Archive for category Utah Politics
Clark Aposhian, Utah’s Top Gun Lobbyist Assault Rifle Stolen. A Good Day for Some Air Guitar
Posted by Cliff Lyon in 2nd Second Amendment, Gun Control, Republicans, Some people should not own guns, utah, Utah Legislature, Utah Politics on May 28, 2013
Update May 28, 2013: Utah gun rights advocate Clark Aposhian arrested
March 29, 2013
“Oh shoot,”
Clark muttered under his breath when he discovered his ‘baby’ had been stolen out of the the back seat of his car as it sat parked in front of his house.
For the first time in Clark’s life, he knew the meaning of pants-around-ankles. Clark shuttered to think about his next move. ‘Do I call the police,’ Clark thought to himself, ‘how will I face my the students in my gun safety classes…or do I keep quiet and hope no one notices?’
“Shoot, shoot, SHOOT” Clark said, out loud this time.
Clark’s instincts kicked in. With the deftness of an eagle in flight, Clark swept the Glock out of his waistband and cocked it as his eyes narrowed transfixed on an imaginary enemy. Clark was a huge Clint Eastwood fan. He had perfected the “Clint squint” by first grade.
Seeing no immediate threat on the bucolic street at the end of his driveway, Clark spun around, crouched, and with both hands, aimed his gun toward the garage door.
“Don’t fuck with me,” Clark warned out loud as he crept back through the empty garage, into his empty house, hoping none of the neighbors had noticed.
A tingle ran up his spine. His mind raced back to his childhood and the endless days playing Cops and Robbers with his best friend Lil’ Clyde.
“Damned, those were the days” Clark said to himself as he straightened out and placed the Glock back in his pants. Stepping into the serenity of his empty kitchen, his mind went blank as it often did, without notice.
Unable to remember what he had come into the house for, Clark went over to his old vinyl record player and put on his favorite ZZ Top album and began doing air guitar. As he arched his back, he felt the barrel of the Glock press into his flesh.
“Shoot” Clark said out loud, remembering the was a bullet in the chamber. Then Clark remembered why he had come back into the house.
By now everyone has heard about this story. It highlights a couple of things.
1. Even the most responsible gun owners cannot protect us from the unintended consequences of gun ownership.
2. Refer to #1.
Personally, I’d like to know why he had a thermal-imaging scope attached to it. As a lobbyist for the gun industry, I imagine Clark Aposhian has plenty of exotic freebies kicking around his house. But why was it actually ON THE GUN? What the fuck? Is there a new shooting sport we should know about?
Don’t miss the Wonkette’s satirical reflection on Clark’s big ooops: “Utah Gun Lobbyist’s AR-15 Stolen Because SUV Couldn’t Defend Itself“
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/utah-gun-lobbyist-has-ar-15-stolen-from
Tim DeChristopher Released From Prison Today,Earth Day!
Posted by Cliff Lyon in Activist groups, Climate Change, DeChristopher, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Liberal, Salt Lake City, Tim DeChristopher, Utah Politics, Utah Pollution on April 21, 2013
Thank You Tim DeChristopher
On December 19, 2008, in a courageous act of civil disobedience, Tim DeChristopher protested an oil and gas lease auction of 116 parcels of public land in Utah’s red rock country, conducted by the Bureau of Land Management. DeChristopher decided to participate in the auction, signing a bidder registration Form and placing bids to obtain 14 parcels of land (totaling 22,500 acres) for $1.8 million. DeChristopher was removed from the auction by federal agents, taken into custody, and questioned.
The auction was later declared illegal by incoming Obama Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar.
Nonetheless, DeChristopher was aggressively persecuted by George W. Bush-appointed federal prosecutors a judge who’s tenure included Chief of Staff for Senator Orrin Hatch. DeChristopher courageously refused all plea offers to avoid jail time. On July 26, 2011, Judge Dee Benson sentenced DeChristopher to two years in prison;
Peaceful Uprising is organizing a screening of Bidder70 in Salt Lake City: the first that Tim will be able to attend since the movie premiered last year! In conjunction with this event, the filmmakers (Beth & George Gage) have partnered with a film distributor, Gathr Films, to organize countrywide simultaneous theatrical screenings.
