Dumb And Dumber

If you are a cheerleader for Mitt Romney and you post it on your FB page?  Good for you.  If I counter your post with the truth, and make you feel bad because I don't agree with you?  I am NOT a bully.  I'm the guy reading the truth while you're watching Faux News.

If you think that everyone who works for a living and belongs to a Union is some how a leech on society, and taking money from you free market folks who hate government regulation?  And I think you're wrong, and I point it out to you right back at you on your page?  I'm not a bully.  I'm telling the truth and you're full of shit.

If you go to the effort to posting a long, impassioned response to something I put in my blog (which means you READ it) and then say, "I don't give a damn about your Liberal bullshit"?  Do I really need to spell this out?  YOU DO, or you WOULDN'T HAVE!  So you're a liar.  And I'm NOT the bully.

Look, if you post stuff on FB, and you really, truly believe it?  That's great.  But when someone doesn't agree with you, or posts a link to something that proves your point to be totally bogus?  You don't get to call them a bully!  Or an asshole, or moron or any other name!  If you're wrong, and you can't prove you're NOT wrong?  You need to shut the fuck up!

I've been called rude, a bully, mean, lacking in social skills and tons of other things in a post on a, "friends" wall this week.  Yet, I'm right, and none of them will defend themselves with facts.  They just blame me for THEM being wrong.  It's laughable.  The dumb never know when to stop.

Yes, I just called all of you folks on Peggy Sue Hickman's WALL dumb!  If the shoe fits.

So, just block me, defriend me, don't read my blog, whatever.  Just stay in your idiot world.

But you can't brand me.  You just show your own idiocy.  Calling me the bully or a moron when I'm smarter than you?  You are way out of line.  But you are a PERFECT REPUBLICAN!

You don't make any money, you don't have any education but you still believe in, "trickle down economics" saving the country.  Moron.  Yes, I called you a name again.  If the shoe fits.

Now, this is going to be interesting.  I can't wait to see how many of Peggy Sue's friends, who claim they don't give a shit about my opinion, can't resist, making a comment about MY OPINION!  This should be priceless.

Let the game begin.

Daytime TV Sucks. But Ridgemont High Stands The Test Of Time

I usually prefer to go do something during the day.  And if the weather's nice, I'll take the satellite radio out on my patio (my back yard is my favorite room in the house) and read.  Or even just watch the birds at the feeders.

But lately, we've had some problems.  Our washing machine has been haunted by gremlins, and the repair guys have now been here four times.  Hopefully they got it fixed.  And I need some work done on the house, so I called my friend, Ralph (R. Clegg Construction 801-550-8596  I've known him for 35 years and he's the best if you need a contractor) and I've had to be in the house where I can hear the doorbell to let people in.  I was bored, so I turned on the TV.

Daytime TV sucks.  Well, unless you like reruns of, COPS and shows about jails.  Then, you got something on all the time.  All the movie channels don't show good stuff, or new stuff during the day.  I even tried to watch GAC (CMT a long time ago fell off the table.  It's not a music channel any more, it's all reruns of shitty shows the company that owns them already paid for) and I don't LIKE MAINSTREAM country music.  But the girls are usually pretty and your attention span only has to last three minutes.  Then you can go get some more iced tea. 

It was so awful after a couple of songs, I couldn't take it.  The formula seems to be, put in a pretty girl, talk about a pickup truck, mention Jesus SOMEHOW, and show an American flag, and the lyrics be damned.  Some idiot will buy it.

As Todd Snyder said, "As long as there's a moron market, and a faggot in a hat to sign..."  I apologize for using, "faggot".  But that's what he wrote, and I want to be accurate.

I prefer Jackson Taylor's take on it in his, Country Song.  The first line is, "This ain't no country song, about your fucking pickup truck, or your grandpappy's farm..."  I will be eternally grateful for Laurie Dyson for turning me on to this guys music.

But I digress.

