Archive for category Civics
a death row killer had a change of heart?
Posted by Roger Brown in Civics, LDS on July 18, 2011
Wow, if you haven’t seen this yet, check out this 2 part series in yesterday and today’s Deseret News about Ronnie Gardner who was executed on death row last year, June 2010:
(Tip: click on the “PRINT” link above the Page: 1 2 3 … to see it all on one page instead of having to click through the sub-pages one at a time.)
They preface with it:
“a two-part series about notorious murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner and the gradual change of heart he experienced in the final years of his life as he reached out to Dan Bradshaw, a Salt Lake City banker who served as an LDS prison bishop. Bradshaw told his story to Deseret News writer Doug Robinson because he thought it contained a valuable message about people’s ability to examine themselves and make changes in their lives, even in a hard case such as Gardner’s.”
All i can say is wow, this story will make you cringe at times but also cry later on. There is some pretty strong statements in there — makes you think and feel. I don’t want to say anything else so as not to give away any more of the story.
I’m glad the Bishop told his story about Ronnie. Thank you.
national map viewer
Posted by Roger Brown in Civics, environment, Fun Stuff, good ideas, Provo, Uncategorized on July 1, 2011
Suhwheeeeet! Make and print your own topo maps for hikes, trips, etc. Most excellent!
“pro-choice” or pro-abortion? “progressive” or …?
Posted by Roger Brown in Civics, Uncategorized on December 31, 2010
Just a few thoughts …
When people use a term such as pro-this or pro-that the logical corollary is that those that disagree with them are anti-this or anti-that.
Therefore, if you say you’re “pro-choice”, people that disagree with you are “anti-choice”, right?
It’s an insidiously evil tactic used to silence opposition — to cut off discussion and debate. It distracts people from the true issue at hand.
Allowing a baby to be born is a choice. Those that are “pro-life” are absolutely pro-choice! Every choice is a choice. Making a choice is not the underlying issue. It’s disagreeing over what the right choice is that’s the issue.
And alternatively, “pro-life” can be abused also because the opposite of that is “anti-life” or “pro-death”, right?
Everybody, let’s refuse to use such inaccurate labels and use something that describes the choices like “pro-abortion” and “pro-birth”! Pro-abortion and pro-birth describe the two main camps, right?
Similarly, some people try to silence opposition by saying “oh, they’re not progressive like we are.” “Progressive” is such a misused and abused word. The unspoken corollary is that those who oppose you are regressive. Do not the vast, vast overwhelming majority of people want progress?! Hello, of course they do! The disagreement is over what constitutes progress.
So to label yourself as “progressive” is intellectually lazy; it makes you sound self-righteous too.
The sad thing is that people have been haphazardly tossing around the term “progressive” for decades now without realizing the effects of such sloppy communication. The word has been abused so much that it’s almost meaningless now.
Everybody, let’s stop using the word “progressive” to define one group of people on the political spectrum. Do we not all want progress?
If we want more civility, we absolutely have to throw away the lazy inaccurate self-righteous labels.
Let’s all start today being more accurate in our choice of words!
P.S. check out http://congress.org to contact all of your national, state, and local legislators — a very cool tool!
Peace,
Roger
“just a second” OR … “just a minute”?
Posted by Roger Brown in Civics, Personal on December 14, 2010
Another thought for the day:
When some people say “just a second” they’re pretty close to being literal. You literally only have to wait for 5 to 10 seconds at the most. Or if it will be longer, they say “just a minute” or “give me 2 minutes” and they’re pretty close.
I appreciate the precision of their communication.
I love accuracy of language. It eases communication and prevents misunderstandings. When you deal with people all day long, believe me, little things like that add up. And true business professionals and relationship counselors and diplomats know that keenly. It is so important to not understate things.
