Still More Stupid Dog Owners

There have been plenty of examples of irresponsible dog ownership in the news lately.

This time it's about the leash laws in Millcreek Canyon, east of Salt Lake City. Thanks to widespread disregard for the ordinance, the whole canyon has become a full-time off-leash area. Originally, it was supposed to be only every odd-numbered day when dogs were allowed to run free -- a compromise between the County and dog owners -- but our responsible, animal-loving friends have thumbed their nose at that.

Given the attitude of FIDOS, the "advocacy" group that supposedly "educates" dog owners, it's not hard to see why. They seem to think it's their birthright to let their dogs run free, since all of the other canyons on the east side of the county are designated as watersheds and dogs are prohibited there. I think the dog owners believe if they simply ignore the law, the Forest Service and Salt Lake County will give in.

In my experience in Park City, and as a cross-country skier and hiker, there's an inverse correlation between annual income and responsible pet ownership. You'd never see dogs running free in the working-class neighborhoods of Magna or Kearns because the Sheriff or Animal Control wouldn't hesitate to impound the dog and few people there have the spare money to bail it out. But it seems the upper crust residents of Salt Lake County know they have enough clout to intimidate the County government into doing nothing, which is why there is so little enforcement in Millcreek Canyon.

Gun P0rn for Uncle

Say Uncle has a list of helpful hints on how to get linked to and read by him:

Now, if you want me to read, it’s easy. Two words: Gun porn.

We're already on Uncle's blogroll, but hey, what's wrong with some harmless link-whoring? Besides, I don't think I've ever posted gun p0rn here. So what Uncle wants, Uncle gets.

In preface, I don't think my collection is too, um, exciting. Due to finances and new babies I've had to pare down the number of guns I own to the bare minimum necessary to enjoy the shooting sports, and they're all common "sporting weapons" bought at the local sporting goods store. No salacious Class III guns here.

The first is my old deer-whacker, a Savage Model 110E in .270 Win. Bought it used at a pawn shop in '89 for $225. Shot my first buck with it. I sold it off a couple of years ago to a co-worker, and he used it to take down a nice 4-point muley last fall. I included it here for sentimental reasons.

This one is probably a little more exciting. It's a Springfield Armory 1911, probably a veteran of World War I and II. My late uncle bought it at a hardware shop in Idaho some 55 years ago for $50 (no Form 4473 or background check was required back then). My brother inherited it, and I now have custody because El-ahrairah is busy being an International Man of Mystery in Europe and Iraq.

My Mossberg 12 Model 500 12 gauge, shown here on the porch of our Idaho cabin in Goblin-Whacking/Bear Medicine mode. I took it with me this past year to keep the local bear -- who's been trying to break into the cabin -- honest.

This one is the closest to an Eeevil Plastic Assault Weapon that I have. My Mini-14, with a Scary-Looking M-14 style flash suppressor attached (I ended up taking it off, because it adversely affected the accuracy of the rifle). Now that the AW ban has finally disappeared, I've been thinking of adding a plastic pistol-grip stock.

Finally, since others are showing Uncle their Garands, here's my old Garand, Springfield Armory, Serial #24X,XXX. A World War II relic purchased from the DCM back in '95 for only $250. It was fully rebuilt with a new barrel and bolt and shot like a dream. Alas, my old boss greatly coveted it and I finally had to sell it to him to keep the family van running. That has turned out to be one of the most-regretted decisions of my life (next to selling off my '68 Cougar in high school).

UPDATE: Just to clarify, this is not my full collection. I saved those photos for another p0rn post.

Lame, lame, lame lame, LAME!

This is what passes for a political controversy nowadays?

Hey, Fox News, almost every commercial website uses cookies. Including, of course, Fox News: I cleared one off my browser just a minute ago. Are the MSM so dumb, so computer illiterate that they don't even know about the existence of cookies, or are they being purposely dense in order to smear the President even more?

I know which one I'd choose.

When will it end?

