Dickensian Christmas

Ahhh, Christmas at home. Even though it's been raining, I'd still take it over the cold that has settled over most of the country. Shopping is almost done. I was just reading an article that seemed appropriate for the season that speaks a little of A Christmas Carol. Apparently Dickens was quite overcome when he came up with the idea for the book:

When the story of A Christmas Carol came to Charles Dickens, “he wept over it, laughed, and then wept again,” writes Les Standiford, author of the winsome new book The Man Who Invented Christmas. With “a strange mastery it seized him,” a friend said of the yarn. Dickens wrote the book in six weeks in 1843 and believed in it so deeply that he undertook all the financial risk himself of publishing it.

I've still got a ways to go through the book, but it has been fun reading. Anyway, read the article. It's worth it. Merry Saturnalia!

Jubilation!!!!

I finished up this morning and I had totally forgotten the sweet release of being done with finals and the semester. It is seriously one of the best feelings in the world. I have snowboarding on my plate tonight, I get to go home to warm(ish) weather tomorrow, Christmas shopping, hanging out with Dave and Caitlin all day and night. I can go running whenever I feel like. I can read leisure-only books.

This is the part about school that's really great. With work there's a consistent feeling of dread. The Sunday night lows of having to go another five days until the weekend. No extended breaks in sight. With school, it never goes away, until very specific moments. And when it does, it's like the walls have come tumbling down and there's no holding back the jubilation.

You've seen The Family Man, right? I love that one too. There are a couple of parts in that movie that melt my heart. I can't believe I'm a guy sometimes. I swear I don't have woman parts, and I don't want to use the ones I have for things that they weren't intended for.

I've been trying to find a song that captures the level of excitement that I've been feeling, and I can't settle on one. It's interesting, but I'm really drawn to heavy beats, synthetic, guitars, whatever. Just anything that's up tempo and that tends towards higher keys.

Like I said, I couldn't settle on one, so here's one that I've been enjoying recently. See you later Utah, and see you soon home and people that I love!

Reading Rainbow

It's been snowing a lot here this week. I think as the cold slows down the movement of the atoms, a similar fate has been dealt to my activity. At least school activity. As the end of the semester gets closer (t-minus one day and counting...), I'm having a harder and harder time getting things done. I know, like I could get any worse on that front, right? Anyway...

One of the things that I decided had to be finished before I got to any of the stuff that I really was supposed to do was finish Breaking Dawn. I actually liked it. There was more movement than in any of the other books. More story to follow. Say what you will about the series, but that Stephanie Meyer spins a good yarn. Things I didn't like (spoilers):

• Why do the characters have so little faith in their own family? Alice leaves and in less than a day everyone resigns themselves to the fact that she has abandoned them. Maybe Bella wouldn't get it, but how about the rest of the family that she's been around for decades?
• Kind of anti-climactic to have build up for hundreds of pages, and then no fight at the end, isn't it? That's what is so awesome about J.K. Rowling. She is not j/k about killing off her characters, even the ones that you are most invested in (that just happened). It makes the story more real, and the juxtaposition of the victories with the agonizing deaths really adds depth to that whole world. While the Twilight series is entertaining, there is no comparison with Harry Potter.
  

I was saddened, at first, when I finished the series because I was afraid it was going to take me a little while to find another book to get engrossed in. And then I started reading Freakonomics and A Christmas Carol and I'm good again. I've never read A Christmas Carol, and I'm keeping the holiday-themed reading thing going. I thought that being so familiar with the story already would make it a little boring, but who knew that Dickens was such a good writer? It's even kind of fun to think about the various portrayals that I've seen over the years of Ebeneezer (Bill Murray, and Scrooge McDuck are the ones featured most heavily in my mind) and compare that to the actual source. So I've got a few books to work on over the break, which I'm pretty excited about.

One last thing about Breaking Dawn. I read the first three in the span of a few weeks in the summer, and then I didn't want to buy the fourth because I knew so many people had it. But without any actual friends in Utah, I didn't know who I could borrow it from. So when I was at home over Thanksgiving I stole Caitlin's copy. Before I started it, I had almost convinced myself that I didn't actually like the series as much as I did over the summer, that it was childish, too femy, etc., but it wasn't long before I got hooked in again. I was even staying up after our late night video game escapades to read the book. In the airport I would take it out of my backpack on the plane and hide the cover because I was embarrassed to admit that I was getting into it again, even if the people around me were total strangers. Maybe just embarrassed to admit it to myself. But the books are good. I can't see how anybody who actually gives it an honest chance doesn't get wrapped up in that little vampire world. Vampires are cool. Period. I've read several books with vampire portrayals, and I like all the versions of them. It's such a funny thing to have the villain so widely admired, romanticized on one end, but then to have such evil, vile foils to counterbalance the Edward portrayals on the other end.

Remember the Muppets? I swiped this from another person's blog that I stalk.

Fine Art Project

Amy pointed me to this exhibit that is among those being featured in the HFAC at BYU the last week or two. The exhibit features several portraits of BYU students who are either homosexual, or support someone who is homosexual (although insiders say they're all homosexuals). Here are a couple of the pictures:

This is the statement that the artist has included to accompany his exhibit:

These portraits are of BYU students who identify themselves as homosexual and a person that supports them. This support person could be a family member, friend or may also identify themselves as homosexual and both people may provide support to each other. I have not included labels with these portraits as I feel that labels only create separation and division and further ungrounded stereotypes. We never know who may identify themselves as homosexual and I felt that not labeling these images would force us as a society to question what it is to be homosexual.

This project for me became a journey of truth and enlightenment. I see a bit of myself in each of these portraits. When looking at these images one may see their friends, their family, or a classmates I admire the individuals who were brave enough to become the faces of this project –
Thank you for your time and honesty.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” This is an amazing philosophy that suggests that change starts within each of us. It is my hope that this body of work will be a vehicle for tolerance, support, love and change.

Of course with this being super-conservative BYU, there was an instant reaction to the exhibit. Visit this link to visit the photographer's personal blog. This post discusses what he was trying to portray, and this one is his reaction to BYU censorship. And this is the article from the Deseret News (of course...).


Basically what happened is that the exhibit got put on display without anyone really approving all the projects, or maybe the supervising professor passed off on it not thinking it was a big deal. From the looks of it, it doesn't seem to be anything more than a class project, or senior project because it's one of several different exhibits on display. After a couple of days, somebody realized what the project entailed and decided it had to be removed immediately. A few more days pass, realize it's not really that big of a deal, and then put it back up.


