tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52380972011-04-21T14:44:41.404-07:00eGovernment, Current Events, and Utah PoliticsVernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.comBlogger541100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1108654467546881332005-02-17T07:18:00.000-08:002005-02-17T07:48:23.560-08:00

Windley and Fletcher have been discussing HB109, the bill that would consolidate Utah's IT workers into a single department. Even Fulling got into the mix with a lively discussion with Devin Calcut. Meanwhile the rumors are flying that Windley is somehow behind all this, or at least set to profit by it. I've even heard that he'll be the new CIO. I don't know how much of that's true. I know

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1087325400514822402004-06-15T11:49:00.000-07:002004-06-15T11:50:00.513-07:00

I sent in a essay entitled My Friend is Dead and I'm Angry to UtahPolitics.org if you're interested in taking a look.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1085584138397570482004-05-26T08:01:00.000-07:002004-05-26T08:08:58.396-07:00

Utah CIO Val Oveson was at Federal Computer Week's Government CIO Summit in Amelia Island, Fla last week and got himself quoted. In a discussion about the relationship between CIOs and CFOs, Val said: Val Oveson, Utah's CIO, took the debate one step further, saying a department's chief executive officer should be the CIO. The CEO has the best grasp on an organization's business and vision

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1084929454453561872004-05-18T18:12:00.000-07:002004-05-18T18:32:49.383-07:00

I'd been given to believe that Val Oveson was the CIO and Dave Fletcher was the acting director of ITS, but some strange goings-on that I've been witness to in the Legislative Staff's office have dissuaded me of that notion. In fact, Richard North, legislative staffer, has been having secret meetings with certain IT Directors from various agencies without the CIO present as well as holding

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1083711197404456292004-05-04T15:50:00.000-07:002004-05-04T15:57:00.090-07:00

Even though I don't always (usually?) agree with the positions that the ACLU takes, I usually rtespect them for what they do. I realize that back-pressure is a useful thing in politics to keep the majority from running roughshod over the minority. Outcomes like the one handed down yesterday by the US District court make it seem like they're just going after the Mormon church because of spite.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1083351052826155682004-04-30T11:46:00.000-07:002004-04-30T11:57:26.700-07:00

Baseline Magazine has a nice article featuring Val Oveson, Utah's CIO. In the article Val talks about Utah's use of, and problems with, simple ROI measurements. Dave Fletcher talked about better performance measures earlier this week. I'm confident that Val's the right person to pull this off given his strong backgrounds in both technology and accounting. He seems perfectly situated to bring

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1082395973155779372004-04-19T10:27:00.000-07:002004-04-19T10:36:50.170-07:00

Seems like the State of Utah's witch hunt against blogs continues. Andy Sullivan, who works part time for the CIO's office had a blog at licyeus.net, but its gone now. He must have said something that people didn't like, so they shut him down. You can see a cached copy of his blog on Google. Maybe its that state employees, in their free time are not allowed to swear? Oh no, that can't be

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1082395365228244582004-04-19T09:59:00.000-07:002004-04-19T10:26:42.373-07:00

The laws and rules that explain how State of Utah workers are hired, promoted, paid, fired, and retired goes by the Orwellian name "State Merit System" even though hiring, pay, and promotion in the State have precious little to do with "merit." I've heard numerous candidates for Governor this year talk about how they're going to change government when they get into office, but no one talks

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1079668657258093942004-03-18T19:56:00.000-08:002004-03-18T20:00:52.216-08:00

Its nice to know that no matter how stupid the Utah legislature might be at times, we can always count on Tennessee to kick us out of the limelight.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1078504725137756852004-03-05T08:35:00.000-08:002004-03-05T08:41:42.716-08:00

Glenn Reynolds, the InstaPundit, rites a blog at MSNBC. He's got a great piece there now on Kerry's schizophrenia based on things he's said just in the last week.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1078262826832386252004-03-02T13:26:00.000-08:002004-03-02T13:30:01.686-08:00

Why stop at gays? The bible cautions us against eating shrimp and lobster too!

