O:9:"MagpieRSS":23:{s:6:"parser";i:0;s:12:"current_item";a:0:{}s:5:"items";a:25:{i:0;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-7327555109426524475";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-04-17T16:53:00.000-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-19T13:06:20.795-06:00";s:5:"title";s:56:"Austin Cop Shoots Dog at House He Shouldn't Have Been At";s:12:"atom_content";s:3370:"<span style="font-size: small;">You can read the whole horrible story and hear the awful clip <a href="http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/17/11250094-officer-shoots-mans-dog-after-911-caller-gives-wrong-address?lite" target="_blank">here</a>. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Here's the substance, albeit from my very pissed off, very fresh perspective: Cop gets the wrong address for a 911 call, gets out of the car, starts pulling his gun, dog running around the corner barking because of disturbance, cop tells owner to freeze, one second later to get his dog, instantly shoots dog, then chastises Owner of the dog he just <b><i>killed</i></b> for not getting his dog and asking him why he didn't get him, apparently oblivious to the fact he had pulled his gun on the guy and told him to stay away, mind racing to justify the murder of the dog.<br /><br />Look, I'm sorry, I know that police are in difficult positions and have to react quickly, and it's scary when a dog is barking at you, and I know he was given the wrong address, but it <i><b>pisses me off</b></i> to no end to hear that cop admonishing the owner of the dog after he killed him. And it pisses me off that they seem think the murder of animals is no big deal. Maybe you like dogs, maybe you hate them, but to a lot of people, they're like children; they have been to me. And the Austin Police Department could hardly be bothered to act like they even gave a shit one of their officers had just murdered a dog on a property he shouldn't have even been on.<br /><br />Why? Because cops can do whatever the hell they want, whenever the hell they want, they can lie, they can intimidate citizens, they can arrest people when they shouldn't, they can file charges they know are bullshit, and they get away with it constantly, except it the most egregious and well documented cases - documentation which, by the way, policemen all over the country are trying to say is illegal, because of course they don't want anyone recording what they're doing except them. When you have an actual recording conflicting with what the cops narrative is, it is so annoying, after all. <br /><br />The owner of the dog is devastated but he's much more forgiving than I am. All he wants it for the cops to examine their procedures in such cases, which at this point just say "you can shoot anything you want if you feel threatened." But no, they're not about to consider anything like that. Instead of saying "That's right, it's unfortunate that our cops keep killing all of these dogs, we'll look at it to see if we can't minimize the necessity of murdering peoples pets." What they really said was literally "Hey, this isn't the first dog we've shot.." Well gee whiz, your empathy is overwhelming.<br /><br />They say the officer "felt bad." Good. He should. But from the recording I heard, it sounds more like he was trying to justify his actions than that he felt bad.<br /><br />Another fine day for the Austin City Police.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>DS </b></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2012</span><span style="font-size: 78%;"><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs"></a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/7327555109426524475/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=7327555109426524475&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/7327555109426524475";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/7327555109426524475";s:4:"link";s:74:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/04/austin-cop-shoots-dog-at-house-he.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"1";}}i:1;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-8318656940917750469";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-04-17T14:06:00.000-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-17T14:08:10.992-06:00";s:5:"title";s:44:"Republicans Block The Buffett Rule. Shocker.";s:12:"atom_content";s:3559:"<span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;Sometimes I wish I was one of those few people who have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory" target="_blank">eidetic memory</a>, so I could recall voluminous Republican hypocrisy with greater specificity. Alas, I can't, but still, in my mind's eye, I can see flashes of Republicans lashing out about how we need Constitutional Amendments defining marriage their way because the Courts keep overriding the will of the people. Well, putting aside the fact that <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=support+for+gay+marriage+exploding&amp;ie=utf-8&amp;oe=utf-8&amp;aq=t&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;client=firefox-a" target="_blank">support for gay marriage is exploding</a>, which is a whole other story, the Republicans support for the will of the American people apparently goes only so far as it corresponds with the people who are paying the bills. In other words, the ultra-wealthy.<br /><br />The "Buffett Rule", which would raise taxes on certain kinds of income for the very wealth, enjoys incredible popular support. At the time of this post, the most recent Gallup poll reports that 60% supports the rule vs. 37% opposing it. So what do the Republicans do? They <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-04-16/senate-fails-to-pass-buffett-rule/54324786/1" target="_blank">block it</a>.<br /><br />Of <i>course</i> they block it. The Republicans seem more and more to be forgoing even the appearance of representing the will of the majority, which they really should be concentrating more on, since they don't. actually. do. it. See, it's important to play to appearances, especially when your success is dependent upon getting the people to vote against their own best interest. Lots of smoke and mirrors. The Republicans are either getting worse at doing this, or it's such a brittle system of smoke and mirrors that it's simply collapsing under its own weight of allusion, misdirection and outright deception.<br /><br />"Don't penalize the successful!" they scream. "The job creators are all going somewhere else because of your onerous taxes!" they wail. Screw you Republicans. This isn't about penalizing anyone, this is about the extremely wealthy paying at <i>least</i> as much as the middle class is. Not only that, it's about finally acknowledging that no one gets where they are without other people. They utilize the workforce, they build on the ideas of others, they enjoy the specialization of resources so they can pursue their own specializations, they sell to people and buy from others at prices which are only possible because of the competitive society we live in.<br /><br />And just for the record, the "job creators" are doing a pretty shitty job of it, and that ain't the governments fault, no matter how hard you try to push the narrative that its' all these regulations and rules which are keeping them from helping. Regulations have been tighter and oversight has been much stricter in the past, and the economy performed much better. In fact, the entire reason we're in the incredible financial apocalypse we're in is because lacking regulatory frameworks and enforcement.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>DS</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2012</span><span style="font-size: 78%;"><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs"></a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/8318656940917750469/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=8318656940917750469&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/8318656940917750469";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/8318656940917750469";s:4:"link";s:79:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/04/republicans-block-buffett-rule-shocker.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:2;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-1914077995498339548";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-04-15T15:13:00.002-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-15T15:13:54.247-06:00";s:5:"title";s:65:"My Political Schizophrenia or "Why I Don't Blame Zimmerman's Gun"";s:12:"atom_content";s:3136:"<br /><span style="font-size: small;">I generally side with causes that land in the progressive arena. I believe that homosexuals should be able to get married, that religious people don't object to it because they believe in an "idea" of marriage but because they don't like the idea of homosexuals getting married, or homosexuals period, for that matter. I believe that the rich, especially those who reap huge investment income with minimal taxes, should pay more taxes. I believe that the estate tax makes more sense than most laws, and that it's repeal would do nothing positive and help perpetuate a failing society where the wealthy rule through an increasingly corrupt government paid for by the Haves. I believe the environment should be protected, and am deeply suspicious of any Republican who believes - even a little - that it's not a big deal because the rapture's right around the corner anyway. I think money in government threatens the very foundations of the Republic. I think it tragic that people can now be detained indefinitely based on something they say. I think police should be reprimanded or dismissed if they ever attempt to discourage a citizen from filming them. I think there is a lot more racial and gender discrimination than the Republicans like to think... And a whole lot of other things.<br /><br />Then there are some things I tend to side with conservatives on. I believe we should have a strong national defense. I'm one of the apparently 12 people in the world who think Newt Gingrich's Moon Base idea was a good one. I think that government should err on the side of being limited, but I deeply respect what it does do. I think the government should stay out of our personal lives, although that's no longer a conservative principle. I believe that government should stay out of religion and religion should stay out of government, so THAT all religions may practice freely, the reason for the establishment clause in the first place.<br /><br />And I believe in the Second Amendment. I don't think it's under assault to even a close degree of that which the NRA and Republicans claim, but I'm glad there is a powerful organization which overreacts to every possible threat to gun control. I don't own any guns personally. Maybe I should. But I'm glad people do, and I think it sad, dangerous and disingenuous when people use things like the Zimmerman case to promote gun control, although I do think it's a damn good time to review Florida's stand your ground law, which seems more to me to be the "make sure there aren't any witnesses left alive to challenge the narrative you felt threatened" law.<br /><br />And... I would have voted for Governor Jon Huntsman over President Obama. There. I said it.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>DS</b></span> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2012 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><span style="font-size: 78%;"><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs"></a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/1914077995498339548/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=1914077995498339548&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/1914077995498339548";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/1914077995498339548";s:4:"link";s:76:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/04/my-political-schizophrenia-or-why-i.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:3;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-7953919924882747835";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-04-15T11:47:00.000-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-15T11:47:32.250-06:00";s:5:"title";s:46:"Colorado Mom for Mitt Romney - Alecia Williams";s:12:"atom_content";s:8965:"<span style="font-size: small;">I tried really hard to post this to <a href="http://yesmittromney.blogspot.com/2012/04/gop-war-on-women.html" target="_blank">Alecia William's pro-Mitt Romney</a> (Seriously, a Republican who's excited about Mitt Romney!) <a href="http://yesmittromney.blogspot.com/2012/04/gop-war-on-women.html" target="_blank">blog</a> as a comment, but it just wouldn't take it. I don't know why. But have you ever typed up a big long comment, and your kid kicks the plug out of the wall, or your browser decides it would be a good time to vacation, or you hit the refresh key or... you otherwise lose it? So you sit stunned.. And you think to yourself... Man, that was some profound shit, I really can't believe it's gone forever. I just don't know if I could ever reproduce the perfection I had achieved with that exact post. And if it's a rebuttal post, which most of mine usually are, you imagine how when the person you were writing the post to would have read it, teared up a little, and felt shame as their belief system crumbled while reading how thoroughly you countered their every point. How they'd go through their favorite propaganda sites, like Fox News, and realize it and all the rest are just lies, and now that you've left their false belief system in rubble they post back a meek "You're right... I'm sorry..." and they go off in the world, trying to find direction and fill up that hole in their chest, and someday you meet them, and you embrace, and they cry into your shoulder and tell you thank you, thank you, they had just needed your particular brand of caustic wit and circular reasoning to turn them around, and how things are so much clearer to them now...