Reminds me of this quote:
Words are a means of communicating, and
faulty signals give wrong impressions. Disorder
and misunderstandings are the results. Words
underlie our whole life and are the tools of our
business, the expressions of our affections, and
the records of our progress. …
It was Paul who said: “Except ye utter by
the tongue words easy to be understood, how
shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall
speak into the air.” (1 Cor 14:9.)
source: Spencer Kimball, 1975
So thank you to all those that communicate with precision, neither overstating nor understating things! 
change is coming in Provo… :)
Posted by Roger Brown in Civics, Provo on December 13, 2010
Hi everybody,
Just want to give a little preliminary heads up…
Some good change is going to be coming to Provo next year.
I’m really excited about it! And so are many of my friends and associates. This is going to be big! I can’t wait.
Look for an announcement here in January!
Merry Christmas every one!!!
Roger Brown
ProvoCitizens.net
Provo residents, debt is debt is debt!!!
Posted by Roger Brown in Civics, Provo on November 2, 2010
Here’s my open letters to fellow citizens in Provo — http://provocitizens.net/provo-vote-no-on-1/ — taking on even more debt is most unwise.
Those that said no to the iProvo debt yet say yes to more debt for a recreation center are hypocrites.
We need to cut up the city credit card!
crazy jihadists hacking innocent sites on 9/11
Posted by Roger Brown in Civics, Internet on September 11, 2010
Wow, have you all seen any of these today?!
Some crazy jihadists have been going around hacking websites today — they’re probably a bunch of “script kiddies” — either way, click below to see what i mean:
Bogus! 
They probably think themselves pretty cool. That’s sad.
Besides people securing their websites, i guess all we can do, is reach out in love and reasoned dialogue to try to eventually convince them the merits of peace and love. Maybe it’s time for more of us to learn Arabic so we can build more bridges. Arabic and Chinese are definitely two languages I’d like to learn — after I finish learning Spanish first.
Anyway, here’s a little something to help stop the spread of the haters, and to bring a little inspiration to your day: http://lds.org/topic/finding-hope/ – i know these things have blessed my life.
And let us never forget — 9/11/2001 — may peace be with all those that lost loved ones that day. And may the hearts of the haters be softened so that they will come to eventually tolerate and then embrace freedom of religion.
Sincerely,
Roger L. Brown
Provo – upcoming discriminatory Parking Permit program
Posted by Roger Brown in Civics, Provo on August 28, 2010
Does this old photo grab your attention?!
I hope so.
Have you heard about Street Parking Permits being required in a few small areas of Provo?
So far, the existing areas give out 2 street parking permits per residence. That part of it is ok.
But keep on reading…. have you all seen this news about the Joaquin Neighborhood?!
The current Municipal Council could choose to do nothing and let the permit program automatically begin Sept. 1, 2011, or they may opt to look at the program again to see if it needs modifying or changing.
Because of the likelihood that new council members will want to address the permit program, it too will have to be put on the fast track, if changes are made.
“I was very surprised to hear from the mayor the development was back on,” said Kurt Peterson, Joaquin neighborhood chairman. “There is no waiting, we have to address the South Joaquin neighborhood parking issues. We don’t want to do anything that will make it harder for the owner.”
Peterson said the north neighborhood was approved with the parking permit program set in place earlier. With the development a go, the south neighborhood, which has more owner-occupied homes, needs to have the parking permit issue addressed for their streets.
“They have to preserve the South Joaquin neighborhood residents,” Peterson said. “They don’t want it to be a parking lot.”
source: http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/article_5e5dff76-c835-5819-ac85-8c2a88d1f226.html – Aug. 12th, 2010
Where’s the problem?! The details are the problem — the details are different (see section 9.85.070) — they give more respect to owner occupants than they do to poor renters who can’t afford to buy their own property.
This ordinance is discriminatory. It does not treat all citizens as equals before the law.
Owner occupants get MORE parking permits than owner landlords or renters who are too poor to own property.
Very, very misguided and sad. Good goals are not justified by poor means and double standards! And this issue is related to the existing discriminatory zoning ordinances and bad feelings from some of the neighbors.
P.S. Their rationalization as treating some citizens as second class is very disappointing — sad once you consider what some of them profess to believe, or at least the church that they belong to. I think if they really believed what their church teaches, then they wouldn’t have such double standards enacted into law. We’re all equal before God and why shouldn’t we be equal before the law?! Stop the rationalization!
