The aftermath of Mitt's departure

"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win, and in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."

Those were the words last week from Mitt as he announced his withdrawl before the ultra conservative group CPAC. Does anyone outside of CPAC really believe the Iraq war was about or is about terror? The one thing we know for certain about terror since our invasion of Iraq in '03 is that world wide terrorist acts have increased seven fold. We know too that we have killed and caused the deaths of more Iraqi's than Saddam did in his reign of terror.

I am not surprised with Mitt's statement. It is just like so many others from this man who has claimed to have such executive experience. How could he expect to be the president of the US when his thinking or at least his statements are so flawed? Where are the advisors any good CEO must have to give him sound advice? Who has advised him on foreign policy issues? Dick Cheney? For all of Mitt's executive experience to me he is very flawed. Politically positioning and pandering to the right may be the only explanation for this statement and his odd behavior.

To my Mormon friends and family who cannot stomach Gov. Huckabee or Senator McCain pick up Sen Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope". You will be inspired.

Mormons DISmayed By Harsh Spotlight

Nephew H brought me his copy of the Wall Street Journal today and wanted me to read a front page article entitled: "Mormons Dismayed By Harsh Spotlight" A few excerpts are in order.

"Mitt Romney's campaign for the presidency brought more attention to the Mormon Church than it has had in years. What the church discovered was not heartening.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll in late January revealed that 50% of Americans said they would have reservations or be "very uncomfortable" about a Mormon as president. That same poll found that 81% would be "enthusiastic" or "comfortable" with an African-American and 76% with a woman.

"I don't think that any of us had any idea how much anti-Mormon stuff was out there," said Armand Mauss, a Mormon sociologist who has written extensively about church culture, in an interview last week. "The Romney campaign has given the church a wake-up call. There is the equivalent of anti-Semitism still out there."

Nevertheless, Mr. Romney's campaign exposed a surprisingly virulent strain of anti-Mormonism that had been largely hidden to the general public. In December, political pundit and actor Lawrence O'Donnell Jr. unleashed a tirade on the "McLaughlin Group" television talk show, tearing into the Mormon Church and Mr. Romney's faith. "Romney comes from a religion founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist. And he comes from that lineage and says, 'I respect this religion fully.'...He's got to answer."

Soon, the Mormon Church began posting its videos on YouTube -- 22 so far. One clip, for example, showed Mr. Ballard, the church apostle, answering the question "Are Mormons Christian?" It has drawn 26,000 views. By contrast, a cartoon clip from "The God Makers," a 1980s film that mocks Mormon beliefs, has been viewed 945,000 times.

Although Mr. Romney's withdrawal from the race is likely to quiet the controversy for now, many church members believe the turmoil of the past year will have lasting effects.

"There will be a long-term consequence in the Mormon church," says Mr. Mauss, the Mormon sociologist. "I think there is going to be a wholesale reconsideration with how Mormons should deal with the latent and overt anti-Mormon propaganda. I don't think the Mormons are ever again going to sorrowfully turn away and close the door and just keep out of the fray."

As a few of the bloggers have observed and even KSL's Doug Wright maybe it is time for Mormons to reconsider their party affiliation, maybe find a place under the tent of the Democratic Party, taking their place alongside other persecuted minorities. Think of those agendas...The Gay and Lesbian, the Feminists, the Black and then we would have the Mormon agenda. Think of the impact this coalition would have on the likes of Gov. Huckabee and the evangelical right of the R party.

As a Man and a Mormon I can vote for HRC...

If Hillary wins I will be happy. This is the first presidential campaign in a very long time that I have been so enthused and excited. Daughter M. sent me an email this morning quoting from feminist Robin Morgan. I found her essay outlining a few reasons why Hillary Rodham Clinton should be our president to be powerful and moving. I found myself agreeing with just about everything Ms. Morgan wrote. I have excerpted several paragraphs about women, the struggle, and HRC.

“Women have endured sex/race/ethnic/religious hatred,
rape and battery, invasion of spirit and flesh, forced
pregnancy; being the majority of the poor, the
illiterate, the disabled, of refugees, caregivers, the
HIV/AIDS afflicted, the powerless. We have survived
invisibility, ridicule, religious fundamentalisms,
polygamy, teargas, forced feedings, jails, asylums,
sati, purdah, female genital mutilation, witch
burnings, stonings, and attempted gynocides. We have
tried reason, persuasion, reassurances, and being
extra-qualified, only to learn it never was about
qualifications after all. We know that at this
historical moment women experience the world
differently from men-though not all the same as one
another-and can govern differently, from Elizabeth
Tudor to Michele Bachelet and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf…

We are the women who brought this country equal
credit, better pay, affirmative action, the concept of
a family-focused workplace; the women who established
rape-crisis centers and battery shelters, marital-rape
and date-rape laws; the women who defended lesbian
custody rights, who fought for prison reform, founded
the peace and environmental movements; who insisted
that medical research include female anatomy; who
inspired men to become more nurturing parents; who
created women's studies and Title IX so we all could
cheer the WNBA stars and Mia Hamm. We are the women
who reclaimed sexuality from violent pornography, who
put childcare on the national agenda, who transformed
demographics, artistic expression, language itself. We
are the women who forged a worldwide movement. We are
the proud successors of women who, though it took more
than 50 years, won us the vote

We are the women who now comprise the majority of U.S.
voters…

Hillary said she found her own voice in New Hampshire.
There's not a woman alive who, if she's honest,
doesn't recognize what she means. Then HRC got drowned
out by campaign experts, Bill, and media's obsession
with everything Bill.

So listen to her voice:

"For too long, the history of women has been a history
of silence. Even today, there are those who are trying
to silence our words.

It is a violation of human rights when babies are
denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their
spines broken, simply because they are born girls. It
is a violation of human rights when woman and girls
are sold into the slavery of prostitution. It is a
violation of human rights when women are doused with
gasoline, set on fire and burned to death because
their marriage dowries are deemed too small. It is a
violation of human rights when individual women are
raped in their own communities and when thousands of
women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of
war. It is a violation of human rights when a leading
cause of death worldwide along women ages 14 to 44 is
the violence they are subjected to in their own homes.
It is a violation of human rights when women are
denied the right to plan their own families, and that
includes being forced to have abortions or being
sterilized against their will.

Women's rights are human rights. Among those rights
are the right to speak freely-and the right to be
heard."

That was Hillary Rodham Clinton defying the U.S. State
Department and the Chinese Government at the 1995 UN
World Conference on Women in Beijing (look here for
the full, stunning speech).

So goodbye to Hillary's second-guessing herself. The
real question is deeper than her re-finding her voice.
Can we women find ours? Can we do this for ourselves?

"Our President, Ourselves!"

Time is short and the contest tightening. We need to
rise in furious energy-as we did when Anita Hill was
so vilely treated in the U.S. Senate, as we did when
Rosie Jiminez was butchered by an illegal abortion, as
we did and do for women globally who are condemned for
trying to break through. We need to win, this time.
Goodbye to supporting HRC tepidly, with ambivalent
caveats and apologetic smiles. Time to volunteer, make
phone calls, send emails, donate money, argue, rally,
march, shout, vote.

Me? I support Hillary Rodham because she's the best
qualified of all candidates running in both parties. I
support her because her progressive politics are as
strong as her proven ability to withstand what will be
a massive right-wing assault in the general election.
I support her because she knows how to get us out of
Iraq. I support her because she's refreshingly
thoughtful, and I'm bloodied from eight years of a
jolly "uniter" with ejaculatory politics. I needn't
agree with her on every point. I agree with the 97
percent of her positions that are identical with
Obama's-and the few where hers are both more practical
and to the left of his (like health care). I support
her because she's already smashed the first-lady
stereotype and made history as a fine senator, because
I believe she will continue to make history not only
as the first US woman president, but as a great US
president.

As for the "woman thing"?

Me, I'm voting for Hillary not because she's a
woman-but because I am.”

I will vote for Hillary or Barack. I have donated to both. I am a happy voter for the first time in decades. I note the Republicans are in disarray and who knows even poobah Limbah says he may vote for HRC too. Maybe a few Mormons will realize there isn't a home for them in the R party given the trashing of their 'golden boy' Mitt.

The link to Robin Morgan’s web site.

For HRC go to: HillaryClinton

Go Hillary!

As a Mormon I could not vote for Mitt...

Aside from his altogether too conservative (current) posturing, I have two fundamental problems with Romney as a member of the faith I practice. First of all, he has taken a less than Christian attitude toward many of my friends who are Brown and undocumented. Doing so puts him at odds I believe with the basic tenets of compassion and charity of the LDS Church. I admit though there are more than a few in the pews who fit into the mold of 'let's send them all back to Mexico, etc', including members of our Utah State Legislature. Secondly, Romney has never disavowed the CIA use of torture including water boarding and other techniques. He follows too closely Cheney and Bush on that subject. Even our FBI has on numerous occasions testified information obtained from torture is of very low quality and refuse to partner with their CIA peers in trying to keep America safe.

Too bad Mitt does not appreciate what POW's went through in Hanoi during the Viet Nam War and know that torture does not yield good intel. John McCain, when tortured, divulged the names of members of the Green Bay Packers football team as his squadron mates. Lucky Larry Chesley, another downed pilot, POW, and member of the LDS Church, gave his captors the names of his Burley Idaho High School graduating class as members of his squadron. Information obtained from torture is junk.

It wasn't hard today at the polls for me today to touch the screen for Senator Barack Obama. It was only hard for my Mormon friends and neighbors to understand why I would not vote for Mitt.

The biggest war since WWII is _____?

The civil war in the Congo. Children shown here in a UN refugee camp have made toys from mud of what they see and have experienced.

The emptiness of the Bush administration’s foreign policy is underscored by the total lack of humanitarian effort or involvement in this deadliest war. As Americans we are nearly totally ignorant of this decade long war in the Congo. Wonder why? Is it because Exxon Mobil has no oil fields there? Is it because these folks are Black Africans? Sadly, I have not heard any discussion among the candidates to replace Bush about this human disaster in the Congo. Looking at the web sites of the candidates I found something on Senator Obama's site, nothing on the other's including Hillary, McCain and Romney.

45,000 die every month and who gives a damn about them in the US? An international rescue group said preventable diseases and starvation aggravated by conflict have claimed 5.4 million lives since 1998. This is the equivalent of the population of Denmark. War officially ended in 2002 but malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition continue to take thousands. Half of all the fatalities have been children under the age of five. Rebels still control some portions of the country where young girls are kidnapped to become the sex slaves of the militias. Mass rape is altogether too common in the lives of the women in the Congo. The CBS news program ‘60 Minutes’ reported the story of a brother and sister. The young woman was raped multiple times by soldiers while her brother was forced to watch. The soldiers then told him to rape his sister, which he would not do. They killed him.

I am reminded of another time when the founder of Mitt’s church cried out in pain over injustice and plead for the mercies of heaven:

"O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries? Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward those..."

in the Congo?

One must ask how many children must die and women be raped before we do anything? Indeed 'how long shall they suffer'?

You can read more at this link from the Guardian in the UK.

Gordon B. Hinckley 1910-2008

"It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Racism of Republican Rep. Donnelson

Our legislature continues to swim in a vacuum it seems. In action yesterday on the hill and reported in today's Trib we have Rep. Donnelson assuring us that police all across the state support his bill to empower local cops to act with ICE authority. Salt Lake's top cop, Chief Chris Burbank, spoke against the bill. Not a single law enforcement representative spoke in favor of the bill. Donnelson told the committee that he's spoken with officers statewide who support his proposal. In an interview with the media Donnelson could not provide the names of any law enforcement groups that back his bill. The bill passed committee on straight party lines, 7 to 3, and now moves to the full House. He told the Trib reporter his bill was not about racism.

One has to wonder are there any constituencies in this state who support anything that goes on among House Republicans? It is clear who Representative Donnelson constituency is. There are kudos to him with expressions of gratitude from the Utah Minutemen Project. These are the vigilante nut jobs that get their hunting rifles and ride their ATV's along the US Mexican border looking for saboteurs, members of al Qaeda, and hungry families looking for a better life in the US.

The Godless, Huckabee, and Dissipating Sensuality

In last night's non debate by the Republican candidates for president the Reverend and former Governor Mike Huckabee said that Americans "ought to be able to respect people who don't have any faith." Yet, in a book he co-wrote in 1998, Huckabee spoke from his heart of hearts when he said this: "Men who have rejected God and do not walk in faith are more often than not immoral, impure, and improvident (Gal. 5:19-21). They are prone to extreme and destructive behavior, indulging in perverse vices and dissipating sensuality (1 Cor. 6:9-10)."

Which is it Mike? I find his duplicity to be obnoxious and is right up there with the other religionist candidate Mitt Romney. I have more than a couple friends who are non believers in any God or in Christian theology/tradition. I have known all of them to be highly principled, ethical, respectful and constructive members of our society.

Maybe Mike only knows of the godless in Arkansas and maybe that's how rednecks who have lost their faith behave. We could talk about another man from Arkansas who indulged in perverse vices and dissipating acts while governor of Arkansas and occupant of the Oval Office for eight years.

Thanks to MoJo News

What a difference a state makes...

Against the backdrop of our immigration debate in Utah consider this new law that just took effect in California. This was sent to me by #1 daughter in Northern CA, a public interest attorney:

"Highlights of New Housing Laws for 2008

Here are some noteworthy new housing laws that took effect on January 1st:

Immigration status discrimination: Landlords are now specifically prohibited from inquiring about citizenship or immigration status. Localities are also prohibited from requiring a landlord to verify immigration status. AB 976; Civ Code 1940.3.
Bill number links are to statutory language. For a complete compilation of all the new laws affecting housing, see our Housing Update, to be emailed later this month.

