My Claim to Fame...

In 2009, my senior year at the University of Utah, I was in an Under Armour commercial!

Look for me at the 54-57 second mark. I'm the guy wearing black.

Marketing: Creating a Movement

If you like marketing, you'll appreciate this video! "Pink Ponies: A Case Study"

...and I'm a Mormon

That’s the tagline of a recent ad campaign from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, one that ABC News called “very savvy branding.” So... my name is JJ. I’m a die hard Utah Utes Football fan, I spend my days working in marketing, my days off skiing (in the winter) and boating (in the summer)…and I’m a Mormon. So needless to say, I’ve found the recent flood of interest in my religion quite compelling. Most of that interest has come because of the Book of Mormon broadway musical - you know, the one written by the creators of South Park - and the fact that there are two mormons running for President of the United States. Oh and let's not forget Jimmer Mania (I only hesitate to list that in there because he went to BYU, my school's archrival).

Still, I’ve noticed that everyone from Newsweek and CNN to local newspapers is doing stories about mormons. I guess we are kind of a peculiar bunch. People often misunderstand our beliefs or at the very least can’t quite grasp why we wouldn’t want to drink or have sex before marriage. But at the same time people are starting to wonder why we are generally so happy and seemingly so successful. Well those news articles all say it much better than I ever could, so below are links to some of those articles. 

Some may argue that Newsweek's cover not only mocks the religion but makes Mitt Romney look foolish. And more may argue that the Book of Mormon musical is crude, vulgar, and pokes fun at Mormon beliefs and lifestyle. But the fact is, the Mormon church and lifestyle are getting mostly positive press. Just read this article and watch the videos from ABC. Even the writers and actors of the Broadway musical will tell you they have a profound respect for the Mormon church. And now because of all the interest generated from the musical, the church has launched a massive ad campaign in New York and its call centers in the area are inundated with requests for the Book of Mormon. So I think it's great!

Here are some other articles that I found extremely interesting to read:

From Newsweek: 

"Mormons Rock!

They've conquered Broadway, talk radio, the U.S. Senate-and they may win the White House. Why Mitt Romney and 6 million Mormons have the secret to success."

From BusinessWeek:

"God's MBAs: Why Mormon Missions Produce Leaders

Many of the men who trained to be Mormon missionaries have gone on to become among the most distinguished persons in American business and civic life"

From Business Insider:

"The REAL REASON So Many Mormons Become Executives And Political Leaders

Every 19-year-old in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) goes through what one might call executive training camp."

 

And if you want to learn about the truth behind what Mormons believe but don't want to ask them yourself, watch this video from CNN. 

Thanks for reading!

Meeting Mitt Romney

I've been a fan of Mitt Romney's for a while now. And not just because he and I share the same religious beliefs, but because he's an extremely successful person and that success has helped bring those beliefs to the mainstream. I don't agree with him on every political issue, but I really admire all the things he's accomplished in his life: mission to France, family life, Stanford/Harvard, Bain Capital, bishop, stake president, Salt Lake Olympics, Governor, 2 time Presidential candidate (possible winner?)...


The biggest difference in opinion? He went to BYU. Nobody's perfect...

Obviously he has had an extremely successful and rewarding life and I aspire to the same.

Anyway, I finally got the chance to meet him! He came to Utah for some fundraising and we heard he was going to be making a stop at Hires Big H just a few blocks from our apartment. I brought a copy of his book No Apologies for him to sign. When he asked who to make it out to, he recognized my last name. "Oh I know the Haglunds really well!" He was in my uncle's ward in Belmont and my cousin was apparently good friends with Mitt's son. We talked for a few minutes as if we were old friends...although I'm sure all Presidential candidates do that with everyone they meet. It was still really cool for me.

And to make matters even better I got my 15 seconds of fame: I got my face in the New York Times!

my wife and I on the front row to the right of Romney

me getting my book signed. This one was in the SL Tribune

Brittany snapped this one on my cell phone

Million-Dollar Habits

My wife and I recently participated in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University thanks to a Christmas gift from her parents. The class was great. It covered everything from dumping debt to investing. His strategies aren't anything Earth-shattering - just a lot of common sense financial advice. What I liked most about the course was that Dave made it seem as though the dream of becoming a millionaire isn't really that far-fetched for a lot of people. You don't need to be a superstar athlete or hot-shot CEO with a multi-million dollar salary. You just have to get rid of your debt, live below your means, and save. Granted, you have to save a lot! 


