Bad Air Equals Big Money In Utah

Salt Lake City is infamous for it's bad air in the winter.  It happens every winter and it seems to me that it gets worse every year, but I'm probably getting more sensitive to it as I get older.  For at least a week, probably more like two weeks we've had RED AIR ALERTS every day. This means our air is toxic to breathe.  The Red Air Alert is a warning to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.  I almost always think about the poor Mail Carrier trudging through this crude with weeping red eyes and a dry hacking cough as he/she worries about slipping on ice that no amount of ice melt will melt.  Day time temperatures haven't been higher than the 20s in all this time, and the combination of trapped stinking air pollution also keeps the sun from reaching the ground.  It's probably crystal clear and 20 degrees warmer at the ski resorts where I (when I was still skiing or living up Emigration Canyon) could look down on the Salt Lake Valley and see nothing but a bowl of thick taupe air that looked like a dingy blanket and wished I didn't ever have to breathe it again.  The local news media euphemistically calls this crud "fog."  I call bullshit on that.

We are governed by Mormon businessmen whose only goal is to get rich and richer and stay that way, by any means possible.  The only exception to that rule is the occasional Democratic Mayor who spends all his time (sad to say Salt Lake hasn't elected a Liberal Democratic female mayor in my lifetime -Didi Coridini doesn't count) battling the Legislature and Governor trying to improve air quality standards and put in place fines for polluters.  But we are now in the very big business of courting other countries toxic and radioactive waste, and I'd bet every penny I own that we're cutting corners on safety to make money for the dickhead politicians and their business cronies who are getting very rich in this business.  Our motto isn't "Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses yearning to be free," or something nice like that.  Oh no, our motto is: "Give us the most dangerous toxic waste no one in the rest of the world feels safe living next to and we'll dump it near our biggest city, because we don't give a  shit about anything but money and the end days are near anyway, so get it while you can."  The company doing this is Energy Solutions and the guy running that operation is now on the staff of our new Senator, the very awful, very corrupt, Mike Lee.  I hear he also has a lobbyist for Blackwater/Xi on his staff.  This guy makes Orrin Hatch look like a saint.

Orrin Hatch Complains About Opt-Out

Sometimes it's hard to tell what Orrin likes because his voice is a nasal whine in the best of times. In the healthcare debate Orrin has sided with the big insurance industry's stranglehold on the country. But a weakened public option has him apoplectic. The idea that states will have the option to refuse the public option means any Republican Governor who decides to opt-out will be wildly unpopular with the voters, and this seems very unfair to Orrin.

Orrin Hatch Is Undone By Small MoveOn.org Demonstration

Hey "scurrilous" folks,

So, we knew the fight would be hard and long... but it's begun to really heat up now...

On MSNBC this afternoon, Andrea Mitchell asked Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) about a MoveOn-organized protest outside his Salt Lake City office, where protesters criticized Hatch for allegedly being beholden to the insurance industry because it donated a lot of money to his past campaigns.

"I'm supported by people all over the health care system," Hatch said, "including doctors, including hospitals, including insurers, including
liberal people, conservative people and moderate people. Everybody knows how much money you have to raise to run for the Senate."

Then Hatch turned his fury to MoveOn and George Soros.

"MoveOn.org is a scurrilous organization," he said. "It's funded by George Soros. He's about as left wing as you can find in this country. And they're
up to just one thing, and that is to smear good people. And frankly, they're
not gonna smear me without getting kicked in the teeth by me."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33330046#33330046

(This from the Deseret News.)

MoveOn.org executive director Justin Ruben responded that when Utah members of his group questioned the money Hatch took from insurance interests, "What did he do? Go on national TV and threaten to kick them in the teeth. Apparently this was easier than defending his ties to the insurance companies."

He added, "Hopefully whoever Sen. Hatch kicks in the teeth is independently wealthy, in case their claim is denied by one of the insurance companies who've been funding his campaign."

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Here's what the media advisory will say about tomorrow's event:
---------------------------------------------------------------

MEDIA ADVISORY FOR October 16th, 2009
CONTACT: Richard Lafon, (801) 815-3870

Event Begins at Senator Hatch’s Office at 12:00 PM, October 16th, 2009

MoveOn Members Protest Sen. Hatch’s Threat To “Kick Them In The Teeth” Event Held in Response to Hatch’s Threatening Remarks Made Towards MoveOn.org On National Television


On Friday, October 16th, MoveOn.org members will gather outside of Senator Hatch’s office to protest his threat, made on the national cable television
station MSNBC, to kick MoveOn.org in the teeth. The threat was made in response to a question about a rally held on Wednesday, where MoveOn members
criticized Hatch for taking $913,614 from HMO and health insurance interests and being opposed to a public health insurance option. Insurance companies
and HMOS are spending nearly $5 million per week fighting against health care
reform, and one of their top targets is the public health insurance option—the heart of real reform crucial to lowering rising health care costs and expanding high-quality, affordable coverage to more Americans.

There are nearly 23,000 MoveOn.org members in Utah.

Senator Hatch’s remarks can be viewed at (1:30 mark):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33330046#33330046

WHAT: Rally Outside of Senator Hatch’s Office
WHO: MoveOn members
WHERE: Federal Building, 125 South State Street, Salt Lake City, UT
WHEN: 12:00 PM, Friday, October 16th, 2009

*** VISUALS: Participants will be holding sets of chattering teeth***
(cold and rainy)


MoveOn.org Political Action is a political action committee powered by 5
million progressive Americans. We believe in the power of small donors and grassroots action to elect progressive leaders to office and to advance a progressive agenda. We do not accept any donations over $5,000, and the average donation to MoveOn.org Political Action is under $100.