Salt City Sinner

Posted 8/27/12 by Law Nerd. (tl;dr summary for our philistine readers: see title--constitution/SCOTUS says) My apologies to any readers who for some bizarre reason were looking forward to another of my legal rants after my last . I graduated, then studied and sat for the Vermont bar exam, and I offer no further excuse above that. I have sprouted knobbly little legal wings, and hope to be a fledgling attorney in a few months. Results are out in September.  Job as "not-yet-licensed junior associate to whom all your difficult cases are belong" begins in one week. Unless you've been living under a bridge and growing troll-like protuberances, you've heard of Rep. Todd Akin's (R-MO) recent shenanigans in the world of reproductive rights.  Specifically, I refer to Rep. Akins' " misogynist claptrap ," in which the Senate-hopeful attempted to distinguish legitimate rape (from what I know not, though we did   later learn  that he actually meant "...

posted 8/27/2012 by the Salt City Sinner Today is part one in what will be an ongoing series regarding prominent officials and hypocrisy. Now, this might seem like shooting fish in a barrel (it is), but in an election season Bedazzled ( TM, NSFW ) with loathsome talking points and "narratives," sometimes it is useful to remember a few very basic points about members of our political class that somehow get lost in the sparkles. Today we will be discussing the disclosed  - not still-sealed, mind you - finances of one Willard Mitt Romney. Willard is a wealthy man ( seriously ). His net worth is pegged at $230 million by anti-Romney, liberal muckraker Forbes magazine ( link  here ), with $91 million in debt securities, $52 million from "Bain Alternative Investments," $29 million from "other alternative investments," and $23 million from mutual funds and ETFs (exchange traded funds). Romney is also worth a cool $18 million in real estate, inclu...

Posted by: ViewFinder 8/26/12 While walking through Liberty Park on Sunday afternoon I came across Cindy Putnam.  I watched from a distance as she passed out colored fliers with information about her son who has been missing now for six weeks.  Robin Putnam was living in California, maintaining a normal life, had a job at a small coffee shop- then one day experienced a significant panic/anxiety episode. Video Interview with Cindy Putnam Robin was spotted on the train from California to Utah, and then again spotted in Murray and Sandy Utah about a week ago.  Robin was also spotted at Liberty Park, in Salt Lake City, UT on Sunday 8/19/12.  It is believed that Robin exited the train in Salt Lake during a lay over and never made it back on the train before it left.  Robin left all his belongings behind, including his identification.   Those that have seen him say that he is not asking for help from anyone but people are offering him help...

A Photo-Blog posted by: ViewFinder 8.26.12 (Photographs from 8.25.12) LONG TIME U OF U FANS!!!!!!  (Well as long as they've been able to say "GO UTES!")  8.25.12 The staff and players of Utah Athletics teams all gathered at Rice-Eccles Stadium for FanFest 2012 The Men's Basketball team shot hoops with fans-  And.... signed autographs for all who wanted. Dallin Bachynski and Glen Dean of Utah Men's Basketball kindly signing autographs our young little fans. While walking around we ran into Eric Rowe #18 and Tyron Morris-Edwards #27 of the U of U Football team.  Eric plays Free Safety and is said to be a potential NFL candidate!  He stood next to us as we gathered signatures from the Ladies Gymnastics team, and was very friendly.  Willing to autograph each of my children's shirts and pose for a picture with them. Of all the athletes we met while on our adventure at the stadium we found NO ONE that was not a pur...

A Photo-Blog Posted by: ViewFinder 8.26.12  The closing of "Shark Week" at the Living Planet Aquarium brought some great fun for the family.   Below are two pods, one that just hatched a baby Tiger Shark the day before and the other one still waiting to release the new shark.  Was amazing to see the sack up close and learn more about how these amazing and beautiful creatures make their way into our world. The Lion Fish was one of my son's favorite creatures to view during his first trip to the Aquarium.   The spark in his eye, the glimmer of his smile, the musical laughter that came from my son was the most magical thing that I was able to see today!  And in the end... the creatures I loved the most... went home with ME!

 A Photo Blog posted by:  ViewFinder 8/22/12 (photographs from 8/17/12) In an attempt to escape the smoke filled valley air I buckled my seat belt and drove the 2-15 belt route heading East towards the Little Cottonwood Canyon.  Taking the Brighton Ski Resort exit I made my way through the winding roads and slow speed zones, at points sitting still as the road had been reduced to one lane due to construction crews at work... YES on a SATURDAY! With sandwiches, a small sack of grapes and my steel reusable water can to accompany my lovely lunch packed in my new hiking pack I remembered to grab a spare battery for my camera.  Luckily for me I ran back in the house and retrieved it as I most certainly did have to change out the battery on this excursion.  Turning into the Silver Lake parking lot I was surprised at the amount of visitors to the site, apparently I wasn't the only one seeking refuge from the polluted breathing. My eyes thoroughly...

posted 8/23/2012 by the Salt City Sinner Alan Moore has pulled off quite the feat. One part magic, one part art, one part what I guess you could call psychic bomb-craft - I don't think I've seen the like before. Imagine if Mickey Mouse, instead of becoming as recognizable and relatively benevolent as Jesus Christ in most of the developed and developing world, was hopping and "Ha-ha!"-ing across screens large and small toting a Kalashnikov and spouting aphorisms.from the Little Red Book (Chairman Maus, perhaps?). Think of it as The Guy Fawkes Mask Phenomenon. I have taken an extended tour of opinions regarding it - I took pot-shots at it   here  and   here  , started to warm to it   here  and finally fully embraced it   here : who WAS that masked man? What does The Guy Fawkes Mask Phenomenon represent, exactly? The mask itself commemorates Guy Fawkes (obviously) - who was a Catholic partisan and terrorist who was involved in th...

posted 8/20/2012 by the Salt City Sinner Everybody loves an underdog. Exhibit A: Now, even if you are not a sports fan, you might have seen and probably enjoyed the movie 'Rudy.' This enjoyment can be taken too far, of course - once upon a time I had a corporate gig where our incoming employee orientation included a screening of the above scene to get us "jazzed up" about locum tenens healthcare staffing. A very obnoxious trope that is found in a vast majority of American cinema is the "triumph of the underdog" - you know, every movie has to have the third act, where the hero loses everything and we suffer in agony with him as the odds stack up against him. Then, in Act Four - hey, presto! our hero triumphs over the vastly overwhelming forces of evil to win the day! This love of the underdog has a dark side that has metastasized most odiously in America. You see, not only does everybody love to see the underdog take down the uberdog - at this po...

posted 8/17/2012 by the Salt City Sinner For the first time in the history of this blog I would like to reproduce, in its (almost) entirety, an essay. Thomas Frank, "Compromising Positions:" Let us review. Barack Obama, who was lifted to the presidency four years ago on a great wave of progressive fantasy, likes to say that hte national budget is like a family budget: that when times are tough, government has to tighten its belt. This is a Republican simile of very long standing, and the president is a Democrat. He is in fact the leader of the party that is supposed to believe in deficit spending during hard times. Yet Obama has enthusiastically adopted the belt-tightening trope, and all the terrible ideas that go with it.  Another thing the president likes to say - or liked to say, back in the days when his administration was new and "hope" hadn't started to stink yet was that "we should be looking forward and not backwards." More recently, h...