Wonderful Christmas Story

I would encourage all of you to read this. The high school in this story, Grapevine, is just a few minutes to the northwest of one of my areas in Texas, Frisco. Anyway, its a great story, reminds me of the movie Gridiron Gang, which I liked and recommend.

Wolverine. Thats right, he is awesome.

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE HD


So, as some of you may know, Wolverine is the coolest superhero ever. So he isn't the most powerful, thats fine. (the most powerful is clearly Professor X, Jimmy).

Anyway, this movie looks great. I am glad that they decided to ignore the fact that they ruined Sabertooth in the original X-Men movie (one of many, many complaints I have with that movie). I am also glad that Marvel got to write this story, instead of a bunch of idiots who have Hollywood stuffed shirts telling them what they can and can't do. Marvel has its own movie studios now, and we get such winners as Iron Man and The Hulk this last year. Soon to have Captain America, Thor, and The Avengers. Its a great time to be a geek.

Anyway, this movie looks great, I'm excited for it.

And, speaking of movies, Alisa and I just watched The Greatest Game Ever Played. It was quite good. I was impressed. Shia Lebouf stars, and it has a pretty good supporting cast. I especially liked the guy who played Harry Vardon (british golfer), he also played Thomas Jefferson in the recent John Adams miniseries, and the british guy who discovers the soccer player in Goal!

Good movie, I recommend it The Greatest Game Ever Played ***

Hold the freaking phone.

So, wait a minute, I just read that the State of Utah has a rainy day fund in excess of 400 million dollars. The governor is planning on slashing the budget, in these bad times by 300+/- million dollars resulting in the loss of at least hundreds, if not thousands of jobs. I'm sorry, does the government have a different definition of rainy day than I currently have?

I would think, the last thing anyone would want in a time of economic turmoil, and lost tax revenue, would be less people working and paying taxes into the system. While I am in no way saying that budget cuts aren't appropriate, why are there people who are saying the rainy day fund should be left alone....are we envisioning worse than this????

If there is a way to trim the fat, and keep as many people employed as possible by both cutting budgets and dipping into the rainy day fund, isn't that the smartest move?

I think back to the Great Depression, we got out of that by employing as many people as possible. Cutting jobs, and leaving a giant pile of money alone for 'real troubled times' seems to be the stupidest possible idea right now in the state. And for full disclosure, yes I am employed by the state, no I don't think my job is in too much trouble, but yes I know several people in my office who are legitimately worried for their jobs. Putting them out, when there is no market currently for them to get new jobs, doesn't help us out of the current budget/economic crises. I know that sometimes there just aren't any options, lay offs have to happen, its sad, its regrettable, but it is absolutely necessary. But, if the state has money, that has specifically been squirreled away for a time when there are big problems that some extra cash could be used to help, isn't now exactly one of those times? Does anyone disagree?

Why the U is a crappy school for Anthropology.

I just saw this article on KSL (I also heard it on the news this morning, then read it, and then read the article about the 'study').

I already had a pretty low opinion about the U's Anthro department. In the nature of full disclosure, let me just say, I graduated from Weber with a degree in Anthropology, and feel their department was stellar, because the professors there were more interested in teaching, and being available to the students then they were in their own aggrandizement.

But, besides the problems I have with the 'anthropology' taught at the U (Alisa took several classes in it after we were married, I was less than impressed), this so called study is some of the worst anthropological 'research' I have ever seen.

It seems clear that the woman came up with her thesis, that anthropologically hourglass figures for women are worse, and then went about 'proving' it with some very sloppy pseudo-science, conjecture, and leaps of logic. Apparently, not being curvy, or hippy, makes you better able to deal with stress, and means you are stronger, and not submissive to men. Okay......

Generalizations aside, this just puts a stain on Anthropology, which many people already think is assumptions based on unproveable theories. I love anthropology and find it bar none the most fascinating of any intellectual area, but this stuff was just crap.

Why, Utah Legislature, why?

Riding in to work today, I heard a new story about our esteemed Chris Buttars. If you don't know who that is, it is too long to go into, suffice it to say he is the biggest joke/embarrassment of a state representative possible. I do not understand how he keeps winning his re-election bids, but that old man will not die (figuratively....or literally, either would solve the problem).

His most recent storm of genius comes in the form of a proposed non-binding resolution telling businesses to use the term Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. Now, ignoring for the moment the fact that there may well be many business owners that are not Christian and may celebrate various holidays religious or otherwise during this time, a non-binding resolution is just that......non-binding. It has no authority. Its basically an issued opinion, not legislation.

Non-binding resolutions are the worst form of pandering. They waste time, they accomplish nothing, and they usually are about subjects that are either unconstitutional, or unpopular, hence the fact that legislators will not actually pass legislation on them.

This kind of stupidity goes on at all levels, things like resolutions honoring the World Series Champ and the like. They are annoying. But this one is not as innocuous as simply a pat on the back for some sports team that did well this year. Let's return to the previously ignored points. What about a business owner who doesn't wish to alienate customers who don't celebrate christmas? Now, I for one don't see why anyone would be alienated or offended to go to a store that said Christams in big bold letters, frankly I think its stupid to be offended, but shouldn't that be the business owners call? And why should the legislature even offer an opinion on the matter?

Moving on from that, what about those business owners who themselves celebrate something else, and so in an effort to be inclusive to their own culture they choose to use the all inclusive term holidays? Why is that wrong. I don't see how that is an assault on Christmas, and vicariously on Christ. That I guess is the bottom line of my annoyance. I frankly don't think that the Savior cares one way or another about the survival of the tree filled, present giving, Jingle Bells singing holiday. A Jehovah's Witness, or Hindu that spent his year caring for the sick and needy, and giving of his substance would have more of Christ in his life than anyone who puts up a tree, slaps some lights on his house, and lavishes his family with expensive christmas presents while belting out carols about the fat man in a red suit coming to town.

Please don't misunderstand me. I love Christmas. I get super geeked out about Christmas. For my whole life it has been a time when as much family as possible came to town, we got to spend time with them doing fun things and just being together. I like the spirit of Christmas, I like the lights, I like the carols, I like the tree, yes...I even like the presents. And I don't think there is anything wrong with anyone who does love Christmas. However, there is a perceived 'War on Christmas' constantly talked about by the right wing media talking heads, people like Glenn Beck *shudder*, and Sean Hannity.

There are people who hate all things religious, and want to wipe it from the face of the earth, however, no one will ever stop Temple Square from being lit up, or any person from decking their halls with boughs of holly.

Trying to force (albeit non-bindingly) businesses to specifically wish people Merry Christmas, is just as stupid as trying to force a business to not have anything Christmas/religious during this season. Why can't someone beat him in an election.

Update: What I been watching.

So, I have seen several movies lately, not all of them new, but definitely some good ones.

Philidelphia: *** 1/2 I've seen this movie a couple times, but Alisa hadn't ever seen it, got it off of my DVR, and watched it this week. Almost anything with either Denzel Washington or Tom Hanks is going to be good, put them both in this, and it was fantastic.

On the Waterfront: ** 1/2 Also off the DVR. Wanted to see it because it is considered a classic. It was good. It has solidified in my mind the position that Marlon Brando is overrated. He is good, but I haven't seen him in anything that was great except for The Godfather, and that is really Pacino's movie.

The Chronicles of Riddick: ** (or *** 1/2 on the aweseomely bad scale). This movie has two different reviews. It could have been so much better, had they just had a writer involved. On the other hand, for awesomely bad movies, it rocks. Vin Diesel is the king of awesomely bad.

Quantum of Solace: *** 1/2 This movie was pretty awesome. I have heard some haters bagging on it, but it was pretty good. Ten times better than any of the old bond movies, which I hate. Daniel Craig is actually a bond that you feel could beat you up, unlike Timothy Dalton, who I think if he threatened me as a super villain, my only real chance of dying would be laughing myself to death.

Prop 8

I haven't really posted about this. Its volatile, and from what I have seen, there hasn't been a calm discussion about it, unless all the parties are in agreement. So, not really wanting to get into a debate/discussion, but willing if someone else wants to go there, I thought I would post this link. I was emailed this article, and thought it was incredibly good. It was written by a police detective of some 30 years in LA, and its talking about the campaign, and the protests in his precinct around the temple afterwards.

Here is the article.

After reading his post, I can't help but think that this exact situation may have been the reason for the conference talk in October about how we as a church, and as members should respond to attacks.

Hyrum

So, Hyrum wants to see his name on here. So I thought I would do this.

Veteran's Day

Its about 1am. Alisa and I just finished watching Saving Private Ryan, which she had never before seen. She had been fairly adamant that she wasn't going to watch it, I have it on video, but it was on TV, and I recorded it on our DVR. So, I got her to watch it with me tonight.