Finally, after years of occupation by the US military, years after we liberated the country from the clutches of a homicidal dictator, we've turned a military base over to the legitimate civilian government of...Germany.

Yes, Rhein-Main Air Force Base is now part of Frankfurt airport. After 60 years of occupation and billions of US dollars, we have finally withdrawn our troops from that part of Germany.

But alas, the quagmire continues, as we still have forces in other parts of the country. I don't know why; the Germans are certainly powerful and prosperous enough to take care of themselves. And the Japanese and Koreans are no different; why we continue to subsidize their security with our blood and dollars is a mystery.

Bring the Boys Back Home, NOW!

More Stupid Dog Owners

Just as it happened a few weeks ago, another dog owned by an irresponsible person has been shot while in the act of chasing animals.

This time, however, it wasn't a single deer; it was a whole flock of purebred sheep valued at $1,300 each. The dog's owner will be lucky to get off with just a dead dog and a citation, since his loving pet chased the sheep onto the railroad tracks where over 100 were hit and killed by a train. Total damages are estimated to be over $100,000.

He'd better have good homeowner's insurance.

Contrary to what some might think, I don't hate dogs -- I'm more of a cat person, but I own neither because my wife is allergic -- but I do despise irresponsible dog owners. I'm sure some animal-rights weenies will try to get Utah's law on dogs changed during the upcoming legislative session. I truly hope they fail.

UPDATE: I was right -- the Humane Society is aware of the law, and they certainly don't like it.

Photo-Ice-Fishing-blogging: Causey Reservoir

Here's a couple of pics from Monday's ice fishing trip. The place is Causey Reservoir, about 30 miles east of Ogden, Utah.

The reservoir was covered with about 8-10 inches of ice -- quite safe -- but because it was very clear and not covered with snow, you could see through it. That made me a little nervous until I found out just how thick it was.

Here he is, Captain Holly in all his insulated glory. It really wasn't very cold, about 40 degrees, but a slushy rain was falling and I didn't want my head to get wet. I only got one bite, anyway, and left after a couple of hours. Measured against the dictum "the worst day fishing is better than the best day working" it wasn't too bad, but I've had better. Looking forward to the next time.

Finally, some sense from the MSM

It would appear that not all MainStreamMedia outlets are willfully dense about Iraq. The Chicago Tribune has looked at the facts and concluded that President Bush did not lie to get us into war. (lvi)

The only surprise here is that it took them so long.

Merry Christmas!

I'm going to be very busy over the weekend, so I'll announce my Christmas blogging hiatus now. I'll return next week, with some pictures of my annual Boxing Day ice fishing trip.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Stupid Dog Owners

And now for an example of one of my "pet" peeves: Irresponsible dog owners. Up in Park City, a dog that was chasing and attempting to kill a deer was shot by Sheriff's deputies. Naturally, the dense upper-class woman who let the dog run loose is hysterical.

Utah Law is crystal clear on this: If you let your dog run loose and it threatens domestic animals or protected wildlife, anybody can shoot it. In practice, unless you're the property owner or a law enforcement officer, you'll probably get alot of grief for doing so. But the law was specifically written so that packs of gentle "domestic" dogs wouldn't be able to run down animals and threaten people with impunity.

I've lived in the Park City area, and I can safely say that it is home to some of the most irresponsible dog owners on God's Green Earth. The stupidity of these people has to be seen to be believed. Dogs were allowed to run wild throughout the subdivision where my mother-in-law lived, and they would eat your garbage and leave nice packages in your yard. My wife told of an experience she had as a teenager where she was cornered in the woods by a pack of "tame" dogs and had to give them her lunch to get away.

I'm sure there's a silent majority of Park City residents who said "it's about frickin' time" when they heard about this incident. But there is also a solid minority of idiotic left-wing animal lovers from California/East Coast who are up in arms. Apparently, they have made enough noise that the County Council is going to "modify" the policy. Unfortunately, it will probably be "modified" to the point where dogs will be allowed to roam free and kill anything that moves, while the cretins who own them won't receive anything but a stern talking-to.

Too bad. All it would take are a couple of more dead dogs and there wouldn't be a dog problem anymore. The dumbs#*ts who cause 90% of the problems would start taking care of their dogs if there was a better than even chance Fido wouldn't be coming home after running loose all night. People tend to be very responsible when it's a matter of life or death.

Yawn. Big Deal.

New revelations show that President Bush authorized domestic spying on US citizens without judicial approval. So, what's the big deal? I guess if you want to kill terrorists, you need to be able to catch them and to do so, you need to spy on them. Whether they had judicial approval or not, doesn't really worry me. Having terrorists running around in the US is what worries me more, so this is yet another example of lots of hot air coming from the Defeato-crats in Congress.

The Yearly Exercise in Political Correctness at Time Magazine

Yes, it's that time of the year again when Time Magazine shows their political correctness and selects their Man/Woman/Person/Animal of the year. Last year, Time magazine selected President George Bush, but this year, instead of selecting a person or persons who actually have done something worthwhile, like say, the Iraqi people, Time selects Bill Gates, his wife and Bono for all their "work" with ????? (I can't really think of what they have done that they should be so "honored" so maybe this is just another Jimmah Cahtah Nobel Peace Prize moment). For other reaction to this, go to, yet again, Michele Malkin's site to see how other people see this selection.

Yet again, what liberal bias?

In yet another example of liberal bias, here is an MSM report on President Bush's speech and a report by blogger Michele Malkin on the same speech. Which one would you believe? Judging from the MSM track record of liberal bias (I don't think this study will be featured on 60 minutes), I tend to get my news from bloggers more than the MSM. Whenever something happens in the world, before believing what the MSM says, I check with the blogosphere to "fact check" the MSM. Just think what the state of affairs in the US would be like without the Internet and the blogosphere. We'd have to go back to having looser presidents like Jimmah Cahtah and Bill the Molester who could say anything they wanted without being challenged by reporters. Yet another good reason why the Internet rocks!

My 2 cents worth

Yet again, President Bush, despite all the hopes and wishes of the Defeato-crats and the MSM, has won again. Like the Cap'n pointed out, the Iraqi people have voted and this is the beginning of the end, not only for the insurgents but also for the Defeato-crats. Some in the Defeato-cratic party have read the writing on the wall (like Senator Biden) and have jumped on the Hurray-for-Iraq bandwagon, but I doubt that "Cut and Run" Murtha or "Tin Foil Hat" Dean will be one of them. They probably think it's just another Evil Karl Rove plot.

The war's not over with, but it just hit it's tipping point. The only way that the US can loose now is if we let the Defeato-crats convince us that cutting and running is the only honorable thing to do. Although the MSM and the liberals think otherwise, President Bush will go down in history as one of our better presidents. Doesn't it feel good to watch liberals eat their words?

No one says it better than Professor Reynolds

On why he gets tired of reading Andrew Sullivan:

However, I do agree with them that Andrew has been consistently, pompously, and annoyingly moralistic and irritatingly unspecific. So if that's the chorus, well yes -- but it's a song that has a lot of notes, most of them struck by Andrew himself. And I'm irritated with him, not for the reason you might think -- because I disagree with Andrew -- but more the contrary, because every time I read one of his preening posts, I find my opposition to torture weakening in response, even though I've been consistently in opposition to torture since 2001 (and before).

God help me if he ever starts blogging in support of nanotechnology and bans on cloning -- I'll probably start looking at Leon Kass more sympathetically. It's like listening to Robert Bork talk about original understanding jurisprudence.

My sentiments, exactly.

The beginning of the end...

The Iraq war is entering its final phase. For more coverage, go here, here, and especially here.

This election is roughly equivalent to the Allied victory at the Bulge in 1944, or the taking of Okinawa in 1945. There may be a few battles in the future, and more troops will undoubtedly die, but final victory is pretty much assured. The high Sunni turnout indicates that even the homegrown insurgents have turned against the Al-Qaida nutjobs. Zarqawi must be especially nervous about where he is going to sleep tonight.

