Renounce Guns, Proclaim PEACE

It's time to call an end to Mormons arming themselves to protect against an imaginary tyrannical government or even for "self-defense." 

Don't get me wrong. I get the anti-government sentiment. I've worked for the feds for 34 years and don't like them much. But heaven help us if we continue on the path we are on!

There is a sickness in American culture (and I mean the US, not our Canadian or Latin American friends). Actually, there is more than one sickness. One is racism and the original sin of slavery which we have not shed, not nearly as well as other American neighbors who were also under this curse. The other, related sickness is the obsessive love of gun culture.

The LDS Church is more and more a world church. Sure, still with dominant American culture, but that is fading more and more and will only accelerate. We are the only nation where the LDS Church is established, Zion in the Latter-days, where we violate the laws of Zion on a regular basis by arming ourselves.

How Thick Is Family Blood?

Back sometime in the lost, golden age when Barack Obama was President of the United States, I was engaged in a political discussion on the internet with a member of my extended family. This person said that Obama was the most racially divisive president ever, but that because I was blood family we would always be connected. I wanted a divorce.

Recently, that is since white-nationalists marched with torches chanting their antisemitism in Charlottesville, and since the LDS Church responded with a statement clarifying its first that "white-nationalism," "white-supremacy," and promotion of "white-culture" were sinful and unsaintly, another member of my extended family left voice mails for me saying that I was full of hate and a disgrace to the family name. I want another divorce.

It is odd that the only person you can divorce in your family is your spouse. I suppose you can disinherit your children and kick them out at some point from your basement. But I love my wife and kids. My wife is still with me going on 38 years of love amid life's challenges and my kids have pretty much moved out for good. Or, at least we can hope.

The concept of family honor and "blood thicker than water" strike me as pretty creepy when they are used to attack my beliefs and my personhood. It's probably a small fraction of what some minorities feel when under attack by antisemitism or white supremacy.

Hell to Pay

Sick to my stomach doesn't begin to express what I felt watching the links below. I suffered so you don't have to unless you want to.

The first is the President's melt-down, press conference of yesterday (Tuesday, August 15, 2017, a day that should live in infamy). I watched the whole thing. The first part was about infrastructure. At about 7 minutes, he opened it up for questions and he went way downhill from there.

NY Times Transcript and Video of trump's Press Conference

Then there was this from one of the organizers of the legally permitted march in Charlottesville (Yes, First Amendment protected). It's a selfie-video he did when he learned that there was a warrant out for his arrest. He claims to be a peaceful and law-abiding neo-nazi. [WARNING: rough language].

"Blessed Are the Peacemakers"

There is an LDS conference talk that never got the attention it deserved. It was delivered by now President of the Quorum of the Twelve, Russel M. Nelson in October, 2002. I had finished my first ever marathon that morning in St. George and my grandmother and I were watching conference. She was then 92 years old. I remember her saying, "My! I've never heard them speak so directly about current issues!"

For a reminder, October 2002 was the big lead-up to the mid-term elections and Congressional authorization to go to war in Iraq. It was wrong then and few people saw it. My Grandma did and so did I, not just because of this talk, but the talk sure helped.

Elder Nelson's talk was soon overtaken by events and President Hinkley's address of April, 2003 after the war had exploded on the world and some obligation to our troops engaged in battle and civic duty were required. That talk still broke my heart. I think that it is time to share Elder Nelson's talk. We didn't have the same ready access to share thoughts with the world so easily in that day which seems to be freshly relevant.

"Blessed are the Peacemakers"

War, Peace, Love, Hate, Evil, Good - - Dr. Who

Hat/Tip to MDeL and Cinemablend for the links, and I was very impressed as well when I saw last Saturday's Episode of Dr. Who.

I also just finished reading Sharon Kay Penman's Lionheart about the 3rd Crusade and Richard I who certainly earned his fame - not just on the battlefield but in the peace negotiations with his Saracen foes - and equals.

Oh, he was no great hero in a human sense about as far removed from Sainthood as a Warrior-King could be. He did know how to make an entrance. After relieving the Siege of Jaffa by climbing up a Templar backstair and then holding off a series of attacks from a much larger force:

Once they realized the battle was over and they'd actually won, Richard's men went wild. Their jubilant celebration stopped abruptly, though, when they saw Richard galloping his stallion toward the enemy. As they watched, first in alarm and then in delighted disbelief, he rode the entire length of the Saracen line and none dared to accept his challenge.

And then he entered a peace treaty without conquering Jerusalem - and Christian Pilgrims were allowed protected entry.

I'd like to see Dick Cheney try something like that.

I Will NOT Vote for Hillary!

I know I've sworn off political blogging for a while. But this actually helps explain one of the reasons. It may even win me some love back with many friends and family. But then, probably not. Because I'm not voting for any of the Republican clowns who are even worse than 2012 which I didn't think could even be possible. And not that it makes much difference in Utah anyway.

No, my reason is simple.

The Iraq War was wrong.

It was wrong before it started. It was wrong while it was going - except that we did need to support our troops while it was going which we failed pretty miserably thanks to Rumsfeld, Cheney, and W who wanted war on the cheap. And the Iraq war was wrong now as almost everybody admits.

And I knew it was wrong long before it started and throughout. I think Hillary did too and that's one reason why I oppose her and will forever. And dang it, Joe Biden voted for the war too. Hillary admits it was wrong now as she goes all tough on Iran even with grudging support of the President's negotiated agreement.

HOPE in World Peace and Collective Security

We went pretty hard on the President last night. So today I further reveal my idealism which some find pollyannish to the max. But it's who I am. "And I'm not the only one. I hope some day you will join us. And the world will be as one." (Thanks, John).

The President is so close to being right, I hope he doesn't blow it with a US go-it-alone policy. Congressman Chris Stewart spoke at my son's high school yesterday and said that the US has a duty to be the world's policeman. I told my boy that I think our Congressman wants to have you all as soldiers. "I kind of got that idea," was my youngest's response. We have to stop people like Chris Stewart.

You may find it surprising, but my ideal for international intervention is what George H. W. Bush did. Sadam invaded Kuwait. US went to Security Council. US lead a true coalition of a multinational force for a limited objective of removing Iraq from Kuwait. Iraq suffered devastating military loss and left Kuwait. Iraq lobbed missiles at Israel for no good reason except to break up Arab states in coalition. US & others destroy Iraqi missile capabilities. Multinational force went home. (Except we didn't quite go home. We set up military bases in Saudi Arabia with Saudi consent. And that helped triggered the brutal plan for 9/11 in bin laden's warped brain.)

Senator Lee & his Friends

I had to cut and paste Senator Mike Lee's really good statement of respect at the death of Nelson Mandela. Also included are a few of the many comments of Senator Lee's "friends."

My work is done here.

Dreamers

Went to a great concert the other night with some very good friends. It was Christopher Cross, Orleans, Firefall, Player, Robbie Dupree, and the Dream Weaver himself - Gary Wright. It was a late 70s into 80s nostalgia overdose. And loads of fun!

Just before it began there were still two empty seats to my right. As on an airplane, there was some sense of relief that an obnoxious walrus wasn't going to sit beside me. Then, this tall, blonde girl comes down the row and it was one of my favorite Cousins!

Classic Filibuster - Drone on the Drones!

Senator Rand Paul (R. Kentucky)

Senator Ron Wyden (D. Oregon)

I caught some tweets and news clips of an unlikely hero (of mine), Sen. Rand Paul (R. Kentucky). I've been hard on him in the past and probably will in the future as I have just found one and only one area of agreement. And that is opposition to the Drone War. It's also the one area where I have strong disagreement with President Obama. He should know better. And my optimistic idealism leads me to hope that it is all part of a grand strategy to have it cut off before the end of his second term, hopefully with a clear decision by the Supreme Court so no President will ever do it again. (One can dream.)

It was fascinating as an old style filibuster with the Senator on his feet only yielding for questions (in the form of drawn out speeches ending in a question) by pre-arranged associates who would carry on the filibuster. Mike Lee (R. Utah - groan, now he does something I like), Ted Cruz (R. Texas), Jerry Moran (R. Kansas), Marco Rubio (R. Florida - who told him to keep his water close by), Saxby Chambliss (R. Georgia), John Cornyn (R. Texas), and Pat Toomey (R. Pennsylvania), [and John Barrasso (R. Wyoming)] - a regular tea party jamboree!! And then, and this is a big deal, Ron Wyden (D. Oregon) - one of my heroes for other reasons! (Mostly which I can't go into until I retire).

St. Francis of Moroni

One of my favorite movies is Franco Zeffirelli's Brother Sun Sister Moon - the story of St. Francis of Assisi.  My wife and I saw it again the other night. This 1972 film, as a product of its day, kind of portrays St. Francis as the first hippie (music by Donovan). But much better than a drug-addled counter-culturist picking flowers, St. Francis served the poor, the lepers, and of course, the birds of the sky and all creatures of our God and King. My wife isn't as taken by the film as I am. You have to remember my personality profile and the fact that it was 1972 in the midst of my teenage angst.

A good scene to sum it all up, very powerful and somewhat disturbing, is when Francesco's friend Bernardo, recently returned from the Crusades, goes out to find his old friend rebuilding the church of San Diamano:

Heal the Horror in our Hearts

Oh! My heart breaks yet again for this new and senseless tragedy in Norway. I am unaware of any Norwegian ancestry, yet my mom is a Peterson from Danish origins. And we are all human beings.

What a sickening, heart-rendering and unnecessary horror. The supposed perpetrator is in the custody of Norwegian law enforcement. They are a civilized nation and will see that our weak forms of human justice are exercised as well as they can in their own honorable tradition of law.

Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory!

One of the odd things that is hard to get used to living in Utah, although in sort of a good way, is that with Independence Day early in July and Pioneer Day near the end (the 24th to commemorate the entry into to the Valley of the first Mormon Pioneers), there is a three-week, patriotic extravaganza. The two holidays are celebrated essentially the same with parades, fireworks, picnics, patriotic and religious pageants, etc.

General Conference Priesthood Session

Went with my boys to our local ward to watch on satellite. As per usual, they turned out the lights so I really couldn't take notes. Actually, it was worse than usual because we were in the gym in the dark, and they still had lights on in the chapel washing out the screen. It also gave me a headache looking in through the dark. But I survived. Then we folded chairs and went off to Arctic Circle.

Anyway, I only got highlights: