Moonbat Photoblogging, continued.

Note: I had to split my previous post because Blogger was being fussy about uploading pics -- CH.

Lessee, where was I? Oh, yes, the Moonbats and their silly signs.

Note to Democrats: If you ever wish to read the words "House Speaker" and "Nancy Pelosi" together, you need to wake up before the 2006 election.

There was the standard "Republicans=Nazis" tripe. This young genius obviously doesn't realize that in the real Nazi Germany he would have been shaved, beaten to a pulp, and thrown into jail by the Gestapo before he even got here.

Even older Moonbats make this mistake.

There was also the standard amount of disrespect for the US flag; indeed, I was hard-pressed to find one that was properly displayed.

In fact, the Palestinian and Cuban flags were treated with more respect.

Ah, the Protest Warriors. They were set up right in the middle of the event - with big Israeli flags - and it was obviously bothering many members of the crowd.

Next to the Protest Warriors was this highly-decorated retired Air Force veteran who gave the Lefties a substantial piece of his mind.

And of course, no anti-war protest would be complete without the giant papier-mache puppets of Bush, Cheney, et al. This is the same one that was at the protest last year...

...but this year they did at least make some heads of the vice-president, and secretaries of State and Defense.

Moonbat Photoblogging: The Second Annual Salt Lake City Anti-War Protests

Just like last year, I was able to get away during my lunch break and record the goings-on at the Second Annual SLC Moonbat Convention. This year it was held in front of City Hall. It seemed to be more low-key this year, perhaps because the headline act, Saint Cindy, had to cancel at the last minute.

The Salt Lake Media were there in force. I suspect that for many of them, this was their opportunity to show their counterparts in the Big City that they could be cool, too.

First off, can we get some training for the Younger Generation of protestors on how to make a decent peace sign? I know there are old hippies still hanging around; I saw plenty of them today. I mean, let's start some mentoring, people! How many young folk like this poor clueless girl are you going to let humiliate themselves in public?

Speaking of an embarassing faux pas, isn't an upside-down peace sign the symbol of the White Supremacist Movement?

[Truman Capote Murder By Death voice]"It's Rumsfeld-Cheney! Rumsfeld-Cheney! Don't you people read the newspaper?"[/Truman Capote Murder By Death voice]

To be fair, this could be a Mercedes...but then why would he tape it on the side?

I noticed this at the protest: In honor of being called "nutcakes" last year by Senator Orrin Hatch, apparently Salt Lake moonbats have adopted it - without the slightest trace of irony - as their new moniker. I even saw a couple of people handing out bumper stickers that said "Nutcake" on them. Ooookay.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

I'm not sure how effective this is as a debating technique, but as they say, if the shoe fits...

Can you say "sellout"?

Because I've spent a fair amount of time out in Snake Valley near the Utah-Nevada border, I've followed this story closely for the past few months. It seems Las Vegas, like Los Angeles in the 1930's, is sending its tentacles out far and wide to gather any water it can to supply the city's many casino fountains and hotel pools. While final approval hasn't been given yet, it's merely a formality at this point; one could say the "fix is in".

Why, you ask? There are two key factors: One, Senator Reid from Nevada is holding up a bill authorizing a land transfer between Utah and the Federal government that would give Utah several thousand acres of valuable, developable land near St. George. Second, Utah Senator Bob Bennett -- a noted horse-trading politician who would likely sell the entire state out if the price was right -- is working on the bill. Based on previous observations, I'm pretty sure that means a sellout is inevitable. All Nevada would have to do is offer Utah a share of the water, the deal would be signed the next day.

To put it bluntly, condos and golf courses in St. George and Las Vegas are far more valuable to Senator Bennett, Governor Huntsman, and the Utah Legislature than a few ranches out in western Utah. The residents of Callao and Trout Creek never had a chance.

