An update on life

My last post was about a new job I took, back in August 2005. What a mistake that job was. I worked as a car salesman for 8 months. The hours were terrible and and working on 100% commission was very stressful. Plus, my wife hates car salespeople. So guess what, she wasn't that pleased with me. But I was somewhat good at selling cars. One month I was in the top 5 salespeople at the dealership!

I quit that job back in February and moved my family back to Utah. We ended up buying a house here too. I am now going back to school to earn a Master's degree in Elementary Education from Western Governors University (read more about my time at WGU in my other blog). The degree also includes a state certification. I am very excited about it. I have also started working as a substitute teacher in my local school district (read more about my teaching experiences in this other blog of mine).

I hope to get this blog back on track with daily and weekly posts. Stay tuned.

My new job

After having worked at Qwest Communications for five years, I finally told my boss that enough was enough. Five years wasting away in a cubicle, not being rewarded for the great work that I doing drove me over the edge. And I did great work, my projects always gave me terrific evaluations. The problem is that Qwest is so close to going under and has been that way for five years.

So now I am back in sales. I was in sales years ago, before I become a journalist, which was before my desk job at Qwest. This time I am in the automotive industry. Yes, that's right, I am now a cars salesman. Yesterday was my second day on the job! So far its fun. I haven't sold a car yet, but I have done a couple test drives. I am still learning the business.

So if any of you are in the Denver, CO. area and are looking for a car, come see me, Mike, at Burt Toyota on Broadway. Make sure you get the correct Mike, there is another one working there. Mention this blog to make sure that you are talking with me. And I will hook you up with a great deal.

Anyways, enough with the shameless marketing plug. A lot has happened in the past month that I unfortunately missed out blogging about. Oh well, I will start with new information from here on out.

It's “Free John Kerry's 180” Tuesday

Questions still remain with John Kerry's 180. Yes, Kerry did file the 180, but only authorized three people to receive the files, Glen Johnson (the AP), Steve Braun (the LA Times), and Michael Kranish (the Boston Globe). Powerline has copies of the 180s, thanks to one of their readers who obtained them through a Freedom of Information Act request. And Powerline raises some interesting questions:

Did the reporters discuss their role with Kerry or his representative before they were designated to receive the records? Were they required to agree not to make the records public, but only to report on them? What other discussions did they have with Kerry or his representatives? Are they willing to release the records, or at a minimum give us an inventory of what they received so that we can assess the completeness of the disclosure?

As always, Cao's Blog has an interesting take on John Kerry's 180:

We understand that this French-looking Taxachusetts native might be a wee leary of distributing more information from his records, given that little, um, factoid that slipped out about his sub-presidential academic achievements at Yale. But, really, we simply want the truth, dear Senator. That to which even Boy Scouts aspire.

Sorry Nevada, no beach front property yet

A tsunami warning was issued ,then lifted, after a 7.0-magnitude quake hit 80 miles off the coast of northern California tonight.

It's “Free John Kerry's 180” Tuesday

Yes, John Kerry did sign the 180, but how much did he allow to be released? Many bloggers, including myself, are asking “where's the rest of it?” Form 180 gives you the option to get a “deleted” copy, which leaves out the reasons for separation and reenlistment eligibility code.

From Cao's blog:

For those of you who keep wondering why we’re pursuing this, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect someone who’s been a Senator for 20 years to tell the truth, and especially someone who ran for president on the platform that he is a war hero so he was “reporting for doody”. Even General Eisenhower didn’t do that.

I urge you all, write to Kerry, fax to kerry, protest his faux “release” and keep blogging away and use the “OHB” standard to beat the hell out of press and media outlets for shirking their responsibilities and thus further erode what little trust remains of an otherwise noble craft called journalism. I, for one, am not going to let this go. Civil servants own the public trust and should be worthy of it–they’re getting paid with our tax dollars. Traits like honesty should be the least of what we get from this–and we shouldn’t allow him to get away with this without a lot of noise in the blogosphere.

Check out Cao's blog for more information about Kerry's 180, why this is an issue and how to get involved.

My political profile?