So lately, one thing I enjoy doing is reading about people who are already millionaires (or even billionaires) and learning how they got to where they are. The best way to achieve a goal is to mimic how other people have successfully achieved that same goal. What habits did they develop? What advice do they share? So here are some ideas that I have gathered over the last few months. I guess it's my own little "habits of highly-successful people" list.

1. Get an education. There are people who make it without one, but they are the exception not the rule. Not everyone can be billionaire dropouts like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerburg. My parents always made education a priority in my life and for that I will always be grateful!

2. Get rid of debt! Dave Ramsey is all about cutting up those credit cards and only buying something if you have the funds in the bank to cover it. Cars, vacations, gadgets...everything but your house should be bought with cash (or a debit card). To help in this effort, I recently sold my beloved SUV. Luckily, it was worth more than I owed so I was able to take the cash left over and buy a cheaper, older, but still decent commuter car.

3. Live below your means. I just read this article about Bill Gates that really impressed me.

" I play tennis, I play bridge, I spend time with my family. I drive myself around town in a normal Mercedes. I’ve had a Lexus. The family has a Porsche, which is a nice car that we sometimes take out. We have a minivan and that’s what we use when it’s the five of us." - Bill Gates

Bill Gates drives his family around in a freaking minivan! Are you kidding me? If he can live below his means, anyone can. It's a simple concept - spend less money then you earn - but it does require a lot of discipline. Don't be like MC Hammer or Michael Jackson and buy everything in sight just because you can. That's a quick way to go bankrupt.

4. Save.  One of my favorite stories from Dave Ramsey's class was of a newlywed couple that wanted to buy a house. They both had jobs and made a combined $90,000 a year. Instead of getting a mortgage right away they found a cheap apartment above some old lady's garage and they lived on $40,000 a year. The wife's mother was furious that he would make her live like this, but 4 years later they $200,000 in the bank, they found a deal on a house for $150,000, and he gave her $50,000 to furnish the place. Without ANY debt that $90,000 they make now goes to whatever they want. Wow. Saving is empowering.

5. Be charitable. Whatever your reasons may be - religious, moral, karma, tax deductions, whatever - it is important to be charitable and generous with your money even when you're not making a lot of it. This is a habit that many millionaires advocate. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, probably the two most famous billionaires in the US, have embarked on a quest to get the world's wealthiest people to sign a pledge that they will donate the majority of their fortunes to charity. I find that incredibly inspiring. Bill Gates has given away $24 billion of his personal fortune to help eradicate diseases like malaria and polio from 3rd world countries. Mark Zuckerburg just gave away $100 million to the Newark School District. Their money is saving lives and empowering people all over the world. Make a difference in the world. Give some money to a good cause.

 Phew! That is probably my longest blog post ever! I guess now the trick is to live up to it...check back with me in 40 years to see if I did it.

Local Company Wins Big Thanks to YouTube Videos

I first came across OraBrush, a local Utah company, and their amazing story a few months ago when I was looking into the different advertising opportunities available through Google (who happens to own YouTube). I was extremely impressed not only by their story, but by their unique marketing strategy. Basically, the owner of the company invented his tongue cleaning product years ago and was never able to sell it with much success in stores or through infomercials. So he took his dilemma down to BYU and one student suggested using YouTube. They spent a few hundred dollars making a video that now has over 14 million views! Watch the videos below - you won't regret it.

Here's the first video I saw. It's featured as one of Google's "success stories":



Here's the original video that put OraBrush on the map. This video alone has over 14 million views. Their channel has over 35 million views and is the second most subscribed-to channel on YouTube. I personally was convinced I needed an OraBrush after the first time I watched this video. Enjoy.



Now they put out hilarious YouTube videos, like the one below,  once a week for their loyal fans. People love the product so much, they post videos of themselves using it on OraBrush's channel. There are hundreds of them! Talk about viral marketing. But it's not enough to have awesome videos that people love - you want them to actually buy your stuff. So OraBrush uses incentives like "order your free OraBrush" and heavily features links back to their website, all of which they can analyze and track. Their marketing strategy has led to millions in sales and tons of accolades and awards from the business world.

"YouTube levels the playing field...YouTube enable normal people to take an idea and put it in front of everybody...We can play on the same terms as these huge companies" -Austin Craig, The OraBrush Guy.

One last video. It's a hilarious parody of iPad commercials. You'll never look at Apple quite the same way again!

The 80/20 Rule Rules!

I recently borrowed a copy of The 4 Hour Workweek from my brother-in-law. I’ve heard a lot about this book and was intrigued by this guy’s philosophy, especially since his passion is traveling and so is mine. It’s all about freeing up time to do the things you really love to do.