I finally gave up and was going to go read a book and listen to the satellite radio, which takes a little patience to make work in the house.  When I stumbled on an old movie.  I can't remember the last time I watched, Fast Times At Ridgemont High.  But I still remember some of the lines like it was yesterday.  "Learnin' about Cuba, havein' some food".  "Danger is my business".  "My dad is a TV repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools.  We can fix it!" 

I have come to the conclusion that you don't have to be in your early 20's, sitting in the theater with your drunken friends, on a Friday night in 1982, for this movie to be funny.

My son was walking back and forth behind the couch, trying to put his work uniform together between the parts in his room, and the parts in the laundry room, and I would hear him stop so he could watch for a minute, and laugh at something.

Him:  "What is this?"

Me:  "An old movie called, Fast Times At Ridgemont High"

"Did you record this?"

"No."

So, I'm pretty sure he's going to be looking for this.  And when he watches it, he's going to have some questions.  He won't understand the, "Mall Culture".  When he and his friends go to the mall, it's not to hang out, it's to actually buy stuff.  He won't know what a video arcade is.  He's going to wonder why no one has a cell phone, or computer and he won't understand the concept of a pay phone.  I'm going to have to explain Demone's ticket scalping to him.  You want tickets?  You buy them on line.  And when, Stacie takes, Rat into her room after their first date to look at pictures in a photo album?  That will not compute.  You keep pictures on your PHONE!

This will be as foreign a concept to him as black and white TV.

I hope he will sit down and watch it with me.  After seeing it again, I'd watch it one more time just to explain what it was like in, "Dark Ages" before computers, email, cell phones, and video games that actually came home with you and didn't take all your quarters.

And Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh were awesome.  THAT is what beautiful looked like in 1982.

It was a nice trip down memory lane.

Maybe tomorrow, I'll wait for Ralph while watching a DVD of, Dazed And Confused.

Reallly? Airplane Windows Should Roll Down? REALLY?

OK, I thought this was a joke.  I thought it had to be something from, "The Onion".  Mitt Romney wondered, out loud, why his wife couldn't roll down her airplane window when her plane had to make an emergency landing.  After all, there was NO OTHER SOURCE OF OXYGEN in the cabin.

Except for the, pressurization, that keeps OXYGEN in the cabin.

I found three different sources for this story, but I still hope it's wrong or a hoax.  Because I can't believe that someone who is running for President of this country, as the candidate of one of the two major parties, and went to school at Stanford, could actually say this.

I'm not an engineer.  And I'm no scientist.  But I've been flying on airplanes since I was about three years old.  And my father?  Well, when someones not smart, they say, "He's no rocket scientist".  He WAS a rocket scientist.  So I could pretty much ask him anything, and get a good answer.

You put a hole, even a little one, in the outside of an airliner at 36K feet in the air, and pretty soon?  You have a, "fart tube" that collapses like a submarine when it goes too deep.  Don't worry about the fall killing you.  The -60 degree temperature and lack of oxygen will do you in LONG before you hit the ground.

This is why you have to take an FAA approved class to do extraditions, and carry your handgun on an airplane.  Even an Air Marshall knows that actually USING a handgun on an airplane, while it's in the air?  Is the absolute, last resort to keeping it from being hijacked.

Hell, if they want to hijack it and LAND it somewhere?  Let em do it.  Shoot em when you're on the ground.  But you can't always be sure of that, I know.

If the man who wants to be the leader of the free world, doesn't understand why there is no crank on his airplane window?  He is not smart enough to be the leader of the free world.  End of story.

I'm Going To Jail On Sunday.

For 20+ years, I was in and out of jails all over the country.  I never used the front door.

I was always coming in the back.  In a Cop car.  Gun on hip, badge in pocket.  It was always pick up or delivery with me.  Mostly delivery.  Put the gun in the trunk, take the, "bandit" inside, drop him off, head back out to the streets.

But I picked up, too.  I used to take any extradition that no one else wanted in the office.  I had my caseload up to date, I could leave for a day or two or three and still not get behind.  I would travel with my friends, while getting paid for 12 hour days, mostly spent on airplanes.  And when we got where we were going, have a great meal, stay in a nice hotel and I got to keep the Delta Skymiles.  The state always booked us on Delta.

