I haven't kept this blog updated as much as I would like and I'm not sure what direction I want this blog to take. I'm trying to find a layout that I like and then I will have to decide what to blog about if anything.

I know this was so last week. I'm a bit slow on things.

Sitting in Sunday school last week an interesting topic came up for Sunday school, immigration, after reading 2 Nephi Chapter 1. Many of the older (70+) crowd started complaining about the "Latinos" taking over the country, breaking laws and all sorts of other things. After a few minutes of this another older man spoke up and pointed to these verses:

2 Nephi Chapter 1
6 Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord.
7 Wherefore, this a land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.

This cooled things off a bit.

When a General Authority comes out and suggest to a mainly LDS legislature to "slow down, step back and carefully study and assess the implications and human costs involved" you would think that the LDS members of the legislature would give heed. Instead they have justified
their actions and question why the church doesn't just come out with a clearer statement.


My favorite argument
"is ok to brake some laws?" "Will I get an ecclesiastical pass for breaking other laws or is only immigration law declared invalid?"
"Honor, obey, and sustain the law, but only if you're a legal LDS U.S. resident. If you're illegal, then the bishop can give you a wink and validate your fraudulent perjury-plagued status."


The Trib comment section is full of these. Which makes no sense to me other then all the anti-mormons are also anti-immigrant?

Maybe the legislature should draw up a resolution calling for Congress to address the real underlying issues of immigration. Why are all of these people coming here? Leaving their homes, safety, family to travel across a desert to a strange land with the possibility of dying on the way. When they get here they work any job they can get (watch "Fast Food Nation") working for next to nothing only to send the money home. Non of this makes sense unless where they come from is so bad in the first place. Maybe if we work on fixing the issues that cause them to leave we wouldn't have so many immigrants here to worry about.

The Utah lawmakers should make it easier for those who are here to declare themselves here so that we know who is here and where they are at. Instead they are forcing the immigrants to stay in the shadows and adding more stress to their lives.

So its been nearly a year since my last post, not like any one reads my blog anyway. I think there is something about the legislative session that pushes me to write a blog. The things those fools do up there are amazing! You know I don't think you could make some of this stuff up.

I'm not sure what's so hard about making it a felony to seriously abuse an animal? Ohh, wait it is......if....they have been convicted of animal abuse once before in the last five years. Nice.

Really I have to know who votes in West Jordan? I would like to meet those responsible for Nutters Buttars and slap them in the back of the head. Honestly do you just show up at the poll and pick the Republican? What an embarrassment! I think the last thing anyone would want to do right now is admit that they vote in West Jordan. I guess it's bad enough they have to live there.

The Utah legislature is full of small minded, hate filled, vindictive evil men, not all of them but enough of them that I feel I can generalize. They hate the idea of someone else doing something (because they do so much of nothing).

The gov goes off and signs a non-binding deal with a bunch of other govs to lower emissions, the legislators draft a bill that requires the gov to get their permission before he does anything like that again. What was he thinking?
Mother may I?

The Mayor of SLC decides to put together a domestic partner registry, you would think he used the BoM as toilet paper. Now there's a bill outlawing that. Even though the SLC council passed the registry unanimously, meaning that the majority of the citizens who are supposedly represented by the city council are in favor of the registry.
Mother may I?

I should help Curtis write a bill, this one would require all county and city councils run agendas past the legislature and get their ok before passing anything. No decisions can be made with out mother first making sure it's whats best. I believe this would save a lot of time and tax payer money in the long run. There would be a lot less laws on the books and the legislature would have more time in the session to actually get something accomplished. We will call this bill the Mother May I bill.

I would have to say though that my favorite is the conflict of interest. All they have to do is state that there is or might be a conflict. Thats it. They are required by law to vote on all bills.

I love this time of year!!

This story broke my heart. I do not know the family but my heart goes out to them.

Dad and daughter, 5, killed in crosswalk near kindergarten

By Michael N. Westley
The Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated: 05/22/2007 06:36:39 AM MDT

Don Ostler just wanted to get his 5-year-old daughter, Gwyndalyn, to afternoon kindergarten safely.
The pair were in a crosswalk to cross 1300 East near 5300 South in Murray Monday and had nearly reached the opposite curb when they were struck by a southbound car about 12:30 p.m., said police Detective Kenny Bass.
The impact of the crash threw both Ostlers several feet. Paramedics worked to revive the pair but were unsuccessful, Bass said. The 29-year-old man and daughter were pronounced dead at the scene.
The girl's grandmother, Nancy Ostler, told KSL Channel 5 News that the girl was about to turn 6 and already knew she wanted to be a doctor.
"If my granddaughter had to go to heaven, I'm glad it was my son that would take her," Nancy Ostler said. "My son did not have to die today. My tiny grandbaby did not have to die today."
The driver of the car, whom Bass said was an 86-year-old man, has been questioned by police.
Witnesses told police the car rolled right through the crosswalk where the Ostlers were walking, Bass said.
"The witnesses weren't indicating anything about speed," Bass said.
Nancy Ostler told KSL she had reviewed police reports, which made it appear as though the elderly man was not fit to be driving. "I have worked with the elderly before," Ostler said. "There's a time you need to say, 'I just can't be on the road.' "
Initial testing did not reveal the presence of drugs or alcohol on the driver, said the detective, but the case will be reviewed with prosecutors for possible charges.
mwestley@sltrib.com

