Medieval Utah -- Anasazi wall painting, 12th or 13th century.I'm back from a brief trip to Utah, where strange things are always occurring. It appears that the righteous and God-fearing Utah Liquor Commission, always ready to stand up to non-Mormon depravity, were ready to bust a convent of Carmelite nuns who were ready to turn their fundraising fair into a Sodom and Gomorrah of booze and gambling (i.e., they were going to have beer and bingo). The commission finally allowed the nuns to sell beer, but the good sisters had to agree not to charge for the bingo cards -- and damnit, put it in writing, because the Latter Day Saints on the commission were certainly not going to take their word for it. You have to keep your eye on those nuns, otherwise they'll lead all of Zion into debauched corruption.
It's news stories like this, plus the fact that Utah still has the highest public approval rating of the Bush administration, that can lead even our fearless leader himself to make a public appearance. And he did, to speak to the American Legion. One would think that at least speaking to the Legion in Utah our president could not raise much of a fuss. Stereotypes, however, always disappoint, and the capital city of ultra-conservative Utah has a firebrand ex-ACLU lawyer as mayor, who not only led a demonstration against the president's policies, but gave one of the most no-holds-barred anti-Bush speeches I have heard from the mouth of an elected official. You can see it here or read the transcript here. It makes one wonder about facile descriptions of red states and blue states. I wonder if the nuns were at the demonstration.
PS: Good news -- Guillaume le Fou, a.k.a. Cowboyangel, has started to blog again. Stop by his site and encourage him.
6 comments:
Nice picture. The Anasazi were interesting - the X-Files even did a couple of episodes mentioning them :-)
That was an excellent speech. I wish that more Democrats would speak with that kind of power, clarity, and conviction.
Liked Rocky Anderson's speech. I watched about half of it. Thought it was great how he went right into the "patriot" question, and that he handled it very well. Recently read the Roosevelt quote and thought someone should use it.
Interesting about the nuns. We had something similar happen at San Jose when I was kid, only that time it was famed atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair who got the cops to shut down the bingo game. Why she went after a bunch of poor Mexicans instead of one of the big white churches, I never understood. But it goes to show that Bingo can draw fire from all sides.
Beer and Bingo! Them Carmelite sisters are outta control... Reign 'em in!
Yes, I heard mayor Rocky Anderson on the radio the other day going to town on Bush, calling him the worst president in history, and saying that he wasn't going to make nice just because he was the host, etc, etc... Wow. I wonder how this guy got elected as mayor of Salt Lake to begin with.
He got elected twice. Salt Lake City is surprisingly liberal, though as soon as you hit the city limits and get into the suburbs, look out...
Those Nuns, I tell ya!
Finally, some one with cojones!
Rocky, Rocky, Rocky!!!
I love you.
w.
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