Breaking News: In a rare turn of events, Utah County will soon be graced with a religious meetinghouse!!!
Now, I know what you're all thinking: "Um... duh? They have one on like, every corner. Seen that 40 someodd stake building monstrosity next to Little Caesars? Yeah. No news flash there."
But, don't think that! No, this religious meetinghouse is going to be... <drum roll>... non-Mormon!!!
***GASP!!!***
That's right, citizens. Utah County will have its very own mosque!!!
Citizens: "You mean... there's... something other than Mormons here? I mean, we all knew there were heathens, pagans and apostate members. The very existence of the Hookah store on Provo Center Street proves that. But Muslims? Utah County has other religions?????"
Yes. Orem, Utah is getting it's very own mosque.
Okay, honestly, I'm pretty dang excited. And I seriously hope it's open to the general public and a non-Muslim female will be allowed in to check it out. If I'm really feeling like testing my luck, I'm hoping said non-Muslim female will be allowed to take a few pictures too and listen to a meeting... though not at the same time.
Sweet!
We're getting a mosque.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
A few things I'm thankful for
1.) I'm going home in a week!
2.) I'm bringing my man home with me in a week!
3.) Horses. I am eternally grateful for the existence of horses. And that I have access to ride them.
4.) I am also grateful for tigers. I feel ambivalent about not having access to ride these.
5.) I am thankful I got my receipt for Cafe Rio. That's $237 I'm getting back. Yay for bypassing their sucky service.
6.) speaking of money, I'm quite happy about getting 2 round trip tickets to Kansas City for $484. That's both tickets, round trip, under $500, after all fees and everything. Great day. :)
7.) Fire and Ice.
8.) I have a smart phone. Because it's a phone. And it's smart. However, it is an iPhone, and that doesn't particularly make me look smart.
But it's free.
Deal with it.
9.) I'm thankful I have $500 in receipts waiting to be reimbursed. That will be a nice stroke to my bank account.
10.) I'm thankful Macaroni Grill is doing this deal where you can get 2 lunches for $8.50. They are also doing a $7 off your online order. And yes, the 2 can be combined. I just paid $1.62 (after tax) for chicken pasta, a turkey panini and a loaf of Macaroni Grill bread, complete with dipping oil/spices. Yeah!
2.) I'm bringing my man home with me in a week!
3.) Horses. I am eternally grateful for the existence of horses. And that I have access to ride them.
4.) I am also grateful for tigers. I feel ambivalent about not having access to ride these.
5.) I am thankful I got my receipt for Cafe Rio. That's $237 I'm getting back. Yay for bypassing their sucky service.
6.) speaking of money, I'm quite happy about getting 2 round trip tickets to Kansas City for $484. That's both tickets, round trip, under $500, after all fees and everything. Great day. :)
7.) Fire and Ice.
8.) I have a smart phone. Because it's a phone. And it's smart. However, it is an iPhone, and that doesn't particularly make me look smart.
But it's free.
Deal with it.
9.) I'm thankful I have $500 in receipts waiting to be reimbursed. That will be a nice stroke to my bank account.
10.) I'm thankful Macaroni Grill is doing this deal where you can get 2 lunches for $8.50. They are also doing a $7 off your online order. And yes, the 2 can be combined. I just paid $1.62 (after tax) for chicken pasta, a turkey panini and a loaf of Macaroni Grill bread, complete with dipping oil/spices. Yeah!
When in the course of human events...
Today I saw a status posted on Facebook:
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
Of course, the guy who posted this status never "declared the causes" which impeled him to support secession.
You want to know what's worse than that? The first comment on the post said, "OK who is this quote from or is it you ???????"
Yeah. He came up with that himself. Oh, but wait... it sounds so familiar! I know I've heard that somewhere before.
**Gasp!!!** Jimmy! You're ripping off Flo Rida, aren't you!!!
Seriously, lady. Declaration of Independence. Founding document for our nation. Hear of it?
Anyway, 'twould seem this is in response to the recent movement of secession that's been stirring among the reeeeally far right wing lately. Apparently there are quite a few petitions floating around, requesting peaceful withdrawal from the USA.
And then there are petitions requesting those who signed the afore mentioned petitions get exiled. Or deported.
Just curious... deported to where?
But yeah. Secession. It's a big deal.
Ummmm... hate to break it to you guys, but the last time this happened, about 750,000 people got shot, stabbed, blown up, burned alive, or otherwise kicked the bucket in a less-than-serene manner. (Numbers from an April 12, 2012 article in the New York Times... which means I'm not just pulling a random death toll out of my butt. So ha. Look at me, citing my sources like a good little historian. Geez, you'd think I was still in school or something. Note to self: nobody cares on a blog.)
Anyway, point being, we... uh... kinda already addressed the issue. And you know what the answer was?
No.
Freak, no.
Now, in order for one of these petitions to even get acknowledged, they have to gain 25,000 signatures.
Texas has 82,000.
Louisiana has 30,000.
(Source! Numbers from The Philadelphia Inquirer, article dated today)
So, now the White House has to respond to Texas and Louisiana. Pretty sure I know what they're going to say: lol.
Now, granted, Texas can legally secede. They're the only state in the union that can do it, but The Republic of Texas maintained that right when they joined the Union. So they're probably lol-ing right back.
I mean, we've got Puerto Rico's people asking for statehood now. If Texas peaces out, we don't have to change the flag. Maybe these petitioners are onto something!
There's another issue to consider, though. Yes, we're in a tough spot, financially, as a country. And yes, the popular vote was more or less sliced right in the middle during the most recent election (50.1% to 48.4%, according to the Huffington Post). But really. We are not at the hands of a tyrannical government. The USA is not in the same place the British Colonies were 236 years ago. Ever read past that first little piece of the Declaration of Independence? Ever read the causes for secession?
Some prime selections:
* Refusing to pass laws to accommodate large bodies of people, unless those people would give up the right of representation.
Nobody has asked us to give up our right of representation. We still hold elections, and the majority still rules.
* Calling meetings in locations far enough away from where public records are kept that the people at said meetings don't have access to their documents, to "fatigue" them into compliance.
It's basically cutting political opponents off from necessary and public information to make opposing him difficult. We haven't seen this at all.
* Repeatedly dissolving Representative Houses for opposing the king.
We haven't even seen this once, much less repeatedly.
* Obstructing Judicial system by refusing to assent to laws the even establish said system.
We have a pretty solid Judicial system already in place. Yes, we see corruption some times, but there hasn't been any attempt to subvert or destroy the whole system.
* Making judges dependent on the king's will for tenure and salaries.
Nope. None of that. Once they're in, they're in for life, and the president can't change their salaries. They don't have to please him.
* Sent "swarms" of soldiers to occupy civilian quarters and made the people responsible for feeding them.
* Kept standing armies among civilians in times of peace without assent of the people.
* Holding "mock" trials for soldiers who murder civilians to protect the soldiers from punishment.
* Cutting off foreign trade.
Not taxing. Cutting off. Like, with warships, blockades, etc.
* Taking away charters, abolishing laws of the colonies, and altering the fundamental forms of government (in our case, it would be state laws/constitutions altered by the federal government. Nope. Haven't seen that either.)
*"...plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people"
Sorry, y'all, but that was a hurricane. You can't blame the government for Sandy. Act of God. It's a legal term.
And plenty more.
This is about half of the complaints against King George. A few of the complaints listed are legitimate issues today. For example, refusing to assent to laws necessary for the public good. One could argue that's going on, but then people who don't like this or that law, or think this or that law should be instituted, will always be arguing that. But the majority of them? No.
Let me point out a couple of things:
1.) Barack Obama is not King George.
2.) The Federal Government of the USA is not the British Government of 1776.
Hate to break it to you guys, but things aren't as bad as you're making them out to be. We're not under military rule, and we're not dying under the thumb of a tyrant ruler.
Our government was built for this. Are we in a bad spot? Fine, in 2 years we'll get to change out a third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives. Two years after that, another third of the Senate, the entire House again, and the executive branch as well.
So, remember, people. We already discussed the issue of secession once. And by "discussed," I mean, "blew up the southern half of the nation and torched Georgia." Things are a little stickier, now. It's not a geographical region wanting to secede. It's a social movement, with people feeling one way and their next door neighbors feeling another. We can't afford another Civil War, especially not in the current geography-less environment. How would you pick a side? Where would the armies camp?
Come on, people, relax. It was just an election. Give it 4 more years, and you can have a whole new issue to freak out over!
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
Of course, the guy who posted this status never "declared the causes" which impeled him to support secession.
You want to know what's worse than that? The first comment on the post said, "OK who is this quote from or is it you ???????"
Yeah. He came up with that himself. Oh, but wait... it sounds so familiar! I know I've heard that somewhere before.
**Gasp!!!** Jimmy! You're ripping off Flo Rida, aren't you!!!
Seriously, lady. Declaration of Independence. Founding document for our nation. Hear of it?
