And They’re Off: UT Legislative Session Begins Today – Hold Onto Your Wallets, Guns, Freedoms & Bibles

And They’re Off: UT Legislative Session Begins Today – Hold Onto Your Wallets, Guns, Freedoms & Bibles

News/Opinion By Charles Magne & the Utah Yaks / January 27/2019

Yup, its that time of year again when our elected officials gather together at the Capitol like a herd of rampaging bulls. They are already on track to pass the usual appx 500 bills that they do each session. Every bill they pass seems to take away more of our freedom and money

I’m on the edge of my chair and can’t wait to hear what the new “State Flower’ will be. Or, the new “State Animal.” Personally, I prefer the Yak. I hear there are a few of them wandering around the west desert chronicling Utah’s deep-state swamp.

There is a new speaker this year: Brad Wilson. So far, Wilson is scoring managerial kudos for his CEO management style, where he surrounds himself by great people and then gets out of their way. We have high hopes.

This is far removed from the last speaker (Greg Hughes) who expected/required members to kiss his ring, or some other part of his body. With Hughes, if you really wanted to accomplish anything, you had to be willing to compromise 95% of your principles in order to achieve the other 5% of your principles. The Leadership controlled everything and a member had to be “a friend of The Leadership” to get anything done. Otherwise, one would be relegated to the distant realms of the lone, wacky legislator

So far, the people we elected to represent us have opened almost 1,000 bills…. BEFORE the session has even started. I wonder how many of those proposed new laws, regulations and taxes were part of their platform that we voted for. At the time of this writing, Daniel McCay has sponsored the most bills at 32, with Jacob Anderegg and Wayne Harper tied in second place with 29 bills each, followed by Lincoln Fillmore at 28 and Todd Weiler at 27. FIVE senators have sponsored 145 bills at this point. Mark Strong has filed 0 (Is he, or is he not, doing his job? That depends on what your definition of  ‘is’ is). This link provides a total bill request for each legislator. https://le.utah.gov/bills/requestsTotals.jsp

One of the most crucial and pressing issues of our day is the apparent deficiency of our Constitution to recognize the feelings and rights of transgender people by making birth certificates gender neutral while ignoring the feelings of everyone else. This seems to be a follow-up to Todd Weiler’s failed effort last session to change their gender on their birth certificates. This make perfect sense because for the past… oh, 200,000 years, according to science, the human race has never been in the position of needing a solution to this modern-day problem. In other words, back when God was alive, He would have no foresight of the social and physiological issues we face in 2019 or the ability to understand those issues. Apparently, we have transcended beyond the limits of human possibilities. Since we are in uncharted territory here, there is no reason why Utah should not join the progressive quest for a glorious utopia.

Sen. Deidre Henderson, R-Spanish Fork is proposing to amend Utah’s constitution to make it more gender neutral. The proposed constitutional amendment would rewrite the state’s founding document to eliminate the historically male pronouns, to use “person” or “his and her.” The bill does not yet have a floor sponsor. See Utah’s constitution could be changed to use gender neutral terminology

One has to wonder: Is Ms. Henderson uncomfortable with being a woman? Our constitution has worked just fine and allowed people to become what they think they are. No one needs protected status. The constitution already protects all of us.

On the other hand, Rep. Merrill Nelson and Sen. Ralph Okerlund are sponsoring HB153 which will make changing the gender on a birth certificate illegal. Hopefully, this bill, common sense and reality will prevail. Or, maybe the issue could be kicked down the road for a more enlightened people of the future.

For Governor Herbert, this is all getting out of control and going too far. A KUTV2 story states “Gov. Gary Herbert voiced opposition to a bill that would block transgender people from changing the gender listed on their birth certificates, while he seemed to support another bill that would enhance penalties for people who commit hate crimes. ‘I think the message we want to put out there is that members of the gay community, LGBTQ, are loved and welcomed and appreciated for who they are. They ought to feel safe, they ought to feel loved, so anything we can do to enhance that, we ought to do. If people want to be identified as whatever it is they want to be identified – if it’s a gender issue, if it’s sexual orientation – they ought to have the ability to do that. If they want to have that on a public record, there ought to be a process for them to in fact have that to happen. I think most people would welcome it and think there’s no reason we should stop it.” Some politicians change positions just like hair fashions change. ALSO READ:Utah governor blasts Obama’s transgender bathroom directive in 2016.

This issue is actually a carry-over from the 2018 session when a bill creating a process for legally changing gender on official documents failed last year. Todd Weiler sponsored the bill and has sponsored several bills to change the gender on birth certificates. Weiler has said he wants to clarify the law for the benefit of judges. He apparently has a new bill that is supposed to be a little less troubling. Weiler received nationwide fame when he wrote the first resolution in the nation two years ago that states pornography is a health issue. Weiler comes across as very articulate on this issue in press conferences and many in his district believe these bills are the reason he wins re-election. If only the public would read his amazingly rude tweets and posts. What is it about politics that people have to get ugly to express themselves?

Just because we can add and subtract body parts doesn’t mean we should. Besides, no matter what a person does, they will not change their DNA. The change is neither deep or profound.  Isn’t it a little odd to think changing body parts will make a person happy?

All this self identifying is causing me to question my identity. If I presented myself as an endangered, transgender Mormon bishop who works as a tall, slim and blonde Chippendale dancer with a tail wagging out of my forehead and stretchy arms, would that be allowed?  Since my 3rd eye has gone funny I have become a different man more in tune with the universe. You all need to treat me like it or my feelings will be hurt.

Never a dull moment.  Coming up: Abortion, SB54 (Steal My Vote), Education, Occupational Licensing, the Martha Cannon statue, and the extreme lack of moral leadership.

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