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Show Wednesday, February 24 2010 World&Nation Page 13 GOP's Brown branded turncoat for jobs bill vote BOSTON (AP) — A month after being crowned the darling of national conservatives, Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts is being branded "Benedict Brown" for siding with Democrats in favor of a jobs bill endorsed by the Obama administration. Like the four other GOP senators who joined him, the man who won the late Democrat Edward Kennedy's seat says it's about jobs, not party politics. And that may be good politics, too. The four other GOP senators who broke ranks — Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, George Voinovich of Ohio and Christopher "Kit" Bond of Missouri — also were criticized on Tuesday. But Brown was the big target on conservative Web sites, talk shows and even the Facebook page his campaign has promoted as an example of his new-media savvy. "We campaigned for you. We donated to your campaign. And you turned on us like every other RINO," said one writer, using the initials for "Republican-In-Name-Only." The conservative-tilting Drudge Report colored a photo of Brown on its home page in scarlet. The new senator responded by calling into a Boston radio station. "I've taken three votes," Brown said with exasperation. "And to say I've sold out any particular party or interest group, I think, is certainly unfair." The senator said that by the time he seeks re-election in two years, he will have taken thousands of votes. "So, I think it's a little premature to say that," he said. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky wasn't particularly perturbed about Brown's vote, saying his election last month has made a huge, positive difference for us and for the whole legislative agenda." "We don't expect our members to be in lockstep on every single issue," McConnell added. Political observers said each of the five Republican senators had solid reasons locally for voting as they did, to cut off a potential Republican filibuster on the bill. The measure featured four provisions that enjoyed sweeping bipartisan support, including a measure exempting businesses hiring the unemployed from Social Security payroll taxes through December, and giving them a $1,000 credit if new workers stay on the job a full year. " It would also renew highway programs through December and deposit $20 billion in the highway trust fund. It faces a final Senate vote Wednesday. Snowe and Collins hail from economically ailing Maine, and they can't stray too far from the Democrats who populate much of New England. And Voinovich and Bond also are from states hard hit by the recession. The latter two also have the ultimate protection from retribution: They're not seeking reelection this fall. "When you have decided to retire and you are a free agent, you can pretty much do what you want," said Peverill Squire, a political scientist at the University of Missouri-Columbia. And Squire doubted that Bond, retiring after 24 years in the Senate, would have paid much of a political price even if the famous appropriator were seeking re-election. "He's had no shyness in trying to send money," he said. While conservative columnist Michelle Malkin used her blog to accuse Voinovich of being a traitor, even suggesting he got some unspecified goody for his vote in favor of the "porkulus" bill, Ohio's governor defended him. Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, praised the senator for "standing with the people of Ohio over the majority of his party." For Voinovich, a Republican from a Democratic stronghold, the party defection was nothing new. The two-time Ohio governor and former Cleveland mayor has sprinkled his political career with independent votes that can agitate the GOP. Former President George W. Bush famously visited Ohio in 2003 in an attempt to secure Voinovich's support for a tax cut package. Voinovich still voted no. Snowe and Collins, meanwhile, "survive in New England by a unique set of rules," said Dante Scala, political science professor at the University of New Hampshire. He said: "The way they survive with voters in their homes states is by making it clear that, first and foremost, they're the servants of their constituencies, not the party label. So, they'll make a point of defying their party and going their own way." Brown got little such leeway, despite campaigning as an "independent Republican" and publicly eschewing national supporters. election in less than three years. Utah wary over national monument candidate list SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The possibility that the federal government could designate millions of acres in the West as national monuments and off-limits to development is stoking fears and generating resentment in some energy-rich states. An internal U.S. Department of the Interior document lists 14 sites in nine states that could be designated as national monuments through the federal Antiquities Act, which gives presidents the authority to designate monuments without congressional approval. Three sites in Alaska and Wyoming are listed as worthy of protection but ineligible for monument designation. The Interior Department insists the document is a product of brainstorming and nothing more. Many people here are still furious about then-President Bill Clinton's designation of the Grand StaircaseEscalante National Monument in 1996 after his administration made public assurances that it had no plans to do so. Conservative state lawmakers on Tuesday moved forward with legislation that would allow the state to use eminent domain to take federal land that they hope will spark a U.S. Supreme Court battle. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar met with Western governors over the weekend in Washington to assure them that President Barack Obama's administration doesn't intend to repeat Clinton's actions. Republican Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said he doesn't have any reason not to trust Salazar, but it's a harder sell among some state residents. "The issue in the past is that they told us one thing and did the other. They never have taken into account how important the public lands are in the state," said Vaughn Johnson at a protest Tuesday at the Utah Capitol. "The last time they did that in Grand Staircase, they locked out a lot of ranchers, they locked out a whole bunch of clean coal." "I keep thinking about what President Clinton did to us ... came in here, snuck in here, did the land grab. I can see that happening right now. That's my biggest concern," said Gary Wilcox of Hurricane, in southern Utah. Johnson was one of more than 200 people who showed up to support a measure introduced a day earlier by U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, RUtah, that would require congressional approval of future monuments in Utah. A similar exemption was granted to Wyoming in 1950. The Interior Department document mentions two possible designations in Utah — the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa in the southern part of the state. The San Rafael Swell is home to tar sands and natural gas that could be used commercially and has geological formations that could be of use to trap carbon dioxide, according to the Utah Geological Survey. It's also home to eight rare plant species as well as other wildlife, including bobcats, eagles and coyotes. "It's sort of a spectacular scenic landscape. It's not surprising that the administration would try to protect it," said Heidi McIntosh, associate director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "The main conflict, generally speaking in both Cedar Mesa and the San Rafael Swell, is the out-of-control off-road vehicle use." However, many residents here contend it is the federal government that is getting out of control with its limitations on the use of federal New species of dinosaur found in Eastern Utah rock SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Fossils of a previously undiscovered species of dinosaur have been found in slabs of Utah sandstone that were so hard that explosives had to be used to free some of the remains, scientists said Tuesday. The bones found at Dinosaur National Monument belonged to a type of sauropod — long-necked plant-eaters that were said to be the largest animal ever to roam land. The discovery included two complete skulls from other types of sauropods — an extremely rare find, scientists said. The fossils offer fresh insight into lives of dinosaurs some 105 million years ago, including the evolution of sauropod teeth, which reveal eating habits and other information, said Dan Chure, a paleontologist at the monument that straddles the Utah-Colorado border. "You can hardly overstate the significance of these fossils," he said. Of the 120 or so known species of sauropods, complete skulls have been found for just eight. That's mostly because their skulls were made of thin, fragile bones bound by soft tissue that were easily destroyed after death. "This is absolutely No. 1 in terms of projects I've had the opportunity to work on," said Brooks Britt, a Brigham Young University paleontologist who co-authored a study on the fossils along with University of Michigan researchers. The new species is called Abydosaurus mcintoshi. Researchers say it's part of the larger brachiosaurus family, hulking four-legged vegetarians that include sauropods. The findings are being published this week in the peer-reviewed science journal Naturwissenschaften. The bones came from a quarry known as DNM 16. It was discovered in 1977, but intensive excavations didn't get started until the late 1990s. The skulls were found in 2005. Tantalized researchers, though, were stymied by rocks around the bones that were so hard that workers were unable to break through, even with use of a jackhammers and concrete saws. Last year, a blasting crew from Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado spent three days at the quarry detonating handset explosives that loosened the rock but didn't damage the bones. That allowed scientists to pluck out other fossils, including leg bones, shoulder blades and other parts. IN THIS MARCH 9, 1997, file photo, a trucker churns up the grade of the San Rafael Swell westbound on Interstate 70 with the snowcapped Lasalle mountains in the distance Sunday evening near Green River, Colo. The possibility of a federal land grab throughout the West is stoking fears and generating resentment for the federal government in energy-rich states that could see millions of acres of land made off-limits to development if the president designates the sites as national monuments. AP photo lands. "I don't trust the present administration at all," said Gerry Williams, a Midvale man who was one of scores of off-road vehicle enthusiasts at the Capitol. "There are lots of us that physically aren't capable of hiking three or four days to a monument, but I can take my Jeep out ... 411 and we can enjoy the beautiful scenery." Some of the other sites mentioned in the Interior Department document include the Berryessa Snow Mountains in California, the Northwest Sonoran Desert in Arizona and the San Juan Islands in Washington state. " • 21st 1 E 611 1 ER For a list of employers attending and tips for success visit: usu.eduicareer/careerfair Wednesday, March 3rd 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Taggart Student Center, 2nd Floor UtahStateUniversity CAPER SONICIE5 Spontared by Career Service, 435-797-7117 THIS IMAGE PROVIDED BY Michael W. Skrepnick on Tuesday, Feb. 23 shows an artist's conception of the newly-discovered dinosaur Abydosaurus mcintoshi feeding on conifer trees. AP photo Paleontologists believe they have the remains of at least four dinosaurs at the site. All appear to be juveniles and were likely around 25 feet long, Britt said. "We don't know how much bigger they could get," Britt said. The skulls — including one that's complete and intact and another that's complete but in pieces — offer new clues about how sauropods ate their food. "They didn't chew it. They just grabbed it and swallowed it," Britt said. Early sauropods had wide teeth. Later versions had narrow, pencil-like teeth. The abydosaurus teeth are in-between, which will help scientists trace how their eating techniques and diet evolved. "Abydosaurus is the right dinosaur at the right time to answer some of these questions," University of Michigan researcher John Whitlock said in a statement. The find may offer the most complete view yet of certain sauropods roaming North America from the Lower Cretaceous period spanning roughly 145 million to 99 million years ago, said Jim Kirkland, Utah's state paleontologist, who was not involved in the discovery announced Tuesday. BELIEVE SEE IT. HEAR IT. FEEL IT. SATURDAY vs. Idaho 2 PM DEE GLEN SMITH SPECTRUM Admission is FREE with USU Student ID! \WWW UTAHSTATEMIESCOM ittrimomi |