The Deseret Spectacle

It's Alive!!!!

2008-10-11T10:09:00.003-06:00

Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle

Watching this clip today it appears that McCain is having second thoughts on what he has created.

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.

Marshall
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Palin has national security experience because...

2008-09-21T20:04:00.003-06:00

Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle

Drum roll please...Alaska is close to Russia. Wow, you seriously can not make this stuff up.

Oh and Palin stopped over at Ireland once too for refueling. Evidently that counts too as foreign relations in Republican fantasy land. Another McCain/Palin LIE! This is getting beyond stupid.

Marshall
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Paul Krugman - another liberal that was right

2008-09-21T11:22:00.006-06:00

Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle

I haven't bought Prof. Krugman's book yet watching him this week destroy Republican ideology that got us in this mess has been amazing.

Krugman also has a pretty good blog that I follow pretty closely - http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com

Marshall
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Thank you John McCain

2008-09-20T08:53:00.002-06:00

Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle

Marshall
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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McCain = Lies

2008-09-13T08:46:00.001-06:00

Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle

Selling your soul for the presidency has its costs. Truth being one of them.

Marshall
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Go Vote

2008-09-11T18:54:00.001-06:00

Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle

Seriously people!!!!!

Marshall
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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FOX is WRONG!

2008-08-16T10:16:00.000-06:00

Layton, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle

Marshall
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Rob Bishop running to be the Energy Solutions congressman

2008-07-23T21:49:00.001-06:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle

What does 28 thousand dollars buy? Evidently a Congressman minus a soul. Morgan lays out who he will be working for.

Awesome job Morgan. Bishop has stopped working for us a long time ago.

ht - SideTrack

Marshall
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Video - Fox News and Push Polling

2008-07-21T08:59:00.003-06:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle

Keith Olbermann discusses Fox News' increasing use of "push polls" to influence public opinion during polling. I'm shocked - Shocked! - that they would do such a thing.

DS
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Video - Olbermann: More on Illegal Signing Statements

2008-07-17T20:08:00.002-06:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle

It is not the job of the President to interpret the law, and it is not within his authority to rewrite it based upon some insane notion of the Unitary Executive. He has one - and only one - Constitutional authority granted to him in this arena, which is a Presidential veto.

The sheer number of Constitutional infractions by President Bush is dizzying and the damage he has done to this Country and the principles it was founded upon will last for generations.

DS
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Video - Karl Rove gets Owned by Colmes?

2008-07-17T19:22:00.007-06:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle

Karl Rove is usually a pretty cool character. This is one of the few times I've seen him get this flustered.

I'm not sure who this moron is who's sitting in for Hannity, but he is equally repulsive. "The Supreme Court has thrown an unholy mess onto the elapse of the administration with this - it's decision." It is stunning that upholding Habeas Corpus - a principle which predates the founding of this country and is considered pivotal to a free society - is being condemned by the right.

What is unprecedented here is the idea that the President is not bound by the law, the Constitution, treaties or tradition, and may detain anyone, for any reason, with them having no recourse, solely by declaring them an "enemy combatant." It may take a Democrat in office before Republicans rediscover the Constitution and get on board with upholding the law.

In theory, the President is supposed to be bound by the law, just like the rest of us. One is reminded of the Nixon scandal, when he famously stated that "When the President does it, it is not against the law." It can be argued that the whole idea of the Constitution is restrain and check power, so that nightmares like the Bush administration might be prevented. The sheer weight of Republican dishonesty, immorality and corruption is testing it to its breaking point.

Rove squirms under Colmes unusual backbone, pressing the point of whether or not war has been declared - a power granted exclusively to the Congress. Has war been declared? No. It hasn't. That is why Rove is floundering all over the place to rephrase a declaration of war as an "authorization of force," which Constitutionally, is not the same thing. Just as the "War on Drugs" is not a declared war, nor is the "War on Terror." This is an extremely important point. When war is declared, the Executive is granted extraordinary latitude for a finite period of time. This is precipitated upon the idea that the country is under a grave threat which will end.

