James Crabtree's FT Article: The Rise Of A New Generation Of Mormons

Much the best mainstream article I have ever read about the Mormons ever.

you may have to register, or something, to be able to see it

(h/t Matt L.)

If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.

I Love BYU Football

Check out this great slide show put together by BYU Photography.

Congratulations to Bronco Mendenhall, Max Hall, Dennis Pitta, Andrew George, Manase Tonga, the graduating seniors and all the rest of the BYU footballers.

Also, if anyone could email me and tell me what it was that Jan said to the ref that got him the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, I'd really appreciate it. Kthanks.

If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.

William Safire, RIP (UPDATED)

As an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, I did a report/analysis of NYT coverage (especially its op-ed columnists) of Yitzhak Rabin. I read dozens of columns written by William Safire, among others, and was very impressed.

Today he passed away and the United States--the world, really--lost another staunch defender of conservatism.

I've read a lot of obituaries recently, and Safire's, written by the NYT's, Robert McFadden is fantastic.

Also, the AP obit.

UPDATE 28 September 3:58pm MST: The WSJ has a very good tribute to Bill Safire on today's op-ed page. It concludes:

The turning of the years can be cruel, and it is sad to lose men like Bill Safire, Robert Bartley, William F. Buckley Jr., Robert Novak, Irving Kristol, Milton Friedman, Jack Kemp and others who did so much to rescue America from the failures of the 1960s and malaise of the 1970s. Yet one reason we note their deaths is the great success they had in life. As Safire would have urged, our obligation is to stop grieving and return cheerfully to the barricades.

May these Happy Warriors RIP.

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BYU Cougars Come Home After Beating The Sooners In Dallas

(h/t Matt L.)

If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.

How 'bout Them (BYU) Cougars?

(photo credit: Deseret News)

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The Anti Googlopoly

Wired has a great article (via Mankiw) on the likelihood of Google going the way of IBM and Microsoft. Take a look.

As a teaching assistant in BYU's American Heritage course, I taught that although monopolies and cartels are a market weakness, attempts to squelch them are mostly futile, because profits attract fierce competition and technological innovation overcomes barriers to entry, whether natural or manufactured. These also tend to minimize the negative effects of monopolies on consumer well-being--monopolistic industries almost always become more competitive over time.

However, monopoly power is a very real thing, and companies routinely engage in collusive and/or predatory behavior in order to raise prices above the competitive level. We, as libertarian-leaning citizens, should be opposed to policies that provide advantages to one firm or industry over another, but we should be in favor of things that help promote a competitive landscape—we “worship” the market, not the corporation. The difference between those two points, and confusion over the intentions of many a politician, has certainly led to the “Big Business-loving Republican” caricature that is so common, but I digress.

My view on antitrust issues changed with the antitrust class at BYU where I learned that, by using accepted economic analysis, the DOJ economists could identify whether a merger would increase or decrease consumer well-being.

If we are in favor of competition, how much power do we want the federal government (DOJ) to have in policing competition? To prevent illegal activity (yes, the definition of “illegal” here may be dubious), the gov’t should arguably possess a credible threat—usually the litigative process—but that threat has the potential to mire the company in court hearings for several years, and castrate its innovative impulses. That is something everyone should oppose.

I certainly don't find my internet activities limited by Google's business model. Do you?

If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at mattlybbert@gmail.com.

Harry Reid's Nuts 4

A report on the contraction, not the possessive.

Would the voters of Nevada get rid of this guy already? I'm just glad I don't share my alma mater with him. He's an SUU & Utah St. guy. So there's that.

His memoir was just released in paperback form (not that I was waiting for the Amazon price drop or anything) and Mark Hemingway has posted his review at NRO.