By the end of the movie, both of us had tears running down our faces. I love this movie, and the strong emotions of gratitude it gives me. I think of my own Grandpa, who spent WWII island hopping in the Pacific, and what he and those who were with him must have experienced. I think of the men who must have known that there was more than a good chance they would die when the front gates dropped on those personnel carrier watercraft on D-Day. I love those men and women who sacrificed so much to help protect the entire world, and I don't think that is overstating their contribution in the least. Though Veteran's Day is for more than just WWII, and I feel a debt of gratitude to all veteran's, I am going to more specifcally talk about that time.

I have had the opportunity to see Pearl Harbor, and go out to the Arizona Memorial. It was, without a doubt, the highlight of my trip to Hawaii. I have visited the National Memorial Cemetary of the Pacific, and felt the incredible spirit of that massive cemetary in Hawaii as well. On a statue at that cemetary is a portion of a letter written by Abraham Lincoln. It is one of the most profoundly moving statements that I have ever read. I will copy his letter here in its entirety, and bold the portion found at the cemetary.

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

A. Lincoln

One of the reasons that I love the movie Saving Private Ryan so much, is that I have an incredible desire that these sacrifices not be forgotten. And I don't mean actually wiped from history. Kids will always read about D-Day and WWII in their history books. I feel, however, that the further we move from the society of those who lived through this time, the easier it is to intellectualize the entire thing. To forget the cost on a more personal level. To truly feel the sorrow for the horror and loss that accompanied that time. Though I am quite sure that there are no WWII vets who actually read this, I write this post in honor of them. I hope that I can personally remember the importance of their sacrifice, and the obligation that I have to live so that it wasn't in vain.

Go Real

What a great season to get the new stadium. We find ourselves in the wonderful position of having one more home game here at Rio Tinto stadium. After Real played Chivas USA to a tie, thus moving into the second round of the playoffs, New York Red Bulls did us a favor, and beat Houston. This brings the Red Bulls to Rio Tinto for the Western showdown. If we win Saturday, we will play for the MLS cup in L.A.

These games are awesome, for anyone who hasn't gotten out to see one, you should try to get to this one, you won't regret it.

I was disgusted.

I turned on the TV tonight, curious about the election results. I have known for weeks that Obama would win, there was no doubt in my mind. So, as I turned it on, and saw the pollsters calling the election, it was confirmed.

Thats fine. I didn't vote for him, there are many things he stands for that I disagree with, some very strongly. All that aside, I hope that he will do at least some of the things he has promised to, though being a politician I won't hold my breath, just as I wouldn't have for McCain. I don't believe tomorrow (or late January) will see any revolutionary bipartisanship. I think the powers that be in each party will continue to publicly eviscerate one another. Nancy Pelosi won't all of a sudden quit being one of the most shrill and divisive people in America.

That being said, if he can do something about green energy, if intelligent immigration reform happens, etc. etc. all the better. I am not one who thinks the country will now hit a tailspin and fall into the depths of depravity. The guy I voted for didn't make it, its not the end of the world.

HOWEVER

I nearly threw up with the 'journalists' talking as soon as they called the election. These supposedly unbiased purveyors of information where nearly in tears, speaking of how emotional this was. And spoke of how now, we were finally able to, as a country, overcome racism. WHAT???? So, those who voted for Obama were voting for an end to racism? And those of us who voted for John McCain did it out of a deep seeded sense of hatred for the black man?

I have seen racism, some pretty awful examples while I lived in Texas. This isn't an end to racism anymore than a McCain victory would have proven we were still steeped in it. Seriously, I wanted to punch Tom Brokaw in the jaw.

Then came McCain's speech. While on the whole, I thought it was fine, I was again disturbed by how much race was brought into it. As he said that Black people should feel a special feeling of something.

So, individuals, who happen to be black, should feel more for this president that another?

I'm sorry, I am sickened by how pervasive is the idea that race has anything to do with who a person is. Until it becomes truly irrelevant, both those who espouse to fight racism, and those who are steeped in hate, will be helping it to stick around.

Legend of the Seeker

So, I am a big fan of Terry Goodkind. Love his books. They are probably my second favorite series. I got Alisa to read them, she loves them too. It was with guarded excitement that I heard that Sam Raimi had bought the rights to them and was making them into a miniseries. I have seen enough books/comic books/etc. that I have enjoyed made into movies that have been absolutely atrocious that I was gaurded in my optimism, and was fully prepared for these to be awful. Alisa, with less experience in this realm, didn't have her defenses prepared.

The first episode was on Saturday, and after returning from a great soccer game that Real won, and watching a so-so BYU game off of our DVR that BYU won, we set down to watch Legend of the Seeker, also recorded on our DVR from earlier that evening.

I don't know if words can adequately describe how truly terrible it was. I have watched some stupid stuff. I have enjoyed stupid stuff. Heck, there is a whole genre that some of us have dubbed 'Awesomely Bad' that I really enjoy, guilty pleasures if you will. This show could not have been worse. It hearkened back to the day when hollywood thought all they had to do was make a comic book movie, and they would at least get geeks to come. You know, before the time of real actors, writers, and directors being involved. When such gems as Batman & Robin, or STEEL starring Shaq came out.

I can't think of a single facet of this show that wasn't reprehensible in its mind-numbing, face melting stupidity. I couldn't hate this thing more. And I was prepared for it to suck, I feel really bad for Alisa, who really thought it was going to be good.

Clarification

So, I mentioned the hamburgler in my last post. This is how I refer to my sister Katie's boyfriend. I realize it is mostly lost on them, as they basically became conscious after the Berlin Wall fell down. So, this is who my sister is dating, except he's 6'10"

Some awesome things

So, I am going to have more of a list post here, rather than several little short ones. Its a bit of a change up, but there were several things I wanted to blog about.

Trains: First off. I love trains (not the real ones, I'm talking toys here). I always wanted a train, and never got one as a kid. Alisa rectified that a few christmas' ago. It was, of course, a rather cheap one, as I didn't have a real job yet, and nice model trains are expensive. Nevertheless, it is a really cool train. I get it out now and again, and play with it. Hyrum and Cora both got me to set it up this weekend, like I said, it isn't fancy, but we put it together, and set it to going. Needless to say, there were three childish grins watching that little toy train going around the track for a substantial amount of time. I will eventually get nicer ones, but that will always be my first train. Thanks Alisa, you rule.

Real Salt Lake. So, after a crap filled game on Saturday, with a last second goal, our soccer team is headed to its first ever playoff appearance. This saturday at Rio Tinto, be there, or be like Bryan.

Movies. So, I saw a couple of movies this last week or so. The first was The Incredible Hulk with Ed Norton. I missed it in the theater, and have wanted to see it. Luckily, Katie and the Hamburgler brought it over on Friday night and we watched it. It was really quite good, and it gave me yet another teaser glimpse at what is coming, i.e. The Avengers.

So, The Incredible Hulk ***

Then, on Saturday night, while I was missing a party at Amelia and Breanne's, I laid on the couch and watched Constantine. I am sure that many of you have no idea what that movie is. Here's the trailer. Now, I remember when this one came out, I thought it looked cool, saw that it was R, and didn't waste much more time on it. But this weekend it was on cable, and I caught it. It was actually really cool. I know I'm going to be spitting right in Bryan's cheerios, but I thought it was much cooler than Hellboy, which had at least a somewhat similar idea (fighting demons, etc., etc.).

Rio Tinto Stadium

So, last night was the home opener of Real Salt Lake's new stadium. I wish I could find a good picture, or that I had taken one myself, to give you an idea of what it was like coming in. The whole group of us went down there last night. Luckily, Will suggested that we go around the stadium and come in from the NW, which is right about where our tickets are. So we walked up the grand staircase, and when I came up over the top, I was starring lengthwise down the field, it was awesome. I felt like I was walking into some stadium in England, or Germany where they know how to watch soccer. The stadium couldn't be cooler, it was dark with the bright lights and the two great white overhangs, it was sweet. Our season tickets are like 6 rows up, about 2/3rds of the way between the goal and the corner flag along the NW baseline.

While the game left a little to be desired, would have liked a win, it was an incredible experience, and several of us were as giddy as school girls.

We have a stadium, and I own a seat in it.

Too much emotion.

I think emotions are good things. I have emotions, I ocassionaly display emotions. However, I think in the realm of politics, people should really try to set their emotions aside. You will have noticed that I have not blogged much about politics. Part of that is that no one that reads this will much comment on political things (not that I get many comments anyway, most people tell me in person they read this, I just take their word for it, as far as I know, me and one nerd named letterman are the only ones who remember it exists), and the other part is that I find myself caring less and less about politics.

