin Hatch, recently was quoted as saying that states and municipalities have the right to, can and should, establish official religions. What the He** was he thinking? (On second thought, does Orrin ever think before he speaks?)

Really, Senator?

What if one of the southern states, let’s say Mississippi, establishes the Southern Baptists as the state’s official religion. They could then pass legislation that, for example, dictates mandatory bible study, as they see fit, in school. And they could also mandate prayer, complete with fire and brimstone, before school lunch. How would the thousands of children, whose families are members of The Church of Latter Day Saints in Mississippi, feel about that? Do you think it would make them uncomfortable, or shunned? Think about it, Senator. How would the parents explain it to their children?

In Boston, the school children could be mandated to recite the (Catholic) Rosary before entering high school. Would that have made your children happy, Senator? Would you have been able to explain this to your children?

Senator Hatch, I know you are old enough to remember the terrors of the cold war, when Russia and China banned religion; how many people were persecuted for trying to follow their religious beliefs; and the backlash that was created in many countries because of that persecution. That backlash inserted the words “under God” into the American Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, thank you (?), Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon.

On a global scale, Senator, you have seen, heard, and rightfully decried the atrocities carried out in the name of state-sanctioned religions around the world. Can you believe, for one moment that would not happen here if we had states and municipalities establishing official religions?

Senator, I am sorry. I am sorry that you feel you have to pander to the religious right in order to raise campaign contributions and get re-elected, and use your “war chest” to fund other people’s campaigns for office.

More importantly, Senator, in the face of the current economic and social stress facing our great country, I am sorry that you want to focus the discussion, not on matters that affect our overall well-being as a country, but on matters that can only divide us further. I expect better from you.

Respectfully,

R.M. “Bob” Hartman- an active voter in Utah.

Comments are welcome, as always.

(City Weekly, December 10, 2015, page 8)

Massacre in San Bernadino

Another day, another public massacre, more mass hysteria.

“Round them all up.” “Get search warrants for every Muslim living in the United States and search all their homes for guns and bombs.” These were the comments I heard in the lunch room at work today. (The day after the San Bernadio Massacre.)

Well, people, guess again. Syed Farook was born in the United States, in Chicago; and his wife, Tashfeen Malik was born in Pakistan and as a child moved to Saudi Arbia, with her father, then back to Pakistan, where she obtained a college degree. We don’t know yet what radicalized them and led them to conduct the action, this massacre. As they are dead, we probably will never really know.

But mass discrimination, based on place of birth, is nothing new to America. In the 1830’s, help wanted signs stated “no Irish need apply.” It was disgusting then, and it is just as vile today. We should not discriminate against a person based upon birthplace.

Nor should we, as some have suggested, discriminate on the basis of religion. Not everyone who follows Catholicism is a child molester, nor is every follower of Islam a terrorist. Yes, the ISIS/ISIL group has declared war on the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia and now China. It is ISIS that we need to defeat. It is ISIS that is radicalizing these so called lone-wolf terrorists. It is also ISIS that is using social media to spread its agenda around the world.

ISIS needs money to operate. That is a fact we need to address. Recent news coverage from France shows French fighter jets destroying row after row of tanker trucks at oil facilities, oil that is sold on the open market to fund ISIS’s operations. As a world hopefully united in stopping the spread of ISIS terrorism, we should concentrate on destroying their ability to refine and move oil, and also to stop companies and countries from purchasing that oil. There is a coalition of countries, lead by the United States, which is making some progress in achieving that step.  Great Britain has now committed to air strikes against ISIS targets.

ISIS also needs its social media. There are people, in the United States and abroad, who are geniuses with social media. Perhaps it is time to bring them together, to charge them with the duty of shutting down the social media sites ISIS uses, both on the common internet and the deep web. In doing so, they can also trace back to the source of the ISIS media, and then use ground forces, or air strikes, to shutter these physical sites. They can also trace who is looking at this social media, and then determine if they are casual viewers or more dangerous in their intent.

Yes, we need to take action regarding ISIS/ISIL. We need to defeat them, to deny them the ability to radicalize people and encourage those radicalized to commit murders for ISIS’s sake, in ISIS’s name.

But we shouldn’t, and don’t need to, discriminate against an entire religion because of the crimes of a few.

Of course, this is just my opinion, and I am open to discussion regarding this issue!

Thanks for reading.

R.M. “Bob” Hartman

Politics and Religion

I’ve watched, at times fascinated and at other times sickened, as the various segments of our American politicians and society debate religion, its place in our great country, and in our laws and behavior.

The Declaration of Independence, which took our country away from the dominion of Great Briton, does state: . . . that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. . .

Note that it states, all men are created equal. It does not state that only those of a certain religious belief have these rights, more rights than others. Nor does it say you must have a belief in any one particular, if any, Creator.

