The Big Love Brouhaha

So, I guess I just can't help myself. I stopped blogging for a while during the end of the election cycle, in addition to the most recent Utah legislative session, because in both cases, and to one degree or another, things don't change, haven't changed, etc.

But this one makes me cringe.

Last night HBO aired the much-ballyhooed and berated episode of Big Love, wherein a character was portrayed participating in a Mormon temple ceremony. Mormons across the nation sounded the "no fair" cry, and HBO apologized for the ruckus. Then aired the episode. In a statement, the LDS Church tacitly endorsed a boycott of AOL and HBO, both Time Warner properties.

Now that it has aired (and I didn't see it, because I don't particularly care to subscribe to HBO), people have their shorts in a twist. When the scene was publicized a week or so ago, the immediate response was, "well, Tom Hanks obviously has an axe to grind." Which I'm sure is true. Hanks has gone on record before with regard to the California constitutional amendment being passed with the support and help of the 800-pound-gorilla LDS Church taking the forefront on the effort in both money-raising and feet-on-the-ground phone banking, etc.

I'm not going to get into the ethics or opinion of whether what the church did was right or wrong. Because it no longer matters in this context. And besides, most who know me, know where I fall on that argument.

However, I think that if The Church can't stand the heat, they shouldn't have stoked the fire. They leveraged the voice to which they had access, namely the ability to mobilize thousands of individuals, both in-state and out, and to raise tons of cash for the effort to defeat Prop 8. Hanks has turned the table, and done exactly the same thing: leveraged the voice to which he has access.

Hanks, who is an executive producer for HBO's controversial series Big Love about a group of polygamist Mormons, spoke out about the religious group's involvement in passing the California law, which bans same-sex marriage.

"The truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen," Hanks told Foxnews.com at the show's premiere in Los Angeles last Wednesday. "There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them."

A spokesperson for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Kim Farah, took offense at Hanks's comments, telling FOX News, "Expressing an opinion in a free and democratic society is as American as it gets."

Now, in a exclusive statement to PEOPLE through his representative Leslee Dart, Hanks is softening his stance.

Last week, I labeled members of the Mormon church who supported California's Proposition 8 as "un-American." I believe Proposition 8 is counter to the promise of our Constitution; it is codified discrimination. But everyone has a right to vote their conscience – nothing could be more American. To say members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who contributed to Proposition 8 are "un-American" creates more division when the time calls for respectful disagreement. No one should use "un- American" lightly or in haste. I did. I should not have.
Sincerely,
Tom Hanks.

(attribution) Emphasis mine.

Bottom line for me in this whole melee is this: If The Church can use all its means in an effort, whatever that effort might be, and in the process, offend and disenfranchise a group of people, then Tom Hanks also has every right to use all HIS means to state his dissatisfaction. And The Church has no expectation that it won't endure some heat for taking their position. In whatever form it comes. If you wade into the water, you could get bitten by the crocodile. End of story. I await your cranky emails. :)

Untitled

"Untitled"

That's what famous artists do when they can't think of a title for their painting. And me.

So here's a coupla pics then:

"Somebody" thinks she's simply a hairy human. Who likes steak. This is where she hangs out when there's cookin' afoot. She always thinks one of them is for her.



























I didn't know ThatOneWife was taking pictures that day. Shoulda sucked in my gut more. But at least my belt is visible. Just sayin.

And my own flavor of political commentary. Just in case you wondered where I stand.

BREAKING: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tapped for McCain VP

News outlets are reporting that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is to be named as McCain's VP pick.

What do I have to say about that, you ask?

It seems like a low-brow, pandering pick aimed at attracting the jilted Clinton Dems who wanted a woman in The Office.

The question is this - is that really going to work? Does McCain think women will flock to his ticket, particularly women Democrats who feel jilted at Obama's pick and process? Is that really what you women are willing to do, you who are unhappy with the Democratic ticket? Do you care more about a woman, ANY woman, in the Whitehouse than supporting a philosophy of policy? Are you a member of a political party, or the Party Of Women? Because if you're just a Party Of Women, that really means you would vote for a woman using the Nazi Party platform, or the Communist Party, or whatever else. Because gender is the only thing that matters? Please make McCain be wrong on that assumption. Be better than that. Please be bigger than that.

Isn't it time to support a platform of policy rather than gender? Because if it's not, why don't you just support the idea of taking the vote away from males, and allowing only the females to vote?

Kind of crazy to me, I think.

On to another note, now that I have that out of my system. I would have paid a lot to be at the DNC in Denver this week. I would have loved to see Teddy Kennedy deliver his speech live and in person - it feels to me like a passing of history before my eyes. I think I am older than most who read here - I was born just a couple of months before JFK was assassinated, and I have always felt a sort of connection to that event, and the Kennedy presidency.