Yet another example of screaming liberal media bias

The Great El-ahrairah found yet another example in a long line of screaming liberal media bias in this Yahoo! article about how a black family "warily" adjusts to Utah. You don't even have to read the article to get the gist of what the writer wants you to believe, which is UTAH IS FULL OF RACISTS SO DON'T COME TO UTAH!!!

Why would this be news? For the subtle reason that liberals fear Mitt Romney. Although he is the guv-nah of Massachusetts, he is also a Mormon, so since black families that were evacuated to to Utah after Hurricane Katrina are "warily" adjusting to life in a state where less than 1% of the population is black, this must only mean that Utah is chock-full of card-carrying, KKK racists (just like the Democratic Senator from West Virginia, Senator Robert "Grand Kleagel" Byrd). Since the majority of the population of Utah is Mormon, putting two and two together means that Mormons are card-carrying, KKK racists and therefore, Mitt Romney is a racist. And since using liberal logic, we have proved that Mitt Romney is a racists, DON'T VOTE FOR MITT ROMNEY!!!

See, just by reading the headline on the story, the readers of the Warren can save themselves the time required to actually read the article. Aren't you all so thankfull to the MSM for telling you how you should think?

It'll be just like the 60's, man!

Today's Deseret News has a helpful program for the protests and rallies scheduled for President Bush's visit to Salt Lake City this week. Of course, the one I really want to see is the Rocky n' Cindy Show at the City Building. Barring any emergency at work, I should be able to take off for lunch and provide some hard-hitting citizen journalism for all our reader(s). I hope to also see some of the really hard-core Moonbats from the "Death to Israel" rally that will be held nearby at the same time.

(In fact, the Loony Conspiracy Theorist in me whispers that this second rally's theme, time and location are no accident. I kinda wonder if the planners of the "official" anti-war rally didn't co-ordinate with the planners of the anti-Zionist rally in order to provide them with a convenient scapegoat; that is, they could blame any blatant anti-Semitism that pops up at their event on the whackos nearby, and thus innoculate themselves against charges of Jew-hating. But I digress.)

I also plan to drop by Liberty Park and take a few shots of Chief Wiggle's pro-war, pro-military rally. But as it is scheduled at the same time as the others, that might be difficult as I have a limited amount of time. If only El-ahrairah was not off in some furrin country -- supporting BusHitlerburton's Evil War to Steal Oil From The Helpless Brown Peoples -- and was here to help me we could provide better coverage.

Hike Blogging: Mount Timpanogos, Uinta National Forest

Today I climbed one of Utah's most popular and recognizable peaks, Mount Timpanogos.

There are two well-maintained trails that get to the top, one at Aspen Grove and the other at Timpooneke. Aspen Grove is shorter (6.7 miles) but it is also slightly steeper; Timpooneke rises from 7,340 feet to 11,749 feet in about 7.1 miles. Since after my recent Mount Olympus hike I was tired of really steep trails, I decided to take Timpooneke instead.

The trail rises through a series of forested glacial basins for about four miles. It was nice and cool due to recent rain and I was able to do a pretty good pace.

After about 4.5 miles, you get to Timpanogos Basin, a large glacial cirque carpeted in wildflowers. As you can tell, Mount Timpanogos is made up of sedimentary rocks that have been pushed upwards but still are horizontal. There are several such cirques all around the mountain; the next one to the south contains the Timpanogos "glacier", in reality a large permanent snowfield.

Another view of the wildflowers.

On the top there is a simple shelter used for surveying purposes. As you can tell, it was very cloudy and cold when I got there, but the sun came out a few minutes later. I ate my lunch there while some 40-50 people came and went.

The peak overlooks Utah Valley. These are the towns of Pleasant Grove and American Fork, with Utah Lake in the background. Just to the south is Provo and Brigham Young University, which explains in part why it seemed ever other person on the trail was between 18-24 years old and was wearing some type of BYU attire.

As Timpanogos is contained in a designated wilderness area, the Forest Service tries hard to keep things as pristine as possible. This "toilet" is set up along the trail; one look at it explains why most people just go in the trees instead.

Overall, it was a pretty good hike. I can see why some Utah hiking guides call it the "best hike in Utah". The trail is in good shape, it's well-graded, and the scenery is beautiful. I was impressed at how quickly I was able to do the hike; it took me 4 hours exactly to get to the top, and I did the whole 14.2 miles in just over 7 hours. The only drawback was the crowd of people. It would have been much nicer had I gone during the middle of the week.

Why is this newsworthy? Because liberal fear him!

This just in from the SL Tribune: Mitt Romney is descended from polygamists. Just like many of the other residents of the Great State of Utah (the Cap'n and I included), he has polygamists running rampant thru his family tree. Since he is also a conservative and against gay marriage, the SL Trib wanted to make sure that the national news media knew that his great-grandfather fled the US to Mexico so that he could continue praticing polygamy (ergo, DON'T VOTE FOR HIM).

Whether this makes any difference in the upcoming election is probably up for grabs. There will be some who are trying to justify voting against Romney without resorting to the fact that he is a Mormon and this will be the reason that they will give. Whatever this will mean for the elections is unknown at this time, but an interesting comment about this report can be found at The Corner. Kate O'Beirne states that in the run up to the 2008 Presidential primaries where the GOP field would/could include John McCain, Rudi Giuliani, George Allen and Newt Gingrich, the only candidate with "one wife would be the Mormon". Snicker, snicker.

Yet another example of the law of unintended consequences

Here's something that ought to make conservatives laugh at liberal stupidity. Way back in Munt-ray-al in 1989, the world got together and signed a treaty to ban all CFCs that destroy the ozone layer. Well it seems that the chemicals that have been developed to replace the evil CFCs in refridgerators and air conditioners have an unintended consequence, they contribute to global warming. Oops!!! News of this isn't anything new as the Swiss have been talking about this since 1990, but since the liberals can't be bothered with any details that would get in the way of saving the planet, the warnings have been ignored. After all, we can't have people think that governments pass laws without fully understanding the consequences can we?

Hike Blogging, Mount Olympus, Wasatch-Cache National Forest

Although I lost all the pictures of my last hike in the Great Hard Drive Meltdown of '06, I'm still going to post this report for those unsuspecting souls who might try this hike.

Mount Olympus is a large block of Paleozoic sedimentary rock that has been thrust upwards onto its side. As a result, it's very steep with the north face being almost vertical. The peak is 9,026 feet above sea level and is quite prominent on the skyline. Like Grandeur Peak, the easy accessibility and views it provides make this a popular hike.

But certainly not an easy one. I knew it would be steep -- the trail goes from 5,100 feet elevation at the trail head to over 9,000 in just 3.5 miles. But I didn't know it would be so rugged; the last half of the trail is steeper and rockier than the first half, and the last few hundred yards require some low-intensity rock-climbing.

Also, there are rattlesnakes in the brush near the trail. We know this because one of the leashless dogs belonging to a stupid Russian lady and her daughter who were hiking just in front of us found a rattlesnake and naturally got bit on the nose. Whether or not they made it down in time to save him I do not know.

Not a bad hike, but not my favorite one, either. Even though I don't have pictures of it, I don't think I'll do it again anytime soon. Instead, I'll save my energies for the most popular hike in Utah: Mount Timpanogos. I'll be doing it this weekend.

I'm finally back

I've finally repaired the problem with my hard drive, and BobG's helpful advice notwithstanding it was indeed a dead hard drive. So I got myself a new 160 gb drive and with some help from a co-worker I'm up and running now.

And have no fear, El-ahrairah, I will make it to the Second Annual Salt Lake City Moonbat Convention. As I was able to squeeze the last one into my lunch break, there's no way I'd miss this one. Not with the opportunity to see Saint Cindy, Our Lady of Perpetual Moonbattery. So expect to see some great pictures showing calm, sophisticated and nuanced arguments against US military involvement in Iraq.

