PAC THIS, BYU Fans!

ESPN is announcing an agreement between the PAC 12 and the Big 10 and it's 12 teams, to play an interlocking schedule in all sports, including football.  Meaning that by the time 2017 rolls around, and everyone has played all the games they are contracted for already, the Utes will have 9 PAC 12 games, one Big 10 game and only two open dates, already taken care of, every year.

You guys down at tsds have any games scheduled after October 27th next year yet?  Didn't think so.

To paraphrase your favorite, "pundit", Sarah Palin, "How's that, "independenty" thing working out for you?"

You know who I feel bad for in this whole thing?  Utah State.  Let's face it.  They can BEAT a team from a BCS conference.  As can tsds in a good year (but GOOD years are going to be fewer and farther between for tsds than USU if current trends continue) and it doesn't look good for the BCS team, when they do.  So, why would we play them?  And why would ever play them in Logan?  Ain't going to happen.

We will put Southern Utah on the schedule.  Give them a pay day.  And a beating.  And some MWC school we can beat (meaning NOT Air Force.  EVER!), and call it good for our schedule EVERY YEAR!

Our schedule is done for time and all eternity.  Piece of cake.

And the cities we get to visit!  Minneapolis/St. Paul is SO pretty.  Found one of the best steak houses ever in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Playing Northwestern in Chicago?  AWESOME! 

And my favorite town we will get to go back to?  Ann Arbor, Michigan.

When we were there a few years ago to see the Utes, it was probably short of the Sugar Bowl that same season, the best road trip we have ever made.

Even the drunk, students were gracious, and glad we were there.  One young lady, obviously, "in the cups" as it were, before the game, about bit the head of a security guard that tried to close the door on Deb's white cane as we were trying to get in.

"YOU CAN'T CLOSE THE DOOR ON A BLIND WOMAN, YOU SON OF A BITCH!  THEY CAME CLEAR FROM UTAH!  YOU HAVE TO LET THEM IN!"  And they did!

And when the game was over, there were two guys, obviously older than me, in Yellow, sorry,MAIZE, shirts, standing at the bottom of the steps where all the Ute fans had to come out, shaking every one's hand and saying, "Thanks for coming.  Congratulations on your victory.  Please don't let anyone you know go to Ohio State."  It was quite an experience.

One day, while walking downtown in my Utah shirt, I got in a conversation with a Jewish guy (the hat is how I knew.  No, I'm not even going to TRY to spell it) and he was telling me how much he and his son, who was with him, liked it there. 

He said that Ann Arbor had 109,000 people, and 60 book stores.  Wow.  I believe it.  Everyone there was so nice, and so smart.

When I worked for the FBI in the 2002 Olympics, there was a group from the anti-terrorist group from Detroit.  Hard core right wingers.  They referred to the town as, "The Peoples Republic Of Ann Arbor".  Right on!

We found Polish restaurants, Moroccan restaurants.  AND a, JB's Big Boy!  Ran the gauntlet!

I love Logan.  I had some good friends from high school who went to USU and when there was as good concert up there, Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels, we would go up there and get a room at The Bah Motel and party down in Logan.

But all things considered?  I'll take Ann Arbor, Lincoln, Minneapolis, Chicago and just about anywhere back there over either Logan, or Provo.

Hell, comparing, Provo and it's TWO bookstores ( Deseret Book, and Seagull Book for the, "Ghetto Mormons" who only buy discount) and it's, TGI Fridays (who has to HIDE their bar!) to Ann Arbor is like comparing my Camaro to a minivan.  Yes, they are both cars, such as it is.  But they don't have ANYTHING in common.

That's now how the Utah football program looks at the football at tsds.

You get a game after Halloween yet?  I've been working on this for an hour!  Thought so.

Letter To The Editor That Was Too Long. Over 200 Words. Other People Get Them Published...

Editor,

This morning's (12/22/2011) Trib was quite interesting. First there was the article about the state Legislator who wants to let Utah opt out of Daylight Savings Time. And the reason for this? We don't want the, Federal Government telling us what time it should be in OUR state! Well, while your at it, why don't you pass a law that puts us in the Pacific Time Zone, too! Maybe, I could sleep later in a different dimension, or something?

Then in the local section, the ultimate, paranoid, craziness. The folks down around Kanab see a helicopter with, "Gubment" markings on it, instead of assuming it was a local law enforcement agency searching for a fugitive, or following a high speed chase as us city folks see all the time (credit where it's due. Counting sheep would have been way down on my list too, but not THIS far down) assume it's the Federal Government, "spying" on them!

Wow. These are the same folks who see, "black helicopters" in the distance, think the Federal Government is dropping drugs or chemicals on them with jet contrails, have places that require you to own a gun to live in their town, and have declared parts of Southern Utah a, "United Nations Free Zone".

Our state motto needs to be changed from, "Industry" to: Utah! The Tin Foil Hat State.

I guess this is the same, "logic" that demands free market solutions to everything, while choking the free market to death with a lack of liquor licenses, and declares themselves super patriotic while hating the Federal Government and all the regulations/protections/services it provides.

As the, "Prophet", Forest Gump said, "Stupid is, as stupid does".

Holliday Tradition

Deb used to like to buy a bunch of coloring books and boxes of crayons, wrap them up and take them to the homeless shelter's, School With No Name every year.  We did this for, like, 20 years. This year?  We ran out of time.

We used to get an, Angel from the Angel tree.  Didn't have time.

When Danny was in school over here at Viewmont, the school Social Worker world put out the word about kids who needed coats, or their family needed help at Christmas.

Now that he's in high school, we didn't get that word.

This year, we spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas for a soccer tournament with a team from Park City that Danny and his buddy, Trenton had been invited to, "guest play" for.  It was an honor for them, as the PCSC plays in a higher division than our boys.

Two weeks later, my friend, Lisa Landry the comedian invited, Deb and I to come to see her in Las Vegas.  She doesn't play Las Vegas usually.  They, most of the time require her to stay for a whole week, and she doesn't want to be away from her husband and, "The Devil Tot", her son for a week at a time.

It was nice of her to think of us, since it was close to Utah. But Deb decided to stay home and deal with Christmas baking and shopping, etc.  So I took my friend, Phil to the show.  It was a good, "Boy's Night Out" in Las Vegas, and we never ever went NEAR a stripper bar.  Just us, cigars and some whiskey before going to see Lisa's funny show.  She knocked em' dead, by the way.

I've done my Christmas shopping.  I don't like the holiday anymore. And it's not just because I'm a, "Godless" Atheist.  I USED to be religious, and December 25 is my birthday!  I share it with Jimmy Buffett and some guy called, "Jesus".  Or so I hear.

I've actually SEEN Jimmy Buffett...

But, I still believe in helping my fellow man.  ANY time of the year, but this time of the year seems to have a much bigger impact.  I don't believe in God, or any of the superstitious anymore.  But I sure don't want any kid to wake up on Christmas morning and have nothing to celebrate.

So, I called, Santa Clause.  I have his cell phone number.

You think I'm kidding?

Well, I have a buddy who makes his living working for the state, and was at one time  my partner.  But he makes a BUNCH of his yearly income being Santa from November through December.

He's a right wing, Republican, gun nut, Mormon!  He hangs out with Ted Nugent, for crying out loud!  We have NOTHING in common!  And I love him to death, and would take a bullet for him.  And I buy MY ammunition from him.

I asked him to tell me of someone who needed a hand.  Someone who needed help, that he knew of from his, "Santa" duty.  Not some guy who put $1.6 million on lay away at, "Wally World" hoping someone would pay it off and he could sell it off after Christmas.

He said, "I'll get back to you."

As well he should.

Later that day, he calls me back with a name, and a, lay away account number for a woman who has put some stuff on lay away at the Woods Cross, K Mart.  I took that information, and my credit card up to Woods Cross and paid that sucker off.  Just cause I could.

That's my new holiday tradition.  To help someone who's in need of help, and make Christmas good for the kids they have.

I don't want you to think I'm a great guy for doing this.  I want you to know that even though I'm an Atheist, I still have morals, and feel empathy, and want kids to have a good Christmas.  That you don't need to believe the fables, to learn from the parable.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka, Happy New Year.  No matter WHAT you believe.

Lies, Danm Lies, Statistics And The Salt Lake Tribune.

Mark Twain is credited with saying, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics!".  I haven't gone in search of the exact quote, and since I'm just alleging it, not asserting it, I'll go with the folk lore.

But I do know this.  When I was getting a Sociology degree at the University of Utah in the very late 1970's, and wanted a Minor in Psychology I was required to take Statistics from BOTH of those colleges (well, courses of study within the COLLEGE of Behavioral Science).  It was pretty much the same, exact course.  So taking it again was total bullshit, and only made you pay for the same hours over again.

And it wasn't a hard course.  It was basic math, some minor algebra.  Know the difference between the mode, the median and the mean.  Simple stuff.  Yes I passed it BOTH times.  I KNOW about statistics, and how they work.  Surveys, polls, leading questions, the whole lot.  You cannot pull the wool over my eyes with some bullshit, "Faux News" survey, or right wing poll.  I'm not an expert, but I AM willing to bet I've had TWO more stat's classes at a University, than YOU!  OK?

Well, this morning, I'm wondering if anyone at the Salt Lake Tribune ever took a, "stats" class.  Because the above the fold, HEAD LINE is totally skewed (Tribune, editors?  That's a, "stats" term.  Look it up).  "1 in 5 Dems unsure on Obama".

Then the article starts with the sentence, "Most Democrats want to re-elect President Barack Obama, but one in five of of his party's supporters remain uncertain about keeping him in the White house,..."

Really?  One in FIVE are uncertain about keeping him in the White House.  Well, as someone who's actually conversant in STATISTICS, I would have to say that should have read, "FOUR OUT OF FIVE, OR 80% OF ALL DEMOCRATS APPROVE OF KEEPING BARACK OBAMA IN THE WHITE HOUSE FOR FOUR, MORE, YEARS!"

And underneath it, it should have read, "live with it, Bitches!"

Sometimes, the Trib, which is usually the voice of reason in this state, seems to wake up and remember it lives in Utah.  But forgets it has no competition.  And tries to pander to a local audience.

Give it up, Trib.  The Mormon's WON'T read you, the Republicans can't stand that you tell the truth, so they go with that  OTHER, "newspaper", and I use the term loosely.  You can't win.  Just stick with the truth.

One in five people who actually went to college and buy their books somewhere other than, Costco (and buy books at ALL) didn't fall for that dumb headline.  What were you thinking?

How The Rest Of The World Sees Us

This is going to be copied, directly, word for word, form the December 16, 2011 copy of, "The Week" magazine.  It was on page 16.  And the article was titled, "How they see us:  The GOP makes a virtue of ignorance.

The Republican presidential contest  in America is a, freak show" said Marc Pi in the German, Der Spiegel.  The candidates vie with one another to spew the most outrageous hard-right positions, denying evolution while endorsing torture and joking about electrocuting illegal immigrants.  How did a major, party in the worlds sole superpower  become a "club of liars, debtors, betrayers, adulterers, exaggerators, hypocrites, and ignoramuses?"  Those know-nothings are enabled by a U.S. Press that has been "neutered by the demands of political correctness" so that it can't say what's obvious:  These people are daft!  Instead, it proclaims one clown after the next to be, "The New Front Runner".  The current favorite, Newt Gingrich, is actually considered an intellectual merely because he can create sentences with multiple clauses.  Scarcely a one has even the most basic grasp of foreign policy.  ONE said Africa is a country, another that the  Taliban rule in Libya.  Collectively, "they expose a political economic, geographic, and historical ignorance that makes, George W. Bush  look like  a scholar".

And it gets worse.

That's the scariest part, said, Lorraine Millot in the Paris, Liberation. The only GOP candidate who knows  a thing about diplomacy, Jon Huntsman, is dead last in most polls.  The others "Kareem to extreme positions that include starting new wars and abandoning old allies"  and that's when they even have a position.  Herman Cain, now thankfully out of the race, was the front-runner even though he couldn't find a single coherent word to say about President Obama's policy on Lybia.  He even boasted of knowing little about foreign countries.  And yet it was his adultery, not his astounding ignorance, that brought him down.

There's a simple, "sexplaninatation" for this bizarre phenomenon, said Max Hastings in the London, Daily Mail, in the, "lunatic, gun toting, of Americas hicks-ville, country" it's considered suspiciously elitist to show any interest in modern science or any world beyond America's borders.

Is that what we want our politicians to be?

End quote:  Now?  It's just me.  And I have to say, "FUCK NO!"  Why do the smartest, the most hard working, the folks who should be in Unions, keep electing the dumbest, right wing, Republican, motherfuckers!  When they don't have their best interests at heart?

Well, guns and abortion.  I'm a Liberal Democrat with more guns than YOU!  A whole safe full.  I buy ammo by the case!

And it's been 1973 since Roe V. Wade.  Republicans could have overturned it a million times.  But they didn't, because they need to keep you believing they will.  Bullshit.

I ADOPTED MY SON!  But his, birth mothers decision was HERS!  Not some Congressman!  As it should be.  His birth mom GAVE US our son.  Also, as it should be.

How many guns you need?  Knock yourself out.  Us Democrats don't give a shit.  I have a whole safe full of them.  Love to shoot.  You think we're coming for yours?  You're not paying attention.  You think you protect yourself from a, "Tyrannical Government" with your guns?  Good luck with that.  The Tyrannical Government has an Army.  And an Air Force.  A Navy.  The Marines. A Coast Guard.  And a million times the ammo you kept in your mom's storage room!  So get over it.  Nut ball.

You want to protect yourself from a, "Tyrannical Government"?  VOTE!  And vote for Democrats, because they have not taken away your gun rights, or tapped your phones, or told you what you can do in your bedroom, or with whom you can do it!

Because if you don't?  You only buy your books at Costco, and you only get your news from, "Faux News", which is NOT news!  It's just, unadulterated, BULLSHIT!  Dressed up as news.

Wake up America!  You've been duped,  And you've sent your kids to be killed in the duping.  Get a clue.

I'm Going To Miss Chris

I didn't always agree with Christopher Hitchens.  He thought going into Iraq was a GOOD idea.  And he could come across as sort of a, "foppish",  privileged prick who had been thrown out of some of the best schools in England.  But he was right about most stuff.

I've read two of his books.  God Is Not Great, and, Hitch 22. 

He nailed it, as far as I'm concerned in, the first one.  The second one was maybe a little self Agrandizing, but it was still a good read.  I read it on my last flight from Paris to SLC.  Made the 10 hours go by quickly.

He died today of cancer, caused, most probably by his smoking.  As was, well, IS? Mine.  We all make our beds, despite knowing what we know, and at some point, we must lie in them.  Even if they are six feet under.

I don't know if there is any OTHER cause of esophageal cancer than smoking.  I can't imagine one.

My bladder cancer on the other hand, has TWO leading causes.  Smoking.  Which I did from the time I was in college to about nine or ten years ago.  And to think, I was worried about my LUNGS!  Who'd have thunk it?

And exposure to chemicals at work.  Well, considering I spent about two nights a month in the 1990's standing around in some meth lab that I or my partner had stumbled into, while waiting for the DEA to come and clean it up, I think I scored on BOTH counts there.

And like Hitchens, I hope I beat it.  But we both knew that win or lose, there is nothing after this life.  And you need to live it to the fullest while you can.

I can't tolerate the, "chemo" therapy for my cancer.  Too painful.  My doctor told me I have a 40/60 chance of a relapse if I don't do it.  I'll take my 20% chance of NOT getting sick again, since he said the second surgery showed NO cancer in the biopsy.

And I'm not smoking a pack of Canadian, "Cig's" every day and I don't spend ANY time hanging out in meth labs anymore.

I'm trying to take better care of myself, but I'm pretty much set in my ways.

So, if it turns out that at some point in the next year or so, I have cancer again?  I'm going to pull a Christopher Hitchens and, "Light up another cigarette". 

If I'm going to die anyway?  Might as well enjoy something I really used to like.

Rest in peace, Chris Hitchens.  You told the truth, and you told it well.

All I Want For Christmas...

I'm easy to shop for.  I have my own money.  I don't NEED anything.

Except health insurance.  I pay a TON of money for that every month since the Republicans took my retirement health insurance away the year I could retire and kept it for themselves.  Promised it to me, took it away.  Why would anyone who works for a living vote for a Republican?  I can't figure it out.

But I'm willing to tell my family my Christmas list.  Well, AND Birthday list as well.  I share a birthday with Jesus and Jimmy Buffett.

Jesus may be, "The Reason For The Season", but I've actually SEEN, Jimmy Buffett.  So I believe in him.

I want a set of orange and black, "SS" floor Matt's for the Camaro.  That's all I want.  And I'll tell you why.

My wife's family tradition of stuffing stockings kills me every year.  I think it's crazy since the kids are old enough to know that Santa Clause is every much a myth as Jesus!  The only thing coming down the chimney in this house is cold air when the fire dies out.

I don't like to shop, and I don't want to do it.  And I don't want you to do it for ME!  I don't want a stocking stuffed with candy I don't like and big, "Assed" key chains that play, "Utah Man" that I will NEVER, EVER USE!

You want to do me a favor at Christmas?  Buy me something I can use.  Like health insurance.  Or ammunition.  I LOVE ammunition!

45. ACP and .357 Magnum are my favorite.  But I'm open to anything in .12 Gauge, too.

If you want to buy me a book?  Don't bother.  I might not like to read what you think I should.  Give me a gift card to Barnes and Noble.  And let me pick out my OWN book.  That's a gift I could use!

Or better yet?  One to, Weller's bookstore!  I'd love to spend locally!

But the best gift a guy like me could get, after growing up the way I had to, because I had no choice over my own Birthday?  Just send a, "Happy Birthday" on Facebook, on Christmas day.   That would be cool.

I hope you ALL have  GREAT  holiday season, no matter which holidays you celebrate.

Just sayin...

Merry Freakin' Christmas

This blog is addressed to wives of guys like me.  We're older.  We have some money.  We generally buy what ever we need, and for the most part, WANT, when ever we need or want it.  In the last 28 years I have taken my wife pretty much, where ever she wanted to go.  Cruises, Caribbean, Europe  and she buys jewelry.  What ever she wants.

She buys her own clothes.  Coats, shoes, what ever.  I don't have ANY idea what to buy this woman for Christmas.

So, ladies?  If you find yourself married to the same guy for 28 years, and you don't have a hobby like building dollhouses, or crafting, or, hell, I don't know, model railroading?  Then do your man a favor:

GIVE HIM A FUCKING CLUE WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE FOR CHRISTMAS!

I know it comes as a shock to most women, but we DO NOT read minds!  When you wake up on Christmas morning, and nothing you got for Christmas makes you happy, it's YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT if you husband has been asking you for suggestions for a MONTH!

You want to go see, "A Christmas Carol" at Hale Center Theater and you don't tell him?  You're not getting there!  You wanted tickets to see, Ballet West do, "The Nutcracker" and didn't tell him?  You wanted ANOTHER nutcracker and didn't tell him for that matter.  You're not getting it!

If you have a couple of leather coats.  A long one and a short one, and you wanted ANOTHER one, but didn't mention it to your husband?  Don't EVEN be disappointed on Christmas morning!

And until you have used up the lifetime supply of Victoria's Secret lotion/soap/body wash you would just love, so I bought it for you every year for ten years to put in your stocking and it's now turning brown on a bathroom shelf?  Don't tell me to go back there.

I swear, I've told lap dancers in Las Vegas that I liked their Victoria Secret lotion, and when they asked me how I knew what they were wearing?  I've told them, "I buy it for my wife every Christmas cause I think it's great."  They think I'm a great husband who really takes care of his wife the right way.  Then they realize that if was really THAT guy?  I might not be in a stripper bar.  Makes em think for a minute.  Just sayin...

You can see the wheels turning in their brains.  After all, they are all UNLV Political Science majors, just trying to work their way through college if you ask them...  But I digress.

