Last week, Utah’s Governor Gary Herbert signed a set of immigration bills. David Burton, Presiding Bishop of the LDS Church, was present at the signing, and expressed his approval: “Our presence here testifies to the fact that we’re appreciative of what has happened in the Legislature.”

The Most Rev. John Wester, Catholic Bishop of Salt Lake City, responded to the signing with praise for the legislators’ goodwill, but also concern for the new laws themselves:

I appreciate the sincere efforts of Governor Gary Herbert and some Legislators to adopt humane solutions in the face of the federal government’s failure to act on immigration reform. Each Legislator’s desire to do what he or she felt was right under the circumstances was clear throughout the debate. I particularly respect Governor Herbert’s decision to sign several immigration bills in the face of extreme opposition.

However, reasonable people of goodwill may differ on strategies for achieving common goals. The Diocese of Salt Lake City finds H.B. 497 Utah Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act, H.B. 116 Utah Immigration Accountability and Enforcement Amendments, and H.B. 469 Immigration Related Amendments ill-advised. We have concerns about the practical effects of H.B. 466 Migrant Workers and Related Commission Amendments.

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Yesterday morning afforded a lovely coincidence of a crescent moon, Venus, and my southbound drive under a dawning sky. There is something about a crescent with Venus close by on the concave side that looks just right. (Islamic flag designers the world over agree.) It seemed that there would be one more waning crescent in this cycle, and there it was this morning, much thinner than yesterday and no longer in intimate proximity with Venus.

I wondered how long it would stay visible. Twenty minutes before sunrise, it no longer stood out in the sky. I had to use the line between Venus and the coming sun to find it. Ten minutes before sunrise, it faded from view, sometimes seeming to be part of my perceptions, sometimes not. The moon is up there now, as big as the sun, but completely invisible to me.
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Coronel Suarez was the last town I was assigned as a missionary. One feature of the town was polo. From 1952 through 1983, teams from that small town on the Pampa had won the Argentine Open Polo Championship 25 out of 32 years. In the fields surrounding the town we would see them practice as we visited with stable keepers who lived near the horses. A couple rungs up in that world was a trainer we met with who had worked for royalty in the Mid East and in the Far East.

Also of note were the Volga Germans. Read the rest of this entry »

The meeting for lunch of pop musician Brandon Flowers and pop politician Mitt Romney earlier this week was noted by a few news outlets, but none ran with the concept like the Las Vegas Sun’s John Katsilometes.

Years ago I knew a young man who trained as an artist and was trying to get started in the profession. I taught seminary in the same room where he taught Sunday School, and there would sometimes be an interesting chalk sketch left that I unfortunately had to erase. Contrary to stereotypes, he had no sense of entitlement that the world owed him an opportunity to create, and accepted that work he might produce for profit would have to serve the purposes of those buying it as well as his own. In that vein, he once explained that painting nudes was self-indulgent and not viable for a working artist. There were few art buyers who wanted such works for their living rooms. Read the rest of this entry »