NeuroTypical

Surely they won't take back the entire $27/mo I got with the Obama tax cut...

Excellent. Here's a random thought I had about the church welfare system: The church looks out for it's own members, and if people need food or some critical bills paid, they meet with their Bishop who helps them. The backbone of the welfare system, is that there is no such thing as a free handout. You work for what you are given. If a blind member ever went to a bishop for help, that blind member would be given work to do in exchange for the assistance given. It would be work that a blind person could do, of course. I could see such a person assigned to visit and care for an elderly person, or play the organ during Sacrament meeting, or even teach a class if the person was able.Anyway, just a random thought. Some personal experiences: * I had a Bishop with a stuttering speech impediment. It was a bit of a challenge for both him, and the ward, for him to conduct Sunday services. * In a couple of wards, we've had some special needs kids. Cerebral palsy, borderline violent personality issue, a lot of wheelchairs. Sometimes (especially with the violent kid), someone was given the calling to be their 'helper' on Sunday. The person would attend all classes and basically gave the parents some time off to attend church in peace. The borderline violent kid just needed to be constantly in motion - so they got a rough old battleaxe of a lady to basically just wrestle and toss him around as he was in class. He could participate, as long as he was in motion. Try to keep him still, and he'd burst out randomly and hurt himself or others. LM

There's H.R. 45, Blair Holt's "Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act" currently in committee. It's meant "to provide for the implementation of a system of licensing for purchasers of certain firearms and for a record of sale system for those firearms, and for other purposes." That's code for implementing a federal firearms licensing system, and making it illegal for anyone to own a gun who doesn't have a federal firearms license. Sounds nasty, I hope it dies and rots in the neveregions of hades where it belongs. LM

That's admirable, Blue! Let us know when your book is published, some of us will probably want a copy!LM

Dear lilered, I can't seem to find and keep any good men either. I think it turns them off that I'm a covenantly sealed and happily married husband. What should I do? LM

They have exactly, precicely the amount of control over your happiness as you allow them.

Unless you are Dale Murphy, Danny Ainge or Steve Young.How come KSL broadcasts on Sundays? And how come the Deseret News is published on Sundays. So tell us Helen, are you accusing those people and companies of hypocracy? DesNews is a subsidiary of the Deseret Mgt Corporation, owned by the church. Are you accusing the church of hypocracy?If so, please state it clearly so we can respond. It's a waste of time to dance around with vague rhetoric and shadowy innuendo. LM

It's always a fun debate to have with an athiest. My claim, is that unless you have some ultimate source of good and evil (God and the devil), then the best you can hope for is a story about nice triumphing over mean.And I haven't found even the teeniest, tiniest hint of God anywhere in Harry Potter. Stuff is that way because it just is. In Rowling's world, there isn't good or evil - only power, those who can wield it, and the reasons they use for wielding it. It is, almost exactly, the same worldview of the Golden Compass books. IMHO, Tolkein's Lord of the Rings universe is far superior to both Potter and GC. There is indeed good and evil to be found in Tolkein's world. I've heard a story that Tolkein even had a hand in C.S. Lewis' conversion to Christianity - with Tolkein making the claim that the only thing that could keep someone from being Christian, is a lack of imagination. LM

A lady in my ward shared her experience about being kicked out of a 'christian' homeschooling group because she was not 'christian'. It might happen, it just depends on how inclusive or exclusive the group is. Same thing with friends - if they wish to include someone with a different belief, then things will be fine. If they only want to hang out with carbon copies of their own religious belief, well, their loss. (For what it's worth - you will probably find a couple of mormons who fall in the latter group as well - and won't want anything to do with someone who takes their kids to a christian homeschool group. But they'll hopefully be a tiny, tiny minority.) My experience in Colorado has been ok. We've taken our kid to a co-op run by the Church of the Nazarene, and they had a wonderful experience. Those are nice people. My wife tells me there was only one woman who wanted to make an issue over our mormon faith, but she was easily deflected. This fall, we'll start a new co-op run by our local mega-church. Their policy is to allow everyone regardless of religion. They make us sign something that says "here's our statement of beliefs, by signing this, you're telling us you are ok with us exposing your kids to these beliefs". There's plenty in those beliefs that we disagree on (trinity, biblical infallibility, etc), but there's no belief that says "it's our job to convince you you're wrong". So, we'll give it a try and see how we fare. LM

I recently asked an uber-liberal buddy of mine when was the last time the government put together a program of similar massive scale, that turned out to be a good thing. He mentioned Social Security. Upon being pressed for something a bit more current, he mentioned the Department of Energy. I don't know which is worse, the prospect of gubment healthcare working as efficiently and wonderfully as the DOE, or the fact that various people will indeed 'drink the koolaid' and believe it's a good thing when it's here. LM

I dunno about angry, but I do know this: From the prospective of the hubby of a homeschooling mom, if my wife doesn't agree with the environment our kid is in at church, she will correct the environment or find a new one. It's possible that correcting an environment would include boiling someone in oil, but such decisions can be made without anger. (I've never seen my wife not make such a decision without anger as part of her equasion, I'm just sayin' is all...) From the perspective of someone who has taught before, it isn't the teacher's job to fix students, or make them behave in certain ways, or raise them. It's the teacher's job to teach. I don't really care if a kid's mommy is an overprotective sheltering bear, or an overly permissive apathetic uncaring blob, or anything in between. I'll do what it takes to maintain a learning environment. If a parent doesn't want their kid in a time out seat, go get the parent and let them deal with the kid. No skin off my nose. It's not my job to click my tongue and opine about parenting techniques. LM

You can be a good, practicing, mormon in full fellowship, and believe whatever you wish to believe about dinosaurs. I've met "young-earth creationist" mormons, and mormons who believe in evolution. Well, the exact term is "third part" - it doesn't say how big the parts were. But however many of them there are, they are here on earth as spirits. Again, different mormons speculate different things about what powers they have, how they can influence us, etc - I'm not sure revealed word paints a very clear picture. Again, revealed word doesn't really contain the scientific explanation. But images projected on theater screens, rainbows, holograms, and people on the TV also don't have physical bodies, yet we can see them. (That's my speculation)LM

Very true, and very much on my mind these days. One realistic scenario we're preparing for, is getting stuck in town (30 miles away from our house), and unable to make it home up the mountain for a period of time.My pack includes sturdy boots and is as light as I can make it. I could probably make it home in two days. The car my wife and kids drive around in has a much larger pack and more cash, meant to allow them to stay put for a few days. Because my 5 yr old isn't about to become a long distance hiker any time soon. I started taking walks around my neighboorhood, and where I work. I'm going to start adding a pack to those walks soon. LM

Yesterday in Colorado Springs it hailed. And it got into the mid-40's for last night's lows. Maybe I'll go outside and try to fan some of the clouds your folks' way.

Oy. Primary caregivers have it rough. Yes, absolutely, always remember to take care of yourself first. You have to have health and energy, in order to care for someone else. You burning out doesn't help anyone. I think this is one of those "endure to the end" things that you don't have to be in your 80's to experience. LM

Quote from President Hinckley half a dozen conferences ago:

I've had overwhelmingly good experiences. A lot of speeding tickets in my younger years - there was only one time the cop was mad. He was in a neighborhood where a young girl had been hit and killed by a speeder a week ago. He apparently decided that any speeder in that neighborhood would find themselves treated like a potential child killer. I can't say I really blamed him. But all other experiences were positive. I've been through our local "Citizen's Academy", and really suggest anyone do the same if you have the opportunity. It's a great way to learn about police procedures and why things happen the way they do. (I even got to shoot one of their full-auto MP5's - woo-hoo!) LM

Amazon.com

Yah. The Birthers and the "Gore is my legal President" people need to get together and go bowling.

Ah, I remember those days. Not very fondly. My first kid basically would scream for 2 hours to go to bed, or just scream for 45 minutes if I held her. So I held her. For over a year, every night. The 45 minute scream-fest slowly went down to 30, to 15, to 5. My routine: when she'd stop screaming, I'd start counting to 120, and I'd start over every time she'd move or make a noise. If I could make it to 120 with her not moving, she'd stay asleep when I put her in bed. Otherwise, she'd wake right back up and we'd reset the scream clock. That was years ago. These days, she just hops into bed, gets her tuck-in and kisses, and sleeps (or stays in bed) for 9-10 hours. Dang that's nice. LM

It seems to me like a comon-sense rule of reality: Nobody will ever want what's best for your kids as much as you will. You can't pay someone enough to love them as much as you do.So yeah, it seems like a reasonable consequence of having children on planet earth, that the more you outsource your kid's education, and the less you are involved in that outsourcing, the higher chances that your kid will be in a less-than-desirable situation. I guess you could call it unfair, but at the end of the day, calling it unfair doesn't make it stop happening. I'm reminded of something in the Gospel Principles manual: The quote doesn't specifically mention child education, but it's there. Educational neglect is considered a form of abuse (although not as injurious as other kinds of abuse). The state doesn't educate kids, parents do. In America, most parents' tool of choice for educating their kids, is to send them to public school. That doesn't absolve the parent(s) of their ultimate responsibility for raising the child.LM

Yeah, everyone hearkens back to their mission days where the president would yell "Elder, we don't have limits, we have goals! And we exceed our goals!"

Melodramatic "my experience amongst strange and bizzare people" fiction was quite the rage in those days. I have a book called (and no kidding - this is really the title): It tells the melodramatic story about a guy who came to Zion, got initiated in the temple, and tried to run from King Brigham's theocracy. Brigham sends Porter Rockwell after him, but the guy buys Porter off with a shot of whiskey and some bawdy yarns. LM

No worries James. Every time I see someone else discovering this is false doctrine, I count that a win.

I'll just take this one, because there's so much confusion about it (even amongst mormons).You are saved through Christ alone, not temples. The Bible and LDS scriptural cannon both are very, very clear on this point - salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ, repentence, baptism, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. You'll notice the word "temple" doesn't appear anywhere there. To understand temples, you need to think about the differences between the words "saved" and "exhalted". We believe that there are levels in heaven (the "many mansions" Christ tells us about in the Bible). Exhaltation is what the Christ is talking about as he's mentioning how people will inherit everything He and the Father hath. Most non-LDS Christians, from what I can tell, gloss over those verses in the Bible. They figure heaven is a place where folks spend the eternities in fervent worship of God. Mormons, on the other hand, belive the Bible means what it says about inheriting everything the Father hath. That's exhaltation, and that's what we learn about more fully in the temple. LM