Okay, enough of that - you can flame me if you want. Whatever. But tell me what you think of Obama's pick. Remember when I picked Biden as my candidate in May 2006, before he had even announced his candidacy? I like him. A lot. He's not afraid to bloody a nose or two, not afraid to say that we should be enforcing the laws we have, rather than trying to solve problems by enacting new laws. He's not afraid to call "Treason!" when he sees it. He's not a millionaire rich boy who has no connection to the middle class. He is the middle class.

Okay, so there you have my political thoughts in a nutshell. On to other things - we spent a long weekend away last weekend to play some golf before the summer ended and school started up. It also happened to be the last weekend of summer rates in Mesquite, where, if you dare, you can play golf in 110 degrees for half price or better. We had some great times with some friends, saw a show at the Shakespeare Festival, and at Tuacahn, played four rounds of golf, met some great new people, drank some wine, sat by/in the pool, and generally had a great time. We played 36 holes on Saturday - that was perhaps the hottest day of golf I have ever experienced - by the time we got to the last nine, we were the only ones on the course, and I was wearing a wet towel on my head like Malibu Barbie.

To top it all off, I bested my personal low score on Sunday morning before we came home, posting a 75, to better my two 78s played earlier this year. So all in all, a great weekend, and a nice refresher to get back and down to the task at hand.

Unfortunatley, we forgot the camera at home, and therefore this post has more text than pictures. I'll try to do better next time.

What a bunch of bally-hoo....

So here's a meat-and-potatoes post for all you who crave such things:

First item: What is it about the older British bands feeling a need to try their hand out at some good old USA country music? The Beatles did it, the Rolling Stones, even Elton John did it... the list is long... it's an odd practice, one that intrigues me. On a related note, I was listening to American Routes the other week, and they had Willie Nelson in the studio, just him and his guitar. I am not a lover of country music per se, and I certainly have never counted myself to be a Willie Nelson fan at all. But I can now understand those who are.

Second Item: In the last nine months or so our family has dumped 4 cylinders of combustion engine from our ownership. I went from 8 to 6, and last weekend ThatOneWife set herself up with a nice little Audi, going from 6 to 4. We're happy for the change, and I must say it's nice to look at the average mileage reading and notice it hitting close to 30 MPG.

Speaking of that, the idea of a "Gas Tax Holiday" is just about the lamest thing I have heard in a good long time. It's the result of election season pandering, and it shows Sen Clinton to be the "nothing changes" candidate she is widely regarded as being. Obama is right to not support the measure.

Think about it - the break serves to do two things: first, it rewards us for driving our big cars, and consuming just as much, if not more than we always have, and second, it penalizes those who need the break the most - they are the ones who are driving the 1987 Tercel, with three good tires and one donut-sized spare, to and from work each day, barely getting by. They drive six miles a day and walk to the grocery store. While the folks in the Excursion are packing off from Indianapolis to Disneyland for a week this summer. That's bad crap, and it's bad policy. In the US, we use as much gasoline/oil as the rest of the world COMBINED. Until that changes, we have nothing to complain about.

Third Item: We went to see The Producers last night at the PTC. I have to say that it was about the best thing I've seen there in a good long time, if ever. You need to go see it. I was a little apprehensive at first... one or two of the voices weren't the best - but as things moved along, the voices got warmed up, and it was great. The show is true Mel Brooks Over The Top Comedy, and it was funny - I was surprised at the fact that they didn't really change any of the bawdy references. I would also say that much, if not all, the Jewish humor and jokes were lost on our whitebread audience. It was friggin' funny.

Fourth Item: All this Rev. Jeremiah Wright crap is giving me a headache. The fact that the Repubs are loving the idea that the longer this battle goes on within the Democratic Party, the better it looks for them. We've all heard about democratic voters who will vote for McCain if one or the other of the two Democrats becomes the nominee, and vice versa, we hear about Republican voters who would rather vote for one of the two Democrats before casting a vote for McCain. What the self-professed independents will do is anybody's guess.

But here's the thing, see... everybody is jumping up and down about Reverend Wright and how poisionous his speech is, but from what I can tell, it's essentially this:

He preached that God doesn't like the way America has been treating blacks for the past couple centuries or so. He even went so far as to suggest that the United States hasn't always acted in the best interest of its black citizenry.

HOO-BOY, that's some pretty radical stuff right there.

Yes, the U.S. has made some progress on the civil liberties front - due almost entirely to huge sacrifices made by black civil-rights workers, and no credit can go to the white politicians and conservative opinion writers who, by and large, have strenuously resisted every civil-rights push in history.

But here's the real thing - a short time ago, McCain aggressively courted, and eventually won, the endorsement of Reverend John Hagee. Who's that, you ask? He's a televangelist from Texas (are they from anywhere else?) who runs a church called Cornerstone Church and founded Christians United for Israel (CUFI). CUFI is one of those groups that think the US must take up arms in defense of Israel (there are MANY of these groups - I've written about them before...) Their position is not one motivated out of any political policy agenda other than the simple fact that if this country was founded based on inspiration from God, as everybody likes to claim, then there is no other position to take than to simply take up arms to defend Israel as the only nation in the history of the world that was actually established by God himself.

