Vulgar Language
Vagina, masturbation, oral sex—expect to apologize if you use this kind of "vulgar" language in the presence of Utah legislators. The apology came from a woman testifying before the House Education Standing Committee, as they considered Rep. Brian King's Reproductive Health Education and Services Amendments. Yes, excuse her for speaking in anatomical terms. The hours of testimony were sprinkled with eye-popping conservatism and a good bit of real statistics. "Sex makes us all crazy," Rep. Eric Hutchings said. "There's an inability to say 'vagina' ... and they don't understand that they've been assaulted," Turner Bitton of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault said. There were those who think comprehensive sex ed opens the door to the horrors of vaccinations and of course, porn. Rep. Carol Spackman Moss had to correct one woman who thought teachers would be handing out IUDs, explaining what they are. King himself was called a snake-oil salesman. Ultimately, guess what we'll be teaching? Abstinence.
Dignified Deaths
You have to hand it to Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck for slogging on against the forces of life without dignity. She has been trying for three years to pass legislation allowing a dying patient to opt for a quick and painless end, a Deseret News report noted. Despite all the tearful testimony and medical assurances, legislators who feared some kind of medical "slippery slope" won out. The Eagle Forum, for one, insisted that patients would no longer get care and instead become throw-aways of the medical profession. This despite a 2015 Utah Policy survey that shows 63 percent of Utahns strongly or somewhat favor the right to choose to die. For some reason, legislators still believe that the end of life is beautiful, no matter what.
Vetoes & Monuments
Those damned feds—except maybe when you want them to deport illegal aliens. The Utah House just endorsed U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop's Re-empowerment of the States Amendment to let states veto presidential executive orders, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. While many people would like to veto some of the latest, the idea here revolves around national monument designations. In addition to Bishop's proposal, the Utah Senate is asking Utah's federal delegation to support reducing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. You know, it's just too big and companies would like to develop it. "About 75 percent of the room consisted of locals in support of an unchanged monument boundary," Christa Sadler wrote in The Independent about the Kane County meeting on the resolution. So much for public input.
