Buzz Blog

Above the Fold Ale: The Mormons are getting hit from the right and the left.---

As covered by every legitimate news outlet in the city today, thousands of protestors marched around Temple Square Thursday night to protest the speech made during last weekend's LDS General Conference by President Boyd K. [Korn] Packer. Here's the Trib's coverage.

The story isn't ending, however. Associated Press' Jennifer Dobner reports that national leaders from the Human Rights Campaign will hand-deliver 100,000 letters to the LDS Church that demand that Packer's statements be retracted. And ... the LDS Church has actually retracted some of those statements. According to the Trib's Peggy Fletcher Stack, the text of Packer's speech has been amended to remove the reference to God not making a "mistake" like creating gay people.

Eric Ethington, an organizer of last night's protest, sent out a statement claiming "victory" because of the editing of Packer's speech:

Never has a senior apostle been forced to back down like this and we are talking about THE senior apostle. It’s stunning and a humiliation for Packer by putting him in his place. I’d say this bodes very well for the church.

From the other side, the Mormons are getting hit by conservative Christians. This week, the pastor for the church where Sharron Angle goes to church in Reno called Mormons a "cult" and basically a religion of freaks and nut jobs. He did so using many well-worn anecdotes, from their magic underwear to secretive ceremonies. He also did so as a direct attack on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Mormon. What amazes me is that if this race were in Utah, Angle would still win -- maybe because she her hate of Muslims balances things out.

Finally, a reminder that the Open Container's civility policy prohibits me from mentioning any of the stories reported by the Mormon Media Empire. Thus, I will not link to the absurdly, blatantly, nakedly and offensively unbalanced story printed in their print product. I will, however, give this advice: If you're not one of their unquestioning flock, stop reading, watching or listening to anything owned by the LDS Church. If you do, don't start squawking about journalistic integrity or the such, because the Mormon Media operation is not a legitimate journalistic endeavor. It's like complaining about the ethics of the PR folks writing your company newsletter.

Political Pocket Rockets: A rally is scheduled for Saturday afternoon to garner support for Morgan Philpot. Salt Lake County politics is getting fun again, with the county donkeys filing a suit with the Utah Supreme Court about campaign finance laws. Speaking of gay issues, Orlando Weekly has an interesting piece about the Log Cabin Republicans that asks the eternal question: why? Finally, former Gov. Jon Huntsman buys a home in Washington, D.C. for $3.6 million. That's a chunk of change, considering his last home in Utah is currently on the market for less than a $100,000.

Utah Beer: West High is celebrating homecoming. Go, Panthers, Go! (That's for my wife, by the way). More drillingstruggling to figure out what to do with the Parley's Nature Park. coming to Eastern Utah. Salt Lake City Council is

Leisure Time Lager: It's Friday, so here's a little piece about quitting your job. Follow that with one of the best cover letters ever, written by Hunter S. Thompson.

Josh's Java: Researchers are still looking for explanations for the colony collapse disorder. Meanwhile, batters are trying to figure out Tim Lincecum. I would love to see a Game 7 NLCS match-up between Roy Halladay and Lincecum.

Weekly Weizen: Tonight there a live reading of HOWL. Scott Renshaw reviews It's Kind of a Funny Story. Tomorrow at Liberty Park is the Cooler World Music Festival. Dan Nailen highlights two local bands having CD releases this weekend. Finally, watch the Salt Blog tomorrow for my weekly "Hop N' Bop" post.

The Six Pack on the Dashboard update is published every weekday. To subscribe to an e-mail version, send a message to josh@joshloftin.com. For an RSS feed of the Open Container and all of the other City Weekly blog posts, visit the Salt Blog at cityweekly.net.