I thought this post by the popular Mormon science fiction author was interesting. He’s probably right.
You have a lot of people pushing for you to choose Mitt Romney as your running mate. Don’t do it.
He brings nothing but negatives to a McCain ticket.
People are telling you that you need to reach out to the right wing of the Republican Party. Fine — do it — but not by taking on Mitt Romney…
…You cannot afford to underestimate the number of people who will never vote for a ticket that includes a Mormon.
I intend to vote for Bob Barr this election but it is interesting to read Card’s post and see his reasoning for supporting McCain and his fear that McCain might foolishly pick Romney as a running mate.
Ugh…when the legislature is in session it is sometimes difficult to do a happy post.
I don’t think I can beat this one tonight so I’m not even going to try.
Thank you Mark at BCC. That was my favorite read of the week.
UPDATE 03/02/08 9:41 PM: Jason picked up on the “Happy Post” meme and knocked one out of the park. Comic irony nearly always equals a Happy Post!
Many others have written excellent farewells.
I’ve decided to write about the one time I stood near President Hinckley and locked eyes with him.
I had the opportunity to sing in the choir at the dedication of the Bountiful Temple soon after I returned home from my mission. President Hinckley was presiding over the session of the dedication I was attending. It was very close quarters in the celestial room where the service was being held and I ended up standing right behind President Hinckley who was the first councilor in the first presidency at the time. As we filed into the room to sing each musical number he watched us squeeze into the space behind the row he was sitting on. He always smiled at the choir as we came into the room.
As it came time to do the Hosanna Shout and then sing the Hosanna Anthem at the closing of the service I joined everyone else in the temple in waving my handkerchief while speaking the words of the shout. As the shout commenced I accidently hit President Hinckley in the head with my handkerchief. He wasn’t visibly distracted at all (I didn’t whip him very hard) and after the shout he turned around and smiled at me. It was kind of cool. As we sang the “Hosanna Anthem” he turned around and watched us for a few moments. It was cool to see someone who has likely had to listen to that song so many hundreds of times (there were 16 sessions of the Bountiful Temple dedication) clearly enjoy the spirit and the music at that dedication ceremony. I’ll always remember his blue/grey eyes and the smile he had when he looked at me.
Its kind of dumb I know…the one second’s worth of attention I received from President Hinckley came because I whipped him in the head with a handkerchief but I’ll always remember that and it will always be meaningful to me. I didn’t really know President Hinckley but I believe he was a great man and the world is poorer for his absence.
If sweetened beers really do “represent nothing less than an insidious ploy to introduce our kids into the liquor industry and their products” then Sen. Buttars is probably right. They should be sold in liquor stores instead of in grocery stores. I’d be willing to bet that “alcopops” aren’t nearly the problem that my church leaders/legislators (sometimes it is a bit hard to tell the difference between these groups) think they are but if these beverages are really a problem then getting them off the shelves represents good government policy.
I think we should use the empty shelf space at the grocery store for a safer alcoholic product that won’t appeal nearly as much to our impressionable youth. Wine. Thats right…wine. It ticks me off that I can’t buy decent wine to cook with at the grocery store. Having to make a special trip to the liquor store just so I can get actual marsala stinks.
So here is my message to Utah’s legislature. Lets save the children by moving the scary sugary alcohol off of store shelves while at the same time making it easier to cook a delicious meal by letting Utah’s adults, Mormon and non-Mormon, have easier access to good wine…strictly for cooking of course…
UPDATE: 1/18/08 6:42AM
Dan and For The People have posts up that discuss this issue. I think both of them are right in pointing out that the LDS church’s press release is a more a result of anti-alcohol policy than any data that points to these drinks being especially harmful to young people. The word of wisdom is pretty clear and I’m willing to obey it. I just don’t get why my church needs to lobby our government so much to prevent alcohol use by people who don’t share our beliefs.
Mick Stockinger has an excellent post up today discussing a bit of the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and recent charges against my church of racism.
I rarely agree with Mr. Stockinger but his post is very well written and right on target. I encourage everyone to give it a read.
UPDATE: 12/12/2007 10:46PM
JasonThe from The Sidetrack in the comments below:
Yes, it would be nice to say there were no blemishes on the history of the LDS faith, or any other religion for that matter. But there are. And there will be mistakes made today demanding an answer in the tomorrow. We are not perfect in our understanding, but I also believe that is an irrational expectation. Why must leaders of any faith respond to these accusations of the past with anything more than “Hey, we’re a flawed people, just like any people, doing our best to interpret and understand what we believe to be the word of God.”
Very well said.
Bishop Higgins is running the 3rd Ward with incredible efficiency.
If you aren’t sick or ailing, after you hear this, you just might wish you had gout or lupus or something. Sister Culbert has made a number of her award winning spicy radish casseroles that we, as a bishopric, will be passing out to the sick and the ailing. What we’ll do first, is to give the casserole a blessing. That way, you’ll be getting a hot meal and a blessing at the same time. It was my idea.
That man truly is inspired.
Paul Mero recently published a 44 page propaganda piece attempting to use early Utah and LDS church history to support his contention that Utah’s taxpayers need to subsidize private school students. I don’t think the piece will succeed in convincing many people of the benefits of the current voucher plan but it does make for some interesting reading.
Mero’s defense of Mormon theocracy in the late 1800’s and his contention that the territory government was doing everything right with its schools and everything else in the years right after pioneers arrived here is my favorite part of his argument. It shows just how out of touch he really is. You’d almost think after reading his screed that Mero would prefer that Utah still be a state run by an LDS church from the 1850s. Mormons would still participate in polygamous marriages, church run schools would be paid for by taxpayers and we’d all live in the Nation of Deseret instead of the United States of America. That we don’t live in that blessed state of existence is all due to the fact that the U.S. brought its blasted public schools to Utah and forced a willing populace to send their kids there.
Thanks Mr. Mero…but I’ll pass.
For more response to Mr. Mero’s piece check out:
“Paul Mero - Armchair Prophet” at Utah Amicus
“Why Exploit Religion For Politics” at Accountability First
The Pew Foundation has published this transcript of an interview of Richard Bushman by a whole mob of reporters from the main stream media. This is the most interesting discussion on the topic of LDS and politics in both the contemporary and historical context that I’ve ever read. Professor Bushman did an excellent job explaining the church’s role in politics and government to a sometimes openly skeptical audience. Definitely worth a read.
Hat Tip BCC
I outed myself as a “liberal” Mormon today at work.
A co-worker was talking about a Stake Conference she attended this weekend presided over by a general authority of the LDS Church. She told the story about how the general authority during his talk called out two young men from the congregation. One of the young men had been home from his mission for a month and a half and the other young man was just getting ready to go. The speaker spoke to the young men and pointed out to the congregation differences between the young men and their physical and spiritual development then focused on the return missionary’s goatee. The person telling the story said that the speaker then scolded the young man for having facial hair and asked him to committ to shaving it off as soon as possible.
Stories like this drive me crazy. I foolishly blurted out something about how the speaker must be a complete weiner to do something like that in a stake conference. I don’t think my comment went over very well but I didn’t care and I launched into a few more complaints about situations or stories like this I’ve heard.
I’m not proud of my inability to keep quiet but I get so frustrated with examples like this that in my mind contribute to the idea that members of my religion might be more concerned with the outward display of piety than inward faith, obedience and humility.
Denver papers over the weekend editorialized about Mike Leavitt’s dodgy family charity organization. Apparently if you create a charitable organization where you put your money it can be sheltered from taxes and you only have to actually donate up to 5% of the holdings for charitable purposes each year.
Leavitt’s organization hasn’t even been doing that amount up until recently and they have been using the charitable organization to finance Leavitt family business ventures too. Read the whole piece in either the Rocky Mountain News or Denver Post.
The whole thing isn’t really that big a deal…even though it looks bad. The Leavitt family has great lawyers who have set up an excellent shelter from taxes. I understand and would probalby do the same if I had enough money to justify setting something like this up. I just thought it was an interesting story to post on this boring Monday!
Hat Tip: Utah Policy Daily
Joe Cannon, Utah’s Republican Party Chairman, was talking about why Bush is so popular in Utah (Bush’s 66% approval rating among Utahns is higher than in any other state in the country) when these words jumped out of his mouth:
“Mormons are the African-Americans of the Republican Party — something like 90 percent of black Americans vote Democratic…
“Utahns are a little different than Idaho, Wyoming or even Texas (where Bush was governor) because of the large percent of LDS voters”
I wonder why so many members of my church have put themselves in a position where they can be taken so completely for granted by one of the political parties. Republicans have done nothing to deserve the loyalty Mr. Cannon assumes Latter Day Saints will continue to display.
Mormons and non-Mormons in Utah deserve better than the Republican Party. Utah’s Democratic Party is more fiscally responsible than the Republicans. We support the maintenance of the morals and values Utah’s LDS and Non-LDS have vocally expressed and as a party we are far more inclusive than the Republicans. If Utahns want to be heard by their politicians they will need to look to the Democratic party, the party that knows it really needs them.
For a perfect example of the current difference between the Utah Republican Party and Utah’s Democratic Party compare the campaigns of Pete Ashdown and Orrin Hatch. Pete’s campaign is working to get more Utahns involved by using technology to allow all who want to be involved to be part of his organization and to suggest what his priorities should be in office and even help to set his policy positions. Hatch is running the traditional multi-million dollar campaign that involves him selling himself and his pre-set policy positions to us on TV. He figures thats all he needs to do to win. It would be great if more Utahns cared enough about their representation in Washington to prove him…and Joe Cannon…wrong.
“He is the very model of the modern GOP”
Hmmmmmm…I think I’ll pass on Mr. Romney.
http://utahamicus.blogspot.com/2006/06/tolerance-episode-one.html
Because Utah Democrats are doing a better job reflecting the beliefs and ideals of most Utahns than their clueless Republican counterparts. Thanks for that post Rob.
Last year President Hinckley issued a challenge to all members of the LDS Church to read the Book of Mormon by the end of 2005. I have no good excuses but I never made it past 1 Nephi 3. Thank goodness for the principle of repentance!!! I’ve decided that I’m going to take up President Hinckley’s challenge a little bit late and finish the Book of Mormon over the next six to nine months. Its going to go a little bit more slowly than it normally would (the book really isn’t that long) because I want to blog my thoughts and questions as I study and read. The point of this post is to ask for volunteers to join me.
(more…)
Dan made a couple of comments in one of my previous posts about the Democratic Party’s status as the “un-Mormon” party of Utah. I was going to answer with follow up comments then decided to make a post out of this issue.
First, here’s Dan:
It is tough to change Utah culture so that Democrats aren’t considered un-mormon. The Democratic party is the party of wack job Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi. It is the party of abortion and welfare. I don’t see how these values are compatible with Utahns’ values of industry, self reliance, and the value of work.
The Republicans might have problems, but I don’t see how the Democrat’s big-government values will resonate with Utahns–unless the Democrats can convince people that since many of them have a patriarchal church, they need a patriarchal government.
He followed up with a post that backpedals a bit (after a well placed threat from Nate) but I think he was making a fair point. Democrats in Utah have to contend with an image problem brought on by the wackjob lunatics who are often their national voice. (more…)