What's my political profile? No surprise here.

Your Political Profile

Overall: 90% Conservative, 10% Liberal

Social Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Ethics: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

How Liberal / Conservative Are You?

Take the test! Its fun, fast and easy and see where you land.

No death penalty for cop killer

Cop killer Raul Gomez-Garcia was charged with one account of murder in the second degree for the death of police officer Detective Donald Young, that will land him in prison from 32 to 96 years, but with the possibility of parole.

Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey is presenting the Mexican government with this bargain to extradite Garcia after talking with Detective John Bishop, who survived the shooting, and the wife of the late Detective Young.

Mexican Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca Hernandez told Colorado U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar that “those behind the extradition of Garcia-Gomez should consider Mexico's laws and not seek capital punishment or life in prison without parole,” according to a Rocky Mountain News article.

Hernandez has got to be joking! Garcia-Gomez held himself accountable to US laws when he entered this country. Every person here, beit they enter legally or illegally, is held to the standards of US law. Gomez and other killers that flee this country have to be held accountable just like everyone else in this country according to federal and state laws.

"(The crime is) upon your people, your court, your authority," Mexican Consul General Juan Marcos Gutierrez-Gonzalez, in another Rocky Mountain News article. "We want justice to be done."

Justice? Only if it fits your laws where the offense did not even take place. That's what you want, right?

Yes, we all want justice to be done! But let us do it with accordance to our laws and punishments. Let our people, our courts, and our authority find the appropriate punishment for cop killer Garcia.

Mexico does not support the death penalty and does not want any Mexican national in the US to be given the death penalty.

If Garcia is given the maximum sentence, 96 years, he will be required to serve 75 percent of that time before being eligible for parole. Lets hope that Morrissey tacks on every possible offense to keep this killer in prison even longer. This is possible, as long as none of them carry a life sentence or the death penalty, part of the bargain.

Its terrible that we are made to bargain with other countries in order to uphold our laws to their greatest extent, which we aren't able to do in this case.

I have traveled around the world several times. I even lived in Mexico City, Mexico for a couple years. It doesn't matter where I go, I know that I am bound by the laws of the country that I am visiting.

Problems with policies in Mexico

It doesn't seem likely that Mexico will extradite cop killer, Raul-Garcia Gomez. In May, Denver police officer Detective Donald Young, was shot and killed while working off duty. After a month long search, the killer was found, but found in Mexico. He fled the Colorado, then the country to Mexico.

Mexico opposes capital punishment, which is what Gomez deserves and would get if he were caught before he crossed the US-Mexico boarder. Mexico even passed a law to protect Mexican nationals in Mexican prisons from being extradited to other countries where they might receive a life sentence.

Unfortunately, Mexico is also having major police protection problems of there own. A police chief in Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey, Mexico was gunned down just nine hours after he took office. And thats not the only police officer to be killed in Nuevo Laredo this year. The city is having a problem with two of Mexico's largest drug gangs who have killed over 60 people since January.

Earlier this year, Mexico's President Vicente Fox sent 700 soldiers and federal agents to try to restore law and order in this boarder town...700 soldiers and federal agents and a police chief still gets killed 3 months later. Maybe they should re-think their policies. But hey, if their president Fox gets his way, they will just send these problems north with open boarders, but we still won't be able to prosecute those “problems” to the fullest extent of our law.

With Mexico's own police problems and their policies, don't expect any miracles in the Donald Young case.

Here's a very interesting read about a former ACLU lawyer, Mr. Reese Lloyd, about how he became employed with them and why he eventually disassociated himself with them. Here are several colorful quotes from the interview. Check it out, it is well worth the time.

"The ACLU has become a fanatical anti-faith Taliban of American religious secularism."

"The ACLU is an elitist organization bent on the social engineering of our Country in defiance of both the legislative and executive branches."

"The ACLU want to deny America the knowledge of their Christian heritage...This is a Christian Nation! And we ought to be damn proud it is! Because it is only in Christian Nations where you will find freedom of religion."

“The ACLU crossed the damn line when they denied the Boyscouts charter on U.S. Military Bases."