Politics As Usual? Quotes Put Into Context

First, an apology for taking a brief vacation from blogging. I needed a bit of a rest! Now, onto the blog!

In the Old Testament book of the prophet Isaiah, fifth chapter verse 20 we read the following line: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" This was written some time in the latter half of the 8th century B.C. according to good old wikipedia. Isaiah spent the first two-thirds of his book prophesying the doom and destruction of the tribe of Judah. Many people think this has already come to pass and others argue that it has not. My rambling writing today is not about those arguments. I am hoping to tie this quote to the current political climate; not as some prediction of doom, but to show that, perhaps, this is politics as usual and maybe to provide a smidgen of real hope for change.

So, we have the Isaiah quote, now let me throw another one at you:

"The third group [of society] are those irresponsible and reckless ones having little regard for the consequences of their acts, or whose religious scruples prevent their exercising control over their numbers. Many of this group are diseased, feeble-minded, and are of the pauper element dependent upon the normal and fit members of society for their support. There is no doubt in the minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be stopped." Margaret Sanger. Speech quoted in Birth Control: What It Is, How It Works, What It Will Do. The Proceedings of the First American Birth Control Conference. Held at the Hotel Plaza, New York City, November 11-12, 1921. Published by the Birth Control Review, Gothic Press, pages 172 and 174.

Ah, the dulcet tones of Eugenics as espoused by Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger. She also believed in segregation of people of color, and forced sterilization of "undesirables" such as the poor, blacks, and, as she so quaintly put it, "morons." Charming lady, right? You can see her handiwork still in Planned Parenthood clinics across the country as they "help fund" abortions for people who might otherwise be too poor to murder their own offspring. It's not help at all when you view it from Ms. Sanger's perspective, is it? Isn't it really making sure people too poor, too "feeble-minded", or too pigmented don't pollute her master race? Here's another one by her:

"The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it." Margaret Sanger (editor). The Woman Rebel, Volume I, Number 1. Reprinted in Woman and the New Race. New York: Brentanos Publishers, 1922.

Who wouldn't be absolutely honored to be graced with an award named after such a progressive and forward thinking philanthropist? Well, Friday March 27, 2009 our very own Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, was graced with Planned Parenthood's highest award; the Margaret Sanger Award, which she accepted in Houston, Texas. I am sure we are all so glad that the "Audactity of Hope" our chief of foreign policy represents for us to the rest of the world is so rich in the traditions of narrow-mindedness, hate, propaganda, racism and ignorance!

Yes, the above paragraph was absolute sarcasm. Sorry for being snarky, but I am truly blown away by how blatant a representation we have in current events of calling evil good; bitter for sweet, and darkness for light. Margaret Sanger was an evil person and anyone who would accept an award carrying her name and that has promoted and supported the sick and twisted agency she set up to prop up her own irrational hatred of anyone she deemed of less value than herself is evil as well. Way to go, Secretary Clinton and the Obama administration! So much for rebuilding our foreign relations and getting America its good name back amongst the foreign community... Hey, let's see another quote!

"I wouldn't want it [the right for homosexuals to be married] to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court." Representative Barney Frank (D. Massachusetts) March 23, 2009 interview given on 365gay.com.

Yes, Rep. Barney Frank; Congressman, Lawmaker and Legislator. Read that last word again. Heck, I'll re-write it in great big capital letters: LEGISLATOR. As you can see, he is a bit miffed at Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; Judge of Constitutionality and Legal Interpreter. Read those last two words again. Heck, I'll re-write it in great big capital letters: LEGAL INTERPRETER. It turns out that Rep. Frank was really mad at Justice Scalia for interpreting the law correctly as it is currently written. Is it a dumb law? Maybe it is. The thing is, Rep. Frank is the LEGISLATOR who makes the laws while it is Justice Scalia's job to INTERPRET the laws that Rep. Frank and his esteemed colleagues make.

So, for doing his job the right way, Justice Scalia was called a bigot. I have a high esteem for our Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the entire United States system of government with its branches and checks and balances. I honestly feel that the founding fathers and framers of the Constitution were divinely inspired by almighty God. It is actually part of my religion. So here we have an example in current events of someone calling good evil, light for darkness and sweet for bitter. Worse still, it would seem that Rep. Frank needs to bone up on his Government studies as well, as he seems to have confused his and Justice Scalia's job. Judges who legislate from the bench are not doing their job, they're usurping power from Congress. That's something one might think Rep. Frank would want to avoid.

One more quote, this time from the Book of Mormon in the book of Helaman in the third chapter we read in verse five, "Condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills." This was spoken by the prophet Nephi in 23 B.C.

