Impromptus

I'm sitting in the Chapman law library, avoiding what I'm supposed to be doing. I'll probably pick this topic up in more detail at a later date, but I had an interesting experience last week sitting in on a lecture last week for my program. Dr. Alan Keele (I think that's his name) came and spoke to us about LDS Germans that opposed Hitler and Naziism. What really disturbed me was how he began to talk about how important it is that we inform ourselves about politics and world events and become advocates for The Good, because sometimes we'll unwittingly support evil, as was the case with many Saints in Nazi Germany. What I found most disturbing was that he began to equate what happened with those members to citizens supporting President Bush in today's society. I couldn't believe my ears. He wasn't saying that they were exactly the same, but he wasn't far from making that point either. I was flabbergasted at how far left his comments were, and that other professors in my department seemed to nod in agreement.

I bring this up because there are certain opinion journalists that I love, love because of their transparent goodness. I've mentioned him many times, but I really believe Jay Nordlinger fits that bill. So just a couple of things that he has mentioned in the last week or so:

From a recent article citing 20 quick points about the Obama victory on November 4th:

I’m sorry, but the treatment of Bush — the demonization of Bush — is appalling. Absolutely appalling. And it says something rotten about our political culture. Think for a second about Katrina — the hurricane. I have no doubt that the federal government made mistakes, and no doubt that Bush fumbled the PR aspect. But this was a huge natural disaster — and people acted as though Bush had caused it.Crazy, crazy. Even some of my fellow conservatives have bought into the Katrina myth. I wish Bush would do more to defend himself, but he apparently thinks it’s not worth the bother. And don’t get me started on the treatment of Governor Palin after she debuted in Dayton . . .

And this chuckle-inducing missive from his most recent Impromptu's column:

Sometime in the late ’70s, Norman Mailer came to Zellerbach Hall at UC-Berkeley to give a talk. The place was sold out. This was during the period when he was writing pieces refuting Germaine Greer. He walked onstage wearing cowboy boots, Levis, and a shirt and jacket . . . and he had a rolling sort of John Wayne gait.As he stepped up to the microphone, he said approximately the following: “I know that about half of you here tonight hate my guts because of my stand on feminism. So let’s get that out of the way. I want you to hiss me. I want you to let all of your feelings toward me out. Come on, hiss me!”And the most spine-chilling hiss arose from the audience. It lasted ten seconds. I’d never heard anything like it before, and I haven’t since. It was authentic and deeply felt. And when it subsided, Mailer leaned into the microphone and said, softly, “Obedient bitches.”

And this letter from a reader that he cites:

I also went to that Palin rally, and it was truly eye-opening to see people from my office and community who I never knew shared a Republican point of view. Interestingly, I know who all the Democrats are. They don’t hesitate to speak their minds here — loudly and often.

You get the feeling that, if you say the wrong thing to the wrong person, you could be out of a friend, out of a job, or just subtly frozen out of opportunities to advance your career. So I try to keep things close to the vest, and I have even laughed along politely at more than a few Bush-as-idiot jokes.

And when I think I have it bad, I just have to listen to what my wife goes through as a public high school teacher. She has literally come home in tears on days when the vitriol from her fellow teachers has gone too far. All this in a part of the country that is supposedly the most tolerant of others’ viewpoints.

That particular letter felt poignant to with the recent backlash in events surround Prop 8. I don't doubt that many of you share similar feelings. I mean really...how is it that asserting your personal beliefs is something that becomes so villified? Here in the U.S.? And what's more, this is something that happens even though in 30 (maybe more?) states, whenever the issue has come up, the popular vote has been unanimously opposed. It just seems strange that the majority would get demonized in that way. Land of the free and somehow we lose friends because of dissenting opinions. This in a country that's the most "tolerant." Weird. That column can be found here.

From that same column comes this note from a reader and then his comments following:

Would you like to have an interesting morsel about China? A reader contributes the following:

I had an interesting conversation with my girlfriend a few days ago. She is Chinese and we were talking about the government there and we got on the topic of Tiananmen Square. I asked if the picture of the lone guy standing in front of the tanks had made its way around China at the time or if the government had suppressed it. She said that, in fact, the government had spread the image far and wide — as proof of how much they cared about the Chinese people, because the tanks had not just run him over! She said that the people have been propagandized for so long that they pretty much saw it that way. She never realized that the West viewed the man as a symbol of bravery and defiance until she came here about 15 years ago. Amazing, the interpretation of images.

Yes.

By the way, there was a famous poet in England — since reformed, I believe — who said that the Khmer Rouge were obviously compassionate, because they were killing people with bullets, when bullets were scarce and costly. True brutes would have beaten them to death with shovels and the like.

Seriously.

In that particular column he also makes mention of a Chief Justice Roberts dissension regarding a petition for a writ of certiorari (no, I don't know what that means, so I'll have to go to my resident law expert on that one, but I at least sound like I do, right?). I've never read much of these opinions by justices, but the few times I have, they're actually kind of interesting. What happened is that a narcotics officer spotted an exchange between two guys on a street corner, and arrested them. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held in a divided decision that the police lacked probably cause for making the arrest. What I like is what he closes his opinion with:

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court speculated that suchan exchange could have been perfectly innocent. But as Judge Friendly has pointed out, "[j]udges are not required to exhibit a naiveté from which ordinary citizens are free." United States v. Stanchich, 550 F. 2d 1294, 1300 (CA2 1977). Based not only on common sense but also his experience as a narcotics officer and his previous work in theneighborhood, Officer Devlin concluded that what happenedon that street corner was probably a drug transaction. That is by far the most reasonable conclusion, even though our cases only require it to be a reasonable conclusion.

I would grant certiorari and reverse the judgment of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Bold is mine, italics are his. I'm glad that guy is in charge over there. What will the Obama appointed Justices look and sound like? I hope they do not depart too much from the model of Chief Justice Roberts.

Anyway, I just thought those points were interesting, and I'm glad to hitch my wagon to a conservative like Jay Nordlinger. I think there is an incredible amount of Bush-derangement going on by lots of people, but I'm disappointed to find it on the BYU campus. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it can crop up there as well.

It's disconcerting, nonetheless, to know how vulnerable we all are to certain influences even when we think we're afforded greater light and knowledge than most populations, however true that may or may not be.

Dependent on Dysfunction

These are just some thoughts I had as I was preparing for today's sunday school lesson.

A couple nights ago I was chatting with a friend who is going through a break-up. For whatever reason, I love giving the break-up pep talk: you have to sever ties, nothing works like cold turkey (where did that saying come from anyway?), the more intense/longer the relationship, the longer/more definitive the separation has to be, and then the hard-close with, you never know what's right around the corner, and God wants you to be happy even more than you want to be happy. I don't know why, but I just love giving that talk. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I've dealt with it myself in a variety of ways, and seen it with a number of other people, but I feel like those are vital principles in dealing with break-ups. No exceptions.

It got me thinking about a number of other people I know dealing with different things, and then of course, my own experiences.

This guy dated this girl for two years, but for the last year, she's been cheating on him with her old ex-boyfriend. And yet, he's still having a terrible time getting over her.