I wanna go back to my lil' shack in.......

Cue singing in a thick Swedish accent....

"I wanna go back to my lil' shack in......Iraq"

Yes, it's that time again. While most other people are thinking about gingerbread men, Christmas trees and mountains of holiday stress while they fight for the very last XBOX 360 little Bobby, I'm getting ready for yet another trip to my favorite home-away-from-home-away-from-home, Iraq.

Like my last trip to Club Med of Mesopotamia, I will be on somewhat of a blogging hiatus for the next three months since the military has different ideas about blogging. I'll try to send stuff to the Cap'n to post for me, but only if he leaves the posts alone and not play "big city copy editor" and correct my spelling. I'll still have my digital camera and also take photos of, what we affectionately call, The Garden Spot of the Middle East. I can hardly wait!

Soooooo, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cue cheesy Bing Crosby singing voice...

"I'm dreaming of an Iraqi Christmas....."

Good Timing

In an earlier post this month, I talked about two politicians, Mitt Romney, the Republican governor of Massachusetts and the other, Democratic Minority Leader, Harry Reid, both who happen to be members of the LDS Church. I gave my opinion about each of them (Mitt Romney: Two thumbs up. Harry Reid: A big embarrassment), and whether or not I could vote for them. Well, I guess Mitt Romney reads The Warren (don't all influential politicians?) since he has decided to not run for re-election in 2006, thereby making himself available for a bid for the White House in 2008. Although he has pooh-poohed the idea of a presidential run, it doesn't sound like it is an iron-clad "no". If he isn't called to serve the LDS Church as a mission president (probably in France) in the next few months (don't laugh, it happens all the time to "retired" politicians and business leaders of the LDS Church), I can see him "throwing his hat in the ring" and running. However, as much as I may like him, I don't think that he has enough stature on the national stage to win the nomination, but he would make a very good vice-presidential candidate. Only time will tell whether the Great El-ahrairah's prediction will come true.

Rot in Hell, Tookie

The State of California finally adminstered some long-delayed justice to one who so richly deserved it. Michelle Malkin has a comprehensive round-up.

As you can tell, I'm a supporter of the death penalty. For persons like Tookie Williams, who are so clearly and completely depraved, it is the only appropriate punishment, if only to ensure once and for all that they will never hurt anyone -- even fellow inmates -- again.

However, I do recognize that in some cases, Justice can miscarry. Any system is only as good as its parts, and because the police, courts, and prisons are staffed with fallible persons it is always possible to have innocent people sent to prison.

Like this man. If you haven't heard of him, that's not surprising: Once again, the blogosphere is leading the investigation after the Mainstream Media have completely ignored it. Where, oh where are the Rich and Famous members of the "Save Tookie" crowd in this case?

If there ever were a perfect case for Hollywood to get behind, it's this one. Police in Mississippi execute a no-knock warrant search warrant at night, the son of the white police chief is shot and killed by the resident (who incidentally has no criminal record), and the man is sentenced to death by an mostly-white jury. As an added bonus, this happened in a southern state with a conservative Republican Governor. I'd be willing to bet that most of the persons involved are Evangelical Christians. A movie should already be in the works by now.

But it's not. And does anyone know why? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

It's because a law-abiding citizen used a gun to defend himself.

Now, Hollywood and the American Left are perfectly comfortable with the idea of drug-crazed black men shooting cops (remember Ice Cube's "Cop Killer"?, How about Mumia Abu-Jamal?). It fits their world view that guns are evil, and that anyone who uses guns automatically does evil deeds.

But a black man with a clean record using a gun to defend himself and his family is too radioactive for them to touch. If he were found to be justified, it would shake their anti-gun foundations to the core. In their minds, guns are only for the "good people", ie, the wealthy and connected. Respectable, poor or working-class gun owners simply can't be trusted with guns.

