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.