Andrew’s Miracle Drug

Naked men who can be taken down neither by Taser nor baton.

Last week, a coworker was speaking to a new employee about his plans to buy a home.

“Do you want to stay in Layton or move closer to work here in Salt Lake?” she asked.

“We want to stay in Layton,” he said.

“I don’t blame you,” the new employee said.

Right before I interjected with, “What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” my co-worker agreed with the new employee, saying, “Yeah, especially with young children.” (more…)

I’ve heard of “Borking” and I’ve heard of “Bjork,” but I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of “Bjorking.”

I’m guessing that’s when a Democratic-controlled Senate forces a judicial candidate to wear an awful dress to an awards banquet?

Thanks, Tribune copy editors, for introducing a new term to me.

No, not mine, though I admit it may stoop to asinine levels.

But of course, I’m not a published a column in a daily paper with a circulation of 370,000 plus readers.

Lee Benson’s Deseret Morning News column today gives “asinine political commentary” an entirely new meaning. Description doesn’t do it justice. It really has to be read to be believed.

While it is idiocy of the highest (lowest) level, it probably doesn’t matter much in Utah, and even less among the Deseret News‘ readership, with its heavily LDS readership, and thus by extension, heavily Republican and Mitt Romney-supporting.

But it is disgusting, nonetheless.

I have been impressed with Ralph Becker, so far, but this Tribune article almost forced me to consider not voting at all. It wasn’t anything that Becker said in this article, but the nauseating writing of Derek Jones. Take this, for instance:

Still, the soft-spoken former park ranger scoffs at conventional wisdom that calls him the favorite. Instead, he remains focused on the city’s urban forest, dancing across countless doorsteps to peddle the Becker blueprint.
That recipe of retail politics, observers say, may prove too rich for Buhler to swallow.

A “soft-spoken former park ranger” who is “focused on the city’s urban forest” and “danc[es] across countless doorsteps?” Is this the love child of Smokey the Bear and Michael Flatley? Is that a compliment or a put-down?

Barf.

I’m annoyed when discourse goes from the reasoned to the hyperbolic. But I really hate it  when they fly right over hyperbole-land and let the bombast fly, something Rocky Anderson, our esteemed mayor, has proven quite adept at.

The Tribune reports Anderson’s remarks at an anti-war rally on Saturday:

Politicians and the mainstream media had “breached the trust” of the American people, he said.
“You have deceived us,” he said. “You have helped lead our nation to the brink of fascism.” 

I’m with him all the way up to the “brink of fascism” thing. “Breach of trust?” Most definitely. “Deceived us?” In some cases, sure. But fascism? Really?

Bush & co. have surely taken the nation, the presidency, and the Constitution down a dangerous path, but fascism is along ways off.

Marxists have a new infiltration strategy: create public golf courses!

Just 5 years ago, 2 even, Utah state officials were fighting tooth and nail to prevent the Goshute band at Skull Valley from storing nuclear waste on their property.

Many of those same officials have had a change of heart.

There are now fevered calls for nuclear power in Utah among the state legislature, many of those calls by those who decried efforts to bring nuclear waste to Utah.

Now that nuclear revenues may be lining their pockets, nuclear waste in Utah, whether its stored or created here, is fine by them.

I do understand that there’s a big difference between being a dumping ground for others’ waste and being a dumping ground for waste we’ve created. But at the same time, does it really matter? Do we really want any of that junk in our state?What’s that saying about pooping where you eat?

I had a visceral reaction to the Deseret Morning News headline “Some LDS suffer loss while other spared.”

No, it wasn’t pity or empathy for the LDS families who’ve suffered in the Southern California wildfires (though I do feel sympathy for them and all those affected) the headline alluded to, but rather, disgust with the tribalism such a headline suggested.

Sure, one could argue that the D-News is just trying to put a human face on a massive tragedy - bringing us the stories of some of “our own.” But articles like this, that zero in on those who are like us, seem to do more to isolate us from the rest of the world.

LDS people in Utah, and throughout the U.S., would, I think, be better served by stories that made those who are not in the same religious group/ethnicity/race/book club seem more human. I’m just imagining the potential here: there must be stories of Catholic, Hispanic, illegal-immigrant families who’ve lost everything they had in these wildfires. Surely there are homosexuals who’ve lost loved ones and seen their dreams dashed this week as the flames have spread across Southern California.

Because this tragedy - any tragedy that may befall areas heavily populated by Mormons - is about much, much more than just “our” people’s losses.

So next time you feel inclined to complain that Mormons are seen as weird, insular people by the outside world, remember this story, and perhaps you’ll see why.

I really loved this interview. If you can get past Dr. Foster’s somewhat annoying (but forgivable, as he’s got a Ph.D. in philosophy) habit of using obscure philosophical terms, he offers some great insights on being Mormon (or a person of faith, for that matter) and being an independent thinker.

I’ve long been of fan of John Dehlin’s work, but the current series of interviews he’s doing, “The Spirituality of the Rising LDS Generation” has been exceptionally good. I can’t recommend it highly enough - especially for Mormons who don’t exactly fit the mold.