Which is why I predict that the Maye case will never get the attention that Tookie's did. Corey Maye will be ignored and even allowed to die. And in the minds of the Left, he deserved it; not because he killed a cop, but because he actually believed he had the right to use a gun to defend his home and family.

To the Left, that is an unpardonable sin.

Welcome to all liberals!

A hearty Welcome! to all liberals who happen to come here from Senate Minority Leader's "blog", Give'Em Hell Harry. I drop by every once in a while to see what Brother Reid is spewing and decided to leave an invite for all liberals since, as the tagline for The Warren says, we don't want anyone to ".....get(s) Stuck on Stupid ('cept the liberals)".

For all you liberals that like to hear the illustrious DNC Howard "Tin-Foil Hat" Dean put his foot in his mouth, here is the latest from the GOP (by way of Wizbang!). Of course, it's not "Tin-Foil Hat" Howie's fault. That Evil Karl Rove used mind-control techniques to force Howie to say those things, right?

For all you Defeato-crats who wonder where that term came from, go here. The article is by Mark Steyn (the One-Man Global Content Provider). His site should be required reading for all "defeato-crats" and liberals, since we don't want them to get "Stuck on Stupid".

I hope our liberal visitors have found their visit to The Warren to be "enlightening" and "thought-provoking". My only hope is that they will see the error in their ways and dump the loosers now found in the Defeato-cratic party. The country that they save will be their own.

The World Cup

As the Cap'n already blogged, the draw for the biggest event in sports was held this Friday in Leipzig, Germany and the US got thrown into the same group as Italy, the Czech Republic and Ghana. People are pointing out that this is another case of "deja vu all over again" since in 1990, the US was in a group with the host nation (Italy), Czechlslovakia and Ghana. That time, we lost all three games, but there are some important differences. In 1990, the US team was composed of college all-stars since there was no real pro soccer league in America. Hardly any US players played overseas and those that did were relegated to third-string leagues. Time warp now to 2006. There is now a real, US pro soccer league. Of course, it's not on par with the Serie A, the Premiership or the Bundesliga, but it doesn't really want to be. It is a pro soccer league for the US, with the emphasis being on the players being American. As a result, it is a good, development league. Most of the best US players now play overseas in European soccer leagues where US players (goaltenders in particular) are featured on some of the major European clubs. The US coach, Bruce Arena, is probably the best US soccer coach ever and the US men's team has shown that it can play at the highest levels (FIFA has the US ranked 8th in the world, ahead of Italy at 12th).

So, what does this all mean? Well, like anything in sports, you can never be too certain. In 2002, nobody expected the previous World Cup Champions, the French to crash and burn and nobody expected the US to get to the quarterfinals, so everything is up for grabs. Already, the Italian media are profiling the US team and telling everyone not to take the US lightly. US Soccer has said that they want to win the World Cup by 2010, but in 1998 in France, when the US went 0-3 and had the worse record of the 32-team tournament, everyone laughed and thought that we were "naive". After the US performance in 2002, not many people are laughing.

Personally, I don't want the US to win it's group, but take second. That way, in the next round, we will meet the winner of the Brazil group (probably Brazil) so that we can really send shockwaves thru world soccer and beat Brazil by 3-0 or something humiliating like that. However, the game to see, if you are an American in Germany, will be the June 17th game against Italy. This game will be played in Kaiserslautern, Germany which is about as close to home-field advantage for the US that you could get since the Kaiserslauthern, Germany area is home to the largest group of ex-patriot Americans in the world. Boy, I wish I was back in Germany (only for this reason).

A glimpse of the future...

In the latest news from the Smart family, a pedophile has been featuring pictures of Elizabeth on his webpage. Predictably, Ed Smart is outraged.

Although I've been fairly critical of Ed in the past, this time I'm behind him 100%. I'd be disturbed if pictures of my daughters showed up on anyone's webpage, let alone one that advocates pedophilia (although I must point out that unlike Ed I don't parade my daughters in front of TV cameras every chance I get).