© 2008 Western Center & Law and Poverty, 3701 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 208, Los Angeles CA 90010. 213.487.7211. Permission is granted to copy and share this publication with LSC- and IOLTA-funded organizations, and nonprofit housing organizations. For other permissions or to remove yourself from this distribution list, please contact Lynn Martinez at slmartinez at wclp dot org."

This is just the opposite direction many of our state legislators want to move. How do you explain that? Too many Mormon, Mitt Romney Republicans here?

Oskar Schindler where are you?

A fine piece in today’s Trib about the discussions between LDS Church leaders and our legislators. I read a number of the online comments in Trib Talk and note the significant amount of anti immigrant feeling. It is a hot button for many here in Utah and the US.

It is clear to me that the argument for the rule of law, and how it must be enforced with regard to the undocumented, is nothing more than a masquerade for racial bigotry. America has a long history of ethnic prejudice toward yellow, brown, and black minorities, as it has been manifested in our immigration laws. See my earlier post on that topic. I look at the list of bills being sponsored by various legislators here in Utah and elsewhere and recall from readings of prewar Nazi German history they are much in a similar vein and type as the Nuremburg Laws. These laws deprived Jews within the Third Reich of all their civil rights. Eventually more than 6 million would die in the gas chambers. (Let me remind you we had our own concentration camp here in Utah for Japanese Americans during WWII.)

When Bush was in Israel recently he was asked why it was the allies did not bomb the rails leading to the concentration camps. He could not answer and others have offered only lame excuses to date. It is time for more voices to be heard urging compassion and decency. We need to have the Oskar Schindlers of our culture stand up and put an end to the legislative efforts by our representatives to marginalize, demonize, and criminalize those that are the least among us. Governor Huntsman why was not this part of your State of the State message, don't you care?

For those who cry foul over LDS involvement in this debate I say this is fish. The LDS Church leadership must continue to speak out on matters of human rights and dignity. If they did not take a stand on this issue would they be any different than how the Vatican behaved during the holocaust? Why were they afraid to step across some artificial line to condemn the atrocities of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis? The National Council of Catholic Bishops has it right this time and we can learn from them.

Please step forward Oskar Schindler and thank you Elder Ballard.

$800.00 for each American but you can't spend it at...

Lost in the body of recent comments by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was the endorsement of the concept of a short-term economic stimulus package. He cautioned that the money must be spent correctly: "You'd hope that [consumers] would spend it on things that are domestically produced so that the spending power doesn't go elsewhere."

That means we must boycott our favorite big box we love to hate and every other made in China product. Our trade imbalance is now over $6 trillion. The Chinese own enough of our treasury bills they could shut us down if they chose to dump them. The Bush regime will be offering $800.00 to each family in America, amounting to $150 million. Chairman Bernanke doesn't want that going to China. Lou Dobbs has blasted both R's and Dems for squandering away this nation's wealth and suggests those running for president of both parties should address this is a substantive way.

I would like an Apple TV so I can download directly my favorite Hollywood USA movies. Apple uses Intel and Micron chips but the TV's come from China or Taiwan. Is there a TV still made in America? What else I ask could I do with my tax rebate? Someone told me Wigwam socks are still made here. Danner hunting boots are made in Oregon but I already own a new pair of those. A friend Q, who is pretty savvy about these things, gave me a URL for a web site that lists a few things still made in America.

The Valleys of the Shadow of the Republicans

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures and tall redwood trees:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness among the tree huggers for his name's sake.
Yea, though I drive through the valley of the shadow of Republicans and the State Legislature,
I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of all of the Wal Mart supporters in Centerville, for they ruineth a town:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. If I cannot be there then this place of peace in the Redwoods is my second choice.

Adapted from the 23rd Psalm

Romney, a Washington insider's pedigree

Seems that Governor Romney is a bit challenged with his truthfulness in addition to his flip flopping on policy positions and statements. The governor has been casting himself as a Washington outsider these days while portraying John McCain as the ‘Washington insider’. An AP reporter asked Romney during his Nevada primary campaign if he was tied to special interests and beholden to lobbyists. His response according to this fine piece in Mother Jones said:

"My campaign is not based on Washington lobbyists, I haven't been in Washington. I don't have lobbyists at my elbow that are arguing for one industry or another industry and I do not have favors I have to repay to people who have been in Washington for years."

According to MoJo News, “The truth is that Romney is tied closely with many lobbyists. The AP reporter Romney exchanged sharp words with later reported that several Romney aides and advisors are lobbyists. Additionally, as the Nation first reported, Romney has accepted the second most money from lobbyists of any Republican presidential candidate, and has received the most endorsements from lobbyists.”

The article continues that lobbyists who are supporting Romney have represented, in 2007 alone, nearly every part of the health care and financial services industries, the NRA, members of the tobacco industry, and gambling interests. Yes, Romney takes money from the tobacco and gaming people. He did well in Nevada didn’t he?

A vote for Romney is a vote for the status quo in Washington contrary to his self styled image as the outsider. Romney's advisors have also lobbied for the Carlyle Group, Microsoft, American Airlines, the Venetian Casino Resort, the Poker Players Alliance, and TOP Tobacco among others. Bush Senior is an important player in the Carlyle Group along with, James Baker and the House of Saud. It was this Carlyle Group to which Osama bin Ladin’s family invested before 9-11.

Sith Lords, Democrats and the LDS Church

According to a Deseret News article this past week, leaders of the LDS Church met with Utah State Legislative leaders. Among the topics was immigration. LDS Church leaders explained that “the element of humanity" should be re-introduced to the state's immigration debates.

There are a number of bills to be introduced that would deprive employment, deny driving privileges, and take away in state tuition for those Hispanic students who have graduated from Utah high schools. Punishment would be served up for anyone giving a hitchhiking Latino a ride. Several Darth legislators are seeking to follow and adapt Oklahoma laws that would make it a crime to harbor or transport undocumented immigrants.

It was interesting how the talks were reported by both Republican and Democrat attendees. First the Republican observation, I quote: “House Majority Leader Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, a member of the LDS Church himself, said immigration issues did not take up much time in the Republicans' meeting with church leaders. "But they did say we all need to approach this subject with compassion." On the other hand, House Minority Whip David Litvack, D-Salt Lake, said the Democrats' meeting with church officials brought up several issues, but the immigration discussion was the most touching for him personally. "I interpreted what was said as this: 'Take a step back, be calm, and above all remember that we are dealing with human beings here,"' Rep. Litvack, who is non LDS, but Jewish, has himself called for cooler heads in dealing with the often emotional issue of illegal immigration according to the article.

