If I Have to See Gene Rayburn's Face One More Time

Just wanted to thank Max for posting. Not that I didn't enjoy opening the website and looking at Gene Rayburn's face, OK it was about to drive me to drink - more. It's just that it reminded me of the good old days when things were better but not really. Color TV was a novelty, on all three channels, the phone was cool when you were home to answer it or use it and a computer was something NASA used to put men on the moon.

Here is a link to a U-Tube video that has the same sentiments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus

I could have tolerated the Match Game posting by Max a lot longer if Farrah Fawcett's pic was in it.

Pedro

Awesome Speech Mr. President

I just finished listening to the address President Obama gave to congress on the state of the economy. It is really nice not to have to turn off the speech until it is over to hear the political analysis to get a real view of what was said without cringing.

It was also creepy to watch the congress as they applauded the speech points on renewable energy, education and healthcare. They flopped faster than a short stack at Denny's. Where where they last term????

The speech did inspire me to do my best, help my fellow American and sacrifice a little for the common good. It was also encouraging to know that there is a road map and a plan, not just catch up and management by crisis - have I said too much?

I applaud your efforts Mr. President. I will do what you ask. I hope you can do what you say you want to do. We are in a whole lot of trouble if we don't get this right.

I Know How to Save the Economy

Have you heard that joke - I know how to save the economy, turn off all your tvs and radios and quit reading the paper. Today in the Salt Lake Tribune there was another example of poor wording causing an unintended (I hope) interpretation of a story.

The headline, front and center on the front page reads "Utah BAGS $53M in Stimulus Plan". Isn't that great. Our Senators went huntin' and they came back with a great big ol' buck of a prize. I'm sure they can't wait to show their kill to their friends down at the tractor pull.

All scarcasm aside I don't think even the writer and editor who previewed this headline ("I'm assuming someone looked at it before it was printed beside the writer) intended the level of hickdum I proscribed above.

Still, couldn't they have shown a little sophistication by writing a headline that didn't conjure up an image of a hayseed in his camo overalls?

It seems someone on the website did think it was better to be less cute. If you go onto the Tribune's website the only headline for this subject is "Utah to get first stimulus cash this week".

Thanks to the web editor (is there someone with this title?) for having some common sense. Now when are the rest of the editors going to get it?

Just my opinion.

The Legislature Got it Right

Chris Buttars told a news crew that homosexuals are the greatest threat to the world. Hasn't he heard of global warming, the Taliban or killer bees? But I digress.

Today the Legislature, in particular Sen. Waddups (the same Sen. Waddups that wanted to capture scanned information from bar patrons) punished Sen. Buttars for his comments. He was removed from his prestigous position on the House Judicial Committee. Buttars used to be the chairman and now he can't even get in.

I'm not saying that I am glad for this Legislative version of a public spanking, but I do think it took good judgement on the part of the Legislature to realize that Sen. Buttars' poor judgement was not going to stop, and with a high profile position like the chair of the Judicial Committee, he could have done a lot more damage to the Legislature and its reputation.

Maybe also Gov. Huntsman's support of equal rights for non-one man-one woman marriages is rubbing off on the Legislature. If they listened more to the Governor and less to the "concerned citizens" they meet with each year from a predominant religous group we would all be better off.

Why can't we all just get along.

Its A Beautiful Day 2

I just wanted to comment on how much fun I had today. My kids and their kids and some other kids went for a short hike just above the city.

The view was fantastic, the company was wonderful and it was so close. I didn't know you could get away so easily. In just a few minutes we were above the valley and into the forest, so it seemed.

The hike, which is probably really easy most of the time, was complicated by snow, but even so the 2 year olds did it without much trouble at all (we carried them some of the way).

The really great thing about this hike is that it ends at a lake so there is a feature to gaze at when you are catching your breath. Also there are potties at the beginning (but not at the lake - but the hike is short).

The other really cool thing is that no dogs are allowed. You don't have any annoying hounds pawing at you while their owners stand idly by thinking you enjoy this as much as they do. No thanks. Also there isn't the doggie byproduct that seems to follow them everywhere which their owners are supposed to pick up but don't.

Anyhow I started this to just tell you how wonderful the walk was. We should keep it up. It was a lot of fun.

Its a Beautiful Day

Today we had a wonderful time at my church. We got to enjoy some singing, some clapping and some preaching. We also got to see why Senator Robert Bennett is the chair of so many committees. You don't get to that position without being able to shovel copious amounts of manure at people and make them ask for more.