But this post isn't about the Smarts. It's about how our society will soon make room for pedophiles, and the mechanism for this change is contained in this paragraph:

On the Web page, Ashford calls himself a "lover of little girls" but claims that there is a difference between a pedophile and a child molester. He passes off pedophilia as simply "sexual orientation." (emphasis added)

Got that? Pedophilia is merely a sexual orientation, just like heterosexuality and homosexuality. Pedophiles, in effect, were "born that way" and "can't help themselves". What that means is someday, somewhere, some judge in some state or federal court will rule (likely in response to an ACLU lawsuit) that it is "discriminatory" to exclude open and avowed pedophiles from teaching careers, youth organizations, and the like.

I'm sure my reader(s) are now saying "oh, come on now. There's no way society will allow pedophiles near children". Really? I'm old enough to remember when homosexuality was considered to be a mental illness, and when homosexuals were considered to be "not quite right" (some now think that not liking gays is a mental illness). I've already predicted to family and friends that if current trends continue in 20 years pedophilia will be as socially acceptable as homosexuality is today. And the argument that will produce this change is the one that says sexuality is a purely genetic trait.

In a way, there is a logical consistency to this. If sexual orientation is genetically-determined like skin color or gender, then it is just as wrong to discriminate against someone because they are attracted to little girls as it would be to discriminate against someone because of their race. Since in popular opinion all discrimination is inherently bad this will not be allowed. Pedophilia will eventually be chic and glamorous, and much sooner than you think.

The gay lobby has pushed this door wide open, and it is not surprising that the pedophiles are following them through it. Given the gay lobby's continuing support of pedophile organizations such as NAMBLA, this is not that surprising.

Narnia: Two Thumbs Up

We went and saw the Narnia movie Friday. It was a sold-out matinee show, and if the audience response was any indication, this one is going to be a hit. There was solid applause after the movie was over. I took my wife, son and oldest daughter, and they all loved it.

The local critic was less impressed -- he called it "yawn-inspiring" instead of "awe-inspiring" -- and he does have a point. If you're not a religious person, or if you haven't read the book, this movie will come off as an inferior version of Lord of The Rings. And it really should have been rated PG-13, as there is alot of (bloodless) violence in it.

But for CS Lewis fans it will be a treat. I haven't read the book in years, but my wife said it followed the book very closely. The only major deviation was the eye-popping opening, featuring an excellent computer-graphics version of the London Blitz (it was my wargamer son's favorite part). It's difficult to tell which actors are live and which are digital (one of them is, BTW) and the massed flight of Heinkel bombers has a realistic, sinister feeling to it.

It's a great movie. Go see it.

UPDATE: Apparently, the overwhelming majority of the movie-going public agree.

Great Minds almost thought alike

It was my intention during this past week -- after How-weird Dean had his latest "Yearrrrgh" moment -- to blog about the similarity between modern Democrats and those of the Civil War Era, specifically how Democrat defeatists John-John (Kerry and Murtha) closely resemble Union General and Democrat Presidential candidate George McClellan. I've alluded to it before, but this time I was going to illustrate how the Democrats have become "Copperheads", those who hide behind a veneer of pretend patriotism while they seek to undermine the war effort.

Well, in the Blogosphere, if you snooze, you lose. Captain Ed has written an excellent article in the Weekly Standard on that very subject, and he made many of the same points and drawn the same parallels that I would have. Since I didn't post it earlier, I'm not able to claim that the good Captain obviously reads the Warren. But I can insinuate it, can't I?

Now, who's being paranoid?

For those who think Christians are overreacting to the "Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays" controversy, please explain this.

Ouch!

The good news is, the US made it to the World Cup.

The bad news? We're in the same bracket with Italy, Czech Republic, and Ghana.

Not a patsy among them. We might not advance this time around.

Comments, El-ahrairah?

Photos from Pearl Harbor

In remembrance of the 7th of December, 1941, here are some photos that I took a few years back when I visited Pearl Harbor.

