Archive for category utah
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 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
This is a Real Facebook Post
Posted by Cliff Lyon in American People, Conservatives, Homophobia, Mormon LDS, Republicans, Tea Bag Party, utah on February 22, 2013
I post this as a classic example of how the right-wing has hacks the most blunt, vulnerable minds.
An actual real FB post
John Edwin Jackson
Would you believe this: A movement rises to strip free speech from corporate America, to take the right to speak from PACs and churches and businesses and any other group that is an “artificial entity.”They would take away free speech — one of the most basic of all human rights — and they would do this right here in America.
The startling thing, to me, is that the movement is winning in so many ways. The startling thing, to me, is that I run into so many people who agree with them. The startling thing, to me, is that while this issue has hardly caught the public’s eye, when it has, people are buying in with it.
The startling thing, to me, is that (if I’ve been told correctly) Montana’s voters have passed legislation calling on leaders to push for a constitutional amendment stripping free speech from corporate America. A citizen’s initiative also passed in Colorado, but it called only for corporate campaigning limits, not actually stripping free speech altogether from corporations. California is considering putting an initiative on the ballot. Voters in about 175 local entities have passed initiatives calling for amending the Constitution, and the governing bodies, themselves, of about 350 local entities have passed measures pushing for a constitutional amendment.
Read the rest of this entry »
Another Idiot Dangles Penis (Assault Rifle) in Public (Utah House Judiciary Committee Hearing)
Posted by Cliff Lyon in 2nd Second Amendment, Alan Korwin, Gun Control, Mass Shooting, NRA, Some people should not own guns, utah, Utah Legislature on February 20, 2013
Gail Turpin
Several observations after spending the afternoon in the Utah House Judiciary Committee hearings on 2 gun bills. Rep. Brian King and Rep. Patrice Arent are such a credit to their constituents and the Utah Democratic party. Both so smart and asked such relevant questions. Nineveh Dinha of Channel 13 is drop dead gorgeous. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Jean Welch Hill, who spoke eloquently on behalf of the Catholic Diocese of SLC on the need for reasonable gun control. I sure wish she was our Attorney General right now! The room was packed., complete with the guy with an assault rifle on his back, and the guy who was out of order so security came in and took him aside. I saw some of my favorite people and legislators, and it really is amazing to watch democracy in action.
Utah can be a very embarrassing place sometimes.
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.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Right-Wing Parents Dilemma: Arm Your Kids Or Bullet-Proof Them?
Posted by Richard Warnick in assault weapons, Gun Control, Mass Shooting, Some people should not own guns, utah on December 18, 2012
Since right-wingers consider the Second Amendment more sacred than any religious belief you can imagine, they won’t consider making schools safer by keep guns out or banning assault weapons.
What to do? One enterprising Utah family sent their sixth-grader to school today armed with a handgun. Unfortunately he pointed the gun at the head of another student, and has been charged with aggravated assault.
“He pulled out a gun and he put it to my head — me and my friend — (and) said he was going to kill us,” Isabelle Rios told KSL. “I told him I was going to tell, but he said, ‘If you tell, I’m going to kill you.’”
Other parents are rushing to buy body armor for their kids. Amendment II, a Salt Lake City-based company that manufactures lightweight body armor, makes a line of bullet-proof backpacks for children. The president of the company, Derek Williams, told Mother Jones that his post-massacre business is booming.
“I can’t go into exact sales numbers, but basically we tripled our sales volume of backpacks that we typically do in a month—in one week,” Williams says.
This was an attempt at a somewhat light-hearted post. But make no mistake, the Connecticut mass shooting will have major repercussions. Cerberus Capital Management, the holding company that owns the manufacturer of Bushmaster assault rifles, is putting the company up for sale.
In a statement, Cerberus calls Friday’s school shooting rampage “a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level.”
Breaking: Ex-Skyline Cheerleader Jane Lyon Covers Take Care
Posted by Cliff Lyon in Greatest Hits, utah on June 8, 2012
This kills me.
Live Streaming the Utah State Republican Convention
Posted by Cliff Lyon in 2012 Elections, Activist groups, Bob Bennett, Carl Wimmer, Conservative, Conservatives, Holly Richardson, Liars (politics), Mike Lee, Mormon LDS, Orrin Hatch, Republicans, Rob Bishop, Tea Bag Party, utah, Utah Legislature, Utah Politics on April 21, 2012
Will Hatch survive?
Utah Republicans eat their own!
BREAKING: Tim DeChristopher Thrown into Solitary Confinement By Anonymous U.S. Congressman
Posted by Cliff Lyon in Bush Administration, Bush Failures, Civil liberties Infringement, Climate Change, Corporate Socialism, Crimes, DeChristopher, Economic Exploitation, Energy, George W. Bush, Global Warming, Political Corruption, Public Lands, Republicans, Salt Lake City, Terrorism, Tim DeChristopher, utah, Utah Politics, Wilderness on March 28, 2012
Photo: (Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Update March 29, 2012: Our outrage and phone calls worked; Tim was released this morning in advance the press conference. (see video)
We are lost as a nation when Big Oil can inflict still greater punishment than a Federal Court itself through an anonymous congressional proxy. This is too outrageous for words. It’s Kafkaesq.
You can read more about this new travesty of justice here, here, here and here.
DeChristopher’s legal team has scheduled a 1:30 p.m. press conference on TOMORROW (Thurs, March 29, 20112) in front on the Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse, at 350 Main Street in Salt Lake City, to announce Tim’s appeal and discuss issues related to DeChristopher’s confinement. Source
Please join us there! But first, please make some phone calls.