Ah, who am I kidding? It'll be a wild-eyed orgy of rhetorical excess, with outlandish and factually-suspect political statements supported by an army of strawmen. Great entertainment for everyone except Leftists, who will fume over the fact that no one takes them seriously anymore.

St. Cindy protesting President Bush in Utah and I won't be there. Rats!

With nothing else better to do before the long Labor Day weekend, St. Cindy will join Salt Lake Mayor Rock-Head Anderson and other assorted moonbats and anit-war activists to protest President Bush's visit to Salt Lake City to address the American Legion convention at the end of August. Unfortunately, I won't be there to photoblog this momentous occasion in the annals of liberal stupidity. Hopefully the Cap'n can take some photos like he did last year and post them for all to see. Maybe he'll even get a chance to be lucky enough to get close enough to St. Cindy (Our Lady of Liquid Fasting and Perpetual Protesting) to take of photo of her and himself protesting the eeeevvvviiiiilllll that is President George Bush. Or maybe he could sneak one of her and Rock-Head Anderson blowing each other protest kisses at the Federal Building. Well, whatever he could do would be great since the moonbats decided that they could only protest in Utah when the Great El-ahrairah isn't around. Something to do with not wanting to arouse my righteous indignation. FEAR ME, MOONBATS OR ELSE!!!!

Another screaming example of liberal acitvism at work

If you are someone who likes the taste of fois gras, don't bother going to Chicago to order some. Thanks to liberal do-gooders and other animal rights activists, Chicago will be banning the French delicacy starting August 22nd. All the Great El-ahrairah can say is when the inmates run the asylum, what would you expect? People complain about conservative do-gooders who want to ban cigarettes and alcohol, but at least these substances have been shown to be harmful to man. Liberals would rather ban fois gras because it's harmful to geese. What's next, chicken? Oops, I spoke too soon. Fortunately, I don't think Pam's "explicit video" will be showing up on Internet porn sites.

A Utah Sports Wrap-up

August 12th saw three get events in Utah Sports history.

1. The Real Salt Lake stadium deal was approved and David Beckham and his metrosexual hair et al were there to break the ground. Will it be called the House that Becks Built? Of course, the famous Utah saying "This is the place" was over-used, but at least we have a soccer stadium. I thought they should have selected the old Geneva Steel site in Utah county for the stadium and changed the name of the team to the Utah Highlanders SC. We could have had William Wallace of "Braveheart" come out before the game with his face painted white and blue on a horse bearing a Scottish claymore to whip the fans into a good soccer frenzy by stating that the English would "never take our freedom".

2. Real Salt Lake lost to Real Madrid 2-0 in a friendly before 45+ fans. I was hoping for a better score, but hey, at least they didn't loose 4-1 like Red Bull New York did to FC Barcelona.

3. The final stage of the Tour of Utah was held and the local boy, Jeff Louder of the HealthNet cycling Team wasn't able to hold his lead going into the final stage and lost it to a fellow HealthNet rider, Scott Moninger. When I read that the Tour of Utah was the "toughest road race in the United States", I thought that that may be true, but after looking at the stages, I couldn't really see where that came from. If the toughness of a road race is measured by how many riders finish the race, then the Tour of Utah is what they say it is. Of 105 riders who started, only 54 finished the race, or just over 50%. Normally, the Tour de France, which lasts for 20 to 21 days, will drop around 25% of it's riders over the course of the race (this year, 20 riders did not finish out of 139 contestants), so dropping half of your riders over only 6 days shows just how tough the race was. The last stage up to Snowbird saw 17 riders fail to finish the 91-mile stage, so if your idea of a good bike race is dropping riders right and left, then the Tour of Utah is for you.

%#$^*@&)(#$)#*%&^#@%!!!!!

For those wondering where I've been, I have a good excuse: My computer's hard drive is gone. I writing this on a laptop.

