Romney Roster Update

It seems like this is turning into a daily update. Romney has announced another addition to his campaign, this time in all-important Iowa. His name is Keith Hunter. His credentials, from the article:

Keith Hunter Serves As A Member Of The Board Of Directors With The Iowa Christian Alliance (Formerly The Iowa Christian Coalition), a Position He Has Held Since 2002. He served as Communications Director for the Christian Coalition of Iowa from 2003-2005.

From Mr. Hunter:

"I am honored to join Governor Romney's campaign efforts here in Iowa. Governor Romney has a strong record of conservative leadership and is ready to bring innovation and transformation to our government. I look forward to working with grassroots activists to spread the Governor's record of action to every corner of Iowa."

And the momentum continues to build.

Two More to the Romney Roster

Just a quick post to note two more figures joining the Romney campaign. First, Cincinnati's S. Craig Lindner, co-president of American Financial Group and CEO of Great American Financial Resources, will serve as Romney's Ohio fundraising co-chair. The significance? From the article:

Locking down the Lindners is a pretty big score for the Romney campaign, since there are untold numbers of other corporate-types in this part of the world who generally follow the Lindner family's lead when it comes to campaign contributions. …The support of Cincinnati's Lindner family…can draw millions in campaign contributions.

Second is Former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez of Colorado. In a mass-email, Beauprez said:

"We have had the opportunity to learn a great deal about Mitt and we are impressed by what he has achieved - as a husband and father, as a successful businessman, and as the Governor of Massachusetts who brought conservative governing principles to a state famous for its liberal tendencies."

These endorsements are all the more timely and valuable during the run-up to the "invisible primaries," the March 31 deadline for campaigns to disclose their financial status. It is then that we will get a feeling for the long-term viability of all the candidates, making it a crucial milestone on the trek to the White House.

It still looks like Mitt is doing everything right in the networking department. Keep it up!

Irrelevant U.N.? That's a Little Redundant

How much more proof do we need that the United Nations is grossly inefficient, impotent and irrelevant? The Washington Post reports today that Britain has appealed to the U.N. to condemn Iran's illegal capture of 15 sailors in Iraqi waters. The news? It has been SIX DAYS since the abduction, and here's the result:

"There are some plans to say something on behalf of the United Nations (about the seized troops) but they have not been finalized," said the official.

The Brits aren't even asking the U.N. to DO anything – only asking it to SAY SOMETHING. But after six days, somehow the U.N. can't shake off enough of its institutional malaise to do even that. It's just the latest in a long list of reasons for the U.S. to severely cut funding to this increasingly irrelevant institution.

The Election Cycle of Incurable Diseases

Nothing newsworthy to report here, but just an observation. In the last few months, a number of prominent politicos have brought incurable diseases to light. Specifically, I refer to Mitt Romney's wife Ann (multiple sclerosis), John Edwards' wife Elizabeth (breast cancer spread to the bone) and White House Press Secretary Tony Snow (colon cancer spread to the liver). What's truly interesting is that none of these people are particularly geriatric. It really reminds you that mortality knows no political or economic bounds, and is truly one thing we all have in common.

I really enjoy the horse-race leading up to election day. Beyond that, hopefully these developments will shed new light on health issues such as these.

177th Annual General Conference

This coming weekend will be the general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It takes place in Salt Lake, and will be broadcast pretty much everywhere. It's always an uplifting and informative 10 hours. I made a little flyer that was passed out in church. See it below for viewing options. Or, go to LDS.org for more information.

Eragon Reviewed

My many, many regular readers know I'm not much one for giving reviews. But seeing as I saw Eragon over the weekend, and that I don't have much that's newsworthy to report, here goes.

Historically, Hollywood has been decidedly lame in producing fantasy movies. Being a bit of a fantasy buff (and a Tolkein fan since fourth grade), I used to eagerly await any new film featuring dragons, wizards and warriors. Most tended to disappoint, whether because the directors' visions weren't on the same level as my favorite authors', or because the special effects were cheesy and rudimentary. Whatever the reason, most fantasy flicks – from Willow to Dragonslayer – came off as cheesy, juvenile attempts to capture a more sophisticated audience. The occasional gem would come through, however, such as Labyrinth, which succeeded because it didn't take itself as quite serious work. Even in the mid-90's, when CGI came into play, films such as Dragonheart and Dungeons and Dragons (okay, that was 2000) were too shallow for my taste.

Unfortunately, Eragon is in the same vein. I haven't read the books, so I can't judge it from a literary standpoint, but the movie is about on par with most fantasy films. The plot is predictable, the characters are flat (the main character is annoyingly so), and backdrop seems like nothing more than an inconsequential mural. I probably won't see the rest of the trilogy. I give it a thumbs-up for visual effects, but it takes far more than eye-candy to make a good fantasy movie.

Peter Jackson set a pretty high bar with Lord of the Rings. I wonder how long it will take for another fantasy film to reach that level.

High Crime in Nevada

Las Vegas NBC affiliate KVBC reports about a recent study finding that for the fourth year in a row Nevada tops the list of most dangerous states. From KVBC:

The report's publisher admits these rankings are controversial, but argues rates are what they are. For example, the survey pits Nevada's 8.56 murders for every 100,000 people against the national average which 5.6.

Add the statistics for rape, robberies, assault, burglaries and auto theft, which are all far above the national average, and that's how we got to where we are.

That struck me as odd. I was thinking Louisiana (post-hurricane), Missouri or New Jersey. Places that have reputations for being rough. But then this little bit clued me into the forces behind the high crime:

We've got rapid growth. And with that growth comes growing pains. Other southwest states also came near the top; New Mexico ranks second and Arizona follows behind in third place.

Hmm. So the top three crime-ridden states are in the southwest. Is it a coincidence that these states all deal with a massive illegal immigration problem? And isn't it funny how the article makes no mention of the immigration issue. No, because that would offend the very illegals in the the station's DMA. It's okay to report the crime...as long as we don't offend the people responsible for it.

Makes lots of sense.