Some foundational points. I don't consider myself a member/adherent/dedicant/believer in any political party. I was at one time a died in the wool republican, but can hardly muster any feeling besides disgust for that party now. And I can't follow any party so willing to stake its claim to the pro-abortion position as the democrats (not my only problem with their platform, but just a reference to one of my biggest problems with politics right now).

This election cycle, I think, has highlighted so many of the things that I dislike about politics now, but one of the overarching problems is the amount of emotion. It has really seen an escalation since Clinton was president. For some reason, a deep abiding, visceral hatred of Bill Clinton began on the right wing side (don't get me wrong, I didn't much like him, and think he is really smarmy). It fed upon itself until it was almost a religion of enmity from the right directed at all things Clinton. Funny thing is, as far as politics go, its hard to come up with too many things Clinton did, thus its hard to come up with real reasons for the hatred.

This of course was like a challenge to the Democrats/liberals, who rose admirably with their undying hatred of George W., to the point that I have a friend who will look at me and with a straight face blame the democratic legislators shortcomings on George W.. The cycle continues. People who once could agree with, or at least admit some admiration for McCain now hate him. Obama is just this side of the devil for many, and worse for a lot of the rest. And don't even mention Palin around someone planning on voting for Obama. They hate her with a passion that is usually reserved for those who have done you a personal harm, or emanating from the clinically insane. Not sure why. Disagree with her, go ahead. Think she is a horrible choice, fine. But the vehement level of animosity is amazing.

This all brings me back to my point. Too much emotion. We are not talking about choosing between someone who will save your childs life and someone who advocates running children over. This is politics. I cannot think of a decision that would be more helped in this country by a dose of reason and rationality, but that is falling further and further away from both. This is why soundbites, and scripted debates work so well in this day and age. Adherents to both can walk away claiming victory, and the candidates don't have to go to the trouble of actually giving information to the voter, because information is not what the voter desires. A pep rally is what he wants. Someone he can chant for, or hate his neighbor over.

I have a buddy at work who likes to say democracy has now failed (its more than a bit tongue in cheek, but he is trying to make a point). Now, I don't believe that. I believe our govt. (please don't bother with the definitional distinctions between what the U.S. actually has and a democracy, I know them, I get it, move on), was divinely inspired. However, it really only works in a nation of virtuous people (John Adams said that, not me).

Too often, today, people believe that they can have their moral/religious lives/selves, and also have their political selves, and their business selves, etc.. As if the different facets of their lives are and should be governened by a different set of maxims. Its a tragedy. Especially when its members of the church, who should know that all of our lives are meant to be governed by one set of maxims, and our character shouldn't have a different hat it puts on in the public sphere and the private sphere. There is no, I have to play by this set of rules because I am in the political/business world, and if I want to get stuff done and be successful, I have to play by those rules.

Anyway, this has gone on longer than I originally anticipated. But this is the kind of stuff that goes through my mind during an election cycle. Its sad, but this is how I see our current system.

Random

So, as Will was giving me a ride to the train the other night, I look over, and who is in a car right next to us. Thats right.

This is what a stroke must feel like.

Follow up on the story below.

So, the stupid attorney asked me why we were collecting child support. Again, since I had no file, I turned it around to him. Well, is there a court order? I asked. No, he said. So I said it must be an administrative order. AS THOSE ARE THE ONLY TWO POSSIBILITIES.

So, I told him I'd fax him our admin order.

I get back to the office, and guess what. No, wait for it, let it build. Roll his stupidity around in your mind for a minute and imagine what it could be......

They have 2 court orders. That's right. What's that you say, wouldn't an attorney know if his client had a DIVORCE DECREE that ordered child support, seeing as that attorney was currently in court arguing over said child support?

You would think, but just remember, lawyers are stupid.

Self-deprecation, the pinnacle of arrogance

So, I have had to deal with stupidity in other attorneys, multiple times. I have had to deal with arrogance, even more than stupidity. But, today took the cake. It was the biggest waste of time in the court ever.

I was sitting at my desk in my jeans (thats right, I wear jeans to work, every day unless I have court, take that), and the court called saying I needed to get down there ASAP because there was a hearing going on that involved us. So, I put on my emergency court clothes, and head down. No file, no referral, nothing. I don't actually have this case, and my client, the State, doesn't care in the least what happens, so you can imagine my enthusiasm to get right off to court.

When I get there, I am acosted by an attorney that is equal parts stupid, arrogant, and self-deprecating. Every single question he asks me could have been answered with a quick 5 minute phone call to the agent over this matter. But no, he prefers dealing with 'someone of my astute abilities' (at that point I dry heaved a little). Irony was, I couldn't answer any of his questions. They aren't my area, I don't know, and even more importantly, there is no conceiveable way I could have cared less. I told him *BUM BUM BUM BAH* the AGENT could answer all these questions. Through the entire thing, he keeps saying stuff like, "I know I'm not that smart, so I can't understand this, if you could explain to me ______" To which I would continue to answer, no, I don't know, you'd have to ask the agent, who actually has that information.

Here's the problem. He doesn't think he's stupid. I know he doesn't think he's stupid. So, the self-deprecation could only be one of two things. Either he a) thinks that I am stupid enough to believe him, so I will do his work for him, or b) he is fishing for compliments.

Most of the time that you run into self-deprecation, it is b. But in this case it was clearly a. He was lazy, and more than a little stupid, but he really thought if he kept up this poor me act, that I (as a sub par lawyer, I mean really, I just work for the state), would do all his work for him.

Either way, I hate self-deprecation. Its only basis is arrogance.

I'd like to stab him in the eye with something. Preferably something much larger than his ocular cavity.

Football Weekend

You may think nothing exciting is going on this weekend, since BYU has a bye, but you would be wrong. TCU is going into Norman, Oklahoma (where they have won two in a row). TCU winning this game would be the biggest win bar none for the MWC this regular season. It would catapult TCU up to at the very least, the top 15. And, should BYU beat TCU, make our bid for a BCS bowl that much stronger. I, for one, am very excited for that game. Go Hornfrogs.

Utah is playing Weber State. Now, I even went to WSU, and I think this is the worst possible homecoming game ever. Why not invite Skyline high up to play...I mean really. This is stupid. There is no reason that Utah should ever play Weber State.

Oh, and I was looking into tickets for the BYU game next weekend....YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME, the cheapest seats in Logan are 30 bucks. Explain to me how Utah State has the gall to charge more for their cheapest seats (as an uber craptastic football program), then BYU does for its cheapest seats. Seriously.

Funny.

Can't wait for it to come out.

The intelligence of the ESPN sports analysts.

MWC 5 PAC-10 0

nuff said.

And BYU 59 UCLA 0. Take that Kirk Herbstreit.

People (entities) I can't stand

I can't stand stupidity, it drives me nuts. Thus my trifecta of stupidity for the day is as follows.

Qwest

Jason Chaffetz

Glenn Beck

I can't stand these three. I could elaborate on Qwest, but I spent almost two hours on the phone with them, yet again today, finally (hopefully) getting everything resolved.

Jason Chaffetz was on Doug Wright this morning, and apparently was advocating tent cities for all the illegals we need to round up to send back home.

And Glenn Beck is a long standing hatred, that guy is a tool of the first order, but more importantly, I expect more from him than the average shmo, some may disagree, but I hold him to a higher standard, and frankly think he is the worst of a rotten lot of political talking heads.

That's it. I just really, really can't stand the trifecta.

We're through

I am taking this opportunity to announce the dissolution of a relationship that has lasted a long time, but, in the end is no longer fulfilling, or worthwhile to me.

I am officially severing all ties, actual or implied, and any and all relationships with, the Raiders organization. I have been a fan for a long time, the genesis of this is frankly, even unknown to me. I have loved the Raiders through good times and bad, but, in the end, feel that this is a toxic relationship that has nothing good for me.

I would like to say that this is an amicable separation, but it is not. I hold nothing but malice towards Al Davis. In this separation, the Raiders retain their losing seasons, and inablity to make anything resembling a good decision. I keep what dignity remains after 20+ years of being a Raider fan.

I don't yet know who I will be a fan of. I am not for bandwagoning, so I don't just want to hitch up with a lame trendy option, I also hate the Patriots. I have enjoyed the Colts the last couple of years, big Peyton Manning fan, and I really like Brett Favre. But, I don't know that I can come out and claim to be a Colts or Jets fan. If John Beck was actually going to play for Miami, then I might sign up with them (my first actual intense rooting for someone memory is rooting for the Dolphins to beat the Redskins in the Superbowl.) I would have been 4 and a half.

But, alas, as of right now, there are no such plans for Beck. So, I will float an unclaimed fan, rabid intensity awaiting an appropriate outlet. In the mean time, I will step up my hatred of the Denver Broncos to compensate. It doesn't matter if I am still a Raiders fan or not, I will forever hate the Broncos.

I........Am....Very.....Excited.

