I was stunned to read that the state of Idaho and donors will spend more than $22 million on stadium expansion and football complex facilities at Boise State University’s Bronco Stadium. The Broncos are a hot property in big-time college football, and to keep pace with the nation’s mammoth programs, the folks in Idaho obviously feel urgency to expand, to get blue-chip recruits, to be competitive. The new athletic director also has landed a $325,000 salary with big bonuses and a Midas-like buyout package.

Taxpayers might be feeling a different type of urgency as the nation’s economic doldrums continue, but I guess it must be tough to say no amid the fervor emanating from having an exciting Top 25 football team every year in little old Idaho.

Truly, I’m not surprised by any of this. I’m not picking on Boise State. It’s happening everywhere. Closer to home, Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham just got a raise, from $1.7 million to $2 million per year. In the football world, of course, this is more than justified, as Whittingham guided the Utes to a relatively successful initial season in the big-time Pac 12 Conference.

Expect movements to expand Rice-Eccles Stadium, the 45,000-seat home of the Utes. One opposing coach famously derided Rice-Eccles as a “nice little stadium,” comparing it to some of the gigantic venues in the Pac 12. So, to remain competitive, Utah taxpayers and U donors are going to be tapped.

Where’s the ceiling? If economic stagnation continues, more people on unemployment, trapped in wage-frozen jobs or foreclosed out of their homes might become ready to support an “Occupy the Athletic Department” movement.

Good thing I’m not the guy in charge of The Bomb, or something else important, like the federal government.

So, I’m feeling sympathetic toward Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who bombed out again in yet another Republican presidential debate Wednesday night. He set out to name the three federal departments he’d kill off when he gained the White House. But after condemning the Education and Commerce departments, he spaced out. He could not remember the third doomed agency. “Oops,” he said.

It’s OK, Rick. My wife rolls her eyes when I forget the butter. We’re human. Your wife told you that you “stepped in it,” so join the club.

On the other hand, my logistical pratfalls don’t impact anyone outside my family. But you want to run the country and yet you can’t even keep your budget hit list straight. That creeps me out. It’s more than just being a lousy debater. It’s being a space cadet, or just as bad, someone apparently not interested in being in mental command of his own big objectives.

The president needs to possess all of his marbles, at a minimum. A sharp intellect, mental discipline and a nonporous memory are not too much to ask, in addition.

I can go back to the store and no one cares. Perry, a major candidate for the presidency, unable to remember a federal department he wants to abolish? That’s not funny. It’s terrifying.

It’s shaping up as a pot-calling-kettle-black scenario, as Hatch has been a fierce attacker against the Obama administration for the appalling Solyndra scandal.

Of course, Hatch’s flaks have a list of excuses that lamely attempt to minimize his role in the sorry story of his corporate ally’s bankrupted namesake Utah power plant. No matter. It’s a pathetic case of an accuser’s hot air exposed, kind of like Newt Gingrich and the other skirt-lifting House Republican leaders of his day raging against Bill Clinton’s adulteries.

It’s Groundhog Day meets Dumb and Dumber.

With world financial markets teetering day to day based on any and all new negative indicators, our legislators wade right into a ridiculous cat fight over a relatively paltry budget matter. Way to go, freak out neurotic Wall Street investors with another confidence-destroying display of political brinkmanship.

This would be funny if it weren’t so outrageous.

In a new update to its ongoing Dollars for Docs project, the non-profit news agency ProPublica reports at least $7.5 million has been paid to Utah recipients by 12 big drug companies over the past two years. Data was compiled from the websites of companies that have begun disclosing such information, mostly due to lawsuit settlements. More companies, representing about 60 percent of the United States pharmaceutical market, still are keeping their payments secret.

This searchable database allows you to look up your doctors to see whether they’ve taken any money from drug companies. Searches can be filtered by reason for payment (speaking, consulting, etc.), city, drug company, payment totals, and so on. Here’s the starting Utah page if you want to try.

I called up data on three specialists I’ve seen over the years. Two were paid for “combined” services plus meals. A third raked in $4,500 for speaking.