I've recently become fascinated with the "blurbs" publishers or authors or whoever choose to put on their books from amongst the many reviews of their books. One that struck me as funny and not at all flattering was on the cover of the Ken Follett novel I'm reading at the moment. The New York Daily News called it "quick-paced." Wow. When that is the type of praise your book is getting, you've got problems. Fortunately, Follett was able to redeem himself with other, better books. Somehow I don't think Reid will get another shot.

Anyway, here's Hemingway on the reception/review of Reids memoir:

Every other major media outlet has been standoffish. Take this blurb from the Washington Post, proudly emblazoned on the back of the paperback edition: “Recounts fights with everyone from classmates to the man who would eventually become his father-in-law, preparing him for a senatorial life of battling the Bush White House and Republican filibusters.” Beware the value-neutral blurb: In fact, the Post never reviewed the book — the quote comes from a gossip column published a month before the book’s release. One of the most powerful men in Washington published a book, and the entire journalistic establishment’s reaction seems to have been, “If you can’t say something nice . . . ”

So he's been a belligerent cuss from day one, eh? Does that really surprise anybody?

A couple of years ago, Reid gave a speech at BYU as a part of one of their forums. Ostensibly, it was to appease all the haters who thought BYU was being partisan by having Vice President Dick "Darth Vader" Cheney give a talk at commencement (President Bush couldn't make it).

VP Cheney didn't say a single thing that could have been construed as partisan. Whereas Senator Reid, given his turn, made a complete fool of himself by giving what amounted to one of his usual senatorial rants against President Bush, Evangelical Christians, etc. He was his usual, classy self.

The best example (or worst) of Reid's classiness from his memoir is pointed out, per usual, by DrewM @ Ace:

While no one expects Reid to praise George W. Bush, the degree to which he is judgmental and catty regarding the former president pretty much speaks for itself. Three pages in, after lamely trying to establish his bipartisan bona fides by talking up George H. W. Bush, Reid shares this charming anecdote about his early days in the Senate: “[Former Texas senator and vice-presidential candidate Lloyd] Bentsen went on and on effusively about what a quality man President-elect [H. W.] Bush was. Then he paused and said, ‘But watch out for his wife; she’s a [witch].’ I have never had anything against Mrs. Bush, but guided by Bentsen’s crude advice, I’ve always said that our forty-third president is more his mother than his dad.”

What’s the purpose of recording for posterity a bit of hearsay defaming a woman Reid admits he has no cause to dislike? Is Reid really so petty as to insult someone’s mother? Why yes, yes he is.

On the one hand, I'm extremely put off by Reid's antics. On the other, I'm incredibly amused by the damage he and his partner in crime, Nancy Pelosi, do to their party. It's a commentary on the party leadership as a whole that these two are the leaders of the Democrat party in Congress.

Bravo, Democrats, bravo.

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Bronco Mendenhall Is Awesome, &c.

If you haven't read yesterday's (?) article in USA Today about Bronco and the Cougar Football team, do yourself a favor and check it out:

Mendenhalls Cougars are on a mission at Brigham Young

Here's a short excerpt:

PROVO, Utah — Soon after becoming head coach of a beleaguered Brigham Young football team four years ago, Bronco Mendenhall took his players to the top of the mountain east of campus where a giant, white Y rests above BYU, nestled in the valley below.

Mendenhall pointed out how relatively small the Cougars stadium appeared among the community that surrounds it.

"It was to gain perspective, not only in looking from the top down, but to see possibly where football really fits into this whole thing," Mendenhall says. "It's not very big."

Perspective, it's a good thing.


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Vote For Bronco

Bronco Mendenhall, a football coach everyone (except yewts) can believe in.

Coach Mendenhall is currently one of the leading vote-getters in the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year contest. I don't exactly know what anyone wins if they win, but they do have a cool video of Lavell Edwards up on the site right now, so there's that.

Anyway, click here to vote and do so daily.


If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.