May the force be with the cooler and more compassionate of the lot. And just a warning, as this significant minority becomes marginalized in our society by legislative fiat I believe uncomfortable social consequences may occur making life more difficult for all of us here in this state. Take away hope for a better life in the form of jobs, opportunity and education and you will certainly give rise to anti social behavior, crime and violence. That is not the primary reason for our legislature to follow the direction of the Brethren on this one. It is just the right thing to do because it is right.

American Gold is for Americans, Part 2

During the dark days of the beginning of World War II Americans showed their true colors once again by the forced relocation of any person of Japanese ancestry to prison camps throughout the western United States. We had our own here in Utah, near Delta. Called Topaz, it was for a period of time the largest ‘city’ in Utah. Those who lived within the barbed wire fences were never convicted or even charged with any crime, yet they were locked up and kept under guard. Sound familiar? During one protest over their loss of civil rights a leader of the Japanese Issei within the camp, James Hatsuki Wakasa, was shot to death. His murder was never investigated. No Senate hearing was held or even an outcry from anyone in Utah.

We find a parallel today as citizens and our government are caught up in the hysteria of the war on terror. There is scarce mention of Topaz in Utah history studies. I have not seen it on a map. I have driven past it and not known it was there. There's not much left of Topaz but a few concrete foundations and a monument, which is used mostly for target practice. As one observer said, “Most people have never heard of it, and many of those that have would like to pretend it never happened.”

We cannot undo the past or rewrite history though some try. During these days of the Bush and Cheney regime and given the climate of fear they have nurtured to maintain power, let us not forget our government can and does violate the Constitution. Decency, compassion, and generosity should be the words that describe the richest of all nations and its people on this planet toward any group within our borders.

American Gold is for Americans, Part 1

Anyone familiar with US immigration history, and most Americans are not, have concluded that as a nation of immigrants we have some significant hostility toward immigrants. Mitt Romney’s roots, and many others in the Republican Party, for anti immigrant measures began almost as early as the founding of this country. This was brought to you by the same people, (Thomas Jefferson included), that gave us the Declaration of Independence. The first of these laws was enacted in March of 1790. It provided the rules for the granting of national citizenship. This law limited naturalization to aliens who were "free white persons". Left out were indentured servants, slaves, free African-Americans, and later Asian Americans. No opportunity for Barack to be a Senator or run for president then.

Nearly every generation has had a crack at solving the ‘immigration issue’. Ours is not immune. During the 1849 gold strike in California, and for a period of time after, Chinese were welcomed into the US to do the heavy lifting and hard labor on the mining claims around Sacramento. When the gold started to run out so did the tolerance of Americans. Labor groups formed with the intent of forcibly removing all Chinese from the gold fields. American gold was for Americans only after all. Those forcibly removed settled in enclaves in cities, mainly San Francisco, where they took up minimum wage jobs at the Wendys and McDonalds of their day.

Jump forward one hundred and fifty years and we find former Governor Romney who worked to bar any non-citizen from employment in Massachusetts by wanting to supply everyone with a biometric identification card. Employers would be fined and jailed for hiring 'illegal human beings'. He sought to have the state police enforce immigration laws as well. It seems that Mitt is not unlike many others presently and a number who have gone before to marginalize and criminalize those who are different from the majority and came later to American shores. The only crime they committed, like my ancestors from the coalmines of Wales, was their wanting a better life for their families and themselves. One has to wonder when each night as Mitt is on the campaign trail and staying in those plush Marriott presidential suites who is it that turned down his bed, vacuumed the carpets, and cleaned the bathroom? It wasn't any poor and struggling college students working to pay their way through Harvard or MIT.

Is Bush dumber than a groundhog? Some think so...

A friend sent this to me today. One of the more erudite observations anyone has shared with me in awhile:

"This year, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union Address fall on the same day. It is an ironic juxtaposition: one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication, and the other involves a Groundhog."

Thanks Walt for sending it along!

It wasn't 40 years ago that Sgt. Pepper taught the band......

It was the Man in Black doing the concert behind the walls at Folsom Penitentiary. His career lasted almost 50 years. I have a couple DVD's of his concerts and most of his music loaded in my IPod. I could not find any video of his concert at Folsom but this YouTube segment of Johnny and Willie doing one of Cash's classics is a delight, just two old friends enjoying performing together.

BTW Johnny Cash was a Democrat and a good friend of Jimmy Carter.

I have been Simpsonized...

Thanks to daughter A for helping me with this caricature. It is pretty accurate.

Utahns perpetuating Obama smear campaign

“Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu , Hawaii , to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black MUSLIM from Nyangoma-Kogel , Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white ATHIEST from Wichita , Kansas….”so this phony email goes. Additional ridiculous claims and connections are attempted to discredit Senator Obama.

It is disappointing that several of my Mormon Republican friends and extended family members have stooped so low to perpetuate this email smear job. These same people feel umbrage over the treatment of their boy Mitt and his religion by evangelical activists yet have no hesitation to perpetuate the slander and lies of these certain hate mongers. Mormons, especially of all people, should be sensitive to race and ethnicity given the challenges of their own history.

Snopes.com has a well documented treatment of this email smear job for anyone wishing to dig a little deeper to uncover the truth of the matter regarding Senator Obama and his supposed Black Radical Muslim roots.It is regrettable some of us have learned so little from our own past and the present treatment by the radical religious right.

North Viet Nam Attacks US Navy Destroyers

Just a change in the scenery and fast forward forty+ years and we almost have an identical situation in the Persian Gulf. I refer to The Gulf of Tonkin Incident wherein supposed attacks were carried out by gunboats of North Vietnam against two American destroyers, the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy in August of 1964. This fiction by the US Navy, the CIA and White House planners gave LBJ the excuse he needed to get Congress to pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. This became the legal foundation for the direct involvement of the United States in Viet Nam for nearly a decade, ultimately costing 50,000 American lives and several million Vietnamese.

How analogous are events that occurred in the Straits of Hormuz last weekend between Iranian gunboats and the US Navy? Could it become the recurring nightmare of the Gulf of Tonkin all over again for the US? The elements are not a lot different and merit comparison. We have a congress that was duped in ’64 as we do today with Bush and Cheney’s war in Iraq. There is the similar element of oil in both. Standard Oil was very interested in the geology of the Mekong River Delta and the South China Sea for the exploration and placement of oil platforms. John McCain was involved with the air attacks in Viet Nam and spent horrific days and nights as a guest of the NVA at the Hanoi Hilton and now wants to be the new commander of America.

We have two highly motivated groups who resent us and hate us for our presence in either theater. Jihadist Muslims and terrorists have replaced the Viet Cong as the fodder for Hollywood movies but both utilize terror and suicide bombs to thwart our military and our efforts at occupation. In both situations we had egomaniac/techie secretaries of defense in Robert McNamera and Donald Rumsfield. Both believed that with our superior technology coupled with our democratic ideals we could win the hardware war easily and then the minds and hearts of the indigents.