On the surface, it seems like a cool idea. But his philosophy is unconventional at best and I disagree with most of it. He is all about living in the now, planning for maximum 6 months ahead, and thinks if you can afford the monthly payment on a $250,000 Lamborgini you should get it. I’m more comfortable with the Dave Ramsey lifestyle – don’t buy anything you can’t pay cash for.

But I did read one thing that I totally loved. The 80/20 Rule. Most people are familiar with the economic applications of this principle: 80% of the wealth is produced by 20% of the people. But he applies this to other areas in life as well, which I think is brilliant. 80% of your stress comes from 20% of your problems. 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers. You get 80% of your really important work done in 20% of the time. You get the idea. The idea is to focus your efforts on the really important stuff, and the rest is just fat to trim off. Genius.  

This is definitely going to change the way I spend my time. Hint - not like this:

My Opinion on Bin Laden & Foreign Policy

Like most Americans, I still remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard and saw the news on 9/11. It's our generation's Pearl Harbor. Many years later, I visited Ground Zero and gained an even more emotional perspective on those fateful attacks. When I heard the news about bin Laden's death, I must admit I almost cried. After almost 10 years, I never thought we would ever find him.

It seems like most people think Bin Laden has been outrunning US forces since 9/11 2001, when in reality it has been much longer.

In the 1980s, we secretly gave the Mujahideen, one of whom was bin Laden, $1 billion in weapons to rebel against the Russians occupying Afghanistan. The war left the country in shambles with millions dead and millions more displaced. Bin Laden raised money and helped fight the Russians from 1980 until they left in 1989. He founded al Qaeda in 1988. In 1990, bin Laden became enraged at the presence of the US military in Saudi Arabia near the holy sites of Mecca and Medina prior to the invasion of Iraq. From 1993-1998 he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American citizens in several different terror attacks around the world. In 1999, he was placed on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. 





The rest of the story is ingrained on our national memory...



They say hindsight is 20/20, so of course it's easy to criticize the actions of our leaders when we look back on what could have happened. But I'm going to do it anyway.

Clinton knew where bin Laden was, and failed to do anything about it because he was too busy screwing around. Pun intended. Because he was so entrenched in scandal he didn't have the political leverage to do what was needed. This article from MSNBC says that the CIA had video of bin Laden at a training camp in Afghanistan and knew the location! Why didn't Clinton authorize an attack to capture or kill him?? That is what we call an #epicfail. I'm not even going to say he could've prevented 9/11, because no one knows the future. But bin Laden was already one of the most wanted men in the world, and he had already murdered hundreds of Americans. Justice needed to be served and nothing was done.

My criticism for Bush is equal. I don't discriminate; Republicans and Democrats are equally to blame. His focus should have always been on bin Laden and Afghanistan. Iraq remains a mystery to me. When we invaded Afghanistan in 2001 the goal was to topple the Taliban government who was providing safe-haven to al Qaeda and find Osama bin Laden. This was definitely the right call, no question. We toppled the government in a matter of weeks, but didn't find our guy. In 2003, that became a NATO mission and we started focusing on nation building. Then we invaded Iraq to go after Saddam Hussein. In my humble opinion, the Iraq invasion was a distraction from the more important mission. If Bush had focused our manpower and resources on finishing the job in Afghanistan first, I think bin Laden would have been killed many years ago.

So I can't believe I'm saying  this, but I think Obama did the right thing. He finished the job that 2 Presidents failed to do by authorizing the mission to take out bin Laden. Plus, increasing troops in Afghanistan and replacing General McChrystal with General Patraeus were smart moves and now we finally caught the world's most wanted fugitive. But the whole story is much more complicated than that, and I actually don't think Obama deserves much of the credit. This is the culmination of the hard work of thousands of people over many years. Obama just happened to be the man in the Oval Office when the job was done. The credit should go to our military and intelligence community not President Obama.

But if any leader deserves the credit, it's General Patraeus. That man is brilliant. He wrote the manual on modern counterinsurgency and is responsible for turning the Iraq war from an utter disaster to whatever it is now. Then he took over in Afghanistan. It's his strategy and brilliance that finally led us to this day. And the war is far from over. We need his leadership not at the CIA but in the White House. President Petraeus has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

The war on terror rages on, but today we can celebrate this huge victory. Even if it changes nothing, bin Laden's death is a symbol of hope and victory that will once again unify the country and strengthen our resolve. This is America. We don't lose. I am so proud to be an American!

Happy Tax Day!

For once, tax day is actually quite happy for me thanks to the fact that I was able to claim my wife's tuition expenses as a "Reduction in Income" so I got a huge return. Happy Tax Day to me!