The President and his cronies want to muddy this idea until we are in a perpetual state of war, with the Executive ruling by edict - the very definition of a dictatorship.

In any event, it's amusing to watch as Rove lapses into repeating talking points. They are, of course, typical, nauseating, Republican sophistry.

DS
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Glenn Beck: Che Guevara T-Shirts are the Real Problem

2008-07-17T17:20:00.004-06:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2008 - The Deseret Spectacle

Glenn Beck, in his on-going efforts to lay claim to the crown of right-wing idiocy, wrote a riveting opinion piece on one of the great threats of our time. What is this looming force of darkness which Mr. Beck has rooted out for our consideration? Che Guevara T-Shirts. That's right. America's crack team of far-right punditry has once again focused us on the really important issues that we never knew existed. From the CNN article:

That's right, the same T-shirts you see Hollywood celebrities, starving pseudo-artists and confused hipster teens wearing around local coffee shops. To all those who decide that you want to be coffee house communist-chic, remember this: When you are wearing a Che T-shirt, you're wearing the same shirt that makes terrorists believe you're just one of the gang. I hope that latte is tasty.

Oh Glenn! You and your butter-knife sharp wit! Thanks to your formulaic sarcasm I'm sure those latte-sipping liberals are all dropping their heads in collective shame. He continues..

"This is a history of a failure" is how he himself described his efforts in the Congo. He was killed in Bolivia, trying to fire up another failure of a war. Earlier, he even managed to drop his gun and shoot himself in the face.

Well, if there's one thing I hate, it's people who are complete failures at starting wars. I prefer those guys who successfully wage wars which result in hundreds of thousands or millions of civilian casualties. Who do we know that fits that description?

But more important than his incompetence is the fact that the man was a mass killer.

Thanks for steadying us all with that tidbit of sobering wisdom, Glenn.

With the exception of the fact that Che killed a lot more people, what's the difference? You shouldn't be wearing an "I heart abortion clinic bombers" T-shirt, and if you have any respect for humanity, you shouldn't be wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt, either.

Right. You should be circuitously defending the actions of abortion clinic bombers, not wearing non-existent T-shirts which leave no doubt as to your ideals. Obfuscation and moral/intellectual ambiguity is the motto of the modern-day conservative, after all.

sigh.

Glenn, you incompetent hack. Are you really equating respect for humanity with not wearing an article of clothing? Call me crazy, but I think you lost your moral authority when you equivocated over whether water boarding was torture or not. I mean, when did that even become a question? We've gone decades without what qualifies as "torture" being called into question. And then with the arrival of President Bush and his band of integrity-deficient Neocons, suddenly it's a big gray area?

Look, this isn't a defense of Che, this is a refocusing on genuine evils and real consequences. Consequences of the actions taken by our leaders, defended religiously by loons like Mr. Beck. I suspect that the families and friends of those hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's who have died in the war Mr. Bush waged - based entirely on "factual inaccuracies" (A nice way of saying 'lies') - hardly care what noble (and constantly changing) reasons precipitated it.

Try to stomach that. Hundreds of thousands dead. Millions displaced. Approaching a trillion dollars of debt stacked on the shoulders of an ailing economy and a dollar which has nose-dived almost since day-one of the Bush Presidency.. Was killing Saddam and replacing him with a largely ineffectual, whining government really worth it? I guess that's a question for history, but I doubt it's of any question to the millions of people in Iraq who have lost their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children, etc, to a bloody war justified with lies and waged with criminal incompetence.

Now why were we discussing Che Guevara again?

DS
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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McClellan vs O'Reilly

2008-06-11T19:12:00.002-06:00

More of the interview
DS
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Take this job and shove it.

2008-04-25T18:09:00.000-06:00

Layton, Utah - ©2007 - The Deseret Spectacle

Marshall
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Pay your damn people Hillary

2008-02-23T19:41:00.003-07:00

Layton, Utah - ©2007 - The Deseret Spectacle

I always thought I would support Hillary in the general but this just pisses me off to no end.

My mom owns a cleaning business and hearing the guy that owned that cleaning business talk about getting the run around from the Hillary campaign cuts deep, real deep...too deep. I have had to do collections for my mom and it is no fun. This is down right disgraceful and pathetic.

Right now I feel like if Hillary wins the nomination I won't be lifting a finger for her and I might not even vote, I will stay home, got that Hillary, pay your damn people.

Marshall
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Erick Erickson can kiss my ass

2008-02-15T22:12:00.006-07:00

Layton, Utah - ©2007 - The Deseret Spectacle

The following is the reason that progressives are so much more organized on the internet according to Erick Erickson, a Republican blogger.

Erick Erickson... conceded that progressives currently enjoy an advantage over conservatives online—though he attributed it to an asymmetry in free time, since conservatives "have families because we don't abort our kids, and we have jobs because we believe in capitalism."

Here is a screen shot of my time card this week.

My wife worked similar hours this week, so between the two of us we have worked 100+ hours this week but this is what it takes to live comfortably in America. Republicans want to talk about the strain on the family, there it is but I digress.

Erick Erickson is the same idiot that runs a half baked Republican blog that is suppose to be the rights version of daily kos. He whined that the liberals that run daily kos wouldn't show him how to setup a load balancing server cluster so his site kept crashing. How is it that liberals can figure this stuff out? It must be because we are all lazy and don't have jobs...right or is it because our knuckles don't drag on the ground...either way Erick Erickson can kiss my ass.

ht - Zablanc

Lazy Liberal Blogger
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Homeless Veterans

2008-02-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2007 - The Deseret Spectacle

I am thinking about giving my tax "stimulus" to a homeless veterans charity. Wonder what O'Reilly is doing with his?

Of course the only media person on the case is Olbermann.

Marshall
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Faux Noise caught using the same "focus group" to pump McCain.

2008-01-07T06:04:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2007 - The Deseret Spectacle

You will see the same people three months ago in this video at around 3:46.

And again yesterday in this video at around 1:44.

Creating the news since the mid 90s...that is Faux Noise

Marshall
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Operation change for the better

2008-01-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2007 - The Deseret Spectacle

Marshall
Layton, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Video - John McCain's Mom Loses Him The Mormon Vote - YW

2007-11-12T01:34:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2007 - The Deseret Spectacle

"Mom, all you had to do was sit there and look old so I looked young. But no. You couldn't do that, could you. You couldn't just say the others weren't as experienced as I was.. You had to go and friggin' piss off the whole Mormon population. You know, this is why I had to go into counseling, Ma."

"Oh shut up, ya pansy. Those Mormons up there are corrupt and everyone knows it."

"Damnit, Ma."

"Watch yer mouth!"

DS
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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The "Your Side Sucks Too" Defense

2007-11-11T21:46:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2007 - The Deseret Spectacle

In the comment section of the last post, Political Spy Glass had this to say:

Do you really think the Democrats are any different. The liberal left whack jobs that now control the DCCC shows that polarization goes both ways.

Jason The broadened the question a bit for me by separating the base from the leadership:

This difference is the Republican BASE is polarized (i.e. there is no longer a republican base)

That's why we'll be winning the elections, while the Republicans flounder like 13 year olds going through a puberty induced identity crisis.

The most interesting thing about this is PolySpy's argument is that it had nothing to do with my post. I hear it frequently though. A Republican or a Democrat is blasted for something they've done, and the strange defense of "Well, your side is just as bad" springs up. It's an interesting phenomenon to assume that criticism of a Republican makes you a die-hard Democrat, or vice-versa.

I have no hesitance criticizing Democrats.

This particular comment caught me at a strange time, actually. At the moment, I'm furious with the Democrats. If they did nothing else, I would have been thrilled they were voted into office if they would have restored some of the checks and balances of the Constitution, and affirmed the supremacy of the Constitution over the tenuous assertions by Executive that its powers were limitless during this, their interminable "war on terror." A few things I've seen them do have given me hope. More things have demoralized me greatly.