Ryan Cleveland, BYU Alum & Bainbridge, GA, District Attorney Candidate

For my Georgian readers (state, not country), take a look at the District Attorney's race in Bainbridge. Reader and fellow BYU alum, Ryan Cleveland, is running against a popular Democrat for the position. He (Cleveland) seems well qualified and capable.

Should you find that Cleveland's conservative priorities match your own, I encourage you to donate to his campaign or otherwise help out in any way you can.


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This Is Irony

Unlike most of the things people think are ironic, but which are usually just coincidental. (But hey, we can't blame them. Most people learned about irony from Alanis Morissette. Alanis Morissette!

It's an AP story, but we first saw it in the Seattle Times.

Plagiarism spotted in honor-code draft

"parts of the Texas draft match word for word the online version of Brigham Young University's code."

Apparently, it was the BYU Honor Code section on plagiarism that was plagiarized.

Come on, UTSA students, get your own Honor Code


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Bias In Higher Education

We've written a number of times about the ideological divide at BYU. Generally perceived as a conservative school, like other institutions, BYU has a largely liberal professoriate. We think this is due, in part, to what happens to these professors when they go to grad school. Most of the dominant theories and professors in most of the graduate disciplines--certainly the humanities and social sciences--are liberal ones. This is especially true in any discipline where political ideology can possibly have any influence: engineering, business, hard sciences pretty much don't count here.

At BYU, the generally conservative student population (the political faith of their fathers) runs into their liberal professors. No one is giving bad grades for being conservative. And we haven't heard of any anti-Republican/business/Bush rants. But we have personally witnessed, for example, a debate about gender and the role of "social constructs" in defining gender identity. Certainly the science is not settled, but this was a history class and the popular side, the one promoted by the professor, was the one that said that social constructs define gender identity, not any inborn or innate or inherent sense. Those who argued for social constructs=gender identity were the ones "in the know." They adopted the typical liberal posture of, "if you knew better, you'd agree with us."

We don't want to get sidetracked by the substance of the debate, it's only an example. The point is that BYU is like every other university in the country in the sense that liberal professors wield great power in influencing the politics of their students. There may be 10% fewer registered Democrats (thought we doubt it) and they may be less strident than Ward Churchill, but they affect students just the same.

This was brought home to us this weekend in conversation with one of our friends, a broadcast journalism major. We had spoken before about internships and post-grad job prospects, so we knew about her anti-Fox News bias. We mentioned to her that Drudge had recently listed that Fox News programming had double the viewers of its next closest cable news competitor. This surprised her.

We've asked her before about her dislike of Fox News and she really wasn't able to give us a good answer. It had something to do with the fact that they (her journalism school) didn't like Fox News because they're biased or something and everyone else is, what? Giving us 'just the facts, please, ma'am?' Right.

There's just a kind of attitude towards non-liberal ideas, attitudes and institutions that infects higher education and if you want to get along and be accepted, you have to fall in line.

Sometimes these attitudes infect without the student even knowing it. We've seen this happen with our friends in grad schools (the ones who didn't go to MBA school). Without them even knowing (because they aren't taught as such), they learn to believe in all the -isms of the day: nihilism, relativism, utilitarianism, feminism, multiculturalism, postmodernism, whatever. Our grad school experience at UCL and seminars at Cambridge and Queen Mary was slightly different to the experience of American students. Because they were British institutions, their politics don't divide sharply down party lines. Of course there were more and less acceptable points of view--on Iraq, for example--but we felt our UCL professors were less (if you can believe it) ideological than many of our BYU professors. And certainly less ideological and postmodern than many of the professors teaching our friends in grad school.

This strange difference may have been a product of the fact that BYU professors know about public perception of their school (religious, conservative) and feel like they have to veer hard to the left in order to be accepted when they go to conferences. Again, this isn't true of everyone, but it's certainly true of many.