I picked up bandits in Gainsville, Florida;  Charlivoux, Michigan; Phoenix;  San Francisco;  Southern Illinois (don't even remember the name of the little town);  St. Louis;  Reno; Sacramento;  Las Vegas (MANY times); Elko; Evanston, Wyoming;  Gunnison, Colorado;  Chicago;  and, believe it or not, Buffalo, Wyoming.  It's 112 miles north of Casper, Wyoming.

My parolee said it was the best jail he'd ever been in.  The Sheriff's wife did all the cooking for the 12 inmates, and the food was awesome.  And on top of that?  He got a pack of cigarettes and a role of toilet paper, every other day.

THAT is Parolee Heaven!

All jails smell the same (it's NOT pleasant) and look, pretty much the same, too.  And I always went in the back door.  And out the back door.

Not on Sunday.  I am going to walk in the front door of the Salt Lake County Adult Detention Center to tell my wife's nephew that his grandmother is dead.  And it's not going to be a pleasant experience.

They need us to arrive 45 minutes early.  They will check our IDs, run us for warrants, search us for weapons and then let us in for a 30 minute visit.  I hope it's face to face and not through the glass.  For my nephew's sake.  He's always been close to his Aunt Debbie.

Not me so much, but he has done me some favors.  I won't tell you his name or what favors.  I don't want him to get shanked if he ends up back inside again.

So this is going to be an experience I've never had before.  I'm going into a jail as a civilian.  At least I'm not going in the back door as a bandit.

Hypocrisy And Republicans

The Utah Legislature, both houses, controlled by Republicans have in the last few years, tried to take, "back" all the Federal Land in Utah.  That they never owned in the first place.  Declared that they would NOT honor, Obamacare in the state.  Tried to pass unconstitutional, antiabortion laws.  Decided that they didn't want to honor Federal education laws, including the No Child Left Behind mess that was pushed by George W. Bush.  Tried to exempt themselves form Federal gun laws.  Fought the EPA and the endangered species act.  They HATE Federal intervention into anything they want to do as a state. 

They have stated many, many times that the Federal Government has overstepped it's authority in Utah, and they need to back off.  We don't need the Fed's telling us what to do!

And yet, time and time again, Governor Gary Herbert has asked for Federal Funding for disaster relief!  In Cache County, In Washington County and just today, in Washington County AGAIN!

With the corruption that has come to light in his administration in the Department of Corrections, DABC, UTA, UDOT how does this ass clown expect to get re-elected?  He's a total failure as a Governor. He's totally dropped the ball.  He's an IDIOT!

Oh, I forgot.  He's a Mormon, without a college degree, and he runs as a Republican.  He's a shoe in in this dumb ass state.  He can't lose.  Even though he's a moron.

$13 Million pay off for giving his buddy a contract in the UDOT scandal?  How is he still in charge?

But, if things get ugly?  We WILL take the Federal money.

Hypocrite.

You folks who are not rich and want to vote for Mitt Romney?  This is the kind of Government you will get, on a nation wide level if you do.  It will be the end of the country we love.

I'm The 47%. And I'm Richer Than YOU! Pay Attention.

More than 30 years ago, my wife and I both took jobs with the State of Utah.  We took them because they promised a living, not a great one, but a good one.  And if we worked for the good people of the State of Utah for, at the time, 30 years, we would get 60% or our income in a pension every month, and lifetime health insurance.  PEHP, Public Employees Health Plan.

Well, turns out the State of Utah lied to us.  In 2006, Governor John Huntsman signed into law HB213 that took AWAY my retirement health care.  After all, you have to run government like a business, don't you?

No.  It's totally different.  But you have to work in it to understand that.

But, like in business?  They kept that health care for anyone who had served in the Legislature for 10 years.  For life.  I spent 23 years in the states trailer parks, jails, prisons, and meth labs, and I got FIVE YEARS of paid health insurance.

