myrmidon

mebbe the lds youth channel had to pull it down for infringement???

That's what I thought.

They took the video down. From what I understand there was a bit of an issue where he supposedly called Joseph Smith the redeemer??? Not sure I didnt get to see it. I was going to watch it tonite. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=lds.org+face+to+face+with+elder+cook&&view=detail&mid=7C48A7C9F2A84E973F2B7C48A7C9F2A84E973F2B&&FORM=VRDGAR

I am waiting on this paper to come out- http://jur.byu.edu/?p=21296

Agreed we can make anything into a problem, but these companies listed are very close to pure plays in their respective industries with the exception or Pfizer and Rockwell and Crown. Possibly the Hotels may not be, but keep in mind in Vegas they give away free hotel rooms and filet mignon. It isnt because they have a sale on, it is because the casino is financing it. oh and thanks for yelling at the hound...lol

Thank you- and you are right. How hard is it to say whether or not you would invest in a tobacco stock or any of the others?

I think you would be proud of me.,, I followed your orders from the other thread and did some reading on my own. I would be interested to hear your opinion.

It is refreshing to see a few folks who know where they stand in issues even though others think I am a troll and those who respond are "fools." A few years ago I read something which discussed Plan B pills. I was a bit dismayed to find out that Pfizer (a stock I owned at the time) was a manufacturer of these pills. I don't get bent out of shape about much and I don't really worry about social responsibility in investing, but abortion is not something I can have any kind of part in to include owning the stock of a company who profits off of selling Plan B pills. I liquidated my position in this stock the next day. As for the rest of my situation above- it remained the same. I have never cared much about owning tobacco, casinos, alcohol or whatever stocks. If it makes money I ma open to owning it. Fast forward to this summer (someone above brought this up) I read a SLT article about $32B in stocks portfolios owned by the LDS Church. I though hey that's pretty cool. They don't hire idiots I'm curious what they are into. I always figured they had a good portfolio somewhere, but since all the finances are a secret even from the members, we can only guess. I took this source in the paper with a grain of salt and I had never been to their website before. So off I went, followed the links and read what they had to say. I took a random sampling of the companies they claimed to be owned by the church and went to their SEC Filings (13F which are required for holdings of $100 Million or more) and verified they were indeed tied to the church to include company contact persons who were employees of the church. These docs are not leaks, they are public record. I do have to say, they were hiding in plain sight. Why they are in random names and "controlled" by some low level employee at the Church HQ is a question for another day though. I checked out the disclosed portfolios because I wanted to see what they invested in. The church hires pretty good talent and I figured I'd get some good ideas looking around in there. Investing is not only a hobby of mine, but I have built a sizeable portfolio over the years. Since I have studied many companies I am familiar with a lot of names and ticker symbols. I am also familiar with the general business these companies are either known for or at least involved in. I will have to say I was surprised to see the companies I listed in my initial post on this. They do have many other positions which are not controversial. As I stated, I own them all except for the Pfizer one which I did liquidate. These portfolios are purpose built meaning they are not just some mutual fund round-up. These are individual stock selections with most being worth at least a few million each. These positions are no accident. Someone selected them for a reason. Now there are a few SP500 index funds in there and those contain pretty much every company listed in the SP500. Those are essentially mutual funds which are traded like a stock. I was actually surprised to see many of the positions there as their companies are clearly in certain businesses. There is merit to being in them from a purely investment standpoint, but one has to ask whether or not morals or stated morals have a place in investing. Me- if it is abortion, Monsanto and now Nike I wont invest in it. Before I invest in any stock I investigate it. If I don't believe in the business I do not buy it. Whoever put these portfolios together for the church selected these stocks for a reason. It definitely was not a case of just being random. People in this business also know what these companies are and what they do. This is why I was taken a bit by surprise. Why would the church knowingly profit off of this stuff? As a stock holder, you are the owner of that piece of the company. On to the stocks- Altria(MO) - Tobacco such as Marlboro, Copenhagen. They also own a wine business and a large stake in AMBEV (Budweiser) Constellation Brands (STZ)- Mega importer of Mexican Beers. They also own various wineries AND..... a very large stake in a MARIJUANA company in Canada (Canopy Growth) Crown Holdings (CCK) - Mostly produce packaging for Beer, Coffee and Tea. Also produces aerosol cans for various health and beauty products. This company isnt so bad. The Wynn Hotel - Casino Cruise Ships - Casino Credit Cards- they make their money on enticing people to become indebted to them. Our bisops have cut up tens of thousands of credit cards of people you and I are having to donate fast offerings for. These companies prey on desperate people. I don't on individual positions of credit cards, but they are in my 401K funds. Pfizer (PFE)- Cytotec abortion pill Starbucks (SBUX)- Coffee. Rockwell Automation - This is a cool company. Read up on their systems which help Breweries make their beer production of a higher quality and quantity. They do a lot of other stuff too, but the brewery thing was pretty cool. L Brands - Before the internet, the source of many a deacons porn stash. Victoria's Secret. Im pretty sure a certain kind of underwear isnt found there. Women can lose a recommend for wearing this in lieu of u know what. Brown Foreman - Producer of hard liquor for sale in 160 countries. My fav back in the day was JD. I don't recall if the Mariott Hotel was on the list, but they definitely dig the casino business overseas. I have been in them before. OK so here we are. So is investing in this stuff kosher to you personally? I have no problem with it, but I also don't have a problem with many of the activities. I am curious if folks have a problem investing in this stuff. Personally I don't, but I also don't publish standards of conduct and health codes which are lets say exactly opposite of these investments. A few of you know exactly where you stand without knowing much about this probably. You stated your position, I stated mine. Others? Now that we know the church owns them (well 99% sure) you can finally decide what you think. Maybe.

