Please note:

This blog (which originated during the 2012 Romney campaign) consists of my opinions, and my opinions alone. Despite the election loss, I've continued the blog, and write a post when strong feelings drive me to it. In spite of the blog titIe, I DO NOT speak for my church nor for other members of my church. If anything I say ever contradicts LDS doctrine .... forget me and go with the Church.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Leftism, the master of the smear

What has extreme Leftism done well?  How has it affected education, art, science, religion, or society in general?  Not to mention government .... which is a whole other post.   Or maybe I should ask, where has it NOT done damage?

Too many of our universities un-teach the morals and values instilled by parents, at an exorbitantly inflated price, causing back-breaking debt.  Art, which includes movies, has been degraded to include pornography, vulgarity, and immorality, under the misused excuse of Free Speech.  Science has been lowered to accept theories as facts, which are then used to strangle businesses and jobs.   Religion is often mocked and dismissed as irrelevant, or pressured to re-write age-old values and truths to fit the new social norm.

Leftism has hurt families in that it rewards irresponsible behavior with government handouts.  Hence we have generations of children being born into single-parent households, with no father in sight, who then grow up in poverty and repeat the cycle.

But there is one thing extreme Leftism does very well.  So well, it's almost unstoppable.  It is a master at smearing the Right.

It has so skillfully marketed such a pack of lies about the Right, that it's breathtaking.  A few examples:

Conservatism is racist.  There is not a hint of logic in this, yet millions believe it.  If the Right criticizes someone in government who is black, they most certainly will be accused of racism.  Yet the Left ignores the many conservative-leaning black people who are adored by the Right ..... as in Herman Cain, Clarence Thomas, Condie Rice, Alan West, Mia Love, to name a few.

Conservatism does not care.  Oh really?  Who gives more to charity?  Republicans.  Who donates more time through volunteering?   Republicans.   Who joins the military, putting their lives in danger, to fight for the freedom of another?  Mostly Republicans.  Who would LOVE to be let loose to build their businesses and provide jobs???  Republicans.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/generous-states-charities-lean-republican/story?id=17030246#.UK1N7BxC_UI    http://www.gallup.com/poll/118684/military-veterans-ages-tend-republican.aspx
http://clearwater.patch.com/articles/whos-more-geneours-republicans-or-democrats
http://www.debt.org/faqs/americans-in-debt/economic-demographics-republicans/

The Right is anti-immigration.  Wrong again.  The Right is anti-ILLEGAL-immigration.   We LOVE immigrants who follow the rules.  We LOVE immigrants who come here and assimilate.  We are ALL descendants of such immigrants.  How can we reward someone who broke the law by coming here illegally, then expect someone else to not do the same?  Why have immigration laws, if they can be side-stepped?    

The Right hates (fill in the blank) ....  Homosexuals.  The poor.  Hispanics.  Victims.  Women.  The elderly.  Animals.  Trees. You name it.  This is one of their biggest lies.   Yet the Left has done tremendous damage to minorities.   They have perpetuated the victim mentality and the resentment and entitlement attitude that follows.  They ignore the generations of people of every minority who came to this country and made it through hard work and sacrifice .... motivated by the freedom of being allowed to keep what they earned .... and without the "benevolent" hand of government.   They have twisted values and morals that have existed throughout the ages that we feel are vital for the survival and well-being of individuals, as well as the human race.  And they create fear that, for example, .... the Right will heartlessly throw grandmothers off cliffs, kill people with cancer, ....... and enslave woman by supposedly taking away their birth control, and telling them they are better off married before getting pregnant and that innocent unborn children deserve life.

The extreme Left has mastered the ability of besmirching the Right, through smoke screens and the complete disregard for, or twisting of, facts.   And we, on the Right, run around trying to clear our reputations, waving that all-too-trampled banner called TRUTH, and arguing the same arguments over .... and over .... and over.  

But what else can we do?






Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Even if it wasn't true .....

We, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have been heard to say -- we know the Church is true.  What we mean by that is .... we know, and/or have faith that the gospel, as taught in the Church, is true.  And by THAT we mean it honestly has the correct formula for returning to God, AKA our Father in Heaven, and, in some sense, live with him forever.  That is the bottom line.  I have believed this all my life, with no intention of ever changing my opinion.

But, and admittedly we've ALL had this thought, WHAT IF I learned from some indisputable source ...... that it isn't the true religion?  What would I do?

Well, if I was smart, I'd stay.  I'd remain a member.  Why?  Look at its people.

The people generally are happier and just plain nicer.  Generally, marriages and families are stronger.  (To save time, let's just go ahead and apply the term "generally" to all these statements.)  I particularly appreciate how my religion affects men.  They seem to rise to a higher quality.   They are strong, loyal, and hard-working, yet at the same time, more gentle and respectful.  There is added humility and selflessness that you don't usually see in the rest of the world.  Crudeness, expressed in language and behavior, is rare.  I don't know if I'm making my point clear, but there is a difference and when it's not there, I notice.

LDS people are taught honesty and morality (the type our grandparents took for granted).  In other words, they're taught to walk the walk and they do it.   Of course we're all on different levels of achieving total command of our own weaknesses, but there's an element of effort towards being one's best, in the people of my church.

I'd be foolish to leave something that has steered me safely past many of life's potholes.  Even if the doctrine, which cannot be proven by science, is not real as I believe it to be ... one cannot dispute the better quality of life of its devout members.  That .... IS measurable.  And in my opinion, the alternative is NOT attractive.

Even if it wasn't "true" .....  it DOES motivate and inspire goodness.  And it allows me to mingle with people who manifest that goodness.

Which, to me, says it IS true.  Because it DOES work and the choices and actions of its people, including my own, are the results.  Therefore, staying put is NOT something I keep in question.

Can you blame me?













Thursday, November 8, 2012

If you voted for Barack Obama .....

...... would you please answer a few simple questions?

1.  Have you been following the 9/11 Benghazi attack when four Americans, including our ambassador, were killed?  If not, why not?

2.  Do you understand the timeline of the attack including the conflicting explanations by members of the administration that followed?  You can read the detailed timeline here.

3.  Why did the administration claim (numerous times and for several weeks) the attackers were a random mob, enraged by a youtube video, when they KNEW ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, that it was not true?    

4.  Vice President Biden said in his debate, that he and the president DID NOT KNOW that the Libyan consulate had repeatedly requested additional security prior to and including the morning of 9/11, and this security had been DENIED.   This contradicts what others have said, including members of U.S. Intelligence, and also contradicts standard procedure.  There had been several warning attacks on the consulate and danger was growing at an alarming rate ..... yet he said they didn't know??  Can you explain that? 

5.  President Obama continues to insist they are working to get to the bottom of it, and says he will give us the facts as they get them.  So why were they so quick to send out the false story about the video?  This story was repeated by numerous members of the Obama administration, including Hillary Clinton, Jay Carney, and Susan Rice.  What happened to waiting for the facts THEN?  

6.  Why does he evade questions?  Watch this .... if this isn't evasion, then what is?



IF YOU VOTED FOR BARACK OBAMA, did you ASK any of these questions?  Did you even wonder?  Four people, who were in Libya on government assignments, requested help for weeks prior to the attack.  (The British and the Red Cross had already pulled out of Libya, due to mounting danger.)  Then on 9/11, a date that should surprise no one ..... they were killed in a pre-meditated terrorist attack.  This was witnessed in real time, via a camera-equipped drone, by officials here in the U.S.

"They stood, and they watched, and our people died," former CIA commander Gary Berntsen told CBS News.  

DOES THIS MATTER? .........  

HELLO?  ... are you out there?  Can ONE of the millions who voted for him, answer me?   

Because our president will not.



Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Picking up the pieces

Lots of emotions.  Disappointment, disillusionment, sadness, worry ..... to name a few.  Losing is crap.  We cannot simply bid good luck to all those who voted for more debt and Socialism, as they sit triumphantly on the deck of the Titanic, headed towards the iceberg.  We must stay on the boat with them, clinging to the railings for dear life.

But we have life jackets called the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And there are enough life jackets on board for all who accept them.  This is the shining light in the storm.  This is our real hope.  As Ezra Benson, former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Secretary of Agriculture in the Eisenhower administration, warned ... "The Constitution will be saved, but not in Washington."   His sobering words:



"It is imperative that American citizens become alerted and informed regarding the threat to our welfare, happiness, and freedom.  No American is worthy of citizenship in this great land, who refuses to take an active interest in these important matters."

Then let's BALANCE that with the encouraging words of Gordon Hinckley, also a former president of the same church: 

"The gospel means 'good news.' The message of the Lord is one of hope and salvation. The voice of the Lord is a voice of glad tidings. The work of the Lord is a work of glorious and certain reward. I do not suggest that you simply put on rose-colored glasses to make the world look rosy. I ask, rather, that you look above and beyond the negative, the critical, the cynical, the doubtful, to the positive. 
Said the Lord in a dark and troubled hour to those he loved, 'Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid' (John 14:27)."


So let's turn these defeating emotions around.   Don't forget that we ARE on the winning team!  Resolve yet again, to stay focused on the light.  In the end, it does not matter as much who or what kind of person lives in the White House.  

It really matters what kind of person lives in my house.  And in your house.