Live-blogging LDS General Conference Sunday P.M.

Well, we just about lost the start here in the excitement of swatting a wasp in our family room. My Ute son has been for allergy testing and stings are a great risk to him. As my 16-year-old was waiving around the newspaper (D-News, of course), his older brother was yelling, "Don't anger it!" But it was successfully swatted.

President Eyring conducting.

Live-blogging LDS General Conference - Sunday A.M.

Here we are. I was at a high school marching band competition yesterday, so my apologies for not being able to live-blog. In other words, I spent a week in Herriman yesterday. Or maybe it was a whole winter because it was cold! And I had to give my jacket to my boy who was in shorts and t-shirt when he took off his band uniform. This is a serious conference distraction (as it was yesterday), but you can see the video I put up on YouTube:

Not Quite Live-blogging Saturday, LDS General Conference

Sorry, I have an important family matter to attend to today and I will not be able to live-blog the Saturday general sessions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints General Conference. You can catch it at LDS.org.

I will, however, live-blog the General Priesthood Session tonight for the first time ever! While they still encourage fathers & sons to attend a satellite broadcast together in a local chapel, it will be freely available on live-broadcast on BYU TV (I think) and on the itnernet. As my only son left at home has other business tonight, I'll just sit here in my comfy chair and blog.

And I won't be commenting on any protest, etc. I'm sure there will be plenty of coverage in other places.

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Some time later . . . .

The Lincoln Analogy

Obamacare pales in comparison to the importance of freeing the Slaves. And shutting down the government is nothing at all like Civil War. But the principles are exactly the same.

President Obama came in inexperienced and made mistakes - so did Lincoln. But there was an overriding principle of promoting Constitutional government of, by, and for the People - all of us People - not any particular faction, party, or philosophy, except for this: The Constitution is not some stale, old parchment perpetually framed in the National Archives and in the context of the 1700s. No, the principles that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" and that all our individual ideals and aspirations have value as we learn to work together within the framework for government that our Founders were inspired to construct should last the eternities.

Check those words again, all men are created equal. Well, for one thing, it now includes women, too - and children. The 'all' also has a bit more meaning than it did originally. It's not just white male property owners anymore. Go find those words in the Constitution! (spoiler - they're not there!) No, those words come from the brain and pen of Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence (in committee with Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston). The concept has always been important to the American Spirit, but those words were not in the Constitution. There needed to be a phase-out of the concept of State Power as opposed to the rights, protections, and even responsibilities of individuals.

Bumper Sticker Time!

Sitting at home with my thoughts percolating into little blips for tweeting, I am able to express what I've long been believin':

You Can't Govern with those Who Think Government Is the Problem.

You Can't Compromise with those Who Believe Compromise Is the Problem. 

Compromise Is Not a Dirty Word 

Federal Employees are People Too!

Federal Employees Have Families

Shutdown 2013 Update No. 5

Well, I'm cheered up a bit more. Getting dressed, I found a symbolically purple shirt, a tad more blue than purple. Then I dug in my top drawer for the box that had my 20-year and 10-year Interior service pins. Together they make 30 which I have on the calendar, but not on service computation date until March 4 coming up. Then I snapped my government ID onto my lanyard and draped it over my head. That's something I rarely do because I so easily catch it and choke myself. Today I wanted to look the part of a federal employee.

As I came in the federal building, I showed my ID then saluted the photos of the President and Vice President and then saluted the Constitution up on the wall as I said to the guard, "That's some good stuff in there." (I know, you think I'm looney tunes. But that's just the way I am.)

Senator Lee's Staff - Chips Off the Ol' Blockhead

There will be a Shutdown 2013 Update No. 5, but this part of the story is just too good not to tell it separately. I took a trip down to Munchkinland today.

Senator Mike Lee's Staff

When I signed my furlough notice, I wrote a little note on the top: