NeuroTypical

Just for the record, I drew an direct analogy between HoosierGuy's criticism of Ayn Rand followers, and the 'protocols of the elder's of zion' criticism of Jews. The different criticisms are analogous because they demonize, and stretch truth to the point of absurdity. I did not intend to draw any analygies between HG himself, and the people who believe the protocols story. If there are actually any similarities between them, it's totally coincidental from my standpoint. Anyway, one thing I think we can all agree on: Amen to that Funky.

I take the safe path, and assume that anything I type or say into an electronic device of any kind, is read by three people: my work's security guy, our marriage's worst enemy, and a hacker who wants to take what's ours.

Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I don't remember the name, but I'm thinking you might have difficulty locating a copy due to it's rarity. The title was something like "The succession of Joseph Smith III"If you google that phrase, you come up with a lot of hits. Not sure if any of them are worthwhile.

Madriglace nailed it. (no nail puns intended). If we're going to have to re-do every ordinance performed by a sinner, that could cause some problems...

Wouldn't surprise me. Probably anti-religion in general. Anti-anything that stood between unbridled pursuit of unbridled self-interest. *snicker*. This criticism sort of falls into the same category as the Protocols of the Elder's of Zion. Total demonization to the point of absurdity. Yeah HossierGuy - of course Ayn Rand's hero was a sadistic killer. Everyone knows that - you can safely dismiss anyone who finds something worthy in her views, as a dumbkopf not worth listening to. After all, anyone who idolizes someone who cuts up a 12 yr old girl has to be wrong, yes? No sense in interacting any further with them. I wouldn't say I follow her. She goes places I just don't agree with. But her novel Atlas Shrugged was a good third of the reason I did a political 180 from liberal to conservative in my early 20's.I daresay you shouldn't read it though. It might turn you into a follower of someone who idolizes a sadistic murderer. Or a conservative, which is obviously far worse. Anyone who becomes converted to the notion that A = A, obviously has something wrong with them. Actually, I mostly agree with you. From what I know of her personally, she sure scares the heck out of me. That's why it's fun to link the OP's story with her reaction. She didn't worship people. She worshipped unbridled pursuit of profit. She just pointed to ultra-wealthy as heroic examples of people pursuing their self-interest.Sorry. I'm not really moved by your attempt to demonize her and her followers. I've interacted with her ideas - and found them quite worldview-changing. And yet I'm somehow able to maintain my membership in the church, and haven't felt like mailing any body parts of people anywhere. Guess I'm just funny that way.

That's right. September Dawn is the horrible dumb travesty of a film. Red Dawn was cool, because it had teenagers standing on rocks holding assault rifles yelling "Wolverines!" and stuff. :)

My wife encountered someone who "knows all about you mormons" by watching the movie Red Dawn (a horrible travesty of a movie about the horrible travesty of the Mountain Meadows Massacre). He was all ready to engage in a long argument about how horrible we are. My wife just looked at him and asked "And apart from that movie, have you done any research about us?" When he admitted he hadn't, she said "Then I really can't help you." and walked away. People will believe what they want to. The information age started well over a decade ago. If people are going to hold that tenaciously onto something that 5 minutes in front of Google would put in it's place, there's really nothing we can do to help.

I guess it would help if people knew a thing or two about Ayn Rand. 1. She's a she, not a he. 2. If there's a phrase you could use to describe her, it would be "Passionate Zeal". 3. She summed up her philosophy this way: "My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." [bolding mine] 4. She was often a critic, and not a kind one. Charity usually faileth'ed with her. So, given these facts about her, here's the deal: The story is about someone pursuing his own self-interest via committing a crime on purpose so other people will take care of him. He, and the society that permits such things, are the antithesis of everything she spent her life yelling at people about. Therefore, IMO, this story has Ayn neither laughing or weeping. I think it has her swearing. People walking past her grave are having to hold hands over their kid's ears even as we speak. LM

If they've asked you to insert yourself into this issue, then act as you see fit. If they have not (or haven't talked about it in a while) then you would be well advised to stay out of it. Walk away. Put it out of your mind. Let your son live his life.

