"Pick it Willie."

Almost became a Ghostrider today on my first ride to work this spring. I was about to cross some tracks and had to swerve to miss a car coming fast from behind, consequently my back wheel went into that opening between the RR track and the pavement. I had slowed enough to get the bike under control and it was fortunate it was not the front wheel or I might have had a case of road rash.

When I ride my Ipod is on and often listen to inspiring music. I happened to be listening to Willie and Johnny doing "Ghostriders..."

The song was written about sixty years ago and about a cowboy who has a vision of red-eyed, steel-hooved cattle thundering across the sky, being chased by the ghosts of damned cowboys. He is warned that if he does not change his ways he will be doomed to join them, forever "trying to catch the Devil's herd across these endless skies." According to Wiki the song's story seems to have a marked resemblance to the northern European mythic Odin’s Wild Hunt illustrated here juxtaposed with a recumbent rider.

These first 10 miles were good and I am happy not to be riding in the sky chasing the devil's herd or cleaning dirt from a scrape.

Update: I dropped the bike off today at the bike shop as it did not ride well last night going home. I have a broken spoke and a bent derailleur it seems and I cannot ride it for a week while it gets repaired. Maybe I need a back up bike.

"Prius owners have...

a cult like devotion to their cars" according to one reviewer. In addition, JD Powers says the owner satisfaction with a Prius is at an unprecedented 98%.

I went to hybridcars.com and took a little test to see how we did comparing the Avalon to the Prius. Driving 12K miles per year our green house gas, C02 emissions, are reduced from 10,264 pounds to 4893. We will do better than that as the mpg for the test Prius was 46 and we get 49-50.

R's enjoy their SUV's maybe.

A recent survey completed about hybrid car owners discloses the following:

•Are twice as likely to say they go skiing, hiking or practice yoga than non-hybrid owners.

•Eat more organic food and drink more decaffeinated coffee than the general population.

•Say they are savvy when it comes to computers, mobile phones and digital electronics.

•Lean, politically, away from the right, with 14 percent Republican, 38 percent Democrat and 34 percent independent.

I believe it is also true that hybrid car owners enjoy the drive more as they drive slower, keeping the mileage 50+ in the HOV lanes.

Is there a hybrid in your future? and Martha

We drove our green, (red), Prius from Centerville to Green River Utah last night on regular, 85 octane, gas and averaged 54+ mpg. We drove above the speed limit especially in the HOV lane but many people in their SUV's and trucks sped around us at much higher speeds.

We continue to Monticello today. Who knows maybe we will make the whole trip on one tank. We saw that Prius sales were up 38% in CA on 2007 over 2006.

Just an update as we concluded our trip... Our total for the entire drive was 52.6 MPG.

The reason we we went to Monticello was to visit Martha and Kelly before they leave for the John Wayne Cancer Institute. As some of you know Martha had half her liver removed because of melanomas. She was able to keep half and it regenerates in time she told us. She has had chemo therapy which was ineffective against this type of cancer and one other type of treatment from the John Wayne Clinic. She start a new treatment regimen, and this is the last one in the doc's bag, beginning on May 1st.

We solicit your prayers importuning heaven for a miracle for her.

She is ever positive and you would not think a single thing was out of order in her life. Kelly remains stunned as any of us would be, like me, and is doing his best. They send their greetings to all.

Life on the North Coast

Having a good day here on the Mendocino Coast midst the redwoods. We rescued a sea star from a poacher at the Westport Headlands this PM. Not just any sea star but a Sunflower Sea Star. Ate lunch at Ricarda's. Gave the cash in my wallet to someone's daughter begging in the Safeway parking lot. Got excellent help from Bill, an old guy maybe 75, who works at Coast to Coast, and helped us find the right cord to plug the Ipod into the Prius. Found another guy to tell the manager what a swell employee Bill was. Maybe I will send the manager a note. Walked around the Headlands at Mendo and observed the visibility was 40' and the tide was down about three feet. Kept the Prius above 45.2 mpg. Listened to John Lennon's 'Imagine'. Did some good email work from the Branscomb office. Ripped up some back deck and moved the top soil out of the planter to the empty planter in the front. Setting up the telescope with RA after we had supper and a soak in the hot tub. Temp is 102 as usual. A hot shower ahead of time prepares me for the pain upon entry. Discovered Mars is in Gemini and will see if we can spot the red planet with our 8" Schmidt-Cass.

Dalai who?

His Highness the Dalai Lama and the Mormon situation...

Friends and family have read Buddhist and teachings from Dalai Lama over the years. Not with any serious intent I have lightly read from his teachings. In the news presently protesters are drawing attention to the unlawful Chinese occupation of Tibet, aiming toward the Beijing Olympics to lend efforts to free their homeland. Chinese riot police are smashing heads and arresting protesters yet his Highness maintains a calmness and peace not shared by the young and the rebellious of his followers.

Several years ago his Highness gave a speech at ASU and carried on some dialogue with a western physician and psychiatrist on the subject of the purposes of existence and life. The Dalai Lama like Aristotle, Henry James and Joseph Smith teaches that happiness is the purpose of life. In a quirky, from his perspective maybe, and typical western approach to things I down loaded this collaboration between Dr. Howard Cutler MD and his Eminence from ITunes. Discovery should come from meditation on some rock in the shade of a cottonwood tree in Escalante Canyon or in the redwoods near the ocean, not from an IPod, right?

So, here I am, fat, no longer 50, 60 in fact, a true blue warrior and member of the LDS Church, and advocate of same. Yet, I along with others I know close hand suffer from depression, anxiety, anger, jealousy, pride or as RA can tell you just plain bad moods. Is that a condemnation of my faith to suggest my religion has failed me or my ability as a practitioner of it has been less than satisfactory?

In Jos. Smith's letter to John Wentworth he opened the door for his followers to seek after good things and we have confirmation in the 88th section of the D&C to search and to look for truth. Here is the question then, can I read the writings of the Dalai Lama and find as the introduction of the book offers "a deeper and more abiding source of inner peace"?

I would match Gordon B. Hinckley to any Lama whoever lived, the same for Spencer W. Kimball, Neal Maxwell, Henry Eyering, and more. I am not sure others are on that level in the leadership of the LDS Church to the Dalai Lama, but who is to know. I know from history and extensive readings of diaries, histories and journals we have a very glossed over and rosey picture painted for us of our Mormon past, this in terms of leadership, personalities and events.

I am going to carefully listen to, even purchase this book edited by Dr. Cutler, and determine if I can apply and learn a few good things from the experience of 2500 years of Buddhist meditation and teachings of which the Dalai Lama is the living exemplar and practitioner. There are a number of parallels already as I have started listening between the two faiths and yet very stark differences.

You be the judge if I learn anything.

Easter and Noise

Too often in my haste and given the noise of things less important in life I ignore or forget the transcendent and supernal. Gratefully this morning I caught a few bars from the Tabernacle Choir broadcast doing this number from Handel's Messiah. They are not to be found on the web but Robert Shaw will do here. It awakened in me the importance of this day, though I confess I was not impressed when I arrived at the church parking lot to see see sisters from an earlier ward hiding Easter eggs around the back of the building. I hope the children remember something more than getting candy filled eggs.

With the Deacons this morning we read from the 11th chapter of St. John wherein is told the story of Lazarus. What a remarkable event. I asked the the young men if they had seen a dog or cat lying on the road from being run over and how after a short time the remains bulge and putrify. What power, what knowledge God possesses to bring about the restoration of life for Lazarus and for all who have slept. Consider Martha's concern, (the sister of Lazarus), when she warned the Lord, "Lord, by this time he stinketh; for he hath been dead four days."

Jesus encourages Martha to believe, to trust him. The account continues, "And when he thus has spoken he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus. come forth. And he that was dead came forth..."

Earlier, "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."

May we truly believe Him and Happy Easter to all of my friends and family on this most beautiful of days.

We are green but it is red!

After going to two Prius dealers we found the better deal at Tony Divino in Ogden. Driving it back to Centerville tonight on Highway 89, (the freeway was closed), we averaged 56.4 mpg. Divino was about $3k less than the 'last of the little guys' in Woods Cross. Our friends the Wrights get a $50.00 certificate for dinner at Ruby River Steakhouse for referring us to this Toyota dealership.

We are loving the car and its efficiency. Fun to watch the display. It is distracting to one's driving. We have the navigation system also which told us to turn right on 36th Street to get to Highway 89 south.

Uncle W gives a $3150.00 tax credit too.

Sweeeeeeeeet!

Scout Camp this Summer

Troop 1049 of the West Bountiful Hispanic Branch is scheduled for summer camp August 12 through the 16th. We are staying at this Forest Service Cabin in the Ashley National Forest. It was built in 1933 and is now available for rent to families and groups. The cabin is north of Vernal and features a propane stove, refrigerator, running water and a flush pottie. The cabin sleeps four though there is ample tenting room around the exterior for the boys. We discovered this place elk hunting last year and it is delightful.

This year's dates at Westport

We are leaving Centerville on Pioneer Day, July 24th, and driving to Westport. We intend to stay through August 7th and be home on the 8th again. Micky and Alain will be looking after the place while we are gone. Most likely Bruce will be back before then as well.

Let us know your plans and dates you can be there. I think we have a couple projects to work on. Another 20' of back deck could be installed. We could begin work on the store room conversion into additional living space. There is some additional painting to do. In between the work projects will be fishing, book shopping, sand castle building, beach walking, tree hugging, star gazing with with the Schmidt Cassegrain, fishing on the Trek II and maybe even some diving.

Professor Firmage wrote eloquently...

His was the letter of the week and was published in today's Tribune:

Public Forum Letter
Article Last Updated: 03/01/2008 12:49:32 PM MST

"I am impressed with the faith communities in our area in speaking out for compassion and fairness on immigration and the rights of aliens. Compassionate care for the "stranger amongst us" is central to the biblical teachings of the prophets and the parables of Jesus.

The success of Christianity was assured by St. Paul's consistent direction to move beyond parochial thought to see the universal vision, ever outward through the categorizations by nationality, ethnicity, color, servitude and gender.

Similarly, the American Constitution speaks in universal terms. The story of human rights in the 20th century, from Brown v. the Board of Education on, has moved from categories of race and color, to ethnicity, to gender and sexuality, to alienage - moving ever outward toward the vision of a common humanity. The 14th Amendment speaks of providing for equal protection of the law and due process of law not only to citizens but to "persons."

The strength of human rights in any nation may best be judged by our treatment of "the stranger." At one or another time in the human story, we all get our chance to be that stranger, the alien in our midst."

Ed Firmage
Salt Lake City


I could let my mind wander a little and imagine I was reading something written by your grandfather Hugh B. Brown, whom I and so many loved.

Thank you!

I'm a dreamer...

It has not lost its relevancy over the years, neither its beauty.

Immigrants and Crime -- Myths dispelled

To so many of my friends, our Utah Legislators, and some family members the myth of the undocumented committing crimes here in the US is without basis. Today's San Jose Mercury News carries an article of a study done by the Public Policy Institute of California. This study suggests that California's foreign-born population which makes up more than a third of the state's adults has a disproportionately small role in serious crime.

Seems these folks are here to work and staying out of trouble with the law is their goal. Among their findings:

"Foreign-born men make up about 35 percent of the state's adult male population, but they make up roughly 17 percent of the state's overall prison inmates.

U.S.-born men are jailed in state prisons at a rate more than three times higher than foreign-born men, and they are 10 times more likely to land behind bars.

Male Mexican nationals ages 18 to 40 -- those more likely to have entered the country illegally -- are more than eight times less likely than their U.S.-born counterparts to be imprisoned.

Those who entered the country when they were 1 year old or younger make up about 0.8 percent of those institutionalized.
The low crime rate among foreign-born Californians can be seen in the crime tallies for cities such as Burbank, Glendale and Norwalk, which large proportions of the state's immigrant population call home.

From 2000 to 2005, those cities experienced crime dips far greater than cities with smaller immigrant populations.
Butcher said the report shows, among other things, that "spending more money to increase penalties against criminal immigrants will have little impact on public safety."

So if you have been one of many perpetuating these bigoted myths maybe it is time to step back and change your views.

My heart aches for the Danzigs...

In today's Trib there is a fine article by Peggy Fletcher Stack over a courageous couple forced to resign their membership in the LDS Church because of their opposition to the church's ban on gay marriage.

I really had hoped the September Six would be the last of these kinds of things. I guess I wished in vain. The forces for uniformity are alive and very powerful in quelling dissent it seems.

We have all lost something with the passing of the Danzigs out of our fold. I wish them my best and my respect for their courage and faith.

Michael Moore, Richard Nixon and Barack Obama

There is always something good on Michael Moore's web page. I saw this photo of from the 1960 presidential race between Nixon and JFK. It is appropriate for those unsure or who are against Sen. Barack Obama because of his so called 'lack of experience.' We can ask as MM does who had more experience than Nixon and what did it bring to the White House and America?

Maybe intelligence, ethics, morals, and the ability to inspire and bring together a divided country are reasons to support Barack Obama.

'Waterboarding is not torture', my mother in law says...

Waterboarding is defined as a form of torture that consists of immobilizing a person on his or her back, with the head inclined downward, and pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages. Through forced suffocation and inhalation of water, the subject experiences the process of drowning and is made to believe that death is imminent.

A few notes from Wikki on this 'enhanced interrogation technique': "Waterboarding has been used in interrogations at least as early as the Spanish Inquisition. It has been used for interrogation purposes, to obtain information, coerce confessions, punish, and intimidate. Today it is considered to be torture by a wide range of authorities, including legal experts, politicians, war veterans,intelligence officials, military judges, and human rights organizations. Waterboarding gained recent attention and notoriety in the United States when the press reported that the CIA had used waterboarding in the interrogation of extrajudicial prisoners and that the Justice Department had authorized this procedure. The CIA has admitted waterboarding Al-Qaida suspects Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri."

It should be noted that 'W' did not instigate the practice of kidnapping terrorist suspects and flying them off for torture in exotic lands, neither Cheney. It was used by the Clinton Administration, yes, Hillary's husband Bill. According to insider and administration official Richard Clarke this procedure was developed by CIA officials in the mid-1990s who were trying to track down and dismantle militant Islamic organizations in the Middle East, particularly Al Qaeda. This one way ticket to torture was euphemistically called 'extraordinary renditions'.

Extraordinary renditions were operations to apprehend terrorists abroad, usually without the knowledge of and almost always without public acknowledgment of the host government…. The first time I proposed a snatch, in 1993, the White House Counsel, Lloyd Cutler, demanded a meeting with the President to explain how it violated international law. Clinton had seemed to be siding with Cutler until Al Gore belatedly joined the meeting, having just flown overnight from South Africa. Clinton recapped the arguments on both sides for Gore: Lloyd says this. Dick says that. Gore laughed and said, 'That's a no-brainer. Of course it's a violation of international law, that's why it's a covert action. The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass.'"

Mitt refused to disavow this form of 'enhanced interrogation' in his failed attempt to be commander in chief. Sadly, my mother in law and a number of others believe it is o.k. for us to waterboard. Us or them right? It is cleaner than other methods of torture as it leaves no bruises, maybe...

Here is one view of it by medical personnel:
"Dr. Allen Keller, the director of the Bellevue/N.Y.U. Program for Survivors of Torture, has treated "a number of people" who had been subjected to forms of near-asphyxiation, including waterboarding. An interview for The New Yorker states, "[He] argued that it was indeed torture, 'Some victims were still traumatized years later', he said. One patient couldn't take showers, and panicked when it rained. 'The fear of being killed is a terrifying experience,' he said." Keller also stated in his testimony before the Senate that "Water-boarding or mock drowning, where a prisoner is bound to an inclined board and water is poured over their face, inducing a terrifying fear of drowning clearly can result in immediate and long-term health consequences. As the prisoner gags and chokes, the terror of imminent death is pervasive, with all of the physiologic and psychological responses expected, including an intense stress response, manifested by tachycardia (rapid heart beat) and gasping for breath. There is a real risk of death from actually drowning or suffering a heart attack or damage to the lungs from inhalation of water. Long term effects include panic attacks, depression and PTSD. I remind you of the patient I described earlier who would panic and gasp for breath whenever it rained even years after his abuse."

To all of my friends and family who tell me about the 'rule of law' and to Sen. Hickman and other legislators where is your outrage over this state sponsored form of terrorism?

Hello Neighbor - Chris Buttars

How easy was it to understand the messages of Fred Rogers, AKA Mr. Rogers, for the kids and their parents who watched his shows? It was forty years ago this week that 'Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood' made its debut on public television. Rep. Buttars says he has spent his life working with youth. Too bad he never learned anything from Mr. Rogers.

So this is for you Chris Buttars:

"As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has—or ever will have—something inside that is unique to all time. It's our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression."

Remember Mr. Buttars, not everyone fits into your category of what is normal. Jesus tried to teach the Republicans of his day what a Samaritan was and who are our neighbors. Hope you and your friends can figure it out one day, both for you and the people you have hurt.

My Letter to the Trib

Editors,

I cannot pick up my copy of the Tribune on any morning and not read how our misguided legislature seeks to marginalize, minimalize, and add to the burdens of those who are different but live among us. They may not look exactly like me, though I like salsa better than ketchup and tortillas better than Wonder Bread. They may not share my gender orientation, but their agenda, if there is one, does not threaten my marriage, my family or my values. I am an old Mormon bishop and I cannot sit still any longer and listen to the garbage coming from the hill from our ethnically challenged and homophobic legislators. They are a threat to me and the tranquility of my life.

I ask these erstwhile champions, protectors of our freedom, our race, our morality, wouldn't the world be a better place if you just enjoyed your lobbyist paid for Jazz games and junkets to the Caribbean, and left the rest of us alone? In spite of these legislators of morality as people of Utah, who are kind, compassionate, and caring, can we not find and share the things we have in common, celebrate our differentness, enjoy that which is unique about us all as children of a loving Heavenly Father rather than marginalizing and criminalizing so many among us?

My letter to Utah Pride

Valerie,

I regret very much the efforts of our legislature to take away, minimalize, and add to the burdens of people whom I care about, but may not be exactly like me. I am an old Mormon bishop and I cannot sit still any longer and listen to the garbage coming from the hill and our homophobic legislators.

Wouldn't the world be a better place if we could find and share the things we have in common rather than build barriers between any of us because of gender, race, ethnicity or religion?

My best wishes to you and your friends and thank Rep. Buttars for the motivation to make a donation to your organization.


On Feb 12, 2008, at 11:38 AM, Valerie Larabee wrote:

Dear George

Thank you so much for your recent online donation to support our work here at the Utah Pride Center! Thank you also for being an ally in our fight for acceptance and equality.

Valerie

Valerie A. Larabee
Executive Director
Utah Pride Center
355 N. 300 W.
Salt Lake City, UT 84103
Work: (801) 539-8800 x 10
Mobile: (801) 403-1038
Fax: (801) 521-5215
Email: valerie@utahpridecenter.org

A letter to Rep. Barrus (R) Centerville

Dear Roger,

I am very disappointed to see your name among the "yeas" on HB 239 denying driving privilege cards to my friends. I hope you can look Paco and Lucy in the face and explain to them your rationale and how they and so many others, any of us for that matter, are benefited by your action in supporting this bigoted measure. The bill is punitive and is based on the politics of racial animosity and fear. I read the bill's sponsor, Rep Donnelson, is an active supporter of the Utah Minutemen Project.

What happened to Elder Ballard's advice to legislators to be compassionate in these matters?

In two years or less with the Democrats controlling the US House, Senate and with either HRC or Barack in the White House they will undo everything the small minds of your party in the Utah Legislature will have attempted here, should any of it actually pass the state senate. Even the likely R nominee, Senator McCain, will undo what you and others are trying to do here in Utah and Oklahoma.

I am very angry and it is difficult for me to not write hateful and mean spirited things. I find this absolutely repugnant and evil. Shame on you Roger and don't tell me again that if I knew all that you did I would have voted the same way.

Waterboarding, Mitt, Enemas and Eminem

Among friends and family I hear the phrase, “the rule of law.” This ‘rule of law’ of course is limited in scope to the current discussion of undocumented immigrants in the United States. I grant my friends, and some family members as well, the benefit of the doubt and therefore won’t call them hypocritical. If we extend this seemingly all encompassing ‘rule of law’ to other areas of politics, government, and public debate maybe there are others areas it should apply to. Mitt Romney is one of those, as are a few Mormons, who believes the rule of law applies to the debate on immigration alone. I disagree.

Justice Lewis Brandeis, the first Jewish member of the US Supreme Court said: "If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law." There are a number who say the detention of ‘illegal non combatants’ at Gitmo held without due process and contrary to the Geneva Convention is a blatant disregard for the rule of law. We have been the lone beacon in the world for advancement of human rights and dignity. With Abu Ghraib and now Gitmo where do we stand in the world? We have dark sites in Thailand, Uzbekistan, Rumania, and Jordan. Shaikh Khaleed Muhammad impressed his CIA torturers in Jordan for how long he could withstand the waterboarding before he broke.

Time magazine has published on the interrogations of one Guantánamo detainee, Mohamed al-Kahtani, a Saudi who may have been 20th hijacker on 9-11. According to Time: “Al-Kahtani was interrogated for as long as 20 hours at a stretch, according to the detailed log. At one point he was put on an intravenous drip and given three and a half bags of fluid. When he asked to urinate, guards told him that he must first answer questions. He answered them. The interrogator, not satisfied with the answers, told him to urinate in his pants, which he did.”

FBI agents, reporting earlier on the treatment of al-Kahtani, said a dog was used "in an aggressive manner to intimidate" him. At one point, according to the log, al-Kahtani's interrogator told him that he needed to learn, like a dog, to show respect: "Began teaching detainee lessons such as stay, come and bark to elevate his social status to that of a dog. Detainee became very agitated."

Experts in the field including candidate McCain have said such treatment is outlawed by three sources for the rule of law. The United States respected these for decades and called loudly for North Viet Nam to abide by the Geneva conventions. That is until the administration of George W. Bush. Those who have suffered in Viet Nam and other places have called for the US to observe the Geneva conventions, the UN Convention Against Torture and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The International Herald Tribune reported that detainee Kahtani was, forcibly given enemas until he hurt but was not allowed to relieve himself being chained. Officials said it was used because it was uncomfortable and degrading. The Pentagon said the procedure was medically necessary because Mr. Kahtani was dehydrated after an especially difficult interrogation session.

Water boarding, ear drum breaking rapper music, forced enemas, violent dogs, sleep deprivation, chaining in uncomfortable positions for 24 hours, and the list goes on. SECDEF Rumsfield outlined 24 of these kinds of things for the illegal enemy combatants at Gitmo. Bush, Cheney and Romney have defended these extreme measures. Where is the respect for the civil rights of others and the ‘rule of law’? Because we have broken international laws and trashed our own high moral values then is it little wonder that the world looks upon us with contempt.

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.