Newsweek article on "Mormons: Heavenly Prophecy"

Get ready. Eliza Souka and the team at Newsweek are getting ready for another Newsweek article for the Dec 26 - Jan 2, edition, Mormons: Heavenly Prophecy.

Eliza writes, "'You're not going to mention polygamy, are you?' I was asked by more than one fellow Mormon when they heard I was working on a story about the church's founding."

My vote is that it would be more interesting if they did devote some space to the issue. After all, not writing about it is like mentioning Joseph Smith without mentioning Mormonism. It ain't quite all there.

A built in weather tower for water readings

Science is about asking the why's and wherefore's. For example, why does a narwhal have such a long tusk coming out from under its mouth? I've always thought it was for some macho thing like fighting for a mate, but then why do the females have it? Well, it turns out that this is a unique organ for detecting the slightest changes in the aquatic environment, such as ever so slight changes in salinity. As amazing as that finding is, the question now is why would a Narwhal need to know if the barametric pressure is rising or if salinity levels are dropping?

It is hypothesized that it may be an arctic mechanism to tell it if ice is freezing in the area. I would have thought seeing the ice with their eyes or feeling the water like the rest of their cousins would be good enough. This opens a whole lot more questions.

Fascinating.

Singers in renowned Mormon choir revel in anonymity

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is on a roll this Christmas season, and some papers are featuring their local singers. Judging from a Casper, Wyoming article featuring one such choir member, it is better to blend in, to be part of the group. And oh what music that heavenly blend of voices make.

This particular Casper Star-Tribune reporter queries about their Wyoming choir member singing solo. It is such a natural query - when is our local boy going to get his chance to shine for the boys back home? We are a culture of individualism and individual heroism, probably accentuated by the Greeks and their Olympic games long ago.

When I worked with Nike in Asia-Pacific, our sports marketing team had a tough time persuading a Korean soccor team to join us. We wanted to sponsor teams but to highlight and give extra compensation to super star individuals -- you know, we wanted a Mia Hamm of Korea. Our Western sentiment and commercial savvy told us that people rally around individuals more than anything else.

The Korean point of view was that any individual that shined did so because the team made it possible for that individual's talents to be so brilliant. Each individual was only a part of the whole and their contribution alone could NOT create a win. Such notions were as silly to them as playing baseball with a one man team. No individual was greater than the team and so (here's the killer) all should receive equally of the benefits. There was a clash of perspective and culture. We wanted to create the Yao Ming (the Chinese basketball star) of Korean soccor but the Koreans were too collective in orientation. We wrestled with them for quite some time. Finally, the money, our efforts and our perspective won out but not after a long time of not being able to sign the team, much to our chagrin.

The Choir is an institution -- an organization of collective Christian voice and song. There is something of a clash of cultures here to the modern beat, albeit subtle. Nonetheless, we find ways to accomodate such modernity. The Choir accomodates the roar of us moderns by featuring individual world-class singers to let their voices shine, with the choir accompanying them. Yet, the choir and its very size is a testament to earlier days of supressing the individual to the needs of the whole body of Christ.

John 17: 21. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

In a lifetime of receiving one church calling after another (after all, our local clergy are all lay clergy of volunteers) many of us relate to this choir member's sentiments. To get a sense of how busy we members can get, think of your local priest or minister, besides their ministerial duties, think of them having another 40 to 60 hour a week job and a family to support. That's us and that certainly is our clergy. We are a church that has a church calling for everyone.

In a busy world, we all want to help but we also relate to the pleasures of doing it anonymously and with less of a hefty calling. Blending in can be a virtue.

What some people will do for frequent flyer points

This guy has way too much time on his hands and must have one really healthy body. It's hard to imagine being able to accumulate one million frequent flyer miles in 56 days. Ouch!! After two months of zig-zagging across Canada by plane, frequent flyer Marc Tacchi has reached his goal of accumulating one million miles of credits -- and become something of an Internet celebrity in the process. The 30-year-old embarked on his venture using Air Canada's North America Unlimited Pass -- a C$7,000 ticket that allowed passengers limitless travel within the continent between October 1 and November 30.

Alas, poor Yorick

In my discussion of Hamlet and his journey through life and death, I would be remiss if I left this famous speech out. The once familiar funny court jester that Hamlet runs into on his return home is not at the top of his form. What's left of him is a skeleton next to a grave. The humor of his old looks and for that matter his life are now long gone.

I include the modern English text instead of Shakespearean English. I find the contemporary vernacular for this excerpt easier in following Shakespeare's line of thinking.

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite fun, of most excellent imagination. He has carried me on his back a thousand times, and now, how repulsed it is in my imagination! I want to vomit. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I don’t know how many times. Where are your jokes now?"

"Your games? Your songs? Your flashes of laughter that always make the audience roar? No one now, to mock your own grinning? Quite jaw−fallen? Now, get you to my lady's bedroom, and tell her, let her put on make−up an inch thick, she must come to this party, make her laugh at that." (Hamlet 5.1)

Source: Hamlet e-text with modern translation (pdf file)

Hamlet's profound questions on life

I watched Franco Zeffirelli's movie version of Shakespeare's Hamlet with Mel Gibson as Prince Hamlet and Glenn Close as Queen Gertrude. Zeffirelli -- you know, the director of Romeo & Juliet, Jesus of Nazareth, and the Taming of the Shrew (think Elizabeth Taylor).

I’m not a literary critic nor have I been a particular fan of The Bard but that is changing. I’m smitten by the power of some of Shakespeare’s plays, particularly Julius Caeser and now Hamlet -- of their themes of life, ambition and death. Shakespeare frames it this way, "All that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity." (Hamlet, 1. 2) I just wish the language was a little more modern and understandable so that I would not have to think so much about what was being said. One shouldn't have to think when someone says "hi" or "goodbye". Fortunately, the old tongue has been modernized (Hamlet text in pdf format).

The play starts with Hamlet returning to the castle after his father’s death and his uncle’s immediate ascension to the crown and quick marriage to the Queen, thus further solidifying his position as the new king. Things are fishy in Denmark, which is, afterall, a pretty fishy place. Ever encounter a smiling jackal who schemes their own ambitions at your expense? For Hamlet, the world combines to be unjust, and his response is anger, depression, scheming and a touch of madness.

Hamlet speaks with depression and anger at the unweeded garden of this life (see photo).

O that this too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self−slaughter! O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!

Returning from a university education, which is quite an accomplishment back in those days, Hamlet is a thinker who weighs things out before acting on them. An apparition of his king father appears and asks his son Hamlet to seek revenge. There are those of us who wouldn’t give this otherworldly instruction a second thought. We simply obey. Hamlet can’t help but ponder – to think of the justice of such actions, of the meaning of the instructions and the source itself. Is that really His Father or is it a devil? Maybe his life would have been simpler and not a tragedy if he straight-forwardly carried out his father's wishes, but Hamlet's humanity must wrestle with such things.