<br /><br />And you've done your part for for World Peace. The End.<br /><br />But that's not what happens, is it. No, of course what actually happens, is most of the time you don't accidentally delete the post, the website accepts it just fine, and anywhere between 3 minutes and 8 months later you get back a scathing reply, laughing off your points, making ad hominem attacks that you file away to use on other people later, maybe they derisively point out a spelling or grammar mistake of yours, and otherwise lay waste to and refuse to acknowledge the righteousness of your position. And thus goes on the circle of life.<br /><br />Well, I found this Colorado woman's blog and a post about the "War on Women" through some odd Google search. I disagreed with practically everything she said but couldn't help but find myself kinda liking and respecting her. And not just 'cause she looked hot, 'cause she's conservative and married and has kids, and therefore I put my chances at about zero of ever hooking up with her. No, I think we just have completely different perspectives on politics, both think we're right, but could probably be cool in each others presence. She reminds me of the kind of secret friend I might have who I never know is Republican, and wish I didn't know when I find out.<br /><br />Anyways, I recommend you <a href="http://yesmittromney.blogspot.com/2012/04/gop-war-on-women.html" target="_blank">go read her post here</a>. Look down at the comment section. That's where I would have posted this, if it had let me:</span><br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Hi Ashley, stumbled across your blog (nearly first page of Google for my search terms! Way to go..)<br /><br />Anyways, a few points..<br /><br />Where you say "I am not falling for it." - that's the allusion that all these poor women are simply being tricked - except you and all strong conservative women who don't waft to and fro in the media breeze, of course. Hope that clears up your confusion. I had the same impression she did. <br /><br />You're definitely right about this being a historically negative campaign. If Gov. Romney's behavior in the primaries - against his own party - is any indication, it will definitely be dripping with venom. Obama is certainly a sophisticated politician with his own deft political operatives, also.<br /><br />You should stand by your claim that women are being targeted and "blatantly" used in this political war. What you should back away from is suggesting that only the Democrats are doing it, or that it's only women being targeted. Everyone is being targeted for their votes, Alecia. Yours is pretty much sewn up, I'm guessing, but there are a lot of people who are still on the fence.<br /><br />But even you are using the same kind of misdirection and contextual trickery you blame the media for. Your line about if the Obama administration "really cared about the health of women they'd concentrate on this other stuff instead of contraception.." Come on. First, I think they can probably multitask. Second, it's your own party who stumbled into this contraception thing. Third, you're either deliberately or accidentally confusing the political stage with the legislative one. In other words, you can publicly argue a hot-button single paragraph of a 3000 page bill, but that doesn't mean you don't care about the rest of it.  </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Anyways, on to the partisan hypocrisy: To you, the public was simply outraged and alarmed by the threat of an Executive trying to impinge upon some moral right of conscience and ultimately, the first clause of the first amendment. I'm certain that those feelings exist, but you're lying to yourself if you don't think that the Republicans and their media allies were working 24/7 to push that narrative and score cheap political points.<br /><br />And they screwed up, Mrs. Williams. They just screwed up. The narrative they wanted to sail into November as a major platform gave way to the War on Women one. Like you said, around the country Republicans have been doing all sorts of stupid things, saying stupid things and passing stupid bills, mainly, by the way, to score their own cheap political points and out-conservative each other lest even more radically conservative tea-party activists drum them out in the primary process (something happening here in Utah - Hi Neighbor!)<br /><br />For all of the reasons you stated, and a half a dozen high profile ones you didn't, this feeling that women were being targeted by Republicans has been built up and reinforced. Is the Obama Administration capitalizing on it? Of course they are. Do Republicans actually have a war room somewhere with a picture of a woman and a bulls-eye on her head? No. Well, Probably not. I'll bet there's more than one dart board with Hillary Clintons head on it though. :) But the "war on women" Meme ain't coming from nothing, and it's not being made from whole cloth by the Administration.<br /><br />In fact - and I know this is getting too long already - but I'd suggest that there is some irony in the premise of your whole post. Yeah, Obama's base is disillusioned, for a lot of reasonable and ridiculous things; you cited a mix. But you want to talk about a disillusioned base? Haha.. Have you EVER seen a party more anxious to find an alternative to their front-runner? You know who Mitt Romney is? He's the John Kerry of the Republican party. He somehow got the nominee, but face it, pretty much no one is excited about him. Republicans will vote for him 'cause they hate Democrats, but they're not excited about it. Come on, you can admit it.. You know it's true. :)<br /><br />Your credit downgrade example if definitely a ridiculous things to blame Obama for. Much like the 24/7 "gas prices are the Presidents fault" push Fox News is doing at the moment (in between breaks for "Democrats hate stay at home moms.") Stand by it all you want, it ain't going to get less ridiculous. Is it a great political talking point? Yeah, it works. Much to Republican plan, the President is being blamed for gas prices. Anyways, Is the credit drop a justified blight on his record? You and I both know it's not. Like you said, there were many factors which went into it, but the drop in our credit rating had more to do with a bunch of unappeasable tea-party freshman pushing us all over the ledge of default. Talk about a manufactured failure. "It is his job to be the leader of compromise." Give me a break. He twisted himself into a pretzel to find a compromise. So did Speaker of the House John Boehner, although to a lesser extent. Republican and Democrat leadership trying to get petty little Republican saboteurs on board to keep the country from defaulting.. And for you to lay that at the Presidents feet... it's beneath you. <br /><br />And if his name is recorded "with disgrace" for the first ever credit drop in US history, don't say it's unfortunate - it's what you want, and it will be because of people like you pushing a narrative you know isn't true.<br /><br />Best wishes,<br />DS</blockquote><span style="font-size: 78%;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">DS</span></b></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2012 </span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/7953919924882747835/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=7953919924882747835&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/7953919924882747835";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/7953919924882747835";s:4:"link";s:76:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/04/colorado-mom-for-mitt-romney-alecia.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:4;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-1450994836039076969";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-04-13T18:32:00.001-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-13T18:32:49.026-06:00";s:5:"title";s:61:"Opinion - Anthony Black - Only Mr. Black's Conscience Matters";s:12:"atom_content";s:9445:"<span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">More Delusional Besiegement Syndrome. <i>sigh.</i></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Scroll down to the bottom to read the opinion this post is in response to.<br /></i></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mr. Black isn't super concerned with facts, but it isn't his factual inaccuracies which really bother me, it's his utter arrogance in his conception of what "consciences" should and shouldn't be honored.<br /><br />Let's fact check anyways: The government doesn't fund any abortions. None. Not a single one. By law not a single cent of taxpayer money goes to fund any abortions provided by Planned Parenthood. And that aside, abortions are one of the tiniest things Planned Parenthood does. But in typical righteous indignation, Mr. Black would much rather paint Planned Parenthood with his abortion brush rather than acknowledge the millions of women who receive cancer screenings and other women's health care which they would otherwise go without if not for the organization. But they can go right to hell, because Anthony Black's conscience is being impinged.<br /><br />But let's move onto his more egregious and arrogant assertions. Take, for instance, him channeling the saintly Thomas Jefferson, who he says "believed compelling a man to furnish money for that which he abhors is sinful and tyrannical." Well guess what you petty little egotist, we all furnish money for things we don't agree with. That's part of paying taxes, or joining insurance pools, or otherwise grouping into social groups which have collective needs. I don't think that my fellow (especially Mormon) citizens should be kicking out dozens of children onto a system which is straining to handle them, including insurance premiums which pay for their birth, or the system which gives the women maternity leave, or my taxes which go to educate them and so on and so on. I don't like that my taxes go to invade countries which are - at the very, very best - dubiously justified. I don't particularly have a problem with men receiving pills like Viagra or Cialis, but your hypocrisy in not mentioning those as potentially objectionable medications is revolting and supremely revealing. I don't like that churches don't get taxed and yet enjoy all of the civil benefits that I as a citizen or businessman are expected to throw in for. I have many moral problems with many of the benefits that religions enjoy without paying for, I object to the wars they root for, the laws and constitutional amendments they push for to oppress those people who they think less than human or agents of sin.. I object to their platforms of intolerance and hatred which they constantly push on the country while simultaneously claiming victim status, but I deal with it because that's what adults do in a diverse, tolerant society.<br /><br />Which brings me to my last point. I am so sick... <i>So</i> sick of the bitching and whining of religious people who think they are <i>so</i> put upon by having to endure the existence of those they think lack sufficient (read: their own) righteousness. This quote "</span></span><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">While institutional rights for churches enjoy begrudged toleration.." brought me inches away from throwing up. It's this kind of vomitous, self-righteous delusional besiegement syndrome which irritates me the most. Mr. Black, your "institutional rights for churches" are treated as <i>inviolable</i>. Above pretty much <i>everything</i>, you people get what you want. Time after time after time. And what do the rest of us get for respecting religious freedom in all of its overreaching manifestations? Not a God Damn thing. <i>Nothing </i>except your incessant bitching and moaning about just how unfairly you are treated. It's abhorrent and downright shameful to capitalize on and trade upon religion like you do. Modern day American Christianity is so far away from the virtues espoused in the New Testament, Christ would weep at how thoroughly you've bastardized and selectively drawn from Biblical (mostly Old Testament) scripture to justify your hateful, abominable ways. But that's a <i>whole</i> other post.<br /><br />Your "inner voice" does not dictate the underpinnings of the society we all are part of. If you don't like throwing in for things you don't approve of, then get the hell out, and considering you're objecting to such things under the guise of religion - which doesn't pay a damn cent into the tax pool - you can, I think in principle, shut the hell up about it<br /><br />Nobody likes everything our government does. Nobody likes everything our insurance pools pay for. Nobody likes or uses every city service which everyone can take advantage of. But we deal with it, 'cause we're grown ups and we respect the fact that we do not all see things the same way. Except of course, for you Mr. Black. You and every other arrogant hypocrite who believes that because you dislike something, you are being abused. The state is not "silencing" conscience. It is allowing and promoting it as it always has, otherwise your irrational, selfish conceit wouldn't be parroted amongst the airwaves and newspaper pages as it is.<br /><br />You refer to the "first named liberty." I'll assume you're talking about "</span></span>Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." If you can really tell me with a straight face that the Congress is making a law establishing a religion by saying that certain health care measure you might object to are to be covered by health insurance plans, then your irrationality precludes reasonable debate. <br /><br />And just for the record, it's worth remembering - since Christians always forget the intent behind which this first named liberty was codified - that it was written specifically to keep any one of this countries many warring religions, which each believe themselves (with few exceptions) to be the sole beneficiary of God's divinity - from using government to eradicate or legislate away its competitors. And as much as you may wish that's just what you could do, you should thank whatever higher power you pray to that you don't get what you want, especially if you're a Mormon. 'cause if there is one religion which wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the First Amendment, it's Mormonism, and its demise wouldn't be at the hands of any atheists or secularists, it would be at the hands of other Christian sects.<br /><br />As a smart man once said, "Don't mistake not getting everything you want for being persecuted."<br /><br />In short, I respectfully disagree with Mr. Black's take on the national situation.<span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765567899/Can-the-state-silence-conscience.html" target="_blank"><br /><br />Can the state silence conscience?</a></span></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">The First Amendment was crafted to prevent conflict between the dictates of conscience and dictates of the state. While institutional rights for churches enjoy begrudged toleration, what is happening to the individual's right to free exercise of religion?</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Consider citizens with misgivings that their insurance premiums will pay for government mandated coverage of free abortion pills, sterilizations and contraceptives, or those whose inner voice speaks against their taxes subsidizing Planned Parenthood abortions and 40 percent illegitimacy. Thomas Jefferson believed compelling a man to furnish money for that which he abhors is sinful and tyrannical.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Consider physicians or pharmacists taught by conscience not to perform abortions or dispense abortifacient drugs, or justices of the peace and military chaplains directed by their moral compass not to solemnize gay unions. Should they face retaliation? Why force compromising of principle, especially given no lack of willing providers?</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">What cultural aftermath follows our standing idly by while the voice of conscience is muffled? In time, those untroubled by their neighbor's qualms may see edicts which violate their spiritual convictions. And as the Bill of Rights' first named liberty is trampled, what of other freedoms the document protects? If the state can silence conscience, are there any checks?</span></span><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Anthony Black</span></span></b><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bountiful</span></span></blockquote><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">&nbsp;DS</span></b><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2012</span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way associated with the Deseret Morning News. Thank God. Who'd want to be associated with that rag. (I'm speaking of the post-Cannon DMN, by the way.. It used to be an honorable paper before that partisan, talentless, inexperienced hack took it over.) </span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/1450994836039076969/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=1450994836039076969&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/1450994836039076969";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/1450994836039076969";s:4:"link";s:77:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/04/opinion-anthony-black-only-mr-blacks.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:5;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-5367160475826020379";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-04-13T15:19:00.000-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-13T15:26:25.155-06:00";s:5:"title";s:37:"Hilary Rosen Working for the GOP Now?";s:12:"atom_content";s:4526:"<span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Oh Hilary Rosen. You twit. You unbelievable, dim-witted idiot. It's hard to imagine a more stupid thing to say. While perusing the news today I noticed that there was a bit of a firestorm brewing because of some comments made by Obama supporter Hilary Rosen about Mitt Romney's wife. Something to the effect of "Since Mrs. Romney has never worked a day in her life, she shouldn't advise her husband on national finance."&nbsp;</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">As soon as I read those words I sighed a deep sigh and groaned. This story was about sixth in line on my ipad's CNN page, but I knew that wouldn't be the placement on foxnews. I grudgingly typed in the Republican media corporation's URL "<a href="http://foxnews.com/">FOXNEWS.COM</a>" and saw exactly what I expected:</span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ljf_4jeaIXY/T4iVUOG8fVI/AAAAAAAAAJA/6odm-fgnFj0/s320/foxnews1.jpg" width="320" /></div><br />That's the prime placement. I guarantee you this "story", and Fox News desperate attempt to link it to the Obama administration will go on front page for at least a few weeks, and will be a referenced talking points for the duration of the campaign. This despite Rosen not being an adviser to the Whitehouse or the DNC, despite the President and First Lady <i>immediately</i> and <i>vociferously</i> condemning her remarks, despite even her immediately apologizing for it.. This one comment from one person not linked to the Obama administration, without any actual action behind it at all (despite the many statutes and efforts being enacted across the country aimed at Women freedom) will be used by Fox News and the RNC in concert as if it is demonstrative of the exact thought process in every Democrats head.&nbsp; <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7KMJdiNourk/T4iVV7smH0I/AAAAAAAAAJI/cku1rUafdsM/s1600/foxnews2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7KMJdiNourk/T4iVV7smH0I/AAAAAAAAAJI/cku1rUafdsM/s320/foxnews2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">It was a stupid thing to say, and if I had any more taste for conspiracy theories than I already do, would say that it was a comment worthy of being paid for by the RNC and Romney campaign themselves. By the way, if her name seems a little more familiar than usual, you may remember Hilary Rosen as being <a href="http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/hating.html" target="_blank">enemy #1</a> of the hacker and pirate community while heading the R.I.A.A., <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1045547805">d<span id="goog_1045547802"></span></a><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/13/hilary-rosen-banked-millions-destroying-napster/" target="_blank">estroying Napster<span id="goog_1045547803"></span></a>, and taking aim at her industries customers. She's just a horrible person.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">I can't bring myself to watch Fox News for any appreciable length of time, it's just too painful, but I guarantee you that this will be the coordinated talking point for that network, the RNC and every other relevant Murdoch newspaper in the country for weeks to come.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is the RNC propaganda machine at its most effective. It doesn't need facts, context or relevance (in fact, it <i>requires</i> the absence of those things), it just needs a huge media apparatus, message discipline, and not a scrap of morality or decency in the whole damn operation.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>DS </b></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2012</span><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">PS. Mary Matalin is a first  class hypocrite and slime-artist, and she and James Carville, her  Democratic alter-ego husband, could do us all a huge favor by  expatriating themselves to another country to wreak their relative havoc  there. </span></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/5367160475826020379/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=5367160475826020379&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/5367160475826020379";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/5367160475826020379";s:4:"link";s:73:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/04/hilary-rosen-working-for-gop-now.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:6;a:12:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-2882357723043923312";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-04-12T18:01:00.001-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-13T15:30:10.327-06:00";s:12:"atom_content";s:2936:"<span style="font-size: 78%;">&nbsp;<span style="font-size: small;">Republicans.... Oh Republicans.. Seriously, how have you blown this? Maybe I'm just not old enough to recall a primary to rival this Republican primary, but have you <i>ever</i> seen a party so desperate to find an alternative to the frontrunner? </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">President Obama is a charismatic guy, he tends to inspire hope, but for God's sake people - It should be a <i>cinch</i> to defeat him. He's a sitting president presiding over a miserable economy and a sky-rocketing national debt. It doesn't <i>matter</i> if it's fault or not. It's unlikely that anyone sitting in his position could have turned things around to the satisfaction of the American people, but that doesn't matter. People don't reason this stuff out, they just blame people. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Take gas prices. President Obama has about as much influence over gas prices as I do. Despite Fox News 24-hour, 7-day a week narrative that this is his fault (the exact opposite narrative they pushed when gas spiked during the Bush presidency) - But people blame him anyways. In fact, as far as domestic oil production, President Obama is kicking the crap out of past presidents, including our immediate-past <i>very</i> oil-friendly president Bush. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">But back to the main point: Things aren't going well. It should be easy to kick President Obama out. But the Republicans are so ridiculous, so corrupt, and so antithetical to the well-being of citizens, the simply can't rally a viable candidate.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">By the way, I think during the the 2008 Republican primaries, I asserted that Mitt Romney would <i>never</i> become the Republican nominee. Clearly I underestimated the effect of the money spent by his SuperPAC. Apparently, if you outspend your competitors by several times, after literally going through every single potential nominee as a favorite, and them all being discarded for one reason or another, when the dust settles, Mitt Romney was able to become the Republican candidate that no one wants to get behind but do because.. you know.. who else is there?<br /><br />A year ago I would have predicted that the Republicans were going to easily retake the Presidency and likely the Senate. Today I think it will be incredibly difficult. If it's not some ridiculous out-of-touch gaffe from the nominee it's some coordinated effort by the GOP to piss off women.<br /><br />It really couldn't be better for President Obama at the moment.</span> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">&nbsp;<b>DS</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2012 - The Deseret Spectacle</span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/2882357723043923312/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=2882357723043923312&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/2882357723043923312";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/2882357723043923312";s:4:"link";s:52:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/04/republicans.