So, ladies, if you have made it to a point in your life, that you can meet your own, NEEDS, and most of your own, WANTS?  Give your poor husband a clue.  Help him out.  At least steer him in the right direction.  If you want some sort of a lawn sculpture for next summer, or new computer program, and you end up with a pair of Cowboy Boots you'll never wear, and you haven't done that?  It's you own fault.

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas: NOT!

I BLOG Because I Don't Have The Guts To Be A Stand Up Comedian

I grew up loving George Carlin.  Rich Little, Rodney Dangerfield.  Anyone that appeared on, "The Tonight Show."  I would beg my mom to let me stay up when ANY comedian was going to be on, "The Tonight Show".

Joan Rivers, Robert (I can't stop my leg!, Child of the 50's) Klein.  Loved it.  When I was finally old enough, and had a job while in college, to get cable TV, I had to have HBO.  Carlin and Klein OWNED HBO in the late 70's and 80's.

Gave me the opportunity to be on the cutting edge by having MTV when THEY started, too!

I have a friend who is a stand up comedian.  And I'm going to see her this weekend, in Las Vegas.

How do you know this woman, you might ask?  Was she from Utah?  Or Murray?  Nope.  We are, "face book friends".  Oh, you're saying.  You're not REALLY friends.  You just follow her and are going to a show.

Nope.  And I'm going to tell you why.

A few years ago, I was watching, Comedy Central in January.  And they have this competition where you can call in vote for your favorite comedian.  And I saw Lisa's show.  I thought she was very funny, and she didn't work too, "Blue", most of her stuff was about her husband and her son, "The Devil Tot".

My wife doesn't really like stand up.  She will humor me if I want to go.  Hell, she can't see shit but agreed to see Penn & Teller with me, not once, but twice this year, just because I wanted to go, and last month, wanted to take my son and his friend.  But I thought that if, Lisa Landry ever got to work the clubs in SLC, I'd make her come with me.  Blind people can HEAR the funny.

So, I went to find Lisa's web sight and it turns out she was on FB, and I could, "friend" her.  Awesome.  I figured I'd get updates on comedy club dates, and if she was going to be in SLC, I'd know about it.

Well, turns out, she was really working that FB page, cause she wasn't that famous back then.  And the night after I became a FB friend of Lisa Landry, I became a friend of, Lisa Landry!

She was in the chat room on FB. I asked her if she was really her, or if she paid someone to BE her in the chat thing.  Nope it was her.  We talked.  She was from Louisiana, Deb and I had just been there.  We talked about travel.  We talked about all kinds of stuff.  it was fun.  And we kept chatting for a while until she became famous enough that if she went into chat and DIDN'T talk to everyone, people would be pissed at her.

So we just talked by email.  Summer of 2010.  Lisa invites Deb and I to her tapeing of her new DVD at a club in Denver.  Put us on the VIP list!  Awesome!  We go, we are entertained, she's awesome, and we get to meet her after the show.  Now my FB friend is REALLY a friend!  We keep in touch.

Through our emails, she's told me she doesn't like to work Las Vegas, because they make you stay a week.  And she doesn't want to be away from her husband and son that long, so she doesn't take those gigs.  But she's still trying to book a gig at, Wiseguys in SLC.

Well, last month, she invites Deb and I to come see her in Las Vegas!  She got a Thursday-Saturday gig there!  Oh, HELL yeah I'm there.

Deb doesn't want to go.  To close to Christmas, too much to do.  Gives me permission to do it as a, "BNO" (Boys Night Out) so I talk, Phil into it!

And I know what some of you are thinking.  Hot, young, chick you're going to hang out with.  Leaving your wife home...

If you want to give a buzz kill to your possible future affair, guys?  Take your wife to meet the woman your friends think you're going to try to hit on the first time you meet her.  This young lady invited me and my WIFE to her show.  Because she's worried about Deb's eyes.  She really cares about my WIFE'S welfare.  Anyone who thinks different is up in the night.

Phil is coming with me to see the show, and buy his Christmas booze at Costco in Las Vegas.  And, because he's a good friend.

So, tomorrow, we leave for the long drive.  Friday, we shop at Costco and Trader Joe's (My kids have told me that I need to fill the back seat of the Audi with the vanilla, almond, cluster, crunch cereal, or they will be pissed at me.  What the hell.  They can't bust me at the boarder for bootleg cereal).

The bootleg booze will be int the trunk.  And I was a Cop long enough to know that I can, and will say, "NO, you can't search my car!"

I'll be here all week, please tip your waitress!  Thank you!

KUTV2 News Sucks Now That's It's Number One

And I'll tell you why.  I started my college career as a communications major.  Wanted to do news.  Newspaper, radio (which was a legitimate option at that point in 1977) or TV.  I spent a couple of years doing news for KUER at the, "U".  We were the five minute lead in for a new show they were carrying, "All Things Considered" for NPR.

And I learned alot about the news business in those two years.  I had a professor who was also a columnist for the LA Times call me into her office one day and told me, "You can't write, and you can't spell, and you really need to find something else to do."  And in the manual typewriter days, long before spell check, she was right.  And she also was responsible for my 23 year career in law enforcement that made me the most decorated officer in the history of Adult Probation And Parole.  She did me a favor.

And I learned that even in radio, you needed a face for TV to get a job.  I had a face for radio, so it became obviously apparent that I had no future in broadcast journalism.  And since I was already told I couldn't write and I couldn't spell?  I went with the Sociology Degree, and an emphasis in Criminology and a minor in psych.  And it served me well.  Still does.

My kids have NEVER been successful at lying to me.  I'm good.

So, now, I'm TOO cynical of broadcast journalism.  And I'm glad that KUTV is doing well, and beating the locally owned, MORMON owned, KSL that is so busy reporting positive, Mormon stories, to the detriment of REAL news.  But, this leads to other problems.

The amount of commercials is now, totally out of control!  If you keep track, they run commercials for the four minutes they sign off at 5:26, right after the weather, which is the ONLY thing most folks tune into local news for, until the National News starts at 5:30.

They do that at the end of their 4:30 newscast too. 

And they don't do, news, weather and sports.  They do news, weather and JAZZ!  That's all they cover and then they tell you they will tell you more sports on the channel those of us who are advanced enough to have DirectTV, don't get!  And on top of that, the last minute of the, "alleged" sports, is some commercial for a biker ride, or fund raiser for someone!  WTF?

They are sneaking in ANOTHER commercial!  This would NOT work if we were all as smart as we think we are.  So viewers?  Start reevaluating your selection.

And I can't end this rant without commenting on, Lindsey, "What NOT To Wear" Storrs!.  She's a competent, even great, "weather guesser".  With impeccable credentials.  But she is what, Chelsea Handler would call, "A hot mess"!

Lindsey?  1995 called and wants it's hair cut back!  And who is picking out your clothes!

I risk sounding like a Gay Guy from, "Queer Eye For The Straight Newscaster" but for crying out loud!  You dress like shit!  TOO many angles, TOO much drama!  You look like a woman from a 1930's film nor, but just a little more, "festive"!

Tonight, the woman had on a dress that had a collar that looked like she had some sort of a medical instrument around her head and neck.  Like she'd had a bad fall.

I know, she went to tsds, so she's not going to put on a tight sweater, and that's not what I'm saying at all.  It's just that the woman has such BAD taste in clothing, and hair cuts that I have a hard time believing that she could get this job at any OTHER market in America!

And most of the time, her jackets are SO tight, her mike pack on her back sticks out like a HUGE tumor.  She is a total mess.

So, KUTV, cover some hockey, give us some sports on channels we can actually get, and cut out about four minutes of commercials at the start and end of each newscast, and since your #1, CHARGE MORE FOR THE ONES YOU DO SELL!  Don't sell more!  You're making yourself unwatchable.

And I've been picked by Arbitron, at random, THREE times in the last 20 years.  And if they pick me THIS year?  You're going down.  I killed the trucking two hours on, Outlaw Country Satellite Radio two years ago, by just filling out my form, and my family's forms and sending them in.  Act accordingly.

Wrong Number

My neighbor, Ryan kept getting some really inappropriate, sexual, text's this afternoon.  One was even a picture. His phone kept going off  while we were in the, "Garage-ma-hall" smoking cigars.

I finally told him to call/text them back and tell them they had a wrong number, so he did.

The, "woman" who was texting him turned out to be a guy named, Patrick!  Oh, that's just wrong.

After Ryan told him he was NOT a gay man, and didn't want his text's any more, it finally quit.  But you have to wonder, how WRONG was that number, and where did it come from.

Crazy.

PSSSSST! Repbulicans! You Need To Catch A Clue. Herman Caine Is NOT Your Guy.

I have to say, when it comes to the Republican Primary, I am in the position to be a totally neutral observer.  I don't give a shit.  Obama is going to crush who ever you throw up there.  But I'm going to give you some advice anyway.  You won't take it, and that's OK.  I know from the word go that you are not smart enough to listen to the voice of reason.

You're nominee is going to be Mitt Romney.  It HAS to be Mitt Romney.  He is the only hope you have.  He's only going to win Utah and Idaho, maybe Arizona.  He's not going to win the election.  But he's the only normal guy you have in the group.

More allegations today of Herman Cain's sexual nonsense.  WITH evidence of phone and text bills.

Those votes Cain is losing are going to Newt?  Who is still ONE confirmed affair ahead of Herman?  Really?  That isn't going to fly.

John Huntsman is the reasonable guy in the race?  No he's not.  He thinks Government can be run like a business and he took my retirement health care away.  The year I could retire.  He's an asshole who speaks Chinese.  If Obama spoke Chinese, you R's would call him a Muslim COMMUNIST!  At least at Faux News.

Look, R's, just go ahead and throw Mitt to the wolves.  You don't like him since he's a Mormon.  And you really have no other choice.  Obama wins this election, and the house comes back to the Democrats since you guys won't do anything.  It's already over.

Now what do you do?  Get Chris Christy a personal trainer.  Because America won't elect a fat guy, and take your best shot in 2016 with him.

Newt?  Really?  THAT'S the best you can do?  This guy has more flaws than a two dollar handgun, but you seem to keep coming back to him.  He's not smart.  He's not loyal to his, "family values" shit he runs on.  He's a train wreck of a candidate.  Or, "Cain Wreck" as it were...