The trouble started last week when my computer started acting funny. I had just installed a new game for my son, and the computer began to run very slowly. I thought it was the software, and my suspicions seemed to be confirmed when the program wouldn't let any other game program run, and it wouldn't let me uninstall it, either.

When I tried to hike blog about my recent hike up Mount Olympus in Utah, I couldn't enter anything on blogger. Unfortunately, if the hard drive is gone, so is my record of Mount Olympus, too.

I'm not sure when I'll be back. I have to find out how much a new drive costs and if that is even the problem. But since the computer refuses to boot up now and gives me a "disc error" message every time I try, I'm pretty sure that's what it is.

On August 12, the world will stop turning

For all fans of "round" football, this Saturday, August 12, the world will stop turning as one of the big European football powerhouses, Real Madrid, comes to Salt Lake to play Real Salt Lake in an exhibition game.

The European leagues are getting ready to start play again, and this is a pre-season warm up for "Los Galacticos" against a team that will provide them some competition, but not enough to mess up David Beckham's perfectly coiffed hair. Unfortunately, the Great El-ahrairah cannot attend the game since he is stuck in pizza & pasta land, but he will be there in spirit (and hopefully by internet) to see "Los Galaticos" get thumped by Salt Lake.

Will Salt Lake rise to the occasion. If you look at the game with critical eye, on one side, you have Real Madrid with some of the most highly-paid soccer players on the planet. David Beckham makes more money in one game that the cost of the entire payroll of Real Salt Lake for the year. They are always at the top of the Spanish league, having won the Spanish championship 29 times.

On the other hand, Salt Lake is at the bottom of the MLS standings and is having a less-than-stellar season. Although this game maybe a interesting diversion for Real Madrid, it is much more than that for Real Salt Lake. When a player's career is over, he will be able to look back on this game and brag about how he stole the ball from the great David Beckham. If he scores a goal, he could just die and go to heaven right there. With the fact that Chelsea FC from the English Premier League lost to the MLS All-Stars on Saturday, I would think that Real Salt Lake would be highly motivated to win against Real Madrid and would go all out to take them down a notch. Think the 1980 US Hockey Team "Miracle on Ice" but at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

More children seeking attention

A quick article in the SL Tribune reminded me of something that was so important that I had forgotten about it. Back in 2004 during the run up to the presidential elections, Michael Moore was invited to speak at Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah. Now one of the students responsible for the invitation has written a book to describe in all the gory details the behind-the-scenes "intrigue" which accompanied Mr. Moore's visit. Just what the world needs, another book written by some liberal arts looser whose life rotates around the college campus and who feels the need to "shake up the status quo".

Well, there's always the Tour of Utah

Floyd Landis' other urine sample came back positive for testosterone, so it looks like he was drugged up when he won the Tour de France. The sample in question was the urine sample that was taken after the 17th stage where Landis shaved 8 minutes off his time to get back into contention for the yellow jersey.

When I first heard of this, I thought that the French were just being "pissy" because they lost and they had to find something to disqualify Landis. Now, after all that I have read in the MSM, it seems that he was on something. However, I have also read that testosterone is not a preformance-enhancing drug, but something that would hurt his performance more than help. But, because the internet is like the MSM (both unregulated), you need to wait a bit until the truth bubbles up thru the fecal material to the surface. So, this could be as it seems, a straight doping case, or it could be another sinister, French plot to discredit any American cyclist because they are still pissed that none of their riders are worth anything. Time will tell.

In the meantime, the Tour of Utah starts tomorrow and race promoters are touting the last stage of the six-stage race, Stage 6, as the toughest climb in America. So, all is not lost for American cycling fans. You can forget your troubles by watching the Tour of Utah and take solace that Team Discovery has signed Levi Leipheimer, a Montana native, but a Rowland Hall-St. Mark's graduate/one-time University of Utah student to their team for next year. How many femto-seconds until the French "discover" that he takes "performance-enhancing" drugs is still up to debate.