We also have a similar situation in that we have an equally stubborn belligerent country in the neighborhood of our conflict. For Viet Nam we had to deal with the PRC (China). Now Iran is the source of comfort for the Jihadists and supplies the terrorists in this Bush and Cheney War.

Lastly, it seems the ongoing other similarity between the present situation and the war of forty years ago, are the body bags. They are adding up and when enough of middle America have had it the war will end in Iraq and Afghanistan. God forbid that John McCain, and his like, will dictate our future where we could be in Iraq for another decade or two or three or four.

It is time for a 'Change we can believe in' and vote for someone who does not support or was not duped by Bush, Cheney and the NeoCon cabal.

Camelot Redux

I think this Camelot quote from Wiki may be appropriate: "In American contexts, the phrase "Camelot" refers to the presidency of John F. Kennedy, as his term was said to have potential and promise for the future, and the period was symbolic of hope for many in the world, who were inspired by Kennedy's speeches, vision and political policies. The period was ended by Kennedy's November 22, 1963, assassination, which is often compared to the fall of King Arthur. The lines "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot," from the musical Camelot, were quoted by his widow Jacqueline as being from his favorite song in the score. "There'll be great Presidents again," she added, "but there'll never be another Camelot again … it will never be that way again."

It might just reappear once again in the mists at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue come this November of 2008.

I could be guilty of aiding and abetting...

"To assist the perpetrator of the crime while sharing in the requisite intent." United States v. Martinez, 555 F.2d 1269, 1271 (5th Cir. 1977). To sustain a conviction for aiding and abetting, the Martinez court noted that the evidence must show that defendant was associated with the criminal venture, participated in it as something he wished to bring about, and sought by his action to make it succeed.”

So it goes, the definition of aiding and abetting. If some of the ethnically challenged right-wingers have their way I would have broken the law yesterday. We were in Northern CA, in the middle of a heavy pacific storm driving between two communities. It is about a 25 mile drive. We passed a young Hispanic kid and offered him a ride. His English was no good y nosotros Espanol no es tan bueno pero... He said something we did not understand until I got to an online dictionary today, “Carcel, carcel, policia?” I knew the “policia” part and I could say “no estamos policia.” Carcel means jail I found out. This kid was not hitchhiking just walking in the downpour. He thought we were the ICE people and we were taking him to jail. After we convinced him we were not the Feds he was reluctant to get in. "Sientese en la siya, por favor," I asked. He made it clear he was wet and was worried about our rental car. We drove him to the next town where he had amigos waiting for him and maybe a job. We left him the cash we had, which was not much, after vacation. He could get a hamburger con queso at the local Micky D’s and maybe a coat instead of his Wal Mart quality sweatshirt.

I celebrate this small act of 'aiding and abetting' a young man in his quest for a job and something better than the life he left in Mexico. Who knows, what if this kid were my son or grandson? By our actions and maybe some others we hope he will succeed and be safe. Let us hope the more reasoned and kind among those are seeking their party's nominations in this election year will prevail.

There is Hope for America!

Not since 1968 have I seen this kind of electric optimism and hope!

Thank you Iowa.

I Voted for Fluoride in the Water, but...

Now I have reservations about the fluoride being added to our municipal water supply. This is based on new research done by a committee of the National Research Council and a piece in this month’s Scientific American. Reuters also released published about the journal article.

Essentially, here in many parts of America we are getting too much of a good thing it seems. Fluoride is found in many foods and drinks aside from our drinking water. The highest fluoride containing things in American diets are black tea at 3.73 parts per million, raisins at 2.34 ppm, 2.02 ppm in white wine, 1.09 ppm in apple flavored juice drinks, 0.91 ppm in brewed coffee, 0.71 in tap water, 0.61 in chicken soup, 0.60 in Diet Coke, 0.45 ppm in beer and down to my favorite, chocolate ice cream, at 0.23 parts per million.

There seems to be sufficient results from real scientists studying this subject to suggest groups in our population are at risk. Too much fluoride in a child’s system result in the condition called fluorosis. The teeth are mottled, granite-like in appearance and are permanent. Ironically, from the land of lead paint on our Thomas the Tank Engine toys, a Chinese study has found excess fluoride in the diets of children leads to lowering of IQ’s. I would not buy any Chinese toothpaste anyway as they have already killed some Central Americans. This fake Crest was imported with official Crest logos and names into Panama and it had enough poison in it for some who were susceptible to the radiator coolant additive died from it.

For other kids, excess fluoride, could be linked or in medical jargon be a ‘risk factor’ to osteosarcoma or bone cancer. In adults there could be a risk of reduced thyroid function due to high levels of fluorides in one’ intake. Hyperactivity in young rats given high dosage levels of fluorides was observed by scientists at an institute in Boston MA.

I think in our house, given these latest reports from credible scientists, we may change our water filters and substitute with those capable or removing fluoride from our water. It appears we are getting too much of a good thing. Those right wing nut jobs and Birchers of the 60”s, who thought this was a Communist conspiracy, may have had some real basis for concern.

A Solution to End the War on Terror...

To bring to an end the worldwide war on terror, imagine the following dialogue between “W” as Josey Wells, and Osama as Ten Bears. The question here – is George up to it?

"Ten Bears: These things you say we will have, we already have.
Josey Wales: That's true. I ain't promising you nothing extra. I'm just giving you life and you're giving me life. And I'm saying that men can live together without butchering one another.
Ten Bears: It's sad that governments are chiefed by the double tongues. There is iron in your words of death for all Comanche to see, and so there is iron in your words of life. No signed paper can hold the iron. It must come from men. The words of Ten Bears carries the same iron of life and death. It is good that warriors such as we meet in the struggle of life... or death. It shall be life."

Men can live together without butchering one another.

The Burden of the Mormon Curse of Ham

I have ordered, from Amazon, a 2 volume work entitled “The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery,” edited by Junius Rodriguez. These two volumes have some relevance and importance to members of the LDS faith and their Black brothers. Specifically, there is an entry titled “The Curse of Ham”, edited by Dr. Albert Wachtel of Claremont College in CA. We should note that Professor Nibley taught at Claremont before coming to BYU.

Mormons should embrace and accept his advice concerning the misinformation about this supposed ‘Curse of Ham’ promulgated by Church leaders for more than one hundred and thirty years following the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. It may be a difficult task for Mormons to accept scripture over the statements of ethnically biased leaders of those times including Orson Hyde, Heber C. Kimball, Brigham Young, James E. Talmage, Joseph Fielding Smith and Bruce R. McConkie among many others. Let me quote from Professor Wachtel in a newspaper article: “No association between sin and skin exists in the (Bible) text. A reasoned analysis demands that race be declared an irrelevancy. But the issue at hand is not rational. Alas, it is a matter of faith, long held claims, compounded by a concern for appearances. The present saints of the Mormon Church are reluctant to contradict beliefs on which their predecessors made pronouncements. Not only did those figures mistakenly think Black people were cursed through Ham, but they also mistakenly associated Black people with fratricidal Cain…The way out of the Mormon dilemma is to profess deeper faith in the advanced morality of the first scripture on which their beliefs rest. That scripture suggests that the family of Cain drowned in the flood, since Noah’s family, the only survivors, were descended from Adam’s third son Seth.”