Now, lets talk about, Rick Perry.  Like 8 years of the LAST stupid as hell, former Texas Governor were not ENOUGH to clue you into how ugly it can get.  How dumb are the voters of Texas?  Dumb enough to elect, "W" AND Rick Perry!

They talked about seceding a few years ago.  I think we should let them.

He doesn't know the date of the election he's competing in, and he doesn't know the voting age.  That kind of stupidity CAN and has, flown in Texas.  On a national level?  Not so much.

Michelle Bachmann!  Need I say more?  Vaccines make you retarded?  No, Michelle.  YOU are retarded.  She's OUT!

Ron Paul?  Please.  Put him back in his assisted living room, turn the TV to reruns of, "Murder She Wrote" and forget about him.

Science deniers, evolution deniers, dummies of all shapes and colors, is all the R's can run.  And the worst of the worst appears to be, "Becky, Becky, Stan, Stan" Herman who can't keep his hands off the hired help.  Kind of like Strom Thurmond.  Voted AGAINST civil rights, but was fucking the hired, BLACK help.

Republicans are liers and science deniers.  And they claim to be, Christian, right wing, family values guys.  Bullshit.

Yeah, they will hate on the, Mormon, Mitt.  But they have NO other choice at this point.  It's Mitt or no one.  Good to see that, as a Democrat.

Las Vegas Is STILL, Decadant And Depraved. But They Have Nice Soccer Fields

Not a good two days for, "City".  1-2-1.  When the highlight of the tournament is a, "nil-nil" tie with a team who was supposed to wipe the turf with you?  Not a good two days.

BUT!  All is not lost.  The boys from Murray had a great time with their new, adopted team.  I took Danny and Trenton to see Penn & Teller last night and they got to meet them after the show. Get some autographs, and some pictures.

Trenton has never been to Las Vegas before.  And Thursday night, he got to see, "The Strip" at night, and have dinner in the hot, new, casino, Cosmopolitan.  At a Chinese/Mexican fusion restaurant.  That is decadent.

And last night, I exposed him to Penn & Teller.  And that is depraved.  But without being, "adult entertainment" depraved.  Just, crazy depraved.   Google Penn & Teller's, "Cell Fish" bit.  Blew my mind, and I was watching it from right up close and personal.

There has to be a trap door involved somewhere.  Trust me.

So, all things considered?  It was not a bad weekend.  Tomorrow, most folks are heading home.  Not us.  I'm going to keep Danny and Trenton out of school on Monday while we drive home.  Won't hurt their education, I'm pretty sure.

Sunday is Debra Jo's day in Las Vegas!  Look out, Trader Joe's, here we come!

It's almost Christmas.  That means baking.  Nuts.  Nuts will be bought.

And the BEST cereal in he world.  Danny wants a case of Trader Joe's vanilla, almond, crunch.  As do I.

We will go to COSTCO.  And not just for gas.  Legally?  It's called, "bootlegging".  I'm doing it anyway.  Some,  Maker's Mark.

Sunday night, we will take the shuttle from our condo to, "The Strip".  Show Trenton the fountains at, The Billagio. The volcano at, uh, wtf ever place THAT is.  Just do the, "touristy" shit.

I'll be packing a handgun, because I CAN.  But the truth be known?  The LVMPD is ALL over the strip.  So I could turn the two 15 year olds lose down there to just walk around, and see the sights, and not really worry about them.

 I might do that.  And get some sleep.  I just hope they know the last shuttle, "home" leaves at midnight.  From Caesars.
.
Does trusting my 15 year old to hang out on the Las Vegas Strip late at night (and he's done it  before with one of his other friends) make me a, "Bad Dad" or just a guy who trusts his kid?  I'm thinking I might be nuts, but he's done it before.

I trust him.  I trust, Trenton.  And just to be sure?  I have a $100 bill in my pocket to pay a cab if they call and say, "We're lost!  We don't know where to find, Caesar's and can't get home!"  I'll pay the cab fair. 

I hope, Deb wants to go with them.  I've had enough of, 'The Strip".  I've seen it.

Apple vs. Windows. Business vs. Government

I can't think, "Apple".  I bought an ipad2 last spring to travel with and I have finally admitted I don't get it.  I have learned that I am more comfortable with a Windows based operating system, so I went and bought a small, lap top PC to travel with.

I gave the ipad2 to my son.  He's thrilled with it.  He's used it more in the last week than I did in six months.  He's a smart boy.

My inability to change and adapt leads me to go to Best Buy every six months and drop a thousand dollars.  I know this makes me the weakest link in the evolutionary chain, but I've already reproduced, so I guess it's OK.

What I've noticed lately, after working in state government for more than 20 years, is that Republicans can't think, "Government".  They are only comfortable with a business based operating system.

We have to come to an agreement on why we WANT a government for this to work out, though.  And I'm not sure they are on the same page as the rest of us.  My feeling is that we want GOVERNMENT to do for ALL of us, what we can't do for ourselves.

This would be providing clean water, sewer systems, good roads, the military, police and fire protection, making sure our food is safe, our air is clean and our water is potable, and we have prisons where we lock up people we don't want to continue to victimize us.

I'm pretty sure that most folks like the Post Office being there, even if they bitch about the cost of sending a bill (no one sends letters anymore, do they?).  I'm sure that you appreciate the FAA inspecting the planes we fly on, even if you hate the hassle of the TSA when you fly.

I like the air being cleaner than it was when I was a kid and the rivers not catching on fire, like they did before Nixon created the EPA.

And in every other industrialized nation in the world, Government provides health care to it's citizens.  Not boob jobs, nose jobs, or braces for you teeth.  But everything you would need to stay alive.  If you want to look better?  That's on you.

But Republicans think Government should be run like a business.  I guess, you could equate citizen, tax payers, to, "stock holders" but it's really a stretch.  Stock holders expect a profit.  Tax payers should expect good service without waste and corruption and the best price possible.  But you gotta know, the services Government provides for you are going to cost you.

And as for best price possible?  I spent many years fighting crime in a, "bullet resistant vest" bought from the lowest bidder.  Thanks.  Thanks a lot.

You pay taxes for good roads, and water systems.  As well as a fee for the water you use every month.

In a business model, you would pay a toll on every road you use.  Every day.

Government is a, "Loss Leader".  Like buffet's used to be in Las Vegas.  They would lose money on the cheap food to get you into the casino, and then hope to take your money at the tables.

Government COSTS money!  And you will never be able to make it cost nothing.

In a business model, the Fire Department Inc., subdivision, Paramedic, would be told that they only have 500 gauze bandages to use this year.  And once they have used them, they need to quit treating people who are bleeding.  Because it would cut into profits for our stock holders.

In a business model, Public Employees LLC would be told that they can promise lifetime health insurance to get people to sign on to do shitty jobs, but just as they got close to using the benefit at retirement?  They could change the rules and take it away from the employees.  Because it saves the stock holders money.  Hell it worked for Sears for YEARS!  In the 60's and 70's they found lots of ways to fire people who were about to get a pension and retirement.  Happened to a neighbor of mine.

In a business model, every time you needed to call the Police, no matter how dire the situation, you would be asked, by the dispatcher, for your credit card number to make sure you could pay for the service, before the Cops were sent to you.  Hey, no deadbeats get service from, Public Protection Corporation.  We have an obligation to our stock holders!

In a business model, you want to see Yellowstone Park?  How many shares do you own?  Because the guys who own the most get first shot at coming in.  You only own a few shares?  Put in a request for taking a cancellation from someone who owns more shares in, The National Park Corporation  than you.

And Republicans seem to think this is the best way to run a country!  WTF?  Do you really want this?  Do you really want the guys in charge that will keep the flowers out of the islands on State Street here in Murray because it would save a few bucks?  If you do, move to some ugly city like, Layton.  I don't want to live there.

And I don't want to live in a country where rich guys want to save every penny in taxes even if it means no one is looking out for my air and water quality, the health of my food, or the safety of my airplane.  And I sure as hell don't want to live in someplace without Police and Fire protection.

Business has proven time and time again, that left to it's own devices, it will NOT REGULATE ITSELF!  Check the article in today's Tribune where executives of a drug company went to prison for killing three people in an unauthorized, "drug test" of some bone glue that they hoped to get in the market without the FDA having to get involved.

And check your retirement account since 2008 when Bush drove the country into a ditch.

Government costs money.  And you get your money's worth out of it if you vote every time you can, and read newspapers, and pay attention before you do.

Government is NOT a business!   And it can't be run the same way.  It's a different animal, completely.  And if you try to Republicanize Government, it won't work at all.

You do what the Teabaggers want to do you better own a big drill and a backhoe.  Because you're going to have to drill for your own water and put in a septic tank.

Oh, and get a generator if you live in Murray.  Because right now you enjoy the uninterrupted (for the MOST part) service of, "The People's Republic Of Murray's Power Company" , you socialist, anti-capitalism son of a bitch!  And you should go back to Cuba!

I've been to Cuba.  You think Murray City Power isn't as good as you want it?  Try keeping the card that turns on your power to your house on your key ring so it's only on when you're in the house, then tell me how much you hate, "Socialism".

Deamonizing The Cops At OWS Is Not A Good Thing. And I'll Tell You Why.

We don't want our Cops to be professionals in this country.  Most of them don't have college degree's.  They are not educated.  They might have been in the military.  And they have been to Police Academy's.  Two places that teach you WHAT to think, not HOW to think.

So they don't know that the folks at OWS are fighting FOR them and their Unions.  They have just been told that anyone who is in violation of the law, like camping in a park, needs to be dealt with, and they go and do their job.  As they should.  The, "Thin Blue Line Between Anarchy and Civility".  The reason the whole country doesn't need to wear a gun like in the old west or what ever planet Rick Perry is living on.

I got a BS in Sociology, with and emphasis/certificate in Criminology And Corrections.  Minor in Psych.  I WANTED to get a MSW, but couldn't get accepted to Graduate School.  I had no intention of going into law enforcement.  Let alone working for the Department of Corrections and IN a prison!  I was, surely, above THAT!