If you REALLY want to be scared,go here. If you don't want to go there, here's a quote from Hagee:

"The United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West... a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ."

Whack-job who got dropped on his head as a baby.

Hagee claims that the end of times is near, and we must take up a position to defend Israel and make peremptory strikes against those who oppose them (Iran being the most prevalent among those in the cross-hairs of their guns). I say that if the end is near, Hagee and his ilk will be its cause, and I can only hope it will be him who is the center of attention at that time - and I don't mean that in a good way either.

The point is this: which of these two lip-flapping, jaw-clacking morons gives you more cause for concern? I'll take problems in the black church over problems in Israel any day of the week, including Sunday.

Fifth Item: Eldorado Texas. Most recent reports state that at least half of the minor girls in state custody either ARE or HAVE had children. Also, they reported yesterday that there is a lot of evidence of physical or emotional abuse of many of the boys that have been interviewed by authorities as well. The news last night stated that, "This broadens significantly the list of potential victims." In fact, what it does, is broaden the list of EFFING PIG SUSPECTS. Here's a little question for you: How many of those EFFING PIG SUSPECTS do you think are still hanging out at the ranch, just waiting for the fuzz to show up again and round em all up like the scum they are? No, many of them have undoubtedly fled the scene, just like they did from Utah when our idiot AG couldn't figure out what to do, and just like their moron leader was doing when he was busted driving around the countryside in an Escalade with his inbred entourage, piles of cash, wigs, and myriad pre-paid cell phones.

It was comical watching the AG on TV the other night defending himself against Harry Reid's comments about how inept Utah was in the same type of case that put Warren Jeffs in prison. Comical I'm tellin' ya. Utah has a long and documented history of ineptitude and tolerance of polygamy, and to stand back and point to a case where you put one dude in jail on a rape charge when that was so obviously only the tip of a very large iceberg is utterly laughable. Yearning For Zion??? Right. How bout Yearning For Some Multiple Young Poon-Tang. That's a little more to the real point, isn't it?


And that, as they say, is that.

Obama and PA:

A Couple of Random Meanderings for your pleasure:

One of our favorite new shows is Reaper. Every episode is hilarious, with a cast FULL of great characters, along with a hottie or two for good measure. What else could one need? How about a Satan character that is PERFECTLY cast. Ray Wise, cast as Satan, was outstanding from the very first episode. I said so during that first episode too. The guy is uncanny good. You should watch it.









Anyway, remember a long time ago when I talked about Funerary Violinists ?? Of course you don't because it was a long time ago (10/06), and you don't pay attention, so I gave you a link to go back and read about it. VERY INTERESTING STUFF, I might add.

Anyway, a couple of things have made me think of that recently. Remember the movie Chocolat, with Johnny Depp as a gypsy? There is a sequel book out by that author. I think the subject is .... shoes.... then I was reading somewhere about a group of gypsy musicians named The Cook Trio. It's a very fun listen for those who love the sound of acoustic guitar, as you know I do. The flouncy melodies and hoppy rhythms are a real treat. These guys are masters of their instruments. Here's a bit about the genre:

It’s nearly impossible to tell the story of the Cook Trio without telling the story of Django Reinhardt, born in Belgium in 1910 and raised in a gypsy camp outside Paris. The first truly influential Jazz artist to originate from Europe, and arguably the first to successfully highlight the acoustic guitar in what had hitherto been a horn-driven, decidedly Black American genre, Reinhardt’s unique guitar work remains beyond reproach and nearly impossible to copy. A fire cost him the use of two of his fingers on his left hand, forcing him to adapt his style to accommodate his handicap through an intricate fingering system, turning a limitation into an inimitable asset. The percussive strumming style of the “Gypsy Jazz” he helped create with his popular Quintette du Hot Club De France during the ’30s and ’40s is the only form of Jazz whose origins are found outside America.

So that's a bit of an "On My Hard Drive" bonus for you today.

And now for something completely different: a quick thought on the happenings in eldo-RAY-do, Texas: They have the wrong people in custody. Early in the press coverage of this whole thing, I said to ThatOneWife that I hadn't seen one single man from the compound being interviewed, ushered out, or being in front of a judge about any of this. Then a day or two later, there were these three dudes, looking like a cross between the Three Stooges, the Keystone Cops, and Our Gang (you know, Spanky, Buckwheat, and whoever else...), they were talking to the press about the whole thing. The one guy opened his mouth and actually said - "umm... last I heard... up til just a very short time ago... it was legal to be married to a 14 year old in Texas."

WTF??

What about being married to four or five of them at the same time?? What about keeping your children so completely in the dark that they can't identify their own biological parents, their birthday, or state how old they are? One of the press reports stated that an authority asked one of these young girls how old she was, and she looked at her "husband", and after a few seconds of thought, THE HUSBAND said, "you're 18." Again, WTF? A 14 year old should be worrying about who she is going to the junior prom with, not about whether her fourth child is going to be healthy. This makes me SICK.