For the most part, though, it seems like all people do is complain about taxes. The government can never win. Liberals complain that the rich pay too little; Republicans complain that they pay too much; and everyone, political alignments aside, thinks they personally pay too much.

So here are some interesting facts about taxes and those who do and don't pay them:

• The richest 1% of Americans earn 22% of the nation's income, but pay over 38% of the nation's federal income taxes.

• 47% of Americans (mostly low-income) pay ZERO federal taxes.

Keep this in mind next time you vote!

The Power of Words

Anyone who works in marketing needs to watch this!

A Former Intern's View: Why Azul is Soaring

I have been reminiscing about my experience at Azul Brazilian Airlines lately. I was definitely fortunate to have learned from the best during my brief time there. They were recently named as one of the Top 50 Most Innovative companies in the world, right up there with Apple, Facebook, Groupon, etc. And check out the interview at the bottom of my post where David Neeleman says that Azul is on track to earn sales of $1 billion this year - after only 3 years in business. Wow!  It is amazing to me that they are having such monumental success in an industry that has really been struggling lately.

A big part of it is their focus on the customer and giving them a good experience. Not to mention the extremely affordable price. When Azul entered the market, the Brazilian airline industry was plagued by a duopoly that drove the price of airfare up to 150% of what it should have been. Only the rich flew. The driving force behind Azul was the idea that fares needed to compete with inter-state buses, which the majority of the Brazilian public used as transportation. So not only was it cheap, but when I flew on Azul I loved the new planes, the lack of a middle seat, the in-flight entertainment, the friendly stewardesses, and unlimited delicious snacks. It's almost like flying on Azul is a time-machine ride back to the glory days of commercial flight. I compare that to my recent experiences on Delta lately where I feel like they gouge you to death with fees and flying feels like an annoyance.

As if Azul wasn't affordable enough already, at one point they launched an extremely popular promotion called Passaporte Azul, similar to Jet Blue's All-You-Can-Jet Pass. For 500 Reais (around $200) you could fly anywhere in Brazil as many times as you wanted within that month! Letters poured in about how family members were reunited after many years because they could finally afford to fly. People in the middle and lower classes were flying for the first time in their lives. Azul was literally changing people's lives. At one point, I was asked to go to the airport and film some customer testimonials of people using the Passaporte Azul. I found a couple guys who were childhood friends who hadn't seen each other in years but happened to bump into each other on their flight. Both had purchased one of the passes so they decided to travel the country together for a whole month. Of all the people I filmed, not once did I hear a complaint or a lack of enthusiasm. In many cases people were actually grateful to the company and its founder, David Neeleman. When was the last time you heard someone filled with gratitude for their long flight from LA to New York? Everyone who flies Azul literally loves it.

Obviously building a great customer experience is essential, but you have to get the word out about it somehow. I may be slightly partial, but since my internship in Sao Paulo was in their marketing department I also attribute a big part of Azul's success to their creative and innovative marketing. Most of what we did would definitely be considered unconventional or non-traditional. We didn't advertise in newspapers or do big-bidget TV ads. I personally spent a lot of time working on creative promotions via Facebook and Twitter. Not only that, but I got to help with the launch of Azul's own social network viajamos.com.br, which means "we travel" in Portuguese and is a site dedicated to travel in Brazil. That, of course, was when I wasn't doing guerilla marketing, roaming the beaches of Rio de Janeiro handing out flyers and signing people up for Azul's frequent flyer program. Hey, it was a tough job, but someone had to do it! (photos to the left). It just goes to show you don't always need a gigantic, multi-million dollar advertising budget to be profitable. If you have a great product/service and some creative ideas to get the word out, success will follow.

I blogged about my semester with Azul, and you can read about my experiences at www.asaventurasdojj.blogspot.com  

Anyway, when I was there I remember the big party they threw when they reached 2 million passengers in
their first year of business. It was a world record. No airline in the history of aviation had ever reached that many passengers in its first year. It was very exciting to be part of that! Now, less than a year and a half later they have reached over 8 million. They started by flying between 3 cities. Three. Now they have flights to over 30. Stunning success! If there was ever a successful businessman to emulate, it would be David Neeleman. And rumor has it he might buy back Jet Blue. If he does, my resume will be one of the first in the inbox. 
Update 2021: These days I'm traveling with kids via minivan and you can read all about it on The Minivan Bucket List

Facebook Fan For Life!

A few weeks ago, I saw Mark Zuckerburg speak at BYU. He was brought there to discuss public policy and technology with Senator Orrin Hatch. I was impressed by the fact that Zuckerburg was poised and eloquent, and definitely not the same Mark portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg. He appeared sincere when he explained that Facebook never has and never will sell user’s information to advertisers. And he genuinely is passionate about the social good Facebook can facilitate especially in the areas of democracy and education. His $100 million donation to Newark’s public school system was more than just a PR stunt; he genuinely wants to help improve this country’s public education. Everyone knows about all the media coverage the site is getting for its role in the revolutions in Egypt and other places in the Arab world. But I’m a Facebook fanatic and even I didn’t know this: they are mapping the friendships between people in countries that are historically not friendly. Increased cross-border connection means increased understanding and peaceful relations. Check out http://peace.facebook.com/. It’s pretty awesome.

“Facebook is proud to play a part in promoting peace by building technology that helps people better understand each other. By enabling people from diverse backgrounds to easily connect and share their ideas, we can decrease world conflict in the short and long term.”

I was also impressed with one other thing he said: Facebook wants to enable and inspire innovation and change, not be the only source of it. I got to thinking that there’s not a whole lot of companies in the history of the world who want to share the wealth like that. Maybe Apple and Google, with their respective app building platforms.

Most impressive to me as of late is the money-making aspect of Facebook, which you cannot help but be awe-struck by. Think of all the people who have become very, very rich thanks to Zuckerburg:

• Thousands of jobs have been created by social media savvy entrepreneurs and many companies eager to capitalize on the social network have hired people like me as social media managers and marketers. 
• Developers and Programers. For example: Zynga - social gaming company that created Farmville (which on a side note, is completely absurd to me; seems like an utter waste of time) is now valued at somewhere between $7-10 billion.
• Investors and early adopters. For example: Ad group Interpublic committed to spending $10 million of its clients money in 2006 and in return got a .4%, $5 million stake in the company. It is now worth a whopping $200-300 million! Now there is a return on your investment!
• And the most amazing: According to Forbes, Facebook has created 6 billionaires - Mark Zuckerburg, Eduardo Saverin, Sean Parker, Dustin Moskovitz, and investors Peter Thiel and Yuri Milner. Wow! Not only that, but Mark and Dustin and the world’s youngest billionaires!

My mind is seriously boggled by how quickly this site has grown into a once-in-a-generation, world-changing phenomenon. I couldn’t help but be a little star-struck when I saw Zuckerburg speak. In terms of net worth, that was the most money I had ever seen in one room. And here’s some proof I was there. Low-res, but proof nonetheless. Long story short, for these reasons and many more I am a Facebook fan for life!

The Hypocrisy of Obama

Maybe it's just me, but Obama launching air strikes on Libya in the middle of two wars, while still recovering from the recession seems just a little bit hypocritical. No, not just me? OK, cool. This post will be very brief then. Here are some quotes that prove my point!

From Obama:

"The President does not have Constitutional authority to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation." - Dec 20, 2007. 

But it's ok this time, because the UN and NATO are behind us... huh?

"Everybody is already talking about our deficit, why would we want to add to it?" - Nov 7, 2010

Each Tomahawk cruise missile costs roughly $1 million. We launched over 100 in Libya. You do the math!

And Biden (referring to his statements that if President Bush had attacked Iran, it would have been an impeachable offense):

"The President has no Constitutional authority to take this country to war...and if he does I will move to impeach him."

My feelings and opinions on the current wars we are fighting and whether or not we should have intervened in Libya are irrelevant to this post. The goal was to show you that Obama is a hypocrite. Hopefully my brief post makes that obvious!

Flying Gets Political

First of all, this is not a rant about creepy TSA pat-downs. That's olds news.

But my issue for the day does have to do with air travel. I love to travel and I fly a lot. I never thought that this would be become a political issue, but it has. Air travel has become such a huge hassle lately. Checked baggage fees. Annoying security procedures. Long line. Terrible service. No more free meals. No more free headphones. Hey airlines, we get it, fuel is expensive! I have been so annoyed with Delta Airlines lately, that I am considering "voting with my wallet", so to speak, and trying out other airlines. 

I just read an article in Time magazine about how passengers have been getting savvier lately by packing lighter and only taking carry-ons. But this has been causing delays in security, which in turn means an increased demand for TSA security agents because there are more bags to check. They are federal employees, so this comes out of the tax-payer's wallet. Let me just say a very sarcastic awesome! $260 million per year, in fact. Homeland Security already charges a $5 fee each way when you fly, now they want to increase that fee even more to bring in up to $600 million to Homeland Security. Why are the passengers suffering while the big airlines not only reap the financial benefits but do not have to even pay for the problem that THEY caused?

