Coming Home To Roost...

Provo might have to close it's airport because of, "The Sequester" of Federal funds.  Good!

You idiots down there keep voting for morons like Mike Lee?  You get what you deserve.

You keep TRYING to be a real city, by getting air service, and then you lose it for LACK of service.  Yet the Federal Deficit is NOT the problem. And Obama didn't cause it.

Bush did.

So you signed on to something so repulsive, that you thought the President, and the Senate would HAVE to listen to your total, unadulterated bullshit, and cave in?  Not going to happen.  You guys are CRAZY stupid!

Now?  Live with it.

You HATE the Federal Government.  Until you NEED the Federal Government!  You people are total jerks.

And I hope none of you have to fly in or out of Provo!  Could be as dangerous as flying in or out of Ambercris  Caye, Belize when I had to tap the pilot on the shoulder as we were about to take off, and tell him there was a plane about to land.  On the same runway.  He pulled off into the grass, let it land and then took off.

THIS is what you want with LESS government?  Really?

Morons.

Old Dog

She snores.  She sheds.  When you let her out late at night, and you have to, she wanders around the lawn, and sometimes just lays down in the grass for WAY too long, until you go out and find her.

She is turning gray, and she's already turned slow.  She spends most of her day on her bed, or on the carpet in front of the fireplace when there is one in there.

She parks herself in front of the vent in the bathroom in the hallway sometimes when it's really cold, cause there is a vent there and a fuzzy rug.  Spends the the night in there sometimes in the winter.  Likes it better than her bed in the dinning room.

She's slow, and old and we love her so much.

I miss sleeping with my dog.  When she was younger, we, well, MOSTLY, Deb, would get up with the kids, cause I worked nights.  And let, Solstice out and then Deb would come back to bed.  And, Solly would come into bed with us.

The, "Meth Lab" would jump up on to the bed, and cuddle down between us.  She loved being close to her, "human units".

The problem with this, not in MY mind, but in Deb's is that the Large Black Dog would sleep with us with her BACK up against her, "Doggie Daddy", and her paws next to her, Mom.  And when she had dog dreams?  She kicked the SHIT out of Deb! If you have a dog, you know what I'm saying is true.

We used to buy tennis balls by the case at Costco.  We don't play tennis, never did.  But the, "Meth Lab" would go through them like crazy when younger.  Now?  Not so much.

It's all she can to to pick on up, let alone chase it.  She's old.

She's now on her bed, and I covered her up with one of the old dogs, "blank-ies" we bought for her years ago.

Last night, I brushed her in the living room between periods of a Red Wings game, and took enough hair off this dog to make another one.  And it's only going to get worse.  Come May and June?  We have a fur lined house.  She sheds like crazy.

And all things considered?  I'm going to miss her SO much.  She's been part of the family for 13 years now.  But the truth is, she's not going to be around much longer.

The first Lab lasted 14 years.  And when we lost Samantha, I lasted TWO days before I got another one.  I don't know what I'll do when we lose this one.

But she's awesome.  And she will be missed.  And I think my kids will both miss HER a lot more then they will miss ME when I go.  As well they should.  Solstice was a better, "Person" than I ever was.

Sleep tight, old, black, dog.  We'll do our best to take care of you as long as you stick around.

The Police Should NOT Be The Military.

We have made a big mistake in this country.  We declared, "War" on drugs.  "War" on gangs.  And then we started hiring former soldiers to carry out that war.

When I got hired by the state, I had to have a degree in Sociology, or Psychology to get my job.  Now?  Not so much.  We are hiring former military guys to be our Cops!  And this is wrong.

These guys know how to kick some ass, and shoot up the place.  But they have NO people skills!  They don't know how to talk down a mentally ill guy.  Being in the Army does NOT make you a good candidate to become a Cop, and deal with people on the street.

It makes you tough, and physically fit.  But it doesn't make you mentally able to talk a guy out of killing himself, or YOU!  It doesn't make you able to understand gang culture, or any OTHER culture for that matter.

We need men and women in law enforcement who have not just the physical skills to perform the job, but a COLLEGE DEGREE in behavioral sciences, so they understand why the people they are dealing with, are doing what they do.

Our Cops are too military.  And those guys up in Ogden, totally screwed up last January.  They were after two pot plants.  They knew who was growing them, they knew where he worked, and his work schedule.  They had NO reason to get a no knock search warrant.  They should have arrested the guy when he was going to work, and then searched his house.

But they went crazy, and it cost one of them his life.  It was a totally bungled decision.

And the guy who was defending his home?  I think he's going to get off.  Because no one knocked on his door and asked him if he was growing pot in his basement. 

I only worked in law enforcement for 18 years, so I admit, I don't know, "shit" about it.  But in my humble opinion, that MIGHT have been the place to start.  After all, he wasn't building nuclear bombs in his basement.  Just growing some pot.  You really need a no knock?  I think not.

All Cops should have a college degree in behavioral sciences.  From a REAL college.  Not some bullshit college like Strayer, or, "University" of Phoenix.  And they should have to be able to talk a gun out of someones hand before they  shoot them with a rocket launcher!

Cops need to quit being soldiers.  And to do this?  We need to end the, "War" on drugs.

Yeah, I realize we will still need SWAT teams.  There are situations which call for that type of response, no question.  I'm just saying that right now?  We use it too much.

Just something to think about.

Don't, "Like" Walmart Around Me. Please

I understand why, if you are not rich, you, "Like" Walmart.  They offer what you need to live and low prices.  Heck, lower than you can buy them anywhere else.  So it saves you money.  Makes your life easy.

But have you thought about how they do it?  They pay their employees shit wages and don't offer health insurance.  They will close a store before they will allow it to Unionize.

Costco offers low prices, a living wage, and health insurance to their employees.  And I bet you shop THERE too!

Walmart exploits Chinese cheap labor to bring you cheap prices on everything you need.  You pay less cause their employees get PAID less than a living wage.

Do you know the three biggest employers in the whole world?  I bet not.

In this order they are, The Chinese Military, The US Military, and WALMART!

As poorly as we pay our soldiers, their families lose their cars and houses all the time when one of the bread winners is deployed overseas, at least they have HEALTH INSURANCE!

Walmart keeps women down, by not promoting them.  After all, they are a CHRISTIAN company, and men should be the bread winners.  Women should stay home and take care of children.  How real is THAT in today's economy?  When corporate profits are at all time highs, yet the pay of people who actually do the labor, hasn't kept up with inflation.  Not good.

If you HAVE to shop at Walmart?  I feel sorry for you, and I understand your situation.  I wish you earned a living wage, and had health care and a retirement plan or pension.

If you CHOOSE to shop at Walmart, when you don't have to?  Fuck you.  You are destroying the Labor Movement in this country.  You remember, The Labor Movement?  The people who brought you, "The Weekend".  And kept your kids out of mines and slaughter houses instead of IN schools?

So if you, "Like" Walmart on Facebook?  You are not paying attention.  They don't like you.  But they know their audience, and they will keep you hooked in.

Next time you walk into a Walmart, and that old man, "greets" you, and offers your kid a sticker?  I want you to look deep into his eyes and try to figure out why, at his advanced age, he's not retired to Florida, or Arizona.  Try to figure out why this old man still HAS to work!  Still has to get up in the morning, put on his vest, and try to put on a happy face, while he puts a happy face sticker on your kid, instead of enjoying the warm weather in his trailer park/condo/planed development/house in Arizona.

Is it because he didn't get a pension?  Didn't get a living wage?  Didn't get retirement health care, and has a sick wife?  Even with Medicare, he still owes some money?  Why is this man subjecting himself to this?  I'll bet you dollars to donuts he doesn't WANT to be there.

And folks who run places like Walmart are the reason for it.

So don't, "Like" Walmart to me.  I DON'T like Walmart.  And if you ever see me in one, I have exhausted EVERY other place to get what I'm looking for. 

I'm pro Union, pro National Health Care, pro a better minimum wage, and pro smart people.  That's why I vote for Democrats!  And if you WORK for a living, and you're NOT like me?  You are NOT paying attention.

As the Reverend Payton (and his Big Assed Band) said, "Put your home town on the map, with four football fields of Chinese crap".  THAT is Walmart.

LIKE that, anti Union, pricks.

Say What?

A friend of mine posted something last night about how you can't raise up the poor by taking money away from the rich in taxes.  Well, that's just not true.  It's how we do it in this country.  The Public Works Administration, and all the other projects during the depression that made our roads and trails in our National Parks, and countless other projects were a big reason we got OUT of the depression.

My mother always said PWA didn't stand for Public Works Administration, it meant, "Papa Works Again".

So I posted back to him:  "With your taxes, you buy society."

And I truly believe that.

His response?  "Then I want a refund, cause society is broken."

OH, HELL NO!  You cannot get away with that bullshit!

You right wing nuts are all about, "America First!"  American Exceptionalism.  "Love it or leave it!"  "MY country, right or wrong!"  "Our Constitution is Divinely Inspired!"  And all that jazz.

And while the idiot child of the Royal Family Bush was in charge, if any of us people with an education and a conscience said, "We should not go to war against any countries that didn't attack us".
You screamed, "You are part of the, "Hate America First" crowd!"

If we said, "There is no link between Iraq and 9-11" we were not patriotic!

If we said, "Bush is lying" we didn't respect the President!

If we said, "We would be better off with a national health care plan like the rest of the industrialized world, and it would keep jobs home instead of sending them overseas."  We're, "Socialists!"

If you really believe that, The Constitution is, "Divinely Inspired" meaning the word of, God.  Why do you keep trying to amend it to keep it from letting you impose your religiously based government and laws on the rest of us?  I mean if, God said it, who the fuck are you to try to change it?

Nope, I'm not letting you get away with it.

Either this is the greatest country and society in the history of the world, even when we elect a Black guy you hate, and things aren't going your way.  Or you need to shut the fuck up and live with the fact you lost the last election, and realize that sometimes?  YOU LOSE!  Even if you think God is on your side.

By the way.  God doesn't exist.

But society does.  Live with it.

And while you're at it?  Quit bringing your assault rifle to the mall, just to prove a point.  You do that when I'm in the mall?  I'm going to assume you mean harm and take out my concealed weapon and fill you full of holes before I have to ask you any questions about your motive.  After all, it's not required that I do.  And now that I'm a RETIRED Cop?  I don't even have to say, "POLICE, PUT DOWN THE GUN!"  I can just light you up.

Think about it.

Packing Heat! YOUR Utah Right! Wing Nut

In Utah, you don't need a REASON to have a Concealed Weapon Permit.  But you do need to pass a background check, and a class that tells you when and where you can use it.

Interestingly enough?  You don't have to show that you know how to shoot the damn thing!  So a lot of States, based on that, won't honor the Utah CCW Permit.

But, under our current law, if you choose to wear your sidearm in plain view of everyone, that's OK.  So, Joe Sixpack who has a pistol, can strap that sucker on, and as long as everyone can see it, he's good to go.

Sounds like a Townes Van Zant song:  "Pancho wore his gun outside his vest, for all the honest world to fear..."

And, "fear" really is the operative word here.  More on that later.

And now, some State Senator has introduced a bill that says that if you can carry openly?  Well, you don't have to pass a background check, or take a class.  You can just put on a coat cause it's cold and presto!  You are carrying a concealed weapon.

WTF?

Do we not want to regulate who, why, or where ANYONE can carry a gun in this state?  Do we really want to make carrying instant death as easy to do as putting your smart phone in a belt holder?

I wish our Legislature were smarter than our phones.  But, never going to happen.

I don't want to live in Dodge City, circa 1870!  That is NOT the society that I think ANY of us want to live in, any more.  This is total, lunacy.

There was a guy on the news tonight, who showed up to lobby for this law, who brought his 18 year old kid, wearing a gun OUTSIDE his clothing, while he wore a concealed weapon under his jacket.  To prove a point.

Well, I've been retired almost 7 years now from law enforcement.  Maybe the laws have changed.  I admit, I haven't bothered to keep up.  But when I was a Cop, anyone who gave an 18 year old kid a HANDGUN, was committing a crime by putting minor in control of a gun!

You could give your 12 year old a rifle, or a shotgun.  Your 16 year old could pass a hunter safety course, and deer hunt.  With a rifle.

