Muslims and Mormons

Apparently there is a deepening connection and tie between the people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter  Day Saints and those of the Muslim faith.

I mean the real Muslims, not the extremist ones that seem to be getting all of the press as of late.

According to an article in the Deseret News by way of the Los Angeles Times, nationwide there is an increasing feeling of brotherhood and common ties between these two faiths.

I was not aware until recently that Muslims had/have a familiarity or friendliness with the LDS faith.

Apparently there is a statement from a cabinet minister of Egypt according to Howard W. Hunter.  “A cabinet minister of Egypt once told me that if a bridge is ever built between Christianity and Islam it must be built by the Mormon Church. In making inquiry as to the reason for his statement I was impressed by his recitation of the similarities and the common bonds of brotherhood.”

The web page that quote comes from does not cite a source, but it does claim to quote other LDS prophets and general authorities regarding our mission to reach out to those of the Muslim faith and the similarities between our religion and theirs.

The quotes do seem to be authentic.

I hope for all of our sakes that missionary work will go forth and we will be blessed for reaching out to more of our brethren, even the unpopular ones.

Comments Welcome

Police State Strikes Again

Polygamy is a very touchy subject.

It was in the doctrine of the early Church to practice it and ever since Official Declaration 1 in 1890 polygamy has not been a part of the Church Doctrine and will be cause for excommunication if the practice is not repented of.

Notions of what exactly constitutes abuse have changed over time.  Neglect and other terms are often used to disparage the parenting of some individuals.  “Abuse” and “neglect” are very highly charged emotional terms that tend to cloud the debate.  If the acts are described in greater detail rather than simply categorized there may be some clarity to the discussion.

One example should suffice.  If a parent forces their kids to fight each other, that might be called abuse.  My grandfather many years ago became very tired of two of his boys fighting each other.  I don’t know how often they fought or how rough it was but no one seemed to have suffered any permanent damage.  One day my grandfather grabbed a stick/switch and told my dad and his brother to fight each other or he would fight them both.  It was a one-time event that cleared up the problem.  They didn’t fight any more.  I would not call that one time event abuse.  Giving it proper context and meaning takes away some of the sting.

Well, there has been a lot of action recently in Texas against a polygamist settlement.  The polygamist group in particular is the FLDS faith with settlements in Texas, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada.  There have been underage marriages, statutory rapes, expulsion of young men from the group to avoid competition for marriageable women, and abuse of ownership of property for punitive reasons.  The FLDS faith has a bit of a bad track record in following the laws of the land and natural laws as well.

In Texas a 16 year old girl complained of abuse and the state agencies responded by getting a warrant for the entire 1700 acre ranch and searching the whole thing for the 16 year old.  So far the state has not been able to conclusively say they have even found the 16 year old that made the allegations.

In the course of executing the warrant and protecting the children, the state of Texas has decided to take ALL OF THE CHILDREN INTO STATE CUSTODY.  More than 400 of them will be stripped from their families, moms and dads.  Because many of them will be siblings in very large families, they will probably also be separated from each other.  Currently the men are still in custody at the ranch (not free to leave) and more than 150 women have followed their children to be with them at this time.  Texas has 14 days to determine if the separation will be more permanent.

The state of Texas also chose to invade and search the temple of the FLDS people.  Traditionally religious structures were given some additional protection from state intrusion because of respect for religious belief.  There were other less-invasive means of securing the contents of the temple and awaiting additional hearings or something to avoid the wholesale desecration of the FLDS temple.

This is very heavy handed state thuggery.  There is no reason to simply remove all of the children from the settlement, treat all the men as guilty and turn the worlds of these children inside out.  The men are not allowed to leave the ranch and even if they were they are not allowed to visit their children because a state court judge will have to decide if visitation is appropriate.  This is a massive abuse of power and not consistent with the best and  highest traditions of freedom and due process in the United States.  This action stemmed from ONE accusation of abuse, not two, or ten, or a hundred.  One accusation of abuse was enough for the State of Texas to step in and completely destroy a community for a time.  That is outrageous.

What is worse is that the citizens of Eldorado Texas in a non-scientific poll of the town generally support the actions of the state and find the raid to be a good thing.

After the Short Creek Raid in Arizona in 1953 of a polygamist group, 236 children were taken into custody, and approximately 150 of them were in foster care for two years or more before being returned to their parents.  Some children were never returned.  It is entirely possible that similar results will come from this Texas raid.

Texas has a bit of a history of heavy handedness in dealing with people with different religious beliefs.

If they are coming for the polygamists today and no one cares, what is to stop authorities from coming after home schoolers and other non-favored and non-popular groups?