An example for the Japanese(and all who attack the United States) of what happens in the end. The Arizona Memorial showing that the Japanese drew first blood, overlooked by the battleship USS Missouri to show them the ignoble defeat that was ultimately their reward.

A look at the pier where the USS Arizona was tied up.

The wall showing the names of all those who lost their lives on the 7th of December.

More names. To go out to see the memorial, the visitors are required to sit thru a presentation about the attack on Pearl Harbor. After seeing the presentation, I found myself really, really, really wanting go bomb Japan again.

In addition to the USS Arizona being sunk, the USS Utah, an older battleship which had been converted into a target ship was also sunk. Her superstructure had been covered with wood, so when the Japanese attacked, they mistook her for the aircraft carrier, USS Saratoga, and promptly put three torpedos into her. The first struck at about 0800 and she rolled over and sank by 0812, taking 64 men to their deaths.

There is a memorial for the USS Utah on Ford Island, but unfortunately, I was not able to see it. I wanted to take my sainted father to Pearl Harbor so that he could see the memorial (he may have already when he was in the USS Navy during the 70's), but unfortunately, he died before I was able to. I am sure that he would have been greatly moved by the memorial.

Bias? What bias?

Here's a Yahoo! news "story" that just oozes with that liberal bias that the MSM says doesn't exist. Can you find all the liberal propaganda maskerading as "unbiased" giornalism?

Two politicians and one religion

Members of the LDS Church are always happy to point out the accomplishments of other members in the world arena. Famous members of the LDS Church are found in various endeavors from sports to entertainment to business and to politics. Two members are currently in the public eye in the arena of politics at this time, one a Republican and the other a Democrat.

The Republican is the current governor of the state of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney (Pop quiz time. Q: Which state of the union has the most useless pair of senators? A: Massachusetts (Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry) but California (Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein) is a good guess.) He pretty well saved the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics and wears his faith on his sleeve. He has tackled some of the thornier social issues like gay marriage and stem-cell research and although he may not have won, he has not backed down from his viewpoint. Many in the Republican Party have talked about him running for the office of president and although he would probably only carry the state of Utah during the Republican primaries, I can see him doing a John Edwards and becoming a good pick for Vice President.

However, the Democrat in the public eye is Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid from Nevada. Yes, Brother Reid is a member of the LDS Church, but how good of a member, I do not know. He has a website that you can go to find out more about him, but nowhere on it does it mention his faith. As a member of the LDS Church, I cringe whenever he opens his mouth and spews the Democratic line. I often wonder if he knows that he is lying or that he just is repeating Democratic talking points.

The LDS Church does not endorse any political candidate. The members of the church are counseled to participate in the election process and to vote for those candidates who share the same views and beliefs as the members. Today, most members of the LDS Church vote Republican but it was not always the case. Back in the early 70’s, Democrats held many offices in the state of Utah and also in the Utah congressional delegation. However, when the national Democratic party decided to align itself with abortion and the feminist movement, members of the LDS Church started leaving the Democratic party in droves to the point where during the Reagan administration years, the only Democrat in higher office was the governor of the state. The only time that the LDS Church gets involved in elections to endorse a certain viewpoint is when there are moral issues on the ballot, like gay marriage or gambling, etc., which go against the teachings of the church.

So, the big question is "Oh Great El-ahrairah, who would you vote for, Mitt Romney or Harry Reid?" Well, from what I’ve seen of Mitt Romney, I would vote for him. He strikes me as a good politician who shares the same point of view as I do on most of the important challenges that we face in the United States today. As for Harry Reid, I could not vote for him since the Democratic Party stands for those things that I’m against. He may actually support the same things that I support, but like John "War Hero" Kerry, he doesn’t feel that his personal beliefs should influence his political views, ergo, he sounds like all the rest of the defeatist Democrats in Congress.

Someone needs to adjust their tinfoil hat

Utah's "conservative" newspaper, the Deseret News, has a regular editorial feature called "My View" wherein some non-journaliste is given the opportunity to pontificate just like the Big Boys. Most of the time, it's some politician or other bigwig who feels aggrieved by the News' negative coverage of them, or some expert who corrects the chronic cluelessness of their staff. But every now and then they turn the page over to someone who, shall we say, is not quite up to speed when it comes to facts or even reality.