It is a sad state of affairs that we rely so heavily on our vehicles to get us around. While everyone will be blaming the 86 year old man for driving when he obviously shouldn’t be (and he is to blame), no one will mention that without a drivers license he is a prisoner in his own home. We have set up our society so that those who do not or cannot drive are punished to use our substandard transit system or be stranded in their homes. Our houses are far from shopping, eating establishments, post offices and gathering places.

As medicine continues to advance more people will be driving at older ages then ever before. There will be an increase in these horrific unnecessary slaughters. We need to change how we build our cities, prioritizing people over cars.

We need to build cities where senior citizens are able to walk or easily ride transit to get to the doctors or stores.

We need to build cities where a father can safely walk his daughter home from school without dying.

I don’t understand people and where they get their silly notions, such as the notion that condos will bring down their property values and that high density is bad. The silliest notion is thinking that a commuter rail station is going to bring your property values down. I just don’t see it happening in Woods Cross, it hasn’t happened anywhere else in the state or the country so I don’t see why Woods Cross would be any different. To me this is a win win situation. If they don’t want to live within walking distance of a commuter rail station that will take them all over the Wasatch Front then they can sell their homes for at the very least double what they bought them for.

Why did they wait until now to start complaining? Woods Cross has been working with UTA for over two years now. If they say they didn’t know about the transit station and where the parking lot was going to be, it’s because they don’t pay attention and maybe they should attended City Planning and Council meetings.

I will be surprised if homes are still there in ten years. Just like all other stations in Salt Lake and around the country, condos, apartments, offices and retail will pop up all around the station.

To me this is not a hard choice.

No sky bridge.

This will impede the view from Main Street. The view is something that city forefathers had enough common sense to preserve and to put the preservation of it into the city code by not allowing sky bridges. If we allow this one it will be that much easier for the next developer to build one. We are going to allow “the church” a variance to build a sky bridge but not the next guy? How is that going to look in front of a judge?

Sky bridges are fun and neat but not necessary for the city creek center to go forward and to function. If it is going to draw the crowds the developer says it’s going to bring into Salt Lake, something like 10million then the “mall” will succeed without the bridge. The developer is trying to tell us that 10 million people are going to decide not to shop at the center because there is no sky bridge?

Plus all the other reasons not to build a sky bridge.

On a side note, how well will that retractable glass ceiling do during an earthquake?

It’s been a busy month for me at work and the flu for a week all but did me in, seems like the end of the legislative session always wears me down.

What I love most about the Utah legislature besides how they waste time is the fact that they love nothing more then to legislate local issues. They hate it when the feds get in their business but they have no problems getting all up into the locals, especially Salt Lake City and the County. Salt Lake County according to the Govs Office in 2005 had just fewer than 1 million; the entire State had just over 250 million. Salt Lake County is 38% of the States population and we have legislatures from rural areas telling the city and county what they can and cannot do? Try telling the rural folk what to do; you would think the world is coming to an end. I think that the County is responsible enough to make its own decisions without the help from the State legislature. Hopefully next year they will focus more on State issues and less on how to punish Salt Lake.

I know that the session has been over for a while but I hadn’t had a chance to rant about it. So there it is.

I thought that the purpose of tearing out the old parking lot at the State Capital was to put in a garage and add more parking for the employees and visitors. As it is now there is not enough parking for the employees, forget about when the legislature is in. Come to find out they are not putting in a parking garage but only beautifying the parking area, in the end there will be less parking. I suppose that parking and access to your legislatures is less important then a good looking capital complex.

I have no problems with soccer, I even watched the World Cup and soccer clips on Youtube. But I am beyond tired of Dave Checketts and this soccer stadium hoopla that is being forced upon us. This is the most pressing issue that the legislature has to deal with?

Forget payday lending, health care, the budget, let’s drop everything before the baby with the ball takes his game somewhere else. Checketts is worse then my 3 year old. Why is it our business to pay for his? If his business plan is so great why isn’t Energy Solutions tripping over themselves to put their name on the arena?

With Salt Lake county taxpayers paying for the stadium are they going to call it the Salt Lake arena?

It would only be right.

Some one needs to send this quote to the good Senator of West Jordan R- Chris Buttars.

When the Legislature came for the homosexuals,
I remained silent;
I was not gay.

When they outlawed abortions,
I remained silent;
I was not pro-choice.

When they came for evolutionist,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Darwinist.

When they came for the Mormons,
there was no one left to speak out.

Sen. Buttars has no problem taking away rights from everyone else but when some kid in a CTR shirt gets kicked out of school he’s the first one to shout foul. It amazes me that the people of West Jordan continue to vote to keep this guy in office.