Near the Salty City

A 74-year-old Korean War veteran was held at gunpoint and then tackled by Salt Lake City police officers after he refused to comply with orders to raise his hands above his head.
Miles Lund said he tried to tell the officers - who believed he was carrying a gun - that his war injuries rendered his right arm immobile.
"But they just wouldn't listen," he said.
Instead, according to witness accounts and a police report, at least three officers tackled the man, wrestling him to the ground at Liberty Park and wrenching his arms behind his back to handcuff him.
Lund said at least one officer also kicked him in the ribs.
When they found no gun - only a retired military police officer's badge - the officers let Lund go.
"They didn't even apologize," said Lund, who suffered strains to his injured arm along with cuts and bruises. Lund said he is now also suffering a twitch in his left eye that Veterans Affairs doctors have been unable to diagnose.

This happened back in November, and the police involved still haven't suffered any repercussions from the incident, and it looks as if the department is just waiting for people to forget about it so they can sweep it under the rug.
The victim was held at gun point and beat up by the police just because someone called the police and said he had a gun (which he did not have). So, someone's unsupported word, with no description of the gun, is good enough to treat an elderly citizen as a criminal? If I knocked someone down, the first thing the police would ask me is whether I actually saw the gun he had. But they're the only one who are allowed to jump to conclusions. I hope he hauls them to court.

Health officials in Pakistan say they have failed to immunise over 160,000 children against polio due to rumours the vaccine causes sexual impotence.

Parents in parts of northern Pakistan told the BBC news website they feared an "American conspiracy" to cut the fertility of the next generation.

Amirullah Khan, a resident of NWFP's Swat district, quoted Maulana Fazlullah of a local FM channel as telling his listeners the vaccination drive was "a conspiracy of the Jews and Christians to stunt the population growth of Muslims".

In some areas immunisation teams were beaten up by local people, officials said.

Elsewhere parents just refused to get their children immunised.

If they can't get their heads out of their butts and accept health from people, then let them die off and go to hell in their own way. I refuse to have any sympathy for fools.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A lawmaker said she will introduce a bill next week that seeks to make California the first state in the nation to ban spanking children who are 3 years old and younger.

The legislation would make the violation a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail or a fine of up to $1,000.

Give me a break.

Southwest Airlines was still looking into how the 80-pound, 4-foot-9 fourth-grader made his way through security and onto two flights Monday, from Seattle to Phoenix and then to San Antonio.

Evidently we have a database to deny or approve people taking flights, but a minor can just walk on board without even having to purchase a ticket. Does anyone besides me wonder what would happen if someone strapped a device to a little kid and sent him on a flight? Even if that is not possible, how is it that a 9 year old is able to outsmart several people and con them into giving him a free, unsupervised ride?

Semaj, said to have been trying to reach his grandfather in Dallas, also is accused of leading police on a high-speed chase in a stolen car on Sunday.

The boy probably will remain at the center until his grandfather or another guardian can take custody of him, said Fred Wist, a prosecutor in Washington state's Pierce County.

Wist has filed charges against Semaj in connection with Sunday's high-speed pursuit. Authorities say Semaj, who had run away before, eluded police at speeds of 80-90 mph until he took an exit and the engine blew. He was returned home but ran away again Monday.

The kid is also a car thief, and was able to keep ahead of the police for a while. I have to wonder what he is going to be like at 16, at the rate he is going. Sounds to me like someone needs to bring a little discipline and authority to his life.

Meanwhile, old ladies are still having to take off their shoes to take a flight...

I noticed that it's been over a week since I wrote anything; where has the time gone? That's what happens when you're both busy and feeling down. The weather for the past couple of weeks has been miserable; low single digits at night and highs in the high teens and (on occasion) the low twenties. This has a tendency to make those of us prone to joint ailments very unhappy. Today I had the added joy of going outside at 7:30 AM and 5 degrees, and find a flat tire. Have you ever changed a tire in single digit weather with a bad back and an arthritic knee?
The heart doctor changed some of my pills the other day; after a couple of days of light palpitations, my ticker seems to have evened out, at least for now.
Nietzsche once said: "What does not kill him, makes him stronger". He didn't know what he was talking about; what does not kill me usually just makes me feel like shit, not stronger. You'll have to excuse my mood; sometimes I get this way. I'll probably do better tomorrow, I just feel like I had to blow off a little steam today.
Saturday is my birthday; the grand age of 55 (w00t). I think I'll go to the gun show on that day and try to cheer myself up. If that doesn't work, maybe a couple of beers and a steak for dinner will do the trick. Have a good one, people...

The views of young people today on politics, social attitudes and even life goals are far different from those of their baby boomer parents, suggests a new national survey of 18- to 25-year-olds.

Another survey from the no-shit-Sherlock department. Since when has any generation not differed from their parents? I'm in the so-called Boomer Generation, and my views differed from my parents, and their opinions were different from their parents. Since when is this news?

What is of interest is some of the views expressed by the group they were polling:

The poll also finds that this generation's top life goals are to be rich (81%) and famous. (51%)

By contrast, a study of college freshmen in 1967 found that 85.8% thought it was essential to "develop a meaningful philosophy of life" while just 41.9% thought it essential to "be very well off financially."

Guess we'll have to see what they make of things when the reins are handed over to them.

Of course, they'll be older then...

Vern G. Swanson, longtime director of the Springville Museum of Art, knows some readers will think he's crazy. Others will be intrigued, and still others may be offended.
That's because Swanson has written a provocative new book theorizing that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene, that they bore children and that LDS Church founder Joseph Smith was their direct descendant. Swanson also suggests that this heavenly birthright gave Smith spiritual authority as a prophet and affirms the historical legitimacy of the LDS Church.
Titled Dynasty of the Holy Grail: Mormonism's Sacred Bloodline, the book was published in November by Cedar Fort, a Springville-based publisher. The scholarly 540-page tome hasn't yet attracted much attention beyond Utah, but Swanson believes his topic will eventually reach a large audience of Mormons, Holy Grail theorists, and fans of The Da Vinci Code book and movie.

I don't mean to sound like I'm making fun of someone's religion (especially where I am living), but this just cracks me up.
Can anyone show me definitive proof (not just the New Testament) that the messiah in question existed, and that he got married and had descendants?
And how can you trace anyone's genealogy back 2000 years? Hell, if you are tracing back the surname Smith, things can get pretty murky just a couple of generations back. And to claim an ability to trace the Smith family back to Yeshua bar Yusuf of Palestine strikes me as near impossible. I may have to check out the book just to see how he claims to have accomplished said task.
To my LDS friends and relatives, I mean no disrespect to your beliefs, but I think this is pushing the boundaries of belief just a bit.
Just my opinion.