Such as today. The guest writer is a veteran named Joseph Puente, and he is, uh, a bit on the paranoid side. In addition, he makes this amazing assertion:

The Bush administration underestimated the number of soldiers who would be wounded seriously enough in Afghanistan and Iraq to warrant medical discharges and subsequent care through the VA. The administration's estimate was around 23,000; the actual number is closer to 95,000 and rising.

Wow. That's quite a big number: Indeed, it's quite a bit more than the actual numbers. According to this official-looking website, there have been only 15,568 wounded in Iraq and of those, over half -- 8,468 -- returned to duty within 72 hours. This means that only 7,413 were injured severely enough to require extensive treatment. A large number, to be sure, and one that unfortunately contains many personal tragedies. But one that is almost 12 times smaller than the one reported above.

I have noticed that many on the Left have become so filled with hatred for the President they look for any opportunity to discredit him and, as a result, they latch on to any factoid that makes him look bad. As with the faked Bush NG memos, this overpowering desire to bring him down causes them to overlook things that would be obviously false to neutral observers. Mr. Puente heard this statistic, and because it fit his negative view of the President he repeated it uncritically in front of hundreds of thousands of readers. The fact the DesNews editorial staff failed to catch such an egregious error suggests they thought it was true, too.

That wouldn't surprise me, BTW.

Not quite what you would expect

One of the top articles on the Pravda of Utah (Salt Lake Tribune) website is about this season's edition of "Survivor". Since I'm forced to watch cheesy Armed Forces Network (AFN) when I want my American TV-fix, I'm not up on "current events" in the US, but apparently, one of the contestants decided to come out of the closet last night and announce that he was 1) gay and 2) a Mormon. However, reading down the article you find that although he is gay, he is not Mormon. He has never been baptised in the LDS Church and although he may identify with the beliefs of the LDS Church, he is not a Mormon.

The LDS Church teaches to "hate the sin, but love the sinner." As such, members of the LDS Church who feel that they are gay can still be active members of the church and enjoy all the blessings of the church. However, they cannot engage in homosexual conduct and must live and law of chasity, just like any other member of the church, married or single. Unfortunately, most of them feel that the church should make an exception for them, so after a few years, they either 1) leave the church to pursue their form of happiness or 2) are excommunicated from the church for pursuing their form of happiness. So, it is conceivable that this contestant could be both gay and Mormon, but from the following quote, not probable:

"Mormons are so focused on family and caring for other people, and there are so many things about the Mormon religion that I want to bring to my life," he added. "When I have a husband and kids, I want us to have Family Home Evening on Monday nights, and I'll get together and play board games or do whatever. I think the Mormon church has so much good that you can take from it."

Talking about how when he has a "husband and kids" shows that although he believes in some of the teachings of the church, he hasn't grasped one of the most important that marriage is only between man and woman. Still, it goes to show just how mainstream the LDS Church is becoming.

Cut and Run?

Instead of caving to the Democrats and other "whiners" in Congress, President Bush has decided to stay the course and not set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops in Iraq. It was either that or support another failed Democratic policy, otherwise known as the Somalian "Declare-Victory-And-Then-Beatfeet-To-Get-Out-Of-Dodge-Just-As-Fast-As-Possible" Gambit that was employed by our previous president, Bill "The Molester" Klinton.

I don't know about you, but sometimes, being "stubborn" as the president has been accused of many times is a virtue. And it also pisses off whiny liberals who have the attention span of gnats.

MSM Reporting Guidelines

I stumbled across this post on the Strategy Page about successfull propaganda techniques. Read the list and see how many are currently in use today. Extra points are awarded for naming the most blantant abusers in the liberal MSM and the Democratic party.

P.S. Unfortunately, The Strategy Page suffers from link rot, so check it out soon before the link "rots".