Jeff Westover

Recent Articles

• Movie Review: The Social Network

  I resisted long enough. Found the movie "The Social Network" in the discount bin and took the plunge, only after making sure it was written by Aaron Sorkin. I'm a Sorkin fan, th...

• The First Chapter of Ugly

  The word on the street locally as Mitt Romney has risen to become the likely Republican nominee for President has been that the final six months of the 2012 campaign would get u...

• Could You Leave the Internet for a Year?

  The tech world has been all abuzz over the project of a so-called prominent blogger who is signing off the Internet for a full year. Gasp. How will he ever survive? "I lo...

• The Blessings of Blessings

  There are days in the life of a child every parent documents. Today was one of those days. Our 15 year old, Allie, received her patriarchal blessing today. A patriarchal ble...

• Make It Joseph’s Moment

  They are calling it the Mormon moment. Now that Mitt Romney has become the presumptive Republican nominee after months of acrimonious debate the dust is starting to settle a...

• The Worth of Souls

  Today we attended the funeral for Ray Dean Westover. He was not a man I can claim to have known long or personally very well, I'm sad to admit. He was my grandpa's cousin, o...

• Comparing Apples to Dump Trucks

  The sport of watching and prognosticating the 2012 presidential campaign is in a real lull. Mitt Romney has been all but coronated and the Obama campaign is just ramping up....

• Say Goodnight, Ralph

  Ralph Barbieri was fired the other day. The iconic San Francisco sports talk radio personality went out about the way I expected him to: in an argument. That was Ralph's way...

• Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On

  A few months back I mentioned a new problem I've been having with dreams. I've always been a heavy sleeper, a blissful fact I always attributed to a clear conscience. I don'...

• Calculated Misinformation

  With the begrudging nods to Mitt Romney as the inevitable Republican nominee we are starting to see the real debates of the 2012 Presidential campaign get underway. Let the game...

• Movie Review: The Muppets (Those Rogue, Radical Rascals)

  One of the most highly acclaimed movies of 2011 was the return of The Muppets, a never-miss franchise of fun and frivolity that never seems to be out of step with family viewing...

• Santorum: Die Hard, Die Dumb

  I have refrained from talking about Rick Santorum these many months because, well, I like the guy. He's got a large family. They homeschool their kids. He dresses like a geek. A...

• Parallels of Baseball and Eternal Life

  Opening Day. Good Friday. Ah, the beauty of life, symmetry and meaning in all things converging on a blessed weekend. I really need the mind-numbing escape of baseball these ...

• Katniss is No Superhero

  My Hunger Games exploration is complete. I've read all three books and seen the movie. And, alas, my search for a great female superhero contines. This might come as a surpr...

• Mormon Bashing Begins at the Mall

  I first came to Utah as an adult in 1984. I was 21 years old. Before long I found myself working downtown in Salt Lake City at the corner of South Temple and Main Street at a de...

• Movie Review: The Hunger Games

  I took my four youngest daughters to see The Hunger Games this afternoon, our first Saturday matinee in years. A school assignment first led to the exploration of the Hunger Gam...

• Some Mistakes We Never Stop Paying For

  The coroner finally spoke today in the cause of death for Whitney Houston. It is news that comes of very little surprise to just about anyone. Drug use, and specifically in her ...

• What They’re Not Going to Say About Romney’s Win in Illinois

  Mitt Romney won by 12 points tonight in Illinois. That's a big win in a huge, diverse state. It is the win his critics say he has been lacking and it is the win he's been lookin...

• Anticipating the Hunger Games

  Since I missed the whole Harry Potter phenomenon I think I'll cash in on The Hunger Games. The movie comes out this next week and at the urging of a couple of my kids I plowed t...

• Caucus Confusion

  I attended the Republican caucus meetings this week here in Utah, a first time experience for me. It was first an exercise in confusion. I looked up on the website and it to...

• What Would Reagan Do?

  I am a conservative. I am anti-abortion, pro-smaller government, 2nd amendment supporting and a choice-in-education leaning parent. There are times where I'm more conservative t...

• Apple Users Fight Over Relic on Ebay

  The fighting, er, bidding must have been fierce. Up for auction was a 1993 Apple prototype telephone called the WALT. It was a landline phone with cutting edge features for the ...

• Seeing Moneyball

  I was always the fat kid nobody wanted to pick for anything -- especially sports. If there's one thing the world thinks it knows about the fat guy it is that he can't run and he...

• Media Truth Versus Political Reality

  Rush Limbaugh is all over the news this past week and his most recent controversy highlights a sentiment I cannot escape. I was driving from one place to another for work a week...

• Election Year Conspiracies

  Some months ago I read on an Internet forum about a supposed conversation former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had with Chinese officials about the election of 2012. When a...

• Knowing They Are Dust in the Wind

  There were two notable passages this week in American pop culture -- singer Whitney Houston and baseball player Gary Carter. These two people had almost nothing in common. W...

• Disciplining with Guns

  Meet Tommy Jordan. He's a modern Dad who made big news last week by shooting his daughter's laptop. For real. Jordan's daughter posted a nasty message on Facebook complainin...

• Who Weeps for Josh Powell?

  At late afternoon nap on Super Bowl Sunday was interrupted with the horrific news of Josh Powell dragging his boys in the door of his house and out of the hands of a social work...

• Anti-Mormon Vote in South Carolina: About Time Someone Said It

  John McCain, of all people, finally said it: “We haven’t had time to do a real analysis of the Romney race in South Carolina, but once we break that down, there was some...

• Lessons in Looking Back

  It has been a pensive period for me. I got an email the other night asking for some pictures and information for my daughter who turns 12 this year from her future young women l...

• He Started It! The GOP Cat Fights

  As the GOP fight for the nomination took center stage in Florida Newt Gingrich was coming off of a rousing 12-point trouncing of Mitt Romney and things that seemed certain just ...

• South Carolina Changes Everything

  Looks like I was really wrong about Romney in my last post. South Carolina turned on him as fast as a Newt Gingrich debate snarl. In fact, it appears the debates in South Caroli...

• Why Can’t People Hate Romney?

  The Republican battle in South Carolina has indeed been Armageddon. Newt Gingrich promised it would be and the slimeball politics has not disappointed. Gingrich previewed the 28...

• Why I Can’t Vote for Ron Paul

  Ron Paul is and has been a real curiosity to me. I've had neighbors and friends passionately embrace Paul and I've seen the Ron Paul Revolution signs just about everywhere. But ...

• Romney Wins and Takes It From All Sides

  As expected, Mitt Romney won New Hampshire. Unfortunately for just about everyone (except Mitt Romney), Romney won New Hampshire as expected. They knew he was going to win -...