But I got my first State job with Youth Corrections BECAUSE I had the BS.  I got my next job at the Juvenile Court because I had the BS.  And I got my last job, with Adult Probation And Parole because at the time, you HAD to have a BS in the Social Sciences, to get a job as an Agent.

Since then the requirements have changed.  I actually worked FOR people who didn't have college degrees by the time I retired.  I worked with some of the dumbest, most ignorant, ill informed, morons on the face of the planet.  The dumbing down of law enforcement continues to this day.

I worked with a bunch of guys who despite the fact that the Republicans in the State Legislature froze their salaries, tried to take their pension, and DID take their retirement health insurance, while keeping if for themselves (Chris Buttars has lifetime PEHP.  I don't and I have cancer from being in meth labs! How is THAT right?) would vote for them every time because they were Mormon, Republicans!

My friend, Todd, who's a Mormon Republican, but a smart one who can think for himself, told me the the truth.  He said that voters in Utah vote on, "Abortion and guns" and nothing else.

How sad.

So you have a bunch of guys, mostly military who come home, and get a job as a Cop.  Most of them do a great job.  But, they are not the folks who will say, "Sir?  That order is just not RIGHT!"

They do what they are told, even when it's against their own self interest, because they need the job!  What are these guys going to do?  Quit and write a book?  Go into computers?   No.  They trained to do what they were told to do, and they do it.

The guys with degrees get to be detectives, or in my department, Agents.  But in the Utah Department of Corrections, you advance by being stupid, and subservient.  Not Smart.  If you question authority, you get in trouble.  I did many times.

And the guys pepper spraying old people in Seattle, or New York?  It's wrong, but it's what we expect of our Cops.  Even though they don't know that they are doing themselves a bad thing.

If we still had Unions for public employees, who could educate and protect the jobs of these guys, who said, "NO!  I won't pepper spray Grandma for standing up for herself!" we wouldn't have this behavior.

But since we don't?  Don't beat up the Cops.  They need that job.  Just like the guy at Wal Mart.  Or McDonald's, or anywhere else they can't have a real, effective, Union.

Think about it.

Hoggers, Hooters, Hillbillys! Oh, My!

I like to say I don't watch, "reality" shows. I've never seen, Survivor, American Idol, or, Dancing With The Stars, and I don't plan to watch any of them.

But the truth is, the longest running, "reality" show of all is, COPS, and I've been hooked on it since it debuted in 1988, about the time I first became a Cop myself. And I watch all of the variations on that theme every chance I get, Vegas Jail House (been there a FEW times. Yes, I was working), Jail, Police POV, Vegas Strip (been there a few times too. No, NOT working), and, Police Women of (Broward County, Phoenix, Cincinnati, what have you). I love, Mandy from Cincinnati. She looks like one of the girls from the, Addicted To Love video from back in the 80's.

Before she was born, no doubt.

But there has been born of recent years a new type of reality show. Pawn Stars. Storage Wars. Billy The Exterminator. And I find them all interesting. They show regular folks doing their everyday jobs, just like, Cops does. But with the exception of poor, Billy, the jobs won't kill you.

And the newest ones, are about people in the south who hunt wild hogs. Fascinating stuff, this.

When I was in college, and working at, Zinik's Sporting Goods in the Fashion Place Mall we sold guns. The standard, run of the mill, lever action, repeating, carbine rifle was the Winchester model 94, .30/30. You could shoot deer with it if you were 16 years old and it wouldn't knock you on your ass, but it had plenty of knock down. It didn't need a scope because it was not a real, long range, player, but you could put one on it. And it was cheap.

It came chambered for .30/30, .357, and even .44 Magnum.

It was a very versatile gun. But one day, we get a couple of guns of this verity in a caliber I did not recognize. I wish I could remember what it was, but it was almost a .50 cal. size cartridge. Huge.

I asked the Winchester guy the next time he came in, what the heck that was for? He told me that in the south, they were being over run with wild hogs. And the .30/30 wasn't stopping them, so they came up with this new gun.

OK, The University of Arkansas' mascot was the, Razorback Hog, and I knew people hunted them down there.

Turns out I had no idea.

When Spain still owned Florida, they imported what were called, Russian Hogs as livestock. They were not native to Florida, or even, Spain, being from, Russia. But they thrived in the south, and were a good source of meat. But it didn't take long for them to get loose, get wild, and become a problem.

I watched a documentary a few years ago about this problem in the south. Seems it's worse now than even in the 70's (isn't everything?). These creatures tear up the land, ruin crops, will kill livestock and threaten, and even attack, people.

When Deb and I were in Louisiana a few years ago for the Sugar Bowl Game, we took a, Swamp Tour one day. North across Lake Pontchartrain from NOLA, in Slidel. And the tour guide told  us about his problems getting a 600 pound, "Russian Hog" out of the Bayou after you shot it.

Well, now there is a whole bunch of shows about killing these hogs.  And it seems that if you are a woman who kills hogs?  You have to have amazing breasts

Crystal "Pistol" Campbell on,  American Hoggers has tits that would, it appears, stop a bullet, and the producers make sure the girl is in the tightest t-shirt you have ever seen every week.

The show that came on next featured two women who are willing, it appears, to try and capture these hogs. 

They had no guns.  But they both had enormous breasts.  I'm not getting the connection between hogs and hooters, but it appears to be necessary in both shows.
.
And from what I know about these animals is that they are ruthless, have up to five inch tusks that are razor sharp, can be as big as 600 pounds.  So, why would you want to CAPTURE them instead of KILL them?

It appears from what they are saying, they donate the meat from these animals, but that still does not explain why you have to, "hog tie" it and take it out of the back country on a tractor before you shoot it.  Do they think the meat will last longer?  I'm just asking.

I guess it wouldn't make for a very interesting show if you just showed women with attractive breasts shooting guns every week.  But I'm sure somewhere out there, you could find a web site dedicated to just such and activity.  Leave you credit card number, and use your virus protection.

I'm pretty sure that when A&E got it's start, it stood for Arts and Entertainment.  Now?  I'm not so sure.

I guess the next evolution of reality TV is for Billy The Exterminator to get breast implants and start pawning stuff he's killed in storage sheds.  Makes perfect sense to me.










































































1

Whew! Took The Computer In For A Tune Up, And Thought I Might Miss THIS!

Well, It might. The font on Apple is shit, but i have NO idea how to change it, so you just gotta live with it it.

No you don't. I'M not going to live with it! Apple sucks! And I'm offically giving the ipad to the blind woman I live with becuse one of the resons I bought it, is that it will talk to her. So now it's all hers.

I bought a new, little, 14 inch screen lap top that will work in any country we are in, unlike this piece of shit, and I'm going back to Windows.

Good bye Apple I know your NOT A COM

Joe Paterno Is Evil. And So Are The People Who Think HE'S The Victim In This

Anyone turning over a truck, tearing down a light pole, or threatening Mike McQueary back in Pennsylvania is an idiot and doesn't really understand what just happened back there.

Joe Paterno should rot in Hell.  This right wing, Republican, Christian, family values guy who was not at all shy about his support for the most right wing, law and order, Republicans let a pedophile prey on Pennsylvania's children for an extra ten years (and how many before?  Just asking...) to protect the reputation of his football team!  This is an outrage.

And the people of, "Happy Valley" who are rioting, and expressing their love for the coach who they think is the victim in this whole thing, are out of their minds!

One of the players told ESPN tonight, "On Saturday, we're playing for Joe!"  Really?  Who's playing for, or thinking about the victims?

Yeah, I know, "JoPa" didn't screw any kids himself.  But, as they say at the Police Academy, he knew or should have known, about the problem, and he did nothing about it for 10 years!  How do you do that and expect to keep you job?  Or as he said in his statement, "the board shouldn't waste even a minute worrying about me".  I wanted to finish that sentence for him.  It would have read, "because I'm hoping they let me bail out of this by retiring at the end of the season, the winningest coach in D1 history, and not fire my ass for being an incompetent enabler who allowed a bunch of kids to get sexually abused."

And all these talking heads from Penn State who hope he'll be remembered for his long service, 409 victory's and his outstanding graduation rate?  Fuck you.  That's the college football equivalent of, "Hitler gave us the Autobahn, so what's you problem?"

And the latest revelation in this whole thing, assistant coach, Mike McQueary, who witnessed the rape of a young boy in 2002 and reported it to his head coach is getting threats!  WTF?  Kill the whistle blower?  Really?

Yeah, he was a 28 year old, former college football player at the time.  He could have beaten the offender into the tile and held him on the shower floor until the Cops showed up.  Why didn't he?

I'll tell you why.  He was scared to freaking death!

He was a 28 year old, former college football player, who was working as a graduate assistant.  Hoping to become a college football coach himself one day, and he just witnessed the guy who had been, "JoPa's" right hand man when HE was playing for Paterno, screwing a kid in the shower.  And I'm sure he knew it was wrong, but I'm just as sure that at that moment?  He didn't know whether to shit or wind his watch.

So by all accounts, he called his father, told him what he had witnessed and asked for advice.  And his dad told him to go to Paterno with the information.  As he should have.

This is a crime committed in a work place, by a coworker.  He didn't witness this on the street where calling the Cops is the default option.

He went to his boss with the information, and keep in mind, his boss was the most respected coach in ALL of college football at the time.  I'm pretty sure this young, graduate assistant would have sought out the advice of his mentor no matter what he had just witnessed.

And I'm also pretty sure that when he told Paterno what he saw, it was not the first time Paterno had heard a story like this.  And even if it was?  I'm betting what McQueary heard was, "Thanks for letting me know, son.  I'll take care of this.  You did the right thing.  Don't tell anyone else about this.  Let me handle it."

And how did Paterno handle it?  He told his boss, as he should have.  But, at 74 years old, when no Cops show up to speak to the former defensive coordinator, or the young graduate assistant who gave you the information within a few days, aren't you old enough to know that the guys you told about this haven't done the right thing?  And that you should have?

After all, YOU are not a 28 year old graduate assistant to the greatest college football coach ever, hoping for a future in the business.   You're old enough to know, not only better, but that the right thing was not going to be done.

No one is responsible for Paterno's ruined legacy but, Paterno.

So rioters?  Knock it off!  JoPa got what he deserved.  He covered your University's reputation in shit and scandal.  And lay off Mike McQueary.  He did what he thought was the right thing ten years ago and I bet if you ask him?  He'd have done it differently if he had it to do over again.  JoPa sat on the information for ten years, and how many MORE victims?

McQueary can no longer coach at Penn State.  That's pretty obvious.  But he should NOT be fired!  He did nothing wrong, except trust Joe Paterno to the do the right thing.  And any one associated with that University who will say they wouldn't have done the same thing in the same situation is a lying son of a bitch.

A Democrat Talks About Guns

I grew up around guns.  My dad hunted.  Every time I smell, Hoppe's #9 gun cleaner, it reminds me of Fall.  Because about September, my dad would start cleaning guns in the house.  The .20 Gauge for Pheasant season.  The 35 Remington with the 6X scope for deer season.  It was a pump.  The same kind of gun the guy used to shoot a bunch of people from the Texas Tower back in the 60's.

And this brings me to my point.  If you don't know about guns, you can't really know about American history.

Good, bad, or well, to tell the truth, MOSTLY good.  Even though there is some bad in there, we are who we are, and WHAT we are based on our relationship with guns, in this country.

Had the Colonists had to take on the British with swords, instead of figuring out how to hide behind trees during battle, we would not be an independent country.  The British would have had WAY more troops than we could have taken on.

When I took my kids to, Battle Green in he summer of 2010, and we toured the Inn where the Revolutionary War started (Someone tell, Michele Bachmann that's in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire) I actually stopped the tour guide, who insisted on using the words, "musket" and, "rifle" interchangeably.  They are NOT the same weapon.  The Revolutionary war was fought with muskets that had a smooth boar and were not very accurate.  The Civil War was fought with rifle's which had rifled barrels, and could be accurate to 1000 yards or more.

I also used that opportunity to show my son a three edged bayonet.  And explain to him why they were outlawed by international agreement after World War One, because they caused TOO much damage to be easily repaired by surgeons.  After 1918, your bayonet or military knife could only have TWO sharp edges.

Back to the Civil war.  Mini balls, rifled barrels, cannons loaded with, "canister".  You have to know what those things are, our you can't really understand what happened there.

 The Colt .44 Peacemaker.  Won the west.  They used to say, "God made all men.  Coronal Colt made them EQUAL!"  And a hundred and twenty years later, Steve Earl wrote, "My very first pistol was a cap and ball Colt.  Shoots as fast as lightning, but it loads a might slow.  Could get you into trouble, but it could not get you out."  Well, that was true.  So what did American ingenuity come up with next?  Repeating firearms.

We went from fast burning, Black Powder, to slower burning, Smokeless Powder that was much more efficient at moving bullets, metal cartridges that were impervious to water, pistols that would accept six rounds at a time, and lever action rifles that would hold as many as nine rounds at a time!  Sorry Indians.  Manifest Destiny, and all...

Then, the military needed a good sidearm.  And in 1911, John Browning, a Utahan from, Morgan invented the semiautomatic handgun.  The Model 1911, .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol.  Called that because, Browning, a GOOD American did NOT charge the Government for the patent.  He felt that if his government needed this, he should just give it to them!  And most of those guns were first made by, Colt.  During the war years of the first and second World Wars they were also made by folks as diverse as the Singer Sewing Machine Company, and Maytag. Who might have made your washer.)

Contrast THAT attitude of Mr. Browning with today's Tea Party, destroy government folks.

The war years of World War One gave way to Prohibition.  From which, it appears with as much money we spend trying to arrest and imprison everyone using Marijuana, and for that matter ALL drugs, we, as a Nation learned, NOTHING!

The Thompson Sub machine Gun was made for the military in WWI.  It ended up being the weapon of choice in the Gang Wars of Prohibition.  Came in .45 Cal.  Same ammo as the military side arm. But when you could push like, 1400 of them a minute through a barrel of a gun, could cut a car in half.  Pretty hard to hide from behind your, Buick.

Up steps Mr. Browning again.  And he gives us the B-A-R!  Browning Automatic Rifle.  The gun that finally brought down, Bonnie and Clyde!

Well, now it's the 1930's and the Government, decides that there should be some, "GASP", GUN CONTROL!  The average American shouldn't be able to own a machine gun.  And the average American agreed.  They didn't want that kind of fire power in the hands of bandits and gangsters.  Just the military and police.  Whew!  Glad THAT'S over!

Not so fast.  Police decided that the standard, .32 Cal was not strong enough to stop bandits.  Especially if they were, Negros, and on cocaine!  Out comes the .38 Special.  The standard gun for all police forces until the 1980's when the 9mm semi auto replaces it.

From the .38, we get the .357 developed by hunters that wanted a more powerful handgun for killing stuff like bears.  Next?  The .44 Magnum, developed FROM the .44 Russia, but with much higher pressure, and a longer cartridge to keep you from blowing up your .44 Russian by putting the wrong cartridge in it.  Same size BULLET, but more, "poop" behind it.

What does all this have to do with anything?  Well, it's history!  It's OUR history.  It shows our fears, and by doing that, it shows us why, sometimes, we as a people, did what we did!

Southern Cops were so afraid of Black people on cocaine, they needed to come up with a BIGGER gun?    They could have just become better shots, but no...

I understand why some folks like assault rifles.  By all accounts, they are fun to shoot.  I understand why ranchers want, Ruger Mini 14's to protect their livestock from Coyotes and other predators.  But I have a hard time understanding why anyone not in law enforcement needs a magazine in ANY gun that holds more than 10 rounds.  If you don't hit the Coyote in ten rounds, I'm pretty sure you're a shitty shot, AND you have scared him off.

I've shot assault rifles for work.  They were loud and should only be used by SWAT team guys.  In MY line of law enforcement, if I was going to get in a gun fight, it would have been over a kitchen table.  Less than ten feet apart.  The rifle would NOT help me.

So I have a BUNCH of handguns.  My friends at work bought me my Glock 23, .40 when I retired.  I like that gun.  Good concealed carry gun.

I still have my mom's gun.  A Ruger .22 my dad bought for her in the 50's when we lived WAY outside of Keyser, West Virginia, up in the hills.  I heard this story later, because I was too young to remember it.  One night, some prowler was trying to get into the house and my mom was home alone with me, and dad was still at work (or more likely, out with some girlfriend.  He was an asshole) and my mom picked up the party line and hollered for help, and a neighbor came up from a mile away and scared the guy off.  It's a sweet little semi auto.

I had my first .357 in college.  I bought it while I worked at Zinick's in Fashion Place Mall.  Any one remember, Zinick's Sporting Goods?  I used to backpack a lot and bought the Ruger with a six inch barrel.  I sold it years after because I wanted something else, or we needed something, and I couldn't use it for the job.  But I sold the gun I paid about $300 for, for about $110. 

A few years ago, I traded in my dad's 35 Remington for a new Ruger.  Stainless Steel.  Four inch barrel.  Great gun.

And since my son still plays soccer in West Valley and Magna, where I spent MOST of my career putting people in jail, I bought a five shot, .38 Special with a two inch barrel a few years ago.  It has a laser sight in the handle.  It's worthless when shooting it, but I hope that if I put in on someone who wants to do me harm, it might keep me from having to actually, shoot them.

And this year, I finally bought the gun of my childhood.  The model 1911, .45 I always wanted.  And after I did, I understood why this gun was never considered for the law enforcement jobs I had.  Big, clunky, SINGLE ACTION!  NOT a good gun for modern law enforcement.

But fun as hell to shoot!  Kicks like a mule.

When guys MY age were kids, we played, "Army".  And this thing was the gun you got in your, Marx Play Set with the fake, .50 Cal machine gun!  It was always green, and you didn't know what all the shit on the side of it was, but you didn't need to!  It was SO much cooler than the German Luger.

Let's talk about hunting.  I'm not anti hunting.  I used to hunt. But now, I'm more like, Ron White, the comedian.  I don't want to get up early, it's cold and I don't really like the taste of game.  He said he could HIT a deer at 50 miles an hour in his van and kill it just as dead as if he got up at, "O dark thirty" in the cold and had to sit around for hours before he shot it...

He's right.

So, I'm a Liberal who likes guns.  Thinks people who are not mentally ill or convicted felons should be able to buy, own and shoot them. 

I have mixed feelings on the assault rifle thing.

But, I buy handgun ammo by the case.  So who am I to judge?  I'll still vote for the Liberal every time.  Hope you do too.

And I assure you, R's.  The D's are NOT coming for your guns.  So lighten up.

Let's Talk About Religion. Or Lack There Of.

If you've been paying attention, you know I'm an Atheist.  I don't believe in God, or Heaven, or Hell or anything that isn't science.

That does NOT mean I'm ANTI-RELIGION!  Well, yeah it does. But not like you're thinking.  I'm against religion playing a part in our society.

If someone made me King Of The World tomorrow, I would not, under any circumstances, make a law that would outlaw anyone practicing their religion.  If it makes you feel good, and you really believe in it and it is a part of you life?  And it's not hurting anyone else?  Why would any government outlaw that?  Makes no sense.

Even radical Islam.  You can BELIEVE it all you want.  You fly a plane into a building and kill people?  We are going to kill you back.  Ask, Osama if you can find his dead ass in the ocean.

I'm the only Liberal I know that hates, "hate crime" laws.  Well, me and, Jim Canto who put this on my wall so I expect he's OK with me posting it.  If I punch you in the nose, no matter what I'm thinking, the crime is punching you in the nose.  It doesn't MATTER what I'm thinking when I do it!

So, from a guy who was SO into his religion that he actually thought of becoming a Presbyterian Minister when he was in High School, I have to say, religion is bullshit.  It causes too much hate and discontent in the world.

It's all a lie.  It's not true.  And yet, it causes normal, usually right thinking people to do crazy shit.

It causes people who work for a living to vote for Republicans because of their fear of gun control and abortion.  When they really need to worry about health care and pensions. 

Jesus has screwed the working people for SO long with the help of the Republican Party!  Yet, the guys working for an hourly wage still keep voting to help the rich.  I can't believe it.  But it's still happening.

Look folks.  If you believe in Jesus.  And you believe what he said about the meek inheriting the earth, and the the money changers being wrong.  And you WORK for a living.  You earn an HOURLY wage, and you still vote for folks who make millions, you are out of your mind.

If you WORK for a living, instead of having a living HANDED to you?  You're a Democrat.

That doesn't mean you can't believe in God.  But it does mean that the Republican's don't OWN the, "whole God thing", OK?

Collage Am Hard! And I Should Not Have To Study To Get My Degree!

Interesting article in the Salt Lake Tribune this morning.  A Professor at, Utah Valley University, which was a community college a few years ago, and is now a, "university" was fired because his student evaluations said his classes were too tough.

No shit?  Steven Maranville, who was a tenured Professor at the University of Houston was offered a position at UVU and told, according to the article, that his one year probation was just a, "formality" and he would be teaching there with tenure.  And then when his evaluations by his students didn't rate well, he was fired.

And why didn't they rate well?  Because he made his students STUDY!  And meet outside of class, to do work on what he was trying to teach them!

They were put into groups to discuss and learn about topics that he was trying to teach in class.  Oh, THE HORROR!

One quote from the article is really telling about what anyone going to Utah Valley, "University" is really trying to do.  "Students told me they had never been asked to do this kind of work before and weren't about to do it now.  They have families and jobs and don't have time to do this, " Maranville said.

So you have time for family home evening, but not for actually, LEARNING!?

And you are going to tell your professor how he should run HIS class?  So it fits YOUR schedule?  THAT is not a UNIVERSITY education.

The University education you SHOULD have got, Utah County Republican Mormons, is the one you didn't get while you where on your, MISSION.  And, I might add, NOT in the Military.  Even though you are pro war, and pro Republican.  Just sayin..

So now, you want to HAVE the degree, but you don't want to WORK for the degree.  How Utah of you.

I worked with a lot of folks who got a, "Degree" from some diploma mill like the, "University" of Phoenix.  Or some place downtown CALLED, Columbia, "University", but it wasn't actually affiliated with THE Columbia University in New York.  And someplace called, Strayer, "University".  And all these places have a, "campus" on the second floor of some office building.

If your, "University" has a Suite number, and not a campus?  It's NOT a University, and you're a dumb ass.

So, this is what the students of Utah Valley, "University" want from their chosen educational institution.  No studying.  No HARD work.  They just want to read the book, take the test, preferably on line, so they don't have to actually go to class, and then they get a degree.

How fucked up is that?

Well, Utah normal is how it is.  This state has a culture of, "something for nothing".  Our current Governor dropped out of BYU after one semester, but he has no problem being Governor, and making TV commercials for, The Western Governor's University (the ULTIMATE DIPLOMA MILL) telling folks how important an education is!

Look, if you didn't go to actual classes, at an actual University, and spent the time to do so?  YOU ARE NOT EDUCATED!  And you don't own a BS or MS degree.  You bought one.

A few years ago, I got something in the mail.  Boston University was offering me a Masters In Criminal Justice, and they would consider my experience in the criminal justice system in lieu of class time.  All I had to do was send them $20K.  To their campus in Florida.

I have forgotten more about working in Corrections than these losers could ever, "teach" me.  But I worked with a LOT of people who would fall for this.

Collage IS hard.  And if you can't take the heat, or commit to the time?  Fuck you.  You don't get to say you have the education.

That UV"U" professor was right.  Students don't get to decide the curriculum.

Going to college is hard. It's tough to get through.  That's why, when you DO it, you get more credit on a job application than some guy who didn't.  Or some guy who did it at some, "University" on the second floor of an office building downtown.

It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times. Football Wise.

This might just be the worst football season the Utes have had to endure since before Ron McBride rode into town and made us respectable.  And yet, it's the best football season EVER at the, "U"!  How can that be?  Because we now belong to the PAC 12!

And being 0-4 in the PAC 12 beats the shit out of being 4-0 in The Mountain West!  Hoping you can go undefeated, and MAYBE get a BCS Bowl game at the start of every season is not any where NEAR as cool as knowing that if you win your conference, you are GUARANTEED a BCS Bowl game.  And you don't even need to go undefeated to do it.

Yeah, right now it sucks to be us.  It's obvious that our second stringers can't play at the BCS level.  And we have a bunch of injuries.  But football is a game of injuries.  And as we have more time in this league, we will be able to recruit the kind of guys who can step up and play here.  Look at what Oregon has done.  They lose two, "All World" players in the last few weeks, and they still kick ass.  Being in the PAC 12, we now have the ability to do that, too!  And it's going to be great to watch it happen.

And I'm not just talking about the talent in Southern California.  It's not going to take long for any kid in Utah, regardless of his religious upbringing,  to realize that if he has ANY potential at all, he wants to be on a team that's playing Cal in late October, and not Idaho State.

By the way.  Did tsds win that game today?  Never mind.  No one cares.  Forget I brought it up.

So, Ute fans, we just got to take this season, every drubbing, every turn over, every, "Damn, we COULD have won that game!" moment and realize that this is the price we have to pay to move up in the world, and leave the folks we used to hang out with, behind.

Change is hard.  Every behavioral science major can tell you that human beings seek pleasure and try to avoid pain.  And that change, even from a totally lousy situation is harder than sticking around and enduring it, because you know how to deal with it.  It's why addicts stay addicted, and why abused spouses don't leave.

So we are going through a period of growth right now.  And it's going to hurt.  A lot.  I honestly don't think we will win another game this year.  Maybe OSU and/or Colorado.  But that being said, I HOPE we do!  I HOPE we win three more and end up in a Bowl Game.  I HOPE we can turn this around, and some guys will step up and deliver for us.

I'm not holding my breath.

But I can't wait for what we can become with this new conference affiliation.  Yeah, we're getting smacked down now, but we've beaten Cal, and Oregon, and UCLA, and OSU, and Washington State, and Arizona, and Stanford all since, Ron McBride took over in the 90's.  And we are capable of beating them again.  Regularly.

Of course, beating them when you have to play all the OTHER teams in the PAC 12, instead of Wyoming and New Mexico, or Idaho State on the alternate weeks, is going to be tougher.

Any of you read, Douglas Adams, "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy"?  What was the first rule?  DON'T PANIC!  So, Ute fans, don't panic.  This is NOT our season.  But, at the same time?  It's a GREAT season, because we have joined the elite in college football.  And it's only going to get better from here.

I just have to remember to hide all my guns before next Saturday so I don't shoot myself when we lose again.  Going to be a long fall.  But a great decade!  Trust me.

The Cancer. More Info, But It Needs A PG Rating. Just An Update

Went back to see the Doc today.  I was a lot sicker than I thought.  In all fairness to him, he might have told me everything he told me today, after I had surgery.  In all fairness to me, I was on DRUGS and dont' remember any of this.

The cancer I had, while not the WORST of all bladder cancers, was really aggressive.  So, this is going to take a while to deal with.

He told me that I would need six weeks of, "chemo therapy" after the second surgery, so I was prepared for that.  And they called me a few days after the second surgery to say that there was NO cancer in the samples taken from that.

So, recovered from the second surgery, and expecting to have six weeks of, "chemo", I'm almost done with this, right?

Not so fast.

After six weeks of chemo, once a week?  I get six MONTHS of chemo, once a month.  Then, "scoped" twice a year for two years and once a year for three years.

So, the cancer has moved out, but the lease is not up.  I gotta keep paying the rent.

And the chemo therapy is not really even, "chemo".  It's called, BCG treatment.  Bacillus Calmette-Guerin.  It's a bacteria that was intended as a Tuberculosis vaccine, but it didn't work for that.  It does, however, trigger an immune system response if you put it right on the spot you took the tumor off of.

Sounds easy.  Scope, drop some in, rinse and repeat, right?  No so much.

When they fill me full of this stuff, I have to do my best to hold it in my bladder for two hours!  They will send me home, so I don't have to spent two hours in the doctors office.  So I got THAT goin' for me.

He didn't say if I had to spend ONE hour standing on my head, and the OTHER hour standing up right, so we make sure every part of the bladder is given an equal exposure, so I guess that's what I'll find out in November.  Being a cancer patient is tough.

And then, since this is a LIVE bacteria, when I finally do get to pee?  I have to put two cups of chlorine bleach in my toilet and let it sit for 20 minutes before I flush it.  Every time I pee for the next SIX HOURS!  And I can't let anyone else in my house use THAT toilet!

This shit is so infectious, that it could harm my whole family, but it will CURE me?

How sick WAS I?!  AM I?! 

The really funny part of this information they give you, is that they tell you how to have sex, safely after this procedure.  They don't want to you give your partner TB.  God forbid.

Let me tell you something, guys.  If you want to have sex within WEEKS of having this stuff shoved up your Junk?  You're ten feet tall and bullet proof.  I salute you.  It's all I can do to pee in a straight line, and your unit hurts just sitting still.  You want to put it to WORK?  Good luck with that.  Really.

I know there is an end to this.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel got longer this morning, and it's just so discouraging. 

So, guys if you smoke?  STOP IT!  I stopped nine years ago, and it was too late.  If you spend a lot time in meth labs, like I did in the 90's?  Go get checked before you start to pee blood when you HAVEN''T been in an MMA fight, NHL or NFL game, or boxing match the night before this starts.  You really, really, don't want to go through this.

And if you're in the neighborhood in the next six months and need to use my bathroom?  Don't use the one in the master bedroom.

Geez.  If you can't laugh at this shit, you would have to go nuts.  This too shall pass, right?  I can't wait until this lease is up.

Bill Maher Is Right. MOST of the time.

Every Friday, I watch, Bill Maher's, Real Time.  He's always a little left of ME, if that's possible.  I mean, he's a Vegan.  And doesn't trust medicine.  I won't dignify his position by calling what's keeping ME alive right now, "Western Medicine".  We here in the west do, in fact have a Monopoly on the Truth when it comes to medicine.  If you think you're Chinese doctor can put needles into you and prescribe rocks for your intestinal problems?  You're a fucking idiot.

You go to a Chiropractor, or Homeopath to get cured?  Of anything?  You're a fucking idiot.

I have SO many friends who love their Chiropractor.  They swear it makes them feel better for a while, at least.  So would a good massage.  With a happy ending

Bill believes that smoking dope is a good thing.  And I don't disagree.  I'm not sure it's going to cure every problem HE thinks it will.  But what the fuck, let it be legal, and we shall see.

I smoked it a few times in the 70's because everyone I hung out with was.  Always just made me sleepy.  So I never, "got" it.  Got the same effect from three glasses of any white wine.  And no one was putting me in jail for, "possession of white wine".

Made it easy to avoid dope.

But what, Bill says about religion is right on the money.  And I'm going to get shit for this.  From my Mormon friends (but not my MORMON wife.  She's now so blind, she can't read my blog, and just hopes I'll take care of her.  I made the promise.  Relax.  Took the vow.  Meant it.  Will LIVE it.  End of story).

Mormonism is so crazy that Tom Cruise WOULDN'T join it, but GLEN BECK, WOULD!

Nuff said.

Glenn Beck And Guillotines. How Crazy Does The Right Have To Get?

Glenn Beck today said that the protests on Wall Street could lead to revolution, and in one report, guillotines!  Was this man actually saying that the Left Wing would hold public executions of Wall Street criminals like they did in France?  Well, if the shoe fits...   Kidding.  We want the Wall Street Pirates to go to jail, not hell.  Just yet.

This is so crazy.  When the SMART, educated people show up to protest, with NO weapons, and have a compelling argument about the top 1% or the richest 400 people in the country, owning MOST of the wealth in this country, it is a short step to Mao, or guillotines.

When a bunch of crazy, uneducated, idiots who think the President is a Muslim from Kenya, show up at Presidential speeches, carrying assault rifles and wearing handguns?  THOSE people are Patriots!

WTF?  Really?

And now, Rick Perry has refused to kick the ass of his preacher friend who is hating on Mitt Romney for being a Mormon.  Mormons are a cult?  Well, so IS EVERY OTHER RELIGION!  As a Sociology Major, I remember the definition of a, "cult" was a group who had a charismatic leader who claimed that they had the ONLY way to heaven.  Mormons, Scientologists, Catholics and Baptists all meet THOSE requirements.

But, Mormons, here's where you need to pay attention.  All those other groups, ONLY hate YOU!  Yeah, you don't like a woman's right to choose her own health care.  You don't like Gay's having rights.  But if you really think about it?  The Dem's are the only one's NOT kicking your ass about whether or not you're a Christian church!  Because we don't care!  You can define yourself as anything you want.  But you still throw your votes to the guys who hate you.

That's crazy.

And if you don't make $250K a year, you're also voting for people who want YOU to pay for what THEY want.  Tax breaks for the rich, subsidies for oil companies, tax breaks for corporate jet owners.  And YOU'RE BUYING IT!  WTF!?  If you're not rich and you're voting for Republicans?  You're voting against your own self interest!

If you WORK for a LIVING.  If you depend on a paycheck from someone else.  If you are NOT rich?  You're a Democrat!  Whether you know it or not.  It's the party that is accepting of YOUR religion!

And you need to be in a Union.  If you're not?  And you work for a living?  You're not living right.

Now, quit listening to that idiot, Glenn Beck.  And start paying attention.

Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave, When Trying To Get BCS Status Like Utah

NEWSFLASH!  TCU will accept an offer to join the Big 12 and bail out of both the Mountain West AND the Big East to stay home and fight the good fight for recruits and Bowl Games at home in Texas.  Who couldn't see THAT coming for the last month.

Except the Cougars.

Now, Texas A&M, who hates, Texas, gets to bail out for the SEC.  The Big 12 replaces them with TCU.  Missouri has to be thinking twice about bailing out of the Big 12, since no one outside of, oh, I don't know, Missouri?  Gives a shit about THEM!  And they don't have enough votes to get into that conference, according to ESPN tonight.

Who's happy here?  Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State, who will not have to beg to be taken into the Mountain West Conference when the Big 12 collapses.

Who's not happy?

Well, right now, SMU, who's been winning and SHOULD be invited to be in the Big 12 since they were a Southwest Conference team with the rest of THOSE teams until they cheated so bad the NCAA couldn't ignore it anymore.

Any one left in the Big East.  They are going to tip over really fast.  They might get a few more teams so they can keep playing football, but they will lose their AQ status with the BCS.

And BYU.  Because they blew it.  They shot themselves in the head last summer when they went independent.

There are two Scnerios that could unfold here.  Both screw the Cougars.  The Big East could decide to take the service academy's.  All THREE of them.  Yeah, I know, AFA in the Big EAST?  But they have two natural TV rivals.  And it expands THEIR TV market.  They stay a BCS conference (which is a joke.  They suck) and the Cougars don't get invited to join the Big 12 OR Big East because neither of them needs them.

Secondly, the Big East folds.  West Virginia, Louisville land in BCS conferences.  Cincinnati, South Florida, Connecticut?  Not so much.

And the BCS has to have another AQ conference.  Well?  Hello, Mountain West!  Utah invented BCS busting.  Did it twice.  And now that they have Boise State and Hawaii, Nevada and Fresno they have another BCS Bowl winner and expand the BCS into the Mountain Time Zone and Nevada which is the fastest growing state in the Union.

Sorry I left you out New Mexico and Fresno but lets face it.  No one gives a shit about you.  You're just along for the ride.  Enjoy it.  Call Washington State to see how to deal with it.

I mean, CSU, AFA and even Wyoming will get you ON a channel in the Denver Market.  Fresno and ANYWHERE in New Mexico?  Not so much.

And when this happens, the MWC gets a BCS AQ!  Whos going to be left out?  That School Down South.
They will no longer be a part of the MWC.  And if they come crawling back on their hands and knees, the MWC should put a knee in their mouth!

Or just get UNLV to, "hit" them.  Got a roll of carpet and a pick up truck?  I can take care of that for ya...

There is another possible scenario I hadn't thought about until just now.  The Big 12 takes TCU, SMU and maybe, Houston?  And goes back to 12 teams and mostly a former SWC line up and doesn't invite, tsds.

Since they fougth so hard to NOT have to take Baylor when they broke up the SWC and formed the Big 12, and HAD to take them or the Texas Governor wouldn't have let it happen, how would they justify taking Texas CHRISTIAN University, and, Southern METHODIST University back into the fold?

Well, easy.  The Texas Governor is running as a Republican for President.  And his base is Southern Christians.  And they don't like Mormons.  So he won't let the Mormons join HIS conference.  Not in an election year.

So, tsds, the message you should take away from this whole thing, if it works out the way I THINK it will for you, is, "The Big 12 will take, "Church Schools" if we have to.  Just not YOUR church."

Southern, Christian, Republicans.  They HATE you!  Why do you keep voting for them?

Countdown Get's Lazy, Becomes Faux News

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  I intend to call BS on both sides when it comes to politics.   And especially REPORTING on any thing that's political.

I'm a Keith Olbermann fan.  Love his show, and for the most part hold the same political views.  And I agree with the folks occupying Wall Street right now.  If anyone around here is trying to take THEIR country back, it's those folks, and the Unions who have thrown their support behind them.

That being said, you really need to get your facts straight.

Tonight, October 5, the last 15 minutes or so the show were devoted to a group of these folks who left the park and tried to work their way up Wall Street.  They didn't make it.  The New York Police started arresting them.

According to Olbermann's guest, J. A. Myerson of ALTHERNET.org, the police had set pretty clear limits for the demonstration and, "They knew they could get arrested" when they did it.  But they did it anyway.  So where's the outrage coming from that the Police were true to their work

Mr. Myerson asserted that the Police were spraying people with, "The horrible toxin, pepper spray".   Oleo Resin Capsicum is a totally natural substance made entirely of, and I know this will surprise you, PEPPERS!  Even the propellant used to shoot it out, which was originally alcohol, is now water.

It is nothing more than a concentration of some of the hottest peppers in the world.  The kind you grow in your garden to make salsa with every fall.  And even if you do NOTHING to get it off of your face, it will quit burning you in 45 minutes and leave no lasting marks.  And every police department in the world is trained to offer, "decontamination" when the arrested is cooperative.  This involves the Fire Department using saline, to wash it off of you face. 

So quit making it sound worse than it is.  It sucks, but it's not toxic.

Next, Mr. Myerson asserted, "That there are reports of protesters being hit in the head with batons..."   Nope.  Not going to happen for several reasons.  And I'm going to assume here, that the New York City Police Department undergoes baton training that's at LEAST as comprehensive as I got. 

First, every baton class for every rookie or old vet that has to recertify every few years starts with the admonition to, NEVER AIM FOR THE HEAD!  First and foremost, it's dangerous.  You can kill someone with a blow to the head.  It's also too easy to defend a blow to the head with your hands and arms.

A baton is an impact weapon to be used WAY down the force continuum from deadly force.  It's designed to be used on large muscle groups to make it tough for the guy who's fighting with you to keep fighting, and give up because he can't raise his arms or kick you with his legs, because they hurt too much.

And this is part of the training, too.  Don't do it because it looks bad.  Yes Public Relations is part of Police training too.

I never had to hit anyone in all the years I carried one.  Simply pulling it out stopped the fight every time.  But I've heard other officers say that the guys they tried to arrest never seemed to feel it hit them until the next morning.  I got that.

And lastly, I have to give my, "Most Faux Like Comment" to Keith himself.  It appears that the NYPD had brought out the horses to help with crowd control.  He said, "A horse in a crowd is extraordinarily dangerous and potent weapon."  Well, isn't THAT a bit inflammatory?

I guess that animal could be, if ridden by Egyptian Defense Forces trying to knock the block off any one talking smack against the current dictator.  But in this situation, it is the most effective means for officers to see over crowds, control large groups of people, separate combatants in fights, and for the mounted officers to direct other officers to places where they are really needed!  In a word, they are THE most effective crowd control tool the Cops have at their disposal!

So, Keith?  I'm still a fan, but you guys blew it tonight.  And I sentence you to go back and watch every episode of, "COPS: Madri Gras" ever recorded before you start calling horses in crowds, "extraordinarily dangerous".