STD Prevention Fund Passes

Representative Phil Riesen has sponsored a bill that will fund educating the public about STDs, their consequences and where to get treatment.

Since this bill also requires the health department to inform people that abstinence and fidelity prevent the spread of STDs.

Apparently, Utah County, one of the most conservative counties in Utah, also has the 3rd highest rate of chlamydia cases.

Representative Lorie Fowlke testified in favor of the program, saying it is greatly needed, even in her district in conservative Utah County. That prompted a question from House Majority Whip Gordon Snow:

"Did you draw a correlation between these diseases and conservatism?" Snow asked.

"I guess you could make that argument," Fowlke responded.

Regardless of what your politics are, the fact of the matter is that STDs are preventable, and educating the public about them is vital. Since this bill does address the conservative ideal of abstinence, I have a feeling it will go all the way.

New Hampshire Running Low on Ballots [Update]

According to Hotline on Call, Democratic ballots in New Hampshire are running low.

The New Hampshire secretary of state's office is in the process of locating extra ballots to ship to towns that have expressed concern that supplies are running low. The worry is primarily on the Democratic side, officials say.

"The towns that are calling now are experiencing heavy turnout, and see their piles of ballots starting to drop at a rate faster than they're comfortable with," said Dave Scanlan, deputy secretary of state. "They're also stating to us that it's the Democratic ballots that have them more concerned than the Republican ballots."

Apparently, they were already expecting 500,000 voters, which would be a new state record. I think the key factor here is that the Democratic Primary is very exciting. People from all campaigns are motivated in a way they either have never been, or haven't been in a very long time. Over on the Republican side, there's just not as much excitement for the average voter. Of course, there are people from each campaign who are staunch supporters of their candidate, but the most exciting one is Ron Paul, and he's got maybe 10% of the vote. So, it seems that, just as in the Iowa primary, the New Hampshire primary may be set to have record numbers of Democrats turn out to vote.

Wouldn't it be exciting to have record Democratic voters turn out for this primary here in Utah?

[UPDATE] Great minds think alike.

Happy Birthday, Utah

Sadly, it took Bill in Portland Maine to tell me that today is Utah's birthday.

CHEERS to coming in 45th place out of 50. Happy 112th Birthday to Utah--- also known as the "Beehive Hairdo State"---which entered the union on January 4th, 1896. Here's a fun fact that'll dazzle your friends: horses were invented in Utah. Really! I have iron-clad proof right here. I love it when history comes alive.

Apparently, I don't watch enough tv to have seen this iron clad proof.



Anyway...Happy Birthday, Utah! Since you're the most depressed state in the nation, I hope all the candles don't add to it.

The Senator's Visit (Update 1 w/ Video)

Sunday's "Roadside Rally" that Utah for Obama put together was amazing! I only helped a little with the planning, since I had out of state relatives visiting. Nikki Norton headed up the effort, and it really paid off!

We found out Friday that the Senator was going to stop and give a speech (which I'll blog about separately soon), and we couldn't tell anyone until the press was notified on Saturday evening. It was very hard to keep my mouth shut and not tell the whole world! We had expected around 50 - 100 people to show up, and it turns out that we had over 1,000, according to Secret Service estimates.

The next three pictures (taken by climbing some stairs attached to the Visitor's Center) will give you an idea of how many people attended. They were taken about 30 minutes before the Senator arrived, according to the timestamp.

Far left side of the crowd.

Center part of the crowd. By the time Barack Obama arrived, there was not an empty spot on that hill, as you can see in later photos.

Far right side of the crowd.


Strider had the privilege of introducing Senator Obama when he arrived.


Strider also had his shirt signed, later.


During his speech, Senator Obama had people pretty much on every side, so he turned a lot, in order to speak to the whole crowd.


We had a couple of people take photos for us of the Senator with (mostly) just Utah for Obama Steering Committee members. Mark Rothacher was missing from this one, unfortunately.


I thought Gail might pass out from excitement!

Here's some video taken by Adam Forgie

(h/t Aramis of Wasatch Watcher)

Here are the news articles, blogs and other people's photos that I know of covering the event. If anyone knows of more, please let me know!

Official Campaign Blog

Mike Place's photos

Salt Lake Tribune and more Salt Lake Tribune.

Photos taken by our group (still growing)

ABC 4 News

Deseret Morning News

MSNBC

Photos of the sign-making party on Yahoo!

Chicago Sun Times

I will update these links as more become available.