It states that all men are created equal. We can argue the statement about “all men,” but at this point, I believe the reference was to all people. Therefore, it includes women as well as men (historical introspection is mine).

The Constitution of the United States of America does not define any religious belief, or any set rules of religious behavior, or belief.

In fact, the 1^st amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America (part of the Bill of Rights) states: 
      "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise thereof; abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Well, hello freedom! This gives each of us the right to believe what we want about the existence of a Creator, or not. It gives us the freedom to worship or not as we desire. It removes from the discussion the right or privilege to say, the United States was founded as a Christian nation. It does give us the right to practice our religions, or not; to believe or not as we wish, to attend church or not as we wish; however, and this is a BIG however, it does not give us the right to force our beliefs on others, or to use that belief to divide us. We are bigger that that as a nation, as a people. 

Politics in the United States has become a dirty, nasty business. To entice votes, politicians are trying hard to divide and conquer the voters. They are trying, and to a large point succeeding, to divide us upon religious grounds. The rhetoric has become evil, nasty, even putrefying. It is no wonder that the majority of Americans turn away from the debate.  

The American people deserve, and should demand, better. We need to know, politicians, what you plan to do to improve our economy, our health care, our standard of life. We don’t care about where or how often you worship. My belief, or non-belief, in a Creator is “none of your damn business,” as Grandmother would have said. 

Politicians, let’s take your religious belief out of the discussion, for this moment. Do not tell me what your “God” wants us to do. Tell me what you are going to do. Are you going to support health care for all people; are you going to say those who are outside of your comfort zone they have no right in their decision; are you going to allow women to decide how and when they decide to bring new life into the world, or would you prefer to tell them what they have to do? Will you feed the hungry children, provide them education, will you provide daytime child care so mom and dad can earn a living, or would you prefer they end up on welfare for the rest of their lives? Are you going to allow me to make my own end-of-life decisions? Are you willing to allow medical marijuana to ease my discomfort from chemo? Or would you prefer I suffer when the pain can be relieved? Are you going to pay the bills, or would you prefer my family goes hungry?

Or, let’s put your “God” back into the discussion, for the moment. What would He say, what would He do? Would He heal the sick, feed the hungry, comfort the afflicted? Would He say, “Provide for them, and their families?” Would He be there, or would He say, “Well, too bad for you?”

Perhaps more importantly, it is time for the American voters to wake up, to say, Hello! We need our governing bodies to work for us, for the greater good of America. It is time for us to no longer accept the R or the D in the voting booth. It is time for us to look the politicians in the eye and ask, what are you going to do for us, for our nation? The time is now to ask for answers. It is time for us to look beyond their business connections, beyond their religious affiliations, read beyond the sound bites, to look at what they have done, to ask them what they are willing to do for us as a country.

It is time to ask our politicians what they are going to do for greater good of America. 

As always, your comments are welcome! Thanks for reading. 

RMH

The Donald

I’ve been quite for far too long, but now I feel the need to speak out. Donald Trump, the obvious, or oblivious, leader of the Republican candidates, has now said that all Muslims in America should be put in a data-base, and forced to carry an ID card that identifies them as a Muslim. Why? Because Muslims, in the main, are members of the Islamic religion, and Islamic terrorists are causing mayhem and havoc around the world.

So “The Donald” wants to stigmatize an entire population because of the crimes of a few.  Would he be in favor of making all Catholics register in a data base and carry ID cards as a result of a few priests being pedophiles? The Catholic Church does not teach people to become pedophiles, and Islam does not teach people to become terrorists. Yes, I know, there are a few leaders in the Islamic religion who preach hate against infidels, but does that make every member of the faith a terrorist? The Wellsboro Baptist church teaches hate against “gays”, does that make every Baptist a gay-hater?

I don’t think so. And if I am making you uncomfortable with these comparisons, so be it. If you are uncomfortable with this, you need to press re-set and think again.

Wake up, America! There is not, should not, and cannot be a litmus test of religion to be in America. Yes, we are, like the rest of the world, trying to handle the refugee crisis from the Syrian civil war. These refugees are, in the main, women and children whose husbands and fathers have been killed in the name of religion. Is this the time we turn our back on them? Is this what America is known for?

Yes, this situation makes us all uncomfortable. How do we know which child or mother is in fact a terrorist? I don’t have the answer, and I won’t pretend to.   

“

As all of you know, I am not a fan of Representative Jason Chaffetz, (R-Utah) but he put it well:

“As an American, that’s nuts,” said Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and who is so far neutral in the GOP presidential race. “The whole foundation of our nation was to allow for religious liberties and I have no interest in shutting down churches. That’s ridiculous. . . if there are individuals engaged in nefarious activities, then go arrest them. I don’t care of (sic) they’re Mormons, Muslims or Jews. But places of worship should be encouraged.” (Salt Lake Tribune, 11/20/2015)

He is correct; go arrest the individual, but don’t use a broad brush and paint an entire group as evil. This is Karl Rove at his worst, this is divide and conquer politics at it’s worst.

