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Thursday, June 8, 2006
Grab Bag

Short notes on several topics, at home and abroad.


Neighborhood Preservation: Remember when I reported on a certain unusual bus tour in American Fork? That was two weeks ago. Now The Daily Herald has run this Barbara Christiansen report about the same trip.

American Fork Broadband: The 6:00 p.m. hearing before the June 13 City Council meeting is about the Council's intention to declare the broadband system surplus. This doesn't mean it's junk; it's a legal requirement prior to negotiating a sale. Assuming they do declare it surplus later in their meeting, the next step is to issue a request for proposals (RFP), which allows any interested buyer an opportunity to make an offer -- which is also a legal requirement. Both steps are on the meeting's agenda as action items. There is already at least one very interested, credible buyer. (See also Council Member Heidi Rodeback's recent post.)

We Got Zarqawi (here's a New York Times report): I opine as follows.

  1. The killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, is almost as big a symbolic victory as getting Osama bin Laden, and probably a bigger tactical triumph.
  2. The media will quickly turn to bemoaning the death of a child and a woman in the attack more than touting the death of Zarqawi.
  3. The report that our first firm fix on Zarqawi came from Iraqi tips is significant.
  4. We'll see more of this sort of victory in the near future, partly because of intelligence gathered in more than a dozen other simultaneous raids.

Bluegrass in the Park: Bluegrass isn't my favorite musical genre, but Monday evening's Fire on the Mountain concert at the Amphitheater was enjoyable and reasonably well attended. The Monday evening Concerts in the Park happen almost weekly through the summer and feature a variety of artists. Admission is free.

At Home: The music cabinet is fixed, as of Saturday afternoon. Cost: about $10 and three trips to Home Depot. (I'm very glad there's one in American Fork.)

David Rodeback comments (6/10/06):

For what it's worth, today I'm reading that the 17 or so raids I mentioned above ("more than a dozen") were not simultaneous, but followed the Zarqawi . . . ahem . . . detonation . . . and were based on intelligence gathered at the scene.


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