There you go folks. Matt and Trey Parker have sparked the interest of at least one human soul, to figure out what we're really about. One of my favorite quotes from Brigham Young: Every time you kick "Mormonism" you kick it upstairs; you never kick it downstairs. The Lord Almighty so orders it. [...] Let us alone, and we will send Elders to the uttermost parts of the Earth, and gather out Israel, wherever they are; and if you persecute us, we will do it the quicker, because we are naturally dull when let alone, and are disposed to take a little sleep, a little slumber, and a little rest. If you let us alone, we will do it a little more leisurely; but if you persecute us, we will sit up nights to preach the Gospel. (DBY, 351) Enjoy your time here Mememto!

Check out this old thread discussing the book back in 2008. My opinions about it (or it's zealous defenders) haven't really changed in 3 years.

You handle it by saving the conversation to use as evidence if she decides to evict you.

I'm no expert, but one reason is that it's easier on some patients to inhale a gas than it is to take a pill. My mom would have been a prime candidate for MMJ as she lay painfully dying of a degenerative illness. She was always nauseous - pills and liquids came back up. She had no veins left - an IV isn't a good permanent option for someone anyway. I don't know if suppositories were available - but the argument goes that a toke is a heck of a lot easier than sitting on your meds.Anyway, that's the answer that makes sense to me - there are a lot of terminal cancer patients and such who could really use the option for end-of-life pain management. It doesn't change the fact that the average person walking into our Colorado dispensaries with their prescriptions in their hands, is an 18-45 yr old man who appears to be in good health.

Just to make sure we understand: MMJ, medicinal marijuana, the stuff available by prescription here in CO and 13 other states - it's marijuana in all it's forms. Someone might have made a pill out of it, but MJ dispensaries here sell the gamut - a gazillion blends for smoking joints, and also food additives like laced powdered sugar and brownie mixes and coffee blends and whatnot. Chocolate-dipped MMJ bananas. The list is endless. I visit a guy who works in an office building that just opened a new dispensary down the hall from his office. The smell is almost overpowering. I came back to work after my last visit smelling like I just jumped out of Cheech & Chong's van. If anyone is thinking we're fighting over legalizing the next oral medication in pill form, I suggest reading up a bit more.

Could I ask you again to read my posts in this thread? Medicinal marijuana IS legal in Colorado, and 14 other states. The practical impact of legalizing MMJ, is that now everyone has 'legal' access to it, after jumping through a bureaucratic hoop or too. Yes, we still have crime involved with people trying to traffic it illegally. Yes, when dealing with growers outside our national borders, we're often dealing with cartels who also traffic in child prostitution, kidnappings, and murders. Your "if" scenario is being tried here in America. Your "if" scenario is being proven false every day that goes by here in Colorado, and 14 other states as well. It is? Who makes it illegal? My wife the knitter has purchased and made many things from hemp twine over the years. She and our daughter has made keychains and dog leashes out of hemp. Got link?

The nut doesn't fall far from the tree.

We'd have to know what they meant by "equal". People are of different use to God, people reach different levels of righteousness and attain different glories. There are differences in someone who attains exhaltation and inherits all Christ and the Father hath, versus someone who makes it to the telestial kingdom. Some people will be made judges in Israel, other's won't. Some will have greater stewardships, others will have lesser. All that is solidly doctrinal. I haven't heard anything about Him loving or valuing us differently though. No matter what year a prophet has talked about it...

Could I ask you to go back in this thread and read my posts? Not profitable indeed. If that doesn't do it for you, maybe this link will. (It's a slow load, because of so many pins on the map.) And this is just Colorado, one of 15 states to have legalized MMJ. Could I ask you to go back in this thread and read my posts? Or are you arguing that supporting transational criminal organizations, with all the child prostitution, kidnapping, and murdering that goes along with them doesn't qualify as "harm"? It won't as long as people talk past each other and refuse to interact with facts placed before them...

I don't see the Bible and BoM of Mormon as competive siblings vying for attention. They compliment each other. One of them alone is a wonderful thing - the two of them together is an even greater thing. Consider: A people's account of God and His dealings with ancient peoples, combined with an account of Jesus Christ and His dealings in a certain area of the world 2 millenia ago. What a wonderful thing. Add to that book, another account, from the other side of the planet, covering the same Jesus Christ you find in the first book, dealing with other peoples in similar ways. One source is a source - take it or leave it based on it's merits. Two sources is better - hearing the same thing from different directions is more reliable.

Interesting historical tidbits: Back in Prohibition days, physicians were writing prescriptions for liquor on prescription forms provided by the government. Pharmacies kept medicinal whiskey stocked, and the government produced it. Churches and clergy also could receive wine for the sacrament - and there are a lot of accounts of people becoming ministers and rabbis and whatnot in order to get and distribute wine legally.

