Salt City Sinner

posted on 5/24/2013 by the Salt City Sinner  It’s 9:17 PM on a sleepy Sunday night in Salt Lake City, UT -- in the avenues, to be precise. It’s a quiet, friendly neighborhood, currently in the process of winding down after another day of civic excellence. It has been warm, but not hot, and a breeze floats through my open bedroom window, gently ruffling my Batman bed sheets. I am on the verge of falling asleep, awash in that meditative state that bleeds into unconsciousness, when I hear my front door open. This is odd since I am A) not expecting visitors and B) pretty certain that I locked it. Before I am fully awake, I see a tall silhouette glide silently into my bedroom, and I hear a voice that I instantly recognize. “Sorry to bother you,” the voice says, “but it’s been a hard few weeks and I needed a kindred spirit to talk to.” Even in a startled and half-dozing state, it’s impossible to mistake Barack Obama, 44th President of these United States of America, for an...

A Photo Blog- Posted  by: ViewFinder 5.27.13 March 25,2013 at 12:00 several hundred Salt Lake citizens gathered together in solidarity against Monsanto and the law just passed and signed by President Obama-  H.R. 933: Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 Apparently Monsanto has a very LONG ... DARK past, one that includes the chemical manufacturing of PCBs (Polychlorinated bipheryls)- which led to a $600,000,000 payout to residents of Anniston, Alabama.  During the early 1960's Monsanto was one of the producers of the toxic herbicide Agent Orange widely known for the death and disability brought to the people of Vietnam and the U.S. Soldiers who were also affected. After a little research I believe that Monsanto does not own Academi (Formerly Blackwater, also formerly XE).  However from 2008 to 2010 Monsanto has reportedly  admitted in email  that their relationship existed.  Reportedly it w...

posted on 5/24/2013 by the Salt City Sinner  The 1980s saw the flourishing of punk music and the first major ska revival, both of which contributed to how awesome a band known as the Specials were.  The Specials were not a punk band, but brought punk attitude and energy (and a large portion of the fan base) to their take on Jamaican ska music, a precursor to reggae that the Specials breathed new life into. The Specials’ lead singer, Jerry Dammers, founded “2 Tone Records” in 1979, giving “2 Tone Ska” – a genre that combined pop and punk with ska – it’s name. What do the Specials have to do with French house giants Daft Punk, and more specifically, Daft Punk’s most recent album “Random Access Memories?” The answer to that lies in an interesting fact about Jerry Dammers and his view of the future of music. Alex Petridis from MOJO magazine   breaks down  what was going on in early 1980 during the recording of the Specials’ second album: Dammers was keen to...

posted on 5/16/2013 by the Salt City Sinner WND (formerly World Net Daily) and I may have had our   differences , but commenter Michael Hahn is really on to something here regarding President Obama: Thank you, Michael Hahn. Thank you, WND. That will do.

posted on 5/13/2013 by the Salt City Sinner "Wh-wh-why can't I force people to pray how I want?!"   The advent of video sharing online has led to many amazing things, from the humble   Arnold mash-up  to the lofty grumpy cat   smile video . It has also led many organizations – both those I loathe and those I love – to apparently scrap their marketing departments entirely and wallow in the gutter of “viral” videos. This is unfortunate. Exhibit A: Anonymous. This crafty hacker anarcho-collective is savvy and fun-loving enough to   light up  the Westboro Baptist Church’s web presence like the world’s most obscene and hilarious Christmas tree. Happy face! Presented with the opportunity to make a video, however, their efforts quickly devolve into the standard puddle of internet   horribleness : the dramatic music, the silly logos, et cetera et cetera. Sad face! If a web video call-to-arms induces chagrin when it comes from a source I quasi...

posted on 5/7/2013 by the Salt City Sinner   “Excuse me, but did you drive a car here today?” a man asked, his voice loaded with the combination of theatrically weary sarcasm and belligerence that I’ve come to think of as The Talk Radio Voice. “Call ‘em out, Paul!” a man crowed on from the crowd. “You’re just a hypocrite!” Paul continued. “A hypocrite !” It was a little after one in the afternoon on a beautiful Tuesday, and the view from the sixth floor of Rice-Eccles Stadium’s press and VIP tower was exquisite – a sweeping vista of Salt Lake City that is in my experience unrivaled (in one of my many previous incarnations, I booked a gala event for a nonprofit I was working for in this very room for that very view). Against the light streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows, framed against that view, were a band of   brave souls  who had come to interrupt Juan Palma, the Bureau of Land Management's Utah State Director, as he delivered an address ti...

posted on 5/2/2013 by the Salt City Sinner in one of my very favorite photographs of all time, L. Ron Hubbard interrogates a tomato As spring finally and gloriously breaks over Salt Lake City like a trash sack full of champagne flutes, it is time to return to the comforting bosom of the rich loam! To return and, alas, to say goodbye to my current raised garden bed. Salt Lake City, you see, is   installing  a streetcar line in the Sugar House area. In addition to closing 11th East (the main foot-and-car-traffic thoroughfare) for a few years, which has   led to protests  from local merchants, the construction will be leveling the community gardens where I have had a plot since early 2012. Our garden has formed a committee (that granola hippie solution of first and last resort) to determine where all of us poor gardeners will land next year. Until then, it's back to my home away from home for another season of growing delicious things to eat. Right now, of ...