Family member dealing with clinical depression. I don't think it's root causes are biological so just introducing medication isn't (hasn't) going to work. In talking to some of the clinical/counseling psych students that I know about what kinds of things they do to help people dealing with depression, and from my own readings, it really just seems like what happens is that a person quite literally needs a reprogramming.

A friend's mom is snooping around her ex-husband's house. Taking advantage of the fact that she knows he's out of the country visiting their daughter, she's going to his empty house, entering his backyard, doing who knows what. They've effectively been separated for a few years, and the divorce was finalized back in March, but she can't resist these weird kinds of urges.

Friend of mine recently apologized for some stuff that happened months ago that came as a result of a messy and lengthy break-up. Very messy. Very lengthy.

And a number of other examples, but those are just some that I can think of off the top of my head.

Whatever the case may be, each of these seem to have a common underlying symptom - people become dependent on dysfunction. At some point something goes awry. The problem doesn't receive a clear and functional resolution, and the perception of how things are supposed to be becomes completely altered. Sometimes it's the person's own fault, but there are also times when it isn't.

Under normal circumstances the person can obviously perceive that the current state of affairs is askew, but one of the remarkable things about the human psyche is its adaptability. However, under these kinds of circumstances that capacity to quickly normalize a situation is also its drawback - the unusual and otherwise unacceptable becomes the status quo. And this happens all the time in a million different variations of the same fundamental theme.

Every iteration of this scenario begs for a clear, meaningful, and immediate resolution, which is why having the gospel is so vital to proper functioning, and why the Atonement is requisite to perfection. Without a gospel foundation there is a severely limited ability to orient one's self morally and practically. I can't think of a good example, but it's like if we had to live without gravity. There is no practical order which makes living in a community of people impossible. In the Book of Mormon it's mentioned in Mormon 5:18 as having a rudderless ship.

I guess I'm just grateful for the knowledge that I have of the Atonement and the plan of salvation. It is there to help us correct those erroneous thoughts and behaviors that detract from the peace and happiness we're able to feel. It orients us when we're lost at sea and helps us pull safely back into harbor, without being whipped around by the waves and winds that would otherwise beset us. I'm grateful for that.

Mason Jennings and Zach Gill

Last night I had the pleasure of catching Zach Gill and Mason Jennings playing live at the Murray Theater. Visiting this venue was a first for me. I love these club-like places that hold less than a thousand people. The lighting left something to be desired, just too dark the entire time. Before the show started, between sets, and even during performances there was either too little lighting or poor lighting effects during the sets. That's not something I normally notice, but that was the case last night. It could have had something also to do with the overwhelming temperature of the place too. The acoustics, however, were great. In a show as mellow as this one, there wasn't going to be much opportunity for our ears to be blown out anyway but everything sounded perfect.

Zach Gill opened for Mason and I had actually never heard of him. Maybe if I hadn't been cured a few years ago by my Jack Johnson fever then I would have recognized him because he used to be a featured member in his band. His was alone for his entire performance which probably showcased his talent even moreso. He started off playing the piano and then moved on to the ukulele, piano and bongo (same time), accordion, and back to the piano. He was amazing. His music is characteristic of that Mason/Jack Johnson/Ben Harper ilk - laid back and at ease. What sets him apart from those guys is his humor. Most of his songs feel like stories, and one especially entertaining one was about the devil betting his accordion against a kid's soul that he was a better player. I can't quite place who he sounds like, but his voice and style reminds me of Jackson Browne. Here's another sample that was featured in Baby Mama. I'm pretty sure he will get pretty popular.

There was little delay between Zach and Mason's sets which is always nice. Come to think of it, I might have liked Zach's music more than Mason's actually. Mason played for almost two hours. He opened on stage by himself, and about three songs in his band joined him. Zach joined him on stage for the second half to accompany on piano. Mason is funny to me - his lyrics are full of humor but he doesn't laugh and rarely smiles the entire time he's playing. He played a new song about all the ways we can die and it was really funny, but his face didn't betray any of that humor. The best part about this kind of music is that there's so little doctoring of the album music, so hearing everything live is about the same quality as what you hear in your car. Except for a pair of chumps to my right that wanted to hear East of Eden, Mason played every song that anyone wanted to hear. The whole show was just awesome. There is nothing better than live music. This is the perfect kind of date concert. My favorite of the night was probably Soldier Boy, but you have to love these lyrics:

I'm Having Such A Gay Day

I loved this comment on my last post by Laura:

and Amy, watch what you say, Chris loves Twilight! (side note on Twilight, Matt was asking me about the phenomenon and I was telling him the range of different kinds of people that read the book and I said "even some guys have read them" and he said "like who?" and I said "xander and chris" - xander is matt's friend who is pretty metro - and matt responded "yeah but those are 2 of the most feminine guys i know" HA!

And let me follow it up with this comment that I had actually left today on Amy's blog post about Twilight:

Agreed. What's always bugged me about the series is that Edward is somewhere around a 25 and Bella is probably a 7. And while it's nice that he's flawless, isn't it more romantic to be bound to someone because you're willing to stick with them in spite of how flawed they are? (Yeah, I have had a blogpost cooking on that topic for a long time). Anyway, I'm sure this won't live up to the book. Can anything be better than what I've imagined Edward's cold, chiseled, marble chest to feel like in my mind? Er...Bella's supple...oh well. I've already given myself away.

Couple of gay things about that comment. Not just my lust for Edward, but that I really do know about Twilight in the first place. And let's finish with this chat I had today with a friend:

vanessa: be honest, have you ever gotten a pedicure? i could really go for one right now

me: hahahahahahaha. oh man i've been feeling so gay today but i'm so glad that i can say no to that no to that one

So I think I was teetering, but the fact that I actually haven't had a pedicure puts me back on the hetero side - but just barely. Although I have had my cuticles kind of pushed in and done on my hands, but that's different because it's called a MANicure anyway, so it's cool right? Right? And that was from my then-girlfriend.

I really was having such a gay day today. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think my "gayness" is something to where you'd be like, "yeah, I'm not so sure about that guy." And then I wouldn't say that I'm metro at all. How would you classify me in this respect then? Hetero with a bunch of feminine qualities?

I think I share a lot of qualities with JD. I love that clip of JD in the bathtub because that could totally be me complete with the bellowing of Toto's Africa. I'm staying with the Reids next week during Thanksgiving. Caitlin, you better hide all your girly stuff.

I don't know if it's good or bad that I have no problems acknowledging how feminine I am or that Laura has no inhibition about making that comment on my blog.

Wanna know some other quick gay facts? Dave will remember this...the year after our mission we had a roommate move in and he had a loofa and we were both like, "what the heck is this? are we living with a chick?" And now we both use them. I also apply lotion after I shower. So what??? Who likes dry elbows? Not me.

First Order of Business, Buy into Overblown Crisis

I saw this story earlier today about President-elect Obama's urge to curb global warming. I hate his rhetoric about the need to get ourselves independent of foreign oil, but somehow that doesn't include additional oil exploration in our own soil.

Recently, President Bush signed into order the opportunity to open up more oil shale exploration in Utah and Colorado. This is exactly the kind of thing that Obama won't do. He talks about bringing millions of jobs to the US through the expansion of alternative energy, but what about existing technologies that can make a huge impact now? And the global warming "crisis" is not what it seems.

Anyway, this most recent rant is dedicated to the global warming topic. Here is an article from some smart guys at IBD editorials talking about the mix up by the global warming fanatics. Here's some of what they had to report:

Hansen's claim of the hottest October ever came after reports of unseasonal snow and record low temperatures.

China's official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its "worst snowstorm ever."

The Swiss lowlands last month got the most snow for any October since records began.

Zurich received 20 centimeters, breaking the record of 14 cm set in 1939. Ocala, Fla., experienced the second-lowest temperature recorded for October since 1850.

Elsewhere in the U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th warmest October in 114 years. So how did Hansen claim it was the warmest?

Booker writes: "The reason for the freak figures was that scores of temperature records from Russia and elsewhere were not based on October readings at all. Figures from the previous month had simply been carried over and repeated two months running."

And that information that was disproven later came from the geniuses at NASA.

These are the blogs and sites that debunked the widely circulated rumor that October was the hottest month since they've been keeping track, Watts Up With That and Climate Audit.

Commenting on the same story, the guys at Powerline had this to say about the subject:

As the scientific evidence continues to accumulate, it becomes increasingly clear that "global warming" hysteria is based on a combination of bad science and fraud.

And remember all the hype recently about how the arctic is melting at unprecedented rates? You should have at least heard about some of the fuss about putting polar bears on the endangered species list, not because they're actually endangered, but because of the projections about the melting ice caps. Well apparently they're growing at unprecedented rates.

Lame. Find something better to do people. Can we not be alarmists about everything? Geez.

More Thoughts On Prop 8

I just read this article from the LA Times about some of the backlash that the church has been facing. From the article:

For years, church leaders have tried to blunt the assertion that Mormonism is somehow out of the political and cultural mainstream. The backlash over gay marriage carries risks and rewards toward that goal.

This is probably nitpicky, but that line doesn't really feel very objective to me. And what's that comment based on? And maybe I only say this because I'm a member, but I don't really think that the church makes its decisions based on trying to appear mainstream, or out of a desire to be liked by the world over. The church takes its positions based on what's right, regardless of how that appears to anyone on the outside. It's convenient when Right is aligned with what's popular, but the acceptability of certain positions do not dictate the direction in which the church moves.

I was hometeaching a girl yesterday and we started talking about the Prop 8 issue (which is kind of interesting because even here in Utah, every class and every discussion that we have seems to revolve around that particular topic). She had a really great observation, I thought.

She served her mission at the visitor's center in Indepedence, Missouri and has a number of cool stories about persecutions that the church has faced in its history. But she made the point that of any time in the history of Christ's church, this time that we're living in is the aberration. Throughout all of history, and in our own brief existence as the restored church, His cause has always endured heavy persecution. These last several decades are unusual in that what we support actually does happen to coincide with what a lot of people around us believe, and as a result, we've received few full-throated lambastes recently. At least until now.

For the most part that article actually does seem to be pretty balanced, but I do take issue with some of the personal opinions that seem to surface from the author. And I do like the comment that closes the article.

In any case, there is still a fight and will continue to be one for a long time to come. You can still write your local congressman, donate to the Protect Marriage campaign even though there's no election currently, or just keep abreast of the latest news and developments. Maybe even just start with this Elder Hales talk from last General Conference that feels especially prescient now.

Wow. Kind of Alarming

Caught this video over at Powerline.

It's amazing to me how these people just automatically ascribe everything "bad" with the GOP brand, and anything "good" with Obama. Two more things that I thought were interesting about this video - nobody really seemed to recognize automatically that there aren't 50 states. It's almost like they were like...57??? Yeah, so? And then everyone was for redistribution, but they don't even know why. People, can we please emphasize history and economics a little bit more just for our own edification? These are, or should be at least, elementary principles but none of these people seemed to grasp them. We can probably assume this is a biased sample of people, but even still...disturbing.

Another interesting note, but did you know the youth vote only accounted for 1% more than they did back in 2000 and 2004? I don't remember where I saw that, probably in a Michael Barone piece somewhere, but I thought that was interesting.

For the record...I didn't know who Barney Frank was either.

Why did you put those in quotes? Are you trying to insinuate that we're not actually here? Like we don't exist? That's for Dave.

UPDATE: I just visited that website, How Obama Got Elected, and the Zogby poll is really interesting. Among the results I found most interesting:

• 81.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)
• 82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)
• And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!

To be fair, those results only just barely fall outside of the range of occuring by chance alone, but they are still statistically significant. The numbers themselves appear more significant than what they actually represent, if that makes any sense. Also, in fairness to those people, that question about who said he/she could see Russia from his/her house is misleading. The question itself necessarily implies that the answer is among those four candidates. It's the same kind of problem with picking a criminal out of a line-up - studies show that almost 100% of the time people will choose someone from among those standing there, but fail to even consider that the real criminal might not even be among those that are lined up. It's a poor question, and a poor way of identifying a criminal.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Did you ever see this movie? I watched it over the weekend and was reminded just how much I love it. It is Jim Carey being serious, but really good at it. Although to be honest, I thought he did fine in Truman Show (incidentally, my favorite scene in that one is when is wife starts doing the advertisement for the people watching and he's like...who are you talking to? what the hell are you talking about?...so funny). Anyway, Kate Winslett has a perfect American accent, and she gives an amazing performance. The idea behind the movie is really cool and unusual, and more than that, I think the idea behind it is really romantic.

The movie title is based on the Alexander Pope poem Eloisa to Abelard, and it amazes me to no end that people can write such amazing poetry in iambic meter. I guess it must be a skill that you can acquire, but for me to try and do that now would take so much time and so much tinkering. The end result is so cool though when you're reading it out loud and hear the rhythm of the poetry. Anyone know what the opposite of iambic meter is? I'll let you answer in the comments section.

I did want to include a couple of excerpts from the Pope poem. The story behind the poem is that there is a girl who falls in love with her teacher, and before they can really start a romance her family castrates him. Yikes, I know. Anyway, what she pleads for is forgetfulness. Following is one excerpt I thought was pretty cool:

Thou know'st how guiltless first I met thy flame,
When Love approach'd me under Friendship's name;
My fancy form'd thee of angelic kind,
Some emanation of th' all-beauteous Mind.
Those smiling eyes, attemp'ring ev'ry day,
Shone sweetly lambent with celestial day.
Guiltless I gaz'd; heav'n listen'd while you sung;
And truths divine came mended from that tongue.
From lips like those what precept fail'd to move?
Too soon they taught me 'twas no sin to love.
Back through the paths of pleasing sense I ran,
Nor wish'd an Angel whom I lov'd a Man.
Dim and remote the joys of saints I see;
Nor envy them, that heav'n I lose for thee.

and then the one pertinent to, and mentioned, in the film:

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;
"Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;"
Desires compos'd, affections ever ev'n,
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heav'n.
Grace shines around her with serenest beams,
And whisp'ring angels prompt her golden dreams.
For her th' unfading rose of Eden blooms,
And wings of seraphs shed divine perfumes,
For her the Spouse prepares the bridal ring,
For her white virgins hymeneals sing,
To sounds of heav'nly harps she dies away,
And melts in visions of eternal day.

Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven is in the meter that's opposite of iambic. Read the poem and check it out for yourself, but the rhythm is really cool. And you can hear it in the clip that follows. How sad would this world be without James Earl Jones' voice?

"Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" I love the way Homer says those lines.

Human Aggression

This is one of my favorite topics in social psychology because it inevitably gets into the area of media and how it affects the viewers. Sometimes I wonder if I really should have gotten into communications, but psychology and communications are very related so I feel like I should have plenty of opportunity to slide over into that area should I so desire. Anyway...

Sometimes there are some really obvious things that social psychology points out, and other times there are incredibly interesting social effects that you would never assume. Think for a minute if you were to suffer a heart attack, would you rather it happen in a very public area with a number of bystanders or would you prefer it to be in an empty parking lot with maybe just one or two other people looking on? Most people respond public area because any number of people can help, but research consistently shows that the opposite is more preferable. People inevitably assume that someone else can help out and typically do nothing. In an area where only one person is available that person always feels a sense of responsibility and almost always acts.

One experiment that we talked about today in class had to do with having a person sit stopped at a green light and they measured the response of drivers sitting behind them. They manipulated a few different variables - the person sitting stopped at the green light was in a pick-up truck and three independent variables, 1) there was either a curtain drawn that hid the driver from view of the car behind or not, 2) a gun rack with guns in the back of the truck or not, and 3) a bumper sticker on the back of the truck that either said "Friend" or "Vengeance." It sounds like a joke, and apparently the person who ran the experiment always laughs when describing the scenario. So in your own thinking, under what conditions do you think people are most likely to aggress? When you can see the driver or not? When guns are visible or not? The idea with the bumper stickers is that sometimes the guns are not associated with aggressive behaviors because some associate guns more with sport than with aggression, so the vengeance sticker was meant to counteract that thought.

Intuitively, you would think that people would more likely show more aggression when they could see the driver because you wouldn't do it if there's the possibility that some huge guy could get out of the truck, right? And when there aren't visible firearms present, and certainly not with the "vengeance" bumper stick on back. Right?

But it was invariably the case that people were mostly like to display aggressive behaviors when, 1) the curtain was drawn, 2) gun rack was visible, and 3) and the "vengeance" bumper sticker was in full view. What happens essentially is that people are more likely to act up when they have no idea who it is that they're encountering, guns automatically activate aggressive nodes in cognitive processes, and the vengeance reminder strenghtens that cognitive link.

Another area of research that is really interesting to me is the idea of the cathartic effects that certain kinds of therapies have on people. Some of it you've probably heard of, or at the very least vague pop references to some of these. Primal Therapy got press attention in the early 1970's when John Lennon went to be treated by the therapist who coined the phrase "primal scream."

Essentially the idea behind these therapies is that you reacquire your frustrated and angry feelings, and let them out through aggressive behaviors in safe and controlled settings. This idea is millenia old and goes back to Aristotle's time. One interesting one that actually sounds kind of fun is Sarah's Smash Shack down in San Diego. Basically you go in and you just break stuff. And people tell themselves all the time that these therapies are great, or that listening to some heavy rock music helps to just let it all out.

So do these methods actually work?

Brad Bushman, one of the leading psychologists in the world on aggression, was called by Oprah's people to discuss some of these popular therapies and they asked him what suggestions he had about how to alleviate frustration so that he might possibly share it on the show. And he told them I can tell you, but you're not going to like it. If you're upset, go out for a walk or do some exercise. When you're having an argument count to ten or step outside to collect yourself before responding. Listen to classical music. The cathartic effect is an illusion, at least in the ways that people are trying to find it. They never called him back after that conversation.

What happens is that oftentimes people are totally unaware of the subtle effects that they are experiencing, or being influenced by. Studies show that when people try these therapies, they subjectively report that they feel so much better. It feels so good to just scream in my car, yell swear words, listen to Metallica when I'm angry, or whatever else people do. And they are being completely honest, as far as they understand, but then all of the physiological measures betray what they're really feeling - heightened blood pressure, increased heart rate and levels of cortisol and testosterone, etc.

People misattribute their feelings. What happens is that people will subjectively say they feel better, but in their next provocation they show enhanced aggressive responses. Essentially their baseline rates of aggression have been heightened, not lowered.

This brings me to my final point, which unfortunately for you has taken me a long time to get to. Media violence and the effect it has on viewers. I read this article a few years ago when I took applied social psychology as an undergrad - It's Only Violence. That is the Ensign article, and I would link you to the actual scholarly article it's based on, but it's still protected. That article gives you the vital information though.

For some reason, people are always so skeptical about this, even members of the church. But the facts are there - the effect of viewing media violence on subsequent aggression has greater correlations than the effect of calcium on bone density, greater effects than condom use preventing HIV transfer, greater effects than second-hand smoke on lung cancer, among other things. The literature is there, and this is done with meta-analyses and across thousands of studies. Watching violent media makes people more prone to violence. Does it happen in 100% of the cases? No, just like George Burns can smoke cigars every day of his life and die of old age and not cancer. But prolonged exposure to violent media makes people act more violently.

What was really interesting was watching student reactions to this lecture in class and just how skeptical they were. For some reason people don't like to accept this finding, but somehow someone suggests that Baby Einstein makes kids smarter and all of the sudden every parent in the country is buying that stuff for their kids even though no studies have confirmed that line of thinking.

I'm not saying you can't watch anything, but just be mindful. I once had this conversation (argument) with a friend of mine who insisted that he felt the spirit more in movies like The Patriot and Saving Private Ryan than most other movies. While what you may be feeling is appreciation for what some of those men did in reality, what you're not feeling is the spirit. This guy also tended to display more aggressive behaviors than almost anyone I know so he obviously must have been right. Right...

What's interesting is that the media will try to write off these findings like they don't mean anything, but then what is their business based upon? Advertisers. And why do advertisers pay for commercial time or print ad space? Because showing people these ads actually affects their purchasing behavior. So how is it that viewing 30-second commercials can make someone want to go out and buy perfume, cars, Coke, or a million other things, but the 1 hour long Law and Order show about rape and murder can't have any effects on the viewers?

I've made this point before, but just be aware of what message it is that the show/book/movie/music is advertising to you. It may be much more than you bargained for.

Lastly, what movie do you think was rated most violent by these guys doing content analyses on all these different things? Rambo? Total Recall? Natural Born Killers? The Godfather? How about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Apparently that has by far more acts of violence per segment than any other film. Typically, what's on Saturday mornings is more violent than what's on during primetime television.

Me Update

• I am loving being a student right now. As annoying as it may be to have constant pressure over weekends and what are supposed to be vacations, it's fun to learn. I'm amazed at how different my attitude has been between now and two years ago when I was at Claremont. I was so completely unmotivated in that program. One time I just straight up didn't show up to a final. Who does that? I totally did. That feels like a lifetime ago now.
• I can finally run again without any pain. It took about four weeks of rest for that to happen. Turns out that it was between a first and second degree tear of the muscle. I can't believe how much I've missed running. That love for it wasn't always there. Definitely not. But I crave it now. And with that I've been able to get back to jumping rope. I am getting the matador move down.
• Still considering the LA marathon. Not all the way there yet. I'm still not very excited about training in the winter here, and I'm not sure how much fitness I've lost not being able to exercise the past month. I'll decide by the end of the month. In the meantime, anyone interested in the Dana Point Turkey Trot? There is a 5k and 10k. It's a little pricey at $35, but should still be fun. Or the Salt Lake City Marathon is April 18th. I'd really like to get my mile times faster. We'll see.
• What's really cool about being at a large university is that there is a constellation of really amazing people. Although I don't always share it, the passion that some of these people have in their respective areas gets me excited about my own prospects and directions that I'd like to move in.
• I don't know what it is that I'm doing right, but I have boatloads of time. I talk to other people in these grad programs and all they can talk about is how busy they are and how they don't have time for anything. Yet somehow, I am sure that I'm going to be able to snowboard 1-2 times a week, get good grades, defend my thesis prospectus, and still have time to catch movies during the day. I just don't get it, though. What is everyone else doing that I'm not?
• I mentioned this to a friend the other day, but you know what's weird? Being in a ward and knowing that if I don't show up on a particular Sunday nobody is really going to wonder where I am. There are some people that I'm getting closer with so that's nice, but it's a really weird and kind of sad thought. Not that I would ever do it, but I can see how someone who is starved for some attention that doesn't have the right approach about being in a new area can begin to fall away. Sometimes in church I think we fall into the trap of not really caring if someone is there until they're already gone. People who don't have a better understanding or aren't on solid enough ground testimony-wise will go to whoever it is that gives them the most attention. We need to be careful about that and just be more aware of the people around us. Don't lose that coin just because you failed to notice it in the first place.
• I love BYU. I can't say enough good things about this school. I've been truly blessed to be in this program, to have Dr. Ridge as my advisor, to have the opportunities I have. Sometimes my biggest concern is not taking full advantage of the opportunities I have here or just not appreciating enough what I've been given. My cohort is awesome. The professors all feel so approachable. It's night and day the experience I'm having here as opposed to Claremont.
• Less than 2 weeks until I get to go home. I can't wait to wear shorts and sandals again. I'm going to be in full on Utah mode where no matter how cold it is in California, it's always going to feel warm compared to Utah. I love that.
• These guys are so awesome. They're due for another album, aren't they?

Transformational Leadership

Okay, I can breathe again, so back to regular more lengthy posts. I know that a lot of us are tired of all the politics, but I think especially on the side of trying to enact moral legislation, this is a battle that will only escalate more and more in the years to come. There is just no ducking it, and rather than just hiding our heads in the sand I really think we're going to have pick sides on these issues. We can't afford to be lukewarm anywhere on these issues anymore. The time for fence-sitting is over. Insert other applicable cliches here.

Anyway, I wanted to comment on President-Elect Obama (does anyone forget that's his last name and not his first name? I keep on doing that).

One theory of leadership in organizational behavior that I really liked was tranformational leadership. It was developed previously, but became more popular when Bass elaborated on it. It is related to transactional leadership and is meant to dichomotize leadership styles according to how the leader interacts with the followers.

Transactional leadership is a style that is characterized by interaction that is mostly transactional in nature. Simply put, what occurs between leader and follower is mostly an exchange of services that has almost no affective (affect was more purpose, it's a popular word in psychology) consequences for subordinates. A superior needs something done and asks the subordinate to complete the task, end of story.

Transformational leadership is the kind of leadership that not only involves the necessary transactional exchanges between leader-follower, but also serves to inspire followers to trascend their own interests, basically transforming the group to the point where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

A lot of people think Obama is this transformational leader. His campaign was probably something that was inevitable as Byron York points out. There was just no way a GOP candidate was going to win this election year, not with the intensity of the Bush hatred, not with the financial markets nose-diving the way they did in the weeks right before November 4th. Even with everything that Obama had going for him he only came out with a 6-point win. Michael Barone gives more detail on this topic here. Not that his campaign doesn't deserve credit for their win, but a lot of things fell just the way he needed them to for him to win the presidency.

So far it seems that Obama is just as far left as many conservatives have feared. It was recently revealed that Obama has in fact been in communication with Hamas leaders in Palestine long before the election last Tuesday. And just as was mentioned in this Powerline post, now those unsavory connections that Obama seems so inclined towards throughout his life seem to be much more relevant now.

It would have been nice to know about the cordial relationship between Obama's advisers and Hamas during the campaign. But, of course, it was an article of faith in the mainstream media that Obama's many unsavory and radical associations were somehow irrelevant to any expectation as to how he would govern as President.

As was mentioned by Valerie Jarett, co-chair of Obama's transition team, he will be ready to "rule" on day one. The worst part is that one of his first orders of business as President will most likely to be to revoke the executive order to clear the way to expand offshore drilling. Today gas here in Provo is $2.25. Kind of amazing after considering what we had to endure over the summer.

And this blogger details some of Obama's approach to the economy. The point that I hate the most in there is the idea of taxing oil profits to give consumers a $1000 rebate check. A tax on the company is really a tax on the consumer and will just be reflected in higher gas prices. It's so counterproductive. And then also raising minimum wage up to $9.50 by 2011. That's only going to result in higher rates of unemployment for unskilled workers, i.e. teens.

What's most annoying about these liberal ideas is that on the surface they appear to be great, but the costs of actually carrying them are enormous, and often have further reaching consequences that what they had really intended.

In any case, what has happened the last few years with Democrats coming back into power is just a natural result of the two-party system that we favor in this country. Jim Geraghty details it well here:

Vast swaths of the voting public have little or no memory of Democratic failures. The last time that party controlled the presidency and two houses, they passed the biggest tax increase in history; failed to pass health care; failed to reform welfare; U.S. troops had been pulled out of Somalia in the face of a foe that resembled extras from Mad Max and the arsenal of democracy’s attention was focused on Haiti, of all places. The Clinton administration reached farce when the surgeon general declared she wanted to teach teenage boys how to masturbate in classrooms, and in the perfect symbol of a world gone off the rails, the World Series was cancelled.

But people forget about yesterday’s problems. And as they focus on the problems of today and the majority party’s failure to fix them, they get more sympathetic to the other guys.

And since 1994, Democrats have been able to say, “our ideas would work perfectly, if we could just get it past those obstructionists standing in our way!” Their ads have chanted it, their cheerleaders in the media have echoed it, and their base fervently believes it. It’s ironic that next to nothing on their policy agenda is new or different from the last time they ran the executive and legislative branch – the government can institute a health care system that will take care of everyone and all the costs can be covered by higher taxes on the rich; industry is polluting the earth and we can solve it by taxing carbon; we’ll stop Republicans from destroying Social Security; we can expand the good work of volunteerism by throwing massive amounts of federal funds at those programs. Many of them still believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that gun ownership is the cause of crime instead of part of the solution...

The kind of transformational leadership that America is looking for is not here yet. The swing back to the left in the current political landscape is just the country regressing to the mean. Just like Geraghty mentioned, the GOP had dominated for so long that the general public has little collective memory of how poorly liberal policies actually work when implemented.

It's going to take a few years, but the country will swing back. The Carter Presidency in 1980 made way for Ronald Reagan to emerge. Democratic control of the legislative branch and Bill Clinton in the White House in 1992 paved the path for Newt Gingrich to reassemble the conservative camps that led to the reign that followed for the next ten years.

With the return of a number of tried and tested Iraq veterans there will be a whole new wave of conservative politicians. There are a number of possibilities as it stands right now: General Petraeus? Sarah Palin? Mitt Romney? Or maybe someone else that we haven't even heard of yet.

Rest assured, as much as people might like to think otherwise, the messiah still hasn't come.

Not yet.

Agonizing Through This Day

So yeah...just finding another thing to distract myself from the task at hand. I only have about 20 pages to go before 8:00am tomorrow morning. Oi...why do I do this to myself? I'm glad that I'm not alone though because I've talked to several other people and heard all about the dumb things they do to avoid their homework. Misery loves company? I'm going to have to say so.

Anyway, I promise I'll have something more substantive either tomorrow or the day after, but try as I might, my focus is either entirely sexual harassment (my thesis topic) or stuff that's completely nonsensical/idiotic, such as this:

JD and the Janitor

The scene with JD and the Janitor in the bathroom gives me joy to no end. From JD's facial expression when he's trying to remember the Janitor's name, and the whole dialogue exchange between them...it's so funny. Gotta get back to pretending like I'm writing my thesis.

NRO Editors on the Marriage Initiatives

This was an interesting article from NRO about Proposition 8 and the other marriage measures that passed this week:

On Tuesday, by a margin of 52 to 48 percent, voters in California amended their state constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, as did voters in Florida (62 to 38 percent) and Arizona (56 to 44 percent).

Those who argue social conservatism is behind the GOP’s current electoral malaise take note: In Arizona marriage outperformed John McCain by 2 percentage points, in Florida by 14 percentage points, and in California by 15 percentage points.

The Arizona win, reversing a defeat for a marriage amendment in that state in 2006, also restores to state marriage amendments an unblemished record of victory: They have won in 30 out of 30 states where they have been on the ballot.What lesson can we take from Tuesday’s marriage victories? Here’s one obvious one: Americans still care a great deal about this issue.

The California supreme court may have believed that the public would acquiesce when it foisted same-sex marriage on the state earlier this year. But the successful campaign to overturn its ruling was an astonishing effort, unprecedented for a social issue, that raised more than 100,000 volunteers and almost $40 million from over 60,000 donors.

Some other articles in the past couple of days also talked about the black vote and how they greatly supported the proposition, 70%. It's interesting that the group who has suffered the most discrimination in our country's history is coming out definitively to state that the gay marriage issue is not about civil rights, some adding that civil rights are about employment, voting, etc. and not marriage.

The above-linked article also touches on the fact that as homosexuals rise to the level of a protected class as race is, the logical next step is to equate religious opposition to same-sex initiatives to racism. Buyer beware of the future ballot initiatives that will raise this issue.

You're the Best Around

So I'm kind of funny with my TV watching. I only watch sports live. I record a few sitcoms, and then I always record movies. I can't stand commercials, but at the same time I can't stand watching recorded sports. I always end up just skipping to the end.

Earlier this week I watched Gross Pointe Blank. I love John Cusack, and I love the dark humor of that movie. In the movie he's a hitman going to his 10-year high school reunion, and his secretary (played by his sister Joan) mentions that she had recently gone to hers. He asks her what it was like, to which she responds, "it's like everybody swelled." I never noticed that joke before this last time around, but I just love it.

I wish I could find the scene at the end when he's protecting his old girlfriend's father. What happens is that he's back in his home town for a hit only to realize that it is on her father. While trying to patch things up with her he goes to protect her father because a competing contractor is also out to kill the dad. In one of the last scenes he's in a fight with one of the killers, and Debbie and her father come around the corner to see John hit the guy with a frying pan, unload the rest of his rounds into the body, and then hit him again with the frying pan. The whole time he's killing all these guys he keeps on trying to talk to her about their relationship, and after they see him kill this guy he looks up at them, tosses the frying pan, and nonchalantly resumes his plea to her saying, "Debbie, I'm in love with you, and I really think we can make this relationship work." Oh man, there's so much good stuff about that movie.

Every few years I watch the Karate Kid. Today happened to be one of those days. It is so silly, but my reaction to the final scene is the same every time. Cue the dramatic music when Johnny elbows Daniel's knee, assume the crane position, win the tournament, and my eyes well up every time. That has to be one of the iconic 80's films. I don't know any boy growing up in that decade who didn't spend dozens of hours practicing that crane kick. Plus, Elizabeth Shue is one of the most unappreciated beautiful women in Hollywood. Or at least that used to be in Hollywood. I want to make my own skeleton costume or have the Cobra Kai karate gi that they have in the tournament for Halloween some time.

Bonsai!

Beauty of the Two Party System

I had a really interesting conversation with Dave a couple of months ago about the two party system, and he can probably explain this better than I can, but I'll take a quick stab at it.

I wish I could find the clip from the Simpsons Halloween VII episode, but there is a joke about a person not wanting to vote for Kang or Kodos who had been previously masquerading as Bob Dole and Bill Clinton. And the guy says he's going to vote for a third party, and they laugh and say, "go ahead! throw away your vote!" to which a cartoon Ross Perot responds by punching through his hat. I don't think their joke was so much a stab at the system, but more just an observation of it.

Some people don't like it, perhaps feeling like it doesn't represent their interests because they don't identify themselves as either Democrat or Republican. But the problem arises when you start thinking about the other possible alternatives out there. Israel presents such a scenario.

There are a number of different political factions in Israel, and in order for any one of them to gain a majority support, it requires pandering to smaller groups whose interests represent those of a tiny minority. What happens as a result of that is all of the sudden, a tiny group wields a disproportionately large amount of power that allows that small faction to indulge their own interests that most of the country doesn't share. It doesn't provide for a fair representation that captures the interests of most of the people. The resulting form of government, then, is not a good representation of the interests of the whole.

While the two party system is not perfect, at the same time it's probably much better than any of the alternatives. I think we've been able to see a little bit of the consequences that result because of our system from the election that we had on Tuesday.

It can probably be argued that most of what he was doing during the campaign season was pandering and positioning for votes, but Obama had to come further to the middle than he ever has before, likewise for Senator McCain. Although some of his policies are really liberal positions watered down to appear as moderate politics, Obama had to compromise to better represent more of the interests of the people. We are committed for a minimum of the next for years to his decisions, but one of the checks that we have on him while he serves as president is the next election that comes up in 2012.

In any case, because of the two party system I am able to find some hope in the fact that maybe Obama won't be as liberal as he would appear to be at first glance. If he does go the way of executing his far left liberal politics, then it should hopefully ignite the rest of the voting public to realize that he is not representative of the greater and broadest interests of the American public. But if he wants to be successful and maintain his position, then he'll absolutely need to stay in the middle if he wants to stick around.

Before we rush to judgment on his presidency, let's at least grant him the courtesy of some time in office to see what he actually does with his newfound powers. That kind of makes him sound like a super hero, but to a lot of people that is actually the case. Like this guy for instance.

Terry Tate says you better have voted on Tuesday.

Couple Quick Thoughts

• A friend of mine was talking to me about how he doesn't really feel like most people should be allowed to vote. I think he was only half-serious when he made this comment. In this day and age, however, I think we can trust in the people. Afterall, it's academics who come up with big government, detente, higher taxes, and more social programs. William F. Buckley used to say, "I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston telephone directory than by the faculty of Harvard."
• I mentioned this to a couple of you already, but during the celebration last night for Obama Oprah said, "this is the most meaningful thing that has ever happened." Jonah Goldberg of National Review countered, "I dunno, even counting for excitement, isn't Oprah's statement kind of sacreligious?"
• Reagan was unfailingly optimistic, and can you imagine him being that given the conditions under which he entered office in 1980? Sure, the Miracle on Ice was great, but stagflation, a deep recession, and serious military blunders, should have been really hard on him. I bring him up to share this story about him which I thought was pretty awesome:

  Yet the incident I always considered the best illustration of Reagan's regard for ordinary individuals took place not in the White House but in a North Carolina parking lot. "It was during the 1976 primary fight," says Dana Rohrabacher, who then worked on the Reagan campaign as an assistant press secretary. "We were getting ready for a rally in this gigantic parking lot at a shopping mall. I was in the staging area behind the podium, and a lady called me over to the side and said, 'I've got a group of blind kids here. Since they can't see him, I was wondering if you could have Governor Reagan come over and tell them hello.'"
  
  Dana passed the request along to Mike Deaver, and Reagan, who was standing nearby overheard. "He said he'd do it, but he didn't want any photographers," Dana explains, "Can you imagine that? He was in the middle of a presidential campaign, and the press would have gone wild for a photo of him with a group of blind kids." But Reagan wanted this to be between him and the kids."
  
  Deaver came up with a plan. When the speech ended, Deaver told Dana, he'd begin walking Reagan back to the campaign bus. Concluding that the candidate was about to leave for the next event, all the reporters and photographers would hurry back to their own buses. And then, when the press had cleared out, Deaver would double back with Reagan, returning the candidate to the area behind the podium, where Reagan would meet the blind children.
  
  "It worked," Dana says. "The press guys all went back to their buses, and I brought the lady with the blind kids back behind the podium. There were six or seven kids, real sweet little kids about eight or nine or ten years old. Since there was a lot of background noise - you know how it is after a speech, with a crowd breaking up - Reagan bent down, close to the kids, to talk to them. But somehow I could see him thinking that that wasn't enough. So after the kids had asked him a couple of questions, he said, 'Well, now I have a question for you. Would you like to touch my face so you can get a better understanding of how I look?" The kids all smiled and said yes, so Reagan just leaned over into them, and one by one these little kids began moving their fingers over his face to see what he looked like.

Don't you just love him?

God Bless America

When I got up this morning I wasn't sure if the sun was actually withholding it's warmth from the entire country, or if I was just feeling the pains from last nights results. As a McCain supporter and self-identified conservative, last night should have been really disheartening.

However, I think there are a lot of good things to take away from yesterday's election. Several silver linings to take away from last night's results:

• Yes, Obama killed McCain in electoral votes, but this wasn't the landslide that everyone was hoping for or expecting. The final popular vote totals look to be somewhere in the ballpark of 52% to McCain's 46% or so percent. It doesn't resemble anything close to what Reagan, Nixon, or even Bush I did in the last 40 years alone. When it came to crunch time, undecideds mostly broke for McCain, so a lot of the country isn't completely sold on Oba-mania.
• Democrats did not obtain a filibuster proof majority, and now it's looking like the most they are going to gain is 5 seats. Maybe 6. Coleman pulled out a tough victory over Al Franken (thank goodness) in Minnesota that will probably be contested for the next couple weeks. I would have been more concerned if it were up to 58 seats for the Democrats because there are some pretty moderate GOPers (e.g. Specter in Pennsylvania) that would break ranks often enough to give us some real problems, but with 43 or 44 seats, they can stick together and resist the liberal temptation to run roughshod over the GOP.
• The biggest point of them all - Proposition 8. This might have actually been bigger than the presidency itself because of all the implications for our society. Rather than go the way of Europe and continue to permit the decline of the traditional family, America reaffirmed it's position in a big way by endorsing traditional marriage. Not just in California, but also in Arizona, Florida, and Arkansas. It really would have seemed that with all of the support among the Obama crowd, these measures would have had no chance at passing because of the high Democrat turnout, but it goes to show that this is an issue that's not limited to one party or the other, but concerns everyone. And the voice of the people spoke in a big way by handing down this referendum. I don't have any figures to back this up, but I'm almost positive that we're the only 1st World Western country to come out so strongly for the traditional lifestyle. We are not Europe, and we're not Canada, and for that, I am so deeply grateful.
• I came across this really interesting article through the Townhall website. Here's a really interesting point and should give some comfort to conservatives worried about the unmitigated power held by liberals:

  Those who fear a radical Obama miss the point of the lack of maneuverability of the next president of the United States. Behind the mortgage crisis looms the credit card crisis and the student loan crisis and the car loan crisis. Sweating the credit out of the system will take two years of zero growth or contraction. We won't have a Great Depression because the government will irrigate our economy with money. But we will have stagnation, followed by inflation.
  Obama, as the next president, will take office with unlimited political power but with highly circumscribed practical power. He will be able to pass whatever legislation he wants in Congress, but won't be able to indulge his ideology. He will be faced with constraints at every turn.

• Whatever you have against Obama, there's absolutely no reason in the whole world why we shouldn't feel like we're the most blessed people on this planet to live in this country. 10, 20, 30, 200 years ago, would anyone have ever guessed that we were right on the precipice of electing a black man to be President of the United States of America after all of the opposition that race has faced through the centuries? And as divisive, or as contentious as the debates may have gotten, not one person woke up today wondering if McCain was going to take his supporters and try and usurp the power that he might have thought rightfully belonged to him. The peaceful transfer of power has to be the single greatest blessing of living in a democracry that really works, in spite of whatever flaws there may be. From Andrew Klavan:

  Listen, guys, we just peacefully elected the first black president - that's a beautiful thing, truly. And God be with him - he'll need it. I know it's unsophisticated to say it and so on, but every now and again, we have to remember... we could've been born Saudis or Kenyans or Chinese... but we got unbelievably lucky, unbelievably blessed. When you're born American, every day should be Thanksgiving. So on we go.

I've got some more to say, but I really do think things are going to be just fine. Even with however much we lurch to the left for the next couple of years, or however deep the recession goes because of poor economic policies, we're going to be okay. If ever there was a country who was under the direct care of God's hand, it is ours which will be home to the building up of the New Jerusalem.

Rest assured, the principles that govern conservative ideology, i.e. small government, low taxes, maintaining a strong world presence through tough foreign policy, and the market system are the Right principles. They'll come back on top, even if it takes a little bit of time.

In any case, we have plenty of reasons to feel grateful and optimistic for all that we have and for what lies ahead of us.

Hey! Keep Those Gloves Up! Anti-Mormon/Anti-Prop 8 ad

The opposition to Prop 8 has reached new lows with their advertising. Stay classy, San Diego. Some people have been coming to this site looking for it, so here you go, with no further ado, the anti-mormon/anti-prop 8 ad.

Those guys clearly aren't missionaries. They're way too old, and one of them looks way too ethnic. Geez.

Spin Me Right Round

Are you for real? Is this the guy you really want to run the country?

Bits and Pieces

• I don't get tired of this song. The guy is a complete moron, but them rhymes he is kickin' are quite bootylicious. Name that tune. Laura is probably the only one who could get that one. Anyway, Kanye is a musical mastermind. And if you can name it, you should be ashamed for being so familiar with a song like that. Chi-town stand UP!
• I came across this post by one of the people I blog-stalk. I mention it because I noticed that a girl I know up here put on her facebook status, "no on prop h8te." She's a nice girl, but went to school in a hyper-liberal area (Portland) and I don't know what her grounding is like in the church. I can understand how people outside of the church might view this proposition, and could struggle with the moral question behind it, but I don't have much sympathy for anyone in the church who still struggle with it. From Pres. Harold B. Lee:

  There will be some things that take patience and faith. You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church. . . . It may contradict your social views. It may interfere with some of your social life. But if you listen to these things, as if from the mouth of the Lord himself, with patience and faith, the promise is that ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name’s glory’ (D&C 21:6)

  I joined the church when I was 17 years old. I don't know how it worked out this way, but I've never ever doubted anything about the church; I've never had a hard time swallowing anything that has ever come from the mouth of the prophet, ever. Not that I don't have my struggles, or that I don't have my own questions or think about things deeply, but I have never had any problem falling in line behind the prophet's teachings. I really think that it's a gift of the spirit that I've been blessed to have. So sometimes I have a hard time when I meet people who bear their testimonies in church, but then have attitudes clearly out of step with what the church position is. I fully recognize that certain people may know certain things, and then act contrary to that knowledge, and that arises mostly out of weakness, because I've been there plenty of times. But it's hard for me to understand how you can hold two clearly contradictory views. Just a thought. I guess it's not the same for everyone, but for me at least, if I have a belief on something that isn't clearly stated and the prophet comes out with a statement that flies in the face of what I had previously supposed, then I just dump that belief. Word of God supercedes anything else. Isn't that how it's supposed to be?
• Having said that, so that you or I don't think I have an inflated opinion of my spirituality, I totally slept in yesterday through sacrament meeting. I've never done that before, and haven't missed sacrament meeting in at least several years. Even with the hour change I slept in. I just forgot to actually turn my alarm on. I had it set at the right time and everything. I think it's a little easier for me to miss though because church does start at 8:30am. That's my excuse at least. I did at least go to the rest of my meetings, and everything else church-related in my feeble attempt to make up for missing that meeting, including ward choir, break the fast, fireside, and ward prayer. And if you really know me, then you know that it takes a lot of energy for me to do some of those things when I'm flying solo. Know what? I still felt the absence of that meeting, regardless of all that effort.
• My Raiders suck. Pathetic in how feeble they are. I'm the first to admit it, because I don't think a lot of people are more familiar with them than I am. As a result, it's killing all my interest in the NFL, and that's by far my favorite sport to watch. It's tearing me up inside, but helping my observance of the shabbatt. Especially watching another team with more upheaval last season between their starting quarterback and their head coach who also finished with the same record, completely dismantle my team. I hate when I have to look forward to the offseason more than the regular season.
• Conversely, the Lakers are looking outstanding, magnificent, unbeatable, intimidating, debonair. I caught their first two games and they totally throttled those teams. However, I think Lamar is going to turn into a distraction, and we can still get pretty good value on him. It was definitely a mistake not going after Ron Artest. We'll see.
• For Kent, if you're reading this, I'm not sure about this, but I think Joe Nathan might be available, the Twins closer. I think that guy is money. I've always thought he was the most intimidating reliever, I guess besides Brad Lidge now. Speaking of him...
• Kind of unbelievable what that guy did last season. Everyone said he was done after giving up that home run to Pujols in the NLCS a couple of years ago, and what does he do? He goes 49/49 in save opportunities in the regular season, gets seven more in the postseason, and is perfect on the entire year. That's what's so cool about sports, because it's real life stories of overcoming obstacles and redeeming yourself. And it's never anything you can predict beforehand, and that's part of what adds to the awe they inspire. There are dozens of stories from the past season...Jon Lester's no-hitter after beating cancer, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (for you Karen, the "devil" part ;), and Josh Hamilton Josh Hamilton Josh Hamilton.
• I saw a movie over the weekend that was just so sweet (like tender, not sweet like awesome!), Son of Rambow. More heart-warming than the funny I was expecting. I really enjoyed it. Great, great story about friendship. And I love that William always calls his friend "Lee Carter" and not just "Lee". "This is my best day of all time."
• While I'm mentioning indy films, I've called in about getting a student pass to the Sundance Film Festival. It's $300 for 20 tickets, and I imagine I won't have any problem selling off any tickets that I won't use, so if you're in the area in late January, let's go catch some flicks.
• Most polls from the weekend show Obama with a wider lead, but the IBD/TIPP polls show the race being very tight, and they were the most accurate poll in 2004. I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow.
• Great article by John Mark Reynolds on Prop 8 and discrimination, and how it's purposefully discriminatory.
• Read this tribute about Col. John W. Ripley. He's a total badass.

The Best TV Show You're Not Watching

That's right, Pushing Daisies. I have several TV shows that I enjoy quite religiously - The Office, Scrubs, 30 Rock, Heroes - but there's nothing I look forward to each week more than Pushing Daisies, with the exception of maybe Scrubs. However, my problem with Scrubs the last couple of seasons is that is hasn't been quite as good as it was through the first six seasons. But don't get me wrong, I do still really love it.

I enjoy the sitcoms that combine great humor with sincerity. I think Scrubs does (or has done at least) that better than any other show on TV. I used to love The Office more than anything, but it's been lacking for me this season, and maybe after it came back from the writer's strike last season also (for some reason the videos are a little slow to load, so give them a minute).

Maybe I just need there to be more drama between Pam and Jim. Killing the budding romance between Michael and Holly annoyed me a little bit too because I'm not really that interested in what else has been going on with the other characters, namely, the triangle between Dwight, Andy, and Angela. And the overall comedy of the show isn't so high that it's been able to do without the sincerity portion that it had going for it previously. Frankly, it's already getting old for me. There, I said it. But this post isn't supposed to be about The Office.

Pushing Daisies has the most clever writing of any show on television right now. The dialogue of the characters moves quickly and is incredibly witty. Each show has a mystery element to it, while the entire show has overarching storylines involving each major character. Even the set designs are artistic, featuring lots of color with a touch of flamboyance, forcing the eyes alone to absorb each scene.

Do yourself a favor and start recording this show, or setting that time aside every Wednesday night. I promise you won't be disappointed, unless you have no soul. This isn't just the best TV show you're not watching, it's the best TV show on the air.

I have to give all the credit to Amy for turning me onto this show (I know what I just did). I trust her judgment in a number of different arenas and her suggestion to watch this show was among the first things that alerted me to her great taste.