Author Archives: ptmadmin

Heaven knows I’ve had a lot of time and experience to learn lessons in the debate over gay rights. I started my career in Washington DC the year that Congress first began to deal with AIDS. It was the same year of the first Gay March on Washington to get Congress to approve federal funding for AIDS. I still remember writing a press release for my congressional boss that included these words, “How much money do we have to spend to tell people not to bugger each other?” And, with that, a much maligned, but very effective, homophobic career was born. read more

My dad was born in 1926 in Raymond, Washington. The first black man he remembers seeing wasn’t until the family moved to San Francisco in 1933. Even then, dad attended Catholic school and the black kids attended public school.

Dad fought in the Pacific during World War II…the day after he turned 18, he was at boot camp and less than one year later he was at Iwo Jima. For the two and a half years dad spent over seas in a segregated military, he only saw black men once, and that was while he was in a hospital recovering from an injury. He told me that he never understood why the military was like that. He figured a man was a man. read more

I have a confession. I know it’s poor form and I should be my better self here, but honestly, not only do I not care about those crazed moneychangers on Wall Street, it couldn’t have happened to a better bunch of guys. If Paris Hilton were required to have a real job, she would be one of these arrogant investment bankers – living the high life, self-important, and profligate. The two egos are completely compatible: they both know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

We conservatives, who hold to the faith, believe that ideas have consequences. At the bottom of this most recent financial meltdown was the idea that every American should own a home regardless of job status, income, or liquid assets. This was Bill Clinton’s idea to give homeownership to low-income and minority Americans. And not to point fingers – this is what any self-respecting liberal in power would seek to do. In his mind, he was only trying to extend the American dream to the people whose pain he felt all those years. And his plan was really simple: make businessmen an offer they can’t refuse. read more

This week I want to talk about political blogs, blogging, and bloggers.  If you’re a regular listener to this great radio station there’s a good chance that you know what a blog is.  In fact, if you’re a regular listener to this radio station there’s a better chance that you’ve ever heard the word blog than you’ve ever heard the word “win” in any sentence connected to USU football.

But before we talk blogs, I need to ask you a question: Are you a liar?  Seriously, I’m asking you: Are you a liar?  Have you ever told a lie?  Sure you have.  We all have.  I’ve lied, I’ll admit it.  And so, would it be fair of you to introduce me to your neighbor and say, “Look, I don’t know much about this Mero guy except he’s an admitted liar.”  Would that be fair to me?  You’re telling the truth aren’t you?  I said that I’ve lied in my life.  So what’s wrong with you introducing me as an “admitted liar” to your neighbor? Hold that thought. read more

Politics is filled with “You’ve Got to Be Kidding Me” moments…those moments that make your head spin – like hearing Bill Clinton define the word “is,” or watching President Bush try to master a lexicon. Recently, Utah was host to one of these moments at the annual meeting of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah where the buzzword was “Cap and Trade.”

But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

We’ve all heard about Al Gore receiving a Nobel Peace Prize for inventing global warming – not inventing something that actually saves lives, but inventing something that would actually destroy the entire Earth. He made a movie about it. He got the United Nations to buy into it. And now he’s convinced corporate America that there is money to be made – lots and lots of money. read more