What really irks me about this and the article in Time, is that they act as if the passengers are to blame. The headline? "Cheap fliers cost taxpayers millions." Then the headliner: "Not checking that bag? It's going to cost everyone." Really??? Come on, now. We have no one to blame but blame itself...and the AIRLINES. Any solution that the government comes up with needs to hold the airlines responsible and accountable, not the consumer. What a joke!

So thank you, Delta Airlines and other airlines who are not only causing me a huge annoyance when I travel, now you are costing all of us even more money! But it's ok, you are profitable again.

Who is Crazier? Take the Quiz!

I found this thanks to one of my old poli sci professors at the U. This little gem comes from New York Magazine - it shows quotes from crazy rants said in February by one of three celebrity/political figures, and you have to guess who said it! I loved it and thought it was pretty hilarious, so here's a link and a screenshot of some of my results. The X means I guessed wrong, and if there's 2 it means I guessed wrong twice!

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/03/its_time_to_play_sheen_beck_or.html

The End of an Era

Last week I was witness to history, as I watched the Space Shuttle Disovery launch for the final time. It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood fantasies of wanting to being an astronaut, playing with models of the space shuttle and going to the Kennedy Space Center with my family. For me, and millions of other Americans like me, the space program was always a source of wonder and inspiration. It instilled in me an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, a desire to succeed, and even a strong sense of patriotism. I fear that future current and future generations of kids are about to lose that. With the retirement of the space shuttle program, and Obama’s cancellation of funds for its replacement program, the future of America’s space program will now be in the hands of our allies and the private sector. Now if America wants to send an astronaut to space, it will have to do so aboard Russia’s Soyuz rockets. Apparently President Obama fails to see the irony in this!

The space shuttle first launched in 1981, when NASA sent the Columbia to space for its first low-earth orbit. Now, 30 years later and over 130 flights later, the space shuttle program is being forced into retirement. So what’s next?

In 2004, George Bush announced plans to return to the moon by 2015, complete the International Space Station and retire the Space Shuttle in 2010. He also announced plans for something called Project Constellation. The idea was to establish an extended presence on the moon (which would reduce the costs of further space exploration), to develop and test new technologies and systems, and to begin a sustainable course of long-term exploration. One proposed mission was to a near-earth asteroid, which would represent a critical step forward in a manned mission to Mars. Project Constellation also intended to land humans on Mars in the 2030s.

President Obama recently determined that Project Constellation was over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation. In 2010, he announced some lofty goals for NASA: the development of heavy-lift launch vehicle by 2015, an asteroid mission in 2025, and a Mars mission in the 2030s. Basically, he reiterated the same goals as his predecessor, but he cancelled funding for Project Constellation. To his credit, the cost was estimated to be $230 billion through 2025 and the country is going through hard times. Many people do not see space exploration as a priority. But how much has he spent on healthcare reform, bailouts, and the stimulus package? I for one do not see those as a priority either!

I hope that NASA can recapture the mystery and magic that millions felt as they watched the Apollo missions on TV in the 60s and 70s. Space exploration needs to remain a priority of the American people. Here’s why America needs to rethink the space program and make it a priority.

“Two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St. Louis to explore the new lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. They made that journey in the spirit of discovery, to learn the potential of vast new territory, and to chart a way for others to follow.

America has ventured forth into space for the same reasons. We have undertaken space travel because the desire to explore and understand is part of our character. And that quest has brought tangible benefits that improve our lives in countless ways. The exploration of space has led to advances in weather forecasting, in communications, in computing, search and rescue technology, robotics, and electronics. Our investment in space exploration helped to create our satellite telecommunications network and the Global Positioning System. Medical technologies that help prolong life -- such as the imaging processing used in CAT scanners and MRI machines -- trace their origins to technology engineered for the use in space…

Yet for all these successes, much remains for us to explore and to learn. In the past 30 years, no human being has set foot on another world, or ventured farther upward into space than 386 miles -- roughly the distance from Washington, D.C. to Boston, Massachusetts. America has not developed a new vehicle to advance human exploration in space in nearly a quarter century. It is time for America to take the next steps.”

That was said by none other than George Bush. Regardless of how you feel about President Bush (there’s plenty he did that I didn’t care for), you cannot deny the logic of this statement!

Canceling Project Constellation is a huge mistake. President Obama is denying future generations a source of innovation, knowledge, and national pride. I would not be surprised if mankind does in fact land a human on Mars in my lifetime. I will also not be surprised if that person is not American. Thank President Obama.

Of course, there are those who strongly support Obama’s plan:

“Cancellation was therefore simply a matter of time and thankfully we have a president with the political courage to do the right thing sooner rather than later. We can ill afford the expense of an “Apollo on steroids,”…A lesser president would have waited until after the upcoming election cycle, not caring that billions more dollars would be wasted. It was disappointing to see how many in Congress did not possess this courage” – Elon Musk.

Of course Mr. Musk is the CEO of SpaceX, which is a private corporation that stands to earn billions of dollars as US spaceflight shifts to the private sector.

Obama’s high-profile critics include Neil Armstrong, Commander of Apollo 11 and first man on the moon, Jim Lovell, Commander of Apollo 13, and other famous astronauts. Their critiques include:

-we will have wasted ten plus billion dollars already invested in Constellation

- we will have lost many years required to recreate what we will have didcarded

- The US has been the leader in space for half a century, and is now destined to be second or third tier due to lack of means to carry astronauts to low-earth orbit and beyond

-The Obama plan calls for NASA to spend $100 billion over 10 years in order to accomplish nothing

- Obama called for sending a crew to an asteroid by 2025. had he not canceled Constellation, we could have performed such a mission by 2016. While calling for such a  flight, he is actually terminating the programs that would make it possible.

- One of the primary goals of our space program has always been about maintaining US access to space and maintaining US leadership in space. By cutting Project Constellation, Obama is denying us the means to do that.

The retirement of the space shuttle program this year marks the end of an era. I sincerely hope that this only means that it is the beginning of a new one … but it’s not looking too good so far.

Recent Resignations

Making the rounds in the news recently are the resignations of Egypt's President Mubarak and Utah Jazz hall of fame head coach Jerry Sloan. Rather than provide any political commentary, I thought I'd provide my favorite tweets:


First Jerry Sloan resigns and now Mubarak... if you're an Egyptian Utah Jazz fan, this must have been a tumultuous week - @visionmediamktg


Mubarak forced to resign after repeated clashes with star point guard El-DeRon Williams-Ali. No word if Jerry Sloan will take over presid'cy - @realslimseanie


#Panetta calls Obama and apologizes for faulty intel on Mubarak. Said the intel actually referred to #JerrySloan. - @utahpolitics


"Jerry Sloan I'm really happy for you and Imma let you finish, but Mubarak had the best resignation of all time. Of all time." Kanye West - @boomtho

Romney on Letterman

Mitt Romney counts down the Top 10 Things You Didn't Know About Mitt Romney! This is probably my favorite Letterman Top 10 ever! haha

Palin makes me puke

In Obama's State of the Union address this year, he argued that this is another "Sputnik Moment." Meaning, of course, that this recent crisis could be a wake up call for the nation, causing us as a people to focus more on innovation and reinforcing our place at the top. How could you disagree with that? That ideology is as bipartisan as they come. If you don't want America to innovate, spur job growth, increase our political and economic power... you can move to China.

This is where Sarah Palin comes in. Her rebuttal was either an entirely misguided attempt to attack Obama or 100% moronic.

"That was another one of those WTF moments...this Sputnik Moment that he would aspire Americans to celebrate. He needs to remember that what happened back then with the former Communist USSR and their victory in that race to space...yeah, they won, but they also incurred so much debt at the time that it resulted in the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union."

HOW CAN ANYONE THINK SHE WOULD MAKE A GOOD PRESIDENT!? SHE'S AN IDIOT! She knows nothing about world history, current events, or anything remotely relevant to the President's job description. Please, Sarah Palin, for the love of all that is holy... stick to your moose hunting reality TV show.

Watch this video: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-31-2011/from-russia-with-gov

State of the Union

Many people, including myself, are becoming increasingly frustrated with President Obama. But, hey, the man is an excellent orator, you have to give him that. I was in DC January-May 2009 and was there at the Lincoln Memorial for the pre-inauguration celebration, was on the lawn of the Capitol when he was sworn in, and saw him speak in person on multiple occasions. He is a very powerful and moving speaker. He makes you want to be a better American. The 2011 State of the Union address was no different.

"For these Americans and so many others, change has not come fast enough. Some are frustrated; some are angry. They don't understand why it seems like bad behavior on Wall Street is rewarded but hard work on Main Street isn't; or why Washington has been unable or unwilling to solve any of our problems. They are tired of the partisanship and the shouting and the pettiness. They know we can't afford it. Not now."

Sounds like something I would say.