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:7;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-3021825687605190202";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-04-12T17:47:00.000-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-13T15:32:03.725-06:00";s:5:"title";s:59:"Awkward Caterpillar Analogies and that Darned Liberal Media";s:12:"atom_content";s:3938:"<span style="font-size: 78%;">&nbsp;<span style="font-size: small;">The Republicans have always enjoyed a certain amount of success in writing off any conservative boondoggle, gaffe, stumble, hypocrisy or other assorted villainy they so often find themselves entangled in by claiming the conspiracy of the "mainstream" (or "lamestream" if you're arguing with some ditto-head on youtube) or "liberal" media. Despite literally having a worldwide media conglomerate strategically advancing Republican interests (read Fox News), they have still been able to evade mistake after scandal after - whatever - by saying it's all the liberal media's fault.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">But every once in a while that just falls flat. And that includes the Republican war on women. The opening salvo from the RNC Chairman was to attempt an <a href="http://www.myvidster.com/video/5130802/RNC_Chairs_Caterpillar_-_War_On_Women_Analogy" target="_blank">awkward caterpillar analogy</a>, where the mainstream media was propagating a ridiculous myth. That didn't go over so well:</span></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">If the Democrats said we had a war on caterpillars and every mainstream media outlet talked about the fact that Republicans have a war on caterpillars, then we’d have problems with caterpillars.</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why caterpillars? <i>shrug</i> Anyways.. Strangely enough, the comparing women to caterpillars narrative didn't take off like he'd hoped. Thinking that perhaps the message failure was a function of tonality or something, he <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/11/rnc-chair-ill-double-down-on-comparing-women-to-caterpillars/" target="_blank">doubled down</a>, hoping it'd take.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;Look Republicans.. I don't think that you're waging a deliberate war on women, but you might as well be. You are paying the price that Frankenstein's so often must. You created an unappeasable, vicious, rabid, incredibly radical base so you could coerce the public into voting for you and against their own best interests. Now you have hundreds of local Republicans all across the country trying to out-crazy each other in desperate attempts to hang onto their positions. And how are they doing that in an election year? They're coming out with all kinds of crazy legislation attempts which directly and negatively impact half the population - women. You tried to rally your religious base with specious accusations of attacks on religion, only to wildly lose the narrative to yet another attack on women. You are losing this war and you're losing it badly, and the message discipline which was so incredibly effective under the Bush/Rove administration has gone off the tracks.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Let me put it more simply: you're losing the narrative war because you're in the wrong. The wedge issues which you've used successfully in the past to get people to the voting booths are, in one way or another, are annoying the hell out of women. And because it's not a top-down problem, it's not so easy to put the brakes on. You keep doubling down on the most radical aspects of your approach, and that idea is in the heads of every crazy little radical tea-party putz that managed to sweep any quasi-moderate statesmen you once may have had in office.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">This kind of negative attention has been a long time in coming. You deserve it.&nbsp; </span></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><b>DS</b> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2012</span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/3021825687605190202/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=3021825687605190202&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/3021825687605190202";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/3021825687605190202";s:4:"link";s:79:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/04/awkward-caterpillar-analogies-and-that.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:8;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-7703634922608844529";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-03-20T17:14:00.000-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-13T15:33:34.863-06:00";s:5:"title";s:60:"Blast from 2007 - Cannon a Partisan Hack who's Now an Editor";s:12:"atom_content";s:3333:"<span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">I wonder if the staff at the Deseret Morning News, a paper who had established a relatively even hand for the news despite an increasingly polarized political atmosphere in the state, ever think to themselves "Boy, I sure wish our respectability wouldn't have been dashed by this obviously partisan joke of a journalist with no former experience being appointed editor."</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Probably not. But while looking for some other stuff, I stumbled across <a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/695217279/Morning-News-editor-regrets-speech.html" target="_blank">this old article</a> which I just couldn't help but link to and comment on:</span></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Joe Cannon, former chairman of the Utah Republican Party, said he apologized to his editors during a daily news meeting Thursday.</blockquote>If he really had any shame, this sentence would have read "Joe Cannon, former chairman of the Utah Republican Party, said he apologized to his editors and and resigned effective immediately, citing obvious partisan conflict of interest and a complete lack of experience."<br /><br />But of course that's not what happened. Instead it continued:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"It reinforced what some people think about me," said Cannon, 58, referring to the perception that he would bring a partisan agenda to the newspaper, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.</blockquote>Gee whiz Joe! I wonder why that perception exists?? Because it of course couldn't possibly have any grounding in reality! Clearly you're a straight-talking, "fair and balanced" sort of guy!<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"The decision to go to it had nothing to do with the conservative nature of it," he said. "But I understand completely. People think, 'Joe is a Republican, Joe is a conservative.' By the way, I'm not a Republican anymore."</blockquote>Of <i>course</i> not! As is evidenced by you speaking at Democratic fund-raising events <i>also</i>. But how gracious of you to understand how us fools out here might get that totally incorrect notion about your Republican, conservative leanings. How cool of you to grant that you "get" our crazy delusions about your conflict of interest in helming the largest circulating paper in the state. And of <i>course</i> you're not a Republican anymore. I'm sure your voting record is an even mix of Democrats, Republicans and Independents, right? Right, Joe? Right? Joe?...<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">He said he is no longer registered as a GOP voter.</blockquote><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well thank God. Now all doubts concerning your objectiveness can finally be dispelled. You're a stand up guy Joe Cannon!</span><br /> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>DS</b></span><br />Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2012 - The Deseret Spectacle</span> <span style="font-size: 78%;"><br />The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News. <a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/7703634922608844529/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=7703634922608844529&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/7703634922608844529";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/7703634922608844529";s:4:"link";s:77:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/03/blast-from-2007-cannon-partisan-hack.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:9;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-7933541065900417322";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-03-20T16:37:00.001-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-13T15:38:05.875-06:00";s:5:"title";s:64:"Deseret Morning News - Moronic Editorial on the Joys of Fracking";s:12:"atom_content";s:9802:"<span style="font-size: small;">Oh Deseret Morning News. I remember a time when you used to have a respectable editorial page. There are some great employees there who write reasonable editorials, but ever since <a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/650213731/New-editor-named-for-the-News.html" target="_blank">Joe Cannon</a> became the papers editor, Desert Morning News editorial pages have taken a turn for the stupid. I remember the first one of the new regime I read which is still perhaps the most moronic one - some ridiculous rant about how anyone who had problems with electronic voting were analogous to Luddites hiding cash in their mattresses. At that point I knew the age of post-Cannon idiocy had begun.</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Joe Cannon, who will be taking over as the new editor of the Deseret Morning News, readily admits it's his relatives who have the newspaper experience, not him.</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">Well, that's good enough for me! In fact, in consideration of this and the fact that my father is a physician, I've decided to start practicing medicine. What? I can't do that?. Hpmh. Well, good thing journalism standards aren't that strict. But hey, who needs experience in unbiased journalism when you've worked for the energy industry and chaired the state Republican party. That's almost the same! Just ask <a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1067" target="_blank">Fox News</a>. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">I had originally built this blog to answer opinion page idiocy which came in tidal waves after 9-11, making it impossible for me to answer everything in the actual pages of the Deseret Morning News Opinion Page, which I used to be a regular contributor to.<br /><br />At some point, due to some personal issues and a lack of time, I surrendered this blog to disuse. But I've been having the itch again lately so thought I'd see if there was anything in the world worth commenting on. Boy is there!<br /><br />Anyways, the lunacy keeps coming. This time with a gripping editorial on the merits of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aegregious&amp;ie=utf-8&amp;oe=utf-8&amp;aq=t&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;client=firefox-a#hl=en&amp;safe=off&amp;client=firefox-a&amp;hs=TtS&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;q=define:fracking&amp;oq=define:fracking&amp;aq=f&amp;aqi=&amp;aql=&amp;gs_sm=3&amp;gs_upl=2439l3323l1l3491l7l6l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&amp;gs_l=serp.3...2439l3323l1l3491l7l6l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0.llsin.&amp;pbx=1&amp;bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&amp;fp=c0e94774f9e948be&amp;biw=1920&amp;bih=859" target="_blank">fracking</a>, a particularly egregious form of mining fossil fuels.</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">"Fracking," it turns out, does not necessarily pose a risk to the safety of water supplies. This little-publicized development could have enormous positive implications for the nation's move toward energy dependence, and for Utah's economy.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">Wow, is that a relief! They must be referring to fracking-friendly regulators from Pennsylvania, whose long-standing ties with the industry they're supposed to regulate was reviewed exceptionally well in a "This American Life" episode called "<a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/440/game-changer" target="_blank">Game Changer.</a>"</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">In a <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/fracking-did-not-pollute-water-near-homes-u-021431344.html" target="_blank">Reuters article</a>, they report:</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">A first round of tests showed no evidence that water at 11 homes in a small town in Pennsylvania near natural gas drilling operations had been polluted to unhealthy levels, U.S. environmental regulators said on Thursday.