Posts Tagged ‘ Obama ’

Mystery guest number 1 was never a practicing Catholic. Mystery guest number 2 never believed in Temple rites. Now, there’s a good conspiracy theory. Sometimes a conspiracy theory turns out to be true. There is even a class of crime for which people go to jail that starts out “conspiracy to commit…”. But the conspiracy theories [...]

Marie Antoinette couldn’t get her head around the concept that peasants might resent a lack of bread. I mean, look at her bedroom! So, eventually, her head was forced to observe the resentment in a more detached manner. The Versailles life-style was unsustainable, even if the people living in Versailles thought they could stall the [...]

After the election results were announced, I was surprised by the number of people posting doom and gloom.  I read comments about how the outcome showed that we had lost faith in God as a country.  People talked of Armageddon and the Mayan Calendar.  You would have thought the world was ending.  To me, it [...]

“Maps are powerful tools”, said John Hamer at the 2011 John Whitmer Historical Association meetings. His remarks have be published in the latest issue of the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal (Fall/Winter 2012). He goes on to say Beyond their capacity to dazzle, maps allow historians to organize information in a completely different way than [...]

The US presidential election is imminent. What outcome do you predict? Discuss.

Mitt Romney and President Obama spoke at Al Smith’s dinner a few weeks ago, put aside politics for a night and told some jokes.  Mitt brought some pretty good Mormon jokes to the dinner.  I thought I would share a few, as well as a Sesame Street joke immediately after. “Of course this isn’t a [...]

In the October General Conference, E. Cook cautioned against political extremism that supersedes and erodes testimony and commitment to the church: Many who are in a spiritual drought and lack commitment . . .  have made unwise choices. Some are casual in their observance of sacred covenants. Others spend most of their time giving first-class [...]

In a revelation to Joseph Smith, God says (in Doctrine and Covenants section 98:4-10):  And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them.  And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle [...]

Rumors of a widescale Mormon fast prior to the presidential debate were rampant on Facebook and even in some news articles.  I particularly enjoyed Pat Bagley’s cartoon on the topic.  In light of the much touted debate bounce that has resulted in a game-changer according to recent polling, I wonder if some of those faithful [...]

We’re in the home stretch of the US Presidential elections.  Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to try to pursuade voters to vote one way or another.  We have a Mormon running for the first time against a first-time African-American president.  We have multiple issues – massive debt, economic problems, wars and rumors of wars [...]

There has been much ado about the number of years of tax returns Mitt Romney should share as candidate for POTUS.  Critics on both sides of the political spectrum as well as the majority of Americans have called for him to release them, and yet he has refused, resulting in speculation that whatever is in [...]

Last night I had a dream about my wallet.  The external coin purse on my wallet has a zip closure, and in the dream, the zipper was broken in both directions, and I had no way to keep the coins inside.  And there were so many coins.  They were spilling everywhere, and I realized I [...]

May 1, 2011 is a day for the history books with the death of Osama bin Ladin.  Ironically, this is 8 years to the day that President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished.”  With the death of bin Ladin, is the mission accomplished now?  What does the future hold in the Middle East?  Does this seal Obama’s [...]

“It is my strong belief that the government has to treat all citizens equally. I come from that, in part, out of personal experience. When you’re a black guy named Barack Obama, you know what it’s like to be on the outside. And so my concern is continually to make sure that the rights that [...]