Salt City Sinner

posted 10/25/2012 by the Salt City Sinner Okay, let's get this out of the way first: I am NOT a libertarian, big L or small. I suppose you could consider me a civil  libertarian, as I support the maximum possible amount of personal freedom (i.e., free speech, an end to the "war on drugs," gun rights, etc.). However, the economic views of libertarians (end the welfare state, deregulate industries, lower taxes on corporations) are extremely repulsive to me, since they amount to the opposite of consumer advocacy and the mirror image of activism on behalf of poor, working class, and middle class people. My ideological relationship with libertarianism is complex. Any ideology consists of a subset of emphases. One of my favorite college professors of all time used the metaphor of a room that consists of a certain set of furniture: given said furniture and said room, different people arrange the furniture differently, placing greater emphasis on this or that aspect of...

posted 9/19/2012 by the Salt City Sinner There's an old golf joke that my dad busts out occasionally that still cracks me up: "I hit two good balls today...I stepped on a rake!" Mitt Romney has made it something of a personal philosophical commitment, his recent rake-stepping. There was the RNC's baffling piece of performance art in which the Romney Campaign sagely decided to let an 82-year-old man ramble through over twice his allotted time in an unscripted, unvetted "speech" (read: cranked-out bitching at an imaginary man in an empty chair). There was Romney's attempt to smirk his way ... ... through a cheap, political "gotcha" moment regarding the tragic deaths of U.S. diplomats - again, wham!, right in the runts. And now, in a surgical political strike by Mother Jones magazine (a previously relatively little known and scrappy publication that has now earned a MAJOR chunk of attention), Romney's words from months ago h...

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...

Posted 7/15/12 by ViewFinder July 14th we walked through the front gate at Free Speech Zone, and were greeted by Ingrid of Sweedishis Fish.  I had anticipated entry of this gate for weeks- anxiously waiting for the day, the hour, the very minute this awesome event would begin.   After making our donation to the Rape Recovery Center we made our way up the long drive way, viewing the graffiti art adorning the brick wall. To my sheer joy I looked to the South East corner of the lot and saw Chan who was also raising funds selling sage and lavender bundles.  I had found myself at Free Speech Zone just a week earlier and had already purchased a bundle of wrapped sage, and was thrilled to buy some more.  Chan had collected the sage and lavender himself around the Salt Lake Valley, and the small bundles of White Sage were gathered by Raphael, something so lovely and peaceful, for such a good cause- truly under priced!   ...

Summer is ebullient, bouncy fancy and free. Her long legs, designer stockings and Jimmy Choos compete with the brightness of the day. Butterflies rise and circle around her. Bees drone lazily in the spring blossoms. Summer DiVino, fresh from her FBI retraining seminar, described as a “Clarification on FISA Title 3 Monitoring” is all smiles. To hear Summer tell it, the Seminar was little more than a “Summer Retreat”. She was “invited” to attend the Seminar after her botched attempts to establish a romantic relationship with Yasser Affifi came to the attention of her FBI superiors.  Director Mueller himself called her on the carpet to scream “it's all your fault!” following the Supreme Court's unanimous decision on January 23, 2012 that Summer violated the Constitution when she attached a GPS tracking device to the rear of Affifi's vehicle without first obtaining a search warrant.   Summer responded in her usual assertive style “who do you t...

Alright!  I'll tell you, I'm NOT a republican.  I have been a registered Democrat since I became a registered voter.  Through my desire to try and find change for my family, and community I changed my registration and am now "Unaffiliated".  I was too ill to attend the Democratic Caucus on Tuesday evening.  Thursday evening approached much faster than I had anticipated, and attending the meeting was something I found myself truly dreading.  We, (my nine year old daughter and myself) arrived at Kearns High School approximately 30 minutes before the meeting was to begin and entered a packed parking lot, eventually making our way back out of the parking lot to find a space on the side of the road.  Having signed up the night before I knew which district I was located in and found my place in the many lines formed for the different districts.  After "signing in" we eventually found our way up the stairs, around the corner, and tucked aw...

LUKE 6:37: J udge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. I happened upon Occupy by chance.  While writing and posting pictures for CNN iReports I found Occupy an opportunity I could not pass up.   I became very intrigued with what OWS was standing up for and found that I too was part of the 99%.  I continued photographing and interviewing Occupants and supporters for weeks, frequently taking my two daughters with me (ages 6 and 8 at the time).  Not long into my venture I found myself getting to really know some of these people, and loving the time I spent with them.  They were warm, inviting, generous, and happy people.  They were focused and ready to fight for change.  (Although fight may not be the appropriate word as they showed nothing but peace even when faced with aggressors.  On more than one occasion I saw people scream at them "Get a job!" "Lazy Bums!" and each ...

New Years' Eve is coming, and if the folks whose empire apparently extended northward to modern-day Georgia  (actually crackpot bull$h!t) have anything to say on the subject, it's that we're boned! Holiday-hating curmudgeons would say that attempts to cash in on a potential apocalypse theorized by an ancient political economy we still do not understand to this day, aside from a few unsettling notions about their grasp of mathematics and astronomy , is a little unsettling: If there is one place sure to be visited by an ironical apocalyptic thunderbolt, I would wager it would a dubstep "bar rave" in Salt Lake City, UT. Preceded, of course, by the grave of Richard Nixon, the '12 DNC, or possibly any place that I find a moment's solace. At EVE, Salt Lake City's bold and ongoing experiment in sober public celebration, #OccupySLC will be hosting an Art Wall in Gallivan Plaza. Can't make it? Kick them a few ducats you filthy plu...

There is nothing to add to this, except a very brief introduction. The exchange at the September 12th "Tea Party" Republican primary debate in question, in case there is any question of “exaggeration” or “misrepresentation,” is here: Susan from 29 's post ***is here*** , and I recommend you read it in its entirety there. What follows is an almost full excerpt intended to encourage anyone who finds it moving, thought-provoking, or worthwhile to read the whole thing. Feel free to leave comments for Susan as well, to let you know your thoughts are with her. I cannot remember the last time that a post made me feel as intensely emotional as Susan from 29's. That Was My Brother's Death You Were Cheering, You Assholes   To all of those tea-jadist assholes at last night’s GOP debate: I don’t generally like to use profanity, but I fear that English is above your comprehension level, so in terms you might better understand, may God damn your worthl...

The national coverage of the GOP primary so far has focused on Michele Bachmann (largely already seen as the front-runner*) and Sarah Palin (because she's a snowbilly grifter and the queen of smug, sullen media-baiting). Local coverage: exclusively John Huntsman and Mitt Romney, with church-owned media (the D-news, Trib, KSL, etc.) leaning slightly in favor of Romney. Editor's Note: NONE OF THIS WILL MATTER IN SIX MONTHS. Who on Earth thought Obama stood a chance at first? *: if you have followed the horse race so far and noted that Michele Bachmann is being taken Very Seriously by some Very Serious People, then you are probably in my position: bloodshot eyes, voice hoarse from screaming, a thousand-yard-stare and trembling hands. If this has not been your reaction, please read Matt Taibbi's excellent write-up of Bachmann, available here (because Jann Wenner has been replaced by a cyborg replicant that understands the internet). Money quote: Close your eyes, take a deep br...