The time in the meth labs?  Gave me bladder cancer.  But not insurance to cover it.

In the thirty years my wife and I worked for the State of Utah, we found out my wife has RP and is losing her sight.  She had to go on disability in 1995.  So she is on Social Security and Medicare.  We had a daughter who is Autistic.  She can't work.  She is on Social Security Disability and Medicare, cause other wise, with out my promised, but later taken away medical insurance, no one would cover her.

So, I have a GOVERNMENT pension.  My wife has one too.  And Social Security disability.  As does my daughter.  And my son gets some money too, since his mom is disabled.

This is a pretty good country that pays you for working FOR it even when working for it fucks you up.  Would you have it any other way?  Would you like everyone who has a hard luck story to just have to stand at the exit to Walmart and BEG to be taken care of?

Mitt Romney does.  I might be one of the 47%  who takes money from the government.  But he's part of the 1% that doesn't want to pay taxes to support the government he benefits from!

This guy is a total prick!  And if you work for, and receive a pay check?  And you vote for HIM?  You're nuts.

My friend, Barb Guy who Deb and I met on our first trip to Cuba posted a quote from, Politico tonight, and I think it's right.  "Mitt Romney's campaign is SO dead, the Mormons have already baptised it."

I hope she's right.

The Big East. Oh, The Horror...

Watching he Big East Commissioner try to argue that they were still a viable league tonight on the, "shit storm" that was the Rutgers v. South Florida football game was pitiful. I felt sorry for the guy.  But only for a second.

That league has SUCKED for SO long, that I feel no remorse at their eminent demise.  And they, because of the TVs they commanded, kept their BCS automatic qualification for so many years when the only teams that had a prayer of playing for a mythical National Championship were West Virginia and Pitt.  And Pitt sucks so bad this year they lost to Youngstown State!  Hell they sucked the year the Utes clobbered them in the Fiesta Bowl.

So, here's how I see things breaking down in the next few years.

Notre Dame goes to the ACC, full time.  Yes, in football too.  It won't take them long to figure out that winning the ACC, which is not a very tough football conference (Duke?  Wake Forrest?  North Carolina?  Maryland?) and getting into a BCS Bowl Game is a LOT easier than playing the, Murderer's Row of a schedule they play now, which this year includes, Michigan State, Michigan, Miami, Stanford and USC, and having to do well enough to finish 6th or higher in the polls at the end of the season.

Let's face it, once you get past Florida State and Clemson, there is not ONE school in that whole conference who's a threat every year, after year, after year, to get a shot at a national championship.

I'm talking to you, Georgia Tech.  You got, "Bitch Slapped" by Utah in two Bowl Games in the last six years.

The Big East is about to implode.  They are picking up Memphis, Houston, SMU, Navy and UFC for crying out loud!  When you read this, how many of you know what city in Florida, the University of Central Florida is in?  There are football fans IN Florida who don't.

And they are taking Boise State and San Diego State for football only.  And I think BYU needs to make a move RIGHT now to get in on this.  Trust me, Zoobies, this is your only hope.

You have to throw your rope to the Big East, for football only like the other western schools.  After all you already have a conference affiliation for all your other sports with those high school gym sized schools in, what is it called?  The Jesus Conference?

And hope they take you, just cause they are in such bad shape right now, that they will take anyone with a stadium, and TV market bigger than a school from the MAC!  Oh, wait.  They took, Temple back after kicking them out years ago.  So I might be wrong.

You might get passed over for Central Michigan.  They have the Saginaw/Bay City/Midland tri-city TV market.  Just sayin...  All you REALLY have is Provo and South Jordan.

But you gotta remember that you have to give up your revenue from that lucrative, BYUTV thing.  After all, I know you're getting rich with all those food storage ads, but still.  The rest of the league isn't going to let you keep THAT without sharing.

And for the few years this league stays in operation, very few, you better win it a couple of times.  Because when it dies, and it will, you better hope you're in a place to get invited to a BCS AQ conference.

