NeuroTypical

geopolitics rule #1 - don't let people with nukes and oil sort anything out amongst themselves.

once there is universal healthcare, everyone will be entitled to it. Semantics.While we're discussing semantics, I'd like to point out a very important bit of semantics. Consider for a moment, the difference between two things:Healthcare Health Insurance If you had to pick one and only one, which would you choose? No really - think about it for a minute - if you could have healthcare but no insurance, would that be a better or worse choice than having health insurance but no healthcare? LM

Well, I thought I communicated this notion rather effectively in the last election, but don't worry, I intend to send another message in 2012 as well. But ok, if you want to see it in print, here you go: Hey all uninsured Americans: Health insurance is not a right. And forcing people to give it to you isn't Christian.Tell me HoosierGuy, what the point of this exercise is supposed to be? LM

Yeah, Sec. Gates' office called me last week to see what I thought about it. Good to see they went with my take on things. LM (lying through my teeth)

Yeah, because we never worry about how we're going to pay for all the spending the government does in our behalf. Once they take something over, it's as good as free. Right?Oy. No it isn't, and no it isn't. Rights are about things we're able to do, and things other people are not able to do to us. Rights are not about things other people have to do for us. And mandating or forcing people to do things is not Christian. LM

Meh. None of the things I've read have done any of that. It basically embarasses us and makes diplomacy a little harder for a little while. Iran already knows what Arabs think about them. Prince William already knows what we think about him, and what we think the business leaders in Kyrgizstan think about him. Nobody cares what the oil minister in Whatevereistan says or thinks or does. It's just now that they can wave our own words in our faces, and embarass us into maybe making some concessions we wouldn't have otherwise made. It's a minor play in a very long game. Mind you, I'm not against finding this soldier and executing him for treason. These leaks do make it harder for the US to do our thing on the world stage, and I wouldn't be surprised to see us punish this guy sufficiently to dissuade the next young dumb kid from wanting to do the same thing. LM

Spencer W. Kimball was pretty clear that he considered the concept of 'soul mates' false doctrine - calling it "fiction and illusion".I'm teaching my girls: Not every cool clarinetist who shows up with a story about friendship and love in the pre-existance, is someone you want to spend much time with on earth. It's possible my daughters will find their eternal companions through such a story. But it's almost a certainty that they'll also encounter at least one Mr. Wrong who is making the same claim. Part of their education includes reciting the phrase "I'm sure I promised myself to you in the pre-existence like you claim. But I've changed my mind since then. Sorry!" LM

The vast majority of gospel-sharing I've seen, from ward members to missionaries to church TV commercials, has been great - no coercion, friendly invitations only. But yeah, I've witnessed more than one example of what people are complaining about here. I've got no burning desire to add to the pile with my anecdotes, so I'll leave it at that.

A member of our stake presidency said missionary work was like sharing a cookie. If you stick with "would you like a cookie", and then wait for them to ask for the recipe, then you're good. Yes, that's a much better approach than "I have the world's best cookie, and life will be good once you stop eating that crap and switch to what I eat". LM

To be clear, I figured you were being a bit snarky. But I'd heard basically your argument come from umpteen liberals who weren't, so I responded.

The only meaningful answer we can give to your questions is "it depends". It really is different for everyone. The purpose of a DC is to aid the member in their journey away from the transgression and closer to God. How this is best done in your case, will be different than it was for my case, or anyone else's. Yeah, if you're excomunicated, no garment. Probably no thithing, but not sure. Probably no public praying at church or holding callings or giving talks, but again, not sure. God bless. Here's hoping that you can have this process be as cleansing and freeing, as it has been for so many of us. LM

"Do whatever you want, but I think you'd be smart to hear what I have to say." I don't see the problem.

Just keep in mind, the only reason liberals claim most of the oomph behind renewable energy, is that we haven't figured out how to make it more economically feasable than the next source over (coal and nuclear and whatnot). The microsecond that happens, brace yourself for whiplash. Because overnight we'll come in and take over the industry, and there will be jobs and prosperity, and not a single rainbow unicorn to be found anywhere. LM

When you go to the temple, you sit next to people who believe the earth is 4.54 billion years old, and people who believe it's 5000 years old. Someone is right and someone is wrong (unless they're both wrong). But we mormons can pretty much do everything we need to do on this earth, and be everything we need to be, without having to adhere to one side of the evolution vs. creation debate. This is a non-issue. LM

Um, which companies are these? I maintain the budget for a big part of the company I work for, see millions of dollars flying around every week, but no, there's nothing 'endless' about orders, revenue, or expenses. They all have very specific amounts associated with them, and fit nicely in a spreadsheet. :) So, I've watched my businesses budget over the years. When profits go up, we hire more people and give higher raises and bonuses and do more projects and whatnot. When profits go down, we see layoffs. How about you let the businesses keep what they earn, then they can hire more people. That's a much more effective use of money then having a government take a bunch of it away, lose a percentage of it, waste a percentage of it, and redistribute the rest of it to someone who didn't earn it. See, with companies able to do less, the economy shrinks (or doesn't grow). And, as that chart at the top of this page shows us, the govt brings less $ in than if the economy was growing.LM

Hey Ben? Please keep in mind - we don't allow bashing other faiths here, any more than we allow bashing the LDS faith.