Their confirmation of Michael Mukasey as Attorney General wreaks of political cowardice and failure of duty. In Attorney General Mukasey we had a man - a sitting judge for over a decade - who refused to make a moral judgment on whether water boarding was torture, and openly contended the President wielded plenary power on a "battlefield" which he claimed may very well cover the entire earth. After all we've been through, rejecting this nominee should have been a no-brainer.

Before the last break, they expanded Executive authority while eliminating any meaningful oversight. Now they're making noises that they will cave in and provide retroactive immunity for telecommunication giants who violated the law.

Oh, and they'd also like to turn the justice department into an enforcement arm of intellectual property holders, suing file-sharers, seizing property, and turning over proceeds to members of the RIAA, MPAA and other such organizations. Which is good, because, you know it's not like the DoJ has anything else to do.

There are good ones on both sides of the aisle. The rest? Let's throw them all out.

DS
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Experiment with Short Post explaining Republican Slime

2007-11-10T02:40:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2007 - The Deseret Spectacle

I think I write too much sometimes. I look at other blogs, and they often consist of just two or three paragraphs, so here's a shot:

-----------------------

Ever wonder why you see all of these Republican candidates like John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, (all front-runners) who used to be at least quasi-respected moderates, abandon all principle and integrity to flip-flop in whatever direction their hateful, radically religious conservative base demands them to.

The Republican Leadership doomed the credibility of their party when they, along with neoconservatives and PNAC loyalists deliberately fused Christianity and Political ideology in order to secure a rabid, unflinching base which they could build into a blank check and blind eye while these people pursued their radical agendas.

They succeeded, but now they find themselves left with a polarized religious base where uncontested, incontrovertible proof is summarily dismissed by bizarre, simplistic rationalizations if the proof it inconvenient to their religiously-entangled political beliefs.

There. That's all I'm going to write. And let me tell you. It's hard. But I'm trying.

DS
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Attempting to Attach Ron Paul's Integrity to the Smoldering Remains of "Republican Credibility"

2007-11-10T02:22:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2007 - The Deseret Spectacle

I found some random blog which had a whole slew of bizarre posts to respond to. The first one I read concerned Ron Paul. "Ron Paul Fights for Liberty-oriented Republican Party" From the article:

"Ron Paul is one angry Republican. Get him started on America's skyrocketing debt, illegal immigration, secret wiretapping or border security and he wags his finger, his voice rising as the words come out in furious bursts."

Well, all of those things make me angry, but whenever I've seen Ron Paul, he seems like a well-tempered, reasonable, articulate man. He seems like a statesman. In fact, it is the rest of that sad Republican crew of Presidential hopefuls who consistently stink of mock outrage and righteous indignation and "Look at how war-hungry a Jesus-Loving, Uzi-Packing Bad Ass I am???".

Ron Paul likes to make one thing perfectly clear: he is a Republican.

He does? You'd think him showing up at the Republican debates would have cleared that up. And frankly, outside of the Republican debates, where they're all trying to out-crazy each other to appeal to their chicken-killer religious-nut-job base, I don't see a whole lot of Republicans wearing their Republicanism proudly at all.

Yes, he abandoned the Republican Party and ran as the Presidential Candidate of the Libertarian Party twenty years ago in 1988, but who hasn't had a few youthful transgressions? He quickly saw the folly of 3rd party politics and returned to the party nurtured by the spirit of Ronald Reagan and Thomas Jefferson.

No subject is seemingly unrelated enough that a Republican can't somehow invoke the exploited corpse of former President Ronald Reagan. *suppresses gag reflex*

Folly? No, there is no folly in 3rd party politics. There is a travesty in regards to 3rd party politics, as we are reminded of the death-grip the two party system has on us all.

Of course Ron Paul is an angry Republican. The Republican Party hasn't left him. The Republican Party has turned left ... and Ron Paul doesn't like it.

