Joseph Rising

A while back I saw this rather provocative posting from Wales on the Merthyr Rising Facebook Page:

Merthyr Rising

February 20 at 5:06am · 

8 years on and we're still paying for the greed, arrogance and incompetence of the bankers.

This should be a really interesting talk on alternatives to the banking system as it it.

Why don't we own the banks and make them work for us, instead of the other way around?

Now, that seems like a solidly Socialistic proposal. Imagine, the People in charge of the banks!

It also goes farther than any breaking-up of the banks and Wall Street power that U.S. Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders proposes. Pretty radical, some might say.

Then I read Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith's ideas about a National Bank for the U.S. set forth as he became a candidate for the Presidency in 1844:

Book Report - Worst Mine Disaster in the History of Britain - Senghenydd 1913

Alexander Cordell's, This Sweet and Bitter Earth (1977).

There are spoilers in the post title and more coming. As the book is out of print and hard to find, I think that's OK. I found my copy searching Amazon used and Abe Books; the latter is the best for British publications. And I'm glad I don't know all the details of Welsh History before I pick up these books. It helps bring it all home to me or at least to look on it as it is my ancestral abode. And it does come home:

Nikeland

My boy went from one amazing corporate culture to another. It was great to visit Disney, and of course, its "land." Yesterday we had the opportunity to see a new, wonderful world of color, mostly green, but stunningly beautiful.

The Nike Campus

Note the brand of shoes our granddaughter wears now. No more Disney Princess shoes!

You're NOT In Good Hands with Private Insurance

That's with intentional reference to Allstate, by the way. Thankfully like a pretty good neighbor, State Farm is there.

On the evening of New Years Day, we discovered the above situation with our car that was parked out in front of our house. There was no note from whomever may have hit the dang thing.

Is the Pope Capitalist?

Apparently not.

A humble Pope Francis honors the poor and ill.

It has been entertaining to see the right-wing go after the Pope, of all people. I mean, if Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are all against the guy for his views on Capitalism and the Social Gospel, almost they persuade me to become a Catholic! Except that if anyone really reads the Book of Mormon, the revelations of Joseph Smith, or teachings of Brigham Young, they wouldn't be a Capitalist either. It's only the Anti-Christs in the Book of Mormon who preach that each man prospers according to his own genius!

Why I Continue My Fight

Time for a little open-heart reflection and explanation why I continue my fight against Senators Cruz, Lee, & Paul along with the tea-party Representatives and the political entertainers Beck & Limbaugh.

I've read a little history and seen enough old news reels to wish somebody had stood up to Senator Joe McCarthy earlier. I also wish more people had stood up to Cleon Skousen too. Even Ernie Wilkinson could have used a bit more of a kick in the rear when he imposed his anti-communist spy-ring on my alma mater. So I'm standing up to the demagogues now in hopes of saving them and their followers from worse abuses like those we've known in the past in this very country. And they've mostly come from the extreme Right.
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Bottom line, what I fight against is the demagoguery that pulls in some very good friends and family that I care about.

The Big Lie of "Socialism!"

I got a little snarky on a FB post of a friend with whom I share some political views. In his attempts to promote a little Social Justice from solid, Mormon History, he was met with all the usual screed about the evils of "Socialism." My best comment was:

"Socialism. You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it does."

My point here is to try and explain that when tea-partiers on the Right talk about "Socialism" they are not using the classic, dictionary definition of an economic system in which the state owns and controls the means of production.

(By the way, I am not a Socialist. I believe in property rights and open markets regulated by representative democracy. Sigh!)

Great Expectations?

With so much family history and Scouting activities recently, I haven't had time to get too political. Well, how 'bout if we pine for the good old days in Britain before Labour governments destroyed the free enterprise system? Having stumbled into Dickensian coincidence with my own ancestors, I discover that I'm not a Thatcherite.

Nephite Health Care

The Kingmen's plan was to put all their friends in power against the voice of the people so they could control all the riches and leave the poor church people to their own devices. Certainly, the poor's silly religious beliefs would help them out if they were attacked, hungry or got sick. It sure wasn't the Kingmen's responsibility. The Zoramites did one better and kicked the poor right out of their church because they were obviously not favored of the Lord - that was in the standard "prayer" of the Zoramites. (See Alma 31 for the Zoramites, Alma 51 etc. for the Kingmen - oh heck, just read the whole book!)

Last night I helped with some priesthood blessings to heal the sick. Faith helps the healing process while still using all the physical miracles of modern medical science that the Lord has blessed us with here on earth. This family has a son in the hospital with very serious illness. He was one of my Scouts. We saw him a little earlier yesterday evening. The blessings were for his Dad who is going in for hip surgery this morning in another hospital and for his Mom who is beside herself with worry and fear - not to mention lack of sleep. The Dad works hard with his own business. The mother works in a basic job for local government, but it is the one that has health benefits for the family. Thank Heavens!

I have a couple of other friends who are professionals. They both work very hard and are good at what they do with great benefit to society. One currently has employment with health coverage. The other does not. Even the one with access has not always had it as she has been an independent contractor at times. The one who doesn't have it currently has had coverage in the past as she had state government employment that dried up due to cuts throughout government. Why is one entitled to easy access to medical care and the other is not? It makes no sense to me. Maybe it's their own fault, but then we'd have to answer to King Benjamin. (Just read the whole book! And please, not in the style of  the Pharisees or the Skousenites.)

Likening Freemen and Kingmen unto US

The doctrinal and missionary chapters of the Book of Alma in the Book of Mormon are just great! But I have to admit I just don't have the same love for the war chapters. I'm not a big war guy anyway. And I've seen a lot of interpretations "likening the war scriptures unto us" especially for the defense of the youth of Zion which isn't so bad. And occasionally, usually someone like Anonymous D, will point out that in the war chapters the good guys always stand for defensive, never aggressive war - and only when God approves. I get really annoyed, though, at the use of those scriptures to promote political ideologies, particularly from the far right (Skousen's Freeman Institute comes to mind).

So I thought I would do a little "likening" of my own. Please do not consider this as pure doctrine. It's just some of my own little thoughts that may offend some. But if the right wing can do it, so can I.

My text is Alma 51:2-8 with slight "likening." You can compare the original here.

2 Nevertheless, they did not long maintain an entire peace in the land, for there began to be a contention among the people concerning President Obama; for behold, there were a part of the people who desired that a few particular points of the Obamacare and Stimulus laws should be altered or repealed in their entirety.

Domestic Tranquility & the General Welfare

When I leave out the back door of the first floor of the Federal Building, I'm always fascinated to see all the huge screens and fancy computers down the hall of the National Weather Service, part of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA - pronounced "Noah") of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Sometimes we all could use an ark or a dove (or maybe that's a seagull - but they can be good too).

City Creek Opens

It takes a market.

You have to admire the faith in markets to build the largest retail commercial complex to open in the United States this year in the midst of the worse economic crisis since the Great Depression. There must have been some inspiration to have plans in place and build while the economy was down, saving costs while pumping money into the local construction industry and connected businesses. And now the successful opening comes just as our slow recovery climbs into a brighter Spring.

Crushing the Aristocracy of Corporations - The Jeffersonian/Rooseveltian Way

Inspired by this quote passed along through Facebook:

I did find reliable provenance in a letter of Jefferson to George Logan, November 12, 1816.

The Third Seal Opened the Market Based Economy?

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Vasnetsov
Note the third rider on the black horse carrying the market scales

So, I was sitting there in Gospel Doctrine Sunday School class amazed by the teacher skimming through that lesson on Revelation Chapters 4-22, which is quite a lot to cover in forty minutes. We did have the McConkie outline explaining that it is mostly historical based on the dispensations of the Gospel and not all still to come. We read about the first four seals and the horsemen. There was a comment about the third seal representing famine and starvation because people of the world don't share the resources we have resulting in inequities. I went back and read the verses again:

The President and the Beast

No, I'm not blogging again about Gingrich. More of that will come to the extent that the amphibian is somehow able to stay ahead of Romney and Huntsman can't have his turn to peak. What I want to address is how the President is changing the game in dealing with the "beast."

A year ago I was pleased to see the President cutting deals with Congress just to get anything he could because any compromise helped defeat the tea party philosophy of no compromise. One of the best ones he got was the reduction in the payroll withholding tax. It was a small but effective stimulus to get more money circulating in our economy, necessary in order to have a market in the first place whether free, regulated or somewhere in between. Republicans love cutting taxes. This cut helped out all taxpayers, especially the middle class. It was a tax cut. How could the Republicans refuse? It was ideal.

Christians? Maybe A Fourth Way

Or first, depending on where you start counting. The whole dispute over "Are Mormons Christians?" I find kind of silly. Besides the total irrelevance of the question in political considerations - as in, "no religious test" under the U.S. Constitution, I see the conversation going something like this:

"You're not a Christian!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not."

When Jesus Christ Himself had silly questions or accusations leveled at Him, He either refused to answer or turned it back on the challengers. "Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others . . . ?" "A certain man went down from Jerusalem . . . ." Maybe we should respond with something like, "Have you asked of God?"

What Free Market?

It's fine if you believe in a theoretical or philosophical free market - even if you believe than any decision on the economy should move more toward that freedom. I think I understand that position. My personal view is that a free market subject to regulation by a democratically-elected representative form of government is preferred. I respect and believe in the right of individual property and its protections. I am not a Socialist. But could someone please tell me where that pure, free market has ever existed or how it ever will exist except in pure theory? And, by what authority?

Anarchists Occupy and Ron Paul Supporters Come Full Circle

Proving the political continuum is not a line but a circle, the Occupy Wall Street Movement marched through downtown Salt Lake with dispossessed Libertarians. As we watched from the windows of the Federal Building, they were at least smart enough to realize that a branch of the Federal Reserve was across the street and that's where they focused their pass-by march rather than just yelling at us for trying to serve the public. There were over 200 of them which beats out the last tea party tax day protest by a long shot.

Pretty cool design - the whole red revolution-thing going
with the socialist (oops, "industry") beehive 

How We Avoided Blowing up in the Bubble

I hesitate to trumpet "good works" as I walk that fine line between explaining myself with real-life example and self-righteous arrogance. Yet I also want to defend my theoretical views of life with practical application. It's been nagging me since I published my last piece about the economy and how we all ought to just get along. So, I'll just go for it.

In 2005 while the real estate bubble was expanding a few years still before it popped, my office reorganized and transferred me to Utah. We had to move fast which worked well when the housing market was as hot as pancakes slipping off the griddle at Scout camp. We loved the house we had in Albuquerque and decided we would sell and try to match it as closely as possible in value here. We were absolutely shocked when our realtor told us how much we should ask for our existing home. That was the market we were in, so we listed.

Huntsman Pledges not to sign any Pledge

Jon Huntsman, with no chance to be the Republican nominee in 2012, still might just possibly be a VP candidate and could be the Republican standard bearer in 2016 when the party stops steeping in dogmatic tea. He recently said that he would not sign all the popular pledges among the Republicans trying to out do each other on their litmus tests and creeds. The only pledges he is concerned about is the one he made to his wife at marriage and the pledge he makes to the flag. Now there's a true American!