Senator Bennett was polite, respectful and said all the right things. It was weird seeing an aging, bald white Republican in a predominantly African American church talking as it he himself had elected President Obama.

It is a beautiful day when we can all get along. Let's hope Senator Bennett remembers those feelings when he is on the floor of the Senate.

President's Speech

Last night we got another look at our President. In his speach to the American people he encouraged Congress to act in the spirit of cooperation and not fight over the details of the Stimulus Package.
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He did more than that though; he called on the Republicans to stop whining to push their own agenda (he told them directly they are the do nothing Congress they are complaining about). He told them he would listen to debate but not go down the road of misleading hype. He also opened up the floor for questions in an effort to encourage healthy debate.
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Unfortunately he got the same sort of rumor mongoring questions aimed at giving the President a chance to duck the issues. These are the same sort of questions the press has asked for the past 8 years.
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The press should be a force for uncovering the truth. They should ask intellegent questions designed to elicit information the public needs. The press has an obligation and they should meet this obligation rather than continue to pander to the past President's style of telling us what he wants us to hear and saying it often enough in the hopes that eventually we will believe it. Nor more stupid questions.
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The good news is that our new President is smarter than that. He will make them rise to the challenge as he did last night. He responded to these stupid questions with the information he felt we needed to know and pointed the answer, in no uncertain terms, to those who needed to hear the hard truth, as he saw it. Hopefully someone in the press corps will catch this and ask more intelligent questions in the future.

-Pedro

And while I'm here...

This lady with the 14 kids is really creepy. There is something wrong with implanting 8 embryos when you already have 6 kids, no apparent trust account and no stable relationship with a partner. And does anybody else notice the significant work she has had done on her face? Can anyone say self absorbed?
-Pedro

Addendum to One step....

I just realized why my ranting and raving about the electronic snooping of the high minded moral majority won't ever go anywhere. Most Mormons want to keep their "special" sacrament observances private, or as my dad used to say "Never take only one Mormon fishing, he'll drink all your beer."

-Pedro

One Step Forward, At Least Three Back

I couldn’t believe what I read in the paper this morning. The Utah Legislature is contemplating electronic scanning of licenses to verify age for consumption of alcohol.

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On its face this doesn’t sound that bad. It could make evaluating an ID for authenticity a thing of the past.

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Despite my first impression that “wow, Big Brother will have all our names, addresses and how often we imbibe”, I reasoned in my own head that our esteemed leaders will be sensible about it, and it will cut down on underage drinking in clubs.

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The next few sentences washed away any illusion that the Utah Legislature was thinking with anything but their seats. They want to employ this method of checking ID in restaurants as well, and they want to store the information so that, in the words of the article, “law enforcement could access [it] for accident investigations or in the event of a traffic stop” or “if the restaurant patron left the restaurant and went to a bar, the bartender could know the customer may have already been drinking and might need to be watched more closely”. You’re kidding, right?

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Do you get that same creepy feeling that there was a camera in that public restroom? Hasn’t the Utah Legislature heard that the days of unbridled trampling of the US Constitution are over?

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We have come so far. Gone are the days that we have to sign in, fill out our order and hand it to the clerk at the liquor store. Gone are the days when we have to bring our own wine to a restaurant or pay large annual fees to join a club to drink.

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Do we really want to become known as the state that scans your grandmother’s ID if she orders a drink with a meal in case she busts out and drives to the nearest bar for a few more? Do we really want the financial burden of the constitutional challenge to every DUI arrest that the accused was profiled from their drinking habits? Haven’t we suffered enough in the recent past over the “Zion Curtain” sneeze guard child protector shield in restaurants aimed at preventing young impressionable eyes from seeing the bad man (or woman) mix the bad drink?

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After the Olympics, or maybe because of them, the spotlight that appeared trained on the absurdity of our liquor laws was dimming. There was even the excitement that the talk of doing away with the private club requirements might take away some more of the ridicule.

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It appears we are back on the same track. We appear headed back into the glare of the spotlight of national ridicule at light speed. This won’t just affect our pride, it will most likely result in loss of revenue because those on the outside won’t want to deal with our “peculiar” habits.

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I wonder if this is what the Legislature talked about with representatives of the Mormon Church in their yearly “we’re not trying to influence anyone” meeting?

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-Pedro