Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Something for everyone--I feel much better


Thanks Erin!!

Kirby: Sorry Sen. Buttars, gay rights won't destroy us

By Robert Kirby


Tribune Columnist
Posted: 02/24/2009 11:57:35 AM MST

Last week, Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, reportedly announced proof that the gay rights movement posed "the greatest threat to America."

According to Buttars, homosexuals lack morals, engage in abominable behavior, are as dangerous as radical Islam, and -- I apologize in advance for saying this, but it's time someone in the media did -- actually fail to floss after every meal.

I consider myself one of the most intolerant people I know, but gays aren't even on my "Top 500 People Whose Guts I Hate" list. I checked it this morning.

Under "H," the list goes from "Happy Birthday Songs in Restaurants" to "Hitler, Adolf" without any mention of "Homosexuals." Nothing under "F" or "Q" either.

Perhaps I fail to appreciate what makes gays so dangerous. Tell me. Is there something else I should be adding to my 72-hour emergency kit? If society collapses -- and it's gays who caused it -- I want to be prepared.

Then again, maybe this is just another of those phony "America is doomed" scares, like giving women the vote. Nearly 90 years ago, people hollered that suffrage was an utter calamity to the American family. When the 19th Amendment passed, just look what happened.

Well, OK, there's really nothing to see except that the lines at the polls got longer. That's pretty bad but it didn't exactly ruin us.

And what about the dreaded Negro? Back when it was all white, didn't America once court disaster by giving blacks the vote, property rights, civil rights and anything else?

People -- idiots mainly -- absolutely guaranteed that doing away with racial barriers would destroy the country. Today, nobody's even wearing a hard hat over it.

It could be that gays are more insidiously evil. The ones I know don't look it, but I've been wrong about appearances before. I was about Bigfoot. Still, let's see what happens when we're nice or even just grudgingly fair to gays.

In 1998, the federal government made it illegal to fire federal employees just for being gay. It's tough to fire federal employees anyway, but this was different. We held our breath and the Dow immediately stayed where it was.

There's always some horrible threat poised to destroy America, something we're doing that reactionaries say will cause God to unleash his wrath upon us. My grandfather thought it was tampon commercials.

Maybe it takes a long time for America's "greatest threats" to destroy it. It could be that we're actually being destroyed as we sit here talking about it. I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

With even a casual glance at our history, it's easy to see that the America people feared seeing destroyed has always been an outdated version that catered almost entirely to them.

Robert Kirby can be reached at rkirby@sltrib.com

Thursday, February 19, 2009

great deal just reduced $50,000


Located near Cactus and Tropicals in Draper(E side of I-15) this house is a keeper!
I previewed it last week when it was listed at $474,000 and while it requires a bit of finish work it is a beautiful home for a great price!
Now that they have dropped it to $424,000 I'd have to say that for the money this is a great deal!
It is located on half an acre
is 95% complete(including the basement)
has 3 laundry rooms(1 for each level)
Amazing detail and unique floorplan
7 (2 in basement)beds
4 baths
basement just needs carpet
Amazing arched upper level

If you want to take a look give me a call!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

They read my mind!


This little treasure could be priceless to those of you out there who, like
me think that having a guestroom to clean and heat and cool and NOT use for
personal space is well: insane! Liftbed looks like a great idea for those of us out there
who reject the idea of extra cleaning for one or two days a year!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

An Idea I wish I had considered.....



These amazing little sculptures/coathangers/storage are one of the many wonders
that I found today at materious
Now: if only Materious could find a solution for every odd corner of my life world peace would be just around the corner!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Couldn't have said it better myself!

Bars are about more than drinking

By Daniel Levin

Salt Lake Tribune
Posted:02/09/2009 07:31:00 AM MST

Several years ago, a graduate student told me that he was attending a conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Having lived in Madison while attending the University of Wisconsin, I told him that he'd never meet friendlier people and to enjoy himself. When he returned, I asked him how it had gone.

"Terrible," he said, "nobody ever wanted to talk about anything after the conference sessions."

I was surprised, and asked him whether they had invited him afterward for a beer.

"Oh yeah, every afternoon, but, you know, I don't drink." Suppressing my laughter, I could only say, "There's some pretty good root beer in Wisconsin, too."

In Madison, like every other place I know, one does not go to a bar simply to drink. One goes to a bar to be with other people, and perhaps to drink. It is far less expensive and more efficient to get drunk at home.

The current debate about what to do with Utah's peculiar institution of private clubs is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what actually occurs in bars and in restaurants which serve alcohol. While some people do, at times, overindulge, the vast majority of patrons are social drinkers. To be a social drinker does not simply mean that one does not drink often or to excess. It means that drinking is simply part of one's life. And, as an old expression goes, "life is with people."

Bars are, first and foremost, centers of community, but they do not stand alone. Alcohol has long served as the quintessential symbol of religious community. For three millennia, Jews have celebrated Passover by drinking four cups of wine to celebrate their emergence as a people newly freed from bondage in Egypt.

