Suppress your surprise: The majority of couples, gay or straight, living in sin predominates along America’s coasts. Where do the majority of “unmarried partner households” hold homes in Utah? According to 2000 U.S. Census figures published in the October 2003 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Utah is a sea of less than 5.5 percent unmarried partner households—until we reach Grand County, home to environmentalists, midlife slackers and a stunning 9.1 to 15.3 percent cohabitation rate. Environmental tendencies and sin, it seems, go hand in hand. To ensure that your children never turn sinful and then environmental (or is that the other way around?) buy ’em an ATV.
& ull; Elizabeth Smart told NBC’s Katie Couric that, after her veiled days as a polygamous hostage, she’s “happy,” “pretty much the same person,” and it’s as if the entire affair “never happened.” Bet you can’t wait to buy the book.
& ull; The damned, arrogant (or just damned arrogant) media: Tired of being branded arm-chair terrorists who never bother investigating how their money is spent once donated to certain Muslim charities, some in Saudi Arabia’s government are taking their grievances against media portrayals straight to the British courts, where libel laws are more easily leveraged than in the United States. Now the Bush administration is getting ornery with the media, according to Newsweek. Administration officials took pains pointing out that its Iraqi reconstruction team spent oodles of funds designing a new, Saddam-free currency for the beleaguered nation, which was then printed in far-off lands and flown into Baghdad under special guard. The stupid, stupid media instead focused on the body count.
& ull; Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin made big news when he talked about his Christian God being bigger and better than the Muslim God. Newspapers nationwide worried that his comments might unnecessarily inflame the Islamic world. Not the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Focus on the Family, a right-wing Christian organization. It called media criticism of Boykin an “anti-Christian” attack. Now they know how it feels, right?
& ull; Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson could give Bush a run for his family money. Anderson wasn’t amused when the media didn’t show up at the opening of a Main Street ice cream shop. In the case of one Tribune reporter, he got so testy about her perceived bias regarding his City Hall handiwork, he opened a dossier deconstructing her work. (See Jake Parkinson’s “May’s Day,” City Weekly, Oct. 2.) Never a quitting man, Anderson continues sending press releases touting new Main Street businesses. For the record, since Oct. 16, three businesses have unveiled Main Street digs: House of Kabob, Java Connection and 4 CD & Cell, which received a $20,000 city grant. Never let it be said—especially if you want to avoid a running dossier—that the mayor doesn’t care about downtown! And give House of Kabob’s excellent food a try, preferably after Election Day. Politics is forever a game of spin. A good falafel can never be dodged nor faked.
More by Ben Fulton
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Prosecutions and Porn
Don’t rage over Utah’s involvement in the U.S. attorneys’ scandal. Rage at the scandal itself.
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Britney’s Baghdad
Body count aside, we’ve got Britney to lead us through Iraq.
- Mar 22, 2007
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Fortress America
It’s time to own up to our failure in Iraq and take refugees in.
- Mar 15, 2007
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