When you are breaking federal law be being married to more than one person at the same time, you should be convicted of that, and put in prison.

One last item: CROCS are still as ugly as the underside of a manhole cover.

That is all.

More complaining apparently in order:

DirecTV, I like you THIS MUCH:


















Unfortunately, you have me by the shorties. Two times in the last week, I've set the Tivo to record stuff while I was out of the house doing other things. I like Tivo a lot, and up til now it has been rock solid. We like to watch a certain group of shows, and we almost NEVER watch them in real time, always recorded. We can watch an hour long show in 40 minutes that way. And when we want, too.

Anyway, I missed a major chunk of the Masters on Sunday, as well as the first half of one of the last Jazz games. This makes me cranky, to say the least. Part of the problem is setting the recorder to record HD signals that are put out from the local broadcasters here. All the networks have an HD signal that can be captured by an antenna. That's the THEORY anyway.

Some time ago, we upgraded the Tivo receiver and our DirecTV package to include the "HD Package" - but that didn't include the "local HD's". They didn't offer that at that time. Two years ago, we missed most of the 7th game of the Stanley Cup Finals, due to the fact that we set the recorder to record the NBC HD signal. NBC's HD signal here (over the air) absolutely sucks. You can never watch an NBC broadcast in HD here, because the signal is weak, and even a good antenna doesn't grab it all. ABC's HD signal is almost as bad. CBS's is about 90% dependable.

Now, in order to get the locals on HD through DirecTV instead of over the air through an antenna, one must upgrade receivers AGAIN. And incur a new charge for the Local HD package. DirecTV, I wish I could quit you.

Anyway, on to other things. There are all kinds of bloggers - those who blog about life in their evenings, those who stay at home during the day, and blog at that time, and those who run blogs as a business, and then there are the ones like me - I don't take this all too seriously, and I write when I have time during the day. Therefore, busy work time = not much time to write on the blog. And that's why posts have been thin here lately. When I get busy, my free time pursuits get dropped off the table for a while. My feed reader piles up with an almost insurmountable level of stuff too, so I end up being totally overwhelmed with stuff.

A lot of the stuff I get dropped onto my machine is design related, and some of it is stuff from blogs I like to keep tabs on, some is finance and business related, and still others are music related. Either way, it's a ton of stuff. Like fireplaces.














I don't know why I post pictures of fireplaces. It's just a thing. Some of the feeds I get are from design and photography related sites, and the fireplace photos are a part of that. One site in particular, Desire to Inspire, is great, because they post several photos at a time of the interior design work of one particular firm or individual. Some of it is totally not my style, while some most definitely IS my style, and I tend to collect photos of things I see that I find inspiring.

Here is something I found charming and half-funny when I saw it:

If you can name five or more of these, you might be a design geek. Just a little chair porn for you this afternoon.

And from there, we move to some more mundane randomness: Did you watch the Democratic "debate" last night on ABC? What a dismal performance. And I'm not talking about the candidates. It took a full 50 minutes before either candidate was asked a question about policy, position, or program. It was a pathetic showing for Charlie Gibson, whom I don't consider a real news-man anyway. I would have expected a LITTLE more from George Staphylococcus though. Not much, mind you, but a little.
And one last thing - you would think that if you consider yourself enough of a photoshop wizard to be able to land yourself a job at a national level agency, you would pay a little closer attention to detail.

I'll have a black and tan, please.

For now, that is all. But I shall return. Look forward to that.

Phunky Phriggin' Phriday:

So, it's been a hellish (devilish??) day, not to mention a hellish week. But nevertheless, it's Friday, and I have a couple of thoughts:

As has been my little tradition, I turn to the Funky Friday playlist in my iTunes and give it a whirl in randomize mode. This brought up something interesting to me, given the day.

Because, in addition to being Friday, it's also the 40th (if I'm not mistaken??) anniversary of MLK Jr.'s shooting death.

A lot of the music we call "funky" comes from the late 60's and early-to-middle 70's. It's purveyors were mostly African-American. This music grew from the seeds of Jazz and blues - unique American art form, springing mostly from the South.

Obviously, there was a lot of racial unrest then, and the entertainment industry was not immune to this fact either. There was an entire genre of film called "blaxploitation" (of which SuperFly is perhaps the most synonymous). Think of images like the character Huggy Bear, from Starsky & Hutch Music was the same way, with groups like Sly and the Family Stone, Gap Band, and later groups like Earth, Wind and Fire. This is in no way meant to be an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination. That's a whole other BOOK.

Anyway, on my playlist, I saw this:















You might have to click it to big it, and see what I'm talking about.

Anyway, you can see by the title, that we have come a long way. And you will also note that THERE IS SO MUCH MORE WORK TO BE DONE.