DEMAND Tim DeChristopher inmate #16156-081 be immediately removed from the Special Housing Unit (SHU) and placed back in the Minimum Security Camp at FCI Herlong.
530-827-8000, Richard B. Ives, WARDEN, Eloisa DeBruler, Public Information Officer
202-307-3198, Charles E. Samuels, Jr., Director
PRIORITY CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS TO CALL:
Jim Sensenbrenner, WI, Chairman of Subcommittee, (202) 225-5101
Louie Gohmert, TX, Vice Chairman of Subcommittee, (202) 225-3035
Jason Chaffetz, UT, DC: (202) 225-7751 UT: (801) 851-2500
Mormon Rejects Mormon Church Denouncment of Mormon Folk Beliefs About Blacks and Priesthood
Posted by Cliff Lyon in Bigotry, Mormon LDS, Racism, Religion, Religious Fundamentalism, Salt Lake City, utah on March 1, 2012
Joseph Smith, Founder, Prophet, Revelator...and racist?
This is of course a very tired subject. I did not intend on writing about it until I saw the a user comment on the Trib article. First, a little background…
BYU Religion Professor Randy Bott attempted to explain the LDS Church’s exclusion of Blacks throughout its history until 1978. Bott explained that by excluding Blacks from the priesthood, the church was saving them from:
“the lowest rungs of hell reserved for people who abuse their priesthood powers…You couldn’t fall off the top of the ladder because you weren’t on the top of the ladder. So, in reality the blacks not having the priesthood was the greatest blessing god could give them.“
This is what we in Utah call Mormon Apologetics. It is an art form here.
The LDS Church strongly denounced racism Wednesday and dismissed folk beliefs about why the Utah-based faith banned blacks from its all-male priesthood until 1978.- Salt Lake Tribune
I found this in among the comments on this article in the Salt Lake Tribune.
I’m active LDS and I cringe when the church tries to cater to leftist political correctness and tries to change history. Randy Bott didn’t commit the dreaded “racism” either.
Most of the church’s response is absolutely true but part is splitting hairs because what Randy Bott said IS exactly correct, IS true doctrine, but what he said isn’t CURRENTLY focused on by the church (so since the church doesn’t focus on it, they’re implying that Randy isn’t speaking church doctrine). Unless passages of scripture and writings of past LDS leaders are going to be erased, it’s easy to prove. Past LDS leaders, by the truckload, dared to speak the truth that most blacks were not as valiant before we came here. Blacks DO descend from Cain. This was never a matter of dispute UNTIL political correctness came along and liberals wanted to alter all sorts of realities (btw I love how wikipedia refuses to use “B.C. and A.D.” anymore). Blacks ARE children of God and have equal OPPORTUNITY to seek for truth and teach it (equality before God isn’t true either and the scriptures back this up plainly, see Alma 28:13). In practice, most blacks just aren’t interested in the light and understanding of truth (they tend to prefer group think over truth). I wish this wasn’t the case. Whites have rejected Jesus Christ in droves and I would LOVE to see blacks en masse accept all the truth and remind lazy/arrogant whites that FULL conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to happiness and the only way to receive the miracles of God. I would love to see God pour out miracles and blessings on blacks, but the sad reality is that most of them just don’t seek the face of God. There are many blacks with TONS of faith in Christ, but they can’t break out of the groupthink and the segregated “black churches.”
I’m not ashamed of the truth and if lying leftists want to use the only word they know how to use (the term racism) then so be it. The church only creates problems for itself when it avoids the mountains of past teachings. Supporting conflicting bills dealing with the criminal illegals was similar double talk that only backfired on the church. Supporting the idiotic “compact” while not signing it also backfired. The general authorities have a very hard job and frankly they’re not experienced at DEALING with thorny issues (avoidance is the current order of the day). I would have just focused on Blacks being children of God and left it at that.
Calling the mountain of past teachings by LDS leaders “folk beliefs” is intellectually dishonest. Oh well, I’ve made mistakes in my callings too.
Fine, Whatever, It isn’t like we were teaching them anything anyway
Posted by Shane Smith in Sex, utah, Utah Legislature, Utah Politics on February 23, 2012
At this point, I just don’t have the energy to care. The Utah state collection of morons that literally make the rest of the GOP look good by comparison is in the running against AZ for the title of worst government officials ever, so this is hardly a shock at this point. It just isn’t worth trying any more.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/utes/53570545-90/abstinence-allow-bill-education.html.csp
Maybe we can just pray the sex away?
Morons.
The Mormon Church Still Can’t Figure How to Not Conduct Proxy Baptisms of Victims of the Holocaust
Posted by Glenden Brown in Mormon LDS, Religion, utah on February 14, 2012
Seriously? The Mormon church can’t freaking figure out how to NOT do this?
How many times is the Mormon church going to apologize for this practice but not change it? At some point, their apologies simply lack credibility.
I can’t understand how correcting this constant oversight is so difficult. Whether or not you believe the Mormon church’s baptism for the dead is a meaningful ritual or not, it shouldn’t be difficult to suss out why this practice offends many people, especially Jewish families who lost relatives in the Holocaust. The sick paradox is that the people performing the rite mean well; I seriously doubt there’s any malice intended. But that doesn’t make it any less offensive.
Mormon leaders should figure out a solution and soon.
Recent Comments