Back to BYU's J-school. Most editorial pages of most newspapers around the country have a consistent ideology. The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the NYT, Washington Post, USA Today, and LA Times are liberal. The same is not true of BYU's student newspaper, the Daily Universe. There is no coherent and consistent ideology. This is, of course, a result of the fact that the editorial board changes every semester. Different students + different backgrounds + different politics = constantly changing editorial ideology. Fine. But it is here that we see this tension between largely conservative students in a liberal dominated field (according to polls we saw back in 2004, 70% of journalists voted for John Kerry. Journalists do not mirror America.). Young BYU students, ready to liberate themselves from their parents, try out the new ideas they learn in their intro to comms classes. Thus, their reporting and opinion writing is a grab bag of conservative background, liberal journalistic training, and frosh and soph grammar and writing. Point being, sure, the DU often seems juvenile or poorly written, but we shouldn't hold it to an unfair standard.

The most invidious biases are the ones people harbor but about which they are unaware. That journalists in America and professors in higher education (and at BYU specifically) prefer Democrats is not the problem. Problems arise when the echo chambers they inhabit begin to make them think that their biases are the way the world is, rather than just one perspective.

This is the theme that unites our examples: our history class discussion of social constructs and gender, and our friend's J-School taught opinion of Fox News. They don't see the opposing view in terms of differing opinions, they see it in terms of right and wrong, smart and stupid, progressive and antiquated, enlightened and ignorant, educated and, well, uneducated.


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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?

***

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.

***

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.

***

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.

***

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.

***

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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University College London, BYU, Obama, &c.

Image link

If the New York Times doesn't think a story is newsworthy, did it really happen?

You may recall that a few weeks ago the NYT ran a story about John McCain. None of their anonymous sources (who, mind you, didn't even meet their own rules on sourcing) said that McCain actually did anything, rather, it was a supposed to be a story about McCain's judgment and associations.

Along comes a story that is largely about Barack Obama's association and judgment. Where is the New York Times coverage? Buried. Journalistic double standard anyone?

Again, we don't think Obama personally espouses any of Reverend Wright's crazy ideas, but his 20 year relationship with Wright does raise questions (like the recent revelations about a deeper relationship with Rezko than previously thought) about his associations and judgment. Juan Williams, a liberal former Washington Post writer and current NPR and Fox News contributor, for whom we hold great respect, also agreed that this raises questions about Obama's judgment.

Barack Obama's Speech Transcript
Analysis: Obama Grabs Race Issue
Obama Rebukes Preacher, Urges Race Healing
Obama Confronts Racial Division In US

*UPDATE 6:15pm MST: Friend of Lybberty and Lost Boy writer, Morgan Habedank, weighs in on Reverend Wright's comments. We noted in the comments section of his post and repeat here: it is important for the less politically inclined, but no less intelligent among us, to sometimes hold forth on issues like this.

We believe that political pundits sometimes suffer from a myopia that afflicts all disciplines (this includes us). Thoughtful opinion from someone outside the political echo chamber can help us gain a greater understanding of issues and put them in proper perspective. Bravo, Mr. Habedank.

***

We want to call attention and give credit to the fledgling BYU Ski Team. We have a couple of friends on the team who give us irregular reports about the team's performance. This article from the Daily Universe is the first we've seen on the team. They race and train without any official recognition from BYU and, all things considered, have done quite well. This year they narrowly missed qualifying for the National Championships. Good job, BYU ski team.

***

From an otherwise unremarkable article about Provo development, the Daily Universe reported on a few interesting comments regarding Provo's student population:

Exclusiveness in Provo was an area of concern. Residents voiced their opinion that the city needs to market more to the student population as well as the non-LDS members of the community.

According to numbers from the city records for 2007, university students make up approximately 45 percent of Provo's population. Also, according to the city's Web site, more than 20 different religious groups are present in Provo.

"Students offer a very unique population that can really be capitalized upon," Simonson said. "Students don't usually have a large discretionary income, but they're always looking for something to do."

Melanie McCoard, an active member of the community who ran for city council three times, said some recent decisions made by the city council have caused some students to think Provo is anti-student.

"Opening up the downtown to students could help dissolve that perception," McCoard said.

As far as contentious relationships between longtime city residents and student populations go, BYU vs. Provo isn't breaking any records. That said, the Provo City Council and some residents resentful attitude towards students is irritating. Students don't vote here and supposedly pay little in taxes.

However, this superficial look at the benefit of BYU students in the Utah Valley does not tell the whole tale.

BYU employs thousands of people and provides innumerable (and, often, unknown) services to the greater Provo community. Students alone give hundreds of thousands of hours of services each year. They are helping out in schools, providing daycare for special needs kids so their parents can have a few hours to shop or whatever, they are cleaning up parks and neighborhoods and on and on. BYU students aren't simply entering to learn and going forth to serve once graduated, they are serving the entire time they are at BYU.

In exchange, they are ignored and patronized and sometimes demonized by Provo residents. The Provo City Council refuses to make student concerns a top priority when making parking policy.

Of course, they can get away with it because BYU students don't vote in local elections. But that doesn't make it or them, right.

***

Finally, a bit o news from my grad school, UCL. Student politics are interesting in London. In a post last year, we wrote about our experience with the UCL Student Union--essentially, their debate club (click here for the link).

Undergraduate and graduate involvement in UCL student government is an interesting thing. In one sense, they have more say over more things, but in another sense, their interest in the University beyond their emphasis is less than BYU students.

Be that as it may, we were struck by a recent email we received from one of our sources at UCL regarding the latest tempest in a teapot at the UCL Union:

On Wednesday the 5th of March, UCL Union held an [sic] "Reconvened Annual General Meeting". Since then, the sabbaticals and Chief Executive have received a substantial number of complaints regarding the democratic procedure of the meeting and subsequently questioning its legitimacy.

After investigating these complaints, the sabbatical team took the decision on the 10th of March to initiate disciplinary proceedings examining the chair of the meeting, UCL Union's General Secretary. The General Secretary has therefore been suspended from office pending the results of this disciplinary, which will hopefully be taking place in the first week of the third term. The disciplinary panel will be composed of senior members of College and sabbatical officers from other London students' unions.

Following this decision, a March 12th meeting of UCL Union Governance Committee resolved to temporarily suspend the decisions made at the "Reconvened Annual General Meeting" pending the outcome of the disciplinary panel, and will report back to the Union's Executive by the 6th of May.

In one sense, we're relieved to see that BYU isn't the only university that blows procedural things out of proportion, in another sense we're dismayed at the suspension of democracy and lack of transparency. This is all the information we could get about the actions of the General Secretary.

But stay tuned, if we can find it, we'll give you the rest of the story.


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NCAA Sanctions BYU: A Travishamockery

Image link

On Wednesday the NCAA announced the results of its 18 month long investigation into the BYU Men's Volleyball team. We don't like the NCAA. They and many of their member institutions (read: BCS schools) profit from student athletes. Their haphazard application of rules and sanctions is more often a political tool than it is a good faith attempt to maintain discipline. Their sanctioning of BYU smacks of the former.

Per the Salt Lake Tribune Blog:

Both the NCAA and BYU agreed early on that no unethical conduct was displayed by Peterson (former BYU Men's V-Ball coach) — there were no violations of an intentional nature and nothing that gave BYU an unfair recruiting advantage. The violations were technical in nature.

"All of the allegations that the NCAA chose to pursue stemmed from humanitarian concern for others, and the actions were inadvertent. No one was trying to circumvent rules, and none of the violations gave BYU an unfair recruiting advantage," states Peterson.

The Deseret News link will take you to the statement by Dr. Tom Peterson. We also recommend you take a look at the following articles:

BYU Volleyball Team Hit By NCAA Sanctions
BYU Men's Volleyball On 3-Year Probation
Men's College Volleyball: BYU On Probation NCAA Violations
NCAA Announces Penalties Against BYU

These events recall a 2004 Presidential election beer advertisement: it's a travesty and a sham and a mockery. It's a travishamockery.

Like the UN, the NCAA pulls in tons-o-cash and no one really knows where it goes. Oversight is clearly lacking and they rely on imposition of draconian rules to justify their existence. And speaking of justifying their existence, the NCAA rules team spent 18 months reviewing BYU Men's Volleyball, and this was the best they could come up with?

Other than his accepting a loan of two bicycles to be used by a team member and Cala, neither BYU as an institution nor any of its officials or employees — including Peterson — were found to have taken improper recruiting actions.

Where is the sanity? General opinion (salute) seems to be that BYU was fortunate to get off as easy as they did. And BYU officials are predictably parroting the company line. All of this because they are afraid of running afoul of the Stazi arm of the NCAA. Anything short of a "death sentence" is deemed to be getting off easy.

This means no one associated with BYU can do what we can do: call the whole thing a friggin' joke.

One friend of this blog, a former BYU athlete, informs us that the NCAA and BYU are conspiring to do what every institution does in similar situations: throw a retiree under the bus. The aptly named Jim Kimmel, faithful BYU employee, seems to be taking heat from all sides because he didn't stop people unaffiliated with the university from helping pay for humanitarian legal fees. Because, well, the rules aren't explicit in the first place.

This is what Jim Kimmel gets for helping a couple poor kids defect from Communist Cuba.

The NCAA is a corrupt and corrupting institution that gets away with it all because many of us (including the OL&L "us") love college sports. The best book we've read on the topic (though we add the caveat that we don't agree with all of his conclusions, is Murray Sperber's Beer and Circus. Sperber turns his considerable analytical ability on higher education's prostitution of principle to athletics. Read it.


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BYUSA Election Follow-Up, Michael Steele, &c.

Today at lunch we spoke with a friend of ours, one of the 5 BYUSA Executive Directors who serve under the BYUSA President and Executive Vice President. Our conversation with him confirmed what we concluded in our last post: it's unfair to expect BYUSA to be something it is not. It is not a student representative organization, it's a student service organization. And in that, they are extremely successful.

He agreed with us (and pointed out that Adam Ruri and Chance Basinger had Provo parking as part of their platform) that there is an opportunity for BYUSA President Adam Ruri to lead the way in parking negotiations with Provo City Council on behalf of BYU students.

We'll follow their progress, if any, again, so you don't have to.

***

On Fox news, Michael Steele, former candidate for the Senate from the state of Maryland, weighed in on the Geraldine Ferraro kerffufle (which we first wrote about here).

He pointed out that in advance of his run for the Senate, his campaign polled Marylanders about race and politics. They asked two questions: first, "would you vote for an African-American for senate?" and second, "would your neighbor vote for an African-American?"

These polls were anonymous, so people had no apparent reason to lie. 78% said yes to the first question. 40% said yes to the second question. Steele and the Crash-crowd draw the wrong conclusion from polls like these--that racism is a big problem in America.

Sure, there's racism, but what this poll shows is that the problem is hugely overblown. What it shows is that a vast majority--78%, in this instance--are not racist, but that an almost equally large majority--60%--think their neighbors are racist.

The only disconnect is between public perception of racism and the reality.

***

At FreedomsWatch.org, guest blogger Mark Mix writes about union's attempts to move away from unionization by secret ballot to unionization by peer pressure and intimidation. Unions have steadily lost membership for the last 30 years as their usefulness declined. This latest legislation is a last ditch attempt to maintain political clout.

***

Our friends at the RNC are running a Blog Madness competition to name their official blog. Cue rabid netroots.

***

The BYU Student Alumni Association is sponsoring a personal finance course on 22 March @ 10:00am in the Hinkcley Center. With subprime loans, inflation, the falling dollar and stock market all the rage, this is a valuable opportunity to learn how to navigate the financial storm.

***

Steve Sweet, associate of recruiting and marketing, asked me to pass along information about the Koch Associate Program. After limited research into this program, it seems worth passing along:

"The Koch Associate Program is a year-long, paid program designed to develop promising leaders and entrepreneurs interested in liberty and the non-profit arena. During the program Associates work in non-profit roles four days a week, then spend one day a week at the Foundation learning Market-Based Management® in a classroom setting. You can learn more about the Associate Program, as well as the Koch Internship Program and the Koch Foundation at www.cgkfoundation.org. The deadline to apply is April 1, 2008."

***

If you're looking for a cheap, stimulating intellectual experience this summer, we recommend applying for one of the free summer seminars sponsored by The Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University. They take place at universities all over the US with different topics at each. Housing, food, books, and lecture costs are all covered by IHS, you just have to figure out how to get there.

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BYUSA Election Final

As we wrote yesterday, Adam Ruri and Chance Basinger won the recent BYUSA election. According to this article from the Daily Universe, voter turnout (read: logging on to Route Y and clicking a box) for this election was the highest ever.

Winning with 54% of the votes (3327), according to our sister, Adam and Chance (click here to see their website) won at least in part because they didn't harass students the way some of the other candidates did: "who are you going to vote for? huh? huh? vote for me!"

Our goal for this campaign (which we wrote in our original post about this election) was simply that the election end with a voter-decided election and not as many recent ones have--with one candidate dropping out because of rules or Honor Code violations.

Mission accomplished. And, again, congratulations to Adam and Chance, you're popular.


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BYUSA Election Part II

After last week's post about BYUSA, we've re-thought a few things. Sure, it's a popularity contest. There's no denying that the promises made by the candidates are ridiculous. And there is really no excuse for simple spelling errors and poor grammar. But maybe we were a little too hard on BYUSA and the candidates.

As we walked through the Wilkinson Center earlier this week, we narrowly avoided being accosted by some of the BYUSA candidates. Our brother, who walks the gauntlet every day, said that feigning an animated conversation with no one on his cell phone is the only thing that saves him. Rather than being annoyed, we were sympathetic.

BYUSA isn't a representative student organization. Unlike other universities, it is very distinctly, a "student service" organization. And in that sense, they are successful. If there's any representation going on, it's only to appear at devotionals and other student events. It's not as though they are making or even advising on University policy. Things have changed since Jody's grandfather served as BYU student body president.

And we suppose that much of this was born of necessity, or at least, expediency. The university is focused on service--enter to learn, go forth to serve--and would like to avoid the confrontational relationship that exists between students and student government organizations at other universities. None of this is to argue the point one way or the other.

Anti-establishmentarians and contrarians will obviously be and are up-in-arms about this relationship. But we guess we don't care all that much. When we had problems with the university, we've voiced those concerns on this blog and in letters to the editor of the Daily Universe. Even if the BYUSA President could do something to affect University policy, we doubt they would.

However, there is one role for leadership and student representation that the BYUSA President could fill--with the Provo parking kerfuffle. We first wrote about it here. A BYUSA President could represent student interests in negotiation with the Provo City Council. Part of the problem is that there is not a coherent student message. Lots of students have opinions, but there is no organization of thought or policy. The next BYUSA President could bring leadership and legitimacy to any future discussions with the Provo City Council.

***

Since we're following this election so you don't have to, we figured we'd post a few of the things we found about the election on the interweb. Enjoy.

Summer Price, current BYUSA Prez argues in favor of, well, voting in the BYUSA election.
Caitlin "hates" the BYUSA election.
Rie is disappointed he/she didn't get a free t-shirt for voting.
Justin Hileman wants to know what you think about the election.
Cory thinks BYUSA should do something to affect American domestic and foreign policy.
Commodore can't stand the apathy surrounding any election.
Alan doesn't care to help someone add to their grad school resume.
Aric Johnstone thinks BYUSA has an "important and misunderstood responsibility" at BYU.

