BYU, Utah State Caucuses, Iraq, &c.

Over the course of our reports on the BYUSA election and the ongoing debate about the Provo parking issues, we have called for a more unified voice to represent student concerns with the Provo City Council (here, here, here, here, here, here, & here). A report by Emily Hudson in the Daily Universe shows we are not the only ones who recognize the representation deficit.

Hudson reports that the 33,000 BYU students make up roughly 29% of the Provo population. And yet, "in Saturday's downtown meeting, where BYU was not represented, almost all of the discussion of urban variety centered around increasing student activity in the downtown area, student housing issues and transportation. (emphasis added)

How can this be possible?

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Yesterday Utah held caucus meetings for both Republican and Democrats. This article from the Daily U focuses on the Democrat caucus. In it, Holly Van Woerkom reported that Don Jarvis, Democratic candidate for the Utah State House from district 63, said that the BYU Democrats were "the largest student Democrat club in the state."

That's not saying much.

Meanwhile, friend of Lybberty, Matt Berry, attended the local Republican caucus and was elected as one of the delegates to the Republican State Convention. Berry reported that there were "a lot fewer crazies than I expected" and that the discussion was "smart and passionate." He said they focused on vouchers/school choice and immigration, among other things.

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Follow up to last week's review of the DU's editorial on Obama's speech. Letter-to-the-editor writer, Max Stoneman called the DU's editorial on Obama's Wright speech a new low (2nd from the top). You'll remember that this was the column with which we agreed and thought was well-written.

Specifically, he said " The DU is also extremely wrong-headed to assume that Obama used the speech to say 'we're all racist in some ways.'" Did Stoneman miss Obama's comment about his grandmother being a "typical white person?" This was a revealing offhand comment that further strengthens the DU's suspicions about Obama's worldview.

To Stoneman: drink less kool-aid.

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Since we still rely on blogger for all things technical, we don't know why the text spacing changes after we use one of the special features like "centering" or "block quote." If any of you know how to fix this, please email us.

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This week marks the kickoff to the BYU student sponsored "Choose to Give" campaign. Check out Russell Thacker's piece in the DU appealing to students for their support. We, collectively, have benefited greatly from our attendance at BYU. We recommend you do as the class of 1911 student suggested and "refrain this week from indulging in any evening entertainments that will require an outlay of money."

Small donations from a large percentage of the BYU student population can go a long way to growing student scholarships and expanding programs--like the math lab--that help a lot of students.

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Last night we watched some associate editor from US News on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. We were shocked to learn that news reports (according to the aforementioned editor) on Iraq only totaled 4% of all news time in the month of February.

With violence down, we really shouldn't be surprised, but we were. Fortunately, some reporters have continued to do good work in Iraq--specifically, Michael J. Totten, whom we've cited before. Totten's report on Marine efforts in Karmah, a town in the Anbar province, is his latest and is very good (caution: expletives in link). From that report:

Implementing basic security measures wouldn't work in a counterinsurgency if a significant number of local civilians supported the radicals. But the locals were terrified and savagely murdered and tortured by the radicals on a regular basis. Al Qaeda in Iraq is the self-declared enemy of every human being outside its own members and loyal supporters. Nothing could possibly discredit jihad more completely than the jihadists themselves.

“Insurgent activity was a lot worse,” Sergeant Howell said. “Attacks with small arms fire were constant. IEDs were daily. The difference between this place now and when I first got here is day and night. There was no way kids would be playing soccer in the streets. When we patrolled last time we had a much more aggressive posture. It was a combat patrol.”

Totten is an independent reporter and depends on donations to support himself and his work. Click the Paypal link at the bottom of his page and pitch in. For or against, we owe it to our soldiers to stay informed about the war and what they are doing.


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