Sounds rather familiar, does it not? Can we think of any cases recently where a guilty party might have gone unpunished because of their money? O.J. and Michael Jackson, I am looking at you. Have we ever seen a politician in recent years who might fall into the category of seeking office in order to get gain? I mean, we don't need any lobby reform, right? Does anyone remember a case of a Congressperson or even President committing adultery?

One does not have to look far to see that things have not changed much in the 2022 years since Nephi spoke those words. I promised some real hope for change in my opening paragraph and I hope I can provide it now. Heavenly Father has blessed America. This is a land of freedom. This is a land of opportunity. It is a land of happiness and harmony. We have to maintain that freedom. As the old saw goes, "Freedom isn't free." We have to work for it. We have, I think, a divine mandate to do so! God set this country up to be a beacon of hope to the rest of the world. We must exercise our freedom, our rights, and we must make sure our ideals and best interests are not only known by our representatives in government, but that they are cherished as we cherish them. We must vote. We must pray. We must unite. We must never back down when the righteous is called unrighteous. The people who would see our freedoms stripped from us are a small minority who hide behind words that make us question our own righteous beliefs. Wanting freedom and majority rule is not bigotry. May God bless America!

The New Puritans by Orson Scott Card

This appeared Thursday in the Deseret News while I was camping. Even non-Mormons will find this interesting and I think -any- religious person at all will certainly relate.

It was interesting to see how many American religions had lost ground in the past two decades, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

With all our missionary work, we Latter-day Saints merely managed to keep pace with population growth in America, remaining at a steady 1.4 percent of the population. In fact, Mormons were the only group to show no change at all, relative to the America as a whole. We're swimming as fast as we can -- just to stay in place.

The two groups that showed the largest growth in numbers -- by far -- were "no religion" and "don't know/refused."

The report in USA Today on March 9 thought this meant that America is becoming "less religious."

I don't think so. I think that hiding within those "no religion" and "don't know/refused" categories we can see the growth of a powerful new religion.

A fanatical religion -- one that does not proselytize so much as insist that it is already the established church, to which all others must bow and make way.

It is a religion at war with all others, confident of victory, contemptuous of any church that does not fight them, savage against any that shows a sign of resistance.

Its adherents feel themselves to have risen so far above all other faiths that they claim they are not a religion at all -- they are post-religious. Therefore the rules that govern the behavior of other religions in a multifaith society do not apply to them.

They refuse to admit that they even exist. Instead, they claim to believe in "science," though they have no idea what the methodology of good science is, and reject the findings of science when they contradict treasured dogmas.

Having no authoritative group to define their ideology, they embrace opposite and contradictory dogmas and simultaneously believe in all.

Their doctrines spread like dandelion seeds on the wind, taking root wherever there is empty ground.

Has there ever been such a religious movement as this before?

A very good example is Puritanism in the 16th and 17th centuries.

There was no "church" of Puritanism. They were led by orators and pamphleteers, poets (John Milton was one) and politicians (most notably the dictator Oliver Cromwell).

In Shakespeare's day they were a constant annoyance to those committed to putting on his wicked, worldly plays, for the Puritans always had the aim of using the power of the state to enforce their ideas of strict Christianity.

And when they finally seized power after the execution of King Charles I, they set about remaking society as they believed it ought to be. Gone were frivolous holidays like Christmas; gone any decorations in the churches; gone, too, the plays that had once distracted idle people from their labor and worship.

Having once been themselves dissenters, they allowed no right of dissent to others. They had power, and knew that they deserved it.

In America, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by Puritans, and they were determined to hold sway in New England -- and everywhere else, if they could manage it.

Puritanism insisted on its exclusive right to prescribe the behavior and thoughts of all, until, after the death of Oliver Cromwell, the groaning people embraced the return of the monarchy.

Throughout the history of the movement, it had no hierarchy, no organization, and in some senses could be said never to have existed at all. When it fell from power, Puritanism quickly evaporated -- as if it had never existed at all.

No one wanted to claim responsibility for the excesses of Puritanism. It had functioned like bees, swarming and stinging in relentless pursuit of their enemies, but when finally defeated, dispersing and going about their innocent business, flower by flower.

The astonishing thing was that active Puritans were never very numerous. But few dared to argue against them, so they carried the day as if their numbers were far greater than they really were.

Today, the New Puritans embrace a hodgepodge of dogmas drawn from feminism, environmentalism, gay activism and militant atheism.

They bristle at the slightest sign of Christians laying hold on the machinery of the state -- while having no compunction about using the power of the state to establish their own dogmas in the schools and in the courts.

Believing in no god, they have no law to check them; whatever they think to do, they will try to do, and their fury when they are resisted knows no restraint.

Yet when you ask them why their vision of the public good is better than any other, they have no reasons. They can produce no viable evidence of superiority.