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">Phew. Although already, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/20/dimock-pa-fracking-epa-water_n_1368148.html?ref=green" target="_blank">other angles</a> have come up:</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">But what the agency didn't say -- at least, not publicly -- is that the water samples contained dangerous quantities of methane gas, a finding that confirmed some of the agency's initial concerns and the complaints raised by Dimock residents since 2009.<br /><br />"I'm sitting here looking at the values I have on my sheet -- I'm over the thresholds -- and yet they are telling me my water is drinkable," said Scott Ely, a Dimock resident whose water contains methane at three times the state limit, as well as lithium, a substance that can cause kidney and thyroid disorders. "I'm confused about the whole thing... I'm flabbergasted."</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">Are you flabbergasted? Really? I'm not. Here's another <a href="http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/NaturalGas/6232714" target="_blank">pro-fracking report</a>:</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">Two US state-level regulators of water use and environmental issues on Tuesday suggested that concerns about the impact of hydraulic fracturing on water quality and supplies are overblown.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">I'm sure they're overblown. People get so weird and finicky when they start experiencing headaches and other unusual symptoms from their spontaneously foul-smelling water which coincidentally occurred after nearby fracking began. Sissies!</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">Yet after a "million experiments across the county," and doing his own research into the subject, "I've yet to see a single impact of fracking actually directly communicating with fresh groundwater resources," Perry told the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners in Hershey, Pennsylvania. "Again and again and again, I never see a single incidence of fracking causing this direct communication that we keep hearing about."</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">I'm assuming they put "million experiments across the country" in quotes because "million" isn't <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/not-intended-to-be-a-factual-statement" target="_blank">Intended To Be A Factual Statement</a>. Concluding that Energy Consortium report:</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">Instead, environmental issues are more likely to arise during site and well construction and during a company's wastewater management, he said. </span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">'Cause you know, what's important, is not that the water is being contaminated, but <i>how</i> it's being contaminated. But getting back to the "<a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765559775/Good-news-for-fracking.html" target="_blank">fine journalism work</a>" at the Deseret Morning News:</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">However, as the Wall Street Journal reported this week, consensus is building among energy industry officials and some environmentalists that the problem isn't fracking itself, it is faulty well construction.</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">...</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">The answer to fracking's safety is to pass tougher laws regulating how it is done, and then to properly inspect wells to make sure those regulations are followed.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">Because if there's one thing proven over and over again, it's that everyone follows regulations, regulations prevent mistakes, and when it comes to the safety of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people, tougher laws on properly inspecting wells are the answer, especially when up to this point they apparently have been insufficiently tough enough to safeguard peoples lives.</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">Critics of fracking and other sources of alternative energy need to articulate their vision for how the nation should satisfy its vast energy needs.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">Because if you don't want your water poisoned, you'd better damn well be able to come up with a solution that doesn't involve your children developing cancer in their teens, otherwise you'd just better just keep your stupid disease-prone mouths shut and drink your methane-infused water.</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Of course, alternatives have been proposed, but the Deseret Morning News goes on to list practically every other kind of energy source and discount it for every reason up to and including, I kid you not, that "wind generators are unsightly."<br /><br />Well Mr. Canon and assorted post-Cannon lackeys, I'll recognize your moral authority on the subject when each and every one of you moves yourself and your families to an area where the water is impacted by fracking and happily gulp down methane-water for the rest of your lives. Until then, keep your self-righteous admonitions to yourselves.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">DS</span><span style="font-size: 78%;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">©2012 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News. <a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/7933541065900417322/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=7933541065900417322&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/7933541065900417322";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/7933541065900417322";s:4:"link";s:79:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/03/deseret-morning-news-moronic-editorial.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:10;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-7409472759482413625";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-03-20T15:37:00.002-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-13T15:46:46.179-06:00";s:5:"title";s:62:"Opinion - The Unsupported Assertions of yet another U.N. Hater";s:12:"atom_content";s:4926:"<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;<a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765560154/UN-is-ineffective.html" target="_blank">U.N. is ineffective</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">The U.N. certainly lives down to its name. It is UNable to make any meaningful decisions. It is UNwilling to take on any issue that would make a difference. It is UNeffective in all that it does. It is UN-American. Let's UNdo this waste of time and money.<br /><br />Doug Walters<br />Orem</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;Oh isn't that clever. I get it. U.N., standing for "United Nations" can also be used to form the prefix "Un", which usually denotes a negative association.<br /><br />Well, let's take this in pieces, shall we?</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size: small;">"It is UNable to make any meaningful decisions."</span></i><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br />The UN makes many meaningful decisions. Decisions and resolutions by themselves mean nothing unless participating factions cede authority and meaning to those decisions, which the most powerful players (Countries like the US and Russia) refuse to do.&nbsp; This doesn't have anything to do with the concept of the UN, which in and of itself, is a pretty noble idea; countries of the world, coming together, trying settle differences in a constructive, just way.</span><br /><i><span style="font-size: small;"><br />"It is UNwilling to take on any issue that would make a difference."</span></i><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br />The first thing I'd point out is that what constitutes an "issue that would make a difference" (to what? the world?) is a consideration purely of the author. The second thing is to remind the author that the United Nations has only the power and authority to do that which its constituent factions are willing to grant it. Finally, it does take on issues which make a difference, mainly on things like third world development, education, issues of poverty; i.e. things which are difficult for any country to oppose on any reasonable or self-interested grounds. Of course, that doesn't keep politics from intruding upon these ostensibly benign issues either.</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br />For instance, the United States recently defunded UNESCO, an organization devoted to promoting education around the world. Why would we do that? Why, because they recognized Palestine, which for purely political reasons has become absolutely taboo because of its entanglement with our ally, Israel.</span><br /><i><span style="font-size: small;">"It is UNeffective in all that it does."</span></i><br /><span style="font-size: small;">This just doesn't make sense. It's the kind of blanket sentiment which is easy to assert, but impossible to support, which is why you never see it followed up by a comprehensive debunking of every effort the U.N. and it's constituent countries make through it.</span><br /><i><span style="font-size: small;">"It is UNAmerican."</span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br />How so? Because it doesn't always support Americas interests? It's not supposed to. You know, because America is just one nation, and the U.N. is comprised of many nations. It's a forum for all nations, not just the U.S. To say that the U.N. is un-american is the kind of jingoistic nonsense which keeps us from reaching beyond our own perspective and recognizing that we're not an island unto ourselves.<br /><br />I wish I could say I didn't understand why the U.N. has become such a target for conservatives, but the truth is that I totally understand it. The U.N. hasn't always supported America's actions or conclusions, usually those actions which conservatives are gung ho about (like attacks on sovereign states or sanctions on countries we don't like.) That dislike of the U.N. has consequently filtered through the conventional conservative media like Fox News, Talk Radio, etc to fill the heads of opinion page writers who parrot talking points without supporting them with fact.<br /><br />And that's what brings us here, isn't it<i>.<br /><br />"Let's UNdo this waste of time and money."</i><br /><br />Assuming we take the authors assertions as fact, how would he suppose we do that? What does undoing this "waste of time and money" entail? Somehow, I'm guessing his thinking hasn't gotten that far.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">DS</span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2012 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"></span><span style="font-size: 78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News. <a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/7409472759482413625/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=7409472759482413625&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/7409472759482413625";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/7409472759482413625";s:4:"link";s:78:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/03/opinion-unsupported-assertions-of-yet.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:11;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-1549747091910465601";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-03-16T11:59:00.000-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-13T15:42:47.333-06:00";s:5:"title";s:60:"David Coppedge: Case Study in Whiny, Delusional Christianity";s:12:"atom_content";s:4406:"<span style="font-size: small;">Here's a story which we're seeing more and more of. </span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">David Coppedge, a former computer specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is claiming he lost his managerial role and then his job because he believes in a higher power. His employer says he was harassing employees but was ultimately let go as part of a round of mass layoffs.&nbsp; </span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/16/10686765-religion-at-work-can-%20%20bring-fire-and-brimstone" target="_blank">David Coppedge</a> is one of a growing number of religious folk who think they are perpetually under siege because of their beliefs. It's insane. I remember a devout Mormon aunt of mine once telling me that Mormons were akin to Jews in that they are besieged and persecuted by the world. Why is this such a desirable state for the religious? Why do religious people want to be known as being persecuted?<br /><br />Undoubtedly there is some psychological subtlety which I don't understand, but some of it I do understand.</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Republicans are whiny, arrogant children who believe they should be able to do anything they want. And when they can't? When someone inhibits their every whim? Then they're being abused; persecuted; discriminated against. Many Christians now have come to believe that simply having to exist in a world where two gay people are allowed to marry is an attack on their faith. A company calling a party a "holiday party" instead of a "Christmas party" - which seems a pretty reasonable method of acknowledging other faiths besides Christianity - has become a "WAR ON CHRISTMAS." (O'Reilly's going into what, his tenth year on this matter, claiming everyday that "real soon now" Christmas is going to be banned?)