Auld Lang Syne

Sad to note the passing of the "World's Oldest Teenager", Dick Clark.  New Year's Eve will never be the same.

All Pets Go To Heaven

In the wee hours of the morning on March 7th, as promised, Google, the new owners of Slide, Inc., removed the popular website SuperPokePets, in the process killing millions of beloved virtual pets.  For those of us who  spent many hours devoted to this fun little game, our lives will never be the same.

Farewell, Kid

Gary Carter, the slugging catcher known as Kid for the sheer joy he took in playing baseball, who entered the Hall of Fame as a Montreal Expo but who most famously helped propel the Mets to their dramatic 1986 World Series championship, died this afternoon in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was 57.

It drove some people nuts that Carter played every day with the joy as if it were the opening day of Little League. Even that nickname, "Kid," was minted with some derisiveness by jaded Expos veterans when Carter, in his first spring training camp in 1973, had the nerve to run hard on every sprint and bring enthusiasm to every drill.

In his 1987 book, A Dream Season, written with John Hough Jr., Carter wrote, "My enthusiasm for my family -- and for baseball, and other things, too -- strikes some people as a bit too much. My happiness crowds people a little."

Some Expos were put off by Carter's unabashed enthusiasm. They felt he was obsessed with his image and basked in hus press coverage too eagerly. They called him Camera Carter.

Carter's exuberance complemented his prowess at the plate. Curly-haired and with a ready smile, he was loved by the fans, first in Montreal, then in New York.

The light that was Gary Edmund Carter has been extinguished. Kid is dead, and far too soon at age 57 because of the evil of inoperable brain tumors. This world, not just this little game, is less sunny without him.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Questions without answers...

With all of the national attention this story is getting, I don't need to write here any of the horrific details. Surely, someone cowardly enough to take their own life, and the lives of their 2 children, will get their reward. And we may never know the whereabouts of Susan Powell...

Almost a week has passed since I read the news reports coming out of Washington, and despite all of the hatred and blame game, I believe there was still the tiniest spark of human compassion alive in Josh Powell. People say it was all about him. If that's true, why donate toys and clothing to charity? If he was nothing but a cold-blooded killer, why spare the life of the social worker? Or is he just playing mind games with me from beyond the grave???

No Apology

I am thankful for the opportunity my blog gives me to vent & relieve some of my frustrations. That being said, ever since the South Carolina primary on Saturday, all of the trash talk against Mitt Romney has me at wit's end. He doesn't have "hidden" money, he paid all of the required Federal income taxes, and he IS a Christian. I'm encouraged to know that I am not alone in my feelings... as evidenced by 10 people liking the comment I made on my friend Reno Mahe's status update:
Reno wrote - "Please help me understand. Mitt made $42.5 million in 2 years. $6.2 million went to taxes and $7 million went to charity. So he gave back over 30% of it. Why is he in the wrong again? I should hate him for being educated and making money? He has a great accountant, therefore he is scum? What am I missing? Screw him for giving more MONEY to charity than to the government? Wow, really?"
My response - "Bottom line as I see it - if Mitt was Catholic, Baptist, etc., no one would care, and we wouldn't be having this discussion. Hatred of a successful Mormon, plain & simple! "
Another comment there is worth sharing as well - "People in this country are nuts! It seems as though they have forgotten if they would get off their asses and quit complaining about "fairness", stupid Occupy Wall St., and do something, they might be able to do the same thing as Mitt has done! The entire reason that makes America great is that everyone has an opportunity to go and do the same as Mitt has done! That is the greatest opportunity ever, yet we have people ridiculing the very thing that people flocked to this country to create - the American dream! More power to Mitt! And, why would you pay the government a penny more than you should! I know I certainly wouldn't!"

My friend AnneMarie wrote probably the best response to the bigotry behind Newt Gingrich's South Carolina victory:

Newt hasn't just "made mistakes". He's REPEATEDLY cheated on people who should have the utmost of trust in him (his spouse), and not only that he left them when they were going through serious illnesses (first wife cancer, second multiple sclerosis). Not only that, he was THROWN OUT OF HIS LAST JOB for ethical violations. Mitt Romney has done NONE of this. He graduated with honors at Harvard Business School and their law school simultaneously, he served a 2 1/2 yr mission for his church in France a place that wasn't exactly friendly to anyone religious, much less Mormons...while he was there he almost died in a car accident after being hit by a drunk driver. One of his passengers DID die, and then he was put in the roll of having to manage the ENTIRE mission because the person that died was his Mission President's wife...Then after returning to the US the only thing he's done is be successful, raise a moral family, treated his wife with respect, STUCK by her SIDE when SHE WAS DIAGNOSED with Multiple Sclerosis herself. He turned the Salt Lake City Olympics around so it wouldn't have been an embarrassment to the nation not six months after the worst attacks on American soil, created 100,000 jobs, also in the midst of running his businesses he was a bishop of a ward (i.e. minister) for five years (WHILE WORKING AS A BUSINESSMAN). Doing this job he helped immigrants in Boston settle in and get jobs and sustain themselves, counseled families and individuals in need, then he went on to be a Stake President (the equivalent of an archbishop), once again WHILE HE WAS RUNNING A COMPANY. There he was in charge of up to 10 different wards. He gave of himself service wise OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Then, he almost BEAT TED KENNEDY in a Democratic state, and then went on to become Massachusetts Governor amongst a sea of Democrats. Tried his hardest to make the state more conservative. Ya know the reason he most likely doesn't want to release his tax records RIGHT now, instead of getting it done in one fell swoop in April. Because you're going to see that he gives a LOT of money to his church. I obviously have never seen these records, but I can speculate that he's given upwards of 10 million in tithing, another maybe 10 million to LDS Philanthropies (an organization that was FIRST to get to Louisiana after Katrina), and maybe another 10 million to the Perpetual Education fund (that helps young people that can't afford college do so.) On top of that he's given fast offerings that goes to help feed the poor and needy. Who knows how much. But, we're advised to give generously to this. But, many people hate how close he is to his church and that he's done so much for it. I believe that this whole "vulture capitalist" crap and going after him for being successful is the only way that they can go after him. Because although it's perfectly ok to be bigoted in private, thankfully it doesn't happen in public. Which is a far cry from the days that the state of Missouri gave an extermination order to kill us (Mormons) off, and forced us to come west to Utah. THE END!!!

"The Atonement of Jesus Christ outweighs, surpasses, and transcends every other mortal event, every new discovery, and every acquisition of knowledge, for without the Atonement, all else in life is meaningless." - Tad R. Callister

I Stand With Mitt

The President has run out of ideas. Now, he is running out of excuses. And 2012 will be the year he runs out of time.

A recession: when your neighbor loses his job.
A depression­: when YOU lose yours.
A recovery: when Obama loses his.

Tebow It

Regardless of what Tim Tebow & the Denver Broncos do against the New England Patriots today, you have to admire this man's enthusiasm and faith!

Communities in Mourning

2 senseless gun-related deaths occurred within 24 hours on Wednesday & Thursday, shocking the community in which I now live, and one I lived close to for over 9 years. The death of a 15 year-old leaves many unanswered questions, mainly, how did he get such a realistic weapon into the school? Many are outraged at the "excessive force" used by the Brownsville Police. My first reaction was, what if that gun was real, and the officers had been shot at? Would we be looking at this differently? Then early Thursday morning, the news broke that one of the 6 officers shot in Ogden Wednesday evening had passed away. The State of Utah is outraged as well, that someone sworn to protect and serve them lost his life in the line of duty. Which brings me back to my first reaction... The Brownsville Police were simply doing their job, protecting the lives of over 700 students who didn't bring a gun to school on Wednesday morning.

Brownsville police kill teen at middle school.

Officers shot and killed an eighth-grade student in a middle school hallway after he refused to drop the air gun he'd smuggled into school, police here said Wednesday.
Jaime Gonzalez, 15, was pronounced dead at a local hospital at 9:15 a.m., about an hour and 15 minutes after police responded to a 911 call reporting an individual with a gun at Cummings Middle School in downtown Brownsville.

“The suspect was ordered numerous times to drop this pistol and he disobeyed officers' commands,” interim Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez said at a news conference. “He pointed the weapon at the officers, at which point the officers that were actively engaged by the suspect fired at least twice.”
No other students or faculty were injured, he said.
The gun Gonzalez was carrying, a CO2.177-caliber pellet pistol, looked like a dangerous firearm, said Detective Jose Treviño a police spokesman.
“It has the exact appearance of Glock,” Treviño said.

Ogden Police Officer Killed, 6 Others Wounded In Drug Raid

An Ogden police officer has been killed and five other law enforcement officers wounded after gunfire erupted in an eastside neighborhood during an early evening drug raid Wednesday. The suspect in the case was also wounded. Conditions of the officers and suspect range from serious to critical.
The fallen officer has been identified as Jared Francom, a seven year veteran of the force, who was working as a member of the Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force at the time of the shootout. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

Francom was shot while he and at least eleven other officers were executing a search warrant at a home at 3268 Jackson Avenue around 8:40 pm. Witnesses say there were prolonged exchanges of gunfire, including automatic weapons' fire.