They gesture toward "science" as their authority, but refuse to allow anyone to conduct or report research that might contradict their absurdest claims.

They strike down old laws and institutions without regard for the cost. Where they have prevailed, only misery follows; but they are sure that the misery they caused can only be treated by enacting even more extreme measures along the same failed lines.

The New Puritans are the fastest growing sect in America, but they are still a minority. This does not bother them; they care nothing for democracy or majority rule.

The New Puritans insist that their opponents' very status as believers in God disqualifies them from the right to advance their ideas by democratic means.

They largely control the bar associations, the faculties of universities, the national media, the entertainment industry, and judges routinely strike down laws that offend the dogmas of the New Puritans.

And yet they are the majority almost nowhere. They prevail because they have no restraints -- their attack on their enemies is instant and savage, and ordinary people, wishing only to be left alone, keep their heads down and try to stay out of the way.Except a few. We hold up our hands and speak of democracy, of tradition, of the need to know where we're going before we race there. We speak of evidence and logic, and we are answered, not with argument, but with screaming; for asking questions or contributing money to a cause, we are threatened with boycott, fired from jobs, denied tenure.

Here is the great advantage of the New Puritans. Because they have no organization, their numbers can never be measured. They claim to speak for "all intelligent people," and the very claim pressures anyone who wishes to be thought "intelligent" into silence.

With all the mercy and reason of the Taliban whenever they get any kind of authority, their revolution is already almost complete; their hands control most of the switches of the machinery of the state.

Meanwhile, they excoriate all religions as responsible for every crime in history, never noticing that the worst moral excesses of all time -- the mass-murdering rulers of Nazi, Fascist, and Communist states -- were all converts to and adherents of "post-religious" ideologies.

Their only authority is their own will to rule over the minds and acts of others. It will never be satisfied; every victory only makes them hungry to rule more closely and punish more savagely those who are not sufficiently pure.

If sometimes our 1.4 percent seems to be very, very small, an archipelago of tiny islands, let us remember that most people subject to the rule of the New Puritans hate it, and only go along when no one else is willing to stand against it.

We, however, stand even when we stand alone, because God has said, "You shall ever open your mouth in my cause, not fearing what man can do, for I am with you. Amen" (Doctrine and Covenants 30:11).

(http://www.mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/orson_scott_card/?id=6793)
Copyright © 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company

Spring Break and a Dose of Humility

It is Spring Break time here in San Angelo, TX. Heather-Dawn is off and both kids are at home. Spring cleaning is on my mind and a camping trip to Mom's ranch in Mertzon, TX is in the works. In fact, things could not be much better for me right now. I am happy, relatively healthy and in a good frame of mind psychologically and spiritually. I do want to let folks know that my Monday through Friday updates will not happen this week. I will update as I can, when I can. Obviously when I am out camping I am not going to be dragging my computer with me because the entire point of camping is getting away from it all, right?

So, on to today's post. It will be a short one, but it expresses something profound, at least to me. There is a young lady with whom I used to go to church. She was bubbly, bright, energetic and dynamic. She moved away and we lost touch except through mutual acquaintances. Now, however, through the marvel of Facebook, I am back in touch with her. She is terminally ill with colon cancer. She is not even yet thirty years of age.

She could be bitter and I think anyone would forgive her. Let's face it, she is dying from a disease that is rarely even tested for in people of her age. Instead, she is just as bright, bubbly and dynamic as before and though the chemotherapy and the cancer itself have sapped some of her energy, her mental energy and acuity are as sharp as ever. She is showing an indomitable willpower that not only impresses me, it literally inspires me. I want to share with whomever reads this blog just one status update she shared with her network of friends on Facebook.

"[I] was suffering the last two days, oye so sick. Shouldn't complain there is someone who is probably in a worse off situation than [me]."

I believe that saying when I read this, I was humbled, is to be understating it rather dramatically. Thanks, Angelina. I don't think anymore needs to be said.

Faith Friday - Why Do We Have to be Baptized?

Here is another Faith Friday in which I tackle different tenets of my faith; which is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or LDS for short. Sometimes we are referred to as Mormons. I want to preface my remarks, as always, by stating that I do not speak for the entire LDS Church. I am just your average believer.

I do this every Friday because I find that there are so many people out there, who upon discovering that one is LDS, have so many questions regarding our religion. It seems many people are curious, confused, and simply have misunderstandings about what we LDS actually believe. My hope is that by writing about my faith I can encourage a healthy dialogue, so questions and comments are welcomed but please, keep them civil, keep them clean and try and keep an open mind. This week's question is -

Why do we have to be baptized?

The short answer is that it is a commandment and a saving ordinance.

The longer and to me more fun answer is multi-faceted and actually exciting to talk about. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe that Jesus was the ultimate example of how to live one's life. We believe that He was perfect and lived a life completely free of sin. We view baptism as a remission of sins, so why was the Savior, who we believe to be totally free of sin, baptized? Well, Jesus Himself answered that question when at first his cousin John refused to baptize Him, "thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness," (emphasis my own).

After He was baptized, Jesus came up out of the water and God Himself spoke testifying that Jesus was indeed His Son and that He was pleased with what Jesus had done. The Holy Spirit also made an appearance descending like a dove from Heaven. I love how evocative Matthew is in painting this picture with his wonderful words. If you wish to read it in its entirety, flip to Matthew chapter 3. It's not at all a long chapter.

So, if the Master, free of the stains of sin, having no need to be baptized, sought out to be baptized by someone, how much more is our need? And, if the Lord did it to "fulfill all righteousness" could there be more to it than just something we should do because Jesus did it?

It is obvious to me and to many other Christians that the need for baptism is a given. We in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe it must be a baptism by immersion, as this is how the Savior was baptized and again, we feel He is our example in all things. We also believe that a person must be baptized by someone who has the authority to do so. Jesus sought out his cousin John who was a descendant of Aaron and therefore a holder of the Priesthood that the brother of Moses himself held. Jesus even testified of John's authority in Matthew 11:11 saying, "Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist."

We of the LDS church also believe that Baptism is a sacred Ordinance. In it we make a covenant with our Father in Heaven. We agree to take upon us the name of Christ. How marvelous a covenant! We are blessed to be able to be wear this sacred and holy name. Obviously, His sandals are too big to fill. We are, all of us, sinners. But, in striving to be more like Him, to wear that glorious name in righteousness, we are fulfilling our end of the covenant; knowing that He will lift us up where we fall short.

Latter-Day Saints also agree when we make the covenant of baptism that we agree to keep His commandments. This obviously ties into the above part of the covenant as well. By living a Christlike life, we are keeping His commandments: Love the Lord thy God, love one another, forgive, teach the Gospel. These are not all of the commandments of our Savior, but some of my own favorites.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to baptism. There is so much symbolism in the ordinance itself; death and burial, resurrection, washing away of sins, being born again, taking upon us His name.... I am a simple man and I am sure there are layers of this that I will not even discover until the next life. People have written whole volumes about baptism.

I do want to share with you my testimony. I know that baptism is ordained of God. I know my Savior lives and was baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness. I know that by being baptized and making covenants with our Heavenly Father we draw closer to Him and enter into the strait and narrow path. I am so deeply humbled that baptism is available to even one such as I. It shows me how much my Father loves me and testifies to my spirit that He wants me to return to live with Him someday. I love my Savior for showing me the Way. It is in His name I leave this testimony, even the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Changing Ways

I don't know about any of you, but my organizational skills are, well - to be honest I barely have any at all. I have been better of late about doing the majority of the housework but my closets, bookshelves and desk drawer all look like a Wal-Mart vomited in them. I have never been good about being organized. In fact, I have been downright disorganized even referring to my lifestyle as organized chaos.

My poor wife of nearly 11 years deserves much better than this, so I intend to deliver. So far so good on keeping the house cleaner and my wife has been very pleased and I have felt blessed because of her happiness. But that was general housework. I still have my side of the closet that she has to look at every day. And since my desk is in the dining room, she always has to look at this festering heap. I also have my own set of bookshelves in here and they need some love and attention.

I'll start with this very desk. It is fortunate that Spring Break is this week for us. I wont have any Joy School to teach or drop kids off at. I can literally spend a few days picking up, throwing out trash and perhaps talking myself into actually parting with junk that I have been hanging onto just in case. I mean, who knows when that sweat-stained, filthy, two-sizes-too-small Boston Bruins cap I bought when I was 17 might be fashionable and actually fit again, right? And before you ask, the answer is yes, I do have that hat in my closet; along with clothes, Rollerblades, a skateboard, some hockey sticks, college textbooks and heaven only knows what else I will never, ever use again but haven't had the heart to toss out in a dozen or more years of not using them.

I am stating this here first of all because, well, as I have stated before, this blog is self-serving. Plus, I know my wife and some family read this blog and now I have made a public statement and know I will be called out if I don't keep this goal. In my case, extra motivation can never hurt. Secondly, this might be an interesting experiment. The housecleaning thing went so well and I have felt so much better about myself and my wife has felt so much better because of it that maybe getting organized and making a commitment to stay that way could further improve our lives.

So there you have it. Brian is turning over a new leaf by turning out his junk piles. I'll keep you posted as time goes by. And, if any of you who read this want to make an effort to try something to improve your life, comment about it and we can try it together. A little moral support couldn't hurt, right?