All are invitedto BE THERE for Tim’s first PUBLIC APPEARANCE since his incarceration on July 26, 2011. Check out the Map of Bidder 70 Screenings to find one near you.
An hour-long post-screening discussion and Q&A with Tim will be streamed so that everyone, no matter where they are watching, will be able to participate: by watching and/or sending questions via Twitter. It wouldn’t be a true PeaceUp celebration without song, which is why we’ve invited our dear friend Bryan Cahall (whose song Arise you will recognize in the movie) to join in a jam session as well.
Here’s what you can do:
1. Sign up to host your own local screening of Bidder 70: http://
2. Join PeaceUp in helping Gathr spread the word, by inviting your friends to their Facebook event, sharing it via the Twitter webs and updating your Facebook status:https://www.facebook.com/
3. Contribute to Bidder70?s IndieGoGo Distribution campaign (http://www.indiegogo.com/
4. Come to Salt Lake City. Details about our SLC Screening can be found by clicking HERE.
Fire-Prevention Bill Pulled From Utah Senate Because of Gun-Rights Fanatics
Posted by Richard Warnick in Democracy, Gun Control, Public Lands, Republicans, Some people should not own guns, This Blog, Utah Legislature, Utah Politics on February 2, 2013
Smoke and flames are seen over homes as the Dump Fire burns near Saratoga Springs on Friday, June 22, 2012. JIM MCAULEY/Daily Herald
Last June 21, target shooters ignited a wildfire near Saratoga Springs that burned 5,507 acres and cost $2.1 million to fight, and resulted in the evacuation of 9,000 residents from their homes. More than 20 Utah wildfires are started by irresponsible target shooters every year.
Why is target shooting causing wildfires? Don’t firearms enthusiasts go to firing ranges where safety precautions are the first priority? Well… regular firing ranges don’t let you shoot an AR-15 at an exploding star target (video), a Tannerite target, or use tracer or incendiary rounds.
Although Utah is one of the most heavily-armed states in the nation, our state government cannot regulate target shooting. Not even in an emergency, such as last year.
Utah code 76-10-500, passed in 1999, states: “Unless specifically authorized by the Legislature by statute, a local authority or state entity may not enact or enforce any ordinance, regulation, or rule pertaining to firearms.” A 2004 law contains similar phrasing.
It seemed like a simple fix for Utah State Senator Margaret Dayton (R-Orem), and State Rep. Curt Oda (R-Clearfield) to introduce SB120, a bill to allow the state forester to restrict target shooting when it would create a high risk of wildfires. It sailed through committee, and Dayton said she has the votes to pass it. But then the gun nuts went ballistic. As the Senate started to debate the measure Friday, Dayton pulled it and told senators that she may not bring it up again.
Once again, it appears that a common-sense measure with majority support cannot withstand the fury of the gun fanatics. Most likely, our state will remain powerless to stop preventable wildfire emergencies caused by yahoos with assault rifles.
UPDATE:
The two men charged with starting Saratoga Springs’ Dump Fire in June have pleaded no contest to reduced charges.
Idaho resident Kenneth Nielsen, 37, and Jeffrey Conant, 42, of Washington state, were originally charged in 4th District Court with reckless burning, a class A misdemeanor, and using prohibited targets, a class B misdemeanor.
… the pleas were part of a deal in which prosecutors agreed to drop the reckless burning charges, and won’t request jail time at sentencing.
The two men each agreed to pay $5,000 in restitution.
Charging documents state that Nielsen and Conant were target shooting near Saratoga Springs at 11:30 a.m. on June 21, when an explosive target ignited dry weeds and spread to burn the mountainside, court documents state.
Fire investigators discovered packaging linked to an explosive target the men used during their shooting session. A fingerprint on the packaging was traced to Nielsen, court documents state.
Utah’s Washington Country Sheriff Threatens Armed Resistance, Gets History Wrong In Open Letter To President Obama
Posted by Cliff Lyon in 2nd Second Amendment, assault weapons, Barack Obama, Gun Control, Mass Shooting, Republicans, utah, Utah Politics on January 20, 2013
The most honest message in Washington County Sheriff Cory Pulsipher’s Open Letter to Barack Obama is that Sheriffs are politicians; “We, the elected sheriffs of Utah…” On the other hand, use of the word “We” implying all Utah Sheriffs signed off on the language, is most likely, a lie.
