I don't know all the ins and outs of the $700 billion dollar bailout plan, but the realist in me sees it as another way to stall the consequences of greed and selfishness. And now with the "Big 3" auto industries standing in line with their hands out it seems like a potential can of worms ready to explode as more and more failing businesses stand in line for help.
I am sorry we are in a deep recession (which sounds better than the actual depression that it is). I am sorry that businesses are failing. I am sorry the bottom fell out of the housing market. I am sorry banks are failing.
But I think individually and collectively we need to learn a hard financial lesson on how to manage money and the bailouts will only postpone the inevitable accountability that always accompanies choice.
Wednesday, November 19
Tom Turkey
So this Thanksgiving I will be making my first turkey. We're having J's family down for dinner and I am excited/nervous/apprehensive about cooking the dinner. I love a challenge and will give it a go, but also don't want it to turn out gross. My great mother-in-law will be there to help if I totally mess up, but as an approaching thirty-year-old I think it is time I learn to cook a turkey myself. I THINK I CAN...I THINK I CAN....I THINK I CAN....
Friday, November 14
Better late than never
I finally uploaded all of the picture CD's people have shared with me when, on the likely chance I forgot my camera, others were kind enough to snap photos. It was fun to relive these good memories.
Wednesday, November 5
Vote for Marriage, Part 2
My friend Bethany sent me this link to this prophetic 1978 BYU devotional address by Elder Neal A. Maxwell. If you have a minute, read it. If you don't have a minute, still read it. In light of the Proposition 8 outcome yesterday, I think this paragraph is particularly inspiring:
"Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel.
There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakening a slumbering majority out of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, til then, unconscious of itself."
"Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel.
There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakening a slumbering majority out of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, til then, unconscious of itself."
Monday, November 3
Vote for Marriage
Recently the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have asked that Church members in California “do all [they] can to support the proposed constitutional amendment,” (Proposition 8) to ensure that only marriage between a man and a woman would be legally recognized. Members of the Church in Arizona and Florida will be voting on similar constitutional amendments (Newsroom, The Divine Institution of Marriage, August 13, 2008, available at: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-divine-institution-of-marriage).
Instead of asking what the Church is doing by engaging in support of these marriage amendments, members of the Church living in California, Arizona, and Florida, should ask why they are doing it. Why, at this time, on this issue, having rarely done it before are the brethren encouraging church members to take a stand and “do all [they] can to support the proposed constitutional amendment” to protect the traditional definition of marriage?
The gay rights movement is seeking, like the women’s rights movement and the civil rights movement to establish being gay or lesbian as a civil right, a right that no person or no organization can deny. The article previously cited explains it well.
Legalizing same-sex marriage will affect a wide spectrum of government activities and policies. Once a state government declares that same-sex unions are a civil right, those governments almost certainly will enforce a wide variety of other policies intended to ensure that there is no discrimination against same-sex couples. This may well place “church and state on a collision course” (The Divine Institution of Marriage).
Taken one step further, this could possibly mean that if a gay couple, who has a civil right to be married, is denied the ability to be married in the temple (discriminated against), the government will have the right to enforce the gay couple’s right to marriage or, when the Church will not allow it, stop the Church from performing any temple marriages at all.
This is in no way a partisan issue. The gay rights movement is not a liberal vs. conservative battle. It is not a tolerant vs. intolerant war. Rather, the gay rights movement is the most charged, subtle, conspiratorial, and targeted weapon that the Adversary has ever used to bring about his most desired objective- to prevent God from accomplishing His work and His glory- “to bring to pass the eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
So to those who live in a state where this constitutional amendment is on the table- think twice before you vote, because what you decide may not change your life or opportunities, but it could drastically alter the choices and opportunities of your children or your childrens' children for generations.
Instead of asking what the Church is doing by engaging in support of these marriage amendments, members of the Church living in California, Arizona, and Florida, should ask why they are doing it. Why, at this time, on this issue, having rarely done it before are the brethren encouraging church members to take a stand and “do all [they] can to support the proposed constitutional amendment” to protect the traditional definition of marriage?
The gay rights movement is seeking, like the women’s rights movement and the civil rights movement to establish being gay or lesbian as a civil right, a right that no person or no organization can deny. The article previously cited explains it well.
Legalizing same-sex marriage will affect a wide spectrum of government activities and policies. Once a state government declares that same-sex unions are a civil right, those governments almost certainly will enforce a wide variety of other policies intended to ensure that there is no discrimination against same-sex couples. This may well place “church and state on a collision course” (The Divine Institution of Marriage).
Taken one step further, this could possibly mean that if a gay couple, who has a civil right to be married, is denied the ability to be married in the temple (discriminated against), the government will have the right to enforce the gay couple’s right to marriage or, when the Church will not allow it, stop the Church from performing any temple marriages at all.
This is in no way a partisan issue. The gay rights movement is not a liberal vs. conservative battle. It is not a tolerant vs. intolerant war. Rather, the gay rights movement is the most charged, subtle, conspiratorial, and targeted weapon that the Adversary has ever used to bring about his most desired objective- to prevent God from accomplishing His work and His glory- “to bring to pass the eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
So to those who live in a state where this constitutional amendment is on the table- think twice before you vote, because what you decide may not change your life or opportunities, but it could drastically alter the choices and opportunities of your children or your childrens' children for generations.
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