Friday, July 17, 2009

And now...a word from our Mayor.

One of the funny things about politicians is that they never accept blame for anything. I wish I could do that. I really do. It's always someone else's fault. When someone questions you or you're backed into a corner? Point fingers elsewhere. The beauty of most politicians though, is that they do it so gracefully. They use pretty words that befuddle most Americans and before long we're not sure what our problem was....but suddenly we're sleepy and we'd like a piece of pie.

Notice I said "most" politicians. The Mayor of Logan, Utah hasn't really grasped this concept. Might be because we rarely have news that matters. Let me give you a little back story... Logan recently had a mud slide, that resulted in homes being evacuated and 3 lives lost. Horribly sad and tragic. (But, please, don't settle too long on that part of the story or it will be impossible for you to find humor in the following.)

As is the case with most disasters...the "people" tend to blame "the man." In this case, "the man" speaks out.

The following are excerpts from the Mayor's interview with the local newspaper...

He starts out really well.... confuse the people....

"People are pointing fingers and people who are in the know aren’t the finger pointers."

Next up, he refutes any evidence of advance knowledge this may have been a problem. A 2008 USU report noted “landslides on Logan Bluff have affected residents of Canyon Road for over a hundred years. These residents are subject to two potential hazards. One is landslides, the reason for this study. Another potential hazard is breaching of the canal. ... The breach could happen because of a landslide or a failure of the canal, and subsequently, failure of the canal could initiate a landslide. All these events are putting these residents and property owners at risk of life and economic damage.”

The Mayor's response to the USU report?

"I don’t know what they call evidence."

He makes a fine point.
Here's where things get dicey for the Mayor. Typically, the best thing to do in these situations when "the people" are angry? Blame someone else that they can focus their rage on. Unfortunately....he chose a different tactic....

"They can say anything they want to say ... they add their little two cents and have no credibility. They’re angered and throwing stuff at us."
Then he digs his hole deeper...
“People saying it’s the mayor’s fault — that I care more about money than lives. Oh c’mon people, what’s that?”

Dude, when "the people" are angry at "the man" you deflect their anger by telling them someone else is to blame....you don't deflect their anger by telling them they are idiots who don't know anything and shouldn't point fingers at you.

To be fair to the Mayor... I read this in the Herald Journal. And their journalism practices range from the inept to complete fiction. So, this interview may or not have happened. And the Mayor may or may not have said any of this. Also, I don't think the Mayor of Logan Utah signed on for any actual problems. It's Logan. They thought they could sail through by doing a few parades and and making a few bold statements here and there about cleaning up the town, bringing people downtown and making change a good thing for Logan. Unfortunately, he got hit with a disaster.

Every disaster must have a fall guy. And instead of picking one out and deflecting "the people's' rage onto that person? You just drew a target on your arse. Best of luck to you!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

My deep thoughts for today

Readers, I have a few things on my mind and they must be shared...

We're all familiar with The National Geographic magazine. We've all skimmed them in a doctor's waiting room...and probably put it down when we realized the pictures of the naked Africans weren't as titillating as we had hoped for....and we quickly moved on to Highlights magazine...trying to find the toaster hiding in the fence.
Well, in an effort to keep up with the times (they missed that boat by at least 24 years) and to draw in a younger audience... The National Geographic is now referring to themselves as.... NAT G.O.
Sorry, NAT G.O. you still aren't cool. I'm still only looking for the naked pics and putting you down in disappointment shortly thereafter.

Recently I was at the grocery store and I had just barely parked my car when I noticed a guy coming out of the store...pushing his cart of groceries to his car...and I couldn't stop staring. Why? Well, let me preface my disgust with saying the dude was tubby. Back to the story.... so, tubby guy was walking out of the store, cart full of food, had on his 'all-you-can-eat-buffet' sweatpants...and he was eating a loaf of french bread. Yes, he had a loaf of french bread peeking out of it's sleeve and he was just chomping away on it. There are a lot of things you can get away with nibbling before you get to your car.... a grape, a jellybean, a nut or two...even a donut. But a loaf of french bread???
Have some self-respect, tubbo! Eat it in your car on the way home!

Lisa....out.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Love your local news

I find any local news stations very amusing. They over exaggerate and rarely have anything of importance. They try to entice you with small nuggets of information during other shows to make you want to tune in!
"What is killing thousands of Americans and might be in your bathroom??? Join us at ten tonight and find out!"
Ummmm....if something in my bathroom might kill me, I'd rather not wait till ten to find out.

Personally, I rarely watch the news. And I usually don't pay attention to the little tidbits they try to entice you with...

But last night, I must admit, they got me. I heard this announcement...

"Severe weather warnings for Northern Utah, drunken driver arrest in Murray and a naked passenger diverts a plane....tonight at 10!'

Uhhh, back up.... naked passenger diverts plane? Shouldn't we lead with this story?!?!?! Nope. Apparently other stuff took priority. I disagree, so I found the story online, rather than supporting my local news.

Here's the scoop:

A passenger stripped naked during a US Airways flight and resisted a flight attendant's efforts to cover him with a blanket before two off-duty law enforcement officers on board subdued and handcuffed him, authorities said Wednesday.
Keith Wright, 50, of the Bronx in New York, was taken into custody after he disrobed while sitting in his seat in the back of Flight 705 on Tuesday evening, authorities said.

Wright was unresponsive when a flight attendant asked him to put his clothes back on, said Dan Jiron, a spokesman for the Albuquerque airport. "She asked him on more than one occasion to put on his clothes. She covered him with a blanket and he took that off," Jiron said.
Wright punched and kicked the flight attendant, who asked two off-duty law officers for help, according to a criminal complaint. A Los Angeles police officer and sheriff's deputy helped the flight attendant subdue and handcuff Wright before the flight landed, Jiron said.


So....apparently being naked on a plane isn't allowed. They always tell us to keep our seatbelts fastened, but not once have they told me to keep my clothes on! How are we to know it's against the rules? Maybe he was hot. Maybe he felt it was too restrictive. Maybe he was showing off his goodies for a reason. I know I have to keep my clothes on when entering a convenience store... because they post a sign: "No shoes, no shirt, no service."
But not once have I seen that in an airport. So, in my book, he didn't do anything wrong.

My favorite part is that they arrested him, handcuffed him and yet, still he remained naked.

"Wright was 'completely naked' as he was taken in handcuffs off the plane."

If they let him remain naked for the rest of the flight...what was the point?