Red Robin: December 2010

December 24, 2010

I hope your Christmas is filled with wonder and joy.

A tree near my apartment. Merry Christmas!

On this date in 1864, in the last year of the Civil War, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, for whom I am named, sent a message from Georgia to President Lincoln that said, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah."

December 18, 2010

The legal affiliate of a designated “hate group” provided assistance for Rep. Stephen Sandstrom’s enforcement-only Arizona-style immigration bill for Utah. The Immigration Reform Law Institute is the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, commonly referred to as FAIR. FAIR is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center on the strength of writings, quotes, and correspondence by FAIR’s founder and board member, John Tanton. For example, in one of his letters from 1996, housed in the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, Tanton states that “for American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority and a clear one at that”, and asks “whether the minorities who are going to inherit California ... can run an advanced society?” Rep. Sandstrom met with the law institute’s general counsel, Michael Hethmon, on at least two occasions last spring. But, of course, the Orem Republican claims he has never heard of Tanton, never heard anything racist coming from Hethmon in their conversations, and said he knew nothing of FAIR’s hate-group designation. “I have to look at my own personal motivations, and I think they’re good and sound and they’re based on rule of law. They’re not in any way racist in any way shape or form,” Sandstrom said. “Anything that is based on hate or exclusionary issues for Hispanic people I would absolutely denounce.” You mean like the law you sponsored? Of all the groups he could have chosen to get advice from, why that one? I’ve read a lot of history about the rise of the Nazis in Germany in the 1920s and 30s, and the more I hear the rhetoric of anti-immigration groups like FAIR and The Minutemen Project, the more it sounds like the Nazis. They were preoccupied with a “final solution to the Jewish question”, just like the immigration groups are preoccupied with finding a solution to the immigration problem. The ethnic hatred they espouse, and that is codified in these laws, makes me sick and is very dangerous.

December 6, 2010

The LDS Church's position on the “sanctity of marriage” is outlined in its 2008 document, "The Divine Institution of Marriage." So, it is not surprising that the Church joined a diversity of faiths in signing "The Protection of Marriage: A Shared Commitment," an open letter affirming a commitment to preserve marriage as the union between one man and one woman. The document has 26 signatures of leaders representing a wide range of major religions and faith communities in the United States, from Catholic to Jewish, from Anglican to Lutheran, from Pentecostal to Evangelical, and from Sikh to Southern Baptist. Signing on behalf of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was Presiding Bishop H. David Burton. The three-paragraph text reads:
”Marriage is the permanent and faithful union of one man and one woman. As such, marriage is the natural basis of the family. Marriage is an institution fundamental to the well-being of all society, not just religious communities. As religious leaders across different faith communities, we join together and affirm our shared commitment to promote and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman. We honor the unique love between husbands and wives; the indispensable place of fathers and mothers; and the corresponding rights and dignity of all children. Marriage thus defined is a great good in itself, and it also serves the good of others and society in innumerable ways. The preservation of the unique meaning of marriage is not a special or limited interest but serves the good of all. Therefore, we invite and encourage all people, both within and beyond our faith communities, to stand with us in promoting and protecting marriage as the union of one man and one woman.” The letter comes from discussions among religious leaders who, in the face of judicial and legislative attempts to redefine marriage, look to publicize the shared commitment in defending traditional marriage as a fundamental institution of society. Too bad none of these “leaders” understands the history of marriage, that it has always been merely a mechanism of political maneuvering and social status that has traditionally treated women as chattel. But then, maybe that’s what they really want to preserve.

December 4, 2010

The Salt Lake Valley is again suffering with a dirty, smelly, gray shroud of aerial gunk — air deemed bad enough that the Utah Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued red or “unhealthy” air warnings for Saturday through Sunday because of another winter air inversion and the automobile and industrial emissions it is trapping over the region’s valleys. Until possibly early Monday, when the National Weather Service predicts a low pressure front from the Pacific via California and Nevada may bring rain and snow, we will just have to hold our breath and live with it.

Usually you can see the mountains.

DEQ officials cautioned people with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children to shun prolonged or heavy outdoors exertion. In fact, those with breathing ailments should just stay indoors, and motorists were urged to avoid adding to the pollution by putting off unnecessary travel altogether. Only Utah County, which had a “green” or moderate rating for Saturday and Sunday, seemed to be escaping the worst of the airborne, health-comprising effects of the inversion. Undoubtedly because that’s where all the really righteous people live. Just ask them.