Okay, so as a previous post said, I have enjoyed the tour de France in the past, but haven't been able to get into it for a while. But, Thomas just clued me in to this story.

I hope its true, I don't care what people say about people coming out of retirement, if this happens, I will get up at 5am to watch races again. I will watch 2 hour long bike races, with wild anticipation of how it will end. I will enjoy the tour tremendously.

Astana is an interesting pick, that team is full of big names, if they all ride, I can't imagine another team even competing, the competition this year seemed really weak sauce.

And yes, I know, there are lots of people who think he's a doper, and have all their reasons, and well thought out arguments (no I don't just mean Thomas, lots of people think it.) Thats why I included the following, great commercial.

Unsatisfied.

So, BYU played again this weekend, and they won. Being 2-0 is a good place to be, and I shouldn't have anything to complain about. I am still less than satisfied so far this season. Yeah, we beat N Iowa 41-17, and yes, Max Hall and Dennis Pitta are having great years so far stat wise. But it still seems like they aren't playing up to their potential. Which is annoying, because until/unless they do, potential isn't anything but hot air.

Let's look at the UW game this last Saturday. There is no way it should have been so close. Usually rock solid Unga fumbled the ball on the one yard line, Hall threw an interception that stopped a drive we were rolling down the field to end the half with, and the defense would play great, put UW in a 3rd and long or 4th down situation, and then let them convert.

Stat wise we dominated the game, but we never put it away. We can't keep playing like that. That won't work against UCLA, in my opinion, and we would be hard pressed to get that to work on the road against TCU, or Utah. A win is a win, but we should be able to play better.

On a side note, I am getting really sick and tired of all the sports people whine about how the flag at the end of the UW game was a bad call. It wasn't, it was the right call, following the letter of the stupidest rule in all of sports. There could not be a worse rule, if you put together a committee and said, go come up with a rule more out of step with watching a sports event, they couldn't do it.

However, it is the rule. Everyone knows it is the rule, because people complain about it all the time. Everyone knows that if you throw the ball high into the air after scoring, you have broken the rule, and could get a flag. Locker knew it, he shouldn't have done it, why tempt fate?

So, to sum up......the rule is stupid, but the flag was appropriate. And its hard to complain about it as a UW fan, when your kicker got his kick blocked by a guy whose feet were not even off the ground, and his hand was straight out, instead of up.

Why both parties are stupid.

So, I found this interesting article over at MSNBC. Apparently ten senators (also known as traitors by their own parties I am sure), got together over the break to try to hammer out some sort of energy compromise. There was give on both sides, which, of course, means both sides hate it, and it is more than likely doomed to failure. I'll give you a synopsis of what the two parties dislike.

Dems:

Dems dislike the fact that it does open up more drilling, they dislike the fact that it eases restrictions on nuclear, and they dislike the fact that if it passed, they couldn't sit back and complain that the energy crisis is a reason they must be voted for, because only they can solve it.

Repugs:

The republicans dislike this bill becase it focuses money towards wind and solar, it doesn't open up as much drilling as they want, it pays for this program by repealing tax cuts to the gas and oil industries. And, probably the most asinine reason for the republicans?.....Because it takes away one of McCain's best attacks on Obama, that we need drilling and the dems are standing in the way.

So, awesome. These are the people at the helm. I couldn't disagree more with any of the above problems, and I applaud the ten (now up to 16), senators for at least trying something. I will be the first to admit that I don't know every facet of this bill (or proposed bill), and there may well be parts I don't agree with. However, that is how major legislation has to happen, compromise.

One quick note, while I am usually staunchly in the camp that raising corporate taxes just gets passed down to the consumer, I don't think that will be the case, necessarily when it comes to repealing the tax breaks for gas and oil companies. Why? Because they are already coming too close to pricing themselves out of existence. They can't raise prices much more, they would destroy the market, and usher in their own demise.

So, will eight Dem senators, and eight Repug senators who have kicked the party line be able to make a difference on energy? Maybe, but I am pretty sure the rest of them will destroy this effort to make actual changes to our energy policy, because in the end, it doesn't help either party to solve the problem.

Vaccinations

So, I know that there are people out there that have concerns when it comes to vaccinations. Some of them, I believe, are because of irresponsible research, that is then unfortunately passed on to a segment of the public that for good or bad, has their concerns about groups like the FDA. The other problem is that the dangers bandied about in these discussions carry serious repercussions, i.e. autism.

I was happy to see this article in the news. It didn't just say, man those people with concerns are crazy, a knee jerk reaction by those who believe vaccines to be perfectly safe (for the record, I think vaccines are perfectly safe, and a vital component of our society's health). This, instead, is a scientific study, with so many big names attached that the reactions were as follows:

Dr. Neal Halsey, a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins Children's Center who specializes in infectious diseases, told CNN, "They have shown the Wakefield study was incorrect." The new study shows "there's no temporal relationship between the vaccines and the gastrointestinal disorders and autism."

Dr. William Schaffner, vaccine expert and chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University, called the study results "conclusive."

Its not that I believe that anything that the FDA approves is automatically good. However, I find it highly dangerous to take the opposite stance, especially with no good evidence other than suspicion.

Odd mind wanderings

So, last night I was talking to Alisa, and I don't know how it came up, but I was thinking, they just don't advertise coffee like they used to. I remember back in the day coffee commercials were all over the place. Folger's crystals, Juan Valdez, Sanka, whatever that international thingy was were you drank it while you remembered that wonderful holiday in Paris, the one were some older son who had been gone for a long time came home on Christmas morning as a surprise, I mean they were everywhere.

I don't see coffee commercials anymore. Is it just me? Do I not watch enough T.V.? This seems odd to me. It can't be that they don't need to advertise, there are still plenty of different companies vying for that lucrative home brewed coffee dollar I would think. But I just don't see them anymore.

Weird.

Not sure exactly why this is hard to understand.

There are many things the church doesn't have a specific stance on. There are some things that the church has suggested stances on. And there are many things that the church has a specific stance on.

Now, no one is required to walk in lock step with the church. The church cannot compel one's obedience, nor does it have desire to. As it has been since the days of Joseph Smith, the church seeks to teach correct principles, and let people govern themselves. Because of this, I think some people mistakenly believe that church doctrine is somehow up for debate, or discussion, or vote. Agency doesn't mean the freedom to decide what is right, merely what one is going to do with the knowledge of what is right. You can always disagree, but your opinion doesn't change what is right and what is wrong.

On MSNBC today I read this article. It is annoying to read comments like the following:

We need a place where people can have a discussion and get information," said Laura Compton, a contributor at MormonsforMarriage.com. "And people need to know that it's not coming from an anti-Mormon place, or a gay Castro district place. It's coming from a faithful place."

Its not coming from a faithful place. Its coming from one of two places, either someone who has no problem standing in direct opposition to the public stances the church takes, or someone who just flat out does not understand how the church works.

There is a great quote by a church spokesperson in the article, its says:

"The Church, of course, recognizes and accepts that some among its very large membership may view the issue differently," Farah said in a statement."Church leaders teach important principles and invite our members to govern their lives by those principles. We do not desire to compel them, nor can we do so."

No one is compelled to believe anything. But, just because an individual decides that they do not want to stand with the brethren, doesn't mean that those aspects of doctrine can be ignored, debated, or argued over hoping to change them. Not while at the same time claiming to be a faithful member of the church.

This goes right on the list of responses by supposedly faithful members that make no sense to me with responses to Pres. Benson's talk imploring mothers to come home, and Sister Beck's talk about Mother's who know.

Can't wait

So, the new season of shows is coming out, it is looking good. I am especially
excited for The Office.




Mark had wanted to see that one, so I found it. They have had some great commercials on during the olympics. Still my favorite show, hopefully season 5 keeps it going.

Also looking forward to:

Heroes (though I will need to catch up on last season.)
Lost (yeah, I know that doesn't start until like January, I can still think its awesome, though again, because Alisa and I watch it on DVD, we still need to see season 4).
BYU football. I don't care if it isn't a TV show, I'm still excited, and its my blog and my list, so there.

facebook

I have enjoyed facebook because it lets me find people. But now I have a new reason to like it, mob wars. This game has been pretty fun.

All of you who are my friends on facebook have been sent invites, you need to join my mob now, even if you don't ever want to play, joining my mob helps me out, so join. Now.

Traveling

So, Alisa and I have been traveling a bunch in the last week and a half. First we went to Yellowstone. It was a great trip, we took the kids, and went with both my siblings, and Alisa's. It was a great trip.




This is us at the crest of the upper falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. I don't think I had ever been here before, but the north rim of the canyon is currently closed, so we went to some new spots to see the falls.




This one is of the lower falls, as seen from artists point.