There are some random items rolling around in my head, but if I don't just go ahead and post this, it just won't get done today, so there you go.

But here's one for the road: We were watching the new CSI episode last night, and they showed Grisom's house/apartment/whatever. I noticed he had an Eames Lounge Chair. Wouldn't have cast him as a design-conscious character, but whatever. Reminded me of something - and it's this: I like that chair as much as the next design geek, but I doubt I would have it tattooed onto my arm:

Just sayin'....

Immigration and Assimilation:

A quote attributed to Teddy Roosevelt:

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

I guess that's the point I was trying to make earlier.

On Backing Out:

Over the last 25 years or so, I could count on the very simple fact that about 2 times per year, I would experience some degree of muscle spasm in my lower back. This came about as the result of having worked on a roofing crew for a summer while I was in college. During that summer, I hurt my back pretty seriously, damaged a couple of discs, and found myself off work and in traction and physical therapy once a day for several weeks.

This was not fun, but I recovered. Over the years, the discs in question have been sensitive, as have the muscles surrounding them - they are very protective, and when I strain my back, those muscles go into spasm - they basically revolt - at having to protect those discs from further damage.

So, about twice a year those lower back muscles seize up and give me pain for maybe a couple of weeks. In the last 5 years or so, this has become more of a once a year thing. I attribute this to a little more time spent at the gym, and being more physically active over that time. That's not to say that it still doesn't go out though. About 5 years ago I bought a nice upright bass. I remember one day while paying it, I could literally FEEL the old disc in my lower back pinch and move (what we call a herniation). I was immediately in excruciating pain, and by the time ThatOneWife came home from work, I was lying on the living room floor, writhing in pain. I had taken an ungodly amount of pain killers, to no effect whatsoever.

So, it was off to the emergency room I went. This was later in the evening, when it became obvious that I was not going to be able to mitigate the pain myself. (I had learned some tricks for stretching and applying pressure in certain spots to help from the time I was in Physio - but this was not working at all...) Anyway, after a few scans/X-rays, whatever, I was given a shot of Demerol in my arse and was sent home with a pain prescription. I was warned that the shot may make me nauseous. About a block from home, this prediction had become true, and I ordered ThatOneWife to pull over immediately, whereupon I puked all over a fire hydrant in our neighborhood. Funny now, but then, not so much.

Long story short, then, my back has been "out" in a minor way for almost two weeks now. Just muscle pain, not a disc slippage - and I can tell the difference now. It has been stiff and sore, and has kept me from doing some of the things I want to do. It's almost all better now, but it's never fun. The last couple of years, it has only happened about once per year, and to a pretty minor degree at that, so all in all, I'm pretty pleased with that. But it's no fun for anybody when it's bothering me. Let's just say, I can be a bit of a grump.

Obviously, that's not the "backing out" thought you were thinking you were going to read about here today, is it..?

So, here are a couple of thoughts on the backing out you were likely thinking about:

A week or so ago now (seems like 6 months since Super Tuesday), Mitt Romney pulled out of the race for president. There has been a lot of talk about the machinations of this move, who (if anyone) urged him to bow out, and how it might effect the race for a republican white house.

For the record, the race for a republican white house is as dismal a prospect as it has been for a long time now - but that's just my opinion.

Here in Utah, Mitt Romney won the primary by a virtual 90% to 10% for all others on the ballot. Obviously, this was a given. (I saw NO republican ads on tv running up to the vote) Mormons here gave him the nod by a landslide vote.

And here's my problem.

When the rest of the country goes through the process of evaluating a candidate's past performance, his current positions, and his political platform, and decides that he is a say-anything-to-get-elected flip-flopper, liar, and general snake, and then a state full of people who share only his religion, votes FOR him in a landslide, that makes the state look like they will vote for ANYONE who shares that same common trait. Which, apparently, is exactly the case. Which, in turn, makes the rest of the country even LESS inclined to "be ready for a mormon president." It makes everyone here look very provincial indeed. It makes the state not matter even more.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Phancy a Phireplace??

okay, just kidding, but here's a fireplace anyway...





















But wait, there's more.

It's interesting, really... whenever there's lots going on that I think would make a good post, I tend to get overwhelmed and not post anything. So, I'm going to (metaphorically) scribble some randomness here, under all sorts of categories, and we'll just go from there.

First, whenever the Utah Legislature is in session, there are often things that come up that make me so incensed, so embarrassed to live here, so riled up that I can hardly find the words to express my thoughts coherently. Seriously. Our "star" Republican Moral Sheriff is at it again, working hard to legislate from a state level, laws for cities. If you're not from here, I imagine it's hard to understand how deeply the fear and loathing of those whose lifestyle is not in keeping with the LDS church's stance.

This past fall, Salt Lake City continued it's recent tradition of electing a democrat mayor in the most republican state in the nation. Within a few days of his swearing in, he organized and passed a bill (unanimously passed by the city council) that created a domestic partner registry, allowing people to register (whether gay or not) allowing people to officially declare a partner relationship for health benefits, hospital visitation rights, and health insurance benefits.