Don't forget the joys that come with US growers and dispensaries and governments joining the world drug trade as rival factions, or sometimes as customers. If you listen carefully, you'll hear that we don't call them Drug Trafficking Organizations any longer. We now call them Transnational Criminal Organizations - which rightly acknowledges the other fun things they do like child prostitution and kidnapping and slavery and bloody mass-murdering and stuff, no longer limited to any particular side of any particular border.

Again, here in CO, "prescriptions" are easily available for anyone who wants one - no valid need necessary. We set the system up so it wouldn't be that way, and yet here we are.

So, in my opinion, medicinal MJ is a legitimate medicine, and there is a legitimate need for it. That said, here's my experience:Years ago here in CO, a high councilman came on assignment from the Stake Pres, to a combined 3rd hour PH/RS meeting, to counsel us to vote against an upcoming measure that would legalize medicinal marijuana. He indicated the Father of Lies was behind the effort, and we all needed to act accordingly. Anyway, the church lost. Not only is medicinal MJ legal here now, but the state has exploded with growers and dispensaries too. The law says it's only for medicinal use. The reality is: * Now mj is basically legal, accessible, and not too expensive for anyone who wants it. * There are still laws on the books about who can and can't have it, but cops have better things to pay attention to, and it's really hard to get anyone to prosecute. * Any "doctor" can write a script for medicinal MJ. The laws define "doctor" as any medical doctor, or medical doctor in training. So basically, anyone taking a class at a community college qualifies as a "doctor in training". * Local growers and dispensaries, and the government, are now working with drug cartels as a drug faction. Sometimes as a rival faction, which brings some of the lovely South-of-the-border violence into our state. Sometimes as a customer and distributor - meaning you can now legally support organizations that participate in kidnappings, murders, and child prostitution with your cannibis dollar. * There is a gazillion percent increase in mj related crime. It's not really that the crime wasn't there before. It's because now the people getting jacked and the places getting broken into and robbed are now legitimate businessmen who now go to the cops for help. * When dood and his honey wanted to get high, they used to find a dealer, buy mj, and go get high. Now dood goes to his cousin, who writes "pain script" or something on a piece of paper, then dood goes to a dispensary and buys his michuecan or brazillian tornado or maybe a nice brownie mix or even chocolate-dipped laced banana, and they go get high. * The average dispensary customer is a male between 18-40. It's fun to watch ignorant people who think medicinal mj is wonderful and legit, try to explain this fact away. Happy toking from smoky laid-back Colorado! LM (the colors, dude, the colors!)

From where I'm standing, these two things (motivation and attitude) are the things to overcome. If you overcome them, you're good no matter what you end up picking. If you don't overcome them, well, America's homes are full of dusty unused exercise equipment, and our credit cards are full of bills for gyms we never go to, and few diets ever last.I've been you for most of my life. The last 6 months changed for me. I'm now using exercise equipment, going to gyms, and my diet is improving somewhat. Why? Dunno. There are lots of possible reasons. I had shoulder surgery and was given a specific set of exercised to do so I could do things like hug my wife and pick up my kids. But I kept exercising after I had back what I wanted. Why? Did I do it long enough to make it habit? Did I start to enjoy it? We all start out zealous and then fall into apathy - why didn't I? Is it because I hit 40, and worry that my kids will see me as fat and useless when they become teens? Maybe. Have I seen specific progress, and want more? Yes, but that happens with us then we fall back into apathy. So I dunno. I wish I could tell you what is working for me, so you could duplicate it. I will tell you this - I don't care what I weigh. Muscle weighs more than fat, so adding 1/4 inch to muscles is taking inches off of less desirable places. I am not dieting or trying to lose weight. But I find myself eating much less on days when I know I'm going to go have to do 20 crunches and 30 pushups to keep up with the rest of the class, and I can't do that without barfing now. Dunno. My best guess for why it's working for me, is I found real motivation beyond "I wanna", stuck with it until it became habit, and didn't spend a second thinking about my weight. Best of luck to ya!

Whenever I try to spell the word "anonymously", I usually end up wanting to pick "secretly" too. But either way, yes, an anonymous message board is a great plact to learn about stuff without letting people know who you are. Thanks, skippy, for the cut-and-paste!