Not Live-Blogging LDS General Conference, Sorry

I haven't left the church. I'll be watching conference to the extent I stay awake. But I'm still in recovery from walking pneumonia and tire easily. Also, I am working on a project of scanning family photos that I can work on at my own pace as I listen.

For real-time and post-time internet access, you can watch conference now from pretty much any where in the world at: LDS.org.

I will be blogging later on some themes. I expect we'll here more about aiding refugees as we've already heard in the first session last week, traditionally Women's Conference, and as recently as yesterday from Mormon Newsroom on refugees in Italy.

Dirty Politics

Politics is a messy thing. Self-governance as a people united of, by, and for each other is a high ideal rarely obtained. The political choices are almost always the least bad of bad options. Progress is generally made only through compromise. And of our political aspirants we often want to ask, "Why are your doing this?" "What for?" "What's in it for me?" and "By what authority?"

In Recovery from Walking Pneumonia

Hello, Codeine, my old friend
You're here to cure my lungs again
because the doctor said I've got the grip
That pneumonia let my lungs to slip

And the yellow crud is alive in my mucus cough
work is off
and I'm home in silence . . .

Trump Didn't Pay Any Taxes!

He says that makes him smart.

I pay taxes, so I must be pretty dumb.

The Clintons pay taxes. They've released years of tax returns. The Obamas pay taxes. The Bushes pay taxes. Even wealthy businessman, Mitt Romney, contrary to the false assertions of Harry Reid, paid taxes. Are they all dumber than Donald Trump?

Hamilton Saves the Union through Music

There is some kind of WWF contest on TV Monday night. Andy Kaufman is back wrestling a woman again or something. Maybe it's Roller Derby. Regardless of the high entertainment value of Hillary vs. the Donald in the ring, the real hope for America lies in Hamilton, the Musical.

PBS will be showing a special on the Musical phenom on October 21st, just a couple of weeks before the presidential election.

Joseph Smith on The U.S. Constitution - A Call for Protection of Minority Rights as in the Fourteenth Amendment

I've written some on this before including a guest opinion piece in the Salt Lake Tribune. Now that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Historian's Office has published the Council of Fifty Records, we can see for the first time, the full quote from Joseph Smith as recorded in that Council.

Joseph Smith on 11 April 1844:

In Which I Perform Another Unique Ceremony

St. Mary's, Cusop, Herefordhire (Cewydd Sant) on the Welsh Border. Surrounded by Yews.

My daughter did well keeping my lilacs alive while we were gone for the hot month of July. And our yard has nearly recovered from my one-year-old grandson turning off the automatic sprinklers.

I was out today shoring up a few of the lilacs that needed a watering base around them. Miss Canada, thriving so well this Spring, is not situated well to pick up the watering. And the new Firmaments and Pres. Poincaré planted in early summer could use the help.

After I was done, I thought about the yew needles from the Holy Yew at Cusop that I had finally found in my trip memorabilia. So I carefully got a few out and put one or two needles into the ground at the base of each lilac bush. In years to come as I sit under my lilacs, a small piece of the sacred yew will have become part of those plants.

The oak leaf is from another sacred site.
A Celtic Church and well in Cornwall.

It can't hurt.