Knowing that the doctor you’re depending on for unbiased advice about a medication may be padding his or her income with checks from the manufacturer has to give you pause. Even a free rubber-chicken dinner looks bad. Just the appearance of monetary benefit for a doctor raises an ethical flag.

Is that doctor going to be more inclined to push that drug? The money talks, in my mind. One of the doctors whose data I checked told me once that he got into medicine because it allows him “to be compassionate.” It also gives him a good living, which is fine. But I’ll be skeptical of claims to purity if my doctor has any paid relationships with drug firms.

It’s simply unreal and unforgivable that Chief Jon Greiner hasn’t had the program’s exact budget numbers to provide during the public and media dog-and-pony shows, like the one described in today’s Standard-Examiner. He gave a vague total, and even less information about the supposedly benevolent private technology provider who’s building and running a lot of the technical muscle that allows the cops to keep watch over crime-ridden neighborhoods with databases and bright red bad-guys-zone gridlines.

How much, exactly, will Ogden taxpayers be on the hook for the annual operation of the crime center? What will be the eventual expense of the technology vendor’s wizardry? I don’t believe in free lunches, so I’ll be curious.

Coupled with the coming surveillance blimp, Ogden police will be able to watch over neighborhoods and capture and crunch observable data such as license plate numbers, etc. Do you want your car tags in that database? Sure, it’s all innocent, they say — until someone screws up with the data or the software and your car gets flagged as a gang getaway ride.

Go ahead, call me paranoid. But officialdom’s failure to readily disclose all budgetary details is not reassuring. And Greiner’s proclamation that the program “is not Big Brother” is a blithe dismissal that should be taken with some skepticism. The program smells like geeky overkill that will have to prove itself over time, at considerable cost (?) . Let’s hope it ends up to be a worthwhile step up from tried-and-true shoe-leather policing.

From their whinings, one might have an impression the two are poor, picked-on young people who should just be left alone by “the system.” They want understanding.

Hmm, will this help? Check out their most recent Weber County Jail booking sheets – Valdez in March, Jensen in May. Yes, I think I do understand – that they protest too much:

(The following data can be found on the Standard.net Jail Mugs section. The information presented here as a public service is gathered from public data compiled by the Weber County sheriff’s office. The booking mug shots and related information are from arrest records in the order and at the time the data was collected. Those appearing here have not been convicted of the arrest charge and are presumed innocent. Do not rely on this site to determine any person’s actual criminal record.)

JASON JAMES VALDEZ

Height: 5′ 7”
Weight: 175
Eye color: brown
Hair color: black
Birth date: Aug 26 1974
Age: 36

Identifying Marks
TAT BACK (PEACOCK) ‘ALEKSIS’
TAT L EYE (TEARDROP)
TAT CHEST ’14′
SC CHEST
SC L LEG
SC R LEG
SC BACK
MISSING L BIG TOE
SC L CHEEK
TAT R ARM (VIRGIN MARY)
TAT R ARM (PRAYING HANDS)
TAT R ARM “ISAAC LISA VALDEZ”
SCAR ABDO – GUNSHOT WOUND
TAT L ARM “JASON J. VALDEZ”
TAT CHEST “14″

Known Aliases
FERNANDO DELGADO
FERNANDO DAVID DELGADO
JASON T VALDEZ

Main Charge
Booking date: Fri, 03/11/2011
Viol/contr.sub/act (FP ) (STAT)
Charge code:58-37-8-2
Class:Misdemeanor A
Offense Date:Mar 11 2011
Bond type:BOND
Original bond amount:$1983

Additional Charges
POSS METH
Charge code:58-37-8.1
Class:Felony 2
Offense Date:Mar 11 2011
Bond type:BOND
Original bond amount:$10000

POSS DRUG PARAPHERNALIA
Charge code:58-37A-3
Class:Misdemeanor B
Offense Date:Mar 11 2011
Bond type:BOND
Original bond amount:$430

VERONICA MARIE JENSEN

Height: 5′ 5”
Weight: 130
Eye color: brown
Hair color: black
Birth date: Aug 28 1983
Age: 27

