On December 4th, 2007, the Salt Lake City Council was holding a regular scheduled meeting. At this meeting, they took resident comments. At this time, a plethora of Utah Taliban members decided to comment on the issue of Blue Boutique being allowed to move 3 1/2 blocks to the east of where they were located for more than 20 years.

Many, many people came to the meeting to speak out against the Blue Boutique. They had to come to the city council to push THEIR Fascist values on everyone else in the sugarhouse community. 

There was a number of articles written about the saga including:

http://radiofromhell.livejournal.com/275580.html

http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=f48ebd3a-820a-44b7-aa5e-fdec8af0c2d3

http://andrewmccullough.blogspot.com/2007/11/state-trooper-and-blue-boutique.html

http://www.ynot.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=news_article&sid=41562

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=2275142

http://www.kcpw.org/article/4930

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695233425,00.html

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695234451,00.html

I’ll spare you the torture of watching the above video and just give you some of the highlights. Typical Fascist conservatives whom don’t like any SOB Businesses, give you five standard arguments:

1. Think of the Children
2. Adverse effects of Property Values
3. Secondary Effects
4. The Family Unit
5. I pretend to be an expert

Think of the Children

This is probably the most tiring argument that conservatives use. Think of the Children!  The truth is the fact that most children know more about Sex and Sexuality than the parents give them credit for. I know. I have a teenage daughter that comes home every day and tells me about what her peers believe and know about sex and sexuality.

As I listened to some of the protesters in the video, I was really concerned with people like Annelle Doxey, president t of American Mothers, Utah Chapter. She alluded to the fact that the window displays in the Blue Boutique are going to increase the exposure to everyone’s children as to a sexual nature. Secondly she alluded to the fact that sexual predators frequent the store and are going to pounce on everyone's children at the first change they get and that they wold be in your neighborhood.

What amazes me is the fact that she is SOOOOOOO misinformed. If you take a look at the National Crime Victimization Survey, 2005 you will find that a sexual predator is almost 3 times more likely to be a Friend, Acquaintance, Intimate relationship or an Relative than a complete stranger off the street. This means that your child is more likely to be molested by your Bishop, Scoutmaster, Priest, Uncle or Step-Father than a complete stranger out of the blue. Annelle, get your facts straight.

Has she ever been to the Mall? You’d be amazed at the concentration of good conservative teen-agers and what they’re exposed to! I guess that it’s OK, as long as BIG Businesses sexualize your children and not small business.

Adversely Affecting Property Values

Some of the fascist whom spoke in front of the City Council use the argument that their property values will have gone down. Let’s look at the facts. Blue Boutique moved into the sorely dilapidated Sugarhouse community 20 years ago. Housing pricing was low, Businesses was dismal. 20 years later, housing pricing is strong, The clerical fascist have got their way, Sugarhouse is now Full of Big Chain Box stores.

The argument comes from the highly controversial 1990’s study the mayor of New York commissioned to get the SOB in order to force out the Pornographic Theaters in times square. One store that sells club-wear, t-shirts, piercing, shoes, lingerie, and even adult toys is not equivalent to 200 pornographic theaters in Time Square.

If we can use this argument with a business, why can’t we use it against some of our neighbors? We’ve all had the neighbor who has the junk yard look to his house. We’ve all had  neighbors who didn’t keep up their property. These people devalued your property more than a business that sells edible underwear.

Have any of you actually been to the store? I’ll bet that it increases the surrounding property value 20%-30%. 

Secondary Effects

The typical argument for the secondary effects of a SOB is that SOB Stores, include unlawful sexual Activities, Sexually Transmitted diseases, declining property values, increased crime, and a downgrade to the quality of life of surrounding areas.

The issue of the Blue Boutique is that they are an SOB business. No the business is not zoned as an SOB business. If they were zoned as an sob business, then you would have to zone every 7-11, Barnes and Nobel, Wally World and any other business like a grocery store that sells items that could have a sexual use. Items such a condoms, KY Jelly and lotions have and will be used as sexual items.

No business is going to condone “Unlawful” sexual activities. Business such as the Blue Boutique actually PROMOTE SAFE AND HEALTH SEXUAL RELATIONS. That’s probably a BIG Surprise for most. 

The Family Unit

The argument that the Blue Boutique is going to effect the family unit is just plain silly. If you’ve ever listened to the queen of family oriented advices, Dr. Laura, you’ll find that a few times a week, she literally RECOMMEND that someone should get up off their butts and wander down to a store like Blue Boutique and get some lingerie, massage lotions and other items to spice up their MARRIAGE and bring the partnership closer together.

If anything, a store like Blue Boutique enhances the relationship of two people instead of tearing them apart. This means that Blue Boutique actually helps with the Family Unit.

I’m a pretend Expert

This argument drives me nuts to the point where I want to throw something at my computer monitor. The argument usually starts out like “I’ve read the laws and this is how I interpret it.” 

I’ll be that 90% of the pretend experts that use this argument are NOT attorneys. Nor have they taken the time and money to get real legal advice. I was surprised at the meeting on how many pretend experts were at the city council meeting who were telling the City Council and City attorney how to interpret the law.

If you want to read the law and interpret city zoning code, lawful definitions, get a degree. Don’t profess your expertness in reading all the bureaucratic legalese and tell others what it actually means.

Residents Speaking for Me

The biggest problem that I have with the Utah Taliban is the fact that they are so pious that the speak for the whole neighborhood. Sugarhouse is composed of many people of diverse backgrounds. It was truly one of the only Unique blended areas of  Greater Salt Lake Area. 

I lived in sugarhouse for almost 10 years. They do not speak for me, my neighbor or anyone else for that matter.

Stay out of Everyone’s Bedroom

I could go on for hours, about this one. The Clerical Fascist are always worried that you’re having great sex and they are not. The real problem with them is the fact that they want to control whom and how you do it in your bedroom.

What The hell happened to Capitalism

The idea of capitalism is directly opposed to the Utah Clerical Fascist mindset. Many of the people said that they didn’t oppose the store, they just didn’t want it in their neighborhood. How about we see if capitalism reality works. If the Blue Boutique goes out of business because no-one shopped there, the problem is solved. 

However, if they have properly invested their money and now their business is successful, I guess Other people want the store in the sugarhouse neighborhood. Otherwise we are going to support a world that is full of clerical fascist that do not tolerate diversity.

Va Va Voom Baby...