Now, just two months later, Sheriff (though not really) Buttars has proposed legislation that will effectively outlaw this registry, saying it "opens the door to the demise of the husband/wife nature of marriage..." Last year, the Leg passed (and the state voted to ratify via referendum) a constitutional amendment making marriage between and man and a woman only. Buttars was the major cheerleader for that as well.

Seriously, every time this hateful, bigoted and sad, sorry man opens his mouth, something painfully stupid and embarrassing falls out. I am ashamed for him. That our state tolerates his presence is stunning - he's been re-elected on more than one occasion. People of South Jordan, WHAT THE HELL IS IN YOUR WATER OVER THERE??? Seriously, people, it's absolutely disgusting, what you have perpetrated upon the people of this state.

Seriously, those are the most publishable words I have been able to find for about three days now. If you want a more level-headed look at this, you can check it out here and here.

Now on to happier random things. It's been so wonderfully warm and sunny here the last two days. I went up and skied a few runs before hitting the office this morning. Even though it was overcast and flat light, the sun was breaking through as I was about to leave. There is enough snow up there at this point that they have some areas directly under the chair lifts closed, because the snow is so close to the chairs. There is a danger of hitting your noggin on people's skis who are riding the lifts. Insane. I hope it comes out of there slowly, and not all at once.

I was delighted to note that Herbie Hancock won the grammy for Album Of The Year, beating out some more mainstream nominees. I noted in my "On My Hard Drive" post last week that I had not listened to the record yet. But I have now, and it's great. Unlike other tribute or duet albums, it is truly a jazz record first, set to Joni Mitchell's lyrics second. And I must sayt, tina Turner is in GREAT voice on it as well. For a woman in her 60's, having gone through the career she's had, she's lucky to be standing, and she does so much more than hold her own on this album. Lovely. Honestly, it's a good day when that ass-jack Kanye West is shut out of that award. I did see his speech for the last one he won though. "We run this.." WTF is that?? Dude, you run nothin but Ho's. You can't sing worth shit. And you proved it on Sunday night. Again.

Speaking of Sundays though, I did enjoy the Super Bowl. Oops, I mean "the Big Game".... Great game, great catch, great upset. I called that about a month out. It was sad to see, though (and I admit to feeling old as a result), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at half time. It was more like Tom Petty and the Pacemakers.... Pretty old. He needed his top hat too.

I think that will do it with the randomness at the moment. More to come though, I'm sure.

YES. WE. CAN.

Yes We Can.





Feed our nation.
End the war.
Pay our teachers.
Be oil-independent.
Educate or children.
Balance a budget.
End high-income tax breaks.
Tell Special Interests to Go To Hell.

FUCKIN-AY, YES WE CAN.

Pass it on.

A quick thought...

I know I've promised a new "On My Hard Drive", and it's almost done, but I just wanted to throw in a quick thought here.

Over the weekend, Caroline Kennedy endorsed Obama for president, along with Uncle Ted yesterday.

This isn't the first time Obama's name has come up in the same sentence with the Kennedy name. It's been a subtext comparison for a while now, and I have to say - one can only hope that an Obama presidency will be as able as the Kennedy one to motivate and inspire, and if Obama's way with the press, and with public speaking is any indication, that hope might be well founded. Every time I hear him speak, I am moved, deep down. Hopefully it's more than just talk.

We hope. From a design perspective, his campaign seems very aware of the young vote, called the Post-Selma Generation by the press these days. You can see some of the design here.

While good design and speaking well don't make a president (I mean seriously, look at the illiterate fool we "elected", TWICE), it's nice to see some awareness of the younger, more hip voters.

Check out some of his posters.

We (I) certainly hope we end up with someone who can truly motivate a country with self-confidence, and the ability to string some words together coherently.

A great democratic campaign poster:

click it to big it, as they say...

Go Huckleberry!!

As much as I would NEVER vote for The Liar Romney, a Huckabee as president REALLY is scary. Not so much the man, but how he has galvanized the neo-con uber-evangelists in his behalf. A few days ago, the Salt Lake Tribune reported some of the content of Huckabee bloggers' posts. And it's friggin scary. These religious zealots are no better than the religious extremists we seem destined to combat on other continents. They're no different, these dominionists.

I can only hope that even if he DOES somehow magically win the party nomination, the rest of the country, when it comes down to it, won't vote for him. Which is why a huckabee nomination is good for democrats - I HOPE.

Which is why I would be inclined to say, in a very measured tone, Go Huckleberry!

Jeez, that gives me the willies just thinking about it.