Mr. Trump, your comments are not helping America. Go back to your reality show, go back to your casinos. Get out of politics, and stop trying to destroy America.  

Your thoughts and comments are welcome, as always. 

RMH

Alcohol, Utah Style

What is a State supposed to do with its biggest cash cow? If you or I had a private business, which had a monopoly on its’ customers, and this business was dropping 39.46% to the bottom line, we would have Wall Street investors clamoring for a piece of the action. And that 39.46% is not just hundreds of dollars, no; it represents $144,903,967!!! Yes, you read it correctly: 144 MILLION dollars of PROFIT. (OK, round it up to145 Million. What is 96$ thousand among friends?)

Utah is very proud of the fact that “drinkers” pay for the school lunch programs, to the tune of $38,343,822 in FY 2014. And that is all well and good; well, we will let it go as such for now, anyway.

Utah has a drinking problem; it is known as the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. DABC controls all alcohol within the state’s borders, from how many clubs, restaurants and bars have liquor licenses to what products are available on the shelf for consumer purchase. In Utah, restaurants, clubs, and bars purchase alcohol from the State at retail (the same price you and I pay) and then mark it up when they sell it to the consumer. A $38 bottle of wine becomes a $60 bottle of wine at the restaurant.

Now, just so you don’t think DABC is uncontrolled, let me advise you that it is in fact very controlled, by the Utah State government. A state government that cut $500,000 out of the operating budget for the DABC in 2015.

Out here in the real world, if you or I had a business that was dropping almost 40% to the bottom line, would we cut its operating budget? Hell, no, we would be trying to increase sales!

Would we be happy with an employee turnover rate of 75%? No, we would try to keep employees, not repeatedly go through the expense of training new ones over and over again.

In this mythical business, would we turn a deaf ear to our customers when they complain about stock-outs and long waiting lines? I doubt it.

Would we tell our largest customers, sorry, we don’t have all of your order at this location; you need to drive across town to pick up the rest of it? No, we wouldn’t. We would demand our supplier fix their logistics problem.

Would we tell our store managers they had to run two or three stores instead of focusing on one? Really? That would not be in the business’s best interest, would it?

If we went to the annual stockholders’ meeting, and this was the situation, we would be ready to fire the CEO/Director and electing a new board of officers. But this is Utah, and we don’t get that choice.

Utah’s Governor, Gary Herbert, in a news conference two months back, declared everything was fine at DABC, except for a “few” disgruntled employees. Now, after numerous op-ed pieces and “letters to the editor,” the governor, or at least his office, is changing its tune. The governor’s office announced they are undertaking a review of DABC, and hiring an out-of-state consultant to see what can be done to “improve” DABC.

I have no idea how much we, as taxpayers, are paying for this consultant. But, Governor Herbert, here is some free advice.

First, put all of the employees at the state-owned liquor stores on as full time employees, with benefits. A turnover rate of 75%, coupled with the fact that these state employees are only considered part time, and therefore not eligible for benefits, should have you concerned. As any retailer can tell you, happy employees directly correspond to happier customers.

Second, address your inventory problems. When you have a monopoly, it is easy to say, “Too bad” when you are out of stock. But say “too bad” often enough, and the customers will go to Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and Colorado instead of visiting your store. Your large customers-the restaurants, clubs and bars-should not have to drive across town to fill their orders. The data from your cash registers can help you plan for the “busy seasons,” like Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, and the 4^th of July. Be sure you have enough inventory, and employees, ready for those huge volume days.

Third, take care of your customers, your profit-makers, also known as consumers. Be sure the cash registers are fully staffed during your busy times. Remember the grocery chain that said “if three people are waiting in line, we will open another register?” Have staff trained in wines, liquor, and beer, so they can answer questions customers may have about the products. Instead of having a neon sign light up when DABC outlets are closed, think like a retailer (which you are) and have a neon sign that says “open.”

Fourth, have one manager and two assistant managers assigned to each store. Empower them to make the schedules needed to serve the customers, and to modify the orders to insure there are no stock-out conditions.

Lastly, change the make-up of the Liquor Commission to include members of the hospitality community, and community members at large. The majority of the members should have experience in alcohol use and consumption!

Governor Herbert, I hope these suggestions can help you improve the image of the DABC with your customers and your employees. Feel free to use them, you can even claim them as your own ideas if you so desire.

One last thought, Governor, lower all your prices by 10%! That would really go a long way to making customers happy.

R. M. Hartman

As always, your comments are welcome.

Data from 79^th annual report, DABC FY 2014. http://abc.utah.gov/about/documents/79th_annual.pdf retrieved July 8 2014.