Anyway, this trip was tons of fun. We wrapped it up by going to Loll for a staff reunion. This was also tons of fun. There were way too many mosquitoes, but Loll is always fabulous. Our kids loved it, I think.




After we got home from yellowstone (I won't mention how on the way home, we got a flat again, and I won't mention how that happens every, single, time, that I take Amelia to Loll. I wouldn't do that, I'll just stay quiet.) Alisa and I headed out for San Francisco. Me on business, Alisa to take advantage of a great hotel room.

San Francisco is a wonderful city to visit, it was like 67 degrees every day, and it is a great city to walk around in.

Here is Alisa in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.



Anyway, we had so much fun, it was a great week of trips.

George Hincapie

I don't know how many of you have ever watched the Tour de France. Alisa and I got super addicted to it a few years ago, and watched as much as possible for Lance Armstrong's last three tours. If you didn't ever see Lance riding in the tour, you really missed out. He was incredibly exciting to watch. I know some of you may say, oh man, the tour, bike racing, that has got to be boring. I can tell you right now, that Alisa and I watched 160km+ races start to finish, and they were exciting. I can't explain it, because I don't find them too exciting now, but they were awesome in the three years we watched Lance race.

But this post isn't about Lance Armstrong, its about George Hincapie. Who is Hincapie? you might ask. Well, he was Lance's right hand man. He is currently riding in his 13th Tour de France, and in August will be in his 5th olympics for the USA. I am a huge George Hincapie fan, and if he were really in the GC race for the tour (GC is the term for overall leader, so if he were in contention to win the whole thing), I would be more interested. George is the consumate team guy. In the tour, you will find that the other 8 dudes, on successful teams, are there for one reason, to get their GC guy to win. George raced in all of Lance's victorious tours, and is, in my mind, a big reason Lance was able to win them. This guy is awesome. He has been successful in his own right, he has had the yellow jersey in the Tour, and he has won other races besides the Tour de France.

This may be a post many people couldn't care less about, but I wanted to give a big shout out to George Hincapie, thirteen time Tour racer, (soon to be) 5 time olympian. I will be excited to watch him in Beijing.

Pet Peeve: people who don't understand the law.

This is the second, I believe, in my Pet Peeve line of posts. My first was about the constitution, so its kind of related.

Now, much like the constitution, I don't expect everyone to know or understand all the minutia or vagueries of the law. However, if you are going to go on a rant about this and that, calling for prosecutor's heads, or planning the demise of a judge's career, then I think you should at least know what it is you are talking about.

I use this story as an example. I know some of you never, ever, go to the links I provide, which frankly really cuts down on how much you can understand about what I am saying, but for you, this is a story about Kamilyn Hadley, who left her child in her car, and the child died. Now, this post is not for me to say how I feel about what she did. It is clear that it is a tragedy, and I cannot fathom such a lapse in the regular everyday thought process. But, this post isn't dedicated to hashing and rehashing her guilt or how she should be punished, she is merely going to be used as an example. Or, maybe more specifically, the comments on the trib story will be used.

If you go to the above link, and read the comments that people left, you will find pages of wild eyed anger. Anger at her, anger at the prosector, but mostly anger at the judge for this 'travesty'. My post here will mostly be in response to some of the rantings of a poster named Utahlady. This 'lady' spews her vitriol mostly surrounding the idea of getting Judge Allphin voted off the bench, and putting in place a law that would be minimum 15 years for this crime. There are two massive flaws with her anger. I'll touch on each in turn.

First, a judge can only (or at least should only) rule on what is in front of him. In this case, what was in front of Judge Allphin was a class A misdemeanor. From my experience prosecuting misdemeanors in SLC, I can tell you this, the vast majority are resolved through plea agreements. The vast majority never spend one moment in jail. Probation is the rule rather than the exception, and this is even more especially true for a first time offender. That is the way of it, you can disagree with the why, but one cannot argue against the reality that that is how misdemeanor prosecution is handled. Anyway. Judge Allphin had a misdemeanor in front of him, the most he could find her guilty of was a misdemeanor. The biggest penalty he could give her would be a year in jail. He could not have punished her any more than that, period.

To be angry at the judge for not giving her serious prison time is asinine.

Second, several people voiced the desire to change the law, to make this crime punishable by 15 years, minimum. Here is where my biggest pet peeve comes into play, and also the idea that people ranting, should really understand at least a little about something, before the go off on a rant. Let me lay out a little basic criminal law. In order to be guilty, one has to have intent (if you've seen law and order, or legally blonde, thats the Mens Rea, criminal mind). The only exception is in strict liabilty, which there is only one strict liability crime that I can think of, so that doesn't pertain. Here are the different intents as spelled out in Utah Law (you'll find this at Utah Code Annotated 76-2-103 for anyone interested).

Intentional

Knowingly

Recklessly

Negligently (and since this is criminal law, this refers to criminal negligence)

In the example of the recent death of the baby, it seems that everyone can agree that it was negligence, some just want it to be punishable as if it were one of the higher culpabilities.

These different intent levels are a foundational part of criminal law. They put into law the idea that the more one knows about the consequences of ones actions, and the more willingly one does it, the more culpable. In my opinion it is one of the least arguable portions of criminal law, period.

Unfortunately, in cases like this, people think (or don't think) with their emotions. Luckily, these people rarely have enough power to do anything. And, luckily, we have Judges like Michael Allphin.

In the interest of openness, it should be mentioned that Judge Allphin was my Stake President for years and years. I personally know him, and think he is a great man. That does not, however, affect the legal analysis I put forward.

Pride of the Yankees ****

So, Alisa and I just finished watching Pride of the Yankees. Its the story of Lou Gehrig. It stars Gary Cooper. He is excellent in it. I am a big Gary Cooper fan, I really enjoyed Sergeant York, (don't bother with High Noon, it was horrible).

This movie was well done, and sad. Of course, it would be impossible to not have the movie be sad, its a tragic story, but its one filled with happiness as well.

Again, we both really enjoyed it, and highly recommend it.

The Eye of the World

I am reading Jordan again. Don't know exactly what got me in the mood for it, but it has been a while since I read the first book cover to cover. I have probably read each book in The Wheel of Time an average of 5 or 6 times. It is my favorite series, bar none (Tolkein is still in my opinion the best, but for rereadability, for me Jordan wins).

This book is fabulous. I had been under the mistaken impression that Jordan had gotten a lot better over time (with the exception of books 8-9), but as I am reading The Eye of the World again cover to cover, no skimming, I realize how engrossing this book really is. I first read it over Christmas break 96. I bought it with my usual Hastings gift certificate that I got for Christmas from Ruth Ann (still one of the greatest ongoing gifts ever, just look at my bookshelves). I finished it in a couple days, and that was with all of the activities that we did over the holidays to contend with.

I would strongly, strongly suggest this book to anyone. I would dare you to read it, and not immediately upon finishing want to read the next one. I have especially enjoyed going back, and being reminded of how the characters all were at the start.

Breanne currently has borrowed The Eye of the World (I have at least 3 copies of it), I hope she is reading it, or planning to.

Even for those of you who don't particularly think you enjoy, or would enjoy fantasy, I would suggest this book, I doubt that any of you would be disappointed.

Movie catch up.

I love netflix, but Alisa and I were a little slow on this one, so I am going to give a couple reviews to catch up.

King Arthur: ***. I really enjoyed this one. I had heard mixed reviews, mostly saying it was just okay, but then I caught a few minutes of it on cable a couple weeks ago, and thought, this looks okay. It was great. It has its weaknesses, biggest in my mind are 1. I don't buy for a second one of the final sword fights between the Saxon leader and Tristan 2. Why, oh why would you open the gate to Hadrian's wall and let the saxons in. Just throw your wode covered archers up on top of it, and fire away as the advance, duh. But, it was great. Ioan was Lancelot, the bad guy from Casino Royale that cries blood was Tristan. Good movie overall, recommended.

Bella: ** 1/2 to ***. This was a movie that Breanne did a post on a bit ago. I enjoyed it. Some parts were much better than others, it was fabulous at times, and at times a bit slow. The main character, the chef, was great. Some of the supporting cast I found uninteresting. On a whole it was a movie I enjoyed, it was sad, but does a good job laying out a compelling story of redemption. Worth your time to see, I believe.

SCOTUS

So, for those of you that don't know, scotus is an abbreviation for the Supreme Court of the United States. Don't worry if you didn't know that. I didn't know it for a long time. Also, really only two type of people use the abbreviation. People who want to sound really smart, and people who are actually smart. The way to tell the difference is that someone who wants to sound smart will act like they can't believe you didn't know what SCOTUS means, everyone knows what SCOTUS means. Those of us who are smart, will just explain it to you, because lots and lots of people don't know what it means.