One of my professors has mentioned this before, but some people in the church worry a little too much sometimes about protecting the good name of the church, thinking they have to intervene in behalf of the leaders who really are the ones who should be making those kinds of decisions. For example, some books in the library have to be stored away rather than just being shelved like all the other books because some person will take it upon him- or herself to deface the book because it is somehow "offensive" or "inappropriate". I'm sure something similar happened in this case.


A higher up in the art department got wind of the display, or someone complained that having the display somehow means that church supports homosexuality, or embraces that lifestyle now, and someone decided that the exhibit had to be taken down before the good name of the church became sullied. Then someone from the administration heard about it, decided that wasn't the case and said it should be put back up. The end.


What are your reactions to it? I still have a hard time finding anything to really be upset about as far as the display itself. Should we be supportive of people struggling with same-sex attraction? Of course. Does the art department displaying this piece at BYU mean that all of the sudden the church is going to change its stance on homosexuality? No. Is this piece capitalizing off of the recent events with Proposition 8? Of course it is. Is that so bad? I don't think so. Art, like the news, needs to be relevant and this particular feature is timely. It's a commentary on those events. That's not a bad thing, I don't think.

If anything, I tend to think that the display itself lacks creativity. It's just eight fuzzy portraits, focused on the eyes of these guys who are homosexuals. Is the exhibit making a provocative statement? I think that without the label accompanying the exhibit talking about the disdain for labels (love the irony) the viewer would have no idea what statement was being made. For an exhibition that is supposed to deliver its message visually, it seems so weak that I would have no idea what was trying to be conveyed if it weren't for the verbal explanation. The exhibit probably required some kind of explanation, but I guess it begs the question - is the art for the artist or the viewer? does the interpretation depend on the artist's motives? This piece is definitely more about the statement than the art itself. The other photographs on display really outdo this one in terms of creativity.

Dana Point Turkey Trot

I wasn't going to post at all about the Turkey Trot just because too much time has passed since it occurred and it's no longer timely, but just the other day I got some pics back from the photographers at the race and it reminded me just how awesome/awful the conditions were.

The run was right around the Dana Point harbor, and under most circumstances I'm sure would have been really nice. The only problem, however, was that California decided to have of it's alotted 30 days of rain per year be on Thanksgiving day. It wasn't just rain, either, it was a downpour. We ran at 7am, and our group took part in the 10k race which coincided with the heaviest part of the storm.

I think the first picture was taken during one of the more rainy parts. Seriously, it was as if the organizers had planned the day and time to be exactly when the rain would be at it's heaviest. My clothes were completely soaked through in just a couple of minutes, and my shoes had that feeling like I had been going on Bigfoot Rapids at Knott's Berry Farm and the waterfall just happened to dump on me. Luckily the race wasn't any longer than it was, otherwise I would have been more concerned about the skin on my feet cracking.

I forgot my camera, and the people bothered to take pictures haven't sent any out. Greg ran the race, along with his wife Laura, sister-in-law, and a couple of other Irvine friends, Ryan and Kristin.

The part I was most impressed with myself about had to be the fact that I had played soccer the night before until almost 11pm, played Dr. Mario with Dave and Caitlin until about 12am, and then just Dave until about 3am. I finally got to bed at about 330am after reading some of Breaking Dawn, and woke up at 530am to go run the six miles. I had told myself before going to bed that if it was raining when I woke up that I wasn't going. And it wasn't, not really until the race actually started. Freakin' rain. It was kind of miserable, but really fun at the same time because how many times am I ever going to have that opportunity again, right?

There were a couple of things that I didn't like about the race. The course was way too thin for the amount of people running the race. And it was aggravating to be running and retracing your path in half-mile increments. The distance markers were confusing. There were no pacing groups so I had to really fight my way up to get to runners I was comfortable with. The biggest problem was that the course was overbooked. They shouldn't have several thousand people run on a path that's about 15 feet wide for both directions.

My final time was somewhere around 44 minutes, with about a 7:12 mile pace. I was pretty surprised with that time, especially considering all the impediments I had put up for myself. The best part was that I felt strong enough on the last mile to really pick up the pace, and even sprint the last quarter to half mile or so. Everyone had decent times, and I was especially proud of Greg for his time of about 46 minutes because he's only just recently begun to run more regularly.

I need a half marathon to work towards. And I think I'd like to run another marathon in the summer time. Lately I've been thinking that I might like to try and qualify for the Boston Marathon. Crazy, right? I think I can do it. I've been really blessed to have the health and the body-type that can handle the strains that I've been placing on it. I think I would die if that weren't the case because I love being active.

**Official race time - 44:39, 7:12 per mile pace.

Global Warming My Eye

Maybe you wouldn't say that if you were in Southern California, but it is freakin' freezing here. And to be honest, it actually has been a pretty mild winter thus far for Utah. BUT, it's still technically fall so I'm not going to conclude that this winter can't still, in fact, be pretty dang cold.

I came across a couple of global non-warming articles today. This one talks about how the Chinese essentially vetoed a New Kyoto agreement by suggesting that the participating "rich" countries should hand over $300 billion to subsidize the costs for impoverished countries. A couple of points from the article:

• Global thermometers stubbornly refused to rise after 1998, and have plummeted in the past two years by more than 0.5 degree C.
• The world is now colder than in 1940, when the Post-WWOII Industrial Revolution started spewing lots of man-made CO 2 in the first place.
• On October 29, the U.S. beat or tied 115 low-temperature records for the date. Alaska, which was unusually warm last year, recorded 25 degrees below zero Fahrenheit that night—beating the previous low by 4 degrees F. London had snow in October for the first time in more than 70 years.

And from Powerline, they cite an AP article and then add some more commentary:

In the face of the current cooling trend, global warming alarmists have naturally gotten more hysterical than ever. This Associated Press article is typical: "Obama left with little time to curb global warming." Personally, I think Obama has a much better chance of walking on water than changing the weather. But the AP plods doggedly on:

When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, global warming was a slow-moving environmental problem that was easy to ignore. Now it is a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can't avoid. ...

The 10 hottest years on record have occurred since Clinton's second inauguration. Global warming is accelerating. Time is close to running out, and Obama knows it.