*sigh* There it is. One more Republican who is literally incapable of accepting responsibility for the failings of their party. The Republicans didn't turn left, they turned corrupt. It has never been a Democratic principle to endow the Executive with plenary, unchecked, interminable "wartime" powers. It has never been a Democratic principle to suspend Habeas Corpus in direct and obvious violation of clearly state language in the Constitution of the United States of America. Is has not been a principle of Democrats to established massive programs approving warrantless domestic surveillance, including who knows what else. Under the last Democratic administration, we lowered the national debt and established a surplus.

I encourage you to go read the whole, awful, thing and then review the questions I would ask the author:

Dear Republican in Denial,

Have you considered the possibility that Republican corruption, betrayal of the Constitution and astounding incompetence in managing civil and military affairs is their failure alone?

The elaborate acrobatics weaving dubious, barely plausible explanations which blame others for their mistakes are increasingly nauseating, pathetic, and ineffective.

Republicans still seem utterly incapable of taking responsibility for their moral failures and shocking incompetence, both home and abroad. They, and their die-hard supporters, still - still cannot help but instinctively point the finger at the Democrats, the secularists, immigrants and of course, the favorite and most often used Republican bogyman, the mythical "liberal media." Booga booga!

When I saw Ron Paul in the Republican debates, he struck me by his honesty, sincerity, and integrity.

It was these things which separated him from the other Republican candidates, and sadly, most of the Democratic candidates as well.

You think it's good for the Republicans that people are registering Republican to vote for Ron Paul?

Unless you think they're all inexplicably straight-party-ticket-voting types, who will stay loyal to the Republican party even without Ron Paul on the ticket, I wouldn't bank on it. Ron Paul is an anomaly within the Republican party, not a representative attraction.

In fact, the people who registered Republican to vote for Ron Paul will likely further induce the confusion, resentment and disarray which is already infecting the base of the Republican party.

People like Ron Paul invoke enthusiasm and loyalty because he is a man of integrity, not because he is a Republican. In fact, he enjoys support despite his association with the Republican party.

During the last seven years, the Republican "brand" has been sullied by the ceaseless parade of scandal and corruption wreaking of hypocrisy and astonishing deceit. Throw in their general incompetence and being Republican isn't something too many are proud of these days.

Ironically, it is his integrity which virtually ensures he will not be chosen as the candidate of the Republican party.

Until Republicans truly return to the principles they once claimed, and elect politicians with the integrity to sustain them, they will continue to rely upon deceit and other slanderous propaganda for their political victories.

DS
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Overstock.com CEO Byrne Thinks Utahns are Idiots for Rejecting Vouchers

2007-11-07T04:04:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2007 - The Deseret Spectacle

Caught this little gem on TV last night. Strangely, as much as I've read about Byrne, I can't recall seeing him on video. In any event, I took an instant disliking to him, and had to suppress my gag reflex when he chortled and quoted Beowulf:

"Yes, we are with overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, Uh, Patrick, you've put your money where your mouth was in this campaign - two million bucks worth - umm - how are you feeling tonight?"

*crowd cheers*

"*laughs* Well, *chortles* you know, the..*laughs again* there's a line in Beowulf that goes, 'Fate often saves the undoomed warrior if his courage endures.' This fight ain't over. There's a couple of percent in, there's the vouch.. er.. the absentee ballot; the fights not over, I'm very anxious to see how the night turns out."

Alright, I suppose that's all fine and good. Maybe he's just one of those pompous, psuedo-intellectual asses. You know, the kind that thinks quoting an ancient text on a 30-second news spot will really reach out to potential voters and rally the troops at HQ. But the next exchange was much more interesting:

"Win or lose, do you feel like you've accomplished something, do you think you've sent a message."

"Not enough, actually. I think that this is basically a state-wide IQ test, and I'm very interested to see whether Utah passes or fails the IQ test."

"And you're not done with the fight then.."

*Chortles* "No, no this is just the beginning."

Well, as of almost midnight, it looks like 67% of us morons are rejecting vouchers and thus failing the all-knowing Byrne's IQ test. At least he can take comfort in knowing that at least 33% of us aren't total idiots, and I'm sure he'll find some comfort in the band of sycophants which have elevated him to minor deity status.