And another thing: would somebody PLEASE explain to me why a certain state, like New Hampshire, or Iowa this year, should be allowed to suppose to think and act for the rest of hte country in shaping the nominations for the rest of us??? I just don't get that - the folks in New Hampshire have been very proud, even tying their identity to the fact that have been the first to choose the nomimee each time, essentially speaking for the rest of the nation in choosing who that nominee should be. I can't think of another state that is LESS representative of the nation as a whole.

Why not a national primary day? Lord knows the candidates have the money to spend. Holey shirt.

Just sayin.

Of 2 Tempests and 2 Teapots

Teapot #1:

It seems that what this city really needs is a Blue Boutique on every block. Let me explain. For you lucky out-of-staters, there is a local neighborhood that carries a certain amount of architectural and societal history, called Sugarhouse, located about midvalley. At the heart of the community is a small shopping district that has managed to resist the "gentrification" efforts of developers over the years. This area boasts older buildings with some very local-first type shops there. Over the last year or two, the area has been slated for re-development by its majority owner, and many of the local shops have been forced to relocate due to the need to totally tear down the decrepit buildings, and start over. (I fear that we will be looking at a set of strip-mall-architected garbage in the near future, but that will MOST CERTAINLY be a post for another day.)

Anyway, one of those unique and interesting shops forced to relocate is The Blue Boutique. It's a lingerie shop that also sells the typical adult novelties, etc. They were the largest tenant on the block, and were, I believe, about the last to leave. They really want to remain in the area, and chose to locate themselves temporarily three blocks to the East. Which is also three blocks closer to Highland High School. Which has a large group of concerned local citizens' panties in a major twist. They are creating major stink about how much MORE polluted the precious children will become, having the store now three blocks closer to the school. Apparently, they will be much more inclined to GO DIRECTLY TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET.

I believe these parents are living in the utopic landscape of their own narrow minds. Anyone who has walked down the hallways of today's high school at lunch time would realize that there are MUCH LARGER PROBLEMS to be spending time on.

The parents group is thinking about surveilling the shop, and taking pictures of the patrons as they leave the store with their purchases in tow, and posting them on a web site for all to see. If they do, I'll sidestep the group, and simply send them my picture via email. At one of the meetings, a domain name was suggested. However, very quickly, some level headed individual went home and registered the domain for his own use instead. Check out that link. From there you can read more about this silly story if you choose.

Honestly, some people just need to get laid.

Teapot #2:
The recent release of the movie The Golden Compass has brightened the day for those who are inclined to make sure you know that if you do something, God will not like you anymore.

There was a local school district administrator who used the district email systems to send a note home to parents warning them to not let their kids see this movie, that it would be a moral mistake. The email is also making its way through the highly refined church systems of communications as well. This is a bad movie. However, there's a good story here, that puts a few things in better perspective, which, apparently, some people around here could use.

Money quote from the article:

Sister Rose Paccate, director of the Pauline Center of Media Studies in Culver City, Calif., said the books portray benevolence toward children and a God figure — just one that’s much different than the one Christians know.

She sees irony in calls to shun the film, considering that one of Pullman’s central themes is that people should not follow orders and forfeit critical thought.

“If you just say ‘no’ to your kids without engaging in a conversation, they’re going to see the movie anyway and all you’re teaching them is power, not really teaching your values,” Paccate said. “If we have faith, what are we afraid of?”

Indeed, what are we afraid of?

Dear Comcast: Lick Sweaty Goat Balls

Dear Comcast,

You are holding The Mountain West Conference hostage. The universities comprising the conference are partly to blame for this, but I also assume that when you sold them the idea of starting a television network to support the conference, you told them that partial ownership of the broadcast entity by Comcast wasn't going to present a conflict of interest on your part. But that is exactly what you have done. You told the schools in the Mountain West Conference that you would provide a venue where more games would be on TV, and you would get more national attention for the schools in the conference. You also told them they could schedule games when THEY want, as opposed to being held hostage to the crowded sports programming of networks like ESPN, etc.

But there's a problem.

You see, "The Mountain Network", partly owned by Comcast, and in fact originating from the behemoth Comcast Campus in Denver is holding the local fans hostage for THEIR OWN GAIN. They show the network here in the states served by the conference on the Comcast cable system. But it's not available on any other cable or satellite provider's system. If we don't subscribe to Comcast, we don't get the coverage. Period.

Comcast, you claim this is because those other providers are failing to see the value in your network, and they are not confident in the network being able to bring the viewers to the system. You are running ads on TV right now, asking those of us whom you are underserving to call DirecTV and DISH Network and ask them to change their minds and carry the network on their systems so we all can see.

But here's the other thing. YOU HAD A DEAL WITH AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE SATELLITE PROVIDERS THAT WOULD HAVE BROUGHT THE PROGRAMMING REGIONALLY TO THE SEVEN STATES SERVED BY THE CONFERENCE. But you refused, thinking you could sell the deal to get NATIONAL exposure, rather than regional, and the bigger cash deal that would have garnered.