This displays a remarkable level of ignorance on the part of the Associated Press. Global temperature records are nowhere near accurate enough to rank years, over a period of centuries, with any confidence. For the recent past, though, we have the world's best data set here in the U.S. And it's true that at one time, it was widely believed that the 1990s were the warmest recent decade. But that was before it was discovered that NASA's James Hansen, Al Gore's chief scientific ally, had been fudging the data, either accidentally or on purpose. NASA was forced to correct its data, with the result that the ten warmest years on record here in the US are as follows: 1934, 1998, 1921, 2006, 1931, 1999, 1953, 1990, 1938, 1939.

Don't buy the hype, as always.

UPDATE: It's snowing in Las Vegas today. Yes, Las Vegas, Nevada, not Las Vegas, North Pole. But that's because Las Vegas is sitting on top of a mountain, right? It's not unprecedented, but it's still very unusual.

Sunday Stuff

If there is a lesson, or a thought that has been repeating itself for me in various ways over the last six months, it has to be with respect to gospel scholarship. In the YSA conference that we had in Irvine back in June one of the institute teachers, Brother Greiner, shared some council that he had received directly from President Lee about coming to know the Savior. President Lee specified five keys:

1. Always attend your meetings
2. Tithe and make generous offerings
3. Magnify your calling
4. Search the scriptures - become a gospel scholar
5. Pray mightily

The first three I feel like I do a passable job of doing. The second two have always been harder for me, if only because to do each you have to be relentless. And for me personally, I think I've exhausted the cover-to-cover technique for the cannon of scriptures, and it really takes a lot of energy for me to come up with different approaches to scripture study that make it something new and exciting to revisit again and again.

Before coming up to school I visited with my friend's dad to get a blessing from him. He spoke with me a lot about the need for becoming a gospel scholar. There have been a number of his teachings that have really impressed me through the years that have been along these lines. One of his Sunday school classes that I attended as a youth just after I was baptized emphasized the need to build up our own gospel libraries. More recently one of the things that he has talked about that got my attention was that a lot of gospel scholarship really has to do with time spent studying. Although I think there is obviously more to it than that, his statement highlights the need to be immersed in the scriptures. I'm sure that there is a direct relationship between hours spent studying and spirituality that can be acquired in no other way than by constant attention to scripture study.

Since joining this ward, I've really been impressed with how intensively my bishop seems to approach scripture study. That impression about him doesn't come from him talking about all the time he puts into his study, rather the way he has spoken about how he searches for answers, and the accompanying responses he receives from the Lord. It's at a level that I'm just not at. It's really impressive.

In a stake priesthood meeting a couple of months ago my stake president talked about this same topic, and mentioned that he has not missed one day of scripture study since returning from his mission. That's at least 30 years of studying the gospel everday. My mission president stressed heavily the importance of studying the gospel in the morning for all of his missionaries. One thing that he liked to bring up was that if the missionaries would study for the scheduled amount each morning, that the number of hours devoted to gospel study would be equivalent to receiving a college degree.

Last week while reading a BYU devotional address I came across a devotional by Elder Joe Christensen who quoted Elder John A. Widstoe:

It is a paradox that men will gladly devote time every day for many years to learn science or an art, yet will expect to win a knowledge of the gospel, which comprehends all sciences and arts, through perfunctory glances at books or occassional listening to sermons. The gospel should be studied more intensively than any school or college subject. They who pass opinion on the gospel without having given it intimate and careful study are not lovers of the truth, and their opinions are worthless.

That quote really hit home for me because I still have a lot to be desired in that area.

Lately I've been reading the Elder Maxwell biography by Bruce C. Hafen and it's amazing to what extent Elder Maxwell devoured the gospel. I've only read a couple of other church biographies, but from my small sample I think I can say that those really are some of the most inspiring texts that you can read as far as church material goes. When I read President Hinckley's biography during the mission I gained an enormous appreciation for not just the person that he was, but the amount of preparation he received prior to becoming the President of the church. I also came to understand much more clearly why seniority is the rule when it comes to selecting the next church president. None of this stuff is on accident.

In my calling as gospel doctrine teacher I feel like I've been able to have more insights and diligence in studying the gospel than I've had in a long time. I can see the difference in the clarity of my thoughts, and in turn my own abilities to accomplish different things. In an interview with my bishop last week I mentioned to him how grateful and excited I am about my calling and to serve in that capacity, and he gave me some suggestions on additional readings (he mentioned Joseph Smith and the Restoration by Ivan J. Barrett, and a two-volume work, A New Witness for Christ in America by Frances Kirkham. Do you have any must read books that you would suggest?).

This is just something I've been thinking about for some time now. I know it's an area that I need to continue to develop, but I can definitely see the value and need for it.

Crazy Indians

Seriously. This magical vid came to by way of Dave. I don't think I can ever thank him enough for it.

Bailout Deal Stalled

For the record, I wasn't pleased with the $700 billion bank package either, but of the two parties I'm less afraid of the GOP right now with this stuff than I am of the Democrats. Public sentiment doesn't favor bailing out the automakers, and Americans didn't really seem to like the $700 billion going to the banks either, so the stonewalling by the GOP on the bailout seems to at least be responding somewhat to that opinion, which I think is the right move.

After thinking about it a little more, I feel like just saying that it's either a loan or out-and-out bankruptcy is a little too simplistic. One of the big questions regarding the loan is what happens if things continue as they have been for the last couple of decades? Is this just delaying the inevitable and encouraging business as usual? If five years down the road Ford, GM, and Chrysler don't capture more market share and regain that loaned capital, what happens to the American taxpayer? Do we loan them money again? There needs to be more accountability from the American automakers, and that's something that needs to be structured into any bailout package.

I'm sure it's something that's going to eventually pass, but it's mostly just a matter of how much useful restructuring can occur that would encourage an improved American auto industry.

Here is what Mitt Romney had to say regarding the bailout:

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

And the first of several suggestions he makes:

First, their huge disadvantage in costs relative to foreign brands must be eliminated. That means new labor agreements to align pay and benefits to match those of workers at competitors like BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Furthermore, retiree benefits must be reduced so that the total burden per auto for domestic makers is not higher than that of foreign producers.

That extra burden is estimated to be more than $2,000 per car. Think what that means: Ford, for example, needs to cut $2,000 worth of features and quality out of its Taurus to compete with Toyota’s Avalon. Of course the Avalon feels like a better product — it has $2,000 more put into it. Considering this disadvantage, Detroit has done a remarkable job of designing and engineering its cars. But if this cost penalty persists, any bailout will only delay the inevitable.

And the editors at National Review had this to say about it:

The agenda also calls for the appointment of a federal “car czar” to direct a restructuring of the car companies. But it does not give this person a mandate to force the autoworkers’ unions to make the realistic concessions that are required if the Big Three are to become competitive again — something a bankruptcy judge could do. The Big Three’s labor costs, work rules, and job-security arrangements are relics of a bygone era; if you want to see what a successful American auto industry looks like, look to Toyota, Honda, and Nissan, which employ a non-union workforce of more than 100,000 at their American assembly plants.

If, as seems likely, this restructuring doesn’t work, consider the $15 billion a down payment: It is the nature of federal czars to attribute mission failure to inadequate resources, and it is the nature of Congress to throw good money after bad. No one wants to call this a nationalization, but that is what it is bound to become unless Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell can rally enough Republicans to block the bill. McConnell got to the heart of the matter in a statement yesterday: This bailout doesn’t fix Detroit’s problem, he wrote, “It subsidizes it.”

I tend to agree. Our cars are just not competitive. What do you all drive? Does anyone reading this post even have an American car? When I bought my car I didn't even consider any of those three brands. Just as Mitt mentions in that quote above, you just don't get the same kind of car for the money that you do with foreign imports.

It appears that the bipartisan measure that was almost through failed because the UAW refused to cut their wages to bring them in line with the Japanese carmakers. Those guys have way too much power, and if they get that money and continue as is, you can bet that it's only going to be a few more years before the whole thing actually collapses and Congress either hands them another blank check, or they finally do go BK.

One proposal that does seem really interesting concerns the appointment of the "car czar." Who fits the bill? These guys seem to think that Mitt Romney is the right guy for the job, and make a good case for it:

His qualifications are curiously perfect.

First, he knows the private sector cold, based on his leadership as CEO of industry consulting firm Bain & Co. He also knows Detroit.

Growing up in the 1950s, his father was head of American Motors Corp. when it was profitable. Romney's steeped in the car culture.

Second, Romney served one term as the governor of Massachusetts. A Republican, he won the top office in the bluest state in the union. Obviously, he persuaded that state's liberal Democrats that he could work with them and win their trust. And he did.

Third, he's a master troubleshooter, showing his mettle first in the 1990 rescue of Bain & Co. after he had left the company and it fell apart, and again in the financial rescue of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, which had been nearly $400 million in the hole and mired in corruption scandals before he got called in.

Romney revamped the organization's leadership and policies, cut bloated budgets, and raised new funding. And in the end, it made $100 million in profit.

The auto industry could use someone with those unusual talents. If Romney turns the ailing industry around, it would be hailed as historic. And Obama would be hailed for his savvy, mature judgment in naming a capable foe to do the job. He ought to consider it.

Can you imagine what a boost that would be for Mitt if he got that assignment? That would be an enormous punctuation mark on his already solid reputation for turning huge messes into big payoffs. I'm not really sure any other way he could better add to his qualifications if he makes another run for the Presidency other than by occupying a senate seat for several years. If this deal has to happen, I hope it's led by him.

One brief final excerpt from Powerline:

It appears that the last-minute compromise has collapsed because the UAW wouldn't go along with Republicans' request to "slash wages next year to bring them into line with those of Japanese carmakers." I'm suspicious of that account; the real problem the carmakers face is not the wages they pay to the people who are actually working for them, it's the legacy retirement and medical costs they foolishly agreed to bear on behalf of retired workers, decades ago. The UAW represents three times as many retirees and widows as it does auto workers.

Only bankruptcy and a shedding of legacy obligations can, long-term, save the jobs of current Big Three auto workers. Thus, the real conflict is not between auto companies and current workers, it is between current workers and retirees. The UAW can't represent both.

FINAL UPDATE: The cloture vote failed, 52-35. Thank goodness. Now the auto companies can get about the serious task of preserving their businesses and their employees' jobs through bankruptcy proceedings.

Gosh...part of why I haven't been doing political posts lately is that they become so involved. There is a lot of reading that has to go into these posts. I'll allow for the possibility that I could be mistaken with some of this, but things can't get much more worse anyway, right? Right?

UPDATE: I wanted to link you to this Larry Kudlow article on the bailout as well. He is all for cutting tax rates on the supply-side. I really like the way he treats economics. Anyway, he brings up a couple of good points:

President-elect Obama has been cagey about the details of his massive $700 billion infrastructure spending plan and whether he’ll raise taxes on successful earners. But this new New Deal, including Obama’s middle-class tax credits, will not create permanent economic growth incentives.

He starts the article touching on one point made by Salt from the previous post:

So here’s the painful choice for both Republicans and Democrats in Congress: Will the political class risk a Detroit-carmaker bankruptcy that might lead to catastrophic liquidation — including, realistically, a couple million car-related jobs — all while the recession deepens and job losses mount (1.2 million in just the past three months)?

It’s a tough choice — especially for Republicans, most of whom want to vote against bailout nation and stop big-government encroachment on our free-market economy. That’s the right theory. But are the economic risks simply too great to employ it?

Here are some points that he clearly states that I've poorly articulated elsewhere:

Meanwhile, the pressure for more bailouts grows daily. The Avis rental-car company wants a bailout from TARP. A company called BlueFire Ethanol wants a bailout. The trade association for equipment-leasing companies wants a bailout. There’s no end to it. And if we keep going down this path we’ll make a mockery of free-market capitalism.

Where to draw the line? That’s the huge political question.Coming back to Detroit, there may be a pragmatic solution, one that takes some of the apocalypse-now threat of major economic decline out of play. Senator Bob Corker and others have proposed a federal oversight board that would in effect become a bankruptcy court. Strict conditions would be imposed on the carmakers, especially regarding compensation — the single-biggest reason for Detroit’s decades-long decline.

Corker wants Detroit to have the exact same compensation levels as the Japanese transplants in the non-union Southern states. That means moving hourly labor costs down from roughly $70 to $48. It means reopening the UAW contracts that have created the huge pay-gap between Toyota and GM. It means putting an end to excessive pension and healthcare benefits.

And how is the government supposed to encourage economic growth?

What will? A genuine supply-side growth agenda to reduce tax rates across-the-board.If the Republican party wants to put bailout nation to rest it should campaign for lower corporate, individual, and investment tax rates. It should make clear that the Democrats are the government-spending party while the Republicans are the tax-cutting party.

We will not bailout our way into prosperity. Nor will we spend our way into prosperity. Somebody has to stand up and yell: It’s time to cut tax rates on the supply-side. That will reinvigorate growth and infuse new spirit into a demoralized economy.

I basically just cut and pasted his entire article. Oh well.

Let's Get Political, Political, I Wanna Get Political

If I were to have a political talk show that song would totally be my theme song. It would be so annoying having to hear that over and over, at every return from break. It would be awesome. I was going to post the video, but it's kind of gross, like in an 80's workout video with jiggling bodies kind of way. And the song is really more annoying than anything, so I'll spare you.

I've been reading up still, and I can't remember where I saw all the information so I won't have many direct links, but I'll do my best to cover the things I thought most interesting:

• Thank goodness for the GOP picking up those extra senate seats between Senator Chambliss of Georgia, and presumably Senator Coleman of Minnesota. The reason being the Big 3 Auto Bailout and the Dem-led Congress attempting to push through the legislation that would grant the billions of dollars that they're seaking after. Although something will probably go through at some point, hopefully the GOP will be smart enough to at least get some concessions from the other side. Hugh Hewitt wants some major tax cuts in Ohio and Michigan, but who knows if they'll actually secure anything.The great thing about the prospect of the auto bailout is that just about every other major corporation is now seeking the same from the government. Since when is the government supposed to backstop every private enterprise?
• You all heard about Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, right? The guy who was trying to sell the Senate vacancy created by President-Elect Obama's ascent into the White House. There have been some distant ties to Obama, but mainly my question is this: how can a guy ascend in politics having interacted with so many questionable individuals throughout his entire career and be so above reproach? It just seems like in every area in his lif - his friends, his political connections, even his minister - all these people have something that would make anybody think twice about supporting. If you were considering just one of your friends and they became close to a number of different people who had all of these questionable backgrounds, wouldn't that give you some sort of pause? But somehow Obama always escape all of that.
• This Powerline post had a really interesting excerpt from a former Assistant United States Attorney, but what I'm going to post touches on some other points:
  
  

  No, he's not nuts. Having been an AUSA for a long time, one thing I noticed is that normal, honest people have difficulty understanding how criminals think. (This shows up, for example, in the death penalty debates I do, where abolitionists simply don't grasp the heartlessness and cruelty that some killers display. It's simply beyond their experience)...
  
  It's not so much that Spitzer and Edwards will walk away from their respective scandals the multi-millionaire celebrities they were when they walked in, with a fawning (for liberals) press telling us that (a) everybody does it, or (b) to err is human, or (c) we can't be so judgmental, or (d) [fill in the blank]. It's that we (or at least they) learned from The Big One ten years ago. Bill Clinton disgraced his office, lied, and encouraged or (possibly) arranged for others to lie. He also granted at least one pardon after the pardonee's former (but still friendly) wife forked over a few hundred thousand in "contributions."
  
  And what happened?
  
  Clinton's popularity went up, his spouse became a serious candidate for President, he's touted by the press as an elder statesman, his guy at DoJ who checked off on the pardon is about to become Attorney General, and of course Clinton himself lives a life of luxury and adulation. The world of perverse incentives that the Left labored so long to create has arrived.
  
  Is Blago nuts? Not hardly.

  Dave has mentioned to me before a little about some of the death penalty conversations that he's had in law school, and that really does seem the case. People who oppose the death penalty oftentimes cannot even fathom the kind of evil that some people inflict on others. Sometimes there are things so severe that the requirements of justice require that person's death. That may seem harsh, but not everyone who kills is remorseful, or did it to someone who deserved to die. I've read some interesting stories recently about family members of murder victims who visit the murderers on death row and they will fight tooth and nail to proclaim their innocence because they know that they have to keep the act up for the sake of their appeals, no matter how guilty they are. There's a lot to consider when it comes to that stuff.
  
  And then Clinton. A lot of liberals have no clue how it is that conservatives can be so condemning of his acts while in office, but then be pro-Bush, or pro-War like they're on the same plane. This is the President of the United States of America, the man who is supposed to be the most respected man on the planet, and he's engaging in extra-marital affairs in the White House with the staff? It's just so petty. And not only did he get through it fine, but things almost seemed to get even better like nothing ever happened. It's not that he wasn't penitent, or maybe Hillary was really hard on him, but there just seem to be no consequences to any of these actions.
• Here are some Bush quotes from Jay Nordlinger. He assembled these during a conference with some writers from National Review last Friday:
  
  He said, “I’m comfortable that I have made principled decisions for eight years — that I was unwilling to sacrifice those principles for the sake of short-term approbation, approval, or whatever you want to call it. It was in this room that a prominent member of my political party said, ‘You must remove troops from Iraq, because it could cost us elections if you don’t.’ And it was in this room that I looked at him and said, ‘You must not understand George W. Bush, because I understand that success in Iraq is necessary for the long-term security of America, and therefore I will make decisions based upon victory in Iraq, not victory in the polls.’”
  
  We are in “an ideological struggle,” a different kind of ideological struggle from the Cold War, “because we face a non-nation state that uses asymmetrical warfare to kill, which makes it hard for a president to sustain the fight.” In this new kind of war, “the battles are infrequent; the damage is often psychological.” And the way “to defeat an enemy ideologically is to offer a better ideology.” The replacement of tyranny with liberty “will be the long-term solution to America’s security.” And Bush is talking about, not just the “tyranny of government,” but “the tyranny of disease, the tyranny of illiteracy.”
  
  He said that it would be “imperative” for all of us to articulate — “in your own way, obviously” — the idea that “we are in an ideological struggle.” Bush himself is “going to put a policy institute together at Southern Methodist University, precisely to remind people of the long-term struggle and the consequences of allowing hopeless situations to fester.” (Me - which is an interesting point, the need to be able to articulate our views. It's not enough to just have a particular stance, but to be able to adequately express it.)
  
  “I argue vociferously that the Middle East is better off without Saddam Hussein,” Bush said. And people forget about the “environment” of early 2003, when the U.S. and its allies went into Iraq. “The whole world thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Members of both political parties thought there were weapons of mass destruction. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 said, ‘Disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences.’” And you should not “isolate” Iraq, but place it “in the post-9/11 environment,” recognizing “what life was like.”
  
