• Notty Problems: Even Leaving Doesn't Solve Them - Only in Utah... - Politics, Schmolitics

    True-Blue Believers in God, Guns and Postum to the North, Caffeinated Non-Violent Pinko Heathens to the South

    …that’s how politics in Utah works when both major parties book their conventions into the same complex on the same date. Rolly: Guns and coffee don’t mix – Salt Lake Tribune The Republicans secured their Salt Palace space some time ago and will hold their convention on the complex’s north side. The Democrats were having a difficult time finding a suitable place for what they were willing to pay, then settled on the Salt Palace’s south section after a group canceled its reservation for that day. So between the two parties — the Democrats have around 2,700 delegates, and plan…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Only in Utah...

    Dumbass

    bright enough to know you have to declare a firearm when checking in for a flight, not bright enough to UNLOAD and then PROPERLY HANDLE the weapon when declaring same. Skycap suffered minor shrapnel injury in his foot because this dumbass took a loaded weapon to the Salt Lake airport. Security scare: Gun accidentally discharged at Salt Lake City airport – Salt Lake Tribune A passenger checking a gun accidentally discharged his weapon on the curbside of Terminal I of Salt Lake City International Airport. The passenger was declaring his weapon to Sky Cap when he either mishandled or dropped…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Only in Utah...

    Mother Love, Daughter Rape

    Why it’s important that parents of gay children love and accept them just as they are, and why Utah is a deeply strange place: A Gift, from the Homophobic Culture « One Utah When we watch the LDS church claim they aren’t homophobic, and that common ground can be reached, even while they destroy bills that would help reach that ground, we are just watching a big, none too subtle, wink and nod at the culture of hate. When we see the single largest cultural influence in Utah raise money to take rights away from people based on beliefs they…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Funnies - Hot Off The Presses - Only in Utah...

    Pat Bagley, SL Tribune Cartoonist Extraordinaire

    Yes, Virginia, there IS satire in Utah. Don’t miss the “GOP Values Party!” cartoon…. or the “Senator Orrin McClownshoes” one… or the “Digitally Enhanced Pixelated Basin” one … oh, just keep clicking the little seagull. The Salt Lake Tribune — Pat Bagley Here’s a few selections of Bagley’s cartoons just in July and June: We Republicans are the Values… PARTY!! Digitally Enhanced Pixelated Basin and my personal favorite, now that Al Franken has finally taken his Senate seat: I think that’s Harry Reid on the left (naturally), and it’s definitely Borin’ Orrin on the far right, of course.

  • Mini-Posts - Only in Utah...

    Gay rights advocates strut political clout in Salt Lake – Salt Lake Tribune

    Gay rights advocates strut political clout in Salt Lake – Salt Lake Tribune There was glamor and glitz, and at times a playful gaudiness Sunday during the Utah Pride Parade on Sunday in downtown Salt Lake City. Yet beneath the surface of the rain-soaked celebration of Utah’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, there was also the sense of a rising surge of political activism that almost transcended the spectacle with its brightly colored floats, rainbow banners and the marching, dancing men and women in brightly colored attire. “This year it is about everyone coming together and showing how much…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Only in Utah...

    Utah Roller Derby

    Beware Zombie Rinkwomen! Utah has a lively roller derby scene, with avid fans and some truly awesome, Amazon-like warrior women. Check this photo out from the City Weekly blog. Roller Derby: O-Town Report “This was actually the best game we’ve had so far. It was back-and-forth the whole bout, very competetive, lots of stress and anger on the floor due to the score being so close–it was awesome. We got a broken tailbone, broken glasses and huge rink-rash bruises. The final score was Sucker Punch Sweethearts 132, Ladies of Capone 122.” If I had to live in Utah again, I’d…

  • Episcopal - Only in Utah...

    Healers’ hands blessed by many faiths

    St Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake holds an annual Blessing of the Hands of healers. It’s the hospital where Mom was during her last illness, and our family got a lot of support from the Episcopal priest who runs their pastoral care program, Fr. Lincoln Ure. This event sounds just like Fr. Linc; I experienced the regular Wednesday Eucharist with him and some of the staff when Mom was upstairs, and the following week, I had to go back after she passed. Those people are some powerful healers, and I got a sense of how deeply they care for one…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Only in Utah...

    Living in Utah, Sooner or Later You Either Convert

    … or find yourself drunk, high, half nekkid, and screaming at people in Sugar House Park. The latter path is the one I’d have taken if I’d stayed on in Salt Lake instead of moving away. Absence of pants nets charges for man in Sugar House Park – Salt Lake Tribune Court documents accuse the 36-year-old of hiding in the park and jumping out and scaring women and bicyclists. At one point, the documents say, he stood in a roadway, pulled down his shorts and began screaming at cars while naked from the waist down. Police arrived to find him…

  • Dear Mom - Hot Off The Presses - Notty Problems: Even Leaving Doesn't Solve Them - Only in Utah... - Politics, Schmolitics

    When Your Mom Gets Baptized Into Some Weird Church After She Dies

    It would piss you off, right? I know it would really make me angry if that happened to my mom, but I can’t check because the information is hidden behind a registration wall AND a “member in good standing/temple recommend number” wall. Because when she was alive, she was really horrified by the idea that everyone in her family had been baptized against their will, after they died, and that someday she would, too. Well, it’s apparently happened to President Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. I think it’s a terrible breach of spiritual protocol, the church’s own supposedly “hard and…

  • Episcopal - Hot Off The Presses - Only in Utah...

    Rowland Hall-St Marks Had A Marketing Problem

    The problem was the “saint” in the name, as Utah is the state of the Saints. The Salt Lake private school has changed its name so that it will seem less parochial sounding and easier to market to local families looking for an educational alternative. Rolly: A sign of the times? – Salt Lake Tribune Rowland Hall-St. Mark’s School has been a prominent fixture in Utah education for about 130 years. Founded by the Episcopal Church, the school has proudly boasted on uniforms, school communications and signs its motto: “Nihil Longus Deo” Never Far from God. Until now. The school…