Anyway, the Supremes (another way the court is referred to, mostly in legal circles, this way has always made me laugh, makes me think Diana Ross is deciding major constitutional issues), just made two fairly big decisions in recent weeks. I have been meaning to put in my two cents on the issues. One of them, I believe, is one of the biggest most foundational constitutional rights cases heard in quite some time luckily I agree with their decision, the second I disagreed heartily, but honestly am not that surprised.

First: District of Columbia v Heller. In this ruling, the supremes struck down a D.C. law that banned all handguns, including in the home, and required that rifles be dismantled or have a trigger lock on them. In this ruling the court found (for the first time) an individual right to bear arms, or own and possess guns. Gun rights, quite a contentious little thing. And the editorials and opinions have been flowing freely around this one. Why? Well, to someo extent some people just don't want anyone owning guns. They believe, extremely naively in my opinion, that if regular joe schmo citizens didn't own guns, violence would magically disappear. Some actually have disagreements with the interpretation of the second ammendment itself.

Now, I will be the first to admit, I will agree with anyone who says the second ammendment was screwed up from the start. The guys back in the day really dropped the ball on this one. Why did they feel the need for the preamble portion of this amendment? The whole crafting, from the standpoint of trying to interpret it hundreds of years later, is truly abysmal. You don't see the first amendment saying "The free exchange of ideas being necessary to keep the public informed, congress shall pass no law restricting the freedom of the press, or assembly, etc." That preamble, though not meant to control what follows (in my opinion), just screws things up.

Anyway, that aside, I agree with the outcome, I do believe the constitution was meant to give an individual right to bear arms. No, despite what some doom and gloom people say this does not make all gun control unconstitutional, there are already restrictions on every single right enumerated in the Bill of Rights. This one, I think, they got right.

Second: Kennedy v Louisiana. In this case the supremes held a LA law allowing for the death penalty for child rapists to be unconstitutional. If you are interested, the full opinion can be found here I'll warn you that in the facts section, they do have to lay out some of the facts of the crime, it isn't pretty. I read the entire thing, including dissents. I agreed with Justice Alito's dissent. I think the court got this one wrong.

Movie catchup.

So, Netflix has brought me a few more movies recently, thought I'd give my opinion on the latest three.

The Four Feathers: *** Starring Heath Ledger, in a part I would have preferred someone else, maybe Ioan Gruffud (sp). It wasn't bad. It didn't flow well, I don't know how else to describe it. It jumped around and wasn't a smooth movie. I liked the story, but to be really good, probably needed another 40sh minutes of really good character development (or maybe they could have done it in less if the character development they had had been done better). Anyway, it was enjoyable, and I can recommend it.

P.S. I Love You: ** 1/2 to ***. This has Gerard Butler, Hilary Swank, Harry Connick Jr., Lisa Kudrow, etc. This movie was good...ish. It is definitely not what you would classify as a 'romance'. Nor is it a comedy, though there are funny parts of it. It is drama, and it is sad drama. Gerard Butler dies within like 6 minutes of the movie's opening, and he is probably the best character. I found Harry Connick quite amusing at times. And Kathy Bates does her normal above average performance. If you don't like sad, don't watch it. It doesn't really have a happy lift you up at the end moment. Its just, yup, thats sad, and we will work through it, because we have to. So, go in with that in mind. I will not recommend it, not because it wasn't any good, but I'm still not sure if I liked it, and I don't think Alisa is sure yet either.

Goal: *** 1/2. Maybe it being about soccer bumped it up in my view, but Alisa really liked it too. No big stars, no hoopla, but it was a nice story, with great action, some impressive cameos (if you know who they are *Real Madrid stars hint hint*). I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Highly recommended.

Credit where its due.

I do not always agree with the senior senator for my state. But while discussing my last post with Bryan, who most know works for Hatch, I have to give credit where it is due. Here and here. I like that my Senator is doing something, in a field where it seems not much is being done.

Cap and Trade

So, the other day Alisa was telling me about something she had heard Sean Hannity say, (our radio is usually on KSL for news, neither of us listen to Hannity as a rule, he's a colossal tool). Anyway, he was spouting something about the current Cap and Trade bill co-sponsored by Joe Lieberman and John Warner in the Senate. Now, as far as democrat Senators go, I like Lieberman pretty well. Not because I agree with all of his stances, but more because he seems to have them, and I respect that. I would rather someone I disagree with, that actually stands for something, then someone that I agree with a bunch of their stances, but I can tell they only hold them as long as they are politically expedient, but I digress.

Anyway, as I knew very little about the bill, I googled it. I found this article that I thought was a fairly simple, and merely informative piece. Its not long, and if you want to get just a rudimentary bare bones idea of the proposal, it will clue you in. It also, thankfully, seems to just provide information, gives both sides stances and the basic arguments for both. Interesting thing is, everyone on this one has a pretty good point. I guess it just comes down to what you think is the most important thing in the debate.

Here is the basic (very basic) idea to the proposal.

First, carbon emissions are damaging to the environment (whether or not you believe in global warming doesn't matter here, you should still be able to, out of intellectual honesty, admit that more emissions are worse, fewer emissions are better). This bill would set up a system of permits allowing companies that use fossil fuels to emit a certain amount of junk into the atmosphere. The cap portion of the bill comes in in the fact that the number of permits is limited. This cap continues to decrease over the next few decades, forcing businesses that use fossil fuels to either become more efficient or to find alternate ways to power whatever it is they are using the fossil fuels for, because at the end of the day, they will just not be able to do business the same way they are now.

Second, the trade aspect of the bill. Companies can use the permits themselves, bank them for later, or trade (sell) them to other companies who need more than they have. This is a little shout out to free market system creating an incentive to pollute less, thus use less of your own permits.

The money raised by this program, in theory, would be used in part to offset rising energy costs, and in part to fund incentives to alternate energy sources, i.e. wind and solar.

Is this idea perfect, no. Without a doubt this will raise costs, pretty much across the board. It will cost corporations money, money they aren't just going to eat, it will be passed on to consumers. Probably most visibly in the energy industry. Energy will cost more. While I think that will bring about some positive changes: looking for more ways to conserve what you use as a personal household, encouraging the growth of alternate forms of energy (see my post about blue sky from last month), and all together making those that don't care see that there is a need for change; it will without a doubt have bad consequences. Some may already be doing all that they reasonably can to be efficient and resourceful, not wasting etc.. These people will also be hit with energy cost increases. I don't think thats a good thing.

I look at these two ideas, the pros and the cons, and I still have to say that on the whole, the idea sounds pretty good. It is not perfect, and their will be costs. I don't for a second believe the real doom and gloom prognosticators who claim millions of jobs will be lost, etc.. And I guess in the end, I don't believe there is any way to change our countries mindset and wild dependence on fossil fuel driven energy (which I see as a major catastrophe just waiting to happen, as well as being horrible stewardship of the earth), without some cost to the public. It will be hard, and may be extremely hard for some. However, the alternate costs of doing nothing will, in the end, be much, much greater.

So, do I think that this is THE ANSWER? Eh, I'm not going to proclaim this idea perfect, I've heard some variations that people argue would be better, I don't know if they would be or not. But I do believe that in the long run this program would be helpful in setting us down the road to a less fossil fuel dependent energy producing people, which I see as an incredibly important thing. So, I give it my support, with a few reservations.

Just so you can read more of an opposition type article, this guy seems to hate the idea. He lays forth pretty much all of the opposition reasons to oppose the plan. But, to be honest, I guess where I disagree with him the most is that I get the idea while I read his article, that he really doesn't see our current system as that big of a problem, so if nothing changes, oh well, not that big of a deal.

Anyway, thats my take on it.

Everquest

So, as some of you know, I play Everquest. Its a really fun game, and one of the top things on my geek resume. I just wish I could get Will back into it, and Jimmy to start. (seeing as he's the one who got me to originally buy the game back in 00).

So, I just thought I'd let people see what it looks like, this isn't a long video, its just an anniversary video someone put together, it shows what the game looks like, so even if you would never in a million years play it, you can at least maybe see why I think its cool.

Prince Caspian ****

Okay, Alisa and I saw this movie on Saturday, and we both loved it.



Just so you know (and if you saw the first one, you should expect this), this doesn't follow the books 100%. However, I do think that even with the changes the movie stayed true to the story. There were bits I would have done differently, or even emphasized more or less, but I think thats because I loved the book, and I don't personally feel the need to pull in large crowds. But, seeing as that is what will pay for the next installment, I don't begrudge them that.

The same four kids are back, they did great in their parts. The choice of Prince Caspian (while much older than he is supposed to be), worked well. If you like the books, or liked the last movie, you should go see this one. I think its even better than the first.

One note, they need to take a page from Peter Jackson and film several of these together, these kids are going to get way too old, soon.