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1077638338689692292004-02-24T07:52:00.000-08:002004-02-24T09:18:21.466-08:00

Reading Fletcher's blog, I notice that the Utah.gov portal won the Center for Digital Government's "Best of Breed" award. According to press release from NIC. Named the nation's top state government Web site in the 2003 Best of the Web competition, Utah.gov epitomizes the best in its breed by combining innovative technology with first-rate customer service. Revamped and redesigned last

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1077595662305556242004-02-23T20:02:00.000-08:002004-02-23T20:10:26.250-08:00

A lot of liberal cry babies are complaining the with Nader in the race, Kerry loses votes. Of course, you could extend that logic and complain that with Bush in the race, Kerry loses votes. I guess they're concerned that Kerry can't compete---"just put him in a one man contest and he'll bring in the votes!" Maybe if the Democrats would nominate who someone real people could vote for without

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1077557295175728882004-02-23T09:25:00.000-08:002004-02-23T09:30:58.250-08:00

A number of people have asked what I thought about Howard Dean's meteoric fall from front runner to has-been. The implication being that somehow this kills the theory that the Internet represents a new way for politicians to connect. On the contrary, I believe in the axiom that nothing kills a bad product faster than good marketing. Dean looked good to a lot of folks until they got to know

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1076801382697620182004-02-14T15:28:00.000-08:002004-02-14T15:32:14.296-08:00

Harvard is now in the porn business. The Crimson reports that the College has approved a student run magazine where students will pose nude. It even has a faculty advisor. Just as long as they don't talk about religion. That might offend someone.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1076724969426696672004-02-13T18:08:00.000-08:002004-02-13T18:18:41.060-08:00

San Jose techno-writer Chris Gulker ought to stick to technology. In his blog he says: Justice Department is demanding that hospitals turn over records of women who have had abortions. I think this is going way too far to push a religious agenda using the U.S. Government's resources... Since when is being against killing something a purely religious issue? Why is it that folks like

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1076089330803032692004-02-06T09:38:00.000-08:002004-02-06T09:44:31.200-08:00

A marvelous article at AlwaysOn on how Howard Dean is just like pets.com. You should read it. Here's a piece: And like Pets.com, which was able to attract money from some of the most famous investors, even at its peak, the Howard Dean for President campaign was able to attract an endorsement from Al Gore precisely at its peak. According to the Iowa Electronic Markets, Gore bought Dean (

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1075304657028796312004-01-28T07:41:00.000-08:002004-01-28T07:46:25.390-08:00

I have to admit, I like John Kerry. Oh, its not that I want him to be our next President, on the contrary, I want George W. Bush to be our next President. I want Kerry to be the Democratic nominee. Why? Because he looks just like Dukakis and Mondale. He's going to be slaughtered by middle America. He'll do more poorly than Gore in the red counties. All in all, a great choice for the

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1074877242159188542004-01-23T08:54:00.000-08:002004-01-23T09:02:44.513-08:00

Its not often that I agree with Paul Krugman of the New York Times. In fact, I may have never agreed with him before, but today's the day. Krugman has written an Op-Ed piece that discusses electronic voting. He starts off painting a picture: [I]magine this: in November the candidate trailing in the polls wins an upset victory — but all of the districts where he does much better than

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1073685644577662772004-01-09T13:56:00.000-08:002004-01-09T14:02:28.796-08:00

This story from Yahoo! indicates that Clinton was convinced that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction right up until the Iraq war. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said "When Clinton was here recently he told me he was absolutely convinced, given his years in the White House and the access to privileged information which he had, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1062806078816352992003-09-05T16:54:00.000-07:002003-09-05T16:54:38.643-07:00

Why is it that the right rallies around the "My Child, My Choice" banner only after the child has been born? Seems to me that it its wrong to choose a medical procedure which will result in the death of a child before its born, then its equally wrong afterward. Certainly the issues are deep and not as block and white as this portrays. Slogans on either side give the wrong message because

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1061300763681493072003-08-19T06:46:00.000-07:002003-08-19T06:46:03.566-07:00

This article in the Washington Post talks about how the Bush campaign is reaching out to bloggers. One thing they're doing is making a news feed available like the one on the right.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1057602593881978322003-07-07T11:29:00.000-07:002003-07-07T11:30:47.856-07:00