What stood out to me most about this year's State of the Union is much of that same feeling I got in DC. His goals are worthwhile, and he wants America to continue to be the greatest nation in the world. What he needs to realize, however, is that Republicans don't necessarily disagree with him on goals. But I don't think Republicans realize that either. We all want this country to be the best in the world, to continue to have the most prosperous economy, to develop alternative energies and not have to rely on foreign oil, to not be at war, etc... But all I heard during this speech was a bunch of lofty rhetoric and goals with no concrete deadlines and definitely no plan of action.

He wants to work together in a spirit of bipartisanship. Great! I'll believe that when I see it.
He wants to double exports thus creating 2 million jobs by 2015. Great! How?
Make our primary education system the best in the world. Great! How?
$30 billion of bank bailout repayments should be reinvested in community banks for small business loans. Cool. How? When?
Invest in clean and alternative energy to spur job growth and decrease dependence on foreign oil. Nice. What about all that federally owned land in Utah full of natural resources that we're not allowed to do anything on, except pay the government to walk on it?
If anyone has a better idea for health care reform, Obama claimed to want to hear it. OK. What about Mitt Romney's state-level reform that was proven to work pretty dang well?

All I heard during that whole speech were a bunch of things that would be pretty great accomplishments for our country, but not once did I hear a plan with a deadline.

 "A goal without a plan is just a wish" - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Arizona Aftermath

I found this gem from an ESPN columnist - click here then scroll about halfway down (unless you want to read about the NFL post-season first). I'm not exactly sure why this was in the middle of his column, but I thought he made some valid points. 

"800 Americans Killed by Guns Since the Arizona Shootings: 

 It is a sign of the state of U.S. discourse that the Arizona tragedy led immediately to political finger-pointing. Perhaps Jared Loughner was influenced in some way by Tea Party commentary, but there's no proof of this; diseased minds are hard to understand. Yet left-wing commentators jumped to the assumption that Loughner was somehow acting on the orders of people such as Glenn Beck, and that Beck and his ilk condone murder: absurd contentions. On the right, Sarah Plain -- referring to herself as "we" -- denied that her rifle-crosshairs-graphic showing the congressional district of Rep. Gabriella Giffords was reckless, then declared that "journalists and pundits" who call attention to her crosshairs graphic cause "hatred and violence." So Palin need not apologize for using a bull's-eye graphic, but anyone who points out Palin's own action is inciting violence. This is incoherent even by the low standards of contemporary politics.

More important is that Loughner, with a record of mental instability, legally purchased not just a concealed weapon but a high-rate-of-fire Glock -- same gun used in the Virginia Tech massacre -- plus a 33-round combat magazine. Combat magazines have no relevance to hunting, marksmanship or self-defense. In what self-defense situation would a law-abiding person fire 33 times? Combat magazines are useful for two purposes, infantry battle and mass murder. In Arizona, anyone can buy them."

 What a sad state of affairs we live in when a tragedy like this gets politicized. Shame on all those politicians on both sides of the aisle who are trying to "never let a good tragedy go to waste." It's also sad that our laws regulate children's toys more than guns. While it is true that pens don't write letters, cars don't drive themselves, and guns don't kill people, it really should not be so easy to buy massacre-ready guns.

I'm all for the Right to Bear Arms, but it needs to be better regulated. And having an on-duty police officer present at all public appearances of nationally elected public officials is not a half-bad idea either. 

President Huntsman?

We've heard it before, but it looks like there is chatter that ex-Governor/ Ambassador Hunstman might run for President in 2012.

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/04/the-manchurian-candidate.html

 “You know, I’m really focused on what we’re doing in our current position, but we won’t do this forever, and I think we may have one final run left in our bones.” - Ambassador Huntsman

This thought makes me a little giddy! I'm from Utah and I'm a moderate Republican... oops! gave it away. That's the first time I've ever stated outright on here where I fall along the political spectrum. Anyway ... I know of very few politicians that match up to my political views as well as Huntsman does. I'm a big fan. He's pro-business, Utah's economy was the 2nd fastest growing in the nation during his term,  he now has a great relationship with China a.k.a America's credit card, and he's a bridge-builder. Even as a moderate, he left office with a near 80% approval rating in one of the reddest states in America. His "get stuff done" approach is one that's sorely lacking in Republican politics these days.

“He’s an inclusive person, which, without getting into personalities within our party, unfortunately is a rare commodity,” says Weaver, who has advised Huntsman on his political career in the past. “I’m a firm believer that our next great Republican president will be a conservative problem-solver. And to be a problem-solver you have to be inclusive about getting things done.”

 Here's to hoping that Huntsman returns from exile and makes a big run for office!