The right decision

So, most of you have been following the huge case down in Texas involving the removal of more than 450 children from the FLDS Yearning for Zion ranch. Well, yesterday an appeals court in Texas overturned the courts ruling, stating, in part

"The existence of the FLDS belief system as described by the department's witnesses, by itself, does not put children of FLDS parents in physical danger"

If you want to read the whole MSNBC article on the court ruling, go here.

While I won't claim to have called this one exactly, I have been pointing out that I thought that Texas has screwed this one up from day one. My belief is that the authorities in Texas have been waiting at the gate of the compound (sometimes literally), hoping for any excuse to rush in and break up what they see as heathen's and freaks.

Now, I lived in Texas for a couple years. Love a lot of the people there. But I have never been around more intolerence in my life. I know some people think Utah is wildly intolerent, those people are, in my opinion, wildly sheltered.

For those who don't go read the linked article let me sum up what the court said, and what it means.

First, the court said that the state didn't have any right to take all of the children from the ranch to begin with, Texas law requires immediate danger in order for children to be taken without a court order, and the court said there was no proof of immediate danger. Second, the court said that the state failed to provide evidence that would allow the removal of all of the children. Third, the court found that the lower court should not have considered the entire ranch as 'one household' for determination purposes.

So, the state was arguing that the children were in danger because girls aged like 13-16 could be forced into marriages. Half of the children they took away were under 5, which makes the immediacy of that danger questionable at best. Another example of their argument not comporting with reality is in the underage mother 'evidence'. Of the 31 girls that the state originally claimed were underage mothers, 15 have been reclassified as adults, one as old as 27.

What does this all mean. The way I read it, the lower court has ten days to vacate its ruling, which would send the kids back to their parents. And I think that is the right thing to do.

Now, does this mean that I don't find many of the things that were purported to go on there creepy, or even possibly abusive, absolutely not. That is why I am so frustrated with Texas. They screwed this one up from day one. There are more than likely girls on that ranch that desperately need help, but because Texas was more worried about making a huge statement, and running those freaks out of the State once and for all, they didn't bother to do it right. And when it comes to the courtroom, and proving your case, you have to make sure that you go by the book as much as possible.

I think this whole mess kind of backs up Mark Shurtleff on this kind of issue. Yes, we would like to do something about a situation that we think is wrong, but we can't just go marching into Hilldale/Colorado City because we don't like what we think is going on, we have to have proof of something. Because even people we disagree with, most especially people we disagree with must be afforded all of the protections of the constitution. If we want the system to work, we must ensure that it works for the most heinous of criminals/miscreants, or it doesn't work at all.

This is only a test.

Okay, testing some stuff.

Now i know how to put on pictures, still can't figure out videos.

This last weekend.

Was fairly busy. We got sprinklers up and running (thanks Mark), garden mostly tilled and awaiting planting tonight for family home evening, the swamp cooler up and running (thanks Dad, no really, its gotten super hot, you're a life saver), Cora's dance recital, and Alisa and my sixth wedding anniversary (thanks again Breanne and Amelia).

Working in the yard is still not my favorite thing, but I have to say, it becomes so much more enjoyable when its your yard. I am very excited about our garden this summer. I bought 16 tomato plants, 8 pepper, 4 broccoli, 1 cucumber, and 1 zucchini. Also plan on getting corn in the ground tonight, to go along with the raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries we already have. Very exciting.

Cora's dance recital was just as I thought. I love seeing her, she is adorable, and she clearly has a great time. The rest of it is brutal.

Alisa and I had a good time for our anniversary, and got to see a movie we had both been wanting to see. But that is in a different post.

Iron Man ****

Alisa and I went to see Iron Man on Saturday night. It
Was
AWESOME.

First, I have to thank Amelia and Breanne. After taking the time to come up from Provo to see Cora's dance recital, which she appreciated so much, they stuck around to watch the kids while Alisa and I got to go out for our anniversary. Thanks, it meant a lot, and was very, very appreciated.

Now to the movie itself. As you can see, I gave it 4 stars. I can't say enough good things about this movie. It was well acted, it was well written, it was action packed. I loved it, and so did Alisa. I can't wait for the inevitable sequel. Good news, reportedly Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man in the movie) loved doing it, and is up for any and all sequels they want to make. Also, I noticed on IMDB that he will be making an appearance in the upcoming Incredible Hulk (as Stark). If you like comics, you'll love this movie, if you don't like comics, you'll love this movie. It lives by the rule of good comic book movies, it got real actors (Jeff Daniels, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr. *look for a little cameo by Sameul L. Jackson*), was written very well, staying true to the story, but not being overly comic book cheesy.

I cannot recommend this movie enough, fabulous from start to finish. And, I would highly recommend that you stick around after the credits, there is a little teaser scene setting up the sequel.

For those really into comics, you will enjoy that S.H.I.E.L.D. makes an appearance, as does Nick Fury. And, the hint of a new government program called 'The Avenger Initiative' got me super juiced for summer 2011. July is the tentatively slated release date for The Avengers. By then Captain America should have come out. The plan is that they will do several individual marvel superhero comic -> Movie then they will coalesce into The Avengers, using all the big stars that are in the individual movies. It is highly exciting.

If you have the chance, you must go see Iron Man. I think its second only to Batman Begins for awesome comic book movies. It outshines the others.

Obama

So, I know that several Obama supporters read my blog. I love you anyway. Often people think that I am partisan for the sake of being partisan. I like to think that I'm not.

Early on, I mean early, early on, I kind of liked Obama. Said I'd probably vote for him if Huckabee was the VP candidate etc..

This changed when I really started to see his stances on the issues. I'll give you the fact that the guy can give a good speech. He is very charismatic. I'm afraid, however, that I strongly disagree with more than one of his stances. I'll provide some examples. You may agree with him, that's fine, I don't on these, I think he's just wrong.

First. I firmly believe that the purpose of the Senate in the judicial nomination advise and consent is to see if the person is qualified. Period. I don't think it is to see if they agree with you, etc.. Reading this statement by Obama convinces me that we couldn't be more different on our view of the judiciary. I think on the really tough cases, the ones that are really, really difficult, where the judges end up disagreeing. You need to go to the law. To the constitution. I don't think feel good opinions are the answer to tough legal problems. And what bothers me the most here is this statement,

"There is absolutely no doubt in my mind Judge Roberts is qualified to sit on the highest court in the land. Moreover, he seems to have the comportment and the temperament that makes for a good judge. He is humble, he is personally decent, and he appears to be respectful of different points of view."

So, then you would assume Obama voted to approve Judge Roberts, right? Nope. He goes on to say this,

"what matters on the Supreme Court is those 5 percent of cases that are truly difficult. In those cases, adherence to precedent and rules of construction and interpretation will only get you through the 25th mile of the marathon. That last mile can only be determined on the basis of one's deepest values, one's core concerns, one's broader perspectives on how the world works, and the depth and breadth of one's empathy."

I don't want Ginsberg's values deciding U.S. law. Heck, I don't want Scalia, or Roberts, or Alito's values deciding U.S. law. I want their best interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

Here is a clip from a debate. Most of you probably won't watch it, though if you are going to vote for Obama, I wish you would. If you agree with him, thats fine, I just hope you know what his stances are first. I disagree with him on two things here. First, it seems that nobody disagreed with the idea that when capital gains tax was cut revenue went up, no one on the stage disagreed with that statement, so I assume the agree with that. Charlie Gibson pointed out that whenever capital gains was raised, revenue went down. Obama said he was still for increasing it, in order to get more revenue. Doesn't that seem like he is ignoring the statistics?

Second thing he said there that I have severe heartburn with is that the President didn't jump on the housing crisis early enough. I'm sorry, that is not the President's job. Where was congress on this one? Or, heaven forbid, lets have someone in the public eye cast a little blame on greedy, shortsighted individuals that set themselves up for horrible consequences on their homes. There are plenty of reasons to not like the current administration. But it is too easy of an out to blame the administration for things that could have been handled by the congress and weren't. This shouldn't be a talking point, with three Senators in the race for the white house. None of them seems to have gotten off their keesters to do anything about the housing crisis.

In general, I find Obama to be disingenuous. He spouts moderate, bridge building, etc. But his rhetoric is no different than any other candidate I have heard. He is 100% wrong on the war in Iraq. He states that from the month he is put in office he will remove 1 brigade per month from Iraq until they are all gone. He doesn't put any stipulations or conditionals on it, just one per month until we're gone. I know that Jimmy believes that he will change his mind after he gets in office and sees more info. I don't have that kind of faith.

To be open and honest. There are things I disagree with McCain about. I don't believe that now is the time for a increased tax-cut. As long as we are spending lots of money on Iraq/Afghanistan, anything that cuts our revenue shouldn't be pushed forward, unless that revenue is picked up in a more desireable way.