But you won't be.  You will be cast adrift in the college football world, because no one wants a cranky, self indulgent, self important, religious school.  The Big 12 already has one in Baylor.  And if DEMOCRAT, Ann Richards hadn't threatened to kill the deal when she was Governor of Texas and the SWC broke up?  Baylor wouldn't be in.

She went to Baylor.  The Southern Baptist "University".

You might have to beg to get back into the Mountain West Conference.  But I don't think they will have you.  You might get a shot at Conference USA.  They HAD religious schools, but TCU went to the Big 12, and SMU is going to the Big East.

I think they are the ones to get the automatic qualifier to the BCS when the Big East falls apart.  But if they do?  They will be the lowest rated conference with AQ.  So you will be playing the guys you wish you were for the last ten years.

The BCS Busters.  Good luck with that.

Don't YOU DARE Talk Bad About Mitt Romney In Utah. Even If I Did It First

Tonight, on Facebook, an old friend of mine posted that she wishes people would quit judging Mitt Romney based on his religion and politics.

Well, she's half right.  You SHOULD judge a politician on his politics.  As for his religion?  I would judge them on that, but you might not want to if you, yourself HAVE a religion.  I would judge you poorly if you DO have one.  But that's a whole other blog.

My response was that I didn't think that was the only reason people judge Mitt poorly.  That it might have something to do with his putting his foot in his mouth and his dog on his roof, that lead people to question his character.  And that he was not able to relate to the regular folks, the ones who didn't have, "car elevators" that put him at a disadvantage.

Oh man.  Batten down the hatches!

I was told by, and I have to assume a relative, only because the last name was the same, that this person was NOT going to debate politics of FB and that I was pretty much going to lose all my friends (on FB, I took her to mean, but she could have meant in life, too) for being a jerk!
Well, that last part might be true.  But I had NO intention of starting a political argument.  I was just making conversation!

Then everyone else chimed in.  I was getting pummeled with video links to Romney speeches, and stuff he said today, and even stuff President Obama said, that had NOTHING to do with what we were talking about!

Man, I guess you better not criticize, "The Mittster" in Utah!

Look.  I make no bones about my political stance.  I'm a Liberal because I have a college education and I learned HOW to think, and not WHAT to think.  I don't take my orders from some guy who lives in the sky.  And doesn't exist.  I don't believe some fiction from hundreds of years ago should tell me who should love each other.  And I sure don't believe it should tell my GOVERNMENT how to run things.

But I did not try to pick a fight.  I just MADE, A, COMMENT, ON, A, FRIENDS, POST, ON, FACEBOOK!

I feel I should quote the, "Holy Movie", Stripes, here.  "Lighten up, Francis."

I won't vote for Mitt because I'm a Democrat and he's a Republican.  End of story.

But the rest of the story?  I don't think I want a Mormon running the country, and I MARRIED one!  I used to play hockey with a guy who owned all the Hardee's stores in Utah.  And he used to complain that the guys he hired with BYU MB A's to run his stores, couldn't think for themselves.  They couldn't solve a problem if it wasn't addressed in the manual.  They can't think for themselves.  They were taught WHAT to think, not HOW to think.  That disturbs me.  What if Mitt is like that and things fall to shit?

I don't want a guy who made millions in American using our system to his advantage, who then sent his money to The Caymans and Switzerland so he didn't have to pay taxes on it, to be President.  I think that is a chicken shit move.

I don't have a problem with a rich guy being President.  All of our Presidents were.  But this guy seems SO out of touch with reality.  Car Elevators?  Really?  Cadillacs on BOTH coasts?  Wow.  I'm pretty rich myself.  I drive an Audi and a new Camaro, but I don't need an elevator to move cars around my house.  I just have to wake up my teenage son and tell him to move my old truck I gave him so I can get the Camaro out of the, "Garage Ma Hall" in the back of the house.

So, no, I won't vote for Mitt.  Because of his dog on his roof, and his foot in his mouth, ("Corporations are people, my friend!") among other reasons. 

His religion is WAY down on the list for me.  And a lot of other people.  So lighten up, Utah.

Real, 9-11 Vs. Political 9-11

I had worked late the night before.  Out chasing bandits.  We had only been in this house a month.  Still kind of settling in.  The kids were in school LONG before I woke up.

By the time I woke up, Deb said her sister, Sandy had called her and said a plane ran into the World Trade Center.  Wow!  Turn on CNN.  I'm sitting there in my bathrobe, watching this when it happens again.

Well THAT, can't be a coincidence.

So at this point, I figure I probably better go to work, cause some weird shit is happening.  But I had NO idea how weird it was going to get.  And how weird folks in SLC were going to get about it.

I took my time, don't get me wrong.  Long shower.  Had some breakfast.

But instead of the usual Levis and Polo shirt with the department badge embroidered on the front, I picked the shirt with, "POLICE" on the back, and wore the bullet, "resistant" underwear under it, and the gun BELT instead of the shoulder holster I would cover in a restaurant or court room.

I had no idea what I was walking into at the office.

If you know nothing about Mormons?  Know this.  They think they are the center of the entire UNIVERSE!  I got to the office just in time to be called, as an FTO, into a meeting with the powers that be in the office, who were, and I shit you not, discussing how we could help in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on Salt Lake City.

They decided that the metal detector that was in the hallway where we lead probationers/parolees into the meeting rooms, should be moved to the front door.  After all, we don't want a terrorist bomb getting inside the building.

Bullshit.

I guess I should explain who the guy in charge of our office was at the time.  It was Phil Kirk.  His previous job was as a motorcycle Cop for Salt Lake City and he wrote traffic tickets for them for a while, then he married, Nadine Whimmer from KSL, became SLCPD's, Public Information Officer.

Damn, he was a good looking Mormon who was on TV ALL the time.

The problem with him was?  The only thing sharp about him was his suits.  He's as dumb as the day is long.  And when his buddy, "Mr. Potato Head" who was in charge of Corrections at the time made him the boss in our office?  He was in WAY over his head.  He had no idea what Adult Probation and Parole did.

I have FORGOTTEN more about Corrections, than Phil Kirk ever knew.

So the morning of 9-11, Phil Kirk was in the, "Well, they attacked New York and went after Washington DC.  Salt Lake City MUST be next!  We need to prepare!" mode.

Yep, lets lock down everything, and I'll shoot a 747 our of the air before it crashes in to, The Temple, as that's their next LOGICAL target, with my .40 Calibre Glock.

This guy was totally delusional.

Everyone knows the rest of the story.  "W" used it as an excuse to attack a country that didn't attack us, but had LOTS of oil.  We didn't learn anything from the Russians spending 10 years in Afghanistan, and we are still there.  The, "Molympics" went off without a hitch cause of all the Federal Money spent on law enforcement.

I spent two months teaching FBI Agents from Florida how to pull off their gloves with their teeth and draw a gun from under a coat.  But the overtime the FBI paid me paid off my truck.

So today, I think about and honor the 263 brothers and sisters behind the badge that died that day.  And all the regular folks who did.  I won't forget.

But I won't get fooled again, either.

Defriended Again! Dag Nab It! I'm So Hurt! NOT!

A few weeks ago, I became Facebook friends with an old friend.  A guy I've known since I was a kid.  Turns out he and and all his friends are right wing, wackaloon, nut balls!  Who knew.

So the last couple of nights, we've been having, well, I won't call it a debate, cause they bring no facts to the table.  I guess you would have to call it a political discussion.  I mean, if his friends think the faults of the, "W" administration are the fault of the Clinton administration, the deficit and budget problems are all Obama's fault, the stimulus DIDN'T work, think we have the best health care system in the world, and people from all over are jealous of our system, and that MORE guns will solve the gun violence problem in this country?  Well, it's not really a debate.  It's my talking sense to a bunch of mashed potato's.

I don't mind that.  I know I'm not going to change these people's mind.  No matter how many times I hit them over the head with the truth.  Cause they don't want to hear it.  It contradicts their world view, so they struggle against it.