  Everyone says, Our alliances are in terrible shape, America has a terrible image, George W. has pissed away the good name of the United States. Our alliances, our image, and our name have to be restored. “Restored” is the big buzzword.
  
  Bush: “All I ask is that people analyze our alliances around the world before they come to” any conclusions. “One, it is hard for any president to say that he and his country have had strong relations with Japan, Korea, and China at the same time” — but Bush can say it. “Two, we have changed our relationship with India from one of suspicion to one of partnership, while being able to keep influence in Pakistan. Three, I articulated a two-state solution, at the same time vowing to defend Israel and keeping strong relations with Saudi Arabia and Jordan and Egypt and the U.A.E.”
  
  In Latin America, “we have relations with two key countries that are very strong: one, Mexico; and two, Brazil. The relationship between the United States and Brazil has been one of suspicion at times. Today, it is one of dealing with common interests.
  
  “I’ll never forget my first meeting with Lula in here. I’m a pretty frank guy with these people. [I loved that: “these people.” One of my favorite moments of the interview.] And I said, ‘You know, it’s hard for you to believe, isn’t it, that you’re sitting here talking with a’ — I don’t think I called myself a right-wing fanatic, but . . . I said, ‘I know that you probably think that you and I can't get along. After all, you are, you know, coming out of the leftist labor movement, bashing America when you could.’ And I said, ‘But you know something? You and I do care about a couple of things: We care about the plight of the downtrodden; we want to defeat ignorance. What I found interesting about you, Mr. President, is you believe in faith-based programs to help lift people’s lives in your country.’
  
  “And it was like, ‘Oh, maybe I can deal with this guy.’ And we have got a very strong relationship. Does that translate to people’s respect for America? In some cases, it does. You know, I don’t follow these opinion polls. But I will tell you, people want to come to America. I will tell you, America is respected. Our values are cherished — because they’re not our values; they’re universal values.”
  
  What should be watched “over these coming decades is the prevalence of moral relativism, which is manifested during my presidency, saying, ‘Bush is imposing his values.’ [He fairly shouts this.] Well, if you believe these are Bush’s values or American values, then you don’t believe in the universality of certain values. And so I firmly believe that our respect is strong in the world. I’d rather be respected than liked. And we are respected, and our values are cherished, and the lines are long to come to America.”
  
  A word about popularity: You can be popular, but “at what price”? “You can get short-term popularity in the Middle East if you want, by blaming all problems on Israel. That’ll make you popular. You can be popular in certain salons of Europe if you say, ‘Okay, we’ll join the International Criminal Court.’ I could have been popular if I’d said, ‘Oh, Kyoto is the way to deal with the environmental problem.’ That would have made me liked. It would have made me wrong, however. And, ultimately, you earn people’s respect by articulating a set of principles and standing by them.
  
  “You know, popularity comes and goes. It just does. It comes and goes for an individual or a nation [sing it, brother]. But principles are enduring.”

Take those quotes for what they're worth. They illustrate a lot of great points and tell a lot about the man. Of course there are plenty more in the actual piece that are worth taking a look at.

I had more stuff, but I've really got to get moving on some school stuff.

Be blessed ya'll!

Proposition D8

I saw this over on Welcome To My Soapbox and I'm only reposting it here because...remember this guy from our ward?

This Took Way Too Long

This afternoon I downloaded the Picasa 3 update and for the first time I noticed that you can make videos. I've been wanting this feature for a long time, but never really looked for it. So I just put together a folder of pictures and put a song to it and thought it shouldn't be long before I would be able to upload the video and have it running to post.

Wrong.

The biggest roadblock was that my video was too big to upload to YouTube because they have a 1 GB limit. So the first thing I did was cut out some of the pictures, but for whatever reason the total file size once the movie was created stayed the same. Then I got some image editing software that could resize the files. Although it was pretty easy to do single files, I had no idea how to do a batch edit since there were about 60 images in the video that I didn't want to resize one by one. after finally figuring it out, then I went back to the Picasa, tried creating the movie again only to have it turn out to be the same file size. I'm still not sure why that's the case.

Luckily, Google Video allows for whatever size files. So after a few hours of dinking around, here's a dumb video full of summer pics. And now there's something wrong with the embed code...I'm done.

Maybe this direct link will work...

Marriage and the Mormon Culture

Dropped back by California over the weekend for Amanda's wedding. I can't say enough about how much I just love California. Is it dumb that when I was flying into Long Beach on Thursday night I was really feeling Christmasy just looking at all the city lights with the mass of white and red lights on the major veins and arteries embodied in the 5, 405, 91, 22, 605, and other freeways from up in the sky? White Christmases are pretty, but I really have no problem ringing in the season at 70 degress. None, whatsoever.

The weather couldn't have been more pleasant for the festivities. I had my doubts about how everything was going to turn out for various reasons, but everything seemed to go swimmingly. Their sealer was pleasant and didn't hijack the ceremony to take the focus away from the bridge and groom, there was a decent turn out at the reception, everything looked nice and everyone seemed to get along just fine.

For all of their eccentricities and quirks, Amanda and Matt really are two of the sweetest people. Without missing a beat in pronouncing the words of the actual sealing ceremony, the temple worker passed Matt's father some kleenex who then separated the tissue to hand to the kids. Matt wiped his own tears and then handed the tissue to his bride. It was darling. While I may think they're so goofy, they are kind-hearted and that will carry them a long ways.

As with any of the Reid family weddings, the boys took every opportunity to capture their favorite wedding moments that didn't involve either bride or the groom. I forgot my camera because I barely made my flight, but Dave and Mike have some good shots. It made me laugh to look through the photos that they got because you could look through the 50 or so pictures and not have any idea who actually got married. We concentrated entirely on getting our own fabolous, and sometimes irreverent, pictures. What else are you supposed to do when there is a Nativity scene with lifesize figures hidden away from most of the public view? Well, that is except for the major freeway that runs north-south along the entire state of California. There were some winners in there.

The words of the sealing ceremony always blow me away. Always. It's amazing the promises that are given. Nothing else even comes close to matching it in power and meaning.

Here are some thoughts I had about weddings:

• People from Orange County getting married down in the San Diego temple are jerks. Unless it was your childhood fantasy, you're a jerk. Even if it was you're still walking a fine line. What's wrong with getting married in Newport? It's just so convenient and just so much easier. But what's even worse are the people who...


• Get married on a Friday. Seriously? I have to get off of work now to make it to your wedding? I guess the thought could be that they didn't want to take away anybody's Saturday, but still...what a hassle. Yeah, I know you're reading this thinking to yourself...but hey! I got married on a Friday. Maybe you can be a little more understanding about Dave and I almost missing your sealing because we had to get through LA-Orange County traffic because it was a stinkin' weekday. Even worse still are the ones who...


• Get married on a holiday weekend, mostly the ones with the Monday holiday attached like Memorial Day or President's day. Not so much Thanksgiving because it's an even longer weekend, and you also have some others coming up, but those holiday weekends from February to June are few and far between. If people have to use their long weekend to travel for the wedding, even worse still.


• I hope my eventual wife doesn't want too much traditional stuff. What's the point? We're going to be doing a wedding on a budget so unless she's ballin' out of control there's no way we can even come close to resembling a traditional wedding when it comes at 1/4 the cost or in some cases, 1/10 of the cost of other weddings that people outside of the church have. And speaking of which...


• Isn't it kind of funny that non-members spend so much on weddings when they're so likely to fail, and we spend so little when ours have a higher probability of succeeding? If you're outside of the church it's possible that you're going to have a few, but if you're a Momo getting sealed, your success rate is especially high and you'll probably only have one wedding in your lifetime, but you'll spend next to nothing on it, comparatively.


• Back to traditional stuff...can I say how much I hate the garter/bouquet toss? Loathe is a more fitting word actually. I don't know any single guy or girl that ever wants to participate in that part of the wedding, and when you're getting older and still single, you're already conscious enough as it is about your singleness when you're attending weddings anyway. You've already got enough people making comments as it is at the wedding and reception saying things like, can you believe he/she got married before you? Did you ever imagine that happening? Hell no I didn't. For criminey's sake, she's seven flippin' years younger than me. I came home from my mission and she was still in junior high. You really think I saw this one coming? So when are you going to get married? Have you thought about getting married? Why haven't you gotten hitched yet? I say most of this to be funny because I'm not actually that uncomfortable with my single state right now, but yes, I actually did get all these questions yesterday. I went through my not-married-yet crisis about 2 years ago and I've either actually since gotten over it or at least tricked myself into thinking that I have, but in these kinds of settings with those kinds of questions there's no way I can avoid feeling at least a little self-conscious about my marital status. Anyway...I digress, that particular tradition (garter/bouquet toss) isn't our (LDS) tradition anyway, so why do we do it? Because other people do? Lame.
  

  
  



• For a little while, I thought Greg and Laura had too many gimmicks at their wedding, but for some reason it all clicked for me this weekend. The reception is supposed to be a celebration, but it can pretty easily turn into a boring ward social if you're not careful. I hope mine isn't one that people are just sitting through waiting for it to finish. And now that I think about it, my favorite part about Greg's wedding was when they made all the groomsmen and bridesmaids dance. My favorite receptions all involved dancing - Doug and Kristen's Fresno reception had dancing, Tyson and Jen's, Greg and Laura's. I guess Jake and Brooke's, and Steve and Jenna's did too. Duly noted.


• None of my family will be able to attend the sealing because they're not members, but I don't want to do a ring ceremony either. Still haven't seen anything, or heard of anything that feels like a suitable substitute. Let me know if you have any ideas.


• I have a bunch of wedding related hook-ups. My parents are tailors so they can alter any clothes that need fixing. My mom can even sew the wedding dress, and my dad has a bunch of tuxedos at his store. I know two jewelers who I have pretty close associations with that would both probably help me out in getting a ring. I even know a videographer, who until this weekend, I didn't think I was close enough with to ask for his help but he said the next time he comes down it better be for my wedding. And there are other people here and there I know of that can help out with other things. If only there were a girl to get married to...


• Last week I met with my bishop for the first time since I've been up here for tithing settlement so we chatted for a few minutes just getting to know one another. He has a very direct approach which sometimes can be kind of refreshing. He asked if I had a temple recommend, and then if I wanted to get married. Then he asked if I was dating anybody, and I told him no. And then he told me that I should go to the temple and ask the Lord if it was time for me to get married, and then to start asking out the cute girls in the ward and narrow down my choices. I thought it was funny just how matter of fact he was about it.

Anyway, it's bed time. Congrats to Amanda and Matt. And to all a good night.

Blogworthy?

So I'm back in California after just a four day absence. I can't believe just how pleasant this place is. I probably appreciate it more now because I'm in Utah, but it really does just put me in the best mood to be in a place that is just so...comfortable. Know what I mean?

Anyway, I was telling Dave this morning about how any time something even remotely interesting crosses my path I first ask myself, is that blogworthy? Is this worth posting? Can I make it interesting/insightful/funny? And then when I do come up with a post that I know is good and also gets a good response, I'm so proud. I know not everything I put in here is 5-star material, but hopefully it's intriguing enough to keep you coming around. Or maybe you're just that bored that you keep on poking around.

I just wanted to mention a couple of quick things:

• This morning I woke up with Blame It On The Rain in my head. Seriously. And I loved it. Seriously.
• I'm really upset that the five of you who read this blog didn't start watching Pushing Daisies right away and then started convincing all of your friends that they need to watch it too. It got cancelled a couple weeks ago, and it's mostly attributed to the writer's strike last winter because it occurred right as the show was starting to build a fan-base. I love Kristen Chenoweth's character Olive, and I love even more that they feature her singing every so often to showcase her voice. She was the original Glinda in Wicked. Hers is the voice on the album. This is from the last episode:
  Gotta love The Bangles...and Olive.
• I was having a conversation recently and telling my friend that it was only about a month ago that I realized what the song Pony by Ginuwine was about. That song was released more than a decade ago and I seriously had no idea what it was referring to until a few weeks ago. I guess I never really listened to the song that often anyway, but mostly I'm glad that my thoughts don't drift often enough in that direction to pick up on those messages all the time. I bring this up because I heard a rock version of the song on KROQ this morning and it was too catchy to ignore. I would post a video, but I'm realizing just how raunchy the song really is so I'd rather not put that content directly on my blog, but here's a link to the band's MySpace page where you can listen to it. It's really catchy. The band is called Far.
• I was on Rufio's MySpace page this morning and was listening to the acoustic version they have on there of Above Me. I love it. This is for Dave, Greg, and Mike. Check it out. I hadn't heard this one before.
• Still following politics. I just haven't been that excited about any of it. I did hear an interesting story the other day about what was going on inside of the LA temple while the Anti-Prop 8 protestors were outside and the temple had just received the envelope with the white powder. The girl who was telling me about it had a cousin that was a veil worker there that day. I guess this has already started to make the rounds via email so maybe you've already heard this, but they had to close the temple down immediately. Luckily (?) there was a biochemist attending that day who actually specializes in hazardous substances and he was able to immediately identify the sub...and that was where I stopped when the mirror fell over and mercifully dodged hurting anything of real value. Right there. As I was saying...identify the substance as talc powder so all of the people knew right away that they weren't in danger, but they still had to close the temple until the FBI and hazmat people could come and clear them. The people were stuck in there for about eight hours, with everyone stuck in their exact locations when the word spread about the white powder. So what did they do? That's right...ordinances. All day long. As it turns out, they had performed only two less ordinances than they had the day before when three local stakes had temple days at the temple. You can't stop the Mormons. No unhallowed hand...
• Guy from my mission is moving out to Connecticut for grad school in the winter. I guess they're having a hard time trying to find someone to rent their place, so if you're in Utah or looking to move into Utah, they have a place in American Fork that you should check out. They're offering December free and rent for $150 below market value for their place because he doesn't want to have to start a semester late. Check it out here.

Is this burning an eternal flame?

Scrooged

I work as a teaching assistant at school. It has worked out well thus far because my professor hasn't actually expected me to work the full 13 weekly hours that I'm contracted for, although I get paid for it. This past week I got the opportunity to give my first college lecture. I prepared all of a half hour for it. The material wasn't difficult, but it's funny to me that I'm less intimidated by a class of college kids than talking to girls. Anyway, one of the things that I have to do that I hate the most these days is grade papers and tests. It just takes so much time, but I tend to hate it a lot less when I do it while watching movies.

Although it's the only Christmas movie I own, I realized yesterday while watching it that it's my favorite Christmas movie. By far, I think. I love the Ghost of Christmas Present. I love when he thinks he meets the Ghost of Christmas Future in the elevator. I love when he comes back from from his trip with the Ghost of Christmas Present and he starts yelling at the actors. But I just love the scene at the end when he's making his speech. This speech.

It kind of makes me cry. And so it begins...Merry Christmas everyone.

Pursuit of Happiness

Read an morning this article about Wayman Tisdale, a former basketball player who upon shattering his leg after a fall discovered that he had cancer. After a career as an NBA player, he was soon reduced to only one leg because of cancer. The article highlights Tisdale's insistent attitude that helped him remain smiling and happy throughout the ordeal and as he adjusts to his new life.

People are remarkably resilient, even more so than we often give ourselves credit for. I wish I could find the images I have in mind, but there are some really interesting graphs that show levels of happiness over a period of time, and introduce into those graphs major life events. The most interesting come from things like sudden windfalls of money (e.g. inheritances, lottery winnings) or catatrosphic life events. People always have a certain baseline rate of happiness, and it can go up or down depending on what events play out. What's most interesting, however, is that people almost always return to their baseline, no matter how precipitous the circumstances might be.

Those who win the lottery will show a dramatic rise in their levels of happiness, but often will come crashing down to even below their previous baseline. And people suffering catastrophic life events endure a sharp decline, but normally return to their previous baseline levels.

Not really sure what the message here is. I guess maybe the important thing to remember is that happiness has very little to do with our external circumstances. Although those events can sometimes change the field of play, it's effect on the player himself is often very minimal. The key to raising our baseline levels is changing those internal factors within us that have more bearing on how we let the external affect the way we live and what we perceive our lives to be like.

It's all about perspective. Mary Ellen Edmunds told a story about a little boy living with his family in destitute surroundings having to cover himself at night with boards, wooden planks. Before going to bed he bewilderedly remarks to his mother, "can you believe that there are people in this world who have to go to sleep without boards to cover them up at night?"

Count your many blessings and see what God hath done.

Dear Front and Center,

In the last couple of months I feel like I've gotten to know you pretty well. At first I was impressed by your multiple Masters degrees, and now you're about to finish up your PhD, I'm assuming. You are, or at least have been, the eternal student. But the small measure of admiration I felt for you has quickly dissipated in the last month. I just can't take it anymore.

Comments intended to be jokes once in a while are not grating, even when they're not funny in the first place. I can appreciate attempts at lightening the mood, however poor those attempts might actually be. What I can't stand, however, is your incessant stream of poorly crafted cracks. Your sad taste in humor is further magnified by the other students in our cohort who are much funnier with better timing. Timing is essential, and implies an awareness of circumstances that you seem to lack altogether.

Funny is how they quietly usurped the sign-up sheet for breakfast next week and graded each person on their choices, and came up with a complete rubric for why they made their grade decisions, as well as comments for future improvement. They punctuated the joke by doing it all during lecture, and proudly presented it to our professor at the close of class. Not funny is how you continue to harp on a topic and make jokes about something that, A) nobody finds funny or even interesting, and B) with the lack of reaction somehow propels you with more momentum to save the joke. Please, for your sake and ours, just stop.

Everything about your presence screams for attention. You strategically place yourself front and center in every class, but you don't stop there. To make sure that everyone on the periphery hears your "clever" comments, you have this big booming voice and supply your own laugh track as a que to the rest of the studio audience. If that wasn't enough, you're also a massive physical specimen who towers over people even from your seated position. I seek for refuge, but you have cut off my every opportunity for escape from you. And you round it all out with your $2 plastic flip flops, and dirty caps with the velcro strap on the back. I'm from California and probably wear sandals way more often than the USRDA, but you seek to top even me by insisting on wearing them to 8 AM classes in the winter even when it's raining.

Congratulations on finishing up your last couple of weeks of classes. No matter how many degrees you might have accumulated along the way, it's just not a good idea to enter the workforce when you're close to 40 and with a family. It's just not. I think to shout hallelujah any time I think about the sweet release I'll get from you after next week.

Best of luck. May the wind always be at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, may the rains fall soft upon your fields, and may you just get the hell out of here.

With the kindest intentions,

Me

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.