Comments on: My Divided State (a movie review)

By: dennis potter

dennis potter — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 20:40:44 +0000

I don’t have time to read all of the above comments and so I apologize if I repeat something. But just to clarify, the only content in Hannity’s response to my question was that 911 changed everything. That part of the movie accurately portrayed what happened except for two elements that were left out (Steven couldn’t include everything): First, the guys behind me weren’t just mocking me but they were also physically threatening me. I was seriously concerned for my safety when I left the building. I thought that it was possible that one of them would physically confront me. I walked out with several friends in order to avoid this. Second, about a half dozen self-described conservatives came to me after the event and apologized for the unbecoming behavior of the crowd. It is important to note that most conservatives in Utah County are not like Kay Andersen.

By: Aaron Brown

Aaron Brown — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 18:00:14 +0000

Make a movie about it, Vegor, and I’ll review it.

Aaron B

By: Vegor

Vegor — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 17:27:42 +0000

Speaking of Utah Valley State College and Football there is an absolutely ridiculous proposal out there to bring football to UVSC! This year’s student government, led by Jared Sumsion, is ignoring the 3 million dollar bugdet decrease currently facing UVSC and moving forward on their plans to get a football team. I like Jared, and consider him a friend, but this is insanity. Athletics already nabs quite a bit of money from student fees…now he wants to raise student fees another 40-50 dollars a semester just to pay for a football team that will have no conference, no stadium, and judging by currrent athletics attendance no support. It makes the money spent on Moore look like a drop in the bucket.
Sorry…I know this kind of thing isn’t the purpose of this site….but waste like this always pisses me off.

By: Seth Rogers

Seth Rogers — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 21:41:37 +0000

Well, look on the bright side.

They could have used the money to pay for prostitutes for the new football team recruits …

Comparatively, Michael Moore looks positively innocuous.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 03:09:10 +0000

. . . this money usually gets wasted anyways, trust me.

Without a doubt.

It’s funny, I never imagined that there were Utahns that weren’t aware of the existence of UVSC. Seems like half of my high school class went there. Nothing like a good controversy to get noticed, though. Maybe next year they should invite Hillary Clinton. Or Jacques Chirac.

By: Vegor

Vegor — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 02:26:30 +0000

My point is that it wasn’t tax money…this money usually gets wasted anyways, trust me. UVSC got a lot of bang for its buck. The numbers that the college relations department did this past year show that more people in the state know that UVSC exists than ever before….what they are known for can be debated for sure.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 20:55:22 +0000

The way I see it, institutions (including private schools) that rely heavily on tax money for their operations should treat every dollar they spend as if it were tax money. If UVSC didn’t have tax money they wouldn’t be able to allocate so much money from student tuition and fees to pay speakers. So the particular route that the money takes is irrelevent.

I am a bit curmudgeonly, but I think it’s wrong that department where I study (a science department at a private university) spends many thousands of dollars per year on alcohol for students and recruits, nice dinners and hotel rooms for visitors, an annual retreat for grad students and professors, honoraria and travel expenses for prominent speakers, etc. The same argument–that the money comes from private sources–can be made to justify these expenditures, but the fact that the vast majority of my department’s research budget comes from taxes and that most of the professors in my department wouldn’t have a job if it wasn’t for that tax money makes the source of the wasted (in my opinion) money irrelevant.

If that Kay Anderson story is true (which I don’t strongly doubt), that’s messed up.

By: Vegor

Vegor — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 19:15:05 +0000

I read a few of the comments that stated tax money was used to bring in Hannity and Moore. This was a common misconception during all the crazziness and it looks like it is still be said. The money used to pay for Hannity and Moore’s visits were paid for by student fees, not tax dollars, student fees.
To make things clear UVSC allocates $50,000 each year to bring speakers on campus. Typically student government (who is in charge of allocating the speeking fee money) gives $7000 to each of the seven schools on campus. Typically the schools work with their student senators to bring a speaker or two each semester. Working for the campus newspaper for the past few years I have attended many guest speaker engagements and it can be pretty sad. It is not uncommon for a speaker to be in front of a large room filled with empty chairs. When people do show up they usually are there because a professor is making it mandatory or handing out extra credit.

So when Joe Vogel and Jim Bassi came up with the idea of “putting all their eggs in one basket” by booking a big name speaker they were looking for someone that would fill the Events Center. They thought about people like Sean Hannity and John McCain. Hannity was out of their price range ($80,000) and McCain was going to be too busy due to the upcoming election. When they found out that Moore was looking to fill some dates in his college tour they contacted his agent and the rest was history.

One more Kay Anderson story that most people don’t know is that this isn’t the first time he has gone off the deep end. A few years ago Anderson was quite upset that UVSC had hosted an outdoor Nelly concert. When he found out that a member of his own ward was responsible for the concert he stood up in his Elder’s Quroum meeting and asked for a vote to excommunicate this person. Not exactly stadard LDS protocol, but amazingly 4 other elders agreed with him. The EQP was so upset he got up and left in disgust. As for the poor guy who booked the Nelly concert…he still works for UVSC and has moved from Anderson’s ward.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 22:10:40 +0000

Well- there are several individuals here at my law firm who attended Abilene Christian at some point as undergraduate students.

By: bbell

bbell — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 21:44:14 +0000

Hmmmm.. Give ya Baylor but its Baptist what do you expect?
Not TCU though thats here in Fort Worth and they are not a Red campus. Comeon they beat BYU how could they be a red campus :)

Abilene Christian even counts?

Almost added Tech but my co-workes and friends that went there say the town is red but the school is not.