But the problem is, when they defriend you?  You don't get to respond to their last shot at you.  That bugs me.  I don't mind being defriended, or even blocked.  Doesn't hurt my feelings.  But not getting to respond to your total bullshit post to my truth?  That is NOT right.

So to all of Rich's friends,(like any of them would read this?  Never happen, just needs to be said), here goes.

To the guy who read my bio on Facebook?  Good for you for doing your research.  But no, I didn't retire on disability at 47.  I retired on my retirement I earned after 23 years in law enforcement.

And the big assed portfolio my father the rocket scientist left me.  And my wife who is blind, and my daughter who is Autistic and disabled, DISABILITY.  Social Security is a great thing.  And unless you intend to NOT take yours when you get to 65?  Shut the fuck up.

But you didn't do ALL your homework.  When I said I think Ed Abbey is a genius, you said, "He's an Eco terrorist" cause it fits what you want to say.  No, he's not.  He wrote a BOOK about Eco terrorists, called, The Monkey Wrench Gang.  But since you don't read BOOKS, and I don't have time to explain them to you, I'll forgive that mistake.

Ed Abbey was an English Professor at The University of Arizona in Tucson.  He was a passionate environmentalist, which is why YOU think he was an Eco-terrorist.  He had a view DIFFERENT from yours.

And to the woman who told me to watch my mouth?  Fuck you. I'll say what ever I want.  In any forum I want.  Because of the First Amendment of The Constitution you think was, "Divinely Inspired" by your imaginary friend who lives in the sky.

And to the woman who thinks it's dangerous that I describe myself as, "a heavily armed Democrat" who likes guns and has a bunch of them?  Are you fucking kidding me?  You nut balls bring assault rifles to President Obama's speeches and I'M the guy who makes you nervous?   Cause you cuss me out for having a better education than you and having traveled the world?  You want to take MY guns away cause I disagree with your political beliefs, but if Democrats want some gun control?  WE'RE the Communists?

Good.  Good thing my old friend, well, "FORMER" friend, Rich defriended me.  I don't want to be friends with anyone this stupid and his stupid friends.  I just wish I'd had a shot to get in a last word.  But it would have been fruitless, so I guess it's a moot point.

The sad part is they all DON'T answer questions when you ask them.  Do you have a college degree and from where?  Nothing.  Do you work for a government Agency like a Police or Fire Department and you hate the government and taxes?  Nothing.  Did you go to a public school?  Nothing.  Do you use public roads, bridges or, The Post Office?  Nothing.  Does your employer pay you what you're worth and do you have health insurance?  Nothing.

They just say shit like, "Well you and your high fallootin' COLLEGE degree and all the places you have traveled don't mean anything to me!  You just don't know how AMERICA works!  Cause you're ignorant, and you don't listen to the truth (as told by Faux News and Rich Lowrey)!"

You can't argue with people like that, so I'm going to quit.  As Ron White says, "You can't fix, stupid."  He's right.

Aloha Welker DeYoung Is About To Die.

I met my wife in a bar.  With a bunch of friends from Youth Corrections and The Juvenile Court.  I didn't know her background until after we started to date.

We got together every other Friday, Payday Friday at, David's Uptown on Main.  We called it, "The Weekend Attitude Readjustment Seminar".

And I didn't meet her parents until we got married.  They still lived in California.

When we went down there a month or so after getting married, we stayed at their house, and they had a reception for us.  Her dad and I played golf.  He kept telling me it was OK if I had a beer.  Truth be known, I usually prefer ice tea when golfing, and that's what I drank.

But her mother was, after asking one of her sisters when we started dating if I was a Mormon, totally accepting of her Gentile son in law.

She was nothing but wonderful to me, and our children.  She was the most loving, and accepting person I have ever known.  She loved her Gay grandson with no reservation.  She could find no fault with anyone.  Unless they didn't like the Utah Jazz or the San Francisco 49's.

She even rooted for the Utes since I went there.  I'm not sure it made my wife, the BYU graduate happy, but she lived with it.