Did I pass? Sadly, no. But at least I exist within the same hellish ignorance and stupidity that so many of my fellow citizens must struggle to function within.

In closing, My Byrne's: You're a condescending schmuck and I'm glad you lost. However, in an attempt to meet you half way, here's a final passage from the much more enjoyable book "Grendel," a contemporary retelling of Beowulf from the perspective of the monster. My ode to you, sir:

"A little poetic, I would readily admit. His manner of speaking was infecting me, making me pompous. "Nevertheless," I whispered crossly-..but I couldn't go on, to conscious all at once of my whispering, my eternal posturing, always transforming the world with words, changing nothing ..... Spinning a web of words, pale walls of dreams, between myself and all I see."

DS
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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Voting Day - It's Here

2007-11-06T03:53:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake City, Utah - ©2007 - The Deseret Spectacle

If you're unsure where you're registered to vote, go here for information on your polling location and your ballot. Just for the record, this thing will not recognize you if your address is even one character off, so if doesn't recognize you once or twice, keep trying a few different combinations.

Happy Voting! I hope you're making an informed decision. The two big ones for me are, of course, Vouchers and SLC Mayor. I will be voting against Referendum Number 1 and the spineless, lying cowards who have been running their ads painting us local residents who support stronger schools instead of fractured, religious, indoctrination centers as "east coast liberal unions trying to make parental decisions for Utah children. Being born and raised a Utahn, without ever belonging to a union, I take a little offense at that.

Considering their egregious lack of integrity when campaigning for their position and the inescapable conclusions of what vouchers will wind up costing us (to you who insist it will save us money, grow the hell up. We'll spend millions of dollars defending it on multiple Constitutional fronts. And to the rest of you who pretend like it's about parental choice: give me a break. This is about using taxpayer money to indoctrinate the less fortunate of our society into an ideologically corrupted, unholy pseudo-religious Christian/Republican voting block.

So I will be voting Against on Citizens' State Referendum Number 1.

In the race between Ralph Becker and Dave Buhler, I have wound up determined to support Ralph Becker. This wasn't really that hard, actually, particularly after I heard on NPR SL City Councilman VanTurner back Buhler with reasons which seemed to segue into an admission that he owed him political favors and Buhler had called them in.

I think that Becker will have the best luck in balancing what is sure to be increasing tension between the west and east side, and frankly, that is much more important than trying to bridge the gap between the Salt Lake Democrats and the Republicans in the rest of the state that throw tantrums that they don't have absolute control over a portion of the state, which frankly, has never quite managed to engender my sympathy. Ah well.

Finally, the fact that Buhler seems to be a buddy of the cable industry, as Part of the Plan pointed out, pretty much seals his fate to me.

Finally, on City Proposition Number 1, I will be voting FOR the issuance of special bonds to fund the acquisition of property and construction of facilities for police and firefighters. I do this somewhat grudgingly, with the nagging question always picking at me, asking myself "Where has all the money gone that this President has demanded our country mortgage our future for in the name of national defense. Where the hell did all the money go which was supposed to support our first responders? This bond is for just short of $200 million. In the next couple of years, we will be approaching a trillion dollars spent in Iraq in Afghanistan, a decent chunk of which we simply have not accounted for - and enough that it could have funded these facilities for every state in the union.

If you own property at about the 300k mark, you'll wind up paying somewhere around another $175 a year. And although no one is overly fond of taxes, and even though I find myself occasionally irritated or concerned by the actions of police, (particularly if I'm receiving a ticket,) I am always reminded that whenever I have called on the fire department or the police - and I have had to do both more than once - they were there. Give them what they need. Hell. Give them what they want.

That is a brief summary of my reasoning. I hope you find your own and participate in the Democratic process of our great Republic! Have a fantastic election day!

DS
Salt Lake City, Utah
The Deseret Spectacle is in no way related to the Deseret Morning News.
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