Sunday's Message, er.......Monday

Jesus said, "Don't be a Dick." Matthew 22: 36-40
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Saturday before last I emailed over 50 National and International newspapers about our experience. I have not gotten a single reply beyond a few immediate receipt of email confirmations.

That really confuses me, but it looks like there is interest developing in government and legal agencies and since I am still not in jail, I do have the opportunity to attend to all the many other research, emails and phone calls that this intrusion has engendered - not like I didn't already have more than I could get to.

I think I have found legal assistance but am waiting for actual confirmation and the government claims to be investigating but I am still waiting for the investigators.

So, now I still have to research American Fork and Utah County ordinances, which have been known to run counter to State and Federal Law as in the Utah County Law that over-rides the state parental consent law and denies parents the right to consent to tattoo and some piercing services for their minor children, but gives that right to give consent for such services for the same minor children to any Medical Doctor - still preserving the rights of parents to consent to boob and butt jobs for minor children of any age.

Of course, Medical Doctors have it fixed so they are pretty much totally unregulated by government, but who expected the government to mandate them to take over parenting responsibilities?

Certainly, the idea in Utah County (they are so sneaky) is to appear permissive, while actually being more restrictive, and illegally dictating morality.

It is not too hard to elicit the response (if you ask the question) that parents who would consent to a tattoo or tongue piercing (prohibited here by the Health Code for minors, but not adults - er.....so what's the health issue??) um.......well if they would agree to that they just don't deserve to make choices about their own children.

Can't those (immoral, stupid) parents just be happy with plastic surgery for their children instead?

Well, anyway, this is the week that all the investigations are supposed to start and so today I get to start making phone calls to the media since email doesn't seem to get the job done.

I think it kind of sucks when you have to badger law enforcement to enforce the law, but I hope that once the ball is rolling I won't have to be a-cranking 24/7 and can get some of my planned work done.

I do want to say though that I think it is disgusting when local "news" routinely ignores news that might tarnish the public image of the majority religion.

I do understand that newspapers, radio and television primarily exist to sell advertising and in Utah, stories that darken the image of "the church" can make media advertising directors worry over potential loss of revenue.

That, I guess is just another day of life under fascism.

On a lighter note:
Yup there is still a good side to life, even for me...Kita and I have been devoting our Sundays to finishing the remodeling work, pounding and painting at the studio.

The reception area is mostly done and Kita has been painting some great window art. I am sure that the locals are hating the painting of an Oni but already loving the Geisha.

I suppose most people know a geisha is a fancy prostitute but for those who don't know how to google, here is some info on Oni's - which basically are now considered protectors.
Depictions of oni vary widely but usually portray them as hideous, gigantic creatures with sharp claws, wild hair, and two long horns growing from their heads. Their skin may be any number of colors, but red and blue are particularly common.
In more recent times, oni have lost some of their original wickedness and sometimes take on a more protective function. Men in oni costumes often lead Japanese parades to ward off any bad luck, for example. Japanese buildings sometimes include oni-faced roof tiles called onigawara , which are thought to ward away bad luck, much as gargoyles in Western tradition.
The tokusatsu production Kamen Rider Hibiki builded up on the image of the Oni as protectors of humans from other malevolent creatures and demons in Japanese folklore; in this case, however, they are not purely supernatural beings but empowered humans who are said to have "shed their humanity."
Many Japanese idioms and proverbs also make reference to oni. For example, the expression oya-ni ninu ko-wa oni-no ko means literally "a child that does not resemble its parents is the child of an oni," but it is used idiomatically to refer to the fact that all children naturally take after their parents, and in the odd case that a child appears not to do so, it might be because the child's true biological parents are not the ones who are raising the child. Depending on the context in which it is used, it can have connotations of "children who do not act like their parents are not true human beings (because real human children always take after their parents)," and may be used by a parent to chastise a misbehaving child. Variants of this expression include oya-ni ninu ko-wa onigo and oya-ni ninu ko-wa onikko.
Well, everyone is showing up for work, so I need to have our morning meeting and get on the phone.
Just remember - Don't be a Dick! It's the whole message of Jesus in four little words.
Doc
PS
I will try to post again today on the continuing story of the Happy Valley Tattoo Massacre'.