It is difficult to believe that ALL of Utahs 28 county Sheriffs support threatening President Obama with a call to “trade our lives” in an effort to resist “federal officials,” which may also explain why NO OTHER County Sheriffs’ names appear in the letter posted on Cory’s website on behalf of the Utah Sheriff’s Association.
The only substance in the letter is the final paragraph. Whether this paragraph was agreed upon by all of Utah’s Sheriffs, or is merely a personal campaign message, the reader must decide for her/himself.
We respect the Office of the President of the United States of America. But, make no mistake, …we will enforce the rights guaranteed…by the Constitution. No federal official will be permitted to descend upon constituents and take from them what the Bill of Rights-in particular Amendment II-has given them. We, like you, swore a solemn oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and we are prepared to trade our lives for the preservation of its traditional interpretation.
Finally, it must be noted that Mr. Pulispher’s implicit assertion that HIS is also “the traditional interpretation” of the second amendment is a canard and should offend even the most pedestrian history buff. I think we can safely assume Sheriff Pulispher’s interpretation of 2A is identical to Wayne LaPierre’s. And it is wrong and certainly NOT the “traditional one.
“In regard to the Second Amendment, not a single Congressman or Senator is recorded as saying that it would establish an individual’s right to possess a weapon.
…In summary the original intent of the Second Amendment was to protect the right of the states to form and maintain state militias, free of the potential federal incursion created by Article I, section 8, clause 16 of the Constitution. Hopefully, we will one day get an intellectually honest majority on the Supreme Court that will reverse the judicial activism that the five right wing ideologues on SCOTUS forced on the American people in Heller, Citizens United, and the majority’s dangerous restriction on the interstate commerce clause in National Federation of Independent Business et al. v. Sibelius (otherwise known as the “Obamacare” decision).”
For those of you who would dismiss the above as a radical assertion, I would challenge you to read this well research and sourced primer on the actual debate and circumstances surrounding the ratification of the Second Amendment. For those of you more used to reading NRA, Breitbart, Drudge and or the mountains of fabricated, unsupportable drivel presented by so-called second amendment advocates, I fear you will find the level of primary sources and facts in this brief, excruciating.
For posterity, the entire page containing Sheriff Pulsipher’s letter is posted below:
Carolyn Cain, Utah County Special Ed Teacher and Gun Worshiper Embarrasses Utah
Posted by Cliff Lyon in 2nd Second Amendment, Gun Control, Mass Shooting, Republicans, Some people should not own guns, utah, Utah Politics on January 9, 2013
This is why Utah is the laughing stock of the World.
The National Rifle Association countered with “arm the teachers.” Gun clubs claim hundreds of teachers are applying for free weapons training. Two hundred people showed up for a class in West Valley City, Utah, outside Salt Lake City, on December 27, 2012, for example. Not all of the people who took the course were teachers. But some were, including Carolyn Cain, who teaches special education kids in kindergarten to the 6th grade in Utah County, Utah.
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Senator Mike Lee Brings The Crazy
Posted by Richard Warnick in Federal Budget, Mike Lee, National Politics, Republicans, Tax Policy, Tea Bag Party, Utah Politics on November 28, 2012
Via Think Progress:
Cloaking his predilection for the rich as concern for the less fortunate, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) argued Wednesday that raising taxes on the wealthy would primarily hurt the poor.
…“The reason we worry about raising taxes on anyone – even raising taxes on the rich,” Lee argued, is “that will hit the poorest among us the hardest.” Lest listeners get the wrong idea, the Utah Senator insisted, “it’s not that we’re looking out for the rich.”
No, of course not. The fact that trickle-down economic theory has never worked doesn’t mean that Republicans can’t keep pretending that it does!
The Congressional Research Service has documented what we know already: giving tax breaks to the rich helps concentrate wealth at the top, but it does not boost the economy.
Only In Utah!