Anyway, 'twould seem this is in response to the recent movement of secession that's been stirring among the reeeeally far right wing lately. Apparently there are quite a few petitions floating around, requesting peaceful withdrawal from the USA.
And then there are petitions requesting those who signed the afore mentioned petitions get exiled. Or deported.
Just curious... deported to where?
But yeah. Secession. It's a big deal.
Ummmm... hate to break it to you guys, but the last time this happened, about 750,000 people got shot, stabbed, blown up, burned alive, or otherwise kicked the bucket in a less-than-serene manner. (Numbers from an April 12, 2012 article in the New York Times... which means I'm not just pulling a random death toll out of my butt. So ha. Look at me, citing my sources like a good little historian. Geez, you'd think I was still in school or something. Note to self: nobody cares on a blog.)
Anyway, point being, we... uh... kinda already addressed the issue. And you know what the answer was?
No.
Freak, no.
Now, in order for one of these petitions to even get acknowledged, they have to gain 25,000 signatures.
Texas has 82,000.
Louisiana has 30,000.
(Source! Numbers from The Philadelphia Inquirer, article dated today)
So, now the White House has to respond to Texas and Louisiana. Pretty sure I know what they're going to say: lol.
Now, granted, Texas can legally secede. They're the only state in the union that can do it, but The Republic of Texas maintained that right when they joined the Union. So they're probably lol-ing right back.
I mean, we've got Puerto Rico's people asking for statehood now. If Texas peaces out, we don't have to change the flag. Maybe these petitioners are onto something!
There's another issue to consider, though. Yes, we're in a tough spot, financially, as a country. And yes, the popular vote was more or less sliced right in the middle during the most recent election (50.1% to 48.4%, according to the Huffington Post). But really. We are not at the hands of a tyrannical government. The USA is not in the same place the British Colonies were 236 years ago. Ever read past that first little piece of the Declaration of Independence? Ever read the causes for secession?
Some prime selections:
* Refusing to pass laws to accommodate large bodies of people, unless those people would give up the right of representation.
Nobody has asked us to give up our right of representation. We still hold elections, and the majority still rules.
* Calling meetings in locations far enough away from where public records are kept that the people at said meetings don't have access to their documents, to "fatigue" them into compliance.
It's basically cutting political opponents off from necessary and public information to make opposing him difficult. We haven't seen this at all.
* Repeatedly dissolving Representative Houses for opposing the king.
We haven't even seen this once, much less repeatedly.
* Obstructing Judicial system by refusing to assent to laws the even establish said system.
We have a pretty solid Judicial system already in place. Yes, we see corruption some times, but there hasn't been any attempt to subvert or destroy the whole system.
* Making judges dependent on the king's will for tenure and salaries.
Nope. None of that. Once they're in, they're in for life, and the president can't change their salaries. They don't have to please him.
* Sent "swarms" of soldiers to occupy civilian quarters and made the people responsible for feeding them.
* Kept standing armies among civilians in times of peace without assent of the people.
* Holding "mock" trials for soldiers who murder civilians to protect the soldiers from punishment.
* Cutting off foreign trade.
Not taxing. Cutting off. Like, with warships, blockades, etc.
* Taking away charters, abolishing laws of the colonies, and altering the fundamental forms of government (in our case, it would be state laws/constitutions altered by the federal government. Nope. Haven't seen that either.)
*"...plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people"
Sorry, y'all, but that was a hurricane. You can't blame the government for Sandy. Act of God. It's a legal term.
And plenty more.
This is about half of the complaints against King George. A few of the complaints listed are legitimate issues today. For example, refusing to assent to laws necessary for the public good. One could argue that's going on, but then people who don't like this or that law, or think this or that law should be instituted, will always be arguing that. But the majority of them? No.
Let me point out a couple of things:
1.) Barack Obama is not King George.
2.) The Federal Government of the USA is not the British Government of 1776.
Hate to break it to you guys, but things aren't as bad as you're making them out to be. We're not under military rule, and we're not dying under the thumb of a tyrant ruler.
Our government was built for this. Are we in a bad spot? Fine, in 2 years we'll get to change out a third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives. Two years after that, another third of the Senate, the entire House again, and the executive branch as well.
So, remember, people. We already discussed the issue of secession once. And by "discussed," I mean, "blew up the southern half of the nation and torched Georgia." Things are a little stickier, now. It's not a geographical region wanting to secede. It's a social movement, with people feeling one way and their next door neighbors feeling another. We can't afford another Civil War, especially not in the current geography-less environment. How would you pick a side? Where would the armies camp?
Come on, people, relax. It was just an election. Give it 4 more years, and you can have a whole new issue to freak out over!
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