Further, he suggests nowhere in the Hebrew text does it present any grounds for invoking Cain and no moral value system based on skin color. There simply is no basis for connecting the dots of skin color to sin, neither the fratricide of Cain nor the episode of Noah’s drunken and naked state.

Inasmuch as many of us have friends, family members who are Black and we have a serious candidate with African ancestry for the office of the presidency of the US, perhaps as a New Year’s resolution we can distance ourselves from this racial mythology of an earlier era much in the same way that President Spencer W. Kimball did with lifting the priesthood ban in 1978 and also putting to rest the Adam God theories of Brigham Young.

A personal note here to those who are close and have been, particularly my former business partner, James B. Moore, deceased, and Brother in the Gospel, I say thank you for not holding this against us.

A Mormon's Prediction for the US to be Nuked

The decision to use atomic weapons near the close of WWII on the Japanese civilian populace has been fractious lingering to this day. Having visited the Peace Memorial at Hiroshima several years ago I found it both a chilling and very moving experience. Given the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the rise of the terrorists in our age some have said it is not a matter of ‘if’, only ‘when’ a weapon would be loosed on America. The ability to accomplish this has become much easier. For example, the bomb dropped on Nagasaki weighed more than 10,000 lbs. Today’s weapons are so much smaller. They have shrunk in proportion with computer hardware. The first 1 gigahertz Mac was deemed to be a super computer and was for a time banned from sales to the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc nations. After all those Macs could calculate and crunch the numbers for missile trajectories. Time was when whole rooms at the Merrill Engineering Buliding of computers could not move as quickly as the Intel Duo Pro Mac I am using to post this piece on my blog.

Popular authors, as in Tom Clancy, have written about a doomsday scenario for the US in the book and film, “The Sum of All Fears” where terrorists gain control over a weapon and detonate it on US soil. Perhaps the most sobering statement and prediction growing out of the Hiroshima atomic bomb was made two days after the attack by then First Counselor in The First Presidency, J. Reuben Clark, I quote: “Its (the atomic bomb) use to kill will become the aim and practice of all nations. Sometime our children’s children will have it turned against them, that they, too, may be exterminated, annihilated. When that time comes they will have no moral weapon against it, for we, their ancestors, will have cursed hmanuty by its first use; they may (also) have no physical weapon to combat it. And humanity may be as depraved and Christian virtue as dead then as now. Our posterity must pay the penalty, to the last farthing.”

A sobering if not frightening appraisal by a very intelligent and wise man as to the nature of man, politics and of the world. Truly he was one of the great leaders and thinkers in the 20th Century LDS Church.

The First Presidency Condemns War

At the height of WWII on the 3rd of October 1942, the First Presidency of the LDS Church, President George Albert Smith, First Counselor J. Reuben Clark and Second Counselor David O. McKay issued a statement published in the Deseret News renouncing war and the requirement of proclaiming peace. In part the statement read, “We renew our declaration that international disputes can and should be settled by peaceful means. That is the way of the Lord.
We call upon the statesman of the world to assume their rightful control of the affairs of nations and to bring this war to an end, honorable and just to all. Animated and led by the spirit of Christ, they can do it. The weeping mothers, the distraught and impoverished wives, the fatherless children of the world, demand this be done. In this way only will enduring peace come; it will never be imposed by armed force. Hate driven militarists and leaders with murder in their hearts, will, if they go though to the end, bring merely another peace that will be but the beginning of another war.
We call upon the Saints the world over to pray to God constantly in faith, nothing doubting, that He will bring His purposes speedily to pass and restore peace again to the earth to bless His children.”

Three things stand out about this First Presidency message. First, it flies in the face of common sentiment and views about WWII. Cessation of hostilities was the requirement to bring about a negotiated peace with the combatants, namely Adolph Hitler and General Tojo. Second, war does not bring peace and is no solution in resolving international conflicts. Peace brought about through war is only a temporary condition, a respite, while the stage is set for the next conflict. Lastly, those prosecuting this war, on both sides, which must include the several leaders even heroes of the ‘greatest generation’, could be included in the category of ‘hate driven militarists’. Credit for the writing of this statement has been assigned by historians to President J. Reuben Clark. Perhaps not many know that he had a long career prior to his call as a General Authority in the US State Department. At the time of his call he was the US Ambassador to Mexico. Had Gov. Alf Landon of Kansas defeated FDR in one presidential election Ambassador Clark would have been named Secretary of State in the Landon administration.

Christmas is a time of hope and peace yet sadly the message is lost upon so many in this land and this church. Perhaps, if nothing else we can agree at least to “pray constantly in faith” to restore peace again to all of Heavenly Father’s children.

Mitt and Mike -- Different sides of the same coin?

It seems a few of my friends and family members, (siblings, not my children), are exhibiting a religious prejudice or animosity toward Gov. Huckabee. Maybe it is payback for the decades even a century and a half of perceived ill treatment at the hands of the traditional Protestants and now the evangelicals towards Mormondom. I am certain it has something to do with Mitt’s slipping and Mike’s surging in the polls. It seems to me we have given Gov. Mike the same treatment many in Mormondom are unhappy about with the reception Mitt has received from Pat Robertson and many others on the right.

I wonder if Mike knows his Arkansas history very well. Do you suppose he knows about some others from Arkansas who came earlier to our mountain meadows a hundred and fifty years ago? Maybe we could dust off the welcome mat for Mike and see what he is about before we so easily dismiss him -- all the time complaining how the radical right has dissed Mitt.

Unlike Mitt, Mike seems to be a real guy and he is the same today as he was a few years ago when he was running for his state office. Mitt seems to have some credibility issues, i.e. who has talked with God, if any since Moses, and if he 'saw' his dad march with Dr. King among others

Catholics 1 -- Mormons 0

This in the Trib today may have been missed by some but it merits consideration. The Rev. John Wester, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake, spoke before a business group in St. George recently. He said the real answer to closing chasms in the debate over immigration, is found "in changed policies and changed hearts. Whatever side you're on, pro or con [on immigration]. We need to bring a sense that we are all children of God." He made five points. Those points are:

1. Remember all people are God's children.
2. Show hospitality to family, friends and strangers and treat everyone with dignity.
3. Listen to people and realize each person has a story peculiar to his or her life.
4. Ensure churches are involved in the immigration debate because they are global in scope and vision.
5. Be generous and remember that to whom much is given, much is demanded.

Regrettably, I have not heard anything on this level of charity or compassion toward the undocumented in any LDS General Conference or over any pulpit in Mormondom.

Appropriate words for this Christmas Season and any time of the year.

A Christmas Card

John Adams on America and George W

Our second president observed this and it applies to our forty third and America in the 21st Century:

"Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak, and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws."

Wal Mart and Child Abuse in China

A piece brought to light on Mother Jones News documents the abuses of Wal Mart and a Chinese Christmas ornament factory where children work in sweat shop conditions up to 15 hours a day and 7 days a week. They are paid 1/2 the Chinese minimum wage of 26 cents per hour. Wal Mart said they would investigate but they have done nothing to date. The conditions of this Wal Mart supplier were brought to light by sympathetic temporary Chinese high school workers who brought in cell phone cameras to take pictures of the abuse.

If you bought your ornaments at Wal Mart, take them back. Boycott this place that always offends and exploits always. As Americans perhaps we should better control our passion to consume which creates such a burden on the innocent and only fattens the purses of a few.

War and Children this Christmas

“Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay Close by me forever, and love me, I pray; Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care, And fit us for Heaven to live with Thee there.” So the lyric goes for the 3rd stanza of the Christmas Hymn, ‘Away in a Manger’. That is my prayer for this little Iraqi boy and so many, many, others who are caught up in the ugliness of war.

Please God bless all these dear children wherever they are….

Chill Music for Eddie F.

What a pleasant discovery while watching a Long Island PBS affiliate last night. For the first time I heard and saw a very talented trumpeter, Chris Botti. I now have three albums downloaded on my IPod. He is to smooth jazz and the trumpet what Andrea Bocelli is to opera and vocal music. In fact, they perform a duet together on one of the albums. One critic quoted in Wiki said, "Botti's music was a cut above much of the 'outright elevator muzak genre' of Kenny G.... Botti is capable of a lot more." I never liked Kenny G and grew weary hearing it at a local restaurant in Bntfl. I no longer frequent.

Eddie, I hope you too have discovered Botti. His music is a powerful counteractant. Load up your IPod and let go of some Mormon weltschmerz even only for a few tracks.

The Legislature and Ancient Astronauts

It is with some dread that a few of us await the start of the next legislative session. Already the artists on the hill are at the drawing boards creating new looney toons. Let’s hope none pass as law. The Tribune published a piece (Trib article) about a bill that would deny worker’s comp to the undocumented. Many of these persons work in difficult circumstances and perform the work most of us gringos would reject.

Sadly, our congress has been unable to address the matter of immigration forcing states and even communities to shoulder the role of immigration enforcement.

Critics say this bill like so many others is flawed and too broad. The only ones it will hurt are those who are injured, their families as well as add to the burden of the hospital ER’s.

I wish the legislature would just confine their activities and debates to the topics of evolution, creationism, flat earth theories, the lost 10 tribes, ancient astronauts and maybe Sasquatch. Just leave the rest of us alone to live our lives.

Sausages, Chocolate Brownies, Immigration and Mozart

Saturday previously my boys and I cleaned the church building. I had my three Latino Deacons and my grandson J. As a reward for their service I promised them breakfast following our several hours of vacuuming, emptying the trash and cleaning the glass. They chose the Golden Corral in Layton. Austin is one of the brightest boys of the group. Without any adult controls, and the only rules are just don't waste any food, he loaded a plate with breakfast sausage. I watched him down a dozen links. Maybe they were out of eggs, so I was curious to see what would be on his second plate, maybe hash browns and scrambled eggs? The second plate came and was filled with chocolate brownies, at least six of them. Desert was next and he had two kinds of soft serve ice cream.

Last night we had a court of honor for the boys as I also serve as an assistant scoutmaster. Austin was the only boy who remembered to bring his assigned cookies. He brought 30 with him. A dozen he had purchased with his own money, but 18 he had baked himself. They were his favorite -- pumpkin cookies. They were good. I asked Austin, and he is only 12, how often he made cookies and baked them. He said he makes the cookies for he and his grandmother for their family activities. Austin's mother abandoned him at birth and he never knew his father, doesn't even know his name. In addition to Austin's cooking skills he keeps a 4.0 average at Centerville Jr. High and plays Mozart piano concertos. Austin is a bright fellow and one of those whom many would want to send back to where ever they came from. At least he was born in America. My life has been enriched because of my association with Austin and his peers.

Thankful for water heaters and immigrants

After playing with the dog Taja this morning, (she belongs to K, A , and kids), I went to the sink to wash my hands before starting breakfast. I generally am the breakfast cook at our house. Besides, RA has more important things to do, namely, apple, cherry, lemon meringue, peach, pumpkin pie, as well as the turkey and stuffing.

Just a simple turn of the valve and the hot water was coming from the faucet.

I am grateful for many things. I am grateful our friend Martha is battling and surviving her cancer. I am grateful for Kelly who taught me intellectual honesty, whose influence by and large has resulted in all of our kids having the same intellectual honesty, as well as being compassionate Arepublicans. I note with anticipation that it will be only a year and some weeks until ‘W’ exits the White House stage while the props are crashing around him. Truly, as Jimmy said he is the worst president we have ever had.

I am profoundly grateful for life, for my family, my grandsons and health, also I must include Gordon B. Hinckley, who aside from my father and Grandpa Henderson is the most admired man in my life. Soy agradecido tambien para la ceremonia del velo en Español and mis Latino amigos y hijos. Thanks for good friends, for freedom, for Bridge - who can exercise her agency on any Sunday even in Cache Valley. Add immigrants to my list, also George Harrison’s music. I too ‘don’t need no wah wah’. I am entranced with the Redwood forest, love my brother George who taught me to dive for abalone. W.P. Lyon - my grandfather is a personal hero. He survived an 1844 excommunication at the hands of a small man, William Marks, in Nauvoo. I require and appreciate hot peppers, Sweet Mayans, Walla Wallas, hunting, and most significantly the love and patience of an eternal partner and companion, but as I gazed out the window seeing the frost in the field and upon the grass in the yard, I am grateful for hot water and water heaters.

My gratitude for water heaters is both immediate and iconic for the contributions of so many who have gone before and how enriched my life is in so many ways. When great Uncle Parley built this house in 1890 it had no water heater, just a stove in the kitchen that might have been one of those ‘wet backs’, meaning some copper pipe that snaked its way through the stove back, that heated water when the fire was lit. It was not until 1889 that an immigrant fellow and mechanical engineer named Edwin Rudd in Pittsburg developed the first modern water heater. Thank you Edwin Rudd for my hot water on this day of gratitude.

My animal is not going to BYU

I did my part in preserving wildlife by shooting a deer today. We had permits on land held by the owner as a Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit, (CWMU). He is allowed to sell buck tags to high rollers, mostly from out of state, and then he has to allow a few cheap guys like me to draw out on a lottery basis to hunt does. The number of doe tags issued is based upon the previous year's deer census. The game biologists determine how many deer the land can support and in that way the herds are maintained with adequate food and range. Our license fees are used to support the Division of Wildlife Resources who look after the animals and try to restrain and control the crazies out there. The hunting area is near East Canyon Reservoir.

I use a .338 Lapua. It is favored by a number of countries in the European Union as the sniper rifle of choice. It propels a 250 grain slug at 3200 FPS. It has an effective range of 1000 yards. The gun was developed for the Navy Seals in the '90's and was designed in Finland. Currently the ammunition is hard to find and not available at the local outlets. I would imagine like a lot of other things it is being used up in Iraq and Afghanistan.

My animal is at the butcher and will be processed into little white packages. The hide will be tanned for the advent of some mission style furniture making in the future. Chairs and a couch are scheduled when we have enough of them. My Peruvian friends will be cooking the heart as they have an incredible recipe for this called Antecuchos de Corazon.

Que bueno!

Nixon and Kissinger on Reagan

Many of us have known this all along, no seceret, the emperor was naked, at least mentally. I am happy to see someone on the right, including Henry Kissinger, aptly characterize Reagan's "negligible" mental abilities. From Mother Jones News:

"Nixon on Tape: Reagan Was "Shallow" and of "Limited Mental Capacity"

Richard Nixon, say what you will of this criminally minded president, was a keen observer of politics. But he seems to have underestimated fellow Republican Ronald Reagan (or the American public). On the morning of November 17, 1971, Nixon, while meeting with National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office, shared a few sharp--and negative--comments about California Governor Ronald Reagan, who had recently told Kissinger that Nixon had a "real problem" with conservatives who believed Nixon was not sufficiently hawkish on foreign policy matters.

For years, the Presidential Recordings Program of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia has been transcribing and analyzing the tape recordings Nixon secretly made in the White House. Even though it's been 33 years since a disgraced Nixon left office, his tapes are still being processed by the National Archives, and the Miller Center has only recently gotten to the tape of this particular conversation. According to the newly created transcript of the meeting, both Nixon and Kissinger believed Reagan was not the brightest bulb in the GOP. Here are some key excerpts:

President Nixon: What's your evaluation or Reagan after meeting him several times now.

Kissinger: Well, I think he's a--actually I think he's a pretty decent guy.

President Nixon: Oh, decent, no question, but his brains

Kissinger: Well, his brains, are negligible. I--

President Nixon: He's really pretty shallow, Henry.

Kissinger: He's shallow. He’s got no...he's an actor. He--When he gets a line he does it very well. He said, "Hell, people are remembered not for what they do, but for what they say. Can't you find a few good lines?" [Chuckles.] That's really an actor's approach to foreign policy--to substantive....

President Nixon: I've said a lot of good things, too, you know damn well.

Kissinger: Well, that too.

Later in the 24-minute-long discussion, the two discussed the possibility of Reagan running for president:

President Nixon: Can you think though, Henry, can you think, though, that Reagan with certain forces running in the direction could be sitting right here?

Kissinger: Inconceivable.

So much for Kissinger's powers of prognostication. As they were finishing up--after discussing other matters--Nixon slammed Reagan again:

President Nixon: Back to Reagan though. It shows you how a man of limited mental capacity simply doesn't know what the Christ is going on in the foreign area. He’s got to know that on defense--doesn't he know these battles we fight and fight and fight? Goddamn it, Henry, we've been at--

Kissinger: And I told him--he said, “Why don't you fire the bureaucracy?” I said, “Because there are only so many battles we can fight. We take on the bureaucracy now, they're going to leak us to death. Name me one thing that we have done that the bureaucracy made us do.”

President Nixon: The bureaucracy has had nothing to do with anything.

Kissinger: No, no. They've made our lives harder. They've driven us crazy. But that doesn't affect him.

Shallow, negligible brains, limited mental capacity? Well, Reagan did manage to get elected twice, and he served out his two terms--a feat Nixon did not accomplish. And Kissinger happily served on Reagan's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board."

Scouting for Dollars

This guy makes $214,000.00 a year. Unless something changes I am no longer contributing to FOS, (Friends of Scouting).
The Morning News ran an article today about this leader of the Great Salt Lake Council. Take the pledge and do not give any more $$ to the BSA until there is full disclosure of salaries and steps are taken to rein this excess in.

Thanks to others who have posted on it or I would have missed it since I only read the Trib. This is the story in the News.

BTW, I am serving in my fourth Scout Troop as Scoutmaster or Assistant. I will continue because I care about boys and not scouting. It has been slowly dying for years as an organization.

No Somos Todos Mendigos?

To my Mormon friends and relatives -- This daily scene plays out in nearly every metropolitan area in these Estados Unidos of laborers crowding to get a day's work. Like the postmen, neither wind, nor rain, nor sleet, nor hail keeps these men from their every day task. The economics are brutal, either you work or you do not eat. Juxtapose, if you will, the words of King Benjamin over this image:

"19 For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?
20 And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy.
21 And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.
22 And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom also your life belongeth; and yet ye put up no petition, nor repent of the thing which thou hast done.
23 I say unto you, wo be unto that man, for his substance shall perish with him; and now, I say these things unto those who are arich as pertaining to the things of this world."

Mosiah 4:19-23

Swords, plowshares, and sawdust...

About ready to start the staining and hand rubbed tung oil urethane finish.

Utah made guns and Hillary Clinton

This week we visited a local factory here in Utah that manufactures assault rifles. Business is very good and it may be for another couple years. Our guide said if Hillary was elected in '08 they likely would be closing. Estimates based on availability are two to four hundred weapons manufactured per week. Their latest shipment of assault rifles came to them from the Malaysian Army. The weapons come in pieces, sawed in half, and then they are stripped of useable parts such as barrels, clips and furniture. For the non familiar -- furniture means the stock and forearm rest. These stocks can be wood, metal or some high impact plastic. They can be rigid, telescoping or folding. Some weapons even come with built in wire cutters in their furniture, such as one one of these Galils pictured. That's something every homeowner needs for self defense -- the ability to cut through the barb wire of your neighbors compound before you assault his house.

Based on the comments of our guide there is great demand for these kinds of weapons and waiting lists grow longer daily. Particularly in demand are the Heckler and Koch .308 assault rife and the 9 mm Uzzis. In addition, Kalishnikov variants, Galils and Valmets are re-manufactured and highly prized.

If this is Utah and this is only one of several manufacturers here one has to wonder how many thousands of these guns are being sold each week to homeowners, sportsmen, Republicans, and Second Ammendment supporters. The recent tragic shootings in Finland underscores the high price of gun ownership. The US rates number one in the world for gun ownership, 90 weapons for every 100 citizens. Yemen is second at 61 guns per one hundred civilians. Iraq's populace ranks only 5th in the world, but they have neater stuff like RPG's and shoulder launched SAM's. Think what an RPG could mean for home defense and for sporting men everywhere.

Go Hillary!