More on this later… for now see http://provocitizens.net/initiative/talkingpoints.html
Roger L. Brown
Provoans — your most important civic duty in 2010?!
Posted by Roger Brown in Civics, Provo on August 5, 2010
Hi, if you live in Provo in the South East part of town, specifically the Provost South Neighborhood (from 900 S. down to Springville — on the east side of State Street) — this is very important — check this out and my NOTE at the end:
Just a reminder that the meeting to elect a new neighborhood chair for Provost South will be tonight at 7 PM at Spring Creek Elementary.
Attending this meeting and casting a vote might be the most important civic duty you perform this year, as the new neighborhood chair will likely have major input on how State Street will be cleaned up and developed, when Bicentennial Park will be improved, and what types of new housing (high-density apartments vs. single-family homes) will be built in our neighborhood.
Obviously the better the turnout tonight, the better the chance we’ll be represented by someone who best reflects the sentiments of the neighborhood. So please make a point of attending, and bring a few of your neighbors along as well.
See you tonight.
Nick Mason
Provost South Neighborhood Chair
NOTE: Single Adults — please, please, please, please come tonight! There are basic rights issues at stake — i would call them human rights issues since I don’t know what else to call them.
Single Adults in current Provo City zoning law are treated as second class citizens effectively:
- Unlimited numbers of family adults can live together VS. 3 single adults — no limit on one class but a limit on the other class.
The Neighborhood Chair directly influences public policy/law by speaking before the city council.
We need to elect someone that treats single adults the same as family adults with respect to the law. Far too many neighborhood chairs in the past have treated single adults as second class — at least in the law they have. And good intentions don’t matter when it comes to the effects of the laws — what does the law say and what are its effects? — that is the question!!
Please, please come!!! This is urgent, really!! Come listen to the candidates speak tonight and then vote.
Meeting will probably last till 8:00pm is my guess, but might end much earlier. Come!
-Roger L. Brown
Immigration Reform? Yes! AND with welfare reform!
Posted by Roger Brown in Civics, LDS, Personal on July 14, 2010
Wow, check out this article:
This part is sad:
“One woman on the list who spoke to KSL but asked not to be identified said she had a green card and would become a U.S. citizen next month.
“I have my papers,” she said. “Why did they put me on that list? Now it’s been 15 years since I got my residency. … I’m angry.”"
I’d like to make a few points:
- This country was mostly built on immigrants. As far as i know all of my ancestors immigrated here to the US from different countries all over Europe.
- The laws need to be obeyed while we are fixing them. I love this quote from Abraham Lincoln:
“Bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible; still, while they continue in force, they should be religiously observed.”
source: speech given Jan. 27th, 1838 - Yes, we need to reform the immigration laws but they go hand in hand with other laws:
- Labor laws like minimum wage
- Social Security benefits
- Other government welfare programs
Immigration laws need to be seriously relaxed.
Humans are an asset — look at all of the entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants over the past 400 years in America!
Also, those that complain about the laws need to remember #2 above. And if they’re going to directly or indirectly advocate breaking the laws they need to publicly admit that they are being “civilly disobedient”.
As long as we have massive corruption and inefficiency in our current government welfare systems including social security we can not adequately reform immigration law. They go hand in hand together. That’s at least one of the reasons that many want to immigrate here i think.
And employers need to be accountable.
Lastly, in case anyone misunderstands, I think that we should allow a whole lot more people to legally immigrate here — many, many, many, many more.
The only requirement should be a criminal background check i think.
Other than that, let’s let people move here that want to be part of the American experience!!! I know it has surely blessed my life and my family’s! Makes me think of my recent post on micro-credit or micro-loans.
Sincerely,
Roger
P.S. I almost forgot — the national and states’ debts!!! That goes hand in hand with immigration and welfare reform too!! We need balanced government budgets immediately!!! Cut up the government credit-cards!!!
P.P.S. What can you do about it?!
Find your state and federal legislators at the link below — EMAIL and CALL them TODAY!
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/