&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">And finally Mr. Coppedge personifies the increasing tendency of Christians who believe that anything undesirable which happens to them is because they "believe in a higher power." What a ridiculous contention. Most Americans believe in a higher power. Coppedge didn't get demoted because he believed in God, he got demoted because he was a prick who antagonized, harassed and proselytized on the job. Why does he think that's okay? If you want to be a missionary, go be a missionary. They hired you for your technical skills, not so you could distribute DVDs about creationism. </span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">This type of religious conflict at work is something we’re seeing more of today, compared to even a few decades ago when the workplace was more homogenous, said Jamie Prenkert, an attorney and associate professor of business law at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;Of course we're seeing more of it.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> In their heads things are <i>worse</i> when really they've never enjoyed more freedom. </span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">That desire, however, can create problems at work. “When you bring that together in the workplace with people of varying backgrounds and beliefs that have to work together, it often results in allegations of intolerance that fly both ways,” he said.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: small;">Really? In this particular case, the non-Christian perspective (or other than Mr. Coppedge Christian perspective) seems to be "leave me alone, you're harassing me with all of your pseudo science ridiculousness." While the Christian perspective seems to be "You're persecuting me by not letting me harass others." </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">I would wager that Mr. Coppedge's co-workers were not sorry to see him go, but I suspect that's less because of his belief in God, and more because he was an aggressive, proselytizing jerk-face who didn't respect anyone's beliefs but his own.</span><br /><br /><b>DS</b><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2012 - The Deseret Spectacle</span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/1549747091910465601/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=1549747091910465601&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/1549747091910465601";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/1549747091910465601";s:4:"link";s:75:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/03/david-coppedge-case-study-in-whiny.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:12;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-5797659089267166223";s:9:"published";s:29:"2012-03-15T10:49:00.004-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2012-04-13T15:27:13.727-06:00";s:5:"title";s:50:"Republicans want doctors to lie to their patients?";s:12:"atom_content";s:698:"I've seen a lot of madness lately in the Republicans new "War on Women", but this is definitely a contender for craziest:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.aclu.org/blog/reproductive-freedom/kansas-pregnant-women-little-lie-your-doctor-wont-hurt-you">Kansas to Pregnant Women: "A Little Lie from Your Doctor Won't Hurt You"</a><br /><br /><b>DS</b><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;">&nbsp;Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2012 - The Deseret Spectacle</span>&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 78%;">&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 78%;"><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs"></a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/5797659089267166223/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=5797659089267166223&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/5797659089267166223";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/5797659089267166223";s:4:"link";s:75:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2012/03/republicans-want-doctors-to-lie-to.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:13;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-1434701010125083458";s:9:"published";s:29:"2009-09-07T08:07:00.004-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2009-09-07T08:41:41.943-06:00";s:5:"title";s:76:"Grrr.. Video with subversive, altruistic themes shown to my children?? GRRR!";s:12:"atom_content";s:13482:"<span style="font-size:78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><br />Oh Utah. How you never fail to not surprise me. I haven't been super active politically for a while, but I stumbled across <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/ci_13249171?source=most_viewed&amp;_requestid=151073">this article</a> over at the Salt Lake Tribune about a video I'm sure you've all heard of by now. It was shown in a school to our impressionable youths, the Eagle Forum Became aware, freaked out, condemned it as "radical, leftist, propaganda" and watched as their hate-mob gathered in support.<br /><br />Must be membership drive time at the Eagle Forum.<br /><br />I read with interest some of the quotes from the Trib story:<br /><blockquote>"It's very inappropriate to show a radical, leftist propaganda piece that political to children," Ruzicka said. "If parents want their children to learn about those things and do them in the home, wonderful, fine, but it's not the place of the school to show a one-sided propaganda piece to children without parents knowing about it."</blockquote>Ooohh.. Those sneaky leftists. Always trying to brainwash our children when we're not looking. Thank God Ruzicka - who looks like a Den Home Mother but has the demeanor of a person who spent some time in hell at a leadership forum with Satan - is on it.<br /><br />Then Cieslewicz continued the thought..<br /><blockquote>"They shouldn't be troubling our youth with the woes of the world and making them feel like we're in slavery or they have to worry about how many times they flush the toilet or if they have a plastic water bottle," Cieslewicz said, referring to pledges in the video to "end slavery." </blockquote>Exactly. Why trouble our youth with the realities of our world. Better to protect them until their eighteen, when they can then stumble out into the world, and be so blinded by the actualities of existence here on Earth, that they can do what their parents do: pretend it just ain't so, and bury their heads in Fox News to get the reassurance that yes, everything they've been taught is the way it is, and everything to the contrary are simply those evil subversives, socialists, and other assorted mad men who want to hurt their feelings and self-esteem.<br /><br />Anyway, after getting to work and realizing it was a holiday, I thought I would spend a few minutes transcribing the damn thing. It wasn't until I was almost done that I realized it was probably already transcribed in full somewhere on the net. Alas, I'm a little slow this morning.<br /><br /><center><br /><object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wqcPA1ysSbw&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wqcPA1ysSbw&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="340" width="560"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><br />Video:<br /><br />So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of resolves to pitch in and work harder to look after<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Yes, it starts out with a radical bang, doesn't it?</span><br /><br />not only ourselves but each other<br /><br />i pledge to help end hunger in America by supporting feeding America and our local food bank<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">huh.. okay.</span><br /><br />i pledge to smile more<br />to laugh more<br />to love more<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">leftist bastards... this is America, where smiling, laughing and loving are values which should only be discussed in the home.</span><br /><br />i pledge to volunteer more of my time to help children battling serious illnesses<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">everyone knows that sick children are one of the great bastions of the radical left. </span><br /><br />i pledge to be a great mother<br />to be a great father<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">see, if you say this on the video, then all of the children will start expecting great parenting. Imagine the kind of pressure that puts on local parents? </span><br /><br />to continue working with unicef to make this world a better place for all of our children<br /><br />to be the voice for those who have no voice<br /><br />to consider myself an american, not an african american<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The right should love this, shouldn't they?</span><br /><br />to always represent my country with pride, dignity and honesty<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Pride, dignity and honesty. Okay, this I see. Obviously these are not qualities of the right and I understand why they wouldn't want their children instilled with such horrible leftists values.</span><br /><br />i pledge to go to usaservice.org<br /><br />to find a service project i am passionate about<br /><br />i pledge allegiance to the funk, to the united funk of funkadelica<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">okay, this is just dumb. but leftist propaganda?</span><br /><br />i pledge to never give someone the finger while driving again<br /><br />to always find the humor in everything<br /><br />i pledge to help find a cure for alzheimers<br /><br />to care for America's elderly<br /><br />to make sure senior citizens have access to health care<br /><br />so our next generations memories will not be forgotten<br /><br />i pledge to bring awareness to mental disease<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">maybe they're pissed 'cause all of this is leading up to THIS hot button issue...</span><br /><br />to advance stem cell research<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">aghhh!!! murderers! child killers! look, you friggin' idiots. it was a person in a video talking about what they pledge to do. if you don't agree with stem cell research, try talking with your children about it. they're <span style="font-weight: bold;">going</span> to hear about other stuff sometimes when you're not around. it's one of the unfortunate consequences of living in a world where they have to occasionally leave your house. </span><br /><br />to spread the awareness of autism<br /><br />i pledge to show more love to strangers<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">but what if those strangers have a middle-eastern look to 'em? can't have no love being tossed around like it's candy, for heavens sake.</span><br /><br />to meet my neighbors<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">whoa whoa whoa.. You mean, meet my neighbors who I know are of the same religion as I.. If they're not, then we need to continue the long tradition in Utah of ostracizing the adults and children of non-Mormon families as much as possible.</span><br /><br />find out their names,<br /><br />i'm going to give them a smile<br /><br />and ask them how I can be of service to them<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">hey haters, maybe you can twist this into "prosyletize them".. does that help?</span><br /><br />i pledge to be a better mentor to my younger sisters<br /><br />to continue to be a mentor for big brothers, big sisters<br /><br />i pledge to reduce my use of plastic<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">oh God.. is this really something they have a problem with? do</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> you think plastic is good for the environment? have we really gotten to the point that just 'cause someone on the left says something, it must be an evil, false conspiracy which is somehow engineered to bring a socialist-style destruction to our fragile country?</span><br /><br />by starting to use less bottled water<br /><br />to plant 500 tree's this year to help our planet<br /><br />to be more green<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">hey now.. everyone knows that to be aware of our envinronment is to be a radical leftist. easy.</span><br /><br />to no longer use plastic bags at the grocery store<br /><br />to consume less and cultivate more<br /><br />so that we are on this planet forever<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">okay, Michelle.. (the actress who said this.. can't remember her last name..) we ain't gonna be on this planet forever, period. I'm all for shooting for the sky, but let's not get crazy.</span><br /><br />for the environment, i pledge to flush only after a deuce, never a <single?><number one=""><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">okay.. did you really have to put this one in here? *shrug* I guess a little toilet humor really hooks the kids, eh?