My hope here isn't to convert people away from Obama. My biggest fear is that people like him, because he is likeable and a good speaker. If you actually go read up on his stances, now what he believes and wants to put into action (not just the soundbites you hear every now and again), thats your deal. And we can disagree and what kind of programs are right, economically. I just hope people who 'like' him, actually know him first.

Sports

So, it may be cliche, but I am a big sports guy. I love football, love soccer, love basketball. I have never been able to get into watching baseball, don't know why, just don't find it interesting, though I love playing (softball). I enjoy playing just about any sport you can come up with. I wish I could have been an adult back in the hay day of church sports. I know church sports have a bad reputation, but I remember going as a family (or at least several of us), to watch my Dad play softball. It was a blast, lots of people came to watch, and there were always enough people to field teams. That's my biggest pet peeve about church sports now. I think my generation of adults is too busy watching T.V. or playing computer games, or just sitting on their can to get out and play sports. (Don't get me wrong, I love watching TV and playing computer games, but I love playing sports even more).

I don't have a lot of opportunity anymore. For a brief moment, I got to play some indoor soccer last year, which was awesome. I've been thinking about seeing about the possibility of doing that again. I know Mark would be in, I think we could get Will to play on a team, Mark probably knows a couple guys that would play, and I have a ward that had 38 guys play basketball this last year, with that number, I would hope I could stand up in priesthood, ask, and get at least 2 or 3 guys who were seriously interested in playing. I don't know what the cost would be, but I have some practically unused indoor soccer shoes, and I want to play.

I also am an avid fan of sports. Currently the Jazz are in a playoff series with the Lakers, tied 2-2. Game 5 is tonight in LA. Man I would love to see us win tonight. I think if we can steal the game tonight in LA, we will win the series in 6 with a win back at home for Game 6. Then, if New Orleans wins, like it seems more and more likely they will. We have a great shot at reaching the NBA finals again, as we own N.O. in basketball.

I am also a Real Salt Lake fan. As I said I love soccer, and this year is the first year of season tickets for Alisa and me. These games have been great. They have yet to lose at home, though they have had two heartbreaking ties there so far. But also three spectacular wins, a combined 12-4 scoring at home. Which is more offense than I ever saw at all the games combined I went to prior to this season. I think we will make it to the playoffs this year, and if the team continues to gel, we could go far.

I know this is getting long, but the team I am getting extremely excited about is BYU football. The cougars have won ten straight games, and they return 10 offensive starters. TEN, that is huge for a team who's offense last year averaged more than 400 yds, and more than 30 pts per game. We return a thousand yard rusher, thousand yard receiver, and a QB that threw for 3900. Can't wait for the fall.

My sports life is going well, very well.

Pet Peeve: Astronomical Selfishness

Let me get some people's responses out of the way, yes, I am sure that I am selfish too. But, I don't do these two things, and they are what I am complaining about today, so deal with it.

Case 1: I was at church on Sunday, imagine that. It was Mother's Day, and our ward decided to bless all of the mothers with a particularly crappy set of speakers. Now, I know that I am sometimes too harsh. I shouldn't judge others based upon their speaking ability, as that is something that many cannot help. HOWEVER, even Alisa thought it was bad, and she can find the silver lining on almost any bad lesson or talk, because she is much less judgemental than I. The first two speakers were merely bad, the final speaker, I wanted to stab in the eye.

He got up to speak with approximately 2 minutes left in the meeting. Granted, this is not his fault, I don't blame him for how late he got up, its totally out of his control (though maybe he should have a talk with his wife about how to STOP TALKING, however after listening to him, he may not be the best person to give that lesson). I looked at the clock and though, alright, he better keep it short, because Hyrum has already had it and Sacrament meeting only has 2 minutes to go. I will forgo complaining about the vast amounts of wildly harsh comments he made that wouldn't have made any mother feel better, and I will even sidestep lambasting him about the reams of false doctrine he taught. Suffice it to say, he finished speaking at 10:30! You read that right, half past ten. Hyrum had screamed himself to sleep by this time, which I highly envied.

My pet peeve. This guy felt like his talk was more important than any lesson that any sunday school teacher had prepared, or priesthood and relief society. Not to mention the problems caused in Primary by the huge chunk taken out of the schedule. Nooooo, his incredible thoughts were much more important than those, not to mention the people with little kids who can already hardly make it through the entire sacrament service, let alone an extra twenty minutes. Yeah. Pure selfishness. sprinkled liberally with arrogance.

Case 2: This has always bothered me, and I'd love to meet a person, individually that does this, so I can vent on them. Saturday night I was at the Real Salt Lake game (we won 2-1 by the way). As we were leaving, I turned to Alisa and said that I can't comprehend how people can just get up, and leave all of their piles of trash at their seat and walk away. I'm flabbergasted. I mean, you walk out right past a garbage can. I am completely astounded by this mindset. If you are one of these people, you are an idiot, pick up your trash, and throw it in the garbage. Great honk.

Bacon

Okay, I'll admit, its an odd heading. But, I just had some thoughts about bacon, and heck, this is my blog so deal with it. The thoughts were actually brought about by this comic. Many of you have probably seen the recent taco bell, or whatever, commercial where the girl takes a bacon chalupa into a night club to attract men. Its hilarious, in my opinion. Mostly because its true. Bacon makes everything better. Bacon may be the best smell around. Bacon is the unimpeachable argument for the fact that fat is what gives meat its wonderful flavor.

Bacon is a slab of pig fat.

I say that for only one reason, to prove how good bacon is, because even if that phrase grosses you out, it won't matter, you'll still eat bacon the next time you have the chance, its just that good.

Mmmmm....bacon.

Geek news, and asundry cool stuff.

Okay, there will probably be some who are a little hesitant to think another Incredible Hulk movie can be good. I have heard nothing but bad about the last one, starring Eric Bana, I didn't see it. But, for the doubters, watch this. If you don't have quicktime you may have to download it, but I think the trailer is worth it.

Iron Man comes out today. I soooooo want to see it. If you are into cool movies, try to tell me this doesn't look cool.

This summer looks awesome for movies. Give a look to this, or this.

I'm sure there are more. These four are definitely getting me stoked to go to the movies.

What ones are you looking forward to?

Going Green with Blue Sky

So, I signed Alisa and myself up for Rocky Mountain Power's blue sky program this morning. I had gotten our electric bill, and after having heard and read about the program, got online to sign up. So, based on our last bill in which we used 431 kwh (kilowatt hours), 23% of our electricity is now wind based.

So, to explain the blue sky program in a bit more depth. For anyone who has Rocky Mountain Power (which I believe you would, if you get electricity in Utah), you can sign up for the blue sky program which requires RMP to purchase a certain amount of your power via wind energy. You can purchase it in 100 kwh blocks, for 1.95 each. I signed up for one block, though we may up it to more. Based on April, for 8 dollars more than 90% of our home's electricity would come from wind power. I think that is rather neat. This is how it works. You buy a block of wind power. RMP then buys that amount of electricity from one of about ten wind farms in the intermountain west and pacific northwest. There are a few in WY a huge one in Montana, etc.. So, the more people that purchase the blue sky, the more wind power RMP buys, in turn spawning the expansion of wind farms to meet the need of the consumer. Consumer driven environmentalism, my favorite kind.

Some will say, Yeah, but you pay more for it. You're right. I do. And for now, I'm okay with that. Not to overdramatize it, but I think the reliance on burning coal for electricity is one of the single most detrimental things we could be doing as a society. No, not because I buy into global warming. But that discussion aside, I don't find mining coal, then burning it (with all the vast amounts of by products that creates), to be wise stewardship.

Of all the options currently on the table, wind power is my favorite. I wish we would build several massive wind farms here in UT. One great place would be up in the high mountain valleys right before you get to Cedar City. Alisa and I were driving through there on one of my many interviews once, and I mentioned, man, it is always windy here. Turns out, I was right. (for those who may not know, click the word right that is highlighted, it'll take you to a cool map that shows average annualized wind in the U.S. See all that dark blue? Build wind farms there.)

Now, I believe that solar is the way of the future, as it is almost solely based on technology, and as technology advances, so will our ability to adequately and effeciently trap that energy. It was one idea of Pete Ashdown's that I could totally get behind, solar forests in Utah's west desert.

Anyway, I'm heading off on lots of tangents, but suffice it to say, I am stoked to be a part of this, and may buy a couple more kwh blocks. I think the idea of environmentalism has been too long taken by nutjobs and fringe elements. I like this planet, I enjoy the outdoors, and I hate our inversions. I also know that I have a responsibility to be a wise steward. So, no, I don't want to spike trees, or stop you from building a home because of a rare sub-species of field mouse. But, I would like alternate energy to take over the archaic coal and petroleum monopolized energy industry.