So, you are asking us to call THEM and tell them to carry the programming? Every person not getting the coverage of our local schools' athletic activities should be CALLING YOU to complain about the monopoly you have created because you were too greedy to let the conference have coverage in the states where the most eyes would be for the programming anyway.

And shame on the Mountain West Conference leadership for allowing you to even enter the door. Network ownership by a competitive cable provider was a bad idea from the outset, and they allowed the monopoly to be born, from the very beginning. Shame on the Mountain West Conference.

BOO!

BIG NEWS AROUND TOWN

Yeah baby... the first Utah Cheesecake Factory opens here in Salt Lake today.

BFD.

I can't remember a restaurant opening here that has garnered more press than this crappy old chain restaurant. I wonder just how many 6000 calorie cakes they sent out anyway!!?

This is the restaurant that served as the ictus for our esteemed Liquor Control Board to ask for more than glass barricades to block the view of The Evil Alcohol from the tender view of the fat-cake eating public.

The dude from Commerce CRG, or whatever, said in the paper that "It's like Utah has finally arrived..."

Arrived at what exactly? What we DON'T need is more chain restaurants.

Incidentally, the only reason we don't have more of the up-scale restaurants here is because of the stupid liquor laws. Cheesecake Factory was forced to change the way it does business here in Utah, because they will lose money on the liquor service compared to their other restaurants. See, in their others, they have ACTUAL BARS, with stools and everything! GASP!

Here, it's scaled back, and patrons must sit at tables in a small cordoned off area and be waited upon. With watery drinks.

The reason they were willing to make the concession? IT'S BECAUSE WE FAT UTAHNS WILL BUY MORE DESSERT THAN ANY OTHER OF THEIR RESTAURANTS.

Well, THAT'S a good thing.

And by the way, the place I came here from had a CF more than 2 decades ago. It's just not that big a deal. It's a CHAIN.

Welcome to Utah, but don't offend them, over there.

In this morning's Tribune our (state monopolized) Liquor Commission's leader was reported to have asked her colleagues on the board to enact a rule to cover up bottles of booze displayed at restaurants because some diners may be offended at the SIGHT of Alcohol.

A glass partition (rule already in place) between bartenders and customers required under current regulations may not be enough, Coray told her fellow liquor control commissioners at their monthly meeting.

Coray, a lone holdout opposing liquor licenses for strip bars, now wants the commission to place more restrictions on glass partitions in restaurants. She called the partitions "a Zion curtain," imposed to satisfy Mormons whose faith eschews alcohol. (Mormons shouldn't be in strip bars anyway... pretty sure.)

Glass walls don't obscure the alcohol, said Coray, a nondrinker, turning the "atmosphere in a restaurant to more of a bar." She singled out the Cheesecake Factory, which opens its first Utah outlet at Fashion Place in Murray on Nov. 1, because alcohol bottles are in plain view.

Coray, a NON-DRINKER FOR RELIGIOUS REASONS, notes that she doesn't think Utah's inane liquor laws are quirky at all. She has challenged the public to point out quirks, and, she says, no one has done so.

Ms. Coray, do you think it might have something to do with the idea after a while, nobody likes to scream into a vacuum?? Gimme a break.

At Squatters, a downtown brew pub, you can sit on a bar stool and order a beer, but upstairs at the loft, where they have a full service license, you can't do that. You have to get a table, and food. How's THAT for a quirk?

How about the stupid "one drink on the table per person at a time rule"?? That's pretty moronic right there - effectively, if you're drinking a glass of wine, and your waiter asks you if you want another one, and you say yes, when the waiter brings your glass, your first one has to be empty BEFORE THEY CAN PUT YOUR NEW ONE ON THE TABLE and take your old glass away. Quirky? Umm, yeah.

No sidecars allowed? QUIRK.

How about this one: 3.2% (Alcohol) beer. That's not a quirk? Then how about the idea that liquor should be regulated and doled out at state-run stores? But they won't CHILL IT FOR YOU. That's your problem. QQUUIIRRKKKKK.

Like I said, after a while, you just have to stop slamming your hand in the car door.

Al called - says "fuggedaboudit"

He just called. He's like, hey, I really appreciate your sentiments on this idea about me running for office, but honestly, you really need to drop that line of thinking. Or at least stop talking about it in public. Do you have any idea what Hillary has threatened to do to me if I try to run against her? It's not just idle talk, brother. These people play for keeps. I mean, have you read "Primary Colors"? Do you have any idea what we'd be dealing with? One example. Tipper called me this morning. Our cat is missing. Mr. Bojangles. Right. Then I get a call from Hillary to congratulate me on the prize and she says, "Oh, and how's the family? Kid doing fine? Say, do you still have that little black-and-white cat?" Then she does that weird laugh of hers. You think that's a coincidence? No way. It's a warning. It's their way of letting me know, Don't even think about it. So look, Steve, I'm begging you. Ixnay on the ampaign-cay, all right? It just ain't gonna happen. I'm sorry.



Lifted unceremoniously from "The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs