Is It Time Yet?

No. And it will never be. The coming presidential election fills me with dread. Hillary will be a fine president but the 47% (that voted for Romney not the 47% who . . . oh, never mind!) will make it shear misery for the nation and her. She may slip and commit an actual foul. And I sure don't want Bill in the White House again with too much time on his hands.

What pushes me to this cataclysmic decision as I go off to confer, converse, and otherwise hobnob with my fellow weirdos, was the vitriolic religious hatred for Senator Harry Reid for daring to confirm a new member of his church who happened to be a former Senator (Republican) and a friend. And that was from people in Harry's own church!

Anyway, I'm not ending the blog but it will see only sporadic posting from me as I just don't want to do it anymore. I'm tired. And my left arm hurts.

So, I leave you with this recent sparkling repartee between me and Anonymous D. I started out, for which I take full responsibility - but I may be closing comments on this:

Ride Bull At Six

Yes, I am a bit enigmatic and philosophical today. A matching clue is in the title of a Cat Stevens Album cover I used to stare at as I tried to figure out what it meant. That was in caveman days before the internet.

We went with some friends to see the Scottish play last night. The Cedar City Shakespeare Festival had its school-touring group at the Cultural Center in West Valley with an abbreviated version of Macbeth. They didn't seem to have cut out any of the murders or blood. It was a bit odd with an abbreviated cast with some playing several different roles. "Is that Banquo's ghost again? No, he's just a door guard."

Lady Macbeth was played well but by a short, light-haired woman. No one will ever match the one and only Lady Macbeth, my 11th-grade English teacher. Tall, dark, beautiful, and scary. That's the play we studied with her as my friends and I memorized all the lines with swear words in them. "Lay on, MacDuff! And DAMNED be him who first cries, "Hold, enough!"

Passionate, Moderate, Cultural Wars?

Your guess is as good as mine. There is something happening here. I'm not quite sure what it is.

My views on the Culture Wars have been expressed on this blog. I don't have all the answers. But my attempts to be moderate have liberalized me for the most part, but not entirely. Mainly, I've just tried to stay out of it.

This week, there was a press conference on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Elder Todd D. Cristofferson, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, and Sister Neill Marriott.  You can see it all and other information at Mormon Newsroom.

And here is a YouTube version I can add here:

Run, Mitt, Run! (far away from here)

For some reason only know to Mitt, Ann, and maybe Refalca the Prancing Pony, Mitt Romney has indicated strongly enough to seize the nation's attention that he may run for President again. The problem is, it seems like there are more than 47% of us now who are not going to ever vote for him (and there were actually 51.1% the last time. It was Mitt who barely cleared 47 at 47.2%.)

The speculation in the media is that he acted to assert his interest before Jeb Bush signed up all the support from the "Establishment" wing of the Republican Party. (The "Establishment" wing - always with a capital "E" - is made of the wealthy people who have wealthy family who have already been or have run for President. The 1% who like to get the 51% to vote for them.)

Apoplectic Ebola Syndrome

With only one confirmed ebola death in the US of an individual who contracted the disease elsewhere, and a half-dozen or so cured of ebola in the US mostly contracted elsewhere, the warning must go out about the risk of death by apoplectic fit over unnecessary fear and subconscious political linkage of things from Africa that have a lot of vowels and "b"s.

Yes, the risk of death by apoplectic fit in the political arena is real. A glance at The Political Graveyard website lists more politicians than you can count dying as a result of stroke or apoplectic fit, some in the very act of politics itself!

My Friend, Kokopelli

Imagine my surprise when I went to the reception at the Philmont Museum/Bookstore and noticed this great book on Kokopellis of the Southwest and opening it, found a section on the Kokopellis at La Cieneguilla (Santa Fe Canyon) where I helped BLM secure some property for public access. (You're welcome.)

Live (or delayed) Blogging of Precinct Caucuses in Centerville/Farmington

It all depends in my daughter, who is half-time teacher other half district science mentor for Davis Co. Schools will give me the wireless code for Farmington Jr. High. (Don't tell anyone!) The best part is that she mentors her mom who went back to teaching Jr. High Science a couple of years ago! They have a great time.

Objectivism vs. Communitarianism

"Angels Who Have Pruned on High!"
As part of our LDS Ward Fall Clean-up, our Bishop and others help take down a threatening tree limb before it falls.
I mostly worked on the leaf-raking crews as I have few heavy-equipment or chain-saw skills.

More philosophical than political today, although I'm far from being an intellectual philosopher. And for today we will just leave aside the devil's purpose regarding free agency (you can see my view here). And I relate personal experience only to say that I attempt to walk the communitarian walk.

Yesterday, I went out to help the neighborhood in our Fall clean-up project. Most of it was yard cleaning for widows and the elderly. Our Priesthood and Women's Relief Society under the direction of our bishopric prepared a list of people to visit with the needs they had. As we went around, we hit a few other homes that needed some work - those of new move-ins, less-active members of the church, even non-members. The best part of all is that some of the less-actives and a great new move-in family came out to help and then went along with us to other houses.

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.
.
Bottom line, what I fight against is the demagoguery that pulls in some very good friends and family that I care about.

Progressive Scouting

Feminism lives at Philmont Scout Ranch, Cimarron, New Mexico

No one would ever say "Liberal" Scouting. The Boy Scouts of America is a solidly conservative organization based on middle-class values transported from Victorian England (Lord Baden Powell, ¿no?) I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. In fact, most of it is quite good. My purpose here is to point out some important, if sometimes glacially slow, movement that Scouting has made in a good, progressive direction, IMHO.

Presidential Power & the People

Found it! I wanted to post a book report on this during the Happy Holy Days break but I couldn't find the darn book. I looked all over the house and tried to think whether I had left it at work, or on the bus, or even in Vegas on my last work trip. Then I found it, of course, in my library. But I'm not really the one to blame for the disorganization. My college boy moved in their during the break and a queen-size air mattress pretty much filled the room and covered the bottom shelf where the book was.

The author is Richard Striner, the guy I heard on that NPR program about Lincoln and Slavery with the racist caller. We exchanged friendly e-mails and I looked on History Book Club to see if any of his books were offered as I had a lot of points saved up. The one I found was Lincoln's Way: How Six Great Presidents Created American Power (Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland 2010). The reference to "power" was a little disconcerting as Lincoln was a war president and the others listed, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy, were either war presidents or presidents who had fought in wars.

The "Righteousness" of Conservatives and Liberals

Yesterday, I heard a fascinating discussion on KUER Radio West with Doug Fabrizio discussing the moral basis of politics with Social Psychologist, Jonathan Haidt. It was not in any sense a discussion of Right vs. Wrong but a social scientist's approach to understanding the differences. His thesis is that different groups have different value systems and speak different languages that mean different things to each other. While he conceded that much of it was in broad generalities, he concluded it was very important for a society to include both conservative and liberal groups and mindsets. The important thing is we have to learn to understand each other better. It was amazing - and right up my passionate moderate alleyway.

On the KUER webpage, there is a link to the program and additional information including a survey test to see where you come out on the values of morality tending to indicate a general political worldview, some of which we may not recognize on the surface. So here are my test results:

Another Year of Self-Promotion Passes

At year's end, I offer a big THANKS to my blog partner Anonymous D, my guest posters, and supporters.

It has been a great year for the blog with ever-increasing numbers of page views, a few, at least, I suppose are actually being read. I've had some great comments this year including one from Britain on Camelot and another solving a family history question about Native American rock art in Idaho. I've also linked up with some dear old friends who found me here which is very gratifying.

David Frum & David Brooks: Honorary Passionate Moderates

The election is over for me as I have already voted. And it's too late to persuade anyone else except that I urge you to go vote for whomever. There are still bigger principles at stake than this current presidential contest.

My freshman college son sent me a link to a video from his American Heritage class. He asked me for advice on an essay he was required to write about the video. I was pleasantly surprised to see the video myself as it is a wonderful presentation of many of the themes I have tried to express in this blog. The video was by David Frum, a conservative columnist branded as a heretic by the far-right for criticizing Sarah Palin, among other things. The video follows the jump:

Rhetorical Flourishes

Please, People! I don't suppose this will help, but here's my passionate plea:

It's Governor or Mitt Romney, not "Mittens" or "Willard."

It's President or Barack Obama, not "Barry" (or worse.)

It's the Democratic Party not the "Democrat" Party.

It's LDS or Mormon, not "Morman" Church.

It's right-wing or left-wing not "fascism" vs. "socialism" (which are sort of different versions of the same thing anyway.)

"Don't Believe Everything You Read on the Internet" -Abraham Lincoln

Yes! I get a chance to use my new favorite Lincoln quote!

Robin Williams as Mork speaking to the Universe (actually, Orson)

A Facebook friend (who shall go nameless) posted a crazy thing about Robin Williams spouting some rather reactionary conservative screed. I didn't think it sounded right (except for Robin being crazy - but even that's mostly in a good way). I had the same reaction that I had with George Washington supposedly promoting the NRA the other day. So I googled the first part of the quote and "Robin Williams" and came up with several sites debunking the scam. I went with Snopes.

Musical Socialism

Last night, I went to the annual awards ceremony of the jazz music program my two youngest boys are in. I won't name it here because of the title to this piece and I don't want to unnecessarily politicize the Director. I continue to take responsibility and flak for my passionate moderation seen by some on the right to be as evil as Mau-Mau Marxism.

Anyway, the Director said something interesting last night. In getting a little emotional about how much he respects his students for their talent and their basic goodness even more, he said that music education is so important because it teaches good citizenship as a lesson in civics. My ears perked up.

Romney & Reaction

I started this as a comment on yesterday's post, but it got way too long for Blogger.com to handle.

As a further exercise in self-indulgent over-explaining, I changed the initial title of my post of yesterday for which I would have used the cross-out strike-out feature but it's not available in that title box. It originally said "Romney Renounces His Mormon Heritage" which, as admitted in the first line of my piece is a little bit of hyperbole, yet not without a good faith basis, some of which is still in my pocket perhaps for later blogging.

Anyway, I thought it might be informative here to cut and paste in some comments from a Facebook friend who took some objection and did spark my decision to edit the title to tone it down slightly. His first comment was a bit intemperate and included several typos which I interpreted as evidence of angry writing. He later deleted that and toned it down to his credit - and I am grateful. And while I still wonder why some prefer to comment on the FB links rather than here, I will preserve anonymity confidentiality here [by using only initials] as I think it might be because of this blog being totally open to the world as opposed to just the mostly known friends and connections on FB. Here goes:

Government Is Good

I'm not making this up, people. And it's not just promoting my self interest. As a federal employee, I'm tired of being a whipping boy for everybody's self-interested complaints about what they don't like. I went to work for the federal government as a patriotic duty to try and do a little good in the world. It's about time more of us promoted that good with some participatory democracy with hope for the future and our divinely inspired Constitution.

We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society. D&C 134:1

One of the most pernicious false doctrines today is the idea that "Government Is the Problem." Government is not an inherent evil as anarchists and extreme conservatives promote -- not even in the sense of another misguided theme that the less there is of it, the better.

Not Following Goldwater

My first historical memory is the Kennedy assassination as I referenced here.  My first political memories come from the summer of 1964. That was an interesting year in politics. And my little memories helped lead me to my passionate moderate philosophy.

The first is rather vague but we were at the Washington Coast with some friends from Idaho. It must have been Kalaloch or Ocean Shores because the beach wasn't rocky. We found a series of arrows marked in the sand.