Two researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who were annoyed by the prospect of a massive new federal surveillance system, Total Information Awareness program (TIA), celebrated the Fourth of July with a new Internet service that will let citizens create dossiers on government officials. The new site is called Government Information Awareness. This is an excellent bit of

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1057016329161069632003-06-30T16:38:00.000-07:002003-06-30T16:38:49.070-07:00

I received a megaphone and pamphlet in the mail today from Jon Huntman Jr. inviting me to an Ice Cream Social with Jon to talk about Utah issues. Seems like Jon is going to be in the race without waiting for Leavitt to announce. Of course, Huntman has enough money to do this and back off later with no harm done.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1056855697325741012003-06-28T20:01:00.000-07:002003-06-28T20:07:38.486-07:00

Val Oveson is the newest CIO in Utah. A story in today's Salt Lake Tribune alleges that he has responsibility for a bungled IT system while he was at Tax and raises the question of a possible conflict of interest with respect to his oversight of the system and the next job he got. I think its fascinating how IT is suddenly something the papers are covering with some regularity. This

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-1056636521068859722003-06-26T07:08:00.000-07:002003-06-26T07:08:41.070-07:00

The Legislative Auditor General release several audits this week. The one that seemed to cause the most press was one that audited the payment of bonuses to state workers. The Deseret News is reporting that several state agencies will halt paying bonuses all together. There were abuses to be sure. The audit, for example, cites on instance where someone was paid a bonus for "putting

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-959073872003-06-21T20:41:00.000-07:002003-06-21T20:44:01.000-07:00

Politics, Pure and Simple The Salt Lake Tribune is carrying a story alleging Governor Leavitt's plausible conflict of interest concerning the Worker's Compensation Fund. Interesting that no one questioned this until the Governor made the legislature angry by talking with the media about his plans for WCF before discussing them with the legislature. This is a classic smear job full of

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-957792502003-06-17T21:32:00.000-07:002003-06-17T21:32:38.850-07:00

Fighting Evil I believe that some things are evil. I believe that stopping evil is something worth fighting for. When I read this story about the victims of torture in Iraq I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes to think that the world was willing to let that kind of sadistic behavior continue and just sit and pass resolution after resolution. The same people who are

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-957666122003-06-17T13:50:00.000-07:002003-06-17T13:50:03.420-07:00

Leavitt Takes His Popularity for a Spin Governor Mike Leavitt is a very popular politician. His approval rating hovers around 70% most of the time. He rarely takes the old approval rating around the block for a spin however, preferring to work his magic through good old-fashioned politics. Occasionally, on an issue that seems particularly hot or one that he knows will get significant

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-957325252003-06-16T15:47:00.000-07:002003-06-16T15:51:24.000-07:00

Capitol Watch: Steele Gone This is old news to many of us who work on Capitol Hill each day, but Senator Dave Steele has resigned his Senate seat. Steele was a long-time eGovernment player in Utah, although in recent years his leadership of the ITC had not yielded much fruit. I'd heard that Senate leadership wasn't very happy about that and so I wasn't surprised when he didn't retain

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-956331462003-06-13T09:09:00.000-07:002003-06-13T09:09:27.516-07:00

Devil's Highway This article in the NY Times talks about the devil's highway, so called because its official designation is Highway 666. Highway 666 begins in Gallup NM and ends in Monticello Utah. The article says that officials in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah wanted the name changed because bad associations with the name are hurting the economic vitality of the area. I don't know if

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-956082072003-06-12T16:11:00.000-07:002003-06-12T16:11:40.626-07:00

Hillary's Myth For the last week, you can hardly turn on NPR without hearing an interview with Hillary Clinton about her new book. I also saw her on today. Most of the NPR "interviewers" lob these incredible softballs at her just hoping she'll knock them out of the park. Of course the favorite topic is always Bill's little indiscretion. What's fascinating to me about this is that she

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-954770402003-06-09T12:36:00.000-07:002003-06-09T12:36:07.736-07:00

