Pete Ashdown

I am not a fan of online petitions. I think they’re ignored more than email by most of our federal officials. However, I’m a bigger fan of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the causes they champion. It is rare that they ask for action, but right now they’re asking for signatures for congress in response to the RIAA. If the website doesn’t respond, keep trying, its been slammed by people signing up for the petition.

The RIAA (Recording Industry of America) is the fine organization that has sued everyone from a family without a computer to a deceased 83-year-old woman to a 12-year-old girl for Internet file swapping. Those who scream for tort reform are wise to inspect this organization, because they’re one of the worst offenders. Rather than embrace technology to offer back-catalogs of music to the masses, they continue to spread lawsuits and ask for further restrictions and penalties from congress.

Artists should be fairly compensated for their work. Services like Apple’s iTunes and my personal favorite Bleep meet that demand without lawsuits and draconian regulation.

The Deseret News has published a story on Ethan Millard’s SLCspin. Its a good read, and not just for the the “pro-Pete Ashdown slant”. Keep up the good work Ethan.

On the other side of the fence, last night a group of right-wing wiki vandals had a heyday in the collaboration wiki. This has forced me to throw down further restrictions. Editing now requires a valid email address and granted permission from me or the campaign manager. I’m sorry it has come to this. All political persuasions are still welcome to contribute, except for buffoons.

Along with attempting to make small edits in my history, like the minimum wage I’ve paid at XMission, this group employed racism, obscenity, mysogyny, censorship, the picture to the left, and a hatred of BYU to get their right-wing point across. Good job guys, you did your “side” proud.

Three county conventions presented a tight schedule yesterday. The morning started with Weber County and immediately after my speech, I left for Salt Lake County. I drove my car to Ogden because I was concerned about the time it would take to drive the Blue Eagle. It turned out that I was right to do that. After returning to the office and picking up the motorhome, I barely made it in time for the Salt Lake County convention and to walk on stage.

I stayed about an hour to meet and listen to people, then left for the Davis County convention. As I drove the Blue Eagle down the street, I noticed the automatic transmission wasn’t getting out of second gear. It has been leaking transmission fluid since it came out of retirement, so I pulled it over and brought the levels up to normal. Still no dice, the shifting was still stuck. So I drove it back to the nest and took my car to Davis County.

After conversing with my father, he came to the summary that the engine and transmission must be pulled. This is fine, but my octogenarian father wants to do it himself. The last time this was done was 30 years ago, and I’d rather lose the election than lose him. He believes that he is the only individual qualified to pull this engine because it is a custom job he did himself. A position that may be true, but I have a hard time believing there isn’t a shop or mechanic in town that can take his dictation on how to do it. So here’s another chance to help the campaign. If you know of anyone who is a mechanical wiz that could undertake something of this magnitude, please drop me a line. I am more than willing to pay, the only catch is that they’ll need to work closely with my stubborn father.

Speaking to a group of downwinders at Dixie Regional Medical Center yesterday, Senator Hatch made the comment, “I am up for election and if there is someone who can do better, I’d like to meet the SOB.”

First, I resent Utah’s senior senator using that name for my mother. Second, he has met me. Third, I would be happy to meet him again at any time, any place, and debate the issues. “I’m a great stopper,” Hatch goes on to state in reference to the military masturbation known as Divine Strake which is scheduled for June 2nd at the Nevada Test Site. Orrin says that if there were any concerns, he would stop the testing. Sounds like he needs to walk down the hall and talk to Jim Matheson. Then lets see this absurdity STOPPED.

A “great stopper” should be able to stop PFS from hauling and dumping hot nuclear waste in Utah. Last I checked, the congress was in charge of the BLM and not the other way around. Senator, its time to put-up or retire, use your much touted “seniority” to stop something that Utahns are opposed to.

I’ve sworn to do more blogging and less driving. However, when I’m the only choice for driving, blogging takes a back seat. Any volunteers want to give the Blue Eagle a spin and see beautiful Utah? Prior bus or monster-box driving a must. It’s more akin to steering a gigantic milk-carton shaped boat than a normal car.

Today I visited Sevier and San Pete counties for their Democratic conventions. Thanks to all who turned out. I’ve been to Daggett, Duchesne, Cache, Tooele, Millard and Box Elder counties this month. It has been very energizing to meet people who are becoming politically active for the first time and to talk to others who have been active forever.

Also many thanks to my friend in Richfield who bought me dinner and introduced me to the mayor.

There have been times on the road I have seen such wonderous sights. The previously mentioned snow covered Zion, the view from Birch Creek in Smithfield, Van’s Dance Hall in Delta (arguably the first disco in the world), and many others. Today it was Manti at dusk and the incredible star-field above driving on highway 89. As I was merging onto highway 6, a slow falling star dripped from the sky. Utah is an incredible state.

Even more incredible are the people I have met and the stories I have heard. I am very honored to be in this position and yet receive the gratitude of so many. My thanks are returned a thousand fold.

In the early twentieth century, a hotel owner named Raymond Orteig witnessed many attempts at transatlantic flight and decided there was a need for further motivation. He offered a $25,000 (approximately $500,000 in inflated dollars) reward to anyone who could complete the flight. This motivated a 25-year-old pilot named Charles Lindbergh to make the 30 hour flight from New York to Paris. In turn, this effort spurred further aviation development and jump-started commercial air transportation.

More recently, Anousheh and Amir Ansari offered a $10,000,000 prize in May of 1996 to any private entity able to achieve the suborbital boundary of space height of 100 kilometers, then relaunch the same vehicle to the same height within two weeks. This charged 26 firms towards reaching this goal, with Scaled Composites of Mojave, California finally winning the prize less than a decade later on October 4th, 2004.

A little bit of financial motivation goes a long way. Compared to what government has spent on similar projects, the Ansari Prize was a drop in the bucket. Shortly after Scaled Composites completed their feat, NASA took a cue from the Ansaris and offered “Centennial Challenges”. Geared towards space exploration, these offer everything from $50,000 to tether construction that would be crucial in a space elevator to $250,000 for extracting oxygen from simulated moon rocks.

I believe bounties and prizes are an excellent way to spur private work to solve our toughest problems. It is encouraging to see NASA offering up to $250,000 in prizes, but as they say, “Care to make it interesting?”

My advocacy of nuclear fusion as an energy source for America and the world has not been muted. Balancing our energy needs is a top platform point and nuclear fusion is a big part of that. Hot nuclear fusion is clean, safe, uses fuel that is plentiful, and is what I believe is imminently possible. I am fond of telling skeptics to walk outside and look at the firey-orb in the sky when they tell me it is not.

A new angle on fusion was presented to me on a recent campaign stop in Logan. As I was relating my interest in fusion energy generation to the Cache Democrats Vice-Chair, Vince Wickwar, he responded by telling me there was a plasmas physics professor at Utah State University who was working with fusion. I was stunned because I was under the impression that any kind of hot fusion work needed a building-sized reactor. He told me that USU had a tokamak that could fit inside a small trailer. I’d imagine at that point Vince thought my eyes were as wide as saucers.

Professor W. Farrell Edwards had a bit of spare time to meet with me about the work he is doing with fusion. He showed me pictures of the tokamak which was obtained from a group at Saskatchewan University. Although careful to downplay the possibility of success of his theories generating positive energy, it was exciting to hear Professor Edwards talk. There is belief that tokamaks could be reduced to the small enough sizes that could power vehicles, then in turn fuel a 200 horse-power car off a cup of heavy-water for fifty years. If that was possible, energy generation could truly be democratized on a global basis. Mr. Fusion indeed.

How much progress could be made towards the goal of positive energy generation from fusion if attached to its completion was a $100,000,000 prize? I bet that like transatlantic and suborbital flight, a solution could be found in less than a decade. Energy generation from fusion is not the only problem government could attach a bounty to. How about cheap, efficient solar generation? Maybe room-temperature superconductors for efficient electrical transmission? What about prizes for solving health, food, and environmental issues?

Cutting a check is one of the things the federal government has a good grip on. The beauty of prizes is no tax-payer dollars are spent for failure. Americans can and have solved problems if given a motivation for doing so and a big pile of cash does that like nothing else.

In the mid 1970’s, my parents bought a motorhome made by the Superior company. My mother liked this model especially for its large windows. During the gas crunch of the 70’s, my father ripped out the unleaded engine and put in a noisy Cummins diesel engine, then ripped that one out and put in a quieter Isuzu. I saw most of the western United States in that motorhome. There were trips from Washington to Southern California, many to the great parks of Utah, and weekend getaways to Bountiful peak. Getting the six-wheel “Blue Goose” up a steep dirt road that overlooks fallen cars in crevices was a task my father seemed to relish.

One of the last trips I took with both my parents was to Bountiful peak to watch a lunar eclipse. The memory of my mother peering out the side window watching the earth’s shadow engulf the moon will stay with me forever. My parents’ dedication to showing their children the world is something that I have tried to pass on to my own.

I used the motorhome a few times for trips with my own family. Robin and I drove it to Roswell, New Mexico where I proposed to her. We camped in it a couple times after that. My younger sister used it for a season as a park ranger at Bryce Canyon. Then it languished in my father’s yard, a relic of a bygone era. He tried to list it in the paper, but found that even for $2000, nobody was interested in it. So it sat and collected pine needles year after year.

When I launched the campaign in 2005, my father’s gears started turning and it wasn’t long before he handed me sketches of the motorhome with banners and slogans painted on it. I laughed then, but it seemed like a natural fit. He offered to paint it himself, but I managed to convince him to wait.

March of this year brought lousy weather and a certainty that I was the sole Democrat running in this race. April had pending county conventions, so if I was going to use the motorhome, it had to be painted in March. With the help of many gracious volunteers, we laid down the design, scraped, cleaned, and painted. The first weekend had stunning results. It took a second weekend then much touch-up by my steady-handed wife to finish it off.

Most modern campaigns flush with cash will hire an ad agency and a vinyl printing company to “wrap” a bus, usually with an oversized picture of the candidates head, a bald-eagle, or both. It looks about as populist as the Taj Mahal on wheels. What I have been blessed with is transportation that represents this campaign to a tee and I’m thankful to everyone who helped make it happen.

More pictures are here. Thanks to Gary Thornock.
Also see Bob Aagard’s video here. Thanks Bob!

On March 30th, 2005, I announced my candidacy for U.S. Senate. The past year has flown by and been an incredible experience. I have put more than 10,000 miles on my car and seen corners of Utah that I never would have discovered otherwise. I have met Utahns of all political stripes who have put their lives into building this state. From them, I have crafted a campaign that is robust, focused, and by the people. Many others across America have contributed time and financial support into helping this campaign succeed. It is both exciting and humbling to be in the center.

In the past quarter, we raised over $10,000. Every dollar has been stretched in this campaign. While other incumbents have raised much more, we have reached more people and received more press on less. With three days left in this quarter, I am sending an appeal for you to donate whatever you can. With our current goal of $100,000, if everyone on our mailing list was to donate $75, we would make that easily.

Donate Here

If you can not afford to donate now, there are many other opportunities to help. Many counties are having their Democratic county conventions in April. I am going to attend as many as physically possible. I need your help to sign up more supporters, represent me in your neighborhoods, and activating your friends and neighbors to do the same. Our yard signs have flown out the doors of the office, but if you need some either drop us a note with your address or drop by.

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT! We can win this race together!

Many hands made short work yesterday and the “Campaign Caravan” is looking fantastic. We got about half of the design completed before the weather turned bad on us. I would post some pictures, but I want to wait until its completely done.

Every time Robin and I look at the motorhome now we can’t keep from grinning. It is not only eye-catching, but a symbol of support and people powered politics. Cost of the effort? About $220 in materials, two buckets of bagels, one gallon of coffee, and one gallon of hot-chocolate.

Many thanks to all who helped on Saturday. I was humbled not only by the size of the crowd but the energy everyone had for the task. In addition to the painting, we staked 75 signs in a short period of time. Please come and get them! We have 1,000 in this run.

Today I campaigned at the Hurricane Valley Rotary. Tomorrow, I’ll be visiting the Cedar City Rotary. This evening, I took a trip up to Zion National Park.

Zion holds a special place in my heart. It was a frequent destination for my family when I was young. The last time I was here was two years ago when my younger sister got married near the park. This time, it was dusted with an unusual March snow that was utterly breath-taking and mostly devoid of other people. I walked the trail to the “Three Patriarchs”, gazed at the “Great White Throne” and watched an otherwise dry waterfall at the “Temple of Sinewava”. I have been fortunate to have travelled to many destinations all over the world, but Zion remains at the top of my list.

Some people have asked me why I should bother to run as a Democrat in Utah. Why not move to a state that presents better opportunities for Democrats? Like say, Pennsylvania?

If home is where your heart is, my heart is in Utah. This state is an enigma to outsiders and a well-kept secret to insiders. As I come up to a year of campaigning throughout this state, I have had many days like today that confirm my deep love for Utah. This is my home.