</span></number></single?><single?><number one=""><br /><br />i pledge to turn the lights off, 'cause I used to leave the lights on, but we want to conserve energy so I'm gonna turn the<br /><br />lights off - you turn the lights off<br /><br />i pledge to sell my obnoxious car and buy a hybrid<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">to consider one man's pledge to try to help the environment this way as leftist propaganda is insanity.</span></number></single?><single?><number one=""><br /><br />to drive slower and not use as much gas<br /></number></single?><br /><single?><number one="">i pledge to volunteer my time<br /><br />to express the importance of arts education in our schools<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">isn't it sad that arts education has become a political issue?</span><br /><br />to sell a culture of intelligence rather than ignorance<br /><br />i pledge to help children understand that just because they come from a small place, doesn't mean they can't dream big</number></single?><br /><single?><number one=""><br />i pledge to help to make good the 200-year promise to end slavery<br /><br />the abolition of 21st-century slavery<br /><br />to free one million people from slavery in the next 5 years<br /></number></single?><br /><single?><number one=""><span style="font-style: italic;">I find it amazing that people really have a problem with talking about the reality of 21st century slavery in front of their children.</span><br /><br />to fight,<br />to become aware,<br />to educate,<br />to not give up (<span style="font-style: italic;">ohh... heroe's chick - so hot.</span>)<br />to defend,<br />..issues that I care about.</number></single?><br /><single?><number one=""><br />I pledge to be of service to Barrack *kisses one arm* Obama *</number></single?><single?><number one="">kisses other arm*<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">rolls eyes</span><br /><br />I pledge to change how I live<br /><br />to be a better person<br /><br />to never stop learning and growing each and every day<br />every day<br /></number></single?><br /><single?><number one="">i pledge to commit to my own change before I ask others to change<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">this sounds pretty reasonable to me.</span><br /><br />to be the change<br /><br />to be the change</number></single?><br /><single?><number one=""><br />to integrate into my heart what I already know in my head which is that we're all in this together<br /><br />imagine what could happen next<br /><br />what's your pledge?</number></single?><br /><single?><number one=""><br />what's your pledge?<br /><br />I know you got a pledge! What's your pledge?!<br /><br />Ya gotta pledge?<br /><br />What's your pledge?<br /></number></single?><br /><single?><number one="">I pledge to be a servant to our president and all mankind..<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Okay, I can understand this.. I don't like the idea of being servants to our government either. Our government does serve us.<br /><br />Still. To suggest that this all rises to the level of "radical, leftist propaganda" is just one more reflection of the self-deluded belief that the right is being perpetually sieged.<br /></span></number></single?><br /><single?><number one="">..because together we can, together we are, and together we will be the change that we seek<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Yeah, sorry celebrities. You're going to have to do without Utah on this. We're busy being besieged by radical leftist influences at the moment, and have to spend all of our focus there.<br /><br />Oh, and just to get an idea of how the local public feels about whether or not the video should be shown in school:<br /><br /></span></number></single?><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1LoMOt17rP0/SqUaTjUNmJI/AAAAAAAAAH8/xSjhr6ThjCg/s1600-h/desspec_slc_video_vote.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 187px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1LoMOt17rP0/SqUaTjUNmJI/AAAAAAAAAH8/xSjhr6ThjCg/s320/desspec_slc_video_vote.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378734253163780242" border="0" /></a><br /><single?><number one=""><span>I'm so proud.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">DS</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.<br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span></number></single?>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/1434701010125083458/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=1434701010125083458&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/1434701010125083458";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/1434701010125083458";s:4:"link";s:78:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2009/09/grrr-video-with-subversive-altruistic.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"4";}}i:14;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:58:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-619038442352913994";s:9:"published";s:29:"2009-07-17T16:54:00.003-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2009-07-20T11:19:14.139-06:00";s:5:"title";s:46:"Opinion - Rob Robinson - Mexican War reversed?";s:12:"atom_content";s:1983:"<span style="font-size:78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705317352/Letters-Mexican-War-reversed.html">Mexican War reversed?</a><br /><br />It appears that Sonia Sotomayor will soon be confirmed justice of the Supreme Court. Look for her to promptly rally the court to rule that the military test known as the Mexican War, where the Mexican firefighters were outnumbered and overmatched, was fundamentally unfair.<br /><br />Declaring Mexico the winner and further declaring the land between current Mexico and Canada to be the newest Mexican state will solve the immigration problem at the same time.<br /><br />Rob Robinson<br /><br />Salt Lake City</span></blockquote>Oh Deseret News.<br /><br />Really? This is where you're at? At least there is no shortage of fodder, I suppose.<br /><br />No, but seriously: Thank you, letter writer - Rob Robinson. Hiiiiiilarious. Yes, I'm <span style="font-style: italic;">sure </span>that if she is confirmed that she will single-handedly "rally" the court to take up an imaginary case which will effectively lop off a fourth of the United States of America and return it to Mexico. I mean, of <span style="font-style: italic;">course</span> she will. Of <span style="font-style: italic;">course</span> this will happen. It's naive to think it won't, really.<br /><br />Republicans, I think this one belongs to you. Will you please do something with him? He's making you look bad.<br /><br />Well, worse.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">DS</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.<br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:156:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/619038442352913994/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=619038442352913994&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:70:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/619038442352913994";s:9:"link_self";s:70:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/619038442352913994";s:4:"link";s:73:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2009/07/opinion-rob-robinson-mexican-war.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"1";}}i:15;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-3785758092280526830";s:9:"published";s:29:"2009-03-14T12:27:00.004-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2009-03-14T12:34:43.494-06:00";s:5:"title";s:37:"Mark, the Courageous Bigot Schools Me";s:12:"atom_content";s:3413:"<span style="font-size:78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><br />I've been largely inactive lately, but I still receive e-mail's with comments and such from people who stumble across old DS posts which just get them so worked up that they can't help but post a comment on a year old post. Here's one from <a href="http://desspec.blogspot.com/2006/06/opinion-mark-d-randall.html">this article</a> which got commented yesterday, along with my response:<br /><blockquote><br />DS wouldn't even leave his name.<br /><br />How is the Gay community inflicting their personal and gay beliefs on our religious community? Just look out your window. No they haven't prohibited traditional marriage. But, even after losing a vote on same sex unions, a large group cry, they protest, they sue, they threaten. They are mean and nasty. They are no better than two-year olds who don't get their way. Same-sex marriage is not a "right" that has been taken away. Someday they may get their life style legitimized. Let's hope if they do, it's not through the terrorism tactics currently used by some.<br /><br />Mark</blockquote><br />*looks out window* Yes! My God! There are homosexuals everywhere accosting traditional marriage! I can see them from the crack in the blinds which I've opened just barely enough so that gay people don't otherwise notice I'm here and try to convert me to homosexuality! (I live in constant fear of this) How did I not see this <span style="font-style: italic;">before</span>??<br /><br />*rolls eyes* Oh, and yes, your bravery posting under "anonymous" but signing it "Mark" is shameful to me and bloggers everywhere who use pen names. Here, as a gesture of respect, in light of your courageous signage, let me say for all to hear, that my name is "James." *shivers* It feels good. It feels damn good. Thank you for breaking those walls down and calling me out over it.<br /><br />As far as your bizarre, inane comments: I see you follow in the loving footsteps of Sen. .. what's his name... You know, that bigot who hates people who aren't like him.. Oh yeah, Buttars.<br /><br />Name me a terrorism tactic that the gay community is using. Name one with a straight face and then relate it to any actual act of terrorism that any person with even the slightest shred of rationality might consider to be an act of terrorism. The reason why you and others are trying to justify your hatred and bigotry by equating gay activism with terrorism and destruction, is because there is really no good argument to try and deny homosexuals the same rights that you, as a heterosexual, closeted as you may be, enjoy.<br /><br />If religious unions were outlawed by some majority, you would be screaming and crying and ranting and protesting your heart out, so spare me your condescension and accusations towards the gay community that they would respond poorly to a vote which is inherently demeaning and prejudicial.<br /><br />DS<br /><br />er..<br /><br />James<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">DS</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.<br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/3785758092280526830/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=3785758092280526830&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/3785758092280526830";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/3785758092280526830";s:4:"link";s:73:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2009/03/mark-courageous-bigot-schools-me.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"1";}}i:16;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-3591177961434312652";s:9:"published";s:29:"2008-12-15T06:46:00.002-07:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2008-12-15T06:49:23.750-07:00";s:5:"title";s:48:"Where was the GOP on these overpaid individuals?";s:12:"atom_content";s:1012:"<span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/T4YbXnPqQrc&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/T4YbXnPqQrc&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Guess the GOP only filibusters bills that help working folks.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Marshall</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.<br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/3591177961434312652/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=3591177961434312652&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/3591177961434312652";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/3591177961434312652";s:4:"link";s:72:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2008/12/where-was-gop-on-these-overpaid.html";s:11:"author_name";s:8:"Marshall";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/12899702713248935556";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:17;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-1086438134302505837";s:9:"published";s:29:"2008-11-16T18:31:00.002-07:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2008-11-16T18:45:56.747-07:00";s:5:"title";s:28:"A tribute to Milton Friedman";s:12:"atom_content";s:989:"<span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><br />The most celebrated wind bag of our time.  Watch this interview, he is pretty much wrong on everything he says about where our economy was headed.  If he can't the basics right why should we trust him on the ideas to educate our children.