And finally, the very latest on the election:

BYUSA Elections Draw one Step Closer (because they're down to two sets of candidates)

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OL&L On BYUTV's BYU Weekly

Thanks to our friend EJB (and LC), we will appear in this week's edition of BYU Weekly.

(We suppose this will settle, once and for all, the debate about our multiple personality which manifests itself in the use of the editorial or royal first personal plural.)

In it, we talked about our inclusion in the America's Future Foundation College Blogger Contest 2008 and our experience at grad school in London. BYU Weekly was interested in how BYU is being represented here and around the world.

You can watch BYU Weekly at 4:30pm MST on Dish channel 9403 and DirectTV channel 374. Additional broadcast times can be found here (scroll down, in "additional resources, BYU Television). If you don't have DirectTV or Dish, click here to find out about BYU TV availability in your area.

Thank you for your continued support.


*UPDATE 8:12pm MST: We've got conflicting reports about the airtime of this show. The Dish listing and the internet say 4:30pm MST, but our friend EJB and her producer Ben say 4pm MST. To be safe, set your Tivo to record the entire hour. According to our email from him, it will also run at the following times:

February 09 at 4 PM on BYU-TV
February 10 at 9 AM on BYU-TV
February 10 at 2:30 PM on KBYU-TV
February 11 at 5 PM on BYU -TV
February 12 at 6 PM on BYU -TV
February 12 at 9 PM on BYU -TV
February 13 at 11 AM on BYU -TV


**UPDATE 9 February 2008, 2:49pm MST: It's definitely airing at 4:30pm today.


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BYU/Provo Parking Addendum

Last Friday we let loose with a post about the Provo parking debacle. Debacle. Seems to be everyone's fav word to describe the situation. We explained how we thought the parking thing fit into a greater debate about property rights--not only in the city of Provo, but nationwide.

In conversation with a number of different friends, we found that maybe we didn't make it as clear as we thought we did or should.

For a number of years, the Provo City Council has done whatever it could to limit occupancy in new construction--a clear violation of property rights. It--they, whatever--has tried to do the same thing with existing structures bylimiting, for example, the number of students who could live in a given house. Unfortunately for them, these houses were constructed before the enactment of these new rules and by and large they have been able to avoid the Provo City Council's tyrannical, property-right violatin' ways.

But finally, they hit upon a solution. In parking they trust. By limiting the number of "street parking permits" for each house, etc., they could essentially limit the number of occupants. If a given house only had 3 parking spots, how could they reasonably expect to rent to 4, 5, or even 6 students? They couldn't. And the Provo City Council is aware of this.

So who loses? Students, any new owner/renter, and owners of properties that currently rent to students. By limiting the number of parking spots and thus, students per habitation, they in effect limit the sources of income for the owner. Rather than renting 1 house X 6 rooms to 6 students at $200 per = $1200 per month, the property owner has to generate $1200 from 3 student-renters. But this probably wont happen either, because the market wont bear a 2x increase in the cost of rent. The students will go elsewhere. Or the owner will buck the law.

It doesn't help that BYU has limited student housing to a 2 mile radius around campus. This makes it more difficult for students to avoid the ridiculous, property rights violating, rent price escalating, car parking limiting ways of the Provo City Council. It's as though the two groups got together to come up with the best way to raise the cost of living for students.

Mind you, the neighborhoods they are trying to protect/maintain the ambience, etc., are overwhelmingly dominated by the student population. The student to regular-joe-citizen rate exceeds 10-to-1. And it's not as though parking problems just cropped up in the last couple years or so, screaming for the legislative attention of the all powerful Provo City Council. Nor are these issues any different to the problems faced in any other college town across the country. What is different is the complete disregard for the student population shown by the Provo City Council. They absolutely could not care less.


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