I feel they are solid investments (when strictly talking money) for the most part. I'm curious if you have a problem with them based on LDS beliefs, not their viability in a portfolio.

OK- would you invest in them? If so why? If not, why?

Cruise lines - they all have casinos on their ships Wynn Hotels - Also a casino Pfizer - They make a "Plan B" pill. AKA Abortion pill

He is telling me to seek out the opinion of others- I value yours what do you think?

I think the bigger picture is not whether or not Bishop raped her. It has been established not only by her own taped interview of Bishop and also the BYU PD interview that he likely did not rape her. She seems like a wingnut, but one thing was definitely established and I believe it is much more important that her antics. What has been established is that Bishop did acknowledge to taking her alone to a room at the MTC behind two locked doors. He convinced her in that room to show him her breasts and "she complied" according to Bishop. That much we know because he admitted that to the police. That language he used in his interview sounds much more like an exercise of power rather than trying to get lucky. "She complied." Sounds to me like he demanded she do it or at least he understood that she took that request as a demand. It may even be that she did it under duress which is not anywhere close to the category of hankey pankey. Some will focus on smearing her, discrediting her and what not. What is disturbing to me is few seem to really be all that concerned with the fact Bishop admitted to taking her by herself to a room and attempted anything with her. Being selected to be the MTC president not only is supposed to be inspired of the Lord and all, but it is a position of an inordinate amount of power. As long as I have been a member and as many Mission Presidents as I have had exposure to (many) it is very clear they are to be taken seriously. Anyone who has served a mission as a young adult knows they are taught to strictly obey these guys. Can anyone see this is a bit more serious than Bishop trying to get a little action? This is not only a big-time violation of his vows, but probably one of the most serious abuses of power one in a position of authority in the LDS church can commit. I would think it is clearly ex-communication material if it indeed did happen. We are more worried about her, her credibility and her past. It matters not. There will be no rape charges or trial. What are they going to do with him?

Thank you for your response! I'll place a mark in the "bad" category.

I already answered that. What about Dunn?

Assigning blame and acknowledging responsibility is part of getting trust back no? Or is it just a one way street around here?

So by saying lets just move along are you agreeing this stuff has been hidden and/or lied about? That is the issue at hand- not where to learn more and go along our merry way. What happened with the info and why was it not taught? To build trust again one must come clean. See I dont have very much trust left in this. Lets go back to Paul H. Dunn (Liar extraordinaire). Since you are the all knowing, can you tell me where in the LDS.org website some of his false material is still published? If you can, perhaps you can also tell my why in the world it is still there after 30? years?

Thanks- I'll check it out. Can I speed-read it at LDS Bookstore?

I am an avid investor of my own portfolios to include my workplace plans. Years ago I invested quite a bit of money in some funds which are in Tobacco, Alcohol and Pharma among many other categories. These are part of my portfolio which is intended to not only pay dividends, but to also provide some downside protection during recessions, corrections etc. Some of my investments are as follows: Pfizer, Carnival Cruise lines, Wynn Hotels, Constellation Brands, Altria, Visa, Mastercard, Crown Holdings, L Brands, Rockwell Automation, Starbucks, Brown Forman, Norwegian Cruises It would seem contrary to my LDS beliefs to invest in such stuff since we believe that is all bad. I have done this for years as I feel it is a sound investment strategy. I am curious if anyone has an opinion as to whether or not it is appropriate to invest this way. I feel it is ok, because we have to grow our money to become self-sufficient. Typically some people with very strong beliefs wont invest in companies that go against their beliefs like guns, tobacco, Alcohol, Gambling, Debt etc.

The Church is a very accomplished practitioner of "Inculcation." The teaching of certain ideas and concepts repeatedly is to ensure that not only the material which is needed or wanted to be learned is learned, but also to indoctrinate and to influence a mode of thinking. If the members at large are taught certain things ad infinitum, it is because the things that are being taught is what the Church wants us a a whole to not only know, but to live and believe. There is a lot of stuff missing out there, but the church has known it. Many here on this forum have said as much. If this is so; and I believe it is, there is a reason it has not been taught. That reason is because they didn't want us to know it. Now, thanks to the internet, the Church has had to face the music so- to- speak and publish these essays. I believe this is the tip of the ice berg. As for me, I am a believer, but I am at a point right now that I do not have a whole lot of trust left. Why? Because I feel lied to. That doesn't make me a victim except for probably my $200K + in membership fees (tithing) I have paid in my adult life if this all turns out to be an orchestrated effort at hiding the truth. We will see how things turn out. Definition of inculcate inculcated; inculcating transitive verb : to teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions ----Thank you Webster

I am reading more. In fact I just read both of the current seminary lessons on DC 132. No mention of JS Marrying other mens wives. Not even a link to the essays. So they are still not talking about it. Must be the kids fault.