Conflicts of Interest Today's Salt Lake Tribune carried an op-ed piece on conflict of interest for public employees. The conclusion is that public employees will regulate more honestly when they have made all their conflicts of interest public. I guess this begs the question of whether or not such disclosure will be taken into account by their boss or anyone else. Merely disclosing

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-952436962003-06-03T09:49:00.000-07:002003-06-03T09:49:34.956-07:00

A Fourth Term for Leavitt Last week, I commented on Leavitt's possibly running for a fourth term as Governor of Utah. Today, the Deseret News carries a story entitled Leavitt Gearing Up for Fourth Term. The article reports recent fund raising activities, but I don't think you can conclude from them that Leavitt will run again. In fact, I think they show a shrewd politician who's keeping his

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-949908122003-05-28T07:50:00.000-07:002003-05-28T07:50:43.186-07:00

Why Did Marty Do It? This last session, Speaker of the Utah House Marty Stevens closely aligned himself with the most controversial bill of the session. You remember, the one requiring that Credit Unions be treated the same as banks when it comes to taxes. The question for watchers of Utah politics is "why?" Sure, Marty is a banker and perhaps it was inevitable that he'd be associated with

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-949364752003-05-27T05:22:00.000-07:002003-05-27T05:22:29.286-07:00

Political Blogging in Utah From Dave Fletcher comes word of a blog written by Utah political luminaries Norm Bangerter (former Governor), LaVarr Webb (former Political Deputy to Governor Leavitt), and Bart Barker (former Salt Lake Commissioner). The weblog is called Talking Points. Today they link to a few papers on technology and politics, including this one on Digital campaigning.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-948052012003-05-23T15:29:00.000-07:002003-05-23T15:29:17.386-07:00

Trouble in Paradise Former State CIO Phil Windley seems to have gotten himself in a little trouble. Gotta be careful when you play with matches.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-947698202003-05-22T20:59:00.000-07:002003-05-22T20:59:23.250-07:00

Access to Government Data The Internet has made more people than ever before aware of the ease with which data they consider private can be found by others. One of more important principals of democracy is the openness of government records. Now, however, records that were previously open, but effectively closed because of the technology of the day (land records, courts records, and even pet

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-946029982003-05-19T15:50:00.000-07:002003-05-19T15:50:46.760-07:00

Credit Rating Matters Once a year or so, the leading credit agencies review the State's fiscal policies and issue a bond rating. The bond rating is extremely important since it determines the interest rate and, consequently, the payment. If the bond rating drops, the cost of the bonds go up and the State will be in another pickle with regards to its budget. The State Treasurer, Ed

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-944154832003-05-15T15:41:00.000-07:002003-05-19T15:51:44.000-07:00

Shurtleff Pitch Falls on Deaf Ears On the Governor's race watch for Utah in 2004, we have to keep on eye on Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. The most dangerous place to stand at the Capitol is in between the AG and a camera crew. He's an incessant publicity hound who has jumped from airplanes and tried on every popular issue for size. There's little doubt that the AG would like to run for

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-942033052003-05-12T07:15:00.000-07:002003-05-12T07:55:16.000-07:00

Newspaper Scandals The New York Times is apologizing for a reporter who plagiarized over 150 stories over 3 years. We recently had a scandal involving a newspaper here. Two Salt Lake Tribune reporters apparently sold information to the National Enquirer that just simply wasn't true for $20,000. The editor of the Salt Lake Tribune eventually resigned over the deal. I wonder how these

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-938168472003-05-05T12:24:00.000-07:002003-05-05T12:24:47.680-07:00

California, the Irrelvant An article called "The Left-out Coast" in May 12th issue of The Economist argues that California is stuck in a time-warp. Depending on the generation, the time-warp is either the 1990s or, worse, the 1960s. Being out of touch with the war on terror because of their geo-political isolation has left them wondering what everyone on the East coast is worrying about and

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-935620162003-04-30T16:54:00.000-07:002003-04-30T16:54:43.253-07:00

One Nation, Under God I've followed the news about the ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals with some interest since it first broke last fall. This seems the case of a very liberal court going out of its way to make a statement. This piece from the Washington Post reports on the appeal filed by the United States Solicitor General Ted Olson suggesting that the 9th Circuit is so far out

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-932047662003-04-24T15:47:00.000-07:002003-04-24T15:47:08.196-07:00

What you say can be used against you I've watched this story on Sen. Santorum develop with some interest. These sort of things are always a shame, but politicians have to know that what they say will always be used against them.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-930670902003-04-22T13:32:00.000-07:002003-04-22T13:32:21.000-07:00

Euro as the Hope of Civilization This Guardian article by George Monboit asserts that there is only one way to check American power and that is to support the euro. I find this amusing on two counts. First that, as the article asserts, "we have a moral duty to contest the developing power of the United States" and secondly that the way to do it is through the Euro. There are some ideas in

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-928588402003-04-18T14:49:00.000-07:002003-04-18T14:53:04.000-07:00

Freedom of Speech? This story in InfoWorld is about the DARPA grant that got pulled from the Univ. of Pennsylvania, because the man in charge of the project made anti-war comments in the press. In the Globe and Mail piece deRaadt said the current U.S. war against Iraq "sickens" him. De Raadt also said he was uncomfortable taking money from the U.S. military, but "I try to convince myself

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-928127592003-04-17T19:09:00.000-07:002003-04-17T19:09:54.576-07:00

This Motley Fool article by Jeff Fisher talks about the ballooning practice of product rebates. I've noticed this when I go into Best Buy. Its hard to find the real price without doing the math to add the rebate back in. I must admit I've sent in rebate forms for some items I've purchased. Can't say that I've received the rebates. Jeff posits that this is intentional, somehow it would

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-925823152003-04-14T06:58:00.000-07:002003-04-14T06:58:39.983-07:00

I've always enjoyed reading Thomas Friedman of the NY Times (one of the things in the Times that I do enjoy). His column in yesterday's issue was a great example of Friedman at his best. He talks about America not being at war just with Saddam, but with Saddamism, which he defines as "an entrenched Arab mind-set, born of years of colonialism and humiliation, that insists that upholding Arab

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-923910562003-04-10T16:23:00.000-07:002003-04-10T16:35:34.000-07:00

One of my favorite bloggers is Glenn Reynolds, the InstaPundit. Glenn is the Dean of political bloggers with a blog that is both right of center (my preference) and well-written and thought provoking. I frequently find things I want to read there, like this piece by Jim Bennett on how the spectacular success of the US against the Iraqi military simultaneously crushed the hopes of those

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-923177222003-04-09T15:00:00.000-07:002003-04-09T15:00:11.606-07:00

I know its completely unrealistic, but I truely wish that people would stop thinking that celebrities know something just because their famous. This story is an example. Jane Fonda is speaking in Canada at a "Unique Lives" lecture series. Surely there are plenty of people who might actually have a clue who also have unique lives. What a waste of time.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-920590112003-04-05T14:26:00.000-08:002003-04-05T14:28:09.000-08:00

I'll be traveling for a few days in the East. I'm going to Pittsburgh for a conference. I hope to be able to write a little here if I can find an Internet connection. If not, I'll be back on Thursday.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-919507842003-04-03T17:39:00.000-08:002003-04-03T17:39:14.576-08:00

I found an interesting blog today where the author answers reader's tax questions. I haven't reviewed the advice so don't hold me responsible for it, but I think it shows the power of blogs and the breadth of what people blog about.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-918771792003-04-02T16:19:00.000-08:002003-04-02T16:19:01.280-08:00

April's Governing Magazine has a short article on online sales tax (unfortunately, I can't find the article online). This has been a hot topic for many years, but its quietly slipping into reality. An anonymous band of retailers, which reportedly includes Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys 'R' Us, has struck a deal with 37 states in which they have agreed to to begin collecting sales tax online.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238097.post-918746552003-04-02T15:28:00.000-08:002003-04-02T15:37:17.000-08:00

I've been a lurker, reading blogs for months, but I decided over the weekend that I was finally going to get started. After all, if Dan Rather is mentioning them three times on the nightly news, its time to get with the program.

Vernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17827626841407029866noreply@blogger.com0