He addresses the question that we sometimes think as we turn out the lights and lay in bed at night.

“What the hell am I doing with my life?” To live. To die. What's the difference? Is it best to not rock the boat of an unjust world or should I fight the fight? Are we stubborn in the things that we believe will make a better world, which will surely bring resistance? Or do we bend and not rock the boat so as to make the smoothest course possible? And what’s all this suffering for?

To be, or not to be,−−that is the question:−−
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?−−To die,−−to sleep,−−
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,−−'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die,−−to sleep;−−
To sleep! perchance to dream:−−ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,−−
The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns,−−puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

I'm not doing the play much justice in my description of what touched me. It does skirt through about as profound a theme as it gets -- life and death. Shakespeare was on top of his game when he wrote Hamlet.

There are probably answers to each of Hamlet's questions in LDS and the broader world of Christian doctrine, but Hamlet again questions neatly packaged answers.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (Hamlet, 1. 5)

Certainly, God is all-knowing but there is a huge chasm of what we know and what He knows. And there are things that we think we know that we do not. But even more fundamental than our lack of answers, we are still discovering the very questions to be dreamt of.

References: Shakespeare in Classic and Modern Texts
Wikipedia on Hamlet

Thanksgiving for Smallpox

3 Nephi 10: 10 … and the mourning, and the weeping, and the wailing of the people who were spared alive did cease; and their mourning was turned into joy, and their lamentations into the praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ, their Redeemer.

This scripture from the Book of Mormon is a great description of how joyful it is to be saved from the hand of destruction, the terrible devastation that preceded the Savior’s visit to the New World. However, this description equally reminds me of the joy the European pilgrims must have felt in their delivery from the forces of destruction and their thanksgiving. The only problem is that they thought of the Indians as a potential source of their destruction.

Here's a Thanksgiving holiday editorial from the Anchorage Press that gives a rather untraditional bent on our traditional telling of the camaraderie and thanks of Thanksgiving.

"Historians who dig beneath the revisionist veneer of Thanksgiving legend report that the original three-day feast of 1621 featured as much guarded suspicion as camaraderie, and any crying and hugging that might have gone on seems to have spread more smallpox than love into the native population. In a sermon at Plymouth two years after the original Thanksgiving, a Pilgrim preacher named Mather the Elder thanked God for smallpox, which had by that point wiped out many of the Wampanoag. A few years later, the Pilgrims and what was left of the Wampanoag were fighting each other in King Philip's War, which by today's standards would be considered more a massacre than a war."

This is a fascinating take on events but it's a rather dark and depressing thought for this day of appreciation and thanksgiving. I mean thanksgiving that our potential enemies were wiped out by an unseen disease of God by some 95%. Wow!! I can see why we might shy away from looking at that aspect. Unfortunately, that temporary friendship probably sped up the spread of smallpox to Native Americans who had no resistance or immunity to it that the Europeans did. The sad thing is that the Wampanoag were doomed, whether they were friends or foe.

I now need to lighten the mood by eating a little more pumpkin pie and watching a football game to get back into the spirit of things, and thinking of more pleasant things like how at one point at least we were humbled enough by the wild forces of a hostile New World to get along with people who were so different.
Photo by Ariel Camilo via stock.xchng

Landing on the highway of life

Although it wasn't in his flight plan, a North Carolina pilot found it most prudent to land his airplane on a four-lane highway. My life is like that. Plan your flight and fly your plan is what flight instructors instruct their students. I have been told by others and have told myself exactly where the milestones in my life should be for a good pilot and what I should be doing. I try to stick to "my plan". Good pilots land at the airport. Yet, unexpected things happen.

Life throws us curves and sometimes very bad ones, such as an engine blowing up. I find it interesting that at that exact moment of crisis, it was not the air controller saving the pilot or even telling the pilot what to do but rather the pilot had to think fast for himself. He was the captain of his ship and no one else, despite all the advisors that were available on the other side of his radio. In the end, the pilot had to rely on his training, his instinct, his gut to tell him what to do.

The pilot searched for the best spot to land, an unbusy part of a four lane highway and then he landed that sucker. He put his plane down, coasted to the side of the highway, and walked away.

They say a successful landing is one that you can walk away from.

Web Cam Saves Mom Across Globe

The wonders of modern technology, particularly the web camera. I know I could have used this technology years ago when my grandfather kept passing out in his house and hitting the hard floor with his face.

A Web camera made it possible for two men to get help for their mother after she collapsed at her home, even though she was thousands of miles away. (AP)

What you do to others, you do to me

How do we treat our perceived enemies, the mysterious monster that threatens us? I know I struggle with this in my own life. "Ye are the light of the world" the scriptures say.

The problem is that the light is not always on me. Sometimes I'm left to my own prejudices.

My christianity tends to really disappear when I am faced with the great beast -- like my big friend in fifth grade who looked like he was going to pop me one. Taking bad advice about defending myself with utmost force when threatened, I hit him with a school chair. He was knocked out cold for seconds. As it turns out, he was coming over to help calm me down. How easily bad intelligence leads to bad results.

How one responds to perceived threats is a test of character. I get to see what I'm really made of under the veneer. Unfortunately, I didn't like what I found that day or the consequences. I was suspended for a week.

There are also times that you have to enforce reasonable rules. Anyone with kids knows that. One may be accused of being grossly unfair but it is the best solution that could be thought up given the circumstances.

I am fascinated by how Utahans as a whole have treated "the others" -- those who do not belong to the dominant religion of this state as well as ethnic minorities -- Polynesians, Japanese, Greeks and other immigrant settlements, to say nothing of Native Americans.

Here is one story about how some Utahans have treated its sizeable population of Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans before, during and after WWII. I've heard stories at church about how kindly Japanese were treated. Well, here's a few that were not.

"In Utah, police searched Japanese homes for shortwave radios, cameras, guns. They opened drawers, cupboards, scattering everything to the floor..."

"In dead of winter, warm wastewater was diverted onto cold railroad tracks in Garfield and suspicion fell to the Japanese. Jinzaburo was fired and ordered to leave "town" within three days. Accused with no recourse, the Matsumiyas, like so many of their countrymen, bowed to silence."

"...they went next to Payson looking at places to rent. "Even a barn would do," Chiyo said, "but we were told it wasn't for rent to 'Japs.' "

That last bit about no place for rent not even a barn sounds like the Christmas story, but worse. At least they had a manger.

I see that I'm not the only one with blind spots. Humans will be humans. And before one gets angry at Mormons, these stories could easily be about Utahans who haven't stepped inside a church for generations. And who says there Mormon? Still, there is one thing that I do know -- we humans have a knack for cruelty to people outside our group while thinking we're the epitome of fairness and kindness.

D&C 121:39. We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.

Driving to California

Shakespeare wrote, “"Better three hours too soon than one minute too late." I am not a minute late in my web log writings, but rather a week. This entry is now far from timely. I’ve been busy with business and traveling. It is a lame excuse in the modern connected world since the Internet is available just about anywhere but that is my excuse and I’m sticking with it.

I drove down to the Southland this week, passing from Salt Lake City through Las Vegas to Los Angeles. It’s a long drive but there are many things to see along the way -- places such as the Mohave Desert, Calico Man, Las Vegas, or Zion's National Park. Travelling on a crisp Fall day is particularly breath taking. One of my favorite scenic areas on I-15 is the Virgin River Gorge just below Saint George, Utah on the Arizona side.

We have a home in both Utah and California, so my heart is in both places. Still, California does stands apart. Of course, Utah has the spectacular rocky mountain range that is the geographical backbone of the state. California has its own backbone, the equally spectacular Sierra Nevada mountain range that seperates it from the deserts of Nevada. But that frame is garnished with the front profile of a buff gymnast, an eye-quenching waterfront view that runs from top to bottom. The beach communities and coastal areas particularly feel like what the Brits nickname “LaLa Land”. It looks like a piece of the mediterranean, plentiful with milk, honey and oh yes, let's not forget silicon implants.

If there were a Republic of California, a separate country from the United States, its 30 million people would have the fifth largest economy in the world, while probably ranking first in the length of its traffic jams. People come in all shades in California. It is a place of diversity. With a per capita income of $33,000, it ranks only as the twelfth richest in the union so it shouldn’t feel that rich. But California is a place of diversity. Migrant workers, immigrants and the disadvantaged lower its per capita income but it also has some of the richest communities in the country. The palm trees of the Southland accentuate these affluent neighborhoods from the rest of the country and its seperateness -- at least to my eyes.

When I am in the Southland, if time permits I try to drive to a favorite place. The photo above (taken by me) is of that quiet, private and deeply enrichening spot. You know, one of those places that one can look out to the abyss and feel invigorated by nature and yet feel so insignificant. On an overlook, I like watching the sea lions on a close by rock that sticks out of the Pacific. These pinapeds are far enough away that I'm not deafened by their calls or physically threatened by their bulls. I mean, ever have a thousand pound bull sit on you? The cool salt air is carried up the cliffs by a brisk coastal wind. The salt air quickens me.

LDS Church Highlighted on Today Show

The TODAY Show began a week-long series on "mysterious faiths". The first on the list is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which I guess is still a mystery for those in New York, the birth place of the church. Here's the video of the interview with the Stake President from New York about the church. Here's a couple quotes from the NY Stake President, followed by my take.

[NY Stake President] "Currently, the LDS faith is the fastest growing religion in the United States with more than 5 of its 12 million members here in the U.S."
[Cliff] The Stake President is pretty close to the mark. There was a story in the Deseret News a few weeks ago showing that the church is certainly ONE of the fastest growing MAJOR faiths in the United States, but it isn't necessarily THE fastest growing of this group. I would imagine that some small religion, say 2 people just had another 2 join last year. That would give them 100% growth rate per annum, something we definitely do not have. There's a lot of room for people to challenge that broad statement. Nonetheless, the point is that the church is growing very fast.

[NY Stake President] "We worship God the Father through his Son Jesus Christ with Christ being the head of the Church. Christ restored his original church through Joseph Smith who we revere, but don't worship him...we look at Joseph as a prophet that existed in ancient times...Moses, Abraham, Isaiah
[Cliff] The editing is not doing the Stake President justice. I didn't catch anything in the videoed interview that made Joseph Smith sound like a reincarnated prophet that existed in ancient times. That, of course, is plain false.

Aikido, the path of harmonious energy

I have an interest in martial arts. Morihei Ueshiba, born Dec. 14, 1883 in Wakayama, Japan, was the founder of an unusual form of modern marshal art, Aikido. I know of Morihei and his teachings because my daughters attend a local aikido dojo. I am quite impressed with its teachings. It is a marshal art that stresses harmony and love over aggression. It is a form in which size doesn’t matter because the force of the opponent’s aggressions is used against them, sort of like the bigger they are the harder they’ll fall. I’ve seen with my own eyes a little old lady from Pasadena look-alike using minimal movement to neutralize four strong young men who were running at her with full force, one with a knife (plastic). In a micro-second these men were on their butts, incapacitated. Had this been real instead of a test, they would've had broken bones. Standing resolutely and calmly in the center of the storm, the little old lady wasn't even out of breath.

Much of aikido is under the skin – philosophical. My wife recently read a book by Morihei and sent me these quotes that resonate well with my LDS perspective.

“As the last aspect of creation, human beings came into existence as an actualization of all higher powers. Human beings represent all of creation and we must bring the divine plan to fruition.”

“The ancient wise ones taught: ‘Drinking liquor may make you feel spring in your heart, but it shuts off the path to enlightenment.’”

“The divine spirit is always present within me—and you too, if you delve deeply inside – so I am just obeying its commands and letting the awesome power of nature flow through me.”

"Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your inner enlightenment."

"Be grateful even for hardship, setbacks, and bad people. Dealing with such obstacles is an essential part of training in the Art of Peace."

Autum leaves

As you can see from the photo I took during the weekend, there are trees everywhere in my community. I live on the foot of a mountain that could just as well be a national park. We have elk, deer and I’ve even seen moose while hiking through the aspen forests. Oh yeah. Trees are everywhere here in the Rockies. And where there are trees, there are leaves -- lots and lots of leaves. My yard has more than its fair share of trees and this time of year all those trees are shedding their abundance of leaves. The yard is becoming knee deep in falling leaves -- shrub oak, cherry, apple and maple leaves. The good thing is that our autumn wind is blowing a good bunch of our leaves to our neighbor’s yard.

My wife would like me to rake up those leaves. The timing is a guessing game. If I rake the leaves too early, new leaves just drown the yard and replace the old as if I never were there. If I wait too late, the snow and slush make the leaves rake like frozen shingles. It’s all about timing -- in waiting to the very last moment.

USS Salt Lake City nuclear sub sailing to junkyard

In addition to a first story about the USS Salt Lake City, there's one more from the Deseret News. It seems the ship with numbers 716 is now in the act of sailing off into the big junk yard in the sky -- er, water. Salt Lake City will no longer have a namesake on the high seas.

Such a secret nuclear sub stalking countries and ships around the world called the USS Salt Lake City, a ship loaded to the gills with weapons of massive destruction, is incongruent with the image of our fair city. The name and the weapon just does not fit. About the only thing suitable would be for a private group to buy it, rename it the Church Ship Salt Lake City (USS will have to come off) and equip it to shoot Bibles, Book of Mormons, missionaries and pamphlets that say "Peace on earth, good will to men" out her tubes. Or, if it has to stay in the hands of the government, have the municipality of Salt Lake City buy it and shoot pamphlets promoting world unity and cooperation through another Winter Olympics here. Now that would make our pioneer fathers smile in their graves.

To brave Rosa Parks: died Oct 25, 2005

Galatians 3:28. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

Equality by Maya Angelou

You declare you see me dimly
through a glass which will not shine,
though I stand before you boldly,
trim in rank and making time.
You do own to hear me faintly
as a whisper out of range,
while my drums beat out the message
and the rhythms never change.
Equality, and I will be free.
Equality, and I will be free.

You announce my ways are wanton,
that I fly from man to man,
but if I'm just a shadow to you,
could you ever understand?
We have lived a painful history,
we know the shameful past,
but I keep on marching forward,
and you keep on coming last.
Equality, and I will be free.
Equality, and I will be free.

Take the blinders from your vision,
take the padding from your ears,
and confess you've heard me crying,
and admit you've seen my tears.
Hear the tempo so compelling,
hear the blood throb through my veins.
Yes, my drums are beating nightly,
and the rhythms never change.
Equality, and I will be free.
Equality, and I will be free."

Photo by Olivia Castells via stock.xchng

We Real Cool

I was such a pain in the rear as a teenager, but with the help of great adults guiding me at church and good friends, I became... er, actually, I am still an idiot but I'd like to think I am less so because of their influence.

To Dad, thanks! For telling me ad nauseum when being cool wasn't in my best interest. You knew that one bad step leads to another, just like the poem below hints at. And thank you Mother for never having it in you to back down from a fight when my best interests were at stake. You were the champion of brow beating logic that I hated so much but as an adult I love you the more for it. (One note. I am all grown up with teens of my own so you can lay off now.)

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
The Pool Players
Seven at the Golden Shovel

We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.

Not seeing the more important picture

There are times that we get so focused on the task at hand that we just don't see the bigger picture. (Like noticing in the photo a large Sasquatch walking behind the blade of grass -- just kidding.)

One such instance happened in which an Australian policeman gave a parking ticket while a 72 year-old man inside the car lay slumped over dead. Granted, seniors can be a quiet lot but one tip off should have been when the driver refused to pull out his driver's license and just sat there staring at the scratches on the steering wheel.

Stretching the scriptures to suit our national perceptions

We stretch the scriptures to suit our own national perceptions and don’t even give it a second thought. In other words, we put stuff in there that isn't there. Case in point. I heard the following scripture used from a teacher who wanted to show that the United States of America is the greatest land in the world and the ONLY covenanted and promised country as decreed by God. As American saints, it is easy for us to only see America in the scriptures and it is obvious to us that the brethren do not speak of ANY OTHER nation as being a Covenanted and Promised Land. But it is there.

2 Nephi 1: 5 But, said he, notwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed.

We have a hard time placing ourselves in the shoes (er, sandles) of those we read about. They are not, white middle-class Utahans. The description of a “land of promise”, a land “choice above all others”, is germane to places that the children of Lehi lived. The scriptures are speaking of a geography larger than the United States of America. After all, we don't have a lot of children of Lehi living here. Elder Orson Pratt makes this point nicely:

“According to the Book of Mormon, all of the great western continent, with all the valleys, hills and mountains, riches and resources pertaining thereunto, was given to the remnant of Joseph, as their land of promise. The Almighty sealed this covenant and promise by an oath, saying, that the land should be given unto them forever. The western world, including both North and South America, is the land of promise, to the remnant of Joseph, in the same sense that the land of Palestine is a promised land unto the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Pratt, Orson, Divine Authority or the Question, Was Joseph Smith Sent of God?) 11.)

Let's also not forget our Old Testament in which Israel is a promised and covenanted land. So, we know that there is more than just one country. I have also read blessings given to certain foreign lands by our apostles that have covenants and promises, which I think technically makes them a Covenanted and Promised Land.

Ah, but we are choice above all other lands. The question is choice to whom? If Japanese saints should gather in Japan, doesn't that make Japan a choice country for their saints above all other countries? At the very least, it certainly is "choice above all other lands".. "for the inheritence of their seed."

I like this land. I was born in it and my ancestors fought for its freedoms. But let's give others their due because our scriptures and general authorities do. There are a lot more countries out there that are covenanted and promised lands than we American LDS rank and file acknowledge.

Germans have biggest corpse plant ever

Here's another of those names in which the Latin sounds better than the English. The world's tallest -- and smelliest -- flower, a giant "corpse flower" has bloomed, reaching a height of over 9 feet more than the previous record for the species, the Stuttgart botanical garden said on Friday. My family and I have seen these in the wild hiking in the rain forests of Borneo. It looks like its from another planet and man does it stinks to high heaven of putrid meat, attracting flies and beetles for miles around. We need one of these in Utah but we don't have a tropical arboretum, only a desert one.

Legislators full of gas

There are some things that never change. Legislative lawmakers seem set up to favor business. It's a certainty like the sun will come up tomorrow. When fuel prices have been straining family budgets, some Utah legislators want to extend the Utah Motor Fuels Marketing Act, a law that they have already enacted to prohibit anyone from selling gasoline below cost.

The problem with such a bill is the ease of abuse. The Assistant Attorney General Tony Patterson mentioned that over the years all investigations into "dumping" proved fruitless, while accused gas retailers spent considerable time and money accomodating the AG office to investigate that the station was selling below cost. If a gas retailer was upset at a big chain station undercutting their high prices, all they would have to do is call the AG office and shout, "He's a dumper, nanananananah." Er, better not say the last part but I bet they think it.

"This law wasn't designed to protect consumers, it was written to protect retailers," Patterson said. The Ass't AG got that right. I'm glad he's looking out for me, the consumer, especially when it comes to today's gas prices because my legislators are not. They prefer to be full of gas at high prices.
Photo by John Schwartz via stock.xchng

Saddam dart board needed

You have to admit that this photo would make a fantastic dart board. I mean, look at that look. He's virtually challenging me to throw a dart. Has anyone tried to market this? The businessman in me says this will be a big hit. I'd be motivated to hit him right in the bull's eye. Up the nose would be good too.

"Bone-eating snot-flower" worm named

I'm crazy about the ocean so I couldn't resist this piece of news. A new species of marine worm found off the Swedish coast has been named "bone-eating snot-flower" or Osedax mucofloris. This is one rare case in which the Latin name trumps the English. Can't the Swedes come up with a better name? Say like pink-palm-tree-of-the-north-sea? Some scientist must have really been plastered one cold winter night, proof of the benefits of not drinking. Anyhow, this tube worm uses specialised bacteria inside its roots to break down the oil stored in the dead whale bone to release energy. Amazing!

Camp Floyd photo

No. This is not my home. My home, for one thing, has more windows. The wood looks like the same vintage though.

The photo above is another that I shot of structures at Camp Floyd, Utah. Whatever happened to Camp Floyd? The Secretary of War in whom it was named, John B. Floyd, stepped down after accusations of graft. Besides, he soon followed the Confederacy (so a job in the Lincoln cabinet was out of the question.) The camp changed its name, and the troops were called back to east to fight in the Civil War.

Utah's Camp Floyd, a sign of miscommunication

"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." -- George Washington

How can such a profound place look so plain? Camp Floyd consists of a few markers, a grass lawn, a couple old chuck wagons, a renovated inn (photo above) and commissary. Small, and off the beaten path of Hwy 73, it is physical evidence of the Utah War of 1857 - 1858. I visited the camp late Sunday afternoon. Frankly, I don’t quite know what to make of it.

I wish there was a telegraph in place at the time that could have connected President Buchanan with Governor Brigham Young, appointed territorial governor by President Franklin Pierce, because misunderstandings compounded. Just one term earlier than the the Civil War, President Buchanan thought the territory was about to split from the nation. The nation was filled with rumors about Utah. These polygamists and their strange religion were a mystery to most. Certain doctrines were distorted, circulated and publicized. At any rate, the rumor of the day was not only that they had a shadow government but also that they were burning the papers of the territorial Supreme Court and coordinating Indian attacks on federally appointed officials. Not only barbarism but now also Mormon treason!

The new Republican Party's bold platform of eradicating the “twin barbarisms” of polygamy and slavery was taking great hold on the political debate and direction of the country. Democrats were under pressure to be tough on polygamy and slavery, an accusation that the new Republican Party said Democrats were soft on. Buchanan [D] keenly felt those pressures. Utah was an opportunity to demonstrate to the South the resolve of the federal government in matters of secession.

So, it was easy for a president to use force when it came to Utah. An army of 2500 troops was sent to squash a rebellion that didn't exist. Utah was up in arms too. Still fresh with the memories of murder and destruction by mobs in Illinois, and before that Missouri, the pioneers set up to fight the federal army. (That's another tale.)

How did we get ourselves into such a position of misunderstanding, and how easy is it for a president to go to war? I don't know but the evidence of the ease in which our highest civil authority can use military power to resolve such issues and in having faulty intelligence of the world lies in an isolated field in Utah Valley.

And what of these rebellious Mormons who were about to secede? An old friend of the saints, Thomas Kane was appointed by the president to help smooth things over. He arrived in Salt Lake City early in 1858 and found that the pioneers after giving initial resistance, had decided to not fight. They were talking of moving yet again to freedom in Mexico, or perhaps this time to an isolated island in the South Pacific, where they could build their Zion unmolested. The new governor to replace Brigham Young promised to let them practice their religion in freedom, which persuaded the pioneers to stay. Despite such assurances, there was big trouble on the horizon for the church that would start as early as a year into the Civil War, 1862.

100% LDS. How'd they guess?

I came across a quiz on Beliefnet called Belief-O-Matic. It guesses a person's religion by asking 20 questions. It rated me as 100% LDS. How'd they do that without asking about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, coffee or how to say American Fork? Amazing.

Rumor travels faster, but truth wins out

This is an interesting article from the Salt Lake Tribune about Utah's fascination with anthropology and our own folk tales surrounding real and unreal anthropological sites.

In 1906, the Deseret Farmer and several local newspapers printed a letter by Amasa Potter that said that in 1870 he dug into a mound on his Payson farm and found a large building with five rooms, one containing a six-foot-tall skeleton.

"At the head of those skeletons I found many articles of ancient work and among other things was a stone box containing a small quantity of wheat." He took them home, planted them, and grew "a new kind of wheat."

OK, let's have a reality check. During the 1870s, Edward Palmer, a collector hired by the Smithsonian Institution, investigated the skeletons-and-wheat story but could not confirm it. Yes, Potter could have found a Fremont structure that had been covered with earth, and possibly a six-foot skeleton [a Nephite warrior??]. And maybe he could have found some viable seeds. But wheat? There is no archaeological evidence of wheat in the prehistoric Americas. However Potter got the wheat, he "sent samples all over Utah County, and it proved to be the best dry land wheat that they had ever tried." The 1906 newspaper articles noted that this "Kofod" wheat, as it was called, was a superior wheat, a good resister of drought and frost. In 1911, the Utah Experiment Station reported that farmers around Nephi "greatly favor" Kofod. Was it popular because of its supposed extraordinary origin? Very possibly because the Experiment Station tests at Nephi showed that Turkey Red wheat actually gave much greater yields of a much higher grade of flour.

A few years later Kofod wheat could not be found. I suspect the ploy worked nicely at selling "Kofod" wheat for a certain Payson, Utah farmer for a time. The fad died out just a few seasons later. I cannot resist putting a moral to the story. And the moral is...

"Rumor travels faster, but it don't stay put as long as truth." -- Will Rogers

[via Salt Lake Tribune:Utah. Photo from Leslie Cutts via stock.xchng.]

Noodles came from China, duh!

Italians are known for them and theories suggest they may have originated in the Middle East but scientists said Wednesday the world's oldest known noodles, dating back 4,000 years, were made in China.

HEY. I could have told the world that for free. So could all of my Chinese friends. History books there say that Marco Polo brought back noodles from his journey to China. In other words, Romans didn't eat spaghetti. Any Chinese school kid knows that. Duh!

Above is a photograph of the noodle findings. They look more like dead tape worms to me. I think we deserve a second opinion on this finding. [via Reuters: Oddly Enough. Photo by Julian Hecht via stock.xchng]

Utah pioneers settled Mexico illegally

Here's a sensitive topic for Utah, illegal Hispanic immigration and the reasons why Utahans are ambivalent to it. I think the following excerpt from Deseret News gives keen insight.

"A University of Utah ethnics studies professor, Solorzano has deep-seated pain over Brigham Young's declaration — "This is the right place" — as Mormon pioneers arrived in what became the Salt Lake Valley nearly 160 years ago. I can't call them illegal immigrants because the term didn't exist then," he said. "But they were certainly trespassing on Mexican territory."

Only when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War in 1848 awarding present-day Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas and parts of Colorado, Nevada and Utah to the United States did Mormon pioneers gain legal status.

"Somewhere in the back of Mexican people's minds, they fantasize about the idea that the LDS Church will apologize for taking the territory," he said. Elder Pingree of the Seventies replied, "That's an issue that none of us is going to solve right now, so, let's get on with the future."

One correction to the Deseret News article. All of Utah, Nevada and California were forfeited to the United States (see map above of states in red). Parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas were purchased in 1853, the Gadsten purchase (parts in orange). Despite our history of illegal immigration to Mexico and Canada, let’s not forget the economics of Utah. Our farms, ranches and small manufacturing, which is a large part of Utah’s economy, need cheap labor to stay competitive. Local residents shy away from strenuous, low-paying positions, particularly when they are located in wide-open rural settings.

Photo source: Wikipedia

Newsweek features LDS church

The cover story of Newsweek magazine that hit newsstands Monday focuses on the 200th birthday of LDS Church founder Joseph Smith, who the magazine refers to as "prophet and polygamist, mesmerizer and rabble-rouser, saint and sinner."This year's 200th anniversary of Smith's birth gave Newsweek assistant editor Elise Soukup, a 2002 Brigham Young University graduate, the idea for the article she researched and wrote. [via Deseret News]

A side note on this picture that Newsweek features, I believe I've seen this stained glass of the first vision with my own eyes in a downtown chapel I once attended.

Anyhow, here are some quotes that Newsweek's Soukup writes and my take on them in red.

• "Traditionally conservative but not really part of the religious right... In the emotional case of Terri Schiavo earlier this year, however, the church diverged from many conservative Christians when it responded to news media by saying, "Members should not feel obligated to extend mortal life by means that are unreasonable."
  [CLIFF] Got that right! LDS march to a different tune than the religious right of the South. Shiavo was such an example of this. Teaching Intelligent Design in classrooms is another. It's not only their different positions, but also the methods, style and aggressiveness that are also different.
• "There is also room for policy differences among public figures who happen to be Mormon: Romney opposes fetal-stem-cell research, while Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah supports it."
  [CLIFF] There can be a wide umbrella of political viewpoints under Mormondom. We can strongly disagree on issues and still be wonderful members of the church. Church leaders tend to neutrality and sustaining political leaders. It would be alien, for example, for a church leader to call on the Lord to retire Supreme Court justices or to speculate that an assassination of a world leader might be in order.
• "The church's early converts, many of whom learned about it from missionaries, were sometimes shocked when they met Smith in person. He was uneducated, he lost his temper, he enjoyed power—and perhaps most startling for converts was the fact that, on occasion, his ventures failed. Simply put, he didn't always seem like a prophet."
  [CLIFF] Well put. Members brought their own baggage of what they thought a prophet should behave like. In regards to failed business ventures, church history tells us that the Kirtland Safety Society went bankrupt while leaders preached that such a venture was of God. There were things that the visionary Joseph Smith stumbled at, business being one.
  
• "the church encourages internal debate, arguing that doubt can be an important precursor to faith. 'I think the Lord expects us to think,' President Gordon B. Hinckley, the incumbent prophet who Mormons believe leads the church through divine revelation, told NEWSWEEK.
  [CLIFF] Great quote. Brigham Young pondered long and hard for two years about the Book of Mormon before he joined the church. When he finally did join, he had incredible zeal.
  

Knowest thou the condescension of God?

What a fantastic, complex question that an angel asked of Nephi. God descending from celestial courts on high to mortality was a condescension. Being baptised by John was another.

But God didn't just slide from the celestial to mortality. He slid from the highest political and social ranks of heaven to one of the humblest in this life. We forget that.

When I slide from a high to a low in life, His divine descent takes on a different dimension. I have noticed that Jesus was not angry or bitter at his meagre station or lack of comfort here. He was patient with life's inequities when it came to himself. He seemed to have had more important things on his mind.

I wonder what it would be like if he crossed the great divide -- the cultural, religious and time barriers that seperate us-- to be born here. Yes, I know that the scriptures focus primarily on a semitic Messiah coming to Judea, but that ancient world seems so distant. Nephi tells us to liken the scriptures to us, and in doing so I cannot help but wonder what Jesus would be like before his 3-year ministry if he were here among us...

If Jesus lived in modern America as he did in Galilee, he'd be quite poor. He would wear beat-up old jeans and a frayed tee shirt with holes in it. He'd repair leaky roofs or work at WalMart to try to pay for basics when he did have work. With little schooling, he’d also be largely self-taught. He wouldn't drive a Taurus. He'd depend daily on the public transportation system, friends and members of his ward to drive him from point A to point B. He'd be born of a picked on, conquered and downtrodden people. Being born black in the South during the 40s would fit. But if you were lucky to be able to see inside of that poor, plain exterior you just might see the light beaming out in all its splendor and glory. Or, you might see nothing at all.

Japan has such cool toys

My children have grown up watching a Japanese cartoon character called Doraemon so I relate to this story found on Gizmodo. After all these years, Japan still cannot get enough of the nutty blue robot cat. This time, Doraemon comes in a new high-tech watch with 64MB or 128MB of memory built in so you can store MP3 music files, images, and cartoons. Of course, these high tech toys are usually only available in Japan first. To see more detail, click Doraemon, The Watch!

Chinese farmer eaten by own bears

I have been to the edge of Chinese civilization, the border towns of old Manchuria and Russia. It was there that I saw my first Russian, in the days when it was rare for an American to see one. It is still a wild country, with restaurants that feature menu items like moose nose, bear palm and bile. I've seen first hand the Chinese appetite for such things.

Well, it seems the bears had their turn. A Chinese man who raised bears to tap them for their bile, prized as a traditional medicine in Asia, was killed and eaten by his animals, Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday. The bears were still running around in the pen when the police came to retrieve the farmer's body.

The moral of the story is one doesn't mess around with wild mother nature without really being prepared. And even then things can go wrong, particularly when it involves bears that are poorly treated -- or actually, especially when it involves bears.
Photo by Gracey Stinson via Morguefile.com.

USS Salt Lake City nuclear submarine doesn't sound right

Who knew that there was a nuclear submarine that was named the USS Salt Lake City? Well, there is, and part of me cannot help but be perplexed. The problem is the name. It doesn't fit.

Although Utah has a long history of supporting the armed forces, having a weapon of mass destruction named after our fair city does not suit a place where pioneers escaped persecution in a long exodus, building a "new Zion" in the middle of nowhere to be unmolested. It was hoped that the world would think peace, love and tolerance when they heard the name Salt Lake City, not fear and trembling.

Besides, if we name naval ships after communities, one day we might have ships called Elephant Butte, Idiot Creek, Dork Canal or even Zyzzx. We don't want our enemies to think we are asleep at the wheel as we attack them. Frankly, a more appropriate name for a ship than the USS Salt Lake City would be the USS Don't-Tread-on-Me or the USS Get-Out-Of-The-Way-Or-Be-Crushed. Those labels are straight-forward and macho. Our enemies need to think of us in this way and not as the USS Panic. (That's in Pennsylvania).

The word is now out that the 20-year-old USS Salt Lake City will soon be no more. Because of budget cuts, the U.S. Navy is decommissioning the nuclear submarine Oct. 26 during a ceremony in San Diego. The sub will then take a skeleton crew around the Arctic ice cap and on to Connecticut, where it will be taken apart. I would have been pleased if they just changed the name.

So moved by Extreme Makeover that some revert to Dr. Seuss rhyme

We had a local family who had their home made over for the television series "Extreme Makeover".

The family and watchers were so moved that they found the words difficult to come by. Gordon Harrison stood before hundreds of friends, family members and volunteers who had rebuilt his family's Bountiful home and struggled to find the right words. Some in the crowd reverted to Dr. Seuss rhymes to describe their feelings. One observer said, "It was a great time", while another, "The time was long". One man said, "That was quite a thing." while a woman replied, "Quite a thing, it really is."

Meanwhile, the cat in the hat could not be seen.

Mistake leads to 29-cent gas price

AP - One gas station manager's mistake paid off for Lincoln, Nebraska drivers who were in the right place at the right time Friday. For 30 to 45 minutes, three of the Kabredlo's Convenience Store's four pumps sold premium unleaded gas for 29 cents a gallon.

Why don't mistakes like this happen in my neighborhood? At 29 cents per gallon, I could afford to give my car premium. It hasn't had such a treat since it was a wee toddler right off the car dealership lot when for a brief moment I pampered it.

Dog testicles win Ig Nobel Awards

An inventor, an obvious lover of dogs, has created artificial testicles for dogs to "allow your pet to retain his natural look" and "self esteem" for when Cialis simply isn't good enough. The male dogs in my neighborhood will give a sigh of relief tonight. My bitch pictured on top (be good now, this is the proper technical term for her) yawns at such artificiality and vanity among her male peers.

Another team of scientists calculated the pressures created when penguins poop. They and the creator of the artificial dog testicles were beneficiaries of Harvard's Ig Nobel prizes for 2005 on Thursday. I just want to know if this is what you have to do nowadays to get a grant.

Alaska Airlines' 737 (pronounced Salmon Thirty Salmon)

Looks great but what a price! Alaska Airlines is promoting the Alaska fishing industry with a "Salmon Thirty Salmon" -- a Boeing 737 painted with a gigantic fish. Take a closer look. However, my father in Alaska will be unhappy to learn that this flying fish painting cost half-a-mil in tax dollars. Ouch! [via Boing Boing]

First snow on the benches, Salt Lake City

Oh no. Winter is coming to Salt Lake fast! The Wasatch Front (a wall of mountains in the Rocky Mountain range bordering Utah's northern cities) had a light dusting of snow above the bench today as temperatures dropped. Summer is gone. Fall is here and Winter approaching. Will Utah have one more wet year after nearly 6 years of draught? One hydrologist gives it a "neutral chance" -- technical speak for "it beats me".

The snow puts me in the mood to create a limerick (reader beware).

There was a warm yard in SL City
Now dusted with snow, what a pity
The summer is gone
and so its green lawn
The weather grows white, itty-bitty
-cliff-

'Sons of Porn'? Fans of LDS film get shock

Ooops. Someone slipped wrong DVDs into the wrong cases. The newly released, squeaky clean LDS film "Sons of Provo" has taken on a new moniker: "Sons of Porno." However, the distributor is correcting the slip up of a few DVD cases. For those who might have the wrong DVD, he insists that the wrong movie is only about a gay porn star and does not contain porn. Hmmm...

10/5/05 Update: The LDS film company Halestorm is trying to keep its squeeky clean image. It is offering $100 for anyone that received "Adored: Diary of a Male Porn Star" instead of the "Sons of Provo" DVD. It's a good thing that your customers are honest, Halestorm, because in another market there might be consumers sorely tempted to go buy a $20 DVD of "Male Porn Star" so that they could get $100. If your audience wasn't who it was, you would be asking for a hail storm, Halestorm. Let's see what happens...

Flipper trained to flip out?

The Observer of Britain has really out done itself this time, reporting that the U.S. navy has trained a pod of underwater weapon-firing, boat-hating dolphins. The high-tech dolphins were supposedly washed away by Hurricane Katrina, and the fear was that these dolphins could swim anywhere to shoot ships at whim. So, if you are on the high seas and see a dolphin next to the boat, you better feed him or else.

I don't think the Observer is being creative enough. Just think about it. Trained dolphin from America are one of the few in the world that could have access to nuclear technology. Strapped to a dolphin's back, such nukes could blow up any coastal city if major governments refused to feed fresh mackeral every morning to these cetaceans.

But such is not the case. MSNBC ran a story to show that such fantastic claims were bogus. And as of yesterday, the final four missing Mississippi dolphins have been reported as caught and accounted for. The trained dolphin actually are located in San Diego, not Mississippi. They don't shoot laser beams but are trained to look for strange objects on the bottom of boats. So, it looks like time might be better spent for the British reporter to write an Austin Powers IV movie plot instead. Judging from his article, he's pretty good at spinning a yarn. Can you picture Mini-me straddling a Navy-trained dolphin up the river Thames on his way to hold the residents of London hostage? Now that's good movie stuff.

Photograph provided by Gwen Chandler of Shreveport, LA c/o Stock.xchng

Teen finds the power to fight politicos

A teen is finding the power in himself to challenge top Utah politicians. The funny thing is that this happened all during first lady Mary Kaye Huntsman's "The Power in You" initiative to promote self-esteem among teens. It looks like this teen has ample supply of self-esteem. While exiting a parking lot at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, eighteen-year-old Zachary Schryver found himself hit by Attorney General Mark Shurtleff limousine as it swerved into Schryver's lane to avoid a barricade. A security officer of SUU cited Schryver for the incident and the teen decided to fight it. It seems fairly obvious to this writer that the driver of Shurtleff's limo should get the ticket, not the teen.

175th Semiannual General Conference

"...live together in peace without war and contention, argument and conflict."

So said President Gordon B. Hinckley at the Sunday morning session of the 175th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The photo is taken and touched up by me of members lined up to enter the Conference Center for the Sunday morning session. What's not seen are a few street preachers holding up signs and shouting denouncements of the teachings of the church at designated areas and a group of single LDS adults that formed a choir singing hymns in contrast to the shouting. There were pockets outside the center that had a carnival atmosphere. Inside was still and calm.

Scientists Photograph Giant Squid in Wild

TOKYO (AP) -- Through incredible determination and brilliance, a team of Japanese scientists has captured on film for the first time one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep-sea in its natural habitat. At 26 feet in length, here's proof from film and dna that this Architeuthis exists. (Cliff's note: In the diving community, we've believed that such giant creatures existed but have had little hard evidence until now.)

Saw this job posting today

f u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb n cmptr prgrmmng.      

Utah Senate launches Blog

How cool is this? The Utah Senate has started the country's first senate Web log, where citizens can read and respond to lawmakers' comments.

Cats will be cats and dogs will be dogs

There are some things in life that one knows with a high degree of certainty. One knows that a cat meows and a dog barks, and not vice-versa.

The governors of Louisiana [D] and Mississippi [R] are now forever bound by Hurricane Katrina, but the sounds they make regarding Washington's reaction to an overwhelming catastrophe will be starkly different. Each governor's background, alliances and experience would have them see things very differently and consequently each will verbalize a different spin on events. Of course, the hardest hit was Louisiana, particularly when New Orleans' levees gave way and the city was flooded. LA's Democratic governor, Ms. Blanco, a school teacher by training, is not part of the Washington establishment and has been very critical of Washington's response to Katrina. And, predictably, Washington has found fault with her response -- but not Governor Barbour's.

On the other hand, Mr. Barbour of Mississippi is the consumate Washington lawyer and insider. He is very close to the president, and the law firm he founded is the top lobbying establishment in Washington. He seems to have aspirations to run for president in 2008. He curries political favors by being supportive. So, do not look for criticism of the federal government from this governor. Such remarks would not be in his political interest. Morover, whining doesn't look presidential.

We know who will meow against the administration and who will bark for it. Dogs and cats act according to their nature and interests. Meanwhile, the people still count their losses.

Source: Wall Street Journal, Free Articles

Gas prices high? Try an eco-friendly, $3.5 mln Skycar

CHICAGO (Reuters) - If that Hummer is draining your cash at the gas pump, Neiman Marcus Group Inc. has the perfect holiday gift: A fuel-efficient, $3.5 million "Skycar" that flies 350 miles per hour and burns environmentally friendly alcohol.

America's right made a left!

"Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then gets elected and proves it." - P.J. O'Rourke

The Economist, a magazine that is very kind to conservative ideas, leads this week with the story about "What's gone wrong for the right?" (Subscription needed.) It speaks of the indictment of Tom DeLay, fiscal troubles and the aftermath of Katrina having tipped George Bush's presidency into deep trouble.

Bush's compassionate conservatism has translated into big government. According to the same Economist article, Bush has spent more than any president in the past half century save liberal President Johnson, author of The Great Deal (aka Mr. Spend). While spending like a drunken sailor on shore leave, the GOP has dropped its revenues by significantly lowering taxes. So, our government increasingly grows bloated on debt.

Now, if that remarkable drift of Republican idealogy from fiscal conservatism to free-spending liberalism wasn't alarming enough, there are also the numerous and major mess-ups, the down right incompetence and managerial sloppiness to deal with. The most recent was FEMA's dealing with Hurricane Katrina, one among many. The lack of WMD evidence in Iraq was another. It takes competent people to make one of the largest and certainly the most powerful government on earth effective.

The Economist hit the nail on the head. What has gone wrong with the right? They look like an eagle but fly like a pea-hen. Please get back to the basics, to the platform. And I am not alone in such feelings. Conservative media such as The Weekly Standard are calling for a focus on Republican basics. Even the National Review of all places had a lead article on Pork-barrel Republicans.

Is that too hard to ask for? Someone please step up. I want my old Republican party back.
Photo by Pam Roth c/o Stock.xchng (also see her website)

Being an idiot father

"Few things are more satisfying than seeing your own children have teenagers of their own." -- Doug Larson

That line really gives fathers like me hope in one day getting even because right now during the teen years, we Dads feel helpless. At least, I do. Whatever wisdom comes from our mouth will be construed as the words of an idiot. About the only thing Dad can say that would remotely be construed as wise is how beautiful, kind and wise our children are. Beautiful, yes. Kind and wise, not always. At any rate, that's about where the border of my particular fatherly reach lies.

This evening there was a very intense conversation around driving privileges, slipping grades and driving with a broken car across the Rockies to a far off place. It was a battle of wills between mom and daughter on who could argue with the best skills. The conversation turned loud at times with threats of "I'm leaving whether you like it or not." Frankly, I was hoping that I would be the one leaving.

These are times in which I want to sometimes turn to my teen daughter and ask, “Who are you”? “What have you done to my daughter? But, I don't. I resist. She would just tell me that I should say nothing at all if I don't know what I'm talking about. Besides, the conversation has taken a turn for the better. Her Mom seems to be gaining ground.

I hope there will be a light at the end of the tunnel and that the light at the end is not the headlight of a train right before it hits. There is some point in a child's development that one just has to have faith that correct principles have been absorbed by osmosis, even though there is no evidence of such thinking at home. We can hope that one day when our children have children of their own, they just might realize that Mom and Dad aren't the complete idiots they thought we were, just half-idiots trying to do the best they could.

You parents out there, know what I mean?

The Prez responds quickly

I wrote the piece below late last night about how the president needed to take the lead from President Pierre Nkurunziza in conserving government spending on fuel and cars. What I didn’t realize is just how quickly President Bush would respond to my concerns. Within 16 hours, Scott McLellan announced that the White House will begin conserving energy. They will send out memos to staff to conserve on fuel, use fewer government vehicles, turn off office lights, computers and printers when not in use. This little memo below had the president and staffs respond within hours. I mean, I just started blogging yesterday. But thanks for listening, Mr. President. Since I now have your attention, Mr. President, how about really cutting government expenditure?

Below is my original web log and was posted on Monday, September 26, 2005 at 11:37 p.m.
---
Judging from this article, there is at least one political leader in this great big world of ours who can reign in government spending, er, well at least this one time. Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has told ministers to stop orders for government SUVs in a drive to cut costs. I like Nkurunziza's attitude. Our president and his party of "small government and fiscal responsibility" could take lessons from Burundi's prez.

We Wear the Mask

I am reminded of a fireside with a rather famous latter-day saint, a lovely lady who had just gone on an extensive public tour revealing how she coped with chronic depression, divorce and great pain. Yet, there was never a mention of such things. Her life was described as peaches and cream, with not a hint of a single worm in those peaches. She felt comfortable enough talking about her struggles to the general public at almost every turn but obviously didn't feel the same when it came to her own church culture. She wore the mask.

I wonder how many lives could be reached by talking about our struggles with frailties and life's misfortunes rather than skirt past such unniceties. Like her, we probably all wear a mask of one degree or another. I respect that mask but thank heavens the scriptures have peeled away such masks by revealing the frailties and humanity of those striving to be more godly. At least I can turn to them in my hour of need.

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!