Posted by Larry Bergan in Activist groups, Conservatives, Corruption, Holly Richardson, Human Rights, Transparency on October 18, 2012
Gary Herbert gets his way, one way or the other. 
If you can’t pass a bill, appointed a shill.
I just hate it when my beloved state is used as a model for corruption.
Transparency is non-existent in my home state. Whether it’s your voting system or your right to know what’s happening in the legislature, it’s no longer your right to know. And it hasn’t been for a long, long time.
Just pledge allegiance and shut up!
Hatred for the Kenyan Usurper Means Romney Can Get Away With Literally Anything
Posted by Cliff Lyon in 2012 Elections, American People, congress, Conservative, Conservatives, Holly Richardson, Hypocrisy, Liars (politics), Lying, Mitt Romney, Racism, Republicans, Rush Limbaugh, Tea Bag Party, Utah Politics on October 12, 2012
This is the most honest, well-written encapsulation of what we are experiencing in the election.
Fresh lies from Romney, or the Republican Congress
Driftglass Writes: Don’t me wrong: I appreciate the careful documentation the Many Lies of Team Romney during this election season. But I look at those efforts less as the drafting of a bill of particulars against the GOP, and more like Josephus gathering up an armful of books from burning Jerusalem and documenting the great city’s demise from a perspective in the ruins.
Why? Because for the Conservative 47% of the active electorate, the day Willard sewed up the Republican primary was the day it stopped mattering to them what lies Willard shits down their throat. Willard has calculated (correctly) that their bottomless, mindless, berserk hatred for the Kenyan Usurper means he can get away with saying and doing literally anything and then completely reversing himself hours later. And so, unless he transforms himself into a Scary Democrat Negro (hence my graphic), he has the base locked down.Willard has calculated (correctly) that the average “undecided” voter is an idiot who is barely aware that Barack Obama is President, much less who said what when. Lies? Truth? All the “undecided” knows for sure is that people on both side should stop being so mean!
Willard has calculated (correctly) that most of American media is a joke run by hacks with the moral compasses of Tijuana donkey show pimps, who are congenitally unable to call a liar a liar and who get paid on commission each time they say “Both Sides Do It” when a Republican shits the bed in public.
Random Conservative idiots with spluttering apoplexy
Pointing to each morning’s fresh lies from Team Romney, or the Republican Congress, or Boss Limbaugh and his legions of imitators, or random Conservative idiots with spluttering apoplexy, has become the the bread and butter of Liberal teevee, radio and print. And good on them (us) for providing that service.
It does, however, beg the question, “Who the Hell are they talking to?” Because there is no referee in this fight, kids.
There is no umpire, here: no impartial judge; no jury of 12 men good and true.
For us, the playing field will never be level and we must stop playing as if it were, because there is no cavalry coming to rescue us…but us.
And most importantly; remember that however long the odds or however discouraging a given day might be, we are a hardy and tenacious stock and our clear understanding of who we are and where we came from gives us a secret weapon that no movement based on a contempt for reality and a tissue of lies can match: the power to summon giants.
Address of John F. Kennedy upon Accepting the Liberal Party Nomination for President, New York, New York, September 14, 1960…
I am as guilty as the media is for investing too much energy pointing out the lies only to have them fall on deaf ears. The soaring level of hypocrisy, obvious as it is outrageous, among the righteous, morally superior, religious and/or otherwise just plain racists is sufficient evidence to anyone who is paying attention that morality is unilaterally customizable on an ad hoc basis for the pedestrian religious right (Republicans) in this country.
So I will no longer entertain moral arguments from religious Republicans. From now on, I shall withhold my otherwise generous respect and civility in discourse with these well-groomed, Bible-thumping cretins. For the first time in my life, I finally understand how entire nations stood by and watched and/or helped Hitler exterminate millions of innocent men, women and children without a shred of self-examination. They were merely Republicans by a different name.
One more thing:
Calls for civility, especially from some in the Mormon community deserve your contempt. They are a gratuitous demand we excuse the “Many Lies of Team Romney” we’ve see during this election season. The uncommon duplicity, distortion and noise coming from Republicans is as violent assault on our Democratic principles as the illegal Republican assault on our voting rights.
Civility is speaking out against this assault. Incivility is defending it.
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