It is true that when someone’s rights are trampled on, it effects the rights of everyone.  There is no reason to think that when oppression of one group begins and is at least passively accepted by the larger population that the oppression will then move on to other groups and will continue unabated.

Texas should be ashamed of such heavy handed thuggery and inability to even attempt to determine who is guilty or not.  Simply taking all of the children and treating all of the men as guilty until proven safe for visitation is plain wrong.  Even if you don’t agree with their religious practices.

Comments Welcome

Are You Unpatriotic and Selfish?

According to one columnist, I am.  You probably are too.

“Rush to retire early is selfish, unpatriotic” by Andrew L. Yarrow appeared in the Deseret News on Sunday.

According to Mr. Yarrow it is also “wrong, in general, with retiring at 55, 62 or even 65. I would go so far as to call it profoundly selfish and unpatriotic”.   The idea is for all of the working people of this country to continue working to older ages so that you are more productive, creating more tax revenue and taking less social security benefits to turn back the tide of the federal deficit.

From the article:

However, if Americans retired later, either staying in their current jobs or taking up “encore careers” — what Marc Freedman of Civic Ventures calls do-good, later-life jobs — we significantly could slow the growth of our multitrillion-dollar national debt, which largely is driven by rising Medicare and Social Security costs (as the latest Social Security trustees’ report makes abundantly clear). We also could keep more people in a labor force that no longer would be growing appreciably if not for immigrants. . .

However, since most Americans are much healthier at 60 or 65 than their grandparents were, we should be able to work longer. Few 62-year-olds in our youth-obsessed culture would want to be called “old.” Yet three-fourths of 62-year-olds draw benefits from Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance — otherwise known as Social Security. No wonder that the Urban Institute’s C. Eugene Steuerle calls Social Security a “middle-aged retirement program.”

For individuals, working longer can mean more income and savings and something to bequeath to one’s children. For the nation, if millions of us worked until 67 instead of 62, Americans’ wealth and consumption would increase appreciably, fueling stronger economic growth. That added income would provide about $800 billion in additional tax revenue and reduce government benefit costs by at least $100 billion in 2045, according to Urban Institute calculations. This alone would cut the projected deficit in 2045 by 159 percent.

Emphasis added.  One part that doesn’t make sense to me is, if you cut a deficit by more than 100% wouldn’t that make it a surplus?  Maybe I don’t get it.  Mr. Yarrow also has a new book out.

Is this a dark-side of the famous statement from President John F. Kennedy?  “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country“.

Mr. Yarrow looks with horror on people making decisions that make them happy because it won’t stop a projected train wreck more than 35 years in the future.  Some economists claim that our future obligations for Medicare and Social Security in 2050 have already bankrupted the country, that all of the land, buildings, and everything in the United States will not be sufficient to meet the financial obligations of the future.

When a socialist solution to societal problems has worked out so poorly already and has a terrible track record it makes no sense to continue down that path by asking for more socialist behavior and solutions.

How about we just stop spending so much?  It is difficult, but non-socialist solutions have worked in the past and can work well into the future as well.

Comments Welcome

Getting Involved

So I got elected to be a delegate to the State Convention this year.  It is an interesting experience to see how the party is run from the inside (sort of).  Without being One Of The Powers That Be, it is very hard to see just why the party does what it does.  I suspect some of the party bosses feel like this.

If you feel like getting involved in your choice of political party a good place to start is at the county and state conventions.  Here are just a few of them.  They are open to the public but if you are not a delegate you will not be able to vote.   Some of the listed locations are a little vague and were even slightly difficult to find on the political party’s web pages, almost as if the parties don’t want the public to attend them or something.

Salt Lake County Democratic Convention, Saturday April 26 @ 8:00 AM Jordan High School.

Utah State County Democratic Party Convention, Fri.-Sat. May 9-10 at the Cal Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center.

Other Democratic Party County Conventions are listed here.

Salt Lake County Republican Convention, Saturday, May 3, 2008 @ 8:00 AM South Towne Expo Center.

Utah State Republican Party Convention, Saturday May 10, at Utah Valley State College.

Other Republican Party County Conventions are listed here.

The Constitution Party has a State Convention on April 19 at the Salt Lake County Council Chambers.  More details about the event and county conventions are here.

The Libertarian Party has a four hour scheduled State Convention on April 19, at the Sandy Library.  Super Dell is also running for Governor for the Libertarian Party.

You may find them long and boring, but at least it is somewhat educational as far as explaining why more people are not involved in politics.  Most of them are on Saturdays and take a lot of time that most people don’t really have.

Comments Welcome