She was told for the last 40 years that all the cancer and other problems were going to kill her.  She might have said it much more nicely than I will, but she pretty much told, Death to, "fuck off!" for that entire time, and continued to live.  Despite all the doctors that said she would not.

She was the anchor for her whole family.  All her kids and all THEIR kids.  The could always count on Grandma DeYoung.  She was the rock.

Now?  Not so much.  She's, "circling the drain", and it's not a pretty sight.  But it's not her fault.  She's 89 years old.

Deb says that earlier tonight, she tried to pull of her colostomy bag, and wanted to go for a walk.  She hasn't walked in at least a year.  So this is no way for a wonderful woman to go out.  On drugs and not knowing what's going on.  I'm glad I got to talk to her again this afternoon, even if only for a minute before she faded out again.

She is absolutely convinced that there is an after life.  And that as soon as she goes, she is going to be reunited with her husband, and she can't wait for that.  She's missed him the last few years.  She wants to be with him again.

And I hope she's right.

And I want her to do that.  Because this life is long and painful sometimes.  And sometimes?  We live too long.

I'm going to miss you, Mom.  You were wonderful to me.  I love you so much.  Thank you for being so accepting of me, and my ways, that were so different from yours.  You never questioned, you never scolded.  You just accepted.  And loved.

Have a good trip.  We're all going to miss you.  And never, ever forget you.

I'll be happy to write a serious obituary for you, leaving out my opinion.  But I just had to say what I was thinking.  Not everyone can say they love their Mother In Law.  I sure did.

My Labor Day

It's Labor Day, and I worked 23 years in Law Enforcement.  I've earned it.  I slept in.

Then, after Deb got up to go spend time with her mom, who is, "circling the drain" at age 89, I got up.  Took a long bike ride (it's taken a year after the cancer surgeries to do this, but this is the second one in a week.  Small progress).  Came home, drank a bottle of ice tea and read the paper.  Took a long, hot shower and decided to go get a sandwich somewhere, and I was going to go visit my mother in law.

My son went to see his soccer team play, even though he has a broken ankle, and can't play, he wanted to be there to support his Murray Boys in Davis County.  My daughter is happy watching TV in the basement.

I get in, "The Bitchin' Camaro" and the dash informs me, my right rear tire is flat.  Well, that sucks.

Now I have a dilemma.  I want people who work for a living to have, Labor Day off.  But I need people who work for a living to be working, or I can't dive my Camaro.

It's not really that bad.  I have the Audi to drive.  And after all, I'm just looking to go somewhere and get a BLT or a Tuna Sandwich, and come home.

But for just a minute, I'm thinking, "Oh shit.  If this story gets out?  Everyone is going to say that I'm like, Mitt!  I'm an elitist, who doesn't have a clue about how real people live!  And they will have an argument!"

The, "driver" comes back into the house and says, "I'm sorry, Mr. Stickley, the muscle car has a flat tire.  Would you like me bring around the high performance, German, luxury car for you?"

Yep.  I would.  Oh.  That is SO wrong.

Truth be told?  My first thought was, "Oh, shit.  Costco doesn't fix tires they didn't sell."  And that was wrong, cause ALL our other cars have Costco tires on them.  But this one.  Still, dealer tires on the Camaro.

I bet, Mitt can't say that.

Then I thought about Big O tires, which has fixed a few flats for me, since the Camaro has DEALER tires, and they have NO warranty.

I came in and got on the net, and Big O was closed.

Good for THEM!  Labor day!  Your people SHOULD have the day off!

And now, what?

Google.  Sears Tire And Automotive is open today.  Said they could fix a flat in an hour.

I drive to Fashion Place.  I walk to Red Rock to have a sandwich and an ice tea, cause Sears says they can fix it in an hour.  Bullshit.

Two hours later, and $28 it's fixed.  $28 for a flat repair?  That's a bit much, I think.

But, I found guys who Labor for a living, who fixed my car, on Labor Day.

I bet they don't belong to a Union.  Or they would have had the day off.  Just sayin...