For two millennia, Christians have made wine the center of the communion ritual, in which they not only accept Christ as their savior, but enter into symbolic union with the larger community of Christian believers.

Drinking establishments have long served as incubators of America's traditions of democratic self-government and our distinctive culture. There is no better place to find genuine political debate than a pub. The American rebellion against Great Britain was largely planned in taverns, and many of the most important discussions that led to drafting of the U.S. Constitution took place in City Tavern, across from Independence Hall, during the Constitutional Convention.

Speak-easies gave birth to jazz, Southern "juke joints" spawned the blues and honky-tonks nurtured country music, all authentic expressions of America's genius. American comedy, essential to our national sanity, is as much a product of nightclubs as it is of vaudeville.

Utah's current private club laws are most often derided because they are so inconvenient and so irrational as to be maddening. But I believe that they are most offensive for their chilling effect on Americans' constitutional right of free association. That right, foundational to any democracy, protects our ability to gather wherever we would please, and with whomever we may wish, to argue politics, to dance, to listen to music, to cheer for a football team on the big screen, or to laugh at a comic.

In a free society, the state may not demand that we account for our whereabouts or the identities of our associates. But in Utah, the state requires that private clubs compile membership lists, and make those lists available to the police for any reason which the police may devise. Recent proposals to replace those lists with centralized, computerized databases, now seemingly shelved, were not worthy of a free society.

Current proposals to require scanners to guard against the use of fake identification cards should ensure that that information is protected against disclosure for any purpose other than the proper enforcement of the liquor laws.

A free society trusts its citizens. That trust always involves risk, but one cannot eliminate risk without extinguishing liberty. A free society also requires an active civil society and a vibrant public culture. Bars and taverns serve as centers of community and cultural life. For that reason, they should be just as important to non-drinkers as to drinkers.

For even those who do not imbibe should be free to join in the arguments, watch the game, shake a leg or laugh at a comic without fear that they will have to register their names with the state. There's some pretty good root beer in Utah as well.

Dan Levin teaches political philosophy and constitutional law at the University of Utah.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Monday, February 9, 2009

captured just outside of walmart--



Taken from my car--I figured that the lower image quality
would be tolerated for the pure hilarity of the content.

I came home and immediately began banging my head against my
cinder block wall....the extremists! They are everywhere!

I turned to the Urban dictionary and found this(among many other
hilarious entries):

Zi⋅on

Zion is not a defined place - not a town, mountain, cave, lake or whatever it is a symbolical place that forms a strong spiritual bond with believers such as rastafari people. It can be any of those places its a matter of where YOU make it... it has to be a place where you find your inner peace and are calm and peaceful so you can achieve total happiness.

It made me feel better but I am left wondering if the owner of the vehicle really meant it that way, and if so, they must really LOVE commuting!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Liquor Laws--Are they changing?



Gov Huntsman is at it again-
he has been since 2005 and this
time
I am cautiously, not positive
that it won't get shot down
(a major
step up from no hope at all:ever)
This time they are trying to gather info
through an ID scanner--While I couldn't
disagree more with storing info in an
electronic database for any reason, I
applaud state lawmakers for revisiting
the issue.
Gov Huntsman wants to get rid of "private
club rules" that require a bar or club
to charge each person a cover, and have
a membership in order to walk through
the front door(ranging from $4-$12)
depending on the club, time of year and
how busy they are.
This makes it really, really inconvenient
to actually go out.
For example: a few months ago
4 of us wanted to get a few drinks
at a local piano bar that shall remain
unnamed. We paid $8 ea to get in the door
($32 total) and got a table. After an hour
or so it seemed that it wasn't the place to
be that night so we contemplated going somewhere
else--but we had already invested $32 and the
prospect of gambling on another club did
not speak well to our pocketbooks.
So-what happened? Well we paid our waitress
(and told her why were were leaving-again lame)
We decided to just call it a night and go back
and drink at our house.
THIS is not good for nightlife here, it certainly
isn't good for business downtown and REALLY isn't
great for tourism.
In a state who makes Nearly $5 billion direct;
$10 billion direct and indirect on tourism alone
not to mention that 10% of state’s employment

comes from tourism THIS IS SOMETHING THAT NEEDS
TO CHANGE or people might think twice before
holding their convention here or vacationing
in our great city.
Many would argue that the private club laws haven't
really impacted drunk driving as much as a lack of
taxi service and public transportation in the state.
If one wants to bar hop(customary in many other states
and doesn't give bar owners the leverage to overcharge
for drinks just so you can avoid yet another cover charge)
Since Utah's currant liquor laws
do not allow bars or clubs to be close enough to one another
to simply walk back and forth many, unfortunately, choose to drive.

My vote and suggestion for lawmakers?
Take a hard look at what other states
are doing successfully. Push for more
public transportation and awareness
and try to bolster our economy through
travel and tourism by SUPPORTING LOCAL
BUSINESS!!