How do you figure? I'd like to see the math. But keep it simple, please - I'm not very bright.

Hi Jatt. What sort of response were you looking for? (I see two question marks in your posts, neither of them are really coming from a question...)

Point to any place on earth where humans have tried to live, and you're also pointing to a place where humans have fought groups of other humans. Or at least, you're pointing to a place surrounded by a border drawn after bloodshed settled where it would get drawn. The plight of conquered peoples seems stay a plight when they don't assimilate. For example, I don't really hold any grudges because my ancestors fled their oppressors in Europe. Or that their ancestors were beat up, enslaved, or pressed into service by the English. Or by the Angles and Saxons. Or the Romans. Because I'm no longer a product of a union between a Celt and a sea trader from the Middle-East. Conversely, I'm not going to wallow in guilt because of the less-cool things my ancestors did. Yeah, I got here because of Manifest Destiny, but I also got here because the alternative was to be forced into a regiment and die a meaningless death for someone else's King. Assimilation rocks. It means my ancestors and I have lived happier, more educated, healthier, wealthier lives than if we hadn't assimilated. It means I help shape my community, state, and nation as an insider with full rights and priviledges. I don't have to petition some outside source to help me. LM (I wonder if Pres. Obama ever thinks about life like this...)

Any fans out there of geopolitics? Anyone wish they could spend less time reading between the lines of news media spin and press releases, because they've got access to something a little less filtered and doctored? The latest wikileaks 'cablegate' posting is like a feast for lovers of unspun truth. Diplomatic cables between USG and embassies. I'm enjoying reading the 'Scenesetters' - such an insight into what our govt's priorities and thoughts actually are! I'm edified to see various opinion-givers like Stratfor and WSJ so close to what is actually being talked and thought about. Makes me glad I read them. It's with mixed emotions that I guess the USG will probably react strongly enough to make the next potential leaker think twice. LM

Doesn't sound like rebellion at all to me. Sounds like keeping a beloved tradition alive, even the old management won't be managing it any more. Whoever runs the show will need a new way to communicate and a new place for any meetings or practices.I say go for it. LM

It's an interesting way to look at what conservatives already know. You wanna get more tax revenue? Grow the economy. Help business (small and large) make more money and reap higher profits.

Nobody here can tell you where your relationship is going, but I have a request. Please for the love of pete, don't go making babies until the day that both you and your spouse can pull off a few years totally free of this level of melodrama.

Well, I'm not on board with much of what you're saying there, but I am appreciating the way you're saying it.Would you say that yes, the church urges investigators to attend Gospel Principles class, or no we don't? If we do, then is there not a chapter in that manual on Exhaltation? Does that chapter not make statements like this? I've taught this lesson to half a dozen investigators over the years. I've been in umpteen conversations with nonmembers over the years about the subject. No, I don't think we hide what's on the menu. Maybe most of us don't proclaim it as loudly or directly as you'd prefer, but I don't buy the old anti-mormon criticism that we sucker people into getting baptized and then they're stuck with the rest of the story after it's too late. LM

If you're meaning to say that there were few or no Jews in palestine before the UN mandate, you and I have obviously been reading different histories of the area. My main source uses all sorts of data and accounts and reports and whatnot, to support the assertion that there has been a Jewish presence in the area-eventually-named-Palestine since they originally showed up - and that Jewish population (due to both immigration and inmigration) had been growing for some time before the UN's mandate.But even if there were no Jews there until the UN's mandate, no, I still wouldn't accept your point about a man-made Israel being a problem in contradiction. Because unless the world's Jewish population woke up one morning to find a heavenly chariot waiting to give them a ride, then Israel is 'man-made' by the fact that a bunch of humans got up from where they were, and through their own man-made efforts, went to Israel. Fine by me. I don't have such a problem. But then again, I also see divine guidance in the birth of the USA and it's founding document, even though I read all sorts of histories and biographies about the people there at the time, and their efforts and arguments and failings and imperfect compromises and all. LM