But you could NOT, under any circumstances, give your under the age of 21 kid a HANDGUN and ammunition, and let him carry it around!

And instead of being put in jail, this prick is interviewed on the news!

OK, people, it's time to talk some sense about,,,  Oh what the fuck.  No one in Utah listens to sense anyway.  Why do I bother?  They all believe that some 19th century con man found golden plates and interpreted them with a rock in a hat.  And there are millions of them that have been giving them 10% of their money ever since.  Greatest con ever.

So now, without any training, shooting test, background check, you want anyone in this state to be able to carry a concealed weapon?  Cause you fear, what?  That the President is coming for your guns, and you want, "states rights"?

I had to provide my son's birth certificate, and his Social Security Card, just to get his drivers license in this state.  He's on his SECOND Passport.  At age 16.  The ULTIMATE ID in he whole world.  But Utah won't accept that.

But if you want to carry a gun?  Just WEAR one.  Then put on a coat.

They hate the Federal Government so much, that my son's Passport is not good enough to prove he's a Citizen.  But if you BOUGHT a gun?  Well you MUST BE!  Strap that fucker on!

I'm kind of hoping, in my reptilian brain, that this stupid law passes.  So when some illegal alien, who, of course got is gun illegally (because of FEDERAL LAW) shoots someone, can say, "Hey, under Utah law, you CAN'T prevent me from carrying a gun, concealed or otherwise!"

And Margret Dayton's head will explode.

The Boy Scouts Don't Have To Accept Gays. And None Of Us Have to Accept Boy Scouts

There has been a heck of a lot of news about the Boys Scouts of America (BSA) struggling with whether or not they should accept Gay members.  I don't think this is really news.  The BSA is a private organization, mostly supported by faith based institutions, many of whom see homosexuality as a sin, and a choice.  It's not, but that isn't the issue.

The issue is that in this country, you have the right to be a racist, a misogynist, or a homophobe, or any kind of a jerk you want to be.  And as long as you're not accepting public money and you don't punch anyone in the face because of your beliefs (or burn a cross on their lawn, or any number of other things) as wrong as you may be?  You have the right to your beliefs.

Asking a group who's supporters are mostly Evangelical Christian Churches to accept homosexuals is a lot like telling The Knights of Columbus that we expect them to accept Jews.  It really makes no sense.

Are they wrong to not accept homosexuals?  Yes.  It's despicable to discriminate against anyone.  But the Boy Scouts don't take girls either and no one is up in arms about that.  Maybe that's the answer.  You don't like the BSA's policy?  Start a group that does the same thing, but is a lot more tolerant.

The Boy Scouts are not the only organization that will teach young people about the outdoors, and let them participate in character building activities and service projects.  There are plenty of private groups and camps open to everyone.

I wouldn't let my son be a Boy Scout.  I don't like their policy's and I gave up on Christianity years ago.  But I think it's up to the Boy Scouts to decide who they are going to associate with, and it's up to everyone who's offended by it, to not support them.

Don't give money to, The United Way.  They give money to the BSA.  Don't give them money to put a flag on your yard at every holiday.  Don't buy tickets to, "Scoutarama" even though you will never use them, just because you thought you were supporting a group that did good things for young people.  Don't patronize their fundraiser car washes and stuff like that.  Vote with your wallet.

And if I had a dollar for every BSA leader I saw on Probation/Parole for sexually abusing young boys while in that position of trust?  I would have retired to Belize years ago.  If the BSA thinks they DON'T have homosexuals in their organization?  They better think again.  They seem to attract closeted, homosexual, pedophiles in DROVES!  Good, God fearing, church going, pedophiles.

And before I get hate email, I am NOT insinuating that all homosexual men are pedophiles.  That is nonsense.  But the truth is, there are pedophiles that are Gay, straight, and somewhere in between.  And I've supervised them all.

So let the BSA do what it needs to do to survive.  Which is actively keep Gays from joining.  They are NOT the Military, or The Peace Corps, or any Government Agency.  They are a private organization that makes a TON of money for the guys in charge.  And they know who to pander to.  Kind of like the Catholic Church.  Maybe the only organization that has a WORSE record of dealing with homosexual pedophiles than the BSA!