<br /><br /><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-2963837673813979186&hl=en&fs=true" style="width:400px;height:326px" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> </embed><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Marshall</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.<br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/1086438134302505837/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=1086438134302505837&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/1086438134302505837";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/1086438134302505837";s:4:"link";s:67:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2008/11/tribute-to-milton-friedman.html";s:11:"author_name";s:8:"Marshall";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/12899702713248935556";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:18;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-3893416505956063454";s:9:"published";s:29:"2008-10-29T11:47:00.003-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2008-10-29T11:54:01.512-06:00";s:5:"title";s:49:"Video: Obama loses Election to McCain by One Vote";s:12:"atom_content";s:1137:"<span style="font-size:78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><br />Hilarious. This could be you, Your Name.<br /><br /><center><br /><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="360" height="300"><param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://s3.moveon.org/swf/embed.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="id=NxGPAm5DWnshZd51hmjmsjQyOTQx"></param><embed FlashVars="id=NxGPAm5DWnshZd51hmjmsjQyOTQx" src="http://s3.moveon.org/swf/embed.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" AllowScriptAccess="always" width="360" height="300"></embed></object><br /></center><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">DS</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Salt Lake City, Utah<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.<br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/3893416505956063454/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=3893416505956063454&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/3893416505956063454";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/3893416505956063454";s:4:"link";s:80:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2008/10/video-obama-loses-election-to-mccain-by.html";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"1";}}i:19;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-5903876334325973271";s:9:"published";s:29:"2008-10-11T10:09:00.003-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2008-10-11T10:17:42.530-06:00";s:5:"title";s:14:"It's Alive!!!!";s:12:"atom_content";s:1359:"<span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><br />Watching this clip today it appears that McCain is having second thoughts on what he has created.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/llef8ZRTWQo&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/llef8ZRTWQo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />This is what happens when Republicans appeal to lowest common denominator in society.  I hope McCain continues to raise the level of civility in this election, not only because he is also an honorable man but because whoever is elected president will need all Americans working together to move this country forward.  We need to be united again, I am going to support the person that looks most able to do that.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Marshall</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.<br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/5903876334325973271/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=5903876334325973271&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/5903876334325973271";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/5903876334325973271";s:4:"link";s:50:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2008/10/its-alive.html";s:11:"author_name";s:8:"Marshall";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/12899702713248935556";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:20;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-2692729873555414714";s:9:"published";s:29:"2008-09-21T20:04:00.003-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2008-09-21T20:13:23.743-06:00";s:5:"title";s:49:"Palin has national security experience because...";s:12:"atom_content";s:1230:"<span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><br />Drum roll please...Alaska is close to Russia.  Wow, you seriously can not make this stuff up.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2zP8uFPWxaA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2zP8uFPWxaA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Oh and <a href="http://www.americablog.com/2008/09/palin-lied-about-visiting-ireland-as.html">Palin stopped over at Ireland once too for refueling</a>.  Evidently that counts too as foreign relations in Republican fantasy land.  Another McCain/Palin LIE!  This is getting beyond stupid.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Marshall</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.<br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/2692729873555414714/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=2692729873555414714&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/2692729873555414714";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/2692729873555414714";s:4:"link";s:79:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2008/09/palin-has-national-security-experience.html";s:11:"author_name";s:8:"Marshall";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/12899702713248935556";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:21;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-6959482243550480948";s:9:"published";s:29:"2008-09-21T11:22:00.006-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2008-09-21T12:13:11.710-06:00";s:5:"title";s:45:"Paul Krugman - another liberal that was right";s:12:"atom_content";s:1628:"<span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><br />I haven't bought <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Conscience-Liberal-Paul-Krugman/dp/0393060691/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222017991&sr=8-1">Prof. Krugman's book</a> yet watching him this week destroy Republican ideology that got us in this mess has been amazing.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FKMy8pf9qY8&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FKMy8pf9qY8&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QMUXKjDheOM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QMUXKjDheOM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Krugman also has a pretty good blog that I follow pretty closely - http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Marshall</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.<br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/6959482243550480948/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=6959482243550480948&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/6959482243550480948";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/6959482243550480948";s:4:"link";s:78:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2008/09/paul-krugman-another-liberal-that-was.html";s:11:"author_name";s:8:"Marshall";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/12899702713248935556";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:22;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-6713411807082583026";s:9:"published";s:29:"2008-09-20T08:53:00.002-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2008-09-20T09:04:05.169-06:00";s:5:"title";s:21:"Thank you John McCain";s:12:"atom_content";s:891:"<span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wJThPjvscFs&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wJThPjvscFs&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Marshall</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.<br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/6713411807082583026/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=6713411807082583026&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/6713411807082583026";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/6713411807082583026";s:4:"link";s:62:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2008/09/thank-you-john-mccain.html";s:11:"author_name";s:8:"Marshall";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/12899702713248935556";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:23;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-7037645686611393208";s:9:"published";s:29:"2008-09-13T08:46:00.001-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2008-09-13T08:47:55.486-06:00";s:5:"title";s:13:"McCain = Lies";s:12:"atom_content";s:980:"<span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><br />Selling your soul for the presidency has its costs.  Truth being one of them.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IH0xzsogzAk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IH0xzsogzAk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Marshall</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.<br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/7037645686611393208/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=7037645686611393208&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/7037645686611393208";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/7037645686611393208";s:4:"link";s:52:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2008/09/mccain-lies.html";s:11:"author_name";s:8:"Marshall";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/12899702713248935556";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}i:24;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:59:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063.post-1757616566391063239";s:9:"published";s:29:"2008-09-11T18:54:00.001-06:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2008-09-11T18:55:54.880-06:00";s:5:"title";s:7:"Go Vote";s:12:"atom_content";s:1337:"<span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle</span><br /><br />Seriously people!!!!!<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pdRVQ4xwwmQ&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pdRVQ4xwwmQ&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/s1good-Ifdg&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/s1good-Ifdg&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Marshall</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Layton, Utah<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.<br /><a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&amp;q=opinion+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fdesspec.blogspot.com&amp;btnG=Search+Blogs">Letters to the Editor</a></span>";s:12:"link_replies";s:158:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/1757616566391063239/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21966063&postID=1757616566391063239&isPopup=true";s:9:"link_edit";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/1757616566391063239";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default/1757616566391063239";s:4:"link";s:48:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/2008/09/go-vote.html";s:11:"author_name";s:8:"Marshall";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/12899702713248935556";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"0";}}}s:7:"channel";a:14:{s:2:"id";s:34:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21966063";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2018-09-16T21:51:57.195-06:00";s:5:"title";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:8:"subtitle";s:27:"Lunacy in the Beehive State";s:42:"link_http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed";s:47:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default";s:9:"link_self";s:60:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default?alt=atom";s:4:"link";s:28:"http://desspec.blogspot.com/";s:8:"link_hub";s:32:"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/";s:9:"link_next";s:90:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/21966063/posts/default?alt=atom&start-index=26&max-results=25";s:11:"author_name";s:21:"The Deseret Spectacle";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/01179927050674185966";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:9:"generator";s:7:"Blogger";s:10:"opensearch";a:3:{s:12:"totalresults";s:4:"1094";s:10:"startindex";s:1:"1";s:12:"itemsperpage";s:2:"25";}}s:9:"textinput";a:0:{}s:5:"image";a:0:{}s:9:"feed_type";s:4:"Atom";s:12:"feed_version";N;s:8:"encoding";s:5:"UTF-8";s:16:"_source_encoding";s:0:"";s:5:"ERROR";s:0:"";s:7:"WARNING";s:0:"";s:19:"_CONTENT_CONSTRUCTS";a:6:{i:0;s:7:"content";i:1;s:7:"summary";i:2;s:4:"info";i:3;s:5:"title";i:4;s:7:"tagline";i:5;s:9:"copyright";}s:16:"_KNOWN_ENCODINGS";a:3:{i:0;s:5:"UTF-8";i:1;s:8:"US-ASCII";i:2;s:10:"ISO-8859-1";}s:5:"stack";a:0:{}s:9:"inchannel";b:0;s:6:"initem";b:0;s:9:"incontent";b:0;s:11:"intextinput";b:0;s:7:"inimage";b:0;s:17:"current_namespace";b:0;s:4:"etag";s:70:"W/"787311077bbd1a53daecb5ef383c44962547702bbe0bd32cfafcec932e8d8ff2"
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