Identifying Marks
R TATTOO SCAR OF A CROSS
TAT L HAND (3 DOTS)
TAT CHEST “JOSEPH, MICHAEL”
“NATE”
“BABYGIRL”
(MUSIC NOTE)
(CHINNESE LETTERS)
(CELTIC NOTS)
(STAR)
“SAGE”

Known Aliases
VERONICA GONZALES
WHITAKER
BEMINUS

Main Charge
Booking date: Tue, 05/31/2011
POSSESSION OF HEROIN (CSPH) (STAT)
Charge code:58-37-8-HR
Class:Felony 2
Offense Date:May 31 2011
Bond type:BOND
Original bond amount:$10000

Additional Charges
Poss/Drug Paraphen (CSPP) (STAT)
Charge code:58-37-A-5
Class:Misdemeanor A
Offense Date:May 31 2011
Bond type:BOND
Original bond amount:$1890

Obstructing Justice (OBST) (STAT)
Charge code:76-8-306
Class:Felony 3
Offense Date:May 31 2011
Bond type:BOND
Original bond amount:$5000

Seat belt / Child restraint violation (TOFF)(STAT)
Charge code:41-6a-1803
Class:Misdemeanor C
Offense Date:May 31 2011
Bond type:BOND
Original bond amount:$45

POSS METH
Charge code:58-37-8.1
Class:Felony 2
Offense Date:May 31 2011
Bond type:BOND
Original bond amount:$10000

Providing Contra/person/jail (DCON) (STAT)
Charge code:76-8-311
Class:Felony 3
Offense Date:May 31 2011
Bond type:BOND
Original bond amount:$5290

Herbert could have stayed in his Capitol office Tuesday to deliver his message to the people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps as flood waters threaten. Why did he bother traveling north for a lame photo op? … Oh, perhaps because it was a photo op.

“We can’t do anything for you, and we won’t” seems to be the talking point for Republican governors elected in 2010. They’ll serve you a cup of tea, but the first thing Herbert said was that flooding is a matter for local governments, and you’d also better get your neighbors to help.

Herbert talked about a state emergency response operation, but it’s not clear how useful that might be if, as he said, local governments and your neighbors are your best hope.

Truly, I have no quarrel with Herbert if he’s genuinely acting as a conservative governor who isn’t going to spend more money, even in disaster times, and honestly believes that he’s holding the line on a limited state role. People understand that, and it’s a popular position in these tea-soaked times. The discordant part is that Herbert felt compelled to travel to the scene to lecture the locals in person about how to practice self-dependence during calamities. The footage won’t make a good campaign ad in 2012 – “Governor Herbert rushes to the scene to tell flooded residents they’re totally screwed.” Unless the trip was to build cover for the blowback the state probably will get when the floods rip apart Utah this month and Herbert can’t or won’t do anything meaningful about it.

Meantime, Sen. Orrin Hatch, who’s been sucking up to the Tea Party like a wino in a booze storeroom, nevertheless has turned to the federal government. He’s sent a stern letter to FEMA to make sure the feds will help. That part of the federal government must be OK to tap for funds.

In January, in a deftly written press release, Hatch’s staff claimed credit for getting FEMA to help after flooding hit southern Utah. FEMA’s help costs actual money — federal money, taxpayers’ money — but the release mentioned nothing about the expense.

In a cleverly executed hoax, an environmental group created a website depicting a supposed asthma-relief campaign by the giant coal company Peabody Energy. “Why Free Inhalers? Because COAL CARES,” the spoof site says. “Puff-Puff™ inhalers are available free to any family living within 200 miles of a coal plant, and each inhaler comes with a $10 coupon towards the cost of the asthma medication itself.”

“Wind Kills” and “Solar Burns” – the hoax site also features a page attacking the solar and wind power energy industries as dangerous.

The purpose of the hoax by the group Coal is Killing Kids is to spotlight the coal industry’s fight to thwart proposed tighter pollution controls. A Wired News report about the hoax analyzed the science issues involved, and a business blogger rapped Peabody for its response to the hoax.

The spoof is amusing, but the truth of air pollution killing thousands of people remains not funny for people living along the Wasatch Front, which during winter temperature inversions has the worst air in the country.